Cherish the Day (November SOTM Blog Hop)

Welcome to our Stamp of the Month Blog Hop which features the Cherish the Day stamp set from Close To My Heart.  This stamp set is perfect to use as a quick 'date stamp' on your scrapbook pages.  And the tag shape is one that you can cut on the new Cricut-Art Philosophy cartridge. 

If you have come here from 'Carla Creates', you are on the right path! With over 50 Close To My Heart Consultants sharing their creations using this month's SOTM and other  CTMH products on their blogs, you should be able to find lots of great creative ideas to use for your own projects.  Blog Hopping is simple to do - just click on the link at the end of the post on each blog to move to the next one!

Even though the Wonderland paper packet is designed to use for Winter photos, the photos used on this page were actually taken on one of the hottest days of the year in July.  While in Washington DC for the annual CTMH Convention in 2010, my daughter and I took a Segway tour with some other consultants and friends.  It was a fabulous tour, and I highly recommend it as a way to see a lot of sites in DC in a 3-hour time span.  Riding the Segway was so much FUN!  

For this page, large flowers were stamped using the Hooray Bouquet stamp set, after cutting the coordinating images using the Art Philosophy cartridge.  The letters for the title were also cut using the Cricut cartridge, and the Cherish the Day stamp was used to indicate the month.  A small '10' was stamped using contrasting ink to indicate that the year was 2010. 
 

Now "Hop" on over to Susan's 'Out of the Closet - Stamping in the Open' blog to see her work!  Be sure to visit all the Consultants at their blogs to get some great crafting inspiration and other fun ideas!  Remember, the Cherish the Day stamp set is only available during the month of November.  The regular price is $17.95, or you can purchase it for only $5 with a minimum order of $50 in other CTMH products.

If you get lost on the Blog Hop or find links that aren't working, there is a complete list of all participating blogs on Helen's 'Hooked on Stamping' blog.

CTMH & Cricut - introducing Art Philosophy Cricut® Collection

Last week, Close To My Heart held their annual Convention at the Disneyland Hotel.  And I was fortunate enough to be selected to teach an Extravaganza class featuring the BIG announcement for the year - it is the Art Philosophy Cricut® Collection.  It is a bit difficult to see in the photo, but there is an exclusive Cricut cartridge along with his spiral companion book, three stamp sets with images that can be cut using the Cricut cartridge, and three Dimensional Elements shaped chipboard sheets which also coordinate with the Art Philosophy cartridge.  This entire bundle is only $99, and is available beginning August 1.

As an Extravaganza teacher, I received the new Art Philosophy cartridge along with new papers and other products being introduced about two months in advance so that I could create display boards and prepare for the seven classes that I would teach.  

The Art Philosophy cartridge is incredible - it includes 700 shapes.  There are 50 basic shapes (shown on this button overlay).  But the most amazing part is that all six Feature buttons of the Cricut are utilized.  

The Feature buttons are fabulous.  For each of the basic shapes, you have the following Features:

• Layer:  frames, outline shapes
• Decorative Layer: tags and frames with cut-outs
• Tag:  shaped tags with cut-outs, and ribbon slides
• Card:  shaped cards, and cards with cut-out image windows
• Font:  26 letters, numbers, special characters, photo corners, borders, spiral flowers
• Decorative Font:  26 letters with decorative stems, 3D boxes, envelopes, flourishes, doilies, more borders

You simply have to see the booklet to appreciate the potential of this Cricut cartridge.  Considering that all of the Feature buttons are utilized, and in such unique ways, this cartridge seems to be the equivalent of at least three 'regular' Cricut cartridges.

For a sneak peek at some of the possibilities, here are the three display boards that I created for Extravaganza.

Board #1:  Features images that be cut using the last button on the overlay, which includes a tag and a cupcake.  The cupcake stamp is in one of the stamp sets that is bundled with the Art Philosophy cartridge.  New papers featured are from the Elemental and the Roxie kits.

Board #2:  Features the new Sonoma paper pack along with some shaped cards, letters, and other images cut using the Art Philosophy cartridge. The stamps on the three cards are also included in the bundle with the Cricut cartridge. 

Board #3:  Includes papers from Wonderland and Believe paper kits.  Notice the variety of different card shapes that can be cut using the Art Philosophy cartridge as well as the large flowers that are from the Hooray Bouquet stamp set, and the holly leaves that are from the new A Holiday stamp set.  Both of these stamp sets, along with many others in the Idea Book include coordinating images that can be cut using the Cricut cartridge.  These coordinating stamp set shapes are in addition to the stamp shapes in the three stamp sets that are included with the purchase of the Art Philosophy cartridge.

And for even more information, CTMH has prepared a short video introducing the Art Philosophy Cricut® Collection.