Pawprint on my Heart

It's been quite a week for my friend.  Her kids have been really sick and yesterday she lost her long time canine companion to cancer.  Poor girl; she's now dealing with sad, sick kids and her own grief of losing her dog she's had for many years. 

You all know what that means; I had to create a card for her.  This card needed to show sympathy, but be uplifting at the same time.  It needed to convey love and understanding, but not bring her to tears.  Hmmm............ think, think, think some more.   I took off with Chalk It Up papers and here's where we landed.

My colors - Lagoon, Sorbet, and Flaxen- were inspired by the Color My Heart color challenge.  I felt good with these colors since they didn't come off really bright, but they were still cheery.  The cut is from Cricut Four Legged Friends.  I thought about a sentiment and then I remembered the stamp 'You left an imprint on my heart' from the Skylark WOG.  The border is from Scandinavian Wishes (2013 SOM).  I tied it all up with some Baker's Twine.

The inside is stamped with 'big HUG' from CTMH Big Hug stamp set.

Well, what do you think?  Did I meet my goals?  My son loved it; my husband just looked at it and said "nice" with a questioning look on his face.  Hmm....... what did that mean?  Ends up he had forgotten her dog died yesterday.  Oh, my.............  

This beautiful paper is available from KatiesCorner!  

Inspired by........SWEET!

Inspired by Food!  Wow, that is a dangerous place for me to go! There's not enough paper from CTMH to scrap all the breads, pastas, burgers, coffee, peanut butter treats, mochas, and ice cream I have eaten over a lifetime!  I've been thinking about a card or layout over the past week and too many ideas came to mind.  I suppose I should add at this point the challenge at Heart 2 Heart has been "Inspired by......"  all month and this week it was FOOD!  Yum!

So, I went into my photos and found this one from Katie's wedding last summer.  Hmmm.......two cuties eating cotton candy.  Cant' go wrong there!  Next I went in search of some fun cuts in Cricut DS.  I chose elements from:  Kate's ABC's, Paper Lace, Country Fair, and of course one of the CTMH cartridges, Artiste!  Next, I laid it all out in DS using the sketch from Atlantic Hearts.  It really did look more like this sketch until I got my grubby little hands on all the embellishments!  I hope you can see some similarity!

Since I was scrapping a wedding pic, I decided to get out some of the blue satin ribbon that is still hanging around -- and will be for generations to come -- along with some of the left over blue gems.
I gathered lots of other embellishments from CTMH along with pigment inks, embossing powder, glitter, seam binding, washi tape, glue, tulle from the wedding, Create a Shade Pearl paint, CTMH papers, homemade texture paste and stencil, etc.

Before placing any elements, I glued my piece of paper from Balloon Ride (retired) onto a piece of heavier cardstock.  I knew I wanted to use some glue on this project and texture paste, so I wanted it a little more substantial than normal.

I started by gluing down the ribbon a little at a time and wrinkling it.  The glue darkened where it contacted the ribbon, but that was ok with me.  I glued in the second ribbon to make the inverted V and wrinkled it a bit.  I left that to dry and prettied up my elements with inks, paints, glitters, etc.

I did a little background stamping with the CTMH Sweet and Lovely stamps and the sentiment is from CTMH Huntington Scrapbooking Workshop.  I used a stencil I cut from Artbooking with my texture paste.

I honestly can't tell you names of all the embellishments; I'll give you a guess:  Base and Bling, Color Ready Seam Binding,  Chantilly,,,,,, hmm, I think that' all I can name!  Some of the packaging was gone.

Only a few more days in August to check out the Inspired by...... at Heart 2 Heart and only a few days left to get that cute Owl stamp of the month from KatiesCorner!

Shakin' & Sparklin'!

I've never done a shaker card before, but I'm always up for a great challenge!  Over at Sentimental Sundays the challenge is to make a Shaker Card.  So, since my little Lu's birthday party is this weekend, and the theme is "water fun," I thought this card might fit the occasion!

