Oh My!

I love to share what I have learned in the art of scrapbooking and paper crafts.

Monday, December 24, 2012

Mary Did You Know?

 
 
I love that song.  I think about my children and how much I love them and know that it must have been so difficult to be Mary.  When I think of how difficult it must have been to travel all that way when she was so far along in her pregnancy and then to deliver that baby far from home and without any comforts of a room, I am amazed.  Then to be the mother of the Savior who would give His life for the world.   
 
Tonight at our Christmas Eve service I listened to the Bible messages about our Lord and Savior and I sang those Christmas carols with joy in my heart knowing that I can do this because of Him.  Tonight was a night of joy as we remember His birth and His arrival on earth.  We know what this child would go through but tonight, we were able to emphasize the glory of His birth. 
 
I've been very busy the last few weeks with all the activities that go with this Christmas season, but I've tried to concentrate this year on why we have this blessed season. I've tried to make the most of  family time making sure to go to the Christmas progam and today I made time to spend with my Mom. Gary and I took her out to breakfast and listened to her tell us about relatives long gone. She's 90 years old now and her short-term memory isn't the greatest, but she sure can remember what it was like to grow up in the 20's and 30's.   I went home and made Canadian pork pies that were the tradition in our home when I grew up. Mom doesn't cook any more, but I still remember those pies and all the traditions that went with them.  When we were little, our grandmother would watch us while our parents went to Midnight Mass. We would try to stay up as late as we could to see if we could hear Santa.  It never worked, we always fell asleep long before they came home.  When they got home, Santa had come and we would have pork pie and then open our presents.  The grown ups would go to bed and my brother and I would stay up and play until we had to go to sleep.  Then our parents would have  a nice, quiet morning while we slept in.  
 
 
Tonight as I look at our little Christmas tree all is quiet.  The children are grown and have families of their own.  I'm sure that the excitement is high in those homes and those little ones are having a difficult time falling to sleep. One of my sons is missing it tonight as he protects his country in Afghanistan.  I am thankful that I was able to spend every Christmas with my children when they were growing up.  I miss having the whole family together during this time, but I'm thankful for the wonderful family God has given me even if we spend it apart.  I know that we all remember that special time long ago when God sent His son to save the world.
 
Merry Christmas everyone.  May you  have a wonderful time with family and friends and don't forget to pray for those men and women who aren't able to be with their families during this time.


Monday, November 26, 2012

Singing Hills

 
 
This month I had the opportunity to join two of my Close To My Heart team members  and my greatest cheerleader at a Scrapbooking Retreat in northern New Hampshire.  This was our first opportunity to be vendors at such a large event and I had an absolutely fabulous time.  It was a little nervewracking for all of us since we didn't know what to expect.  But I must say I think we did pretty well with the product that we chose to bring to this wonderful event. 


 
 
We had a wonderful area to set up.  I loved being able to see the beautiful landscape from these windows!
 

 
 
Some of these ladies had a wonderful system of setting up their work areas!  I was so impressed.
 
 
 
The ladies had lots of opportunities to attend classes.
 
 
 
And we all had so much fun!!  I didn't realize how tired I would be after all this since I had a blast.  That is why I've been MIA for most of this month.  Can't wait until next Spring when we get to do it all over again! 
 



 

Sunday, November 25, 2012

What Can You Do With One Little Stamp?

If you had told me five years ago that I would love stamps as much as I do or that I would have as many stamps as I have, I would have laughed.  I had no idea how wonderful it is to use stamps in my scapbooking and card projects.  Here is a video that shows another one of the many techniques available to us when stamping:






I love to watch these videos for ideas that I can use in my own projects.

Enjoy!

Saturday, November 24, 2012

So Thankful

 
 
 
Every year the students at our school dress up for Thanksgiving.  I love going in and seeing all the Pilgrims and Indians.  Though I have to say that it seems there are more and more Indians every year.  Every year I also get a picture or two of my grandchildren all dressed up.  This may be the last year they all dress up as my grandson is getting to be too "cool" to do some things.  LOL
 
 
 
 
See, the Indians even outnumber the Pilgrims in my family!  I love taking this picture every year because I did get a picture of my three children in their Thanksgiving costumes one year and I'm sorry now that I didn't do it more often.  
 
