June Stamp of the Month Bloghop!

I LOVE the June Stamp of the Month, Life is Tweet.  It's totally my style.

Welcome to the June Stamp of the Month Bloghop!  If you've arrived here from {Shannon's Blog}, you're in the right place!


Card #1:  Since I love little cutesy stamps with birds and flowers, this was an easy stamp set for me to play with.  I used the clear cards for this.  When the card is closed, the white paper is hidden under the yellow paper.  I also used Glitz Glitter Gel on the flowers.

CARD #2:  I wanted to make a simple one, that was just one layer of paper.  First I used Garden Green, Pacifica and Sunflower inks.

Then I tried Garden Green, Hollyhock and Sunflower.  I like the Hollyhock bird better...

The Garden Green looks kind of washed out.  How about Olive with Goldrush?  I like the Olive.  The Goldrush is too dark.

Hmmm.  My bird stamping technique needs improvement.  It's kind of smeary, like I didn't ink the stamp with an up and down movement.  It looks like I did some some swishing/swiping.

Wait!  That looks kind of cool.  What if I swipe the bird stamp across the pad intentionally??  I like it!

An Olive mat looks nice.  I used a Bitty Pearl for the eyeball.

I like the Hollyhock mat, too.

Close up of the smeary bird.

CARD #3:  This is a little 2 1/2 x 3 1/2 card.  I used Roxy paper for the background, and stamped on it in Bamboo.  Smoothie ink pad for the floating sign and lots of Bitty Sparkles colored with my rainbow of Sharpies.  The square is a Cricut AP Cartridge shape.  It's mounted with foam mounting tape, so it looks like it's floating under the balloons.

Here's a close up of the balloon.  

I hope you enjoyed looking!  Now hop on over to {Nancy's Blog,} where she'll show you what she's dreamed up with this cute stamp set.


Have a GREAT June - and enjoy some sunny weather!  :)

Box Gift Card Holder

It's so easy to give gift cards now, instead of "real" gifts.  I like how easy it is, but it seems so impersonal at times.  That's why it's so fun to make a cute card or gift card holder for your gift card.  It expresses more "you" and it's much more fun.


One of the projects we're making this month in card class is a gift card holder designed by my friend, Tina Sutton.  Here's what it looks like closed:

Pull off the top...here it is open.  Such a cute surprise!

I used the Typeset paper pack.  Great for Father's Day or graduation.


The alphabet trim on the box is the extra 1/2" strip at the top of the paper pack.  Did you know you could use this "scrap" on your cards and projects?  So clever, those Close To My Heart people!!


On Saturday I went to my friends'  50th wedding anniversary party.  We gave them a gift card and I made the same box, but with the retired Miracle paper pack.

I think it turned out nicely.  I used the stickers to decorate the outside and top of the box, since the Miracle paper is much plainer than the Typeset paper.


Here's the inside:

To make the box, you just take a 12x12 piece of card stock and score it at 4 3/4" and 7 1/4".  Rotate it 90 degrees and score the other way.  Cut away the four corners, leaving a cross.


Cut 8 mats to decorate the outsides of the cross - 2 1/4" x 4 1/2".  Your choice of papers.


The inside card holder is a 6 1/2" x 3 3/4".  Score the long side, at 2 1/4" and 4 1/2".

Fold on the 2 1/4" and 4 1/2" score lines to make a pocket and seal the long edge (leaving the top and bottom open).  Trim the corners off at the diagonal (see black template below).  Flip open the bottom "stand" and adhere to the inside of the box.  Insert gift card.  (Wouldn't a Studio J gift card from your favorite Close To My Heart consultant be a great gift??)  (smile)

The top of the box is just a 4" square scored at 11/16" on all 4 sides. Fold on score marks.  Cut ONCE on each side.  Put adhesive on the tab, secure it under the adjacent side to form a box top.

It took me longer to write this blog post with the instructions than it would have to have made the actual box!


