Scrapbooking Through the Year makes an Album

I LOVE TO SCRAPBOOK!  Yep, bet you didn't know that about me - hahaha! I love to scrapbook but I don't always find the time every day or every week to be able to sit down and look through my beautiful papers and pictures, assemble a layout and be caught up (caught up - hahaha - that's funny!) on documenting all that my family and I get to do.  You don't have that same problem, do you?

One of my goals for next year is to find about 30-45 minutes of my own on Thursday's to be able to scrapbook.  With this month's special from Close to My Heart I really feel like I can accomplish my goal with a little prep now.

CTMH has compiled a monthly calendar layout to help us stay up to date and remember some of the fun moments from that month. 

This calendar kit comes with everything needed to create a 12x12 layout for each month.

You can get the kit shown above WITHOUT the stamp of the month stamp set from last month for only $38.95 or With the Stamp set for $56.90.   As an added option to get a double page layout for each month, a sister consultant put together another page and page toppers for each calendar month as an additional workshop with full-color instructions.  I have purchased that workshop from her to pass on to you.  Look at these great layouts that you will create to complete the calendar and finish it in an album at the end of the year.

Additional supplies will be needed to complete the page toppers and 2nd page for each month. Those supplies will be an additional $35 if cutting out the titles with your Cricut or an additional $100 with the Thin Cuts - Block Alphabet set. This calendar kit would make a great Christmas gift or again a great way to stay caught up in 2018.   Click here to get your kit before they are gone.

Black Friday Special Just Announced!

Friday only -

Purchase any available Cut Above Layout Kit for 50% off!!!!

As an additional bonus, when you buy the Cut Above Layout Kits - The Story Begins Kits for baby boy or baby girl you are eligible for additional savings. When you purchase one of these kits, you can purchase a My Legacy Album Kit of your choice for 30% off!  What an incredible savings!!! 

These would make a wonderful Christmas gift for any expecting mom or grandma! 

Also, while your there, don't forget to grab your November Stamp of the Month - Through the Year to be ready for our December special! 

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving and remember to take lots of pictures before and after you eat. :)

Happy Scrappin'!

Having Fun with Fundamentals

Have you played with the new Fundamentals papers, complements or ribbons yet?  Last year I did a school album using the Enchantment Fundamentals line and loved how these papers and embellishments worked so well to get my album done.  Then, guess what!?!  Close to My Heart went and changed the paper patterns - what?!?!?!?  Actually, I love them even more now.  Now I have all new designs to play with which give me even more ideas and layouts I can create. 

Only $22.71 for all of this!!!

The Basics line is AMAZING!!!  There is so much you can do with these papers.  They are the base and then add your favorite color to make a birthday layout or maybe even a Christmas layout.  And boy do they look great with our new Bashful papers.

Here is the new redesigned Enchantment Fundamental line. The bold colors of this line are great for anything fall or winter, parties, school and of course sports.  So many options...

The Adventure Fundamental line makes me think of vacation.  Look at that blue ombre paper - don't you think of the beach as soon as you see it!?!  This paper would be great with our new Cricut Cartridge You are Here.   Now I'm only showing you the papers because the bundle packs have already sold out but you can still get the papers and ribbons at a 30% discount!  That is a great deal!

Finally, here is our Whimsy Fundamental papers.  It too has had the bundles sell out already but the ribbons and papers are still available at an amazing discount! 

Stock up on your fundamental papers now.  I know these will become your go-to paper source to stretch out your My Reflection Paper Packs when you are trying to stretch the papers out to create more layouts and cards.

I want to leave you with a view of how these papers can be used. Here is one of the layouts we created at Album Retreat last month.

I love, love, love this layout. It was super easy to create and uses both the Basic Fundamentals and the Whimsy Fundamental papers as well as our color the year - Bashful. The square on the bottom right corner is for me to do my journaling in but I also made it into a little flip flap so I could add even more pictures.   The layout tells the story of what makes me happy and brings me joy. Beyond my faith and family, Close to My Heart is at the top of the list. I love my CTMH family and all that I have been able to do and accomplish with them and you!

Sit, Relax and have fun!

National Stamping Month is here and as you may have already heard they released this exclusive card kit that is gorgeous, interactive and fun but not fast.  Let me explain.  Over the past several months I have been telling you how important kits have become to me. I use all of the Workshop Your Way kits and Cut Above kits to help me get my scrapbooking done fast.  It has been great! I love it and the ease that it has created to help me scrapbook when I have VERY LITTLE TIME.

However, this special National Stamping Month kit  - From the Heart is not like the kits I mentioned above. It takes a little more time, thought and a whole lot more stamping.  And guess what - you are going to LOVE it!  It's a chance for you to sit, relax and play.  Take out a couple scratch pieces of paper and play with your stamping. Remember 2nd Generation stamping, you know when you stamp once on a scratch piece of paper and then stamp again on your card, and the lighter effect is soft and almost makes it look like you used a 2nd ink color. I sat down and played for just a little bit and came up with this rough cheat sheet for you to use when stamping your flowers.

With so many ink colors from Close to My Heart there are so many different colored flowers that you can create. This is just scratching the surface and getting your brain started. 

Here are just a few of the cards I created:

This first card I did stamping like you see in my cheat sheet.  The flowers and leaves were done with 1st and 2nd generation stamping giving depth to the flowers and helping them look a little more realistic. 

This 2nd card I stamped with a base ink of New England Ivy and then used our Shin Han markers to color in the flowers.  The leaves for the top sentiment were stamped with Fern 2nd generation. This card went much faster but doesn't have the bouquet like the 1st card. However, fast simple and easy!  Love it!

