Saturday, October 13, 2018

Don't miss the Sparkle!

Don't miss the Sparkle!
Check out the newest products in our Holiday Expressions idea book








Let us show you how to make your holidays shine with the exquisite new Holiday Expressions idea book! Turn the pages of the latest idea book for more breathtaking artwork inspiration featuring our newest products!
This issue of the book is a new beginning for us, in that we will not have an Annual Idea book anymore. This is your big issue! You will find everything your heart desires in this book - for the season. This issue is good through December 31, 2018. Starting January 1, 2019 we will bring you our Spring issue - that means our paper collections and a number of our stamp sets will change - so if you fall in love with any of those wonderful things - get them while you can. Any holiday items are available only through this season!

 


Holiday Sparkle
Quick and Easy Shaker Cards to Liven Up the Holiday!

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.
You can also receive this delightful card kit FREE when you sign up as a Consultant or host a qualifying party.


 


 
Ribbon Warrior
This Special Stamp Set is Back for Breast Cancer Awareness Month
In honor of Breast Cancer Awareness month, we’ve brought back the My Acrylix® Ribbon Warrior stamp set and the coordinating Thin Cuts bundle at a 20% discount. Show your support for loved ones and friends with meaningful, heartfelt artwork made using these exclusive items.

 
Advent Calendar
Make this holiday season extra joyful with this enchanting advent calendar from the brand new Cricut® Season of Joy collection. You can now purchase a custom bundle of papers chosen especially for creating this project; pair this bundle with your Cricut® collection, a few accessories, and a My Acrylix® stamp set and you’ll have everything you need to create this festive papercrafting project!
The base kit below provides the basic materials you’ll need, but you’ll need a few additional items to complete the project. If you don’t have these items already, make sure to also add them to your order:
  • Cricut® Season of Joy Digital Collection (Z3296)
  • My Acrylix® Snug Background Stamp Set (B1634)
  • Clear Sparkles (Z3274)
  • New England Ivy Burlap Ribbon (Z4170)

Important Things
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.


October 2018: Thanks & Giving



Share giving thanks with others during the upcoming holidays and seasons with the October Stamp of the Month, Thanks & Giving. Save big by getting this special set for just $5 when you place an order of $50 or more. 

Craft with Heart

Have you seen our newest addition yet? We now have a subscription! I have attached a video so you can see just what you will get in the box when you receive it. If you are a seasoned scrapper and believe these are way too easy - let me tell you just how beautiful these pages are. They are ready to be "blinged" up. If you are in a hurry to get pages done - these pages are for you! If you want to gift these pages to someone who is starting - these pages are just for you!


And there is more:


We still have some wonderful bargains in our clearance section and dont' forget our "Going Soon" section.
I am working on my virtual classes - please let me know if you are interested. I will be running them on Facebook. The only way you will be able to participated in those classes is through Facebook. However, if you would like to purchase any of the kits, please let me know. I always want to take care of my customers!

Please check out my website - we have so many cool specials going right now. The new book is so wonderful - I am having a real hard time deciding what to get. I don't have to tell you, what I decided. Just have a look at my craft room - ha!

It seems like I am finally on the mend with my surgery, etc. So, my next card class will be on Oct. 25 at 10 am and 7 pm at my home. I will post them through Facebook, meetup and my blog as well. Please keep in touch so you will not miss the dates of future classes. This month I will forgo my scrapbook classes, I would like to start in November again - please let me know your preferences. Thank you!

One more word - I was happy to have participated in early October in the Super Scrapper Crop - their first here in Orlando and it seemed that everybody had a ball! I posted a picture on my social media - you may have caught it (me and CoCo, mascot of the hotel). I met a lot of great ladies there. It is always nice to see all the wonderful creativity at those crops. Let me tell you - scrappers have a friendship all of their own, it just does not match anything else. That is why have stuck with it for almost 25 years now in this business. So - keep scrapping, make those lifelong friendships and keep those memories :)

Margit
Enjoy - I would love to hear from you!

