CTMH Tommy card "Follow your Dreams"

I just love the Close To My Heart paper packet called "Tommy".  It is a collection of all things nautical. There are anchors, world maps, pennants, oars, boats, and more.  I really liked the colors of Cranberry, Honey, Desert Sand and Outdoor Denim together.

I ordered the complete Workshops On The Go Scrapbooking Kit, along with the Tommy Complements Canvas Shapes (stickers).  The kit not only came with 14 sheets of 12 x 12 paper, it included a coordinating stamp set and two matching packets of embellishments!

The other supplies that I used are:

• Outdoor Denim Exclusive Inks Stamp Pad
• Outdoor Denim Chevron Ribbon
• White Hemp
• Liquid Glass
• 5 1/2" x 4 1/2" Colonial White Cards and Envelopes

I used my CTMH Art Philosophy Cricut Cartridge to cut out the pennant shapes and the scalloped square.

If you've taken a cruise, or have one planned in the near future, this paper packet is perfect for scrapbooking the vacation memories of your sea voyage!  

Create With Care Website

If you haven't stopped my website, createwithcare.ctmh.com, lately, I encourage you to do so as there are are several great new Ideas and Inspirations that are sure to get you paper crafting immediately.  Learn a fun new technique such as how to "kiss with stamps" or how to make an adorable gift for your neighbor.  


Keep exploring...check out the special Patriotic Stamps that are perfect for Independence Day or view the current Stamp of the Month special that is available for only $5.00 with a $50.00 order!


Want to learn how to scrapbook digitally with ease?  Take a look at Studio J How-To for guides on photo editing and perfectly placed photos.


Looking to get some free scrapbook paper or stamps?  It's easy and you don't even have to clean your house!  You can hostess an Online Gathering and with just $150.00 in combined sales, you get $25.00 in free product for yourself!  The larger the combined sales, the more freebies for you!


Grab a cup of tea or coffee, settle in with your laptop, and view the current Close To My Heart Idea Book online. See the many projects, layouts, cards and gifts that you can make by hand.  Learn how to preserve your treasured memories with paper, inks and embellishments that are sure to delight and bring enjoyment to you and your loved ones for many years to come.


Now that your mind is filled with ideas and your fingers are itching to play with paper, it's time to do some shopping!  You will love the paper collections, coordinating inks and embellishments from Close To My Heart.  From How-To Programs to Workshops on the Go kits, you are never without inspiration.  The My Acrylix Stamp sets crisply stamp images and sentiments are designed to complement your artwork perfectly.


My favorite place to shop is the While Supplies Last page!  I ordered the My Creations Banner for only $2.75 and made the adorable home decor door hangers below with my Crop Class.  There are 8 white chipboard pennants that can be strung together to make a stylish banner.  Instead, we each made one with the initial of our first name as the main focus.  I'm going to hang mine in my cubicle at work.  Why not make this easy project for yourself?  Wouldn't this look fantastic hanging in your craft room?

CTMH My Creations Banner as Pennant with Dream Pop paper

Here's the recipe:

• My Creations Banner (while supplies last for only $2.75!)
• Clear Buttons Assortment (on clearance for only $1.25!)
• Baker's Twine
• Close To My Heart Dream Pop Paper Pack (or any CTMH paper of your choice!)
• Glamour Lowercase Stamp Set (for the background stamping)
• Silver Shimmer Trim

I cut out the banner topper, paper swirl and letter using shapes found on my CTMH Cricut Art Philosophy Cartridge.  The accordion rosette was made using a strip of 1" x 12" paper with a clear button glued to the top.

We had such a fun time making this project!  Get inspired and Create with Care!

Molly and Beverly from Scrapbook, Stamp & Socialize

Bobbi from Scrapbook, Stamp & Socialize

If you live in or near Jacksonville, Florida and would like to join us, please check out the Scrapbook, Stamp & Socialize calendar of events.  

Exploring Northeast Florida

You may have been wondering where I've been these past few weeks as I haven't posted recently. Well, I've been exploring Northeast Florida; making lots of amazing memories and taking photos to scrapbook! My husband and I have tried to spend our free time seeing, experiencing and learning about our new home. So nearly every free day off, we hop in the car and go off galavanting around the state looking for new things to visit.  

