10/31/2010

A Little Thanks! November Close to My Heart Stamp of the Month Blog Hop!

Welcome to the Close to My Heart November Stamp of the Month Blog Hop!  We are featuring the November Stamp of the Month, A Little Thanks, a set of 16 stamps, that is only available during the month of November.

If you have arrived from Shannon Buck's Blog you are on the right path.  This month we have over 60 Close to My Heart Consultants sharing their creations using the November Stamp of the Month and other great Close to My Heart products on their blogs.  Following the Blog Hop is simple to do - just click on the link at the end of the post on each blog to move to the next one.  So, here we go!

This is a very useful stamp set.  It is not your typical set of Thank You stamps.  I love the different fonts as well and the different sentiments.  This is a must have that you will go back to again and again.

I decided to use the Gratitude stamp from this set and pair it with the Peacock stamp from Circle of Love.  I have seen many techniques used on this peacock, but I wanted to keep it simple, but elegant (stress the word SIMPLE).  So, I decided to emboss it with our Silver Pearl Embossing Powder.  This embossing powder gives such a smooth, elegant finish without too much glitz. I love lots of glitz and bling, but this card needed less "in your face" and more refined, if you know what I mean!  

I didn't want to deal with figuring out what to do with the background behind the peacock so I used some of the B&T paper from the Magnifique Paper Pack that was just released in our current Idea Book.

I also used the Silver Pearl embossing powder for the Gratitude stamp from our featured stamp set and loved the elegance of it.  It fits so well with my card.  It has a rustic feel to it normally but with the embossing it looks like metal.  So here is my card:

I did not know how to make paper ruffles, but I was determined!  It took me about 2 hours and many pieces of paper to figure out the look I wanted, but it was worth it.  For me it takes the card over the top.  So many times I make a card that is pretty but not beautiful.  This card is one of the most attractive I have ever made.  It was truly worth the effort!

Products Used
  • Stamps: November Stamp of the Month, A Little Thanks (D1444) and Circle of Love (D1438)
  • Paper:  Magnifique My Reflections Level 2 Paper Pack (X7127B)
  • Inks:  Cocoa (Z2114)
  • Embellishments: Silver Pearl Embossing Powder (Z678) and Versamark Pad (Z891)
  • Other Products:   Adhesive, sponge daubers, Craft Heater (Z555), Blue and Green Assortment Sparkles (Z1327), Filigree Charms (Z1269), Piercing Tool Kit (Z1114), and Foam Tape (Z1151) 
Now "Hop" on over to Lori Leng's Blog  to see her work!  Be sure to visit all of the Consultant's blogs to get some great ideas on how to  use this versatile stamp set.  

Remember that the A Little Thanks Stamp Set is only available from November 1-November 30, 2010.  Contact your CTMH Consultant or click here to see how you can get this stamp set at a discount or even free.

A Christmas Card .........................

I have been so bad about posting to my blog.  So I am going to do a few posts and catch back up so that you can see what I have been working on.

Here is a Christmas Card that I will be teaching in my Christmas Card Workshop on November 14th and November 18th.  I have already taught this workshop twice but I am trying to keep my workshops smaller and I still have people wanting to make these cards.

This card was made with one of the patterned papers from CTMH's  Mistletoe Creative Basics.  The other patterned paper came from  CTMH's Mistletoe My Reflection Level 2 Paper Pack.

 

Products Used
  • Stamps: St. Nick (B1356) and Tannenbaum (B1361)
  • Paper:  Mistletoe My Reflections Level 2 Paper Pack (X7130B) and Creative Basics Mistletoe Paper Pack (X5811)
  • Inks:  Desert Sand (Z2118), Cocoa (Z2114), Cranberry (Z2191), Parchment (Z2142), Black (Z2105), Blush (Z2106), Twilight (Z2160), Creme Brulee (Z2167) and Olive (Z2137)
  • Embellishments:  Blending Pen (3174) and Cranberry Grosgrain (Z1103)
  • Other Products:   Adhesive, sponge daubers, Craft Heater (Z555) , and Foam Tape (Z1151)
 If you would like to order any of these products, you can click here.

10/14/2010

It's Close to My Heart October Spotlight Blog Hop!


Welcome to the Close to My Heart October Spotlight Blog Hop!  If you have found yourself here from Debbie Carriere's Blog then you are in the right place.  This month we are spotlighting Christmas Projects.  I am teaching a Christmas Card Workshop this weekend and wanted to share a Christmas card that I designed for this workshop!  This card is an easel card.  I had always wanted to try this pattern and was thrilled to find a stamp set that would work so well with it!  The idea for this was taken from many cards that were posted last year using various things as the branch and then one of our Christmas Ornament stamps.  This year Close to My Heart came up with a Stamp Set called Adorn-able (D1446) that has a flourish that looks like a branch so you don't have to try to make a flourish look like a branch anymore.



My branch is actually stamped with the "Rock and Roll" technique.  I stamped the branch first in Desert Sand Ink and then Rocked and Rolled the inked stamp in Chocolate Ink.  It makes each branch different and more realistic.  Then I stamped the ornament wire in Desert Sand and the ornaments separately after masking the ornament wires.
I used Glitz Glue on top of the branches to give it the look of snow, embossed the sentiment in gold embossing powder, and added sparkles to the ornaments.


Products Used
  • Stamps:  Adorn-able (D1446), All the Best (B1357), December Word Puzzle (Retired) D1313, and Holiday Commentary (C1379)
  • Pattern:  Easel Card
  • Paper:  Mistletoe Creative Basic Paper Pack (X5811), New England Ivy Cardstock (1282), Cranberry Cardstock ((1272), Colonial White Textured Cardstock, and Colonial White Cardstock (1388)
  • Inks:  Desert Sand (Z2118), Cranberry (Z2116), Chocolate (Z2111), Garden Green (Z2120), and Indian Corn Blue (Z2130)
  • Embellishments:  Sparkles, Red, Pink and Purple Assortment (Z1326), Sparkles, Blue and Green Assortment (Z1327), Bitty Sparkles (Z1263), and Glitz Stardust Glitter Glue (Z1313)
  • Other Products:  Adhesive, Versamark (Z891), Gold Embossing Powder (Z668), Sponge Dauber (Z726), and Spica Gold Glitter Pen
 If you are ready to move on, then head on over to  Vicki Wizniuk's Blog.