Tag: Holiday

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NEW Holiday Expressions Idea Book is Filled with Sparkly New Products!

If you are like me, just a look at the front cover of our new Holiday Expressions Idea Book will make you start drooling!

There is so much to love about this  catalog! Here’s my top 10 — be sure to click the links to get all the details.

1) New Color of the Year: Sugarplum! You can add this beautiful new purple to your projects with cardstock, ink, glitter paper, glitter gems or shimmer brush.

2) 10 more new colors which mix beautifully with our other colors to create a brand new 40 color palette.

3) New How To Book: Love of Color which provides three color combinations for each of the colors in our palette. No more creative blocks!

4) Five New Paper Collections: Boutique, Hello Pumpkin, Grateful Heart, ‘Tis the Season and Oh What Fun. Each of these collections includes a patterned paper pack, coordinating cardstock pack, complements (mixed media set), embellishments, stamp sets, scrapbooking workshop and card-making workshop! Wow!!!

Boutique Artwork

5) New Shimmer Brushes colors: Add sparkle plus color to your projects with the new Red, Black, Mint and Sugarplum shimmer brushes. Here’s a video showing our complete shimmer brush line up.

6) New Christmas Cricut Collection: Seasons of Joy!

This collection includes several ready to cut cards and scrapbook titles shown above plus several fun 3-d images like this wreath.

7) Shaker Window Thin Cuts and Foam & Acetate: Use the dies to cut the window and confetti, then use the double sided foam adhesive and acetate to create a custom window card or layout like the “Beware” layout below.

8) Stencil sheets and Texture Paste: It’s so much fun to create my own stencils on my Cricut then transfer these to my projects using the texture paste. I love the dimension this adds.

9) Short Story Albums Kit from Story by Stacy: I made one at convention and am excited to use this fast method to remember other events in my life. 

10) Craft Organizers: I love the the footprint for these new storage containers is several inches larger than 12″, so I can use them to carry full sheets of paper and even albums and other large items.

There are so many other things, I could list, but I better stop there. Thanks for reading to here! 

If you’d like to see everything plus some beautiful artwork, you can flip through a virtual copy of the Idea Book on my website. You can also see all of the products in my online store. Please let me know if you’d like more information about any of these products.

Have a creative Saturday,

Rebecca

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Join the #scrap20 Page Challenge (August 2018)

Ready to get your scrap on? I’m excited to invite you to join me in August for the #scrap20 Challenge. Through this challenge you’ll get some pages done, share artwork and earn a chance to win a PRIZE! Read on to learn why I created this challenge and how you can participate. 

This fall, there are going to be a lot of changes around our house. My one and only daughter is headed off to college. Her presence here will truly be missed, but I have to admit that I am looking forward to a little more time (in theory?) to work on my projects. I’m looking forward to doing more of what I love: Scrapbooking!

Background

The primary reason I joined Close To My Heart in 2010 was to get a discount on beautiful scrapbooking supplies. However over the years, I’ve gradually filled more and more of my creative time with working on projects for my business, leaving less time to work on my personal scrapbooks. Although “catching up” is certainly a motivator, the primary reason I created this challenge is to get back to a hobby that I love!


Thus, I now declare to you “starting in August I’m committed to finding more time to work on my memory albums”. Now, I’ve been around long enough to know that making a general statement like that is not enough to get it done. To succeed, I need to set a specific target and that my odds of success improve greatly if I share my goal with someone else.

Setting a Target

As with any task, the best way for me to make progress in my scrapbooks is to break down what I need to do into manageable steps and set a numerical goal. Based on my other commitments, I figured most weeks, I should be able to find time to do 2 or 3 layouts. That averages out to around 20 pages per month. I’m targeting 20 completed pages in August.

A key word in my target is “completed”. I’d be embarrassed to count the number of incomplete pages I have — in fact many are 90% done (many just missing journaling). To be clear, I’m making a rule to only going to count COMPLETED pages. That means that the pictures are attached, journaling is done and the pages are in the appropriate album on the shelf. 

However, I will allow myself to count previously incomplete pages that I put the finishing touches on. Hopefully, this will motivate me to do that last 10% left to be done and drive up my complete pages count up.

