May 2011 Stamp of the Month Blog Hop

Welcome to the May 2011 CTMH Stamp of the Month Blog Hop, featuring Chairs to You, a set of 14 Stamps.  This month we have over 50 Close To My Heart consultants participating in our hop.  If you've just arrived here from {Sheila's} blog, you are on the right track.  If you are just starting here, our round-robin hop can still be enjoyed in it's entirety.  Just follow the links at the end of each post, and eventually you'll end up right back here!

I made this card following the sketch for Mojo Monday 188 and the OCC Challenge (easel cards).  Rather than make a round or square card, I opted to use my Nestabilities Labels One die to make my card.  This card actually had quite a monochromatic feel until I colored the flowers of the chair Vineyard Berry.   After that addition, I figured a bit more color would look good, so I used a Cocoa button and Antiqued Copper brads as the centers of the flowers, which were colored using homemade glimmer-y mist.  The scalloped circle was sponged with ink in the same color (Juniper), and mounted with 3-D Mounting Foam.  Decorate the inside, and a cute housewarming card for a friend who is about to move (of course, knowing my "postal failure" history, only time will tell if this card actually makes it to the intended recipient).

Papers: CTMH cardstock in Cocoa, Juniper, and Sweet Leaf, CTMH Wings Creative Basics
Inks: CTMH Cocoa, CTMH Markers in New England Ivy and Vineyard Berry
Tools and Techniques: Nestabilities Labels One, Cuttlebug, CTMH flowers, CTMH ribbon (included in Wings Creative Basics, CTMH Buttons, CTMH brads, Marvy Uchida punch, 3-D Mounting Foam
Stamp Sets: CTMH Chairs to You


Remember, Chairs to You is only available during the month of May 2011.  Ask your consultant, or click here, to find out how to get this stamp for a discount or possibly even FREE!


Now hop on over to {Brae's} blog to see what she's created.


If you find any broken links along the way, Helen has the complete list of hoppers here.

Birthday card from my scrap day...

...sorta.  I had some friends over to scrap last weekend, but I didn't get much scrapping done while they were here (but had some good conversation and some yummy snacks!!).  I made this card after everyone left (instead of putting all of my supplies away, and they are STILL down on the dining room table). 

I made this card following OCC Sketch Challenge 7, using some adorable paper I bought at CKC Pasadena last year.  Other challenges include Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge #75 (Spring Has Sprung), Pixie Dust Studio Pixie Challenge #12 (Buttons and Flowers), Crafty Calendar Challenge #6 (Flower Power), and Creative Card Crew Challenge (It's A Celebration). 

Papers: CTMH Chocolate, Clover Meadow and Twilight cardstock, Doodlebug Designs Dragonfly Stripe and Seedlings

Inks: CTMH Chocolate and Twilight

Tools and Techniques: CTMH Buttons, Prima Flowers, CTMH Chocolate Brads, 3-D Mounting Foam, Marvy Uchida circle punch, Marvy Uchida scalloped oval punch
Stamp Sets: CTMH From Me to You

Cute and Spring-y Birthday Card

I'm still getting over the crud that has been going around, and I woke up with a headache, so I decided to scrap for a bit before hitting the gym (and DH hired a cleaning company that started two days ago and will come bi-weekly, so I don't feel obligated to be cleaning something right now).  A few weeks ago I stopped at the Stampin' Post on my way home and bought the cutest little girl stamp set by Hero Arts.  Which meant I needed more Copics to color them with.  So I ordered 19 more from The Merri Artist (bringing my current total of Copic markers to 30), and was excited to get to break-in both of my new purchases.  Friday evening I started coloring a few of the largest girl image, and today I am making cards with them.  This is the first card, made for an upcoming birthday.  This card was made following CPS sketch 154.  Other challenges were OCC Something Old That's New, Flourishes Timeless Tuesday Challenge (I LOVE using up stuff from my stash, and the paper, flowers and baubles have been in my stash for AGES), Pile it On (flowers), and Fun With Shapes and More challenge #41 (Spotted).

Papers: CTMH Orange and White Daisy cardstock, Sassafrass Sunshine Lollipops
Inks: Copic Markers

Tools and Techniques: Unknown flowers (whoever makes the monthly flowers, these are January Carnation and March Daffodil), Bella's Baubles
Stamp Sets: Hero A rts Sweet Wonderful You, CTMH Card Sentiments (inside)

Postcard Sketch Inspiration Challenge Christmas Card

I needed to take a break from my homework, so I thought I'd try the OCC challenge.  This week's challenge is a sketch inspiration challenge for a postcard.   I think it turned out cute, and was a pretty quick (for me) card.

