Watercolor Blog Hop

Welcome to the Watercolor Blog Hop! Today approximately 30 CTMH consultants will be showcasing different ways to use watercolor paints and pencils in their projects. If you've arrived from  { Helen Gullett's } blog you are on the right track. For a complete list of hoppers please visit Melinda's post { HERE }

I love how bold watercolors can look on a scrapbook layout so today I made one featuring my daughter and me. Her love of rainbows and bright colors was the inspiration for the focal piece of the layout! 

To create it I started out with an 8.5" x 8.5" piece of watercolor paper and lightly drew diagonal lines from the right side of the page 3" from the bottom. I wasn't too careful to stay within the lines and overlapped the colors adding more water here and there to lighten and blend between shades. That's kind of the beauty of watercoloring...it can be as fine and soft or bold and graphic. I think this layout fits somewhere in between!


Thanks for checking out my project! Please continue on to { Vickie ODell's } blog to see what she's created. To purchase any of the products used on this layout please contact your CTMH Consultant or visit my webpage, www.michellebattitori.ctmh.com.


Project Recipe (all CTMH unless otherwise noted):
Paper: Watercolor Paper (Z3146), White Daisy Cardstock (1385), Paper Fundamentals-Enchantment (Z3126)
Stamps: none
Ink: none
Other: Watercolor Paints (Z3132), Paintbrush Set (Z3188), Diagonal Striped Ribbon (Z1989), Purple Glitter Gems (Z1936), Fundamental Stickers-Enchantment (Z3164)

Stampganza Is Back & So Is Mystery Hostess Rewards

If you've been waiting to purchase your favorite stamp sets you're in luck!

It's Stampganza time!!! Buy any two stamp sets at full retail price and get a 3rd one for FREE! That's a savings of up to $29.95. There are no limits to the number of free sets you can earn!* 

To order, simply visit my website, www.michellebattitori.ctmh.com, and either search for stamp sets using the search bar and keywords of interest, or enter the item number of the stamp set. As you add stamps to your cart the system will automatically calculate your free stamp sets! 

<< Mystery Hostess Special >>

As an added bonus I'm offering $25 of having a Mystery Hostess party. For every $35 in orders placed on my website (or directly with me) you'll automatically be entered to earn an additional $25 in FREE products! Use it for more stamp sets, paper, inks, complements, markers, or blocks! I will announce the winner on April 1...no kidding!!

The Mystery  Hostess special is not sponsored through CTMH and is only available through me, Michelle Battitori, your CTMH Independent Consultant. I reserve the right to add multiple hostess rewards at my discretion :) 

*Stamp of the Month, Hostess reward Stamp Sets and Operation Smile stamp stamps are not eligible as free items for this special. However, stamps purchased at full retail value will count towards earning the SOTM for $5.

Happy stamping my creative friends!
~Michelle

March SOTM - Sunshine Birdies

Welcome to the March SOTM Blog Hop! Today, approximately 39 CTMH consultants will be showcasing different uses for the Stamp of the Month, Sunshine Birdies. Sunshine Birdies is a set of 11 adorable stamps and is only available for the month of March.

If you've arrived from  { Michelle Loncar's blog } you are on the right track! This blog hop is a great big circle. At the end of this post simply click on the "next blog" link to be taken to the next participant. If you would like a complete list of hoppers please visit Melinda Everitt's blog{ HERE }.

The sentiments on this set are near and dear to me. It's the song I used to sing to my first born every day when he was a little baby. Now I have three beautiful "sunshines" so I created a layout showcasing all three of them!

The layout is about the first day of school and uses the Georgie paper line and coordinating Georgie Compliments to accessorize. To create the "You are My Sunshine" title I carefully cut my stamp (yes, you can do that) to fit on the die cut shape. If you don't want to cut your stamp you could also mask it with scrap paper or post-it notes.

For the music note circles I cut a circle out of scrap paper and traced it on my paper with a pencil. Then, I simply stamped the notes around the circle.

All the birds and tree branches were stamped on White Daisy Cardstock using Archival Black Ink. Each accent was colored with our ShinHan Touch Markers. I fussy cut each one and popped up using Thin 3D Foam Tape around the page.

I hope this inspires you to try something new with your stamp set! As a reminder, this set is only available until March 31. To purchase it, or any of the products used on this layout, please contact your CTMH Consultant or visit my website, www.michellebattitori.ctmh.com. 

Please hop to  { Jean McNulty's blog } to see what she's created!

