The Arm of the Chair

I wouldn't think it would be most comfy place in the house, but for little Chanel, it's probably the one where she can see the most action.

I don't catch this honey-faced little sweetheart in too many quiet poses, but she loves looking out the window. After all the snow we had yesterday, she's busy watching the neighbors snow blow their yards.

It's been a year now since we lost our Springer, Coltie. I didn't think I could ever give my heart to another pooch again. Coltie was our pal for over 12 years - and he saw us through some pretty rough things in life. Not to mention, he was absolutely the best dog in the world.

So there was a part of me that didn't want another dog in the house. then Shane brought home this Beagle. This untrained, barky, full of energy Beagle chews, digs holes and chases my poor Sassy cat mercilessly. OH my. And guess what? I have fallen in love with the ears, the face, and the warm nuzzle - depsite all the bad habits that we are working on breaking. She just needs love and exercise and play time and discipline. And someday, I'm going to be able to say she's the just the best beagle anyone could ever ask for!

I love the Fancy Cut Botanicals!

I finished up a card this afternoon for a swap that I'm doing with 7 other people. I love this criss cross pattern. It's just so much fun, and it's so easy to do. So I pulled out the BIG lilac mist botanicals and added in some creme brulee. I am perfectly happy with the results! The pull out card says, "Happy Easter." I thought it would make a lovely spring card!

• Lilac Mist Cardstock
• Creme Brulee Cardstock
• Aspen B & T (bet you didn't think beautiful plaid that was winter paper! I love 2-sided!)
• Fancy Cut Botanicals
• March Word Puzzle
• Juniper Ink
• Prisma Glitter
• Spring Blossom Mini Medley
• Colonial White Designer Ribbon
• Creme Brulee Designer Ribbon
  

The Finished Product...Almost 19 Years Later!

All right, I have been scrapbooking for a very, very long time. I started dabbling into the world of this paper craft addiction back when the craze was just starting. Shane was just 1 or 2 years old. Well, now here I am a Close To My Heart consultant, and Shane is just about 20 years old.

Last year I decided to pick up those sacred first year pictures. Tonight I finally finished it. It goes from birth to Shane's 1st birthday. I hae absolutely stretched our CTMH album as far as it will go! I think it ended up to be about 4"!!

I've looked through this album over and over (and over). These are truly my favorite two pages. Because I was single, I used to put Shane in his infant seat or swing in front of the TV for Sesame Street - from the time he was born. He loved it and quickly came to recognize the theme song. That was my time to catch up on laundry, wash the bottles, and make the next batch of formula!

Good Times! Buy $25 in Stamps, Get a Stamp Set FREE!!! YIPPPEEE!!

Get this stamp set FREE, when you buy $25 in any other Close To My Heart stamps during the month of February! What a great deal!! This is absolutely adorable!!

• Emporium Level 2
• Good Times Stamp Set
• Honey Marker
• Twilight Ink
• colonial White Ribbon
  

Easter Eggs - February Stamp of the Month

This stamp set is FULL of ornate eggs. The eggs are decorates with roses, speckles, swirls, polka dots, wildflowers. and so many other textures! There are 19 eggs in all in this set. Of course, it's so much fun to think outside the box, that I just had to do something different with the eggs. Voila! They are flower petals!

• That's Amore Level 2
• Easter Eggs Stamp of the Month
• Autumn Garden Mini Medley Collection
• Chocolate Ink
• Chocolate Designer Ribbon
  

Thanks, Shane!!

I am continually envious of Shane's tan face and freckles - and healthy skin - and I know that it has to do with tanning. He works for the best salon in the cities, and he bought me a package! He knew that I would just continue to talk about it and never do it, so being the man of action he is, he got the ball the rolling for me. Yippee!! I went for my first tan today. WOW! Did that ever feel good! And the lotions smell so good! It may still be winter, but I feel like I just walked off the beach!

What a kid! Thanks, Shane!!

Valentine's Day was just the BEST!

Jerry and I had reservations at a restaurant called Serendipity. It is a coffee/tea house that also has a florist and gift shop. The name really quite suits the place! Anyway, they had Valentine's dinner with a harpist. It was just LOVELY. From the moment we walked in, we were treated very specially - and there were a lot of people there! There was a place card at our table, and a large sugar cookie that said "Brenda + Jerry" in the frosting. There was a beautiful truffle in Jerry's place and in my spot, there was a long-stemmed rose wrapped in heart tissue and a clear box with lots of ribbon. Oh, it looked so pretty! We could have either Cupid's Punch, Italian Soda, Coffee, or Pomegranate Tea with our meal. Our first course was a lovely field greens salad with strawberries, blueberries, and mandarin oranges. It had the most amazing poppyseed dressing! Jerry selected stuffed pork loin for his entree, it was served with maple-glazed carrots and duchesse potatoes. I had salmon with rice pilaf and maple-glazed carrots. For dessert, we enjoyed creme brulee.

