CTMH Picture My Life--Camping at Lake of the Ozarks

 Good morning all!  I took a lot of great photos on our camping trip to Lake of the Ozarks in June, and I've been working on scrapbooking them.  I've never really been too interested in the photopocket scrapbooking trend, but CTMH has a system called Picture My Life, and I thought I'd give it a try.  I ordered a set, and my friend ordered a set, and then we swapped out duplicates.  These two pages are made with the L8ter Sk8ter set.  I just love the bright blues and greens!

The cave we wanted to go to was flooded, so it was closed.  Luckily there was a really cool one-mile nature trail right there.  We got lots of great shots of wildflowers and cool fungi.  

I have lots more pages that I'll save for later posts.   Thanks for dropping by today!  And if you like this set, you can order it from me--just click on the button in the upper right corner of this blog.

Happy crafting!

FCCB Challenge #218--Summer Treats

Welcome to another Challenge Me Monday...

 Happy Monday and welcome to another Monday challenge!

Challenge #218  Summer Treats

This Weeks Sponsor

Winner will receive Silly Shells Stamp Set

~This Weeks Challenge~

Summer Treats

Create a project that represents the tastes of summer

To qualify for the prize, be sure to use at least 1 Cricut cut on your project and if it's not obvious, let us know what cartridge you used.

Good morning all!  Today I have a project for you that represents a summer treat for me--strawberries!  I used the strawberry box on Spring Cottage and cut the two pieces at 4".  It makes a box big enough to hold a 2-3 pieces of candy.  You could make it fairly good-sized though--at 4" it only took up about a quarter of my mat.

The red polka dot paper is from PTI, and the green is Wild Wasabi from SU.  I embossed the leaves with a folder from QuickKutz.  The ribbon is from my stash.

The tag is die cut from the PTI Tiny Tags die, and the sentiment is stamped in SU's Pure Poppy with a stamp from My Time Made Easy by Lauren Meader.

What's your favorite summer treat?  There are so many good ones--I almost went with watermelon.  But there's ice cream, popsicles, blueberries, s'mores, cotton candy...the list goes on and on, and I'm getting hungry!  Please play along with us at FCCB--all you have to do is create a project focusing on your favorite summer treat and using at least one Cricut cut--that's all there is to it!  Then link it up to the Fantabulous Cricut Challenge Blog for your chance to win a fabulous stamp set from Mark's Finest Papers.  Thanks for dropping by today--have a great week!

FCCB # 216--Color Challenge

 Happy Monday and welcome to another Monday challenge!

Challenge #216 Color Challenge

This Weeks Sponsor

FCCB DT Member and CTMH Consultant

AMY HODGSON-SMITH
is giving away a $20.00 CTMH Gift Certificate

Be sure to visit her
CTMH Website

~This Weeks Challenge~

That's right, folks--I am the sponsor for this week's challenge at FCCB--so excited!  You may be wondering why, as a CTMH consultant, I have chosen to use SU supplies for this card.  Great question LOL!  The answer is a very simple one.  Up until I discovered CTMH, I used SU products almost exclusively.  And do I have a lot of them?  You bet I do!  I prefer to use my CTMH supplies in my scrapbooking workshops with my customers, and I am trying to use up my SU, so I usually use SU supplies for cards and the like.  But CTMH cardstock cuts beautifully in the Cricut, and I highly recommend it for that.

This week we're doing a color challenge--use yellow, purple and gray.  I had this lovely patterned paper from SU's spring mini catalog that I wanted to use, plus I had the big yellow scalloped circle (Spellbinders) that I had cut for something else and not used.  So I built my card around those two things.

Card is 5.5" square.  Base is PTI white.  Other CS is SU Smokey Slate, Daffodil Delight, Perfect Plum, and Wild Wasabi.  I sued 2 embossing folders:  Swiss Dots from Cuttlebug and a Darice folder for the butterflies.  The sentiment is from the Lyrical Letters cartridge.