 
I have to say that Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday.  This year my mom visited and we had a wonderful time.  When your mom is 90, you never know how many more holidays you will have.  I'm so thankful that we had this time to share with her.  My grandchildren were so excited to have her visit.  

 
 
As you can see, that is my son-in-law doing the dishes in the background.  He's such a good guy.  Does the dishes every year.  
 
We had so much wonderful food and I enjoyed every last bite.   
 
Yesterday it was off to Black Friday for seven hours of shopping!  I have to admit I got myself some goodies. Joann's had lots of great deals.  You should have seen the checkout line!  I know some people think I'm crazy, but I think I enjoy spending the day with my daughter more than anything.
 
Today I stayed with my grandchildren while my daughter and son-in-law went to a Trans Siberian Orchestra concert.  It was back to the mall with my husband (you would never see him there on Black Friday) and grandchildren with a stop at the candy store so the kids could pick out their very own candy, a walk around the mall, and a stop at the coffee shop to pick up hot chocolates.   Yes, lots of sugar. What are grandparents for?    Well, that seemed to backfire as I still have the kids and they seem to have so much more energy!
 
Hope your holiday was as special as mine was.  The next few weeks will be full of fun and festivities!

Sunday, October 21, 2012

THINGS I LOVE ABOUT AUTUMN

I am blessed to live on 12 acres of beautiful forest land, my dream home.  I longed for a place in the woods just like this when I was just a little girl.  I was fortunate to grow up surrounded by woods and wanted the same thing when I grew up.  Last week I decided that I would take a few pictures of some of the beautiful views around us. 

These are a few photos of what I saw while taking a walk .

 
This is the view from the end of our driveway.


 
Beautiful colors all around.
 

 
The tote road that is perfect for 4-wheeling on an ATV. 



 
The sun peeking through the trees at sunset.


 
I love red Maple leaves.

 
 
The view as you emerge from the tote road onto our road.


 
I always loved birch trees.  I'm so glad we have so many.
 
Now I must  scrapbook and journal about this. I have the perfect paper and layouts using the Flirty paper pack.  Isn't that convenient?
 
 
Every Autumn day I come upon this beautiful scene on my way to work.  This year I decided to capture it in a photo.
 

 
 
I inherited my love of taking photos from my Dad.  I don't have many pictures of him because he was the one who was always taking the photos. I actually have a picture I took of one of our kid's birthday parties and all you can see is his arm and his camera.  Dad was never without his camera or a book.  He loved his cameras.  Do you remember the Polaroid instant camera?  I was always amazed to seer that picture appear.  Now we don't have to wait see the pictures we have taken.   Dad would be so amazed with our digital cameras of today.  And I know he would love them.  Thank you Dad for giving me this love of photography.  I hope that there will be someone else in our family who carries on this love.  I love you Dad and miss you.
 

Sunday, October 7, 2012

So Excited!

 
Today I worked on plans for my 10-page layout using the Pear and Partridge paper from Close To My Heart.  I love creating beautiful pages that my "girls" can use for their scrapbooks. 
 
 
Isn't this just the cutest paper pack?  This is actually one of the layouts we will be making.  It is featured in the Pear and Partridge Workshop on the Go.  I took four other layouts from the new book called Make it From Your Heart that is new in our Fall and Winter Idea Book.  It has beautiful new layouts and card patterns.  Now I have to wait for my Workshop on the Go to come in.  The FedEx man cannot come soon enough for me.  I can't wait to play with this.  Can you believe we're thinking about Christmas already?  I'm so glad my "girls" wanted to do this early.  Then all I'll have to do is paste the pictures once Christmas is done!
 
I am so looking forward to tomorrow.  I have the whole day off and I get to play with some of my new product.  I planned a 10-page layout for my scrapbook class a few weeks ago using the Flirty paper pack.  We put all the pages together and tomorrow I'm going to embellish to my heart's content.  I have so many cute pictures that would go perfectly with that paper pack!  Maybe I'll even get pictures of my creations and post them.
 
Here is a picture I took from our crop last month.  It was our first crop of the school year I miss these ladies over the summer. I'll have to do something about that next summer and plan some time that we can spend together creating!
 
