Everyday Embellishing with Close To My Heart

It’s easy to incorporate chalk, metallics, and bling into your artwork with a few embellishments you can use on your everyday papercrafting projects.

Take a look at the BEAUTIFUL artwork created by the Close To My Heart Art Studio!!!  What FUN , CREATIVE ways to embellish your creations!!

This Merry & Bright page uses dots created with the gold metallic marker to add extra sparkle around the edges of the page. Notice the scalloped accents with outlines in gold marker which adds dimension and draws your eye. Our metallics markers will make your artwork sparkle!

Add heart to your art with an extra touch of bling—cover your Dimensional Elements with silver Glitz™ glitter gel, a clear Sparkle or two, or a touch of silver from the metallics marker! Your heartfelt messages will bedazzle your loved ones.

The chalk marker and 12" × 12" chalkboard sheet are a perfect pair for creating a unique project. Journal and embellish your memories with the quaint look of a chalkboard—minus the dust—and a lot of freehand fun, perfect to display in your albums or on your walls!

If you haven’t had a chance to scrapbook your Halloween photos yet, here’s a great idea for a spooky page. The Haunted assortment with its cute skull brads, spider badge buttons, and more, is the perfect go-to for scary Halloween memories. It also coordinates nicely with the Moonlight paper packet and Moonlight Complements Dimensional Elements.

Tell your story with papers and accents that complement your unique tale. The Memo assortment’s little note tags are great for embellishing and journaling all in one, and the tiny epoxy numbers mimic old typewriter keys. Pair the Memo assortment with our Scholastic paper packet and My Stickease^® assortment for your school-themed memories and more!

This elegant layout is tied together by antique elements from the Brocade assortment, Avonlea Complements canvas shapes, and the beautiful Avonlea papers. Add a timeless quality to your memories with graceful keys, broaches, and buttons from the Brocade assortment.

Whatever your project, embellishing will bring your artwork to life!!  Close To My Heart has many MORE embellishments to complete your creating needs!!

 

Click on the image below to visit my online shopping website and find the embellishment that will COMPLETE your latest project!

TWO December specials to keep in mind…

1. When you place an order online during the month of December, with every $50 purchase, you will receive a Bonding Memories glue pen for FREE!!

2. When placing an online order, CLICK on the link “December SALES!!”  and you will be entered into a DRAWING to win $20 in CTMH products!!!  The more orders that are placed, the more WINNERS we will have! J

Is winter coming? :)

Winter is NOT my favorite season…BUT I do LOVE snowmen!!!





So, when I saw Close To My Heart’s NEW snowman stamp set in the 2012 Fall/Winter Idea Book called  “Flakey Friends”, I knew this stamp set would become one of my new favorites!  Isn’t it CUTE?!?






It is SWAP time again, and that means I have sent off my created pieces, and am “patiently” waiting for my swaps to be returned back to me! LOL!! J

Each time a new Idea Book comes out…I participate in a swap with my team leader Karen Morris.  She coordinates everything, and swaps all of our items!!!

How does it work???  I design 5 different pieces of artwork(12x12 page, and 4 different card designs) using all new paper, ( I chose Avonlea paper) new stamp sets and new embellishments as MUCH as possible!  Then I create 8 of EACH of the 5 items!!!

I send 7 sets that I created, off to Karen (I keep one for myself) and anxiously await the arrival of the package that will contain 7 different sets of swaps…each set will use a NEW paper pack from our 2012 Fall idea book!!!!

Here is a picture of my swaps, all ready to go…

I LOVE being a part of a swap!!! It generates so many ideas AND I get beautiful artwork in return using the 8 new paper packs!!!

Today I would like to share the details of ONE of the cards with you that I created for this swap. 

I chose to use my Friendly Snowmen stamp set, “Flakey Friends”. I also chose to use our GREAT die-cut cards...these colonial white cards are 3 1/2" x 8" and I love the fancy design on the card!  J

I chose to use the Avonlea paper pack…a beautiful, elegant paper!!! I wanted to pull in the color Smokey Plum with the colors and design of this paper pack and was excited with how the card turned out!!!

 Let me share some of the FUN techniques I used in creating this card!!!

Did you notice the designed background on the top of the card?  Can you guess what it is??

Check it out!!!

I was so excited when I discovered that by laying down my Tulle ribbon, I could use my sponge and ink some of my Smokey Plum ink onto the ribbon and get a great design!!!



 I also tried out our new PIGMENT inks!!! 

I learned to really like these inks…they are PERFECT to use when I want to color in an image with our NEW alcohol markers!!

When using the pigment inks, after stamping them…make sure to give them 20-30 minutes to dry OR heat set the image, before you try to color them in.  The ink needs to bind with the paper, and this takes a little bit of time. 



