Birthday Card for an Avid Hunter

We have an relative whose birthday happens to fall on Christmas. This is the card we came up with them for their 2020 birthday.

Quarantine Christmas Birthday Card – front

To create this card I used paper from Happiness Lives Here (coming in the January–February 2021 catalog), Paprika cardstock, Quarantine Christmas (CC112026) – from Black Friday 2020, Through Thick & Thin (CC7211) – from National Scrapbooking Day Cardmaking Bundle 1 and A Little Sentiment (A1244).

Quarantine Christmas Birthday Card – inside

On the inside I used Through Thick & Thin again ("Just roll with it." and the TP image), Celebrating You (C1847) and On Repeat (CC5218) – retired (the year where the zeros look like the virus).

We are hoping that I will be able to put away all of the stamps that mention the pandemic soon. Take care of yourselves.

CTMH Boxing Week Sale Begins Today

This year Close To My Heart is having daily Boxing Week sales again.

CTMH Boxing Week Sale

I am told that there will be incredible deals each day from December 26 through December 31. Each sale day will begin at 2:00am EST (that's 12:00am MST) and expire in 23 hours 59 minutes later at 1:59am EST (that's 11:59pm MST).

During the sale discounted items can be found on the Promotions page of my Maker website. Sale items do not carry over to the next day. Also, all offers are available only while supplies last so, if you really want something, be sure to order early.

All discounted items ordered during the sale count toward earning VIP Credit and the Stamp of the Month at the discounted price or free for current VIP Customers (if you have not earned a free SOTM in December).

CTMH VIP Customer

It is not too late to take advantage of the VIP Customer introductory offer. If you sign up before the end of the day December 31, 2020 you will receive $25 in VIP Spending Credit, rather than the usual $15. Full details are on at the VIP Customer Program page of my shopping website. If you become a VIP prior to the Boxing Week Sale, you could use your VIP Spending Credit during the sale.

I hope you will have an opportunity to enjoy the last few days of 2020; perhaps craft, cook or do something else you enjoy. Best wishes for an even better 2021.

Wishing You A Happy Holiday

On this merriest of holidays I thought I would share some of the Christmas cards we sent this year.

While we typically prefer more traditional holiday designs, we thought in this unique year we would make an exception. I purchased the special on Black Friday and with some inspiration from other Close To My Heart Maker's, I created a few cards to share with family and friends who we thought would enjoy the humor. If we weren't sure, we sent more traditional cards.

All of the cards use Quarantine Christmas (CC115026) stamp set that was available during the Black Friday sale.

Oh Deer! What A Year! cards

In addition to Quarantine Christmas I used Comfort & Joy papers that were featured in the September–October 2020 catalog. I also used Scarlet Glitter Paper.

Snow-cial Distancing cards

I used several stamps sets on this card: Quarantine Christmas, The Jubilee Crew (C1879), Elegant Snowflakes (D1981), The Great Indoors (CC5217) – retired. I also used Serenity paper, Toffee cardstock and Blue Belle Glitter Paper.

Baby It's COVID Outside cards

On my final card I used Quarantine Christmas and Elegant Christmas and stayed with the blue tones with a touch of Toffee.

I think people enjoyed the lighthearted non-traditional Christmas cards; I received a phone call after one family received their card – I'd used the Through Think & Thin (CC7211) – inside their card. I truly hope I do not have a reason to use the Quarantine Christmas stamp set again in 2021. 

I hope you are having the merriest of holidays and wish you a very happy and healthy 2021.

Birthday Card for Nine Year Old

I recently created a birthday card for a young man turning nine years old. I selected bright colors and patterns to create the card – it is a little hard having a birthday during a pandemic.

birthday card for young man - card front

I covered the card front with the bolder star pattern from Party Time and Lagoon cardstock embossed with the retired Confetti Stars Embossing Folder. I used stamps and dies from Wishing You Everything to decorate the card. I added some extra stars using some Sizzix dies from my stash and I added their age using the Simple Serif Lowercase Thin Cuts and coordinating stamps.

birthday card for young man - card open

I carried the stars to the inside of the card; stamping some from Wishing You Everything and a die cut from Sizzix dies. I also added the year from Simple Serif Lowercase and a sentiment from Birthday Greetings (unfortunately this is retired).

