May SOTM Blog Hop - Just Sayin'

Welcome to the May Stamp of the Month blog hop! This month we are featuring the May SOTM, Just Sayin'. If you are coming from Jennifer's blog you are on the right track. This hop is a great big circle but if you get lost along the way simply go HERE for a list of participating CTMH consultants.

When I first saw this set I knew the stamps would be a perfect accent to document a zip lining trip my hubby and I took on a Hawaii vacation in 2012. I kept the page pretty simple. I started with the Seaside Paper pack and the Surf's Up Picture My Life cards. I love how well these two products coordinate despite being from different sets.

To decorate the page I used the circle and triangle shapes to create an accent banner in the top right of my page. With the banners and hand stitching on the bottom I wanted to keep my other embellishments simple so I finished it off by stamping the sentiments and clustering them around the page. 

I love adding interactive elements to my pages so I added the QR codes for the YouTube videos of our adventure. Hopefully this technology will be available for future generations to watch!

Supplies Used (All CTMH Unless Otherwise Noted)
Paper: Seaside, Grey Flannel (retired), White Daisy Cardstock
Stamps: Just Sayin'
Ink: Chocolate, Black, Desert Sand, Sorbet, Hollyhock
Other: Cricut Art Philosophy Cartridge, Paper Piercer, Black Thread, Needle, Houndstooth Washi Tape, 3D Foam Tape, Sponge Daubers, Surf's Up Picture My Life

Thanks for checking out my project! Please hop on over to Jenny's blog to see what creative project she's made!

~Michelle Battitori

Happy Spring Card

Today's card is based on Freshly Made Sketches #175.

The border on the card front is courtesy of the Sunset Chevron washi tape. The clouds were cut from the Art Philosophy Cricut Cartridge. The hot air balloon was stamped in black ink and colored with a variety of ShinHan Touch Markers.

Supplies Used (all CTMH unless otherwise noted):

Paper: Indian Blue Cardstock, Glacier Cardstock, White Daisy Cardstock, Hopscotch Paper

Ink: Black

Stamp: Hopping By (D1633)

Other: Sunset Chevron Washi Tape, Art Philosophy Cricut Cartridge, ShinHan Touch Markers, 3D Foam Tape, Scissors

Thanks for looking!

~Michelle

Annual Inspirations New Product Blog Hop

Welcome to our Annual Inspiration New Product Blog Hop!  Each participant will be using products of their choosing to showcase the versatility and variety of the fabulous new products from Close To My Heart.

 If you have come here from Melissa Robinson's Blog, you are on the right path! The blog hop is a great big circle, so you can start here and work your way all around.  If you get lost along the way, you’ll find the complete list of participating consultants at Adeline's blog.

This month we have approximately 54 Close To My Heart Consultants sharing their creations. Working the hop is simple to do - just click on the link at the end of the post on each blog to move to the next one! Here we go!

 

For my project I'm featuring the new Seaside Paper Pack and the Hello Summer stamp set in a fun little mini-album! This is actually a project I made several months ago at a CTMH Regional event but I had to wait until August to share it. 

I'm still waiting for my summer vacation pictures to be developed so I've chosen to leave the pages blank for the time being. But, to give you an idea of what the mini-album looks like take a look at the interior pages below:

Cover & Page 1

Pages 2 & 3

Pages 3 & 4

Pages 5 & 6

Pages 7 & 8

Pages 9 & 10

Pages 11 & 12

Pages 12 & 13

Page 14 & Back Cover

Supplies Used:

Z1956  My Creations Hip Pics Album

C1595  My Acrylix Hello Summer

X7192B Seaside B&T Duos™

X5763 Smoothie Cardstock

X5762 Lagoon Cardstock

1385 White Daisy Cardstock

Z1934 Flamingo Dots

Z1887 My Crush Best Day Ever Assortment

Z1920 Gold Polka Dot Washi Tape

This really was a fun and easy project to make and I look forward to offering it as workshop soon so stay tuned for more info! 

Now "Hop" on over to Terry Ann Diack's blog to see her work! Be sure to visit all the Consultants at their Blogs to get some great crafting ideas and other fun ideas! 

Remember, the Annual Inspirations book is available all year!  Contact your CTMH Consultant (or click HERE) to get a copy of your Annual Inspirations Book today!

Thanks for checking out my project and have a wonderful day!

~Michelle Battitori

Everything ABC Blog Hop - 'D'

Welcome to the Everything ABC's Blog Hop!

For this hop we will be featuring the letter 'D'. This may be the name of a paper, a stamp set or an embellishment. For this hop I'm focusing on a Disney, Dimensional Elements, D-sized stamp, mini album! Specifically, I'm focusing on the products that coordinate with the Artiste Cartridge.

