Happy Seuss Day!

We should all have a little more Dr Seuss fun in our lives.  So in honor of his birthday:

February's Love your layout

Here is the latest amazing addition of Studio J's Love Your Layout!  Enjoy!!!!!!!!!!!!

In case you missed January's, here is that video as well.  Remember now through March 15th layouts are just $5 each, including the 2 printed 12x12 pages and 3 jpg images.  Head to heatherplotzke.ctmh.com to get started now.

My 2013 Calendar Series - Part 7

Here we are at the last two pages of this calendar series.  This layout was October and November.  I chose this Clementine paperpack'd layout because of its fall tones, without having to be Halloween and/or Thanksgiving. 

This layout was pretty fast to make, I just dropped in my photos, colored the pretty suggested embellishments and added some My Stickease.  The title on page one was made using two journal boxes.  On box for the typed text (Hanging at the), which i got to choose my font style.  The second journal box was for the Stickers wording (Harbor).  For that I used the quick title tool which makes aligning and adjusting My Stickease titles a snap!

I hope you've enjoyed my series on how I come up with my Studio J photo calendars and were able to tuck a few tips away for when you make your own.  To get started head over to heatherplotzke.ctmh.com now.

Alright I got run, I have Studio J-ing to do!  You better hurry to, with layouts only $5 this month you'll want to get a jump start on your layouts; time is running out on this great deal.  Remember Studio J layouts can take as little as 10-15 mins to complete.  Think of all the catch up scrapping you can play.

My 2013 Calendar Series - Part 6

Here we are already, this layout was used for August/September of my 2013 Studio J Calendar.

So one thing that I keep in mind when I'm designing layouts specifically for my calendars is the subjects in the photos. On regular layouts this wouldn't always matter, but since these pages won't be shown together it was important to make sure all the key characters in this story were on both pages.

 In this case I wanted to make sure you could see my husband on both pages because he was a big part of the story.  I on other layouts in this series I made sure as well to have the kids spread through out the pages, because I didn't want any given page to be about just one person.  I was trying to make sure they'd get an even mix throughout the pages.  Trust me my kids would notice if someone was highlighted more often.

Remember all of February printed Studio J Layouts are just $5!!!

Daytona 500!

Okay Ladies as the Daytona 500 is ready to start I want to celebrate!!!!!

With the Daytona 500 on today and 

Since my driver is #88 YOU ARE ONLY going to pay 88% for your orders today!!!!!!!!!!! 
Contact me today to take advantage of this super fast deal**** 
When Junior wins I'll be adding an extra special gift on me to your order of $25 or more!!!!
Let's go racing AND shopping!!!!!!!!!!!!

My 2013 Calendar Series - Part 5

Here is June and July pages  for this year's calendar.  If you've been following along with my series this month you know that using Studio J to me is the easiest way to create these calendars because it only takes 6 layouts to make the full 12 month calendar.

I love, love, love this SuperHero paper pack.  I found that when it was still in paper I used it tons, but now that its in Studio J I use it so much more.  I love being able to change the colors of the papers to suit my needs.  Take for instance the comic strip papers, here I've made them Black and white.  It only takes one click of a button to change a B&T (pretty patterned paper) into any monochromatic color scheme.  If you check back to earlier Studio J posts last year I made all the papers greens, yellows, and blacks for a green lantern layout.  It really is about your needs and what you want to convey.

All through February Studio J layouts are on sale for $5 each!!!!!!!!!  Get started on yours today at heatherplotzke.ctmh.com.

My 2013 Calendar Series - Part 4

Here is my layout that I used for April and May on my 2013 calendar.  I used Studio J's and CTMH's Dakota paperpack.

I love this layout.  This was a fun, silly day at a park and I feel happy about how I captured not only our wild game of family tag, but also the playfulness in our impromptu photo shoot at our spur of the moment picnic.  When you click on the picture here check out my husband and oldest son in the top photo on the right page...Momma didn't know that was going on until I got home and looked through our photos.

I have a lot of people ask me about blowing up photos on Studio J and the quality.  When blowing photos up huge like on the left page layout, if your quality is going to be impaired/lower than CTMH's high standards you will get a warning on your photo.  You will have to click on it and accept that you understand before you'll be able to purchase it.  I love this safety feature, it gives me back the control to accept or over-ride.  The tool bar when you blow up your pictures also has a colored safety level that runs from Green to yellow to red if your resolution is to low.  

Now back to the photo on the left, this quick family picture was taken from not the best distance or best lighting (we had my pocket camera sitting on a park bench), but I loved these smiles.  You could see how happy we were in our faces.  So when I got the little yellow photo warning, I  blew the layout up on the screen in Studio J to 400% (yup it allows it and I always recommend it!) and decided I was happy with the quality.

