Pages

AME (S01E14): Wintertime Layouts

The wintery images from Close To My Heart's Cricut® Artbooking cartridge will melt your heart! Watch for inspiration on how to make the frosty shapes, titles, borders, and overlays fall into place on your layouts to give them a little sparkle!

Holiday Cheer




As you wake up this morning, opening presents or preparing for a Christmas brunch, remember your Holiday Cheer.  

Happy Holidays Everyone!

Christmas Kisses


One of the fun things you can do with the fabric gift bags is to treat them like fabric, and not bags.  Rip out the seams and iron the fabric.  You can either cut or rip the bags into long pieces.  Then you can tie colorful ribbons with the pieces.

SUPPLIES
Paper: Ruby CS, Sparkle and Sprinkle B&T
Images: Season's Tweetings
Embellishments:Gift Bag fabric
Layout Idea: Create with Alyson


AME(S01E13): Friendship Layouts

Here's a friendly tip: try the friendship-themed keys of the Cricut® Atbooking cartridge from Close To My Heart for layouts that shout in celebration of your cherished relationships! See the video for more friendly inspiration then contact your friendly Independent Consultant to learn more.


Holiday Present Bags

Sonja, a friend of mine you can find over at her Hello Beauty blog for all things beauty, showed me the inspiration for this card and I thought it was so cute.  Using three different Background and Texture paper from the Sparkle and Sprinkle line, I folded three bags, punching tiny holes to run twine through.  Little pieces of tissue paper were stuffed in the top to represent fun holiday bags filled with presents.
SUPPLIES
Paper: Juniper CS, Sparkle and Sprinkle B&T

Images:Perfect Fit - Holidays

Embellishments: Twine, tissue paper


AME (S01E12): Christmas Layouts

Pull out your Cricut® Artbooking cartridge for some holiday hullabaloo on your Christmas layouts! Its themed borders, overlays, photo mats, and more hold plenty of cheery possibilities to brighten your albums. Trim your trims, ornament your ornaments, and have a holly jolly time making Christmas layouts that last—all with just two keys!

Owl Grid

 
This fun Sunday Scraps idea comes from Mariana Grigsby.  When you have left over strips, or even our CTMH Zip Strips from the B&T paper, you can create a grid pattern to cause texture.  The little owl was colored with markers.
 
SUPPLIES
Paper: White Daisy, Juniper CS, Sparkle and Sprinkle B&T
Images: Season's Tweetings


Season's Tweetings

The main star of this show is the stamp.  The Season's Tweetings stamp set in the Gift Bag set is very fun and easy to work with.  You can show so many effects, either keeping the line images, or coloring them in.  The flowers were colored in with markers.  The little dots are ink from a reinker, sprayed, dropped, and flicked onto the card.

SUPPLIES
Paper: White Daisy and Juniper CS
Images: Season's Tweetings
Embellishments: Red Shimmer Trim

Mistletoe Kisses

Kissing under the mistletoe is a custom that originated from 16th century England and continues today.  The Season's Tweetings mistletoe image works great in multiples on this card. By stamping the string of the mistletoe from the top of a card, the mistletoe looks like it is "hanging".  Distress the edges of the paper, pop the Sentiment and layer ribbon to give dimension.

SUPPLIES
Paper: WhiteDaisy, Ruby CS, Sparkle and Sprinkle B&T
Images: Season's Tweetings
Embellishments: Black Striped Grosgrain Ribbon, Opaques
Layout inspiration: The Wizard's Hangout


Sprinkle Flags

Today's Sunday Scraps uses the scraps from the Sparkle and Sprinkle paper pack to make small flags and chevrons to create fun visual interest.  This idea came from a card that Jeanie did over on Clearly Cards for World Card Making Day.
With CTMH's double-sided Background and Texture papers, I had lots of patterns and color to choose from.  Another fun way to use the shimmer trim is to punch circles from it and make glittery balls for the card.