There are many tutorials on how to make a shaker card.  I found mine on Pinterest.  You can search them out and see what works best for you; however, I will share one thing I learned.  I strongly suggest using 3-D Foam Tape and not the foam squares!  I was fighting those little squares and getting them close to keep in the sequins was a nightmare.  Then there was peeling off all the little backings!  I was out of the tape.........  It's now on my shopping list!

I glued down my little fish on the card front and then put my sequins in a pile on top of them.  I placed the front panel over that and decorated.

Everything except the sequins is from CTMH.

The mermaid cut is from Cricut Once Upon a Princess; other cuts are from Animal Kingdom, Create a Critter, My Quiet Book and Art Philosophy.

I'm also sending this over to Exploring Cricut and More where the challenge is Birthday with Sparkle or Glitter!  Join in the fun and be sure to check out what the design team created over there!

Check out all the new CTMH embellishments and papers at KatiesCorner!

Forever Young!

These happen to be one of my sister's favorite color combos!  Great timing ~ her birthday is coming up in the next month!  Now, if I can keep track of the card that long, I'll have it ready for the day!

My sister is younger than I am; I guess forever she'll be my "little sister" and she'll never really be old.  Not that she's old now----no way!  We're still quite young!  I'm just looking down the road to when we are older........like in our late 80's or 90's.  Who knows, we may not be old then!

The color dare over at Color My Heart this week inspires us to use Olive and Smokey Plum.  I've added Daisy White and Slate to the color palette.

I heat embossed the girl and then distressed the edges with scissors.  The seam binding wasn't quite white enough behind the olive ribbon; to fix that I adhered white cardstock behind the seam tape.  This made the olive ribbon with the little buckle pop.

CTMH Stamp sets include:  Dreamer, Love Life, Remarkable Wreath, and You Are My Happy Alphabet.

CTMH Embellishments:  Seam Binding and Mini Medley Olive.

Other Embellishment:  Sparkle Flower from stash

All CTMH from KatiesCorner.

Pretty is as Pretty Does!

I saw this witch in the Cricut Design Space from Wrap It Up and immediately thought of the Bewitched episode when Samantha was mad about the mortal's impression of witches being ugly.  She wanted to show everyone witches could be beautiful.  Of course, being a kid in the '60's, I thought Elizabeth Montgomery was so pretty.  That's my inspiration for this tag I'm sending over to Mixed Media Mojo Tag Challenge.  


I started in DS laying out the tag and selecting the flowers I wanted.  I cut my pieces and inked all the edges of the flowers and leaves.  I stamped over the petals and leaves using Universal Backgrounds from CTMH.  One stamp is script, the other is music.  I shaped the petals and put some flowers together.  They are embellished with gems.

These cute papers are from the new CTMH Scaredy Cat Paper Packet.  I think they are adorable!

Every pretty witch needs a companion, so I gave her a 'charm'-ing owl!  This little guy is from the CTMH Base & Bling Free Thinker Charms.

I dressed up the tag with a tulle bow and more tulle to attach it to a gift or bag.  Orange embroidery floss add a flash of color.

I know a certain someone who has a birthday very close to Halloween!  This tag will be perfect on a gift for her!

Not nearly so messy as some of my mixed media projects, but I think it still qualifies!



I believe Mixed Media Mojo Challenge blog is relatively new; so if you've been inspired to create a mixed media tag, I'm sure they'd love to see it in their challenge.

To see a few of my mixed media projects check out some of these:  Sisters, Red, White and Blue Cowboy Style, Playing with the Queen of Hearts, Remembering, or Ariana Canvas.  There are more, but this will give you an idea of my take on Mixed Media if you might be interested in seeing more!

All CTMH is from KatiesCorner.

Have a great day and remember the next time you run into a witch, Pretty is as Pretty Does!  ; )

A Guy's Birthday Can Sparkle!

Over at Exploring Cricut and More we have a really fun challenge this week:  Happy Birthday with sparkle or glitter!  How fun is that?

