Happy!

 Happy!  Who isn't happy when they're wearing flip flops!  I'm either in flip flops or boots all the time.  Ok, sometimes, on Sunday for example, I wear shoes -- real shoes with heels and everything, but any other time it's barn wear or sandals!

When I saw the colors over at Color My Heart, they looked so happy.  So, this is where I went--- my happy place!

The HAPPY comes from the You Are My Happy stamp.  I hand cut the flip flops because I didn't have any in my cartridges.  The flower is made form Creme Brulee Baker's Twine and the paper is from Lollydoodle.  The flowers are from the CTMH Base and Bling.  I painted them with Create a Shade Paint mixed with Blush re-inker.

My inside sentiment is, "May you always walk in happiness!"

Hope you all have a happy day!

Playing With the Queen of Hearts....

"Playing with the queen of hearts

Knowing it ain't really smart

The joker ain't the only fool

Who'll do anything for you!"

The wedding challenge over at Exploring Cricut inspired me to scrap some of the pictures from Katie's wedding last June!  I guess I needed a little break after it was over and now I'm excited to go back and look at the pictures again!

My daughter and her husband are avid game players.  Since we all play Euchre quite a bit, the kids decided to give out decks of cards as their favors at the wedding.  The photographer saw the cards and decided to capture a picture of them with the cards "exploding in the air" behind them.  This has to be one of their favorite pictures from the wedding!

I started with a piece of CTMH For Always paper.  I dry brushed it with gesso.  I adhered a heart cut from Art Philosophy in CTMH Jublilee paper.  

I used a stencil, cut from Artbooking, and texture paste to add a bold pattern on the right side.  Then I turned it over and rubbed the excess off in the middle.  I stamped some flower bouquets around the area where my pictures would eventually go.

The crown and fleur de lis were cut from Artiste and Art Philosophy respectively, painted with gel medium and glittered.  To give it a weathered look, I rubbed in the glitter, but only in spots!

I gave the playing cards a coat of gesso and then inked them with CTMH Sky, Indian Corn Blue, Chocolate, and Slate.  I added a little tulle from the wedding under the pictures and a little pewter heart brad.

The silk flowers are from the wedding.  I used CTMH Create a Shade Pearl Paint mixed with some Sky Re-inker to paint them.  The silver flower is from CTMH.  I added some Sparkle Flourishes under the flowers.

The wire embellishments were actually parts of the headbands worn in the wedding!  I made them and had one laying with my craft "stuff."  So, I decided to cut it apart and use it on this layout!  

I stamped the picture with "Love much" and "Laught often" from the CTMH Stamp "Big Hug".  I had the other Joker left and decided he needed to be watching all of this from the corner!

This layout is headed off to the following challenges!

Exploring Cricut - Wedding 

Craft Hoarders Anonymous - Spray it, paint it, mist it, be messy

Pile it On - Wrong but Right:  I used playing cards and parts of a headband!
ScrapbookerPhD - Add texture

All CTMH from KatiesCorner.  

As for the song lyrics, I just couldn't get the song out of my head as I was working on this layout!  Does that happen to anyone else?  

Love Lifts us Up Where We Belong.....again!

Obviously, I can't get that song out of my head when I work with hot air balloons!  hahaha

Over at Color My Heart, the color challenge is to use Indian Corn Blue and Buttercup!  These are such pretty colors.

This is a pretty straight forward card, so I'll just list the CTMH materials I used!

Cardstock:
Daisy White
Buttercup
Indian Corn Blue

Ink:
Indian Corn Blue

Stamps:
My Sunshine
Whoo's Your Valentine

Embellishments:
Ribbon (retired)
Marquee Enamel Shapes

Embossing Folders:
Dot
Stripe

Misc:
Silver gel pen

All CTMH from KatiesCorner!

DANCE of the Horse

I recently found an interesting challenge over at Paper Secrets.  It's a Sketch Challenge with a word theme.  The word for this challenge is DANCE.  Well, when I saw that, my mind went to Dressage.  I dug out some old pictures of Keith showing Harry in a 4-H Dressage Class and went at it!

Dressage actually started as a form of English riding used to train horses for war.  It is an old art of training.  When done correctly, it is absolutely beautiful!  The training technique is so beneficial, Western riders have now adopted it and there are classes in Western Dressage at many of the breed and open shows.  

Ok, enough history on Dressage.  I could go on and on............, but instead I'll tell you about my layout!