SUPPLIES
Paper: Colonial White and Juniper CS, Sparkle and Sprinkle B&T
Images: Season's Tweetings
Embellishments:Red Shimmer Trim

AME (S01E10): Freedom Layouts

The Cricut® Artbooking cartridge has shapes you’ll love for your patriotic layouts and cards—and for all celebratory layouts and cards after that! In this video you’ll find great ideas for using the freedom-themed keys to make sparkling titles, photo mats, overlays, and accents for more than just patriotic themes. See the featured ideas and start putting more bang into your projects!

Flat Wreath

 
Sometimes you just want a simple, flat card to create quickly and mail off easily.  This card was created with the new Washi Tape from the Holidays From The Heart Gift Guide.  I think it gives the Ruby cardstock a little extra texture, without the bulk.  The cute little birdie and holly were colored in with markers.

SUPPLIES
Paper: Colonial White, Juniper, Slate CS, Sparkle and Sprinkle B&T
Images: Season's Tweetings
Embellishments: Washi Tape, Glitz Glitter


Frosted


The Frosted Workshop on the Go Scrapbooking Kit will put you in the mood for snow with the fun colors of Grey, Turquoise, and Champagne.  Extra goodies in the kit include the Frosted Assortment and Sparkles Flourishes.


The Frosted Cardmaking Kit adds the Exclusive colors Ruby and Olive to help you celebrate the holidays.  Make these cards and more in the Card workshop.  Contact me today to sign up!


Owl Oval


This year's Christmas card workshop was called Sparkle and Sprinkle. We used the stamp set that is included with the cute Season's Tweetings Gift Bag set.  The technique used here requires a temporary mask, an oval shape, to keep the White Daisy oval plain, while inking the Juniper color around the edges.  I stamped the flower image in Slate around the oval, before pulling up the temporary oval mask.  The two birds were stamped and then colored in with markers.  The sentiment was popped with 3-D foam tape, and the self-adhesive shimmer trim and badge button added some nice sparkle.

SUPPLIES
Paper: White Daisy CS, Sparkle and Sprinkle B&T
Images: Season's Tweetings
Embellishments:Red Shimmer Trim, Badge Buttons

AME (S01E09): Festive Mini Albums

If your photos from holidays past are haunting you by sitting untouched on your hard drive, now is the time to put them on display! With the Cricut® Artbooking cartridge, your photos will find a cozy home on the pages of a dazzling holiday mini album. In conjunction with the new Sparkle & Shine papers and embellishments, die-cuts from the Artbooking holiday-themed keys are just what you need to create merry and bright holiday projects.

Special Care


For the special things in life, you want to treat them with Special Care.  This month's SOTM will help you celebrate those events.  With images that work with the Cricut Art Philosophy Cartridge, you can use this set for making cards, scrapbook pages, or even little treat boxes.  Available December 1-31.

Give Thanks

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone! I am very grateful for many things in my life..a loving husband, supportive family, sweet friends, and two little furballs that snuggle close at night. I am thankful for my great job and fun hobbies, and my good health. Have a great time eating turkey, watching the parade and football and squeeze your loved ones close today. 


SUPPLIES 
Paper: Colonial White and Autumn Terracotta CS, Huntington B&T 
Cricut: Artiste 
Images: no stamping 
Embellishments:Shimmer Trim, Huntington Accessories

Pumpkin Thanks

Today's card was designed from a sample by Krista Hershberger, one of the teachers from this year's Extravaganza.  The main sentiment was stamped on cutouts from the CTMH Artiste cartridge.  The pumpkins were stamped in Autumn Terracotta and colored in with watercolor pencils.
SUPPLIES
Paper: Colonial White and Barn REd CS, Huntington B&T
Images: Count Your Blessings
Embellishments:Sparkles, Jute Ribbon

AME (S01E08): Artbooking Made Easy: Everyday Layouts

Compared to holidays and special events, everyday life is where most memories are made. For capturing those seemingly average yet so important days, the Cricut® Artbooking cartridge has just what you need! Watch the video for ideas on how to rally shapes from a variety of themes to create original artwork celebrating your day-to-day activities.

