Saturday, July 30, 2011

Fabulous New Cricut Cartridge Coming to CTMH

In just a few days Close To My Heart's Fall/Winter Idea Book 2011 goes live to customers. One of the exciting changes to our product line is the addition of an excluseve Cricut cartridge that co-ordinates with many of the new stamp images in the new Idea Book. I have held off purchasing a Cricut, but this may be the extra push I need to finally pick one up. Here is a CTMH video describing the Cricut Art Philosophy Collection.



Fellow consultant Amanda Leahy has also created a great video to view the images on the cartridge.

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Monday, July 4, 2011

Making Hand Cut Paper Flowers

Making hand cut paper flowers isn't new, but I thought I would share with you some of the flowers I have made lately.



I absolutely love how this Sympathy card turned out. The flowers are meant to be Florida Clematis. The flowers were made using good quality copy paper for the petals and printed paper from the retired paper pack Paper Garden.
Check out the video below to see how I made these flowers. For the flower centers please refer to my video tutorial 'Button Carnations' and for the leaves check out my picture tutorial 'Paper Roses'.

Paper sizes for flowers -

Large clematis - 1 - 3" x 3" white copy paper
1 - 1" x 6" designer paper for center

Small clematis - 1 - 2" x 2" white copy paper
1 - 5/8" x 6" designer paper for center



Supplies - All CTMH except where noted - card size is 7" x 5"
Paper - Good quality white copy paper, White Daisy, Ponderosa Pine and Gypsy cardstock, Designer paper - Paper Garden (retired)
Stamps - Card Chatter - Sympathy
Ink - Black, Hydrangea (retired), Grey Wool, Ponderosa Pine, C1 - Copic Marker
Accessories - black brads
Other - Embossing Folder (Provo-Craft), embossing stylus

Here is another 6 petalled flower I made using paper from the paper pack Magnifique


Paper sizes for Magnifique flower -

1 - 2" x 2" multi print
1 - 1 3/4" x 1 3/4" - peacock feather print
1 - 1 1/2" x 1 1/2" - peacock feather print



Eight Petalled Paper Flowers

Below I have another video tutorial for creating 8 petalled hand cut flowers.


Paper Sizes for pink flower -

2 - 2" x 2"
2 - 1 3/4" x 1 3/4"
2 - 1 1/2" x 1 1/2"


Paper sizes for 'Wings' flower -

Large - 1 - 2" x 2" - black print (Wings)
1 - 2" x 2" - pink print (Unforgettable - retired)
1 - 1 1/2" x 1 1/2" - black print (Wings)

Small - 1 - 1 1/4" x 1 1/4" - black print
1 - 1" x 1" - pink print
1 - 1" x 1" - black print


Paper sizes for Black Eyed Susans -

Large - 2 - 3" x 3" - sunflower print - (Magic Moments - retired)
1 - 1" x 9" - cocoa print - (Magic Moments - retired)for center

Small - 2 - 2" x 2" - sunflower print - (Magic Moments - retired)
1 - 5/8" x 6" - cocoa print - (Magic Moments - retired)for center
(can use 3/4" x 6" for center)



I hope you enjoyed these video tutorials. By altering the shape of the petals, the number of layers, the papers for each layer and what you choose for the flower centers you can create an endless variety of flowers. Try glitter, heat embossing etc. for even more variety.

Have fun! I would love to see what you create!

Saturday, July 2, 2011

CTMH July Campaign - Bang For Your Buck

We are entering the final month for the current Spring/Summer 2011 Idea Book. Our new Fall/Winter 2011 Idea Book will be available August first. So this is your last chance to order some of your favourite paper packs and accessories. The following Level 2 paper packs will carry forward to the new Idea Book, all other Level 2 paper packs and co-ordinating accessories will retire.

- Sophia
- Mayberry
- Lucky
- Fanfare

When you place your order for your favourite products this month take advantage of our July special


Spend $50 on product from the Spring/Summer 2011 Idea Book and you can purchase one of the following items for only $1

Eligible $1 Bonus Items:
• Creative Basics® Mistletoe Collection (original retail: $9.95)
• Creative Basics® Animal Cookies Collection (original retail: $9.95)
• My Originals® Bits & Pieces Card Kit (original retail: $14.50)
• My Originals® It’s Your Day Card Kit (original retail: $14.50)
• My Originals® Around the Holidays Card Kit (original retail: $16.50)

Click here for more details