March Stamp of the Month Blog Hop

Hi, crafty friends!  Welcome to the March Stamp of the Month Blog Hop!  If you're hopping with us, you have just come from Keeley's blog.  Wasn't her artwork just fantastic???!!!  Today I am sharing a simple layout with you.  I used paper from the Jubilee paper pack because I thought the colors represent the traditional colors of the adorable Matryoshka dolls (Russian nesting dolls) in this month's SOTM.  Here's a look at the stamp set:

Did anyone catch the segment about Matryoshka dolls during the Olympic coverage?  It was very interesting!  Most are handmade in businesses that have been in the same families for years.  I love those little dolls and all the cute sentiments in this set!  I decided I wanted to use the "like mother/like daughter" sentiment with this photo of my bestie and her mom:

This was an amazingly simple layout to create because of our wonderful CTMH paper.  The red background paper (from Jubilee) is already printed with the doily, ticket, and strips of paper/tape that you can barely see behind the Matryoshka dolls.  It also already has the distressing along the edges and the flourishes in the top right corner.  You could totally plop a photo or two on this paper and call it quits (and have a stunning layout), but I added the diamonds and damask with paint, ink, and stencils.  The blue and yellow paper strips are more Jubilee papers; tags are from my stash.  And of course the stamps--don't you love them???!!!  These dolls are fun to color and easy to cut out when you want to use them as an embellishment as I did here.  You can order all of these products on my secure website HERE.  If you like what you see, leave me some love in the comments, please!  To continue on the hop, your next stop is Karen's blog.  Have fun hopping!

B is for Baby

Just a cute and quick baby card--made with Babycakes papers and the B is for Baby stamp set.  This stamp set coordinates with the Cricut Artiste Cartridge. The "baby baby baby" strip is one of the paper edges.  Isn't it cute?

Throwback Thursday--Footloose

For Throwback Thursday, I went back to the 2012 Spring/Summer catalog and used this beachy paper from Footloose.  These pages are based on the LOs in the Footloose Workshop on the Go.  I like to start with a sketch and then change it up to fit the photos I want to use.  I also used stamps from the Footloose WOTG stamp set.  The flourishes and flowers are die-cuts from a CTMH special from years ago--something I HAD to buy, then threw in a drawer and forgot about.  (But none of you know anything about that, right???!!!  LOL!)  I distressed all the edges to make the flowers and flourishes pop more.  This paper is so perfect for this layout about a nautical antique shop called The Sea Hagg--a little place we stumbled upon in Cortez, Florida.  I'm entering this LO in the Heart 2 Heart Flourishes Challenge.  H2H is a great challenge blog for anyone who loves (and uses) Close To My Heart products.  Check it out!

Happy Camper Happy Valentine's Day!

Here is the Valentines card I made for my husband.  Isn't that adorable?  (If I do say so myself!  Humility is not my strong point, lol).  But I must confess that I totally CASEd this card from Amy Moore.  I first spotted her card on the Heart 2 Heart Challenge blog HERE.  The stamp set I used is Camper Crazy--C1578.  My husband and I have an RV, and I think it's the only thing he loves as much as he loves me so this card was perfect!  One of the things I love about papercrafting is that we share ideas.  And of course, I also believe in giving credit where credit is due, so thank you, Amy!

Vintage Valentines--Part Two

Here are the last of the vintage valentines that I made.  The vintage images are from Tweety Jill.

The "postage stamp" stamps are from Club Scrap.  Papers from Club Scrap, Tweety Jill, and my stash.  Hope you had a Happy Valentine's Day!  Love ya!

Another Skylark Card

This card started with a scrap of scrapbook paper.  I just love that bird, and I knew I wanted him to be the focal point of a card.  All I added was a lagoon card base, some distressing around the edges, a ribbon, a Thank You tag, and a couple of strips of paper and washi tape along the bottom.  Oh, yeah--CTMH has washi tape now!  Have you seen it?  It's fab!  Like I need more washi tape....  Yeah, I ordered it all.  You can get it too.  Right HERE on my website.

Skylark Card

Here's a collaged card made with pieces from the Skylark Picture My Life kit and stamps from the Workshop on the Go and the Believe in Yourself stamp set.  I might just be in love with that dragonfly stamp.  Just sayin'.  And those tiny flourishes are adorable too.  One can never have too many flourishes.

Skylark LOs Part Two

Here is the other two-page layout from the Skylark Workshop on the Go.  Now, I have to confess that I was initially a tad lazy when I made this layout.  And when I went to take a photo for a close-up, I discovered that there was nothing interesting enough to take a close-up photo of!  Ok, sigh.  Here's my first attempt:

Pretty plain, huh?  When I made that discovery, I told myself, "Self, this will never do!  Get thee back into thy craft room and embellish, embellish, EMBELLISH!"  So back into my craft room I went, and with the help of CTMH's fabulous "Complements" and "Assortments," it took me only about five more minutes to embellish the heck out of that plain old layout.  So now here's a close-up of some of those adorable embellishments:

I absolutely LOVE the fact that CTMH has additional embellishments for ALL of their paper packs!  AND did you notice the tags/journaling cards on these pages?  They're from the Skylark Picture My Life kit.  Cute, huh?