Jacksonville, FL

The past six months of living here have been amazing!  We have really enjoyed the weather, people and food of Florida.  We are 15 minutes from the coast and surrounded by a surprising amount of history and culture.

Recently, we headed north to Amelia Island.  The historic town of Fernandina Beach is a must see while on the island.  The downtown area has many shops, restaurants and galleries to explore.  We spent time walking the main street, window shopping and admiring the architecture and flowers.

We then drove to the Fort Clinch State Park where we walked the half mile fishing pier out over the Atlantic Ocean, walked along the beach trail and explored the historic fort that housed American soldiers in both the Civil and the Spanish-American wars.

Fort Clinch, Amelia Island, FL

On the recommendation of a fisherman that we chatted with on the Fort Clinch pier, we headed south for lunch at Chowder Ted's.  I'm so glad that we listened to that man!  The seafood shack sits right on the waters edge and the fish was fantastic.  We tried something new that we had never had before; a smoked seafood spread.  Served with crackers, it was mayonnaise based and contained chunks of several kinds of smoked fish.  We each had different kinds of fish sandwiches for our entree.  My husband had blackened grouper and I had the Cajun Shrimp.  We both ordered fries on the side, of which the portions were so generous we couldn't finish.  Next time we know to share only one side of fries.

Our next adventure was to the south.  St. Augustine is about a half hour away from us and is such a great city.  There is so much to see and do there you can't do it in one day.  We've actually been back a few weekends and still haven't seen nearly all of it.  Some of our favorite things so far have been the Castillo de San Marcos, the oldest masonry fort in North America started by the Spanish in 1672.  

Castillo de San Marcos, St. Augustine, FL

We even loved St. Augustine from the water!  We took the Scenic Cruise of St. Augustine, one hour and fifteen minute narrated sightseeing cruise along the Matanzas and Tolomato rivers where we explored the coastline of St. Augustine and Anastasia State Park.  It was a beautiful day with lots of sunshine and a light breeze.  We saw dolphins, birds, the historic St. Augustine Lighthouse and sailed under the Bridge of Lions.

St. Augustine Lighthouse

We've wandered the streets of St. Augustine, seeing amazing homes, churches and historical buildings that are hundreds of years old.  My favorite street, so far, is Aviles Street. I loved its flowering trees, sidewalk eateries and cobblestone paving.  Speaking of sidewalk eateries, we had lunch on this very street at the La Herencia Cafe', a restaurant featured on the PBS show "Breakfast Special".  It serves breakfast all day, but we were there for the Cuban American cuisine, specifically the Cuban Sandwich.  We had it with a side of black beans and rice.  Yum!

Aviles Street, St. Augustine

Last weekend we went even further south to Crescent and Flagler Beaches along the Palm Coast area. Our original plan was to see the Washington Oaks Garden State Park, but we got side tracked along the way by Fort Matanzas.  As you may have noticed, we enjoy forts and when we saw the sign for Fort Matanzas we just had to pull over to take a look!  To our surprise and excitement, we got to take a boat ride (free!) to get to the fort.  The structure was built along the banks of the Matanzas River about a mile in from the Atlantic Ocean to guard against enemy troops trying to sneak into St. Augustine from the south. We had a great time exploring this important piece of history.

Fort Matanzas, Crescent Beach, FL

After spending so much time on and near the water we decided that seafood was what we wanted for dinner, so we headed down A1A to Flagler Beach and found a fun place called the Golden Lion Cafe' to try. It is across the road from the beach, had live music and two story open air dining.  According to their website, it is one of the Top 10 Beach Bars in Florida. The coconut shrimp with pina colada dipping sauce was fantastic and the beer battered giant fish sandwich was wonderful.  

I can't wait to scrapbook all the amazing pictures and memories from our recent road trips.  I'll be posting layouts very soon.  

CTMH Treat Tubes with Dream Pop Accents

Close To My Heart Treat Tubes with Dream Pop accents

Personalize your next gathering with the adorable (and food safe) Treat Tubes from Close To My Heart.  Are you celebrating a wedding, a birthday or having a summer barbecue?  These 4 3/4" x 1" My Creations Clear Treat Tubes are the perfect party favor.  Fill them with colorful candy or snacks and use them as place settings.  Or send your guests home with a customized souvenir of your party.

