Fall 2015 Album Retreat in Salt Lake City

I know some of you are anxiously waiting for me to post my pages from the Fall 2015 Album Retreat I attended earlier this month in Salt Lake City. I have so many things on my to do list and with a quick trip coming up the first weekend in December I am not sure when I have some pages ready to post, so here is a very quick look at the complete album.

Aaaand that's a wrap! A big thanks to @stacyjulian for spending her weekend with us at Album Retreat! Check out the broadcasts from this weekend on our CTMH Periscope channel. #ctmhalbumretreat #ctmhalbumretreat2015 #ctmh #closetomyheart

A video posted by Close To My Heart (@ctmhofficial) on Nov 7, 2015 at 3:08pm PST

I had a great time at the Fall Album Retreat, but it was also nice to get home. I am thankful I have a space to create and for all of the people that I have met through Close To My Heart.

Thanks for visiting my blog today. If we do not "see" each other again this week, I hope you and yours have a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Highlighting the Sangria Collection

Carlie shares the bright earthy colors of the Sangria collection and several project ideas in today's video.



The CTMH description of the video Collection Connection: Sangria is "The earthy tones and bright colors of the Sangria collection make it perfect for any season."

Items featured in the video are:

• Sangria Paper Packet (X7199B)
• Sangria Complements (X7199C)
• Sangria Assortment (Z3084)
• Pink Enamel Gems (Z3091)
• Poppy Thick Twine (Z3094)
• Designed Décor Shadow Frame (Z2015)
• My Acrylix® Friend Tree Stamp Set (D1677)
• My Acrylix® For Family Stamp Set (C1633)
• Cricut® Artistry Collection (Z3167)
• Cricut® Artfully Sent Collection (Z3168)
• My Acrylix® Inked Alphabet Stamp Set (E1033)
• My Acrylix® Jennifer's Hand Stamp Set (B1484)

When sharing your paper crafts using the Sangria collection on social media, please use the hastag #CTMHSangria.

Send me an email if you have questions about any CTMH products. When you are ready to place an order, the Shop Now button will take you there.

Please follow me on Facebook at Brenda's Paper Crafts for additional updates.

Thanksgiving Preparations

I created this plate as a gift for my uncle, aunt and cousin who are hosting Thanksgiving dinner. We plan to bake Snickerdoodles to add to the plate in addition to making our traditional Grandma Alzina's (my great-grandmother) Cranberry Relish and Broccoli-Cauliflower Bake.

I chose a design that they could use or display almost any time of year. I also left off references to Thanksgiving for that reason. I know some people would think this plate needs more embellishing but I have always been a less is more type of person.

The plate is from Bed, Bath and Beyond. The vinyl is from Cricut®. The design is from Four Seasons Home Décor and it was cut using Cricut® Design Space and the Explore. I cut using the mirror option so I could place the vinyl on the back of the plate. I placed a sheet of Glacier cardstock behind the plate so you could see the design better.

I would love to know what you think of my latest creation. Thanks for stopping by today.

Close To My Heart Broadcast on CreativeLive Starts Now

I hope you have not missed my other posts about this event. And I do hope that if you are unable to participate live that you RSVP'd so that you can watch (and I think you might be able to download the videos) later.

This was posted by CTMH on Instagram yesterday, Thursday, November 20:

One more day until CreativeLive! Be sure to set up your Twitter account and follow us @CTMH. We'll be posting minute-by-minute updates and yes, there will be GIVEAWAYS. We can't wait to share 2 full days of learning, inspiration, and fun! For more info about #CreativeLive see the link in profile. #ctmh #closetomyheart #ctmhcreativelive #creativelive #create #inspire

A video posted by Close To My Heart (@ctmhofficial) on Nov 19, 2015 at 1:44pm PST

If you are able to participate during the live broadcast and do not have a Twitter account please create an account so you can Tweet to be entered for chances to win.

I hope to see you during the broadcast.

Social Media Tips and Tricks

I am far from an expert when it comes to social media, but I can get usually find my way around the sites. I am posting this today because I hope your schedule today and tomorrow will allow you to participate in the Close To My Heart Broadcast on CreativeLive! I posted about on Wednesday. In the Eastern Time Zone the broadcast begins at noon. On one of the posts I read on the Facebook Event page I learned that questions from social media with the hashtag #ctmhcreativelive could be answered live and that every comment using that hashtag is entered to win prizes. On another post I read that Twitter was the site to use. That means there is no better time to join Twitter to ask questions to enter to win.

