Announcing Close to My Heart's first ever Cyber Monday Sale!

You heard me right - - our first every Cyber Monday Deal. Are you ready for this?

20% off All CTMH Cricut Collections!

December 1st, 2014 only from 12:00 midnight Mountain Standard Time to 11:59 pm Mountain Standard Time. (that's a 2 hour delay for all my local customers)

This is an item that is normally never discounted, so if you have been wanting to add one (or more) of our amazing collections to your Cricut collection - now is a great opportunity.

Head on over to my personal business address to start shopping: https://melissaharris.ctmh.com or send me an email or call if you'd prefer to order over the phone.

Artbooking Made Easy (S01E01): Getting Started with Cricut Artbooking

Intro to Artbooking -- This is the first in a weekly series from Close to My Heart to give you tips and tricks for using your Artbooking cartridge. Stay tuned each week for more :-)

Inspired By- - - Owls

Recently I bought a new lunch box for work and these cute, whimsical birds caught my eye. The store was wise enough (sorry I couldn't resist) to place the coordinating water bottle next to it. I didn't really need a new water bottle, but who could resist?

Okay, I'll try to refrain from anymore puns. Earlier in the summer I created this cute birthday card with the stamps from our Whoo's Your Valentine Kit that we offered earlier in the year and some of the Dream Pop papers from the May scrapbooking month special. 

When our new Artbooking Cricut Cartridge came out and had these cute owls on it I knew I wasn't done with them. I love the woodgrain looking overlay and the dimension it adds.

What or who is inspiring you today?

:-) Melissa

Close to My Heart Monogram Stationary Set

I created this set for a dear friend's birthday. It features our monogram stamp sets, Perfect Fit Frames 1, Perfect Fit Frames 2 and Honeycomb as well as the Claire paper pack. All shapes were cut with our Cricut Art Philosophy and Cricut Artiste cartridges. I'm really pleased with how this came out. The monogram stamps are great for creating special gifts or including as a gift for your crafty friends and family.

Butterfly Album Class

Reschedule of Butterfly Album Class

The April dates didn't work out so well, so I am going to try something a little different for the month of May.  

Given the craziness of graduations, Mother's Day and Memorial Day coupled with me working 2 Saturday's this month, there are not a lot of options for the weekends, so I'm going to try a day in the middle of the week. Here's your chance to get out of the house for a little me time and to feel wild & crazy in the middle of the week - our own Hump Day Madness if you will Ü. Please R.S.V.P.  and get your payment to me as soon as possible. I will pre-cut all the materials, so the assembly will be all that will be up to you. Hope you can join me for some crazy, crafty fun! Melissa

Wednesday, May 29th from 6:30pm to 9:30pm

Cost is $25 (I can take cash, checks or credit card -- see link below for cc/paypal or email me with your phone number to arrange payment via cash/check)

Payment needs to be received by me by May 19th. 

Wednesday, May 29th Butterfly Album Workshop

The following is a list of supplies you will need to bring for class from your toolkit:

Liquid Glass (or other strong "wet" glue of your preference)

Tweezers

Quilling Tool

Dry Embossing Tool or Rub on Tool with large metal ball on one end

Piercing Tool with Mat

Sanding Kit

Bone Folder

Also if you have your own inks in the following colors things will move along a little faster if you don't have to share with someone else:

Black

Whisper

Ruby

Creatively Cricut

Some awesome tips for using our coordinating stamp sets and Cricut cartridges. Especially love the tip of how to get a 12 inch border. Makes perfect sense to me and seems so simple, I just never though of it that way before.

Project Inspirations: Artiste Mini Album

So fun! I can't wait to try this. If you give it a try email me a few photos of your project or a link to your blog & I will feature it here.

Let's Play Cards Workshop Featuring Clemintine

Join me September 25th at 6:45. We will make 6 cards (2 each of 3 designs) featuring the paper pack Clementine and designs from Make It From Your Heart. As a bonus I will give a brief introduction on using our Cricut Artiste Cartridge. All cards include envelopes. Class is $10. Please RSVP to mahisslp@yahoo.com by September 22nd.

This is just one of 3 designs we will be making. Hope to see you there! Let's play cards :).
Melissa

Avonlea Layout

I haven't posted any creations in a bit. Here is a layout I created with Avonlea paper, the August stamp of the month, Baroque Borders and Artiste.

Here is a close up:

Hope you are enjoying some crafting this weekend!

Melissa

Artiste Box

This is the make-and-take we did for the Idea Book Launch Open House this afternoon/evening. Didn't it turn out cute? I am still loving the Stella paper packet. All pieces are cut with the Cricut© Artiste Cartridge and the stamped sentiment is from one of the stamp sets included in the collection.

Thanks to everyone who came out. I enjoyed re-connecting with people I hadn't seen in a bit and meeting a few new people. Leo also enjoyed all the human attention! He is now sacked out in the corner. Being the social director is hard work you know ;-).

Until next time!

Melissa

Time is running out!

