Congratulations Debbie Tuggle on your first downline and WELCOME Amy Medina to the flock. Tomorrow is the Flamingo Gal's Quarterly meeting, so after work tonight and after dinner I made up these quick welcome and congratulations cards for Debbie and Amy. Just love this flamingo stamp, there's so much you can do with it. All other products are CTMH.

Ahead of schedule......woohoo.......I can't believe I finished my contest entry 2 days ahead of my personal deadline.


And the first thing I did was clean my room. What a feeling, clean, clean, clean.

Do you see what I don't see, that 6x4 folding table is out of my room!!!!

What a GREAT feeling. Now, I can get started on all the wonderful projects and cards I have been wanting to do for months. Imagine this, a card maker can't get out birthday or holiday cards, what's up with that? Now, I'm going to stock up......for sure.

Paper Crafting is Fun

Mother's Day Bouquet Cricut Cartridge is so much fun. I've seen so many posts with projects made with this cartridge, I just had to have it. I found this great wooden flower box at the Dollar Tree and wallah.

Products used are all Close To My Heart unless otherwise noted:

Mother's Day Window Basket

• Background and Borders Stamp Set D1463
• Tag the Occasion Stamp Set B1362
• Connections Stamp Set D1330
  
• Sophia Level 2 Paper Packet X7131B
  
• Pink Collection Pom Pom Ribbon Z1384
  
• Hollyhock Ink Z2128
• Tulip Ink Z2166
  
• Olive Ink Z2137
  
• Garden Green Ink Z2120
  
• Glitz Glitter Gel Z1313
  

Folk Art Wicker White Paint used to white wash the window box.
Floral Foam
White paper Lollipop Sticks (at Micheal's)

This delightful gift card set makes a great gift for any Mom or a special friend. Now, I love Close to My Heart, but I also love other great quality products, you know there are a lot out there. This is a idea I got from my Stampin Up friend Grace Benjamin. I used many SU sets to create this project, yet I stuck with CTMH paper and inks, they are the best.

Products used:

6 Gift/Greeting Cards and Box

• Chocolate Ink Z2111
  
• Black Ink Z2105
  
• Topiary Ink Z2155
  
• Vineyard Berry Ink Z2157
  
• Sponge Daubers Z726
  
• Distressing Stipple Tool Z1298
• Chocolate Card Stock X5643
  
• Colonial White Card Stock 1388
• Score Pal
• Petite Pink Silk Roses distressed with Vineyard Berry Ink
  

Click on the pictures for close ups.

More close ups


After making these wonderful girly girl projects I decided to man it up a bit with this masculine birthday card.

Products used:

Masculine Birthday Card

• Picture This Stamp Set D1448
• Happy Journey Stamp Set D1428
• Wonderful Friend Stamp Set D1422
• Enjoy Life Stamp Set C1439
• Simple Memories Stamp Set D1472
• Spot On Backgrounds Stamp Set D1280
• Chard Chatter Birthday Stamp Set D1475
• Foam Tape Z1151
  
• Dessert Sand Ink Z2118
  
• Cocoa Ink Z2114
  
• Barn Red Ink Z2104
  
• New England Ivy Ink Z2135
  
• Watercolor pen 1771
  
• Parchment Marker Z2342
  
• Barn Red Marker Z2304
  
• Basic Assortment Buttons Z1358
• Clear Assortment Buttons Z1391
• Natural Hemp Z280
• Mocha Opaques Z1333
  

My sweet little Reese had surgery yesterday, so I'm home tending to my little girl. FYI for all you dog owners out there, Hooves are not good for any dog, no matter what size. Last week when we took our 2 dachshunds and our rottweiler to the vet for their annual check up, Reese and Jasmine (the rottweiler) had broken their upper molars and exposed the nerves. Now, Jasmine must of done this some time ago and the nerve had died so she wasn't in any pain and since she is 10 years old we decided to just watch her instead of having the teeth surgically removed. Reese on the other hand has been sick for the past few weeks and seemed to have trouble eating and chewing her treats. The broken teeth explained everything, and we scheduled the extractions for yesterday morning.

