Playing with the CTMH product for the first time

I was so excited to play with my first shipment of Close to my Heart products. All these new stamps and inks and gadgets... oh my, where to begin!?!?

As a long time fan of Cricut, I decided to use my new Cricut cartridge first. It had been a while since I used my machine, so I decided to start with some simple shapes that had corresponding stamps with them.

Artbooking, my new CTMH Cricut cartridge, came with three sets of stamps and three pages of dimensional elements. The stamps correspond with shapes on the cartridge, as do the dimensional elements.

The great thing about the stamps was the fact that on the cover sheet itself, it told me which page of the Cricut manual contained the image that matched the stamp I wanted to use. It also told me the correct size to cut the image so that it matched the size of the stamp image. This made cutting out matching shapes a breeze!

I pulled out a stack of kraft coloured paper and merrily started cutting away.

Once I had all of the shapes cut out, it was time to try out my new inks and stamps. I was impressed with the entire CTMH set up.

a) The clear acrylic blocks have an etched line that allows you to line up your image.

b) The clear block allows you to see the cut piece that you are stamping onto to ensure correct alignment of the stamped image.

c) You can see if your stamp image is completely covered in ink by looking at it directly or through the stamp block.

d) The stamp and ink combination allowed for complete coverage. Other stamps I have used (both clear and wooden) often have splotchy areas where the ink doesn't transfer.

e) How easy it was to wipe the stamp block to remove any excess ink and prevent the excess from transferring to my project. All in all, a fun experiment with my new products.



Shapes cut from Artbooking Cricut cartridge
Stamped images from My Life stamps (from Artbooking set)



Also from My Life stamp set
First image, without removing the excess ink in the middle of the stamp.
Second image, I made sure the ink was only on the parts of the stamp that I wanted reproduced.



                                       

From the Sweet and Lovely stamp set
I was so impressed with this combination.  It looked like a store bought die cut.