Happy Father's Day!

Since this weekend is my Dad's 50th class reunion, we celebrated Father's Day with him late last week.  Here's the card that I made him:

All of the fancy cuts you see were made with the CTMH/Cricut Artiste cartridge (and the stamping is with one of the 3 stamp sets you get with the Artiste bundle).  Since he loves being on the water, I thought the Tommy collection was the perfect match.

This card has a really cool feature: a slot for a gift card!  Dad's getting a little iTunes gift card to go with the iPod we gave him for Christmas (and instructions to get the granddaughters to help him if he needs it).

Of course I didn't forget my daughters' sweet Daddy either.  We hope that he will enjoy his special day today!  I made his card with the Surf's Up paper pack and the same stamps, Cricut cartridge, etc.  (The sketch for this card is from the Make It From Your Heart how-to guide.)

Yes, I do happen to think that they are BOTH the best!  My Dad has been a great dad to me, and Logan is a great dad to his girls!  I am so blessed!  Happy Father's Day!

I'm linking these cards up to the H2H Tool Time challenge since I used one of my favorite tools, the Cricut! ;)

Happy 15th Birthday, Ansley!

How in the world has 15 years passed since our first baby was born?!?

She has been such a joy to us and has grown to be such a beautiful young lady.  We are so proud of her and her accomplishments!  (Above, she is standing in her bedroom admiring the progress on our remodel.)  I am so glad that she and her sister will be home this weekend from 4-H camp.  I can't believe how much I've missed them!  Here's what she's going to find on her pillow when she gets home:

A pillow box present!  (I used the CTMH/Cricut Art Philosphy cartridge to cut the pillow box from Chantilly paper, but everything else was cut with the CTMH/Cricut Artiste cartridge and one of the three coordinating stamp sets that comes in the Artiste bundle.)

Inside her present she'll find this little card (which measures 2.5"x 3.5") and some gift cards so that she can go shopping.  I've also stashed a cheesecake in the fridge to help her celebrate.  Happy birthday, Ansley!

SOS June Challenge #1: All About Guys + Brads

The first June Scrap Our Stash challenge is all about guys!  Of course I had to make a layout for our favorite guy.  He says that I never take his picture and put him in our scrapbooks, although since I am usually holding the camera, I beg to differ.  He does often RUN though when he sees me coming with the camera!  There is one other requirement for this month's challenge: you have to use at least five brads too.

 

My husband grew a beard and mustache this winter to mixed reviews from family and friends! He just shaved it off with the onset of warmer weather, so I couldn't resist immortalizing the beard in this layout all about him.  On the left page, that is his brother in the photo with him.

All of my supplies are from Close To My Heart, and they're a mix of old and new. The layout sketch is from the Imagine how-to guide (retired). I used the new Surf's Up paper pack, but the brads, the metal embellishments, and the sassy strands are all retired. If you look closely, you can see that I distressed the edges of my photos and my Outdoor Denim card stock with a sanding block. I used Cashmere ink to distress the Colonial White card stock to give the layout more texture.

You have until 6/29 to dig into your stash and share a layout of your favorite guy(s), so link up at SOS!  You just might be this month's prize winner too.

Mojo Monday #296

This week's Mojo Monday sketch really caught my eye, so I used some of the supplies that I had out to make a card.  Because they tell you to feel free to substitute the shapes in the sketch, I thought the stamped speech bubble would be cool.  I then used rectangles with rounded corners to go with it.

By the way, did you know that the speech bubble stamp comes with the CTMH/Cricut Artiste cartridge?  You get the cartridge, THREE stamp sets, and chipboard pieces that coordinate with the cartridge.  Click HERE if you'd like to learn more!  

Here are the highlights of my card (all supplies from Close To My Heart):
*For Always paper pack (which includes the Ruby and Slate card stock, all the patterned paper, and the thin black piece, which is one of the "zip strips" from the paper pack)
*Black and Ruby ink

*Waterbrush to color the flowers on the Hi! sentiment

*Sponge some Ruby ink onto the white and black floral (small rectangle) so that it matches the card better

*Glam it up with sparkles!

