SOME INSPIRATION FROM STACY JULIAN.

I went to a Close to My Heart team meeting yesterday in Salem, Oregon and some of the other consultants talked about some highlights at the 2012 annual CTMH convention held in mid-July in Dallas, TX. One gal talked about Stacy Julian and her inspiring speech at the convention. I love her and her philosophy! She is a a recognized leader in the scrapbooking industry and the visionary founder of Big Picture Scrapbooking (BPS).  I first saw her on ScrapbookMemoriesTV a few years ago (I've recorded all of the episodes!) on our Public Broadcasting TV channel here in SW Washington. She was always on a little 5 minute blip about how scrapbooking should not be so hard or challenging and that you should capture the every day moments in life. She is an AVID picture taker of almost everything! She made it all sound so simple and I thought, yah, yah, YOU make it sound so easy, but for me? no way can I pull photos out of my boxes, out of order yet! and put them together into something simple, fun and memorable!  But..... after listening to the gal speak yesterday of how inspired she was by Stacy, and after looking at her blog and video (mentioned below) I am thinking again about her vision and philosophy and really liking it!

Stacy Julian. Her 7 word bio is: Teach awareness, gratitude, happiness, sprinkled with FUN! Check out her full bio here.

I urge you to go to her website here and check it out. It's very inspiring. She also has another website called Big Picture Classes which you can access here. She teaches classes, on-line, around the world!  I really love how Stacy emphasizes that our capturing of memories should be fun, quick, and easy, and not such a huge overwhelming process.  Her insights have really freed me up to be able to let go of that idea that I have to do everything chronologically and in order. That can just be too overwhelming and daunting when I look at all of my boxes of photos (which doesn't even include the thousands of photos that I have stored on my computer!) and thus, I just never can seem to get started!

Here are some simple subjects that Stacy suggests, and she also urges us to do mini scrapbooks:

1.  Do you remember when?

2.  10 (or 15 or whatever number) things I cherish.

3.  10 (or 15 or whatever number) things I love most about.........

4.  Things that make me smile.

5.  A day in the life of.............. (me, or your dog, cat, spouse or child).

6.  Many faces of............ (me, child, spouse, etc.)

7.  I love chocolate (a little album with all of her photos of her eating chocolate and her travels where she got to try chocolate from different countries).

8.  I love (flowers, rocks, trees, clouds, fences, etc).

She strongly urges to let your pictures tell the story.  You should feel free to NOT have to do everything in chronological order!  That is hard for me but I am going to try.  For example, I was planning to do photo albums for each Christmas for the last 20 years!  ouch... that would take FOREVER (and will probably never get done!)  What I need to do is put a photo or two from each Christmas for the last few years and just highlight the holiday photos in no particular order.  I can make little mini albums that just have pictures of my sons' funny faces, smiles or peculiar ways they dressed!  .... or maybe a mini album of pictures of my sons together... again, no particular order.

I URGE YOU to watch Stacy's video that she just posted on her website entitled Time Can't Stand Still, But You Can.  This was played at the Close to My Heart Convention and it is AWESOME! She has taken favorite photos of her and her family (out of order) and assembled them with the help of her friend, Hilary Weeks' inspiring song, Stand Still. She has put together a beautiful story of her family's precious moments, taken from many different dates and places. (The little Korean girl in the photos is a little girl she and her husband adopted several years ago).  She writes: "My message is that time moves so very fast and most of the time we do too. But, we can choose (with practice) to slow down and to savor simple everyday moments. We can pull out our cameras and take pictures and we can live with these pictures and let them work magical things inside of us. Doing so will make us more grateful, more content, more aware and more happy. There is so much that is overwhelming and challenging in life. Efforts to capture and share your memories should be neither."

Let me warn you, this video will bring tears to your eyes, but is well worth watching!  I can see now how a variety of photos, from all places, dates and of different people, can be combined into one wonderful memory book!  I am SO INPSIRED by Stacy Julian!

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CHRISTMAS IN JULY - LAST PERFECT PAIR SPECIAL!

Here is the LAST Perfect Pair special papers for the July campaign AND THEY'RE CHRISTMAS PAPERS! As usual, order $75 in products, (on July 30th or July 31st) and you receive either the Believe paper packet and Holiday Pockets, or the Wonderland paper packet and My Stickease assortment for FREE! This is a WHILE SUPPLIES LAST special and you do not get to choose which design you get. It's a grab bag gals! but how fun and both paper sets are BEAUTIFUL! 

BELIEVE paper packet with Holiday pockets (below).

3 felt pockets (also red and green) each with a printed chipboard tag.

