March 19, 2019Create, Learn, Memory Keeping

5 Approaches to Pocket Scrapbooking

Close To My Heartblock scrapbooking, download, Everyday Life, free, how-to, pattern, Picture My Life, planning, Pocket Cards, pocket scrapbook, pocket scrapbooking, trendy, trendy scrapbooking 5 Comments

Today is the day, if you haven’t already, to discover the simplicity of scrapbooking in pockets! That’s right. Scrapbooking CAN be fast, simple, and easy. By using Memory Protectors™ with multiple pockets, you can quickly catch up on your scrapbooking or just add photos, art, journaling, and other keepsakes in this trendy blocked style to any of your albums. But where do we start?

Too often, we get so eager to try out a new memory keeping approach only to end up staring at the Memory Protectors™ and their empty pockets, not quite sure how to begin. Or, on the other end of the spectrum, we start without a plan and find that something about our completed pages just isn’t quite right. If you take a look below, you’ll see that we came up with different ideas to get you thinking about how to create a pocket page or layout, and to get you up to speed on this popular style of scrapbooking!

1. Start with a set of photos.

We all have stashes of photos, mainly on our electronic devices. Print out some of your favorites and give this approach a try. Once you’ve got your photos, choose a color scheme by pulling from the colors in your photos first and then, if you’d like, add one or two colors that coordinate. Lastly, choose accessories or embellishments for the finishing touches.

If you aren’t quite sure how many photos to use, consider the 50-50 rule where you fill 50% of your pockets with photos and the other 50% with patterned papers or pre-made pocket cards—ensuring a well-balanced page and layout.

2. Start with a color scheme.

This approach is very similar to the first, only the color scheme comes first and then the photos. When you have an album that you are wanting to add on to, the color scheme is often predetermined by what’s come before. In this example, we chose our colors first, then came up with the photos, and polished off the layout with some sequins as our accessory. If you don’t have enough, or any, photos that you’d like to use to match your color scheme, manipulate the colors in the photo. If you’re not savvy with photo editing software or want to keep things simple, print your photos in black and white.

As you’re deciding on what photos to use, keep in mind that you are not bound by the orientation or size of the pockets of your Memory Protectors™. In both of the examples that we’ve shown you so far, we cut a 6″ x 8″ photo in half and inserted the parts into two of the pockets. You can get really creative and do all sorts of things with pockets that you can’t quite get away with in a traditional layout. 😉

3. Start with a story.

This third method is for the storyteller. You start out with a memory or story and then find photos that accompany it. In this example, the story is about Grandma Joann and her garden. The reminiscence and words came first, then the photos, and lastly the embellishing accessories.

If a 12″ x 12″ album is too big to fit on your shelf, there’s also the 6″ x 8″, Everyday Life™, option. All of the ideas that we’re sharing today translate into any size of pocket scrapbooking.

4. Start with an event.

Our last approach is to begin with an event, like a birthday party, vacation, holiday, family gathering, etc. Think about the story behind it and develop it. This is where the 5 W’s (who, what, where, when, why) come in handy. As you develop the story, write it down and choose photos that support it. Finally, add an accessory for embellishment.

5. Come up with a pattern.

If the ideas that we’ve shared so far are overwhelming, find a pocket layout that you like and break it down into a pattern for you to recreate and personalize (it’s pretty easy to do this with pockets). Here’s what the pattern of our very first example looks like:

We used this very same pattern to create the layout in our second example. Did you notice? We rotated each of the pages 90 degrees counterclockwise and came up with this:

(You can download this pattern, here.)

Flip a pattern, turn it on its side, switch the order of the pages—if you have the Memory Protectors™ to support your pocket idea, then go for it! One of the great things about pocket scrapbooking is that you can change the contents of the pockets around however many times you need to, making it a lot more forgiving than traditional scrapbooking.

All you need to be a successful pocket scrapper are the pocket Memory Protectors™, pre-made pocket cards, your photos, and a plan. Pair any of the ideas that we’ve shared with you today with our Picture My Life™ pocket cards and get caught up on your scrapbooking in a fast, simple, easy, AND trendy way!

**All of our Picture My Life™ pocket cards are 35% off, now and through the end of the month. It’s a great time to stock up!

Recipes:

12″ x 12″ Wonderful Layout
X7243B Feels Like Home Paper Packet, X7243E Picture My Life™ Cards—Feels Like Home, X7243C Feels Like Home Complements, Z4270 I Heart Us Sequins, 4113 Memory Protectors™ Design 2, Z1951 Memory Protectors™ Design 4

12″ x 12″ Life Is Peachy Layout
X7241B So Much Happy Paper Packet, X7241E Picture My Life™ Cards—So Much Happy, X7241C So Much Happy Complements, Z4270 I Heart Us Sequins, Z1324 Memory Protectors™ Design 1, Z1950 Memory Protectors Design 3

6″ x 8″ Grandma’s Garden Layout
X7241B So Much Happy Paper Packet, X7243E Picture My Life™ Cards—Feels Like Home, X7240C Something Fierce Complements, Z4270 I Heart Us Sequins, Z3252 Everyday Life™ Memory Protectors™ 6″ x 8″, Z3192 Everyday Life™ Memory Protectors™ 4″ x 6″

6″ x 8″ Celebrate Layout
X7241B So Much Happy Paper Packet, X7241E Picture My Life™ Cards—So Much Happy, X7240C Something Fierce Complements, Z4270 I Heart Us Sequins, Z3191 Everyday Life™ Memory Protectors™ 3″ x 4″, Z3192 Everyday Life™ Memory Protectors™ 4″ x 6″

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March 12, 2019Create, Learn

Back to the Basics with Cricut Design Space™—Card Edition!

