Today I want to share some fun note cards I created for one of my motorcycle riding friends. I think they turned out really cute! I used the stamp set “Born to Ride”  and used Ruby, Creme Brulee, Chocolate, Bamboo, and Black inks for the stamping and edge distressing. Then I added some red sparkles to give it a little flair.  I really love the way they turned out and she seemed happy to receive them.

I stamped the inside of the card with the barbed wire and a star image and also stamped an image on the envelopes. What do you think??

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. I love spending time with family and enjoying delicious food without the stresses of finding the perfect gifts. I am super thankful for you reading this post and for your interest in me and my businesses. I have a few things to share with you and I hope you love these things as much as I do. Papercrafting is so therapeutic to me and I truly wish I could be crafty all day but alas, I have bills to pay so I’ll continue to work and craft when I have magical spare time.

There is a Seasonal Expressions catalog that goes ‘live’ on December 1st on my website http://wleal.ctmh.com that has cute papers for spring and Valentine’s Day. Plus, it is full of cute stamp sets. All of the products are available starting in December through March. Of course, the Annual Inspirations catalog is good through July.

I look forward to hearing what your favorite products are from the current annual catalog and the new catalog. Leave me a comment!

Hello world!  I hope you are having a great start to the new year.  I wanted to share some recent artwork that was created for a few swaps I participated in for Christmas and Valentine’s Day.

This first piece is the Handle Top Box on pg. 44 of the Close To My Heart Artiste Cricut Cartridge.  I cut the box at 4″ with a retired paper pack called Pear and Partridge.  I used Ruby and Olive ink for the stamped images and the background shape was from the Artiste cartridge on pg. 33 cut at 1 3/4″.  I used the D1565 Laughing Lola card making workshop stamp set for the sentiment.  Of course, this little treat box can be used for any occasion – or no occasion at all!  It was super easy to put together and the cartridge comes with a how-to-assemble booklet that has very easy directions for assembling the 3-d items.

Aren’t they cute?

The next project was another cricut project (they are sooo easy!) and it is the card on pg. 73 cut at 3 1/2″.  I used the retired Avonlea paper that is actually available on the “While Supplies Last” section of my website and a stamp from the Wonderland WOTG.  The ink used is Indian Corn Blue, Chocolate, and Slate.  It could be used for tea, coffee, or hot cocoa.

This last project was a Valentine and the stamp was the hostess set with Washi tape images and the heart is from an old, old stamp set from many years ago.  I used pink paper from the retired Roxie pack and some sparkles.  I didn’t take a photo of the back side but I stamped it with a “To: and From:” and used the new gold dotted wash tape that comes out in the new catalog that goes live on FRIDAY!  YAY!  Be sure to check my website on Friday and you can see the online catalog.  It has lots of fun stuff and I’ll post all about it on Friday!

The next couple of photos is a Christmas gift i received from my Mom.  It is a train that she created from a SVG file she made.  It is super cute and I loved having it displayed for Christmas.  She worked really hard on it and I appreciate it so much! Thanks, Mom!

And finally, the next photo is for my Mary Kay business.  I made cute little gifts that my customers purchased for their friends and family.  Again, I used the stamp set from D1565 Laughing Lola card making workshop and I purchased the curly ribbon and bags from mygirlfriendshouse.com that has tons of cute business supplies that I use for all of my Mary Kay gifts.  I thought they turned out really nice and my customers loved them!  I primarily used lip glosses, satin lip sets, and the eye shadows from our new Mary Kay @ Play line – love it!

Thanks for hanging on until the end of this long post!!  I appreciate you and hope you found some inspiration! Leave me a comment so I feel the love!

Can you believe it is almost the middle of September?  Time is flying in my household.  I have a new fourth grader that doesn’t want to do homework which makes for fun, exciting evenings!  I wanted to take a few minutes and share what is new in the Close To My Heart world so you can Rediscover CTMH.  I do not know if you have ever checked out the ideas and inspiration on my website but there are many great videos on our CTMH TV section!

We have a beautiful new catalog!  I hope you have been to my website to check it out http://wleal.ctmh.com – if not check it out and comment what your new favorite thing is!

Of course, with the new Autumn/Winter Idea Book we have a new exclusive Cricut cartridge called “Artbooking”.  Take your scrapbooking to new levels – there are 15 layout themes, accents, borders, titles, overlays, photo mats and so much more.  There are 10 themed mini-books, as well as birthday, new baby, vacation, friend, sports, Halloween, Christmas, and more!  The set also comes with coordinating dimensional elements and three stamp sets for only $99.

Another couple of fun additions to this catalog are the introduction of a jewelry line (base and bling) as well as My Crush Books that are fun, quick preprinted scrapbooks with fun extra assortments of journaling and accessories.