Craft with Heart

Have you seen our newest addition yet? We now have a subscription! I have attached a video so you can see just what you will get in the box when you receive it. If you are a seasoned scrapper and believe these are way too easy - let me tell you just how beautiful these pages are. They are ready to be "blinged" up. If you are in a hurry to get pages done - these pages are for you! If you want to gift these pages to someone who is starting - these pages are just for you!


Margit McCabe | Email Address | Phone number | Website
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Wednesday, October 10, 2018

8 Ways to Add color to Your Stamping

8 Ways to Add Color to Your Stamping

8 Ways to Add Color to Your Stamping #ctmh #closetomyheart #nationalstampingmonth #ctmhnationalstampingmonth #stamping #color #colour #stampcoloring #stampcolouring #watercolor #watercolour #pigment #exclusiveinks #shimmerbrush #embossing
September is National Stamping Month and, as you know, we live and breathe stamps here at Close To My Heart. They are where we got our start many years ago, and to this day just simply can’t get enough of them! And from what we can gather, we are not alone in this obsession hobby! 😉
With care, you place your stamp on your block, prudently ink it with a color that you carefully selected just minutes (if not days) before, then press it to your paper and upon removing the block your image looks as perfectly crisp as you planned for. The next step in the creation process of this new image is to breathe life into it with some color.
We’ve taken one of our many (many) favorite stamp sets, My Acrylix® Bunches of Love, from the Holiday Expressions catalog to illustrate some stamp coloring options. Each is unique in it’s own way and, depending on what you’re looking to achieve, has a place in your coloring spectrum. For comparison purposes, we’ve kept the mediums separate, but by all means do combine them in your artwork to make your images look exactly how you envision them!

First up, the original.

Some of our stamp sets already come with the parts to fill in the white space of a larger image, and the My Acrylix® Bunches of Love set does just that.
bunches-of-love-d1815
To keep things quick and easy, use the corresponding filler pieces to complete the image.
8 Ways to Add Color to Your Stamping #ctmh #closetomyheart #nationalstampingmonth #ctmhnationalstampingmonth #stamping #color #colour #stampcoloring #stampcolouring #watercolor #watercolour #pigment #exclusiveinks #shimmerbrush #embossing
In cases where the stamp set is not designed this way or you’re wanting to showcase a stamp differently so it’s not the exact same every time, continue scrolling through our list.

A Watercolor Look:

watercolor paint8 Ways to Add Color to Your Stamping #ctmh #closetomyheart #nationalstampingmonth #ctmhnationalstampingmonth #stamping #color #colour #stampcoloring #stampcolouring #watercolor #watercolour #pigment #exclusiveinks #shimmerbrush #embossing

watercolor pencils8 Ways to Add Color to Your Stamping #ctmh #closetomyheart #nationalstampingmonth #ctmhnationalstampingmonth #stamping #color #colour #stampcoloring #stampcolouring #watercolor #watercolour #pigment #exclusiveinks #shimmerbrush #embossing

For a soft look, watercolors are the way to go!
If you’re still working on mastering the art of using watercolor paints, try watercolor pencils. By applying color with pencils, shading and color blending is easier to control than with paint. Once you’ve penciled the color in, gently brush water over it with a damp fine tip paintbrush or waterbrush to spread the pigment. For best results, follow the pencil lines using smooth strokes. Keep in mind as you decide which watercolor medium is right for your project, that the direction of your pencil lines will still show through, unlike with paint.

Exclusive Inks™8 Ways to Add Color to Your Stamping #ctmh #closetomyheart #nationalstampingmonth #ctmhnationalstampingmonth #stamping #color #colour #stampcoloring #stampcolouring #watercolor #watercolour #pigment #exclusiveinks #shimmerbrush #embossing

For a more vivid “watercolor” look that doesn’t require layers of watercolor paint to achieve, give “painting” with our Exclusive Inks™ a try!
Squeeze your stamp pad in the middle to get some of the ink to rub onto the lid. Remove the inked lid, and from there decide how strong or light you want your color to appear. If you want the saturation to match the ink color exactly, use the ink as is. For a lighter variation of this same color, mix some water in with it (straight on the lid). The more water you add to the ink, the lighter the color will be. Pick the color up with a brush and ink-paint your stamped image.
Our Exclusive Inks™ are available in every one of our 41 exclusive colors (plus White Daisy and several black options). Enjoy effortless color coordination with our patterned papers, cardstock, and embellishments by using this method for coloring in your stamped images.

