Wednesday, December 31, 2014

Four Studio J Digital Scrapbooking Layouts

Here are some Studio J digital layouts I completed tonight! You can click on the thumbnails to view them larger.

So glad to have this wonderful scrapbooking tool. The first double layout and the last one use the new paper packs, Hopscotch and Heartstrings. The nice thing about Studio J is that you can still use colors which aren't in the particular paper pack you are using. You can even tint a patterned paper from a kit you are using. 


The following layout is meant to have room for six photos but I switched the journaling box to a photo well and added two more photos. I'm glad to have this flexibility now! Do you like the stitching I added to the pink photo well on the right hand page?



 Studio J makes it easy to add many photos to one layout.

Pin It

Thursday, December 11, 2014

CTMH Rolling Totes and Shoulder Totes

Speaking of great gifts, I am awaiting the arrival of my new CTMH Rolling and Shoulder Totes! A gift to myself, I guess! These totes were delayed due to a strike at the port...the strike has ended and the totes are coming in batches. At the time that I am typing this, the rolling tote had already sold out but another batch will be arriving at CTMH warehouses soon. 
Watch the following video to see how functional these totes really are!


Pin It

Thursday, December 4, 2014

Gift Idea Three: CTMH's Organizational Products

Whether or not you have a scrapbooker you are buying for, Close To My Heart's organizational products make a wonderful gift! I particularly like our Large and Medium Organizers. Our Large Organizers can hold up to 40 of our My Acrylix stamp sets. Both organizers are great to store a variety of craft or non craft items. I have one of my Medium Organizers filled with fabric (fat quarters) and sewing necessities. I have another filled with shimmer trim, washi tape, and other embellishments. Still another holds my Picture My Life cards! Our organizers are great to hold photographs, glue, small toys, beads, jewelry, etc. The Small Organizer is a great place to keep all those hooks, nails, screws, and bolts that seem to end up without a home. If you have a baker that you are buying for, how about filling a Medium Organizer with cookie cutters, specialty sprinkles, and cupcake liners? You can fill one up with First Aid supplies, or office supplies. The dividers can be removed to allow for some sections to be larger than others so you can customize your boxes as you like.

Pin It

Wednesday, December 3, 2014

My Crush Books make Wonderful Gifts

I love to give My Crush books as gifts! I know I mentioned this on an earlier post but it's worth mentioning again. They make great scrapbooks, journals, and notebooks. Here are pictures of the cover and some of the pages from the My Crush Wildwood Book ($12.95) and the My Crush Holiday Happenings Book (17.95).

The Holiday Happenings Book also has some pages with divided pockets so that you can slip your photos or memorabilia in them. 

These make great gifts on their own or you could group them with some embellishments, including the assortments which are made to match the books: http://lubna.ctmh.com/retail/Products.aspx?CatalogID=67



Pin It

Tuesday, December 2, 2014

Great Gift Pairing: My Creations Mini Books and Picture My Life

I'll be sharing some of my favorite Close To My Heart gift ideas for the next few days. It's a great time to take advantage of our specials and get some of your holiday shopping done too!

I love pairing our new My Creations Mini Books (comes in black or Kraft) with an A La Carte Picture My Life kit such as the Hopscotch one pictured here.

This is a great gift for under $20 for both scrapbookers and non-scrapbookers. The My Creations Mini Book includes 10 mini page protectors (5 each of 2 designs) that hold either one 4" x 6" or two 3" x 4" Picture My Life™ cards or photos. So you just need to slip your photos or cards into the pages. Quick, simple, and a great gift! To bump it up a notch, you can easily add Washi tape, Shimmer Trim, or another small embellishment.

