New Cricut Artbooking Cartridge Collection from Close to My Heart

I received my preview copy of the new Close to My Heart exclusive Cricut cartridge called Artbooking, and have been playing around with some of the features.  So far I am loving this cartridge!  It is really easy to create super cute 2 page layouts using one key.  The cartridge has 700 images, so there is so much to use in my scrapbooks, on cards, and in my home decor items.  (That is a whole new area I am venturing into!)
Here is what the bundle looks like:

It includes the cartridge with case & user manual, 3 stamp sets that have images that fit perfectly on the cuts, and 3 sheets of chipboard dimensional elements that also coordinate with the Cricut cuts. Cost of the stamps & chipboard is $68.70 when purchased separately, so that means this fabulous cartridge (with 700!!!! images) if it could be purchased separately would only be $30.30!  With waaayyy more images than "normal" Cricut cartridges, Close to My Heart shows again why they are leaders in the papercrafting industry.  I love this company. 

The cartridge will cut 10 mini-albums, and 30 2-page layouts with embellishments for each.  They will be complete after you cut and put them together.  Just add your photos.  How simple is that!

I will be posting some of my artwork samples as I finish them, so check back.

Close to My Heart offers Tornado Relief

The tornado in Oklahoma has had a devastating effect and Close To My Heart wants to help. To aid relief efforts, Close To My Heart is making a new Autumn/Winter 2013 stamp set, A True Thank You ($2.95 retail), available immediately and will donate 100% of the profits from sales of the set from May 23 through June 30 to the American Red Cross. Help us provide relief to those affected by the Oklahoma tornado by ordering the A True Thank You stamp set (M1029).  You can place your order on my website: http://coastalcropper.ctmh.com/Retail/Product.aspx?ItemID=7493&CatalogID=710

Here is an outline of the stamp set.  It will fit on a 2x2 block.

I love working with a company this generous.

National Scrapbooking Month Close to My Heart Special

In honor of National Scrapbooking Month, you can get a special paper packet
for only $10 when you spend $35 in May (valued at $19.95 retail). This paper
packet includes 12 cardstock sheets as well as 12 B&T Duos® papers that
were specifically designed for this promotion only—you can’t get the paper
packet anywhere else! Start National Scrapbooking Month off right with a
unique paper packet at a bargain price and get your creative juices flowing!
Also, consider hosting this month: Hostesses receive one paper packet free
with qualifying May Gathering sales totals of $400 or more.
 

* Shipping/handling and tax apply. Not available for purchase at full retail. Offer valid May 1–31,
2013, while supplies last. Qualifying purchases must be current, retail-priced product.

I just received my preview pack and it is FABULOUS!  I'm so excited about this glossy designed cardstock.  I'm hoping it's something they will add to our product line.  As soon as I have a chance to create some projects with the pack, I will post my creations.

Coastal Croppers Spring Crop was a Success!

We had a FABULOUS time at our Spring Crop this past weekend.  It was so much fun and several of the girls commented on how relaxing it was to get away and just do something they felt they had been putting off-taking time for them and to document those memories. Here's a recap of some of the things we did:

We had a layout challenge using a page from the new Surf’s Up paper pack. (p. 52 in the Spring/Summer Idea Book) Here is one entry:

How cute is that??  You can look on my facebook page https://www.facebook.com/coastalcroppers to see the other entries and the winner.

The challenges are always optional, so if you don’t want to take away from your crop time by participating, you don’t have to.

  

We had lots of cool door prizes, with opportunities to earn extra tickets throughout the crop.  The food was delicious and the best part was we didn’t have to fix it, or clean it up! 

The last day, we always have croppers pick one project they completed over the weekend and then everyone votes for their favorite.  We had a 3 way tie for the winner!  Here are our scrappin’ celebrities with their winning entries:

Everyone had a great time.  We are already marking our calendars for the Fall crop which will be September 27-29. Hope you can join us!

Cricut Craft Room Fun

At our recent team meeting, we explored some ways to use the Cricut Craft room on cricut.com.  I had been seeing several things people had made using CCR, but had not had a chance to work with it myself.  I have to say that I love it!  You can play around with any image from any cartridge, and cut with any cartridge you own.  We used the Artiste cartridge from Close to My Heart which you can order on my website here. 

The phenomenal thing about the CCR is that you can overlap images and then cut them.  We cut the turkey image and lined up the circle image to cut out of his middle so we could add the adhesive-backed treat cups that CTMH carries.  I think the card turned out great!  Thanks to Tina Sutton and Jennifer Romito for the card design and the CCR tutorial.

