Thanks A Latte Froggie Card

I'm back today with a new sketch from Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge and a bit of Whimsy fun!

The striped paper is from the new Whimsy Fundamentals pack. I added some stamped Sweet Leaf cardstock (border image from Thanks a Million) that I edged with a scallop border punch and the new Ribbon Border Thin Cuts Die. The bow wasn't facing the direction I need it to face, so I cut it off and reassembled the border to fit my card better. That adorable little frog and his punny sentiment are from Punny Pals, an super cute set that also happens to supports the amazing work of Operation Smile. I colored him in using Shin Han Alcohol markers and adorably large googly eyes.

I cut the Coffee Cup using the Sweet Leaf green dotted Whimsy Fundamentals paper and Kraft Cardstock. The image is on the new You Are Here Cricut Cartridge. I used the font from that cartridge to write then cut the THANKS A LATTE sentiment banner, too. I'm linking this card up to the Heart 2 Heart Friends challenge, because I'm so grateful to all my awesome friends! I hope this little froggie inspires you to hop on over to Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge to play along with this week's sketch!

Scrapping Our Stash December Blog Hop

Welcome to another Scrapping Our Stash Blog hop. For December we chose an Anything Goes theme. You might be arriving here from LYNE'S BLOG. You can find a full list of hoppers at the bottom of this post!

 A Christmas Story has long been a family favorite of ours, and Ben's love of chunky black glasses helps him bear a pretty good resemblance to Ralphie Parker. I don't know why, but this year he agreed to be Ralphie for Halloween. We thought we'd have to really work on him, but he loved the idea and agreed to give up his typical Star Wars costume for the low, low price of a small custom box of See's Candy. He loves wearing that costume much more than Ralphie did, and so we brought it with us to our holiday family photo shoot.  Apple Blossom Photography took the most amazing pictures of my sweet Ben in this crazy bunny suit, and these pics needed a special page all their own. I used the December 1st sketch from Stuck? Sketches for this single page layout.

I combined a Memo Fundamentals notebook paper with some (retired) Charlotte pink papers, Cranberry and Whisper Cardstock, and a bit of City Sidewalks holiday paper. I splattered some black watercolor over the notebook paper, and hand-wrote Ralphie's Christmas Theme onto the background. I diecut some snowflakes from silver glitter paper to go with the whisper snowflakes I stamped and then I embellished the snowflakes with lots of bitty rhinestones. I cut my title using the Flower Market Cricut cartridge font combined with some stamped words stolen from the February SOTM (sneak peek!). I finished with a lot of rhinestone embellished silver hand stitching and some American Crafts washi tape. I'm also linking this page up to the current issue over at Paper Issues.

Next up on the hop is SANDY'S BLOG. Happy Hopping!

DECEMBER SCRAPPING OUR STASH HOP:

Wendy Coffman

Sandy Ross

Majken Pullin

Lyne Schnable-Blodgett

Sending Smiles Snowman Mason Jar Card

I'm starting to transition out of Holiday cards now, but today's card is a bit of a bridge into winter card. I just got my new Flower Market Cricut cartridge and when I found the mason jar my wheels started turning...

So I flipped over that mason jar and filled it with the Cozy Christmas snowman. I used the matching Thin Cut dies to do his hat and the holly sprig. I loved being able to shape his arms into a friendly wave with the flexibility of a clear stamp. After I stamped his body I masked it off with a post-it and stamped on the "snow" texture using one of the stamps that came with my Flower Market Cartridge. I mounted my mason jar snow globe over two kinds of embossed white cardstock (stripes and snowflakes). White on white textured backgrounds make me so happy! I used the Mojo Monday sketch as inspiration for this card design.

I cut two of these flowers from the Flower Market cartridge. I loved how the layered flower was so easy to make since the layers are automatically sized so you don't have to figure out all the measurements. I cut one at 2" plus one at 1.5" and the cartridge resized all the layers automatically - so easy! My SENDING SMILES sentiment came from another of the stamp sets that are part of the Flower Market bundle. The mixed fonts are just so pretty. I didn't mean to make more holiday cards at this point, but I'm snow glad I did!

