Get crafting with the All-Purpose Mat

Discover what you can do with our new All-Purpose Craft Mat. Let me give you some hints:

• First put the sticky side down to make sure you have steady work surface - yes that means, the side with "Close to my Heart" is face down.
• Also, make sure you always store it rolled up
• Want to use it as a paint pallet? Go ahead, mix some re-inker on it with water til you have the mix you want. Use your blender pen and color your artwork! If it bleeds onto the mat, you can clean it up easy!
• Want to make those fun clear dome glue dots with our Liquid Glass - go ahead. Just put some small droplets on the mat, let them dry and they come off the mat easy! Then you can attach them to your artwork easily - if you want while they dry add some glitter for extra bling!
• Use the mat to do your nails! Cleaning up is easy
• You can emboss on the mat!
• Any glue or paint cleans up easy
• When you use alcohol based markers you don't need to worry about bleeding through now, because the mat cleans up. You do want to make sure after you wipe the mat off so you will not pick up the color with your arms or hands
• Use it for your cricut projects - makes it easy to put them together on 

I am sure there are loads more things you can do with this handy mat. As I find more ways to use it, I will add them to this list. For now, enjoy it and have fun. 

Happy crafting,

Margit

August news and special!

Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the new Annual Inspirations idea book!

Enter a new world of crafting possibilities with the launch of our latest idea book.

Close Read

After months of anticipation, Annual Inspirations has arrived at last. The art-filled pages are now available for your viewing pleasure! Peruse the gold mine of new products, ranging from the new Cut Above™ line to the ShinHan™ Touch Twin™ Markers, and admire the gorgeous artwork that dances across the pages. With additions such as 5 new colors and 9 new My Reflections™ paper packets, this idea book is overflowing with artistic inspiration and surging with products fit to make any crafter’s heart swoon. So go ahead, fall in love with the new idea book. We promise the plunge will be well worth your time.

Check out the idea book »

August Stamp of the Month: What a Hoot Prepare for “owl” the fall festivities with this hoot of a stamp set. Close Read Fall will be swooping in before we know it, and there is no better way to welcome in crispy breezes and falling leaves than with the August Stamp of the Month, What a Hoot! When you place an order of $50 or more, these festive fowl can join your aviary for only $5! The quirky owls in this adorable stamp set will add an endearing element to any craft. You can even dress them up in costumes and wish your friends a “Happy ‘Owl’oween”! Whatever the occasion, these feathered friends are sure to make a hoot in your neck of the woods. See the stamp set »

August Constant Campaign: Picture Perfection!

Save big on Memory Protectors™ with Picture My Life™ scrapbooking programs!

Close Read We know that, as a crafter, your chief mission is to preserve and protect the images and memories from your life that you hold most dear. To aid you in this quest, we’re providing you with a hot summer deal! During the month of August, when you purchase any of the 13 available Picture My Life™ scrapbooking programs featured in the Annual Inspirations idea book at their full retail price of $24.95 USD / $27.50 CAD, you are eligible to add your choice of 1 of 8 qualifying Memory Protectors™ 10-packs for just $3 (USD & CAD)! Each Picture My Life scrapbooking program already includes a coordinating 10-pack of Memory Protectors, so when you add your additional 10-pack for only $3, you will be well on your way to your own picture-perfect pocket scrapbooking adventure. You’ll be able to preserve double the memories in half the time! Check out our 5 new Picture My Life scrapbooking programs in the new idea book, or choose from the 8 existing programs. There’s a theme for every season of life—find yours!

*Offer valid August 1–31, 2014, while supplies last. No tax will be charged on the free item(s). Shipping/handling is calculated based on the full retail price of the free item(s) ($9.95 USD / $10.95 CAD).

Peruse the programs

My Acrylix® Spritz & Scrubber and more Tools of the Trade!

Now with a total of 25 short videos, our tool training series has everything you need to utilize your terrific Close To My Heart tools!

• Learn the ins and outs of the Rub & Remove™ eraser
• Get familiar with the stitch guide, ruler, and foam mat trio
• Get an exclusive look at Exclusive Inks™ re-inkers and spray pen
• And many more!

You will be able to find many of the products right here in my website. Please let me know if you should have any problems if you can't find any of them - I will be more than glad to help you. I have used many of the items for years - in fact, my little scissors are just about 10 years old and still going strong! I love them for not just cutting but distressing as well! A girl has to distress her paper :)

Well, have fun checking these short videos out!

Retiring Items - Get them while you can!

We are cleaning house for the next book coming soon! If you have some favorites in the couple of books you want to check this list out and catch your favorites now. They will go quick, because everybody else will get them :).

 

Retiring List

Remember, this month you can even get some of the previously retired favorites for almost 50% when your purchase $50 in product - plus you qualify for the Stamp of the month! Its a win-win for you all the way around. So, check it out and see what you can find. Have fun!

