Cross-Stitch Wishes: January Stamp of the Month Blog Hop

Happy New Year and welcome to our first SOTM blog hop for 2014! If you've come here from the fabulous Mary Eisen, or if you are just starting out, you're in the right place. When we're done here, you'll hop along to the awesome Traci Godbee and see what she has to inspire us this month. In case you get lost along the way, you may want to open up this list of participating blogs (it opens in a new window so you can continue to hop here).

Stitching continues to be a hot trend in papercrafting, and Close To My Heart helps make it easy with this cute set of 13 stamps in Cross-Stitch Wishes. When you want it fast, use it alone for a great cross-stitched look. Want something a little more special? Use the stamps as a pattern to do actual stitching on your project!

I'm sticking with the fast and easy option for now, and I think it looks great. In fact, it was so fast and easy, I made two projects for today, a card and a home decor piece. I have a scrapbook layout in mind, but I need to find the pictures I wanted first! So, up first is my home decor piece:

I made this mason jar wrap to match my kitchen decor. I stamped the flowers on the Sweet Leaf CS with Topiary ink, then stamped them again on Honey, Cotton Candy, and Cranberry CS using coordinating inks. After cutting out the blooms, I sponged the edges of each one with coordinating ink and adhered them with 3-D Foam Tape.

It's more than a plain mason jar. I added a flower frog insert to the mason jar ring so I can use this as a vase. Mason jars are also enjoying a continued run as a hot item for all kinds of uses, so this is a great trendy use of both products.

I fashioned the band corset-style using some eyelets from my stash and some Baker's Twine. This makes it easy to remove if I need to wash the jar, or if for some reason I want to change it.

Now on to my AWESOME (if I do say so myself) card!

I started with a scrap of Laughing Lola pattern paper and a sketch from Make It From Your Heart Volume 2. I added shades of pink in Cotton Candy and Blush, Colonial White, and Lagoon for contrast. I stamped everything in Black to match the Laughing Lola, and sponged all the papers with coordinating ink (except the Colonial White - I used Champagne for that). I also added a strip of Black Shimmer Trim for bling. The pennants were cut with the Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge.

For this sweet frame, I wrapped a chipboard frame from  with washi tape. (This pattern is sold out, but there are other options - and more coming in February hint, hint) I just overlapped the strips to math the pattern, and trimmed and folded it to wrap the edges.  You can also just sand off the excess tape and ink the edges for a smoother finish, but I liked the wrapped pattern. I then sponged over the whole thing with Champagne ink to match the other pieces.

If you need to shop, any of the following links will take you to a new window. Or if you're ready to move on, I'd love to read your comments before you head over to Traci Godbee's blog.

• Stamp of the Month
• Make It From Your Heart, volume 2
• Cardstock
• Exclusive Inks Stamp Pads
• Laughing Lola
• Dimensional Elements Framework (chipboard frame)
• Sponge Daubers
• 3-D Foam Tape
• Baker's Twine
• Washi Tape
• Tombow Adhesive
• Stamping Blocks