Thank You Card

Many of you know that our older daughter will be graduating from high school tomorrow night.  Here is the card that we made to give to her advisor/homeroom teacher of the last four years.

The adorable graduation owl and sentiment are from the Teacher Appreciation stamp set.  I used a piece of La Vie en Rose B&T and a piece of retired Tommy B&T.  Even though our school colors are purple and gold, I had to use Lagoon instead.  Aren't the Florence sequins a perfect match?

Here is our graduate at Honors Day last week (minus her gold Beta Club cord).  We are so proud of her!

Ice Cream Cone Birthday Card

My mother-in-law absolutely loves ice cream, so we gave her an ice cream sundae "fixings" gift for her recent birthday.  Here is the 5"x7" card that I made to go with her gift.

Unfortunately the Charlotte paper is no longer available, but you can still get the CTMH/Cricut Artistry cartridge anytime.  (The sentiment is from the Artfully Sent collection, stamped on a piece of the Charlotte complements.)

Even though Charlotte is no longer available, you could recreate this idea with any fun paper.  Enjoy a sweet treat!

Happy Times Card Set

Have you seen the beautiful Happy Times paper pack for National Scrapbooking Month?  Close To My Heart has provided a scrapbook workshop PDF and a card making workshop PDF to share with customers who purchase (or earn free) Happy Times.  I used the card workshop instructions to create these 12 cards for my daughter to use.  (She will graduate from high school next week, and the well wishes are stating to pour in.)

I chose to personalize the set with her initial in Pomegranate ink.  The flowers above are second generation Smoothie (with Canary added to the ones below).  Fern is the leaf color.

The gold foil paper is even prettier in person!

These sentiments are from Sending Love.

Anyone who orders the Happy Times paper pack and/or stamp set this month will receive the PDF files for free!

H2H Challenges: Transportation

This week's Heart 2 Heart Challenge is the theme challenge TRANSPORTATION.  The first thing that came to my mind was our youngest getting her learner's permit recently!

This layout uses the new Magical collection found in the current Seasonal Expressions catalog supplement.  I actually made this in March when Close To My Heart came to Atlanta.  I will finish the right side page with some pictures of our new driver manning the wheel in our various vehicles.  She is doing a great job so far!

Be sure to visit H2H to see how our Design Team interpreted this challenge.  You have all month to play along with any of the May challenges, so get crafting!

National Stamping Month Blog Hop: Happy Times!

Close To My Heart has a gorgeous special offer for National Stamping Month!  You are going to want to get your hands on the beautiful Happy Times paper pack and coordinating stamp set.  You can purchase the paper pack for $14.95 and the stamp set for $17.95, or you can earn the paper pack FREE with a minimum $60 qualifying order.  If you're already hopping you've arrived from my talented friend (and fellow Heart 2 Heart DT Member) Paige's blog.  After you check out my project, you'l visit Jennifer next by clicking on her name.

The Happy Times paper pack seemed like a great match for our daughter's senior prom pictures.  My layout is based on two sketches from Reflections that I tweaked slightly to fit my pictures.

Can you see the gold embossing on the coral band?  This paper is so pretty in real life!  I embellished the layout with gold shimmer trim, Florence sequins, gold puffies, and a flower from the La Vie en Rose assortment.

I didn't add a ton of embellishments because I wanted the focus to remain on my pictures.  The title is stamped in Fern with a retired alphabet set.

Thanks for letting me share my beautiful daughter with you!  (Yes, I know I am biased.)  She will graduate high school at the end of the month and then will head off to college in August.  Feel free to leave me a comment before you hop on over to see Jennifer's Happy Times creation.

Click HERE for all the hop participants and their blogs.

I am also linking my layout to the Color My Heart Happy Times Color Dare challenge.  Thanks again for letting my share my daughter and the Happy Times collection with you.

May Stamp of the Month Blog Hop: Celebrate with Cake

The May stamp of the month, Celebrate with Cake, is such a fun stamp set!  You're going to get tons of yummy ideas along this month's stamp of the month blog hop.  (If you're already hopping then you've probably arrived from Priscilla's blog.  From here you'll visit Michelle next.)

My first card was made especially for a friend who loves the color blue!  I used Glacier and Peacock for my main colors.  First I stamped the image in Slate then colored the cake slice with our new small waterbrush.  I added Slate and Honey to the candle too.  The card is embellished with Peacock Fundamentals and our NEW Florence sequins.

My second card uses the same sketch from Make It From Your Heart (but obviously flipped).  I again colored my focal image with the waterbrush (this time stamped with archival black and Slate).  I had a great time splattering my card front with watercolor paint in the NEW Calypso color palette (Cotton Candy, Pear, Honey, Lagoon, and Black).  Don't you love the NEW adorable Calypso sequins?

Thanks for hopping by!  I'd love to know what you think of the cards before heading to the next blog.  Just click on her name to go see Michelle's Celebrate with Cake May stamp of the month project!

Click HERE for all the hop participants and their blogs.

