Trying to catch up...

I wanted to share this layout with you ...

As soon as I received my Cricut Explore, I wanted to test what it could do to make my life easier for me.  In the past I avoided images that had more than 3 layers,  It was a pain on my Gypsy to figure out all the layers that went with them, the colors they should be, just frustrating all together.  Well with this new Explore machine the guess work is completely eliminated.  I just select which image I want and it knows all the layers to go with it.  Amazing!  Plus the design program is in color!  OK, I know this is all old news to everyone by now and I created the images for this layout back in April and designed the layout in June.  So I'm a bit behind in my sharing...

Here is the layout without the insert.  I used retired CTMH papers that went with the characters really well.

Here is the left side with the insert.  I took a CTMH pocket page protector and created "doors" to put in the 6x4 pockets.

This is the right side with the insert.

I really love the vibrant colors of this layout and how it turned out.  The Explore machine made putting the images together super easy.  I love layers and making my own embellishments!!

Thank you for stopping by!

January's Workshop...on a roll now, let's see if I can keep going

I love the first of the year!  My gals were having withdrawls not being able to have a workshop in December.  So to start the year off slow, I decided to go easy on them with a few simple projects.  I used the Babycakes paper packet in some non-baby themed projects.  For this workshop we created a 2-page layout, a display card & mini album.

We created our own corrugated embellies cut from CTMH's Artiste cart

This double tri-fold card was inspired by a youTube video that I came across from Red Cardinal Crafts.  Her tutorial was simple to follow and made putting this card together easy.

I used titles and images from CTMH's Art Philosophy & Artbooking carts

This mini came from an idea that I had to showcase some of the pages available (offered) in the Artbooking cart.  I chose a couple designs from each mini set offered and used my Gypsy to adjust the sizes to this cute 6x6 mini.  If you are interested in seeing all the pages, check out my Instagram @mkgunn31.  This mini was literally put together from all the scraps left over.  I also included CTMH's lagoon herringbone washi tape & some scraps of lagoon cardstock. 

We bound these cute minis using twist ties

Thank you for stopping by!

November's Workshop...almost caught up

November is typically my last workshop of the year.  One of the main reasons for that is because usually everyone (including me) is super busy with the hustle and bustle of the Christmas season.  So for this workshop I decided to use the Frosted paper pack (retired in January), Black & Grey Glitter paper & Sparkles small flourishes.  We made a 2-page layout, a set of 3 cards & a cute mini album.

I really enjoyed making this layout....The concept is from my favorite sketch gals of all times - Scrapbook Generation, but I did however alter it so I could have more 4x6 pictures.

the title was created using the Gypsy and welding letters from CTMH's Artbooking cart

the snowflake clusters are from Anna Giffins new cart



the technique we were learning was how to get more out of your embellishments.  we were using the mini flourish sparkles and cutting them apart so we could have more to work with



The cards (oddly enough) happen to be my favorite out of all the projects this month...I scoured the internet for ideas because I'm terrible at making cards.  I had some ideas of how I wanted my cards to look and I really couldn't find what I was looking for on the net....so this is what I came up with...

I really wanted to use this "ho, ho, ho" image...

I loved the idea of making the ornaments 3-D...

and this one I did borrow from someones idea that I found via the internet.  they had used greens and reds and it was the cover of a mini for them.  so I took the idea and used what colors I had and created this card...

The mini album was made easily by using a few buttons on CTMH's Artbooking cart.  I swear I could use that cart for everything....there are 14 pages total within this book - some of the pages are half pages just to make the book more interesting.  Each page was decorated using an image found within the Artbooking cart.  Adding a few sparkles here, and some glitter tape there....

We ended up using the Bind-it-all system to put our books together.

So what do you think?  Can you tell my favorite thing to work with is snowflakes, sparkles & glitter?  Thank you for stopping by!

October's Workshop...just a little behind....

I'm just a little behind posting my latest workshops. So this post will be featuring our October Workshop which features the Huntington paper pack (which retired this month).  We made a 2-page layout, a set of 6 tags (2 each of 3 designs) and a "thankful" banner.

