A Closer Look at our 2017-2018 Annual Inspirations Idea Book

By now, you should have your own personal copy of the Close To My Heart 2017-2018 Annual Inspirations Idea Book!  This is the new cover, so inviting and inspiring!

Then, as you flip to page 2, in the Opportunity Introduction/Consultant Connection, see anyone you recognize?

I was so exciting when the corporate office asked me if they could feature me along with a few other consultants throughout the country in the new Annual Inspiration book! If you know me, you know I was jumping for JOY! I was over the moon excited! Then I had to hold that secret for MONTHS! LOL, have you ever had to hold a secret for 6 months or longer? Almost to the point where you have to lock it away and almost forget about it! I just had to share the good news with you.

So, when you open the book and show your friends and family, you can tell them, you actually know someone in the catalog! I thought it was really neat because we had 3 consultants from our team featured in the Spotlight page! Who else do you know or recognize?

This photo of me and my CTMH Sister, Tammy, was taken during the Home Office tour.
Tammy is one of the sweetest people you could ever meet. (A lot of fun too!)

Please kick back and watch this short video on what we have in store for you with the new Idea Book!

So, what did you think? We have something for everyone, and I absolutely love the flow chart on pages 6-7! If you are new to crafting or a novice that hasn't crafted in a while, this chart makes it really easy to determine which of our products will best suit your crafting needs!

This is me pictured with the cover the year I started!
It was fun seeing all of the covers throughout the years along the walls
inside of the corporate office building during our exclusive tour!
(from D.O.T.S. to CTMH today! 30+ years!)

Thank you for taking the time to go on the journey of the inside of our Annual Inspirations Idea Book, and if you haven't gotten your copy yet, there are several ways to get your copy!

1. Purchase your copy for just $6 separately or add it on to your next order
2. Join my creative team, Scarlette's Paper Dragonflies, for just $75 and it comes in your kit
3. Become a VIP by joining my Monthly Club and it's yours FREE along with other special goodies! (Contact me for full details, Sign up begins this month, October, and runs from November 2017 through April 2018; you must have a card on file with me and a commitment of $35 each month)

Thank you for stopping by and getting the inside scoop on our latest products and thumbing through our idea book! Click here to see the digital version, and our current Holiday Expressions Idea Book!

Creatively Yours,

aka Sosa's Wife and ScarletteDesigns

Silver and Gold Card & Free Gift!

Silver and Gold, Silver and Gold... Can't you hear the words to the Christmas song from the cartoon Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer? The entire time I was creating these cards, that song kept going through my head, and I think because it's such a fun childhood memory, the MORE I created! LOL

These cards were created for a card swap I'm in with a few other consultants. Being a part of Close To My Heart truly is a team effort, and even though you are in business for yourself, you're never by yourself! A few of us get together when there's a new idea book released, and create projects for our display boards to show customers at our classes, retreats, parties and crops! I love this method of sharing simply because not all "makers/creatives" create the same... that's the beauty in owning your own business and being an artist! 

 Here's the other card I created. If you know anything about me, you know that I really enjoy using our exclusive Close To My Heart Cricut Collections, that come in both physical cartridges and digital cartridges that you use a code to redeem in Design Space, but at the same time, no matter which version you choose, you still get over 700+ images/fonts, a full pack of 12x12 heavy weight cardstock that cuts beautifully in your Cricut or any other electronic or manual die cutting system, and 3... YES, THREE, D-size My Acrylix coordinating stamp sets! (D-size stamp sets are the largest we have besides our Alphabet sets, meaning typically there are enough stamp images to cover an entire 6x6 carrier sheet, and cost $17.95 each) So, when you purchase any of our Cricut Collections, you truly are getting a great deal!

Now to the fun part, look at the photo below!! I'm so proud of this...

Remind you of my gold lace I created for the Valentine's Cards back in January for the Stamp of the month? As I was designing these cards, I really wanted to do the same thing with either a string of Christmas lights, or snowflakes! Well, living in Colorado, and having a Winter birthday, the snowflakes won! :)  and I've already done the hard part for you, so now it's just a matter of clicking the link for the Cricut Design Space cut files for it, and you can recreate this card, or just use the "lace" silver metallic foil design! (Purchase your Silver Foil Paper here)

 Supplies used:

Silver & Gold Cardmaking Stamp and Thin Cuts Bundle

WorkShops Your Way Silver & Gold Scrapbooking Kit

Let's Learn Geography w/ CTMH Cricut Collection!!