Studio J layouts ALL February are only $5.00 ea.  That price gets you two printed 12 x 12 pages, and 3 jpg images (2 high resolution individual pages images, and 1 low resolution combined layout -- like the one pictured here).  Head to my STUDIO J site heatherplotzke.ctmh.com now to get started.

Papercupcakes Blog Hop - February 2013

If you came from Bren Yule's blog, you are in the right place. This it February's edition of the Papercupcake's Cricut Artiste Blog Hop.  This month we are using the "F" key found  on page 54 of the Cricut Artiste's key guide.

Anyone who has seen my art knows that my favorite Cricut items are our flowers!!!  So I was thrilled when the F Key was chosen for our inspiration this month. Let me tell you if you love these spiral rolled flowers, please tell me you've tried rolling them with our quilling tools!  OMG!!!! revolutionized my flower making.  I thought I was pretty quick before, I'd say I'm 75% faster now.  

So here's what I did with these flowers this month!  Cutting my flowers at 3/4" and at 2" in Lagoon Cardstock and in seconds I had mini rolled flowers.  Lagoon not only is a hot color right now, it happens to be my Mom's favorite color.

I have been wanting to do something special with some photos of my Mom and Dad in there teens and twenties and my brother.  The minute I saw our new paper pack For Always I knew I had found my inspiration. Quickly and I mean in just over an hour total (including flower rolling time) I had my photos and papers cut, and modge podged it all into our beautiful, ready to craft wood Display tray.  Next I added black sparkles, Dimensional Element letters (raised with foam adhesive), and some of our paper butterflies for movement (plus they are my Mom's favorite). I used our black mesh ribbon to hang it, which gives great texture.

 

Bam I was done, and I have this timeless wall art.  Check back over the next several weeks to see lots of other fresh new art from me.  This new book really has me inspired, I've been crafting tons....so come back soon.

Z1750 Display tray $19.95

Now hop on over to Karen Cullen's page to see more creative ideas using the Cricut Artiste Collection. If you get lost, just hop on back to Bren's blog  for the full list.”

Our Valentine Tree - Happy Hearts Day

Happy Hearts Day everyone!!!!!

 I wanted to share a photo of our Valentine's tree with you.  Yup, its bright pink, with pink twinkle lights!  This 4 ft tree was bought the day after Christmas a few years ago (much to the annoyance of my darling husband) on clearance for less than $5. Seriously it was as if they were forcing me to take it home.

The kids decorated it themselves with my Victorian style paper ornaments.  I hope you have a love filled day where ever you and your loved ones are today.

Happy Valentine's Day

REMEMBER ITS BETTER MADE FROM THE HEART!  HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!!!!!!!

My 2013 Calendar Series - Part 3

So over the last few days, I've shown you the cover, gone over the why, and told you about the how.  Now let's get to the more fun part....the art.

These two pages were used for February and March.  I used Close To My Heart's Flirty papers in our Studio J program. 

Take a look at the left page for a moment.  I love how easy it is to add My Stickeases to layouts, layering them and even resizing them.

Be sure to stay tuned for my the rest of the months in upcoming posts.

Studio J layouts ALL February are only $5.00 ea.  That price gets you two printed 12 x 12 pages, and 3 jpg images (2 high resolution individual pages images, and 1 low resolution combined layout -- like the one pictured here).  Head to my STUDIO J site heatherplotzke.ctmh.com now to
get started.

My 2013 Calendar Series - Part 2

So you know the back history from my post last week about why I Studio J is the fastest, cheapest, and smartest way to make your family calendars.  Wow, while I wrote this I realized how great would it be to make  sports groups, schools, or business calendars...oh my gosh my mind is now rolling.

Okay, sorry back to task.  I wanted to start showing you the insides of my calendars.  Now one thing to keep in mind is that when I make a layout I do not necessarily put the pages chronologically in the calendar.   Point of fact, today's layout I used one page in January and the other side in December.  When I design the layouts I think carefully about how that will play out, especially in cases where there are specific holiday names on my Stickease/papers/photos. That's why you'll notice in only mentions Christmas on one layout.
This is also the layout I used for my family Christmas cards this year...but that is a discussion for another day.

This layout is done using Pear & Partridge in my Studio J.

 

I wanted to give you a close up here of the actual calendar page.  I keep it simple and add Cricuted (yes that's a real verb as far as I'm concerned) title using the weld mode and then simply number the dates with a fine black pen.

When I adhere the layout to the calendar I use a large amount of Tombow tape runner because of it hanging.

Studio J layouts ALL February are only $5.00 ea.  That price gets you two printed 12 x 12 pages, and 3 jpg images (2 high resolution individual pages images, and 1 low resolution combined layout -- like the one pictured here).  Head to my STUDIO J site heatherplotzke.ctmh.com now to get started.

Happy Chinese New Year

Ni Hao (Hello) Happy New Year and Welcome the Year of the Snake!

