Flower Pot Blog Hop...

Welcome to our Stamp of the Month Blog Hop! We will be featuring April's SOTM, which is "Flower Pot", a set of 16 stamps. If you have come here from Deb's Blog, you are on the right path!

This month we have over 60 Close To My Heart Consultants sharing their creations using this month's SOTM and other great CTMH products on their blogs. This is simple to do - just click on the link at the end of the post on each blog to move to the next one! Here we go!

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I chose to do an 8" x 3-1/2" card that mimics a building front...I dry-embossed and sanded a brick pattern on some Buttercup cardstock (LOVE, LOVE, LOVE our white core cardstock) and made the window a true window so you can see the inside of the card. 

I stamped the window on the card base and twice on a sheet of Cocoa Cardstock.  I cut out the shutters of the 1st stamped piece of Cocoa Cardstock then cut out the "crossbars" of the shutters on the 2nd stamped piece of Cocoa Cardstock...folded along the edges of the inked shutter lines and sanded (you should be able to click on the photo to enlarge and see the detail).

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I used the large flower pots to make this bench (picture tutorial is at the very end of this post)...colored with Water-Color Pencils and a Blending Pen (LOVE the soft look).  The flowers are wrapped in a small piece of B&T from Bella.

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Inside of the card reveals the "heart" made from grouping the flowers together. You can see the window cutout on the left of this picture.  I masked the heart shape and started stamping...my "overage" stamped on the post-it-note thus leaving a clean heart outline.

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Close up of the heart...I used the rock-and-roll technique...stamped the flower-bunch in Blush and rolled in Petal.

Now hop on over to Annette's Blog and show her some love!!!

If you get lost along the way, hop on over to Helen's Blog for a complete list...

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start with large flower pot and stamp on cardstock of your choice...

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mask stamped pot and turn pot upside down and stamp again (I made the seat of the bench a little narrower)

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Mask the bench off using post-it-notes as well as the side of the bench...

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stamp the legs (top edge of large flower pot)...

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repeat 'till you have 4 legs...

Wordless Wednesday....where'd you get those eyes

Happy 10th Birthday...

I cannot believe it's been TEN YEARS since this little boy blessed our home!!!  He has been nothing but a blessing...always full of ENERGY and LOVES to cuddle with me!!  We have "date nights" when he behaves in school and still lets me tuck him in at night and say our prayers together!  He challenges his teachers CONSTANTLY but I know in 10 years or so they will remember his name! 

Happy Birthday, my love...you make Mommy SO PROUD!!!

NEW DAY due to March Madness....

Survivor is on TONIGHT because of March Madness....and I'm NERVOUS!!! They vote of one from each team tonight and Colby is a marked man!!!

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This is from last week since it didn't air due to March Madness...

Is it a compliment if you're voted off early???  I think it is!!! Here's my logic: you don't lie and cheat as well as everyone else...you are a threat to all the others either by your strength, tenacity, intelligence...did I leave anything out :0)

Go COLB!!!!  I'm just praying that the Villians have to go to Tribal Council and vote someone off!!!

Weekend Creativity....

I had BIG plans to get creative this weekend.....

BUT a fence had to be built instead!!!  We have just a small section (have 3 other 50yd sections that need to be done) framed and will begin to put up the pickets this week.  We also have another gate to build...HARD...so that will take all of one evening as well. 

All I can say is that...if we can build a fence then we can build my Scrapbook Island I've been wanting for the last couple of years!!!

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QT and his dad talking fence talk...

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Our pink string tied to the end posts so that all other posts would be even....

(I like how this photo is sunny on one side of the string and shady on the other...cool, huh)

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A cool-looking 15-yr old....or at least he thinks he is...he picked the sunglass-looking safety glasses...what a DWEEB!!!

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left-side of the fence framed....

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My baby's worm he found....

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Our gate that took HOURS!!!!

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Me by the gate that took HOURS.....

Wordless Wednesday....Sleeping Angel

Enjoying a Rainy Day....

here in West Texas!!!  Thought I'd share a card using Springtime with umbrellas and rubber rain boots....the clouds came from another one of my favorite sets...True Happiness...

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Inside of card....this could also be a CUTE get well card with a sentiment like "feeling under the weather?....get better soon!"...something like that

What do you do....

when being the GOOD guy isn't GOOD!?!?!  I love watching Colby in action again but this "survivor" stuff (lying, cheating, back-stabbing) makes my blood pressure rise...probably wouldn't be so if it wasn't my CUZ out there but still!!!

