Holiday Expressions New Product Blog Hop

Welcome to the Holiday Expressions Blog Hop! Today we are sharing lots of festive fun from the new CTMH Holiday Expressions book. You may be arriving here from SHEILA'S BLOG, and you can find a full list of participants here.

Today I decided to make a quick little holiday card to try out some of my fun new Beary Christmas goodies. The bear image is from Beary Christmas - Scrapbooking, and the matching Thin Cut Dies make these dudes so much fun to color! I was working from this week's CAS(E) This Sketch challenge. Instead of adding a strip of paper or shimmer trim, I chose to fussy cut some of the string lights from one of the Beary Christmas prints to criss-cross my card.

I also fussy cut the poinsettia on his paper pieced hat from anther Beary Christmas print. The sentiment is from Gingerbread Friends, and I went over the letters with both glitter gel and my Spica pen. I added some extra big wiggly eyes to our little bear friend and drew on a little smile. Finally, I made good use of my shimmer brush on all the lights and his sweet pink nose.

Next up on the hop is MICHELE'S BLOG. Happy hopping!

Halloween Blog Hop

Welcome to the Halloween Blog Hop from Blog Hops with Heart! You might be arriving here from STEPHANIE'S BLOG. You'll find a list of all the participating artists at the bottom of this post. Let's Hop!

For today's hop I'm using the new Cats and Bats Workshops Your Way kit. I love that these affordably priced kits include everything you need to make three double page layouts. I find it hard to just follow the directions for the kits though, as I like more stuff on my pages. I'm a lumpy-bumpy kinda embellishment crafter! Luckily there's plenty of stuff in the kit to satisfy even me! This is the first of the three pages in the kit. I did not change any of the cutting in the guides, but I did add some of the items that weren't used in the original instructions which you can view here. I also flipped some of the papers (LOVE that double sided print business), and changed the photo layout a bit to accommodate my bigger photo choices.

I added more to the title area of the kit instructions. I used one of the printed 3x4 cards included in the packet, which was a chevron print, to create the oversized teal arrow element. I stole the Halloween title stickers from another page (because I usually only need one or two Halloween pages each year, not three, so I used the last one for something special). In the bottom corner of this page you can kind of see some of the paper tearing elements I added, as well as seriously upping the amount of shimmer trim on this layout.

I did a shimmer trim "stitch" all around the layout as well. I just trimmed 1/8" strips from my shimmer trim and lined them up! I might have wondered if it would have been quicker to actually stitch the page at one point, but I love the chunky stitch effect. I also added some googly eyes to the black glitter chipboard bats. They are so sparkly and a really nice weight, too.

Next up on the hop is AMIE'S BLOG. Happy Halloween hopping!

Boo to You Blog Hoppers:

Kelly

Jayma

Stephanie

Wendy (You are here)

Amie

Katy

National Stamping Month Blog Hop

Welcome to the National Stamping Month Blog Heart. This month we are featuring projects using this month's CTMH special From the Heart, a special double stamp set and interactive card kit in celebration of National Stamping Month. You may be arriving here from JANNA'S BLOG, and the full list of hoppers can be found here.

One thing I love about using clear acrylic stamps in lieu of the more traditional red rubber is that I'm fully in control of what my image looks like. For this card I cut apart the sheet of images that were outline florals with these adorable sentiments. I trimmed off the flower images, and I've even separated out some of the scripty words from the sentiments to use individually. I can easily put it back together to get the look originally intended, but it allows a lot more flexibility in how the images are used. I stamped a few of the outline floral images across the top . 

Then I went over the stamped images with blobs of watercolor paint, ignoring outlines and just filling in the areas as the paint fell. I splattered some extra purple watercolor paint over the whole thing and ran my mostly dry brush down around the edges to define the card front. When it was dry I stamped on the sentiment and added bitty sparkles throughout the watercolored area for a bit more sparkle. I'm linking this card up to this week's CAS(E) This Sketch challenge. 

Next up on the hop is MICHELE'S BLOG. Be sure to visit all the blogs in the hop for tons of From the Heart inspiration!

My Other From the Heart Projects:

Color Throwdown Special Thoughts Card

You're in My Heart Card

Thanks for Everything Watercolor Card

Happy September, Stamping Friends! I'm looking forward to slightly more crafting time once the littles head back to school tomorrow morning... Sure I'll miss them, but I've been missing my stamp room a lot last month! For example, today was the first day I managed to crack open my new Rose embossing folder, which I brought home from Convention in July. It's a travesty of crafting.

Anyhoo, I embossed some of the new Basic Fundamentals in a subdued burlap pattern. Then I lightly sponged that embossed patterned paper with Mink ink. I was working off the new Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge for this week, and I grabbed a few more patterns from the Basic Fundamentals packet to fill in the sketch. The glittery heart border came from the Inspire Complements. I added some sparkles and bitty sparkles that I turned purple using a Shin Han alcohol marker. The sentiments came from the September SOTM.

The floral image came from an AdornIt paintables card. I love the weight of the watercolor paper on those! I colored the card with my Zig Clean Color pens, and topped the jar with Liquid Glass sprinkled with just a pinch of super fine glitter. I tucked in a few extra sprays of leaves and florals that I stamped and watercolored from this month's From the Heart National Stamping Month promotion set.  I just stamped them in a light color of ink and went over the images with watercolor paint. I hope you'll pop over to Atlantic Hearts and play along with this week's adorable sketch!

September Stamp of the Month Blog Hop

Welcome to the September Stamp of the Month Blog Hop! This month we have 25 creative ideas for you using the Feel So Blessed stamp set. You might be arriving here from BRANDI'S BLOG, and you'll find a list of all the participating bloggers here. Let's hop!

I have been working a lot in the Whimsy Fundamentals palette this month, and on my desk I had a 4 x 12 cardstock mask I used to paint the backgrounds on this layout. It wasn't what I originally intended for this card, but sometimes the paper just calls to you! I outlined the watercolored background with journaling pen, and stamped on the THANKS sentiment with Memento Tuxedo Black. I stamped the SOAR letters using the biggest verse in the stamp set and carefully trimmed out each letter before coloring them in and coating them with gold shimmer pen. The FOR HELPING ME is hand lettered with that same journaling pen, as were the sparkles and bitty sparkles, giving me a few shades of black and grey bling for this card.

I wanted this little baby elephant to be holding up a feather like Dumbo. The feather was colored with Black watercolor paints and gold shimmer pen. The baby elephant was painted with pink and grey watercolors as well. I did a pale coat with more water, and the dry brushed on a bit more grey for the texture on his skin. I'm linking this card up to the Heart 2 Heart Anything Goes Challenge.

Next up on the hop is MICHELE'S BLOG. Be sure to grab your September SOTM here, or from your consultant before it flies away at the end of this month!

Other Projects I've completed with the September SOTM:

Thanks for Everything Card

Thanks for Everything Watercolor Card