Thanks From the Bottom of My Heart

Look at what a beautiful card my friend Karen Pedersen made! It features the August Stamp of the Month, Baroque Borders,  from Close To My Heart. It seemed like the perfect way to thank all of my followers! I know it's been rough, but thanks for stickin!

(If you want this adorable set, it's only $5 through the end of August with your $50 order. Go to my website to order.)

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Open House and August Specials

It's the dawning of a new era.. or at least a new Close To My Heart Idea Book! It's chock full of A-maz-ing ideas and new products. Come see them at my Open House in South Jordan, Utah on Saturday August 25th from 1pm to 4pm. RSVP to make a fun project with our new #Cricut cartridge, Artiste. It's so much fun, I know you're gonna love it! Birthdays and special occasions will never be the same. (Avonlea artwork by Karen Pedersen.)

Ok, here are the deals and specials for August. Let's get started!
It's In the Bag
During the month of August, when you sign up on my team with Close To My Heart, you can get the very same Avonlea Teal damask bag that was given to the consultants who attended Convention. ADD Moment: And for only $49 who wouldn't?! (See this cute bag at my open house!)
Stamp of the Month
Baroque Borders is a shabby chic set sure to be one of your favorites. The beautiful flourishes are perfect for classically elegant pieces with just enough chic to handle your Gothic Halloween. Can't wait to use this with my niece's bridal thank you's and my Halloween party decor!
The seasons may come and go but they are better than ever! Come see me Saturday the 25th and take home a treat!

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Who Says Girls Can't Do Math?

$495 for only $49
Did that get you curious? I hope so because this is something you will FOR SURE want the scoop on.  This is in addition to the awesomely gorgeous FREE damask tote that Close To My Heart is offering all new Consultants signing up in August.

Here's how my special works:

• If you sign up as a new Consultant and reach $300 in sales in your first 30 days, CTMH will give you $25 in FREE select product credit! 
• If you sign up and reach $1200 in your first 90 days, CTMH will give you an additional $75 in product free for a total of$100 in FREE product of your choice.  No kidding!

To summarize, the moral of the story is: 

o  Sign up for $49

o  Get over $130 in products in your New Consultant Kit from CTMH

o  Then, sell $1200 in your first 90 days

o  Earn over $265 in commission

o  Get $100 in FREE products from Close To My Heart

$49 out of pocket = $495 back in!  I may not be a genius at Math, but even I can see what a rockin' deal that is! And, if I were to get really technical, I guess I could say that you would get $545 (including the $50 FREE tote bag if you sign up in August) for your $49.  To sign up, just go here. You are welcome here!

In the Spirit of Giving

I'll first appologize for being gone so long. Life has a knack of getting in the way sometimes. Between working full time at 911 and chasing a 2-legged-3-year-old-demolition-crew in my spare time, I've been one busy mom! Here are two great Gives- a layout about Christmas and a gift.
I was blessed to get a few spare hours to scrapbook last night (because really, how important IS sleep?) and wanted to share it with you. Since I've been so busy with my two full time jobs ;) I've had precious little craft time and I relished it for the small miracle that it was! I don't foresee it getting better anytime soon, either, as my desk will soon fill with homework and half-finished art projects as school begins in a month. (Crazy SCARY!)
Long story short (oops, too late..) I've been trying to catch all my prints up this year and clean the last straggling layouts-to-be out of my stash. I made the best decision ever last year to use Studio J, Close To My Heart's online scrabook software, to do the bulk of my layouts this year so I could scrapbook stress-free and get it done in a snap! Still loving this decision!

This is the second thing I've been working on: a quilt for my youngest son. One of the many crazy endeavors I embarked on this spring to get myself some mad homemaking Skillz. (I know, I never start small. Wait till you see my other project!)
I took a quilting class with my mom in March based solely on a whim to walk through a little quilting shop I hadn't been in (age deleted...) since I walked through as a little girl with my mother. Incidentally she doesn't quilt either.
I saw this quilt and had to have it! I have three boys and knew they would dearly love it! I decided to give it to my youngest who doesn't have a quilt of his own and you'll never guess how much whining and pandemonium THAT decision caused (or how many new projects I suddenly acquired!)
It's all ready to be quilted and bound now and I'm so excited! This is one of the only craft projects (okay, besides papercrafting) which I've actually finished! (Think the crocheted 12" doll dress from 1986 and... hmm.) Well, anyway, it's not important. This is Convoy from Buggy Barn ala Trish. Hope you can carve out some craft time for yourself (cuz after reading this novel, you'll have precious little) and have a great summer!
Trish

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More Calendar Layouts

Making these calendars for Garrett's baby book have been so much fun and I love the way they turned out! Thank you, Amanda Probst for such great ideas! Check out my previous post just below to see some more!

And speaking of great ideas, Stampaganza is ending in just two more days! Take advantage of the most wonderful stamp sale of all time and get a free stamp set for every two you purchase! All sets except custom K size and SOTM (since they are already such an awesome deal) are eligible with this promotion!

If you need some ideas, I shared a little secret with you earlier this month on how to choose the best stamps here. Contact me today (slvrlinin@live.net, 801.910.8698) or shop 24/7 on my website at http://slvrlinin.ctmh.com . Stamps from our current Idea Book as well as the previous Autumn/Winter 2011 Idea Book are still available through July 31st. Amazing!

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Cute Calendars and Fish Lake

Vacation was sure fun but it's great to be back and scrappin'! Felt so nice to get out of the valley and get dirty for a bit (I know, it's a strange way to relax!) We had such a good time and I'm so grateful to have great parents who love to go camping with us! And of course, there were plenty of pictures that I can't wait to scrap. I'll show you a few later this week.

