Close to my Heart FLASH SALE - June 1st through June 2nd

Close to my Heart is so excited for the arrival of summer that we're celebrating with a one-day flash sale on my website! The sale will begin Thursday, June 1 at 2:00 pm PDT (3:00 pm MDT; 4:00 pm CDT; 5:00 pm EDT) and it will end at that same time on Friday, June 2. This sale will feature a 30% discount on selected products and product bundles from Annual Inspirations and Seasonal Expressions 2.

Sale prices will only be available on orders placed through my website during this sale. All discounted items ordered as part of this sale count toward Stamp of the Month and Hostess Rewards qualifying order totals. As usual with discounted items, shipping and handling will be based on the full retail value of sale items.


In addition:  Looking for a great way to preserve and protect your memories? We’ve got you covered! In June, buy one My Legacy™ album and get a second at 50% off*!  *Discount applied in cart; album selections subject to availability.


Happy FLASH SALE and album shopping!

Flower Market Chrysanthemum Cardaholics May 2017 Card

I created my Cardaholics card and thought you'd like to see.  : )  This month's challenge was to have a flower.  I love our Flower Market cartridge and wanted to use a flower from there.  I had LOTS to choose from!  I settled on the chrysanthemum flower.  Well, here, take a look.

I started with a 4.25" x 4.5" piece of Background and Texture (B&T) paper.  The above B&T paper is from La Via En Rose (retired).  This the actual card I'm exchanging.  Below I used Some Kind of Wonderful paper (retired).  On the back side of the paper, I measured 1.5" from the top (4.25" width of the card) and marked on the LEFT side.  I then measured 1.5" from the bottom and marked the RIGHT side.  Next, you'll cut from those two marks (yes, you are cutting the opposite direction than the card, but that's because we marked the back side).  So, now you have the correct orientation of the B&T.  The bonus is that you can make 2 cards from 1 piece of paper.

The B&T gets adhered to the upper portion of the card.  Below that I added White Shimmer Trim (Z3024).  I liked it, but thought to dress it a little bit more.  That's when I reached for my Rose Gold Foil Tape (Z3218).  I put that right on top of the shimmer trim.

Problem, Will Rogers!  The Foil Tape is a lot like Washi tape and doesn't stick well.

Liquid Glass (Z679) to the rescue!!  I put a very thin line of Liquid Glass down on the center of the Shimmer Trim, placed the Rose Gold Foil Tape on top, and cheers all around!!

Now the flower.  I doubled all of the colors rather than having even more shades of the flower.  The Chrysanthemum can be found on page 47 of the booklet.  The colors I used (from back to front) were Sapphire (X5774), Pacifica (X5759), Lagoon (X5762), Crystal Blue (1292), Glacier (X5770), and Sea Glass (X5789).  To glue each layer together, I used Bonding Memories (Z553 or 1512).  I then adhered the entire flower to the center of the Rose Gold Foil Tape with Liquid Glass.  Finally, I finished the flower off with a White (or Black) dot from Black and White Dots (Z3314).

The saying is from the Flower Market Cricut Bundle (Z3285 or digital Z3290) stamped in Black ink (Z2805).  Shop for your supplies to make your own!

Patriotic Paper Banner Wreath - 4TH OF JULY

Kristine goes through the Georgie Paper pack (RETIRED) but at 1:26 minutes into the video, she'll explain how to make the wreath.  You don't have to watch the whole thing...




Banners can be made using Artistry or Flower Market Cricut Collections.  I'm going to use this technique for Fourth of July.



Let me tell you what I did, using this video as inspiration.

As I said, after watching this video, I knew I wanted to make a patriotic wreath.  I found a foam wreath at the Dollar Tree to wrap.  I cut 5 Sapphire (X5775) strips measuring 2" x 12" (just like in the video), 7 Cranberry (1272) strips, and 6 White Daisy (1385) strips.  I clustered the 5 Sapphire strips first, then alternated the Cranberry and White Daisy strips, starting and ending with the Cranberry.

**NOTE:** I used Liquid Glass (Z679) to adhere the ends of the strips together, not tape runner.  I don't know if it's the wreath width, but the tape runner was not strong enough to keep the ends of the cardstock together.

I bannered each strip and then fanned them out so they overlapped by about 1.5".  I then added a little bit of  Liquid Glass to the paper where it overlapped.  That way the strips would stay in place.  Finally, I cut out 2 large, 2 medium, and 1 small Thin Cut Heart Outline (retired) and added Liquid Glass to the stars and adhered them to the wreath.

To the back, I added a 2" piece of thick twine, again with Liquid Glass, so I could hang my creation.  Shop here to get your paper supplies.  Now I'm ready for Memorial Day and the Fourth of July!

Watercolored Laugh Floral May 2017 Stamp of the Month Card

I fell in love with the stamp set as soon as I saw it.  Have you seen it yet?!  Let me show you!

The words are large, but still fit on a card.














Here is my sample of which I'm happy with.  It makes me smile whenever I see it!  : )

I modified an old pattern for this card and updated with new papers, so it looks fresh.  Don't you love it?!

See how the letters are large, but still easily fit on the front?  Each word is one stamp so you won't have to worry about lining up each letter.

I knew that I was going to watercolor the letters so I stamped "Laugh" in Brown Staz-on ink (Z1142).  I chose Brown because of the beachy look I was feeling.  The letters and flowers on the letters were colored with our Watercolor Pencils (3505).  The background is Desert Sand, and the flowers are Hydrangea, Crystal Blue, Citrus Leaf, Bubblegum, Ocean, Sunflower (for the centers), Sunny Yellow, Olive, and Star Spangled Blue.  Then the background was softened with the Tombow Blending Pen (3174) - thus the reason for the Staz-on ink (no bleeding).

The wood plank background and texture paper, cut at 2" x 5.5", is from No Worries paper packet (X7220B) as is the Lagoon water B&T paper (cut at 1" x 4.75").  The stand alone flowers and leaves:  The dark one is Sapphire ink (Z2848) on Sapphire cardstock (X5775); Glacier ink (Z2841) stamped on Colonial White cardstock (1388) and colored with Crystal Blue and Sunny Yellow (with a hint of Sunflower); and Sweet Leaf ink (Z2853) stamped on Sweet Leaf cardstock (X5639) -  all cut out by hand.  The Sapphire flower and one leaf are raised with Thin 3D Foam Tape (Z2060).

The ribbon comes from the Rustic Home Ribbon Pack (Z3292).  I cut off the extraneous part of the ribbon - again, I was going for beachy.  Lastly, I added the sequins from No Worries Sequins (off white) (Z3322).

Did you spot the difference between the cards?  I started with the top one by stamping directly onto the card front.  But after adding the bottom papers, flowers, and embellishments, I didn't like how the word was lower than the rest.  So I colored and cut a separate word then mounted each letter with Thin 3D Foam Tape.  A little more time and labor intensive....  So, for the bottom card, I cut a 2.25" x 5.5" piece of Colonial White cardstock and stamped "laugh" on it.  That piece of cardstock was then mounted on the top of the card with the rest of the goodies.  "Laugh" is now on the same level, and I'm happy!

Now it's your turn to go create something with these awesome products.  You might need to purchase them first, though.