Notice the Details - December Stamp of the Month Blog Hop

Welcome to December’s Stamp of the Month Blog Hop where we will be featuring the Notice the Details stamp set from Close to My Heart. If you have come here from Michelle Nist’s blog, you are on the right path! This 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!

This month I made a mini brag book for my Mother-in-Law which she can keep in her purse. It holds a couple of my daughter’s school pictures along with one of her soccer and dance pictures. My daughter will also add a handwritten note in one of the pockets and I'm sure one of her famous horse pictures and then this will go into my Mother-in-Law's Christmas stocking.


I stamped the numbers in the set onto punched out hearts to mark her 1st, 2nd and 3rd grade school pictures.

I used some of the phrases in the set as captions for the other pictures.

I punched the flower on the cover out of Twitterpated B&T and then used a button for the center. I sponged the edges of all the cardstock and patterend paper with Chocolate ink and rounded the outside corners. To give the book a finished look and to keep the ribbon in place, I glued the ribbon underneath the scalloped "binding" on the edge.

This mini album is very versatile, super easy to make and it only takes one sheet of patterned paper. The finished project measures approximately 4" x 3 1/4". It makes a great stocking stuffer for Christmas and it's something the grandparents will love.

A big thank you to Susanna Boyd who posted an awesome video tutorial on how to make this project on Paper Craft Planet. You can find the video and more information on how to make this project HERE. Susanna made hers a Tag Album and you can see beautiful her project HERE.


CTMH Products
B&T Duos – Twitterpated
Cardstock – Sorbet, Chocolate, Colonial White
Ink – Chocolate, Cooca
Corner rounder

Other
Martha Stewart Ribbon
PTI Melon button
Nestabilities die
Scallop border punch
Oval punches
Martha Stewart heart punch
EK Success flower punch


Now "Hop" on over to Dawn Heuft’s blog to see her work! Be sure to visit all the CTMH Consultants at their Blogs to get some great crafting and other fun ideas! Remember, the Notice the Details stamp set is only available until December 31st! Contact your CTMH Consultant or email me at cibglazer@gmail.com to see how you can get this stamp set at a discount or even free!

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NOTE: If you get lost on the hop or find links that aren't working, click HERE
for a complete list of participating blogs.

Christmas Ribbon Wreath (Video Tutorial)

Wednesday I was scheduled for jury duty but I did not have to report. The way my luck HAS been running, I was sure I would be picked for a super long trial but somebody up there had my back. Instead I used my time wisely and made yet another Christmas card using a technique I want to share with you. It's something a friend taught me...how to make this ribbon wreath.

Click to enlarge

I want to point out the bow on my wreath is a double bow and was made with my Bow Easy. I just love this little gadget and it was worth every cent! The sentiment is from the CTMH Say It In Style stamp set. I sponged around the edges of my "door" and panels with Distress Ink Antique Linen and then the very edges with CTMH Chocolate. The door handle is a CTMH Pewter Designer Brad.

Below is a video tutorial I made with my iphone. I think you'll be surprised at how easy these ribbon wreaths are to make. They can be made in different sizes and with different ribbon widths. You will want to start with a fairly long piece of ribbon. When you want to end the weave, simply slip one of your ends through the loop. I hope you will give this a try.





(ETA: You may also want to check out my Valentine card using this technique HERE.)

(ETA: I have had several requests for the following information. I purchased my Bow Easy on Ebay
HERE. You can also find it for sale at Gina K. Designs HERE.)

Bigsby the Mouse and a Webite Launch

I recently received an email from my friend Leslie asking me if I wanted to help out a friend of a friend who was launching an internet craft business and it involved a free digi stamp. Of course I said yes (she knows me too well). I then got an email from Dawn with Bigsby the Mouse attached. Isn’t he just adorable and perfect for Christmas!!! I got the stamp at the same time I discovered the template for the easel card and knew this is how I wanted to showcase this stamp. You can get information and the template for how to create the easel card HERE.


This card measures 4" x 4". I printed Bigsby on my HP printer on PTI Stampers Select White cardstock and then colored with copics . This cardstock is excellent for coloring with copics. I colored over the plate with a Sakura gold gel pen which makes it shine. I also printed several extra cookies and cut one out to place on the sentiment. I used my nestabilities dies to cut out the stamp and the mat. The paper is CTMH Evensong Creative Basics (retired), Cranberry and New England Ivy cardstock. The sentiment is from Say It In Style and for the stop, I used one of the Pewter Designer Brads. This image was a lot of fun to work with and I am looking forward to more images from Karen Johnson, Bigsby’s creator.

Karen’s website is premiering today so please take some time to visit Karen’s Doodles and also visit the companion site Doodle Divas (also launching today) where you can see what Leslie, Sarah and some other talented ladies did with Bigsby.

Season's Greetings

PTI - 2009 Holiday Tag, Signature Christmas

Hello! I have not dropped off the face of the earth. My craft room has recently been going through some reorganization making it difficult to get anything creative done. I have been on a cleaning and organizing binge and my DH was gracious enough to hang (and re-hang in one instance) some cabinets and he surprised me with some really cool shelves with a promise for more this weekend. I am so excited. Maybe I will be as organized as my dear friend Sarah one day.


I did manage to work on my Christmas cards and here is one that I will be mass producing for friends and family this year. The circle and scallop circle pieces for this card can be cut with the cricut making this an easy card to assemble. The border punch is Martha Stewart of course. I used gel pens on the stamped image from PTI's Holiday Tags.

I'm off to make some more. Enjoy the day!

