July SOTM Blog Hop - Strong Roots

Welcome to the July Stamp of the Month blog hop!

This month, the featured stamp set is Strong Roots and an image of the stamp set is below. 

You should have arrived here from Show and Tell with Michelle. If you get lost along the way, a list of all participants can be found on Melinda Everitt's blog. 

I did a LOT of masking to create this slimline card. All the images were stamped and immediately masked so the next image could be stamped beside the previous one. I left the masks in place so I could create the clouds. To create the clouds, I use a stencil that I created a while ago by welding a bunch of circles and ovals together in Cricut Design Space. Once the clouds were in place, the masking paper was removed and the images were coloured using watercolour pencils and a waterbrush. I inked the bottom with Fern and touches of New England Ivy. The sentiment was stamped in black and the card was mounted on Black, Carolina and New England Ivy cardstock. 

I hope you enjoyed my project. 

The next  stop on this hop is Brenda Lapp's blog. I'm sure she has something terrific to share with you! 

Products used are all Close To My Heart:

Paper: White Daisy Cardsotck, Black Cardstock, Carolina Cardstock, New England Ivy Cardstock, Slimline Cards and Envelopes

Stamps: Strong Roots

Inks: Archival Black, Intense Black, New England Ivy, Fern, Carolina

Accessories: Cricut Basic Shapes, Stencil Sheets, Watercolour Pencils, Waterbrush

Enjoy,

Alyson

 

May SOTM Blog Hop

Welcome to the May Stamp of the Month Blog Hop! 

The stamp this month is a beautiful collection of florals and terrific sentiments.

You should have arrived here from Katy Taylor's blog. If you get lost along the way, a list of all participants can be found on Melinda Everitt's blog. 

I wanted to create something a little different from a standard card and decided to make a Magic Slider Card. I have made these before but the sizing changes depending on the image that is used. 

I chose the large floral circle as the focal image. That was stamped on both white cardstock and again on acetate. The image on cardstock was coloured (I actually embossed it using Clover pigment ink and realized afterwards that those parts wouldn't even show!) A square was cut from the card front. When the slider is pulled up, it magically looks like the image is coloured. There are a few pictures of the pull-out in progress and there is also a short video to see the card in action. I added a panel on the back as a place to write a message. 

 

For the second card, I used some Distress Oxide inks to create a background and then stamped the long floral image on both sides of that. The sentiment was gold heat embossed and added to front. The top panel was mounted on foam tape and then placed on gold foil paper and finally black cardstock. A few gold glitter gems were added to the front. 

I hope you enjoyed my projects! 

The next stop is Aggie's blog. I am sure she has something amazing to share with you. 

Products used are Close To My Heart unless otherwise indicated:

Paper: Woodgrain Paper Pack, White Daisy Cardstock, Clover Cardstock, Black Cardstock, Gold Foil Paper, White Cards and Envelopes

Stamps: Flowers for You

Inks: Archival Black, Clover Pigment Ink, Black Staz-On, Intense Black, DO Inks - Mustard Seed, Spiced Marmalade, Abandoned Coral 

Accessories: Acetate (not CTMH), Stitched Square Thin Cuts, Stitched Rectangle Thin Cuts, Tri-Blend Markers, White and Gold Skinny Ribbon, Gold Glitter Gems, 1" Circle Punch (not CTMH), Clear Embossing Powder, Gold Embossing Powder, Heat Tool

Enjoy,

Alyson

April SOTM Blog Hop

Welcome to the April SOTM Blog Hop.

This month, the featured stamp set is Scandinavian Folk Art Greetings. The images in that set are shown below. 

You should have arrived here from Haley Dyer's blog. If you get lost, a list of all participants can be found on Melinda Everitt's blog. 

