CTMH Stamp-of-the-Month Blog Hop

Hello everyone!  Happy Easter, again.  I hope you're having a wonderful weekend with family like we are.  If you came from Mary's blog, you're on the right track.  If this is your first stop, then just keep hopping until you get back here and you will have feasted your eyes on every bit of loveliness the CTMH consultants have created for your inspiration.

The stamp set we're spotlighting this month is called My Sunshine and as soon as I saw it, I fell in love!

Isn't it adorable?  Those red lines around some of the images mean they can be cut on Cricut, with our Artiste cartridge.  Here is my project:

If it looks familiar, it's because I just used this same frame for an Easter project.  I just swapped out all the bits and created this fun summery frame.  To stamp the balloon, I used sponge daubers to ink up the image with Lagoon, Sunset and Honey ink.  The sun is stamped with Honey as well, the centre being done with a second generation technique.  The sentiment is in Black Archival ink.  The balloon was cut from Lagoon cardstock at the suggested size, 2 3/4".  Then I cut it again from White Daisy, at 2 1/2" and stamped it so there would be no white edge.  I used Lagoon, Black and White Daisy cardstock.  Here's a close up of all the layers:

Now, it's time to hop on over to Traci's blog and discover another way to use this stamp set.  I'd love to see what you create with this set over the month.  

Happy Creating!

Happy Easter! He is Risen Frame

I want to take some time to wish everyone a very Happy Easter!  I don't know what your long weekend is like, but here in Ontario, we not only get Good Friday off school, but we also get Monday off.  My hubby is off as well, which makes a perfect 4-day weekend.  It means we've done lots of visiting family and enjoyed some yummy meals, but we've also had a chance to celebrate in special ways, with two church services.

This holiday is super special to me; the time we spend thinking about Jesus' sacrifice on the cross is always an emotional time for me.  Yup, I'm often in tears during our Good Friday service.  But, it's also so exciting when we get to rejoice in His resurrection on Sunday morning!  Sunday morning, I'll have the privilege to participate in an Expressive Arts presentation.  We'll do some really neat moves/sign language/liturgical dance to this song, I Am, by Eddie James.

Such a powerful song and I have so much fun being a part of this group.  It's something I get to do more often.  Bet you didn't know that about me.  ;)

I know, you want to get to the artwork.  If you follow my Facebook page, you've already seen this.

I loved the layers in this frame I bought at Dollarama.  Stay tuned.  My next post, for the Stamp-of-the-Month Blog Hop uses this frame, too!

Products used:

White Daisy, Smokey Plum, Ruby cardstock

Archival Black ink pad

Gold embossing powder

Versamark ink

Happy Easter and Happy Creating!

CTMH: You+Me=Heart!

I'm trying hard to catch up on some blog posts I promised to do.  It's been a little while since my Valentine's Day appearance on daytime Durham, but I did say I would post photos of the card I made.  Here it is:

It might be all about love, but I think you can give this to your main squeeze any time of the year.  I used the Dakota paper packet, Pacifica, Slate and Whisper cardstock and the Whoo's Your Valentine stamp set with Barn Red ink.  The pocket was cut with the Cricut but I can't remember which cartridge.  I also sponged Slate ink on all the edges.  I added a couple Artisan studs, but I can see that one fell off.  The Baker's Twine is Grey Flannel (retired).

Happy Creating!

Easter Basket

Hello!  Welcome to my blog.  If you're here because you saw my segment on daytime Durham yesterday, you're in the right spot.  Here is the project we made on the show:

I had so much fun coming up with a quick and easy project to complete on air.  When I need quick and easy, I go to my Cricut.  Every piece for this little basket was cut with the Artiste and Art Philosophy cartridges.  Here are the instructions:

1.  Cut the basket, using Buttercup cardstock.  Use the Artiste cartridge, page 73.  3-D creative function, Spring/Easter key, at 2 1/4".

2.  Cut the handle, using a piece of patterned paper.  (I used Chantilly.)  Use Shift, and the same key and function, at 2 1/4" as well.

3.  Cut the grass, using green patterned paper.  Use Accent 3 function, Shift, same key, Fit to Length mode, at 11".  

4.  Cut the tag, using cardstock.  Use the Art Philosophy cartridge, page 39. Use Shift, Tag function, key, at 2 1/4".

5.  Assemble the box following the instructions in the provided booklet.

6.  Adhere the grass, but just applying adhesive to the very bottom.  You can use your finger to curl the tips out a bit.