Merry Simple

CTMH December Word Puzzle

Here is another simple Christmas card using a cuttlebug embossing technique I saw HERE. I love the blank middle for stamping. It allows you to create one layer cards with embossed dimension. Also, once you create the templates, you have them for future use. I have to work on my "sandwich" because I am not getting the perfect scallop embossing.

All the materials used for this card are CTMH except for the red gems. The stamped images are from the December Word Puzzle stamp set which is retiring at the end of this year. I used Cranberry, New England Ivy and White Daisy cardstock; the ribbon is also New England Ivy.

Merry and Bright

We had a busy weekend with the horseshow and my daughter did well for having been sick and not getting in as many lessons as usual. She got a 2nd place and two 4th place ribbons and we are so very proud of her. It was definitely worth missing my stamping weekend to see her having so much fun riding her horse. In fact that, coupled with the purchase of some recent goodies which I put to good use on this card have put me in a "merry and bright" mood. How's that for a lead in?

I am one of those people who can struggle for hours trying to make a bow. Well no more! Thanks to the Bow Easy which is a handy gadget that helps you make pefect bows in several sizes (do I sound like an infomercial). I picked this up on Ebay for $6 and it is worth every penny.

Click to enlarge

My other treat was a couple of bottles of glimmer mist. On this card I used Frost on the background after I ran it through the cuttlebug with the impressabilitlies snowflake folder (my favorite at the moment). The ornaments were cut from a piece of white cardstock which was also run through the cuttlebug using the swirls folder. I used a 1 3/8" circle punch and I used my Sakura clear glitter pen to highlight the embossing. In person, this card really has a lot of shimmer.

I hope your day is merry and bright!

Christmas Holly and Horses

PTI-2009 Holiday Button Bits, Signature Christmas

Here is another simply stamped card. You can see that I am giving my gold paint pen a workout and I love the effect. I drew two horizontal lines; one above and one below my stamped image and then also filled in the dots on the holly leaves. The berries were punched with a 1/2" circle punch and then covered with with epoxy stickers. The overall effect is subtle but gives the card the pop that kraft cardstock sometimes needs.

What does all this have to do with horses you might ask? Well, this weekend I was supposed to attend Stamp Around Philly with a group of talented and creative ladies, learning new techniques and having fun. I have been looking forward to this since they announced they would be in the area and have had my place reserved and paid for since day one. However, it turns out that my daughter's horseshow was also scheduled for the same day and alas, I cannot be in two places at once. Although this will be her third show, when I asked her about it, my daughter said she really wants me to be there to watch her ride and a mom just can't say no to her child when it's something that important. So instead of the heady smell of ink and copics, I'll get to smell... well you get the picture. Here's hoping for a blue ribbon!

For anyone interested, HERE is a video of my little angel at her show last May.

Simple Encore

PTI-Peaceful Poinsettia

No, you're not experiencing deja vu. You have actually seen this card before. HERE actually...in a 3x3 version....on white cardstock.


I liked this card so much that I wanted to revisit it in a bigger version on kraft cardstock and see if I can easily mass produce it as my Christmas card this year. Except for the pop-up in the center of the poinsettia which was cut with a kraft knife, it is doable. This version just uses a gem in center like the original 3x3 card.

I added gold paint pen to the tips of the flourishes this time and for the inside I purchased lighter weight linen resume paper that can go through the printer and then easily be trimmed to fit. I am working on another simple design that I'll show you tomorrow.

Stampaganza - FREE STAMP SETS

Just in time for the holidays, Close to My Heart is offering a fabulous special. For every 2 of their fabulous My Acrylix stamp sets you buy, you get 1 FREE. That's a savings of up to $22.95/$28.50! You can view the Idea Book HERE, download the Flyer HERE for more details and then email me at cibglazer@gmail.com to place your order. This special is only good through November 30th so this is a great time to get your holiday shopping done. This is also a wonderful time to get all those stamp sets on your wish list that will be retiring this December 31st. You can view the complete list of retiring stamps HERE. These are first come, first serve so once these stamps sets are gone, that's it...no more.

Around the Block – November Stamp of the Month Blog Hop

Welcome to November’s Stamp of the Month Blog Hop where we will be featuring the Around the Block stamp set from Close to My Heart. If you have come here from Lori Brown’s blog, you are on the right path! This 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!

The inspiration for this month’s creation comes from another CTMH consultant, Karen Pedersen, who used this set to create a gingerbread house card. I took it one step further and created a housewarming gift box that contains some mini gingerbread cookies.


I used white embossing powder for the windows, roof and door and clear embossing powder for the gingerbread men on the sides. The icing on the gingerbread men is white gel pen. Red and green gems were used to accent the roof and the buttons and add dimension.

Click to enlarge

CTMH Products
Cardstock – Brown Bag, White Daisy
Ink - Chocolate
White Embossing Powder
White Organdy Ribbon Colonial White buttons
Stamp Set – Around the Block

Other Products
Martha Stewart Gingerbread Men border punch
PTI – Holiday Button Bits stamp set (Gingerbread Man)
Clear embossing powder
Red and green gems
Nestabilities dies



Now "Hop" on over to Caren Goldstein’s blog to see her work! Be sure to visit all the Consultants at their Blogs to get some great crafting and other fun ideas! Remember, the Around the Block stamp set is only available until November 30th! Contact your CTMH Consultant or email me at cibglazer@gmail.com to see how you can get this stamp set at a discount or even free!

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NOTE: If you get lost on the hop or find links that aren't working, click HERE for a complete list of participating blogs.