Exciting News!

Hi Everybody!

Well it's been a busy couple of weeks for me and I finally have time to sit down and tell you all some exciting news!

If you are a regular follower then you know that the annual Light the Night walk in support of the Leukemia and Lymphoma society is a cause near and dear to my heart as my Mom is living with Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma.

For the last couple of years I have been toying with the idea of hosting card making workshops as a way to boost the fundraising done by my team Star Bright.

Well, this year I am buckling down and getting serious about it. So serious that I have signed up as an independent consultant with Close To My Heart! 

I'm hoping to save $$ on the cost of the supplies I will need to host the workshops AND I will be donating 100% of my consultant commission on any purchases made from my CTMH portal to our fundraising effort.  I have always loved CTMH products and figure this is a great pairing!

Feel free to browse through my online shopping portal and place an order for some new crafty supplies! 

If you have any questions about what you see, just drop me a message at the email link you see on the portal!

You will be seeing posts on this blog from time to time about the products available, current promotions, my card workshops and of course, what I'm creating with all my new CTMH goodies. I'm probably going to be doing a few giveaways as well!

If you would like to see some of my past creations with Close to My Heart products, just search the blog using the search box to your right. Type in CTMH or Close to My Heart and you will find plenty of posts!

And just thought I would share that May is an excellent time to take advantage of two concurrent promotions.

With a minimum $50 purchase, you can snag the May stamp of the month set for just $5 AND the special "Free to Be Me" paper pack for another $5!

Here's a couple of the official photos from CTMH showcasing those two promos. 

First up, the "Free to Be Me" Paper Pack in celebration of National Scrapbooking Month.

And, of course, the May Stamp of the Month - You've Got A Friend

There are more details about these promotions available through the shopping portal as well.

So, I hope you are all as excited about this news as I am! Feel free to share the news with your crafty pals who might be interested in supporting my new venture!

March Viva la Verve - Week 1

Hi folks,

Well, I have today and tomorrow off work so I get a four day weekend! Yippee! I am actually taking the time off to hopefully get the prep work done for my inaugural fund-raising card making workshop for the Light the Night Walk.

If you are a regular reader, you know I have participated in this walk for couple of years now, since my Mom was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma. The walk is a fund-raiser in support of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society of Canada.

This year, my team is starting our fund-raising early in the year and I am hoping to be able to host a few card-making workshops with all the funds raised going to the campaign.

I'm going to try to keep the cards fairly clean and simple in style in order to maximize the number of cards the participants can make in the time we have for the workshop. Colouring will most likely be kept to a minimum.

I've asked my friends for their opinions on the types of cards they would like to make and they all seemed to be pretty unanimous - birthday cards for grown-ups and thank you cards. So, I figure I will do two variations of each card and the participants can choose to use a birthday greeting or thank you for their sentiment.


So, with that in mind, I decided that the first card I would prep for the workshop would use the Week 1 Sketch for the March Viva La Verve Challenges over on SplitCoastStampers.

Here are the four samples I made - two birthday cards and two thank you cards - two styles by mixing up the accent dies and patterned papers.

It is surprising how long it actually took me to make the four samples and prep the supplies for the workshop. I'm optimistic and limiting the kits to eight of each style of card. So, I prepped eight of the cards with the floral die and eight with the butterfly. I figure I can accommodate eight card makers comfortably in our front room (I have hosted workshops before at my house) and, even if I don't get eight sign-ups, I can offer the extra kits as take homes OR I can make and sell them myself to the non-crafty peeps OR they can go into my stash (yay for stash!).

Anyways, that's enough yammering from me for now. Here are the card details:

• finished size: 5x5 inches, white card stock base. Style #1 also uses CTMH Desert Sand, Bamboo & Colonial White mats. Style #2 also uses CTMH Indian Corn Blue & Outdoor Denim mats.
• patterned paper: CTMH Pemberley. Style #1 I distressed the edges of the papers. On the first card, I inked the edges, on the second I roughed them up with my scissors.
• die cuts: Spellbinders Petite Circles, Style #1 also uses Verve's "Joyful Blooms" die. Style #2 also uses Verve's "Flutterby" die.
• stamps: Style #1 uses Verve "Joyful Blooms", Style #2 uses Verve's "Chicks Rule" and "Amazing Wishes"
• ink: CTMH Outdoor Denim, Indian Corn Blue
• butcher's twine

challenges for these cards:

• One Crazy Stamper March Challenge: Anything Goes
• Pile it On #9: Happy Birthday
• Love to Create #55: Pick Two. I chose die cuts and twine. Though I guess on all of the cards I also used a sentiment and on two of them I also used distressing (ink on one, scissors on the other!)
• Through the Craft Room Door: Anything Goes
• Papertake Weekly Challenges: Anything Goes
• 365 Cards Day 65: Word Wednesday: Wings (for the butterfly cards)

Thanks for stopping by! I hope to be back again over the next few days with more cards!