I really struggled with what to do with the images in this set. I finally settled on using the single flower image and taking part of the window image to use in the square. The colour scheme is Peacock, Lagoon and Sundance. I used the Multi-Square Window Thin Cut to create the Lagoon square and I spattered the sentiment section with the Sundance Shimmer Brush. The card front was mounted on a piece of patterned paper from the Mix-In paper pack. Finally, a few gold sequins were added and the centres of the flowers were coloured. 

The next stop on this blog hop is Becca Whitham's blog. I am sure she has something awesome to share with you! 

Products used are Close To My Heart unless otherwise indicated: 

Paper: Mix-In Paper Pack, White Daisy Cardstock, Peacock Cardstock, Lagoon Cardstock, Sundance Cardstock, Neenah Solar White Cardstock

Stamps: Scandinavian Folk Art Greetings

Inks: Peacock

Accessories: Multi-Square Window Thin Cut, Stitched Rectangle Thin Cuts, Sundance Shimmer Brush, Gold Loose Sequins, Tri-Blend Marker, Foam Tape

Enjoy,

Alyson

March SOTM Blog Hop

Welcome to the March SOTM Blog Hop! 

You should have arrived here from Darlys Recker's blog.

If you get lost, a list of all participants can be found on Melinda Everitt's blog. 

The stamp set this month is called Winged Masterpiece and an image of that set is below. 

I chose to use the butterfly and the birthday sentiment. I did not want to fussy cut that butterfly so I stamped it on a piece of White Daisy cardstock so I could trim it after it was coloured. I used some papers from the new Daisy Meadows paper pack and based my colour scheme on that. I had to create a card that was 5 x 61/2 to maintain the same properties as a standard card but allow enough room to mount the butterfly and still have room for the patterned papers to show. 

I added a few of the small flowers around the sentiment to keep the theme across the entire card. A black journaling pen was used to draw around the outside of the card and around the butterfly image. I added some shimmer to the large flowers as well. 

I hope you enjoyed my card. 

The next stop is Gina Brandstetter's blog. 

I am certain she will show you some wonderful ideas using this stamp set. 

Products used are all Close To My Heart: 

Paper: Daisy Meadows Paper Pack, White Daisy Cardstock, Mint Cardstock, Peach Cardstock 

Stamps: Winged Masterpiece

Inks: Intense Black

Accessories: Tri-Blend Markers, Clear Shimmer Brush, Daisy Meadows Dots, Black Journaling Pen 

Enjoy,

Alyson

February SOTM Blog Hop - Doodled Borders

 Welcome to the February Stamp of the Month Blog Hop! 

This month, the featured stamp set is Doodled Borders. It's an interesting set of stamps with lots of small borders, tiny images and background stamps. 

You should have arrived here from Kathy Burrows' blog. If you get lost along the way, a list of all participants can be found on Melinda Everitt's blog. 

I die cut the Multi-Square Window from Raspberry cardstock and then cut several squares in Lagoon and Peacock, using the light side of the cardstock. I used a variety of stamps from the set to stamp a background on each of the little squares and every one is different. I wanted some cohesiveness so I did all the stamping in black. Those squares were attached to the back of the die cut and that was mounted on Peacock and then Lagoon. 

The sentiment was stamped in Peacock on Lagoon cardstock and then die cut. It was mounted on a Raspberry bracket and attached to the card front with thin foam tape. 

This is a rather unusual card for me - I created the bottom one first and later decided I wasn't a huge fan of the colour scheme so I did the one that is shown at the top. 

The next visit on this hop is Krista Hershberger's blog. I am certain she will show you something very interesting using this stamp set!

Products used are all Close To My Heart:

Paper: Nectarine Cardstock, Raspberry Cardstock, Mint Cardstock, Lagoon Cardstock, Peacock Cardstock

Stamps: Doodled Borders, Howdy Neighbour 

Inks: Archival Black, Lagoon, Peacock

Accessories: Multi Square Window Thin Cut, Howdy Neighbour Thin Cuts, Stitched Simple Brackets Thin Cuts, Clear Shimmer Brush, Clear Sparkles, Black Journaling Pen, Foam Tape, Thin Foam Tape

Enjoy,

Alyson

January SOTM Blog Hop - Every Thank You

Welcome to the January Stamp of the Month blog hop. 