Ok, I decided since my husband and son both have birthdays next month to make a card for one of my guys with Sparkle!  So, here it is!

All of these gears are from CTMH Artiste.  My background stamps are CTMH Kudos from the Cricut Artiste Bundle.

To achieve the background look, I sponged my inks in various colors.  Then I stamped my images.   Lastly, I rubbed the edge of a stamp block across my ink pad and pressed it on the paper to get the lines.

Ink colors are all CTMH:  Indian Corn Blue, Barn Red, Outdoor Denim, Topiary, Honey, Archival Black, Chocolate, and Twilight.

The base of the card is embossed with the Stripes folder.  I backed with Indian Corn Blue.

That incredible sparkle is the Bronze Shimmer Tape!  Manly, yet sparkly!

Ok, now it's time for you to sparkle over at Exploring Cricut and More!

Sisters

I love this photo; it was probably taken around 1908!  There's something so magical about old photographs.  It seems when you combine them with new technology, they come to life bringing something mysterious from the past.  They are simply romantic in every aspect of the word!

Where do I begin?  This was one of those labor intensive projects, but worth every minute for me.  I found this picture and was bound to do something with it.  I scanned it into my photo program, doctored it a little, determined the size of picture I wanted and left it ready to print!

Next I went into Design Space and laid out the page choosing die cuts from these cartridges:

CTMH Art Philosophy
CTMH Artbooking
CTMH Artiste
Heritage
Home Decor

I cut all the die cuts from various papers and then cut the selected ones again from a cereal box.  I inked all of the die cuts and adhered the selected ones to their "cereal box" backing.  I do this just to give them a thicker dimension.  It makes them a little more like chipboard.

I chose the Ariana Paper Collection from CTMH for the dies and background.  I ran the mat through my embosser using the CTMH Quatrefoil Embossing Folder.

The flowers were cut, manipulated, glued, and painted with Create a Shade Paint Pearl mixed with Blush re-inker.  Little gems adorn the middle.

The charms are from the Base and Bling Collection at CTMH.  I put a little gem in the camera to make a lens.  The old fashioned brooch is from the Brocade Assortment.  

Teddy's bow is from the Ariana collection.




Special techniques used:

Paper distressing and rolling
Misting with homemade glimmer mist
Stenciling with homemade stencil
3-D Flowers with paint
Layering

Close To My Heart Products:

Green Epoxy Bubbles
Ariana Papers and Assortment
Brocade Assortment
Charms Base and Bling
Olive buttons
Distressed Backgrounds Stamp Set
Create a Shade Pearl Paint
Mocha Gems

Miscellaneous Items from Stash:

Lace
Tulle
Twine

Homemade Texture Paste Recipe:

Combine 1/2 cup of powder, 2 Tbs white glue, and 1-2 Tbs white paint.  Add water for a thinner texture.

Glimmer Mist Recipe:

Combine warm water, CTMH Create a Shade Pearl Paint, and Re-inker in a spray bottle or CTMH Spray Pen.  Mix thoroughly!

Making a stencil:

Using a die cut machine, cut any stencil shape you like from acetate or acetate alternative.  Once cut, it can be used with ink, paint, texture paint, modeling paste, etc!  Simply apply your medium and wash when finished!  I have found using one of the many overlay cuts from Artbooking is perfect for a stencil.  If you go into CCR or DS and delete the outer border, you have more border on your stencil.

Ok, then!  I think I covered everything!  There were a lot of steps in this one, so I'm sure I forgot something.  Thanks for dropping by and reading to the end!  ; )

This is going over to Heart 2 Heart Inspired by a Book Challenge ~ A book you read as a child.  What book?  Little Women!  This piece is also going to Try it on Tuesday:  Use your stash.  I used lots of old stash from CTMH; most of it not available anymore:  olive buttons, brooch, Ariana paper, gems.  I also had old lace!  Southern Girls are challenging us to use texture!

