These cards come together really quickly using the beautiful White Pines Picture My Life Cards left over after making the album. I just added a little paper and a few embellishments. Quick, easy, yet lovely.
I know it seems early to start talking about Christmas preparations, but now is actually the best time to do your Christmas projects. In a couple months, time will seem to speed up. Wouldn’t it be nice to have a few handmade cards and a beautiful binder ready so you can focus on making memories?
At the Christmas in July workshop, we will decorate a Christmas notebook and make the first 6 cards of the season. The notebook has a two page spread for each day from December 1 through Christmas. It can be used as a holiday planner, a recipe book, traditions tracker or a photo album — you decide!
The Christmas in July workshop includes the following;
– 3-Ring Kraft Binder
– 25 Everyday Life Memory Protectors (13 with 4″ x 6″ pockets and 12 with 4″ x 3″ pockets)
– White Pines Picture My Life Cards (20 – 4″ x 6 cards and 36 – 4″ x 3″ cards)
– White Pines Complements Pack
– Coordinating solid and printed Picture My Life Cards (37 – 4″ x 6″ and 60 – 4″ x 3″)
– 6″ Box Card and envelope
– 5 Card bases and envelopes
– Paper and embellishments to decorate album and cards
These projects can be completed on your own or at my house on July 24.
Have you tried one of our new Workshop Your Way kits? These kits contain an amazing amount of product at a very affordable price. Three kits were introduced in the Seasonal Expressions Idea Book that was released in January.
The Penelope kit is perfect for your spring layouts and cards. The kit is designed to make three 2-page layouts (6 pages total), up to x Picture My Life cards and a set of 8 adorable cards.
You can download the directions on my Close To My Heart website on the kit ordering page by clicking on “Download Guide” under the “Add To Cart” button.
Watch this series of videos for additional help
Cutting Guide Video (hint, you can mute the audio for this one)
Scrapbook Layout Assembly Video
Cardmaking Video
Picture My Life Video
Have fun with your Penelope kit. If you have questions about any of the products of techniques used in these projects, please let me know.
Yesterday, I showed you a layout I made which showcased photo from a recent trip to the Missouri Botanical Garden’s Lantern Festival. I had a few more pictures of the beautiful lanterns that I wanted to included in my book. So I added a pocket scrapbook pages to my album with a few more of the pictures.
2019 Update: Our retired Cricut image collections are now available to purchase using my special Cricut link! The Artfully Sent Cricut collection was first released by Close To My Heart in 2014 in a physical cartridge bundle. It retired a few years later without being offered as a digital-only collection. This made all of these great images unavailable to anyone who was unfortunate enough to miss out on this cartridge while it was available.
This fall (2019), Close To My Heart began a new partnership with Cricut which allows all of our image collections, including retired collections like Artfully Sent, to be purchased using special links only available from Close To My Heart consultants! This is an exciting development because many of you missed these collection the first time around.
Note that the Artfully Sent images are also available in Cricut Access or can be purchased individually in Design Space for $1.99 for each project and $6.99 for the font. However, the best value is to purchase the full collection which includes all 700 individual images (projects plus font) for just $49.95. You can subscribe to Access or purchase the full collection on Cricut.com. (If you use the Cricut link in this post for your purchases, I’ll earn a small commission. Thank You!)
Both the flower and arrow cards are found on p. 17 of the handbook. The camera is an image on the new Artistry cartridge. I cut the third card out with the paper trimmer and a corner rounder.
I’m so excited to finally have the Artfully Sent Cricut cartridge in my hands and have been playing around with it. I can’t wait to show you my creations. However, first I thought it would be helpful to share with you some details about how to make the various types of cards on this cartridge. Today, we’re going to look at the Pocket (or Picture My Life) Cards you can make using the Artfully Sent Collection.
2019 Update: Our retired Cricut image collections are now available to purchase using my special Cricut link! The Artfully Sent Cricut collection was first released by Close To My Heart in 2014 in a physical cartridge bundle. It retired a few years later without being offered as a digital-only collection. This made all of these great images unavailable to anyone who was unfortunate enough to miss out on this cartridge while it was available.
