Things I love about CLOSE TO MY HEART

I LOVE that I can mix and match products.

I am not a purist.  I will be the first one to admit to it.  I have bought so many scrap booking supplies over the years it's crazy.  And I still have most of them.  They were the result of impulse shopping, a page I saw on pinterest that I loved!! or they are simply an embellishment or paper that I just like.

Regardless of why I purchased them, they haven't been used.  And now, I no longer want to purchase, I want to create.  That is my goal, my mission, my path.  I still purchase all of the CTMH workshops. I LOVE them.  They are "on fleek" and usually apply to what I am scrapping now or will be soon. So, I purchase them.

But - CTMH workshops include ALL the embellishments I will need for the pages plus a few more.  So, there is not a need to go shopping. I do however, go shopping in my stash for the +pages that I do with the leftovers from the workshops.  Check out this example:

I pulled the 'drinking' stickers from a sheet I bought when the boys were in college, the wood hearts and arrows I have a TON of because I love the looks of them.  The swirl enamel dots were the left overs from some project ages ago,  I only had about 1/4 of the package, but when I cut them up and laid them down, they added just the right touch.  The CTMH paper is from the ROXIE paper (2011) and some of the FLORENTINE (2012?).  I am trying to get through (caught  up) many albums and use up some of the ridiculous amount of supplies that I own.  

I LOVE that our alphabet stamps can make the title and journaling so easy.

I have a simple page that I need to do.  Just finish off the month of August 2016.  A few rally pictures.  Most of my pictures have already been used in another layout.  Then I found this picture.  I really want the memory.  I really don't want to do a bunch of journalling. I just want to finish this morning.  BOOM! CTMH ALPHABET STAMPS - Marker Alphabet (E1034) and Jennifer's Hand (B1484) These made the page!  It is finished.  Just enough information to make the memory.  And it looks AWESOME!!  And now, August is done. 

And last, but not least, for today .... I LOVE that seasonal stamps can be used in other places!  

This stamp is from a very HALLOWEEN set. I shot this picture intentionally leaving room for some journalling at the bottom. But, when it came time to scrap it, I didn't want to take the time to photo shop journalling in.  However,  I knew I had a "nom, nom" saying somewhere in my stash.  I was surprised it was Halloween.  Isn't it perfect on this picture??  I just stamped it with waterproof archival ink.  I love how it looks.

Looking forward to chatting st you again soon- c

Here'e the reality

So, here is the reality.

#1

 I have bad days.  I don't feel great , I don't get much sleep, I have a headache, and I just want to stay in a dark room and not deal with anybody.  But guess what, LIFE GOES ON! 

 #2

If you ask your family to take pictures  to make sure that YOU will be in your scrapbooks, THEY WILL.  It doesn't matter what you look like, if your hair is done, or if you have make up on. 

#3

I AM going to scrap this HORRIBLE picture if me.  It is a reminder of a lovely evening where I had all my boys, my grandchildren, and my sis.  I had them all over for dinner.  I didn't feel great, but we had a wonderful time.  

#4

I NEVER get pictures of these two.  When my hands were full, I asked other two people in the room with their phones out to take a picture.  THEY DID.  OK, the picture is cheesy.  But, I now have a picture of these two at this moment in their lives.  I will put this in each of their albums so they will remember this evening.  

My children's scrapbooks have VERY FEW pictures of me in them.  I was there, I swear, but I was behind the camera, ALWAYS!  It's like I don't exist.  I don't want to be nonexistent any more. I am changing that for my grandchildren's books.

My point, (shoot, my teacher voice is out again, isn't it?) ....

Well, my point(s) are:

Ask for pictures of what you want.  Don't worry about how you look, it's about the memory.  

OK, time to start Monday.

C

Catching up in June

My upline in this crazy CTMH business challenged all of us (her downlines) to make an ongoing album this year to help us focus on our businesses.  Well, you all know how my life is going!  I have worked on the album a couple times over the last 6 months, but got fairly behind.

This weekend is my time to get caught up!!  I am going to share some of my pages with you!  You lucky people!  I'm starting with the pages Shannon asked us to create about the people that inspire us.

I think my list changes from day to day, but today with 2 cups of coffee under my belt and a printer full of ink  I got this page made for my book.

This is the opening page!  Love the picture of my granddaughter stuck under the bed.  What a brave ADVENTURER she is.

This challenge is to scrap a CROP that I held this year.  I forgot to take pictures at the SPRING RETREAT, so I scrapped the NATIONAL SCRAPBOOKING DAY RETREAT I hold every year.  