This month, the featured stamp set is called Every Thank You and it contains tons of ways to say thanks! 

You should have arrived here from Maureen O'Sullivan's blog. If you get lost along the way, a list of all participants can be found on Melinda Everitt's blog. 

My first thought for this stamp was a colourful thank you card. I measured the card front and separated it into seven even sections. The same image was stamped in seven different ink colours. The word YOU at the bottom was stamped in Mink and then the lined design was stamped over in Pewter. A few hearts were stamped on the right side and I used the Pewter Journaling Pen to outline the front. Clean and simple! 

The second card is totally different... I die cut the Olive Branches Background and then inked it using Peacock Feathers and Mowed Lawn Distress Oxide inks. The sentiment was stamped and embossed in white. I added some Oasis Holographic paper on the card base and then decided to turn it into a shaker. There is foam tape across the middle so the shaker components live in half a card area only. 

I hope you enjoyed my cards. 

The next blog to visit on this hop is Brandi Robinson's blog. I'm sure she has something amazing to share with you!

Products used are all Close To My Heart: 

Paper: White Daisy Cardstock, Pewter Cardstock, Bluebird Cardstock, Oasis Holographic Paper 

Stamps: Every Thank You

Inks: Candy Apple, Flamingo, Grape, Bluebird, Lagoon, Clover, Nectarine, Mink, Pewter, Versamark, Peacock Feathers Distress Oxide, Mowed Lawn Distress Oxide

Accessories: Olive Branches Background Thin Cut, White Detail Embossing Powder, Heat Tool, Loose Silver Sequins, Silver Confetti, Pewter Journaling Pen, Foam Tape, Acetate (not CTMH)

Enjoy,

Alyson

December Stamp of the Month Blog Hop

Welcome to the December Stamp of the Month blog hop.

The featured stamp set this month is called Happiness Never Grows Old. There are beautiful flowers and terrific sentiments in this stamp set. 

You should have arrived here from Krista Hershberger's blog.

If you get lost on the blog hop, a complete list of participants can be found on Melinda Everitt's blog. 

I have used this set for a variety of projects already but wanted to do something that involved masking for this blog hop. I chose the two large floral clusters and created a mask for each. They were difficult to cut due to the thin stems. I stamped those clusters along the outside edge of a piece of die cut white cardstock (using the Stitched Rectangle Thin Cuts), overlapping them where needed and then coloured them. The largest sentiment was stamped on a different piece of white cardstock and then turned into a shaker. That shaker was embedded within the floral stamped piece and then mounted on Green Apple cardstock and finally on Wisteria cardstock. I brushed the lines of the flowers with the Clear Shimmer Brush.

I hope you enjoyed my card. 

The next visit on this blog hop is Darlys Recker's blog. I know she has something amazing to share. 

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

Paper: White Daisy Cardstock, Green Apple Cardstock, Wisteria Cardsock, Neenah Solar White Cardstock 

Stamps: Happiness Never Grows Old

Inks: Intense Black 

Accessories: Stitched Rectangle Thin Cuts, Foam Tape, Acetate (not CTMH), Silver Loose Sequins, Silver Confetti, Tri-Blend Markers, Clear Shimmer Brush 

Enjoy,

Alyson

November Stamp of the Month Blog Hop

Welcome to the November Stamp of the Month blog hop!

This month, we are featuring the stamp set called "You Warm My Heart".

You should have arrived here from Lauren Moore's blog. 

If you get lost along the way, a complete list of participants can be found on Melinda Everitt's blog. 

I am part of a small group of CTMH Makers who run a virtual crop each month. We offer a pre-cut project for customers who purchase the SOTM at a discount. November is my month to create that project and I chose to make a set of five cards. 

