August 2019 - Joyful Stars Blog Hop!

Welcome to the August 2019 Joyful Stars Blog Hop!  If you came here from the very talented Joyce Houck's blog, you've come to the right place!

One of the dies that Close To My Heart had in a recent special was the Multi Circle Windows Thin Cuts (soon to be included in the new 2019 Idea Book!).  When I see new things, I like to challenge myself to use tools and stamps in a variety of ways.  It occurred to me that I could design a tic-tac-toe out of the die, so a couple of weeks ago, I made this birthday card.

First, I cut the tic-tac-toe pattern using the thin cut and trimming it down to 3.75" x 3.75" to retain a 3x3 set of circles.  I layered it on White Daisy cardstock, then stamped the "happy happy happy" sentiment from the Birthday Joy stamp set special in Black ink through some of the cut circles.

Next, I stamped the cupcake image three times from the same set in Archival Black ink on White Daisy cardstock.  Using Spectrum Noir markers (also coming soon!), I colored the images then cut them out.  I adhered these through each of the cut circles as shown above.

Finally, I made a 4" x 4" Black cardstock base card to layer the designed piece.  The "happy birthday" sentiment from the set was heat embossed using Vermark ink and Ranger White Superfine Embossing Powder onto a scrap of Black cardstock.  This was adhered to the card using 3-D Foam Tape.

For the finishing touches, I added shimmer to the cupcake images using a Clear Shimmer Brush.  Clear Sparkles were colored with a red Sharpie pen and adhered to the top of each cupcake image.

Now please head on over to Betty's blog as you will be wowed by her talent!

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July 2019 - Joyful Stars Blog Hop!

Welcome to the July 2019 Joyful Stars Blog Hop!  If you came here from the exquisitely talented Krista's blog, you've come to the right place!

This month I decided to focus on my dad.  My dad is one of the most amazing people in my life.  He just celebrated his 89th birthday, still gets around fine (walks and drives), and is sharp as a tack.  Although he's slowing down a bit, I'm in awe of how well he is doing at this stage of his life.  He is a true blessing to me.  So I am showing two cards I recently made for him.

This first card was made for my dad's birthday.  I was inspired by a card in the Idea Book that had the stamped chameleon sitting on top of a plain die cut chameleon.  So I stamped the chameleon from the Wild & Punny stamp set in Black ink three different times:  once onto a piece of the Into the Wild patterned paper, a second time on New England Ivy cardstock (just the portion that includes the "scales"), and a third time on White Daisy cardstock (just the portion with the "eye").  I then fussy cut out the chameleon, scales, and eye and paper pieced together.  Then using Heather cardstock, I die cut just the chameleon image.

Next, I attached a piece of the Into the Wild patterned paper on a White Daisy card base, then cut and adhered a scalloped strip of New England Ivy cardstock using a scallop thin cut (retired).  The tag was cut using Sapphire cardstock, and a small strip of the Into the Wild zip strip was attached to the top.  This was then adhered to the prepared card base.  I attached the Heather die cut chameleon to the tag, then used Thin Foam Tape to adhere the chameleon to the top of the die cut piece.

To finish the card, I stamped "Happy" and "Birthday" from the Wild & Punny stamp set onto the bottom right corner below the scalloped border.  Using an old die, I cut some small hearts of varying sizes out of Sapphire cardstock.  I attached them to the right of the chameleon and between the stamped "Happy" and "Birthday" sentiment.  Finally, I added Liquid Glass to the "eye" and all the die cut hearts.

This second card was made for Father's Day.  Note that I used a lot of retired items I had in my stash, but I really like putting my older things to good use!  The cow was also stamped from the Wild & Punny stamp set.  I colored him with Alcohol Markers and fussy cut him out.

I die cut the "hill" from a piece of retired Kaleidoscope patterned paper.  This was then adhered to a piece of Heavenly Blue cardstock and then attached to a Black cardstock mat.  I adhered a piece of retired Burlap Ribbon to the bottom of the hill.  This was all put onto a White Daisy card base.  Using some retired My Accents flowers, I used glue dots to adhere them to the Burlap Ribbon and put Bitty Sparkles in the center of each.  

The sun was cut using an image from the retired Artiste Cricut Cartridge.  The "Happy Fodder's Day!" sentiment was written on the sun using the attach feature on the Cricut in Design Space and a black Cricut pen.  Finally, the cow was attached using Thin Foam Tape, and unfortunately had a little accident, because somehow in the process of attaching him to the card, I "lost" the end of his tail in the disaster I call my craft room.  Sorry cow!

The cow is an inside joke to my dad, especially this image with him chewing on a piece of hay!

I hope you enjoyed these cards for my dad!  Please press on to Debi's blog as I'm sure she has something that will wow you!

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June 2019 - Joyful Stars Blog Hop and June Stamp of the Month - It's Your Day to Sparkle!

