Big Announcemnt - I'm Back With Stampin Up

Visit my Stampin Inspirations Club Site

I posted this announcement on Stampin Inspirations but in the case you don't read my other blog.. . . I'll post this announcement here too!

A few of you noticed that I have the "Stampin Up" catalog picture to the right of my blog rather than the Close to My Heart picture. Yes, I switched back to Stampin Up!! Yipee, Whoohoo!! Why, Maria? Well. . .there were a few factors. . .primarily, my frustration on my inability to "promote" CTMH on my blog. . .it violates CTMH policies. Not that I'm big on heavily promoting on my blogs but I wanted to be a little bit more open about the fact that I was a consultant. I won't go into it but yeah. . .it was a bit frustrating.

I was doing really well with CTMH but I sort of was "stagnant" without my ability to tell you all about my club site, website, or anything going on with CTMH. Furthermore, I've come to the realization that I'm more of a Stampin Up gal! I missed Stampin Up! CTMH really pushes scrapbooking stuff and I hate to say it but I'm not a big scrapbooker. I wanted to be but it's secondary to card making on the totem pole. LOL!

Besides, Stampin Up has so many NEW and EXCITING stuff going on. I cannot begin to even tell you about it! I decided to create a club site which is open to the public. This is where I'll post everything and anything and only about Stampin Up. This site will only contain cards and projects using 80 to 100% of Stampin Up products.

I wanted to make the site "public" when I have more stuff posted but I decided to just let y'all know about it. I couldn't hold myself back. . .I'm just way too excited about it! LOL!

Stampin Inspirations will remain the same. . .I will not be doing any promoting here and will continue to post all brands of stamping products on this site. I know some blog readers hate being pushed to "buy" stuff and such. So, not to worry. . there will be no pushy sales person on this blog site.

Furthermore, only retired Stampin Up stuff will be posted here. All the new stuff Stampin Up stuff will be posted on the club site. The club site is where my club members can view tutorials (certain ones accessible to club members only), cards, and projects and also be updated on promotions, sales, and announcements that Stampin Up has to offer but you all can check out what is going on too without having to be a club member.

Sooo. . . .without further ado. . .visit my club site: Stampin Inspirations Club Site or click on the link at the top.

I hear ya' chuckling. . .I know, it's not a very original title for a blog site!! LOL! There's not too many post and some sections are still under construction but visit the site anyway!! I'm enrolling new club members but I'm limiting the amount of members. . . .so I guess, it's first come, first serve kind of thing. It's an on going monthly enrollment so if you can't join right away, you have the beginning of each month to join.

Anyway. . .hope to see you stopping by my club site once in a while!!

Dream Word Scrapbook Album

Hi Everyone! This is my very first "word" album. Oooh, I love these word albums. . .I've always wanted to create one but I thought it would be too much work but wow, it's so not true. It's actually quite easy to make. This word album is "Dream" by S.E. I.

This album is very personal to me because it highlights a very monumental moment in my life. . .my college graduation. I can't even begin to tell you the journey it took to get my Bachelor's Degree in Nursing. I started college soon after high school but I was so ill focused that I really couldn't get my footing when it came to a strict college curriculum. I wanted to work because I needed money so I decided to attend school part-time. Then a few tumultuous events occurred in my life and I decided to attend college here in California. Unfortunately, I really got home sick so I returned home and attended community college instead.


My father (I was adopted by my grandfather as a child) passed away when I was 20 years old and well, that really put me into a tailspin so I took a break from school. Then I got married, had my daughter. . .only when my daughter was 2 years old (she's 17 now), I decided to return to school and obtain my Bachelor's Degree.

Boy, it was tough because I worked part-time, went to school full-time and was a mother and wife at the same time. But I was 100% committed and nothing could stop me once I really committed myself to finishing college.


It took 5 1/2 years to finish up a 4 year degree but it was the best 5 1/2 years of my life. It was tough but gosh, it was so nice to be surrounded by people who were ambitious, smart, and had the same goals that I had.

