November 1, 2023Create, Inspiration, Memory Keeping

A New Catalog with Silver Bells and a Thoughtful Holly Stencil

Close To My Heartchristmas, holiday memories, Holidays, holly, mixed media, Silver Bells, stencil, Thoughtful Holly 17 Comments

New Close To My Heart Catalog #ctmh #closetomyheart #ctmhsilverbells #ctmhthoughtfulholly #christmascards #diychristmascards #christmasstamps #christmasstencils #christmasscrabook #christmasscrapbooking #diyholidaycards #holidayscrapbooking

The coming cold months paired with the upcoming family-focused holiday season is a perfect recipe for heightened efforts on crafting! It’s one of the most wonderful times of year for making and preserving memories with those we love.

As of today, there’s a whole new catalog available on our website, full of new patterned papers, stamp sets, Thin Cuts dies, stencils, and so much more, to keep our hands happily engaged as we keep warm indoors. (Make sure to check it out and stock up on your favorites!)

Silver Bells is one of the new, holiday themed paper collections available in the November–December catalog. Its timeless designs and neutral tones, including silver and gold foil accents on the coordinating 12″ x 12″ sticker sheet, are a must-have for an elegant spin on holiday classics.

Use the beautiful, patterned papers with intricate sticker accents and sentiments to create gorgeous scrapbook pages and cards, worthy of your holiday stories and loved ones.

Take things up a crafty notch by adding stamped accents and sentiments to the mix with stamp and die sets designed specifically for scrapbooking and cardmaking.

The Silver Bells—Scrapbooking Stamp + Thin Cuts comes complete with titles, like “A December to Remember,” “Holiday Memories,” and “’Tis the Season,” as well as a beautiful ribbon bow and holly leaf branch.

The cardmaking stamp and dies set comes with several detailed ornament stamps and coordinating dies, in addition to a set of holiday bells and four classic holiday greetings: “Happy Holidays,” “Season’s Greetings,” “Wishing You Joy,” and “Warmest Wishes.”

As you continue to turn the pages in the new catalog, you’ll discover even more notable holiday-themed patterned papers, stamps sets, and products. One bundle of coordinating products that is sure to catch your attention is the gorgeous Thoughtful Holly Stamp + Thin Cuts + Stencils set!

These coordinating products were designed to create beautiful cards with minimal effort!

First, stamp the outline of the holly bouquet image, and then use the four stencils to selectively color the different sections of the intricate stamp with a blending brush and your choice of ink. Finally, if you didn’t stamp directly onto your project and are creating a dimensional accent, cut out the outline of the stamp with the coordinating die.

What’s especially great about so many of our products is that they work really well together, even if they are not all part of the same collection.

Pairing the neutral themed patterned papers from the Silver Bells collection, for example, with a bright colored holly bouquet created using the Thoughtful Holly stamp, stencils, and die, results in a stunning card!

There are so many exciting new products in the November–December catalog that just became available today, so make sure to flip through its pages on our website, or simply look through the What’s New menu. Stay warm, keep those hands busy, and create something beautiful for the upcoming season! Happy shopping!

July 13, 2022Inspiration

Making a Splash with Gloss Spray Techniques!

Close To My Heartbeach, Beach Party, gloss spray, mixed media, scrapbooking, techniques, vacation, workshop 9 Comments

Make a Splash with Gloss Spray Techniques! #beachparty #summer #gloss #shine #spray #water #beach #sand #ocean #vacation #ctmh #closetomyheart #sparkle #shimmer #shine

Gloss sprays are one of the newest players to the papercrafting game. Their unique qualities make them especially useful for creating elaborate art in minutes, which is a big reason that we have loved adding them to our bag of crafting tricks! One place where we had lots of fun playing with these sprays is the Beach Party scrapbooking workshop—let’s take a look!

On this “Sun and Fun” layout, we couldn’t resist embellishing the base pages with a few splatters of white gloss spray. This creates a distressed, faded effect that fits our beach-themed pages perfectly! See how well the white splatters behind the surfboards and sandcastle create a sandy effect? Just a few small speckles of the spray add a big effect!

Did you spot the gloss spray on this layout? Here we’ve added it to the blue wave die-cuts near the bottom of the page, adding a lifelike foam look! Since the spray is acrylic, it dries glossy, which adds impressive sparkle to these papercrafted waves.

In order to achieve a speckled look with gloss sprays, we sprayed the pieces from approximately eight inches away while they rested on an all-purpose mat. These powerful little bottles are packed with opaque acrylic paint, not too different from spray paint. To ensure the best quality spraying experience, always shake the bottle well before each use. There’s a little ball inside that will mix up the contents of the bottle for the best color and consistency of the paint. Gloss sprays can stain, so be sure to protect your work surfaces and use them in an area you don’t mind getting messy.

Follow along in the video below as our friend Jill Broadbent from the Home Office shares a few additional techniques and tips for using these dynamic sprays.

As we consider the gloss sprays’ qualities, you can see there are so many possibilities for art! Download the free guides for the Beach Party scrapbooking workshop below, and learn how easily today’s featured pages come together, including the white gloss spray accents!