 
 

 

Wednesday, September 26, 2012

I Love This Company

What a surprise I had yesterday.  There was a package from Close To My Heart addressed to me.  I had shared on the company bulletin boards and asked if anyone had a problem with their Slate ink pad as mine would come out of the track every time I opened it.  There were a few posts, but no one seemed to have the same problem.  However,  after hearing that it would cost almost as much to send back the defective ink pad as to buy a new one, I stated that I would probably just buy a new one.  I wasn't upset.  Those things just happen.  Lo and behold.  This wonderful company I work for sent me a brand new Slate ink pad and an Avonlea compliments packet.  I was never expecting this.  I never even called the company.  Someone just read my post and made sure my ink pad was replaced and a little surprise was sent also.  I love this company.

Close To My Heart is always improving what is offered in our catalogs.  This year they have added card workshops, (I don't have to come up with my own any more) home decor, and an adorable Halloween party Workshop on the Go.  Here is a video that shows you all you can create with this exclusive paper pack.





Sunday, September 9, 2012

I Finally Finished!

September 9, 2012

I've been waiting for weeks to play with the new product.   My first shipment came in and I was so looking forward to crafting, but somehow, in my muddled mind, I thought I had taken everything out of the box.  Only after my husband had taken the recycled boxes to the dump did I realize that I had left my Clementine Workshop on the Go in one of the boxes.  So, I had to reorder and wait for my next shipment.  Right after my shipment came, I went to visit my sons in Georgia.  Finally, I was able to play and this is what I came up with.  I did scraplift from one of my CTMH sisters, Lajeania Hicks.  I  put my own spin on her beautiful layout.  The buttons were made using the new Artiste Cricut cartridge and stamped with the new stamp called Buttons, Bits, and Bobs.  I will be offering this workshop at the Faith Crafting Retreat at Singing Hills in November. My scrapbooking students at school have already started on this. They will be embellishing this week.   Next I'll be working on the new Flirty paper pack to design layouts for them.



Thursday, September 6, 2012

I'm Back!

I spent the last week visiting my two sons and their families in Georgia.  Had so much fun with the grandkids it was difficult to leave.  I had just gotten my goodies just before I left and didn't have time to play.  It was so difficult being responsible and packing instead of scrapping!  We got back yesterday afternoon and I went back to work today.  It was the first week of school and I already missed the first two days!  The wonderful thing is that I got to work and play with some of my new products.  I was able to partially complete a two-page layout with my scrapbooking class.  What a stress relief that was.  My plan is to finish it up this weekend and share it with all of you.  In the meantime, sit back and enjoy this video made by Close To My Heart.  I love this company!
 


Wednesday, August 15, 2012

I Can Only Imagine!

Since I've been under the weather for a few days and haven't taken pictures or uploaded any of my creations, I thought I would show you a video of One of our Close To My Heart consultants who won a three minute shopping spree in the Close To My Heart Warehouse.  Now that is a dream come true.  She really grabbed a lot of loot!  Wait till you see where she carried it all!!  What a laugh. 



Tuesday, August 7, 2012

BLESSINGS FROM ABOVE

After watering my garden this morning I thought I would check on the status of the black raspberry bushes on our property.  You see, God knew that I absolutely love raspberries so He planted several bushes on our property.  Well, it could have been the birds, but God even cares about the sparrow right?  I digress.  Upon looking at the first clump of bushes I thought that I may have enough on the bush for a handful, as many of the berries are still not ripe.  I realized after a few minutes that I could not possibly hold all the berries in my hand, so I went along a small stretch of property and voila!  There were more and more bushes that I found along the way.  So here is a picture of my blessings from above.  I have learned to be happy in the little things.  This kind of makes up for my poor zucchini and summer squash plants who were attacked by vine borers.  I'm still trying to save three of them.  With God's help, I'll have enough zucchini to make zucchini relish this year!

But in the meantime, I'm going to enjoy these.....



Aren't they just beautiful?

Don't worry, I'll be going to my crafting corner tonight so that I can show you things I've created with the new products!  Ta Ta

Sunday, August 5, 2012

Memories

I spent this weekend with my 90 year old mother giving my sister and her husband a well-deserved rest.  It wasn't that long ago that Mom was living on her own in her own little mother-in-law apartment, but life changes.  She now lives in my sister's home and can only be left for short amounts of time as she is feeble and has fallen a few times. 

