Stamptacular Blog Hop

Close To My Heart is offering some amazing savings on stamps and Thin Cuts bundles this month, and this hop is highlighting some of our favorites.  (If you're already hopping, then you've probably arrived from Alyson's blog.  From here, you'll visit Brenda's blog next.)

For my *new* Stamptacular project, I couldn't resist creating a bird card!  I grabbed my Spruced Up Cardmaking stamp set and Thin Cuts to create a slimline (8"x3.5") card the Daisy Meadows paper collection.  I used Mint cardstock as my base and then cut the plaid Daisy Meadows patterned paper with my Fancy Cuts Thin Cuts.  I stamped my evergreen boughs with Peacock (first and second generation) on two die cut pieces and then stamped both of the chickadees/AKA goldfinches on Thin Cut pieces of Canary cardstock with Black ink.  I stamped the sentiment in black on the White Daisy banner and then added it on top of a Peacock patterned paper banner from the Daisy Meadows collection.  I finished my card off with a black burst adhesive gem.

Here are some other ideas that I've featured before on my blog but that also use current Stamptacular stamps.

Spruced Up Cardmaking:

Sweet Hummingbird:

Aurora Cardmaking:

Summer Vibes:

If you don't already have a CTMH Maker, feel free to check out all of the savings on my website HERE.  Note that many of the stamp sets are also available as a stamp set/Thin Cut bundle, so be sure to scroll all the way through all the goodness before you check out.

Thanks for letting me share some old and new projects as inspiration for this STAMPTACULAR blog hop and special!  Please leave a comment before hopping, swimming, or jumping on over to Brenda's blog next!

April Stamp of the Month Blog Hop: Scandinavian Folk Art Greetings

This blog hop featuring the Close To My Heart April stamp of the month, Scandinavian Folk Art Greetings, is no joke!  (If you're already hopping, then you've probably arrived from Brenda's blog.  From here, you'll visit Alyson next.)

I decided to play with the "window" stamp and stamped it in Toffee on four pieces of White Daisy card stock.  Then I stamped it again on scraps in Candy Apple, Lemonade, Avocado, and Lagoon to match the Eat Play Love paper collection.  I cut out each of the four windows in the four colors and adhered them to the Toffee windows to create the effect you see on these four cards.   

Here's a close up of one of them.  You'll notice that I cut of 3/4" of the right side of my card front and then added a 1" strip of Lagoon patterned paper to the inside of the card.  I also used a little wooden flower from the Eat Play Love wooden shapes.

I also recreated this card with only Lagoon stamping, and I think I might even like it better.  (It was certainly a lot faster!)

I am loving all of the images and have lots of ideas with this set!  I'm also wishing that I hadn't already scrapbooked our pictures from visiting some Scandinavian countries in years past.  I'd love to know which version of this card you prefer before you hop to Alyson's blog next.  Thank you!

{Click HERE for all the hop participants and their blogs.}

March/April New Product Blog Hop

Close To My Heart continues to crank out amazing products every two months, so it is time for the March/April New Product blog hop. (If you're already hopping, then you've probably arrived from Krista's blog.  From here, you'll visit Darlys's blog next.)  I am showcasing the Daisy Meadows collection.

My first project is the first project in the Daisy Meadows scrapbooking workshop.  I used our Easter 2020 pictures, and I love how it turned out!  Instead of using watercolors to splatter my background, I grabbed my Sundance, Peach, and Mint shimmer brushes.

How much do you love that huge Easter egg?  The workshop kit makes is so easy to put together!

On the right page, I have added a 4"x4" flip flap to add more photos to my layout.

My second project is a layout using the Daisy Meadows paper pack to celebrate my aunt's 80th birthday last year.  (Sadly, this was the last day that I got to be with her, so these photos are especially precious to me.)  I cut out Easter eggs from the collection make the balloons, and added the presents from teh cute Winter Penguins stamp set.

Finally, here is a diagonal split front card that I made using the Daisy Meadows Scrapbooking stamp set and Thin Cuts.

I stamped the flower in Cinnamon and then added Peach and Desert Rose shimmer brush.  I stamped the leaves in Fern to match the paper.

Thanks for letting me share some Daisy Meadows projects with you!  I'd love for you to leave a comment before continuing on the hop at Darlys's blog.

March Technique Blog Hop: Altered Wooden Shapes

Close To My Heart is offering lots of fun wooden pieces that they cut in-house at headquarters in Utah, and altering them is the feature of this month's technique blog hop.  (If you're already hopping then you've probably arrived from Brandi's blog.  From here, you'll visit Michelle's blog next.)

