March-April New Products Blog Hop

Welcome to the March/April 2021 New Products Blog Hop. You should have come from Michelle'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. If you get lost along the way, pop over to Melinda's blog where she has a full list of participants and links.

I fell in love with the Sweet Fruit stamp set as soon as I saw it. I kinda went a little crazy, so...yeah. Bear with me as I take you through my various creations.

The first two cards were created with just the images from Sweet Fruit. My first card pairs it with paper from the new Mix-Ins pack.

The lemon was stamped in Lemonade and Sundance. The cherries and the left apple were stamped with Peach as the solid base and overstamped with Candy Apple. The apple in the right was stamped with Lemonade as the base then overstamped with Candy Apple. The leaves are Fern with Toffee, and the cherry and apple stems are Toffee. I used the coordinating thin cuts to cut out the images, although I also used an exacto knife to cut a triangle between the cherry stems. And I think I stamped the apple stem the wrong way, but it worked well enough. 

I white embossed the sentiment on Candy Apple paper that was cut using one of the dies from the Waterfall Thin Cut. 

The white stitched border between the patterned paper and the card base was cut with the Stitched Rectangle Thin Cut. It's leftover from this next card.

Again, the stamped images are only from the Sweet Fruit set, but this time I paired it with the Floral Background Thin Cut. The base color is Sage, which is also the color of the sentiment. I used the Rectangular Stitched Frames, which cuts both a panel (which I used here) and a frame (which I used on the first card). The leaves on this card are Sage outline with a second generation stamping of Sage for the solid base.

For my third and fourth cards, I added fun sentiments from the You're My Jam stamp set.

Here I went very clean and simple. I cut a stitched rectangle background panel, backed it with a piece of Candy Apple cardstock a smidge larger, then glued both to my card base. I added the cherry and lemon images (same colors as the first card) and then stamped the sentiment in black...except I stamped it katywumpus, so I stamped it again on a piece of white cardstock and die cut it with the smallest square stitched thin cut. I love it when I can fix and oops by just covering it up!

Here's my fourth card:

I really love this card. It's my second favorite of this post. I die cut the lemon from Sundance Mix In paper and the leaves from Sage cardstock. The leaves are part of the die cut for the cherries, so I partially cut the image and trimmed off the excess so I only had a leaf left. I then repeated the process to get the second leaf. I sponged the edges in their coordinating ink colors then glued them to the stitched rectangle panel. I added a piece of black paper behind the stitched panel. I don't remember the exact measurements (and I'm away from home so I can't just grab a ruler and reach 2000 miles to figure it out), but my best guess is that it's 5.25x2.75. I finished by adding the sentiment in black in and a small gold bow, which means I can enter it in the current Heart2Heart Challenge: A Midas Touch.

Here's my favorite card of the bunch...

For this card I added the Cherry Blossom stamp set as well as some Distress Oxide Ink to create my background.

I started by sponging Chipped Sapphire over white cardstock. I left a few patches with a little less ink, then added Mowed Lawn and Seedless Preserves to those spots. I thin spritzed water to activate the distress ink. I also flicked some Clear Shimmer Brush over it before drying it and running it through the rectangular stitched thin cuts. 

I white embossed the sentiment, which comes from the Cherry Blossom set, but only after pouncing the Embossing Buddy over my distressed background to remove all static and be sure my surface was dry for the embossing powder. I didn't want flecks of white anywhere after creating such a cool background.

I stamped my flowers in Toffee and then sponged a bit of Flamingo ink in the centers with Sponge Daubers. The leaves are Sage and Toffee, while the lemon is Lemonade and Sundance inks. I fussy cut the images because the edge left by the thin cuts would take away from the contrast between that dark blue background and the yellow lemons. 

In case you were wondering, the small duo of Cherry Blossom flowers in the bottom left corner is the same image as the flowers with the branch at the top of the lemon. I just cut off everything but the two flowers.

Now you're off to Alyson's blog. I can't wait to see what she and the other talented CTMH Makers have created to inspire us!

Until next time,

Becca

March SOM Blog Hop: Winged Masterpiece

Welcome to the March Stamp of the Month Blog Hop featuring Winged Masterpiece. You should have come from Haley's blog, but don't worry if you started here. The hop is a circle. Keep going until you get back where you started so you see all the fabulous inspiration. If you get lost along the way. head to Melinda's blog for a full list of participants.

Here's a look at this beautiful set.

I made two cards for this hop, one is fairly straightforward for the included images and one is...let's just say it's a little outside of the box. 

Here's card one:

I started by cutting apart the sentiment that says "forever wouldn't have been long enough." I am a huge fan of cutting apart stamps, particularly sentiments. It really stretches their usefulness. I then cut my panel using one of the Fancy Border thin cuts. 

I stamped my dragonfly and "forever" in Toffee ink. I also stamped the Toffee background paper with the small flower from the stamp set. The paper is from the March-April Mix-In collection. 

My final touch was to use Moon Dust Glitter gel through a stencil I created with the CTMH USA Cricut Collection. I angled the stencil over my dragonfly and the added the gel, making sure I didn't go to the edges. That gave it a more organic feel.

For my second card, I used the CTMH Flower Market Cricut Cartridge. I also stole a couple ideas from other CTMH Makers, namely Trina Wirihana and Jean Johnson. This one features the Garden Gnomes stamp set, which is in the Core Catalog.

Cute, right? I just love these gnomes!! 

The sentiment is from Winged Masterpieces. That's it. The paper is from the same Mix-In collection as the first card, this time in Canary and Fern colors. I did some paper piecing on the gnome's hat an clothes, using plain Fern cardstock stamped with the new Charming Backgrounds stamp set. I surgically removed a few of the lines in the Multi Square Window thin cut (also part of the Core Catalog). It changes up the look in a really fun way.

When the card was done, I went back in with some of the Moon Dust gel. I added it to the sentiment, behind the gnome, and a couple other places. I thought it gave my card a bit of leprechaun magic.

Now you're off to Kim's blog. I can't wait to see what she and the other talented Makers have created for us!

Until next time,

Becca