Large-scale Inspiration in Small Spaces

One of the perks of having Convention in Salt Lake City this year was the tour of our home office. Those who got to visit our place kept telling us how inspiring it must be to work in such a gorgeous and innovative environment. Well folks, the truth is, it is! If you tuned in to our Facebook Live yesterday, you got an up-close look at the space where Close To My Heart artists create all of the memory keeping and papercrafting artwork you love. It’s a craft room dream come true. We want to show you how to take some of the ideas we used to create this atmosphere back to your own crafting nook so you, too, can be inspired!

The first step in this process is to find what actually inspires you. Look for something great that someone else has made and make it your own. Once you’ve chosen something you like, take a moment to really consider it. What is it at its core? As you think about it, is there anything that clues you into how it was made?

Large Scale Inspiration #ctmh #closetomyheart #papercrafting #paperhearts #hearts #mobile #inspiration #inspiringcreativity #creativityTake a peak into the Close To My Heart foyer. One of the first things visitors see when they walk into our building is this impressive mobile. Created from hundreds of paper hearts in various sizes and shades of pink, this is a breathtaking paper creation.

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Because most of us don’t have fifty-foot ceilings to fit such a large décor piece, use this mobile as a starting point. Simplify the project. You can make a small version of this mobile or a banner of hearts that fits any space, including above a desk. The idea is the same—create a decorative piece with different shades of paper hearts, but with smaller and fewer pieces.

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Let’s take a look inside our art studio.

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Large Scale Inspiration #ctmh #closetomyheart #papercrafting #paperhearts #hearts #mobile #inspiration #inspiringcreativity #creativity #cricut #flower #banner

These two images show a small sampling of the papercrafting pieces and inspirational quotes our artists have designed to foster an atmosphere of creativity.

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Here is that same quote found on the wall of our art studio. With a small frame and a handful of small paper flowers, you can showcase something that makes you feel creative while using little space.

You might not have a large space for working on your favorite projects, but you can use what’s around you to beautify your creative space in small ways. Large-scale sayings, banners, and other papercrating décor can be simplified to fit anywhere. You can see how all the parts and pieces came together to fill this desk space with elements of the papercrafting you saw in a much larger scale at the home office.

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Have you used large-scale inspiration to put together a crafting space that stimulates your creativity? Tell us about it in the comments below.

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From Jeanette: It All Started With a Stamp…

Yesterday we observed one of my favorite celebrations here at Close To My Heart: Lynton Burger Day. This was our sixth annual Lynton Burger Day, a day for me to thank the incredible employees here at Home Office by feeding them burgers as big as their faces—or nearly anyway!

This year we had some special guests join us for the festivities. Australasian Managing Director, Brian O’Callaghan, and our new Canadian General Manager, Pierre Gelinas, were both in town this week for an international coordination meeting. Lynton Burger Day provided a nice break from the long hours of meeting and strategizing.

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As I looked around at my employees and our special guests during this celebration, it was a powerful visual reminder of how far this company has come from when I first got into the business over thirty years ago. It sometimes catches me off guard, and I am filled with gratitude. Walt Disney liked to say that “it all started with a mouse.” Well for me, it all started with a stamp. An old-fashioned wood and rubber stamp that I just knew held so much creative potential in it.

It’s only fitting during this National Stamping Month to think back to those early days. In the beginning, I was drawing every stamp design myself—I prided myself on being a professional doodler! But I didn’t stop there. I also made the stamps myself, working late into the night to cure the rubber in the oven of my kitchen. The smell was terrible! I remember my children complaining that the smell would get into their clothes, and I would send them to school smelling like cooked rubber.

Jeanette archive picIt was a one-woman operation back then, and I did it all, which was both exhilarating and exhausting. Thankfully, we don’t operate that way anymore. We have grown so much that there is no way I could do it all myself now—and that is truly something to be grateful for. Now I have teams of talented, dedicated, intelligent individuals, each doing their part to carry this company forward. Our focus is to support our thousands of Consultants all over the world, who are an integral part of our success. Working together, we inspire others to embrace their creativity, to celebrate cherished relationships, and to make the world a more beautiful place.

That’s what I love about Lynton Burger Day—it celebrates the blessing of teamwork. It may have all started with a stamp, but it has grown into something much, much more beautiful.

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Smiles All Around: Summer Party Fun

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We’ve been talking a lot about travel this month—with two more travel posts still to come 🙂 —but when it comes to having fun, we know that there is plenty to be found when you stay close to home, too! Though it has been a full, busy summer here at Close To My Heart, we know how important it is to cut loose and party once in a while! Our annual summer party is always a great time to come together with our families and celebrate all the great things we’ve accomplished.

This year’s festivities took place at the Provo Beach Resort, where we enjoyed bowling, laser-tag, croquet, a ropes course, and tons of other fun activities.

As you can see from all the photos, this year’s summer party was full of smiles. We don’t know about you, but for all the great work that these people do day in and day out for Close To My Heart, we think that those smiles are well-deserved!

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We truly cherish these moments to celebrate our relationships with family and friends. Close To My Heart is a company where every relationship matters, and our annual summer party was a great way to create the type of memories that matter most in life.

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