Visual Interest

Pieces of Jute and ripped paper give interesting visuals to this card based on one I saw on the Verve blog.  The pumpkins were heat embossed in black and colored in with water colored pencils.
SUPPLIES
Paper: Colonial White and Barn Red CS, Huntington B&T
Images: Count Your Blessings
Embellishments:Jute, Huntington Accessories


Rainbow Sprays

One way to use paper from Cricut cut-outs is to use the negative image.  If you cut a few items in a row, you can create neat repetitive images like your own personal patterned paper.  The stencil used above was created using the CTMH Artiste cartridge.  Then I made three colored sprays using the Spray Pen.  In a card board box, I layered Colonial White (plain) cardstock, then the stencil, and sprayed the three colors to make a rainbow effect.  
SUPPLIES
Paper:  Olive and Autumn Terracotta CS
Images: Believe WOTG
Embellishments: Cocoa Grosgrain

AME (S01E07): Fall Into Artbooking

You’ll fall for the Cricut® Artbooking collection when you see what it can do for your autumn-themed projects. Its festive overlays, borders, shapes, and other autumn-themed pieces will give your layouts and cards just the warmth they need for this chilly season. Watch the video for great ideas on using the cartridge!

Pop Corn

3-D elements in cards make them interesting and fun.  This card has several.  The bark image is embossed and inked.  The cornstalk was stamped twice.  The second image, I cut out the two corn husks and popped them with 3-D Foam Tape.  The last element is part of CTMHs new Base and Bling line.  With the "Celebrate" sentiment and color scheme, this makes a nice masculine birthday card.

SUPPLIES
Paper: Huntington B&T, Colonial White and Autumn Terracotta CS
Images: Count Your Blessings
Embellishments:Base and Bling Floral
Other: Embossing Folder

Heirlooms

Living in an area where hurricanes are a way of life, we must be prepared to evacuate if one starts to churn up in the Gulf of Mexico or Atlantic Ocean.  Each year, we are reminded about ways to prepare for this, but most of the lists compiled do not take into consideration family heirlooms or mementos that we would be devastated to lose if our house was demolished from a disaster.  I am reminded of this by an article in the BBC News Magazine.  Responders explained what they (or their loved ones) grabbed when quickly forced from their homes.  What would you grab if  you were forced from your home by either natural or unnatural means?
 

National Recycle Day

Today is National Recycle Day in the United States.  Close To My Heart is committed to green initiatives within its product lines as well as other parts of the business.



 All Close To My Heart printed papers (including cardstock, B&T Duos®, and My Stickease®) are SFI (sustainable forestry initiative) certified. We work with vendors who maintain the strictest standards in quality and environmentally responsible printing.

We have an eye to reducing our own waste, and recycle approximately 80% of all waste generated at the corporate office. Additionally, all our lighting and ventilation systems are on timers so they minimize resource consumption during non-business hours. The office/warehouse facilities are OSHA compliant and offer a safe and clean work environment to all employees.
Our shipping boxes are partial post-consumer recycled material, but they do contain some new manufactured content to make the boxes sturdy enough to withstand shipping.


We also have an innovative material reclamation process that helps us recapture the vast majority of the polymer used to produce our stamps. It’s fast, clean, efficient, and also helps keep our stamp costs competitive. All of our stamp manufacturing processes are extremely clean, and are cleaned only with environmentally-friendly soaps and water-soluble chemicals; we don’t use any harsh chemicals or bleaches to clean our machinery and production area.

We do use some soy-based dyes in our paper printing. Because of some limitations with soy, we can’t use it exclusively, but it is an important component of our ink processes.

I am proud to be a part of a company that remembers that the health and well being of our family's future generations depends upon how the current one lives.

Pieces of Jute

After pulling strings from the piece of Jute Ribbon from the Cornstalk Jute card.  I tied three pieces of the strings together to make the ribbon on this card.Distress the B&T paper by crumbling up and then flattening it out.  The cornstalk is colored with watercolor pencils.

