adventure card for Retro Sketches challenge

I'm really sneaking this under the wire but I  just have to share it at this week's Retro Sketches challenge, I've been planning it in my mind for several days and have barely had time to craft lately!

Laughing Lola peace signs

My daughter is pretty much a hippie at heart and she has always loved smiley faces and peace signs so I wasn't at all surprised when she picked a comforter for college that featured brightly colored peace signs everywhere.  Since the first picture frame/dry erase board I made last year, I had promised to make one for my daughter when she was ready to go to college so I loved that the Laughing Lola paper kit so closely matched the colors in her comforter.  I can't wait until she gets home from her last shift at her summer job and I can show it to her!

I had hoarded saved some of the Ocean blue from the discontinued summer colors CTMH had several years ago.  This project is doubly nostalgic actually because this was the first paper pack I bought from CTMH and I got  it specifically because that blue was and still is my daughter's favorite color, and this is the last project I will get to make her before she leaves home.  Other than the Ocean, I used the Lola snakeskin pattern for the peace signs and letters, Gypsy and the Lola purple for the solid colored peace signs, and the zip  strip from the paisley page of the Lola kits as a border.  The letters for her name are from the Artbooking cartridge and the peace sign is from the "Feelin' Groovy" Cricut cartridge, which is also something I bought with my daughter in mind, and it has seen a lot of use, LOL!

Happy crafting, Annette

first layout with the Artbooking cartridge!

Just in case you haven't heard the news...  Close To My Heart has come out with another exclusive Cricut  cartridge and it is absolutely FABULOUS!!!!  Here's my first layout using the Artbooking cartridge:

I am finishing up my daughter's graduation and senior year pics so I really wanted to use the school's colors.  I tried one of the layouts in red and one in black and ended up taking the negative space pieces from one and trimming them down about 1/4" and resetting them in place.  I had to use my computer to scan, copy and size the mascot emblem and I cut a piece of cardstock down to a 4x6" rectangle and ran it through the printer, cut it in a circle and inked the edges to make it stand out.  I also cut the banner photo mat with the Artbooking cartridge and used the Keyboard Uppercase stamp set for "class of 2013."  Prior to getting the cartridge I had already cut out several of the "Red Raiders" pieces using an alpha from a Cricut cartridge called Paper Lace so I used those, and I just love what I came up with!

For Always WOTG for

I have been playing around with variations of the pattern from the For Always Workshop on the Go using our school colors and finally got it done...  just in time to enter it for exhibit at our state fair.  I LOVE this paper and I'm so glad it was one of the papers carried over from the last catalog!!!

I used the stamp sets from the Artbooking cartridge for the word "lovely" in the upper left corner as well as the lacey shape in the middle of the right hand page.  I used the monogram stamps and embossed them in silver on black cardstock for the school's initials, I used the black glitter tape along the bottom of the photos and black & grey sparkles assortment for a little added bling.

 

Happy crafting!  Annette

For Always CAS layout

This project is not for any online challenge but something I have challenged myself to do, something on my bucket list:  not only have I captured an image that represents a big part of my daughter's personality but I'm going to enter this for exhibit at our state fair, my first time doing so.  It's a really clean and simple layout but I felt that's what was most fitting for these pictures.  I admit I tried various other layouts and several other paper kits but kept coming back to this one...  and I even got my daughter's stamp of approval!

I used the For Always paper kit and White Daisy, Slate, and Black cardstock and the large black gems in the black and gray sparkles set.  I wanted a font that looked handwritten so I used the one from the Paper Lace Cricut cartridge.

Happy crafting!

Annette

Don't miss your chance to work this workshop!

I immediately fell in love with the Art Canvas Workshop on the Go but life has been so busy I hadn't gotten around to using it yet... but I finally made time tonight and the results were worth the wait!  There is a promotion through the end of July called "Work the Workshop" in which these kits (originally $39.95) are only $19.95.  It's such a fabulous kit and awesome deal I may have to pick up a few more!

 

All supplies are from Close To My Heart:  Art Canvas WOTG, Chocolate and Cranberry inks, and the Token alphabet stamp set for the "2013."

 

Happy crafting, Annette

A happy, happy, happy birthday card for my husband...

I discovered that the Pause, Dream, and Enjoy challenge has transformed into a new challenge blog called An Inky Situation and their first challenge is "anything goes," so I thought that would be a lovely excuse to share this particular card.  I am also entering this in the current challenge at the Heart 2 Heart blog where this week's theme is "Mix & Mingle" and calls for using 3 or more paper kits or stamp sets.

A couple of years ago my husband decided he wasn't just going to celebrate his birthday one day out of the year but that he was going to have a "birthday season" which would run from Father's Day through July 4th and his birthday which is in the same week, and pretty much through whatever special events we're doing as a family so he usually calls it good when the state fair winds up.  He recently become a big "Duck Dynasty" fan and his new favorite saying from the show is, "Happy, happy, happy," and for Father's Day we found him a  black shirt with that saying in red writing.  So I wanted to incorporate that into his birthday card but it took a while for inspiration to strike... at the last minute of course!  It turned out to be a little more time consuming than I anticipated it was worth it when he got it and I saw his smile.

details:  All products used are from Close To My Heart.  I covered the front of the card with a layer of Cranberry cardstock and used my Gyspy and Cricut along with the CTMH Artiste cartridge to line up and cut the letters.  I used black ink and the "Tiny Typewriter" alpha for the stamped sentiment on the cover and inside the card.  I inked the "Moments In Time" calendar images in Grey Wool and sponged Cranberry over the dates officially part of the birthday season.  For the patterns behind the top and bottom "happy" on the front I used "Diverse Backgrounds" and "In the Background" for the middle one.  I felt like it was missing something but I wanted to keep it masculine so I added some black twine, which isn't something I use very often but I was pleased with the results.

Happy crafting and best wishes to the folks over at the Inky Situation blog as well as the new design teams at H2H!
Annette