Ariana Notebook

If you came from Legacy of the Heart blog, you are in the right place.  If you have jumped here and just discovered our blog hop, feel free to check the list at Damask Divas blog to find the complete list of blog hop participants.

I wanted a notebook to have with me for taking notes and planning for my Close To My Heart workshops and projects.  I also wanted to make the neighbor kids a 'good luck at school' gift since they recently went from home schooling to public school.  A boring composition book and pen just were not going to do.  My project then became a paper covered composition book using the Ariana paper packet, some vinyl, ribbon, and the Close To My Heart Cricut collections.  Here is what I did, based on an Oh My Crafts blog project from August 2011.


Supplies from Close To My Heart:  Ariana B&T Duos Paper Packet (X7179B)

White Daisy Cardstock (1385)

Cricut Artbooking Collection (Z1906)

Cricut Art Philosophy Collection (Z1686)

(not pictured but recomended) Outdoor Denim Chevron Ribbon (Z1808)

(or Jute Ribbon Z1867, or Ruby Chevron Ribbon Z1846)

Bonding Memories Glue (1512)

(optional) Tombow Adhesive (1514)

Corner Rounder (Z1912)

Euro Personal Paper Trimmer (Z338) or Supercut Deluxe Craft Paper Trimmer (Z1783)

You will also use: a composition notebook

hot glue gun

pen or pencil

vinyl (in a coordinating color, pictured is tan but I used grey and brown)

Directions:  

• Cut (2) Ariana B&T Duos Paper to 6 3/4" by 9 3/4" or to the size of the front and back covers of your notebook.  Round two corners on the same side of each page with the Corner Rounder.

• Cut (1) piece of Ariana B&T Duos Paper to 1 1/2" by 6 3/4" 

I simply used the reverse side of the floral print which already coordinated perfectly.  For the boys, I used the Ariana grey with the reverse side of the floral paper.

• Cut (1) piece of vinyl to 4 3/4" by 6 3/4"

• Cut the vinyl using the Cricut Artbooking cartridge.  

To do this, place your vinyl lined up on the bottom left of the cutting mat (longer side vertical).  Move the blade to the top right corner of the vinyl, at 1 1/4" by 5 1/4" and press 'set cut area'.  For the 'CTMH' and 'Rhianna' books, I used the chevron overlay by putting the positive / normal image on one and the negative space on the other (no waste here!).  I cut using 'overlay' and 'fit to page' options, then 'shift' and '7'.  For the 'Grant' book, I used 'overlay' then 'shift' and 'G' at 11".

• Cut your letters in the same vinyl.  I cut the 'CTMH' with Cricut Artbooking cartridge at 1" and 'Rhianna' with the same cartridge at 3/4".  'Grant' was cut with the Art Philosophy cartridge, because it was less girly, at 3/4"

• Cut the White Daisy Cardstock to 2 1/2" by 4".  Round all four corners with the Corner Rounder.

• Place the letters you cut on the White Daisy Cardstock

• Cut two strips of coordinating ribbon to 6".  Adhere these to the front and back of the book using a hot glue gun and leaving enough room for a pen / pencil.  Make sure you have room to fit a larger pen so you aren't stuck with a smaller cheap one only.

• Use the Bonding Memories Glue to adhere the largest pieces of paper to the front and back of your notebook, being careful to line up your top and right edges perfectly.  The bottom is better to trim if you need to.

• Peel and stick your vinyl background on, then add your coordinating piece then white label with the Tombow Adhesive.

• To add the border around the vinyl as I have done for the chevron and floral books, cut the zip strips off of your Ariana B&T Duos paper.  For the positive chevron image you will cut those into (2) 4 6/16" and (2) 6" pieces then adhere with Tombow Adhesive.  The negative chevron zip strip border was cut (2) 3" and (2) 6 3/4"

• Stick your pen / pencil in the ribbon and you are set to tote a beautiful notebook with you everywhere

• Optional finish: use contact paper over the front and back of your book to protect it from damage as you take your notebook in and out of bags.  Just leave the ribbon area open for that pen / pencil holder.

Thanks so much for stopping by and checking out my project!  Please leave some love in the comments below. Now off to The Gypsy Chic blog to see what she has done with the Ariana paper.  I hope you have a great time on our hop and checking out all the creations using Ariana paper packet. If you get lost, just hop on over to Damask Divas Ariana Blog Hop list.

Quick and Pretty Bake Sale Labels

Tomorrow is a bake sale for my husband's group (the Medical Group).  He requested banana bread and even offered to bake it himself.  I offered to do it for him.  So before I had breakfast I whipped up some dough and got it going in the oven.  I wanted it done before we were out of the house for the day.  Now I have a little bit of time before I head back out for an exciting evening of Designer Bag Bingo at the Air Base Club.  My oldest is at the neighbors playing and the baby is napping.  So I began to think about labeling my banana bread.  Should I pull out some cardstock, design, and print labels on the printer?  Pull out the Cricut, cardstock, and find a cartridge to cut out labels?  Or, maybe hand write something?  I decided I need to do something fast but handwriting is just too simple for what I consider an already boring bake sale item (who buys the banana bread at the bake sale?  I want the fancy treats and beautiful designs that I do not make all too often - but look at me, I need not complain because the banana bread was easy!).  So I pulled out some items and made those labels in five minutes.  Seriously. 

