Exploring Watercolor Techniques

Close To My Heartbrush, painting, paints, puddle, splatter, strokes, waterbrush, watercolor, watercolour Leave a comment

As you know, we love exploring new techniques here at Close To My Heart, but we also love expounding on old favorites. Recently, we’ve had a lot of fun playing around with various watercolor techniques, and we’re so excited to share a couple with you today! We asked a few of our artists to demonstrate some of their ideas in speedy video clips, so you can see them in action, too!

The first technique we’ll be looking at today is a splatter technique. This watercolor method allows you to add a little “controlled crazy” to your project. J

As you can see in the video, you’ll start by using a waterbrush to activate your watercolor paints by adding a drop or two of water. Once you’ve selected and activated all the colors you’d like to use, dip the waterbrush into your color of choice and swirl it around a bit, making sure to get a decent amount of paint onto the tip of your brush.

When you feel like the brush is sufficiently saturated, bring the brush over your page and lightly tap it against your index finger. This will send a series of splatters raining down onto the page to create a fun, haphazard feel.

For our next technique, we’ll be showing you how to create and replicate a soft color transfer.

To recreate this look, paint directly onto your All-purpose Mat with your waterbrush. The paint will probably stay in small droplets and won’t want to spread across the mat, but that’s just fine. When you’ve added all the colors to your mat that you’d like to use in the paint puddle, gently lay your card or page down over the paint.

When you lift it up, you should have achieved a color transfer that is both soft and seamless. If you’d like it to be blended out a little more, you can swirl your card or base page around in the paint, creating the look you see here.

The last technique we’re showcasing today is a combination of two different techniques. (Technique combinations help you to really personalize each project, so don’t ever be afraid to experiment!)

Tip: For pages like this one, it’s not a bad idea to use actual watercolor paper. When you paint over a large surface area, the paper will start to absorb the water and can curl or ripple, which distorts your project. Using watercolor paper is more resilient and shouldn’t ripple or curl as your paint.

For this page, we started by selecting various shades of blue from our watercolor palette. Then, we painted long strokes down the page with a waterbrush. Once we made a couple strokes with our first color, we moved on to our next shade of blue, creating a sort of stripe sequence down the page. By sticking with a single-color theme, it’s easier to achieve a nice blend as you move across the page, and you can avoid unintentional color combination.

Tip: If you’re unsure of how a color will look on the page, it’s a good idea to do a test stroke on a piece of scrap paper. This is especially helpful if you’re mixing two colors together.

Continue alternating between your various colors or shades until you’ve covered the width of your page. Then, you’ll revisit the splatter technique we showed you earlier on in this post. Select one or two of your favorite colors and splatter it across your page. This is another place to be aware of color combination, so we recommend choosing colors that you already used in your stripe sequence. For this example, we stuck with the tried and true blue.

If you want to shake things up even more, gently blend out some of the larger splatters on your page. You can even paint a few new strokes if you want to. It’s really all up to you!

We loved sharing a few of our favorite watercolor techniques with you today! What are some of your favorite ways to wow with watercolor? Let us know in the comments below!

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July 16, 2019Celebrate, Community, Create, Memory Keeping

A FREE Scrapbook Pattern for Your Convention Memories

Close To My Heartconvention, free, how-to, Make It From Your Heart, north america, pattern book, Scrapbook Pattern, Share the Joy 4 Comments

We just wrapped up our 2019 North American Convention in Provo, Utah, a few days ago and IT. WAS. A. BLAST! A BIG THANK YOU to all of you who participated and traveled from not just all across the U.S. but from all over the world (Canada, Australia, JAPAN!) to come and see us. What an invigorating opportunity it is for us to get together and feed off of each other’s energy! All of us at the Home Office were so happy to visit with you and get to know so many of you personally, too. We spent days crafting, business planning, building and strengthening relationships, and searching high and low for our sticky friends, Sticky Boy and Sticky Girl. (If you’re not familiar with the Sticky’s and their story, visit them on their Facebook page to join in on the fun!)

To get you going on scrapping all of your new stories and photos from this energizing event, we are sharing a fun, and FREE, downloadable scrapbook pattern, complete with cutting diagrams and all!

Some of you may remember this pattern from its original debut with our Aspen paper packet many years ago. As you can see, our patterns truly are timeless and can be used at any time and for any occasion with the right combination of papers, Complements, and a little ingenuity!

