Atlantic Hearts Sketch #300

Hello there, crafty friends!

I'm back on the blog, playing along with The Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge, at the invitation of my friend Michelle Stewart. It's the 300th sketch!!

Here's this week's design:

This past weekend, I've been at a scrap-booking retreat with my bestie crafty girl-friends in Wisconsin. So as I was doing lay-outs, I decided to use the sketch to create a scrapbook page, rather than a card, to demonstrate it's versatility.  Here's what I came up with:

I first flipped the sketch as it suited the companion page better.

I incorporated the title and journaling box into the layered banner elements from the left and right. I also used a chipboard CTMH "complements" piece as one of those layers (TODAY).

I used a PML card for the "80, " covering up the original printed message with a stitched circle die, and then cutting out the little 3x4 card with another circle die, to suit the sketch.

This birthday was celebrated during a holiday in England with my parents, so I included the business card from the pub where we ate. Incorporating ephemera like that is a great reminder of the event.

Lastly, I cut a 4" circle as a place-holder for the photo of the birthday girl. I may make the eventual photo a little larger so it doesn't get lost amidst the other elements of the page.

Off you go, to see some inspiration from the other team members. HERE

If anyone's interested, I will happily include more lay-outs from this trip on the blog. I found using the colour theme from just one paper pack (with extra card stock and coordinated mix-in patterned paper) helped to tie the album together. 

Happy crafting,

Great to be back in the creative "saddle," thanks Michelle!

Caroline

Meet....Jack!

 Cross Canada Blog Hop

Favorite New Paper Pack

This month, Close to My Heart released its latest catalogue, Seasonal Expressions 2.  It contains four new paper packs for your viewing pleasure. There is also a special paper pack created for National Scrap-booking Month, Live Beautifully.

Hop along with these talented, creative Canadians for some sweet sneak peaks.

If you've come from Nicky's blog, Simply Artistic, you're in the right place. If you wish to start on the East Coast, head to Michelle's blog, HERE and work your way west.

I chose to feature Jack.  As the mother of three boys (and yes, even my dog is a male) I'm always happy to find products for creating more masculine-themed projects. Unicorns and fairies just don't cut it...  Jack features a strong colour palette of red, black, grey and green, and some beautiful plaid patterns. There is also a bit of a lumberjack theme going on, which is PERFECT for the CFL team in my town, The Ottawa Red-Blacks, and their mascot, Big Joe Mufferaw.

 Ottawa will host the Grey Cup this autumn, and I'm sure I'll have some photos to archive from that event.

On to some projects!

Card #1

This release includes this BEARY cute stamp and die set. I used the bear claw paper with the zip-strip attached to make a backdrop for the bear. The "earth" is black glitter paper. The grey plaid mat is a PictureMyLife card from the  paper pack. I popped up the bear's snout and the banner with foam tape, folded his ears forward for some dimension and gave the nose and eyes some shine with Liquid Glass. Here's the inside of the card:

More use of the zip-strip, the die-cut "Happy" (from Happy Birthday Thin-cut) and rest of the sentiment from the Jack-Cardmaking stamp set.

Card #2

All those plaid patterns were screaming cozy flannel shirt, so I went with a patchwork/quilted look for the second card. I cut strips of paper in varying widths, as well as some of the zip-strips, and applied them to a piece of card stock which had been covered in double-sided tape. Then I ran the piece through my BigShot with a retired embossing folder. I sanded the edges and the embossed hearts for a worn look.  The sentiment comes from the Operation Smile stamp set, True Love, and the black glitter heart is cut using the Heart Thin-cuts.  Love the lumberjack paper! Reminds me of the NHL during the play-offs...

Layout 

This two page lay-out design is available from your CTMH consultant, and features the hero paper, a medley of trees. Perfect for pictures of camping or other adventures in the great outdoors. 

 I used the camper van from the stamp set Camping Life and the big Happy Thin-cut for the title--"Happy camper..." The grey twine and black enamel dots are Jack complements. 

On the companion page, the trees are stamped and hand-cut with a retired stamp set, but the Jack Scrapbooking stamps +Thin Cuts set includes two tree stamps which would look great. The grey plaid tree was made using the Art Philosophy Cricut Cartridge, which is full of useful images.  I worked in a little more of the grey twine by using a Base-and-Bling adhesive circle, and winding some twine on top--looks like a rope or a cross-section of a tree, right?

