Introducing Our New Design Team!

It is finally time to unveil the talented Close To My Heart consultants who are serving on the Heart 2 Heart Design Team for the last half of the year!  It is an honor to welcome them here, and I know you'll enjoy seeing their inspiration each week.

First, returning to the team are:

 Carol Labuski

Haley Dyer

Katy Donaldson Taylor

Lucy Kelleher

Melinda Everitt

Paige Dolecki

Shirley Ross

Now, what you've really been waiting for!  It's time to introduce our new talent!  You may know many of our new gals because they been playing along here for quite a while.  In fact, they love H2H so much they joined the DT!

 "Hi! My name is Amie Kiger (with an “ie”) and I was born and raised in the suburbs of Chicago. Now, my hubby and I are raising our three daughters here as well. I am a self-employed child care provider with a bachelor’s degree in Early Childhood Education and a Doctorate in the Close to My Heart Training Academy. ;) 

 

"My crafting craziness was set in high gear when my fabulous friend gave me my very first Cricut for Christmas one year. Once I set up a dedicated room for my scrapbooking, (thanks, honey!) I was hooked. I started my blog, Mimi, Myself, and I, in November of 2011 to post entries in different contests for the Cricut Circle. Soon, my obsession with all things Cricut led me to discover the Close to My Heart Art Philosophy Collection. I signed up with Close to My Heart three short months after purchasing the cartridge, and I am now in my second year as a consultant. I am definitely a scrapbooker-at-heart-turned-cardmaker and never imagined I would be so amazingly blessed to be able to turn my hobby into a business. Now, I am trying to do my best to use the ability that God has given me to make people smile and add a little sparkle to their day with cards and homemade gifts. My theme for the year is “Never Let Anyone Dull Your Sparkle.” Wherever there is shimmer trim or glitter paper, you will be sure to find me as well!

"I am so excited to be chosen for the July to December 2013 Heart 2 Heart Design Team! I cannot wait to get started!"

Brittany Sanfillippo

Hello! My name is Brittany, and I am excited to be a part of the design team at Heart 2 Heart Challenges. My mom, a former D.O.T.S. consultant, first introduced me to Close to My Heart at a young age. Many years later, when creating a service project for my college peers, I came across CTMH once again. I originally used their products to create cards for Operation Write Home, an organization that sends cards to our troops overseas. Falling in love with the projects and community of crafters, I quickly joined as a consultant. I haven’t looked back since! Along with being an avid crafter, I am also a teacher – a profession that gives me so much joy! I look forward to participating with you in our challenges through the end of 2013!

Kelly Brandt

 

Hi! My name is Kelly and I live in Kamloops, BC. My hubby and I have two great sons 19 and 22, and two great dogs. I am a Business Administrator by day and a paper a holic for life. I have a Doctorate in the Close to My Heart Training Academy.

 

My crafting craziness was set in motion when my friend forced me to do my first scrapbook, oh it was painful and I never wanted to do it. It was of my youngest son's hockey days. Well by the time that weekend was over, I was hooked and haven't looked back, five years now, thank you Sharon !. Next came a Cricut, a Big shot and a room dedicated to scrapping in the house. Now it is an obsession for sure, and a way of relaxing and having the feeling of being free from everyday stuff. I have sold CTMH for two years and have two groups of awesome ladies in my monthly clubs. I love to blog so I can share what I love, and hopefully instill this great craft in others.

 

I am thrilled to be a designer for H2H, as it is my favorite challenge out there!

"My name is Marie Flayer, and I have lived in NJ my entire life. Currently I am a retired teacher who is pursuing creative interests and the challenge of caring for a 3 year old grandson a few days a week. I have been a rubber stamp artist since 1992, a Close To My Heart consultant since 1996, cricut user since 2008 and a blogger for the past 3 years. I love to create cards, layouts and other projects using my stamps, papers and cricut machine. I am also on the Color My Heart Color Dare Design Team which also promotes the use of Close To My Heart Colors. I love using Close To My Heart products and am so happy to be on this Design Team to share them with you!"

"My name is Pam Korte, and I have been a Close to my Heart Consultant since August 2012. I live in Scottsville, New York outside of Rochester, New York in upstate New York.  I am a full time tenured professor of nursing and adjunct professor of psychology for a course on animal assisted therapy at the local community college, subject matter expert for a major textbook company, sister to the one that got me started in paper crafting six years ago, and mother to two rescued dogs India greyhound and Gina whippet. I have been rescuing greyhounds for over 20 years. My hobbies include enjoying the outdoors, reading and playing golf in addition to my love for paper crafting. I love to paper craft for relaxation and do it most evenings after work. I started paper crafting after my sister introduced me to a paper cutter and some paper. I love to scrapbook, make cards and make a variety of 3D mixed media paper crafting projects. I thoroughly enjoy introducing new people to the art of paper crafting through workshops and custom made project kits for individuals to enjoy. I love Close to my Heart because it is truly about the celebration of relationships through the discovery of one’s own creativity. I found myself expressing my love for God and life through my paper crafting endeavors and sharing that creativity with others through key moments in life. I am honored to have been provided with this opportunity to share my love of paper crafting with others. I am currently a member of the Color my Heart design team and now adding Heart 2 Heart design team. I am very excited about sharing this design team opportunity with others. I have won several national and international card challenges since January 2013 to the present.

