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If you {heart} Close To My Heart, then this challenge blog is for you! Please read our revised rules, above.

Sunday, May 31, 2015

Please Welcome Our June Guest Designer!

Tomorrow morning we'll be unveiling our first June challenge, so today we'd like for you to join us in welcoming our June guest designer, the talented April Watkins!

Hello! My name is April Watkins, and I have been a Close to My Heart Consultant for about a year and a half. I currently live in Strongsville, OH, which is a suburb of Cleveland. My husband Thomas is Active Duty with the United States Coast Guard, so we am both from everywhere and nowhere at the same time. I have a Master's Degree in Library Science, and have worked as a public librarian in the past. I am currently taking time off to stay home with my adorable 2-year-old son James. I have been papercrafting since high school, but I've really become more serious about it the past five years after my husband bought me my first Cricut machine. I absolutely love CTMH products, especially the Artbooking and Art Philosophy Cricut cartridges. My artwork generally features lots of layers and heavy with embellishments, which pairs nicely with these cartridges and the coordinating stamp sets.

Monday, May 25, 2015

Tutti Frutti

This weeks challenge is a fun one. Tutti Frutti. If you are inspired by the song, our May special, Taste Of Summer, bright summer colors, or fruit, we want to see your Tutti Frutti projects. Show us how you were inspired this week. Remember to use some Close To Your Heart product on your project. Load your project to the linky below. You have until the end of the month to play along. Now sing along A-wop-bom-a-loo-mop-a-lomp-bom-bom.


Lets see what our guest designer Casandra has for us:


And here is the projects from Team Canary.
Nikka

Allie
Lauren
Haley

We hope you will join us for this challenge. And you still have until the end of the month to play along with all of this month's challenges.  Our only requirements are that you use some Close To My Heart product and mention us in your post.  Have a tutti frutti day!

Tuesday, May 19, 2015

Don't Forget About Our DT Call!

It's your chance to be a star, or at least a member of the fun (and rewarding) H2H Design Team!  Click HERE for the complete details.  Scroll down a little further if you're looking for our current challenge.  Thanks!

Monday, May 18, 2015

Extra! Extra! Read All About It!

Before we get to the big news, did you see our April Top 10 post?  You can't win if you don't play!  Did you also read about our Design Team call?  (Have you sent in your application yet?  Time is running out!)

Now, on to our current news: this May challenge is quite catchy: Extra! Extra! Read All About it!  How will this theme inspire you?  Maybe you'll use a newsprint background.  Maybe you've got some big news to share?  Maybe you're inspired by a book.  You can take this challenge in so many different directions, and we can't wait to see YOUR interpretation.  Just remember to use something from Close To My Heart in your project, mention us in your project post, and link up with your direct URL to your project.

Our front page feature today is our guest designer Casandra.

We've also bringing you headlines from our Thistle Design Team.
Alyson

Lauren
Brandi
Brandi
Haley
Are you ready to be in the Heart 2 Heart news?  If so, take this or any of our May challenges!  (If you play along with every challenge this month, you'll be recognized as an H2H Addict, complete with a special blog badge!)  What are you waiting for?  News like this won't keep!  Hop to it!  You don't want to miss the scoop!


Wednesday, May 13, 2015

It's Time to Announce...

...our April favorites!  You continue to amaze us with your talent and creativity, and it is so hard to choose our Top 10 each month.  Participation was down a bit because some of those challenges were, well, challenging.  We hope that you're enjoying the May challenges and finding time to join us.

We'd like to recognize our H2H Addicts, those crazy crafters who completed each of our April challenges.  (Be sure to grab your blog badge!)  Congratulations and thank you to...

*Artsy April
*Sue @ I Love Scrapping Too

Next are our favorites from each week's challenge.

No Foolin':
Katrina
Cheryl

Checkerboard:
Gretchen
Pamela

Sketch:
Pam
Melissa

What a Wonderful World:
Sue
Wendy

Anything Goes, CTMH Style:
Gretchen
Joyce
Aren't these selections fabulous?  You have all set the bar high and made it so difficult to choose our Top Chick!!!  Congratulations to our April Top Chick...




GRETCHEN!
Thank you once again to everyone who played in April.  We have some terrific May challenges for you, and all of them are open until the end of the month.  The only requirement to participate is to use some CTMH product(s) on your creation.  Thanks for playing!

Tuesday, May 12, 2015

Design Team Call: July-December 2015

Do you love Heart 2 Heart Challenges?  Want to share your love of creating with Close To My Heart?  Then consider applying for our Design Team!  It is almost the end of the first 2015 design team term, and it's time to apply for the next round of the Design Team here at H2H.  Your term will be July-December.   If you’re still interested after reading through the requirements, send your application to h2hchallenges@gmail.com.  

