Top Products from the New Idea Books

Hi there.

The new season Close To my Heart  Idea Books were launched on 1st September and gee there are some beautiful things. Lucky for me I have a birthday coming up in a couple of days so my credit card can have a bit of a rest while I use my birthday money :-)

  

The 2 Idea Books are the Holiday Expressions, and Annual Inspirations.  I will probably interchange between calling them idea books and catalogues as yes, they are a catalogue full of items you can buy, but they are so much more than that, and are packed full of inspiration and ideas on how you can use the products. What's even better is every project illustrated in the books can be changed and adapted to suit your taste and needs. If you find a design you love but prefer different paper then it's easy to change, or change the colours used, or the card sentiment to suit whatever occasion you need. The options really are endless. 

Holiday Expressions - Christmas 'White Pines' Collection

The Holiday Expressions book goes until 31st December 2015 and is focused on Halloween, Thanksgiving (it is an American company after all), and Christmas.  

The Christmas collection is 'White Pines' and features a gorgeous paper pack, picture my life (PML) cards, a card making  AND a scrapbooking workshop on the go.

All these products team perfectly with the Fern, Cranberry and Cashmere inks and cardstock, and our red, green and gold shimmer trim, fern or poppy thick twine and the NEW red or green enamel gems.

If you like the idea of making your own Christmas Cards but don't want to design your own - we offer 2 types of card making kits - the White Pines Cardmaking Workshop on the Go provides all materials (except ink) and instructions for making 15 cards (5 each of 3 designs). The workshop on the go kits are great value as they include a paper packet, stamp set and embellishments, plus design and instructions.  It you want something even easier than that, the Cut Above card making kits include everything (except the stamp which you can get for $5) PRECUT for you to make 10 cards. It doesn't get much easier than that.

Boughs & Berries Cut Above Card Marking Kit

White Pines Cardmaking Workshop on the Go

Christmas cards made using Christmas stamp set available in the Holiday expressions

  
If you are looking for Christmas gift ideas, you can find these also in the Holiday Expressions. Personally, I love the Designer Creations Mini Frames. This set of 3 mini frames fits a 2"x3" photo and is the perfect gift to either yourself to hang on your tree, or for giving to family and friends.  The Designer Creations Ruby Paper Bags are also great for giving small Christmas gifts to work colleagues, friends, or teachers. They also come in 3 other (non Christmas colours) and would make great treat bags for any celebration. Personalise them with a some thick twine and a hand made gift tag and they will be the talk of any party or celebration. 

 And finally, the Holiday Expressions features the limited edition Christmas base and bling style sheets and charms. For those new to CTMH, base and bling is the exclusive jewellery range which includes chains, pendants and charms in faux silver and faux gold, and style sheets allowing you to make your own personalised jewellery, great for yourself or for gifts. 

Annual Inspirations 2015/16

The new 2015/16 Annual inspiration book goes for 12 months through to August next year and is the larger of the 2 books at 164 pages as it includes 6 new paper collections (Zoe, Sangria, Kaleidoscope, La Vie En Rose, Urban and Georgie), 7 new PML collections including GOLD FOIL AND OVERLAYS (YES!!!), the new fundamentals range including cardstock packs, stickers and assortment packs with GLITTER PAPER (LOVE!!!) , the new Instalife range (MY ABSOLUTE FAVOURITE), all our tools and adhesives, storage solutions, base and bling range, ink pads, markers, watercolour pencils, new watercolour paints (yes, that's right!!!), albums, memory protectors, stamp sets, 3D gifts and decor.

Whatever the occasion you want to celebrate, moment you want to remember, or gift you want to give, there are stamp sets, paper packets, ideas and projects  for ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING in the Annual Inspirations - new baby, wedding, teacher appreciation, everyday life, travel, kids, thank you, school, birthday, and the list goes on. 

Here are some of my favourite items and collections in the new Annual: 

Instalife range - yep my absolute favourite from the new Idea Books. 
These albums are square 4"x4" and perfect for housing your square photos from Instagram or any photos really as long as you print them square. I have just finished my first one which I did for my Mum with photos from her 60th Birthday earlier in the year.

The instalife range includes 2 different styles of Albums, memory protectors to fit the albums, cards to personalise your albums, and there are also 2 different roller stamps perfect for date stamping and stamping expressions, phrases or borders to personalise your albums even more.

This new range is already one of my more popular sellers with people ordering them to give as completed album gifts for friends to document holidays together and other special occasions, and to teenagers and young children who have an interest in photography and scrapbooking, to get them started on documenting their own memories.

Picture My Life (PML) / Pocket Scrapbooking collections

Pocket scrapbooking is my preferred form of scrapbooking as it is quick, easy and allows me to use heaps of photos on a double page layout. I love the new PML cards - they are versatile, come in smaller pack sizes than the previous collection meaning they are more affordable, meaning you can get more packs ;-)  They also feature the same design on both sides of the cards, one in vertical landscape and the other side in horizontal, so you can match them to the photos you want to use and aren't limited by which orientation the card design is in.

Georgie PML is perfect for baby photos. It coordinates with the Georgie paper collection, assortments and complements.

Childhood PML features black chalkboard like cards with all the letters of the alphabet, icecreams, robots and sunshine. It is perfect for your kids photos or every day life.

Going Places PML is perfect for holidays and travel photos.

Through the Year PML features a beautiful water colour design. Each of the months of the year are written on a card, and is perfect for complementing your photos all year round.

And best of all, there are OVERLAYS (black and gold/silver) and a gorgeous collection called Beautiful You (below middle) which features a number of gold foil cards.



Fundamentals range

The new Fundamentals range includes patterned cardstock combo packs in each of the colour palettes (basics, whimsy, adventure and enchantment), as well as sticker packs to match and assortment packs in 8 different colours. These sticker and assortment packs are perfect for any papercraft project, and what I love about the assortment packs is the GLITTER. Who doesn't LOVE a bit of glitter in their craft projects?!

12'x12' Albums

Our 12'x12" d-ring canvas albums are perfect for traditional scrapbooking, pocket scrapbooking or for displaying your children's artwork.

They are excellent quality and come in 5 designs.  You can get Memory Protectors in a variety of styles to suit which ever type of project you are looking to display in your albums.

Base & Bling Collection

The Base & Bling collection consists of square, oval and round pendants in faux gold and faux silver - team them with a chain to match, or some thick twine for a more casual look.  You can then choose charms and designs from the style sheets to suit your tastes and mood.  The options are endless.

CTMH have 4 colour palettes to choose from when selecting your cardstock and inks - Basics, Whimsy, Adventure and Enchantment. Each colour palette has 10 colours in it and for 2015/16 the Enchantment palette has been redesigned with 7 brand new colours.

I have to say, I think Enchantment has taken over from Whimsy to be my new favourite with colours like Eggplant, Pomegranate, Sapphire, Peacock and Poppy.

CTMH have also written an article on the official CTMH blog on the 11 "must haves" from the Idea books. 

If you see something you like and would like to order supplies, let me know. Delivery can be arranged anywhere across Australia if you shop on my website katrinagabriel.ctmh.com.au - if you need help navigating the site just let me know.

If you live local to me in the Blue Mountains (west of Sydney) then come to one of my workshops and we can create or recreate something together- my workshop dates can be found on my facebook page facebook.com/katrinagabrielctmh

Did you know I also do custom orders and can make you cards, invitations, announcements, gift bags, albums or framed layouts for any occasion you like. Contact me at katrina.gabriel@yahoo.com.au for details and prices.

Thanks for reading.