SOTM Blog Hop ~ Find your Style

Welcome to our first Stamp of the Month Blog Hop of 2011!   

  If you have come here fromTamera Pope's Blog, you are on the right path! The blog hop is a great big circle, so you can start here and work your way all around.  If you get lost along the way, you’ll find the complete list of participating consultants here on Helen's Blog.

We have bunches of Close To My Heart Consultants sharing their creations using this month's SOTM and other great CTMH products on their blogs. To keep on hoppin' just click on the link at the end of the post on each blog to move to the next one!

Here we go!

January 's SOTM, which is called Find Your Style, is a beautiful set of  9 stamps. How versatile is this set? I can see so many possibilities and I absolutely love the bird, the butterfly, the dress form, the shoe and that friendship sentiment.  I can't wait to play with this one even more. 

 

Here is what I made using this set.

 

This is the front of the card unopened.

   But it has a surprise, it is a stand up easel card that I made into a desk calendar for 2011.

  Here it is shown standing up. I got the great little calendars at Stamp On This.

The roses are made with rolled ribbon. I love these, 

they are all the rage right now and they are so easy to make. 

The bottom portion has a sentiment that I think is perfect for a calendar. It says,

Yesterday is history, 

Tomorrow is a mystery,

Today is a gift. 

That's why we call it the Present.

Products Used:

Paper: Wings Level 2 Paper Pack

Inks: Olive, Juniper and Vineyard Berry 

Stamps: Find Your Style, Dreams Come True, and The Present

Accessories: Hollyhock Twill Ribbon, Pearl Opaques, Mini Medley in Black, Bitty Sparkles

 Now "Hop" on over to Jean McNulty's Blog to see her work! Be sure to visit all the Consultants' blogs to see some awesome artwork and fun ideas! Share the love and leave some comments as you go.

Remember, the January SOTM is only available until January 31st! There are two ways to get this beautiful set for free as well as get some awesome discounts on more new products. For more information on the Inspirations promotion and how you can get this beautiful set, Find Your Style free click HERE.

Card Club info and January Classes

I hope that you are all enjoying the holiday season, I cant believe that Christmas is only a few days away. Since that is the case I know that January is literally just around the corner. I have some fun things planned for January so I wanted to get this out to everyone so you can plan for some fun crafty time after the hustle and bustle of the holidays are over.

First of all I will be starting a card club in January. Here is how it will work. I have a few people interested already but we need a few more to make it work so come on and join us, you won't be sorry.

Card Club Details

• Card club (still looking for a better name) will meet monthly. The first meeting will be on Friday night January 22nd from 6-9 pm. We will then decide on the date for the next meeting as a group.
• To join the club all you need to do is commit to spend at least $20/month on any products of you choice (that's very EASY to do). What you spend your money on is up to you but I will let you know in advance what we will be using at the next meeting so you can order your own products to go along with our projects if you want to.
• At our first meeting we will draw names for each month's hostess. The hostess for each month brings snacks for the group and gets the hostess rewards products for that month's group order.Each hostess is guaranteed to at least $25 in FREE products during their month, and more if the order total is higher. Hostesses also benefit from whatever monthly campaign happens to be running during their month.
• At each monthly meeting (usually at my house unless a hostess wants it at hers) we will create at least two cards at no additional charge to group members. Some months we will make other things like 3D items, gifts or home decor.
  
• Joining the club means that you commit for the duration (8 months) so that everyone has a chance to reap the hostess rewards. At the end of the 8 months we will start a new round and members can drop or add at that time. 

Let me know soon if you would like to join, I promise you it will be fun and who can't use some once a month scheduled "me" time.


