CFC 60 - using text!

This weeks CASual Friday challenge was to include text in your Clean and Simple project.



I had already made (but not yet gifted) this framed sentiment for one of my oldest and dearest friends diagnosed with breast cancer early this year.

My inspiration was a graduation card found in the insert from the last great issue of Scrapbooks, Etc. (Let's all have a moment of silence.) I'm sorry I don't have a photo of the inspiring piece.

My chipboard / grungeboard letters are covered with patterned CTMH paper which is all texty and in Blush pink -- a great combination.

I stamped in Cotton Candy ink above and below the main sentiment of the piece: "I believe in Miracles" using my Skipping Stones Design stamp set, Cancer Schmancer. The butterflies were cut out of CTMH cardstock using my Art Philosophy cartridge and centered with a small gem adhesive from Michaels.

Pay no attention to the busy frame! I bought it because it matched her den, but it's too much with this piece and I'm going to paint it. (and by I, I mean my hubby). Probably in a solid gray that will still match her decor.

Thanks for looking and have a great week!


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Colour Q #144

Patriotic colors at Colour Q this week! Or if you a CTMH junkie, like myself, these are "SuperHero" colors. Yay!



I used my new "SuperHero" paper kit to begin a layout for my baby boy's birthday this year. The colors are Moonstruck, Sky, and Cranberry. I used an extra piece of BoBunny Paprika Dot cardstock I found hiding with some other extra cardstock. (Imagine that!) (the dotted banner pieces and large mat behind the blue patterned paper piece)

My stamped stars and plain font sentiment are from the Love Life stamp set. The script font sentiments are from the Florentine  (WOTG) stamp set. I used my AP Cricut cartridge to cut the stars and title.

I'll try to find the time, sooner rather than later, to finish this layout and get it in our 2012 album. I purchased this paper kit with my little guy in mind and I plan to use it all up!

Thanks for looking and be sure to check out the Colour Q blog for tons of inspiring ideas. Pin It

PDCC139 and Mojo Monday 248

Good evening -

A quiet Friday night here and it was SO nice. We let the kids swim in the pool while we sat outside witht them and enjoyed the beautiful breeze. Then I came up to my fortress of solitude to enjoy a new chair and new craft light, courtesy of my hubby and kids for an early birthday gift! Very comfy and I love it.

I made a card with the Play Date colors from this week and the Mojo Monday sketch.

I used my CTMH "Bliss" paper pack, Card Word Puzzle stamp set, Find Your Style stamp set, and buttons are from the "Bohemian Assortment" embellies pack. The gold ribbon is from Michael's. It worked perfectly for the Play Date challenge along with the gold button. My first thought when I saw that challenge was that I didn't have anything to match! (Hard to believe - I know) so I was excited to figure out something that fits.

 For inks, I used CTMH Bamboo for the rose and Desert Sand for the sentiment. I colored the center of the petals with a light brown chalk pencil and then touched them up with my blending pen.

Thanks for looking and be sure to visit both of these blogs for inspiring artwork.

Mojo Monday

Play Date Cafe

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CFC 59 and Dynamic Duos

Hello there.

Hope you had a fabulous 4th of July. We had a VERY low-key one - with the dry weather and burn/firework bans in our area. The kids were grossly disappointed, as was I.

I am sneaking in a late post for the Casual Friday Round and Round challenge this morning! I made it yesterday, but didn't get to my computer last night. Squee! The challenge is to use TWO circles in your "Clean and Simple" project.



For Dynamic Duos, I chose to use Cocoa (or dark brown) as my color of choice.


Here is my card, using the "masking" technique to make the "hole" in the tree for my owl. I circle punched a 2-in circle in a post-it note (stolen off of Avery's craft desk and she BUSTED me, for the love of Pete! She's 8 - she should be a detective; she finds everything.) and I stuck it to my card base before stamping the wood grain in Desert Sand using the Skipping Stones Design Grunge 2 stamp set.

The sentiment is stamped in the same cocoa ink from the Grunge 2 set. My owl and tiny brown flowers are CTMH. The little pearl gems are Michaels; brown twine is from PaperTrey Ink.

Thanks for looking!


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H2H - Ribbon Challenge

I'm late posting this one due to my dear old friend, "procastination", which has been accompanied by my arch-nemesis, "short-on-time".

For the H2H "Ribbon" challenge, I decided to experiment with organdy ribbon and a paper ring (cut from two circles nested inside each other).

I have tubes of the "old" organdy ribbon rounds which I loved so much, I bought additional colors right before they retired. (Turned out to be not as brilliant as I thought. I picked up colors that I NEVER use.) So, in my self-titled, self-help program "Use your S--Stash, Get  Results", I came up with a way to use up some ribbon.  The fact that I have to find ways to USE UP stuff instead of the normal issues for most crafters to stretch their supplies further will be addressed and discussed in subsequent posts.

I cut a ring of cardstock using my nesting Coluzzle circle template (first time that dude has seen daylight in a WHILE, I can assure you - so this was killing two birds, so to speak). I then began to tie short knots around the ring alternating my blue/green and lilac organdy ribbon. I think the organdy works nicely because it's so "full" with very little effort. The knots line up next to each other around the ring and resemble a braided look. It turned out pretty good, if I do say so myself.

Before adhering it to the card with glue dots, I tied paper flowers onto the wreath with Crystal Blue waxy flax. Patterned paper background, scalloped border, sentiment banner -- and Voila~  card is done!

Thanks for looking and have a great week! Pin It

PDCC #138

Good evening!

Hope everyone is surviving the record heat. We are melting in Tennessee! Whew. Not much you can do other than stay in the air conditioning. (Unless you're way too into fishing, like my husband, and choose to wet a line in the 104 degree sunshine.) But, I'm not touching that one with a ten-foot pole.  (....Snort! Get it?)

I was able to squeeze out a few cards last week, due to a couple of days off work. (How sad that it takes a vacation day to do these things, but whatevs.)

I used the Play Date Cafe colors to play with my "Paper Lantern" CTMH stamp set. I think the upcoming national holiday reminded me of this stamp set and I wanted to use it in varying colors.



I found matching pieces of patterned paper from CTMH (cranberry), We R Memory Keepers (cotton candy), and DCWV (honey) in my "stash".  (I have NO idea how I have such a variety. It has absolutely nothing  to do with a paper obsession and having more money than I have good sense. Please don't tell my mama.)

Like any good CTMH student, I can take just about any color I run across and give it the CTMH name. It comes in handy, believe it or not. Anyhoo, I found coordinating CTMH inks in my carousel and stamped my lanterns, trimmed them, and adhered with 3-D foam tape.

The paper squares were sanded before adhering to the card to make the lanterns have more "pop" above the paper. I was also lucky enough to find (close enough) matching twine to suspend the lanterns from the top of my card.

The sentiment is from the "Love Life" stamp set and stamped in Grey Wool ink.

A very simple and easy card, made quickly.

Thanks for looking and have a great holiday week! Pin It