Close to My Heart February Stamp of the Month Blog Hop

It's hard to believe January 2010 is over and it's now time to be thinking of hearts, cupid, and love! With the close of the month, it means it's time for the monthly stamp of the month blog hop and this month's stamp is ubber-cute! It's called Piece of Cake and is full of fancy cakes and desserts.

But enough jabber, onto the artwork! If you started at the beginning of the hop, you came from Susan Brooks' blog. There are 72 bloggers this month so there's lots of artwork to see! You can view all the participants with their blog addresses on Helen's blog.

I think I mentioned last month that when I purchased the vinyl folios, I had to buy 100 of them. That means I have A LOT of them! So, in effort to use them, I once again created a gift set featuring 4x4 birthday cards.

To create this set, I used X7118B Twitterpatted Level 2 paper pack, Z2111 Chocolate ink, Z2117 Crystal Blue ink, Z2164 Sorbet ink, Z2153 Sweet Leaf ink, and X254 Cards and Envelopes. The card and folio cover designs are from 9032 Originals. I used the 3x3 patterns and cut the paper to fit 4x4 cards.All of these items are available on my website - simply type the product number in the quick search box and each item will appear!

Because the post office charges extra for square envelopes, I chose to use the regular sized cards and simply cut them down and mail them in the envelopes that come with the card bases. Plus, the pieces you cut off the card make perfect bookmarks - part of a future project so check back!

I tried to use a different embellishment or technique on each card. For this card, I used the random stamping technique to create the pattern on the white part of the card. I also added Sweet Leaf Ric Rac from the Z1052 Ric Rac Collection. It's not the easiest to see, but under the ric rac is chocolate brads from Z1218 Basic Brad Assortments.

This was my attempt to make a somewhat masculine card for the gift folio. I never have enough cards for men in my stash so I'm always looking for ways to make more. It's simple and I love the look. I used Z1247 Crystal Blue waxy flax to add the stitching on the side.

This card is another simple elegant - I'm into those right now! I stamped the cake in chocolate ink and then used the 3174 Blending Pen and 3505 Watercolor Pencils. If you've never used these two together, you're in for some fun! When you color with the pencils you get the "childhood scribble" lines, but by simply rubbing the blending pen over the color, it smooths them and makes them look like watercolor paints. One tip, though, be sure to drag your blending pen on scrap paper until the strokes are clear or the color you just smoothed will bleed into the next color.




This next card is my favorite out of the group. Close to My Heart cardstock has a white core so one of the fun techniques you can do is create a pattern by sanding. This pattern was created by placing a sprial paper clip under the cardstock and then sanding.

 If you're continuing on the blog hop, your next stop is Cindy Leek's blog. If you're interested in any of the techniques, projects, or products I've featured, please contact me. Later this week I'll be sharing and posting the events for the month of February. Be sure to check back!