Beach Party Scrapbooking Workshop Guide (US/CA)
Beach Party Scrapbooking Workshop Guide (AU/NZ)

Recipe:
12″ x 12″ Sun and Fun Layout, 12″ x 12″ Vacay Mode Layout
G1257 Beach Party Scrapbooking Workshop Kit, Z5010 White Gloss Spray, Z3515 Black Journaling Pen (.01), Z1151 3-D Foam Tape

Playing with Texture Paste

Close To My Heartmixed media, paste, stencil, texture, texture paste 8 Comments

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Recipes

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

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

A Look Inside Deluxe Workshops Your Way®

Close To My Heart'Tis the Season, boutique, deluxe, elevated art, Holiday Expressions, mixed media, texture paste, workshop, workshops Your Way 1 Comment

One of our favorite things on the blog is getting to share new ideas and products with you, and today is no exception. Drum roll please … let’s talk about the new Deluxe Workshops Your Way^® scrapbooking kits!

Deluxe Workshops Your Way^® scrapbook layouts are designed especially for those of you looking to include more artistic techniques in your scrapbooking. With a Workshops Your Way scrapbooking kit and the Deluxe workshop guide, you can make three 12″ x 12″ layouts using additional tools or techniques. This means we could introduce you to products or techniques you might never have used before, and that’s exactly what we’ve done with the Boutique Deluxe Workshops Your Way^® for scrapbooking. You’ll use mixed media, stencils, and the Sugarplum shimmer brush to add extra sparkle and texture to your layouts!

Deluxe Scrapbooking Workshop #CTMH #CloseToMyHeart #WorkshopsYourWay® #scrapbooking #scrapbook #deluxe #elevatedscrapbooking #texturepaste #shimmerbrush #CTMHBoutique

Boutique Deluxe Layout 1

Boutique Deluxe Layout 2

Boutique Deluxe Layout 3

To make these layouts, simply purchase a Boutique Workshops Your Way scrapbooking kit and some additional items. Each scrapbooking kit includes instructions for two different sets of layouts, either the classic Workshops Your Way layouts or the Deluxe layouts that feature the Sugarplum shimmer brush and opaque matte texture paste. Just pick the set of layouts that works best for you, or get two kits, plus the additional supplies, and make all six!

Some of the additional materials for the Deluxe pages are included in a discounted product bundle. With Boutique, you can purchase the Sugarplum shimmer brush, opaque matte texture paste, palette knives set, and stencil sheets pack in the Boutique Deluxe Bundle at 10% off the retail price!

For a taste of what you’ll find in this workshop kit, take a closer look at the third deluxe layout. To make this this layout, first cut out a stencil from the stencil sheets using your Cricut^® machine and an image from the Cricut^® Artistry collection. Then position the stencil on the base page and smooth a thin layer of texture paste over it with a palette knife. The more texture paste you use, the more dimension you’ll have on your page.

Deluxe Scrapbooking Workshop #CTMH #CloseToMyHeart #WorkshopsYourWay® #scrapbooking #scrapbook #deluxe #elevatedscrapbooking #texturepaste #mixedmedia #stencil #CricutArtistryCollection #CTMHBoutique

If this is your first time using texture paste, try experimenting with how much to use on a scrap piece of paper before applying it to your layout’s base page. The texture paste is much thicker than it looks when you apply it over a stencil. A small amount smoothed on top of a stencil will still give you great dimension and texture.

Once you’ve applied your texture paste, don’t forget to set your page aside to dry before continuing to assemble your layout. You can easily clean your stencil sheet with water and a paper towel, or even with a baby wipe, to use again later. (Make sure, as you finish, to close the lid to your texture paste to prevent it from drying out.)

Your final result will look like what you see above from each of the three deluxe Boutique layouts. With this kit, you’ll also experiment with using just the shimmer brush behind the “Love” title. Then you’ll try adding color to the texture paste by mixing in some of the ink from the shimmer brush and applying the paste over a stencil.

If you love the elevated look of these deluxe Boutique layouts, take a peek at the other deluxe Workshop Your Way layouts from Holiday Expressions using the ‘Tis the Season paper collection. The ‘Tis the Season deluxe workshop guide shows you how to include stitched circles Thin Cuts and stamping techniques on three layouts, perfect for preserving the special memories you’re sure to make during the holiday season.

Deluxe Scrapbooking Workshop #CTMH #CloseToMyHeart #WorkshopsYourWay® #scrapbooking #scrapbook #deluxe #elevatedscrapbooking #snow #December #Christmas #holiday #CTMHTistheSeason

‘Tis the Season Deluxe Layout 1

‘Tis the Season Deluxe Layout 2

‘Tis the Season Deluxe Layout 3

For those of you new to memory keeping, you always have the option to use the Boutique or ‘Tis the Seasons Workshops Your Way scrapbooking kits to make three beautiful layouts, but we know that some of you are looking to spend a litle more time and apply some additional tools and techniques to your art. Deluxe Workshops Your Way^® give you the option to do just that, and to learn some new artistic memory keeping skills as you go.

Make It from Your Heart

Tag Archives: mixed media

A New Catalog with Silver Bells and a Thoughtful Holly Stencil

Making a Splash with Gloss Spray Techniques!

Playing with Texture Paste

A Look Inside Deluxe Workshops Your Way®

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