Display Trays for CTMH Featured Products Blog Hop

Hello and welcome to this installment of the CTMH Featured Products Blog Hop where this time we are bringing projects made from the Hinged or Large Display Trays.  I love these frames, and the best thing about them is that they give you a fun and unique way to showcase a collection of photos and artwork that are too special to only stay in the pages of your scrapbooks!  This can be a super busy time of year between the end of school year activities and the start of the summer holidays and vacations, so this time out it's just Corinna and myself, but we have worked hard to bring you some inspiring projects!  Here is my first one, and I will be adding another one to this post a little later this evening.

When I started preparing for this hop, I was surprised to realize I had never posted this project.  It featured the Free To Be Me paper kit that CTMH put out to celebrate National Scrapbooking Month in May 2014.  I'd had a specific group of photos in mind for the large display tray but there were several different color values in my pics and I was really struggling to get them to come together.  So I was beyond happy when I saw that this paper kit just what I needed to complete this special project, but then I was absolutely thrilled when I found out mine was one of 19 featured in a contest on Jeanette Lynton's blog for this kit. (You can still see it and the other selections at http://www.jeanettelynton.com/2014/05/free-to-be-me-artwork-submissions.html).

I went in a different direction for the hinged display tray.  Earlier this week I had completed a layout of my favorite photo of my mother (which can be seen here) using the long-retired Paper Garden paper kit.  I was very pleased with how that layout turned out and decided to frame it and hang it over my bedroom dresser.  So today I decided to use inspirational quotes and my favorite stamp sets along with more of the Paper Garden paper to display with the photo of my mom.  I lost all track of time this evening as I just gave myself over to "playing;" I let the creative process run its own course and tried some my hand at blending and used some new products with the old.  It was great, and now I have something to add to my dresser display I've been working on.  This may sound silly, but since I have been dealing with chronic pain for the last year and a half, I have found it helps to start my day with something beautiful that inspires me to focus on the positive and keep creating.

Thanks for stopping by and don't forget to check out Corinna's blog where she also has 2 products to  show you.  I hope you can stop back by later to see an additional project with the Hinged Display Tray, and I invite you to join us again on 6/15/16 when we will be featuring projects using CTMH's Father's Day stamps.  Until then, happy crafting!  ~~  Annette

details:  For the large Display Tray, all papers are from the Free To Be Me set.  Stamps used include Love (A1131), a discontinued set called Card Chatter-Focus On You, and Feathers stamp set using an off-brand gold ink.
For the hinged display tray, I used the discontinued Paper Garden stamps and stickers as well as several inks that are also retired.  I started with sponging Blush and Vineyard Berry on the "happiness is..." card from the new Picture My Life Watercolor cards in gold, and I added "being a" from the Glamour lowercase alpha set.  The "design a life you love" sentiment is from a consultants' exclusive stamp set in Petal ink.  The panel beneath that is made of Paper Garden stickers.  For the larger panel in the center, I sponged and blended Buttercup, Blush, and Petal inks on the star patterned card from the clear Picture My Life Watercolor cards.  The sentiment is from an old set called My One & Only in Chocolate, Vineyard Berry, Petal, Blush, and Buttercup inks.  I used the "so  many reasons to be happy" stamp in Petal from the stamp set that goes with the Artistry Cricut cartridge.  I got the "create" stickers from the Fundamentals Sticker Pack in gold.