HIDDEN TREASURES.

Lest we forget.... I want to remind you of Close to My Heart's "hidden treasures".  

ALL of Close to My Heart's "Cricut Compatible" stamp sets (that match cut images on our three exclusive Cricut Cartridges) are ALWAYS AVAILABLE TO PURCHASE!  (even when they aren't listed in the current catalogs).  How cool is that?

The grayish lines around the three ornaments, means there are matching cuts on the CTMH Art Philosophy cartridge.

HERE ON MY WEBSITE is the page where you can view all of the stamp sets that are always available, even when they aren't listed in the current Idea Books. Some of these stamp sets came out two or three years ago, but CTMH still carries them.  You know...... they are the ones in the catalogs that have a red line around them, which means there is an image cut from one of our Cricut cartridges that exactly matches the stamp.

And remember too, stamps are not just for stamping on cards or scrapbook pages.  How about making your own wrapping paper with a big roll of Kraft paper that you can get from the discount store (like Bi-Mart, K-Mart or Walmart), and stamping it with your favorite images?  If you're on a budget, this is easy on the wallet.

I used CTMH's Red Chevron Ribbon to wrap this pretty package, and topped it with another red ribbon bow and some of my "shabby flowers".

 
I thought I would share with you the Christmas stamp sets that you may not be aware that Close to My Heart still carries... .and thus.... they are truly hidden treasures!

Wow... think of all the holly leaves you could cut, using the Art Philosophy cartridge!

These cute little stamps go on circle cuts from the Art Philosophy cartridge. And look at all of the other cute saying you get!

Oh my, you get tag cuts with our Art Philosophy cartridge plus cute sayings and "to", "from", ornament and tiny snowflake.

I especially like this one, using the Art Philosophy cartridge - you get cuts for the stocking, tree and tag.

A nifty tag cut from our Art Philosophy cartridge plus pretty ornaments, and look at that beautiful Merry Christmas font!

Two gorgeous snowflake cuts using our Art Philosophy cartridge and look at the pretty border!

This one has one tag cut, but the other darling Santa, sayings and tree stamps are so classic.

This stamp set is my ALL TIME FAVORITE and I am glad it will ALWAYS be available! There is a cut for the tag using the Art Philosophy cartridge, and look at the artwork on the train, stocking, and rocking horse! What fun to color these with our markers or colored pencils. Anyone have a son, spouse, nephew, grandson, who works for the railroad??? I do!

I thought I would show you a Thanksgiving/Fall stamp set that is always available, using our Art Philosophy cartridge. Leaves anyone?

There are MANY other stamp sets that are always available. Be sure to check out the link above. It is so good to know that we have these, just in case there is a certain type of stamp set that you want which isn't listed in the current Idea Book.  

 

Don't forget these hidden treasures, and many more listed HERE.  I'm so happy to say that ALL of the Monogram stamps will always be available!  I love the idea of using one monogram stamp to begin a word, such as "M"erry "C"hristmas! At only $2.95 each, I want them all!

None of the above stamp sets are listed in the current Autumn/ Winter 2013 Idea Book! (but pssstttttt..... they are ALWAYS available!)

Clearly The Best Video: Crafts for Your Curls

Here's a recent video from Close to My Heart, for you fabric lovers out there!  (Note, you must be on my blog page to view this video).  There are some great tips here for making fabric flowers to dress up your "curls" (hair!) or to use in your crafting.

PLAYING WITH PINS.

I've had so much fun this week with a new project! I think I'm getting into the Christmas spirit!

ALTERED CLOTHESPINS! 

I'm in love with these cute little things. I don't know why! They are just plain, ordinary clothespins, not the cute little minis, but regular sized, dull, plain, wood clothespins. 

But oh how pretty they look all dressed up!

I think I'm smitten. They are not ordinary anymore!

Months ago, when I saw our new  Designed Decor Colonial White Frame, I knew I would eventually HAVE to get it, and decorate some little clothespins to clip on the wire in the frame, to hold some of my vintage photos for Christmas, for holidays, or just for fun.  (I LOVE vintage seed packets, so hum.m.m.m.m...... that is another project).

Each one is a mini work of art.

 

In painting and glittering up these little sweet things, I realize how many other uses they will have, like hanging my Christmas cards on a ribbon strung across my fireplace. I can now see decorating them for every holiday!

What I did:

I took the spring clips off. I painted two red.  I stamped on two using a vintage script stamp (using Staz On ink).

On the two I painted, I glued design paper on the top.

 

I then Mod Podged over the entire pins and let them dry.

On one of the stamped pins, I glued on a piece of lace, a holly button, a green paper bow that I made and some little pearl strands (using hot glue).

On the other stamped pin, I put some red tulle and a wreath button.

On one of the red pins, I glued it all over with clear glitter glue, then adhered a little plastic white snowflake (that I painted beige and put glitter glue on) and a red candy cane button, made a teeny tiny bow and glued them on with hot glue.

