May SOTM Blog Hop - Time to Celebrate

Welcome to the May Stamp of the Month Blog Hop featuring "Time to Celebrate." You should have come from Katy's blog, but if you started here just keep going. The blog is a circle so you won't miss anything. If you get lost, you can always head to Melinda's blog for a complete list of participants.

Here's a close up of the set.

I absolutely love this font mix!! It's great for cards, but it also works great on scrapbook pages.

My son met the love of his life back in December...of 2011. The met again this past December and have commenced a whirlwind romance. They are planning their wedding already, which is fine with us and her parents because our families have been great friends for ten years. Except for one weekend, their entire romance has taken place over Skype. I started a "Love in a Time of Pandemic" scrapbook for them, and this is the title page.

I used my ink jet printer to print out maps of both Grand Rapids, MI and West Point, NY in color. I then printed out the West Point map again, this time in black and white. I cut a heart into some White Daisy cardstock then trimmed down my color maps to center their two cities inside the heart. A great deal of scotch tape was used in this process.

The banner was created by using the Draw and Cut feature on my Cricut. I used the font from Flower Market and slightly altered a banner from Artistry with Carolina paper. I tied some white crochet thread around the left side of the banner to take up some space because her name is shorter than his. Once everything was glued down, I stamped the sentiments and hand wrote "est. 2020" in the bottom right. A few silver glitter gems in the top right, and I was done.

I'm thrilled with how this turned out. I showed it to Kayla the other day, and she was thrilled too. Frankly, I don't care what my son thinks because this is my gift to his bride-to-be.

Now you're off to Jen's blog. Be sure to visit all of the stops along the way for fabulous inspiration using this great set.

Until next time,
Becca

These Are My People Blog Hop

Welcome to the "These Are My People Blog Hop." You should have come from Darlys' blog. If you get lost along the way, go to Melinda's blog for a full list of this hop's participants.

Here's a close up of the top left cluster. All the images are from the coordinating sticker sheet. The only doctoring I did was to sponge some Saffron ink in the center of the flower.

I used the Pattern #34 from "Make It From Your Heart, Volume 3." I added the white background behind the Saffron photo mats. I cut them to 10x9 inches.

The only other change I made to the pattern as shown in the pattern is to change up the border between the Saffron and Bluebird patterned papers.

I recently went to the Grand Canyon with a fellow author friend. We did lots of research for her upcoming three-book series set there. We also had time to do some personal sight-seeing. It's impossible to capture the grandeur of this natural wonder. But my pictures will include several photos of us together because the best part of the trip was celebrating our friendship.

I think the combination of Bluebird and Saffron is perfect for Grand Canyon pictures.

Now here's a layout with an entirely different feel using this exact same paper pack plus one cut from the Artbooking Cricut cartridge.

In addition to the cricut cut, I added some sponging to the house rooftop and stamped the small flower from the coordinating "Love These People" stamp set on the bottom right and added sponging to it. Everything else is just paper and stickers from the These are my People" special.

Now you're off to Michele's blog. Be sure to hop all the way around to see everyone's great artwork with this fabulous special.

Until next time,
Becca

April SOM Blog Hop - O-fish-ally Awesome

Welcome to the April Stamp of the Month Blog Hop: O-fish-ally Awesome. You should have come from Kim's blog. If you get lost along the way, head over to Melinda's blog for a full list of participants.

I love this stamp set. I had a great time coloring all the little images then clumping together to create this deceptively simple card.

Here's a close up so you can see the shimmer on the images. I used both the Sapphire Shimmer Brush and the Clear one.

I started by stamping the images in black and coloring them with pencils. I then cut them out. I layered them, continuing to add as many as it took to create the collage. I didn't glue it down though, because I wanted to stamp the sand in Toffee ink first.

After everything was glued down, I flicked the shimmer pen over the top. I decided to add clear shimmer over everything except the sign.

