Happy October!

Hello Fall! 

It's been awhile since I've posted anything. at. all. 

Kind of embarrassing!

Here are a few things that have been keeping us busy:

Soccer for M.

 Soccer for A.

 Crafty things for my SHOP, and many upcoming holiday bazaars.

Here I am last night, along with my friend Kandi at our first bazaar of the season.

And............I am now a Cookie Lee Jewelry Consultant.

It's lots of fun.  :)

Okay, that's a quick wrap up!  Time for dinner. :)
~Linda

A Wedding Story.....

My nephew Kevin married Lauren last weekend at the Gorge Crest Vineyards. 

It was one of the most beautiful weddings I've ever been to! 

It made me want to have a wedding re-do myself.

From the pretty/vintage-chic/crafty decorations.

 To the country/cottage charm of the flowers and place settings.... 

To the unbelievable view...I loved it all!

The kids had fun playing in the grass, and hanging out in the special "hammock" area under the tall pine trees.

 Here is my Niece Kim's son Carson and the flower girl.   Aren't they adorable?  Love his hat!

 The wedding party...
(that's my Niece Toni coming down first).

Just Married!  Lauren & Kevin.  Her dress was amazing, along with the flower in her hair.

 Another shot of the table.......

 And the homemade jam, lovingly made for the wedding favors.

 On the edge of the lawn, overlooking the vineyard and Mt. Hood.  I was ready to move in!

 Fun at dinner!  Alex & Cousin Ryan.

 Rourke & Malia.

 Ryan, my Sister Kathy, and her husband Dean.

 My Mom & Ella.

 A view from outside looking in.

 Love how the bride & groom chairs were decorated. :)

After dinner, champagne toasts, and berry cobbler dessert, everyone hit the dance floor. 

Here's a blurry picture of Malia cutting a rug with Grandma Jan.

Now the happy couple is in Bali for 2 weeks!

Congratulations to Lauren & Kevin.

~Linda

Baby Shower Favors

 Boy or Girl?  Hmmmmmmmmmmm.

Alex's teacher hired me to make some baby shower favors for her "gender reveal" baby shower/party.  Fun stuff!  I don't think those parties were around a few years ago when I had my kiddos...or was I just living under a rock?   Anyway......she requested neutral colors of green & yellow, so this is what I came up with:

Each was filled with Hershey Kisses and yellow M&Ms. 

So......wondering if the baby is going to be a boy or girl?  It's a ..........................boy!

Congratulations to Teacher Tona' and her family!

~Linda :)

Where to Begin?

Oh my!  Can it really be July already?  I feel like the Summer just started, but at the same time it feels like the end is coming up fast.  Does that make any sense at all??  June FLEW by - end of school, graduations, Ella's 3rd birthday, Father's Day, garage sale, tball, camps etc.  I'll share a few random pictures just for fun!

Alex's last day of preschool and his "diploma". :)

Malia's last day of school - with her 1st grade teacher she loved so much!

Alex at tball.  He loves it so much!  I think he is the littlest one out there - but very serious about the game.

Ella's 3rd birthday.  Love this picture.  Once we started singing "Happy Birthday" she got all nervous and shy...so here she is kissing Malia right in the middle of the song.  I guess it made her feel comfortable. :)

Trying to get a good picture of the little ones at the party.  Not sure what was so funny....other than trying ot get a good picture of the little ones!

The cake.......she's into Dora right now.

Happy Father's Day Dad!

Happy Father's Day honey!

And congrats to my Nephew Ryan for graduating with honors in his pre-med major from OSU!

Whew!  Okay, that's all for now.  Stay tuned for future happenings, which include weddings, babies, vacations and more!  (And just to clarify - none of the weddings or babies are mine! :)  )



May is National Scrapbooking Month!!

I am so excited to announce these 2 terrific specials!

 

Special #1 - New Consultants:  Celebrate with me in May by getting 50% off the new Consultant Kit AND get this exclusive You & Me scrapbooking kit FREE!   You get the consultant kit  + the You & Me kit for only $65!!  WOW!!   I would love for you to join my team as a consultant. Whether you are interested in cards, traditional scrapbooking, or online scrapbooking, a hobbyist wanting a discount on great products, or someone who wants to build a business, Close to My Heart has something for everyone! Click HERE for more information.

Special #2 - Customers:  Just place a minimum order of $50 in Close To My Heart products and you can get the exclusive You & Me scrapbooking kit for the discount price of just $15!—that’s more than half off the retail value! You can also purchase the kit at full retail for $34.95 with no minimum purchase required. Contact me to order it or hop on over to my website. Just add it to your shopping cart and the discount will be taken off when you check out.