Have fun creating!  :)


Supplies Used: (Box 1)
Typeset paper pack
Card Stock: Juniper, Creme Brulee, Colonial White
Button
Juniper Ribbon (retired)
Glue Dots
Martha Stewart Scoring Board (love it!)
Waxy Flax (for button/bow)


Box 2
Miracle paper pack and My Stickease
Card Stock:  Sweet Leaf, Colonial White
Colonial White Grosgrain Ribbon
Glue Dots

Here, fishy, fishy

I love to find new card designs.  I don't remember where I saw this, but I loved it.  We made this card in card class last month.

The outside is OK, but inside holds a secret!  ... Fish!

I folded the center of the card so that there was a 1" crease sticking up in the middle. (Card finished size is still 4"x5 1/2".)  After stamping (with Black Archival Ink) coloring and cutting out the fish, I attached them to plastic strips (like transparencies you have in an office, cut to size) with glue dots, and attached that to the center strip sticking up with another glue dot.  Very fun, and versatile -- you can do balloons, flowers (my original thought), anything that sticks up or floats.  

You can't really tell, but I also used gel pens on top of the CTMH pens, to add a little sparkle.

The sparkly stuff shows up better in the sunlight...

I randomly added some "bubbles" made from circles (1/4" and 3/4" hole punches).  The "Cool" is from the May Stamp of the Month - You Are...


For a little extra sparkle, I spritzed the card with a concoction of rubbing alcohol, Create-a-Shade Pearl Paint, Lagoon Reinker and Pacifica Reinker)


This card was hard to photograph, so it doesn't look as cute in the pictures...but it really is worth the effort.


Supplies Used:  
Footloose paper pack (X7151B, $9.95)
Under the Sea (C1500, $13.95)
May Stamp of the Month - You Are...
Inks:  Lagoon, Archival Black
Reinker:  Lagoon, Pacifica
Cricut (for oval)
Spray Pens
Micro-Tip Scissors
Mile Post Shapes
Card Stock Colors:  Lagoon, White Daisy
Liquid Glass (to stick the starfish eyes)
Markers:  Whatever colors you think work.  
Other:  Gel Pens, Transparency Sheets, Googly Eyes, foam mounting tape (for the starfish on the front), glue dots, rubbing alcohol, 1/4" hole punch, 3/4" hole punch

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to all you mothers and pet mothers!  It's a day to pamper yourself and relax.  I hope your significant others take good care of you all day - cooking and cleaning for you (haha, dream on)...


One of my customer's daughters contacted me and wanted to give her mom a gift certificate.  Here's what I made for her.

It's the exploding box we made a while back in card class.  It's a little box made from patterned paper that pulls open.  There's a "seat belt" that slips over the entire thing and keeps it shut.  I used the Sophia papers (retired, but I still love them), decorated the "seat belt" with some Cricut flowers (made from White Daisy and Cotton Candy), sponged them and put a pearl in the center. The "box" has a space for a sentiment or gift certificate inside.  It was fun to make!  I hope she likes it.


Don't forget about the Dotty For You special!  Still going strong through May.  Place a $35 order from the Spring/Summer Idea Book and get the Dotty For You paper pack (24 sheets of coordinated card stock) for just $5!!

Supplies Used:
Sophia Paper Pack
Stamp Set: Simple Beauty, D1261 (retired) - I just keep this stamp for my (and my customers') annual use of the "Happy Mother's Day" stamp in it.
Card Stocks:  Pear, Cotton Candy, White Daisy
Ink:  Topiary
Cricut CTMH Art Philosophy Cartridge (flowers)
Opaques Adhesive Gems
Sponge Dauber
Hollyhock ink


Have a happy day!

Dressing up my posted card

My friend, Melanie, saw my Stamp of the Month blog hop post card with the fancy folding...and took it one step further (well, really about 10 steps).  This is her amazing Mother's Day card.

She took the basic card design that I posted, made a bunch of Cricut flowers and leaves with the CTMH Art Philosophy cartridge and made this gorgeous creation.  She sponged the edges of the flowers to give them some depth.

She also used the CTMH Art Philosophy cartridge to cut the hearts, the "I" and "U" 



To create the dots, she ran the paper through her Cuttlebug's embossing folders and then applied ink to the raised dots after the fact.

The butterfly was made with Memory Box die cut with metallic paper and black paper.


It would be difficult to mail, unless you put it in a box...but who cares, it's SOOOOO beautiful!  Thanks for sharing, Melanie!