The Wait is Finally over...

Hello !  So glad you've stopped by today because we've got another great sketch for you from Scrapbook Challenges...this one is Sketch 306 and it worked great for the three pictures I had printed of Olivia's Convocation...

The paper's I'm using for Olivia's Convocation layouts are from SEI and their new 'Field Notes' paper collection...it has a bit of shimmer on some of the sheets and it also features Butterflies.

This has got to be the first time in a very long time, if ever, that I've used a pink sheet of cardstock as my base...weird huh?!!!

I chose this as a title because Olivia has been waiting, for what seems to her like FOREVER, to have this day arrive...bittersweet as she is feeling a little sad now that it is all over...now she realizes she has to grow up a bit and face the real world.

I used 1½" squares and folded them in half for this banner...I thought it looked a bit like her cap...I've also used some heavier thread in my sewing machine, I find that it shows up better on my layouts with the heavy weight thread.

Here's the double page layout for you to see and perhaps have a go at...I hope you get some scrapping done this week and hopefully some of the inspiration over at the SC site will help you along with that!!!

They've arrived!!!

Well they arrived a couple days ago anyways...here are two of them, 20lbs worth! Full of my new product bundles that I ordered from Convention as well as the FREE product I've earned since the last catalog...I love being a CTMH Consultant...

...then on Friday another box arrived...that one had my new 'Artiste' Cricut cartridge with the three chipboard sheets and coordinating stamp sets and the box was also filled to the top with some of the new accessories that we have coming August 1st !!!


Heads Up !!! I will be participating in a couple Blog Hops featuring Close To My Hearts New Products starting on August 5th so stay tuned for loads of cool projects from lots of talented CTMH Consultants!


Enjoy your Sunday!

Patriotism Challenge

A dollar late and a penny short...isn't that how the saying goes???!

Well you saw my Thursday Tutorial on Friday so I thought I'd show you the challenge I'm hosting as well over at Scrapbook Challenges this week featuring some 'Traditions' that each of us might have in our own Countries...my example was of our tradition to support our local Hockey team...through dressing up in team colours and jerseys...

Now part of the challenge is to use the word 'Tradition' somewhere on your page...

 I just love cutting stars from my stash of felt...gotta love a Sizzix!

Patriotism by definition is a devotion to one’s country...in this challenge I’ved asked everyone to show me this through the ‘traditions’ this may mean to each of you. I wanted this challenge to be a little outside the box so to speak and hopefully you might find something to scrapbook yourself with this theme!

Have a great weekend!!!

Thursday Tutorial...one day late !

So over at Scrapbook Challenges I've hosted this weeks Thursday Tutorial and wouldn't you have guessed that I forgot to post about it here too!!! oops :)

It's all about Sunbursts...I know that it's not something that I've invented...it's something that I've only played with and if you're interested in this technique so you can do this one yourself...then check this link out!

I added stitching to these bursts to define them a bit more...I really like the added stitching :)

Happy Friday everyone!!!

a new sketch and some cool CTMH news...

Good morning! I have the Let's Scrap sketch for this week...I've been busy trying to catch up since my return from Dallas and haven't yet done this sketch but I am eager to get busy with it as these Chevrons are super trendy right now and a great feature/embellishment on a page!

Make sure you stop by Let's Scrap to see his sketch in action with the Design Team this week and hopefully you try it too!



Also, if you click on this link, it will take you to a tutorial on making these chevrons in case you are feeling a little intimidated to try this new technique :)

Now, onto the cool Close To My Heart News...we have changed our New Consultant kits so that the 'Hobby'ist' or person that just wants to play with the products for your own personal use, can sign up for $49.00 !!! You'll get creative supplies and a few business building supplies only AND in August, you'll get this exclusive (we got them at Convention) bag for FREE !!!

This is the Essentials kit for $49.00

Now if you are interested in more business tools you'll want to get the Master kit, which will include all of the items in the Essentials kit plus the business tools you see pictured below. Both of these kits together to start you off are only $99.00 PLUS you'll get that fantastic bag for FREE!!!

Remember that anyone can sign up to be a Consultant, even if you have no plans to have classes or host Workshops or Groups...you can even sign up again the day after your Consultant status expires!!! So if you've been thinking about it or wondering about joining or wanting to re-sign up again, please contact me with more questions or click on this link to read more...I'd love to have you on my team and I'd love to see you enjoying the benefits of Consultant discounts and commissions even if you are going to be a hobby'ist or customer only :) This product is fantastic quality and CTMH really knows how to reward their Consultants with discounts!

Happy Wednesday everyone!!!

Taking you back to 1971...

Good Morning and welcome to 1971...you got it, 41 years ago when I turned ONE years old! Check out these terrible colours...nice brown high chair and brown cake huh?!!!


Well I'm scrappin' ME!!! I've been holding off in telling my story, but after returning from Convention and hearing Stacey Jullian speak about the only person who can tell 'Your Story' is you...I thought, life can be terribly short for some of us and I want to tell my story!!!

This is the single page sketch but I decided to use the double as I already had these photos printed out!

Thanks for stopping by today...I hope you have a chance to play with this sketch!

Kick up your Heels

Good Morning, I'm back from Dallas, Texas !!! Did you miss me?!!!