Have you seen the new Cricut Digital Collection, Hello USA, only available through any Close To My Heart Consultant? If you don't have your own personal CTMH consultant crafty guru, I'd love to help you with that! Just go to my website, and CREATE your FREE profile, make sure to click YES to receiving the newsletters, and you'll automatically get the updates for monthly specials, and my newsletter!

Our digital collections come just like this (as seen above) and you just scratch off the code, log into your Cricut account and redeem the code! It's that simple! Hello USA Digital Collection is a part of our Country Collections so let's say you're honeymooning in New Zealand or Australia, you can pick up that one! Or maybe you're originally from Canada or have friends from there and you want to surprise them!?!? **FYI, the Hello USA Digital Collection is great for teaching kids geography! Plus it includes the Puerto Rico Flag and the flag of the United States of America! Are you a Teacher, or a part of #CricutInTheClassroom this would be perfect for any age student!

I created this single page layout for my travel album, or as a divider within my scrapbook... it features the State, the State flower, and the state flag, which I designed... when you purchase Hello USA from me, as a Thank You, I'll send you the entire DS cut files for FREE!

Flags perfectly sized for CTMH Exclusive Flip Flaps and your 4x6 photos!

Both state pages, Colorado and Texas, were designed to include a replica of the State flag, and as you can see in the video above, you add your flip flap to your page protector, and then you've got room for at least three 4x6 photos! Of course with our flip flaps it makes it as easy as mud pie to add as many photos to your layout as you like! :)

 

Thank you for stopping by, I hope you enjoyed this project, and I look forward to seeing what you come up with once you get your digital collection in your hands and linked to your Design Space account!

All supplies used in the projects above can be purchased at www.elise31.ctmh.com and ship directly to your address!

Don't forget you can purchase your Cricut Vinyls and Machines with FREE shipping on all US & CA orders with code FALLSHIP at Cricut.com ...any purchases you make using my Cricut Affiliate link are at no additional cost to you! (code valid 9/1-9/30)

Creatively Yours,

Time to Vote for the best in Card Swap Challenge!

I am so excited about how well these cards turned out! Let's give these cardmakers a round of applause! Make sure to comment here on the blog with the number you feel best used the stamp set featured! That was the only requirement! Nothing more. (See requirements of the challenge here) The card with the highest number of votes will win the Grand Prize--A complete Close To My Heart Digital Cricut Collection valued at approx. $200 and the Runner up will receive a complete product pack worth $50!

A lot of work went into these cards, keep scrolling to see them in full detail and make sure you leave a comment to vote for your fave, and then make sure to head over to Instagram and vote there! *Plus if you leave a comment here AND vote on Instagram you could win a FREE Stamp Set! Make sure to tell all of your friends! Follow me for more contests and challenges so you don't miss out on our next challenge in November! (sign up starts in October)

Card 1

Front of Card 1

Inside of Card 1
Technique used: glaze and glitter

Close up of Card 1
Details: the stamped pieces are different heights and facing away from the flower center in order to make it more "jumbled" looking like the newer puzzles where you must match up the pictures

Card 2

Front of Card 2

Inside of Card 2
Techniques Used: Pop up card and handcoloring; the featured stamp was hand cut

Close up of Card 2

Card 3

Front of Card 3

Inside of Card 3

Close up of Card 3
Technique used: Heat embossing in specific areas

Card 4

Front of Card 4

Inside of Card 4
Technique used: Magic Slider card w/ window and copic handcoloring

Close up of Card 4

Card 5

Front of Card 5

Inside of Card 5

Close up of Card 5
Technique used: stamping on pearl glossy paper

Voting on all Social Media platforms is highly encouraged! All of my fantastic followers will get a chance to determine the winner! Plus there's a random Giveaway for you too! Make sure to comment, like and tag a friend or two so they can see what beautiful work these crafters did! Only followers will be entered in the random giveaway drawing! You may only vote once across all platforms, and I highly encourage you to do so!

