How I WISH I traveled this light!

 Sing along with me:
"All my bags are packed, I'm ready to go. Taxi's here, he's blowing his horn..."

 

Well, actually, my bags are NOT packed but I AM about to head out on a long-awaited vacation to the Outer Banks. Hubby John booked a large and lovely Oceanside home near the beach in North Carolina, and now I have a week to get my act together.  What crafting item(s) will I bring to entertain myself for 2 weeks!!?  Aaargh, panic!!

 

I am SUCH an over-packer anyway. And this time, we're going with our two dogs Sadie and Morgan (yes, the rental allows dogs, YAY!), and we're also bringing my daughter Emily and her two lovely babies Charlotte (3.5 years old ... "I'm not a baby. I'm a big girl.") and Evan (9 weeks).  Her hubby Josh is staying home to save vacation time for our next planned trip -- a cruise in March with the family. I ♥ my family!!!

 

While I am away, I have a series of blog posts scheduled for the entire month (even though I'm not gone that long). Two other Close To My Heart Consultants and I have teamed up to show you ideas on using the 30 mini stamps that are being offered FREE in September with your qualified order of 3 retail-priced stamp-sets (not SOTM or Hostess Sets). 

 

Now, about that project I show above: 

 

The SUITCASE is a wonderful Sizzix XL Scoreboard die, designed by my friend Eileen Hull.  Eileen is venturing off on another #PaperTrail later this week. She'll be gone for two months, on an adventure that will take her to the Midwest and west. And *I* am one of her sponsors!  :)

 

Eileen came and taught a class for me on her #PaperTrail2 in June; the suitcase die was one she showed but I didn't get until later. Use chipboard (or art mat) cut to size. I ran the die through my new CROSSOVER die-cutting/embossing machine by Cheery Lynn Designs. I promise to do a video showing this fantastic machine pronto ... as soon as I get back from vacation. Oooh-la-la. 

 

Oh wait... before I ran it through the cutter, as Eileen taught, I used Aleene's Tacky Spray Glue to affix CTMH's "Wanderful" paper to the front of the scoreboard. Then both the paper and the board are identically cut, and there's no fussing or paper-piecing. Fantastic time saver!

 

I embellished the suitcase with rolled flowers (cut using CTMH's Cricut cartridge called Art Philosophy) and banners I stamped and fussy-cut. I also used a piece of CTMH Base and Bling (Eiffel tower charm) and a glass bezel charm to accent.  Inside, there's a mini-album (accordion fold) that also uses the Wanderful paper.

July = Vacation!

Oh, happy day!

During the first week of July, the manufacturing plant where I work (day job = bills paid) closes for annual maintenance. It's a forced vacation, and a time to catch some rays as well as refresh my creativity in the loft. It calls for an easel card to place on my desk. Here it is!

To create this card, I used the adorable image of the relaxin' cat from Hambo Stamps. This image of the "Cool Cat" is actually a FREE digi-image that you can download by clicking HERE. I've purchased many of the Hambo Stamp images as I think they are totally adorable!

For this image, I colored it using a combination of colored pencils with gamosol technique to blend, Copic Markers, and a white accent pen. I cut the image from my white drawing paper using Cricut's Accent Essentials cartridge (the cloud shape, on shadow, using the "Center Point" feature), and cut a yellow highlight piece slightly larger for mounting. I inked the edges, as the white seemed to get lost on the yellow.

I then cut a palm tree using Cricut's Summer Vacation cartridge. I cut multiple images, some from brown (for the trunk), some from Bazzill's green for the leaves. I stacked the brown for the trunk to give it dimension, and then cut apart the green leaves and stacked/splayed to give the tree a more realistic feel. I used hot glue to be sure the leaves stayed where I wanted them, quickly.

Bling time! I punched through the leaves using my Big Bite CropADile, and placed two brads. The brads I used were yellow, which just looked a little "off" when said and done. So I blinged them with cinnamon-colored Stickles.

I created the text "On Vacation" using Sure Cuts A Lot, setting and manipulating the font to make it look more fun. I twisted the last "n", for example, and elongated some of the letters. Then welded, glued and blinged with Stickles.

The card design was placed on a small A-frame easel card onto which I glued a fun paper from a summer stack.

Hambo's Cool Cat accurately shows what I'll be doing at poolside for the next couple of days. Then I have some writing to do, and some more play too. Enjoy your "cool" days of summer!