Holiday Expressions - Focus on Australasian Stamp Sets

There are some stamp sets that are available, but are not pictured in Holiday Expressions. They are stamp sets that are most likely to be of interest to those in Australia and/or New Zealand, but could definitely be of interest to those who have family/friends there or who have been lucky enough to have traveled there. Close To My Heart was introduced to theses countries a few, maybe four, years ago, but those with family in or who have travel to Australia and/or New Zealand may like these stamp sets too. And who doesn't love Koalas?

Holiday Expressions may be viewed at my Consultant website or you can download a printable PDF (links open in a new tab). If you would like a list of items in HE, the Product Index (in PDF format) may be helpful; I use mine for a wish list and as a way to track purchases. CTMH also produced a PDF of Recipes which lists the products used (and Cricut® shapes, if applicable) to create the samples found in the book. Holiday Expressions is valid until December 31, 2018.

You can always search my Consultant Website for Australia and/or New Zealand to see what stamp sets are currently available. Many of the stamp sets below appear if you search for either country, but there are a couple of stamps that only found when searching for one or the other country. The stamp sets are also found when you search for International. Since we are featuring Australia and New Zealand, I also include information about the Cricut® Hello AU/NZ Digital Collection.

Aussie Greetings (A1211)	Landmarks (B1601)
Koala Adventures (B1617)	Happy Christmas (B1621)
Aussie Christmas (B1643)	Kia Ora (C1698)
Nights of Lights (C1724)	Fair Dinkum Christmas (C1728)
Mini Australia Day (M1204)	Anzac Day (C1707)
Mini Waitangi Day (M1203)	this space intentionally blank
Cricut® Hello AU/NZ Digital Collection (no cartridge) (Z3392)	images from Cricut® Hello AU/NZ Digital Collection (Z3392)

By the way, I recognize some of these stamps from Seasonal Expressions 2 and I thought they were meant to retire on August 31. If you really like some of these stamps, especially those that are not holiday-themed, please order sooner rather than later so you are not disappointed.

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.

Holiday Expressions - Focus on International Stamp Sets

There are some new International stamp sets featured in the Holiday Expressions Idea Book which was introduced on September 1. The International stamp sets, in French and Spanish, are shown on pages 114-115.

Holiday Expressions may be viewed at my Consultant website or you can download a printable PDF (links open in a new tab). If you would like a list of items in HE, the Product Index (in PDF format) may be helpful; I use mine for a wish list and as a way to track purchases. CTMH also produced a PDF of Recipes which lists the products used (and Cricut® shapes, if applicable) to create the samples found in the book. Holiday Expressions is valid until December 31, 2018.

You can always search my Consultant Website for Spanish and/or French to see what stamp sets are available at this time. The stamp sets also can be found when you search for International (this search will also display stamp sets that are Australasian-themed).

Temporada Navideña (B1619) Coordinates with ‘Tis the Season collection	Feliz Navidad (B1620) Coordinates with Oh What Fun collection
Saison de Noel (B1622) Coordinates with ‘Tis the Season collection	Joyeux Noel (B1623) Coordinates with Oh What Fun collection

In addition to the four International stamp sets shown on pages 114-115, when you search for Spanish, French or International you will also find some stamp sets from previous Idea Books. If any of those stamps strike your fancy, be sure to order them sooner rather than later as they are retired and I am not sure how much longer they will be available.

The Shop Now button will take you to my Consultant website where you can read the product descriptions and place an order.

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.

Holiday Expressions - Focus on Hostess Rewards

In the new Holiday Expressions 2018 Idea Book, introduced on September 1, we have some new Hostess Rewards.

Holiday Expressions may be viewed at my Consultant website or you can download a printable PDF (links open in a new tab). If you would like a list of items in HE, the Product Index (in PDF format) may be helpful; I use mine for a wish list and as a way to track purchases. CTMH also produced a PDF of Recipes which lists the products used (and Cricut shapes, if applicable) to create the samples found in the book. Holiday Expressions is valid until December 31, 2018.

