You Are My Happy - Blog Hop

If you're hopping over from Crafty Lalia's blog, you're in the right place!

You Are My Happy journaling cards

For several years I've been hearing all the hype about Ali Edwards' Week In the Life; always after the fact & never in time to participate. But this year, I actually got the word a week before it started & decided this was the year to get on the bandwagon. And let me tell you, it was a major commitment! Because we were traveling last weekend, I didn't devote enough prep time - next year I'll do better. I did learn a few things however: (1) I hate taking photos of myself, (2) I need to figure out how to make my workdays less hectic, (3) there really is happiness in my life even without children (something I have to come to terms with daily) & (4) creative time truly refreshes my soul. I don't think I snapped enough photos of my daily life; halfway through my hectic week, I completely forgot about taking photos for a few days :( Next year I'll try using a tripod & my camera with a timer. And while I wouldn't consider it a resounding success it wasn't an utter failure either. I'll share a couple more posts of my finished project in a few weeks. Here are a few of my favorite photos from last week:

Saturday 3:39pm

Wednesday 9:15am

Wednesday 9:49pm

Tuesday 12:50pm

Tuesday 1:10pm

Tuesday 8:46am

8pm

Monday 6:25pm

This month's special fits perfectly with my WITL project. I made these journaling cards to help document my week. During the month of September, when you make a purchase of $50 or more get the exclusive You Are My Happy stamp set trio in celebration of National Stamping Month! 




Check out Jessica's blog for more creative ideas with this month's trio stamp special & the stamp of the month.

National Stamping Month

Happy September! During this month, when you make a purchase of $50 or more, you qualify for this stamp set trio for only $10 (retail value of $47.90). Get the exclusive You Are My Happy stamp set trio in celebration of National Stamping Month! You'll love the whimsical alphabet, light-hearted sentiments, and fanciful images for a variety of occasions. 

Check out this video featuring the You are Happy stamp trio to see more details of this promotion.

Last days for A Chocolate Affair

This month's special is a sweet deal...place a $50 order on my website & get the stamp of the month FREE! Just click "Join" on my home page. 

And the best part is this chocolate has zero calories :) There are only a few more days to get your free stamp set. 

Check out my website to get detailed instructions on these 4 delightful projects:

Chocolate Heart Box

Chocolate Pillow Box

Chocolate Fry Box

Chocolate Designed Decor Frame

Order today to get your FREE stamp set!

Day 5 Presenting...Frosted

I cannot wait to start creating beautiful holiday items with Frosted. I'll be picking a date soon & planning a holiday card workshop with this lovely paper packet! Hope you'll join me.

Frosted layout by Michelle Bowley

Frosted cards & ornament by Michelle Bowley

You can order this paper directly from my website. Leave a comment & let me know which is your favorite!

Frosted paper packet

Thanks for stopping by this week to check out our fantastic new papers. I hope you enjoyed this preview. Contact me if you'd like a catalog or want to attend my New Idea Book Open House at the end of the month.

Day 4 Meet ProPlayer

If you've got "gamers" in your family, this paper is for you! Tune in tomorrow when I feature my favorite paper...

ProPlayer layout by Kimberly Jo Merillat

ProPlayer cards by Kimberly Jo Merillat

You can order this paper directly from my website. Leave a comment & let me know which is your favorite!

ProPlayer paper packet

Day 3 I'd like to introduce you to Huntington

Today's featured paper packet is going to be perfect for our fall cards & layouts! May I present, Huntington. And even though I'm still in the midst of enjoying a long, lovely, warm summer we're having in the Puget Sound this year, it makes me long for falling leaves...

Huntington layout by Michelle West

Close up of the adorable Mini Clothes Pins

Huntington Cards by Michelle West

You can order this paper directly from my website. Leave a comment & let me know which is your favorite!

Huntington paper packet

Day 2 Announcing...Baby Cakes

Here's the 2nd in my series of new introductions...of CTMH paper packets, this is! Baby Cakes is a perfect pattern for kid layouts, baby shower invitations/announcements or party treats. But also versatile enough to be used for all occasion cards - check out this swap card that features Baby Cakes. I think it's adorable too :)

Baby Cakes layout by Amy Barnes

Baby Cakes cards & treat holder by Amy Barnes

You can order this paper directly from my website. Leave a comment & let me know which is your favorite!

