May SOTM Bloghop - You've Got a Friend

   

Welcome to the Stamp of the Month Blog Hop! We will be featuring May's SOTM, "You've Got a Friend", a set of 5 stamps.  If you have come here from Vicki'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 bloggers can be found here.  

This month we have approximately 55 Close To My Heart Consultants sharing their creations using this month's SOTM and fabulous Close To My Heart products on their blogs. Just click on the link at the end of the post on each blog to move to the next one!

The stamp set looks like this: 

I chose to create 2 cards for this month's hop. Since May is National Scrapbooking Month and Close To My Heart has an awesome campaign with a new paper pack called Free to Be Me (see my Constant Campaign Link above for more details), I decided to use that to create my cards. 

The first card uses the teal coloured paper in the kit. 

 I also cut a background from the Artbooking cartridge and sprayed over it, using Smoothie reinker and water mixed with some rubbing alcohol. 

The second card uses all papers from the new kit and for the stamp, I cut out the sentiment inside so I could stamp it in a different colour. I used Smoothie and Honey inks to best match the papers. 

Products used are all Close To My Heart

Paper:Free To Be Me Paper Pack, White Daisy Cardstock, Black Cardstock, Cotton Candy Cardstock

Stamps: You've Got a Friend

Inks: Smoothie, Honey, Cotton Candy, Lagoon

Accessories: Artbooking Cartridge, Scallop Border Punch, Lagoon Zipper Lace, Baker's Twine - Paradise Assortment, Foam Tape, Aqua Dots, Ivy Lane Assortment

 Now "hop" on over to Katy'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 May SOTM is only available until the last day of May! 

Click here to see how you can get this stamp set for 

just $5 this month!

Enjoy, 

Alyson

Tri-Shutter Birthday Card - Skylark

Another friend of mine has a birthday coming up and I wanted to create a special card for her. She is a very talented lady - very theatrical and entertaining, to say the least! Her card needed FLAIR ~~~ and this 

seemed perfect for her! 

 

I added some lace to each side and lots of gems and ribbon to dress it up. The "Swirls Around"stamp set was perfect for the top and bottom of the card and although it is hard to see here, it is embossed so it is shiny and stands out on the card. 

Products are Close To My Heart unless otherwise indicated: 

Paper: Skylark Paper Pack, Sweet Leaf Cardstock, White Daisy Cardstock, Desert Sand Cardstock

Stamps: Swirls Around, Perfect Fit - Frames, Perfect Fit - Birthday, Distressed Backgrounds

Inks: Lagoon, Sweet Leaf, Lagoon Pigment Ink

Accessories: Art Philosophy Cartridge, 11/4 inch Circle Punch, Baker's Twine - Paradise Assortment, Skylark Assortment, Lagoon Zipper Lace, Clear Detail Embossing Powder (ret.), Foam Tape, White Lace (not CTMH), Green Ribbon (not CTMH), Base & Bling Teal Jewels

Enjoy, 

Alyson

Mother's Day Card

My wonderful mom is so special to me. She is 86 and she is still independent and doing quite well. I only wish that I was able to visit her more often than I can. She lives almost 5 hours away from me and with a difficult schedule, it makes it hard to schedule meaningful visits at times. 

For her Mothers' Day Card, I wanted to do something original this year. I recently read the latest edition of Card Maker magazine and they had several ideas for pop-up cards and this was one of them. I liked the fact that it still fits in a standard envelope, so I decided to use this design. The Lollydoodle paper was a good colour fit for what I had in mind. I wanted flowers, but not too many, along with a Happy Mother's Day sentiment. 

The Artiste Cricut Cartridge was perfect! It had the flower and leaves I was looking for, and the perfect sentiment as well. A little size adjustment on my Cricut Explore and all was easily done! 

The card is shown from 3 angles - left, right and straight-on, so you can see the detail from each view.

  

Supplies used are all Close To My Heart:

Paper: Lollydoodle Paper Pack, Cotton Candy Cardstock, Pear Cardstock

Stamps: None

Inks: None

Accessories: Artiste Cartridge, Sparkles Clear Flourishes - Small, Sparkles - Clear Assortment, Pear Alcohol Marker

Enjoy, 
Alyson

Changes to My Creative Space

I have been working on some changes to improve my space where I create. Since moving to my new place, I had the opportunity to paint my creative spot turquoise (no big surprise for anyone who knows me...) but I have always wanted to completely free up my desk area for the opportunity to be able to use the full space for creating. 

I recently found some gorgeous little hanging bags on Pinterest and I really wanted to create them but the link didn't lead anywhere. By accident, I stumbled on the instructions on another site as to how to create them! I made 5 of them and that has allowed me to get my rotating carousel off my desk and hang all my supplies now. Now, nothing is on the area where I work. My Cricut machine is on the other side of my desk as it has to be hooked up to my computer. I have a table on the opposite side of my space as well and all my storage is behind me. I will photograph that at anther time.  

I also made a memo board to hang on my wall. It was so easy to do... just a canvas board with some quilt batting and a piece of fabric... some ribbon and buttons and it was done! I love it as well! 

Here are some photos so you can see what I did. I apologize for the cord running down my wall - I have to have lighting under my shelf and the cord runs through a hole in my desk - otherwise it has to run along my wall and way to the other side of the room to reach an outlet!

These are the bags I made... not being advanced with a sewing machine, I ripped out a lot of stitching on the first bag until I got the hang of what I was doing... By the fifth one, it was pretty easy!The hanging rods are from IKEA.