This fall (2019), Close To My Heart began a new partnership with Cricut which allows all of our image collections, including retired collections like Artfully Sent, to be purchased using special links only available from Close To My Heart consultants! This is an exciting development because many of you missed these collection the first time around.
Note that the Artfully Sent images are also available in Cricut Access or can be purchased individually in Design Space for $1.99 for each project and $6.99 for the font. However, the best value is to purchase the full collection which includes all 700 individual images (projects plus font) for just $49.95. You can subscribe to Access or purchase the full collection on Cricut.com. (If you use the Cricut link in this post for your purchases, I’ll earn a small commission. Thank You!)
This week, I’m writing a series of posts showcasing all the types of cards available on this cartridge, plus the envelopes and font. Click the links below to learn more! I’ll update the list after the remaining posts in this series are available.
The Artfully Sent collection includes 100 pocket card designs. Note that half of these are designed to be cut 4″ x 6 and the other half are 3″ x 4″. Of course you can cut them any size you want, but be aware that if you change the ratio of length to width, the rounded corners may appear distorted.
4″ x 6″ Cards
3″ x 4″ Cards
There are also two blank cards — one 4″ x 6″ and one 3″ x 4″ — to cut out of coordinating paper. You can also put pieces of paper behind different cut outs to add more detail. Here’s a sample pocket card layout.
Even though these cards were made with pocket scrapbooking in mind, they can be used in many different ways. The thoughts and sentiments are perfect for your traditional scrapbook pages. Many are just as appropriate for greeting cards, home decor or other projects. The sky is the limit!
Want some more design inspiration? Watch this video:
Are you ready to get your hands (and Cricut machine) on this collection? Hop on over to Cricut using my special link to view and purchase from the Close To My Heart Cricut library!
September is National Stamping Month and Close To My Heart is celebrating all month long by giving away a fun stamp set with qualifying orders! To add to the fun, my friends and I are posting daily projects using the mini-stamps in the set.
Are you up for a challenge? You are invited to join us! Scroll to the bottom of this post for an invitation to post a link to your project using the #30yearsofhappy stamp set.
Arrow Picture My Life Card
Today’s #30daysofhappy project uses the arrow stamp. It was easy to find ways to use this stamp — almost every project can use an arrow or two!
I’m currently working on my scrapbook for our trip to Italy last year. In this album, I’m mixing traditional pages with “pocket” scrapbooking pages. This 4″x6″ card will fit on one of my pocket pages.
My supply list: Wanderful paper and My Crush Assortment pack.
Be sure to check back tomorrow, when Ellen at www.cardmonkeysjungle.com will share another project made using this fun stamp set.
Want to get your hands on one of this sets? Here’s how: Go to my CTMH website and pick out several stamp sets you love with total retail of $30 or more. This will be easy because there are so many great new sets to pick from! When you view your shopping cart, you will be prompted to add #30yearsofhappy for FREE!
Today, I realized that I never shared on my blog this adorable mini-album that we made at the Close To My Heart convention this summer. As you will see it is really easy to make following just a few simple steps.
1. Select a Picture My Life Program
Pick a Picture My Life Program that goes along with the event or theme of your mini-album. This is probably the hardest step because there are so many great Picture My Life kits! The cards for my mini-album are from the Chalk it Up program.
2. Choose Specific Cards.
You can make your album as thick or thin as you like. Mine includes10 cards. You will probably want all of your cards to have the same orientation — landscape or portrait. But hey, you can do whatever you want. The album will be small so turning it sideways for some pages isn’t a big deal.
Choose one of the cards to be your cover. Close To My Heart provided convention attendees with the exclusive cover shown above. Isn’t that awesome? But don’t worry, there are still hundreds of title cards to pick from!
3. Personalize!
This is the fun part. Make the album uniquely your own by adding pictures, journaling, stamping and embellishments. I’ve added a few photo mats on the pages shown below. (Sorry, have not printed my convention photos yet.) In addition, I added some stamping, stickers from the Chalk It Up Assortment set and mini-sparkles.
You will find that some pages don’t need any embellishment or maybe just a sticker or two.
4. Finish.
Punch holes along the left side of each card. Line up holes and thread a piece of ribbon through and tie in a knot. Make sure you leaves some slack in your ribbon. My first attempt was too tight and the album would not lay flat.
