Cards of Friendship - May SOTM Blog Hop

Welcome to the May Stamp of the Month blog hop!  If you're just starting out, or if you've arrived here from Debra's blog, you're in the right spot.  When you're done here, you'll hop along to Jill's blog and see what she has cooked  up for us this month.

I absolutely love this month's stamp set, Friendship Bouquet!  To show you just how much, I made two very different cards this month just by changing the colors I used.  First up, a beautiful sympathy card.

With a different sentiment, this would also make an elegant birthday or retirement card.  This is a 6"x6" kraft card, that I'm also entering in the Heart2Heart "April Showers Bring May Flowers" challenge and the Mojo Monday 239 challenge (round or square).  I used the following products:

• Pemberly paper pack
• Kraft cardstock
• twill ribbon
• Round Durables Studs
• Memento brown ink
• Copic markers
• Sentiment stamp (discontinued) 
• 3-D Foam Tape
• Micro-tip Scissors

Next, a completely different style for a thank you card.

This picture does not do this justice!  Some brighter colors, some faux stitching, and a fun adhesive spring make this a bright & cheery card.  I'm thinking this will be perfect for Teacher's Appreciation!

the spring in action!

I used the following items for this card:

• Dotty For You promotional paper pack
• Stitched Together stamp set
• Sentiment stamp (discontinued)
• White pigment stamp pad
• White embossing powder
• Sunset stamp pad
• Craft heater
• Adhesive Springs
• Memento brown ink
• Cricut & Art Philosophy (for circles)
• Copic markers
• White 5"x7" card base
• Micro-tip Scissors

 I'm also posting this one at the Heart2Heart "April Showers Bring May Flowers" challenge.

Make sure you read my previous post if you're looking for some fun for National Scrapbook Day - and you can participate even if you have other plans that day!  Thanks for stopping by, and I hope to see you again soon.  Now don't forget to hop along to Jill's blog!

National Scrapbook Day is This Saturday!

In case you don't know, not only is May considered National Scrapbook Month, but the first Saturday in May is officially National Scrapbook Day.  I hope you have something fun planned for the day; I know I do!

Get your crop on!

Whether you have plans or not, I would love if you join me in my first ever ONLINE crop!  I'm making it super easy, so you can participate even if you won't be home that day.  I'm hosting this event as a Facebook group, so you just need to go request to join the group here.  Challenges will be posted on Friday to give you time to pack in case you are headed out to a traditional crop on Saturday (yes, I sure am).  Then you will just add your photos to the appropriate challenge album by the deadline in order to qualify for prizes.  Excited yet?  I know I can't wait! I hope to see you there, and I hope you will invite your friends.  The more members we have, the more prizes I will give away!

While we're celebrating scrapbooking all month long, I thought I would throw out an extra surprise.  Hopefully, you all know that I am an independent consultant with Close To My Heart.  So, for this month, I have set up a Mystery Hostess online gathering.  Everyone who places an order through May 28, either using this link or going to my website and clicking to "JOIN" the Mystery Hostess Gathering, will be eligible to win ALL of the Hostess Rewards for those orders!  Again, please share with your friends because I would LOVE for someone to get a whole bunch of free stuff!

 

 

 

Just some of the awesome stuff you could get with Hostess Rewards!

While we're here, let me remind you about the National Scrapbook Month promotion from CTMH.  Order $35 in product from the Spring/Summer idea book, and you can purchase the Dotty For You paper pack for only $5.

Also, the new Stamp of the Month for May begins tomorrow.  (Be sure to stop back here for some great artwork during our Stamp of the Month blog hop!)  With any $50 purchase, the stamp set is yours for $5.

How cute are those sunflowers?

Well, that's enough shameless promotion for today!  Don't forget about our fun online crop, and be sure to spread the word!!

Fiskars Cloud Punch as Ice Cream

I'm in need of another birthday card to mail off in a few days.  It's for another little cutie, so I wanted something sweet to match her personality.  Ever since I got this Fiskars large cloud squeeze punch, it's been begging to be used to make ice cream, but I kept putting it off for other projects.  Today, it finally got its chance and now I can't wait to go buy another one in the extra-large size so I can do even more with it!

Here's what I came up with:

Don't those pretty scoops look just like fruity sherbet?  I am in LOVE!!  (The papers are all from the current Dotty For You promotion pack from Close To My Heart.)  Of course I had to make a great sugar cone to stack the scoops on, so I trimmed a piece of Creme Brulee CS (one of the colors in the plaid as well) into a cone shape.  I pulled out my handy Fiskars trimmer and a scoring blade, and scored diagonal lines in both directions on the shape.  I then flipped the CS over so the lines were raised, and lightly sanded to reveal just a bit of the white core.  Here's a closeup:

A super easy texture to reproduce.  Don't worry about getting everything perfect; no one is going to notice!  They'll be too busy looking at those cute scoops!

Numeral Card with Cricut

If you couldn't tell, we were on extended vacation for our kids' Spring break.  Sorry I'm not all organized like those bloggers who schedule posts while they're gone!  Anyhoo, it was my turn at the Cutters Creek blog yesterday and just realized I forgot to share it here too.

So, a cute little girl I know just had her third birthday.  Since we've been out of town, I wanted to make something quick & simple that wouldn't take much brain power on my part!  And of course it had to be girly & cute too.

