Stamp of the Month Blog Hop -- Bloom & Grow

Welcome to the January Stamp of the Month Blog Hop!

If you came from visiting Melinda Everitt, then you are in the right place.  If you just happened upon my little corner of the blog world, simply start here and continue hopping until you return here -- our fun hop is one big loop for your viewing pleasure. 

The month's featured stamp set is S1801 Bloom & Grow (pictured below).  This set is only available until January 31 and is only $5 with a $50 Close to My Heart purchase.

As we all reflect on the new year and many of us sets our goals and resolutions for the year to come, it's important to remember change takes time and nothing can happen overnight.  This month's SOTM is full of inspirational quotes perfect for sending some encouragement to a friend or loved one.  Who wouldn't feel inspired when receiving a card like this?

Supplies used:

*Bloom & Grow stamp set (December SOTM)
*Chelsea Gardens -- Cardmaking stamp set
*12" x 12" Charcoal cardstock
*12" x 12" White Daisy cardstock
*Vellum paper
*5 1/2" X 4 1/4" white cards & envelopes, value pack
*Archival Black Exclusive Inks stamp pad
*Glacier Exclusive Inks stamp pad
*Sweet Leaf Exclusive Inks stamp pad
*Watercolor pencils
*Cream ribbon
*Black & White dots

To order these or any of our other fabulous Close to My Heart products, please visit http://jddesigns.ctmh.com.

Thank you for visiting me at {jd designs} and for hopping with us on the Close to My Heart Stamp of the Month January Blog Hop!  Next up on the hop is Gina Brandstetter. I hope you'll hop on over to her blog for more inspiration.

Until next time, design with {heart}!

Stamp of the Month Blog Hop -- A Little Bit of Pun

Welcome to the December Stamp of the Month Blog Hop!

If you came from visiting Krista Hershberger, then you are in the right place.  If you just happened upon my little corner of the blog world, simply start here and continue hopping until you return here -- our fun hop is one big loop for your viewing pleasure. 

The month's featured stamp set is S1712 A Little Bit of Pun  (pictured below).  This set is only available until December 31st and is only $5 with a $50 Close to My Heart purchase.

For today's project, I combined the trendy mermaid stamp from this set with the fun papers in the Bats & Cats paper packet.  I love how the Emerald color makes the mermaid tail look like Ariel's tail from The Little Mermaid.  To color the tail, I used my Emerald ink pad along with my small water brush.  By squeezing the top and bottom of the closed ink pad case, you can transfer ink from the actual ink pad to the inside of the lid -- giving you a perfect painting palette.  If you have never tried this quick & easy watercolor technique, you really should.  It's one of my favorites!

The card pattern comes from the free Basics Fundamental 64 Card Workshop Pattern CTMH shared on its blog a few weeks ago.  This great workshop shows you how to cut 22 out of 24 sheets in any of the Fundamentals paper packets to create the layering pieces for 64(!) cards.  The card patterns are so versatile, you can easily use them with other paper collections to create quick & simple cards like the one I have below.  To view the blog post and download your FREE copy of the workshop, click here.

Supplies used:

*A Little Bit of Pun stamp set (December SOTM)
*Cats & Bats paper packet
*12" x 12" White Daisy cardstock
*Silver foil paper
*5 1/2" X 4 1/4" white cards & envelopes, value pack
*Archival Black Exclusive Inks stamp pad
*Emerald Exclusive Inks stamp pad
*Waterbrush -- small round
*Clear sparkles
*Bitty sparkles

To order these or any of our other fabulous Close to My Heart products, please visit http://jddesigns.ctmh.com.

Thank you for visiting me at {jd designs} and for hopping with us on the Close to My Heart Stamp of the Month December Blog Hop!  Next up on the hop is Alyson Mayo. I hope you'll hop on over to her blog for more inspiration.

Until next time, design with {heart}!

Close to My Heart Christmas Card Blog Hop

Welcome to the CTMH Christmas Card Blog Hop!

If you came from visiting Priscilla Gotham, then you are in the right place.  If you just happened upon my little corner of the blog world, simply start here and continue hopping until you return here -- our fun hop is one big loop for your viewing pleasure. 

