The June Challenge at Scrap Our Stash is a All About Our Guys!  Create a Male layout using at least 5 brads from your stash!  What a great challenge for the month of June with Father’s Day.

Here is my layout:

Supplies used: CTMH Later Sk8r Paper Packet, CTMH Fast and Furious stamp set, CTMH inks (Slate, Pear, Outdoor Denim, and Lagoon), Bazzill Collection Metals – Mono Mix Brads, and Making Memories Plain Charmed Photo Corners.

With three girls, I rarely do masculine layouts.  However, I had these pictures of my nephew and they were begging for me to use this stamp set!  The brads were easy to incorporate and I also added some metal from my stash.

What will you create? Go to Scrap Our Stash to submit your own layout.  You have until June 29th.

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Supplies used: Scrappin’ Sports & More paper, CTMH Slate Polka-Dot Washi Tape, CTMH Game On stamp set, CTMH Adhesive Spring, and Scrappin’ Sports & More Rub-ons.

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Supplies used: Flaire Designs All Star Collection Paper, Scrappin’ Sports & More Volleyball Rubon-Ons, CTMH Button – Black Assortment, CTMH Slate Polka-Dot Washi Tape,  CTMH Game On stamp set, CTMH Whisper cardstock, and CTMH Slate ink.
Challenge: Scrapbook.com – Page Maps Sketch Challenge

I used this sketch from Sketch Support:

What started out as a dreaded layout turned into a happy ending.  I think the sketch was what did it for me.  It is very hard to get good sports (action) photos and the smaller photos suggested on this sketch made me “zoom in” on the action and really focus on my daughter.  I have to say that this is my first use of Washi Tape and OMG I am in love – very cool stuff!  I have to also say that these rubons are wonderful…you will be seeing them in the near future as I finish a couple more volleyball layouts.

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Supplies used: Echo Park Summertime papers and stickers, Basic Grey Rhinestones, CTMH Hello Blooms stamp set, and CTMH Lagoon ink.  Challenge: Scrapbook.com – Page Maps Sketch Challenge

I used this Page Map sketch, making it 12×12 page:

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The For Always Cardmaking Workshop Kit includes:
My Acrylix^® For Always Cardmaking Workshop stamp set(C-size)
For Always B&T Duos^® Papers (2 sheets)
Cardstock (4 sheets, various)
White Daisy Cards & Envelopes (15 each)
Purple Glitter Gems (72 pieces)
1/8″ Slate Satin Ribbon (5 yards)
Instructional Guide ($1.00)

Required Tools:
Z 2105 Black Exclusive Inks Pad $5.25
Z2165 Juniper Exclusive Inks Pad $5.25
Z2173 Slate Exclusive Inks Pad $5.25
Z2147 Smokey Plum Exclusive Inks Pad $5.25
Z578 Corner Rounder $7.95
Y1000 1″ × 1″ My Acrylix Block $3.95
Y1006 3″ × 3″ My Acrylix Block $8.50
Y1010 2″ × 6 1/2″ My Acrylix Block $9.95
Z 1151 3-D Foam Tape $5.95

When you place an order of $50 or more, you get the Stamp of the Month set for only $5.
The Stamp of the Month is:
(February)Home Sweet Home
(March) Floral Happiness
*The Stamp of the Month may vary depending on your purchase date.  If you order online, it will be the month in which you are purchasing.  If you order by contacting me, it will be Floral Happiness.

The current Constant Campaign is:
(February) Studio J $5 Layouts
(March) Hostess Jump for Joy
*The Constant Campaign you qualify for may vary depending on your purchase date.  If you order online, it will be the month in which you are purchasing.  If you order by contacting me, it will be the March Special.

Below are my cards.  
At first I was going to change up all the cards.  I liked the layout but wasn’t sure about the colors and I use mostly birthday and anniversary cards.  Then I went back and looked at them a second time and had a different perspective.  Really, these cards can work for pretty much anything!  So I kept them as is and then made one additional one of my own.  I wasn’t sure about the Twilight color on the heart card but liked it in real life better than the picture.  You can change up the colors on any of these cards to make them completely new and different like I did with the red heart card.  There was enough papers to cut what I needed for 5 of these cards (in addition to the cards in the kit).  I just needed card bases and I used Tulip Cardstock and Tulip Ink.  Tulip is a retired color but you could use Ruby or Cranberry for the same look.

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The hop is a circle so if you are starting here, just continue until you make your way back.  If you have already started, you should be coming from Heather’s Blog.

