Seasonal Expressions 1 - International Stamp Sets

It is my hope that you are enjoying my posts highlighting products from Seasonal Expressions 1. I know when I first get a catalog that it takes me a few passes to see how items from different pages can be used together to create something beautiful.

Only a few of the International Stamp Sets actually appear in Seasonal Expressions 1 – those in French and Spanish that were introduced in Seasonal Expressions 1:

Seasonal Expressions 1 - USA version - page 109

There were two French and two Spanish stamp sets introduced in SE1. Here they are again with a link to their product page on my Consultant Website:

Merci Beaucoup [French] (B1660)	Joyeux Anniversaire [French] (B1658)
Muchas Gracias [Spanish] (B1659)	Piñata de Cumpleaños [Spanish] (B1661)

There are a few more French and Spanish stamp sets under the International category of stamps on my Consultant Website that do not appear in Seasonal Expressions 1:

introduced in Holiday Expressions 2018
Temporada Navideña [Spanish] (B1619)	Feliz Navidad [Spanish] (B1620)
Saison de Noel [French] (B1622)	Joyeux Noel [French] (B1623)
introduced in Seasonal Expressions 2 2018
Cinco de Mayo [Spanish] (C1717)	Mi Familia [Spanish] (B1602)
Petits Bonheurs [French] (B1598)	this space intentionally blank
introduced in Annual Inspirations 2017-2018
Avec Amour [French] (C1700)	Invitation [French] (C1701)
Quinceañera [Spanish] (B1580)	Vamos a Celebrar [Spanish] (B1579)
Te Quiero [Spanish] (M1190)	Felicidades [Spanish] (C1694)

There are several stamp sets on the International Stamp Sets page that are Australia and New Zealand-themed. Three appear in the Seasonal Expressions 1 released in Australia and New Zealand:

Seasonal Expressions 1 - Australian version - page 109
(the stamps sets are the same in the New Zealand version)

Here are the Australia and New Zealand stamp sets again with a link to their product page on my Consultant Website:

Fairy Bread (C1775)	Loving New Zealand (B1662)
Happy Australia Day (B1663)	this space intentionally blank

There are a few more Australia and New Zealand stamp sets that do not appear in Seasonal Expressions 1 under the International category on my Consultant Website:

Mini Waitangi Day (M1203)	Kia Ora (C1698)
Happy Christmas (B1621)	this space intentionally blank

Finally, there are many ways children refer to their maternal parent: mom, ma, mama, mam, mum, mother, I am sure there are more that I am not thinking of. While it would be nearly impossible for any stamp company to produce stamp sets for each word used for our maternal parent, CTMH has created this stamp set for those who use mum:

Game Day (D1829E)

I hope you enjoyed seeing the variety of international-flavored stamp sets that CTMH offers. The Shop Now button will take you to my Consultant website where you can see the other products that were introduced, read full products descriptions and place orders.

If you have any product questions, do not hesitate to email me. You will also find me on Facebook at Brenda's Paper Crafts. Thanks for visiting today.

CTMH Specials for January

Today, starting at 2:01am EST, is the first day to take advantage of Craft with Heart™ Subscription Special.

Through the end of January, while supplies last, when you sign up for a 12-month Craft with Heart™ subscription you will receive one free Family Ties Cut Above® layout kit in your first subscription box!

Each kit comes ready to assemble with pre-cut paper pieces, die-cuts, stickers, Memory Protectors™ and instructions. The only other supplies you need are adhesive, 3-D foam tape, a journaling pen, and a paper trimmer to trim your photos.

Craft with Heart™ Subscription Special Flyer
download PDF of flyer

Visit the Subscriptions page of my Consultant Website to subscribe or read the subscriptions FAQ. There, and on my January 10th post, you will also find photos of each of the eight layouts from the first 12-month subscription shipment.

Other specials continuing through January are the National Papercrafting Month — Frame It Up, Celebrate 35 Years (Alphabet Stamp Savings) and Heart Happy (Heart Happy continues through the end of February).

The Frame It Up special is Magnolia Frame kits which contain everything you need (except adhesive) to create this beautiful home décor piece. When you purchase 2 on the same order you save 15% each and when 3 or more are purchased you save 30% each. Hostesses who reach the third level or higher of Hostess Rewards and those who become a CTMH Consultant during January will be able to receive a Magnolia Frame kit for free, while supplies last.

