February SOTM Blog Hop!

THANK YOU for stopping by my blog to see my contribution to our CTMH consultant Stamp of the Month Blog Hop! I enjoy being a part of this creative hop every month! I've created a few things to share using the February SOTM - D1407 Piece of Cake. All the papers I've used for these projects come from the Topstitch Level 2 paper packet (X7120B).

• First is my 4.5" circle card. The design for this card was inspired by Wishes - Inner Court (p. 67). I colored the cupcake frosting with a blending pen and chocolate ink. Then the rest was colored in with our baby pink and heavenly blue markers. I added a little liquid glass to add some shine and the heart I created with our new Dimensional Elements Hearts Z1278 (a chipboard heart that I covered with heavenly blue cardstock, stamped the sentiment on with chocolate ink, and then scissor distressed the edges around the heart).

• The 2.5x3.5" card design on the left was inspired by Originals - Center View (p. 16). The flowers on the cake were colored in with baby pink and sweet leaf markers and topped off with my favorite thing to add sparkle - our new bitty sparkles Z1263! The cake design is done using the "paper-piecing technique." First, I stamped the cake with chocolate ink on the colonial white cardstock rectangle piece as well as on a scrap of chocolate cardstock and cut the chocolate cake out (cutting off the flowers at the top of the chocolate piece, so when I mount that piece over the colonial white piece the flowers show on the colonial white piece that is then colored with markers). Then I stamped two more cakes with chocolate ink - one on baby pink cardstock and one of heavenly blue cardstock. Then I cut out those pieces and adhered them over the parts of the cake where I wanted those colors to be. The "Make a Wish" sentiment was stamped with our colonial white pigment ink (I just love the look of our white inks on dark papers!!)

• My 3x3" card and treat bag topper shown below it both feature the "chalk-popping" technique as well as a little hand-stiching using chocolate waxy flax. I love to stitch with our waxy flax because the flax is firm enough that there is no need to thread it with a needle. Just be sure to punch your holes a little bigger so the waxy flax fits through the holes easily. To do the chalk-popping, I stamped the cake with colonial white ink on colonial white cardstock. Then I used a cotton ball to pick up and apply vinyard berry chalk (from our Autumn Soft Chalks set Z904). Using plenty of chalk on the cotton ball, wipe it gently over the ink in a circular motion and watch the color "pop" right off the paper at you - so fun and very easy to do!

• Finally, you might have noticed that my treat bag topper looks almost exactly like my 3x3 card. That is because I simply used this same 3x3 design and instead of adding it to a card base, just added it to my chocolate cardstock bag topper instead! The clear bag I used here is intended to hold a 3x6 card and comes from clearbags.com (B3x6S - $5.00 for 100). The cardstock used to make the topper measures 3.5" x 7" before it is folded in half. I really like using this size of bag and topper because you can use any 3x3 card design from Wishes or Originals to inspire your creativity and your 3x3 design fits perfectly centered on this size bag topper every time! You can use brads, eyelets, staples, punched holes tied with ribbon, or hand-stitching to hold your topper on the bag. I used only chocolate brads to hold my topper on the bag (I don't use any adhesive to adhere the topper to the bag just to make it easier for the recipient to open it more easily without destroying it). I really hope you enjoy these ideas and that you feel inspired to have fun making some of your own similar treat bags for Valentine's Day this year (it is only two weeks away - so Happy V-Day everyone)!!

Your next stop on the blog hop can be found by clicking HERE TO VISIT TAMMY'S BLOG!! Thanks again for stopping by and we'll look forward to sharing with you again next month!

• If a link doesn't work or you get lost at any point while you're hopping, please click HERE TO VISIT HELEN'S BLOG for a complete list of all of the participating bloggers!