Blast from the Past

When Jeanette Lynton began her venture into stamping 30 years ago, she drew by hand all her stamp images. Originally made of rubber and set on wood blocks, a few of these stamp sets are available to you in clear polymer for a limited time only! Enjoy the intricate and cozy line designs in conjunction with our alcohol-based markers for fun accents that will brighten your layouts as they take you back in time.

Blast from the Past

Almost 20 years ago I was introduced to the line of these beautiful woodmounted rubber stamp images. I never looked back after I signed up with D.O.T.S. We have come a long way, baby :)

I hope you will enjoy this look back into yesteryear as much as I do!

Starting November you will have a very unique and limited opportunity as a new consultant to earn a free product from the new spring product line. Contact me to learn about the details!

CTMH Tools of the Trade

The right tool can make all the difference in your artistic scrapbooking, especially in the details. See the tools we have to offer to enhance your creative experience, and then try them out for yourself!

I love those organizers, not just for the inks as shown above. I use them when I go to crops and I use them at home to keep my stamp sets, my embellishments, markers, pens, glue, and whatever else one needs to organize. Yes, I do have a stack of them. The fit nicely on a shelf, but they do fit nicely on top of each other. Of course, Close to my Heart did not only make boring plastic organizers - no! They put a nice little design on the side of the organizers! Love those things! Have fun!

Discover CTMH ink colors!

Make a little music with colour-coordinated pages created with our exclusive palette. With four fabulous families to choose from, finding just the right colour of paper, ink, markers, and more is simple! See a sampling of products here; then get them in a rainbow of exclusive colours to paint your own crafting world.

This video was made originally for our Australian and New Zealand market, but I thought it would be great to share it with our US gals as well, because it explains our colors so well!

Be on the lookout real soon for another video for our How - to - books!

Have fun playing with color!

Margit aka scrappingbee :)

Get Organized!

Love, Love, Love those organizing tools from Close to my Heart! Here are some of the big organizers. When I go to a crop I usually have all my tools in there from the blocks to sets, to glue - you name it. If I need it, I will take the medium with me for some of my embellishments. At home I keep them separated for sets, embellishments, blocks, inkblocks - yes, our little inkblocks have their own little place. I just received a new little camera, so be on the lookout for a little video to show you what I mean! There will be another installment of my own for organization. 

Once I move into my new house I can organized again into my own space and I will share how I do it - because I need to know where all my goodies are :)

As always, you can find these goodies on my website right here. Have fun creating!

Better Blending

Over 19 years ago I started with Close to my Heart, one of the things that I loved then was teaching how to use markers! I still love to use markers. There are so many cool things you can do with markers. Don't be afraid of them, even if you have never used them before - just go ahead, stamp some images and play with them. Set yourself free and play! I was always amazed at the wonderful things my friends and customers were able to create when they finally "let" themselves go and play with those markers. It is often just that inner voice telling them they can't do it.

So - go ahead, play - have fun with those wonderful markers! Make them your own.

September Online Party - Yeah!

Its time again for our online party - yeah! You can still get our National Stamping Month special with your $35 order and once you hit $50 you can our Stamp of the Month for only $5! You can save twice this month. Both sets are stinkin' cute! Check them out on the website!

Hope you are taking advantage of all our great tutorials we are putting out. Close to my Heart is almost taking my work away by not having to show all the cool things you can do with our stamps - almost ... ha! I would love to show you more! So, get in touch with me - I would love to help you get started with your projects. Get those things out of the drawer! Things in the drawer are very expensive. Only when you pull them out and do something with them do they become a bargain!

If you are looking for a quick project - check out one of our Workshop of the Go kits. Everything is in one place. Love those kits!

Need to get quick pages done - consider our Express Layouts in Studio J. Check it out, play around - you don't pay until you press the purchase button. And yes - they count towards a party, hostess rewards. It cannot get better!

Remember - I always have a drawing for the free product from the orders placed in those online parties. The more orders - the more I can give away. Maybe you want to have your own party to get it all - :).

Take care for now and happy stamping.

Margit aka scrappingbee

Back from convention and here are some of my team members - actually Jo and Linda have been with me for eight and six years!

I have been with Close to my Heart for almost 20 years now and I must say, this has been one of the best conventions! It was great! We had a good time, great friendship and we learned a lot. It helped, that we received the best Idea Book yet!

Here are some of the new things coming your way:

• Alcoholic Markers
• Chalk Marker
• New Organizers - yeah, you will love them!
• Lots of new bling!
• Wonderful great new Workshops, including Home Decor workshops and card workshops
• Did I mention our great new Cricut Cartridge? You have to see it and all the great things it can do. I am working on a little video to show it to you! I brought it home from convention since I got one for free!
• New pigment ink stacks
• Studio J has discontinued memberships, but added great new express layouts - all layouts are only $6.95 and you get your JPEGS for free! You can do fast layouts.
• Bulk CS will be available again - but make sure, you get the CS that will be retired.
• A great new way to sign up as a consultant - only $49, our new Essential consultant kit. Available now!

Online gatherings - you don't have to clean your house for it ... :) Contact me and I will set it up for you. And yes, Studio J will count towards it, you can even earn Studio J layouts for hostess awards!

