February SOTM Blog Hop!!

Welcome to our February Stamp of the Month Blog Hop featuring the February SOTM - Thoughtful Tidings S1202! If you have come here from Lori's blog then you are on the correct path.

Today I am sharing a simple standard size card featuring the Florentine Paper Packet X7153B (colors are Bamboo, Brown Bag, Cocoa, Colonial White, Creme Brulee, Garden Green, Goldrush, Olive, Twilight, and Vanilla Cream). To create the base of this card (shown at the top) I used the background stamp from the Florentine WOTG stamp set G1038 to stamp the background with Desert Sand ink on my Colonial White cardstock base. As usual, I used by AP Cricut Cartridge to cut many of the shapes on this card (Rctngle8 cut from Colonial White 1.5", Rctngle8 cut from Goldrush 1.75", Cupcake/Shift/Font from Goldrush at 2" to make the flower, and Petal1/Shift/FontLayer from Olive cardstock at 2"). Stamping and edge distressing was done with Cocoa ink (except for the paper Butterfly that was sponged with Desert Sand ink). I'm including a view of all of the images included in the SOTM set (below), as this set includes so many great sentiments that I will be sure to use over and over again! You can see (all the images outlined in red) that most of these sentiments coordinate well with our Art Philosophy Cricut Cartridge!

Thank you for stopping by! Now you can continue on the hop by visiting Brae's blog next! Enjoy!!

Pair-a-Phrase Blog Hop!!

Welcome to a very special mid-month blog hop featuring the "Pair-a-Phrase" stamp set! If you've just arrived here from Katy's blog,
then you are on the right path!

The standard size card I created (above) features the "Pair-a-Phrase" stamp set with our NEW Sonoma papers X7143B. I stamped all of the images with Black ink and then colored them in with our Exclusive Inks markers (Bamboo, Creme Brulee, Desert Sand, and Olive). All other shading was done with Cocoa ink and a sponge dauber. Parts of the owl are "paper pieced" together using scraps of the Sonoma B&T duos patterned paper. Below you can see a closer view of the paper flower that I created using the Art Philosophy Cricut Cartridge to cut it from Creme Brulee cardstock using the "Shift+Font+FlurDeLs" keys at 3 inches.

Now here are all the details about this special stamp set you can get for yourself FREE starting on 8/15! To celebrate National Stamping Month in September, we are offering our first-ever double stamp set! You can get this exclusive My Acrylix^® Pair-a-Phrase double stamp set FREE when you place an order of $75 or more from August 15 through September 30, 2011. You'll love this double set—two D-size sets in one envelope—which includes lots of clever phrases and coordinating images you'll use in your handmade cards all year long. The double set has a retail value of $35.90, which drastically increases the value of your qualifying purchase! You can place your order with me (in person or by phone/e-mail) to qualify for this FREE stamp set now OR just simply place your qualifying order online from my website www.StampwithJen.myctmh.com. Then have double the fun stamping during National Stamping Month with our new Pair-a-Phrase double stamp set (see all of the stamp set images that are included in this set below)!

I hope you've been inspired by my artwork today! Now you can continue on with the rest of the blog hop to see more creativity with this stamp set by visiting
Shirley's blog next! Enjoy!

Heartfelt Wishes card for the H2H Bingo Challenge!

Good Morning! Today I'm sharing the "Heartfelt Wishes" card I created this week for the Heart to Heart Blog Bingo Challenge! This challenge was simple. Choose three items in a row (bingo or tic-tac-toe) from the bingo card (shown above) to use to inspire your creation! Can you guess which three I chose?! If you guessed doily, flowers, and lace (top row straight across), then you are correct! I'm also showing you the packaging for the 4" paper doilies I used in case you want to get some of your own to create with (I got mine from the cake decorating aisle at wal-mart, but you should be able find them at any store
with a cake-decorating section).

The standard size card I created is inspired by Wishes - Sentiment Secured (p. 78). I've used the Wings papers (X7135B) with two different stamp sets; Card Chatter - Sympathy D1476 and the b-size stamp set from the Sophia Workshop-on-the-Go kit G1019. Ink colors are Black, Olive, Vineyard Berry, and 2nd generation Vineyard Berry. I backed the paper doily with Colonial White cardstock and embellished with some lacy Colonial White ribbon and a paper button carnation. The interesting button carnation is a new thing I learned from consultant Connie Macfarlane and her FABULOUS blog "Paper Pleats and Ribbon Roses"!! Click here to visit Connie's blog for an AWESOME video tutorial that shows how to create these fun button carnations from scraps!! Connie, ALL of your paper and ribbon flowers are so beautiful and I am so inspired by you - THANK YOU for sharing your know-how and creativity with us!!

Valentine's Day Countdown - Day 12

Today I'm sharing a paper triangle box that I learned how to create at my 3rd upline Cindy Baker's consultant team meeting last year (here is a link to Cindy's Blog - I so admire her artistic talent)! At that same team meeting we also learned how to create all kinds of trendy paper flowers like the paper roses that adorn this box. Here's a link to one of my favorite paper flower online tutorials on my fellow CTMH consultant Jennifer Bennett's blog that shows you so well how to create the paper roses. I was a little lazier than Jen though and just kept it quick and simple by using Tulip cardstock (no sprayed ink or sponging) and also didn't crumple up the paper much either for my roses shown here. I've been wanting to post this fun triangle box here on my blog for some time now, so I think it's about time, right?! This box could be filled with Hershey's kisses (or any treat you'd like) to be given for Valentine's Day (or for any gift-giving occasion really).

To create the triangle box you will need one piece of cardstock cut to 5"x 12" and a piece of background & texture paper cut to 4.75" x 11.75". Adhere those two pieces together, centering the b&t which will leave you with a 1/8th" border of cardstock framing the outside edge. Then use your scoring blade/tool to make a crease in the center of the longest edge (at the 6" mark). Use a pencil to mark the mid-points (2.5 inches in) on both of the short ends. Then use your scoring blade/tool again to score a line from your corners at the 6" scored line to the 2.5" mid-point marks you made on each end. I've sponged the edges of my creased lines (above) with chocolate ink to help them be more visible so you can see all the lines that are scored (this also adds dimension and beauty to the finished box as well I think). Crease all your folds into a pie-shaped wedge and punch a hole on the open end where all the paper edges meet (you can see on my sample above that this results in 4 holes as the punch will go through 4 different parts of the paper). I like to use my crop-a-dile tool to easily punch through so many layers at once - it's actually 8 layers of paper when you count the b&t paper). Then simply thread a ribbon through the holes and tie a bow to hold your box closed.
Isn't this a simply great box pattern?!!!
I just love it - THANK YOU Cindy Baker for teaching it to me!