March Stamp of the Month Blog Hop

Potential is the name of this month's pretty stamp of the month from Close To My Heart. You can view all the images in this set in the right-hand column of my blog page. Over 50 consultants are participating in the Blog Hop this month, so you're sure to get plenty of inspiration.

If you're already hopping along, you've come here from Angel Sawyer's blog. To see where to go to next, check out my creation, leave a comment (pretty please) and then click on the link at the end of this post to keep following through the hop. If you get lost along the way, you can always go to Helen Onulak's blog where the full list of participants is located.

So here's what I came up with...

Inside the card it says "Anything is possible." I think this would make a great card for a friend, a family member or any gal pal who you are striving to achieve a goal with, get through a tough time with, or start a new adventure together. There's a lot going on in this card, so let's dissect it a bit.

For starters, the paper pack is Florentine. My all-time favorite in the current Idea Book. The main stamped image here is a decorative flourish medallion, for lack of a better description. I stamped it in Twilight ink onto Colonial White card stock, colored in certain areas with a Vanilla Cream marker, and then outlined those same areas with a fine-tip black pen. Then I cut around the image and curled it forward slightly. 

From a small flower punch, I made the tiny flower. I simply punched five out of some of the Florentine paper and layered them up, cutting away petals to achieve the dimensional look. Fellow consultant Connie MacFarlane provides an excellent tutorial video on these simple-to-make flowers here.

The ribbon is Close To My Heart's new Color Ready Seam Binding which comes in plain white and can be colored to match your projects. Connie also demonstrates some variations on coloring seam binding here. (Can you tell she inspired me this month? Thank you Connie!) My ribbon is colored using her technique of mixing eight parts of rubbing alcohol with one part Twilight re-inker in a spritz bottle and then spraying and wrinkling up the ribbon.

See the dark brown flourishes on the card? They are CTMH's new Tapestry Velvet Rub-ons, and until I used them, I didn't really know if I would like them, but WOW, I love these babies! So easy and so pretty.

The butterflies were cut from the Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge in two layers. The base from Florentine paper, then the layer from Cocoa cardstock. They measure 1 inch and 1 1/2 inches. I have to say, my Cricut machine did NOT like cutting out the layer for the 1-inch butterfly. All those intricate swirls were a challenge at that size, so I wouldn't recommend going any smaller than 1 1/2 inches. My small one tore up a little, but I just added a few Bitty Sparkles and no one has to know, right?

Okay, now it's time to hop along to Nancy Brown's blog and check out her creation. If I know Nancy, it's going to be fabulous.

Thanks and have a great day!