Heartstrings Layout

Over the weekend, I carved out some official "me" time to play in my craft room. I had this idea to use non-romance theme photos on my layout. 

Recipe:

Paper: Heartstrings, Hollyhock CS, Whisper CS (CTMH)

Tools: Sanding Kit, Paper-Piercer, Micro-Tip Scissors (CTMH)

Other: Stuck On You Glitter Puffies, White Shimmer Trim, Heartstrings Complements (CTMH)

I was inspired by Close To My Heart's artwork design and decided not to switch it up much. Only change I think I really made was to leave off the badge buttons. In their place, I added some of the Stuck On You glitter puffies. Here's a little confession: The washi tape strips were lightly placed down because I wasn't sure I was truly committed to them (at first). The more I looked at them, the more I liked the whimsy of them. Trend or not, I think they are just right.

I lightly sanded the edges of my papers to help my photos pop. That typewriter sticker is so stinkin' cute, and it renewed my search for an uber fun vintage typewriter in seafoam green. But alas, I can't seem to make myself purchase the one I really want when it costs more than the computer I use. However, my husband is in on the search now...who knows? Maybe.... :)

Oh, something else I wanted to mention real quick. Photos: For the 6x8 size photo, I simply opened up Microsoft Word, inserted my picture, edited the photo size to 8" height, 6" width. Then, I went into printer options and changed my paper to HP Premium Plus Photo Paper. After making that change, it automatically adjusted my print option to "Best". Clicked print, and waited for my printer to do its magic. It's the easiest way I know to do it myself. I got lucky with my other photos because I could print them on 4x6 papers and trim them down to size. 

My latest style is CAS, meaning Clean and Simple. This fits well with this week's Heart 2 Heart Challenge. I love clean lines, and almost never ink distress white edges anymore. Hope you like my layout as much as I do. 

Have a great night!

Casandra

Snowhaven Up To Snow Good Layout

Last night, I started working on my latest project. I was excited to receive my Shutterfly print order in the mail and itching to create a scrapbook layout with some of the photos. I had this layout idea spinning circles in my brain and felt the mojo magic to create it.

Recipe:
Paper: Snowhaven, Glacier Paper Fundamentals, Hollyhock CS, Smokey Plum CS, White Daisy CS (CTMH)
Stamps: Frosty Fun, Keyboard Uppercase Alphabet, Year: Noted (CTMH)
Inks: Smokey Plum, Hollyhock, Black (CTMH)
Tools: Sponge, Cricut Art Philosophy, Cricut Artbooking, Paper-Piercer, Micro-Tip Scissors, Craft Heater, Craft Tray, Clear Detail Embossing Powder, ShinHan Alcohol Markers, Stitch Guide Ruler (CTMH)
Other: White Daisy Embroidery Floss (retired), Red Enamel Hearts, Silver Sequins, Clear Sparkles (CTMH)

The "snow" title pieces were negatives from a cricut title piece I used on another layout. They were cut out on white cardstock, but I thought the white felt flat against the picture, so I used my smokey plum ink pad and a sponge to color them purple. Tomorrow, they will probably look lighter (more purple) than they do now, since that's the way ink seems to work as it dries. If I had a white gel pen, I would have outlined them to make them pop more. I must remember to add it to my next order. 

People often ask me if I use a machine to stitch, but the answer is no. I hand-stitch. Call me crazy, but I like it. Oh, and that title was something I saw today on Pinterest. How's that for timing? I couldn't resist using it since it paired so well with my mischievous children and last January's photos.

Thanks so much for stopping in today. Hope your weekend is crafty!

Casandra

PP228 Ombre Card

Good evening. I was lucky enough to be home today, and shortly before the kids arrived home from school, I managed to complete my card.

I used a mixture of water and Lagoon re-inker and applied it to my cardstock pieces with a sponge dauber. The trick is to get your dauber good and wet, and obviously the more you apply to the cardstock, the deeper the color will be. Because our white cardstock is so fibrous (perfect for stamping), you will have some pilling. I simply took a dry paint brush and brushed the pilled pieces away. To help the paper dry faster, I used my craft heater.  

