Life is Tweet - June SOTM Blog Hop

Welcome to the June stamp of the month blog hop!  If you are just starting out, or if you have arrived here from Nikka's blog, you are in the right place.  When you are done here, you'll hop along to Dawn's blog and see what she has to inspire us!  This month we have 55 talented consultants featuring our Life is Tweet stamp set, available only for the month of June.

School has just let out here, so I decided to use my stamps on something to keep my two oldest busy for a little while.  They both like to write and draw, so I made these "write your own" books.  I alternated white cardstock pages with lined notebook pages so they can write and illustrate a story based on the cover and title "Life is Tweet".

Here's the first:

My oldest took off with this one before I even had a chance to ask who wanted which!

And here's the second:

Luckily, the 9-year-old loved this little birdie so she was perfectly happy with this version!

Version #1 uses the Footloose paper pack, Smoothie stamp pad, and the Baker's Twine Paradise Assortment, and version #2 uses the Florentine paper pack, Twilight stamp pad, and the Designer Ribbon Blue Collection.  Both books use the Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge for the "sunny title" and our Corner Rounder punch.

Both birds were stamped with Versamark ink and embossed with clear embossing powder.  I then colored each with Copic markers to coordinate with the papers.  I bound both books using my Bind-it-all.  Both are approximately 5.5" high and 6" wide.

Thanks for stopping by; I hope you enjoyed today's projects!  Now don't forget to hop along to Dawn's blog.  I hope to see you again soon.

Today is Your Last Chance!

Last Chance For Mystery Hostess! And "Dotty For You" Ending Soon Time's Up! Today is your last chance to order and be eligible for the Mystery Hostess drawing. If you are unable to order online due to no credit card, you can email me your order and pay via PayPal - I will place the order for you. Remember to order using this link only.  (Or go to my website and click to "join" the Mystery Hostess Gathering.)

Close To My Heart Independent Consultant 25340 Shannon Dr Manhattan, Illinois 60442 815-478-5119

Creations by AR Winner!

Hello all!  Thanks to random.org, my winner was drawn and the lucky number is #6.  Thanks to everyone who stopped by!

Denise said...

This chair is super and dad will know you love him!

May 24, 2012 6:04 AM

Denise, please email Adela ASAP and let her know that you were my winner (and which file you would like).

 

 

Dad's Comfy Chair - Creations by AR New Release Blog Hop

Hello, and welcome to my first post as a new Design Team member for Creations by AR! I am so excited to work with these fun cutting templates, and a talented group of designers. Today's release is two new files - Comfy Sofa Gift Box and Papa's Trunk. For those of you unfamiliar with her designs, all files come with a PDF for hand cutting, as well as SVG and DXF files for use with cutting machines. I personally use the SVG files with Make The Cut software.

These are both neat designs, but since I just joined the team a couple of days ago, I chose to make Dad's Comfy Chair from the Comfy Sofa Gift Box file. (I have much grander ideas for the trunk design, so I thought I would save that for when I have more time!)

 Now that looks like a comfy chair!  And it is super easy to put together - add a second seat/back section for a loveseat, and a third for a sofa.  Now, not only is it a cute chair, but it is also a gift box!  Here are some more pictures:

Doesn't it look like a footrest with the box pulled partially out?!

And here's the gift box open.

 I honestly don't know what I am going to put in there!  Originally, I was thinking of a new watch, but it seems that SOMEONE decided to buy one for himself so I guess he is out of luck!  Perhaps the kids will make him a nice mini coupon book of fun stuff to do with them.  (And that's a great present for ALL of us!)

My "buttons" are actually cute little brads!

Now, how would you like to win your choice of either new template?!  Every DT member on this hop will be giving away one of these new files to a random winner.  To win on this blog, simply leave a comment before noon Central on Friday, May 25.  Then stop back by on Saturday to see if you've won!  Of course, if you decide to become a follower or email subscriber while you're here, I won't complain!

