Picking a Favorite Product

Perhaps you've had the chance to either look at the new Annual Idea Book in person or virtually flip through the pages online. Once you covered every page, does just one product stand out or have you chosen several favorites? Today, I would like to share just a few of my faves....of course I can't pick just one thing, its a big book!

I'm always excited to see what new Cricut cartridges we will get and this year is no disappointment. However, I'm a big fan of How-to Books and when I saw that we had a new one I was super excited. It's called Make it from Your Heart Volume 3. Yes, I already have the first 2 that were published and use them often for inspiration. This book is a little different than the other two as you can insert the 3 hole punched volume into your choice of Everyday Life Album. You can choose the classy black and white striped album or the new Bashful Album which happens to replace Sea Glass as the color of the year! I chose the pretty new pink!

The new Bashful color is also available in ink, re-inker, cardstock, glitter paper and pearls!

This publication includes 36 two-page layout patterns for standard photo sizes, plus it will give ideas for adding more photo's using the pocket scrapbooking cards and memory protectors. The index in the front is laid out so that you can choose a layout based on how many photographs you want to include. I love that each pattern gives you 2 different ideas of artwork with a variety of papers and embellishments. If you love having a guide to kick start your creativity, you are going to love this program. 

Here is the pattern in the book that I chose and my layout.

You may notice that I used some older embellishments on this layout, however that paper is brand new. Okay, Okay, another favorite product from the new Idea Book. Close To My Heart has updated all the colors in the Basics collection. I was immediately intrigued by them and having some fun getting to know all the new colors. I chose a few of the fantastic patterns from the fundamentals collection to complete this layout.

The names of the new colors are pretty clever, they are: charcoal, pewter, pebble, linen, mink, heather, espresso, nutmeg, toffee and almond. Did I mention that the cardstock is updated as well? A fun new feature of these lovely papers is that now you will find a slightly lighter shade of the true color on the reverse side. This will allow for easier color coordination on your projects.

Take another look at this fun layout with so many newly added products and inspired by the incredible Make it from Your Heart How-to Book.

You can shop all these new items online today! Oh yeah! Did I tell you which stamp set is my favorite in the new book? Oh no, well maybe next time!!

Hello August!

It's a new month, new Idea Book and new specials. Many students will be heading back to school and the Stamp of the Month will be perfect for capturing those memories.

How do you feel about a sale? Throughout the month of August you can find a Warehouse sale online every week. You won't believe these deals! Check it out now and don't forget to take a look through the new Annual Idea Book and the newest products. shop online here

June Specials Start with a Flash Sale!

At 2 p.m. Pacific time today, a flash sale begins on my website! Products from the newest Seasonal Expressions book as well as the Annual catalog will be at a special reduced price. Be sure to check it out!

While your there shopping, check out the gorgeous albums. They are in an assortment of colors and you can get them in either a post-bound or D-ring style. For the month of June it's buy one get the second for 50% off.

Once you've added your albums and sale items, you will be well on your way to receiving the stamp of the month for only $5! Hello Foxy is a cute, sweet friend that you will want to share with loved ones and friends!

Enjoy all of this month's specials and continue to celebrate your memories and spread your joy with others! Happy June!

Spring Wreaths in Many Colors

This past weekend I held my Spring Wreath Workshop. I had a total of four attendees, but Oh! Man, you should have seen all our stuff spread out across two rooms! We had Cricuts chirping, flowers being assembled and hot glue guns galore. Just about every outlet was filled! In the end the ladies created the most lovely spring wreaths in an assortment of colors. You can see my original sample wreath here.

This first wreath has yellow and dark blue flowers~

This next one has yellow with slate gray and just a pop of smoothie pink~

Look how pretty the smoothie, black and beige flowers look together~

Finally, this wreath is for the fans of purple with just a bit of black & white pattern. Gorgeous~

To think that all of these wreaths were inspired by the cover of the Annual Inspirations Idea Book. What will inspire you today?

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!

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!

It's here! It's here! Cricut® Artfully Sent

The Cricut Artfully Sent cartridge is now available to purchase! Click on the video below to learn all about the newest cartridge!




See a sample page of the cards and images you can create on this new cartridge~

The collection includes~

1 - Cartridge (700 images: Cards, Envelopes, and Fonts)

3 - My Acrylix D-sized stamp sets

1 - 12" x 12" White Daisy Cardstock Pack

Recommended blocks for included stamp sets: 1" x 1" (Y1000), 1" x 3 ½" (Y1002), 3" x 3" (Y1006), 2" x 3½" (Y1009)

Featuring more than 25 different card themes and 5 different card formats to make over 400 different cards! Card styles include pop-ups, scenes, sentiments, sleeves, swing cards and pocket cards; perfect for Picture My Life scrapbooking. 

You can order the new Artfully Sent collection through me personally or by clicking on the picture below.

Halloween Treat Bags

My upcoming class will be featuring the Cut Above Halloween Treat Bags. An entire kit with everything you need {except the candy!} to create 10 super cute Halloween bags. They are ultra easy to assemble. You can find these bags and a Christmas/Holiday version in the new Annual Inspirations book page 159. {Z2058 $14.95}

The bags in the kit are adorable just as they come, however for this class I will show you how to dress them up a bit using some stamping, Cricut cut rosettes and glitter paper!

Let Me Introduce You

Have you met the new colors of the Annual Inspirations Idea Book? There are 5 new colors and they can be found in the Whimsy collection. To introduce you to the new colors I have created mini 3x3 cards using the ink color, cardstock color and the fundamental papers which feature the color in a fun pattern.

Thistle~ This is a vibrant, fun purple. It is perfect for Halloween and similar to the purple in the Laughing Lola papers.

Glacier~ An icy blue color, not too light and just a hint of grey.

Flaxen~ This color is a little bit of a mustard and hay mixture. It is the golden color found in the Laughing Lola paper.

 

 Canary~ What a cheerful yellow! I was a little bummed when they were discontinuing the creme brulee, because it was my go-to yellow color. However, I'm happy with the change as this is a brighter and more vibrant yellow!

 

Pixie~ I don't think there could be a cuter name for a bashful pink color! It's much more pink than Blush and so girlie. 

I wrapped up all the new fun colors in this cute, decorated cello bag. One lucky guest at my workshop this Saturday will get to take them all home. Not only will they have adorable cards, but now they will have swatches of the new colors to see in person!

I used the Have a Happy Day stamp set to decorate all the cards and the bag. It is also a brand new item in the Annual Inspirations Idea Book. It has some great sentiments and cute images, making it a versatile stamp set. It was definitely one of the first stamp sets on my list! You can get this new stamp, the new ink & cardstock colors and fundamental papers on my website or can be ordered through me.

Owl, Just Be You!

I love when you find that stamp set that continues to inspire you to create different projects. This month's Stamp, What a Hoot, is one of those stamps! My initial projects were for Halloween, but now I'm discovering that it can be used for all sorts of occasions and just because!

I created this card for Freshly Made Sketches this week. I turned the sketch, because when I first looked at it I immediately saw a polaroid picture!

I used the Chalk It Up papers and puffy sticker assortment to embellish my card. The papers and colors allow this card to be used for a male or female recipient. You can order these items online and don't forget to add this versatile stamp of the month to your order for only $5. {after qualifying purchase}