June Stamp of the Month & Blog Hop

Hello friends!  Tomorrow starts a new month and a new stamp of the month! This post is one of 60+ blogs that are featuring this one stamp set “A Flowering Bunch” which is only available in the month of June.   If you’re new to blog hops, don’t worry; they’re fun & simple.  There’s a link down at the bottom of my post that tells you where to go. When you’ve completed the hop, you’ll be back where you started! 
If you’re already hopping, welcome! You should have just come from Georgia’s blog.

I used the emboss resist technique on my card.  Here's the steps to recreate this card:

• Stamp the long flower border two times with Versamark Watermark ink on our White Daisy paper and heat embossed it with Clear Detail Embossing Powder. 
• Apply ink to the paper strip using sponge wedges and sponge daubers to apply ink over the embossed areas.  
• Start with Crème Brulee, (lightest color first!), followed by Honey & Sunset.  
• Distress the edges of the strip of cardstock with our Edge Distresser 
• Ink the edges heavily with Sunset.  
• Rub over the embossed area with a tissue to remove any ink so the flowers were bright white again.
• Stamp the sentiment on the bottom of the card base in Sunset ink
• Adhere the strip to the card base.  
• Add Bitty Sparkles!

Give this technique a try:  I suggest keeping it confined to a 2” strip of paper makes it very easy.  (A whole card will be a lot of work).  I prepared this card as part of a consultant workshop this spring and it was fast & easy.  It was much faster than any of the cards that required detail scissor cutting that night.  Some of the fancy cut card ended up going home in baggies to be finished another day!




This set is available only in June.  It’s $17.95 or just $5 with a $50 purchase.  You can order your set now or keep on hopping! 
Hop on over to Wanda’s blog to see the next creation using this very same stamp!

Spinning Pinwheel

If you’ve known me for any length of time, you’ll quickly realize that I love cards that are not the typical A2 flat rectangle.  Last month’s card workshop I help 12 friends create this cascading card.  This month my 3D card was much simpler but just as fun!  In fact, it was shocking to a few of my gals how simple it was.  While it is still an A2 card, it spins!

Would you like your very own spinner card? 

• Place an order on my website & join my “Celebrate with Lalia” gathering and I’ll send you one of these cards and another one from my stash!  Keep reading for more info. 
• Request the Cricut Craft Room File from me to DIY!

 

What’s so special about this card?  Check out this video below to see it in action.  Click here if you don’t see the video. 

I learned how to make this card from a gal named Michelle at a Western Washington team meeting last summer.  Sorry I can’t think of your last name at the moment; I’ll update this post when I find it.  Earlier this year, I was surfing Pinterest and came across this card by Simone Collins.  It was a pinwheel card which was perfect inspiration for the May Stamp of the Month!  She has a full tutorial on how to create the slot with punches and how to assemble the card.  It’s quite good and I’m not going to duplicate her efforts here.

I am a Cricut lover so I created a Cricut Craft Room (CCR) file.  It uses the Cricut Craftroom Basics cartridge that comes with CCR so anyone can use it.  Contact me to request this CCR file. 

You can cut 6 card fronts with a slot on a 12x12 mat. Your project should look like this when you load it in to CCR. 

 

This Pinwheel stamp is only available in May from Close to My Heart so hurry, time is running out!  Here’s a link to see it online. 

It’s just $5 with a $50 purchase or $17.95.  Either way, it’s only available until May 31. 

To celebrate this month, anyone who places an order on my website will receive 2 free cards this month.  Would you like one of these cards?  If you order $50 or more, you’ll receive hostess rewards valued at 10% of your product order! 

Shop now. 

Pinwheels

Hello friends! 
I’m loving the May Stamp of the Month:  Pinwheel.  It’s fun & best yet—most of the shapes are compatible with my Artiste Cricut Cartridge. 
This card was designed by Jayme Malme.  I had a chance to create one at our March team meeting.  We each designed a card and brought enough for everyone to create one.  We had a little rotating card workshop where we created one of each card that was brought that night.  It was so fun to learn new techniques and quickly create new artwork!  I’m rarely the workshop attendee, I’m usually the workshop designer. 


Pinwheel is only available in May.  You can order it for $17.95 or get it for just $5 with a $50 purchase. 
 

If you order on my website this month, join the “Celebrate with Lalia” gathering and you’ll get 2 free handmade cards from me.  If your order is over $50 you’ll receive 10% of your order total in Hostess Rewards.  That means you’ll get a minimum of $5 in free product.  That’s a minimum of an ink pad, reinker, markers or My Stickease!  Shop online or contact me to place an order if you’re local.  I’m closing out an order this week! 
Would you love to be part of my CTMH team?  It’s been very exciting this month!  We’ll be swapping artwork and getting together each month (n person or virtually) to share ideas.  Click here to get more details about being a consultant. 

Teacher Gifts

For the last 3 years I have participated in a homeschool Co-op for our son.   This co-op doesn’t replace his home curriculum.  It enhances it.  Think of it as a morning full of elective classes and fun for both of us.  It’s wonderful to be part of an amazing group of women and their children.  As a co-op, we do everything ourselves, including lead classes.   As the year was wrapping up, the leadership  wanted to thank the moms who taught spring quarter.  Here’s how we celebrated our moms/teachers this last Monday…

There’s a story behind these boxes and how they were inspired.  Our fearless leader Libby found this adorable teacher thank you gift on Pinterest. Here’s the original post on www.skiptomylou.org.

It looked so simple to replicate. Gloves: Check! Seeds: Check!   Chalk board adhesive vinyl:  CTMH sells that too!  Container: Ikea is 50 miles away and affordable options at local stores were not found.  
I also really disliked the thought of investing in something that could end up being tossed.
The perfect solution…. I love cutting boxes on my Cricut with my Art Philosophy or Artiste Cricut cartridges.  However, I rarely have anything to put inside of them.  Oh joy!  Now I can play with paper and make something purposeful.  Or 21 purposeful items in this case!
The pillow box and the 3D flowers were cut using the Art Philosophy Cricut Cartridge.  I cut and rolled 2 dozen flowers while watching a movie one afternoon.  With the quilling tool that CTMH recently added to their Idea Book, it was a cinch and didn’t take my full concentration.  Everything else was assembled by our advisory team around my dining room table one evening last week.  It was quick and simple.  There was plenty of laughter and chocolate too. 

The flower and sentiment is a magnet keepsake.  The magnet, seed packs and pillow box are all held together with twine.  The recipient could easily reuse or recycle this pillow box. 
Inside the box are quality gardening gloves just like in the original picture and CHOCOLATE which seemed to missing in the original teacher gift.  (do you see a theme here?)

I love how these two Cricut cartridges are so versatile and go far beyond scrapbooking and card-making to blessing our hardworking teachers of our Co-op. 

I've just added this to the Heart to Heart Challenge blog for this week:  Teacher Appreciation week.  It was entirely made with Art Philosophy and Artiste Cricut shapes and some retired green paper.  Sorry, no current CTMH product except for Liquid Glass.

Dakota: Happy Birthday with a country flair!

Another simple card!  Perfect for the guy, horse lover or friend who loves all things country. 
Dakota was introduced in 2012 so it will only be around for a couple more months.  Get it now before it’s gone!

Paper:  Dakota
Ink:  Pacifica Exclusive Inks
Bling:  from last year’s Avonlea card kit (discontinued)
Stamp:  Joyful Birthday
Shop online to get these great products!