Christmas is Just Around the Corner

Christmas will be here before you know it! I LOVE Christmas... I mean I really LOVE Christmas! I think I was a Who in a past life because I just live for the holidays. That being said, my birthday is at the end of November so I try really hard not to get excited about Christmas until after that - or else I would be listening to Trans-Siberian Orchestra's Christmas albums in July... which has happened before... Anyways, last year I sent out a few home made Christmas cards to select people in my life, not because they are more special, but because I started making my cards so late that I didn't have time to make enough for everyone. So this year I have started early and you should too! Today's post focuses on the cards I created using Close to My Heart's Reason for the Season stamp set and the Yuletide Carol Paper Pack. The Yuletide Carol Paper Pack is filled with very traditional/classic Christmas themed papers. I absolutely loved working with it. My inspiration for these cards came from Jamie Llewellyn at Scrappin' in Harmony and Pamela O'Connor at Reflections of my Art and Soul - Thanks for the great inspiration ladies! I hope some of these cards can inspire you to get started on your own Holiday cards. Remember if you would like to purchase any of the products I used for these cards you can do so on my website. And don't forget to check out this month's promotional offers!! And here are some close ups of the cards:

This design was taken from the Annual Inspiration Book - I only changed the blue shimmer paper to silver and turned the wall hanging into a card. I love how it turned out. I used silver shimmer trim (Z1799)around the edge of the card, the Yuletide 
Carol Paper Pack (X7187B), glacier and kraft cardstock. 

Yuletide Carol paper

Yuletide Carol paper, gold shimmer trim

Yuletide Carol, gold shimmer trim

Thanks for stopping by!!- Kiera

Isn't Everything Wanderful!

Hi everyone! I hope you enjoyed World Card Making Day today, did you make some cards? I was going to but I ended up scrapbooking instead. When I get into the scraping groove its very hard for me to stop. I worked with Close to My Heart's Wanderful line today. I have mentioned in earlier posts how much I love the paper and embellishments from this kit and I can not stress to you how much I love them!! I used the Work Shop on the Go but I did not end up making the project set out in the guide book so I think I might buy another paper pack to keep working. I was scrapbooking my NYC pictures and I found they worked so wonderfully with the papers. I created 3 layouts using the WOTG, the Wanderful complements, the Artbooking Cartridge, plus black and gypsy inks. I took my inspiration from Dana Kessler, who comes up with just awesome layouts! (Check out her original designs here) And here are my versions, I apologize for the quality and glare of the photos - I really need to work on that!

If you are interested in purchasing any of these items please check them out on my website and I would be happy to explain how I made them. Thanks for stopping by!

- Kiera

October Promotions

Welcome to October! Fresh crisp air, county 

October SOTM - Home for the Holidays (S1410)

fairs, beautiful scenery and sweater weather! This is my very favourite season of the year. Since it is the beginning of the month, I want to share the exciting things that are happening with Close to My Heart in October. Of course we have our Stamp of the Month program - when you spend $50 on CTMH products you qualify for a special $5 stamp set that is only available for the month of October. The holidays are right around the corner and this month's stamp set is a wonderful holiday themed set that you can use to make Christmas cards and tags! Last year was the first year I decided to make my own cards to send out and I waited until late November and then scrambled to get some cards done. With this set being available in October for only $5 there is no excuse to procrastinate! One of the really cool things about this set is that it coordinates with the cutting files on our Art Philosophy cricut cartridge so it's very easy to make some quick holiday gift cards. Here are some projects created with this month's stamp set:

RIBBON REVELRY - Our second promotion for the month!
When you spend $55 on products you qualify for a free chevron ribbon (The colour is a surprise - kind of like Christmas!). The great thing about this promotion is that if you spend your $50 on products - you qualify for the stamp of the month ($5)- which then qualifies you to receive your a free ribbon!

Artfully Sent Cricut Cartridge Available! 
Our brand new cricut cartridge is packed full of cutting files designed to help you create amazing pop-up cards. If you are a card maker then this cartridge is geared towards you. I am not going to lie - this is one of the most expensive items available in our new catalog. I was very hesitant to buy a cartridge from Close to My Heart at first BUT I did buy one (Artbooking) and I fell in love! These cartridges have a lot more on them then the ones you buy at craft stores. They are specially designed for CTMH and coordinate with a number of our stamp sets. Plus the cartridge comes with 3 full size stamp sets to help you get started. I ended up buying another one (Art Philosophy) and love it as well. Check it out on my website!  Remember if this is something you would really like, consider being a hostess - You can receive a 50% off item with a qualifying party.

Halloween Products! 
Looking to get into the Halloween spirit?? Check out these great crafts and products!

 That's all for this month! Come back and see what crafts I come up with using this month's promotional products! Thanks for stopping by! 

- Kiera

September Cross Canada Blog Hop

Welcome! Welcome! Welcome to our September Blog Hop featuring our Favourite New Products from the new Annual Inspirations.  I had a similar post about a couple of awesome things earlier in August so this post is my flavour of the month Products!! To purchase any of the items seen in our blog hop today, contact your local consultant to place an order, or if you do not have one - I will gladly assist you :)

We hope that you will take the time to leave comments on our posts, as we love to get feedback from our viewers....whether it was something that you really liked or some new technique that was used that you would like to learn how to do....by leaving us comments, we get to hear what you like, and what you want to see. Thank you… now on to our hop! 

If you have just hopped onto my blog, you can start here as this is a circular hop, but if you want to follow us across Canada then please start at the beginning and join Julie Here. 

If you came from Carol's Blog then you are in the right place! 

This month I am loving our Brushed Paper Pack and our new Pixie colour!

