Thank You

This week's challenge over at Sketches! {by tamara} is a Card Sketch:

I used this sketch to create a card for a dear friend who has really been there for me lately.

CTMH Products Used: Life Delights paper (retired), Thanks stamp set, Rhinestone Frame (CC Reward), Circle Window Charm (retired), Just Blooms Big Pinks flower, Chocolate ink, Blush Dot ribbon

Other Products Used: Fiskars Scallop punch

***

Don't forget to check out what the rest of the Design Team has created using this sketch! Thanks for looking!

A Little Everything - Blog Hop

Welcome to our CTMH Stamp of the Month Blog Hop! We are featuring the March SOTM, which is called A Little Everything.
***
If you get lost along the way or find links that aren't working, click here to find a complete list of participants.
***
When you're done here, the next stop is Helen's Blog, so don't forget to keep hopping and check out all the inspirational artwork!
***

This stamp set is such an obvious one for cards, so I challenged myself to use it on a scrapbook page. This was such a super quick page, took less than 20 minutes, which is rare for me since I tend to over-think things, but I'm really pleased with the results. I also love how this stamp set matches the new Cocktail Alphabet stamp set as well - which is what I used to stamp her name on this page.


Products Used (all CTMH): Blue Ribbon paper pack, Autumn Harvest Textured CS (Outdoor Denim), new Spring Blossom Just Blooms, Indian Corn Blue ink, Outdoor Denim ink, A Little Everything stamp set, Cocktail Alphabet stamp set, Red Sparkles (retired), Outdoor Denim striped ribbon (retired).
***
I also used the following sketch from Creative Scrappers:

Here is another card I've already posted using this stamp set.

Thanks for looking - happy hopping!

Anything Goes Challenge

Here is a fun round tin project that I did for Lynn's Anything Goes Bella Challenge. The requirements were to do a 3-D project with Bella and add bling! This is a tin to save memories of "the wait" - it's for a gift, so I'm not ready to share the inside pages yet, but I think the outside of the tin turned out fun - I added tiny sparkles all over the place - one on Bella's bow, one on the brad on the flower, one on the bow on the side of the tin (I don't think you can see it very well on the pics here), and then all around the Cocoa edge.

***

Top View

Side View

Thanks for looking!

Cherish Friends

This is a card that I made earlier this year, but I finally used it this week. I had a good friend go into the hospital on Tuesday in pre-term labor, so I gave her this card along with some yummy banana muffins when she finally came home. The scary thing is, I'm only about 6 weeks behind her, and she also has 3 girls about the same ages as mine, so it's hard to see her going through this. And just on Sunday, I had told her we needed to get pics together of our bellies - I thought we had plenty of time! Hopefully that baby will stay in at least a few weeks longer - she is in our prayers and thoughts.

PageMaps Blog Think Pink Sketch Contest

Update - Thanks to Marjorie for giving a blogger photo fix tip - it's a little more work, but hopefully the real problem will get fixed soon.

***

I haven't done a layout for a while and it felt so good to get back to the pictures! This one was done for the latest PageMaps Sketch Contest - we were to use the sketch provided and scrap about something meaningful to you. My girls are my world, so I figured that would work ;-) Anyway, I just love these pictures of Brailee - she was barely 2 months old and had such a fun, crooked smile, isn't she cute! I have always wanted to use this quote and it was just perfect for these pictures. I used these fun Fancy Kewl papers, and these fun bright flowers and gems that Kari sent me for my birthday - they coordinated perfectly - thanks again, Kari! Once again, I used the Friendship Alphabet stamp sets - I just cannot stop using them! I clear embossed the title on the patterned paper and cut out. I used a Window Charm over the letter 'A' for the center of the green flower. Thanks for looking!

