Tuesday, July 8, 2014

July Joyful Stars Blog Hop

Welcome to the Joyful Stars blog hop this sunny and hot month of July!  This month we have 18 people in the hop so grab a cold glass of iced tea and relax with us for a while.  

If you came here from Lori's blog you are on the right path.  If you want a complete list of bloggers visit Joyce's blog.

Boy do I have a lot to share with you today!  First,  I had the most amazing time in June with all my CTMH BFFs in Pennsylvania at our Hideaway House Retreat.  I got so many pages done I even surprised myself!  Of course we girls had some extra fun times too!  Nine girls in one house for three days with nothing to do but scrap; this was the best CTMH retreat ever!  During the retreat, I spent the whole time scrapping my Disney World vacation from a few weeks earlier.

My family and I love Disney.  It is such a happy, carefree place.  Every time we go we are pleasantly surprised with the new rides, places and sights to see. We all love the Magic Kingdom best so naturally most of my layouts are from there. But this year we also spent a day in Epcot as well which I am still scrapping.   Here are a few of my favorite layouts from the Magic Kingdom...

I have to give a shout out to my downline Laura for helping me learn and use the Cameo to cut out the bears and title on this layout.  I am a big fan of Merida and my most recent Facebook profile picture is definitely evidence of that!
My son loves Winnie the Pooh so taking him to the Crystal Palace for breakfast with the Hundred Acre Wood gang was a no-brainer!  I have to admit, I had fun too! 

My son also loves Buzz Lightyear as you can see from his Mickey Ears.  On this layout, I used one of our flip flaps to add an interactive element to my page (and hide my journaling too).  Did you know in the new CTMH Annual Inspirations Idea Book we will be unveiling a new size flip flap package? Yep! I am so excited! :)


The second selection of crafting I wanted to share with you today is from my Intermediate Level Copic class.  I had the opportunity to take this class with Cindy Lawrence.  She is so sweet and a very patient teacher, plus she colors the most beautiful images and makes the cutest cards ever! In this class I made a handful of new pieces to showcase shadowing and shading techniques and I earned  my Intermediate Level Copic Certification.  Here are two of my finished pieces:

Lilacs: our final exam.  Note the shadowing on the flowers and leaves and the highlights on the leaves from the sun. 

Beary Sweet Sleepover.  Note the light face of little girl bear because of the flashlight and also boy bear's shadow because he is more in the dark. 

My diploma!!!



The third thing I have to share with you today is a painting I did last week at the Art Plus Studio in New Haven.  Poppies are one of my favorite flowers and also very significant to me because of my late Grandpa Bernie.   I painted these poppies in remembrance of him and am so proud to have done a pretty decent job (I think!) on my first "real" painting.  I love you and miss you so much Poppy!

Me and my friend and Stella & Dot uplink, Gina, had a blast at Art Plus Studio painting poppies.
Poppies for Poppy.  My painting took about 2 hours to complete.  My next painting class is on the 19th.  I can't wait!


Lastly, I want to wish myself a Happy Anniversary! This month marks the 5th year I have been a consultant for CTMH.  I am blessed to be a part of this family and for how it has changed my life.  This is the charm CTMH sent to me to mark this happy milestone.  Love it!


Love my heart key charm. Adding it to my silver Stella & Dot chain and wearing it to all my scrapbooking crops.


This past month not only reinforced my love for paper crafting, coloring, painting and creating art but also expanded my desire to create even more memories to preserve forever in art!  I will be traveling to the Statue of Liberty this weekend and am already planning how to document this trip.  I hope you will check back next month to see!


To continue with the Blog hope please click here to visit my BFF Crystal's blog.  I know you will love what she has to show you!

Happy Crafting! :)