Masculine Birthday from a Favorite Sketch!

This card was for my son’s birthday.  While I knew I wanted to use the typewriter stamp, I was struggling to make it work with the papers I wanted to use.  Finally, I went back to this sketch that I’d used before, and even though I was using the same papers, it all came together because of the sketch!  The sketch is from CTMH’s Make It From Your Heart, Vol. 1 – card sketch #24.  Breaking up the background pattern with the two rectangles helped make the typewriter stand out. 

The typewriter image is from the April Stamp of the Month from CTMH – Typed Note.  This will be available to purchase in April.  I embossed it in black and added a “Stuck on You” puffie moustache to the paper, as well as a bit of the black arrow washi tape to the grid paper.  Both background papers are from the retired Scholastic paper pack.

When I started to take the pictures of this card, I went into my son's room (who actually is off in another state in graduate school, but still maintains most of his "stuff" at our place) and got down his grandfather's typewriter to use in the photos.  It brought back great memories of him typing on it as a little guy.

This card is entered into the Heart 2 Heart “Your Favorite Sketch”challenge and the Seize the Birthday challenge with the optional “Topping” of Masculine.  I think this works well for both.  Pop over to these two blogs to check out the other creations for these specific challenges. 

"Hopping By" Easter cards and enTWINEd Challenge

Believe it or not, Easter is just around the corner!  So it’s time to start playing with the fun new “Hopping By” set from CTMH.  These fun little animals are ready to “spring” into action bringing Easter wishes to your family and friends. 

 

The Heart 2 Heart Challenge Blog posted a challenge earlier this month to use twine on a project.  I love the spring twine colors (lagoon, buttercup and sunset) that coordinate with the “Year Noted” paper pack that was a CTMH special in January.  I’m also glad that H2H allows us the entire month to participate in each challenge.  While I’ve had these cards done for a while, there just hasn’t been enough time to get them ready to post.

I used both of my cloud embossing folders (one from Stampin’ Up and the other from Darice) on the upper part of the card, and used my journaling pen to doodle around the bottom section.  I have really fallen in love with doodling on the cards!  The sun (from last year’s You Are My Happy set) is mounted on foam.  All of the rest of the images are from the Hopping By stamp set.  It seems like every spring I find some way to use the little CTMH springs to mount an image on a card.  I thought these animals in their Easter vehicles were good candidates.

In addition to the items I’ve already listed, I used black, glacier, sorbet and canary inks.  I used the ShinHan markers to color the images.

The gals in my Stamp Club groups are looking forward to making these cards in March.  Why don’t you give it a try?!  And pop over to the H2H Challenge Blog and check out the other great projects using twine.

Thanks for stopping by. 

YULETIDE CAROL SCRAPBOOK LAYOUT FOR H2H TIC-TAC-TOE CHALLENGE

This is the finished layout from my most recent scrapbook workshop.  I used the Yuletide Carol sample in the CTMH Annual Inspirations Catalog as the inspiration.  I loved the turned-down corner on the page.  While I couldn't get the "scrapbooking" box filled on the H2H Tic-Tac-Toe challenge, I did get the middle row completed!  I used the Black Striped Twill Ribbon (Z1988) on the large photo mat.

I cut the holly leaves from the Cricut  "Christmas" cartridge and the tickets from CTMH's Cricut Artbooking cartridge.
The red bling is from my stash and the small gold gems and the black "merry" are from the Yuletide Carol Assortment (Z3007).  These were actually left over from another project, as was the little journaling square seen behind the holly.  It is a part of the Holiday Happenings Assortment (Z2062).
The paper has so much detail, I didn't want to detract with a lot of other elements, so kept the title and journaling simple.  I love doodling around the edges - no need to mat the strips but they still stand out.

You can see other ways the Tic-Tac-Toe challenge was interpreted by hopping over to the Heart 2 Heart Challenge Blog. 

CTMH's February Stamp of the Month

I don't often have time to play with the Stamp of the Month from CTMH until after the month has passed.  But I couldn't resist this one.  I was inspired by a card made by fellow consultant Wendy Coffman.  I used the grouping of stamped images from her card design and added the Hopscotch papers to it.  What a fun stamp set! 

I am entering this card in the Heart 2 Heart Clean and Simple Challenge, the Addicted to Stamps #129 Challenge (also Clean and Simple) and the "Anything Goes" challenge over at Seize the Birthday.  You can pop over to any of their blogs with the links above to see other great creations.

Here's the list of the materials I used on this card (all are CTMH)
Stamps:
A Happy Hello (S1502) - all floral images.  It is only available during the month of February - and available at a great discount with a qualifying order!
Joyful Birthday (B1419) - front sentiment
Card Chatter - Birthday (retired) - inside sentiment
Papers:
Colonial White cardstock
Hopscotch patterned papers (X7194B)
Inks:
Glacier, Sunset, Smoothie, Indian Corn Blue, Lagoon and Flaxen

This card will be a part of February's Birthday Extravaganza.

Freshly Made Sketches Challenge #171

I've created a second card with the CTMH "Hats Off" Hostess Rewards stamp set (C1593).  It's the same set that the mustache card below came from!  But it looks totally different.  I rotated the Freshly Made Sketch for this, and used some glossy black paper from my stash and some black glitter paper from DCWV (it's hard to see in the photo, but the bottom flag is actually glitter paper). 

The patterned paper is from CTMH's Yuletide Carol packet.

The image and sentiment on the inside are retired CTMH stamps.

The clock and hands are cut from the CTMH Cricut Artiste cartridge.

This card will be a part of February's Birthday Extravaganza for my Stamp Club groups.  You can see other cards made with this sketch over at the Freshly Made Sketches Challenge Blog.

Thanks for taking a look.