In late July I posted all of the social media sites that Close To My Heart posts to. I also included information about my accounts - not that I am as active as CTMH.

Hashtags can be a great way to keep up with something that is currently trending or to look back at a trend, but only if the tag is unique. The tags used during the CTMH North American Convention were #ctmhconv2015 and #makeitfromyourheart, the tag used during the CTMH Australasia convention was #ctmhconv2015aunz and the tag to use during the CreativeLive broadcast is #ctmhcreativelive.

I often have to refresh my memory how to find things on Pinterest, Instagram and other social media sites. I thought I would find it easier to remember if I wrote it down. I have this information in a text document on one of the computers I use, but I never remember to copy the file to somewhere I can access it anytime and from almost anywhere. It also occurred to me that some readers might be either unfamiliar with searching social media or also have trouble remembering how to find posts again and you might like to have the information bookmarked.

I would like to take a moment to remind you that some sites allow you to search for and look at posts without having an account, but Pinterest and Facebook are more limiting. Without being signed into Facebook I am able to view most Facebook pages that companies maintain, but often cannot see Facebook profiles, i.g., people's pages. The Facebook page of Close To My Heart can be viewed by anyone, even without a FB account. When posts are in groups and the group is set to public, you have to be logged on with a Facebook account to view them. For example there is a Public Group CTMH SOTM Blog Hop; I am not able to view the posts or like posts without being logged onto my FB account. When a group is Closed or Secret you have to be a member of the group before seeing posts in the group.

Pinterest

If you are searching for a pin from a particular blog, put this in your browser address bar:

https://www.pinterest.com/source/blog-address/

substituting the blog URL for blog-address. For example, if you wanted to search pins from the Close To My Heart Make It From Your Heart blog, you would put this in your browser address bar:

https://www.pinterest.com/source/blog.closetomyheart.com/

If you are searching for a pin with a certain descriptive word, open Pinterest and search using the the bar near the top of the page. e.g., ctmhnevermore.


Instagram

If you want to follow a particular tag, put this in your browser address bar:

https://instagram.com/explore/tags/hashtag/

For example, during the Close To My Heart convention in July 2015, people were encouraged to use #ctmhconv2015 and #makeitfromyourheart when they posted. For the Hello, Life! promotion we are encouraged to use #CTMHHelloLife. This is what you would put in your browser address bar if you wanted to find posts with these hashtags:

https://instagram.com/explore/tags/ctmhconv2015/
https://instagram.com/explore/tags/makeitfromyourheart/
https://instagram.com/explore/tags/ctmhconv2015aunz/


Facebook

There is a search bar at the top of the page where you can search for business and people with Facebook pages or you can search for FB groups. If a group is marked secret, you will not find the group though. The best way to get added to a secret group is to ask someone in the group to invite you, but the group's administrator will still have to approve the request.

When you are on a Facebook Group page, just under the Facebook cover (photo) toward the right side of your screen there is a box to search the group. That is a great way to re-find a person, project or product you saw posted.


Twitter

You need an account to post, but you do not need one to search. If you know the hashtag you would like to find, put something like this in the browser address bar:

https://twitter.com/search?q=ctmhconv2015


YouTube

Maybe I am doing something wrong or maybe people do not tag videos they upload to YouTube. When I tried to search for one of the hashtags above I was not able to find anything. I have been successful searching for items on YouTube similar to how I would search for something using popular search engines like Google and Bing.


Blogs

When trying to find something that might be posted on a blog, I use popular search engines like Google and Bing. Sometime a blogger will place a search box on their blog so you can search just their blog. If they use labels, you can often click on the label at the bottom of a post to find similar posts. Some bloggers use a tool to show three similar posts at the bottom of a post.


I am sure there are other means of searching that I either did not think to include or are new to me. If you have suggestions for searching social media sites for inspiring projects or techniques, please leave a comment telling us how or with a link to a site that will tell us how.

Be sure to use the hashtag #ctmhcreativelive when posting on social media during Close To My Heart Broadcast on CreativeLive! Who knows, you might be selected to win a prize. Good luck!

Thanks for visiting today.

Focusing on the Fundamentals

In this video, Papercrafting: Focus on Fundamentals, Jill provides us with a better look at the Paper Fundamentals papers and stickers in the Enchantment colors and the Fundamental Assortment in Peacock. These products are some of what you will receive when you order one of the Simply Fundamental Scrapbooking bundles during the month of November.



