Cherish The Day Stamp of the Month Blog Hop

Welcome to November's {Cherish The Day} Stamp of the Month Blog Hop! This month the featured stamp of the month is S1111-Cherish The Day, a set of 44 images!  Below are the images in this stamp set.

If you have come here from Vicki Price's blog, you are on the right path!  I am the first stop for this month's hop! You can find a list of all the partipant's (in case you get lost) here: http://bowlofstamps.blogspot.com/p/sotm-blog-hop-list.html  This month we have almost 60 Close To My Heart Consultants sharing their creations using this classic set. The hop is simple to follow - just click on the link provided in the post to move to the next blog!

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My item is a treat/favor holder created with the new Believe Paper Pack (Workshop on the Go).  I am SO loving the CTMH Cricket Art Philosophy cartridge with over 700 images and the ability to make many 3D projects like this one!

Supplies used: S1111 Cherish The Day Stamp Set; G1024 Believe WOTG; Kraft card stock; Black & Holiday Red Exclusive Inks; CTMH Cricut Art Philosphy Cartridge; Red Sparkles; Sparkle Brads (retired); Sweet Lear Grosgrain ribbon; Hershey Hugs.

Time to hop on over to Helen Onulak's Blog to see her beautiful eye candy! Be sure to visit all the Consultants' Blogs to get some great crafting and other fun ideas! Remember, the SOTM is only available until November 30th! Contact your CTMH Consultant (or click here) to see how you can get this stamp set for $5! Here we go!

Happy hopping!

Christmas Card Class & Faux Bow Tutorial

Last night I had a really fun class with 5 new ladies that I met for the first time.  None of them had ever stamped before so I wasn't completely certain we would make it through 3 cards.  There were a lot of new things to learn with these cards.  First off, I have to give credit to Vicki Wiznuik, a Canadian consultant shared her fabulous card ideas on the consultant board.  My changes are ever so slight.  Here is what we did:

The first card we created had lots of glitz glitter!

Next we moved to something that had a little texture.  I also demonstrated that with CTMH's white core card stock that you could sand the texture ever so slightly to make it pop even more.

And finally, we got to make a faux bow which makes a lovely gathered bow.  Doesn't it look like the most perfect bow?

So, how do you make this lovely faux bow?  Note that any picture (above/below) you can click on it to see more detail.

1.  For this ribbon (which is 1" wide) I started with a 10" piece of ribbon, a button (2 holes is easier to do this), and some hemp or waxy flax (I prefer the waxy flax).

2.  Take the left end of the ribbon and cross it over the center of the ribbon and take the right end of the ribbon and cross it over the center:

3.  Through the top of the button insert the waxy flax and come up through the second hole but leave the waxy flax loose forming a big loop.

4.  Insert your ribbon (for pix #2 above) through the loop.

5.  Now tighten the waxy flax forming a bow but leaving the waxy flax just loose enough so you can adjust the bow:

6.  When the bow is adjusted the way you like, tie a single knot in the waxy flax or if you are using hemp you will have to tie a double knot to hold it.  Trim waxy flax down to about the width of the button.

7.  Trim the ends of the bow and voila, you have the perfect faux bow!

Now if that isn't the easiest bow I ever didn't tie!

October Stamp of the Month Blog Hop

Welcome to our October Stamp of the Month Blog Hop featuring S1110 Holiday Magic, a set of 18 absolutely darling Holiday stamps!

If you have come here from Helen Onulak's Blog, you are on the right path!  You can find a list of all the partipant's in case you get lost here: http://bowlofstamps.blogspot.com/p/sotm-blog-hop-list.html

This month we have nearly 60 Close To My Heart Consultants sharing their creations using this month's SOTM and other great CTMH products on their blogs. Blog hopping is simple to do - just click on the link at the end of the post on each blog to move to the next one! Here we go!

Now "Hop" on over to Beth Naumann's blog to see her beautiful eye candy! Be sure to visit all the Consultants at their Blogs to get some great crafting ideas and other fun ideas! Remember, the SOTM is only available until October 31st!  Contact your CTMH Consultant (or click here) to see how you can get this stamp set for $5!

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Below is one of the ways I decided to use this stamp set.  It is a 5" x 7" size card.  Note that you can click on the picture to see details.

Here is just a closer look at the detail (showing the sparkly brads (retired) and the sparkles.

Supplies:  Holiday Magic Stamp Set; Believe Workshop of the Go Papers; Black, Sweet Leaf, White Cardstock, Topiary, Sky, Black Exclusive Inks; Clear Sparkes, Red Sparkles; Glitter Brads (Retired); Border & label punch from SU; Spellbinder Dies; Quick Cut Scallop Die & Spellbinders Circle Dies.

Compatibility with CTMH Cricut Art Philosophy Cartridge:  I was doing some playing around and found that you can cut the perfect outline shapes with your Cricut for the stocking stamps setting the size to 3-1/4".  The cutting shape is found on page 67 and it is the shift key + 7th key on bottom row.  See below and click to see detail better:

For the Christmas tree/banner (however you use it).  I had to make a height and width adjustment.  I use Cricut Design Studio because I'm a visual person and it just works so much better for me.  Anyway, I set the height to 3.5" and the width to 2".  The cutting shape is found on page 31 and is she shift key + 1st key in 2nd row.  See below and click picture to see detail better:

So that's why I've got a cutting machine!