Hello Sunshine Card

Good morning, Stampin' Friends! I got a little busy this week and was worried that I hadn't chosen a winner for last week's drawing yet...and then I realized that I set the Rafflecopter incorrectly, so the drawing doesn't end until the 19th. so if you haven't entered yet, check out the drawing entry form HERE. 

Today I'm sharing a new February Stamp of the Month card. I took a card front of Glacier Cardstock and die cut an outline heart thin cuts die. I cut the same heart twice more in Canary Cardstock, once on each side of the double sided cardstock so I could flip the inside and have the outline be more present when I filled in the card front die cut space. I filled the Glacier CS base with a heart outline and the inner heart, then trimmed off the excess heart diecut from the left side of the card. Then I flipped over a small floral cluster stamp to use the BACK side as a cloud shape, stamping that all over the Glacier Cardstock in White Daisy ink. 

I stamped the HELLO sentiment in Memento Tuxedo Black ink across the die cut hearts before adding a banner made with my surgically altered circle sentiment image. The banner is popped up with thin foam tape and knotted twice with thick Gray Twine that I frayed after trimming.  I cut a 1/8" strip of Canary Cardstock and snipped off bits to make the sunshine rays surrounding my die cut heart.

I'm linking this card up to the CAS on Friday Dies Challenge, the Paper Issues Love is in the Air Challenge, and the Heart 2 Heart Love is in the Air Challenge. Don't forget, you still have a couple of days to enter my Atlantic Hearts 250th Sketch Celebration giveaway, too. Thanks for stopping by!

Sparkling New Year Hop!

Welcome to the Blog Hops with Heart Sparkling New Year Hop! You might be arriving here from STEPHANIE'S BLOG. This month we are featuring any project with SPARKLE...so for me that meant glitter all the things!

I scored this sparkly gold heart in the Target Dollar spot for just $3. It was already glittery and gold, though my Target also had pink and mint colors too. I used strips of Shimmer Trim (and red glitter gel because somehow I'm out?) to create the rainbow band. The shimmer trim strips made it pretty easy to create even stripes. 

Then I pulled retired Fundamentals stickers and old chipboard resist letters from my overflowing box of letters I can't seem to let go of and added that sentiment. Instead of inking the resist letters I filled them in with sparkly diamond glitter gel. I coated the black plain letter stickers with Liquid Glass so they too could be as shiny as everything else on this wall decor piece. I'm linking this project up to the Heart 2 Heart Silver and Gold Challenge and the Paper Issues Stash Busters Challenge.

Next up on the hop is SHELLY'S BLOG. Be sure to stop by all these amazing blogs to soak up all the sparkly goodness!

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

Scrap Much?! Heart This Man Layout

So last year, when we still lived in Spokane, Becky Higgins Hide and Seek came to our town! I went out and about with Max that day, hoping that I'd be close by to wherever the stash was announced. My husband thought I was mildly nutty, and told me he had a busy morning of meetings so he could not "help me cover downtown." Ahem. Of course, when the post went live, I was fifteen minutes away at Michaels on the east side (priorities), and the drop was like 2 blocks from his office. I texted him my wail of grief, then set off for downtown in case no one else in Spokane was a) a scrapbooker and b) an instagrammer. John hopped off his meeting to trot over to the park and nabbed the prize. Even better (perhaps not in his world view, but still..) he got to meet Stacy Julian, who said that she knew he must be a scrapping husband by the way he entered the park (in his engineer wear) headed in a beeline for the Big Red Wagon with no child in sight. That's him on the Becky Higgins Insta feed, and he graciously shared "his" prize with me! 

I used so many lines for this week's new Scrap Much? sketch. There's some Crate Paper Confetti in there, some Simple Stories Heart, a bit of Authentique Woodgrain, plus gold foiled dot and chevron washi tapes. That diagonal woodgrain with the hints of aqua is so gorgeous! I'm linking this page up to the Paper Issues Into the Woods Issue.