In this challenge, we had to scrap samples of the papers CTMH is offering this year.  I have the first 4 in and room for all the new ones we have coming up in the SE2 and the NEW ANNUAL CATALOG. 

In this challenge, I had to scrap my scrapbooking space.  Ewww!!   This is scary!!  My space is usually a mess, especially when I am working!  But I scrapped it!!  I also included a photo of the coffee shop where I have my club meets every month.  

And finally, a page about who inspires me.  This was hard.  The list just got longer and longer.  I only had 2 pages, so I went with the first 7 people on the list.  That is what would fit on the page!

It was awesome to spend the day finishing up (catching up) a project that has been nagging the back of my mind.  I highly recommend taking some time to finish one of your finish-able  projects this month!  

see you soon - C

In May ...

So ... not much scrapping happening this month.  I've been doing a lot of photo shoots, and that has been keeping me very busy.  Editing and learning photoshop elements is my challenge at this phase in my life.  I am hoping that this will be a good learning experience, but first I have to get past the frustration.  

This is a senior I made portraits of in April.  The sitting went well, but the processing was a bit more than I expected.  Need to have a better plan for my back ground. 

My granddaughter turned 2!!  

How does this happen so fast?  

I love that she is developing such a fun playful personality.  However, she is not shy about letting us know when she is displeased with anything!  

And we are expecting a little boy any day now!  

Don't they make a lovely family?  

I am so proud of both of these kids.  They are great parents and make a great family 

So, 

that is my input for today!  

Meant to publish this ages ago.  

Maybe I will be better in the future.  

maybe not, but I will try.  

C

Is it APRIL??

Good Day my friends!  What an amazing ride this year has been.  One would think that not having a house to sell, and not having a husband to take care of, I would have time to get things done.  Well, the truth is, I'm just about ready for January to start.  And, It's, APRIL 2!

I really can't complain. I have had so much fun this year already.  A road trip to Minn. in February with my sis. and I just finished a scrap booking retreat with friends that I have scrapped with for years.  In the mean time, I have spent lots of time with girlfriends, and lots of time catching up on some scrapbooking.

This weekend, I made 2 mini baby albums for a good friend of mine.  He step daughter is having a boy in May and her daughter is having a boy in July, so I wanted to have basically the same thing for both of them.  I am so excited for them all.

I used up a retired set of pocket life cards from CTMH, and the paper that coordinates with them.  Then I added fun cuts from the ARTBOOKING cartridge from CTMH and inked all the layers.  Putting them all together was fun.  I am still planning on adding embellishments and banners and stamping a little bit through out the albums.  I'm pretty sure one of our older sets has a weight/height stamp I can put on each month for mommy(s) to fill in.  and I think a 'CURRENTLY' card will be necessary throughout the albums too.  You know, CURRENTLY eating, CURRENTLY loving, CURRENTLY saying .... All the wonderful things we want to remember about our children but often forget.

As I sit here chatting with you all, I have my planner open next to me, and I realize I have a very full life (even though I get pouty now and then) and I am very thankful for that.  I have a ton of friends and a ton of interests to keep me out of trouble.  That's a good thing  - right?

Tonight I have a meeting and when I get home, I hope to start laying out pictures of my grand daughters first visit to REPTILE GARDENS.  CTMH has the cutest 'bug' paper , and I've known since I saw it that REPTILE GARDENS would be the subject for it.  It looked like miss Z had fun.  I saw a video of her befriending a lizard....  I'm betting her mama din't let her bring it home!

So, blah, blah, blah ....  It's time for me to let you go.  I'll get some more art up soon.  C

December is coming (OOPS!)

Well, look what happens when you open your blog in JANUARY!  I took pictures several days in December, saved them to my BLOG to write a nice BLOG update, and then walked away.  Who does that?

So, this happened.  I fell in love with my XYRON 250 again!  When using the CTMH die cuts, this is perfect for adhering them.  Just run them through the XYRON, and there is adhesive o those little tiny lines, and everything sticks where you want it to.  LOVE IT!!

I had actually planned on this being a teaser for my CHRISTMAS CARD/ PARTY INVITATION.  But, they have been sent and received , so no teaser.  But, I loved working with the CTMH die cuts for the cards.  It made them go so fast!  This may be my tool of the year!  

So, since this is getting out about a month late, I am going to stop here and post it.  You will be hearing from me again atlas once again today.  :-)  c

CHRISTMAS state of mind ...