I played along with a Bingo challenge that Close To My Heart has this week. My row had re-inker spritz, favorite CTMH color, ribbon, and painting with watercolors. I thought it would be fun to combine the challenge with this week's Paper Player's Sentiment Only Challenge.

Recipe:
Paper: White Daisy Cardstock, Black Cardstock (CTMH)
Stamp: You Mean The World To Me (CTMH)
Ink: Black (CTMH)
Tools: Spray Pen, Sponge Dauber, Lagoon Re-Inker, Journal Pen, Paper-Piercer, Micro-Tip Scissors, Craft Heater (CTMH)
Other: Bitty Sparkles, Slate Stripe Ribbon, Black Glitter Puffie (CTMH)

I hope I've inspired you today with a couple of cool techniques. Have a great day.

Casandra

Snowhaven Christmas 2014 Layout

Hello, and Happy Monday to you! It's happy for me because I am home alone today. Just me and my crafty stuff! Wahoo!

My husband thinks I'm crazy. He saw me spend almost a whole day working on this layout. Lots of little details to this, but first, I want to give credit to Close To My Heart's art department for inspiring me. They are awesome. And honestly, there wasn't much I could improve upon. I couldn't wait to use my punches and spray pen, and of course, my brand new Christmas Village stamp set. Isn't it fun? 

I did a ton of coloring with my ShinHan alcohol markers and fussy cutting. I really don't mind cutting out my images by hand, but my workshop attendees may not be so eager. LOL So here's my tip if you want to recreate this layout. You could stamp your images onto cricut/punched circles, and the title and trees, for instance, could be stamped directly to the layout. As for the banners...omg...I used my circle punch and then grabbed my one-hole punch that I've had for as long as I can remember, to achieve the banners. I recommend, should you be crazy enough to try them, using a glue pen to glue them down, or even liquid glass glue, along with a pair of craft tweezers to set them.

I take a ton of pictures at Christmas, and even though I scaled back on my picture-taking this year, I never seem to have enough photo spots for all of them. Needless to say, it was hard to narrow it down to just these particular snapshots. Someone once told me that it is our relationships that make scrapbooking so special, so I paid careful attention to including at least one photo of my little niece. And of course, journaling is so necessary to painting the full picture of the story, so be sure to include it when possible.

One more quick note: Our glitter paper is beautiful and is nice and sturdy, too. It is a bit more expensive when you consider it costs $2 a sheet vs. normal cardstock or even our patterned paper's price point. BUT, as you can see, I used it as accents, and between this layout and the other Snowhaven layout I created, I still have 2 1/2 sheets of glitter paper left. I really do recommend trying it; I promise you won't be sorry.

Recipe:
Paper: Snowhaven, Glacier CS, Topiary CS, Cranberry CS, White Daisy CS, Teal Glitter Paper (CTMH)
Stamps: Christmas Village, Handwritten Alphabet (CTMH)
Inks: Cranberry, Black (CTMH)
Tools: Paper-Piercer, Micro-Tip Scissors, Craft Tweezers, 1 1/4" Circle Punch (retired), Chevron Border Punch, ShinHan Alcohol Markers, Craft Heater, Craft Tray, Clear Detail Embossing Powder, White Pigment Re-Inker, Spray Pen (CTMH), One-Hole Punch (Other)
Other: White Enamel Stars (CTMH)

I'm so pleased with how this layout turned out...even if hubby thinks I'm crazy. LOL

Casandra

Snowhaven Snow Fun Layout

I'm back again today with my next Snowhaven layout. This one makes me happy every time I see it. It was a labor of love. I used all three of my Close To My Heart cricut cartridges, and pre-cut enough pieces for my workshop attendees. Don't you just love the ink spattered "snow" effect? Eek. It's the first time I've tried it with the white pigment re-inker. I will warn you that it's addictive. I wanted to spray everything, and had to be quick to clean up my counters with a wet cloth. I can never spray without making a mess, but it's a fun mess, and totally worth it.

