September Stamp of the Month Blog Hop

Welcome to our CTMH Stamp of the Month Blog Hop!  We will be featuring September's SOTM, which is called Family is Forever, a sweet set of 7 stamps. This month we have 80 (!!) Close To My Heart Consultants sharing their creations using this lovely SOTM and other great CTMH products. If you have come here from PAMELA'S BLOG, you are on the right path! You can find a complete list of participating consultants HERE. 

So I've already done a number of projects using this stamp set (linked at the bottom of this post), because I am in love with this sweet tree image. So I knew I still wanted to use that image, but I wasn't sure how I was going to do it. I browsed my favorite sketch blogs, but I kept coming back to the current Mojo Monday Tall and Skinny Sketch. I kept telling myself that this tree was too large for a tall and skinny card, but apparently I won't listen to myself! I masked a circle using a post-it Zindorf style, and sponged on my clouds and grass sticking to the Color Throwdown challenge colors. I used Pacifica, Olive, and Canary/Creme Brule, plus a bit of Colonial White Pigment ink sponged where I needed to lighten the clouds. Then I stamped my Tree over the top using Memento Tuxedo Black. 

I hit up my stash bowl, where I drop all my odds and ends from previous projects to create my embellishment cluster at the bottom corner. I colored some metal words with alcohol markers. Then I used my Stardust Gelly Roll to dot across the words and blended that with my finger. I topped that off with some Platinum Stickles, also blended with my finger which really added some depth to the colored metal. I used the same combo around the edge of my moon for a bit of shimmer.

Now hop on over to JEN'S BLOG to see more fabulous September SOTM goodness! Contact your CTMH Consultant (or click here) to see how you can get this stamp set for just $5!

Here are a few more projects I have made using this Stamp of the Month...

Practical Scrappers Wall Decor Layout
Atlantic Hearts Sketch 69
Team Meeting CASE Study Card

Practical Scrappers Scrapping Our Stash Blog Hop

Sometimes I don't know where the time flies. It's time again for our monthly Practical Scrappers Scrapping Our Stash Hop! You can find the complete list of scrappers HERE. You should be arriving here smiling from all the crafty goodness of CHRISTINE'S BLOG. 

Believe it or not, I actually put my hoop project on the back burner and did a layout this month. I have a set of six IKEA RIBBA Frames that I bought just before we moved from Portland. I made my hubby hang them in the entry way...where they have hung, empty and neglected all summer long. Now that I'm hitting the boxes with family photos, I decided it's time to fill those 10 x 10 frames. I used some of my hoarded and retired Timberline Woodgrain paper and a bunch of washi tapes to scrap my first frame. I want to put a heartfelt saying about family and home in each frame along with a picture of my sweet family.

So...the stamp image I used is actually a sneak peek at a stamp set that's not coming available until September - but I've had it since July! I inked the tree up with Memento Rich Cocoa Ink, swiping the pad down to take off most of the ink I had applied. Then I went all around the edges and all over the hearts with my favorite shimmery Stardust Gelly Roll Pen to make that tree something special behind my quote.

I used a bunch of different washi tapes from my stash.The red chevron, silver geometric, and slate polka dot are CTMH.  The others I've had in my stash a while, and I think I got them at Michaels. I should write the manufacturer inside the washi rolls so I can remember who makes them. I ran a double line of stitching all around the layout and across my washi tape Banner. I had to bust into a new package of my favorite Keyboard Alpha stickers, and I'm gonna cry a little when my stash finally runs out! I think I've got plenty to finish all six frames, though. I'm planning to bring the colors, woodgrain, and kraft letters through all six frames to make a nice display in my entry. 

Next up if the fabulous craftiness of Bobbi at Vintage Muse Designs. Have fun! 

Atlantic Hearts Sketch 70

Wow! The last week just slipped by me between my little guys getting sick (just glutened, but ugh!) and canning tons of peaches and plums. I'm hopefully getting my paws on tomatoes this week...hooray for salsa!! I managed to fit in a bit of stamping this weekend, and it felt oh so good to get inky!

I grabbed some of the new Seaside papers to fill in the sketch. I wrapped the card base in both hemp and baker's twine. The pearls I used in the bottom corner are retired, but I colored them with a couple colors of Shin Han markers so they would be variegated in color. I outlined the main focal area with Stickles.

I was inspired by a card I saw on Facebook by Kathy Valunas - she did such pretty things with the new Shin Han Markers and this stamp set called Treasured Memories that I had to give it a try myself. I colored each shell carefully, using the blender pen to smooth out my colors and lighten the centers. I just followed the sketchy shading in the image to decide where to place my lighter and darker colors. Then I went back over the shells with a glitter gel pen to add a bit of sparkle. 