Tricks and Treats Blog Hop

Welcome to this month's Blog Hops with Heart Tricks and Treats Blog Hop! This hop has lots of creatively awesome Halloween treats for your craft loving heart. You may be arriving here from BECCA'S BLOG. A complete list of hoppers can be found at the bottom of this post.

I made some super sparkly pumpkin decor using cream colored craft pumpkins and Cricut cut paper flowers. I used washi tape to create a dip line, then painted the pumpkins with mod podge and coated them with chunky gold glitter. I added a second coat of mod podge and sprinkled on some tiny gold sequins. A third coat of mod podge sealed in the sparkly goodness!

On top of each pumpkin I used Liquid Glass to secure a variety of rolled paper flowers cut from Sweet Leaf, Glacier, and Thistle cardstock. I inked the edges of each flower before rolling and securing with Liquid Glass. After the flowers dried then I attached them to the pumpkins, tucking in sprigs of leaves cut from Whisper cardstock as I felt the need. 

Next up on the hop is KATY'S BLOG. Happy hopping!

Complete October Hop List:

Amie

Becca

Wendy (You are here!)

Katy

Stephanie

Bing Bong Flower Button

Speaking of using the Cricut drawing feature, I also made these adorable Bing Bong flower name tags for my ladies. Can you just picture my littles running around singing "Who's your friend that loves to stamp?"? Too much fun!

I used a basic oval shape to form the Bing Bong Flower. That's on one of the cartridges that's retiring soon, Art Philosophy, and it's also one of my very most favorite Cricut cartridges ever and I'm utterly heartbroken it's going away. Well, I'm heartbroken for you if you don't have it, 'cause I'm keeping mine forever! I literally us this cartridge every time I Cricut. I topped off my flower with a standard button and a whole lot of green stickles. I love Bing Bong...and stamping...and glitter! 

Find the Fun Shaker Button

Another Convention tradition for my team is that each year I make a special convention badge for my traveling peeps. This year I found these adorable empty shaker buttons at Michaels. 

Our convention theme this year is based on the movie Inside Out, which has been a big movie around my house considering our recent move. We really love this movie so I made a lot of Inside Out projects. I downloaded a free Inside Out Font, which worked great with my Cricut and the writing/draw option. I had the Cricut write my button saying and cut the round button inserts. Then I added a fussy cut pic of a CTMH mascot names Sticky Boy, and filled my shaker button with glitter and "memory balls". Then I sealed the back with Liquid Glass, just in case!

Day 326: You are Fabulous Card

As I continue packing away my studio I keep finding little treasures that I can't quite bring myself to toss or pack. Cricut die cuts, partially finished embellishments... So when I can clean a few off my desk into a project I think that should count as packing prep and creative time, right? 

So this card is made entirely from whatever was sitting on my desk within reach when I made it. I used the new MUSE Card club challenge for inspiration. I added some La Vie En Rose paper to the bottom half of the card, and built the embellishment band on some of the striped Chickaniddy paper I was using earlier this week.

The cricut butterflies, swirl, and 3-d flower were all finds from behind my desk my packing endeavors. Ahem. I added the fabulous sentiment and went over it with shimmer gel pen. Then I added a bunch of bitty sparkles and some gold glitter gel to finish off my card. Multi-tasking is fun!

Day 324: AHSC Hello Sweet Friend Card

Happy Monday, Stampin' Friends! Today I'm sharing a quick and sweet polka dotted Hello card inspired by the new sketch from Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge.

The tiny polka dot and stripe prints are from a 6x6 pad by Chickaniddy. That striped page had the HELLO circle already printed in the corner so I fussy cut the circle and used it in the top corner of the card. I stamped the Sweet Friend sentiment twice, once directly on the card and once onto a small banner to pop the FRIEND portion up on thin foam tape.  

I added this big Cricut cut flower, which has eight layers of flower shapes ranging from 1/2" to 1 1/2" from my favorite cartridge, Art Philosophy. I added some gold glitter gel into the flower center before topping off my bloom with a pink enamel gem. This is such a versatile sketch - I hope you'll pop over to Atlantic Hearts to play along this week!

