There are MANY great things coming from the new season idea book and I'm sure that you all will be just as excited as I am about it. There is something for everyone...and I mean EVERYONE! The classic scrapbooker, the card maker, the stamper, the mini albumer (I think I just made up a new word), the altered artist and the digital scrapper. I am not disappointed and neither will you be. 

Speaking of digital scrapping, I prefer to call Studio J on-line scrapping. It does not require software and all you have to do is sign on to your profile that you create from my website. It's very easy. Well, Close To My Heart has made Studio J available to everyone without a membership AND they have lowered the cost for a 2 page layout to $6.95! And if that's not great enough they've created beautiful Express layouts that are specifically designed for the most scrapped events in our lives. 

How many of you have your babies or events stored in JPEGs just waiting to be placed on beautifully designed layouts? I'm guilty!. My wonderful friend, Angela has a great t-shirt that says. "Don't let your babies grow up to be JPEGs". And unfortunately, that's what we do. So I decided I was going to try out the New Express Studio J...and here it is.

 

These ladies are members of my meetup.com group - "McDonough Scrap Attack". I've had these photos in my computer since January 2011. And it took me 5 minutes to complete these 2 pages. This is PERFECT for me because I spend most of my time making cards and will complete the occasional layout here and there. But this will literally enable me to do something with all the pictures on my computer. 

Now for those of you who want to create your own design, well the sky is the limit with Studio J! Go to my website today and try it out. IT DOESN'T COST A THING FOR YOU TO TRY IT!!

Paper Crafts Gallery Idol Entry

Once again I entered the Open Call for the Paper Crafts Gallery Idol Competition. The theme for this round was to create an Encouragement card. Competition was fierce with almost 2000 entries. What a daunting task they had choosing the top 20! I didn't make it to the top 20 but the ladies who did are extremely talented.

Here is my entry:

I love flowers so of course I stuck to my comfort zone. Maybe next year I'll step out of my comfort zone and challenge myself more. Good luck to the TOP 20! Voting beings today so be sure to visit Paper Crafts Connection blog to see their cards from the "You Color My World" challenge.

Celebration

This past weekend was a fun, full time celebrating my son's graduation from High School. The road was paved with many life lessons for him. Lessons that he has taken and learned from; and he has now blossomed into a young man full of compassion, integrity and maturity. I am so proud of him...so proud.

His school has a tradition where all the seniors receive letters of encouragement from family, friends and faculty during the Senior breakfast and walk. It is something that they can keep and cherish the rest of their lives. 

This is the card I made and wrote my words of encouragement to him. 

When I asked him if he got my card, all he said was,"You wrote all over the card Mom!" I told him I had a lot to say...and I still didn't say everything I wanted to say. I'll leave that for some other cards.

January Sketch Challenge/Love Who You Are

 More than creating something outside of my comfort zone in a card challenge, my biggest challenge is  being able to complete a challenge without the daily business of my life keeping me from it!

So to my joy I was able to participate in Mema's Crafts  January Challenge. The Challenge was to create a card using this sketch by Roni from "Ink Stains"

 

 

The Challenge is in celebration of Lesia's (Mema's craft) Birthday so we needed to use whatever was our fancy for a birthday celebration. My fancy is most always using "BLING"!

For my card, I rotated the sketch.I used black CS as my base and the animal print paper from Close To My Heart's "Roxie", one of my favorite paper packs. The stamp set is a new one that will be available with CTMH beginning February 1st (Fashionista). I stamped and paper pieced the Fashionista sista to coordinate with the colors of the card and then I blinged out her dress. Isn't she fabulous?!

I think this stamp set is going t get used up!

New Consultant Kit!

Have you have ever wanted to turn your hobby into a lucrative business? 

Would you like to get $288 of Close to my Heart products for only $99?

Do you want to get a great discount on all of your stamping & scrapbooking supplies for you and your friends? 

Would you like access to new products a whole month before everyone else?

If you answered “yes” to any of the questions above, I am excited to tell you that the Spring/Summer 2012 Close to my Heart New Consultant Kit is now available!

Are you interested in getting a discount every day? You can be a team member that simply takes the discount for yourself! Or are you interested in actively building a business? You can also be a team member earning  a real income!

 

If you are interested in any of those options contact me for more details. I'd be happy to talk to you to see if this would be a good fit for you!

Let's start off your year with a fantastic discount on great products that will encourage you to be proactive and productive in preserving your memories and celebrating the relationships in your life!

 

 

Crazy for NEW PRODUCTS!!!

It's an exciting time! My new Spring/Summer 2012 Close to my Heart Idea Books arrived and let me tell you...I AM IN LOVE! I cannot wait to share with you all of the amazing new papers, stamps, embellishments, and other fun surprises in the new book.

I can't share the book with you until it goes live on February 1st, but if you'd like to get your own copies and order out of them a whole month earlier than anyone else, think about signing up as a Close to my Heart Consultant. Gaining access to CTMH products early is just one of the MANY benefits of becoming a Consultant.

Start the year off with a fun new venture and start your own business! Or simply sign up to save money on some amazing products for yourself and your friends. Click here to read more about joining this amazing company as a Personal Use Consultant, Hobbyist, or a Business Builder!

Christmas Cheer

My goal is to share all the fun stuff I've been creating this season. And with that said...Tim Holz is blowing my socks off on his blog. I don't know how he does it, but MAN he's got mad skills! Here's Tag 5 from his 12 Days of Christmas on his blog.

So, I had to get very creative on this one because I didn't have his stamp that he used. I used half of a CTMH clear card to create the tag and I used snow flakes instead the script.I must say, there is no way I could recreate this tag without my Art Philosophy cartridge...no way.

Here's my take...

Deck the halls!!!

Supplies: Adirondack Art Philosophy Cricut Cartridge; Alcohol Ink, Cranberry, Red Pepper; CTMH Clear card, CS; Black Archival ink; Grey Opaques, ribbon