This Stamp Set is Going ...Going.....GONE!

I mentioned on Facebook yesterday that a neighborhood Pampered Chef consultant had brought us some banana bread. Well I actually have a fun barter system worked out with this consultant. She makes yummies when I have a class and I make her Thank You cards.

I usually do a "kitchen theme" but wanted to do something different.
I made these cards using some of my favorites...the Twitterpated paper pack, October Word Puzzle stamp set, the watercolor pencils and the blending pen.

All of the Word Puzzle stamp sets will be retired in December. If you are interested in purchasing any of them, I would suggest doing so soon. November would be a perfect time with the Stampaganza special.

Anyway...these cards were fun to make. I have always liked to color and that is exactly what I did with the watercolor pencils. I used three different colors on the pumpkin and then used the blending pen to blend them all together. I was happy with the look when I was done.

It's Official

I am happy to announce that it is official! We will be fostering dogs for a local agency, Paws and Prayers. I have gotten our last two dogs from there and I think it is a great organization.

We actually brought home our first foster on Saturday. It was a VERY short foster....he was adopted on Sunday! Toby is a 6 month old German Shepard. He was fun and our 4 year old lab enjoyed romping with him in the yard for the short time he was with us.

I have had so many people say to me.....oh I couldn't do that ......I would want to keep them all. Mark , Jack, and I are going into this with the attitude we can give these animals a nice place to stay until they go to their forever homes. I hope if we keep that attitude it will be easier when it is time for them to move on.

I'll let you know how things go. We are scheduled to get another foster this weekend. We decided to wait until after Thanksgiving since dinner is at our house this year.

My Kind of CEO

As most of you know, Close To My Heart is dear to me. One reason is the values of the CEO, Jeanette Lynton. Jeanette started a stamping company in her home so she could be with her kids. As the company developed she continued to include her children in the plan. Family is VERY important to me, as it is to Jeanette.

I would like to share Jeanette's blog with you. Today she has Q&A. She also shares beautiful color combinations and artwork. Some days she she shares family photos or photos of the Close To My Heart team. To take a look at Jeanette's blog CLICK HERE.

Results of the Unofficial Scraps Survey

I took an unofficial survey a few days ago to see what other scrapbookers and stampers do with their scraps. Thank you to the ladies who responded on both facebook and my blog. Most of us keep those scraps and use them. Some eventually go through them and donate to day cares, schools, etc.

How are they stored? If it is CTMH paper usually with the original paper pack. Some use the drawer system I have come to love.

So the winner the this unofficial survey is Laura P. How did I pick the winner....just a random name drawing. I will be sending you some cute...cute holiday paper candy.

Since I am talking about scraps....again...I thought it would be appropriate to show a card I made last night with my scraps I had laying on my scrapbook table.

First I found these cute little doggie embellishments I had made when I was on a retreat. Such a cute stamp set. Sorry I can't remember the name but I know it has been retired.




Then I went through my pile of scraps that hadn't made it off my table yet and found some matching paper. I added a little ribbon and here you have it...a cute quick masculine birthday card.

Take a break today from your busy schedule and make a fun card or two. Enjoy!

Join My Team and Earn Extra Free Stuff!

Some of you may have read in my newsletter that I have a goal in my Close To My Heart business. Actually I have lots of goals but there is one I am working diligently on currently.

I want to become a director by the CTMH convention next summer. To be a director you need to have 20 active downlines on your team.

I have a great team but I want to add to it! I am adding a little motivation to sign up as a consultant in November!

In addition to the great products you already receive in the new consultant kit, I will be adding a FREE stamp set of your choice from me.

The basic consultant kit costs $99 and includes about $250 in products to get your business going. You also have the option of purchasing 2 bonus kits which provide additional CTMH products.

Close To My Heart has a wonderful training program for new consultants. In addition to the training offered by CTMH, I have started weekly calls with anyone new on my team to help them achieve their own personal goals.

To join my team, Croppers Connection, click here. Once you are on my website click on the
"Your Opportunities" section. Close to My Heart has been a great addition to my life. If you are interested in earning a little....or a lot or just would like the discount sign up today!

Scraps...Keep Em or Pitch Em?