D = Dimensional Tape

A = Arrow

N = New England Ivy Cardstock from CTMH

C = Crowns

E = Embossed with Cricut Folder

 Materials List:

Cardstocks:
DCWV Once Upon a Time
CTMH New England Ivy

CTMH Inks:
Smokey Plum
Archival Black
New England Ivy

CTMH Cartridge:
Art Philosophy
Artbooking


CTMH Embellishments:
Base and Bling Storyteller Charms
Durable Triangle Studs
Mini Medley Gold (retired)
Mini Medley Black (retired)



CTMH Stamps:
You Are My Happy Alphabet
Universal Backgrounds (retired)
Love Life
Art Philosophy


All CTMH products from KatiesCorner.

Lucy: Guest Designer

Hello!  My name is Lucy and this is my Gram Katrina's blog page. She is letting me put one of my pictures I made on here. She said I am a guest designer on her blog!

I am 5 years old ~ almost 6.  We made a gift for Daddy.  I chose the paper, picture, and the sparkly stuff!  I love sparkle!  Green is Daddy's favorite color.

The paper is Lollydoodle.  My step mommy sells CTMH paper.  This one is my favorite!  My favorite thing on the picture is the purple glitter tape!  I love that!  I also like the purple flower!

It was fun to put the sponge in the ink and rub it on the paper.  It's fun to paint the glue on with a big spongey thing.

I'm going to let Gram tell you the rest!

Lucy and I had a great time making this together!  She used Lollydoodle paper, Mark's Finest Cowgirl stamp set, CTMH Epoxy Bubbles, a canvas, sticker letters and a pink ribbon from my stash.  The canvas is from Hobby Lobby.

Lucy wants to put her picture in a challenge so lots of people will see it!  So, we're posting in:
 Heart 2 Heart Bow challenge
Jo's Scrap Shack "I love you, Dad" challenge
Curtain Call Sweet Pea Challenge
Craftitude Flowers and/or Lace Challenge


Thanks to Lucy for being my guest designer today!

All CTMH from Katiescorner.

Rhapsodies and The Blues

I know I've already put a couple of entries into the Heart 2 Heart Rhapsody in Blue, but this is what happens when a challenge runs for a month!  ; )  Whenever there is a musical or equine related challenge, my creative side goes into hyper-drive, the OC kicks in and I simply can't stop!

Almost everyone in my family plays and many of us are musicians by trade.  Now here is the kicker, the majority of us play oboe or trumpet and to top that off we marry into the same instruments!  It's true!  Now for any of you who are musicians, you know this really is sort of an unlikely pair.  There is a lot of ego when you mix principal trumpet players with principal oboists......but, somehow we make it work!

As for my immediate family, I, an oboist, married a HS trumpet player/vocalist who is now in computers.  Neither of my kids played in band, but my daughter was in show choir and musicals.  As for my son, well, the only thing he can carry in a bucket is water for his horses!  hahaha

Going back in time, my maternal grandfather played trumpet.  Both of his kids played trumpet.  The next generation was 1 trumpet and 3 oboists; 2 of the oboists married trumpet players.  The next generation was 3 trumpets and 1 oboist.  We'll have to wait a while to see where it goes next.

This is a picture of my nephew who was principal in his band as a Freshman!  He has already won the Louie Armstrong Jazz Award and the Director's Choice Award; he is only through his Sophomore year!  What a guy!

Alright, enough about my dysfunctional, yet talented family with all their strange quirks!  Onto the layout!

Stenciled bricks and staff lines sprayed over with mist.

I started with CTMH Indian Corn Blue CS.  I  stamped in the music in Indian Corn Blue using the Universal Background stamp.

To achieve the staff lines under the picture, I created a stencil in CCR using lines from Art Philosophy.  I simply changed the shapes of squares and welded them into a staff.  I cut it from Dur-Lar Acetone Alternative.  I placed it on the CS and rubbed my Colonial White Pigment ink over the stencil.  I then stenciled in my bricks in the same manner using a stencil I had made for a prior project.  That's the nice thing about cutting stencils from Dura-Lar, you can wash them and use them over and over!  CTMH Artbooking has so many overlay cuts perfect for stencil work!

Once the pigment ink was dry, I again stamped in the music in Indian Corn Blue, Outdoor Denim, and Archival Black using the Universal Background stamp.  Stamping before and after the stenciling gave it a layered/textured look.  I sprayed over the background with homemade CTMH Glimmer Mist.  I make this out of CTMH Create A Shade Pearl Paint, Re-inker, and water.  For this project I used a few drops of Blush and twice as many drops of Chocolate.  I stamped a couple of film squares from CTMH Take Note under the keyboard banner.

The bottom sheet of music was embossed with an M-Bossabilities folder EL-011.  I rubbed over it with Archival Black and smudged it with Indian Corn Blue.  The next layer is Outdoor Denim embossed with the CTMH striped folder.  I then sanded over that to bring out the white core.