Pin It

Sunday, November 30, 2014

Cyber Monday Cricut Deal, Discounted Stamps and Hostess Rewards

For the first time ever, Close To My Heart is offering a Cyber Monday Sale on Monday, December 1, 2014. There has never been a better time to buy Close To My Heart’s exclusive Cricut® Collections for 20% off the retail price. Whether you love scrapbooking, cardmaking, or creating 3-D projects, our four exclusive Cricut® collections make the perfect addition to any craft room! Sale starts at midnight (MST) on December 1 and ends at 11:59 pm Monday night. 

The new Seasonal Expressions catalog will be live on December 1st as well so you will have new items to choose from including a la carte Picture My Life cards for pocket scrapbooking, papers, stamps and albums!

In addition to Cyber Monday, Close To My Heart is celebrating the ten year anniversary of their clear polymer stamps. With a $50 purchase in December, you are eligible to buy any C or D sized stamps from the Annual Inspirations 2014-2015 idea book for only $10. There is no limit to the amount of eligible stamps you can buy at the discounted price. They just need to be from the Annual Inspirations not our Seasonal Expressions. Remember, a purchase of $50 also qualifies you to receive the December Stamp of the month for only $5. 

As you may know, if you purchase $150 or more of Close To My Heart products (before shipping and taxes), you earn an additional $25 in select products for free (Hostess rewards). If your order reaches this amount, contact me to submit your order. However, if your order does not reach this amount, you have another way to try to earn free Hostess rewards from now until December 16th. Order through my website, http://lubna.ctmh.com by clicking on the link labeled Mystery Hostess (on the bottom). All orders will be combined and one lucky winner will earn all of the Hostess rewards
Pin It

Sunday, November 23, 2014

Artfully Sent Owl Birthday card

We needed a quick birthday card for my daughter's friend today. Perfect, I thought! It gives me a good excuse to play! I used my Artfully Sent Cricut Cartridge to whip up this sweet swing card in less than 10 minutes. No stamping involved. Have I told you how much I love this cartridge?

 Here's another view with a red background and the card slightly open:

In case you're unfamiliar with swing cards, here's a view of the opened card so you can see the simple cut that the Cricut makes.

This card is on page 11, the "Q" key, of the Artfully Sent handbook. It's shown with a "Missing you" liner but I used the liner on page 29, the "L" key so I could make it a birthday card.

The paper is a sneak preview of a pack called Hopscotch, which will be available starting on December 1st! Ask me for a copy of our Seasonal Expressions 1 catalog to see what other new items you wil be able to get.

The only other embellishments I added were the Silver Shimmer Tape and the Red Enamel Hearts and we were good to go!
Pin It

Wednesday, November 19, 2014

Lucky 5 - Studio J Digital Scrapbooking

November marks the five-year anniversary of Studio J®, and that means it’s your lucky month, with five amazing ways to win through Studio J and Close To My Heart social media!

First, throughout the month of November, all layouts purchased in Studio J are $5! That is a savings of over 25% off of retail—an unprecedented deal!

Your second chance to win big must come by sheer luck: every fifth order placed in Studio J during November receives a FREE surprise Close To My Heart accessory in its shipping box! The accessory has a retail value of $5 or more.

If luck doesn’t smile on you in that way, you might stumble upon it by finding a little extra something in your Studio J box. Five “golden tickets” will be sent out during the month of November with randomly selected Studio J print orders! This “golden ticket” is redeemable for one of Close To My Heart’s new D-ring albums* loaded with 10 Top Load Memory Protectors™.

For a fourth way to win, simply create new, gorgeous layouts in Studio J, select your favorites, and then post pictures of them on Close To My Heart’s Facebook page using the hashtag #ctmhlucky5. After November 30, five lucky winners will be selected from the entries based on their artistry and creativity and each of these winners will receive their own D-ring album loaded with 10 Top Load Memory Protectors!

