Everything ABC's blog hop - letter V

Welcome to the Everything ABC's Blog Hop

  

For this hop we will be featuring the letter "V".  This may be the name of a paper, a stamp set or an embellishment.  Whatever the crafter has chosen as their "V" element will be featured in their post.  

If you came from  Donna Long of Hints Of Happiness with Donna  you are on the right track.  

Linda Norman of Scrappy Therapy has the entire hop list in case you get lost. 

My "V" is vinyl.  I've never cut any vinyl, ever! though have had a cricut for years and have been wanting to cut vinyl for some time.  On Wednesday, I was asked to cut some letters for labeling the Prayer Room at church and I immediately realized that the vinyl I had won at a scrapping retreat at the Firs a couple weeks ago would be perfect.  I just need to figure out how to cut the vinyl using the cricut machine and our amazing cartridges.  Which alphabet would be best?  I used Art Philosophy

I love our Cricut Collections, they are pretty much all I use anymore, though the praying images are from "Inspired Hearts".

Here's what I cut out, just waiting to adhere it to the wall.  I'm at church, I'm the coordinator for our GEMS girls' club(Girls Everywhere Meeting the Savior) and we are having our annual Sleep over - can you imagine 20 girls - grades 1-8.  I abandoned "ship" to make my Cricut cuts, and found that it was much easier than anticipated.  I did a double cut thinking it would be needed, but could have just done the single cut.  I'm not sure why the right side of the vinyl was "chewed-up" but it seems that was caused by the Circuit rollers as it moved the mat up and down.  I'm wondering if anyone else has had that happened?  It's just along the edge so doesn't effect the images.  I am so happy with the results.  I know I now have two more Vinyl Projects!

Cutouts ready to adhere to the wall

As soon as I get these adhered to the wall, I'll upload a photo.

I'm the last stop on the blog hop, since it's a big circle the next stop on the Everything ABC's Blog Hop is the beginning of the blog Linda Norman of Scrappy Therapy  She also has the entire list in case you get

 lost along the way.  Hope you enjoyed the tour.

Diffuse Your Artwork - Technique Blog Hop

Welcome to the CTMH October 

Technique Blog Hop 

This month we will be showcasing our two new Diffusers, Circle or Square, found in the Close to My Heart Annual Inspirations Idea Book on page 123.

If you have arrived from Melissa Robinson's blog, then you are in the right place.  If you want to start at the beginning, visit Melissa's blog, but if you want to keep hopping, be assured you'll see it all since it's a big circle.  You can start wherever you want and continue through to see all the fabulous artwork incorporating this technique.

This challenge had me absolutely stumped!

I tried to emboss and actually cracked the edge of the circle diffuser, and dented/cracked  the embossing folder.  I impulsively tried this without instructions.  

Not too smart!  Here's a tutorial.

 

FAST and so EASY!

For my card base I used Smoothie card stock cut at 8 1/2 and 5 1/2.  I also use smoothie on the chevron embellishment.  I sponged the embossed white daisy (cut at 4 x 5 1/4) with  smoothie, Pomegranate, Canary, and Saffron. The "Blessed" stamp is from "Harvest Wreath Holiday" and stamped using the new Memento Tuxedo Black ink.  The edges of the white daisy were distressed with a scissors.  To add some finishing touches, I added a strip of the red glitter paper and red Enamel Gems,

Now hop over to Priscilla Gotham and see what amazing art she has created.  Thanks for stopping by.  Please, be sure to leave a comment and let me know what you thought of my inspiration.

Everything ABC's blog hop - letter U

Welcome to the Everything ABC's Blog Hop

  

For this hop we will be featuring the letter "U".  This may be the name of a paper, a stamp set or an embellishment.  Whatever the crafter has chosen as their "U" element will be featured in their post.  

If you came from Linda Norman of Scrappy Therapy you are on the right track.  

Linda also has the entire hop list in case you get lost. 