Sharing my Goal (#scrap20 Challenge)

Life is always more fun with friends! So I’d like to invite you to join me in the #scrap20 Challenge if you are like me and needing some motivation to make time for scrapbooking. For me, it’s so easy to let work, Facebook, cooking, cleaning, Facebook, shopping, church, reading, Facebook, talking on the phone and Facebook fill up all the extra time in my life. So, let’s put down our smart phones and pick up a paper trimmer and get some pages done in August! 

Are you in? 

Need another incentive? How about BRAND STINKIN’ NEW SCRAPBOOKING PRODUCTS? One lucky participant in the challenge will receive a prize bundle from the yet-to-be-released Holiday Expressions Idea Book!!! This beautiful catalog has five beautiful new paper collections, tons of embellishments, new tools and so much more. You will love it! 

To participate in this challenge, simply click on the link below to register. 

Join the challenge!

To be eligible for the drawing, comment about your progress on the weekly Challenge Update Post that will go live each Friday afternoon. In these weekly posts, I’ll update my counts and show you some of the pages I’ve completed. You may want to bookmark this page so it’s easy to come back. Or join my mailing list and you’ll get a blog post summary in your inbox each Friday evening. You can earn one drawing entry EACH week and you have until the following Thursday at midnight to post your progress.

Important note: Regardless of how many pages you create during August, you are eligible to win the prize bundle if you participate and post update(s). The important thing is that you set a goal, create some pages and log your progress! 


If you are a Close To My Heart consultant, you are welcome to play along, but you will not be eligible for prizes. 

More Fun

Let’s motivate each other by sharing pictures of our completed pages! There are two ways you can share:

1) Add a link to your pictures in the blog comments when you post your progress.

2) Use the hashtag #scrap20 when you post pictures of your pages on Social Media.

Summary of Steps:

1) Register for the challenge

2) Create 20 (or more or less) scrapbook pages in August

3) Post pictures of your layouts using #scrap20 hashtag

4) Log your progress each week at showmescrapping.com

I’m excited about this challenge and hope you will join me! Now let’s go knock out some pages!

Rebecca

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Christmas In July Details

Now that the Christmas in July sale is up, I can give you a few more details. In this sale, you’ll see past holiday stamps, papers and embellishments. In addition, there are a lot of Gold & Silver items on sale. You’ll also find some everyday items like CRICUT Cartridges at half price!!!

Some of these are current, but they will only be available while the inventory put aside for the sale lasts. Once gone, they will disappear until the sale is over at 3 pm tomorrow and reappear at regular price. So check it out and get your order in before they are gone!

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September ushers in new products, kindness and more!

It is hard to believe that September 2016 is here! It still feels like summer here in Missouri even though the calendar says Fall is getting near. With the arrival of September comes the Holiday Expressions Idea Book, National Stamping Month and much more. In this post, I’m going to summarize all the great things happening at Close To My Heart this month.

Read on to learn more about:

  • New Holiday papers, stamps and more!
  • Kindness mini-cards 
  • Blessed Beyond Measure

1. New Holiday Products

I am lovin’ the new Holiday Expressions Idea Book and I think you will too!

This new catalog is bigger than our last seasonal book and includes four new paper collections for Halloween, fall, Christmas and winter. Each collection includes a decorative paper pack, solid cardstock pack and embellishment packs. Use these products to create your own projects or take advantage of the scrapbooking and card-making workshops.

All of these products are now available in my online store, or you can flip through a copy of the Idea Book online. Start shopping now>>

2. Create Kindness Mini-Card Kit

To celebrate National Stamping Month, I’m offering an exclusive kit for sweet little cards that you can use to spread kindness.

The complete kit includes 24 decorative mini-cards, circles for stamping and envelopes plus 8 stamps, a block and archival ink all perfectly packed in a small organizer. You get the best deal when you buy the complete kit, but each of these items are also available individually. Learn more>>

3. Blessed Beyond Measure Stamp Set

Even those of us city-dwellers appreciate the fall season of Thanksgiving.  TheSeptember stamp of the month, Blessed Beyond Measure, includes lots of great sentiments to express a heart full of gratitude.

In addition, there is a pumpkin and leaves that coordinate with images on the Artbooking Cricut cartridge.This stamp set is exclusively available in September. Get it for just $5 when you place a $50 order! 

