Dudleychick Designs is Moving On...

Hi All,

I am having a hard time writing this. You see I have struggled with a BIG decision for a while now and now that it is done I have a hard time telling people the choice I made. I have lived in Colorado since I was 2 years old. It is my home. But with my layoff and a year and a half of unemployment I have had to make some tough decisions.

 I will be moving to Utah next month. It just makes sense for me to go now, to make a fresh start someplace new, to be closer to Ashleigh and find my dream job with one of the major craft companies (I hope).  I will miss Colorado, all my friends here and the Mile High City.

One of the hardest things for me to think about in contemplating this move was YOU, my CTMH customers and friends. You have been so incredibly supportive of my creative venture, and I have really enjoyed the friendships I have made through this business. I will miss you all. First I want to say that I am NOT leaving CTMH. I will continue creating, blogging, teaching and selling all of the wonderful CTMH products, just not in Denver.

What does this mean for all of YOU, my loyal customers and friends?

1. You can still order from me anytime. Just contact me directly by email, at 720-394-9361 or use my website www/CTMH.com/dudleychickdesigns.

2. I am looking for someone to take my place here. Now is the perfect time to sign up as a consultant for CTMH (see Oct. special below) and I can hand it to you on a silver platter. I would love to find someone or a few someones who would be willing to continue my card club, classes and workshops here. I will guide you, teach you and even share my ideas, directions and supplies when I can. It's really a win/win situation for someone who is ready and willing to take the plunge. If you are interested please contact me and we can discuss the possibilities.

3. Card Club - If you are a member of my card club there are a couple of ways this could go. We are just getting started on this round so we could just cancel it. But, I would love if one of you (or a couple of you) wanted take over and keep the club going. I will still have card club here on the 14th for anyone who wants to come. Hopefully, we can discuss more details for the future of the group then. Again, if you are interested in signing up and taking over let me know and we can discuss.

4. Classes and workshops - I will still have my Christmas card workshops this weekend. In fact I have a couple of extra kits for anyone who wants to join us. The cost for the class is $25. That class will be the last one I do here. I will be doing additional Christmas card workshops once I get to Utah so I will offer them as a "Class in a box" for anyone who wants to do them here. Pricing will include all the cut and stamped pieces for you to assemble on your own plus shipping. More details on that later.

October Special - FAB FREEBIE
Sign up as a new Consultant between October 1–31 and receive one New Consultant Kit add-on collection of your choice FREE! Add-on collections are normally priced at $40 each and have a retail value of $80 – $130, making this an incredible deal!

For just a $99 enrollment fee, you'll receive a New Consultant Kit packed with business essentials and new products valued at over $280 US/$320 CAN, plus a FREE add-on collection to enhance your kit! Then you can choose to buy one or both of the other add-on collections for just $40 (US&CAN) each. It's an incredible deal! If you have ever thought about making your paper crafting hobby a business of your own contact me or click HERE to join.

It is an exciting and somewhat scary time for me, but I like adventure. So wish me luck in Utah!


LeAnne Dudley
Close To My Heart
Independent Consultant
http://dudleychickdesigns.blogspot.com
www.dudleychickdesigns.myctmh.com
dudleychicks@gmail.com

Boo to you!

I love Halloween. I love the costumes, the parties, the fun of being someone else and even being scared...although I am a bit of a whimp admittedly. I also love all of the Halloween products out there in craft land. This year Close To My Heart came out with the cutest Halloween line. It's called Hooligans and it is adorable. It has all the classic Halloween colors Gypsy (purple), Pear (green), Sunset (orange), Lagoon (turquoise) and of course Black! Along with the Hooligans paper line they came out with the cutest monsters. As soon as I saw this line I knew I wanted to make a Halloween mini album (even though I don't have any pictures to put in it).

Anyway, here is what I came up with.

This is the cover. I used the Hooligans My Stickease and the Level 2 Assortment (felt monsters) throughout. I love how it all coordinates.