When you have an in home or online Gathering, you can earn free and half price Close To My Heart items. Rewards are determined by this chart (the rewards chart is also found on page 2 of Holiday Expressions):

With the Hostess Rewards, you can use your credit to get products like these:

Paper packets Complements Cardstock packs Workshops Your Way® ShinHan™ Touch Twin™ markers

Cut Above® kits Picture My Life™ cards Exclusive Inks™ My Acrylix® stamp sets My Acrylix® blocks

In addition to choosing from most current My Acrylix® stamp sets (the Stamp Of The Month and Operation Smile™ stamp set are excluded), Hostess Rewards may also be used for the following stamps available exclusively to Hostesses:

Here are some completed projects with the Hostess Rewards Stamp Sets:

Just the Way You Are (A1224) page 4	Junior Varsity Alphabet (D1807) page 4
A Thousand Words (C1734) page 5	Craftermath (B1633) page 5
Dream Catcher (C1744) page 6	Creative Soul (D1795) page 7

The Stamp Sets available exclusively with Hostess Rewards are shown on pages 4 and 5.

At different levels of Rewards, you unlock exclusive offers. Details are on the flyer (click to download) pictured below:

Hostess Rewards are featured starting on page 2 of Holiday Expressions.

If you would like to host a party after learning more about the Hostess Rewards, please contact me using the contact form to the right.

As always, 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.

Holiday Expressions - Focus on Cricut® Collections

As I mentioned earlier this month, on September 1, a new Holiday Expressions 2018 Idea Book was introduced.

Holiday Expressions may be viewed at my Consultant website or you can download a printable PDF (links open in a new tab). If you would like a list of items in HE, the Product Index (in PDF format) may be helpful; I use mine for a wish list and as a way to track purchases. CTMH also produced a PDF of Recipes which lists the products used (and Cricut shapes, if applicable) to create the samples found in the book. Holiday Expressions is valid until December 31, 2018.

Today I will highlight the Cricut® Collections available exclusively from CTMH and the stamp sets that coordinate with Cricut® shapes.

In September 2017 we learned that Provo Craft made to decision to discontinue production of physical Cricut® cartridges, therefore all Cricut® Collections that include a physical cartridge are available while supplies last.

I should also point out that the Collections, both cartridge and digital collections, that were introduced prior to Holiday Expressions are $10 less than they were last year.

Cartridge Collections	Digital Collections
for use with Cricut® machines that CANNOT BE used with Design Space	for Cricut® machines that ARE used with Design Space
Introduced in Holiday Expressions - see pages 116-117 in HE
not available in cartridge format	Cricut® Season of Joy Digital Collection (Z3296) see HE page 117
Introduced in Annual Inspirations 2017-2018 - see pages 90-92 in AI '17-'18
not available in cartridge format	Cricut® Hello USA Digital Collection (Z3390) see HE page 118
not available in cartridge format	Cricut® Hello Canada Digital Collection (Z3391) see HE page 119
not available in cartridge format	Cricut® Hello AU/NZ Digital Collection (Z3392) see HE page 119
Cricut® You Are Here Collection (Z3297) see HE page 120	Cricut® You Are Here Digital Collection (Z3502) see HE page 120
Introduced in Annual Inspirations 2016-2017 - see pages 74-75 in AI '16-'17
not available in cartridge format physical cartridges are no longer produced	Cricut® Flower Market Digital Collection (Z3501) see HE page 121
Introduced in Annual Inspirations 2015-2016 - see pages 118-119 in AI '15-'16
Cricut® Artistry Collection (Z3298) see HE page 122	Cricut® Artistry Digital Collection (Z3500) see HE page 122
Introduced in Autumn/Winter 2018 - see pages 58-59 in A/W '13
Cricut® Artbooking Collection (Z3299) see HE page 123	Cricut® Artbooking Digital Collection (Z3503) see HE page 123

In addition to the stamp sets that are included with some collections, the following stamp sets have at least one stamp that is compatible with a Cricut® shape:

Meant to Be (C1743) Cricut® Artistry Collection see HE page 102

Your Special Day (D1804) Cricut® Artistry Collection see HE page 103

If you are a long-time Close To My Heart customer, you know that there have been other Cricut® Collections and Cricut® compatible stamp sets which are no longer available. I believe my Google Sheet devoted to Cricut® compatible stamp sets is up-to-date with both retired and current stamp sets; if you find any errors or missing stamp sets, please use the Contact Form one the right to let me know.

