Hello again I have been eagerly awaiting my order with new products from the new Annual Inspirations book, and after a little glitch and some help from Santa’s sleigh in getting my order through Customs, picked up by the courier company in Auckland and arriving in Wellington in 2 hours, (normally this takes over 24 hours) I have finally started to play with my new toys. My family had to prize me away from the catalogue in order to have tea! There are so many gorgeous products coming and my wish list really does not match my budget. I have bought a couple of new paper packs and I will look at posting my efforts with them at another time. But what I have been waiting so long for is the new ShinHan Touch markers. I have done a lot of research since CTMH announced we would be carrying these markers and I am very pleased to see that the Touch markers are rated as highly as Copic markers, which I have never got around to purchasing. The markers are so easy to use and the tips are fine, yet juicy, for a good control of colouring. I am still playing with different cardstock for these markers but today I would like to show you what the markers can be used on. 
Here are some acrylic flowers that I have coloured. These need to be allowed to dry before using them. 
The markers coloured the sparkles really well and I will always have coloured sparkles to match my projects. 
Here I have used Stazon black ink and stamped butterflies and flowers on the feather vellum from the Free to Be Me paper pack that was a constant campaign a few months ago. I have stamped on the shiny side and when the ink dried I coloured in the back of the image and then fussy cut them out. I love the effect of the colours on the vellum. 
Here is a card that I have made using the flowers, butterflies and sparkles. I have used two new stamp sets that are going to be available next month – Your Own Kind of Wonderful and Pretty Petals. I have stamped the background flowers using the rock and roll technique with the new Canary ink with Pear ink. The leaves are stamped with Pear and Topiary inks using the same technique. I have used the new Thistle cardstock and matching Thistle ribbon on the Pear cardstock. I love the new colours and can’t wait to do more with them. 
Here is another card that I have completed using the markers. My understanding is that Memento ink is the best to use with the markers but with this card I have used the CTMH dye inks and the markers have performed well with the ink. 
Here is a close up of the coloured image. I love the softness of the colouring and the colours matched the papers beautifully. 
Materials used: Cardstock – Pear, White Daisy, Thistle, Sorbet, Creme Brulee, Sky, Colonial White, Saddle Inks – Stazon Black, Saddle, Sky, Thistle Stamps – Your Own Kind of Wonderful, Pretty Petals Papers – Balloon Ride paper packet Acrylic flowers Sparkles ShinHan Touch markers: Butterflies – LavenderP83, Peony Purple P282, Marigold YR24, Golden Yellow Y222 Flowers – Lavender P83, Peony Purple P282, Marigold YR24, Golden Yellow Y222 Balloon Ride – Golden Yellow Y222, Marigold YR24, Light Orange R140, Leaf Green GY234, Vivid Green G46, Sap Green GY235, Clay BR116, Mahogany BR96, Bronze BR99 I am looking forward to playing more with my new markers and will post some of my results here. All these products will be available from the 1st of August. Have a great week. Happy Crafting Patricia
Tag: Close to My Heart New Zealand
CTMH Ariana and Ivy Lane purses
Welcome back.
A special warm welcome to my new followers and I hope that you find a lot of inspiration here. I enjoy trying new ideas and techniques and Close to My Heart has been the catalyst for going to the next level for my crafting.
Today I will be showing some purses that I have made out of Ariana and Ivy Lane papers. I love these papers and sorry to see them go but I know that there are some amazing new products coming next month.
The idea for these purses as come from Pinterest here. They were really easy to make up and it took a lot longer to sort out the decorations on them. To hold the purse together I have used the tiny hook and loop dots from CTMH. These are great as they are tiny and unobtrusive and hold really well.
Here is a close up of both purses:
I have used the following materials in making these purses:
Cardstock – Colonial White, Pear
Stamps – Fabulous You, Stitch Wonder
Cricut Cartridge – Art Philosophy
Sparkles Assortment – round Black/Grey
I have been invited to enter this post on a new challenge website called Take Heart Inspirations Challenges here. Please visit this site for lots of different ideas using Close to My Heart products.