My hop projects were made using the Workshop Your Way Joyful Tidings Cardmaking Instruction Guide -- HOWEVER, instead of using the Gold & Silver product collection, I used the Beary Christmas collection.  I love to use the various workshop guides and change them up by using different paper collections than originally intended.  Doesn't the Joyful Tidings WYW look great with Beary Christmas???

Joyful Tidings WYW Projects

WYW Project 1

WYW Project 2

Supplies used:

*Merry Everything stamp
*Beary Christmas paper packet
*12" x 12" Cranberry cardstock
*12" x 12" New England Ivy cardstock
*12" x 12" White Daisy cardstock
*Silver glitter paper
*5 1/2" X 4 1/4" white cards & envelopes, value pack
*New England Ivy Exclusive Inks stamp pad
*Clear Sparkles
*Foam tape
*Thin Cuts -- Basic Banners
*Thin Cuts -- Scallop Border

To order these or any of our other fabulous Close to My Heart products, please visit http://jddesigns.ctmh.com.

Thank you for visiting me at {jd designs} and for hopping with us on the CTMH Christmas Card Blog Hop!  Next up on the hop is Gina Brandstetter. I hope you'll hop on over to her blog for more inspiration.

Until next time, design with {heart}!

Stamp of the Month Blog Hop -- Christmas Tunes

Welcome to the October Stamp of the Month Blog Hop!

If you came from visiting Priscilla Gotham, then you are in the right place.  If you just happened upon my little corner of the blog world, simply start here and continue hopping until you return here -- our fun hop is one big loop for your viewing pleasure. 

The month's featured stamp set is S1710 Christmas Tunes (pictured below).  This set is only available until October 31st and is only $5 with a $50 Close to My Heart purchase.

I love Christmas music!   I dare you not to start singing -- in your head or out loud -- when looking at the stamps in this set.  There is just something so catchy and cheery about Christmas songs.  I'm not sure what it is... maybe it's that warm fuzzy feeling you get when you hear them or maybe it's the memories that come back to you when a certain song comes on.  Whatever it is, this month's stamp of the month set will have you singing in no time!

For today's hop, I created a simple, yet festive Christmas card using Beary Christmas collection.  I like to keep my Christmas cards simple and easy to mass produce.  Do you make your own Christmas cards?

Supplies used:

*Christmas Tunes stamp set (October SOTM)
*12" x 12" Pebble cardstock
*12" x 12" Pewter cardstock
*12" x 12" White Daisy cardstock
*5 1/2" X 4 1/4" white cards & envelopes, value pack
*Cranberry Exclusive Inks stamp pad
*Beary Christmas Dots

To order these or any of our other fabulous Close to My Heart products, please visit http://jddesigns.ctmh.com.

Thank you for visiting me at {jd designs} and for hopping with us on the Close to My Heart Stamp of the Month October Blog Hop!  Next up on the hop is Sheila Bennett. I hope you'll hop on over to her blog for more inspiration.

Until next time, design with {heart}!

National Stamping Month Blog Hop

Welcome to the National Stamping Month Blog Hop!

If you came from visiting Gina Brandstetter, then you are in the right place.  If you just happened upon my little corner of the blog world, simply start here and continue hopping until you return here -- our fun hop is one big loop for your viewing pleasure. 

In celebration of National Stamping Month, Close to My Heart is offering an exclusive card kit and stamp set called From the Heart.  The exclusive From the Heart card kit gives you all the materials you need for creating 12 interactive cards, including an E-size stamp set with heartfelt sentiments and stamps you can layer together for exquisitely artistic cards.  You can also purchase the stamp set separately as well as additional sets of card bases/envelopes.  For full details on this special, you can visit my CTMH website.

For today's hop, we were challenged to go beyond the kit and create original artwork using the stamp set and/or the kit components themselves.  I chose to set the kit aside and focus on the beautiful sentiments in the stamp set.  As a fun bonus challenge to myself, I decided to participate in the color dare #260 challenge from Color My Heart Color Dare -- using colors Willow, Raspberry, Bashful, White Daisy and Charcoal.

