Close To My Heart August ARTISTE Blog Hop!

Welcome to our August ARTISTE Blog Hop!  Each month we will  showcase a feature of the amazing ARTISTE Cricut cartridge which  can be purchased exclusively through a Close to My Heart Independent  Consultant.

We're so excited to be doing this hop and we have a fabulous lineup  with some very talented ladies. There will be lots of fun projects!!! 

This month we will be showcasing a different page from the Artiste cartridge!  Did you know there were 700 images on this cartridge??  That's right -- 700!!! 

If you just happened to come to this blog, you should start at the beginning at Lucy's blog - http://www.love2createitall.com.

My project is ... a tabletop decoration, a giftbox/placecard holder and table scatter.  For my projects, I worked with page 78 out of the booklet.  The first thing I made, I think will look great in cluster of different colors and sizes as a decoration on a sideboard, counter top, etc.  I first cut Accent 1 and Accent 1 in approximately 4.5”.  I cut a total of 4.  I embossed them with my houndstooth folder and Big Kick.  I assembled two of the pieces together as shown in the booklet, then doubled and adhered the flat edges.  I thought that by doubling the number of sections, it would appear more full and substantial.  I cut the leaf which is 3-D Object, and adhered with a glue dot.  There is a small hole in the leaf that I wanted to cover, so I ran hemp twine thru a button that coordinated with the leaf and used a glue dot to adhere.  The paper used in this project was Co’redinations Tangerine and Close To My Heart  New England Ivy.

For my second project, I wanted to attempt the pumpkin treat box.  I chose Co’redinations in Terracotta for the body of the box and Close to My Heart  New England Ivy for the leaves.  I sized to fit the 3D Object on a 12” x 12” mat and cut.  I cut 3 of the leaf assemblies in 2 different sizes and curled leaves and tendrils.  I adhered the 3 together, lining up the holes.  I used a coordinating ribbon to attach to the first leaf of the box, assembled the box, then attached the leaf assembly and finished with a bow.  I added one of my grunge leaf scatter pieces as a name tag.  I think this would be lovely to set a Thanksgiving table, or cutsied up as treat boxes for a classroom.  
To finish off my projects, I used Accent 2 and Accent 2 to cut the two designs of leaves in two different sizes from Tim Holtz Grungeboard. I used Alcohol Ink in Lettuce, Watermelon, Terracotta, and Sunshine Yellow to tint the grunge board leaves.  I then brushed with perfect pearls and used my heat gun to curl the grungeboard.  I think the leaves would look awesome as scatter, attached to napkin rings or as a garland on a light fixture.  I really hope you have enjoyed this look at Page 78 of what this cartridge has to offer.

The next stop on your blog hop fun is Laura Charko -

http://koladesigns.wordpress.com/

Here is the list of all the talented consultants who are participating in this months blog hop: 

  Lucy ~ http://www.love2createitall.com

Darla ~ http://www.stampingunderdoctorsorders.blogspot.com

Julia~ http://youcancreatectmh.blogspot.com/

Theo ~ www.celebratecrafts.com

Tina Gale http://tiggersscrapplace.blogspot.com

Stephanie http://www.quiltedscrapper.blogspot.com

 Mandy http://www.mandydesigns.blogspot.com

Joanne http://josiesjoy.blogspot.com

Laura W http://scrappinsweetiesescape.blogspot.com/

 Rebecca ~ http://blog.scrapprincess.com/

Maria Woodworth - http://mariawoodworth.blogspot.com

Judith Ashmore- http://grammiejudys.blogspot.com

 Lisa Woodward~http://mycraftyspaces.blogspot.com

 Laura Charko - http://koladesigns.wordpress.com/

Jennifer Kramer- http://4heartsscrapbooking.blogspot.com/

Eva Friesen~ http://loveofcreating.blogspot.com 

Thanks so much for stopping by and hopping with us - we hope you LOVE all the projects we created!

Happy Crafting~

Lisa Woodward

August 24th-Flower Home Decor Blog Hop

Hello and welcome to the Flower Home Decor Hop. We hope you will leave here super inspired today! If you just came from (insert link here) then you are on track. If you just stumbled upon my blog you may want to start at the beginning so you dont miss any of the gorgeous projects http://shannonleffew.blogspot.com . We have 3 amazing sponsors today...

