July SOTM - Strong Roots Blog Hop

Welcome to our Stamp of the Month Blog Hop!  We will be featuring July's SOTM, which is Strong Roots, a set of 11 stamps.  

If you have come here from Heather'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 on Melinda’s Blog. 

This month we have 18 Close To My Heart Consultants sharing their creations using this month's SOTM and other great CTMH products on their blogs. This is simple to do - just click on the link at the end of the post on each blog to move to the next one! Here we go!

 I instantly loved the little cottage, and I have had midwinter Christmas ideas on my mind, and so I decided to make a winter themed card using the cottage.  I created a galaxy circle background on French Vanilla Cardstock and then used a Cricut cut Snowflake stencil for a subtle all over background. 

The title comes from this stamp set too- I stamped the word Home layered in Grape, Sangria and Sapphire ink, and then shaped the rest of the sentence around my galaxy circle (the great thing about our stamps is that they can be manipulated into different lines!) in Sangria ink. The snowflakes were simply sponged onto the cardstock using my Sponge Dauber and Mint Ink. 

For the galaxy spotlight I sponged a circle using Sapphire, Sangria and Grape ink. I then took my Watercolour Paints and flicked some white over the galaxy circle, and left to dry. 

For the house- I stamped the entire house in Versamark and Intense Black ink and then heat embossed it with Clear Embossing Powder so that the colours wouldn't run. Usually with watercolours you can just use Intense Black, but the snow look I created is quite wet and my first attempt didn't work out so I decided to do each step to protect the Black Ink as much as possible. I then coloured the house using Watercolour Pencils, and sponged over the windows with Mustard Seed Distress Oxide ink so that the lights looked like they were glowing inside. I then added a thick layer of Diamond Stickles Glitter Glue to the bushes and roof, to create a snowy look. It is so sparkly and pretty in real life! I fussy cut the house and popped it up on some Thin 3D Foam Tape. 

Isn't this such a cute card? I am really pleased with the way it turned out. I'd love to know which detail is your favourite. 

Now "Hop" on over to Maureen’s Blog to see her work! Be sure to visit all the Consultants at their Blogs to get some great crafting ideas and other fun ideas! Remember, the Strong Roots SOTM is only available until the 31st July!