Christmas is in the air!



Today was a day spent baking Christmas cookies for my cookie swap and bringing the tree down from the attic to be decorated by our grandchildren. 

As you can see, they put all the decorations at eye level and I was busy making the cookies so the branches haven't been shaped correctly yet.  It is fun to watch how excited they get putting up the decorations.  Even if it is on a 4 foot tree. 

We have so much to be thankful for during this wonderful season.  Both of our boys are stateside.  No deployments yet.  We have nine beautiful grandchildren.  And....... God sent his only begotten son that we might have everlasting life.

I'll have Christmas card pictures to share soon.  Those are next on my list!



Lots of Excitement Today!
Today is my husband's birthday and now it is also the birthday of our youngest grandson.  Cody Grant Lewis.  What a wonderful birthday present for my husband.  He kept telling us this little guy was going to be born on his birthday.  We are so blessed.  I have not been posting nearly enough, but I have been scrapping so that's a plus.  I'll start sharing tomorrow after I get some good pictures of my layouts.  Spent yesterday with a group of ladies just scrapping and talking.  It was a wonderful day. 

Until I can post something of my own, please enjoy the following video from Close To My Heart.





Have a wonderful weekend!  We are having beautiful weather here in New Hampshire!

Back To School!
I have been MIA as I've been busy getting ready for the new school year and then starting the new school year.  It's been another wonderful start and I'm looking forward to the year.  I promise to post more!

Since I'm unable to think of much to say today, I'll leave you with another video of our wonderful Art Philosphy Cricut Cartridge.  This time it's about flowers and how to make your pages pop using the AP cartridge!   Enjoy.

Masking Ideas

Here is a technique using masking and adding texture with stamps!  You can see the directions on Jeanette Lynton's blog.  Check it out.

http://www.jeanettelynton.com/2011/08/weeks-of-wonder-return-of-mask.html

Edit Your Photos With Studio J

Here is a video I found on the Studio J blog about how to edit your photos.  ENJOY!

What Are We Going to Do With Our Scissors?

Just kidding, but this Cricut Art Philosphy is sure to make our lives so much easier now.  I'm patiently (impatiently is more like it) waiting to place my order on Monday.  Thanks to my team mates Nancy and Dina, I have the snowflakes I need for my swap layouts.  I'll be sharing those with you soon.  Until then, enjoy the show!

Free in August!

Here are the two things you can get for free in August.   Beginning on August 15th, you can get two stamp sets for free. 

First, you must place a $75.00 order and you get a free stamp set called Pair A Phrase.  It is an all-occasion DOUBLE stamp set.  Then, this qualifies you to order the Stamp of the Month for $5.00, which gets you a free small stamp set called typeset.   It's a great deal.  That's why I'm waiting to get my Cricut Art Philosophy on August 15th and order my Stamp of the Month.  That order will surely be teaching me the virtue of patience. 

I don't know about you, but I can't wait for August 15th!

Workshops on the Go

I have always loved Close To My Heart's Workshops on the Go.  It is an easy way for me to create withouth the work of trying to really think about what layout I want to create.  The kits are so simple to use and the layouts are just beautiful.  Now, we also have the option of using our new Cricut Art Philosphy cartridge to make our layouts and projects even more beautiful.  Here is a video that shows you all you can do with our Workshop on the Go program.  You can find out about the workshop and the bonus project that goes with the Workshop on the Go on the Close To My Heart website at http://www.closetomyheart.com/.


I'm anxiously awaiting the arrival of my
Wonderland Workshop on the Go on Tuesday!

What to Do?

My goodies came and I can hardly stand it!  There are so many ideas running through my head, I just don't know where to begin.  First things first though.  I have to complete the items for my team swap.  I started last night and I'm having so much fun playing with the new paper.  I picked Wonderland.  I'm so glad we have a generic winter paper this time around.  I'm anxiously waiting for the pictures of my grandchildren sledding to arrive so I can add them to the layout I have created.  I have a few completed projects I made at Convention to show you so you can see how wonderful the new products are:

Now, here are all the goodies I have to play with.  I'll be sharing my creations as time goes on.  But for now, look at what I have!

This is Mischief, a fun Halloween paper pack.  But, it is also very versatile and can be used for an Autumn layout.

This is one of my favorite paper packs, Typset.  It has a cute Back-to-School theme, but is also very versatile.  I especially love the canvas Compliments that coordinate with it.

And this is Wonderland.  You can see that I have begun my layout, but I haven't added the bling.  Can't wait to finish this project. 

As you can see, I have lots of opportunity to create.  Stay tuned and I'll be sure to share as I go along.

They Are Here!

My bundles are here and I'm so excited!  I can't wait until I have time to play.  Wait till you see what I make with these exciting new products.  Meanwhile, I'll share a few of my layouts that I made at the beginning of this month.

These are a layout I made telling about my son's homecoming from Iraq.  Sorry, I tried to get the whole layout in one picture, but it wouldn't landscape!  Yikes! I have so much to learn about the blogging world!

While we were visiting my son and his family, my four year old granddaughter had her birthday.  She thinks that we will be going to New York each year for her birthday now!

Lucky For Me

I have to say that I am so happy that Lucky made it into the Fall/Winter Idea Book. It has to be one of my favorite paper packs. It is definitely my choice when I'm scrapping masculine pages or making masculine cards. Here is one I made last month. I'm really getting into layering my embellishments.   I'm sorry that the picture isn't the greatest. I'm working on my photography skills. 

Patience is a Virtue......

Okay, so I have to work on patience!  I'm anxiously waiting for my new product to arrive this week and can hardly stand it.  It doesn't matter that I have plenty of paper and ribbon and bling to work with already.  I want the new stuff.  CTMH has done it again.  Every time they come out with a new Idea Book I never expect to be so excited and every with every new Idea Book I am more excited than I was with the previous Idea Book.  So, while waiting, I'll be giving sneak peeks of what is to come.

Drum roll please..............   We have a Cricut cartridge all our own called Art Philosophy.  But wait, there's more.  We don't only have a Cricut cartridge, but stamp sets that coordinate and coordinating chip board shapes.  Watch the video as Christine shows you how we do things Faster ~ Simpler ~ Easier!

These Are a Few of My Favorite Things

I love being a wife, a mother, and a grandmother.  There is nothing like it in the world!  Another love of mine is Close to My Heart.  I love the paper.  I love the ribbon.  I love the bling.  Can you tell where I came up with the name for my blog?  I returned recently from Convention held in Anaheim, California.  It was truly the happiest place on earth when all the consultants got a glimpse of the new products and new Idea Books!  Here is a recap of our Convention.  Now you can see why I love this Company!