Deconstructed Sketch No. 99 and Card Crafter's Circle Challenge #72 - Boys to Men

I rotated the Deconstructed Sketch this week to work with the horizontal image.  The papers were discontinued at Michael's several years ago and they have just been waiting in the box for a chance to get used!  They were perfect for the stamp image from CTMH.  Hidden behind the polka dot paper is actually a red wheel, which prompted the red bicycle!

This card will be a part of Stamp Club for May - "It's a Guy Thing!"

Supplies I used:
Background papers - Recollections I Wanna Ride and Owl Be Falling in Love (retired)
Cardstock (all CTMH) - black, colonial white and New England Ivy
Stamps - Enjoy Life (CTMH retired), It's Your Day (CTMH retired), On Your Birthday (SU)
Inks (all CTMH) - black, cranberry, sunset

If you want to see other cards made with this sketch, click here to head over to the Deconstructed Sketch Challenge blog.  I'm also submitting this to the Boys to Men Challenge over at Card Crafter's Circle.  Click here to see the other great cards for guys.

Thanks for stopping by!

Inspired By . . . Challenge #72

My Stamp Clubs will be making a masculine version of the chalkboard technique in May.  I fell in love with the technique, so made this card for a dear friend's birthday and found a new challenge - Inspired By . . .  This week their photo inspiration is of a chalkboard home decor item, so decided to join them!

Here's what I used for this card:
CTMH For Always background paper
Black cardstock
SU Elements of  Style stamp (swirl)
SU Vintage Verses stamp (phrase)
SU blush ribbon
CTMH white embossing powder and White Daisy pigment ink
While colored pencil

Click here to head over to the Inspired By challenge blog to see other great creations inspired by this photo.

I've also created a special techniques board on Pinterest that features many chalkboard technique cards.  Click here to pop over there.

Thanks for stopping by to take a look!

CTMH Dream Pop Paper with Freshly Made Sketches #83

May is National Scrapbooking Month, and CTMH is offering a wonderful paper pack - Dream Pops - as a special promotion.  It is full of wonderful patterns and cardstock with a resist pattern.  You can see the resist pattern in the raspberry cardstock on this card that I made using the Freshly Made Sketch for this week.

The Dream Pop Paper Pack is available for only $10 with a purchase of current CTMH product worth $35 during the month of May.  You get 12 sheets of background paper (2 sheets of each of the 6 patterns) and 12 sheets of cardstock (2 sheets of each of the 6 colors).  Here's a preview of what this pack looks like!

Here's what I used (all CTMH) -
Dream Pop Paper (CC1024 during May only)
Whisper and White Daisy cardstock
Hello Tweety stamp set (B1420)
Cotton Candy, Whisper and Slate inks

I have a board on Pinterest dedicated to upcoming promotions for CTMH - and right now, the Dream Pop Paper Pack is featured.  Click here to pop over and see the great creations!

I love the birds on the wire in this stamp set, so added it to the inside of this card.

Click here to head over to Freshly Made Sketches to see the other great cards made with this sketch.

Thanks for stopping by!  Have a great day.

Crazy 4 Challenges C4C182

My CTMH team is doing a card swap with new product in the Spring/Summer 2013 catalog.  I've had the Cozy Cat stamp since it came out and never used it - so thought this was a good time to try it out.  The sketch this week at Crazy 4 Challenges worked very well.  I was able to incorporate a number of new products
Stamps:
Cozy Cat (A1140)
In the Background (D1540) - pattern on the pillow
Papers:
For Always background papers (X7165B)
Ruby cardstock (X5927)
Whisper cardstock (X5929)
White Daisy cardstock (1385)
Embellishments:
Sparkles - Clear Assortment (Z1752)
Slate Polka-Dot Washi Tape (Z1817)
Inks:
Black (Z2105)
Ruby (Z2170)
Alcohol Markers:
Whisper (Z2432)
Cotton Candy (Z2417)

I love paper piecing, and although it takes a little time, the results are well worth it.  I love the way the cat turned out.  I popped her up with mounting foam for added dimension.

If you want to see other cards with this same sketch, click here to go over to Crazy 4 Challenges.
Thanks for stopping by and looking!
Gail

STAMP CLUB - APRIL 2013

April's Stamp Club will give us the opportunity to honor the special women in our lives - whether they are mothers, sisters, daughters, or friends.  All of the card projects can be tailored to the people you want to send them to.  And don't forget that you can decorate a pretty muslin bag to give a small gift in!

