Hello, Cardmaking!

Hello, Cardmaking! by Close To My Heart Cardmakers, rejoice! There’s a new stamp set in town that will bring a whole lot of sassiness to your cards: the My Acrylix® Hello, Life!—Cardmaking stamp set. We've designed this beauty as part of our National Stamping Month trio of stamp sets, and its specialty is creating cards of all kinds. Don’t you just love receiving handmade cards in the mail? Think about it—the thrill you get seeing your name written on an envelope that’s obviously not a bill or a summons to jury duty. You love that feeling, and if you’re a cardmaker, you love giving that feeling to other people, too. A heartfelt card brings sunshine to everyone’s day! This sunny stamp set features big, bold greetings like “Hello” and “Oh, hey,” that are sure to get the recipient’s attention, paired with a variety of other sentiments and phrases you can use. Though the card above features gorgeous blue hues, it would be hard for anyone to feel blue after opening it up. The stylized sentiments work in perfect contrast with each other to fit a variety of moods. The card above is a playful and casual “thank you,” but you can easily see how the “Thanks” sentiment alone could be dressed up for a slightly more formal look. Oh, and speaking of formal… …what could be more formal than a black tie? Even when dressed to the nines in herringbone patterns and an irresistible black bow tie from our black Fundamental assortment, this card still carries such genuine thoughtfulness. The My Acrylix Hello, Life!—Cardmaking stamp set is only available as part of our National Stamping Month celebrations, which end September 30, so get it before it’s gone! And remember, it’s one of three sets that we’ve designed to work together in perfect harmony for a wide variety of crafting projects. Check out the hashtag #ctmhhellolife on Faceboook, Instagram, and Pinterest to see even more artwork being made with this trio of exclusive stamp sets. Happy stamping! Recipes 5 ½" x 4 ¼" Hello, Sunshine Card Make It from Your Heart™ Vol. 2: Pattern 26 CC1041 My Acrylix® Hello, Life!—Cardmaking, X7197B Zoe Paper Packet, Z2641 Glacier Exclusive Inks™ Stamp Pad, Z2105 Black Exclusive Inks™ Stamp Pad, Z2172 Whisper Exclusive Inks™ Stamp Pad, Z1263 Bitty Sparkles, Z3188 Paintbrush Set, Z3132 Watercolor Paints, Thread 4 ¼" x 5 ½" Oh, Hey Card Make It from Your Heart™ Vol. 2: Pattern 11 CC1041 My Acrylix® Hello, Life!—Cardmaking, X7203B Georgie Paper Packet, 1385 White Daisy Cardstock, X5762 Lagoon Cardstock, X5778 Saffron Cardstock, X5929 Whisper Cardstock, Z2195 Lagoon Exclusive Inks™ Stamp Pad, Z2105 Black Exclusive Inks™ Stamp Pad, Z3105 Fundamental Assortment Gold, Z1979 Marvy® Uchida® LePen™ Journaling Pen 5 ½" x 4 ¼" Hello, Friend Card Originals: Center Accent™ (with alterations) CC1041 My Acrylix® Hello, Life!—Cardmaking, X7201B La Vie En Rose Paper Packet, X5776 Peacock Cardstock, X5762 Lagoon Cardstock, X5778 Saffron Cardstock, 1385 White Daisy Cardstock, Z2105 Black Exclusive Inks™ Stamp Pad, Z2195 Lagoon Exclusive Inks™ Stamp Pad, Z2651 Saffron Exclusive Inks™ Stamp Pad, Z3105 Fundamental Assortment Gold

October Workshop - More Christmas and Halloween!

 October Workshop - More Christmas and Halloween!

 Here are the projects we made at our last workshop - I am trying to catch up, as promised! If you would like to do the projects yourself, here is what you will need:

Halloween project: (By the way - think out the box ... so to speak ... this would make a great birthday gift box for a 50 year birthday celebration ... just saying ... ha!)

Flower - Z1790 Art Philosophy cartridge
Square - "
 B1460 Halloween Stamp set
Z2173 Slate Ink Pad
1388 Colonial White CS
X5930 Slate CS
X5769 Thistle CS
X7185B Scaredy Cat Paper Pack
Z3011 Scaredy Cat Assortment (for stars)
(I also used a sponge for distressing, a quilling tool Z1795 to roll up my flowers - that makes it so much easier to make those flowers!
Tip for flowers - we do have a tutorial on the flowers, but with the quilling tool, just start rolling up at the end. Then I put some glue on the bottom of the flower (liquid glue or hot glue) hold it together and the flower is done! I like to the let my flower relax a little before I glue. The quilling tool is also great to "fold" the edges of the pedals down. Makes it so much easier - hopes that makes sense :)

Fold-out Wreath Card:

Z3017 Artfully Sent Cricut Collection
C1598 Noel 
D1553 Deck the Halls
B1466 Sweet Salutations
X5931 Champagne CS
X5643 Chocolate CS

Z2103 Bamboo Ink pad
Z2111 Chocolate Ink pad
Z1263 Itty Bitty Sparkles (for me - a must have! Love Bling!)