Whew, that is it, in very short version for some of the new items! But be sure to keep checking back, because I will show you in more detail how to use some of our new product. It was a lot of fun to see how versatile and easy it is to them. Our new cartridge can make mini albums. All you really have to do is set, cut, glue and put pictures in and oh, add bling - how much easier do you want it?

Want more pics?

 Oh yeah, I did say, we had some entertainment! While we had dinner, they sang for us! The Texas Tenors were great outstanding.

One other thing I wanted to mention about this years' convention, six years ago CTMH started a tradition to award a very prestigious award to one consultant - the Spirit of Close to my Heart. Our Team Leader, Karen Pederson was awarded this great award this year. Yeah - she really deserves it. We are part of an awesome team - the Pacemakers. So, if you join my team - you will be part of a great family and legacy :)

 I promise, I will post more! Have you notice, I am working on my blogging skills? I now need to figure out how to delete that little photobucket thing - any help from you is welcome ... :)!   The only How to books still available are Magic and Imagine! If you need any of the other books I will have to search for you!   PAPER PACKETS RETIRING:  Lucy, Superhero, Footloose, Crusin, Typset, Roxie, Elemental, Sonoma, 


  Our entire line of markers will be discontinued, so if you still miss colors, now is the time to get them!
 

   Here are some of the stamp sets that are slated to be retired by July 31, 2012. If they are some of your favorites - don't miss out and and take advantage of our special buy two and get one set free now! Stampaganza comes around only once in a while!
 

C1466	Instant Memories	23		$13.95
B1391	Zoology	30		$9.95
C1463	Harvest Happiness	35		$13.95
C1465	Unscripted	36		$13.95
C1467	Sweet Moments	41		$13.95
B1392	Key Moments	42		$9.95
C1462	All Hallows Eve	48		$13.95
D1494	Christmas Cheer	53		$17.95
B1390	Countdown	54		$9.95
D1480	Snowflake	59		$17.95
C1468	Winter Joy	60		$13.95
C1419	Harvest Home	65		$13.95
C1426	Thanksgiving	65		$13.95
B1395	So Grateful	66		$9.95
C1423	Captured Moments	67		$13.95
B1359	Fright Night	68		$9.95
D1437	Party Animal	69		$17.95
A1109	A Sip	71		$6.95
C1424	Nature's Gift	71		$13.95
C1420	Snow Days	72		$13.95
C1472	Bundled Buddies	73		$13.95
D1384	Snow Flurries	74		$17.95
D1308	All Decked Out	75		$17.95
A1115	A Holiday	76		$6.95
B1381	Holiday  Cheer	76		$9.95
D1446	Adorn-able	77		$17.95
A1107	A Twinkle	78		$6.95
B1361	Tannenbaum	78		$9.95
D1493	Fill in the Blank--Holiday	79		$17.95
C1427	I Believe	80		$13.95
D1449	Father Christmas	81		$17.95
A1110	A Timber	82		$6.95
B1356	St. Nick	82		$9.95
D1483	Glory to God	83		$17.95
A1099	Angel Sent	84		$6.95
B1394	John 3:16	84		$9.95
D1436	The Present	87		$17.95
A1108	A Flitter	88		$6.95
D1306	Treasure Life	89		$17.95
C1429	Party Pennants	91		$13.95
A1095	Always Remember	92		$6.95
B1362	Tag the Occasion	92		$9.95
C1471	Happy Clusters	93		$13.95
B1393	Joyful Jar	94		$9.95
C1425	Month by Month	95		$13.95
C1470	Gnome Garden	96		$13.95
A1113	A Game	97		$6.95
B1396	School Rocks	97		$9.95
C1408	Live Inspired	98		$13.95
D1373	Childhood Portrait	99		$17.95
D1492	Christmas Love	101		$17.95
C1469	December 25th	102		$13.95
D1388	Card Chatter--Christmas	103		$17.95
D1440	Everlasting Life	104		$17.95
C1379	Holiday Commentary	105		$13.95
C1382	Holiday Commentary--Spanish	105		$13.95
C1383	Holiday Commentary--French	105		$13.95
D1283	Say It in Style	106		$17.95
D1444	A Little Thanks	107		$17.95
D1401	Authentic	108		$17.95
D1387	Made with Love	109		$17.95
D1499	Live Your Style	110		$17.95
D1386	Save the Date	111		$17.95
D1397	Save the Date--French	111		$17.95
D1398	Save the Date--Spanish	111		$17.95
E1006	Baroque Alphabet	113		$29.95
C1401	Friendship Alphabet Small	114		$13.95
E1013	Field Trip Alphabet	114		$29.95
E1016	Friendship Alphabet Large	114		$29.95
D1136	Giggle Caps	115		$17.95
D1137	Giggle Lowercase	115		$17.95
D1267	Rustic Numbers	117		$17.95
E1002	Rustic Alphabet	117		$29.95

The next post I will show some of my studio J layouts.