For the month of December, we have a fun special featuring our mini albums.  And, mini albums just happen to make GREAT Christmas gifts!  In December, you can select from three different mini album product bundles, all at great discounts.  See the bundles listed below and check out the savings!!  You can order online at christina.closetomyheart.com.

Blue Jean Mini Album Bundle | CC1197 

Instalife™ Album—Blue Jean
#Life™ Cards—Enjoy
#Life™ Overlays—Black
Memory Protectors™ Mini 4" x 4"
Memory Protectors™ Mini 2" x 2"
Retail Value: $27.75  Your Price: $18.95 

Blush Mini Album Bundle | CC1198

Instalife™ Album—Blush
#Life™ Cards—Hello Gorgeous
#Life™ Overlays—Gold
Memory Protectors™ Mini 4" x 4"
Memory Protectors™ Mini 2" x 2"
Retail Value: $27.75 Your Price: $18.95

 Adventure Mini Album Bundles | CC1200

Everyday Life™ Album—Stripes
My Crush® Adventure Calls Memory Protectors™ (Choose 6" x 8" (CC1199), 4" x 6" (CC1200), or 3" x 4" (CC1021))
Retail Value: $29.85 Your Price: $19.95

Happy Happy Christmas Special

  This month has flown by!  My apologies for not posting this special sooner!  During the month of November, you have the opportunity to purchase a fantastic bundle of products that you can use to make some incredible projects.  To take advantage of this fun special and the great discounted deals below, visit my website at christina.closetomyheart.com

Your bundle includes:

 My Legacy™ D-Ring Red Album in D-Ring or Post-bound

 Memory Protectors™— Top Load (10 Pack)

 My Crush® Happy, Happy Christmas

 Picture My Life™ Happy, Happy Christmas Cards

 City Sidewalks Complements

 Oh Deer! Coordinating Cardstock 

White Daisy Cardstock (12 sheets)

 Retail Value: $78.45 Your Price: $69.95

With this delicious bundle of products, you can make these five super cute Christmas layouts.  You can download the cutting guide and instructions from my website.  But, WAIT. . .there's more!  You'll also get instructions for some awesome decor projects (shown below).  These decor items are no longer in the catalog, but you can purchase them at discounted prices this month.  You don't have to purchase the Happy, Happy Christmas bundle to get these great deals on these decor pieces, so STOCK UP BEFORE THEY ARE GONE.  They make AWESOME Christmas gifts!

Display Tray , Z1750

Retail Value:  $19.95, Now only $14!!!

Magnetic Chalkboard Z2006

Retail Value:  $28.95, NOW $17.40

5 x 7 Hinged Display Tray

Retail Value:  $18.95, NOW $12.35

Christmas Card Marathon

I've got two rounds of my Christmas Card Marathon Workshop coming up next week--one on Tuesday, Oct. 25th, and a second on Thursday, Oct. 27th.  For card marathons, we make 20 cards in one night. . .four each of five different designs.  These are the designs I've picked out for this round.  Cost for the class is a $25 minimum order.  If you're interested in this workshop but can't make it on either of these dates, let me know.  I may consider repeating this class again in November.

October Stamp of the Month, Yuletide Joy

If you're starting to feel the itch to make some beautiful Christmas cards or other projects, take a look at our October Stamp of the Month, Yuletide Joy.  Check out these cool intricate designs!   You can stamp them in a solid color, emboss them, or stamp them in black and color in the design with markers or pencils.  I decided to go all out in red and gold for these cards, and I hope you enjoy the ideas.  I combined gold embossing with our Gold Shimmer Trim and Cranberry red cardstock.  I even snuck in some of that beautiful gold-dotted vellum paper from the Rustic paper pack.

If you'd like to get your hands on this stamp set, visit my website at http://christina.ctmh.com to order.  As always, you can get it for only $5 with a $50 purchase or buy it at the regular retail price of $17.95.  

