Rock the New Year!

Happy New Year!  The Christmas season was full of activities in my household and being from Puerto Rico meant that it was not finished until "the Wise Men visited" my home on January 6th - we celebrate "Epiphany" or "Wise Men Day" in Latin cultures.  So now that it's behind me, I can wish all my crafting friends my first greeting of the New Year 2012: may it bring you great joy and many blessings from God!
Now, on to crafting - he, he, he!  There is always a great Close To My Heart special in January and this year it's especially good! 

 I know many of you really like to make altered items, especially to give away, and the "Rock the Block" special is just fabulous for that!  It comes with a huge 8.5x11" or the "E-size" stamp set and a sneak peek product from the Spring 2012 Idea Book: nine 2" square white chipboard blocks in their own little tray!  

8.5 x 11" E-size stamp "Rock the Block"

Most of the images you see fit in the 2" square space and can you see using them everywhere - a great stamp set to have on hand to send love and encouragement to your loved ones! This is the set we'll be using for my Annual Valentine cards, by the way.

 Look  below where I've included the video CTMH made to give you a close up view of the kit  (it's only 3 minutes long) and let your mind start thinking about what you could come up with!


  This kit is on sale for just $15 with any purchase of $25 from the current Idea Book.  Note: this stamp set will only be available through this promotion so if you like it this is the only opportunity to obtain it! An E-size stamp alone is regularly priced at $29.95 and the cubes will be $14.95, for a retail value of $44.90 - that's a savings of over $30!    

January Stamp of the Month "Little Reminder" D-size

I know I love after Christmas sales so how about an even greater value? 
This month the Stamp of the Month "Little Reminder" (which is a D-size stamp) is a great set as well - look at the great numbers that come with the set - and it's only $5 with any $50 order.  So, if you order the "Rock the Block" special and bump up your total order to reach $50 then you can add it to your purchase and if you added up all the savings with these two specials, you are looking at $97 in products for $55 - $42 in savings!  These are two great stamp sets to have and it's a great time to get them.  Contact me and we'll get your order right away!








Making memories with you in the New Year,

Specials to end the year with

  

Christmas Day was great at the Tuggle home, with family celebrations all day, and I hope yours was as well!    And maybe "Santa" left you some crafting cash to spend so here are reminders for two fantastic specials CTMH has right now.

This month's Stamp of the Month, "Mad About You," has hearts, swirls and "love-ly" sayings that are always good to have, but we know that Valentine's Day is coming.  Look at it here:

Remember this set can be purchased at full retail for $17.95 or for just $5 with every $50 purchase you make.

In addition we have a GREAT new kit, with a big "E-size" stamp set and a sneak peek product from the new Idea Book, called "Rock the Block" for just $15 with every $25 purchase from the Autumn/Winter Idea Book.

 Look at all these images - the squares are 2" big because they are designed for the 9 color-ready blocks that are included in the kit, the "Collage Cubes" that will be in the new Idea Book.  Together these items would retail for $45 so that's a great deal!

Plus if you purchase one of these two specials before the end of the month you can select your choice of Opaques or Sparkles for free as my end of the year gift to you!  So call or email me soon to place your order or to answer any questions you may have.

Making memories with you,

So easy an 8 yr. old can do it!

Lots of you have used Cricut machines but it's only been a recent addition at my house. A few days ago I was crafting so I took it out to the dining room area and left it there for a few days.  One morning I hear the familiar Cricut "chirp" sound before I'm out of bed so I get up to see what's going on.  There's my 8 yr. old and her 12 yr. old sister loading the mat!  They turn around and say, "we're making our Christmas cards!"

The CTMH Cricut Art Philosophy cartridge contains over 700 images and comes with a little spiral bound handbook with all the images.  Well, I took that little handbook and scanned it all in and re-printed all the pages in 8.5x11 in. pages, placed them in page protectors and in a binder, and boy, I am glad I did!  It's funny to watch them page through the handy (and much more durable) binder and decide and find the images they want.  

 I teach them how to use the book's image to determine the size of the cut but they did all the thinking themselves.  They came up with cards with stars and their decorative overlays, cut out tags with little stars already cut out, and learned to use the punch out to enhance their design!  My 8 yr. old decided on using the scalloped oval that has Christmas trees cut out cut on white, with the solid oval underneath cut in green so it would look like ... get this ... a "thought" cloud where someone was dreaming of Christmas trees!!  Well, it made me laugh!

I can't tell you just how versatile this cartridge is so if you are a Cricut user (or hope to be one) you should consider getting this one - you will use it constantly!  For each of my customers, I got permission from CTMH to give you the file I created with all the images for you to make your own binder like I did.  I can even help your loved ones get that special gift as a "surprise" for you - just give them my email or address and I'll work with them!  Here's a couple of projects I made with the AP cartridge, the Dimensional Elements and the stamp sets that all come in the AP bundle for $99!  The first is a 5x7 Christmas card using purple and green shades and the other is a small, purse size album using  tags and extra pagesthat match the chipboard tags - hope they inspire you!  Email me and I can tell you how I made them!

 

Last Day to order "Holiday Wishes" & "Cherish the Day"

These two beautiful stamp sets are olnly available through today since they are special item only for the month of November.  Please call or email your order in to me by tonight - yes, I AM up quite late! :-)

Three Holiday Cards and Black Friday countdown

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!  While in Florida we don't have the changing leaves so much it's still such a pretty effect that I had to make a card in honor of the Fall season!  I am thankful for so many things but especially for knowing that the Maker of all Creation loves me!  This card uses the November stamp of the month "Cherish the Day" tickets and numbers plus "Harvest Happiness" for the leaves - all cut with the Cricut.  Thanks to Annette Green for the inspiration for the card.

  The next 2 cards use "Holiday Wishes" stamps and the Cricut, too.  The gold card uses heat embossing for the stocking and sentiment (the gold paper is not CTMH).  Simple and elegant but soooo easy! Thanks to Allisa Chilton for the idea.  The stockings on the mantle card was inspired by Marie Flayer.  The stockings were cut with the Cricut and then stamped with the matching stamp image from the "Holiday Wishes" stamp set.I used gold brads with a little brown Staz-on to dull the shiny effect and make them look like nails - nice, right?  I hope you enjoy these and feel inspired to make your own. 

 

Don't forget to click on the November Specials tab above to get all the details on the current sales:

• While Supplies Last - get your specials before they are gone!
• "Holiday Wishes"  special stamp set for only $5 with every $25 of stamp purchases!
• ** 5 DAYS left **  in my 2nd Annual  Black Friday Special Sale that runs through Cyber Monay - Nov. 28th with a Mystery Hostess!

With these special offers now is a good time to get your Cricut cartridge - in time to help you make all those holiday crafts!  Contact me if you have any questions or if you need some help deciding - I'll assist you in getting the best package and price as possible!