Getting Ready for the 4th of July!

I got asked about a layout for the upcoming July 4th weekend by one of my club members last week. CTMH doesn't have any obvious patriotic papers available in the present books so I was a little bummed. But then that was later in the evening and, I admit, I am not at my best in the evenings. So the next morning, I kept thinking about Robin's request and thought about Janene Wawro's (my upline) team training the prior Saturday. I came up with a page that holds lots of pictures (at least 18) with a festive flair to it. 

Sorry about the reflections, those are from the page protector Design 2 that holds 12 4x6 pictures:

Design 2 page protector 4113

I cut strips 4" x 12" of ruby red, daisy white and outdoor denim cardstock 2 of each color. I scored the strips at the 6" mark and put a fold in them. I then got some 4x6 flip-flaps, which can be used to add photos to any of your pages. These wonderful products come in a variety of sizes. The 1/2" above the dotted line is a self-stick strip that I cut off. I took the remaining pocket and put it over one end of the cardstock strip. The other end was inserted into the page protector top left hand pocket. I continued this for all the page protector pockets. This gives you spaces for 24 4x6 pictures!!

4x6 Flip-Flap protector Z4114

The decorations were created using the Artbooking cartridge pages 64 and 65. I cut silver glitter paper for the silver decorations. The flag was created using the Artfully Sent cartridge page 21. The card sleeve has star cutouts on one side. I cut it at 5" to make the stars smaller and cut out a portion of that side. The red stripes were made with the red shimmer tape (love the shimmer tapes all colors). Opposite the flag are "fireworks". Sometimes you have to have imagination!!!   Page 15 in the Artfully Sent cartridge is another card sleeve with  3 flowers. They were close enough to fireworks for me so I backed them with silver glitter paper, red shimmer tape and blue shimmer tape.

Here are some close-ups:

Nothing is very complicated here but it was fun and I have a patriotic page for my club ladies. I could use some discontinued patriotic type papers from the past with this project but I decided to stick to the cardstock and stay on task. I have AAD-adult attention deficit. I get many other things done while I am trying to get a project completed...

Last Day for the June Stamp of the Month!

      XOXO Dots

You Can Never Have Too Many Thank You Cards!

The Atlantic Heart Sketch Challenge gave me a reason to make a thank you card with Blossom paper. The Blossom paper can be used for so many kinds of cards or pages for that matter. 

The contrasting Sunset background is from the Adventure Paper Fundamental packet. The sentiment was stamped with the Lagoon stamp pad using the You are my World stamp set B1467. Just a side note here, I've used the heck out of that stamp set!

Here is the sketch from the Atlantic Heart Sketch Challenge:

Supplies used to make this card:

Glacier Extra Thick Twine

Lagoon Stamp Pad

Teal Shimmer Trim

Blossom Paper Packet

Paper Fundamentals Adventure Assortment

Thanks for stopping by!

   XOXO Dots

Thinking of Father's Day

Father's Day is this Sunday June 21st. My Dad passed a couple of years ago and Jim's Dad passed about 5 years ago. But, I can always appreciate my husband, who is a father, so I decided to make him a card. 

I was working on the Mojo Monday sketch challenge for this week and decided to do another card using the bokeh technique that I like so much. The Color my Heart Color Dare challenge came up also and they presented a monochromatic challenge. Easy, peasy, Jim likes blue so here comes Crystal Blue, Glacier, Indian Corn Blue, and Outdoor Denim. 

                       

I think bokeh works best with lighter colors. I originally did a card with blues and chocolate but the chocolate didn't go on as I expected. You know, sometimes I have problems with my expectations...please tell me I'm not the only one. Lighter colors will blend with each other giving additional colors to your background. This is not as obvious with the monochromatic theme.

     

Regarding the bokeh dots, I did not use my stamp pad this time. It's getting contaminated with color. 

