"Share the Magic" blog hop!

Welcome to our October Stamp of the Month blog hop

featuring this month's new SOTM - Share The Magic D1443.

If you've just joined me from Kim's blog then you are on the right path! My 5x7 card design above is inspired by Wishes - Medallion (p. 52). The christmas tree is paper-pieced by stamping on the New England Ivy music notes b&t paper from the Mistletoe paper pack with Cocoa ink and then cutting it out before adhering it to my card front. I've also used a lot of our Clear Sparkles (self-adhesive gems) to decorate the tree! (click on any of my photos to see them larger).
Next, my 3x6 card is inspired by Wishes - Name Plate (p. 18). I colored my rudolph in with Desert Sand and Cocoa markers and topped him off with a red Sparkle (self-adhesive gem) for his nose! Finally, my 2.5x3.5 card is inspired by Wishes - Three in a Row (p. 41). I colored my teddy bear in with Desert Sand and Garden Green markers and added two antiqued copper bitty brads for his eyes. I hope you enjoy my creations! If you'd like to see a whole lot more artwork created with this stamp set by the very talented members of my consultant SOTM swap group just click here to see my next post and scroll down to see it all!! Now you can continue on the hop by visiting Pam's blog next! Enjoy!!

$5 Creative Class projects for 10/1!

Here's a sneak peek at what we're making tomorrow night at my $5 Creative Class! It's only $5 per person to attend and learn how to create one of each of these 4 projects with me (or make two of each item for $10 - such a steal)! 9 of my 12 open spots for this class are taken already, so please contact me to RSVP quickly as I'm predicting that it will fill up fast. For full details about what tools to bring with you, what time we start, etc... click here to visit my myctmh website calendar for more information! 4.5x4.5" square card (below)
Washer Pendant Necklaces (below)

Diaper Fold Treat Pouch for Halloween!

Here's a fun way to serve up your Halloween treats...and this pouch is so simple to make...it would be fairly easy to duplicate to make a whole bunch for a child's class at school (like I am planning to do for some of my kids!!) To make this "diaper fold pouch" I simply started with a 7.5 x 7.5" square piece of Hooligans B&T paper from Close to my Heart. The inside back-portion of the pouch was created by stamping a 3x3 square of Gypsy (purple) cardstock with the September Stamp of the Month (Thriller D1442) and black ink and adhering it to the inside of the pouch. Stuff the pouch with some of your favorite Halloween treats (I used laffy taffy, a tootsie roll pop, and a few pixie stix tied together with black grosgrain ribbon to make it look just that much more special). I hope you will try creating one of these yourself - enjoy! An instructional step-by-step tutorial (and video) that shows how to create the "diaper fold pouch" can be found on Splitcoast Stampers,

just click here to go directly to it!

Want some more crafty project ideas for Halloween? There are links to tons of fun new ideas below! Just click on anything that interests you!

Thriller (Sept SOTM) consultant swap artwork!

I realize it's way late in the month now and you all would have appreciated seeing these ideas much sooner, but I just have to share our Stamp of the Month consultant swap artwork finally! We have some of the most talented artists in our group and I think it would be a shame if I didn't post and share all of this amazing artwork with everyone (even if it is a little late - at least it's still in plenty of time before Halloween, lol)! Fabulous creativity fellow consultant friends - you inspire me so much and I am so proud of you all!

H2H color challenge for 9/6/10 (Halloween Pop-up Card revisited!)

As some of you know, the past month has been so overwhelmingly busy for me! So it's been at least a month (or more) since I've been able to find the time to participate in the weekly Heart2Heart challenges that I love so much. This week I was very happy to discover that the color challenge includes a color combination that I have used before! So the card below isn't something new I've made, but rather a pop-up card I made last year that just so happens to use the very same colors from this week's H2H challenge (yaay)! My card does include the added colors of black and a little bit of cocoa as well (for the tree) and uses the Spellbound C1374 stamp set.
Here is what the card looks like when it is closed (below). The cool thing is that because it lays completely flat this way, you can mail this card to someone easily and affordably, and then they can pop the card open and display it standing up - isn't that fun?!
For instructions how to create this type of card, you can click here to visit the Free-standing Pop-up Card tutorial on Splitcoast Stampers!

Square paper Christmas Ornaments!

Front (left) and Back (right) sides of the ornament shown below: The stamping and paper pieces cut and used to make my ornament!
It's never too early to get started making your projects for the upcoming holidays! This post is for my friend Beth who just called to ask me to refresh her memory on how to make these fun paper Christmas ornaments. Beth has already finished making all of her Christmas cards this year, so she must be ready to get going on her decorations now (yaay for Beth)! The ornaments really are quite simple, and once you get going on making them you won't want to stop!

You simply need 4-2"x 2" paper squares and about 12 inches of ribbon for each ornament you plan to make. The front and back pieces on my sample ornament above are colonial white cardstock squares that I have stamped using the Just for the Holidays D1380 stamp set with Tulip and Olive inks. The patterned paper squares that are creased on each side are from the Jingle paper packet X7115B. The Tulip-stamped "Christmas" square is cut out and then adhered over the Olive-stamped image; this technique that I tend to use a lot is called "paper piecing." I've also added some antiqued copper bitty brads before the ornament is then fully assembled.

To assemble the ornament, turn the four 2"x 2" squares at an angle, like a diamond; gently crease each square from top to the bottom; adhere the back and two side squares together (folded triangles with crease towards the center); fold the 3" piece of ribbon in half and attach the loop to the top of the ornament with a glue dot; adhere the front square to the ornament, covering the ribbon ends inside. Finish it off with a pretty bow adhered to the front with another glue dot and you're done! Have fun with these and enjoy your preparations to get ready to "Deck the Halls"!