More Hope & Kindness

 Here's another travel layout that I made using the Hope & Kindness collection.

I love using sketches as my inspiration/"recipe" to help guide my layouts, and I'm really glad that I thought to check out the 4x6 Photo Sketch Blog.  Her design that I copied is way better than what I had envisioned in my planning stage!

Most of the accents are from the paper collection, but I also used pennant stickers and die cuts.  I had fun embellishing this layout with my white gel pen and gold stickles.  (I have one photo still to develop and add to the left page where the big white box is.)

Thanks for letting me share another travel-themed layout with the Hope & Kindness collection!

Hope & Kindness Layout

It's always fun to challenge myself to use our collections in (somewhat) unexpected ways.  I thought the colors of the new Hope & Kindness special collection would match well with photos from our trip out West, and I have to say that I was right!

I decided to use a sketch from Make It From Your Heart, Vol. 5 but switched the left & right pages.  Toffee provided a rich but neutral background to make my accents pop.  

I kept my accents minimal with a few stickers, kraft Hope & Kindness die cuts, and gold glitter gems.  (I have to add them and gold sequins to my wish list!)  I decided that flowers were a little too much for these particular photos.

I love how that little sliver of gold glitter paper (only 1/4" wide) adds such a pretty pop to the page!  I used the stickers and die cuts at the top and then added the title after stamping it with Toffee ink and my Celebration Alphabet stamp set on a stitched frames Thin Cut.

Don't you agree that this collection works well for travel photos too?  If you're interested in any of these products, you can find them HERE.  The Hope & Kindness collection is only available through the end of the month.

Cake Day Fab @ 50 Layout Share

My family and friends helped me celebrate a big birthday in a big way earlier this year!  I thought that Wildberry ended up being a great addition to the black & gold color scheme of the layout I made to commemorate the celebration.

I used the recent Cake Day stamp set and Thin Cuts stamped in Toffee, Ballerina, Wildberry, and Black plus cut the 50 out of gold glitter paper with my retired Thin Cuts alphabet and numbers.

Banners or pennants are always festive!  I used some of the Love Story (Black) papers also.  The stamp is one in my stash from a retired special that seemed to fit very well.

I have to reprint a photo of my daughters and nephews but will add that soon to finish this layout.  

Remember that Wildberry, the color of the year, won't be around forever!

May Stamp of the Month with Hope & Kindness

 Hope & Kindness is a beautiful collection available this month only.  I paired it with a sentiment from the May stamp of the Month, You Can Do Anything, to create this simple card.

I inked up the sentiment in Desert Rose and Harbour and added a gold glitter gems to finish off this pretty (if I do say so myself) card.

You can view all of this month's special offers HERE before they're gone!

National Scrapbooking Day: Good Vibes

Don't miss out on the awesome Good Vibes National Scrapbooking Day, available while supplies last!

I used my kit to create the layouts pretty much as the guide directed.

This kit paired perfectly with our recent spring break beach trip photos.  Grab yours before it's gone HERE!

May Stamp of the Month, You Can Do Anything, Mountain Card

The mountain scene in the May stamp of the month, You Can Do Anything, is so peaceful that I thought it would make a nice retirement card.

After stamping the image (and a few clouds) on a 3.75"x5" panel of White Daisy cardstock, I colored the image with watercolor pencils.  I chose greens and blues to mimic our Appalachian mountains and lake living.  I blended everything with a paint brush and water, then added some Lemonade shimmer brush to the sun.  I wonder how it might look with some sun rays but was afraid to go too over the top.  I finished it off with a Postage Frames Thin Cut in Sapphire.

Fresh Paint Card

Our daughter flew to Paris on Tuesday to study abroad this summer, and I snuck this card into her suitcase to wish her bon voyage!

I used the Fresh Paint collection (paper, scrapbooking stamp set, and acrylic shapes) and sketch from Make It From Your Heart. 

I am happy to report that she made it safely and loved her card.

H2H Challenges: International Scrapbooking Month

It's May, which means it's time for (Inter)national Scrapbooking Day and Month and our first Heart2Heart Challenge!

I have to show off the Good Vibes National Scrapbooking Day kit!  I made the first page pretty much exactly like the guide but then added my own title block on the flipflap middle element.

The right page is also pretty much identical to the guide, but on the back of the flipflap element I made my own ocean waves.

You can see how I played with both shades of Glacier cardstock.  At first, it was too "flat" (even with the paper tearing "foam" edges) but clear shimmer trim made the cardstock sparkle similar to the water.

Be sure to visit the H2H blog, check out our designers' inspiration, and join us!

May Stamp of the Month: You Can Do Anything

Happy May Day!  Close To My Heart has some amazing specials this month, including the pretty May stamp of the month, You Can Do Anything.  My stamp of the month blog hop group is trying something different, opening up more opportunities for all on Facebook.  You can find us HERE!

I created two almost identical cards with scraps leftover from my Good Vibes National Scrapbooking Day bundle and the May stamp of the month.

For my first card, I used the Sage heart side of the largest strip.  I stamped the sentiment in Sage and Espresso then accented with Espresso birds in flight and wooden flowers (also leftover from the Good Vibes kit).

For the second card, I turned the card and used the Glacier side instead of hearts (but used a scrap as a piece of "washi tape" on the sentiment).  Again, I used Espresso ink and some extra Sundance cardstock.

Find us on Facebook HERE!