I grabbed my Eat Play Love wood shapes.  They are absolutely adorable!  I rubbed each of the wooden pieces directly into my ink pads to add color (Lagoon, Candy Apple, and Toffee) to correspond with the Eat Play Love paper collection.  I didn't completely saturate the pieces because I wanted the wood grain to show through.  In coloring them, however, I think it's harder to see the cute little cut details on each piece.  

This card has already been featured on my blog, but you can see how I colored the wooden heart in the same manner.  (Details are HERE.)

Please leave a comment before you continue on this hop by visiting Michelle's blog next.  Thank you!

Heart2Heart Challenges: The Midas Touch

 The second March Heart2Heart challenge is "The Midas Touch," and we want you to use some gold on your project.  I have been having a lot of fun playing with distressed oxide inks, so I used a background I made and the March CTMH stamp of the month, Winged Masterpiece, to create a card for the challenge.

This card sketch is called a diagonal split front card (though I angled mine the opposite way of the instructions).  In the original instructions, you cut 3" down the right side and 3" across the bottom left.  (Hopefully the diagram helps that statement make sense.)

I colored the dragonfly with my Spectrum Noir Tri-Blend Dull Green and Citrus Blend, plus metallic Gold Plate, Green Citrine, and Blue Topaz.  I finished the wings with clear shimmer brush for more sparkle.

The green and yellow background was a piece of cardstock that had been "smooshed" into a mix of Mustard Seed, Peeled Paint, and Mowed Lawn distress oxide inks that were then splattered with Lemonade, Green Apple, and Evergreen shimmer brushes.

I loved cutting the shimmer trim in half and adding the halves to the edge of the White Daisy cardstock cut panels.  I stamped the sentiment (slightly crooked unfortunately) in Fern ink and added a gold glitter gem.

Thanks for letting me share my Midas Touch creation with you!  Be sure to check out all of the H2H design team inspiration and then join us before this month ends.

In This Together Blog Hop

 Close To My Heart has an amazing collection to document our current pandemic/quarantine life called In This Together, and this blog hop is featuring this timely collection.  (If you don't already have a consultant, you can learn more HERE.  If you're already hopping then you've probably arrived from Lauren's blog.  From here, you'll visit Kim's blog next.)  I am working on a series of layouts documenting our shutdown in March 2020 and life since.  This layout will be the second one in my series, although it's the first one I've made.

This particular layout shows me teaching from home (I'm a 5th grade teacher) in March and April with photos from some of our "spirit days" to help motivate and encourage our students.  I used the In This Together paper pack, coordinating cardstock, stamp set, and dots (enamel embellishments).

I really loved using the speech bubble as photo accents to journal about some of the special days!  (Also notice how I wrote the date on the TV on the patterned paper in the top left quadrant.)  I stamped the speech bubbles in Lilac, Grape, and Sapphire to coordinate with the colors of the papers I chose to use.

I did add the Letter Tiles stamp set/Thin Cuts for my title (stamp set still available); the brackets are from a retired alphabet stamp.  To create my little laptop image, I first stamped in Grape and fussy cut then stamped in Sapphire and fussy cut the screen only.

Thanks for letting me share this glimpse back to 2020 with you.  I'd love for you to leave a comment before you hop next to Kim's blog to continue the In This Together blog hop.

{Click HERE for all the hop participants and their blogs.}

March Stamp of the Month Blog Hop: Winged Masterpiece

 The Close To My Heart March stamp of the month, Winged Masterpiece, is absolutely stunning!  I have had so much fun creating with this set, and I can't wait to share with you all month long.  You'll find lots of wonderful ideas and well, masterpieces, along this monthly stamp of the month blog hop.  (If you're already hopping, then you've probably arrived from Lauren's blog.  From here, you'll click on her name to visit Becca's blog next.)  I created three different cards to share with you.

My first card ended up being a shaker card.  I grabbed this black panel (leftover from another project) and heat embossed the dragonfly and sentiment in silver.

I am loving my Spectrum Noir metallic markers!  They show up beautifully on dark cardstock (like this black background)!  You might be able to see on the detail photo below how I painted the entire wings with clear shimmer brush.

Here's the stamp set with its beautiful images and sentiments:

My next two cards use similar techniques: distress oxide water "smooshed" backgrounds, Spectrum Noir coloring, fussy cutting, and clear shimmer brush wings.

My dragonfly card background began with Mustard Seed, Peeled Paint, and Mowed Lawn distress oxide inks with splatters of Evergreen, Green Apple, Lemonade, and Gold shimmer brushes.  I added a piece of Avocado Mix-In paper and White Daisy cardstock (cut with my Fancy Borders Thin Cuts).  I love to stamp the insects on the card base then again on cardstock, coloring and fussy-cutting the wings to attach to the card base for a 3-dimensional effect.

