My Family

I was going to try and post some artwork today, but honestly, I am getting ready for our Spring Retreat, and My scrap room is a mess. I don't think I can FIND any artwork!  So, I thought I would share the reason that I scrap with you.  I have 2 amazing sons and a bonus child.  They are all in their twenties now, but, I am sooo not caught up on pictures!  ha ha   I will be scrapping forever just to get to now I think!

OK, it's not that bad, but I am pretty behind.  I have several albums for both of my son's, and I am in great hopes of getting pictures of Tori as a child with his real mom and dad and making an album for him.  I have his "adult" albums started.  I am a master thief and steal pictures off FACE BOOK all the time. If it weren't for FB I wouldn't have pictures of the boys AT ALL for the last 3 years.  Some of you understand that now, and some of you will find out.  I do love FB though!  

So anyway, these are my boys at Christmas this year.  They are wonderful young men and I am so proud of them!  Tori, Will, and James.  We got to have them all home for the holidays this year and hope to be blessed with that in the future. 

This is why I do what I do.  In February, I sometimes need a reminder as the weather gets me down.  Scrapping those faces does help! 

So, that's my share for today.  Have an AMAZING week.  C

January Insanity!

What a crazy month!  I can't believe it's almost over already, and yet, I am not sad to be moving on to spring.  I have been in the throws of planning for the new year, trying to start my taxes so they aren't such a last minute thing this year (my tax man will be proud!) and trying to teach more classes and get ready for the retreat.  No wonder I feel like I need a day off.

Today I am going to play with a bunch of my friends and make the Whooo's Your Valentine Workshop from Close to my Heart.  It is such a cute kit and is still available for a few more days.  These little treat boxes are SO CUTE!  I can't wait to share them with the girls at work.  My kiddos aren't home to enjoy them anymore, but can you imagine giving these to your kiddos and their friends?  They would flip!

I am also in the process of trying to update my BLOG.  I have discovered that I have a lot to learn!  I want to add a calendar, so everyone can see the classes I am teaching , where, when and who my hostesses are. I am hoping to add a rummage sale page.  I am cleaning out my scrap room and have a TON of used stamps that are so pretty, and good, but I just can't keep everything.  (Or so my mother tells me!)

So, look for these improvements in the near future!  Oh!  I have also figured out how to blog on the go, so maybe you will hear from me more often and I will get more current pictures up here.

For today, I have got to go play now .... Look for pictures from the CLEMENTINE paper pack soon!
Connie

PS don't forget to let me know you were here!  leave a comment

And so it Begins

I know I'm a bit late in getting around to wishing you all a HAPPY NEW YEAR,  but I do wish it just the same.  We had a bit of challenge right after the holidays, and I had no clothes dryer for about 3 weeks.  If that won't make a woman grumpy, I don't know what will.  But, I took the bull by the horns this weekend and got it fixed.  Gary was sick, and I was out of patience, so I just did it.  I know more about dryers now than I ever wanted to know.  But, my laundry is caught up today and I am feeling much better about my world.


We had such an amazing holiday , I want to share some of it with you.  Unfortunately, I don't have the pictures scrapped yet, but soon.

I was lucky enough to have Jolene be my swap partner in the Rapid City club.  Look at this beautiful calender she made me!  All done on the CRICUT!  I know she had a great learning experience with that! And I have a great calender for the new year!

These are the banners I made for my swap partners.  One says PEACE and one said JOY. I confess, I didn't use CTMH paper.  I had a MME paper pack that I just loved and couldn't wait to use.  It turned out just the way I envisioned. (I did see this idea in a magazine, so I can't take all the credit.)

My good friend Sharon, showing off her tree that we made for the club meeting with CTMH paper and CRICUTs. They all turned out so cute!  

 Remember this young man?  He kept coming back into the meeting room and thanking us for the treats.  They love it when we have a party because we share!!

 Marie opening her gift (which I eventually stole!  ha ha )

 Janet and her gift.  And look!  a camera!

 Cindy trying to find the perfect one!  

 Glenda got the great organizer!  I think it got 'stolen' too!  

 And we made the trees.  These girls LOVED to bling them up!  

I love Christmas.  and I love being able to share the season with these girls that have come to mean so much in my life.  I am so looking forward to another year of fun, laughter, and scrapping with my friends.  

Connie

Just a teaser

As we are all deep in the throws of Christmas preparations, I wanted to send out a bit of a teaser!

These are part of my Christmas gift that I am making for the person who's name I drew. 

Don't you wonder what it is??

Don't you wonder if I drew your name?

It is really going to be cool, and I can't wait til we have the party so I can share it with you all!  

See you next time, connie

DAKOTA workshop results

 Well, we got out the CRICUTS and rounded us up some pictures and some inks and made some mighty fine pages in CLUB this month.  I had to dig extra deep to find some pictures, because my family is no where close to rural!  And this is definitely some rural WESTERN paper.  Thank goodness for nieces and nephews!

