Fall Is In The Air

I have been MIA for a while, but that doesn't mean that I haven't been enjoying everything about Close To My Heart.  Every month during the school year my friends and I enjoy a weekend of scrapbooking and catching up.  I really look forward to this time of year because it means that we will be getting back together again each and every month!

It's Fair time around here and the air is crisp and clean.  Soon the trees will be a beautiful display of color and children will be planning their costumes for Halloween.  I love the gorgeous colors of the new Close To My Heart Cats and Bats paper pack.  My grandchildren are still young enough to enjoy trick or treating, but before long, that part of their life will be done.  I can still remember the excitement of getting dressed up and going from one house to another in our neighborhood when I was young.  It doesn't seem like that long ago.  We always bought out costumes extra large because sometimes we had to wear our winter coats under the costume!

The people in our town really get into character for the night.  One family drives around in a pick up truck decorated to the hilt and the family passes out candy to the trick or treaters.  There are a couple of houses where people really go all out with decorations and costumes too.  One gentleman always gives out barrel drinks to the kids and they think that is the best thing!

What I enjoy the most though is watching my grandchildren running from one house to another with shouts of joy.  I especially enjoy looking through the pictures later and scrapbooking those memories. Cats and Bats will make those pictures pop and the Workshop Your Way kit makes it so easy to put those layouts together.

Lately I have been adding Picture Your Life card pages  to my layouts that make it so easy to display lots of pictures.  The pages go together quickly and have coordinating cards that add color and patterns that add to my layouts.  Each paper pack comes with cute Picture Your Life cards with beautiful journaling cards or titles for the Picture My Life memory protectors.

Close To My Heart makes it so easy to preserve your memories!

Planning Ahead!

I'm so excited that this month's Constant Campaign for Close To My Heart is their brand new planner!  I have been looking at others have posted about their planners this year and I have to admit that I've been a little envious of their beautiful calendar pages that they have created.  Every time I saw a beautiful planner, I wished that we would have something like this available for our customers. Voila!  Here it is and the price is right!  I cannot wait to get my hands on this.  My order is going in tonight and I'll be anxiously waiting for that FedEx truck to come down the driveway.

If you are interested in this product bundle you can purchase it on my website.

But that is not all! It is CYBERWEEK at Close To My Heart.  If you would like to see what is available for purchase at 25% off until Friday, you can find it at the Cyberweek Sale page on my website. I'm so excited to see that the Artfully Sent Cricut Cartridge is on sale for 25% off this week! Shop early to make sure that you get what you want.  

Happy Shopping!

So Much to be Thankful For

I love this time of year.  It seems that once October arrives, there are so many fun activities to enjoy.  Here in New Hampshire we have beautiful colors, delicious apples, and crisp, fresh air.  I have been thinking about the simple things that we take for granted and I'm so thankful that my life is full of those simple blessings.  

Last Thursday I went out with my grandchildren as they went house to house trick or treating. It was a beautiful evening and I got lots of cute pictures.  I especially enjoyed going to the homes of people who were in costume.  We got to meet Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz, some Disney princesses, and even some scary characters.  Enjoying this time with my grandchildren brought back so many memories of when I was young. I remember some times when you had to wear your winter jacket under your costume.  I remember how every home welcomed me and gave out the best treats.  I remember the excitement as we planned what our costume would be.  I love chocolate, so the treats that involved anything chocolate were wonderful.  I do have to admit that there were some times that I got an apple for a treat and I wasn't quite as excited about that! Today as I reflect back, I realize that the apple really was a treat.  

I was fortunate to attend an event in September where I created Halloween pages so as soon as I get my photos printed, they are going to be lovingly added to the adorable pages.

The layouts were created by Lynn Como.  She is so talented and artistic.  I love that she makes it so easy for us to create this adorable artwork.  It is truly a form of art and it is also so relaxing to see pages come together.  