"I wholeheartedly support the mission of Close to my Heart in helping people to learn and grow in their paper crafting skills. The mission of Close to my Heart is “We show you how to celebrate relationships through discovering your creativity, to preserve and share the moments that matter most.”

"My overarching goal in working with individuals in their paper crafting endeavors  is “And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” Colossians 3:17 I thank God every day for the skills to express so much through paper crafting."

Welcome to our new DT members!  Isn't their enthusiasm contagious?  Come back Monday, July 1, to see what we have in store for you.  It's such privilege to be a part of this fun, inspiring blog, but we couldn't do it without your players.  You are such inspirations to us!  Come back on Monday for our first challenge with our new DT.

Color Me Happy

This challenge is a bittersweet- yet colorful- one for the Heart 2 Heart Design Team, because our January-June term is coming to an end.  (Where did the first half of the year go?!?)  I would like to thank all of the wonderful ALL STAR ALUMNAE ladies who have worked hard to inspire you each week throughout this first half of 2013.  (Of course we've got an all new group coming on board next month, so you don't want to miss their debut soon!)  I certainly couldn't keep this challenge blog going without them, or YOU!  Thank you from the bottom of my heart to EVERYONE who visits, participates, and shares their love of Close To My Heart and H2H.

So, what is the challenge all about?  What color(s) make you happy?  Show them off in a special project this week.  Since this is our last challenge of the month, you only have until the 30th to submit your entries for any of the June challenges.

Our June Guest Designer, Amy Moore, has this lovely mini album to share, and she wants you to visit her blog to learn more about it.

As a special surprise for this final "farewell" challenge, ALL of our designers are playing this week!  Enjoy all the CTMH eye candy!  As always, if you'd like to learn more about each project, click on the designer's name to go directly to her blog.

Paige

Carol

Jayma

Lucy

Angela

Jody

Katy

Melinda

Shirley

Tamytha

Haley

Please join me in thanking our fabulous 2013 January-June Design Team!  Now, color me happy by sharing your favorite CTMH color!

May's H2H Addicts & Top 10

It is (finally!) time to announce our MAY Heart 2 Heart Challenge winners!  First, we'd like to give a  huge shout out to our "addicts," the talented ladies who participated in all four of May's challenges.  In random order (drum roll please), congratulations to...
*Pam Korte
*Amie Kiger
*Hansi
*Karen B.
*Kristin Holm

Pam deserves extra special recognition for participating in every single challenge of 2013 so far this year!  Way to play, Pam!!!

Now, it's time to announce our Top 10 for May:
Teacher Appreciation Week:

Jen Rubio

Jan Moxey

May Flowers:

Becca

Pam Korte

Wendy C.

Creature Feature:

Hansi

Amie Kiger

Nip & Tuck:

Bonnie

Hansi

Brittany

It is getting harder and harder for our DT to choose our monthly Top 10!  We love, love, LOVE seeing your CTMH creations and your enthusiasm for your craft.  You are amazing!  Don't forget to pick up your blog badge from our sidebar.

Now, without further ado, it's time to unveil our May Top Chick:

HANSI

Thank you again to ALL of our participants.  We hope that you will join us for any- or all?- of our June challenges!  

Photo Inspiration Challenge

I love photo inspiration challenges because you can really let your imagination go wild and take your project in any direction!  Will you create a 3-D object?  Something with a bird?  Pull the colors from the photo?  There are so many choices and we are all so excited to see what YOU do with the lovely soft vintage inspiration photo below!

Here is what the Design Team created this week to get you started on your own project!

Click here to visit Guest Designer Amy

Click here to visit Allisa Chilton

Click here to visit Shirley Ross

Click here to visit Melinda Everitt

Click here to visit Jayma Malme

Click here to visit Katy Taylor

Click here to visit Paige Dolecki

Are you ready to play and join the fun?  We have a few very simple rules to follow for our challenge so please be sure to read them as we hate to have to delete a linky to your beautiful artwork!

1. Use Close To My Heart products.  Your project doesn't have to be 100% CTMH, but you must use some.  After all, this is a challenge blog created and sponsored by CTMH consultants.
2. Incorporate this week's challenge...our vintage Photo Inspiration. 
3. Link your project back to Heart 2 Heart from your blog or online gallery.  If you are linking from a blog, you must link directly to the actual post, not your entire blog.  This will let people find your work long after the challenge has past.
4. You need to mention Heart 2 Heart (H2H) in your blog post.  
5. Finally, we do ask that you consider turning off word verification, as it does make it easier for the design team (and others) to leave comments.

