Tuesday, April 11, 2017

Why Scrapbooking is Important

When I was young I lived on a street named Steuben Avenue in a place called Urbandale, part of Battle Creek, Michigan.  Our street was small with just five houses.  The people at one end were quite old so of no interest to the children in the neighborhood, in fact I couldn't even tell you their names.  The other four houses were our neighbors, The Campbells, the Dawes, the Thielmans and the Wilsons, my family.  Across the street was a huge field with an enormous hill that we used for sledding, fort making and hiding out from our parents.  

Those were the days before cellphones and computers when you actually knew your neighbors and spent the entire day outside coming home only to eat and possibly go to the bathroom (although a lot of times we just use the field or our friends' bathrooms).  We played football in our front yard in the fall and baseball in the backyard during the summer. We rode our bikes down to the local Catholic church to use their basketball hoops in the winter, and then, of course, we filled in with kickball, kick the can, and hide and go seek in between.  

Tim and Terry, and their sister, Chris lived to the left of our house.  The boys were my constant sports companions and I always appreciated the fact that they let my sister and myself be the only girls on the field -- back when girls in sports wasn't really a thing.  They were just a bit younger than me, a year for Tim and maybe two for Terry.  Chris was older and into working on her suntan with Maureen Campbell.  Every day they'd lay out in the sun on their back porch getting more golden each day of the summer.  Even after almost 40 years I still remember what their backyard looked like.  Their dad was meticulous in the care of his lawn.  It was always perfect and he and the kids were always working on it.  

His name was Larry.


Today I'll be attending his funeral. I'm 56 and I haven't seen those neighborhood kids in 38 years. I live over an hour away from Battle Creek now and I debated whether I would go to the funeral and almost decided not to attend but then I realized that this would be the only time, for the rest of my life, that I would get a chance to see these "kids" again. This was not a moment to miss and even though it will be a sad day, it will be good to see these childhood friends.
The past is important. You are who you are because of the people you spent time with and the experiences you had. It's important that we don't take our past for granted and more important that we don't forget it. As scrapbookers it's our job to preserve our history. Our hobby is a gift, a gift to ourselves and to others because in this selfie Instagram world, pictures are being taken but not developed, not kept. It's up to us to protect those memories. The memories I shared above could be easily lost with my rapidly aging memory.
But not if I scrapbook them.
Each time you take out your adhesive, your favorite pattern paper and your journaling pen, you are protecting history from disappearing from your memory and sharing it with future generations so that they know not only their own past but yours too. With pictures or without, record your history. Make it pretty or don't, but get it down on your pages. Just like I know I would regret not going today, I know that you will regret not having your stories recorded. Memories fade but scrapbooks are forever.

Sunday, April 9, 2017

Do you know what an epiphany is?

I remember the first time I finally understood what the word, "epiphany" was.  I had heard it so many times in my life but had never looked up the word.  Once I got it, I remember thinking of all the times I'd had one.  

Since then, I've had many.  I remember watching an Oprah interview one time and she was talking about how Maya Angelou had said that your face should always light up when your child walked into the room.  At the time my kids were still young and I was struck by that statement.  Was my face lighting up when my kids came in the room?  I knew the answer wasn't always yes, I know a lot of times I was brushing them off because I was "busy."  I changed that day and made up my mind that when my kids were talking to me that I would give them my attention. I still do even though they are adults. I wasn't always perfect but I definitely had become a better mother due to that one statement.

Recently I've had another epiphany.  One of my uplines was talking about the letters MMFS and what they mean.  The letters stand for "Make Me Feel Special."  She said to picture those letters stamped on every person's forehead.  

The truth is, they are figuratively stamped on all of our foreheads. Everyone wants to feel special, feel seen, feel heard.  My new mission is to make them feel that way.

As a Close to my Heart consultant I have learned so many lessons that I believe have made me a better person.  This is just another example.  I will now walk around "seeing" MMFS stamped on everyone's forehead from the clerk at the store to every one of my customers and team members.  

I know that people have a big mental block about signing up for a direct sales team like Close to my Heart but let me tell you that what I have gained from being in this company goes so far beyond cash or a free trip. 

I have made friendships with some of the best people there are.
I have become a person who listens (a big deal for me).
I have become a leader and learned so much from my team.
I have found my heart is much more open than it was before.
I have learned how to write essays!
I have received great joy from helping others.

And so much more (I could really fill a page)!

Close to my Heart is an adventure that's worth taking.  

If you are still nervous about it, please realize that there is no downside, you don't like it, you leave.  

That's it.

But.

If you do like it, it is going to enrich your life in ways you can't even imagine.  

So if you've ever thought about it, even a little bit, sign up for my team today.

Here.

Friday, April 7, 2017

FLASH SALE TONIGHT!


It’s that time again! there will be another one-day flash sale on my website starting Friday, April 7 at 3:00 pm MDT (2:00 pm PDT; 4:00 pm CDT; 5:00 pm EDT) and ending at that same time on Saturday, April 8. This sale will feature a 30% discount on selected products and product bundles from Annual Inspirations and Seasonal Expressions 1. ONE DAY ONLY!!

Tuesday, April 4, 2017

APRIL IS THE BEST MONTH TO SIGN UP AS A CTMH CONSULTANT, AND HERE'S WHY ...

- Everyone who signs up in April will be a consultant receiving a minimum of a 22% discount at least until the end of September (the usual 6 months). Of course you will want to stay past that (and it's easy to do!), but that much is guaranteed.
- Anyone who signs up in April can order from FIVE different idea books in that time frame. There will be two annual catalogs and three seasonal mini-catalogs available from April to September (last month of Expressions 1, Expressions 2, Holiday Expressions, 2016-17 Annual Idea Book and 2017-18 Annual Idea Book!).
- New consultants get to start ordering from the new product in Expressions 2 at a discount in April vs. waiting until May and paying full price as a customer.
-New consultants get to start ordering Live Beautifully items NOW.
- Consultants who sign up in April get a FREE Cut Above kit of their choice.
- Consultants who sign up in April still have an opportunity to sign up for convention (registration closes April 30).
- Consultants who sign up in April get Seasonal Expressions 2 catalogs in their kit. This gives them an opportunity to get people excited about the May product release...BECAUSE, in May, when a hostess submits $350 in orders she gets a FREE Live Beautifully Cut Above kit. More FREEEEEEEEE stuff. Not to mention that at that level of sales there's one half priced item and $60 in FREE product. There's also $5 put in the New Consultant's SPC "bank account" when you reach $350 in sales (and it goes up to $25 at $400!). Did you know that Consultants can also be hostesses? SCORE!
- Consultants who sign up in April get a chance to attend TWO consultant training camps, three day scrapbooking and stamping weekends with training, artwork to make and lots and lots of fun and bonding with your fellow team members!
-Consultants who sign up in April give themselves the BEST chance at a really strong start with many excited hostesses for gatherings in May because of the May specials! You have April to book up that calendar for May and insure GREAT sales, which equals a GREAT start!
IF YOU ARE TEMPTED, CONTACT ME FOR EVEN MORE GOOD THINGS THAT YOU MAY BE COMING YOUR WAY IF YOU SIGN UP IN APRIL.  
SIGN UP HERE OR EMAIL ME AT CALDREAMIN05@COMCAST.NET