September 22, 2021Celebrate, Create, Memory Keeping

Papercrafting Treats for Halloween!

Close To My HeartBesties, Boo Crew, box, Buddies, container, ezra, fall, Halloween, ian, isaac, joey, kelsie, Lucy, October, olivia, pod, pumpkin, spooky, treats, workshop, zoey 4 Comments

Happy first day of fall! Between the changing leaves, crisp evenings, and all the other great things about fall, one of our favorite things about this wonderful season is the Halloween celebrations and the great crafts that come with them!

This year, we’ve got some very special Halloween-themed products in store, starting with the Boo Crew collection! This spook-tacular suite includes an imaginative color scheme, bringing together the classic tones of orange and black, along with bright pink accents to tie it all together.

The Boo Crew collection features a selection of fun patterns in a paper packet, sticker sheet, stamp set, and Thin Cuts. With all kinds of cute and spooky sentiments, icons, and images, these stamps and stickers are the perfect complement to your favorite Halloween memories!

Rounding out this too-cute collection are the Boo Crew coordinating cardstock, made up of 3 sheets of Ballerina, Black, Nectarine, and Wild Berry 12″ x 12″ cardstock sheets, and the Boo Crew Sequins. These little holographic ghost sequins are a treat to include in any craft, and they’re sure to bring a little sparkle to the spooky moments you love most!

For an even sweeter treat, you can get all the Boo Crew products together in the discounted Boo Crew Product Bundle, for 20%-off!

In addition to the Boo Crew collection, we’re also very excited about our new Halloween Besties and Halloween Buddies stamp sets and Thin Cuts dies! Our Besties and Buddies, Zoey, Kelsie, Lucy, Olivia, Ezra, Isaac, Ian, and Joey are back with a hauntingly fun twist to their original Besties and Buddies debut!

These festive Halloween sets are all available now, through our September–October catalog, and make a bewitching addition to our Halloween products for the 2021 spooky season!

To ensure we capture as much of the Halloween spirit we can this year, we’ve also put together a workshop that creates three coordinating 12″ x 12″ two-page scrapbook layouts and six treat containers using the products from the Boo Crew collection.

Join us for a Facebook Live, on October 12, at 2 p.m., MST, to create all three scrapbook layouts together. Then, keep watching for the second half of our Boo Crew workshop, where we will have Close To My Heart President Monica Wihongi’s daughter, Maya, demonstrating how to create the Boo Crew treat containers!

We hope you have a safe and fun Halloween season, and we can’t wait to see all the incredible things you create with the Boo Crew collection and the Halloween Besties and Buddies!

Recipe

12″ x 12″ Spooktacular Layout
Z3997 Halloween Buddies—Ezra Stamp + Thin Cuts, Z3988 Halloween Buddies—Joey Stamp + Thin Cuts, X6047 Black Cardstock, X5947 Mink Cardstock, X6033 Paprika Cardstock, X6051 Sundance Cardstock, X6056 Wild Berry Cardstock, X6032 Wisteria Cardstock, Z2832 Pewter Exclusive Inks™ Stamp Pad, Z6521 Sundance Exclusive Inks™ Stamp Pad, Z4189 Intense Black Exclusive Inks™ Stamp Pad, Z3837 Pumice Stone Distress Oxide™ Ink Pad, Z5021 Wild Berry Loose Sequins, Z2475 Brown Grey TriBlend™ Marker, Z2517 Burnt Orange TriBlend™ Marker, Z2515 Earth Brown Shades TriBlend™ Marker, Z2476 Fair Skin TriBlend™ Marker, Z2516 Gold Brown Shades TriBlend™ Marker, Z2513 Red Brown TriBlend™ Marker, Z2477 Tan TriBlend™ Marker, Z697 Round Sponge , Z2089 Glue Dots® Micro Dots, Z2060 Thin 3-D Foam Tape, Z5038 Die-cutting & Embossing Machine, Sewing Machine

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November 3, 2020Celebrate, Create, Inspiration

Free Card Patterns for Animated Cards!

