Some Kinda Wonderful for BTF #44 and Mojo Monday #493

Hello again, crafty friends!  I thought I had my Some Kinda Wonderful project figured out for this week's theme at Between The Folds Bi-Weekly Challenge Blog but when I saw this week's super cute sketch from the Mojo Monday Challenge, I immediately changed plans, dug into my stamp stash, and whipped up this sweet little card for a super sweet young friend of mine.








details:  CTMH Some Kinda Wonderful patterned paper, black and Raspberry CS
wreath stamp is Doodled Designs (retired CTMH); "hello" is from the Hello, Life - cardmaking set (retired CTMH); and the Scribble Heart is from Stampabilities
CTMH Raspberry and Memento Black inks
CTMH Gray and Pink Enamel Gems

We would love to see your projects featuring the CTMH Some Kinda Wonderful paper kit or it's color  palette of Black, Glacier, Lemon, Pacifica, Raspberry, Whisper, White Daisy, and Willow.  You have until 11:55 pm Eastern Daylight Savings time/10:55 pm Central on Monday, 4/24/17, to play along and you may link your projects HERE.  Thanks for stopping by and happy crafting!  ~~  Annette

Hello Lovely Wedding Card for BTF Challenge 40

Hello again, crafty friends!  Even though it's been a fairly mild winter where I live, I am still longing for spring so I've been having a great deal of fun playing with the beautiful floral and spring colored geometric patterns in the Close To My Heart "Hello Lovely" kit for my design team submission for this week's challenge at the Between The Folds Bi-Weekly Challenge Blog.

I was particularly inspired by this week's sketch over at Mojo Monday so I used it as my starting point.  I used a standard 4 1/2 x 5 1/2" card base in Desert Sand and cut the dot patterned Sorbet paper for the foundation layer.  I cut a piece of Colonial White cardstock at 3 1/2 x 4 5/8" and punched the edge with a scallop pattern and topped that piece with a 2 3/4 x 4 5/8" panel.  I used one of the PML cards from the Hello Lovely kit and trimmed the 1/4" from the top of this 4 x 3" vertical panel and dovetailed the bottom to form the banner shape.

For embellishments, I used the medium and small hearts from the Hello Lovely complements placed on the same patterned paper as the foundation layer and fussy cut around them.  I used my favorite white and gold ribbon to form the bow which is tied around this antique rose charm which is the last one from the first set of Base and Bling set that CTMH came out with.

For the sentiment, I used Desert Sand ink with the retired Mr. and Mrs. set.  I can't help but feel this paper kit lends itself perfectly to wedding cards and layouts, but maybe that's because there are a couple of spring weddings coming up in my family!
The Hello Lovely kit is also this week's theme at the Color My Heart Color Dare and one of this month's themes at the Heart 2 Heart Challenge Blog so I will be entering this card in both of these challenges as well as the sketch challenge at Mojo Monday.

Thanks for stopping by and happy crafting!  ~~  Annette

Magical Mojo for BTF #25

Welcome!  Growing up, my brother was a big fan of "The A-Team" so we had to watch it every week and while it wasn't my favorite program, I did always like one character's saying at the end of each episode, "I love it when a plan comes together."  Well, this project is one of those times when Plan A didn't pan out and I didn't actually have a Plan B but thank goodness inspiration - or rather, inspiration from multiple sources - came together and I finally have a cute little card to share with you.

For starters, the theme this week at Between The Folds challenge is CTMH's Magical paper kit.  This is a really fun, super versatile collection of patterns and colors.  My first intention for my design team project this week was a very involved layout featuring
a trip to a nearby "red" or Farmall tractor museam for so my husband's birthday last week; it will be great when I have this project done, but considering I took 98 photos, that's not likely to happen this week.  So, back to finding a Plan B.  Luckily, as soon as I saw this week's Mojo Monday I fell in love with it and immediately pictured several variations of cards using the Magical papers.  After some dabbling, this is what I came up with.

