2022 IS OFFICIALLY HERE!

Ready to start off the new year with some lofty crafting goals. We have a bunch of trips planned this year and CTMH has so many great ways to save those memories.

Check out my website and find some inspiration of your own!

Visit My Website

Happy Crafting!

-E

JANUARY FEATURED PRODUCTS

Sweet as Honey

Get a fresh start on your scrapbooking and cardmaking goals with the sensational Sweet as Honey paper collection, featuring patterned papers, cardstock, pocket cards, stamps, and much more!

HELLO 2022 - Become a Maker!

Start the New Year right by signing up to become a Close To My Heart Maker! This month only, join for $20 and receive $22 back in CTMH Cash!

STAMP OF THE MONTH

January 2022: Sweet Little Things

Spend $50 and get this Stamp of the Month set for just $5

Each month you can purchase a new D-size stamp set valued at $18.95 for just $5—or you can get it for FREE as a VIP Customer! Qualify for this special pricing by placing an order of $50 or more in Close To My Heart products. This month’s set is only available from January 1–31.

VALENTINES - Smitten

Meet a new collection of Valentine’s crafting items that will have you falling head over heels!

Spread paper-crafted love with scrapbook pages and cards made using the exclusive Smitten paper collection! This stunning collection features a new paper packet with coordinating sticker sheet, cardstock pack, stamp set, and Thin Cuts! Save 20% on the entire collection with the Smitten Product Bundle or the Smitten Workshop Kit, which also includes a few additional supplies for making a striking collection of scrapbook pages, cards, and treat holders!

You can also join us on January 27 and 31 for virtual crafting events featuring the Smitten workshop artwork! Learn more on the Close To My Heart Facebook page!

NATIONAL PAPERCRAFTING MONTH - True Story

Papercrafting meets memory keeping in this incredibly interactive mini album project!

Perfect for National Papercrafting Month, the True Story album kit includes pre-printed base pages, die-cuts, stickers, acrylic shapes, Flip Flaps™ and Memory Protectors™, for creating a delightful mini album with surprises on every page! This album has room for an amazing number of photos and stories thanks to the innovative Flip Flaps, making this album a keepsake you will love paging through time and time again!

This kit is available in two discounted bundle options—one with just the album kit, and one that also includes a Black 6" × 8" Everyday Life™ Album for holding your completed pages!

Fun Times with my Girl - Sketch Challenge (#211)

Today I decided to tackle a challenge from a fun crafting site - A Cherry On Top Crafts 

I have been following them on Instagram (@acherryontop_crafts) for quite a while and this Becky Fleck Sketch Challenge #211 jumped out at me!  The challenges are pretty open to interpretation.  You can work with scrapbook layouts, cards, wall hangings, etc.  

There are a lot of different products, companies, and basic techniques used here.  

I'll list the ones that jump out the most:

• First Edition - Let's Celebrate patterned papers (Joann's)
• Close to my Heart - Cardstock in French Vanilla, Mint, and Flamingo, Tags and Tabs thin cuts (Z3726), and acrylic hearts (Z3553)
• Stickles - Twinkle
• Brother Scan & Cut - Catalog Swirly Heart and 4" circles.
• Canon Pixma MX870 photo printer with Canon Matte Photo paper

I would love to challenge you to interpret this design and put your own mark on it!  Please share on my Facebook group page CTMH Erica Walsh

You can click here for the gallery page of other submissions.

Please check out my website to purchase any of these (and more) great products from Close to My Heart.

Happy Crafting!

-Erica

July Sneak Peek - Gnome Matter

JULY SNEAK PEEK!
Playing with my Spectrum Noir Tri-blend pens and my Gnome Matter* stamps from CTMH. These guys are so cute!! Learning how to blend and color is cathartic.
Products:
*Gnome Matter Stamps and Thin Cuts (Z3741)
Spectrum Noir Tri-Blend Markers - Fair Skin, Pale Pink, Dark Red, True Blue, Green Turquoise, Light Yellow, Earth Brown.
Black - Exclusive Inks Pad (Z2805)

*The Gnomes will be available in the July /August Seasonal catalog.

Workshop Tuesday with CTMH

Each Tuesday throughout the summer Close to my Heart is offering free virtual workshops for specials and projects in the catalog. 

