Three Amigos May Blog Hop

Welcome to the Three Amigos Blog hop.  We are three Close to My Heart Independent Consultants with a love for stamping and scrapping and would like to share our creative ideas with you.  On the 3rd of each month we feature a different CTMH product and create a card, layout, or other project.  There are only three stops on this hop so it will only take a few minutes to hop through.

Lisa wasn't able to get her hop projects ready before flying out to visit her son this month, but don't despair. We have a special hopper this month. Lisa's mom, Suzanne Reynolds, graciously accepted the challenge. This month, our theme of "three" is to create three cards to share.

Back in March, I attended a special CTMH event and was able to get a sneak peek at all of the fabulous new products in the new Seasonal Expressions. Our projects included a layout from the Magical paper pack, two cards from the Florence paper pack, and a banner from the Calypso paper pack. I'm going to share one of the cards we made, and two cards I designed from the banner pieces we received.

My first card is a graduation card using Florence papers and the Smarty Pants stamp set. I assembled the front of the card following the design instructions we were given, but inked the edges of the paper pieces. I also decorated the inside of the card.

I trimmed one of the PML cards included in the Florence paper pack and adhered it to the inside of the card. I stamped the sentiment for the inside and matted it to match the sentiment on the card front.

The Calypso paper and the Tickled Pink stamp set have to be one of my favorite combinations in the book! I heat embossed the sentiment with black embossing powder. The flamingo wing and the two hearts were embossed using clear embossing powder over the stamped image. I decided to double mat the card front. I love how the black mat makes the colors pop. The flamingo was cut using the Tickled Pink Thin Cuts.

I used the Calypso Washi Tape to dress up the inside of the card. Isn't it the cutest?!

Here's a little detail of the card front. I tried to capture the shine from the heat embossing, but wasn't able to.

My final card also uses the Calypso paper pack. I cut down the "Hello" PML card and matted it for the front. I used liquid glass on the "Hello" sentiment to make it stand out a little more (Lisa would be so proud! She is the liquid glass queen!) I sprinkled Calypso sequins and bitty sparkles down the front of the card and added a bow from Pixie Extra Thick Twine.

A couple banner flags, sequins, and sparkles adorn the inside of the card.

Here's a closer view of the front. The liquid glass doesn't show up (sigh), but it helps give the sentiment dimension.

Thanks for stopping by today. Now hop on over to Suzanne's blog and Donna's blog to see what they created for you.