See, I told you they were simple rules!  I can't wait to see what you create and share with us this week!

Stay crafty my friends,

Paige

Tool Time

I don't know about you, but I loved seeing the entries for last week's "tropical" challenge and I hope to see more.  Remember you can play with the challenges all month, so for those of you that are Close To My Heart consultants, if you are going to the convention in Orlando (only two weeks away...yippee!), why not create some tropical cards to swap, or some scrapbook pages to reflect your trip to my beautiful, tropical home state and then link them to last weeks challenge?  Speaking of convention, if you're going, be sure to check out this post. 

Now on to this week's challenge...Tool Time.  What is this challenge about?  Well, if you look at the design team's contributions, you'll notice that there are multiple ways to interpret it.  For example, your project can be about a tool, whether your favorite tool, newest tool, etc.  It can also be a project that is about tools.  This is also a time of year, that we think about the men in our lives, so you could even use that for inspiration.  After all, there's so much out there that's feminine, it's nice to challenge ourselves to do something with more of a masculine feel.  Of course, you may have another way to interpret this theme that I haven't even thought about.  Whatever you choose to do, we'd love for you to mention how you interpret the theme in your post or photo description.

With that being said, here's the projects that the design team came up with for this week's challenge.  Be sure to click on the the team member's name so you can read about how each one of us interpreted the theme and while you're there, let us know what you think by leaving a comment.

First up is our Guest Design Team Member for June, Amy Moore...

Amy Moore

Jody Gustafson

Tamytha Jenkins

Angela Garcia

Lucy Kelleher

Carol Labuski

Before I go, I have to remind you of the "rules", because failure to follow them, may cause your linky to be deleted...and no one wants that.

1. Use Close To My Heart products.  Your project doesn't have to be 100% CTMH, but you must use some.  After all, this is a challenge blog created and sponsored by CTMH consultants.
2. Incorporate this week's challenge...Tools (highlight a tool you use, in your project, masculine themed, etc.). Just for this week, we ask that you mention how you are choosing to interpret this week's challenge.
3. Link your project back to Heart 2 Heart from your blog or online gallery.  If you are linking from a blog, you must link directly to the actual post, not your entire blog.
4. You also need to mention Heart 2 Heart (H2H) in your blog post.  
5. Finally, we do ask that you consider turning off word verification, as it does make it easier for the design team (and others) to leave comments.

Now enough of the rules and on to the fun, creative stuff. :)  We can't wait to see how YOU interpret this week's challenge.

Have a great week!
Tamytha

Attention CTMH Consultants!

How many H2H-loving CTMH consultants are going to Convention in Orlando later this month?  Some of the H2H DT will be there, and we would love to meet YOU!

You may be thinking, "How can we find each other?" I've got an easy solution and it's an extra special "challenge": make a badge or pin to wear during Convention using your favorite H2H logo!  You can print out your favorite and wear it "as is" or gussy it up with some fun CTMH glam.  The DT Members will be sporting the DT logo.  (You may even see some of our as-yet-unannounced top secret July-December team members there too!)  By wearing an H2H logo, we can recognize each other as we're scurrying to and fro at the fantastic Coronado Springs Resort.  I'm especially hoping to see you at the crop Saturday night!  Please stop us and say HI!

If you're convention-bound, please leave a comment to let us know you'll be there.  I hope to see you soon!

P.S.  If you're not a consultant (yet) and wish you were in on all the fun, be sure to visit your favorite designer's CTMH website or Close To My Heart to sign up! ;)

If You Like Pina Coladas .................

Which actually I do!  Hello everyone and thank you for joining us at H2H!  We love having you join us each week.

Our challenge this week  is If You like Pina Coladas - Let's Go Tropical!  Somehow that song about dating keeps going through my head.  Too funny!  We are not asking you for your favorite alcoholic drink recipe.  We want to see your Tropical artwork.  After all, summer seems to finally be here in my part of the country so my thoughts are turning to bodies of water and summer breezes.

So are you ready to see our Design Team members' interpretations of our TropicalChallenge to inspire you to join us in this challenge?  Please don't forget to click on the Design Team member's name under their creation to visit their blog and see additional photos and details and don't forget to leave them some love -- they just LOVE to read your comments:

Our Guest Design Team Member's artwork had to be removed because it is being published!  Congrats, Amy! (Edited 12/24/13)

Amy Moore

And Design Team B:

Paige Dolecki

Jayma Malme

Allisa Chilton

Shirley Ross

Melinda Everitt

Don't forget to read the guidelines at the top left and use the 'linky tool' below with a link that goes DIRECTLY TO YOUR H2H CHALLENGE POST!  You must use some CTMH products in your project or your link will be deleted.  Thanks for understanding!

Thanks for playing along...you'll have 'till the end of the month, June 30, to link up to ALL of the June challenges.  Thank you for participating in our Heart 2 Heart Challenge!