National Papercrafting Month — Frame It Up
download PDF of flyer

I first told you about the Celebrate 35 Years! special earlier this month. Though the end of January there is 35% saving on alphabet stamp sets!

Celebrate 35 Years! Flyer
download PDF of flyer

There are two choices for Heart Happy - Heart Happy Special or Heart Happy Album. Both are available until February 28 while supplies last.

With the Heart Happy workshop, you can make one 12" x 12" layout, two 12" x 12" single pages, ten cards, and five tags.

Heart Happy Workshop Flyer - page 1 download PDF of 2 page flyer

Heart Happy Workshop Flyer - page 2 download the Workshop Guide

Visit my earlier blog post about Heart Happy Special to see larger photos of the the items you will create when you purchase the Heart Happy Special and follow the Workshop Guide.

The Heart Happy Everyday Life™ workshop takes this paper packet in a different direction. Use this workshop to create a 6" x 8" Everyday Life™ album perfect for documenting any subject, including you and what you're currently loving!

Heart Happy Everyday Life™ workshop - 1 download PDF of 2 page flyer

Heart Happy Everyday Life™ workshop - 2 download Workshop Guide

If you have any questions about the current CTMH specials, please use the contact form to the right to reach me. You will also find me on Facebook at Brenda's Paper Crafts. Thanks for visiting today.

Seasonal Expressions 1 - Operation Smile™ stamp set

With the introduction of Seasonal Expressions 1, a new Operation Smile™ stamp set was revealed.

Operation Smile™: Be Yourself (D1825)

The stamp set and this one-page layout are featured on the back cover of the Seasonal Expressions 1 idea book.

created with Operation Smile™: Be Yourself

Each time someone orders the Be Yourself stamp set, CTMH donates $7 to Operation Smile to assist them in their important mission of providing facial surgeries to underprivileged children around the world.

In addition to the new stamp set, CTMH also released two new designs of Operation Smile T-Shirts.

Operation Smile® Beauty Is a Light T-shirt

Operation Smile® Just Smile T-shirt

For each of Beauty Is a Light and Just Smile T-shirts purchased, CTMH makes a $5 donation to Operation Smile. The T-shirts are available in sizes x-small to 4X.

There are still some shirts of the previous design available.

Operation Smile™ Simple Smile Pink T-shirt

Operation Smile™ Simple Smile Grey T-shirt

Unfortunately only select sizes are available in the pink and grey designs. Visit the Operation Smile™ page of my Consultant Website to learn what sizes you can choose from.

Another way to support Operation Smile™ is to round up your order when making payment. Any amount helps.

I hope you will join CTMH in supporting this effort.

Seasonal Expressions 1 New Product Blog Hop

Welcome to the Close to My Heart Seasonal Expressions 1 New Product Blog Hop! This is a special hop from the group that brings you the SOTM Blog Hops. Today we are featuring crafty makes introducing products from our new Seasonal Expressions 1; all projects were created by talented Close To My Heart consultants.

On this hop we have about 15 participating CTMH Independent Consultants. If you just happened upon my post, clicking the link to the next blog (typically found near the bottom of the page) will take you full circle.

If you are visiting from ***Katy Taylor's An Inside to My Heart...one scrap at a time*** then you are on the right track; a complete list of participants can be found at Melinda Everitt's If You Bling It.

I created this shaker card using the new Something Fierce papers and Years of Sweetness stamp set.

I really wanted to use the cupcake frame around "it's your day", but felt I needed to dress it up a bit so it would stand out from the shaker frame, but not overpower it. I used the hide contour tool in Cricut Design Space on the frame and cut that from the lighter side of Carolina cardstock. To create a second cupcake layer I used the slice tool and then cut it from the darker side of Carolina and added the Clear Shimmer.

When I stamped my cupcake wrapper, I swiped the stamp over the ink pad to create the look of a vertical line. I stamped the first layer of frosting using second generation ink, but stamped it like that twice; the first time is was so pale that it almost looked like I did not stamp. The second time I was not as careful to stamp off the entire stamp and I love how it turned out. I was so happy with it I considered not using the second icing stamp. I inked the flame with Lemon and then just touched the left side to the Nectarine.

I decided the cupcake needed more definition so I duplicated the cupcake image I stamped on, unlocked it so I could adjust the height and width independently then changed the sizes until I found one I thought would look good layered with my stamped cupcake; not a full "shadow" layer, but enough so it creates dimension.