Close To My Heartcardmaking, cricut, Design Space, envelopes, Flower Market, how-to, So Much Happy, tutorial 12 Comments

Often the tools we show you in Design Space are illustrated with a scrapbook page or layout, but not today! In this next back to the basics post, we want to remind you that these tools can be used for many, many projects, including custom cards and envelopes. As we continue our review of basic tools in Design Space, you’ll see that it’s easy to create cards and envelopes that are both beautiful, unique, and most importantly, easy!

On the cards above, all of the shapes we used, including the sentiments, flowers, and even the envelopes, come from the Flower Market Cricut^® collection. Flower Market has both flat and 3-D shapes, and you can see we’ve used both types on these cards. This makes it a truly versatile collection, useful for an entire year’s worth of seasons, celebrations, and creativity!

The steps below show you how to work in Design Space from a desktop or laptop computer. If you use the app on a mobile device, the buttons and tools will be located in slightly different places on your screen, but the same features are available on any device.

Basic Shapes

Design Space has a “basic shapes” feature in the Design Panel. The shapes in this section are available to you for free, and it’s an easy way to add simple shapes like circles, rectangles, hearts, or diamonds and also use them as a base for other projects. For example, you could insert a square and then size it for a variety of things, and this is exactly what we did to create our cards.

To create a card front in Design Space, insert a square shape from the Shapes section. Adjust the size to 4.25″ x 5.5″. If you wanted to cut an entire card base, insert a square shape and size it to 8.5″ x 5.5″. In the next section, we’ll tell you how to add a score line to the card base.

Cut Lines and Score Lines

When you insert a shape on your canvas, the line of that shape is typically a solid cut line, but you’ll notice when you add an image, like the envelope from the Flower Market collection (#MD38C82), there is a dash line as well.

This is a score line. Your Cricut^® machine will both cut and score the envelope for you. You just need a scoring tool or scoring wheel, depending on the type of machine you have. You can change lines to cut, score, or even draw. If you aren’t sure what type of lines you have on your shape. You can always look in the Layers panel. It will tell you which ones will score or cut, and you can change the line type in the Edit bar.

To complete your card base, insert a score line. Score lines can also be added from the same Shapes section of the Design panel. Resize the score line to 5.5″, move it over your card base, and select both images. Then under Align in the Edit bar, select Center. Once the score line is centered, keeping both the line and the card base selected, click Attach in the Layers panel. Using Attach keeps your score line exactly where you want it, even if you move the shape on the canvas.

Using the Slice Tool

We used the Slice tool to create the sentiments for our cards. The Slice tool is one of the functions at the bottom of the Layers Panel, next to others like Weld and Contour. With Slice, you can cut an image or text out of another shape. Simply place your word or image over the one you want to cut it from. Select both shapes, and click Slice in the Layers Panel.

Initially, it might not look like anything happened, but if you click on your images, you’ll have two of whatever you cut. One is the shape itself, and the other is the shape you cut from the background.

There are a few important things to keep in mind. First, you can see in the “Thanks a Bunch” banner on this card, we sliced the sentiment from Lagoon paper and attached that to a solid White Daisy banner. For something like this, before you slice in Design Space, make sure you ungroup the image. Images that have multiple layers can’t be sliced. If your sentiment image has multiple pieces grouped together as one shape, like this one does, you’ll need to ungroup them and slice using just one image.

Another thing to remember is to duplicate the solid shape that goes behind whatever you’re slicing, if applicable. If you are slicing into the card base, you wouldn’t need a duplicate piece, but if you’re slicing into another shape, like the banner on this card, you’ll want to have a solid shape to layer behind it.

The last important tip we have for you is that you want to make sure when cutting your project that you keep small pieces that go inside letters or other shapes. With this card, that means you want to set aside the inside of each “a” and the “B” to attach to the banner.

If you look closely, you’ll notice a similar thing happening on the Happy Easter card, but it’s also a little bit different. We sliced the sentiment from the card base, but instead of saving the inside pieces, we cut the sentiment separately and layered a solid piece of White Daisy cardstock on the back, behind the sliced shape.

Put It Together (Basic Shapes, Score, and Slice)

All of the cards in our post today use the tools we’ve talked about including a basic rectangle shape, inserting a score line, and slicing a sentiment. Follow the steps below to put it all together and make the Sending Sunshine card!

First, search for the sentiment, #MD38CC3, and insert it on your canvas.
Ungroup the sentiment, and delete only the “Sunshine” image. Then resize the sentiment to a height of 1.75″, leaving the width locked.
For the card base, insert a square shape from the Shapes. Adjust the size to 8.5″ x 5.5″. Don’t insert a score line yet. You have to use the slice tool first, before attaching a score line.
Slice the sentiment from right side of the card base. This is your card front. Place the sentiment where you want it, select both images, and click Slice in the Layers panel.
Keep both extra sentiments. You’ll cut them from Lemon cardstock and layer the two in another step.
Now insert a score line, also from the Shapes section of the Design Panel. Size it to 5.5″. Place it over the card base, and select both images. Then, under Align in the Edit bar, select Center, and then select Attach in the Layers panel.
Insert other flowers and leaves on the canvas as desired. For our card, we used the Daisy image (#MFADCF2) cut in three different sizes, and we paired it with the Rhododendron leaf (#MD37FB).
Color your project pieces to make it easy to cut on the right color of paper or cardstock. Then select Make It in the top right corner and cut your project pieces.
Attach one 4″ x 5¼” piece of Mint cardstock behind the sliced portion of your card (on the inside of the card). Then layer the two Lemon sentiments and attach inside the sliced section.
Embellish with stamped images, 3-D flowers, sequins, and more!