If you are interested in making one of these (or buying this one) shoot me an email.

Being the Queen is Magnifique!

Each time we get a new Catalog the gals in my group have a shoebox swap. What is a shoebox swap you might ask? Well it is where we each design a card, in this case using only new products, and we prepare enough supplies for all of the participants and put it all in a "shoebox". then we all meet and pass the shoeboxes around the table so we can make each other's cards. It is a great way to get to use lots of the new products without having to buy everything. The ladies in my group are all so talented that I look forward to the shoebox swap every time.

This is the card I created for our shoebox swap.
And here is a close up of the tag.

Here is the recipe:

Based on Aubrey’s Invitation from pg. 81 of Wishes
4 ¼” x 5 ½” Chocolate card base
4” x 9” Colonial White (Score at 3 ½ “ for pocket)
2 ½” x 5 Colonial white tag
2 ¼ “ x 4” Magnifique Floral pattern (top of pocket)
3 ½” x 4” Magnifique Stripe (bottom of pocket)
2 ¼” x 3” Colonial White x2 for Crown (stamp crown on one and cut out, stamp sentiment on one and pop up crown)
2 ½” x 3 ¼” Pacifica for crown mat

Attach floral pattern to top of pocket
Fold up flap to create pocket
Attach Magnifique stripe to pocket front
Use clear ruler to punch holes for stitching on sides of pocket
Whip stitch using chocolate waxy flax up both sides of pocket
Attach pocket to card base
Stamp crown using lagoon ink and cut out
Stamp birthday sentiment on 2nd colonial white piece using chocolate ink towards the bottom
Mat with Pacifica
Pop up crown above sentiment and add sparkles

Tag:
Punch corners of tag using corner chomper
Stamp scepter on the left side using Pacifica for handle and Lagoon for gem
Stamp sentiment to right of scepter using Lagoon and Chocolate
Add Liquid Glass to gem
Add sparkles to scepter and sentiment

I post the cards created by the rest of the group in a later post. Thanks for looking.

It's Here!!!!!!!

The new Fall/Winter Catalog from Close To My Heart officially launches today. I have had it for a month and was chomping at the bit to share it with everyone. There are so many great new things in here!
First of all we have EIGHT, yes 8 beautiful new colors. May I present for your crafting and stamping pleasure.

• Sky - This one says it all. Imagine the blue sky on a perfect day.


• Sunset - That rich orangy red you see just before the sun fades away.


• Cotton Candy - The perfect shade of pink. Not pastel and not hot pink.


• Gypsy- This is a gorgeous shade of rich purple...mmmmm.


• Pacifica - LOVE, this color...think electric peacock blue. Goes perfect with the beautiful new stamp set called Circle of Love...I am lovin' that peacock image.


• Pear- This is an awesome crisp green.


• Lagoon- Makes me want to take another cruise just to see water this color.


• Smoothie- This is an orangy pink kind of half way between Cotton Candy and Sunset...yummy!

Here is a set if monogrammed cards I made using all of the new colors.

From top left...Gypsy, Sky, Pear, Sunset, Smoothie, Cotton Candy, Pacifica and Lagoon. Don't you just love them??



There are also four beautiful new paper lines. Here are brief descriptions including the featured color combos. Watch for ideas using each if the new paper lines with a Stamp of the Month set.

• Hooligans - Halloween designs featuring Gypsy, Lagoon, Pear, Sunset and of course Black.


• Olivia - Fantastic fall patterns featuring Barn Red, Pear, Sunset and Smoothie.


• Magnifque - Rich and elegant designs featuring Chocolate, Lagoon, Pacifica and Sky.


• Mistletoe- Classic holdiay papers using Cocoa, Cranberry, Garden Green and New England Ivy.

Want to see all of it?? Come to my open house this Saturday.

