Stamp of the Month Blog Hop

Welcome to the Close To My Heart (CTMH) Stamp of the Month (SOTM) blog hop :)  If you are coming from Lori's blog Saving Mine you are in the right place!  If you just happened upon the hop you can follow the links for a full circle or start at the beginning at HookedOnStamping with Helen.
The stamp this month is Potential 

It is only available from March 1st through March 31stby ordering directly for $17.97or by placing a $50 order and getting the set for $5If you do not have your own CTMH consultant you can order through my website here 

I used the square sketch from Mojo Monday Blog this week to make this card

If you want the tutorial keep reading otherwise you can continue hopping on to Nikka's blog Create Your Vision.  Thanks for stopping by - I love your comments :)
Materials used:March Stamp of the Month Stamp Set Card Puzzle Stamp Set (love this!)Stella Paper PackBlack Ink, Sunset InkOrange & Sunflower Colored PencilsBlending PenClear Embossing PowderVersa Mark Ink
I stamped the image with Versa Mark Ink and then used Clear Embossing Powder set with the heat gun.  After it set I used the Sunset Ink to make the image pop off the paper :)  The flowers were stamped, heat set, colored with watercolor pencils and blended together with the blending pen.  I cut them out after the dried and popped them up with 3D tape.  

March not only have an amazing Stamp set but an offer for a FREE Art Philosophy Cricut Cartridge :)When you sign up and purchase the Close To My Heart consultant kit in the month of March you will get your choice of the Art Philosophy Bundle or $100 worth of Select Product for FREE!   You don't even have to make this a business as many sign up just for the discount, as a hobbyist or to get almost $500 worth of product for $99!  I'd be happy to answer any questions you might have - so please contact me if you are interested! 
Now hop on over to Nikka's blog and see what great project she made with this month's stamp :) 

Linking with these great link parties                    

Opperation Smile Fundraiser going on now
for more information check out my post here

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Share a Smile

I am putting together a collaborative fundraiser between bloggers. This is a smile project designed to raise money for Operation Smile.  The Blog Style Smile-A-Thon and I would love to have you join me!

<a href="http://ejoym.blogspot.com" target="_blank"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvXFwgwQoB7P8I5AQqeBv-g0XGbyMMDso_5uVyooTywiAlQF1nQXI87UAen6P6cG6KOxLN7iLwLLDxdDxkJ1i-RrcYAiCxgWVDX8-n9ydbN7QgpV_VXD3cHBUaixY80YswxZ_Bhcw5_Hzj/s144/19194839731.jpg" alt="BrokenTreasure" width="125" height="125" /></a>

If you are a blogger and would like to participate, please read through the details below and email me with your interest at alwaysdeeper(at)hotmail.com or request to join our Smile-A-Thon facebook page group .

March 1st is Share A Smile Day and we are going to celebrate the whole month of March with (hopefully) hundreds of shared smiles!  

What is the collaborative project:

A collaborative effort on the part of 

bloggers to collect 

spontaneous smileys

and raise money for Operation Smile

How to participate:

• Any blogger that wants to participate by promoting the project, collecting smileys and uploading them onto the Spontaneous Smiley website please e-mail me at alwaysdeeper (at) hotmail.com and/or join our facebook group
• All photos uploaded onto Spontaneous Smiley website must include "Elizabeth Sent Me" in the "Who Are You?" field 
• All bloggers are encouraged (but not required) to print off a sponsor form here and collect sponsors for the smiley photos that they take
• Please encourage your readers to collect their own photos and maybe even print off a sponsor sheet 
• Deadline for notifying me of participation in order to be put on the list of participating bloggers is March 15th.  

***It only costs $240 to change one child's life - one operation - once child - one new Smile!  My dream to raise enough money to give FIVE children a smile - that means a goal of $1200** 

How the fundraiser will work: 

You can take part in any of these additional fundraisers. This is completely optional but the more the merrier though!

Individual Projects to giveaway: 

• Each of you can elect to host a giveaway on your site, with the option to donate to Operation Smile. 
• It can be a copy of Ruth's book (that you purchase and giveaway).
• It can also be something related to the share a smile project.
• It can even be a collection of your own smiles taken :)
• Start the giveaways on March 17th. I would like to do at least one per day [depends on how many of you opt to do this].

The Smiley Book of Colors

Giveaway & Discount: 

• Ruth will donate one signed book to be given to the person who collects the Most Smileys
• Ruth will donate one signed book to be given to the person who raises the Most Money for Operation Smile (through your smile-a-thon sponsor sheets).
• Ruth is offering 30% discount on her book to everyone who collects more than ten smileys and uploads them onto the Spontaneous Smiley website.    

Promotion:

• If you are participating, I would like to ask you to promote the Share A Smile project when we go live on March 17th or even leading up to that date until the end of March.
• All blogs that are participating will be listed on our March 17th post.
• Promote Operation Smile, Spontaneous Smiley, and our Share a Smile project in any way you can - do you blog about your kids?  Create a kid friendly smile project and share about Project Share a Smile.  Do you blog about cooking?  Why not put together a smile theme recipe and share about Project Share a Smile?  Do you blog about your paper crafting?  I do too!  I'm planning on doing some smile themed cards and posting some of my layouts about the smiles my kids share each day and then promote the Share A Smile Project.  
• All giveaways will be cross-linked/promoted with a linky party.