Thank you for stopping by today.

Holiday Expressions New Product Blog Hop

Welcome to the Holiday Expressions New Product Blog Hop featuring products from the latest Close To My Heart Idea Book. We have about 20 Independent Consultants sharing projects they created with new products in the CTMH Holiday Expressions Idea Book. We try to keep our blog hop easy by having a link to the next blog (typically near the bottom of the post) to visit the next stop; if you keep visiting the next blog you will work your way back to where you started.

You should have arrived here from ***Alayne Fleming's Willing Hands***. If you get lost along the way, Melinda Everitt keeps a list of participants on her blog at If You Bling It.

I started a card using the Wonder of the Season Stamp + Thin Cuts, Thin Cuts—Fancy Tags and Thin Cuts—Winter Flurries, but so far I have not been able to make work as I had it in my mind's eye.

If I manage to pull something out of my hat with the card I started for this hop, that is, get something created with paper, you will find the card further down, but in the meantime, let me show you some cards I created from the Workshops Your Way® You Got This Cardmaking Kit.

card created using the Guide	alternate card
card created using the Guide	alternate card

I like to create a variety of cards from the WYW Cardmaking Kits, but I like to keep it fairly simple so creating is quick. As you can see, the changes I made are really simple, I did not have to cut anything differently, but now I have a start to a larger variety of cards from one kit. Other ideas are to use the other side of the papers and different inks.

Before you visit ***Snips, Snaps, and Scraps by Kathy Burrows***, the supplies I used to create my project are listed below.

Here is a start to my "creative blocked" card. If you have any ideas for what to do to complete the card, please share in the comments.

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

• Workshops Your Way®: You Got This Cardmaking Kit (G1166)
• Exclusive Inks™ Stamp Pads: Fern (Z2850), Saffron (Z2851), Sapphire (Z2848)
• adhesives: Thin 3-D Foam Tape (Z2060), Glue Dots® Mini Dots (Z341), Tombow® Permanent Adhesive (Z3326)
• ----items for my "creative blocked" card----
• My Acrylix™ Stamp Sets: Wonder of the Season Stamp + Thin Cuts (Z4238)
• Paper Packet: 'Tis the Season (X7239B)
• cardstock: White Daisy (X6027), Toffee (X6025), Espresso (X6002)
• White Glitter Paper (Z3237)
• 5½" × 4¼" White Cards & Envelopes, Value Pack (X254)
• Exclusive Inks™ Stamp Pads: Intense Black (Z4189)
• VersaMark™ Ink Pad (Z891), Ranger™ Red Tinsel Embossing Powder (Z4251), Heat Tool (Z4252)
• ShinHan™ Touch Twin™ Markers: WG4-Warm Grey (Z2467), YR24-Marigold (Z2457), GY235-Sap Green (Z2463), R11-Carmine (Z2448)
• tools: Thin Cuts—Fancy Tags (Z4305), Thin Cuts—Winter Flurries (Z4236)
• Clear Sparkles (Z3274), Bitty Sparkles (Z1263)
• Cricut® Cuttlebug™ (available at Level 1 of Hostess Rewards; see page 4 of Annual Inspirations 2017-2018)
• Supplies not from Close To My Heart: glass cutting mat, craft knife, We R Memory Keepers Precision Press Stamping Tool

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 alterations. Thanks for hopping with us!

So you do not have to scroll back up, the next stop on the hop is ***Snips, Snaps, and Scraps by Kathy Burrows***.