As you can see I used random stamping on the champagne base card, cut out the wreath, decorated it with bling, stamped the round stamp with a reverse image and then the word image and I was done! This was just about a 5 minute card! Love this new cartridge!

O Holy Night

 A1168 O Holy Night
D1553 Yuletide Greetings
X5927 Ruby CS
1386 Black CS
1388 Colonial White CS
 X7187B Yuletide Paper Pack
Z2114 Cocoa Ink Pad
Z2103 Bamboo Ink Pad
 Z2010 White Enamel Hearts
Z3007 Yuletide Assortment (gold bling)Z1985 Gold Shimmer Trim
Z1151 3-d Tape

For inspiration on this card I went to one of our "How to" books - Make it from the Heart. 

Hope this will get you going - next week is our next workshop already and we are going to do more Christmas! Yeah! If you want to have some fun and you are close to me - contact me.

If you are not close to me, we can have a "Party in the Box".  Contact me now if you are interested!

Have fun!

Birthday card workshop

 These were the cards and gift bag we made at our last workshop. Don't you love those?! This time around I did not use any circut cartridges, but I used quite a bit of the new products and papers. Love some of those new papers - don't you?

 

This is one of my all time favorite gift bags to make - please let me know in your comments if you want me to make a video on how to make this little bag. It is super easy - once you know the fold - but you need to know the fold - so comment away! I may even do a drawing for a little gift if I get enough comments :)

Here are the products I used: B1462 Lovely Birthday

Z2197 Pear and Z2644 Pixie inks

scallop punch for top edge

Scaredy Cat B & T, white CS

 

This card was layered with:

Gypsy, Canary, Confetti wishes Paper, Lagoon, white CS,

Confetti wishes Paper

I also used the Lovely Birthday stamp set again, Thistle Ink pad, Itty bitty Sparkles, our new Sequins gold assortment, new thin 3-d foam tape, teal resin flowers and teal glitter trim

Ok, so I fibbed a little - I did use the Cricut for this card! The yellow flower was cut out with the Art Philosophy cartridge! For my cards I used a lot of layering, as you can tell - it gives the cards a lot of dimension and color. You may also be able to tell that I love to distress the edges of my cards with my scissors. Our cardstock has the white core and I like to bring that out.

As you use the cuddlebug and emboss our cardstock, go ahead and distress. It looks and it feels good to distress! Its good therapy :)

Here are the products I used B1417 Perfect Fit- Birthday, B1599 Pretty Petals, C1456 Heartfelt Treasures

Z2644 Pisie, Z2643 Canary, Z2114 Cocoa Inks

Desert Sand CS, Topiary CS, Pear CS

Z2023 Bling Gem Asst, 3-d Tape, red brads

Another note, if you ever have to look any of these items up in my website, just type the item in the search cube and it will pop up. You do not need to have the exact name of the item. Its a great feature.

I hope you can join us at our next workshop on September 22! 

 

It's Here!

Our new idea book is here! You will love new products we added over 250 products no less!

New colors, new card kits, new scrapbook kits, new bling, a new cricut cartridge, new stamp sets, new markers, new home decor items, a new craft mat (you will love all the cool things you can do with it), new embellishments, new tools, and so much more!

Over the next little while I will highlight some of those new items and some the things you can do with them. I will also do a little video on them. So, stay tuned, join the blog, join my facebook page, join my youtube channel - share my links!

And, to sweeten the deal! This month when you purchase a Picture my Life kit, you will be able to purchase an extra pack of page protectors for only $3! I Love the new Christmas kit!

Well take care for now and enjoy!

New Heights Abound

Sometimes it’s the details of a page that makes it really shine. But adding some glitter paper, Shimmer Trim, and glitter gems doesn’t hurt, either! Learn how to make a sparkly bouquet of balloons by combining embellishments, Cricut^® cutouts, and specialty paper. You and your customers will get carried away by these glitzy decorations.

New Spring/Summer idea book is here!

 New Spring/Summer Idea Book is here!

Here is the new book you have been waiting for you can find all the cool new products in our online version right here. 

 Every new books brings new fun items, here is a taste:

• new themed scrapbooking kits
• new card kits
• matching embellishments
• Picture My Life - new scrapbooking program to make your memory preserving life easier!
• More jewelry for our Base & Bling line
• More new stamp sets
• Did I mention - Embossing folders?
• More bling, more, more - you will just have to check it out and see what you can find to make you happy!

Embellishment and Trim

Soon I will be running out of space on blogger, so I can't put all my videos on here anymore, but don't despair! I will still share everyone of our great videos right here with you as they appear. You will just get all the great links from me and what you can expect. Just be sure to keep checking here and have fun!

Connect the Dots 

Create decorative lines on your layout using dots! With the right embellishments—Aqua Dots, sparkles, studs, and more—your dotted lines will be sure to draw the eye. Learn to do it yourself in this video.

Most of my projects have some type of sparkles, dots or some other embellishments on them them - come on - a girl has to have her bling!

Trendy Trims

Your layouts, wall hangings, goodie bags, and other projects will come to life with some of our fun new trims! Whether used as pattern pieces, background designs, or accents, these trims are sure to add a lot of zest and dimension to your papercrafting. See their versatility in this video!