I used the colorful Dream Pop paper packet to accent my tube.  I cut a 4" x 2" strip of the multicolored patterned paper to wrap around the container.  I used my Cricut Art Philosophy cartridge to cut out 4 shapes.  A 2" scalloped circle in solid cardstock, then I cut a 1 3/4" scalloped circle, a 1" star and a 1" circle in white cardstock.  

I used stamps that came with the Art Philosophy collection to stamp the congratulations sentiment in Lagoon Ink, the star in Honey Ink and then used a button stamp from the "Just For You" stamp set in Gypsy Ink for the topper.  I tied the tag on with Baker's Twine from the Paradise Assortment and clipped the star (accented with a Pink Glitter Gem) on with a Mini Clothes Pin.


Here are some fun ways that you can use your Treat Tubes:

• BEACH PARTY - Fill them with shells and sand, decorate, with Surf's Up paper and accessories then tie on an invitation to a beach party!
• WEDDING - Fill them with rice or bird seed, decorate with For Alway's paper and attach the monogram of the bride and groom.  Give to wedding guests to shower the newlyweds as they leave on their honeymoon.
• KID'S PARTY FAVORS - Fill with colorful candies, decorate with Later Sk8r or Claire paper and give as favors to guests.
• FOR THE GARDENER - Fill with flower seeds, decorate with Buzz and Bumble paper and tie to a small trowel. Give to your favorite gardener.
• BABY SHOWER - Fill with pastel mints, decorate with Chantilly paper and give as favors.

These are just a few ideas that I came up with to show the versatility of these containers.  I'm sure you can come up with many more.  At less than a dollar each, these Treat Tubes are an affordable way to customize your next party or a special gift.

Tell me your how you would use your Treat Tubes in the comment section below.

CTMH Claire Birthday Card

This coming Wednesday, May 15, 2013 is my best girlfriend's birthday.  Now that I'm in Florida and she is in North Carolina we won't be able to celebrate in person together.  So I wanted to make a happy and cheerful card to make up for the fact that I'm not there in person to take her out, pamper her and make her feel special on the 40-something anniversary of her birth.  See, Jenn, I didn't spill the beans on your age!

I used the Claire paper packet from the Spring/Summer Close To My Heart Idea book to send my love across the states of Georgia and South Carolina up to the mountains of Western North Carolina!

CTMH Claire Birthday Card

I used the CTMH For Every Occasion stamp set to let my feelings be known.  This stamp is perfect for anyone that likes to make handmade cards.  There are so many sentiments that literally can be used for "every occasion" that you could ever think to send a card for.  

Item # D1187 For Every Occasion

I used a 5 1/2" x 4 1/4" card base that I over-layed with the same size piece of blush card stock.  Then I choose 3 complimentary pieces of B&T (Background & Texture) patterned paper to layer next.  2 cut in square shapes and 1 in a rectangle.  Then I used a corner rounder punch to round off the bottom two edges to give it a more softened shape.  I also had the Claire Complements Canvas Shapes that are adhesive backed and coordinate with the paper packet.  I used the border sticker that looks like rick rack trim and cut it to size and added it as an accent across the center of the card.

For an embellishment, I used my Art Philosophy Cricut Cartridge to cut out 3 tag shapes in varying size (2", 1 1/2", and 1") from a darker shade of the patterned paper, then cut out 3 varying size rectangles (1 3/4", 1 1/4", and 3/4") from white cardstock with rounded corners.  I used Outdoor Denim Ink to stamp the sentiments "yay!", "Congrats", and "Love You".  (Inside the card, I stamped the "Happy Birthday" greeting.)  I tied them together using a piece of bakers twine and then secured them to the piece of Outdoor Denim Chevron Ribbon using the strongest and best glue ever called Liquid Glass.

I hope that you will consider making a handmade card for the next special occasion that you will be celebrating.  It doesn't have to be over the top extravagant to show the love that you feel and I bet that the recipient will be even more touched and appreciative that you took the time to Create with Care!.

CTMH Dream Pop Video

It's here!  National Scrapbooking Month 2013 has arrived and Close To My Heart is celebrating in a big way.  Make your paper crafting dreams pop off the page with the new 24 piece Dream Pop Collection.  With fruity colored card stock and coordinating patterned paper, this packet is sure to inspire you!