**Bonus Tip!

Are you unsure how to add a Close To My Heart digital collection to your Cricut^® account? Simply visit www.cricut.com/CTMH and sign in to your account (or create one if you haven’t already). In the list of options in the menu on the left, you’ll see the last one is Redeem Promotion. Select that option. Then enter the code, click Redeem, and you’ll be on your way. Not sure if you’ve already linked your physical cartridges? In that same menu, you can select Linked Cartridges. This will show you the ones you’ve already linked to your account.

Next month, we’ll look at ways to manipulate text in the Edit bar on the canvas with the shapes and unique font from the You Are Here collection. Check back in April for more Design Space fun!

Recipes:

4¼” x 5½” Happy Easter Card (Vertical)
D1797 My Acrylix^® Watercolor Impressions Stamp Set, X7241B So Much Happy Paper Packet, X5995 Clover Cardstock, X6008 Lemon Cardstock, X6027 White Daisy Cardstock, Z2895 Lagoon Exclusive Inks™ Stamp Pad, Z4235 Loose Sequins—Gold, Z2060 Thin 3-D Foam Tape, Z2089 Glue Dots^® Micro Dots, Z3501 Cricut^® Flower Market Digital Collection

Cricut^® Shapes:
Flower Market
1.5″ #MD72936
3″ #MD72998
2.5″ #MD72998

4¼” x 5½” Thanks a Bunch Card (Horizontal)
D1797 My Acrylix^® Watercolor Impressions Stamp Set, X7241B So Much Happy Paper Packet, X5995 Clover Cardstock, X6027 White Daisy Cardstock, Z2824 Linen Exclusive Inks™ Stamp Pad, Z4235 Loose Sequins—Gold, Z2060 Thin 3-D Foam Tape, Z2089 Glue Dots^® Micro Dots, Z3501 Cricut^® Flower Market Digital Collection

Cricut^® Shapes:
Flower Market
3.5″ #MD4051F
0.75″ #MD3840E

4¼” x 5½” Sending Sunshine Card (Horizontal)
D1823 My Acrylix^® Word Search Highlights Stamp Set, D1797 My Acrylix^® Watercolor Impressions Stamp Set, X7241B So Much Happy Paper Packet, X6008 Lemon Cardstock, X5986 Mint Cardstock, X5988 Peach Cardstock, X6027 White Daisy Cardstock, Z2895 Lagoon Exclusive Inks™ Stamp Pad, Z2808 Lemon Exclusive Inks™ Stamp Pad, Z4270 I Heart Us Sequins, Z2060 Thin 3-D Foam Tape, Z3501 Cricut^® Flower Market Digital Collection

Cricut^® Shapes:
Flower Market
0.5″ #MD37FB8
1.25″, 1.5″, 1.75 #MFADCF2
1.75″ #MD38CC3

Envelopes
X7241B So Much Happy Paper Packet, X6027 White Daisy Cardstock, Z3501 Cricut^® Flower Market Digital Collection

Cricut^® Shapes:
Flower Market
10.5″ #MD38C82 (cut 3)

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March 5, 2019Create, Memory Keeping

It’s Paper Party Time with a Free Scrapbooking Pattern!

Close To My Heartcolor coordination, Feels Like Home, free, free pattern, I Heart Us, Paper Party, pattern, promo, promotion, sale, scrapbooking 5 Comments

So glad you are joining us today because we are having a paper party All. Month. Long. What does that mean? It means that this is the time to stock up on your favorite patterned papers and coordinating cardstocks because they are all on sale! When you buy any one of our patterned paper packets or coordinating cardstock packs you can get a second one, of equal or lesser value, at 50% off! The best part, you can mix and match your packets to get exactly what you want. Visit our website, here, for a closer look at our beautiful papers and to get additional details on this party worthy event!

As a party favor, we are giving you a free scrapbook pattern for you to download and take home with you!

This pattern originally debuted with our Roxie paper collection, but, as you can see, we updated the instructions so they can be used with any papers and for any occasion. Above, we paired this timeless pattern with the I Heart Us paper packet and coordinating cardstock, and below we paired it with the Feels Like Home paper packet and coordinating cardstock.

With our pattern papers and cardstock, you can achieve effortless color coordination in all of your crafting. The patterns featured in each paper collections are designed using the same exclusive color palette as our two-toned cardstock, ensuring that each paper element in your projects comes together for a flawless match.

We take pride in providing the most comprehensive patterns for scrapbook layouts. When you download this pattern, you will notice that it also comes with cutting diagrams to make it even easier to create these pages!

Download this free scrapbooking pattern, and have yourself a paper scrappin’ party!