Welcome to the June 2019 Joyful Stars Blog Hop!  If you came here from the very talented Krista's blog, you've come to the right place!

For this blog hop, I was looking forward to using the cake image in the June Stamp of the Month,  It's Your Day to Sparkle.  However, sometimes the best laid plans prove to take a little different plan than intended.  After attempting a few different paths with the set, I gave up a after a couple of hours feeling that my mojo had left me.

A few days later, I was in the shower and knew what I wanted to try (somehow things always seem to come to me in the shower!) - no line coloring!  I've been wanting to try no line coloring since CTMH came out with Linen ink.  I knew the light color of the ink would be perfect for this technique since it is just light enough when stamped to see the image, yet also able to be covered with a coloring medium. 

As you can imagine, the bulk of the card was spent on the coloring.  I used Linen ink to stamp the cake onto a piece of White Daisy Cardstock.  Using alcohol markers, I colored the image, attempting to shade and highlight where it made sense to me.  Coloring this way is new to me, so please be easy on my coloring!  After trimming the piece down, I attached it to a Black Cardstock mat.

For the card base, I used a strip of the Mix-In Paper and attached it to the left side of a White Card Base.  I then cut a White Daisy Cardstock piece to size, embossed it using the Flower Garden Embossing Folder, and adhered it to the right of the card base.  Next, I adhered the stamped panel with some Thin Foam Tape to the card base.  Finally, I stamped the "happy birthday" sentiment onto a scrap of Black Cardstock and embossed it using Ranger White Super Fine Detail Embossing Powder.  This was also attached to the card base using Thin Foam Tape.  A few sequins from the Loose Sequins-Silver pack was the final touch.

If you're interested in the SOTM, please see the details below.  Or if you have questions/comments on how I made this card, please log something in my comments.  Now I'm sure you're ready to head off to see some more terrific artwork, so please head over to Debi's Blog!

Each month you can purchase a new D-size stamp set, available for one month only, for just $5 - that's over 70% off retail!  When you place an order of $50 or more in Close To My Heart products, you qualify for this special Stamp of the Month pricing.  Otherwise, you can purchase this set outright for $18.95.

 

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May Stamp of the Month - To My Bestie!

A few weeks ago, I posted a clean and simple version of a card that I made using the May Stamp of the Month, To My Bestie.  There are some very cute images on the set, so I decided to do another version that is at the other end of the spectrum, i.e., a bit more on the "messy" side a la a card inspired by coloring rock star, Kelly Latevola.  😊

First I stamped the images of the women and the balloons onto a piece of watercolor paper using black ink.  Next I taped it down and used a wet paintbrush to cover the paper with clean water.  Using watercolor paints, I dropped the paint onto the paper using targeted areas for the various colors.  I then dried the paper using my heat tool, so that the paper looked like this when it was done:

Next, I used alcohol markers to color all the images and added a final spatter of paint over the whole thing.  After re-drying, I removed the panel and attached it to a card base that I cut from Black Cardstock.  I added a few sequins and stars from the silver sequin pack.  And like Miss Kelly, I added some shimmer brush and went over the images with a fine tip black marker.  Finally I stamped the "it's your day" sentiment on a piece of Black Cardstock using VersaMark ink and embossed it in Ranger White Embossing Powder, then attached it to the card base using Thin Foam Tape.

Although it is officially June, it's not too late to order!  You have until May 5 to get this set!

Each month you can purchase a new D-size stamp set, available for one month only, for just $5 - that's over 70% off retail!  When you place an order of $50 or more in Close To My Heart products, you qualify for this special Stamp of the Month pricing.  Otherwise, you can purchase this set outright for $18.95.

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May 2019 - Joyful Stars Blog Hop and May Stamp of the Month - To My Bestie!

Welcome to the May 2019 Joyful Stars Blog Hop!  If you came here from the artistic Andrea's blog, you've come to the right place!

Lately I have been drawn to clean and simple designs.  Maybe its an extension of feeling overwhelmed with work and other issues lately, but clean and simple card designs seem to have a calming effect on me.

While at a crop last month, I challenged myself to come up with a clean and simple card using the May Stamp of the Month, To My Bestie.  If you have seen this stamp set, you know about all the beautiful and cute images in this set.  However, in keeping with the clean and simple concept, I only used one image and one sentiment from the set.

I started by stamping the small bouquet image three times in VersaMark ink, then embossing in Ranger Silver Super Fine embossing powder.  Then I grabbed a paintbrush and just touched each of the flowers in the bouquets with a peach colored paint from Watercolor Paints.

Assembling and finishing the card was very easy at this point.   I cut a piece of B&T paper, A2 card sized, from the Sweet Girl paper pack and adhered to a White Daisy card base.  I cut a smaller piece of White Daisy cardstock and adhered to my card base.  Next I cut some small mats for my stamped images from Peach cardstock and adhered them to my card base, aligning down the left side.  The "I Could Not Ask for a Better Friend" sentiment was then stamped to the right using Pewter ink.