And if that wasn't enough to pack into one project, I found a 6x6 one-sheet wonder template on Pinterest to scraplift.  Have you ever tried a one-sheet wonder?  They are fun templates designed to help you get the most out of your patterned paper; some 12x12 designs even stretch your paper to create 20+ cards!  The pattern I chose was for 4 cards from 1 6x6 piece of B&T patterned paper.

For a larger / closer view of any of the cards, please click on the image below.

 

 

Supplies used:

*From the Heart stamp set (September Exclusive Special)
*Basics Fundamental paper packet
*Bashful glitter paper
*White cards & envelopes value pack
*Charcoal 12" x 12" card stock
*Raspberry 12" x 12" card stock
*White Daisy 12" x 12" card stock
*Bashful Exclusive Inks stamp pad
*Charcoal Exclusive Inks stamp pad
*Raspberry Exclusive Inks stamp pad
*Willow Exclusive Inks stamp pad
*Black Memento ink pad
*Waterbrush - small round
*Bitty Sparkles

To order these or any of our other fabulous Close to My Heart products, please visit http://jddesigns.ctmh.com.

Thank you for visiting me at {jd designs} and for hopping with us on the Close to My Heart National Stamping Month Blog Hop!  Next up on the hop is Janna Gray. I hope you'll hop on over to her blog for more inspiration.

Until next time, design with {heart}!

Stamp of the Month Blog Hop -- Feel So Blessed

Welcome to the September Stamp of the Month Blog Hop!

If you came from visiting Gina Brandstetter, then you are in the right place.  If you just happened upon my little corner of the blog world, simply start here and continue hopping until you return here -- our fun hop is one big loop for your viewing pleasure. 

The month's featured stamp set is S1709 Feel So Blessed (pictured below).  This set is only available until September 30th and is only $5 with a $50 Close to My Heart purchase.

I know we are featuring the SOTM, but have you seen the exclusive limited-release special for National Stamping Month??  It includes a fabulous card kit and a beautiful multi-layer stamp set.  I am in love with this special and couldn't help combining the fun interactive card base with this month's stamp of the month.  What do you think?

Here are a couple close-ups of the front when the card is closed and the "inside"/base.

 

Supplies used:

*Feels So Blessed (September SOTM)
*From the Heart Card Bases and Envelopes (September Exclusive Special)
*Poppy Exclusive Inks stamp pad (NEW!)
*Saffron Exclusive Inks stamp pad (NEW!)
*Archival Black stamp pad (NEW!)
*Gold Glitter Gems

To order these or any of our other fabulous Close to My Heart products, please visit http://jddesigns.ctmh.com.

Thank you for visiting me at {jd designs} and for hopping with us on the Close to My Heart Stamp of the Month September Blog Hop!  Next up on the hop is Janna Gray. I hope you'll hop on over to her blog for more inspiration.

Until next time, design with {heart}!

Annual Inspirations New Product Blog Hop

Welcome to the Annual Inspirations New Product Blog Hop!

If you came from visiting Michelle Loncar, then you are in the right place.  If you just happened upon my little corner of the blog world, simply start here and continue hopping until you return here -- our fun hop is one big loop for your viewing pleasure. 

Today's hop features projects created using products from the newly released 2017-2018 CTMH Annual Inspirations Idea Book.  From beautiful new colors to fun new stamps, this year's annual idea book is sure to become a fast favorite.  I know it has for me!!

Two of my favorite things from the new lineup are this year's color of the year -- Bashful and the awesome two-toned cardstock -- one side in the original CTMH shade and the other in the same color with a lighter hue.  This new style of cardstock virtually doubles CTMH's exclusive color palette while making paper layering and matting so much quicker and easier!

Supplies used:

*For You Darling Stamp + Thin Cuts (NEW!)
*12" x 12" Bashful cardstock (NEW!)
*12" x 12" White Daisy cardstock
*Bashful glitter paper (NEW!)
*5 1/2" X 4 1/4" white cards & envelopes, value pack
*Bashful Exclusive Inks stamp pad (NEW!)
*Thin Cuts -- Scallop Border (NEW!)
*Bashful pearls (NEW!)

To order these or any of our other fabulous Close to My Heart products, please visit http://jddesigns.ctmh.com.

Thank you for visiting me at {jd designs} and for hopping with us on the Annual Inspirations New Product Blog Hop!  Next up on the hop is Lucy Marino. I hope you'll hop on over to her blog for more inspiration.

