From CTMH to Stampin’ Up: Looking Back at a Very Big Change
Originally published: March 1, 2024
Updated: September 2026
When I originally wrote this article in March 2024, Close To My Heart had just announced that it would be closing its doors. After 23 years with the company, I suddenly found myself trying to figure out what came next.
Two years later, I can tell you the story turned out to be about a whole lot more than switching from one craft company to another.
MY CLOSE TO MY HEART STORY
I joined Close To My Heart on February 15, 2001. I was a stay-at-home mom to three little girls and, as much as I loved being their mom, I was looking for something that could be mine too.
Funny enough, one of the reasons I chose CTMH was because they allowed me to have my own website and sell products online. I liked building websites and figured I might as well find something to sell from one, even though I never actually expected to sell anything.
Apparently, I underestimated myself.
Within two years, I had earned the title of Director and started earning incentive trips, all while working from home and raising my girls. What began as a little something for me turned into a business that would become a huge part of my life for the next 23 years. And that is what made the news in 2024 so difficult.
WHEN CLOSE TO MY HEART CLOSED
When CTMH founder Jeanette Lynton announced that Close To My Heart would be closing, I was heartbroken.
This wasn’t simply a company whose products I sold. It was woven through more than two decades of my life. My girls grew up while I built this business. I made friendships, traveled, taught people how to scrapbook and watched a whole lot of life happen along the way. But Jeanette Lynton (the founder of CTMH) chose to work with Stampin’ Up! to create an opportunity for CTMH Makers like me to transition to a new company. At the time, I was incredibly grateful to have somewhere to land.
So in May 2024, after 23 years with Close To My Heart, I became a Stampin’ Up! demonstrator. And I gave this new chapter a chance.
FROM CTMH TO STAMPIN’ UP!
There were definitely some growing pains.
When you’ve spent 23 years using certain colors, products, terminology and ways of doing things, you don’t simply wake up one morning and forget all of it. I had a lot to learn, a lot to adjust to and, quite frankly, a lot to figure out about what I wanted StampinBuds to become.
But something interesting happened along the way. I started realizing that the thing I loved most about my years with Close To My Heart wasn’t necessarily Close To My Heart. It was scrapbooking. It was taking a photograph and turning it into something that could be held, remembered and eventually passed down. It was helping someone look at a pile of paper and photos and think, “Okay, I can actually do this.”
And maybe losing the business I had known for 23 years was exactly what I needed to figure that out.
SO, WHERE IS STAMPINBUDS NOW?
Today, StampinBuds is becoming less about which company’s products I’m using and much more about helping you actually use the supplies you already have. Because I have plenty too. Trust me.
I still love pretty paper. I still love cardstock. I still get ridiculously excited about a good embellishment. But I don’t think you need another closet full of supplies and a huge credit card bill before you’re allowed to make something meaningful.
What you probably need is a place to start. And that’s where I’m taking StampinBuds.
I’m creating scrapbook layouts, sketches and simple creative recipes designed to help you pull out a photo, choose some supplies from your stash and get that memory onto a page without turning it into an all-weekend production.
Because somewhere along these last 25 years, I learned that the company name on the package isn’t nearly as important as the photograph sitting in the middle of the page. And I think that’s a pretty good place for this next chapter to begin.
Shannon
Founder, StampinBuds