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

• My Acrylix™ Stamp Sets: Wishing You Everything Stamp + Thin Cuts (Z3779) or Wishing You Everything Stamp Set (D1931), Birthday Greetings (D1899) - retired, Simple Serif Bundle (Z3865) or Simple Serif Lowercase (D1965) and Simple Serif Lowercase Thin Cuts (Z3761)
  
• Patterned Paper: Party Time (X8016B) or Party Time + Sticker Sheet (X8016S)
  
• Cardstock: White Daisy (1385), Lemonade (X6035), Lagoon (X5968), Sapphire (X5957), Green Apple (X6031)
  
• Exclusive Inks™ Stamp Pads: Lemonade (Z6517), Lagoon (Z2895), Sapphire (Z2848), Green Apple (Z6513)
  
• White Cards & Envelopes Value Pack (X254)
• Confetti Stars Embossing Folder (Z3119) - retired
  
• Die-cutting & Embossing Machine
  
• Supplies not from Close To My Heart: Sizzix Stars, Dotted (662731)
  

Now that a week has passed since their birthday, I can share the card. I hope the young gentleman like receiving this card.

Every Bit of Wonderful Blog Hop

Welcome to the Every Bit of Wonderful Blog Hop featuring the stamp set Every Bit of Wonderful. Every Bit of Wonderful is a special stamp set where $7 USD of the proceeds goes to help Operation Smile™ with their life-changing mission to provide cleft lip and cleft palate repair.

On this hop there are almost 15 CTMH Makers sharing projects created with the Every Bit of Wonderful. Our blog hop is a circle; visiting the next blog (typically via a link near the bottom of the post) will take you back to where you started.

Every Bit of Wonderful Blog Hop

You should have arrived here from ***Becca Whitham's Expressions***. If you get lost along the way, Melinda Everitt also keeps a list of all participants on her blog at If You Bling It.

For this hop I created a card.

card created for Every Bit of Wonderful Blog Hop

I started by stamping several of the stamps on French Vanilla cardstock using Intense Black ink and colored them with a variety of TriBlend™ Markers before fussy cutting. I splattered a piece of White Daisy with a Charcoal Shimmer Brush and, when it was dry, I started playing with the pieces I had. When I had a pleasing layout, I stamped some leaves (using Green Apple), flowers (using Intense Black) and a sentiment (using Black) directly on the cardstock, then used Thin 3-D Foam Tape and 3-D Foam Tape to add the fussy cut pieces. When I was sure the Intense Black ink was dry, I colored the little flowers with TriBlend™ Markers.

Before you head to ***Melissa Robinson's My Heartfelt Sentiments***, the supplies I used to create my project are listed below.

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

• My Acrylix™ Stamp Sets: Every Bit of Wonderful (D1977)
  
• Cardstock: French Vanilla (X6046), White Daisy (1385), Black (X6047)
  
• Exclusive Inks™ Stamp Pads: Intense Black (Z4189), Black (Z2805), Green Apple (Z6513)
  
• White Cards & Envelopes Value Pack (X254)
• Charcoal Shimmer Brush (Z3509) 
• TriBlend™ Markers
  

If you are not already working with a CTMH Maker, you may purchase all of the supplies I used at my e-commerce website.

If you have a few moments, please comment below and give me your impression of my card. I hope you are enjoying the projects created with the Every Bit of Wonderful stamp set. 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***.

