What a Year

~ theprincesschick ~ Leave a comment

Do you ever stop and wonder where the years go? July 2020 marked my 15th year with Close to My Heart! I’m super excited that I made it 15 years and now my heart is set on 20.

Like most things in 2020, Covid-19 took me in a different direction with my business. I did a lot of classes online, kept in touch with customers via ZOOM and Facebook Lives, created LOTS of cards and let my blog take a back seat, but today I’m back and happy to announce that I’m going to start in person classes in May – SMALL CLASSES! I’m still trying to figure out the social distancing aspect…we might try some afternoon outside classes. If you have ideas I’m all ears, because I miss you my friends!

Enough about the crazy life we live…I’ve got Close to My Heart news to share. There is sooo much going on during the month of April I don’t even know where to start and I don’t want you to miss my favorite month of the year.

First of all…April is STAMPTACULAR! Save big on all your favorite stamps with the Stamptacular special! During this month-long stamp extravaganza, you can save over 50% on Stamp + Thin Cuts bundles and 35% on individual stamp sets, including five exclusive sets from the past that we’ve brought back just for this special! Stamps start as low as $2.50 so head over to my website and take a look!

Next up is our amazing VIP program…can you say 15% CREDIT EARNED ON EVERY ORDER, FREE STAMP OF THE MONTH and AN INITIAL SIGN UP CREDIT and what’s better if you a current VIP and someone signs up with your referral code you’ll get a bonus $10 credit and so will the person you referred!

Of course Close to My Heart has not forgot that Mother’s Day is just around the corner and there is a beautiful floral stamp set that you’ll find yourself using all year long! You can find it here!

And last, but certainly not least is an amazing opportunity for National Scrapbooking Day! Close to My Heart has FIVE great projects planned for TWO days of creative fun. The projects are priced individually or bundled at a 30% discount. Let’s just say that there is the CUTEST little Piggie Album that I can’t wait to make!

Close to My Heart is also hosting a VIRTUAL ALBUM RETREAT…the album is gorgeous and full of so many new techniques that you’ll use in your own scrapbooking or cardmaking! These EVENTS are hosted on the Close to My Heart Facebook page and they are worth every penny you spend on the bundle.

I hope you’re excited about all the news and the new products available AND that classes will be resuming in May! I am making a commitment to posting on my blog at least once a week so I hope you’ll make a commitment to check it out and leave me some comments.

Thanks for stopping by…stay crafty!

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Blue Skies on the Funny Farm

~ theprincesschick ~ 1 Comment

The Funny Farm stamp set has some adorable animals and if you buy the Craft with Kids kit you will get cardstock, card bases and pink & blue envelopes too!

I decided to play with the stamp set and retired Blue Skies Paper. I had 4 6×6 double sided b&t papers and made 6 adorable cards.

These animals could be paper-pieced, colored in or left plain and the punny sayings are some of my favorites!

Do you have a favorite? I’m kind of partial to the cow. I hope you’ll leave me a comment with your favorite and who you’d send the card too!

Welcome to the Coop

~ theprincesschick

Hi I’m Tracey, 53 years young as of last month!  I’m a mom, wife and grandma in that order.


I’ve been papercrafting for nearly 29 years when I was invited to my first D.O.T.S. party.  I was introduced to glossy cardstock & rainbow ink pads and it was love at first sight.  I still own my first stamp (wood mounted) I will share it in another story.
I started scrapbooking a couple of years later and like most mom’s still haven’t finished my son’s childhood album (I’m close).  I’ve found that I like the smaller specialty size albums the most, but I still scrapbook 12 x 12 today.
In 2005 I decided to join Close to my Heart as an Independent Consultant.  I hit the ground running and haven’t looked back.
I love sharing my passion of hand-stamped cards whether it be by teaching a class online, in person or just brightening someone’s mail box! 
I’m glad you’ve decided to join me here, I hope you’ll be inspired by something I share.

Double Trouble – #64

~ theprincesschick ~ 6 Comments

It’s time for more trouble…Double Trouble Papercrafting Challenge that is.

Our challenge consists of three parts: Trouble Makers main challenge, Double Dares challenge to link with another blog which you may or may not decided to participate in and Twisted Sisters surprise challenge! You can find all the details on the rules page of the challenge blog.

This week the challenge is Let’s Brighten the Day with the Color My Heart Color Dare as our challenge partner.

My card started with one of my favorite patterns from the Make it From Your Heart and I chose a color palette of Charcoal, Glacier & Thistle from Love of Color. If you ever need a good color combination that is the place to go!

I hope you’ve enjoyed my card and will consider joining our challenge. If you’d like more inspiration visit my team members at Double Trouble and our partner team Color My Heart Color Dare.

Double Trouble – #63

~ theprincesschick ~ 4 Comments

It’s time for more trouble…Double Trouble Papercrafting Challenge that is.