Pens:

ShinHan™ Touch Twin markers8 Ways to Add Color to Your Stamping #ctmh #closetomyheart #nationalstampingmonth #ctmhnationalstampingmonth #stamping #color #colour #stampcoloring #stampcolouring #watercolor #watercolour #pigment #exclusiveinks #shimmerbrush #embossing

When going for a saturated, vibrant look, especially in small details, ShinHan™ Touch Twin markers are an excellent choice. They are bright, smudge-proof, and, because they are alcohol-based, they are easy to blend. The fine tip on each marker is ideal for coloring and adding intricate details.

shimmer brushes8 Ways to Add Color to Your Stamping #ctmh #closetomyheart #nationalstampingmonth #ctmhnationalstampingmonth #stamping #color #colour #stampcoloring #stampcolouring #watercolor #watercolour #pigment #exclusiveinks #shimmerbrush #embossing

Until recently, the shimmer brush was considered mostly an accenting tool because it only came in clear and gold. Well, those days are over friends! Now also available in Sugarplum, red, black, and Mint, these new hues carry enough weight to be used on their own to add a little bit more than shimmer. When you use these, prep your brush before you do. You will want to squeeze your brush over scrap paper until the shimmery liquid comes out. Brush it on your scrap paper until you get the consistency you want on your brush before coloring in those details.

Heat Embossing:

Give your stamps a little lift and texture with the right inks and embossing powders. (For those of you who are new to this technique, embossing powder is a special powder that, when heated, melts to form a raised surface.)

VersaMark™ ink and embossing powder8 Ways to Add Color to Your Stamping #ctmh #closetomyheart #nationalstampingmonth #ctmhnationalstampingmonth #stamping #color #colour #stampcoloring #stampcolouring #watercolor #watercolour #pigment #exclusiveinks #shimmerbrush #embossing

Sometimes a flat image just isn’t the way to go. That’s when heat embossing comes to the rescue. To start, stamp your image with the VersaMark™ ink pad (embossing ink), which will create a clear, wet-looking print of your stamp. While the ink is still wet, cover it with embossing powder and carefully shake off any excess. Use a heat tool to dry and seal your design. The heat tool blows extremely hot air with a low air current, which keeps the powder from blowing right off—hair dryers are not a good substitute! We have several new embossing powders in our new Holiday Expressions catalog to choose from (for a complete list click here).

Pigment Exclusive Inks™8 Ways to Add Color to Your Stamping #ctmh #closetomyheart #nationalstampingmonth #ctmhnationalstampingmonth #stamping #color #colour #stampcoloring #stampcolouring #watercolor #watercolour #pigment #exclusiveinks #shimmerbrush #embossing

Okay, so we’ve shared this last idea on here before, but with our new large stamp pad-sized pigment inks added to our coloring repertoire, we just have to share again.
Did you know that you can pair any of our Exclusive Inks™ pigment pads with clear embossing powder to emboss in that exact color? Yes, really! Stamp an image with your choice pigment ink, cover it with clear embossing powder, and then set it with your heat tool! It’s that easy! Match our exclusive colors perfectly using this last technique!
Whether you use these stamp coloring ideas alone or mix and match them, we hope you enjoy a full spectrum of color in all of your stamping projects!
Happy stamping! 🙂

Hello and thank you for stopping by!

This is my first attempt on a blog - can you tell? I am sure you can. From what I have learned about blogs they are like an online journal and you are getting a peak into my soul ...

At this time I am trying to learn how to post my artwork with watermark and copyright and all that jazz -but I a, learning. My plan is to post my work and along with it I will explain what I used and how I made the project.

As we go along, I will also give you a peak into my life. I will share some pictures of my family, places we have been, places we have visited. So, please come back and visit often. Just know, that I am very new to this blogging thing! So, at this time - any help you can give me is highly appreciated in growing my skills in "blogging".

If you live close to me and you would like to join me in my craft place or one my crops please, check my calendar for any upcoming workshops!

A scrapbooker's quilting bee!