If you'd like to know what I used for my chair, here are the details:

• This & That Charming Collection (Primer - 2 sheets, Dots & Plaid, and Charming Layered Chipboard), Echo Park Paper
• Mini-Medley Accents Collection, Black (button brads), Close To My Heart
• Scor-Tape, Scor-Pal

Now, be sure to hop along to all of the other DT Member blogs!  I know they all have fabulous projects to share, as well as more chances to win!  Here's a list:

• Adela Rossol:   http://cbyar.blogspot.com/
• Amy Park:  http://tethered2home.com/ 
• Lisa Somerville:   http://www.lisasomerville.com/
• Lori Brown: http://savingmine.blogspot.com
• Lyn Bernatovich:  http://lynspaperpetunia.blogspot.com/
• Magdalena Cortez:   http://axesdesigns.blogspot.com/
• Patti J. Gilliam: http://www.cherisheachpreciousday.blogspot.com/
• Sue Kment:   http://suesstampingstuff.blogspot.com/

 Thanks for stopping by today.  I hope to see you again soon!

Travel Memento Shadow Box

It's my turn again today on the Cutters Creek Design Team blog.  Here's the fun project I posted:

We spent our Easter holidays down south, with most of the week in New Orleans, where my hubby had a conference for work.  I managed to limit each kid to just a couple of souvenirs, and everyone's favorites came from Blaine Kern's Mardi Gras World - they produce most of the floats in the Mardi Gras parades and give tours of their entire production.  My 9yo daughter really wanted a pretty mask she found in the shop, and I wanted to prevent it from getting destroyed so I decided on a shadow box display for her room.

Some glitter cardstock from American Crafts was the perfect thing to set off the shiny & sparkly purple mask.  I also used the Black & White cartridge for the Cricut Imagine, and printed a full sheet of the fleur-de-lis pattern, then trimmed it down and adhered it to the glitter cardstock using Scotch Quick-Dry Adhesive.  (I wish the photo showed the glitter cardstock better. I had to leave the glass in place as the mask is not adhered in any way; it's thick enough that it can be held in place with just the glass & backing.)

This close-up shows the glitter a bit better.  I added a "drama queen" photo of her posing with a tiger in the warehouse for something fun to remember.  (She is such a ham.)  She is really looking forward to having this hanging up in her room!

Supplies available at Cutters Creek:

• American Crafts glitter cardstock, in Grape
• Scotch Quick Dry Adhesive

Thanks for stopping by today.  Be sure to stop back tomorrow for my first DT blog hop for Creations by AR!

Pin It

Announcing My New DT Position

Hello!  I'm excited to announce that I am now a Design Team member for Creations by AR, working with some fabulous 3-D cut files!  A new release is coming up so I will be participating in my first Creations by AR blog hop on Thursday.

I hope you'll stop back here on Thursday to check out what I, and the other DT members, did with the new files.  I know I can't wait to see what everyone has come up with!

Life is Good - May Spotlight Blog Hop

Welcome to our CTMH product spotlight blog hop!  If you are just starting out, or if you have arrived here from Luisa's blog, you are in the right place.  When you're done here, you'll hop along to Nikka's blog and see what fun project she has for us.

This month we are featuring our metal accessories.  You can find most of them on page 127 of the current Spring/Summer Idea Book.  I thought I would use a few different little bits on a fun 3-D project.

I made this great little house from one of our new Milk Cartons.  I had seen some done up as bird houses, but I thought a real house would make a great gift box for a house warming gift card to Lowe's or someplace similar.  Here's a view from the other direction:

The metal clip on top comes with the box (they come in a set of 2).  Slide it over and the box opens like, you guessed it, a milk carton.  I used the following featured metal accessories:

• Filigree Charms - in the triangle section at the top.  It reminded me of a decorative attic vent.
• Pin Clips - on the left side in the top photo.  I used it to hold a sweet little yard sign.
• Mini-Medley Accents Pewter - on the front door.  I used a standard sized brad for a door knob.

I also used these other fun CTMH products to make this:

• My Creations Milk Carton
• Stella paper pack
• Clear Sparkles (windows)
• 3-D foam adhesive tape
• Treetops stamp set (discontinued)
• A Rainbow stamp set (the little bird in the tree)
• Exclusive Inks stamp pads in Olive, Cocoa, and Lagoon
• Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge - for the little sign in the yard
• Bakers Twine, Paradise Assortment

Other products used:

• Cricut Expression
• Plantin Schoolbook Cricut cartridge (for grass)

Thanks for stopping by today!  I hope you enjoyed my project idea.  Now don't forget to hop along to Nikka's blog.  I'm sure she has a great project in store for us! Pin It

I'm Dotty For You!