Click here to Vote on Instagram

Click here to Vote on Facebook

Click here to Vote on Twitter

Thank you so much for taking the time to vote, and to the participants for joining me in the fun swap! Let me know if you want to join in on the next one! The Challenge will be a little different, and only 6 cards to make!

Please note, all cards were given a number in the order they were received... these cards have NOT been ranked nor given any preference; just simply given a number according to the date they hit my mailbox! :)

Creatively Yours,

(aka Sosa's Wife)

Guess who's now a Cricut Affiliate?

I am so excited to share such wonderful news with you! Check out what's new at Cricut

So, not only was I a part of the 250 attendees of bloggers, influencers and consumers that were invited to such an exclusive event, but after the huge announcement of the new Cricut Maker, the CEO, Ashish Arora, told all of us during the closing ceremonies that we would ALL get a FREE Cricut Maker delivered to our home before in-store availability!

When he said that, I almost lost my mind! The room started spinning, I had happy tears running down my cheeks, and I was doing a happy dance! I felt like I was going to pass out from excitement! Is that even a thing? Can you imagine?

So, once my Cricut arrived, I immediately began creating several projects... oh yes! I need to post those! (you've gotten a few sneak peeks if you follow me @ScarletteDesigns on Instagram or if you're a part of my VIP Create & Craft with Elise Facebook Group)

Well, I had to share the news with you. Make sure to follow my blog because you know I share Friday Freebies, and it's usually Cricut Design Space cut files of something that I've created or currently working on. All links on my blog contain trusted affiliate links, and I receive a small portion from your purchase. So, just like when you purchase from my Close To My Heart online store, now, whatever you decide to purchase from clicking a link on my blog to any Cricut product, I will receive a small percentage!

I appreciate you taking the time to share in my excitement!

Don't forget, Close To My Heart has exclusive Cricut Cartridge Collections available! Each collection contains over 700 images! Take a look at our newest collection, "You Are Here" (seen below)

Click HERE to Purchase "You Are Here"Cricut Collection

I hope you've enjoyed my current blog post! More to come, so stay tuned!
Thank you!

Cricut Mountain Make-A-Thon New "MAKER"

The new Cricut Maker, Available starting Aug 20th

(Save the Date for Oct 3rd to get yours on HSN)

Are you a Cricut Lover? Do you love to make things with your Cricut, be it papercrafting projects, DIY home décor items, party planning decorations, vinyl crafting on t-shirts or mugs/cups?

Well, I just got back from Salt Lake City, Utah! Only a handful of Makers were invited to this special event where they did the big unveiling on the new Cricut Maker, the Cricut Easy Press, and the Cricut BrightPad (of which if you follow me on Facebook or Instagram, you may have seen me using the BrightPad to make my Cricut "Poodle" Skirt)

Me and Kylie just before the 50's Theme party and Sock Hop!

Yep! I made that one! :)  A little something special for the event.

In the @officialcricut Craft Room with Karley Hall learning the different Font Techniques you can use in Design Space 3! #Cricutmade #CricutMaker #CricutMakeAThon 😍

A post shared by Elise (@scarlettedesigns) on Aug 2, 2017 at 10:31am PDT

So, what's the big deal with the new Cricut Maker?

• It cuts materials such as Leather, Balsa Wood, Felt, Matteboard, over 100 different fabrics (up to 2.3mm thick!)
• Cricut and Simplicity partnered together so now you can draw patterns and cut them out with one machine! No more pinning and handcutting!
• Rotary Blade allows for fabric cutting with ease, and the Knife Blade (due out Oct 2017) knows the exact pressure for different materials depths! So, basically you'll use the blade for the right material, select your material in Design Space 3, and pretty much "Set it and Forget it!" (not really, but I like to call it "Idiot Proof" only because I was able to cut fabric for my cosmetic bag without having to figure out how thick my material/fabric was and it automatically determines how many passes/cuts and how much pressure to apply! YAY!)
• There is a slot to put your tablet or phone AND it comes with a charging slot/plug so you can connect your electronic device and use Design Space without your device losing its charge before you finish your project!
• Many, many more features!