Until next time, design with {heart}!

Stamp of the Month Blog Hop -- Hello Foxy

Welcome to the Stamp of the Month June Blog Hop!

If you came from visiting Brenda Lapp, then you are in the right place.  If you just happened upon my little corner of the blog world, simply start here and continue hopping until you return here -- our fun hop is one big loop for your viewing pleasure. 

The month's featured stamp set is S1706 Hello Foxy (pictured below).  This set is only available until June 30th and is only $5 with a $50 Close to My Heart purchase.

Sometimes I find myself trying too hard to come up with a card design -- so lately, I have been trying to get back to the basics.  Today's project is definitely an example of that.  I didn't use any patterned paper.  Instead I dry-embossed on our awesome white core cardstock and used my sanding block to rough up the embossing a little.  I also used the sanding block to distress all the edges to expose that white core.

Another trick I wanted to share with you has to do with the layered circles.  See the cocoa circle behind the white circle?  Rather than punching it from another piece of cocoa, I simply punched it from the background layer knowing the negative space would be covered by the peacock embossed layer.

Supplies used:

*Hello Foxy stamp set (May SOTM)
*12" x 12" Cocoa cardstock
*12" x 12" Goldrush cardstock
*12" x 12" Peacock cardstock
*12" x 12" White Daisy cardstock
*5 1/2" X 4 1/4" white cards & envelopes, value pack
*Cocoa Exclusive Inks stamp pad
*Peacock Exclusive Inks stamp pad
*Black Memento ink pad
*Shin Han Marigold marker
*Wood Slats embossing folder
*Sanding Kit

*2" circle punch
2 1/2" circle punch

To order these or any of our other fabulous Close to My Heart products, please visit http://jddesigns.ctmh.com.

Thank you for visiting me at jd designs and for hopping with us on the Close to My Heart Stamp of the Month June Blog Hop!  Next up on the hop is Alyson Mayo. I hope you'll hop on over to her blog for more inspiration.

Until next time, design with {heart}!

Stamp of the Month Blog Hop -- Live, Laugh, Love

Welcome to the Stamp of the Month May Blog Hop!

If you came from visiting Melinda Everitt, then you are in the right place.  If you just happened upon my little corner of the blog world, simply start here and continue hopping until you return here -- our fun hop is one big loop for your viewing pleasure. 

The month's featured stamp set is S1705 Live, Laugh, Love (pictured below).  This set is only available until May 31st and is only $5 with a $50 Close to My Heart purchase.

When I first saw this month's SOTM, my mind was immediately filled with all sorts of fun projects to create, and as I sat down to create something for this hop, all those ideas started "battling" in my head and getting more and more complex.  So in the end, I decided to keep it super simple and make a card for my husband for our anniversary -- which is Saturday.

Do you ever have that problem?  You sit down to start creating and suddenly you feel overwhelmed by design details, paper selection, which embellishments to use, etc.  The project simply takes on a mind of its own, and you don't know what to do next.  What do you do when this happens?  How do you push through the creative block?

Like I said, I chose to keep the card simple.  I selected a simple sketch from a Pinterest board I  have dedicated to card sketches.  I used the gorgeous black and white floral from the Live Beautifully paper packet along with a simple Swiss dot design from the Enchantment Fundamentals.  Our wedding colors were red, white, and black.  Even though I was trying to keep the card a little more masculine, I felt it needed some bling so I used my gold shimmer brush on the sentiment piece before stamping.  The shimmer brush added a perfect layer of sparkle while still allowing me to stamp the "together" sentiment from this month's SOTM.

Supplies used:

*Live, Laugh, Love stamp set (May SOTM)
*Live Beautifully paper packet (NSM exclusive)
*Enchantment Fundamentals
*12" x 12" White Daisy cardstock
*5 1/2" X 4 1/4" white cards & envelopes, value pack
*Black Exclusive Inks stamp pad
*Shimmer brush - gold
*Foam tape

To order these or any of our other fabulous Close to My Heart products, please visit http://jddesigns.ctmh.com.

Thank you for visiting me at jd designs and for hopping with us on the Close to My Heart Stamp of the Month May Blog Hop!  Next up on the hop is Michelle Loncar. I hope you'll hop on over to her blog for more inspiration.