We will continue to have TWO Design Teams!! The teams will both have 6 month terms but will split the responsibilities with Team A inspiring us one week and Team B inspiring us the next. This allows the teams members to get a little "break" and gives them additional time to get their artwork ready for their week's challenge.

If you would like to be considered for one of the teams, here is the application process:
* Email me with your name, address, blog address, email address and a little bio about you. Be sure to tell me why you want to be a part of the team and how long you have been a consultant. Also, we’d like to know where you live because we are looking for geographic diversity too.

*If you are currently serving on a design team or have in the past, tell us about that experience.  Please include a link to the challenge blog(s).

* You MUST know how to write and publish a post on Blogger. Each DT member will have a couple of weeks (scattered throughout your six month term) in which you are responsible for hosting/writing the Monday challenge post. Don't worry - I will be around to help out with this as well but please only apply if you are comfortable blogging.

* You must send photos of three of your pieces of artwork. DO NOT send me a link to your blog to look at your artwork there - I want you to pick what you consider three of your best and include them with the application.

ALL applications must be received by May 31.  We will make the selection of the new team members by Jun. 15 and the new team will start on July 1!

Here are some more things to keep in mind about a position on the DT.  You are committing to:
*Participate in a challenge every other week (each of your team's weeks) and have your artwork for each challenge posted to the DT Facebook Group the Saturday before the challenge begins.
*Make an effort to post your artwork on any other boards/galleries you belong to and advertise our challenge blog whenever and wherever you can so we can continually grow in numbers of participants. We currently have an H2H page on Facebook that I would like DT members to join but this is optional.  (The Facebook DT group is required.)
*Participate in any extra programs that we may decide upon as a team. You are also expected to weigh in on your choices of winners in monthly awards (Top Ten).
*Join a Facebook Group set up specifically for team members.
*Visit the blogs of the challenge participants and leave comments.
*Serve as H2H blog hostess about once every other month.  (You must know how to use Blogger to do this.)
*Your term would be January-June 2015 with an option to renew at the end of your term.
*Possibly offer a small prize at least once during your term.

What you get in return:
* Commitment to producing artwork at least once every 2 weeks which gives you an opportunity to create on a regular basis!
* Increased blog traffic which will hopefully lead to an increase in your business!
* Fun and fellowship with the entire team and a chance to meet new consultants and CTMH fans!

I think that about wraps it up. What are you waiting for? Send in your application today!! (Any questions can be directed to me at h2hchallenges@gmail.com.) 

Monday, May 11, 2015

Game On!

Hi everyone, it's Allie, and it's my turn to announce our next fun challenge to kick-off the week: Game On! Whether you take this in a sporty direction or simply vow to put in some serious crafting time, remember,

"Champions aren't made in the gyms. Champions are made from something they have deep inside them -- a desire, a dream, a vision." - Muhammad Ali

While you get ready to get your game on, check out some fabulous inspiration from our talented Guest Designer Casandra and Team Canary!



Team Canary:
So "float like a butterfly, sting like a bee," get your crafty GAME ON and link up your creation in the gallery below!

Monday, May 4, 2015

Mum's The Word

Welcome to another week of Heart 2 Heart Challenges. We are bringing a head-start project for May: we want you to create something for Mother's Day! Alternatively, you could be keeping mum about something and we would like to be let in on the secret.

Our May guest designer Casandra has this lovely layout to share:
Casandra Bennett


The Design Team Thistle has been busy creating with their favorite products in honour of mums all over the world.
Lauren Moore

Haley Dyer

Alyson Mayo

Nikka Geers
Cynthia McCloud
Brandi Robinson

Can you guess if any design team member is also keeping mum about anything?  Visit their blogs to be sure!  We cannot wait to see your project, please link up below!

Saturday, May 2, 2015

Please Welcome our May Guest Designer!

Please welcome our May guest designer!  (You may have noticed that we skipped having a guest DT in April so that we could have a better schedule.)  We're really excited to welcome Casandra Bennett to create with us this month!

"Hi. I'm Casandra Bennett from Levering, Michigan. Today, is my 4 year anniversary as a Close To My Heart Consultant. I have been a bookkeeper for two family businesses for over 20 years. I am a wife to my best friend, Jeremiah, and mother to two wonderful children, Jackson and Isabella. I have always been crafty. In middle school, I began selling friendship bracelets and could make just about any pattern just from looking at a sample. I even won blue ribbons at our local county fair. I also dabbled in cross-stitching. I have been scrapbooking for about 13 years now. In 2007, I was invited to my first Close To My Heart party and fell in love with the clear stamps and coordinating colors. If you were to ask me what my papercrafting style is, I would have to say "clean and simple"."