Is it going to be a FREE Cricut Art Philosophy bundle worth more than $120?

Or are you going for the $100 Close to My Heart Shopping Spree?

What a fun dilemma to have!  Whether you are taking your chances at winning my fancyMelissa Pin it to Win it Contest, or you going for a sure thing and becoming a Close to My Heart Consultant in March, the CHOICE IS YOURS!  How great is that!!!

Sign up as a Close to My Heart Consultant in March, and not only will you get our amazing Kit, worth almost $300 and filled with so many awesome products like the Stella Kit, Stamp sets, Blocks, Inks, an Album and more…but you also get to choose between our Art Philosophy Cricut Cartridge Bundle or $100 in CTMH Product.

I have done a ton of posts on the benefits of being a CTMH Consultant, but it all boils down to this -

If you are a paper crafter of any kind, and you love crafting products, then,
for $100 you’re going to get $400 in goodies and a 22% discount on anything else you want.
If you want to do more, you can.  If you don’t, that’s okay, too.
You just got the deal of the year from CTMH – WHOOO HOOO.

I would love for you to sign up with me.  New Consultants get spoiled when they join.  We spend time figuring out what your goals are and then we work on them together.  You get free products from me as a thank you for joining…and then, if you decide to make a go of it, CTMH will give you more Free Products when you reach initial sales goals.

But you don’t have to worry about all that for now…right now, I want to know -

Cricut Art Philosophy or Shopping Spree?

Just a week left to get your Thoughtful Tidings February Stamp of the Month Set.  I really love this set for quick cards and all of the images work great with your Cricut Art Philosophy Cartridge!  I created this card using the Cruisin’ Kit.

Don’t forget to send me the URL for your fancyMelissa Pin It to Win It Board!  Only one more week to play.  Click here for details on how you can win your very own Cricut Art Philosophy Cartridge!

Here is the finished tag:

I used the Lucy Workshop on the Go, cut the tag and the flower using my Cricut Art Philosophy Cartridge.  I heavily distressed the tag & flower using CTMH’s Desert Sand Ink (this is my favorite Distressing Ink).

First, the best way I’ve found to get color onto the ribbon, is to place the ribbon across an ink pad, and then use a Foam Tool to pick up the color.  You can control the intensity of the color and vary it to create texture:

If you just wanted a flat ribbon, you could end right here and have some gorgeous ribbon.  But to crinkle it, you need to add another step.  While the ribbon is still wet, crumple it into the smallest possible ball.  Then, holding the ribbon with a tweezers, use your Craft Heater to hold the shape:

Then let it cool while still in the tweezers.  Finally, I added a little bit of the Desert Sand Ink to give it an aged look:

And here is the finished product.  Hand-stained vintage crinkle ribbon.

Finally, I used another little trick to get the grey thread for my Bling Button.  Simply separate the strands of your Baker’s Twine to get the color thread you want!

So that’s it.  Super simple and so fun!!!

Win your own CTMH Cricut Art Philosophy Cartridge Bundle!
When you create a fancyMelissa Pin It to Win It Pinterest Board and email me the URL, you could win the Cricut Bundle seen here, or a $99 shopping spree.  Click here for details!

Finally, I dug out the Fanfare Workshop on the Go Layout to for my sketch!

February Specials:

This month, CTMH is featuring Thoughtful Tidings.  It also coordinates with the Art Philosophy Cricut Cartridge.  With a $50 purchase, it’s yours for only $5.  Or you can purchase it at the full $17.95 retail price.

Double your digital layouts with our Five for Free campaign! For each Studio J^® 5-pack you purchase this February, you’ll get one free. Visit StudioJ.com for a set of instructions for creating five beautifully crafted layouts in Studio J, starting February 1, 2012.

                    Don’t forget to play!   