I just can't believe I could get so upset about my doggie having surgery, you would of thought it was me having the procedure, and my husband, OMG, he was totally out of control. I dropped her off at 7:45 in the morning and was under the impression that she would be done right away and that I could get her at Noon, at 10:30, I called the vet to see how she was and was told she had not had the procedure yet and they would call me later with an update. So here I sat for 4 more hours worrying and stressing about my little girl. At 2:30 I got the call, she is fine and I can pick her up in an hour. What a relief, I called Todd right away. When I got to the vet there she was all doped up and wanting her mommy. For the rest of the day, I give her water with a dropper and some wet food with her daily dose of pain medication. My little girl never left my side all afternoon and evening. This morning when I woke up, here comes Reese out from the covers with here whole head swollen, poor girl. She seemed fine for the first hour, but then she started crying, only wanting to curl up in my arms, I couldn't leave her sight without the crying starting again, after about 2 hours I finally got her settled down. Here is my little Reese totally exhausted from this experience. I can only hope she forgets this experience soon and if she remembers any of it, that she only remembers how much her mommy loves her and how I was here for her every moment of every day.

Please no hooves for your puppies, they are too hard and do so much damage. I hope this helps many pet owners.

To blog or not to blog, so I blog.....I realized I haven't been posting much paper crafts lately, but I am still here. I've been up to my eyeballs in some serious scrapbooking since early February and its crunch time. As a Close to My Heart Consultant I am attending convention this year at Disneyland in California and I have decided to enter the Scrapbooking Contest.

Consultants who enter the contest have several design components to apply to their entries, and with that being said, I AM NOT A SCRAPBOOKER.......I make cards and altered projects, so this decision has been a challenge for me. I've had to apply my paper crafting skills to a much larger work space and I've had to use different techniques and products that I would normally not use. I must say, my thoughts that a scrapbook page is just a "large card" has completely gone out the window.

Just look at my room, I actually get a sick feeling when ever I walk past the door. The mess is driving me crazy, but it will be well worth it once I mail this baby out. The deadline is May 27, 2011, my personal deadline is May 1, 2011 and I'm glad to say that I'm on my last layout and that I need to complete the journaling for one of the pages and I"M FINISHED.

The finished product will be shown on my blog after Convention in July.

And before I forget, Charmin you are the winner of the Stamp Set from my collection. Please email or call me so we can make arrangements.

Hop is Here......

Yep, its true Hop is here and is now an official new addition to my flower and vegetable garden. He's been mostly in my side yard for the past week, but today he has made his home in my vegetable garden. He dug his burrow and has been placing his food in there all morning. Let's just hope he can get along with my puppies. He seems really tame, the pictures are not zoomed in, this is how close he let me get to him.

Rejuvenation

All I can say is, here I am......On the edge of a total melt down, I took a well needed break and I must say, it was worth it. I have been non-stop since I have been home. Here are some great spring projects I created for my Card's Plus Club this month. First, is a treasure box...for that someone special this spring, it can be used for Easter, Mother's Day or any occasion. Supplies used are CTMH unless specified.

First, the the wood box is from my local dollar store, just when I think I've seen everything they have, they surprise me again. This is a wood box with a magnet too keep the lid closed for a buck!

Heartfelt Treasures Stamp Set
Mayberry Level 2 Paper Packet
Sophia Stamp Set
Cocoa Ink
Olive Ink
Goldrush Ink
Honey Ink
Crystal Blue Ink
Smoothie Ink



Next.....this really cute Easter Card. While I was sitting at the Beach Bar in Hawaii, I noticed these really cute coasters in the shape of an Easter Egg, so I took about 20 0f them. My friend Chris is a bartender there, and of course I asked first......


even on vacation, my mind was working.....There's just something about easel cards, I love them and there are so easy to make.

Picture This Stamp Set (exclusive to consultants, Convention 2010)
Mayberry Level 2 Paper Packet
Olive Ink
Chocolate Ink
Cocoa Ink
Chocolate Marker
CTMH ribbon


and......my Cricut machine and a flower punch. I also used this really cute chocolate bunny stamp from Stampin Up and some other Easter wood stamps I had on hand.


Now, I made a third project, but I can't show you...why? you ask....well I'm attending Convention for CTMH this year and I've decided to enter the Contest for the scrapbook layout. This month's project for my gals used an idea that I used for my contest entry and I'm not going to share until after convention. As it gets closer to convention, I'll share my journey and maybe some sneak peak pics.

Aloha and Happy Spring!!!!!!