Happy Times National Stamping Month Blog Hop

Hello and welcome aboard our National Scrapbook Month Australasian Close to My Heart Blog Hop.  If you have arrived here from Wendy Hopper  then you are in the right place. 
If you landed here by accident, no problem, please join in by following the link at the end of this post. 

Today I would like to share with you a creation which features Close To My Heart’s National Scrapbook Month Paper Collection Happy Times

NSM Happy Times

This paper is just so pretty it is hard to decide which way to use it and which bit to use so I have used it all! I decided to make a layout to share with my CTMH Team celebrating our crafty lives. I have no photos on it yet (I know not good) but now I have an excuse to take some snaps and a page is ready to go for our Convention Photos. I have used a couple of consultant only stamps as my Happy Times stamp has not yet arrived. I also used the paint brush stamp from the set we had ealrier in the year for National Stamping month. It is a  favourite!

National Scrapbook Month Free paper collection with orders over $85

 

Embellishment detail

To construct the layout I cut a 3 1/2 inch strip from each paper and created 3 1/2 inch squares. I arranged these how I liked as evenly as I could on the Peacock background. This will be the background for a smattering of 3×3 photos. On the other side I used a 7 inch strip of the green/blue paper and made a 7 1/2 x 5/12 base ready for a 7 x 5 photo. I took a solid piece of the gold foil and some zip strip pieces to ground the photo and fussy cut some flowers from the floral print. (My stamp set has not arrived yet!)  I have tucked in some loops from the new White Twine and used Gold Heat embossing for the sentiment. I finished it off with pink enamel gems. I decided it needed a border so I have used Gold foil tape. This design could also easily be replicated with Pomegranate as the background colour.

PS Sorry about the shine on the gold foil paper!

This exclusive National Scrapbook Month Paper Collection Happy Times is only available during MAY. 

• It can be yours for FREE with a qualifying order of $85 or for $23 if ordered separately from your CTMH consultant.
• The coordinating Stamp set is also avaliable for $27
• Don’t forget your Stamp of the month and your free new Seasonal Expressions book with your order!

 

If you do not have a consultant please contact me or place an order here.

I’d love you to leave a comment before heading off to the next stop,  Meryl Cheetham – Mez’s Craft Room

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Products used

• Peacock Cardstock and ink
• Happy Times Paper Collection
• Ez Dot adhesive
• Go;d embossing powder
• Versamark ink
• 3D foam tape.

 

May SOTM Celebrate with Cake Australasian Blog Hop

Hello and welcome to our Australasian Stamp Of the Month Blog Hop. If you came from Meryl Cheetham at Mez’s Craft Room

you are in the right place.If you landed here by accident, no problem, please join in by following the link at the end of this post. 

Today I would like to share with you a creation which features Close To My Heart’s MAY Stamp of the Month.

 

Why do we have cake? To celebrate birthdays, anniversaries, graduations, special achievements and other cultural events within schools and workplaces. It is the ultimate sharing of those special moments and we love snapping photos of those cakes too!

I love S1605 Celebrate with Cake for it’s versatility for any occasion and the opportunity to play with colour. While I normally share pages with you I was in the mood for some cardmaking  so I have put together these two cards. I hope you like them.

Celebrate with cake for a birthday or an anniversary.

To create these cards I have stamped the outline with Memento Black Ink and then applied clear heat embossing for a nice crisp black line that will not budge.(if you ware quick enough you will not need versamark)  I have coloured with our water colour pencils using colours to coordinate with the background paper, Kaleidoscope.I blended with a little water on a paint brush and deepened colours at edges to help create the rounded look. I then fussy cut my cakes (therapeutic) and used foam tape to mount them to the Kaleidoscope background paper. I mounted these on Pixie card fronts measuring 5 1/2 x 4 1/4 inches to suit out Bulk Pack of card and envelopes. I added bling to my cards up with bitty sparkles.

Here is a closer look at the stamp set and each card

S1605 Celebrate with Cake

To ground this cake I have simply used white Shimmer trim. It is important to ground your design somehow.

 

To ground this plate I have used the triangle border punch and the fabulous Green Shimmer trim.

Tips and suggestions

• Use your scraps of white to stamp
• try variations in the layers – stamp all at once or stamp individual layers.
•  Any paper and any colours would work. Use the colours listed on a zip strip as a guide.
• You could also Celebrate with cake by stamping directly onto patterned paper or even some watercolour background you have created!
• Just relax and enjoy the experiment with colour. (Yes one did go in the bin – I did not like it!)
• Try colouring with Shin Hanmarkers or watercolour paint
• Very excited to add to the supply list watercoloring pens! No more spilled water – check out thenew Seasonal Expressions for these.

This exclusive Celebrate with Cake SOTM is only available during MAY. It can be yours for just $7.50 with a qualifying order of $75 or for $27 if ordered separately from your CTMH consultant. If you do not have a consultant please contact me or place an order at The Creative Heart and be in the draw for Virtual Host rewards.

I’d love you to leave a comment before heading off to the next stop, Wendy Hopper – Expressions of the Heart

 

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Shopping list

• S1605 Celebrate with Cake 
• 3505 Watercolour Pencils
• x254 Bulk Cards and Envelopes
• z899 Memento Black Ink
• z2088 Clear Embossing Powder
• z3087 Green and z3024 white Shimmer trim
• z1997 Triangle Border Punch
• Z1151 Foam Mounting Tape
• x72027b Kaleidoscope paper collection