Friday, December 27, 2013

New Consultant Changes are Coming...

I am excited about some of the changes that Close to my Heart has announced for New Consultants who sign up after January 1st. Many of you have contacted me about signing up and wanting to wait until January 1st so that you can get the New Consultant Kit. I wanted to share the upcoming changes with you now in case you would rather sign up before the changes take effect. This way you have the option and can choose whether you'd like to sign up now or after January 1st.

The first change is that we will no longer be offering two kit options. Currently there is a $49 kit option and a $99 kit option. The new kit will be offered at $99 and will include over $300 worth of products and business supplies. (And let me tell you—it is super cute!)

The second change is with the Straight to the Top Program. This is an exciting change because with the new program, you can earn back the $99 you spent on your kit! With the new program, if you have $1,200 in sales (including your own orders) within the first 90 days, you will receive your $99 back, ultimately making your kit FREE! Also, as a special extra incentive from me, if you reach your STTT goal with the new program I will also send you a Workshop on the Go Kit of your choice absolutely FREE! (The current Straight to the Top program allows you to earn $25 in Select Product Credit when you reach $300 in orders in your first 30 days and an additional $75 in SPC when you reach a total of $1,200 in your first 90 days. So the main difference is that instead of earning product credit that can be used to get certain items, the new program will allow you to earn $99 cash back that can be used for whatever you like.)

Here are the current Consultant Kit options
(Visit my New Consultant FAQs page for more info on the current kit contents.)

$49 Kit (valued at $155) available through 12/31/13


$99 Kit available through 12/31/13
includes everything in the $49 kit plus these extras...


$99 New Consultant Kit (valued at $309) available January 1, 2014


For more information on the current New Consultant program, feel free to visit my New Consultant FAQs page here. I will update the page with the new changes on January 1st when they go into effect.

If/when you are ready to sign up, you can do so here. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions.*Ü*

Sunday, December 22, 2013

Free Printable Christmas Gift Tags


Close to my Heart has provided some fun printable Christmas gift tags for you to download. Just pop on over to my website here and download the file for free. They will be available to download through December 31st. *Ü*

While you are there, feel free to check out some of the great videos, browse through the online Idea Book, and even place an order if you like.

Tuesday, December 17, 2013

Quick and Easy Custom Canvas



Are you looking for a quick and easy last minute gift? This custom canvas was super easy to make and will make a perfect gift for my Mom for Christmas. In fact, I think I will make another one for my Mother-in-Law too.

I printed a family photo onto a piece of tissue paper and then used some Mod Podge to adhere it to a 6" x 6" Close to my Heart Canvas.


The video below explains in detail how to make the canvas. (Since I was all out of repositionable spray adhesive, I just used a little CTMH Bonding Memories Glue around the edges of the cardstock and let it dry for a few minutes before sticking the tissue paper to it. It worked perfectly.)

Friday, December 13, 2013

Washi Tape Christmas Card


I had fun making this quick and simple Christmas card using some of Close to my Heart’s new Washi Tape in a non-traditional color and pattern. I LOVE the pink polka dot Washi Tape and wanted to figure out a way to use it on a Christmas card. I covered the top of a piece of 4" x 5.25" White Daisy Cardstock with (3) strips of the pink polka dot Washi Tape from the Party Pack. (It almost looks like patterned paper.) Then I matted it to some Cocoa Cardstock and wrapped a piece of Cocoa grosgrain ribbon around the seam in the middle. I matted that piece to a card base that I made from a piece of 4.25" x 11" White Daisy cardstock.

I stamped the tree from the Always Grateful stamp set in Cotton Candy ink and then added some Stardust Glitz Glitter Gel to give it some sparkle, although it’s hard to see in the photo. I adhered it to the card with 3-D Foam Tape. I finished it off with a sentiment from the Yuletide Greetings stamp set. I will probably add a piece of the Washi Tape to the outside of the envelope as well.