Our challenge consists of three parts: Trouble Makers main challenge, Double Dares challenge to link with another blog which you may or may not decided to participate in and Twisted Sisters surprise challenge! You can find all the details on the rules page of the challenge blog.

Challenge #63 is celebrating the Dog Days of Summer requiring the use of embossing on your card. If you include a Critter (Twisted Sister is specifically asking for a DOG) you’ll also be able to link with our challenge blog partner. All the details are right here on the blog post!

Our granddaughter just talked her mom into a new puppy…after just telling my husband that we weren’t getting any more dogs after ours was gone I have to admit that “Lola” has my heart! I was inspired by a card I found on Pinterest and used two different embossing folders. I grabbed a stamp set in my MFT Stash and colored in just like the picture her mom sent me.

I hope you’ve enjoyed my card and will consider joining our challenge. If you’d like more inspiration visit my team members at Double Trouble and our partner team 2 Craft Critter Crazies.

More Summer Vibes

~ theprincesschick

I just love that little coconut drink…after cutting it and piecing it together I decided that it was time to ink up the stamp set and color it.

I grabbed a few cuts from the Cricut and layered up a fun little tropical card to pop in the mail to a friend.

Summer Vibes—Cardmaking Stamp + Thin Cuts

If you think you’d like to add this stamp & thin cut set to your collection of summer themed stamps I just happen to have one itching to be inked up.

Heart 2 Heart – Sunny Days

~ theprincesschick ~ 1 Comment

I decided to take some time and participate in the Heart 2 Heart Sunny Days challenge.

I cut an image from the CTMH Summer Vibes Cricut collection sized it to fit my card layout and started piecing it together. Summer time means time at our friends pool and I thought this card was a fun reminder to those times.

I missed being in my Craft-Coop while I was in Arizona, but I’m on a mission to get some crafting time in. I appreciate you stopping by and leave me a message what your favorite thing to do in the summer is.

Double Trouble #62

~ theprincesschick ~ 5 Comments

I’m late, I’m late for a very important date…

I was on the road home from Arizona for 8 days and although the top priority on my list was getting into my Craft Coop, my husband thought unloading the trailer and doing some chores trumped that. I didn’t think I better pull the “whatever card” so I did a little laundry, canned some peaches and hung out with friends that we hadn’t seen in 6 weeks!

When I was leaving Arizona, I ran across this cute little gnome that told me he was celebrating Christmas in July in the Grand Canyon State and he needed some cool treats to cool him down.

Double Dare teamed us up with Heart2Heart who’s having a favorite tool challenge. Since I’ve been stamping for a very long time I have many favorite tools, but my BIG SHOT is probably my favorite because I HATE fussy cutting!

I hope you’ll come play along with us at Double Trouble and link with our partner Heart2Heart Challenges.

Double Trouble #61

~ theprincesschick ~ 7 Comments

I decided I couldn’t let Stephanie have all the fun so I’m back with a little help from my friends, LOL!

This week Trouble Maker is providing a great Tic Tac Toe board, there’s just one problem that I can find…she left off the bling! Double Dare teamed us up with Cupcake Inspirations so if you choose to go through the middle with Flowers and add some sequins or pearls as your bling you are all set to earn those bonus points.

My challenge was just that…a real challenge. I’m still playing from Arizona with one block, a black ink pad, scissors and a couple of stamp sets that I recently ordered. I did make a run to Michael’s yesterday and picked up a paper trimmer. I was talking with Trouble Maker and told her if she’d send me some paper and embellishments I’d make my card.

My card follows the middle row, insect, flower & woodgrain. Trouble Maker sent me, Lemonade CS, Stitched Together B&T, Woodgrain B&T and I asked for some die cut tea cups in Candy Apple. When I got the pieces I went in search of a sketch and found one from My Favorite Things that I had pinned for future use. I used the July SOTM to stamp a sentiment on the teacup and popped it up with some foam dots.

I hope you’ll come and play along at Double Trouble. You can find all the details on how to link up at our blog.

Double Trouble #59

~ theprincesschick ~ 7 Comments

I’m back and more twisted than ever! Actually, I’m not quite back, I’m hanging out in Arizona for a few more weeks and asked my Twisted Niece Stephanie to complete my artwork challenges for Double Trouble until I can get back to the Coop!

This week Thing 1 has served up a recipe for a great card:

 From: Our Kitchen at Double Trouble    Servings: Unlimited portions of Fun     Ingredients:  3 – Colors                            2 – Embellishments                              1 – Seasoned Stamped Sentiment 
                                (clear or rubber stamp more than 
                                one year old)

Thing 3 got straight to the point requesting you to use the sharp angles of the sketch available at Retro Rubber #137

Thing 2 says, “If you have created a project using the Retro Rubber’s Sketch #137 above and Trouble Maker’s  3-2-1 Recipe with a “seasoned” stamp… link your project HERE . You will receive an additional chance at the Double Trouble Random Draw.”