Although the Ariana papers are retired, you can check out ScrappyHorses.ctmh.com for new beautiful paper collections!

Sunshine, Water, and Outdoors!

When you're almost 6, it's great fun to bathe your horse and it's such a mystery how blue shampoo turns your horse white!  Wow, that is soooo cool!  ; )                                                                         Bathing is a prerequisite to showing in halter and showmanship classes.  Of course, we would have to show a Palomino/Pinto!  Yee gads, keeping this guy clean is a nightmare.  Anyway, Lu has had a fun show season with our miniature horse Charlie.  She went in independently at the August show-- a layout of that will be coming very soon!  

This layout was done with all CTMH papers, stamps, and embellishments except the little blue sparkles splashing out of the bucket.  They were left over from Katie's wedding.  I'm going to be using those for a long time!  I'll list the stamp sets and embellishments below.

Clouds and Comb, Alcohol inks and Artistic license ;),
Metal on zipper and Mist of water from hose, Paper

This is going to the following challenges:

Paper Secrets:  Sketch and use products or techniques from the letters CAMP

Lasting Memories:  Water Fun

Fantabulous Cricut Challenge:  Camp Out ~ Inspired by Outdoors.  Cricut cuts from Sugar and Spice, Old West, Pack Your Bags, Garden Soup, and When I was a Kid.

Bitten by the Bug 2:  Let the Sunshine In.  Cricut cuts from Sugar and Spice, Old West, Pack Your Bags, Garden Soup, and When I was a Kid.
Stampin' Royalty:  Use Letters

This sun from Pack Your Bags is so cute!  

CTMH Stamp Sets:  Love Life, Special Care (retired), Dreamer, and Whooo's Your Valentine (retired).

CTMH Embellishments:  Sparkles Flourishes, Blue Epoxy Bubbles, Baker's Twine Paradise Assortment (retired), Flamingo Dots.  

All CTMH from KatiesCorner.

Sparkle Flourish makes a great spray of water!

My Crush Books!

 Ok, I watch waaaay too many tutorials.  I look at waaaaay too many Pinterest posts.  It's true!

Lately, I've been watching art journaling.  I wanted to get into it, but I didn't want to invest in paints and many of the other mediums.  So, I thought about it and decided to buy one of the My Crush Books to see what I could do with it.  I wanted to "journal" some of my experiences with PATCH (my therapeutic horsemanship program), riding, and fun things in my life.

I got my book last week and couldn't figure out what exactly I wanted to do with it.  It's so funny how I can feel so intimidated by a book of beautiful paper!  I looked at it and all I could think was, 'I don't want to mess up.'  Gee, it's MY book, who cares if I mess up?

I looked through it and found the pages in Juniper chevron.   The color dare colors at Color My Heart are Juniper and Sweet Leaf.  I decided to throw all caution to the wind and give 'er a try!

I pulled out some of my left over Skylark paper and the stamps from the workshop.  I also used stamps from Timberline Workshop, Kudos Cricut Artiste Bundle, and Art Philosophy Stamp set.

Embellishments are from Sparkles Assortment, Mini-Medley Accents antiqued gold, Mocha gems, Bronze Shimmer trim, Striped ribbon, and Burlap ribbon.

Ink colors are Juniper, Sweet Leaf, Chocolate, and Slate.

Wildwood My Crush Book!

What do I think of the book for art journaling?  Well, I'm not experienced, but I think it's perfect!  The pages are thick, sturdy pages; you could do just about anything to them.  All the pages are already "decorated" to some degree, so it gives you a starting point.  However, if there are some motifs you don't like or doesn't fit your theme, you can simply gesso over it or use papers over them.  There is lots of room in this book meaning you can "stuff" lots of goodies into the pages.  The book cover opens all the way back so you are able to get the pages flat onto a mat for stamping if you need/want to do that.

I like the size of this book.  I can throw it in my trailer when I go to jamboree in a few weeks if I want to document something while I'm there.   That was one of my main purposes for getting it.

