Joyful Stars July Blog Hop

Welcome to our monthly blog hop.  I'm glad you are joining us this month.  If you are coming from Jolene's Blog, then you are on the right track.  This is a circular hop - it really does not matter where you start - just keep hopping until you return to the first blog you visited.  However, if you get lost,  go to Joyce's Blog where you will find the complete list of "hoppers" and their blog addresses.  This year, it is my 20th Anniversary with Close To My Heart so I decided to go to our annual Convention in Anaheim California to celebrate!  Convention was a blast!  You are going to LOVE all the new products - especially Artfully Sent- the new Cricut Cartridge.
I made a card for you today using one of the new stamp sets (D1616 Have a Happy Day) and a new ink color introduced at the Convention.  That is one of the benefits of being a Consultant and going to Convention - we get to see and use the new products.  We even go home with a goodie bag of new products so we can "play" until our new products arrive!  So this post is also a "sneak peek" at some of those new products as well as a blog hop.

The new color is called Thistle.  It is a beautiful shade of purple.  I used it to stamp the flowers on the White Daisy cardstock.  I also used Pear to stamp the chevron border and the leaves.  I love the clean, crisp, graphic look of this card.  You may also notice the new Thistle Diagonal Striped Ribbon.  It adds a bit of texture between the chevrons.  The White Daisy piece is on a Whisper card base.  The "Thinking of You" is stamped in Slate Ink.  There are some very versatile sentimets in this set.  You can find it on page 118 in the new Annual Inspirations Book. 
 Here is peek at 2 cards we made at Convention.  They were made using the same stamp set, the new Seaside Paper Pack and new sequin accessories.  It really is a very versatile stamp set - you are going to "need" one!

Thanks so much for joining us.  Now it is time to "hop" on over to Meg's Blog. I recently had the pleasure of meeting Meg at an event sponsored by Sizzix designer Eileen Hull.  Eileen decided to visit independent local scrapbook stores in the Northeast and stopped at a location right down the street from where I live.  You can read all about her exploits HERE.  It was a fun evening of crafting and sharing and of course meeting other crafters.