You’ll notice in our example artwork that we replaced pattern pieces B and C with a circle, the large photo on the right page with patterned papers and stamping, and that we included trimmed down die-cuts made using our Multi Circle Windows die (from the Share the Joy Thin Cuts Bundle that is currently on sale). Use the pattern exactly as shown or make a few minor alterations to make it more your own. Either way, you’re sure to have great results.

Now download the pattern below, and enjoy a little scrappin’ time! ❤

Download Pattern

For even more scrapbook patterns, check out our Make It from Your Heart™ collection. If you love the free scrapbook patterns we share on our blog, you’re sure to be blown away by all the patterns in our how-to books!

Recipe:

12″ x 12″ Convention 2014 Layout
C1725 My Acrylix^® Simply Said Stamp Set, D1842 My Acrylix^® Into the Wild—Scrapbooking Stamp Set, CC7192 Seaside Paper Packet, X7247B Into the Wild Paper Packet, X5988 Peach Cardstock, X6015 Pewter Cardstock, X6023 Sweet Leaf Cardstock, X6027 White Daisy Cardstock, Z3637 Vellum Paper, X7247E Picture My Life™ Cards—Into the Wild, Z4189 Intense Black Exclusive Inks™ Stamp Pad, Z2853 Sweet Leaf Exclusive Inks™ Stamp Pad, CC61912 Share the Joy Thin Cuts Bundle, X7247C Into the Wild—Complements, Z4059 Loose Sequins—Crafty, Z4088 White Alphabet Foam Stickers, Z4242 Watercolor Pencils, Z2446 ShinHan™ Touch Twin™ Black Marker, Z1979 Marvy^® Uchida LePen™ Journaling Pen, Z2060 Thin 3-D Foam Tape, Die-cutting Machine

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July 9, 2019Celebrate, Create

Creating Memories by the Seaside

Close To My HeartBring Back My Pack, cardmaking, scrapbooking, Seaside, workshop 66 Comments

Just in time for all of those sun-bleached memories you’re creating, our beloved Seaside collection is back now and through the end of August! With updated colors—including brand new French Vanilla—, a new 12″ x 12″ coordinating sticker sheet, and a new workshop, our timeless Seaside patterns have just the right amount of beachy bliss to capture the feeling of cool ocean breezes and all that this radiant season has to offer!

1. My Acrylix^® Seaside Greetings

This stunning stamp set, with its realistic line designs and versatile sentiments, is not just beautiful but also very easy to use in both scrapbooking and cardmaking. (We’ll show you how we’ve paired it together with the rest of the Seaside collection to make scrapbook pages and cards in the available workshop, below.)

2. Seaside Paper Packet

Here it is! Featuring our exclusive colors, French Vanilla (new!!), Glacier, Lagoon, Raspberry, Smoothie, Sweet Leaf, and Toffee, this dreamy paper packet comes with 6 refreshed patterned paper sheets, 2 each of 3 double-sided designs, and 1 new coordinating sticker sheet! The zip strips are also new (and super cute)! Click on the individual thumbnail images to take a closer look!

(You can get a FREE Seaside paper packet by becoming a Close To My Heart Consultant or hosting a qualifying party in July!)

3. Seaside Coordinating Cardstock

These cardstock colors coordinate perfectly with those in the Seaside paper packet. Each coordinating cardstock pack comes with 12 sheets, three each of French Vanilla, Lagoon, Smoothie, and Toffee; all 12″ x 12″.

4. Seaside Workshop Kit

Paired with this downloadable workshop guide, the materials in this kit come together to create the gorgeous scrapbook layout, pages, and cards you see here:

12″ x 12″ layout:

12″ x 12″ pages:

4¼” x 5½” cards:

Making Memories by the Seaside #ctmh #closetomyheart #ctmhseaside #bringbackmypack #scrapbooking #cardmaking #patterns #workshopguide #beach #vacation #holiday #summer

3″ x 3″ cards:

We love this collection so much that we want everyone to have one of these kits to create this artwork. To help with that effort, we’re giving three of the dreamy Seaside Workshop kits away to three lucky winners! To qualify for an entry to win, first make sure you are subscribed to this blog. Then, leave us a comment below telling us what you love so much about this collection or, if you’ve been with us for a while, let us know what other retired collection you love that you would like to see make its way back. You have until 3 p.m. (MST) tomorrow (Wednesday, July 10) to get your entries in. All winners will be notified via email shortly after that—so keep an eye out, it really can be you who wins!

