Celebrate Your Creativity! (January newsletter)

Sheila Bennett Close To My Heart Independent Consultant Supervisor (913) 485-4355        Hope you had a very Merry Christmas!  Look beyond the 'obvious' with shapes available on our exclusive Cricutcollections.  Build a tree using mustache shapes from the Artiste cartridge. Visit Sheila's Stamping Stuff blog for details.   National Papercrafting Month A cardmaking kit to put you on Cloud Nine! Celebrate National Papercrafting Month by capturing a cloud—Cloud Nine, to be exact—with an exclusive cardmaking kit. The Cloud Nine cardmaking kit, which includes 10 adorable cards (2 ea. of 5 designs) is available at a great discount or even FREE during January. Purchase it for just $15 (retail value $46) with a qualifying order of $35, or get it FREE when you enroll as a new Consultant in January and submit total personal sales of $300 or more. You’re sure to find your own little piece of heaven when you take advantage of this limited-time deal! *New Consultant’s total qualifying sales must be remitted by the end of their first full quarter as a Consultant to be eligible. They will be prompted to add the free kit with the order that achieves the minimum qualifying total sales. If the minimum is reached through multiple orders, the new Consultant will be prompted to add the kit to the order that brings them to the required $300 mark. If the qualifying order is made through a customer’s OBA order, the new Consultant will be prompted to add the free item to their next order that is submitted before the end of the first quarter (June 30, 2014). If the qualifying order is made through the Consultant’s Order Entry, the Consultant will be prompted to add their Consultant profile to the order. **Note that card kits do not count toward qualifying order totals. The retail value of the order is totaled prior to determining promotional kit eligibility. See the kit » January Stamp of the Month: Cross-Stitch Wishes Send a handmade sentiment with an oh-sew special touch! Everyone needs a touch of homemade in their lives! With the January Stamp of the Month, Cross-Stitch Wishes, you can be sure to provide that loving trace for your family and friends. Piece together adorable projects with this set celebrating the handcrafter in all of us at an amazing discount: place an order of $50 and get this set for just $5! This great offer is available during January only, so be sure to order yours quickly and get started stamping your scrapbook pages and cards with its warm and heartfelt wishes. It’s a perfect bonus to your National Papercrafting Month purchase—when you qualify for and purchase the Cloud Nine card kit (above), your order total will automatically qualify you for the discounted Stamp of the Month. A bargain that’s truly “sew cute!” View the January Stamp of the Month » Crafty Calendar Give your year direction with a calendar made from the heart! Order a stampable, craftable, durable calendar just in time for the new year!The Monthly Calendar (Z1030) has 12 blank calendar pages just ripe for the decorating with your favorite photos, colors, and embellishments. Take the photos you’ve gathered all year and turn them into a wonderful piece for your wall that will bring a smile to your face with every passing month. The calendar is available for $7.95 and will hold your priceless memories for many months ahead, and the years after, too! Check out the Monthly Calendar »

	Sheila Bennett Close To My Heart Independent Consultant (913) 485-4355

Create & Share ~ Chalkboard Technique

In order to learn new creative ideas, I enrolled in the Create & Share Cardmaking workshop offered at Big Picture Classes.  This online class includes 12 lessons with inspiration and instruction to complete 36 cards during the 6 week workshop.  The classes are informative and it is very easy to adapt the sample project using supplies already on hand.  So not only will I learn new techniques and create a variety of cards to use during the year - but I will also clear out some of my "stash" of supplies and embellishments.  It's a win-win situation!  

Lesson 1 introduced a Chalkboard technique.  It is a fun technique combining white embossing with some white school chalk and a white paint pen.  In place of the white paint pen, I used the Chalk Marker available from Close To My Heart.  

My first sample uses an image from Cross-Stitch Wishes and is combined with papers from the Sarita kit.  

My second card uses Banner Wishes for the chalkboard technique.  A small Paper Pouch is used on the front of the card, which is the perfect size to hold a gift card.  Sarita papers are used for the card base.  

All papers and stamps are from Close To My Heart (CTMH).

	Sheila Bennett Close To My Heart Independent Consultant (913) 485-4355

Flowering Cross-Stitch

A simple card using cute images from this month's stamp-of-the-month. 

An image from the Distressed Backgrounds stamp set was used for the 'grass' and the adorable flower images are from Cross-Stitch Wishes.  Ink colors used are Olive, Autumn Terracotta, Cranberry, and Honey.  The sentiment is from the versatile Holiday Tags stamp set.  

All papers and stamps are from Close To My Heart (CTMH).

	Sheila Bennett Close To My Heart Independent Consultant (913) 485-4355

Cross-Stitch Wishes (January SOTM Blog Hop)

Welcome to our Stamp of the Month Blog Hop which features the Cross-Stitch Wishes stamp set from Close To My Heart.  This stamp set contains 13 adorable images with the look of cross-stitch embroidery.  

If you have come here from Jill's Scrap Wench blog, you are on the right path!  Blog Hopping is simple to do - just click on the link at the end of the post on each blog to move to the next one!  

In my younger days (before children), I created quite a few cross-stitch projects.  And this stamp set reminds me of those stitching days.  For this card, a piece of patterned paper from the ProPlayer kit is used along with Ruby, Chocolate, and Champagne cardstock.  A sentiment from Cross-Stitch Wishes has some Chocolate woodgrain Washi Tape behind it to add to the rustic feel.  Using Pattern #24 in Make It From Your Heart Volume 2 was a nice start to creating a quick card. 

To complete the inside of the card, a strip of Washi Tape was used along with a small heart from Cross-Stitch Wishes. 

Since this stamp set features the art of hand stitching, I decided to share my favorite cross-stitch piece which I created in 1988.  (Fortunately, I stitched my name and the year in the corner.)  It has been hanging on the wall since then, and people assume it is a photo or an actual Monopoly game board until they get a closer look. 

Place a $50 minimum order this month (December 2013) and you are eligible to purchase the Cross-Stitch Wishes stamp set for only $5.  

Now "Hop" on over to Wanda's 'Creating With Inks, Paper, Stamps and Bling!!!' blog to see her work.  Be sure to visit all the Consultants at their blogs to get some great crafting inspiration and other fun ideas.  

All papers and stamps are from Close To My Heart (CTMH).

	Sheila Bennett Close To My Heart Independent Consultant (913) 485-4355