Altered VHS Cases

Here are some projects that I have been working on for the last few weeks - I didn't want to post any until I got them ALL done and in the mail. The project got delayed by our house rearrangement, but I finally got them all sent out early last week, so hopefully they have all received them so I'm not spoiling anything ;-) These are some altered VHS cases that I made for some of my blogging/stamping friends - these are gals who have sent me fun cards and stamped images or have just been a huge support to me since I started my blog. I made my first maybe a couple years ago and still had a stash of cases to use, and since I don't have any fun images to stamp and return the favor, I decided these would be fun. I use mine as a tool box for my scrapping supplies - just a fun way to hold scissors, tape runners, etc. These were inspired by Yvette West (? - correct me if I got the last name wrong) she is a fellow CTMH Consultant who shared her fun idea on the CTMH boards.

First here is mine that I made quite a while ago...

And here are the gifts for my friends - it was fun to make these - each one became my favorite as I finished them ;-) I hope they like them!

This one is for Nicole

This one is for Ramsey

This one is for Laurel

This one is for Marjorie

This one is for Stacy

This one is for Nona

This one is for Kari

Birthday Cards & Gifts

Here are some birthday cards and gifts that I have made recently and haven't posted yet...
***

For my SIL Liz - she likes orange - or at least I hope she still does ;-P Happy Birthday yesterday, Liz!

For my SIL Hannah - I really had fun with this card and I took a lot of pics of this one so you get how it looks. I took inspiration from Originals: Window Cutout, but instead of a 3 1/2 x 2 1/2 card, I turned it into a standard sized card (4 1/4 x 5 1/2). I embossed the star from Shining Star with Cranberry EP onto black CS and cut it out - then I mounted it on a piece of white CS and cut out again. then I cut out the center of the front of the card leaving a 3/4 inch border and attached the star. I also used the dot paper from Silhouette (I LOVE that pattern!), some Cranberry Ribbon, Black Waxy Flax, and some Black Bitty Brads.

I played a little more with it after my original pic, adding dashed lines around the star - did I add too much? Which do you like better, the first or second version?

For my nephew Damon who turned 6 last month - just a simple card using the most boyish stamps I own - when you have 3 girls there's just not too much boy stuff around ;-P Brianna picked the color since he is her bud. I stamped the Tool Time stamp sets using White Daisy pigment ink - and used Moonstruck B&T papers, Say It In Style stamp set for the sentiment, and some fun blue staples.

for my nephew Isaac who just turned 8 and was baptized this weekend! I used MCC #34 and Solos (G, R, 8, and the new Punctuation set). I was inspired by a sign at a local fast food place, advertising 'Join a GR8 team!' So I thought it would be perfect for an 8th birthday!

I also made him this journal/notebook - inside the front cover is a picture of Christ getting baptized. This was inspired by Originals: Tie Back Tag but created an 8 1/2 x 11 cover with it.

for my MIL - Happy Birthday today! She loves pink, can you tell? I took inspiration from Originals: Ribbon Envelope but turned it into a 6x6 card. I used Adorning Corners and For Every Occassion - I used some mini clear window circle stickers on the dark side of Blush textured CS to create the embellishment in the corner. I used the light side of the Blush textured CS for the front of the card, along with paper from the Paper Garden pack.

Here is another baby gift - that is LONG overdue! This is a fun puzzle (?) frame that I found - I don't know how else to describe it - each of the squares slides around like those puzzle games. I started this gift right after she was born, then the pics she e-mailed me, I couldn't get to print, so after I finally remembered to tell the mom I needed another picture, I was able to finish it up a few weeks ago when I finally got that picture. I just hadn't given it to the mom and baby yet (sadly she is almost 6 months old now) - I scheduled it to post here so I would finally remember. What a horrible friend I am ;-P

My first half map...

...well, kind of, anyway! The latest contest over on the PageMaps Blog was a Half Map Sketch. Since I usually only do 12x12 layouts, or at least square layouts, I challenged myself to participate and keep it at a half map size. I decided to do something that would still fit in my 12x12 scrapbook, so I took a 6 pocket photo storage page and cut it in half - that left me with 3 4x6 pockets on each side, so I divided the map into 3 sections - how's that for making it work! So I didn't know how to count this in this year's page count ;-P Do you think it counts as one page?