I have to tell you, our meals were cold when they came. They forget to serve us in the rush of the evening. The creme brulee was ok - but what we had on the cruise was so good that I think it spoiled us for life!

However, Valentine's Day was not about the food or the service. It was about the special touches. Serendipity went to great lengths to make certain that the little things were wonderful. Our coffee was always full (and it was such good coffee!). The room was dimly lit. The flowers and music were SO NICE. And because of that, I got to spend two very relaxing hours in the company of my handsome husband on a Valentine's date.

I hope you all had a Valentine's to remember!!

Pretty Pins Winner!!

The winner of the package of Pretty Pins is Linda!! You are going to get some Blog Candy in the mail this week!!

Thanks for playing everybody!! Enjoy your pins, Linda!!

You are Precious to Me...Pretty Pin Drawing Tomorrow!

The Pretty Pins drawing is tomorrow - Valentine's Day!! I am posting a card using our Pretty Pins. If you follow the post below, there are some other great ideas for these Pretty Pins!! I LOVE this embellishment and find myself grabbing for them all the time!

What would you do with them? Tell me and you could win a package of Pretty Pins! I am selecting a winner in a random drawing tomorrow evening. Check on Sunday morning to see if you've won this pretty little blog candy!!

No Artwork Today...Just a Memory!

I was thinking about Valentine's when I was a little girl. I was always excited for this holiday because "way back in the day" we really got to decorate the classroom before any type of holiday. We spent time the week before making boxes for the wonderful Valentine's we would receive at the party, and there was great anticipation over the homemade heart-shaped treats that all the mothers would bring in that special day!!

Want to hear something funny? I never made it to one single Valentine's party in elementary school. Every year I had a fever, the flu, and during the last year, I had chicken pox. Can you believe it?! It is no wonder that I over-do this holiday a bit in our house - LOL!! ;)

When my son came along, I was really anxious to make his first Valentine's party at school special. I planned on bringing treats, we made homemade Valentine's. You'll never guess what. He came down with the chicken pox and couldn't go to school that day!! So you know what I did? I decorated the house, called the moms to see which kids already had chicken pox, and invited them over after school. During the day, Shane and I put together Valentine's for his friends - and it turned out to be a great party!!

Oh, and he was never sick on Valentine's again!!

What about you? Do you have some Valentine's memories? I think they are just grand times to remember! Roses, chocolate, love ads in the paper, jewelry - it's such a sweet holiday!!

This year Jerry and I are going to dinner at a place called Serendipity on Valentine's Day. They have a harpist that evening, and I am quite sure from talking to friends that it is going to be lovely.

May you have a Valentine's Day filled with love!!

More To Adore

I love this simple layout using the Level 1 More to Adore packet. We created this in our February club last year. This layout makes good use of the Stickease in the Level 1 kit. With a few embellishments - especially those Big Pinks - along with some good old-fashioned distressing, this page is ready for your romantic memories! (Filled with chocolate and roses, of course!)

Love, Love. Love

This is such a simple card to make. And when you are finished, it is really quite elegant. What a wonderful card to give that special person on Valentine's Day or even to use for an anniversary.

All the supplies I used making this card are CTMH:

• Vanilla Cream CS
• Cocoa CS
• That's Amore B & T
• Baroque Alphabet
• Soulmates Word Puzzle
• Timber Brown Staz-On Ink
• Sparkles
• Colonial White Designer Ribbon
  
  

Perfect Day Layout

I just had to sneak in another piece of artwork today! If you ever wonder, this is why all the routine household "stuff" gets done last minute - LOL!! I'd just rather create this time of the year!!

These are some pictures from our Mediterraean Cruise with CTMH. I look at the photos and still can't believe we were there!! the left layout was taken on the ship by a CTMH photographer. On the right are pictures from Nice, France. Oh what beautiful markets they had in the street! I would never tire of roaming through those streets and smelling the fresh flowers, handmade soaps, vegetables, smelling the coffee from open bistros. It was wonderful. And the people were so friendly in Nice! I really enjoyed the short amount of time we had there.

All products used on this layout are from CTMH:

• Perfect Day Level 2
• Tulip Ink
• Dimensional Elements Framed Fun
• Fancy Cuts Botanicals
• Love Story Rub-Ons
• Oxford Color Ready Alphabet
• Spring Blossom Mini Medley
• Cranberry Eyelets
• Cocoa Grosgrain
• Heritage Edge Anchors
  

We Remember Moments...

During this week of love, I hope you remember the moments that make the ones you love special!

All items used are CTMH in this 6x6 card:

• Colonial White Cardstock
• Desert Sand Cardstock
• Moments Stamp Set
• Versamark Ink
• Gold Embossing Powder
• Black Photo Clips
• Colonial White Grosgrain

It is the week of Love!!