Your next stop on the hop is Sheena at Kanata Newf.
Remember to leave comments and love as you hop, and contact your CTMH consultant to order any of the items which catch your fancy!

Happy hopping,

Caroline 

Close to My Heart NEW PAPER PACK Blog Hop!

Some of the gals from the K&W Ottawa Area CTMH group are hopping today, to show you the new paper packs from the Close to My Heart Autumn/Winter catalogue which debuts today, August 1st.
You should have come from Tracy Holmes, blog, featuring Laughing Lola.

I chose to feature Pro-Player, which has primary reds, blues, plus greys and black and lots of pixilated, wi-fi, gaming images and sentiments. I have three big boys who are avid gamers, so I was SURE I'd have a use for the papers, stamps and embellishments...

I am showing half of a two-page lay-out featuring photos from Mother's Day this year. The boys gave me breakfast in bed, a t-shirt from one of our favorite Sci-Fi shows--Firefly, and tickets to... COMICON!

What an INTERESTING event...excellent question-and-answer session with two of the actors from FireFly, then touring the Star Wars costumes, working Daleks from Dr. Who, role-playing board games and LOTS of peep dressed as their favorite character, just WAITING to be asked if they'd mind having their photo taken... Lots of spandex and make-up, and that was just the men... We got one family shot with the actor Ross Mullen from Game of Thrones (above), and he signed a face-shot from the show for me.

For the layout, I used one of the fabulous page over-lays from the new "ArtBooking" Cricut cartridge. It is intended for Memorial Day or July 4th, but the stars and gears worked great for this event, too. I cut the overlay in Ruby, layered over Slate cardstock.  Lots of left-over circles and stars for the rest of the lay-out! The photo-mat, also part of the "ArtBooking" layout, is cut from one of the Pro-Player double-sided papers.

The title is cut using the "Artiste" cartridge, in Pacifica, high-lighted with a silver pen.

Close-up of the overlay, with some of the ProPlayer embellishment pack goodies (coloured corrugated shapes and metal gems). These come with the Workshop-on-the-Go Pro-Player package.

To create a pocket for the journalling, I cut a slit into the background paper, and added a sleeve behind it with some scrap-paper. I added the Slate twist-ties to the journalling tag, as pulls.

Now, head off to the next blog, to see a close-up of the beautiful "Sarita" papers:
Diana Saunders: Sarita

Here's the rest of the blog hop list:
Tracy Holmes: Laughing Lola
Shelley Byers:  Huntington   Check out Shelley's more recent posts, for some more FAB creations!
Heather MacIsaac Hunt: Frosted
Diana Saunders:  Babycakes
And remember, all these goodies are available for order, starting today. Use the Shop-with-Me link at the right, if you are in Canada, or contact your own CTMH consultant in the US.

Happy crafting,
Caroline

Supplies Used:
Pro Player Paper Pack  X7172B
Pro Player Assortment Z1879
Cricut Artbooking Collection Z1906
Card stock in Slate, Whisper, Black, Ruby and Pacifica
Silver Metallic Marker  Z1768
Foam tape

What's the Scoop? Color My Heart # 48 with Smoothie and Topiary

Blog alert! Photo-heavy post today...

This week's challenge colours at Color My Heart are
SMOOTHIE a juicy pink and
TOPIARY an intense green.
I believe these are complementary colours, so perhaps that is why they look so vivid together.
I used shades of brown (Chocolate--of course! Desert Sand, Champagne & White Daisy) so as not to compete with the focus colours.

I am still trying to get caught up on last year's summer photos, and these colours fit right in with the following image:

This poster was prominently displayed at our favorite ice-cream store, COWS, in Prince Edward Island, Canada. Bad flash on my part, the glared-out words are "can buy."  Notice the pink and green lettering, the different sized fonts and the little row of ice-cream cones at the bottom...

I started with a sketch by Cheryl Even. She used to provide regular sketch inspiration for the Heart 2 Heart challenge blog, which is where I "met" her.

She still posts sketches on her own blog,   Even More Scrapping!, which are great because they include the paper-cutting dimensions, and usually include room for several photos. This is her lay-out for June.

I'm going to focus on a couple of design features and then show you the whole dang lay-out.

First up, those little ice-cream cones. The stamp and die set for this come from There She Goes Clear Stamps. You can find the link for them HERE and HERE.  I had fun stamping the cones with a waffle pattern and creating different "flavours" of ice-cream for a couple of border strips.

