TABH Challenge 25

Welcome to the Three Amigos Blog Hop. We are three friends with a love for stamping and paper crafting, and would like to share our creative ideas with you on the 3rd of each month. There are only three stops on this hop, so it will only take a few minutes to hop through. When you finish hopping, be sure to check out the Three Amigos Blog Hop Challenge!

It's time to celebrate all things SPRING at Three Amigos! Winter still wants to taunt us with chilly temps here in MI, so I can use a dose of spring in my studio. With the help of the beautiful April SOTM, Love So Sweet, I was able to create a sweet card for someone I love.

I am in love with that gorgeous butterfly! In fact, I think I might make several more just to have on hand.  I attached the butterfly body to the sentiment panel, allowing the wings to bend up slightly. The vellum creates a softness and allows the background colors to peek through the wings.

I added a few sequins from the silver sequin mix and put glitter drops in the center of each flower for some sparkle. The sentiment is clear embossed over pewter ink.

I kept the inside fairly simple, leaving plenty of space to write a message.

Thanks for hopping by today! Hop over to Lisa's Blog and Donna's Blog to see what they created for you, then over to the Three Amigos Blog Hop Challenge. We hope you play along!

Supplies Used:

D1708 Sending Smiles (Z3501 Flower Market Digital Cricut Collection)
C1758 Details I Love
S1904 Love So Sweet
X6004 Glacier Cardstock

X6027 White Daisy Cardstock
Z3367 Vellum Paper
Z6500 Sugarplum Ink Pad
Z6501 Ballerina Ink Pad
Z2843 Canary Ink Pad
Z2841 Glacier Ink Pad
Z2853 Sweet Leaf Ink Pad
Z2832 Pewter Ink Pad
Z891 VersaMark Ink Pad
Z2067 Ranger Silver Super Fine Detail Embossing Powder
Z2088 Ranger Clear Super Fine Detail Embossing Powder
Z4304 Loose Sequins- Silver
Z4259 Thin Cuts- Stitched Square Frames
Z4187 Thin Cuts- Stitched Ovals
Z4220 Anti-static Pouch
Z2060 Thin 3-D Foam Tape
Other: Tim Holtz Tonic Stamp Platform, Gina K Designs Wreath Builder, Tonic White Blizzard Nuvo Glitter Drops

May is National Scrapbooking Month!

Hello! Just popping in to share all of the fun May offers!

Celebrate National Scrapbooking Month with Postcard Perfect

May is National Scrapbooking Month, and to celebrate we have designed the Postcard Perfect collection of coordinating products. Find out how you can save on this breathtaking collection and how you could even get an exclusive layout kit FREE!

Learn more about Postcard Perfect>>

Discover a fresh new batch of products!

                       

We've just released a new Seasonal Expressions idea book with an incredible set of new products, including paper packets, stamp sets, Thin Cuts dies, and more!

Browse this Idea Book>>

Get this stamp set for just $5

                        

Custom invitations are a cinch with May's Stamp of the Month, Classic Summer Bash, which can be yours for just $5 with a qualifying purchase. But act fast, because this set is available for this month only! 

See the May Stamp of the Month>>

Thanks for stopping by today! Be sure to stop back tomorrow for the Three Amigos Blog Hop and Challenge!

Rockin' With Christmas Tunes

I had a little bit of fun with the October Stamp Of The Month, Christmas Tunes. Since the stamps are designed with lyrics from Christmas songs, I decided to add a gold label record and music notes to my card.

To give my record it's grooves, I layered the Circle Thin Cuts onto the cardstock and ran it through my Cuttlebug using a rubber mat instead of a cutting plate. The rubber mat won't let the dies cut through the paper, resulting in an embossed image. Each little musical note is cut by hand, covered them with Liquid Glass, and has Black Enamel Dots to finish them off. I stamped the Tree image with New England Ivy Ink and colored in the stars with ShinHan Touch Twin Markers.