Keyboard banner

Now for the keyboard banner.  This was put together by taking a banner from Art Philosophy and welding in lines for the white keys.  Then I welded thicker lines over the lines to make the black keys.

The trumpet was cut from the Cricut cartridge Quarter Note.  I had to borrow this cartridge from Mom.  I suppose I could have created a trumpet somehow from my cartridges, but I couldn't figure it out!  Sometimes it's not worth re-creating the wheel!  haha  I heat embossed it with Colonial White Pigment Ink and silver embossing powder from my stash.

The little banner was hand cut, stamped with the music stamp, and embellished with a CTMH Marquee Enamel Shape.  The treble clef is from CTMH Sparkles Flourishes (Small); I cut away some sparkles I didn't need.  I can save them for later!  I sparkled it a little further using the silver glitter trim, and placing the CTMH Blue Epoxy Bubbles around.

Again, I had so much fun creating this layout!  I'm putting together a book for my nephew, so you'll be seeing more of him in the future!

All of the CTMH comes from ScrappyHorses.ctmh.com.  There are some great promotions going on at CTMH this month!  Be sure to check them out!  My understanding is there are some exciting changes coming over there; I don't have the info, but my daughter is bursting with excitement over what's coming!  Be sure to keep an eye over there!

Ok, this layout is going to the following fun and creative challenges!

Heart 2 Heart ~ Rhapsody in Blue
Simon Says Stamp ~ Stencil It
Craft Hoarders Anonymous ~ Ink it, Spray it, Paint it, Get Messy

Thanks for checking out my blog today!

Dad & Grandpa ~ 1949

Ah, where do I begin with this post?  Do I start with the story, the many elements of this design, or how I feel about the work..............?

Ok, I'll start from the heart; I love this picture.  I love everything about this photograph from a historical, emotional, and familial aspect.  I adore the story behind the picture and tried to tell the story through my elements.  

My dad and grandpa were sort of rebellious when it came to Grandma's rules.  She had a strict rule about eating too many sweets and we definitely could not have them late in the afternoon.  "No, that will spoil your appetite," I can still here her say!  I'm sure she was twice as strict about this with Dad as she was with us!

Dad told me the story of how he and Grandpa would walk down to Hatfield's, the corner drug store, for chocolate sodas under the guise of errands.  One day the druggist, as they were called back then, shot a photo of them and threatened to show Grandma!  I suppose if that's the worst bribe anyone had on them, they were somewhat safe!  

I'll hit some highlights on this canvas picture I made for Dad's gift.  The background patterned paper is from CTMH Huntington.  I distressed it, stamped it, rolled it, and sprayed parts of it with homemade CTMH Glimmer Mist.  (I made this batch with Chocolate and Blush Re-inker, Create a Shade Paint, and water.)   

The studs are from the CTMH Durables Triangle Studs.  I painted them with the Create a Shade paint, sponged over them with Archival Black and then gave them a coat of Mod Podge to seal the ink.  I could have mixed the paint with re-inker, but I didn't have black!

I cut all the elements from CTMH Art Philosophy, Artiste, and Artbooking.  The sign was printed using the Cricut Metallic pens in Artbooking font.  I first cut them from cereal boxes and then from Colonial White or Black CS.  This made them very sturdy and gave them more dimension.  

The striped pattern paper is the zip strip from Jubilee.  The store tabs, or bills, were from the CTMH Dream Pop (retired) collection.  

The key was heat embossed with White Colonial Pigment ink bronze embossing powder I have in my stash -- not sure of the brand.

Materials List:

CTMH Papers & CS:  Jubilee, Huntington, Black Colonial White, Dream Pop and Balloon Ride

CTMH Inks & Paint:  Create a Shade Pearl Paint, Chocolate, Slate, Barn Red, Autumn Terra Cotta, and Archival Black

CTMH/Cricut Cartridges:  Artbooking, Art Philosophy, and Artiste

CTMH Embellishments:  Durables Triangle Studs, Mini-Medley Black, Opaques Licorice, Memo Assortment, Opaques Mocha, and Mini-Medley Pewter

CTMH Stamp Sets:  Universal Backgrounds and Art Philosophy Celebrations

All CTMH supplies from KatiesCorner.

Other:  Miscellaneous adhesives/gel mediums,  embossing powder, and an 8 X 10 canvas

I hope this brings back fun memories for my dad on Father's Day!

