Party Favor Favorites

Use small party favors as invitations to a celebration!

Watch this video to learn how to make your own party favors using Cricut shapes and the My Acrylix Big Top stamp set.

Too fun, right?!  Gotta love adorable party favors you can customize to fit your theme and colors.  If you have any questions on any of the products seen, just let me know.

Have a wonderful week!

It's a Scrapbooking Pajama Party!

Close To My Heart is teaming up with Big Picture Classes to bring you a live webcast about the Cricut® Artbooking collection - our newest Cricut cartridge. Purchase the collection beginning August 1, 2013 and revolutionize the way you scrapbook!

The Artbooking Collection comes with an exclusive Cricut cartridge (over 700 images), three coordinating stamp sets and three sheets of Dimensional Elements (aka chipboard) to coordinate with the stamp images.  This all for just $99!  Host a party and submit orders totaling $250 or more and you can purchase it for half off (just $50)!

Tune in for the FREE webcast on Wednesday, July 31 at 7:00 pm (MDT) at BigPictureClasses.com. During the presentation, you’ll learn to make several projects from a variety of sponsors, including Close To My Heart’s Artbooking “2 of a Kind” layout.

If you would like to interact on the message board, participate in live chat, post to the gallery, download handouts, or enter any contests, you will need to log in to the Pajama Party “classroom” by creating a FREE account on the Big Picture Classes website.

I hope you enjoy this sneak peek of the new Artbooking collection as Kristine Widtfeldt and the Big Picture Classes crew make the featured project and share their tips and tricks. I know you will be chomping at the bit to make the Artbooking layout, so take this opportunity to sit back, relax, and drool over the items, then be ready to spring into action August 1 when you can buy the collection. Then tune in to the archived event for step-by-step details on how to make the project.

To make the project, you will need the following items—or similar products—on hand:
Z1906 Cricut® Artbooking Collection*
1301 Bamboo Cardstock
1388 Colonial White Cardstock
X5668 Honey Cardstock
X5762 Lagoon Cardstock
X5930 Slate Cardstock
X5639 Sweet Leaf Cardstock
X5666 Twilight Cardstock
Z2160 Twilight Exclusive Inks® Pad
Z2173 Slate Exclusive Inks® Pad
Z1853 Aqua Dots*
Z1799 Silver Shimmer Trim
Z1151 3-D Foam Tape
Z1294 Sanding Kit

*Items are not available for order until August 1, 2013 but on that day...SHOP MY WEBSITE from the comfort of your own home and let me know if you have any questions!

One of the big sells in the new cartridge is the ability to make a variety of mini albums.  There is a lot of potential for great artwork using this new tool!

Looking forward to the Pajama Party on the 31st and I hope to "see" you there!

As Sweet as You

This is a card I made with none other than the Chantilly paper packet.  Have I already told you, a million times, that it's one of my favorites?

I kept this card simple, only stamping two images, the cupcake and the sentiment in Black ink.  I used our Cotton Candy Exclusive Inks Marker Set to color in the cupcake image and then added in some of our Pink Glitz Glitter Gel to pretty up the sprinkles on the cupcake.

The cupcake image was cut out of the Artiste Cricut Cartridge and the scallop image, out of the Art Philosophy Cartridge.  The cupcake image is in one of the stamp sets included with the Artiste Collection.

If you are interested in purchasing this Collection or any other products, please visit my website.  Items can be shipped straight to your door!

Happy Thursday!

Chantilly meets Valentine's Day

I am thrilled to host an Open House in my new area (T or C, NM) this Saturday and created this fun card as the Create 'n Take.  Everyone who attends my event will have the opportunity to make one of these cute cards and give it to their special someone.

I used the new Chantilly paper packet (probably my favorite), the December Stamp of the Month (no longer available), and a cute Frames stamp set.

The Perfect Fit - Frames stamp set is absolutely adorable!  In fact, we had one of the stamp sets available in the previous catalog and now have a new one in this Idea Book.  If you look carefully through both Idea Books, you will see them used in quite a bit of artwork so I just had to get them both!

If you notice the fine line around each image...  That means there is a coordinating die-cut image on our exclusive Cricut Cartridges.  The numbers on the carrier sheet (what the stamps come on) indicate what page you can find the image in the resource book as well as the size the image needs to be cut.  Cut the image with your Cricut, ink up your image and stamp as desired.  You end up with a thin border around the image.  Scroll back up and check it out!  Cute, huh?!

If you live in the area, contact me for further information regarding the Open House.

Gotta love how our products work so well together to make papercrafting Faster, Simpler, and Easier!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I am blessed beyond words and thankful to my Heavenly Father for the many blessings and gifts He has bestowed on my family and I.  We are thankful to be spending the holiday weekend with my family in Southwest New Mexico and are looking forward to enjoying a time of fellowship and fun.

I made this cute turkey based upon the creativity and directions shared by my dear friend, Sheila Wilkerson. (Visit her blog by clicking here.)  It is made entirely from our exclusive Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge.  It was so nice that I did not have to cut the pieces by hand - gotta love the Cricut!

