CTMH Strong Roots SOTM Blog Hop - July 2021

Welcome to the July 2021 SOTM Blog Hop featuring the stamp set Strong Roots. This month we have just shy of 20 CTMH Makers sharing projects created with the CTMH Stamp Of The Month Strong Roots. Keep visiting the next blog (typically via a link near the bottom of the post) to get back to the blog where you started.

Strong Roots - July 2021 SOTM

You should have arrived here from the very talented ***Alyson Mayo***. If you get lost along the way, Melinda Everitt also keeps a list of all participants on her blog at If You Bling It.

Strong Roots Stamp Set

Even though the real estate market is "red hot" in many areas, I do not know anyone purchasing a house right now, so I decided to use the stamps to create Thank You and Hello cards.

I used sticky notes to create masks to stamp a scene on the White Daisy cardstock. Then I colored the cards stamped with Intense Black with TriBlend™ Markers.

card created with Strong Roots and TriBlend™ Markers

I stamped the same scene a second time with Black and colored with Watercolor Pencils (I did not add water). I added some freehand birds using the True Black Marker (Z2498).

card created with Strong Roots and Watercolor Pencils

I think the scenes would also create great masculine cards. Cards for guys is something that I often hear people say they have a difficult time creating.

I had more cards planned, but ran out of time to color and assemble, so I decided to talk about about masking.

If masking is new to you, here is how I approach the process. The easiest way for me to think about it is to stamp the images in the foreground first, mask them (to protect them from the background stamping), and then stamp the images in the background. I did not think to take photos at each step, so I hope you find my comments clearly written. If you have any questions, feel free to contact me via the Contact Form to the right or comment below.

To create my masks I stamped each image on a sticky note making sure that some of the sticky will still be on the paper after cutting very close to the stamped lines.

If I had taken photos at each step, you would only see the house stamped on the card above. I would then mask the house and stamp the tree behind the house (the mask would be protecting the stamped house) and stamp the larger tree on the left side.

Because I am not stamping any other images behind the house, I do not need to mask the tree behind the house, but I need to mask the tree on the left because I am going to stamp the shortest tree/hedge between the large tree on the left and the house.

Now I need to mask the shortest tree/hedge so I can stamp the shorter single tree behind the shortest tree/hedge.

When all of the stamping and masking is complete, this is the image I have ready to color. Admittedly it does look like a jumble now, but once the image is colored it will be easy to distinguish all of the bushes and trees. You could color before masking if you would find that easier.

Before you leave to get inspired by the gifted ***Darlys Recker***, the supplies I used to create my project are listed below.

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

• My Acrylix™ Stamp Sets: Strong Roots — July Stamp of the Month (S2107), Smiles from the Garden (D2030) or Smiles from the Garden Stamp + Thin Cuts (Z3967)
  
• Cardstock: White Daisy (1385), Black (X6047)
  
• Exclusive Inks™ Stamp Pads: Black (Z2805), Intense Black (Z4189)
  
• White Cards & Envelopes Value Pack (X254)
• Thin Cuts: Stitched Rectangle Frames (Z4260)
  
• Watercolor Pencils (Z3630)
• TriBlend™ Markers: Ice Grey Blend (Z2474), Gold Brown Blend (Z2479), Citrus Green Blend (Z2484), Light Green Blend (Z2485), Dull Green Blend (Z2486), Brown Grey Shades (Z2511), Earth Brown Shades (Z2515), True Black Marker (Z2498)
  
• Die-cutting & Embossing Machine (HB1080)
• Supplies not from Close To My Heart: sticky notes (3" x 3" temporary adhesive sheets)
  

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

If you have a few moments, please leave a comment letting me know what you think of my card. I hope you are enjoying the projects created with Strong Roots. Thanks for hopping with us!

So you do not have to scroll back up, the next stop on the hop is ***Darlys Recker***.