Color My Heart Dare Using the Make Waves Tic Tac Toe Board

Here are three cards I made using the CTMH Make Waves-Cardmaking stamp set with its accompanying Thin Cuts Die and Cricut Design Space.

I'm sharing this first card with the Color My Heart Color Dare Challenge. All of the sentiments were white embossed on Pansy cardstock.

I used the top row across to make some fun cards, adding Pansy as an extra color. (I'm sure the Make Waves Shimmer Trim is Lagoon!)  Since the heart cut is Emerald waves design, I cut the background for both cards using Cricut Artbooking on Cricut Design Space to look like waves, too. I unlocked the size and altered it to fit 5.25" x 4."  You can use my file if you have that cartridge. The embellishments are Make Waves Sequins and Gems.

I have one more card using the waves cut background and the Make Waves -Cardmaking stamp set. Thist one still uses the same colors with the addition of a Sorbet crab and some retired Sea Glass cardstock behind the waves, a color not on the board.

Thanks for visiting!

I'm sharing the first card with the following challenges:

Cards in Envy - Give it some heart
City Crafter Challenge #401 - die cuts
Color My Heart Color Dare #281 - Tic Tac Toe Board
Unicorn Challenge #29 - love/valentines

August Stamp of the Month Blog Hop - School Year

Welcome to our CTMH Stamp of the Month Blog Hop. Our group of 22 stampers are featuring the August Stamp of the Month, School Year. You may have come from Brenda Lapp.  If so, you're on the right path. To see the entire list of participating bloggers, visit Melinda Everitt's blog here. 

As a retired teacher, I know that people like to give teachers a note of appreciation or encouragement at the beginning or the end of school. I thought that the Atlantic  Hearts Sketch #223  was perfect for a school-related card. I used Cricut Artbooking, a new CTMH word die, and an embossing folder for my card.

Sometimes I want a different sentiment than the one in a stamp set so I have a quick trick for using elements from two different sentiments. You can see them here on the stamp set:

My easy trick is to use scotch tape to (1)cover the parts I don't want, (2)ink the stamp, (3)pull off the tape, and (4)stamp on the paper. I keep a heavy office tape dispenser on my work area so that the process is quick and easy.

Thank you for visiting! Now you're ready to see the next creation on  Brandi Robinson's blog.

5.5" x 4.25" Card Recipe (all CTMH supplies):
Paper - newest Adventure Fundamentals (Fern Alphabet), Ruby, Goldrush, Black, White Daisy Cardstocks
Stamp of the Month
Ink - Memento Tuxedo Black, Versamark
Markers - ShinHan Touch Twin WG4 Warm Gray, GY234 Leaf Green, BR99 Bronze
Tools - White super fine embossing powder, heat tool, Hi There Thin Cuts, Alphabet Embossing Folder, Cricut Artbooking and Cricut Explore (#M45CEE - apple, #M3DC3F torn notebook edge)

Spread Love Wherever You Go

Do you experience a calming effect when you hand-color images like I do? Last night we had tornado warnings. The television broadcast of severe weather goes on all evening when this happens, so I decided to stamp , color, and fussy cut to calm my nerves. I managed to keep that up for about an hour until our electricity went off and my phone was broadcasting the alarm for take cover for our area. We stayed in the dark basement (which is only used for storage) for 45 minutes while they kept extending the warning time. We were blessed by having nothing more than strong winds and no real damage, but nearby areas on three sides of us had damage, especially Oak Grove, which  had 483 homes damaged or destroyed.

Once we had electricity again, I decided to cut out some Cricut Artbooking frames with hearts because today neighbors are helping neighbors to clean up the damage. I love the sentiment that came with this stamp set: "Spread love everywhere you go." I wanted the frames to express this idea.

I used the Dreamin' Big paper pack and colors for the Heart 2 Heart Challenge this week. The first one I made is more CAS (Clean and Simple). The stamps came from last year's Lovely Garden. I colored them with a couple of ShinHan Touch Twin alcohol markers and several Copic markers.

This second one uses a 4" x 3" pml card from the paper pack.

