Packed With Punch

Learn how you can use Close To My Heart circle punches to create beautiful artwork. It's a great way to pack some punch int your papercrafting!



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It's A Pajama Party!!!

Close To My Heart is teaming up with Big Picture Classes to bring you a live webcast with step-by-step instructions for making this Happy Thoughts kraft container. The FREE webcast will air Thursday, May 30 from 7:00 pm to 8:00 pm (MDT). During the presentation, you’ll learn to make several projects from a variety of sponsors, including Close To My Heart’s Happy Thoughts kraft container, as the presenter walks you through the steps. 

Anyone with an Internet connection can watch, so make sure to order your supplies now so you can follow along in the fun!

The Pajama Party class will be available for FREE at BigPictureClasses.com on May 30. If you would like to interact on the message board, participate in live chat, post to the gallery, download handouts, or enter any contests, you will need to log in to the Pajama Party “classroom” by creating a free account on the Big Picture Classes website.

To make our Happy Thoughts kraft container, these are the supplies you'll need—or similar products:

• My Acrylix^® Frame Flair Stamp Set (D1546)
• My Acrylix^® Happy Thoughts Stamp Set (C1536)
• Chantilly Paper Packet (need 1 sheet of B&T, X7163B)
• Crème Brulee Cardstock (need 1 sheet, X5754)
• Lagoon Cardstock (need 1 sheet, X5762)
• White Daisy Cardstock (need 1 sheet, 1385)
• Whisper Cardstock (need 1 sheet, X5929)
• Whisper Exclusive Inks^® Pad (Z2172)
• Lagoon Exclusive Inks^® Pad (Z2195)
• My Creations^® Kraft Container (Z1833)
• Baker’s Twine Neutral Assortment (need 3 yards, Z1701)
• Color-Ready Trinkets Wooden Shapes (Z1844)
• Sparkles Black & Grey Assortment (Z1754)
• 3-D Foam Tape (Z1151)
• Micro-Tip Scissors (Z534)
• Corner Rounder (Z1912)
• Paper Trimmer (Z1783)
• My Acrylix^® Spritz Cleaner (1778)
• My Acrylix^® Stamp Scrubber (Z1782)
• 2" × 3½" My Acrylix^® Block (Y1009)
• 4" × 5" My Acrylix^® Block (Y1012)
• Cricut^® Art Philosophy Collection (Z1790)

To order any of these supplies please visit my website HERE!

Teacher Gift: Lollipop Pinwheel Garden

This was another fun project to make with the Cricut Artiste Cartridge. I used the flower pot shape on page 54 of the cartridge and cut it at 2 1/2".

I filled the pot with some Floral Support found at the Dollar Store and decorated the lollipops with May's Stamp of the Month, Pinwheels. The Pinwheel shapes were also cut with the Cricut Artiste cartridge at 2".

For added stability in the "planters" I added some red marbles I had in my stash. I finished off each planter with a simple bow and voila, another quick and fun teacher gift done!

If you'd like to make this project but don't own the Artiste Cartridge you can get it HERE!

Teacher Gift: Post-it-Note Holder

I like projects that are both functional and cute and I'm hoping our teachers do as well.

This project was inspired by my friend, Amy. She's so creative and is a teacher herself.

This project was really inexpensive to make and is a great use of scraps. The acrylic frame came from the Dollar Store. These would also make great office and co-worker gifts!

Here's the frame from the side! Hope the teachers like it!

Teacher Gift: Note Card Set

It's that time of year to give a little thanks to our teachers! To kick off Teacher Appreciation Week my first project is a Thank You note card set.

For the Male Teachers!

The holder was super easy to create with the help of the Cricut Artiste cartridge. Since I had several of these to make I kept the cards pretty simple. The bracket was also cut with the Artiste cartridge and stamped with the coordinating Perfect Fit Frames 2 stamp set. The sentiment is from one of my faves, Salutation Seals.

For the Female Teachers!

His & Hers Thinking of You Cards

 Another tip I've learned in the online card class His & Hers is to use texture. So, for these two cards  I decided to have a little experiment to see if I kept the same color scheme and used the same materials if changing the texture really did make a difference. I took out my Sizzix and embossing folders and decided to use Freshly Made Sketch #84 which was a prefect fit for this open background card.

I did a couple of different techniques with these cards. For the "Hers" version I inked the embossing folder with Desert Sand Ink then ran it through the Sizzix, something the very talented Vicki W did with THIS card.  It gives the card such a soft, vintage feel.

For the "His" card I used a different embossing folder and then sanded the cardstock to reveal the white core. I went simple with the embellishments and simply added a button tied with waxy flax.

So, what do you think? Did I succeed with my experiment? Leave me a comment and let me know.

Supplies used (all CTMH unless otherwise noted): 

Paper: Sweet Leaf Cardstock, Desert Sand Cardstock

Stamps: Card Chatter - Sympathy

Ink: Dessert Sand

Other: Brown Ribbon (retired), White Daisy Flower, Autumn Flowers, Natural Buttons, Waxy Flax, Glue Dots, Sizzix Big Shot, Cuttlebug Embossing Folders

Project Life Week 7 & 8

I didn't have too many photos for these weeks so instead of stretching it along two pages I decided to create 1 page layouts. Love that this project is so flexible yet still so cohesive!! Just to be a little consistent I did use the same journal cards on both sides of the layouts...I'm a little anal like that!

Week 7 - Left page

If you're curious about the sandwiches in Week 7, no, we don't eat those all in one day! To make life easy on ourselves I buy two loaves of bread (one for PB&J and one for meat and cheese) and pre-make them for lunches. Once made they go in the freezer and when needed they make it to the lunch box! Yes, they thaw in time for lunch and no, they don't get soggy (as long as you don't put the jelly or condiments directly on the bread). It's such a time saver to make 2 weeks worth in about 30 minutes!

Week 8 - Right Page

Week 8 is the start of our family vacation to Florida! The photo in the top left is our pre-packing process. Each pile represents a kid/outfit for the week. I've done a little something different to record our vacation so stay tuned for that!