Happy Birthday My Love {Studio J}

This page is dedicated to my man, my main squeeze, my partner in crime, Brandon. Yeah. I know he's not pictured here. (He hates his picture being taken.) This is what he gets to wake up to every day.. one perfect princess, one tough guy an adorable baby and ... the three year old. (Garrett :)

He's an amazing man to deal with these crazy kids (did I mention Garrett is THREE?) and keep this household running like a well-oiled machine while I am working all day. The amazing thing is he's still sane *mostly* and he loves them all to pieces. Happy birthday to the best Daddy and Husband ever! I love you so much and I am so privileged to spend this life with you now and forever!

(This page was a particularly difficult morning for the then-two year old, Garrett. These pictures, taken by Brandon, perfectly captured the feeling of getting up too early because Aidan was just a little too loud waking and couldn't resist getting his brother up to *help* with breakfast. You gotta love it. One day we will. Right? ~Lol)

Page created in the Studio J Online Srapbooking suite here using My Reflections Roughing It.

Summer Means Disneyland Right?

Ok, not for us this year, but for many families, summer vacation means a trip to the great unknown ..or a more beloved tradition like Disneyland. While we are not going again this year (need to wait until Colt gets a few years on him!) we can easily reminisce about the wonderful trip we had as we finish creating our Disneyland album from December 2010 in Studio J. We took the family to California for our Christmas present to each other and it was one of the best things we have ever done for our loved ones! I highly recommend it if you get the chance (though the traditionalist in me had a hard time with 70s and no snow in December!)

Before we get to the next layout though, let me quickly tell you the best thing ever: It's Stampaganza time at Close To My Heart! I know! Isn't it just fabulous?! For every 2 A, B, C, D, or E-sized stamp sets you buy during the month of June, you can get a third of equal or lesser value FREE! You heard it, sistah! Stop on over to my website to shop 24/7 or contact me (801.910.8698, slvrlinin@live.com) to put you down! LOVE IT! Okay, now back to the creatin'!

I just have to say, one of the very best attributes of Studio J (aside from it's ease of use for beginners to scrap-masters) is that you can use any kit from the past few years, even if they're retired. Route 66 couldn't have been more perfect for a trip to Radiator Springs!

All of these layouts were created very quickly using the preexisting template provided for in the kit pattern. If you want to customize, you simple click on the Embellishments tab and toggle off the embellishments on the page. This will "hide" those ready made-ready placed buttons, metals and ribbons that come ready to color on each and every kit. I love the freedom you have to do it your way - fast, easy or fussy!

Have a great summer vacation somewhere (even on your own back porch) and photograph it!

Warm wishes,

June Specials and Stampaganza!

I just couldn't contain my excitement this morning, so here's my second post of the day featuring all of the fabulous June specials! (Scroll down or click here to see my earlier post.)


There are three fabulous things happening this month with Close To My Heart:


1.  Stampaganza
2.  Play Dates
3.  June Stamp of the Month

I know the cat's out of the bag on the first event, but read through because they all will knock your socks off! What a great way to kick off summer vacation!
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1.  Stampaganza:  

From June 1-30, purchase any two stamp sets (sizes A, B, C, D, or E) at full retail price and receive a third stamp set of your choice FREE (of equal or lesser value)—a savings of up to $29.95!

Stamp sets that count toward the qualifying purchase include full-priced A, B, C, D, and E sets only. Stamps that do not count toward a qualifying purchase include customizable (K), Workshops on the Go™, Cricut^® collection, and Stamp of the Month (both discounted and full-priced) sets.

CTMH stamp sets truly can't be beat in quality or style.  

You can contact me at 801.910.8698, slvrlinin@live.com to take advantage of this special, or you can order on my website 24/7!

2. July Play Dates:  (Photos below are courtesy of Karen Pedersen).  Here is a great way to get 3 beautiful 2 page layouts of  your Workshop On the Go kit. Join Play Dates in June by purchasing the kit ($31.55 before shipping and tax) and signing up for a class {in person or long-distance} in July. Now the bonus is, with a 10 month commitment you will receive a FREE $25 shopping spree from the current Spring/Summer 2012 Idea Book from me!  $25 to spend however you'd like. Not too shabby!

We will be making three beautiful 12" x 12" layouts with the Stella Kit in July. You can see the photos of those layouts at the bottom of #2 below.  

Dates to choose from in July to attend in person are:

A.  Saturday, July 7 from 10 am - 1 pm

B.  Friday, July 13, from 7 - 10 pm

Or you can participate long-distance.

Here's how Play Dates Work:  

Each month we use one of the 'to die for' Level 2 paper packs as well as other accessories to create three two page 12" x 12" layouts. Trust me! You'll love it!