I'm sharing this project with the following challenges:

Color Inspiration Monday - anything goes with image colored
Heart 2 Heart - Dreamin' Big
The Paper Players #334 - Theme: die cuts, punches, fussy cutting
Word Art Wednesday #272-273 - anything goes family friendly

March Tea-rrific Stamp of the Month Blog Hop

Welcome to our March Stamp of the Month Blog Hop using Close To My Heart's Tea-rriffic stamp set. If you have come from Tamytha Jenkins' blog you're on the right path. To see the entire list of bloggers in the hop visit Melinda Everitt's blog.

I made four samples to show my scrapbook/card club this month, all using the Dreamin' Big paper pack and some coordinating cardstock. The first two sets of cups are backed with a mat made from one of the PML cards and two zip strips. The cup details were colored with ShinHan Touch Twin alcohol ink markers.

The next two use the flowered paper and the glacier and juniper cardstock for the cups embossed with Silver ep. The mat behind the first cup was cut using the Artistry Cricut cartridge.

The mat behind the cup on the next card was cut using Artbooking Cricut cartridge.

If you don't already have a consultant, you can purchase this stamp set for $5.00 with a $50.00 order here on my website OR you can purchase it at full price, $17.95.

Thank you for visiting! Now you are ready to move on to Tracey Pierce's blog to see artwork!

Hello Lovely Birthday Greetings

I'm making up for not blogging last week thanks to stomach flu. . . then a migraine. . .then working on my daughter's birthday scrapbook that I gave her Saturday. I think I was going through withdrawal and really needed to make cards, my favorite thing to do!

The Heart 2 Heart Challenge also had a challenge to make something using the Hello Lovely paper pack. I made a birthday card using one of the PML cards cut into a circle to fit inside a frame cut with Cricut Artbooking cartridge. I traced the inner circle cut by my Cricut but went around any leaf that was bigger than the circle.  I also wanted the flowered paper to be just a thin border behind a more solid paper, so here is the result.

The birthday greeting came from the retired stamp set, Just a Number. The Blush Shimmer Ribbon was the perfect accompaniment for this paper!

Thank you for visiting! May God bless your crafting!

I'm sharing this card with the following challenges:

Die Cuttin' Divas #306 - Ribbon and Bows
Heart 2 Heart Challenge - use Hello Lovely

Blessed to Have You Card

When I saw the lovely sentiments in the CTMH September Stamp of the Month, I couldn't wait to try them. If I had the stamina and knew the addresses, I'd make scores of cards with this one to send to the many people who have blessed my life over the many years. But I'll have to settle for the here and now to share this lovely sentiment of gratitude. 

The striped and dotted papers come from Jeepers Creepers paper pack and the leaves were stamped on Cricut cuts of Rustic Home Fundamentals papers. Since they're reversible, one side has a warmer beige coloring and the other a gray tone. I used both. An eighth inch strip of gold glitter paper was also coordinated with gold sequins and white and gold twine.

The sentiment of this card also challenges me to be a blessing to others. It brought to mind the words of the old song, Make Me a Blessing.

Out in the highways and byways of life, Many are weary and sad;
Carry the sunshine where darkness is rife, Making the sorrowing glad.
Make me a blessing, Make me a blessing, Out of my life, May Jesus shine;
Make me a blessing, O Saviour I pray, Make me a blessing to someone today.

I'm sharing this card with the following challenges:
ABC Challenge - O for Open
Aud Sentiments Challenge #163 - anything goes plus a sentiment
Crafty Catz #336 - anything goes with twist-autumn colors
Creative Knockouts #157 - sparkle and shine
Heart 2 Heart Challenge - for National Stamping month, CTMH product and stamping
Let's Craft and Create #117 - Spots or Stripes
PDE Linky Party #136 - anything goes
Word Art Wednesday #246-247 - anything family friendly

5.5" x 4.25" Card Recipe:
Papers - CTMH Jeepers Creepers (tangerine stripe and whisper gray dotted), Rustic Home (leaf backgrounds)
Stamps - September Stamp of the Month "Blessed Beyond Measure"
Ink - Black, Tangerine (stamped on small leaves and sponged on biggest leaf)
Markers - ShinHan Twin Touch YR24 Marigold
Embellishments - Gold Glitter Paper, Gold Sequins, White and Gold twine
Tools - Cricut Artbooking (leaves), 2" scalloped circle punch, sponge

June Stamp of the Month Blog Hop - The Long Way Home





Welcome to our blog hop illustrating the June Stamp of the Month, The Long Way Home. If you've come here from Tammy Lubick's blog, you're on the right track. If you get lost, you can find the entire list of bloggers on Melinda's blog hop list.