I try to include a page about each of the families that we are close to in my albums every year, and I think these portraits, taken by a friend of Chelsea's, are a great way to end the 2012 album.  I will have a page for each of the other families too, when I can get my hands on some pictures!  ;)

 I love how the special cut oval accents the larger family picture here. 

 With the family picture in the middle, I wanted to keep the focus on the couple first, so I kept their picture on the left hand page.  Going with how the eye is going to move across the page. 

Then on the right page I could focus on the kids more.  I did put special emphasis on our nephew and his daughter, they look so much alike. 

The cards were fun!  I picked a card from our idea book (page 107) and designed the 3 cards this month on that layout design. 

I just moved things around, and added stamping until I was comfortable with the final card.  

 Each of the cards has a bit of a different feel, but they are all masculine and will make great birthday cards.  

A little bit of that western flair makes this one my favorite.  

See you next time, connie

Moonlight Workshop

What a great time of year this is.  Even though I am not a big Halloween person, I love the bright colors with the black accents and all the fun bling and blitz that goes with it. I can almost feel all kids, big and small, start getting all excited and wound up.  For me, this is the big kick off to the holiday season.  I don't know about you, but I have put the finishing touches on my gift list and am ready to hibernate in my scrap room and make some gifts.

Before I do that though, I need to finish up some old business.  I need to show you all the cards we did for Club this month.  We used the MAKE IT FROM THE HEART VOL. 1 book.  All of my club members receive this book so that they have access to all the designs used in the clubs whenever they wish.  Vol. 1 contains the layouts for each workshop in the Autumn Winter 2012 Idea book plus many more AND  it contains 12 new Card designs.  It is a great resource for inspiration when sitting down to design cards or layouts. For these cards we used layout #29 and changed it up just a bit.  I love that we can do that with these basic designs.  All 6 cards are done with ONE layout.

Yes I said 6.  This is the month that I design one set of cards for Halloween, and for my customers who aren't that crazy about Halloween, I design the same set of cards for Fall.  This month, I also used the Sept. Stamp of the Month.  It is amazing to me that the SAME paper pack and SAME card layout can look so different with a turn of the card or change of the stamp.

 Some of the small details make all the difference.  On the decorative strip in the middle of this card, I stamped the words "pumpkin patch" from the Sept. Stamp of the Month.

 Here, I used the tiniest grey crystals for the spider's eyes.  It really makes them pop. 

And, last but not least, I know this one is fuzzy. Sorry about that. But I really wanted you to see that we totally changed the Striped B&T paper by stamping the tiny works randomly between the stripes.  It really is a nice detail on the card. 

 I hope you enjoy these cards.   Connie

Workshops For the Holidays

I don't know about you, but I am starting to feel the pre Holiday anxiety that I seem to get every year.  I can feel the little perfectionist in my saying "You can make that for so and so and you could do such and such for someone else"  I make myself crazy!  To top it off, I know I am starting to think about the Holidays later this year that I usually do and that is adding to my stress.  Bad Plan!!

So, this morning with my coffee, I am sitting here writing to you and I've decided to CALM DOWN and take a deep breathe and look at what is really going on.  I don't have a list of things I want to make/buy yet.  That is making me insane.  So, by the end of the evening, I plan on making that list.  You get to hold me accountable.  I also know that as my children are getting older, the Holiday shopping etc. is less and less.  They know that the big man is on a budget and that the Christmas and Thanksgiving celebrations are more about family than gifts.  Now, as long as I keep reminding the little girl inside me that LOVES to gift people and make PERFECT celebrations, we should be OK.

I know I don't have a lot of time to be making things, but I do have some really great workshops coming up and that should get my Christmas cards made and the beautiful Advent calender done.  I know that will be a wonderful gift for someone!  There - 2 things off my list!!  I feel better already. This blogging thing can be cathartic at times.  It allows me to slow down and breathe for a minute.  I needed that this morning.  Thank you.

So, back to the upcoming workshops!  I am so excited to be offering a wonderful ADVENT CALENDER workshop on October 28 from 1 - 5 PM.  I think that using this calender will be a tradition that your family can  look forward to for years to come.  It is cut using the new ARTISTE cartridge from CTMH and this will be a great time to preview it if you don't already have it.  The kit includes everything you will need, and I will provide the space and instruction to make it happen.  The cost is only $44.95 plush shipping and tax.  I do need to get these ordered before the 20th of October, so please contact me if you would like to join us.

 The next workshop I have coming up is on November 11!  We are going to be making Christmas cards.  What a great way to make your cards, surrounded by your friends and enjoying an afternoon of productivity! I will need to have you pre-registered for this class by October 29 so I can order the kits.  These are very reasonable kits including everything you need to make 15 cards, including the stamp set!  For 29.95 plus shipping and tax you too can have your Christmas cards done or at least well under way! And the cards are so beautiful!!

Again, please contact me by October 29 to register for this workshop!  We would love to have you join us!

And now, I am off to get some much needed house cleaning done.  Maybe that will alleviate some of my anxiety about the Holidays too!  See you soon!  Connie