January Stamp of the Month Blog Hop: Bloom & Grow

Happy New Year! Close To My Heart has a fantastic start to the year with the launch of the Seasonal Expressions 1 Idea Book and the January stamp of the month, Bloom & Grow.  You are going to see so many beautiful projects along this month's blog hop.  (If you're already hopping then you've probably arrived from Jean McNulty's blog.  From here, you'll visit Krista's blog next.)

For my first card, I wanted to try a technique featured in the new Make It From You Heart, Vol. 4, a card lover's sketch book how-to guide!  In addition to 24 brand new card patterns, each sketch also features two artwork techniques.  For this "Be Patient" card, I used the technique on p. 25: stamping part of your sentiment on a separate piece of paper, cutting it out, and then attaching with 3-D foam tape.  To make this card, I stamped the frame first with Juniper ink.  Then I centered the sentiment in the frame, stamping with Canary ink.  On scrap paper, I stamped the sentiment again in Pixie, Glacier, and Thistle.  I then cut out the parts that I wanted to pop and stuck them to the card front.  "Patient" is popped with foam tape after I colored it in with my Peony Purple Shin-Han marker..  I used Whimsy Fundamentals paper and the pretty Thistle ribbon from the Whimsy ribbon collection to finish this card.  (Next time, I think I will only use Canary and the pop of Thistle.)

My second card uses the MIFYH 4 card pattern 8.  To create the stamped sentiment, I covered the "Bloom" portion with washi tape, inked up the stamp in Juniper, removed the washi tape, and then stamped the sentiment.  I repeated the process to ink up only the "Bloom" portion in Thistle.  The pretty vine border was stamped with the four foliage stamps in the Bloom & Grow set.  I fussy cut two of the hearts stamped in 1st and 2nd generation Thistle.  A few pearls added a sweet, elegant finish.

All of the supplies that I used can be found on my website or on your consultant's.  Before you hop to the next stop, I'd love for you to leave me a comment.  I'm linking my cards up to the Heart 2 Heart Challenges Something New for the new card pattern book new techniques, and new stamp of the month.  Thank you for visiting!  Happy 2018!  Now go visit Krista's blog next.

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