August Stamp of the Month Blog Hop

Ahhhh, Chocolate.  Love it, especially the Good Stuff.  :)

Welcome to the August Stamp of the Month Blog Hop.  If you've arrived here from Jen's blog, welcome!

There's lots of fun chocolate stamps in this set, A Chocolate Affair.  You can only get this stamp set in August - and it's $17.95...unless you place a $50 order (soooo easy to do when there's a new catalog), then it's FREE!  (This is the August Special.  WOO HOO!)

You can see this stamp set and lots of other new things in the brand new Catalog/Idea Book, which starts TODAY!  To check it out online, click here.

The Chocolate stamp set looks like this:  FUN!

It's very cute.  For the card base, I used the NEW product, White Daisy Circle Spin Cards & Envelopes (Z1866, $8.95 for 10 5"x7" cards and envelopes.)  They're pretty cool; there is a square cut in the center of the front of the card and the circle is mounted on a string, so its spins around.

Here's the card I made with this set:  ("front side")

And the "back side" of the circle-on-a-string....

It's hard to see, but the circle is suspended by the string in the middle.

I used the BRAND NEW PAPER PACK - HUNTINGTON.  The colors are rich...Barn Red, Cocoa, Champagne, Desert Sand.  Coordinating Colors (not in the paper pack) - Autumn Terracotta,Cashmere,Olive, Slate.

For the chocolate strawberry, I stamped the image 3 times - twice on White Daisy paper - once with Cranberry and once with Olive Ink.  Then I stamped the strawberry in Chocolate ink onto Cocoa card stock.  I had to cut everything out, and stick them on top of each other.  Then, the finishing touch - Liquid Applique for the white chocolate drizzle.  Mmmmmm.  Looks good enough to eat!

For the three chocolates, I used a Chocolate Stamp Pad.  (I'm not sure that Cocoa wouldn't have been better.)  Anyway, after that, I put a whole bunch of Liquid Glass on each one (takes a while to dry).  On the one chocolate with sugar crystals, I put some tiny glass beads (I think they were from Martha Stewart).  When it dried, it looked just like sugar crystals!  

On the chocolates with the swirls, and AFTER the Liquid Glass dried, I used a pink Sharpie to color in the swirlies.  I am wondering if Liquid Applique would stick to the top of Liquid Glass...hmmm, must try that tonight!

I hope you've had fun looking, and now must rush out to eat some chocolate covered strawberries.  (I used to think this was an abomination and ruined the sweet strawberries, but have since changed my ways...)

If you want to start shopping now - click here.  If you want to see some of this stuff in real life - come to one of my card classes!  (8/16, 8/17, 8/22 and 8/23).  Check out my Monthly Card Classes and Workshops Tab on my website.  We'll be using lots of new stamps and papers. Can't wait to show you!!
I hope you had fun, here!  Now hop on over to Tamra's Blog , and see what kind of chocolate fun she has in store for you!

Supplies Used:  
A Chocolate Affair (SOTM)
Huntington Paper Pack (new!)
Stamp Pads:  Cocoa, Chocolate, Olive, Cranberry, Black
Card Stock:: Cocoa, Goldrush, White Daisy
Card Base:  White Daisy Circle Spin Cards
Other:  Liquid Glass, Liquid Applique, Glass Beads, Cricut Art Philosophy (to cut out the Cocoa frame and Goldrush scallop shape), 2" Circle Punch (you could use your Art Philosophy cartridge for that also), Pink Sharpie, Brown Sparkles

Here, little doggy!

I love the doggy stamp set, A Bowwow (A1126).  The Scotty Dog is so cute.

This month in card class we made this card with the Clementine paper, which I love.

Coincidentally, one of my customers brought for her show-n-tell this month, a card using the same dog stamp set, but with something different in the "thought bubble" that comes in the A Bowwow set.  I thought it was super cute!  I had to scour my stamps for a cat just so I could make this card for you.  LOVE it!!  Thanks, Shirley!

I colored the dog (and cat) in with Designer Chalks (retired) and a Q-tip.  Once when we used this stamp set in card class, I cut a mask out of Post-it Notes and used a sponge dauber to color the dog.