I love using non-traditional colors and patterns on my cards (and it’s even better when it’s pink polka dots.) *Ü*

Sunday, December 8, 2013

December Creative Club - Christmas Kraft Container


Do you need a last minute gift for a teacher, neighbor, co-worker, or friend? This adorable, customizable kraft container is a perfect way to wrap a gift for anyone! Because it comes with an alphabet stamp set, you can stamp any name or sentiment on your container! The Christmas Kraft Container Kit (December’s Creative Club project) is now available to order. (There will not be a physical class this month.)


Stamp your teacher’s name, your co-worker’s name, your neighbor’s name, or just a friendly “Merry Christmas” or “Happy Holidays” sentiment on your container. The choice is yours since you will have the whole alphabet including upper case, lower case, numbers and punctuation! Then fill your container with whatever you like. (I will be putting some Dark Chocolate Almond Bark and a gift card in this one for my daughter’s teacher.)


Your kit will also come with enough pre-cut flowers and Sparkles to make (3) small and (1) large poinsettia that can be placed anywhere you like on your container!


Each kit comes with a pre-cut tag and Baker’s Twine to attach to the Cello bag which is also included. If you would like me to pre-stamp your tag with the “Happy Holidays” sentiment and the“To” and “From,” please let me know in the notes/comments section when you place your order. Otherwise your tag will come plain. (Although, the snowflake stamp is included in the kit.)


The project kit is $40 and includes all of the following:

Add additional kits including: (1) Kraft Container, all pre-cut pieces, metal flower, (4) Sparkles, Baker’s Twine, and Cello Bag for just $5 extra! (If you are not local, a flat $5 will be added for shipping no matter how many kits are ordered.) 

Framework Alphabet stamp set - included


Single Snowflake mini stamp set- included 


Additional products needed to complete this project:
Ink Pads: White Daisy Pigment Ink PadCranberry Ink Pad
TopiaryCranberry Markers
Holiday Tags Stamp Set

Thank you for the great response.
Kits are now sold out.

To find out more about my monthly “no-commitment” Creative Club, click here. You do not need to be local to participate.

Monday, December 2, 2013

"Ho Ho Ho" Christmas Shadow Box


I have seen so many fun shadow box projects lately that I just had to try my hand at making one. I bought an 8" x 8" shadow box at Michaels. I think the box was regularly $9.99 and was on sale at 40% off. (Gotta love when things are on sale.) But even if it was full price, you could always us a coupon. I also bought two packs of mini ornaments (also on sale.) I have also seen some cute ones made with bells instead of ornaments. The amazing Melissa Lavery even made one using curled up paper that you can see here! Just make sure that whatever you choose to put inside of your shadow box, is small enough to fit.


Then I cut a piece of Close to my Heart Sparkle & Shine paper to 8" x 8" to fit inside. I put everything together and then measured the area that was not covered by the ornaments to figure out what size to cut my sentiment which ended up being 4". I used the Artiste Cricut cartridge to cut the fun “Ho Ho Ho” sentiment out of black vinyl. (Super fun and easy to do!)

I adhered the cut vinyl to the front of the glass and voila—a quick, easy, inexpensive Christmas gift was checked off of my list! I may add some ribbon around the frame with a big bow on top and attach a matching gift tag before I give it to the recipient.

Wednesday, November 27, 2013

Cyber Sale Weekend!

 HUGE Cyber Sale!
Thursday 11/28 - Monday 12/2

 

I have had a few requests for another Black Friday sale this year and I am more than happy to oblige. In fact, I decided to have a Black Friday sale that lasts more than just one day! The deals you see below are good from Thursday, 11/27 to Monday, 12/2 at 11:59 pm (Pacific Time). So you have 5 whole days to shop and save!

