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!
In order to achieve the animated effect, layer the stamped images with either an animation sheetor 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!
Halloween may look a bit different this year than what we’re used to, but that doesn’t mean we can’t still have some fun! To keep the tradition of offering treats where treats are due, we’ve designed a few tags in Cricut Design Space™ using our festive Got Candy? paper collection and we’re sharing our designer’s file with you free, here!
The spooky themes of the Got Candy? patterned papers and stickers paired with the versatile shapes of our Art Philosophy Cricut® collection are a scream-of-a-treat all on their own! To access our free file, you will need your own access to the shapes of the Art Philosophy collection. If you do not own this Cricut® collection and would like to make the tags from this project, contact your Close To My Heart Maker to learn how.
Four of the seven pieces are tags that come together quickly with a few cut shapes, stickers, and some ribbon. If you take a closer look at the remaining three, you’ll notice that there’s a little something extra about them.
These remaining few pieces also come together easily, but they do have some extra features! There’s a tag that has a pocket to carry a gift card, a tag that opens up to a card, and a hanging door tag that can hold a small treat (perfect for ding dong ditching!).
Whether you choose to make just one or all of these delectable handmade tags, we hope you continue to find ways to enjoy sharing the festive Halloween spirit this year. If you have any questions about these projects or would like to share ways that you’ve been using the Got Candy? paper collection, leave us a comment below!
For additional crafting fun with our Got Candy? collection, don’t forget to join us later this week, October 21 and 22, at 2 p.m. (MDT), on our Facebook page where we will be hosting a free live workshop, making scrapbook pages and treat toppers! (Visit our events page for more details.)
We love our Close To My Heart creative family, and we love being able to offer you the best deals on the best crafting materials on the market! Today, we’re going to give you an in-depth look at an exciting new way to maximize your savings with Close To My Heart and rack up rewards each time you purchase items you love!
With our new VIP Customer Program, you can sign up for an annual fee of just $35 USD*, and you get an immediate sign-up bonus of $15 in VIP Credit. VIP Credit can be redeemed for a wide selection of Close To My Heart products, including paper packets, cardstock, specialty paper, stamps, Thin Cuts, embellishments, ink pads, and so much more! To sweeten the deal, if you sign up before the end of the year (that’s December 31, 2020) your sign-up bonus credit will not be $15, but $25! That’s an additional $10 just because!
Every time you make a purchase as a VIP customer, you’ll earn 15% of the retail amount of your order back in VIP credit. With these benefits, you’ll be rewarded each time you place an order with your Close To My Heart Maker! Your VIP Credits do not have an expiration date, so you can use them whenever you want! You can spend them right away or save them up for larger purchases. You won’t believe how quickly your rewards can add up and how much you can save!
Our VIP customers will also gain access to exclusive products and Facebook events throughout the year just for members of this awesome program! Our first exclusive event will take place in February 2021, and all our VIP customers who sign up before December 31 will be eligible to participate! At these VIP events, crafting experts from the Close To My Heart Home Office will showcase beautiful, exclusive artwork and demonstrate how to create each piece in step-by-step instructional workshops that you can’t view anywhere else!
Along with the numerous opportunities to earn VIP Credit, get exclusive products, and participate in private virtual events and workshops with other VIPs, this program also gives you the chance to get a Stamp of the Month set FREE with a qualifying order! For every month where you place an order of $50 USD* or more, you qualify to get the current Stamp of the Month set—typically retailing for $18.95—at no extra cost to you!
On top of all these amazing perks, you’ll get $25 USD* in VIP Credit when you sign up before December 31, 2020! That’s an extra $10, just for signing up before the end of the year! Enjoy your increased sign-up perks and participate in our inaugural offer!
With so many benefits of signing up as a VIP Customer, it’s no wonder that thousands have already taken the opportunity to sign up! We encourage you to reach out to your Close To My Heart Maker or visit the VIP Customer page on the Close To My Heart website to sign up for the VIP Customer Program today, and watch your rewards accumulate!
*All monetary values are reflected in USD. If you live outside the United States, please contact your Close To My Heart Maker for prices specific to your market.
At Close To My Heart, we are passionate not only about crafting and memory keeping, but about spreading joy wherever we can. As a part of this endeavor, we’ve partnered with Operation Smile™ for over a decade to help create smiles, one kid at a time.
Sadly, there are millions of children across the world who are unable to smile, due to a cleft lip or palate. A cleft palate is an opening or split in the roof of the mouth that occurs when the tissue doesn’t fuse together during prenatal development and often includes a split (or cleft) in the upper lip. Many children affected by this condition do not have access to adequate surgical care to restore normal function to their mouths and tend to suffer from various complications, including malnourishment, speech impediments, and even social stigma.
Operation Smile™ is an international non-profit organization dedicated to helping children all over the world receive safe treatment for cleft lips and palates, allowing them to lead healthier, happier lives. By providing access to timely surgical care, dental care, and medical equipment, children in more than 30 countries are able to receive the treatment they need.