Introducing my Swan Lake 10-Page Workshop

Swan Lake is a fun paper pack with colors that will work wonderfully with a variety of photos.  There are hints of autumn in the paper pack, but I find that it's a great year-round collection.  I've designed a 10-page (five two-page layout) workshop with the Swan Lake Paper Pack and Accessories.  If you purchase the items for this project from me (in person or through my website), I will e-mail you the cutting files for these layouts.   You can order all of the supplies on my website at christina.closetomyheart.com.

Here's what you will need:

X7212B  Swan Lake Paper Packet, $9.95

X7212D  Swan Lake Coordinating Cardstock, $9.95

X7212C  Swan Lake Complements, $6.95

Z2012 Gold Assortment Sequins, $2.95

Z1985 Gold Shimmer Trimmer, $4.95

Eight sheets 12 x 12 White Cardstock--1385, $9.50 (this item is optional--not required to receive the cutting guide)

Layout 1

Layout 2

Layout 3

Layout 4

Layout 5

Cricut® Flower Market Collection: Baby Scrapbook

FALL CARD MARATHON COMING SEPTEMBER 22nd

Time for another CARD MARATHON!!   Join me Thursday, September 22nd, 6 p.m. for my Fall Card Marathon.  We will make 20 cards in one night--four each of five different designs.  These cards are designed to be versatile--you're welcome to switch out the message on the cards to anything you need (thank you, birthday, sympathy, etc.).   Cost for the workshop is a $25 minimum order.  Sign up NOW!!   Here are the cards that I have lined up for the evening:

Here's a really simple card featuring the floral paper from the Swan Lake paper pack and the woodgrain paper from the Rustic paper pack. . .I love them mixed together!  

I get a lot of requests for masculine cards because most of the cards we make in my classes tend have some of those girly touches (sparkles, bling, flowers, etc.).   We have several new outdoorsy stamp images (deer, barns, etc.) that I think will work nicely on this card--you can pick whichever one you like.  

I think this card will work for all kinds of occasions--birthday, wedding, anniversary, retirement, etc.  I'll let you select whatever word stamp you want for the front of the card.

The reason I'm showing you two cards here is because I'm going to put out a variety of background papers that you can choose from.  So, you may actually go home with four different backgrounds with the same card design.

Since it is my "Fall Card Marathon," I thought I'd include at least one card that has a fall vibe.  You can put whatever message on it, and you could sub a flower for the pumpkin if you really didn't want it to have that fall look.  

September Stamp of the Month--Blessed Beyond Measure

We have a GORGEOUS Stamp of the Month for September!  There are phrases and images in this set that you can use all year long--not just in the fall.   I've seen some beautiful random stamping done with the leaves, so it's not all about pumpkins!  But, then again, pumpkins are pretty, so I had to make a couple of cards with the pumpkins!  You can purchase this stamp set for only $5 with a $50 purchase this month or buy it at the retail price of $17.95. . .but it's only available in September!

For this card, I incorporated papers from the Swan Lake paper pack and the Rustic paper pack. . .and I even snuck in a piece from the Enchantment Fundamentals.  Remember that you can mix and match our themed paper packs with our Fundamental paper packs for endless possibilities.  

Once again, I pulled some of the Rustic (the woodgrain) paper in with the Swan Lake paper pack to give it a more homespun feel.  This card design was inspired by a similar one I saw on Pinterest that I saw from Vicki Wizniuk made (I love her creations)!

Jeepers Creepers!

I'm delighted to introduce my newest scrapbook/card kit featuring the Jeepers Creepers paper and accessories.  For the FIRST time, I have designed a complete cutting and instruction guide for you to create these six layout pages and nine cards. . .and I will e-mail the cutting guide to you FREE if you purchase the supplies through my website, christina.closetomyheart.com 

The Jeepers Creepers Complements have these oh-so-cool black glitter letters and images.  I absolutely LOVE them, and they really pop on the layout.  I don't think this really shows in my photos, but it looks awesome in real life.

I chose to make the cards year-round instead of specifically Halloween.  I know some people who send out Halloween cards, but most people don't need a lot of them.  If you want to make these into Halloween cards, I would highly recommend the C1652 Monstrous Halloween stamp set.  These little monsters would be SO cute on these cards!!

