February DT Projects ... I heart these girls!

For February's DT projects, I dug through my stash and gave the girls some papers that I've had a long while .... Do you remember the More To Adore paper packs?  If you don't, keep reading ... :-)

I also, since February is the month Valentine's Day falls into, gave them the challenge of making cards plus gave them the Petit Perks stamps set from the current Idea Book to use and this is what they came up with ...

Nikki is first this month ...

She made NINE cards plus a box to hold them all!  She took this challenge and really rolled with it.  Divine!

Is that not super cute?  The little pink bow really wows me.

Love how she hung a tag from her sheer ribbon that she threaded loosely through holes punched in the heart strip.

Love using stamps to create patterned paper. 

Ahhh ... inking and torn edges.  Distressing is my fave thing to do.  And she did both.  I heart this .. plus heat embossing the heart image.  :-)

More backgroung stamping ..

And again.  I am loving the fold-down corner on this one, as well.

Bling!  Works for me.  LOL  One of my fave border punches was used, too.  Nice!

What's not to love?  Seriously!  Hand made ribbon slider ... fun!

Loving how she used the photo turns to point in different directions on this.  Really ties the two hearts together. 

Did she run with this or what?  A wonderful addition to the blog as always.  :-)

Irma's turn ... !  Three awesome cards with techniques galore!

Aren't they pretty?  Keep reading!

Loving how she cut the patterned paper into small squares and did a patchwork quilt with them, stamping on the plain pink cardstock and them popping it with a cut-out stamped image.  Using a white gel pen to make the faux stitching really brings it all together.

Loving what she did with the ribbons on this one.  Really brings something else to the card.  :-)  Edge distressing the mats on the stamped images really works for me too!

Where do I start on this one!  Wowzers!  Edge distressing, a torn paper flower, fussy cutting and a scalloped card ... I'm on overload!  LOL  So many fun things on this one, I will let you stare and find it all.  :-)

These girls amaze me each and every month ... How about you?

Next month they will be playing with the Bliss paper packet and since March is the month for St. Patrick's Day, their challenge is to add GREEN to the papers as a pop color.  I am sure to be blown away again!



March Challenge!

Okay girls!  Hope your mojo is running in high gear this month!  :-)

You know how I LOVE sketches ... (No! Me?) ... so this month you are going to choose your own sketch and create your masterpiece. 

For the Scrapbookers:

Choose one sketch from Page Maps designer Becky Fleck's blog for March.  Click HERE to see your options.

I want to see which sketch you chose as well as what you created using the sketch.

For the Cardmakers:

Choose one sketch from Page Maps designer Becky Fleck's blog for March.  Click HERE to see your options.  (A minimum of three (3) cards required for entry into the draw ... can be all the same or different.  It's up to you.)

I want to see which sketch you chose as well as what you created using the sketch.

OR

Use THIS CARD for inspiration for either a card or layout. Leisa (who is amazingly talented and has been featured on SEVERAL of my Inspired by Five posts) has graciously given me permission to use her card for you to use for inpiration.  I am sure you'll be seeing more of her stunning work in my future Inspired by Five posts. 

Leisa, aside from her blog, also runs a Forum site for CTMH creations and would love to have you join up, I am sure.  There is a forum, gallery and challenges galore for you all to be inspired by.  Check out Big Red Scraps HERE.  (psst!  I am on there, too!)

This month's prize:

This month I will be giving away the Stamp of the Month for March.  Check it out on my website.  It's super cute!

To enter the challenge:

1.  Post a comment on this post with a link to your project.
2.  Email me a picture or scan of your project.
3.  Post photos of your project on my Facebook group, CTMH with Lisa. It's open to everyone!

Winner will be drawn randomly from all entries completed.  Each layout you complete (or three cards) will count as one entry.  You are welcome to enter more than once.  :-)

Inspired by Five ... (Feb 20 - 26)

I am currently organizing the blogs I've been wanting to check out and bookmark for inspiration as I am trying to find blogs that contain all or a majority of their projects using CTMH products and stamps.  Even though it's super easy to transform projects from blogs that use other products, I just love ours and want you to be isnpired by all the loveliness that is out there in blogland using our amazing products.  :-)

Stay tuned ... !

