A Chocolate Affair Blog Hop

Hello friends!  It’s time to do a blog hop!    Welcome, if you’ve just come from Lucy Kelleher’s blog.
We’ve all been looking forward to August!  It’s a new Idea Book.  A new Cricut Cartridge called Artbooking and this fabulous Stamp of the Month called A Chocolate Affair.  It’s usually $5 with a $50 purchase.  This month it’s FREE and it’s CHOCOLATE!  Free Chocolate, can life get better than that? 
Here’s my creation.  It features a bit of yellow from the new Babycakes paper pack and a calendar page cut from Artbooking.  The red heart is cut freehand from our new RED shimmer trim.  Whoo hoo!  I love that stuff.  The days of the week are actually part of the Artbooking cut and are attached to the overlay that has the slots for each day of the week.  I used my Smoothie marker to make them a bit more defined since they’re so small.  I added the Oh Happy Day from the Artiste bundle because it works beautifully and rhymes.  Oh happy day, everyday is a Sundae. 
 
 
Here’s the whole luscious stamp set.  It has 8 images with separate sentiment stamps so you can mix & match easily!  I’ll be posting more artwork throughout the month of August with this stamp set.  I have so many ideas and so little time.  And not nearly enough real chocolate. 

Hope you’ll come back soon and take a look at the rest of my blog with recent Artbooking posts and specials. 
Now on to Krista Ritskes’ blog.  Have a great day!

Retiring Stamp Sets

Here’s a quick look at the stamp sets that will be retired in a few short days (July 31st!).  Click on the link to see a larger view or place an order. 

A1132 Family

A1133 Festival of Lights


B1372 Circle Together


B1395 So Grateful

Summer Fun & Sun with Artbooking

I cannot believe how fast I created this layout last night on my Cricut.  It didn't take any time at all to cut the honeycomb backgrounds, the sun, frames and the title.

I haven’t added pictures yet because I’m on a time crunch and THE PIX ARE TAKING TOO LONG to get ready to print locally.  I’ve decided to upload them in a new Studio J blank page and have them printed the next time I order Studio J.  I can now print my photos in Studio J that will fit my classic scrapbooking pages.  3x3 photos, here I come!  They still arrive on a 12x12 page, so I’ll get lots of photos on one page, I’ll just have to trim them apart when they arrive.  It’s also cheaper than going to Walgreens when ordering a 5x7 and other miscellaneous sizes.  More about faster & cheaper photo printing with StudioJ later. 

This layout is going to hold pictures I took this Monday & Tuesday.  I’m excited to see pix in a layout so quickly!


The foundation of my page is from page 67 of the Artbooking handbooking.


As we don’t have palm trees on Washington beaches, I decided to drop that element.  I opted for a sun (it’s very exciting when we see that here) from page 53.  I also brought over the title from that page.  The sun was cut at 7” based on the handbook page that it was on.  It turned out to be about 4.5.”  I used Center Point to put the swirl in the center of the sun.

The title fun&sun was lost on the honeycomb background so I added the summer from page 52.  It’s a mini-book page.  I used fit to length and cut it to fit the fun&sun shape I had already cut. 


I used the Surf’s Up paper pack.  Love how I didn’t have to dig through my stash to find coordinating papers.  I also used the Mini-Medley Accents Wooden Collection. 

My pre-order for Artbooking is starting next week.  Read why I’m waiting here—It’s to your benefit!

Your Friendship is like Coffee

When a coffee themed stamp shows up around here, it’s exciting!  Living in the shadow of Seattle, Starbucks stores are more common than McDonalds.  We loved this stamp set. 
Last month we created this card using Buzz & Bumble papers (already sold out) and the Cup of Cheer stamp set.  Inside the coffee bean border continues across the bottom with a steaming latte or tea cup. 


Click here to see the whole stamp set

I have a few of kits for this card left over from my June workshop.  I’ll be posting them and others for sale on my Facebook page next month.  In the mean-time you can order your stamp set today!  Click here to get started.  

Artbooking Pre-Order

I am so excited to offer this pre-order at $10 off! 

This new cartridge will start shipping from CTMH on August 1!  Don’t order it now from somebody else, wait until July 15th to get it here!  Sign up today to be notified that the pre-order is available! 

