September is ending!

Well, obviously I'm having too much fun this month because September is almost over! Did you get some new goodies? Create with any new special products? Did you at least stamp something for National Stamping Month?!!!!

Here is what I have been up to with some of the newest goodies that will be available for just a few more days!

Share the Season~

Perk Up with Pumpkin Spice~

"BOO"~ tacular Halloween Cards and Complete Creativity Cricut Layout~

These are just a few of the new, fantastic products that are available now! You can always find more artwork on my Instagram. (link in right hand column) Please also check out my website for all the latest promotions and specials. Do your shopping there too, but don't wait too long!

National Scrapbooking Month ~ The World is Yours

May is National Scrapbooking Month! To celebrate Close To My Heart has several options to capture your most treasured memories. The World is Yours kit has options for traditional 12x12 scrapbookers, mini-album experts or those crafters addicted to pocket pages! With all the gorgeous papers, embellishments, tools and an exclusive stamp set you'll be set for the month. Plus, you will have access to all sorts of downloadable artwork from the website. Here are a few pages I made with some help from those designs.

Don't you just love the titles throughout these pages?! This look is achieved by cutting the letters on your Cricut on the base page. Before adhering them you can back them with any colored cardstock that you choose. This is all available online to create yourself and will include the download for your Cricut machine. (as long as you own the cartridges)

I did change up some of the paper colors, embellishments and orientation of the photo's on the right side page. You have the freedom to change is as you like or keep it exactly as shown on the workshop.

This next single page layout is an absolute stunner! Shaker cards are all the rage, but have you ever seen a giant shaker page? This is awesome! The shaker is made with a cut-out map from the Cricut, some foam and the transparent layer to contain your sequins/sparkles is from a 12x12 page protector cut to fit!

Again I changed up some of the papers and colors, but you can download and create this page exactly as shown in the guide. Now to find the perfect photograph to showcase on this incredible page!

There are more creations to come, plus some super easy Cut-Above layout too. I'll be back soon to show you more options! In the meantime have a happy scrapbooking month!

Hello October!

The newest Holiday Expressions 2018 Idea Book has been live for a full month already! I honestly can't even tell you where the month of September has gone. Here we are now in October already and this month has some amazing deals to launch your Holiday crafting!

First, there is an amazing card kit featuring the Oh What Fun collection and the Oh so trendy shaker windows!

Shake things up this holiday season with the Holiday Sparkle Cut Above^® card kit! This kit contains materials for creating 12 festive shaker cards, including printed card bases, die-cut pieces, stickers, sparkly sequins, and simple assembly instructions. Get a 20% discount when you get the Holiday Sparkle Bundle, which pairs the card kit with the My Acrylix^® Love with All the Trimmings stamp set, specially designed to further customize the insides of your cards.

I will have these shaker cards at my upcoming World Cardmaking Day Celebration for customers to create. They will get the chance to see how easily these cards come together for an impressive finish. I will have another card featuring the exclusive stamp set available with this kit to make as well as some fall themed cards. More on this event later and the kit details!

Important Things

The important things bundle started September 15th and will run until December 31st. Highlight the unique things that are important to you with The Important Things Everyday Life™ workshop. This workshop shows you how to create eight 6″ × 8″ layouts plus a title page and a closing page for an Everyday Life™ album. The generic theme of this album featuring the bright colors and patterns in the Perfectly Imperfect Picture My Life™ cards make this a versatile workshop to create for yourself, give as a gift, or even do both! Purchasing details can be found on my website.

Have you seen the Advent Calendar in the Holiday Expressions Idea Book? Would you like to make one for yourself? You can take advantage of the exclusive Advent Calendar bundle and workshop to create a lovely handmade décor piece that’s perfect for counting down the days until Christmas! This workshop uses the advent calendar 3-D item on new Cricut^® Season of Joy digital collection together with the 'Tis the Season paper collection. Close To My Heart has made it easy to cut all the shapes needed with Cricut Design Space™ project files created just for this project. All the prep work for cutting is done for you!Purchasing details can be found online!

As always, there is a fabulous stamp of the month. Thanks & Giving will be the perfect stamp set for creating cards for the season or recording your Thanksgiving memories!

Stay tuned all month long for more ideas and inspiration!

Welcome Fall!

This past weekend was officially Fall! What better way to welcome this lovely season than with a cheerful sign. All of the elements for this sign were cut on the Cricut, the You Are Here cartridge and the Flower Market cartridge. {The butterfly is from the new Grateful Heart Complements.} The idea for this sign came from a talented consultant that shared her sign at Convention back in June. {Lisa Stenz, thank you!}

With several layers used on this sign it makes it quite sturdy. It can be hung on a wall if you were to add some ribbon or you can center it in a beautiful fall wreath! It has just the right dimension and the faux wood paper gives it a bit of rustic quality.

Thanks for stopping by, enjoy the new season and cooler weather!

