Create Kindness

Celebrate National Stamping Month this September with hand stamped cards designed to help create a little more kindness in the world. The Create Kindness card kit contains all of the supplies needed to create 24 beautiful handmade cards that you can use to brighten someone’s day!

The kit comes with everything you need to start Creating Kindness. It will come with twenty-four 3" x 3" card bases and envelopes, eight exclusive M-size stamp sets, a 2" x 2" My Acrylix® block, and a mini Archival Black Exclusive Inks™ stamp pad. And best of all, the kit will be available for $46.95 USD / $60.95 CAD, which represents a 15% discount off the retail value.

Thanks to the pre-printed card bases, these cards come together in no time, leaving you more time to do something thoughtful for someone.

As a special bonus, the exclusive stamp sets and pre-printed card bases with envelopes are also available for separate purchase, but only in the month of September while supplies last! (I am going to stock up on extra pre-printed card bases with envelopes, so I will always be prepared to share a kind word.) Get your Create Kindness Kit ******* HERE, and see how much Kindness you can share. Share random acts of kindness that you perform with the cards by using the hashtag #createkindness.*************

Whats New In August

Is it just me, or is summer going by too fast? The kids here start back to school next week... Next Week!! It seems like summer is almost over....

But CTMH has a fabulous new Annual Inspirations Catalog that just started on August 1st, and then next month we have the Seasonal Expressions Catalog. Both of these are filled with fun new products that I just love. Plus we have the new Stamp of the month and a great incentive when you purchase the new Fundamental Paper packs. So grab your coffee and settle in to read all about the exciting new items from Close to My Heart.

Basically the Best - August Constant Campaign

During the month of August, when you order our Whimsy, Adventure, and Enchantment Fundamental papers, you can choose to get either the Rustic Home or Uptown Fundamentals for FREE! Both of these Basic packs feature foil designs and specialty materials for making your artwork unique. Yep, this deal is basically the best!

August Stamp of the Month

Get the Purr-fect Halloween Stamp for just $5.00 with any $50 order in August.

This adorable cat is very versatile. He is a great addition to Halloween cards, tags and decorations, but he is just as fun out of costume too!

Sheet includes 17 stamps, one of which is a coordinating Cricut Cut!

Be sure to take advantage of both these great deals and get a FREE Fundamentals Paper and a $5 stamp set!

Annual Inspiration Catalog 2016-2017

The all new 2016-2017 Annual Inspirations Catalog is now live. You can shop from it by clicking HERE. There are a few changes to this years catalog which will make your shopping easier.

The annual catalog will not contain patterned paper packs. These will be in the Seasonal Expressions. For your annual paper choices you will have the all new Fundamentals all year long that coordinate with all the papers coming in the Seasonal Expressions. You can check them out by clicking - Fundamentals

Thin Cuts!! It's clear you fell in love with the Thin Cuts because they always sell out. So CTMH has even more to offer. Check out all the Thin Cut options HERE and watch for more in the Holiday Expressions available Sept 1st.

Sea Glass!!! Anywhere you look these days you see this beautiful color. From clothes, to bags, and now in your layouts too!! Sea Glass is the color of the year at CTMH. This exclusive new color will only be available for 1 yr. So click on Sea Glass to get yours.

These are just a couple of the exciting new things waiting for you inside the new catalog. I don't want to ruin all the surprises! Well maybe one more.....RIBBON!! Check out all our new ribbon packs that of course coordinate with each pack of new Fundamentals.

Using Pocket Cards on Scrapbook pages

You’ve probably tried your hand at pocket scrapbooking before, but have you ever tried using pocket cards on your traditional scrapbook layouts? Just like with pocket scrapbooking, these cards can help you put together a beautiful layout in a flash.

Each of the Close To My Heart paper packets comes with two 12" x 12" sheets of pocket cards that you can cut apart and use in a variety of ways. We used a bunch of these cards from the Magical paper packet to make this adorable layout. Can you spot them all?

First up, there’s the “Love This” card. Our cut-apart pocket cards always include a title card that you can use as your main sentiment.

Next, we have the journaling card. Here, we used one of the decorative cards for our journaling by adding a few lines with a ruler and pen, but you’ll also find cards with pre-printed lines in our cut-apart cards, too. Either way, pocket cards make adding journaling to your pages a piece of cake!

Then we have the Honey photo mat on the right page—it’s a pocket card, too! Because our pocket cards come in both 4" x 6" and 3" x 4" sizes, they make great photo mats.