I hope you'll pop over to Atlantic Hearts and play along with this week's challenge!

Atlantic Hearts Sketch 69

I'm back with another September SOTM sneak peek! This time I'm playing with the new sketch over at Atlantic Hearts. Being the lazy but picky stamper that I am, I wanted to play with ways to bring color to this pretty tree image faster, simpler, and easier!

My color inspiration came from the current ColourQ challenge. I chose Cocoa, Lagoon, Sunset, Sweet Leaf, and White Daisy to match the colors. I inked the tree with Sweet Leaf Ink, then used a corner of my Memento Rich Cocoa pad to ink up the trunk and drag the brown off into the branches. I love to use the pad texture to add texture to stamped images. Here a dragged and pulled the pad corner as I inked so that the tree would be textured.  

Here's a closer peek at the swiping ink technique. For the sentiment I swiped the pad over the LOVE image for texture, and then I pressed firmly across the bottom for more of a textured ombre effect. I wanted clouds for the background, but I haven't yet managed to find stencils in my lengthy (and hopefully accelerated as soon as the boys return to school) unpacking process. So I grabbed the flower image from the same set and stamped it all over the background in 2nd and 3rd generation to get a wisp of pattern. I'm loving all the colors of Stickles I nabbed at the last CK. On this card alone I used Turquoise, Cinnamon, and Orange Peel. I'll have to put my glitter gel drawer on Instagram for you!

I hope you'll hop out to Atlantic Hearts and play along this week!

Your Special Day

I've been playing with a double embossing technique lately, so when I saw the new challenge over at Muse Card Club I knew it would be perfect for this technique!

I used the butterflies from Your Own Kind of Wonderful to stamp along the outer edge of the card. Each butterfly is stamped in pink Pigment Ink and embossed with Clear Detail embossing powder. Then I inked the edges of each stamp again in White Daisy pigment ink, and embossed again with more clear detail powder. Double embossing the images gives a nice depth to the images and really raises it off the paper.

Here you can kind of see how "tall" the embossing is with the stacked inks. I darkened the centered of the butterflies with a pink marker, and added sparkly accents of green stickles to the bodies. I also tapped on a bit of pink stickles around the butterflies for extra sparkle. I embossed the sentiment with White Daisy Ink and clear powder too. Finally I added a bit of black ink pen around the edges of each butterfly for more definition and a line of bitty sparkles to emphasis my sentiment banner. 

Great Job Card

Good morning! I'm excited today to share a card that's a wee bit different than my normal style. I was inspired by the new Sketch #68 from Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge. 

I used the new set called Great Job, which I got as a gift from CTMH for participating in the Consultant Art Showcase at Convention this summer. I grabbed color inspiration from Color Throwdown. I chose Lagoon, Cranberry, and Whisper to match. 

I did some basic coloring with the new Shin Han markers, blending down the Turquoise Blue Color. I added Stickles over the marker coloring and a bit of black penwork to finish off my card.   It was so fast and simple!

Here's the sketch - hop over to Atlantic Hearts to check out the Design Team goodies and link up your own card!

New Product Blog Hop Holiday Mini Album

Welcome to the CTMH New Product Blog Hop in celebration of the new Annual Inspirations Idea Book.. There are 54 consultants sharing their creative ideas for all the new goodies on this hop. You should have arrived here from HEATHER'S BLOG. If you get lost along the way, you can find the full list of hoppers HERE.

Today I'm excited to share with you a festive mini album made from some of the newest CTMH products. To create this quick mini album I used the newly introduced Designer Creations Ruby Paper Bags. On the front cover there you spy one of the new Designer Creations Mini Frames. These products were meant to be used for quick and adorable gift wrap projects, but they are also sturdy and wonderfully versatile. I even used one of the Ruby Paper Bags to create the binding for this book, which doesn't feel like it's made from gift wrapping bags at all!

The embellishments in the book (plus many of the photo mats and pages inserts) came from the My Crush Holiday Happenings Assortment, intended to be a companion to the new My Crush Holiday book. Here you can see a few of the ways I've used the assortment cards to dress up my mini album project. I've used the cards intact (in 4x6, 3x4, and 2x2 sizes). I've cut out the card elements to create other embellishments. Of course, I added some glitter, because, well, glitter! How cute ate the tiny envelopes? There's also 4 sheets of coordinating sticker images and two sheets of alphabet stickers for me to finish off my journaling when I'm ready to add pics to this sweet album! I'll have more to share on this album project next week.