I was packing for a crop last week, and stumbled across a single picture of my niece.  It's one my son took when he was about 3 1/2, and I remember being so surprised at how well it turned out.  As soon as I saw it sitting in the pile, I knew I had it scrap it, even though I almost never do single picture layouts (or even single pages for that matter).  But I think it turned out rather well:

 

I love how the colors and patterns of that Dotty For You paper pack work with this picture, and they were so much fun to layer and stamp and embellish!  I used the following products for this layout:

From Close To My Heart:

• Dotty For You promotional paper pack (available through 5/31/12)
• Bakers Twine, Paradise assortment
• Stitched Together stamp set
• Mini-Medley Accents, Sunset Collection
• Foundry Binder Clips
• Milepost Shapes
• Edge Distresser 
• Lagoon stamp pad
• Brown Staz-On Ink Pad
• Sans Alphabet (discontinued - any small alpha will do)

From Fiskars:

•  Notebook Border Punch

From Provo Craft:

• Cricut (use any type for this project)
• Opposites Attract Cartridge (I used the Opposite & Opposite Shadow features)

 Thanks for stopping by today.  Hope to see you again soon!

Tag It Challenge

Today begins a new challenge month at Scrappy Frog's Challenge Blog.  This month's challenge is to use a tag.

I made a 5x7 card that I thought might be fun for Mother's Day.  I used the following supplies from Close To My Heart in my card:

• Stella paper pack
• Friendship Bouquet, May 2012 stamp of the month
• Durables round studs
• White cardstock for card base

I also used these other supplies:

• Copic markers
• ATG adhesive

That's it for today!  If you'd like to play along, be sure to head over to Scrappy Frog's. Thanks for stopping by; hope to see you again soon!

Happy Birthday Gnome with Echo Park and CTMH

May is a busy card month for me - graduations, Mother's Day, and - very important - my mom's & my daughter's birthdays.  I was flipping through stamp sets deciding what to use for my mom's card, when this cute little garden gnome from Close To My Heart popped up to say hello.  I thought he would be perfect with some bright & cheery colors, so I pulled out my new Hello Summer collection from Echo Park Paper and my Copic Markers.

With the simple design of this 6x6 card,I spent most of my time coloring.  I think it adds just enough "wow" factor. I used papers & a sticker from the collection, but they also have a cute 6x6 pad if you only make cards.

I used some foam adhesive tape to pop up my stamped border and the gnome, giving a little extra dimension to my scene.

I used the following products for this card:

• Hello Summer collection, Echo Park Paper
• White Daisy cardstock, Close To My Heart
• Gnome Garden stamp set, Close To My Heart
• Foam adhesive tape, Close To My Heart
• Sketch Markers, Copic
• X-Press It Blending Card, Copic
• ATG adhesive, Scotch 3M

 CTMH Items may all be purchased at the above links.  All other items are available from Cutters Creek online store.

Don't forget, tomorrow is National Scrapbook Day! Be sure to join our online NSD crop group on Facebook for fun challenges and prizes.  All details will be posted there today.

A Krafty Card for Baby

So, I've been seeing a lot of all-white cards on Pinterest lately.  Super cute, but of course I feel the need to be different... plus, I needed a baby shower card and I wanted a bit of a vintage feel.  I also wanted to add just a bit of color to the monochromatic base.  So... ta-da!

This is a pretty easy technique to do - the trick is just finding embossing folder patterns that work well together.  You can usually do pretty well by choosing one large-size pattern, one medium pattern, and one small pattern.  Also, try to keep the styles similar - I went traditional, but you could also go all modern or all grungy (think Tim Holtz folders). 

Every embossed pattern here is a separate piece of cardstock, layered up.  My focal image is also popped up using foam adhesive tape for added dimension. 

I used a variety of border punches to stack "eyelet" borders along the bottom of the card.  At the top of the stack, I added pale pink ribbon and a bow trimmed with my I-magicut ribbon cutter.

Here's a list of the supplies I used to make this card:



Close To My Heart

• Kraft cardstock 
• Baby Pink cardstock (from Bright Red & Pink pack)
• Mocha Opaques adhesive pearls

Cutters Creek

• I-magicut ribbon cutter
• Kassie's Brocade 5x7 Cuttlebug embossing folder
• Swiss Dots A2 Cuttlebug embossing folder
• ATG adhesive

Other

• Cricut machine and Mother's Day LE mini
• pink ribbon to match CS
• Fiskars border punches, Diamond and Effervescence
• Fiskars embossing border punch, Scalloped Daisy
• Sizzix/Basic Grey embossing folder, Santa Baby

 That's it for today - thanks for stopping by!  I hope to see you again soon.