I am very excited to update you on my shop. It is goodbye to Craft Hutt and hello to Gift Hutt (although I am still waiting for Facebook to change the name) and here is the first ad to go into the local paper. I love working with the local artists and crafters and it is a real pleasure having their items in the shop. Most of the items I have been showing on my blog are also for sale at Gift Hutt. So if you are in Lower Hutt then do pop in and say hello, I would love to meet you.
Have a great week and I will be back next week with something different. My order is finally on it’s way with some products from the new Ideas Book and I can’t wait to start playing and showing you what can be done with them.
Happy Crafting
Patricia
CTMH Double Pocket cards
Welcome back for another installment featuring Close to My Heart products. This week I will be featuring a double pocket card which is a lot easier than it looks and is a great way to show of the fabulous papers from CTMH. I have got the instructions from Splitcoaststampers here. I have done 4 different cards with different embellishments and here they are: 
The beautiful patterned paper from Ariana and Ivy Lane were perfect for these double pocket cards as they had a great contrast with the green and the floral patterns. I have cut out the tags using the Art Philosophy cartridge and stamped using the journalling stamp from the Artbooking Cricut Cartridge set. I love that stamp as it makes a lovely journalling box with nice wide lines to write in. The tags have been distressed with Cashmere ink to add to the vintage feel of the papers. Here are some close ups of the cards: 
I have used a variety of tags and embellishments for the front of the cards. I have used some of the products that were available last month in the special 30th anniversary bundles as well as some of the current products. Materials used: Cardstock – Colonial White, Ariana Coral Papers – Ariana, Ivy Lane Stamps – Artbooking Cricut stamp set, Frame Flair, Fabulous You, Art Philosophy Cricut Collection Inks – Cocoa, Cashmere, Hollyhock Cricut cartridges – Artbooking, Artiste, Art Philosophy Mini-medley accents – rosewood collection Mini-medley accents – antiqued gold Durables – round antiqued gold, pewter Ariana Assortments Topiary ribbon Sparkles – clear assortment Bitty Sparkles Foam tape I hope that you have fun making these cards as well. They look complicated but are actually very simple to use. Have a great week. Happy Crafting Patricia
Paper Trail Blog – Balloon Ride
Welcome to another Paper Trail Blog Hop and this month the focus is on the the Balloon Ride papers.
If you have come from Amy’s blog, you are in the right place and if you have just popped in to visit then feel free to have a good browse. The blog hop is circular so once you have visited everyone you will end up where you have started.
I have been doing my son’s album and the Balloon Ride papers have been really great to stretch myself with a different colour palette. I have also used the Artbooking cartridge to create the first layout. Once again I have a layout from the Make it From the Heart Volume 2 book (pattern No. 13). I have used a different overlay to the one in the book and placed strips of different colour behind the layout. I love the effect it creates and it adds such a pop of colour on the layout. I have also cut some other shapes out of the Artbooking cartridge to embellish the page.
Here is a close up of the Artbooking detail on the page.
I have also showed this page to demonstrate that you don’t need to have a Cricut machine to create layouts. This is my own design using the front sheets from the Picture Your Life kit to place at the top of the page and a couple of strips down each side of the page. The photos work in well and I have just added a couple of complements from the Balloon Ride Complement set.
This is another double layout I have done using the Artist Cartridge as well as the Artbooking cartridge. I have used the pattern 6e (Half & Half-Tags) from the Reflections Scrapbook Programme for my inspiration and I am really pleased how it has turned out.
Here is a close up of both pages of the layout. I have been admiring the merry go round in the Artiste cartridge for a long time and I am so thrilled that I could use it on this layout. The base is made out of S0rbet cardstock and the second layer is made from the sorbet crackle paper in the paper pack. I have finished off with Crystal Blue cardstock to create some unity with the colours in the paper and the photos. I have also made the rosette out from the Artiste cartridge and topped it with the Fun stamp out of the June SOTM set – Kaboom (NLA). The title and the pocket with the journalling tag is from the Artbooking cartridge. I have used off cuts from the overlay in the first layout to decorate several layouts to create unity with this album. The tags have been cut by hand.
To start with I wasn’t too sure about this paper range as well but the colours are so beautiful and the album is turning out really well. I have combined traditional layouts with the Balloon Ride Picture Your Life programme to get through the photos quickly.