One surgery can be done for just $250 and takes minutes to perform, but the need always outweigh the resources available. Many families will travel a considerable distance—sometimes on foot—with the hope that their child can receive treatment, and often, there are so many children in need of treatment that volunteer doctors and nurses aren’t able to attend to everyone. Many families will go to multiple Operation Smile™ mission sites before they get the gift of a life changing surgery. On top of this, many children require multiple surgeries before their cleft lip or palate can be fully repaired.
Operation Smile™ relies primarily on charitable donations to acquire supplies and support medical volunteers as they provide treatment to children who desperately need it. To help raise funds for this life changing charity, we offer a special stamp set each year, where $7 USD are taken from the proceeds of each sale and donated directly to Operation Smile™. This year, the stamp set we’ve dedicated towards this effort is the Every Bit of Wonderful set.
This delightful floral set includes a variety of flower images and heartwarming sentiments, perfect for any project. From cards to layouts, this special stamp set is an ideal addition to bring some extra beauty to your artwork.
Along with this beautiful stamp set, we also have two limited edition Operation Smile™ t-shirts available for purchase on the Close To My Heart website! For each t-shirt purchase, we donate $5 USD directly to Operation Smile.
In addition to the stamp set and t-shirts, for the next week only, through October 6, we’re also offering a special CTMH Kids Crafts SVG file for anyone who donates at least $1 to Operation Smile™ through our website, here. This file is compatible with most standard cutting machines and is a super cute way to add some extra flair to a layout, album, or shirt! You’ll only be able to receive this SVG for your donation through 11:59 pm (MDT) on October 6, so if you want to make a donation, now is a perfect time!
We also offer the option of rounding up your order total to the next dollar for an Operation Smile™ donation, or you can visit our website and donate directly to Operation Smile. Even the smallest donation of a few cents can have a big impact and adds up quick!
We’re proud to announce that, so far this year, we’ve been able to raise $167,274.68 USD thanks to the incredible generosity of our customers and Consultants! We are thrilled to see the selflessness and kindness demonstrated by each donation to Operation Smile™, and we look forward to being able to offer continued support to this amazing organization as they provide treatment to children who desperately need it.
To help support this cause, you can purchase the Every Bit of Wonderful stamp set or t-shirt, round up your order, or get on our site and make a donation directly to Operation Smile.
We want to bring as much joy as possible into this world, and we’re honored to be able to partner with Operation Smile™ to be able to bring smiles to children’s faces all around the world.
We’ve got a FREE card pattern for you today to get you thinking outside the theme park as you craft with our magical Happiest Place collection!
With so many unique elements and designs, the Happiest Place collection is simply bursting with creative potential. When you combine that with a versatile card pattern, it’s easier than ever to create the cards of your dreams!
The pattern we’re sharing today made its original debut years ago with the Pear & Partridge cardmaking Workshops on the Go®. This classic pattern helps you take the Happiest Place collection to new heights and provides the perfect starting point for truly great cards.
Pattern and color combinations like the ones in this “You’re the Koalaest” card are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to what can be done with the Happiest Place collection and the Pear & Partridge card pattern.
By combining the My Acrylix® A Koala-ty Day stamp set with the fun abstract designs and eye-catching silver foil stars on the Happiest Place papers, you’re left with an absolutely adorable card! Part of this card’s charm is the simple Glacier on Glacier color scheme, relying on the variation in patterns to set them apart.
If you want to get a bit more adventurous with your color combinations, then cards like this “Gnome-body Loves You Like I Do” card are a great way to go!
This card was also made using the Pear & Partridge pattern but with a completely different effect than the Koala card. By using the same pattern and simply switching up the color combinations and stamped images, you can easily create a countless number of unique cards. For this example, we chose the delightful My Acrylix® Gnome Matter stamp set paired with some brighter colors. Even though the Gnome Matter stamp set isn’t part of the Happiest Place collection, they fit together like two peas in a pod!
All it takes to create a card that’s all your own is a great pattern and a little imagination.
Using the exact same pattern from above, we created this sweet “Celebrating You” card. In order to get some added milage from your card patterns, consider turning them on their sides, changing the orientation from landscape to portrait.
With simple color combinations from the Happiest Place collection, the Pear & Partridge card pattern, and our Floral Celebration—August Stamp of the Month (available August 1–31), this adorable card has it all!
Proof that less is more, the timeless Pear & Partridge pattern is a great starting point for any card maker, regardless of experience. Click on the link below to download this free pattern and gear up for some serious crafting fun!
As we continue to celebrate National Scrapbooking month with beautiful creations using our featured Blue Skies collection, we thought it would simply make sense to also give you a free scrapbooking pattern to go with it!
Making its original debut in the Magic Moments workshop guide years ago, we paired this timeless 12″ x 12″ pattern with our beautiful Blue Skies papers, stamp sets, and Thin Cuts dies that are available now and through the end of May.