Everyone watch tonight and pray that Colby gets to stay one more week....I'm hoping some of his good manners and charm will rub off on the other people (wishful thinking, I'm sure).

Side note about picture (not necessarily the way it was out there - you know how editing goes)...Colb...you should know that if you sleep with dogs, you're gonna get FLEAS!!!  I'm glad that, even though it hasn't helped you, you've teamed up with Tom who seems very respectable and as genuine as you :0)  Barring any drastic moves on either side, this should be one of those relationships that will last you a lifetime!!  I can't wait to hear all the details once he's able to talk!!!

A Little Everything TWEAKED....

I kept looking at this card that I did for the Blog Hop and wasn't overly excited about it....so, I tweaked it a little and came up with this!!  Much better, if you ask me!  The other CRAZY thing about this card is it actually measures 7" x 5-1/2"...not sure what I was thinkin'....

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Inside....

Somebirdy loves you, tweetie pie...

LOVE this color combo....Outdoor Denim, Hollyhock, Sweet Leaf, Sunflower, Twilight, Chocolate & White Daisy (I know...it's a lot of colors but I think they go so well with each other and most of them are in small doses)!!!  I used any and all B&T paper with these colors....Magic Moments, Animal Cookies (backside), Tinkerin', Bella, Emporium, etc.)

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I tried to do the flower without a punch so I hand-drew a circle and then cut it out using a scallop motion (huh???  does that make sense?)  The center is a corduroy brad (Goldrush - didn't have Sunflower) from the Autumn Mini-Medleys.  I distressed using chocolate ink.  I stamped the birdcage from Love Birds stamp set and masked the 'base' so it would be a little shorter and fit on my focal point...the birds are stamped on the backside of the Tulip Hearts paper from Animal Cookies and the little hearts are stamped on some Hollyhock B&T and cut out.

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The inside of the card...aren't those little birdies the CUTEST!!! I chose not to color them in but instead added some shading using my Grey Flannel Marker (LOVE that thing!)

Survivor - Heroes vs Villians

Everyone be sure to watch and send some love Colby's way!!!!

Wordless Wednesday...Throwing Fits

I know these photos are meant to be "wordless" but I thought this deserved some explaining...lol!!  This is what throwing a "terrible-two fit" will get you....socks (ok...one sock), tantrums and tile floors don't mix!

And people wonder why I have an AFLAC Accident Policy...with three boys, it comes in handy!

Distressing "to the Max"

Wowzers....this video has been a doozy!!!!  It all started with camera problems, then after I started and stopped a million times, I finally had one solid video I could work with!  I copied to my computer and it was over 16 minutes long!!!  I sat down to edit it to about 4 minutes, computer froze and I lost all my work so I started over. 

After much editing and problems for some reason with the quality and embedding the video into my post....<<<<<here it is>>>>.  The video shows you how to make the card below.....

Again...I apologize for the quality of the video...I don't know what went wrong!

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Here are some more cards using some major distressing!!!  These are all cards I've posted before so you get to enjoy them for a 2nd time :0) 

A Little Everything Blog Hop...

Welcome to our Stamp of the Month Blog Hop! We will be featuring March's SOTM, which is A Little Everything, a set of 26 stamps. If you have come here from Karen's Blog, you are on the right path!

This month we have over 60 Close To My Heart Consultants sharing their creations using this month's SOTM and other great CTMH products on their blogs. This is simple to do - just click on the link at the end of the post on each blog to move to the next one! Here we go!

I chose several paper packets to work with...Bella, Magic Moments, Boom-Di-Ada and coordinating cardstock.  I distressed several different ways...dry embossing and sanding...ink to paper...crumpling....edge distresser tool, etc. 

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I tried not to use any punches on this flower so I had to resort to good 'ol pencil and scissors.  I freehanded a circle and then kinda made a wave pattern when cutting it out.  For the Chocolate Cardstock center, I placed the center circle Dimensional Element on my cardstock, traced around it with a pencil and then cut out with about 1/8" edge.

Now "Hop" on over to Latisha's Blog to see her work!

Be sure to visit all the Consultants at their Blogs to get some great crafting ideas and other fun ideas! Remember, the March SOTM is only available until March 31st! Contact your CTMH Consultant (or click here) to see how you can get this stamp set at a discount or even free!
If you get lost along the way, you can check out Helen's blog for a complete list of Participants.