Papers:  CTMH cardstock, DCWV Holiday Collection The Christmas Stack

Inks:  CTMH Bamboo, Cranberry, Desert Sand, and Ponderosa Pine

Stamps:  CTMH No Peeking, Vintage Christmas, and Friendship Alphabet Small

Embellishments:  Prima flowers, Making Memories Crystal Brads

Tools and Techniques:  Direct-to-paper ink distressing

This is yet another card for Sparkle's Christmas Card Challenge (woohoo, number three for the week!!!). 

I guess I have to get back to the homework...

Autumn Many Thanks Card

I had to get my scrapping fix in today, so I checked out the sketch challenge at OCC. I wanted to break in one of my (too many) stamp sets that I got this week, so decided on a thank you card. I also wanted to kick out a bunch of Christmas cards, but I don't see that happening today. I still have homework to do. :(




Stamps: CTMH Many Thanks
Papers: CTMH cardstock, CTMH Enchanted
Inks: CTMH Autumn Terracotta, Garden Green, Smoky Plum and Sunflower
Techniques: DTP ink distressing, emboss resist
Other: 3-D Foam mounting squares, Marvy Uchida scalloped punch, MM spirals

Pilin' it on

Wow, I finished my homework assignments and had them turned in before dinner tonight, so I had time to scrap. I decided to work on a Christmas card, so I checked out Sparkle's Christmas Card Challenge for this week. She challenged us to use something that was given to us. This was a difficult challenge for me, I buy EVERYTHING (don't worry, DH doesn't read my blog :) ). But, I also decided to try to work in another challenge or two. I ended up with a total of FOUR challenges for this card: Sparkle's Christmas Card Challenge #44, Amy's Friday sketch from a few weeks ago at Prairie Paper and Ink, Monochromatic Mania from Our Creative Corner, and the Pile it On Challenge #18 (Three Dimensional--I know, real toughy for me, right??? LOL).




Papers: CTMH cardstock, CTMH Perfect Day, Scribble Scrabble Rosy Winter Wonderland
Inks: CTMH Sorbet and Tulip, CTMH markers, Copic markers
Stamps: Cosmobella, CTMH Annotations, CTMH December Word Puzzle
Techniques: Sponging, watercoloring
Dies and Punches: Nestabilities Classic Scalloped Circle Small and Standard Circle Small, Martha Stewart Snowflake


So, let's cover how I met each challenge. The Bella image I received in a swap. I followed Amy's sketch (with minor liberties-the extra snowflakes at the top). The colors used were Barn Red, Tulip, and Sorbet (I think it qualifies as monochromatic). I mounted the sentiment circle with 3-D Mounting Foam (of course!), and added some vellum snowflakes that were cut with a Martha Stewart punch. The two on the sentiment circle were mounted on the circle with glue dots. The three up top were mounted using glue dots and clear buttons (one has no button, one is mounted on one button, and the last is mounted on two buttons that are stacked on top of each other to give extra height).


Now I should try to clean up some of this scrap stuff that seems to have found its way onto every surface in my scrap room...

The one I wish I didn't need to make

I wish it could have been the congratulations card it was supposed to be.



Our Creative Corner sketch challenge was followed for this card. This isn't the best quality picture, it is hard to see the very light small flower silhouette on the right of the stamped image. I stamped it light intentionally, I suppose to be somewhat symbolic. This was probably the worst I have ever felt about making a card.

Butterfly congratulations

We will be attending the wedding of G's cousin at the end of the month, so I thought I'd be proactive and make the card now. I followed the sketch at Our Creative Corner to make this card. I chose the colors Grey Flannel, Grey Wool, Indian Corn Blue and White Daisy. My choice of colors came from the invitations, which were blue print on white paper with a silvery-white embossed pattern.

I began by making two sheets of random stamped cardstock. I used Grey Flannel for the base, and Indian Corn Blue for the rectangle layer. Stamp sets used for the random stamped paper were Legendary Moments (the larger fleur-de-lis) and Tender Tags (the June '09 Stamp of the Month). The Indian Corn Blue panels were mounted on slightly larger White Daisy panels.

