CTMH Pemberley with hand painted butterly

My goodness, a week since my last post!  All I can say is I am just plum exhausted at the tail end of my training for Black Belt.  Its been a long hard process and sometimes I'm so pooped I don't think my brain is working anymore.  Right now I'm working on pulling everything together for video taping (we have to tape forms, weapons form, self-defense and board breaks along with a couple of other requirements).  Mostly I think I'm just tuckered out from working so hard and trying to get my tendonitis under control before our big pre-test.  Chronic pain is such a pain in the butt and I swear I've felt twice my age for the past 6 months.  I'm looking forward to being done with the hard work and just relaxing for a couple of weeks and letting my knees heal up.  Enough moaning - on to the artwork!

I think Pemberley is up there for one of the most versatile paper packs from the new Idea Book.  Its charming patterns and color palette make it the perfect backdrop for projects.  Here I've taken  a very old Mojo Monday sketch and jazzed it up with a handpainted  butterfly and some of the gorgeous new Seam Binding.

The butterfly is from our Flutter Paper shapes.  I used markers to color the design and then lightly spritzed water over the whole to blend the colors and soften the look.  While it was damp I pressed it in a paper towel to dab the excess ink off and give it a vibrant watercolor look.  Terrifically fun to ink these shapes up any way you want to match your project!

If you'd like to make this project, get these supplies:

Paper:  Pemberley, Kraft CS

Ink:  Outdoor Denim, markers in Desert Sand, Buttercup and Outdoor Denim

Other:  Color-ready Seam Binding, Flutter Paper Shapes, Mocha Opaques Pearls, Scalloped Punches (Marvy)

Thanks for stopping by today!

Paige

A Doggone Good Day with CTMH Victory and A Bowwow

Could this little doggie stamp be any cuter?  This A size set is just $6.95 and has the dog, the bone, two sentiments (there is also a Hello! sentiment) and the word bubble.  Just the right price and size for oodles of cute cards.  I lifted this one from the new Idea Book and just changed up the papers.

I colored the puppy with watercolor pencils and used the Blending Pen to smooth out the colors.

If you'd like to make this card, get these supplies:

Paper:  Victory

Stamps:  A Bowwow

Ink:  Chocolate

Other:  Watercolor Pencils, Blending Pen, Durables Square Studs, Cocoa Ribbon Rounds

Springtime Home Decor for Heart2Heart Inspiration Challenge

This week's challenge at Heart2Heart is a photo inspiration challenge!  Its always fun to see what people pull from an inspiration photo - whether its the color, the composition, the overall feel of the piece, etc.

I loved the fabric bunting at the top of the inspiration photo, the coral pink color and the outdoors theme.  I started this piece on a blustery cold and rainy day here in Seattle where the only thing I could think about was how nice it will be when winter fades away to spring!

Here is the inspiration photo from Heart2Heart Challenges:

 I put extra layers of foam tape under just the middle of the banner so it looks like it is rippling in the air.  The layered bunting was created by misting cardstock and shaping pleats into it to make it look more like fabric.

Close up of the tree and flowers.  To get a larger tree canopy I stamped three of the tree tops from Splendid Day and pop dotted them in layers.

I used lots of little paper flowers and leaves, bitty sparkles, bitty pearls and buttons to make my scene.  I love these kinds of project because you can pull things from your stash to use up!  

Our inspiration photo is just so full of details!  I hope you'll join the fun and post something you create to the Heart2Heart Challenges site!  Can't wait to see what you pull from the photo!

If you'd like to make this project, get these supplies:

Paper:  Smoothie CS, Sky CS, White Daisy CS, Sunny Yellow CS

Stamps:  Spendid Day (tree, plane), American Celebration (the stripes on the blue circles), Bohemian Alphabet

Ink:  Sky, Topiary, Smoothie, Dutch Blue

Other:  Liquid Glass, Bitty Pearls, Bitty Sparkles (some were colored pink with a Sharpie), Red Assortment Buttons, Paper Flowers (retired), Ultra Fine Tipped Black Sharpie, Watercolor Pencils (coloring leaves on the tree)

Military Themed card with CTMH Victory

I think this card is an all purpose kind of guy card with a military feel to it.  You could easily put any kind of sentiment inside, from happy birthday to thank you. 

I cut the fun centerpiece directly from on of the Victory papers, then mounted on some White Daisy cardstock and cut it out with a little margin.  It needed a bit of color separation from the background papers.  I also gave some of the parts a coating of Liquid Glass for some extra depth and shine.

I really like the new metal Durables we are selling - they have an adhesive backing so you put them on like a sparkle or pearl but they have such a great masculine feel.

If you'd like to make this project, get these supplies:

Paper:  Victory

Ink:  Desert Sand

Other:  Durables Squares, Liquid glass

What's the Buzz? with CTMH Lucy and Bee Happy

This card was inspired by a very talented fellow consultant, Kandi Gallegos-Garcia.  Unfortunatley, I didn't see her original out on her blog or I'd point directly to it.  I used the AP cart to cut the banner and Tiny Typewriter to create the sentiment.  I like creating sentiments with alphabet stamps but those tiny letters are hard to line up so I usually stamp 10-15 sets of specialized sentiments at a time in case I want to make duplicates down the road.