Close To My Heartanimated, animation, autumn air, card, cardmaking, fall, free, Holiday, holiday cheer, motion, pattern, seasonal, seasons Leave a comment

Free Card Pattern #ctmh #closetomyheart #freepattern #cardmaking #diy #ctmhseasonsinmotion #animatedcards #interactivecards #autumnair #holidaycheer #owl #reindeer

Just in time for the holiday season, we’ve paired the exclusive products from our Seasons in Motion special with a couple of FREE card patterns to add a little animated spice to our holidays!

Our new and innovated stamp sets, Animated Holiday Cheer and Animated Autumn Air, can bring life to a variety of holiday crafts, especially cards!

In order to achieve the animated effect, layer the stamped images with either an animation sheet or a paper piece you can now cut using the new animation window Thin Cuts die!

Also part of the Seasons in Motion special, which we used to create our example cards, is the Holiday Stack! The Holiday Stack is a pack of 48 6″ x 6″ patterned papers with designs from some of our past favorite 12″ x 12″ patterns.

These are not the original 12″ x 12″ papers cut into quarters, keeping the patterns the same size, but, rather, shrunken down versions of the classic favorites made to fit a 6″ x 6″ square!

Download our two free animated cardmaking patterns, here, and delight your loved ones with animated cards this coming holiday season!

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November 19, 2019Create, Learn, Memory Keeping

A Free Scrapbook Pattern for the Holidays!

Close To My Heartautumn, Cedar & Pine, christmas, fall, free, Hawthorn, Holiday, pattern, scrapbooking, thanksgiving 5 Comments

With Thanksgiving just a little over a week away, and Christmas shortly after, we thought we’d share in the holiday spirit with a free downloadable scrapbook pattern! <3

This timeless pattern made its original debut with our Back Country collection a few years ago but, as you can see, it can be used with any papers and for any occasion. Above, we paired the pattern with the Hawthorn paper collection from our September–October Catalog. (For those of you who didn’t get a chance to purchase the collection during these months, you are in luck! We recently started offering product on our website under an Online Only menu, and there are a few Hawthorn Paper Packets left—so grab one while you still can!)

Believe it or not, the layout below was created following this same pattern and paired with the Cedar & Pine collection.

If you look closely, you’ll notice that all we did was turn the pattern upside down. When you do flip or rotate a pattern, just make sure that the title and journaling fall somewhere on the page where it visually makes sense (to you). We didn’t like where the journaling box landed when we flipped our pattern and created this second layout, so we moved it. We also added another photo to this Christmas layout by splitting one of the designated 4″ x 6″ photo spots into two 3″ x 4″ photos.

At Close To My Heart, 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 below and have a wonderful holiday season full of memories worth preserving!

Download Pattern

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

Recipes:

12″ x 12″ Captured Memories Layout
D1886 My Acrylix^® Build-a-Plaid Stamp Set, Z3527 Hawthorn Scrapbooking Stamp + Thin Cuts, G1186 Hawthorn Scrapbooking Workshop Kit, X7249S Hawthorn Paper Packet + Sticker Sheet, X5951 Espresso Cardstock, X6046 French Vanilla Cardstock, Z2828 Toffee Exclusive Inks™ Stamp Pad, Z6504 Sage Exclusive Inks™ Stamp Pad, Z3543 Hawthorn Wood Shapes, Z3552 Wooden Arrows, Z4235 Gold Loose Sequins, Z2475 Brown Grey TriBlend™ Marker, Z697 Round Sponge, Z341 Glue Dots^® Mini Dots, Z2060 Thin 3-D Foam Tape, Die-cutting Machine

12″ x 12″ A Merry Little Christmas Layout
D1886 My Acrylix^® Build-a-Plaid Stamp Set, X7251S Cedar & Pine Paper Packet + Sticker Sheet, X9009 Mix-in Paper Packet, X6046 French Vanilla Cardstock, X5978 Glacier Cardstock, Z4189 Intense Black Exclusive Inks™ Stamp Pad, X7251 Cedar & Pine Complements, Z4088 White Alphabet Foam Stickers, Z3274 Clear Sparkles, Z1263 Bitty Sparkles, Z2486 Dull Green TriBlend™ Marker, Z2487 Jade Green TriBlend™ Marker, Z2060 Thin 3-D Foam Tape