The Title. I just finished an online course from Big Picture Classes called "Textuality" with TONS of great ideas for using text on your layouts. Titles, fonts, journalling, etc.  So I knew I wanted to use a mixture of colours and fonts for my title expression.  The skinny letters are a Sizzix font called Cherish.   The hazy letters are another Sizzix font, Round Table, this time cut from vellum, to look, well...hazy.

The "crazy" letters are CTMH Irresistibles, which I inked with Smoothie pigment ink. The white embossed areas resist the colour, adding some interest and texture.

For "summer," my first idea was to do more die-cutting using the CTMH burlap ribbon, but that idea was short-lived. I tried backing the ribbon with adhesive tape before cutting, to create letter stickers, but the dies wouldn't cut through the plastic backing--too thick. So I decided to stamp my letters to mimic fabric texture. I used the Artiste Cricut cartridge for the font and CTMH's Distressed Backgrounds stamp, for a linen-look.

Here are the rejects:  just inking the edges of the letters wasn't interesting enough.

Here's a bigger look at the stamp set.

Another lesson from the Textuality course was to have the subjects of the photos contribute to the journalling. So one of my journaling blocks includes everyone's favorite flavour of last summer, recorded for posterity.  You can see this close up in the first photo.

Notice I used no patterned paper here? Some repeated stamped images, some texture and the photos themselves add enough visual interest.

Here's the left-side of the lay-out.

Here's the right-side. Notice how none of my family smiles for the camera any more...

Here's the whole thing:  sorry for the hazy shot--when I crop the picture in iPhoto it loses definition...need to work on that.

So! What do pink and green make you think of??? Check out some more inspiring creations from the Design Team at Color My Heart. Then link up your creation for a chance to be our Color Dare Diamond! You have until Thursday, June 27th to get inky.

Happy crafting,

Caroline

One more photo of my cutie HB, enjoying his ice-cream cone!

CTMH Supplies Used:

Card stock in Champagne, White Daisy, Kraft, Smoothie and Topiary.

Vellum

Inks in Smoothie, Desert Sand, Champagne, Chocolate

Stamp: Distressed Backgrounds D1544

Irresistibles Eclectic Alphabet chipboard shapes

Cricut Artiste cartridge for "summer" font, word-bubble shape.

Other supplies:

Sizzix chevron embossing folder

Sizzix Sizzlets alphabet dies:  Round Table, Cherish

There She Goes Clear Stamps set: Enjoy Life

There She Goes Clear Stamps die set: Enjoy Life

The Twinery's baker's twine in Strawberry.

Signo Uniball White pen

Slick Writer in brown.

A few odd jobs...Color My Heart #32

OUTDOOR DENIM

PEAR

LAGOON

Those are fresh, summery colours, don't ya think?

Last week, the crew at Color My Heart were wishing for spring with a trio of sun-shiny colours. This week's challenge features the colours of the new Close to My Heart paper pack "Later Sk8ter." The patterned papers feature lots of gears, distressing and paint splashes and work really well for masculine projects.

I hadn't done a lay-out yet for a Design Team assignment at Color My Heart, plus I'm trying to finish up my 2012 scrapbook album. I had completed everything EXCEPT our summer vacation (which, let's face it! tends to include as many photos as the whole rest of the year!) during my annual scrapbook retreat in January... So here is a lay-out featuring my sons and husband doing some maintenance/chores at our beloved cottage in PEI.

 I don't actually have the Later Sk8tr paper pack, so used solid-color card-stock in the challenge colours and cut up my CTMH 6x6 samples for little accents.  I used Slate as the background, another colour featured in Later Sk8ter, with White Daisy and Whisper, a lighter grey. All stamping was done in Outdoor Denim, which works well as a neutral.

The title uses the new Kraft Keyboard alphabet stickers, and the Superhero alphabet stamps (SUCH a great set, and only available through the end of the current catalogue--grab it while you can!). The paint brush is a Paper Smooches stamp, as is the drippy paint. I used Dazzle stickers from Paper Wishes for the screwdriver, wrench and little gears.

I cut Slate washi tape into little arrows to direct your attention to the photo of the finished (re-painted) deck. Journalling was done around the edge of the pages, with a white Uniball pen, a great idea I first saw on my blogging friend, Miriam Prantner's blog.