My new favorite gold BoBunny Glitter paste joined in the fun too - it looks fab against that textured black cardstock! The Simple Stories stickers look like gold glitter too. I trimmed that diamond motif out of a 4x6 card. I also added some gold and black Fundamentals stickers. I used white pigment ink to stamp tiny letters onto the black glitter circles to complete my title. I finished off with a scattering of the teensiest gold Pretty Pink Posh sequins. 

Here's the sketch - now go forth and create!

Day 302: Disney Mini Album Three Ways

This week I finished off a Disney Mini album project using the My Creations Black Mini Album.

I made a few of these, all with the same basic idea for the front cover, but with varied embellishments to finish off the design. 

My papers were Simple Stories Say Cheese II and La Vie En Rose black stripe. 

The embellishments came from a coordinating die cut pack for the Simple Stories line, and a cricut mickey head that I made myself in Design Space. The black acrylic stars came from the Scaredy Cat Assortment.

I'm linking these albums up to the Paper Issues Owl I Want for Christmas party, since tomorrow they head off in the mail to their new homes!

Day 283: So Thankful Friendship Jar Card

So I'm pretty much obsessed with the December SOTM at this point. I keep thinking of more things to put inside the jar. Tonight I filled it with the little heart that comes in the stamp set.

I saw the new Creative Cards Paper Issues sketch, and immediately thought it was perfect for this stamp set. I love following (awesome) blogs via email, with inspiration just popping onto my phone all day long! My papers for this card came from the Simple Stories I Am 6x6 Pad.

I popped the stamped jar and the So Thankful paper banner up a level with thin foam tape. Then I added a few sheer hearts from the La Vie en Rose complements.  Thanks for the fun sketch, Paper Issues!

Day 255: Celebrate the Journey Layout

So I recently I was approached by an online eye wear company called Firmoo. The kind folks there offered me a free pair of glasses to try out their online optometry service. I've never ordered any eye wear online before, but I figured I'd give it a try. I've had my new glasses for about a week now, and I love them so much I decided that they needed their own scrapbook page. 

I decided to go with the new Paper Issues Sketchy Saturday sketch, I stamped the base layout with an image from the October Stamp of the Month. I divided up some Enchantment Fundamentals papers to fill in the sunburst element. These papers have a pattern printed in white on one side, and glossy on the other. I used both effects in this layout. Also, so much stitching. While I was stitching it at Starbucks I started to wonder if I was nuts, but I'm so pleased with the finished effect. 

I added the titles using a large piece of Heidi Swapp wood veneer and the matching Fundamentals sticker pack. I painted the veneer with Gold Wink of Stella. I added a Cricut butterfly detailed with Black Wink of Stella and a bunch of Pomegranate Fundamentals embellishments. The glitter heart stickers are my fav!

 I want to share a bit more about my Firmoo experience. I loved the TRY ON feature. I uploaded a snapshot of myself, and spent quite a bit of time "trying on" tons of glasses styles, not because it was a pain, but because it was fun, like a little online makeover. I always feel pressured to hurry up and pick something at the doctor's office, so my glasses often end up looking very similar each year. No one at home cares if I have 6 different windows open to flip through my favorite styles and compare them side by side. I was a little worried about ordering glasses online, but the process was easy and my glasses arrived within days. 

After my order was placed I had time to fret. Would the glasses feel cheap, since the prices quoted seemed so inexpensive? What if the prescription wasn't right, or I hadn't measured my size correctly? My fears were for naught. I am happy to tell you that I love my new frames. They are finished nicely, and the ear pieces are smooth and comfortable. My vision with the lenses (with both anti-reflection and anti-UV coatings) is crisp and clear, and my prescription is correct. Plus the front is a bold black frame and the sides are totally and adorable ombre pink!

The folks at Firmoo were kind enough to provide me with a 15% off coupon link for anyone who wants to try out ordering glasses online. I don't get anything if you order, it's just a little bonus for you.  While Firmoo did provide this pair of glasses to me for free, my opinions are my own. I would happily order extra glasses from Firmoo again.

