CTMH Convention Contest Layout

Each year, at CTMH Convention, there is a layout contest.  The theme of this year's convention and contest was "Who Tells Your Story?".  I struggle with this open ended contest each year.  You see, I would consider myself a clean scrapper.  What I mean by that is I like order to my pages.  You won't catch me doing lots of mixed media.  It's just not my thing.  I almost think this is a disadvantage when it comes to this contest.  Mixing up squares from many different paper packs is just about how far I will go, and that is what I did here.

The title of the page is "the AUTHOR".  

The text around the page goes on to say "I not only tell my story but I carefully craft it.  Much like all of the different pieces of paper on this page create a beautiful tapestry every person and experience in my life join together to create the symphony that is the story of my life."  

I cut these words around the perimeter of my page by using my Cricut and the font from the CTMH Artistry cartridge.  I backed the words with the now sold out Sea Glass Glitter Paper, a favorite of mine.  I also used it to mat my photo with.  The daisies were cut from the CTMH Flower Market cartridge.  (You may remember my Crazy Daisy Cards also made with the same flower.)  The title was cut with the same font and I used Gold Glitter Paper for some contrast and to pull in the gold polka dot squares from our Uptown Fundamentals paper line.  Additionally, I used papers from the Little Dreamer, Prickly Pear and Whimsy Fundamentals paper suites.  Don't be afraid to expand your crafting by coloring within the proverbial lines.  Mix up your CTMH paper packs to expand your horizon.

I didn't end up being one of the contest winners this year either.  I must admit that I am a little bummed, because, who wouldn't want a bag full of brand new CTMH products, right?  However, I don't consider myself a loser either.  After all, I am thrilled with the way this layout turned out.  We so rarely scrapbook ourselves, much less appear in a whole layout!  And those words couldn't be any truer...I do craft my own story to tell!!!  

Who tells your story???

CTMH Convention Swap Cards featuring Hello Foxy

Just a quick post with lots of artwork today!  I recently returned from the most amazing CTMH convention trip ever, in SLC, Utah.  I had wanted to make some cards to swap, but I was quickly running out of time.  Inspiration hit when I found a ton of cut up Enchantment Fundamentals paper that I was given at the 2016 convention.  I was supposed to make some cards with it back then, but I didn't love the cards and I was at Disney, so I simply never made them.  I paired those pieces with the June Stamp of the Month, Hello Foxy.  (I totally lifted the idea from another talented CTMH consultant, and now I can't seem to find her name :0 )  The stamped elements were all colored with our CTMH ShinHan markers.  I must admit, I love them more than my set of Copics, as I feel I have better control over the coloring with the shorter nibs. 

So, without making you wait any longer, here are the cards!

Scattered Hearts Blog Hop

It's Stampaganza time!  And how better than to celebrate with a Scattered Hearts Blog Hop?!?!?!  My teammates are a very talented group, and I can't wait for you to be inspired by each and every one of their projects.

 

If you have arrived here from the Pinkcloud Scrappers blog of my teammate and friend, Lori Williams, you are on the right track!

I am so happy that you are visiting me along the hop.  Our hop begins with the talented leader of the Scattered Hearts, Tina Sutton.  If you get lost, you can go back to her blog post for a list of all the hoppers. 

http://missgingerdots.com/stampaganza-blog-hop-hosted-by-the-scattered-hearts-team/

During Close To My Heart's Stampaganza, you can receive a stamp set of your choice for FREE when you purchase two other stamp sets (regular priced, current sets).  Isn't that a great deal? 

Our challenge for this hop was to show you something pretty that featured one such stamp set.  I picked one of my favorite current sets called "One in a Million".  It is set number A1201 and it is only $6.95 USD! 

I decided to make a 5" x 7" fancy card with the stamp set's sentiment right in the middle of the action.  I worked with CTMH's Uptown Fundamentals paper pack ($13.95 USD) and added in some touches of Sea Glass cardstock.  My flowers were made using a 3D poppy flower cut from the CTMH Flower Market cartridge (oh, but it has so much more than flowers in its 700 image repertoire) along with Sea Glass cardstock and the Uptown Fundamentals cardstock and vellum.  Please note that both of these paper packs will only be available while supplies last through July 31, 2017, so stock up quickly by shopping with your CMTH consultant (which may just be me lol!) before they are gone.  I added little pieces of Black and Gold Ribbon, Z3197, for leaves as well as a few Gold Sequins for embellishment.