If you’re looking for a fresh scrapbook pattern, try cutting apart some pocket cards and arranging them on your layouts in different patterns until something strikes your fancy. On this layout, we simply layered three pocket cards in a sort of fan pattern. By adding a stamped tag from our July Stamp of the Month and some Magical Complements, we ended up with a look we love. :)

This layout shows what happens when you get creative with your pocket cards! Rather than cutting into a 12" x 12" sheet of paper to create paper accents, you can use pocket cards, which offer additional patterns not found in your larger papers. Take a look at the “Love today” title, for example. The circles come from the “Love This” card, and the word “today” was stamped on a trimmed down piece of another pocket card.

Whether you’re looking to put together a layout quickly or you’re just looking for some fresh ideas, pocket cards have your back. Try them out for yourself—they will change the way you scrapbook!

Recipes

12" x 12" Love This Layout

S1607 My Acrylix® From the Notebook, X7209B Magical Paper Packet, Z2816 Cranberry Exclusive Inks™ Stamp Pad, Z2848 Sapphire Exclusive Inks™ Stamp Pad, X7209C Magical Complements

12" x 12" Love Today Layout

S1607 My Acrylix® From the Notebook, B1484 My Acrylix® Jennifer’s Hand, X7209B Magical Paper Packet, Z2816 Cranberry Exclusive Inks™ Stamp Pad, Z2848 Sapphire Exclusive Inks™ Stamp Pad, Z2805 Black Exclusive Inks™ Stamp Pad, Z2862 Honey Exclusive Inks™ Stamp Pad, X7209C Magical Complements, Z3216 White Twine

The Triangle Rule

Remember how your math teacher said you’d use math every day for the rest of your life? Well, as a scrapbooker, you definitely do! You measure, you count, and if you try out today’s tip, you’ll apply your math skills even more!

It’s time to take a trip back to geometry class, because we’re going to talk about what we call the triangle rule. In a nutshell, here it is: After you finish a pattern and you’re ready to add some accents, arrange them so they form a triangle.

When creating a layout, you do the exact same thing, but rather than creating a triangle on each single page, you create a triangle across the two pages.

Here’s a layout featuring our Magical paper packet. Can you spot the triangle? :)

Here it is!

See how the deer, oars, and punched circles create a triangle? The little flags above the three circles also help form that corner of the triangle.

The triangle rule is great because it helps you balance your pages by giving you guidance for where to place your embellishment clusters, while also leaving you lots of different options to play with. If all of your layouts were perfectly symmetrical, they’d look nice, but there wouldn’t be much room for creativity. By creating triangles, which can be all sorts of different sizes and dimensions, you are still creating a layout that’s pleasing to the eye, but you get a lot more variety!

I hope this makes adding accents to your scrapbook pages a little bit easier. Try the triangle rule out for yourself, and tell me what you think in the comments below!

Recipe

12" x 12" Camping Layout

C1611 My Acrylix® Campfire Lifestyle, X7209B Magical Paper Packet, 1385 White Daisy Cardstock, X5762 Lagoon Cardstock, X5775 Sapphire Cardstock, 1272 Cranberry Cardstock, Z1375 Kraft Cardstock, Z2870 Ruby Exclusive Inks™ Stamp Pad, Z2816 Cranberry Exclusive Inks™ Stamp Pad, Z2895 Lagoon Exclusive Inks™ Stamp Pad, Pacifica Exclusive Inks™ Stamp Pad, Z2818 Desert Sand Exclusive Inks™ Stamp Pad, X7209C Magical Complements, Z3216 White Twine, Z3090 Red Enamel Gems, Z1999 1" Circle Punch, Z1979 Marvy® Uchida® LePen™ Journaling Pen

There is still time to enter to win a FREE Magical Paper Packet of your own to play with and try out the Triangle Rule. Be sure to follow this blog for your chance to win.

Make Memory Keeping MAGIC with this months Featured Paper Collection

Memory Keeping Magic

Our featured paper collection this month makes real memory keeping magic. Check out all of the Magical Collection's bright bold designs!

Get a sneak peek at the newest products - and lots of other benefits - by joining the Close To My Heart family of Consultant! Learn More Here!

July Stamp of the Month: From The Notebook

July Stamp of the Month, From the Notebook, gives you a stylish and simple way to make note of every milestone. Find out how to get yours for just $5.

And don't forget to follow my blog by email, to be entered in this months drawing for a Magical Paper Packet FREE! I will chose one lucky winner from the followers on July 31st.

July Give Away

It's been a while since I did a Giveaway. July seemed like just the right month to offer this one.

I am offering a complete Magical Paper Packet to one lucky subscriber. This is a great collection of Papers designed to work with any Magical Adventure you might have this summer. The packet includes: 12 –12" × 12" B&T Duos™ (2 each of 6 double-sided designs). The Featured Colors: Black, Cranberry, Crystal Blue, Honey, Sapphire, Whisper, White Daisy.

