Friday, December 8, 2017

Holiday Expressions 2017 Retiring Products

While an official list has not been published, since the Holiday Expressions Idea Book is only valid until December 31, 2107, I believe many items will soon be posted in the Going Soon! area of my Consultant Website. Unfortunately some of the items are already out of stock.


Almost everything in Holiday Expressions 2017 is retiring and anything that is not a stamp set (which are manufactured at Corporate Headquarters in Utah) should be considered while supplies last. The retiring items are:

Cut Above™ Dynamic Dimensions - pages 6 through 9
Cut Above® Layout Kit—Noelle (Z4052)
page 6-7
this is the layout the kit to the left creates
Cut Above® Card Kit—Merry Everything (Z4048)
page 8-9
Cut Above® Tag Kit—Merry Everything (Z4049)
page 8-9
Ho Ho Ho (M1181)
page 9
Mistletoe Kisses (M1182)
page 9
Merry Everything (M1183)
page 9
Merry Christmas (M1184)
page 9
Cats & Bats Creative Collection - pages 10 through 19
Cats & Bats Paper Packet (X7224B)
page 13
Cats & Bats Coordinating Cardstock (X7224D)
page 13
Cats & Bats Complements (X7224C)
page 13
Cats & Bats Dots (Z4028)
page 13
WYW® Cats & Bats Scrapbooking Kit (G1136)
page 15
WYW® Kind Thoughts Cardmaking Kit (G1140)
page 19
Cats & Bats—Cardmaking (C1683)
page 16
Cats & Bats Cardmaking Stamp + Thin Cuts (Z4040)
page 16
Cats & Bats—Scrapbooking (D1736)
page 17
Cats & Bats Scrapbooking Stamp + Thin Cuts (Z4045)
page 17
Best Friends Forever (D1745)
page 18
space intentionally left blank
Falling for You Creative Collection - pages 20 through 29
Falling for You Paper Packet (X7223B)
page 23
Falling for You Coordinating Cardstock (X7223D)
page 23
Falling for You Complements (X7223C)
out of stock/no longer available - page 23
space intentionally left blank
(the Bronze Sequins will be available
beyond the end of HE 2017)
WYW® Falling for You Scrapbooking Kit (G1135)
out of stock/no longer available - page 25
WYW® Happy Day Cardmaking Kit (G1139)
page 29
Falling for You—Cardmaking (C1686)
page 26
Falling for You Cardmaking Stamp + Thin Cuts (Z4041)
page 26
Falling for You—Scrapbooking (D1738)
page 27
Falling for You Scrapbooking Stamp + Thin Cuts (Z4044)
page 27
A Grateful Heart (B1569)
page 28
Your Thoughts Here (B1570)
page 28
Oh Snap! (D1748)
page 29
Gone Hunting (D1735)
page 30
Beary Christmas Creative Collection - pages 32 through 45
Beary Christmas Paper Packet (X7225B)
page 35
Beary Christmas Coordinating Cardstock (X7225D)
page 35
Beary Christmas Complements (X7225C)
out of stock/no longer available - page 35
Beary Christmas Dots (Z4038)
page 35
image not available
WYW® Beary Christmas Scrapbooking Kit (G1137)
out of stock/no longer available - page 37
WYW® Merriest Wishes Cardmaking Kit (G1141)
page 45
Beary Christmas—Cardmaking (C1691)
page 38
Beary Christmas Cardmaking Stamp + Thin Cuts (Z4046)
page 38
Beary Christmas—Scrapbooking (D1730)
page 39
Beary Christmas Scrapbooking Stamp + Thin Cuts (Z4047)
page 39
Season of Sweetness (D1744)
page 40
Frosted Christmas (B1566)
page 41
Warmest Wishes (stamp only) (B1559)
page 41
Warmest Wishes Stamp + Thin Cuts (Z3385)
page 41
Gingerbread Friends (stamp only) (D1743)
page 42
Gingerbread Friends Stamp + Thin Cuts (Z3378)
page 42
Christmas Stamps (B1560)
page 43
Little Saint Nick (M1176)
page 43
Snowflake (M1174)
page 43
Christmas Paper Doll Stamp + Thin Cuts (Z4053)
page 44
Silver & Gold Creative Collection - pages 46 through 59
Silver & Gold Paper Packet (X7226B)
page 49
Silver & Gold Coordinating Cardstock (X7226D)
page 49
Silver & Gold Complements (X7226C)
page 49
space intentionally left blank
(the Gold Glitter Gems do not have
the carrying forward icon,
but they are in AI '17-'18 on page 108)
WYW® Silver & Gold Scrapbooking Kit (G1138)
page 51
WYW® Joyful Tidings Cardmaking Kit (G1142)
page 59
Silver & Gold—Cardmaking (C1689)
page 52
Silver & Gold Cardmaking Stamp + Thin Cuts (Z4042)
page 52
Silver & Gold—Scrapbooking (D1737)
page 53
Silver & Gold Scrapbooking Stamp + Thin Cuts (Z4043)
page 53
Christmas Borders (D1746)
page 54
The Thought that Counts (C1692)
page 55
Prince of Peace (D1734)
page 56
Hanukkah Fun (B1562)
page 57
Hallelujah (B1567)
page 57
First Noel (C1688)
page 58
Season's Greetings (M1175)
page 58
Good Cheer (M1177)
page 58
Picture My Life™ Creative Collections - pages 60 through 61
Picture My Life™ Cards—Beary Christmas (Z4050)
out of stock/no longer available - page 61
Picture My Life™ Cards—Silver & Gold (Z4051)
page 61
Embossing Folders - page 62
Leaves Embossing Folder (Z4031)
page 62
Buffalo Plaid Embossing Folder (Z4032)
out of stock/no longer available - page 52
Thin Cuts - page 63
Thin Cuts—Leaf (Z4035)
page 63
Thin Cuts—Together (Z4034)
page 63
Thin Cuts—Tree Line Border (Z4037)
page 63
Thin Cuts—Thankful for You (Z4036)
page 63
Thin Cuts—Be Merry (Z4033)
page 63
Thin Cuts—I (Heart) Christmas (Z4039)
page 63