CTMH Happiness Never Grows Old SOTM Blog Hop - December 2020

Welcome to the December 2020 SOTM Blog Hop featuring the stamp set Happiness Never Grows Old. This month there are just shy of 20 CTMH Makers sharing projects created with the CTMH Stamp Of The Month Happiness Never Grows Old. Our blog hop is a circle; visiting the next blog (typically via a link near the bottom of the post) will take you back to where you started.

Happiness Never Grows Old December 2020 SOTM

You should have arrived here from ***Becca Whitham's Expressions***. If you get lost along the way, Melinda Everitt also keeps a list of all participants on her blog at If You Bling It.

Happiness Never Grows Old December 2020 SOTM

Before I dive into the card I created for today's hop, I have to back up a bit. When I was working on the Jingle Joy Cardmaking Workshop (G1219), I didn't just want to wipe off my All-purpose Mat and throw the color away, so I spritzed the Abandoned Coral ink and used a piece of Distress Watercolor Cardstock to pick up the color. There was actually enough ink to color two pieces of Distress Watercolor Cardstock. This is one of them:

background for December SOTM Blog Hop card

Since this piece of Distress Watercolor Cardstock has been dry for awhile, I used Black Exclusive Inks™ rather than Intense Black Exclusive Inks™ Stamp Pad (Z4189) to stamp the edges of the Distress Watercolor Cardstock.

card created for December SOTM Blog Hop

I cut a piece of French Vanilla using the Stitched Rectangle Frames Thin Cuts and stamped the sentiment in Black. When I saw the Party Banners Thin Cuts on the Cyber Monday Sale page, I knew I wanted to use it to go with "Miss You!" (if you like this Thin Cut be sure to check out the Cyber Monday Sale before 11:59pm MST TODAY). I embellished the card with hearts from the Teddy Bear Hugs Stamp + Thin Cuts; you could use the Teddy Bear Hugs Stamp and fussy cut.

Before you head to ***Stefani Ewing's Stamp with Stefani***, the supplies I used to create my project are listed below.

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

• My Acrylix™ Stamp Sets: Happiness Never Grows Old—December Stamp of the Month (S2012), Teddy Bear Hugs (B1718) or Teddy Bear Hugs Stamp + Thin Cuts (Z3774)
  
• Cardstock: French Vanilla (X6046), Raspberry (X5974)
• Exclusive Inks™ Stamp Pads: Black (Z2805), Raspberry (Z2812)
  
• White Cards & Envelopes Value Pack (X254)
• Distress Oxide™ Ink Pads: Abandoned Coral (Z3825)
• Distress Watercolor Cardstock (Z3885), Mini Ink Blending Tool (Z3886), Mini Ink Blending Foam (Z3887), All-purpose Mat (Z2045)
• Party Banners Thin Cuts (Z4152), Stitched Rectangle Frames Thin Cuts (Z4260)
  
• Die-cutting & Embossing Machine (HB1080)

If you are not already working with a CTMH Maker, you may purchase all of the supplies I used at my e-commerce website.

I love to read what folks think about the cards I create. If you have a little time, please leave a comment letting me know what you think of my card. I hope you are enjoying the projects created with Happiness Never Grows Old—the December Stamp of the Month. Thank you for hopping with us!

So you do not have to scroll back up, the next stop on the hop is ***Stefani Ewing's Stamp with Stefani***.

Cyber Monday Sale & CTMH Facebook Page Events

Close To My Heart's Cyber Monday Sale continues until 11:59pm MST time tonight (which is 1:59am EST early Wednesday morning).

CTMH Cyber Monday Sale

All of the Cyber Monday Sale items can be found on my e-commerce website, but there are a few that I would like to draw your attention to, primary because the videos from the Close To My Heart Corporate Facebook Page Events and Workshop Guides are still available.

Blue Skies

Blue Skies was the collection released to celebrate National Scrapbooking Day in May 2020. There are four items from the Blue Skies collection included in the Cyber Monday Sale.