A Manly Birthday Card

Heart 2 Heart posted a challenge several weeks ago, and luckily, they allow you the entire month to participate.  It was a tic-tac-toe challenge, letting you choose 3 elements on the board for your project.  The sketch I picked was from Sunday Stamps, and while I didn't get the card done in time to participate in their challenge, it still works for this one!  The stamping is from the CTMH Hostess Rewards stamp set "Hats Off" (C1593), and of course, it is manly!

I was so excited last summer when CTMH released the new edge punches that can be used on manly cards!  I have so many punches with scalloped edges, but didn't have anything that worked on those cards for the guys.  I love the chevron punch (Z1998).  I used Chalk It Up patterned paper with Bamboo, Black, Twilight and Colonial White cardstock.  The black enamel stars are from the Scaredy Cat assortment (Z3011). 
Black ink was all I needed.

Check out the other creations with the Tic-Tac-Toe challenge over at
Heart 2 Heart.  I'll be adding another one to the mix in just a bit!
 
Thanks for stopping by my little corner of blogdom!

Make a Wish - The Paper Players Sketch Challenge #229

"Birthday Extravaganza" for Stamp Club is just around the corner, so I've been making LOTS of birthday cards.  Each one needs to be unique, but simple enough that we can make six cards in one setting.  I love the Clean and Simple sketches that are available on many of the challenge blogs, and this week's sketch at Paper Players was perfect. 

We played with the Doodles Designs (CTMH A1170) circle stamp last month, and everyone loved it.  Making a card is so easy with this little image.  The Wish stamp (CTMH M1051) fits inside perfectly. 

The candle stamp (from Ditto by Hampton Art) had been feeling neglected in my cabinet, but now the image lights up the card!  I even added some yellow Stickles to the flame.

I had just been to Phoenix to the paper store a few days ago and found this irridescent cardstock that coordinates with the Confetti Wishes paper (CTMH X7189B). 

The candle repeats on the inside, with the 2-part sentiment from the Belated Birthday set (CTMH B1442).  I love to mix colors on greetings, and having the middle phrase as a separate stamp makes it easy.

Because the image on front is off to the left, I decided to put the greeting inside off to the right!

Other items I used:
Inks - Pacifica, Thistle, Canary (CTMH)
mounting foam

Hop over to The Paper Players blog to see other cards created with this sketch.

Email me at scrappingailaz@gmail.com if you want to join me for Birthday Extravaganza!

Thanks for stopping by!

RETROSKETCHES #147

February means Birthday Extravaganza for my Stamp Club groups, so it's time to start working on the cards we will be making.  I'm looking for Clean and Simple designs that will give everyone a chance to create LOTS of cards in a short amount of time, but still have something special to them.

I love the RetroSketches challenges, and the sketch for this week worked great for what I needed.  I used the Brushed paper from CTMH and finally used two of the stamp sets that I've had since July!

I used the ShinHan Touch Twin Markers to color in the images from the Happy Birds stamp set (C1600).  The black outlines of the pastel flowers on the Brushed paper allowed me to use black ink to stamp the sentiment from Lovely Birthday (B1462).  I used the second bird stamp with Pixie ink on the inside of the card.

Check out the other creations using this sketch at the RetroSketches blog.

Thanks for coming over to take a look!

STAMP CLUB - JANUARY 2015

We have a coffee theme going on for our January classes.  I found these adorable mini coffee cups from a restaurant supply house.  We will cover four of them and make a carrier for them.  In addition, Sally has been saving coffee sleeves for us, so we will use those to make either a mini album or pocket cards.  And we will actually make one regular birthday card! 

Class dates are:

Saturday, January 10

Monday, January 12

Tuesday, January 13

Thursday, January 15

Cost is $20 to make all of the projects shown.

Hop over to the Stamp Club page of this blog for more photos and details of the classes.

PAPER PLAYERS #226 - EVERYTHING OLD IS NEW AGAIN!

 

The challenge over at The Paper Players this week is to take something old and repurpose it into a new project.  This little mini album made from coffee sleeves - yes, those little kraft rings that keep your hands from getting burned from your hot coffee cup - is perfect!  One of the gals in my classes had shown me one she made, and another friend started saving the used coffee sleeves from the hospital where she works.  Now, we have enough so that everyone in my January classes will be able to make one of these cute projects!

Any size coffee sleeve will work - you just want to make sure that all of them in the album are the same size.  I chose to use 4 sleeves for this mini album - covering both sides of each sleeve with either patterned paper or cardstock.

You can glue the bottom of the sleeve to create a pocket - and I've inserted some of CTMH's Heartstring Picture My Life cards.

You can also cut the outside edge of the coffee sleeve to create more pages when the sleeve opens.

You can easily turn these coffee sleeves into cards.  Just glue the bottom shut to make a pocket and you are set to decorate the outside and insert your greeting to a card on the inside.  I've used 3X4 cards inside, and it will fit in a standard A2 envelope.

Here's a list of the materials I used for these projects - all are Close to My Heart unless indicated:
PAPERS
Heartstrings Background Paper (X7193B)
Lagoon, Cranberry and White Daisy cardstock
INKS
Lagoon, Cranberry and Black
STAMPS
Heartstrings Workshop on the Go Cardmaking Kit stamp set (G1090)
Doodled Designs (A1170)
Sweeter with You (M1053)
A Thing Well Done (Hostess Reward C1606)
Joyful Birthday (B1419) 
OTHER
Heart embossing folder (Z3018)
Picture My Life Heartstrings Scrapbooking Program
Recycled coffee sleeves
1" binder rings from the office supply store

Pop over to The Paper Players Challenge Blog to see other repurposed items in this week's projects.
Thanks for stopping by - and Happy New Year!