Gina's Little Corner of StampinHeaven

Close To My Heart is celebrating National Stamping Month (September) with the Triple Play kit. I talked about this on my blog August 13 and showed one of the mini-albums I put together. (See it here)  Did you know there is MORE that you can do with this kit?  Another talented Close To My Heart Consultant, Gloria Rogers, came up with this adorable litle gift card set. These 3 1/2 x 3 1/2 cards are a perfect lttle thank you or congrats to add to a gift. The only thing you need to add to the kit is two 12x12 sheets of Colonial White cardstock for your card bases and pockets to hold the cards inside the cover.   I'm going to have instructions for this at my Triple Play workshop.   There are two dates to choose - Sat. September 18 and Sat. October 2.  Both begin at 9am.    If you miss the workshop, go to Gloria's blog and get her tutorial for the card gift set.  She is at: Happy Scrappin' n' Stampin' tutorials Be sure to get your Triple Play in time for my workshop. Se

Where can you get NINE hours of free classes, presented by some very talented Close to My Heart consultants?   At Creative University ON-LINE on Saturday, August 28th!   They will be kicking off the new Autumn/Winter Idea Book and Catalog.  One of my favorite and VERY TALENTED Close To My Heart Consultants, Tresa Black, has assembled a top-notch team of co-hosts for this event, with a variety of demonstrations to showcase new products from Close to My Heart. Here are the times: 9am-6pm pacific 10am-7pm mountain 11am-8pm central 12pm-9pm eastern Classes begin on the hour Schedule: Class 1: Tresa Black - Joseph's Coat technique, notebook cover Class 2: Bobie Glassette - Holiday Centerpiece Class 3: Denise Anderson-Turley - Clear Cards Class 4: Haley Dyer - Jewelry Class 5: Aaron Brown - Paper Sack Christmas Card Class 6: Bobie Glassette - Sticky Notepad Holder Class 7: Sheila Bennett - Card with Pinwheel technique Class 8: Christine David - Scrapbook page Class 9: Tresa Bl

I remember the first time I saw peacock spread it's iridescent tail.   I was in awe of the color.   The blues and greens were rich and luxurious.  Now, Close To My Heart has captured these colors in their newest paper pack, Magnifique, that reflect the glorious peacock.   These colors just happen to be some of the newest colors being introduced into our Summer color palette - Lagoon, Pacifica and Sky.   My first workshop using paper from of the new book is Magnifique! The color of Chocolate mingles in with blue and green hues of the paper bringing a richness to your layouts and cards.  The revised instruction brochure now shows step by step pictures making it even easier to follow.  The card instructions have been improved too showing steps for each card design - also with pictures! Below is the feature layout from the Workshop that we will be doing in September.   The kit comes with the Mini-Medley Accents Shades of Chocolate collection.  For an extra touch, I added the new Op

See Complete Album Below I have found that it is a good thing to keep a few My Creations projects on hand.  When a special occasion creeps up on me, I love being able to throw something together fairly quick.   When my daughter told me she needed to get her friend something for her birthday I was ready.  I just happened to have an extra All Sorts Mini-Album and some Topstitch paper and stickease.  The My Reflections Topstitch was one of my favorite papers that came out in the Spring 2010 Idea Book.  I had already created 2 layouts with this paper pack and even a couple of cards.   I had enough paper left to make this mini-album.   I used the coordinating stickease and added a little bit of stamping and embellishments.     I LOVE the Ms. Chillin' stamp set I used on pages 5 and 6.  For the girls, I stamped them on Colonial White cardstock, and also on B&T papers.  I cut out the pieces of the B&T papers and glued them to my stamped image on the Colonial White cardstock.  

I have 3 sisters.  Although I live only minutes from one and many miles from the other two sisters, we will always be close.   Today, August 22, is my sister's birthday.  I started to say my 'oldest' sister, but there comes a day that 'oldest' just doesn't seem to be the appropriate description to use.   My sister,  Kathie, was the first of four girls for my mom and dad.   FIRST has a lot of meaning in Kathie's case and also in the case of my mom and dad.   First daughter, First to potty train, First to send to school, First teenage driver, First to wed.... the list goes on.   Being the FIRST, Kathie unknowingly set a precedent for many things in our family.  This at times could be a heavy load to carry.  (BTW  I'm #3 in the line of sisters).  So big THANKS to Kathie for 'paving the way' for the rest of us. Kathie is one of my long distance sisters.  I look forward to the time that we can spend together.  Both of us have daughters who are the sa

