This Moment S1501 : CTMH Stamp of the Month Australasian Blog Hop

 Hello and welcome to my first blog for 2015! It's also the first Stamp of the Month Australasian Close to My Heart Blog Hop for 2015!
If you have arrived here from Patricia Manhire's Creative Corner then your in the right place. If you landed here by happy accident then come and join us on a hopping adventure - just follow the links at the bottom of each blog until you get back to where you started!

So, if you know me, you'll know that I'm not that 'girly girl' - hearts aren't my thing and valentines day isn't something I go crazy over... so this stamp set was a challenge... until as per my usual odd way of looking at things I found myself madly cutting circles and watching as various creatures popped out at me.

Say Hello to Teddy and Frog:

Watch my short time lapse video of them being created:

Ingredients:
Cricut machine (all shapes are from CTMH cartridges but most are just circles)
Pear Cardstock
Canary Cardstock
White Daisy Cardstock
Desert Sand Cardstock
Black Cardstock
Cocoa Ink
Black Ink
Ruby Ink
Stuck on you Puffies
Junebug Puffies
January Stamp of the Month (available exclusively throughout January for $27 or for just $5 when you spend $75)

Tips:
I cut the tips off the leaf shaped puffies to make the eyes for Teddy.
To make Frog's tongue I used the back side of the heart stamp so as not to stamp the sentiment.
Teddy's eyes were stamped with the O from the HELLO.

A few of Teddy's and Frog's friends are on the brink of joining the party... namely Monkey, Fish and Caterpillar but they were running a bit late so you'll have to do those ones on your own!

January's Stamp of the month: This Moment is only available until the 31st of January from your CTMH consultant. Please leave a message for Frog, Teddy and I before you leap into Wendy's blog -  Expressions of the Heart.

Thanks for hopping by!

Cutie Pie s1412: CTMH December Stamp of the Month AustralasianBlogHop

 Hello and welcome aboard our Stamp of the month Australasian Close to My Heart Blog Hop. If you have arrived here from Patricia Manhire's Creative Corner,  then you are in the right place. If you landed here by accident, no problem, please join in by following the link at the end of this post.

Woo Hoo! New products to play with today! Our new Seasonal Inspirations Catalogue has launched and it is very pretty. Love our new hopscotch papers and I have used them in my project today.

I have created a cute little counting book for my son.
Here are my ingredients:

• Hopscotch paper from the paper pack
• Hopscotch picture my life cards (they come in a pack of 56 and only cost $12!)
• Shinhan markers (Peacock green, Marigold, Cherry Pink, Tender Pink, Pastel Green, Barely Beige, Light Orange and Turquoise Blue)
• 1 12 x 3 flip flap from the large assortment pack
• 8 3 x 4 flip flaps from the small assortment pack (you'll need 2 packs)
• 1 3 x 3 flip flap from the small assortment pack
• Curlicue Alphabet stamp set D1630 (from the Artfully Sent cartridge collection)
• Handwritten Alphabet Stamp set E1030
• White Daisy Cardstock
• Cutie Pie stamp set S1412 (only available this month!)

The Cutie Pie Stamp of the month is only available until the 31st of December from your CTMH consultant.
I'd love to hear what you think of my project before you head off to Shaunna’s Blog, Passionate About Pages.

Circus Alphabet S1407 : CTMH July Stamp of the Month AustralasianBlogHop

Welcome to my first ever blog hop entry! If you are not sure what a blog hop is, read on and you'll soon discover a fun scavenger hunt of ideas! This is the Stamp of the month Australasian Close to My Heart Blog Hop. If you have arrived here from Mandy's blog, Hall of Indulgence then you are in the right place. If you landed here by accident, no problem, please join in by following the link at the end of this post. 

I would like to share with you this mini banner which features July Stamp of the Month Circus Alphabet available exclusively throughout July for $24 or for just $5 when you spend $75. 

This cute little banner will look great on a cake or on the party table PLUS you have the added bonus of being able to scrap it into an album afterwards!

The banner shape is cut from the Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge. Page 29 Decorative Layer cut at 1.8 inches.
You need 16 total pieces. I cut 8 from pear cardstock and 8 from lagoon cardstock.
I used gypsy ink to stamp the Circus Alphabet letters onto the banner. One of my favourite things to do with alphabet stamps is investigate the punctuation shapes that come with them for decorating other things. In this set the full stop is a cute little spiral circle. I used the full stop to embellish the ends of my pennants. I did find with this stamp that you only need slight pressure to get the stamp detail - too much and the spiral becomes a blob.

To finish off I used slate baker's twine and simply threaded the twine through. When you do this, decide how you want the thread to show: across the middle of each pennant or on the side of each pennant (as I have done). It is much more pleasing to the eye if they are all threaded the same way. I threaded by hand as I found the holes big enough but if you find threading difficult just use a large needle.

Circus alphabet is only available until 31 July from your CTMH consultant. I'd love you to leave a comment before heading off to your next stop,  Monika's blog: A Sprinkle of Glitter.