What a Month!

What a Month I Have Had!

September is always busy for me.  I'm the Administrative Assistant in a Christian school so most of August and all of September is busy for me.  This September was also very exciting for me with Close To My Heart.   I loved the two CTMH Conventions I attended, but I couldn't justify the cost of going every year because it always includes a plane ticket as well as hotel stays.  My wish has been that somehow CTMH would have an event that was close enough that I would be able to drive to the event.  Not only did my wish come true, but the event was so close, I was able to drive home afterwards and return the next day for another wonderful event!  Thanks goes out to Lynn Como for sharing this wonderful event with my team members.  

I got lots of ideas from the event and I've been busy putting things together for my crops and my scrapbook class that I teach at the school.  (Yes, I get to do what I love and show students how to preserve memories.)

The event that we had on Saturday was filled with create and takes for consultants and I actually brought home a six-page Halloween layout and 12 beautiful cards.  (Pictures will be coming.)  

The next two weekends I was happy to attend two crops. I had been anxiously waiting for September 13th for our first TCCA Booster crop of the year.  I miss those ladies over the summer.  We had lots of laughs and caught up on what had been happening over the summer.  Then I was a vendor at a Crop for the Cure.  Cancer research is near and dear to my heart and I was glad to be able to participate in something that would benefit those who are affected by this terrible disease.  Meeting new ladies who who love to scrap and make cards was a bonus.

Another exciting event that happened this month is that the new CTMH Cricut cartridge, Artfully Sent, was released!  I have been anxiously waiting for that to happen.  My Artfully Sent is currently on the way to my home.  I can't wait to play with it after it arrives on Tuesday!

I have to get busy taking pictures of the layouts I've created this month.  In the meantime, here are some pictures of the beautiful sunsets I've been enjoying.

Isn't it amazing?   What beauty God has created.

I'm So Excited

I spent the last week in Kansas with my son and his family.  He is preparing to deploy to Korea and it had been almost two years since I saw him.  It was a wonderful time of sightseeing and connecting with this beautiful family.  While I was there, the annual Close to my Heart Convention was happening.  New and exciting product was introduced to thousands of excited Consultants and I was where I longed to be, with family.  It was a wonderful but short week and I'm so happy to have had the opportunity to see my son, daughter-in-love, and my grandchildren.

While we were out and about we went to my granddaughter's favorite place Barnes and Noble.  It's also one of my favorite places.  On our way to the checkout, I noticed these adorable 3D cards and told my daughter-in-love that I was going to go on YouTube and figure out how to make them.  You can imagine my excitement the next day when I signed in to view our new catalog and saw that the new Cricut cartridge is all about those 3D cards.  It's almost like the designers at CTMH tune in to my wishes and come up with a Cricut cartridge to fulfill those wishes.

Another exciting thing about this cartridge is that you will be able to create Picture My Life cards to add to your Picture My Life scrapbooking.

Here is a video that will be sure to get you as excited as I am right now.



Aren't these just adorable?

I cannot wait to get my hands on this cartridge.

Till next time......

So Excited

I just pre-ordered the new Close To My Heart catalog!  They start shipping on June 26th.  I'm always excited to see what Jeanette Lynton and her designers come up with every year.  Every new catalog is more amazing than the previous catalog.   This year Close To My Heart celebrates 30 years so I'm expecting something big.

There is a difference with this year's catalog.  We have gone down to one large catalog per year called Annual Expressions.  Everything in this catalog is available from August 1, 2014 to July 31, 2015.  It will be larger than our other catalogs, 192 pages!   We will also have two mini catalogs called Seasonal Expressions 1 that come out in December for the winter scrapbook themes and Seasonal Expressions 2 that comes out in April with spring scrapbook themes. The products in these catalogs will be available for a 4-month period, but the stamps that are showcased in these catalogs will be available for 12 months.

It seems that this company is always looking for ways to keep us all supporting our habit.  

I hope all of you were able to order the National Scrapbook Month special in May.  It was such an adorable paper pack.  I was able to make a couple of layouts using this trendy paper and a layout for each of my scrapbook students at school.  I ordered two paper packs and I have so much left over for more layouts and cards.  I can't wait to get down to my scrap corner to use these beautiful papers.