Here is what I used to make the labels:

• Avery 2"x4" White Mailing Labels (8163 - link to Amazon)
• Slate Exclusive Inks Stamp Pad (Z2173)
• Black Exclusive Inks Stamp Pad (Z2105)
• Baroque Borders My Acrylix Stamps (S1208)
• You Are My Happy Alphabet Acrylix Stamps (CC1025)
• 3"x3" My Acrylix Blocks (Y1006)
• 4"x5" My Acrylix Blocks (Y1012)
• My Acrylix Stamp Scrubber (Z1782)
• My Acryliz Spritz Cleaner (1778)

I used these items because that is what I had on hand :)  I am sure that you can get a similar result with another patterned background on white paper of another size label, etc.  I took the Baroque Borders stamps and inked them in the Slate, stamping two labels at a time, to make the background.  I then used the 'You Are My Happy Alphabet' stamps inked in Black to spell out "Banana Bread".  The clear My Acrylix Blocks made it super easy to line up the 'a' and 'n' as I reused them (there are only one lowercase and uppercase of each letter and three 'a's and two 'n's in Banana).  To make it quick, I stamped 'Ban' in about the same spot on all of my labels, then 'an' and then 'a'.  I was then able to stamp 'Bread'.  And voila! The labels were peeled and stuck to the banana bread.  

Clean up was also super quick because I used the My Acrylix Spritz Cleaner and Scrubber to clean the stamps and put them away right at my craft table without running to the bathroom sink.

Phew, doing this 'how to' post definitely took MUCH longer than getting the work done.  I hope you are inspired to make your own beautiful and quick labels now.  Do not settle for the one minute handwriting when you can have the really pretty five minute stamped labels.  Please leave me a comment and let me know what you think or what you have done for labeling your baked goods.

Come back April 1 for the Damask Divas Ariana Blog Hop.  You will be inspired and love this paper!  See you then.

A Great Incentive in April....

Can you believe this?  If you join my Close To My Heart team in April 2014, you not only get all of the product in the normal new consultant kit, but you get to pick which Cricut collection you want; the Cricut® Artbooking collection (Z1906), Cricut® Artiste collection (Z1790), or Cricut® Art Philosophy collection (Z1686).  What a deal!  I sure wish they were doing this when I joined Close To My Heart as an Independent Consultant. 

Want some even better news?  Close To My Heart will also give you back your $99 investment when you hit your Straight To The Top sales goal over three months.  Can you say FREE product and Cricut collection and a continued discount on this beautiful product?  There are minimums to meet quarterly, etc. etc. etc.  But if you are interested, April 2014 is the time to join.  Go to my CTMH business page, www.scrapapered.ctmh.com to read more info on becoming a consultant.  There you can also find my contact information if you have questions.

Also in April, I will be jumping back into the Damask Divas Blog Hop.  The April 2014 Blog Hop will feature art work made with the Ariana paper.  So be prepared to come back and be inspired by the ever so talented Damask Divas Blog Hop.

GIVEAWAY with CTMH Picture My Life Mix & Match Contest!!!

If you haven't seen all of the amazing Picture My Life scrapbooking programs, watch this video to get a peek or contact me for more details. Then leave a comment Jeanette Lynton's blog, on the CTMH Facebook page, or on YouTube telling them what you picture when you think of your favorite Picture My Life scrapbooking program for a chance to win your choice! Leave your comment anytime before March 31, 2014, and you might be our lucky winner!

Follow my blog and you'll be kept up to date with new projects, products, and giveaways.  Don't forget to 'like' my Facebook page as well!

Skylark Scrapbooking Workshop On The Go

I made my samples for my upcoming Skylark Work Shop On The Go (G1072).  What do you think? 

I even made a beautiful 6"x6" card with some of paper I had leftover.  I used the Background Bar pattern on page 75 of the Originals Card Confidence Program book (9036).

Below is the flyer for the Skylark Scrapbooking Workshop On The Go (G1072).  Please note that I edited this flyer to reflect my APO location pricing with shipping, etc.  It is almost twice as much to ship to an APO (though the post office charges the same as if shipping stateside. Don't ask me why the price is so much more because it certainly wasn't my decision!).

If you are in the United States and want to make your own beautiful Skylark Scrapbooking Workshop On The Go (G1072) you can click on the item number (G1072) and purchase from my Close To My Heart web page.  You can then find the instructions for the additional layout on my web page here.

The additional supplies you may already have but may need to order to complete the two double page layouts:

• Z2118     Desert Sand Exclusive Inks Pad
• Z2173     Slate Exclusive Inks Pad
• Z1294     Sanding Kit
• Z1151     3-D Foam Tape
• Y1000     1"x1" My Acrylix Block
• Y1006     3"x3" My Acrylix Block
• Y1010     2"x6 1/2" My Acrylix Block

Happy Scrapapering!!!

Hostess Exclusives

Here are the 2014 Spring and Summer exclusive Hostess Rewards!

Hostess Collection One

Hostess Collection Two

Hostess Collection Three

Unicorn Dreams Stamp Set

Enjoy the Little Things Stamp Set

Doodle Signs Stamp Set 

Some Bunny Stamp Set

A Mother's Love Stamp Set

My Hero Stamp Set

This is Good Stamp Set

The Hostess Collections One, Two, and Three are available as half off items (each at over $40 in savings).  These Hostess Rewards Stamp Sets are available at a discounted price so that you can make your select product credit stretch even further.  These Collections and Stamp Sets are only good through July so book your online or home gathering with me today, click here for more on being a hostess.