SOMETHING FOR MY MOM!

 My husband and I are heading to Nebraska soon to help my mom celebrate her 93rd birthday!  This photo was taken last year for her 92nd.  I knew that I had to do something special with this photo.  when I saw the "Forever a Friend" (D2084) stamp set from Close to My Heart, I knew that floral MOM would be perfect.  Then it was off to find what else would work!

The paperboard plaque that I used as the backing has been sitting on my shelf for years!  I keep moving it, thinking I should just donate it since I didn't have a use for it.  Well, this is one of those times I'm glad I hung onto it!  It was perfect.  I covered the plaque with ModPodge and a sheet from the "In Full Bloom" paper pack.  The elements on the paper helped me as I built my collage.

The bottles are from April's "Message in a Bottle" stamp of the month set, the leaves from "Sprigs & Sentiments", and there are several black acrylic heart shapes.

The doilies that you see - the really large glacier one and the smaller lagoon and peacock - are a sneak peak at products available for the May/June celebration of National Scrapbooking Month.  They are so fun to work with, and provided the perfect backdrop for my project.

The floral MOM and the sentiment are from that inspirational stamp set - Forever A Friend.   The butterfly is from the In Full Bloom die cut shapes.

For that floral MOM title, I played around with colors for a while.  The lighter glacier blue wasn't strong enough, but the lagoon by itself wasn't quite right with my mom's jacket!  So, I pulled out the retired peacock ink pad, and after stamping the flowers in the lagoon ink, I rolled the edges in the peacock ink, I got the look I wanted.  Luckily, the leaves were a separate stamp!

The Heart 2 Heart Challenge Blog's current project guidelines were to include flora or fauna on your artwork.  Well, I think I've got that covered!

And the Shopping Our Stash challenge theme is "What a Difference You've Made in My Life."  My mom has always been there for me, supporting me, and teaching me, no matter how old we both get!   

You can click on either of those blog titles and you'll pop over to the blogs, where you can enjoy the projects created by others using the same themes.

Thanks for stopping by, and enjoy those in your life that have made a difference to you.

 

COFFEE HELPS - The Paper Players Sketch Challenge

 

I've just finished my first cup of coffee for the day, so I guess I'm ready to do some work!  This set - "Coffee Helps" - is a sneak peak at products from the upcoming May/June catalog from Close to My Heart.  Once available, I'll come back and add some details of the items used.

The design of this card was based on the sketch this week at the Paper Players Challenge Blog.  I certainly took up more space on my card with the images, but it's still the same basic style.  

The background was cut from mint cardstock using the "Decorative Texture Background Thin Cut" die. 

The "Postage Frame Thin Cut" dies were cut from mocha cardstock, with a little of the retired almond cardstock as backing.

I love that the stamp set has coordinating dies to cut out the images.  I used Spectrum Noir TriBlend markers to color them - ice grey blends & shades, red brown blends, gold yellow blends, jade green blends, tan blends & shades, coral blends & shades, and of course, the blending marker!

Click on this link so you can pop over to the Paper Players Challenge Blog to check out the other creations using this sketch. 

Thanks for stopping by - and enjoy your coffee!

A TERRARIUM IN A FAUX SHAKER CARD

 

I just discovered that terrariums were first developed in the 1800s.  And I thought they came into being while I was in high school, when I decided to follow the trend and fill a jar with soil and water for my plants.  But it was SOOOO heavy!  Tough to move that thing around.  I think the paper terrarium is a much better way to go!

Message in a Bottle (S2204) is the May Stamp of the Month from Close to My Heart.  That means that you can get this set ONLY during the month of May.  You can pay regular price for it, but with a $50 purchase, it’s yours for only $5.  And if you happen to be a VIP member, then withthe same purchase, the stamp set is FREE!

I used one of the bottles in the set to create this dimensional terrarium.  It uses the principles of a shaker card, but nothing inside the bottle moves – it’s all glued in place. 

The succulents are from a stamp set called “Succa For You” (D2077).  There are many options of plants in that set, but I limited it to three for my terrarium.  The background plants are stamped directly to the paper (after I stamped the bottle) and then I fussy-cut the front plant and used a it of foam under it to lift it above the others.  Finally, I put some glue on top of the soil I had colored, sprinkled some of the yellow Bright Bitty Beads (Z3784) over the glue, and pressed them down so they would stay in place.

I cut the cover piece for the bottle from the Stitched Rectangle Frames thin cut dies (Z4260) and stamped the same bottle again.  This time, I took my micro-tip scissors (Z534) and cut the bottle - working from the center to cut away all of the black line of the stamped image.  I wanted the entire image from the bottom bottle to show through.  However, I did lay the piece down and used a fine-tip black marker to go around the cut-out image to give it some definition.

The sentiment (from the “In Full Bloom – Cardmaking” set C1932) was stamped below the bottle.  Now it was time to assemble the faux-shaker!

A piece of acetate from my stash was adhered to the backing of this stitched rectangle,  and regular 3D foam tape (Z1151) was added to the edges of the cut-out shape as well as the edges of the rectangle.  Placing it directly over the dimensional plant bottle was a little tricky – so I started by pulling off a bit of the backing on the foam so I could move it around a little before exposing all of that adhesive!

The background paper is from the Wood Grain Paper Pack (X8028) in the Core Catalog.  A little kraft paper (Z1375) provides the mat for the stitched rectangle bottle, and a few loose gold sequins (Z4235) were added for a bit of sparkle.

All of the products can be found on my CTMH website – just click here and then put the product number in the search box.

Thanks for stopping by my little corner of the blog world.  I hope you enjoy creating a faux-shaker of your own.

Cake Day Cardmaking - a different take on the kit!

 The Cake Day Cardmaking Workshop (G1250) stamp set has a large interactive cake on it, but it also has this nice little cake image, the banner and the sentiment.  I used these elements of the stamp set along with one of my favorite sheets of paper from the Cake Day paper suite (X7278S), and created this card.  This card was not one of the four designs provided in the kit.  I love that these stamp sets are versatile on their own.

I only used two colors on this card - glacier, which is the color of the letters for HAPPY BIRTHDAY that are spread over the paper, and Wild Berry, which happens to be the focus of the CTMH special sale this month!

You can see several details I added that weren't a part of the cardmaking workshop set.  The ink splotch behind the cake is from Perfectly Imperfect Patterns (D2051) gave just the right backing for the cake.  The scallop border is from the Festive Borders stamp/thin cut die set (Z3996).  It is a birthday themed set, so it seemed appropriate to use it here.

The little dots you see are the Wild Berry Enamel Dots (Z5008), which just happen to be on sale this month!  Don't miss out if you like this color.  I also added just a tiny strip of Wild Berry Glitter Paper (Z2538) along the edge of that scallop border.  Just the right pop of sparkle!

The papers in the suite, as all of the Close to My Heart papers do, have a zip strip at the top.  It's nice to have that little extra design when creating.  I used it on the bottom of the inside of the card, and used the banner stamp again along with another one of the birthday greetings.

I am entering this card in three card challenges this week.  Be sure to check out each of these blogs to see other creations that have been shared.  Just click on the name of each blog and you'll pop right over to it!

Heart 2 Heart Challenges - Anything Goes! 

Seize the Birthday - Challenge #235 - Stripe it Up - OR - Anything Goes

Addicted to Stamps and More - Make Your Mark

All of the products that I used are from Close to My Heart, and you can find them all on my CTMH website.  Click here to head over there, then put the item number you are interested in seeing in the search box.