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

Card Swap! Featuring Ipodabella

 Happy Thursday Friends!

I thought I'd share a fun card I made awhile back for my CTMH (Close to My Heart) unit swap.  I used some patterned papers from CTMH (Plaid=Stylin paper pack, Stars= Game On paper pack).

 The image is called "Ipodabella" and can be found at Stamping Bella (http://www.stampingbella.com/).  Isn't she cute?  Stamping Bella has a girl for every occasion! 

The  cards were finished off with some rhinestones, pink organdy ribbon, flowers (that I stamped with polka dots), and metal tags.

 

 I'm off to make lunch for my daily lunch customers.  They can be a tough crowd. :)  Hopefully I can find some time to finish up some new paper treats for my ETSY shop today......wish me luck!

~Linda

www.lindaw.myctmh.com

Happy Easter!

Wishing you a wonderful day!

~Linda

Posh Paisley Shop Blog

Hello & Happy Sunday!

Just a quick post to let you know I had to start a new blog for my Etsy shop! (I was locked out of my old shop blog when we switched Internet providers. Darn!)

The new blog is: http://www.poshpaisleystudio.blogspot.com/

A fun place to visit that is "all things creative and crafty".

:) Linda

Studio J Layouts - So Easy!

I thought I'd share a couple of digital scrapbook layouts I have done for 2 of my kiddos' back to school pictures. I have to say, I never thought I would like digital scrapbooking, because I love all the "stuff" (papers, stickers, buttons, etc.)....but I love how I can accomplish so much without making a mess.

Here is Alex's layout:
(They are a little small, so you may have to click on the picture for a better look.)

Here is Malia's layout:

If you are not already a Studio J (Close To My Heart's perfect answer to digital scrapbooking) member, you ought to be! It's easy to join. Just go to my website: http://lindaw.myctmh.com/, click on "Studio J" and sign up. Before joining, you can create as many layouts as you want and play for free. There is only a charge when you want to be come a member (3 month or 12 month membership available) and when you order layouts. There is no fee for each individual paper pack, embellishment, etc. In fact, there is never any need to buy anything but your layout. CTMH stores all the things you need right on the Studio J site and you can use any embellishment, paper, pattern, etc. without having to pay for them! NEATO! They are printed on premium 12x12 photo paper (just like a real picture), and shipped to your door.

It's a great alternative to "old school" scrapbooking. I love being able to sit on the couch with my laptop at night and make beautiful pages.

I hope you have a wonderful week! It's Spring Break for us - wish us luck. :)

~Linda

Happy Go Lucky!

"As you ramble through life, whatever be your goal;