Here are some BELIEVE projects that you can do using your Cricut die-cutting machine - how darling is this paper???!!!!

Here are the Wonderland papers - yummy blues, silver and chocolate.

Wonderland My Stickease Assortment.

Some Wonderland card ideas.

 Hope you have been able to take advantage of the July Perfect Pairs special campaign.

HAPPY CRAFTING!

ONLY 3 MORE DAYS UNTIL NEW IDEA BOOK!

I am SO excited and can hardly wait for you to see the new Idea Book! It will be online on my website here on August 1st!  Here is another sneak peek of one of the pages!

Look at the DARLING stamps!  There will be new black tulle ribbon too!

And a new NATIONAL STAMPING MONTH campaign is coming up starting on August 15th!  I'll be posting that special soon.  HAPPY CRAFTING!

2012 FALL/WINTER IDEA BOOK SNEAK PEEK!

Here it is! I promised a little sneak peek of the Fall/Winter 2012 Idea Book. Here is one page showing a layout using 3 of the LUCIOUS, YUMMY, DELECTABLE GORGEOUS La Belle Vie papers! Wow and double wow. There are 2 each of 3 double sided designs, and 6 12x12 card stocks colors (it's a secret!) Shown here is also one of the new My Acrylix stamp sets entitled "Jardin" that will be available - ON AUGUST 1ST.

The new Fall/Winter 2012 Idea Book will be on my website here on August 2, 2012.  Can you hardly wait?  

If you place an order in August of $35.00 or more, I'll send you the new Fall/Winter 2012 Idea Book for free!  It's just like one of your favorite magazines, that you will look through over and over again, and tag the pages until it's worn around the edges.  As a consultant, I have mine early!  You will LOVE all the new ideas and projects!

FIRST CLASS!

I had SO MUCH FUN at my first card class that I gave on July 17th at my sister's house in LaPine, Oregon! We made some cards using a design that I learned from my mentor, Lynne Christopher at popandwowcreations.com.  These cards are so fun and easy and can be made with 4 basic paper pieces on the front.  I've put instructions for sizes of the paper pieces, embellishments, etc. down below the pictures.  We had such a fun time! and I LOVE the Pemberly papers, so did the gals taking the class.  You can view great how-to and inspiration videos here at my website for techniques and other projects.

Sweet little card with organza ribbon on the top, a piece of my old lace and the flower I made myself with the dark blue papers.

 

Here is a close-up of the flower I made. See instructions below.



Used the Milepost Shapes Z1464 and sponged with a little Moonstruck ink.



More organza ribbon (so pretty!) and Life is Tweet stamps S1206.



Used liquid glass on the bird's wings and cut out the bird using one of the cute Life is Tweet stamps (S1206) and used the 3D tape to make it stand up on the card.

Used the Bohemian Assortment Z1687 lace and button and made my own "buttons" with glitter in the middle.  We also used brads or jewels in the middle of the buttons.

BASIC “4 PIECE ON FRONT” CARDS - INSTRUCTIONS

These cards are 5-1/2 by 4-1/4 using CTMH X1410 Colonial White Value Pack.

FOR 1 CARD                                                                          FOR 5 CARDS

Cut papers as follows:

(1) 2”x2” – either plain or small print – this is           (5) 2"x2" squares

                   the square that holds the embellishment

 

(1) 2-3/4”x2-1/4” – larger pattern for front center    (5)-2-3/4”x2-1/4” pieces

 

(1) 1-1/2”x2-3/4” – cream or light to stamp              (5) 1-1/2”x2-3/4” pieces

                                      sentiment on

(4) - 1” circles – dark or plain colored (cut more     (20) – 1” circles 

                          if you want to use the scalloped look

                          on all cards – cut in half or use whole.                          

(1) 1-1/8”x3-3/4” strip of different color than the    (5)  1-1/8”x3-3/4” strips

                          two center pieces

(1) 7/8”x3-3/4” strip of dark or plain that is             (5) 7/8”x3-3/4” strips

                        different than the two center pieces

Look at the pictures of the cards and follow the layouts.  Each side strip is a different size so BE SURE to lay all pieces down first, before gluing.  There should be a ¼” border around the whole card of the card color (cream for these).

Use embellishments freely! The circles can be used whole, or cut in half to use as scallops down the sides.  On the Congrats card, I crumpled the circles up, then laid them flat and sanded them, to look like little buttons.  I used glitter glue in the middle but you could use jewels.

