Picture My Life

I am lucky enough to be a part of an AMAZING group of scrapbookers.  They are a crafty, supportive and collaborative group of women that it has been my absolute pleasure to get to know.  Getting together with them is my one release from the demands of my home life and I cling to it like a shipwrecked victim to a life raft.  We get together 6 times a year and put on the BEST crop in the Memphis area.  Seriously.  If you live here, ever visit the area, or just want to come in and join in the fun, click here to check us out and sign up.  

We use the gymnasium of one of our local churches and we are always blessed when a representative of the church wants to share with us before we start our day-long event.  (Not being overly religious, I usually use this time to commune quietly with my own higher power.)  But at the last crop, we had an elder of the church grace us with his wise words.  He credited us with being the "Memory Keepers" of our prospective families.  (As his wife is a member of our scrapbooking family, he feeds her addiction and happily understands the release for her and the benefits of her passion to their family.)  That one phrase - memory keepers - struck home for me.  That's what scrapbooking is all about.  Keeping the loving memories of my sons' childhoods alive.  And I am an avid picture taker.  Especially now that my camera is so conveniently attached to my phone - and I carry my phone with me everywhere.  My boys see that phone come out and they assume their respective positions, lol.  My now-teenager hides his face or runs and my toddler smiles his biggest smile.  My teenager used to smile big for the camera, so I know one day my toddler will also be hiding his face.  Right now the baby is either sleeping or screaming.  But he'll learn.

Picture My Life is the PERFECT scrapbooking tool for beginning memory keepers, and it fits that it's the current Constant Campaign!

The Picture My Life programs are PERFECT for the beginning Memory Keeper.  The "programs" come with pre-designed cardstock cards that you just slide into the page protectors next to your photos and Voila! In ten seconds, you have fully designed scrapbooking pages that were as easy to assemble, as the pictures you took to put in them!

Picture My Life has 13 different programs to choose from - both current AND retired paper packs.  Each program comes with 122 cards, a cover sheet and 10 page protectors.  Then on top of that, you can get another 10 pack of page protectors for only $3!!  And the cards are ADORABLE!  And fully designed.  And double sided.  And they already have sentiments on them.  Or they have journaling spots where you can write your own sentiments.  And they make beginning scrapbooking a breeze.

And I've come to learn how important scrapbooking is.  It's not just something I do to decompress (although, that IS one of the reasons I do it - in addition to my joy of crafting, the loving fellowship of like-minded women, and the love I get to spread to my friends and family through my hand-crafted cards and paper gifts).  It's also keeping the loving memories of my children's lives alive.  And the memories are very loving.  It's the greatest gift I can give them.

The benefits of Bling

I have a secret.  I am NOT a girly-girl.  I'm a really simple chick.  A jeans and flip-flops kind of girl.  If you were to see me out, I'd be barefaced, hair up in a claw clip and the only "accessory" I'd be sporting (aside from my impossibly cute kids) would be my wedding ring.

So, when I'm making cards, I can bang 'em out when I'm following the patterns in my Make It From Your Heart booklet.  (Another reason I love CTMH - they put their how-to patterns in the easiest format to follow!)  But once the pattern is complete, I feel like something is missing.  The cards need bling.

Embellishments, to be exact.

Take this card, for example.  

I made this card for my mom and step-dad.  That lucky couple is getting to live out their dream retirement right now.  They bought a travel RV and meandered across this great nation of ours as they packed up their house in the Frozen North and moved down to the desert of Nevada.  This is an exact copy of the pattern I used from our Make It From Your Heart how-to booklet.  And while it is adorable, it feels unfinished to me. 

I like simple, but I like refined simple.  I want the recipients of my cards to feel like I really put thought and effort into personalizing the hand made cards I give them.  I won't give a card that doesn't feel "finished" to me.

So taking the basic card above, I just added a few simple pieces to make it feel more finished.  I added the Twilight cardstock under the sentiments and edged all the pieces in Chocolate ink.  Then, I stamped the RV image on two pieces of patterned paper, cut them out and adhered them over the original stamped image (a technique called "paper piecing").  As a final touch, I added Chocolate pearls (now-retired) to the upper left corner of the card and also over the wheel of the RV. 