Have you been thinking about getting one of Close to my Heart’s Cricut Collections? Have you had your eye on the fun new Crush Books and coordinating Assortments? Do you have holiday gifts you need to buy? Whatever is on your Christmas list this year, now is the time to get it! Check out all of the great deals below and place your order online (select the Cyber Sale link) or email me your order no later than 11:59pm Monday, 12/2 to take advantage of these great offers!


Place an order of $25 - $50
Receive a free Dye Ink Pad of your choice or a Marker Set of your choice (up to $5.95 value.) This also entitles you to receive the Stamp of the Month for $5!*


Place an order of $51 - $75
Receive an A size stamp set (item # starting with an A) of your choice, or two M sized (mini) stamps (up to a $6.95 value.)
This also entitles you to receive the Stamp of the Month for $5!*

Place an order of $76 - $100
Receive a free B size stamp set
(item # starting with a B) of your choice or Level 2 Paper Pack of your choice (up to $9.95 value.) This also entitles you to receive the Stamp of the Month for $5! If your order is $100, you will also get to choose one of the stared items in the Holidays from the Heart Guide for FREE!*
Place an order of $101 - $149
Receive a free C sized stamp set
(item # starting with a C) of your choice or a free Level 2 Paper Packet (up to $13.95 value). This also entitles you to receive the Stamp of the Month for $5! If your order is $100, you will also get to choose one of the stared items in the Holidays from the Heart Gift Guide for FREE! (This is a total value of up to $49.85!)*

Place an order of $150 or more
Receive $25 in free products of your choice, PLUS a free D size stamp set
(item # starting with a D) of your choice (valued at $17.95.) You will also qualify to get a free stared item in the Holidays from the Heart Gift Guide and the Stamp of the Month for just $5! (This is a total value of up to $78.85!)*


PLUS, everyone who places an order during these five days will be entered into a drawing to receive a FREE Workshop on the Go Kit of your choice! (Winner will be notified on Tuesday 12/2.)



Be sure to email me your order by clicking here. or by clicking on the Cyber Sale link at the bottom of my website here
 
(If you place the order online, you can chose the $5 Stamp of the Month and the free goodie from the Holidays from the Heart Guide, but will need to email me with your choice of other free goodies.)
 
*Tax/shipping may apply to free items. $25 in free products by placing $150 order is subject to tax but shipping will not be charged.

These are my own personal specials and may not be honored by the CTMH Corporate Office or other Consultants.

Monday, November 25, 2013

Retiring List

http://lisa.ctmh.com/Retail/Products.aspx?CatalogID=2159

The Close to my Heart retiring list just came out! As sad as I am that CTMH will be retiring some of my favorite products, I know that it just means that they are making room for lots of fun new goodies in the Spring/Summer 2014 Idea Book which will be released on February 1st.

Be sure to check out this link to see everything that will be retiring and grab your favorites while you can because they are only available until January 31, 2014 or while supplies last.

Thursday, November 14, 2013

Handcrafted Holidays Blog Hop - Gift Wrapping Ideas

I am excited to be participating in another “Simply Inspired Blog Hop.”  This month our theme is Handcrafted Holidays. If you arrived here from the wonderful Karen Pedersen’s blog, then you are on the right path. Welcome!


I thought about making a handcrafted gift item to share with you, but since I always seem to struggle with how to wrap them in a simple, cute way, I thought I’d share some fun ways to wrap those holiday gifts using craft supplies that you probably already have on hand. Handcrafted wrapping goes hand-in-hand with your handcrafted gifts. (Plus they look really cute under the tree!)


My first wrapping idea is to use either kraft wrapping paper or paper bags (you know that big stack from the grocery store that’s piling up in your pantry) to wrap your gifts. The paper looks great when you stamp on it with Close to my Heart’s White Daisy pigment ink. The best thing is that kraft paper/bags soak up the ink nicely so it dries without having to heat set it. (A little tip for cleaning your stamps when using pigment ink is to use CTMH’s stamp scrubber. I don’t know if this is recommended, but Bath & Body Works Foam Hand Soap used with the scrubber always gets the pigment ink off my stamps really well.) I used the snowflakes from the Frosted Scrapbooking and Cardmaking Workshop on the Go kits for these gifts. You can even stamp on the tissue paper with a coordinating color if you like. Just make sure to put some scrap paper down first before you stamp on the tissue.