On the other red pin, I glued on a lace "fan" (that I stitched along one edge and pulled up the gathers), a holly button and a little silver glitter snowflake cut from my Cricut.

On some of the pins, I put self-adhesive gems on the top and bottom.

 

These look so pretty in the soft candlelight.  See how they glitter and glow?  They dress up a picture frame very nicely... in fact, I think I'll make a bunch more to clip on some of my other picture frames on my mantle, and............... well, just use your imagination!

 

Illuminate in November! Stamp of the Month.

Hi all, a quick post today to show you the NOVEMBER ILLUMINATE Stamp of the Month set from Close to My Heart. It is darling and great for Christmas and other occasions.

OH SO DARLING! What cute sayings. And yours for only $5 with any $50 order (in Autumn/Winter 2013 Idea Book and/or Holidays from the Heart Gift catalog.)

Here are a few projects from other CTMH consultants using this stamp set. You can also search google for "CTMH Illuminte" for great ideas!

Darling card from Jen Rubio. I love how she distressed the edges of the teal paper.

Sweet little tags from Michelle Johns at My Flights of Fancy. How cute would these be to put on our Christmas gifts?

Such a pretty card created by Alyson Mayo. She used the Laughing Lola papers. Look at the tiny candles she made using white cardstock and (I think) gold glitter gel. What a great idea!

And don't forget, November's "Rediscover Close to My Heart" FREE DOWNLOAD can be found HERE on my website. Be sure to download this darling little wall art printable.

Be sure to download this from the website I linked to above, as the resolution will be high enough for a very nice printable.... perfect for framing!

Oh, one more thing I wanted to show you. This is "just for fun".  My friend and fellow consultant, Michelle Johns at My Flights of Fancy made the cutest Advent Wall Calendar using the Magical Days stamp set in the Holidays from the Heart catalog. The papers she used are the Sparkle & Shine papers. I just had to show you!

How cute is this? Each white cardstock "strip" holds 4 pockets. Each pocket holds a little tag with a cute saying on it for that day.  Darling idea. The Magical Days stamp set is a cute "box" shaped fancy number, for the 25 days of the month. Many of the numbers could be used for other occasions. Thank you Michelle!

Magical Days stamp set. You can earn this one for FREE with your $100 order!

Until next time............ happy crafting!

Marilyn

REMINDER - FREE STUFF.

I went to the store yesterday to try to find some Christmas papers so I could begin making a Christmas gift project I have in mind.

I know it's early yet, and it's only Fall.............

But low and behold......... I could not find ANYTHING! I know it's early for Christmas stuff, but it did make me realize how lucky we are to have companies such as Close to My Heart, where we can buy, year-round, our themed papers for the various holidays. 

So, just as a quick note, I wanted to remind you that from now until December 31st, this special is going on with Close to My Heart (while supplies last).

 
For every $100 spent from the Autumn/Winter 2013 Idea book and/or the Holiday from the Heart catalog, you can pick any of the above items for free!

Here is the HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE LINK for the Holidays from the Heart 24 page mini catalog. It's the catalog on the far right and may take a few seconds to open up.

The Sparkle & Shine paper is so pretty! The candy cane stripes and pretty polka dots are so versatile.

I showcased some beautiful Christmas cards at my blog post HERE a week ago where you can see these Sparkle & Shine papers close up and personal.

If you want to begin shopping now for Christmas gifts, card kits, and paper crafting supplies, both Idea Books have great papers and stamp sets for your card making and scrapbook layouts. 

For the "non-crafter", both Idea Books have some great gifts, such as a jewelry making kit, My Crush books (with add-on assortments), fabrics, Designed Decor frames for displaying artwork, and Kraft album and boxes.

And don't forget this month's (October, 2013) FREE download from Close to My Heart compliments of their "Rediscover CTMH" campaign.  Darling colors of paper strips to use in your crafts!

Go HERE to Rediscover Sweet to download the JPEG to get a high resolution image. I see five strips that will compliment and match our Frosted and Spark & Shine papers! 


Here are two cards I made using these sweet little paper strips.  The first card (for Christmas) uses the tiny strips that I printed out on a 4x6 piece of photo paper, and then I cut each one out.

I used the small strips around the middle circle tag. The two side strips are the larger ones. Add some glitter snowflakes and an edge of glitter around the middle circle tag, and you're done!

For the second card (also for Christmas), I printed larger strips on photo paper, as I like the shine of photo paper. I cut them out and mounted two behind a sentiment tag.

Add some sparkle ribbon at the top and bottom, and some glitter glue around the edges of the strips.  I stamped the background before I mounted anything, using one of our retired CTMH Christmas stamps using gold pigment ink. EASY AND QUICK!

And don't forget, there is also a fabric, Sparkle & Shine Textiles that matches and coordinates with the Sparkle & Shine papers.

Have fun and enjoy the FREE stuff!
 

HOLIDAY PLANNER TUTORIAL (KIND OF).

I saw the cutest Holiday Planner a few months ago on someone's blog, and I immediately pinned it to my Pinterest Board, with the plan that I would make one for me, before Christmas.

