Oh My!! Time Flies When You Are Having Fun!!

I came home (from stamping with a friend, of course!) yesterday to find a smallish package on my door step. I was puzzled since I hadn't ordered anything... why else do packages come other than from online shopping or my CTMH orders? Even stranger was the return address DID say CTMH. I had already received my convention logo order and hadn't noticed anything back ordered...? Hurry inside and rip that baby open!!


Inside was a velvet jewelry box so of course my heart started thumping even harder. When I opened the box it revealed the gorgeous pin you see above and a lovely letter congratulating me on my 15 year association with Close To My Heart!!

Did it really say 15 years??? Oh my. It's been so much fun, it feels like I just started yesterday. But when I think of all the changes and wonderful new things that have come along in all those 15 years, it seems like we've been together forever... like an old married couple.


When I joined Close To My Heart the actual "Close To My Heart" family wasn't even in the picture yet. That child came along later. We were a rubber stamp company called DOTS, which stands for "Dozens Of Terrific Stamps" (we had hundreds, though - not just dozens!).

There is not much left of the company that really reminds me of DOTS. Our conventions are bigger an glitzier, our products have changed dramatically as an industry leader. Our Idea Books (catalogs) are gorgeous and so very user friendly and come out not once but three times a year. We've really grown up into an incredibly awesome company.

But the most important thing is what hasn't changed over all those years, the people. Jeannette Lynton, the founder and CEO of the company is one of the warmest nicest people you could ever hope to meet. She has an amazing team of artists and business people who are constantly developing and on the lookout for the very best products and the very best programs to make us, the consultants, successful!!

The friends I have made in my association with CTMH are simply the best I have ever had!! They live in every part of the country, heck, the continent, and even overseas if they are in the service. They are the glue for me. Not all of them are still with CTMH, but they are all still in my heart and still a part of my life through venues like Facebook or MySpace. But we started as friends long before the social networks. We started in an AOL chat room and met face to face year after year at conventions. We came to put real names and faces behind AOL monikers like CUStampin, Joy2NoHim, DOTSQueen and many many more. We made up groups in our local areas and called ourselves "Cousins" when we got together to stamp and share ideas. Or we had cross country groups we called "Kin" as our tiny 2 person units did card exchanges to share ideas. We have our "ice cream social" nights at convention to this day to reconnect and celebrate those long ago friendships that still exist but in different ways.

Yes, it's been 15 years. 15 wonderful years full of such great memories and friendships. I truly love being part of Close To My Heart!

July 4th Project

This patriotic looking item was made for the Quarter Bid Auction which is tomorrow. Gosh, sometimes I feel like that is all I work on.... sigh. The papers are all CTMH but they've been long retired. The pretty star strip on the red box was done with my Cricut - so glad my hubby goaded me into using it - so fun!!

Viewed from above, you can see the inner space is all lined with perfectly coordinating card stock. Bigger Brads and several glue dots hold the boxes together to make one unit. Do you know what it is yet? Or have you known all along?

It's a picnic caddy for plates, napkins & flatware! I hope it's a hit - but somehow I keep seeing it tossed in the garbage as soon as July 5th.... sad.

Anything but Cards

I really struggle with coming up with ideas for the quarter auction. This time around I had some help from my friend, Ruth, and other ideas from the other auction ladies. Only time will tell what the appeal of these items are. Let me know what you think. I'm posting photos of the item and a second photo of how I will present it.

Recipe holder includes pot holder & towels. Add some of your favorite recipes for a wedding shower gift.

Coupon folder gift set includes a calculator, pen & scissors.

Snack jars filled with yummy treats.

Getting the Most from your Stamp Pad

I taught a class designed to show my students just how versatile our old friend "stamp pad" can be. These are some of the cards they made.

It's so much fun to stretch my creative muscles looking for (or recalling) the very many ways we can add color and depth to our cards with nothing more than the stamp pads we use.

And what I love most about teaching was seeing the reactions and delighted expressions of my students as they discovered these "new" ideas for themselves. It really is the reward at the end of the rainbow.