Other January Classes

Saturday January 15th - 1:00pm -  Calendar Class -
Create a beautiful scrapbook/calendar that you will use all year. Each month will have a calendar on one side and a scrapbook page to add your own photos to on the reverse side, all packaged up neatly in a 6" x 6" flip album. When we are finished you will have completed 24 beautiful pages in a cute calendar/album. This class will be done in three parts, meeting once a month in January, February and March. The other two dates will be on Saturday, February 12th and Saturday, March 12th. In the first class you will receive the  6" X 6"  12 page display album. We will create a cover and four double sided pages for January, February, March and April. February's class will pick up where we left off and complete May, June, July and August's pages. Then finally in March we will finish it all by doing pages for September, October, November and December. You will take your calendar home after each class and bring it back the next month to add the additional pages. Cost for this one is $20 total. $10 for the first class that includes the album and $5 for each of the next two months. Only the initial $10 needs to be paid in advance so that I can order albums for everyone. If you would like to do this but can't commit to the dates let me know and I can make you a kit to complete at home for the same price.


Valentine Class - Friday, January 28th 6:00-9:00pm  OR Saturday, January 29th 1:00-4:00pm -
Cost is $12 for 8 cards (2 each of 4 designs). 
  In this class we will make 8 fun Valentine cards using lots of the products from the new Idea Book that comes out February 1st. Price includes cut papers, embellishments and envelopes.

New Catalog Open House - Friday Night February 4th- 5:00-9:00pm- 
Stop by my house anytime from 5:00-9:00 pm for a FREE copy of the brand new bigger and better CTMH Idea Book. I will have snacks, drinks, a free make and take project and door prizes. Plus, anyone who places an order at my open house gets a free petite perks stamp set and 10% off of their next order.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all!

I hope to see you in 2011.

Interactive Santa

 I love interactive cards, ones that "do" something and I had been looking for this book by Annie's Attic unsuccessfully for a while.

 When I was in Estes Park at my favorite Scrapbooking retreat this summer we took a field trip to a local scrapbooking store. Imagine my surprise when I found the book I had been looking for there. 

When I got back to the retreat i looked through the pages trying to decide which card I was going to attempt first. As always seems to happen at retreats it ended all too soon and I never got a chance to try one out. 

Fast forward a couple of months to October when I was working on my SOTM swap using the Share The Magic Set. I decided to try a card with a hidden pop up. 

Here is the card.

I went all out on this one.
I think this card has more techniques
on one card than I have ever done before.

Santa's suit is colored with copics. 

His beard is Liquid Applique. 

The fur on his suit is fun flocked.

His boots are and belt are covered in Liquid Glass for that shiny touch. 

His Belt buckle is embossed in silver

and his toy sack is paper pieced...

whew...and all of that is before I even get to my favorite part...the hidden surprise!

When you pull on the little tab with the snowflake 

at the bottom of the card Rudolph pops up

and wishes you Happy Holidays. 

This is by far my favorite Christmas card I have created this year. Thanks for looking!

More bang for your buck

CTMH has a great deal for December.

  Place an order of $20 or more on my WEBSITE from December 1 (9am MST) – 31, 2010, and we’ll reward you with a popular, retired D-size stamp set for FREE! Talk about getting more for your money - the free stamp set is valued at $22.95! We’re sure you’ll be thrilled with the set we pick out for you. We’re also giving you FREE shipping/handling and tax on your free stamp set. That’s a lot of Plenty for your Twenty!

*Excluding tax and shipping/handing. Qualifying purchases must include shippable products (Studio J® layout purchases excluded, Studio J memberships and 5-packs will count toward a qualifying order only if shippable items are also ordered). Limit one free stamp set per qualifying order.  Please be sure to wait until at least 9am MST on 12/1 to order!

There's no need to enter a code or add anything to your cart.  Your free stamp set will automatically be added to your order when it is shipped!  You might even get a stow away sticky boy. He is jumpimg into random packages all month long.


If you have never heard of Sticky Boy check him out

I'm in the Friday Five!

I have been trying to participate in the Heart 2 Heart Challenges found here.

They are great for a little burst of creative inspiration.

This is the second time one of my creations has made it's way into the Friday Five. 

First it was for my Halloween mini album found here. 

And this time for my Thanks card.

There are some really talented and creative people who participate in the challenges, I am so honored!