Well, I have procrastinated long enough! I have had so many re-pins from my Pinterest board, that I thought I'd finally make one myself, since everyone loved it so much! There is proof in the numbers right? I think it will make cute Christmas gifts for my family, and I might even make some to put in my Etsy shop.

I used some of my ancient Christmas papers that I bought several years ago. This was my "practice" planner!

I didn't plan on this being a tutorial when I took the pictures, so I didn't get pictures of the beginning stages (folding) or the process of making this.  But................ the folding part is the most important so I used another folder I had and put together a little collage (below) of the folding process.  

You use one of those inexpensive school folders with a pocket on each side on the inside, made of heavy weight paper. The blue folder that I used for my planner had those 3 brad-type clips inside so a person could put 3-holed documents in it, but I took that out, so if you can't find a folder without them, they are easy to remove.  I think you can get these at Wal-Mart or Michael's. 

The planner that I pinned to my Christmas Pinterest board, which was from The Stamp Doc, used a white folder which I really like, but so far, I haven't found any white ones where I've looked.  I like the white background because there is no colored background strip on the sides and it looks more uniform to have it all white. I covered the white parts up on this planner, but it was kind of alot of extra work.

Folding instructions:  (read from top left to right on the 1st, row, then left to right on the 2nd row, then left to right on the third row).

1.  Plain folder laid flat.
2.  Opened folder laid flat.
3.  Fold right edge to middle crease.
4.  Fold left edge to middle crease.
5.  Pick up middle crease to form a tent.
6.  Fold both outside edges down and in, making what you see in the photo 6. You now have your folder with the "binding" edge on the left.
7.  If you let it go, it looks like this - 4 pages with pockets at the bottom of each page.
8.  Opening up to show first two pages.
9.  I cut 3" off the top rather than leaving it so tall. The final size is about 4-1/2" x 9".  If you don't cut off the top 3", the finished size is about 4-1/2" x 12".  I wanted a size that would fit in my purse to carry with me.

Are you with me so far???? The folding is really easy and quick. I mean it literally takes less than a minute.

Now I will show some pictures of each section. Mostly, you just cover the front and back with a matted piece of cardstock. Just measure each section as it may vary depending on what brand of folder you use.

Here's a close-up of the front. I matted with a red polka dot and left some of the blue folder showing. I used a few buttons I had.  I cut the scalloped square with my cricut, as well as the white square. I printed the title on my computer onto the white cardstock and then cut it out with the cricut. You could use a square punch. I used Word to make my title. If you want, you could hand-print the title or use an alphabet stamp set.

Cover each side on the top of the inside pages with coordinating papers. I matted the pieces on the pockets, but not above. The pieces above go down inside the pocket about 2". You can see where I glued strips on the top part, in the middle and on the white edge to cover the white on the side and the white in the center.

The fun part is what you put inside! Each pocket holds some "lists" of several choices. I used one for calendars, one for gift ideas and one for Christmas cards.  I'll show you below where to get these lists off the internet.

Above are the last two pockets. One holds my Christmas card list and the last pocket holds two envelopes for receipts.  I used a #10 envelope (sealed) and cut off the top for one, and a smaller envelope for the other. I glued a piece of decorative paper on the top of each envelope and stamped the word "receipts" with my alphabet stamp set. You could use one envelope for your gift cards or coupons.

I used Scotch Quick Drying Tacky Glue for adhering all of my papers. That way, I know it will hold up to handling and putting in my purse. I love it because it is easy and fast, and is flexible even after it dries.

Here are the calendars for October, November and December. I adhered each list to a piece of red cardstock about 4" x 8-1/2" and used a brad in the upper left corner to hold it. That way the paper can swing open.

 

 

Here's the back of the planner. I just put one piece of cardstock on it. The ribbon is loose and runs around to the front of the planner, underneath the title tag.

Below, is the title tag on the front. I popped it up with 3D foam tape so that the ribbon runs under it and ties on the side. The ribbon is entirely loose. I made a little "tunnel" for the ribbon using the 3D foam tape squares.

 

I put the link for The Stamp Doc above, where I found this planner.  If you go to her blog, under her video tutorials, she has a video on making this planner which is really nice.

I also found a similar planner on You Tube, using manilla file folders!  This is also a good idea, as it may be easier to find white file folders, or you can probably find them online. The file folder planner uses a little more folding to form the pockets.  That video is  HERE.

For the lists inside, you can go to Organized Home under Organized Christmas, and print out all sorts of neat lists.  I love them. You could maybe put a set of lists on the back of the cardstock that you slip in and out of the planner, as I think there is plenty of thickness.

I hope this tutorial inspires you to make some of these darling little planners! Every year, I've had lists all over the place, stuck in my purse, a drawer, by my Christmas cards, etc., and I hope this sweet little planner will keep me better organized (at least to where I can FIND my lists!).

Let me know if you have any questions.  And I WILL be putting some more of these in my Etsy shop (soon).