Download Pattern

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

Recipes:

12″ x 12″ You Make My Heart Happy Layout
X7242B I Heart Us Paper Packet, X7242D I Heart Us Coordinating Cardstock, X7242C I Heart Us Complements, Z4270 I Heart Us Sequins, Z2060 Thin 3-D Foam Tape

12″ x 12″ My Heart Is Full Layout
X7243B Feels Like Home Paper Packet, X7243D Feels Like Home Coordinating Cardstock, X7243C Feels Like Home Complements, Z3312 Gold Glitter Gems, Z2060 Thin 3-D Foam Tape

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February 28, 2019Create, Learn

Back to the Basics with Cricut Design Space™

Close To My HeartArtistry, basics, Create, cricut, Design Space, how-to, Learn 2 Comments

No matter your comfort level with Cricut Design Space™, it’s good for everyone to revisit the basics. Today, and in a few more blog posts in the upcoming months, we’re going to explain some of the basic tools in Design Space and then illustrate how to use these tools with images from each Close To My Heart Cricut^® collection. Making sure you have the basics down will only increase your confidence as a Design Space user, unlocking so many creative options for your crafting!

On the page above, we’ve used a banner from the Artistry Cricut^® collection to create the title piece. Artistry has a wide variety of words and shapes including titles, sentiments, backgrounds, borders, and banners that you can use for any project theme. Whether you are celebrating a birthday or holiday, or scrapbooking everyday moments, you have lots of choices with this collection, and even more when using the tools in Design Space.

As you read along, remember that the steps below show you how to work in Design Space from a desktop or laptop computer. If you use the app on a mobile device, the buttons and tools will be located in slightly different places on your screen, but the same features are available on any device. Let’s get started by taking a look at the project canvas.

Your Canvas

Whether you are new to Design Space or a seasoned pro, it’s useful to identify the different parts of the canvas and where to find particular functions and tools.

Design Panel: This panel, on the left side of the canvas, is where you add new elements to your project like basic shapes, images, text, and more.
Header: The Header is just the fancy title for the dark gray strip across the top of the canvas. This is where you can click to view the menu and see your project name. The Header is also where you’ll find a few more VERY useful things, like Save and Make It in the top right corner. 🙂
Edit Bar: Below the Header, you’ll see the Edit bar. This section of the canvas houses many of the tools you’ll need to manipulate specific shapes and text. Here you can find tools like Linetype, Size, and Rotate. There are also options to Align and Arrange shapes, and most importantly, the top left corner is where you’ll find Undo and Redo, just in case you make a mistake. When you are working with text, more tools for adjusting the text will appear in the Edit bar.
Layers Panel: The Layers panel holds tools that you might need when working with multiple images together. Tools like Group, UnGroup, and Duplicate are at the top of this panel. These tools let you copy, combine, or separate images. The Slice, Weld, Attach, and Contour features are at the bottom of the Layers panel.
Color Sync Panel: The Color Sync panel and the Layers panel share the same space on the canvas. To see this panel, click Color Sync, instead of Layers. This allows you to match colors used in your project’s shapes. Grouping them together by color makes it easy for you to cut shapes from the same paper.

Searching for Specific Shapes

#M4171A5

Have you ever wondered what this number means? You might see a number like this one in instructions or recipes we provide for artwork that use Cricut^® shapes. This number is the image number in Design Space. When inserting an image on your canvas, you can search for a specific image by entering the entire number in the search box. Make sure to include the “#” symbol when you search.

To search for a specific image, click Images on the left side of your canvas. Then enter the image number in the search box in the top right corner, just like we did to find a the banner used in this project.

Changing the Size of Shapes

A simple tool you’ll use over and over again is Size. In the Edit bar, you’ll see Size and then the width and height of a selected image. You’ll also notice a lock symbol. When the lock is closed, if you adjust the width of the shape, for example, Design Space will automatically change the height to match the proportions. If you want to change both, simply click on the lock. It will unlock, allowing you to manipulate either one as desired.

Grouping and Ungrouping Shapes

Some images in Design Space have multiple layers. When you insert the image on the canvas, the layers will be grouped together. To manipulate each one individually, you have to use UnGroup. Simply select the image and click on UnGroup.

You can see that this banner image has two layers, one solid base layer and one overlay with the words “DREAM Big.” To make changes to each one individually, we ungrouped the image.

Duplicating Shapes

Another frequently used tool in Design Space is Duplicate. This lets you make a copy of any shape or shapes you have selected. Just click on the shape and click Duplicate at the top of the Layers panel.

Welding Shapes

The word weld basically means to unite. While it often refers to metals, in Design Space, when you use this tool, you can combine, or “unite,” multiple shapes into one image, removing extra cut lines. Simply arrange the images as desired. Select all of them at the same time and click Weld. Now, instead of many separate images, they will be combined together as one single shape. This is how we created the solid base piece for our title.

Putting It Together (Search, Size, Duplicate, and Weld)

The title at the top of this page is made using the tools we’ve reviewed today to manipulate one image in Design Space. Follow the steps below to put it all together and make your own!

First, search for the image, #M4171A5, and insert it on your canvas.
Ungroup the image.
Resize the solid banner to a height of 3″, leaving the width locked. Then, duplicate and resize to have six additional banners, two 2″ and four 1.5″.
Arrange the banners like you see on the page with the solid 3″ banner in the center and one 2″ and 1.5″ banner on either side. Click and drag your cursor over all the images to select them all. Then, click Weld. This gives you the solid piece to go behind the remaining banners.
We, then, went ahead and colored the additional 2″ banners light yellow, and the additional 1.5″ banners pink. This just helps you cut the right color of paper or cardstock.
Select Make It in the top right corner and cut your project pieces. Then, assemble your title like you see on the page.

Keep in mind, to use the same image we did, you must own the Artistry Cricut^® collection. You will also need a Cricut^® machine that is Design Space compatible (any of the Explore or the new Maker machines).