The product I chose to feature today is the My Creations 6×6 Canvas Display.  It is a 6×6 canvas sheet mounted on a wood frame and has a sawtooth hanger.  I challenged myself with this project because I have never worked with canvas before.  At only $4.95, this is an inexpensive project to make for yourself or as a gift.

Supplies used: 6×6 My Creations Canvas Display, D1506 Family Love stamp set, C1503 The Best Things stamp set, Indian Corn Blue pigment ink, Black Pigment Ink, Color-Ready Trinkets Wooden Shapes, Ruby Pigment Ink, Smokey Plum Pigment Ink, Flutter Paper Shapes, Clear Sparkles, Bitty Sparkles, Black & Grey Sparkles Assortment, For Always Textiles.  I also added a pin from the Bling Assortment which is retired.  I just couldn’t resist but it could easily be left off or add one from the For Always Assortment.

Things I learned from this project:
* I put an acrylic block under the canvas when I stamped so I’d have a solid surface.
* If stamping, use images that are forgiving (not small words).  I figured this but had to try it and see.  The flourishes stamped pretty good but there seemed to be an area around the wood that I just wasn’t able to press the image enough to get it to stamp onto the canvas.  I covered this up on the right corner with the butterfly.  You could still use words like I did but stamp them first to cardstock so you have a nice clean, crisp image, then attach to the canvas.
* I used Liquid Glass as my adhesive.  The fabric is thin so if you use a liquid adhesive, do so sparingly.
* I used pigment ink for the entire project.  It dried well on the canvas, probably because it could soak in.  I was lazy and left the wooden pieces overnight to dry but they didn’t.  Even heat setting them took longer than normal.  So just be aware of this.  You could use the dye inks for the wooden pieces however I wanted the bright, vibrant colors that the pigment inks provide.

Now hop on over to Beth’s Blog to see her wonderful creation!

Here is a list of all the blogs in the hop:

Helen Onulak
Kathleen Androlewicz
Lucy Kelleher
Maria Myers
Joy McHargue
Maureen OSullivan
Jen Patrick
Traci Pasqualone
Melissa Robinson
Priscilla Gotham
Judy Faye Garner
Haley Dyer
Heather Schmuckal
Wendy Kessler   <-- You are here.
Beth Naumann
Allisa Chilton
Pamela Ellison
Jody Gustafson
Terry Ann Diack
Tamytha Jenkins
Georgia Hauglid
Krista Hershberger
Dawn Ross
Wendy Coffman
Laurie Newton
Traci Godbee
Elizabeth Mindemannn
Mary Eisen
Melinda Everitt
Michelle Johns
Nikka geers (no post)	http://Nikkageers.blogspot.com
Michelle Loncar
Gina Brandstetter
Sheila Bennett
Misty Jackson

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Supplies used: CTMH Cruisin’ Workshop on the Go Kit (retired), and Letterman Thickers Flocked Chipboard Alphabet Stickers by American Crafts.

What a fun challenge we have over at Scrap our Stash for February – Anything Fuzzy!  I was surprised that it didn’t take much digging for me to find some things (brand new at that!) that fit this challenge.  I have been carrying this layout around in my to-do bag for a very long time so it is great to see it completed!  I also used 4×6 flip flaps to add more photos to my page at the upper right.

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You can go here to see the original post on these cards.

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The Chantilly Cardmaking Workshop Kit includes:
My Acrylix^® Chantilly Cardmaking workshop stamp set (C-size)
Chantilly B&T Duos^® Papers (2 sheets)
Cardstock (4 sheets, various)
White Daisy Cards & Envelopes (15 each)
Wooden Badge Buttons (32 pieces) one size in kit, variety available here.
1/4″ Lagoon Satin Ribbon (5 yards) (exclusive to kit)
Instructional Guide ($1.00)

Required Tools:
z2118 Desert Sand Exclusive Inks Pad $5.25
Z2195 Lagoon Exclusive Inks Pad $5.25
Z2191 Sunset Exclusive Inks Pad $5.25
Z2153 Sweet Leaf Exclusive Inks Pad $5.25
Z697 Sponge $1.25
Y1000 1″ × 1″ My Acrylix Block $3.95
Y1002 1″ × 3 1/2″ My Acrylix Block $5.95
Y1009 2″ × 3 1/2″ My Acrylix Block $7.50
Y1010 2″ × 6 1/2″ My Acrylix Block $9.95

When you place an order of $50 or more, you get the Stamp of the Month set for only $5.
The Stamp of the Month is:
(January) Happy Valentine’s
(February) Home Sweet Home
*The Stamp of the Month may vary depending on your purchase date.  If you order online, it will be the month in which you are purchasing.  If you order by contacting me, it will be Home Sweet Home.