Blue Skies Cut Above® Layout Kit (CC5207)	Blue Skies Paper Packet + Sticker Sheet (CC5205)
Beautiful Day Stamp + Thin Cuts (CC5202)	Pinwheel Thin Cuts (CC5204)

The Facebook event took place on Saturday, May 2. Blue Skies was featured in the first segment that day. If you would like a closer look at the Blue Skies options and what you can create with them, I shared images on this blog post (please note all products on that blog post are not available). There are a few Workshop Guides you can download at that blog post. You will find a card workshop, a 6" x 8" Scrapbooking Workshop and a traditional 12" x 12" Scrapbooking Workshop. Just add some cardstock and you can create something fabulous.

Happiest Place

The Happiest Place collection was release in summer 2020. The five Happiest Place items were available during the Cyber Monday Sale when I wrote this.

Happiest Place Paper Packet + Sticker Sheet (CC7201)	Happiest Place Coordinating Cardstock (CC7203)
Happiest Place Acrylic Shapes (CC7204)	Happiest Place Stamp Set + Thin Cuts (CC7206)
Happiest Place Cut Above® Layout Kit (CC7208)	space intentionally blank

The Happiest Place Facebook "event" took place over three days. The Happiest Place Workshop Guide can be downloaded here.

The first Facebook event, on August 26, featured the Happiest Place Cut Above® Layout Kit. The second event featured the cutting for both the card and scrapbook workshops and assembling the cards. The third and final event covered assembling the scrapbook pages.

If you would like a closer look at the Happiest Place options and what you can create with them, I shared images on this blog post (unfortunately all products on this blog post are not available).

These Are My People

These Are My People was release in March 2020, before anyone knew how many people would have stay at home/no gathering orders, so there wasn't a Facebook Live planned for this collection.

These Are My People Cut Above® Kit (CC3201)

These Are My People Paper Packet + Sticker Sheet (CC3202)

Fortunately the Cut Above® is very straight-forward and should be easy to assemble without a video. And the Workshop Guide has all of the cutting information you need to create layouts and cards. Since the stamp set from the These Are My People collection is not available you would need to substitute some images, but CTMH has so many wonderful stamps you will be able to create something fabulous unique to you.

If you would like a closer look at the These Are My People options and what you can create with them, I shared images on this blog post (unfortunately all products on this blog post are not available). 

Enjoy your Cyber Monday shopping until the end of the day.

December 2020 CTMH News

Welcome to December. The year has flown by. I have to set more reminders than ever on my photo so I do not let the time slip away from me. I do not know how or why it feels like the hours, days and month fly by in record time. I sure hope it does not feel this way when I am able to retire.

December 2020 Stamp Of The Month Happiness Never Grows Old

Happiness Never Grows Old (S2012)
available December 2020

Happiness Never Grows Old (S2012) is an exclusive D-size set of 16 stamps that is only available during the month of December 2020. The stamp set can be yours for $5 when you place an order of $50 or more in qualifying Close To My Heart products or it is free when you place a qualifying order and you are a (and you qualify for additional sets at $5 for each $50 you spend). Alternatively it is available for $18.95. Recommended CTMH My Acrylix® Blocks for this stamp set are: 1" × 1" (Y1000), 1" × 3½" (Y1002), 2" × 2" (Y1003), 2" × 3½" (Y1009) and 5" × 6" (Y1015).

The CTMH Art Department created three cards using the Happiness Never Grows Old stamp set.

 

cards created with Happiness Never Grows Old (December 2020 SOTM)

If you would like a list of the products used to create the above cards, you will find the information in the Recipes, a PDF file that lists the products used to make the samples in the November–December 2020 Catalog. I am participating in a Happiness Never Grows Old blog hop this month; you will find my post here tomorrow. Please visit my December SOTM (S2012) Happiness Never Grows Old Pinterest Board for other ideas to use the Happiness Never Grows Old stamp set.