Start shopping now>>

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Festive Friday Blog Hop: November Edition

Welcome once again to the Festive Friday blog hop! On one Friday each month through December, you can hop through our blogs to holiday cards, layouts or home decor items using the amazing new products in the Autumn/Winter 2013 Idea Book. I hope you enjoy this paper “eye candy”! Just one more reason to love Fridays!

Follow these links if you missed my earlier posts:

– August Post

– September Post

– October Post

If you came here from Diane’s blog, The Happy Scrapbooker, then you are on the right track. Your hopping path is circular and you will visit each of us by following the links.

This month, I’ve decorated a My Creations Star with the Frosted Paper. The first thing I did was ink the outer edges, ridges and valleys of the star with Champagne ink.

Cutting the paper to cover the star was made much easier using a template provided by Close To My Heart. You can access it HERE. Simply print this page on a 8.5″ x 11″ sheet of paper. You can either cut five pieces of decorative paper using the first pattern and fold each one in half to cover each point of the star. Or you can ten pieces using the second pattern. 

I choose to use the second so I could use all the beautiful prints in the Frosted paper pack. As I cut them out, I laid them out to find the best order. 

The Peace banner is from the Artiste Cricut Cartridge (page 80). To make the centerpiece, I stamped Classy Doily (B1424) twice on Champagne and Frosted Blue cardstock. I trimmed the Champagne image down to the 10-pointed star and the Blue one to the 5-pointed star in the middle. 

I used several layers of foam tape to get the banner and star to be flat. The final touches are a couple Small Sparkle Flourishes and a small flower from the Base & Bling Floral Accents assortment.

Be sure to check back on December 13th for our next installment of the Festive Friday Blog Hop. But for now hop on over to Michelle’s Wandering Scissors blog, your next stop in today’s hop.

Here’s a complete line up of the hop:

1. Diane Tuggle2.Rebecca Brown (you are here!)3.Michelle Bowley  4.Carol Loftus5.Linda Pekrul6.Jamie Barney7.Paige Dolecki8.Mary Ellen Driggs9.April Grigson10.Theresa Miller11.Brenda Lapp12.Ashley Denny13.Mary Schwimwer

Keep Creating!

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You could be the Holidays From The Heart Mystery Hostess!

Over the last week, I’ve posted several projects using products from the new Holidays From The Heart Gift Guide. This mini-catalog contains lots of brand new items – both Christmas and everyday theme that would make perfect gifts.

This catalog comes with a great deal! Choose one “star” product FREE for every $100 of retail-priced items in your order from the gift guide or the Autumn/Winter 2013 Idea Book. Look for the starred items throughout the guide.

View Holidays From The Heart Gift Guide >>

I’ve decided to make ordering even more fun by having a Mystery Hostess gathering. You earn one entry for each $25 you order. Be sure to join the current Holidays From The Heart Gathering when you place your order.

The first drawing for hostess rewards will be on November 14 for all orders placed by that date. A second mystery hostess gathering will run from November 15 through December 15.

Order directly from my website or call/email me with your order.

Keep creating!

Rebecca

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Festive Friday Blog Hop: October Edition

Welcome once again to the Festive Friday blog hop! On one Friday each month through December, you can hop through our blogs to holiday cards, layouts or home decor items using the amazing new products. I hope you enjoy this paper “eye candy”! Just one more reason to love Fridays!

Follow these links if you missed my earlier posts:

– August Post

– September Post

If you came here from Diane’s blog, The Happy Scrapbooker, then you are on the right track. Your hopping path is circular and you will visit each of us by following the links.

This month, I’ve made this Nativity easel card.

Here’s a look at the front of the card when it is closed.

The card opens from the bottom. Here’s what you find on the inside. 

The papers at the bottom of the inside allow the card to stay open when you stand it up.

Here’s a side view of the card when it is standing.

Materials:

Sparkle & Shine Paper Pack (X7176B)

Mary and Babe Stamp Set (C1562)

Silver Glimmer Trim (Z1799)

Clear Sparkles (Z1752)

To make this card, I used Beate’s directions found HERE.

Be sure to check back on November 15 for our next installment of the Festive Friday Blog Hop. But for now hop on over to Michelle’s Wandering Scissors blog, your next stop in today’s hop.

Keep Creating!