Thanks for visiting!  Please leave me a comment to say Hi!  I'd love to know where you're from.  I live in the beautiful mountains of north Georgia.

Like Mother, Like Daughters {Layout Share}

One of my goals for the summer is to get my scrapbooks in order and to work on some of our older pictures.  (Many of you know that we are remodeling our house, so in the process of moving out, I've gotten most of the photos organized and the layouts organized, so now the task is to get the layouts in albums and to have fun scrapping.)



 

I have really been wanting to make a layout with these pictures of my mom, my sister, and me.  Since there is such a wide variety of colors in the photos, I have struggled with how to tie them all together.  Can you believe how well the Dream Pop papers go with them?  I am so pleased with how the layout turned out!



These photos are from 1980!  I used the Dream Pop promo layout as a guide for this page.  I had to use the elephant print since my sister loves elephants!  (Our yellow and green outfits sport snails, by the way.  We were way too cool!)

The right page uses a Triple Play sketch from Reflections.  I kept it fairly simple since the colors in the photos make them kind of busy.  I stamped my title with the (retired) Chocolate Small alphabet in Slate.  I couldn't resist cutting out three elephants to embellish the layout.  I used  a variety of self-adhesive pearls and Stardust glitter glitz gel to glam up our girly layout.  Also, a little washi tape helps to hold things together.

Now, the next step is to photograph the layouts and upload them to Studio J so that I can order a copy for my mom and for my sister!  (I am going to have to borrow a camera with a higher resolution, but this WILL work!)

Happy 5th Birthday!

Today is my nephew's 5th birthday, and we celebrated yesterday with a motorcycle/dirt bike party at his house.  He may not have been overly impressed with my handmade card, but he loved what was inside. ;)

My card base measured 5.5" by 10".  To create the pocket, I folded up the short edge 1.5" so that the card base would measure 8.5" which I then folded in half.  I used the Tommy paper pack for the candles and the inside pocket.  The sentiment Hip-Hip-Hooray is from the Artiste Birthday set that comes with the Artiste CTMH Cricut collection.  I just drew the candle flames with a Honey marker and then added some Almond Glitter Glitz Gel to give it a little sparkle.  (I'm sure Will appreciated that!)

He definitely had a great birthday, and we are so glad to have him in our lives!  Happy 5th birthday, Will!

June CTMH Special Offers

Close To My Heart is definitely a company with HEART!  Not only do we have an ongoing campaign to support Operation Smile, but in June you can help many, many others!

*Relief for Oklahoma (through 6/30)

All the profits of this adorable Thank You stamp (only $2.95!) go directly to support the Oklahoma tornado relief.  Click HERE for a PDF with the full details.

*Support Our Troops (June-July)

Choose between two different patriotic stamp sets (or both!), and $3 or $5 will go to the USO to support our troops.  Click HERE for a PDF that shows the stamp sets and explains all the details.

PLUS, we also have a special sales incentive, Make It a Banner Day:

With a $25 purchase in June, you'll receive a FREE My Creations mini banner.  These are so much fun to decorate!  For more info, click HERE for the PDF.

You also don't want to miss out on this month's stamp of the month, A Flowering Bunch:

Scroll down to find the Stamp of the Month Blog Hop if you'd like to see some fabulous artwork made with this fun set!  Again, here's a PDF flyer with all the details.

I will be teaching a scrapbook class on Sunday, 6/23 where you can take advantage of these great offers.  You can also shop online anytime HERE.

Stamp of the Month Blog Hop: June 2013 A Flowering Bunch

Close To My Heart has a cute, retro-inspired stamp of the month for June!  A Flowering Bunch is a set of 10 hip stamps.  Join me on this month's blog hop to see all kinds of great ideas with this set.  (If you're already hopping, then you've probably arrived from the talented Wendy Coffman's blog.  Check out my project, leave a comment, and then head on over to visit Sheila Bennett next.)