First up is Anna Fearer of More Paper Than Shoes she is offering a $20 gift certificate to her Etsy store here http://www.etsy.com/shop/morepaperthanshoes also please stop by her FB fan page and LIKE https://www.facebook.com/morepaperthanshoes

Next up is Creative Chaos that is offering a set of mixed holiday flowers you can stop by the Etsy store here www.etsy.com/shop/shannleffew2  and please stop by the FB fanpage and like here www.facebook.com/creativechaos 

and last but not least is Scrapbook Stamp Society giving away 3 digi stamps

http://www.scrapbookstampsociety.com/

Todays project is…..  A Colossal BlogHop Failure.  Ladies, we’ve all had those days, visions of greatness only for it to turn into a pile of goo and tears on the table.  Well…..that’s what happened to me.  I love flowers, I love 3-D flowers, and was very sad that I ended up with not only a project fail, but no time to complete an alternate.  With that said, rather than have dead air space and a link down, I’m including some great projects of what we CAN do with paper flowers in a home décor setting.  Please enjoy with me these projects that WERE NOT failures! 

Your next stop on this hop is Erica at http://mycricutcraftroom.blogspot.com

Thanks for stopping by! Hope you were inspired! 

Here is the complete lineup in case you get lost along the way

Shannon - http://shannonleffew.blogspot.com/

Ashley - http://thebloghopprincess.blogspot.com

Maria - http://JoyfulStamper.blogspot.com

Amanda - http://a-prata-design.blogspot.com/

MelissaPinter-http://pinkpolkadotscrapping.blogspot.com

Anna Fearer - http://www.annafearer.blogspot.com

Judy Dykes - http://scrappingjudy.blogspot.com/

Lisa Woodward ~ http://mycraftyspaces.blogspot.com

Erica http://mycricutcraftroom.blogspot.com

Her Craft Kre8tions DT Challenge- Readin'~'Ritin'~'Rithmetic.

School days, school days

Dear old golden rule days

'Readin' and 'ritin' and 'rithmetic

taught to the tune of the hickory stick

you were my queen in calico

I was your bashful barefoot beau

you wrote on my slate"I love you, so"

When we were a couple of kids

The three Rs, a widely used abbreviation for the basic elements of a primary school curriculum: reading, ’riting (writing), and ’rithmetic (arithmetic) which is what the theme is for this month's Her Craft Kre8tions challenge!

Each Design Team member has received a piece of chalkboard paper approximately 6 x 6-inches. Now, where the challenge lies, is Design Team member is to create a "school" type theme whether it be a class lesson or something that their beau or them could have written on their slate. We're going to see how creative this piece of chalkboard paper can be made into with their "School Lesson" of "readin', 'ritin' and 'rithmatic.
 
We have a great line-up of super creative talent along with our Design Team Page:
 
Her Craft Kre8tions ~ http://her-craft-kre8tions.blogspot.com/
 
 

1.  Edwina~ http://edwinascreations.blogspot.com/

2.  Lisa W.~ http://mycraftyspace.blogspot.com/

3.  Rachelle~http://creationsbyrachelle.blogspot.com/

4.  Kimberly ~ http://scrappingrookie.blogspot.com

5.  Janet ~ http://www.ladyluvbug.blogspot.com/

6.  Colleen ~ http://www.cbcscrapbooking.blogspot.com

7.  Susan ~ http://susanascorner.blogspot.com/

8.  Lisa ~ http://handmadewithlove-lisa.blogspot.com/ 

For my project, I wanted to create a memo board.  With school starting, and with it coming a barrage of NEW dates, deadlines, schedules, schedule changes and tasks, I can always use another memo board.  Every school year starts off the same….gleaming with new possibilities of life organizations.  Nonetheless, seems that the first Monday of school starts some sort of cataclysmic event whose sole purpose is to destroy whatever current memory organization system I have in place. 

