I'm so excited!

I'm all set up for today's workshop and just had to show you all pictures! Here's six out of the seven card stations that people will be able to choose from. Each station has everything they will need to make up to 20 cards and the directions for each card (even though I'll be circulating too).

Each person can make the card of their choice or make all of the cards, it's up to them! I tried to really vary the types of cards so that there are a lot of choices. I also have extra Christmas sentiment stamps so they can choose whatever greeting they want on the inside of the card too.

For those who like to shop I'm also having a sale of the stamp sets, paper and extra embellishments I have from the Boyne Highlands event. Donuts and cider will be available for hungry participants too! I can't wait!

More new Christmas cards

Here's more Christmas cards for my card workshop Saturday. The third card down is a variation on a card I saw posted from another consultant. Unfortunately I do not remember her name but would be happy to post it if someone else knows.

New Christmas Cards

As I mentioned a few days ago I'm getting ready for a Christmas card workshop at my house on Saturday. I thought I might share the results of what I'll be teaching so far. This is the Jingle paper collection with the Christmas Trinkets stamp set.

This paper set is Aspen and the stamp set is the Stamp of the Month set for this month, Holiday Warmth.


The last one here is the More to Adore paper with the Heartfelt Christmas set. Click on the "start shopping" link to the right to see the full stamp sets.

Now back to work, I'll share more as they are finished.

Layouts

Though I had an incredible weekend with my scrapbooking friends I really didn't complete a lot of layouts. Besides these below I did five layouts that were all obituaries. I volunteer for hospice as their scrapbooker. Those pages actually took longer than the ones below. Each of the girls scrapbooked a photo we took this weekend while we were still there, mine is the second one that says "Scrapchix," the name we gave ourselves.

Happy Birthday Daryl Hall!

Halloween Matchbook

This cute little "Boo" matchbook idea belongs to Carrie Gaskin. She generously let me share the dimensions and directions with you. This was one of the fun make and takes we did up at the Boyne Highlands crop. It's so easy and so fun, just imagine passing these out at your kid's Halloween party at school! First you need to choose some cute fall paper, this one is our Enchanted paper, the colors aren't necessarily typical Halloween which is why I love them! Cut the long Sunflower cardstock 2 3/4" by 6". Cut the smaller patterned paper piece 2 1/2" by 2". Cut the orange paper 2 1/2" by 1 1/2." Punch out a 1 1/2" circle from the Sunflower cardstock.

Distress everything with black ink and a sponge tool.

Stick the 6" paper into your trimmer and use your dry embosser to score it at the 3/4", 3 1/2" and 3 3/4" marks. Now fold them all in and distress the folds.

Glue the patterned piece to the front of the matchbook.

Lay your matchbook flat and stamp the words "trick or treat" from the October Word Puzzle at the top of the lower flap of the match book.

It should look like this before folding it back up.

On the circle, stamp the bat from same stamp set.

Glue the "moon" with the bat in the center of the front flap of the match book.

On the orange piece, stamp the word "Boo" with the Homestead Alphabet.

Stick that piece inside the match book cover.

Stick two lifesavers (inside the cellophane wrappers of course) inside the cover, use Tombow to glue them down, make sure the word "Lifesavers" is not showing.

Punch out two black circles, about 1/2" to 3/4" in diameter, whatever you like, use a white pen to add a little sparkle.

Put those down on the center of the Lifesavers with a glue dot.

Staple the bottom flap under the word "or." To close just tuck the top flap into the bottom and you have a sweet treat!

Girls Just Wanna Crop - Boyne Highlands

Hello Everyone!

I just returned from the Boyne Highlands 3-day Girls Just Wanna Crop. It was wonderful as usual and my third time to return as the Close to my Heart vendor. My co-consultant Valerie Black and I had a fabulous time meeting and getting to know the participants of the crop. Some were familiar faces and 50% of the people there this time were brand new to this great event. We had so much to share with them about our company and had four make and takes for them to choose from along with a slew of our products for sale. We also showed off the amazing new consultant kit and told them how they could get $300 worth of products for just $99 (plus shipping and tax) and start on a journey with Close to my Heart. I'm happy to say that we had many people interested and one signed up on the spot. I'd like to welcome Nicki Pillsbury to my team. She's going to be a wonderful addition!


At this crop all the vendors are in two huge rooms at one side of the cropping area which covered nearly the entire "convention" building of the big ski resort. Each cropper had a table to themselves, can you imagine!!!

Throughout the weekend there were door prizes, yummy snacks and buffet meals in an enormous dining room. The accomodations were stellar and fun was had by all.

I'd like to thank Tracie Odenbach for having us for yet another time and for being a great hostess. It's not easy to take care of 279 croppers and at least 10 different vendors. The crop happens twice a year and the next time will be in May. Keep your eye on http://boyne.com to see more info on it in the coming months. For now, thank you to all the 279 croppers and the fun times you brought with you this weekend!!!

October Stamp of the Month Blog Hop

Hello Everyone! Welcome to our Stamp of the Month Blog Hop! Each month a bunch of Close to my Heart consultants participate in this blog hop showcasing our Stamp of the Month, that's the stamp set that is only offered for one month only. This month it's the Holiday Warmth stamp set, full of Christmas designs. The ladies in this group will show you lots of different ways to use this stamp set! Here we go!

For my entry into this hop I decided to do something a little different. I was in Michael's the other day and found these favor boxes marked down to just $5.99, that's 2/3 off the price of these!