Keep your eye upon the doughnut, and not upon the hole."
~Irish proverb

~~~~~~~~Happy St. Patrick's Day~~~~~~~~

Happy Birthday Little Man!

I can't believe my little boy is 5! In some ways it seems like the day you were born was so long ago - but at the same time it seems like just yesterday you were my little baby boy. You bring so much joy, sweetness and happiness to this world! I will never forget the afternoon you were born and the sun, as it burst through the hospital window when you arrived.

Little did I know how fitting that was. You are truly a blessing.

Happy 5th Birthday Alex!!

xoxox

Mom

Cards & Crazy Hair

Happy Friday! Here are a few, okay more like 44 cards I made for the newest Close to My Heart catalog debut/swap. It's always fun to see what the 43 other ladies come up with - and even better that I get to keep one from everyone!

I used the new MAYBERRY Paper pack, Cocoa ribbon, stamps, our new pink buttons and added some stitching with my good old sewing machine!

This was my first time making the 4"x4" square cards. Here is a close up:

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On the home front, Malia had "crazy hair day" at school a couple of weeks ago, so I thought I'd share. We were running short on time that morning, so this was the best I could do:
Only 3 kids in her class participated, one of which was a boy with a wig. The other was Malia's "class twin". Funny thing was her crazy hair style was almost identical to Malia's! The teacher can't keep them straight on a regular day, I'm sure she was happy when the day was over. :)

Hope you have a fun weekend! Does anyone have any ideas for new & exciting things to do with kids? Spring Break is right around the corner, and we need something to do. :)

~Linda

http://www.lindaw.myctmh.com/

It's March - Look What's New with CTMH!

Our March promotion is here!

Get a free My Acrylix® block when you buy My Acrylix® stamps!
At Close To My Heart, we know we’ve got the best clear stamps and blocks—and we’ll prove it! Throughout March, when you buy your favorite My Acrylix® stamps, we’ll give you a free My Acrylix block. Not only will you have the best stamps on the block, you’ll have the best block, too! Just purchase $25 US / $30 CAN in stamps and you can choose from two of our most versatile block sizes: 3" × 3" (Y1006) or 2" × 6.

Have you tried clear stamps? They are so easy to use. Once you do, you will be addicted!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Also just arriving......it's the

Here is a close up of the individual stamp images:

* earn it FREE when you spend $100 or more (before shipping and tax)

* earn it for 75% off ($5.74) when you spend $75 or more (before shipping and tax)

* earn it for 50% off ($11.74) when you spend $50 or more (before shipping and tax)

* earn it for 25% off ($17.21) when you spend $25 or more (before shipping and tax)

* purchase it for full retail price ($22.95)

Click here to enter my website and order it and so many other wonderful products.
Don't forget to check the "While Supplies Last" section for discounts up to 70% off.

If you are interested in scrapbooking or cardmaking, but don't know where to start - let me know. I am happy to help get you started.

Are you interested in coming to a card workshop? Spend a few hours having fun and making a bunch of cute cards? Sound interesting?? I'm planning on getting one going soon. Stay tuned!

Happy Saturday to you!

~Linda

www.lindaw.myctmh.com

Friday Fun!

Happy Friday everyone! At Malia's school today they had a book parade through the halls. You were suppose to dress as a character from your favorite book. The characters from her favorite book would have been way too much for me to tackle this week, so we chose a new favorite book (that we started reading last night) and went with that. It's from the Pony Pals series, which we made work with a semi-western shirt, boots, braids, and her Webkinz pony. Way better than me attempting to sew some crazy outfits involving elaborate dresses and capes. :) She seemed to be happy with it. From what I heard "Fancy Nancy" and "Eloise" were some of the popular girl characters today.

(When I picked her up from school today, the braids were gone and she had some wild Diana Ross hair going on. Oh well.)

Today I made this silk/organza/tulle flower. It was my first attempt and I need to tweak it a bit here and there. It's a little too round I think. I'm going to try to get them looking a bit more realistic- hopefully. My friend Kandi and I have just signed up for our first Spring Bazaar in a few years - so I need to get busy with some things to fill up our table. I thought something new would be fun.

If I can get to a place where I'm happy with these, I might try to turn some into pins, hair clips or ??? We'll see. I've got "crafting ADD" these days, which leads to lots of unfinished projects. Hopefully I'll remember what I was going to do with them when I get back to them all!
Hope you have a great weekend!

Linda

Around Here....

Hi!

Just thought I'd pop in and say hello. We have all been sick in one way or another, hopefully that is about over! Seems like illness has hit just about everyone we know these past few weeks.

Last month my sweet son decided to trim his own hair instead of resting (which is what I thought he was doing, as I enjoyed the "quiet"). Here is the finished product:

It could have been worse, but thankfully it wasn't. He managed to give himself a reverse mohawk - later that day Ella scratched him under the eye, and he looked pretty pathetic. I had a hard time making eye contact with people when we were out and about.......thinking they must think I was an unfit parent. lol. Of course we had a birthday party to go to the next day.

Here is Ella, playing (and picking) all at the same time!

I can't tell you how happy I was to find her quietly playing with the doll house Santa brought for Malia years ago. Malia never really had an interest in it - thankfully Santa's gift wasn't a total loss. (And...it's hard to see, but those are the new bunk beds in the background. Now they all sleep on the bottom bunk in this room. Ugh. Luckily we bought the twin over full size.)

We took our first zoo trip of the year (well 2nd actually, after zoolights on Jan 1st). We hadn't been in awhile, so it was fun. It stayed dry for almost the whole visit!

The new red ape exhibit was popular, but the highlight of the visit was this chimp:He was eating something strange & brown off the glass. {{yuk}}

And, finally, I am in love with these Moda fabrics called "Dream On". They remind me of my childhood in the 70s. I broke down and bought a charm pack - maybe I'll actually make something with it. Maybe. :)

Hope you have a fun & safe holiday weekend. Speaking of presidents...President Obama flew over our house today in the helicopter motorcade en route to Intel. I think I saw him wave at us! (okay, not really).

~Linda