The last most important thing about this month is the National Stamping Month special!  With a $50 purchase you not only get the stamp of the month for $5 but you also can purchase the “You are My Happy” stamp set trio.  You’ll love the whimsical alphabet, light-hearted sentiments, and fanciful images for a variety of occasions to give a cheerful touch to your projects.

Check out all of the new stamp sets, the beautiful new paper packets, and all of the fun new home decor items and accessories. I love CTMH and have found way to many things in this catalog that I “need” and I’m sure you will too!

Thanks for stopping by today – happy shopping!

It is the people that will look at your scrapbooks one hundred years from now that I would like you to think about.  If you are like me, you can relate to finding a trunk in my parents’ attic that is full of old black and white photos and none of them have any documentation with them.  A handful of them had some writing on the back but the vast majority are blank.  I sat on the floor many times with my mom looking at these photos but on many of them she couldn’t even tell me who the people are or what they were doing.  This is my fear!  This is one of the many reasons I scrapbook.  I’m striving to tell my family’s story.

While browsing Pinterest (which I do waaaaaay too often which is why I haven’t posted in months…LOL)  I see many layouts that have a huge amount of flowers, lace, buttons, bling, and embellishments… Don’t get me wrong – the layouts are beautiful – like a piece of art…but the problem is that I’m so busy looking at all of the “stuff” on the page that I never see the photo.  It does not tell me a story. I am not made to understand why it is important that I look at this page except that it has half of the scrapbook store’s embellishment section on it.  I truly feel that your photos and journaling are what makes your scrapbooks special – not seeing how many embellishments you can fit around that two inch photo!  I do not mean to offend anyone that scrapbooks this way – I just wish I understood the fascination.

Am I crazy?  Am I alone in my fear of my family’s legacy ending up in a nondescript trunk or on a computer NEVER printed out and our story never being told?  I hope not!  My family is important to me and I will do my best to keep the stories alive for many generations to come.

Some of my scrapbooking friends and CTMH customers have shared with me an aversion to journaling.  Some say “I don’t know what to say” or “I don’t like my handwriting”.   We have to journal – it is too important.  I wrote one of my very first posts on journaling ideas so if you don’t know what to write – go back and see some of the ideas I shared.  If you don’t like your handwriting – type it out on a computer (but know that it would be very special for your great great great grandchildren to see your handwriting even if you don’t like it!)  Just please, please tell your story – or at the very least tell me who is in the photo and when and why it was taken!

This post feels like I’m preaching!  Please know that I’m writing this message from a place of love and I hope that you feel my passion about why scrapbooking is more than just decorating paper and embellishing.  Yes, I use embellishments and stamping – but I am conscious when using these things to not distract from what is important.  I want you to see the photos and know why it is important that I shared my life with you on paper.  I am stepping down from the pulpit…  can I get an Amen?

This post is two-fold.  Item #1 is that I want to share that the new Close to My Heart catalog and Idea Book is now active for Fall/Winter on my website.  There are tons of new products, our ink colors have had an update – including the addition of six new dye based ink colors and Pigment ink stacks.  I’m also excited about the new alcohol ink markers that will be released soon so keep checking the website.   There are more Workshops on The Go than ever before (including a Scroll Album, an Advent Calendar, Spellbound Halloween workshop and two new Card Workshops!), and the new My Reflections Paper Packs just might be the best I’ve ever seen!  They are all beautiful but Avonlea and Dakota are my favorite.  I love the wood-grain paper in Dakota.  Be sure to look closely because even though papers may appear to be “meant” for one type of “theme” the back sides of the paper are more generic and can be used for anything!  Think outside of the box, mix-and-match, and just have fun with your creativity.  The last, and BIGGEST announcement, is the release of another CTMH Exclusive cricut cartridge called Artiste that is AMAZING!

You have to see it to believe it – 700 images including wonderful 3-D projects, party favors, interactive cards, awards, and more! From robots and spooks to weddings and Valentines, your cupcake wrappers, invitations, and party essentials will coordinate and come together for any celebration! Includes a step-by-step assembly booklet for the 3-D projects.  The photo below is the entire bundle – three stamp sets, three sheets of Dimensional elements, and the amazing cartridge!

#2 is I had the pleasure of helping a friend with an anniversary gift for her parents and I am so pleased with how it turned out!  We used the Dreamin’ paper pack which unfortunately is now retired (but I still have some in my hoard  “collection” and it looked nice with her parent’s photos).  Of course, when you make your own project you can use any paper pack that coordinates with your photos.  My friend already had the frame but you can buy shadow-box type frames like this at Hobby Lobby, Michaels, Target…etc.

