Birthday Bash of a Card

I had gotten the Birthday Bash Cricut Cartridge before we left for Russia, so I had had some time to play with the cartridge. I would cut some words here and there, as we have seen in a previous post, but it was time to really dive into the full potential of this cartridge. I am only showing you the card today, but, I had also made a layout using this Imaginisce paper called All Kinds of Happy. With the leftover paper I made this fun card, good for boy or girl, with the cute dog in the party hat.

After I pieces the dog together, I thought, 'How Plain.' and leaving my Cuttlebug back home in Canada I had to improvise, so out came the stickles! The paper already had little shots of glitter everywhere...I was just improving the overall look of it! Pop that dog on a handstand up with 3D foam tape and we had the start of an awesome card.

To finish it off, I wanted the card to stay gender neutral, so ribbon was out. The coordinating pink dots was the back of another paper in that line and top it all off with a trio of buttons.

Let's not forget the inside of the card, this cartridge features a phrase function and it is awesome for all the words that say Celebrate! I choose the party hat to go with my dog and the little 'to' just cut right along with the phrase. As my Daughter would say 'Easy Peasy, Lemon Squeezy!'

A 'Bliss'ful Layout

Yesterday I caught up on my picture taking...I had sooo many layouts and cards that needed to be photographed that it took me most of the afternoon. But, now caught up, I have a load of pictures to post for you!!! I decided to start with a layout, lately while perusing the blogosphere, I realized that there seems to be a shortage of layouts posted. I still love to use Close to my Heart Scrapbook Layouts, they are clear and I DO always get a great layout, I am no longer a consultant but still love all things Close to my Heart. This layout is all CTMH except 6 little buttons and Tattered Angles Glimmer Mist.

A really sweet layout for either a B/W baby photos or Wedding pictures, it is dreamy and soft, perfect for those pictures. I did lots of different techniques on these pages,

I tried to layer lots, so I first took CTMH new Cricut Art Philosophy Cartridge and cut a large Medallion, then I used that medallion as a mask for both pages, layering Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist, Coffee Shop/Creme de Chocolat/Pearl over the mask.

I used the same on a Tattered Angels Flourish Mask on a photo mat, punched my scalloped strips with a Martha Stewart punch, Inked all edges, added CTMH crochet ribbon and generic buttons, but it still needed something...

So I cut up the mask I used and used the pieces to embellish this great layout. I am not sure if I should classify this as Shabby Chic or Romantic, but I love this layout and will use my Cricut to make many more masks!!!!

Happy Birthday Little Guy

Even though the Christmas Bazaar is long gone, the Happy Hobby Craft Fair is just around the corner. This cards was originally made for the Bazaar but never sold, I am sure that it will this craft fair. I have some scrapbook supplies that I have been holding onto for 4 years or more, these papers are some of them, I bought them before I know what I should and shouldn't buy, I guess I was trying to mass an inventory. Now, being in Russia, I do not have access to any new papers and have chosen to either use it or sell it off at the end of this year. Out with the old, in with the new! I actually like the way that this card turned out, it's clean cut with a rugged edge to it, with all the buttons and sewing in and olive color it does scream boy, you know barely see the purple.

I had fun inking the edge of the card and cutting the sentiment out with the Birthday Bash Cartridge from Cricut. I added and sewed the cute buttons on the front. There was no circle originally but my 1 year old had a blast picking them off, did it turn out better...maybe! Just a little update, I am needing to do some more photographing, but I have been doing tons of projects lately. On my list this next week, taking photos and one more blog post before the end of the month, we'll see if that happens.

Heart to Heart Father's Day Card Challenge

Another reason to get inspired this week, I decided to play along with Heart to Heart Challenges (see button in sidebar) and of course it was a Father's Day Card challenge. So as I was looking thru the latest issue of Papercraft's Magazine a card caught my eye. Following thier design, I created my own version of this card using Close to my Heart products.

Using a my favorite 2 patterned papers from the Sarsparilla Paper Pack and stamping with Western Flourishes in the background. Mostly monotone, this a cool masculine card that will please my husband.

As you can see I used a large Chipboard star(not CTMH), that was inked in Twilight and then stamped Western Flourishes in Black for a neat design. Colonial White buttons with Black embroidery floss finish off the center of the star.

Just for fun I stamped the inside with my favorite swirly star stamp from Out West, just to make the inside as cute as the front. Hope you all like my Father's Day card, I welcome any comments and suggestions.

5 for $5 Workshop - Thank You's

Lately, I believe thta there is a lost art of giving real, hold in your hand cards. Even I am guilty of giving e-cards, they are fast and some are really cute, even though I have a hundred cards I have made and can send at any time, convience is key with e-cards. So my goal this year was to stop sending e-cards and start making cards to give away. One set of cards I NEVER have enough of are 'Thank You's". I make them and send them out immediately. I like to give them to eveyone, for helping me with lunch, giving us a gift, for being nice, mostly for anyone who has gone that extra mile, I try to give a card that also goes tht extra mile, I made it for them. This month's workshop is dedicated to Thank You's. On Wednesday this week, we will be making 5 Thank You's for $5, a great price for any handmade card, seeing as how Hallmarks printed cards can range from $3 - $20, I am pretty reasonable!

I always try to give variety with my card workshops, using lots of different colors and trying interesting techniques on each of them.

This card is really fancy, with organza ribbon, cute scalloped edge and jewels.