AND REMEMBER…Seaside is only available for a limited time and only while supplies last! Act fast and get your favorites from this collection before they run out and it goes away for good! GOOD LUCK!

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July 2, 2019Celebrate, Community

50 Things to Do This Summer

Close To My Heartactivities, Bring Back My Pack, bucket, fun, list, Seaside, summer 18 Comments

The excitement of summer is in the air and we want you to enjoy every bit of it! To get started, if you haven’t already, check out this fun list of 50 Things to Do This Summer we’ve compiled with no one else but you in mind. (Take this list on the go by downloading the printer friendly version, here.)

Do you have any more fun ideas to add to our list? Tell us how you’re planning on spending your summer in the comments below!

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June 26, 2019Create, Learn

Back to the Basics with Cricut Design Space™—Using Lock/Unlock

Close To My HeartArtbooking, Artistry, basics, cardmaking, cricut, Design Space, Hello USA, lock, lock feature, unlock, unlock feature 3 Comments

We are continuing our review of some of the basic features of Cricut Design Space™ today by taking a closer look at the Lock/Unlock tool. This feature is one of the simplest and most helpful tools in Design Space, and once you learn how to make the most of it, you’ll be able to use it on virtually any project to take your creativity to new heights!

Lock Feature in Cricut Design Space™ #ctmh #closetomyheart #cricut #designspace #cardmaking #celebrate #artistry #artbooking #HelloUSA

On the card above, we used an assortment of images from the Artbooking, Artistry, and Hello USA Cricut^® collections. These collections each lend a different flair to this project, and we love the way they all came together. By branching out and using images from a few different collections, you can create something that’s truly unique and all your own!

As you read along, remember that the steps below show you how to use Design Space on a laptop or desktop computer. If you are using the app on a mobile device, the buttons and tools will be in slightly different places on your screen. Most of these basic features are available on any device.

Lock/Unlock

The Lock/Unlock feature in Design Space allows you to change the height or width of shapes or text. Since most shapes or text blocks won’t automatically fit into your project, Lock/Unlock will be one of your go-to tools as you create your Cricut masterpieces. For this project, we used the Lock/Unlock tool to resize the height or width of each Cricut shape and image to fit seamlessly into this card.

When you want to lock or unlock a shape, image, or block of text, there are two ways to do so—with the button on the toolbar at the top of your screen,

Lock Feature in Cricut Design Space™ #ctmh #closetomyheart #cricut #designspace #cardmaking #celebrate #artistry #artbooking #HelloUSA

or with the button at the bottom left corner of your shape or image.

Lock Feature in Cricut Design Space™ #ctmh #closetomyheart #cricut #designspace #cardmaking #celebrate #artistry #artbooking #HelloUSA

Lock/Unlock with Basic Shapes

Basic shapes can be selected from the basic shapes tab in the Design Panel. Although basic shapes are often used as versatile building blocks of great Cricut designs, you’ll probably need to resize or adjust them in order to fit on a project. When you insert a basic shape, it will automatically be locked, meaning, if you try to resize it, the height and width will adjust together. You can make the entire shape bigger or smaller, but you can’t adjust the height or the width individually unless you unlock it. Once you unlock the shape, you can alter just the height or just the width to make sure you have the needed dimensions for your shape. If you want to resize your shape to a specific size, you can enter your measurements into the dimension indicators on the toolbar at the top of your canvas.

Lock Feature in Cricut Design Space™ #ctmh #closetomyheart #cricut #designspace #cardmaking #celebrate #artistry #artbooking #HelloUSA

For this card, we used the unlock feature to create a 4.25″ x 5.5″ base for our card and a red rectangle layer to go behind the “Celebrate” sentiment. This allowed us to tailor these pieces to fit the card.

Locking/Unlocking More Intricate Shapes

Just like basic shapes, when you insert any shape from any Cricut collection, it will populate on your canvas as a locked image. Resizing one of these shapes with the Lock/Unlock feature is very similar to resizing a basic shape. You’ll just need to pay a little closer attention to any intricate parts of your shape to ensure that it doesn’t get too cramped or warped.