When we take our grandkids on road trips, I give them each a notebook and pens for writing notes, drawing, playing games, etc.  Here's my latest altered composition book for one of them. This month's stamp of the month was perfect for a road trip theme.



The small images inspired me to stamp them on a banner. All of the papers are from the Urban paper pack. I used Archival Black ink and Enchantment pigment inks (Peacock, Saffron, Sapphire) and Saddle from the Basic pigment inks because I was using Matte Mod Podge that seemed a little watery to adhere and coat all of the pieces for durability. I stamped the word "NOTES" using the small alphabet, Etched. The banner, black arrow, and "adventure" were cut using Cricut Artbooking. I stamped the vehicles on back and kept it simple:

Now you're ready to move on to Michele Rowley's creative artwork! Enjoy the journey!

Life in Pictures Layout

My daughter, her hubby, and three teen and tween boys came to our rural home today to help pick up sticks, clear the fence line, and mow. There is always a LOT of work that needs to be done and the only good thing about the ailments of old age is that family realizes you can't do it all alone and comes to visit more often to help.

I showed my 40 year-old daughter these photos of her 20 year-old self and she laughed that she still has that dress and it still fits her size 2 self after 5 pregnancies including 2 sets of full-term, full-sized twins. I'd always loved the photos but hadn't scrapbooked them because I wanted subtle, neutral background papers. After they left I paired the photos with some papers on the table by my desk. The soft colors of  some Charlotte papers worked perfectly with the challenge at 613 Avenue Create - use neutral colors (with black or light pink for accents).  There is a subtle rose pattern on the white background. I used a couple of accents from the Charlotte complements and the black patterned background paper is from La Vie en Rose.

All of the stamps are from CTMH Life in Pictures. My hubby is such a camera buff these are perfect for our family. I know he took the photos above with one of his medium format cameras because of their size, but I didn't include the stamped image of one on this layout.  The two smaller cameras are darker because I used black embossing powder when I stamped them.  I have quite a few more planned with these stamps. I thought they went well with the Cricut Artbooking title I gave this layout. (The circle was cut at 8.5" using Cricut Artiste.)

Thank you for visiting.

I'm sharing this layout with the following challenges;

613 Avenue Create #170 - neutral colors.
Craft for the Craic - April anything but a card
Crafty Calendar April Challenge - anything goes
Jo's Scrap Shack Funday Friday#133 - anything goes
PDE Linky Party #118 - anything goes
Simply Papercraft #27 - anything goes

March SOTM Blog Hop - Sunshine Birdies

Welcome to our March Stamp of the Month Blog Hop. If you just came from Dana Kessler's blog, you're on the right path.  If you need to see the entire list you an find it on Melinda's blog here.
We used the stamp set, Sunshine Birdies. This stamp is only available in the month of March. It's just perfect for spring!

This was such a fun stamp set to play with. I made all of my cards using the Penelope paper pack. My first card uses a Cricut frame with three windows since the stamp set has three different birds. I embossed the green background with the Vine embossing folder.

The last two cards also have Cricut cuts from Artbooking.  I used fussy cutting on the images of the first and made the second so that the detailed images didn’t need to be cut out.

On the first, the heart banner came from p.61 cut at 5.5 in.   I used the word “happy” from the stamp set by placing scotch tape over the other words while I inked, pulling it off before I stamped the word. Then I added the tiny word “birthday” from C1605, Happy  to be Friends. 

I discovered that the sun in the stamp set matched the number of rays as the Cricut sun on p. 53 when cut at 3 3/8 in. I stamped it on the Penelope yellow striped paper and colored and cut the center out to pop dot over the image I stamped on the die cut sun.

Thanks for visiting!

Now you're ready to go on to Gina's blog. 

