Sparkle, Sweet Little Fireworks!

I went to a crop this past weekend and finished so many layouts and cards. I used this collection from CTMH for some Fourth of July photos from 2020. I love this pack and am so glad I purchased it. All the patterned papers and stickers were from the kit but I used my own cardstock for the base & mats.

The challenge at the Heart 2 Heart challenge blog is terrific tags. I cut my own tags that you see on the top left and and bottom right and also used a tag for the embellishment cluster on the lower right. I love these photos!

I used a flip flap for the far right photo which were also purchased from CTMH. They are so fun to add extra photos and journaling!

Click on over to the Heart 2 Heart challenge sites to see other projects.

TGIF; Thankful Friday #198

 Happy thankful Friday! I know it’s late, but I had a pumpkin carving accident earlier this week and my week has been off. 

I’ll spare the gruesome photos but this one was before arriving at the ER. 

So this week I’m thankful for my daughter in law. She was calm and so helpful when I cut my finger. It’s so reassuring to know she’s around 

Thanks Krystal!

How about you? What are you thankful for this week? Leave a comment below 

Stick It Down Two Page Layout Challenge

I love working with sketches and this two page sketch was perfect for all these photos I printed for my May & Jun month in review. I do this a lot for my "everyday" events that I don't necessarily want to do a full page layout on. The sketch is from Stick It Down.

The sketch:

My layout:

Aren't these fun! I love the papers and embellishments I used for the layout too. The three stamped embellishments were made by me many, many years ago! I'm so glad I finally used them. The color scheme matched perfectly!

Be sure to click over to Stick It Down to see their one page, two page and card sketches!

 

Heart 2 Heart October Challenge; Sweet Treats

I never knew how much I needed gnomes stamps until I started playing with them. Aren't these super cute?!? The stamps are from CTMH and this particular image is perfect for the current Heart 2 Heart challenge of Sweet Treats.

I used patterned papers from my paper scrap bin but the stamp and cardstock base are from CTMH.

I enjoyed coloring the gnome with alcohol markers and fussy cutting it to add to this card. The stamp set does come with a matching die set but since the images are pretty large & simple, I felt like I didn't need to purchase them.

I'm linking this card to the Heart 2 Heart Close To My Heart products challenge site just in time before the month ends! Click over there for more projects and future challenges.

 

BBTB2; Something To Crow About

It's time for a new two week challenge at the Bitten By The Bug 2 (BBTB2) Cricut challenge site. Fall is in the air so the current challenge is perfect. The challenge theme is...Something To Crow About (or any bird). Check out the amazing projects made by the Design Team & create your own!

I uploaded this super cute scarecrow treat holder from My Scrap Chick and made this for the receptionist at work. 

I initially pulled out some ink pads because the yellow & green that I used for the flowers were too light. I needed them to have a more sunflower look. At that point, I figured, I may as well ink all the edges. It really does make the pieces stand out!

I used a "thank you" stamp to add the greeting. Super cute, right?!? And it was a freebie for the month of October, 2021. Grab it while you can!

Now it's your turn...create Something To Crow About and link it to the BBTB2 challenge site.
 

TGIF; Thankful Friday #197

TGIF and Happy Thankful Friday! I was at a conference for work last week and it was so nice. Not only did I learn a lot, but it was nice to unwind and get away from it all. This week I'm thankful for time away. 

Look at these beautiful views in Monterey, CA.

With views like this, everyone can take fabulous photos!

What are you thankful for this week? Please share in the comments!

Sketch n Scrap Layout Sketch #235

Have you had a chance to check out this month's sketches at Sketch n Scrap? No...well, you better click on over there! I love this sketch since it has room for multiple photos. I'm creating a scrapbook on all our hiking adventures we went on in 2020. These photos were taken with a polaroid camera - so fun to get that retro look!

The Sketch:

My layout:

And some close ups:

I used an outdoor kit for the papers & stickers but also used some die cut trees (I had these in my stash from years ago!) and some stamping. Just a little mixed media with the paint splatters on the diagonal.

What do you think about the title? I had an extra photo that I took of the view so I used it to cut out letters. What I did...I wrote the letters on the back of the photo in reverse and then used my scissors to cut them out.

Now it's your turn...be sure to visit the SNS site to see this sketch and others for the month. Join in and have some fun!

