Sunday, April 17, 2022

National Scrapbooking Day 2022 Blog Hop

Welcome to the National Scrapbooking Day 2022 Blog Hop where we will be featuring items from the National Scrapbooking Day Celebration scheduled for May 6–7.

National Scrapbooking Day Celebration Blog Hop
National Scrapbooking Day Celebration Blog Hop

You should have arrived here from ***ScrappinKaty***. If you encounter any problems along the way, Melinda Everitt keeps a list of the blog hop participants at her blog If You Bling It.

I started out with a different card in mind, but after cutting the dies from the Circles and Patterns Scrapbooking Workshop Kit (CC3224), my focus shifted and I ended up creating this card.

card created for National Scrapbooking Day Celebration Blog Hop
card created for National Scrapbooking Day Celebration Blog Hop

When I cut the die that reminds me of a wedding ring quilt, some of the pieces made me think of flower petals, so I decided to experiment. I came up with this dimensional flower. 

I made two cuts of Lemonade for the flower and one cut of Clover for the flower. I stamped the Lemonade petals with Lemonade and Mocha inks and I stamped the Clover leaves with Clover ink.

leaves on card created for National Scrapbooking Day Celebration Blog Hop
leaves on card created for National Scrapbooking Day Celebration Blog Hop

When stamping on the leaves I lined up the stamp so it would look like veins on the leaves. Then I scored the leaves down the middle and pinched to add dimension. I glued just the tips of the leaves together with Dual-tip Multi-bond Glue Pen (Z3441) to make a cluster.

To hold the flower together I used the Circle Thin Cuts to cut a base and attached the petals with Dual-tip Multi-bond Glue Pen (Z3441). So the length of petals is even all the way around, I folded the circle base in quarters to aid with petal placement.

For the flower center I used the Circle Thin Cut to cut Mocha cardstock. I stamped that cut with Mocha ink then added using 3-D Foam Tape (Z1151).

petal shaping on card created for National Scrapbooking Day Celebration Blog Hop
petal shaping on card created for National Scrapbooking Day Celebration Blog Hop

I shaped the petals by placing the flower in the palm of my hand and rolling the end of a paint brush across the petal.

I stamped the Bluebird cardstock with Bluebird ink to create a background and I cut a piece of White Glitter Paper using the Fancy Borders Thin Cuts to decorate the card. 

I stamped "Many Thanks" (from the Many Wishes Cardmaking Workshop Kit) on White Daisy using Bluebird ink and dove-tailed the end before attaching to the card.

Before you visit ***Lauren CTMH Craftings***, the supplies I used to create my project are listed below.

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

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

I hope you like the card I created for the National Scrapbooking Day Celebration Blog Hop. If you have a few moments, please let me know what you think of my creation. Thank you for hopping with us!

So you do not have to scroll up for the link, the next blog on our hop is ***Lauren CTMH Craftings***.

Friday, April 1, 2022

CTMH Message in a Bottle SOTM Blog Hop - April 2022

Welcome to the April 2022 SOTM Blog Hop featuring the stamp set Message in a Bottle. There are a little over ten CTMH Makers sharing projects created with the CTMH Stamp Of The Month Message in a Bottle. Click the link, often found near the bottom of a post, to visit the next blog and complete the entire hop.

Message in a Bottle Blog Hop (April 2022 SOTM)
Message in a Bottle Blog Hop (April 2022 SOTM)

You should have arrived here from ***ScrappinKaty***. If you encounter any problems along the way, Melinda Everitt keeps a list of the blog hop participants at her blog If You Bling It.

Message in a Bottle Stamp Set
Message in a Bottle Stamp Set

For the Message in a Bottle Stamp Set blog hop I created this card.

card created for Message in a Bottle Blog Hop
card created for Message in a Bottle Blog Hop

I think many people do not think about masking and layering stamped images when the object being stamped is traditionally clear, but I wanted to try it. I wanted to create a scene of a collection of antique decorative bottles. Fortunately I am happy with the results. I hope you like it too.

In hindsight I wish I photographed the project while in progress; hopefully I can describe my process well.

I started by stamping the bottles, using masks created with sticky notes (I described the process I use for masking on the CTMH Strong Roots SOTM Blog Hop - July 2021). I also stamped the items inside the bottles.

I have observed old glass objects in a variety of colors so I searched for "what colors do bottles come in". The first website suggested, from the Society for Historical Archaeology, had a photo of old glassware (you will find the photo here) so I selected Watercolor Pencils inspired by colors in the photo. I used Watercolor Pencils because I am more comfortable layering colors from pencils than I am paints or alcohol ink markers. I also like Watercolor Pencils because you can achieve a lot of shades from one pencil depending on the pressure used.

Since glass is mostly transparent, or at least translucent, I colored a bit of the adjacent bottle color behind the more forward bottle since in real life you would be able to see a bit of the bottle through the forward bottle. Then I colored over that color with the color I selected for the forward bottle. To create some definition for the scroll in the green bottle, I colored the scroll with white pencil before coloring with green. I did the same thing with the star shaped lights, colored them with yellow before adding pink on top.