Happy Birthday with La Vie en Rose

I just had to make a birthday card from this same paper, La Vie en Rose, that I used for Valentines, with an emphasis on HAPPY. It only uses words to complement the flowers on the bottom panel. I wanted to pair the floral paper with this super version of the word, "happy" that I cut using Cricut Artbooking (p. 75)

I white-embossed the word Birthday after I had cut apart the two separate words of one of the phrases in the acrylic stamp set, Joyful Birthday. I added sparkle using a strip of metallic gold foil tape, black and gold ribbon, and gold sequins with a dollop of liquid glass.

Thanks for looking! May you bless someone else with a big dose of HAPPY!

I'm sharing this card with the following challenges:

Addicted to Stamps and More #181 - anything goes

Crafting for All Seasons #120 - three of a kind (3 sequins)

Creative Moments #87 - anything goes/ twist- embossing, wet (or dry) 

Dream Valley #125 - Sparkle, bling, embellish

Moving Along with the Times #14 - words only, no image

Southern Girls Challenge - add a little sparkle



Mojo 435 Peace on Earth Card

I made this Christmas card to emphasize the important Christmas message the angels brought to simple shepherds at the birth of Christ -  Peace on Earth. Each time I read this sentiment my mind begins singing "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day" which has this phrase. I combined the sketch at Mojo Monday and the colors of the inspiration at the Christmas Card Challenge #11.

 

 

I cut the gray panels using Cricut Artbooking, using old CTMH colors, Gray Flannel and Gray Wool. The pink embellishment was cut using Cricut Artiste with Pixie and Hollyhock cardstock. If you'd like to use my cut files on the Cricut Explore for flower and snowflake panels you can find it here in two sizes.  The white embossed sentiment from "Peace on Earth" stamp set byVerve is stamped on a very dark blue Bazzill cardstock. I used a Cuttlebug embossing folder for the white background. Bitty sparkles, a clear sparkle on a silver sequin, and silver shimmer trim are the final embellishments.

I'm sharing this Christmas card with the following challenges:

A Snowflake's Promise #16 - anything Christmas/winter

Addicted to Stamps #120 - die cuts

Christmas Card Challenge #11 - Christmas card with optional color challenge

Dream Valley Challenge #125 - sparkle, bling, embellish

Everybody Art Challenge #356 - techniques - embossing, 2 kinds

Holly Jolly Christmas #65 - emboss it

Mojo Monday #435 - sketch

Suzy Bee's Bloomin' Challenge #117 - anything goes/twist-sentmental

Hug, Kisses, and Valentine Wishes

When I was young there was a song with the lyrics: "What the world needs now, is love, sweet love. It's the only thing that there's just too little of." We certainly would have peace in the world if everyone followed the command to love God with all their hearts and love others as we love ourselves. It's really up to us to share God's love with our corner of the world. A kind word or deed here, a loving card there. What a better world it might be with just this community of crafters making a difference!

This valentine today was also made using my favorite paper for valentines, La Vie en Rose. The red floral paper inspired me to use the large flower from Beloved Bouquet, the retired January stamp of the month. I stamped the flower outline with Ruby ink and colored with several red and pink alcohol ink markers and the blender. I had the finished card sitting on the counter and looked at it from across the room. That's when I realized it looked rather plain and needed a touch of yellow in the areas I'd left white.  That made it more like roses I've raised.

I cut the white mat using Cricut Artbooking (p. 84). I changed the size proportions by unlocking them in the edit screen on Cricut Explore. Then I made both height and width 4." This design with the hearts still looked OK proportionately.  I liked the way they let the floral paper show in the hearts. The Cricut cut out the center rectangle so I embossed it with Tiny Hearts embossing folder and mounted it on a black mat to cover the rectangular hole.

Thank you for visiting! May God richly bless you as you share love with your world

I'm sharing this card with the following challenges:

Crafting by Designs - Hearts!
Crafting for All Seasons #119 - Love is in the Air
Crafty Creations #308 - Hearts
Creative Card Crew #106 - Love
Creative Moments #86 - Anything goes with optional Twist: Romance/Love
Fan-Tastic Tuesday #106 - Anything goes with a twist - So in Love
Little Red Wagon #328 - Happy Valentines Day
Mod Squad Challenge - From the Heart
The Paper Shelter #235- Be My Valentine

Joy to the World Christmas Tree Cards

I thought I'd go to town to the grocery store today until it started sleeting and snowing. Hmmmm. . . it seemed better to stay inside and make Christmas cards.  So here's the first of several quick posts showing the results so far.

