The Close To My Heart 2011 Retired list is here!

The much anticipated 2011 Retired List is here!  Close To My Heart is saying goodbye to some wonderful products, but making room for the new ones.  Items on the retiring list are available only WHILE SUPPLIES LAST!  I suggest that if you see something you must have – order it asap!  Inventory goes fast once the word is out.  Please contact me if you have any questions! Click here to see the Retired list

Update on my garden.

I finally remembered to take my camera with me to the garden yesterday to pick our first batch of fresh peas.

Fresh Peas and Broccoli strait from the garden. Yum.













This is affectionately called the Dinosaur Garden.  The fence in the back is 6 feet tall.  I planted as much as I could in each raised bed and it shows now.  In the bed next to the Corn and Peas is red and green cabbage, egg plant, brussels sprouts, broccoli and cauliflower, and 2 rows of salad greens.  The egg plant is squished at the far end and I'm not sure how it is still growing because I'm sure it doesn't see any sun.  But we are having fun growing all this stuff.

Hailey is showing me a pea she picked and asking can I eat it?
As soon as I said yes she chomped down.  She loves eating them right off the vine.  I'm surprised that we had enough for all of us to have for dinner last night.

Mary and Hailey standing in front of the Corn and Peas.  With the Brussels sprouts almost taller than both of them in the back.  They love to put on rubber gloves and pick the slugs off the plants for me.  So I guess if they eat a few peas before dinner it's not such a bad trade.

I'm sure you noticed that I changed the look of my blog again.  I set up a new Meetup group last night and thought that I should update this site too.  Now I just have to set some dates and times to get together.

Happy Scrapin',

Janice

Tealight Cakes.

I first found these little delights on Splitcoaststampers website and decided to make some myself.  My friend liked them so much she asked me to teach a class on how to make them.  So I did.  I had the class at my house on June 26th.  I had 3 students, but we had so much fun.  I really enjoy sharing what I learn with others.  It makes me feel good and inspires me to continue sharing.  I thought I would share the Tealight Cakes that I have made so far.

If you remember, this is the first one I made.













This is the second one that I made.

Yes I added a Box, after all when you order a cake from the Bakery they come in a box. The box is cut out with the Cricut Tags, Bags, Boxes and more cartridge.  I love this cartridge.  I used CTMH Textured CS for the box.

This cake took me all day.  If you look closely you will see tiny rosebuds around the base of the cake.  My daughter told me that I was crazy and I should not do that again.

This is the top of the cake and it has curly q's that I made by cutting a sliver of paper and raping it around a strait pin.













This is the third cake.

This one didn't take quite as long to make but close.

I took Daisy White CS and spritz it with a mix of Create a shade Pearl paint and water.  Then embossed it with Cuttlebug's Swiss Dots embossing folder.  I punched out the tiny flowers from Lilac Mist CS and layered three to make them look like roses. I used the same punch to make the leaves out of Olive CS.

I used the SU Sizzilits butterfly cut and embossing die on the Daisy white CS that I spritzed.

I also used SU's Border punch and added pearls to the border and pierced tiny holes in each of the scallops on the bottom edge, like a doily might have.

Here is the forth Tealight cake I made.

I cut this box with holes in the sides and tied an organdy ribbon for a handle.

Here you can see that I used the Create a Shade Pearl paint again only I added a drop of Hollyhock ink to it and painted the stamen that I put inside the white Roses.  I also used a Daisy flower punch and created my own leaves.





These little cakes are so much fun and the battery lasts 120 hours.  Can you believe that?

My camera was not working the day I held the class or I would share the pictures of the cakes the ladies made.

If you would like more information on these cakes or if you would like to take a class send me an email jwilson@bctonline.com   Put Tealight cakes in the subject line.

Happy Scrapin',

Janice

Corner Bookmarks.

I like to look on splitcoaststampers.com to see the newest cards and other items they have.  Last week I saw a tutorial for a corner bookmark.  Click here for the Corner Bookmark Tutorial.  I just had to make a few.  Awhile back I found pansies made with the SU butterfly punch so I thought I would combine both.







