Stamp of the Month Blog Hop: July's Sweet Life

Welcome to the Sweet Life blog hop featuring Close To My Heart's July 2013 stamp of the month!  This set has really grown on me as I've used it.  If you'd like to get incredible inspiration of all this set has to offer, then head to Vickie Price's blog next. (If you've already started the hop, then you should have arrived from Georgia's blog.)

For my card set, I decided to use the For Always paper pack and accent the fruit with Ruby, Sunset, and Topiary.  Each of my card sketches came from the Make It From Your Heart how-to book.  I used Opaque Pearls and our beautiful black striped grosgrain ribbon to accent the cards.  Since I do not love to color, I tried to recreate a toile effect with this set using only black ink.  The sentiment piece was cut with the Cricut Art Philosophy cartridge.  I like how it turned out, although for future cards in this style, I will try stamping the sentiment in a bright color.

For the rest of the cards, I used the waterbrush to color the images.  First I colored all my images with Topiary on the leaves and stems.  Then, I used Sunset ink to color the peaches.

 Ruby is one of the colors in the For Always paper pack.  Can you see the sentiment "Love you to the core"?

 To make my B&T paper match my image more, I water brushed Ruby ink in the centers of each medallion. It really helped to pull all the pieces together.

Thanks for enjoying a bit of the Sweet Life with me today!  Go check out Vickie's project next! 

Hi Again!

Greetings from Orlando!  Right now, I am at Close To My Heart's annual convention, this year being held at the Coronado Springs Resort of Walt Disney World!  This is the 4th convention I've had the privilege to attend in my 13 years as a CTMH consultant.

One of the fun "events" of convention is swapping.  You make cards, etc., to bring and swap for whatever goodies other consultants have made and brought with them.  I've tried to make a few extra cards over the last few months, but I did sort of "mass produce" this card style, which is based on the one you can find on p. 124 of the current CTMH Idea Book.  (It also might look familiar because I made another card- HERE- based on the Mojo Monday sketch #296 using the same materials.)

 The For Always paper pack includes Lagoon (above), Ruby (below), Honey, and Slate card stock.  The sentiment is from one of the three CTMH/Cricut Artiste collection stamp sets.  The Cricut makes crafting so easy!  Did you know that on the Cricut stamp sets, the page number and cutting size are listed right on the stamp set carrier?  That makes it so easy to find what you're looking for!

To embellish these cards, I used either Silver Glitter Trim or Slate Washi tape, black tulle or the black grosgrain ribbon, and black glitter buttons or black & gray sparkles.  I love how well both cards look.  Which is your favorite and why?

If you're at Convention, I hope that we can meet up and swap!  I'll be sharing some of the fun goodies I receive here on the blog in a few days.  See you soon!

Scrap Our Stash June Sketch Challenge

Not only does Scrap Our Stash Challenges have a great sketch for you to try this month, but there's the additional challenge of incorporating a premade tag or journaling card AND jute or twine on your layout!

I decided to use this sketch for the title page for my 2013 family album.  (Each month I make a "highlights" layout.)  I choose three pictures that represent the first half of this year, and then when I printed them, I decided that the For Always paper pack was a great match.

Since I had to use a premade tag, as I dug through my stash, I found a box of old bank ledger paper from my late father-in-law.  It is perfect on the layout!  (I love how patterned paper shows through.)  The little rolodex card is also from my stash from a pack that I found for only $0.50.  I used Whisper, Slate, and Ruby inks with the Family Love, A Journey, and Approved stamp sets.  The cool glitter numbers are from the Glamour glitter alphabet set, and they tie in well with the (retired) glitter brads.  Finally, I couldn't find my gray baker's twine, but the black hemp is close enough to jute or twine (I hope!).  It's all about scrapping your stash, right?

I am sad to share that this will be my final post as a member of the SOS Design Team. (Notice that I didn't say that this is my final SOS post; I will still be playing along for fun as time allows!)  Life is just so overwhelming right now with our home remodel that I needed to clear off my busy plate a bit.  It has been a pleasure working with the entire SOS DT, and I know that the new group will continue to inspire and challenge us all!  Be sure to visit the SOS blog often!

H2H Challenges: Color Me Happy

This week's Heart 2 Heart challenge is the most bittersweet one for me this year!  You see, the first team that I've led is "retiring" this week.  It has been such a pleasure working with all of these talented artists!  (Of course, we've got another great team ready to take over starting in July!)

This final term's challenge is "Color Me Happy!"  Of all 40+ of the current CTMH colors, what color(s) make you happy?  If you need a little inspiration, check out all of our DT's creations over at the H2H blog.  (And by all, I mean ALL of our designers!)  Then, it's your turn to share a little love- and eye candy- at the H2H blog.

I'll be honest: it was hard for me to choose my favorite CTMH color.  I have loved many along the way. (Baby Pink, Seafoam, and Ponderosa Pine, anyone?  Remember Breeze?  So yummy!)  Right now, my favorite that definitely makes me happy is Lagoon, which I've featured on this card along with the Hello Tweety stamp set.  Isn't Lagoon so pretty paired with Black and Slate?  If you look closely, you can see how I scored the Lagoon card stock to create a harlequin pattern.  This card design is the Medallion sketch from Wishes, and I embellished it with Lagoon baker's twine (in the Paradise Assortment) and sparkles from the Blue & Green collection.

Okay, what are you waiting for?  Head on over to H2H and color me happy!

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.