You can order any and all of these products HERE on my secure website.
Thanks for stopping by!  Leave me some love, pretty please?

Vintage Valentines--Love Blooms

After I finished my Love in a Box project, I was dying to make vintage valentines.  The unmounted stamps that came with this kit are to DIE for!  There are five postage stamp stamps (hee, hee) that have a flower and the type of love that flower represents, several sentiment stamps, and the most adorable tiny Valentine newspaper stamp that I have ever seen!  Here are the cards I made with the kit materials.  I went back and added metal charms to meet the challenge requirements.

True Love:

Faithful Love:

Pure Love:

In case you can't tell, I am in love with the tiny newspaper stamp!  I used it on practically every card!

Love:

Thanks for looking!  Comments are appreciated!

Creating for a Cause

Have you heard of Operation Write Home (OWH)?  It is a wonderful organization that collects blank handmade cards to send to our military overseas for them to send home to their loved ones.  You can read all about it HERE.

Club Scrap (the most wonderful monthly scrapbook kit club in the world) is conducting a fundraiser for OWH by holding their Assembly Line Boot Camp competition.  You can read all about this event on the Club Scrap website HERE.

Our first weekly challenge for this event is to use Metallics on our cards, layouts, and/or projects.  Our creations should also consist of at least 50% Club Scrap products.  Here's the Club Scrap blog post if you want to read the details of the challenge:  Click HERE.

I broke out my (ahem, TWO-year-old) Love Blooms kit for this challenge and put together this adorable Love in a Box project:

Here is what the inside of the box looks like:

Isn't that just adorable???!!!  I used Glimmer Mist in Pink Bubblegum and Indian Corn to spray the collaged paper that covers the box part and for the stamps on the front.  Other metallics are the charms dangling on the front.  There is an accordian-style album that fits inside the box (which I'm not going to show you because mine isn't finished yet) and some valentine cards that also fit inside.  You will get to see those very soon!  Happy Saturday, crafty friends!  Leave me some love in the comments if you're so inclined!

Skylark Workshop on the Go

The blues and browns in the Skylark kit were just perfect to use with these pool photos.  I love the subtlety of the print on the brown background with the pop of color and bird silhouettes in the upper left corner.  But the other bird and floral embellishments in this kit just weren't right to go with a "boy" page.  And then I saw it!  The dragonfly stamp in the workshop kit--SO PERFECT!  Because I also had a photo of a dragonfly in this same batch of pictures!  Here's a close-up of my stamping and embellishing:

What do you think?  I think I'm going to have to order another pack of these papers!  Love this kit!!!

Do you like Project Life?

If you like Project Life, you're gonna LOVE  the new CTMH "Picture My Life."  Take a look:

Sometimes called Pocket Scrapbooking, this method of scrapbooking appeals to many people.  CTMH now has our own line of these pocket scrapbooking products.  Each kit comes with 44--4x6 cards, 78--3x4 cards, 1--12x12 designed cover sheet, and 10--12x12 Memory Protectors (page protectors) in various designs.  Now personally, I have never done pocket scrapbooking, and I really have no intention of switching to pocket scrapbooking.  (I love my 12x12 pages).  However, I HAD to check out these new kits, so I ordered the Skylark Picture My Life kit because...  you can use the bits and pieces for card-making, collage, and journaling cards!  Take a look at what I did:

This card was made using paper and a stamp from the Skylark Workshop on the Go Scrapbooking kit and some of the cards from the Picture My Life kit.  The sentiment that looks like label tape is actually one of the PML cards.  Cute, right???!!!

Here's another card I made with some of the PML pieces because I didn't have enough patterned pieces left over from scrapbooking:

You can order the products to make these cards HERE on my secure website.  Thanks for stopping by!  I'd love it if you would leave me a comment.

New Idea Book Has Arrived!

Woo hoo!  The new 2014 Spring/Summer Idea Book has arrived, and omg is it full of wonderful things!  Here's a bit of trivia for you:  When archaeologist Howard Carter got his first glimpse inside King Tut's tomb, he was asked, "What do you see?"  His reply:  "Wonderful things!"  I feel the same way when I get my first glimpse inside a new CTMH Idea Book--it IS full of wonderful things!  While perhaps not as historically significant as King Tut's tomb, new collections of scrapbooking products are just as wonderful and awe-inspiring to us scrapbookers!  AND you can now order your very own Idea Book using item #WC1141.  Not only can I offer you all these wonderful things, but we have not ONE, but TWO fabulous specials going on this month.  First up is the new February Stamp of the Month "Wild About Love."

You can order this stamp set for $17.95 OR get it for only $5.00 with your order of $50.00 in CTMH products.  Here is a look at some of the beautiful artwork you could create with this adorable set:

Isn't that fabulous?  But wait, there's more!  Check this out:

This month only, CTMH is also offering a FREE embossing folder with each purchase of two packs of bulk cardstock.  And our cardstock is da bomb!  It's white core cardstock, so it is perfect for sanding and distressing.

To browse the new Idea Book and/or place your order, just click on the shopping cart or any CTMH image in the sidebar on the right.