Retiring Items and Stamp of the Month

Hello Friends -

I just got back from the annual Close To My Heart Convention and my left brain is fried! Our new catalog, Annual Inspirations, will debut on August 1 and it is filled with fabulous things.

On the flip side, July is the last chance to order our favorite products that are retiring when the current catalog expires. All the current paper packets are going; the bracket frames and the 6x6 accordion albums too. Five colors are being retired: Blush, Buttercup, Crème Brulee, Sky and Twilight. I've attached a full list at the bottom of this post, so check and see if there's something you have to have.

Prices are also going up on a few items, so I wanted to give you a chance to see the list in case there's something you need to pick up at the old price.

 

Be sure to check out the July Stamp of the Month: Circus Alphabet. It's wildly whimsical -- I've already used it on a couple of mixed media canvases --- (see pictures on my previous post). This stamp set retails for $17.95, but you can get it for only $5 when you make a $50 order. Here's a video featuring some great ideas using the Circus Alphabet stamp set.



Okay, if you'd like to place an order, the easiest way is to click on the Shopping Cart. on the upper right side of this page. That will take you to my CTMH business site. Just click on SHOP (in the top row) to reach Close To My Heart Shopping. (There's a link at the bottom of the left hand column for Retiring Items.)  Your purchase will be sent right to you. Remember, you'll need to order by July 31 to take advantage of the lower prices

Drop me an email or give me a call if you have any questions. I look forward to hearing from you. Thanks and happy scrappin' and stampin',