Day 272: Scrap Much Grouchy Face Layout

Today I'm sharing my second layout for the Scrap Much? Design team. This week's sketch is so adorable, much like the faces Max is making in my layout! I think my favorite one is where he got his head stuck in the back seat of the car because he was so grouchy at me!

I started out with some Simple Stories wood grain paper - I love, love, love all the colors in the multi pack I got, with one side colored woodgrain and the other in gingham! I wanted that big circle to be subtle, so I stitched it freehand with my sewing machine a bunch of times. Then I daubed on some white ink and added some sketch heart stamps from one of my favorite stamp sets. I added my layers in using the Echo Park My Little Boy papers. 

I made the flowers by layering three to four simple Cricut flower shapes and topping them off with grey enamel gems. I trimmed the cuteness sentiment out of an Echo Park journaling card. I also pulled in some of the Simple Stories gingham in the handcut leaves, banners, and under my Little Yellow Bicycle Burlap title letters. When I was making this layout I accidentally printed our that picture of Max on a full letter sized sheet of paper. I didn't want to use it like that, but I couldn't toss it...so we've been pinning it up all over the house and telling the boys, "Max does not approve!" in silly voices all week, cracking ourselves up. 

Here's the awesome sketch - I hope you'll be inspired to share a page over at the Scrap Much? blog too!

Day 185: Thanks So Much Card

Yesterday afternoon my friend Sarah came over for a little one-on-one Cricut tutorial. We tried out my Expression and my Explore machines in the hopes of helping her decide which model she'd like to add to her crafting stash. I grabbed a packet of Garden Green cardstock to cut random things with her, since it's long retired and I have a fairly thick stash of that color left. I thought I'd be able to just recycle the cuts...

I was showing Sarah how to cut an oval out of the front of this THANKS SO MUCH card from the Artfully Sent Cricut cartridge using Design Space. As you can see, I couldn't toss it. I trimmed it down to fit a 4x4 card, and, using the new sketch from Retrosketches, I whipped up a cute little card in minutes.

 I carefully sanded the cricut cut cardstock with my emery board so I wouldn't mess up the adorable attached sentiment. Then I stamped the sun and clouds using Rain Or Shine. I coated the sun image with Wink of Stella. Then I added the stitch detail using the stitch stamp from the Zoe WOTG. That is one of those stamp images bound to get it's own block and a place of honor on my stamp table. It's small enough to be easily included in my basic on the go kit too! Hooray for stitching with no stitching! That heart is hand-cut from a scrap of coral shimmer trim.

I ran a strip of the coral shimmer trim behind the sentiment along the bottom of the card. I stamped the rainbow from Rain or Shine in Memento Tuxedo Black, then colored it in with a waterbrush and 3 inks: Sorbet, Canary, and Glacier. That got a nice coating of Wink of Stella too.

Thanks for the crafting time, and the inspiration, Sarah! 

Day 181: Zoe Happy Birthday Card

Tonight I decided to do another take on the current Cardabilities sketch. I already made this card using the sketch, but Then I saw this color challenge from ColourQ, and I wanted to pull out more of the gray color.

So I chose some grey woodgrain for the card background. I stamped it with Slate ink and the HAPPY BIRTHDAY sentiment from the August SOTM. Then I swooped some clear Wink of Stella over the background for a subtle shimmer.

I laid down my current fav cloudy heart washi tape and topped it with a Sorbet Zoe polka dot banner. I added a Slate frame with a Glacier sentiment in the center and a few cricut cut flowers I found hanging out in my scrap bin. Serendipity!

Day 166: Artistry Blog Hop

Welcome to the CTMH Artistry Blog Hop. We've got thirty talented consultants sharing fabulous creations using the awesome new Artistry Cricut Cartridge. You may be arriving here from TERRIE'S BLOG. Let's hop!

For this hop I decided to play with the new sketch from Cardabilities. I love the layering on their sketches and I knew I could get the all the images I needed from the new Artistry cartridge. I stamped my background of Glacier cardstock with a sentiment from the August SOTM in Glacier ink. Then I added the circle from Doodled Designs in White Daisy ink. I added a strip of the new Coral shimmer trim, and stamped on some leaves from Lovely Birthday.