And there is one last way to win: take your new Studio J artwork and post a picture of it on Instagram using the hashtag #ctmhlucky5. Just as it is with Facebook, after November 30, five lucky winners will be selected from the entries to receive their own D-ring album loaded with 10 Top Load Memory Protectors!
Pin It

Saturday, November 8, 2014

Stock the Box Card Workshop


Join me on November 15th, from 2 pm - 4 pm, to bulk up your supply of handmade cards. Make as many as you like in 2 hours for $15. The cards pictured here are just a sampling. You can choose from these and more. Let me know if you'd like to come!
Pin It

Friday, November 7, 2014

New Albums are Ready!

I'm so excited about Close To My Heart's new albums! You can now order the Lagoon Chevron D-ring album (Z2090), the Black D-ring album (Z3034), and the new Black post-bound album (Z2094). More available soon! Go to my website to order: http://lubna.ctmh.com/retail/Products.aspx?CatalogID=66


Pin It

Monday, October 27, 2014

Hats Off To You Birthday Card

I felt inspired after the Card Buffet on Saturday and got right to work on some more designs for my November Card Buffet. I'm trying to use up some older paper so I designed something using the argyle pattern from the old Cruisin' paper. For some reason, I have a ton of this paper! I used the Hats Off (C1593) stamp set which is only available as a hostess reward. You can purchase it for $8 with any order -- combined or just your own -- of $150 or more. I always have a difficult time coming up with masculine themed cards so I was very happy to see this stamp set in the catalog (page 8).

 I used my Art Philosophy cartridge to cut out the tags and some hemp to tie the tags together. I also used my new Arrows Embossing Folder.

 Since the front of the card had a few layers with the tags and all, it got a little "top heavy," so I added paper to the inside of the card as well. It's difficult to tell from the picture above but there is a gray sheet of cardstock under the argyle and brown.

This is just another view of the card.

This will be one of the many cards you can choose to make at my Card Buffet on November 15th!
Pin It

Cut Above Holiday Card Kit

My first Card Buffet was this past Saturday and it was a lot of fun! I also set out Close To My Heart's Cut Above Card Kits, which I've had for awhile but did not have a chance to play with. My oh my, they are cute! I especially liked the Cut Above Holiday Card Kit pictured here. I had no idea that the envelope had that cute little bird on the back flap! What a great way to get some quick cards made.


Check out all of the Cut above Kits here: http://lubna.ctmh.com/Retail/Products.aspx?CatalogID=100

The Card Buffet got my creative juices flowing and I've already started planning for the next one (November 15th)! Stay tuned for some examples that I've been working on.
Pin It

Saturday, September 20, 2014

Happy Birthday Swing Card with Artfully Sent

I finally received my new Cricut Artfully Sent Collection today! I had to try it out right away. There are tons of cards including pop up cards and cut out cards on this cartridge. There are also lots of cards sized for pocket scrapbooking! So exciting!

I decided to try to make a swing style card using key #7 (listed under the Scene button).

I cut out one card in Cranberry, one in Colonial White, and one in Sunset so that I could layer the Colonial White and Sunset onto the little cupcake for added color. If you do this, you can actually stop your Cricut machine after it is done cutting the cupcake portion since that is all you need. I used Pear for my inside layer.

Here is my card, stamped and all put together. I used some of the little star cut outs from my "cupcake" cuts on my Pear cardstock inner liner. The scalloped strip is Sunset, the zip strip is from the Pathfinding Paper Packet, and the plain strip is Colonial White. I stamped Happy Birthday on the inside liner using the Just To Say stamp set which comes with the Cricut Artfully Sent Collection.

I also added a little rectangle of Colonial White on the inside so I could have a small area for a handwritten message. I can't wait to play with it a little more!
Pin It

Sunday, September 7, 2014

Jewelry Buffet Open House - Saturday, Sept. 13, 10am-1pm




Create your own one of a kind necklace on Sept. 13 during my Jewelry Buffet Open House. It's a great activity for kids and adults alike. A complete necklace (chain, one charm, one pendant with image and glass cover) will be $12. You can add more items "a la carte" like charms or extra pendants.  The picture shows the square and rectangle pendants but we will also have circle and oval ones available. Monogram images will be available too.