I used my Nestabilities Labels One to cut and stencil the panel for the butterfly. I sponged the panel with Indian Corn Blue and Grey Flannel ink while the paper was still in the die. I used Butterfly Wishes (the March '09 Stamp of the Month) for the butterfly and the sentiment. I used the rock and roll technique for the butterfly, first inking up with Indian Corn Blue ink and stamping once on scrap paper, then rolling the edges of the stamp on the Indian Corn Blue pad and stamping on the panel. I guess that technically, that means I also used second-generation stamping. The sentiment was stamped in Grey Wool. The panel was mounted using 3-D Mounting Foam (I love that stuff). White Organdy ribbon came from my stash. Now let's hope I remember to pack it for the trip to Florida.

Go Team Go!!!

Tomorrow my friend Stephanie is running the San Diego Rock N' Roll Marathon as a participant with Team in Training. She has been doing a lot of events with TNT since she lost her sister to Acute Myelogenous Leukemia in 2002. As a matter of fact, Steph and I met as TNT teammates in 2007. This year she set her fundraising goal at $4000, she is closing in on that goal (if you want to check out her page, it is here). She has been doing a lot of races the past year, some for causes and others just for fun. I last saw her at the triathlon I did on May 3rd. She had several friends participating in it, and she came out to show us support. She really is an awesome woman! I am going to meet her around the halfway point tomorrow, to show my support. I wanted to make a card for her, and here is what I ended up with:

I followed this week's OCC sketch, which I turned on its side. I tried to match the TNT colors as much as possible (which isn't easy--it's a funky purple and a funky green). I used DCWV(green) and CTMH cardstock (White Daisy), and CTMH Enchanted paper. Stamp sets used were CTMH Be Yourself and You Rock. Inks used were Black and Pansy Purple, I also used Bella's Baubles in an unknown shade of purple.

Cameo

Today I chose patterned paper by 7 Gypsies to make this card for the OCC Sketch Challenge. Originally, I planned to use a flower of some sort. When I started visualizing the card, I started to think of how just the two colors made me think of those cameo brooches that my grandmother had (and the cameo images she had on the wall in her living room). So I decided to use Be Yourself (the May Stamp of the Month) for the image. This card went together rather easily, I actually spent more time choosing the papers than I did making the card. In addition to the 7 Gypsies paper (Requiem Quad), I used unknown cardstock and black rhinestones from my stash. Ovals were cut with Nestabilities Petite Oval Large. The card base was made from black, and I put a slightly smaller square of the red cardstock on the inside for sentiment and signature. The ovals were mounted with 3-D Foam Mounting Squares.

Mother's Day Card for the MIL

I made a Mother's Day card for my husband to send to his mother. When I took the card in and handed it to him, his response was "you made yourself a card?" @@ Men...



Once again I'm completing two challenges with one card. The sketch is from Mojo Monday. Make sure you participate in this week's challenge, they will be giving away up to seven Verve Stamps stamp sets. The OCC challenge for this week was to create something for the moms in our lives. I made this card in 5 X 6 1/2, I just didn't think an A2 size was good for a Mother's Day card (is it just me, or are all of the store-bought Mother's Day cards HUGE???). The papers are CTMH That's Amore, with cardstock in Garden Green, Blush, Chocolate Brown, and Tulip. The ribbon is also CTMH. I used my Fiskars Threading Water punch, Cuttlebug Textile embossing folder and Nestabilities Labels One. The green label was actually cut out by using my Coluzzle swivel knife to trace around the same die I used to cut out the pink label. Stamp set used was CTMH Say It In Style. Inks used were Blush (sponged on the pink label) and Tulip. I was about to say that I didn't go crazy with this card because I wasn't sure that my MIL would appreciate the effort that goes in to a handmade card, but once I typed it all out, I realize that I did put a lot of work into this. She'd better appreciate it!!

Spring-y Birthday Card

Today I combined this week's OCC Challenge (use your favorite color combo) and the Viva La Verve sketch April Week 5. Now, if you were to ask Sue how I answer questions about my favorite color, she would ramble on about "indecisive" and "thesis-length answers". Much like food, colors have their place, and I can appreciate almost all colors much as I can appreciate most foods (except the color orange, I just don't seem to care much for orange. Although, I really like coral, which is a shade of orange...Sue, be quiet about the thesis...). Anyway, I really like the combo of Sweet Leaf and Twilight, so I used those two colors to create a birthday card with a twist of spring. After all, what is more spring-y than a butterfly enjoying a cocktail? The image (from Stamping Bella) is one I received in a swap. I colored using CTMH Sweet Leaf marker, and watercolored with Blush and Twilight, and used Prismacolor Cool Grey for shadowing. The circle and scalloped circle were cut and embossed with Nestabilities, the scalloped circle was sponged with Twilight ink while it was still in the die. The Sweet Leaf cardstock was embossed with my Cuttlebug D'Vine Swirl embossing folder. The sentiment (from CTMH Happy Birthday) was stamped on White Daisy cardstock and adorned with a butterfly brad (Creative Impressions). White Organza ribbon is from my stash, and the baubles are Squeeze of Lime from Stamping Bella.

