It Is Time to Get Organized with Workspace Wonder™ Week

Celebrate the Close To My Heart 35-year milestone with a week of savings on the incredible Workspace Wonder™ line!

Workspace Wonder™ is a customizable system which allows you to stack individual components into a configuration that is just right for your craft space. The savings started earlier today and are only available through 1:59 am EST on Friday, March 1 (that's 11:59 pm MST on Thursday, February 28) This offer is only valid while supplies last. Please ignore the date on the image; I don't know what calendar I was looking at.  
 

Workspace Wonder™ Week Flyer - page 1

Workspace Wonder™ Week Flyer - page2

Workspace Wonder™ Week Flyer - page3

The Workspace Wonder™ flyer is also available to download here.

Don't forget that February's Anniversary Special, Workspace Wonder™, only lasts one week – while supplies last.

Seasonal Expressions 1 - Cut Above®

Today's focus is on the Cut Above® items in Seasonal Expressions 1. The Cut Above® layouts kits are found on pages 68–69. The Cut Above® layouts kits also have coordinating Picture My Life™ Cards.

The Cut Above® layout kits include materials to make 10 coordinating 2-page scrapbook layouts, including die-cuts, stickers, photo placeholders, and instructions. They also include 11 top load Memory Protectors™.

Cut Above® Layout Kit	Coordinating Picture My Life™ Cards
Cut Above® Layout Kit—The Story Begins (Baby Boy) (Z3382)	Picture My Life™ Cards —The Story Begins (Baby Boy) (Z3368)
Cut Above® Layout Kit—The Story Begins (Baby Girl) (Z3383)	Picture My Life™ Cards —The Story Begins (Baby Girl) (Z3388)

This video shows what comes in a Cut Above® kit, assembly of a page and the completed pages in an album:

Here are the two-page layouts you will create when you follow the suggestions in the Guide; of course, you can mix things up to create something that works best with your photos.

Baby Boy	Baby Girl
Baby Boy - Layout 1	Baby Girl - Layout 1
Baby Boy - Layout 2	Baby Girl - Layout 2
Baby Boy - Layout 3	Baby Girl - Layout 3
Baby Boy - Layout 4	Baby Girl - Layout 4
Baby Boy - Layout 5	Baby Girl - Layout 5
Baby Boy - Layout 6	Baby Girl - Layout 6
Baby Boy - Layout 7	Baby Girl - Layout 7
Baby Boy - Layout 8	Baby Girl - Layout 8
Baby Boy - Layout 9	Baby Girl - Layout 9
Baby Boy - Layout 10	Baby Girl - Layout 10

When you purchase either the Baby Boy or the Baby Girl Cut Above® kit, you can save 30% on the My Legacy™ album of your choice! Take advantage of this offer by adding a layout kit to your shopping cart. Once the kit is in your cart you will see a light green bar appear near the top of the screen that says "Congratulations! You qualify for Stamp of the Month and Album Add-On Special and..." Click on "Album Add-On Special" to be taken to your shopping cart then look in the green Promotional Items area for an "Add your album" link. Be sure to add your album by following these steps otherwise you will likely not receive the 30% discount.

The Close To My Heart’s Craft with Heart™ subscription shipments are also Cut Above® kits. The subscription details are on page 11 of Seasonal Expressions 1.

Seasonal Expressions 1 - page 11

When you sign up for the 4-Month or 12-Month subscription, you will receive the materials to make the eight two-page layouts below. You may also choose a Monthly shipment. If you sign up for a Monthly shipment today, you may choose to start immediately with the February kit or delay and start with the March kit.

January Layouts
February Layouts
March Layouts
April Layouts

If you would like to compare the three subscription options, they are outlined on page 11 of Seasonal Expressions 1 and the Subscription page of my Consultant Website. If you have any questions about the subscription itself, there is an excellent FAQ on the Subscription page. If you cannot find the answer to your question, please reach me using the contact form to the right and I will do my best to find you the answer.

I hope you enjoyed this Cut Above® tour of Seasonal Expressions 1 post. 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.