I pulled out my Cricut Gypsy and got to work (you could also use Cricut Craft Room).  I chose the Hello Kitty Font cartridge from my list, selected the Shadow feature and chose a 3.  Returning to my mat, I sized the 3 to 5" wide and copied it to make a second 3.  I selected a single 3 and flipped it vertically.  I moved the 3s around so they were touching along the top edge, and welded them together.  I cut this top-folding card from some bright pink CS in my stash.  Next, I chose the Silhouette feature and chose 3.  I sized it to 5" wide, and cut it from some American Crafts glitter cardstock in Carrot.  I layered this cut on the card front, using Scor Tape to attach it.   Finally, I dug out some matching paper flowers from my stash, layered them together on an American Crafts Pearl Brad, and attached it to the front of the card with a Glue Dot.  Finally, I stamped Happy Birthday inside, and I was done.

Pretty simple, but super cute with plenty of bling.  It took me longer to dig out matching flowers and a stamp than to make the rest of the card!

Items available from Cutters Creek:

• American Crafts glitter cardstock, Carrot
• American Crafts pearl brads, Brights
• Scor Tape
• Glue Dots

Dotty For You!

GET A JUMP START ON NATIONAL SCRAPBOOKING MONTH IN MAY with the oh-so-cute Dotty for You paper packet. There are three ways to get this exclusive Dotty for You paper packet,
valued at $19.95*:

• Place an order of $35 or more in products from the Spring/
Summer 2012 Idea Book between April 17 and May 31, and
add the Dotty for You paper packet for just $5.

• Host a Gathering with a sales total of $400 or more (excluding
tax, shipping/handling, and Operation Smile® donations)
between April 17 and May 31 and receive a Dotty for You
paper packet FREE.

• Join Close To My Heart as a new Consultant between April 1
and May 31 and receive a Dotty for You paper packet FREE.
Get your Dotty for You paper packet today!

 

Dotty for You Paper Packet (CC1017) $5 with a qualifying purchase

Includes 24 Coordinating B&T Duos® Sheets (2 each of 12 patterns) - back side pattern of all sheets are the dots shown in top photo (different colors).  You also receive 1 Artwork Idea Insert  in your pack.

*Taxes and shipping/handling may apply. Offer good during above-specified dates, while supplies last.

Be sure to choose items from the Spring/Summer 2012 Idea Book, then you can shop online 24/7.  Contact me any time with questions!

Hop To It With Cricut Art Philosophy

Spring parties are tomorrow at school here and  I am once again the "treat bag mom" for my son's 1st grade class. I wanted to make something different than a bunny, so I came up with this fun frog using the Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge.

 

This topper could also be used as a top-fold card.  It was pretty easy to make, but you do need to have either a Gypsy (how I made mine) or use Cricut Craft Room.  The base card is the part that requires the Gypsy. 

I used the Oval3 Card feature from page 42 of the Art Philosophy handbook, and sized it at 5.5" tall.  I wanted to make the mouth a cutout, and back-mount the red.  So, I used the Shape12 Layer feature on page 38 of the handbook, rotated it 45 degrees, and lined up one of the interior cuts over the card base for a mouth.  I then used the "hide contour" feature button on the Gypsy to hide all of the other cuts on the shape, except the one for the mouth.  I also added two circles to the mat, sized at 1.75" for the eyes.

For the mouth, I cut red CS in another oval.  I used Oval1 on page 22, and sized it at 1.85" high.  After folding the green card base, I adhered the red oval  to the inside front so it shows through the cutout.  To finish the eyes, I cut white circles at 1.25" and black circles at 1".  I stacked the layers off-center and adhered them half off the top of the card.   I adhered the entire topper to the treat bag using Scor Tape.

Take another look at all of the shapes on this cartridge - who knows what you will find in there next!  Thanks for stopping by today.  Hope to see you again soon!

Shape It Up! Challenge with Scrappy Frog

Sorry I'm late getting this up today, I've had a busy weekend! This month's challenge at Scrappy Frog's Challenge Blog is Shape It Up! (shaped cards).

I made two cards for this challenge, both using the Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge collection exclusive to Close To My Heart.  Did you know that this cartridge has 100 card cuts on it?  They make it super easy to make interesting cards.   The first card I made is the one on the right:

This card was made using cuts on page 24 of the Art Philosophy handbook and papers from the Florentine line.  I cut the base Card at 5.5" from the Garden Green CS, and the Decorative Layer at 5.5" from the light allover pattern.  I cut the Dragnfly at 4.25" from the medallion paper, and the Layer at 4.25" from the allover Twilight (blue) pattern.  I adhered only the body of the dragonfly to the Decorative Layer cut, and put 3-D foam tape under the wings.  I used Patina Stickles around the dragonfly and let it dry.  Nice & easy!

This card was made with cuts from page 32 of the Art Philosophy handbook, and papers from the Stella line.  I'm sorry I forgot to record the sizes I cut this at, but it's easy to figure out sizes using test cuts on some cheap or ugly paper, or by using you Gypsy or Cricut Craft Room to adjust the sizes of the layers.  I cut the card base from Sunset CS.  I cut the Oval2 from the red/orange pattern paper, and the Decorative Layer from Tulip CS, both at the same size, and adhered everything.  I cut the Layer from Sunset CS and adhered it using 3-d Foam Tape.  I added a few Opaques Pearls and that was it - a quick & elegant card.

If you want more information on what is included on the cartridge or in the entire collection, please let me know!  If you'd like to buy Art Philosophy, I'd LOVE to have you as my customer.  You can either shop online here, or email me to set up an online gathering where you can earn hostess rewards on any order of at least $150.

Thanks for stopping by today!  Hope to see you again soon.