I was checking out some message boards yesterday and read a discussion about scrap paper. It got me thinking about what other people do with their scraps. I am a person that keeps most of my scraps unless they are itty bitty. Storing them has an issue for me. I have tried zip lock bags, boxes and have finally come up with something that works well for me. I used one of those wheeled drawer carts. I seperate the scraps by color and find I have been using them a lot more often because they are easy to get to and see.

OK so what does everyone else do?

Do you keep scraps?
Do they have to be a certain size?
Do you use them?
How do you store them?

I would love to hear everyone's opinion on this topic. Everyone who posts a comment will be entered in a drawing for some fun holiday paper candy!

It is kind of funny when you think about it....only scrapbookers and stampers would chat about scrap paper.

JINGLE All the Way

I have had SO much fun using the Jingle paper pack! I love the color combinations and hint of nontraditional Christmas colors. I have used it with a variety of holiday stamp sets and it looks great with all of them.


This is the display board I used to show off how fun this paper is. Most of the artwork on this board was created by Pam Miner, my upline.

Stampaganza Continues

Stampaganza is booming! Have you made your wish list of all the stamp sets you would like yet?
Remember this is the month to buy...buy...buy! If you buy two stamp sets you will get the third free. Read on to hear about how much free stuff you can get.....

One of my customers, Sara , placed her order a few days ago. She ordered four stamp sets for 22.95 each. She added a paper pack to get her order total over $100. She got two stamp sets valued at $22.95 each by using the Stampaganza special and then the stamp of the month free because her order total was over $100. How cool is that!! When she was done with her order she got almost $70 in stamp sets FREE.

I know how we stampers and scrapbookers are....we like FREE stuff. So don't delay....place your order today!

All Decked Out

This is a set of cards I made for one of our craft shows using the All Decked Out stamp set. This is my favorite holiday stamp set. All Decked Out (D1308) was a Close To My Heart stamp of the month last year and made it to the Idea Book this year. I like that there are so many different choices on how to make your snowman look. On this set I stamped the hat and scarf on a seperate piece of paper and then colored with watercolor pencils and a blending pen. I cut them out and added them to the snowman. I used a sponge to ink the white paper then attached it to a cranberry (red) card. Easy Peasy!!

The ribbon is just to hold the set together at the craft shows.

Our Little Boy Is a Teenager

Yesterday our youngest son , Jack , turned 13. He has been acting like a young teenager for a while but now it is official.

As I am typing this I am trying what to say about Jack. I could say he is outgoing and self assured. I could say he is a jokester. I could say he does great in school.

As a Mom, when I think of Jack those aren't the things that come to mind. What comes to mind is the kindness my son shows by calling his 85 year old grandma before every Cavs game to remind her it is on TV. I think about the boy that always wants me to stop when we see a scrapbook store because he knows how much I like scrapbooking. I see the boy that comes to the Assisted Living my office is in and visits with the elderly people who talks to him and remembers their names for the next time he sees them.

Those are the special things we remember about our kids...not what everyone else sees. I am so proud of the young adult Jack is becoming and I can't wait to see the adult man he grows into.

Beautified

After looking at the photos from the Fall Hiking Spree I realized I needed a trip to the beauty salon.....AND SOON!! Well last night I went and got beautified. I got my hair colored. It is a brownish red and not nearly as dark as it looks in this self portrait.

I decided it was time to get a new hairdo too! I found two pictures I liked to take with me. The one was VERY short and the gal who cut my hair said to keep it looking cute I would have to get it cut about every 3 weeks. That is WAY too much maintenance for me! So I went with the other photo.

She cut off about 2 inches and layered the heck out of my usually very thick hair. When I came home I loved the cut and the way she styled it. When I did the styling myself this morning I wasn't quite as thrilled with it. Why is that....you can never get it to look quite like it does when you leave the salon again?

Any way I got lots of positive comments on the cut and color today which always makes me a happy camper. One co-worker told me I looked much younger...gotta love that one!

I'm sure I'll get some photos that are cuter than this self portrait to share in a few days but I wanted to share my new look with all my blogging friends as soon as I could.

Fall Hiking Spree

A BOY AND HIS DOG

Summit County has some great Metro Parks. This fall Mark, Jack , and I are taking advantage of a program they offer called the Fall Hiking Spree. The purpose of the Fall Hiking Spree is to get people out enjoying their parks during a great time of year. You are rewarded if you hike 8 trails during a specific time frame. The reward the first year is a hiking stick. After the first year, you get a band for you hiking stick each year.