The roses are from Close to My Heart's Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge, and the leaves are from CTMH Artiste.  CTMH makes another cartridge--Artbooking--that is GREAT for scrapbooking.  AND--drumroll please!  CTMH is coming out with another awesome Cricut Collection in August!  Details are top-secret--consultants don't even know them yet, but you can bet it will be top notch.  CTMH Cricut Collections include the cartridge itself, which has over 700 images on it, 3 coordinating stamp sets, and 3 sheets of chipboard accents, which are white and suitable to ink or stamp on.  Each stamp set and chipboard sheet also tells you which cartridge and what size to make your cut--so convenient!  Plus there are many stamp sets throughout the CTMH catalog which have coordinating images.  They are outlined in red.  Below you can see photos of each of our current Cricut Collections and some of the awesome projects you can make using theml

CTMH Artbooking 

CTMH Artiste

CTMH Art Philosophy

I really hope you'll play along with our color challenge this week!  All you have to do is make a project using the colors yellow, purple, and gray, and at least one Cricut cut!  Nothing to it, and you could win a $20 gift certificate from my CTMH website!  Thanks for dropping by today--have a great day!

Someone to Look Up To

 So I've been playing with my Silhouette Cameo more lately.  I've fallen in love with SVG Cuts.  They just have the most awesome files, and the assembly videos make them super easy to put together.  These files can be used with most electronic cutters, including the new Cricut Explore.

I was browsing through the Autumn section of their store the other day.  They have several adorable fall collections.  I saw this tree card, from the Fall Harvest SVG Kit.  I loved it, but my problem was--it's not fall!  No problem--I just made the leaves green instead of fall colors.

It's a Z-fold card, and it's very 3-D.  

I made it even more 3-D by using embossing folders.  The woodgrain is actually a plate from PTI.  The leaves on the front tree are a Sizzix EF.  I also used my Martha Stewart grass border punch.  I sponged everything!

The sign I altered a little in Silhouette Studio.  I knew I wanted to use the stamp from Father Knows Best by PTI for the sentiment.  It says "You're someone to look up to no matter how tall I've grown"--one of my faves.  It would have fit on the original sized sign, but I thought it would look more proportional if I made the sign a little less wide and a little taller--very easy to do in the software.  I stamped the sentiment in black and embossed the sign with the woodgrain plate.

I loved the card, but thought it needed a little something.  I used PTI's Itty Bitty Bird and IBB Additions to stamp the daddy bird watching over the nest.  I haven't used my PTI stamps much lately, but they really seemed to fit this project.

This card is for my dad.  I know he'll like it because he thinks everything I do is wonderful, but I also hope he likes it because it's pretty cool.  Well, thanks for dropping by!  Please visit SVG Cuts if you have an electronic cutter--you'll be so glad you did!

FCCB Challenge 214--Celebrate Dad!

 Happy Monday and welcome to another Monday challenge!

Challenge #214 Celebrate Dad
Create a project for dad OR a masculine project

This Weeks Sponsor

$50.00 Giftcard to SVG Cuts and a BIG SHOT!

While you may use stamps, SVG cuts and die cuts, you must use at least 1 Cricut cut to qualify for the prize, please list the cut used in your description.

Good Monday morning to you all!  Ah, May and June are busy months for everyone, what with Mother's Day, end of school, graduations, Memorial Day, and Father's Day.  To top it off, at my house we have 3 birthdays and our wedding anniversary!  Whew!  To tell you truth, I almost think it's busier than December.

Today I have a Father's Day project to share with you, and as SVG Cuts is our sponsor again, I went on a lovely romp through their store again.  I wanted to do something a little different, and I found just the thing--it's in the Autumn section and the file is Leaves Are Falling.  It's a decor piece that looks like a ribbon board.  It went together beautifully, and I had SO much fun decorating it!  It measures 9 x 9".

This is a picture of my hubby, and he really is an awesome dad!  I knew I wanted to use this DP, called Retro Fresh by SU, so I took a picture of him in one of his orange shirts.  He has several since he looks good in it and orange just happens to be my favorite color LOL!  SVG Cuts has really thought of everything with this file--the holes for the brads are in the file, and everything matches up.  Putting it together was effortless.  Mary's assembly videos are one reason I love this company so much--they really help!

