January/February 2021 New Product Blog Hop

Welcome to the Jan.-Feb. 2021 Seasonal Catalog Blog Hop! We're so glad you're here. Every two months, CTMH releases a mini catalog filled with beautiful products and we do a hop to show them off. You should have come from Lauren's blog. The hop is a circle, so don't worry about where you started. Just keep going until you've seen all the inspiring projects. If you get lost along the way, head to Melinda's blog for a full list of participants.

There weren't a huge number of things I needed from this mini-catalog. The last four have generated page-long lists of must haves, so it was nice to whittle down to just a couple things I wanted and then make use of things I'd already purchased out of the Core Catalog. 

For this first card, I used the new Letter Tiles Stamp and Thin Cuts set. I've wanted to play with Scrabble tile art for a long time, so this was perfect. I used the current Mix-In paper (bottom, Canary with white polka dots pattern) with Lovely paper from the Core Catalog. I die cut each piece of paper individually with the Stitched Rectangular Frame Thin Cuts, stacked them together, then cut both at the same time. I pieced these two together and covered the seam with a piece of Ballerina cardstock that I just cut the long edge of the very outside part of the largest rectangular stitched thin cut. I also cut tile pieces from Ballerina and offset them slightly with the tile pieces (Toffee cardstock stamped with Espresso ink) before foam mounting them to the card. I accented with a sticker from the Lovely paper collection, then jazzed it up using White Opal and Rose Gold Liquid Pearls.

As a fun side note, my husband came into my craft room and glanced over at my light box where this card was sitting. He started to laugh and said, "I misread that at first. I saw 'HARPY.'" Not too many women in my life I could send a Harpy card to, but now he's got me thinking...

My next card uses the same Mix-In paper plus Ballerina cardstock.

This new mini catalog features a set called Sweet Safari. It's a darling baby-themed set, but I'd already purchased Nursery Days from the Core Catalog, which has similar icons. I decided to make my own version of a card in the Sweet Safari card workshop...with one adjustment made because I messed up. 

Here's the original card. It features three pieces of paper - the stripe, the blue, and the red polka dot - then has some stamped flags and a sentiment. To mimic the flags, I decided to use a goodly amount of Ballerina Liquid Pearls. Except, once I squeezed it out, I decided I didn't like it. 

So I cut it off!

Look closely, and you'll see that the Ballerina border on the right side (cut with one of the Fancy Border Thin Cuts) isn't flush with the white card base. Now, I do really like how this looks, but I don't recommend the process by which I went about it.

I had already foam mounted the banner and giraffe, so I had to carefully cut  along the line of Toffee patterned paper, cut around the banner and giraffe, and then continue cutting straight to the top of the card. I then glued my piece of Ballerina border behind where I cut. It looks fine from the front but is a little ragged on the back side.  The final touches were some much smaller dots of Ballerina Liquid Pearls

Your next stop is Michelle's blog. I'm excited to see what she and the other Makers have created. Who knows, I might just find a "must have" I didn't know I needed.

Until next time,

Becca

January SOTM Blog Hop: Every Thank You

Welcome to the new year...which means a new stamp of the month and a new seasonal catalog! Our blog hop features the Every Thank You stamp set. You should have come from Lauren's blog. There are eighteen of us this month, so if you get lost along the way, hop over the Melinda's blog for a full list of the participants. 

Here's a look at the fabulous stamp set...so many ways to combine the various fonts.

Here's my first card. I used three different colors of cardstock: Blue Belle, Peach, and Desert Rose. I combined it with White Embossing Powder, the Stitched Rectangle and Stitched Square Thin Cuts. 

For this second card, I used the left over pieces from the thin cuts on the first one.

I dressed this one up with splatters from my Black Shimmer Brush and some Blue Belle Sequins. I love how the Stitched Square and Stitched Rectangle Thin Cuts give you both panels and frames. 

Now you're off to Darly's blog. I can't wait to see what she and all the other CTMH Makers have for us.

Until next time,

Becca

Operation Smile Blog Hop: Every Bit of Wonderful

Welcome to the Every Bit of Wonderful Blog Hop. We're so excited to feature this special set because, with every sale, $7 is donated to Operation Smile. This organization goes around the world performing surgeries on cleft lips and cleft palettes, saving lives and giving smiles. You should have come from Haley's blog, but don't worry if you started here. The hop is a circle so keep going until you get back to where you started from. If you get lost along the way, head to Melinda's blog where she has a list of all the participants. 

I'm guessing that most of my fellow CTMH Makers will be featuring the beautiful floral images so I wanted to do something a little different. There are lots of great sentiments so I used all of them.

My colors were inspired by the Lovely paper pack, which is were the gingham on the right comes from. My original idea was to use the flip side of that paper. It has lots of flowers on it. As I was assembling the card, I realized there was too much pattern, so I used the flip side and...voila! Love how it adds some texture without taking away from my stamped words and cluster of flowers. I used Canary, Ballerina, Sage, and Blue Belle. I used foam tape to attach it to the card base with the gingham already glued down. To add extra interest, I stamped the Blue Belle sentiment on a separate piece of cardstock, cut it into a fishtail, then foam mounted it over the top of the column of sentiments.

I stamped the flowers in Sage ink and colored with alcohol markers. After cutting it out, I mounted it with two pieces of stacked foam tape on the far right and glued it directly over the banner on the left side. The final touch was dots of Ballerina Liquid Pearls. I am IN LOVE with this product. I've been adding little bits of shimmer to almost every card I'm making these days. 