I got this email from Close To My Heart today... " Dear Gina, Congratulations for being In the Spotlight this month! We are recognizing you because you were one of the top Consultants who sold the most number of Workshops on the Go™ Zippidee Basic kits (G1011) in July (from July 1 to August 5). Great work! We appreciate your hard work in selling these kits to your customers and club members. Watch for your name and achievement to appear on Close To My Heart's Online Office page under  To Know > Recognitions  so all Consultants can applaud your success. Well done! Congrats, Close To My Heart" So, I went to check out the Recognitions and this is what I found!   Check out the NUMBER 1 spot! I thought "oh wow!" I almost fell out of my chair! Zippidee was a big hit with my customers but how could people NOT buy it! It is FUN! Not only was it GREAT for Disney or any theme park pictures, it is wonderful for any summer event! If you didn't get this kit (c

Sunday, August 15th is the beginning of Close To My Hearts promotion for National Stamping Month.   They always come up with the most awesome kits!  This one is no exception!   It is a set of THREE 4x4 mini-album that comes with everything you need to put them together including die-cuts, ribbon, instructions, 4 colors of mini ink pads and a stampset!  Each mini-album is a different color scheme - Sorbet, Hollyhock and Indian Corn Blue.  I put one of these together this evening in just 2 hours.   This little album has so many momento opportunities... birthday, a favorite trip, a family reunion or get together, the list goes on.  Make one for your favorite teacher, grandparents, friends...   the ideas are just endless. So.. how do you get this kit?   EASY!  Beginning August 15, there are 3 ways: 1) You can purchase the entire kit for $29.95; 2) purchase $25 in My Acrylix stamps and get this kit for $15; 3) Purchase $40 in My Acrylix stamps and get it for just $5! PLUS I'm o

No, I'm not talking about a social Mix & Mingle! I'm talking about Close to My Heart's newest My Creations album.   It's the Mix & Mingle album (Item #Z1334).  This cute little album includes 3 clear and 5 white chipboard pages in 4 die-cut shapes.   It includes jump rings that you can easily remove and re-arrange.   When I was looking at the artwork in the new Autumn/Winter Idea Book (available in September) a really adorable wall hanging caught my eye and I just knew I had to make one!  I made a similar wall hanging for my daughter's room in just a little under 2 hours!  I used paper from the soon to be released Hooligans Level 2 paper pack (X7129B).  The blue and pink papers are from scraps of now retired paper kits.   This why I never throw any scraps away!  Our papers can be mixed and matched so easy among the different paper packs!   To embellish the wall hanging I used pieces of dimensional elements from Fresh Shapes (Z1019) and Simple Alphabet (lower

FINALLY!   I just loved the Animal Cookies paper when it came out last summer. I ordered a Level 1 kit to show at my gatherings knowing that eventually I'd use it for something. CTMH introduced the My Creations Board Book (#Z1310 - $6.95) in their 2010 Spring Idea Book. I thought this would be a GREAT project to do using the Animal Cookies Level 1 kit. Using Level 1 kits for projects such as this are great. You have everything you need to create a book! Just add some additional embellishments to bling it up and VOILA' ! it was so easy! First, I cut 3 of the pre-printed pieces into 6x6 squares.  Then I added mats from the extra cardstock and B&T papers and used the stickease to create a title.  I used the rest of the stickease to embellish the other pages.  I also used 2 of the My Creations A-door-ables (#1321 - $3.95) that were also introduced back in the Spring.  Buttons, zig-zag ribbons and brads add just the right touch to make this an adorable inexpensive gift for a fri

Especially when it's paper!!   I love paper! I've loved paper since I was a kid.  When my mom thought it was time to re-do a room (which seemed quite often) I would go to the Wallpaper store with her.  There were shelves and shelves full of books.  I could sit for hours just flipping through the pages of those great big books of wallpaper.   You could change the whole look of a room with paper and I'd imagine the rooms I'd decorate with the different papers in those books.  Country, Exotic, Pastels, Bold & Bright, Masculine, Sophisticated...... all different.  I still have a fascination with paper - only now, it comes in plastic zip lock bag which is easier to carry than those huge books!  Just like those wall paper books, our Idea Books are filled with a paper for every occasion! So what is this big sale???   It is a HUGE customer appreciation sale!  And it includes some of our newest papers!  If you have had some favorites on your wish list, or just starting ou