Whenever I make a Clean and Simple card, I try to create as much interest as possible. On this card it was with lots of coloring. I used at least three colors on every image. On the seaweed, I used two colors of green and a bit of brown for the fun of it. Adding the shimmer was another way of creating interest without adding "weight" to the overall card.

FYI, if you decide to recreate this card, you'll want to stamp your sentiment on the sign before you color it. The waxy finish on the colored pencils will resist your ink.

Now it's time to move on to Michelle's blog. Keep clicking through to all the stops so you don't miss any of the fabulous inspiration from these talented crafters.

Until next time,
Becca

March/April New Product Blog Hop

Welcome to the New Product Blog Hop featuring products in the March/April catalog. You should have come from Darlys' blog. The hop is a circle, so if you get lost, head to Melinda's blog for a complete list of participants.

I fell in love with the new Operation Smile set, You Make Me Happy, as soon as I saw it. Of course, part of that might be that my granddaughter is arriving any day now, and my daughter is decorating her nursery with foxes. I adore all the little animals in this set. I chose to use the owl for this card.

I went pretty simple because I was heading out the door for a trip to the Grand Canyon and needed something fast. I love how the stitched frame thin cuts dress this up in such a quick, easy way. I used some paper from the new Mix-Ins paper package. I colored the image with pencils which - after taking a class recently - have become my current favorite coloring medium. I added small flowers from the stamp set to fill in all around. It's great plain as used here, but has the added bonus of being stampable as I did on this card.

The best part about this stamp set is that a percentage of the sales goes toward providing cleft palette surgeries, saving lives of children all around the world.

Your next stop is Kim's blog. Be sure to hop all the way around to glean all sorts of inspiration.

Until next time,
Becca

March Stamp of the Month Blog Hop

Welcome to my stop on the Family Legacy Blog Hop. You should have come from Jen's blog. If you ever get lost, head over to Melinda's blog for a complete list of participants.

I made two cards for today's hop. The first one comes with both a warning and a bit of hope. Here's the warning: sometimes it takes a long time and a lot of fussing before a project works. Here's the hope: almost everything is fixable.

My original card didn't include the dark brown center panel. It was the lighter panel which I'd fussed with quite a bit. I started by stamping the floral corner in Toffee. I then random stamped "Love" and a few of the other images in Peach ink. I didn't feel like it showed up well but was willing to go with it. I then white embossed the floral corner, offsetting it from my original stamped image, and the Congrats sentiment from what I consider a staple of my crafty stash, Melissa Esplin Sentiments. This set is in the Core Catalog and is always on my desk.

Once that stamping was done, I created the background panel.  I stamped Love and it's coordinating small definition from Family Legacy in Toffee and the corner floral in Peach over top of the butterfly paper in the new Mix-In's Paper. Here's a close up of the corner so you can see that slight texture of peach on peach.

I then glued the light brown panel to my peach colored background, both of which were first run through the Stitched Rectangle Thin Cuts. Then I started fussing. I'll spare you the gory details. Suffice it to say that I was never happy with it. There just wasn't enough color contrast. So...I created a second center panel by white embossing the sentiment and floral corner. I planned to just glue it over top of the light panel but, after fussing some more, decided I liked the offset look. To embellish, I stamped a small image from Family Legacy in Toffee over the White Ribbon. After everything was glued together, I kept looking at it and looking at it and looking at it. I wasn't happy until I created that little heart by white embossing the same image used on the ribbon over Smoothie paper and cutting it with the small heart that comes in the new Seas the Day Cardmaking Workshop. Maybe I should have done it in Peach cardstock to keep the colors the same, but I kinda like the little pop of Smoothie.

This card took a long time, but here's more good news...

...the leftovers made this card come together in a snap. I already had the Smoothie cardstock out, so I just stamped the floral corner in Espresso first, embossed "Love" in white over the top, and cut it out with the largest Stitched Heart Thin Cuts. (NOTE: be sure you let your background ink dry and then use an anti-static pouch over your paper before embossing. I forgot that my first attempt and ended up with white powder clinging to my flowers. It wasn't a good look and is why there's a qualifier on my earlier assertion about things being fixable. It wasn't, so I went with my other rule to live by: it's only paper!)

