One Year Older Birthday Card

Good morning, Stampin' Friends! I'm just back from a few days at the beach with some of my favorite crafty crew, and it felt wonderful to laugh, snack, and craft with those fabulous ladies. One of the projects I completed was a little sneak peek of the March Stamp of the Month for this week's Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge! I'm also linking up to this week's Seize the Birthday Challenge.

March's Stamp of the Month is a cheerful mix of birthday themed sentiments...but I wanted to contract those images with the super gorgeous florals from Chelsea Gardens. This kit has been my favorite of the current Expression idea book. It's been so uber popular that the coordinating embellies are only available in the KIT now, so if you've been waiting on this line, now's the time!  CTMH has a pretty great deal going this month (while supplies lat) if you love PINK as much as I do!

It's hard to see here but I stamped the background of the white square with second generation Sweet Leaf ink using the YAY! image. This stamp set is mostly sentiments, and I needed a festive IMAGE, so I flipped the zero stamp (it comes with these adorable outline number images to customize it for birthday ages) and stamped the back of that image to create my balloons. Both the balloons and the dots on the "1" are painted with Gold shimmer pen, so there's a nice sparkle in real life, too. I added a little hand drawn border around the main card element with a journaling pen to help it pop against that lovely floral background.

MY giveaway to celebrate the 250th sketch over at Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge is finally over (sorry for my technical difficulties!) and the winner is SUE D! I've already emailed her so she can claim her very own adorable February Stamp of the Month. Thanks for stopping by!

Day 357: Hello Valentine Card

We went to the coast today (yay!) and somehow we thought it was a good idea to rent one of those surrey bikes. With three kids it turned out we couldn't all fit in the single bike meant for two people to pedal, so we got a double.  Double surrey bikes are heavy, especially when you are grabbing the child next to you to keep him from leaning so far out of the bike all the time.  Aaaand now I can barely move, so tonight's card became one of those simple one layer cards that did not require me to get up and reach anything. 

I started with the sketch from CAS(E) This Sketch. I grabbed my adorable new Share the Love Stamp set (which raises $7 for Operation Smile with every set sold). I stamped the HELLO sentiment in Black ink, then masked it off with a post-it. Then I stamped on that cute phone with only Pomegranate ink, stamping in first, second and third generation to get the varied hues. I colored over the center heart on each phone with a black Wink of Stella pen. Then I finished an episode of Gilmore Girls before limping to my computer to write this post. Thank goodness for CAS and one layer cards. Good night, Stampin' Friends!

Day 274: Life is a Journey Album Retreat Layout

This layout is also one of my favorites from the Album Retreat. I love the bold Lagoon against the soft Canary with the strong black accents.

This was my favorite watercolor splatter too. I used the blue at first, then added a bit of black. I also added actual black hand stitching around the background.

This is my last layout to share from the CTMH Album Retreat. I had such a good time, not just making these lovely projects, but hanging out with my CTMH peeps and enjoying some much needed girl time. I give this Album Retreat a five (right, Amanda?) and I can't wait until I can be lucky enough to attend another!  

Day 273: Oh Snap Fast Forward Album Retreat Layout

I love all the shiny gold touches on this layout.

This was presented to be a layout about where I see myself in the future, but instead I used it to ponder on the funny way time passes so slow and yet so very fast when raising children. That picture of John with all the littles at once is one of my absolute favorites.

This is the layout where I used up all my gold letters (that were supposed to be for some of the other layouts). I just love the fabulous mix of textures in the Fundamentals assortments. How cute is this foil embossed wood arrow?

This OH SNAP piece we trimmed out of a PML card. It's printed in gold foil - swoon! The flowers we stamped using So Many Smiles, which is just what making this layout brought to me.

Day 271: This is Who I Am Album Retreat Layout

For this layout CTMH broke out a technique I haven't thought about in a long time.

The papers are a mix of Charlotte, La Vie En Rose, and Lagoon Fundamentals. I love that bold black mixed with the softer Charlotte prints.

For the title area CTMH had us crumple up a bit of packaging plastic (I used the wrapper from my fundamentals glitter stickers) and dab on Canary in from the pad using the plastic. This works really well with other found materials like bubble wrap, too. 

Day 270: Memories Album Retreat Layout

The title on this layout was so interesting to make. Every person around me did it a bit differently, so there were a lot of variations.

The layout is 3x3 squares of Georgie, Lagoon Fundamentals, and Charlotte papers. The title is watercolored - we were given the individual letters cut out of White cardstock and a strip of watercolor paper to make them. Some ladies painted the watercolor paper then adhered the letters over top of the dried panel for a really crisp look. Some used the letters as a mask, working one letter at a time to ensure a clean line.

I chose to adhere all the letters onto my title bar and watercolor to my heart's content. That means I had a lot of bleeding in some areas, and not so much in others. Then I outlines the title letters with a black journaling marker to redefine where my letters originally were. I also added a wash of clear Wink of Stella to the letters for a subtle shimmer.

Day 269: Celebrate Life's Moments Album Retreat Layout

This layout is one of the prettiest techniques we tried at Album Retreat.

CTMH handed out hexagon templates cut into 12 x 12 pages of cardstock that we watercolored through. We also added some patches of pale yellow watercolor to highlight the title area.

Isn't that just gorgeous? So much fun to work through the template with the brush! I also did a lot of rolling on my hexagon stamped images before fussy cutting them. The hardest part was waiting for the background to dry before adding the pics! 

Day 267: Creating Me Album Retreat Layout

This was one of my favorite layouts that we made at Album Retreat. 