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Holidays From The Heart – Santa Gift Box

Welcome to the Holidays From The Heart blog hop!  I’m so excited to see what everyone made with the new products in the 2013 Close To My Heart Gift Guide! These items go on sale today! 

This mini-catalog comes with a great new deal: When you spend $100 you get one of the starred items from the Gift Guide FREE!

Ever since the Artiste Cricut cartridge was released, I have been wanting to make this box found on page 55 of the handbook. 

I’m not sure if there is a name for this type of box, but I’m calling it the “All-in-one” box because the lid is connected to the box.

Fortunately, the cartridge comes with an assembly instruction book. After a few trials and errors, I got it figured out.

Once assembled, lifting the lid opens the box so it can be filled with Christmas goodies. Isn’t that the coolest thing ever?

Supplies:

Sparkle & Shine Paper Pack (X7176B)

Santa Claus Stamp Set (C1567)

Slate & Juniper Ink Pads

Artiste Cricut cartridge

Artbooking Cricut cartridge





To see more projects using Holiday Gift Guide products, visit my fellow CTMH consultants participating in this hop by clicking on the photos below. 



This blog hop is open for members of the CTMH Blog Boosters. Please do not enter if you are not a member of the group. If you are a consultant, you can join the group on facebook. If you are interested in becoming a consultant, I’d love to help get you started!



Keep creating,



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Scandinavian Wishes Blog Hop

Welcome to our October Stamp of the Month Blog Hop! This month’s stamp from Close To My Heart is “Scandinavian Wishes” and is available exclusively through your Close To My Heart consultant from October 1 – 31, 2013. This month you can receive this stamp set for $5 with a qualifying purchase of $50. 

If you don’t already have a consultant you are currently working with, please contact one of the consultants on our hop with any questions you have.

If you have just hopped onto my blog, please start at the beginning at Lucy’s blog – Love 2 Create. If you came from Scrapper’s Therapy then you are in the right place!

My project today is super simple. You may notice the red outlines on several images on the stamp set. Each of these shapes are available on the Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge. 

The first image — a fancy square — is on page 53 of the cartridge handbook. The stamp set carrier sheet tells you to cut the square at 2″ for the image to fit exactly. 

However, instead of cutting the square, I decided make the folded square card on the right. Since the front of the card is the same fancy square, the stamp fit it perfectly when I cut it at 2″.

The stamp included “To:” and “From:”. However, since I’m making a folded card gift tag, I wanted to stamp the pretty greenery on the front and the words on the inside. So I (gasp!) cut the stamp apart. This is much easier than masking and you can always reassemble the stamp on the block if you want on a later project.

Here’s the front of my gift tag card:

And the inside:

Your next stop on our Scandinavian Wishes” hop is Pam’s Crafty Creations.

Here is the entire lineup in case you get lost along the way:

1. Lucy at Love 2 Create

2. Amber at Scrapper’s Therapy

3. Rebecca at Show Me Scrapping (you are here!)

4. Pam at Pam’s Crafty Creations

5. Traci at Paper Crafting 101

Thanks for hopping along with us – we hope we were able to inspire you.

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Festive Friday Blog Hop: September Edition

Welcome once again to the Festive Friday blog hop! On one Friday each month through December, you can hop through our blogs to holiday cards, layouts or home decor items using the amazing new products in the Autumn/Winter 2013 Idea Book. I hope you enjoy this paper “eye candy”! Just one more reason to love Fridays!

If you missed my post for the August edition, you can find it HERE. If you came here from Diane’s blog, The Happy Scrapbooker, then you are on the right track. Your hopping path is circular and you will visit each of us by following the links.

This month, I’ve got a fun Halloween mini-album to show you.

Everything in the album was cut using the Artbooking Cricut Cartridge (pages 54 and 55 of the handbook). I set the size dial to 5″ and everything was cut in proportion which made putting it together a snap!

To speed things up, I loaded all of the images I was cutting out onto mats in Cricut Craft Room and I saved the file to share with you. You just need four sheets of cardstock for the entire album. 

<Download File>

Here’s pictures of all of the pages:

Now it’s your turn…use the CCR file to create your own album. Please share a link to pictures in the comments. I’d love to see what you come up with.

Be sure to check back on October 18 for our next installment of the Festive Friday Blog Hop. But for now hop on over to Michelle’s Wandering Scissors blog, your next stop in today’s hop.

Keep Creating!

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