National Scrapbooking Month Blog Hop

Welcome to the Close To My Heart National Scrapbooking Month Blog Hop featuring Live Beautifully. For this hop there are almost 20 bloggers sharing projects they created with products from the limited edition Live Beautifully collection. Our blog hop is circular–meaning you can just keep clicking on the link to the next blog (which you will usually find it near the bottom of a post)–to visit the next blog to make your way back to the blog where you started.

You should have arrived here from ***Michelle Loncar's Show and Tell, with Michelle***. If you get lost along the way, Melinda Everitt keeps a list of participants on her blog at If You Bling It.

I used the Live Beautifully Paper Packet and Stamp Set to create this Mother's Day card. This card is a new-to-me technique called a Peek-a-Boo card; I used a tutorial on SpiltcoastStampers to create my card, but I altered the size (I made my card 6 inches tall and kept the width as in the tutorial) and I used a rectangular shape to create the window because my oval dies were not large enough in my opinion (I wanted a window large enough to show off the floral stamps). I like how my card turned out, but I'm not sure I love it. Maybe I am like most creative people and am very critical of my work.

I should have used the next size smaller rectangle die. You place the die on the back of the card front flush with the edge of the folded panel (the folded panel moves the peek-a-boo panel into the window) and cut. I left too little an edge on the opening edge side of the card so I used a strip of Sea Glass Glitter Paper to frame the card opening edges.

Since I wanted a card that would fit a "regular" envelope, I also created this card (I just finished it - it took about 1 hour 45 minutes this evening since I had a little practice). :-) Rather than cutting the cardstock pieces 5½ inches, I cut them at 4¼ inches, then cut the decorative paper proportionally. By changing the size I cut the "base" cardstock, the card is now 4¼ inches tall and 5½ inches wide.

I could not use the same Mother's Day stamp as above because it was too large, so I used a smaller stamp and "filled" in the space with positive words to describe the recipient.

Before you head to ***Miss. Carrie's Creations by Carrie Simonds***, the supplies I used to create my project are listed below.

All supplies are from Close To My Heart except where noted:

• National Scrapbooking Month—Live Beautifully Paper Packet (CC1212B)
• National Scrapbooking Month—Live Beautifully Stamp Set (CC1212C)
• My Acrylix™ Stamp Sets: Happy to Be Friends (C1605), Short & Sweet (A1189), Finding the Words (D1646)
• 12" X 12" Cardstock: Black (1386), Sea Glass (X5789)
• Sea Glass Glitter Paper (Z3240)
• Sea Glass Exclusive Inks™ Mini Pigment Pad (Z2507)
• Sea Glass Exclusive Inks™ Stamp Pad (Z2813)
• Black Memento™ Ink Pad (Z899)
• VersaMark™ Ink Pad (Z891)
• Ranger™ Super Fine Embossing Powder: Gold (Z2066), Clear (Z2088)
• Craft Heater (Z555)
• Thin Cuts—Basic Ovals (Z3328)
• 3L® E-Z Dots® Adhesive (Z3022)
• Liquid Glass (Z679)
• Thin 3-D Foam Tape (Z2060)
• Scallop Border Punch (Z1851) - retired
• Supplies not from Close To My Heart: Cuttlebug, Spellbinders Nestabilities Long Classic Rectangles Large, Peek-a-Boo Card tutorial by Norma Lee on SplitcoastStampers except I made my card a bit taller—the plain cardstock was cut at 6 inches tall and I increased the other cuts proportionally (next time I will only increase the height to a maximum of 5¾ inches because 6 inches was a tight fit in my Cuttlebug), glass cutting mat, craft knife

If you are not already working with a CTMH Independent Consultant, all of the Limited Edition Live Beautifully items can be seen on my Consultant website. All options are available while supplies last or until May 31.

It would be wonderful if you have a moment to leave a comment telling me know what you think of my card before you head to ***Miss. Carrie's Creations***.

I love this collection so much that I purchased a paper pack to hoard for a special occasion or for one (or more) of the fabulous ideas I know I will find during the hop. I hope our hop is providing you much inspiration for using the Live Beautifully items available during National Scrapbooking Month. Thanks for hopping with us!