It's almost GONE!!!

Yep, I am still here!  Have you ever felt like life was not your own?  I sure do - all the time and truly my life is not my own. It is first God's, then my husbands, my kids and my extended family.  Right now I live to serve -  to serve all those mentioned above and to serve my dad. My dad was recently diagnosed with Hodgkins Lymphoma, Stage 3 and is undergoing Chemo treatments to help him fight this horrible cancer. I have been taking him to every dr's appointment, chemo treatment, meeting... you name it and it has taken over my life but I will tell you this - I AM SO BLESSED! So what that it has taken over my life!  I get to spend every moment serving my mom and dad who have served me my entire life.  It's my turn and there is no place I would rather be - well maybe the beach but that will come sometime. :) This can't wait and I am so glad I can be here.  In fact, I am writing to you today from The Vandy Cancer Clinic as my dad has his 2nd round of Chemo. And I get to be with him! :)

Ok, sorry for that long drama but I wanted you to know that I am still here, I do still love papercrafting but life puts things on hold sometimes.  However, I did want to remind you that in just a couple days there will be a disappearing at Close to My Heart.  The 2015-2016 Annual Inspirational Catalog will retire and with it all the paper packs and several colors will go with it.

Here is just a small sampling of what will be going away:

Several of our favorite colors are retiring in the Adventure line:

Hollyhock

Topiary

Honey

Gypsy

Sunset

Cotton Candy

Pear

We also have 3 Cricut Collections retiring:

Artfully Sent                            

Artiste

and our very 1st cartridge: Art Philosophy

There are so many other items retiring and you don't want to miss out. Check here now to see everything and get those items on your wish list before they are gone.

While you are there, check out my new website!  It's awesome and now mobile friendly!  Please make a note that the web address has changed slightly too. It is now: www.heatherhicks.closetomyheart.com. 

 The old site will direct you to the new site for a little while but please save it to your favorites :) before you forget. 

Happy Scrappin'!!

Hello Sunshine!

If you remember, a few weeks back I held a Girl's Night Out Workshop where the focus was on our new watercolors.  If you haven't had a chance to play with them yet - you need to!  They can add so much color to dark papers and a soft touch of color light paper with a little extra water.

Here are some of the cards I made previous to class to show some VERY simple techniques.

 Hello cut the Artistry Cricut Cartridge. The same cut used for the Zoe Workshop, just enlarged. I did the cards (above and below) with only two colors on both cards but image what they would look like  with the Ombre' technique.

My favorite card out of the three.  A simple card cut using the Artfully Sent Cricut Cartridge.  It looks so bright and cheerful and will definitely lift anyone's mood.

I love this layout Close to My Heart recently showed on their blog:

Though we only made cards, this beautiful layout shows that watercolor paints can be used for all sorts of craft projects.  LOVE THAT!

Fluttering with Artfully Sent

This time of year is so fun! One week there is snow here and the next week we are having beautiful 60 degree weather.  With spring right around the corner I needed some cheerful colors in my scrapbook room so I decided to play with our Brushed papers and created this VERY simple card.

I

Let Me Show you how to make this card too!

I created this card using the New Cricut Explore/Design Space and Close to My Hearts Artfully Sent Cartridge. 

The first thing to know about using the new Cricut Explore machine and the Artfully Sent cartridge is that all the images are grouped together for each card or envelope.  You can search by attributes that are on the card, in this case butterflies and in this case it would probably work. However, the best and easiest way to find the images you want is to use the codes that Cricut assigned each image.  

Unfortunately Design Space was created after our cartridges were released so the booklets included with the cartridge do not have the codes printed with the images.  BUT Narelle at The Non-Crafty Crafter went through each Close to My Heart booklet and typed in each code for each image.  How awesome is she!!!!  Click here to link to her hard work and download your own copy of each CTMH cartridge booklet with codes. 

                

OK back to the card....Input the code shown above in the search field- The # must be included in the code.  This will pull up the card image shown above.  Design Space does not pull in the card at any specific size so make sure you adjust the size under edit in Design Space. I created this card to be a 5x7 so using the Edit button and under height I entered 7 and width automatically adjusted to 10 (with the lock button on).   I then just cut the card out on our White Daisy Cardstock.  Always save all of the negative images from your cards because you never know when you might want to use them on another card or layout.  In this instance, the negative images were beautiful butterflies that I was able to bring back into my card.  

After cutting out the card, fold on the score line created when cut out.  I then needed an inside to my card so using my trimmer I cut a piece of patterned paper from the Blushed Paper Pack 7x10, scored it the 5" mark, folded it and glued it to the inside of my card.