Thin Cuts Blog Hop

Welcome to the Thin Cuts Blog Hop! This is a special hop from the group that brings you the SOTM Blog Hops. Today we are featuring crafty items created with Thin Cuts.

On this hop we have almost 20 participating bloggers. 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 ***Gina Brandstetter's Gina's Little Corner of StampinHeaven*** then you are on the right track; a complete list of participants can be found at Melinda Everitt's If You Bling It.

I used the Thin Cuts—Stitched Rectangle Frames to cut a top fold card which I made into a Valentine's card for my great-niece Emma.

I was not good about taking photos while creating this card to show the steps and measurements I used to create this card. If you would be interested if me creating a longer post for how I created the card base, let me know in your comment. I was able to cut an envelope for this card from a piece of copy paper using the free Cricut Image "Envelope - #M4131B"; I unlocked the image and set the width at 8.4" and the height at 6.98".

Unfortunately I did  not anticipate how popular the next collections would be. Earlier this month I needed some Thank you cards. I love both the Butterfly Friendship and Budding Peony collections and I was aware this hop was coming up, so I combined all of those reasons to create these cards. We were lucky enough to get more stock of the Butterfly Friendship option, but sadly the Budding Peony collection is no longer available.

On the Budding Peony card layered several of the images using 3-D and Thin 3-D Foam Tape. I stamped the "Thank You" sentiment three times with Sugarplum to ensure the ink was dark enough to read against the patterned background. I was very happy I decided to use a stamping platform at that point. I am not sure if it is due to wearing glasses or how I have my lighting set up, but I often see a halo which makes it difficult re-aligning to stamp a second time.

On the Butterfly Friendship card I used two of the stems from Budding Peony and strategically added a butterfly to make it appear the stem is one longer piece. To make the patterned paper pop a bit more off the card base, I used a Sponge Dauber to ink the edges. To make the sentiment pop, I layered it with black cardstock.

While the following project is not new, I would like to remind you that you can use basic shapes to create anything but basic embellishments. For example, I used the Basic Circles to create flowers for my alternate version of the Butterfly Mobile Papercrafting Project CTMH featured last February.

I hope you enjoyed your visit today. Before you head to your next stop on the Thin Cuts Blog Hop, ***Laurel Seabrook Designs by Laure Seabrook***, product details about my card are below.

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

• Butterfly Friendship Stamp + Thin Cuts (Z4263), Budding Peony Stamp + Thin Cuts (Z4264) - the bundle is no longer available, but the stamp is available - Budding Peony (D1831)
• Thin Cuts: Basic Ovals (Z3328), Stitched Ovals (Z4187), Stitched Rectangle Frames (Z4260)
• Stamp Set: Got Snow? (available with Hostess Rewards)
• Paper Packet: I Heart Us (X7242B), Mix-in (X9003)
• 12" X 12" Cardstock: Sugarplum (X5989), Black (X6028)
• specialty papers: Watercolor Paper Pad (Z4243)
• White Cards & Envelopes Value Pack (X254)
• Exclusive Inks™ Stamp Pads: Pewter (Z2832), Sugarplum (Z6500), Intense Black (Z4189)
• Thin 3-D Foam Tape (Z2060), 3-D Foam Tape (Z1151)
• Tools: Watercolor Pencils (Z4242), Waterbrush—Small Round (Z3224)
• Cricut® Cuttlebug™ (available at Level 1 of Hostess Rewards; see page 3 of Seasonal Expressions 1)
• Cricut® Explore Air™ 2 (available at Level 3 of Hostess Rewards; see page 3 of Seasonal Expressions 1)
• Supplies not from Close To My Heart: Tim Holtz Stamp Platform; copy paper

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 cards. Thank you for hopping with us!

So you do not have to scroll back up, the next stop on the hop is ***Laurel Seabrook Designs by Laure Seabrook***.

President's Day Flash Sale - 5 Hours Left

Technically there are 4 hours and 59 minutes remaining, but that does not work well for a blog post title. [insert big grin]

The President's Day Flash Sale has been well received. Some items, teased in the email from the Corporate Office, sold out before I could visit my Consultant Website to view what was included; unfortunately I had an errand on my way home so I was unable to check the sale until 7pm.