Here are five projects for the week that inspired me ... in no particular order. 

1.  Krazy for Kraft Borders - a card by Leisa Hubley of Big Red Scraps.  Love her creative use of this product.  It's definitely on my next order!
2.  Bliss Altered Note Book - an altered notebook by Deanna of De Stampin' Corner.  This color combination is one of my all-time faves!
3.  Weeks of Wonder: Don't Cry for Me! - a few projects by Jeanette Lynton (CTMH founder) but am seriously loving the second card shown.  The partial ruffle around the circle is super cute!  Try the technique she is showcasing, too!
4.  Elegant Soiree Bliss Card - a card by Julie of Julie's Stamping Spot.  There's that color combination again!  LOL
5.  Simply Simple 41 - a card by Chat on Me, My Stamps and I.  Loving how the gold and red pop against all that white.  Simple but wow!

I was featured on Crafty Storage!

I am soooo excited!  My post about my craft room caught the eye of the people at the Crafty Storage blog and they contacted me about posting my room on their blog. 

Check it out!

:-)

Inspired by Five ... (Feb 13 - 19)

Here we are ... late again!  Not so bad this time,though.  :-)

Haven't had as much surfing time this week but hope to catch up tomorrow.  Yay for days off. 

1.  Week of Wonder by Jeannette Lynton, CTMH founder
2.  A Little Bit French by Marelle Taylor
3.  Life is a Matter of Moments by Lynn at Queen's Scene
4.  Love You Card by Jamie Harder at A Happy Scrappy Place
5.  Concord and Pear by Chat at Me, My Stamps and I

Don't forget, CTMH has such a wide variety of gorgeous papers and stamp sets that ANY layout or card can easily be adapted using our amazing products.  You just need to think outside the box!

Inspired by Five .... (Jan 31 - Feb 12)

I don't know where the time went or what happened to the week so this is a combination of two weeks of inspiration :-)

1.  Vive la Verve on Kristin's Craft Corner
2.  Summer by the Sea on It's All About Stamping
3.  Sophia Birthday on Wizard's Hangout
4.  Sheet Music and Butterflies on Big Red Scraps
5.  Stamping 411 Sketch Challenge on Stamps, Paper, Glitter!

Enjoy!

February 2011 Challenge

I wasn't going to do a challenge post this month because I'm soooo late in getting it done.  I changed my mind though so am just going to do a sketch challenge.  I had another idea for a challenge but I'm not going to have time to get it all together - so sketch challenge only this month!  :-)

No prize this month ... purely for the enjoyment of creating something beautiful to add to your albums. 

The Layout Sketch:

This sketch is by Karan Gerber ... check out her blog HERE. 

The Card Sketch:

This sketch is from the Twisted Sketches blog. 

Have fun creating with these!  I would love to see your artwork (CTMH products or not!) 

Show me:
1.  Comment on this post with a link to your artwork.
2.  Post your photo(s) to my CTMH group on Facebook.  Anyone can join or post to the group!
3.  Send me a photo of your creation by email.

Apologies .... and January DT projects reveal

Hello everyone!

My apologies for not getting this up sooner but life is busy here at my house.  My hubby has been on holidays for the last 12 days so I tend to spend more time with him when I can.  With our varying shifts, there are times we may not see each other for more than an hour a day so we enjoy our time together when we can.

I am also back to working 40 hours a week in a different department.  It may be permanent but it may not.  Time will tell.  I love the hours (home by 4:15pm) so keeping my fingers crossed that it lasts a while longer.  If I get switched back, I will go back to 32 hours again and have three days off each week again. 

Anyhoooo ...  on to the talented projects completed by the lovely ladies who have blessed me with their time and creativity to help me make my blog look pretty!  After giving them a break over Christmas, they came back with a bang!

Their 'assignment' for January was to complete one of the January Challenges ....