Click on any of the images or product name to be taken to that product's page on my Consultant Website. If you would browse my Consultant Website, the Shop Now button will take you there.


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

Wednesday, December 6, 2017

You Are Here Cricut Collection Blog Hop

Welcome to the Close To My Heart You Are Here Cricut Collection Blog Hop. On this hop there are almost 15 bloggers sharing projects they created with the You Are Here collection. If blog hopping is new to you, we try to keep it easy: just keep clicking on the link to the next blog (typically near the bottom of the post) to visit the next stop. Our blog hop is circular so visiting the next blog will take you back to where you started.


You should have arrived here from ***Wendy Kessler's My Scrapbooking Blog***. If you get lost along the way, Melinda Everitt keeps a list of participants on her blog at If You Bling It.

Right around the time I received the You Are Here collection I made a day trip to the Leonard Harrison State Park in Pennsylvania. Knowing that we would probably have a blog hop, I started working with the images in Design Space to tailor something to my recent trip. I did a lot of slicing and welding to create most of my cuts. I created this two page layout.


And here are the two pages side-by-side (too bad my light box is not large enough to hold both side-by-side and I'm sorry I forgot to add the jounaling box - I typically do not attach it until I have figured out what I want to say):


A little bit about one of my cuts - this is how the Grand Canyon National Park (#M276272D) cut will appear when you add it to your mat.


I used the Hide Contour, Slice and Weld features in Cricut® Design Space to modify the image to remove the rocks and add some pine trees and change the words "National Park" to "of PA". Unfortunately after I cut my design, I thought the area around the pine trees did not look that great.


If I had kept the small pieces of New England Ivy (sorry, the photos do not show the true color of the cardstock), I probably could have added them to the Crystal Blue cardstock, but I had an idea. I added Thin 3-D Foam tape behind the trees and added them back to the cut, offsetting it slightly.


This is how the cut looks on my layout showing a bit of the dimension:


I hope you enjoyed my project.

Before you visit ***crzy4scrapbooking by Brandi Robinson***, the supplies I used to create my project are listed below.

All supplies are from Close To My Heart except where noted:
If you do not have a CTMH Independent Consultant, you may purchase all of the supplies I used on my Consultant website. Before you leave I would be delighted if you left me a comment letting me know what you think of my layout. Thanks for hopping with us!

So you do not have to scroll back up, the next stop on the hop is ***crzy4scrapbooking by Brandi Robinson***.

Sunday, December 3, 2017

A Little Bit of Pun CTMH SOTM Blog Hop

Welcome to the December 2017 SOTM Blog Hop featuring the stamp set A Little Bit of Pun. I am sorry that we are a couple of days later than usual; we encountered some technical difficulties that were out of our control. This month there are several bloggers sharing projects they created with the CTMH Stamp Of The Month. If blog hopping is new to you, we try to keep it easy: just keep clicking on the link to the next blog (typically near the bottom of the post) to visit the next stop. Our blog hop is circular so visiting the next blog will take you back to where you started.


You should have arrived here from ***Stampin' Maui by Jean McNulty***. If you get lost along the way, Melinda Everitt keeps a list of participants on her blog at If You Bling It.


