December SOTM Blog Hop - Cutie Pie

Welcome to the Stamp of the Month Blog Hop! We will be featuring December's SOTM, "Cutie Pie", a set of 11 stamps.  If you have come here from Haley'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. 
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 a slider card using the Artfully Sent Cricut Cartridge. This was my first time using this cartridge and it was hard to choose a card from the many, many MANY options available! After selecting the type of card I wanted, I chose to mask the cupcake stand so my cupcake would sit nicely and then I coloured it in using the ShinHan markers. The first photo shows the card inside the holder and the second photo shows the card on is own. 

 Now hop on over to Gina's Blog to see her awesome 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!

Products used are all Close To My Heart unless otherwise noted:

Paper: Confetti Wishes Paper Pack, Canary Cardstock, Pacifica Cardstock, White Daisy Cardstock

Stamps: Cutie Pie

Inks: Pacifica, Pacifica Pigment Ink, Black Pigment Ink

Accessories: Artfully Sent Cartridge, Blue Twine (not CTMH), ShinHan Markers

Enjoy, 

Alyson

Merry Christmas Candy Box Card

I saw this beautiful card box style on Facebook on a closed board that I follow - it was a result of a You Tube video tutorial. I have a really hard time following those types of instructions because I find that they tend to move too quickly for me. I had to watch it several times, writing notes as I watched until I had the information that I needed. Now, I have piles of sticky notes all over and at some point, I will sort them into readable instructions for myself so I can re-create this type of card again at a later date.  

I left the left inside section blank so I can write a message in that spot. The other challenge was finding WRAPPED chocolates that fit the height of the box - not too tall but the right height - and that was a real challenge!

This is a 5x7 card with a 3/4 inch spine. 

Products used are Close To My Heart unless otherwise noted: 

Paper: Yuletide Carol Paper Pack, Ruby Cardstock, New England Ivy Cardstock
Stamps: None
Inks: None
Accessories: Art Philosophy Cartridge, Artiste Cartridge, Gold Shimmer Trim, ShinHan Marker, Ruby Mini-Medley Collection, Bling Gems Gold Assortment, Spellbinders Cutting Dies (not CTMH) 

Enjoy, 
Alyson

Atlantic Hearts Sketch 83 - Noel Card

I love this week's sketch at Atlantic Hearts. However, for my own reasons, it presented me with my own set of challenges, only because I just wasn't thinking clearly as I was creating this card.

To start with, I had the front of the card all adhered together and I realized that something just didn't look right to me... Being a trained musician, it didn't take long for me to realize that the music piece was upside down. The average person wouldn't even notice but I noticed and I knew that it would drive me crazy so I had to remove that and cut it properly.

Second, after I had stamped the horn and coloured it in, I realized that I had stamped it upside down! Now, how (again as a musician) did I manage to do that??? I noticed that after I had coloured the ribbon and the bow was upside down. I was not having a good day. The solution? Cut it out along with the sentiment and remount them on another sheet of cardstock - and they look just fine :) I chalk it up to being tired and just not paying attention to what I was doing... we all have those kinds of days...

So, here is the sketch and my card - the card that took me MUCH longer to create that it should have!

Products used are Close To My Heart unless otherwise noted: 

Paper: Yuletide Carol Paper Pack, New England Ivy Cardstock, Colonial White Cardstock, Olive Cardstock
Stamps: Yuletide Greetings
Inks: Black Pigment Ink, New England Ivy Pigment Ink
Accessories: ShinHan Markers, Foam Tape, Yuletide Carol Assortment, Green Ribbon (not CTMH)

Enjoy, 
Alyson

Peace on Earth Card... Freshly Made Sketches

Well, I thought I would try a challenge this week but I am a little off in my timing apparently. I had this card all ready to go, thinking I was actually ahead of the game and then I found out that I am actually a sketch behind... I did this for Freshly Made Sketches 161 and this week is actually sketch 162!

Oh well. Whatever the case, I have another Christmas card for my stash and that's a good thing, right? I have so much happening at the moment that I am not at all surprised that this happened... such is life. 

I prefer non-traditional colours for Christmas, so this is my card. 

Who knows - maybe I will get around to doing sketch #162 after all!