I may regret starting in the middle of the book; but I'll deal with that later!  ; )  I'm definitely excited to have this and look forward to doing more!  If you would like to see the My Crush Books from CTMH, visit KatiesCorner.  The link will take you directly to them on her site!

Anybody remember Williard on Footloose?

I am loving the "Inspired by ........ " themes over at Heart 2 Heart!  I have more ideas than paper over here for this month's challenges!  Ok, not really; I'm exaggerating!  This particular piece is for "Inspired by a movie" challenge.

Who remembers Footloose with Kevin Bacon?  Ok, who remembers that adorable country kid who couldn't find a beat if he were inside a bass drum?  Yep, Willard!  

Well, that's my boy, Keith!  That kid couldn't dance, hold a tune, or show any rhythm!  Now, this is a bit embarrassing since his mom and dad are both into music and his sister has an incredible voice and sang through HS and college.  It's interesting, Keith has rhythm on a horse and can feel that beat, but take him off the horse and it's gone!

He was NOT going to the prom!!  N O T going!  Then his riding buddy said she wanted to go. We all convinced him he should go and it would be ok.  Finally, he said he would go on one condition......he was going to wear cowboy boots and a hat!  Audrey agreed and that was that!  Most guys want to take a really nice car.  Not Keith; he thought it would be too cool to take his dad's Diesel 350.  Luckily, Audrey was a farm girl who thought it was equally cool!  

This Footloose scene definitely inspired this layout!  This would have worked for the song, but I already did that one!  : )

 I started with paper from CTMH Huntington (retired).  I stamped with Universal Backgrounds.  I then used Daisy White Pigment ink to put in some texture background.  I made my stencil from Acetate and the Artiste cartridge.  I sprayed over that with some Homemade shimmer mist.

The clock and key are from Key Moments.  I stamped the outside and heat embossed with silver embossing powder.  

The background in the upper left corner is black CS embossed using the Quatrefoil folder.  I rubbed over it with Whisper pigment ink.  I made my boot the same way using a paisley embossing folder.  The stitched design is done with a gel pen.  The walkman is connected to headphones with Baker's Twine.

The concho is a CTMH Pewter Button and is sitting on top of ribbon from the Mini-Medley Black (retired) and this is on top of a scrap of CTMH Burlap (retired).  I inked over it with slate to match my color palette.

Feel the beat is cut from black CS and glued directly onto the picture of Keith's boot.  We affectionally called them "the boots that saved prom 2011!"  Hard to believe that was over three years ago!

Cartridges used:  CTMH Artiste, Country Fair, When I was a Kid, and Quarter Note.


CTMH ink colors:  Slate, Archival Black, Pigment Whisper, and Pigment White Daisy.

Update:  Keith did dance last summer at his sister's wedding.  I must say, it was a little better than I expected!  Oh, and he did set a trend at the HS.  The following year there were cowboy hats and boots at the prom!  "Who'd a thunk it?"

If you need some great CTMH papers, inks, embossing folders, books, pens, etc, visit KatiesCorner!

This layout is also going off to Sentimental Sundays where the theme is Monochromatic colors!  That's a fun challenge idea!

Live Like You Were Dying

I have this riding buddy, great friend, who has encouraged me out of my comfort zone....well, actually dragged me out and drop-kicked me into taking lots of chances!  She definitely pushes me to "live like I were dying!" So, that Tim McGraw song and the challenge over at Heart 2 Heart, Inspired by a Song, led to this card.  My friend has a year full of big plans, so I think this card will be perfect for her!

As some of you know, I'm an oboe player.  I sat in a practice room most of my young life never really getting out there and risking anything.  I never did much physically because a broken hand would end it all for me.  Now my life is much different!  Luckily, I haven't broken a hand so I can still play.  I have broken toes, dislocated my collar bone, and endured a bite you wouldn't believe!  But my mouth and hands are still in-tact!  Now this friend has ridden all her life traveling around the west as a kid on a mule!  So, what I consider risk taking is very different than her idea on the subject!  Ok, now you have some background on us!

