National Stamping Month

National Stamping Month—Hello, Life!

September Constant Campaign

 September is National Stamping Month, and this year Close To My Heart has something to help every kind of papercrafter say a big “hello” to life! Available only during the month of September, these exclusive C-size My Acrylix^® Hello, Life! stamp sets can be purchased for $13.95 USD / $16.50 CAD each! Or, for an even better deal, you can purchase all three for only $34.95 USD / 41.50 CAD—a savings of $6.90 USD / $8 CAD! Each stamp set is designed to fit with a specific type of papercrafting, whether that’s scrapbooking, cardmaking, or pocket scrapbooking. However, all the stamp sets coordinate with each other and can be used together to create dynamic artwork. These stamp sets also coordinate with shapes from the new Cricut^® Artistry collection to help expand your artwork options even further. Remember, these stamp sets are available for one month only, so get your orders in for one stamp set—or all three—before these gorgeous stamps disappear! Make certain to follow Close To My Heart’s blog, Instagram, and Facebook page for artwork inspiration featuring these lively stamp sets all month long. You can post your own artwork to your social media channels using the hashtag #ctmhHelloLife.

Dates: Offer valid September 1, 2015 (9:00 am MDT)–September 30, 2015 (11:59 pm MDT).

Visit my website at stephaniehuber.ctmh.com to order - remember to use the September Orders link to be entered to win the Hostess Rewards at the end of the month.

CTMH New Product Blog Hop: Babycakes card

I am so excited for the new Idea Book and have been devouring it for the last few weeks (consultant perk- yea!!) but since it's new to you, I thought I would participate in a new product blog hop to make it easy for you to browse lots of consultants favorite new products, all of which are available TODAY!!!!

Not sure what a blog hop is? At the bottom of this post, you will see a list of blogs. Click on each one to view their artwork then click on the next link and so on. Lots of inspiration in a short time. Grab a cup of coffee and enjoy!

Babycakes Card

I could not wait to use this cute paper! Since I'm still working on Grace's baby album (gasp!) I will be using this paper a lot in her album. I love the yellow and gray together but the orange and brown really settle it down to be more versatile than just for babies. This would be a great paper pack for fall, back to school, farm life or anything outdoorsy. 

I chose "Love This" stamp set (featured with the My Crush Bluebird set, available end of August) to use because I wanted to feature the butterfly with Buttercup and Sunset alcohol markers. I also used the alcohol markers to color in the bitty sparkles so they wouldn't get lost on the page by being clear.

Here's a list of the products I used in this card: Swing Card set, Babycakes paper pack, Babycakes Assortment, Whisper cardstock, Love This stamp set, Buttercup alcohol markers, Sunset alcohol markers, Chocolate stamp pad, Whisper stamp pad, 2 1/2" scallop circle punch (retired).

Now you can begin hopping! Enjoy!

"This blog hop is open for members of the CTMH Blog Boosters. Please do not enter if you are not a member of the group."

When Creativity Flows

Sometimes creativity just flows. When it does, it can be hard to keep up! Here are a few cards I made recently. First, you'll recognize this one from my last post:

I really liked the flourish (February 2011 Stamp of the Month) so I decided to see what else I could do. Here's what I came up with:

This is a very simple card with just chocolate ink to decorate the card. Simple and straight forward.

This is a fast card to welcome a little girl. The sentiment is from Card Word Puzzle and the little feet are from a retired set from many years ago.

Same stamp, different cards and still very fast and impressive. What's easier?

Here is another card my upline, Krista Hershberger, designed for a team meeting back in November. It uses the November stamp of the month and Dreaming paper pack. I love how the bronze Glitz gel sparkles up the ribbon. Make sure to check out her blog!

And last but not least...

Here is the last card we did at our Christmas Card Workshop back in September. Stephanie Z designed this great card using my favorite new stamp set "Remarkable Wreath". Great job, Stephanie!

I have such talented uplines and I am awed by their creativity. My second upline, Krista Hershberger, was in charge of the Christmas Card Workshop back in September and aside from planning an awesome day for 14 consultants and 40 guests (and their kids!) she designed three awesome cards.  Here are her creations. Please make sure you check out her blog too. She posts a lot of great ideas!

 The last two cards, Krista designed with the Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge and the matching stamp sets. For the workshop, she precut all the design elements for all the guests to show them how fast and simple this cartridge can make your papercrafting. After seeing these designs, I'm a believer!

Christmas Cards

It seems that a lot of my busy-ness has come down to one thing - homemade Christmas cards. I struggle with this every year because as a crafter I want to give a homemade card to everyone. Unfortunately, my card list is much longer than I want to make cards for and I never start early enough to make it possible. I also love sending photos of the kids to family and friends and the photo cards are so simple to do. Maybe when I don't have cute kid photos to send each year, I will work on shortening my list down to a managable level (or just start earlier) but for now, I simply save the cards I make in classes for "someday". Over the next few days, I will share with you some of the cards my sister consultants designed for our Team's Christmas Card Workshop back in September. I shared with you the card I designed but here are some of the other designs the guests got to make throughout the day.

Christmas Gift Tags

I am loving how easy the Art Philosophy Cricut Cartridge is making my holiday gift giving this year! I am able to make some really easy gifts that look like a million bucks! Below are some of the gift tags I made to attach to the kids' gifts. I went a little more dramatic for the tags that will go on the adult gifts but for the kids' I kept it simple.

I cut 14 of the tag from the Art Philosophy cartridge in Olive cardstock and 14 of the rectangle from White Daisy cardstock. Using the December 25th stamp set, I used Cranberry ink to stamp the image onto the white cardstock. Super easy!

