Happy Scrapbooking Month!

As you know this month is when I start to think about switching my winter performance tires out for summers - just in time for Mother Nature to dump more snow on us. I'm not sure it's a good idea but I guess it has to be done sooner rather than later.

As well it is National Scrapbooking Month! This brings of course a new SOTM as well as a super awesome promotion and I'm really stoked about both of them.

This month, spend $35 to receive this beautiful paper packet for only $10 more. Each sheet has a unique glossy resist pattern that's sure to add that extra "oomph" to all your projects. The papers are designed for this packet only! Promotion valid from April 1 - 30th.

If you have been paging through the catalog you'll notice that this month's SOTM has some funky red lines around several images.

That is because each shape with a red line around it means there is a corresponding image on one of CTMH's exclusive Cricut cartridges. In this case, all the shapes come out of Artiste, but I definetly love Artiste and Art Philosophy. 

Hoping for the snow to permanently go away,

The picture itself is pretty self-explanatory...

... often I have a clear picture in my head of what I want to do and why. However, past the chocolate and Easter I had no idea other than the 3-D object I was creating and the rapidly decreasing amount of hours I had to put it together and still be awake for a major presentation to my stakeholders the following morning.

Thankfully, I have had plenty of practice at delivering presentations while teetering on 3 hours of sleep back in my University days. I really don't recommend it!

I was so pressed for time that when I walked into my office I had the boxes completed and nothing stuffed. Each contains a Hershey's Oh Henry Egg. But thankfully with a bit of quick stuffing, I was good to go. These little guys were all images (minus the rabbit and the ribbon) from CTMH's two awesome Cricut cartridges, Art Philosophy and Artiste.

It's amazing how you can take patterned paper and mix and match to your heart's delight. In the same tradition as the last card I made the tops and bottoms are from Pear And Partridge, Fall/Winter 2012's Xmas pattern. What a nice compliment to Florentine's blue side... and when I flipped them over, they made for gorgeous eggs to back Sensational Season's rabbits.

Other:
* Cream colored cardstock
* Blue ribbon

CTMH:
* Art Philosophy Cricut Cartridge
* Artiste Cricut Cartridge
* Florentine Paper Pack Level 2 (retired)
* Pear and Partridge Pack Level 2
* Chocolate Ink

Happy Easter, everyone - hope you all got a bit of chocolate today!

When you don't have time...

... you make the time.

I'm still trying to get my Easter project for my office completed by tomorrow morning. So my pre-cut 3-D shape pieces, paper trimmer, and glue gun have been living under my desk for the last four hours in hopes that I will be gluing it all together during the lunch hour.

Today's card was inspired some time ago by Random Acts of Creativity but I can't remember the exact card.

Happy birthday to my father-in-law! I admit sheepishly that yes, today is his birthday and I haven't yet sent the card, but he snowbirds in South Africa over the winter months so I still have to find out where to send it to. I pulled out some random embellishments from CTMH that I have been saving for a little while and cut out a shape from Art Philosophy's cart in different sizes for the top of the card. I distressed the edges of the sentiment in Olive and created a bowtie by tying a knot in CTMH ribbon and then cutting the ends.

I brought in the stamping under the bowtie to the inside of this card as well. Can you recognize the paper? If you guessed Stella, you're right - I would have never thought to use Stella in a male card.

Other:
* Solid cardstock

CTMH:
* Ribbon
* Stella Level 2 Paper Pack (retired)
* Dreamin Level 2 Paper Pack (retired)
* Opaque Pearl Adhesives, Mocha
* Random CTMH embellishment
* Art Philosophy Cricut Cartridge
* You and Me (retired)
* Love Life
* Olive Ink
* Chocolate Ink

Happy Easter everyone! With luck I'll be able to get the Easter project up in the next few days.

Holy moly it's been a while...

Work got a little hectic and I have been working hours night and day, which meant that my little blog here got neglected! Oh noes!

I have a card in the works that I will post very soon, and I will also be working on a March project that I always do for my coworkers since I got my E2. After all Easter is not Easter without chocolate.

In the meantime, better late than never I wanted to showcase the beautiful flowers for March's SOTM. They're available just in time to make cards for Mother's Day (or probably could be used for birthdays and other flowery-based themes).

