Plenty for 20 - Free Stamp Set

Can you believe it??? Close to my Heart is doing it again! The amazing December special is simple, go to my website, place an order for $20 (yes, only $20) and get a retiring D sized stamp set FREE! How awsome is that?

Can't figure out what to order? There are several items that will be retired on Dec 31. You can view them here. Once they are gone, they're gone for good so get them while you can!

Merry Christmas to YOU!

the real reason

So, the real reason I've been all about copying layouts from other people is that I've not wanted to scrap the things I "needed" to scrap. I know some of you will say bad words when I admit that I'm "caught up" with my scrapping. Sure, I have a few misc things I want to scrap but for the most part, I'm up to date.

My cousin got married on 10/10/10 so I've got a lot of the wedding to scrap. On one hand, it was a great day, full of life and love and all that stuff. I got a great new cousin and 2nd cousin (it wasn't the first marriage for either of them). On the other hand, it was a horrible day.

Pictured below are some very good family friends. So good in fact that I joke Cathie is the "good daughter." Tom and Cathie live next to my parents and they keep an eye on them. Tom was a boat Captain and therefore able to marry people. He performed the ceremony marrying my cousin and her new husband. It was a beautiful day in San Diego and after the reception my parents and Tom decided to go on a motorcycle ride. Unfortunately as they were coming home some woman didn't see Tom and made a u-turn and hit him. He had some health issues but he would up passing away 2 weeks later. It's been a very hard time for all of us, especially my dad, he witnessed the accident and Cathie because she lost her best friend. Tom was truly one of the most joyful people on earth. Anyway, not to be rambly and melancholy (although I have been here) it's been hard for me to scrap the wedding because of what happened to Tom. I'm just glad that I snapped a few pictures of him and Cathie before the accident.

more bonus Mistletoe layouts

These next two layouts from the Mistletoe paper pack I straight up copied from another CTMH consultant, Corina Mitchell. I thought they were just too darn cute and had to make them. Again, I embossed the ornament with the gold glitter powder to make it sparkle. I should wait 2 weeks until after the town Christmas Parade and visit with Santa, but I'm on a posting roll. Maybe I'll post them with pictures on them.

my little Hooligans

Yet another adorable paper pack from the current idea book, Hooligans. The little felt monsters are to die for. This was one of the club layouts for October, and the only one I have pictures on.

A bonus layout

I don't know about you but I love love love using up my paper packs. I generally try and make as many layouts/projects/cards as I possibly can. Here's a "bonus" layout for the December club meeting. These dimensional elements ornaments are just plain fun! I embossed the large one with gold glitter embossing powder so it sparkles like a real ornament. After I made this layout I actually thought about getting the tree out and decorating it. Then I would have had to take a shower and get dressed and do my hair so I would look semi-cute in the pictures...... yeah, that didn't happen. Soon though!

Olivia Club Layouts

Olivia is my favorite paper pack from the current idea book. I have no idea why, since I have 2 little boys and I'm NOT a girly-girl. I just love the greens, oranges and pinks in this paper pack.

These were the club layouts for November. Even though I have those rough and tumble little boys I managed to fill the pages just fine. As a matter of fact, I've done a few more pages for a trip the hubs and I are going to take in March. Nothing like the dream of a weekend away....without children!

Oh me, oh my... it's been a long time.

It has been a very VERY long time since I've posted. I do apologize, things have been crazy in my little world. The boys both started school a few months ago and I feel like I never stop driving. As soon as I get home from dropping the last one off, I have 2 hours until I have to get the first one. Just a few more years and they'll both be in school full time.... I have no idea what I'll do with all that free time... ha ha ha ha ha ha.

The layouts below are the 3 layouts we will do at our December Club meeting. They don't look so hot without pictures on them, but once there are they will be super cute.

Just a little FYI for you. Close to my Heart is changing up the way they're doing things. We will be going to 2 books per year, with 6 new paper packs per book. The paper and embellishments are only going to be available during the current Idea Book. (This all begins Feb 2011). So, if you love this adorable paper pack, and embellishments (the poinsettia flowers are the cutest thing ever) you'd better get it while you can! This, as well as all the papers/embellishments in the current book are going to retire Jan 31, 2011.

