I love my playtime!

I still can't believe we are in the middle of May. I swear Christmas was just a couple weeks ago! But I am very thankful the winter weather is gone. :-)

 

 

I have squeezed in lots of play time over the past couple weeks. It is sometimes a struggle to balance life and play but so worth it in the end when I feel happy and have a stack of lovely things to share. :-)

 

 

I'm going to start with my Cricut projects

 

 

Last weekend we were supposed to go to a citywide yard sale. As I have mentioned many times, I love yard sales and flea markets. I love coming home with lots of treasures and art supplies for very little money! But last weekend it was raining so hard that if you were outside more than 10 seconds you were drenched (and freezing cold). So, after attempting a couple houses, I gave up, came home and put a batch of chili in the crockpot.....and created this...

 

Just a little something to remind myself that even rainy days aren't all bad. She comes from the Hello Kitty Greetings cartridge.

As we were eating our chili (and homemade cornbread) for dinner, we watched Despicable Me. And I just had to make a Minion card. I found a Minion svg file and downloaded it into the Explore. It cut out great!

According to my Google searches on the Minion language, Bello means Hello.....who knows but it looked cute to me lol

Even though I have already mailed out my Father's day card to my dad, hubby still needed one for his dad. The fishing creel is from Everyday Paper Dolls, the pole and fish are from Outdoor Man.

Yes, I know, you can only catch one fish per line but the card just looked so much better with two. Artistic license lol

Hubby's aunt is turning 90 next month and loves all the cards I make for her (to the point that she carries them around to show all her friends - and yes, she is out and about golfing everyday, lunches, works out at the gym.....I hope I am half as active as she is in my later years!!!). I made this card using Freshly Picked for the potted geraniums and Elegant Edges for the 'tablecloth'. The tag is from Picturesque.

My mother-in-law's birthday is in July and since I was in card making mode I went ahead and made up one for her as well.  I used the brand new Anna Griffin Summer Soiree cartridge for the butterfly card base. The layered butterflies are from Paper Lace.

I managed to find a little bit of stamping time as well.  I love the CTMH Give a Lift balloon set .
I used ultra fine black embossing powder to make the lines really pop. I then tinted it with watercolor pencils. I used distress inks and water to tint the flowers.

The back is blank so I can use it as a gift tag on some future date.

And finally....yes, I am almost done lol  I loved Tim Holtz May 2014 tag. I like them every month but some months call out to me more than others. This is one of those months.

I wanted my tag to be a reflection of things I love. I have a seashell because I would rather be at the beach than any place else. The dragonfly I tangled onto a game tile years ago then tossed it into a drawer because I couldn't decide what to do with it. I love dragonflies, I love zentangles and I collect hundreds of various game tiles for art projects. The postage stamp is there because I snag stamps wherever I can to use in projects of all types. They are such cool little works of art.  I love and collect vintage buttons (I have at least 10 quart mason jars full lol). The moth is rubber stamped, how could I showcase things I love and collect without having something rubber stamped??? As for the brass flower...well, I liked how it curved around the hole in the tag and I have had that thing sitting in my ephemera drawer for at least 20 years and thought it finally needed a home. :-)

And lastly, the debossed word....this is from Tim Holtz new ShadowPress embossing folders. They are so cool!!!
I embossed it on kraft paper as a test to see how it looked figuring I would use a different paper for the actual project then couldn't decide on what paper to use. I let it sit for the night and woke up with what I thought was a great idea...I would antique it! I love antiques!!! It fit perfectly with my theme! I swiped a few strokes of Ceramcoat Alpine over the paper. Once that was dry I applied a coat of Americana's Weathered Wood crackle medium. You have to wait at least 3 hours (so I hit the yard sales for a while) then I made random swipes with Ceramcoat's Ivory over the top making sure to let some of the green and the kraft paper show through. Lastly, once the paint was dry, I rubbed Distress Ink Walnut Stain all over and then buffed off some of it. I love how it turned out!

I hope you all have a very creative week! We have a 3 day weekend coming up. I am hoping to squeeze in a few hours of art time (between all the BBQs and fun) :-)



So they tell me it is the weekend

Fridays just don't seem as great when you have to work overtime on Saturday but at least I only had to work a half day today...which means the rest of my day is play time!!!!! :-)

As promised (although a few days later than I had hoped) here are the photos of my Close To My Heart kit.

You read the list and it sounds like a lot of stuff but then you get the box and you dig in and it seems like you will never hit the bottom! I had a blast unpacking it...even hubby stood by watching in amazement lol

So the huge deal this month is the free Cricut cartridge of your choice with your kit. I chose the Artbooking cartridge because I want to make more art journals (not that I ever seem to put anything in them lol)

Here is what you get when you order a Cricut cartridge from Close To My Heart.....not just a cartridge!

 

Check this out! You get the awesome cartridge with 700 images and a font! PLUS 3, yep THREE coordinating stamp sets AND a set of 3 coordinating chipboard elements! How cool it that?! And just think, that was the Freebie in my kit and my reason for signing up! I am not disappointed. :-)

Now onto the rest of the kit...

CTMH has scrapbook 'kits' called Workshops On The Go. They include supplies and instructions to make at least 2 page layouts....or a ton of cards lol
The kit this month has the Skylark Workshop On The Go. It includes the Skylark paper pack ( 6 printed papers and 6 coordinating cardstocks), a coordinating stamp set, 3 additional sheets of cardstock, some acrylic flower embellishments and some slate striped twist ties. I love the colors of these papers!