Now, my to my thank you.  I have to send a thank you out to Barb Otten. First, for this gorgeous card:

Barb is working to raise money for Operation Smile.  CTMH is running a contest and the consultant with the most donations will win a spot on one of the Operation Smile Missions.  For every $5 you donate to Barb, she will mail you a handmade card!  This is one of the two cards I got – LOVE IT!!!  If you’d like to help Barb reach this awesome goal by making a donation, please head over to her website to learn more - http://www.barbraotten.com/.  She’s already raised more than $860!  That’s enough to pay for 3 operations.  You go girl!

I also need to thank Barb for this awesome idea to organize my Make & Take supplies.  It’s a shower/bath caddy from Bed Bath & Beyond.  The gals at my Open House loved how organized I was.  And I loved that everything was neat and tidy.

So a big thanks to my friend Barb – can’t wait to see you in less than two weeks when we cruise the Hawaiian Islands together!

I’m so excited to kick-off a Pin it to Win it contest, my first-ever challenge on Pinterest. Simply create a virtual pin board featuring your favorite fancyMelissa Projects for a chance to win a Close to My Heart Cricut Art Philosophy Collection (value $99). Already have the Cartridge or not a Cricut user (what?!?!), you will win a $99 Close to My Heart shopping spree!  Contest ends 2/29/12 at 11:59pm ET.

Here’s how it works:
Step 1: Create a fancyMelissa Pin Board – Create a fancyMelissa Pin it to Win it Board on Pinterest and categorize under DIY & Crafts.  Start with the Giveaway Graphic shown above.

Step 2: Pin Your Favorite fancyMelissa Projects – Go to my project specific fancyMelissa Pinterest Board http://pinterest.com/fancymelissa/close-to-my-heart/ or http://fancymelissa.com/blog/ to pin 10 – 20 of your favorite fancyMelissa projects.

Step 3: Email Your Board Link to Enter the Contest – Email a link to your board for a chance to win the Cricut Art Philosophy Cartridge – melissa@laverty.net

If you have any questions or would like an invite to Pinterest, please feel free to contact me at melissa@laverty.net. See below for the official contest rules.

___________________________________________________________________________________

OFFICIAL CONTEST RULES

1. NO PURCHASE NECESSARY TO ENTER OR TO WIN. A PURCHASE WILL NOT INCREASE YOUR ODDS OF WINNING.
2.  The Contest will begin at 12:01a.m. (Eastern Time) on February 15, 2012, and all entries must be received by 11:59 p.m. (Eastern Time) on February 29, 2012.
3. Winner will be announced on my Blog on Wednesday, March 1.  The winning entry has until March 12 to claim their prize.  If the winner doesn’t respond, a new entry will be selected as the winner.
4. If the winner chooses the $99 CTMH Shopping Spree, they may choose from the following items:   My Acrylix^® Stamps, My Acrylix^® blocks, Exclusive Inks^® pads, Exclusive Inks^® markers, Exclusive Inks^® re-inkers, My Stickease^® assortments, Complements, My Reflections^® paper packets, all cardstock packs, Workshops on the Go™ kits, Studio J^® memberships, and Studio J 5-packs.

The following rules apply to each submission:

Step 1: If you are currently a member of Pinterest, please proceed to Step 3.  Not sure how Pinterest works? Click here for Pinning 101.

Step 2: To become a Pinterest Member: Please send an email to melissa@laverty.net and an invitation will be sent to the email address provided by you. Only one (1) email request per person permitted. Pinterest membership is not guaranteed.

Step 3: Once a Pinterest member, please create a fancyMelissa Pin It to Win It Board on Pinterest and categorize the Board as either DIY or Craft. Only one (1) Board entry per person permitted.

Step 4: Pin Your Favorite fancyMelissa Projects Items – Go to my project specific fancyMelissa Pinterest Board http://pinterest.com/fancymelissa/close-to-my-heart/ or http://fancymelissa.com/blog/ to pin 10 – 20 of your favorite fancyMelissa projects.  Your board must include the image on this blog post.

Step 5: To Enter the Contest: – Email your Board URL entry to melissa@laverty.net, within the Contest Period, to qualify for your chance to win one (1) Cricut Art Philosophy Bundle ($99) or a $99 CTMH Shopping Spree.