Recipe:
Paper: Snowhaven, Glacier CS, Bamboo CS, Whisper CS, Outdoor Denim CS, Cranberry CS, White Daisy CS, Teal Glitter Paper (CTMH)
Stamp: Frosty Fun (CTMH)
Inks: Black (VersaFine)
Tools: Craft Heater, Craft Tray, Clear Detail Embossing Powder, ShinHan Alcohol Markers, White Pigment Re-Inker, Spray Pen, Paper-Piercer, Micro-Tip Scissors, Cricut Art Philosophy, Cricut Artiste, Cricut Artbooking (CTMH)
Other: Silver Sequins, Red Enamel Hearts (CTMH)

I used MIFYH Volume 2: Sketch #6 with a few alterations as inspired by the Annual Inspirations 2014-2015 Idea Book. I heat embossed all stamped images for easy coloring, and as stated above, used all 3 cricut cartridges for embellishment and title pieces.

I would like to enter this into H2H's Tic-Tac-Toe Challenge. I would also like to enter this into Stuck On U Sketches "Snow" Challenge.

And of course, no post would be complete without a funny side note. Last week, as I was dropping my children off at school, Jack went to take his boot off and exclaimed "Now I know what was stuck in my boot. It was a tic tac!" I quickly responded "And 5 toes!" Let's just say that at 8 1/2 years of age, mom isn't always funny anymore. Sigh. I tried. ;)

Have a great week!

Casandra

Snowhaven Winter Layout

Hello. I'm so happy it's Sunday. It is always my favorite day of the entire week. Not only is it a day to rejoice in the life that God has provided us, but it is also the one day that we are all at home and enjoying each other's company. Of course, right now as I type this, the kids are in their bedrooms playing on kindles and my husband is relaxing in front of the tv.

So today I finally found time to complete my journaling for this next layout. It required a bit of research to locate snowfall totals for the 2013-2014 Winter season. Our closest town ranked 9th in the state for most snow at 183.1" last year. Wow! Apparently, we set a record.

Recipe:

Paper: Snowhaven, Whisper CS, White Daisy CS, Glacier CS, Cranberry CS (CTMH)

Stamps: #30yearsofhappy (retired), All Decked Out (retired), Trinity Alphabet (retired) (CTMH)

Inks: Crystal Blue, Glacier, Slate, Black (CTMH)

Tools: Craft Heater, Craft Tray, Clear Detail Embossing Powder, Prisma Glitter (retired), Glue Pen, Shinhan Alcohol Markers, Paper-Piercer, Micro-Tip Scissors, Journal Pen (CTMH), Snowflake Dies (MFT)

Other: Clear Sparkles, Aqua Dots, White Embroidery Floss (CTMH)

This past Wednesday, Let's Scrap posted their weekly sketch, and I really liked the clean lines of the squares. Plus it looked  like a pretty straight forward sketch to interpret. I would also like to enter this into H2H's Challenge "Old is New". I used a favorite snowman stamp set (old) and combined it with this year's Snowhaven paper pack. For anyone trying to interpret the paper sizes, they are 3" squares, and the background paper is 6"x12", with 1/2" zip strips bordering above and below the background paper. Psst. Did you notice the title was outlined with our journal pen? I love how it makes my title pop.

If I have a recommendation for today's layout, it would be to take the time to capture the story in journaling. It will be fun to read years from now.

Happy Sunday to you!

Casandra

FMS167 Birthday Card with Heart

Good morning. I finally found time to play along with a sketch, this year (haha). I recommend when you aren't feeling the crafty mojo, that you ease gently back into things with some tried and true sketches. Then, it's much easier to design a project when you've played with stamping and cutting. 

I've been looking at this sketch from Freshly Made Sketches for the past 2 weeks. I knew I was inspired, but it was hard to narrow down what paper and stamp I wanted to use. After having a friend over to play scrap this past Friday, I saw her excitement at her recent purchase of the Cutie Pie stamp set. It was contagious.

So, this card is for a special person...my daughter's first grade teacher. She is truly one of the sweetest people I know. Add to that, I happen to know that her mom makes handmade cards, so I knew this would be perfect for her.

