Thin Cuts for CTMH Featured Products Blog Hop

Hello and welcome back for another installment of the Close To My Heart (CTMH) Featured Products Blog Hop.  This week we are bringing you projects made with CTMH's exclusive Thin Cut sets that work with Cuttlebugs, Sizzix, etc.; some of these die cuts stand alone and others are made to coordinate with particular stamp sets so when you put them all together, the creative possibilities are endless!  If you arrived here from Corinna's blog you are in the right place, but hops are circular so you are welcome to jump in at any point and follow the links until you've made the rounds.  A complete list of this hop's participants is included at the end of the post in case you get lost along the way.  Now it's time to play!

I just got my Dreamin' Big cardmaking thin cuts bundle the other day and I couldn't wait to get my hands on it.  The card I've made today is one I've had planned since I first saw this set and it is made with a particular friend in mind:  she lost her mother at a very young age, while my friend was expecting her first child, and this has had a devastating impact on her.  Since the mother's totem was always the dragonfly, naturally my friend has come to love them too and her friends and family are always on the lookout for something special for those difficult "anniversary" dates my friend struggles with, so I'm hoping she will enjoy this one.

details:  As stated, I chose to work with the Dreamin' Big cardmaking card and die cut set and the Dreamin' Big paper kit.  I started with a standard 5 1/2 x 4 1/4" card base and used the retired Art Philosophy to cut this frame from the Goldrush patterned paper at 3 1/4". I layered the Whisper woodgrain patterned paper behind that and carefully used my trimmer to cut out a window to remove part of the gray paper and added a 1" strip of the flower patterned paper at the bottom.  Then I positioned the dragonfly Thin Cut die where I wanted it, used a spare bit of washi tape to hold it in place, and ran it through my Cuttlebug to make a cutout in the front of the card.  I used some scrap cardstock and made another cut and taped that to the front of my card so that the cutouts were aligned, closed my card and stamped so that the dragonfly base image is actually on the inside of the card.  Then I took the piece that had been cut out of the card base and stamped another dragonfly image on it using Slate, Glacier, and Juniper inks.  I made

some small slits from the top and bottom of the wings to close to the body, positioned the cut out over the closed card to make sure the stamped die cut was aligned with the die cut cut-out, and glued the dragonfly over the stamped base image (if that makes sense).  Once the adhesive was dry, I bent the wings and then went over them with a clear shimmer brush.  I used Poppy ink and one of the sentiments that came with this set for the inside of the card, and for the final touch I added a strip of white shimmer trim.  I haven't yet decided on a sentiment for the cover.

Here is another card I made last week with the hearts thin cuts, some retired patterned paper, the January 2017 Stamp of the Month "Adore," the lovely gold foil XOXO patterned ribbon from the Uptown ribbon pack, and a touch of white and gold ribbon to tie the hearts together.

And now it's time to hop on over to Donna's blog to see the lovely project she has in store for you.  We hope you will stop by again on Wednesday, 3/1/17, at 8 pm Central when we will be more projects made with the Dreamin' Big kits.  Happy crafting!  ~~  Annette

Complete list of this week's participants:

1.  Corinna Murphy

2.  Annette Clark (here)

3.  Donna Digby

4.  Lauren Moore