Mom repeats herself a lot now and mainly speaks about events that happened 70-80 years ago.  As I sat with her and listened to the same stories over and over I realized that this was the perfect opportunity to ask questions.  This weekend I found out how my great grandparents met.  As she talked about different things that happened in her life, I was amazed at how much the world had changed since she was a little girl and the ice man came to her house to deliver the ice for the ice box.  I could see what life was like for a little girl who lived with her grandparents and enjoyed a ride around the block in the back of a grain delivery truck.  She told me about so many things from her childhood and went on to how she and my dad met and married.  I was sad when I heard how difficult it was for her as a young wife and mother to wait for those letters to arrive from her soldier. She would faithfully write him and uplift him while he was away.  Her letters were read and sometimes things were censored on the letters she received from my Dad, which meant that they took a long time to arrive.  I know that she once told me that they had a secret code using numbers in the letters to help her find where he was.  They had devised this code using a map before he shipped overseas.  In one of his letters he shared with her that he had gone up in one of the bomber planes, she told him she did not like him doing that and did not want him to risk his life if he didn't have to. She said he never did it again.  But sometimes I wonder if he did and just didn't tell her.  She is amazed that I can email my sons anywhere they are, even when they are in Afghanistan. I can still see the smile on her face when my son called to wish her a Happy Mother's Day from that far away place.  She asked him are you calling me from way over in Afghanistan?   It was so cute.  My goal is to complete my heritage album this year.  I have started the album using the wedding pictures from my grandparents and parents, but now I feel like I can tell the story.  Hug your parents if you still have them and listen to them.  I wish I had listened more to my grandmother's stories or maybe just asked more questions.

Wednesday, August 1, 2012

August 1, 2012

New Workshops on The Go!


I love Close To My Heart.  They are always finding ways to make my life easier.  With the unveiling of the latest catalog, they have included two card workshops and a few cute projects for your home and a Halloween party!  No more will I be scrambling to find card patterns to include in my workshops.  This video will show you our two new home decor workshops available to all of us.  Oh boy, is my wish list long.  Sit back, enjoy, and start your own list!  


Saturday, July 28, 2012

Footloose and Fancy Free

As promised, I took a couple of preview pictures of our 10 page scrapbook layout with a close up of the cute embellishments.  I got this beautiful 10 page layout pattern from a wonderful Close To My Heart Consultant, Tresa Black.  She is such a talented lady.  I cannot wait to get together with the girls and create again.  I've been lonely in my little corner by myself.  Although, you can see, I have been productive.  I am so excited to share this wonderful workshop with my friends.




I apologize for my poor picture quality.  I don't have the special photo boxes that many people use to take pictures of their creations.  Maybe I'll take a class on how to take pictures and everyone will benefit!

Have a wonderful weekend.  I'm off to the lake for a church picnic!



Saturday, July 21, 2012

My Favorite Words!

"On the vehicle for delivery."  Last week I was stalking all blogs and message boards that I could find about the new Idea Book.  You see, I didn't make it to Convention so I had to live vicariously through my sister consultants.  As soon as I got the notification that my Idea Books had shipped, it was on to stalk the Order History to see where they were.  Then, this Wednesday, those beautiful words appeared and I came home to my boxes of Idea Books.  Once again, Jeanette Lynton has outdone herself with fresh new ideas and beautiful paper and inks.  Here is the cover of the book:


I've already begun to deliver some of these beautiful books to my customers.  You have to wait until August 1st to order, but we can dream while waiting can't we?   I've got all pages marked and now it's on to my lists of must haves from the latest and greatest.  

One of the new items that I just have to get is the newest Cricut cartridge Artiste.  Another cartridge that makes 700 images including 3D items.  It seems that no matter what I'm looking for in Cricut cartridges, Jeanette seems to know and that item shows up in the newest cartridge.  Last year I was looking for the boxes and tags Cricut cartridge and the Close To My Heart cartridge contained lots of boxes and tags.  This year I was looking for cupcake holders.  I actually found one at Walmart, but I wasn't ready to spend the money on it since I was saving my stash for the new Close To My Heart Idea Book.  Lo and behold, the new Artiste has cupcake holders.  God bless Jeanette.  I wonder what next year will bring?

Another new item that I have to have is the new organizational boxes.  They won't be available until September 1st, so I'll be ordering other things,but you'd better believe I'll be ordering those boxes as soon as they are available.  