The boys were not crazy about this Tom Sawyer-ish task, partly because it took the better part of a week, although they did a thorough and excellent job. Their personalities were reflected in their different painting styles, so each was labeled with a famous painter's name...

As for the GIANT ERECTOR SET... the name says it all!

I had fun revisiting our summer vacation. Hope it brought you thoughts of warm breezes and blue skies!

How do the challenge colours inspire you?  Head over to the Color My Heart blog to link up your project.  All the details are there, as well as some AWESOME creations by the design team.

Happy crafting, 

Caroline

CTMH Supplies Used:

Card-stock in Outdoor Denim, Lagoon, Pear, Slate, White Daisy and Whisper

Ink: Outdoor Denim and Versamark

White embossing powder

Kraft Keyboard alphabet stickers: Z1825

Superhero stamp set: E1022

Other Supplies:

I {heart} Art stamp set from Paper Smooches

Masculine Dazzles stickers from Paper Wishes

Picket fence die from Sizzix

Grass die from My Favorite Things

Signo Uniball white gel pen

All that Glitters...

...is Fabulous!

The challenge at Heart2Heart  this week was to: 

Glitter it up! Add some sparkle to your card or other project using glitter, glitter glue, etc...

Its been awhile since I actually did any scrap-booking, so I decided to use photos taken this past summer, to create a lay-out telling the story of my husband's special birthday treat.

I mentioned earlier that there were a lot of RED-LETTER events in our family this year--my husband and I both turned a nice, round number, our oldest turned 21 and we celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary.

For his birthday, I decided to rent my DH a special car for a week. I priced out some luxury rentals and sadly, the bankbook just couldn't swing it. BUT, he had expressed an interest in test-driving a FIAT-500. So! Off to the airport we went, on the mystery errand. He had a lot of fun (and panic!) trying to figure out why exactly we were driving to the airport, and why he had to bring photo-ID...but was totally thrilled by that cute little convertible!

We had fun buzzing around with the roof down (a head-rest blew off at one point!) for a week and it was quite comfortable for four people.  Anyway, it was a hit, and generated quite a few fun photos.

For the assignment, I used glitter to hi-light my title: "50 or 500, you are FABULOUS!"

I used the retired workshop-on-the-go kit, "Cruisin" because it had great on-the-road retro images and lent itself to the black-&-white-&-red colour scheme.  The kit included the chipboard Dimensional Element Numbers (Z1681). I spread Liquid Glass (Z679)  onto the letters and sprinkled Martha Stewart glitter onto the wet glue. That looked okay, but the edges were still white, so I fixed that with an alcohol pen in Cranberry.

I did not have the corresponding Dimensional Element alphabet, so I cut letters from cranberry card-stock, using the Cricut "Art Philosophy" cartridge (Z1686), in the same size 

as the numbers (1.5"). I coated them with Liquid Glass and added more glitter.

 I have a new respect for that product; not only is it a really strong adhesive, that can add a nice glossy effect, it also adds wonderful dimension. Those flat letters became fabulously fat and glittery, and stayed that way, even after the glue dried!

Here's the complete lay-out:

I used a pattern from the new CTMH inspiration book, "Make It From Your Heart" Volume  1. (9035). A great value at $7.95! I tweaked  the pattern a bit to accommodate all the photos, including cutting one photo to span the mats, 

and hiding another in the journalling box, which can be opened by untying the Waxy-Flax (Z1089) bow. I thought that map paper was perfect for this lay-out!

A couple of other fun features of that paper pack were the Scrabble letter paper, which I cut apart and mounted with foam tape, for part of my title, and the bottle caps, which add a lot of height to the page, but a lot of style, too, methinks.

So, there you have some glittery goodness.!

Why not break out your stash of glitter glue, gel, Stickles, etc, and link up to Heart2Heart?

Here's all you need to know:

1. Use mostly Close To My Heart products, though it doesn't have to be 100%.
2. Create your GLITTERY project.
3. Post your project to your blog or other online gallery.
4. Come back here and directly link to your blog post, not your blog home page. 
5. Mention Heart 2 Heart somewhere in your blog post indicating that you are playing along with us and link to our site. 
6. Consider adding the H2H badge to your blog. We'd love to spread the word and see more crafters participating! 
7. Finally, you have the whole month of November to join us on any of our November challenges and be eligible for our Top Ten!

Off to vacuum or leaf-blow all that glitter off my craft-table--it even got into my eyebrows!

