Sneak Peek: Day 5

If you have a Cricut, you're going to LOVE CTMH's new offering. If you don't have a Cricut, beg, borrow or steal one because you're not going to want to miss out!

Take your scrapbooking to never-before-seen levels with the new Cricut Artbooking collection! With oodles of images in each of 15 layout themes, you can create several coordinating pages for each theme using just two keys and one dial size. Images include accents, borders, titles, overlays, photo mats--in standard photo sizes!--and more.

The Cricut keys are optimised for creating 12" x 12" pages in a jiffy. You'll love creating ten themed mini books, also optimised for several different sizes using just two keys and one dial size.

Celebrate birthdays, new baby, vacations, friends, sports, Halloween, Christmas, and more. When you're finished cutting, use the coordinating stamp sets and Dimensional Elements shapes to add even more pizazz!

The Cricut Artbooking collection includes the Cricut cartridge with 700 images, font, mini books and layouts; three My Acrylix D-size stamp sets; and three 12" x 9" Dimensional Elements in coordinating shapes.

Cricut Artbooking Bundle

You'll find pages, cards and mini books throughout the new Autumn/Winter 2013 Idea Book featuring Artbooking die cuts. If you can't wait one more week until the new Idea Book comes online, check out my Close To My Heart Board on Pinterest. New images are being posted almost every day.

Not ready for Artbooking? CTMH has two other Cricut collections: Art Philosophy (basic brackets, frames, flowers and font) and Artiste (featuring themed projects, interactive cards and more). Whether you're a new or advanced crafter, there's a cartridge for you!

Did you know the Cricut collections are designed with CTMH stamps in mind? Whenever you see a stamp image outlined in red, that shape can be cut with one of the Cricut cartridges. Just refer to the note under the stamp to see which cartridge is needed. Also, on the stamp carrier sheet, you'll find the settings you need to cut the shape to exactly the right size. CTMH has made using the Cricut cartridges, coordinating stamps and shapes fast, simple and easy!

Circle Journal: Jen

Glitter, Bling and Pretty Things is the theme of Jen's Circle Journal. That presented quite a challenge for me. I'm not a glittery kind of gal. I have been trying to make my pages and cards more sparkly since I started with CTMH--there are just so many great shiny products--but with a house full of boys, glitter, bling and pretty things don't make it onto too many of my pages.

Thankfully, I found lots of inspiration online! I based Jen's layout on one I'd seen on Pinterest, by Nickie Hoffer.

I love the neutral black and white colour scheme with a pop of Cranberry. Black, cream and red has long been my favourite colour scheme.

Instead of the For Always patterned paper (which I don't have yet), I used black and white papers from My Mind's Eye I already had in my stash. The CTMH stamps used were BohemianAlphabet, Sweet Moments, the March 2012 Stamp of the Month, Florentine Workshops on the Go stamp set, and the Whoo's Your Valentine stamp set.

Did you notice the two-tone ink on the title? To achieve this look, simply ink stamp with the lighter colour first, top or bottom, and ink the darker colour second. Keep a straight line by inking on the edge of the stamp pad. The technique is simple and the effect is stunning!

To fit in with Jen's theme, I used CTMH silver Glitter paper to mat the large photo and add a stripe under the lace stamping. An alternative product that would work just as well for the stripe is Shimmer Trim. Available in black and silver, Shimmer Trim is 3/8" wide and backed with adhesive.

Additional sparkle was added around the page and to the large medallion with various adhesive bling: Sparkles Clear Assortment, Sparkles Pink, Red and Purple Assortment, and Pink Glitter Gems.

Glitter paper, bling gems and pretty stamps bring Jen's theme to life! If you'd like any of these glittery, sparkly, beautiful products for yourself, just check out my online store or pop me an email.

Happy Scrapping!