Just Crazy Blessed Team Blog Hop - Uptown & All About the Gold Fundamentals

Welcome to the Just Crazy Blessed Team Blog Hop!!! Thanks for joining us today! All of August and September, we are showing products from the new Close to My Heart Annual Inspirations catalog. I hope you enjoy this little peek at our creations.

This blog hop is a great big circle so you can start wherever you want and continue through to see all the wonderful artwork incorporating the week's theme, by clicking the next or previous buttons at the end of this post. If you are coming from XXX's Blog, you are on the right track!

This week we are highlighting  the "Uptown" and "All about the Gold" Fundamentals. 

The "All About the Gold" Fundamentals is an amazing set of 6 see-through overlays with gold foil designs. They make a great contrast to the black and white of the Uptown set. When you turn them over, they show silver through the plastic, and that makes a nice complement to either the black or the whisper side of the Uptown papers. 

The "Uptown" Fundamentals are some great basics to have in your stash. Three in black and white on one side, and Whisper and white on the other, and one in gold foil and white stripe. There are also two vellums in the pack; one with a subtle white diagonal, and the other with a gold confetti pattern (when you turn it over, it looks silver). You get two of each pattern for 12 sheets in the pack.

 I created a simple Thank You card with the Uptown paper pack using the My Acrylix "All the Thanks" stamp set. Another great basic to have on hand. Four different, simple Thank Yous, perfect for any occasion, from gifts, to thanking someone for house-sitting.

I made this card as an idea for use as a thank you after a long visit. I used the whisper side of the word background paper, then used the journaling pen to fill in two of the words, to make them stand out. It took a steady hand, and patience. :)

The products used to make this card:

White Cards and Envelopes, value pack (50) - X254 - $14.95

Black cardstock - 24 sheet pack - 1386 - $14.50

Uptown Fundamentals - Z3263 - $14.95

All the Thanks My Acrylix stamps - B1536 - $9.95

Journaling Pen - Z1979 - $3.25

Thank you for joining us on the blog hop!

If you would like to know more about the special this month at Close to My Heart, please continue to scroll down. If you would like to continue on, please use the buttons below to continue on the Just Crazy Blessed Blog Hop. I hope you enjoy what Janna has to share next!

There's only a few more days to get the Basically the Best Deal on Close to My Heart's New Fundamentals Paper Packs - 

If you take advantage of the above deal, you qualify for the Stamp of the Month, Purrfect Halloween, for only $5

Just Crazy Blessed Team Blog Hop - Whimsy Fundamentals

Welcome to the Just Crazy Blessed Team Blog Hop!!! Thanks for joining us today! All of August and September, we are showing products from the new Close to My Heart Annual Inspirations catalog. I hope you enjoy this little peek at our new goodies.

This blog hop is a great big circle so you can start wherever you want and continue through to see all the wonderful artwork incorporating the week's theme, by clicking the next or previous buttons at the end of this post. If you are coming from Danielle's Blog, you are on the right track!

This week we are highlighting the Whimsy Fundamentals, and once I started playing with them, I just couldn't stop. I love the sherbet colors of this paper pack. It's bright and cheerful, and can be used so many ways, from Birthdays to Baby and Wedding showers. I paired this fresh paper with the Birthday Sparkles Stamp set (Paper and Stamp set images shown below the card pictures) and made 4 different Birthday cards. Because… always need Birthday cards on hand, right? 

This first card is really simple, but got raves from my "review board". Tone on tone with Smoothie card stock backing a bit of White Daisy with the image on it. I used a blending pen to grab a bit of Smoothie Ink and fill in the "You", and finished off the card with some White and Gold Ribbon.

For this card, I used the 'sparkles' stamp that comes with the set to stamp a texture all over a piece of Sorbet card stock,  then layered it with Juniper card stock and the green dotted paper from the Whimsy Fundamentals. A piece of Glacier behind the White Daisy with the greeting embellished with a few Bitsy Sparkles and it's done.

I really liked the pattern going on here, and wanted to use all four colors in a card. This is two papers with both sides showing. I added a piece of Juniper card stock and Black Shimmer Trim, and along the bottom, the soft Canary Stripe.

I had really been eyeing a paper in the pack that looks like all over watercolor. It's SO pretty! There are 4 colors of this; Sweet Leaf, Crystal Blue, Canary, and Smoothie. I finally was inspired by the blue. I created the clouds and the balloons using images from the CTMH Cricut Artistry cartridge, in White Daisy, Sweet Leaf, Smoothie Stripe, and Canary Stripe. I used Canary card stock behind the sentiment on White Daisy. I raised the balloons and sentiment with Thin Foam Mounting Tape.

There are more papers in the Whimsy Fundamentals that I haven't gotten to yet, but will soon, I am sure. There is SO much in the new catalog, there aren't enough hours in the day...

Look at ALL the paper you get in just ONE pack! Two Sheets EACH of these double-sided patterns!

Thank you for joining us on the blog hop!

If you would like to know more about the products I used in my creations above, please continue to scroll down. If you would like to continue on, please use the buttons below to continue on the Just Crazy Blessed Blog Hop. I hope you enjoy what Michelle at My Flights of Fancy has to share next!