By the way, if you are fairly new to using Cricut image codes (the #M code near the size and handbook page on stamp sheet carriers), I recently wrote a post you may find helpful. I detail (with screenshots) how to use the image code to add and size the Cricut cut that coordinates with the stamp to your virtual mat in Cricut Design Space.

I hope you enjoyed your visit today. Before you head to your next stop on the Seasonal Expressions 1 Blog Hop, ***Melissa Robinson's My Heartfelt Sentiments***, product details about my card are below.

All supplies are from Close To My Heart except where noted:

• My Acrylix™ Stamp Sets: Years of Sweetness (D1827)
• White Cards & Envelopes Value Pack (X254)
• Paper Packet: Something Fierce (X7240B)
• 12" X 12" Cardstock: White Daisy (X6027), Lemon (X6008), Carolina (X5990)
• Exclusive Inks™ Stamp Pads: Lemon (Z2808), Nectarine (Z6510), Carolina (Z6505), Bluebird (Z6508), Willow (Z2807), Mink (Z2825)
• Shaker supplies: Thin Cuts—Shaker Window & Confetti (Z4309), Shaker Window Foam & Acetate (Z4310), Loose Sequins—Silver (Z4304)
• Thin 3D Foam Tape
• embellishments: Shimmer Brush—Clear (Z3293)
• Cricut® Artbooking Digital Collection/no cartridge (Z3503)
• Cupcake Frame ― #M473B9 ― page 87 ― Shift + Photo Mat 2 <Wish>
• Cupcake ― #M45678 ― page 87 ― Icon <MakeA>
• my Design Space file with a shadow layer and frame layer
• Cricut® Explore Air™ 2 (available at Level 3 of Hostess Rewards; see page 3 of Seasonal Expressions 1)
• Cricut® Cuttlebug™ (available at Level 1 of Hostess Rewards; see page 3 of Seasonal Expressions 1)
• Supplies not from Close To My Heart: Tim Holtz Stamp Platform

If you are not already working with a CTMH Independent Consultant, you may purchase all of the supplies I used at my Consultant website.

I love to hear what folks think about the items I create. If you have a few moments, please leave a comment letting me know what you think of my card. Thank you for hopping with us!

So you do not have to scroll back up, the next stop on the hop is ***Melissa Robinson's My Heartfelt Sentiments***.

Seasonal Expressions 1 - Cricut® Compatible Stamp Sets

I hope you have been enjoying my posts about the new items in Seasonal Expressions 1 because today's post is also about new products.

While there are no new Cricut® Collections, there are three new Cricut® Compatible Stamp Sets. When looking at the stamp set images in Seasonal Expressions 1 or online, the coordinating images are outlined in red.

Congrats You Did It (C1767) page 81 compatible with Cricut® Artistry Digital Collection (Z3500)	Thank You Frame (B1647) page 82 compatible with Cricut® Artistry Digital Collection (Z3500)
Years of Sweetness (D1827) page 85 compatible with Cricut® Artbooking Digital Collection (Z3503)	this space intentionally left blank

In addition to the cut size (height) and handbook page number, in the past year or so Close To My Heart added the image code to the stamp carrier sheets.

If you are not familiar with how to use the image code, here is an example to add the cupcake image from Years of Sweetness to your Design Space virtual mat.

Click on Images as you typically would to add any image to your Design Space virtual mat.

Images button

In the Search Box, enter the image code. You need to include the leading #. Then click the magnifying glass (or hit the enter key).

The image will appear on your screen. Click on the image once so a green box will be added around it (and a thumbnail of the image will appear near the bottom of the screen). Then click Insert Images.

This is your default virtual mat once the image is added.

Once the image is on your virtual mat, you need to set the size (height) to match the size on the stamp carrier sheet. On the stamp carrier sheet the sizes are listed as fractions, for the cupcake the height is listed as 2¾", but you will need add it in Design Space as a decimal which is 2.75". If you hate fractions and decimals you only need to remember ¼" is 0.25", ½" is 0.5" and ¾" is 0.75".

When the cupcake is added to your virtual mat, two layers are added. Click "UnGroup" to separate the two layers.

Click once to select the top layer. You can then drag the top layer to the side (or click the red "x" to delete the layer).

Cut the image and start stamping.

Please come back on Sunday to see what I created using one of the Cricut Compatible stamp sets for the Seasonal Expressions 1 New Product Blog Hop. I share my Cricut Design Space file at the bottom of my blog hop post.

Thank you for stopping by my blog today. Have a fabulous day!