Hello, Life! Saying Goodbye!

National Stamping Month is almost over!

You only have a few days to order your Hello, Life! scrapbooking, pocket or card-making stamp sets. When they're gone, they're gone! See more details on the Current Specials tab or order online here.

RX: Stress Relief

I have a quick little project that I made for fun. I saw this idea on Pinterest and thought I would put the CTMH spin on it. Plus, I knew a couple of gals at school that would enjoy the surprise! I am also submitting this to Heart 2 Heart Challenges for their doodling theme. Adding the doodling frame really made it feel finished!

Happiness Is a Handmade Wreath

I've admired this wreath on the front cover of the latest Idea Book ever since seeing sneak peek's from convention. When available, I downloaded the recipe for it. It listed the Cricut collection, image, page number and sizing, but the rest of the instruction was up to me. I had no idea what the finished size would be? I thought it would be about the size of our 12x12 wooden frames. After making it I soon realized this was larger than our frames. I cut some cardboard from one of our shipping boxes as the base. {about 15" in diameter} Assembling the leaves and flowers was fun, but I'll warn you that it required lots of hot glue! The white is super hard to photograph, but I will say that the finished result is gorgeous!

If you are interested in making your own wreath you can download and print the recipe for yourself. In fact you can look up the recipe for any of the artwork in the Idea Book by clicking here then selecting "recipes". Please share with me if you make one, I'd love to know what you think about it!

Hello Little Lovely Flower Jar

I have been fascinated for quite some time with mason jar crafts. From food gifts to home lighting, even scrapbook projects, these jars have endless possibility! You can imagine how happy I was to see a mason jar with flowers on the new Artistry cartridge. It is just adorable and so easy to size and cut out.

For this card I was inspired by some colors I saw recently on a shopping excursion. I'm especially fascinated with the hints of gold with these coral and mint colors. Many of us have also found an interest in painting, particularly a spray or splat of paint on our projects. For this card though I practically cheated on the splats as I used the nifty Ink Blot {D1660} stamp set found in the new Annual Inspirations book. I am entering this card on Heart 2 Heart Challenges this week for their "Splat" theme!

Close up of the splats! 

There's that awesome "hello" sentiment again! Don't forget that you can get the amazing National Stamping Month sets at a discounted price when you buy all three. They will only be available this month, special ends September 30th.

September Card Club & a Surprise!

Crate Card Club made its 'mini' return this month. Not all of my members have returned yet, but we still had fun creating! Here is the card I created again and remember I told you that I had a surprise for the girls!

On my card I did some background stamping on the base of the card. I used a 'Best Day' sentiment from the Zoe WOTG kit. That was the only stamping for this card! All the other details were cut on my Cricut from mostly the Artistry cartridge and the Artbooking cartridge. I used some Fundamental Papers for a little shine and added in some new aqua shimmer trim for even more sparkle!

My surprise for the ladies is a new idea I wanted to try. A monthly add-on kit that will coordinate with my card. As much as we all love to exchange cards, I still have some scrapbooker's in my group. I love that this idea reflects the direction of Close To My Heart's Annual Inspirations Book which is to focus on memory keeping! After making cards I will show my customers the two page layout. If they like it they can add the kit to their order for $10. They will get everything they need, pre-cut and pre-stamped with instructions to create the layout for themselves. So far it is a success!

 Here are the other cards that the ladies created for our exchange. As always we had a great mix of themes and products.

 Thank you for stopping by, have a great week crafters!

Card Club Returns

Today my Crate Card Club returns. We took a little break over the Summer, but now we are ready to start back up! With all the new products from the Annual Inspiration just being released it is exciting to imagine all the possibilities. For my card I've incorporated lots of cuts from the brand new Artistry Cricut cartridge. I gave a little sneak peek of it on Instagram, but the ladies attending don't know that I have another little surprise in store for them! Here is your sneak peek too, but you will have to come back to see the surprise for yourself.

More Watercolors and Ink Blots

I was playing with some more watercolors, this time blending them together on my card base. I also incorporated some ink blots the easy way! No messy splattering required! I simply inked up the brand new Ink Blot My Acrylix stamp with various colors and stamped it over the watercolors. What an addictive and fun stamp! Once all the paints were dry I used the Hello, Life! stamp set to add a sentiment and also added some sparkly bling.

(D1660) Ink Blot $17.95

Don't miss out on this month's special, it is National Stamping Month after all!

