I've been busy this week!

I finished my day job early this week so I had time to play. My niece just turned 16 and my uncle will be 80 so I made them both cards (thanks to Pinterest of course). The cake card uses an old SOTM Celebrate with Cake. The balloon card featured the recently retired True Love, last year's Operation Smile set.

Here is an actual original, second one this year! I'll say it came from Divine Intervention because the saying was on a church bulletin board. I used the August stamp of the month "School Year" S1708. I wanted to show how it could be used for less school-type items. I also used some of our new Basics colors. The frame is Toffee. The stamping was done in Heather and everything was edged in Espresso. The Ruby plaid is from the Jack paper pack and the bear inside is from the Jack cardmaking and Thin Cuts set. The inside sentiment comes from one of the sets included with the Flower Market Cricut Collection.

Here are some layouts that feature the Enchantment Fundamentals and All-Star Complements. It's a good thing I am not caught up on my scrapbooking...I was able to find pictures that fit fairly well. They weren't even what I was originally thinking I would use! (This concludes my thinking out of the box for 2017.) The last picture shows the flip flaps I added to "Teamwork."

The 2017-18 Annual Inspirations was just released and it's full of exciting new products!!

Our new Color Of The Year is "Bashful," but you don't have to be bashful when using it...this soft pink will coordinate with many of your favorite Exclusive Inks colors. Bashful is available in cardstock, ink pad, re-inker, mini pigment ink pad, an Everyday Life Album, Pearls (new embellishment) and glitter paper! Watch for it to pop into paper packs throughout the year.

If one new color is exciting, how about ten?! The Basics Palette has been updated with a great set of neutrals in brown and grey tones. Missing basic black? Don't worry, it is now a "stand alone" color with White Daisy. 

It's hard to tell in the above picture but our cardstock is now two-tone: the regular shade on one side and a lighter shade on the other. You now have TWICE as many colors to use! Great for borders and layers too.

I just love the new Fundamentals patterns! For the Adventure Palette they have a great water color look. Be sure to look at my paper samples if you're local. It's so hard to get pictures that show the papers, they always look better in person. 

Scrapbookers...we have a new volume of Make It From Your Heart! This How To Book is actually loose pages (printed on very heavy, coated paper) that are 3-ring hole punched and fit into an Everyday Life album.

"You Are Here" and so is our new Cricut Collection! But don't let the name fool you, just like Flower Market is much more than flowers, there's more than just travel on this cartridge...such as the reasons you hit the road: sporting events, holidays and recreational activities. You Are Here Collection is available with a physical cartridge and also digital without a cartridge. It comes with three D-size stamp sets and the Enchantment cardstock pack (two-toned). We also have three new Country Collections that are available in digital format only.

We have two new Cut Above scrapbooking kits: "The Story Begins" for baby boy or girl. These kits are similar to the Live Beautifully kit we offered in May for National Scrapbooking Month. The baby kits include directions and materials to complete 10 coordinating 2-page layouts, memory protectors and a special offer to save 30% off a My Legacy album. Coordinating Picture My Life Cards are also available in either a boy or girl version. Also in Cut Above kits, Golden Moments, a card kit and a tag kit. Mix and match the pieces! There are also four new M stamps designed to fit on the banners.

And the new Operation Smile set is adorable!! Punny Pals has 36 animals and pun sayings. When you purchase this set, $7 of the proceeds is donated to Operation Smile™, a non-profit organization that provides surgeries to repair cleft lips and palates for children around the world. There are also new Operation Smile™ t-shirts. And remember to round your order up to the nearest dollar when ordering, your spare change can change the life of a child.

My favorite new product is the additions to our Workspace Wonder line including a carousel base and top for your stamp pad and/or marker stacks. How are you using Workspace Wonder components?? Post your configuration on my CTMH Facebook page.