Products used are Close To My Heart unless otherwise indicated: 

Paper: Lagoon Cardstock, White Daisy Cardstock, Patterned Paper (not CTMH)
Stamps: Snow Flurries (ret.), Snowflakes (ret.)
Inks: Lagoon, Slate
Accessories: Grey Pleated Ribbon (not CTMH), Memory Box Cutting Dies - Birds and Branch (not CTMH)

Enjoy, 
Alyson

Atlantic Hearts Sketch 81 - Happy Birthday Card

The sketch at Atlantic Hearts this week was perfect for a birthday card with a specific individual in mind. Masculine, yet still gets the point across in a very pleasant way - just right. 

So, here is my card, along with the sketch.

Products used are Close To My Heart unless otherwise noted: 

Paper: Pathfinding Paper Pack, Glacier Cardstock, Cocoa Cardstock, Olive Cardstock

Stamps: Holiday Tags

Inks: Cocoa

Accessories: Chevron Border Punch, Gold Shimmer Trim, Cocoa Grosgrain Ribbon (ret.), Harvest Baker's Twine (ret.), Neutral Buttons (ret.), Leaf Punch (not CTMH) 

Enjoy, 

Alyson

Cut Above Christmas Cards- with a Slight Twist

I finally decided to pull out my package of Cut Above Christmas Cards and see what I could do with them. I wanted to stay true to what was provided in the package and not add anything else to what was actually given AND use only one colour of ink plus the suggested stamp set. That meant trying to stay true to the original card without changing up too much of what was already there. 

The suggestion in the package was to use Ruby ink but I found Cranberry was a much better colour match. 

I ended up with 5 vertical and 5 horizontal cards: I used all of the twine but not the same length on each card. I did keep to the sparkle on the reindeer's nose on each card... I also did not raise the sentiment piece on every card - I found that there was simply not enough of the foam tape to do that - I cut each square into two pieces and used 4 pieces on each raised sentiment to keep it from falling in. 

I really wanted to use the scallop stamp from the stamp set but I found it SO difficult to line up no matter how many times I tried. I ended up completely ruining one of the sentiment pieces and had to turn it over and create my own background from an older stamp set as you can see in the top photo. I did manage to get it reasonably lined up on one card. 

This is a great kit for the quick creation of 10 Christmas cards for anyone - beginner, intermediate or advanced - who wants to create his/her own cards. Now I want to try the other set!

Products used are all Close To My Heart

Paper: Cut Above Christmas Card Kit

Stamps: Merriest Christmas

Inks: Cranberry, New England Ivy (only because I messed up)

Accessories: none - all were included in the kit! 

Enjoy, 

Alyson

Birdcage Card - Just for You

This gorgeous card is one that I found on Facebook. It took me a bit to find the blog of the creator but it was created by Patricia Manhire and her blog is Patricia Manhire's Creative Corner.

I loved the idea of the card so much that I had to create my own version of it! 

It is made using the Artfully Sent Cartridge - and this is my first time using this cartridge! In addition, it also uses the absolutely adorable November Stamp of the Month, "It's the Little Things". Combining those two products, along with the Brushed Paper Pack makes for a simply beautiful card. 

I have a feeling more of these cards will be created in the future - I LOVE this :) 

Products used are all Close To My Heart

Paper: Brushed Paper Pack, Flaxen Cardstock, White Daisy Cardstock, Pink Glitter Paper
Stamps: It's the Little Things (Nov. SOTM)
Inks: Black, Flaxen, Canary, Pixie, Hollyhock, Pear, Juniper
Accessories: Artfully Sent Cartridge, Clear Sparkles, Foam Tape, Thin Foam Tape

Enjoy 
Alyson

Christmas Gifties

These adorable little gift bags go back to last Christmas season... they are from the seasonal catalogue that Close To My Heart put out last fall and I never got around to using them at that time. It so happens that I have a use for them now so I decided to pull them out and decorate them!

I think they are just so cute :)

Products used are all Close To My Heart

Paper/Bags: Season's Tweetings Gift Bag Set (ret.)
Stamps: Season's Tweetings (ret.)
Ink: all Pigment ink - Black, Topiary, Ruby
Accessories: ShinHan Markers

Enjoy, 
Alyson