The current Constant Campaign is:
(January) Whooo’s Your Valentine
(February) Studio J $5 Layouts
*The Constant Campaign you qualify for may vary depending on your purchase date.  If you order online, it will be the month in which you are purchasing.  If you order by contacting me, it will be the February Special.

Here is what I did with the cards:

I made a total of 33 cards by adding a few things to this kit:
* additional White Daisy Cards & Envelopes
* 1 sheet of 12×12 cardstock (or scraps) Many colors will work for this.  I used Outdoor Denim.  Other choices could be Kraft, Chocolate, Buttercup, Champagne, Cotton Candy, Pear, Ruby, Sunset, or Twilight.
* ribbon and embellishments (again this could be any you have around).  I used Blush stitched ribbon (retired).  You could use buttons in place of the Wooden Badge buttons.  You could cut circles and stamp them, or you could omit this all together.  I left them off my extra cards and they look just fine and will be flat for mailing.

Other tips:
* Flip the B&T Papers to the opposite pattern for a complete different look!
* Cut the Lagoon 3×12 (6×12 if doubling) and random stamp the large sheet before cutting.  This will save a lot of time, just keep the stamped images fairly close envisioning that they will be cut into 1 1/2 inch squares.
* Card 3: Line up the bottom of the ribbon at 2″ from the bottom of the card and adhere first.  This will make it easier to line up all the squares.  Then when you get to the squares, if you line up the right side of the middle one at the 2-inch mark it will be centered.

I really loved this kit!  The cards were fun and easy to make and I go through a lot of birthday cards.  As much as I liked them, I liked the reverse (girly) cards even better!  Because I am always low on male cards, I made 12 of Card 3.  I had enough of the provided ribbon to complete all the kit cards plus 7 more of Card 3.

Closeups of my cards:

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For the (retired) Superhero Workshop on the Go Kit, the bonus project was party decorations.  They were really cute but I didn’t have a use for them.  So I used the pieces on these “cards”.  But they are not tradition cards that you open.  It is a standard card size but only the FUN-COOL-WISH parts open up for a saying.  I will most likely sign our names here as well or I could write something on the back.  Have you ever done something like this?  It’s a first for me.  The WISH one is by far my favorite.  I would have done them all like this but I was trying to be creative.  Not sure I will make anything like this again but it was a good way to use up some supplies that I had.

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Supplies used are all Close to My Heart: Passages Workshop on the Go Kit (retired), Cocoa Ribbon Collection (retired), Extreme Alphabet stamp set (retired), Brown Bag ink (retired), and Cocoa ink.

This is another one that just needed to be finished…another layout from a Workshop on the Go Kit.  You may notice that I took this picture of the layout in photo protectors.  This is because I used 4×6 flip flaps for extra photos that are underneath the focal point on the left page.

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This was a layout from the Superhero Workshop on the Go Kit.  You will see a theme in my upcoming posts; I am trying to finish up some layouts before my new product comes!

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Supplies used are all Close to My Heart: Superhero Workshop on the Go Kit (retired), Believe Paper Packet (retired), Black Baker’s Twine, Cranberry Grosgrain Ribbon (retired), Black ink, and Black Button Brads.  Mojo Monday #274

With the start of a new year, I decided to do some cleaning in my scrapbook room.  It’s really amazing what you can find sometimes!  I found these embellishments that I had made and hadn’t used yet.  Then I saw the Mojo Monday sketch and thought I would just use them up right away instead of stashing them away!  For that last card, I needed some more color than the scraps I was working with and couldn’t find (or don’t have any more) of the Superhero papers.  You will never guess where that tiny piece of Sky-colored star paper came from!….the Believe Christmas paper!!  I just love Close to My Heart’s double-sided paper for reasons like this.  It was just what I was looking for!

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B1409 Pirouette

Supplies used are all Close to My Heart unless noted: Pirouette stamp set, Twilight ink, Slate Satin Polkadot Ribbon, Avonlea Paper Packet, Slate Epoxy Bubbles (exclusive to the Avonlea Cardmaking Workshop on the Go Kit), and Silver Fox Smooch.  Freshly Made Sketch #66

Well, it is the 50th and final segment of my Stamp Sunday series for 2012.  It has been fun using so many different stamp sets throughout the year and also a challenge at times.  I tried out my now Smooch paints on this card (a Christmas gift to myself!)  They are easy to use and I like the coverage.  Maybe they will help me use up some of that bare chipboard!
My new focus for 2013 is to use a ton of sketches (I love them!) and participate in some challenge like this one at Freshly Made Sketches.  It is one of my favorite new sites that I haven’t had the time to explore.  I am also going to work at using up my stash with my scrapbook pages and there will be home decor and other projects too.  I hope you will continue to visit throughout the new year and I will share as much as I can create!