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies Used:

D1710 Christmas Tunes

1385 White Daisy Cardstock

1386 Black Cardstock

X5975 Cranberry Cardstock

X5959 New England Ivy Cardstock

Z2816 Cranberry Stamp Pad

Z2835 New England Ivy Stamp Pad

Z3365 Gold Foil Paper

X254 White Value Pack Cards & Envelopes

Z3318 Basic Circles Thin Cuts

Z3314 Black & White Dots

Z679 Liquid Glass

Z2448 Carmine Red R11 ShinHan Touch Twin Marker

Z2452 Golden Yellow Y222 ShinHan Touch Twin Marker

You Are Tea-rrific

What do you do when you hit a creative slump? To break out of my slump, I grabbed the March SOTM, Tea-rrific, and created a card. I kept the process simple to begin with, choosing the colors and card design. Sea Glass and White Daisy are the feature colors on this card, with touches of Whisper and Ruby.

I added texture to the front of the card using the Wood Slats Embossing Folder, Sea Glass Glitter Paper, heat embossing the sentiment, and popping the teacup with Thin 3-D Foam tape. I stamped the sentiment with the Whisper Mini Pigment Ink Pad and used Clear Superfine Embossing Powder. The patterned paper is from the Dreamin' Big Paper Pack.

I stamped the teacup with Juniper Ink for a subtle tone-on-tone look. I used a Copic marker (BG10 Cool Shadow) to add a bit of shading. To add a light touch of color to the tag, I squeezed ink into the lids of my Whisper and Ruby Ink Pads, spritzed with water, and used the Small Round Waterbrush to gently apply color. I also added a little Whisper "wash" behind the cup.

Coordinating the inside of the card adds a finishing touch.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Supplies used:

S1603 Tea-rrific Stamp of The Month

X7218B Dreamin' Big Paper Packet

X5789 Sea Glass Cardstock

1385 White Daisy Cardstock

Z3240 Sea Glass Glitter Paper

Z2865 Juniper Ink Pad

Z2870 Ruby Ink Pad

Z2872 Whisper Ink Pad

Z2503 Basics Mini Pigment Pads Set

Z3248 Wood Slats Embossing Folder

Z3224 Waterbrush-Small Round

Z3216 White Twine

Z2060 Thin 3-D Foam Tape

Z1979 Marvy Uchida LePen Journaling Pen

Other: Copic Sketch BG10 Cool Shadow

Just a Few Projects

If you are anything like me, you look through the idea book and want to recreate the artwork inside. Close To My Heart has an amazing art department! Each Annual Inspirations Idea Book and Seasonal Expressions has a list of all of the supplies used for each piece of art. They even include Cricut cut sizes when a CTMH cartridge was used. How cool is that?!? You can find the recipes under each idea book and save the PDF file for future reference.

Today I am sharing a few projects I made in September and October, but didn't get around to sharing. Two of them are Halloween themed, but I want to show how you I made the basic designs with just a few minor changes.

I surprised some of my scrapbooking friends in September by showing up at the monthly crop. I miss that crop and all of my scrapping friends like you wouldn't believe! While I was there, we chose a card from the Idea Book to recreate. Take a look at the heart balloon card on page 15. I didn't have the Whimsy Fundamentals with me, so we made the card using Adventure Fundamentals.The only things we changed about the card are the colors and the sentiment.

You'll find this layout on page 10 of the Holiday Expressions. I happened to be looking through some photos of my oldest daughter and immediately knew this picture would be perfect for this layout design. I used the flowers from the Sugar Skull stamp set, but decided the cat and sentiment from the August SOTM were a better fit. I embossed the sentiment and hat with black embossing powder, and the cat with silver embossing powder. The cat and the hat are cut out from patterned paper included in the Jeepers Creepers paper Pack.

I made cards to mail to my girls at college this year too. The design is part of the Workshops Your Way kit. Instead of using the white card bases, I chose to make bases from Black Cardstock instead. I matted the sentiment piece in black and cut it with a banner notch. I also decorated the insides and the envelopes. They loved them, which proves they are never too old for handmade cards and a package full of candy!

