Happy New Year

It is hard to believe but 2019 is coming to an end. I hope you all had a Merry Christmas with your families and friends. While 2020 is just around the corner I like to take the opportunity to thank all my blog followers and readers for your support. I know my posts have not been on time this year but sometimes life happens and things that are out of our control. While we are enjoying a quiet start into the New Year my mine is already set for 2020. Yep, the mind never stops working right?
I am working on a few things and changes to the blog itself and the way I post (since it is very time consuming sometimes) I am also working on a privat Facebook group to bring you more hands on project. Why Facebook? Well, these days it seems that many are using it and it makes it really easy to create video tutorials and live chats. Sometimes showing you a technique or layout is simply easier than describing  it. At least for me LOL
So while all these new ideas forming in my head, I will continue to post here on a regular base, but look out for some new and exciting changes and add ones.
Until then Thank You again for your support and have a

Happy and Healthy New Year! Good luck and success in all you do!
Sincerely
                      Claudia

Boxing Week Sale - Don’t miss out

Close to My Hearts Six Days of Sales!

Save up to 50% on selected items and exclusive product bundles during our Boxing Week sale! New deals will be available on my Consultant website every day at 2:00 am (EST), from today until the end of the year! Each day's deals are only available for 24 hours, while supplies last; today's deals are valid until  1:59 am (EST) on Friday, December 27, while supplies last, so be sure to check them out before they are gone! Albums, Flip Flaps, special new items and more... Sale will run through December 31st. To see all that is available and to place your order go to my website www.claudiahenderson.closetomyheart.com

Holly Jolly Paper and Stamp Of the Month

For this card we used a few different items. The papers is from the Holly Jolly paper pack and we used the Stamp of the month of December. Here are a few samples of them:

Stamp of the Month only available in December(S1912):

And this is the Holly Jolly paper pack with the matching stickers. You can get the set with or without the stickers.










So here is the card we made with the sets:

This time we cut a red cardstock piece at 4 1/4" by 11" and folded it half so the fold sits to the left. we also cut a piece of red cardstock at 4 1/2" x 1" for the closer.

Cut two circles at 2 1/4" and stamp the two phrases shown from the stamp of the month set on them. Decorate with branches, stars and bells or what ever little Christmas embellishments you have on hand.

To decorate the front, cut a piece of green cardstock 4" x 4 1/4". On top adhere the Holly Jolly green paper cut at 3 3/4" x 4". We cut two red paper stripes at 3/4" x 3 3/4". One for the front and one for the inside.

A piece of white cardstock is adhere to the inside to write your greetings and stamp a little Merry Christmas to it.

I cut the Christmas ornament with the Cricut form silver foil paper. The snowflake on the inside of the ornament is raised with foam dots.

Adhere the red strip to the back of the card so that the end up front is in the center of the ornament.

Adhere front circle and line up with ornament, then add the inside circle to match the front.

A Christmas Present

This is a simple but so pretty card and you only need a few items to create it. Sometimes less is more. What do you think?

The stamp set we used here is called the "Holly Jolly - Cardmaking set" (C1800) and while it was created for the holiday season well you can use it for many other occasions too. Birthdays, showers, weddings, you name it.
The second set we used is called the "Holiday Trimmings" (C1810) which offers a whole bunch of phrases and borders.

We start with a 4 1/4" x 5 1/2" card base preferably in cream but white will do too. We add a piece of neutral colored cardstock cut at 4"x 5 1/4". Before you adhere the piece to the card front, stamp your phrase with Versamark on the bottom of the piece and sprinkle red glitter embossing powder over it. Heat set with an embossing heat gun. Make sure the embossing powder is melted completely otherwise the glitter will not adhere to the writing.

Next we stamped the package outline on a piece of white cardstock. The we added the lines and finally stamped the little stars with red candy apple on top. Use scissors to cut the package out .We used a square piece of white glitter paper cut at 1 3/4" and adhered it underneath the present. Use some foam dots to add the assemble to the card middle. The bow was stamped on red cardstock and also cut by hand. Add with foam dots to the top of the present. 

 For the inside, a simple layer of red cardstock and neutral and a little white glitter paper star finishing this card off.

Again this stamp set like all the others we used so far will only be available until December 31st or while supplies last.

A Christmas Tree that sparkles

This stamp set is a truly must have one. If you love a three dimensional tree this is the set for you.

At the end of this post you can see the stamp and a cute layout that was made with the set too.

But now back to our next Christmas card. I used green cardstock as my base. It was cut at 4 1/4" by 11" and folded in half. So the fold is on the top. Next we used some gold foil paper cut at 4" x 5 1/4". The gold gives the card a pretty shimmer. On top we added a piece of cream cardstock cut at 3 3/4" x 5".

Before you adhere this piece to the front of your card, make sure to stamp it. First the darker image on the right will be stamp by using a lighter green. Here we used green apple. The you use the stamp on the left to place it on top of the first stamped image this time using a darker color (here we used Evergreen). Now all that is left is to stamp in the Christmas ornaments. We used Candy Apple red. Just fill in the openings and voila the tree is done....well not quite. There need to be some glitter right? We used little dots of red glitter glue to add a little sparkle to each ornament. I also used a thin black pen to add strings to the ornaments so they hang from the tree.

We added a "Oh Holly Night" banner stamped in the same red with foam dots to the card. For the inside a simple cream colored cardstock piece with a Merry Christmas stamped on and a  strip of gold foil paper finishing this card off. Well and we doodle a bit on the front and on the inside by using a pencil to create just a light strokes of doodles.

If you are interested in this great stamp set, it is called "Merry Christmas Tree (C1804)" and it will be available until December 31st or while supplies last.

A little Elf for Christmas

I know it has been a while that I posted here but even so I had good intents the last time I posted life happened and somehow we find our-self's in December. Recuperating from gallbladder surgery I finally have time to fill in the post I have been missing. So enjoy the upcoming Christmas projects.

This is out newest member of the Christmas family. No it is not the Elf on the Shelve, but it could be ;-) Love this little guy. The "Holly Jolly Cardmaking Workshop" not only includes the cute stamp set but it also comes with matching thin cuts. 

This is only one of the four cards you can make with the set. Make sure to order the set while it is still available. It is so versatile you can use just the legs or the head for separate projects 

We created this card in our Christmas class and you would need the following items:

- 4 1/4" x 5 1/2" card base 

- 3"x 5 1/4" green design paper

- 1/4" x 5 1/4" white paper strip stamped with the dots from the set

- 3/4" x 5 1/4" black cardstock

- 4 1/4" x 2 1/2" and a 3/4" x 1 3/4" white cardstock

- silver thread

- stamped and cut out elf, present and holly

We colored the elf in with the new tri-blend markers. The set gives you many options to decorate the little elf and we choose the present as a special delivery. Don't forget to decorate the inside of your card and maybe stamp a few holly's on the outside of your envelops.

Cyber Monday Sale - Close to My Heart

With all the great deals going on for Cyber Monday, Close to My Heart is getting in on the fun too. Enjoy flash sales featuring current and retired products on this big day. You will be able to save up to 50% of some products. Quantities will be limited, so be sure to place your orders early!

Cyber Monday Sale will begin at 5:00 PM (EST) on December 2nd and will end at 4:59 PM the next day.

Orders can only placed on my website ....CLICK HERE ... to get right to it.
In the past these sale were going super fast so to get the best chance of getting some of the deals make sure to check the side early and remember, like in past sales, just because you put it into you cart doesn't mean you own it. Only when you finish the order process all items in your cart will be coming your way ;-)