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August 31, 2017Celebrate, Create

Usher in a New Season

Close To My Heartart, autumn, Decor, DIY, door, fall, inspiration, leaf, seasonal, wreath 12 Comments

Earlier this year we showed you how to use the Cricut^® Flower Market Collection for a springtime monogram. Today we have some artwork that just goes to show that this truly is a collection for all seasons! Take a look at this beautiful wreath celebrating the upcoming fall!

Starting with a simple grapevine wreath, we decorated our piece with paper flowers and leaves in stunning fall colors. (Picking our colors was easy—we just turned to our brand new fall-themed paper packets from the Holiday Expressions idea book, which is available for purchase as of September 1.)

Cricut Leaf #cricut #leaf #wreath #flowermarket #youarehere #fall #autumn #ctmh #closetomyheart

Cricut Flower #cricut #flower #ctmh #closetomyheart #diy #button #wreath #fall #autumn

fall leaves #ctmh #closetomyheart #diy #flowermarket #cricut #wreath #fall #autumn

When working with Cricut^® shapes in your décor, add dimension and life by curling and bending petals and leaves. Add embellishments, like buttons and ribbons, for more textures, details, and volume.

With its changing leaves in rich hues of reds, oranges, and yellows, fall is by far the most colorful season of the year to draw inspiration from. Bring some of those glowing vibrant tones into your home by creating some of your own décor pieces—it’s all about where your creativity takes you!

Recipe

Fall Wreath
Z4041 Falling for You—Cardmaking Stamp + Thin Cuts, X7223B Falling for You Paper Packet, X7224B Cats & Bats Paper Packet, X5949 Almond Cardstock, X5951 Espresso Cardstock, X5952 Nutmeg Cardstock, X5965 Ruby Cardstock, Z2832 Pewter Exclusive Inks™ Stamp Pad, X7223C Falling for You Complements, Z3323 White Burlap Ribbon, Z3385 Cricut^® Flower Market Collection, Z3389 Cricut^® You Are Here Collection, 18″ Grapevine Wreath, Hot Glue Gun

Cricut^® Shapes:
Flower Market
3″ Shift + Icon <J> (cut 8, p. 27, #MD6F435)
4½” <Chrsnthm> (cut 2, p. 47, #MFADEB0)

You Are Here
2½” Icon-4 <a> (cut 18, p. 21, #M27629BD)
2½” Shift + Icon-4 <A> (cut 18, p. 21, #M27629BD)

Numbers starting with #M specify the image number in Cricut Design Space™

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October 18, 2016Memory Keeping

Skylark Pattern

Close To My Heartfall, Lake, nature, outdoor, pattern, season, Skylark, Swan 6 Comments

Today’s your lucky day because we’ve got another scrapbook pattern for you from our archives! Hooray for free scrapbook patterns!

We’ve taken this pattern, which originally debuted with our Skylark Workshops on the Go^®, and made new artwork with it using the Swan Lake paper packet and some cardstock.

The stamping you see is all done with our My Acrylix® With You stamp set, which we specifically designed to work with Swan Lake for scrapbooking. To finish it off, we added some accents from our coordinating Swan Lake Complements and grey enamel gems.

As always, feel free to take your own spin on this pattern. You’ll see that we switched out pieces C and I for our black shimmer ribbon, and we also dovetailed the title and journaling pieces.

Add your own personal touches to the Skylark pattern, and then show us what you create by sharing your layout on social media with the hashtag #ctmhpatterns. Also, be sure to look into our line of How-To books for even more patterns.