The CTMH description of the video Papercrafting: Focus on Fundamentals is "Close To My Heart has a great assortment of fundamental designs that can be used throughout the year. Bright colors, subtle patterns, and fun textures make it so you can mix and match with almost any other paper."

A few things from the video I would like to highlight:

• each package comes with 20 sheets of 12" x 12" cardstock; 2 sheets of each color; they are double-sided with a design (bolder) on one side and a glossy resist (subtler) pattern on the other
• there are four different packs; one to go with each of the color palettes: Basics, Enchantment, Adventure and Whimsy
• three of the products featured in the video are part of the November Constant Campaign Simply Fundamental Scrapbooking; you can get a better look at the items you will receive when you order one of the bundles; see my November 1 blog post for the bundle options and where to download a PDF of the Simply Fundamental Scrapbooking Workshop with cutting instructions and sketches
• the Fundamentals Assortment, available in eight colors, comes with wooden adhesive backed shapes, 3D paper bows, plastic paperclips and a sheet of glitter die-cut stickers
• the Fundamentals Stickers, available in four colors, comes with titles, words, shapes and alphabets in three different colors; the Basics Pack includes gold foil
• the video shows two layouts not included in the workshop and two cards to give you even more ideas for using the Paper Fundamentals line

Items featured in the video are:

• Paper Fundamentals Enchantment (Z3126)
• Fundamental Stickers Enchantment Pack (Z3164)
• Fundamental Stickers Basics Pack (Z3166)
• Fundamental Assortment Peacock (Z3098)

When sharing artwork you created using the Fundamentals line on social media, please use the hastag #CTMHFundamentals.

Simply Fundamental Scrapbooking on the Close To My Heart Make It From Your Heart blog also tells a little more about the November Constant Campaign Simply Fundamental Scrapbooking.

The Simply Fundamental Scrapbooking Workshop you can download has instructions for creating these five layouts:

Send me an email if you have questions about the Simply Fundamental Scrapbooking bundles or any CTMH product. When you are ready to place an order, the Shop Now button will take you there.

Please follow me on Facebook at Brenda's Paper Crafts for additional updates.

Close To My Heart Broadcast on CreativeLive!

Please join us this weekend, Friday and Saturday, November 20 and 21 from 9am PST to 4pm PST (noon EST to 7pm EST), for a free, online crafting broadcast on CreativeLive!

Psssst. Did you know @stacyjulian will be presenting at #CreativeLive? Only 4 days away and we couldn't be more excited! For more info on our CreativeLive event check out the link in profile. #ctmh #closetomyheart #ctmhcreativelive

A photo posted by Close To My Heart (@ctmhofficial) on Nov 16, 2015 at 12:29pm PST

Monica and Jill share more information about the Close To My Heart Broadcast on CreativeLive event in this video:



In addition to the video, the Free, Online Crafting Broadcast on CreativeLive! post on the Close To My Heart Make It from Your Heart blog has additional details. You will want to RSVP for the live class here; if you cannot attend live, your RSVP will give you access to the classes to watch when your schedule permits.

Some of the things will we learn are "how to use all things Close To My Heart to make beautiful scrapbook pages, cute cards, timeless home décor, trendy digital designs, and more!"

If you would like to join the event on Facebook go to Close To My Heart Workshop on CreativeLive.com! (please note this is not the same as an RSVP – the information to RSVP is reiterated on the Facebook Event). On the FB Event page is information about how to enter to win a free Close To My Heart Everyday Life™ Planner, hurry as the deadline is November 19.

In addition, there will be chances to win more prizes! From the Event page: "We will be asking and answering live questions streaming in from social media with #ctmhcreativelive. Every comment is entered to win prizes!"

My goal is to participate for all or most of the event. I hope that my data carryover from the last billing cycle will be enough so I do not have to worry about going over my limit.

I hope to "see you online" for the broadcast.

Planners Gonna Plan: The Everyday Life™ Planner System

In today's video Monica shows us several options for the The Everyday Life™ Planner System from Close To My Heart: planner, Picture My Life™ album, My Crush® book or a combination of all.



The CTMH description of the video Planners Gonna Plan: The Everyday Life™ Planner System from Close To My Heart is "Staying organized has never been easier, or fun, with the new Everyday Life™ Planner system. It’s not just a book to write in reminders and appointments, it can also be used to save memories, and scrapbook pictures. It literally is memory keeping on the go!"