I'm sure most of you have heard the song, but I encourage you to check out this video for a performance to this song that will be new to you:  Stacy Westafall ~ she reins professionally with the 'big boys'!  She rides bareback and without a bridle or headstall.  My friend and I love to watch rides like this one!  I'll wait if you want to check out the video...................

..............Ok, enough about my friend, horses, professional riders and such fun!  Back to this card.  I combined stamps from CTMH for the sentiments and inside:  Skylark Scrapbooking Workshop, In the Background, Joyful Birthday and Timberline Scrapbooking Workshop.  I know I've talked about this before, but I LOVE to purchase the Workshops on the Go!  You really get a lot of bang for your buck!  I seldom make what comes in the directions, but I get a lot of use out of everything in those kits!   

The paper is from the promotion Free to Be Me ~ also perfect for my friend!    ; )

The card base and envelope are CTMH 6" x 6" Die Cut Cards (retired); however, you could make these with Kraft cardstock any size you like!

I embellished with a Twist Tie, Aqua Dots, Baker's Twine, flower from Skylark Assortment and a Pewter Badge.  

CTMH inks included:  Ruby, Lagoon, Autumn Terra Cotta, Buttercup, and Archival Black.  All my wonderful CTMH products are purchased from KatiesCorner!  Check out the site for great inspiration, promotions, video's, and shopping! 

Hope you all have a wonderful day and live life to its fullest!  

Inspired by Nature

I love a challenge, but even more I love combining challenges!  I had a great time using the Inspired by Nature theme at Heart 2 Heart with the sketch at Stuck?! Sketches.  As you can see by the picture of the sketch, I turned it on its side for the layout.  I used the colors from Let's Capture Our Memories challenge.  123 Get Scrappy uses a grid to play a sort of 'tic tac toe' game.  I used Pen, Grass in pic, Notebook Edge or Stars, Pen, Crumpled paper (leaves are crumpled).

My blue background paper is from CTMH Balloon Ride (retired).  I love using this paper as a background; it already has so much texture to it!  I stamped country images and sprayed it with homemade CTMH glimmer mist; recipe here.  (Create a Shade Pearl paint, used in the recipe, is no longer available..... "sigh".  I'll have to figure out what kind of paint to use when I run out!)

The leaves, border paper, and doily type piece are all cut from Jubilee (retired).  They are inked, but the print of the papers come through adding some dimension.

These little dragon flies are amazing!  I cut them with the Cricut Explore.  I had heard it could cut tiny cuts with ease, but this is so cool!  I wasn't sure if I wanted to invest in the Explore, but I have to say so far I'm loving it.  The doily cut came off the mat with ease.  I didn't have to pick any of the parts out.  Amazing!

CTMH stamps:  Skylark Scrapbooking Workshop (retired), Take Note Cricut Bundle, Genuine Country (retired), Yeehaw (retired), and Distressed Backgrounds.

CTMH inks:  Barn Red, Indian Corn Blue, Sweet Leaf, Ruby, Archival Black and Chocolate.

Stampabilities inks:  Pigment gold and Pigment silver.

CTMH Cricut cartridges:  Artbooking, Art Philosophy and Artiste

CTMH Embellishments:  Mocha Gems (retired), Burlap Ribbon (retired), Memo Assortment (retired).  I'm using up my stash!

Hemp Cord is from Darice and I used a Sharpie pen to write on the note paper.  The leather piece is really old and was in a box of scrapping stuff.  Not sure where it originated!  hahaha

I just received a box of CTMH goodies from the New Annual Inspirations Book!  So, my next project won't have so many retired items!  ; )  That book is chalked full of new items; they are so fun!!  You can check them out at KatiesCorner.

Need some inspiration?  Check out the blog challenges listed above!  You're sure to find lots of ideas for your challenge projects!

