Tuesday, June 30, 2015

Day 129: July SOTM Blog Hop

Welcome to the July SOTM Blog Hop. The Stamp of the Month in July is called Life is Wonderful, a beautifully fonted set of 8 stamps. You might be arriving here from JUDY'S BLOG. This month we have over 40 consultants sharing their crafty creations with this elegant stamp set. Let's Hop!
This month I made a scrapbook page using the July SOTM and the new Scrap Much? Sketch. I dipped into my stash for a sheet of this beautiful Pansy Purple textured cardstock and paired it with some retried Laughing Lola and Dotty for You papers. I fussy cut the letters from the SOTM set for my title. I love this sketchy hand-drawn look!
I also random stamped some pansy purple cardstock with the huge "Wonderful" sentiment for more texture. The flowers are from Art Philosophy, painted with a waterbrush and Pansy Purple ink. There's some black arrows from the SOTM peeking from behind my title, too.
Don't forget that this elegant Life is Wonderful set is only available in the month of July. Ask your consultant or click here to find out how to get yours for just $5! Next up on the hop is PAM'S BLOG. Happy Hoppin'!

Monday, June 29, 2015

Day 128: AHSC Snowflake Joy Card

I seem to be on a Stash Busting mission lately. While tidying up my Sparkles bin I found a bunch of these Top Coats Icings overlays. These were clear acrylic overlays printed in blues, purples, and silver foil embossing - so pretty! 
Rather than put them back in the box, I had to use a couple. So I chose a few that fit this week's Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge. I embossed a panel of White Daisy Cardstock, then trimmed it apart and adhered the pieces to another White Daisy Cardstock panel. I added strips of washi tape and Purple Shimmer Trim. Then I adhered the clear overlays using Liquid Glass behind the designs.
I applied Sparkles over the adhesive marks, and mounted the panel onto Timberline Woodgrain paper. I'm linking up to the Heart 2 Heart Warm vs Cool Challenge. Hope you'll hop over to Atlantic Hearts and play along this week!

Sunday, June 28, 2015

Day 127: Rolled Flower Tutorial

So I've been working on these watercolor rolled Cricut cut flowers for a very special project, and posting the pics to my Instagram. We have these flowers in different shapes on many of the CTMH cricut cartridges. This shape in particular is from the Art Philosophy cartridge, which remains my favorite cartridge to this day. It's my favorite flower on my go to, almost-always-has-what-I-need cartridge.
I had cut these flowers out of plain white cardstock, then colored them using a water brush to pick up ink from my ink pads. When the shapes were dry I rolled and shaped them into this:
There was one left over, which I used on this card, which lead to a question on Facebook about how to roll up these funky rolled flower shapes. Since rolling and shaping flowers is one of my favorite things, here's a little infographic tutorial for you!

Seven Steps to Beautiful Rolled Flowers:
  1. The first thing I do with a freshly cut rolled flower shape is add a dab of dry adhesive to the flat center of the shape. This could be Tombo, a glue dot, whatever you like that sticks well.
  2. Then I use my CTMH Quilling tool to roll them. I insert the smallest end into the wide slot on the tool. You could use tweezers, but I find this so much easier.
  3. Roll up the flower shape towards the center, wrapping it tightly around the tool.
  4. When you get it rolled as far as you can, Hold it tight for a few seconds to sort of "set" the curl.
  5. Let it go (Let it go!) and slide it off the tool. Place it on a flat surface and gently tap the center to help it relax into shape. Then press down lightly on that center to stick it to that adhesive we applied earlier. That's just to hold it in place until the next step.
  6. Apply Liquid Glass (or the sturdy liquid adhesive of your choice) down in between the petals of the flower. Let that dry completely before moving on to the last step.
  7. Use the quilling tool on the smaller side to roll the petals back. I like to start on the outsdie and work my way in. Sometimes I leave the center area untouched for a more rose like effect. In the photo on the chevron above I used the tool to push in and down the center petals for more of a peony center. If I need it flatter I'll smack it down with a handy 3 x 3 or bigger acrylic block Sometimes I fill the centers with Glitter. Take that basic flower and make it your own!
If you want to color on, emboss, sand/distress your flower, do that before you start step one. The possibilities with these rolled flowers are endless...endlessly fun! 

Saturday, June 27, 2015

Day 126: Happy For You Card

Oh. My. Gosh. I ran my Cricut machine for about ten hours today. Ten hours of iron on vinyl for CTMH Convention and Disney short projects. I can't see straight to weed anymore vinyl. 
It was such a relief when the new RetroSketches challenge dropped into my email inbox. I immediately threw down my weeding tools and started making this card. There was one small left out watercolored rose left from yesterday's projectwhich I haven't blogged but I did share a sneak on Instagram. These were a bit of work, with the Cricut cutting, watercoloring, rolling, distressing, shaping with my tweezers, then extra coloring and shading. So he was not going into the scrap bin to lounge around. Get to work, little flower!
I paired my flower friend with some (retired) Laughing Lola papers layered onto some Basic Fundamentals chevron embossed paper and Timberline wood grain. Then I used my white gel pen to add some white details to the Lola printed design. Maybe I was just trying to avoid going back to my weeding, but I like the effect!