Lock Feature in Cricut Design Space™ #ctmh #closetomyheart #cricut #designspace #cardmaking #celebrate #artistry #artbooking #HelloUSA

You can see above how the circle medal behind the banner warps into an oval when it is stretched too far horizontally. You’ll want to look out for things like this as you use the Lock/Unlock feature.

In our example card, we resized the pennant banner, the circle medal, and the star accents to fit neatly on the card. By using Lock/Unlock, we were able to work these images into the card design with ease.

Lock/Unlock with Text

Using the Lock/Unlock feature with text is a great way to really expand your creative capacity. 🙂

For our card, we used a Cricut shape to cut the “Celebrate” sentiment. If you choose to include typed-in text rather than an existing shape of text in your project, you can easily resize individual letters using Lock/Unlock. Select the entire text block, ungroup it, and then alter each letter as you choose.

Lock Feature in Cricut Design Space™ #ctmh #closetomyheart #cricut #designspace #cardmaking #celebrate #artistry #artbooking #HelloUSA

If you’d like to alter the text block as a whole, you can select the entire text block (regroup it if you’ve ungrouped it) and then unlock and resize it as you please.

Lock Feature in Cricut Design Space™ #ctmh #closetomyheart #cricut #designspace #cardmaking #celebrate #artistry #artbooking #HelloUSA

Put It Together

Lock Feature in Cricut Design Space™ #ctmh #closetomyheart #cricut #designspace #cardmaking #celebrate #artistry #artbooking #HelloUSA

Follow the steps below to put all of the ideas we discussed today together and make the Celebrate card!

Search for the “Celebrate” sentiment from the Artbooking collection, #M3D5CF, and insert it on your canvas.
Search for the star image from the Artbooking collection, #M3E9BD, and insert it on your canvas. Copy and paste this image to get two stars.
Search for the circle medal image from the Artistry collection, #M4183C8, and insert it on your canvas.
Search for image #M2CCFB18 from the Hello USA collection and insert it on your canvas. (You will only be using the star overlay from this 4th of July image.)
For the card base, insert a square shape from the Shapes tab in the Design Panel. Unlock and resize it to measure 4.25″ x 5.5″.

Tip: Be sure to change the colors of each shape or image as you resize them. This will help you to keep track of which paper you’ll need to use for each cut.

Select a circle shape from the Shapes tab in the Design Panel. Keep the shape locked and resize it to cover one of the small holes in the top of the pennant image. Copy the small circle and cover the other hole. Select the entire image and weld. This should leave you with one solid pennant image piece. Change the color of the pennant to a light blue and resize it to 2.933″ x 5.306″, then center it over your 4.25″ x 5.5″ card base.

Tip: All measurements in this post are W x H.

Select the circle medal shape and resize it to 4″ x 3.52″. Change the color of the banner to blue and the scalloped circle to white. You will need to ungroup this image to do this. Be sure to regroup it when you’re done.
Select the “Celebrate” sentiment and unlock it. Resize it to .75” in height. Then, place it on top of the circle medal piece and center it in the banner. Rotate the “Celebrate” sentiment until it fits within the banner.
Select both, the circle medal and the “Celebrate” sentiment, and group them together. Select the Slice option from the toolbar at the bottom of the Layers Panel.
Select a square shape from the Shapes tab in the Design Panel. Resize it to 2.806″ x 1.215″ and change its color to a dark red. This piece will form the background for the “Celebrate” sentiment.
Select the circle medal and place it over the red layer square you just created. Make sure the red piece is completely covered by the medal. Group this entire image together and center it over the blue pennant.
Ungroup the “Happy 4th” image and delete everything except the star base and overlay. Change the color of these pieces to yellow.
Select Make It in the top right corner and cut your project pieces.
Assemble your card and embellish with watercolor paint and sequins!

We hope you enjoyed this brief overview of the Lock/Unlock tool. Be sure to check out our next Design Space post, where we’ll explore more applications of the Attach feature! In the comments below make sure to let us know if you have any Design Space questions or if there are any topics you’d like us to cover in the future.