It's Wednesday and that means I've got another sketch for you from  Let's Scrap...this one is our card sketch but you know how I'm not really as excited about cards as I am with layouts so I decided to do this sketch for some more of Olivia's Convocation photos :)

I asked the girls to do something fun instead of always standing perfectly infront of the camera...I told them that one of the photos I remember of my Grad was with my gal pals and our legs being kicked up can-can style...this is what they did:

Now I know that all of you have some kind of die cut paper that you bought because it looks so cool...I have about 30 I think maybe more...anyways ;) this sketch is perfect to get using those sheets that might (if you are anything like me) be just sitting there in your craft room!!!??

I am using just one paper pack from SEI, their Field Notes collection, for all of Olivia's Convocation photos.  I've told you in some recent posts that I spent some time cutting out each of these butterflies from a sheet of paper...these frames were also cut from a sheet of paper...

Now I also wanted these girls to kick up their heels because my daughter Olivia was on the hunt for the 'PERFECT' pair of heels that would 'Make Just The Right Statement' when she was on stage...like as if everyone would be specifically looking at her shoes...? I told her that the only ones to notice would be her...she thought I was insane ;) 

Olivia is second from the left in her chunky wood and leather heels...

These photos were also the perfect way to show off those carefully thought out purchases :)

You might have noticed in this last photo the stitching, this is some heavy duty thread that I've used in my sewing machine and followed the curve in the patterned die cut...I am finding that this thread is perfect for layouts as it really shows up well!

So glad you've popped in here today, thanks for visiting!

a little Spritz crazy ;)

I had fun with this Sketch 304 from Scrapbook Challenges this week! I used some photos from Marissa's 16th Birthday day out shopping...we went into Cloverdale to find some cowboy boots and of course we found some other goodies as well...

She used some of her Birthday money to buy this hat...because you know, she just had to have it!!!

I loved working with these papers from Crate Paper's 'Pretty Party & Portrait' collections...I went a little crazy with my spritzers...I wanted to distress it a bit with ink, I think I did ;)

The calendar was cut from a full sheet of patterned paper and the embellies are popped out of a die cut sheet that was available with the 'Pretty Party' paper collection.

Thanks for taking time out of your day to visit me here, I hope you can find something to scrap with this sketch...I've added the double paged sketch below too...enjoy!!!

I think I might even get busy with this double page sketch too!

New Paper from CTMH!!! CONVENTION 2012 NEWS

Hello Everyone!!!

Guess what? We got a WOTG kit as we exited the last Business class today and of course I've snapped some photos of it!!!
It's called Scholastic and it has a vintage feel to it...I can't wait to play with it and use it with Kraft card stock!!!

New colours! Yes you heard me, Cashmere, Champagne,Ruby and Saddle...so far! I'm assuming we'll be seeing some more as they hinted a grey...I'll keep you posted!

This paper has some desk type papers, a graph and lined paper and a burlap looking one...some books, library card'ish and numbers...love the colours!

This stamp set rocks!!! Love the old school vintage, new canvas labels that we can stamp onto and some square studs are all included in the WOTG.

The guide looks fantastic and the layouts I'll share once I return home:) there will most certainly be some awesomeness to share tomorrow so stay tuned!!!

Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:New Paper!!!

Dallas and more sketches...

Isn't technology something awesome...well most of the time!
I am soaking up sunshine, well more like extreme heat, in Dallas right now and soaking up some more Inspiration, Ideas, Mojo and new products from our Close To My Heart Convention which is going on right now...but I still needed to play along with this Wednesday's Let's Scrap sketch!!!

I decided to use some recent photos of Matthew playing Rugby for his school team...this is the Final Game of the Fraser Valley Championships (between Middle Schools) and Matthew's Grade 8 Boys' team from William A. Fraser Middle School WON this year!!! So proud of them!

He has been playing the Scrum Half position in the starting line-up...he really has developed a talent and love in Rugby and it will be interesting to see how this great group of boys do next year as they enter High School and start on the Jr. Boys Rugby squad.

Please excuse the terrible photos...took these at night in the dining room...not enough light at all!

So glad you had time today to check out what's happening @home with Studio K...see you next time :)

Look out Dallas...I'm here!

Hi, couldn't resist updating you with some pictures of the hotel we are at...the Hilton Anatole in the downtown Dallas area...here's the view from our window...It was actually a clear
day here today but seriously humid at over 90degrees and we were treated to a crazy Thunderstorm at around 6:00PM in the outside gardens and needed to come it to avoid getting soaked!




This is the view from our hotel room at night...Taken from this iPad...pretty good considering:)




This Hilton is very large, reminds me of the hotels in Vegas and the artwork and numbers of seating areas throughout the lobbies are fantastic! There are some great spots to sit and socialize in every nook and cranny, here's one of them:




This has got to be one of my favourite lobby features I've seen in a hotel...well besides the lobby at the Bellagio in Vegas, that one is pretty cool...this one has a moving decorative feature at the top of the ceiling and then the small orange bits are actually lights...it's very Asian feeling and contemporary.




Ok and this is the largest bread and butter plate I've ever seen!!! Mounted on the wall and it almost goes from floor to ceiling...super cool!




Now the photo we've all been waiting for....the check in counter for the 2012 CTMH Convention here in Dallas, Texas!!!!!!

Tomorrow will be crazy I'm told...some two thousand plus Consultants will be lining up here from 3:00-7:00PM...luckily I signed up for Leadership Day and get to register tomorrow AM before our sessions start!!!




I hope you check in daily to see some of the happenings from Dallas...I plan to show some sneak peeks of products and artwork as we go:)

Thanks for stopping in today!