Day 66: Butterfly Hello Card

I am having the best time going through my stash and using up my favorite papers this month! Today's project uses an oldie but goodie called Dotty For You.

I saw this card by Joelle Hiller on Pinterest when browsing Dotty For You projects and thought it was pretty cute. So I flipped it and added some flowers from the Happy Birds set and a sentiment from the Artfully Sent exclusive stamp set. 

Each flower got some glitter gel in the center and I added a black sparkle to the fussy cut butterfly. I added a bit of clear jelly roll sparkle pen to the centers of the stamped sentiment. I just love a nice rainbow card!  

June 2012 Stamp of the Month Blog Hop

Welcome to our Stamp of the Month Blog Hop!  We will be featuring June's SOTM, which is called Life is Tweet, a down right adorable set of 15 stamps.  If you have come here from TERESA'S BLOG, you are on the right path!

This month we have 50+ Close To My Heart Consultants sharing their creations using this month's SOTM (and other great CTMH products) on their blogs. This is simple to do - just click on the link at the end of the post on each blog to move to the next one! Here we go!

This month I used a sketch from Card Patterns to create my project. I used up a bit more of my Dotty for You stash - you got your last month, right? The clouds were just talking to me again...

I cut a little scalloped circle using Art Philosophy and stamped it with the Life is Tweet sentiment in Sunflower ink, then distressed the edges with Sunset ink and Glitter Glitz gel.

After fuzzy cutting the clouds I also detailed the inner rim of the clouds with Glitter Glitz. Kind of a silver lining sort of thing... The background Sky CS was heavily distressed with the coarsest grit on my sanding block.

I paper pieced the Mama birdie using Grey Wool Textured Cs (from my stash...still holding out hope years later that CTMH will bring that back to us someday...sigh...). The eyes on the birdies are actually normal crystal sparkles colored black with a sharpie. I added a bit of Glitter glitz to the eye sparkles too, and a drop of Liquid Glass to make sure my glitter didn't go a-wanderin'.

I'm linking this to the Heart 2 Heart distressing challenge as well...cause it's distressing me that Dotty for you is gone for all the fun distressing techniques I used (sanding, scissor distress, ink distress..)

Now "Hop" on over to NIKKA'S BLOG to see her TWEET work! Be sure to visit all the Consultants Blogs to soak in the great crafting and SOTM ideas! Remember, this SOTM will fly away at the end of June!  Contact your CTMH Consultant (or click here) to see how you can get this stamp set for just $5!


Here are some more projects I have made using this Stamp of the Month...I guess you could say I like this one!!

Triple Bird Krafty Girls Card
Mother's Day Layout
Retro Sketches Color Throwdown card (was chosen as a SHOUTout!!)
Moxie Fab Tuesday Trigger Card
Freshly Made Sketches Team Meeting Card
Retro Sketches #7 Sketch card (Was the ROCK STAR of the week! Woo hoo!)

Retro Sketches meets Krafty Girls

Today I have two cards for you with two totally different stamp sets. I feel like I need to get double posts done all week to catch up. Cue the Indiana Jones music - here come June, lol!!

First up is a quick but cute I CHAIRish you card done with the Stella WOTG set (wonder why that one was on my desk...). I used the sketch from RetroSketches for this card. You have until Thursday at midnight to play - go on out there and check out the amazing cards!

For the tag I used a long shape from the Cricut Art Philosophy Cartridge. I stamped around the edge with Black ink using the small flower from the set. I also stamped that onto the scalloped border I attached to the bottom of the card. I covered my tag in grey dots from the Dotty for You paper packet (only available one more day...my heart is breaking). The file frame on the right of my tag and the heart at the top are also Art Philosophy.

I stamped the chair in Black ink and colored it in using Tulip, Smoothie, and Grey Flannel markers. I fussy cut the chair out, then added a row of Mocha Opaques to the bottom (like nailheads) before popping it up on my card with 3-D Foam tape.

Here you can see the stitch stamp that I used in the background instead of adding another layer of paper. I just love a good stitch stamp! I w2rapped the top of my tag in Baker's Twine and added a few sparkles and Pearl Opaques to bling it up!