Until next time, design with {heart}!

May Close to My Heart Specials

May Constant Campaign

   

This year’s National Scrapbooking Month campaign features the Live Beautifully paper packet and stamp set, designed to celebrate your beautiful life.  During the month of May, CTMH is offering three exclusive new products: the Live Beautifully paper packet, the My Acrylix® Live Beautifully stamp set, and the Cut Above™ Live Beautifully layout kit, which helps you create five complete scrapbook layouts in half the time! Buy these exclusive products separately, or buy an album bundle with the new Cut Above layout kit to save 20%—you can also just buy it all!

For Customers: Contest especially for Non-Consultants: Win a brand new Cut Above® layout kit from our Seasonal Expressions 2 idea book! In order to be entered into the drawing, you just need to take a picture of one or more of your completed Live Beautifully Cut Above® layouts with your own photos on them and then share your picture on our Close To My Heart Facebook page between May 1­ - May 31, 2017! We can't wait to see what you create!

For Hostesses: Host a party in May that reaches the third level of Hostess Rewards or higher, and receive the Cut Above™ Live Beautifully layout kit for FREE! I still have May dates available -- contact me today to book yours!

For new Consultants: Become a Close To My Heart Consultant in May and receive the Cut Above™ Live Beautifully layout kit (CC1212A) for FREE!  If you are interested in joining my Designer Therapy team, I would love to help you get started on your CTMH adventure.

* * * * *

May Stamp of the Month

Only $5 with a $50 purchase

To order these or any of the other fabulous CTMH products, please visit my online store at jddesigns.ctmh.com.

Until next time, design with {heart}!

Get Better Make-and-Take

So it's been said that life imitates art.  Well, last fall, I designed a make-and-take project featuring one of my favorite stamp sets in the Annual Inspiration Idea Book called Get Better.  I love the font, and I love the cheeky sentiment for the inside of the card.  Anyways, the day before the home gathering I designed this card for, I came down with a horrible cold.  It started as a slightly sore throat, but by the time the gathering started, my throat was on fire and my nose was beginning to run.  I felt horrible, but luckily, the gathering was in a large room at a community center, and I was able to "keep a safe distance" from the guests -- who jokingly said they were going to send their make-and-takes to me.  :-)

Supplies used:

*Get Better stamp set
*Swan Lake paper packet (retired)
*12" x 12" Slate cardstock
*12" x 12" Sorbet cardstock
*12" x 12" White Daisy cardstock
*5 1/2" X 4 1/4" white cards & envelopes, value pack
*Archival Black Exclusive Inks stamp pad
*Sorbet Exclusive Inks stamp pad
*Aqua shimmer trim
*Clear sparkles
*Marvy Uchida LePen Journaling Pen
*Foam tape
*Waterbrush -- small round

To order these or any of our other fabulous Close to My Heart products, please visit http://jddesigns.ctmh.com.

Until next time, design with {heart}!

Stamp of the Month Blog Hop -- Tea-rrific

Welcome to the March Stamp of the Month Blog Hop!

If you came from visiting Wendy Kessler, then you are in the right place.  If you just happened upon my little corner of the blog world, simply start here and continue hopping until you return here -- our fun hop is one big loop for your viewing pleasure. 

The month's featured stamp set is S1703 Tea-rrific (pictured below).  This set is only available until March 31st and is only $5 with a $50 Close to My Heart purchase.

For today's project, I decided to pull out my watercolor palette and have some fun.  First I heat-embossed the stacked teacups image using white embossing powder.  Heat embossing provides a slight ridge to contain watercolors when painting.  This is a great way to get a more controlled look.  After setting the embossing powder with a heat gun, I used my round watercolor brushes to apply color to the image.  I love how the white outline pops against the color.

One thing to remember when watercoloring is the color will always dry lighter than it appears when wet.  That said, if I was making this card again, I would have added another layer of watercoloring once the first layer had dried to increase the color saturation and help it pop more against the black cardstock layer and sentiment.

Overall, I enjoyed the techniques used on this card, and I am looking forward to more play time with this stamp set.