Recycle (and break in some new stuff)

The challenge at Our Creative Corner this week is to create a card or project using recycled items. The timing couldn't be more perfect. I was cleaning out the pantry the other day and came across this tin. My husband's company had been giving them out at some convention-type thing, and it came filled with chocolate chip cookies. There were still 1 1/2 of the little cookies in the tin, and I know he's had it for ages. I tossed the cookies (haha, tossed my cookies ;) ) and decided to keep the tin to alter. I didn't think I'd get to it so soon, but this week's challenge was the perfect excuse.



I used CTMH Silhouette paper, as well as Bamboo and Tulip cardstock. Stamp set used was CTMH Friendship Small. Flowers are Prima, I sewed with my machine on the two strips of Bamboo cardstock (only one is visible in the picture). Ribbon is CTMH Colonial White Ricrac, and brads are CTMH Tulip. I got to break in my new Cuttlebug (I broke my old one last month by trying to go from memory instead of using the cheat sheet for the cut/emboss stacks), as well as my new Nestabilities Labels One (which arrived two days after I broke my Cuttlebug and has been teasing me for weeks now, begging to be used). After embossing the labels, I sponged them (while still in the die) with the matching ink. I'm glad I did that, because all of the pressure necessary to keep the label in place while the Mod Podge dried pretty much removed the embossing. I didn't really have an intended purpose for this, but I think I am going to use it as my secret candy stash in the scrap room. I need to go see if I have some sugar free Werther's Originals to fill it with...

Christmas cards

Yesterday I went to JoAnn's and bought one neat piece of sparkle cardstock with a Christmas pattern to make a few Christmas cards. After all, it has been several weeks (or longer) since I last made a Christmas card, so I really needed to make myself work on those (luckily, I don't need to make two cards a week, but I am trying to loosely stick with Sparkle's Christmas Card Challenge). The paper I bought had some colors I wouldn't normally use for Christmas cards, and the pattern was a bit non-traditional for me. That was kinda the point, though. This morning I checked the OCC Challenge before I went to the gym, and realized that this week's sketch would be perfect to use with the funky Christmas paper.



The sparkle cardstock was "Sparkle Gifts Galore" by Cloud 9 Design. I used CTMH cardstocks in Ponderosa Pine, Buttercup, Cranberry, and Kiwi (retired). Stamp sets used were Shining Star, Spot On Backgrounds, and Christmas Scripts. Inks used were Cranberry, Ponderosa Pine, and Bamboo (to distress the sentiment mat). I made a second version of this card, with the only difference being the star was stamped in Kiwi ink on Kiwi cardstock. I learned a new technique yesterday that is a real time saver. To emboss in any color, first ink your stamp with Versamark, then ink it with the color of your choice and stamp the image. Use clear embossing powder and your heat gun to emboss. Voila, perfectly matched heat embossing. And to think, all this time I've been stamping in color, letting it dry, then stamping with Versamark over top of the original image. Just think of all the time I've wasted!!!!

Easter Thank You Card

Yesterday K was pleasantly surprised to receive an Easter card from his grandfather in the mail. He absolutely LOVES getting mail. It was even better when he opened it to find a gift card inside. So, we needed a thank you card. I combined three challenges for this card, Card Patterns CP Sketch #9 (which I had to modify slightly because of the size of the eggs), Our Creative Corner OCC Challenge (Use your favorite Easter stamp) and the inaugural Color Chef Challenge. I used all CTMH products for this card. Cardstock colors are Sweet Leaf, Breeze (unfortunately now retired) and White Daisy. Sweet Leaf ricrac ribbon is from the Designer Ricrac Collection, stamps sets used are For Every Occasion and Easter Eggs. Inks used are Sweet Leaf and Breeze. Tools used were Marvy Uchida punches (for the scalloped ovals) and CM corner rounder (probably one of the first two scrapbooking tools I ever owned, so it is pushing twelve years old). I sincerely hope that this doesn't just end up in a trash can. But, I'm sure K will write an adorable thank you that his grandfather will want to keep.

