Lucky 5!

Lucky 5!

Celebrate the fifth anniversary of Studio J® with five lucky ways to win!

November marks the five-year anniversary of Studio J®, and that means it’s your lucky month. Take advantage of five amazing ways to win through Studio J and Close To My Heart social media by creating and ordering your Studio J print layouts at the outstanding price of just $5 — then hope for luck to visit! 

• Every fifth print order in Studio J will include one FREE accessory retailing $5 or more. 

• Five lucky winners will receive a “golden ticket” redeemable for a brand new D-ring album* loaded with 10 Memory Protectors™ hidden in their Studio J print orders! 

• Those who post photos or JPEGs of their newly printed layouts on Facebook or Instagram, marked with the hashtag #ctmhlucky5, will enter the contest for layouts featuring the best artistry and creativity. Five winners will be chosen from each site, notified after November 30, and will then receive their own D-ring album with 10 Memory Protectors. 

CTMH's online design software, Studio J, helps you easily create two-page layouts using our foundational scrapbook patterns, exclusive color palette, and themed designs all delivered in 12"x12" custom prints ready for your albums.  Visit Studio J now to discover the fun of creating beautiful memories.  For more information, visit the Studio J FAQ.    

*Offer valid November 1–30, 2014. Pattern and color of new D-ring album to be given to winners will be at Close To My Heart’s discretion based upon availability. No tax or shipping will be charged on the free item(s). Studio J layouts ship in a protected box that can hold 4 to 50 two-page layouts. For additional information about shipping/handling, please visit StudioJ.com > Products and Pricing > Shipping Options. 

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

Celebrate Your Creativity! (March newsletter)

Crop Tuesday 

First Tuesday of Each Month

February "Crop Tuesday" layout

Have you been trying to find time to create scrapbook pages?  If so, then join us for Crop Tuesday on the first Tuesday of each month at 10:00 am.  If that day and tie is not convenient, contact me and we can schedule a time for you.

"Like" my Facebook page for creative ideas, CTMH specials, and other fun info. 

A great deal is blooming during this month’s Studio Savings promotion. During the month of March*, order your Studio J™ layouts for only $5 each! Quickly create beautiful layouts using our wide selection of papers, kit collections, patterns, and embellishments, and make the most of our new Photo Express Collection photo-only templates. A template made exclusively for photos gives you the opportunity to awaken your hibernating snapshots and have them printed with exceptional quality—and for an exceptional price. Your layouts will blossom and your pocketbook will be bursting with springtime savings. Catch the Studio Savings fever!

*Offer valid March 1–31, 2014. Studio J layouts ship in a protected box that can hold from 4 to 50 two-page layouts. For additional information about shipping and handling, please visit StudioJ.com > Products and Pricing > Shipping Options.

Take part in Studio Savings »

March Stamp of the Month: Happy Place

Make your photos feel right at home with a $5 stamp set!

There’s no place like home, but you can bring a piece of home into your projects with the Happy Place stamp set, sold only during March. The faces of your own little dolls will be safe and sound on pages made with this set, full of family-centered icons and sentiments. The set is ideal for cardmaking, gift-giving, and scrapbooking your happiest homemade moments! When you place a qualifying order of $50 or more, you’ll be eligible to receive the set for just $5. Get yours early and show the world where your heart is!

See the March Stamp of the Month »

Paper Fundamentals Basics Assortment

Build projects that pop, from the base to the top!

The new Paper Fundamentals Basics Assortment is the perfect choice for projects that need some subtle flair. Both sides feature the same design, but a glossy resist material gives one side a touch of extra glam. Whether you use them as background pieces or send off their shine in accent layers, you’ll find that each sheet is a dynamic duo for your papercrafting. And the assortment comes in every shade from the Basics color palette! As base pages, mats, overlays, borders, or accents, the Paper Fundamentals Basics Assortment is the way to double the versatility and fun of your projects.

See the Paper Fundamentals Basics Assortment »

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

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

Real Life Story

'Real Life Story' is a very detailed set of pages from the Close To My Heart Album Retreat.  It took me a few hours to complete these, but I am very happy with the finished creation. 

All of the pages for the Album Retreat were designed by the CTMH Art Department and include multiple cuts from the Artbooking Cricut cartridge as well as papers from different CTMH kits with a mixture of embellishments and stamp sets.  Even though each page is very detailed, it was fun and challenging to create each of them.  Click on any of the photos for an enlarged view. 

     

Real Life Story

"Homework" for this set of pages suggested photos with reds, blues, greys to blend with the cardstock.  However, black & white was recommended and that is what I chose.    