August Mystery Hostess

I am holding a drawing for a mystery hostess for any orders I receive between now and July 31st.  Someone will get FREE stuff!  The amount of free products won will depend on how many orders are placed, but it is a minimum of $25 worth of FREE stuff.  There are 2 ways to enter.  You can go to my website http://coastalcropper.ctmh.com/ look at the bottom right of the page and it will say "Join one of Jennifer's Gatherings" and you will see the August Mystery Hostess listed.  Click join and you can place your order right from my website, and it will be shipped directly to you.  I will get a notification, and will enter you in the drawing.  As a bonus, there is a special promotion going on directly from Close to My Heart, that if your online order equals $75 or more, you also get a free paper pack and coordinating accessory.

The second way to enter is to contact me by July 31st with your payment and order.  I will enter it myself, and you will also be eligible for the drawing.  Orders placed this way will be delivered to my house.  My regular monthly club members already have one entry this way, just by placing next month's order, but if you would like 2 chances, you can also order through the website!  2 orders=2 entries in the drawing for local girls!

Pop-up treat holder

I'm trying out ideas for Valentine favors, so I thought I would give you a peek at my first attempt. Let me know what you think! I got this idea from Tresa Black, a fellow CTMH consultant. She does fabulous youtube tutorials. It was really super easy and didn't take much time.

Event Calendar

Sorry these are not in order! They didn't upload the way I thought they would. But you get the idea. :)
















This is a cute calendar that I have recently been holding workshops to make. It is an event calendar, which means that it doesn't have the days listed so that it can be used over and over from year to year to remember birthdays and anniversaries, or anything else that occurs on the same date each year.

Christmas Mini-Accordion Album

I had a lot of fun creating this cute little 6x6 accordion album using a Close to My Heart paper pack called Mistletoe.

Scratch and Sniff

Did that title get your attention? This is a technique we learned at our last consultant's meeting--how to make your cards or scrapbook pages scratch and sniff. The cherries on this card smell delicious!

1. Stamp your image in whatever color ink you want.

2. Clean your stamp, ink whatever part you want to smell with versamark ink, then stamp over top of colored one. Close to My Heart's acrylix stamps make this step super easy, since they are clear and you can see how to line up your image.

3. Sprinkle with a mixture of equal parts clear embossing powder and unsweetened jello in your preferred "flavor."

4. Use heat gun to set embossing mixture.

5. Wait for mixture to cool, then scratch and sniff!

Looking for Christmas Gift Ideas?

The holidays are fast approaching and we all have those people on our lists that are impossible to buy for. They don't need more "stuff," but they would love something with a personal touch from you. Classes are coming up that will help you design and handcraft the perfect gift for those special people on your list.

Here is a preview:

















Ornaments-personalized with Christmas images and/or photos, these make great teacher gifts, personalized tags for gift bags and boxes, and gifts for grandparents and special aunts and uncles. You might just want a few for your own tree!
















Event Calendars-These make perfect gifts for grandparents! Never forget a birthday or anniversary again. These perpetual calendars can be displayed and used year after year, they never go out of date.

2011 Calendars-These calendars are multifunctional-a calendar and a scrapbook in one! Fill with photos for family and friends to enjoy, or let them add their own photos. Because this calendar is 12x12, at the end of the year you simply cut off the binding and place the pages in your scrapbook album. Include a faux leather album for grandparents and they will have a scrapbook to enjoy for years to come.

Christmas Cards-Nothing says, "You're special to me" like a handcrafted card made with love. Treat your special ones with a beautiful card especially made for them. From stamped and layered to photo frames, there is a Christmas card workshop to fit your need.

Check my website for class details, or leave a comment to find out how to get one of these fabulous kits shipped directly to you.

Here I Am!

I have decided to move my blog over to blogspot so I can make it cuter! I started out on wordpress because that was what people I knew were using, but I couldn't get the layout to do what I wanted it to. I'm positive it was just due to user error, LOL. I am quite technically challenged, although I do try. I find that I can do most anything once someone SHOWS me how to do it, but I'm not very good at figuring out website design and such on my own.

So this blog will be anything scrapbook or papercraft related, just as my other one was. I hope to be a much more consistent blogger now. I enjoy sharing tips and techniques, as well as hearing what other people are doing in their crafting. So be sure to leave me your comments!

Here is a card that we did at the last team meeting I attended. It uses the August stamp of the month from Close to My Heart which you can get at a discount or even FREE. This one was made by Tina Sutton, my upline, but we all made ones just like it!

This is a bleach tecnique. The piece with the flower started out as colonial white cardstock. We then brayered it with sunflower (yellow) ink over the entire piece. We stamped the flower and sentiment with versamark ink and then embossed it with CTMH chocolate embossing powder. Here's the fun part-take a paint brush, dip it in bleach, and paint it on the petals. The ink color will disappear, but the background color will not because our cardstock is printed, not dyed. Cool, huh?