I also have another June SOTM card for you. This time I used the Krafty Girls Kopy Kat Challenge - the idea was to stamp lift someone else's design. There were a bunch of cute cards to choose from, but I chose the last card by Amy. Amy's card was an adorable trio of red hearts on Kraft with Pink accents.

I liked the design of her card, so I filled it in with three paper pieced birds from my current fav, June SOTM. I used the Dotty For You and Stella papers, plus black Mini Medley Ribbon and Bakers Twine.

Wiggly eyes make my heart happy. Just sayin...

Take a closer peek at the birds cute little beaks. Can you see what it is?


I used old heart eyelets from my stash for the beaks! I attached them with my Cropadile, then used 3-D foam tape to pop up the birds. I added Liquid Glass to the centers of the Eyelets and clipped their heads down to the eyelet until it dried. This may be the only time I've been in my stamp room wishing for clothespins!

Blog Hop for June SOTM starts June 1st, so I'll see ya back here then!



Ooh - if you have a sec, I'd really appreciate your vote! Go over to the left column and like me on Facebook (in case you haven't already...hi, Stamping Rules Friends!!). Then go to my page on FB - you'll find the link there to vote for my triple bird card that's in the contest from the link. I'm pretty sure you have to be on FB to vote - so I hope I'll see you there! Thanks a bunch!!

CTMH Convention Lasso a Stamp Set Layout!

Today's the day! The last day to enter CTMH's Convention 2012 Lasso a Stamp Set contest! CTMH sent every consultant this adorable Stars Shine Bright Postcard. Being the paper hoarder that I am, I tucked it away to add to my convention pages...and shortly thereafter they announced this fun contest!

I love the fun color combo of Creme Brulee, Lagoon, and Sunset, so I naturally grabbed my Dotty For You papers and honed in on the Dotty backsides. I also used a bit of Stella across the bottom...even on a star themed layout I've got to sneak in some flowers! Be sure to click on the photo to see the details up close - there's a lot to see!

The journaling on  my layout talks about my trips to lots of wonderfully fun CTMH corporate events - not everything I've been to (that amazing Caribbean Cruise in 2005 is conspicuously absent, as is my trip to Convention in Las Vegas...since I was teaching Extravaganza that year I somehow have pretty much no pictures...sad...) but it's a round up of a lot of seriously good times!

Here's a closer look at the center cluster of Cricut and stamped images. I cut out the stars and stamped each layer in second generation Sunset ink using the April SOTM called "You are..." Then I sponged them with Creme Brulee Ink and swiped the Edges with Sunset ink. The smaller stars and tickets are from are stamped with images from the Blue Ribbon Stamp Set. I added a pic of my team from 2011's Convention at DisneyLand to a Cricut ticket - that "Fun" pop of lagoon  is cut out and popped up. Along the bottom are smaller tickets with photos illustrating my journaling.

I placed Bitty brads in a ring around my sweet team and added more of the stamped and sponged stars. Bitty brads also underline the Stars Shine Bright Title. Thank you for Bitty Brads, CTMH - I love them so much!

Here's a peek at my journaling. It says:

In '02 I brought Newbie Wonder!
paired with a pic of me and Jeanette Lynton!


In '03 I brought my brand new team!
paired with a pic of me and two of my team of four fabulous ladies!


In '07 we brought in the worlds largest pizza...still LOL!
Ginni, Kelly K and I ordered a pizza, ostensibly just for 2 of us...but when it came they had to turn it sideways to fit it through the hotel door. It was the largest pizza I've ever seen. Pics were posted to the team email loop of me in my jammies laying on the floor next to the gigantic pizza. I still giggle everytime I think about it.

In '08 I brought my 6 mo. old son Ben!
He was an angel for the entire trip...but I forgot his Ergo baby carrier, and that sweet baby weight 20 pounds at 6 months, so my back paid for that error! Ben was there for my gal Cathy's big win at General Session, was babysat by none other than Sonja Cox for Create N Take, and Ginni got him his first pair of Mickey Ears!

In '11 I brought 4 fabulous ladies!
4 of my team ladies and I had such a blast at Convention in Disneyland last year...and apparently we couldn't shut up about it, because...


In '12 I'm bringing 8 of my team of 12... and we cant' wait for CTMH to BRING IT ON!

