NEW! July - September 2022 Seasonal Idea Book from Close To My Heart is here!

 

You all have been waiting for and here it is, the brand new Close To My Heart July - September 2022 Seasonal Idea Book. It is packed with 3 amazing new paper collections, lot's of new stamps and dies and so much more. You can find the online version of the catalog on my website https://claudiahenderson.closetomyheart.com/ctmh/products/online-catalog.aspx

If you like a virtual walkthrough of the book, check out my 2-part videos:

Part 1: New Paper Collections and matching stamp sets https://youtu.be/O11sxT6t0Ps

Part 2: New Stamps and Stamp & Thin Cuts https://youtu.be/ebISfboPLnM

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.

Every Little Thing - Happy Birthday

Last card from the Card Making Class in September:

Well and you can never go wrong with a Birthday Card. This one is made from a couple of design paper and cardstock strips.

The top cardstock is the new Wisteria color and due to the white core of the paper it is perfect for ripping it. Cut a piece of the cardstock and carefully rip along one edge.

We stamped the "Happy" in black ink on the top left of the card base.
Then you can adhere the stripes in order. I adhered the flower design paper first, then the green piece and at the end I added the black strip.

Next we stamped the birthday in black ink on a piece of white cardstock. It is hard to see, but we used the Mint ink and stamped a background on the birthday word. The stamp is from the set "Strokes of an Artist" (D1887) which contains a lot of great background designs. If you use them with light ink colors they make a for a great background.

Another big butterfly die cut with color pencil enhanced and finished off with a clear shimmer brush.

Remember the butterfly we cut out of the design paper on the first card? Well I though it makes for a nice decor on the inside of this card.

Well, if you love the design paper we used here as much as I do, you have until Oct 31st to order it, if it doesn't sell out before then.
Click Here to see all items that make this set so pretty.


A big "Thank You" to Kristine Tanase who's card creations were an inspiration to these one I made.

Every Little Thing - A Little Hello Card

Here is the third card from my September Cardmaking Class:

Thinking of you or Get Well are also cards that are always in high demand with my ladies form the card class. Again, perfect stamp set for the right phrases, our Stamp of the Month. Well, while this one was the September one, check out the new one for October. These sets are always great and with an order of $50 you can get the set for only $5.

Here I used black cardstock and the new embossing folder "Stitched Circles" (Z3519). It is really pretty and the embossing gives the card a nice elegant touch.

A piece of design paper and a piece of Wisteria cardstock for the phrase tag. I stamped the "Hello" phrase and the inside of the card in the new Julep green.

A few doodles and another card is done. If you have difficulties finding the right designs, check out the Close To My Heart "How To Books". They are a great inspiration and you find measurements to recreate the cards. Remember all designs can be flipped or turned so you can used them horizontal or vertical.


While our annual Idea Book is still current, the seasonal book for SEP & OCT will end on Oct 31st. This means this card making kit as well as the other set "Hawthorn" and all the papers, embellishments and stamps in the book will retire. So if you are planing on ordering any set, don't wait they might be gone even before the month is over.
You can see the Idea Book ....HERE.

A big "Thank You" to Kristine Tanase who's card creations were an inspiration to these one I made.

Every Little Thing - Thank You Card

Here is our second card from my September Card Making Class:

For my card classes I always try to mix the sentiments and use those phrase that are in demand. We can always use a "Thank You" card, right? Here is another idea for a simple layout. Our Close To My Heart design papers are all two sided which gives you twice as much headache to pick the prettiest one LOL. Just kidding ;-) I love that I can pick an choose and that both designs always complement each other. I can't tell you how often my ladies just use the "other side" of the paper than I used in the sample card....perfectly fine and guess what? Yup, it still works.
So the new Julep colored green paper is perfect to complement the flower design. A few black strips of cardstock bring everything together.
The banner is cut from Wisteria cardstock and instead of a pointy fin we cut it more flat. Stamp the "Thank You" (Stamp of the Month) first, then cut the flat fin. I added a few black pen stripes around the edge. You can lief them off, but I think it give the card a more finished look.

The butterfly was stamped in black in and then cut with the matching die. Color pencils to make it more interesting and if you have one on hand, use your clear Shimmer Brush to add some sparkle. You don't have a shimmer brush? Well, you can go with it out. This brush adds just the right amount of settle glitter to a project. Clear is my favorite, but they also come in color...click here to see all colors.
The inside is black, well beside a few lines with a black pen around the edge of the card.

A big "Thank You" to Kristine Tanase who's card creations were an inspiration to these one I made.

Every Little Thing Card Making Kit - Happy Birthday

In my September cardmaking class we used the Close To My Heart Cardmaking Kit "Every Little Thing" (G1189) and the beautiful paper from the same series.

Love the purple/ lavender colors with the nice settle green. So, what is so special about this cardmaking set you might ask? How does design papers, cardstock, envelops and card bases and stamp set with matching die sound to you? Yes, you heart right, the new kits we offer include an exclusive stamp set with matching die and this one is to cute to pass on.