I started with the piece of 6” x 6” chalkboard paper sent to us.  Since this is to be reusable, I decided to laminate my chalkboard paper and make it more of a “blackboard”.  Since I planned on using crayons in my finished project, I took some of the colors, and “sharpened” them in the handy, dandy “Mr. Crayon” sharpener included in the crayon box.  I sprinkled the mixed shavings over the  black paper and placed it inside the laminating sleeve.  The result was very cool!  After the lamination was finished, I sized out a 9”x9” piece of chipboard for my base.  I laid out the crayons and glued down my paper.  By far, the most challenging part of this project was coordinating the crayons in a spectrum.  Particularly when you get to some of the more interesting of the 128 crayola colors.  After laying them out, I hotglued them to the chipboard.  The laminated surface is perfect for bistro markers, dry erase markers, etc. to scribble little notes and reminders (we all need all the help we can get!)  I hope you have enjoyed my project.  Hop on along to Rachelle at   http://creationsbyrachelle.blogspot.com/ and lets see what she has created for our challenge!

Until next time~ 

Happy Crafting!

Lisa Woodward

Calendar Girls' August Blog Hop

Welcome to our August Calendar Girls' Blog Hop. Papercrafts Presents 365 Cards magazine which is our inspiration for these monthly hops which thus became the Calendar Girls. The magazine has Creative Ideas for every day of the year: occasions, holidays, and celebrations including 42 unique holidays!!! These unique holidays are our inspiration. The August unique holidays are:
 


Admit You're Happy Month - Lynne


First week of August: International Clown Week - Lynne


1st: National Girlfriend Day - Kimberly


3rd: National Watermelon Day - Lisa Peters


5th: Sister's Day - Kimberly


5th: International Forgiveness Day - Lisa Woodward


7th: National Lighthouse Day- Edwina


9th: Book Lover's Day - Lisa Peters


10th: Lazy Day - Janet


11th: National Son and Daughter Day - Angie


13th: Left-Hander's Day ~ Anita


15th: Relaxation Day - Laura


16th: National Tell a Joke Day - Lucy


17th: National Thriftshop Day - Kari


22nd: National Tooth Fairy Day - Janet
2

26th National Dog Day - Lisa Peters


27th: Just Because Day - Kimberly
 

The hop starts with Lynne ~ (http://slasewcraftiness.blogspot.com). You won't want to miss a single calendar event not to mention the weddings, graduations, birthdays -- ok, you get the idea!!!! 
 

The line-up for August includes:
 

Lynne ~ http://slasewcraftiness.blogspot.com/


Lisa Peters: http://handmadewithlove-lisa.blogspot.com/

Kimberly:http://scrappingrookie.blogspot.com/
Lisa Woodward: http://mycraftyspaces.blogspot.com/

Edwina:  http://edwinascreations.blogspot.com/


Janet: http://ladyluvbug.blogspot.com/


Angie: http://atuttletime.blogspot.com/


Anita: http://www.anitaandbugs.blogspot.com/


Laura: http://lauraleesdream.blogspot.com


Lucy: http://www.love2createitall.com


Kari ~ http://purplefuntastickcreations.blogspot.com
 


For my holiday, International Forgiveness Day, I was a little stumped.  I’d never seen a card for the purpose of forgiving someone.  Then, I did a little research, and discovered that it’s customary to actually apologize on International Forgiveness Day, as it is, well….the International Day of Forgiveness.  So, I made an apology card.  First, I started with my stamp selection.  I used this image from “Country Companions” by DoCrafts.  This set was actually an enclosure to a previous edition of “Papercraft Inspirations”  I stamped in Chocolate Brown and embossed with black embossing powder.  I then colored him with markers and blended.  The image was cut out of the original card stock.  The base of the card was actually made with watercolor paper.  I like the texture, and it’s much less expensive to use than buying textured cream/offwhite stock.  I printed a sentiment on water color paper and layered with coordinating papers from my stash.  I embellished with baker’s twine and light green half pearls.  I think this card is very suited for it’s purpose, and the little bunny is just so cute, how could you NOT forgive them?

Stop by and check out my blog shop sisters’ holidays as I am sure you are going to want to remember these holidays and include them in your card making projects!!!!!
 
We will have blog candy to the lucky recipient that remarks on each site along the way!
 
Thanks for stopping by and mark your calendar again next month to see what Holidays to Celebrate on September 8, 2012 for the next Calendar Girls Blog Hop!



Until Next Time~

Lisa