Saturday, June 30, 2012

Last Day for FREE stamps!

Stampaganza is almost over!


Today is the last day to get a FREE* stamp set for every two that you purchase. Stamp sets that count toward the qualifying purchase and available for free include full-priced A, B, C, D, and E-sized stamp sets only. The following do not count as a qualifying purchase and are not available as a free set: customizable (K-size), Workshops on the Go, Cricut collection, and Stamp of the Month (full-priced or discounted).

So...
If you purchase 2 stamp sets, you can get a 3rd for FREE!
Purchase 4 stamps sets and get TWO additional sets for FREE!
Purchase 6 sets and get THREE additional sets for FREE!
And so on, and so on..

Click here or on the image below to start shopping for stamps on my website!

If it looks like your order will be $150 or more, please contact me first and I will turn it into a “Gathering/Party” for you so that you can earn hostess rewards (more free goodies) on top of your FREE stamps!



*Free set must be of equal or lesser value in the entire order. Offer valid June 1-30, 2012. 
Tax and shipping/handling may apply. The lowest priced set(s) in the entire order will be the free set(s).

Wednesday, June 27, 2012

A Wonderful Gift from Close to my Heart


I am so excited! Look what the Fed Ex man just brought me! I received this BEAUTIFUL Brighton Weekender Bag from Close to my Heart as a congratulations for my recent promotion to Senior Director.

I received the sweetest email from Sheena, Director of Consultant Services, last month letting me know that they had ordered a special promotion gift for me, but that it was on back order. What a surprise to get a visit from the Fed Ex man today with my special gift!

Check out the inside of the bag. Isn’t it beautiful?


I love that I work for a company that recognizes and rewards their Consultants for their achievements the way that CTMH does. Thank you Close to my Heart! *Ü*

Friday, June 22, 2012

Create Cute Banners for Any Occasion

Create cute banners for any occasion or for any loved one quickly and easily using Close To My Heart’s My Creations® mini banner and our Cricut® Art Philosophy cartridge. It's a perfect pair of coordinating products!



Also, don’t forget that you only have a few more days to get your free stamp sets! Click here for more information on our incredible Stampaganza promotion.

Wednesday, June 20, 2012

"At the park..." Studio J Convention Layout #3

Here the next Studio J Convention layout that I created using the Magic Moments kit. Magic Moments is no longer available as a classic paper packet, but with Studio J, my favorite paper packets will be available forever! I love that!

Click on the photo to enlarge.

These are some photos of my hubby and me on Mother’s Day at the park. I was sitting on his lap and  I tricked him by telling him I wanted to give him a kiss and then “honked” his nose. It was so funny. I love the grumpy face he made. I’m not sure if it was because he didn’t get his kiss or because I honked his nose. LOL!

On this layout, I learned how to:

  • use a My Stickease image to make a border
  • create a layered ribbon bow
  • create striped ribbon using a text box
If you’d like more information about Studio J, feel free to contact me for a free private class or click here to create a free account and try Studio J yourself.

Sunday, June 17, 2012

1 Minute Father's Day Card


Leave it to me to wait until the very last minute to make my hubby a Father’s Day card. Thankfully Cricut Craft Room has a bunch of super cute free Father’s Day cards available right now. I picked this one and cut it out of some retired CTMH textured cardstock. It literally took me just 1 minute to make. (Thank you Cricut for saving the day!)


Today we are celebrating my wonderful hubby who just happens to be the world's greatest father! And we are remembering our fathers who helped us to become the people we are today. Although we really miss my dad and my father-in-law, we are so grateful for the time we had with them before they passed away. Happy Father’s Day everyone!


Saturday, June 16, 2012

"The Best Day" Studio J Convention Layout #2

 Click on photo to enlarge.

Here is another Studio J Convention layout that I created using the great instructions given to us by our incredible Corporate Office. On this layout I learned how to:
  • add a photo mat behind my photo using a journaling box
  • use letters as embellishments
  • add "tabs" of cardstock or paper with journaling boxes
  • create a title using several journaling boxes
  • use a My Stickease image to make a border
I love Studio J and am always amazed at the versatility and flexibility that it offers. If you’d like more information about Studio J, feel free to contact me for a free private class or click here to try Studio J for free right now.