I decided to use one of the cards for the class as shown in the set. For the other three I changed the design up a bit and added a few more stamps I have. If you need to make more cards than the set calls for, well, just add cardstock and design paper and make more. The stamp set and dies are yours so be creative ;-) I also used the current Stamp of the Month for September. Great phrases for so many occasions. The set is called "Random Act of Cardness"(S1909) and you can still order it until the end of this month.

Here is the first card from the kit:

"Thinking of you" is always a great card to have in your stack. Regular 4 1/4" x 5 1/2" card base. Wisteria cardstock stamped with the little dot stamp from the kit.
The "Every Little Thing" design paper was cut with the bigger butterfly dies in the lower right corner. (Keep the cut out since we are using it in another card later on).

Adhere the papers to the front of the card base, then stamp the big butterfly into the opening. I used the matching Wisteria Ink Pad for it.

 The inside of the card is stamped with the "Stamp of the Month" and half of another of the big butterflies of the kit.

Use coloring pencils to make the stamp on the inside pop.

Like I said, this is only one of four designs which will come with full instruction to you if you order the set.

Stay tuned for more design ideas with this paper pack.

Every Little Thing Class Projects for September

Yeah, the Card Making Classes are back and this month we were working with the beautiful "Every Little Thing" paper pack from Close to My Heart and the Stamp of the Month for September.

I really love this paper and the colors. Our new "Wisteria" and "Julep" inks are so pretty. Don't know which one is which? Well, the "Wisteria" is a nice purple/lilac color which you can see best on the cardstock samples on the two cards on the right. The "Julep" is a wonderful green and it is our color of the year, so only available until next August!

This month we created the four cards you see in the picture above. Many of the phrases on the outside and this inside of the cards came from the Stamp of the Month set "Random Act Of Kindness" (S1909). Oh this set has so many wonderful phrases you don't want to miss it. You can buy the set individually or with a qualifying order you can get it for just $5.

Believe me, you can never ever have to many stamp sets with phrases! These are the ones I hang on to as long as I have room in my office LOL.



There are so many different products going along with the "Every Little Thing" set that I can't list them all here. So if you like to see the other papers from the set and all the beautiful embellishments, click on the "Every Little Thing" phrase and you can find them all together. I will introduce you to each of the cards individually during the next 4 Wednesdays so you can see more of the paper collection. For those who love to make cards the new Idea Book valid until October 31st has a beautiful card making kit included with the "every Little Thing" papers. Stamp set and die included. I just say butterflies....stay tuned to see the kit next week and more cards to come.

Last but not least a big "Thank You" to Kristine Tanase who's card creations were an inspiration to these ones I made. I tweaked them a little bit but never-the-less some of these were her idea.

Card Class Project May - 4/4

Here is our last project from my May card making class. Like last weeks project, this one is also a masculine card and I thought I show you a little before and after comparison. When I designed this card I looked at my finished project and didn't liked it. Well I liked it, but it felt like something was missing. So I played around a bit and then I found these different gears on one of my Close to My Heart cartridges. I cut them from silver foiled paper and added them to my prototype and long and behold, that made all the difference in the world. Don't you think so?

Materials needed for this card:
- 4 1/4"5 1/2" card base
- 1 1/4"x5 1/2" grey design paper
- 3"x5 1/2" sapphire cardstock
- 1/4"x5 1/2" goldrush cardstock strip
- 2 1/2"x2 3/4" white cardstock
- grey/white bakers twine
- a few grey/white sequins and the silver gears

Adhere the grey design paper to the left of your card base. Now adhere the sapphire cardstock to the right of the base butting up with the grey paper. Stamp poka-dots in black on the goldrush strip and adhere it over the seam of the grey and blue papers.

Stamp the background onto the white cardstock in goldrush ink, then stamp the phrase in black ink on top.  Wrap the bakers twine around the white cardstock and adhere the piece to the card, about 1/2" from the bottom and flush with right side of the card. Add your sequins and gears to decorate the card. Don't forget to stamp, doodle and decorate your inside as well.

One more design that can be found in the Close to My Heart "Make it from Your Heart Book - Volume 4 (9044)". See for yourself how many wonderful ideas and inspirations are included in this book.

Card Class Project May - 3/4

I don't know if you have the same problem I have sometime when I try to create a more masculine card. It is hard, isn't it? I mean, if you are making one for a golfer, fisher, hunter etc, yeah that's not a big deal, but a card that doesn't include flowers, butterflies or any bling??? That is hard.

So this is one of two attempts we made in this months class to create a more masculine looking card.

Materials needed:
- 4 1/4"x5 1/2" card base
- 4 1/4"x5 1/2" design paper (here stars)
- 3 1/2"x5 1/2" flaxen cardstock with scalloped edge
- 2"x5 1/2" gold striped paper
- 1/2"x5 1/2" lagoon cardstock
- 2 1/2"x1 3/4" lagoon cardstock
- 2 1/4"x1 1/2" white cardstock
- a little button and some thread


Let's start with the stamping part. Stamp the white cardstock with the button phrase in black ink. Stamp the inside phrase with lagoon and black ink.

