September Stamp of the Month Blog Hop

It's a new month which means a new Close To My Heart Stamp of the Month. Pictured in the right column of my blog page, September's stamp set is called "Limited Edition" and is very useful for scrapbook journaling, making quick tags, and even for making a mini album. (Keep on reading...)

Let's not forget the Stamp of the Month is easier than ever to get at a great discount when you're already shopping for your favorite CTMH products. Spend at least $50 before shipping and tax and you'll qualify for the Stamp of the Month for only $5! Shop with me or your favorite CTMH consultant so you don't miss out on this deal. PLUS: The "Pair-A-Phrase" D-sized double stamp set is also yours FREE when you spend at least $75 before shipping and tax, so if you're a smart shopper you can really get a great deal this month.

There are over 60 consultants participating in this month's Blog Hop so you're sure to get lots of ideas and inspiration with this versatile stamp set. If you're already hopping, you came here from Angel Sawyer's blog. Keep reading through my post to see where to hop to after me.

For ease of designing a project, I took full advantage of the new Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge, the Stamp of the Month, and our Dimensional Elements Tags (which incidentally come in the Art Philosophy bundle) to make an accordion-folded mini album. What a quick, easy and fun project this was!

In the old days, you would have to trace the chipboard shape onto paper, cut out the paper, glue it to the chipboard and sand the edges to smooth out the imperfections of your cutting. Those days are gone! The Dimensional Elements chipboard package states the size settings so you can make quick work of the matching cuts on your Cricut machine. And bonus! The Stamp of the Month has two large tag images that also have matching cuts on the Cricut, and the sizes to make those cuts are listed on the clear carrier sheet in the stamp set. What could be easier? 

Let's take a closer look at this little album and how it came together. (Now if you're tired and want to skip ahead, it won't hurt my feelings. Really. Just scroll to the bottom to see where to hop to next. I know I tend to ramble.)

There are 12 tags in the package of the Dimensional Elements Tags. I used 8 of them and saved the four smaller ones above for another project.

Using wide pieces of Scor-Tape, I adhered the tags in the order I liked to a piece of Dark Chocolate Striped Grosgrain ribbon measuring 20 inches long and later trimmed off the excess. I made sure to leave a quarter-inch space between each chipboard tag as I adhered them to the ribbon to allow for folding.

The wide grosgrain served nicely as a spine for each accordion fold. 

All the cuts you see on this mini are from the Art Philosophy cartridge. I didn't cut anything but the ribbon.

The journal cards fit into little pockets that were made by cutting out the base tag twice on the Cricut and using only 1 1/2 inches off the bottom of one of them, gluing it on three sides to the base. 

I finished off the closed album with another piece of the ribbon tied into a big bow. This piece measures 27 inches and then I cut a "V" into each end to make it pretty.

At this point, I have to mention Fray Check. This stuff is a girl's best friend. Since I used so many ribbons on the tops of my tags and I know there will likely be some handling of this mini especially of the outer ribbon, I squeezed a little of the Fray Check on the edges of each raw cut of ribbon, sealing them neatly and keeping them from fraying. This is especially important to use if you are cutting the wide ribbon in half like I did for the tag toppers. You can add Fray Check all along the raw cut areas of ribbon. It doesn't stiffen and dries clear. Great stuff!

I do most of my designing standing up at my work table, so Suki took advantage of the space under my long craft table to take a snooze. I didn't even know she was there. She's never far, that's for sure.

Thanks for stopping by today and reading all the way through my post. Now keep on hopping to see what Lori Brown's got up her sleeve. Enjoy your day!