"Deal of the Decade" Launches in Close To My Heart -- Shop with me to win prizes!

WOW, do I have a Close To My Heart deal for you! Rightfully, our Corporate office is calling it the "Deal of the Decade," and here is why:

During the entire month of December 2014, if you have a qualifying purchase of just $50, you can purchase not ONLY the Stamp of the Month for just $5.00 ($17.95 retail value), but also you can buy any and every C- or D-sized stamp set in the 2014-15 Annual Inspirations catalog for just $10 each. Normally, these are $13.95 and $17.95, respectively -- so that is a 28% and a 44% savings, again, respectively.  

We've never seen such an amazing sale, and it's all the buzz.  

But WAIT, there's more!!!  On Monday, December 1 ONLY (that's right -- Cyber Monday), you can purchase ANY of the CTMH/Cricut Collections at 20% off.  Buy one, or buy all four -- what a perfect Christmas present for the crafter in your family.  The Cyber Deal runs from midnight until 11:59 p.m. (Mountain time -- CTMH is headquartered in Utah) on Monday, December 1.  Hurry, hurry!

...and YES, your purchase of just one Cricut cartridge qualifies you to take advantage of the stamp deal's "Deal of the Decade".

Okay, so I wanted to show you which stamp sets are C- and D-level in this year's CTMH Annual Inspiration catalog, so you can print this out and decide which ones should be on your must-have list. 

Below are pictures of the 68 qualifying stamp sets, and following I will place a list. The stamp sets are shown in the order of the list (below), if you read left to right, and top to bottom.  The list has the stamp set number, its name, and the page number on which  you will find the stamp set in the catalog.

I would sincerely appreciate your shopping through my Close To My Heart Online Business Office. 

My address is http://cardmonkey.ctmh.com.  
Once there, join the "Deal of the Decade" party by clicking that box.  Those who JOIN this party and place a $50+ order and purchase even just one stamp set on the "Deal of the Decade" will be entered into a raffle drawing to win a gift basket of all sorts of CTMH goodies that I have assembled. 

And for each $10 stamp set you buy on the "D.o.t.D", you'll get an extra entry...

Unable to purchase this month but still want a chance to win the gift basket?  

Leave a comment below and you'll automatically get one entry.  Simple. Easy peasy.  

And know I truly do appreciate your reading my blog, and hope that when the time is right for you, you'll shop for Close To My Heart products with me. If I can inspire you, or would like to show you how to make a particular project, let me show you how.  

The grand prize drawing will take place on January 1, so watch throughout the month as the grand prize swells!  And who knows, maybe I'll even have more than one prize and winner?!  Stay tuned ... 

So here are the stamp sets you'll want to pick from:

The following stamp sets are eligible for the December Constant Campaign:
C1504	Fall Harvest	55
C1506	Flakey Friends	81
C1509	Magic Potions	42
C1522	Creepy Creatures	43
C1533	Fabulous You	107
C1537	Honeycomb	128
C1556	Paisley Perfect	133
C1557	Polar Bear Holiday	80
C1558	Wild Wonders	94
C1559	Always Grateful	54
C1561	One-Way Borders	119
C1562	Mary and Babe	72
C1567	Santa Claus	71
C1570	Lifting Spirits	117
C1576	Pick a Posey	106
C1578	Camper Crazy	116
C1580	Big Top	92
C1584	Feathers	121
C1588	Great Job	30
C1589	Lifetime of Happiness	52
C1590	Delightful Ditty	34
C1591	Merry, Merry	68
C1592	World Traveler	115
C1594	Treasured Friendship	126
C1595	Hello Summer	129
C1597	Rainy Day	104
C1598	Noel	65
C1599	Pretty Petals	130
C1600	Happy Birds	57
C1601	Nursery Charms	95
C1602	Magical Moment	154
D1469	Polka Dot Alphabet	137
D1507	Urban Alphabet	137
D1522	Glamour Lowercase	135
D1537	Glamour Uppercase	135
D1539	The Happy Couple	108
D1540	In the Background	132
D1541	Fast and Furious	120
D1542	For a Friend	58
D1543	Country-Born	59
D1544	Distressed Backgrounds	45
D1550	Happy Autumn	56
D1552	Magical Days	70
D1553	Yuletide Greetings	66
D1554	Christmas Village	67
D1555	All the Details	33
D1556	School Years	32
D1559	Geometric Backgrounds	44
D1560	Holiday Tags	90
D1578	Flight of the Arrows	35
D1584	Big Hug	96
D1599	Geek is Chic	31
D1600	Here We Go	114
D1602	A Budding Friendship	102
D1603	Shreddin' the Slopes	77
D1604	Season of Thanks	51
D1605	Halloween Greetings	40
D1607	Bodacious Banners	93
D1609	Seaside Greetings	127
D1610	Christmas Post	64
D1611	Frosty Fun	83
D1612	Teacher Appreciation	37
D1613	Best Christmas	78
D1614	Reason for the Season	73
D1616	Have a Happy Day	118
D1617	Make It Merry	69
D1618	Build-a-Cake	88
D1627	Your Own Kind of Wonderful	105