Thanks for this fun contest, CTMH - and thanks for the years of super, amazing, silly, just plain fun Convention memories! I'm practically jumping up and down in my seat with anticipation, imagining what you might have in store for us... See you in Dallas!

                      

I'm linking this post to Today's Creative Blog's Time to Craft Roundup!

Amazing Pam Klassen

I saw the CUTEST card the other morning by the super talented Pam Klassen made with my beloved Dotty for You papers... so I had to run upstairs and make it! I still can't believe that all this paper is just $5!!

I was out of the green stitched ribbon (gasp...must order more stat!!) so I went with the also awesome  Dark Chocolate striped ribbon. I hit my stash of clear buttons and gave up just one of my hoard of tiny chocolate paper flowers...

I am a die hard fussy cutter - love my Cricut but I can't help it. A B&T (Background & Texture) paper like this is on my table, I'm practically itching to trim out the images! So it was fun to make a card actually using the butterfly paper as a whole piece. Thanks for the inspiration, Pam!


Ooh - and my Moxie Fab Life is Tweet card got chosen as the RetroSketch Rockstar of the week - sa-weet! They have an adorable new sketch up that I'm working on right now - come on over and play too! Now if I can figure out how to add my awesome new RockStar blinkie.... you know I can't resist a bit 'o bling...

Thanks for stopping by - you are amazing!

CAS-ual Fridays: Opposites Attract

OK - I am not a CAS-ual stamper. CAS means Clean and Simple - a style I love and admire and have a very hard time pulling off. I figure stamping is like any other skill - I just need to practice and, though I may never lose my tendency towards lumpy-bumpy-add-one-more-layer projects, it's good to stretch, right?

And yes, I know there's not a lot of white space here...but there's only one thing going on the in background - the green Dotty for You paper, so that's pretty simplified for me! There's actually not a bit of stamping on this card - it's all pieces from the Dotty for You paper set. It's relatively flat (for a card made by me) and only took a few minutes to put together. Why am I concerned? Well, I made it for the CAS-ual Fridays Opposites Attract challenge. If you are a lumpy bumpy gal like me, get over there ASAP and see why I'm trying to expand my horizons - they make some simply ADORABLE flat and simple cards! I used Pale green (Sweet Leaf) and Pink (Smoothie) colors as my opposite ends of the spectrum.

I am particularly amused by my flower embellishment: I built it out of the butterfly images from the Dotty for You papers right down to the little green leaves! I was fussy cutting butterflies fro another project and got distracted...and cut way too many. I couldn't toss them out so I found a new use for them. (Caren C. I was thinking of you when I did this. Stinkin' butterflies...)

Maybe it's not the most CAS-ual card...but it's simplified from my usual seventy layers and I'm loving it!

One quick shout out - happy birthday to my baby boy, Gabe, who's turning 6 today. May you always make a heart with your hands when I take your photo in a field of tulips...and not kill me for sharing this adorable photo when you get a bit bigger....

Happy Friday, Stampin' Friends!

Taylored Expressions Sketch Challenge

Call me Dotty, but I think my favorite print in the Dotty for You paper packet might, maybe, possibly be the pretty heart clouds (at least for today)! I haven't used it as a print - I fussy cut every one of those clouds, even the extra bits hanging off the sides of the paper. How sweet are they?

When I got the new sketch challenge from Taylored Expressions, I knew just what I wanted to do with it. I've been following that adorable blog forever, but not particiapting very often. The cards there are amazing - so go have a peek, and bring along a cupcake!

I added a smidgen of the Crusin' paper packet, trimming out the individual scrabble tiles to create my sentiment for this card. Lots of 3-D foam tape was applied... I used three of our little glitter buttons and topped them with Sparkles.

I trimmed out the individual clouds, then lined them with a Sakura silver gel pen (silver lining, lol). Then I applied Silver Glitter glitz to the silver lining with my finger - like applying eye shadow but ever so much more fun! Finally I added Silver Glitter Glitz raindrops under my clouds. I used the dots in my Dotty for You paper to decide where to place my raindrops. I'm gonna save this one to mail back to the boys while I'm in Dallas for Convention this summer!