This photo shows the markers I used to color the dragonfly wings.

Can you see the clear shimmer brush on the wings?  I also added black shimmer brush (which was way too juicy and bled onto my card front and the wings) to try to unify the body.

Because I loved how my distress oxide background turned out, I decided to keep this card pretty simple by only adding the beautiful butterfly and some Lemonade and Grape shimmer trim.  (My background uses Mustard Seed, Picked Raspberry, Seedless Preserves, and Chipped Sapphire distress oxide inks along with spatters of Sapphire, Wisteria, Lemonade, and Gold shimmer brushes.)

Here are the four Spectrum Noir markers that I used to color my butterfly.  I painted clear shimmer brush over the top when I was done.

In addition to the beautiful insects, the March stamp of the month has some beautiful sentiments too.

Thanks for letting me share my creations with you.  I'd love to know which card you like best.  Please leave a comment before continuing on the hop to Becca's blog.  Thank you!

{Click HERE for all the hop participants and their blogs.}

H2H Challenges: Sketch Challenge

Recently, a pretty card sketch (pattern) was posted on the Close To My Heart Make It From Your Heart blog, and we thought it would be a fun challenge for our Heart2Heart Challenge friends!  Here's my take:

Since it is March 1, CTMH has a brand new Idea Book, which I used for my card!  I stared with the Eat Play Love Cardmaking stamp set and Thin Cuts along with the coordinating paper collection.  I added a wooden heart that I colored by rubbing in my Candy Apple ink pad.  I grabbed one of my Spectrum Noir markers (the lightest aqua) to highlight my sentiment.

Now, those of you who know me well know that this set is more suitable for my sister (who actually does can food) than for me, so also know that I am going to be surprising her with lots of hand-stamped goodies to go along with her home-cooked ones!

Be sure to check out how all of our H2H Design Team interpreted this sketch, and be sure to join us this month!

Together Forever Layout

For my February Facebook Live scrapbooking class (the only way I am currently able to offer classes), we created this layout based on the Make It From Your Heart, Vol. 3, pattern 16.

My "students" got Letter Tiles stamp set & Thin Cuts stamped pieces to spell out "love" and "you" since they don't all have significant others.  I chose to use "Together Forever" stamped in Almond woodgrain on Almond cardstock and then with the letters stamped in black.

We used the Jan./Feb. Mix-Ins (Espresso, Toffee, and Peach) plus Peach and Sorbet cardstock.  (Thank you, For the Love of Color, for the color inspiration.) 

Have you ever thought of adding a shaker element to your scrapbook page?  I think it turned out cute!  I used the Happiness Lives Here Cardmaking stamp set & Heart Shaker Thin Cuts plus the heart shaker window kit to create that element.  (I added some silver sequins for some bling.)

I embellished my layout with cutout hearts from the shaker heart Thin Cuts and wooden hearts too.

I'm pretty excited to begin scrapbooking 2021 already!  (Don't be too impressed- most of 2019 & 2020 are still on my computer...)  Thanks for letting me share! 

It's Faux Technique Blog Hop

The February technique blog hop is all about how to fake it until you make it!  We are focusing on faux techniques.  (If you're already hopping, then you've probably arrived from Michelle's blog.  From here, you'll visit Tamara next.)

My card uses the Stamped Tiles stamps and Thin Cuts paired with the current Mix-In paper collection (Espresso, Peach, Canary, and Avocado).  Can you find my faux techniques?  The faux wood grain on the tiles was super easy thanks to the wood grain stamp in the set.  I stamped Almond cardstock with Almond ink and then cut out the tiles using the convenient Thin Cuts dies.  I also added some faux stitching on the sentiment band.  (That's the only stitching that I do!)

Thanks for letting me share a little faux technique idea or two with you.  Please leave a comment before hopping to Tamara's blog next!

H2H Challenges: Add a Border

 This week's Heart2Heart Challenge is to add a border, and my card is a subtle nod to that challenge (accepted).

This card developed because I have been playing with my new distress oxide inks, specifically Tattered Rose, Abandoned Coral, and Seedless Preserves for this background (spritzed with water of course).  I framed it with a piece of black cardstock cut with my Stitched Rectangles Thin Cuts.  The sentiment is from Melissa Esplin Sentiments with the addition of the February stamp of the month, Doodled Borders, in Grape, and the present in Black and Grape from the Winter Penguins stamp set.  A piece of Grape shimmer trims adds to my borders.

Be sure to check out all of the H2H Designers' projects and join us before the month is out!