Click here to find out all the details on the Stamp Club page.

Stamp Club will meet on three separate dates in April.  

Choose the date that works best for you:

Monday, April 8

Tuesday, April 9

Saturday, April 13

All groups meet at 9:30 at my home craft room in Prescott Valley.

Play Date Cafe Challenge #174 & Timeless Tuesday #212

Cardmaker Magazine showcased this beautiful cascading card - and I knew I had to use it in the April Stamp Clubs. Play Date Cafe provided the color inspiration and it fit right in with Timeless Tuesday's BRING ON SPRING challenge.  I mean, what says spring better than flowers.

I followed the directions in the magazine for the base of the card, then used my Cricut to cut most everything else.  Here's what I used.  All are CTMH unless otherwise stated.

Papers: Cardstock - white daisy, lagoon, gypsy, and pear

Stamps: Perfect Fit Frames (D1527) and Perfect Fit - Mom (C1543)

Inks: Gypsy and Lagoon

Images cut from CTMH Art Philosophy, CTMH Artiste and Sophisticated cartridges

Embellishments: Paradise Paper Flowers (Z1710), Bitty Opaques Pearls (Z1707), misc sparkles from my stash!

The tag pulls out for whatever message you want to add!

Click here to see other great creations from these two challenges:

Play Date Cafe

Timeless Tuesday

Thanks for stopping by and looking!

Freshly Made Sketches Challenge #78

I have discovered the fun of using Prismacolor colored pencils and odorless mineral spirits to color designs.  It is so easy!

I found this stamp at the recent Stamp Convention in Mesa, and had to give it a try.  The image was larger than I realized, but this sketch worked perfectly.

This will be a project for April's Stamp Club - I have lots of color combinations that will work so everyone can give this technique a try.

Here's what I used -
Stamps -  Belle (#670-01) from Rubbernecker.com
Fabulous You  (C1533) CTMH
Papers - background from K & Co. (retired) and lagoon cs (CTMH)
Fiskars border punch
Colonial White grosgrain ribbon (CTMH) retired

Click here to check out the other great cards made with this sketch at Freshly Made Sketches!

Thanks for looking!

New challenge blog - CTMH Cricut Cartridges!

Click here to head over to this new challenge blog!

This new challenge blog was created by a talented group of CTMH consultants who want everyone to have fun with the Art Philosophy and Artiste Cricut cartridges.  Here is the information they have shared:

We want you to really utilize the Close To My Heart Cricut cartridges.  On the 1st and 15th of each month, we will be posing new challenges that focus on a specific key of one of our exclusive cartridges - Art Philosophy or Artiste.  We'll have a Top 3 for each challenge, and there will be a "Top Blossom" for the month!  The "Top Blossom" will win the monthly prize which will always be a stamp set that coordinates with a Cricut cut.  Sounds like fun, right?!  You can read more rules by clicking on the "Rules" tab at the top of the blog.

Our FIRST challenge will be on April 1st so be sure to check in!

For those of you with these cartridges, even if you don't participate in the challenge, you can get great ideas by checking the submissions made by not only the design team but all those who submit.  Be sure to check it out!

MARCH STAMP CLUB - BIRTHDAY EXTRAVAGANZA

It's time to stock up on birthday cards!  We will make 10 birthday projects in Stamp Club this month.  You can scroll through the recent postings on this blog to see 9 of these cards that I entered in challenges.  Click here to head over to the Stamp Club page to find out the details.

Retrosketches #52 - any sketch goes!

Retrosketches is celebrating their 52nd challenge, and they are allowing us to pick from any of the previous sketches - and I chose #6.  When you open this card, there is a suprise inside - a honeycomb cupcake!  Almost looks good enough to eat!

Materials used:
Stamp images -
cake plate & cupcakes - A Cherry on Top (Stampin' Up)
Happy Birthday - Bring on the Cake (Stampin' Up)
inside greeting - Cricut Artiste stamp collection (CTMH)
Papers - background pattern (K & Company) White Daisy, Pear, and Gypsy cardstock (CTMH)
Honeycomb paper - pink & brown HoneyPOP collection (Inky Antics)
Inks - Dusty Concord & Spun Sugar (Tim Holtz Distress), White Daisy pigment, Gypsy, Blush & Citrus Green (retired) dye (CTMH), clear and white daisy embossing powders (CTMH)

This is the last of the cards I've designed for the March Birthday Extravaganza.  Now on to Mother's Day projects!!!

Thanks for stopping by.  Head over to retrosketches to see the other great creations this week.