You choose your shape, your design, and your charm to make a necklace unique to you.

Come anytime between 10 am and 1 pm. If you think you will come, just send me an email (lubfarid@gmail.com) and I can send more information to you.

If you want to reserve something specific such as the antiqued gold chain vs. the antiqued silver chain, or a certain shape, please let me know! 

You can see all of the supplies here: http://lubna.ctmh.com/Retail/Products.aspx?CatalogID=9

If you can't make it on this day but are interested, just contact me. Have your own jewelry buffet for a Girl's Night!

Pin It

Sunday, August 24, 2014

What a Hoot - Back to School Card

Here's a peekaboo card I made with the August Stamp of the Month, What a Hoot. It's such a cute stamp set and I decided to do some paper piecing with it.

I wanted to make a bunch of these so I worked in steps to set up all the components, assembly line style.
I used Close To My Heart's Woodgrain Embossing Folder. I actually had to spritz my Saddle cardstock with a bit of water before embossing because I had some cracking when it was just dry. I haven't have this issue with other colors of cardstock and other embossing plates from Close To My Heart but it was an easy fix and I like how it turned out. After embossing, I sponged Chocolate ink o my cardstock to highlight the texture.
I love how the Close to My Heart embossing plates are large. I can make a quick and elegant top fold card by just embossing my card front.

Next, I used my Nestabilities Circles and cut out some Pear cardstock circles.
After adhering these to the Woodgrain embossed cardstock, I cut smaller circles through both layers to create my peekaboo hole.
Here are my owl pieces. I love paper piecing since it's a good technique to use up scraps!
I ended up printing my sentiment onto Buttercup cardstock (now retired, so I'm using it up!).  I also used Buttercup as my card base. Here is most of my "assembly line," including the backing for my peekaboo circle.
The finished products!

Since I'm mailing these, I didn't want them to be too bumpy but I still wanted some dimension. I added a hole punch on either side of the sentiment and then added Liquid Glass on top to give the look of a brad. Here's a closer view.

If you're interested in purchasing, What a Hoot, it is only available in August for $17.95 or $5 with a $50 purchase. Click here to see the stamp set!


Pin It

Friday, August 1, 2014

The Close To My Heart 2014-2015 Annual Inspirations is live! And my Washi Obsession!

Happy new catalog day! The Close to My Heart catalog is now an annual catalog which means that it is bigger and full of wonderful things to peruse. Check it out online here.

You may have noticed that I took a bit of a break from posting here for awhile. I had an issue with my phone which prevented me from using the "easy way" to upload photos and that just seemed to slow me down too much to post.  I've also been making a big push to declutter and get organized. It's just long overdue! I'm trying to go drawer by drawer. There are some areas that have taken days and some that are quick and relatively painless. I still have more drawers and nooks and crannies to go through!

Another thing I've been working on is finding a planner system that works for me. After trying and looking at systems I can purchase, I'm going to try out one that I will just print. But being a scrapbooker, I, of course, have to make it visually appealing and fun! I found a free colorful printable planner here: http://www.thehandmadehome.net/2014/06/free-planner-and-calendar-more-2015/

But to make it even more fun, I'm using Washi tape to highlight important dates. Now, I can hear you tsk, tsk, tsking at me, saying it's just an excuse to buy more Washi tape but I say, "No, no, I had already bought the tape!" Now I'm using them! Look, doesn't it grab your attention?
Well, okay, I did buy some new ones too and I am eagerly awaiting my NEW rolls of Washi tape from the NEW catalog because, after all, I need just a few more colors so I can accurately assign one color to things like appointments, holidays, events, practices, work, things associated with a certain member of the family, birthdays, etc. Right? Humor me.

Here's another cool new product which will enable me in my Washi tape obsession.