Here is a pic of the back--you can see a little of how it goes together and Mary has thoughtfully provided a hole in the back to hang it on a wall.

Here's a close-up of the title.  It comes from a Cricut Craft Room Exclusive called Father's Day Daddy, which has several cute designs.  CS is SU and colors are Tangerine Tango, Coastal Cabana, So Saffron, Very Vanilla, and Close to Cocoa (retired).  I popped the central banner up on foam tape.

I continued with the arrow theme using these arrows from CTMH Artbooking cartridge.  I love that cartridge!  Hemp is from SU, button is from PTI.

The dots are CTMH's Aqua Dots.  Brads are from Michaels.

I love how this project came out!  I hope you do too.  Stop by SVG Cuts and take a look around their store.  Their files work with most cutting machines including the new Cricut Explore, though not with any older Cricut machines, sadly.  

And please play along with us this week at FCCB--just make a project all about Dad, or a masculine project, and link it up to FCCB.  Remember to include at least ONE Cricut cut on your project.

Thanks for dropping by today, and have a wonderful Father's Day!

More Graduation Cards

Hi, all, I'm back with some more grad cards.  The first one I made for a neighbor who graduated from HS this May.  These are not his school colors, but this card really came about while I was playing with some new SU goodies--the Hexagon Hive framelit die and the Retro Fresh DSP.  Sent is from SU, little arrow heads are from CTMH, and cap is from PTI.  Colors are Baked Brown Sugar, Coastal Cabana, and Tangerine Tango.

The second card was for his twin sister.  I used Laughing Lola from CTMH for the CS and patterned Paper.  Stamps are PTI "For the Graduate".  I embossed the cap in gold and popped it up.  Their school colors are black and gold, but purple makes me think of her.

Sorry about the uncropped photos--for some reason I couldn't get them to go into Picasa.

Thanks for dropping by today--have a creative day!

FCCB Challenge # 212--Class of 2014

Happy Monday and welcome to another Monday challenge!

Challenge #212 Class of 2014

This Weeks Sponsor

~This Weeks Challenge~

Class of 2014

Create a graduation project

To qualify for the prize, be sure to use at least 1 Cricut cut on your project and if it's not obvious, let us know what cartridge you used.

Graduation cards are always hard for me for some reason.  I don't know why--maybe because there is an element of bittersweet along with the joy and celebration.  Maybe also because there is a bit of a limited set of images you can go with LOL!  In any case, what I usually do is try to use the school colors of the graduate.  Our school colors are black and gold.  I just got this paper a few weeks ago and I love it!  It's called Kaleidoscope from SU.  This particular pattern made me think of confetti, so I knew I wanted to use it.  The black chevron embossed paper is from CTMH--it's very glossy and cool.  I just got THAT and wanted to use it too!  So there may be a bit much pattern on here, but I like it.

I really like this cut from Wrap It Up--I like the font.  And I thought I would make a 3.25 x 6.25 card.  It's a great size for a money card, and let's face it, money is always welcome at graduation!  Then I decided I wanted to make it a frame card.  I found a cut on the Gypsy Wanderings cart and resized it appropriately.  Then I copied it three times.  On one copy I hid the oval cut to make a solid piece, then lined it up with the original and welded the two pieces together and cut it out of PTI white.  Then on one of the other copies I placed the base cut for the "graduate" over my oval and moved it around and resized it until I was happy and welded that and cut it out of SU Crushed Curry.  The third copy is what I cut out of the triangle patterned paper. 

Next I used the same sized graduate base and shift cuts, again with the Crushed Curry and the cool black chevron embossed CS.  So the layering goes like this:  white card base, gold welded frame piece, triangle-patterned oval frame piece, gold base cut, and finally black shift cut.  I think this card turned out kind of cool.  But then I thought of an even cooler one, and that one I may share with you tomorrow, if I can get it made today.  My dear husband has an awful summer cold, which he has now passed on to me!  Still, if playing with my Cricut can't make me feel better, nothing can!

Have a great day and don't forget to play along with FCCB this week!  Just make a grad project, use at least one Cricut cut, and upload it to FCCB--that's all there is to it!