Chicago CHA Update #10 - My Mind's Eye and Ranger

Welcome to day 10 of my CHA Update. Today we will be looking at two mainstays of the industry My Mind's Eye and Ranger.

My Mind's Eye
Coming off their successful Winter release "Lost and Found" My Mind's Eye debuted two new "Lost and Found" collections at the show, "Lost and Found Christmas" and "Lost and Found Two". They also showcased a fun Halloween line they call "Mischievous."

My Mind's Eye Lost and Found "Christmas"

My Mind's Eye Lost and Found Two "Rosy"

My Mind's Eye Layout featuring Lost and Found Two "Sunshine"

My Mind's Eye Layout featuring Lost and Found Two "Sunshine"

My Mind's Eye Lost and Found "Christmas"

To see more product images visit the My Mind's Eye website here: http://www.mymindseye.com/

For fresh thoughts and projects visit the My Mind's Eye blog at: http://mymindseye.typepad.com/blog/

Ranger
I know this seems sacrilegious, but I don't remember spending time at the Ranger booth in previous shows. When we were walking past, Tim Holtz was demoing so I stopped and took his picture and then moseyed around the booth. I really don't think you get a sense of Tim Holtz's popularity until you see grown women and buisness owners mob him for his autograph while he is trying to work. He was very polite, and I was quite impressed with the manner in which he engaged his fans and customers.

Ranger Adirondack Pigment Ink Samples

To learn more about the entire gamut of Ranger products visit their website here: http://www.rangerink.com/

To check out the daily ponderings of Tim Holtz, visit his blog here: http://www.timholtz.typepad.com/

Thanks for stopping by,

CarrieAnne

Happy Boy Layout

After 8 years of hoping for a boy, this past September we had our (not so) little Reid. This layout is of his first trip to church - I can't get enough of him in vests and suits!

The layout features Epiphany Crafts' charms, vintage settings and round 14 Bubble caps. I LOVE the versatility of being able to make my own customizable charms, buttons and epoxy embellishments. If you don't own their amazing set of tools head over to their website HERE to find out all the details on how you can.

The vintage setting I used (above the celebrate) was white and it was easy to alter and distress with standard acrylic paint.

I know my local Archivers is now carrying the entire Epiphany Crafts product line which is great for a quick trip when I need more Bubble Caps or Vintage Settings.

Recipe:
Tools: Epiphany Crafts (Clear Round 14 Bubble Caps, EC Shape Studio Round 14, EC Charm Settings Silver,Clubhouse Vintage Settings)
Chipboard Banner: Maya Road
Patterned Paper: My  Mind's Eye
Pearls and Bling: Recollections
Lace Flower: Prima
Misc.: Bird's nest charm

My Pink Stamper March Design Team Project

I am a bit hooked on Paper Quilting this month and our monthly My Pink Stamper challenge was to do a layout, so I thought I would combine the two! The piecing and hand sewing on this layout did take quite awhile, but I loved how it turned out. The hearts were cut from the "Create a Critter" Cartridge. The Heidi Swapp distressing tool was then used to rough up the edges.

Robyn's clear stamps are amazing for their versatility. I used two stamp sets on this layout; Sweetest Cupcake for the "Sugar and Spice" sentiment with which I created the border around the heart and "Sweet Baby" for the "Sweet Girls" title.

I used a watercolor marker to color in the Sugar "&" and Spice separately and then stamped them individually to create the border. Key to this technique is THOROUGHLY cleaning your stamp between each impression so no over stamping or blurring occurs.

To check out the entire My Pink Stamper Team's projects be sure to visit http://www.mypinkstamper.com. If you don't have every single one of Robyn's amazing clear stamps be sure to do some window shopping here where all of her stamps are pictured and her retailers listed.

Thanks for looking,

CarrieAnne

Love is in the Air

I love this post-Christmas, pre-Valentines Day time of wintery crafts, snowy days and crisp air. I thought I would take the opportunity to make a wintery all purpose card.

I used the following Cricut Cartridges:

Snow Globe from Doodle Charms
Girl from Winter Frolic
Lace Doily (makes the scalloped border) from Cindy Loo

I like to personalize the cuts offered on my Cricut so on the Girl you will notice I added fringed bangs and changed the ornament in her hand to a mini "love" card. The little girl also has eyes made from a heart cut in half with a tiny circle placed on each eye (I thought these were a bit cuter than the original eye cuts). I added a heart to her Peter Pan Collar, an extra row of ruffles around her coat bottom, and cuffs to her gloves and boots. These cuffs were further embellished with dimensional paint from Viva Decor. She also got a cute pair of earrings to style her up.

The snow globe background is dry embossed with the Cuttlebug snowflakes folder and the patterned paper is from My Mind's Eye. The rub-on, eyelets, and buttons were from my stash.

Thanks for looking,

CarrieAnne

Nothing, but Blue Skies

I am almost done scrapping our pictures from LAST year's family vacation. This means there is little hope for this year's photos with a new baby and what I am sure to be innumerable rolls of pictures of his tiny cuteness just days away. My girls are sitting on top of Stone Mountain here in Northern Georgia or rather Bella and Victoria are hopelessly attempting to keep Maddie from running off Stone Mountain while they pose for this photo.

I enjoy "fussy cutting" or cutting out shapes, images and designs from patterned paper. Lots of times when I am watching my favorite show (Yes, that would be Bones - for those who know me best) I cut out designs to be used on future layouts and cards. I hand cut all of the flowers and vines multiple times from 7Gypsies paper and then layered and adhered them with a variety of adhesives to add dimension. The fabric covered brad is also 7Gypsies, and the rub-on title from My Mind's Eye. The Birds are actually transparent stickers from Glitz Designs that I backed with transparency first and then trimmed around so they too could be popped up with a dimensional glue without risk of sticking to the page awkwardly.

In order to have it appear as though the birds in the upper left and right are actually flying I cut their wings off and reapplied them with the transparency as reinforcement behind them to add structure.

Thanks for looking,

CarrieAnne