Shelley

P. S. Here's the list of products that are retiring at the end of July.

Spring/Summer 2014 Retiring list
Item #	Description
Z1789	Chalkboard 12" x 12" Sheet, Adhesive-backed
Z1832	Spinner
Z1843	Irresistibles™ Frames
Z1844	Color-Ready Trinkets Wooden Shapes
Z1858	Irresistibles™ Hexagons
Z1863	Color-Ready Midtown Cork Shapes
X7170C	Laughing Lola Complements Dimensional Elements
X7171C	Sarita My Stickease® Assortment
X7172C	ProPlayer My Stickease® Assortment
X7173C	Babycakes Complements Canvas Shapes
X7177C	Skylark Dimensional Elements Complements
X7178C	Ivy Lane My Stickease® Assortment
X7179C	Ariana Dimensional Elements Complements
X7180C	Balloon Ride Dimensional Elements Complements
X7181C	Jubilee Dimensional Elements Complements
X7182C	Timberline My Stickease® Assortment
X7183C	Lollydoodle My Stickease® Assortment
Z1039	Create A Shade Pearl Paint
Z1825	Keyboard Kraft Alphabet
Z1835	Tiny Type Epoxy Alphabet
Z1961	Marquee Enamel Shapes–White
Z1891	Base & Bling Teal Jewels
Z1892	Base & Bling Black Jewels
Z1893	Base & Bling Red Jewels
Z1894	Base & Bling Pink Jewels
Z1895	Base & Bling Purple Jewels
Z1854	Laughing Lola Assortment
Z1869	Babycakes Assortment
Z1873	Sarita Assortment
Z1879	ProPlayer Assortment
Z3000	Skylark Assortment
Z3001	Ivy Lane Assortment
Z3002	Ariana Assortment
Z3003	Balloon Ride Assortment
Z3004	Jubilee Assortment
Z3005	Timberline Assortment
Z3006	Lollydoodle Assortment
Z1837	Mini-Medley Accents Wooden Collection
Z1702	Baker's Twine Paradise Assortment
Z1751	Harvest Baker's Twine
Z1760	Burlap Ribbon
Z1808	Outdoor Denim Chevron Ribbon
Z1817	Slate Polka-Dot Washi Tape
Z1826	Hollyhock Zipper Lace
Z1846	Ruby Chevron Ribbon
Z1850	Lagoon Houndstooth Washi Tape
Z1867	Jute Ribbon
Z1917	Lagoon Zipper Lace
Z1930	Chocolate Woodgrain Washi Tape
Z1343	12 x 12 Post Bound Album- Cranberry
Z1344	12 x 12 Post Bound Album- Hollyhock
Z1345	12 x 12 Post Bound Album- Black
Z1348	WIP 12x12 Album- Chocolate
Z1911	Designed Décor Frame Kit
Z1874	Base & Bling Necklace
Z1875	Base & Bling Cuff
Z1876	Base & Bling Hair Clips
Z1877	Base & Bling Rings
Z1878	Base & Bling Headband
Z1195	My Creations Memory Showcase 6x6
Z1647	My Creations® Card Box
Z1797	My Creations® Bracket Frame
Z1868	My Creations® Kraft Ring Box
Z1870	My Creations® Kraft Pocket Album
X1404	TrueFitFolios(5)
Z1820	For Always Textiles
Z1885	Sarita Textiles
Z1970	Skylark Textiles
Z1971	Jubilee Textiles
Z1801	Alcohol Blending Marker
Z2400	Marker Set: Twilight
Z2401	Marker Set: Crystal Blue
Z2402	Marker Set: Sky
Z2403	Marker Set: Juniper
Z2404	Marker Set: Sweet Leaf
Z2405	Marker Set: Buttercup
Z2406	Marker Set: Creme Brulee
Z2407	Marker Set: Sorbet
Z2408	Marker Set: Blush
Z2409	Marker Set: Smoothie
Z2410	Marker Set: Gypsy
Z2411	Marker Set: Pacifica
Z2412	Marker Set: Lagoon
Z2413	Marker Set: Topiary
Z2414	Marker Set: Pear
Z2415	Marker Set: Honey
Z2416	Marker Set: Sunset
Z2417	Marker Set: Cotton Candy
Z2418	Marker Set: Hollyhock
Z2419	Marker Set: Cranberry
Z2420	Marker Set: Smokey Plum
Z2421	Marker Set: Outdoor Denim
Z2422	Marker Set: Indian Corn Blue
Z2423	Marker Set: Ponderosa Pine
Z2424	Marker Set: New England Ivy
Z2425	Marker Set: Olive
Z2426	Marker Set: Goldrush
Z2427	Marker Set: Autumn Terracotta
Z2428	Marker Set: Barn Red
Z2429	Marker Set: Ruby
Z2430	Marker Set: Black
Z2431	Marker Set: Slate
Z2432	Marker Set: Whisper
Z2206	Reinker Blush
Z2210	Reinker Buttercup
Z2260	Reinker Twilight
Z2267	Reinker Crème Brulee
Z2294	Reinker Sky
Z2106	Stamp Pad Blush
Z2110	Stamp Pad .Buttercup
Z2160	Stamp Pad Twilight
Z2167	Stamp Pad Crème Brulee
Z2194	Stamp Pad Sky
Z2500	Whimsy Mini Pigment Set
Z4133	Marker Tower
1271	Cardstock12x12Buttercup
X5640	Cardstock12x12Blush
X5666	Cardstock12x12Twilight
X5754	Cardstock12x12CremeBrulee
X5761	Cardstock 12x12 Sky
X5936	Whimsy Cardstock Combo
X7170B	Laughing Lola Paper Packet
X7171B	Sarita Paper Packet
X7172B	ProPlayer Paper Packet
X7173B	Babycakes Paper Packet
X7177B	Skylark Paper Packet
X7178B	Ivy Lane Paper Packet
X7179B	Ariana Paper Packet
X7180B	Balloon Ride Paper Packet
X7181B	Jubilee Paper Packet
X7182B	Timberline Paper Packet
X7183B	Lollydoodle Paper Packet
1514	Tombow Adhesive
1515	Tombow Adhesive Refill
Z1311	Circle Punch 1 1/4
Z338	Euro Personal Paper Trimmer
Z1114	Piercing Tool Kit
A1130	Quick Cards-Bountiful Season
A1143	Teddy Bear Birthday
A1144	Birthday Cheer
A1145	Flowering Thanks
A1158	Doodle Signs
A1160	This Is Good
B1407	School Is Here
B1411	Greek Alphabet
B1425	Stitched with Love
B1426	Pick a Posy
B1446	Some Bunny
B1447	A Mother's Love
B1448	My Hero
B1451	Enjoy the Little Things
C1473	Remarkable Wreath
C1510	Merry & Bright
C1524	Words of Comfort
C1555	Count Your Blessings
C1563	Cityscape
C1572	On Holiday (Australia Only)
D1483	Glory To God
D1514	Just a Number
D1551	Swirls Around
D1557	Candyland
D1564	Maximum Power
D1583	Unicorn Dreams

My Projects in the Consultants' Creative Showcase

After making a short detour to San Diego, I just got back home from Close To My Heart convention at the Disneyland Hotel. It was a great event, packed with delicious moments --- and not all of them had calories! I'll probably be posting about it for several days, but first I need to fulfill a promise I made to post the recipes.