Now treat yourself to some nice warm tea and a little crafting time. 🙂

Download Skylark Pattern

Recipe

12″ x 12″ Little Moments Layout
Skylark Pattern
D1705 My Acyrlix® With You Stamp Set, Z2852 Poppy Exclusive Inks™ Stamp Pad, X7212B Swan Lake Paper Packet, 1385 White Daisy Cardstock, 1386 Black Cardstock, X5776 Peacock Cardstock, X5929 Whisper Cardstock, X7212C Swan Lake Complements, Z3089 Grey Enamel Gems, Z4012 Black Shimmer Ribbon, Z2060 Thin 3-D Foam Tape

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September 12, 2016Memory Keeping

Paper for All Seasons

Close To My HeartCreepers, fall, Family, girl, idea, Jeepers, layout, little, paper, season, spring 4 Comments

Our brand new Holiday Expressions idea book has now been live for almost two weeks, and we’re thrilled you finally get to see all the beautiful seasonal papers we’ve worked so hard on getting just right. 🙂 Part of making sure our papers are absolutely perfect includes balancing themed patterns with non-themed patterns so you have as much versatility as possible when you sit down to create.

Take this artwork, for example. It uses our Jeepers Creepers paper packet, which is Halloween themed, but you would never guess that it came from a Halloween paper packet, right?

The fun lightening bolts are just the pattern for pairing with this spunky little girl. They’d also be adorable with pictures of a little boy.

Now how about this one? Does it remind you of Halloween?

Who would have thought that this paper packet could be paired with spring photos? And yet it totally works! We paired some ribbon from our Whimsy ribbon pack with the purple Jeepers Creepers paper to give it a feminine touch.

Switching seasons, Jeepers Creepers also has colors that are perfect for your fall photos, like these family pictures:

Whenever you pull out our papers to create something, you can count on beautiful themed patterns and also patterns that will work year-round. When it comes to preserving your memories, we want you to get papers with the best value that will also allow you to get as creative as you’d like!

Recipes

12″ x 12″ So Sweet Layout
E1034 My Acrylix® Marker Alphabet, X7211B Jeepers Creepers Paper Packet, 1385 White Daisy Cardstock, Z3146 Watercolor Paper, X5770 Glacier Cardstock, 44751 Archival Black Exclusive Inks™ Stamp Pad, Z3287 Whimsy Ribbon Pack, Z3132 Watercolor Paints, Z3188 Paintbrush Set

12″ x 12″ Love This Layout
E1034 My Acrylix® Marker Alphabet, X7211B Jeepers Creepers Paper Packet, 1385 White Daisy Cardstock, X5770 Glacier Cardstock, 44751 Archival Black Exclusive Inks™ Stamp Pad, Z3287 Whimsy Ribbon Pack, Z3132 Watercolor Paints, Z3188 Paintbrush Set

12″ x 12″ Here & Now Layout
E1034 My Acrylix® Marker Alphabet, X7211B Jeepers Creepers Paper Packet, 1385 White Daisy Cardstock, X5770 Glacier Cardstock, 44751 Archival Black Exclusive Inks™ Stamp Pad, Z3287 Whimsy Ribbon Pack, Z3132 Watercolor Paints, Z3188 Paintbrush Set
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November 6, 2015Memory Keeping

White Pines to the Rescue!

autumn, fall, fall layout, White Pines Leave a comment

The charming White Pines paper packet may have been inspired by the holidays, but there’s no need to confine it to your Christmas crafts—or even to winter! It can do so much more! For example, take a look at this beautiful autumn page using the Champagne B&T Duos™ paper featured in White Pines.

Don’t the warm tones really give this project the feeling of fall? We especially love the distressing on the edges of the wreath, which our artist accomplished with the help of a sponge dauber and our Cashmere Exclusive Inks™ stamp pad. Here’s how: After cutting the wreath out of Colonial White cardstock using our Cricut^® Artistry collection, she laid it over some scratch paper. Then, she inked a sponge dauber in Cashmere ink. After blotting the sponge dauber on the scratch paper to get rid of some ink, she rubbed it in a circular motion over the edges of the wreath. This technique creates a rustic look that is perfect for fall!