 

 

Bring Back My Pack—Blossom

Bring Back My Pack—Blossom

Bring Back My Pack—Blossom does not kick off until December 15, but I could not keep this a secret. I loved this paper pack when CTMH offered it in 2015. I love the colors and patterns so much and I still use this paper (I purchased a bit).

When Bring Back My Pack—Blossom becomes available, be sure to look for the Workshop Guide under the product description. The Guide will walk you through creating three two-page layouts and four cards. I have not heard if there will be a Facebook Live Event; if there is, I will update the CTMH Facebook Live Crafting Events page you will find the in the green bar above.

Jingle All The Way

Jingle All The Way

The Album Workshop Kit Jingle All The Way continues until December 31 (while supplies last). This album is perfect for documenting all of your holiday memories. This 6" x 6" album kit features the Jingle Joy paper collection, including the paper packet, stickers, and Picture My Life™ cards. It is also sprinkled with the new Evergreen glitter paper! When you visit the product page you can see photos of each page you will create (if you follow the Workshop Guide) and there is even a video with a quick album tour (they even show the Flip Flaps™) and unpacking the bundle.

Moments like These

 

Moments like These

 

The Close To My Heart special Moments like These also continues through December 31 while supplies last. This special includes a Cut Above® Layout Kit and a Base Calendar to create a beautiful 2021 12-month calendar. There is also a My Acrylix® Moments like These stamp set to personalize your calendar pages. Visit the product pages for the Kits to see all of the pages you can create where there is also a video showing how easy it is to create one of the pages and a calendar tour.

 

 

Merry Little Christmas

 

Merry Little Christmas

Merry Little Christmas has a variety of options. There are 3-D wood ornaments in the shape of snowflakes, trees or round and wood tags that have a decorative cut out or not. There are also bundles of ornaments or tags or both tags and ornaments. Each option comes with SVG files to make it easier to use a cutting machine to match the shapes and decorative cuts to cut paper, glitter paper or vinyl to decorate the wood shapes. Other consultants shared that they used Shimmer Brushes to color the wood and I think one even used Distress Oxide™ Inks. Merry Little Christmas is available until December 31 while supplies last, however I noticed that the Snowflakes are already showing "only a few left".

Seasons in Motion

Seasons in Motion

Seasons in Motion is a mix of everyday and holiday-themed stamps that look animated when the tab they are stamped on is pulled under an Animation Sheet or the Thin Cut that creates an Animation Window. In addition to harvest and Christmas/winter, there is an owl and heart shape. The paper stack includes 48 sheets to coordinate beautifully with the stamps. Seasons in Motion is available until December 31 while supplies last. There is also a video on the product page showing some stamps in motion, items created with the collection and everything included in the bundle.

 

CTMH Kids Crafts Feeling Grateful

CTMH Kids Crafts Feeling Grateful

Feeling Grateful is an album kit that was created for CTMH Kids Crafts, but I think with a few minor adjustments it would make a wonderful album to document what any age-range is grateful for. Even though the Facebook Live has passed, the video is still available on the CTMH Facebook Page to assist with cutting and/or assembly. The Album Kit is available until December 31 while supplies last.

 

 

November–December 2020 Catalog

November–December 2020 Catalog

The November–December 2020 catalog is valid through the end of December. You can view this catalog online or download a PDF to view anytime you have your device, but no Internet.

CTMH VIP Customer Program

CTMH VIP Customer Program

It it not too late to take advantage of the VIP Customer introductory offer. If you sign up before December 31, 2020 you will receive $25 in VIP Spending Credit, rather than the usual $15. Full details are on at the VIP Customer Program page of my shopping website. Below is a flyer about the VIP Customer Program (click on the image for a better view or download a PDF of the flyer here).

 

Close To My Heart VIP Program Flyer

Do not hesitate to let me know if you have any questions; you may reach me via the contact form to the right.

I hope you and yours have a magical holiday season.