(Gratuitous puppy picture ;-) )

Leo just wanted to take a break from second breakfast to remind you that the Cricut Artiste Pre-Order Special is over at midnight tonight and there are several products from the Spring/Summer Idea Book that are only available until midnight MST (2 hours behind EST -- so if you feel the need to stay up until 2 am ordering go for it!). Retiring products include(but are not limited to) the following paper packs and associated embellishments: Footloose, Lucy, Superhero & Crusin'. The following exclusive colors (ink pads, reinkers, markers, cardstock): Parchment, Taffy, Vineyard Berry, Key Lime, Sunny Yellow, Baby Pink, Sunkiss Yellow, Vanilla Cream, Pansy Purple, Spring Iris, Amethyst, Sunflower, Dutch Blue, Garden Green, Moonstruck, Garnet, Grey Flannel, Brown Bag, Petal, Grey Wool, Holiday Red, Tulip, Heavenly Blue.

My Customer Appreciation/Idea Book Launch Open House is Tuesday, August 7th from 1:30-4:00 or 6:30-9:00. Leo says please join us! There will be make and takes, food, prizes and fun.

Hope to see you all there!
Melissa (and Leo)

Close to My Heart Artiste Purse

This little gem took all of about 10 minutes on my Cricut with our new Artiste Cartridge. I probably would've been a little quicker, but I had a hard time deciding on embellishments. The extra book that comes with the cartridge with instructions on how to assemble the 3-d items was super helpful or I might have been a little longer. Hope to see you at my Customer Appreciation/Idea Book Launch Open House on August 7th from 1:30-4:00 or 6:30-9:00 so you can experience it yourself.
Melissa

Cricut Artiste Pre-Order Special!

Want to be one of the first to get your hands on our new Cricut Artiste Collection as soon as it becomes available? I am accepting pre-orders with FREE SHIPPING (sorry U.S. only) between now and 11:00 pm on July 31st. In addition to your free shipping I will send you a free Close to My Heart Fall/Winter Idea Book and you will be eligible to purchase the August Stamp of the Month (see picture below) for $5. Click on this link or the Cricut Tab at the top of the blog for all the details.

Cricut Artiste Collection

August 2012 Stamp of the Month

Click on this link to view the Cartridge Handbook to see the just the beginning of all the possibilities with this collection!

Let's Play Cards Part 2

The second Let's Play Cards workshop arrived before I  realized it! It is this Tuesday night at 6:45pm at my house (July24th), cost is $10 for 6 cards including envelopes. Sorry to be a little behind in getting this out, but I have been a little preoccupied playing with this!

In case you haven't been on any other blogs or seen any other Close to My Heart news we have a new Cricut® Cartridge called The Cricut®Artiste collection! I didn't think they could really improve on the Art Philosopy Cartridge, but as usual Close to My Heart surpasses my expectations with each Idea Book Launch.


The new Cricut® Artiste collection takes your creativity over the top! With 700 images, the cartridge features themed projects, interactive cards, awards, and more. From robots and spooks to weddings and Valentines, your cupcake liners, invitations, and party favors will coordinate and quickly come together for any celebration! Cutting and assembling the numerous 3-D items is a snap using the project reference chart and separate, step-by-step assembly booklet. When you purchase the Cricut® Artiste collection, you’ll get three coordinating exclusive stamp sets and three Dimensional Elements 12"x 9" sheets that will help your artwork come to life, transforming the ordinary into amazing!

It could be that once of our cards will be made from this cartridge to give you a little sneak preview (hint!hint!). Again class starts at 6:45 on Tuesday, July 24th. Cost is $10 for 6 cards. It generally takes us until 9:00 pm to finish up. Please bring your own adhesive and a pair of fine tip scissors. Kits will be available in case you are unable to attend, just let me know. Please RSVP by Noon on 07.24.12. I might be encouraged to preview a few other projects  and products with the right encouragement. Big Wink ;)
You don't want to miss it!
Melissa

Exciting Close to My Heart Announcements & a Card

This is one of the cards from my Tuesday night workshop. I think it ended up being one of my favorites. It came together rather last minute, but I am happy with how it turned out. It is inspired by: http://octoberafternoon.typepad.com/october_afternoon/2011/06/thursday-sketch-with-stacey.html that a friend of mine pinned on Pinterest a while back. I was just waiting for the right inspiration to do it Close to My Heart style. :) If we hadn't been doing 5 other fairly complex cards I would have added real stitching to the process, but I think using the stamp set was just as effective and fun.

In other news: The annual Close to My Heart Convention started today in Dallas, Texas. Today was the reveal of the Autumn/Winter 2012 Idea Book to Consultants. You are going to be so excited! There is a new Cricut Cartridge collection called the Artiste Collection. The cartridge includes lots of 3-d items, home decor items, interactive cards and so much more -- 700 cuts in all. I already placed my order so I could have it to play with some for my Idea Book Launch party in August. Stay tuned for more details. Other news that sticks out include: A new consultant kit for $49 -- even more easy and economical to become a consultant if you have an interest, alcohol based markers, mini-pigment ink pad sets in all our colors and Workshop On The Go kits for cards and home decor items.

Look forward to sharing this with you over the coming days. Stay tuned for updates, workshops and new artwork. I should have the July 24th card class information posted by the end of the weekend.
Happy Krafting!
Melissa