Thanks for stopping by, and please take time to check out the other projects at BTF challenges and hopefully you can share your inspiration too (you have until Monday, 7/18, at 10:55 pm Central.  Happy crafting!  ~~  Annette

details:  All products used are from CTMH.  As stated, I started with the Magical paper kit and this sketch over at Mojo Monday.  I used a piece of Crystal Blue CS cut at 4 1/8 x 3 3/8" and topped that with the large polka dotted piece measuring 4 x 3 1/4".  The yellow dotted medallion was cut with the Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge at 2 1/4" ( image found in p.31 of the booklet) and the center circle was cut at 2" using white CS.  I used the medium flat waterbrush and ink pressed into the lid of the Crystal Blue ink pad to create a subtle background color and then I stamped the main part of the sentiment in Sapphire ink using the Beyond Awesome stamp set.  Using the same set and Cranberry ink, I stamped and fussy cut the curved "awesome" banner and glued it onto the medallion.  The bottom banner is one of the zip strips backed by Whisper CS, both of which were just trimmed by hand until I got the look I wanted, with the patterned piece being about 2 1/4" long.   For embellishments, I chose to color a couple of the white enamel stars with the turquoise, golden yellow, and carmine ShinHan alcohol markers.

I am also entering this card into this week's Color My Heart and the 7/4/16 Heart 2 Heart dare, where the themes are also the Magical kit.

new school colors for graduation

This is the first graduating class of our recently combined high school and the school colors are teal, black, and silver.  It took me a while to get something worked up (considering graduation was last week, lol) BUT I did come up with something I'm happy with just in time for the reception of my daughter's best friend.  I was also inspired by this week's sketch at Mojo Monday.





















details:  I made my own background paper for the main portion of this card.  To do that, I stamped using the BACK side of the cross stitched border stamp from the January '14 stamp of the month, Cross Stitch Wishes, in Lagoon.  I then stamped the stitched looking lines in black using a stamp from the same set and I used CTMH's metallic silver marker for the thin solid lines.  I must say, using the Versamat and our ruler to line up and space everything.  I embellished with the teal, black, and silver shimmer trims and aqua dots and the silver glitter gems from the Frosted card workshop on the go in the last catalog.  I punched a 2" scalloped circle with a punch and used black ink and the Congrats Graduate stamp set for the focal point.  I also used the metallic silver marker again to hand-draw a faux stitched border around the scallop and inked the edges in black.


Happy crafting and best wishes to all the new grads out there!  Annette

Welcome Little One for Mojo 324

As you can imagine, there are so many things I could be (and probably should be) doing on this last Sunday before Christmas but I gave myself a little gift today:  I have spent the afternoon crafting not one but two cards for challenges.  I had several weeks when I wasn't able to craft at all after hurting my hand and then I had to get caught up at work so this much crafting time was such a treat!  At any rate, the first card is for the Mojo Monday #324 sketch challenge.  There has been quite a baby boom in my area lately so I thought I'd better get caught up on welcoming everyone's new additions.

details:  I used the retired "Dotty For You" kit because I *love* the sky/clouds/hearts background.  I used the onesies image from the "Wrap It Up" cartridge, switching out the blade with a pen in my Cricut and adjusting it to the lightest pressure setting.  I cut out the yellow, green, and yellow lightly big circles from one of the Dotty patterned papers, carefully planning the placement using my Gypsy.  Once the Cricut had drawn the onesies I fussy cut them, stamped the clothesline from the January 2014 Stamp of the Month, "Cross Stitch Wishes," in Grey Wool as well as the sentiment from a retired SOTM set "Little Reminder."

Happy crafting, Annette

Blissful Mojo Monday

I am entering this card in the Mojo Monday #258 challenge.  As soon as I saw this sketch, I started thinking about some milestone anniversary cards I've been wanting to make, as I envisioned the two circles in the upper corner holding each of the couple's names and the center embellishment the anniversary sentiment and number.  I had planned on using a heart for the extra embellishment but by the time it all came together I chose the birds printed on one of the papers that came with this pack for a more cohesive look.

details:  All products used were from Close To My Heart.  I used the retired Bliss paper kit which featured the colors Chocolate, Vanilla Cream, and Grey Flannel.  I also used the Art Philosophy cartridge to cut all the circles, scallop circles, and "65th."  After I cut the birds out of one of the B&T papers I used pop up adhesive tabs to add a little dimension there.  I used the Tiny Typewriter alpha (D1222) to stamp the couples' names and the Card Word Puzzle stamp set (C1494) to finish the sentiment.  When the card was assembled it seemed just a little lacking for such an accomplishment so I liberally applied Bronze Glitz Glitter Gel to  the scallop circle and numbers and I was much happier with the results.