If you'd like to make this project, get these supplies:

Paper:  Lucy, Kraft CS

Stamps:  Bee Happy, Tiny Typewriter

Ink:  Black

Other:  Watercolor pencils, Markers, Stardust Glitz Glitter Gel, Paradise Baker's Twine, Pink Assortment Buttons

Hello There Baby card with CTMH Lucy, Zoology, Vintage Type and Art Philosophy

I think ever since I saw Dumbo as a little girl I've always associated elephants with babies.  It must be that heart-breakingly lovely "Baby of Mine" song in the movie.  Here I took the cute little elephant from our Zoology set and paired it up with Lucy for a sweet bannered and be-ribboned baby card.

I used my craft knife and cut along the seam of the elephant ear and then put a pop dot behind to accent the dimension.

If you'd like to make this project, get these supplies:

Paper:  Lucy

Stamps:  Zoology (elephant and sentiment), Vintage Type (alphabet on the banner)

Ink:  Gray Wool, Sweet Leaf

Other:  Art Philosophy Cartridge for shapes, Color Ready Seam Binding, Licorice Opaques, Paradise Paper Flowers, Hot Pink Ultra Fine Sharpie (for coloring the letters in Baby)

Bags, Tags, Boxes and More 2 - Work around for Scoring / Cutting

When I saw the new Bags, Tags, Boxes and More 2 Cricut Cartridge I knew I had to get it.  It has so many of the wonderful shaped boxes that I really love like the christmas cracker box, a milk carton, gable boxes, a onesie box, etc.  Literally 50 boxes that I wanted.  A few of them are cross overs from things I have on the Art Philosophy Cart (my all time favorite that lives in my machine) but most are new ones that I didn't already have.

Well, long story short I was ready to scream when I finally got the scoring housing/blade (an extra $15 on top of the $50 cart my hubby bought me as an anniversary present) that you need to use with it because the SCORE LINES don't LINE UP with the cut lines.  Oh my gosh, so frustrating.  So, after nearly pulling my hair out (its been a bad day - my tendonitis is keeping me from the dojo this week so I'm super stressed out) I figured out how to work around the issue.

Step 1:  On the first mat load your score lines (the shift image) and then set up a second mat and load the full box with cut lines.

Step 2:  Look at the second mat and figure out about where the score lines should fall on the image.

Step 3:  Go back to your 1st mat and adjust where the score lines fall using your tools to move them over and down.

Step 4:  When you think you've got it, do the score lines with the score tool then unload the mat and re-load the same mat, change to the cut blade and cut the 2nd mat directly over the score lines.

So far tonight I've figured these out:
Gable Box (the first image) - place your score lines 2.25" down and .75" over

Milk Carton - seems to work as shown for cutting and scoring one on the mat - I haven't tried doing two on a mat yet.

Daisy Fold Top Box:  Move scoring down by .75"

Cracker:  Move scroring down by .75"

I'm hoping I'll figure out an easier way to do this but for now at least its a bit of a work around.  This cartridge will probably be a breeze if you are proficient with a Gypsy or use the CCR but right now I'm only using my E2.  I hope this is helpful to anyone who is looking at how to use this cartridge!  If you figure out more of the scores for other shapes, please feel free to post the information here to share!  I'll try and put a post together with all the ones I figure out as I go.

Paige

Live, Laugh, Love with CTMH Florentine

This beautiful striped paper comes from our new Florentine collection - so rich with texture you hardly need anything else....well, except for a bit of bling!  Love those Rhinestone Designer Brads!

If you'd like to make this project, get these supplies:

Paper:  Florentine

Stamp:  Love Life

Inks:  Goldrush, Olive, Twilight

Other:  Rhinestone Designer Brads,  Corner Rounder

Springtime Color Challenge for Heart2Heart Challenges!

The Heart 2 Heart Challenge for this week is a color challenge!   We are challenged to use Sweet Leaf, Sky Blue and Sunkiss Yellow for our projects.  When I was playing around with the colors all I could think is what a pretty springtime picture they would make - so that's what I made!  I think this will look great by my front door or in the half bath to welcome spring.

Here is a close up of the layered flowers.

I used a picture frame I bought at the Target dollar spot a couple of years ago and added a sweet hanging bow with our Chocoloate Striped Grosgrain Ribbon.  Everything was cut using the Art Philosophy Cartridge and I did a little bit of stamping on the leaves with the polka dot stamp from "Diverse Backgrounds".  I used a white gel pen and Bronze Glitz to accent the flowers.

To make this project, get these supplies:

Paper:  Sky CS, Sunkiss Yellow CS, Sweet Leaf CS, Kraft CS

Ink:  Sunny Yellow (for edging flowers), Sweet Leaf

Other:  Chocolate Grosgrain Ribbon, Bronze Glitz Glitter Gel, Art Philosophy Cartridge

CTMH Florentine Flower with Wooden Garden Shapes

Our new Florentine paper pack by CTMH is such a lovely vintage pack with soft romantic colors.  Here I took some of the lace flower images from one of the B&T papers and cut them out to layer and pair up with our new wooden laser cut Garden Shapes - loving these!

Close up of that great wooden branch image:

If you'd like to make this project, get these supplies:

Paper:  Florentine

Ink: Twilight

Other:  Wooden Garden Shapes, Chocolate Striped Grosgrain Ribbon, Chocolate Waxy Flax, Button (this one is retired but these neutral buttons are a great replacement)