Stay tuned for more Studio J layout samples...

Thursday, June 14, 2012

Color-Ready Seam Binding Ribbon

See how to make this pretty, soft white ribbon a stunning color to match your projects. It’s as easy as pie!


Click here to order the supplies used to make the projects in the video including the Color-Ready Seam Binding Ribbon.

Monday, June 11, 2012

Studio J Convention Layout

I am soooooo excited about the Close to my Heart annual Convention that is coming up next month in Dallas, Texas. This year I have the honor of presenting the new accessories! I have been busy playing and creating with many of our new products.  I REALLY wish I could share some of these exciting new goodies with you now, but of course I can’t. I promise to post my projects as soon as I get back from Convention though.

In the meantime, I want to share a fun Studio J layout with you. One of the perks of going to Convention is that each attendee gets 5 FREE Studio J layouts. I just completed mine and thought I would share this one with you. I love it because it actually shows just how incredibly versatile Studio J can be. The kit used on this layout is called Mischief which has a Fall/Halloween color and theme to it. You would never know it by the way the colors and images are changed.

Click on the photo to enlarge.
 
If you’d like to try Studio J, feel free to visit my Studio J page here. You can try it out absolutely free and see if you like it before you decide to buy your layouts.

And, if you’d like to join us at our annual Convention and get access to TONS of new products before anyone else, in addition to getting lots of great training and having the time of your life, visit the New Consultant FAQ page here. I would love to have you on my team and have you join us for our next Convention!

Friday, June 8, 2012

Graduation, Promotion, and Easy Gift Bags

My baby girl graduated from preschool and my son promoted to 3rd grade this week. I can hardly believe that staring in August, both of my kids will be in elementary school. (As sad as I will be to have both kids in school 5 days a week, I am happy that I will have more time to craft during the day! LOL!)


I wanted to share the way I packaged my daughter’s teacher gifts this year. They each received something a little different, but I packaged them all the same way. In my typical “simple style,” I stamped some plain white handled bags that I bought at Michael’s with the butterfly from the Quick Cards—Butterfly set in Lagoon ink. (I masked the bottom of the stamp because I wanted to add a thank you sentiment.) Then I stamped the thank you sentiment from a retired Thank You stamp set in Chocolate ink, but you can use any sentiment to fit your occasion. It literally took me less than a minute per bag! I made some matching 3" x 3" cards, attached them with some matching blue ribbon and was good to go!


If you ordered my June project kit, you will find lots of uses for the Quick Cards—Butterfly stamp that comes with the kit! You will be able to make quick and easy gifts bags/tags like this too!

I have to play the proud Mom and share a couple photos of my kiddos from their last week of school. Here is my daughter with her WONDERFUL preschool teacher, Ms. Lisa. (Doesn’t she have a great name? LOL!)


My daughter is so excited to start kindergarten in the Fall. Just look at that smile! She was giggling all day! My hubby is holding a picture that she drew of her favorite thing about preschool—playing outside with her friends on the swings, slide, and jungle gym.


This is my son with his INCREDIBLE 2nd grade teacher Mr. A! We just loved him and will all miss him this summer!


This is Mrs. Gandy, the TA! She was also amazing and, as you can see, is ready to pop with her little baby boy! We were thankful that she made it to the end of the year!


Now the summer fun begins...

Tuesday, June 5, 2012

Dotty for You/Art Philosophy Thank You Card


I needed to make a few thank you cards and while my Kraft cardstock, Dotty for You papers, and Cricut machine were all out on my desk, I thought I might as well use them. I came across a great sketch on Nichole Heady’s blog that I couldn’t resist using.