First up will be Irma this time ...  She decided to do two of the challenges in one layout! 

She did a great job on the sketch version and she took on the flower challenge by cutting one petal off to create sort of a butterfly shape.  She then stamped them with (retired) CTMH butterfly stamps and used flower stamen and sparkles to create the body.

She also did a lot of distressing, some machine stitching and also some clear embossing on the scalloped border (which you can see much better in the second photo). 

For her title she used her cricut and cut the title out 7 times and then layered them on top of each other and distressing the edges to give the look of a chipboard title.  Fun!



Nikki did a bang-up job on the sketch as well! 

She repeatedly stamped a sentiment around the edge of her circle of cardstock and popped her stamped circle embellishment (in lower right corner) to give it some added height.  She highlighted it even more by adding a button to the center.  :-)

The butterflies by her title?  Die-cutted and silhouetted!  Super cute!

I love that they both added extra butterflies to hightlight the beautiful patterned paper of the Wings paper pack!  Not biased at all by the fact that I LOVE butterflies!

For next month .... their assignment is to use the papers and such I gave them to create cards.  Stay tuned!



The Bride (and a winner!)

I did this layout for my step-daughter's wedding album and LOVE how it turned out.  The Wings paper pack is sooooo my style.  Anything with butterflies is alright in my books.

This layout is also based on the sketch for the January 2011 Challenge that I had posted.  I turned the sketch upside down to make it work better for how I wanted it to look.  :-)

Supplies Used (All CTMH unless otherwise noted):

Cardstock:  Black, Vineyard Berry, Juniper

Patterned Paper:  Wings Level 2 paper pack

Inks:  Black

Punches:  Martha Stewart Corner Punch, Stampin' Up and Fiskars

Bling:  Queen and Co. and Kaiserkraft

Flowers: Prima

Stamp Sets: 

E1019 Bohemian Alphabet

B1269 Journaling Jots (retired)

PS:  Since I promised a winner ....

The winner of the random drawing for the 100+ sheets of CTMH patterned paper is

Kathy C!

Congratulations, Kathy!  I will be contacting you soon to get your papers to you.  :-)

To see some of the layouts that were shared on FB, check out CTMH with Lisa and click on Photos

It's Live!

As of today, the NEW Spring / Summer Idea Book/Catalog is live!  So many new and exciting things are contained inside.  My wish list grows every time I leaf through it.  :-)

One of the best things about the new Idea Book/Catalog?  It has EIGHT paper lines in it this time.  EIGHT! 

Here is some artwork that showcases all of the fabulous new papers in the Idea Book.  Something for everyone in this one. (Click on the phots to see the different patterns that are available for each collection.)

WINGS

This is Wings ... LOVE this one and was so stoked that it was the one used for the January Mini Catalog.  I can see me using this one a lot ... well, a lot more than I actually have already!  :-)

BLISS

Bliss is exactly how this paper line makes me feel.  I can see a large stash of this one in my near future.  The designers at head office were definitely thinking of me when they designed this one. 

FANFARE

Bright and fun and oh, so summer!

LUCKY

Do you feel lucky, punk?  Well, do you?  LOL  (Sorry ... channeling my inner Eastwood.)  This is a perfect paper set for scrapping all those pictures from when my son was younger.

MAYBERRY

Sunshine, flowers, and picnics.  Life is good (and so is this paper set.)

MIRACLE

Miracles do happen as proven by the fact that Head Office brought this Constant Campaign paper set back and included it in the Idea Book.  I loved this one then and still do.  Happy to have the opportunity to increase my stash of it. 

SOPHIA

So soft and pretty.  Makes me wish I had girls to scrapbook ... but I'll be grabbing some anyway.  There's always granddaughters maybe someday.  lol

SWEETHEART

February is the month of Love and what better way to showcase that than with this

 fun paper pack. 

Speaking of love ... I am loving the Stamp Of The Month set for this month.  The artwork created above is stunning!  The actual stamp set is shown below.

Need to get your hands on one of these New Idea Books?  Email me!