Real Life Story (left page)

Preparation for these pages included quite a bit of stamping.  In fact, all five stamps from the Reel Life set were used along with four stamps from All the Details set.  Patterned papers from Sarita, Frosted, and Sparkle & Shine are combined with several colors of cardstock.    

Real Life Story (right page)

The journaling was completed as part of the "homework" assignment and printed on a Studio J 'No Limits' page.  It was nice to be able to format the journaling by specifying the font style, size, and color of the words.  Then it was simply cut from the 12"x12" print and adhered to the journaling spaces on the pages.  All of the photos for the Album Retreat project were also printed using Studio J so that they could be sized easily and then also cut from the 12"x12" print.        

Be sure to follow my blog to see all of the completed pages which I will be sharing throughout the month of November. 

• Capture the Details (cover page)
• Hello World
• The Sweet Life
• Real Life Story
• Just Chillin'
• Today is a Good Day
• Looking for Adventure
• Hello
• 10 Things I Love
• On This Day
• My Happy Place

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

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

Album Retreat ~ Capture the Details

If you follow me on Instagram or Facebook, then you saw lots of photos posted last month when I attended Close To My Heart's Album Retreat in Salt Lake City.  It was a wonderful weekend spent with friends, creating fabulous scrapbook pages designed by CTMH featuring the Artbooking Cricut cartridge.  

As they did with the Album Retreat in March (see my completed pages), CTMH sent a "homework" assignment a few weeks prior with specific themes and sizes for photos and journaling on each page.  For this event, they even printed the photos and journaling for us.  Completing the "homework" included uploading photos into Studio J and placing them into a specially-designed template so that all photos were automatically sized to the correct proportions.  Using the 'No Limits' pattern in Studio J is a great way to print photos of any size since you can create an entire two-page layout of just different size photo wells.  Since each two-page layout is only $6.95, this is a very economical way to print non-standard size photos.  

Each of the pages that we created is very detailed and includes multiple cuts from the Artbooking cartridge as well as papers from different paper packets with a mixture of embellishments and stamp sets. 

For the cover page, a black & white 5¼" x 4" photo was suggested.  Texture was added to the Colonial White background by spritzing a mixture of Slate reinker and water using a Spray Pen.  Stamp sets used for this page include All the Details, along with both the Take Note and My Life stamp sets which are included in the Artbooking Circuit Bundle.  Patterned papers are from the Laughing Lola and Frosted kits.  Click on the photo for an enlarged view.      

Be sure to follow my blog to see all of the completed pages.  In addition to the cover page, there are ten 2-page layouts which I will be sharing throughout the month. 

• Capture the Details (cover page)
• Hello World
• The Sweet Life
• Real Life Story
• Just Chillin'
• Today is a Good Day
• Looking for Adventure
• Hello
• 10 Things I Love
• On This Day
• My Happy Place

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

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

Studio J ~ Express Collection

Had fun this weekend creating four scrapbook layouts in Studio J.  These four layouts are part of the "All About Me" Express Collection.  There are eleven different 2-page layouts in this Express Collection, each one is completely designed with coordinating cardstock, patterned papers, title, and other embellishments.  

Once you upload your photos to Studio J, then you simply 'drag and drop' each one into a Photo Well in the Express Collection template.  The photo is automatically resized to fill the specific size of the Photo Well.  Journaling space is also set up for you, complete with the recommended font style and color.  Simply click in the box and type your journaling.  When you have completed the first layout, simply Add Layout to start a new page.  You can use another template from the same Express Collection, or choose a different Collection.  Once you have added your photos and journaling for each layout in your project, continue to the Checkout page to purchase your creations.  Close To My Heart will print each page as a high-quality 12x12 photo.  When they are delivered to your home, they are complete and ready to slide into a Scrapbook Album.  

In My Front Yard:  shows plants growing in our yard that are special to me.  Each one has a history, and is special to me because of who gave them to me.  The pre-made title for this Express Collection page is "Little Things Make Me Happy" and I thought that was a nice title for my heirloom plants.

The Simple Things:  it seems that we forget to document the simple, everyday events in our lives, and that makes this page extra special.  For the journaling box, I included a quote by Laura Ingalls Wilder.  Her series of "Little House" books was the beginning of my life long love of reading. 

Things That Matter:  enjoying time spent together is certainly a thing that matters.  Samantha and I were able to spend a week on the Freedom of the Seas last December.  It was a wonderful vacation, with many fun memories.  A highlight of the week was spending an afternoon swimming with Remo the Sea Lion.  

My Week In Pictures:  photos from one week in September which included a trip to Denver where I introduced Origami Owl custom jewelry to ladies who attended the Scrapbook Expo.

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