The Long Way Home June SOTM Australasian Blog Hop

Welcome to our Australasian Blog Hop. We have all been creating with "The Long Way Home—June Stamp of the Month" Stamp set. 

If you have arrived here from Doris Taylor Creative Inspirations then you are in the right place. If you landed here another way, please join in by following the link at the end of this post. Follow the links, check out all the amazing ideas and eventually you'll come right back here to where you started. 

Today I would like to share with you my projects which features the The Long Way Home—June Stamp of the Month available exclusively throughout June 2016 for $27 or for just $7.50 when you spend $75.

I LOVE this stamp set and plan to make some Scrapbook pages of my daughters first bike ride without her training wheels. Its so perfect for it because we were on a family holiday in Bunbury (2.5 hrs south of where we live), when we took those photos. I haven't had a chance to get those photos printed yet so its going to happen next time!

I am still in the mode of making Baby Cards (see last blog hop about Georgie Workshop on the Go) and thought the "Miles of Smiles" title would look great on a baby card. 

I have been making cards with the Wild Wonders baby stamp set (as per the last blog hop) and I thought the Giraffe would suit the Miles of Smiles - because the neck of a giraffe is miles and miles long... 

or is it...

Okay so I wanted to make the giraffes neck EVEN Longer... So I inked up the bottom half of the giraffe with Slate Exclusive Inks™ Stamp Pad and stamped that directly on the 5 1/2" X 4 1/4" White Cards & Envelopes, Value Pack card. 

Next I cleaned the stamp with My Acrylix® Spritz Cleaner and My Acrylix® Stamp Scrubber.

I made sure the stamp was completely dry by stamping a few times on my scrap paper. Then I inked the Top half of the giraffe - its head and neck only. 

Then I stamped the top half, lining it up as well as I could. 

He turned out really cute. With a really, really long neck! I was planning to hide the join line but it was pretty good and could have been covered with a Bow or ribbon or something to hide the join if you were making him at another time. 

To finish off the card I put 1 x 5.5 inch strips of yellow paper from the Workshops on the Go® Georgie Scrapbooking Kit with the stamps from the Wild Wonders stamp set wording plus Hopscotch Alphabet to spell "baby".

Then 1 inch squares of the yellow Georgie paper at the top. All Stamped with Slate Exclusive Inks™ Stamp Pad. The Miles of Smiles sign was stamped on 12" X 12" White Daisy Cardstock with Slate Exclusive Inks™ Stamp Pad. I stuck on the sign of Miles of Smiles with 3-D Foam Tape for some dimension. 

TIP: To cut the Gold Shimmer Trim in half. 

1. Remove the Shimmer Trim backing and lightly adhere the 5.5 inches of shimmer trim equally one quarter inch on each side of the cut line on the SureCut™ Deluxe Craft Paper Trimmer. 

2. Slide the blade up to cut the shimmer trim in half. 

3. Remove the Shimmer Trim from the trimmer and adhere on either side of the B&T paper on your card. Don't leave it there too long or it will become harder to remove from the trimmer. 

Remember this great stamp set  The Long Way Home—June Stamp of the Month is only available throughout June from my website or from your Close to My Heart Consultant. 

Thanks so much for dropping by to check out my latest project, I hope you get inspired. I'm really interested to hear what you think about it, so I'd love you to leave a comment before heading off to the next stop on our Australasian Blog Hop which is Tanya- Happy Papercrafting.

Come back to see me again soon.

Wrapping Paper

I am excited to share some cool wrapping paper and a card that I made this week for my nephews 5th birthday. I love this idea of having an endless variety of personalised wrapping paper.

I bought some cheap brown paper on clearance after Christmas at a big chain store for $1 per roll which is 7m x 70cm wide. I bought 5 rolls and then went back and bought a few more cause I want to be able to do this for every gift I give. You can't probably get it that cheap at the moment but keep an eye out, lots of places do sell it and places like Ikea sell white paper on a role too.

I decided to let my daughter (who is a mad keen stamper) do the wrapping paper while I worked on the card. I set her up with the Fast and Furious stamp set (she choose which vehicles she wanted to use and which colours).

This stamp set is such a fabulous set for young boys (and the young-at-heart boys). My daughter chose Cranberry Exclusive Inks™ Stamp Pad, Lagoon Exclusive Inks™ Stamp Pad and Honey Exclusive Inks™ Stamp Pad. She then random stamped all over the paper, which we had cut to size of the present by loosely wrapping it around the present first. 

Note: When getting my 6yr old to stamp I put the cars on the 3x3inch block and then realised that putting them diagonally on the block meant she was able to stamp more evenly than if the cars were at one edge of the block.

I started the card by deciding to make a Pop-Up card from the Cricut® Artfully Sent Cartridge.
On page 28 there is a pop up card that is designed to have the little aliens on it. I just cut the pop-up insert at 5 inches with the shift key on (as per the instructions) but did not cut the aliens :)

I picked a blue cardstock from my pile of Whimsy Cardstock Combo Pack and cut out the pop up design. To follow with the recycled brown paper look I chose 12" X 12" Kraft Cardstock to create the outside of the card and stamp the three matching vehicles as my daughter had chosen for her paper. 

In the centre of the paper and the centre of the card I stamped my nephews name in Urban Alphabet font stamps and Black Exclusive Inks™ Stamp Pad.

 After I had stamped on the front of the card with the same colours as the wrapping paper, I stamped one set on scrap Kraft Cardstock and cut them out, leaving the bottom of the cut out stamps fairly flat for the pop-up. 

 I stuck on the vechicles on the pop up sections of the card with 3L® E-Z Dots® Adhesive and used that same adhesive to stick the insert down to the outer card.

I was very happy with the finished product and think that it made a nice co-ordinated personalised gift wrapping. I hope I have given you some inspiration for your next gift giving opportunity.

I was originally inspired to make wrapping paper when a friendly sister consultant Laura Beacham shared some cute paper she had made with a matching card using the cutest Love Ya Silly stamps and the Operation Smile Fundraiser stamp set You're the Bomb to make the balloon (turning the bomb upside-down). She used the paper Paper Fundamentals Adventure Assortment and 12" X 12" Black Cardstock with Honey Exclusive Inks™ Stamp Pad and Black Exclusive Inks™ Stamp Pad.

Thanks Laura for permitting me to show your cute work on my blog, I love your little cute party alien/monsters.

Made by Laura Beacham - used with permission.

Made by Laura Beacham - used with permission.