That’s all there is to making a Picture My Life mini-album. Close To My Heart has done most of the work for you by creating beautiful quality cards!
So, which Picture My Life set do you pick?
Just a reminder that you get the best deal when you order Picture My Life in August. For each program ordered, you can add a set of 10 page protectors for just $3!
Did you know that Close To My Heart’s medium organizer is perfect for Picture My Life/Project Life cards?
Here’s a picture of the contents of my dedicated Picture My Life organizer.
I took out a couple of the dividers in the back to make two sections for the 4×6 PML cards on the left and photos on the right (empty until I get them printed). The front sections from left to right are 3×4 PML cards, photos, My Crush 3×4 cards and 4×4 My Crush cards.
I cut all of the dividers on the joining images from Art Philosophy in Cricut Craftroom.
Ready to organize your Picture My Life cards? I’ve uploaded Craftroom files for both the 3×4 and the 4×6 dividers. (Note that I changed the style slightly — for the better — after I cut mine.)
To download the files, click on the link below the Craftroom screen shots below.This first file will cut three 4″x6″ dividers at a time. The dividers will have landscape orientation and fit in a double-wide section of the medium organizer.
The second file will cut six 3″x4″ dividers at a time. These dividers will have portrait orientation and fit in a single section of the medium organizer.
REMINDER: In August, when you purchase one of the Picture My Life programs, you can add an additional pack of Memory Protectors for just $3! Click here for more information>>
Last Friday, I posted a video (LINK) showing some creative non-scrapbooking uses for the Picture My Life cards including using them for greeting cards.
I was inspired to give it a try and made these two cards.
Both of these use cards from the Skylark Picture My Life Program. Each one uses one 4×6 card cut down to make the background for the greeting card. Then I cut up additional Picture My Life cards to add sentiments and embellishments. So quick!
Don’t forget that in August, when you buy a Picture My Life program, you can purchase a 10 pack of memory protectors for just $3! Click HERE to learn more>>
I hope these projects have inspired you to look at your paper products differently. Sometimes it is good to forget what original purpose is and think outside the box to find a new way to use them.
This month, I am promoting the new Picture My Life programs from Close To My Heart. These kits are already a great value at just $24.95 each, but during the month of August, when you buy one program you get an extra set of page protectors for just $3!
When you click the shopping link above, you will see sample cards from each of the 13 programs.
But don’t you want to see more?
My fellow consultant, Donna Digby of DAT’s My Style, took the time to photograph a complete set of cards for each of the programs! She generously granted permission for us to link to her blog so that you can see them to!
Here’s a thumbnail shot of all of the cards you get in the Surf’s Up kit.
Want more? Here are links to her blog posts in which she posted the pictures for each program:
Just a reminder, each kit comes with a total of 123 cards (44 – 4″ x 6″, 78 – 3″ x 4″ and 1 – 12″ x 12), plus a set of 10 Memory Protectors. During the month of August, double the number of Memory protectors to 20 for an additional $3. The regular price for a pack of 10 protectors is $9.95, so you are saving almost $7. Shop Now>> I love adding Picture My Life pages to my albums. The last couple years, I’ve inserted a page or two of “pocket” pages in the middle of my albums for the random summer pictures that don’t really warrent full layouts.
You can also use PML for all of your scrapbooking! The cards are so lovely, you will have your memories beautifully preserved in no time.
There are so many ways that Picture My Life cards can be used on your projects. The journaling and sentiment cards can be added to regular layouts. The lovely “title” cards make really quick greeting cards. You can also bind a few cards together to make quick mini-albums.
Picture My Life is Close To My Heart’s quick and easy pocket scrapbooking program. There are currently 13 kits to choose from. Mix and match these with your photos for really quick layouts.
HOWEVER, Picture My Life is not just for scrapbooking! You can use the beautiful cards for quick & easy handmade cards, mini-albums, home decor and more.
In this short video, Monica gives you an over view of what you get in each program plus some “out of the box” non-scrapbooking ideas.
In August, when you buy one of the 13 Picture My Life programs, you will get an extra pack of Memory Protectors for just $3. That’s a savings of $6.95.