Day 252: Nevermore Gone Batty Layout

So last year Max was totally nutty for Batman. Not just any Batman, mind you, but only the original Adam West batman would do. He knew exactly what he wanted to be, and I ended up making alterations to his standard Bat-suit to meet his exacting standards.

I had to add eyebrows to his bat mask. the utility belt had to be modified, and Bat tools were created from felt and puffy paint. He wanted a Bat-a-rang, of course, but he also needed some Bat Spray Shark Repellent and a special gadget that the Dynamic Duo used to blow up some underwater torpedoes. He literally paused his movie to show my the very gadget he needed, since his four year old explanations were not getting through to Mom. When I saw the Nevermore Complements, I knew they were perfect for these pictures!

I'm linking this layout up to the Paper Issues FAN-atics party, because fanatic is the perfect word to describe Max's devotion to the Adam West Batman. He may have moved on to Harry Potter this year in costume, but every night when he lists his favorite things, Man-Batman (as he calls Adam, to distinguish him from all other cartoony batmans) is at the top of his list.  

Day 247: Scrap Much Disney Selfie Layout

I'm super-duper excited to share my happy news with all y'all today! I'm joining the Scrap Much? Design Team! They have gorgeous scrap sketches, and I'm a longtime follower, so I just can't even tell you how thrilled I am to join this amazing team. You can read the announcement all about the new designers (including me!) over on the Scrap Much? Blog today. 

And since I'm joining the team, I figured I should pair my happy news with a page done using the current Scrap Much? sketch even though I don't start until November. I'm still working on Disney pics right now, and I had this one lone pic, my favorite selfie that I took this July at DisneyLand. So I grabbed my Simple Stories Say Cheese II stash and got to work! I bought the entire line...more than once. I've got a lot of Disney to scrap, and this line is totally my fav!

I am loving the gold touches in the coordinating sticker packs. I also added a bit of subtitling with some grey Websters Pages block letter stickers. How cute is that Mickey pants journaling card?

I wanted a black or dark print grounding piece, but none of my Say Cheese prints were quite right, so I used some La Vie En Rose scrap to build on. I stamped the kraft cardstock with a camera and MEMORIES sentiment stamp to add in my own print to the mix, too. I filled my little plastic arrow clip with more Say Cheese stickers.

Instead of a doily like the sketch called for, I chose one of my Mickey Head cricut cuts I'm using throughout my pages. Sorry my circle is a bit wonky - I was stitching at Starbucks and I forgot my stitch guide, so I was using the paper cup cozy to guide my piercing. That's a single strand of my favorite gold thread, which I used all up, forcing me to the craft store to get some more today (I found gold AND silver!). That star washi tape came from Queen and Co - it's one of my favorites, too. 

I'm going to link this page up to the Paper Issues FAN-atics party, because this page brings together everything I love most - a gorgeous Scrap Much sketch, Simple Stories papers, CTMH stamps, and DISNEY!  

Day 227: Holiday Expressions Blog Hop

Welcome to the Holiday Expressions Blog Hop. We are featuring festive new products from the new Holiday Expressions idea book. You may be arriving here from DARLYS'S BLOG. Let's hop!

I decided to focus on the new Picture My Life White Pines cards. Working with the new Paper Issues Sketchy Saturday sketch, I filled the spaces with the snowflake themed cards. I added a strip of another card along the top of the large snowflake card.

I slid a White Pines Complements sticker behind the small leaf card and added the photo date. I used the Fundamentals Enchantment stickers for the first part of the title. Then I stamped and cut out the SNOWMAN letters using the Hopscotch alphabet stamp set.

I added a scattering of snowflake stickers from the White Pines Complements, and topped them with red enamel gems and bitty sparkles. It was a lot of fun to make a "traditional" scrapbook page with pocket scrapbooking cards!

