Happy Birthday Oragami Bouquet Card with CTMH Salutation Seals and Blessed

A couple of weeks ago I signed up for the daily craft e-mail from Martha Stewart and in one of the messages there were directions for an oragami flower bouquet card.  Can it get any better than combining my favorite things - card and flowers?!? 

The nice thing about this style of card is that it lets you use up a whole lot of scraps.  I went through all my papers looking for pinks, yellows and oranges on the reverse to give the flowers some texture and pop.  I really think you need B&T paper for these as cardstock would be way too heavy and not allow you to open them up as effectively.  I stamped a flower center from an older set to the center of my squares before folding and trimming and then added a bit of Glitz inside each flower after the card was all assembled.  If you follow the link to Martha's directions (at the bottom of this post) then you'll see my petals are a little different - I cut a V out of the tip to give the petals a more defined shape.

If you'd like to make this card, get these supplies:

Paper:  B&T papers in various color schemes - here I used Hooligans, Bella, Unforgettable and Zippidee

Stamps:  Salutation Seals, Blessed (April SOTM), Tickled Pink (retired)

Inks:  Chocolate, Gypsy

Other:  Small flower punch (Marvy Uchida), 2" CTMH Scallop Punch, 3" Scallop punch, Glitz Glitter Gel, Score Tape or Tombow Power Bond for holding the flowers together, Hollyhock ribbon

If you'd like to check out Martha's directions for making the pop up bouquet (it works best in a 5x7 card by the way - I tried it in a smaller size but the flowers didn't open up enough) then visit this link:

http://thecraftsdept.marthastewart.com/2011/05/pop-up-card.html

Springtime Thinking of You Card with CTMH Blessed and Over the Rainbow

This sweet card uses the April SOTM "Blessed" just like my last posting with the rainbow butterflies only this time I've used the beautiful sentiment and the tulip flowers that come with the stamp set too!

I've used some old Heavenly Blue gingham print paper for the background and stamped the clouds, sentiment and flowers directly onto the paper.  I then stamped the butterflies and the flower heads onto separate cardstock, cut them out and pop-dotted them onto the piece for dimension.  The leaves were colored in using our Waterbrush and Topiary inkpad directly onto the patterned paper as well.  The cocoa ink outlines ran a wee bit because of the waterbrush moisture so I went back in after they dried with a watercolor pencil to fill in any lines that had become fuzzy.

If you'd like to make this card, get these materials:

Paper:  White Daisy Cardstock, Heavenly Blue Gingham (very old and retired)

Stamps:  Blessed (April SOTM), Over the Rainbow

Inks:  Cocoa, Gypsy, Topiary, Tulip, Cotton Candy

Other:  Clear Sparkles (heads of the butterflies), Watercolor Pencils, Waterbrush

CTMH Blessed April Stamp of the Month Blog Hop!

Welcome to our Stamp of the Month Blog Hop! We will be featuring April's SOTM called Blessed. If you have come here from Shannon's Blog, you are on the right path! This month we have over 50 Close To My Heart Consultants sharing their creations using this month's SOTM and other great CTMH products on their blogs. To visit the whole hop,  just click on the link at the end of the post on each blog to move to the next one!

This card has been kicking around in my head for a little while now and finally came to the light of day when I saw the cute little butterfly in this month's set.

I added a strip of 1x1" colored cardstock squares mounted on a strip of black cardstock and a bow out of our fabulous new Sweet Leaft bulk ribbon (a spool of 10 yards is just $7.95).  The colored cardstock circles are made with our 1.25" punch and the butterflies are each pop-dotted onto their white 1" circles.  Its kind of hard to see but there is a wee dollop of Glitz on the head of each butterfly.  The word smile comes from another stamp set called Take a Picture and has been coated with Liquid Glass for some pop and shine.

If you'd like to make this card, get these supplies:
Stamps:  Blessed (April SOTM),  Take a Picture
Paper:  Tulip CS, Sunset CS, Sunflower CS, Pear CS, Sky CS, Moonstruck CS, Gypsy CS, Black CS, White Daisy CS
Ink:  Tulip, Sunset, Sunflower, Pear, Sky, Moonstruck, Gypsy, Black
Other:  Sweet Leaf Stitched Grosgrain Ribbon, 1.25" Punch, Glitz Glitter Gel, Liquid Glass

Now "Hop" on over to Jean's Blog to see her work! Be sure to visit all the Consultants at their Blogs to get some great crafting ideas and other fun ideas! Remember, the SOTM is only available until April 30th! Visit my CTMH website at Paige.MyCTMH.com to see how you can get this stamp set at a discount or even free!