SUPPLIES
Paper: Colonial White, Olive, and Barn Red CS, Huntington B&T
Images: Count Your Blessings
Embellishments: Jute Ribbon

Cornstalk Jute

One of the new items in the Fall Idea Book is Jute Ribbon.  Normally, the jute is a tightly woven ribbon, but it makes really neat shapes when you start to spread out the weave.  In this simple card, I pulled a few of the strings out from the jute and it started to look like a corn stalk. 



SUPPLIES
Paper: Colonial White CS
Images:Count Your Blessings
Embellishments: Huntington Accessories, Jute Ribbon

AME (S01E06): Designed Décor Flip Stand Album

With the help of the Cricut® Artbooking collection and Designed Décor flip stand album, Close To My Heart will make a home decorator out of you! Watch as simple icons, shapes, and titles from this cartridge are transformed into works of art perfect for display in your home.

Sunday Scraps

We all have a lot of times when we've used up most of our paper from a paper pack, but you don't have enough to make another layout.  If you are like me, it is hard to throw out paper, no matter how small (well, ok, maybe if it is smaller than 1/2"?)  When I create card workshops, I try to have a few cards that use our left over paper scraps.  
This Sunday Scraps idea came from Andrea Walford's Circle Circus.
Using a variety of cardstock and patterned B&T, punch paper into circle shapes.  Then you can decorate the circles with stamping or sparkles or other 3-D artwork.
 
SUPPLIES
Paper: Colonial White and Cocoa CS
Images:variety of patterned stamps
Embellishments: mini-sparkles, Huntington Assortment, Base and Bling Floral

Huntington Paper Cutout

Looking for a fun way to use the Huntington paper by cutting out, I simplified an idea I found over at Paper Hugz blog.  Deb showed a great way to handle patterned paper that has large prints: cut out the image and place it as a focal image.  The large flower and vine image in the Huntington paper pack was perfect for this.  Instead of using patterned background paper from the paper pack, I stamped a background using the new background stamps from CTMH.



 

SUPPLIES
Paper: Colonial White and Barn Red CS, Huntinton B&T
Images: Geometric Backgrounds
Embellishments:Sparkles
 

Huntington Scrapbooking


The Huntington Scrapbooking Workshop on the Go is a wonderful fall colored collection of the Huntington Paper Packet, Stamp Set, Assortment, Brown and Tan Sparkles.  The Instructional Brochure shows you how to make two 2-page layouts.

The colors of this kit make wonderful decor for your holiday gatherings. Use the wonderful My Creations 6" X 6" Canvas Display to your photos.

AME (S01E04): Spooky Halloween Layouts

Did all your little goblins and ghouls have a good Halloween?  Need an idea how to scrapbook their Too Cute To Spook photos?  Check out this video from the Artbooking Made Easy series from CTMH.

Double Embossing

In the Huntington workshop series, I fell in love with an interesting technique from DOstamping using both dry and wet (heat) embossing.  The colors Dawn used fell right in line with the workshop.  I love heat embossing, using Versamark Ink, embossing powder, and a heat gun.  The full images create neat bold shadow images. Also check out the scalloped edge using our new Scalloped Punch.

SUPPLIES
Paper: Colonial White, Cocoa CS

Images: Count Your Blessings

Embellishments:Cocoa Ribbon
Other: Embossing Folder


Illuminate


Let this month's Stamp of the Month light up your scrappy and stampy life.  I am so excited about this stamp set to help me with my wedding album.  Our theme was travel and lanterns, specifically nautical lanterns.  With perfect bright sayings, this set can be used for many cards and projects.  Available November 1-30.

AME (S01E05): Halloween Mini Albums

Want to share your little witch and mummy photos with the family?  Learn how to make Halloween mini-albums for the spooky night.

3 Pumpkins

Last month, I held a Huntington Giving Thanks Workshop.  We had a great time making cards and catching up.  The first card from this series, the 3 pumpkins,  makes a visually interesting cascade of color. Individual pumpkins were stamped and cut out, colored with water color pencils, and glitzed up with our Glitz Glitter Gel.