I couldn’t resist putting in some cards that I have made with the Balloon Ride papers and the coordinating stamp set Give a Lift. I have not used Creme Brulee cardstock before but it tones beautifully with the Ballon Ride papers.
I have paper pieced the image using the blue paper and Sorbet, Crystal Blue and Creme Brulee cardstock. I have also used the offcuts of the overlay I cut out for the first layout featured at the beginning of the post.
I love the colour combination here and the three dimensional effect that I have achieved with overlaying the trimmed image over the balloon background paper. I have sanded the edges of the Sorbet and Creme Brulee cardstocks to give a lovely edge to the matting. The balloon image has been paper pieced using the patterned paper and Sorbet cardstock.
This was a quick and easy card and the balloon image has been coloured using the watercolour pencils from CTMH. I used to do a lot of water colour painting once until I became ill and now I am enjoying doing using these pencils and creating the watercolour effects again. I have used my watercolour brushes to create the lovely soft effects. I have also used the paper piercing tool to create a pattern on the trim as seen in the photo below.
This final card has had the stamped image coloured in using the watercolour pencils and then blended with the watercolour pen available from CTMH. As you can see it is a much more vibrant colour to the washed look of watercolour. 
Materials used:
Cardstock – Saddle, Crystal Blue, Colonial White, Sherbet, Cashmere, Creme Brulee, White Daisy
Inks – Sherbet, Saddle, Cocoa,
Cricut Cartridges – Artiste, Artbooking, Art Philosophy
I hope that you have enjoyed my layouts and please visit Mary’s blog, Road to Piece of Mind or Escape? to see what masterpiece/s she has created.
Happy Crafting
Patricia
Australasian CTMH SOTM Blog Hop – Circus Alphabet
Hello and welcome aboard our Stamp of the Month Australasian Close to My Heart Blog Hop. If you have arrived here from Lauren’s blog, CTMH Craftings then you are in the right place. If you landed here by accident, no problems, please join in by following the link at the end of this post.
This month’s SOTM set is the Circus Alphabet set. In the past I have never used alphabet stamps so this has been great to challenge me. But they are easy to use in a number of different ways. In today’s blog there are a number of different projects that I have used the Circus Alphabet set to show how versatile these stamps are.
Alphabet stamps suit baby cards so well with spelling out the words baby, boy and girl easily. First up is a baby girl card that I have done with the Lollydoodle papers. I have trimmed the edge of the front card by 1 1/4″ and then used the scallop edge punch to create some interest. I then trimmed the card with a combination of papers from the Lollydoodle range. The sentiment is from the Cricut Artiste cartridge and the crib is from the B is For Baby stamp set. The sparkles have been coloured with Cotton Candy alcohol markers to match the colour scheme.
For the blocks with the letters I have cut out 3 pieces of 1 1/4″ White Daisy cardstock and then I stamped the letters using Cotton Candy and Pear inks. I have used the Pear and Cotton Candy alcohol markers to draw a line around the edges of the blocks. I have tried to make these look like children’s building blocks.
Here is a baby boy card using a building block card technique from Splitcoaststampers here. I have seen a couple of these cards and they are great for baby cards and the lovely blue striped paper from the Ariana paper range is perfect for a boy’s card. Once again I have used the stamp set B is For Baby and fussy cut the images of the pram, crib and rattle. Sparkles have been added to give a little bling.
Here is a close up of the blocks.
Here is another card similar to what I have done in the past using the pattern from the Make It From
Here is another card similar to what I have done in the past from the Make It From Your Heart Volume 1 pattern 19. As you can see I love this paper and also the scallop punch to add a little – well punch… I am not sure it is finished yet so I will keep looking at it, and if I change it I will post it here.
Finally I have made some tea bag dispenser box using Ariana papers and have stamped the word TEA on the back of it. This is another really easy project to do and once again I have got the pattern from Splitcoaststampers here. I must admit I found the instructions for the decorative layers quite complicated and ended up using my method of matting of decreasing by 1/4″ each side to simplify what I was doing. I have distressed everything including the rosette with Cashmere ink to give it a lovely vintage look.
