I just looked on here and realized that I haven't posted since the 7th!  No excuses, just busy with life! So much to share with you, so I need to make sure I get on here more often!  

Our new book has introduced us to watercolors!  I love to paint, so I was really excited to force myself to add painting into my scrapbooking and card making ideas!  Here is a sneak peek at the start of my October cards.  I'll post more steps later.  I love the colors!

September Cards

I've been a bit under the weather for the last week so today I finally ventured down the driveway to my mailbox (I had to drive my car down since the humidity was so uncomfortable and I didn't think I'd make it back up the hill!).  I'm glad I took the journey because this is what I found in my mailbox!  I love getting my card fronts from my fellow consultants!  Here's what the 8 of us came up with using the September stamp of the month!  Mine is the gray and purple with the "hello" from the September special stamp sets.  Notice how the one right next to it is so similar!  I guess  great minds do think alike!

What Kind of Ink Should I Use?

I get asked this question a lot? What kind of ink should I use? What's the difference between this kind of ink or that kind of ink? Well, thanks to an email from Close to my Heart, I have all the answers to share with you, as well as an added bonus about a new product that we will be carrying in the near, very near future! I'm excited and want to share it with you right away! So, here's what you need to know about the different inks that we carry.

Exclusive Inks™ stamp pads: Our Exclusive Inks™ stamp pads, including our Black Exclusive Inks pads, are water-based dye inks. The dye ink absorbs directly into your paper and allows the colors to blend easily with the material. They dry quickly and blend easily. These inks are recommended for most stamping projects, but not for projects where you plan on using watercolors or coloring with alcohol markers after stamping the image.
 



Archival Black Exclusive Inks™ stamp pad: Our Archival Black Exclusive Inks™ stamp pad is our archival ink offering. This pad quickly sets an image that you can then color in using watercolor pencils, watercolors, or water-based inks with the blending pen.






Exclusive Inks™ Mini Pigment Pad Sets: Pigment inks behave differently from dye inks, in that they settle on top of your material rather than soaking into it. This allows you to stamp lighter colors on darker materials and to keep the true color of the ink pad when stamping on another color. Though they take longer to dry, when dried, they work well for coloring in with your markers or watercolor inks, as the pigment inks will form a permanent bond and will resist blending when you color over them.





StazOn™ ink pad: StazOn™ is specifically formulated for stamping on non-porous materials. Because StazOn is solvent-based, this ink works well when stamping an image that you will later color over with watercolors, but it is not ideal for use with alcohol markers.


   


And last but not least, our newest addition that will be making it's way to us in the near future is... 
Memento™ Tuxedo Black ink pad: The Memento™ ink pad gives you another archival quality ink pad that works for any stamping project and can be used with alcohol markers, watercolors, or any of our other coloring options.

September is here! First day to be able to order out of the new book! Yay! So many new and exciting items! Here's just a quick look at the September Stamp of the Month: the image of the stamp as well as a card I created using this stamp set and a mix of the stamps from the September special (sets shown all together). You can either order each stamp individually for $13.95 or all 3 for only $34.95 -- a savings of $6.90! This special is only good for the month of September so order now and don't miss out!

I had a great night at the Ladies Night Out Vendors Fair tonight. I love sharing Close to my Heart with others. There was a great deal of interest in Studio J. My last post on here was about Studio J! It's such an easy and amazing digital program! Check it out for yourself! Go to the Studio J icon on the right, sign up for an account and start playing! It's completely FREE! You only pay when you order your pages. Have fun!

We use to take pictures with cameras that used, maybe 24 exposure film. We were more cautious with our photography due to the expense of developing the film and not knowing what the photos were really going to look like. I use to send disposable cameras to camp with my kids. When I developed the film, the pictures would be blurry, dark, half of someone's head, the wall of the tent, the grass and who knows what else would print out! Now we use digital cameras and might take 600 pictures at one birthday party! We take the pictures and upload them on our computers, edit them and save them in a file to deal with later. I have thousands of photos on my computer. I have so many pictures that I actually have 2 external hard drives to store and save all of them. Thank goodness Close to my Heart came up with Studio J! I can now digitally scrapbook my photos with clearness and excellent quality! About 3 weeks ago, I uploaded over 500 photos to Studio J and within a couple of hours, if even that, I had 18 2-page layouts completely done and ordered! When they came in the mail, I too them out, put them in page protectors and placed them directly into an album! Done! If you have been looking for a quick and easy way to get those photos off of your computer and into your albums, please take the time to check out Studio J! It's well worth it! Simply click on the Studio J icon to the right and begin your digital scrapbooking journey!

It's here! The newest Close to my Heart Cricut cartridge! I've had so much fun playing with it and creating fun new pieces to add into my scrapbook layouts and onto my cards! The 3 stamp sets that are included are the best ones yet! I also love how they are no longer using chipboard or white card stock in the collections, but have changed to a combo pack of colored card stock instead! This is yet another must have cartridge collection!! To order your own collection, visit http://lauriesmith.ctmh.com or simply click on the "Come Shop with Me" icon on the right side of this page!