Stay tuned for another back to the basics post next month featuring more Design Space tools with the Flower Market collection to make… cards!

Recipe:

12″ × 12″ Dream Big Page
X7242B I Heart Us Paper Packet, X6007 Lagoon Cardstock, X5986 Mint Cardstock, X6027 White Daisy Cardstock, X7242C I Heart Us Complements, Z4304 Loose Sequins—Silver, X7242E Picture My Life™ Cards—I Heart Us, Z1151 3-D Foam Tape, Z2089 Glue Dots^® Micro Dots, Z3500 Cricut^® Artistry Digital Collection, Sewing Machine

Cricut^®Shapes:
Artistry
1.5″, 2″, 3″ #M4171A5

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February 21, 2019Celebrate, Create, Inspiration, Memory Keeping

Feeling Heart Happy After Valentine’s Day with a Free Mini Album How-to Guide

Close To My Heartalbum, campaign, everyday, Everyday Life, foodie, Heart Happy, love of food, Memory Keeping, mini album, my heart, photos, promo, promotion, sale, storytelling Leave a comment

It’s been a week since Valentine’s Day. Some of us celebrated with chocolates, flowers, dinners out, or even a sweet new color wheel ( 😉 ). Now what? There’s still some February leftover. Well, just because it’s no longer Valentine’s Day doesn’t mean we can’t celebrate what everyday life has to offer—that is why we are sharing instructions as a free download to create an Everyday Life™ sized album that does just that!

Download your free Heart Happy Everyday Life™ album instructions, here.

Pretty much all of us are equipped to take photos wherever we go, of whatever we want, and whenever we feel like it. As a result, so many of life’s special moments end up stored in a “cloud” somewhere, rarely visited or seen again. Raise your hand if you’ve taken an indefinite number of photos of your cute children, grandchildren, fur babies, or even your food. What do you do with all of these photos? Are they still sitting in your phone? As one of our Consultants so eloquently put it, “don’t let your kids grow up as JPEGs!”

Our message to you today is simple: review the photos that you’ve taken and print them off! Don’t have a place to put them? Use the layouts in this Everyday Life™ album to get started and store your photos along with any stories that go with them.

Heart Happy After Valentine's Day #ctmh #closetomyheart #ctmhhearthappy #everydaylife #minialbum #diyalbum #albuminstructions #free #freeguide #valentinesday #love #howto #scrapbooking #scrapbook #storytelling #everyday

Photos evoke emotions, capture moods, and remind us of things we long to hold on to. By putting our photos in an album, not only do you get to revisit these feelings, but then we get to share them with others and even allow them to have their own emotional responses. What does that mean? Simply put, it’s important to create albums for your family members and friends to look through. People love seeing pictures of themselves! (You know it’s true!) Children, especially. Create a place for the people you love to look at photos that you love, of whatever you love, through beautiful album pages that share your everyday journey.

Our Heart Happy Everyday Life™ album workshop is a great place to get started, and it will truly make your heart happy. If you’d like to make your very own Heart Happy album, we have a few different bundles of product offered at a reduced price to help you get going. Click on the links below to see which best fits your needs:

My Acrylix® A Piece of My Heart Stamp Set
Heart Happy Sticker Sheet
Heart Happy Paper Packet
Heart Happy Coordinating Cardstock
Heart Happy Everyday Life™ Workshop Kit
Heart Happy Everyday Life™ Workshop Kit without Stamp Set

One of the great things about the contents of this kit are the versatile words, icons, and shapes found throughout its stamp set, patterned papers, and stickers. Last month, we showed you these very same products used to create some really fun Valentine’s Day cards (click here to download those card instructions). Above, we showed you an album to showcase the everyday moments. Now, we want to show you even more!

Take a look at this 12″ x 12″ layout we came up with using the same stamp set and Heart Happy paper packet combined with a few other products:

(Love never looked so tasty! 🙂 )

We hope today’s post inspires you to do something with all of those memories that you are storing up. Print your photos, write your stories, and create something with them to celebrate the way life looks today. Take the time to make your heart happy!

Recipe:

12″ x 12″ Yum Yum Layout
CC2191 My Acrylix® A Piece of My Heart Stamp Set, CC2193 Heart Happy Paper Packet, X7242B I Heart Us Paper Packet, X9003 Mix-in Paper Packet, X6005 Goldrush Cardstock, X6007 Lagoon Cardstock, X6027 White Daisy Cardstock, Z3271 Archival Black Exclusive Inks™ Stamp Pad, Z2823 Goldrush Exclusive Inks™ Stamp Pad, Z2895 Lagoon Exclusive Inks™ Stamp Pad, Z6503 Mint Exclusive Inks™ Stamp Pad, Z2851 Saffron Exclusive Inks™ Stamp Pad, X7242C I Heart Us Complements, X7241C So Much Happy Complements, Z4270 I Heart Us Sequins, X7242E Picture My Life™ Cards—I Heart Us, X7241E Picture My Life™ Cards—So Much Happy, Z4181 Thin Cuts—Stitched Circles, Z3386 Thin Cuts—Block Alphabet, Z3132 Watercolor Paints, Z3225 Waterbrush—Medium Round, Z2060 Thin 3-D Foam Tape, Z1979 Marvy® Uchida® LePen™ Journaling Pen, Sewing Machine

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February 19, 2019Create, Memory Keeping

Scrapbook in No Time with Craft with Heart™

Close To My HeartCraft with Heart, cut above, layout kits, scrapbooking, scrapbooking kits, subscribe, subscription 1 Comment

Who wouldn’t like to receive scrapbooking kits in the mail—kits that you can literally create in minutes? With Close To My Heart’s Craft with Heart™ subscription, you can actually get Cut Above^® layout kits delivered directly to you. These kits make it completely doable for anyone to be a memory keeper!