It doesn't scream "overly embellished" to me, but those few small, simple touches take it up the few notches it needed to feel complete. 

This is NOT an April Fool's Joke!

Do you LOVE CTMH product?  (I do!)

Do you LOVE getting FREE CTMH product?  (The only thing better than CTMH product is FREE CTMH product!)

Are you a Cricut fanatic?  (Like me and most of the scrappers I know are.)

Close To My Heart is GIVING AWAY a FREE Cricut Collection to EVERY NEW CONSULTANT who signs up during the month of April!!!

You don't have to blink.  Or rub your eyes.  You read that right!  F.  R.  E.  E..  FREE!!

These collections retail for $99 each with a total value of $125.  So automatically you're saving over $100.

If you've never seen our collections, these are the three you can choose from:

First up, we have our Art Philosophy.  This is the Grande Dame that started it all.

Next up we have the Artiste Collection.

And finally, the baby sister..  The Artbooking.

As you can see, there are similarities between each collection.  They each come with three dimensional elements sheets that coordinate with both the stamps and images cut from the Cricut cartridge.  The three stamps that are included in each collection are exclusive to that collection.  Meaning they cannot be purchased outside of the collection they come with.  And each collection has a cartridge and image book containing over 700 images each!

But that's where the similarities end.  Each cartridge serves a different purpose.  The images on the Art Philosophy are geared for tags and layered embellishments.  The Artiste contains 3-D embellishments and projects (to give as gifts or display as home decor for yourself).  And the Artbooking is more for the scrapbooker who wants to take their layouts to unimaginable heights.

And then there's all the product that comes in the New Consultant kit.  

Oh, my goodness.  Look at all that!  Doesn't all that make you drool?  I know, me too.  When I see that, my mind races with all the creative projects I can do.

The kit is valued at $309.  But it retails at $99!!

So, for the month of April, every new consultant who signs up gets ALL the product above PLUS a FREE Cricut Collection of your choice. 

A combined value of $434. 

For $99!!

That's A LOT of free product. 

If you're interested, contact me here today for all the details.

You get a Free Cricut Cartridge! She gets a Free Cricut Cartridge! We all get a Free Cricut Cartridge!!

Ok, so I'm usually late to the party with my posts.  I usually log on somewhere around the middle of the month to post the current promotions and Stamp of the Month.

I don't do it on purpose.  I've got a hubby and two boys that always need something.  (And I have one on the way.  Another boy, not another hubby.)  I get busy and distracted.  My days are long and by the time I get to put my exhausted bones in bed, my lists of the next day's chores are dancing through my head instead of the much more pleasant visions of stamps and paper packs.

But when Close To My Heart announced on Saturday what the April promotion was going to be, it was TOO good to wait a month to tell everyone about it.

During the Month of April, EVERYONE who signs up as a Consultant will get the Cricut Cartridge of their choice - FOR FREE!!  (My chin really did hit the floor in shock when I read this!)

So, not only do you get ALL this AMAZING product for only $99 (valued at $309!)

 You also get your choice of one of our three Cricut Collections!  That's an ADDITIONAL $99 for FREE!  (The Cricut Collections are valued at $125 each.)  See them pictured below.

 We have the Artbooking Collection.

The Artiste Collection.

And the Art Philosophy Collection.

Each collection comes with a cartridge EXCLUSIVELY through Close To My Heart, three stamp sets that cannot be purchased outside of the collection and three dimensional elements sheets that correspond with the cartridge and stamp sets.

$434 in product for $99!!!  It's such an amazing deal, I can't believe they're doing this!

If you love paper crafting and you've been thinking about becoming a Close To My Heart Consultant, this is the promotion for you!

Click here to contact me for more information about joining my team, or click here to go ahead and order your new consultant kit today!

Little wooden dolls every where I look

When I was a little girl, my grandmother had this bookshelf next to her front door.  It was not very tall - it just had three shelves to it.  And it contained some books and little tchotckes and nick-knacks that my grandpa had picked up in his many travels across the country.  (He was an over-the-road trucker.)