I hope you like t-shirts...and Disney....'cause there's a lot of vinyl posts coming soon!

Friday, June 26, 2015

Day 125: For You Card

Tonight I was finishing up my CTMH Convention contest layout, and I had a bunch of little flower bits leftover. This just would not do!
So I popped over to CAS(E) this Sketch, and sure enough their sketch this week was perfectly simple and cute! I ran some white cardstock through my Big Shot with the Quatrefoil embossing folder. Then I inked and detailed my leaf branch using Topiary ink over sweet leaf cardstock, dabbed with Brown Bag ink.
I used a foam mat and my quilling tool to cup some tiny 1/4" cricut flowers. I added these to the leaves and topped with yellow glitter gel centers. A tiny, simple sentiment banner finished off the card so I could get back to my inky messy table. Thanks, CAS(E) this Sketch!

Thursday, June 25, 2015

Day 124: Scrapping Our Stash Hop

Welcome to this month's Scrapping Our Stash Hop. You may be arriving here from JENNIFER'S Blog. Each month we create something fun using only items in our stash. Let's Hop!
This month I took a break from my hoops to make a layout. I wanted to use the new Scrap Much? Sketchy Friday challenge sketch. I used one sheet of Blossom B&T paper, and some scraps of Timberline woodgrain and gray Dotty For You paper. The flower tag is from Amy Tangerine. I did a bunch of distressing and machine stitching on this layout.
I broke into my stash of  Keyboard kraft alphas to mix with some really old felt alpha stickers for this title. I added some stamped hearts filled with glitter gel and lots of sparkly odds and ends too. 

Next up on the hop is LEE-ANN'S blog. The full list of hoppers is below. Have fun!
Scrappin' Our Stash Hop
Wendy Coffman - You are Here!

Wednesday, June 24, 2015

Day 123: You Make Me Happy Card

I've had this large butterfly hanging out on my desk for a while now, ever since I made my butterfly CREATE wall piece. I didn't need him but I couldn't bring myself to recycle him, and now he's got a home.
I based this card on the new Freshly Made Sketch and the ColourQ #296. I used a bit of Blossom B&T backed with Canary cardstock. Then I added blue epoxy bubbles and bitty sparkles.
I kept the sentiment simple, stamping in Outdoor Denim ink onto Canary cardstock. Then I went over the words with a white gel pen to make them pop. I added gel pen touched to the butterfly wings too. 
Tomorrow is the Scrapping Our Stash Hop - can't wait to share my project with you!

Tuesday, June 23, 2015

Day 122: Celebrate Yay Card

Tonight I got to whip out a card using my new Dizzy Circles set (Thank you, Naomi!).
I stamped a panel of white cardstock with lots of circles and the YAY! sentiment in Memento Tuxedo Black ink. Then I used my water brush to add washes of color drawn from the Runway Inspired Challenge photo. Then I trimmed the stamped panel down into thirds as per the new CAS(E) This Sketch challenge. I added a strip of washi behind my stamped banner sentiment.
I went over the panels with clear and gold Wink of Stella brushes. I couldn't get the sparkle to show in the photo, though the gold brush marks sure popped. I love Stella - it's so soft and sparkly!

Monday, June 22, 2015

Day 121: Smile Card

This is that last of the My Crush For Her cards I made this week. This is the other half of the front cover that I split for this layout.
I used a white gel pen to add dots and details to the front cover. I didn't want to mess with that pretty floral spray much, so I just added some banners for the sentiment and a couple of sequins.  
Only 14 days until I'm headed to California and I can start sharing my secret Convention projects. My Cricut has been working overtime lately!

Sunday, June 21, 2015

Day 120: Congratulations Crush Card

After today I have just one more card to share from what I made out of the My Crush for Her kit that CTMH gave us at the Seattle Making Connections Event. For this card I was really getting down to the scraps.
I stamped the lines onto the bottom half of the card using Smoothie ink, since I only had smaller strips of paper left to work with. Then I added a word bubble to the main embellishment panel in Whisper Ink. Both of those stamps came from the Documenting Moments stamp set.
My sentiment came from the Shower Flower stamp set. I love a nice narrow 1/4" sentiment - I think on the white banner it really pops. 
Hope y'all are having a fabulous Father's Day!