Does this sound too good to be true? We’re sure you have questions about the Craft with Heart™ subscription. What comes in a kit? How easy is it really to put the pages together? Or maybe you’re not even sure what a Cut Above^® kit even is? Today we’re giving you a firsthand look at the pages that come with a subscription. You can watch a layout made right before your eyes to see how truly simple it is to put them together. Check it out.

Like Karen explains in the video, the layout kits included in a Craft with Heart™ subscription are Cut Above^® kits. That means you don’t have to try to come up with a pattern for your layout or even cut any paper. All the parts and pieces come in the box for you. That includes die-cuts, stickers, base pages, and even Memory Protectors™. You just need adhesive, thin 3-D foam tape, a journaling pen, and of course, your photos!

With a Cut Above^® kit, some of the details that add a little extra pop to your scrapbook pages are already done for you. The pre-printed base pages for your project could have elements like scallop edges, small banners, circles, and other more intricate designs. Even the ink splatters on the layout Karen created in the video, and shown below, are pre-printed on the page.

February’s Craft with Heart™ Layouts

There is a subscription option for everyone. You can choose to sign up for a monthly, 4-month, or 12-month subscription. The longer period of time you choose, the better deal you’ll get! With a 12-month subscription, you’ll receive four layout kits, every four months at a 20% discount, AND you’ll get FREE shipping! And… each 12-month subscription box comes with a discount code from Persnickety Prints for 30 free 4″ x 6″ prints. That means every time you get a box (three times a year), you’ll save on your kits, pay no shipping and handling, and get 30 free 4″ x 6″ prints! To see more details about each subscription option—monthly, 4-month, and 12-month—just click here.

Craft with Heart™ is the perfect solution for those of you that want a quicker way to scrapbook your photos but still create something that’s beautiful and detailed. These layout kits are truly for everyone, whether you are just getting started or have been scrapbooking for years. Memory keepers looking to add their own flair can use the layouts in these kits as a jumping off point for their own creations. You can still take advantage of the pre-printed base pages, die-cuts, and stickers, and then just add a few additional embellishments or paper to make it your own.

No matter the type of crafter you are, a Craft with Heart™ subscription makes preserving the moments you cherish something that anyone can do. In only a few minutes, you’ll have completed layouts for your photos and stories. Click here to sign up today. Then keep an eye on your mailbox for your first delivery! ❤

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February 14, 2019Celebrate, Create, Learn

For the Love of Color: A New Color Wheel!

Close To My Heartcolor, color combination, color theory, colour, colour theory, DIY, how-to, Love of Color, theory, Valentine's Day 7 Comments

It is officially love day, and we couldn’t be more excited! Valentine’s Day is a time designated to focus on and celebrate the relationships that matter most, and, in case you didn’t know, you are at the top of our significant others list as part of our beloved crafting community! We simply couldn’t let this special relationship go unnoticed, so we made you a one-of-a-kind Valentine that we hope you’ll enjoy!

Download your new CTMH color wheel, here! ❤

We updated the color wheel we shared with you last year to include this year’s new colors from our exclusive color palette!

Since we’re celebrating relationships today, we thought it would be fun (and practical) to talk about relationships between colors and what makes certain pairings work. We’ve summarized color theory principles from previous blog posts and compiled them, below, to have them conveniently available for review all in one place.

Once you’ve chosen basic colors using any one of these combination options, jump on the Close To My Heart color wheel and take your pick from the exclusive colors that fall into each category. If you’d like to learn more about any of the individual principles or would like to see more artwork examples, click on the provided links at the end of each section. Lastly, if you don’t have the time or would simply rather not read through color theory (we get it 😉 ), skip to the end of this post to see how we make using a full spectrum of color even easier!

Monochromatic and Analogous Colors:

Monochromatic color designs make use of a single color that varies in lightness and saturation. Sometimes, a piece of artwork that we may think is monochromatic is actually following an analogous scheme, which is just a fancy way of saying that the featured colors are next to each other on the color wheel. One color is typically dominant while neighboring colors are used to enhance the design. (Monochromatic and Analogous Colors)

Complementary Colors:

Complementary colors are two colors opposite each other on the color wheel, such as Candy Apple and Clover (red and green), and Goldrush and Bluebird (orange and blue). If you notice, one side of the color wheel is made up of warm colors while the other is made up of cool colors. Complementary colors, since they are across from one another, will have one of each. They create a vibrant contrast, making each other pop without being jarring to the eye. (Complementary Colors and How to Use Them)

Split-Complementary Colors:

Split-complementary colors are pretty much what the name implies. When you are using two complementary colors, split one of them into its two adjacent colors on the wheel to end up with three colors that will visually work. Take red-orange and blue-green, for example. They are opposite each other on the color wheel and therefore complementary. Add a third color using the split-complementary scheme by splitting red-orange into two and use red and orange with the blue-green instead. (Using Split-complementary Colors)

Triadic Colors:

A triadic color scheme is a lot easier to understand than it may sound. Just like some of the other theories, triadic color combinations make use of three colors. This time, instead of being next to or opposite each other, triadic colors are three colors that are equally spaced around the color wheel, and when connected by lines create an equal sided triangle.