7.  Attach the handle with two brads the same colour.

8.  Stamp your sentiment on the tag.  I used Twilight ink.

9.  Tie your tag onto the handle using Baker's Twine.  I used Smoothie.

10.  Fill with some sweet grass and yummy treats!

Here's another look.

If you make something like this, let me know by posting your link in the comments.  I'd love to see it!  Stay tuned, because I'll be posting photos of my paper rose wreath soon.

Happy Creating!

Studio J: Altering Stickese

We just finished a great promotion, $5 layouts on Studio J.  So, of course, I took advantage of it.  I'll be posting a few of the layouts I created over the next little while, but I wanted to start with this one.

I created this one using the Wishes and Fishes Boy kit.  I changed some of the paper colours to match my photos better.  These aren't the best photos, but they're the only ones I had of this experience and boy, was it an experience!  As my title says, we had a potty battle.

I really loved the medallion stickese, but it said "My Little Prince", which definitely did not fit with my topic.  So, I changed it.  I wanted to just cover the word "prince" with a small text box with no text, but the background was textured and I didn't think I'd be able to make it look right.  Instead, I decided to cross out the word and add my own.

I created 2 text boxes to do this, working with it really zoomed in.  When I was ready to re-size, I made sure to click all three parts (holding down the ctrl key selects all the items) and sized the whole thing to where I wanted it.  I think it works even better!

Don't be afraid to make the items in Studio J work for you.  I hope you'll give it a try.  It's free to play!  Click here to explore this fun way to "catch up" on those layouts.

Happy Creating!

**Just a little note.  I've changed to comment verification for a little while because I'm getting an obscene amount of spam comments.  I will still be using comment moderating as well.  Hopefully a few days of that will put an end to them.  Please bear with me.**

Love More Free Stuff?

Everyone loves getting free stuff, right?  There's still time for you to get even more free stuff!

When you host a gathering, either in your home or online, and your sales reach $250 or more, you'll get even more free product because you'll automatically jump to the next level of hostess rewards!

So, what does it take to get in on the fun?  Just gather orders from your friends and email or call me to place them.  Then, you get to pick your hostess rewards!  Or, if you'd like to have a fun evening creating with your friends, contact me today to get a date before the end of the month.  You can also set up an online gathering, with no need to collect orders.  Everyone orders directly from my website, even easier!  But, you need to contact me today so we can get things set up!

Love CTMH?  Don't wait!

Cross Canada Blog Hop: Hinged Display Tray

Welcome to another Cross Canada Blog Hop!  This month we are focusing on the Hinged Display Tray.

This Display Tray is a 5x7 fold out wooden tray with divided sections.  You can get a closer look at it on page 125 of the 2013 Spring/Summer Idea Book.  It sells for $18.95.  Talk to your CTMH consultant to order your's, but if you don't have a consultant you can click on over to my website to get your hands on one.

If you came from Michelle's blog, you're on the right track.  This is a circular hop, so just keep hopping through until you get back here, or, you can hop across Canada and start at Michelle's blog.

Here is what I did with this display tray.

To be honest, I was a little intimidated by this product.  I wasn't sure what to do with it.  It was so nice looking, I wasn't sure I could use it properly, but when the choice was made to use this tray for the hop, I took it as a challenge and jumped in with both feet.  These photos were taken over a year ago, but I still love creating with them.  They've made it on to some layouts already, but those will be hidden in albums, so I decided to use them for permanent display.  I had a very different plan when I started, but as I started working, I made small changes (and some big ones) to my plan.  I even ended up flipping the whole thing around, but I love how it turned out!

Here are close ups of each side.  There is no stamping in this project.  I only used ink on the edges of papers and on the wooden embellishments. 

Materials used:

Chocolate and Pacifica ink pads

Dreamin' paper pack (retired)

Just Blooms Paper Shapes, Flutter

Mini-Medley Accents, Wooden
Mini Clothes Pins
Opaques Mocha
Durables Artisan Studs
Colour-Ready Garden wooden shapes
Chocolate Waxy Flax
Harvest Charms (retired)
Keyboard Kraft Alphabet
sponge
3-D Foam Tape
Liquid Glass
Machine stitching

Now it's time to hop on over to Michelle M's blog.  If you get lost along the way, you can go back to Michelle's blog for a complete list.  Enjoy!  Join us next month for a focus on Home Decor.

Happy Creating!