April Stamp of the Month Blog Hop

We will be featuring April's SOTM called Balloon Talk, a trendy set of 24 stamps!If you have come here from MICHELLE'S BLOG, you are on the right path!This month we have over 50 Close To My Heart Consultants sharing their creations using this month's SOTM and other great CTMH products on their blogs. Hopping is simple to do - just click on the link at the end of the post on each blog to move to the next one. If you get lost along the way, you’ll find the complete list of participating consultants HERE. Here we go!

I can't believe it's been so long since I've blogged. As you might know, we moved our family from Portland to Spokane kind of suddenly at the beginning of this year. I had BIG plans and dreams about how quickly I'd unpack and get settled. Then my computer DIED. I'd say about half of my stamp room is still in boxes at this point, though in my defense the packers who packer the second level of my house mixed everything up there together...then marked every box with "Arts and Crafts". Every. Single. Box. So I just unearthed my camera literally days ago. Sigh. As you can imagine that I've yet to send out change of address cards...and how that inspired my card for this month's hop. Oh my goodness, is it good to be back! 

I love how many different pieces and words come in this month's SOTM. You could easily make a card for just about any occasion! I combined the SOTM for the sentiment bubble and the background words with C1570 Lifting Spirits. I got my color combo from this week's ColourQ Challenge, for which I chose Lagoon, Smoothie, Slate, Creme Brule, and White Daisy. I knew the adorable Retro Sketches challenge sketch would be perfect with this little balloon image. So I paper pieced the balloon, and filled the basket with teensy hearts (sorry about the retired Dotty for You Paper, but it's just so adorable and fit the color challenge so well!). The bold stripe is the new Smoothie washi tape - I love how wide it is! I added some hand trimmed accent pieces of teal simmer trim too. Finally I colored my favorite Keyboard Kraft Alphabet stickers with a smoothie alcohol marker and added a layer of transparent shimmer with my Stardust Jelly Roll to add our sentiment. 

Now "Hop" on over to ALYSON'S BLOG to see her amazing work! Be sure to visit all the Consultants at their Blogs to get some great crafting ideas and other fun ideas! Remember, the April SOTM is only available until April 30th, so contact your CTMH Consultant (or click here) to see how you can get this stamp set for just $5!

 I've got a lot to share all saved up, including a little Shimmer tape flower tutorial later this week. It's so awesomely nice to see you again, Stampin' Friends!