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Supplies used are all Close to My Heart unless otherwise noted: Fancy Pants Baby Mine papers, Prima flowers, Just Blooms (CTMH flowers), Mocha Opaque Pearls, Love Life stamp set, Eclectic Edges stamp set, and Cocoa ink.  Layout idea from Scrapbook Generations.  Title idea from The Perfect Title.

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D1520 Ornamental Cheer

Supplies used are all Close to My Heart unless otherwise noted: Ornamental Cheer stamp set, Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge, Olive ink, Cranberry ink, and unknown beaded string.

I had the idea for these ornaments for quite some time.  They turned out to be quite simple to make and I am pleased with the final result.  Each ornament is made from 6 diecut pieces.  It worked best to score them before folding.  Because of the size/shape of the ornaments, I was able to cut twice as many on one 12×12 sheet by using Cricut Craft Room.  I created the ornaments with the 3 hanging pieces first, then made the simpler single ornaments to hang from another light.

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This blog hop is a great big circle so you can start wherever you want and continue through to see all the fabulous artwork incorporating this technique.  So if you are starting here, just continue until you make your way back.  If you have already started, you should be coming from Judy Faye Garner’s Blog.

Supplies used are all Close to My Heart: Stitched Together stamp set, Happy Birthday stamp set, and Lagoon ink.

At first I felt bad for posting such a simple card.  Then I realized that sometimes (especially this time of year!) we are extra busy and need something quick and easy.  So that’s what this card is…simple, one dimension (easy to mail), and will work for anyone.  These stamp sets are both retired oldies but goodies.  You can change up this card with any border stamp, sentiment, or ink color!

Thanks for stopping by!  Please continue onto Kindred Hearts where you will find some additional artwork highlighting this technique!  Be sure to leave a comment and let me know what you thought of my variation and happy hopping!

Here is a list of participants:
1 Debi Barber
2.Joy McHargue
3.Rachel Ventura
4. Judy Faye Garner
5. Wendy Kessler
6. Kindred Hearts
7. Michelle West

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In celebration of National Crafting month, Close to My Heart has another great special which includes the above stamp set.  As in the past, consultants have joined forces to share with you many projects that can be created with this exclusive stamp set.  This should give you more ideas and expand this super value!

The hop is a circle so you can start anywhere.  If you are coming from Krista’s Blog then you are on the right path.

I wasn’t a big fan of this stamp set when I first saw it but now that I’ve used it I can see it’s possibility.  This is a Father’s Day card with each of the small owls representing one of the kids in their favorite color.

Your next stop is Vicki’s Blog.  Thanks for stopping!

Here is a list of all the participants:

Kathleen Androlewicz
Helen Onulak
Lisa Sargent
Madeline Morcelo
Allisa Chilton
Judy Faye Garner
Joy McHargue
Sheila Bennett
Jody Gustafson
Casandra Bennett
Krista Hershberger
Wendy Kessler
Vicki Price
Pamela Ellison
Katy Donaldson Taylor
Melinda Everitt
Michelle Loncar
Maria Myers
Nikka Geers
Wendy Coffman
Dawn Ross
Karen Fullam
Haley Dyer
Heather Schmuckal
Jen Rubio
Melissa Laverty
Susan Brooks
Mary Eisen
Lucy Kelleher

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C1456 Heartfelt Treasures

Supplies used are all Close to My Heart:  C1456 Heartfelt Treasures stamp set, White Daisy Cardstock, Bronze Glitter Glitz Gel, Boutique Assortment, and inks (Cotton Candy, Pear, Honey, Autumn Terracotta, Barn Red, and Topiary).

I was very pleased with how these cards turned out.  I have not had much time to scrap at all lately and I had this in my head for quite some time before I actually got around to doing it.  It’s nice when things come together like you plan them.  Two cards that are the same but totally different.  The same pattern and stamp set, just different ink colors and embellishing.  Which one is your favorite?

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Supplies used: Colorbok paper, Close to My Heart Just Blooms Flutter Paper Shapes, Close to My Heart Friendship Large & Friendship Small stamp sets, Stampin Up circle punches, CTMH Cotton Candy ink, and Zip Pure Pink Marker.

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