I used this awesome Inspiration photo from Our Daily Bread Designs Shining the Light Challenge to make these two cards. I used the green, red, and gold colors along with the nativity images in the background to inspire my .inside theme

 

The image I used is an older ODBD stamp called Christmas Tree Collage. It has the music for Joy to the World in the background.  I colored the balls and candle flames with Prismacolor pencils, then added tiny pearls to the first tree and gold and cream organdy ribbon.  I masked and stamped just the word Joy from a sentiment in the ODBD set Christmas Verses. I backed the image block with gold glitter cardstock, black cardstock, and a red scalloped mat cut using Cricut Artbooking.

 This second card is embossed with Princess Gold embossing powder, matted on an old green plaid scrap, Martha Stewart leafy branch punch, pearls, red enamel gems, and more gold-trimmed organdy ribbon.

Thank you for visiting! May God bless you as you share your love with Christmas cards for your friends and family!

I'm sharing this set of cards with the following challenges:
Alphabet Challenge - T - 'Tis the Season
Craftyhazelnut's Christmas Challenge #255 - red and green
Holly Jolly Christmas Challenge - ribbons and pearls
Our Daily Bread Designs Shining the Light Challenge 263 - photo inspiration
Sparkles Christmas Challenge - decorations

Sangria Thanksgiving Layouts

A few years ago I decided to stop putting duplicate holiday layouts in the albums of each of my eight grandchildren. Instead I started specific holiday albums. I take the albums to our family dinners for everyone to enjoy. My hope is that they will continue to get together over the years, even after I'm gone, and can enjoy looking back at their holiday celebrations. In this album I want each family member to be thankful for blessings God has given us, for our special times together, and to celebrate each family member and the love we share.

I made four layouts using the Sangria paper pack in the Workshops on the Go. Here are two of the quick layouts I made up myself using 4" x 6" photos and clusters of the Sangria complements. Because the complement pieces are small, I lay different groupings of them in strategic places on the layout, usually in a visual triangle. When I find a grouping I like, I adhere some and overlap and pop dot others.

The title mat was cut using the negative spaces of the alphabet on the new Cricut Artistry cartridge and the Explore, which allowed me to move it over to the right so I'd have room for the complements. Here's a closer look at the way I clustered the complements:

I'm never caught up scrapbooking (I take too many photos!) but I'm working on previous Thanksgiving photos right now so I can take our album to our Thanksgiving dinner next week. I've started adding flip flaps over the tops of page protectors so I can add many more photos to one layout. The page protectors and flip flaps tend to produce glare so these photos of the pages were taken before I slippped them into protectors.

Here is the other Sangria Thanksgiving layout.  I cut the title in two colors, using Cricut Artbooking. They were cut the same size then slightly overlapped off-center.

Thanks for visiting. I hope this will give you some ideas for making your own layout or album. If you're interested in using flip flaps to add more photos to your layouts, you can find them here.


I'm sharing these layouts with the following challenges:
All Sorts #337 - Anything but a card
Craft Your Passion #288 - anything goes
Fantabulous Cricut #264 - anything goes
Fussy and Fancy #152 - Thankful
Lasting Memories #268 - Thankful inspiration photo
Not Just Cards #26 - anything goes
Shopping our Stash #228 - Thank you or Thanksgiving

Here are the other two layouts that I made using the CTMH Sangria Workshop on the Go. The first is our vacation with family last year to Colorado. The second is my milestone birthday (65!???) celebrating with family at Overland Park Arboretum. Since I didn't make up these layouts, I'm not entering these in the challenges.

Textured Paper Garden - Thinking of You Card

I think it's so important to let people know that we're thinking of them when they need support and prayers. I usually keep them blank inside so I can individualize the messages.

Here's my second card using Paper Garden, the CTMH stamp of the month for September.

I used the two larger blossom and leaf images stamped on Cricut Artiste die cuts. I inked the blossom stamps with Hollyhock then rolled the edges in Pomegranate. Instead of having the white edge of the Cricut cut, I sponged more Hollyhock on the blossoms. The leaf stamps were inked with Fern, stamped off on scrap paper and re-inked around the edges for second generation stamping. I curved the edges of the leaves and flowers and adhered them with glue dots in the middle and pop dots under the raised portions.