I'm proud to say I graduated with honors. . .American Scholar, National Honor Society (Golden Key), and Nursing Honor Society. Whoohoo! Who would believe. . .me . . .Miss Ill-Focused. . . that was the irony of it all. I swear, my family refused to take me seriously until they actually saw me graduate. LOL!!



My grandmother, who adopted me as a child, was able to see me graduate and that was the proudest moment of my life. She had always wondered if I ever would graduate. She was so happy for me. My grandmother passed away 3 years ago but looking at this photo of my grandmother brings back such happy memories.

This picture is my nursing school classmates. We went through tough times together and it was so nice to have gone through the experience with them from the beginning.

We all were accepted into nursing school our sophomore year and graduated together. UH accepted their nursing students in their sophomore rather than the traditional junior year. The track allowed us to incorporate our core requirements along with the upper division nursing courses to spread it out and free our summers up.

I'm still good friends with a few of my nursing classmates. I haven't seen a few of them since graduating from college but once in awhile I would hear about them through the grapevine.

This picture was taken after the graduation ceremony and my family met me afterwards to congratulate me. This moment was a dream come true, hence, the mini album "dream".

Just a few details on the album:

Paper: K&Co designer paper

Accessories: Making Memories metal words, Deja View Prima Flowers, JoAnn brads, JoAnn Vellum Quotes, K&Co tags, American Craft Elements ribbon, Organdy ribbon, JoAnn metal rim round tag

Butterfly Template Card

Hi Everyone!! Remember a few days ago, I made a scrapbook layout with a large butterfly using a template that I drew on Adobe Illustrator. . .well, here is a card I made using the same template. It's a great way to use up your scrap designer papers!!

It was fun making this card. I love anything layered!! I used K&CO designer paper, cut out the image, rubbed Tim Holtz distressing ink around the butterfly images, added wire works in the shape of an antenna, added a few buttons, and adhered it to my card. That's about it.

The "smile" sentiment is by K&CO and the ribbon is by Basic, Basic.

Anyway. . .if you want try out the template. . .click here.

Hope y'all are having a wonderful weekend!!

Mini Album

Hi Everyone! Okay, I am in love with this mini album project. . .why? Well. . .because it's so dang easy to make! I mean SERIOUSLY! Not only is it easy, the project is so cute! Jana at "2 Worlds" have tons of tutorials on mini albums and such. I've always wanted to try all the different mini album tutorials on her blog but I just haven't had the time to try them out and my stuff were scattered all over the place that it was too exhausting to work on projects other than cards. It took longer to look for the materials than to actually make the projects! LOL!

Now that my craft room is cleaned up and organized. . . .well, finding stuff that I need to create a project is now so easy to do.

I created this mini album for my husband. I'm going to give it to him for our anniversary at the end of the month. I'm planning to create more of them and send them out to friends. I hope they like them.

Be sure to stop by Jana's site and check out her awesome tutorials!!! I plan to try out her other mini album tutorials. . .so, don't be surprised to see a bunch of mini albums in the coming week!! Thanks Jana for the tutorials. . .keep up the great work!!

Here is a close up of the layered prima flowers. Isn't it pretty?

Project details:

Paper: DCWV Luxury designer paper

Accessories: Deja View Prima flowers, Target brads, Making Memories Petite Signage

Butterfly Template and Scrapbook Layout

Hi Everyone! I created this layout last night and everything about it was easy but when it came to the chipboard alpha. . . arggghh! It's the sort of chipboard that is raw . . .you know, non-decorated. I adhered the designer paper on to the chipboard but when it came to cutting the designer paper with a blade. . .okay, that's when the "issues" began. I could not cut it nicely with the craft knife. It took me forever to to cut them out. It just didn't look very smooth . . .I guess I'm not a very good craft knife cutter, LOL!!


Anyway, the picture is of my daughter with the wind blowing across her face; hence, the title "Blown Away"!! If you want to know how to create a "vintage" look to a photo, visit my blog site "Photo Inspirations". I posted a Photoshop tutorial on desaturation.

The Prima flowers on my layout is by Making Memories. The designer paper is by K&CO, brads by JoAnns, chipboard shape and alpha is by Colorbok, and the buttons are just regular sewing buttons that I found in the sewing department at JoAnns. The buttons in the sewing department is cheaper than the ones sold at the scrapbook section.


