I would so love for you to join us at what will be an inspiring event – prepare to be wowed by our new ranges, and ideas for just what you can create with them (scrapbooking, cardmaking, gift and papercraft).

Click HERE to register and for more details.

But wait …., there’s more!   When you register, you’ll also be able to pre-purchase for pick up on the day, your very own Create Kindness exclusive card kit.

We’re encouraging Random Acts of Kindness – and these little cards will come together in no time so you can surprise so many with a heartfelt message.  Watch the hashtag #createkindess on Instagram and FB to see what acts of kindness these little cards are inspiring, and join the conversation by posting some pictures of your own.

See you there.

x

There were two big celebrations at our crop on Saturday, that I just have to share with you all.

The first lady I’d like to do a big shout out about for is Debbie.  She has done the most amazing job over the last couple of years, creating the most beautiful albums for her daughters.  And Saturday was a pretty special day, as she completed the last few pages on yet another amazing story.  Here’s what a finished album looks like;

I can’t share the inside pages just yet, as this album will be given as a surprise birthday gift in a couple of weeks.  But trust me – it is the most amazing documentation of her daughters’ dance career – and I KNOW this will make the best 18th birthday present.  There is so much LOVE in this book it’s incredible – and it’s not just her daughters’ dedication to her dance that’s represented – when you take a step back, you realise how much dedication Debbie has given to that dance career.  I am so proud to be your consultant Debbie, and to have helped in some small way with you creating this gift.   Make sure you’ve got the camera ready when you give it – because I know there’ll be tears!

Saturday’s crop was doubly special, because along with my ‘regulars’ we also had one newbie.  Amy was attending her first crop, working on her first project.    Amy has a few projects to do, but with her husbands 40th looming in just a couple of weeks, she thought it would be nice if she could do something for him, and came to me for guidance and advice on this.   Well – I can tell you that Amy had already created the perfect platform for a home made gift.  For the last year or so, she has kept a journal of her positive observations of her husbands actions.  As she said, it’s all too easy to focus on the negatives, and what they don’t do, so she decided she’d turn that around, and focus on all the things she saw that he did that made her appreciate him.  It’s not a daily journal (because that would be too hard on too many fronts!).  I just love this idea – and it could be one you could do with your partner, or with your children.  I think this type of journal could pay dividends in so many ways.  Firstly – for you writing it.  If you’re thinking positive thoughts about someone, you’re more likely to feel more positive about them – and those thoughts will will shine through in your actions – creating a better environment.  If you share those thoughts (as Amy has done in her book (stay tuned), then those individuals are probably going to feel pretty good about themselves, and perhaps try and re-create those behaviours, because they can see they’re appreciated.  It’s such a win win!

So as you can see, I was just delighted to hear about Amy’s journal, and with her two week deadline, I knew I had the perfect products to help her create the ultimate gift.

So, armed with her photos, her journal, a selection of 8×6 memory protectors, the My Crush Adventure Calls pages, and the Everyday Life album cover, Amy started.

She worked like a demon – and ….. FINISHED!  (well, almost – she’s just got to go home and journal, but the structure is all done).

How awesome is that?  Just one afternoon, to create the most amazing book of their life together over the last 20 years, interspersed with these beautiful journal entries of all the little things she’s ‘caught’ him doing that she appreciates.  Our Everyday Life books are so great for smaller projects, or as an ‘entry level’ project.   I can tell you Amy’s caught ‘the bug’ and is already planning her next project!

I can’t wait to hear about the reaction when hubby receives the album – I just KNOW the love in the room that day will be phenomenal.

So proud of you Amy.

x

And I love teaching something new just as much.  I am very fortunate to have many clever ladies in my team, who share their talents with our group, so we can all continually learn.

This card idea was shared by the extraordinarily talented Victoria Trembath, who not only researched the best way of achieving this ‘reflection’ idea, but also wrote out the BEST instructions so that even I could follow it when I was all on my lonesome.

I am just so thrilled at the outcome, and can’t wait to teach this at our Card Creations classes next week (if you’d like to book, please email me on cropcraftcreate@gmail.com).

Along with the reflection technique, I’ve also used two stamp sets – Enjoy the Ride B1525

(from Seasonal Expressions, only available until the end of August), and Finding the Words D1646 (in the 2016/17 Annual Inspirations).

The bike was stamped in black with Momento ink, and then coloured using my lovely Shin Han markers.  The ‘puddle’ was sponged in crystal blue, whilst the earth was sponged in Champagne.

So what do you think?  Is Victoria not the cleverest?!!  I think so, and will take this opportunity to publicly tell her how much she is loved and valued.

Megan

x

I know that when you see our range of new papers ‘in the flesh’ you’re going to NEED them (or was that meant to say want??!!).  So to sweeten the deal, this month CTMH have a great offer for you.

During the month of August, when you order our Whimsy, Adventure, and Enchantment Fundamental papers, you can choose to get either the Rustic Home or Uptown Fundamentals for FREE! Both of these Basics packets feature foil designs and specialty materials for making your artwork unique.

So order those (⇑) and get these (⇓) for FREE.

And if you’d like to do that right now, just click HERE.

Get yourself ready to be blown away by a whole lot of new gorgeousness!  I have copies of the 2016/17 book for you plus I have been a busy beaver all weekend creating from it.  I would love for you to come and see it all for yourself – so please, if you’re in Auckland, pop in at my Open Home event tomorrow (2nd August), between 2&4pm OR 5:30-7:30pm.

I promise you’ll be inspired!

For more details please email me on cropcraftcreate@gmail.com

Megan

x

Hello and welcome to our Magical Australasian Close To My Heart blog hop.

