Happy World Cardmaking Day! You are my sunshine card with Jingle, Treasures and Over the Rainbow

Happy World Cardmaking Day to everybody!  Last night I had a really fun Stamp Camp to celebrate World Cardmaking Day today.  Above was just one of the 20 projects available to make last night.  This one was definitely one of my favorites!  I used the cloud from the "Over the Rainbow" set to stamp the sky and one of the sentiments from the "Treasures" stamp set.  The sun is simply a large white scallop with heavy sponging in Creme Brulee overlaid with a Creme Brulee circle.  A little bit of Glitz and a red sparkle add just enough pizzaz without making this an overly girly card.

Materials Used:
Paper:  Jingle Level 2, Tulip Cardstock, Heavenly Blue Cardstock
Stamps:  Over the Rainbow, Treasures
Inks:  Creme Brulee, Heavenly Blue
Other:  Glitz, Red Sparkles

Birthday card with Emboss Resist and CTMH Treasures, Cherish the Moment

Another one of our Stamp Camp cards.  I really, really love this one!  We emobssed the giant puff ball from the Treasures stamp set and added the wording as the stem in White Daisy embossing powder.  After that we came back and added Indian Corn Blue ink with a sponge dauber all around the embossed image.  I really like using our former Stamp of the Month "Cherish the Moment" as a partial image - here you can see Happy Birthday sticking out behind our main image.

Size:  5x7"
Materials Used:
Paper:  Indian Corn Blue CS, Black CS, White Daisy CS
Stamps:  Treasures, Cherish the Moment
Ink:  Versamark, Black, Indian Corn Blue
Other:  White Daisy Embossing Powder, Sponge Dauber, Olive colored satin ribbon (I think from Target Wedding)

There are still tons of GREAT deals in our $2, $4, $6 for 8 sale going on now through the 11th of August!  Anything showing on the main sale page https://paige.myctmh.com/Retail/Products.aspx?CatalogID=463
is still available for purchase.  I was sad to miss out on Animal Cookies and Silhouette today BUT I did stock up on Twitterpated (my favorite fall paper EVER), Jingle (love it for Christmas AND birthday cards), Good Times (one of the best guy birthday card paper) and several other packs as well. 

With Level 2 paper packs at just $6 its just too good a deal to pass up - especially as each pack has $4 in cardstock alone - thats like paying $2 for 12 sheets of patterned paper!  Don't forget that all the packs there are retiring at the end of the year so when they run out at the sale - they are gone FOREVER!  Hope you have a chance to snag some of your favorites!

Valentine's Day Countdown Day #10 Card with CTMH So Lucky, Delight in Everything, Togetherness, Treasures, February Word Puzzle, April Word Puzzle

This card has a whole heck of a lot of stamps on it - probably not my record for a project but a whole bunch for one little 8x3.5" card!  I just LOVE textured cardstock (I used it for both the Bubblegum front and the White Daisy stamping area on the front of this card).  When you stamp on it, there is an almost woven quality to the image, if you sand it the white core pops through beautifully, it has a nice rich hand and the back is a lighter shade so you get two colors on each sheet just perfect for tone-on-tone!  On the pink background I stamped the string of hearts first and then used some sandpaper to bring out the white edge and a little peek of white texture through.

If you like to get FREE stuff and support a GREAT cause, then hop over to my website!  For every package of Textured Cardstock you purchase you'll get ONE FREE AND $2 will be give to Operation Smile's emergency work in Haiti!  Click here to check it out!  Its good from now until the end of February and $2 will do a whole lot of good work in Haiti and there is NO LIMIT on the number of packages of textured cardstock you can buy to get one free!