And, bonus? No matter what you use your Cricut for, I love the fact that Cricut and Close To My Heart have a wonderful relationship, and honestly, that was the other reason I decided to join CTMH! Of course the unique high quality clear MyAcrylix™ Stamps, but the fact that we carry Exclusive Cricut cartridges and digital collections!

Thank you for joining me and what's coming soon!

Creatively Yours,

Stampaganza Card Swap Challenge w/ Exotic Flower Stamp

Ok, you've seen me use it, you've fallen in love with it, and you've decided you want to purchase this stamp set, right?!? Of course you have! And I don't blame you, the possibilities are ENDLESS! I've had so much fun creating with it, I've decided to give some goodies away, so I thought we could have some fun and one lucky person could win some crafty goodies!

So....

How about a card swap challenge? This way you will get some gorgeous greeting cards to send that are ready to go or you can get some inspiration on different ways to use this stamp!

Take a look at this full-sized beautiful stamp set just for $9.95! This is the stamp we will use for the card swap challenge! During the month of July for Stampaganza, you can purchase 2 stamps and get 1 FREE!  That's right, so now you see why I said invite your friends to participate in the fun swap and challenge?

Just $9.95 for this stamp set...That's right, and when you choose to purchase this stamp and participate in the card swap, you'll get 10 cards from other creatives just like yourself, PLUS, you'll receive the new Close To My Heart Idea Book just for participating and doing what you love most!

There will be TEN slots, so act quickly! For everyone that signs up, I will give a current CTMH catalog (the idea book I mentioned), which will be mailed to you along with your swap cards. I am not sure if you have ever received a CTMH catalog, but it is a book of inspiration. You will LOVE it!! *If we have more than 10, you will go on the waitlist and if we have 10 more, I will open up another group! Tell your crafty friends!

Here are the RULES:

• The card MUST be a full and COMPLETE card w/ envelope (Not just card fronts)
• The card MUST have a minimum of two (2) layers and an embellishment (Card Base does NOT count)
• You MUST use the "Exotic Flower - B1477" CTMH Stamp (purchased from my website)
• The card can be birthday, thank you, thinking of you, or a holiday greeting
• You MUST purchase your stamp by Monday, July 31st
• Swaps MUST be postmarked to me by August 31st
• Make 11 cards (you will receive 10 back including your own; I will keep 1 as your contest entry)
• Place your cards in a large Ziplock bag along with your return mailing address and please Include $6.50 for Priority postage back to you! (Pay via VENMO @ScarletteDesigns or request to be invoiced)
• Please submit your best work, no smudges/smears or incomplete stamping
• Last but not least... There needs to be a WOW factor with your cards (i.e. a technique, a fancy fold, 3D, etc you're talented, I've seen your IG posts and your Pinterest boards! *wink, wink*)

****No Smokers Please****

Sign up by Filling out the form HERE

I am looking for Creative Thinkers! Artists/Crafters that think outside of the box. I am looking to see what each of you can do the with with same stamp. (I'm so excited just thinking about all the possibilities! This is going to be SO MUCH fun!! Can you hear the excitement on my end?)

There is one more twist on this challenge....

YOU will decide who wins, no random generator!  Once I have all the swaps in, I will photograph them and post them and there will be open voting for 3 days. The card with the most votes WINS the Grand Prize!

Wanna know what you're playing for?  

(Yes, I'm a Jeff Probst fan! LOL *wink, wink*)

• GRAND PRIZE (1) - A Digital Cricut Cartridge Bundle (Valued at over $150)
• Runner Up (1) - A CTMH Gift Bundle (Valued at $50) *Includes papers, embellishments, stamps, etc)

I can't WAIT!!! I'm so excited, but hurry and sign up TODAY, and order your stamp to begin creating!!

Don't forget, that we've got this monthly special going on, and when you purchase $50 or more you get the Stamp of the Month for just $5!! (Retail value $17.95 -- yep, for just 5 bucks!)

Let's have fun!! Invite your friends to play along with you, and I'll give you a free surprise referral gift! 

Good luck!

Happy Crafting!