I hope you try recreating some of the artwork in our idea books too!

Supplies Used:

Balloon Love card:

C1660 Happy For You

Z3253 Adventure Fundamentals

X5790 Adventure Cardstock Combo Pack

Z2805 Black Ink Pad

Z2810 Blossom Ink Pad

Z2812 Raspberry Ink Pad

Z3286 Adventure Ribbon Pack

Z3285 Flower Market Cricut Collection (Sentiment Stamp Set)

Z2060 Thin 3-D Foam Tape

Jeepers Creepers Layout:

D1698 Sugar Skull

S1608 Purr-fect Halloween SOTM (Retired)

X7211B Jeepers Creepers Paper Pack

1386 Black Cardstock

X5790 Adventure Cardstock Combo Pack

Z4009 Jeepers Creepers Assortment

Z2013 Silver Sequins

Z2457 Marigold YR24 Shin Han Marker

Z2452 Golden Yellow Y222 Shin Han Marker

Z2454 Leaf Green GY234 Shin Han Marker

Z2450 Cherry Pink R5 Shin Han Marker

Z891 Tsukineko VersaMark Pad

Z2067 Ranger Silver Super Fine Embossing Powder

Z555 Craft Heater

Z2060 Thin 3-D Foam Tape

Black Embossing Powder (retired)

Jeepers Creepers Cards:

Z4006 Monstrous Halloween Thin Cuts Bundle

X7211B Jeepers Creepers Paper Pack

1386 Black Cardstock

X5786 Tangerine Cardstock

Z2805 Black Ink Pad

Z2086 Emerald Ink Pad

Z2087 Willow Ink Pad

Z2809 Tangerine Ink Pad

Z2812 Raspberry Ink Pad

Z4010 Jeepers Creepers Washi Pack

X254 White Cards and Envelopes Value Pack

Z1979 Marvy Uchida LePen Journaling Pen

Have a Purr-fect Birthday

The August Stamp of The Month, Purr-fect Halloween, is so cute! I'm not quite ready to make Halloween themed projects, but that cute cat is "purr-fect" for a birthday card.

I stamped the cat onto a scrap of Saffron patterned paper from the Florence paper pack, cut him out, and popped him up on the front of my card. His bow-tie is made out of two of the banner pieces stamped onto Ruby patterned paper and fussy cut. I added a sequin to the center of the bow-tie. The background is a PML card included in the Florence paper pack. I did a little masking for the sentiment. "Have a purr-fect" is from the SOTM set and "Birthday!" is from a new stamp set called Sweet Birthday.

Of course, I had to decorate the inside of the card too! The "#BESTBIRTHDAYEVER" sentiment is included in the Wise Guy Birthday stamp set.

I love that the cat looks like he's sitting in a bed of flowers!

Thanks for stopping by today! Come back tomorrow for the monthly Three Amigos Blog Hop!

Supplies used:

S1608 Purr-fect Halloween SOTM

B1532 Sweet Birthday

C1662 Wise Guy Birthday

X7208B Florence Paper Pack

X5778 Saffron Cardstock

Z2105 Black Ink Pad

Z2649 Peacock Ink Pad

Z2651 Saffron Ink Pad

Z2170 Ruby Ink Pad

Z3213 Florence Sequins

Z1151 3-D Foam Tape

X1410 Colonial White Cards and Envelopes Value Pack

July 2016 Specials

I returned from the CTMH convention this week full of excitement. The new 2016-2017 Annual Inspirations Idea Book was unveiled, and I must say CTMH hit it out of the park. If you Join My Team this month you'll get your choice of a FREE Fundamentals* paper packet bundled together with its coordinating Complements. These brand new products won’t be released to the public until August, so joining today is your chance to get them first! When you sign up, you also get $50 in Select Product Credit to spend on more new products, including the newest stamps, paper packs, and cardstock colors.

*Choose from Whimsy, Adventure, and Enchantment Fundamentals.