Items featured in the video are:

• Everyday Life™ Album-Black (Z3208)
• Memory Protectors™ 4" x 6" (Z3192)
• Memory Protectors™ 4" x 3" (Z3191)
• Everyday Life™ 2106 Planner Pages (Z3209)
• Everyday Life™ Perfect Plan Roller Stamp (Z3212)
• Everyday Life™ Washi Tape (Z3211)
• My Crush® Everyday Life Pages (Z3210)
• Picture My Life™ Beautiful You Scrapbooking Program (Z3181)
• Black Exclusive Inks™ Stamp Pad (Z2105)
• Marvy® Uchida® LePen™ Journaling Pen (Z1979)

When sharing how you use your Planner on social media, please use the hastag #ctmhEverydayLife.

Also, please be sure to visit Plan Ahead! a post on the Close To My Heart Make It from Your Heart blog where you will find a still photo of the The Everyday Life™ Planner System. Do not forget to go to the CTMH Facebook page where at this post, Who wants to win a planner?!?!, you can learn how to enter to win your own Everyday Life™ Planner. Do not delay as the deadline is 5 pm MST on Thursday November 19, 2015. Good luck!

Please do not hesitate to send me an email, if you have questions about this or any other CTMH product. When you are ready to place an order, the Shop Now button will take you there.

Please follow me on Facebook at Brenda's Paper Crafts for additional updates.

Operation Smile Auction at CTMH Fall Album Retreat

I recently attended the CTMH Fall Album Retreat in Salt Lake City and they were accepting items to auction to raise funds for Operation Smile. The auction was held on Saturday, November 7.

I created two of these boxes with Christmas Gift Tags inside. I did not learn who the two winning bidders were on the boxes with gift tags, but I think I heard that the winning bid was $80. That floored me. I hope the winning bidders like what they received (they could only see the outside of the box).

The box and tag are from the Cricut® Artiste Collection (Z3170). If you use Cricut® Design Space you will find them by searching for #M3CBB9. It is the 3D Object on page 44 of the handbook. When I created the box I set it to 11.05" wide and 10.4" high. To create the tag I cut one layer at 2.45" wide by 2.42" high; hide contour for the tag hole and one layer at 2.26" wide by 2.24" high; hide contour for the tag hole. I punched a hole for the tag after the two pieces are attached; this way I did not have to worry about the holes not lining up.

To decorate the box in Cricut® Design Space I inserted some square shapes; I unlocked the proportions and set the sizes to 3.8" wide and 2.9" high (cut two) and 3.8" wide and 1.6" high (cut two), but these panels could easily be cut by hand.

Before I cut the panels to decorate the box I remembered that the paper I was using is directional; the shapes to decorate the box are rotated so the print on the paper would be in the right direction when I applied to the box. My CDS file is here if you would like use it; please note that the file will cut enough decorative panels (and tag top layer) for three boxes, but only one box and tag base will cut (for those I just inserted mats and cut until I had enough).

I created two each of the following tags to include in each box. I should say for several of the tags I could have make it easier on myself by using a different shape – I might not have needed to slice as much, but I was looking at the shapes on CDS rather than looking through the handbook; CDS does not always group similar images together.

The photo above shows the back and front of the snowflake tag. The base shape is Label
(CDS #M44843) from Artiste. I used the slice feature and the Tag (CDS #M40145) from Cricut® Art Philosophy Collection (Z3171) to create the snowflake cut into the top layer of the tag – I could have make it easier on myself by using Snowflake (CDS #M4313E). Papers used were from the now-retired version of Paper Fundamentals Whimsy, but the currently available version, product number Z3127, would be beautiful as well, and 12" X 12" White Daisy Cardstock (1385). "To" and "Fr" were stamped with Black Memento™ Ink Pad (Z899) and My Acrylix™ Christmas Post stamp set (D1610).

The photo above shows the front of the present tags. The tag base is Tag (CDS #M3AEF6) from Artiste and using the slice feature and Tag (CDS #M471D6) from Art Philosophy I cut the present into the tag. Using the free shapes under Insert Shapes I created a semi circle and square to cut the glitter paper used to back the cut out. The silver and gold papers were from my stash; the pink from CTMH: Pink Glitter Paper (Z1922). The tag fronts are from the retired Snowhaven and Yuletide Carol Paper Packs. I cannot remember positively what I did with the tag back, but I think I cut it from 12" X 12" Glacier Cardstock (X5770) and stamped the "To" and "Fr" with Black Memento™ Ink Pad (Z899) and My Acrylix™ Christmas Post stamp set (D1610).