The cards all follow the same basic design principle with angled papers. This kit was created using the Jingle Joy papers. There are minimal embellishments - just a handful of clear sparkles - as we have to cut and (if need be) ship this to qualifying customers. These cards are perfect for the upcoming holiday season - with colder temperatures around the corner, who doesn't love a hot drink? 

I hope you enjoyed my project. 

The next blog on this hop is Darlys Recker's blog. I am sure she will wow you with her project! 

Products used are all Close To My Heart:

Paper: Jingle Joy Paper Pack, White Daisy Cardstock, Black Cardstock, Clover Cardstock, Evergreen Cardstock, Raspberry Cardstock, Flamingo Cardstock, White Cards and Envelopes

Stamps: You Warm My Heart

Inks: Intense Black, Black, Clover, Evergreen, Raspberry, Flamingo, Pebble

Accessories: Stitched Rectangle Thin Cuts, Stitched Bracket Thin Cuts, Tags and Tabs Thin Cuts, Clear Sparkles, Bitty Sparkles, Tri-Blend Markers, Foam Tape, Black Journaling Pen

Enjoy,

Alyson

October SOTM Blog Hop

Welcome to the October Stamp of the Month blog hop! 

We are featuring the stamp set "With All My Love" on this hop. The stamp set has some beautiful floral images including a large heart and terrific sentiments. 

You should have arrived here from Brenda Lapp's blog.

If you get lost on this blog hop, a complete list of participants can be found on Melinda Everitt's blog. 

I wanted to use some of the new mixed media products to create my card. The Distress Oxide inks blend so perfectly and I used 3 colours to create the background. I also spritzed a bit of water on the paper before I dried it. Then I added a stencil over top and brushed over that with Asteroid Glitter Gel. I expected the gel to retain the silver colour but surprisingly, it turned out more gold than silver. Once the background piece was dry, I added the heart which was stamped, coloured and fussy cut with a blue border added. The sentiment was stamped using 2 ink colours and die cut. I brushed the small orange flowers with the Gold Shimmer Brush, added some gold gems and gold embellishing thread.

The next blog on the hop is Darlys Recker's blog. 

I'm sure she has something awesome to share with you!

Products used are all Close To My Heart:

Paper: Distress Watercolour Cardstock, White Daisy Cardstock, Bluebird Cardstock 

Stamps: With All My Love 

Inks: Distress Oxide Inks (Mustard Seed, Spiced Marmalade, Candied Apple), Intense Black, Smoothie, Sundance 

Accessories: Stitched Rectangle Thin Cuts, Stitched Simple Brackets Thin Cuts, Artbooking Cricut Cartridge (stencil), Asteroid Stickles Glitter Gel, Tri-Blend Markers, Gold Glitter Gems, Gold Embellishing Thread, Gold Shimmer Brush 

Enjoy,

Alyson

August Stamp of the Month Blog Hop

Welcome to the August SOTM Blog Hop! 

This month, the featured stamp set is called Floral Celebration and the images are great for colouring and for stamping plus there are two awesome sentiments. 

You should have arrived here from Michelle Loncar's blog. 

If you get lost, a list of all participating consultants can be found on Melinda Everitt's blog. 

I do a lot of colouring and wanted to do something different with this stamp set. I used only the open floral images and I stamped them on white cardstock using Versamark. That ink can be hard to see so I worked from the largest flower to the smallest one, covering as much of the paper as possible trying not to overlap images. That was then heat embossed with white embossing powder. I used Carolina, Bluebird and Sapphire inks (from light at the edges to darker in the middle) to sponge over the card, bringing out the white flowers. A stitched frame cut in Sapphire was added around the outside. 

I cut out a section using the Stitched Rectangle Thin Cuts and created a shaker with the frame. The sentiment was stamped on the inside piece along with a few tiny flowers and I added silver loose sequins and confetti stars. The card front was mounted on foam tape so the shaker is embedded within the card and a few loose sequins were added to the centre of the largest flowers.

I hope you enjoyed my card. 

