Artistry At-a-Glance

Hello and welcome to the Artistry blog hop! You are sure to get loads of ideas for this awesome new Cricut cartridge so be sure to stick around. If you've come here from Priscilla's Paperie, or if you are just starting out, you are in the right place.

Artistry comes with three beautiful stamp sets, and a Cardstock Combo pack. You can see them all in the photo at the bottom of the post.

There are so many great cuts on this cartridge it was hard for me to choose what to focus on. But since I have a ton of cat pictures I haven't scrapped, I decided to use (mostly) the cuts on page 10 of the handbook, along with the font.

Click the pic to see it bigger!

I used papers, Shimmer Trim, and stamps from the Zoe Workshop on the Go, adding some extra Slate cardstock. I will say that if I had to do it over again, I would add a solid white circle behind the yarn ball so it looks more like yarn (and less like a volleyball, lol) because of its size.  Other than that one little thing, I am super happy with how this turned out!

Can I just say how much I love these cat silhouettes? I especially love this tone-on-tone look, and will definitely be using that again.  A little ink sponged on the edges really helps define the images! I also like the fun "hole free" font - it lends a whimsical touch to any project.

Banners are a nice way to add color and texture, and fill in when you have a little too much white space. I added more Shimmer Trim some Red Enamel Hearts for a little for interest (and because I love my furbabies).

The "one happy day" paper is a zip strip from one of the papers. I used the matching one on the other page, but hid the words under the ball of yarn. I used stamps from the WOTG for "FUN &" and used the font on Artistry for "FUR" to match. The green shape can be found on page 1 of the Artistry handbook. More Shimmer Trim and a Red Enamel Heart tie this in with the other elements on the page.

So what would your first project with Artistry be? Leave me a comment and let me know!  After you comment, be sure to hop along to Jean McNulty's Stampin' Maui blog and see what she made for us.

If you'd like to shop, the following links open in a new tab so you can continue the hop right here.

Look at everything you get when you buy Artistry! You can make tons of projects with this by itself.

Zoe Workshop on the Go

Want to earn free items? Let me create a Gathering for you when you purchase the following items:

Artistry                            $99.00
Zoe WOTG                     $29.95
Sponge Daubers                $4.50
Slate Ink Pad                     $5.95
Sweet Leaf Ink Pad           $5.95
Sorbet Ink Pad                   $5.95
Red Hearts                         $3.95
                                       ======
Subtotal                         $155.25     earns you $25 in select product credit!

So Happy Together

Well, so much for having more time once the kids went back to school! It would probably help if I didn't get sick right away, but so be it. I did have time to make a layout a bit ago that I'd like to share.  I belong to a fun group on Facebook called Croppin' Chicks, and they are posting sketches weekly for us to work with.  This one is from a couple of weeks ago, and I really liked the design. I also got to scrap my kitty-boys, which is super fun because not only are they really cute, they are both "neutral" colored so I can use whatever paper I want!

I actually decided to use the For Always paper pack and MyStickease because I thought the black & white designs would look really cool with the kitties.  I decided to use the Lagoon (yes, that blue is bright turquoise - I need a better setup for taking scrappy pics!) and Honey colors from the kit along with some matching embellishments. I decided to add a ruffle with the For Always Textiles, which might be a little girly for boy cats, but hey, they are cats, what do they know?

I thought this sticker was the perfect title for my layout! These two boys would not be nearly as happy without each other. I added a couple of colored sparkles for interest.

Here's the fabric ruffle. I just laid down some Scor Tape and finger-ruffled the fabric strips I cut. I left the edges unfinished, and covered the top edge with a border sticker popped up on 3-D foam adhesive.

My embellishments are just stickers from the MyStickease pack layered with 3-D embellishments for dimension.

The sketch called for strip journaling, which is not usually my thing, but worked well for this layout where I didn't have a lot to say.

If you're interested in the products I used, here's the list:

• For Always paper pack
• 2 extra sheets Lagoon cardstock
• For Always MyStickease
• For Always Assortment (3-D embellishments)
• 3-D FoamTape
• For Always Textiles
• Blue Sparkles (discontinued), but you can use Blue Epoxy Bubbles, or Black or Clear Sparkles

Thanks for taking the time to check out my layout today! I'd love to hear what you think of it.