The center of the large flower was stamped with Honey and attached. On the smaller ones I dotted the centers with a "Marigold" Shin Han Touch Twin marker and added a Gray Enamel Gem in the center of each.

The kraft frame was cut using Cricut Artbooking, then embossed with the 5" x 7" CTMH Woodgrain embossing folder. The Colonial White mat under it was also embossed using the CTMH Floral embossing folder.  The sentiment banner was cut using the new Cricut Artistry cartridge. I stamped the Colonial White layer with the background stamp from this set using Sweet Leaf ink.  The sentiment came from Happy to Be Friends.

If you have a Cricut Explore and the Artiste, Artistry, and Artbooking cartridges, feel free to use my cut file to easily make the elements in this card in Cricut Design Space:

https://us.cricut.com/design/#/canvas/30910668

I'm sharing this card with the following challenges:
CraftyCardmakers #146- no patterned paper
Creative Knockouts #105 - Flower power
Paper Shelter #217 - any kind of embossing
Southern Girls Challenge #118 - Flower power
Word Art Wednesday #199 - anything uplifting

CTMH September Stamp of the Month "Paper Garden"

September Stamp of the Month, Paper Garden, pictured above:  Each month you can purchase a new D-size stamp set, available for one month only, for just $5 — that’s over 70% off retail - when you place an order of $50 or more in Close To My Heart products. You can also purchase it at full price, $17.95.

CTMH Happy to be Friends

 

Mojo Monday 413 for National Stamping Month

One of my grandsons will be 11 this month. I stayed with him and his three siblings this summer while they were out of school. Almost every day I took them to the nearby community center to play basketball, then to swim.  In the evenings, the soon-to-be-11-year-old played baseball. He became a pitcher this year and his team was undefeated. Before the summer was over, his 13-year-old brother began soccer practice for his junior high school team. Interestingly, the coach also let this younger brother practice with the team even though he was only going into 5th grade. This has happened every year with every sport because he's one of those kids that's truly athletically gifted in any sport he plays. I hope this card will remind him of all the sports fun we had this summer!

That became my inspiration for my Mojo Monday card this week. The color dare at Color My Heart this week was perfect for these sports images: Kraft, Pacifica, Sweet Lear, Black, and Colonial White.

 

 The Mojo Monday card is for a tall and skinny card. I rotated the design 90 degrees. I also used a little math to make my card with the same proportions as theirs, but longer - 6 1/2 " x 4 1/8" so it would fit in my longer envelopes.

I used the same Pacifica paper* for the background from a retired CTMH Adventure Fundamentals paper pack, but I cut it into two strips and used the mat printed side on the bottom and the glossy side on top. I've highlighted the glossy pattern on top so you can see it.

I stamped the sentiment with Black and Pacifica inks. I love the bold handwritten look of the word "Happy." Details about the stamp sets are below. (The stars are recently retired CTMH.) The grass and each of the balls were cut using the Cricut CTMH Artbooking cartridge.  I sponged a little "grass stain" on the baseball with Sweet Leaf so it would show up better against the Colonial White panel behind it. Here's the Design Space cut file if you're interested:

 https://us.cricut.com/design/#/canvas/30899839

 I'm sharing this card with the following challenges:

Color My Heart Color Dare #157
Craftin' Desert Divas Linky Party - Just for Kids
Deep Ocean Challenge #111 - For the Boys
Mojo Monday #413 sketch 
The Cheerful Stamp Pad #119- Remembering Summer


Because this is National Stamping Month, CTMH has a three stamp special, designed for scrapbooking, cardmaking, or pocket scrapbooking. My sentiment came from the first two stamp sets on the left:

Available only during the month of September, these exclusive C-size My Acrylix^® Hello, Life! stamp sets can be purchased for $13.95 USD each! Or, for an even better deal, you can purchase all three for only $34.95 USD—a savings of $6.90 USD! 

You can find these and other Close to My Heart products HERE on my website.

* Pacifica paper from Adventure Fundamentals is now available with a different pattern than the one shown.
 
 Thank you for visiting! May God bless your crafting and giving so you may bless others!