The next stop is Brenda Lapp's blog.

I am sure she has amazing artwork to share with you!

Products used are Close To My Heart unless otherwise indicated: 

Paper: White Daisy Cardstock, Sapphire Cardstock 

Inks: Versamark, Carolina, Bluebird, Sapphire 

Stamps: Floral Celebration

Accessories: Stitched Rectangle Thin Cuts, Acetate (not CTMH), Silver Loose Sequins, Confetti Stars, Foam Tape, White Embossing Powder, Heat Tool 

Enjoy,

Alyson

New Product Blog Hop

Welcome to the New Product Blog Hop. This blog hop features artwork from the July/August catalog. There are so many amazing products... new paper packs, great stamp sets and all sorts of other goodies! 

You should have arrived here from Melissa Robinson's blog.

If you get lost along the way, a list of all participants can be found on Melinda Everitt's blog.

I chose to focus on a stamp set called Simple Florals. I created two cards using this stamp set - and the stamp set is also available with a set of coordinating Thin Cuts. 

Both of these cards are replicas of previous designs from several years ago. I like the style and they worked for what I had in mind. 

The first card base was splattered using the Julep Shimmer Brush and then the Peach patterned paper piece was added. I hand stitched along the border using two strands of embroidery floss. A stitched frame was placed around the base. I stamped the greenery using Sage and Evergreen - Evergreen was also used in second generation. Several of the flowers and leaves from this stamp set were used on this card. After clustering the flowers together using both thin and regular foam tape, I added some of the same embroidery floss under the flowers. I coloured a few sparkles and added then to the centres of the flowers. The tag is a stamp from the Joyful Sunflower stamp set and I cut a piece of white cardstock to fit within that tag. The sentiment is from the July SOTM, For My Beautiful Friend. Finally, I brushed parts of the flowers with the Clear Shimmer Brush. 

The second card features papers from both the Mix-In Paper Pack and Summer Vibes Paper Pack. I also stamped an image from the stamp set onto Peach cardstock for one piece. It's a little hard to see that the Glacier paper is patterned paper as much of it is hidden under other pieces. I stamped the greenery and some small flowers before adhering the papers. I didn't want to use the green shades in the paper packs and opted instead to use Lagoon and Glacier. Those colours go so well with orange. 

The papers were either torn or cut and adhered to the card front. Three flowers were stamped and die cut to go in the centre where the papers meet. I added some gold embellishing thread and a few coloured bitty sparkles. The card front was mounted on a piece of Smoothie cardstock. I brushed parts of the flowers with the Gold Shimmer Brush but they came out looking almost dirty in the photo. They don't look like that in real life... sometimes the camera does strange things.

I hope you enjoyed my cards. 

The next blog on this hop is Brandi Robinson's blog. 

I know she has something fabulous to share with you! 

Products used are Close To My Heart unless otherwise indicated: 

Paper: Mix-In Paper Pack, Summer Vibes Paper Pack, White Daisy Cardstock, Smoothie Cardstock, Peach Cardstock

Stamps: Simple Florals, Joyful Sunflower, For My Beautiful Friend

Inks: Smoothie, Peach, Nectarine, Lemonade, Sage, Evergreen, Lagoon, Glacier

Accessories: Stitched Rectangle Thin Cuts, Simple Florals Thin Cuts, Joyful Sunflower Thin Cuts, Clear Shimmer Brush, Gold Shimmer Brush, Julep Shimmer Brush, Foam Tape, Thin Foam Tape, Gold Embellishing Thread, Bitty Sparkles, Clear Sparkles, Tri-Blend Markers, Embroidery Floss (not CTMH)

Enjoy,

Alyson

July SOTM Blog Hop

Welcome to the July Stamp of the Month Blog Hop! 

This month the featured stamp set is awesome! There is a main image of a lady holding flowers and so many smaller images and great sentiments reflecting love and friendship.

This is a circular blog hop so you can start anywhere along the way. 