Now cut a fin in the white cardstock piece. Make sure it doesn't cut to fare into the phrase. Now adhere the button which is hanging of a little piece of silver thread to the back side before you adhere the white car stock fin to the lagoon cardstock. Cut another fin into the lagoon paper, matching the white one. If you do it in this order you should get a nice even space around the white fin.

For the card itself, adhere the design paper (stars) to the card base. It should cover the whole front of the base. Adhere the scalloped edges cardstock to the front about 1/2" from the left side. Adhere the golden striped paper to the flaxen piece about 3/4" from the left side of the card base. Place the lagoon cardstock strip on the right side of the golden paper covering some off it. Use foam dots to adhere the fine (the button should dangle of the side). A little doodling on the inside and this card is done.

Again, if you need more ideas for card layouts, please check out the Close to My Heart Make it from your Heart Book - Volume 4 (9044). You will love the ideas and instructions in it.

Card Class Project May - 2/4

This is one of my favorite designs since it uses up all these pretty little paper strips we gather while working on pages and other projects. I hate to throw those away but they keep piling up in my boxes. So what better way than to make a card out of them. This one in particular could use for so many occasions. Wedding, Birthday, Get Well, Sympathy...you name it.

Materials needed:
- card base 4 1/4"x5 1/2"
- paper strips in different designs and/or cardstock. Mine are all 5" long and the width is 1/2", 3/4", 1 1/2" and 1"
- red cardstock 1 1/2"x 4 1/4"
- white cardstock 1 1/4"x 4 1/4"
- a couple of butterflies

To create this card, simply adhere the strips in the center of your card base. I started with the 1" on the right. I made sure that the space on the top and bottom as well as the side was even. From there just ad one strip at a time.

We stamped the phrases outside and in with charcoal ink. I adhered the white cardstock to the red and raise it with foam dots to mount on the card. Decorate with butterflies and do a little doodling on the inside and this card is done.

Didn't I said it is super easy? Yes, it was and I think it is really pretty too. So get out your paper strips and start making some cards. Remember you can always use the design in vertical and horizontal fashion!
For more inspiration on card layouts and designs, check out the Close to My Heart "Make it from Your Heart Book - Volume 4 (9044). A really great source for ideas and inspiration.

Card Class Project May - 1/4

A little late, but I am catching up. These next 4 projects will be from my May card making class.

The paper I used with this card is from the "Feels Like Home" paper pack which sadly is no longer available...but if you living in my area or visit the crop in fall you might be able to still get some ;-). But let's start with the items needed:

Materials:
- 3 3/4"x5" Thistle cardstock
- 3 1/2"x4 3/4" Feels like Home design paper
- 1/2"x3 1/2" strip of Feels like Home design paper
- 2 1/2" circle white cardstock
- flower cut from the Close to My Heart "Flower Market" cartridge
- a few rhinestones and card base 4 1/4"x5 1/2"



First we stamped in pixie ink the background on the circle. This background stamp is from a retired set, but we have a similar one in the current Idea Book which is very close to this one. It is called "Timeless Textures" (D1852) and offers a variety of backgrounds. These sets always gets overlooked in the Idea Book, but they are super perfect to stamp a little color behind a phrase. Next we stamped our phrase with charcoal ink right over the background. The cut out flower parts are layered and adhered on top of each other.

Don't forget to stamp the inside with a phrase as well. All that is left now is to layer the papers and adhere them to the base.

Start by adhering the thistle cardstock in the center of the card front. Now center the design paper on top. Adhere the strip of design paper about 3/4" of the bottom and place the circle with foam dots on the card. Adhere the flower and decorate with rhinestones. We also did a little doodling on the inside to finish this card off.
For more inspirations on card layouts and designs, check out the Close To My Heart "Make It From Your Heart Book - Volume 4 (9044)" which stores in one of our medium ring albums. An awesome book full off ideas and inspirations for all you card makers out there.

Card Class Project June - 4/4

This is our last one from June and I had fun with this one. Close to My Heart has these super cute Floral Monogram Letters in the current Idea Book...page 115. You can purchase them all individually and they not only are great for envelopes, letters or scrapbooks, but you can do a lot more with them.

I happen to have the letter "H" (M1235) and found a smaller ABC in my stack of stamps, so why not combine them? Well that's what we did here. There is actually a "Flourishing Frame Stamp & Die" (Z4072) out to go along with the letters. Super cute and I thought I will use the frame and die to create mats for some of my 3x3 pictures on layouts.

Have a look at those letters. They are only $3.95 and I am sure you will love them as much as I do.

But back to the card. I cut a strip of peacock cardstock at 5 1/2" x 1 1/2" and adhered it to the bottom of my card front. I found gold foiled paper in my stack that was just the right contrast and I cut this piece at 5 12" x 3". When you add this to the front it will overlap the peacock just a bit. For the fin I used peacock cardstock (2" x 2 3/4") and white cardstock (1 3/4"x 2 1/2"). Two rhinestones completing this card.
For the inside I kept it simple. More stamping and a little doodling and this card is done!