Happy Birthday, Cloud Nine!

Only a few days left in January to get your Cloud Nine kit.  This is my final card made with scraps I had left over after making all of the original 10 cards.  All together, I made 17 cards from this kit!  What fun!  Here I used the Charming Chevron stamp set (A1150) as an arrow pointing to the Happy Birthday that was part of the kit.  CTMH also offers Sparkle Chevron Shapes that coordinate with this stamp set.  I think this card would work as is for a boy or girl, but if I decide to give it to a girl, I can add the Sparkle Shapes to give it some extra bling.  Because what girl doesn't like bling, right???!!!  Check out all of these products on my secure website HERE.  Thanks for stopping by!

Hip, hip, hooray for Cloud Nine!

I am determined to use EVERY scrap of this beautiful Cloud Nine paper!  For this card, however, I needed 4 different patterns, and there are only 2 patterns in the kit.  What to do???  Well, make your own patterned paper, of course!  It's easy with CTMH's awesome background stamps!  I stamped diagonal stripes from our In the Background stamp set (D1540) with Lagoon ink on Lagoon cardstock and chicken wire from Distressed Backgrounds (D1544) with Honey ink on the Honey cardstock.  Using the same color ink as paper adds just enough interest without being overwhelming when you are using several patterns.  The fun mustache stamp is part of the Cloud Nine kit, as are the triangle studs and glitter trim.  These kits are available ONLY through the end of January.  Get yours now for only $15 with a $35 purchase HERE on my secure website.  Oh, and leave me a comment below if you're so inclined.  Thanks, y'all!

Cloud Nine Merry Christmas

I am having a blast with the Cloud Nine kit.  It is just so versatile!  Look--I even made this Christmas Card with some of the kit contents!  I covered a chipboard ornament with pieces of washi tape and glitter trim and topped it with a bow of baker's twine.  Added more washi tape and glitter trim at the bottom and stamped a sentiment from a retired CTMH stamp set--Father Christmas (D1449).  And did you notice my "gold" paper card base?  It is actually CTMH's "Desert Sand" cardstock--my go-to color when I need gold.  (I think it's actually considered a shade of brown, but it works for gold beautifully).  Check it out on my secure website HERE.

THANKS, Cloud Nine!

I am still using up Cloud Nine Scraps--I LOVE this paper!!!  And how about those triangle studs???!!!  They're self-adhesive so just lift them off the backing with your piercing tool for easy placement EXACTLY where you want them.  Accessories and tools are found near the back of the CTMH Idea Books.  If you don't already have the piercing tool kit, put it on your list NOW!  It will be the best $5.95 you ever spent!  The kit comes with a push pad, the piercing tool, and 2 different size sewing needles (small and large for waxy flax or beading).  You can order all these products on my secure website HERE.  Thanks for stopping by!

Up, Up, and Away with Cloud Nine!

Here is a card I CASEd from p. 17 of the CTMH Holiday Gift Guide.  I used the Lifting Spirits stamp set (C1570) with some of my scraps from the Cloud Nine kit and our Chocolate wood-grain washi tape and baker's twine.  Isn't it darling???!!!  The "Happy Birthday" sentiment is from Banner Wishes (B1438), but I curved it to fit on the banner in the Lifting Spirits set instead.  It's SO nice that CTMH makes stamps that we can mix and match, and our acrylic stamps are easy to bend and shape into curves or waves.  You can order all of these products from my secure website HERE.  Thanks for stopping by!  Comments are appreciated too!

Today, Tomorrow, or Yesterday?

This is a page from my Art Journal.  I created it for the ArtJournaling with MichaelStrongStamps Facebook group HERE.  The 2014 date stamps at the top are the Michael Strong stamps that I used on this page.  This is definitely NOT my favorite art journal page that I have ever done, lol.  I'm not normally crazy about pastels, but after initially hating my background, I decided the colors sort of went with the sentiment in mood.  It says, "You pile up enough tomorrows, you'll find you've collected a lot of empty yesterdays."  It's a line from The Music Man, a play that I was in during high school.  (I was a dancer; didn't have a speaking part--so I had all the perks of being in the play without much of the responsibility)!  Both my mom and I had always loved the movie The Music Man, and being in the school musical was a blast.  I feel like I know the script by heart, so as soon as I read this quote, I could see exactly the scene in which it was said.  Ahhh--Marian the librarian and Professor Harold Hill--those were the days....  Now, where was I?  Oh, yes--

I started this page with small squares/rectangles of paper that I adhered with matte medium.  (If you belong to the FB group, this is similar to the video that Herma posted of Vicky Papaioannou's art journal page).  I painted over that layer with pale pink acrylic paint to tone down the colors.  Then I outlined and blended the edges of the paper squares with a big brush marker.  At this point it just looked like a country quilt to me, and I had no idea what I was going to do with it.  I looked through my "bits and pieces for collage" bin and found the girl.  She coordinated nicely with the colors, so I cut her out.  But I still had no idea of which direction I needed to go, so I went to the computer to browse my quote folder.  I was thinking along the lines of something about quilts and family, but when this Music Man quote popped up, I thought it might do.  I knew I had a bunch of calendar stamps and the ideas started flowing.  Back I went to the page which still looked way too quilty, so I pulled out some stencils and some more paint.  I kept the stencil colors pastel because I knew I wanted to stamp the calendar stuff in black.  I used Ranger archival black ink so that it wouldn't smear if/when I used matte medium or another liquid on top of it.  The calendar stamps are all from Close To My Heart.  I think I have every calendar stamp they ever made, and I have never used any of them until now!  I added the butterflies because they made me think of time fluttering away like the empty yesterdays in the quote.  The bricks are made with Viva Stone Effect Paste, and I dabbed white paint on them when the paste dried to make them pop.  I wanted the brick wall to be a bit ambiguous--do you think the girl is going to step out from behind the wall or stay in her comfort zone?

Celebrate the New Year!

Happy New Year!  Don't you just love the bright colors of these papers?  I made this card with leftover scraps from the Close To My Heart "Cloud Nine" kit that is available ONLY this month to celebrate National Papercrafting Month.  You can get this kit HERE for only $15 with your order of $35 of CTMH products.  The kit comes with all the papers you need to make 10 cards PLUS a D-size stamp set, glitter trim, washi tape, die-cuts, and triangle studs for embellishment.  You won't want to miss this one!