The large blue flower on the Hooray card, I cut a 2” scalloped circle (using a punch), and a 1” circle (using a punch) and then cut the center circle “by eye” and cut it by hand so it would be a size between the two.  I then crumpled them up (what fun!) and laid them flat and sanded the edges heavily, then used a brad to hold them together. I glued the whole flower on with adhesive tape. For the gold organza ribbon across the top, I cut three pieces about 8” each, and first tied a simple knot in one piece and left a longer tail.  Then I tied that tail to the next piece, and tied the next piece with a simple knot to the third piece. Trim to fit.  Glue the ends down with a little bit of adhesive tape.

For the Thank You and birdie card, I used the corrugated Milepost Shapes Z1464 and sponged moonstruck ink lightly on each one.   The little birdie on the birdie card, I used a stamp from the Life is Tweet S1206 Stamp of the Month for June 2012 and stamped it with moonstruck ink, then cut it out, and put some Liquid Glass in the wing area. I adhered it with 3-D stickup tape.

The Thank You card circles down the right side, I cut 1” circles from the Pemberly B&T paper that has the six sided designs on it, kind of a honeycomb pattern, so using a 1” circle punch, you get these neat little flowers.  So many papers can be used in this way!

For all cards, I distressed the edges of the card plus most of the paper pieces, with either coca or moonstruck inks.

Have fun making these cards!  They are so versatile and you can lay out the 4 pieces in many different ways, plus put the embellishment square anywhere you wish.  

SWEET SOPHIA JULY SPECIAL.

This is my FAVORITE one of the July Perfect Pair specials! well almost... I do LOVE LOVE LOVE the Believe papers available on July 30 and 31. But I'm a pink and green girl and always have been! The Sophia paper packet and My Stickease assortment are ONLY AVAILABLE FOR FREE with your $75 purchase from July 26th through July 29th. THESE ARE WHILE SUPPLIES LAST ONLY. See my post dated July 22nd for the particulars on ordering and how you can also be able to receive the July Stamp of the Month, Live out Loud for just $5.00!

22 papers in all! 2 each of the 6 different B&T (background and texture) designs, 4 white, and 2 each of the green, light pink and dark pink.  Yummy!

 Happy crafting!!

MAYBERRY FOR ME!

Hi all!
Has been busy for me this month, with posting all the specials, checking out the new items that are in the new Fall/Winter 2012 Idea Book (and oh boy are they awesome!), and preparing for my first card class. It was so much fun!... at my sister's place in LaPine, Oregon.  I will be posting the cards that we made.  We used the beautiful Pemberly papers.

Also, for your information, here are the "perfect pair" special papers and embellishments for July 21-25 which you get FREE ($17.90 value) ONLY July 21 through the 25th with your $75.00 order. I love this Mayberry paper pack and love the stripes and argyle looking pattern. And look at the gorgeous plain colored card stock that you get!  These packs contain 22, yes 22 papers! 2 each of the 6 two-sided B&T papers, 4 colonial white, and 2 each of the smoothie (pink), olive and cocoa. And I'm thinking, how great would some of these colors be for Christmas?? Yes!

These are adhesive stickers - 2 sheets.

And here are two darling scrapbook page layouts courtesy of Tamytha Jenkins at her Paper HeARTIST blog.  She is so talented!

Look how different a layout can look when using more plain colors.

If you'd like this particular "Perfect Pair", just place a minimum $75 order on my website between July 21st and July 25th and you will be prompted to add these items to your order for free.

Also, PLEASE REMEMBER:

1) The "Perfect Pairs" are while quantities last, so order early in the availability window to increase your chances of getting the combo that you want.

2) Once your order reaches $50, you can add this month's Stamp of the Month set for $5 which is "Live Out Loud" which you can view here.  That $5 will count towards the $75 requirement needed to qualify for the FREE "Perfect Pair".

If you have any questions about this promotion or anything else, please EMAIL ME and I'll be happy to answer them. 

See my next post for some new Idea Book SNEAK PEAKS!

 

LUCKY PERFECT PAIR 7/16-20

Here are the papers and embellishments for the July Perfect Pair campaign! Lucky papers and matching assessories are yours for free with a qualifying $75 order! How neat is that! Get these Lucky papers WHILE SUPPLIES LAST. These are so pretty with the blues, greens, soft oranges and beiges.... would be great for vintage cards and scrapbooking. These are available for purchase from July 16-20 only.

You can go here to my website to get the product number for this combination pair.

More to come regarding all of the new Idea Book additions!  Happy scrapping!

NEW IDEA BOOK PEEK!