Here is the back of the box with the words from the stamp set.
Materials used:
Cardstock – White Daisy, Outdoor Denim, Colonial White, Pear, Pink glitter cardstock
Stamp sets – Circus Alphabet, B is for Baby, Frame Flair
Inks – Cotton Candy, Pear, Outdoor Denim, Cashmere
Cricut cartidges – Artiste, Art Philosophy
Alcohol markers – Cotton Candy, Pear
Mini medley – rosewood collection
This gorgeous stamp set is available for the month of July only from your CTMH consultant here. I’d love you to leave a comment before heading off to the next stop, Denise’s blog, Stamp, Stamp, share.
Have a great month playing with this stamp set.
Happy Crafting
Patricia
CTMH Cricut Cartridges
Welcome back
Since I have started with Close to My Heart I have relished the chance to do lots of different papercrafts. I have purchased all three Cricut cartridges and I am constantly looking at the booklets that come with the cartridges to do different things. The Artiste cartridge is great for doing 3 dimensional items such as rolled flowers and lots of different boxes along with an impressive range of embellishments, the Art Philosophy is great for tags and labels while the Artbooking is a very versatile cartridge that does lots of overlays as well as lots of different embellishments for both scrapbooking and cardmaking. I have used metal dies in the past but rarely use them now as while you can get a clean and crisp image with them you are limited to the size of the die. With the Cricut machine I can cut each image at whatever size I want plus each cartridge comes with about 700 images, three stamp sets to coordinate with them and dimensional elements to add that little something special to a card or layout. With all these images on the three cartridges I have not even thought about buying other cartridges.
From the Artiste cartridge I have made these note boxes from page 65 of the booklet. They have been cut from Cotton Candy and Buttercup cardstock at 4 1/4″. (If you love the Buttercup cardstock it is on the retiring list so be in quick to order it). It is a beautiful colour. The flowers are cut from the Artiste cartridge as well and the leaves from the Art Philosophy cartridge.
Here is a close up of using the piercing tool to create a pattern on the edge.
Here is some small cards made out of the Art Philosophy cartridge. I have cut them all out at 3″ to fit the 3″ envelopes available from CTMH as a bulk order. You can see with these cards how it it so easy to cut different sizes for the tags to layer on top of the cards. I have used 4 different shapes for the cards.
I love how the stamp sets coordinate with cartridges. I have used the stamp sets that come with the cartridges.
Finally here are a couple of examples from the Artbooking cartridge. I have cut the overlay at 2 1/2″ and it made a nice background to layer the tags from the Art Philosophy cartridge.
This is a sneak peak of my next post for the Paper Trail Blog Hop featuring the Balloon Ride papers. I have cut an overlay as well as the titles from the ArtBooking cartridge. This is such an amazing cartridge and I use it all the time. I have placed small strips of different coloured cardstock behind the overlay to make this colourful addition to the overlay.
Materials used:
Papers – Lollydoodle, Balloon Ride
Inks – Cotton Candy, Pear, Desert Sand, Topiary
Stamps – Distressed Backgrounds,
Cricut Cartridges – Artiste, Art Philosophy, Artbooking
Brads from the Extraordinary Embellishments pack for $30 when you spend $75
If you would like to order any of these products please visit my shop here.
Have a great week and I will be back next week with another creation.
Happy Crafting
Patricia
CTMH White on white card
Hello there
Just a very quick post today to show you my latest card. I have had this in my mind for a while and had to get it out. This is similar to what I was doing prior to starting up with Close to My Heart and could be suitable for any occasion – including bereavements. I love white on white and here I have combined texture from three different embossing folders from CTMH – Stripes, Damask and Dots. I had cut out the shapes using the Art Philosophy cartridge and then run them through my Cuttlebug. I am so pleased how they turned out. The flower is made from rolling a rose cut from the Artiste cartridge at 3″ and the other petals are cut from Art Philosophy at 3″ and 2 1/2″ (I think – I had cut them out a while ago). The leaves are from Artiste as is the tag. The sentiment has come from the Just For You stamp set while I have finished it off with a couple of black sparkles.
I hope that you like this card.