I haven't decided if I would like this better if the background sentiments were in just Canary and Ballerina. The Sage sentiment feels a little bold for the background. But...

What do you think?

Now you're off to Brenda's blog to see what she has to inspire us.

Until next time,

Becca

December SOM: Happiness Never Grows Old

Welcome to the December Stamp of the Month Blog Hop: Happiness Never Grows Old. You should have come from Haley's blog, but don't worry if you started here. The hop is a circle, so just keep going until you get back where you started from. If you get lost along the way, head over to Melinda's blog for a full list of participants.

I love pretty floral images, and this set certainly has those! 

I colored one of the large floral images plus the individual flower and some small leaves with alcohol markers then cut them out with Micro-tip Scissors. I layered them over the top of the Stitched Lattice Background and a sentiment stamped on a Hexagon Thin Cut. After everything was down, I added drops of Black Onyx Liquid Pearls. To create dimension, I used foam tape to mount the Stitched Lattice and central flower image.

Now you're off to Brenda's blog. I can't wait to see what everyone has created with this gorgeous stamp set!

Until next time,

Becca

November-December Seasonal Catalog Blog Hop

Welcome to the November/December 2020 Seasonal Catalog Blog Hop. You should have come from Brandi's blog, but don't worry if you started her. The hop is a circle, so just keep going until you've seen all the beautiful inspiration. If you get lost along the way, head to Melinda's blog for a complete list of participants.

As soon as I saw the new Serenity paper, I knew the exact memory I was going to scrapbook. My son got married this summer. He'd been on his own for eleven years before Kayla waltzed into his life. His home wasn't a complete bachelor pad. Oh...who am I kidding? He had workout equipment in his living room! When Kayla got there, she put her woman's touch on his house. That included floral arrangements. She had her mom bring silk flowers and do the arranging. But Kim's hands weren't strong enough to cut and recut the thick stems. She recruited my husband saying, "It's for Kayla." Well, that became the battle cry for all the house and wedding preparations. I don't know how many times "It's for Kayla" was repeated, but it got to being such a big joke that, at the end of the wedding ceremony as Steven and Kayla were walking down the aisle, everyone gathered in a huddle (there were only nine of us at this COVID wedding), put our hands together, and chanted, "It's for Kayla!"

No one knows better than I what Kayla went through to make his house their home, so I wanted to preserve that memory.

I used cuts from the Serenity Cricut Collection to create the wreath, then decorated with stickers and paper from the Serenity Paper suite. I also used one sticker from the Lovely paper suite. It's the house in the bottom right corner. You'll notice that, since I don't have the photos on here yet, I cut out a piece of the sticker sheet backing so I can tuck the photo in, remove the backing, and stick that cluster down.

I hand lettered the title using a combination of brush lettering with watercolor and the Melissa Esplin pens. I also used a fine-tip black pen to trace the outline of the tag. It wasn't showing up well, so this gave it some definition.

I'm so happy with how this turned out! But I also can't wait to see what everyone else has created, so let's hop over to Pam's blog to see what she's created!

Until next time,

Becca

Holiday Cards Blog Hop

Welcome to the Holiday Cards Blog Hop. You should have come from Brandi's blog, but don't worry if you started here. The hop is a circle, so just keep going until you get back to where you started. If you get lost along the way, head to Melinda's blog for a complete list of participants. 

I chose to focus on the Yuletide Borders Thin Cut. Here's the first card:

And here's my second:

I used both of the newly released paper suites of Serenity (top card, blue background) and Jingle Joy (bottom card). I also used the Rectangular Stitched Frames Thin Cuts with both cards. Other supplies used on the first card were Diamond Stickles (to created the snow on the first card) and Micro-tip Scissors to cut the sentiment apart carefully. One the second card, I added my background paper over the top of Flamingo cardstock before running it through the stitched frame thin cut. I accented with the thin triple line stamp from Lovely Borders stamp set. I used the Clear Shimmer Brush where the Flamingo was exposed to carry some of the glitter from the sentiment  and the tiny strip of White Shimmer Trim at the very top to another part of the card. This second card is very simple to recreate multiple times, where the first one was a bit labor intensive. 

Now you're off to Melissa's blog. I can't wait to see what she and all the other CTMH Makers have created. I don't know about you, but I have around 80 cards to make, so I'm looking for inspiration!

Until next time,

Becca

November SOM Blog Hop: You Warm My Heart

Welcome to the November Stamp of the Month Blog Hop featuring You Warm My Heart. You should have come from Carrie's blog, but don't worry if you started here. The hop is a circle, so just keep going until you get back where you started from. If you get lost along the way, head to Melinda's blog for a full list of participants.

Here's my first card...

I combined the cup image with the Elegant Snowflakes stamp set for the background and sentiment. I stamped the cup in Mint, then I cut it and a second cup from the brand new Jingle Joy paper suite. The paper is black and white. I sponged Candy Apple over it for the cup and background matte. 

Here's my second card...

I stamped the gnome then stamped him again on a post-it note. On the post it note image, I cut out the inside of the hat, placed the post it note over the other gnome image, and the stamped the coffee cup image over the top to create a patterned hat. After I colored the rest of him, I cut him out and foam mounted him on this shaker card. I added dots of Carnation Red Liquid Pearls to accent.

I'm so looking forward to seeing what everyone else has created. Your next stop is Stefani's blog. I'll be right behind you.

Until next time,

Becca