Next up on the hop is JENNIFER'S BLOG. Be sure to hop all around to see all thirty consultant's fabulous Holiday Expressions creations!

Some of my other Holiday Expressions product projects:

White Pines Christmas Love Card 

Joy Twinkle Wreath Card

Merry Everything White Pines Card

White Pines Just Believe Scrapbook Page

Nevermore Watercolor Card

Nevermore Watercolor Layout

Day 193: Childhood Pocket Scrapbook Layout

It's September! The new Idea book is LIVE, and I'm finally allowed to share all the fun and varied things I've been making and hiding since MAY. Since I'm feeling a little sniffly (yet still excited) about Max's first day of Kindergarten tomorrow, I'm going to start with this pocket scrapbooking page using the new Picture My Life Childhood line. 

So when CTMH asked me last Spring if I wanted to present something on the big stage at Convention in July, the only answer was, of course, yes, yes, yes, YES!!! All I knew is I was doing something with Pocket Scrapbooking, so I hit Pinterest and started studying, sketching, and dreaming. As Jill was explaining to me later what home office wanted my mind was racing with ALL THE THINGS I knew I could do with the new PML cards...until Jill was like:

 Whoa! Back that bus up. We want you to just make Pocket Scrapbook pages. 

Ok, she didn't put it like that, but kind of. Scrapbook some pages so simple my kid could do it. Do not Pass Go. Do not foof them up. Do not add more layers. Do not turn them into an interactive display. Just slide the cards in and add pictures. And I have to admit...

Never had I ever made an actual pocket scrapbook page. Cards, layouts, gift boxes, wall displays, you name it, I've made it all made with those sweet PML cards...but not a single solitary pocket page protector was actually scrapbooked with the many, many cards in my stash.  GULP!

My box with all the new PML lines in it arrived, and I was paralyzed with indecision seasoned with a huge heaping spoonful of don't-worry-just-like-1000-people-are-gonna-look-at-these simple one layer pages...on a humongo big screen. Once I finally got going though, I can't help but wonder why I'd never bothered to try actually scrapping this way before! Scrappin' Friends, ya'll know I am the girl who loves layers, glitter, flowers, and (let's just be honest here) STUFF on my pages. Pocket Scrapbooking was just too easy - slide the pics in, add a few cards, journal the story and BAM! pages were getting done so fast. 

I literally just added a few purple enamel and glitter hearts to this page. I stamped the title using Typography in Lagoon ink. I felt done but it only took me ten minutes including fussing around with outlined the stamped title letters with a black fine tipped marker. 

Don't get me wrong - I still loves me some STUFF, especially glittery, stampy, gotta get all the new stuff lumpy bumpy STUFF. But it was eye opening to me to think that I can spend my weekends making one or two really fabulous pages, and still keep myself caught up using pocket scrapbooking AND IT WAS STILL FUN!  I still felt like I was creating something beautiful, and the boys, well, they could not stop sneaking peeks at my presentation album  - and isn't that sharing of the stories with our littles central to why we scrapbook? 

Now that I've shared my (pocket) lesson learned with you, I'm linking this sweet Max coop preschool pocket page up to the Paper Issues You Rule the School Issue. The days are long but the years are short, Stampin' Friends. Capture those memories, whether you prefer a paper page, a digital layout, or just putting it all into a pocket. I'm off to hug my 5 year old and enjoy this last evening with my not-a-preschooler-anymore boy. Thanks for stopping by! 

Day 192: September SOTM Blog Hop

Welcome to the September Stamp of the Month Blog hop! This month we have over 40 consultant artists sharing their creations with the September SOTM, an elegant set of 10 images called Paper Garden. You may be arriving here from SARAH'S BLOG. Let's Hop!

