CTMH: June Stamp-of-the-Month Blog Hop!

It's time again, another blog hop and this stamp set is SO adorable!  I haven't had a lot of time to play with it yet, but I can't wait to make more cards and other projects with it.  If you came from Shirley's blog, you're on the right track.  If this is your first stop, just keep clicking links and when you find yourself back here, you've seen every bit of inspiration and are ready to create!  Here is the stamp set we're working with:

I told you it was adorable.  ;)

This week has been pretty crazy.  As this post goes up, I'm at a Home Gathering.  On Wednesday we celebrated my daughter's 7th birthday and there are classmate and family parties this weekend!  It was imperative that I work quickly on my project for this Blog Hop.  It didn't exactly work out that way.  The things I tried just would not mesh and I changed my mind so many times!  I'm happy with how it turned out, though.  Here is my card:

I really wanted to use a more boyish-looking paper, so I turned to Superhero.  Even the bird is stamped from that patterned paper.  I stamped the party hat with Moonstruck onto Sky paper and the twill ribbon is also stamped in Moonstruck.  The central image square is popped.

Supplies Used:

Superhero Level 2

Black and Bamboo cardstock

Life is Tweet stamp set

Honey marker

Black and Moonstruck ink

Sparkles

Twill Ribbon (retired)

Now it's time to click on over to Georgia's blog.  Happy Creating!

Flower Challenge from the Ribbon Carousel

As soon as I saw this challenge at the Ribbon Carousel, I knew I had a layout, I just finished that fit perfectly!

Here is my layout:

It is again, a special photo.  The journaling reads: "A graduation flower from Art Smit, given to honour the impact I had on him while at ICS.  Humbling.  Touching.  A very precious gift."

Each year the grade 8 students where I used to teach, as part of their graduation ceremony, give a rose to someone who has had the most impact or has been the most important to them while they were students.  This student gave me their rose.  He was in my class for two years and had a number of different issues.  We struggled through a number of things together.  For that reason, he holds a special place in my heart, and therefore this rose is so very special. (I'm on the verge of tears as I type this!)  I knew I had to give special treatment to this photo.  Now that I'm not teaching any more, I want to remember how special my job was.

I made the flowers with the Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge, cutting them from Colonial White cardstock, inking them with Sunset ink and my sponge dauber before rolling them up.  Here is a close up.

The above sparkle flourish actually fell on my layout while I was taking it off the carrier sheet.  It didn't land where I had planned, but I was forced to work with it because I couldn't move it.  I do love how it all turned out, despite my oopsie!

This photo shows the ribbon I used as well as my new-found favourite, washi tape!

Products used:

Dotty For You paper

Kraft cardstock

Art Philosophy Cricut Cartridge

Sparkle Flourishes, from my stash

Ruffled Ribbon, from my stash

Colour-Ready Cork Alphabet

Washi Tape, from Michaels

Thanks for looking!  Happy Creating.

Pinterest Inspiration

I had a most enjoyable time at a crop this past Saturday.  It was so nice to do some crafting just for the fun of it, for me.  I decided to spend the time scrapbooking some very special photos.  If you are a fan of my Facebook page,  you've seen this layout already.

This is a photo of my friend, Monica, and I taken at my crop in January.  Monica was my best friend in Grade 3.  She moved away.  We saw each other only a couple of times, once the following year and then at my Grade 8 graduation, and not since.  She came to my crop!  It was a great reunion, with memories and laughs and just catching up.  A very special time.

This layout is made with the Dotty For You paper, just LOVE it!  I've also discovered washi tape.  There are a couple of strips under the photo and ribbon.  So fun.  Here's a close up.

My layout was inspired by this one I pinned on Pinterest, from October Afternoon.  I really loved the banner and buttons below the photo.  Pinterest has become my favourite place to go for inspiration!