I'm sending this off to the following Challenges:

Bitten by the Bug 2  Father's Day
Fantabulous Cricut Challenge  Celebrate Dad Use at Least one Cricut cut -- I used several!
Heart 2 Heart  So Studly  -- I used Durables Triangle Studs
Pile It On  Use Some Patterned Paper --  I used Jubilee and Huntington
Scrapbooker PhD  Use Your Die Cuts --  I used Cricut/CTMH Cuts

Happy Father's Day, Dad!

Anniversary X Two!

 Today is my daughter's first wedding anniversary!  However, in a couple of weeks my mom and dad will be celebrating their 54th anniversary.  So I thought it would be fun to make a picture for them!

I found this picture of them from their student days at Ball State University in the late 1950's.  We have been compiling pictures and placing them in computer files.  It has been so fun looking at all the old photos!

I was inspired by the challenges over at 123 Challenge Blog (themes are Blue, Together, and Masking), Scrapbooker PhD (use your die-cuts),  Bitten by the Bug 2 (alter a Cricut Cut), and Heart 2 Heart  Rhapsody in Blue.  Speaking of music, I couldn't help but think of "Vincent" or the Starry, Starry Night song from the 70's the entire time I worked on this.  Ah, but I have digressed.....

I started with a canvas.  I stamped a floral design over the edges and rubbed light blue ink over that using a sponge.  I chose a piece of older CTMH paper and placed a star template made from Artbooking over that.  I used homemade texture paint and created the stars.  I then used a dry brush and dabbed the stars with CTMH ink.   (For more information on this technique, please see this post.)

Once the stars were dry, I did my stamping with CTMH Adorable Backgrounds (retired) and CTMH Lovely.

The paper behind the photo is from the Jubilee collection.  I smeared it with Create a Shade Pearl paint to give it some shine.  The rolled corner is painted with the same paint mixed with Sky re-inker.

The rose is cut from CTMH Artiste from Daisy White cardstock.  I rolled it for the 3-D effect, painted it with Create a Shade paint mixed with Sky re-inker, painted the edges with Indian Corn Blue ink, and placed a clear Epoxy Bubble in the middle.  The border along the bottom of the picture and the vine were also cut from Artiste, painted, shaped, and inked.  The silk flowers at the corner are from my daughter's wedding!

The title of the piece was cut from Graphically Speaking.  The shimmer comes from the pearl paint.

All other shapes were cut from CTMH Art Philosophy.  The stars and butterflies were adorned with paints, stamps, and or gems.

CTMH Materials:

Papers:  Honey, Buttercup, Indian Corn Blue, New England Ivy, Jubilee, and one retired piece

Inks, Markers and Paints:  Sky, Indian Corn Blue, New England Ivy, White Daisy Pigment, Honey, Buttercup, Create a Shade Pearl Paint

Embellishments:  Epoxy Bubbles, Mocha Gems, Mini-Medley Rosewood (retired)

Stamp sets:  Lovely, Universal Backgrounds and Adorable Backgrounds (retired)

Cartridges:  Artiste and Art Philosophy

Other Materials:  Canvas, silk flower, Gesso, homemade texture paint, and Graphically Speaking Cartridge

If you've not worked with the Create a Shade Paint from CTMH, I highly recommend trying it!  It adds so much to die cuts and embellishments!  Visit KatiesCorner for inspiration, a super promo deal this month, and beautiful papers!

Happy Anniversary Katie & Crockett and Mom & Dad!

Love Lifts Us Up Where We Belong

Ok, does the blog title give away my age?  ;)  I wanted something catchy for the balloon motif used as my parents' anniversary card and that's where my brain went!  So, I'll go with it.  Now I can't get that song out of my head......

I had the Balloon Ride papers and hadn't really done anything with them yet.  This challenge was great timing; I used the papers to make 2 cards today!  This card is going over to Color My Heart Color Dare where we are challenged to use the colors from Balloon Ride or Crystal Blue, Creme Brulee and Sorbet.   

All of the papers are from Balloon Ride.  The flowers and vines (branches) were cut from the CTMH Art Philosophy Cartridge.  The little gems are from the Mocha Gems (retired).  I used an embossing folder I won in a contest!  I think it is Darice.                                                                                                                                   

While I was working with Balloon Ride I decided to make a Birthday card for my stash.  I used Balloon Ride, Bronze Glitter Trim, Sparkle Gems Tan/Brown (retired), Crystal Blue CS, and the Joyful Birthday stamp set.  I love the bronze trim on the Balloon Ride paper!  This is going over to Heart 2 Heart where the challenge is Rhapsody in Blue.  The challenge is to use Blue and a musical motif is a bonus!  See the music on the blue balloon!

If you want any of this beautiful paper, visit KatiesCorner!  It's there along with all of the great CTMH goodies!