Sunday, August 31, 2014

Stamp of the Month Blog Hop - September: Family is Forever


Welcome to the Stamp of the Month Blog Hop! This month we’re featuring the September set Family is Forever, a set of 7 stamps. 

If you have come here from {Kami Welter’s blog}, you’re in the right place! There are more than 70 independent Close to My Heart consultants participating. Click on the link at the end of the post on each blog to move through the Hop.

The Blog Hop is a great big circle. Start here and work your way around. If you get lost along the way you’ll find a complete list of participating consultants here. You can use this list to pick up where you left off.

Off we go!


I don’t know about you, but I am madly in love with the Chalk It Up paper pack! It is definitely one of my favorites from Annual Inspirations.


For September my swap group was given the challenge of using Chalk It Up with all its doodles and stars and such with the Family is Forever Stamp of the Month. My personal assignment was to make a card with said paper and stamps. This took some thinking!

I felt like the flower in the stamp set was too small for the paper I’d decided to use, so I embossed the Flaxen cardstock to give it some texture. To bring a sense of cohesiveness to everything, I sponged the edge of the black scallop circle with White Daisy ink, edge distressed the Lagoon square with the Micro-tip Scissors, very lightly sanded the edge of the dotted B&T (patterned paper), and sanded across all the stripes in the Flaxen cardstock to bring out some of the white core.


Even though I thought the flower stamp was too small to use as a flower on my card, I did think it would make the perfect center for a flower. I cut flower shapes from the Art Philosophy cartridge, stamped the small flower on White Daisy cardstock, and then cut it out before adhering it to the center of the Cricut flowers. I used my embossing tool and push pad to curl the petals to give them some dimension.

Here is what I used. All products are Close to My Heart:

S1409 Family is Forever stamp set
X7184B Chalk It Up Paper Packet
Z2163 White Daisy Exclusive Inks stamp pad (pigment-based)
Z2012 Sequins Gold Assortment 
Z1988 Black Striped Twill
Z1960 Stripe Embossing Folder
Z1294 Sanding Kit
Z697 Round Sponge
Z1836 Non-Stick Micro-tip Scissors
Z2046 Piercing & Embossing Tool Kit
Z1686 Cricut© Art Philosophy Collection

Now “Hop” on over to {Priscilla Gotham’s blog} to see her work, and be sure to visit each consultant’s site to get some great crafting inspiration and other fun ideas! Don’t forget, this exclusive stamp set is only available through September 30th! Click here to order yours today!

Wednesday, August 6, 2014

Annual Inspirations: New Product Blog Hop



With the release of Close to My Heart’s new Annual Inspirations catalog, the Stamp of the Month Blog Hop group decided to do a special edition Blog Hop.

If you have come here from {Michelle Stewart’s blog}, you’re in the right place! There are more than 50 independent Close to My Heart consultants participating. Click on the link at the end of the post on each blog to move through the Hop.

The Blog Hop is a great big circle. Start here and work your way around. If you get lost along the way you’ll find a complete list of participating consultants here. You can use this list to pick up where you left off.

Let’s get started!

Halloween is one of my favorite holidays, if not my favorite holiday, and I am absolutely in love with our new Scaredy Cat paper packet. That being said, it’s always a good idea to do something other than the obvious, so I wanted to use these papers for something other than Halloween.

The colors in Scaredy Cat are fun and festive, and I felt like several of the patterns leant themselves well to other types of celebrations, especially birthdays. Combine all this with the Build-a-Cake stamp set and you have the perfect birthday card!



Even though there is Black in the patterned paper, I liked how Slate looked less severe and maybe even more elegant. I used Slate for the cake plate and candle and alternated Thistle and Sunset for the cake layers. The candle flame needed a little something extra, so I just traced around it with the Golden Yellow ShinHan Marker.



My favorite new specialty paper is the Purple Glitter Paper, and I couldn’t pass up an opportunity to use it, too. It added enough bling that I didn’t need to use any other embellishments.

Here is what I used. All products are Close to My Heart:



 







Now “Hop” on over to {Lela Norris’ blog} to see her work, and be sure to visit each consultant’s site to get some great crafting inspiration and other fun ideas! If you'd like to take a look at all the other goodies in Annual Inspirations, click here. Happy creating!

Saturday, August 2, 2014

Annual Inspirations: The NEW Catalog from Close to My Heart

Close to My Heart always releases new products on August 1st, but this year things are just slightly different. This time the catalog will be good for an entire year, so it contains even more fabulous products for you to choose from! There are nine fun and versatile paper packets, five new colors of cardstock and ink, a new alcohol-based marker line, and much, much more!


The catalog can be viewed online by clicking the link above, or you can order your very own copy. The fastest and easiest way to do this is to order one from my website by clicking here

I can't wait to hear what you think!

Vicki