The kraft and Chocolate cardstock really complement the tones of the White Pines background, and we love the pop of bright color added by the leaves. Eggplant, Ruby, Saffron, and Goldrush cardstock carry on that homey theme, as they invoke memories of sipping warm apple cider, huddling around the hearth, and jumping into piles of crisp, golden leaves!

It’s amazing what small artistic details can do to convey a message. Look at the stitching on the wreath: Thread always invokes images of quilts and blankets, and for a page about crisp, cool fall, what could be more perfect than that? To get this look, poke holes in your cardstock with our piercing tool. This makes it easy to space the holes out evenly and thread the paper without creating crinkles or tears.

To find even more artwork inspiration featuring our White Pines paper packet, be sure to search #ctmhwhitepines on Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest. When you create your own White Pine masterpieces, be sure to share your artwork with the world by using this hashtag as well!

Recipe

12″ x 12″ Happy Autumn Page
Reflections: Bottom Border—Portrait™
B1492 My Acrylix® Fallen Leaves, B1484 My Acrylix® Jennifer’s Hand, X7200B White Pines Paper Packet, X5643 Chocolate Cardstock, X5774 Eggplant Cardstock, X5927 Ruby Cardstock, 1243 Goldrush Cardstock, X5778 Saffron Cardstock, Z1375 Kraft Cardstock, Z2170 Ruby Exclusive Inks™ Stamp Pad, Z2647 Eggplant Exclusive Inks™ Stamp Pad, Z2175 Cashmere Exclusive Inks™ Stamp Pad, Z2123 Goldrush Exclusive Inks™ Stamp Pad, Z2012 Sequins Gold Assortment, Z3124 Enamel & Glitter Duos Purple Hearts, Z726 Sponge Daubers, Z2046 Piercing & Embossing Tool Kit, Z3167 Cricut® Artistry Collection, Z3169 Cricut® Artbooking Collection, Thread

Cricut^® Shapes:
Artistry
2 ½” Icon-1 <Fall> (p. 44)
11 ½” Background <Fall> (p. 44)

Artbooking
1 ¾” Title <n> (p. 73)

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October 23, 2015Memory Keeping

Paper Inspiration

Close To My Heartfall, leaves, Sangria 1 Comment

A good piece of patterned paper does a lot to add color and interest to your scrapbook layouts, but its contributions don’t have to end there! You can actually draw on the patterns from the papers themselves to inspire your entire project. To help you see what we’re talking about, take a look at this layout inspired by the Sangria paper packet:

The beautiful tree scattering its leaves across the pages is undoubtedly the first thing you see when you look at this layout, but the idea for those beautiful Sunset leaves started with a pattern from the Sangria paper packet. Do you see them on that strip of Pomegranate paper across the middle of the page? It’s a simple thing, but it sparked a fun idea that became a central element of the page’s design.

Even beyond the leaves, another patterned paper suggested the organizing principle of the page. The bottom strip of Poppy patterned paper with its horizontal rows of leaves gave our artist the idea to use multiple horizontal stripes as a basic design element, which is also repeated as watercolor stripes on the journaling, too. Taking just a few simple cues from the patterned papers, our artist created a beautifully unified layout.

We simply love the Sangria paper packet for fall-themed layouts. The color palette is rich and festive. And the designs are beautiful! From warm ombres to swirls of Sunset leaves, the Sangria paper packet is sure to give you tons of ideas for creating memorable fall layouts.

Next time you’re looking for artwork inspiration, try drawing it from the patterned papers you are working with. They are sure to help you realize your creative potential on any crafting project.

Recipe

12″ x 12″ Dancing Leaves Layout
D1662 My Acrylix® Harvest Wreath Holiday, Z3126 Paper Fundamentals Enchantment Assortment, Z3128 Paper Fundamentals Basic Assortment, X7199B Sangria Paper Packet, 1385 White Daisy Cardstock, Z1375 Kraft Cardstock, 1388 Colonial White Cardstock, Z3146 Watercolor Paper, Z2164 Sorbet Exclusive Inks™ Stamp Pad, Z2197 Pear Exclusive Inks™ Stamp Pad, X7199C Sangria Complements, Z1263 Bitty Sparkles, Z3132 Watercolor Paints

Cricut® Shapes
Art Philosophy
7″ Layer+Shift <Tree3> (p. 53)
¾” Shift <Font> “DANCING LEAVES”

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October 5, 2015Memory Keeping

We’ve Fall-en for Sangria!