 

Next came the Skylark extras....a package of 24 sheets of the bulk printed papers and a set of the Skylark Complements. These are printed chipboard embellishments.

Digging deeper I found 3 more stamp sets! Two of them compliment the Skylark set really well and then there was a full alphabet (upper and lower case)

Still digging.... look at all these supplies!
3 stamp pads (which go really well with the Skylark papers), 3 acrylic stamp blocks, 2 types of embellishments (teal flowers and metal triangle studs), teal ribbon, scissors, stamp cleaner, stamp cleaning brush, glue pen and a bottle of liquid glass. Oh, and a sponge for inking edges or whatever you want. I think that covers everything in this picture lol

But I'm not done yet!
I received 2 spiral bound books. Originals has card examples and lots of layout ideas and Reflections is the same thing but for scrapbook layouts. Both of these are really cool books with tons of ideas and gorgeous photos!

Everything else in the box was business supplies....you know, catalogs (which I must say are heavy, gorgeous and feel awesome in the hand!), order forms and stamp sets to give out to hostesses. I didn't figure you wanted to see those lol

So, have I used any of this stuff yet? Why yes I have lol  Not much, I have been pretty busy this week, but I managed to grab a few minutes of art time.

I made this card using some of the papers, stamps and my artbooking cartridge.
The teal and grid papers are both from the Skylark pack. The bird is from the Believe in Yourself set (#C1574). The 'Sweet' stamp is from the Sweet & Lovely set (D1571) that came in my Cricut bundle. I cut the heart background with the Artbooking cartridge. Oh and look, some of those gold metal studs! :-)

I also worked in one of my art journals this week. I wanted to experiment with cutting a stencil with my Cricut and then figured what better place to use it than in my journal. 'Live in the Moment' is from the Skylark stamp set (D1591) that came in the Skylark workshop. 'Believe in Yourself' is from the Believe in Yourself set (C1574). I cut the hexagon grid from Artbooking and used it as a stencil with the CTMH inks Lagoon and Desert Sand. And then I liked how the stencil itself looked with ink on it so I added part of it onto the page. Oh, and the little bird on the lower left, the blue larger layer is part of the paper, the brown top layer is a stamp from the Believe in Yourself set.

So there you have it! Or maybe there I have it lol

Either way, all of these wonderful products can be yours if you would like. For the month of April 2014, Close To My Heart is including 1 free Cricut bundle of your choice in the consultant kits. You are not obligated to every sell anything or buy anything else so you are basically buying your Cricut bundle for $99 (plus shipping and tax) and getting all these other awesome products for free!

If you are interested or have questions please visit my site at www.CherylWrede.ctmh.com

Ok, no more commercials! From now on, I will note if I use CTMH products and give you the name and such (just like I have always done with all my other supplies over the years) and will have my page link at the bottom of the post but won't be hounding you to check it out....I promise!

Sometimes you need a card

You ever need a card and just cannot come up with an idea? That is me! Especially when I need a card for my hubby. Although he likes what I make I hardly think he would enjoy a girly card for our anniversary. :-)

I have been trying to come up with a decent card design for several weeks. Thankfully some people over at the Let's Learn Cricut Explore group were able to give me some suggestions.

So, here is my card (or rather....hubby's card lol) I wanted basic/simple.

I used Edge to Edge for the background cut. (I am still amazed at how precise the Explore cut this for a 4x6 card) And Elegant Edges for the shaped 'tag". The oval came from George and Basic Shapes.

And this morning as I was working (yes, I had to work on a Saturday. I was up at 5am to get my overtime in....but now it is done for the week. Yay) Anyway, as I was saying, this morning it dawned on me that I had not made anything for the Fantabulous weekly challenge. So, as soon as I clocked out I headed into the art room and jumped on the computer to go play in the Design Space.

I had fun making this simple card....probably more than normal because I was wandering around the image library drooling over cuts that I don't own lol

The cuts came from the following cartridges:

Branch - Home Décor
Background shape - Elegant Edges
Music note - Paper Lace 2
Bird - Crocs Rule
Rectangle - Just Because Cards

I embossed the background piece with one of the folders from the Cuttlebug Plum Blossom set and then lightly rubbed a light pink pigment pad over it just to break up the white a bit.

I couldn't get the colors just right on the computer. His tummy and wing are not that bright of an orange...oh well. He looks cute in person lol

Happy Saturday everyone! Hope you all get lots of art time this weekend.

Brrring Brrrring

Boy what a week! The longest 5 (but felt like 15) days I have had in a long time!!! Yuk!

Needless to say, although I wanted to get in my art room and play, that just didn't happen.

And then today, hubby wakes me up at 5:30am!!!  He had to go to work and I guess felt like if he had to be up so did I.

Once he left for work (at 6:45) I got busy.

I had been wanting to make a little card for a dear friend that I haven't talked to in several months. Just a little 'how ya doin' card.

Here is what I came up with.

The phone is on the From My Kitchen cartridge. I love all the retro items on that cart!
The background shape is from Pink Journey.

I used my art chalks to give a bit more depth to the phone and then mounted it at an angle for a couple reasons...
1. if stripes are even slightly off the phone at an angle will counter balance that and make those wonky stripes not so noticeable (but I think mine stripes are straight!!!)
2. placing the phone on a angle makes it more playful and fun  ;-)

I got this done so early that I was able to get it out in the mailbox hours before the carrier came so it is already on it's way across the country. Yay!

I am still waiting on a couple new cartridges to arrive so I haven't decided exactly what I want to do for my Thanksgiving cards yet. Hopefully my new carts will arrive this week. Fingers crossed!