I used Close to my Heart’s Art Philosophy cartridge to make the flowers, and the banners. Then I cut some small circles from the Dotty for You paper, adhered them to the center of the flowers, and covered the centers with some Liquid Glass. I popped up a couple of the flowers and the center banner with some 3-D Foam Tape to add a little dimension. The sentiment is from the versatile Card Word Puzzle stamp set. (This is a MUST HAVE set for any card maker! I use my all of the time!)


The Dotty for You papers are not available anymore, but I still have a few packets. If you are interested in purchasing any, feel free to contact me.

Don’t forget that you can get a free stamp set this month for every two that you purchase! Click here for more information on this great promotion.

Monday, June 4, 2012

Nifty Neighbor Gifts

Want to say thank you to a special neighbor or friend? Dress up your gifts beautifully to show how much you care. In this video we show you how to create the gift packaging featured on page 82 of the Spring/Summer 2012 Idea Book.


Click here to order the products used in the video. 
(Remember during the month of June you will get 1 free stamp set for every 2 that you order!)

Friday, June 1, 2012

Free Stamps All Month Long!

I wasn’t sure if Close to my Heart would ever repeat their most popular promotion ever — Stampaganza! But guess what? It’s back!


 During the month of June you can get a FREE* stamp set for every two that you purchase. Stamp sets that count toward the qualifying purchase and available for free include full-priced A, B, C, D, and E-sized stamp sets only. The following do not count as a qualifying purchase and are not available as a free set: customizable (K-size), Workshops on the Go, Cricut collection, and Stamp of the Month (full-priced or discounted).

So...
If you purchase 2 stamp sets, you can get a 3rd for FREE!
Purchase 4 stamps sets and get TWO additional sets for FREE!
Purchase 6 sets and get THREE additional sets for FREE!
And so on, and so on... *Ü*


Click here or on the image below to start shopping for stamps on my website!

If it looks like your order will be $150 or more, please contact me first and I will turn it into a “Gathering/Party” for you so that you can earn hostess rewards (more free goodies) on top of your FREE stamps!



*Free set must be of equal or lesser value in the entire order. Offer valid June 1-30, 2012. 
Tax and shipping/handling may apply. The lowest priced set(s) in the entire order will be the free set(s).

Birthdays are great at any age!

A few years ago I started to get a little sad on my birthday because I thought it just meant getting older. But I quickly realized that every day that the Lord allows me to be here with my friends and family, is a day to be thankful and a time to rejoice!

Yesterday I celebrated my 42nd birthday and I am so very thankful for all of the blessings that I received in just one day! The day started off with an adorable handmade card (made from white cardstock and crayons) from my hubby! With all of my crafty tools at his disposal, those are the ones he chose to use. LOL! I loved it! (Blessing #1) Then my hubby was kind enough to drop my son off at school so that I could sleep in just a few extra minutes than usual. (Blessing #2)


Then after getting up and getting ready, I asked my 5 year what we should do for the day and she quickly replied, “Let's go to Starbucks for breakfast and then go get our nails done.” Great idea! That’s exactly what we did. I used my free birthday drink coupon from Starbucks to get an awesome Iced Passion Tea Lemonade. Yummy! Then we went to the mall get our nails done.  While we were there, we did a little shopping. (I’m not sure if I should be excited or worried that my 5 year old daughter loves to shop! LOL!) It was a great mother/daughter afternoon. (Blessing #3)


(We weren’t sure what all of the markings meant on my Starbucks cup, so we decided that “PTL” stood for ”Praise the Lord.”)

To finish off the day, I had the honor of celebrating with some of my favorite CTMH peeps — my Consultant Club gals. They surprised me with the most adorable, yummy cake and some fun gifts! (Blessing #4)



During our Club, Vanessa Garcia led us in making a super cute layout using the Footloose paper packet and the template from the Stella Workshop on the Go! (Now, I just need to find some beachy photos to add.) There’s nothing I’d rather be doing on my birthday than scrapping with some good friends! (Blessing #5)




A heartfelt thank you to everyone who called, sent e-mails, posted b-day wishes on my Facebook page, and most importantly a big thank you to the Lord who allowed me to celebrate one more year of blessings! I am TRULY blessed!