Huge Clearance Starting at Midnight MST

Everyone enjoys shopping the deals this time of year, and you’ll be tickled to learn that we are making more fabulous deals available to you. At 12:00 AM (MST) on December 1, Close To My Heart will add new items to the “While Supplies Last” section of my shopping site. Among the new additions you will find a wide variety of paper and coordinating accessories, all with a substantial markdown. You will also find that most of the items that are currently available will also see a further markdown at that time.

 

To sweeten the deal even more, from December 1–31, all orders placed on my site that reach or exceed $50 will also include a free Bonding Memories® glue pen (Z553)—a $4.50 value! 

 Shop early, because these deals are only available while supplies last.

Clearly the Best - Rock and Roll stamping

Holiday Craft Show at Pacific Plaza, Camp Pendleton

December 1st - OWC Holiday Craft Show at the Pacific Plaza
9am to 4pm just past the Main Gate on Camp Pendleton!

You don't have to be military to come out and shop with us.  All items will be handmade goods and my table will have a huge selection from myself and Dana Simone-Kurtz of holiday gifts, home decor, and military themed items.  Really excited for you to see all our creations, we've gone all out.

Holiday freak out.....

Okay, am I the only one that is having panic attacks looking at my holiday countdown?!?!  Well I just wanted to send out a little stress relief and a little "Bazinga" to you!  I promise the four minutes is SOOOO worth it in helping lower your holiday stress level.

Free stamp on my dime now through Monday

Monday will be your last chance to get a stamp set of YOUR choosing on my dime!  For all orders $99 and over I will send you a free stamp set out of our latest Idea Book.
Contact me today with your order or order directly my site.  Just be sure to email me your choice of your free stamp set.

Black Friday Sale

I am having a Black Friday weekend special for Friday 11/23-Cyber Mon 11/26 for any Cricut bundle you buy you will get a coordinating stamp set of your choice FREE on me! 

Anyone ordering $99 or more even if its not on a Cricut bundle I haven't forgotten you...you get to pick a stamp set too!  

To take advantage of the sale be sure to add your to the Black Friday/Cyber Monday Gathering on my website or call/email direct with your order.  After I receive your order, be sure to email/call me with your selection for your FREE stamp set...And I will get it shipped out right away for you.  Before you check out, make sure you take a stroll through the "while supplies last" section....WOW is the latest selection a real steal.

Don't let the little moments slip away

This is one of my favorite layouts ever and it only took minutes.  This is from the new Express Collection so all I had to do was drop in my photos, change the title and add journalling.  This layout in particular journalling was is key.  Without reading it, you maybe wondering WHY I would journal these out of focus crazy photos; to me they are art worthy of any museum lol.  I also have to admit without Studio J I probably wouldn't have printed these photos and that truly would have been such a sad waste of a lovely memory.

Local peeps stop out and see me

Hi everyone I'm doing a holiday shopping event this Saturday and would love to have you stop out and see me.  Going to be having a huge stamp blow out sale. So come check it out.

November's Paper Cupcakes Blog Hop featuring Cricut Artiste

Welcome everyone to Paper Cupcakes Blog Hop!  If you just arrived from Bren Yule's Blog you are in the right place.  If you are starting your journey with us here with me I'm excited as always to have you!

Each month we will be featuring a different key on the Cricut Artiste.  This month we are working with the Noel/Ho Ho Ho Key from page 79.  One of the reasons that I love Artiste so much is each individual key groups like shapes.  Like this month Snowflakes and winter items are all right here in the same place.  No more just random button punching to find the images we are looking for. 

 Designer water cups are all the rage these days and not inexpensive so I was thrilled when I found this bright blue one at a local Dollar Tree.  With my Cricut Artiste and some white Vinyl plastic sheets I easily cut the snowflake design in different sizes, peeled and stuck randomly on the cup.  See all the itty bitty flakes, those are from the inside cut of the flakes...so remember to think outside the box and use those scraps.

A couple of things to keep in mind:

•  This cup is now hand washable. 
• For more delicate or lacy images you will want to use a special transfer paper that in essence turns the vinyl into a rub on per say.
• After testing out this new found freedom with vinyl, shop around.  After my research I know that prices vary from retailers (coupon shopping included), to ebay, and finally Amazon.com.  FYI when I bought this the best pricing was at Amazon.

Thanks for stopping by and now hop over to the always inspirational, Linda Taylor's Blog for another creative treat with this key.  

Looking forward to seeing you back soon.  I blog everything from scrapbook layouts and my passion-Studio J scrapbooking, to all kinds of papercraft samples and techniques. December 15th we will be focusing our hop on celebrating New Year's Eve!  Lets get ready for 2013.

Not everyday can be a holiday; Thankfully!

Not everyday can be a holiday, WHEW! Thankfully!!!  Remember to not just save the memories of birthdays, Christmas, Easter Egg hunts, and Thanksgiving at Aunt Bea's.  I don't know about you but for me its usually those everyday moments of doing not "special" that I want to remember, and want my kids and grandkids to know about.  Its not always those 6th cousins you only see at weddings and funerals that you think of first when someone mentions family.  Its those people that you meet somewhere along life's highway, that sneak up and become family when you aren't looking that I cherish and that I need them to remember.