Mammoth and Yosemite

One more thing I love about Studio J is how fast you can get caught up! We took a "mini vacation" on our drive from New Mexico back to California and did lots of stuff, meaning LOTS of pictures. Two weeks after we got home to CA, we went on vacation to my FAVORITE place in the world, the Eastern Sierras (Mammoth and Yosemite) again, LOTS of pictures. With Studio J, I was able to catch up (so far 14 layouts between the 2 vacations) in 2 evenings.

Oh my, how I love Studio J!!!!!!

Oh my is right! I'm so totally loving the new Studio J membership! There are 20+ new layouts AND a paper pack for members only. It's FANTASTIC!!!!!
When we made our way from New Mexico to California we took our time and turned it into a little vacation. We went up to Albuquerque to visit some family and went to the Natural History and Children's Museums. (We did a lot more on the trip, those layouts to come in the next few days) I had sooooo many pictures to scrapbook, I decided to use Studio J so I could whip them out. In just a few hours I had 10, yes 10 layouts completed.

One of the greatest things about a Studio J membership is you get layouts with these great "shaped" paper. I don't know about you guys but when I get some fun scalloped paper I never want to use it, it's special you know! With Studio J that's over!

I especially love this layout, why you ask??? Look at the picture on the left side, it's 6x12 inches. If I were to print that in a store, I'd pay upwards of $15. Just for the picture!!!!!! Crazy huh???? With my Studio J membership, the entire layout cost $6.50. No where could I traditional scrap this layout for this price.

The best part about Studio J is that it's free to try. You can go into it and make your layout, you only pay when you purchase. Of course, unless you're a member you can't do the second two layouts, since they're for members only. Wait! There's a "work around" you can purchase a 5 layout membership for $55 (includes shipping and page protectors) or a 3 month membership for $30 (includes free shipping once per month for 4 to 10 layouts, and page protectors). If you're interested in giving Studio J a try click on my website or give me a call.

Family layout for Nita

This is the layout we'll be making for Nita's party this weekend. It uses all sorts of fantastic new product. The beautiful Olivia paper pack, sparkly new brads and another layout from the new Magic book. The white photo mats are just a placeholder since I don't have pictures yet.

Where does the time go?????

I had good intentions of being a better blogger, really I did. Things just got away from me and I realize that it's been a month since I've posted. My "baby," my first born started Kindergarten and now my live has changed dramatically. With that and getting readjusted to being in our house, I've also been busy doing some stuff for my cousin, which I'll share soon.

Enough about that, on to more important things. It's September and time for a brand new Close to my Heart Idea Book. Click here or on the button on the right to go to my website. There are some Fab-U-lous new papers AND as many of you have been waiting for.... a new layout book, Magic. You're going to love, love, love it!

This layout is one of the ones from the new Magic book and although it uses "old" paper, Moon Doggie, it was so much fun to make. My journaling was private so behind the picture of me and my dad, I made a pocket and used some tags for my journaling. Leo turned 5 last month and called his grandpa (my dad) and told grandpa that he wanted to go on a "boat ride" for his birthday so grandpa obliged and we all went for a family sail. It was a beautiful day and we had so much fun. In the 38 years I've "known" my dad, I've never really seen him as happy as he is when he's sailing.

CTMH Huge Paper Sale!!!!!!!!!!!!!

$2, $4, $6, for 8...It’s YOU We Appreciate! CTMH wants to show how much we appreciate you! And to do so, we are bringing an amazing sale with SUPER deals to you for 8 days only. From on August 4 at 9 am (MDT) through August 11, while supplies last, you can purchase selected My Stickease® assortments for only $2, My Reflections® Level 1 kits for only $4, and My Reflections® Level 2 paper packets for only $6 on MyCTMH® website. That’s more than 50% off. Click here to view the list.

Can you even believe this list of amazing paper packs & stickers!?!?! It is literally every paper pack since our Fall 2009 Idea Book. Many of these papers are already retired. And here’s a little secret – all of them will be retired as of December 31, 2010. So now is the time to stock up!!!! If you don’t recognize the name of a kit, you can find them on MyCTMH website.

Are these items available only on a MyCTMH site? Yes! We will only be offering these items for sale on MyCTMH site.