Using ribbon from your papercrafting stash is always a nice touch. I used CTMH’s Ruby Chevron Ribbon on my gifts. If you have any left over Dimensional Elements, go ahead and add them to your packages as gift tags. I happened to have some left over DEs from the Sparkle & Shine Compliments pack that I used on these packages. Super quick and easy!


Another idea is to personalize your gifts with the recipient’s name. On these gifts I used my CTMH Art Philosophy Cricut Cartridge to cut Hannah’s name by using Cricut Craft Room to weld the letters together. Who doesn’t love seeing their name on a gift under the tree?

Run out of wrapping paper? No worries. Head for your scrapbooking paper stash and wrap those smaller gifts in cute patterned paper like I did here. I used the Sparkle & Shine papers for these gifts.



Use a little left over ribbon and Baker’s Twine to dress up your packages. To make the ribbon rosettes, simply stitch some thread through the bottom of a piece of ribbon using a running stitch and them pull the end to gather the ribbon. Hot glue it to a cardstock circle by starting the in middle and wrapping it around. Tuck the end behind the circle and adhere it to your package. Add some small bling to finish it off.


One last idea if you don’t have a box or bag on hand for your gift, is to use your Cricut cartridges to create some fun packaging of your own. These two gift packages were created using CTMH’s Artiste Cartridge.

The gift “cracker” box was cut at 9" and decorated with a pinwheel cut at 1" also from the Artiste cartridge. The monogram letter was stamped in Ruby ink and added to the center. The ends were tied with some Seam Binding Ribbon.


The Santa bag was cut on a 12" x 12" piece of Ruby cardstock by selecting “Fit to Page.” The black bow was cut at 3/4". The white cardstock strip is 3-3/8" x 5/8"and the black cardstock strip is 7/16" x 3-1/2". The “belt buckle” is cut from a piece of Slate cardstock at 3/4" using the Art Philosophy Cricut Cartridge. This would be a great way to wrap a small item such as candy, jewelry or even a gift card.
 

I hope you were inspired to wrap your gifts in a new way this year. Your handcrafted gifts deserve handcrafted wrapping! *Ü*

Thanks for stopping by! Now head on over to Krista Hershberger’s blog to see her fun creation! Be sure to visit all of the blogs so you won’t miss any of the super fun and create ideas!

If you get lost along the way, feel free to click here or see the list of everyone’s blog below:
Dana Kessler
Sheri Rottler
Bren Yule
Debbi Fournier
Brenda Rose
Melissa Laverty
Carolyn Johnson
Lynn Como
Karen Pedersen
Lisa Stenz (you are here) *Ü*
Krista Hershberger
Michelle Snyder
Diana Veenendaal
Blythe Shupe
Pamela O’Conner
Rebecca Cross

Sunday, November 10, 2013

Sneak Peek at the new Picture My Life Scrapbooking Program

I was so excited when Close to my Heart announced that we will be coming out with the new Picture My LifeScrapbooking Program in the Spring/Summer Idea Book. I was even more excited when they announced that new Consultants who sign up anytime from November 1 - December 15, could earn one for FREE!** Feel free to visit my New Consultant FAQ page to read about all of the wonderful benefits of becoming a Consultant including being able to earn a new Picture My Life Kit™ of your choice for free! (All you will need to do is place $300 in orders by March 31st and you can choose one of the kits below for free!)