No tax is charged for free items. Standard New Consultant Kit shipping rates will apply.

No additional shipping/handling will be charged for this promotion.

Offer valid July 1, 2016 (9:00 am MDT) – July 31, 2016 (11:59 pm MDT).

It’s easy to join. Start by clicking on the “Let’s Get Started” link on my website and completing the form. As part of your enrollment you will purchase the Consultant Kit for only $75. Each kit includes the basic business supplies you need to start your journey and is valued over $200!

What a great way to start July! Don't forget about our other special, the Stamp Of The Month! You can purchase this stamp set for $17.95, or get it for only $5 with a $50 purchase.

I hope you stop back by on July 3rd to check out the monthly Three Amigos Blog Hop!

Have a great day!

March Already?

Hello!

March certainly seems to be coming in like a lion around here. After warm temperatures over the weekend, the weather turned cold and snowy again. I guess that's the perfect excuse to stay inside and stamp the day away!

This month is full of all kinds of crafting goodness. Stampaganza is back! If you've had your eye on a few stamp sets, now is the time to get them. Check out these featured products for March...

Stampaganza 2016!

Stampaganza is the best time to get our top quality My Acylix® stamp sets. Choose from dozens of designs!

Brighten Someone's Day with Penelope

These adorable pinwheels could cheer anyone up, and they're a cinch to make using our Penelope suite of products and a corner rounder.

• Start by rounding the corners on a square of Penelope paper.
• Cut a slit from each corner about halfway to the center to create two flaps at each corner.
• Fold one of the flaps at each corner to the center and fasten it there (we used hook & loop dots for a good, firm hold).
• Embellish to your heart's content!

To further personalize your paper pinwheels, back your paper squares with other patterned papers to get the exact look you want.

Get your Penelope products and try it for yourself.

Happy Stamping with March Stamp of the Month

The My Acrylix® Sunshine Birdies stamp set is only available during March—get it at a discount with your qualifying order!

If you have any questions about anything in this email, feel free to contact me.

Come back tomorrow and hop along with the Three Amigos Blog Hop!

Happy Stamping!

Three Amigos January 2016 Blog Hop

Happy New Year! 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.

This year we are are working with a theme of "Three." We posted our first Three Amigos hop in September of 2013. Since we are in our third year, our projects will all have some element of three associated with them. Our challenge for this month is to use three colors featured in the new Charlotte Paper Pack. I designed my card using Whisper, Champagne, and Sorbet.

The Champagne mat is cut from the Paper Fundamentals Basic Assortment. If you look closely, you can see the subtle clear-embossed design. The flowers are a two-step (base and shade) stamp from the January SOTM, Beloved Bouquet. I stamped a second generation image of the solid (base) stamp by inking it up with sorbet ink, stamping on a scrap piece of paper, and stamping again on cardstock to create the softer color. I inked the outline image (shade) with sorbet ink and stamped directly over the second generation image on my cardstock. Both flowers are cut out and adhered to the card separately. The sentiment is from the new Take Heart stamp set.

I used the Paper Fundamentals to mat the inside of the card as well. I added a sentiment and a little repeat of the card front for consistency.

Here's a closer look at the front of the card. I added some retired bitty antiques pearls to dress it up a bit without detracting from the overall look of the card.

Thanks for stopping by today. Hop over to Lisa's blog and Donna's blog to see what they have created this month.

Supplies:

S1601 Beloved Bouquet

C1639 Take Heart

X5929 Whisper Cardstock

1385 White Daisy Cardstock

Z3128 Paper Fundamentals Basic Assortment

Z2164 Sorbet Ink Pad

Z2172 Whisper Ink Pad

Z2174 Champagne Ink Pad

Bitty Opaques Pearls (retired)

Three Amigos March 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.

This month we are featuring the Stamp of The Month, Choose Happy. This stamp set can only be purchased during the month of March, so get it while you can. With a qualifying $50 purchase, you can add Choose Happy for just $5!

