April Excitement

I have several things going on in April.  The first is that I am running a fundraiser for ChildSafe Colorado.  I am donating 20% of all sales I have on my Close To My Heart shop in April to ChildSafe Colorado as part of my participation in Shimmy Mob 2015.  You can access my Close To My Heart shop via the link on the right hand side of my blog.  ChildSafe Colorado is an awesome charity that the Ft. Collins Shimmy Mob team is supporting for the 2nd year in a row.  They provide services for children who have been victims of sexual abuse and their non-offending family members.  It's an amazing charity - check them out here:  http://www.childsafecolorado.org  Let's help them make thrivers of the survivors!

Also in April Close To My Heart is running a really fun special.  Each day during April, while supplies last, they will have a random grab bag filled with current and retired Close To My Heart products available for purchase at a major discount. To grab your bag, simply place any current, full-priced item in your online shopping cart at my website and  you will be eligible to purchase as many grab bags as you wish (while supplies last)! Grab bags will be featured at five different price points throughout the month, ranging from $35 to $150.  Some grab bags will contain product with more than DOUBLE the retail value of the price you pay!  Grab bags will be available for 24 hours starting at 3 pm MDT each day and only while supplies last—so visit often and early!  Remember that grab bag tiers will be featured on a random schedule throughout the month, so seize the opportunity to purchase from the grab bag tier you’re interested in when it becomes available because it might not come around again!

I'm also really excited about the Stamp of the Month for April.  This has to be my favorite one so far! I'll be posting a project I made on my blog tomorrow so come back and check it out then.  You have two ways of purchasing the Stamp of the Month.  You can pay the full price of $17.95 for the stamp set or you can get it for only $5 if you have a qualifying purchase of $50 or more.  And...the grab bag purchase counts toward the $50 purchase!

Please let me know if there are any questions you have about any of these exciting things I've shared!

Best Wishes Hot Air Balloon

I made this card for a friend for her birthday.  I cut the oval with Spellbinder's Lacey Ovals die and then stamped an image and sentiment from Close to My Heart's Give a Lift (D1581) stamp in CTMH Sorbet Pigment Ink (retired).  I heat embossed the panel with Ranger Clear Embossing Powder.  I stamped the inside with CTMH Sorbet dye based ink.  I love using the coordinating dye based ink on the inside when I heat emboss something on the outside.  It ties it together without having to wait forever for the pigment ink to dry.

The papers are from CTMH's retired paper pack Balloon Ride.  I loved that paper and this is just about the last of what I have.  The card base is also from CTMH and is the Colonial White color.

ODBD Challenge for OWH - March 2015

The Our Daily Bread Designs challenge for March is to make a card where the sentiment is the main focus.  I just made this card last night and it fits the challenge perfectly so I figured it was meant to be that I was able to join the challenge this month.

I was surprised that this card even came out of my head!  I had a PML card hanging out and I started looking at it and trying to figure out how to use it on a card.  I cut the sentiment from the card out and used it on another card and then cut up the left over pieces into two layers.  Then I embossing the sentiment on the card in white embossing powder and layered them on a piece of Whisper cardstock. I felt like it was way too plain so I ran the Whisper cardstock through an embossing folder to mimic the dots on the bottom layer of the sentiment panel.

Funny thing about that embossing folder.  When I would use that folder in my Texture Boutique I never had good results and I was about ready to throw it away as a defective cheapo folder.  But...I already had my Big Shot out to cut the other layers so I decided to try using the embossing folder with the Big Shot and WOW! did it come out great!  Very well embossed and consistent throughout the whole cardstock!!  Your tools really do make a difference.  I think I'll be using my Big Shot from now on!  Sorry cute little purse embossing thingy - being cute does not make up for your shortcomings!

Here's a link if you would like to join the challenge and help Operation Write Home by providing for shipping costs for two boxes of cards to our service members.  http://operationwritehome.org/march-odbd-challenge-3/

Supplies used:

Close to My Heart Whisper Cardstock
Close to My Heart Picture My Life For Always Card
Close to My Heart Have a Happy Day Stamp Set (D1616)
Close to My Heart Card Base and Envelope
Versamark Stamp Pad
Recollections Detail Snow Embossing Powder
The Paper Studio polka dot embossing folder
Spellbinders Curved Matting Basics Dies S5-171

Robot Birthday Card

I made this little card for my niece's 6th birthday.  I used a retired Close to My Heart stamp set called Robot Family.  It is so cute - I'm bummed they retired it!  I also used a cute sparkly polka dot paper from the DCWV Pet Stack.  I stamped the robot on X-Press It Blending Cardstock using Momento Tuxedo Black ink and colored it with my Copics.  I then covered the robot and the cake with Wink of Stella Clear Glitter - I wish the camera would pick up all the sparkle.  I didn't have the exact color cardstock I wanted for the sentiment so I just stamped it on a scrap piece of the white X-Press It and colored the background with a Copic.  I put the sentiment banner on some foam adhesive to give it a little dimension.  I cut the oval and background paper using a couple Spellbinder's basics dies.

I hope she likes the card!

Copics used: