STAMP CLUB - APRIL 2013

April's Stamp Club will give us the opportunity to honor the special women in our lives - whether they are mothers, sisters, daughters, or friends.  All of the card projects can be tailored to the people you want to send them to.  And don't forget that you can decorate a pretty muslin bag to give a small gift in!

Click here to find out all the details on the Stamp Club page.

Stamp Club will meet on three separate dates in April.  

Choose the date that works best for you:

Monday, April 8

Tuesday, April 9

Saturday, April 13

All groups meet at 9:30 at my home craft room in Prescott Valley.

Play Date Cafe Challenge #174 & Timeless Tuesday #212

Cardmaker Magazine showcased this beautiful cascading card - and I knew I had to use it in the April Stamp Clubs. Play Date Cafe provided the color inspiration and it fit right in with Timeless Tuesday's BRING ON SPRING challenge.  I mean, what says spring better than flowers.

I followed the directions in the magazine for the base of the card, then used my Cricut to cut most everything else.  Here's what I used.  All are CTMH unless otherwise stated.

Papers: Cardstock - white daisy, lagoon, gypsy, and pear

Stamps: Perfect Fit Frames (D1527) and Perfect Fit - Mom (C1543)

Inks: Gypsy and Lagoon

Images cut from CTMH Art Philosophy, CTMH Artiste and Sophisticated cartridges

Embellishments: Paradise Paper Flowers (Z1710), Bitty Opaques Pearls (Z1707), misc sparkles from my stash!

The tag pulls out for whatever message you want to add!

Click here to see other great creations from these two challenges:

Play Date Cafe

Timeless Tuesday

Thanks for stopping by and looking!

Freshly Made Sketches Challenge #78

I have discovered the fun of using Prismacolor colored pencils and odorless mineral spirits to color designs.  It is so easy!

I found this stamp at the recent Stamp Convention in Mesa, and had to give it a try.  The image was larger than I realized, but this sketch worked perfectly.

This will be a project for April's Stamp Club - I have lots of color combinations that will work so everyone can give this technique a try.

Here's what I used -
Stamps -  Belle (#670-01) from Rubbernecker.com
Fabulous You  (C1533) CTMH
Papers - background from K & Co. (retired) and lagoon cs (CTMH)
Fiskars border punch
Colonial White grosgrain ribbon (CTMH) retired

Click here to check out the other great cards made with this sketch at Freshly Made Sketches!

Thanks for looking!

New challenge blog - CTMH Cricut Cartridges!

Click here to head over to this new challenge blog!

This new challenge blog was created by a talented group of CTMH consultants who want everyone to have fun with the Art Philosophy and Artiste Cricut cartridges.  Here is the information they have shared:

We want you to really utilize the Close To My Heart Cricut cartridges.  On the 1st and 15th of each month, we will be posing new challenges that focus on a specific key of one of our exclusive cartridges - Art Philosophy or Artiste.  We'll have a Top 3 for each challenge, and there will be a "Top Blossom" for the month!  The "Top Blossom" will win the monthly prize which will always be a stamp set that coordinates with a Cricut cut.  Sounds like fun, right?!  You can read more rules by clicking on the "Rules" tab at the top of the blog.

Our FIRST challenge will be on April 1st so be sure to check in!

For those of you with these cartridges, even if you don't participate in the challenge, you can get great ideas by checking the submissions made by not only the design team but all those who submit.  Be sure to check it out!

MARCH STAMP CLUB - BIRTHDAY EXTRAVAGANZA

It's time to stock up on birthday cards!  We will make 10 birthday projects in Stamp Club this month.  You can scroll through the recent postings on this blog to see 9 of these cards that I entered in challenges.  Click here to head over to the Stamp Club page to find out the details.

Retrosketches #52 - any sketch goes!

Retrosketches is celebrating their 52nd challenge, and they are allowing us to pick from any of the previous sketches - and I chose #6.  When you open this card, there is a suprise inside - a honeycomb cupcake!  Almost looks good enough to eat!

Materials used:
Stamp images -
cake plate & cupcakes - A Cherry on Top (Stampin' Up)
Happy Birthday - Bring on the Cake (Stampin' Up)
inside greeting - Cricut Artiste stamp collection (CTMH)
Papers - background pattern (K & Company) White Daisy, Pear, and Gypsy cardstock (CTMH)
Honeycomb paper - pink & brown HoneyPOP collection (Inky Antics)
Inks - Dusty Concord & Spun Sugar (Tim Holtz Distress), White Daisy pigment, Gypsy, Blush & Citrus Green (retired) dye (CTMH), clear and white daisy embossing powders (CTMH)

This is the last of the cards I've designed for the March Birthday Extravaganza.  Now on to Mother's Day projects!!!

Thanks for stopping by.  Head over to retrosketches to see the other great creations this week.