Baby Cakes Paper Packet

Day 1 Introducing...Sarita

This week I'll be introducing you to our 5 other new paper packs (in addition to Laughing Lola - which I previewed previously - click here if you missed it). All the artwork featured this week is from fellow CTMH consultants. I really enjoyed participating in this swap & I hope you enjoy seeing their fabulous creations. Today, I'd like you to meet Sarita.

Sarita Cards by Stina Swansen

Sarita Layout by Stina Swansen

You can order this paper directly from my website. Leave a comment & let me know which is your favorite!

Sarita Paper Packet

Challenge: Color Dare #55

Happy Sunday! I found a new challenge site called Color My Heart this morning while searching for inspiration on Pinterest. And since I recently completed a swap using this week's colors, I thought it would be a great opportunity for me to submit my first entry to this group. I used Lagoon card stock to finish off this card since I didn't have the Laughing Lola blue yet - hope that meets the criteria for the challenge?!

Card made with Laughing Lola

If you're getting tired of Laughing Lola, stay tuned! Each day this week (Mon - Fri) I'll be posting the swap items I received using the other five papers featured in the new Idea Book.

My Eye Candy

I belong to a facebook group called Eye Candy. It's a group of incredibly talented consultants all over the country, who I regularly get my inspiration from. During the CTMH convention last month, I got a little caught up in the excitement (even though I couldn't be there) & signed up for my first swap with this group. We had ONE month to create seven sets of 2-pg layouts plus 2 different cards & an altered item. I picked the Laughing Lola papers, since I can't resist the purple tones & paisley designs. I nervously packed up my creations last Wed & mailed them to Texas where the organizer will swap my artwork with 6 others & send me back a package of goodies. I can't wait to see what everyone else created! In the meantime, here's what I made. What do you think of this new paper packet? It's featured in the new Idea Book - and available for purchase TODAY on my website!

Contact me if you'd like your very own copy of the fall/winter Idea Book.

Laughing Lola Layout

Tags for Eye Candy Swap

Laughing Lola Hello card,
Miss You/Cityscape card & tag 

Laughing Lola - Sneak peek

Just a few days to go & my customers (that's YOU) will get to see the new Autumn/Winter catalog! Here's a little peek at one of my favorite new paper packets, called Laughing Lola. More artwork to be shared later in the week, so please come back on Thursday.

Laughing Lola

Christmas in July

This time of year is full of excitement for Close To My Heart consultants...it's almost better than Christmas! Hundreds of consultants spent last week in Orlando at our annual convention (sadly, I wasn't one of them) & got to preview tons of new product & artwork. The new Fall/Winter catalog was also released last week & even those of us who didn't attend already have them in our hot little hands. Thanks to my generous upline, Michele Rowley, I'm going to preview of some of the great new products tomorrow night - woot!!

Autumn/Winter Catalog - available August 1.

My wish list is already l - o - n - g... and I can't wait to share some new products with you next month. But until then, here's a sneak peek of the cover! And I'll be "teasing" you throughout the month of July as I get new product to play with - so stay tuned ;)

Your chance to help the Oklahoma tornado victims

Close To My Heart is an awesome company to be affiliated with. Whenever there's a tragedy, they are quick to respond & lend a hand. If you're a stamper & want to help, order this stamp for $2.95 before the end of June. One hundred percent of profits from sales of this stamp set from May 23 to June 30 will be donated to the American Red Cross to aid tornado victims in Oklahoma. You can place your order on my website by clicking on the "Join" button. 

Item #M1029

The scrapbook & crafting community has always been very generous. Thank you for your support!

Dream Pop Hop

Welcome, to those coming from Crafty Lalia! My team decided we couldn't get enough of this paper packet, so we did a team swap using Dream Pop & we're sharing our creations with you. Enjoy this sweet treat! And then hop over to my friend Cindy's website.

I got my inspiration for this card swap from Gina Brandstetter.

This month's special is making my mouth water! These juicy, vibrant colors (outside our normal color palette) are super fun to create with. I can't tell you how much I {heart} the textured card stock; one side is matte finish & the other has glossy, embossed designs. You get 2 of each patterned & plain (although there's nothing "plain" about this) paper.

