June Stamp of the Month Blog Hop: Ice Cream Dream

Are you ready for summer?  Close To My Heart has a sweet stamp of the month set for June: Ice Cream Dream!  We've also got a sweet blog hop with 50 consultants sharing some amazing ideas!  (If you're already hopping, you've arrived from Jen's blog.  After you check out my card, hop on over to Krista's blog next.)

My card began with the June stamp of the month, Ice Cream Dream, the Seaside paper pack, and a sketch from Make It From Your Heart, Vol. 1.  I stamped the main sentiment in Chocolate ink (because of course chocolate goes with ice cream!) and then used my blending pen and Glacier ink to color and highlight the Ice Cream portion.  I distressed the paper pieces with Desert Sand ink.

The ice cream cone was fun to make.  I first stamped it on my card front with Desert Sand ink and then stamped it again on the Sorbet B&T.  I also stamped it once on a scrap piece of paper and cut out the cone section, which I then used as a mask to sponge Desert Sand ink onto the cone on the card.  The next step was to cut out the Sorbet piece, adhere, and "garnish" with a "cherry" (a Coral Reef sequin) on top.  The final touches were the gold shimmer trim and Glacier thick twine.

I hope that I've given you a few quick and easy ideas to use with Ice Cream Dream.  Now go see Krista's cool creation!

Click HERE for all the hop participants and their blogs.

If you get lost along the way, feel free to come back here to get the complete list.  Thanks for hopping by!

Prom Layout in Studio J

One of the things that I absolutely love about scrapbooking in Studio J is that I am able to order multiple copies of layouts for gifts or for different albums (like one for each of my daughters).  In this case, I made a highlight layout of our daughter's junior prom so that her grandmothers and I could all have a copy.

Another great feature about Studio J is how easy it is now to add or remove photo wells, change photos wells to text boxes and vice versa.  I added the photo under the title in lieu of a journaling block so that I could fit in all the pictures that I wanted to use.

When the layouts arrive, I plan to embellish them with some of our sparkles and silver shimmer trim to coordinate with her dress.  If you'd like to see the layout that I made for her (in the traditional scrapping style), you can click HERE.

Thanks for letting me share my girl with you once again!  This Friday she is getting her wisdom teeth removed, so I would appreciate prayers for a speedy surgery and recovery period.  Thanks!

H2H Challenges: Tutti Frutti

With the current Close To My Heart "Taste of Summer" paper pack and special stamp set, the Heart 2 Heart Challenge, Tutti Frutti, couldn't have come at a better time!  This weekend has definitely been the kick off to summer around here (even though I have to work today- but don't feel too sorry for me because Wednesday is my last day for the school year).  Our older daughter earned her boating license on the heels of our younger daughter, and we put the jet skis in the water yesterday.  Happy girls indeed!

Okay, okay, back to this week's challenge (and the final May H2H Challenge).  I used the Taste of Summer paper pack to make a set of thank you cards to give to my students in gratitude for the sweet gifts I received at the end of the school year.  I made 2-3 of each of the following card designs, all following the same Make It From Your Heart, Vol. 2 sketch.  They use various zip strips from the paper pack, shimmer trim, sparkles, and two stamps sets: Tag the Occasion and the Alphabet set from the CTMH/Cricut Artfully Sent collection.  The first uses purple shimmer trim, Thistle & Canary ink, and purple glitter gems.

 Ruby chevron washi tape plus sparkles with Hollyhock and Ruby inks:

 Gold shimmer trim & green epoxy bubbles with Sunset and Topiary inks:

 Gold shimmer trim & gold glitter gems with Canary and Topiary inks:

 This one uses the CTMH/Cricut Art Philosphy cartridge plus Sunset ink, gold shimmer trim, and gold sparkles:

I hope you like all these variations and that I've inspired you to go a little Tutti Frutti!  Check out all the H2H designers' creations!

Teacher Appreciation and the Last Day of School

Can you believe that today is the last day of school?!?  This year has absolutely flown by!  I have got to find the brakes for this crazy train called life!  Today is the final day that my daughters will be a junior and 8th grader.  (They will both be in high school together next year, so that is something to look forward to.)  In light of the end of school, here are teacher appreciation cards that I made using the Teacher Appreciation stamp set and the Chalk It Up paper pack (based on a sketch from Make It From Your Heart, Vol. 1).

 One version uses a Flaxen card base and the other uses Sorbet.  Also, for the music teachers I used a retired music staff stamp for the background.

 To color the owl, I used two of my watercolor colored pencils sans water.

 A little teal shimmer trim and a black star finished off the cards nicely.

I hope that the teachers like their cards.  It has been a great year!

Taste of Summer Thank You Sunburst Card

Last week one of my sweet kiddos brought me this jar of "sunshine": inside was a towel, sunscreen, lemonade mix packets, and nail polish!  Isn't it adorable?  So so thoughtful!

This year has been such a great one, and I am so thankful for all of my darlings.  I can't believe that this is our last week of school.

To show my appreciation, I made this "orange you sweet" sunburst card using the Taste of Summer stamp set and paper pack.

H2H Challenges: Extra! Extra! Read All About It!

The latest installment of Heart 2 Heart Challenges is the theme challenge, Extra! Extra! Read All About It!  The project that I came up with is not at all where I thought I would go when I first read about this theme challenge.  I definitely like how all the versions of my card came out, though.