• Can I purchase other items at full retail along with these discounted My Stickease, My Reflections Level 1 kits and Level 2 paper packets on the same MyCTMH order? Yes! You will be able to mix and mingle the items for sale from the $2, $4, $6, for 8...It’s YOU We Appreciate campaign along with regularly priced items for sale on MyCTMH site.
• Is this campaign a “while supplies last” campaign? Yes. We have provided a many, many items numbers for you to purchase from during the campaign. So there is ample supply on hand but each item is while supplies last.
• Will the purchase of the discounted My Stickease, My Reflections Level 1 kits and Level 2 paper packets count toward my customer receiving the Stamp of the Month at a discount or even free? Yes! Your purchases for the campaign count toward the Stamp of the Month incentive.
• How much is shipping/handling for the $2, $4, $6, for 8...It’s YOU We Appreciate campaign deals? Regular shipping and handling applies and will not change for this campaign. All MyCTMH shipping prices are based on the weight of items ordered, not the price of the items ordered. This means that shipping prices well reflect the costs of shipping even discounted products.
• Is there a limit to the number of My Stickease, Level 1, and Level 2 paper packets a customer can purchase on one order? Nope! There is no limit to the number of items you can purchase on one order. So print off this list and highlight the paper you can’t live without. Then come back on Wednesday and get them ordered!!!

Together

Here's another launch day layout for you. My mother in law was able to come out here for the launch. It was nice that she got to be a part of what her son does. She was pretty excited to be able to experience it.

Summertime

One of the nice things about living on post is there is this great splash park behind the housing office. We have had a lot of fun playing there. Aaron isn't so keen on it, he doesn't like to get splashed in the face so he pretty much watches or waits til it turns off (it's got a motion sensor so it turns off if no one is there playing). Now that he's in swim lessons and has been putting his face in the water, maybe he'd like it more.

Whole LOTTA Love!

Here's something you might not know, NASA folk can party. You wouldn't think that a bunch of geeky engineers could, but man, oh man, they can drink! So much in fact, that the bar ran out of several items.

THEN, once the drinking has gone on for about 10 seconds, the love starts. This project was a long time in the making and a lot of people spent months, and months, and months away from their families and worked 80+ hour weeks.

I used to work at NASA before I had children and I was very happy to see many of my old friends at the party. Some had moved to New Mexico like us, but I rarely got to see even them since their work schedule was so tough.

Launch it baby!

This layout is the actual 2 minutes of the launch. They were testing the Launch Abort System (LAS) which is the actual rocket (with 3 separate propulsion systems) that would jettison the CM away from potential mishap. It was a highly successful flight and such a great experience. The technology used in this was amazing!

Spies like Us.

Still taking a break from launch posts and giving you the last one from my girls weekend in Pasadena last year. I can't believe it's been a year already, how the time flies. This one is a little.... umm.... I can't really think of a good word. Since me and my friend Jill (pictured, sorta here) are active CTMH consultants and my friend Jen is a former consultant, of course we had to check out the booth.

determination!

Taking a break from PA-1 layouts here for you.

We have a great tree in our backyard here in NM. It's just a little bit to tall for the kids to climb, but they are determined to climb it. My rule is that if you're not big enough to get up on your own, you're not big enough to climb the tree. This day they were taking the hose and using it in all sorts of ways to get up the tree. At one point, they had tied it to the slide and were pulling as if to use the slide as an elevator.
I did tell Martel that on our last day in the house, he was going to have to help them climb the tree. :)

Almost Famous!

As we were watching the PA-1 launch, Martel had Leo on his shoulders so Leo could see better. After the launch a reporter came up to Martel and said that he had been trying to get a picture of them and asked if he could take their picture. I couldn't believe it when Martel agreed and then he spoke, actually spoke to a reporter. My taciturn husband spoke to a reporter. As you can tell, I'm still amazed and it's been a month. Not only did the reporter take this great picture, it was on the front page of the Las Cruces Sun News the next day.

So Cool!

One of my husband's job duties (back home) is Shuttle Recovery if it lands at Dryden Flight Research Center (see this post) Last year STS-125 landed at Dryden and the Commander was Scott Altman. Martel came home and said that it was the best landing he'd ever seen.

Scott Altman happened to be at the PA-1 launch and was talking to the crowd. I went up to him and introduced myself, and Martel, to him and told him what Martel does and said about his landing. Scott (as he introduced himself) seemed to be happy to hear what Martel had to say about his piloting skills and posed for pictures with us (and Alex, our neighbor who came to the launch with us)

One big adventure

As some of you know, we temporarily relocated to the Las Cruces, New Mexico are for my husband's work. For those that don't know me/us, he's a Mechanical Engineer for NASA and is currently on the Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV) Project. They were getting ready to do some serious flight testing and moved the main crew to New Mexico (from different NASA centers throughout the country) to do the test. What they (successfully) did here was the Pad Abort 1 (PA-1) test which in a nutshell will jettison the crew module off the launch rocket in the event of a mishap. This one test flight is the reason that we've been in New Mexico for the last 8 months.