Adventure with Mini State Stamps

Have you seen the M-sized state stamps in the new Idea Book. You can find a couple examples on page103, however you can see all of the United States and the Canadian provinces and territories online. I knew immediately which states I wanted to collect first and what I would use them for!

Our family embarked on a pretty epic vacation this Summer! We traveled through three states making multiple destinations. This was also the furthest North we have ever traveled on the West coast. At the end of our almost 4 week adventure I brought back plenty of photographs to fill an entire album. From the moment I saw the new state stamps in the Idea Book I knew exactly how I wanted to design the introduction layout.

 This layout will be at the start of our Summer Vacation album. It really introduces the journey showing where we started and giving just a glimpse of the entire trip to the last destination.

I also used lots of brand new Artistry Cricut cuts which were a ton of fun to cut and add into the layout!

Just look at those cute little state stamps!

 Here is a collage of some close-ups of the stamped images throughout the layout!

 Now those adorable mini-stamps can all be contained in the mini organizer! This newest organizer is found on page 155 in the Annual Inspirations. It holds up to 28 My Acrylix M-size stamp sets or use it for those smaller embellishment packages, they fit great in here too!

I had a customer tell me that she wanted to collect all 50 of the United States stamps and if she got anything for such a purchase. Well I suppose if you got all 50, I would have to throw in a mini stamp organizer for free!!

What would you use these mini state stamps for?!! See them all online here.

No Frills, Fundamental Birthday Card

I created a simple, no frills birthday card for Freshly Made Sketches this week. I used some of my favorite Fundamentals Paper in a subtle beige and blue combination. {flaxen & glacier} The little present comes from this month's promotion Hello, Life!

Sometimes its best not to fuss over the details, in fact these shiny patterned papers are all you need! Did you know that the 2015-16 Annual Idea Book contains all new patterns of the Paper Fundamentals in all of the color collections? Check out pages 108 & 109 to see all the patterns and colors. Plus, if you continue to look on pages 110 & 111 you will see the all new coordinating sticker packs and assortments.

Whimsy Collection

Are those awesome!? Take a look in the new book or shop online in you favorite color combo or get them all for a superior collection of scrapbooking and card making materials!

Say Hello To Watercolors

Close To My Heart is offering a brand new gorgeous palette of watercolors, brushes and paper to their fabulous line of products. Watercolors have fast become a trend in scrapbooking and card making lately. The colors are rich in tone and the brushes are of high quality. The watercolor paper provides the perfect base to your master piece.

At my recent Open House I spoiled my best customers with a preview of not only the new watercolor products, but also this month's Hello, Life! promotion! We made a clean and simple card using an ombre coloring technique, a little bit of some La Vie En Rose black & white papers and finally we did some stamping with the new Hello, Life! cardmaking stamp set. We had a lot of fun painting and stamping!

The ladies picked any color from the palette that they wanted to paint with. I then paired it to one of CTMH exclusive ink pads for the stamping portion.

Here is a closer look at a card done with Thistle ink and a matching purple paint!

I love when a simple project comes together beautifully and is fun to create!

You can see and purchase any of these new items now online! Happy painting! :)

Hello September!

So many crafter's have been waiting for this day! September marks the beginning of the brand new 2015-16 Annual Inspirations Idea Book. Close To My Heart has also released the Holiday Expessions mini book where you can find all sorts of inspiration for Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas! You will have plenty of time to prepare for the upcoming Holidays, but pace yourself with all the amazing new products featured in the annual catalog!

I have books available or you can view it online by clicking the image on the right side bar.

As if all the new books & products weren't enough....It's also National Stamping Month!

September is National Stamping Month, and this year Close To My Heart has something to help every kind of papercrafter say a big “hello” to life! 

Available only during the month of September, these exclusive C-size My Acrylix^® Hello, Life! stamp sets can be purchased for $13.95 USD / $16.50 CAD each! 

Or, for an even better deal, you can purchase all three for only $34.95 USD / 41.50 CAD—a savings of $6.90 USD / $8 CAD! 

Each stamp set is designed to fit with a specific type of papercrafting, whether that’s scrapbooking, cardmaking, or pocket scrapbooking. However, all the stamp sets coordinate with each other and can be used together to create dynamic artwork. 

These stamp sets also coordinate with shapes from the new Cricut^® Artistry collection to help expand your artwork options even further. Remember, these stamp sets are available for one month only, so get your orders in for one stamp set—or all three—before these gorgeous stamps disappear! 

