Dec SOTM Blog Hop - "Special Care"

Welcome to our Stamp of the Month Blog Hop! We will be featuring December's SOTM, "Special Care", a set of 6 stamps.  If you have come here from Kami's Blog, you are on the right path! The blog hop is a great big circle, so you can start here and work your way all around. A complete list of blog hoppers can be found here if you get lost. 

This month we have approximately 55 Close To My Heart Consultants sharing their creations using this month's SOTM and other great CTMH products on their blogs. This is simple to do - just click on the link at the end of the post on each blog to move to the next one! Here we go!

Here is a picture of the images in the stamp set. 

For my card, I chose to use Baby Cakes paper.It's the first time I have used this paper for anything and I really like the Buttercup paired with the Slate. I stamped the background using 2nd generation Slate ink. The Sunset gives it a nice touch of a bold colour without being overwhelming. I think this stamp set would be awesome used on layouts with young children in particular (just my humble opinion).

Supplies used are all Close To My Heart:

Paper: Baby Cakes Paper Pack, Buttercup Cardstock, Slate Cardstock, Colonial White Cardstock
Stamps: Special Care
Inks: Slate, Sunset
Accessories: Baby Cakes Assortment, Silver Shimmer Tape, Scallop Border Punch, Foam Tape, Harvest Baker's Twine

Now "Hop" on over to Elizabeth's Blog to see her work! Be sure to visit all the Consultants at their blogs to get some great crafting ideas and other fun ideas! Remember, the December SOTM is only available until the last day of December! Click here to see how you can get this stamp set for just $5 this month! 

Enjoy, 
Alyson

"Follow Your Heart" Mini Album (from Convention)

Yes, it has taken me this long to get around to finishing my projects from Convention... isn't that awful?? With no creative juices for the longest time, my projects sat partially done until now and most people don't know how sick I really was at Convention so I just barely got started on any of the projects to begin with. It felt good to get this one done. I am going to give it to a friend as a gift so there are no photos or journaling included. 

If you are debating whether to purchase the Artbooking Cartridge, this is a good reason to show you why you NEED it! I believe all the Cricut cuts for this project were done with that cartridge. I found when I got to the end that I was missing a few cuts and had to improvise a bit but like they say in the scrapping world, "There are no mistakes, just opportunities to embellish!"  

Products used are all Close To My Heart

Paper: Laughing Lola Paper Pack, Lagoon Cardstock, Topiary Cardstock, Honey Cardstock, Whisper Cardstock, Black Cardstock, Kraft Cardstock, White Daisy Cardstock, Colonial White Cardstock
Stamps: Geometric Backgrounds
Inks: Lagoon, Black, Topiary, Honey
Accessories: Artbooking Cartridge, Laughing Lola Dimensional Elements, Laughing Lola Assortment, Foam Tape, Grey Wool Baker's Twine

Enjoy, 
Alyson

Female Birthday Card

A good friend of mine has a birthday coming up shortly and when I saw this card in the new Make It From Your Heart Book, I knew it would be perfect for her. I didn't vary from the pattern at all - used everything exactly as it was, including the same stamp sets. I only used different paper. I chose to use Sarita paper as the colours are nice and bold. 

I love the way it turned out. I really need to make a stash of birthday cards so I am not scrambling at the last minute all the time! It just feels so good to want to create again!! FINALLY!!

Products used are Close To My Heart unless otherwise noted: 

Paper: Sarita Paper Pack, Colonial White Cardstock, Gypsy Cardstock, Lagoon Cardstock

Stamps: Perfect Fit Frames 2, Holiday Tags

Inks: Outdoor Denim, Cotton Candy, Lagoon

Accessories: Artiste Cartridge, Turquoise Shimmer Tape (not CTMH), Foam Tape, Red, Purple and Pink Sparkles (ret.)

Enjoy, 
Alyson

Frosted Cards with an Extra Twist

I loved the idea of taking the Frosted Card WOTG and changing the colours to Slate, Whisper and Twilight (Vicki Wizniuk comes up with the most amazing ideas!!) So, I took her idea and just went one step further with it. I used the cutting guide and I did not change anything else - I simple played around with the pieces of paper allotted per card along with the embellishments and saw what I could created within those limitations and this is what I came up with. The original card is shown first, followed by my four "re-creations". 

  So, just by changing some ink colours and the placement of a few simple pieces of paper, these cards can look very different. It was fun trying this out. Before anyone emails me to ask, YES, feel free to scraplift any of these ideas - anyone could have done this. It wasn't hard - just time consuming, more than anything else. 

Products used are all Close To My Heart

Paper: Frosted WOTG, Twilight Cardstock, Whisper Cardstock, Slate Cardstock, White Daisy Cardstock

Stamp: Frosted Cardmaking WOTG

Inks: Twilight, Slate, Whisper

Accessories: (comes in the WOTG Kit - Frosted Sparkles, Glitter Hemp), Foam Tape

Enjoy, 
Alyson

Masculine Birthday Card

Almost everyone I know has a hard time creating cards for the men in their lives... it seems that there are always places for flowers and ruffles but it is so much more difficult to make masculine cards. I decided to use the Huntington Paper Pack - the same one I was assigned to teach at Convention - to create this male birthday card. 

I chose to add the Sarita Textiles as well to give it a lighter colour scheme with the Autumn Terracotta as I wanted to keep it to three colours. The pattern is from the Make it From Your Heart Volume 2 book. The Slate and Barn Red are very dark colours and the Autumn Terracotta brings a nice touch to the card by adding that pop of colour. I also used a flower (who says male cards can't include flowers??) from the Flirty Collection and some Rosewood Mini Medley accents. A bit of stitching, pleating of textiles and it's done!

Supplies used are Close To My Heart unless otherwise noted: 

Paper: Huntington Paper Pack, Barn Red Cardstock, Autumn Terracotta Cardstock, Whisper Cardstock

Stamps: Heartfelt Birthday Wish

Inks: Barn Red Pigment Ink, Barn Red Alcohol Marker, Orange Copic Marker (not CTMH)

Accessories: Corner Rounder, Rosewood Mini-Medley Collection, Sarita Textiles, Foam Tape, Off White Embroidery Floss (not CTMH), Stitch Guide, Flirty Accessory (ret.), Cuttlebug Embossing Folder (not CTMH)

Enjoy, 

Alyson