Blog Hoppin' with the Control Freaks! May 2017

Hey friends! I'm playing once again with the Control Freaks, a special group of stampers committed to producing top-notch work to share with others. Welcome to the May 2017 blop hop, featuring sneak peeks from the NEW 2017-18 Idea Book & Catalog.

You may have come here from Melissa's blog, or this may be your first stop–either way, just click the button at the end of my post to go to the next stop on the hop. Keep going until you wind up back here, or as long as you can before you have to quit!

Now, on to my contribution to the creative fun!

I chose to feature a cute new punch and stamp set bundle called Label Me Pretty and the Pretty Label Punch. The punch is a great size for both cardmaking and scrapbooking, so I knew I'd use it a lot. Throughout the hop, I used the new In Colors Fresh Fig and Powder Pink, with Whisper White for my neutral. The patterned Fresh Fig papers are from the 2017-19 In Colors "Fresh Florals" Designer Series Paper Stack.

I started off simple, with a gift tag and card using the cute kitchen stamp. I also discovered, to my delight, that the new Finely Woven Ribbon, which comes in the new In Colors, can be curled! All you need to do is wrap it around a pencil or wooden dowel, and heat it with your Heat Tool. It took a little bit longer than some of the other ribbons with a higher synthetic count, but it did work.

Next I kicked it up a notch with some fancier cards. The center of the label punch is round, so it coordinates with all your circle punches and Framelits. Hooray! I often layered my Pretty Label punch with a second punch behind it, sliced down the middle and spread apart slightly so it showed like a mat around my punch. You can use the Pretty Label punch horizontally or vertically, which is nice and versatile, too.

BONUS: you can also use the Pretty Label punch for a wide corner rounder (seen on the card on the right above, and the kitchen gift tag). How fun to have all those functions in one punch?

Lastly, I made a fun stationery box with pen (Edited to Add: tutorial here!) that holds four cards and envelopes. It was so easy to pull together with those pretty papers and the quick, punched focal points for both the box and the cards inside. It would make a great gift for anyone!

Did you notice the pen matches? I unscrewed an R.S.V.P. pen and inserted a tightly-rolled strip of coordinating paper into the clear tube. So fun to personalize even the pens this way! And look, the stationery box even has a little pocket for address labels and postage stamps. Nifty! Be sure to visit again next week to see the tutorial. (Edited to Add: tutorial here)

That's it from me–click this button to go see what my friend Debbie has in store for you on the next Control Freaks blog stop! Thanks for visiting Song of My Heart Stampers today.