And come on be honest, those are the moments and people that are most fun and FUN just explodes into easy to make and fantastic to love layouts.  Here is one of my latest just because we were together and I had a camera nearby" moment layouts.  I love it and some of our Marine family!

My Creations Card box

The My Creations Card Box Thankful project

• Sides of box – (2) strips of 2” x 12”
•  Lip of box – 1” x 6 ½” & ¼” x 6 ½”
• Top of the Box – inspired by ORIGINALS “cubes  & Colors” card

• Base = 6 ½” x 4 ½” or (2) 1 ½” x 4 ½”
• A = 3 ½” x 4 ½”
• B = 2 ½” x 2 ¾”  &  3” x 2 ¾”
• C =  I didn’t cut this, I used buttons instead

Cut 3 burlap leaves appx 2” each free-handed

My intention for MY box is to keep notes in for what people are thankful for from the question at Thanksgiving dinner (Inspired by Lisa Stenz's Prayer Box from 2011).  You can use it for a variety of things including to store standard size photos/cards.

Studio J -- pattern more important than quantity sometimes

In Studio J when you are picking which layout pattern you want remember to browse different layouts not only the layouts that have exact number of photo wells you have pictures for.

• Patterns that have prearranged journalling and title spots can be turned INTO photo wells for extra photo placement. 
• You can also DELETE photo wells if you like a pattern but decide you don't want to use all the wells.  

Take a close look at the sample below, I actually deleted 5 of the photo wells in this pattern replacing it with B&T patterned paper and My Stickease.  Another thing to note about my photos, in the bottom right page, see how I added photos of objects in those wells.  Its not that I didn't have more photos of my son...I had already added a lot of those though and wanted to show the "what" of the story as well. I believe that it really added to story and years from now we will remember more about the day than just Avery shooting.  So remember to take photos of "whats" in your stories (ie: take photos of food, or the gifts wrapped, and the dis-guarded wrapping papers after the opening, how about photos of your children's art project alone to match the photos with them holding their masterpieces).  The possibilities are endless, and will go along way in showing the whole story.

heatherplotzke.ctmh.com

Happy Birthday Gordon!

I wanted to send a Big Happy Birthday out to my Husband today!

The kids are cuddling with the Daddy Dolls they received form the Armed Services YMCA as he left for his year deployment.  Victory papers from Close To My Heart is one of my all time paperpacks with this great Camo paper in it. 

November workshop layout

This month we made a super cute layout featuring Clementine (and featured here with retired papers Twitterpated).  The layout comes from Imagine, and is Sweet symphony.  I love how the Arbor wood shapes come to life against the paper.  One other thing to note is the burlap tabs.  To make these I took our new Burlap ribbon and cut into thinner strips.

Vote! Vote! Vote!

Doesn't matter what your view point, Democrat or Republican or something in between, make sure you go get your vote on today! 

Make your voice heard!  I love that as a nation we have choices and debate over how we think things should be.

24 hours and we will know, and Thankfully all the ads will be over and we can go back to detergent, used cars, and fast food ads.  I found this vintage poster and thought it fitting.  Now that I've voted I'm going back to crafting...someone wake me up when the final count is in.

Studio J Stickease's resized

Here is a Studio J layout that I wanted to share with you.  Some things to note look at the stitching around the blue papers those are as easy to drop into place as a sticker, with some cropping for the shorter lengths of papers (stitching rows default at 12").  Speaking of the ease of placing stickers, take a look at how many My Stickease I used on these two pages.  I reduced several of the Stickease's sizes to place within the circles.  The large titles on both pages are quote stickers enlarged, and I love the little hearts that were small Stickease and I reduced to be even tinier.

Save 50% on any stamp set while helping Hurricane victims see the details.

You can SAVE 50% off any stamp set while helping out Hurricane Sandy victims right now, with a qualifying purchase!!!!!!!!!!  Hurry to save and help today. 

Click here to Start saving and helping!

Capture the Date, Capture the Savings!
November 2012 Constant Campaign

To show our support of Red Cross relief efforts for those areas of the US severely affected by Hurricane Sandy, Close To My Heart will donate $1 for every Stamp of the Month set sold as a part of this promotion during November.

In November, you’ll get something extra when you buy the Stamp of the Month—50% off another stamp set! When you qualify for and buy the November Stamp of the Month set, Capture the Date, you’ll receive another stamp set* of your choice for 50% off—it’s like two promotions in one! The versatile Capture the Date stamp set is great for any layout, card, invitation, or calendar, and now you can choose another stamp set at half-off for more wonderful papercrafting. Get Capture the Date and then capture the savings today!

* Offer valid for A-E and M size stamp sets only; K-size, Workshops on the Go^®, Cricut^® collection, and Stamp of the Month stamp sets are not eligible for this promotion. Maximum of one 50% off stamp set per order.

Dates: Offer valid November 1–30, 2012

November's Stamp of the Month

Clearly the Best 10/31 edition