The Perfec Pair! A CC&M Blog Hop with Clear & Simple Stamps

Hi everyone! I am posting here again with another hop!!

Welcome to the Perfect Pair Hop with some great stamps from Clear & Simple Stamps & fabulous die cuts from Creative Cuts & More!! 

This should be a really fun hop to follow because not only will you find ideas from the Die Cut Diva team, but the Clear & Simple Stamps DT (CSS) is using the same stamp sets & dies!  Each team member was given a different stamp set & then we were paired with the CSS DT using that same set! Should be fun to compare the 2 ways each set was used! The challenge was to use the stamp set & dies assigned to us to create 3 projects with one of those projects submitted to CSS for their iPhone App (HERE).

And what would a hop be without some CANDY???

There will be 2, yes TWO! prizes (from CC&M and CSS) given away to 2 (TWO!!) lucky readers EACH day!! So be sure to leave a comment as you hop along to all these wonderful sites over the next TWO days!!

So, settle on in & hop along with us. Hopefully you started at the beginning & hopped along to Eva's post over at CSS (She has some beautiful work!!) to get here. If not, you really don't want to miss what all these designers have done for you today! So start HERE & work you way back to me!

Ok, so I had this fun little "Summer Sand" stamp set from Clear & Simple Stamps:

 This was a FANTASTIC stamp set for me to work with since we travel quite a bit to sandy beaches!! And, here are the dies I had to work with:

Box with Handle & Layer

Small Window A2 Card (I used this one for my iPhone App)

One of the suggested dies was unavailable, so I chose to work with this Peek-a-View box instead

When I was playing around with the Box with handle, I immediately thought of a sand bucket!

So I stamped the adorable sandcastle from the set on cardstock & cut it out. Then I used the "sand" stamp to layer "sand" all over the castle in 2 ink colors - brown & black, but I stamped over & over before re-inking to get some faded stamping too. (I repeated this process around the box & it's layers too!)
Then I stamped the titles "Life is better" & "at the Beach" on red Glimmer-Misted paper & cut them out like a little flag & banner. I put the "Life is better on a toothpick to make the flag, glued it to the back of the castle before popping it onto the front of the box.
Then I pulled out an old roll of artistic wire & started making swirly ends to hold photos of my daughter playing in the sand last year in Maui...

I stamped the little seashells on some Glimmered paper & cut them out to put on the corner here.

Castle Die in Cappuccino Curious Metallic paper.

I used more of the stamp phrases on the red Glimmer-misted paper again cut them into banner-type pieces & made a little crown for my "Queen." I used a pen to ink the edges of the castle so it would stand out more (not perfect, but it works!) I crossed out the word "castle" from the stamp because she was "Queen of the Sand" that day, with no castles to be made!

I then put a small cube of florists foam inside the box to stand all the wired up in. And added the info on the back.

I just love the whimsey of it!!


Next, I played with the Peek-a-View Box & I have to say it is rapidly becoming one of my favorites!
(We're even doing one in a Halloween kit to sell next month on Etsy!!)

Again, I used the "sand" stamps in brown & black to create the sandy look on the castle die. I stamped a bunch of the seashells on glimmered paper & cut each grouping out. Then I stamped "at the beach" onto the front of the lower part of the box. I scored the castle so it would bend around the corner of the box once I put the bottom of the box together with Killer Red Tacky Tape (CC&M really has THE best prices!). Scattered the seashells around the bottom edges too...

 For the inside of the box, I simply adhered a photo of Maggie at the beach onto a piece of cardstock, stamped the upper/bottom portions with the "sand" & "seashell clusters" & lightly tacked it inside so that it stayed in place. (The acetate piece is so simple: fold at scored lines & tape along one edge before you insert it.) For the top of the box, I simply stamped the "Life is Better" phrase on the center front edge & sprinkled glitter around it before I used the killer tape to adhere it all together. (I also used a little more of the tape along the inside bottom to tape the acetate to the bottom of the box to keep it from falling out with the weight of the coral, but the top can be opened.)

Filled it all up with the coral Maggie collected that year & violla!
Instant, adorable keepsake!

Thanks for stopping by!
Now it's time to hop on over to Jenyfur's blog to see what she's created for you!
OH! Don't forget to leave a comment for your chance to win some BLOG CANDY!!
TTFN!
Becky, a Scrap-a-Teeny Girl