I made quite a few of these for my staff and filled them with a variety of Chex Mix and M&Ms - always gotta have chocolate. :0)  They were a big hit and I had fun making them.

Enjoy a wonderful and blessed thanksgiving filled with His grace,

Pun Fun

Pun Fun is the title of one of my favorite new stamp sets.  In looking through the new Idea Book, this stamp set immediately gained my attention and I was thrilled to see that it had been included as one of our freebies in our Convention packet!  Gotta love freebies!

Check it out!  Isn't it adorable?  I love the "spin" on these sayings and the simple but cute icons to go along with them.  I have shared a card created using this stamp set (another one of our make 'n takes from Convention) and am looking forward to creating some more.

The Artiste Cricut cartridge was used to create the clouds.  One our newest colors, Slate, was used to apply ink around the edges of the clouds to cause them to pop off the card.  Of course, our 3-D Foam Tape helped accomplish that task nicely.  (I love the dimension that the 3-D Foam Tape creates.)

Wonder where that silver "bling" is from?!  It's our new and gorgeous Silver Shimmer Trim ribbon!  Are you asking yourself, "How did she create those pleats?  What adhesive did she use?"  Well, guess what my answer is?!  "I did not use ANY adhesive!"  This new shimmer trim is adhesive-backed!  Yes, you read that right!  All you have to do is pull back the adhesive and it sticks to your desired surface.  How awesome is that?!

I have provided a photo here, so you can see how I created the pleat in this trim which was super easy to do.  I recently discovered that it's just one of my favorite, new products!  You'll have to get you some!  Wouldn't it be gorgeous on Christmas cards?!

Let me know if you would like put your own spin on the Pun Fun stamp set.  I would love to see what you create with this stamp set.

Need to order it?  I am happy to help you with that.  You may either email me or place your order through my website.  Please let me know if you have any questions.

Feeling inspired,

You Bring a Smile to my Face

One of the most precious things God granted us is the ability to smile. Smiling about something sure does make me feel good but I get the most joy out of seeing someone else smile.  I am thankful that Close To My Heart and my love for papercrafting grant me the opportunity to put a smile on people's faces.

I had fun making this card using a CUTE stamp set, perfectly made for Convention 2012.  As a Consultant, we get some fun perks when we attend Convention and an exclusive stamp set is just one of those perks.  My favorite saying on that stamp set is, "Scrapbooking's Bigger in Texas".  TOO CUTE!  In fact, this is one of the cards we were given the opportunity to complete as one of our make 'n takes.

This card highlights a few of our NEW exclusive products.  The B&T paper used is from the La Bella Vie paper packet.  I also used the Harvest Baker's Twine Assortment and the gorgeous resin flowers from the Autumn Lane Assortment.  Both of those products compliment this paper packet nicely.

And no card is ever complete without a little bling.  The new Black & Grey Sparkle Assortment was incorporated.  Using our new Artiste Cricut cartrdige, a scallop focal point was created for the sentiment.

Thanks for stopping by.  I look forward to sharing more cards with you this week.

Back in the creative flow,

Make Jewelry with CTMH Products!

One of the fun things I enjoy about having friends who share in my love for papercrafting, is the inspiration I receive from them!  It's too fun to get an idea and either copy it exactly (lol) or put a minor twist on it to get a different variation.

At the Santa's Workshop I co-hosted in November with some Consultant friends (Karen Grafford, Debi Barber and Francene Ferrante), I learned how to make a pin or pendant (whichever we chose) out of some of our exclusive products!  Francene and Debi came up with this unique creation and I fell in love with it! (You can view Debi's block by clicking here.)  I created my initial one out of Sonoma but as soon as the new products came out, I decided to make one with Lucy!  In turn it became another project I shared/taught at my retreat!  It was a HUGE hit, too!

We used the Bookplates (now retired - but you can use the Pewter Mini-Medley frames as a replacement), used a piece of the Acrylic from our Clear Cards over the "image", and cut out the monogram letter from the Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge.  We "blinged" it up by adding some bitty sparkles (I used the Red, Pink, & Purple Sparkles Assortment) and the NEW Bitty Buds Assortment for the two florals.

We attached a pin back and there you go... a beautiful pendant or pin for you or a gift recipient!  If you have questions on how to create one for yourself, please contact me and I am happy to provide further details.  ENJOY!

Cricut Butterfly Card

I absolutely love Lisa Stenz; both for the person she is and for her absolute phenomenal creativity.  She never seizes to amaze me!

I was inspired to duplicate this creation she shared through her blog a short time ago and later taught it to guests at my team retreat.  It was a HUGE hit with no surprise!

We cut out two solid butterflies and created a 1/4" score line on the bottom one, adhering them together to create the fold seen here. 

Then we cut out several of these intricate butterflies, using our exclusive Art Philosophy cartridge, of course.  One of them was cut out of the coordinating cardstock used for the bases.  Then we cut out 3 additional images out of "scrap" paper and layered them on top of another to create the depth seen in the first picture.

 That allowed to create this beautiful card that we topped off with a fitting sentiment.

Thanks for stopping by!  Have a wonderful weekend!