As some of you know I love mini cards so I created a few with the Brushed paper pack. My inspiration for the cards came from Lisa Stenz. (Check out her beautiful cards on her blog) 

Supplies can be purchased on my website. (Brushed Paper Pack X7190B, 3x3 White Daisy Envelopes Z1475, Your Own Kind of Wonderful Stamp Set D1627, Lagoon Z2195 & Pixie Z2644 Inks, Black & White Daisy Card Stock)

Your next stop on the Cross Canada Hop is Christine of Chris' Creative Life.

Thanks for hopping along with us - we hope we were able to inspire you to get creative using some of the designs, products and techniques seen along the way. We hope you will join us again next month when we will be featuring Trick or Treats, for Halloween.  So mark October 15th on your calendars and hop along with us.

Thanks for Stopping by!! - Kiera

Flash Post - More Seaside Cards!

Supplies - Seaside Paperpack, Cricut Art Philosophy Cartridge, Lagoon Ink, Flamingo and Aqua Dots, Aug. SOTM, and White Daisy, Kraft & Gypsy Cardstock. Remember you can buy all of these supplies from my online store kiera.ctmh.com - If you have any questions about how these were created please let me know, 
Thanks for stopping by!! - Kiera

Summer's End

Wow, it's the end of August! How did that happen??? I can't believe I will be back to school this time next week - on a more excited, happier note, I was offered a position at the school I was at last year and I could not be happier. I will be the new drama teacher!! I am so excited I can not contain it.

Next order of business - I have been MIA this month! Sorry about that, I blinked and August was over. I will be trying my best to get back into posting in the next couple of months. I do want to post some cards I created for my card workshop I ran last night. It seems that there is a trend in the Close to My Heart community creating cards inspired by Lisa Stenz from convention, so I jumped on the band wagon. The version I created were scraplifted from Patti's Close to My Heart Blog which I found on pinterest. Here they are:

Thanks for stopping by!! - Kiera

Exciting News Just for You!!

It has finally come!! Our new Annual Inspirations Idea Book has arrived!! 

http://kiera.ctmh.com/ctmh/products/online-idea-book.aspx

There are so many fantastic products available in this book. You can check out our idea book online or request one from me when you order online. One of the perks of being a consultant is having the chance to preview the Idea Book and order products the month before it is available. I had a wonderful time this month getting new products and trying things out!! Here are a few of my favorites...

Markers Available here

We have brand new ShinHan™ Touch Twin™  Markers available in 24 colours! These are beautiful to work with, I am just starting out with them but will post some more pictures as I continue to learn and improve. The butterflies are from a brand new stamp set Your Own Kind of Wonderful. Featured below. 

Your Own Kind of Wonderful 19.75

The new Idea Book features 3 new My Crush Books, 5 new Picture My Life Kits, a new Cricut Cartridge and 9 new paper lines and Workshop on the Go Kits (7 Scrapbooking Kits & 2 Card Making Kits). My favorite new Workshop on the Go Scrapbooking program is the Wanderful Line! I am heading to NYC in a couple of days and have ordered this kit, plus the accessories and matching PML kits to create my New York Scrapbook. 

My business partner and I ordered all the new Christmas supplies last month in preparation of our Christmas in August Card making classes. I am in love with the new items available, especially the beautiful Snowhaven Workshop on the Go Christmas Card Kit. The kit comes with everything you need to make 15 beautiful cards. Plus you have a ton of scraps left over to create some more projects on your own.

Cards featured in the Snowhaven WOTG Kit

Left overs from Kit

Those are my new favorite products available but that is just the beginning!! Go check out the new idea book for yourself on my website and please let me know if you have any questions or concerns! Thanks for stopping by!!

Cleaning House - Free to be Me (May Promo)

I LOVE this paper pack!!! I can not describe how beautiful the papers are, especially the gold dot vellum piece. I had to steal an extra sheet from another package because I love it so much. I bought this pack originally in May because it was a steal at $5 and then I won a pack off of a colleagues' blog so I have had lots of opportunity to create some inspiring projects! Here is a quick look at what I created. All of the ideas were taken off of pinterest, so a big thank you to all the various bloggers whose ideas I have borrowed. 

These mother's day cards feature the Free to Be Paper Pack and the Mother's Day Stamp set. I used Lagoon and Cranberry Inks as well as the Cricut Art Philosophy cartridge

These cards feature the Free to Be Papers, the May Stamp of the Month 'You've Got a Friend, and black and lagoon inks.

Layout I made featuring all the papers. I still have to add my pictures to fully love it. 

Hope you had a chance to get this wonderful paper pack and made some excellent projects with it! Remember only 2 more days until our new idea book is available online!!

Thanks for stopping by!! - Kiera

Cleaning House - Ariana Scraps

I made a few cards up with some of the scraps I had from my Ariana Paper Pack. Hoping to make a layout too but I just have the cards for now.

Here are the cards closer up and with variations. 

 Lastly this card I made awhile ago but never got the chance to post it, it comes from the Idea Book. I used the Ivy Lane paper, gypsy, pear, hollyhock and lagoon ink. Gypsy, white daisy and pear cardstock and the Mar. SOTM and Doodle Signs Hostess Stamp.

Thanks for stopping by my blog!! Please leave me a comment below!

Cleaning House - Timberline

We go camping every year in Algonquin Park so I was very excited to see the Timberline Paper Line!! I bought the Workshop on the Go kit that comes with a great stamp set. Here is what I came up with for the my camp layouts. Plus I got four (2 of the moon ones) cards out of the scraps! I put some pictures in the first layout but still need to add to the others.  Let me know what you think!

I used materials from the Timberline Workshop on the Go kit as well as the complement pictures. The stamps on the cards are from the March Stamp of the Month set. Thanks for stopping by!!
- Kiera