 

Creating Bags

Another fun thing about my Monthly Card Kit are the fun bags I'm making to hold them. I'm creating these bags from a few different things - butcher paper, poster paper, packaging material from orders & even inexpensive bags from the dollar store. Take a peek at this video as I flip through the bags I've made so far and as I decorate the current bags.

It's so fun to create items with no particular rules or process. I know I'm showing you how I decorated these bags, but this can be done with any surface...scrapbook layouts, handmade wrapping paper, art & junk journals to name a few.

Check it out:

For more information regarding the Monthly Card Kits, check out this post under the "Monthly Card Kit" tab from the Home Page.

I filmed this video a while ago showing how I made the bags.

BBTB2; Patterned Paper

Hi there! There's a new challenge on the Bitten By The Bug 2 (BBTB2) Cricut challenge blog today. The challenge theme is...patterned paper. Now, this can be any paper project just be sure to use patterned paper on it.

Here's my project:

I used three different patterned papers for this sweet layout featuring my youngest granddaughter and our family dog, Gracie.

All of the circles were cut using Basic Shapes and I welded the title to the smaller circle. Both paws and the dog were also cut with the Cricut. The dog is from the Paper Pups set.

I did create a process video for creating the circles. Check it out here:

Be sure to create something using patterned paper and link it to the BBTB2 blog.

 

Sketch n Scrap Card Sketch #203

If you love card and layout sketches, be sure to check out the sketches this month at Sketch n Scrap. We are celebrating World Card Making Day all month with lots of card sketches and some layout ones too! The sketch I'm working with today is:

Here's my card:

I created a "floating card" for this sketch. To do that, you cut a base (mine is 3.75x5") using clear acetate or something similar and then attach the paper pieces to the clear piece. Use dimensional adhesive under the paper pieces that will attach to the card. This gives an appearance that the paper pieces are floating on top of the card.

It was really hard to photograph, but maybe these photos of different angles will help show it off.

This was a simple card. I used scraps of patterned papers & cardstock and fussy cut the flamingo from another scrap piece of paper; added gold washi, sentiment and some gold sequins to finish it off.

Now it's your turn, you have all month to create a card using any (or all) of the sketches features for the month at the Sketch n Scrap challenge site. Have fun and Happy World Card Making Day! 

World Card Making Day at Sketch n Scrap; Card #1

Hello and happy World Card Making Day! At Sketch n Scrap, we'll be celebrating all month with lots of sketches for both cards and of course for layouts too. 

The sketch:

My card:

I used all scraps for this cute girlie card. I love all the pinks! Originally I had this on a white cardstock base, but then decided to go with the black background instead. It really makes the pinks pop and I love the bright pink splatters on the diagonal!

All papers were placed directly on the cardbase and just layered on top of each other. The Hello Kitty embellishment was cut using my Cricut. I will add a piece of white paper in the inside.

Your turn...follow the sketch at the Sketch n Scrap challenge blog for your change to win! 

TGIF; Thankful Friday #196

TGIF and Thankful Friday! I'm thankful for other people's drama. The wind blew in some craziness around us this week and I'm thankful that it wasn't happening directly to us. 

It sure does give us something to talk about and maybe idle gossip is a bad thing, but sometimes it's what makes you appreciate the normalcy within our own walls; take a step back and really appreciate a NO DRAMA lifestyle.

How about you...what are you thankful for this week? Leave a comment below.

LTCCB; October Challenge

Happy October 1st! I can't believe the holiday months are coming up. There's a new challenge at the Love To Craft Challenge Blog and as always the theme is...anything goes.

I created a Junk Journal page using items around my desktop. Sometimes it pays not to clean up!

There's also a process video on my YouTube channel and you can check it out below:

If you like what you see, please give me a thumbs up and hit the subscribe button for more crafts from the Command Center.

Be sure to link up your crafty project to the LTCCB before the end of the month.

LTSCB; October Challenge

Happy October 1st! The Love To Scrap Challenge Blog has a new monthly challenge and the theme is...Anything But A Card. For my project, I decided to make a bookmark. One of my Book Club members had a birthday this week and I thought this would be a perfect little gift for her.

I just purchased these new stamps so I had to make something with them.

I'm a collector of everything so this baggie that I saved from a restaurant was perfect to slip the bookmark into. I stamped rows of books to decorate the baggie:

Be sure to link your stamped, anything but a card project to the LTSCB site before the end of the month.