Pin It

Monday, May 5, 2014

Download Free Journaling Cards



Pin It

Monday, April 28, 2014

Thank You Dreamer Card

I made a bunch of these cards for my daughter to use as thank yous for her friends. The Dreamer stamp set is one of my favorites! I love the collage look of the images and the image of the girl reminds me of my daughter. I also used Card Chatter -Thank You (retired). For paper, I used the Lollydoodle Paper Pack and I added some Juniper cardstock with a touch of Smokey Plum cardstock. I stamped the butterfly in Juniper ink and then popped it up with foam tape.  The Thank You is stamped in Pear ink. I used color pencils for parts of the image of the girl.


Pin It

Saturday, April 26, 2014

Download Free Steampunk Alphabet Font

The free download for April from Close To My Heart is a Steampunk Alphabet! You can download it here: http://lubna.ctmh.com/ctmh/promotions/rediscover-ctmh.aspx


Pin It

Wednesday, April 2, 2014

Floating Your Fancy

I love these ideas on using the cuts from the Cricut Artbooking cartridge in "out of the box" ways.

Pin It

Saturday, March 29, 2014

Last Days for $5 Double Layouts

Today, I was able to finish all of the layouts for my daughter's third grade pictures which will go into her school album. It took me just a couple of hours to complete five digital double layouts (ten pages total)! Most of that time was spent in locating my pictures on various computers and flash drives! The actual scrapbooking portion  took very little time and I was really pleased with the outcome. Yay! This also let me take advantage of Close To My Heart's Studio J sale, $5 double layouts in March. If you haven't already tried it, take a look here: http://lubna.ctmh.com/ctmh/products/studioj.aspx

Here are a couple of the layouts I did today.



I also used the "No Limits" layout option to see how processing photos through Studio J will come out. I just plugged in photos (both 4 x 6 and 3 x 4) on two double layouts. I will let you know how they turn out!

Pin It

Saturday, March 15, 2014

Picture My Life Scrapbooking Program

Have you heard of the new Picture My Life sets from Close To My Heart? The sets come with beautiful cards in different sizes along with a variety of pocket page protectors. They are perfect for pocket scrapbooking (similar to the Project Life style). Lately, I've found that pocket scrapbooking has been working really well for me, so that's what I've been using for this year's and last year's family albums. I am loving the Picture My Life sets! I've started my 2014 album with the gorgeous Skylark set, although I imagine that I may end up mixing and matching. Here are a few examples of some of my pages so far. You can click on the photos to see them larger.

You can see that I journaled on some of the Picture My Life cards and left some blank just to use as a filler. I actually layered a smaller card onto a larger card below.

I included a little Shrinky Dink in one of the pockets below by adhering it to one of my Picture My Life Cards. It was the "swap" we made for an event for my daughter's Girl Scouts troop. Having a little pocket for it was pretty convenient! I also layered a cropped picture onto a Picture My Life card instead of using it at the full 4 x 6 inch size.

Since my work schedule has increased this school year. I'm finding that this has been a way for me to get my photos into my scrapbooks faster than "traditional scrapbooking." I can still include some 12 x 12 inch layouts if I want and some digital layouts if I want (particularly if I get them this month with the Studio J sale--Yay!).
If you'd like to take a closer look at or order one of the Picture My Life sets, go to my online retail site. Click here!

Would you like to win a Picture My Life set? Close to My Heart has a contest going on right now! 

From CTMH: In our Mix & Match Contest, tell us which Picture My Life™ Scrapbooking Program is your favorite and why in a comment on Facebook, Jeanette Lynton's blog, or YouTube before March 31, 2014, for your chance to win your choice! 

You can watch the following video for more info!

Pin It

Thursday, March 13, 2014

Artbooking Made Easy: Fab Frames

Here are some great examples of how to decorate CTMH's Pennant Frame.