You & Me Scrapbook/Card Kit Details:  With this wonderful kit, you can make two fully embellished two-page layouts using the included instructions, papers, D-size stamp set, and accessories. The You & Me scrapbooking kit includes:

1 – My Acrylix® You & Me Stamp Set

1 – 12” × 12” Colonial White Cardstock

6 – 12” × 12” B&T Duos® Papers

1 – 6” × 9” You & Me Irresistibles™ Chipboard Die-Cut Sheet

1 Yard – Chocolate Stripe Ribbon

1 Package – Opaques Mocha Adhesive Gems

1 – Instruction Guide


If you are interested in either of these offers - hurry!    They both end May 31st.
Feel free to contact me to learn more about Close to My Heart and what fun it is! :)

Have a great day~
Linda
www.lindaw.myctmh.com

All About Alex!

Happy Saturday! 

 Hope you all are enjoying your weekend so far.

Today was Alex's first T-ball practice & meeting of his team and coaches.  Luckily it didn't rain! :)

 He seemed to have fun, but today was alot of going over rules, safety, then taking turns hitting the ball and running........probably painful when you are 5.   As we get more into it I'm sure it will be more and more fun.

 And...this is a couple of months late, but I wanted to share a couple of pictures from Alex's "kid" party that we had at "Out of This World Pizza".  First of all, the cake.  We didn't really have a theme, so I just went with the space idea - that the pizza place already had going on.  I ended up getting the cake from Costco.  I was really happy with what they came up with - because I (of course) had to go off the menu (they didn't have anything space-ish).   I quickly sketched something out and added it to my order form. 

It was a TON of cake for way less than 1/4 sheet at other stores. 

I think they did a great job - don't you??

 Here are Malia and her friend Mia  - trying out some of the girl goodie bag treats.

 Here's Alex opening his cool wrestler guy.  Love the look on his friend's face as he checks it out!

  

Then, as soon as his party was over.......we headed to the beach for a few days on Spring Break!    Sometimes I wish I was 5 years old. :) 

How are you enjoying your weekend?  I think a trip to Costco is in my near future,

and then some vegetable garden planting.

:O) Linda

Happy Mother's Day!

Wishing my Mom, and all you wonderful moms a Very Happy Mother's Day today!!  We had a nice dinner and get together last night at my Sister's house to celebrate the Moms in the bunch. 

Here's a picture of  me, my sister and Mom, along with my kiddos. :)

I spend the first half of yesterday dealing with FTD.com and the flowers that were suppose to be delivered to my Mom on Friday.  They never arrived, and still (as of Sunday night) have not shown up.  So, I had no Mother's Day gift for my mom, and today I spent some time doing a credit card dispute.  Fun!  So, in 60 days I may get my money back.

NEVER, EVER order from FTD.com.  After I ordered I read lots of horrible reviews about missing flowers, half dead flowers, sad flowers that looked nothing like the advertised picture - and this was BEFORE I had my experience.  Live and learn I guess.

So, I promised to tell everyone I could how awful FTD.com is.  :) 

(and the delivery fee was ridiculous!! --for the flowers that were never delivered!  lol).

I hope everyone has had a beautiful day!

~Linda

Teacher Appreciation Gifts

 Happy Friday! 

This has been Teacher Appreciation Week at Malia's school, and just in the nick of time I managed to get something {{small}} made for her!  I ended up decorating a little kraft box of notes and coordinating wrapped candy bar.  Like I said, nothing extravagant, but it's always nice to get something. :)

Here is the outside of the box:

I used Papertrey Ink "Beautiful Blooms" paper and stamps.

Big flowers from Michael's and Craft Warehouse:

A look at the papers inside. I used the apple stamp from Papertrey's "Teacher Apple" set. 

Wrapped and ready to go.  Not the best presentation, but when you start at the last minute, sometimes this is what you get!

And.....on a different note, Alex has been sick most of the week.  He's missed all but one day of school.  He's doing better now, but still not great.  Good enough to fight with his sisters though.  All of this time together at home is getting to us.  The fighting started at 8am this morning, so after some tears, Ella and I decided to put on her party dress.

It worked!    She has been happy ever since. :)

Wish I had one to put on too.  

 Hope you have a wonderful weekend.  Happy Mother's Day to all you Mom's out there.

~Linda