June 28, 2019

Close To My Heart Weekend Special

Close to My Heart is continuing their 35th Anniversary celebration with another special sale this weekend that you won’t want to miss! The Stamp-tacular sale will begin at 5:00 pm (EST) on Friday, June 28, and will end on June 30, 1:59 pm (EST)!  You can find all stamp set on sale on my website....CLICK HERE


June 26, 2019

Card Class Project June - 3/4

This was our third card and today we are going to do some embossing. Close to My Heart introduced this new "Subway Tile Embossing Folder" (Z4055) which is one of my favorites. You can use it for bring imitation, tile, roof tile, walls etc.

I cut a piece of Smoothie cardstock at 4"x 4 1/4" and ran it through the embossing folder/ machine. I also cut a piece of green design paper and cut this at 4"x 1/1/2".

First we adhered the green paper leaving an even space around all three sides. The smoothie paper was adhered next and it will overlap the green one a bit. Make sure you have even spacing around the top too. To cover the seam I found long strips of kraft paper we had years ago. They had adhesive on the back and worked perfectly (4" long)

Next I cut a piece of kraft paper at 2 1/2"x 3 1/4" and added a piece of white cardstock to it which was cut about 1/4" smaller. I used a flower stamp with matching flowers to create the image seen here.



For the "Know that I care" stamp, this is a must have. I love this set since it makes it so easy to add wording that will stand out. I stamped it in black and cut around the edges so you are left with a nice crisp phrase. This stamp is from a set called "Wortfetti" (B1652) and is currently still available while supplies last. If you are a card maker, don't miss out on this one. You will love it!
Oh and I raised the phrase with some foam dots.

Last, we stamped the same flower bunch on the inside and added a little phrase to it. I hope you like this one too and give it a try.




June 22, 2019

Scrapbook Friday - Layout 8

I thank you all for your patients, here we are finally back on track with things. So far I have done 7 layouts from our trip to Canada and this will be number 8. Yep, and I am still working with the same 5 design paper sheets. There isn't much left of them, but still enough to do a few more.


These are some pictures from the "Basilica The Notre Dame of Montreal". I had pretty much only pictures from the inside of the church and one single one from the outside. After going through them back and forth I decided to cut down a few and eliminate some of the doubled ones as well. There were a few pictures I didn't want to cut since they showed off the architecture of the church. I don't have a template for this layout and to be honest, you not always need one. 
I decided to leave the four big pictures on the right layout and arrange the smaller sized ones on the left side. I did had to incorporate the one outside photo to. So how do we do this?
My idea was to mat the outside photo and built the other ones around it. 


I started by matting the outside picture with white cardstock. I also added a few picture pieces to fill in some gaps. Yes sometimes you don't need the whole picture instead a small portion of it will do to. This way I was able to create and even spacing around the matted picture. One the other side I tried to move to pictures together, then lined them up to create a square and finally ended up with the version you can see her:













I chose our Close To My Heart "Saphire" cardstock as the page base since I love how it works with the indoor colors. I know, you will ask where is the design paper in this layout....wait for it!
I didn't think a design paper would have worked here since the pictures are already a bit busy. But, I had a few small strips left and thought what if I cut my title out of them? So out came my Cricut and on I went. If you don't have a cutting machine or dies on hand to cut out letters, there is always another way to make this work. Maybe you have a nice letter stamp set? Or just write your own title. Use a pencil to pre-draw your letters before you color them. I chose two different design pieces for the title. "Basilica" is cut from a light blue paper and the rest is from the white paper with the little black hearts.









This is just the start of embellishing this page. More journaling and a few more little extras are coming soon. "Basilica" was cut at about 1" size and so it would fit right above the outdoor picture. The letters are slightly bigger than those of the rest of the title.

Here is a little tip on how to place your letters perfectly spaced and in line without making a big fuzz out of it. When you use a cutting machine your letters are cut on a sticky mat. First remove carefully the extra paper surrounding the letters. Do not rip this apart since we are going to use it as out template to place the letters on the page.
You will end up with pieces that look like this:

I placed the "Basilica negative" over the picture of the church. I made sure I had the same gap all along the top and that the word was centered. I used a little washi tape to hold it in place. Now I picked letter by letter from the sticky mat, adhered glue to the back and placed it in the spot were it was cut out from. Repeat with each letter and carefully remove the template ones you are done with all letters. I did the same with the rest of the title. This makes it for an easy and quick way to ensure straight and even spaced titles ;-)

At the end my page looks like this....with a few more details to come...


Next week I will show you a few ideas on how to create a preface page and a few more decorating tips. Thanks for joining me today and keep crafting.
















