Friendship Bag Favors

A few weeks ago, I teased you about the friendship favors I was making for my Women's Group using the new CTMH embossing folders. Here they are all finished up!  I used extra papers from For Always (black and white) and Arianna (purple). The flowers were made with Ruby, Hollyhock and White Daisy cardstock embossed with the Quadrafoil folder and finished with a pearl from the Dakota embellshiments (retired). The leaf was embossed with a non-CTMH folder; everything was attached to the burlap ribbon and glued together. The bags were cut from the Artiste Cricut cartridge.

I found some inspiration on Pinterest for filling the friendship bags with little things a woman would need to maintain her friendships.

Here is the text I used to make our tags: 

Candle .............. Friends Light up your life

Paper clip.......... To help hold your friends together

Button.............. To button your lips, when tempted to gossip

Tissue............... To wipe away tears of joy and sadness

Gum................. To help you stick with your friends

Toothpick.......... To pick out the best in everyone, including yourself

Puzzle piece...... Because you’re an important piece in a friend’s life

Marble.............. To replace the ones you’ve lost along the way

Starburst........... For when you’re bursting to share a secret

Cotton ball........ For cushioned support on those rough roads

Band-aid........... For hurt feelings, either yours or someone else’s

Tootsie Roll....... To let things “roll” off your shoulders

Rubber band..... To remind you to be flexible

July Stamp of the Month

This is a fun stamp set that I had to share with you!

I don't usually go head-over-heels for a Stamp of the Month (though I regularly collect them!) but this one is special enough that I wanted to point it out - it's an alphabet!

I love alphabet sets - I own every one available since I became a consultant. They are so versatile and  easy to make any size title, phrase or just to personalize notecards, envelopes, etc. I even use them to make personalized labels for my kids (using Archival Ink).

This is a fun alphabet too, I imagine I will use this on a lot of home decor items for my daughter and niece, it just fits their personalities!

The stamp set includes both upper case and lower case letters and numbers!

Here's the deal: You will need to place a $50 order (before tax and shipping) then you will be able to add this stamp set for an additional $5. This is a great way to get your retiring items and anything you want that will have a price increase soon. (Check out my other post for more information on this)

Also, since it is my birthday, I will extend the party all weekend... Any orders this weekend (until 7/13/14 at midnight) will be entered to win an exclusive grab bag of brand new product! Any size order qualifies for this deal so hurry over to my website - but don't forget the stamp of the month, retired items or items that may be increasing in price.

July News

There is so much that happens in July that I have a hard time keeping up - it's like Christmas for me ... I jump from one thing to another just trying to keep up with all that has to get done. There are birthdays galore (6 birthdays, including mine and my husband's), it's the start of CTMH's new year (meaning a new Idea Book and a year's worth of class/workshop planning and an Open House to plan and create for), plus all the normal summer stuff (we have three vacations this year plus me going to DisneyLand for CTMH's convention) then you throw into the mix our church's vacation bible school planning and the "normal" daily stuff: like going to the pool, playdates and of course we can't forgot actual, good old fashioned WORK! It really is a wonder that our summer goes so fast! I enjoy every minute of it but I want to take a moment to remember you too!

Since CTMH has announced a new Annual Inspirations catalog (available Aug. 1st), there has also been a retired list for items that didn't make into the next year's catalog. Along with the retired list, some eagle-eyed consultants have shared some items that are continuing into the new Annual Inspirations but at a higher price. Because I value you, I want you to be aware of both lists.

CTMH products retiring July 31, 2014
For a complete list of still available products, visit my website here. While this may not be the full list, it is what is still available to order.

CTMH products increasing in price August 1, 2014 (many thanks to the original consultant who shared this!)

Artistic Adventure, Day Two Recap

So much training! So much information! So much artwork!


So. much. food!

Today we learned from successful consultants on how to grow our businesses ... first hand knowledge from those who have learned the hard way. How blessed we are to be in a "family" where consultants freely share their successes so that others can succeed too!

Since most of the day was spent on "consultant stuff" I'll skip ahead to the fun stuff ... Awards Banquet!
Each year, Corp spoils us with a fabulous three course meal served Disney style! We primped to look our best to cheer for the successes of fellow consultants and of course, even in our finery, we're still taking pictures of our food, friends and basically, anything we can!