Make certain to follow Close To My Heart’s blog, Instagram, and Facebook page for artwork inspiration featuring these lively stamp sets all month long. You can post your own artwork to your social media channels using the hashtag #ctmhHelloLife.

Dates: Offer valid September 1, 2015 (9:00 am MDT)–September 30, 2015 (11:59 pm MDT).

Finally, what's a new month without a gorgeous stamp set at a discounted price. You can find all the Stamp of the Month stamp sets in the back of the Holiday Expressions Idea Book. (no longer contained in the Annual Inspirations book) Paper Garden will make your creativity bloom! Find more details on the Current Specials tab at the top or shop online here.

My Crate Card Club meets up again in just a few weeks and I also have a fun Halloween Layout class to share. September will be sensational, stay tuned for more artwork and inspiration!

Foxy Critters on Artistry

You saw the cat and dog images I cut from the Artistry cartridge the other day. Besides just family pets, you can also find some of those cute critters from the wild. Like this adorable fox I'm sharing with you today using the sketch on Freshly Made Sketches. The tree stump is also cut from this cartridge and goes perfectly with Mr. Foxy!

The Artistry collection is available now to order. In just a few days you will be able to order all the new products in the 2015-2016 Annual Inspirations Book! Don't miss out on the deals ending this month though and those items retiring from the 2014-2015 Annual Book & Seasonal Expressions.

I'll see you on the first with all new items and specials!! ;)

Cute Critters On Artistry

I was having some fun with the images I could cut from the new Artistry cartridge. I love the animals that are on the cartridge like the hedgehog and fox, but I wanted to start out with some pets. These simple cat & dog images should be called Best 'Furr'iends!

I have to mention that the "Best friends" label is also cut from the Artistry cartridge and is stamped with one of the MyAcrylix stamp sets that comes with the collection. I dry embossed some paper for the background and used an older patterned paper to create a scene. With the cartridge doing most of the cutting, this card comes together quickly!

You can purchase the regular collection or digital edition today online!

Freshly Made Sketches 200th Celebration

Freshly Made Sketches is celebrating their 200th sketch! They are celebrating with a ton of inspiration on their blog. Not only has the Freshly Made Sketches Design Team offered gorgeous art, but so has several design team members from the sponsors of some amazing crafting companies!

The sketch is super clean this week and allows for all sorts of themes and ideas.

I pulled in some fabulous Zoe papers and a few little extras that you might not have seen yet?! I'll tell you all about these 'mystery' products soon! For now enjoy the fun friendship card with lots of patterns and pretty colors!

Please visit the FMS blog for more inspiration. You can see more Zoe products online here.

Up, Up and Away

Time to get your Balloon Wishes (D1667) stamp set for FREE is running out! You can purchase the Marker Roll-Up this month and receive this stamp set for $0. I tried coloring in the balloon with a few different color combinations, but I finally decided that the blue, green and yellow colors were my favorite. I used the Shin Han Markers to color it it in. I mounted the finished balloon on some water colored paper and some vibrant yellow and lagoon cardstocks. I simply added the sentiment on the bottom with some sparkly green triangles.

What a lovely card and it was so relaxing to just sit and color the balloon. Wonder what colors I'll do next!??

Get this deal before its gone! Shop here for more details.

Artistry Typewriter

The newest Close To My Heart Cricut Cartridge is available now. Do you own the Artistry collection yet? This is the collection that is available two different ways. You can purchase in the usual way receiving a cartridge with book, stamps and cardstock. Or you can purchase the new digital edition for those Cricut Explore & Explore Air users. I chose the digital collection myself, which was extremely easy to upload and start cutting right away in Design Space.

I tried out all sorts of new cuts from shapes, layers, banners, borders and icons. One of my favorite cuts was this little typewriter. I loved all the layers and that I could add a sentiment to the paper coming out of the roller! I decided to add my finished typewriter to a card. I have already returned to the classroom, so "back to school" was my theme!

I wanted the typewriter to appear as if it were sitting in front of a chalk board. I used some older Chalk it Up papers for the black board and stamped a sentiment with white daisy ink. There is a little bit of shimmery purple fundamentals paper underneath. Finally, I had to add the little coffee cup as it is essential morning fuel!

I will be making many more cards with these fun cuts from the Artistry cartridge, so visit my Blog again soon. You can purchase your own cartridge here!