Happy crafting
Patricia
Going all boxy with CTMH
Welcome back
This week I have been having some fun decorating kraft ring boxes that are available at the moment from Close to My Heart. The retiring list has come out and these boxes are on the list so get in quick if you want any as they are only available while stock lasts. I have also used products from 2 of the gift collections that are available for this month only when you spend $75 or more this month to celebrate Close to My Heart’s 30th anniversary.
I loved the way the boxes were decorated in the current Ideas Book and here is my version of the ring box from the catalogue. I have used a combination of Ariana papers with the zip strip from the Ivy Lane range. I have stamped the box on the side of the lids with the lovely plaid stamp from the Fabulous You stamp set with Olive ink. I then stamped one of the bird images onto the green paper again with Olive ink. I then stamped three separate images on some spare Colonial White cardstock and then trimmed out the flowers, distressed them with some Cashmere ink and then layered them onto the top of the stamped image. I finished off with some pink glitter gems and a ribbon bow from the Ariana assortments.
This is another box using Ariana papers . Once again I have stamped the side of the lid with the plaid stamp again in Olive ink. I have then used the lovely green papers for the base of the box and the top. The butterfly is cut out of the beautiful floral paper from Ariana using the Artbooking cartridge and I have also cut the overlay out of Ariana Coral cardstock and placed it over the base cut. I have adhered the butterfly to the top of the lid with liquid glass so it shouldn’t come of in a hurry. I then finished off with some pink glitter gems. I really needed a bit of pink around the base so I used the zip strip from the same B&T papers to complement the butterfly.
I love the simplicity of the next box. I have used the lovely Skylark papers and decorated the box with a combination of them and finished off with a zip strip around the side of the lid. I have stamped one of the chevrons with Sweet Leaf ink from the Charming Chevron stamp set and finished it off with a bit of bling from the Sparkle Chevron shapes. I finished off with some ribbon I have just received from the Delightful Ribbon and Trim Collection . The ribbon is lovely and cream and fits in well with this colour scheme. It can be dyed any colour as well so I will be getting some re-inkers to do this. I have topped of with a flower from the Skylark assortments.
This is another quick and easy decorated box. I have used the blue papers from the Skylark range. I have also teamed it with the flowers from the floral Ariana papers and the blues of this flower matched really well. I have fussy cut this flower out from the paper and then cut out the middle of another flower and then layered it on top of the base flower with some foam tape. I then put a bow made out of white bakers twine and topped off with an aqua dot.
The final box has been made using papers from the Balloon ride papers. The flowers are from the Extraordinary Embellishments Collection which went really well with the Balloon Ride colours and I have used a brad that also came with the collection to adhere the flowers together and then used liquid glass to adhere the flower to the box.
For all these boxes I have used liquid glass to adhere the paper and cardstock to the box. It sets very quickly and doesn’t come off in a hurry and I use it all the time. Plus it is only $12.50 to buy and lasts so long.
Materials used:
Cardstock, White Daisy, Colonial White, Lagoon, Saddle, Ariana Coral
Papers – Skylark, Balloon Ride, Ariana, Ivy Lane
Inks – Olive, Sweet Leaf, Cashmere
Stamps – Charming Chevrons, Fabulous You
Colour-ready Seam Binding Ribbon
Just Blooms Floret paper shapes
As I said at the start the Retiring List is now out and available on my website here. Items are available on a strictly while stocks last basis and if there is anything you would like please feel free to contact me.
Have a good week.
Happy Crafting
Patricia
CTMH
Welcome back.
Welcome to my new followers and I hope that you enjoy reading my weekly blog showcasing the wonderful CTMH products.
I have realised that I have missed a couple of milestones. One is that my post on the pennant frames made the top 10 for the Heart 2 Heart Challenges in May. I was thrilled to see my name and image on the honour board and when my life settles a little I will try and enter more challenges.
The other milestone I missed was that I have now written over 200 blog posts. I have now been blogging nearly two years and while sometimes it can be a chore it is also challenging me to do different and interesting every week to help inspire others to be more creative.
Today I will show cards that I have made for a craft fair I went to last weekend. I wanted to show the range of papers available and I heard some lovely comments about how beautiful my cards were.