Speaking of scrapbooking, I have been reading this lovely book I recently bought from Creating Keepsakes called "Month by Month Scrapbooking", by Amanda Probst. She's put together some cute calendar ideas plus some monthly themes page ideas.

I got this book because I really wanted to document my pregnancies and baby books this way. Makes sense since that's how I recorded them! With each child I kept a planner or calendar (you can get some great ones from Close To My Heart on my website at http://slvrlinin.ctmh.com ) and I simply wrote down the milestones on the calendar when they happened. Sometimes I wasn't spot on so I just wrote on one of the days that week. With my third child I was really good about it and these are a few of Garrett's pages I made using Amanda's book as inspiration.

Some great tools to help you "fake" it through the blank spots in your journalling are pregnancy calendars. Baby Center is my favorite and they email you a weekly or daily event based on your due date or conception information. They even have an App for smartphones which I loved with my last pregnancy! And with Baby Center, you can keep receiving updates as your child grows! Super helpful for busy or tired moms!

Have a wonderful summer!

Trish

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This Secret's Too Juicy To Keep

As you already know, Close To My Heart as the best stamps in the industry. And, to top that off they are having a WONDERFUL special of a free stamp set for every 2 you purchase. You can read more about that here.

If you are trying to decide WHICH STAMPS you should purchase, I have a SECRET for you. You may want to choose some stamp sets that will be retiring as of July 31. They will no longer be available after that date.

To help you out, I have listed below those stamp sets and have made each of them links that take you right to the stamp set so you can see it and even put it in your shopping cart. You're welcome (ha!). The set you see pictured here used on this darling layout is one of the sets that is going bye-bye. Darn! I'll miss him!

The sets below with an asterisk (*) next to them are sets that coordinate with our wonderful Art Philosophy Cricut Cartridge. You can see when you click on the link that the stamps that coordinate have an outline around them. When you receive your sets, they will also have the outline around them as well as a measurement of what size to cut that image on your Cricut. Cool beans! The sets below that are bolded and larger print are some of my favorite stamp sets, and are sets that I use often.

Here we go:
Instant Memories
Zoology*
Harvest Happiness*
Unscripted*
Sweet Moments*
Key Moments*
All Hallows Eve*
Christmas Cheer*
Countdown*
Snowflake*
Winter Joy
Harvest Home
Thanksgiving
So Grateful
Captured Moments
Fright Night
Party Animal
A Sip
Nature's Gift
Snow Days
Bundled Buddies
Snow Flurries
All Decked Out
A Holiday*
Holiday Cheer*
Adorn-able
A Twinkle
Tannenbaum
Fill in the Blank - Holiday*
I Believe
Father Christmas
A Timber
St. Nick
Glory to God
Angel Sent
John 3:16
The Present
A Flitter
Treasure Life
Party Pennants
Always Remember
Tag The Occasion
Happy Clusters
Joyful Jar
Month by Month
Gnome Garden
A Game
School Rocks
Live Inspired
Childhood Portrait
Christmas Love
December 25*
Card Chatter-Christmas
Everlasting Life
Holiday Commentary
Holiday Commentary-Spanish
Holiday Commentary - French
Say it in Style
A Little Thanks
Authentic
Made With Love
Live Your Style
Save the Date
Save the Date - French
Save the Date - Spanish
Baroque Alphabet
Friendship Alphabet Small
Friendship Alphabet Large
Field Trip Alphabet
Giggle Caps
Giggle Lowercase
Rustic Numbers
Rustic Alphabet

You can purchase these and many other stamp sets on my website , 24/7...and during the month of June, don't forget that for every 2 your purchase, the third of equal or lesser value is FREE! Who doesn't love FREE?

Have a wonderful day!

Trish

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Great Gifts {Video}

This is one of the best things about the Close To My Heart Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge - the endless gift ideas and creativity! The fabulous Art Dept. at Close To My Heart has put this cool vid together to give you some great ideas on how to use your Art Philosophy cartridge and make some wonderful handmade gifts in a snap. Just Click and Like!

Warm wishes,

Cheetos and Trouble {Studio J}

Can you see I love My Reflections Manmade? With 4 boys in the family it seems to be useful for a lot of my photos! And speaking of boys, here are two of my favorite! This two-page layout could easily be turned into 2 separate one-page layouts in Studio J. And I admit I kind of had that idea when I started. But after I placed all my photos and then added an extra journalling box, I couldn't resist adding the title "Two Boys." 

Despite being totally separate events about separate kids, there seemed to be a unity in theme, "What's going on now?" Aidan's page talks about one afternoon where it really hit me how much we had been counting - everything - over the past few weeks. Garrett's shirt says, "Trouble is my middle name." Both sets of photos brought to mind the milestones each child was making at their particular age, and it telegraphed into the journalling. (You can click on the photo and see the enlarged version to read the journalling.) 

Studio J is an online Scrapbooking software and is totally free to play with. Check it out here. You don't have to commit to anything to play, just a user name and password so your projects can be saved for you. This layout can be completed in Studio J in about 15 minutes and can be two one-page layouts or a two-page layout. If you'd like to join my 30 minute online Studio J Class or host a Studio J Class in your home, please contact me (801.910.8698, slvrlinin@live.com). Easy peasy!

Warm wishes,

I Heart Faces Photo Challenge {All Boy}




Out of four boys in the family, it was difficult to pick just one to submit for the i heart faces contest: All Boy. G is definitely the most boy in our family. He is two going on 200 MPH and willing to try anything including a dare by his older brother to go down the big slide at the park. Love that face!

Warm wishes,