I'll be busy next week preparing for my 10-page layout class using our gorgeous Jubilee Workshop on the on The Go and the June Stamp of the Month.  We always have a big 4th of July get together with friends. This year I'll be ready to scrap those pictures ahead of time!  Here is an example of how you can use the June Stamp of the Month.

Isn't it just adorable?  I think I know what one of my pages will look like in the 10-page layout.  

Hope you all are enjoying the beautiful weather we've been having for the last few days here in New Hampshire.  It's been a long time coming, but now that it's here it is just spectacular!  

Mother's Day Fun

Every year I make a card for my Mom for Mother's Day.  This year I decided that I would make a card in a box.  I had seen several examples on the internet and when I went to my scrapbook retreat, a Stampin' Up consultant taught a class making one of these adorable cards. I watched tutorial videos online to learn how to make the cards and found out that I could make this card using the Close To My Heart Artiste Cricut cartridge!  It was so easy and fun that I made cards for my daughter and daughters-in-law.  I could have cut out the flowers using my Cricut cartridges, but decided to use up some of my stash.  Here are a couple of the cards.....

I have to say that I'm hooked on these cute little cards. My grandkids can expect these cards for their birthdays this year.

What I Have Been Up To

I know I haven't posted in quite a while.  That is because I've been doing lots of fun things over the last few weeks.  During school vacation, I was so happy to go to a Girl's Night Out and participate in a Paint Nite in Newmarket.  I was a little worried as I had never painted before, but Dina picked out an easy pattern for this night.

Here are a few pictures of what it was like

This is my painting.

Look how serious we are about our paintings!

I was oblivious to the fun the people beside me were having.

Look how big our group was! We took up one whole table.

It started raining just as we left, but we were all able to keep our paintings dry.

Can you pick mine out?

If you ever have a chance to go to one of these do it!  It was such an enjoyable time and I found that I LOVE painting.  Big surprise right?  

Free to Be Me

This month Close To My Heart has a cute paper pack to celebrate National Scrapbook Month.  For a $50 order, you can order the Free to Be Me paper pack for just $5.00.  I ordered mine already and it is absolutely adorable.  It even has a couple of vellum papers included. If you purchase the paper pack, I will give you a set of instructions to make this adorable layout.  The instructions also include an additional layout and three cards using the May Stamp of the Month.  The Stamp of the Month valued at $17.95 can also be purchased for $5.00 with a $50 purchase.  So, for just an additional $10 with a $50 purchase you would receive a $29.90 value.

Here is a photo of a layout that you can create using this beautiful paper pack:

My friend Dina made this layout last weekend while we were away scrapbooking and it is absolutely gorgeous.  The colors are so vibrant and I absolutely love the vellum paper.  I can't wait to get started on my layouts and cards.

If you are interested, just go to my website at  claudettelewis.ctmh.com

Have a great day!

Trends

Scrapbooking has been going through quite a few changes lately.  Your local scrapbook store may have closed and the big box stores have downsized their scrapbook departments.  For those of us who love to create with paper and love to preserve memories this is disheartening.  I am so thankful to work for a company that is committed to memory keeping.  Because of that, not only do they continue to produce traditional scrapbook supplies, they also follow the trends.  One of these trends is the Smash Book.  Close To My Heart has come up with it's own version called My Crush.  It is an on-the-go scrapbook/journaling system that appeals to the younger crowd.  

We recently went on a cruise to the Southern Caribbean with my sister-in-law and brother-in-law.  I always make some sort of mini scrapbook for them.  This year I decided I would make them a My Crush book.  I'll be teaching a class on this wonderful way to document memories at the scrapbook retreat at Singing Hills.  Here is my teaser picture to get the ladies interested in my class.  

I am going to show them how to take this portable My Crush book with them and how they can put everything together.  Does this make you want to make a Crush book of your own?  It's easy.  The book is only $12.95  and there are adorable embellishment assortments that include alphabet stickers, journal cards and envelopes for only $4.95.  It's quite a deal.  You can get this and much more at my website:

www.ctmh.com/claudettelewis