I hope you have a fun day.

If you are getting your crafting on today, try a couple of these fun ideas to celebrate today with our CTMH Cricut cartridges:

• Try cutting the Take out box, then cut circles and with two folds turn them into your own fortune cookies.
• Also the party popper shape on the Artiste would make super fun treat holder for dinner.

Read in the bath today!

Okay I just have to say whoever came up with this holiday is a genius!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Seriously smarter than DaVinci and Einstein.

National Read in the Bath Day!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

 I'm in love with this holiday.  Enjoy the bubble bath!

New big clearance Items on Site heatherplotzke.ctmh.com

Alright my Bargain hunters!  Here you go head now to my website heatherplotzke.ctmh.com to get your hands on the best deals!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Huge new markdowns on retired items available online right now in the "While Supplies Last" section of my shopping site. 

Hurry these items will not last long!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Dimensional Element sets for $1.00!  A dollar, madness.
BULK papers (that's 24 sheets of a great double sided B&T paper) $3.50!  Are you kidding me.
Full Paper packets $1.75 and more!!!!  Don't even get me started on the matching clearanced accessories!!!!!!!

Hurry and grab yours today!!!!!!!!!!!

My 2013 Studio J Calendar series - Part 1

So I started making scrapbook calendars for my Mom 17 or 18 yrs ago (she'd know they are all saved safely away), no problem 12 pages of photos that yes I'd have to rescrap in my own albums, but not that much extra work right?!?

Skip ahead a few years, now my Mother-n-law didn't want to be left out; so now I was up 24 scrapped pages of photos not in my album....hmmmmm that's starting to be a little more than a little bit extra work.  About two years after that, when we moved cross country again a few more relatives jumped on the "can I have a calendar too" wagon.  NOW we were out of control!  It took countless hours, printing all the photos got super expensive, and I still didn't have those photos scrapped for ME!

Where am I going with this you're wondering?  No, I didn't tell them to make their own calendar (even though at times it crossed my mind).

 In 2009, Studio J changed my scrapbooking life forever!   I only have to make six, YUP I SAID SIX layouts and then just purchase it multiple times....INCLUDING a version for MY ALBUMS now!!!!!!!!!!!!! This is what freedom feels like.  With layouts taking between 15-50 mins to make on average (these are the advanced ones quick auto layouts 15 mins max!), I was done with designing my layouts in three hours this year (YUP for you all I timed it)!

All I had to do was tape runner the pages down unto CTMH's 12x12 Calendar, write on the dates and bam I was done.  I used our Cricut Art Philosophy to cut the month titles and saved it into Cricut craft room so I can duplicate it each year and I was free.

I made five calendars, and my own book so quickly.  Over the next few weeks I will show you all the layouts I used for this years.  For more ideas, you can look back at my posts from last year years calendar too.

All February, two page layouts cost a crazy low $5 Each!!! Not only do you get the 2 printed pages, you also get 3 JPG images of your layout (1 of ea page in high resolution, and 1 combined layout in low resolution perfect for emailing/facebook, or blogging with like I do).  For more Studio J information give me a shout!

Thanks for coming out!!!!!!!!!

I want to THANK EVERYONE who stopped out for my Openhouse!!!!!!!!  A great time was had by all checking out my latest round of new Idea Book inspired art work, chatting, and taking home some goodies.

Anyone who missed it and wants their very own copy of our latest Idea Book just contact me at hrkinney@hotmail.com and I will get one out to you. 

Its also available 24 hrs a day for your viewing pleasure online at heatherplotzke.ctmh.com!

Openhouse reminder - TONIGHT Feb 5th

Looking forward to seeing everyone TONIGHT Feb 5th at my Spring/Summer 2013 Idea Book *FREE* Openhouse!!!  We will be there 6 - 8p so come on out after work, after dinner to pick up your copy of the new book and see all the samples I've been making all this past month.

Lots to see, lots of fun to be had.  See you in a few hours!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Feb 5th Kick Off Party -- Come get your free Idea Book

Let's get this creative party started right!

Feb 5th 6pm - 8pm at the Oceanside Community Church (107 South Clementine St, Oceanside)

Come out and pick up your FREE copy of the book and check out some great new product samples. There will be chances to win goodies and cash and carry products and finished projects for sale, including a ton of stamp sets.

Bring your friends, co-workers, even your mother-n-laws. The more the merrier.

Can't make it out, no worries; out of towners, I want to spread the love...make sure you let me know and I will mail your book out to you.

These babies are live in February and I just can't wait for you to get as inspired as I am by the book. Looking forward to your RSVP's and seeing you.

Saturday night

Kiddos are in bed, radio rocking some tunes, and I'm rocking out Studio J's!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Today is a win in my book.

Happy Groundhogs' Day coloring crafts

Here is some fun for your little crafters to do this morning!  Here is hoping for an early Spring!