November SOTM Blog Hop

Welcome to our Stamp of the Month Blog Hop!  We will be featuring November's SOTM, which is called It's the Little Things, a sweet set of 15 stamps.  If you have come here from MELISSA'S BLOG you are on the right path! The blog hop is a great big circle, so you can start here and work your way all around. 

For this hop I decided to play with this week's Mojo Monday sketch. It's Tall & Skinny week, so my card size is 3.5 x 5.5 inches. My table top was still covered in Halloween Goodies, so when I saw that this week's ColourQ challenge would fit the Scaredy Cat papers I knew I wanted to make a non-Halloween card using that awesome bright color combo. I chose Black, Gypsy, Sunset, Pear, and White Daisy. I toned down the Halloween feel by sanding all the Cardstocks and even the B&T paper. 

I love me a cute little floral set that's easy to cut out and layer to death...but I wanted to stretch a bit and work towards a layered look without lots of fussy cutting. So I inked the large flower image by swiping it across my Sunset pad (removing most of this ink), then rolling just the tips back into the Sunset ink. I layered on the heart flower in sunset ink, then added the dots using Gypsy ink. I made a simple mask from a post-it, then stamped the leaves over top in Pear Ink. I trimmed my sentiment stamp into individual words (one reason I love clear stamps!), then added a word to each square. I backed my Baker's Twine knot with a snip of purple shimmer trim...and then I finally gave in and fussy cut a tiny flower to top off my knot. I just had to be me!

Now "Hop" on over to CAT'S BLOG to see her work! Be sure to visit all the Consultants at their Blogs to get some great crafting ideas and other fun ideas! Remember, the November SOTM is only available until the last day of the month!  Contact your CTMH Consultant (or click here) to see how you can get this stamp set at a discount or even free!

March Stamp of the Month Blog Hop!

Welcome to our CTMH Stamp of the Month Blog Hop! We will be featuring March's SOTM called Sensational Season, a set of 10 adorable Bunny/Easter stamps. I was a little nervous about these, since I'm not usually a color-it-in kind of gal, but the bunnies are so hoppin' cute!

If you have come here from LISA'S BLOG you are on the right path! If this is your first stop, you may want to go back to Helen's Blog and start from the beginning!

This month we have dozens of Close To My Heart Consultants sharing their artistic 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! Here we go!

For March I made an adorable little paper basket, inspired by one I saw done by Mary Thompson on the CTMH cruisers loop. I built the basket out of cardstock. You cut a 5 x 5 square, and score it at 1 1/2" on each side. Then you snip one side of the square at each corner to create flaps. Adhere the flaps all around to create the basket.

TIP: I like to attach the handle (ribbon, or I used a decorated cardstock strip) with brads on the outside of the basket before you glue the flaps together so that the brads won't show on the inside of the basket.

I decorated my basket handle with a flower that I fussy-cut out of that yummy Mayberry paper. I set 5 Antique Copper Bitty brads into the flower center - gotta love the dimension!

I used my awesome new 2" scallop and 1 1/4" circle punches to create the basket front embellishment, as well as the candy covers pictured below. I stamped the bunnies in Cocoa ink and colored them lightly with Bamboo, Baby Pink, Honey, and Heavenly Blue markers. I pierced all around my scalloped punch for the basket front embellishment, and tucked a fussy cut "For You" sign that I trimmed off another stamp from the set into the medallion.

The candy covers are so simple - just punches, with more spotlighted bits of the bunnies stamped and colored...but they hide little peppermint patties! It's like an adorable little oreo sandwich, only filled with minty, chocolatey goodness. I'm so sending these baskets along to Gabe's teachers at school before Spring Break!

I freehand cut the purse handle from my card base for the front and back - it's attached along the top of the handle. Then I covered it in Sorbet CS that I swiped with an acrylic block inked in Sorbet and Juniper inks to give it more texture.

Now "Hop" on over to HELEN'S BLOG to see her work! Be sure to visit all the Consultants at their Blogs to get some great crafty ideas for more fun projects! Remember, the March SOTM is only available until the last day of March!  Be sure to ask your CTMH Consultant how to get yours FREE (or click here) - you're gonna love it!