Here's the Holiday Warmth stamp set. I decide to use some of the smaller stamps in the set.

These boxes lay really flat which makes them easy to stamp. Make sure you leave the little scalloped circles blank for now. You all know how I love random stamping so I couldn't resist this blank canvas. Take the largest stamp out of the ones you are using and stamp using the rule of triangles, making each three stamped images in a triangular shape, it spaces them out nicely. Use Dutch blue like I did for this particular box. If you place a piece of scrap paper down over your sponge you will get a good impression but also keep ink off from the inside of your box because the random stamping does tend to get messy on the sponge.

Sunflower is up next, perfect for the star stamp in our set. Stamp it between the presents.

There's this tiny little swirly stamp that I just love. Use that in Cranberry ink. Did you notice that this set doesn't have to be used only for Christmas?

Use the same swirly stamp, this time in Clover Meadow and fill in the rest of the spaces.

Now, distress the whole thing with the Dutch blue ink and a sponge tool.

This stamp set had sentiments that were too long for the little scalloped circle so I borrowed the "thank you" from my Kanji Phrases stamp set. Stamp it in cranberry on both scalloped circles.

This box holds a Ghiradelli chocolate perfectly and who can resist these. I wanted to make it look special though so if you do too, take a 4 inch by 2 inch piece of white cardstock and random stamp it the way you did the box.

Punch out a circle, scalloped or not to act as a seal for the candy, distress both the strip of paper and the circle then stamp "thank you" once again.

Using adhesive like Tombow, wrap the strip of paper around the candy so the edge shows on top.

Close the candy covering by using a glue dot and attaching the little thank you circle.

Tuck the candy into the middle of your box.

Close the box (there were no instructions on how to do this on the package!!) by inserting the scalloped circles into each slot on the box. That's it, you're done! What a great party favor for someone's birthday!


To get the Stamp of the Month for free just order $100 worth of Close to my Heart products. The set is worth $22.95 so that's quite a bargain.

I'll be posting a lot of new projects next week once I get back from Boyne Highlands and the Girl's Just Wanna Crop event. I have a new card, a checkbook cover, and two Halloween candy favors you will just love!! Make sure to come back and see!

Now it's time to hop to Melissa's blog at http://fancymelissa.blogspot.com/2009/09/october-stamp-of-month-holiday-warmth.html. We're doing the hop in three groups this time and I'm in round one. If you get lost you can look below for where to go next.

ROUND 1

Jena DeVries - http://livelovelaughscrapbook.blogspot.com/2009/10/october-sotm-blog-hop.html

Helen Onulak - http://www.hookedonstamping.com/index.php/tutorials/october-stamp-of-the-month-blog-hop-tutorial/

Linda Shewchuk - http://awesomememories.blogspot.com/2009/10/october-blog-hop.html

Kristie Herdener - http://goofyscrapper.blogspot.com/2009/09/october-stamp-of-month-blog-hop.html

Sheila Bennett - http://sheila-bennett.blogspot.com/2009/10/holiday-warmth-sotm-blog-hop.html

Cibele Glazer - http://flowerfoot.blogspot.com/2009/10/holiday-warmth-october-stamp-of-month.html

Barbra Otten - http://barbraotten.blogspot.com/2009/10/october-stamp-of-month-blog-hop.html

Melissa Laverty - http://fancymelissa.blogspot.com/2009/09/october-stamp-of-month-holiday-warmth.html

Carla Ironside - http://carlacreates.blogspot.com/2009/10/ctmh-october-stamp-of-month-blog-hop.html

Nona Davenport - http://nonapearl.blogspot.com/2009/09/october-sotm-blog-hop.html

Deb Young - http://scrapbookczar.blogspot.com/2009/09/close-to-my-hearts-october-stamp-of.html

Terrie Dodd - http://my-life-in-real-time.blogspot.com/2009/09/welcome-to-october-sotm-bloghop.html

Alanna Moses - http://damoses.blogspot.com/2009/10/ctmh-monthly-blog-hop-featuring-holiday.html

Antoinette Herrin - http://godblessyourart.blogspot.com/2009/10/october-stamp-of-month-blog-hop.html

Jamia Bankhead - http://papermadnessinc.blogspot.com/2009/10/its-time-to-get-hopping.html

Karen Norman - http://gettinscrappywithit.blogspot.com/2009/10/holiday-warmth-october-stamp-of-month.html

Beth Naumann - http://bethscreativeblock.blogspot.com/2009/09/october-stamp-of-month-blog-hop.html

Brae Montgomery - http://thebrae-er.blogspot.com/2009/10/october-blog-hop-holiday-warmth.html

Kathleen Androlewicz - http://bowlofstamps.blogspot.com/2009/10/october-stamp-of-month-blog-hop.html

Tanya David - http://scramperscorner.blogspot.com/2009/10/october-stamp-of-month-blog.html

Tammy Lea Pinchard - http://mycreativeclubhouse.blogspot.com/2009/10/october-stamp-of-month-blog-hop.html

Chris Shouse - http://houseostamps.wordpress.com/2009/10/01/blog-hop-october-stamp-of-the-month/

Even though she's not in Round One, I also want to put in a plug for my friend, Michelle Nist's entry to the blog hop, here's her link. http://michellenist.blogspot.com/2009/10/holiday-warmth-tin-tags-and-card.html