This first card was done by cutting a reverse stencil of the flower stamp on scrap paper. We tossed out the flower and used the hole, placing it over the stamped flower. Then we sponged color from our stamp pad onto the flower. The layers and subtlety of shading are one of the great benefits of this technique.

Did I say we tossed out the flowers we cut out? Oops! I did encourage my students to use them inside their cards to continue the theme. So pretty!

This card was probably the class favorite. There was a lot to putting it all together, but we learned so much on this card! Too much detail to relate here, but I hope we all learned about thinking outside the box.

I designed this card after I had the parts. My friend, Mary Jane, let me borrow her Cuttlebug and I whipped out the textured pieces to take home and play with. The results were so quick and easy and I think the look is fabulous! Some students were dismayed that the pad left color in areas other than the embossed lines. But then they looked back at my sample and saw that it looked burnished with color- very cool.

Something I don't have a sample of to show you is using the same technique on the back of the embossed piece. Try it sometime.

We did one more card using the water brush with our stamp pads. It's like having a perfectly matching marker. Perhaps I'll post that one tomorrow. Stay tuned!

Happiness is a Beautiful Card

This is one of my favorite cards. I love the tri-fold pattern which makes the card even more beautiful when it is opened, as well as these beautiful Close to my Heart papers, Creative Basics, Veranda Collection.


Most of the CTMH paper packets include several sheets and colors of solid card stock as well as 6 different designs of patterned paper - 2 of each double sided design. It's a wonderful value.



But... the Creative Basics collection introduced with each catalog? Only 2 double sided designs, six sheets of each, and 4 yards of coordinating ribbon. Perfect for card makers like me, it means more sheets of the designs I love!!



Here is the opened card. Isn't it gorgeous? I find these colors and patterns so beautiful, I don't think I could go wrong with them.

I first saw the pattern for this tri-fold shutter card when a friend posted a photo of her card using this pattern. I played around with some paper until I figured out the cuts and folds and used it for my Christmas Card (2009). Recently I had the opportunity to share the pattern with a stamp club I am a member of. It was so fun to see what everyone did with the same basic start. I'll be teaching this exact card this week in my Yoga Class. I am so excited!


This final view is the flower detail. I sponged the white paper flowers in the same colors of the papers (Juniper & Garden Green). I was a little stuck on what to do for the center of the flower because I was not at home - away from collections of stampin' & scrappin' do-dads. So I took a thin strip of solid Juniper card stock and wound it around a embossing stylus to make a tight swirl. I attached it to the center of the flower with Liquid Glass. I love how necessity stimulates creativeness!

Flutter by, Butterfly!

It's been a while since I've posted any of my work - didja miss me?

I guess I have to admit to being lazy. Why? Because I have been crafting, but not posting. Shameful!! Because I have issues with blogspot & photos I am not going to try to post everything at once. But do come back often because I have "stuff" to share!!

Tonight I'm sharing a card I put together for a class. I knew I wanted to use this explosion technique and that became my starting point. The rest of it stressed me. My final card was not the first attempt. I started with computer paper and thought I had it all worked out. Surprise... even then I had to rip it apart and rearrange. Hope you like the final results!

This is with the explosion open. Inside is a dandelion "puff" and the words "Make a Wish." It's all mounted on a regular size card base. Although it would be just fine post-card style, the card gives the sender plenty of room to write a note.

NKY WINS 25 Cent Aution at Legends

The auction is coming up again and I thought I'd share a little of what I've been working on. This is a gift jar inspired by a link a friend sent me. I plan on doing some more filled with journaling prompts, which is what the link showed. But for auction, the crowd seems a little less crafty so I'll fill this one with candy and promote it as a Mothers' Day gift.

Here you can see some of the lid detail. I distressed most all the paper. For the lid, I used the reverse side of the paper, clear embossed a butterfly on it and swiped some dreamcoat paint lightly over it to make it pop.

The lid itself is sponged with brown stazon and has a couple more paint swipes along the edges.

This is a write on, wipe off memo board made simply with a 12x12 layout frame. The glass simply wipes clean just like a white board.
All paper, ink, stamps & embellishment products used in these two projects are Close to My Heart. The frame & jar came from Hobby Lobby.
Thanks for stopping by!