Recipe:

4¼” x 5½” Celebrate Card
X7247B Into the Wilde Paper Packet, X5992 Candy Apple Cardstock, X6005 Goldrush Cardstock, X6020 Saffron Cardstock, X6021 Sapphire Cardstock, X6027 White Daisy Cardstock, Z4235 Loose Sequins—Gold, Z3132 Watercolor Paints, Z3224 Waterbrush—Small Round, Z1979 Marvy^® Uchida^® LePen™ Journaling Pen, Z3298 Cricut^® Artistry Digital Collection, Z3503 Cricut^® Artbooking Digital Collection, Z3390 Cricut^® Hello USA Digital Collection

Cricut^® Shapes:
Artbooking
.75″ #M3D5CF
.344 x .408, .4 x .45 #M3E9BD
2.933 x 5.306 #M4235A

Artistry
4″ x 3.52 #M4183C8

Hello USA
1.507 x 1.602 #M2CCFB18

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June 20, 2019Create, Learn

Playing with Texture Paste

Close To My Heartmixed media, paste, stencil, texture, texture paste 6 Comments

We’ve been having some fun with texture paste recently, and we wanted to show you how you can too!

Texture Paste #closetomyheart #ctmh #texturepaste #mixedmedia #cardmaking #scrapbooking #papercrafting

With three unique finishes—opaque matte, transparent matte, and transparent gloss—texture paste is a great way to add some three-dimensional flair to any project. Texture paste is extremely versatile and can be used on most surfaces to create, you guessed it, texture! From your gorgeous scrapbook layouts to a beautiful handmade card, texture paste is just what you need to set your crafts apart. We can’t wait to share these awesome ideas with you, so grab your texture paste and get ready for a crafting experience like no other! (Some of the effects are a little harder to see in photos, but we promise, they really pop in person!) 🙂

Texture paste is quick and easy to apply, although you will need to allow ample time for it to dry. There are a few different ways to apply texture paste; one of the quickest and easiest is to use a palette knife or other spreading tool to freehand smear it onto the surface of your paper, or whatever material you plan to use. (Imagine you’re buttering a nice, hot piece of toast!) By using the palette knife, you can easily control the thickness and resulting appearance of the paste.

Tip: If you want a smoother finish, be sure to use a steady hand as you apply the paste. For an impasto effect, you can apply the paste with patting or even gentle slapping motions.

For this card, we spread a semi-thick layer of opaque matte texture paste on the background. We didn’t fuss over it too much, resulting in a layer of varying thickness to add an extra pop!

Another application technique we’ve been having fun with is stencil application. By using stencils, you can incorporate all sorts of fun, textured shapes into your artwork.

For this page, we used the opaque matte paste mixed with a drop of New England Ivy re-inker and a Swiss-dot stencil to create the dotted effect. By spreading texture paste evenly across the stencil, we were left with neat rows of perfect little dots, giving this page a truly unique look! Once the paste dried, we used a Gold Shimmer Brush to add a little sparkle and shine.

Sometimes, a project just screams for colored texture. To achieve the perfect pigment for your paste, we have a few tips, tricks, and techniques we know you’ll love!

If you’re wanting a light, pastel hue, try mixing some watercolor paint into the paste. This method allows you to easily control and adjust the pigment of your texture paste.

For a deeper, richer color, try a re-inker. Simply add a few drops of re-inker to the texture paste sample and mix thoroughly to achieve the desired effect.

Want some sparkle in your texture paste effect? Shimmer brushes are a great way to add a little glitter and subtle glam to your texture paste! Squeeze the shimmer brush gently to get a few drops into the paste and mix well. You can also use glittery embossing powder to make the shine a little more obvious.

Tip: It’s always a good idea to do a small swatch test before using colored texture paste in your project to make sure you’ve achieved the color you were hoping for.

Although the application process is fairly quick, you will need to allow for drying time to ensure that the paste is fully set and dry before you move on to the next steps of your project. One way to speed up this process is by heat setting. Not only does heat setting help the paste to dry and solidify more quickly, it also puffs it up slightly, resulting in a smoother, almost pillowy finish. If you want to explore this option, then by all means, break out your heat tool! If you want to keep the stucco-esque finish, you’ll just need to be patient for a bit 😉 . Although this does require more time to dry, we think it’s 100% worth it!

There is so much that can be done with texture paste. What are you guys creating with these artistic tools and medium? Leave a comment and let us know!