THANK YOU again for your support throughout the year. 

DeFiaNtLy DiFfeReNt & CreAtiVeLy Yours,

You've got to BELIEVE in Bling -- The Buckle Boutique's Winter Bling Party, November 27

Welcome to The Buckle Boutique Winter Bling Party!

Today the Buckle Boutique Design Team will be sharing projects we have created using products available from The Buckle Boutique for your winter holiday crafting.Get ready to enjoy some projects with rhinestones, sparkle and bling!

Today I'll show you one of the many holiday projects I've been making using the fantastic Dazzling Diamonds adhesive rhinestone resin sheets.  In fact, I'll show you more fantastic blinged projects throughout December, so you can make your Christmas the most fantastically blinged-out holiday ever. 

After all, "Bling is the new black," I am told ... and ... 

You've GOT to BELIEVE!

Imagine this framed ... I just haven't gotten there yet ... and hanging in your home. SWEET, huh?  

Or, do you like it better in silver with red letters?  

I made BOTH projects in less than a half-hour, using The Buckle Boutique's cuttable adhesive rhinestone resin sheets. 

To make this, adhere your Dazzling Diamonds sheet bling-side DOWN onto a sticky Cricut mat (the stickier, the better). To make sure the sheet doesn't shift, I added some painter's tape to the corners and sides to hold the sheet firmly onto the mat. 

Next, load your Cricut with the ProvoCraft/Close To My Heart exclusive "Artbooking" cartridge, where you'll find the word "Believe" as you see it here.  I cut the image at 8.5", using the Deep Cut Blade set at 6 on the blade/5 on the machine, speed 3, multi-cut 2. I cut the image once from the clear Dazzling Diamonds, and repeated the cutting by cutting it from the red Dazzling Diamonds. Make sure when you're "weeding" or removing the cut from the mats that you save all of the little pieces inside the letters "e", "l" and "B".  

If you are adhering this onto a surface other than paper, peel back the adhesive backing of the Dazzling Diamond a little at a time, first affixing the background color to whatever you are applying the image. While the product does not stretch naturally, you can yank it out of position by over-tugging, so be gentle and slow. Keep the rhinestone sheet smooth and lines straight as you peel back and apply the sheet. Not quite right? You can reposition it a bit -- but again, first time is the charm.

Once your background is in place, remove the backing from the word "Believe" one letter at a time, and glide the word into place. Just peel back the removable backing as you're affixing it to your image and it will fit perfectly. Then insert the insides of the letters in the contrasting color, and voila, you're done! Easy-peasy!!

Now because I want to frame this for hanging, I wanted to adhere my sheets onto thick cardstock. With the clear DD rhinestone sheets, I wasn't as careful and the sheet really did stick pretty firmly to the paper. Repositioning wasn't easy -- so I recommend LEAVING ON the adhesive backing and instead, using a two-way tape (like Sookwang or Scor-Pal) to affix the image. I did this with the red image, and it was easier and neater for my purposes. 

Which one do you like better?

WINTER BLING BLOG HOP SPECIAL!!  If you would like to make this project yourself and need the ARTBOOKING cartridge to do so, I will give a $15 rebate to the first FIVE people who order the cartridge from my Close To My Heart business page by clicking HERE. Once you have ordered it, please leave me a comment, or contact me at cardmonkey@comcast.net, for your rebate check or PayPal deposit. This rebate is from CardMonkey personally, not through Close To My Heart, and is only good for Artbooking cartridges purchased through my website. 