June 20, 2019

Close to My Heart - Flash Sale Friday & Saturday

Close to My Heart is continuing the celebration of their 35th Anniversary with another special Flash Sale! The sale will begin at 5:00 pm (EST) on Friday, June 21, and it will end at 4:59 am (EST) on Saturday, June 22.
Like with previous flash sales, many of the same considerations apply:
- all sales while supplies last
- order earlier while most items will be still available
- all items will count towards the Stamp Of The Month program
- ones an items has sold out for the special sale I can not get it for you ;-)
- all orders for this sale must be placed on my website https://claudiahenderson.closetomyheart.com/
- and the most important part.....have fun browsing and shopping

June 19, 2019

Card Class Project June - 2/4

Today we are looking a bit closer in card project two from my June classes. We all have leftover strips of paper laying around right? Yep, me too and some are just to cute to toss. This card is the perfect way to put some of them to good use.

I don't want to bore you with all the different sizes I used here, but all strips are between 3/4" and 1 1/4" wide and between 1 1/2" and 2 1/2" long. We cut each of them with a little fin on the bottom.

The background paper is cut from Close To My Heart cardstock "pewter" at 4"x 5 1/4". I added faux stitching around the edges with a black pen, but you could also use a die if you have one.
Before you adhere the cardstock to your card base adhere a piece of ribbon around it. I only used adhesive on each end of the ribbon so I could place my flags underneath the ribbon.



Ones the ribbon is on the grey paper adhere it to the front of your card. Now comes the hard part, arranging the flags in random order ;-) Yes, this can be difficult. I added three of them flat to the card and raised two with some thin foam dots.



I cut a 2" circle from white cardstock and added our little phrase from the Close To My Heart "Reset Button" (B1646) stamp set to it. This is a cute set and you can still get it, but not for much longer.
I added more faux stitching to the circle and raised it with foam dots too.

For the inside I used a simple "Thinking of You" stamp and a bit more doodling. Go give it a try and use up some of these paper strips you have laying around.




June 17, 2019

Share the Joy Special for June - July


Close to My Heart has designed a pair of exclusive My Acrylix® stamp sets and Thin Cuts dies to add fun circle windows like you see in the artwork above. The stamp sets feature a wide range of adorable icons made to peek through the windows, giving you lots of options for making the artwork just the way you want it.
The stamp sets and Thin Cuts dies are available for purchase separately, but you'll save 30% when you purchase a bundle containing the whole set! Check out the Share the Joy special to get a closer look at the stamp images.
These items will be available through July 31, while supplies last.

June 12, 2019

Card Class Project June - 1/4

Today we will have a closer look on the projects we made in our June card making class. But wait? What happened to the May projects you might ask?
Well, due to my little vacation time out I will show them after we looked at all the projects from June. I don't hold classes in the summer since most of my groups are out and about, so we will return in September with new projects. Until then, lets see June and then May, shall we?

The first card brings a little sunshine to someone who isn't feeling so well. The yellow background paper was just the right design for it. The paper is cut at 3 1/2"x 4 3/4".

Next I cut a piece of expresso cardstock at 3 1/2"x2" and adhered it to the design paper. I wrapped a piece of brown ribbon around both papers and tied a knot at the end. Now the whole piece is placed to the front of my card base.




The white cardstock is cut at 3 1/4" x 1 3/4" and I stamped my phrase in expresso ink. The beauty of our Close to My Heart acrylic stamps is that you can bend them on the block before you stamp. This way I got a little bow.

I cut yellow and brown sunflowers with my Cricut and cut the bottom parts of, leaving me with five pedals. I adhered the two together off-set and adhered them tucked under the white paper.

I used a golden glitter pen to add little dots and the inside doodles. Don't forget to stamp a phrase on the inside of your card.


June 10, 2019

June Special - Stamp of th Month

So, back from a wonderful vacation I can finally catch up with things. Today I thought I share a really cute stamp set with you all. This is the Stamp Of The Month for June. Well, what is so special about this set you might ask?

Close to My Heart offers one special stamp set every month for as little as $5 with a qualifying order. Yes, only $5 for the whole set. This stamp set is only available during the month of June and I think offers a lot. Beside weddings and anniversaries, how about birthdays? Let me know if you would like to know more about this set and how to get it for $5 this month. You can contact me via email.

Also, remember to check out the current super specials we have for Fathers Day and "The Best Moments are Free" special.....four different stamp set and you get a workshop kit with embellishments for free!
Come celebrate 35 Years of Creativity with Close to My Heart.



June 4, 2019

The Best Moments Are Free


June 1-June 30
Here is another wonderful offer from Close To My Heart to celebrate 35 years of creativity. This month we get to choose from four different workshop kits based on stamp sets: Happy Trails, Escape to Paradise, Grillin’&Chillin’ and the exclusive Then & Now stamp set. Each workshop kit includes the stamp set plus papers and embellishments for creating a two-page scrapbooking layout for just the price of the stamp set - so you pay for the stamp set and you get the layout materials for FREE. Yes, I said free!!!
On top of this sensational savings, Close to My Heart is also offering an additional 25% discount when you buy The Best Moments Are Free Workshop Kit Bundle, which includes all four workshop kits.

Click Here to see all set: “The Best Moments Are Free” 

This offer is available from June 1 — June 30 or while supplies last!
Back from a little vacation, the blog will be back to “normal” by next week so thank you all for your patience.