The instructions available as a free download below have been slightly revamped so they can be used for any occasion with the right combination of papers, accents, and a little creativity!
As usual, we encourage you to make this, and any, pattern your own by being flexible with its parts. Take a close look at our completed layout for some examples.
Both our journaling and title on the left page are in the general area of where they aught to be, based off of the pattern. However, we allowed ourselves some creative flexibility by not making these exact rectangles and added some details to really make them stand out.
We stamped our title using the Beautiful Day stamp set paired with our rock & roll stamping technique. To achieve this colorful effect, you have to slightly overlap and blend one ink color, or color hue, with another. First, ink your stamp in a base color. In order to add another color to the outer edges, you gently roll your already inked stamp in the second color. Only make contact with the stamp pad on the edges where you want to add the color. You have to rock and roll your block to achieve this look. (In our case, we rolled the top and bottom of our stamp in two different colors for an even more vibrant look.)
In our example layout, you can also see that we added several bright accents throughout, using the Thin Cuts from the Blue Skies collection, livening up the artwork even further.
Another way you can make these patterns uniquely yours is by creating your own patterned paper. The pattern you see above, and that we used on both sides of our layout, we created by repeatedly stamping the border from the Blue Skies stamp set onto cardstock. It really can be that simple!
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 that much easier to create these pages!
Download this free scrapbooking pattern below and have a wonderful National Scrapbooking Month full of Blue Skies and memories worth preserving!
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!
Let mom know just how much she means to you this Mother’s Day with personalized, hand-made cards (we have a free pattern below!) and scrapbook pages using any or all of three exclusive stamp sets designed specifically for her from our Love for Mother special!
A heartfelt card or fun scrapbook layout using these stamp sets from our Love for Mother sale is the perfect way to show a little extra love on her special day.
Not sure where to start? No worries, we’ve got you covered! Use the free card patterned below to duplicate one of our examples.
We used this pattern, which made it’s original debut with the Lollydoodle cardmaking Workshops on the Go™, and created a card using our Mix-in and Yesterday & Today papers (for a full list of products used, see the recipe provided at the end of this post).
Our timeless card patterns can be used for every celebration and any occasion with the right combination of papers, Complements, and sentiments. If you’re not sure how to mix and match these products, we’ve taken the guesswork out of the equation for you! For effortless coordination, simply choose one of our creative collections from our idea books and stick to just those products within the suite when making your cards. It really is that easy!
Download the pattern above, and share some love this Mother’s Day with a handmade card from the heart!
For even more timeless cardmaking patterns, check out our cardmaking how-to book, Make It from Your Heart™ volume 4. If you love the free patterns on the blog, you’re sure to be blown away by the beautiful, one-of-a-kind, patterns in this book!
We are celebrating all of the hardworking healthcare workers today, who are at the frontline of the fight against Covid-19, with another FREE SVG file!
Truly and sincerely, we are so grateful for all of the work and sacrifice these amazing everyday heroes are putting in on our behalf. We hope you will take these images to commemorate their service during these very difficult times.
(Click on the SVG image below, the one in pieces, and save it for your own personal use.)
The nurse and doctor clothing and accessories coordinate with our Paper Pal Base, Girl, and Boy stamp and Thin Cuts. Use this next image (not an SVG) as a visual reference on how the pieces from the SVG and the stamp sets work together.
The world’s newest discovered heroes are its medical workers. Let’s all celebrate them together! ❤️
Over the last few weeks the COVID-19 pandemic has drastically reshaped many of our lives. A lot of us are working from home, our children are dismissed from school, shops and stores we customarily frequent are either closed or understocked, and even a lot of outdoor venues, such as parks and playgrounds, are also off limits. As a society, we have had to pull ourselves together and come up with creative ways to continue doing the things that need to get done and to live life.
At Close To My Heart, we are committed to helping the storyteller in you share and preserve all of your new and unique experiences. Late last month, we created and released the Let’s Stay Home stamp set, which reflects these strange and unparalleled times.
In the video below, you will see how some of our Home Office friends used the Let’s Stay Home stamp set to create engaging scrapbook pages reflecting how the lives of their families have been impacted by our current events.
As this “alone together” journey continues, we’ve designed two Let’s Stay Home coordinating SVG images that you can download FREE for use with your favorite design software. (An SVG image is resolution independent and infinitely scalable, meaning it will look clear and crisp at any size.) Click on the images below and save them for your own personal use.
Seamlessly cut these timely titles out of cardstock to use on a scrapbook page, as shown below, along with the Let’s Stay Home stamp set.
These titles, when paired with vinyl, also make great album covers, providing a beautiful place to collect all of the memories you are making right now.
Keep documenting how life has changed for you and yours. Collect news stories, memes, photos, and, most importantly, collect your own personal experiences and stories. We wish you all love, joy, happiness, and health, today and every day. ❤️