Here are my snowmen, all inked and ready to be colored! J






I used the smokey plum, crème brulle, autumn terracotta (carrot nose) & olive alcohol markers to give “my men” a bit of color.  I am not a great color inner (is that a word? LOL!) but I really like how smooth these new alcohol markers color!!  I think I could get used to and ENJOY coloring in stamped images!!! LOL!!!





One of my FAVORITE new embellishments is the SILVER shimmer trim…do you see it?  Yes, it’s not silver in the picture above…I tried to color my silver trim with my alcohol smokey plum marker!  It worked!!!….kind of? J

Yes, it colored my self adhesive silver shimmer trim ribbon a beautiful plum color – however, my marker didn’t fare too well.  Because of the roughness of the silver shimmer trim, the marker tip now has some fuzzy ends.  Oh well – I will use this marker for only coloring on items….problem solved! J I added our grey wool baker's twine next to the silver ribbon as a finishing touch. 

I hope I have inspired you to get out your crafting items!J 
Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful rest of the week!!!

Blessings to you!
Krista J

Open House details!

After preparing and preparing – my Open House debuting the NEWest items from Close To My Heart is now complete! K

It is sad…BUT looking back it was LOTS of fun!!!  We had a PACKED house on Thursday night – over 20 people in attendance! J Thanks to everyone that ventured out!!! Friday during the day was a success too – just not as many people here at one time – LOL!! 

I wanted to share our DOOR PRIZE WINNERS….and also thought you might like to take a trip around my house, in case you couldn’t join us!!!


Let’s start as you would enter the front door…

  I always have my Cash & Carry set up – since soo many of you want to make sure you don’t miss out on any of the retired items from CTMH.  I had a bunch of sale items too, retired ink colors for you to choose from and red slashed prices.  There was also a special BOGO stamp box that many of you took advantage of!!!



Across from the Cash & Carry…we had the make n take table.  We created a simple card, using the NEWEST products from CTMH!!!
Avonlea paper pack
Silver Shimmer Trim (it’s ADHESIVE!)
Words of Comfort stamp set and Frame It Up stamp set – where ALL shapes coordinate with the Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge – AMAZING!!!  Quick, easy and BEAUTIFUL!
.  Ink colors we used were Twilight, Olive and Slate.  Then everyone got to chose either licorice opaques, durables or black & grey sparkles to finish off their card design! 


For a quick easy envelope – we used part of the frame and stamped an olive flower to finish it off.  I LOVE the new Words of Comfort stamp set…it has wording PLUS little images!!!

Of COURSE we had a whole AREA set aside to show the MAGNIFICENT NEW Artiste Cricut Bundle!!!! 

Three ladies booked parties that evening, most of them because of this NEW cartridge!! J  They know when they have a $250 subtotal sales at any TYPE OF GATHERING, they will be eligible for $40 in FREE product PLUS one 1/2 price item!!! YES – the Cricut Bundles CAN be used as a 1/2 price item!!!! (click on the orange word above to see how easy it is to have your OWN gathering!)



We also had a display of NEW items…LOTS and LOTS to share!!! J
Stamp sets, paper packs, embellishments, new colors, artwork….the list goes on and on!!!

There was a display of the NEW Workshop Kits – the Avonlea and Clementine kits will be the FIRST two kits we will create at our Hostess Club starting on August 23rd!

I had to share the AMAZING Special that Close To My Heart is running this month at my Open House!!!! 

When you join my TEAM, you will receive all of these items (pictured below), this GORGEOUS tote bag for ONLY $49!!! With Shipping and tax it comes to $62.54!!!  WOW!!!
I welcomed THREE new members to my team, some of them are planning to make this a business…others LOVED the tote and couldn’t pass up the GREAT deal!!! J

If YOU would like to get in on this AMAZING Deal – act fast…there is only 40% of these pretty damask totes left in stock!!  CLICK HERE to check out more details!!!

And LAST…but NOT least, there were MANY ways to earn tickets throughout the day!!!
The door prizes were…
1. You Are stamp set
2. Mini Medley Holiday
3. Dotty for You paper pack
4. Collection of Pear & Partridge
5. Newsprint rub-ons
6. Princess Wings Stamp set

There was also a prize for those that attending that day…the NEW Just Blooms Floret Paper Shapes!!!
So…who won the prizes??? J

DRUMROLL please…………

1. Joanne Martin
2. KC Lakeman
3. Mary Stoltzfus
4. Jodi Martin
5. Mary Lou Nolt
6. Elsie Stauffer

RSVP just Bloom flowers…

Martha Mussleman

CONGRATULATIONS ladies!!!!

I hope you enjoyed the Virtual Open House!!! Make sure you come on back to my BLOG on Wednesday, August 15th for a NEW special coming your way!!!

National Stamping Month is during the month of September – and WE are celebrating EARLY!!!  You won’t want to miss out  on this special deal!!!

Purchase $35 of products and be eligible to receive these two stamp sets for ONLY $5.00!!!

Blessings to you and I look forward to seeing you soon!!!

Krista J