If you have arrived here from Maz Woods Inky Fingers then you are in the right place.  This is a circular hop, so when you’ve finished reading my post (and have posted a comment!), simply click on the link to the next blog at the end.  Keep reading and ‘hopping’ until you find yourself back where you started.  Each blog will showcase a project featuring the Magical paper suite from CTMH.

Today I’d like to share with you a scrapbook layout – it’s a little bit ‘out there’ for me – but you know, sometimes you just have to step out of your comfort zone and try something different.🙂  This is bright and busy, perfect as it is for photos of your child achieving something you’re both proud of, or change the title and it could be good for theme park or birthday photos.  I’m sure you’ve got photos from one of these themes in your stash right??!!

So how have I created this?  If you’d like to duplicate it (I must say here, that this layout was completely inspired by one found on another blog (www.passionateaboutscrapbooking.com), you’ll need some Magical paper, plus two sheets of Whisper cardstock for the overlays.  The overlays were cut using CTMH’s Artbooking Cricut cartridge (if you’re a scrapbooker, and you own a Cricut, you should so own this cartridge), and the title ‘Star’ was cut using the Artistry cartridge.  You probably won’t be able to see it in the photo, but I did glaze the title and some of the other stars with liquid glass – this looks cool close up, and just adds another dimension.

So what do you think?  I’d love you to leave a comment before heading off for some more inspiration at Vandra’s Virtual CTMH craftroom .

Megan

x

If you’ve got photos from a ‘glamour’ event, have I got a layout for you!  Dean, our youngest son, had his school ball 2 weeks ago which was themed Starry night, so I had a few photos from the event (thanks to Cactus Photography).   Photo booths are definitely ‘in’ right now!

Then someone shared a photo of a layout from our US convention – that I absolutely fell in love with.  I’m not sure whether it was a page created by our design team, or by a consultant, so unfortunately I can’t credit the original creator that sparked my page, but I am nevertheless grateful.  As soon as I saw it I knew it’d be perfect for the ball photos.

Isn’t it cool?!!  (LOL, am I allowed to say that about my own pages??)🙂  I just love it.

So what did I use?  The two bottom strips of paper (white daisy and whisper) are stars stamped in ‘whisper’ ink using the Charming Cascades (D1668) stamp.  (Check it out, it’s a seriously cool stamp set with stars, hearts and dots.)

I had the photos printed at my local shop using the ‘instax’ option 4×4 – to give the ‘polaroid’ look that totally works with the photo booth photos.  I took the page photo before I did my journalling, but I have now written underneath each photo – I love how these just provide the perfect spot for journalling on each one.   The photos are all ‘tied’ together with our lovely whisper twine, for that added texture on the page.

I’ve used two different fonts for the titles – the large ‘starry’ is cut from my Cricut using a sheet of white glitter paper , the other titles are stickers from the Fundamentals Stickers Basics Pack – these packs have SO much in them, for just $12.  I really like the basics pack also, because along with the gold and black, you also get white stickers, which I often colour with my shin han markers to give me a full range of colours.

The final accents were all created using the Fundamentals Glacier pack, check it out below, it also has a lot in it for a great price.

If you’re coming to SENZ this weekend, you can check it out in person – as always, it looks even better in ‘real life’!

Do you know what I’m talking about??  Officially it’s called a ‘zip strip’ – that extra strip across the top of CTMH b&t (background and texture) papers.  Actually, there’s a lot in that little strip – which is why I call it a bonus strip.

The first benefit is that it is an extra decorative piece that you can cut off and use as a co-ordinating accent (and yes, it is in addition to the 12×12 size, so you don’t lose your full sheet by trimming this off).

This page came up when I was checking out Pinterest – and I just had to share.  It’s by the very clever Canadian consultant Jennifer Smith – what a creative way to use not just one, but lots of zip strips.  Isn’t it just beautiful?  This is using a mix of Calypso and Magical papers.

But wait, there’s more ….  Check out Jennifer’s blog for another beautiful page that showcases an even more creative design using the zip strips.

The second benefit in that little zip strip is that CTMH print on the reverse side o the co-ordinating plain cardstock colours that go with the paper in your hot little hands.  I refer to this ALL the time – it takes all the guesswork out of matching papers and designs.  And for me, anything that saves me time, and helps me like this, is an absolute winner!

CTMH, your zip strips are a true BONUS.

This paper pack just screams happiness at me – working with this paper is the ultimate mood enhancer.

I have just updated all the details for June’s speed scrapbooking kit under the speed tab (so go check it out and order yours), but right here, right now, I want to share the pages I created with these kits myself.  I haven’t quite finished, as I haven’t journalled yet, but I couldn’t wait to share with you;

Calypso speed layout 1

Calypso speed layout 2

Told you – bright, breezy, happy pages.  Get yours now!

So you all know about my speed scrapbooking kits – now I’d like to share with you Speed Decor!

This is a combination of CTMH’s Display Tray (a steal at just $34.50), and some Picture My Life (PML) cards (I also used some PML overlays).  This beautiful artwork took me just 15 minutes to create – and look how fab it looks;

It really couldn’t be any simpler.  You can mix and match your photos – see the two on the bottom row on the left – that was one 4×6 that I simply cut down the middle and split across the two boxes.   And if you want to make a highlight of something, and it doesn’t fit, you simply put it on the outside, like I’ve done with the photo top right.  Of course, if you don’t have Picture My Life cards, you can cut up some scrapbook paper – it just might take you another couple of minutes.  So yours might be a 20 minute project!

Totally versatile, totally cool, totally 15 minutes!!!

Order your display tray today : www.cropcraftcreate.co.nz