Convention Recap!

Hey Guys!

As you know, I'm at Disney World right now! I'm having so much fun hanging out with good friends, eating great good, spending time at the pool every day, and finding out all about the new products and designs Close To My Heart is offering in their new Idea Book! It's super motivating for me, which means I brain is full of new ideas for new projects for my Etsy store, new kits for you, and tons of great crafts! There are a lot of changes this year, and I'm super excited about almost all of them. So, let's get started.

First, Close To My Heart is offering a new Jewelry Line! This line is called Base and Bling, and is composed of different jewelry bases, including a necklace, cuff bracelet, hair clip, and more! 

There are also different collections of flowers and embellishments, as well as a kit with fabric to enable each piece of jewelry you make to be completely customized and personalized, and there are also tons of great ideas for making the jewelry interchangeable (think velcro hooks, magnets, and more!). I'm so excited about this idea and I can't wait to get some and start playing around with them!

The second hugely exciting thing they announced is a BRAND NEW CRICUT CARTRIDGE!!! You guys. I can't even tell you how excited I am about this. I use my Cricut all. the. time. I love it. With this new cartridge, called Artbooking, you can create overlays, mini albums, and even do paper embossing. I can't wait to buy it and try out all of the fantastic options! As always, the cartridge comes with three D-size stamp sets and coordinating chipboard shapes, and let me tell you, I love these stamp sets. There are some great shapes and designs in there. This cartridge, like everything else in the new idea book, is not available for order until August, but if you pre-order it from me by July 31st, you will receive free shipping. Contact me for more details or to pre-order the fabulous new Artbooking Cricut Cartridge.

I'm also super excited about some of the changes they have made to the Workshop on the Go program. These kits now come with a D-size stamp instead of C-size stamp, and are still the same price, so the savings for you is about $10 per kit. There are some beautiful new paper packs and workshop stamp sets, and they are even more of a terrific value than before.

And now, some photos. Because I know you guys are just dying to see my vacation pictures and don't really care about all the cool new products, right? That's what I thought. :)

My sister-in-law and I found this donkey and we just had to take a picture with it.

We also found Mexican Donald, so we had to take a picture with him, too. Quick story. My husband and I came to Disney World for a long weekend shortly after we were married and I found every single Donald in the park to take a picture with because he is my favorite. So when I called Jeff after this photo was taken, I told him something awesome had happened and his first guess was a picture with Donald. Because I love him that much.

My sister-in-law, my good friend Elizabeth, and I after the awards banquet, at which we were served some absolutely fantastic food...

...including this adorable and amazing Mickey Mouse head chocolate hazelnut mouse thing. It was so good I wanted to steal another one off the server's tray as they walked passed, but because I am an adult (I think), I refrained.

One of the perks of Convention this year was a twilight pass into one of the parks, so we went to Epcot because it is my favorite.

Our hotel consists of several very large buildings which surround a lagoon, and I'm pretty sure I have a picture across the lagoon from just about every single point on the lagoon. It's pretty beautiful.

The pool has these 'Aztec ruins' or something which looked really cool especially after dark. These had water flowing down them and into the pool.

That's my trip so far guys! Stay tuned for some more convention news on Monday, as well as July specials and some photos of some of the awesome projects we made at Convention. Wednesday, Party Kits! Also coming this month: class schedule for the next six months, kits for make it yourself projects, and, since it's my birthday this month, 10% off everything in my store! Stay tuned for all of these exciting details!

Be Crafty!

Meredith

I'm So Excited!

I'm so excited you guys! I have three really exciting things to tell you about today, and I can't figure out which one I'm most excited about! Let's jump right in, shall we?

First! I've been working really hard for the past few months developing a line of party kits. The idea is that if you are throwing a birthday party, I've got you covered. The kits will contain, at minimum, invitations, cupcake toppers and wrappers, a banner, and something to hold favors. Depending on the theme, there may be other things as well. Standard party kit will be for 10 people, and of course you can add on if necessary! I will be introducing these kits throughout the month of July, in addition to my regular posts, and I'm so excited about them I'm going to give you a sneak peek of the first one right now!

This whole kit looks so cool, and I'm so excited to show off the whole thing. Check back Wednesday, July 3 for the whole thing, and every Wednesday in July for a look at each new kit.