Get the exclusive paper packet for only $10 when you spend $35!

Here are the details - you can order on my website starting today:

In honor of National Scrapbooking Month, you can get the yummy Dream Pop paper packet for only $10 when you spend $35 in May (valued at $19.95 retail)! This exclusive paper packet includes 12 cardstock sheets as well as 12 B&T Duos® papers that were specifically designed for this promotion only—you can’t get these sweet colors and patterns anywhere else! Start National Scrapbooking Month off right with a unique paper packet at a bargain price and get your creative juices flowing! Also, consider hosting this month: Hostesses receive one paper packet free with qualifying May Gathering sales totals of $400 or more.

*Shipping/handling and tax apply. Not available for purchase at full retail. Offer valid May 1–31, 2013, while supplies last. Qualifying purchases must be current, retail-priced product.

And, I made an extra card, so if you leave me a comment here - I'll pick a random winner
next Sunday to send a card to :)

Springing forward...a few weeks late

I created this card last month for our team swap; funny thing was - it was a shoebox swap. Meaning we were supposed to gather the supplies & let everyone assemble their own card during our meeting time. But I got ahead of myself the weekend before our meeting & made all the cards, like I usually do for swaps. My fellow consultants didn't mind that I assembled the cards for them :) But I could've saved myself a little time not having put them together! Oh well.

As it turns out, the design fits perfectly with the theme of H2H challenge a few weeks ago. But now I'm behind posting this creation to their website...better late than never, right?!

April SOTM

This card features the April Stamp of the Month - and I really {heart} this stamp set. Can't wait till Monday so I can order it :) And now that the weather has finally decided to improve around here, I'm anxious to make some more bright & cheerful creations with it. Happy Spring!

Eggs-ellent Easter Blog Hop

I have to admit, I'm a newbie to the blog "hop" concept & this is my FIRST blog hop post. We picked a good time of year to "hop" though, don't you think (wink, wink)? Welcome those of you coming over from the Evergreen Memories blog!

I've been in a creative funk lately; too much stress & too little free time, so I really had to focus to get these little gems ready for the blog hop. With Easter just around the corner, a little help from Pinterest & my creative juices were flowing :) 

I used the CTMH Artiste Cricut cartridge to cut these egg-shaped cards. I cut them at 5 inches & then cut a single egg shape at the same size with pattern paper from the Chantilly paper packet. I also embellished a few with the Mini Medley Wood Accents; wishing I had a few more of those on hand!

Eggsellent Cards - Cricut Artiste Cartridge

These adorable little punch art bunnies seem to be hopping around everywhere - here's my inspriation for the card I created. The CTMH Art Philosophy cartridge made cutting the shapes a snap.

Bunny - Dimensions

Bunny - Finished

Thanks for stopping by. Hop on over to Crafty Lalia next!!

Jump for Joy!

What's got you jumping for joy this week? A new haircut, a new pair of shoes, a great visit with a friend, reaching a goal? For me, it's this month's special...more hostess rewards! You can earn these fabulous & exclusive sets if you're a hostess in the month of March. These are some of the bundles you can choose from:

Chantilly

Buzz & Bumble

For Always 

Surf's Up

If you've been thinking about having a gathering with your friends, March is the month to do it. And I'm here to help! Click here for More info

Digital Delights with Studio J

It's half way thru the month...have you started creating your Studio J layouts yet? If you've been curious about digital scrapbooking, this is the month to try it out! Close To My Heart is offering a special this month; 2-page, photo quality, 12x12 layouts for $5. It's a fantastic deal. And with the new express kits you can create beautiful pages in a short amount of time; upload your photos, select a pattern/kit & you're ready to go! They've even got sample layouts with step-by-step instructions - here's one example.

Check out the gallery for more ideas.

These are a few layouts I created recently.

I'm happy to set up a Studio J session with you to show you how easy it is to create these fabulous layouts. You can start working on your layouts anytime. But you must order them before Feb. 28, 2013 to get the special price. Order multiples of your creations for gifts or calendars (I'm getting started on my 2014 calendars this month!)