Hello Life! Hello Good Friends!

I recently went to my (gulp) 30 year class reunion. It was so good to see friends and relive memories. But I also got a chance to hang with some of my very best friends. I still see them, I don't have to wait for high school reunions to catch up, but it was a good excuse to document our ongoing friendship.

I really truly do love these people.

For these pages, I used a combo of all three Hello Life! stamps sets available during September, National Stamping Month. Here's another look at the three.

Pocket Scrapbooking

Card making

Scrapbooking

If you want these sets, act fast as after September 30th, they will be no more. Remember, choose one or two at $13.95 each or get all three for $34.95. And I'd love to see what you create. If you are on Instagram, use the hashtag #ctmhhellolife.

Happy Stamping!

Artistic U is only a few weeks away!

The Fall Artistic U is only a few weeks away, November 12-15. There is still time to register--just click on this link. And this year, we are going to have a pajama party! Staying up late (even all night for some die hard scrapbookers) is part of a retreat so along with great projects, prizes and good food, this year, we're giving out pj's instead of the usual t-shirt.

I hope to have you join us. We have SOOOOO much fun. Here's a post from last Fall's retreat. You can also check out past retreats on our website, ArtisticU.net. Sign up soon because registration closes in October!

September Stamp of the Month--Paper Garden

I was going to spend the whole day today in my craft room. Life intervened and I got 30 minutes.

I almost didn't take advantage of that 30 minutes. What could I possibly get done in 30 minutes? But then I forced my grumpy, bad self into the craft room and got messy.

I tore a page from an old Reader's Digest Condensed Book. A little white paint thinly applied and some cocoa ink aged the page quite nicely.

I stamped the September Stamp of the Month, Paper Garden, in one of the new colors in the CTMH catalog, Peacock. I love how vibrant it is.

This was my first time using the new gold foil tape. I like it.

Sometimes, just 30 minutes of paper crafting is all you need to put your mind in the right place and make all right with the world.

Hello Life! -- Scrapbooking

It's National Stamping Month and time to take a look at the third exclusive stamp set available this month, Hello Life!-Scrapbooking.  

My family had our photos taken a few months ago by the amazingly talented D'arcy Benincosa. And when I saw the Hello Life!-Scrapbooking set, I knew exactly what photo I was scrapbooking.

The stamps are simple so they don't distract from the photo.

I LOVE these people and I LOVE that camera. So cute!

So, which Hello Life! stamp set do you have to have this month, Cardmaking, Pocket Scrapbooking or Scrapbooking? Or do you need all three? (I vote for all three!) You have until September 30th to decide but don't wait too long and miss out!

Happy Stamping!

More Hello Life--Pocket Scrapbooking

It's National Stamping Month and there is a lot of fun to be had this month.

Last blog post, I featured the Hello Life!--Cardmaking set. This time, I'll spotlight the Hello Life!--Pocket Scrapbooking set.

 

Pocket Scrapbooking has proven to be a fast and easy way to scrapbook your memories. Close to My Heart carries a wide variety of pocket sheet protectors in various configurations and some beautiful pocket cards in the Picture My Life line.  

I had the perfect photos. My bestie and I went on a field trip to our favorite book store, The King's English Bookshop in Salt Lake City, for my birthday. In addition to buying some fabulous new books, we got some fun photos as well. To complement the photos, I chose some cards from the Picture My Life Beautiful You collection and paired them with some hand stamping using the Hello Life! set. 

Shhh, don't tell the stamping isn't perfect. I covered it up with a photo.  No one knows but us.

I made a couple of backgrounds like this and slid these, the photos, and the PML cards into the sheets protectors and ta da! I was done. 

Fast, easy and documented! 

Don't forget, the three sets are only available in September. You can choose any one at $13.95 or all three at $34.95! Hello Life!--Scrapbooking will be up in my next post.

September is National Stamping Month

September is National Stamping Month, and this year Close To My Heart has something to help every kind of papercrafter say a big “hello” to life!

Pocket Scrapbooking

Scrapbooking

Card Making

Available only during the month of September, these exclusive C-size My Acrylix^® Hello, Life! stamp sets can be purchased for $13.95 each! Or, for an even better deal, you can purchase all three for only $34.95 —a savings of $6.90! Each stamp set is designed to fit with a specific type of papercrafting, whether that’s scrapbooking, cardmaking, or pocket scrapbooking. However, all the stamp sets coordinate with each other and can be used together to create dynamic artwork. These stamp sets also coordinate with shapes from the new Cricut^® Artistry collection to help expand your artwork options even further.

For the next few blog posts, I want to spotlight each set to help you decide which one you love (or if you need all three). I'll start with the Hello Life! -- Cardmaking set.

I love the big bold Hello so that is where I started.

I water colored the background to keep it simple.

This card was also water colored with a Cricut cut sun and a little Zoe paper.

I'll be spotlighting the other two sets soon. Stay tune!

Also, follow Close To My Heart’s blog, Instagram, and Facebook page for artwork inspiration featuring these stamp sets all month long. You can post your own artwork to your social media channels using the hashtag #ctmhHelloLife.