Seasonal Expressions 1 New Product Blog Hop

Welcome to the Close to My Heart Seasonal Expressions 1 New Product Blog Hop! This is a special hop from the group that brings you the SOTM Blog Hops. Today we are featuring crafty makes introducing products from our new Seasonal Expressions 1; all projects were created by talented Close To My Heart consultants.

On this hop we have about 15 participating CTMH Independent Consultants. If you just happened upon my post, clicking the link to the next blog (typically found near the bottom of the page) will take you full circle.

If you are visiting from ***Katy Taylor's An Inside to My Heart...one scrap at a time*** then you are on the right track; a complete list of participants can be found at Melinda Everitt's If You Bling It.

I created this shaker card using the new Something Fierce papers and Years of Sweetness stamp set.

I really wanted to use the cupcake frame around "it's your day", but felt I needed to dress it up a bit so it would stand out from the shaker frame, but not overpower it. I used the hide contour tool in Cricut Design Space on the frame and cut that from the lighter side of Carolina cardstock. To create a second cupcake layer I used the slice tool and then cut it from the darker side of Carolina and added the Clear Shimmer.

When I stamped my cupcake wrapper, I swiped the stamp over the ink pad to create the look of a vertical line. I stamped the first layer of frosting using second generation ink, but stamped it like that twice; the first time is was so pale that it almost looked like I did not stamp. The second time I was not as careful to stamp off the entire stamp and I love how it turned out. I was so happy with it I considered not using the second icing stamp. I inked the flame with Lemon and then just touched the left side to the Nectarine.

I decided the cupcake needed more definition so I duplicated the cupcake image I stamped on, unlocked it so I could adjust the height and width independently then changed the sizes until I found one I thought would look good layered with my stamped cupcake; not a full "shadow" layer, but enough so it creates dimension.

By the way, if you are fairly new to using Cricut image codes (the #M code near the size and handbook page on stamp sheet carriers), I recently wrote a post you may find helpful. I detail (with screenshots) how to use the image code to add and size the Cricut cut that coordinates with the stamp to your virtual mat in Cricut Design Space.

I hope you enjoyed your visit today. Before you head to your next stop on the Seasonal Expressions 1 Blog Hop, ***Melissa Robinson's My Heartfelt Sentiments***, product details about my card are below.

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

• My Acrylix™ Stamp Sets: Years of Sweetness (D1827)
• White Cards & Envelopes Value Pack (X254)
• Paper Packet: Something Fierce (X7240B)
• 12" X 12" Cardstock: White Daisy (X6027), Lemon (X6008), Carolina (X5990)
• Exclusive Inks™ Stamp Pads: Lemon (Z2808), Nectarine (Z6510), Carolina (Z6505), Bluebird (Z6508), Willow (Z2807), Mink (Z2825)
• Shaker supplies: Thin Cuts—Shaker Window & Confetti (Z4309), Shaker Window Foam & Acetate (Z4310), Loose Sequins—Silver (Z4304)
• Thin 3D Foam Tape
• embellishments: Shimmer Brush—Clear (Z3293)
• Cricut® Artbooking Digital Collection/no cartridge (Z3503)
• Cupcake Frame ― #M473B9 ― page 87 ― Shift + Photo Mat 2 <Wish>
• Cupcake ― #M45678 ― page 87 ― Icon <MakeA>
• my Design Space file with a shadow layer and frame layer
• Cricut® Explore Air™ 2 (available at Level 3 of Hostess Rewards; see page 3 of Seasonal Expressions 1)
• Cricut® Cuttlebug™ (available at Level 1 of Hostess Rewards; see page 3 of Seasonal Expressions 1)
• Supplies not from Close To My Heart: Tim Holtz Stamp Platform

If you are not already working with a CTMH Independent Consultant, you may purchase all of the supplies I used at my Consultant website.

I love to hear what folks think about the items I create. If you have a few moments, please leave a comment letting me know what you think of my card. Thank you for hopping with us!

So you do not have to scroll back up, the next stop on the hop is ***Melissa Robinson's My Heartfelt Sentiments***.