Here is a photo of the whole card.  Isn't the poppy made out of the Uptown Fundamentals vellum just gorgeous?

And of course that "One in a Million" sentiment looks good all dressed up.  It is a fun stamp set, inexpensive, and great for wishing a happy birthday to loved ones of all ages!

Thank you for visiting me on the hop.  I would love to have you follow me to see all of the CTMH goodness that I will be sharing! 

Please hop along to see yet another amazing project over at Gina's Little Corner of StampinHeaven!

A1201 One in a Million
Z3285 Cricut Flower Market Collection
Z3263 Uptown Fundamentals Paper
X5789 Sea Glass Cardstock
Z3197 Black and Gold Ribbon

CTMH No Worries Home Away From Home for the Joyful Stars Blog Hop

Welcome to my entry for the Joyful Stars July 2017 blog hop.  If you have arrived here from Betty's blog, you are on the right track. 

I have just recently returned from Close To My Heart's annual convention.  I had the privilege of showing off several of my projects with my fellow consultants during a Creativity Showcase.  Here is one of my creations, a one page layout that was inspired by a digital page that I had seen on Pinterest. I was working with CTMH's No Worries paper suite, and I had a full sheet of weathered wood cardstock left that I thought would be the perfect base.  I used cuts from our exclusive CTMH Artbooking and Flower Market Cricut cartridges.

Some stickers from the No Worries Complements along with a few No Worries Sequins provide some little embellishment.

I hope that you like my happy little No Worries page.  I am going to try to post the other 3 two page No Worries layouts as soon as possible. 

To continue with the Joyful Stars blog hop, please hop along to visit the talented Marie's blog.

*****I have had many requests for my Cricut Design Space file for this layout.  I would love to share it with you!  I am going to ask two things of you first though.  1.) Please become a follower of my blog and 2.) Please like my business page on Facebook  Thank you for following me!  I want to make sure that you don't miss out on my projects.  As a reward, here is the link:  https://design.cricut.com/#/design/62807698

It's STAMPAGANZA Time!!!

 Let Stampaganza 2017 begin! Buy any two My Acrylix® stamp sets at full retail price and get a third stamp set of equal or lesser value FREE! Choose from any stamp set in the current idea book, plus a collection of popular sets that we have brought back just for Stampaganza—for convenience, we’ve even created a special bundle of the 12 monthly word puzzle stamp sets that you can get at the special Stampaganza buy-two-get-one price of $143.60 USD—a savings of  $71.80 USD. These Stampaganza savings are only available during July 2017, so start submitting those stamp orders fast!

Here is a STAMPAGANZA link to get a better look at this great deal!
 

Hello Foxy for Joyful Stars Blog Hop

Welcome to my GIRLplusPAPER blog entry for the Joyful Stars blog hop!

If you have arrived here from Krista's Crafty Corner, you are on the right track.
I really wanted to create something with CTMH's June Stamp of the Month, Hello Foxy.  I had been dreaming up a scrapbooking layout to be honest.  I set out to create, and I hit a creative roadblock.  (You see, school is still in session here.  We are still very busy with projects, studying for final exams, hosting class parties, attending never ending field days, trips and oh so many stressful things!  Including the fact that I am trying to get the house clean before my inlaws visit in 12 days!  And I will shortly be leaving for Salt Lake City, Utah for CTMH's annual convention.  I still need to create a suite of projects to present at convention, all while trying to keep a hold on my housework...yikes!)

So, instead of a layout, you will see a card that I literally threw together!

I began by stamping the wreath and sentiment from Hello Foxy.  I colored it in using CTMH Watercolor Pencils.  Why colored pencils, well because I couldn't find the right black ink to use our ShinHan markers with!  I layered papers from two different paper packs as my base.  First, the red plaid paper from CTMH Jack, followed by the ever so trendy wood grain paper from CTMH No Worries.  I love that we can mix paper packs and that they play so well together.  I finished the card with some CTMH ribbon and Gold Sequins Assortment.  And done!  I promise to have some amazing artwork to share when I return from convention, so please stop back for next month's hop.