 If you have just hopped onto my blog, please start at the beginning at Linda's blog ~ Scrappy Therapy. If you came from Lauren's, CTMH Craftings blog then you're on the right track!

Last weekend we took our two youngest children to see a Disney On Ice show. We had a wonderful time and since they've mentioned it every day since I thought it would be nice to have a little memento for them to flip through at their leisure.

Dimensional Elements are what Close To My Heart calls it's chipboard shapes. CTMH has a variety of Dimensional Elements to choose from -- Complements (that coordinate with certain paper packs), "Naked" (plain chipboard like the ones that come with our Cricut Cartridges), and Irresistibles (pre-embossed Dimensional Elements). One of the sheets that came with the Artiste cartridge is the cute little mini-album I'm using.

Each Cricut cartridge comes with 3 Dimensional Elements sheets and 3 coordinating D-sized Stamp sets, making it super easy to add dimension and variety to our projects. My project focuses on the Dimensional Elemetns Album Pages that comes with the Artiste Cartridge (see page 60 of the Artiste handbook). The label tells me the proper dial size to use...in this case it's 3 3/4."

Once I decided on my paper choice, Skylark,  I went about cutting 2 of each shape, one for the front and one for the back. I adhered the paper with my Tombow adhesive.

I used a few different techniques to use with our Dimensional Elements sheets. The cover page focuses on our Irresistbles. I used my Juniper Alcohol Marker to color the letters. Because it's been embossed already the color only shows on the non-embossed portions.

On the 2nd page I stamped an image from one of the Artiste stamp sets and accentuated the page with one of the Skylark Complements pieces. 

For page 3 I used my Cricut to cut the star image from the Artiste Collection and stamped it with Sweet Leaf Ink. 

Page 4 didn't use any Dimensional Elements so I opted to add a little bling with our Silver Shimmer Trim...after all, Princess Ariel likes her shiny "thing-a-ma-bobs!"

For page 5, I cut the word bubble shape from the Artiste Cartridge at 1 1/2" (p. 65, Shift + Accent 2 <B>) using Brown Bag cardstock. I inked the border of the coordinating stamp, "thanks" with Brown Bag Ink and used it as a journaling spot.

For page 6 I went back to the Skylark Complements. I also stamped the arrow image from Word Balloons Stamp Set and trimmed with my scissors. 

For page 7 I covered the Dimensional Element shape with B&T paper and a little bit of Washi Tape. I also stamped a sentiment from the Kudos Stamp Set.

I kept page 8 very simple by adding a small strip of Silver Shimmer Trip. The top sentiment, Perfect Day, was trimmed from a zip strip and popped up with 3D Foam Tape.

For page 9 I used my Cricut Artiste to cut a banner shape out of B&T paper (p. 58, Shift + Accent 3 <K>). I stamped the coordinating image from the Birthday Collection Stamp set and adhered to the page.

For page 10 I went back to the Skylark Complements (I'm totally in love with them). I also added a little of Shimmer Tape tabs along the top.

I finished off my little mini just as I started...with some Irresistibles and a picture of the finale! 

And the back cover:

Supplies (all CTMH unless otherwise noted):

Paper: Skylark (X7177B), Crystal Blue Cardstock (1292), Sweet Leaf Cardstock  (X5639), Brown Bag Cardstock (, White Daisy Cardstock (1385)

Stamps: Cricut Artiste Kudos, Cricut Artiste Balloon Wishes, Cricut Artiste Birthday

Ink: Crystal Blue (Z2117), Juniper (Z2165), Chocoalte (Z2111), Saddle Cardstock (X5928), Sweet Leaf (Z2153)

Other: Cricut Artiste Cartridge (XXX), Dimensional Elements Album Pages (Z1791), Dimensional Elements Awards (Z1792), Dimensional Elements Quotes (Z1793), Irresistible Houndstooth Alphabet (retired), Skylark Complements (X7177C), Silver Shimmer Trim (Z1799), 3D Foam Tape (Z1151)

Thank you for stopping by and checking out my project. I hope it inspires you to create use your Dimensional Elements Album Pages for a little mini project of your own! Your next stop on our Everything ABC'S blog Hop is Catherine at Catscrapbooking.

~Michelle Battitori

Here's the entire hop in case you get lost along the way :):

1. Linda Norman- Scrappy Therapy 

2. Lauren Moore- CTMH Craftings

3. Michelle Battitori - that's me!

4. Catherine Nowak ~ Catscrapbooking 

5. Jenny Gilbert - Jen's Creative Classroom 

6.  Lisa Plummer - Flaunt Your Creativity

7. Cary Magnani - My Heart's Design 

8. Shalana Glass - Scrappin with Shalana 

9. Pam Trostle - Pam's Crafty Creations 

10. Michele Pryor - Michele's Ink It Stamp It 

11. Sharon Chapman - PaperFiesta

12 Anita Autore -  Cards and Coffee 

A Lollydoodle Birthday Card - Mojo Monday 333

I've been having so much fun with Washi Tape that I decided to make another birthday card with it! The paper, Lollydoodle, is quickly becoming one of my favorites from the Spring/Summer Idea Book.