Happy Valentine's Week!! I love this week of the year! I love everything about Valentine's scrapbook papers, hearts, and love...

This week I am going to share new artwork every single day. I hope to inspire you so that you find the many ways you can honor the ones you love through paper crafting!! Enjoy!!

All CTMH products products used in this "Forever" layout:

• That's Amore Level 2
• Rustic Alphabet
• Intrinsic Backgrounds
• Love Always Journaling Spots
• Dazzling Die-cuts - Chocolate
• Colonial White Designer Ribbon
• Chocolate Designer Ribbon
• Edge Anchors - Heritage
• Inks - Blush, Chocolate
• Craft Buttons - Holiday, Autumn
• Chocolate Waxy Flax
• Just Blooms Paper Flowers & Big Pinks
• Mini Medley Shades of Chocolate
• Bigger Brads Basic Assortment
• Sparkles

Book for a Special Young Man

I was busy creating this
afternoon, and this is what I came up with for nephew's birthday. I wanted to make a combination picture book/quoto book for him. This is the Close To My Heart 6x6 Accordion Book, and I've done layouts on the pages for pictures. On every page, I've put phrases or quotes. My favorite is a vellum quote I found in the store oddly enough by Brad Pitt. Here goes:
"This is just the real world and I'm growing up. Life is tough and it's crooked, but it's pretty fantastic."

Here are the supplies I used other the 6x6 book:

• Basic Grey Fusion Paper
• Jo-Lee Stars
• Little Yellow Bicycle Rub-Ons - Zane's Life
• Dazzling Die-Cuts - CTMH
• Stardust Flexi-label Star - CTMH
• Ribbon - CTMH
• Buttons & Waxy Flax - CTMH
  

Love My Swaps!

I just participated in a swap, and WOW, do I love the cards I received in return! I do this swap every single Idea Book and I invite other consultants. It is so much fun to see what everyone comes up with!! This time I put a twist on the cards and wanted them to be interactive in some way, shape or form - a fold, a tuck, a spin, a pop - whatever anyone felt like. Well, just look at what people came up with!! I am so blessed to have such talented friends!! I am going to tell you - these pictures do not do the cards justice at all. They are so much more gorgeous in person!!


Cards #1: Penny K - She has created a dial, and each word was rubbed on with individual letters from our Love Letters rub-ons. Oh, so beautiful.

Card #2: Helen B - I love when Helen makes pop-up cards!! The colors and the cupcakes are so much fun in this card. Look at the shape of the card - and the colors!!

Card #3: Sandy R - Sandy random stamped this card and then look at the cuts. It opens up to make it look like the world spins! I LOVE it! Right away I thought of Graduation with this card.

Card #4: Amy H - I took Amy's card out, and I still can't figure out how she did this! I LOVE this ribbon pull on the inside! It doesn't lag when it's inside or outside. It's just beautiful - this is a fine design!!

Card #5: Jennifer B - What you can't see about this precious cupcake card is that Jennifer has created a pendulum inside the card. When you open the front, the cupcake swings. Oh, so much fun!

Card # 6: Regina - She has created a purse for all of us girls. Isn't it adorable with all the hanging beads? When you open up the purse, there is a spot for a gift card. VERY good design!!

Card #7: Dani - I love when Dani participates! She always has the sweetest cards and this tag card is no exception. Done in sweet leaf with the Dream Wishes stamp set, it's just SO pretty. I am thinking this would be a very nice design for shower invitations.

Card #8: Crissy - Isn't this Cupcake Sprinkles card cute? Boy, it has little girl written all over it!! She has make a slot in it to fashion a "belt" card. That is a very good way to show off our beautiful background and texture paper - just as she has done!

Cards #9 & #10: Me (I had a swapper drop, so I did two!) The first card has a spinning daisy on the front. the second has a hidden journaling tag.

Swaps are a great way to get ideas! I just love sharing with my friends this way!!

Dreaming of Summer Vacation...

Jerry and I made our summer vacation this past weekend, and we are so excited! We are going up to Quarterdeck Resort on Gull Lake. Gull Lake is a such a great fishing lake, and I want that for Jerry this summer. He has sacrificed so much the past few years while I've worked my CTMH business. It's time that he got to have a really great vacation for all the hard work he does during the year...
And let me tell you, fishing is where it's at for Jerry! I am quite certain that he'll be up early to go hunt fish. And at night, he'll most likely be out for late night fishing. From now until we go, he'll study Gull Lake and make sure he knows the hot spots. It's going to be a great trip for him!
We are giong during something called Beanhole Days that Jerry heard about on the radio. They bake secret recipe beans in the ground overnight and then raise them the next day to serve them. Fun! There's also the Majestic Pines Art Festival, and I love the shopping in that whole area. It's going to be a wonderful vacation!