I made quite a few flowers with the exclusive CTMH cricut cartridge – Art Philosophy using chocolate paper and colonial white paper.  I inked the edges of the lighter flowers with chocolate ink as well.  I also used the Mocha Opaques Adhesive Gems (pearls) and a few Brown & Tan sparkles as well.  I adhered the flowers with Liquid Glass – my “go to” glue.  I even used it last week to repair my son’s flip-flops!  My dad first used silicon glue to stick the sole back together and it didn’t hold – but the liquid glass is holding great!

The stamp set used for this sentiment is “Family Love” and I used black Staz-on ink since it is light-fast and more archival than the typical dye inks.  I used some random lace that I had for extra texture behind the sentiment.  I felt the sentiment was perfect for the photos used – what do you think?  Past and future…

After you have browsed my website and the new goodies – leave me a comment and let me know your new favorite product (or your top ten favorites if you have a hard time choosing only one like I did!) As always – there is an exclusive August Stamp of the Month “Baroque Borders” which is featured in the artwork below

I just returned from four fun filled days creating and learning at my Close To My Heart convention in Dallas, Texas.  Let me tell you – I am on information overload.  I am so glad I gave myself a couple of extra vacation days so I have time to absorb all of this before I go back to work (my day job – not my fun CTMH work!)  It was amazing to see our CTMH founder, Jeanette Lynton, in real life and also enjoy the fun chemistry between the other support team from our corporate office.  We laughed, we cried, we cried some more and just really enjoyed every moment! (except that last hour when I locked my keys in my trunk when loading my luggage and had to wait for pop-a-lock to come to the rescue.)

My friend Christi was so gracious to wait with me while the locksmith was on his way and we took some hilarious pictures so we can do a “10 Things to Do while waiting for Pop-A-Lock” scrapbook layout!  You have to make the best out of every occasion and we definitely were cracking up with laughter during a situation that would not have been fun if I was all alone.

The biggest information of the conference is of course the revealing of a new CTMH exclusive cricut cartridge called “Artiste” and it has almost 700 images – including an alphabet, many 3-D items, more rolled flowers (YAY!), lots of holiday designs, and much more!  We also still have the amazing “Art Philosophy” cartridge that has new coordinating stamp sets in the new catalog. Here is a sneak peek of the collection (below) that retails for $99 and is available for purchase on my website after August 1, 2012.  Once again, you receive three coordinating stamp sets, three sheets of dimensional elements, and the amazing cartridge just like with “Art Philosophy”.  On the stamp set carrier each shape shows the size to cut as well as the page number you can find the design in the cricut booklet.  There are also eight new paper packs, card workshops, 3-d items, and a home decor Spool Album workshop on the go!  One other tidbit is our color palette has been updated with new colors we retired colors.  We have also added pigment inks and alcohol markers!  I’m super excited to have the new products to share with all of you.

We were given supplies to make lots of projects but I could not find my mojo except for Saturday night when I completed this layout – all I need to do is drop in some photos.  It is made with the new My Reflections Clementine paper pack (Available Aug. 1) and we also used a stamp set that will not be in the catalog as it was a gift to all of us at convention.  The next photo is a picture of our first make-n-take session and we had lots of fun scrapbooking with more than 1000 of our sister consultants.

We enjoyed goofing off while waiting in line for events and walking to our classes and we could not resist taking a photo with this interesting statue at the Hilton Anatole in Dallas!  Gotta love it!

During our formal awards banquet on Friday evening we were entertained by The Texas Tenors.  Three GREAT looking guys performing to a room of thousands of women and a few men was lots of fun!  Christi and I changed out of our glitz and glamour and headed downstairs to hang out and who do we run into and take an advantage of a photo op?  That would be the very cute Texas Tenors!  The guys are in the back in the cowboy hats – kind of hidden behind all of the estrogen…LOL.

The last day of convention is called Extravaganza.  Extravaganza was a little overwhelming as we learned TONS of things from the new catalog during eight fast and furious classes showing artwork and techniques.  This is L-R my friend and team member, Christi Murray, Dr. Phil Wilhelm – CTMH Director, and myself.  If you want to watch funny videos, check out Dr. Phil on YouTube.  He cracks me up!

The highlight of my convention was finding Sticky Boy!  Sticky Boy is the prototype for the CTMH My Acrylix stamp sets years ago and each convention the corporate staff hides Sticky Boy stamps in various places for consultants to find.  Christi had an issue that required her to go to the information booth and while we were leaving I found a sticky boy stuck to the marble steps in the room!  YAY for me!  I found the next to largest sticky boy and he found a home in my name badge for the remainder of our time in Dallas.  This year’s Sticky Boy has a cowboy hat, bandana, and sheriff star.  I’m thrilled to have found him – isn’t he cute?