There are only four triadic color combinations on your basic color wheel:

Red, Yellow, Blue
Red-orange, Yellow-green, Blue-violet
Orange, Green, Violet
Yellow-orange, Blue-green, Red-violet.

(Triadic Color Combinations)

Double Complementary Colors:

Tetradic Colors #ctmh #closetomyheart #colortheory #colourtheory #color #colour #theory #tetradic #double #complementary #doublecomplementary #rectanglecolors #rectangularcolors #colorwheel #colourwheel #wheel #redorange #redviolet #bluegreen #yellowgreen #sweetleaf #thistle #pansy #crystalblue

In a double complementary scheme, we use a combination of four colors that, as the name implies, is made up of two complementary color pairs. (Remember, two colors are complementary if they are opposite each other on the color wheel.) To make it even easier, this kind of color combination is also known as rectangular colors because, when the four colors are connected on the color wheel, they form a rectangle. (Double Complementary Color Schemes)

After reading, reviewing, and applying these color principles it’s easy to see that making harmonious color combinations isn’t so hard. Keep that trusty color wheel close by and pick your colors with confidence!

We also know that color theory isn’t for everyone. If you fall into this category or would like to see pages and pages of artwork examples that we’ve come up with using these principles, then Love of Color is for you.

Love of Color

Love of Color is our latest how-to book, and through its pages the exclusive Close To My Heart color palette comes to life! In it, breathtaking artwork illustrates how to create beautiful and perfectly balanced color combinations without any guesswork. Each spread in this book starts out with one exclusive color that is then combined with two, three, and four other exclusive colors, shown in beautifully crafted inspirational artwork.

This layout was created using one of the three Smoothie color combination options offered in Love of Color. In this example, Smoothie was paired with Ballerina, Eggplant, New England Ivy, and Heather. Smoothie is the dominant color and the others were used to create accents throughout.

For the Love of Color #ctmh #closetomyheart #ctmhloveofcolor #loveofcolor #ctmhexclusivecolorpalette #colorwheel #ctmhcolorwheel #colortheory #colorcombinations #diy #color #colour #papercrafting #scrapbooking #cardmaking

Thank you for being our Valentine today and joining us through this celebration of color! We hope that you are always living your life in full color and that you are moved to do something creative today!

Recipe:

12″ x 12″ Sunshine Layout
D1817 My Acrylix® So Much Happy—Scrapbooking Stamp Set, X7240B Something Fierce Paper Packet, X5994 Ballerina Cardstock, X6000 Eggplant Cardstock, X6006 Heather Cardstock, X6011 New England Ivy Cardstock, X6022 Smoothie Cardstock, X6027 White Daisy Cardstock, Z4244 Stencil Sheets, Z6501 Ballerina Exclusive Inks™ Stamp Pad, Z2847 Eggplant Exclusive Inks™ Stamp Pad, Z2826 Heather Exclusive Inks™ Stamp Pad, Z2896 Smoothie Exclusive Inks™ Stamp Pad, Z4270 I Heart Us Sequins, Z4245 Opaque Matte Texture Paste, Z4247 Palette Knives, Z1979 Marvy® Uchida® LePen™ Journaling Pen, Z2060 Thin 3-D Foam Tape, Z3503 Cricut® Artbooking Digital Collection, Z3501 Cricut® Flower Market Digital Collection

Cricut Shapes:
Artbooking
6″ Overlay <g> (p. 62, #M3F0A2)

Flower Market
1¾” Shift + Title <&> (p.7, #MD38CC3)
3½” <Hibiscus> (p. 30, #MFAD3B7)
3½” Shift <Hibiscus> (p. 30, #MFAD3B7)
¾”, 1″, 1¼”, Shift <Rose> (p. 42, #MFAD8CB)

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February 12, 2019Celebrate, Create, Learn

A New Cardmaking Workshop and Embossing Folder Technique Video!

Close To My Heartcampaign, cardmaking, cards, embossing, embossing folder, guide, Love Blossoms, Swiss Dot 4 Comments

Calling all card makers—we have a new cardmaking workshop available! Complete with photos, paper cutting diagrams, and easy-to-follow instructions, the Love Blossoms cardmaking workshop is a must-try. The best part, it doesn’t matter if you have years of experience or are new to the craft of cardmaking, your end results WILL. BE. STUNNING.

In this workshop, you create a set of 12 cards, four each of three designs, with the exclusive My Acrylix® Love Blossoms stamp set. As you can see above, you will use the same stamps, patterns, and instructions in a monochromatic scheme, resulting in 12 unique cards.

Download your free guide, here, and get started!

This workshop also features embossing techniques using our new Swiss Dot embossing folder . There is one part in the instructions when using this embossing folder could get tricky, so we prepared a short video to walk you through it!

Now that you’ve got your workshop guide and a few tips for using the Swiss Dot embossing folder, you are just about ready to take on this workshop! What else could you possibly want? How about a 20% discount on product that you’ll need to complete these cards? We’ve put together a kit that includes the exclusive Love Blossoms stamp set, all of the necessary cardstock, mini ink pads, embellishing thread, and card bases and envelopes to make this workshop even easier for you to do!