The base shape is Tag (CDS #M444F7) from Artiste. I used the slice feature and the Tag (CDS #M44E8F) from Art Philosophy to create the holly cut into the top layer of the tag.  I cut the top layer from 12" X 12" Topiary Cardstock (X5635) and the bottom layer from 12" X 12" New England Ivy Cardstock (1282). I added Red Shimmer Trim (Z1848) under the cut out for the holly berries. I stamped the My Acrylix™ Hand-Lettered Christmas stamp (M1127) or This Is Christmas stamp (M1126) using a VersaMark™ Ink Pad (Z891). I then heat embossed with Ranger™ Princess Gold Embossing Powder (Z2066) or Ranger™ Silver Super Fine Embossing Powder (Z2067) and the Craft Heater (Z555).

The tag was based on Label (CDS #M453DE) from Artiste and Tag (CDS #M4220D) from Art Philosophy. The tag was cut from 12" X 12" Glacier Cardstock (X5770) and the retired Snowhaven Paper Pack. "To" and "Fr" were stamped with Black Memento™ Ink Pad (Z899) and My Acrylix™ Christmas Post stamp set (D1610).

The tag base is Tag (CDS #M45080) from Art Philosophy. I used the hide contour and slice feature with Card (CDS #M43D3B) to cut the ornaments from the top layer of the tag. I cut the top layer from 12" X 12" Topiary Cardstock (X5635) and the bottom layer from 12" X 12" White Daisy Cardstock (1385). I lightly penciled in the shape of the ornament to more easily place the Blue (Z3025), White (Z3024), Purple (Z1919) and Pink (Z1986) Shimmer Trim between the tag layers. Again I stamped the My Acrylix™ Hand-Lettered Christmas stamp (M1127) or This Is Christmas stamp (M1126) using a VersaMark™ Ink Pad (Z891). I then heat embossed with Ranger™ Princess Gold Embossing Powder (Z2066) or Ranger™ Silver Super Fine Embossing Powder (Z2067) and the Craft Heater (Z555). I stamped the "To" and "Fr" were stamped with Black Memento™ Ink Pad (Z899) and My Acrylix™ Christmas Post stamp set (D1610) on the back of the tag.

If you would like to create any of the above tags, my CDS file is here.

Finally, I created 10 tags for each box using the My Acrylix™ Christmas Post stamp set (D1610) using a variety of colors to stamp the outline and the "To" and "Fr".

I flipped and fiddled until I could fit 30 tags on one sheet of 12" x 12" cardstock. If you would like to use my Cricut Design Space file, you will find it here.

I hope you like what I created, but more importantly, I hope the winning bidders love the box and tags they were able to take home with them. I would love to hear your feedback on this box and tags.

If you use my CDS links to create all or part of the box and tags please consider sending a donation to Operation Smile.

Gift Card Holder Tags

I saw this idea posted by a few different people in the CTMH Artwork group on Facebook so I do not know who to attribute the original idea to. Most, maybe all, of those that used this idea also used a bow from the Cricut® Artiste Collection (Z3170) – search Cricut® Design Space for #M3B8B0. Instead, I used a ribbon because it was something I could easily do while traveling.

As you can see, this is perfect to hold gift cards or similarly sized cards.

The card holder was made with the Cricut® cut Label - #M3EA6B on the Art Philosophy cartridge available exclusively from Close To My Heart Independent Consultants.

I used the slice feature in Cricut® Design Space to create the pocket on the card. If you like to save paper, you can cut six of these from 3 sheets of cardstock; the base, shown here in Glacier cardstock, was cut from one sheet of 12" x 12" cardstock and a 12" x 24" mat using the attach feature in Design Space.

I used the following products to create these tags:

• Cricut® Art Philosophy Collection (Z3171)
• 12" x 12" Glacier Cardstock (X5770)
• 12" X 12" Cranberry Cardstock (1272)
• Zoe Paper Packet (X7197B)
• Snowhaven Paper Packet - retired
• My Acrylix® Doubly Merry stamp (M1128)
• Black Memento™ Ink Pad (Z899)
• Memory Book Mini Glue Dots™ (Z341) - to attach the bow
• Supplies not from Close To My Heart: Cricut® Design Space, Cricut® Explore, ribbon, Scotch Quick-Dry Adhesive, Embellishment Attic Bow Maker (but I do not remember the size), baker's twine from King Arthur Flour

If you would like to use the Cricut® Design Space file I created, you will find it here.

I think this is a cute idea for presenting gift cards and I will be making several more. I hope you think this idea is cute too. Thank you for visiting today. If you have a moment please leave a comment letting me know what you think.