Thanks for hanging with me to the end of this message!  If you are interested in ordering the new products, visit my website today for the current catalog or on August 1st to see the new products – http://wleal.ctmh.com and shop to your hearts content!  I only touched on a few of the new items – there are hundreds more to see in the new idea book!  Have a blessed week and I look forward to reading your comments when you check out the new products!

Happy Wednesday!  I spent a wonderful weekend in Gainesville, Texas, at a scrapbooking retreat with one of my BFFs Christi and 40+ other scrappin’ friends at the Lone Oak Retreat Center.  When I arrived at the retreat I had a nice collection of goodies that the ladies had made for me!  Here is a sampling of the first round of goodies:

Because we were so close, Christi and I made a short drive to WinStar Casino in Oklahoma.  It was a lot of fun and I hope to go back again sometime.  The retreat location is so peaceful.  I loved walking outside and smelling the fresh air!  This is the view standing in the doorway of my room:

I did manage to create a few projects while I was there and this one is my favorite!  It is going to be the cover page for my cruise album (sorry about the glare on the photo).  It is made with the Roxie paper pack and the cork alphabet.

Also – I hope you had a Happy Valentine’s Day – here are a couple of cards for your viewing pleasure!  The first one was my husband’s card and the second card was made for a Valentine’s Day card swap.

With the release of our new Spring/Summer catalog, I bet you are wondering how you can buy ALL of the stuff on your wish list.  Well, aren’t you glad I have a solution for you?  Let’s have a Party!  If you have not yet seen our new catalog visit http://ctmh.com/wleal and click on the spring/summer Idea Book in the lower right corner and you can see what all the fuss is about!

If you have not hosted a party with me before, it is super easy.  You invite your friends over, provide some light snacks, and I’ll provide what they need to create a cute project.  Usually we make something like a card or bookmark that allows you and your friends to see and feel the awesome quality of CTMH products.  Also, you’ll get a little “inky” with stamping.   I will also share about what scrapbooking and card making are all about and why it is important.  The best part of the party is your friends and family will fall in love with CTMH stuff.  When they buy some, YOU get to choose different levels of freebies based on the party’s total sales.  There are even 1/2 price hostess sets after your party reaches $250 in sales!  (heck, your wish list with your favorite things probably has $250 in goodies on it so I’m sure your friends will want the cute stuff too!)  If you are not local to me you can host an online party and still earn awesome hostess benefits!

Leave a comment and I can get you scheduled for a spring appointment so you can get your new goodies home as soon as possible. 

Happy Scrappin’!

Welcome to 2012!  I am thrilled for what this upcoming year holds for my family and look forward to sharing more fun ideas and creations with you.  I have spent most of this first day of the new year organizing my scrapbooking paper and CTMH acrylic stamps and I loved looking through all of my stamp sets and seeing all of the beautiful and fun paper I have in my stash.  I was thinking though that since the new CTMH catalog will be available on February 1st I should probably sell some of my stamp sets to make room for new ones! By the way…I’ve already received the new catalogs and all I can say is WOW!  The new paper packets and stamp sets are terrific and I am looking forward to sharing them with you in February.

Ok, enough dreaming about all of the new stuff…I am here to show you how to make a cute paper basket/bowl that my Mom made for me over the holidays.  If you do not already know, I inherited my craftiness from my Mom.  She and I both enjoy decorative painting and now both share the love of papercrafting.

For this project you will need:
1 – 9 x 9 inch square of cardstock (I used Typeset from CTMH)
1 – 2 inch metal binder ring
paper scorer (I used my Scor-Pal)
ruler
pencil
hole puncher (the regular round one like you used in elementary school)

First begin with your piece of 9 x 9 cardstock.  The side you score will be the bottom of the bowl.  My paper has a blue side and a brown side (with letters) – the brown side will be the bottom and the blue side is the inside of the bowl:

Score the paper every three inches both horizontal and vertical and then flip the paper and crease the seams with your finger or a bone folder to look like this :

Next, score each of the four corners on the diagonal like this (on the blue side).  I used a marker to make a little dot where the crease should begin and used a ruler to draw a line from the corner to the little dot.  I then scored the line I drew to make the diagonal crease:

Then flip the paper back over and pinch the corners together and punch holes for the binder rings.  Just be sure not to punch too close to the edges so the paper will not tear when you run the binder ring through:

Then run the binder ring through the holes and then you have this cute little bowl!

Now fill it up with some candy or nuts and sit it on the table or give it to a friend!  You could even tie ribbons on the binder ring to give it more flair.  Let me know if you have any questions and be sure to leave a comment to let me know that you made your own bowl too!