Today though I'll be adding pictures to my 10 page Footloose layouts that we will be doing on August 4th and I'll be posting the results of that fun workshop next week.  This workshop was created by a fellow consultant, Tresa Black. She is so talented and so kind to offer these workshops to other consultants.  

Hope you all enjoy the beautiful New Hampshire weather this weekend.  I'll be spending time in my crafting corner as my new product is due to arrive today!  I couldn't wait until my Idea Books arrived and ordered some things last Friday.  

Thursday, July 5, 2012

Dreamin

Had a blast over the weekend creating these layouts.  I love this paper pack that is now retired.  It will be available, however, when you place a $75 order on my website July 6th - 10th.  I took these pictures while visiting my son and his family last fall.  I was able to meet my newest grandson and cuddle with him for a whole week.  I knew that this paper pack would be a perfect fit for the wonderful photos I took.  




Monday, July 2, 2012

Full of Mischief

Here is a paper pack that is available through July 5th with a $75 order.  You also get the felt embellishments  all for free!  I loved using this paper pack for the Trick or Treat photos of my grandchildren.  That night we actually went to the house where my husband's mother grew up.  I was so glad I was there to get a photo and was able to journal about it on the layout.  We moved to the town where she grew up 12 years ago.  Nana has been gone for five years now, but I'll always think of her when I drive by the house she used to call home.
  

Thursday, June 7, 2012

So Cute

We will be making the cards in this video at the crop this Saturday.  So cute and so easy.  During this busy time of the school year, it's a relief to be able to make something this adorable so quickly.

Tuesday, June 5, 2012

Woo Hoo It's Stampaganza Time!!!!



During the month of June, buy two stamps and get one free!  The free stamp is of equal or lesser value.  It's been a while since I've seen this special.  I am so happy that I'll be able to stock up on some of my favorite Alphabet stamp sets!!!  

I've been MIA for a little while. Got one of those nasty viruses that kept me down for a while.  Thank goodness I got better in time for Free Fishing Day in New Hampshire.  It was a rainy, rainy weekend, but that didn't matter.  I had a blast!  Now my husband asked me if I would go fishing if I had a choice between fishing and scrapbooking.  Now that was not a fair question!  I would scrapbook, of course.  Tee hee.  Here's one that did not get away ;-)



Saturday, May 5, 2012

Oh, What a Victory!






Just finished watching the Kentucky Derby.  I can't imagine how exciting it must be to see it in person!  You never know if the favorite will win and today he didn't.  Can you imagine how excited the winning owner must be!  My winner today is the Victory paper pack.  I was so happy to see a paper that would work so well for the men in my family.  With two sons in the Army, those colors certainly go with many of my pictures.  They are also great to use for outdoor pictures.  Here is what I came up with.  I started with the Workshop on the Go and then made another layout for my swap.  There was plenty of paper and I'm so excited that I'll be able to scrap many more pictures with this wonderful paper pack.

My swap pages were fun to make.....



We also swapped a card.  This pattern came from the Workshop On The Go too.

Well, I'm off to my creative corner to put the finishing touches on the layouts I created last weekend.  I have been so anxious to do this all week.  But you know what it's like.  Someone has to work.

Have a great day!


Friday, May 4, 2012

I'm Back!!

I spent a wonderful time last weekend with friends at a scrapbook retreat in the North Country. Loved my time and had so much fun.  Can you believe I created 21 layouts?   That is 42 pages!!! Now I do have to get my trusty Cricut out to make some titles, but other than that, they are done done done.  

As promised, I will be sharing pictures of my Sympathy/Get Well Card Kit for sale.  I haven't been able to plan a Card Workshop, so I decided to make kits to sell.  Sometimes life just gets in the way. You make 10 cards for $10.  How great is that?   If you would like a kit of your very own, please contact me at detty1957@hotmail.com. Kits come stamped and ready to assemble or you can choose to use your own stamps to make creations of your own.  For payment, I take Paypal or you could mail a check.  So here is what I came up with.......







I just love that hedgehog, don't you?  You make two of each card and you're ready for those times when you must come up with a card quickly.  I will also have these card kits available at my next crop on May 19th.  This crop benefits the Booster Committee of Tri-City Christian Academy.  We scrap from 9:00 am - 4:00 pm at 12 Rocky Hill Road in Somersworth, NH.  We'd love to see you there.  $10.00 pays for your space and you get a yummy meal prepared by one of our scrappers.  Hope to see you there!