Saturday, June 20, 2015

Day 119: You Make Me Smile Card

Today is the 17th anniversary of the day I married my sweet hubby John. We have three, well, let's just say energetic young boys and we live about a two to three day drive to our closest relatives. So we chose to celebrate by putting our dear ones in the Drop In and Play center at the local mall and having the most expensive lunch of our lives (normal cost for a nice gluten free lunch plus 8 bazillion dollars for drop in care for three children = wowza!). It was worth every penny. 
I was thinking about him as I put this card together from more of the My crush for Her scraps. It's pink, and girly, and full of glitter sparkles, so it's not exactly his taste in cards. His taste in cards is basically none at all, because he's an engineer and he doesn't care about the foofala that is my bread and butter. He does appreciate what I do though - today he and the boys sat down and looked through our wedding and honeymoon albums while he patiently explained all the who's whos and what's thats to three squirmy little boys. 
Sometimes the hustle and bustle of caring for three small ones, all the cooking and planning for our gluten free/real food from scratch diet, plus my dedication to the daily blogging commitment I've made this year (plus my super secret project for Convention) leave me feeling a little stretched thin lately. I love crafting. I love my boys. I love cooking (no, really, I do). I am a very lucky lady. I know that I am blessed...but it felt so fun and decadent to say whatevs to the endless to-do list and just go hang out with the dude who makes me smile, and has been making me smile since we accidentally met in the hallway at school waaaay back in 1992. That day he played my violin in the hallway. Today we bought him a couple pairs of shorts for summer and some new sandals. It wasn't anything super special...except it was, because we did it together.  

Friday, June 19, 2015

Day 118: You Make Me Happy Card

Using up all the scraps to make cards is one of my favorite things. I hate to waste pretty paper almost as much as I hate storing a bunch of tiny scraps. 
This card was part of the kit CTMH gave us to make at the Seattle Making Connections. Except...I used some of the stuff on another unrelated project, so I had to improvise a bit.
I love how the edge where I tore the page out of the My Crush for Her book adds a nice bit of punched detail to that element. I few sequins, some dabs of glitter gel, and this card makes me happy!

Thursday, June 18, 2015

Day 117: You're So Amazing Layout

The second layout kit CTMH gave us in Seattle made this adorable layout. I love the look of the torn out pages we used for the background papers.
I love how pretty the floral stamping turned out. The stamp set is Shower Flowers. I got a little over excited when I was stamping the floral sprays, and I ended up accidentally adding some extra flower action to the page. No mistakes in paper crafts, just opportunities to embellish!

Wednesday, June 17, 2015

Day 116: So Much of You In My Heart Layout

This week I am sharing some more of the projects I've completed using the My Crush for Her books CTMH gave us at the Seattle Making Connection events.  
This is one of the layout kits that CTMH gave us to complete. The papers are all torn from the Crush book. The title is cut from one of the pages. I lost my instruction sheets, so I just (mostly) followed the picture and guessed what we were supposed to do. 
Nothing is wasted with these projects - event the covers are used. For this page I split the cover, since it was chipboard so I could use both sides. I wiggled my piercing tool into the middle of the cover and it split nicely right in half. Made it easier to cut it to size too! I'm linking this project up to the Heart 2 Heart Man Oh Man Challenge, since it's about these three boys whole stole my heart. 

Tuesday, June 16, 2015

Day 115: Typewriter Message for You Card

I'm back with a card I pulled together as I was clearing off my desk. I had this big typewriter StickEase from the (retired) Heartstrings packet plus a few bits of paper leftover from those pages
I thought it wasn't really enough to make anything, but I couldn't toss it out. Then I saw this week's sketch at Retrosketches and it was perfect for my pretty scraps! I stamped a sentiment from the (retired) April SOTM onto the typewriter sticker using Memento Tuxedo Black. I used Smoothie stripe washi tape over Glacier cardstock to create my little banner. I filled my sequins with little dots of plain old Scribbles black puffy paint. 
Working with lots of retried items of late has made me ponder how close we are getting to retiring this year's Annual Inspirations Idea Book. A ton of awesome product is retiring very soon, and while that makes me a bit sad, it also makes me excited for convention with all the new stuff plus, you know, Disneyland. Check out what's on the chopping block here, before it's gone, gone, gone!

Monday, June 15, 2015

Day 114: Atlantic Hearts Sketch 112

I've been working my way through using up the rest of my My Crush for Her books. CTMH gave us two of these to work with at the Seattle Event in May. I started using mine up with this layout.
This weekend I finished the projects CTMH gave us to make with the books, with a few departures, and I made this card using the new Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge Sketch 112. I added Gold Dot washi tape and Gold Shimmer Trim to the card base. The patterned papers are all scraps from the My Crush book projects I'm sharing this week.
I stamped the flowers using Smoothie, Lagoon, and Flaxen inks. The stamp set is Shower Flowers. I added some Gold Wink of Stella to the flowers and inside the HELLO sentiment, which is part of my favorite sentiment stamp set in the Artfully Sent Cricut Bundle

Ah, it felt so good to get back into my glitter and foam tape! Pop over to Atlantic Hearts to play along with this sweet sketch!

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