15 Ways to Share a Smile

Close To My Heartoperation smile, Punny Pals, Share a Smile 6 Comments

Our Punny Pals are fun, spunky, and on a mission—to share as many smiles as possible! To help you continue spreading smiles this month, we came up with a list of small acts of kindness to keep you going. As you perform these, or any acts of service, consider leaving a card from the Share a Smile card kit behind. This small sentiment will be a reminder of the kindness you shared and will continue to bring joy (and smiles!) for days to come.

Rake a neighbor’s yard
Mail a note to a long-distance family member
Pay for the person behind you in a drive-thru.
Take flowers to the nurses’ station at your local hospital
Leave a plate of cookies with a thank-you note for the cleaning staff at your office
Put change in an expired parking meter
Drop off cupcakes to your local fire or police department
Tape cash or a gift card on a random gas pump
Leave positive messages in public places
Offer to return someone’s shopping cart to the store
Hide a favorite book in a public place with a note that it’s free for the taking
Hold the elevator for someone else
Invite an elderly neighbor to dinner
Leave a generous tip at a restaurant
Put a Share a Smile card in the mailbox for your mail carrier

Isn’t it amazing how little things can brighten our day? A compliment, a thank you, any small gesture of gratitude or compassion can spread joy. Sharing a smile with friends, neighbors, and even strangers is uplifting. Everyone feels good!

At Close To My Heart, we are celebrating Operation Smile™ and the non-profit work they do to help people everywhere have beautiful healthy smiles through safe cleft lip and palate surgeries. With every purchase of the Punny Pals stamp set, Close To My Heart donates $7 USD to this wonderful organization. You, too, can help change someone’s life and at the same time create cute and delightful cards to spread kindness to your family, friends, and community.

And don’t forget—the Share a Smile card kit and Punny Pals Thin Cuts are only available through the end of the month!

We’d love to hear how you are sharing smiles with our Punny Pals! Tell us what you’ve been up to in the comments below.

Thin Cuts Technique with Our Punny Pals

Close To My HeartPunny Pals, Share a Smile, technique, Thin Cuts 16 Comments

Available for this month only, we have coordinating Thin Cuts for our Punny Pals stamp set! Remember, for every Punny Pals stamp set purchased Close To My Heart will donate $7 of the proceeds to Operation Smile™, a non-profit organization that provides safe surgeries to repair cleft lips and palates for people around the world. We took it upon ourselves to come up with a fun way to use this stamp set and its coordinating Thin Cuts to create something guaranteed to make someone smile! Below are step-by-step instructions to show you how to recreate this multi-layer card yourself using partially cut die cuts. Let’s dive right in, shall we?

Materials Needed:
D1751 My Acrylix^® Punny Pals Stamp Set
CC1340 Thin Cuts—Punny Pals
Z3318 Thin Cuts—Basic Circles
X7225B Beary Christmas Paper Packet
1385 White Daisy Cardstock
X5954 Pewter Cardstock
Z899 Black Memento™ Ink Pad
Z4050 Picture My Life™—Beary Christmas
Z3323 White Burlap Ribbon
Z4029 Bronze Sequins
3505 Watercolor Pencils
Z2445 ShinHan™ Touch Twin™ Barely Beige Marker
Z2446 ShinHan™ Touch Twin™ Black Marker
Z2452 ShinHan™ Touch Twin™ Golden Yellow Marker
Z2460 ShinHan™ Touch Twin™ Pastel Peach Marker
Z2060 Thin 3-D Foam Tape
Die-cutting machine

Prepare and cut.
To replicate our card exactly, you will need the following pieces:

1 standard card base
3¾” x 5″ White Daisy cardstock
4″ x 5¼” Pewter cardstock
3¾” x 5″ New England Ivy “Sprig” paper from Beary Christmas paper packet
4″ x 5 ¼ ” Pebble striped paper from Beary Christmas paper packet
3¾” x 1″ ombre New England Ivy paper from Beary Christmas Picture My Life™ Cards

Step 1. Planning the partial cut.
Using washi tape, temporarily attach the 2½” circle die onto the White Daisy cardstock piece approximately ¾” from the top. Place the Tiger die on the adhered circle die, slightly left of center, and mark (with a pencil) where the two dies intersect.

Remove the tiger die but keep the circle in place. With a ruler and pencil, draw a light line through both of the dots, running off both sides of the cardstock.