Finally, this last card was stamped with multiple colors and stamps like the first but I blinged up the card a little.  Who doesn't love a little (or a lot) of bling. Here I used our new

 Color of the Year - Bashful Pearls.    

There is so much you can do with these cards and the gold foil bases are gorgeous and adds so much pop not to mention the interactive fold. Remember - relax!  This is supposed to be fun.  Put on a good movie to listen to in the background and start playing with your stamps and inks.  This card kit is a perfect reminder of why you fell in love with Close to My Heart stamps to begin with.  

Each kit comes with 10 pre-punched card bases, 10 envelopes and a full sheet of colored step-by-step instructions.  Order your kit here or at the link on the right and feel free to check back at the cheat sheet above to get ideas as you play and create.  Have fun!

"You are Here" Team Bloghop

Our newest Cricut Cartridge - You are Here is one of my absolute favorites!  There are so many titles, place markers, family reunion and just plain fun buttons!  You are going to want this collection for your new go to for all your excursions - local and abroad.  If you have come form Rebecca Brown's blog you are in the right spot.  This blog hop is a big circle. You can start here and follow the path around or go here to the beginning.

Last month I showed off my favorite paper pack in the Seasonal Expressions book - No Worries. This month I am going to show you another layout using the No Worries paper and how perfectly it works with the "You are Here" Cricut Collection.

My title and journaling decal both came from the You are Here Cricut Collection. They are so fun and not vacation specific which makes them even better. I love how they start my 2017 vacation album off.  The pattern used is from our Brand New Make it From Your Heart 3 book. 

Here is a a picture of what you get when you purchase the You are Here Cricut Collection. The Collection comes with everything shown below for only $99 and the digital collection (no cartridge or booklet but a download code) is only $79.

The accompanying and coordinating stamp sets continue the theme of traveling fun.  Here is a close-up of how I used the Travelogue stamp set to complete my layout.

Products used to complete my layout:

No Worries Paper Packet X7220B

No Worries Complements X7220C

No Worries Sequins Z3322

White Burlap Ribbon Z3323

White Daisy Cardstock 1385

Make it From Your Heart Volume 3 9043

Cricut You Are Here Collection Z3389

Toffee Ink Z2828

Sapphire Cardstock X5957

Lagoon Cardstock X5968

To order the You are Here Cricut Collection, contact your Close to My Heart Consultant, if you don't have one, you can order from my website here. To continue this fun Blog Hop and see even more artwork using Close to My Heart's Cricut collections, hop over to  Andrea Sherman's Blog.  

Happy Scrappin'

It's Here, It's Here, It's Here!!!

August is one of my favorite times of year!  Not only is it me and my husbands birthday month but it's back to school and most importantly the unveiling of the Close to My Heart Annual Catalog. 

 This year not only does it the catalog have all new colors,

a new color of the year - Bashful,

 2-sided, 2 color cardstock (yep!  One side is the color and the other side is a lighter shade)

but it also includes a new Make it From Your Heart design book,

 3 NEW Cricut cartridges - yep! 3 Cartridges and soooo much more!

You are Here

Hello USA

Hello Canada

And soooo much more!!! I can't wait for you to see this book. Contact me today to get your contact or shop my website.  Earn FREE product by hosting your own online catalog party. Contact me to get more details.   

And be on the look out for big sales this month on last year's products every week this month. August is an Awesome month!!!

It's a Stampaganza Blog Hop!

Hello friends!

I can't believe how long it has been since I wrote to you all last.  This year has been one of many ups and downs with lots of crazy turns along the way but I am so excited to be back and stamping and scrapbooking again.

July is Stampaganza at Close to My Heart which means now is the perfect time to order all those stamp sets you fell in love with when you were looking through the catalog!  Only during July, purchase any two stamp sets and get the third set of equal or lesser value free!  That is an incredible deal!  Also, remember when you spend $50 you get our Storybook Alphabet set, our July Stamp of the Month, for only $5!

So... What stamp set is your favorite from our current catalogs?  Right now, mine is the No Worries - Scrapbooking set. My family was extremely blessed to be able to take a cruise in May.  This was our first family vacation in several years so to say that I took several photos would be an understatement.  As I begin to go through the photos, I am also beginning to create my layouts for those photos.  Here is the first of many layouts I will create to help document our wonderful journey.

This is a simple layout so that my photos can take center stage as they should.  I did pop-up several of the stamped images to add depth to the layout.

Items used to create the layout were:

No Worries Paper Packet - X7220B

No Worries - Scrapbooking stamp set - D1718

Lagoon Ink - Z2895

Whisper Ink - Z2872

Gold Shimmer Trim - Z1985

Cricut Artbooking Collection - Z3169

Bitty Sparkles - Z1263

To see more stamp sets and their beautiful artwork, click here to go to Ellen Jarvis's blog. or to start at the beginning go to Tina's blog. 

Cut it Out!

If you haven't tried Close to My Heart's Thin Cuts then you don't know what you are missing! CTMH released their Thin Cuts last year starting with shapes that matched coordinating stamp sets to make it easier to cut out stamped images and then brought out sentiments stamps which make paper crafting that much easier - Oh yeah!!!

I love these Thin Cuts!!  They are metal and come on a magnetic sheet in a 6x6 envelope like our stamp sets for easy organization.

During March ONLY, CTMH has all of their thin cuts 25% off!  That is a great deal!!!!

Here is the entire line of Thin Cuts:

Dreamin' Big card making bundle which is also this months Workshop with Friends kit.   

Lots of options and many that coordinate specifically with our paper packs and workshops right now.  Don't delay!  Get your Thin Cuts 25% off NOW!