Well, I ended up with an unexpected morning at home, so, I decided to start pulling together my DECEMBER DAILY.  This will be the third year following ALI EDWARDS  plan for documenting my December.  I am approaching it a bit differently this year, as far as my thinking, and I think it is going to be so much fun!!

My first commitment, is to not buy anything.  I am ONLY using the stash I have.  I kind of started pulling stuff together for this album last year.  Right after Christmas, there were some good sales.  What can I say, I thought of a plan.

GOLD AND BLACK.  That was the plan.  I saw this paper pad and it put  a plan in motion.  So, when I saw things that worked, I picked them up.  (Only for about the first 3 months of 2016!  Don't judge me!  )

Foiled papers are hard to find!!  I picked up a flat foil gold, 2 different textured gold and a textured silver when I saw them.  Tossed them into the box.

2 Gold alphabets, GOLD words, GOLD & BLACK arrows, RED & GOLD foiled labels, and SILVER labels, GOLD & BLACK little note labels. All of these little bits are in the box to add to pages as the month goes on.

I found this cutting die on sale one day, and LOVED it!! Even if I don't use it in my DECEMBER DAILY, I will use it to make some cards this year.

These POCKET LIFE cards are some that I have had in my stash forever.  The ones on the left are from the BECKY HIGGINS - MIDNIGHT PL kit.  The one on the top right is from a SIMPLE STORIES kit I found on sale at Michaels last year.  I am scattering the pieces all through this years album.  The pieces on the bottom right were gifted to me by a friend, I'm glad to be able to use them.

The pieces below are all from CTMH.  I have clear overlays from the GOLD & SILVER collection and the BLACK collection from the last couple of years.  And POCKET LIFE  cards from the BEAUTIFUL ME  collection. (And maybe the water color collection?)

And, my pages are all on a ring and starting to get filled.  I used a planning page by ALI EDWARDS to sketch out an initial layout.  Then, I started pulling my pages in the order they will be in the album (unless I change my mind!  ha ha ) I am using an 8X8 album which is creating some challenges.  I'll explain later.....
                   This will be my title page.

I LOVED the Merry Christmas paper on the left, so I am going to use that page as my intention page. An explanation of why I'm doing this album and what I want to get out of this holiday season.

The page on the right needs to be altered.  Like I said earlier, the 8X8 format is creating some challenges.  I bought a FUSE tool for a different project, but I will be starting by using it on this album.  I am going to turn this one pocket 8X8 page into a page with 2X2 pockets in it.  My initial plan was to put 16 pockets in this page and leave it 8X8, but I may put 2X2 pockets in it and cut it down to 12 or 8 pockets, depending on the way things play out.



I used sticky notes to mark my pages so I don't get lost. I confuse really easily!  LOL  I dropped PL cards into pockets where I thought I would want them, but everything can be moved at this point in time.

I am also going to use my FUSE  tool to create 3X4 pockets in my 8X8 pages.  The 3X4 cards on the left are marking that for a visual reminder.  And of course, I want to use those cards in the album somewhere!  The are gorgeous!!

I already had 4X4 pocket pages in my stash that fit in an 8X8 album.  Obviously purchased for some other project.  Hhhhmmmm, I wonder what that project was?

This sparkly ornament paper will hold a group photo from the CHRISTMAS PARTY I'm having for my club members.  The facing page will hold 3X4 pictures I believe.

I am also making little design notes to myself on the post it notes.  If I don't write it down, I don't remember what my plan was.

Another page that will be altered to hold 2X2 pictures and other yummy things.

Big plans for CHRISTMAS EVE pages.

The album!  Isn't it YUMMY!?   I think I am going to heat emboss the numbers 2016 in either BLACK or RED and attach it underneath the BELIEVE.  Which color do you think I should use?

Since I store all of my CHRISTMAS stuff together, it was easy to go through my little CHRISTMAS BOX and pull all the things that I though would go in my album.  I included anything SPARKLY!

My JOY, DECEMBER, REMEMBER, CURRENTLY, HOPE, DREAM, BELIVE, SNOWFLAKES, STARS, CELEBRATE, and SNOWFLAKE EDGES and BERRIES cutting dies made it into the box.

 I had some CHRISTMAS flair, sparkly WASHI TAPE, some WOOD VENEERS (I may heat emboss these!) and a selection of sparkly buttons.  I think that this will about complete what I need.  I do have a roller stamp I'll add and of course, photos!  This is going to be great!

I just thought I would add a picture of the sketches ALI EDWARDS provided that I have scribbled all over getting my plan together.  If you want a copy, let me know!  I'd love to have someone doing this with me this year!

Talk to you soon, and I'll keep you updated on my progress.  C