For this hop my "U" are those Unfinished projects like the CTMH  convention layout "UP".  I also have other unfinished projects that I'm working on up at The Firs Chalet Mt. Baker and will share what I've completed.  The Firs Conference Center in Bellingham offers 2 weekend retreats early October, I usually go the first weekend, but I'm "retired" so signed up for both weekends. I'm so glad I was there last weekend, the weather was perfect and I was able to get some amazing photos.  Today, it's raining, so I just might not even see the mountain.

I always have Unfinished projects but lately life has been extra busy.   Not only am I still working full- time, Don and I have taken on the role of temporary foster parents for a teenager.  Due to confidentiality, I cannot say more than that we are happy to be able to provide a home and love for this delightful child. 

I'm finally home and able to upload the photo! Happy Dance.  At the retreat, I had posted the photo to FB hoping to get around the phone problem, but wasn't able to use that photo either. Thanks Denise, for the comment that for this layout to be really done.... it needs a photo.   Hmmmm, novel thought.

 I'm more a card maker and all my layouts are accumulating in an album and very few have photos. I love the hops because they challenge me to get work done and I love the challenge to get a photo in this still Unfinished Up layout; then I'll be able to say, "Done and Done!" 

The other two Unfinished projects I'm completing were not able to be completed because: (1) I was missing some paper - the CTMH order that was arriving Friday is now not arriving until Monday, (2) Cricut Craft Room isn't working since I uploaded Design Space.  Not sure why!  (3) so I moved on to making jewelry and now that's Unfinished because I didn't have the covers.  I still had a great time at the retreat and all partially Undone projects will eventually be officially DONE!  

Up without Photos

Your next stop on our Everything ABC's Blog Hop is Catherine Nowak of CatScrapbooking.  If you get lost along the way... go to Scrappy Therapy.

Spotlight on Holiday Expressions Blog Hop

 Spotlight on the Holiday Expressions Catalog

If you have come here from  Priscilla Gotham'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 on Melinda’s Blog.

For this blog hop we have approximately 30 Close To My Heart Consultants sharing their creations using elements from the new Holiday Expressions and other great CTMH products on their blogs. This 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 inspiration from the New Holiday Expressions, I created a card from the White Pines paperpack.

not available

Now hop over to Wendy Coffman and see what amazing art she has created.

Thanks for stopping by. Please, be sure to leave a comment and let me know what you thought of my inspiration.

October SOTM Blog Hop - Twinkle

Welcome to our Stamp of the Month Blog Hop! 

We will be featuring October's SOTM

which is Twinkle, a set of 15 stamps.

If you have come here from Paige Dolecki, 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 on Melinda’s Blog:  http://ifyoublingit.blogspot.com/p/stamp-of-month-blog-hop-list.html.

This month we have approximately 44 Close To My Heart Consultants sharing their creations using the October SOTM and other great CTMH products on their blogs. This 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!  
I love the new Sangria paper and thought it had a Christmas, festive appeal so used it for this Christmas card.   I also noticed that the stamped ornament resembled the ornament in the CTMH Cricut cartridge "Artbooking" Christmas overlay.  I used one sheet of the Sangria Bulk B&T paper and made 7 cards.  I cut the layout at 10 inches and then simply used 3-4 ornaments on each card.  Some of them have cut out centers and backed with red glitter trim.  I like the glitter and will be adding more circles and oval trim to the cards for the ornaments that have no glitter.

Now "Hop" on over to Michelle Loncar  to see her work! Be sure to visit all the consultants at their blogs to get some great crafting ideas and other creative inspiration! Comments are appreciated to encourage our creative endeavors.  We really do read them.

 Remember, the October SOTM is only available until October 31!  Contact your CTMH consultant (or click here) to see how you can get this stamp set at a discount! Each month you can purchase a new D-size stamp set, available for one month only, for just $5—that’s over 70% off retail! When you place an order of $50 or more in Close To My Heart products, you qualify for this special Stamp of the Month pricing.