AND this second card is more general purpose, which is nice.  And it makes you laugh, which is doubly nice.

Supplies Used:
Clementine Paper Pack (retired)
Stamp Sets:  A Bowwow (A1126, $6.95), "Thanks" is from Cricut Artiste stamp set, Cat is from an incentive set I had hanging around.
Card Stock:  Sorbet, Twilight, Colonial White
Ink:  Saddle
Marker:  Cotton Candy (for tongue and collar - under the glitter)
Other:  Sponge Daubers (Z726, $3.95), Wooden Badge Buttons (Z1703, $6.95), Pink Glitz Glitter Gel (Z1770, $2.95), Chocolate Flower Buttons (retired), Designer Chalks (retired), Sorbet Waxy Flax (retired), Bitty Brads (for the eyeball in the first card), brown sharpie (for the nose)

Close To My Heart and the Scrapbooking Industry

The scrapbooking industry is changing.  Just a few years ago, everyone was jumping into the business.  As the industry is changing, you may want to know how Close To My Heart is doing.  

Close To My Heart is doing great!  It's strong, growing and debt-free! 

What does that mean to you?  That means that we are here to stay.  The company is now almost 30 years old.  It was founded by Jeanette Lynton, avid scrapbooker and lover of all things crafty.  That also means that we have the financial stability to  continue to innovate with new products, but more importantly to support you, our customers and consultants.

As a consultant, I love that Close To My Heart puts a lot of thought into what they release every new catalog.  The products are fresh and trendy and allow me to play and be creative!

As a customer, I appreciate that the products are great quality and the company supports them (meaning that if you have a problem, they will take care of it.)  This makes my job as your consultant wonderful and easy.  All I have to do is share!  (I'm not 'selling' you on the stuff, just showing you what's available.)

Close To My heart has released a video explaining its current position in the industry. Whether you are a Customer, Hobbyist, or Consultant, it is nice to know that there is a place for you at CTMH. You are most certainly welcome here!       

If you have questions, want to shop, come to or schedule a class, or want to join the "family" of consultants, you can email or call me (425.941.3135).  I'd love to talk to you!  :)

Lisa

Table decorations, anyone?

You knew that you could make cards and scrapbook pages with your Cricut and Cricut cartridges, but you can do so much more! I used my Art Philosophy cartridge to make these fun table decorations for a party we threw for my friends who are moving to Cincinnati.

Originally, I was going to use the little terracotta flower pots for the bases, but when I was at the craft store, I saw glass pots -- and I realized that I could use glasses from my cupboard!  So I used some green tissue paper sandwiched between two pieces of clear cellophane wrap for color, and filled the cups with raw rice as weight.  I cut the circles and letters on the Cricut.  Then I mounted the circles on bamboo skewers to stick into the rice. SOOOO easy!  I put circles on the back, too, so it would look finished and my skewers would have something to stick to.

Note to self (or you):  The cups were in the center of a rectangular table, with people going down both sides of the table. If you do this, either leave the back circles blank or make sure the words read right from BOTH sides of the table.  I did think about this originally, and made each cup read properly (for example, G-O-O-D) on both sides of the cup...BUT when taken together, the people on the back side of the table read "RHONDA PAT & BYE GOOD" instead of 'GOOD BYE PAT & RHONDA".  oops.

I also made some Cricut flowers for a little color.  LOVE that!

Colors used:  Buttercup, Topiary, Smoothie.

Other:  Art Philosophy Cricut Cartridge, Foam Mounting Tape, Green Tissue Paper, Clear Cellophane Wrap, Bamboo Skewers.

Afterwards, I took the circles off the sticks and made a page for their scrapbook.  (Yes, I actually made a scrapbook.  It was really FUN.  I used Flip Flaps and stamped in it.  Everyone loved it.  

To make the flowers "stand up" a little, I folded them in half and used a 3/4" circle.  I stuck them together with foam mounting tape.  I"m pretty sure no one noticed this little thing, but I did, and it made me happy.  :)

A bunch of other people made scrapbook pages, too.  I'm sure Rhonda & Pat will enjoy the scrapbook.