Get Well Soon Card

My dear friend recently had surgery so I made this "doggone" cute card to cheer her up.  (She is a major animal lover!)

I used the Love My Dog stamp set with the Charlotte Workshop Your Way collection.  I added in some coral shimmer trim for a little bling.  For the heart on the dog, I used a small heart punch to cut the heart out of the shimmer trim.  This sketch is from Make It From Your Heart, Vol. 1.

Remember that the April stamp of the month and everything in the Seasonal Expressions catalog retires tomorrow, so get the goods now!  You can shop RIGHT HERE!

CTMH Technique Blog Hop: Resisting Can Be Fun

For this month's CTMH technique blog hop, resistance is futile!  That's right, we're featuring lots of resist techniques!  (If you're already hopping then you've arrived from Darlys' blog.  From here, you'll visit Kirsten's blog next!)

For my card, I used two different resist techniques.  First, I used the waxed paper resist technique for the Crystal Blue background.  All you have to do is wad up some waxed paper and then place it on your card stock.  With a paper towel below the card stock and above the waxed paper, press the "sandwich" with a hot iron.  The wax will transfer to your card stock.  Then, sponge Crystal Blue ink on the background piece.

The second technique is the crayon resist technique.  Highlight parts of your stamped image with a white crayon, then sponge color over the image.  Here I used Pixie ink for the flower.  I think it needs more of the white crayon resist, but it's really hard to tell as you work.

Thanks for hopping by!  I know that you can't resist leaving a comment before you hop off to Kirsten's blog!  Thanks again for visiting!

More Cruise Layouts

The Regatta paper pack is absolutely perfect for our cruise pictures from this past Christmas!  I absolutely love the Regatta Workshop Your Way kit with a few embellishments and stamp sets can really make this collection (and project) my own.  (You can click HERE to see the first few pages of this album.)  WARNING!  I am sharing SEVEN two-page 12"x12" layouts!  Some are "traditional" layouts, some are pocket layouts, and all of them have been lots of FUN!

Celebrating my mom's birthday on board and wearing our Famous "Forced Family Fun" shirts.

The addition of teal shimmer trim really brings out the aqua of the ocean here in port at Bonaire!  I also liked the addition of the gold foil tape too.

We had so much fun at the beach in Bonaire that we took tons of pictures.  Thanks, Uncle Brian, for the underwater shots!

More from Bonaire: a mix of pocket and traditional scrapbooking

Sailing away from beautiful Bonaire

Christmas Eve onboard: Aunt Faith surprised us with a Christmas pageant she directed starring the kids (and a towel animal or two).

Santa surprised us all Christmas day with towel animals galore on the lido deck!

Thanks for looking if you've made it this far!  The layouts are fairly simple to keep the focus on the photos and because of the sheer number of photos.  It is really fun to go back and look through our trip scrapbooks and relive our vacations again.

I am linking these up to the Color My Heart Color Dare #188.  They are featuring the colors of the Regatta paper pack: Glacier, Sapphire, Pomegranate, Flaxen, and White Daisy.

H2H Challenges: Sketch

Heart 2 Heart Challenges has a great sketch for you this month courtesy of our awesome design team member Brandi.

Here is my take on the sketch.

This card uses the Penelope paper pack, Artistry CTMH/Cricut cartridge, and the Sending Love stamp set.  The gemstones are retired but the purple shimmer trim is still available.  I am sending this card to someone who recently had surgery, and I hope that she likes it.  I think it is really cheerful, and I hope she does too.

Be sure to check out all of the H2H Design Team's creations and why don't you join us this month?

Oglethorpe Visit

Our older daughter is thinking about attending Oglethorpe University in Atlanta for college starting this fall.  We absolutely loved it when we spent a day there recently as she participated in a scholarship competition.

 The layout uses the Charlotte Workshop Your Way collection, but I made up my own layout design.  I also added gold shimmer trim.

 Even though this isn't a pocket scrapbooking layout, I used the preprinted Picture My Life cards from the Charlotte WYW on a traditional layout.

We really think that Oglethorpe will be her home for the next four years!  We both loved it when we visited, and it felt like a great fit.  I'm glad I took lots of pictures to commemorate this special day.

April Stamp of the Month Blog Hop: Life in Pictures

No fooling, it's time for the April stamp of the month blog hop featuring the cool stamp set, Life in Pictures!  Can I tell you how much I love all the cameras in this set?  I am looking forward to make a special layout this month with this set, so you'll have to come back again.  (If you're already hopping, then you should have arrived from Jennifer's blog.  You'll go to Tammy's blog next.)

Since time is short these days, I made this fast & easy card with the Life in Pictures stamp set and the Charlotte Workshop Your Way.  The Workshops Your Way sets include a paper pack, compliments, and embellishments.  All I had to do was add the stamp of the month and Black and Sorbet ink.  (This particular card sketch can be found in Make It From Your Heart, Vol. 2.)

Thanks for hopping by!  Don't forget to SMILE!  Now go see what Tammy has created.

Click HERE for all the hop participants and their blogs.