I can’t wait to see your Pinterest Boards!!!

Anyway, that said, I do LOVES me some homemade Valentine’s.  And while I loved getting the box of Valentine’s from the store and choosing which specific sentiment was appropriate for which friend, I really can’t imagine that for my kids.  This year, our school system instituted a crack down on candy/food-related Valentine’s.  At first I thought it was an allergy thing, or a have & have-nots thing, but apparently, it’s a choking hazard.  Kids get a gumball, pop it in their mouth, jump on the bus and then choke on it on the way home.   That is not good at all and Lawson & Cate certainly don’t need a bag full of sugar.  As Cate said yesterday, “Halloween is about candy; Valentine’s Day is about Love.”

But I have to give away SOMETHING…couldn’t JUST do a card, so I found bags of bouncy balls at Target.  I think it was like 20 for $2.  I printed out “Hope you have a BALL this Valentine’s Day”.  The kids signed their names and stuck them to the bag toppers.  We used Lucy & Cruisin paper to coordinate with the Ball colors for the boys & the girls.

Here are a few pics:

Now, I’m just hoping that no one mistakes the bouncy ball for a gumball and puts it in their mouth!

Happy Valentine’s Day, y’all!!!!

xoxo – M

It’s true that for home-based business consultants, parties hosted by your friends are the best way to meet new customers.  But let’s say you already have a solid group of four or five friends who like to scrapbook.

• Do you think that they would be interested in getting together monthly to learn the latest crafting techniques while creating gorgeous scrapbook pages?
• Would they like to earn free product twice a year without having to host a big party?
• Would you like to earn money while you scrapbook with them?

Yes and Yes and Yes?  Then, why not become a Club Coordinator Consultant on my Let’s Get Fancy Team with Close to My Heart!

CTMH makes it SO simple with our Workshops on the Go:

• Twice a year CTMH introduces a new Idea Book with eight new kits.  Each of those kits has a corresponding Workshop on the Go.
• You and your friends can select the six kits in each Idea Book you’d like to create.
• The kits are $29.95 each.  So with 5 customers buying kits, the total is $149.75.  With another quarter thrown in, you have enough to qualify for a “party”.  Choose a hostess and she will get $25 in free product.  AND as the club coordinator, you will get $32.95 in CASH AND $5 in FREE product – which covers the cost of YOUR kit.
• AND, if you have a workshop every month, you’ll have $449.25 in sales every three months, which is more than enough to meet your $300 per quarter minimum.
• How’s that for the BEST JOB in town!?!?!

Workshops on the Go™ is a program in which you create two 12″ × 12″ scrapbook layouts and a bonus project—either a set of cards or a 3-D item—using the materials in just one Workshops on the Go kit that includes a paper packet, coordinating embellishments, an exclusive My Acrylix^® C-size stamp set, and an instructional guide. (You’ll also need a few basic tools you may already have.)  You will also get inspiration for a second scrapbook layout that you can complete with the contents of your kit.

Take a look at the Stella Workshop on the Go:

 With this kit, you can create the following:

Wanna know the best part?  This gorgeous Stella Kit is included in your New Consultant Kit ($99)!  And, if you choose the Pemberley & Florentine Add-Ons ($40 each), you’ll get another 2 WOTGs to share with your friends.

Phew.  So that’s a lot information.  If you are ready to get started today and receive your new kit by the end of the week, click here.
Want more information, or have some questions? Please shoot me an email at melissa@laverty.net.

Do what you love and have a blast while you are doing it!  Become a Close to My Heart Consultant (Club Coordinator) today!

The best part – all of the pieces are pre-cut and pre-stamped, so you need only assemble.  Each month, your kit includes products from Close to My Heart:

• Level Two Paper Pack (pre-cut & stamped) with additional Cardstock, as needed
• Level Two Stickers
• A Full Pack of Complementary Embellishments