Materials Used:
Paper:  Bubblegum Textured Cardstock, White Daisy Textured Cardstock, White Daisy Cardstock
Stamps:  So Lucky, Delight in Everything, Togetherness, Treasures (retired), February Word Puzzle (retired) April Word Puzzle (retired)
Inks:  Watermelon, Hydrangea, Dutch Blue, Ocean, Topiary, Sunflower
Other:  Topiary marker, Watercolor Pencils (slight color to the inside of the leaves and stems), wee bit of Orange ribbon from the craft store

CTMH Treasures Stamped Card

This is a very simple stamped card I made with the September SOTM "Treasures" for a friend. I love the curled sentiment "those who bring sunshine into the lives of others cannot keep it from themselves" - how appropriate for so many of the wonderful giving people in our lives!

The larger purple flowers on the left side show first, second and third generation stamping and the butterflies are stamped directly on the card and then an extra set was stamped, cut out and pop dotted on top for extra dimension. Fast, simple and sweet - my favorite kind of card!

Products Used (all CTMH):
Paper: White Daisy Cardstock
Stamps: Treasures (September SOTM), Butterfly Kiss
Inks: Hydrangea, Clover Meadow, Sunflower, Dutch Blue
Other: Sparkles

September CTMH Stamp of the Month Blog Hop!

Welcome to our Close to my Heart Stamp of the Month BLOG HOP for September featuring our "Treasures" acrylix stamp set which you can get at a great discount or even FREE with an order from now through September 30, 2009! If you are coming to me from Tammy's blog then you are on the path!

This is a circular hop so if you keep on clicking through to check out the great artwork provided by over 70 different Close to my Heart consultants, you'll have done the full circle when you come back to where you started. I can't wait to click through and see all the fabulous creations from my sister consultants! We have some serious talent in this company!

To follow along on this hop you just need to click on the link at the end of the post on each blog to move along to the next site. Afraid you'll get lost? No worries! The list of all participating consultant sites can be found in the post just previous to this one - keep scrolling to the next post and you'll find the complete list!

Now - on to my contribution!

This month's piece is a single layout I did for my husband. The sentiments in this set really spoke to me for him. He's in a time of unexpected change right now and I really wanted to tell him how much I love him, support him and how much faith I have in him. I know he'll take care of our family and I know, as with so many changes we've been through in our 20 years together, in the end this will bring postive things to our family. The process of change is hard but it is also what propels us forward into new directions and new beginnings. I guess its the optimist in me - the part of me that answers YES! to the questions of the universe that makes the sentiment fit so well - "the winds of change bring treasures untold...embrace change".

I've used a lot of tone on tone (my hubby isn't a flashy guy) and very little embellishment as that fits more with his personality. This really is just a straight forward, directly from the heart piece. There is a hidden journaling matted block I've made for the back of the layout - when journaling is very private I will attach it to the back of the layout to hide just for me - I could have also put it in a pocket under the picture to hide it as well. As far as techniques in this project - I've added some chocolate ink in a swirl around the embossed flowers using a stipple brush to highlight those images and give some texture to this very simple layout. I love the multiple sizes of dandelion flower heads in this set - if you follow from the bottom left corner you'll see the sizes decrease like they are blowing in the wind away from you.

Materials Used (all CTMH):
Stamp: Treasures (September SOTM)
Paper: Desert Sand Cardstock, Indian Corn Blue Cardstock
Ink: Desert Sand, Chocolate
Other: White Daisy Embossing Powder, Love Letter Rubons, Stipple brush

Now, put back on your frog feet and hop on over to Kelly's blog - she's FABULOUS - I can't wait to see what she's come up with! Be sure to follow the whole hop and visit all 70 or so consultants who are participating for tons of great ideas! Don't forget - if you spend $100 in product you'll get this stamp set for FREE and now CTMH will pick up the tax on the free SOTM as well! Until September 30th (or while supplies last) you can also get our awesome Everday Celebrations card kit with $60 in acrylix stamp purchase - combine both promotions and you'll get $62.90 in free product with your $100 order - what a great deal!

If you don't have a Close to my Heart consultant I'd love to be your personal consultant! Just send me an e-mail at paigedolecki@yahoo.com if you have any questions or if you already know what you are interested in ordering, then hit my website - paige.myctmh.com - for 24/7 shopping and access to all the great specials! Thanks so much for hopping with us today!