Today they are offering the Aurora Card Making Workshop! If you purchased this kit you can follow along as the creative team at the corporate office assembled it. There will also be drawings and fun stories!  

These have been fun to follow and work or just watch and learn. If you don’t have the kit, you can order it and watch the video replay. All you have to do to we eligible to win is mark yourself as GOING on the event page. No need to watch live to win. 

https://www.facebook.com/CloseToMyHeartOfficial
Head over to the Close to my Heart Facebook page / Events to register and watch. You will also find the replay here if you missed it.

CTMH - Stamp Shammy "LOVE"

I wanted to take a quick minute and highlight a great core catalog product. 

Stamp Shammy (Z3579) $10.95 for a set of two. 
It is simply a 6x6” shammy used for cleaning stamps. I have attached the link to the video for you to watch, but I also wanted to share mine. I never thought I would use it until I ran out of wipes mid-project and grabbed the one that came in my consultant kit. 

To use it I soak it in water until it’s soft, wring out the water. While I’m working on my projects, I stamp off excess in on a scrap page and then stamp or wipe my block clean. When I’m done I rinse it out and let it dry flat on my block box. I’ve been using it almost daily for 3 months and it’s still going strong! It does NOT leave any lint or film on your stamps and I find it getting stamps cleaner than when I used wipes previously. 

Certainly an inexpensive piece to add you your wish list!

https://youtu.be/vCwfvM9_9dg

Walsh Family - COVID-19 Album

Today I finished our Family COVID album! 
It has taken a while because the whole thing has been very emotional for me. I put it together with a 6x6 book I’ve had for years. I used the Every Little Thing scrapbook kit and stamps from across the years. It ended up 7 double pages and two singles using a variety of techniques learned over the last two months.

 

CTMH - June Stamp of the Month

Tonight I have been working with the June Stamp of the Month - Garden Tags to see the flexibility and options. I worked with the May mix-in papers, circle windows, and shimmer pens. Peach cardstock on the light side, peach and sweet leaf ink, clear and gold shimmer brushes, gold foil paper, and some glisten stickles. The top tag is stamped with two stamps, the first layer is in peach with the daisy's and the second layer is the wildflowers with the words. The second tag is the wildflowers stamped in charcoal on peach cardstock. All tags are fussy cut. I wish the video was better so you could see the shimmer pens better! This card was fun to make and so sparkly! 

Check out my website to order. You can get the stamp of the month for just $5 with a qualifying purchase. 
ericawalsh.ctmh.com

CTMH Bring Back My Pack - Brushed and June SOTM

Welcome to June!!

We are in month two of our current seasonal specials and we have a beautiful “Bring Back My Pack” in the Brushed set! They have updated the color scheme, added a new sticker sheet, coordinating cardstock, and have two new exclusive stamps sets. You will get a 20% discount when you purchase the bundle!

https://youtu.be/5SopU9c3pbU

We also have released the new June Stamp of the month - Garden Tags! The tags and tabs set is also back in stock and match perfectly with these beautiful stamps.

Please visit my website to add to your order! 

EricaWalsh.ctmh.com

One Sheet Wonder Card Set

Happy Friday!

I intended to share with you this great One Hit Wonder card set using the Blue Skies paper and the May Stamp of the Month... Unfortunately, technical difficulties struck mid-video so I don’t have a full walk-through. I am sharing the video, cutting diagrams, and sample cards so you can see the project and get a feel for the paper and the idea.

For the project you need:

1 - 12x12 patterned paper

1 - 12x12 solid paper

12 - card bases and envelopes

Stamp set for sentiments

Inkpad

Stamping blocks

Adhesive

3D Foam Tape

Paper Trimmer

Optional Embellishments

The video, samples, and cutting guides are here.

Let me know is if you have any questions about the project or placing your order! https://www.closetomyheart.com

Paper Fold - Quilting

Happy Wednesday!!

Today I worked on a super cute scrapbook layout using double-sided paper. It was super quick and has a few options for layouts!  It uses one piece of patterned paper and 1-3 pieces of solid paper depending on your choice of layout. The first image is the full page layout. The second images are the layout cut in half and added to a base page to make a two-page layout.
It can also be adapted for cards. - see in the final image. This used half of a 12x12 sheet of two-sided patterned paper.