Here are a few highlights of the day ... I'm off to get some much needed rest before my first 5K tomorrow in Disney Land!!!!!

Working hard playing with some new product

Kristine, Brian and Monica presenting lots of new information

New and old friends; we're all family

Me and my bestie!

You can dress her up, taker her to a fancy meal, but a scrapbooker will always take a picture!

She found a Sticky Boy at her seat!!!

Kristine, Brian and Monica presenting all the awards to deserving, hard-working consultants

Artistic Adventure Daily Recap - Day One

With all the excitement over the last few days, it's eerily quiet around the hotel tonight. Consultants can be found all over DisneyLand with their new Annual Inspirations in hand, post it notes and a growing list of new items to buy!

I've quickly uploaded and (badly) edited photos to share with you! Here's a quick intro to the new products. Over the next few weeks, I'll share more detailed information and artwork with you about specific products.

Brian Holman, VP

Brian, Monica and Kristine

Artfully Sent Cricut Collection

Five new colors - Pixie, Thistle, Flaxen, Canary and Glacier

Cut Above - precut card kits

Embossing powders

Snack time, Disney style!

A goodies winner!

She won a new Artfully Sent Cricut Collection

A new Score board!!!!

 

Designer Creations - preprinted treat bags and boxes perfect as they are or ready to embellish

Stay tuned, there's more to come!!! It's only day one! :)

CMTH Artistic Adventure Convention 2014

I'm here! I'm here!!!

I made it to Disney Land!! If you haven't had a chance to check out my facebook page, I'm posting updates on my trip to CTMH's 2014 Convention called - "Artistic Adventure" in Disney Land CA.

While my friends were stuck inside today at Leadership training, I've spent the day stalking, er, finding characters for photos and autographs. So far, I've met Chip, Pluto, Goofy, Alice, Jasmine and Goofy (twice!!!). And I haven't even registered yet!!! {Smile!}

It really is so magical here at Disney and partnered with Close to My Heart, I feel like a princess!



Now would be a good time to "Like" my facebook page to find out what I'm up to (it's so much easier to post there on my cell then blogger, for some reason). I'll do updates here as much as I can, though.

Here are some of the characters I got to hang out with today!

PS - Convention 2015 will be here in Disney Land again next year, so if you would like to join in on all the fun, please let me know!!!

CMTH Embossing Folders

I haven't been creating much lately because of the kids being home now - All. Day. Long. Summer has just begun and we're all a little buggy!

Little Man has been having a hard time transitioning from the constant busy-ness of school to the laid back approach to summer. I've been using naptimes to get a little bit of work done for my church's women's group summer event next weekend (which I'll show you soon!) but yesterday's UPS delivery is what got me all excited - I got my Big Shot!

A little back story - because, really, a Big Shot is nothing new. I haven't jumped on the embossing bandwagon because when I first started scrapbooking oh so many years ago, we had to use brass plates and a stylus to "draw" the embossed design into the paper . Since the process was time consuming and my sister talked me into dry embossing all her wedding invitations, response cards and seating cards I never wanted to see another stylus or brass plate ever again. About two years ago, I bought a cheapo embosser and two folders and never used them. Then CTMH came out with embossing folders and I bought one. And quickly saw that my cheapo embosser would not work (CTMH embossing folders are slightly bigger than others, for good reason which I'll get into on another post). After some online research and a luckily-timed Zulily sale, I bought myself a Big Shot.

Since this embosser has been in my house, I have finished my women's group party favors - and I impressed myself!

Take a look at the in-process photos.... I'll post final pictures after my event (I don't want to spoil the surprise for my gals!)

Sorry, I can't figure out why Blogger is turning this picture ... :(

I used my flash so you could see the quadrafoil pattern embossed in the cardstock.

Little Man was very excited that I "let" him help with this project, but I figure that an almost-first-grader is capable of some flower assembly.

This is the final flower - I used the CTMH Quadrafoil embossing folder for all the flowers and a generic folder for the leaf. All flowers were inked with Cranberry (CS colors - cranberry, hollyhock and White Daisy) and the Garden Green leaf was inked in Olive.

Stay tuned because I'll post final pictures of this project but also because I'll be at CTMH's convention next week and there will be so, So, SO much news to share! I'll post pictures and a daily recap on my blog and facebook page but you can also keep tabs on the Corporate Facebook page for updates as well.

See you soon!