Thursday, April 1, 2010

CTMH April Stamp of the Month Blog Hop

If the calendar says April then it really must be spring! Close To My Heart has a sweet spring stamp of the month set for April, called Flower Pot. It reminds me of the window boxes I saw in Europe (hence the inspiration for my card), and I will definitely be using it on some scrapbook pages.

It's also time for another CTMH Stamp of the Month Blog Hop. If you're coming from The Brae-er's amazing blog or just starting to hop, enjoy the creations with this stamp set along the way. If you'd like to read the details about my card, then stay a while; otherwise hop on over to to Alison's blog (after leaving a comment, of course!).

My card began with the Caboodle paper pack and a Colonial White standard side-fold card base. I used the faux wood grain technique on the Crystal Blue square, then drew in the "boards" with a Grey Wool marker. Does the Sweet Leaf bottom portion look like siding or wainscoting? I hope so! I used my scoring blade to score stripes on the card stock.

This card also involved a ton of paper piecing. I stamped the window stamp (which includes the shutters and the window box) in Chocolate ink three times: once on the card, once on Sweet Leaf card stock for the shutters, and once again on Chocolate textured card stock for the window box. I used my craft knife to cut out the window on the card front and scissor cut the rest. For the shutters, I cut out part of the inside of the window and then folded that piece back to give the shutters a bit of dimension. (They are colored just a bit with Sweet Leaf and Chocolate markers.) After cutting out the window box, I colored the top section to give it more dimension too. Assembly was easy: glue on the shutters and attach the window box (after gluing on the flowers) with a 3-D foam square for extra dimension.

To create the flowers, I stamped them in Chocolate on Buttercup card stock. Next I colored the centers of the flowers with a Sorbet marker and the leaves with my Sweet Leaf marker. Can you see how I drew a line down the center of the leaves for extra dimension? A Sorbet brad also added a bit of depth.

The hardest part was creating the curtains. Before assembling the card, I sort of fan-folded or pleated the Sorbet B&T, then glued them on at an agle behind the window opening. They are absolutely my favorite part of the card! Before I adhered the entire window box/Crystal Blue square to my card front, I glued on another square of B&T from the Caboodle collection to look like wallpaper in the room.

Hubby thinks this card needs a cat looking out the window, which would be precious except that I don't have a stamp that's the right size. He didn't agree that I needed a new stamp set either!

If you've read this far, thanks a bunch! Now hop on over to to Alison's blog for more Flower Pot fun.

17 comments:

  1. oh la la! Very cute! Happy Birthday girl!

    ReplyDelete
  2. The curtains are my favorite party, too, Haley! Adorable.

    ReplyDelete
  3. You did a great job with your faux wood grain - love it in the blue color.

    ReplyDelete
  4. That is a fabulous job:) Great job! Thanks for sharing

    ReplyDelete
  5. Very pretty. Awesome job on all the details.

    ReplyDelete
  6. cute card...love the curtains

    ReplyDelete
  7. Wow! So cool, those curtains. Worth the effort. Fantastic card!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Cute as cute can be! You are quite the artist. Love the subject and the way it all turned out. Great job!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Really cute! I love the fan fold curtains. I used ribbon for mine but I will have to try this! I also love the wood look. Awesome!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Wow, now this is definitely creative! Fabulous job.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Faux wood grain - how cool! And the curtains...paper folding...brilliant! Great job!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Love it! I love the paper piecing!! great idea

    ReplyDelete
  13. Haley, that is a wonderful card, many details and steps involved. Love the woodgrained "siding" and the pleated curtains. Hugs!

    ReplyDelete
  14. Haley, your card is so pretty and I love all the detail!

    ReplyDelete
  15. GORGEOUS! I love the "siding" and the curtains.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Amazing Card! I love the drapes!!

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for taking the time to visit and leaving me a comment!

LinkWithin

Related Posts with Thumbnails