There are two ways to attend:

1. You can watch my monthly emails (please email me at slvrlinin@live.com to be added to this list) or posts on my blog about Play Dates to see what we are doing the next month and to call and order your kit and sign up for a specific date and time.

2. You can join Play Dates for a 10 month commitment. You still get at least 2 dates and times to choose from each month. The difference is that when you join you will get a FREE CLOSE TO MY HEART SHOPPING SPREE in one of your 10 months. This month will be assigned to you when you join. Most shopping sprees average between $40-$100 in free product.

Either way you choose to attend, the following information is pertinent:
*You are required to purchase the Basic Kit, but are welcome to upgrade to the Better or Best Kits, or just to pick and choose things from them to add to your Basic Kit. Basic Kits are usually approximately $30-$33 (before shipping and tax). You purchase the month before for the following month and then your kits are here waiting for you when you come. For instance, you would buy your July kit in June.
*You are always welcome to purchase additional items from the Idea Book, but are not obligated to in any way.
*If you sign up and for some reason can't attend, you will still get your packet and cutting guide and there will be pictures on my website that you can look at to complete your layout on your own.

A few Benefits to joining Play Dates:
*You will have the option to host your own gathering with your friends during your Shopping Spree month if you would like to. This will help you get an even bigger free shopping spree.
*You will get each new Idea Book one month before everyone else.
*If you are a member during December, you will get a special Holiday gift from me.
*You will never miss out on hearing about a Close To My Heart special.
*You will have the opportunity and excuse to have at least one evening or morning out per month with your girlfriends.

Contact me to take advantage of this special (801.910.8698, slvrlinin@live.com).

Layouts we are making in the July classes (feel free to click on any photo to see it larger and in more detail):

3.  June Stamp of the Month:  You'll love this fun and flirty stamp set filled with 'tweets' and more.  

This set (valued at $17.95) is yours for only $5 when you spend $50.  If you call me to order, I'll be sure to remind you about this special. If you're ordering on my website, once you spend $50, you'll be prompted to add it before you check out.

Warm wishes for a fabulous summer!

It's Stampaganza Time!

It's the most wonderful time of the year! (Hey, isn't that a line from a popular Christmas song?!) YES and while it isn't Christmas just yet it sure feels like it! This is one of the ABSOLUTE best campaigns by Close To My Heart and it only happens every other year or so. So DON'T miss it!

Our June Constant Campaign, Stampaganza, starts today at 9:00 am (MDT) sharp and continues through June 30. Throughout the month, you can purchase any two stamp sets (sizes A, B, C, D, or E) at full retail price and receive a third stamp set of your choice FREE (of equal or lesser value)—a savings of up to $29.95!

So now is the time to get those Alpha Sets you've been holding out for, or the sets that you have sitting on the waiting list. Because who can pass up FREE?!

Go to my website now at http://slvrlinin.ctmh.com or contact me by email (slvrlinin@live.com) or by phone (801.910.8698) to get your free stamps! You'll never look back, I promise!

Warm wishes,
Trish

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Becky Higgins: even kids can do this

even kids can do this. « Becky's Blog

Saw this on Becky's blog. The note from 14 year old Katharine of Colorado is patricularly touching. Smell the roses.

Warmly,

Trish

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A Jack of All Trades {Studio J}

This is a fun paper kit that is for Studio J members only. I love its spunk and find so many uses for the numbers and simple black and white crossword paper. Because I was planning my journalling over the pattern paper on the second page, I wanted something a little more neutral but comparable to the look of the crossword, so it would match the photos. I found a fix in the green colored plaid background and texture paper. Now, I didn't want green in all my black white and red photos, so I changed the color of the pattern paper to black and voila! A perfect complement to my black cardstock base and Cranberry accents, and it's still light enough for the journalling to be legible. This feature is one of the things I love about Studio J and why I think it makes it such a versatile tool for anybody with any level of skills. In fact, you can read a quick how-to on the Studio J blog here.

This layout takes about 15 minutes to complete and you can get it plus 4 more layouts like it for free this month when you purchase a Studio J 5 pack during February's Constant Campaign. That's 10 layouts for the price of 5! You don't have to make new ones - you can just add some completed projects to your cart and then apply your 5 Pack code. To get your code, contact me today!

Warm wishes,

My Valentines

It's always a fun time when the cousins come to visit! This year, their parents went on a romantic getaway (how would that be?!) so the kids came to stay with us for the weekend. We celebrated with some heart shaped pizza and had a wild time playing games!