Here is the sketch...

Here is my version...you can't tell in the pic, but I used Liquid Glass and Fun Flock on the title 'Dream' and it gave it a nice fuzzy soft texture, like her blanket.

And on the other side, I just put pics of that same day - who knew I needed 4 pictures of her sleeping that day - she was just too precious! I think I am going to add some photo corners to the pics on this side.

August Challenges

Sorry I'm a day late getting these posted - I can't believe it's August already! Plus, I was working on my layout for the Cherish Challenge earlier this week, and Brailee got a hold of it - grrr - and tore the left page apart, so I had to fix that before I could finish. So, I didn't get around to doing a brand new layout for the Imagine or Reflections Challenges, so sorry to those who have seen these before.

So, here are the challenges for this month. Here's how it works - at the beginning of each month, I announce which layouts from Cherish and Imagine that we are going to be doing - and starting this month, I'm going to add in Reflections! You don't have to do all of them, just what you want. I will also post my example. You then create the layout using your choice of theme, papers, orientation, etc. and send me a link or a picture of your layout. I will draw a name from all participants and the winner will get a fun bundle of cards at the end of the month. It's fun to see the different results from the same layout!

The Cherish Challenge is Dreamy Look on pages 52 and 53

Melissa's Little Miracle Layout

On this page, I used the hole from a Photo Hanger to 'circle' the number 7 for the date.

The Imagine Challenge is Up the Tempo on pages 64 and 65

On these pages, I cut each petal on the Big Blooms in half and then rounded the ends to resemble the flowers in the pics. I also used my sewing machine on these pages - fun, fun!

The Reflections Challenge is Bottom Border - Base on page 29

On this page, inspiration came from the Laurie Berkner song, I think it's called 'Who's That?' Anyway, the song echoes, so to take that echo onto the page, I created a mirror effect on the left side by using my rubber brayer. The tab on the top right pulls out for hidden journaling. I just love the look on Brailee's face in this picture!

Hooray! I won first runner-up!

I was just checking out the CTMH monthly contest winners and found out that I got First Runner-Up! I made a goal this year to enter something every month and this is the first win for me! You can check out the awesome entries here.

Here is my original page - I did this one back in January. I tried to recreate it a couple months ago, but Brailee got her hands on the page, and the flowers, when it was almost done, so I put it away for a while, and almost didn't try again. Now I'm glad I did!

Here it is with the companion page.

Here is the one I sent in - I changed it just a bit.

Once Upon a Time...

...there was a little girl named Jena...

For some reason, I've really been in the mood to scrap some really OLD pictures! Here is what I've done in the last week...can you tell what my favorite animal is ;-) When I was little, apparently, I had my very own corral of imaginary horses. I had a cousin that I was very close to and we were always playing together when she was visiting - we still had our fights, though. One day for some reason, she let all my imaginary horses loose - I was devastated! My aunts and uncles will never let me forget that story.

I need to finish up the journaling on the first two, but I don't remember the horse's names - Mom, or Dad, can you help me out?

Products Used: Reflections, CTMH Wild Adventure paper pack and Stickease (retired), hemp, SU chipboard tag.

Products Used: Reflections, Cloud 9 Sorbet Villa paper, CTMH Vineyard Berry CS

I stamped the buckle on the back of the foil sheet - then I embossed the image, I think it turned out very cool! Here is a close-up of the buckle.

Products Used: Becky Higgins Sketches, Cranberry B&T (retired), Textured Chocolate CS, Colonial White CS, Lovely Buckles stamp set, Silver Foil Sheets, Calendar stamp set, Cobblestone alpha stamp set, Silver Conchos

This one is a little more recent - I still can't believe it was almost 10 years ago, though! I'm the one on the top row in the very middle.

Products Used: CTMH Silhouette paper pack, CTMH Black Brads, CTMH Just Blooms paper flowers, Boutique alpha stamp set, Classic Caps stamp set, SU tag punch

Thanks for looking!