Thanks for stomping by my puddle, Stampin' Friends!

Dotty for You Blog Hop!

Welcome to our CTMH Dotty For You Blog Hop!  We will be featuring CTMH's National Scrapbooking Month Special, which is this adorable Dotty For You Paper Packet with 24 sheets of fantastically trendy prints for just $5!!  If you have come here from TRACI'S BLOG, you are on the right path! 

This month we have almost 40 Close To My Heart Consultants sharing their creations using this groovy Dotty For You paper and other great CTMH products on their blogs. The blog hop is a great big circle, so you can start here and work your way all around.  If you get lost along the way, you’ll find the complete list of participating consultants here. This is simple to do - just click on the link at the end of the post on each blog to move to the next one! Here we go!

When I saw that cloud print in the packet I knew just what I wanted to do with it. I saw an adorable Sunshine and Happiness Layout on the Bella Blvd. Blog by Katherine McElveen. I loved the idea of it, but it was a one pager, with one photo...and she lives somewhere sunny and that's not quite how things roll up here in Oregon. So when we got a couple of mostly dry, sort of sunny days this month (after having kicked off the month with snowman building on our back deck), I knew it was time to bust out of the house and hit the road with my trio of rapscallions for some Oregon adventure! 

I knew I couldn't have my version be quite as sunny, since, as you can see in the photos, our sunny days right now incorporate quite a bit of grey sky still. So I handcut a cloud template in a similar shape to the clouds from the Dotty papers and used that to sponge in Grey Wool clouds over the top of the (now expanded by me) two page layout. And topped that with some pearlescent glimmer mist...

I hand cut the circles, clouds, and labels/tags from the various Dotty papers,popping some up with 3-D foam tape and detailing some with a fine tipped silver gel pen. Really, the images on the label page all look stamped and distressed already - so cool!

I stitched on my sun rays by hand using grey thread, and added an older retired Badge button I'd been hoarding until I found just the right project - Hello, Mr. Sun! I ringed my circle sun with bitty brads too.

On Page 2 I continued the Sky/Ground theme from Page 1, floating more hand cut clouds across the top and circle bits and labels across the bottom. I cut 1/4" strips for the journaling across the top. I used to do 1/2" strips for this kind of journaling, but I like how much cleaner the 1/4" strips look...plus you can write a lot more in the same space...and you might have noticed that I tend to write a lot, lol. 

Finally, I added some bling! I gave each cloud a "silver lining" by patting on Silver Glitter Glitz with my finger just along the bottom of each cloud. I tucked Bitty and Colored Sparkles onto the clusters along the bottom and on each butterfly body. And I added a Pin Clip to the bottom of Page 1 to hold the year since we usually go every year...but usually in the drizzly rain! Perhaps you can see the shine of the "silver lining" down in the close up?   

Now "Hop" on over to CAROL'S BLOG to see her beautiful Dotty art work! Be sure to visit all the Consultants at their Blogs to get some great crafting ideas and other fun ideas! Remember, this Dotty For You paper packet is only available through National Scrapbooking Month WHILE SUPPLIES LAST!  Contact your CTMH Consultant (or click here) to see how you go Dotty over these fabulous papers before they sell out!

One more tip - To create these fab photo collages that fill up the bottom of my Layouts I just popped into Picasa (a free program you can download from the web) and chose the folder that held all my pics from our little foray to the Tulip Festival.Then I chose Create>Picture Collage and dumped half onto each side, fitting 31 photos onto a two page LO! My favorite part (besides stuffing a billion photos onto my page in one fell swoop!) was the "Shuffle Pictures" Button - so much fun!

Here are some more projects I have made using this 100% Awesome Dotty For You paper packet (and I've got lots more a-comin' this week!):

100% Awesome Star Card

Moxie Fab Tuesday Trigger June SOTM Sneak Peek Card
Card Patterns #161
Dotty for my Team Card

Card Patterns Sketch #161

Can you stand a bit more Dotty for You today? This time I used the new sketch from one of my favorite sketch blogs, Card Patterns. It is a cute square card, a bit out of the box for me, a girl who tends to lean hard on the standard size card! I needed to squeeze in one more post as I specifically used a fun Stick Pin for a flag on this card for the Tuesday Throwdown stick pin challenge...and I'm getting tired of finishing cards for challenges and then not posting them until just a smidgen too late! Might be time to actually start using that Blog planner i found on Pinterest...

