Monday, August 31, 2009

September Stamp of the Month Blog Hop

Welcome to our Stamp of the Month Blog Hop! We will be featuring the September SOTM, which is Treasures, a set of 13 stamps. If you have come here from Kristie's blog, you are on the right path!

This month we have over 60 Close To My Heart Consultants sharing their creations using the September SOTM and other great CTMH products on their blogs. This hop is simple to follow - just click on the link at the end of the post on each blog to move to the next one! Here we go!


I made a 6X6 Thank You card, following the Open Outline pattern from Wishes Card Confidence Program. As usual, I took slight liberties with the sketch. Instead of adhering the vellum to the inside of the back of the card, I adhered it to the inside of the front. The vellum was random stamped in White Daisy ink, which I set using my Craft Heater (caution - when using your craft heater to set the ink on vellum, make sure you don't get the heater too close, and keep it moving so you don't scorch the vellum). The card base is Sweet Leaf cardstock, and the patterned paper is from the Emporium Level 2 Paper Pack. Circles were cut out using Coluzzle Circle Template. The patterned paper was sponged around the edges with Twilight ink, and the Sweet Leaf cardstock was sponged around the inside of the circle opening using Sweet Leaf ink. The sentiment on the inside was stamped using Twilight ink. The White Daisy circle was cut with Nestabilities, sponged with Bamboo ink while still in the die and the image was second generation stamped in Twilight ink. The scalloped circle was also cut with a Nestabilities die. The scalloped circle was mounted using 3-D Mounting Foam. The adhesive pearls in the top left corner are the new-for-Autumn Connections Club award, available exclusively through your Close To My Heart consultant.








Now "Hop" on over to Wanda's blog to see her work! Be sure to visit all the Consultants at their blogs to get some other fun ideas! Remember, the September SOTM is only available until September 30th! Contact your CTMH Consultant (or click here) to see how you can get this stamp set at a discount or even free!

For a complete list of participating blogs for this month's blog hop, visit Jena's blog.

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Semper Fi

For the last several months, I have been secretly (well, not really secretly, just secretly for the friend we were making it for) working on a scrapbook with a friend. This was truly a world-wide project, as we had to send pieces of layouts to Okinawa, Afghanistan, Iraq, Hawaii, and all around the continental U.S. for this project. This album was to be a retirement gift for someone who has had a tremendous impact on many lives. Today we presented the album to MSgt Pearson, who will retire December 31st after 20 years of faithful service in the Marine Corps. Her influence will be felt for years to come, and she will be terribly missed.



Papers: CTMH, and miscellaneous cardstocks and patterned papers
Inks: CTMH, and my inkjet printer
Stamps: CTMH, and some stamps I purchased at Shuri-jo Castle
Embellishments: tons. MM brads, Prima flowers, others.
Titles were cut with my Silhouette
Interactive pages: Foto Flaps. Also, matted pictures were laminated in Xyron, and a piece of a transparency was cut, scored to make a "tent", and adhered to the layout and the matted photo using Terrifically Tacky tape (normal adhesives would not keep the transparency and lamination stuck together). Page protectors were cut with Xacto knife to allow the flap to stick through and be interactive.

Saturday, August 1, 2009

August Stamp of the Month Blog Hop

Welcome to our Stamp of the Month Blog Hop! We will be featuring August's SOTM,which is It's Your Day, a set of 26 stamps. If you have come here from Carol's Blog, you are on the right path! If this is your first stop, you may want to go back to Jena's Blog and start from the beginning!

This month we have 63 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!







Funny story about this card. July was the first blog hop I participated in. Since I was going on vacation, I needed to get my card done early. So, going from memory, I grabbed my "July" stamp of the month, and commenced to making a really cute card. It used "Fold Back" pattern from the old CTMH Originals Card Confidence Program, Animal Cookies Creative Basics papers, Clover Meadow and White Daisy cardstock. Lots of Dutch Blue eyelets were used, some White Daisy ricrac on the insert part of the card. The stamping was done in Tulip ink, and the White Daisy insert piece was direct to paper ink distressed with Sunflower ink. The "party" image was mounted using 3-d Mounting foam. As you can see, I'm describing my AUGUST Stamp of the Month card. In my glorious blondness, I had made my August card for July. Luckily, I checked the Idea Book the day before I left for Florida, otherwise I would have had a really red face for that hop! Don't tell anyone about my blonde moment, okay??

Now "Hop" on over to Chris'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 August SOTM is only available until August 31! Contact your CTMH Consultant (or click here) to see how you can get this stamp set at a discount or even free!