Recipes

12″ x 12″ So Happy Page
X7244B True Love Paper Packet, X7246B Sweet Girl Paper Packet, X5999 Charcoal Cardstock, X6010 Mink Cardstock, X5988 Peach Cardstock, X5993 Sage Cardstock, X6021 Sapphire Cardstock, X6027 White Daisy Cardstock, Z2235 New England Ivy Exclusive Inks™ Re-inker, Z4088 White Alphabet Foam Stickers, Z4058 Sapphire Crochet Thread, Z4064 Thin Cuts—Stitched Flowers, Z3316 Shimmer Brush—Gold, Z2467 ShinHan™ Touch Twin™ Warm Grey Marker, Z1979 Marvy^® Uchida^® LePen™ Journaling Pen, Z4246 Texture Paste Trio, Z4247 Palette Knives, Z4252 Heat Tool

4¼” x 5½” Flower Card
X7246B Sweet Girl Paper Packet, X7247B Into the Wild Paper Packet, X5988 Peach Cardstock, Z5993 Sage Cardstock, Z4058 Sapphire Crochet Thread, Z4246 Texture Paste Trio, Z4247 Palette Knives

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June 11, 2019Celebrate, Create, Learn

Easy DIY Patriotic Wreath

Close To My Heart4th, Decor, decoration, fourth of July, July, Memorial Day, papercraft, Papercrafting, patriotic, summer, summertime, wall art, wall hanging, wreath 4 Comments

What better way is there to kick off the summer months than with a beautiful patriotic wreath? Display it on your porch or mantel, hang it on a wall, or place it on a shelf to be admired. It will become that conversation piece in your space that you can proudly say, “Yep, I made that!”

Materials you will need:

6 Sapphire cardstock sheets (12″ x 12″)
2 Candy Apple cardstock sheets (12″ x 12″)
3 White Daisy cardstock sheets (12″ x 12″)
4 cardstock sheets (12″ x 12″) of any color (these will be used to form the base)
1 gold foil paper sheet (optional)
Gold sequins (optional)
Glue Dots^® (optional)
Liquid Glass or hot glue gun
Paper trimmer or scissors
1 standard paper baking cup
Pencil (optional)
Cricut^® Flower Market Digital Collection
Cricut^® Artbooking Digital Collection (optional)

Once you’ve gathered all of your materials, follow these easy steps and begin assembling your wreath.

Step 1—Cut your paper into the following shapes and sizes:

46 – 4″ x 4″ Sapphire cardstock squares
16 – 3½” x 3½” Candy Apple cardstock squares
12 – 3″ x 3″ White Daisy cardstock squares
3 – 9½” cardstock circles, any color*
1 – 2¼”, 2½”, 2¾”, 3″, 4¼”, 4½”, 4¾”, 5″ White Daisy sunburst*
1 – 5¾” cardstock circle, any color (optional template)*
8 –1¼” gold foil stars (optional embellishment)**
2 – 1½” and 2″ gold foil stars (optional embellishment)**
4 – 1¾” gold foil stars (optional embellishment)**

*These shapes can be cut using this Cricut Design Space™ file. If you own a Cricut^® machine but do not have access to Design Space, see the recipe at the end of this post for additional cutting information.

**These shapes can be cut using the Cricut^® Flower Market collection, Shift + Background <p> or #MD431D.

Step 2—Build your base.

Stack and attach all three 9½” cardstock circles on top of one another to create your base. Use the optional smaller 5¾” cardstock circle and, with a pencil, trace a guideline onto your base. If you did not cut this piece, draw a guideline by hand approximately 2″ from the edge.

Step 3—Form your petals.

Once your paper is all cut, roll each square piece like a cone, leaving it open on the top and closed at the bottom; seal the seam with Liquid Glass or hot glue. Roll up each petal keeping the same color intensity of our two-toned cardstock on the outside of each.

Step 4—Assemble the Outer Wreath.

Using the penciled circle as your guide, start building your wreath starting with the outside layer. Attach your largest petals onto the base, seam down, leaving about a finger width between each. (Tip: pinch the bottom tip of the cone flat when adding adhesive).

When building your second row, place the petals in the spaces created in the first layer, and so on.

Use the large Sapphire petals for the first two layers, then create one layer using the medium-sized Candy Apple petals, and complete the final third layer using the small White Daisy petals.