To create these three layouts and nine cards, you'll need:

• X7211B  Jeepers Creepers Paper Packet, $9.95
• X7211D  Jeepers Creepers Coordinating Cardstock, $9.95
• X7211C  Jeepers Creepers Complements, $6.95
• Z4009 Jeepers Creepers Assortment, $3.95
• Z3259 Hello/Thanks Thin Cuts, $11.95 (this is optional if you want to do the cards)--you need a die-cut machine such as a Cuttlebug to use the die cuts. 
• Four sheets of 12 x 12 white cardstock (you can use your own stash or order our White Daisy 24-pack, #1385, for $9.50)
• Nine white card bases (you can use some from your stash or purchase the White Value Pack, X254, of cards and envelopes for $14.95.  You'll get 50 cards and envelopes, so that should last you a while).  

To receive the free cutting/instruction guide, you need to order the first four items on the list from my website (or in person, if you're local).  The remaining items are optional.  If you are CTMH Consultant and would like to use these projects for a customer workshop, you can place any $25 order on my website and I will send them to you free (contact me to let me know you want the guide, and I will send it to you ASAP)!

Celebrating National Stamping Month with the Create Kindness Card Kit

We've got the cutest card kit on tap for September as part of our National Stamping Month celebration!  The Create Kindness card kit comes with EIGHT exclusive sentiment stamps, the Mini Organizer, a 2 x 2 My Acrylix block, a mini Archival Black ink pad and twenty four 3 x 3 cards and envelopes, all for $46.95.  Remember, too, that you can use these fun images on ANYTHING--bigger cards, gift tags, bag toppers, etc.  This special is only available in the month of September, so get it before it's gone.  You can order it directly from my website at christina.closetomyheart.com.

The Create Kindness Card Kit from Close To My Heart

Fun with Fundamentals

Playing with our new Fundamentals paper packs has been so much FUN!  The creative possibilities are really endless.  Here's a layout and cards that I created with the Adventure Fundamentals paper pack.  If you'd like to order any of the products I used to make these projects, visit my website at christina.closetomyheart.com

If you order any of these products off of my website and would like some more specific measurements for these projects, let me know.  I didn't do a detailed cutting guide for these projects (partly because they are fairly simple), but I do have a handout that has measurements of the layout pieces and Cricut images sizes, etc., and I'd be happy to e-mail it to you!

Here's a fun, yet simple layout created with our Adventure Fundamentals B&T Paper and coordinating cardstock.  This will be the layout for my workshop clubs in September.   I also made use of our new Thin Cuts (Z3260 Hearts and Z3257 Love).  If you're wondering, "this life" came from the Artiste Cricut cartridge.  Adding touches of black along with these bright colors kind of anchors the whole layout.  You may not be able to see it in the photo, but I also embossed the green cardstock strip on the layout with the new Simple Chevron Embossing Folder (Z3247, $8.95).  One awesome thing about Close to My Heart embossing folders is that they have a slit at the top of the folder so that you can emboss a long strip of paper, then slide it up and do the second half of it.  You don't have to limit your embossing to papers that are as small as your embossing folder.  If you like to play with watercolor or other inking techniques, consider adding "splatter" to the white areas of this layout.  

This card REALLY appeals to the side of me that likes NEAT, crisp cards!  I just used scraps of Adventure Fundamentals paper along with the Hello & Thanks Thin Cuts (Z3259) and the Heart Thin Cuts (Z3260).  

For this card, I used flowers from the new Flower Market Cricut Collections, along with the Hello & Thanks Thin Cuts.  Did I mention that I'm addicted to these new Thin Cuts??

Here's another simple card featuring the new Stars Thin Cuts (Z3261) and one the new Birthday Sparkles stamp set (B1537, $9.95)--a MUST HAVE if you like to make birthday cards.

This card features more flowers from the Flower Market cartridge.  I used some of the fun word paper that's in the Adventure Fundamentals pack as the background.