Supplies used:

*Tea-rrific stamp set (March SOTM)
*12" x 12" Black cardstock
*12" x 12" Watercolor paper
*5 1/2" X 4 1/4" white cards & envelopes, value pack
*Black Exclusive Inks stamp pad
*VersaMark ink pad
*Ranger white super fine embossing powder
*Craft heater
*Watercolor paints
*Waterbrush - small round
*Marvy Uchida LePen journaling pen
*Bitty Sparkles

To order these or any of our other fabulous Close to My Heart products, please visit http://jddesigns.ctmh.com.

Thank you for visiting me at jd designs and for hopping with us on the Close to My Heart Stamp of the Month March Blog Hop!  Next up on the hop is Alyson Mayo. I hope you'll hop on over to her blog for more inspiration.

Until next time, design with {heart}!

Fundamentals Creative Collections

Have you checked out our fabulous CTMH Fundamentals line yet??

This product line includes a variety of paper, complements, and ribbons in our core color palettes.  With versatile, monochromatic patterns in our exclusive colors, the papers and embellishments are perfect to pair with cardstocks and other patterned papers.  To view the Fundamentals collection products, click here.

For today's project, I challenged myself to create "girly" cards.  As a boy mom, I tend to lean towards the darker, more rustic colors and designs -- so using pink and purple together was definitely a challenge for me.  To help me, I pulled out an old 6"x6" One Sheet Wonder pattern and a simple stamp set.  Overall, I am pleased with how the cards turned out.

Supplies used:

*Adventure Fundamentals
*12" x 12" Pansy cardstock
*12" x 12" Whisper cardstock
*5 1/2" X 4 1/4" white cards & envelopes, value pack
*Hi Friend stamp set
*Blossom Exclusive Inks stamp pad
*Pansy Exclusive Inks stamp pad
*Whisper Exclusive Inks stamp pad
*VersaMark Ink Pad
*Ranger White Super Fine Embossing Powder
*Craft Heater
*Confetti Embossing Folder
*Simple Chevron embossing folder
*Adventure ribbon pack
*Black & white dots

To order these or any of our other fabulous Close to My Heart products, please visit http://jddesigns.ctmh.com.

Until next time, design with {heart}!

Stamp of the Month Blog Hop -- Adore You

Welcome to the January Stamp of the Month Blog Hop!

If you came from visiting Haley Dyer, then you are in the right place.  If you just happened upon my little corner of the blog world, simply start here and continue hopping until you return here -- our fun hop is one big loop for your viewing pleasure. 

The month's featured stamp set is S1701 Adore You (pictured below).  This set is only available until January 31st and is only $5 with a $50 Close to My Heart purchase.

For today's project, I decided to combine the January SOTM with the newly released Hello Lovely paper collection.  This beautiful collection has a soft romantic feel with gorgeous colors and patterns -- and goes perfectly with this month's stamp set.

Due to the overwhelming popularity of the Clear Shimmer Brush, CTMH has added a new color to the Shimmer Brush family -- GOLD!  The new gold brush gave the perfect finishing touch to my project.  I used it to color in the heart image and add accents to the floral spray along the side.  Unfortunately, the above picture doesn't do the gold shimmer justice so I've included a close-up below taken at a better angle to allow the light to catch the shimmer.

Supplies used:

*Adore You stamp set (January SOTM)
*Hello Lovely paper packet
*12" x 12" Fern cardstock
*12" x 12" White Daisy cardstock
*5 1/2" X 4 1/4" white cards & envelopes, value pack
*Desert Sand Exclusive Inks stamp pad
*Fern Exclusive Inks stamp pad
*New England Ivy Exclusive Inks stamp pad
*Sea Glass Exclusive Inks stamp pad
*Sorbet Exclusive Inks stamp pad
*Black Archival Ink stamp pad

*Small round water brush

*Gold shimmer pen

*Blush shimmer ribbon

*Grey enamel gems
*Foam tape

To order these or any of our other fabulous Close to My Heart products, please visit http://jddesigns.ctmh.com.

Thank you for visiting me at jd designs and for hopping with us on the Close to My Heart Stamp of the Month January Blog Hop!  Next up on the hop is Brenda Lapp. I hope you'll hop on over to her blog for more inspiration.

Until next time, design with {heart}!