Getting Crafty CTMH Style

Thought I'd post some recent crafts made with Close To My Heart products, or mostly CTMH.

These coasters and boxes are now on sale for $5 at my website: Sumscrapbook.ctmh.com. You can find it in their While Supplies Last part of the Shop Section. The Webelos turned these into countdowns for Christmas, using the new Magical Days Stamp set, which I LOVE and paper I had lying around. Some was DCVW, SU, and CTMH. . . I'm an equal opportunity shopper.

 On the back were scriptures about Jesus so they read one a night during the whole month of December with their families to help them feel the true spirit of Christmas. It can also count for their Faith In God award, so I was glad to be able to help them earn that as well as count this as our final project for our Craftsman Activity Badge. It was tedious for the boys to glue, but they were excited to have this project made and its something they can use year after year. They also stained and took home 3 wooden projects that we made the week before. Sorry I forget to take pics. They made a display stand for their pinewood derby cars, a key ring holder for their dads for Christmas and a recipe card holder for their moms.

 Our ward's Fabulous Fun Friday was last Friday night. Besides the wonderful soups, salads, and desserts we had, we all made crafts. Mom was in charge of one this year, so I helped her and MyGirl came with us and made several. She liked this fabric necklace and the monster cupcakes class the best.

 I, knowing she was taking this class, bought CTMH's bling base necklace for her. It made it really easy to have a space to glue these fabric rosettes onto and will keep it laying flat. We'll be making these for gifts for others this year. . . easy craft with a glue gun :-)

 Mom's big project was this perpetual calendar. You have all the numbers of the month on it and then you write down whose birthdays are on which day and you don't have to rewrite them every year. Genius, right? We've sold these for years. My aunt ordered several once for her ward and Mom and I had made one for ourselves a few years back, but I guess she just wanted to support my business. She's always too good to me!

I told you I was quitting, and I fully intended to be done. Then someone came and placed a big order on my website. I didn't have to do anything, but I got commission off of that. Then the next catalog came out, and frankly, even though I don't need a bunch of stamps and paper, several of the things you're about to see were in it because they are just TOO CUTE! So, yeah, I'm still a Consultant. Fortunately, when people place orders, it makes it really easy for me, and I've met some people lately who seem interested, so I'll have to see how it goes next year and if it doesn't go well, then I'll just really quit next time. . . I know. . . I'll believe it when I see it too. I'm adding inks and colors in case I want to repeat this project again - for my own personal reference.

Jan: Black Ink, Crystal Blue and Amethyst Cardstock

 We put a little glitter on each image. I used the Prisma Clear Glitter, my mom used Martha Stewart's colored glitter. Both looked good. The colored obviously gave it more color. Sometimes I thought that was perfect and other times I thought it was too much, so I opted for the more neutral to keep my life simpler, as I finished most of my glittering at home.

We had six people sign up to make this project and we were busy for almost three and a half hours helping them. It takes time to stamp, glue, and glitter twelve different images, plus we stamped smaller images down the side of the calendars for each month. We used over twenty-five inks and stamps to create this project, and helping people figure out which ink was which took time. But, since we had it all out, we made two more for ourselves while the mess was already there. You can see a little example below. Mostly we used open or very small stamps down the sides, as we wanted there to be plenty of room to write in the birthdays.

Feb: Blush and Cranberry Inks and Cardstock

Mar: Sunflower and Clover Meadow Ink, Sunflower and Pear Cardstock

This flower did look really pretty with pink glitter around the outside. . . I may be making a change here. . . hmmmm.

April: Honey Ink, Hollyhock and Amethyst Cardstock

May: Smoothie and Lagoon Ink, Honey and Lagoon Cardstock

June: Brown Bag and Sweet Leaf Ink, Creme Brulee and Chocolate Cardstock

July: Outdoor Denim and Honey Ink, Holiday Red and Outdoor Denim Cardstock

August: Gypsy Ink, Pear and Lagoon Cardstock

Sept: Saddle Ink, Green Colored Pencil, Topiary and Buttercup Cardstock

Oct: Slate and Sunset Ink, Topiary and Sunset Cardstock

Nov: Autumn Terracotta and Chocolate Ink, Creme Brulee and Chocolate Cardstock

Dec: Cashmere and Sunkiss Yellow Ink, Ruby and Olive Cardstock

Last but not least, another cardboard box. This time its smaller, about 4 x 6, that I covered with Washi Tapes from Target and Tim Holtz. I just cut a few ribbon cuts on the ends of some and let them be the whole design. Easy peasy! My children all use one of these to hold their wallets, keys, phones, whatever they want in their rooms, and not left in their backpacks or purse, which we tend to leave not in our bedrooms.I like that these CTMH boxes come with magnetic closures, so they always stay shut and flat, but are super easy to access also. The cardboard is smooth and easy to adhere to, and is thick enough that you can manipulate what you want on it and it doesn't get bent out of shape. Our catalog is constantly changing which cardboard items we carry. In the past they've had milk cartons, dimensional stars, journals . . . a bunch of things. I like to buy these when they get cheap and are about to run out as they aren't Necessary, just fun and as My Girl likes to say, "I'm getting my Crafty on now."