This stamp set seemed to pair well with the Claire paper collection, and in browsing through my photo storage system, I found these darling pictures of my DD (who will be 15 later this month!!!!) back when she was a year old.  I knew they would pair perfectly together!  I found a great sketch in my (retired) Cherish how-to guide, and the rest was easy peasy.

After stamping in Outdoor Denim, I colored some of the flowers with markers from the Claire color palette.  I used the CTMH/Cricut Artiste cartridge to make the title banner and the flower cutouts.  The pretty embellishments are also part of the Claire collection.  CTMH makes it so easy to mix and match!

Be sure to stop back often, because even in the midst of our remodel, since school is out I have found a little time to craft so I have more to share.  Hope to "see" you soon! Now go see Sheila's spectacular creation!  Thanks for hopping by!  Be sure to check out this month's Close To My Heart special offers on my sidebar.  There are some great opportunities this month!

Relief for Oklahoma Campaign

Close To My Heart is making a new Autumn/Winter 2013 stamp set, A True Thank You, available immediately and will donate 100% of the profits from sales of the set from May 23 through June 30 to the American Red Cross to aid the Oklahoma victims. Help us provide relief to those affected by the devastating Oklahoma tornado by purchasing A True Thank You stamp set for $2.95 (M1029) today!

You can order yours at http://haleyd.ctmh.com.  Thank YOU!

CTMH Pajama Party Tonight!

Bigpicturescrapbooking.com and Close To my Heart are sponsoring a FREE PJ party tonight @ 9 PM EDT.  Use my code at right to register!

H2H Challenges: Nip & Tuck

Happy Memorial Day to all my American friends!  I hope that as you enjoy today, you remember the reason for today.  Thank you to our servicemen and women!

Now, on to this week's Heart 2 Heart challenge: how about a nip and a tuck?  Now, we're not talking plastic surgery; we were thinking along the lines of a sewing project.  Of course you are free to interpret our challenges how you like.  It doesn't have to be actual sewing (which I try to avoid).  There are lots of great faux sewing techniques.  (In fact, yesterday, I had to tack a decoration onto my shirt that had come loose, and my husband threatened to get the camera to capture me with needle and thread.)  You've probably guessed that I have chosen a simple faux sewing technique: marker stitching.

On my Blush card stock base, I used an Outdoor Denim marker to draw my stitching.  I also added stitching to the CTMH Cricut Artiste dress form (made from Slate card stock).  All of the squares are from the Claire collection and measure 1.5".  This simple sketch can be found in the Make It From Your Heart, Vol. 1 how-to guide.  The buttons (retired), seam binding ribbon, ricrac, hemp, and pin seemed to fit the sewing theme well.

Since this is the last May H2H challenge, you have until this Saturday to enter into any of May's challenges.  Check out my team's inspiration for you and then get crafting.  It'll be sew fun (even if my pun isn't)!

Scrap Our Stash May Sketch Challenge

This month's SOS sketch challenge is to use the following sketch along with at least 3 pre-made (not handmade) flowers.

Using a new paper pack is using your stash too, right?  I could not believe how well Close To My Heart's Dream Pop paper pack matched my daughter's spring piano recital!

I cut down the program to use as one of the page elements of the sketch.  My chipboard flowers are from Around the Block.  I also used flower sequins & brads from Queen & Co. along with CTMH flower brads and flower gems (retired).  The pearl flourishes and washi tape are current products.  The peach ribbon was some that I had in my stash that may have been a Target Dollar Spot find.

I had fun designing the second page to coordinate with the sketch.  Here's the pre-printed Dream Pop paper that I started with:

And the finished page (after):

Now, you've only got a few more days to Scrap (y)Our Stash!  All May entries are due by the 29th, and you can play along with either- or both- challenges, but you cannot combine the two challenges.  Click HERE to go to the SOS blog.

What are you waiting for?  Go get scrappin'!