Stampin' Friends Sentiments Blog Hop

Welcome to the Stampin' Friends Blog Hop!  I'm thrilled to be a new participant with these talented people who very kindly allowed me to join in their fun.  Each blogger makes a card AND a project every month--right up my alley!!  Our theme this month was Say It With Sentiments.

If you are following along the hop, you have arrived from Jo Blackman (UK)'s blog.  Be sure to read through my blog, comment below and continue to Katja Ettig's blog.  If you get lost along the way you can find a list of Blog Hoppers at the end of each blog.

After a bit of thought I decided the Stampin' Up! Words of Cheer bundle was the perfect jumping off point for my projects.  I've bolded all of the products I used in making my projects in my description below, and they are all available in my online store by clicking the link on the sidebar.  :)

Happy Birthday Ombre Card

While the large "happy" sentiment (from the Christmas Cheer Dies) is definitely the focus of this card, I love the added texture from the Timeworn Type 3D Embossing Folder and the ombre effect.  I think it adds sooo much to what is actually a very CAS card.

I started with a 5.5" x 8.5" Thick White cardstock base, scored at 4.25".  I always use thick cardstock for the base of my cards, because I typically add lots of layers and embellishments to my card fronts, and I know the thick cardstock will hold up to all that extra weight.

I added a panel of Basic White cardstock cut to 4" x 5.25" with all that gorgeous texture from the Timeworn Type 3D Embossing Folder.  I also added some Soft Suede ink splatter in the bottom-left and top-right by flicking my Blends against the lid.  I love this look!

I die cut my sentiment from some Crumb Cake cardstock and then used my Blending Brush to gently add Soft Suede ink in an ombre style on the bottom half of the letters.  I heat embossed "birthday" in white embossing powder (from the Artistically Inked stamp set), and hand trimmed.

The dies in the Christmas Cheer set include a shadow layer, which I cut from Be Dazzling DSP (this is a FREE! Sale-A-Bration products while supplies last and is beautiful!).  After gluing the two layers together I added them to a Tailor Made Tag cut from a piece of amazing paper from the Harvest Meadow DSP pack.  

I added a multi-layered bow from Baker's Twine to my tag and then adhered it to my card base with dimensionals.  I think the added dimension is one of the things that really makes handmade cards special and unique.  As a final touch I added a few adhesive jewels.

Tag Booklet

I had so much fun making this little tag booklet!  It gave me a chance to use a tonne of sentiment stamps (we all have a stash of them, don't we?!).  And I think it would be such a pretty little gift to give someone too.  All of the sets I chose are currently available in my online store; if you love one and want to know which set it comes from please comment below and I'd be happy to narrow down the set for you.

The base of the booklet is a piece of Thick White Cardstock cut to 4.25' x 10" and scored at 2.5", 5", and 7.5".  This gives you four little sections for the booklet, which you concertina fold (forward, back, forward) to make an accordian-style booklet. 

To the base I added a piece of Harvest Meadow DSP cut to 2" x 10".  I added a tiny piece of Tear-N-Tape adhesive to the bottom middle of each of the sections, and then adhered the DSP to the left side with Tombow glue.  I continued folding the paper along the booklet, and then added some more glue to the right side to finish the end pocket.

Then I got to make a BUNCH of tags!  The Tailor Made Tags die set comes with four different sizes of two different styles of tags--amazing!!  I cut, stamped and decorated 10 tags in different sizes, colours (Basic White, Crumb Cake, and Soft Suede) and themes and tucked them into the pockets of each section.  Some of the tags have sponged edges with Soft Suede ink, some are plain, and one even has white ink as splattered snow. ;)  It's really so much fun to keep the basic idea consistent but add different techniques, so that you end up with a cohesive yet unique look for the project as a whole.

One of the tags I adhered to the front of my booklet, after I layered a piece of DSP onto a scrap of Crumb Cake for an extra bit of colour.  Isn't that inky floral image on the bottom of the tag simple gorgeous?!?  The distINKtive style of stamps from Stampin' Up! make truly incredible images, with so much depth in one step.  And the Merry Messages bundle is such a quick way to stamp and cut a bunch of sentiments at one time, which is a huge time saver.

The final touch was the addition of Diamond Weave Ribbon as a tie for the booklet (oh, and some white Baker's Twine for the bow on the tag!)...and some more bling, because every project needs some bling, right?

Hopping Along...please check out everyone's projects by clicking on their names--and leave comments if you can!

1. Jo Blackman (UK)
2. Barb Pfeffer (Canada)--you're here!
3. Katja Ettig
4. Jean Beaulieu
5. Teri Pocock (UK)
6. Maureen Rauchfuss (USA)
7. Melissa Thomas (USA)
8. Stephanie Jandrow (USA)
9. Tiziana Milano (USA)

Thank you for hopping along with us today, I'd love to hear your comments or questions so please pop me a note below. 

Happy Crafting,

Barb