I punched the butterflies out of the Veranda papers and sponged the edges with Chocolate ink.  I added the details to the pansies with a black ink pen.  I added Stardust Glitz to the center of the pansy and then added a colonial white bigger brad to the center.


I loved how it turned out.




I wanted to make a card that included a corner bookmark and this is how it turned out.



Aspirations is one of my all time favorite stamp sets and the Unforgettable paper pack is so pretty.


























As you know I couldn't stop there so here are the others I made.







I still think I should add leaves to this one.

This one you can use it either way this is the front side.  I used Cuttlebug embossing borders and then sanded the raised images.




And this is the back side of the same bookmark.














I made a few cards while I was playing around too.  Here is the Butterfly card, it is 5 1/2 x 4 1/4.

















Then I made some easel cards, these are both 3" x 3".  I used the SU Butterfly punch to make the butterfly pansies and the new SU Sizzilit die that embosses and cuts the smaller butterflies.  I also used the SU Border punches.  I wish CTMH would add punches to our Idea Books.

I showed these to my husband who collects books and he said he wouldn't use them in his books because the brads are too bulky and would damage the pages in the books.  So I don't have to worry about him running off with any of my bookmarks.  I do think his mother would love to have one though.   I will save a few of the things I made for another post later on.

Thanks for checking out my blog, if you would like instructions or information on any of these items please feel free to leave a comment or send me an email and I will get back to you as soon as I can.

Happy Scrapin',

Janice

Broccoli Crowns.

I went out to the garden tonight and I picked 2 Broccoli crowns.  Then I went to the Blueberry bushes and picked a handful of blueberries.  The garden sure likes this heat we are having.  The corn stalks are as tall as I am now and just a couple days ago they weren't to my shoulder.  We have pea pods on but they aren't ready yet.  Our bell peppers have blooms and so does our jalapeños.  Our squash and melons are blooming too.

I went to Radio Shack and bought a new battery for my camera tonight.  So once it is fully charged I will be able to take pictures of all the items I have been making.  I really should be making more stuff but it is hard to get motivated with all this heat.  I'm not sure how long this heat advisory is supposed to last but I am ready for some cooler weather.

I had a friend of Dawn's & Charlie's look at my A/C in the van today and he thinks he fixed it but he is coming over tomorrow to check and see.  It sure was nice to have A/C again.  He suggested that we drive it around for a while to make sure the stuff he put in circulates through the system, so I took the kids to Cruisers for Ice Cream cones.  They all wanted the Flavor Burst kind and wouldn't you know it the machine stopped after 1 cone.  So then we all decided to get the regular swirls since that machine was working and it too stopped working when it was my turn to order.  Wouldn't you know it was going to work that way.  Dawn was nice and shared hers with me.

I hope to have pictures to post tomorrow.  In the meantime thanks for letting me share my stories with you.

Happy Scrapin',

Janice

Convention starts tomorrow, in Washington D.C.

When I found out that this years Convention was going to be held in Washington D.C. I wanted to go, mainly to see the sites.  They do spoil you at convention with all the new products they give out.  Maybe convention 2012 will be held closer to us and I will be able to go to that one.  If I were smart I would set aside money each month  just for going to convention.  I will wait to see where they are holding the next one before I make that decision.














I would love to see The Smithsonian Museums 


















and the Jefferson Memorial and I will get to some day.







We have someone on the inside, who is giving us tid-bits of information about some of the changes that are coming and so far the changes are sounding real good.  I can't tell you what I have heard yet, but keep watching my blog and I will reveal them as soon as I can.

I went to Radio Shack yesterday to get a new battery charger for my camera but was told that any charger with the right connection on the end will work.  So I came home and found a charger with the right connector and plugged it in.  It charged just enough to flash the picture on the screen and then gives me the message  "Replace the battery pack."  So I am off to Radio Shack to get a new battery and see if that will fix my problem.  Hopefully I will be able to share some of the things that I have been making.

Last Thursday I had a small class at my house, and we made Tea-light cakes.  I wish my camera would have worked because the ladies made some very cute cakes.  The ladies said they had a great time and wanted to come again sometime.  They live in California, so it will probably be next year.

Happy Scrapin',

Janice