Close to My Heart Products used in cards pictured above (and links to them):
Whimsy Fundamentals Paper pack - Z3255 - $19.95Whimsy Card Stock Combo pack - X5940 - $14.50Birthday Sparkles B-Stamp Set - B1537 - $9.95White Cards/Envelopes Value Pack (50) - X254 - $14.50Bitty Sparkles - Z1263 - $2.95Black Shimmer Trim - Z1809 - $4.95White and Gold Ribbon - Z3189 - $5.95Exclusives Ink in colors below - $6.95 (until the end of August)Black, Smoothie, Sweet Leafe, Canary (colors used for distress edging)If you have any questions about these products, or would like more information about becoming a Close to My Heart consultant, please let me know and I will contact you within 24 hours. Thank you for stopping by.

May is National Scrapbooking Month!

May is National Scrap-booking Month.

As you know, I haven't been actively scrapping. This month’s Stamp Of The Month (Just Sayin') is designed for scrap-booking, so I felt I should create a photo layout.

 
I needed some inspiration, so I took a Blog Hop tour. If you've never been on a blog hop, they are a great way to be inspired! (the way it works is you start with one blog, and it will link you to the next one in the hop. And they are all using the same stamp or papers for that "hop"). Here’s where I usually start: If you Bling It.   

I also love to blog hop to see how others are using the stamp set. They’ll look at the same stamps in TOTALLY different ways! For example; I had never thought of flipping the stamp over and sticking it ‘design side’ to the acrylic block. (though it was a totally “duh” moment as soon as I read it). You’ll get the same shape as a stamp, without the design… a couple of the bloggers did that in their designs. BRILLIANT! And not something you can do with wood-block stamps. And of course, it only works with symmetrical stamps (like many of the shapes in this stamp set). I love new techniques!

This month's stamp set: These are not only great images for photo layouts. They are great on cards, adding a little extra to a set of pocket pages, gift bags, all those little things that we paper crafters come up with. As every month, the Stamp of the Month set is $17.95 or $5 with a $50 purchase. 

Anyway, you're probably wanting to see the full pictures of my project... and here I have been keeping you waiting. Well, I got SO much inspiration, I created a photo layout page with leftover Blossom paper from the pages I worked on before. Then I made a card, definitely getting inspiration from several of the cards I saw along the blog hop (thank you ladies!). I used my Cricut to cut out a slew of 1 inch triangles and 1 inch circles, and then stamped them up using Pear, Honey, and Smoothie Exclusive Inks. I ended up using some of the circles on the photo layout, and the triangles on the card. (I have a bunch of each left, still un-stamped, for other projects).

Once I started stamping elements to use on this layout, I really went crazy, I stamped all of them in several colors and then chose the one that I liked best. I have lots left that I can use on other projects.

Something I saw done on one layout (by Angela White of www.luvz2scrapbook.com) was to use the Liquid Glass over the stamped elements to make your own enamel look pieces for your layouts. Angela had made quite a few for her page, and it was really stunning. The other idea I saw was on jd designs blog, to use the 1 inch clear epoxy done stickers (that are meant for finishing off DIY bottlecap embellishments) on the circles to make your own "flair". Either way it's done, they look great! I recommend a to visit their blogs!

After I was done with my photo layout, I was still full of ideas from the Blog Hop, so I went ahead and made this card:

I purposely left the exact sentiment of the card blank. It could be a birthday, baby congrats, thank you, promotion, graduation, anything. I used the "This Day" stamp from the February SOTM "Choose Happy", but there are many small sayings in the catalog that would fit.

Here's a complete list of the materials used in the projects above:

Both:

May SoTM  - Just Sayin' S1505 - $17.95 (or $5 with a $50 order)

Exclusive Inks, Pear, Honey, Smoothie - $5.95 each

Daisy White Cardstock 1388 - $9.50 (24 sheet pack)

Sequin embellishments - Coral Reef- Z3042 - $3.95

Marvey Uchida Journaling Pen Z1979 - $3.25

'You & Me' Scrap-book Layout:

Blossom Paper pack - X7196 - $9.95

Kraft Cardstock Z1375 - $9.50 (24 sheet pack)

Han Shin Touch Alcohol Marker - Sap Green - Z2463 - $5.95

'This Day' Card:

Pear Cardstock - X5935 $14.50 (Adventure Paper pack - 2 ea of 10 colors)

Gold Shimmer Trim - Z1985 - $4.95

Pick up your own Stamp of the Month for only $17.95 OR get it for only $5 with a $50 purchase! Be sure to contact your Close To My Heart Independent Consultant before the end of May.  If you don't already have a consultant, I'd love to be yours.  You can find details on the "Stamp of the Month" by clicking on the "Stamp of the Month" at top of the page on the right or purchase your SOTM here. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact me.

Coming up next will be The Taste of Summer papers - a very Special Paper pack only being offered by CTMH this month! They are perfect for creating layouts to memorialize those sweet summer memories. Or to create some bright and cheerful cards to send off to make someone's day!



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