On the bookshelf, she had this set of nesting dolls he'd picked up somewhere.  You know the ones - made from wood and covered in a sheer lacquer.  You had to twist them a little bit to get them to come apart.  They were all the exact same design and colors and there were maybe five dolls in the set.  The smallest doll didn't separate, she was the only solid doll in the set.  I spent hours opening them up, fitting them together, playing with them, putting them back in place.  She would only let us play with them where she could watch us because she wanted to make sure we were careful with them.  I loved those little things.

When I saw March's Stamp of the Month, I was immediately transported back to that living room. I could feel that ancient carpet under my elbows, smell the aroma of homemade bread baking in the oven

Look at how adorable those little nesting dolls are!  They really do bring back the best memories.

I don't know about you, but alot of my paper crafting is done from my heart and for those that I love.  I have a set of these on order (We've had a lot of sickness around my pad the beginning of this month, so I'm a little late getting my Stamp of the Month in.) and I can't wait to play with them!

You can order yours here, but remember these sweet little dolls are only available in March!  Hurry up to get yours today.

It's all "Monkey" business...

I read an article once about the origin of nicknames.  It seems way back in the dark ages, parents would call their children by substitute names during their youth (and especially their babyhood) to keep ghouls and goblins from stealing them.  This is how nicknames came to be.

We call our youngest son Monkey.  He's always climbing on everything, constantly clinging to us, and he has those HUGE chubby cheeks when he smiles really big.  People always look at us like we're crazy for calling our son after an animal.  I think it's adorable.  And he answers to it.  He knows that nickname as well as he knows his own name - although he chooses not to answer to either of them when he's up to no good and he's about to get into trouble.

A couple years ago, I attended a name frame workshop.  It was a complete BLAST!  Then, I made a name frame for my oldest son using the nickname I've called him from birth - Chunk.  He was the fattest baby I'd ever seen.  I used to call him my "michelin-tire baby".  You'd never know it now, he's as thin as a rail and is all angles.  I loved cataloging some of my favorite pictures in an homage to my son.

When our current Idea Book came out and I saw the adorable Babycakes paper pack, I knew EXACTLY what I wanted to do with it - make a name frame for the baby.  So I sent all my favorite pictures from my cell phone over to Walgreens and started measuring.  Thankfully, I was able to find the same frame I'd gotten for his older brother.  The finished size I picked is 9 x 12.  I wanted the most space I could  to put as many pictures of my little monkey as possible.

Don't you love it??  I absolutely LOVE how stinkin' CUTE this name frame turned out!  His favorite things are eating, getting filthy and being cuddled - typical boy!  I totally captured his spirit in this name frame and it's going to look GREAT hanging on the wall right next to his older brother's.

Celebrate July 4th by giving to those who give so much!!

I've mentioned before that I spent most of my life as a "military service member support staff" - both as a child and a spouse.  That's fancy-speak for "military dependent".  Just like any indentured civil servant, these brave men and women do not do this for money or fame.  They don't do it because of any reason other than a bone-deep calling to do what's right.  To defend our freedoms and those in countries who have none.  To be there on the front line, taking the hit.  To run into harms' way so that others don't have to.  To leave this world a little better than they found it. 

I am awed and honored by the sacrifices made by these brave individuals around the world.  I don't take my freedom lightly and I am thrilled that Close To My Heart has found such a wonderful way to give back.

From June 1st to July 31st, $3 from each Courage Stamp set (B-sized, retails for $9.95) and $5 from each
Home of the Brave Stamp Set (D-sized, retails for $17.95) will be donated to the USO!  The USO is an incredible organization that supports our service members.  These brave men and women sacrifice so much and they deserve to know that we don't take their sacrifices for granted!

These stamp sets can be ordered here, but ONLY until July 31st! 

July Stamp of the Month

We go to farmer's markets.  While there's a wider array of veggies at the local grocery store, hubby and I prefer to give our bucks to hard-working local farmers.  The produce is fresher, grown more organically and local!  It's not covered in pesticides or preservatives to make sure it gets thousands of miles without spoiling.  Food tastes better fresh out of the dirt or off the tree.  (Baby loves peaches and learned first hand  about the differences between the canned kind and the fresh kind.  He thought it was great fun to let the warm, sticky juice dribble down his chin and arms!  He was a mess cleaning up, but he was so cute - we didn't mind at all!!)