4" X 5" My Acrylix® Block
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White Daisy Exclusive Inks™ Re-Inker
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To prevent anymore contamination, I took my 4 x 5 block and dropped 5-6 drops of my White Daisy re-inker Z2263 on it and used it as a pallet.  I cut a 4 x 5 1/4" background and randomly sponged areas with till the ink covered the entire piece. Here are the colors I used for the background:

• Indian Corn Blue stamp pad Z2130
• Crystal Blue stamp pad Z2117
• Glacier stamp pad Z2641

Z1938

Z697

Then using either a sponge dauber of a piece of sponge cut up I dabbed a small amount of the White Daisy paint over my bokeh template of cut out various sized circles. Randomly select a size, placement and depth of color to make white dots. 

For the circles I used the Cricut cartridge Art Philosophy (circle 1 and circle 2) to cut Indian Corn Blue cardstock cut to 2 3/4", Blossom X7194B paper cut to 2 1/2", and white cardstock 1385 cut at 2 1/4" in a scalloped circle sponged with Crystal Blue and Outdoor Denim inks. The sentiment is from the "You Mean the World to Me" B1467 stamp set.

The embellishments are White Shimmer tape Z3024, Blue Shimmer tape Z3025, and blue sparkles that are a discontinued item.

    

Happy Father's Day to all the fathers!!  

XOXO Dots

Lemons? Make Lemonade!

I hope you like my new look. My hubby decided I needed a blog facelift. I love it! It's fun, festive and just so cheerful. I hope you smile when you see it!!

My card today is inspired by sketch 402 from Mojo Monday.

This is the sketch Julee Tilman created for us to play with:



I know I've said it before, I love working with these sketches. They provide a starting point, which is my hardest time. Beginning for me is the hard part. So, thank you Mojo Monday!!

Here is my card:

I used some papers from May's Campaign which was A Taste of Summer. This paper is no longer available but, if you purchased it, here is something else you can do with it. The orange and green scalloped circles are cut from the Paper Fundamentals Whimsey Z2033 and Adventure Z2032 collections. The cute little pun stamp is also discontinued but I love puns which is a good thing since my husband is an expert punster!

   XOXO   Dots

June 2015 Specials-A Summer Crush

The Summer is a Great Time to get Busy with Making and Keeping Memories!!

Do You Have a Summer Crush? 

The June special is a great scrapbooking or memory keeping idea for teens and preteens. It can also be used for a special occasion or vacation as it's own separate book. It is also a great value because you get a Free stamp set to go with the purchase of a Crush Book and coordinating assortment.

How can I get a Crush Book and free coordinating stamp set? 

During the month of June, when you purchase any My Crush™ book and its accompanying assortment pictured in Annual Inspirations 2014–2015, you will receive the coordinating stamp set FREE! That is a savings of at least $9.95 USD / $10.95 CAD! Choose from five lovely My Crush book offerings that will provide a swoon-worthy background for your favorite memories. From family reunions to camping adventures to holiday countdowns—and much more—you will be crushing on all these books and the possibilities they provide. Every My Crush book features a hard cover with wire binding and cardstock-weight pages that are printed with eye-catching designs to form the perfect bases for your memory keeping. Additionally, each My Crush book also features unique details—from glossy print, to vellum pages, to gold foil, to ink-resistant patterns—that make displaying your personality easier than ever. Plus, once you add the artistry of the coordinating assortments featuring sticker sheets, envelopes, alphabets, cards, and journaling spots, along with your free stamp set, you will be well on your way to your own gorgeous mini book creation! This offer is only available while supplies last and once they’re gone, these books are gone for good, so put your orders in early to get your summer romance rolling today!

Dates: Offer valid June 1, 2015(9:00 am MDT)–June 30, 2015(11:59 pm MDT).

June Stamp of the Month

The next special is, of course, the June Stamp of the Month S1506. We are ready for summer so what goes with summer best but Ice Cream!! This stamp set is perfect for Sundae Parties or getting ice cream cones and who can forget the sound of the Ice Cream truck coming to your neighborhood!? 

