A Little Carried Away... the CTMH Stamp of the Month Blog Hop

Welcome to the July Stamp of the Month blog hop!  This month we have over 60 CTMH consultants ready to share their art and ideas with you, so enjoy the trip.  If you've come here from Wanda's blog, you're headed the right way.  If you're just starting the hop, continue on to Georgia's blog when you're through here and you will travel in a circle until you arrive back here.

Happy Forever is a fun & happy set of 9 stamps featuring a cute little hedgehog and some sweet sentiments.  Visit my website to see all of the images, as well as find out how you can get your own set at a discount or even free.

I've been seeing a lot of red, white, and blue cards on blogs lately, so I decided to join the trend.  This little guy looks like he just got a little carried away with the July 4th festivities!

I used Blue Ribbon, one of my favorite paper packs ever, and the Pieced Together card pattern from our Wishes card confidence program book (page 34).  It was so much fun deciding which patterned papers to use, and I changed it up just a little by substituting Indian Corn Blue ricrac for the strip of paper across the bottom of the card.

I stamped my image using a brown Staz-on ink pad.  Next, I used my waterbrush to paint in the image using my ink pads.  (Just squeeze the lid onto the pad, then use the ink which is now in the lid.)  I used Parchment for "Hedgie's" body; Chocolate for his fur; and Indian Corn Blue, Outdoor Denim, and Cranberry for the balloons.  Finally, I used a sponge dauber to apply Indian Corn Blue ink from my ink pad around my stamped and colored image.  Now "Hedgie" looks like he's floating in a nice blue sky.

I adhered all of my pieces using my Tombow adhesive and Glue Dots for the ricrac.  For the final touch, I added some square Sparkles.

Now if you're ready to move along, hop on over to Georgia's blog to see what she's created for us this month!

PRESERVE Your Memories

 If you thought the Preserves Cricut cartridge was just for recipes, think again!  I've been using it for some "sweet" cards, and now this great layout.  I took my kids blueberry picking last summer, and Preserves was just the right touch for enhancing those pictures.

I used American Crafts glitter paper in Marine for the top layer of my berries and for my title.  With the attention this paper is bound to get, I skipped any other embellishments entirely.  The layers on this cartridge cut easily at all the sizes I used, and they're super easy to assemble! 

Because the glitter paper is so thick, I used Scor-tape to adhere it to the shadow layer.  I used my Tombow adhesive to layer the leaves, and adhered the berry layers to the leaves using foam adhesive squares for added dimension.  The "picking" portion of my title was cut with the Opposites Attract cartridge and Design Studio.  It was adhered using my Quickie Glue Pen.  The rest of the layout was adhered using Tombow adhesive.

Items available from Close To My Heart:

• Splendor paper package (green pattern paper, Topiary, White Daisy & Moonstruck CS)

Items available at Cutters Creek:

• Cardstock
• American Crafts Glitter Paper, Marine
• Scotch Pop-Up Foam Squares 216/pkg
• Tombow Mono Adhesive (permanent)
• Quickie Glue Pen
• Scor-tape
• Cricut Expression
• Cricut Deep Cut Blade (I find it easier to cut the glitter paper with this blade)
• Preserves cartridge
• Opposites Attract cartridge

Party Favors AND Crafts with the Cricut and Vinyl

These were actually made last March, but I never got around to sharing them.  My daughter wanted a Mermaid party for her birthday, and NO ARIEL!  As luck would have it, the Life Is A Beach cartridge for the Cricut had just come out and I ordered it.  It arrived just in time for the party (I don't know what we would have done if it hadn't shown up!), and here are the fun/easy/cheap party favors/crafts we made.

I picked up the buckets & shovels for cheap at the drugstore, and the vinyl is from a sampler pack of vinyl available at printonit.  All of the party guests made the design on the center bucket; the other two are what my other kids got.  We let the girls pick their hair color, and I cut the hair out on the fly.  With a couple of grown-up helpers, the girls layered the vinyl onto their buckets and added their names.

The best part of the vinyl is that it's easy to lift & move, but holds up great.  We still have these buckets over a year later, and if you know me you know that my kids beat the heck out of their stuff!

Here's a closeup of the mermaid (just click on the photo to enlarge).  We used a fine tip permanent marker to draw over the cuts for the facial features.

As an additional idea, my older daughter decorated her hula girl bucket using a Sharpie marker.  She just drew on the extra details she wanted.  You can go a step further using colored permanent markers instead of just the black that she used.

Just Blooms Paper Flowers - Spotlight Blog Hop

Welcome to our Spotlight Blog Hop!  This month we're focusing on Just Blooms Paper Flowers.  You should have arrived here from Kristie's Goofy Scrapper blog, and you can continue on to Haley's Inky Scrapper blog when you're done here.

I chose to do a layout this month, as I've been making a lot of cards lately.  I still have journaling to add to the right page, in the light blue areas.  But I like to wait a while to journal sometimes so I remember everything I want to say!

What I like about Just Blooms is their versatility.  Because they're paper, you can modify them in all kinds of ways.  I used plain White Daisy flowers (the larger ones were from the Big Pinks pack).  First, I decided on my layers, then spritzed them all with water, and crumpled them up really well.  Next, I used my heat gun to dry each layer.  Finally, I assembled the layers onto some Sunflower brads,  and added a little ink distressing.  A totally different look than when they come out of the package!

Here's a close up of the large flower - it has four layers.

Now, continue on to Haley's blog for more great ideas for using your Just Blooms paper flowers!

A Wedding Card and MTC Files

I have a wedding card on the Cutters Creek blog today, with images cut using my Cricut and Make The Cut software.  Here's the post, followed by additional details...

June is traditionally a month of weddings, so I thought it appropriate to share a wedding card today!

I've done all of the hard work for you, so if you own Make The Cut you can just search the gallery, import the files, and cut away.  To find the files, just open your Make The Cut software and from the menu choose Help -> Free SVGs and MTCs.  A search box will appear where you type in your search terms - simple as that!  My files are named "Bride and Groom Silhouette" and "Gazebo".

To add to the elegant look I wanted, I used black mats for definition, a little ink for dimension, and a layer of American Crafts glitter paper in White.  This is NOT your ordinary glitter paper -- nothing flakes or rubs off.  And it is thick; almost more of a chipboard.  It really holds up well to all kinds of projects, and just adds that extra little something!

Supplies available at Cutters Creek:

• Cricut Expression
• Make The Cut software
• Cardstock
• Ink Pads
• American Crafts glitter paper

For those of you who want more, here's what the inside of the card looks like:

Now, for the rest of the supplies used:

• Papers are from Close To My Heart, Splendor line
• Stamps are from Inkadinkadoo

Mega Multi Company Blog Candy Giveaway!

Have you ever visited True's Gifts From the Heart blog?  She does beautiful work, so it's worth checking it out just for that!  However, True's recently had some surgery and could use some well wishes from visitors once she's able to read her comments again!

She's also giving away a HUGE bag of blog candy from several companies. 

Go check out this post to see just some of the items you could win!  And make sure you leave her some love in the comments.

Hurry, because this candy contest is closing on June 12th!

Half Price Daily Deal Today!

Today is a Goodie Box day! Get a box filled with popular products at 50% or more off of retail value. Plus you'll get a deal on shipping/handling. Purchase this Goodie Box (retail value $80 US / $93.95 CAN) for only $40 US/ $46.95 CAN.  Plus, shipping is a flat $7.

Buy now! This offer is while supplies last and will be snatched up quickly.

 Remember, a new deal is posted every morning at 9:00a.m. Mountain Time.  To view and/or purchase today's deal, visit my website here.