Here is an image of the entire Hello Foxy stamp of the month set.  It can be yours for only $5 with a qualifying purchase during the month of June, or it can be purchased outright for $17.95.  If you love it, don't delay, because these little foxes won't be found come July 1st!

 

Now please hop along to see what Nickie has in store for you at Live Scrap Love.

CTMH Little Dreamer for the Joyful Stars May 2017 Blog Hop

Welcome to my entry for the Joyful Stars May 2017 Blog Hop.  If you have found your way here from the blog of my very talented friend, Krista, you are on the right path.
You might have seen my previous post about my CTMH Little Dreamer "Shine" layout.  I designed it so that it could be a stand alone page, and I was going to put a photo of my daughter, Emma, in it.  Emma is going to dress up as Meghan Trainor for her famous person day at school. 
However, during her research time at school, Emma was being teased about her choice of Meghan Trainor.  Several of the boys in Emma's fourth grade class repeatedly told Emma she had made a poor choice because MT "only sings about being fat".  My poor girl was so upset when telling me what was going on in her classroom.  Obviously, these boys don't really know that to Emma (and me too) Meghan Trainor teaches girls important lessons about loving the person that you are.  Of course, we love the "Mom" song too!  We discussed that Emma should go with Meghan, a person that she admires and looks up to, regardless of what those boys say.  Focus on what makes you amazing and never apologize for it! 

The second page of my layout was born..."Always be Yourself"...great words to live by. 

Anyway, I have once again used the CTMH Little Dreamer Workshop Your Way Kit for this page.  I have also used the CTMH Artistry Cricut cartridge for the cloud cut outs.  I can't wait to go and take pictures to put in it.  I love that Emma had a hand in making the layout too!  That makes it even more special.

Thank you for stopping by to see me this month.  I hope that you are inspired to get creative after seeing all of the beautiful artwork featured in this month's hop. 

Please hop along to see what Nickie has in store at her blog, Live Scrap Love.

CTMH Little Dreamer Shine Scrapbooking Layout

http://andreasherman.closetomyheart.com/Retail/Product.aspx?ItemID=9932&ci=8409http://andreasherman.closetomyheart.com/Retail/Product.aspx?ItemID=9932&ci=8409

Let me introduce you to CTMH Little Dreamer!  This paper suite has me dreaming about rainbows, unicorns and hearts...all of the things that I loved as a little girl.  I had my youngest daughter, Emma, helping me create this adorable one paged layout last night.  She loves to create right along side of me, and we spent the entire time listening to Meghan Trainor's song "Mom" on a loop.  I didn't know the song before last night, but I have it memorized now!  Emma is going to dress up as Meghan for her famous person day at school.  I think I will put a photo of her dressed up right in this Little Dreamer layout and explain this story in my journaling.

I personally used the CTMH Little Dreamer Workshop Your Way bundle shown below.  You could buy all of the pieces of the Little Dreamer suite individually, but you get a few extra sheets of colored cardstock in the bundle.  I also added a few pieces of cardstock to create my CMTH Artistry Cricut cartridge rainbow and clouds.  The rainbow was just one of over 700 images on that huge cartridge.

Here are some close up photos of the papers included in the CTMH Little Dreamer paper suite.  Do you see the cute cloud paper below?  That is the background of my layout.  I love this paper!

Add caption

CTMH Cut Above Forever & Always for only $7.48!!!

CTMH Cut Above kits are on sale during the month of April for half off!  That means you can score a quick and easy kit for only $7.48 when you shop with me this month! 

Today we will be focusing on the CTMH Forever & Always Cut Above Kit.  The kit comes with enough supplies to make a traditional double layout, has 12 Picture My Life cards, two top loading page protectors and two pocket page protectors.

 

I decided to give the traditional double layout a GIRLplusPAPER style make over.  The CTMH designed layout can be seen in the first picture of this blog post.  It was fine just the way it was, but, I couldn't leave it alone.  I made a few simple changes only.  I cut both the polka dot cardstock and striped cardstock in half.  I changed the orientation of the base pages, moved the elements around and added six gold sequins.  That's all!  And I think the layout is now more my style.  Here are some photos!

 

If you would like to order your own CTMH Cut Above kit, either the Forever & Always or the Little One, click here.  These kits are an absolute STEAL and won't last much longer, and they are absolutely not going to be half off after the end of this month!

