October Stamp of the Month Blog Hop

I'm so excited about the October Stamp of the Month, Very Merry Christmas!  If you've arrived here from Allisa's blog, welcome!

If you haven't seen the October Stamp of the Month, yet, here it is!

I always love the October Stamp of the Month, because it's always a Christmas stamp set.  My first thought was to make this card, which I patterned after a card made by my team member, Cassie.  

The bow is a shape cut from the Cricut Artiste cartridge (LOVE it!).  I put a Designer Rhinestone Brad through the center of the "ribbon."  The tag is from the Stamp of the Month, and also is a Cricut shape.  Each cartridge has 700 different shapes, and 698 of them are unique to this cartridge -- no duplications (except the circle and something else) with the original CTMH cartridge, Art Philosophy!

We'll be making a similar card to this at my upcoming Christmas Card Workshop - next weekend, Saturday, October 6 (11am) and Sunday, October 7 (2pm).  18 cards - 3 different card styles, 6 of each style.  It's SO fun, and great to get a head start on the holidays!

Supplies Used:
Card Stock:  Cranberry, Colonial White, Smoothie
Patterned paper from the Pear & Partridge paper pack 
Cricut Artiste Cartridge (Z1790, $99)
Designer Brads - Rhinestone (Z1360, $5.95)
New England Ivy Ink
Sponge Dauber
Cranberry Ink

The second fun thing I made with this stamp set is a Christmas ornament.  I cut a bunch out, stamped, I scored with my Martha Stewart scoring board (love this, also).  Then I stuck them together.  I got this idea from my team member, Lindsey, who did the same technique with a pumpkin cut out last year.

Actually, I ended up using 8 ornaments

Supplies Used:
Very Merry Christmas (October SOTM)
Cricut Artiste cartridge (Z1790, $99)
Colonial White Card Stock
Stamp Pads:  Pear, Lagoon, Smoothie
Organdy Ribbon (retired)
Designer Brads - Rhinestone (Z1360, $5.95)
Clear Assortment Sparkles (Z1752, $2.95)
Glitz Glitter Gel - Green (Z1771, $2.95)

Thanks for looking!  If you want to shop or make these cards, come to a card class!  The upcoming schedule is at the top of this blog page - under Upcoming Classess & Workshops.

Now hop on over to Melinda's blog and see what fun she has in store for you!

Tis the Season

I absolutely love this card  made by Kandi Gallegos-Garcia that I got in a swap.  It's so elegant.

In fact, I loved it so much, we're making it at card class this month!

I really like the contrast of the burlap and the New England Ivy paper.  Plus, the Pear & Partridge paper pack (say that five times fast) is one of my favorites.  I always love it when Close To My Heart uses New England Ivy and Cranberry together for their Christmas paper pack.  Beautiful!!

The way you get the bird two-toned is to ink it up first in the Cashmere stamp pad, and then use a sponge dauber with Cranberry Ink on it, on the top part of the bird stamp.  Very easy and a great effect.  Thanks, Kandi!

Supplies Used:
Merry & Bright Stamp set (C1510)
Pear & Partridge Paper Pack
Card Stock:  New England Ivy, Colonial White
Stamp Pads:  New England Ivy, Cranberry,  Cashmere
Markers:  Cranberry
Burlap Ribbon
Bitty Sparkles
Boutique Assortment
Cricut Art Philosophy cartridge (you could also make the card without the fancy shape in the middle.) 
Foam Mounting Tape

Flakey Friends

I know, it's still too early for Christmas, but I start thinking about it in August.  (SORRY!)  I'm busily planning my Christmas/Holiday Workshop, which is happening on October 6 and 7 at my house in Newcastle.  (Make 18 cards, 3 different styles, 6 each, for just $25 or place a $25 minimum CTMH order and get the cards for free!)  Let me know if you want to join us.

It's hard to see the details in this card, in the first picture, but I stamped the snowman on the Sky paper and also White Daisy, then cut out the one in White Daisy and mounted it with foam mounting tape.

Here's the close up of the snowman and embellishments.  (Sorry about the color, I am a photo-enhancing dummy.)

For the hat, I added one of those tiny pom-poms from the craft store.  I used a tiny drop of Liquid Glass as adhesive. The buttons are Clear Sparkles.

I used the new alcohol markers from Close To My Heart to color the scarf and hat!

My favorite thing to do for winter cards is tear the white paper to make snowdrifts.  Then I added a little Bonding Memories Glue and Prisma Glitter.  LOVE it!

I love the simplicity of this card.

I promise NOT do do another Christmas card for my next post!  

Supplies Used:
Flakey Friends (C1506, $13.95)
Card Stock Colors:  Sky, White Daisy
Marker Colors:  Buttercup, Sweet Leaf, Cotton Candy (Oops, I think I was supposed
        to use an orange pen for his nose, not pink)
Stamp Pads:  Gypsy, Sweet Leaf
Clear Assortment Sparkles (Z1752, $2.95)
Prisma Glitter (Z134, $4.25)
Bonding Memories Glue (1512, $6.95)
Liquid Glass (Z679, $6.95)
Other:  Foam Mounting Tape, Puffy Ball,   

Thanks for looking!

Lisa

Happy 88th Birthday!

My mother will occasionally make card requests of me.  Sometimes I give her extra cards I've made, so that she has stock on hand.  This year for my birthday, she gave me one of my own cards, which I found slightly odd.

Anyway, her friend had an 88th birthday party this weekend.  I was asked to make a card.  This is what I came up with:

I used the new pigment inks to do the "88".  Did you know CTMH is now carrying pigment inks?  They're called Mini Pigment Pad Sets (shown on page 9 of the new Idea Book.)  It's a set of 10 mini, 1"x1" stamp pads that come in a stack.  I bought the Adventure Set (bright colors).  I was pleased to see how nicely the stamped image turned out.  I didn't need to season the stamp, even though it was a solid image.  I just inked the stamp up and used it.  (How wonderful.)  The coverage and color were nice and even. (I used Hollyhock.)

The other thing I did, that I found interesting, was I stamped the "88" in pigment ink first, then stamped the Olive waterbased-dye ink (one of our regular stamp pads) on TOP of the "88", and it worked out great.  (I wasn't sure how it would look/if it would work.)

I used contraband paper (gasp!) for the purple paper and little flowers.  Sorry, I don't usually do that - AND if I do, I don't usually show you!   haha  :)

It's a simple card - but my mom said she loved it!  She requested two more for two other friends who are turning 88 this year.  (Do you think they'll notice if they all get the same card??)

Supplies Used:
Stamp Sets:
  Friendship Alphabet, Large (retired)
  A Typeface (A1117, $6.95)
  A Little Everything (retired)
  A Garden (A1119, $6.95)

Card Stock:  Olive, Hollyhock, White Daisy
Inks:  
  Mini Pigment Pad Set, Adventure (Z2501, $19.95) - I used Hollyhock
  Exclusive CTMH ink pad:  Olive

Contraband:
  Purple paper, felt flowers from the dollar bin at Michael's