Happy Birthday Jen!

I used the great pattern from this week's OCC Challenge to create BB Jen's birthday card. Her birthday is Sunday, and she is a fiesty 27 (but let's keep that our little secret)! I made this card in a 6X6, using some more pretty papers from my stash (Making Memories Brooke Narrow Stripe and Brooke Paisley). I used CTMH Blush and Garden Green cardstocks, white organdy ribbon from my stash and stamped the flower from the March Word Puzzle stamp set. Since I broke my Cuttlebug while making this card (that is a rant for another day), the scalloped ovals were punched using Marvy Uchida punches (the pink and purple--is that Mega and Giga?). The scalloped ovals were layered and then mounted using 3-D Mounting Squares. I think for Jen's birthday, I will get myself a new Cuttlebug! Happy Birthday, Jen!

Happy Birthday Janelle!

It's Janelle's birthday (she's 25, but don't tell anyone!), and I am amazed that I actually got her card completed and in the mail early enough that she will have received it before her birthday. I followed the OCC Challenge from February 28th for this card. I also made a point of using some pretty paper that I'd bought and had been saving instead of using. The cardstock is CTMH Goldrush and Black, and the paper is 7 Gypsies Requiem. CTMH ribbon and "Happy Birthday" and "Butterfly Wings" (March Stamp of the Month) stamp sets were used, as well as the Fiskars Threading Water punch and EK Success corner rounder. "Happy Birthday" and the butterfly were heat-embossed using CTMH black embossing powder and versamark ink. Ovals were cut out with Nestabilities Classic Ovals Large and my Cuttlebug. The button is from my stash. I was worried about using Black and Goldrush together, but I think the combination works great with the Requiem paper. Hope J loves it! Happy Birthday Janelle.

It has been a while

To say that things at work have been hectic would be an understatement. We are still only half-staffed (since the rest of our guys are still in Iraq), we had our triennial quality audit at the end of January, and the units that we support have been getting tasked with providing a bunch of equipment for Afghanistan. Which means we are tasked with calibrating and repairing the test equipment before it deploys. We have been SWAMPED. So I have been putting in a lot of hours, plus doing a lot of work from home. Crafts have definitely been forced right past the back seat and into the trunk. Luckily, everyone has been busting their tails, so we are in good shape at work. And we did OUTSTANDING on our audit. I've caught up on my rest, and only have a few minor work-related things to do, so I can finally scrap again.

Today's card I actually started on January 17th. It was a combination of four different challenges: The OCC color challenge (use two shades of blue), The OCC Technique Challenge (emboss resist), Splitcoast Stampers sketch challenge 211, and Sparkle's Christmas card challenge. And, I totally ripped-off fellow BB Brandi's snowman from the card she made for our stamp of the month swap. It took me until today to get this card finished. Admittedly, it isn't a true emboss resist. I was having a hard time embossing the snowman head and body, so I finally broke down and used liquid glass on him. Unfortunately, the liquid glass caused the paper to curl a little bit. I should have used my sponge daubers to apply Versamark, and then pour on the embossing powder. My two shades of blue are CTMH Twilight and Outdoor Denim. The paper is CTMH Aspen, and cardstock in Twilight and Outdoor Denim. Stamps are CTMH All Decked Out and Shining Star. The stars are mounted with 3-D Foam Squares. There would have been two cards, but I tried using my embossing pen to emboss the snowman for the second card and I ended up with a blue snowman.

My First OCC Challenge

Every week, Sue always has an a post of something wonderful she made for the OCC Challenge. In my quest to do more crafting and scrapping this year, I have decided that I am going to try to do the OCC Challenge every week. This is my first OCC Challenge creation.

I made this card in standard (4 1/4 X 5 1/2 inch) size using the Key To My Heart kit, which includes a Level 2 paper pack and an E-sized stamp set, and is only available through January 31st. I stamped the key in Cocoa ink on Colonial White cardstock, and the heart was stamped in Tulip ink on Colonial White cardstock. The heart was mounted with foam squares. The scalloped edge was made with the corner rounder, and the Juniper cardstock was ink distressed with Juniper ink. The ribbon is from the Designer Ribbon Rounds Colonial White collection. This is going to make a great Valentine's Day card for my husband.