I finished the edge of the card by cutting Ballerina cardstock using the Stitched Rectangle Frames and adding Gold Glitter Gems.

Before you visit ***Stefani***, the supplies I used to create my project are listed below.

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

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

I hope you like the card I created with Message in a Bottle—April Stamp of the Month. If you have a few moments, please let me know what you think of my card. Thank you for hopping with us!

So you do not have to scroll up for the link, the next blog on our hop is ***Stefani***.

April 2022 CTMH News

Hello! Thank you for stopping by today. In case you missed my post yesterday, I celebrated by 10th Anniversary with Close To My Heart on March 2022. I cannot believe it!

Isn't it wonderful that the calendar says the weather should be getting nicer? I am looking forward to Spring-like days, though I hope we don't have the hot Summer days like we did last year.

As always, Close To My Heart has a new Stamp Of The Month and the special for April is centered around the Color Of The Year—Wildberry.

April 2022 Stamp Of The Month Message in a Bottle

Message in a Bottle—April Stamp of the Month (S2204)
Message in a Bottle—April Stamp of the Month (S2204)

Message in a Bottle (S2204) is an exclusive D-size set of 21 stamps. Message in a Bottle is available only during the month of April 2022. The stamp set can be free for CTMH VIP Customers who place a qualifying order during April. Those who are not CTMH VIP Customers can place a qualifying order and purchase the stamp set for only $5. Everyone qualifies for additional sets at $5 for each additional $50 spent on the same order. Message in a Bottle is also available for $18.95 with no other purchase required. The recommended CTMH My Acrylix® Blocks for this stamp set are: 1" × 1½" (Y1016), 1" × 3½" (Y1002), 2" × 2" (Y1003), 2" × 3½" (Y1009), and 3" × 3" (Y1006).

The Close To My Heart art department created this two-page layout with the Message in a Bottle Stamp Set:

layout created with Message in a Bottle
layout created with Message in a Bottle

I will be participating in the Message in a Bottle Blog Hop this month. Please come back after 8pm today or anytime this month to see what I create.

Wild Berry Blast

Wild Berry Blast
Wild Berry Blast

During April we are celebrating the Color Of The Year Wild Berry. In addition to discounts on the Wild Berry products you will find in the Core Products catalog, there are items exclusive to Wild Berry Blast. There is a product bundle that, if I did not miss anything, includes one each of all the exclusive products.

This Wild Berry Blast flyer (PDF format) has all of the promotion details. The four-page flyer is also shown in images below. Click on any image for a larger view:

Wild Berry Blast Flyer - page 1
Wild Berry Blast Flyer - page 1
Wild Berry Blast Flyer - page 2
Wild Berry Blast Flyer - page 2
Wild Berry Blast Flyer - page 3
Wild Berry Blast Flyer - page 3
Wild Berry Blast Flyer - page 4
Wild Berry Blast Flyer - page 4

Wild Berry Blast is available through April 30 while supplies last.

National Scrapbooking Day Celebration

National Scrapbooking Day Celebration
National Scrapbooking Day Celebration

Celebrate National Scrapbooking Day on the CTMH Facebook Page. The CTMH National Scrapbooking Day Celebration includes two days of live virtual events on Friday, May 6 and Saturday, May 7 from 1pm to 9pm EDT. The team at the CTMH Home Office will lead us through creating five workshops over the two days. If you are not able to join us live the videos will be available on the CTMH Facebook Page to watch when the time is convenient for you. 

Choose just the scrapbooking or the cardmaking workshops or select a bundle of all the workshops. The options are summarized in the flyer pages pictured below (or download the flyer).

National Scrapbooking Day Celebration flyer
page 1
National Scrapbooking Day Celebration flyer
page 2
National Scrapbooking Day Celebration flyer
page 3

Visit the National Scrapbooking Day Celebration page to view all of the available workshops. Click on a workshop for an image of the workshop product bundle; click on the product image, then click on the left and right arrows to view the layouts and cards that will be created during the live virtual events.

National Scrapbooking Day Celebration is available until May 31, 2022 while supplies last.

April Album Retreat

April 2022 Album Retreat
April Album Retreat

Close To My Heart is hosting an April Album Retreat online from April 20 to April 22. The theme is "Celebrations". Pictured is one of the 11 two-page 12″ × 12″ scrapbook layouts that will be created during the April Album Retreat. All of the details can be found here.

March–April 2022 Catalog

March–April 2022 Catalog
March–April 2022 Catalog

The March–April 2022 Catalog is now here! It features two new paper collections: Cake Day and In Full Bloom. Each paper collection has coordinating embellishments, images to stamp and a digital (SVG) collection.. There is also a new Mix-In paper packet. There are many new stamps, some are available with Thin Cuts. There will be Facebook Lives for both the scrapbooking and cardmaking workshops. A full list of upcoming Facebook Lives can be found here. You can download a Printable PDF of the catalog under the page-turner of the catalog here.

Try not to fall for any April Fool pranks today and have a fabulous month. Take care of yourselves.