Celebrate Your Creativity! (August newsletter)

Sweetening the Deal

Get a free August Stamp of the Month set

The Stamp of the Month stamp set is already a pretty big treat — it doesn’t get much better than trendy, must-have sets for just $5 with your qualifying purchase.  But this month, we’re sweetening the deal even more!

When you place a minimum order of $50 during August, you’ll receive the Stamp of the Month, A Chocolate Affair, for free!  The My Acrylix® A Chocolate Affair stamp set includes 16 images and sentiments to add some flavor to any layout, card, or 3-D item. Browse the new Autumn/Winter 2013 Idea Book, place a qualifying purchase of awesome products, and score a delicious Chocolate reward free!

Base & Bling

Craft a new look

Prepare to dazzle with our new Base & Bling wearable crafts. These accessory projects are affordable, easy to make, and show off your personal pizzazz. Create rings, wrist cuffs, necklaces, hair clips, and headbands using the many stylish Base & Bling jewel, word, and floral accents — you’ll find just the right mix to complement your look!

Designed Décor Frames

Sturdy displays for all your memories

Show off your artwork for all to see by displaying it with a new Designed Décor frame! With a classic black or white wood frame and decorative clothesline or honeycomb wire, these home décor pieces are ideal choices for displaying your artwork.

And thanks to Mini Clothes Pins and Hook Clips, sold separately, you don’t need to turn a single page to enjoy the memories you’ve preserved. Enjoy the flexibility of swapping out artwork on occasion, or choose to make your design more long-lasting. The Designed Décor frame is a trendy way to share your memories with the world!

"Like" my Sheila's Stamping Stuff Facebook page if you would like to see more artwork using Close To My Heart products and stay up-to date with CTMH specials and announcements.

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

Chocolate Is Good For You

CTMH's special this month is that you can receive the stamp-of-the-month, A Chocolate Affair for FREE when you place a minimum order of $50 during August.  This stamp set includes 16 images and sentiments to add some flavor to any layout, card, or 3-D item.  Browse the new Autumn/Winter 2013 Idea Book, place a qualifying purchase of awesome products, and score a delicious Chocolate reward free!   

Huntington kit paper, stamps from A Chocolate Affair, and a card pattern from the new Make It From Your Heart-Volume 2, were all used to create this card with a cute chocolate-covered strawberry.  The scallop rectangles were easily cut using the Art Philosophy cartridge for the Cricut.  A piece of the new Jute Ribbon was used to accent the card along with a couple of pieces of Color-Ready Seam Binding Ribbon and a decorate brad.

Contact me if you would like to receive a copy of the new Autumn/Winter Idea Book.  Remember, A Chocolate Affair is available only during the month of August 2013 and it is yours FREE with a $50 order.

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

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

Artbooking - Digital Handbook (PDF)

Take your scrapbooking to never-before-seen levels with the new Cricut Artbooking collection!  With oodles of images in each of 15 layout themes, you can create several coordinating pages for each theme using just two keys and one dial size.  Images include accents, borders, titles, overlays, photo mats - in standard photos sizes! - and more.  The Cricut keys are optimized for creating 12"x12" pages in a jiffy.  You'll love creating 10 themed mini books, also optimized for several different sizes using just two keys and one dial size.  Celebrate birthdays, new baby, vacations, friends, sports, Halloween, Christmas, and more.  When you're finished cutting, use the coordinating stamp sets and Dimensional Elements to add even more pizzazz!

The complete Handbook (identical to the spiral-bound book included with the cartridge) is now available for download as a PDF file.  Simple click on the link and save to your computer so you can access the images at any time.  There is also a handy link in the right column of this blog where you can easily find the Digital Handbooks for Artbooking, Artiste, or Art Philosophy cartridges at any time. 

Copied here is the handy seven-page Shape Index which is also available for download. 

Base/Fonts (function)

Title (function)

Photo Mat 1 (function)

Photo Mat 2 (function)

Icon (function)

Border (function)

Overlay (function)

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

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

Sarita Owl

Created this fun card just because I wanted to cut the cute little owl using Artbooking.  There are at least three different owls available on this new Cricut cartridge.  Papers used for the 5"x7" card are from the Sarita kit, and the matching "ikat" pattern stamp used on the Outdoor Denim cardstock behind the owl is available in the Geometric Backgrounds set.

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

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

A Chocolate Affair (Card Workshop)

Do you love chocolate?  Who doesn't?  The CTMH stamp-of-the-month for August is A Chocolate Affair, and it includes eight different chocolate images along with cute sentiments.  This cards are perfect to send to a friend to brighten their day when they need a little cheering up.

All three cards use the August SOTM set, A Chocolate Affair, along with new papers introduced in the Autumn/Winter Idea Book.   Workshops will be held on Friday, August 16 at 7 pm and Saturday, August 17 at 1 pm.      

The 'blueprint' for this card is available in the new Make It From Your Heart Volume 2 guide.  Cute papers from the Babycakes kit are paired with a large piece of chocolate cake from the A Chocolate Affair stamp set.  The 'icing' on the cake is a small piece of the Colonial White Rosette Ribbon.  

Using the same dotted paper from Babycakes along with some Whisper cardstock, this card using a stamp with pieces of chocolate candy.  The embellishment is simply a piece of Dark Chocolate Striped Grosgrain tied with some Autumn Terracotta Baker's Twine.  The pattern for this card is also from the Make It From Your Heart Volume 2 guide.

    

For the Sundae card, a piece of brightly-colored paper from the Sarita kit is used along with an Adhesive Spring to add a little surprise under the front flap.  The sentiment inside the card is 'every day's a SUNDAE.'     

A Chocolate Affair Card Workshop will be offered on Friday, August 16 at 7 pm, and on Saturday, August 17 at 1 pm.  You will create three of each of the three cards for a workshop fee of $10.  Allow approximately two hours to complete your project.  Please be sure to bring your favorite adhesive.  All other supplies are provided with the workshop fee.  All stamps and papers used are from Close To My Heart (CTMH).

Everyone who attends will receive a FREE copy of the Close To My Heart Autumn/Winter Idea Book & Catalog.  As an added bonus, if you place a $50+ order, your workshop fee is waived AND you receive your own A Chocolate Affair stamp set for FREE!  

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

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