I kept the inside pretty simple only adding a small piece of leftover Washi tape to the inside corner.

To stamp the image I curved the sentiment on my clear block, using the cutout as a guide. The sketch is from this week's Mojo Monday sketch #333.

Thanks for checking it out!

~Michelle Battitori

Supplies (all CTMH unless otherwise noted):
Paper: Lollydoodle (X7183B), Cotton Candy Cardstock (X5760), Juniper Cardstock (X5752)
Stamps: Just a Number (D1514)
Ink: Slate (Z2173)
Other: Lagoon Houndstooth Washi Tape (Z1850), Chocolate Woodgrain Washi Tape (Z1930), Smoothie Striped Washi Tape (Z1923), Bronze Shimmer Trim (Z1849), Babycakes Assortment (Z1869), Paper Flowers (retired)

Here's the sketch:

Technique Blog Hop - Washi Tape

Welcome to our Technique Blog Hop! This month there are 12 of us highlighting Washi Tape!

This blog hop is a great big circle so you can start wherever you want and continue through to see all the fabulous artwork incorporating this technique.

If you are coming from Haley's Blog, you are on the right track!

So, you've probably heard of Washi tape but still might be confused on what it is. And no, I'm not accidentally misspelling wasabi, one of my favorite sushi condiments! Basically washi tape is really pretty masking tape. It's thin, translucent, repositionable and oh so fun to use!

Lollydoodle Paper

So, what's the point of using it over paper? It took me a while to answer that question myself. I like it because it's a super quick way to add variety to lots of projects...anything from candles and switch plate covers to cards scrapbook layouts, an folder tabs!

Timberline Paper

My favorite part though is that I can make bulk cards and tags super quickly without pulling out a lot of supplies. Both cards I made today use this week's Mojo Monday sketch. I started out with my basic supplies and ended up with some really fantastic and quick 5" x 7" birthday cards.

Tag Close Up

To make the tags I simply tore strips of washi tape and adhered them to my tags wrapping the edges around the back. I finished the tags with a some shimmer trim for some added bling and added a few embellishments for some extra pop! Here's what the tags looks liked before I added them to the cards:

If you'd like to make a card similar to mine here are my measurements:

• 10" x 7" piece of cardstock folded at 5" to create a card base
• Mat a 4" x 6" piece of pattern paper to a 4 1/2" x 5 1/2" piece of cardstock
• Add a 1" x 5" strip of coordinating paper in center of card. 
• Decorate tag with washi tape and adhere to center of card
• Embellish as desired

That's it! Fast. Simple. Easy. Thanks for checking out my post. Please hop to Judy's Blog to see what creative uses she came up!

Supplies Used (All CTMH Unless Otherwise Noted):
Paper: Colonial White Cardstock, White Daisy Cardstock, Cotton Candy Cardstock, Honey Cardstock, Chocolate Cardstock, Timberline (X7182B), Lollydoodle (X7183B)
Stamps: Just a Number (D1514), Holiday Tags (D1560)
Ink: Black (Z2105)
Other: Gold Polka_Dot Washi Tape (Z1920), Smoothie Striped Washi Tape (Z1923), Chocolate Woodgrain Washi Tape (Z1930), Honey Triangles Washi Tape (Z1931), Shimmer Trim-Silver (Z1799), Shimmer Trim-Teal (Z1918), Dimensional Elements-Hearts (Z1735), Dimensional Elements-Signage (Z1902), 3D Foam Tape (Z1151), Bone Folder, Pink Buttons, Shipping Tags (Staples)

~Michelle Battitori

Mojo Monday Sketch:

Wacky Washi Tape

What do you get when you mix beautiful colors, fantastic patterns, and adhesive?? It's Washi Tape of course! Check out this CTMH video showing some creative ways to use Washi Tape to create a quick birthday card anyone would love to receive.

Note: If you are viewing this post via email you will need to click on the post titlr to view the video or use the link below. 

Did you know CTMH has single rolls and 3-pack rolls of Washi Tape? You can check them out on my website HERE.

Video Link: http://www.youtube.com/v/3EiuYOuNJS4?autohide=1&version=3&autohide=1&showinfo=1&autoplay=1&attribution_tag=YFRr5IDq9HRXfSz9KpGnbQ&feature=share