The 2-page layout was inspired by CTMH's Artbooking cartridge.  I had taken the woodgrain 1/2 overlay to each side of the layout.  Then using my Gypsy, stretched one of the photo mats across the bottom of the page for the title.  I also stamped the woodgrain image all over the stretched photo mats.  Using the Gyspy I welded the word "Leaves" for my title.

the woodgrain stamp is exclusive to the Huntington Workshop On the Go (sorry it is retired)



the left page...

the right page....I used Real Dial Size for the twig & leaves...

The tags used the Thank you single stamp that were new this year.  I just love the outlined letters...ended up purchasing the whole alphas so I could stamp any word I wanted like this.  I used the Champagne cardstock for the base which was cut out by the cricut - I used my Gypsy so I could tell it how tall and how wide I wanted the image to be because I wanted to be able to put all six tags on one 12x12 cardstock so I think the final size ended up being 3x5.  I also cut out several leaves (2 different styles) from CTMH's Art Philosophy cartridge and the "tree" is actually using the "vein" layer of one of the leaves.



Stamped the "thank you" in first and second generation all over the base.



used 1", 3/4" & 1/2" circle punches for the "leaves"



used the negative woodgrain from the overlays to create the background

The banner also was created using the Gypsy.  Again, I wanted to only use one 12x12 cardstock, so I sized accordingly to get all my pieces to fit.  I think the final size was 2 1/2"x5 1/2".  The banner, letters & swirls were all cut from CTMH's Art Philosophy cartridge.



the wood elements are from the Huntington Accessory pack



Thanks for stopping by!  These colors are out of my element to work with, but I really liked how the projects turned out.

Surf's Up! Workshop

Hello!

I wanted to share with you the projects that I had made for my August workshop.  I used the Surf's Up! paper pack, coordinating embellies and some small sparkle flourishes.  I found ALL of my inspiration for these wonderful projects from Brenda Rose, Traci Godbee; Helen Onulak; Maureen O'Sullivan & Famida Ahmad.  All very talented CTMH consultants!

The first project we did was a 2-page layout DIRECTLY scrap-lifted from Brenda Rose.

The only changes that I made were using Goldrush cardstock instead of the Goldrush pattern paper and I also made the photo mat on the right page smaller to hold 4 x 6 photos instead of 5 x 7 photos.

Our next project was also inspired by Brenda Rose...I love her clean, crisp designs.  We made a set of 3 cards.  Because Brenda's card was a circle shape, I decided to make the other two cards from Maureen O'Sullivan & Traci Godbee into circles as well.

Inspired by Traci Godbee

Inspired by Maureen O'Sullivan

Inspired by Brenda Rose

And for our third project, I combined 2 amazing artworks (using Helen Onulak's layout & Famida Ahmad's frame) into one.

I shrunk Helen's layout to fit onto a 9 x 9 page with  a frame opening of 7 x 7.  What I did was cut my base paper to 9 x 9, put that into the frame, then adhered the rest of the elements so that they would be seen within the 7 x 7 opening.  I kept the decorations of the frame simple because I wanted the main focus to be on the layout inside.  

I hope you all liked the scrap-lifting.  Be sure to check out these talented ladies' sites.  They have amazing artwork and tutorials posted.  Thanks for stopping by...

Another album for my friend!

This one took quite a long time, not because it was hard, but because I had a LOT of things happen around the same time she had asked me to make this album.  Again and again, I need to apologize for the very poor quality of photos.  I had just moved into my new house so the lighting is very bad PLUS I couldn't find my camera AND I always have my phone on me... So after almost a year, here is the final result...

Her & her husband went to New Orleans; Biloxi, Mississippi & Pensacola, Florida.  For the front page (which is usually the hardest page for me to put together), I took left over papers that I used throughout the album, tons of business cards that she brought back, along with some post cards to create a collage affect displaying all the places they traveled.

I'm not sure if these were all taken the same day, so I gave it a generic title (knowing that all the pictures were from the same city) and numbered each photo along with the journaling spot for her to document and maybe date each one.