Tasty Treats ~ Stamp of the Month

Who doesn't love a great deal, especially when its such an adorable one! The Stamp of the Month for September is called Just Treats and it has a sentiment for each of the upcoming seasons. For my project I did not only want to create a themed card, but I also wanted to make a cute, little container to hold something yummy! After all the stamp is named Just Treats! 😉 {I titled this post as Tasty Treats thinking that was the name of the stamp set, it is called Just Treats! Regardless of the name, it's still the cutest stamp set ever!}

All of my cards were either inspired by those in the Holiday Expressions Idea Book or the design template was found in the Make it From the Heart Volume 4 book. All of the petite containers were made on my Cricut using the Artiste cartridge.

For my first card I used the Halloween paper collection called Hello Pumpkin.

This Fall themed card uses the Grateful Heart paper collection. I love how the grey and blue paired with the traditional fall orange color was just enough to give it that Autumn feeling!

The 'Tis the Season paper collection has some traditional red and greens, but if you bring in some of those blacks it really compliments the cocoa images. Won't this purse look adorable with some marshmallows and mini candy canes inside?!

Finally, the Oh What Fun paper collection offers a bright and cheery, tiding of comfort and joy!

All of this cuteness can be yours for only $5 with a qualifying purchase! Shop for this stamp set, new paper collections and so much more online here.

Convention 2018

I have just recently attended a most unforgettable event. As a consultant for over 11 years, I have never attended an annual corporate convention. This year it was held so close to home that I could not pass up the opportunity!

I knew that I was in for a treat, but still was caught up in such a whirlwind of excitement, entertainment, information, and inspiration! I think that now almost a week after completion I am finally digesting it all.

The opening entertainment was all set to a Greatest Showman theme, which happened to be my favorite movie of 2017! Our Founder and CEO Jeanette Lynton welcomed us all and boy what a fantastic kick off to this party it was! I can't quite share everything from this extraordinary event yet, you will have to wait unfortunately. I can, however share with you the cards I created to trade with other attendees. I made a total of 7 different designs.

For these first three cards I felt they were a good representation of who I am and where I'm from. The card on the left is a cricut cut of some mountains with a sun burst pattern of Fresh Air papers. This is to represent that convention was held at Red Rock Hotel and Casino. If attendees were lucky there hotel room had a view of the gorgeous Red Rock mountains in the distance. One of our favorite nearby places to hike. The cards in the center feature a succulent flower, some of my favorites and a chalkboard technique as my "normal" job is instructing in a classroom. There are two versions only because I ran out of ribbon! Finally, the card on the right is a darling bicycle. I enjoy riding my cruiser with the family on vacations or for a more grueling ride my husband and I venture out on various trails on our mountain bikes.

These next cards are all about my passion for Close To My Heart. I love creating with my own hands, making beautiful art and preserving my family memories. Some cards were just a standard card, some contained a bookmark, one of them was a holder for the bookmark and the last card at first look appears normal, but fold up like an easel to display the best sentiment ever! {Look for that stamp in August!}

The theme of this entire convention was CREATE! I love the meaning of it too, check it out~

C~ community
R~ renew
E~ elevate
A~ achieve
T~ tell your story
E~ empower

Good reminders of why I chose to represent this company 11 years ago and hope to continue for many more!

Classic Summer Bash

The Stamp of the Month for May is a super cute set featuring a ball/mason jar and some lemonade images. At first I was challenged with how exactly to use it and which techniques would work the best. As I started to play with it I realized that several techniques will work and I haven't even stamped all the images yet. Take a look at some of the creations~

This first card is a festive way to greet the summer season. I used a patterned paper to represent the pink lemonade in the jar. The lemons and ice were separately stamped, cut out, then added. You could just stamp the banner pieces which is included in the set, but I chose to cut them out from colored cardstock to make them stand out.

How about a sign posted near your jar of refreshing lemonade at your next summer bash. That is the name of the stamp after all!

For this jar I did lots of masking and watercoloring. It gives a much more mellow effect than the first card.

Finally, I stamped the jar image on a piece of paper with an ombre blue color. All three the exact same, then cut them out. Then I created 3 totally different cards with them.

I think its awesome to find so many uses for one stamp set or even one image alone! You can get this stamp set this month at a discounted price. Go to my website to find out more!

RAWR!! = Party!!

A crazy little monster wants to wish you a Happy Birthday with a sketch from Freshly Made Sketches Blog! This card combines patterned paper, Picture My Life card and some cool Cricut cut designs. It all comes together for a colorful, fun card perfect for any little wild one celebrating a special day!

'Tis the Season for Homemade Mini's

I love making homemade keepsakes, especially for the Holidays. I like to look back each Christmas to see what old traditions we still celebrate or to see the new memories we created. Sometimes I don't keep my own handmade treasure, rather I pass them along as special gifts to someone I love. I shared this mini album with my customers using a combination of Artbooking album pages with the newest Cricut City Sidewalks collection.

Did you see all the fun shapes from the cartridge along with some of the City Sidewalks Complements? They all played together very well in this mini album!

Don't forget that these collection will retire at the end of the month!