Since we like to walk the dogs this is a great program for us. We always take Jenny, our younger lab. Bear, our newest pet, came along last weekend also. Poor Billie, our little beagle has to stay home. Most of the trails are between 1-2 1/2 miles and that is too far for the old girl.

It was so pretty out last Sunday I decided to get some photos. I missed the leaves at the peak of their color but I am still happy with the photos I took.

Jack is becoming quite a good photographer. He took these pictures of Mark and I. He has got the hang of taking at least 3 pictures of each pose and knows one should come out.

Signs of a Scrapbook Addict

I saw this recently on another blog and got a chuckle out of it. I wanted to pass it along to all the other addicts out there.

Top 10 Signs of a Scrapbook Addict
1. You're the only one at a social gathering yelling, "Just one more photo, folks; I don't have enough for a two-page spread!
2. A regular sandwich is no longer acceptable--it must be cropped or cut with decorative edges.
3. You try to claim your album purchases as a medical expense because it's such good "therapy".
4. You buy a new pink swimsuit because it matches the pink photo mounting paper.
5. You decide to give your child piano lessons so you'll be able to use the musical instrument stickers that are in the Big Pack.
6. You redecorate your family room to coordinate with your photo album covers.
7. Your three year old wants to know if her coloring book is "archival quality".
8. Scraps from your corner rounder cuttings can be found in unusual places: school lunch bags, briefcases, the laundry, the dog's water bowl.
9. You decide to give your child piano lessons so you'll be able to use the musical instrument stickers that are in the Big Pack.
10. Of course a scrapbook addict doesn't follow a 12 step program but a 12 x 12 step one.

Craft Show

The first craft show of the season was last Saturday. Jen and I were excited to display all our handcrafted papercraft items. We had no idea what would sell since neither of us had done a craft show in a few years.

The overall best seller....PUMPKIN POOP! Who would have thought. Everyone thought the poem was cute as could be:


PUMPKIN POOP
I started to carve a pumpkin
With my carving knife and scoop,
But the pumpkin got so scared
That he took a poop!
It looked so cute and funny
Just like a candy treat.
So I'm sharing it with you now
Because you are so sweet!


















Many people also commented about how there is now a "poop" for every holiday...snowman poop, reindeer poop, etc.

Something people requested...individual birthday cards. We had thank you cards, blank cards, and packets of holiday and note cards BUT no birthday cards! I guess we will be creating some before the next show.

These cute, cute photo/ note holders are so fun and easy to make. I got these clothespins at Pat Catans for $1 each. I make these to match an altered composition book, large paper clip book mark and matching note cards to make a desk set.

I am looking forward to our next craft show and I'll keep you up to date on what the " hot " item is for that show.

Stampaganza starts TODAY!!

Stampaganza starts today! This is a super time to stock up on all those Close To My Heart stamp sets you have been wanting. From now until November 30th when you buy two stamp sets you will get the third set FREE !

Since the list of products retiring in December is also available start buying those sets you can't live without TODAY. To take a look at the retiring items go to my website, www.ldame.myctmh.com and then to online shopping. The last item in the column on the left hand side are the retiring items. Once these items are gone...they are gone! I am going to take a look at these sets tonight and get my order placed so I don't miss out!

Please let me know if you have any questions.

November Stamp of the Month Blog Hop

Welcome to the November Stamp of the Month Blog Hop! This blog hop features artwork from numerous Close To My Heart consultants.

I hope you have enjoyed the artwork you have seen so far. If you came here from Jody's blog you are on the right path.

This month's stamp of the month is a set of 26 stamps called Around the Block.

This card features the SOM (of course) and the Twitterpated paper pack. I inked the edges of the papers for a little distressed look using Chocolate ink. I jazzed the card up a little with a matching Chocolate ribbon.

If you are interested in purchasing this month's stamp set you can shop online at my website, http://www.ldame.myctmh.com/.

To continue the November Stamp of the Month blog hop , hop on over to Terrie's blog.

If you want to go back to the beginning of the list, you can hop over to Jena's blog.

Thanks for stopping by!