BUT WAIT! Before you go, I have one more great deal to tell you about.  The Buckle Boutique is offering a GREAT PRE-HOLIDAY DEAL for YOU at their online store!!

The Buckle Boutique is offering

15% off your total order

when you use coupon code 

happyholiday15

This offer is good from 

Wednesday November 27th 

through Monday December 2nd

Fine print: Discount cannot be combined with any other offer, is limited to in stock merchandise only and is not applicable on custom or previous orders.

So make sure to head over to The Buckle Boutique and stock up on your favorite products right away!

Now, let me move you on down the road to see the rest of the fantastic things that the Buckle Boutique Design Team has made for you ... head on over to my friend, Lori's fantastic project at "Scrappin' My Stress Away." 

Here is the full hop list of the Buckle Boutique's great Design Team, in case you get lost:

The Buckle Boutique

Shawn

Ellen

Lori

Stephanie

Niki

For more info, see The Buckle Boutique's
Website // Blog // Facebook Page // Twitter // Pinterest

DeFiaNtLy DiFfeReNt & CreAtiVeLy Yours,

A Hair Salon's Banner using CTMH and TBB products

I've been having a lot of fun creating using The Buckle Boutique's adhesive rhinestone sheets.  For this banner for a friend's hair salon, I cut the very fine letters using my Cricut Expression 2 and Cricut Artbooking cartridge.

To cut the letters, I referenced the tips that The Buckle Boutique's Design Team Coordinator Shawn Mosch posted on TBB's blog earlier this month.  Go HERE to see them for yourself, and make sure you read all the way to # 6 about flipping the letters. (Dohhhh, I didn't at first!) 

I adhered the rhinestone letter to a white cardstock cut in the same size, and popped it with cardboard underneath, to raise the letters up. 

I made the rest of the banner using a Close To My Heart pre-cut Mini Banner (discontinued) and covered it with "For Always" CTMH designer paper called B&T Duos. I made the rosettes using a Silhouette Online Store file (on my Cameo, using another B&T Duo, "Laughing Lola". 

I tied the banner pennants together using CTMH black tulle ribbon (also discontinued). There are chains at either end to hang it -- and those chains are from a CTMH Base & Bling Necklace that I cut apart and used every last link! :) 

I hope you like it --  I'm sure my friend, Chris, will too! 


DeFiaNtLy DiFfeReNt & CreAtiVeLy Yours,

Be Inspired!

What great fun I had teaching the first in my series of Craft Classes at Kathy Davis Studios! The class was held in the KDS retail store (303 Horsham Avenue, Suite F, Horsham, PA) last Thursday evening, for 2.5 hours of crafting camaraderie.  

 Thank you, Kathy, for inviting me into your Studio
to teach these classes. You are an inspiration!

 

I designed six cards for the students to make. The cards feature KDS's "Ambrosia 1" line of paper which is available in the US via Joann Stores online site. I also incorporated some of my most beloved stamps from Close To My Heart, as well as some paper cuts using the brand new Cricut/CTMH "Artbooking" cartridge. 

I prepared kits for the students to use in the class ... and the good news for CardMonkey fans is that I have SIX kits leftover, and I'm making them available for sale to the first six who express interest. 

The price for the prepared kit is $20 which includes shipping in the US. (I will ship internationally for payment of the difference in shipping cost.)  For that, you will receive an instruction guide which includes color pictures and step-by-step instructions on how to make the cards. You will receive the 9 sheets of 8x8" cardstock for you to cut; any specialized cuts using the Cricut cartridge will be done ahead of time. You'll also receive 6 card blanks for you to build your card. The embellishments are provided too, including the IKEA red/white bakers twine, Stampin' Up white baker's twine, double faced red satin ribbon and sparkle gems. While you will have to provide your preferred adhesives, I do provide a sheet of foam adhesive dots.

There is no club to join at this time -- which means no long term commitment -- as these kits will only be made available if I have remainders after my Craft Classes. So far, I have SIX kits available (and I'll update this blog post as more are sold) -- first come, first served. Please send an e-mail to me at cardmonkey@comcast.net if you are interested in purchasing a kit; I'll accept both PayPal payments and checks. Details will be provided in your confirmation e-mail back. 

Sound like fun?  C'mon, give these a try!  You'll see how much fun they are to make -- and be hooked on papercrafting just like me ... oh nooooo!  :)

Yours in the jungle,