Designer Decor Flip Flap Album Meets Artbooking

I was planning on attending the CTMH Fall Album Retreat in October and there was a contest to utilize the Designer Decor Flip Stand Album.  This summer, my family and I had photos taken by my amazingly talented friend, Heather, with Heather Jean Photography, and having just gotten my hands on our pictures, I knew I wanted to create the project featuring those.  Then I'd also have something to give my parents for Christmas (that was finished WAY ahead of time for once!!)

I also challenged myself to utilize the Cricut Artbooking cartridge - I really hadn't had the opportunity to try it out yet due to my crazy busy schedule.  As far as a color combination, I went with a similar palette to the photos - Pear, Pacifica & Slate - so they were the focal point.  It turned out beautifully!!  I am very happy with it and even though I didn't with the Album Retreat Contest, my parents LOVED it.

  

layered flowers, raised with 3D foam tape & a stud from the Rosewood Mini-Melody collection

to accent the center of the flower; a sparkle flourish flowing away from the flower 

only bad thing about these pages, which are two of my favs, are that the camera

gets caught on the flower when the pages are closed - something to watch out for

you can see better the pear overlay at the top; 

added slate glitter paper and cardstock behind the photo mat to pop the accents

the base of the flip stand

Cricut Craft Room was a huge part of this project, as I had to manipulate the mini-album pages by size and also hid the holes from the side.  If you have not used Cricut Craft Room yet, it is a MUST & it's FREE to use.  Just download the program to your computer, hook up your Cricut to your computer, and go!  It's easy and also allows you access to their free images for the week.

There are ENDLESS possibilities for the Designer Decor Flip Flap Album.  I hope this project has inspired you to create your own masterpiece.  I used numerous CTMH products (exclusively) throughout; if you are interested in something specific or a specific technique I used, please email me or leave a comment below.

Inspired By Blog Challenges - FMS#117

I totally got inspired yesterday by blog challenges.  Freshly Made Sketches has some great inspiration too and so I got crafting with scraps from the Cloud 9 National Papercrafting Month Cardmaking Kit.

I like the simplicity of the challenges from Freshly Made Sketches - here is what I created for their #117 blog challenge:

The Cloud 9 kit is ridiculously cute and gives a sneak peak at new products from the Close to My Heart 2014 Spring/Summer Idea Book.  The left picture is the outside of the card and the right is the inside of the card.  The sentiment on the outside "Today is a Good Day" is raised using 3D tape; underneath that is *new* Teal shimmer trim.  The gold polka-dot banner is actually *new* washi tape & the *new* Triangle Studs at the top left are self-adhesive.  Inside, the frame & sentiment are stamped directly to the card base. These scraps (the designer's goal for this sketch) worked out great to create this card!

To find out how you can purchase the Cloud 9 kit (starting January 1st) by emailing me, visiting my website, or reading my Cloud 9 blog post.

Featured Products:

- Cloud 9 Card Making Kit papers & accessories/embellishments

     - Durables Triangle Studs

     - Teal Shimmer Trim

     - Gold Polka-Dot Washi Tape

- Lagoon, Sunset and Honey Stamp Pads

- Happy Holidays MyAcrylix Stamp

-  All the Details MyAcrylix Stamp

- 3D Foam Tape

- White Daisy Value Card Pack

Inspired By Blog Challenges- MM#325 & CQ#221

I decided to kick-start my crafty mojo with some blog challenges and went to this week's inspiration from Mojo Monday & Colour Q.

 

This was a duel inspiration and I missed uploading this post to Mojo Monday #325 :( but still a go for Colour Q #221. None-the-less, the challenges did their job and got me crafting!!  Here is what I came up with:

The Close to My Heart colors I used, that were closest to the Colour Q (SU) colors, are White Daisy, Moonstruck, Lagoon, Chocolate, and Juniper. It's hard to tell from this picture, but the Happy Birthday tag is raised with 3D tape and there are bitty sparkles on the swirls of the cupcake frosting.

Featured products:

- Artiste Cricut Cartridge

- Art Philosophy Cricut Cartridge

- Moonstruck & Chocolate Stamp Pads

- Holiday Tags MyAcrylix Stamp

- Art Philosophy Collection MyAcrylix Stamp

- 3D foam tape

- Bronze shimmer trim

- Lagoon shimmer trim (sneak peak of new product from 2014 Spring/Summer Idea Book!)

- Bitty Sparkles

- Juniper Alcohol Marker

- Sparkle & Shine B&T paper

- Lagoon, Moonstruck, and White Daisy Cardstock

- White Daisy Card Value Pack