January Control Freaks Blog Hop

Welcome to this month's Control Freaks Blog Hop. The theme is the new Occasions and Sale-a-Bration products. You'll see tons of new and awesome projects today!

You may have just arrived or maybe you hopped on over from my friend Dawn's blog. I've been inspired by her clean and simple style quite often.

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My first projects are the cards we made at my January card clubs. I found the crisp Black & White Petal Passion paper quite refreshing after the bright colors of the holidays and it pairs beautifully with the new Petal Palette bundle.

Aren't they pretty? This beautiful paper has tons of fabulous designs; it's hard to pick a favorite! Note the curvy end on the Black strip; I used the Pretty Label punch for that. Like this:

You'll insert the 1" strip of paper into just the back of the punch. This trick makes you look at your punches in totally new ways!

Besides the Petal Palette bundle I used the Flourishing Phrases stamp set for the sympathy greeting on the lower left. I like to offer a variety of themes for my gals at Club.

This card is a fun fold card that I've been calling a double flap card. I will be posting a video on how to make this card next week so stop back in!

Measurements:

Black card 4 1/4" X 5 1/2"
Black panel 3 1/4" X 4 1/4"
Black strip 1" X 5" scored at 1"
Whisper White 4" X 8 1/2", scored at 5 1/4"
Petal Passion Designer paper 3" X 4"

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I am a coloring convert! I am in love with our new Blends markers and lately I find myself reaching for stamps so I can color. Here I used the Petal Palette bundle once more for a totally different look.

I couldn't decide which colors I liked best so I made two cards. The left is colored with dark and light Calypso Coral Blends markers and the right is colored with both dark and light Rich Razzleberry and Dark Pink Pirouette. I love how you can blend with other colors besides just the dark and light of one color. Which card is your favorite?

The Powder Pink textured strips are textured with the new Petal Pair embossing folders. I used both of them here; one on each card. The ribbon is our new 1/4" Organza ribbon that I colored with my Blends markers. I cannot quit coloring this pretty Organza ribbon either!

Did you catch the pretty Black trim on the greeting banner? I used the detailed trim piece under my greeting (this die-cut is what put me over the edge on this bundle; I had to have it!). It is almost the same width as the white die-cut here so after I cut the Black piece out I cut it in half horizontally so the detail peeks out from under the greeting.

Besides our metallic sequins I added some Black metallic thread behind my die-cut floral piece. I thought I'd show you how it looks from the back. Messy but it's easier than it looks.

I place dimensionals on the back of my card stock first. Then I wind the thread around two or three fingers and open and loosen the loops a bit and press the thread onto my dimensionals. I do adjust them a bit to peek out as much as I want.

Measurements:

White Thick card stock - 4 1/4" X 11", scored at 5 1/2"
White CS for flower die-cut 3 1/4" X 2 1/2"
Powder Pink 2" X 5 1/2"

Thank you for stopping in. I hope you've been inspired and discovered a few new stamping tips from me. And now you're off to visit Cindy's blog. Don't miss it! I've found I case a lot of her projects!