As we approach the close of 2021, we do one of the most human things possible and turn our thoughts to the future. We plan, prepare, and hope for things that are to come. Are you prepared, or are you preparing, for a successful new year?
As you consider the possibilities that a new year brings, we would like to share several products to help organize your time, set goals, plan, and prioritize events.
The exclusive Remember Today products are available in several kit options, one as a layout kit for creating 13 12″ x 12″ single-page scrapbook layouts, and two kit options using those same single-page layouts to create a 12-month calendar.
With the Remember Today stamp set, we can keep track of special dates, set goals, and even set reminders—and we can do it all in style with the beautiful designs included!
Whether you use the layouts to build a calendar or a scrapbook album (or both!—scrapbook your calendar pages at the end of each month!), the Remember Today pages and stamp set are a stunning way to plan for, make, and preserve wonderful memories in the year ahead!
Sometimes we need to look at the bigger picture, and a perpetual calendar is a great way to do it!
This last year, we rolled out a series of stamps dedicated to each month, aptly named Months of the Year 😉. Each stamp set is full of sentiments, borders, and icons for creating seasonally specific artwork all through the year. Pair these stamp sets with the Perpetual Calendar to design and create its pages!
Because Close To My Heart serves a global market, we’ve created two stamp sets for each month—one for crafters in the northern hemisphere, and another for artists in the southern hemisphere, to reflect the difference in seasons!
Each month is available as a downloadable SVG file. Once you download the file, you can manipulate the images in a design software, like Cricut Design Space™. Resize it, remove layers—whatever you want, the file is yours! (Each different color shown in the artwork indicates different layers that can be edited and cut individually with your chosen software and personal cutting machine.)
There you have it, several great resources to help you get ready for the coming year—or to celebrate the year that we’re bringing to a close! 🙃
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 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. ❤️
With the launch of two new Close To My Heart catalogs this week, does anyone else feel like a kid on Christmas morning? Since September 1, hundreds of new Close To My Heart products, including stamp sets, patterned papers, embellishments, and much, much more, have been readily available at our fingertips!
In case you missed the exciting announcement after our North American Convention, we have moved to a new catalog release schedule. Close To My Heart will no longer only publish three catalogs a year, but SEVEN—an annual Core Products catalog and six, bi-monthly, supplemental catalogs. The goal is to get fresh designs and up-to-the-minute products into your hands when you need them and want them most!
Let’s take a closer look at some of the new goodies in our Core and September–October catalogs. (It may be time to make some room in your craft room—your stash may be getting a bit bigger! 🙂 )
Paper Packet + Sticker Sheets
Each of our supplement catalogs will feature two paper suites. Within each suite you will have the choice between two paper packet options, one including a new 12″ x 12″ sticker sheet, and one without. The new sticker sheet will come with titles, accents, and more, that coordinate perfectly with the designs of its accompanying paper packet. Both paper packets will come with six sheets of three double-sided designs of patterned paper, rather than the 12 we’ve done in the recent past, so you only purchase what you need and avoid having too much left over!
Custom Cardstock Packs
When you visit our cardstock menu on our website, you will find two very exciting additions. As a continuation of the theme of getting you just what you need, we now offer custom cardstock packs! Choose between a 12-sheet or 24-sheet pack and then decide which of our current exclusive colors you want in it. We’ll package up your selection and send your customized pack along with the rest of your order. It’s that simple!
Scrapbooking Workshop Kits
Our scrapbooking workshops got a makeover! Each workshop continues to come with easy-to-follow instructions to make six complete pages however only some are paired into layouts. Both, the Every Little Thing and Hawthorn scrapbooking workshops make two individual pages and two two-page layouts.
Even more exciting, we’ve trimmed a lot of the paper cutting right out of the workshops! Each new kit includes large, exclusive die-cut sheets and accessories that coordinate effortlessly with a handful of additional products for fast and seriously gorgeous pages. In the page above, the only thing you’ll cut when you make your own are the two photo mats. <3 <3 <3 !
Everyday Life™ Albums
Our Everyday Life™ album line just got bigger…and smaller! Providing the greatest versatility in size (and color options), these are now available in 6″ x 6″, 6″ x 8″, 8½” x 11″, and 12″ x 12″. Perfect for preserving vacations, weddings, highlights from the football season, or backyard adventures, the Everyday Life™ line is designed to accommodate any occasion or memory!
Heat Transfer Vinyl & Digital Art
You already take pride in filling your scrapbooks with beautiful artwork on the inside, so why not add some flair to their outsides? With our new line of heat transfer vinyl and digital SVG files designed specifically with album covers in mind, you can easily do just that!
After downloading the digital images, cut them out of the heat transfer vinyl using your favorite cutting machine, and then apply them to your album. For a complete list of available heat transfer vinyl colors and digital art designs, click here.
Penmanship with Melissa Esplin
Renowned calligraphy and lettering expert Melissa Esplin joined forces with Close To My Heart to create an easy, step-by-step penmanship program. Penmanship with Melissa Esplin introduces stroke sequences, letter forms, and techniques to improve and develop your personal, individual style. Equipped with exercise worksheets and practice pages, as you see can see above, this program provides the necessary tools to share your stories through your own creative handwriting!
Journaling Pens
Get ready to pour your hearts out with our gorgeous new Close To My Heart journaling pens!
These journaling pens are available in Black and Pewter inks and in .05, .03, and .01 tips. Easily take your handwriting up a notch by simply using the right tool!
TriBlend™ Markers
Color and blend like and expert with our new markers! Inside every TriBlend™ marker is a perfect gradation of colors, from light to dark, delivered through three separate fine bullet nibs. The alcohol-based ink blends seamlessly for mixing or layering colors.
Stickles™ Glitter Gel
Another newcomer to the Close To My Heart line-up are the Stickle™ glitter gels! Available in the ten colors you see here, use these fun gels to add dimension and a bit of sparkle to your projects.
Stamp Shammy
This spongy soft, reusable sheet is just what you need for lint-free stamp cleaning. Just add water and watch the ink come right off your My Acrylix® stamps as you wipe them with a Stamp Shammy. Yes, the photo above is staged to look pretty, but we really did just wipe that stamp clean with the wet Stamp Shammy to the right of it. And, because you can’t really have too much of a good thing, these come in a two-pack. J
New Colors
We’ve added several new colors to our exclusive color palate this week! Our favorite, and Color of the Year, is this beautiful trendy green hue, Julep! Keep a sharp eye out for it throughout the coming year, and you’ll find hints of Julep in a wide variety of our new products. (To see what other fun new colors we have in store, talk to your Consultant or take a look at our exclusive color palette in our Core Products catalog.)
Cricut® Complete Creativity Collection
Our newest Cricut® collection, Complete Creativity, provides you with all the pieces you need to create complete cards and scrapbook pages for a variety of themes and occasions.
This remarkable new collection is available for purchase on Cricut.com, through a special link you can get from your Close To My Heart Consultant. Ask your Consultant for more details about our extensive collection of Cricut® designs!
Rather than unwrapping all of the new goodies here for you this Christmas-like morning, take some time to carefully peruse both of our new catalogs on your own. The few items that we covered today are only just a sampling of the hundreds of new products available now!
