November Stamp of the Month Blog Hop - It's the Little Things

Welcome to our November Stamp of the Month Blog Hop! 

We will be featuring November's SOTM, It's the Little Things.  If you have come here from  Haley's Blog, you are on the right path! The blog hop is a great big circle, so you can start here and work your way all around.  If you get lost, click HERE to find the complete blog hop list!

When I saw this group of stamps I thought how fun it would be to random stamp an entire sheet and then cut a gift ensemble from it!

I used analogous color families like blues and greens, yellows and oranges, and purples and pinks to layer inks while keeping them from looking muddy.

To give things a bit of sparkle I added dots from our Silver Metallic Marker on all the tiny orange flowers and the centers of the purple and pink flowers before cutting with my Cricut.

Our thin Thistle Diagonal Striped Ribbon was perfect to tie up the gift card holder and add the tag to the bag.  I did use a small velcro dot on the bag to keep it closed as well.

Here is the Explore Design Space file for this ensemble.  It uses one 12x12 random stamped or patterned paper and one 8.5x11" sheet of white cardstock.   

https://us.cricut.com/design/#/canvas/project/21658059

Here is the list of colors and stamping order I used:

Blue Flowers:  Glacier, Juniper and Topiary

Purple Flower:  Thistle and Gypsy

Pink Flower:  Pixie and Thistle

Yellow Flower:  Canary and Goldrush

Leaves:  First and 2nd Generation Pear

Orange Flower:  First and 2nd Generation Goldrush

To purchase the SOTM for just $5 with $50 purchase or any of the other items needed to make this project, visit my shopping site!

www.Paige.CTMH.com

Now hop on over to Jilena's Blog here and see what she has created!

 

CTMH Tickled Pink Layout with CTMH Boom Di Ada and random stamping

Here is a random stamped layout I created using the Tickled Pink stamp set from the upcoming April 15-May 31 National Scrapbooking Month promotion. I've used the colors from the Creative Basics Boom Di Ada (still available and comes with 8 yards of Hollyhock ricrac). This is a terrific set for random stamping as there are three sizes of the daisy-like flower plus that gorgeous giant zinnia. I'm having lots of fun with this kit! I finished the layouts as shown in the brochure you get with the kit (using the cool glitter paper that comes with) but haven't put pictures in yet (Spring Break has put a dent in my scrapping time!). Once I get the photos on I'll share! This kit is $34.95 to buy outright or free with a $60 My Acrylix stamps purchase (PLUS you get minimum half off the Stamp of the Month!). The Boom di Ada colors are up there for my all time favorite color combination - totally me colors! My family room was painted Sweet Leaf green about 3 years before I discovered Close to my Heart.

CTMH Altered Composition Book, Coaster Post-it Holder, Happy Endings stamp set

About a year and a half ago a good friend invited me to a Close to my Heart gathering at her house. My youngest son had recently been diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor and I was looking for a way of coping with the stress and uncertainty upon us. I knew I wanted to start scrapbooking so I could document our lives and really capture the essence of what makes my family unique - the love my kids have for eachother, what good friends they are to each other, the fun we all have together as a family and in general the deep unconditional love I have for my mad monkeys. Long story short - I fell in love with Close to my Heart products and their how-to books and philosophy. A couple of months later I became a consultant and I've been having fun and relieving stress ever since! There are three things in life that keep me sane - friends and family, paper crafting and Tae-Kwon-Do (terrific stress reliever).

So anyways, this friend who started me on my journey with CTMH has a daughter turning 7 and asked me to come to the party and lead a group of 7 year old girls through a couple of projects. Yes, these are all simple projects - I have a 7 year old so I know what their attention spans are like!

I've pre-embossed the girls names on their journals and I'll let them stamp as many butterflies as they want on the front and back covers. This one was done by my 13 year old - I think she liked that blue color - what do you think?










Then we'll do the frog and heart treat bag (kind of a princess theme going here) using the Happy Endings stamp set from CTMH. I've pre-made the tags so they can write their names on them to keep track of their stuff.




















After that we'll do the super simple post-it holder using the Daydream Level 2 paper pack from CTMH (covered coaster with a clippy) and then a very simple book mark using that terrific stamp set again. My daughter is totally out of the little girl princess stuff but I couldn't resist getting this too-cute stamp set. It was the frogs....I have a thing for really cute frogs.... I'll be curious to see how long these projects take. I have about a hour for the paper crafting part. Who thinks I'll only be getting through half the projects????





One of the things I adore about stamping is that you can use your stamps for so many different things! Its not just about layouts and cards - its about lunch bags and candles, journal covers, post it holders, pencil cups, etc. I have to admit I am nuts about our stamps and THANK GOODNESS they are acrylix on the carrier sheets. Because of this I can store my 300+ stamp sets in two 8" wide and 40" high towers instead of an entire bookcase. Yes, I am totally addicted to CTMH stamps. I guess I'll have to join a 12x12 program (budum-bum-bah!)

Products Used: Paper: White Daisy Cardstock, Hollyhock Cardstock, Daydream Level 2 Paper Pack
Stamps: Happy Endings, Butterfly Wings (March SOTM)
Inks: Cocoa, Blush, Topiary, Sweet Leaf, Heavenly Blue, Spring Iris
Other: Colored Pencils, Hollyhock RicRac (from Boom Di Ada Creative Basics Kit), White Daisy Grosgrain Ribbon, Gold Embossing Powder
Non-CTMH: Coasters, White lunch bags

CTMH Altered Mini Legal Pad with Heat Embossing

Here is the hostess gift I made for my dear friend Tracy who recently held a Close to my Heart party with me. I've known Tracy for a couple of years - my youngest boy had pre-school with her youngest. We hit it off instantly as she is such a down to earth, honest and dependable person. We used to take our boys to McD's for lunch after school and sit and talk for hours. She is another of my blessings - supporting me through good times and bad.
I like making these mini legal pad holders - there is a slit to hold the cardboard backer so you can switch out the pad when you are done with it. The butterflies are from the Butterfly Wings March Stamp of the Month from CTMH - the big one is embossed with Vineyard Berry and the little ones in Heavenly Blue. I used Gold embossing powder for the name in Giggle alphabet stamp set and a border stamp for the top and bottom. The paper started off as White Daisy but I had fun with the brayer and it turned into Sweet Leaf. This was one of those projects I had to play with for a while to get the look I was going for. Sometimes things flow and sometimes you have to keep adding until they look right!
Here is the inside - there is a slit cut for the ribbon that his sandwiched between two pieces of White Daisy to make it into a pen holder.

Paper: White Daisy Cardstock, Emporium Creative Basics
Inks: Sweet Leaf, Heavenly Blue Marker, Sweet Leaf Marker, Vineyard Berry Marker
Other: Vineyard Berry Embossing Powder, Heavenly Blue Embossing Powder, Gold Embossing Powder, Rubber brayer, Ribbon from Emporium Creative Basics kit