(I do apologise for the quality of the photos but it was getting dark when I took these photos).
This card has been made using the Jubilee paper and the SOTM set which was featured in last weeks blog hop – ‘Karboom’. As I said last week these papers and stamps were meant to be together and this card would be great for a masculine card. I have finished off with a dimensional star which has been distressed with Cashmere ink and then I have topped off with a blue epoxy bubble. Finally the blue epoxy bubbles help to anchor the ‘celebrate’ sentiment onto the card.
This card is another masculine card using the Timberline papers and these papers work so well together with the Bamboo cardstock that has been embossed with the stripe embossing folder from CTMH. I love using the Perfect Fit – Frames 2 and the Holiday Tags stamp sets and here I have used foam tape to raise the Happy Father’s Day image on the frame.
I love the simplicity of this card and I have used the paper and colours from the Balloon Ride papers. This card is a sneak peak of what I have been up to with the Balloon Ride papers for another blog hop at the beginning of next month. Again I have used the stripe embossing folder to emboss the centre panel and have done a variation of my favourite card pattern from the Make It From Your Heart Volume 2 for a change. I have used Frame Flair stamps and the Happy Birthday is from the Cursive Birthday stamp set.
This Skylark card was easy to do as I used the beautiful papers to their full effect. I have used the corner of one of the B&Ts which already had a lovely pattern with ribbons and stamping. I have added a couple of extra pennant ribbons with one one made from the other side of this paper and a piece of teal shimmer trim. The aqua dots work so well with Skylark as well. I have stamped the corner with the corner stamp from the Believe in Yourself stamp set with Lagoon ink. I then stamped the Believe in Yourself sentiment from the same stamp set onto White Daisy cardstock which has been matted with Lagoon cardstock. I have then finished off with a teal resin flower from the Skylark assortments.
This card has been made using the Ivy Lane papers and this time I have done the pattern from the Make It From Your Heart Volume 2 book and used the zip strip for the band. I love the Frame Flair stamp set as the stamps are so versatile for different uses. Here I have layered the image with a circle cut out from Pear cardstock and then layered it with a circle from the Perfect-Fit Birthday stamp set and then I have cut the flower from the Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge. The flower has made by cutting three different sizes and then I have sponged the edges with Hollyhock ink and finished off with a flower from the Ivy Lane assortments.
I think this is my favourite paper pack out of all the new seasons papers. The Ariana papers have a very vintage feel and look great distressed with Cashmere ink. This is what I have done here with the papers, sentiment and the butterfly. The butterfly has been cut using the Artbooking cartridge and I have layered the patterned lower image with the Ariana Coral cardstock (which is only available with this paper pack) and finished off with the sparkles from the Sparkle – Flourishes set.
Finally here is the Lollydoodle papers. I love pink and it is so easy to make cards with this paper packet. Here I have used the Charming Chevrons stamp set and stamped the images using Cotton Candy ink and then trimmed the chevrons out with scissors and then I have finished them with the coordinating sparkle shapes. I have used the Frame Flair stamp and then layered the smaller image from the Cricut Art Philosophy Tags stamp set. This stamp is great as you can chose who you give this card too. I have used a Flamingo dot to the top of the tag. I love combining different patterns and shapes and stretching the rules with patterns and shapes.
Materials used:
Papers – Ivy Lane, Jubilee, Timberline, Lollydoodle, Ariana, Ballon Ride, Skylark
Inks – Saddle, Twilight, Chocolate, Ponderosa Pine, Cotton Candy, Hollyhock, Indian Corn Blue, Outdoor Denim, Lagoon
Cricut Cartridges – Art Philosophy, Artbooking
I can’t believe how quickly time is flying and in less than 2 months CTMH will be releasing their new Idea Book. Most of these papers and patterns will no longer be available so if you would like to purchase some you will need to be in quick. Click on any of the highlighted links to go straight to my website where you can browse through all the products that are available. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions.
I have just realised that I have balanced the cards with a good mix of masculine and feminine cards which is really pleasing. I hope that you have enjoyed these and I will now have to put my creative cap on for next week’s blog.
