Surf's Up

Wow, it's been awhile since I've posted any artwork.  Sorry about being MIA, life just gets in the way of blogging sometimes...

So here's the next layout from my Hawaii book to show you:

I love these colors and they go so well with my photos.  I'm itching to go back to the Islands - it's been a year and a half since we've taken a vacation...boo.  House renovations have to take priority.  Sucks being a grown-up!

To make this layout I used one of the patterns from the new How-To book, Make It From Your Heart.  This is a great book packed with both layout patterns and card patterns for only $7.95.  Get it here: www.ctmh.com/dmhaight

Pattern:  MIFYH #09
Papers & My Stickease:  Magnifique
Cardstock & Ink:  Pacifica, Lagoon
Sparkles flourishes
Glitz stardust
My Acrylix:  It's Your Day, Catching Waves, Unity
Just Blooms paradise
Mini Medley pacifica
Seashell Chipboard from my stash

I'll try not to take so long before my next post!  Thanks for stopping by!

CTMH Sale

Check out my online store for lots of new items added to the While Supplies Last section: Shop Here Now
(These items can only be purchased online - I won't be able to order them for you)  Tons of great new markdowns, hurry, they won't last long!
Happy Shopping!

Sand Surf Sun

Another page from my Hawaii book:

I was happy to be able to use different colors for these pages!  I love the Moon Doggie papers, but anything can get tiring after working with the same colors continuously.  I combined a couple of patterns to make this one work, but the main pattern I used was Magic Disappearing Act.  I also lifted the 'Sand Surf Sun' part from a complete page, but it was so long ago, I'm afraid I can't remember where I found it!  I'd printed it and tucked it away with my Hawaii stuff because I knew I wanted to use a version of that design...

Anyway, here is a list of the supplies I used:
Pattern:  Magic Disappearing Act (modified)
Papers & My Stickease:  Magnifique
Ink, Cardstock:  Pacifica, Lagoon, Chocolate
Dimensional Elements - Footloose
Seaside Wood Shapes (painted with Create-a-Shade pearl and then colored with markers)
Hemp - natural
Alcohol markers Creme Brule
Blending Pen/Desert Sand ink
Durables round
My Acrylix - You & Me, Friendship alpha large, Cruisin'

Working with these photos make me want to go back to Hawaii...Next time we won't spend so much time stuck on a tour bus though!

Thanks for checking out my blog... I'll post more pages soon! 

Party Planning Made Easy

The CTMH Cricut Artiste cartridge can be used to create all kinds of cute goodies for your next party:

Contact me or shop my Online Store to purchase the new Artiste cartridge!

Scrapbooking Order

I've been reading some posts about the order in which scrapbookers assemble their pages:
Photos First - assembling the page around the photos
Photos Last - create the page leaving 'photo wells' and add photos later
Which way do you choose?

I'm definitely the 'Photo First' type - most of the time I find myself customizing my page design to accommodate the photos I want to use.  Telling the story with the right photos is most important to me.

I haven't really tried doing it the other way around, so I can't really comment on it, but I'm trying to wrap my brain around how that would work for me!  I think I'd stress about finding photos to fit after working on a page.

I'd be interested to hear what everyone else thinks about this - leave me a comment!

Thanks for stopping by!

Garden Paradise

Another page to show you!

I embossed the flower image and colored with our new markers and also using a blending pen.  Still getting used to using the new markers - I might need to get a few more colors so I can practice more.

Pattern:  Magic Spellbound
Papers & My Stickease:  Moon Doggie
Cardstock & Ink:  Honey, Garden Green, Indian Corn Blue, Bamboo, Desert Sand, Cocoa
My Acrylix:  You & Me, Surf's Up, Unity, Catching Waves
Sparkles
Cricut Artiste
Markers, Blending Pen
Cocoa Embossing Powder
Cork Alphas

A few more pages to show you - I'll post them soon!
Thanks for stopping by...

La Belle Vie Wreath

Here is another project I finished recently:

I rolled a gazillion - well, probably more like 150 or so - flowers using the La Belle Vie papers.  I cut the flowers using the Artiste cartridge at a variety of sizes 3", 3 1/4", and 3 1/2".  I used the 'fill page' key and cut 9 flowers per piece of 12 x 12 paper.  I attached them to a styrofoam wreath that I bought from Michaels, and pinned them using corsage pins, also found in the jewelry section of Michaels.  And finished it off with a black satin ribbon.  I love the colors, they coordinate perfectly with the pinky-mauvy walls in my craft room.

Now I'm thinking about making another one using the Flirty papers - it would look great on my front door this Fall!

Hawaii Book Completed!

Yes!  I finished my Hawaii book - yippee!  I'll post photos of my completed pages over the next few days.  Apologies for not posting last week - I stayed busy in my craft room instead of on my computer, and then had a little computer issue for a couple of days.  Thanks to my brilliant computery hubby, I'm back online.

Pineapple Plantation layout:

I started working on this one at a crop I went to on August 25th, but as usual, spent more time talking than working on my layout.  I came home and finished it the next day.  I struggled a little bit with this one because all of the photos I used were of scenery.  I like to have a few photos of people mixed in with the scenery ones, it makes the layout more interesting to look at.  Given that we were on a train tour, I was only able to snap pix of what was coming at me!

Supplies used:
Pattern:  Magic - Deck of Cards
Papers & My Stickease:  Moon Doggie
Cardstock & Ink:  Desert Sand, Cocoa, Bamboo, Garden Green
Kraft Borders
Cricut Artiste
Opaques Mocha
My Acrylix - Fall Harvest, Surf's Up
Journal Spots Journey

Now I'm off to edit more photos of layouts so I can post more in the next few days!

Thanks for stopping by!