Welcome!

A bit over 7 years ago I was highly stressed at work and needed to find a way to relax so that the time I would spend at home would be quality time with my family. That is when I took up scrapbooking. Mind you, I had never done anything creative, outside of writing, but there was something about preserving memories in wonderfully decorated albums that brought out the creativity in me.

Seven years later, I am a scrapaholic. Any chance I get I sit and crop. Now, I am not your typical scrapper. I can't crop by theme or by year. I tried that. I did my daughter's first year and my son's second year and I got bored out of my mind.

Scrapbooking is about what works for you. Everyone has their own style. So I found that I enjoyed cropping the very best pics from random events. These include pics of the kids in the pool, pics of me and my hubby hugging on Christmas Eve, pics of the kids feeding ducks, etc. My albums are colorful and filled with a combination of the very best memories that we have created as a family. Memories that we will forever cherish.

My Little Man Workshop - November 2009

CTMH Jingle Workshop - November 2009

CTMH Daydream Workshop - October 2009

CTMH Grace Workshop - October 2009

CTMH Twitterpated Workshop - September 2009

JULY WORKSHOP - Animal Cookies

The Animal Cookies Workshop was held on Sunday, July 12. I must say that it was probably one of my faves as I was able to enjoy everyone using different types of pictures to create their own personal page. I used pictures of my kids on the beach, while one of the girls used pictures of her daughter playing in the backyard, and yet another one of the girls used pictures of her and her mom when she was younger. The layouts came out beautiful and the colors were fabulously vibrant.

Sunday, October 25, 2009

I'm Back

Okay Okay I know, many of you have asked why I have not been updating my blog. Truth is that the last 2 months have been CRAZY. Between vacation, work and both kids getting sick and staying home from school for a week on two occasions, it's a miracle I have not gone nuts. But, the good thing is, they are both great and I am back to scrapping and blogging about it.

In September some of my ladies came over and we had a workshop using the Twitterpated Workshop on the Go kit. You know, many of us went in to that workshop wondering what the outcome would be as not many were crazy about it, BUT as soon as everyone saw the papers and the color scheme in their kits they were excited. The workshop was filled with different techniques and in the long run, all layouts turned out beautiful!

In October we worked on the amazingly beautiful Grace workshop kit. WOW - these layouts were just outrageous! The colors and the stamps and the print of the B&T duos were perfectly coordinated. I used mine for some of my wedding pictures and it came out so pretty that I will be placing both 12x12 layouts in shadow boxes and using them to decorate a wall in my room. One of the girls who attended used her layout for her son's Baptism pictures, and the result was gorgeous. Many of those who have worked on this kit have stated that this has ended up being one of their favorites.

Last night, one of the girls (a neighbor of mine) who comes to my monthly workshops, held a small workshop at her home with one of our neighbors. We went ahead and order a workshop on the go kit from earlier this year called Daydream being as we all have girls and it is the perfect set up for girly pics. It was the very first true scrapping and workshop experience for our neighbor. I am so glad that we worked on Daydream. We spent time stamping cupcakes and sprinkles and she learned several stamping and distressing techniques. She absolutely loved it and is already looking forward to the next one.

I am so looking forward to the November workshop. We will be working on the Jingle layouts. We decided to have the holiday workshop in November so that we can use the layouts as decorations throughout the holiday season. To make it fun I have asked everyone to come dressed in holiday colors and we will play holiday music. I will also be having several raffles. This workshop will have a full house. Eight are registered and I think we are all equally as excited.

Sunday, July 5, 2009

Let's Think Outside the Box

I think that one of the biggest problems we, as scrapbookers, have is remembering that some of the best layouts are those that we completed by thinking outside of the box! It's easy to sit and put a page together when papers match, flowers and other embellishments are coordinating, and the inks we use go PERFECT with everything else on the page.....BUT.....after awhile, you sit and wonder "what can I do next?" or "I think I have used every layout I can come up with". I know we have all gone through this.

Now, I can tell you that one of the things that works for me when I get to that point is cropping a page in a way that I would not normally do. I tend to use papers that other people would not think go together and instead of using titles or journaling, I simply use a rub-on quote. Chipboard is also wonderful in a situation like this. There are so many things you can do with it: Ink it, Distress it, Cover it in Foil, Cover it in glitter, Cover it with Cardstock and the list goes on and on. I also enjoy cropping my pictures in sizes that I would not normally use.

So go on, Think Outside of The Box, and you will see what beautiful layouts you will come up with.

Saturday, July 4, 2009

Update on Close to My Heart

So it's official. As of Thursday, I am a consultant for Close to My Heart. I am super excited about this new venture. Coincidentially I met a potential client just the morning after I became a consultant. I look forward to this and will go updating you as time goes by. My first workshop is scheduled for next Sunday, July 12. We will be working on the Animal Cookies kit. Pictures soon to come :-) Have a wonderful and safe 4th of July!

Tuesday, June 30, 2009

I am excited. Tomorrow I will register to become a Close to My Heart Consultant. It is so wonderful to know that I will be doing something outside of my regular career that although can be considered work, I enjoy doing. I sit down and look at where I started with scrapbooking and where I am today and I can't believe that for once I have found something that totally "takes me away" (I guess Calgon does that to some, but scrapbooking does it for me - lol). And in addition to that, I continue seeking ways to make my invitations more unique.

You know, when I was a young girl, I dreamed of having a card shop, you know something like a Hallmark store. Then I figured if I could not have one, I would at least love to make cards or invitations. Now here I am, 34 years old, and living that dream. I know that faith and determination will make me successful.

I will go posting updates regarding CTMH and will also post samples of my invitations soon.

Have a great night!