I had fun playing around on this layout, myself! My favorite things to customize are the fonts. By making the word Valentine in its own script, it adds a romantic flair suitable for the holiday and subject matter. Now, put the V in its own text box and make it significantly larger for additional flair. I also changed the font color in the journal box to Colonial White so you can see it over the dark cardstock background. (Use this trick on your photos and Complements My Stickease, too!)

Christmas in March

... sort of. Last year for Christmas we gave my parents some tickets to Les Miserables. The company was going to be on tour here in Salt Lake and of course I wanted to go (it's one of my favorites). Mom wanted to go. It seemed like a good excuse for a Christmas gift! Sadly, I thought I had reserved seats in December - and hadn't. So when the announcement came that the tickets were on a pre-sale - I ignored it. I had my tickets. Well.... no. It was terrible, but by the time I figured it out I had missed the window of opportunity, they were sold out. Ugh. There goes my awesome gift and awesome evening with Mom. 

Luckily, Mom being Mom, she was willing to *settle* for Riverdance, lol. It just so happened they were detouring through and I was able to secure some seats for us. Dad wanted to go, too. Ok, so maybe he felt a little obligated (Brandon bowed out with the excuse he's seen it before - believe it or not, he has. LIVE.-but redeemed himself when he agreed to watch the kids).

My Mom used to work for Ballet West before I was born and always loves going to the theater - no matter what kind. We had so much fun telling tales about all the shenanigans behind the scenes at Capitol Theatre. We laughed about the artistic director's wife, Mrs. Christensen (Mrs. C, as she was known by the company), and how she always had to sit in the Orchestra section right under the spotlight in the center. That way when the lights went up for the curtain, she was perfectly highlighted.

All in all, no matter the venue, we had a great evening - even Dad! (You can see the text of the page by clicking on the image to enlarge it.) Date night with the parents. Who'd have thought?

Warm wishes,

PS- Don't forget you can get 10 layouts for the price of 5 all through February! See more about that here.

Tuscany with My Sweetie

You got to see the photos on my personal Facebook page in November, but now check out the finished pages. For Mom's birthday, the whole family met at the local upscale joint, lol, for a very nice dinner to celebrate all Mom does for us. With a large family, she never gets to see everyone together, so it was the best present! Thanks to my sister-in-law Holly and Dad for coming up with it. If you want to read the story behind the Bro-Staches, see it here.

This is another quick layout you can make using the Roxie kit in Studio J. The kit comes pre-loaded with the papers as they are and I added 2 copies of the My Stickease scroll along the left side picture to add some sophistication and ambiance to match the location. It didn't start out as a particularly romantic Date Night, but since we so rarely get to go on date nights, I'll take what I can get! This kit is retired in paper, but you can still create with all of the papers and My Stickease online in Studio J. As you can see, it doesn't have to be Valentine's Day to scrap the one you love!

Warm wishes,

It's Elemental

Silliness, that is! In celebration of the Studio J 5-pack deal this month, I created this layout in 15 minutes to show you how awesome Online Scrapbooking is using our My Reflections Elemental paper kit! Whether you need to catch up (a year or ten...) QUICK, like the ease of dragging and dropping your digital prints into a beautiful scrapbook layout or don't have the room to have your very own scrapbook room complete with overflowing shelves of items you've never used (but look VERY PRETTY on  the shelves) then Studio J is for you. Take a look-see on my website to see if it works for you. You can make this layout or any others-as many as you want- and never buy until you're ready to print! If you want to print - then go HERE to get February's awesome special - buy 5, get 5 FREE! It's Elemental.

Now here's a great tip. You can make this cool layout for members only to use as the "bookends" of your book! The family photo was taken for our Christmas cards last year and can go in the last page of my 2011 Album. The right layout is a picture of the kids on New Year's Eve banging their pots and pans on the porch at 0' midnight hours! 

This layout is called "No Limits" and is basically 2 12x12 photographs. I wanted the family picture to stand on it's own, but for the 2012 opener, I added some My Stickease from the Elemental kit and some text. Totally custom digital photo! I have so many plans for this kit. You'll have to stay tuned to see some of them later this month in Colt's baby book!

This layout works well at making 12x12 enlargements for DIRT CHEAP as a Studio J member and I am going to mount my kids' photos on a 12x12 artist canvas to hang on my wall in my hall - something I've wanted to do for EVER. With Studio J, you can even add their names and ages in any of our 60 color fonts and edit your photos all at once. Liven it up with some My Stickease from your favorite kit like I did for the 2012 page. This layout has literally NO LIMITS to your creativity. Learn more about becoming a Studio J member and all of the fabulous benefits (hint: 50% off every order!) by calling, emailing or texting me today!

Warm wishes,