I am currently getting my Thanksgiving layouts together so I'm ready when my pictures are printed. As I work on these pages, I contemplate what I am thankful for.  Making these pages ahead of time also helps me to take pictures that will fit the layouts.  

My monthly crop with the Tri-City Christian Academy Boosters helps me to get my projects done and also gives me a wonderful time of fellowship with fellow scrappers and crafters.  I am so thankful for my opportunities to crop with these ladies. 

As the days get shorter and we are inside more, I look forward to more time in my scrapping corner! I love Summer and love the long days but I don't seem to do much scrapping while I'm out and about taking pictures.  Summers are so busy, that I have to get back into a routine once school starts so I can get all those pictures scrapped.  The longer nights give me lots of opportunity to play with all my paper and ribbon and bling.  There is always something to be thankful for...........

Feel the Colors

October is my favorite month.  Not only is it my birthday month, but the colors here in New Hampshire are incredible.  Today we are having quite a bit of rain and wind, so those beautiful leaves will be scattered on the ground.  

When I went to the CTMH event weekend, we made a six page layout for Halloween.  I can't wait to get those pictures of my grandchildren so that I can use these adorable pages designed by Lynn Como.  It is so much fun to create pages that are so incredibly cute.

It was so much fun to see these pages come together.  With a few stamps, a few Cricut cuts, the Scaredy Cat paper pack and the Scaredy Cat Compliments, and a few extra pages of cardstock, you can make these adorable pages.  If you are interested in creating these pages, just place a $30 order on my website, and I will email you the files to complete these pages.

I went out one day last week and took pictures of some of the beauty around my own home.  I will share those with you soon.  If you are in a part of the country that escaped this wind and rain and still have beautiful colors on your trees, get out an enjoy the beauty around you.  Feel the colors......

Chalk It Up 

It's so beautiful here in New Hampshire at this time of the year.  I can't believe we are almost halfway through October.  I have a couple of crops that I am attending so I am looking forward to creating more layouts and scrapping more of my pictures.  

As soon as I got my first box with the goodies from the new catalog, I couldn't wait to start creating.  I love the Chalk It Up paper pack as you don't have to use it solely for school pictures, although I did when I created my layouts.  Here is what I chose to do with the beautiful paper and a few extra pieces of cardstock. I'm currently working on Pathfinding (Fall Theme) and when I'm done with that I'll have to start working on Confetti Wishes (Birthday Theme).  So many paper packs, so little time.

Here is what I created using the Chalk It Up Workshop on the Go.  It was perfect for my granddaughter's apple picking field trip.

I love the colors in this paper pack.  They are so bright and cheery.  I should go out and get some pictures of the beauty around me so that I can scrap those using my Pathfinding paper pack.  Enjoy the colors!

As Promised!

So today was spent figuring out my new Artfully Sent Cricut cartridge.  It wasn't that there was anything difficult about the cartridge, I was just having an off day and couldn't seem to do anything right. My first card didn't make the cut so I decided to do some simple cards and at least work on something.  Some days are just like that.....

Here are the three cards that I created.  I love how there are so many different occasions represented in the cards and I love that each occasion has title cards that you can either use in a layout or even attach to the front of a card. The wonderful thing about Close To My Heart Cricut cartridges is that you can do so many things with them.  There are 700 items in each and every cartridge.  That means with just the four Cricut cartridges from Close To My Heart I have 2800 images!  

Here are the cards I made today.  Please don't judge.  I have been struggling physically with a nasty cold and just wanted to curl up on the sofa all day, but those CTMH boxes were calling my name and once I opened them up and got that Cricut cartridge out, I could not wait!  

They are so simple to make.  All you need  for one card is two pieces of cardstock and a little bit of glue. I saved the cutouts from the butterfly cards to use on other cards or layouts. All three cards are 5 x 7.  I'm so glad I decided to work with this  new cartridge.  Next I want to make some cards for my scrapbooking.  

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.