Please let me know which levels of participation you will take part in:

1. Collecting and uploading Spontaneous Smileys onto the Spontaneous Smiley website (with "Elizabeth Sent Me" in the who are you section) 
2. Printing off the sponsor sheet here and collecting sponsors for the spontaneous smileys you collect.
3. Hosting a giveaway of their project with the option to donate to Operation Smile as an entry.
4. Mentioning the 'big' giveaways of the Ruth's books which I'll host on my blog.

I am excited to have you join us on this adventure of sharing smiles with children around the world and look forward to hearing from you :) 

                   

Opperation Smile Fundraiser going on now
for more information check out my post here

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Thinking of you . . .

Here is a card I made using background stamps for the challenge going on over at Annabelle Stamps Blog- really beginning to love these types of stamps!

I cut out the bird with the Art Philosophy Cartridge on the Cricut Machine.  Then I stamped it with the musical note background stamp and inked the edges using Creme Brulee Ink.  The ribbon is dyed with Creme Brulee reinker and the card stock is Creme Brulee as well.  I used the flower from Card Word Puzzle stamp set to make my own patterned paper and colored them in with copic markers.

Materials List:Art Philosophy CartridgeColonial White & Creme Brulee CardstockCard Word PuzzleUniversal Background StampColor Ready Seem Binding RibbonCreme Brule Reinker
Thanks for stopping by :)
                   

Opperation Smile Fundraiser going on now
for more information check out my post here

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Cooking With Cricut Challenge

Welcome to another Cooking with Cricut Challenge.  This week's challenge was put together by Debbie over at Workin Scrappin Mom of 4 and Jenny J over at Crazy about Cricut 
Your project must be a birthday themed project using a cake, cupcake or balloons.  
This is what I made

The cupcake is cut out with the Art Philosophy Cartridge and the cherry button is a glitter button from the Paper Trey Tutorial for this week.  
Materials:Pemberley PaperIndian Corn Blue InkDessert Sand InkArt Philosophy Stamp Set Enjoy The Ride Stamp Set (PTI)
Thanks for stopping by!  I can't wait to see what project you create!  Don't forget to link up over at Cooking with Cricut :)  
I'm sorry I've been absent for a little while.  I have a ton of card classes I'm preparing for in the month of March.  I'll be posting cards for the next few days because of this.  Thanks for your patience and continued reading of my blog - I appreciate you all so very much!! 
                   

Opperation Smile Fundraiser going on now
for more information check out my post here

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I can be your friend . . .

"Any day in any weather

we can be friends and play [grow, create, share, laugh, cry, chat] together.  

I can be your friend.  If your hair is red or yellow, we can have lunch I'll share my jello (or at least a recipe or two).  It's ok if we are different we can still chat because I can be your friend!"

Veggie Tales Song "I can be your Friend" (lyrics changed a little by yours truly)

Photo Credit 

Some of you may have heard that Google Friend Connect is going away on March 1st, some of you may not. The fact of the matter is, it will be going away for blogs that are NOT on Blogger.  GFC will return to a regular "follow" widget for Blogger blogs.  I am currently hosted on Blogger, but in the future, I would like to move to Wordpress and hopefully get my own domain name.  I will continue to leave the Blogger "follow" widget on our blog after the change, however we do encourage you to subscribe in another way so we do not lose touch with you when we do transition to Wordpress.  We value our readers and do not want you to miss anything when we move.

Here are other ways to connect and follow along with us:
Follow through the Linky Followers above GFC to the right 

Facebook- I update my Facebook page every day with posts and try to interact with my readers too. My facebook page is where you will find tips, tutorials and video links for all things paper crafting!  I also hold contests and giveaways just for my crafty facebook friends :)  Click HERE to follow me on Facebook.

RSS- My RSS feed is another great way to stay connected. I love my readers and subscribers! Click HERE to subscribe via RSS feed.

Twitter- I try to tweet daily and love to chat with my tweeps. I often will send out upcoming information or various giveaways on Twitter. Click HERE to follow via Twitter.

Pintrest- On Pintrest I like to pin my favorite projects. Here I also pin projects, ideas, blog challenges and all things beautiful that I use for creative inspiration. Click HERE to follow me on Pintrest.

Blog Lovin'- This one is brand new to me but I recommend you check it out.  All your favorite blogs in one place :)  Click HERE to follow us on Blog Lovin'.

Our Blog Frog Community- Yes, I just started a community for our readers to interact with each other.  I would LOVE to get this going and make it a real place to talk about life with kids, paper crafting, blogging, tips and techniques and anything else you want to chat about.  FYI:  It takes just a few seconds to load onto our site so please be patient.  Click HERE to join our community. 

Email- Never miss a post by subscribing to me via email. I promise I don't spam and you will NOT get my monthly newsletter unless you subscribe to is separately.  This link is just for my blog posts!  It's easy to subscribe and just as easy to unsubscribe (though I would rather not have you do that).  Click HERE to subscribe via email.

I follow a ton of blogs but rarely have the time to read even half of them!  With that in mind I am will no longer require you follow me for any reason including giveaways, and I will not solicit followers. I  would rather have 10 people follow me because they truly want to stay connected than 1,000 followers who never visit my site.

Thanks for your understanding and patience with this big change.  I look forward to connecting with you and sharing this journey we call Life together :)
                   

Opperation Smile Fundraiser going on now
for more information check out my post here

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