From there I just simple used some of the negative butterflies (butterflies that were cut out to create the card), folded the wings up and glued down just the body to random holes on the card - not the original spot where each butterfly was cut from but randomly so  the colors from the patterned paper would seep through the extra space and add dimension. They I simply added a Pixie Aqua Dot to the head of the folded butterfly.  Wa-la!

For the inside of the card I wanted to add just a simple sentiment so I got out the stamps that came with the Artfully Sent card and decided to use the frame and sentiment set.  

To cut the frame for the Curlicue Stamp Set (D1631) to fit, I first had to locate the image in the booklet.  Here's the tricky yet not tricky part.  As I said earlier, in Design Space all the cards and their icons, embellishments, sentiments are already laid out and attached on the card for you.  All you do is add the code to the search field and it brings up every layer for you. If I wanted to cut the whole card that would be perfect! However, I just want the frame piece. So.... I put in the code #M101A2 (see below), which pulls up all the layers of the card, then I select ungroup and am able to separate all the layers.  From here I just delete each piece except for the one I need - the frame (or Icon) as shown below.

(Thanks to Brenda Lapp for creating this picture above of the booklet so I could show you how!)

Once all I had on my screen was the icon/frame you press go to cut. I ended up stamping the frame in Cranberry and the Sentiment in Lagoon.  And there you go.  It takes a lot more typing for me to explain it but really the process is pretty simple - especially when you have the codes for each card - thank you again Narelle!

I hope you were able to learn something or be reminded of something here.  Close to My Heart's Cricut Cartridges are the absolute best and offer soooo much more than the other regular cartridges.  Don't be intimated by all they have to offer and come with - just enjoy all the possibilities!

To see all the Cricut cartridges CTMH has created check out my website.

Having fun "This Moment"

The other day I had one of those rare moments where I wasn't called into 5 different directions and I had some play time in my office.  I pulled this months stamp of the month - This Moment and decided to get creative.   Sometimes it is fun to have no plans in mind but just to see what you can do.  Here's a couple of the cards I was able to create.

I cut the frog using our New Artfully Sent pocket card. I hate waste so wanted to create with both the negative and the positive.  For both the eyes in card 1 and the pumping heart in card 2 I used the fun Adhesive Springs (Z1725).  I love how the target/bulls eye worked perfectly for the eyes and heart.

This stamp set is only $5 with your $50 purchase this month only so get yours today. 

Pathfinding the weekend away

Yesterday I told you about our amazing retreat in AL but I also told you that we created a different workshop each day.  I wanted to show you two of our other workshops that we created. Both were created with the Pathfinding papers and Complements on the workshop  from Close to My Heart.

These cards were created using the new Artfully Sent Cricut Cartridge. This cartridge is super easy to work with and creates so many cute interactive cards, tags and Picture My Life cards too!  I love the versatility of it and did I tell you they are SUPER CUTE too!?!

Here are two of the cards we created:

These cards were again, super easy to cut out with the new cricut. We just added some Shimmer Trim, embellishments and bling and were able to make really make these cards pop!  The picture definitely does not do them justice but... trust me they are cute!

Here is the layout we created to commemorate the weekend but also could be used for your Thanksgiving pictures too.

This layout idea was not my own but from another consultant, Dana Kessler.  She did such a great job that I just had to recreate it for our weekend.

 I hope you enjoy these Pathfinding projects and have a wonderful Thanksgiving.  Take lots of pictures and recreate this layout for you scrapbook. These are the moments that our scrapbooks are made of.

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

Cricut has finally finished production of our newest cartridge - Artfully Sent. This cartridge is such a cool new cartridge and perfect for the cardmaker  and/or Picture My Life scrapbooker in you!

 

Here is what comes in this fun new cartridge pack:

 

 This whole kit is only $99!!!  How awesome is that!  I love it!!! 

And, How about a deal you can't pass up:

Order the newest Cricut Cartridge from me during September and I will throw in a free stamp of the month: Family is Forever. (see on the right)  Place a $150 order during September and I will give you a free stamp of the month and an additional $25 in FREE Hostess Rewards products.  In order to get this great deal, you must place your order directly with me and not on my website.

 How about being able to create these beautiful masterpieces:

3D Cards

 

Envelopes & Liners

 Insert Cards

Don't wait get yours for $99 now!  Or, order a total of $150 in product and get the stamp of the month and $25 in FREE Hostess Rewards. Email me at HeatherHicksCTMH@gmail.com to place your order today!