You can enter to win this Magical Paper Packet simply by signing up to follow my blog. I will chose one lucky winner on July 31st... will it be you?

If you just can't wait until then to get your hands on this Magical Collection, you can shop the whole collection HERE!

3 Reasons Why You Should Become A Close to My Heart Consultant Right Now!

Being a Close To My Heart Independent Consultant has a lot of perks: You get to make money doing what you love, plan your work schedule however you’d like, meet women with similar interests, and save big on products with your Consultant discount, just to name a few. But during the month of July, there are three MORE reasons to become a Consultant: Adventure, Whimsy, and Enchantment!

What are we talking about? Our brand new Fundamentals paper collections, which feature 24 double-sided sheets of beautiful patterned paper. And we’ve also created Complements (stickers and die-cuts) that coordinate with each Fundamentals collection that have three themes—everyday moments, baby, and school.

If you join as a Consultant in July, not only will you get to preview these products before everyone else (they’re not available to the public until August 1!), and not only will you get to order them before anyone else, but you will get one paper collection and its coordinating Complements for FREE! You can choose any of these three collections you want!

Did we mention that it only costs $75 USD to join, and you get $50 in Select Product Credit, which means you basically join for $25? Yeah, it’s a great deal and super low risk!

Because seeing is sometimes believing, we want to give you an exclusive look at the beautiful layouts you can create with these new Fundamentals collections and their coordinating Complements. Ready to be amazed?

First up is our Adventure Fundamentals and Good Life Complements. There’s no stamping on this layout—all the embellishments you see—including those flashy gold die-cuts—come with the Good Life Complements, which are designed for everyday scrapbooking.

Here are our Whimsy Fundamentals and the Baby Girl Complements. If you choose to go with the Whimsy papers, you could also choose Baby Boy Complements instead, which feature silver foil instead of gold. And don’t worry, the papers can just as easily be used to create a layout featuring pale blues and greens instead of pinks!

Last up is our Enchantment Fundamentals and School 7–12 Complements. And no surprise here, you can also choose the School K–6 Complements if you want those instead. Either way, you’re sure to have the supplies you need to create an A+ scrapbook.

Here’s a re-cap on why now is the best time to join Close To My Heart: If you become a Consultant during the month of July, not only can you order all of these new collections and see all of our other new products before anyone else, but you’ll also get one Fundamentals paper collection and its coordinating Complements for FREE.

If you’re ready to become your own boss and make crafting your living, you can join my team HERE and I will help you get started today.

RECIPES

12" x 12" Hello Layout

Z3253 Adventure Fundamentals, 1385 White Daisy Cardstock, X5930 Slate Cardstock, Z3264 Good Life Complements

12" x 12" Baby Girl Layout

Z3255 Whimsy Fundamentals, 1385 White Daisy Cardstock, X5773 Pixie Cardstock, X5929 Whisper Cardstock, X5770 Glacier Cardstock, Z3272 Baby Girl Complements

12" x 12" So Proud Layout

Z3254 Enchantment Fundamentals, 1385 White Daisy Cardstock, X5930 Slate Cardstock, Z3266 School 7–12 Complements

CONTENTS OF THE NEW CONSULTANT KIT INCLUDE:

CONTENTS OF THE NEW CONSULTANT KIT INCLUDE:

• Medium Organizer (Z4139, qty 1)

• My Acrylix® Block 2" × 6½" (Y1010, qty 1)

• My Acrylix® Block 1" × 3½" (Y1002, qty 1)

• My Acrylix® Block 2" × 2" (Y1003, qty 1)

• Non-Stick Microtip Scissors (Z1836, qty 1)

• My Acrylix® Stamp Scrubber (Z1782, qty 1)

• My Acrylix® Spritz Cleaner (1778, qty 1)

• Bonding Memories™ Glue (1512, qty 1)

• 3-D Foam Tape (Z1151, qty 1)

• Sponge (Z697, qty 1)

• Customer Order Forms (W101, qty 1 pack of 25)

• Annual Inspirations Idea Book (WC1171, qty 5)

• Seasonal Expressions 2 (WCS1163, qty 5)

• Cardstock Sampler (W1167, qty1)

• Fundamentals Sampler (W1170, qty 1)

• Seasonal Expressions 2 B&T Duos™ Sampler (W1144, qty 1)

• A Little Love – Petite Perks Incentive Stamp Set (W2035, qty 3)

• Gathering Invitations (W1129, qty 1 pack of 25)

• Desk Pad (W1140, qty 1 pack of 50)