Step 2. Partially cutting the circle.
We use a Cuttlebug™ as our preferred die-cutting machine. Layer a platform and a C-size plate and align the edges. Place the White Daisy cardstock on top of this combination so that the line you have drawn is about 1/8″ below the bottom of the plate. This will put the top half of the cardstock on the plate and leave the lower half of the cardstock hanging off the plate. Adhere the card piece in place with washi tape so it will not move. Anything below the plate will not cut through.

Layer a B-size plate on top and run the paper through your die-cutting machine. You should end up with a partially cut circle, still attached on the bottom left.

WAIT—DON’T REMOVE THE CARD FROM THE PLATE YET!

Step 3. Partially cutting the tiger.

While keeping the cardstock attached to the plate, remove the circle die. Add the tiger die where your circle is still intact, allowing a portion of the head and tail into the inside of the circle, and secure it to the cardstock with some washi tape.

Replace the B-size plate, make sure the platform and plates are aligned, and run it through the die-cutting machine.

Remove the tiger die. You will now have a portion of the tiger cut out of the inside circle. (The remainder of the inner circle may be discarded.) If there is a small area of the inner circle that has not cut through just snip carefully with scissors.

Step 4. Get Stamping!
Stamp the tiger image in place and color it with watercolor pencils.

Step 5. Assemble the rest of the card.
Create the inner circle of the card front by cutting the layers with the 2″ circle die.

Tip: To put the monkey in place, make two cuts of the monkey outline. When layering the shapes together, attach the front shape so that it overlaps the front of your circle window, and attach the back shape overlapping the back of the circle. This will hold the monkey securely in place.

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Tip: For added dimension on your animal, make a second animal shape and, after stamping, trim out the face. Color this new layer and attach with thin 3-D foam tape.

This Thin Cuts technique is all about versatility and dimension! Please share with us any comments or questions through the link below!

Share a Smile and happy trimming!

Share a Smile

Close To My Heartoperation smile, Share a Smile, T-Shirts 4 Comments

What would you do if you had the power to change someone’s life by simply sharing a smile?

Born with a cleft lip or palate, there are billions of people worldwide who suffer from the inability to simply smile due to a lack of access to any surgical care. Every three minutes another child is born with this condition, resulting in malnourishment, speech impediments, and social stigma.

For nearly a decade, Close To My Heart has partnered with Operation Smile™, a non-profit organization that provides safe surgeries repairing cleft lips and palates in children around the world. In an effort to collect funds for this charitable group, we annually dedicate the proceeds of one of our stamp sets to their efforts. This year is no different.

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My Acrylix® Punny Pals Stamp Set

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Thin Cuts—Punny Pals

With the purchase of every Punny Pals stamp set, Close To My Heart is donating $7 USD of the proceeds to Operation Smile. And, for this month only, you can get a coordinating set of Thin Cuts for the delightful animal shapes.

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We’ve also put together the Share a Smile Card Kit, also available this month only, that includes the Thin Cuts along with card bases, envelopes, paper pieces, and instructions that you can use to create these endearing cards.

Share a Smile #closetomyheart #ctmh #operationsmile #charity #nonprofit #shareasmile #stamping #stamps #punnypals #tshirt #grey

Share a Smile #closetomyheart #ctmh #operationsmile #charity #nonprofit #shareasmile #stamping #stamps #punnypals #tshirt #pink

Operation Smile™ T-Shirts

In addition to the Punny Pals stamp set, coordinating thin cuts, and Share a Smile card kit, we have t-shirts available all year round whose proceeds also go toward Operation Smile.

And, if you place an order with us you have the option to round your order up to the nearest dollar, giving the extra as a donation to Operation Smile. During October, your round-up donation will go even further, because Close To My Heart will match all round-up donations, up to $10,000 USD!

We are so grateful to our generous Consultants for all of their efforts and continued support for this great cause. At this year’s convention alone, they pulled together over $50,000 in donations to make a difference in the lives of children they will never meet.

With your help, we can continue to remove financial, geographic, and cultural barriers that are impeding access to safe and well-timed surgeries. Purchase these items, encourage others to do so, or simply get on our site and make a straight donation to Operation Smile.

We are on a mission to change the lives of as many children as possible by restoring something that no child should be without—their smile.

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