The next photo shows the inside of one of the bags. I put a plastic needlepoint piece inside the base of each bag, just to give it a firmer base. 6 inch embroidery hoops are really hard to find - I had to special order mine through a fabric store!

This is the memo board that I made! It looks crooked because I had to photograph it on my wall and I can't get a straight-on picture... 

If you want more information on where I found my instructions, let me know via a comment here or email me directly (see my Contact Me page at the top) and I would be happy to send you the information! 

Enjoy, 

Alyson

Brae-er's Unit Blog Hop - My Favourite Things

Welcome to the Brae-er's Unit Team Blog Hop. 

If you have arrived from Kimberly's blog, you are in the right spot. 

The theme for this month's hop is "My Favourite Things", inspired of course, by the words of Maria Von Trapp from The Sound of Music. I have not only seen the movie and the live production dozens of times, but I have acted in it, played in the pit orchestra many times and directed it twice as well! 

My favourite thing (colour) is TURQUOISE so I decided to capitalize on that for this theme. I recently had my photo taken for my church's directory and decided to change it to black and white for the purpose of this layout. I found the design I wanted to use on Pinterest and tweaked it a bit. I loved all the layers. It took a little bit of hunting to find all the paper that I needed - I do have more turquoise paper but I wanted to use as much CTMH paper as possible!

So, with some added embellishments, some bling and a few other touches, I am pretty happy with the final product!

Products used are Close To My Heart unless otherwise indicated: 

Paper: Skylark Paper Pack, Dotty For You Paper Pack (ret.), Stella Paper Pack (ret.), Lagoon Cardstock, Black Cardstock, White Daisy Cardstock, Turquoise Glitter Paper (not CTMH), Other patterned paper (not CTMH)

Stamps: Hello Blooms, Believe in Yourself

Inks: Lagoon, Black

Accessories: Art Philosophy Cartridge, Artiste Cartridge, Cricut Image (not CTMH), Aqua Dots, Lagoon Zipper Lace, Teal Shimmer Trim, Paradise Baker's Twine, Sparkles Flourishes, Sparkles Flourishes - Small, Foam Tape, Blue and Green Sparkles (ret.) 

The next stop on the hop is Heather's blog. Hop on over there to see her wonderful creation. Thanks for stopping by :) 

Enjoy, 

Alyson

Tri-Fold Card for Special Lady

I had the opportunity earlier this week to meet an amazing lady. She is 95 years young and she is the client of a friend of mine who is a Personal Support Worker. Apparently this lady knew of me through the church we both attend although she is no longer able to go due to mobility issues. 

She is so bright and on the ball - I was amazed! We talked for almost 3 hours and I learned SO much from her! She was so inspiring and her sense of humour was even more amazing! She has invited me back and I absolutely intend to visit her again. 

In the meantime, I created a special card for her. She loves my artwork (or so she says...) so I wanted to do something special for her. 

The Tri-Fold Card isn't seen much anymore, but I still like it. I did this one using the Sarita Paper Pack. 

The next two photos show a close up of the sentiment and then a close up of one of the floral clusters.

I am really looking forward to my next visit with this remarkable lady. She has truly captured my heart :)

Supplies are Close To My Heart unless otherwise indicated:

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

Stamps: Beautiful Friendship, Charming Chevrons, Geometric Backgrounds

Inks: Outdoor Denim Pigment Ink, Lagoon Pigment Ink, Gypsy Pigment Ink

Accessories: Art Philosophy Cartridge, Clear Detail Embossing Powder (ret.), Heat Tool (ret.), Paradise Flower Assortment (ret.), Paper Bird (not CTMH), Purple Flowers (not CTMH), Aqua Dots, Purple Glitter Gems, Black and Grey Sparkles, Sparkle Chevron Shapes, Sparkles from Frosted Card WOTG (ret.)

Enjoy, 

Alyson

Silent Auction Cards - Last Set

This is the final set of cards for the Silent Auction. I am so glad to be finished and moving on to other things. 

This final set was created using the Ivy Lane Papers - one of my favourite sets of papers from the Idea Book. I love the patterns and colours in this paper pack. Everything is so rich and intense. 

The first photo shows the box and the two cards. The following photos show the two cards in greater detail, along with the Atlantic Hearts sketch on which I based the cards. 

Supplies are Close To My Heart unless otherwise noted:

Paper: Ivy Lane Paper Pack (includes cardstock available only with this kit), Blush Cardstock, Colonial White Cardstock

Stamps: Look to the Light

Inks: Smokey Plum, Hollyhock

Accessories: Artiste Cartridge, Ivy Lane My Stickease, Ivy Lane Assortment, Cream Pleated Ribbon (not CTMH), Off-White Crocheted Lace (not CTMH)

Enjoy, 

Alyson

Silent Auction Cards - Installment #3

This is the third set of cards for my church's upcoming Silent Auction. I am slowly making my way through these sets... My goal is to create at least one more set in the next few days.

This set is one of Thank You cards because everyone needs thank you cards at some point. All the cards in the set are the same, so the first photo shows one card with the box and the second photo shows a close up of the card.

 

I used an old sketch as my basis for the card and it can be 

found below. 

Products used are Close To My Heart unless otherwise noted: 

Paper: Jubilee Paper Pack, Topiary Cardstock, Cranberry Cardstock, Honey Cardstock, White Daisy Cardstock

Stamps: Thanks (ret.)

Inks: Topiary, Indian Corn Blue

Accessories: Art Philosophy Cartridge, Topiary Mini Chevron Ribbon, Base and Bling Red Jewels, Sparkles - Black and Grey Assortment, Base and Bling Floral Accents (ret.), White Flowers (not CTMH)

Enjoy, 

Alyson