She specifically labelled these pictures as their first night out.  The photos themselves were very busy, so I decided to use a pattern paper by House of 3, that had embellishing printed on it.  Tucked in a few spots for her to journal on and this page was complete.

The little tug boat  and anchor are from the Mickey & Friends cart (Donald's House - so cute!). 

Who can go to New Orleans without checking out the Voodoo Museum?  My friend brought back loads of stuff about the priestess at the museum so I wanted to make sure it all found it's way into the album.  By using CTMH's large flip-flaps, I was able to add the info without having to do more than one layout.   You can kind of see it on the left side of the layout - the flip-flaps attach to the page protectors, not your pages.

The tombstones on this page are from the Over the Hill cart.

I love doing aquarium photos - so bright and colorful.  Here I used the Art Nouveau, CM Traveler & Life's a Beach carts.

This was another hard page for me to work with.  The only info she gave me about this church was that it was Catholic.  OK...so I kept the page very plain giving her plenty of room to journal about it.

This page was fun!  All the signs are from the CM Traveler cart.  On the red arrow I added some washi tape I picked up from Michaels.  

Here is another page that I had used a large flip-flap on.  This one is on the right and it holds the brochures and maps that relate to these specific pictures.  I also incorporated the wristbands they wore onto the layout.

I think this layout is my favorite.  I was going to leave the light house and title as the only embellishments.  Until I ended up with some extra "waves" that I thought I was going to use on another layout.  The first thing that I think of when I am at the docks are the seagulls.  So I cut out the three flying gulls from Life's a Beach and the perched gull from Pack Your Bags...and the page came together (I think) beautifully.

Another fun layout!  As soon as I saw this title from CM Traveler cart I knew I had to use it.  A few more random cuts from Pack Your Bags and the layout was complete.

Another title from CM Traveler.  The other cuts are all from the Summer Vacation cart.

I love how this layout fell together.  My friend brought back TONS of brochures, business cards, post cards & restaurant memorabilia.   I wanted to make sure I crammed as much of it as I could throughout the album.  Well, here was a perfect opportunity.

These "stamp" images are from the Pack Your Bags cart.

Another title from CM Traveler cart.

As usual, I started out with my favorite sketches from my favorite gals at Scrapbook Generation.  Some of the papers used are from House of 3, Creative Memories and DCWV.  For most of the written/typed out titles, I used the Type Candy font cart.  Throughout the album I used 4x4 & 4x6 flip-flaps to add more photos.  Hope you enjoy the album as much as I do.  Almost didn't want to give it away...

Buzz & Bumble Projects

Good almost-afternoon!

Today I thought I'd share the projects that I put together for one of my workshops made with CTMH's Buzz & Bumble paper pack, Brown Glitter Cardstock and coordinating embellies.  Most of the projects are inspired by photos I found on Pinterest.  I LOVE Pinterest!!

I absolutely loved working with this paper pack.  To be honest, I was shocked that it didn't carry over into the new Idea Book.

Another layout design by the WONDERFUL sketch team Scrapbook Generation.  I tweaked it a bit by making all my photos 4x6.

The title is from the Just Because Cards cart (real dial size on).  The bee is cut from the Art Nouveau cart. 

The hexagons were stamped using the Honeycomb stamp set and then cut out.  Some were attached using 3-D foam.

These were the cards that I came up with with the help of my Pinterest finds.  If you click on the link, see if you can find which cards I used as my inspiration. 

This little box was a very happy mistake.  I created the box to originally be a gift box.  Except that I had cut the lid a little too small.  I didn't want to waste any paper, so I decided to turn my "gift box" into a mini scrapbook that would expand once opened.

I just cut the bottom of the box 2 more times each 1/4" smaller than the original cut.  This adorable cut can be found on the CTMH Artiste cart.  For the base cut I just used my fit to page button on my Cricut Expression.  Then I cut the lid at the same size (I think it was 5.5) which, if making a true gift box I know now it has to be cut a hair larger.

Thank you for stopping by and checking today's post out. I'd love to read what you think.  I'd love to read where you get your inspiration.