Loving Memories

Sometimes you need a simple, but thoughtful, card for someone.  Sympathy cards are always difficult, but they mean so much to the recipient.

The colors over at Color My Heart seemed to lend themselves perfectly to this card.  Who would have thought Pear, Barn Red and Sunset would add so much, yet stay subdued under the beautiful tree from CTMH Country Born?  The sentiment is from CTMH Big Hug.

I used a sponge for the Pear and Barn Red.  I used a dauber and streaked the Sunset to give it a little different texture.  The Archival Black makes the sentiment prominent.

I backed the front with Black and Barn Red.  The base of the card is Champagne.  The Baker's Twine seemed to add a little something without taking away the simplicity.

Both stamp sets are still available from CTMH.  You can see them at KatiesCorner!

Back to School with Exploring Cricut and More!

Wow, I can't believe it's time to go back to school already.  Over at Exploring Cricut and More we're celebrating with that theme!  Yes, it's time for those kids to get on the bus and be at school for the day so we can crank up those Cricut machines and cut the day away!

It's an interesting time for us because we have a son leaving for his Senior year at Purdue and a little grand-girl starting Kindergarten.  Therefore, I have 2 projects for you today!

Sunflowers, Star and Smiley face, Washi tape, Wood grain stamp, Inks, Memo assortment tag

This layout is for my little grand-girl.  I left the spots open for pictures since she hasn't started school yet.  Katie can fill out the little journaling tag with something special from Lucy's first days of school!

The layout was inspired from the sketch from Paper Secrets. 

The ruler, frames and banners were cut from Artbooking and Art Philosophy.

This new paper from CTMH is Chalk It Up!  The cute glasses, smiley, sentiment and star are from the coordinating assortment pack.  I embellished with Smoothie Washi Tape, Baker's Twine, Aqua Dots, Shimmer Trim, some flowers from the Retired Skylark collection, and a chipboard note piece from Memo Assortmet (retired).  All embellishments are from CTMH.

I stamped the ruler with the wood grain stamp from Universal Backgrounds.

I used Lagoon pigment ink with embossing powder and heat embossed the ABC and 123 to make them stand out a little more.

My second project is a backpack perfect for college students!  I made this backpack in Black and Honey with some of the retired Laughing Lola paper for the pockets.  It measures almost 4 inches tall which is a great size to put some gift cards in there.  I plan to put some restaurant cards in it.  Maybe if Keith is nice between now and the time he leaves, I might tuck some money in those pockets!  ; )

You can find this backpack, as well as several more really adorable cuts, in the Cricut Campin' Critters cartridge.  The letter "P" was cut from Plantin SchoolBook.

Now it's your turn to create your Back to School project and enter the challenge!  Check out all the ideas over at Exploring Cricut and More!

You also might want to head over to KatiesCorner to see the new Idea Book from CTMH.  The new papers are so fun!  There is definitely something for every crafter there; the variety in this book is amazing!

Why ScrappyHorses?

I'm very excited to share my first post as a Design Team member with Exploring Cricut and More!  I thought it might be fun to share how ScrappyHorses got its name.  

I started out adult life as an oboist, but my second child brought many changes to my life.  If you want more details you can read this post, but I will tell you he dragged his dad and me into barn life kicking and screaming!  

After moving out to the country, ten years of 4-H Horse and Pony, and coaching the Hippology team I decided I needed to do something with the knowledge I had acquired.  I became a therapeutic horsemanship instructor the summer before Keith's senior year of HS.  I taught for a year in another program and then decided to develop my program called PATCH by Design.  Our old show horse is sort of the founder of my program.  His name is Just Like Design.  

Now we don't really have any show horses at this point, they really are all sort of ........well..... they're either young, old, or just ...... uh........scrappy!  And there it is!!  ScrappyHorses!  It just seemed perfect for a paper crafting blog!

Wow, that was a long story to get to the name, but you'll find that I often meander and go off on random tangents!