I cut three layers of a simple daisy shape from my Cricut Art Philosophy Cartridge and gently rolled each petal between my fingers before layering all three together with 3-D Foam tape.

The yellow scallop is cut from the same swirly Dotty for You paper. Each pattern in the pack is a brightly colored print on one side and a coordinating monochromatic polka dot on the back - sweet!

I cut the starburst image from the sheet of labels that comes in the Dotty paper packet, and the heart was handcut from Ocean CS and sanded pretty heavily. The Star was cut from the Dotty Paper labels, as was the SMILES sentiment I wrapped as a flag around one of our Pretty Pins stick pins. (I actually keep one of our adorable flower pins tucked in a rubber band around my Liquid Glass bottle - you know, to poke it when it won't go. Who can tell me where to get a Pretty Pin poker for a stubborn 4 year old?)

A bit of Lagoon Mini Medley stitched ribbon and I was loving my 3-D flower card! OK - I swear no more posts until after the blog hop tomorrow!

Got my Moxie Fab weekend Mojo on...

Oh my! Did I get my stamping Mojo back this weekend! If you have been following me on Facebook, you know I gave up coffee this week. And do I ever LOVE coffee...so this was a pretty tough week. So this weekend I holed up in my Stamp Pad with a nice cuppa Earl Grey to bust into my new Dotty for You Paper packet. Who needs coffee when you've got paper this adorable? 9 projects later I came up for air and a fun meeting with my team today. I'll share two cards today, plus the rest this week including a 2 page layout that I'm bursting to post...but I gotta wait for the Dotty For You Blog Hop! Be there...or be square!  First up is my take on this week's Mojo Monday sketch. I know, I know - I got it posted too late to add it to the linky, but I still like my little sparkly star card, so here it is.

I used one of the corrugated shapes that I sponged with Grey Wool ink and filled in the ridges with Silver Glitter Glitz. All the patterned papers, the large circle, and the 100% awesome sentiment are from the Dotty Paper Packet. That's right - I did a bunch of fussy cutting with these papers,as one side is typically a brighter multi-colored print and the other is a monochromatic polka dot...just what I love best!

I sprinkled on a scattering of colored and bitty sparkles to further highlight my bling-y star focal point. A stretch of Grey Wool baker's twine finished off my mojo card. I just LOVE me a bit 'o stripey baker's twine!

Besides getting my Mojo on this weekend, I also visited the Moxie Fab World, where this week's Tuesday Trigger is Three Little Birds. Aren't they just so sweet? I loved the grey with the blue and green, and I knew there was a stripey print in the Dotty for You packet that was just about these colors.

I've also been following a new blog for me called Retro Sketches, so I decided to jump into this adorable Trigger using their newest adorable sketch. I love how they do their sketches on this coffee stained graph paper thing - it so looks like it belongs on my stamp table...ok, maybe not the coffee rings anymore, but I can dream, right?

So here's my take on the Retro Sketch #7 and Moxie Fab's Tuesday Trigger. I inked everything with Black ink, and all the papers are still from that Dotty For You paper packet. I stamped my birds using (sneak peek) the June Stamp of the Month - aren't they just the sweetest? I paper pieced the biggest bird using Dotty papers and Sunset CS, but did a combo of inking and markering on the smaller birds to get their beaks and legs detailed.

Each birdie got an adorable little sparkle eye. I popped up the sentiment with 3-D foam tape - I just love a cute pun! I'm linking this card up to The Hybrid Chick: Card Caravan Challenge: Spring because this is spring in Oregon to me. Grey skies, birds singing, (mostly green) color starting to come back in...gotta love Springtime in the PacNW!




I'm linking this to the Get Your Craft On Party over at Today's Creative Blog - check it out for lots of amazing crafty ideas!  I hope you'll check back here tomorrow for the Dotty for You Blog Hop with gobs of Dotty Fun! I'll be posting the rest of my weekend projects this week too.

Have a HOPPY day - So TWEET of you to stop by!