I used the wooden frame, doodle lines, and "you're special" stamp images from Choose Happy. To fill the frame, I stamped a couple images from The Happy Couple stamp set and colored them with our Shin Han markers. The Glacier background was created using wax paper and ink. A small strip of B&T paper from the Seaside Paper Pack pulls the bouquet colors across the card.

A few of the flowers and the bow are popped up with Thin 3D Foam Tape to add a little dimension and interest. I stamped the wood frame with Desert Sand ink, colored it in with the Clay Shin Han marker, and then stamped the image again with Cocoa ink. Stamping with the lighter color first set up guidelines for coloring. Over-stamping with the dark ink allowed the wood grain design to show without blurring from the marker.

I used the same wax paper background on the inside of the card as well. I dressed up the corners with one of the doodle line images stamped off of the paper.

The wax paper technique only took six easy steps to achieve.

1. Cut two pieces of cardstock to the desired size.

2. Cut one piece of wax paper slightly larger than the cardstock pieces.

3. Crumple the wax paper into a ball, open, re-crumple to get lots of wrinkles, and open again.

4. Make a "sandwich" of scrap paper-cardstock piece-wax paper-cardstock piece-scrap paper.

5. Using an iron set to high heat with NO steam, press and lift the iron over the entire "sandwich". Make sure to press and lift repeatedly in order to get the wrinkly design.

6. Lay cardstock pieces with wax side up and sponge with ink to reveal the pattern.

Thanks for stopping by today. Hop over to Lisa's blog and then Donna's blog to see what they created!

Supplies Used:

S1503 Choose Happy

X7192B Seaside Paper Pack

1385 White Daisy Cardstock

X5642 Cocoa Cardstock

X5770 Glacier Cardstock

X5751 Sorbet Cardstock

Z2114 Cocoa Ink

Z2641 Glacier Ink

Z2451 Clay Shin Han Marker

Z2455 Light Orange Shin Han Marker

Z2452 Golden Yellow Shin Han Marker

Z2454 Leaf Green Shin Han Marker

Z2465 Turquoise Blue Shin Han Marker

Z697 Sponge

Z1263 Bitty Sparkles

Z2060 Thin 3-D Foam Tape

Wax Paper

Frost Blue Shin Han Marker (B182)

January Three Amigos 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.

This month we chose to use any type of embossing on our projects. Since I used embossing folders and heat embossing on my projects last month, I decided to show something a bit different this month by combining the two.

Several weeks ago, I saw a tutorial for a gift card/candy box here and thought it would make a cute valentine. I pulled out my Heartstrings Paper Pack (again) and the January Stamp of the Month, This Moment, and got to work.

The base of the belly band is whisper cardstock punched with the scallop border punch. The stamped images, ribbon, and a few glitter gems are all attached to the belly band. The box opens by sliding the belly band down a bit (no need to remove it completely).

Opening the box reveals a pocket that slides up and holds a gift card. I embossed this piece using the heart embossing folder. I added a small amount of Bonding Memories Glue to each heart, sprinkled clear embossing powder on, and heat embossed. As a result, the hearts look like they've been frosted.

A candy bar will fit behind the gift card pocket. Here's a picture with the pocket pulled out. Just slip a candy bar inside and slide the gift card pocket in front of it.

A tag could be placed in the pocket in lieu of a gift card, or even in addition to it! 

Thank you for stopping by today. Now hop over to Lisa's blog and Donna's blog to see what they created for you.

Supplies Used:

X7193B Heartstrings Paper Pack

S1501 This Moment

C1604 Forever in My Heart

Z2172 Whisper Ink Pad

Z2170 Ruby Ink Pad

Z2644 Pixie Ink Pad

Z1807 Pink Glitter Gems

Z1987 Striped Twill Ribbon

Z3018 Heart Embossing Folder

Z2060 Thin 3-D Foam Tape

Z553 Bonding Memories Glue Pen

Clear Embossing Powder (Retired, but you can use Z2088 Ranger Clear Super Fine)