Happiness is... March Stamp of the Month Blog Hop

Hello and welcome to our March Stamp of the Month blog hop! This month we are featuring the beautiful Floral Happiness, a set of 16 stamps great for two-step stamping and more on any project you can imagine.  If you have arrived here from Nikka Geers' blog, or if you are just starting out, you are in the right place! When we're done here, we'll all head over to Lisa Sargent's blog to see what great idea she has for us this month.

I have always loved two-step stamping, but I know it can be a challenge.  I really wanted to show how beautiful these images can be, and this is what I came up with:

I started with a 5 x 7 card base made from Whisper cardstock.  I then made a 4.25" x 6.25" panel also in Whisper.  I stamped the detail layer of the flowers on the panel with Whisper ink, and stamped the base layer of the flowers with 2nd generation Whisper. (Note: 2nd generation stamping is achieved by inking your stamp, stamping once on a scrap paper, then stamping on your desired paper.)

On White Daisy cardstock, I stamped one large, one medium, and two small flowers, and several leaves.  For the flowers, I used Hollyhock and Cranberry inks. For the leaves, I used Pear and Topiary inks. I cut the flowers and leaves out using my micro-tip scissors. To build my card front, I made a border on two sides with silver Shimmer Trim, weaving the strips together at the corner.  I then adhered the Whisper panel to a Black cardstock mat, and adhered that to the card base.  Next, I adhered my flowers to the card front, creating layers using 3-D Foam Tape.  Finally, I added a sentiment to an open spot on the card front using Black ink.

Here's a photo showing the layering:

You can easily double up the 3-D Foam Tape for additional depth to your design, as I did here on the largest flower.

Supplies used:

• Cardstock in Whisper, Black, and White Daisy
• Exclusive Inks stamp pads in Whisper, Black, Hollyhock, Cranberry, Pear, and Topiary
• Silver Shimmer Tape
• 3-D Foam Tape

That's it for today! I hope you'll take a minute to leave a comment and let me know what you think.  Then let's all head over to Lisa Sargent's blog; I'm sure she has something lovely to share with us today!

Lolli-Pots for Everyone!

Hello and welcome to the February 9 Creations by AR blog hop! We have some great new releases to share with yo today  I hope you enjoy our different takes on the files.  New files available today are the Lolli-Pop Pot and It's Bow Easy. (As a reminder, the files include versions in PDF, SVG and DXF - even if you don't have a cutting machine, the PDF files make them easy to cut by hand.) When you're done here, I hope you'll hop along to see what the rest of the designers have done with them!

I chose to make the Lolli-Pot for today:

The only suckers we had in the house were Charms Blow Pops, and it was a great fit!  Simply position the sucker upside down in the pot and slide the insert down over the stick.  I used Scor Tape & Liquid Glass to assemble the pot and base.  I also used a strip of Scor Tape to adhere the pot into the base so it would stay put.

I'm really tired of Winter, so I chose the Tulip Topper for my version of the pot.  I used a circle punch to make some simple leaves as well.  I adhered all of those pieces to the stick with mini Glue Dots.  The papers for my version are Sweet Leaf cardstock and the new Chantilly paper pack from Close To My Heart. I think these would make sweet little favors for Easter or a Spring party - I think I will send some to school for class parties this Spring...

That's it for my take on this cute project.  I'd love to hear your comments, then be sure to check out the other designers' projects:

• Lisa Somerville
• Jak Heath
• Lyn Bernatovich
• Julia Aston
• Sue Kment
• Amy Park

You're Sweet! Red andPink Challenge

It's time for a new monthly challenge over at Scrappy Frog's Challenge Blog, and this month's challenge is to make something with pink & red.  Of course, you can use other colors as well, and I added a healthy dose of green to my project.

Since the groundhog told us we'll be greeting Spring early this year, I'm already looking forward to my favorite part - when the strawberry patch starts coming back to life!

These cute little berries can each hold a candy or two (if you care to allow someone to rip into them), or you can make one larger berry to hold a small gift.  I am more likely to put this in my kitchen and threaten my kids with bodily harm if they mess with it!

It's all pretty easy to make; both items are cut with the Artiste Cricut cartridge.  My berry basket is actually part of an Easter basket on page 73 of the handbook; I just left the handle off.  I cut it using "Fit to Page", which the Cricut tells me is 2.25".  If you want a larger basket, you can find 12"x24" cardstock, which I'm guessing would allow a basket up to 4.5".  It's an easy fold & glue assembly.

The berries were only slightly trickier, but that's because I knowingly cut them far smaller than the recommended size in the book. (I am NOT good at following instructions, LOL.)  The berries and leaves are on page 72 in the handbook, and I cut them at 3" (recommended size is 6").  The smaller size made them a little more difficult to assemble, but I have seen people tie them shut which would probably be an easier option, especially for the smaller size.  I used some corduroy brads I had on hand and put it through the hole in the leaves first, then each flap of the berry.  I left the side seam open until the end so I could wiggle my fingers in there and open the brad.  I then used Liquid Glass to seal that seam.

The pink berries are made with paper from the Chantilly paper pack from Close To My Heart.  The red ones are made with Ruby cardstock (also CTMH), which I embossed with a Cuttlebug Swiss Dots folder.  After embossing, I sanded off the raised dots (why I LOVE the white core CS) and sponged over them with Sweet Leaf ink.  I love the combination of both playful and realistic patterns.

Thanks for stopping by today! I'd love to hear your comments on today's project.