Here is a link to the CTMH YouTube video to explain more:

 

CTMH Live Beautifully​ XO Card

I am still playing with the little leftover pieces of my CTMH Live Beautifully paper pack!  You see, I have this problem, I can't seem to throw away any of my cardstock scraps.  So why not turn them into cards?

I started with a scrap of Raspberry cardstock that I ran through the CTMH Confetti Embossing Folder.  I trimmed down the pretty gold embossed paper from Live Beautifully, and I ran it through my die cutting machine with a CTMH Heart Thin Cuts.  The Gold Glitter Cardstock Heart was created by using two different sized Heart Thin Cuts, and I adhered that down inside of my original heart.  Next, I used the Love Thin Cuts with some black cardstock for the sentiment, and used more black cardstock bits around the card.  I added a little bit of XO ribbon from the CTMH Uptown Ribbon pack.  I love its gold foil embossing!

 

I think I still have a few remnants of my half pack of CTMH Live Beautifully pack left after making a 20 card workshop, a two paged layout and now this second card of my own design, and I still have half a pack left!!!

CTMH Live Beautifully Layout Featuring Flower Market Cartridge Accents

 Here is another layout that I created using the CTMH Live Beautifully paper pack for National Scrapbooking Month 2017.  Some of the papers in this beautiful collection can be quite bossy and not play well with others.  I am finding it easier to feature these papers, like this bold rose pattern, with supporting patterns instead of other bold patterns.  The subtle patterns that I have used work beautifully in this CTMH Live Beautifully layout.

In addition to the Live Beautifully paper pack, I added some Gold Foil Tape, and Sequins Gold Assortment for some added bling.  I stamped the sentiment and title with the CTMH Live Beautifully exclusive stamp set.  The finishing touches are roses, cut from the CTMH Flower Market Cricut cartridge.  I think they are the perfect accent to the rose paper.  Remember, this Live Beautifully paper pack and stamp set are exclusive for the 2017 National Scrapbooking Month, and will not be available until May 1st.  I will update the links at that time for your shopping pleasure!

CTMH Live Beautifully for the Joyful Stars April 2017 Blog Hop

Welcome to my entry in the Joyful Stars blog hop for April!

If you have arrived here from my friend Krista's blog, Krista's Crafty Corner, you are on the right track.
I wanted to share a special card with you on this installment of our hop.  You might be wondering why I am saying it is special...that's because I am giving you a sneak peek.  Shhhh!  The white paper will the beautiful gold embossing is one of the papers featured in our not yet available paper pack that is for CTMH's National Scrapbooking Day campaign, Live Beautifully.  It will not be available for purchase until May 1st, and I will update the links on this very post at that time. 

In addition to the CTMH Live Beautifully paper packet, I used a number of CTMH products to make this pretty card.  The "love" cutout was made using our Gold Glitter Paper along with our Love Thin Cuts metal die.  I used Raspberry Cardstock for my base layer and also for cutting out the stunning rose from our CTMH Flower Market Cricut Cartridge.  (BTW, this cartridge has over 700 images and has oh so much more than flowers!)  Before assembling the rose, I stamped it with a stamp to make the dots. The stamp was also from my CTMH Flower Market bundle.  I used tone on tone stamping with Raspberry Ink.  The center was cut from Lemon cardstock, and the leaf from New England Ivy cardstock.  A piece of ribbon from our Enchantment Ribbon Pack gave the card a little more color and texture.  I finished the rose by giving the petal edges a swipe with our Gold Shimmer Brush.

I am the last blog for this month's hop.  Please hop back to the beginning if you would like.  Here is the link to Joyce's blog, Joyful Creations.  Thank you for stopping by to see me, and be sure to check back for more projects soon!

I have added a few photos taken during the creation of my rose.  I am also going to share my Cricut Design Space Flower Market rose file with you.  This rose is the actual size that I used for my A2 sized card.  Please save my file by choosing "save as" and saving it to your own account.  Please note that you will need to have your own copy of the CTMH Flower Market Cricut cartridge in order to cut out my rose.  If you would like to purchase the cartridge, you may click here.  My Cricut Design Space File is:  https://us.cricut.com/design/#/canvas/57449470