This month's campaign is titled Jump for Joy!

Hostesses who are able to make the $250 minimum for a Gathering immediately "jump" to the next level for more free product! How cool is that? 

Well I'm off to finish some cards and start Easter projects, hope Spring comes soon!

Mojo Monday Fun...

It's been a while since I used a Mojo Monday layout. This one was an old one from Nov 2011 but I really liked Debbie Carrier's take on it.

The inspiration: MOJO2160 : Debbie Carriere

I used a combination of papers for this one and decided to use the daylights out of the Rock n' Roll technique. You stamp an image in a lighter color, then roll the edges of the stamp around in a darker color. You can see it on the middle piece just under the birthday wishes piece.

The bird and flowers were colored with Copics R22, R24, V12, V15

There was one paper that I would have never thought to use for a guy's card - Stella! This is the other side of a vivacious pink that I used on the baby card a little while back. The two colors I used for Rock n' Roll was Ponderosa Pine and Desert Sand.

Other:
* Solid Cardstock

CTMH:
* Blue and Green Adhesive Sparkles
* Mocha Adhesive Pearls
* Wings Workshop stamp set (retired)
* Wonderful You
* Just A Number
* Desert Sand
* Ponderosa Pine
* Stella Paper Pack Level 2 (retired)
* Dreamin Paper Pack Level 2 (retired)

Happy Family Day!

As always...

... it's Valentine's Day around the corner as well as my Dad's upcoming birthday.

So, I had to put together a Valentine's card for the husband who supports all my cardmaking and other random hobbies. And he does love my cards :)

Today's inspiration: http://www.ewenstyle.com/2013/01/case-study-valentine.html

This was the perfect opportunity to use the Jan 2013 stamp of the month which is a beautiful set of roses. It is just asking to be colored with the Copic markers that I have been slowly collecting over time: R22, R24, R29, YG67, YG63, BG75.

When you color with Copics, you do run the risk of running your ink as they are alcohol based markers. You should either stamp with pigment inks and let them dry, or emboss your image as I decided to do with black embossing powder.

Other:
* Solid cardstock
* Copic markers
* Ribbon

CTMH:
* Happy Valentine's - January 2013 SOTM
* Love Life
* Black embossing powder
* La Belle Vie Level 2 Paper Pack
* Red/Pink Sparkles

Happy Valentine's Day everyone - hope you find love in everything you do today.

There's nothin like

... hearing about new arrivals in the springtime. :)

Especially if they are your friends that you just saw last year that happened to not spring the news until you were visiting them in Copenhagen ... makes it super exciting when you know their baby is arriving just in time for Spring.

I don't quite remember the inspiration for this one, but they are expecting a baby girl - so the theme is all pink.

I popped up the wings of the butterflies with some foam tape. Originally there was a bowtie on top (and this might have been something from Random Acts of Creativity) but the ribbon I had would have dwarfed all the pieces to this card. So I stamped and cut out the ribbon from flair and added a pearl center. The sentiment is from Paper Lantern.

I always want to bring the theme to inside the card. I know I have said this many times, and I'll say it again - I love how there's always two patterns to both sides of CTMH cardstock. So I flipped over the pink side to reveal a colorful border for the inside of my card, and added some cute bumblebees.


With Feburary comes a new stamp of the month - Home Sweet Home! It's a beautiful set to add to any layouts that evoke memories of Home, or dress up that card for your friend's new home that they have just moved into. This set can be yours for only 5$ with a 50$ minimum purchase.

And finally, this month's Campaign is focused on Studio J. You can purchase any Studio J layout for only 5$ (which is a savings of 1.95$ per layout!) Or even better, there are new Express Collections in Studio J which are 10 ready-made layouts for you to use plus a front and back cover that look professionally designed.

It's a great time to try Studio J if you haven't already! Contact me if you have any questions.


Other:
* Solid cardstock

CTMH:
* Stella Level 2 Paper Pack (retired)
* Flutter Shapes
* Red/Pink Adhesive Gems
* Baby Love (retired)
* Flair
* Paper Lantern
* Opaque Adhesive Pearls

Feburary is warm so far and I hope it stays that way!