(Depending on how tightly you roll your petals and how close you attach them, you may end up using a different number than you originally cut.)

Step 5—Build the Center Wreath. Gather your remaining pieces.

First, gently bend the “rays” of each sunburst paper piece up with your fingers. Stack and attach all of these pieces together from largest to smallest, with the largest piece on the bottom. Next, glue the paper baking cup, open end down, to the center of the wreath. The baking cup will act as a stand for the sunburst flower you just created so it won’t get buried in the middle of all the wreath’s petals. Glue the bottom of the sunburst flower to the baking cup.

Finally, embellish the center of your wreath with the optional gold foil stars and sequins. For our center, we sandwiched two stars of the same size around a toothpick and then attached the toothpick to the white center by wrapping the bottom of it with a glue dot.

Step 6—Display your completed wreath with pride!

What are some ways you’re using papercrafts to decorate your space this next season? Share with us in the comments below. We love hearing from you!

Recipe:

15½” Patriotic Wreath
X5992 Candy Apple Cardstock, X6021 Sapphire Cardstock, X6027 White Daisy Cardstock, Z3365 Gold Foil Paper, Z4235 Loose Sequins—Gold, 1772 Glue Dots™ Ultra-thin Dots, Z679 Liquid Glass, Z3503 Cricut^® Artbooking Digital Collection, Z3501 Cricut^® Flower Market Digital Collection, standard paper baking cup, pencil

Cricut^® Shapes:
Artbooking
5¾”, 9½” Shift + Border <TeamWork> (p. 83, #M46F6E)
1¼”, 1½”, 1¾”, 2″ Icon <m> (p. 74, #M3E9BD)

Flower Market
2¼”, 2½”, 2¾”, 3″, 4¼”, 4½”, 4¾”, 5″ Shift + Background <P> (p. 20, #MD4313D)

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June 4, 2019Community

19 Signs You’re a True Crafter

Close To My Heartconsultant, craft, crafter, crafty, fun, funny, gif, humor, humour, memes, recruit, recruiting, supplies 3 Comments

1. You don’t particularly like to tell your husband how much you spend on crafting supplies.

2. You always keep the door to your crafting room shut because . . .

19 signs you're a true crafter #funnymemes #craftingmemes #craftinggifs #scrapbooking #closetomyheart #ctmh

via someecards

3. You believe embellishments are a girl’s best friend.

via scrapbook.com

4. You subscribe to crafting and homemaking magazines . . . and may even scrapbook your favorite magazine pages.

via Giphy

5. You believe there’s no such thing as too much glitter. Because it’s the truth.

via Giphy

6. At any given time, you’re working on 10+ projects simultaneously, but you WILL finish them all…one day.

via The Happy Scraps

7. When someone asks, “Where did you get that?” and you get to say, “I made it,” it’s basically the best.

via http://www.reactiongifs.com

8. You don’t throw away ANY scrap paper. Honestly, who would do that?

via http://www.reactiongifs.com

9. Your heart melts when you stumble across family members randomly looking through your scrapbooks.

via heckyeahreactiongifs.tumblr.com

10. You lose track of time (and reality) when you’re crafting.

via Queen and Company

11. You don’t understand anyone who thinks that storing their photos on their computer or on social media is “good enough.”

via http://www.reactiongifs.com

12. Martha is your Queen Bee.

via pwdart.tumblr.com

13. Trying to clean your crafting room is basically impossible.

via craftstorageideas.com

14. You frequently see things at the store and think, “Sheesh, I could make that myself for half the price!”

via Sewing Rabbit

15. If you spot something cute for a project “you might one day do,” your willpower goes right out the door.

via A Girl and a Glue Gun

16. Using your favorite crafting materials to create a gift for a friend is like giving them a little piece of your soul.

via Queen and Company

17. The problem is always the size of your crafting room, never the size of your stash. ALWAYS.

via U Create

18. And speaking of your stash…no one needs to know just how much stuff you have.

via Craftaholics Anonymous

19. You will make all the things forever and ever.

via Kathy R. Jeffords

If this describes you, then welcome! You have found your people! We’re a company that loves crafting so much we make it possible for people to earn a living by crafting in their own homes!

Becoming a Close To My Heart Consultant is easy and super affordable. It only costs $75 (USD) to join, and when you do, you get a box full of supplies PLUS $50 (USD) in CTMH Cash to buy even more stuff!