Happy crafting!

Annette

Let It Snow-Mojo #257

My last card has me thinking about snow so I pulled out the Wonderland kit from last year's autumn/winter catalog, which I really liked but somehow just never got around to using.  The featured colors are Twilight, Crystal Blue, Sping Iris, Grey Flannal, and Chocolate.  Everything on the card is a CTMH product except the snowflakes, which I cut out of some silver cardstock from TPC Studio using the Art Philosophy cartridge.  The smaller two snowflakes and the tiny diamond shapes around the edge of the circle are actually the leftover/negative space pieces--I like to use everything I can, LOL.  Then I added some sparkles to the center of the smaller snowflakes and stamped the sentiment using the discontinued "Ice Crystals" stamp set.

I'm entering this card in the Mojo Monday #257 challenge/contest.  Check out the other inspiring entries here:  http://www.mojomonday.blogspot.com/2012/09/mojo-monday-257-contest.html

Happy crafting!  Annette

Color My Heart #13 meets MOJO 256

I hadn't really planned on crafting this week but still had several leftover shapes cut from other projects and lots of scraps, so I simply used what I had lying around for a quick challenge for a little personal crafting  therapy and I'm submitting the card to two challenges:
Color My Heart #13: http://colormyheartcolordare.blogspot.com/2012/08/color-dare-13-twilight-sorbet-creme.html
and Mojo Monday 256:  http://www.mojomonday.blogspot.com/2012/08/mojo-monday-256.html

details:  The Color My Heart challenge this week called for using Twilight, Creme Brulee, and Sorbet.  I liked using the square-patterned Sorbet paper from the new Clementine kit with the Creme Brulee paper from the discontinued You & Me kit backed with the Twilight paper from the Florentine kit.  I just cut these banner shapes by hand but used the Art Philosophy cartridge to cut the shape for the sentiment which was stamped with the 4 My Friend stamp set (D1510), and the flower in the corner was stamped using the Just For You (B1398) set which is one of my favorites.  Not necessarily my best work but I do like the colors together and I got a lot of my scraps used!

Happy crafting,
Annette

Mojo Monday 251

I was planning to enter this card in two challenges, MOJO Monday 251 (http://www.mojomonday.blogspot.com/2012/07/mojo-monday-251.html) and Color My Heart challenge #8 (http://colormyheartcolordare.blogspot.com/2012/07/color-dare-8.html), and I was hurrying to meet the earlier deadline for Color My Heart...  only to remember I hadn't yet added the finishing touches!  So here is my entry for MOJO Monday, bling and all!  The details are the same as I described in my previous post http://www.littlecropshop.blogspot.com/2012/07/color-my-heart-challenge-8-and-mojo-251.html except I added some small self-adhesive pearls, I used the Art Philosophy cartridge to cut the corner arrow shape from p.61, and I used the Little Reminder stamp set (which was the January 2012 stamp of the month), all of which are Close To My Heart products.

Happy crafting!  Annette

Color My Heart challenge #8 and MOJO 251

This week's challenge at Color My Heart (http://colormyheartcolordare.blogspot.com/2012/07/color-dare-8.html) was to use Smoothie and it's split complimentary colors, Sky and Pear.  I used the sketch for Mojo 251 (http://www.mojomonday.blogspot.com/2012/07/mojo-monday-251.html) and entered this card in that challenge as well.  With all the excitement of the new Autumn/Winter 2012 CTMH catalog coming out, I decided this made a fun invitation for my upcoming open house!

As I said, I used the colors Smoothie, Pear, and Sky.  I used the Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge to cut the pennants (which were strung with Smoothie baker's twine and stamped using the A Typeface alpha), the main circular shape was featured on p.51 of the AP handbook and the chevrons were made from negative space left over from cutting several rows of the border featured on p.63.  I used the Love Life stamp set (D1482) for the stamped background on the left side and the retired stamp set Remember This for the circlular date stamp. Of course, after I posted this picture I remembered I was going to add some more finishing touches so you can see the completely finished project and additional "recipe" info here:  http://littlecropshop.blogspot.com/2012/07/mojo-monday-251.html
  
Happy crafting!  Annette