So when I saw July's Stamp of the Month, all I could think about was our local farmer's markets! That fruit is just waiting to be colored and adorn scrapbooking pages of blond-headed babies covered in sticky peach juice. 

To add this to your own pages and projects, click here!

Welcome Baby Boy

I LOVE this card!  I might be a bit biased, cuz I made it.  And although I rarely make things I don't like, I don't always fall in love with some of my creations like I did with this card.

I don't think there are enough adjectives to describe how awesome I think this card is.  I love that the emphasis is on the mother and pram.  She looks blissful and peaceful - just the way we all want to look when we're pushing our little angels around.  I love that it's simple.  I love that it's elegant.  I love that it's "boy-ish" without being "baby-ish". 

I made it for my younger sister when she was pregnant with her third son.

First, I used our Later Sk8r paper.  (All current product is soon to be retired.  Later Sk8r is only available through July 31st, so order yours here before they're all gone.)  I love when CTMH brings out new boy papers!  I paper pieced the mother's dress and the baby's pram from two of the patterned papers in the pack.  I used our blending pen and inks to color in her hair, skin, shoes, and the baby's arm.  I added bling to hear ears and the middle of the wheels.  I traced over the wheels, spokes and handle of the pram with our silver metallic pen to give it the appearance of being made from metal.  I layered Lagoon, White Daisy and Outdoor Denim cardstock on top of each other to create a visually beautiful background without competing with the stamped image.  For the strip of Outdoor Denim behind the stamped image, I used our Color Ready Seam Binding Ribbon and daubed Outdoor Denim ink all across it.  But be careful!  If you do this, you have to color it on scrap paper and you HAVE to let it dry for 24 hours before using it.  Otherwise, you'll get ink all over you and your project.  I also added a few pieces of bling to the bottom of the card as a finishing touch.

I hope you like it as much as I liked making it.

Home of the Free ...

... because of the Brave! 

As a former military brat, I really appreciate how much support our country has for its service members!  The challenges we faced were much different from our friends.  When my sister and I were in high school, my dad got new orders.  At the time we were stationed at Great Lakes, and his new orders were to Washington (state, not D.C.).  My sister was going into her senior year, and my folks made the really hard decision for my dad to go out there solo and leave us all behind.  As kids, we made some serious sacrifices because of their decision and it was far from easy.  But we came out stronger on the other end, and it only ended up being for a few years.  

So I was PSYCHED to find out Close To My Heart was giving back to a cause that's close to MY heart - the military!  They came up with some wonderful patriotic stamp sets to salute those brave men and women who make it possible for us all to enjoy all the exceptional freedoms we have.

From June 1st to July 31st, $3 from each Courage Stamp set (B-sized, retails for $9.95) and $5 from each
Home of the Brave Stamp Set (D-sized, retails for $17.95) will be donated to the USO!  The USO is an incredible organization that supports our service members.  These brave men and women sacrifice so much and they deserve to know that we don't take their sacrifices for granted! 

Click here to place your order today!  Hurry supplies are limited!!

So Dreamy!

I cannot get over how versatile this paper pack is!.  All the gorgeous papers are so inspirational.  Of course, I'm talking about our May National Scrapbooking promotion, Dream Pop. 

These papers were created exclusively for this promotion which is ONLY available during the month of May.  Quantities are really limited.  You have to act fast and order yours today!  Click here to place your qualifying order of $35 and you can get yours for just $10. 

May's National Scrapbooking Promotion

Dream Pop!

It's our National Scrapbooking Promotion for May.  The colors are bright and cheerful.  The colors and the patterned papers were exclusively created just for this promotion.  Even the cardstock is double-sided.  One side is the high quality CTMH cardstock that you know and love.  The reverse side has a delicious embossed pattern to add depth to your paper crafting projects.

Click here to order yours today.  Quantities are limited and you do not want to miss out on this exceptional promotion!

Make It From Your Heart Buzz and Bumble Thank You card

I've been commissioned by my husband's mother to make a box of cards for her friend's retirement party.  I did this for her birthday earlier this year, and she really appreciated it.  She called me on Sunday and asked me if I could have this ready for her before Saturday.  As in this Saturday.  Three days from now.  I told her it could be done.  And it can, as long as my boys cooperate.  This has been a busy week for us and I've had family business to take care of up until today, so I've been slowly working on this card. 