Happy crafting,

Caroline

Stretch the Sketch...H2H Challenge

The assignment at the Heart2Heart Challenge blog this week was to use this sketch:

I thought the framed rectangle on the sketch looked like a perfect "photo-well" so I decided to create a lay-out vs. a card this time. It is sized at 8"x10" inches, to fit into a standard photo-frame.

Details, details:  I had just received my CTMH "Avonlea" paper pack, and used that to create a patchwork of fish-tail banners as the diagonal element. Those papers look so textural, almost like fabric, which suggested the idea of adding some machine-stitching. I had a variegated green/brown thread already on the machine, from my latest quilting project (which WILL get completed and posted here ONE of these days...) which matched the paper very nicely.  Also added a few cross-stitches with embroidery floss. Here is a close up of some of the stitching:

My husband and I both had big, round-number birthdays this year, as well as celebrating our 25th wedding anniversary (the photo was taken at his birthday dinner), so the "congratulation" stamp with the big C (initial of both our names) seemed appropriate. It also nicely echoed the rosette design on the Avonlea paper. I added some pleated black tulle ribbon and a lace flower and button, in keeping with the vintage look of the paper, to fulfill the circle element of the sketch. I didn't have an ink pad which perfectly matched the colours of the background paper, so I inked my stamp with Juniper ink, then lightly touched it to the Slate ink, to "grey" down the colour, before stamping.

This sketch challenge is open to all paper-crafters, and runs through the end of September, plenty of time to dream up a card, lay-out or other item. Simply include some Close to My Heart product amongst your supplies, and link up your creation to: Heart2Heart Challenges. Can't wait to see your projects!

Happy crafting,
Caroline

CTMH Supplies:
Avonlea paper pack
Chocolate, Avonlea White and Slate card-stock
Chocolate, Juniper and Slate ink-pads
2" scallop circle punch
Bohemian assortment (lace flower and silver button)
Black tulle ribbon
Piercing tools

Other supplies:
Signo white gel pen
Organdy ribbon, JoAnn's
Sewing machine and King Tut variegated thread
DSM embroidery floss

H2H Challenges: Water fun!

Welcome to this week's challenge at Heart2Heart Challenges! The theme this time is to create a project with a water fun or beach feel.  

All Close To My Heart consultants have been drooling over the new Autumn/Winter 2012 catalogue for the last week (contact me if you're in Canada and would like one).  A new focus is creating home decor with your paper-crafting supplies. So I decided to frame a photo.  I created a 12"x12" layout (essentially just embellishing a single photo) and mounted it in a shadow box frame which I purchased (50% off!) at Michael's.  It is one of my favorite photos from last year's summer vacation. I can switch up the layout and leave the frame hanging all year 'round. One warning when using a shadow box: you will lose about 1/4" all around the edges when you place the lay-out in the frame; it is taken up by the spacers which allow for the depth, so plan your design accordingly.

A lot of layering, tearing and inking was used to mimic the terrain in the photo. Because the shadow box allows for some depth, I used some bulkier materials like the pleated blue organdy ribbon, and the corrugated paper (a re-used coffee cup sleeve!) in the lower left corner.

For the title, letters were cut with the Cricut Art Philosophy cartridge and popped up with foam tape; natural hemp (Z280) was glued down with Liquid Glass (Z679). I used more hemp to stitch around the upper edge of the lay-out. Now I wish I had continued the stitching down the right side...oh well.

This embellishment cluster includes a corrugated chipboard shape, matted to form a starfish, a "Seaside Wooden Shapes" scallop shell, and a sand dollar made from five circles cut with the CTMH 1 1/4" circle punch. (I will include a tutorial on how to do that in August). I gathered some green tulle ribbon (not CTMH, but black tulle ribbon is a NEW item available in the catalogue) to reflect the seaweed in the photo.  I used more of the green tulle to hang the shadow box.

Now YOU have until the end of July to create a "Water FUN" project and upload it to the Heart2Heart Challenge blog. Remember to use SOME Close to My Heart products (doesn't have to be 100%). Post your creation on your blog or upload to an online gallery and use the keyword H2H.Waterfun. We look forward to seeing your work, and celebrating your summer fun!  

Happy crafting!

Caroline

Close to My Heart Products used: and not already mentioned

Cardstock and inks:  Olive, brown bag, chocolate, and kraft 

Patterned paper: Elemental (X7141B) available through the end of July