This the tag I am using for the adults' tags. I cut Barn Red cardstock to 4"x 6", White Daisy cardstock to 3.5" x 5.5". I used Olive ink with an image from the June Stamp of the Month stamp set and some of the gingham ribbon from the red collection. Since the adults actually care who the gift is from, I made it bigger to accommodate all the extra sentiments adults like.

Christmas Layout using Sonoma

Here is the design I made for my team swap using Sonoma. I used the "Oh Holy Night" scrapbook page from the Idea Book (page 83) and matched it with the Quartet: Offset pattern from Reflections. It's kept me pretty busy to make so many but now I can concentrate on my Christmas Card Workshop and Scrapbook Workshop (using Typeset) in September. I am updating my Calendar with dates for the next few months so make sure you check your calendar too - I have lots of great papers and embellishments to show you!

August Specials

Close to My Heart is celebration National Scrapbooking Month (September) and it's spilling over into August! Starting August 15th, celebrate our new Stamp of the Month (SOTM) program with an extra stamp set with your SOTM purchase. You can now get the SOTM for $5 with a $50 order -- so from August 15 - the end of September you get two stamp sets for $5! That's an Extra! Extra! deal!

Extra! Extra! stamp set with SOTM purchase

Also during August 15 - the end of September, you get our first ever double-sized stamp set for free with a $75 order. Combine the two deals and get 4 stamp sets for $5 with a $75 order -- that's a savings of over $65!!

Covered Recipe Box

This project has been in my "To Do" pile since I first saw the Fall/Winter 2010 catalog last August and I finally got to make it! Yea! It's a long picture tutorial, so follow along after the jump. PS This was super easy - I will be doing many more of these as wedding gifts with some family recipes inside.

Finished Project - So easy to make!

More pictures after the jump ...

June SOTM

This is a card we made at my upline's team meeting last month and when I got home I discovered that I actually had some of the stamps to recreate it! She got the design from someone else, so if it's yours please let me know!

I used Juniper cardstock and ink, black cardstock and ink, mocha opaques and the June SOTM, Friendship Blessings and Unity stamp sets. 

These are some bookmarks I made with the leftover pieces I cut from my January Gatherings. The paper is from Wings paper pack. Stamps are listed below each photo.

Soul Mates Word Puzzle

Soul Mates Word Puzzle

Dreams Come True & Treasures

Hope for Japan stamp set

I wanted to show the versatility of the "Hope for Japan" stamp set and saw this design on another website. I loved the straightforward simplicity of the layout and the colors are beautiful together.

I used Sophia B&T, black and Hollyhock cardstock. I actually sewed the buttons onto the cardstock before adhering to the card, something I only do when I have the time. I love using Liquid Glass to adhere my buttons but wanted to try something different. Enjoy!

I found the original - it came from Big Red Scraps. Check out her blog here.

Mayberry and You & Me card

This is a card I made to show a customer the beauty that is in the Mayberry Workshop on the Go stamp set. I thought of her when I saw it but she said she wasn't sure she liked it. So I made a scrapbook page and this card to show her something else to make with the stamps and -- she likes it! I hope you like it too!

Christmas Cards in June

Here are some cards I'm working on for a Christmas In July card workshop.  My upline's team usually hosts a large Christmas Card workshop in September but I wanted to do something before Mistletoe was retired - I love this paper pack!

 

More cards after the jump!

Mayberry & Friendship

Here are some quick cards I made using Mayberry papers and Friendship stamp set (February's SOTM). I kept it simple but I think it's too simple. What do you think?

Easy cards from You & Me

I was on vacation this past week and really enjoyed my time away from reality - sitting on the beach is very therapeutic! My hubby requested that I take only a small stash of my papers along, the idea of a family vacation is that we spend time as a family, so I limited what I brought to one small rolling bag. My mother in law brought another box full of stuff down for me when she came for a few days so I was able to accomplish more than I thought I would. And my son actually took 2-3 hour naps each day! I won't bombard you with all I did in one post but I will have something to post every day for the next few weeks so make sure to check back often.

Embossing backgrounds

Since I joined Close to My Heart last fall, I've been in self-imposed exile from the local craft stores only so I'm not tempted to buy something I already have (a sad, but often repeated offense). But my dad's birthday party was fast approaching and I was in charge of favors, table numbers and other things my family thought I would like doing. As I was walking through the two craft stores who share a parking lot I was only finding things on sale that I needed to buy for the party. I had a 40% off coupon burning a hole in my pocket - actually I had given in to my son so I wouldn't forget it and he was waving it in front of me. Constantly. (He's good at helping me remember things)so I wondered over to an aisle I don't visit often - Cuttlebug, Cricut and Sizzix territory. I was lucky enough to find an embossing machine from Sizzix for a price I was willing to pay with the coupon and a folder I could use this weekend. This is the result:

I used a template from Wishes Card Confidence Program and some scraps left over from the Wings Workshop on the Go. The background image is from the Wings WOTG kit stamp set and the sentiment is from Treasures stamp set. The card base was embossed using the Sizzix then sanded.

New Workshops and Upcoming Events

I updated my Upcoming Events page through August. I have a Workshop class and Free Crop every month through the summer. I have some open dates for you to host your own Workshop with your friends and earn some free product. Check out the photos below.

Also, be sure to check back soon because Close to My Heart has some AMAZING specials for you in May since it is National Scrapbooking Month! Check out my website to see all those specials deals!

Miracle Scrapbooking Workshop

Miracle Card Workshop