You should have arrived here from Melinda Everitt's blog.

If you get lost a list of all participants can be found on Melinda Everitt's blog 

(yes, the same consultant listed above).

Here is an image of the stamp set. 

These cards require some explanation... I started with the one at the bottom and had everything ready to go. I added the shaker and adhered everything down and then realized that my flowers were UPSIDE DOWN. I purposely stamped them so they would be facing the correct direction but I adhered the card together with that top stamped piece facing the wrong direction.. So I had to try again but with a different card design this time. 

I started by selecting a white stitched die cut from my collection (I save all of the extra inside and outside pieces when I cut the stitched dies). I stamped and coloured the images and added the centre strip. I went to adhere that piece to the front of the card and... NO! I had selected a stitched rectangle that had accidentally been added to my collection from a different die set and it wasn't the same size as the CTMH ones. At that point, I wasn't about to create a THIRD card for this blog hop, so this is the one that remains. It's only the large white piece that is from a different set of dies. Argh! 

The sentiment was stamped using Candy Apple ink and part of it was brushed with the Gold Shimmer Brush. It was adhered with foam tape and some Gold Embellishing Thread was added underneath. I added a few Gold Glitter Gems above and below the sentiment. 

This is the original card I created with the upside down flowers... 

I hope you enjoyed my projects. 

The next blog on this hop is Brandi Robinson's blog.

I'm sure she has something awesome to share with you! 

Products used are Close To My Heart unless otherwise indicated: 

Paper: Summer Vibes Paper Pack, White Daisy Cardstock, CandyApple Cardstock, Black Cardstock, White Cards and Envelopes

Stamps: For My Beautiful Friend

Inks: Intense Black, Candy Apple

Accessories: Stitched Rectangle Thin Cuts, Stitched Rectangle Dies (GMD), Tri-Blend Markers, Loose Gold Sequins, Gold Shimmer Brush, Foam Tape, Black Journaling Marker, Gold Embellishing Thread, Gold Glitter Gems, Acetate (not CTMH)

Enjoy,

Alyson

June Stamp of the Month Blog Hop

Welcome to the June Stamp of the Month Blog Hop! 

This month, the featured stamp set is called Garden Tags. It is a set with four gorgeous tags, a coordinating flower and a few other small elements. There is also a set of tag thin cuts available that coordinate with this stamp set. 

You should have arrived here from Brenda Lapp's blog.

If you get lost, a list of all participants can be found on Melinda Everitt's blog. 

Although I love each of the tags in this set, I selected one that coordinates with the single flower. I chose to colour the flowers in a gold tone to create mini sunflowers. I used two of the Sapphire papers from the Mix-In Paper Pack and I stamped and embossed the tags using Sapphire Pigment Ink. They looked better in dark blue than in black. The tags were coloured and die cut. Three individual flowers were stamped and fussy cut plus I added two flourishes cut from the Art Philosophy Cricut Cartridge. The petals of each flower were brushed with the Gold Shimmer Brush.

The base of the card contains the pocket - the card opens from the top and a sentiment can be written inside later. The pocket was decorated using the Lace Border Thin Cut and I added a thin strip of Sapphire cardstock to the top of that cut. I also cut two stitched rectangles to line the edges.

I hope you enjoyed my project. 

The next stop on this blog hop is Michelle Loncar's blog.

I'm sure she has something awesome to share with you! 

Products used are all Close To My Heart:

Paper: Mix-In Paper Pack, White Daisy Cardstock, Sapphire Cardstock

Stamps: Garden Tags

Inks: Sapphire Pigment Ink, Intense Black

Accessories: Art Philosophy Cricut Cartridge, Lace Border Thin Cut, Stitched Rectangle Thin Cut, Tri-Blend Markers, Clear Detail Embossing Powder, Heat Tool, Gold Shimmer Brush, White and Gold Skinny Ribbon, Foam Tape, Thin Foam Tape 

Enjoy,

Alyson