Saturday, September 4th

1:00-4:00pm

Stop by and see the new Fall/ Winter calatog from Close To My Heart. Make a free Halloween card, and see samples made with some of the new products...get your creative juices flowin'. Everyone who attends will get a free copy of the new catalog and will be entered to win a free stamp... set or Miracle page kit. Pick a date to host a home gathering party in September or October for an extra entry. Get some great deals at my craft room clean out sale too.

Hope to see you there!

Life is Sweet Clear Card Class

I am so excited. I have been waiting to do this class for a month since I saw these awesome clear cards in the Summer 2010 catalog. I love the look of clear cards, they are so much fun and CTMH has outdone themselves with these. they are precut in two shapes, squares with rounded corners and scalloped circles.

I couldn't wait to put them together with the new Cherry-O paper for some adorable spring cards. Here they are, I love them and hope you do too!

Here are the four cards included in this class.

And some close ups of each card. It is hard to get the pictures to do them justice but I hope you get the idea.

Since this is the first month of the new catalog I am going to do something special for this class. You can get this class FREE.

That's right I said FREE!

Just make a purchase of $40 or more from the new catalog through me before May 15th and you can come to either class for FREE.

If you just want to take the class and don't have an order right now the cost is $15.


I will be holding the

Life is Sweet Card Class

Thursday, May 20th from 6:00-9:00 PM

OR

Saturday, May 22nd from 1-4PM



Payment for qualifying orders and/or class fees must be made prior to registering for the class.

Space will be limited and I will take registrations for paid or free classes through May15th.

Out of the box

These cute little boxes were my April class. I wish I could say that I designed this myself but I found the original instructions here

I offered the boxes in three paper designs.

Sillouette (Black, White Daisy, Colonial White, Bamboo and Tulip)

And here is the inside of the box. It includes 6 standard A2 size cards, four 3"x3" cards and four tags along with a noteboox, pen and pocket for a book of stamps.

Here it is using Bella (Hollyhock, Olive, Smokey Plum, Cmee Brule)
And finally this is Magic Moments (Chocolate, Hollyhock, Corn Flower Blue, Sweet Leaf). Each of these uses the same layouts but it was interesting to see how different they turned out by just changing the papers.

Spring Has ...Win a free stamp set!

This is something I made for the April swap using our April Stamp of The Month, Flower Pot.

I love doing 3-D projects and this was a really fun one. The template came from Lauren Meader's My Time Made Easy site. If you haven't checked out Lauren's site you are missing out. I love her ideas and templates. The best part is that she offers all of her templates as .GSV files that I can cut on my cricut using my Sure Cuts Alot software. How awesome is that?? I would never take on making 10 of these if I had to cut them all by hand.

What is Sure Cuts Alot you might ask. Well I if you own a cricut is is a MUST have tool. I wrote a post about it on my old blog. If you want to read that post click here. If you want to learn more or want to purchase Sure Cuts Alot Click on my link to the left.

Here are some close up shots of the Wheel Barrow and one of all of them lined up for the swap.

I used the Veranda paper line from CTMH. The wheel barrow base is Cocoa cardstock, with Olive accents. I used the Flower Pot SOTM set and various CTMH colors for the flowers.


Would you like to win this stamp set for free??? Here's what you need to do.

1. Leave a comment on this post (be sure to leave your email address so I can contact you of you win)

2. Subscribe to this blog OR become a follower

I will choose a winner on May 15th. Good Luck!

They Say It's Your Birthday

If you are like me you usually remember it is someone's birthday a couple of days (sometimes weeks) after it has passed. I always have good intentions but life takes over and I just forget.

When I saw CTMH's February Stamp of The Month Set I decided to make something to help me remember.

Here is what I came up with. Presenting...

A Year of Birthdays Flip Book

This book is made with the Topstitch paper line from CTMH. I used theMy Creations Display Album and made a page for each month with space to write everyone's birthdays.

Here are the month pages

This was a class I offered in February. If you are interested in doing this project just let me know.