Close To My Heart#ctmhsangria, autumn, Back 2 School, fall, fall layout, leaves, rock n' roll, Sangria, stamp technique 2 Comments

A new month means a new featured paper collection, and for October, Sangria is the belle of the ball! We love this vibrant paper collection, especially for creating fall layouts. The rich, warm tones capture the colors of the landscape preparing for winter.

Today, we’re going to talk about three perfect companions for the Sangria paper collection that will help you take your fall artwork to a whole new level. To begin, take a look at this back to school fall layout:

It has so much warmth! The quilt pattern on the right page even makes you what to wrap yourself up in a giant quilt and sip some warm cocoa from your favorite mug. This layout uses all three elements to enhance Sangria and produce fantastic fall artwork. Let’s dive in!

1. Gold. And more gold!

Anything gold pairs wonderfully with Sangria. Try your hand at some Picture My Life™ gold overlays. Our artist used them to liven up squares of cardstock in the quilt pattern. See the polka dots and the “life is GOOD” sentiment? You’ve got it—overlays! The “ADVENTURE” sticker with gold lettering is from our Fundamentals stickers Basics pack, and, of course, we’ve got some gold sequins in the mix, too. All these gold bits add warmth to this fall layout.

2. Anything Saffron, Peacock, and Fern

These exclusive colors work hand in hand with the Sangria color palette. On this layout, you can see how well these cardstocks pair with the Poppy and Pomegranate colored B&T Duos™. You can also see Saffron and Fern ink in the leaf stamps.

3. Rock N’ Roll Stamping

When you think of fall, one of the first things that probably comes to mind is leaves: multi-colored, fading from green to amber and amber to crimson. Well, what better way to replicate that look than with the rock n’ roll stamping technique! Take a look at this stamping technique in action:

Ready to rock n’ roll at home? First, stamp the leaf image in the lighter color. Then clean your stamp, and place the edge of the stamp on the darker stamp pad. Roll the stamp around so ink only gets on the outer edge of the stamp. Then stamp over the first image, and there you have it! For a visual how-to, check out our rock n’ roll Instagram video!

As you may have noticed, not all of the leaves have the darker ink all the way around the perimeter. You can certainly ink just one edge of the stamp—get creative! It’s a lot of fun, and there are a lot of looks you can discover!

Now you have three great tips for creating warm, fall-themed artwork using our Sangria paper collection. Show us what YOU can do with Sangria by typing #ctmhsangria in your post when you share your artwork on Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest. We want to see your creativity at work!

Recipe

12″ x 12″ Back 2 School Layout
Make It from Your Heart™ Vol. 1: Pattern 5
D1677 My Acrylix® Friend Tree, E1032 My Acrylix® Typography, X7199B Sangria Paper Packet, Z3144 Picture My Life™ Overlay Gold & Silver, 1388 Colonial White Cardstock, 1385 White Daisy Cardstock, X5778 Saffron Cardstock, X5776 Peacock Cardstock, X5777 Fern Cardstock, Z2651 Saffron Exclusive Inks™ Stamp Pad, Z2653 Pomegranate Exclusive Inks™ Stamp Pad, Z2650 Fern Exclusive Inks™ Stamp Pad, Z2105 Black Exclusive Inks™ Stamp Pad, Z3166 Fundamental Stickers Basics Pack, Z2012 Sequins Gold Assortment, Z3132 Watercolor Paints
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Make It from Your Heart

Tag Archives: fall

Papercrafting Treats for Halloween!

Free Card Patterns for Animated Cards!

A Free Scrapbook Pattern for the Holidays!

Usher in a New Season

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Skylark Pattern

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Paper for All Seasons

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White Pines to the Rescue!

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Paper Inspiration

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We’ve Fall-en for Sangria!

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