Wow, I'm so excited!! The new Fall/Winter 2012 Idea Book is here (almost) and I've had a sneak peek!  You can start ordering from it on August 1st! I have been so looking forward to this new Idea Book.  I think you will LOVE so many of the new things that Close to My Heart is offering for the Fall and holiday seasons.  I can't even BEGIN to tell you about all of the neat stuff, so will start with a peek at the August Stamp of the Month. It's called "Baroque Borders" and it is the scrolly dark blue that you see on the scrapbook page below. You will be able to see the stamp set in detail on August 1st.  At that time, the new Idea Book will be on my website here  and the Stamp of the Month set is at page 139.  And like all Stamps of the Month, it is only $5 with an order of $50 or more from the Idea Book.  This is a $17.95 stamp set for only $5.00!  This offer is good from August 1-31, 2012.

Here are the particulars for the above styled scrapbook page:

Available August 1–31, 2012

Get the Stamp of the Month set for just $5 (S1208A) when you place an order of $50 or more in products. Jump-start the fun by ordering the items from the list below to create this artwork! You’ll find helpful assembly tips at my Online Business Address under Promotions.

Avonlea Paper Packet ($9.95, X7155B, Autumn/Winter 2012 Idea Book p. 18)

My Creations® Display Album ($7.95, Z1054, p. 132)

Slate Exclusive Inks® Pad ($5.25, Z2173, p. 9)

Whimsy Exclusive Inks® Mini Pigment Pads Set ($19.95, Z2500, p. 9)

Sparkles Clear Flourishes ( $4.95, Z1708, p. 127)

Slate Satin Polka-Dot Ribbon ($4.95, Z1802, p. 124)

RECOMMENDED BLOCKS: 2” μ 3½” (Y1009), 4” μ 5” (Y1012)

More peeks to come over the next few days.

Oh...one more thing... here is a picture of the new Idea Book cover.  I love it!

 

Lotsa love.... Marilyn

SUMMER AND FOXGLOVES.

I think summer has finally decided to show its face in SW Washington! I am a happy girl! Of course, that means getting out the camera. I just love taking pictures of all the beautiful flowers around here and on our property.  Here are the Foxgloves that are wild and growing in our pasture.  We complained a few years ago that we didn't have many Foxgloves on our property, although they grew like crazy everywhere along the sides of our roads, so we went up into the mountains and dug up a bunch and planted them in our flower bed by our garden.  The next year, only one or two came up and we were really disappointed!  But now, 3 years later, they have reseeded themselves into our pasture and I just love to go out there and stand and look at them.  Mother Nature sure came through on these "wild" flowers.

What beautiful "weeds"!!!!

Mixed with the dandelions and daisies.

 Wouldn't these be gorgeous on some photo cards?  I'd better get to work! 

 

23 DAYS LEFT TO GET THESE PAPERS!

There are so many things going on at Close to My Heart these days!  The big convention is coming up on July 12th that everyone is so excited about.  And the new Idea Book comes out on August 1st!  I just wanted to let you know that I just found out that only 4 of the paper packets from this Spring/Summer 2012 Idea Book are carrying forward to the new Idea Book which comes out in August.  The 4 packets carrying forward are:

Stella  (very pretty - lots of chocolate brown, turquoise, dark peach and greens)

Pemberly  (SO GLAD this is carrying forward - navy blues, yellow and creams - yummy!)

Victory  (great colors for camping, outdoors, camo, blues, browns and dark greens)

Florentine  (GORGEOUS - so glad this will be around for awhile)

NO MORE OF THE FOLLOWING PAPERS AFTER JULY 31ST! (of course, they may pop up sometime in the future as a special, and they will usually all be available in the Studio J digital program):

Lucy -  (boo hoo... I LOVE this one - all pinks and greens with a little yellow)

Sonoma -  (boo hoo... I LOVE LOVE this one with deep purples and deep greens - see the card I made in the right side bar)

Footloose -  (may be gone already! beachy theme with aquas and yellows and creams)

This is the Workshop on the Got kit which is $29.95. It may be all that is available now.

Cruisin' -  (may be gone already! very cute papers for travel and vacation photos and cards-maps, argile, black, blue, gold)

This is the Workshop on the Go kit which is $29.95.  It may be all that is available now.

Super Hero -  (may be gone already! HURRY and get this one if you have kids who love those super heroes! or guys???)

This is the Workshop on the Go kit which is $29.95. It may be all that is available now.

Typeset - (nice vintage flair)

Elemental -  (primary colors)

Roxie  - (very pretty blacks, beige and peachy rose colors - I need to get this one!)

So if you want any of the above papers, be sure to order them BEFORE. Some may already be gone or only available in the Workshop to Go kit, but if you put in an order, you will be told if the papers are no longer available. You can search for the paper name on my website under the "Shop" tab at the top. I assume that most of the My Stickease sets that match the above papers will also not be available after July 31st, but that remains to be seen in the new Idea Book.  I can hardly wait!