Products Used:

Dotty For You

Art Philosophy Cricut Cartridge

Baker's Twine

Colour Ready Garden Wooden Shapes

Keepsake Felt Alphabet

Antique Copper Designer Brads

various buttons

Designer Ribbon Pink Collection

Sweet Leaf Ribbon Round, retired

Flowers from my stash

Washi Tape from Michaels

Stay tuned for more layouts!  Happy Creating.

I'm a Top Spool!!!!

Oh my goodness!  I can't believe it!  My first challenge and I'm a Top Spool!  I didn't even know, just happened to be on the Ribbon Carousel Blog for another reason.  Saw some other Top Spools awarded and thought I'd browse back just to see who won when I participated and up pops MY card!!  Wow, I'm over the moon!

CTMH: May Stamp-of-the-Month Blog Hop

Welcome to another Stamp-of-the-Month Blog Hop!  If you've come from Susan's blog, you're on the right track.  We've got lots of beautiful artwork ready for you to enjoy and be inspired by.

This month's stamp set is all about sunflowers.

I love the sentiments in this set and though I'm not a huge fan of this style of stamp set, I did enjoy working with it.  Here is my creation:

This is only the second easel card I've made and I think it was perfect for my basket of flowers.
If you follow my blog at all, you know I don't enjoy colouring in stamped images.  Well, this time was no different.  I used the dot sides of the new Dotty for You paper pack to stamp the flowers.  They just looked like a basket full, so that's what I made!

I made the basket by weaving paper together on my desk and then after running a cut-out basket through my Xyron, I just placed the woven papers on top, trimming them all to match the shape.  I did have to add a bit of adhesive with my glue pen to make sure all the edges were down.  Then I put a double layer of 3-D Foam Tape down the middle before attaching it to the green paper to give it a bit more dimension.  The Bitty Pearls were added to the basket to just make it look prettier.  My daughter, who is 6, suggested I do all the rows, and I think she was right.  I like it that way. The flowers are popped at varying levels.  Here's another view:

The sentiment is stamped on an image I cut from the Cricut long ago that I just didn't use.

Materials Used:
Dotty for You
Cocoa and Colonial White cardstock
Cocoa ink
Colonial White Grosgrain ribbon (retired)
sponge
Art Philosophy Cricut Cartridge

And now you get to hop on over to fancyMelissa's fun blog for some more great artwork.  Happy Hopping!

Layout: It's All About my Family

I always have fun deciding what to make at a Home Gathering.  My hostess and I chat about what type of project she wants to do, whether it's a card or layout or little mini-album.  Then I get to play and come up with the perfect project.  This layout is one I planned for a special hostess who had hosted 2 or 3 times before.

The family photo is one I took in June.  We needed a special photo and we all just happened to wearing blue and green.  I set the timer, took two shots and voila, perfect!

Products used:

Mayberry Paper pack (retired)

Olive, Cocoa, and Colonial White cardstock

Olive, Cocoa and Honey ink

Cocoa brads

Various stamp sets (I'm sorry I can't remember which ones I used!)

Want to make something fun with your friends?  Book a gathering with me today.

Happy Creating!

Heart-2-Heart Challenge

I had so much fun with the Ribbon Carousel challenge that I had to try another one.  I may be too late to really be a part of it, but I'm posting anyway.

The Heart-2-Heart challenge this past week was a sketch.

I had a hard time with this and I'm not really sure why.  I picked the paper I wanted to use quickly, but had cut it to get a 5x7 card ready.  None of the images I was looking at seemed to fit into that bottom section.  So I trimmed it down to a standard size and pulled out one of my favourite new stamp sets, one I hadn't even used yet!  This is the card I made:

I did a mirror image of the sketch and pulled the little rectangle at the top down to bring my sentiment closer.  I love how it turned out!  This one is most definitely for my daughter, who loves dinosaurs and the colour blue.

Products used: Dotty For You paper

Lagoon and Colonial White cardstock

Roar! stamp set

Grey Wool ink pad

Mini-Medley, Lagoon (ribbon) (retired)

Milepost Shapes (star)

Now maybe I can get on top of at least 1 challenge at the beginning of this week!

Happy Creating!