Scrapbook dozens of photos in no time at all with the new Picture My Life™ scrapbooking program, designed with the signature Close To My Heart design flair. Select from eight* charming themes, each featuring 122 double-sided cards plus 10 unique Memory Protectors™ to capture life as it happens. Whether you choose to embrace a single theme in your album or mix and match for a truly unique look, you’ll love the ease, affordability, and beauty of the Picture My Life programs, each based on a popular My Reflections™ paper packet. Even better, you can earn yours free when you sign up as a Close To My Heart Consultant between November 1–December 15, 2013** (a $24.95 value!)

Avonlea Kit


 Babycakes Kit


Chantilly Kit


Later Sk8r Kit


Laughing Lola Kit


Surf’s Up Kit


Are you as excited about this new Scrapbooking Program as I am? Aren’t the kits darling??? (Plus there will be two more patterns to choose from that haven’t been released yet.) The eight kits will be available to order on February 1, 2014.

If you’d like information on joining my team so that you can earn one for free, feel free to visit my New Consultant FAQ page here.

If you have questions about signing up, feel free to contact me.

If you are excited and ready to sign up now, click here for the online application.


*Not pictured: two Picture My Life™ scrapbooking programs to be released with the February–July 2014 Idea Book. The Picture My Life Chantilly scrapbooking program will not be available until February 1, 2014. Images shown represent only a sampling of the designs in each program.

**To earn your choice of one Picture My Life scrapbooking program free, new Consultants must remit $300 in orders by March 31, 2014. Other criteria apply.

Monday, November 4, 2013

Washi Tape Anniversary Card


My husband and I are celebrating our 13th wedding anniversary today! I never thought I could love him more than the day I married him, but I do! Every day I love him more and more. *Ü* Of course I couldn’t let this special day go by without giving him a handmade anniversary card. I used the fun technique shown in the video below to make his card.

Because of the shimmer/shine on the silver Washi Tape, it’s hard to see the pattern in the photo below.


I brought the card shape from Close to my Heart’s Artiste Cricut cartridge into Cricut Craft Room and then added the word “Love” also from the Artiste Cartridge and welded them together. I cut the shape at 5" from a piece of Cranberry cardstock. Then I used CTMH’s silver Washi Tape behind the cutout as shown in the video. I added a Bitty Sparkle inside the heart and stamped the sentiment from the November Stamp of the Month called Illuminate. To finish off the simple card, I added one more piece of Washi Tape on the inside at the bottom.


I stamped the envelope with a cute sentiment from the upcoming December Stamp of the Month called Special Care. (This set will be available to order on December 1st.)

Watch the video below to learn how to make your own Wacky Washi Tape card.


 Have a great day!!! (I know I will.) ;)

Friday, November 1, 2013

November Creative Club Project - Sparkle & Shine Notecard Box


November’s Creative Club will be held on Thursday, November 21 at 7pm. We will be making this festive Sparkle & Shine Note Box Set which is a revised version of this one that we made last year.  It includes the box, (6) 3" x 3" cards and envelopes, a pen, lots of extra chipboard shapes, and more! I initially made this project for a blog hop and have had so many requests to order the kit that I thought it might be a good idea to offer it as this month’s Creative Club project.


The project kit is $28 and includes the following:
You can add the Sparkle & Shine WOTG stamp set or the Magical Days stamp set (see photos below) to your kit for just $17 each or add both to your kit for just $32 extra! (If you are not local, $8 will be added for shipping.) 


Sparkle & Shine WOTG stamp set


Magical Days stamp set


Additional products needed to complete this project:
Ink Pads: Chocolate and Ruby
3-D Foam Tape

You will have lots of cute Dimensional Elements chipboard shapes left over to use on your gift cards, packages, etc.
 

The Dimensional Elements are perfect for decorating the top of your box.


You will make (3) each of these two cards.



You will even learn how to make dividers for the inside of your box.


ETA: Thank you for the wonderful response. 
This class is now full, and all kits are sold out. Sorry.

To find out more about my monthly “no-commitment” Creative Club, click here. You do not need to be local to participate.