Be sure to visit my Consultant Website to see which current and retired items are still available for 20%, 30%, or even 50% off! Thank you for your support!

President's Day Flash Sale Starts Now

The 24-hour President's Day Flash Sale (part of the Close To My Heart 35-year celebration) just started on my Consultant Website.

Be sure to visit my Consultant Website to learn what current and retired items are 20%, 30%, or even 50% off!

Coming Tomorrow - President's Day Flash Sale

A 24-hour President's Day Flash Sale is coming to my Consultant website as part of the Close To My Heart 35-year celebration!

This sale will include a variety of current and retired items at 20%, 30%, or even 50% off! The sale starts at 5:00 pm on Monday, February 18 and will end at 4:59 pm (EST) on Tuesday, February 19. All of the flash sale deals will only be available while supplies last, so you'll want to visit the sale early!

Here are a few things to keep in mind about this sale:

• Sale prices are only available on orders placed on my Consultant website.
• The sale features a selection of current products at 20–50% discounted prices. A limited number of these items set aside for the sale, and the Corporate Office expects to completely sell through several of them because of how great the deals are. Once the allowed amount is sold those items will no longer be available so shop early!
• Any current items that sell out during the sale will return to availability at normal price once the sale has ended.
• All discounted items count towards Stamp of the Month qualification.
• Shipping and handling is based on the full retail value of the sale items.
• There is no grace period for ordering sale items; you must complete your purchase by 4:59 pm (EST) on Tuesday, February 19.

Be sure to visit my Consultant website during the Flash Sale to learn which items are available at a discount. Thank you for visiting tonight!

Seasonal Expressions 1 - Story by Stacy™

Continuing with our tour of items available in the Seasonal Expressions 1 Idea Book, today's focus is Story by Stacy™. Story by Stacy™ was developed with Stacy Julian.

Seasonal Expressions 1 – page 16

Seasonal Expressions 1 – page 17

Story by Stacy™ is featured on pages 16 through 25 of Seasonal Expressions 1. There are three workshop kits: Stories I Love, Short Story and Story Starter. Each comes with an instructional workbook to guide you though the steps to create your album.

Story Starter was the first Story by Stacy™ item introduced. Here is a brief video Stacy Julian created about Story Starter.

The available Story Starter items are shown on pages 22 through 25 of Seasonal Expressions 1.

Story Starter
Colorful Texture (D1784)	Quotable Words (D1786)
Story by Stacy™ Story Starter Workshop Kit—Dots (Z4207)	Story by Stacy™ Story Starter Workshop Kit—Candy Apple (Z4208)
Story by Stacy™ Story Starter Workshop Kit—Stripes (Z4209)	Story by Stacy™ Story Starter Bundle (Z4272)

The next Story by Stacy™ item introduced was Short Story.

Short Story is found on pages 20 and 21 of Seasonal Expressions 1.

Short Story
Simply Said (C1725)	this space intentionally left blank
Story by Stacy™ Short Story Workshop Kit—Black & White (Z4217)	Story By Stacy™ Short Story Workshop Kit—Lagoon (Z4218)

Stories I Love was introduced in Seasonal Expressions 1 and this video was released in January 2019.

Stories I Love is found on pages 18 and 19 of Seasonal Expressions 1.

Stories I Love
Details I Love (C1758)	Story by Stacy™ Stories I Love Workshop Kit (Z4256)

I think the stamps and any leftover embellishments easily mix and match across Workshop Kits.

Recently the Close To My Heart Make It From Your Heart blog had a post "Love This Life: Documenting the Everyday with a Mini Album".

When I saw that post, I was thinking that we often concentrate on the big moments and special occasions, but in future years grandchildren and great-grandchildren will wonder what a typical day or week is like. My great-grandmother kept a diary where she also wrote down routine things like how many eggs the hens produced and what prices they got for them. It is fun learning about how they lived before my grandfather was born, while they were raising him and what their lives were like as they had grandchildren.

Be sure to document some of the routine so future generations will know how we live life now, before fully autonomous cars for example. Have a great day!