February's Workshop

Happy February Everyone!  I hope you all had a great Heart Day.

This months' workshop features the Sarita paper pack, Sarita Embellishment Assortment and the Pink Glittered Cardstock.  This was a tough workshp for me.  I was trying to do non-traditional, partly masculine Valentine-themed projects.  I'm not sure if I succeeded, but I am happy with the results.  ALL of my inspiration came from the wonderful world wide web.  So the first project I'd like to share with you is the 2-page layout.  I found this layout searching for Valentine-themed layouts which quickly became my inspiration.  I've been calling my layout my"out-of-the-box" layout simply becasue it is so far out of my box.

The layout design comes from CTMH's Frosted WOTG sketch.  I also used the Sarita WOTG exclusive stamp set & All The Details stamp set

All the embellishments were created using CTMH's Artiste Cricut Cartridge except for the wooden ones which came from the Sarita Assortment

What makes this layout so unlike me?  The first thing to note is that there is no distressing what so ever on this layout.  Then there is the color combination.  The Outdoor Denim, Goldrush and Lagoon colors I can work with, but adding Gypsy & Cotton Candy threw me for a loop.  I stared at this layout for days before I put it together because I was completely unsure of how it would look.  In the end, I'm very happy with the results even if I didn't quite get the theme in there.

Ok, next up are the adorable cards.  I'm in love with these cards (not because I made them).  Again, I found these cards on the WWW.  The first card is from Paige Dolecki.  She used a more traditional Valentine theme where I tried to stick with the colors that were provided. 

I used a standard size card base and sized everything accordingly.  The white hearts were all stamped using the Whooo's Your Valentine stamp set along with the "I {HEART} YOU".  The Library pocket was cut from CTMH's Artbooking Cricut Cartridge.

The next two cards both came from the ever-so-talented Melanie Brown.  I loved her card ideas that I pretty much card-lifted them to a "t".  Both cards feature CTMH's Cloud Nine stamp set which coordinates with the Artiste Cricut Cartridge.

I didn't have the exact embossing folder that Melanie had used. This folder is from QuickCuts Lifestyle Crafts.

For this card I used the colors from the Sarita Paper pack.  The sun was stamped with the My Sunshine stamp set (it was a SOTM set - my favorite to date) using Goldrush ink.

And last but not least, our final project was a mini album inspired by CTMH.  They have this video on their website that features the Artbooking Cricut Cartridge.  I fell in love and had to make one for myself.  The technique they share in their video is amazing.  I had so much fun making this mini.

When doing the color effect on this title, the "u" broke so I simply covered it with glitter paper to give it a whole new look.  The arrows and "noteworthy" are from the All The Details stamp set (which is used throughout the mini).

The "splot" effect is my favorite.  Adds so much with verry little effort.

I used CTMH's new journaling pen to add details around the scalloped cut-out, the heart & the letters.

The papers used in this mini were all left overs from making the other projects.  Plus my girls had full 12x12 papers to spare.  There is another album featured in that same video.  It's on my today list as well.  I just love the colors used.  Probably won't be a workshop mini, but will definitely be in my collection of minis.

Thank you all for stopping by and checking out this month's workshop!

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...

A little share...

Today I want to share my take on athomewithnikki 's home management system.  I absolutely loved her idea (even the way she organized it) that I new I had to come up with something similar.  Where I live, there isn't a Staples within 200 miles.  So I had to adapt and research where I could get my MS goodies.  I found this wonderful seller on eBay who sold most of the items I needed to duplicate Nikki's system in BULK!  It was amazing!  Not only was I able to get all my goodies, I was able to get enough to make 5 systems!  Ok, seems a bit much, right?  Well, it turns out that I shared this idea with a few of my friends and they also loved it!  We ended up changing some things a bit, but for the most part, we kept it just like Nikki's.

The only thing I wasn't able to get my hands on was a calendar insert.  So I had to get a little creative (my friends just went to our local Office Max and picked up an insert).  But, me being me, that wasn't good enough...  I had this calendar/smash/journal book/binder that my daughter found at Michaels by Recollections.  It was so cute (but limited) that I didn't want to use it.  The pages consisted of blank calendars, shopping list, contact pages, daily document pages and very cute graphics on all of them (so me!). Then, like lightening, an idea struck me.  How could I incorporate these cute pages into my management system?  I wanted to be able to use them over and over and not have to keep buying a new calendar every year.  So this is what I came up with...

The original pages were too big for the MS binder.
I ended up copying (not intended for resale - perfectly acceptable as long as I use it for personal use only) all the pages that I wanted/needed for my system.  I trimmed them down to a workable size for my binder.  Glued the pages back-to-back.  Inked the edges to hide the imperfections.  And then laminated them so I wouldn't have to do this every year.
Now all I have to do is use a dry erase marker to fill in my calendar and I am all set.
If anything happens to these pages, I still have the originals to fall back on to make more copies.

Here is a quick look at some of the sections in my binder.  It is almost exactly like how Nikki set hers up.  So if you want more info about a section, please watch her video.

I made several copies of the shopping list that came with the Recollections Binder to put in here.  I also added some of the pockets intended for the Recollections Binders.

My WONDERFUL friend is currently doing Project Life.  She came up with these amazing inserts for her filofax and then was nice enough to put them on her blog to share with the world!  Thank you so much V!!  And the dry erase markers work nicely!   I am loving this system!

I had an extra binder and some MS pocket pages left over so I am currently working on a system for the holidays.  Mostly so I can keep track of card-making/giving, gifts and events going on during those chaotic months.  I will share it as soon as I am finished with putting it all together.  Again, a HUGE thank you to Nikki for sharing her idea.  And thank YOU for checking this out!

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...