Recipe:
Paper: Heartstrings, Black CS, Lagoon CS, White Daisy CS, Black Paper Fundamentals CS (CTMH)
Stamps: Card Word Puzzle (retired), Cutie Pie (retired) (CTMH)
Inks: Cranberry, Blush (retired), Lagoon (CTMH), Black (VersaFine)
Tools: Paper-Piercer, Shinhan Alcohol Markers, Clear Detail Embossing Powder, Craft Tray, Craft Heater, Liquid Glass, Heart Embossing Folder (CTMH), Circle Die (MFT)
Other: Bitty Sparkles (CTMH)

Please Note: "Never Before Used Schtuff" - Heart Embossing Folder, Heartstrings paper, Cutie Pie stamp set. Ms. Darnell, I'm so happy I finally found time to play along with your super fun challenge. I encourage others to follow Darnell's blog. She's as sweet as she is talented.

I would like to enter this into the following challenges:

1) Freshly Made Sketches FMS167 Challenge
2) NBUS Challenge #3

Thank you for stopping by today. I hope your Monday is fantabulous.

Casandra

Silver Embossed Christmas Card

Here is the last of my Christmas cards from the 2014 Christmas card workshop. I did 5 designs in all, and customers purchased 5 of each design. 

My favorite thing about this card is that it could be used with any color, be it pink, purple, blue, green, and so on. 

Recipe:
Paper: Lagoon CS, White Daisy CS, Whisper CS (CTMH)
Stamp: Merriest Christmas, Distressed Backgrounds (CTMH)
Ink: VersaMark, Lagoon (CTMH)
Tools: Snow Dots Embossing Folder (Cuttlebug), Snowflake Dies (MFT), Silver Embossing Powder, Craft Heater, Craft Tray Paper-Piercer (CTMH)
Other: Silver Sequin, Aqua Dots (CTMH)

I know it's hard to see from the picture, but the sentiment was embossed in silver for an elegant touch. Hope you like this one as much as I do. Tomorrow, I'm back to the real world with kids returning to school from Christmas break, and tax season will be in full swing. I wish you all a wonderful week.

Casandra

Snowman Christmas Card

Here is one of my favorite cards from the 2014 Christmas card workshop. To make things go faster, I pre-stamped and heat-embossed this card. I recommend coloring the image (with alcohol markers) before assembly. That way, you have no ink bleeding.

Recipe:
Paper: Snowhaven, White Daisy CS (CTMH)
Stamp: Flakey Friends, Holiday Cheer (CTMH)
Ink: Black (VersaMark)
Tools: Clear Detail Embossing Powder, Prisma Glitter (retired), Glue Pen, Craft Heater, Craft Tray (retired), Paper-Piercer, Turquoise Blue/Carmine/Marigold/Bronze ShinHan Alcohol Markers (CTMH), Circle Die (MFT)
Other: Clear Sparkles (CTMH)

Isn't he cute? Alcohol markers provide a rich and vivid color. I have them on my list to purchase more today, in fact. Happy Saturday to you!

Casandra

Merry and Bright Snowhaven Card

Good morning to you. I'm back with another card from my 2014 Christmas card workshop.

Recipe:
Paper: Snowhaven, Glacier CS, White Daisy CS (CTMH)
Stamp: Merriest Christmas (CTMH)
Ink: Black (CTMH)
Tools: Paper-Piercer (CTMH), Snowflake Punch (Martha Stewart)
Other: Silver Sequins (CTMH)

For this card, I used an old sketch from Originals. I put my own spin on it to update the design to today's trends. I love the red, black and light blue color combo. It's clean and fresh. Snowhaven is one of my favorite paper packs featured in the 2014-2015 annual inspirations book. What is your favorite?

Casandra

Merriest Christmas Card

Happy New Year! I'm back today with another card from my 2014 Christmas card workshop.

Recipe:
Paper: Sparkle and Shine (retired), White Daisy CS, Whisper CS, Cranberry CS (CTMH)
Stamp: Merriest Christmas (CTMH)
Ink: Cranberry (CTMH)
Tools: Paper-Piercer, Scallop Border Punch, Micro-Tip Scissors (CTMH)
Other: Green Brads (Hobby Lobby), Twist Tie (CTMH)

I have really been into clean and simple designs lately. Today, I'm enjoying some quality time with my family. Hope your new year is everything you wish it to be. May God bless you.

Casandra