Happy Crafting
Patricia
Paper Trail Blog Hop – Jubilee
Welcome to another Paper Trail Blog Hop and this month the focus is on the Jubilee papers.
If you have come from Connie’s blog, you are in the right place and if you have just popped in to visit then feel free to have a good browse. The blog hop is circular so once you have visited everyone you will end up where you have started.
I have found this paper range very challenging because it really encapsulates America to me and not so much New Zealand. The papers are beautiful and as usual with Close to My Heart papers there is a wide range of colours and patterns for all occasions. For this layout I have picked out the beautiful green toned papers as these colours and patterns did remind me a little of New Zealand and the photos I have chosen went well with the blues and reds of the cardstock.
For this layout I have used the Bottom Border – Triple Combination from the Reflections Scrapbooking Programme book. I love this pattern and use it a lot as it is great for both landscape and portrait photos which I have shown here. One side is completed with using landscape photos and the other side with portrait photos and I have used different elements for the triple combination.
I have used my Artbooking Cricut cartridges to cut out the photo frames from Indian Corn Blue for the photos. This was quite important as both the photos and the background paper are really busy and I needed a solid colour to make the photos stand out more. This cartridge is great and easy to use and I don’t know what I would do without it now. I adhered the frames to the photos and then onto the background paper. I also placed some blue patterned papers to cover the bottom of the portrait photos and also tie in with the patterned paper on the other side.
I have used a combination of zip strips and patterned paper to edge the panels of Cranberry cardstock. These have been distressed with Cashmere ink and then placed on the background paper.
I have discovered dimensional elements and how they can add something a little extra to my work. You can stamp them, distress them, paint them, cover them with paper and much more. Here I have used the dimensional elements that match with the Artbooking cartridge set and stamped them using both Cranberry and Indian Corn Blue inks. The arrows have been finished off using blue epoxy bubbles. The rosette dimensional element has been stamped using the stamp set from the Artiste Cricut cartridge bundle using Outdoor Denim ink.
To add some interest to the page I have embossed some Indian Corn Blue cardstock with the Quatrafoil embossing folder and distressed it with Cashmere ink. I then cut the pinwheels out of the Artiste Cricut cartridge and stamped them with Cranberry and Indian Corn Blue inks and then topped it off with a blue epoxy bubble.
This page features my son doing demonstration of Taiha – this is a wooden spear type weapon that Maori men train very hard to use in warfare. A Maori Kaumatua (respected elder) came to the school and taught the children how to wield this weapon. The children also had moko printed on their faces to make them look more fierce. The sentiment ‘Sweet As’ has come from the New Zealand Greetings stamp set and is a very popular one in New Zealand. Also to keep with the theme of New Zealand I have added a stamped kiwi and some leaves that have been stamped using Topiary ink and fussy cut out and then distressed with Cashmere ink and then placed on the page.
This other page features my son dancing around the maypole. They were having a cultural day and doing different dances and traditions from different cultures. I have used the Pinwheel SOTM from last year to keep with the motif of movement and stamped with both Cranberry and Indian Corn Blue which incidentally picked up the colours of the clothes the children are wearing. The pinwheels have been adhered to Indian Corn Blue cardstock that has been embossed using the Quatrefoil embossing folder and distressed with Cashmere ink.
I have cut the journalling tag out of Colonial White cardstock using the Artbooking Cricut cartridge and stamped with the coordinating stamp set in Cocoa. I then distressed with Cashmere ink and completed the journalling. I love this little tag as the ruled lines make it so easy to write the journalling neatly.
To complete the layout I have stamped onto the dimensional elements using the coordinating stamp sets from the Artbooking cartridge and distressed them with Cashmere ink and placed them on the layout.
Materials used:
Cardstock – Colonial White, Cranberry, Indian Corn Blue,
Inks – Outdoor Denim, Indian Corn Blue, Cranberry, Cocoa, Cashmere
Stamps – New Zealand Greetings, Pinwheel SOTM (NLA), Artbookimg
Cricut Cartridges – Artbooking, Artiste
I hope you have enjoyed your visit here and seen how much fun the Jubilee papers are. Now hop on over to Karen’s blog here to check out her fabulous creations.
Happy Crafting
Patricia