I used our new Buzz and Bumble paper pack to make this card.  I edged all the papers in Cocoa Ink to give it more dimension without the added weight of more paper.  The flower on the sentiment is from the Buzz and Bumble Assortment Pack.  I stamped the sentiment with our A Little Thanks stamp set.  The sentiment I edged in Goldrush Ink and Cocoa Ink to help make it pop.

Knowing that I have three days to get a box of cards (and the box itself) designed and created, would normally turn me into a frantic mess.  But Close To My Heart has the perfect solution for this.  They have this wonderful 48 page booklet called Make It From Your Heart.  They've created exclusive card (and scrapbooking) patterns and included dimensions and completed examples of each project.  And that's where I got the pattern for this card.

This is a Must-Have booklet to keep with your paper crafting supplies.  The pre-designed patterns make creating so much more of a breeze.  And it makes keeping my commitment less stressful.  I bought this booklet because I have a little one at home.  He makes it impossible to spend hours online scouring websites and blogs looking for card patterns.  You can order yours here today to maximize your scrapbooking and card making time!

I already have the next pattern, stamp and paper pack picked out for the next card.  Come back tomorrow to see it.

Super Cute Dream Pop card

This is the super-simple, super-girly Mom's Day card I made with our National Scrapbooking Month Promotion, Dream Pop!  I'm pretty laid-back and low-key.  And I love how bold and colorful these papers are.  But I felt like I needed a solid neutral to ground all those happy colors, which the black did perfectly. 

Look at all these bright papers!

The cardstock is double sided.  That pattern you see in the pictures is actually embossed!  It adds great dimension to your finished project.  The reverse is plain cardstock, so you can stamp images and sentiments to your heart's content!

And look at all these colorful patterns!  The reverse have completely different patterns and designs to add more dimension and color to your projects.

This is a fantastic promotion to celebrate National Scrapbooking Month.  You get 24 sheets - 2 each of all six double-sided patterned papers AND 2 each of all six double-sided cardstock papers.  If you love paper-crafting as much as I do, you really need to get your hands on this promotion.  It's only good through the last day of May.  The papers are so high quality and it was so much fun to work with pre-embossed cardstock!

All you need to do is place a $35 qualifying order here and you can get this fantastic promotion for only $10!!

National ScrapBooking Month!

When I saw how bright and cheerful the patterns and colors for our National ScrapBooking Month promotion were, I was completely inspired to create this Milk Carton Flower Pot for Mother's Day.  I love how happy this little project turned out to be. 

Both the patterned papers and cardstock are from the Dream Pop Promotion.  The colors are so joyful, it just screamed "Celebrate Something" to me.  And since Mom's Day is right around the corner, what better to celebrate?

I used our Juniper Ink to color our Color Ready Seam Binding (if you've never done this before, it takes about a day to completely dry before you can play with it).  After I cut all the individual papers out, I edged them with the Juniper Ink, too.  I love inking edges, I think it adds dimension without the additional weight of more paper.  It's one of those techniques that allows you the versatility to determine how light or how dark you want the edges to be.  I usually start out pretty light-handed and wait for it to dry before deciding whether I want to add more.  I used Slate Ink to stamp the leaves and flowers with the Heartfelt Treasures stamp (they're on both sides of the milk carton).  Then I pulled out the bling!  I think it added just the right amount of pop and shine without being too over the top.  I used our Bitty Sparkles, our Blue/Green Sparkles Assortment and our Red/Pink/Purple Sparkles Assortment. 

I'm having so much fun playing with this paper pack!  The colors are so vivacious.

All you need to do to get this fantastic promotion is place a qualifying order of $35 here and you can order this for an additional $10!!  But place your order quickly.  Although this promotion is for the Month of May only, there are limited quantities.

First signs of Summer

I love pinwheels.  They remind me of hot, lazy summer days laying among dandelions in the grass.  No breeze blew, so the only way I could get my pinwheel to turn was by blowing on it.  My little cheeks would be so puffed out because I never wanted that pinwheel to stop turning!