Speaking of the month of July, it's a great time of year for you! Why, you ask? Well, I'll tell you. My birthday is in July, so in celebration, I'm offering a 10% discount for anything purchased from my Etsy store, from my shop on this website, OR from Close To My Heart. It's a great time to stock up on anything from the current Idea Book you might have missed, as this book will no longer be current at the end of July. And you get a discount! How great is that? To purchase anything from my Etsy store, just click on the link and shop. To purchase anything from this website or CTMH, just shoot me an email and we will arrange all the details!

AND, speaking of Close To My Heart, the third every exciting thing I have to tell you about is that on Wednesday of this week, I'm going to Florida for 4 days to attend the Close To My Heart annual Convention! This year, Convention is at Disney World, which is one of my favorite places in the whole world, and I get to spend three days with some of my best friends seeing brand new product, crafting, and spending time with people who are as passionate about crafting as I am. I can't wait! I will be blogging more regularly than usual as I find out about new product and exciting new happenings, so check back frequently this weekend to stay up to date!

Ok. That's all for today. I have to go finish up some gifts for my team and pack, so I can be ready to leave SUPER early on Wednesday morning. 

Stay Crafty!

Meredith

Creatively Redeeming Treasures Blog Hop

Welcome to the first ever Creatively Redeeming Treasures Blog Hop! I'm so glad you are here. If you are coming from Elizabeth's blog, you are in the right place! This month, we are featuring hexagons, which are such a fun shape, and especially the stamp set Honeycomb Flair. This is such a fun set and I especially love it because I can make my own patterned paper with it. Inspiration for this card also came from a challenge from Paper Crafting Divas. Lets get started!

I used a cream colored card base for this card. I added a 1.5" x 4.5" strip of paper from the Buzz and Bumble paper pack. Then, with the Hexagon stamps and ink in 5 different colors (Chocolate, Desert Sand, Honey, Goldrush, and Ponderosa Pine) I stamped a 3" x 3.5" piece of cream card stock to make my own patterned paper.

On top, I stamped a sentiment from one of the stamp sets that comes with the Artiste Cricut Cartridge in Ponderosa Pine and edged it with Goldrush ink

I used a piece of tan ribbon from my stash to make a little strip across the bottom, and added three sparkles as a finishing touch.

I really love how this card turned out. I love the hexagons, the colors, the sparkles, the sentiment, everything. To order a kit to make this card yourself, or any other projects you see on my blog, to learn more about CTMH, or to sign up for virtual or in person classes, send me an email or leave a comment below! If you have made something with hexagons, I'd love to see it. Thanks for visiting! Now, hop on over to Elizabeth's blog to see some more gorgeous artwork!

July 4th Banner

The June Special, as I previously mentioned, is spend $35, including at least one qualifying stamp set, and get this fantastic mini banner for free! Well, I love banners. They are so perfect for any occasion, and they add such a festive touch. I decided, since it's almost July, to make a banner to add to the decor for our picnic! And I absolutely LOVE how it turned out

The mini banner is compatible with the Art Philosophy Cricut Cartridge. That means that all of the background papers were cut to fit the banner exactly, in about two minutes. I also used my Cricut to cut out the pieces for the medallions and the circles for the letters. I used this stamp set for the letters, which I stamped in black. I also used two different star stamps from two different sets to add a little something extra to the backgrounds. I used Cranberry and Pacifica inks which blended nicely with the red and blue paper.

After assembling all of the pieces, I strung the whole thing together with some Color-Ready Ribbon. I initially was planning on coloring it, but I decided I really liked the white. It gives it a very clean feel, which I like. I tied little knots in between the words to give a little bit more space, and on each end the ribbon is attached to a ring, ready to hang.

I really like how this turned out. It was a lot of work, especially folding all of those medallions, but I think it was totally worth it in the end. 

To purchase a kit with all of the pieces you need to make your own banner, or any of the other projects you see on my blog, to find out more about CTMH, or to sign up for any of the virtual or in person classes we offer, please feel free to contact me via email or leave a comment below! If you make something with the mini banner, send me a picture! I love to see what you create.

Stay Crafty!