  As excited as I am for all of the new paper lines released with the new Annual Inspirations  book today, I am over the moon for our new watercolor paints and watercolor paper! I stamped this floral spray from the September SOTM in Whisper ink to use as a template for my watercoloring. Then I used the two biggest brushes in our new set to paint over the SOTM image. I may be stretching just a bit, but I'm linking up to the Paper Issues You Rule the School Party, because playing with my watercolors takes me right back to the happiness of elementary school art class. Why I didn't already have a set of these is beyond me, since I always loved painting in school. I'm already ordering a second set for my kiddos to play with, because it is too much fun not to share!

I worked with the flowers first, then after the image had dried a bit I came back in with a more watered down pigment to shade in the background. I lined the edges of the image using a fine tipped journaling marker. I also did a tapping motion with my brush against my fingers to add the red and black speckles - I am loving the control of that effect even more than spritz! I ran my loaded brush around the edges using the black color to define the edges of my card. Finally, I added a sentiment from the Hello Life Combo and finished off with a few Red Enamel Gems.

You can harvest this stamp set for your own collection only in the month of September, so check with your consultant or click here to gather your Paper Garden today. Next up on the hop is JEN'S BLOG. Happy hopping!

Day 161: August SOTM Blog Hop

Welcome to the August SOTM Blog Hop! This month we have over 50 talented CTMH consultants sharing their creations using the August Stamp of the Month. Framed is a versatile set of 12 stamps that includes three frames with coordinating and adorably fonted sentiments for all occasions! You may be arriving here from JEAN'S BLOG.  Let's hop!

I usually use the SOTM images in lots of cards, but this month I was making a demo board, so I wanted to make a 12 x 12 layout. I loved this Sketchy Saturday sketch from Paper Issues, and it was perfect for the pictures I had in mind.  On Father's Day I took all the boys out for Blueberry pancakes, letting my sweet hubby sleep in restful silence. I cut the big Slate CS shape, and the title using the newly released CTMH Artistry Cartridge. You'll see a lot of Artistry from me this month - it's like Art Philosophy part 2, full of fresh designs and a sweet new font! The center band is embossed with the Dots folder and heavily sanded before I stitched over the top and around the edges of the layout repeatedly. 

I stamped the background repeatedly with the Happy Father's Day sentiment using the colors from the new Zoe paper packet.  I filled in a few blank spaces with the heart from Doodled Designs. I added a label from the SOTM (cut with Artistry). I added a liberal dose of white enamel stars.

You can get your own August SOTM for as little as $5, but only in the month of August. Check with your CTMH Consultant or CLICK HERE for more details. Next up on the hop is KAMI'S BLOG. Have fun hopping!

More August SOTM projects I've done:

Zoe Thanks Card
Zoe Thinking of You Card

Day 93: Mojo Thank You Card

So I know I've been on kind of a Blossom kick lately, but I just can't seem to get enough of this print! Today I looked at the new Mojo Monday sketch and I just had to make one more Blossom card.

It's Tall and Skinny week over at Mojo, so this is a 3.5 x 5.5 card. I used Smoothie stripe washi tape for the banner, which is carefully pieced from two strips of washi tape. I embossed the scribble circle from Doodled Designs in white embossing powder over the card base design. Then I stamped the circle in Glacier ink. I stamped over the circle with the chevron border in Glacier Ink and added the sentiment in White embossing powder, all from the same Have a Happy Day set. I popped the circle up with foam tape.

I dug around in my Cricut diecut bin and hit paydirt with a Colonial White spiral flower that I hadn't built yet. I inked the edges of the flower in Smoothie ink, and twirled it up on my Quilling tool. After I had secured it with Liquid Glass and it was dry, I curled out the petals using my Quilling tool, then leaned on it a bit with a clean acrylic block to flatten out the flower. A smaller simple daisy shape and some leaves completed my floral spray.   

I'm going to link this one up to the new Paper Issues Hooray for the Red, White, and Blue challenge, as I was actually using Therm-o-Web foam squares on this project instead of my usual CTMH foam tape, because I sold all my foam tape at the show last weekend. I was so glad to find that packet of  Therm-o-Web foam squares in my drawer, and I love that I didn't have to cut up the 1/4" squares. Serendipity!