SUPPLIES
Paper: Colonial White and Cocoa CS
Images: Count Your Blessings, Geometric Backgrounds
Embellishments:Glitter Glitz

AME (S01E03): Summer Mini-Albums

From grilling to swimming, camping, and road-tripping, Close To My Heart makes it easy for you to capture your summer memories in fun, unique mini-albums. See how they're made with the new Cricut® Artbooking collection.

AME (S01E02): A+ School Layouts

Close To My Heart's new Cricut® Artbooking collection will give you what you need to score an A+ on back-to-school projects! See how to make your own in this video. 

Rediscover Sweet

This month's free download will help you celebrate the sweetness in your life.  Use them as flags in cupcakes or to wrap around small chocolates.  These colorful cut-outs will brighten your day.


AME (S01E01): Getting Started with Cricut Artbooking

In the Autumn 2013 Idea Book, CTMH released its third Cricut cartridge, Artbooking.  This cartridge is a very unusual cart and CTMH has started a series of videos to take advantage of all the crafty goodness this cart has to offer.

Sarita

 Create two beautiful 2-page layouts with the Sarita Scrapbooking kit.  Using the included D-sized Stamp Set, adorn your pages and add the Natural Hemp and Sarita Assortment to spice it up.  Workshop also includes the Sarita Paper Packet, Cardstock, and Instructional Brochure.


Take your Sarita supplies up a level with the new Designed Decor White Frame.  The Wood frame with honeycomb wire will display artwork, photos, accents, and more.





Scandinavian Wishes


Celebrate the holidays Scandinavian style with this month's Stamp of the Month.  This set works great with the Cricut Art Philosophy Cartridge.  Adorn packages with the cute tag or make beautiful holiday cards.  Available October 1-31.

Rediscover Friendship

Check out the free download from CTMH this month.  Celebrate a scrappy girlfriend in your life by sending her a funny e-card.
 

Square Birthday Cards

Whether they are small cards or big cards, square cards are fun and different way to celebrate birthdays.  Add the small cards as tags to a present, or create an interactive surprise.  You can be square and be cool!

SUPPLIES
vintage CTMH kit, Birthday Bash

Tall Birthday Cards

Today is my birthday, so let's celebrate with a few more fun cards from vintage CTMH kit Birthday Bash, including My Stickease cake and balloons and torn B&T paper.  Holiday Red Ink was used to stamp and distress.


Birthday Cards

To celebrate my birthday week, I am sharing a few more vintage kit birthday cards.  Interactive cards can be a fun way to say "Happy Birthday!".  Use bold, fun colors and humorous quotes to bring a smile to the card receiver.

SUPPLIES
vintage CTMH kit, Birthday Bash
  

Reunited


I read a lovely article from the Boston area about a woman reunited with a scrapbook her grandmother made.  Between the man who initially saved it from the trash heap, to the librarians and eventually newspaper reporter, many people helped get precious photos back into the family's hands.
Check it out...Boston.com

ProPlayer


For the gamer in all of us, the ProPlayer Workshop on the Go Scrapbooking Kit will help you tell the story behind the grunting faces and special games.


Use the Designed Decor Flip Stand Album to display your fun and games.  This clear acrylic stand with rings displays photos and a slot for inserting background image.  The instant photograph frames from the new Cricut Artbooking cartridge work great!

You Are My Happy

 3 times the fun with our new stamp set trio for only $10 with a qualifying purchase


Get an exclusive You Are My Happy stamp set trio in celebration of National Stamping Month! During the month of September, when you make a purchase of $50 or more, you qualify for this whimsical stamp set trio for only $10. You’ll love the whimsical alphabet, light-hearted sentiments, and fanciful images for a variety of occasions to give a cheerful touch to your projects, with a full retail value of $47.90.

*Offer valid September 1-30, 2013. Placing a minimum order of $50 is required for qualification.

Poster Tidings




Poster Tidings is a new versatile stamp set that will help you celebrate the holidays this fall. Highlight certain words to help spread your message.  Check out this Stamp of the Month, available September 1-30.