)
Pin It

Thursday, March 6, 2014

Eleven Years Ago

On Tuesday, even though schools had been closed due to the snow, my husband, of course, had to go in to work. He had left  before we were up and about.  As I was making my breakfast, he called. He started off with, "I am sooo sorry!" I said, "What? Are you okay? Did you skid into something?" He proceeded to tell me that he had stopped off at one of the offices he needs to go to in the morning (he often needs to go to more than one location in a day) and as he was trying to get back in his car, he noticed that he had locked his keys in his car! His key fob is designed to prevent you from locking your keys in the car normally but it needs new batteries, of course. Since he's so used to relying on that system, the key stayed in the car (just like me with the automatic lights on my car -- forgetting to turn them off if I need to use them manually during the daytime). Technology is great, except when it isn't!

So this meant that he could either waste time and money in calling a cab to bring him home to retrieve my copy of his car key or I could go help him. Even though we had dug my car out the previous day, it still took me a while to clean my car more thoroughly. Our little parking area was not plowed that well but it wasn't terrible either. The main roads were better but there were areas where I needed to be careful, particularly on turns. The roads were much emptier than they normally would be and since I didn't have to go into work, I had no problems or time constraints. As I was driving, I realized that it had been almost exactly 11 years ago to the day that I had to drive to give my husband a copy of his car key due to him locking himself out. It seems like just yesterday!

One difference between that time and this one is that I didn't have a GPS or smart cell phone with maps. I had to print off maps from the computer to make sure I knew how to get there even though it had been a place I had been to before. Also, this time it was much closer (didn't have to go into D.C. like last time) and I was very familiar with the route, but I did have a smart phone just in case. The most important difference was that I was very pregnant then! All I remember is being very grumpy and driving over lots of bumpy potholes and cobblestones. The reason why I remember this and what date it was, is that I went into labor that night!

This is a long story to say, it's my (not so) little girl's birthday and where in the world did the time go! How do eleven years just fly by?

It's not the best picture but here's a layout I love. It's of my daughter's first birthday. Just us at home celebrating together!

Pin It

Wednesday, March 5, 2014

Studio J, Digital Scrapbooking on Sale for March

Have you ever wanted to try digital scrapbooking? Now is the time with Close To My Heart's Studio J! In March, a double layout costs only $5! It's always free to try it out...you only pay if you want to print your layout.

Another great feature is the ability to print photos through Studio J. Whenever I want a 4" x 3" for my Project Life type of scrapbook, I usually go into Photoshop and put two photos onto a 4" x 6" canvas. Then I upload them to a photo service to get them printed. This is pretty time consuming but it's been my process. Now, I can get my smaller photos printed through Studio J just by dropping them into the appropriately sized photo wells (and I'll bet they will be better quality than my Walmart photos!). I am so excited to try this out!

If you want to take a look at Studio J and play around with all of it's features, go to my website- http://lubna.ctmh.com/ctmh/products/studioj.aspx, set up your free account and try it out!



Pin It

Artbooking Made Easy: Happy Springtime

Are you ready for spring? I definitely am...I like snow as much as the next person but this winter has been too much for me. I hope you enjoy this video on making spring-themed projects with the Cricut Artbooking cartridge!

Pin It

Tuesday, February 4, 2014

Picture My Life™ Scrapbooking Program

I love the new Picture My Life Designs from Close To My Heart! I will be using the Skylark kit and maybe mixing in some others for my 2014 family album.


You can browse through the new catalog at my website here: http://lubna.ctmh.com/ctmh/products/online-idea-book.aspx
Pin It

Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Artbooking Made Easy: Love, Love, Love

Are you ready for Valentine's Day?

Pin It

Monday, January 20, 2014

Artbooking Made Easy: Love Is in the Air

Pin It

Monday, January 6, 2014

Artbooking Made Easy: Inspiration Mini Albums

Pin It

Saturday, January 4, 2014

National Papercrafting Month Cloud Nine Cardmaking Kit

Here's the January special for Close To My Heart!

Pin It

Friday, January 3, 2014

Artbooking Made Easy: Celebration Layouts (S01E16)

More Artbooking fun!
Pin It
Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...