For the final touches, I mounted all three stamped images on foam tape and adhered to the Peach cardstock mats.  Tiny bows made from the Silver Embellishing thread was the perfect touch for the bouquets!

Did you know you can get your own copy of the To My Bestie stamp set for only $5.00?  See the details below to see how!

Each month you can purchase a new D-size stamp set, available for one month only, for just $5 - that's over 70% off retail!  When you place an order of $50 or more in Close To My Heart products, you qualify for this special Stamp of the Month pricing.  Otherwise, you can purchase this set outright for $18.95.

Now hurry on over to Joyce Houck's blog!  I promise you won't be sorry!

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April 2019 - Joyful Stars Blog Hop and April Stamp of the Month - Love So Sweet!

Welcome to the April 2019 Joyful Stars Blog Hop!  If you came here from the versatile Debi's blog, you've come to the right place!

April must be a popular month for our CTMH Stamps of the Month.  I've seen so many samples of this beautiful stamp set, and it's no wonder - it is quite a lovely set!  I wanted to challenge myself to really think outside the box on this one, so thought I would go with some cheery rainbow colors. 

One of my favorite "colors" introduced in the last few years to the CTMH color palette is Charcoal.  Using White Daisy pigment ink, I decided to stamp the leaf cluster in the form of a wreath onto a piece of Charcoal card stock.  While letting the ink dry (and helping it along with a heat tool), I stamped the smallest butterfly from the set onto White Daisy card stock using Candy Apple, Nectarine, Lemon, Willow, Bluebird, Sapphire, Pansy, and Raspberry inks.  After fussy cutting each image, I used a black pen to outline the butterflies' bodies.

Next I used the largest square from the Stitched Square Frames die set to cut out the innermost stitched square from White Daisy card stock.  I adhered the stamped Charcoal piece to the center of the square.

The sentiment was then stamped directly onto a White Daisy card base, leaving room for the assembled stitched square.  The square was adhered to the card base, then the butterflies were attached using Thin 3-D Foam Tape.  Finally I used the smallest heart from the Stitched Hearts die set to cut a heart from White Daisy card stock.  I attached this to the center part of the wreath using Thin 3-D Foam Tape and added a single sparkle for a bit of pop.

Would you like to get your own copy of the Love So Sweet stamp set for only $5.00?  See the details below to see how!

 

Each month you can purchase a new D-size stamp set, available for one month only, for just $5 - that's over 70% off retail!  When you place an order of $50 or more in Close To My Heart products, you qualify for this special Stamp of the Month pricing.  Otherwise, you can purchase this set outright for $18.95.

Now please head over to Betty's blog to see what magic she has made!

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March 2019 - Joyful Stars Blog Hop!

Welcome back to the Joyful Stars Blog Hop!  If you have come here from the talented Debi's blog, you are on the right track!

Deciding that I needed to have a stash of birthday cards handy, I decided to kill two birds with one stone and make them the focus of some workshops that I had planned to do.  So I took advantage of two of the great tools that Close To My Heart provides:  exclusive Cricut collections and How-To Books!

The Cricut collections provide me with the easiest way to design and quickly cut out pieces for cards.  The added bonus as a consultant is that I can easily multiply my cutting to get the biggest bang for the buck to make for quick work by my workshop attendees.

The How-To Books are just the ticket for easily replicating card and scrapbook page designs, but putting your own artistic spin on them.  And by using a desk pad, I can readily produce a cutting diagram to make the best use of a piece of paper.

Since this was designed to be a birthday card workshop, not only did I focus on pulling images that were celebratory in nature, but I wanted to be sure to use papers that were bright and cheerful.  The I Heart Us paper packet made a perfect marriage with our beautiful Glitter Papers!

I find that using two different patterns of CTMH patterned paper can elicit two unique looks that can appeal to the most discerning palettes.  The patterns used in this workshop from the I Heart Us paper packet provided the basis for two different themes for each set of cards.

Note that each set of two cards uses the same pattern but is designed vertically and horizontally.  Then by adding in two different theme combinations, you end up with two very different looks.

The addition of White Glitter Paper to the myriad of color helps to provide a nice contrast for the eye.  The Gold Glitter Paper with the Black Cardstock and pop of Canary Cardstock makes for really elegant cards. Glitter Papers provide that perfect pop of glitz that the birthday recipient should have on their special day! 

The Black and White Dots are a perfect addition to any paper crafting project.  The neutral nature of their "color", and the fact that they are relatively flat, come in multiple sizes, and are self-adhering make them a no brainer for me.

And although it's difficult to tell from my photos, these wouldn't be my cards if I didn't have Foam Tape under all of the Cricut elements!

If you have any questions about the products I used, please send me your asks in the comments!  In the meantime, be sure to check out the phenomenal work done at the one and only Betty's blog!

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