Why July 15th? 
  **PayPal buyer protection expires in 45 days. Stay fully protected! 
  **Good things come to those who wait.
  **All shipments will go out on or after 8/1 from the same CTMH warehouse.  Buying now doesn’t give you an advantage. 

Laughing Lola Artbooking Card

Good morning! 
Yes, it’s still morning here on the west coast.  When I received my Artbooking Cricut Bundle this weekend, I immediately envisioned this card.  The sentiments and that journaling banner would fit perfectly on a card at 4” tall. 
Meet Laughing Lola and the Artbooking Cricut cartridge.  I know this is technically a scrapbooking cartridge but it’s going to make cards too! 

Don’t forget!  You can receive $10 off your Artbooking bundle when you pre-order with me!  I’ll be taking pre-orders starting on the 15th.  Sign up for a reminder here.

Well, wouldn't you know.  Michelle at Atlantic Hearts's Sketch Challenge contacted me to say that my card matches their sketch challenge this week!  How fun!

A sketch is the foundation of a card or scrapbook layout design.  In this case, it was 4 stripes of color or paper.  Go here to check out the sketch and see other entries.

Dog gone good day

 

I made a lot of guy cards in May, as that was the theme of our workshop “Guys, Dads & Grads.” 

I have an addiction to Pinterest.    For the last 2 years (I started using it when it was invite only, buggy and super slow), I’ve collected all sorts of card ideas, inspiration and more to my Pinterest  boards. With all of these ideas, it’s often hard to create because of too many ideas.   For this card I unplugged and just created.  It was fun to call this card truly “mine.”   Since then I’ve actually created several unique cards.  One reason it’s wonderful to just create is because there’s no comparison.  You can’t compare it to anybody else’s work.  I encourage you to give it a try!

Paper:  Later Sk8r

Stamp set:  A Bowwow

Accessories:  Chalk Marker, Whisper Exclusive Inks® Marker Set, Opaques Licorice Adhesive Gems

#1 Dad

 

My Fun & Fabulous 4th Friday gals created this card at the end of May.  With my card class at the end of the month, we tend to get a good jump on projects or we miss them all together. 

It’s using the soon to be retired Scholastic paper pack.  I call it Schoolastic because the first time I ever saw the paper was on a twitter tweet from a gal who was attending our CTMH convention last year when it debuted.  Autocorrect and excitement added the extra “o” and it has stuck in my crazy brain. 

Paper:  Scholastic

Stamp:  Artiste Cricut stamp set “Kudos” that comes with the Cricut Cartridge 

#1 Dad:  from Artiste Cricut Collection

Embellishments:  Durables Square Studs & Milepost Shapes (in While Supplies Last for $1) and Black Hemp

 

I often forget about the wonderful stamps that come with our Cricut Cartridges.  They are loaded with a good variety of elements.  Kudos was exceptional this spring with Father’s Day and Gradations.  See the tiny graduation cap / mortarboard in the bottom right?  It was the the perfect size for graduation cards using the For Always Card Workshop On the Go. 

Baby Shower Money Card Holder

 

I created this card for a baby shower for my girlfriend Kim.  First I must warn you, the umbrella stamp set is retired and very hard to find.  I stumbled upon it last summer thinking, “Oh it’s cute, I might as well get it as it’s only a couple bucks.” This was at a former consultant’s online garage sale.  Flowers and the sentiment are from New Arrival. 

That’s not the interesting part of this card.  It’s the design. 

I took a 7 x 12” piece of cardstock and scored it at 4.5” & 9”  to make a money holder card.  I used narrow double sided tape to secure the flap at the top and bottom. 

 

I used Clear Sparkles to give the effect of a rain shower.  They were also very handy in covering up a couple boo-boo’s I made with ink.  “A mistake is an opportunity to embellish!”  Right? 

 

Have a great day!  Pull out an old stamp set and see what you can make!  Feel free to post your artwork on my CraftyLalia FB page! 

You Make Me Smile with Chantilly

 

 

I created this card this spring and I’m so happy to see that all the elements of this card are going to be around a bit longer.

 

Stamp set:  Hooray Bouquet  It’s Cricut Compatible so even if you don’t see it in the Idea Book, it will be available to purchase!

Paper:  Chantilly 

Embellishments:  Just Blooms Flutter Paper Shapes & Sparkles Clear Assortment

How To Book:  Wishes Card Making How-To book –I’m very excited to say that this is coming back in Soft Cover format for $15 as of August 1st!