Core Catalog New Product Blog Hop

Welcome to the Core Catalog Blog Hop. This one is a doozy, both in the number of participants and the amount of pretty things we have to play with. Close To My Heart decided to beef up the products available all year long. I fully expect to be overwhelmed by the creativity and variety of our hop participants. You should have come from Carrie's blog, but you can start anywhere and just keep going until you get back to where you started. If you get lost along the way, you can always go to Melinda's blog for a full list of participants.

I decided to feature two of my "must have" products. There were more than just these two, trust me, but I had to narrow down the focus of this blog post, or we would have been here all day!! I'm featuring the Seasonal Borders stamp set as well as the Lovely Borders stamp set with coordinating Thin Cuts. Here's a look at the sets:

Seasonal Borders

Lovely Borders with Thin Cuts

For my first card, I combined both of these sets with Garden Gnomes (which will make several appearances throughout this post) for this fun Halloween card.

The black patterned paper is from the current Mix-In paper packet. The borders were cut and then stamped in Avocado, Sundance, and Grape colors of ink and cardstock. Gnomes are very on trend this year. You'll be seeing them in lots of the seasonal catalogs. I'm so grateful they also showed up in the Core Catalog. With a little creative coloring and the sentiments from the Seasonal Border stamp set, I can create cards for every holiday without having to purchase a whole new set of gnomes.

For this next card, I combined a sentiment from Seasonal Borders with images from the Flower Market Cricut Collection:

This card features several more Core Catalog products. The top panel was run through the largest Stitched Rectangle Frame Thin Cuts and then the Cascading Dots Embossing folder; the sprigs are decorated with Liquid Pearls (color is Carnation Red); and the sentiment banner is a coordinating accessory in the Waterfall Thin Cut set. The background paper is Comfort & Joy. 

Moving along in the calendar year, here's another one.

I bent the scallop border stamp to create the banners in the background of the top panel. The hearts were colored and then topped with Clear Shimmer Brush. I cut the scallop border thin cut utilizing both sides of Ballerina, Flamingo, and Scarlet cardstock. I also used the middle sized Stitched Rectangular Thin Cuts. If you don't already have those, get them. They are my most used thin cuts BY FAR!

NOTE: Because the border stamps will bend, if you want to layer the stamped image atop the thin cut, I highly recommend cutting first and stamping second as you can adjust your stamp to fit the cut but you can't adjust the thin cut to fit your stamp.

And now, because I'm in full Christmas card mode over here, we're going back a few months in the calendar for these cards. Note that each use Liquid Pearls in Carnation Red and/or Bisque but all in different ways. 

Told you that Garden Gnomes stamp set would reappear. I bent two of the Seasonal Border stamps to fit the shape of the hat then colored and cut him out. I mounted him on the Scallop Circle Thin Cut. (Can you tell I have a love affair with thin cuts???) The scallop thin cut from Lovely Border was cut in Candy Apple. It's the perfect color with the Carnation Red Liquid Pearls.

There's a tiny sliver of Toffee colored paper from the Lovely suite on this. It was leftover from another card coming soon. Those tiny dots of red on the tree are Carnation Red Liquid Pearls. I love how I can get large and itsy-bitsy, teensy-weensy dots out of the same bottle.

Using three small dots of Bisque Liquid Pearls in the centers of the pointed petal flowers, combined with the colors, makes them look like poinsettias. 

The above three cards use paper from the current Mix-in suite, but here they are again using different paper but the exact same stamp sets and card design to suite a variety of occasions.

The mushroom house comes from Garden Gnomes. I stamped it in Blue Belle and Flamingo, cut the "roof" off the Flamingo one and added it over top of the Blue Belle one. I then added Liquid Pearls in the Bisque color. I used the scallop border over top on this card as opposed to behind and barely peeking out in the companion Christmas card. The sentiment was stamped in Sapphire ink. I tried Blue Belle ink first, but it didn't show up well enough. Paper is from the Lovely suite.

Okay...here's the deal...I love that little envelope but the heart that's part of the image is never going to stamp in red like it's supposed to when you need to stamp the rest of the image in Charcoal. Liquid Pearls to the rescue yet again. Confession: creating the heart shape involved using a straight pin. Yellow gingham paper is from the Lovely suite.

And finally this beauty. I used the patterned paper on the top as opposed to on the bottom in the companion Christmas card. By coloring in pastel colors and using a single dot of Bisque Liquid Pearl as the center, it doesn't feel Christmassy at all. Patterned paper is from the Woodgrain suite.

For another idea using Lovely Borders, click here.  

So there you go. Two main stamp sets, some gnomes, a few cuts and you get nine cards which, considering how many I could have made, is a relatively small number. Now you're off to Kathy's blog. I'm right behind you! I can't wait to be inspired by everyone's projects.

Until next time,

Becca

October SOM: With All My Love

Welcome to the October Stamp of the Month Blog Hop featuring With All My Love. This set is so versatile, I can't wait to see what all the consultants have for us. You should have come from Haley's blog. The hop is a circle, so start anywhere and just keep going. If you get lost along the way, head to Melinda's blog for a full list of participants.

I combined the SOM with a few other supplies, notably the Stitched Lattice Overlay and Heart Shaker Window die cuts from the Core Catalog plus the Mini Envelope die cut from the current Sept/Oct Seasonal Catalog. My first card uses only one stamp from the SOM set, but I promise you'll see more of it in the ones after this one:

I stamped the sentiment in New England Ivy and added some Clear Shimmer over the top, though the photo doesn't show it well. The gems were created by adding different sizes of Bisque colored Liquid Pearls. I filled the shaker with Gold Sequins and White Acrylic Hearts. I used the Stitched Rectangles die cuts for my main panel. Papers are from Bloom with Grace and current Mix-In paper. 

Here's another anniversary card:

I started by white embossing the heart on white cardstock, then sponged over the top with Ballerina ink. I was nervous about running it through the Stitched Lattice thin cut after embossing, but it came out great. I added a vellum envelope filled with Ballerina and Flamingo hearts cut with the complimentary dies in the Heart Shaker Window die cut used on the first card. I glued a few of the hearts inside the envelope so you can see them. The sentiment was stamped in Flamingo and cut with Micro-tip Scissors. It has some foam mounting tape on the left side then is glued straight to the envelope on the right. I mounted it all on Flaming cardstock that I then glued to my card base.

Now here's my final card:

I love experimenting with different looks by twisting and turning things. Here I turned my Stitched Lattice piece, which was cut from Comfort and Joy paper then mounted on a similar size piece of white cardstock, at an angle. I popped this angled panel up on foam tape for added interest. The sentiment was cut using a complimentary die cut from the Waterfall thin cut. I could have easily hand cut a banner, but I had the die so...why not? 

The flowers and envelope were created with vellum. Inside the vellum envelope is a hand-cut rectangle that I stamped with Scarlett ink using the XOXO stamp. I sealed the envelope with another heart cut using the same die for the hearts that filled the envelope in the second card.

I'm really happy with how all the cards turned out, but this last one is my favorite. I'll have to mail it in a 5x7 envelope because the banner and flowers hang off the edge. But again, I have that size envelope so...why not?

Now you're off to Kathy's blog. I'm so excited to see what she and all the other consultants have for us!

Until next time,

Becca