To create the banner, I stamped the coordinating sentiment in Espresso on a scratch piece of paper and cut it out with my Microtip Scissors. After gluing it to the heart and foam mounting both over top of my two leftover frame pieces from the first card, I added some sequins to bling it up.

And now I have two wedding cards ready to go!

Speaking of going, your next stop is Kathy's blog. The hop is a circle so keep going until you see all the inspiration provided by these remarkably talented ladies.

Until next time,
Becca

Stamptacular Stamp + Thin Cuts Sale Blog Hop

Welcome to my stop in this blog hop featuring stamps from CTMH's Stamptacular Sale going on now through the end of the month. You should have come from Jen Rubio's blog. The hop is a circle, so keep going until you get all the way through, and if you get lost along the way, head over to Melinda's blog for a complete list of participants.

I decided to feature one of the stamp sets which is exclusive to the sale. I didn't get it years ago and have regretted it on more than one occasion. I was thrilled to see it make a come back, so it went in my cart right away.

Instead of using coordinating thin cuts, this set works with a Cricut. It coordinates with the Art Philosophy cartridge. The images are free for Cricut Access subscribers but would only require purchasing only two images for non-subscribers.

My color choices were inspired by the current challenge over at Color My Heart. I used Lemonade, Nectarine, and Candy Apple. And since we're talking flowers, I'm also entering this in the Heart2Heart Say It With Flowers challenge. I went a little crazy, so hang on...

The sentiment on this card comes from the Where Happiness Blooms stamp set.

The swirls on this card come from another stamp set brought back just for the sale, Love Life. I haven't used it in a long time, so it was fun to pull it out to create a background for these flowers. The paper on the bottom is Lemonade cardstock cut to 3/4 inch wide with a Zip Strip from the current Mix-Ins paper suite glued over the top.

These two cards feature just Hooray Bouquet partnered with both the frame and panel cuts of the middle sized Square Stitched Frame thin cuts.

Here's another card using only the stamps from Hooray Bouquet but this time using very different colors. I used a card pattern from Make It From Your Heart, Vol. 4. This is card pattern #4. I've used paper from the Spruced Up paper suite and stamped my flowers in Sangria, Mink, and Julep. I added sequins and white ribbon to embellish.

Just for fun, here's one more card using Hooray Bouquet plus Love Life. I debated adding it because I couldn't get a good picture. I figured you'd rather see the inspiration. The colors here are Pixie, Lemonade, and Raspberry. I was inspired by a different Color My Heart challenge which closes today.

Whew! I told you I went a little crazy. As a reminder, the Hooray Bouquet and Love Life stamp sets are gone at the end of the month. Where Happiness Blooms will return to full price and move back to the Online Only section unless it sells out.

Now you're off to Wendy Kessler's blog. Remember to keep going to see all the great inspiration provided.

Until next time,
Becca

Bee Mine Valentines Day Card

I've been spending a huge amount of time in my craft room lately. I was diagnosed with severe obstructive sleep apnea back in December, and it took until a couple weeks ago to get my APAP machine. I'm beginning to come back to life, and the first thing I wanted to do was craft. Here's a card I made last night using the Country Bee stamp and Thin Cut (on sale in CTMH's Stamptacular sale for only $5).

I saw someone else use the bee with "mine," which I thought was cute, so I made my own version. I used scraps from last year's CTMH Valentine's Day paper collection for my background banners. It's difficult to capture in a picture, but I splattered pink shimmer over the card panel before adhereing the bee and sequins. The bee was stamped in Sapphire ink, lightly colored with color pencils, then covered with Liquid Glass. That last thing was an accident. I meant to only put a dot of liquid glass down to adhere my bow, but I squeezed too hard and it blobbed all over. I went with it, using my finger to smear the liquid glass over the entire image.

Off to do writerly kinds of things. If I ever hope to have another book published, I need to do the hard, behind-the-scenes work of getting a proposal written.

Until next time,
Becca