Then I started layering on the Artistry cuts. I grabbed some leaves from the swirly wreath banner on page 26, trimming off just the bits I needed. The flowers are the bottom layer of a two step cut from page 11. I colored them using Sorbet and Canary inks and my waterbrush, then formed the leaves as they dried. I gave the butterflies a similar waterbrush treatment. I trimmed the sentiments from the top half of the background on page 42 (which is where the butterflies reside too). I outlined the HAPPY portion in transparent shimmer gel pen for some extra sparkle. 

One project doesn't even begin to show how awesome this new 700 image collection is - lucky you've got 29 more blogs in the hop, eh? Next up is BETH'S BLOG. Have fun with all the Artistry goodness!

Other Artistry Projects I've made:
Zoe plus August SOTM Creative Board
Zoe Merry Christmas Card
Zoe Thanks Card
Thinking of You Heart Card
August SOTM Layout

Day 146: Disney Movie Quote shirts

In preparation for our Disneyland trip we watched a ton of Disney movies, everything from Cinderella to Wall-E, Planes to Bedknobs and Broomsticks. They were already in love with the Pixar movies such a Toy Story and Card. Some new favorites are Mary Poppins, Robin Hood, The Sword in the Stone, and  Beauty and the Beast. The cheering when Gaston fell from the castle....oh my. In any case, when we were discussing our favorites the boys were quoting their favorite movies and one more Cricut iron-on vinyl shirt project was born.

Ben's shirt was the first one done. He's been obsessed with Peter Pan for months now, and he even had a Peter Pan themed birthday party. 

Max hemmed and hawed, but in the end he chose Buzz Lightyear, which was the first idea he'd had anyhow. I had to hide the finished shirt from my little tuxedo clad munchkin. He was not happy about all the new glitter duds I wouldn't let him wear!

Gabe wanted a Tow Mater Quote that we all say all the time while walking backwards and being goofy. Of course, he's a backwards driver, so on the back of his shirt is:

Now, the boys and I hatched this plan, so I wasn't sure my engineer of a husband would be on board with the Teal Glitter Disney quote t-shirts. Of course, I should have remembered this is the same dude who wore a t-shirt I made featuring the hand-drawn head of Ernie throughout college. Of course he wanted a Disney Quote shirt! And this is the quote he chose:

  

Peter Pan Quote Shirt CDS File

Buzz Lightyear Quote Shirt CDS File

Tow Mater Quote Shirt CDS File

Mary Poppins Quote Shirt CDS Cut File

Day 145: Creativity Cricut Shirts

Cathy really embraced the quote shirt idea. She had me design three of them because she couldn't choose her favorite. She teaches at an elementary school, so these will be handy for her in the fall!

The Font is from Artiste, and the Swirl/heart element I welded from Art Philosophy shapes.

This one is all Artiste Font.

This last one we added a touch of Disney with the Waltograph font.

Creativity is Not a Hobby CDS Cut File

Creativity is Contagious CDS Cut File

Intelligence Having FUN CDS Cut File

Tomorrow I've got one last set of Cricut vinyl shirts to share - all Disney Themed!

Day 143: Customized Mickey Head Shirts

So with my boys join me at Disneyland after convention this year we (I) wanted to have a family shirt for group photos. It needed to be simple, as I'd be handling production myself, but a bit customizable.

Cricut Iron-on vinyl to the rescue. It's like the summer of all things vinyl around here. So I got some plain red and red glitter iron-on vinyl and set to work. Each person got their name cut out of the Mickey head using the Waltograph font. Most of the boys got the red vinyl and the girls chose red glitter, though there was some switching based on personal preference. It's all good.

Max, my little tuxedo wearing fashionista decided that not only did he want a glitter head, but that his needed to have a bow-tie. Naturally. And since I was cutting him a bowtie...I cut a few more so some of the girls now had silver bows for a Minnie head, too. Max was the only one who wanted a bow-tie though. 

I chose black t-shirts for my little family group, others chose grey or white. The most important thing is that we were together making memories.  

Customized Mickey Head CDS Cut File