One of the new events added to Convention this year was the Consultants' Creative Showcase. We all had the opportunity to bring in some of our own artwork and display it for all of our fellow consultants to enjoy. There were so many lovely things there --- my fellow consultants are amazingly creative. Here's a picture of my display area:

Not a very inspired display, but I do have some new pieces that I'm pretty happy with.

Firecrackers
 

These are made with the My Creations Kraft Containers (Z1833). I cut stripes and stars from Cranberry, Outdoor Denim and Bamboo cardstock. The stars were cut on the Cricut using the Art Philosophy cartridge (Z1686). I sanded the edges of everything to distress them a little. The fuses are make of black wire, folded in half and wound around a pencil. I punched a hole in each lid and large star with an old eyelet punch, inserted the wire and taped it inside. I covered the raw ends with another star inside the lid. I put rubber bands around the pieces while the glue dried. Fun and easy!

 

 

Canvas #1





I found this saying on Pinterest and it just tickled me. I used one of our My Creations 6x6 Canvas Displays (Z1818), and colored it with our Exclusive Inks Pigment Inks. I recommend you try it out on cardstock first to get the effect you want. I think I used Buttercup, Honey, Sunset, Pear, Topiary, Lagoon and Pacifica. I used a Tim Holtz tool to apply the ink, but a sponge, or Sponge Dauber, or Texture Tool would work too. I stamped the words with our July Stamp of the Month: Circus Alphabet (S1407). The stars are retired Dimensional Elements and the flowers are retired Colonial White Rosette Ribbon, which I colored with the Pigment Inks and glued with Liquid Glass (Z679). I also smeared some green glitter glue around the bottom right quadrant and put Clear Sparkles in the centers of the flowers to make it sparkly.

 Save the Bees

 

This is another My Creations 6x6 Canvas Display (Z1818). I covered this one with modeling paste (see below) and stamped into it with the Honeycomb (C1537) stamp while it was wet to create some texture. I let it dry all night, then colored it with our Exclusive Inks Pigment Inks and stamped with the Circus Alphabet again. I even made the little bees from the Circus Alphabet by stamping small "B" for the bodies, and coloring the bodies with a Sunset marker and Black marker stripes. The wings are small "E" stamped on some old gray vellum I had in my stash. I cut them all out and glued them together and then glued them on the canvas so the wings stick out.

Here's the "before" picture:

 Here's the last of the new projects I made for the Showcase. It's a mini album in a box, all made with our Jubilee Paper Packet (X7181B) and coordinating products.

The box is a My Creations Journaling Cards Box (Z1953). These are just the right size to hold our Picture My Life cards, but I took out the little stair-step riser insert so there's be room for the mini album. I covered the box with Jubilee paper, wrapped it with our Burlap Ribbon (Z1760), and added  rolled flowers that I made with the Jubilee Textiles (Z1971).

Here's the cover of the mini album. I covered two pieces of cardboard with the Jubilee Textiles to make the front and back. The title is from the Jubilee Complements (X7181C). I made the inner pages using the Artbooking Cricut cartridge (Z1906). They're all from the baby book shown on pages 50-51, but I cut off the "baby" parts and cut them smaller -- I think it was 5.75 inches. There are some really cute envelopes and tags and overlays that go together like a dream. I embellished the whole thing with more of the Jubilee Complements, Jubilee zip strips, and pieces of Jubilee Textiles, cut to use as ribbons. Here are some sample pages:

If you would like to order any of the products used to make these projects, you can contact me directly via email (montanabaitshop@hotmail.com) or use the Shop Online link on the upper right side of the home page. Please note that some of these products will be retiring at the end of July, so if you are interested in recreating these projects, you should order as soon as possible.

If you have questions about any of these projects, or the items I did not address, leave a comment or contact me via email and I will get back to you very soon.

Thanks for taking a look.

CTMH Convention at Disneyland

Greetings from the happiest place on earth! We started our Close To My Heart annual convention today and so far it's been great fun.  We had our first general session this morning --- at which they revealed a whole batch of new products. They gave us our new catalogs as we left for lunch and we nearly broke our necks looking at them over each others' shoulders and oohing and aching as we stood in line waiting for sandwiches. For starters, we have NINE new paper packs. In the afternoon we got to make lovely new things --- and I will tell you straight off --- you card makers are going to love our new Cricut cartridge!  More about all that later.

In the evening, we had a new event -- the Consultants' Creative Showcase. So many consultants brought in lovely projects to share. It was a real treat to see all those creative ideas. I made a few new things for the showcase and I will post pictures and recipes over the next few days. I'm waiting for my mobile devices to synch up --- all my photos are on my phone. Thanks for your patience!