This month's Stamp of the Month brings back all those memories.

How sweet are all those pinwheels??

My oldest son never got into pinwheels - he only cares about cold-blooded creepy things.  But my baby is curious.  He loves the world around him and never seems like he can get enough of it.  I can't wait to see his reaction to spinning pinwheels.  I hope he'll be as fascinated by them as I was.

This adorable stamp is yours for just $5!  That's right.  When you place a $50 qualifying order here, you can order this stamp for $5. 

Do your Dreams Pop?

May's Constant Campaign is absolutely DREAMY! 

12 double-sided Background and Textured papers.

12 double-sided cardstock sheets in colors created exclusively for this promo (regular cardstock on one side, embossed patterns on the reverse). 

The colors are AMAZING - so bright and cheerful!  Just what a lot of us need after the yucky weather we've been having.  They really inspire creative pages and projects.

Get this set for only $10 with a qualifying order of $35!

This is while supplies last so place your order here today to guarantee that you get yours before they run out.

Best. Husband. Ever!

Yesterday was insanely busy.  My oldest son had a "celebration" field trip to a local nature park.  It was an all day trip and he needed me to bring his fishing gear (it wasn't allowed on the bus).  But when I went to pack his lunch yesterday morning, I saw that his bread was completely molded.  For most people, that's a quick trip to the corner store.  But my oldest has Autism.  He's on a gluten-free diet and our local store doesn't carry gluten-free bread.  So before I could even pack his lunch, I had to drive to the grocery store 30 minutes away that does carry his bread so I could pack his lunch.  Not the start to the morning that I was expecting.  So after getting back 90 minutes later and getting the truck loaded with everything I needed for my boys (I had to take the baby as well because my hubby is a third-shifter and he was sleeping), we were finally on the way.  He had to ride with the school bus and he was terrified that I'd forgotten about him because I was so late getting there.  His anxiety level was through the roof by the time I got to the park.  Tuesdays are busy days for us anyways because we have to drive into Memphis to take him to Social Skills Therapy after school.  So after the field trip, we headed on into Memphis.  Three hours later we were finally going home for the day.  The baby was ready to be out of the truck and I was ready for the peace and quiet of my home (the little one had been screaming for the last hour because he was done.  And I mean DONE.)

I was so tired of driving and kids at that point, I only wanted to eat and go to bed.  Imagine my surprise and delight when I saw this waiting for me!

My husband ROCKS!  I'd sent him a link WEEKS ago telling him I wanted this for my birthday (at the end of June).  I guess he figured I needed a pick-me-up.  My stomach jumped and my heart fluttered when I saw Cricut printed on the side of the box.  And it's pink.  I love pink.  I'm anxiously waiting for my little one to be ready for his nap (he's fighting it like a professional boxer today), so I can play with it!

April Giveaways!

Do you love Close To My Heart products?  Do you want to get some fantastic products for free? 

If you sign up to be a Consultant in the Month of April (NO Commitment, NO Obligations!!), you'll get over $220 in exceptional Close To My Heart product for only $49!!

You'll get all you see here:

Plus all four remaining Stamps of The Month - Free!

 This is a FANTASTIC deal that's too good to pass up!!  There is absolutely NO obligation to purchase anything further to get all this great product for free!  It's virtually unheard of to get so much stuff for free!  But we're doing it.  Remember, you have to sign up before the end of April to get all your free products. 

Click here to get started today!

Singing in the Rain, I'm singing in the Rain....

Not yet.  But it's coming.  Here outside of Memphis, where I live we've had a very wet spring.  (My family in Wisconsin and Minnesota would probably take my water-logged streets over their snow plows right about now.)  The rain drenches us for a couple days and by the time I think the sun has dried us out, we get drenched again.  I wish I could be creative when the clouds go dark and grey, but I can't.  Rainy weather makes me just want to curl up on the couch and nap.

But this happy stamp MAKES me want to get creative!  I adore the hot air balloons and happy little sun is just so bright and cheerful to me!

This is the April Stamp of the Month, so act fast to get yours today!  Click here to place your qualifying order of $50 to get this great stamp for $5 (a savings of $12.95)!