It is so hard for me to believe that this is our last week of school and that graduation is Friday night!  Since our school colors are purple and gold, I grabbed my Gypsy and Honey inks and papers to create this fun graduation card.  (It is based on the sample with the Diploma Day stamp set in the Seasonal Expressions 2 on page 17.)  The main sentiment is stamped in Gypsy on a piece of White Daisy card stock cut with the CTMH/Cricut Art Philosophy cartridge.  To create the tassel on the mortarboard, I first stamped it in Honey on the sentiment frame and then in Gypsy on scrap that I then cut out.  I snipped away the tassel on my Gypsy piece and then adhered it over the top of the stamped Honey image.  My embellishments are white and gold shimmer trim plus white epoxy stars.

 This second version uses purple glitter gems as embellishments.

 Another young friend's school colors are black and gold.  Can you see the shine on the Basics Paper Fundamentals embossed card stock?

 Here are two "generic" versions in case I need a few more graduation cards and don't know the correct colors to use.  You can't go wrong with black and white for graduation'1

Thanks for stopping by and taking a look at my Extra! Extra! H2H challenge submission.  You have all month to join us!

Prom 2015

Just a few weeks ago, our daughter attended her junior prom.  Here is the layout that I made to commemorate the special event.

The Blossom paper pack coordinated well with her dress and photos.  I designed the layout based on the pictures.  I used silver shimmer trim and sparkle flourishes and flowers from my stash to embellish the layout, along with two white flowers from the Blushed Assortment.

 For the right page, I created a flap with White Daisy card stock to hold a picture and hidden journaling.

The stamp sets I used were the Taste of Summer National Scrapbooking Month special and the Vogue alphabet.  Thanks for letting my share my big girl with you!  I'm not sure how she got to be this old already!

National Scrapbooking Month: A Taste of Summer Blog Hop

Close To My Heart has an incredible offer for National Scrapbooking Month!  A Taste of Summer is a fresh and pretty paper pack and an optional stamp set available this month only.  My fellow blog hop consultants and I wanted to give you lots of ideas to use with the paper pack and stamp set.  (If you're already hopping then you've probably arrived from Wendy's blog.  You'll hop next to Catherine's blog when you're ready to leave here.)

For this quick and easy card, I started with a White Daisy card stock base and stamped the sentiment from the Taste of Summer stamp set in Pixie, then the flourish in Pear, followed by the dots in Canary.  I tried to make the pink lemon look a bit like lips blowing a kiss by folding it in half and then popping up the top and bottom edges only with 3-D foam tape.  I love the combination of gold and pink shimmer trim with the Pear washi tape.  I also used a piece of the Taste of Summer B&T with the lemon zip strip for the bottom.

What do you think of my pink lemonade twist with the addition of Pixie to the Taste of Summer mix?  I think it's pretty refreshing.

Thanks for visiting!  I hope you're ready now for a Taste of Summer.  Be sure to check out what Catherine has created with this great collection!  {Click on her name after you leave me a comment.  Thanks!}

Click HERE for all the hop participants & their blogs.

H2H Challenges: Mum's the Word!

With Mother's Day right around the corner, Heart 2 Heart Challenges has issued a "Mum's the Word" challenge.  Of course you don't have to use mom for this challenge.  Maybe you've got a little secret that it's time to share?  Or maybe you need to scrapbook some beautiful blooms?  No matter how you interpret the challenge, we are looking forward to seeing your creations.

My take on the challenge is (obviously) Mother's Day.  This card began with a sheet of Pear card stock and my CTMH/Cricut Artfully Sent cartridge.  Because I needed two Mother's Day cards, I set my dial at 5.5" for a standard size card and was able to cut two from the one sheet.  For this first card, I paired my card base with pieces of the Brushed paper pack (although the tiny green leaves are from Blossom).  I pieced paper scraps behind the cutouts to fill in the background, even using pink shimmer trim on the "ribbons."  (Then I cut a piece of White Daisy card stock as a liner to hide the "mess" on the inside.)  The front is embellished with the Brushed assortment and various glitter gems/sparkles.

The second card is so similar to the first, but this one is paired with the Blossom paper pack and embellished with blue shimmer trim and blue and green epoxy bubbles.  If you look really closely, you can see how I used the "rainbow" diagonal striped zip strip to decorate the flower/leaf spray.  Finally, I also found a retired Pear button that I layered with a big clear sparkle for extra dimension.

Before you get check out how the H2H Design Team has interpreted the "Mum's the Word" challenge, I would love to know which card you prefer.  Thanks for visiting!

P.S.
Note to Mom: Act surprised when you get your card! ;)  XO

Taste of Summer

There might be a little nip in the air this morning, but summer is definitely around the corner!  I don't want to rush through spring by any means, but Close To My Heart has a really fun (and cute) special offer in May in honor of National Scrapbooking Month: the Taste of Summer paper pack and coordinating stamp set!

The paper packs are $8.95 each, there is no minimum purchase requirement, and you can purchase as many as you like.  The adorable stamp set is only $17.95.  If you purchase either (or both) through me, I will email you the directions that Close To My Heart designed for these two following gorgeous layouts AND the cards too!

Come back Wednesday evening for a blog hop featuring the Taste of Summer special for tons of ideas!  If you're ready to get your own set, click HERE.