Enough jibber-jabber now, here's the first page of the album (yes, I'm dedicating an entire album to this, as it's a significant part of our lives). This is the Operations Crew (which my husband is a part of) in front of the Crew Module (CM) with the Launch Abort System (LAS) on attached to it.

It's HERE!!!! It's HERE!!!!

The Summer 2010 Idea Book is live to customers TODAY!!!!!!

There are SO many great new things in them. Click HERE to take a peak.

Notice the cool thing on the right side? Now you can call me anytime. All you do is click on the link and enter in your phone number. Google Voice will call you and then call me. AND it's a free call! (if you use your cell, minutes still apply) How cool is that?????

A Sweet Life

I can't believe it's been 3 weeks since I've posted! The life of a stay home mom can get a little crazy! LOL! Spring has hit Southern New Mexico with all her glory and we spend most of our days outside. And while my lovely husband is now on 2nd shift, leaving my evenings free (once the rugrats go to bed) I'm finding lots of time to craft, just.... well I'll admit it, I've just been lazy. You know because it's SOOOOO hard to take a photo (well, a GOOD photo of a layout is hard, but I don't take GOOD pictures of them ha ha ha), upload it and write a few sentences. @@ Yeah, I've got no excuse!

Anyway, great news! May 1st, the Summer Idea book goes live to customers. I must tell you, I love all the paper packs! I can't remember when that's happened. :) As usual, there are some pink and "girly" papers, such as this one here , Cherry-O. I, as a consultant, have access to all the fun new stuff a month before the public does. I placed my order for new goodies and didn't order this paper pack. Then, on Easter, Leo and I made a strawberry cake, actually Leo did most of the work and was so proud of himself. I know we used strawberries, but after we made the cake and I looked at the pictures, I ran to the computer and placed ANOTHER order just so I could do this layout! Yeah, I've got problems.

EVERYTHING on this layout was from the Cherry-O Workshop on the Go. I love these things, you get so much for your money, including the fun cherry stamp set that's only available with this kit. AND, I have TONS of paper and embellishments left over. If any of you are interested in purchasing this kit, drop me a line!

Holy Rockstar!

I got my new Rockstar Workshop on the Go (WOTG) from Close to my Heart yesterday. Today I decided to take an afternoon for myself and scrapbook. Man, I was on a roll and did 5 layouts! All of them are from the Rockstar paper pack AND I still have 3 full sheets of paper and a whole bunch of embellishments leftover. Here's a picture of all the layouts together and the leftover paper, just so you can see what your dollar (or $40) buys

This layout was the reason I wanted the WOTG. My crazy husband participated in the Bataan Memorial Death March last Sunday and marched 21 miles through the sand. Unfortunately, he wasn't able to finish the whole march (it was 26 miles). His bad leg just couldn't take anymore torture so he did the smart thing and didn't finish. I don't have all the pictures yet, he went with his friends who had cameras and they ACTUALLY took pictures. (like my cute pooch???

The reason I "needed" the Rockstar pack and EVERYTHING that you can add on was for these pictures. Leo's friend came over to play recently and they had an imaginary rock band going. It was soooooo funny! Leo was channeling my all time favorite musical performer, Henry Rollins. Most people who know me wouldn't think anything of it EXCEPT Leo's never seen Henry perform. I may love him, but my 4 year old shouldn't be listening to him. :) I digress, during this rockin performance, Leo was belting out rather "head bangerish" Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star. It was one time when I desperately wished for a video camera.

The next reason I wanted this paper pack was because I thought the colors would go nicely with these pictures. The first day we moved in, I met our neighbor Dawn. Martel and her husband, Randy, had never met. The first weekend we were there, Dawn and I were at the fence chatting when Randy comes out with his favorite German beer. Dawn proceeds to "teach" Martel how to pour it. (there is a special way to do it and if you don't, it doesn't taste as good, in fact it's quite yucky straight from the bottle).

This is one of the layouts I did, just to do. I had no pictures for it. The layout is an example on the back of one of the sheets of Stickease. Then I saw these pictures of Leo and his best friend here at WSMR, Leah. Yes, we have a Leah. She thinks its so funny that she and I have the same name. I keep telling her that she spells her name wrong though. ;)

Again, I thought these pictures would go well with the colors of the paper pack and just used up a few of the scraps.