A cool card for a male or a co-worker, this fun card has a fun design with a retro 'Thanks', this card can be assembled in under 5 minutes.

I adore the colors on this card, with a sampling of Close to my Heart's Boom-di-ada paper pack, this card is sure to please anyone. Front and center is a sweet flower Thank You for your friend.

With subtle colors and fun faux stitching, this card is an easy crowd pleaser.

This card was inspired by a fellow consultant, I call it Fairway Trees, cause it looks like the trees are on the fairway. This is an easy card to get more creative with because the Treetops (C1368), there are a variety of trees that you can choose from!
Each card is different and fun, I hope that when they take these cards home, they will be mailed out right away...why not when you have them on hand!!!

Stay in the Line!

So the next challenge for Whimsical Scraps and Bugs was a color challenge. You can see the colors in this post. I am a firm believer that companies put thier products into 'lines' so it makes you, the scrapbooker's, life easier. When you combine all the elements that you can find in a line from a manufacturer, you will always get a beautiful layout! I know that the trend is to mix and match, and in the beginning, that is all you really could do. But don't make your layouts harder then they have to be by doing unessessary extra work. This layout was made from Making Memories 'Chloe's Closet' and I think it worked out fabulously.

My First Independance Day Celebration

Soon enough it will be a fun evening as everyone is on thier decks and having a party while the sky is lit with hundreds of fireworks. At least that is the vision in my head. This will be my families first July 4th in the States and I am anticipating a HUGE celebration. All of my American friends had better not disappoint! But I am hoping not to disappoint them either as the great little centerpiece above will be given as a gift for the host. This centerpiece is actually my next class I am doing just in time for July 4th. Lots of fun and super cute. If you are interested on coming to the class, just click the link on the right hand side of the page that says 'Scrapaholics Unite' to see what is coming up here in the Denver Metro area or click here for a calendar of upcoming classes and crops. I hope Independance Day is as spectacular as the movies make it out to be! Looking forward to it!

It's all about Class

This was a class I did last night. Only Jessica showed up last night, but we had a great time playing with all the Close to my Heart papers, stamps and rub-ons. Ended up making a couple of really cool frames, the top 2 are mine but the 'Beachy' one is Jessica's. This is a super easy frame and with all the paper and embellishments on them they really *Pop*! I am hoping to make some more soon and possibly sell them at the county fair. Also if you are interested in taking one of my classes, and are in the Denver Metro area, you can check out my class schedule here. Looking forward to creating some more today.

Spotlight Gal

This week has been an amazing week, first I get announced as part of a great design team for Whimsical Scraps and Bugs, and then today I am the Spotlight Gal for a major scrapbooking manufacturer, GCD Studios. You can see me on thier blog being showcased. I am very honored and had a lot of fun playing with all of thier products, as you see above I created some additional projects using thier lines of paper. Thank you Heidi Sonboul and GCD Studios for this opportunity. You can see my Spotlight Info here.

Also, occasionally I will be doing give-aways for followers of my site and those of you who leave comments, I would like to encourage you to become a follower and leave a comment if you like something. Thanks for looking,

All in a day's work.

Just wanted to show you all the cute little things I made today at the crop. I made this cute little Miss You card that I am going to be giving away today to our friends the Ratcliff's who are moving from Denver back to Calgary. This was made using my Cricut.

This adorable little purse is filled with chocolates for the girls...something cute they can play with. I think they will have fun with it! Also made using my Cricut.

And here we have some weird looking bottles for the bathroom that I had just bought. They looked so boring before I felt like I had to jazz them up a bit. All the colors match the fabulous wallpaper I have in my bathroom. Believe me the bathroom needs a bit of something cute! Hope you like them .

Calgary Regionals

This week I was busy trying to get all the swaps done that I had signed myself up for. You see, I am going to Calgary, Canada (my hometown) for the Close to my Heart Regional Convention. I had signed myself up for 2 swaps a Card Swap and a 2 page Layout Swap. Above are the sneak peek of what I made. So I am about to leave for the 2000 mile journey, by car, up to lovely Calgary. Lots of packing left to do! Just thought I would share my labor of Love!

Adorable

I was doing my errands today and looked back in the car to see my adorable daughter, sleeping, which made me love her even more because we are at the stage where she goes on and on about everything. Not at all like her mother! :) But there are alot of publishing calls, contest and design teams out there to dazzle with my scrappy style. No takers as of yet....but I am hopeful. I am practicing more dimension with my layouts, so you may see more of these close up shots, along with different tecniques that I don't normally do, so bear with me. Hope you like this blast to the past picture of me, how cute was I...what happened.

Keep Pluggin Away!

I feel like my creative juices are flowing and I am creating more interesting pieces of art! I also feel like the scrapbooking industry is asking for more, layering and techniques, sometime I think it's too much and the page just looks squished and confusing. I like to keep my pages simple with a common theme in mind and just one or two techniques to round it out. Less is more!

Having a blast creating like crazy. I also have a crop coming up and I am going to love getting alot of my projects done. I want to get some great projects done. However with some great sketches on some other sites and blogs have given me some great inspiration. Time to get my groove on and get back to creating.

Time to move

This was my latest class layout. I think it is cute and reflects a whimsical flair, but with a limited following the class never ran. I want to create more layouts like this. This is all made with Close to my Heart products as I am a CTMH Independent Consultant and I think it is a great range of what those products can create. I hope you like it and I will post more soon.