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

February 2020 SOM Blog Hop

Welcome to the February Stamp of the Month (SOM) Blog Hop featuring Cherishing Her. You should have come from Krista'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. Head to Melinda's blog if you get lost anywhere along the way. She has a full list of all the participants.

I adore this stamp set not only because of the beautiful bouquet of flowers but because the sentiments can be customized. I decided to do two cards which are identical except for the cardstock. Here's the first one:

I started by white embossing the images on vellum paper. I then colored on the back side of the vellum with alcohol markers making sure I didn't take the color all the way to the edge. That extra white space makes the coloring look classy.

Here's a close up of the glitter dots I made. I started by adding Diamond Stickles Glitter Gel. It dries flatter than I wanted, so after they dried, I topped them with Liquid Glass.

The circle background die is in the Annual CTMH catalog which is good all year. I also used a banner die which was available as part of a special promotion back in September but is still available in the Online Only section of my website. There are only a few left of this background and banner set, so go here to order yours. The Online Only section has many "oldies but goodies" - as does the Clearance section - so be sure to check out both of them.

Here's the second card I made using the same circular background die, this time in Linen cardstock over white cardstock:

It was difficult to capture in a photo just how soft and pretty this card is. I LOVE how it turned out.

I used slightly different colors and made one boo-boo...I colored on the front side of the vellum on the little orange flowers. If you look closely, you can see that the white outline isn't crisp on them.

Because my sentiment didn't show well against the white and Linen background, I colored the back side of the vellum with the same pink markers I used on the largest flower. I colored with the medium tone first right behind the words then filled in around the edges with the lighter tone to fade it out. Look closely and you can see where I also smeared some of the Diamond Stickle Glitter Gel over the top of the sentiment on both this card and the first one. It will warp the vellum, but I wasn't worried about it.

I adhered the vellum to the backgrounds with Liquid Glass. A thin coat is all you need, and it dries pretty clear. If you're super fussy, add dots of Liquid Glass behind the flower centers and at various small points where the white embossing will hide it.

By chance, my colors match the current Color My Heart challenge, so I'm entering the second card over there.

Remember that February is Stamptacular month. There are some AWESOME deals--including some long-retired but still fabulous stamp sets which were brought back specifically for this sale. I think every stamp set, including those with coordinating thin cuts, is on sale. It's incredible. All items are while supplies last, so shop early for the best selection, and your sales go toward the $50 minimum to get Cherishing Her for only $5. Click HERE  to be taken directly to the sale. 

Now you're off to Michelle's blog. Be sure to make it all the way through the hop as the talent from these consultants is always inspiring.

Until next time,
Becca