BTF Challenge 8 Family is Forever Layout

My watercolors arrived recently, and I couldn't wait to play with them. This layout was heavily inspired by the Annual Inspirations 2014-2015 idea book.

Recipe:
Paper: Snowhaven (retired), Lagoon CS, Black CS, Glacier CS, White Daisy CS, Watercolor Paper (CTMH)
Stamp: Family is Forever (retired) (CTMH)
Inks: Slate, Smoothie, Lagoon, Sorbet, Black (CTMH)
Tools: Gold Metallic Pen, Paper-Piercer, Micro-Tip Scissors, Paint Brushes, Watercolor Paints (CTMH)
Other: Black Arrow Washi (retired), Chalk It Up Assortment (retired), Teal Shimmer Trim, Silver Sequins, Thin Foam Tape, Black Embroidery Floss, White Embroidery Floss (CTMH)

Lots of detail went into this project. My favorite was blending the watercolors. I am entering this layout in the current challenge at Between the Folds blog challenge #8.

Be sure to check out the new challenge blog on the block. 

Thanks for stopping by.

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

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

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

Merry Merry Christmas Wreath Card

I found another sketch on Pinterest for this next card. 

Recipe:
Paper: Snowhaven, Whisper CS, White Daisy CS (CTMH)
Stamp: Merry, Merry (CTMH)
Inks: Lagoon, Cranberry (CTMH)
Tools: Paper-Piercer, Micro-Tips Scissors, Silver Glitz Glue (retired) (CTMH)
Other: Silver Sequins, Foam Tape (CTMH)

Alas, this is another one-of-a-kind card. Pretty, but lots of fussy cutting. I do love wreath stamps, though. 

Casandra

Home For The Holidays Blog Hop

Welcome to our Stamp of the Month Blog Hop!  This month's stamp is called "Home For The Holidays", and most of the images from this set can even be cut with our Cricut Art Philosophy cartridge.  It is available until October 31st.  I am your last stop on this blog hop.  You should have arrived from Melissa Robinson's blog.  If you get lost along the way, you’ll find the complete list of participating consultants at Melinda Everitt's blog.

This month, we have seventy+ Close To My Heart Consultants sharing their creations using this month's SOTM and other great Close To My Heart products.  A blog hop is simple to do - just click on the link at the end of the post on each blog to move to the next one!  Here we go!

Tonight, as I was putting the finishing touches on this layout, I accidentally dropped one of the "I" letters into my tool basket. When I went to retrieve it, my micro-tip scissors fell out onto the floor. They stuck micro-tip into my hardwood floor, about 6" from my foot. Eek...that was scary. What crazy misadventures have you had while trying to scrap?

I used some snippets of ruby chevron ribbon to accent this layout. I thought it would be fun to incorporate it since it is part of our October special "Ribbon Revelry". If you didn't buy it, now's your chance to get it FREE during the month of October. If you place a qualifying order of $50+, you will receive one of two chevron ribbons (ruby or outdoor denim) with your order. Awesome, right?

This layout is one of many that I am creating for my cousin's baby album. I just had to use that cute polar bear since her baby boy's middle name is "Bear". Awe....

Recipe: 

Paper: Snowhaven, Whisper CS, White Daisy CS, Crystal Blue CS (CTMH)

Stamps: Home For The Holidays, Marquee Alphabet, Keyboard Uppercase Alphabet (CTMH)

Inks: Cranberry, Glacier, Black (CTMH)

Tools: Paper-Piercer, Micro-Tip Scissors, Watercolor Pencils, Glue Pen (CTMH)

Other: Ruby Chevron Ribbon (retired), Bitty Sparkles, Aqua Dots, Foam Tape (CTMH)

Now "Hop" on over to Adeline Brill's blog to see her work!  Be sure to visit all the Consultants at their Blogs to get some great crafting tips and fun ideas!   Contact your CTMH Consultant (or click here) to see how you can get this stamp set at a discount!  Thank you for stopping by.

*Designed by Close To My Heart

FREE with $50 order in October!