As an Independent Consultant, you’ll not only get to work your own hours from home doing what you love, but you’ll also get an AMAZING Consultant discount on our exclusive products!

We want you to succeed (and to wake up each day loving your job), so we have tons of online resources and training courses to help make this dream job a reality. There’s nothing to fear!

To learn more about the perks of becoming a Consultant, visit us on our website, here.

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May 28, 2019Create, Learn, Memory Keeping

Where to Find Free Scrapbooking Patterns (and More!)

Close To My Heartdownload, free, National, national scrapbooking month, nsm, pattern, scrapbooking, sweet girl, The World Is Yours, workshop, workshops Your Way 4 Comments

We pride ourselves on our “Let Me Show You How” philosophy. That is one of the reasons we love providing free, downloadable patterns, whether that is right here, on this blog, or on Closetomyheart.com.

Whenever we offer a workshop kit for sale, the instructions are available as a free downloadable PDF file right on our website. These instructions come fully equipped with additional materials needed lists, cutting guides, featured techniques, step-by-step assembly instructions, project photos, tips, AND patterns. Without any obligations or commitments, you can visit our site, find these workshops, download the files, and use the patterns in them at your discretion.

Even though these timeless patterns are designed with specific products in mind, we stand behind their versatility and encourage you to use them time and time again. With different papers, embellishments, and subjects matters, the finished results will always be unique.

Since this month is all about scrapbooking, we took the three scrapbook layout patterns from the Workshops Your Way® Sweet Girl Scrapbooking Kit and made new pages using The World Is Yours collection.

PATTERN 1:

SWEET GIRL:

THE WORLD IS YOURS:

PATTERN 2:

SWEET GIRL:

THE WORLD IS YOURS:

PATTERN 3:

SWEET GIRL:

THE WORLD IS YOURS:(You can download the instructions and patterns for these layouts here, or on our website here.)

In each of our seasonal catalogs, you will find one scrapbooking and one cardmaking workshop for every paper collection offered. The scrapbooking workshops walk you through creating three coordinating 2-page layouts while the cardmaking workshops come with several card designs and patterns to make anywhere between 12 and 16 cards. Outside the catalogs, we also have regular monthly specials. Often, these promotions will include a workshop—this is where you will find instructions and patterns for other things as well, like mini albums and the occasional papercrafting project.

If you’re ever looking for a pattern, revisit some of your old workshops or come and visit us here or on our website. Remember, the patterns on our site are only available while the workshop kits they are featured in are, so make sure to grab them while you can!

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1. My Acrylix® Seaside Greetings

2. Seaside Paper Packet

3. Seaside Coordinating Cardstock

4. Seaside Workshop Kit

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Lock/Unlock

Lock/Unlock with Basic Shapes

Locking/Unlocking More Intricate Shapes

Lock/Unlock with Text

Put It Together

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1. You don’t particularly like to tell your husband how much you spend on crafting supplies.

2. You always keep the door to your crafting room shut because . . .

3. You believe embellishments are a girl’s best friend.

4. You subscribe to crafting and homemaking magazines . . . and may even scrapbook your favorite magazine pages.

5. You believe there’s no such thing as too much glitter. Because it’s the truth.

6. At any given time, you’re working on 10+ projects simultaneously, but you WILL finish them all…one day.

7. When someone asks, “Where did you get that?” and you get to say, “I made it,” it’s basically the best.

8. You don’t throw away ANY scrap paper. Honestly, who would do that?

9. Your heart melts when you stumble across family members randomly looking through your scrapbooks.

10. You lose track of time (and reality) when you’re crafting.

11. You don’t understand anyone who thinks that storing their photos on their computer or on social media is “good enough.”

12. Martha is your Queen Bee.

13. Trying to clean your crafting room is basically impossible.

14. You frequently see things at the store and think, “Sheesh, I could make that myself for half the price!”

15. If you spot something cute for a project “you might one day do,” your willpower goes right out the door.

16. Using your favorite crafting materials to create a gift for a friend is like giving them a little piece of your soul.

17. The problem is always the size of your crafting room, never the size of your stash. ALWAYS.

18. And speaking of your stash…no one needs to know just how much stuff you have.

19. You will make all the things forever and ever.

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1. My Acrylix^® Seaside Greetings