Monogram Stamps in Every Letter

One great stamp to invest in is a monogram stamp - they only cost $2.95 and you should definitely have one with your initial! The video below shows several ways to use this stamp.

Birthday Explosion Card

This idea was inspired & copied from Tiffany McCloskey's card (see post below).

Mostly everything here was made using the Cricut Artiste Cartridge. The explosion box (pg. 48) is cut at 3 1/4" from Vanilla Cream cardstock. I covered the sides on the inside and out with paper from the Veranda design.

The doilies -one under the cake and one on top of box (page 80) were cut at 3" from Veranda paper. The cake was made by cutting two circles (page 48) one at 3" and one at 2.5", cutting one inch wide bands to make the sides of the cake and wrapping them in a circle. The pieces were all cut from Veranda paper.

The icing design on the cake was made using Liquid Applique.

The roses on the sides were stamped with the Happy Valentines Stamp set, embossed with black embossing powder, then colored in with markers.

"Birthday girl" (pg 69) was cut at 2 1/4" from Vanilla Cream and sponged with Honey Ink. The rosettes on the top of the box and on the cake were made using various flower cuts on page 54. They are cut from Vanilla Cream cardstock, sponged with Honey Ink. The ribbon is Creme Brulee. An adhesive sparkle dots the "i"

Cricut Fun

I love this 3d card that Tiffany made with Cricut Artiste Cartridge! I may try one of my own.

Mary Gunn FUNN: Which Downton Abbey Character?

I Love this quiz that Mary Gunn made up. Unfortunately I am Carson - maybe I need to loosen up a bit!

Mary Gunn FUNN: Which Downton Abbey Character?

Learn a few new stamping tricks from this video that shows off ways to get different colors out of one stamp pad. You can see all the different colors of stamp pads available from Close to My Heart at this website.

Just Blooms Flowers on Sale

When you are shopping for Close To My Heart products, be sure to check the "While Supplies Last" link for some great deals.

These Just Blooms flowers are just $1.70 right now!

Favorite New Stamp

Finally, after about 5 months with no crafting, I played with the "Happy Valentine's" stamp set today.  I think this is my new favorite.

I stamped the rose images on white card stock using the versamark ink, then colored using markers and  cut out the images. Fun and beautiful! Now I'm ready to make some cards and a scrapbook page.

You can get this stamp for just $5 (with additional purchases) through the end of January by clicking here.