Layout Recipe (all CTMH unless otherwise noted):

Paper: Slate Cardstock (X5930), Georgie Paper (X7203B), White Daisy Cardstock (1385)

Stamp: Sunshine Birdies (S1606)

Ink: Archival Black (44751), Slate (Z2173), Poppy (Z2652)

ShinHan Touch Markers: Marigold (Z2457), Cerulean Blue (Z2449), Tender Pink (Z2464), Leaf Green (Z2454), Golden Yellow (Z2452), Barely Beige (Z2445), Cherry Pink (Z2450)

Other: Georgie Compliments (X7203C) , Grey Enamel Gems (Z3089), Journaling Pen (Z1979), Thin 3D Foam Tape (Z2060), Coral Shimmer Trim (Z3088), Art Philosophy Cricut Cartridge, 

March Creative Club

March Creative Club is scheduled for Friday, 3/11, at 7 pm! We'll be exploring 4 different coloring techniques using the ShinHan Touch Markers and the adorable Spring Critters stamp set and coordinating Thin Cuts Dies. 

Cost for the class is only $5! If you are in the Northern VA area I'd love to have you attend. To RSVP please visit my meetup.com group { HERE }!

>>> Michelle's Exclusive Special <<<

Purchase any 5 ShinHan Markers of your choosing and receive a FREE Colorless Blender from me! 

 To claim your free Colorless Blender simply place an order for 5 ShinHan Touch Markers on my website, www.michellebattitori.ctmh.com, let me know you ordered and I'll send you a Colorless Blender in the mail (or have it at club if you are attending). That's it!

This offer is not sponsered by CTMH and is only available through me, Michelle Battitori, CTMH Independent Consultant.

Share the Love Inspiration

The Share the Love stamp set is really pretty amazing. Not only are the images versatile and adorable but each purchase of this stamp set helps out Operation Smile, an amazing organization that provides surgeries for kids with cleft palettes.

Want to see what you can do with this set? Check out these projects from fellow CTMH Consultants:

{ THIS } card by Brenda Rose adorable! I love how she incorporated the phone booth with the phone image. Very creative and clever!

I'm loving { THIS } graphic card from Maz.CTMH! The watercoloring and splatters are a perfect background for the white Cricut Artistry font and phone 'O'!

And finally, { THIS } card from Vicki O'Dell makes me so happy! I love how she cut the balloon images from Cricut Artistry and popped up the card front to accent the subtle B&T paper from Charlotte!

Did you know that it only costs $240 and about 40 minutes of surgery to fix 1 cleft palette? That's only 35 Share the Love Purchases*! Please help me and CTMH change a child's life by purchasing your set today! To order, simply contact your CTMH Consultant or visit my website { HERE }.

*This set is only available until 2/29/16.

Happy creating my friends!

~Michelle

Reflections of Me Scrapbook Layout

As scrapbookers we tend to create layouts about everyone but us. Last year I made an album for my hubby's 40th birthday, a little retrospective of the first 25 years of his life (after that it's part of our family scrapbooks). This year I decided to it was time to finally make one about me.

I've tried doing this in the past but for some reason it just didn't feel right. But, thanks to THIS inspiring post and awesome sketch I completed my cover page! I picked three photos from three distinct periods of my life and wrote a little about each (you can  click on the photo for a larger version to read the journaling).

I stuck pretty close to the sketch and used the Charlotte line to complement the photos. The color palette and patterns are pretty timeless and work well with the colors in my photos.

The title is from the Paper Fundamentals Basic Line. The foil alphabet is simply gorgeous! It's a perfect addition and the inspiration for the title, "Reflections of Me."

I look forward to completing and sharing more of this special album. I hope it inspires you to pull out some old photos and create something from your past.

~Michelle Battitori

Project Recipe (all CTMH unless otherwise noted):
Paper: Charlotte (X7205B), Cashmere Cardstock (X5932), Slate Cardstock (X5930)
Stamps: n/a
Ink: n/a
Other: Pink Enamel Gems (Z3091), Charlotte Compliments (X7205C), Whisper Thick Twine (Z3095), Fundamental Sticker Pack-Basic (Z3166), Keyboard Craft Alphabets (retired), Dimensional Elements Stars (retired), Treasured Puffies (Z3203), 1 1/4" Circle Punch, Journaling Pen

Balloon Animal Shaker Card

I recently purchased the Fuse Tool and finally had a chance to play with it on this shaker card. I used a 3" x 4" Flip Flap for the pocket and trimmed it to size using the Fuse Tool to seal the edges. 

The balloon shapes were cut from the Artiste cartridge. I added a thin layer of Liquid Glass for extra shine. The card design is based on Freshly Made Sketch #223. 

Such a fun and sweet little card!

~Michelle 

Project Recipe (all CTMH unless otherwise noted):
Paper: White Daisy Cardstock (1385), Gypsy Cardstock (X5757), Lagoon Cardstock (X5762), Blush Cardstock (retired)
Stamp: Balloon Animals (S1602)
Ink: Archival Black (44751), Lagoon (Z2195)
Other: Artiste Cricut Cartridge (Z3170), Neutral Metallic Bakers Twine (Z1921), buttons (retired), rhinestones (unknown), Liquid Glass (Z679), Flip Flap (Z3027), Fuse Tool (We R Memory Keepers)