Okay. . . my layered butterfly is a butterfly that I drew on Adobe Illustrator and I created a template to share with y'all! You can use it as an embellishment for your scrapbook layouts or for your cards. The butterfly measures 4.5 x 4.5".

Try it out if you want!! My next project will be to use the butterfly template for a card project.

This template has the "center body". You can use it to paper piece the butterfly. Click on the image and you can print it directly from the Internet. I think if you print it directly from the Internet, the size will shrink by maybe 1/2"; you may need to adjust your printer to enlarge the images somewhat.

Actually, you can resize the images in any fashion you want by enlarging the percentage on your printer or photo editor.

This image is without the "center body". If you don't want the lines to show on your butterfly, you can use this template. This is the template I used for my scrapbook layout.

If you plan to use my templates and will be posting your project on your blog or website, all I ask is that you give me credit for the template by linking back to this post. Much Mahalo!!

Anyway. . .hope y'all are having a wonderful Sunday!!

Cards Created with Old Scrap Items

Hi Everyone! With reorganization comes consequences! LOL! I found stuff that I've never knew I had, stuff I would prefer not to find, and stuff that begs the question. . . . "why?". Way back when I first started rubber stamping and creating cards. . . .approximately 4 years ago. . .I had this crazy idea that I was actually good at what I was doing. I found a crop album that I had stored pockets and pockets full of images that I stamped and colored. I also found a container of tags that I had cut using the ugliest cardstocks and colors and materials that "ughhhh" makes we wonder why I ever bought them.

My first instinct was to "chuck" it off into the trash can but I decided, I can "salvage" them and actually create something with them. Please, please remind me not to mass color images because there's a potential that I may actually improve further in my coloring skills. I can't believe that I actually thought my skills in coloring were good enough to mass color a whole bunch of images. What could have possibly possessed me to think that way?

Anyway, last night I decided to use materials that I found and sort of slapped a few cards together. It was really difficult to put the cards together because nothing matched so I had to use some of my new stuff to at least make the cards presentable!! LOL!

Here are the cards I put together with the tags I found that came in the yucky colors as well as the stamped images and embellishments that I found in the containers.

Enjoy! Yeah, right!! LOL!!!

Hope y'all have a wonderful weekend!!

Blogger Having Problems with My Stampin Inspirations Site

I can't get on my Stampin Inspirations blog site. I tested to see if other bloggers are having the same problem and there seem to be problems getting on some sites but not others. Hmmmmm. . .I wonder what's wrong. Anybody having the same problem? Can you let me know! Thanks!!

Gesso With Acrylic Paint Tutorial

Click Here for the Tutorial

Hi Everyone!! I've been playing with Gesso and Acrylic paint and I'm really having fun with the results. I was inspired by Mel of Mel Stampz Gesso tutorials I decided to try out this cool art medium. I've never heard of Gesso until Mel did a tutorial on her blog site.

I posted another card on my Stampin Inspirations blog site if you want to check out another sample of this technique or check out Mel's blog site for more awesome samples. Okay, you're asking which part of my card is made with Gesso and Acrylic Paint? LOL! It's the green Cuttlebug embossed background. What I did was apply Gesso on to cardstock and layered it with acrylic paint. When it dried, I embossed the cardstock using a Cuttlebug embossing folder then sanded the raised parts of the embossing to reveal the Gesso underneath.

As for the flower image. . .it's another of my Illustrator images that I created. Whoohoo!

I colored the flower image using Copic Markers then rubbed ink to the white area around the flower using a sponge dauber.

The buttons are buttons that Mel sent me. She sent me a whole bunch of goodies that I posted on Stampin Inspirations. . .go check it out!!


Card Details:

Image: Adobe Illustrator (see below)

Paper: SU Bliss Blue, Blue Bayou, Lavendar Lace

Ink: Making Memories Acrylic Paint, Acrylic Gesso, Copic Markers, SU Lavender Lace, Clear glitter pen

Accesories: Cuttblebug embossing folder, Making Memories sanding file, Organdy ribbon, Mel's buttons