Blissful Brackets Technique Blog Hop

It's time for a technique challenge with some brackets, and no, we're not talking March Madness!  (If you're already hopping, then you've probably arrived from Wendy's blog, and from here you'll click on her name to continue on to Alyson's blog.)  For my cards, I used the Stitched Scalloped Thin Cuts with the Serenity collection.

My first card is a slimline 8"x3.5" card with a Sapphire cardstock base and that gorgeous Serenity floral as my background.  I stamped the sentiment (from the Sentiments by Melissa Esplin set) in Sapphire on the White Daisy bracket.  I used Blue Belle glitter paper, gold shimmer trim, and gold glitter gems.

Here's a close up of that sentiment cluster.  I love offsetting the bracket and cutting off one side!

My second card uses the larger Thin Cut with the same technique, but this time with the December stamp of the month, Happiness Never Grows Old, in Sapphire and Blue Belle.

My final card uses the entire small bracket with Blue Belle.

Thanks for letting me share these cards with you.  I'd love for you to leave a comment before hopping on to the amazingly talented Alyson's blog to continue the Blissful Brackets technique hop!

Operation Smile Every Bit of Wonderful Blog Hop

 Close To My Heart is proud to support Operation Smile, a charitable organization that provides cleft palate surgeries for children in need.  (You can learn more HERE.)  Did you know that you could round up your order and give your change to Operation Smile?  It only takes $240 to change a child's life!  This year, the Operation Smile stamp set is Every Bit of Wonderful, and $7 from its sales go to Operation Smile.  Join me on this blog hop to show off this pretty set.  (If you're already hopping, then you've probably arrived from Michelle's blog.  From here, you'll visit Becca's blog next.

My first card features the Lovely papers and palette (Blue Belle, Ballerina, Canary, and Sage).  I used my Hexagon Thin Cuts to cut each piece and played around with the colors and patterns until I liked the arrangement.  Notice that I used a piece of Blue Belle glitter paper, plus I stamped (tone-on-tone) on the Sage and Blue Belle cardstock.

This close up shows the fussy cutting and layering I did after stamping the floral image on the card directly with Sage, on Sage cardstock, and on Ballerina cardstock.  I grabbed my watercolor pencils (sans eau) to quickly shade in the bud.  It didn't photograph well, but I dotted the little sprig of "berries" with clear shimmer brush.  I used 3D foam tape to pop the flower and then added a Blue Belle glitter gem.

For my second card, I played with a monochromatic color scheme of Blue Belle and Sapphire.

On a 3.75"x5" White Daisy cardstock panel, I random stamped floral images in Sapphire to cover the cardstock.  I cut the sentiment brackets with my new Simple Brackets Thin Cuts and both the Blue Belle glitter paper and Sapphire cardstock layers with the Fancy Borders die cuts.  The sentiment is stamped in Sapphire.

Thanks for letting me share these two card ideas with you.  Every CTMH fan needs this stamp set in their collection!  Please leave a comment before you hop to the next blog.  You won't want to miss the beautiful project that BECCA has on her blog for you!

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

December Stamp of the Month Blog Hop: Happiness Never Grows Old

Welcome to the December stamp of the month featuring Happiness Never Grows Old!  You will love the beautiful floral designs and sentiments in this set, so hop along to get lots of great ideas.  (If you're already hopping then you've probably arrived from Michelle's blog.  From here, you'll visit Becca's blog next.

If you're a regular visitor, then you'll know that I don't love to color, so I wanted to show off this beautiful set without coloring it (although I will be challenging myself with some coloring techniques later this month).  Toile was my inspiration.  All three of my cards feature our color of the year, Blue Belle.

My first card is a monochromatic take on this set using only Blue Belle.  I let the pretty flowers and sentiment be the focal point and only embellished with Blue Belle shimmer trim.  If I recreate this card, I will probably use the light side of the Blue Belle cardstock for bracket (which was cut with the Stitched Scalloped Bracket, Z3688) so that the stamped sentiment "pops" a bit more.

My second card is a bit more modern and uses Sapphire ink for the flowers on Blue Belle cardstock, and Blue Belle ink on the sentiment.  I also added Blue Belle glitter gems.

My third card is my favorite of the three. I had originally stamped the flowers with Blue Belle on White Daisy, but they just didn't "pop" enough, so I used Sapphire instead.  That panel was mounted onto a Blue Belle cardstock base (light side up) with a strip of Sapphire cardstock and Blue Belle shimmer trim.  I used the same Thin Cut collection and Blue Belle cardstock, but stamped the sentiment with Sapphire.  I couldn't resist a few more of those pretty Blue Belle gems.

Here's a look at the entire stamp set:

Thank you for letting me share these cards with you.  I know you're going to see some fabulously creative ideas with this set, and hopefully I've shown you that simple can also be pretty (if I do say so myself).  I'd love a comment before you visit the incredibly talented Becca next!

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