We have poppies, just like at home in California. And just like at home in California, Leo thinks that he can pick a "puppy" flower as he calls them, and then plant them were HE thinks they should be. So far he has not successfully transplanted a puppy flower.

Almost everything I used today was from CTMH and the Rockstar line except a few buttons and Thickers for some titles.

If anyone is interested in purchasing this fantastic kit, drop me a line.

Studio J layouts

I recently played around with the new Studio J digital layouts, soon to be available to the public. Man, were they fun! You don't need any special software, just internet access. I sat on my couch and watched TV and just scrapped away. I could have done it at Starbucks! LOL!

Each layout is $12.95 plus shipping. I know that sounds like a lot but there are several things that help the cost.

• You don't have to print your own pictures. You just drag and drop them into the layout. I don't know about you, but I do like to use larger than 4x6 photos and printing an 8x10 can be several dollars.
• You can put as many embellishment on your layout as you'd like. You all know I'm a button-a-holic. I can't do a layout without buttons and those little things add up. With Studio J, I can cover my entire page with buttons and the price doesn't change.
• You NEVER run out of alphabet stickease! NEVER! That right there is a huge bonus. Not only do you never run out of alphabets, you can resize all of the stickease and use them over and over again.

Here are a few of the layouts I made up.

See how the title and journalling look like they are attached to vellum and then adhered to the page? Yet another fun feature of Studio J!

I chose this layout because not only does it call for an 8x10 but those angles the side pictures are a pain in the tush to cut out. I did this layout once (click here) and swore I wouldn't do it again, no matter how cute I think it is. Not anymore! I can do this layout til the cows come home now.

The letter stickease didn't fit into the title box but you can adjust them just so. Same with the Wild West stickease. It wasn't the right size to go in that spot but I just shrank it a bit for a perfect fit!

These layouts were so much fun and hardly took any time at all.

Project Life update

Things have been pretty crazy the last few weeks. We moved, AGAIN! I spent the better part of the week 2 weeks ago packing and the better part of last week unpacking. That didn't leave much time for blogging. And truth be told, it didn't leave me a lot of time to take pictures of the happenings of the last 2 weeks.
That being said, here are some highlights of the last few weeks....


Our new neighbors welcomed Martel with a wonderful German beer. D and R (the neighbors) showed Martel the proper way to pour it into the glass. Something about the yeast and hops that settle in the bottom of the bottle. I'm not much of a Hefenweizen fan but this was some good stuff.

Our nice big backyard! The boys love playing in it and are wiped out at the end of the day. I love the peace it gives me. ha ha ha

We have commissary privileges while we're here on post. Martel came home for lunch and we walked down to do a little shopping. It was a beautiful day and we enjoyed the sunshine and Daddy being home so much.

There is this little room, about 6'x6' off the living room in our house. It's primary use was as a tack room, for the soldiers to keep their gear in. At first I was going to give it to Martel to use as storage, then I saw the shelves and claimed it as my scraproom. (Things are a little more organized now and the table's up)

Our lovely "new" cinder block house circa 1950. It's small and old but has a garage and a yard. It's fan-freakin-tastic!

For the life of me, I can't get the picture to turn right. I guess it doesn't matter. I've decided that nachos are the perfect meal. You've got the salty, crunchy chips; the smooth and creamy cheese and beans; spicy jalapenos and salsa; cool sour cream and all the rest. In this case the rest included grilled chicken, lettuce and avocado. They were perfect!

A few weeks ago Leo wanted Pepsi for breakfast. Our conversation went something like this.

Leo: Mom, I want Pepsi for breakfast.

Me: Leo, we don't have Pepsi for breakfast. We occasionally have Pepsi with dinner.

Leo: Ok mom. (he proceeds to eat his proper breakfast)

Leo: Mom! I'm finished with my breakfast now. I'm ready for dinner!

Me: slaps my head and sighs. What do you say to that????

Then we proceeded to have a discussion that dinner isn't a state of mind, it's a time of day when you eat a meal. The joys of 4 year olds.

Leo came running to get me and told me there was a rainbow in his bathroom. There are some glass bricks in the apartment we lived in and in the afternoon when the sun hits them just right and makes colored prism. Sadly, they didn't show up well in the picture that Leo took.