Now it's time to hop over to SHEILA'S BLOG and see what crafty goodness she's cooked up for us!

Annual Inspirations Hop #4

It's day four of the Annual Inspirations Hop, so I'm back with a new project. I couldn't stay away from those cute August SOTM owls, and I was in a party kind of mood after having an awesome time at my Brother's wedding...so I figured if one owl is cute, a gaggle of owls would be a celebration indeed. (I looked it up...it's a parliment of owls...but that's not very festive.)

I hopped out to Color Throwdown for some inspiration and they had a cool and summery combo for this week that I interpreted as Lagoon, Pear, Topiary, and Carmine (I used the new ShinHan Marker for my masks). I stamped the background in a gradient from Lagoon to Pear, rocking the sentiment stamp in two colors to bring the colors down the background cardstock. I pulled my thanks bubble from Cuddly Salutation, which is a hostess only set on page 10 of the new Annual Inspirations Idea Book, and the adorable What A Day set CTMH gave us at Convention down in DisneyLand.

I used post-its to make a mask of the owl body and stamp a grouping of owls. Then I cut the eye area out of my mask and used that to protect their faces as I stamped on the cute patterns (which are actually more owl eyeball options). I based my card on the new Atlantic Heart Sketch. I hope you'll grab the sketch and pop over there to share a card of your own!

Have you been keeping an eye on all the fabulousness in this on going blog hop? I've been travelling, so I hope that tonight I'll get a chance to sit down and feast my eyes on this collection of crafty goodness!

Annual Inspirations Hop #3

Since I'm winging my way back to Spokane today after spending a few days with my family for my brother's wedding, I figured that today was a good day to share with you the card I made for the happy couple Thursday night before I got to packing. I wish I was more organized...but the happiness and love was still there in my last minute craftiness!

I saw this awesome (and simple) sketch from Freshly Made Sketches. Knowing I was short on time, simple was important. Their colors/theme were purple and sunflowers, a little bit country, a little bit fancy.  The card is hung off the white gift bag that held their gift so it's sentimental and useful too! While pressed for time, this was still a wedding card, so it needed some love and bling...so I grabbed my new Gold Embossing powder and my very, very old heat gun and got to work.

I inked up my new Chevron embossing folder with Colonial White pigment ink and pressed it onto Colonial White Cardstock to imprint the chevron pattern. Then I coated it in the new gold powder and heated it up. Strips of Gold Shimmer tape stood in for the three stripes in the sketch. I Stamped some sunflowers and tiny purple flowers using one of my favorite new sets called Lifetime of Happiness. That's also where I got the sentiment that I embossed on purple CS. I layered all my little handmade goodies on with foam tape and topped them off with the new gold sequins, bitty sparkles, and platinum Stickles. I hope the love I have for my brother and his beautiful bride shines through! 

Here's the Blog Hop linky party again - keep checking back for more Annual Inspirations happiness through August 7th!

Annual Inspirations Blog Hop #2

Welcome back to Day 2 of the Annual Inspiration Blog Hop! I'm off in Sunny California watching my Brother get married (yay!) but I've got the last of the 6 pages I promised this weekend. You can find the first 2 installments HERE and HERE. 

After all the paper piecing and work I put into the first layout, I wanted pages 5-6 to be easier. Luckily this Pathfinding paper has awesome zip strips...you know, the piece that you usually cut off and toss out? Chevrons and bitty heart circles = swoon! 

And the woodland animals in the Pathfinding Complements are just so cheeky and adorable! I'm trying hard to resist the urge to pop wiggly eyes on every one of them. Don't you just love his faint chevron patterned coat? Here's the Hop Linky party again - remember we'll be posting new stuff for 7 days total, so keep checking back for more CTMH Annual Inspirations goodness!

Annual Inspirations Blog Hop #1

Welcome to the Annual Inspirations Linky Blog Hop! Check back often over the next 7 days to see tons of fabulous artwork featuring the new goodies in the just released CTMH Annual Inspirations Idea Book!

Today I'm sharing the second set of pages of the 6 pages I've made so far with the new Pathfinding Kit. (You can find the other pages HERE.)

The chipboard Pathfinding Complements are so perfect for Fall! I just love the richness of the materials included in these adorable Pathfinding Assortment, a ten piece collection with wooden badges and embossed cork embellies. I think that this awesome wide Lagoon Heart Washi really makes these embellie clusters pop!

Now check out the rest of the hoppers using the Linky below. Keep checking back, as the hop is going on for 7 days, so new goodies will be added every day!