The pink, green, grey and black color combo is so cheerful! Even with the journaling on that cute PML card this page came together very quickly.  I'm just waiting on my 5x7 print to come in to switch out with the 4x6 that I had inadvertently printed.

That watercolor splatter is so pretty. I built the layout except for pics and title, then went to town with the splatter. I usually splatter before I start adhering the paper layers, so this was a fun change of pace!

Day 266: Inspired By Album Retreat Layout

So tonight's Album Retreat Layout was definitely the fastest layout we put together. It's made mostly from PML cards!  

In the end I like the idea of the layout, but putting everything on an angle like that was making me nutty. I knew as I was laying it out that I wasn't feeling this, but I figured I came to Album Retreat to learn something new, so I decided to embrace the challenge. I'm glad I tried it out, but maybe next time I think I'd line everything up neatly with no slant. Try as I might I couldn't get the lines to match up across the break. While it looks fine in my album (I have the Lagoon Chevron D Ring for this project), the way it's all slightly off just bugs me. It's interesting how different techniques work for different people, right?  Ask me to slop watercolor drips all over a perfectly tidy layout and I'm all like, "No prob!", but add a slant to some PML cards and I can't even... Funny what scrapbooking can teach you about yourself.

Day 265: Sharing the Story Album Retreat Layout

This was one of the simpler layouts we put together, but it had two really cool techniques.

First the title. We painted blue ombre watercolors onto a panel of watercolor paper, which then went behind the Cricut title cut into the base page. My friend Linnea used score tape to really stick down her title, and I think it looked a lot neater than my finished title. It was fun to freehand that ombre color panel though!

Secondly, we used these hexagon stamps in a fun way. Instead of stamping and fussy cutting six hexagons, we just snipped three of them, not really in half, more like 2/3 - 1/3 but the bottom line is we used the same three hexagons as embellishments on both pages, which I thought was really smart.

Also, here's my tip for cutting shimmer trim in half the long way with no fuss and bother. First snip your trim to any length up to twelve inches. Then use washi tape to hold the shimmer trim in place on your paper trimmer, centered with 1/4" on each side of the trimmer track. Trim down through the center, cutting right through the washi tape for perfect 1/4" strips of shimmer trim!

Day 264: Right Here Right Now Album Retreat Layout

For this page I didn't really follow the theme at all. I loved how CTMH gave us an idea of the colors and general direction of each page when they allowed us to print our photos in Studio J to be picked up and used at the retreat.

I knew that I did not want to do a day in the life kind of page, so instead I decided to include some of my favorite people and things in my life right now at this moment. The papers are a mix of Charlotte and La Vie En Rose. 

How cute are all those watercolor touches? I added a hand lettered quote to the right page over top of the watercolor pop of color. It was hard to grab a clear shot since I may have added a lot little shimmer pen over the lettering too. Next time I wash the shimmer over the watercolor, then letter when everything is dry. Learn something new everyday!

Day 263: So It Begins Album Retreat Layout

This was one of the simpler pages we did at the retreat, at least for me. 

There's some subtle peach watercoloring going on behind the title on the first page, and by the journaling card on the second page. I used up my gold letters off-roading on a different page so I used the white letters coated with gold Wink of Stella. 

I added some wink of Stella to the PML card that we cut out of a sheet of pocket scrapbooking cards that comes with the Charlotte paper - what a great idea, right? Almost as cute as my three baby faces! 

Day 262: Words To Live By Album Retreat Layout

So I'm going to share all the pages we made, but not necessarily in the order they will live in my album. I finished all the pages right down to pictures and journaling, however I am still stitching on two of the layouts, which wasn't in the directions, but it's my album, so I can do what I want. 

This was one of my favorite pages that we completed. That pretty Charlotte paper plus the butterflies and all that watercolor splatter - sweet! We embellished with some bits of PML cards, some silver sequins, and some Fundamentals stickers. The cute tiny stamped font and banners are from the Exclusive Album Retreat stamp set they gave us with our packets.

I added my mantra for this year (CHOOSE HAPPY) to the layout. So, really we were supposed to be splattering with just the grey watercolor...but then I added some black, and then I wanted some orange. And then I dripped orange onto the second page (whoops!), so I added this above the butterflies. There are no mistakes, just opportunities to embellish! 

I added clear Wink of Stella to the butterflies and the CHOOSE HAPPY subtitle. Even with the mishap embellishment opportunity, I'm glad I decided to follow my own happy and add more color to the watercolor splatter. 

Day 261: My Story Album Retreat Layout

I'm back from Utah, and having the best time with my peeps at the CTMH Album Retreat! I finished all 23 pages of a beautifully designed album right down to pictures and journaling. I feel so accomplished and artistically fulfilled. Here's the cover page of my beautiful new album:

For this page CTMH chose for us the new Charlotte papers, which aren't coming out until January, so this was a big sneak peek! How pretty is that Sorbet and Whisper floral paper? Swoon! They combined that soft floral with the bold black and white of La Vie En Rose, a combo which I love. 

That's a little Beautiful You PML card peeking out behind my photo, and it's wrapped with Whisper Thick Twine. The title letters are from the Basic Fundamentals Sticker Pack. This was the first page we made, so they really started us off with a bang!

For my blog followers who are not CTMH consultants, CTMH Album Retreat is a scrapbooking event offered by CTMH for consultants only. We scrapped a full album of pages, all pre-cut and ready to make, ate yummy buffet lunches, and basically had a fabulous time. I can't wait to do it again next time!   

And because I just can't resist...I rate this retreat 5 out of 5, right, Amanda?