Meredith

June Stamp of the Month

Have I mentioned how much I LOVE the June Stamp of the Month? Because I LOVE it.  Like, seriously. It might be my favorite stamp in the whole world. I may never use another stamp set again! Well, that might be going a bit too far, but I really do love this set. In fact, I've made not one but two different projects with it because I love it so much!

The first project I made was a 6" x 6" card. I really love the flower designs with this set, and at first I had colored some of them in with my alcohol markers, but I realized that I much prefer the simplicity of the stamp on white paper. Another crafter said they look like stained glass, and I love that description of them.

Details: 6" x 6" white daisy card base. 5.75" x 5.75" Pacifica card stock piece with 5.5" x 5.5" White Daisy piece layered on top. The Pacifica piece was heavily distressed. The sentiment is stamped in Pacifica on a 1" x 3" piece, the edges of which are sponged with Autumn Terracotta. That was layered onto a 1.25" x 3.25" Piece of Autumn Terracotta Cardstock. The flowers at the bottom, stem, and leaf were all stamped in Ponderosa Pine ink. The flower was stamped in Autumn Terracotta on a piece cut from the cricut (this stamp set coordinates with the Artiste Cartridge, although you could very easily cut it out by hand, and embellished with a wooden button sponged with Autumn Terracotta as well. I'm very fond of how this turned out, and I really love this stamp set with the clean white base.

The second project I made was a notecard box and set of notecards. I used the My Creations Card Box from Close To My Heart. I have a lot of these boxes and I use them frequently. I really love how this project turned out as well.

First, I random stamped the two smaller flowers from this set in Pacifica and Autumn Terracotta onto a piece of White Daisy Cardstock. After the whole sheet was covered, I cut strips to fit all sides of the box.  I layered them with Pacifica cardstock., and sponged all edges of the box with Pacifica ink. For the top of the box, I used a piece of Pacifica cardstock with a small strip of the stamped paper on one side. The front flap I decided to make as an accent piece and I used the Autumn Terracotta cardstock for that. I embellished the front flap with two pewter photo corners, and then used three brads from the same collection to anchor the bakers twine on the top. I also cut two 4 flower shapes with my cricut and stamped them all in Autumn Terracotta. Three of the flower shapes I folded in half and glued together to make the flower 3-D, and the fourth was layered behind it.

The box has 8 notecards inside of it. I used the same basic design for all of them, but mixed it up a little bit with color combinations and flowers. All of the colored cardstock pieces were heavily distressed, which I love. There are also 8 different sentiments in the box which can be adhered as necessary, so the person giving the card can decide how to use it.

That's what I did with the June Stamp of the Month. Remember, if you would like to own this stamp (entire set is pictured below), it's only available for the month of June. It's $17.95, or only $5 with a $50 purchase, and if that purchase includes at least one other stamp set, you will also get the Mini Banner for free.

To get more information on Close to My Heart, to sign up for virtual or in person classes, or to purchase a kit which will include all the supplies necessary to create any project you see on my blog, send me an email! If you try either of these projects, or anything else with the June Stamp of the Month, send me a picture! I love seeing what you create!

Be Crafty!
Meredith

Blog Hop!

Hi! Today, I'm participating in my very first blog hop, which is also the first ever Joyful Stars Blog Hop! If you are coming from Jean's blog, welcome! You are in the right place. If you aren't familiar with the concept, it's pretty simple. You follow the links from one blog to the next until you get back where you started. Today, everyone participating is going to be showing you some beautiful artwork that you can make with materials featured in the current Close To My Heart Idea Book. To see the entire Idea Book, check out my website.

I decided to play with a bracket frame that I've had sitting in my box for a while. I was originally going to use some paper from the Buzz and Bumble paper pack, but I cut it totally wrong. Wrong shape, wrong size. Just wrong. So I decided to cut a 'trial piece' of white paper so I could mess it up a couple more times, which I did. However, once I got the right size, I liked the idea of the white, and stuck with that!

I cut a piece of sweet leaf cardstock into half-inch strips. Then, using my clear ruler, a pencil, and LOTS of patience, I adhered the strips onto the frame. After they were all adhered, I trimmed them to fit the frame.