It's only $10.00 with a $35.00 purchase!

1.  Spend $35.00 (excludes shipping and handling) on my shopping website and receive this exclusive paper packet for only $10.00!  Spend $70 and receive two Dream Pop paper packets for $20.00 and so on!

2.  Be a Hostess and get it for FREE!  Either in your home or online with qualifying May Gathering Sales Totals of $400.00 or more.  This is in addition to the other ways you can earn free product by hostessing a gathering!

3.  Become a Consultant and receive it for FREE as part of your New Consultant Kit when you enroll in May. Only a $49.00 investment gets you over $149.00 in product!

The best thing is that this offer is combinable with our already wonderful promotion called the "Stamp of the Month".  When you spend $50.00 on a qualifying order before shipping and handling,  you can purchase the May Stamp of the Month for just $5.00.

In May, if you spend just $50.00 you can get both!!!  Add the Dream Pop paper packet for $10.00 and the Stamp of the Month for $5.00!  That's a retail value of $37.90 for just $15.00! 


What are you waiting for?!  Don't miss out on this amazing deal!  ORDER HERE!

CTMH Chantilly cards with Hooray Bouquet stamp set

CTMH Chantilly paper packet with Hooray Bouquet stamp set

One of my goals as a consultant with Close To My Heart is to share the versatility of each paper packet.  I enjoy the challenge of showing how many unique items can be made using 12 sheets of paper that only costs $9.95!  We all need to stretch a dollar nowadays, so with each paper packet that I purchase, I have been trying to use every last scrap.  This endeavor has made me really think creatively and shown me colors can go together even though they don't exactly match.

Take these cards, for instance. The featured colors in the Chantilly paper packet are Champagne, Twilight, Buttercup and Cotton Candy.  Here are a couple of ways that I had to be creative:

1.  I didn't have enough Cotton Candy card stock left to use for the background of my card on the right, so I dug around in my older paper packets and came up with a sheet of Blush and used it instead.  I think the combination looks great together.

2.  I only had one of the matching inks that coordinate with the paper; Champagne.  However, it was a bit too neutral for what I wanted to do. So, instead of giving up, I used what ink colors that I had on hand.  I stamped the "you make me smile" sentiment in Blush on one card and Topiary on the other.  

3.  I didn't have a blue or green sparkle for the center of the flower for the card on the left.  What to do?  Well, I had a clear sparkle and a marker in Twilight, so I colored my sparkle to match my card!  

4.  I also lacked the matching stamp set, Happy Thoughts, so I improvised using one of my favorites, Hooray Bouquet.  I love this set as it I am able to cut out coordinating shapes using my Cricut Art Philosophy cartridge.  

CTMH Chantilly featuring Champagne, Buttercup and Twiligh

I have a crop coming up next Saturday and I wanted to have each attendee to be able to leave with a completed project.  I decided that a card would be a great "Create and Take" for us to do together and would still leave time for everyone to work on their own individual paper crafting.  I was able to make these two full size samples, plus I had enough paper to make eight more full size kits!!  Each person will be given a kit that includes a 5 1/2" by 4 1/4" card base, an envelope and the pre-cut paper along with an embellishment to create their own card.

CTMH Chantilly Card using Blush card stock background and Blush ink for sentiment

Here are the dimensions if you want to make your own version at home:

Use a 5 1/2" x 4 1/4" card base and envelope from the White Value Pack (50 cards and envelopes for $14.95), then cut and layer the following:

5 1/2" x 4 1/4" piece of card stock
5 1/4" x 4" piece of B&T patterned paper
4" x 1" strip of card stock
4" x 3/4" strip of B&T patterned paper
Cricut Art Philosophy Shape 2 - Cut one at 1 1/4" in a coordinating piece of card stock, then one more at 1" using white card stock.
Cricut Art Philosophy Shift/Flower 3 shape at 1", 3/4" and 1/2" out of either card stock or B&T patterned paper, layer and embellish.  I cut the middle one out of white card stock and then stamped it using the coordinating stamp and Blush ink.  The pink embellishment is from Pink Glitter Gems.  The clear one that I colored to match is from Sparkles Clear Assortment using the Twilight Exclusive Inks Marker Set.

Thank you for letting me share what inspires me.