Anyway, this card is for one of my students who had a birthday last week!  Here are the particulars.

I made a fold card in Design Space with the first page shorter than the second.  I cut a 3rd panel shorter than the first page, but a little longer.  I scored about 1/2 inch from the edge.  I folded that over.  Before I adhered the green over the middle panel, I inserted the 1/2 inch tab under the green card stock.  This created the far right panel of the card.

I used papers and card stock from the CTMH Lollydoodle collection (now retired) to decorate.  The cardstock is Pear and White Daisy.  The chevron pattern was done using the CTMH In the Background stamp, Pear pigment ink and clear embossing powder.

Happy Birthday was stamped with the CTMH Joyful Birthday stamp in Barn Red and the sentiment inside the card is from CTMH Art Philosophy stamp in Pear pigment ink.  

The horseshoe was cut from a cereal box and Saddle cardstock; this makes it thicker to hold my front panel in place.  This image is from Create a Critter.  I used pigment ink and silver embossing powder to give it texture.  I adhered it with 3-Dimensional Tape on the left side and the very top of the right side.  This gives me room to tuck in the panel and keep it closed.

Now for the star of the card!  That cute little horse is from Four Legged Friends!  I think he is adorable!  Ok, I have to ramble a bit here..... I just got my Cricut Explore about a month ago.  I still have the free subscription to the majority of the cuts.  I'm getting to use cuts from everywhere and I'm really enjoying that!

Ok, back to the horse.  I used Saddle Brown, Daisy White, and Champagne cardstock.  I used a glitter pen to give the mane and tail some texture.  His eyes are Mocha gems (sadly retired!).  I used a black marker to color his hooves.

If you are interested in the cut file for this card, click here or type: https://us.cricut.com/design#/canvas/project/19212356

Have a wonderful Sunday and remember to check in at Exploring Cricut and More tomorrow for a new challenge!

Check out KatiesCorner for the new CTMH Idea Book and papers.  They are really amazing!

Collegiate Christmas!

Inspired by the colors over at Color My Heart, I decided to make a Collegiate Christmas bag for my son who is starting his Senior Year at Purdue!  Do I have anything to put in it?  No, of course not!  I'm not that far ahead!  : )

I used CTMH cardstocks in Ruby, Lagoon, and Honey.  Now Keith, his dad and sister all are, or will be, Purdue grads.  I know placing those Ruby Christmas balls on there was a terrible faux pas, but I had to use Ruby for the color challenge!  For those of you not familiar with Indiana Colleges, Purdue and IU are the 2 large universities here.  Purdue colors are Gold and Black; IU is Crimson and Cream.  

I started by stamping a gift bag from Dollar Tree (3 for a dollar!) using the letters P and U from the CTMH Homestead Alphabet with White Daisy Pigment Ink.  I then sprinkled it with embossing powder and heat set it.  You can barely see it in the pictures, but it does give the bag some texture and shine!  One thing I learned doing this project is this: do a row at a time!  I first tried stamping the entire bag and then sprinkling.  For me it didn't work.  My ink had dried and the embossing powder didn't stick!  I tried the warm breath trick, but maybe I hadn't had enough hot coffee before breathing on it!  

The tree is cut from Celebrate with Flourish.  Merry & Bright is from CTMH Artbooking and the PU is from Plantin Schoolbook.  I finished it up by adding a little Baker's Twine bow where I can later attach a tag.

Obviously, this would work for any school; simply change the colors!  

For those of you who haven't seen the New Annual Inspirations from CTMH, you are in for a treat!  The papers are so beautiful, there are a few new ink colors, new stamps abound, and they now offer embossing powders.  I am loving the Halloween and Christmas sections and placed a huge order last night with my favorite CTMH consultant, Katie!  For those who don't know me, she's my daughter.  Any way, if you would like to peruse the new Idea Book and see some wonderful inspiration, check out KatiesCorner!  While you are there, take advantage of the wonderful videos under the CTMH TV tab.