Love Blossoms Cardmaking Workshop Kit (CC21912)

Depending on your needs, we have a few other options available, too. Click on the links below to see which one is your best fit:

Love Blossoms Stamp Set
Love Blossoms Base Kit (cardstock, card bases and envelopes, and embellishing thread only)

The Love Blossoms stamp set and discounted workshop kits will not be available forever. You have until March 31, while supplies last, to get your hands on these exclusive stamps and product bundles. Whether you’re new to cardmaking or have been doing it for years, this is a workshop you don’t want to pass up! What better way is there to express love and appreciation than with a handmade card? Download your free guide and let your love blossom!

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February 7, 2019Create, Memory Keeping

Love This Life: Documenting the Everyday with a Mini Album

Close To My HeartEveryday Life, journaling, Memory Keeping, mini album, Short Story, Stacy Julian, stories, Story by Stacy, storytelling Leave a comment

How many of you smile or laugh when you think about what you wore, ate, watched, or read years ago? Some of the most interesting things that we do are the things that make up our ordinary everyday lives. In the moment, these types of things might seem unimportant, but these stories about everyday life are really fun to look at later on. Documenting those types of things is just as enjoyable and interesting as holidays, vacations, or special occasions.

Today we are breaking down one way to document these extraordinary everyday moments. To make this project even easier, we are using the Story by Stacy™ Short Story workshop kit, and looking at life through the lens of just one week. We asked one of our Home Office staff to take on our process so we could have a real life example to share. She started by taking photos throughout a regular week, documenting what life looks like for her, using the prompts below as a guide.

With this type of project, it’s much easier to start out by taking your photos first. Once you have your photos, all that’s left to do is to follow the steps from the Short Story workbook. At the end of the process, you’ll have a complete mini album full of photos and details with a story summary, just like the one you’ll see at the end of this post.

To get you started on this process, use the following photo prompts list as a guide. There are several different types photos you’ll want to take to document what life looks like for you.

#1 Currently…
These are thing things I am currently…

Watching
Reading
Eating
Making
Listening to
Wearing
Doing

#2 Daily Highlights
Take one or two photos each day to represent the daily highlights or important moments. This gives you a glimpse of what might happen during a week that makes it unique or unusual.

#3 The Usual “Stuff”
You should also document your routines, habits, and home life for yourself and for your family. This is the usual stuff that doesn’t necessarily change from one day to the next, but it will still be fun to look at years later when life looks a little different.

Morning routines
Evening routines
Weather
Meals
Bedtime
Home
Car/commute
Work/school

Download photo prompts list, here.

Download this checklist to help you remember what pictures you want and need for your album. Put it up where you can see it to have a quick reminder of the types of things you’re documenting over the week.

Once you have your photos, choose 35-45 to print and use in your album. Then, follow the steps in the Short Story workbook. You’ll begin by reflecting on your photos and jotting down answers to a few questions. This helps you think about the story before creating and gives you a place to start when you write your summary later on.

Before you start creating pages, look through your photos and pick one to set aside for your title page. Then you’re ready for the next step. To make sure you can include all the photos you’ve printed, you can begin to trim the rest into smaller sizes to focus on the most important parts and the details you want to highlight. Once your photos are trimmed down, it’s time to get creative and make your pages! Some projects that focus on a week at time organize the album by day of the week. We chose to follow the Short Story process, and let the entire album illustrate what a week looks like overall, rather than spend time trying to divide it into specific days. This lets you follow the workbook and trust your creative intuition, plus it comes together a little bit faster. You don’t have to spend any time pairing photos from the same day together.

As you’re creating, feel free to make this project your own! Add other elements that reflect the look and feel of your own story (a week in the life of you!). We included some bright colors, Lemon and Raspberry, using the mix-in paper packet and combined them with other patterned paper that already comes in the Short Story workshop kit. We also used the My Favorite Things stamp set. This set has words, phrases, and shapes that are perfect for this type of project.

You can see even things that seem insignificant are important to the storyteller. If you love the smell of freshly laundered clothes, your usual cup of coffee from a local shop, or even making a home cooked meal for your husband, just like our storyteller here does, then it’s part of your story! These are the little things that will make you laugh and smile down the road when you pick up this album and reflect on what your life looked like in 2019.

After you’ve put all your pages together and added patterned paper and embellishments for visual balance, you’re ready to write that story summary for the end of your album. Just follow the instructions in the workbook, and then you’re done!

Whether you choose to document a week in your daily life with Short Story, or any other scrapbooking format, you can use the ideas here to help you get started. We love how quickly and easily it comes together in a Short Story album, but the important thing is, just like Stacy often reminds us, that you do what no one else can do—tell your story!

Recipe:

Love This Life Short Story Album
D1818 My Acrylix^® My Favorite Things Stamp Set, Z4217 Story by Stacy™ Short Story Workshop Kit—Black & White, X9003 Mix-in Paper Packet, X9004 Mix-in Coordinating Cardstock, Z2805 Black Exclusive Inks™ Stamp Pad, Z2895 Lagoon Exclusive Inks™ Stamp Pad, Z1979 Marvey^® Uchida^® LePen™ Journaling Pen, Z3500 Cricut^® Artistry Digital Collection, Z3502 Cricut^® You Are Here Digital Collection

Cricut^® Shapes:
Artistry
1″ <font>

You Are Here
4½” Icon-4 <CTMH> (p. 45, #M282CD24)
2½” Shift+Icon-4 <CTMH> (p. 45, #M282CD24)

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Monochromatic and Analogous Colors:

Complementary Colors:

Split-Complementary Colors:

Triadic Colors:

Double Complementary Colors:

Love of Color

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