Here is a SOM Card that is an invitation to a party-so cute!

SOM Page with such cute little faces. Love it!! 

This SOM would coordinate and look so cute for birthday party pages

with Confetti papers (X7189B).

 How can I get a Stamp of the Month? Getting this June Stamp of the Month is simple. If you purchase $50 or more, you can get the SOM for $5. 

Click on any of the links or this button to go to my website and shopping cart.

     Cheers!      XOXO       Dots

It's the Middle of June Already!!

It's time for a new Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge combined with a Color My Heart Color Dare.

So, here we go...

• The card is from the value pack of Colonial White cards 50/pack X1410.
• The papers are from the Jackson paper pack .

For the stamping, I used the following stamp pads:

1. Cocoa Z2114
2. Juniper Z2165
3. Glacier Z2641
4. Barn Red Z2104

The stamps are from the stamp set of Dizzy Circles C1610.

• The Washi Tape is Chocolate Woodgrain Washi Tape Z1930
• A zip strip from the paper
• Shimmer Tape in teal Z1918

The strip of paper from top to bottom is a 1" X 5 1/2" piece. The circles behind the celebrate stamp are 2 1/4" and 2 1/2" cut with the Cricut Art Philosophy cartridge Z1686.





Cheers! 

XOXO
Dots

My Bokeh Technique Card

The Bokeh Technique is popping up all over scrapbooking and card making blogs and You Tube videos. I LOVE the way this technique looks and it is so much fun creating it!

You've seen the Bokeh technique, although you may not realize it was called that. So, just for your information, here is what Wiki says about Bokeh: 

In photography, bokeh (Originally /ˈboʊkɛ/,^[1] /ˈboʊkeɪ/ boh-kay — also sometimes pronounced as /ˈboʊkə/ boh-kə,^[2] Japanese: [boke]) is the aesthetic quality of the blur produced in the out-of-focus parts of an image produced by a lens.^[3][4][5] Bokeh has been defined as "the way the lens renders out-of-focus points of light".^[6]Differences in lens aberrations and aperture shape cause some lens designs to blur the image in a way that is pleasing to the eye, while others produce blurring that is unpleasant or distracting—"good" and "bad" bokeh, respectively.^[7] Bokeh occurs for parts of the scene that lie outside the depth of field. Photographers sometimes deliberately use a shallow focus technique to create images with prominent out-of-focus regions.
And an example:
 

I decided to use it for the Color My Heart Color Challenge, which I missed, and the Mojo Monday Card Sketch Challenge 400, which I have not missed :-)!

So here is the sketch:

Here is my card using the Bokeh technique:

What I used to make the card:

• I used a stamp set called Wavy Blooms D1651 for the flower and sentiment. 
• The bitty sparkles are from the Sparkles Assortment Z1752 and 
• the cute heart cut-out is from the Bubbly Enamel Shapes Z3074.

You can make the Bokeh technique as bold as you want. 

I used 3 colors:

• Juniper stamp pad Z2165
• Canary stamp pad z2643
• Ruby stamp pad Z2170

How I Made the Card:

• I sponged the colors (about 1/3 of the area per color) onto a 5 x 3 3/4 size white daisy piece of cardstock, overlapping the colors where they touched to add a little more color. 
• I then took a piece of cardstock and cut various size circles with my Cricut leaving space between the circles. 
• I then took a sponge dauber and sponged White Daisy pigment in the cut circles randomly on the colored cardstock overlapping circles and edges making some more white than others. 

Here are the embellishments and stamp set:

I love this technique and will be doing it a lot more and teaching it to my clubs.

Since it is school graduation time, the card I made yesterday was given today to my very good friends daughter. She's going to be an Art major so it is sufficiently "artsy" for her. I was very excited to give it to her, too. 

I had so much fun with this and got inky fingers to prove it!!

XOXO Dots