I think this stamp set and 3" x 3" cards and envelopes are the perfect combination to create Valentine's Day cards for exchanging at school.


You cannot see it because of the stamped cupcake, but I stamped a "ribbon" strip using the larger hearts.

Before you head to ***Gina Brandstetter's Gina's Little Corner of StampinHeaven***, the supplies I used to create my project are listed below.

All supplies are from Close To My Heart except where noted:
If you are not already working with a CTMH Independent Consultant, you may purchase all of the supplies I used at my Consultant website.

Before you leave I would be delighted if you left me a comment letting me know what you think of my cards. I hope you are finding many fun ideas for how you might use the December SOTM. Thank you for hopping with us!

So you do not have to scroll back up, the next stop on the hop is ***Gina Brandstetter's Gina's Little Corner of StampinHeaven***.

Friday, December 1, 2017

December 2017 CTMH News

I cannot believe I am writing about the December SOTM and Calendar Kit. Where did the year go? I hope you have a wonderful Holiday Season.

The December 2017 Stamp of the Month is A Little Bit of Pun


A Little Bit of Pun (S1712) is an exclusive D-size set of 17 stamps that is only available for purchase during the month of December 2017. The stamp set can be yours for $5 when you place an order of $50 or more in qualifying Close To My Heart products (and you qualify for additional sets at $5 for each $50 you spend). Alternatively it is available at $17.95. Recommended CTMH My Acrylix® Blocks for this stamp set are: 1" x 1" (Y1000) and 2" x 2" (Y1003).

CTMH Corporate Artists created several cards using the A Little Bit of Pun stamp set.


If you would like a list of the products used to create the above items, you will find the information in the Recipes for Holiday Expressions, a PDF file that lists the products used to make the samples in the Seasonal Expressions 2 so you may re-create projects at home. I am participating in a A Little Bit of Pun blog hop this month; you will find my post here on December 4 (update - due to some technical difficulties we have changed the date of the SOTM blog hop). Please visit my CTMH 2017 12 Dec SOTM A Little Bit Of Pun for additional ideas using the A Little Bit of Pun stamp set.

I think this stamp set would make cute Valentines for children to exchange at school. There are still some Share a Smile Card Bases & Envelopes (CC1343) in the Going Soon! section of my Consultant Website. They are the perfect 3" x 3" size to exchange at school.

December 2017 — Through the Year


December brings us a calendar kit. If you follow the CTMH instruction included in the kit, the finished calendar pages will look like this :


There are two calendar kit options, one for those who purchased the November 2017 SOTM and one for those who need the November 2017 SOTM:

Through the Year Calendar Kit
(CC1344)
available December 2017
suggested retail $50.02; during Dec '17 $38.95
Through the Year Calendar Kit with Stamp Set (CC1344S)
available December 2017
suggested retail $67.97; during Dec '17 $56.90

You will find the following items included in the kit:
If you want to complete the calendar exactly as shown in the instructions and you do not already have these products, you will need the following items:
You may qualify to receive the Through the Year Calendar Kit (CC1344) for free by being a Hostess whose December gathering reaches the fourth level (or higher) of Hostess Rewards or by becoming a new Consultant.

Cricut® Artbooking Collection Has Gone Digital

The Cricut® Artbooking Collection has gone digital! A digital version of this collection will be available for purchase beginning December 1. The item number is Z3399, and the price is $79. As with the other digital collections, this collection will include the same cardstock and stamp sets as the physical cartridge collection, but in the place of a physical cartridge you will receive a card with a code that unlocks the collection’s images in Design Space. The physical cartridge collection (Z3169) is still available while supplies last, but once the supply of cartridges is exhausted, only the digital collection will be available.

Holiday Expressions 2017


December is the fourth and final month that the Holiday Expressions Idea Book is valid. We have one item that has sold out, the Falling For You Compliments (X7223C). Since the Compliments are included in the Falling for You Scrapbooking Workshops Your Way kits (G1135) as soon at the Scrapbooking kit sells out, it will no longer be available. If you still have items on your wish list that appear in Holiday Expressions and there is not a right-pointing arrow next to the product name, please order as soon as you can to avoid disappointment. I expect the retiring items to be added to Going Soon! section of my Consultant website. I will post a reminder when they are.

Plan Ahead for Holiday Shipping

As you may have heard on the news, online and catalog shopping was higher over the 2017 Thanksgiving weekend and is not likely to slow down. When you place your orders, please keep in mind that delivery times may take 3 to 4 days longer than you are used to (I know the gentleman who delivers my mail commented about the increased number of packages they have already seen this week).

If you are ready to place an order or would like to read more about a product, the Shop Now button will take you there.


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