Then I cut a bunch of flowers in three different shapes with my Cricut and the Art Philosophy Cartridge, which coordinate with the flowers from the 'A Blossom' stamp set. I stamped them using Tulip and Gypsy ink. I also sponged some larger flowers to add a tint of color. I didn't love how it looked, though, so I added some purple and pink sparkles that I found in my stash. I know they are CTMH, but honestly, I have no idea how long I've had them or where the came from.  Sorry.

Looking at the frame, I still didn't think it was finished. It needed.... something. I realized what it was missing was a focal point, which, since it's a picture frame, should be the picture in the middle. So I added a photo mat using matching purple card stock with a little bit of Silver Shimmer Trim (which, incidentally, is one of my favorite products). I haven't decided what photo should go in here yet, or if I'm going to gift it or sell it, but whatever I do with it, I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.  To find out more about any of the products used, more information about Close To My Heart, or about crafting classes, leave me a comment or shoot me an email!

Now, hop on over to Helen's blog to see some of her gorgeous artwork!

Be Crafty!
Meredith

Stripe Layout!

Surprise Friday post here, folks. I had some extra time this week, which of course went directly to crafting, and I thought I'd show you what I've been up to.

Do you ever find yourself in need of single pages for your scrapbook? I find that I always end up with two pages that match, but I need a front page, or a back page, or maybe I only have one picture that I want to highlight. Can you relate?

I was working on a totally different project (check back Monday for that one) and I made a huge mistake. I was cutting something out with my cricut and instead of starting with a piece of  (cheap) white paper, I just guessed and cut my (not cheap) patterned paper. It took three more tries to get it right, but meanwhile, I had this huge piece of patterned paper that I'd now 'ruined'. Well, I wasn't going to stand for that, so I decided to see what I could do with it. After playing with it for a little while, I realized it would be a great starting point for a scrapbook page, so that's what I did! Wanna see some pictures?

This will hold one 5" x 7" photo, although it could also be a really cool collage page, I suppose. I was thinking more of a Title page. Obviously, there is no journaling or photo on it yet, but I really love the way it turned out! Now! Details. Colors: CTMH Autumn Terracotta, Chocolate, and Colonial White. I used a piece of paper from CTMH's Buzz and Bumble pack, cut on the cricut at about 10 inches. The photo mat is 5" x 7", the orange paper is 5" x 1.5", and the brown strip is 1.5" tall and then I just cut it to fit the shape. I also used Autumn Terracotta Bakers twine and a Milepost shape (the cardboard arrow), and some pretty sparkle accents that I think came with the Buzz and Bumble Workshop on the go but I found while I was digging around in my drawer of embellishments. I think it turned out pretty well!

To order any of the supplies you see here, or to find out more about CTMH, feel free to send me an email or comment below. Also, contact me to find out more about virtual or in person classes!

Be Crafty!

Meredith

June Specials!

June is a super exciting month in the CTMH world. There's a fantastic special, my favorite Stamp of the Month ever, AND, Convention! I'm so excited for Convention this year, which is held at Disney World! My husband and I went to Disney World for our honeymoon and it's one of my favorite places so I'm really looking forward to that. I'll be blogging from Convention as we see new product, and Monday's post after I get back will be a full recap!

On to the specials! There's an amazing special this month. If you place any order of $25 or more, including at least one stamp set, you get the My Creations Mini Banner FOR FREE! I LOVE free things, and I really love this banner! You can do so many fun things with it! It makes a great birthday banner, decor for any bridal or baby shower, you can hang it in a child's room with their name, theme it for a holiday, etc. I'm so excited to show you some cool stuff I've done with mine! To place an order, email me at meredith dot hainsworth at gmail dot com (no spaces, obvi) or go here.

Did I mention that the June Stamp of the Month is my favorite EVER? Because it is. You guys, I am so in love with this stamp set. Check back next Monday for some sweet artwork that I made, but for now, if you want to see it in action, and in one of the most gorgeous projects I think I've ever seen, check out my friend Elizabeth's blog. This link is actually part of a blog hop, so feel free to hop through and see lots of other great artwork. This amazing stamp can be yours for $17.95, or for only $5 if you place an order of $50 or more.

That's it for today! Check back next Monday for some great Stamp of the Month artwork.

Be Crafty!

Meredith