What Is Your Why?

That is the question I get asked all the time.  Why do I own and run a scrapbooking retreat, homeschool my children, be active in the church and still feel the need to teach scrapbooking. It is one thing to just scrapbook for the fun of it, to preserve the memories (especially because my brain is forgetting details quickly these days), and to use it as another means to spend time with friends but why teach people and work Close to My Heart as a “business”.  Well, to be honest my time with Close to My Heart has never felt like a business.  Sure I have made money from it, enough to full my husbands dream of owning a boat,  but I LOVE to help other people experience the joy of getting “inky” and getting their photos off their phones and onto papers that more and more people can see, to help them tell their stories and share those stories with more people and to give them something that generations to come can look at and learn more about their family that was ever shared before.  

Recently my family had the opportunity to watch two young girls as their parents went out of town. While they were with us, I thought it would be fun for them both to create the Born to Shine mini album.

Close to My Heart taught several months ago. I had all the supplies and I thought it would fun for them to share some of who they were.  I looked up photos off their mom’s facebook account and photos I had taken previously of their family and they went to work. And they loved it!  They didn’t follow all the directions, they took liberties on how they wanted to do and they made it theirs!  They did what scrapbooking is all about.  Making it yours and and telling your story.  The youngest girl took her book with her every where she went and showed it to everyone she saw.  She was so proud of her creation.  The oldest was a little more private with hers but really poured her heart into and saved it in a special place.

Fast forward about a month later, That same girl (the 2nd one) was selling cookies to raise money for summer camp. I went to her stand and purchased enough cookies for the ladies at the retreat for them to enjoy. I love to pour into our children and help them when they are working for things they want.

This last Sunday I went into church, Father’s Day mind you, and there that same girl stood with a bouquet of fresh flowers and a gift bag.  I was excited to see what she was bringing to her dad but then she told me they were for me - FOR ME!  What?  I was beyond stunned, gave her a hug and went to find my seat, because if you know me, you know I am usually late (it’s not my fault, I run a  retreat, remember ;-)).  Anyway, once I got settled, I opened he card at the top of the bag and this is what it said...

This is what was in the bag...

Later I I found out from her mom that she bought these stamp sets and flowers with her own money, without any help or guidance from her parents. I guess this story is more about bragging on what a good heart she has but it reminded me that this is why I scrapbook and make cards.  Because doing so shows those I love, that I care about them and want to remember and share our stories. I teach young girls how to scrapbook because I want them to know how to do the same and have a fun and creative way of expressing themselves. Her heart and action was beautiful but it reminded me that this is why I scrapbook and teach people to scrapbook, because we have no idea how it will impact someone but it might help them say goodbye to someone they lost recently through pictures and telling their story, it might be to try to capture in pictures and journaling the feelings they had during a vacation or family get together and it may just draw a young child to see another part of herself that is amazing and she can use that to keep pouring into other people.  It is my desire to “pass it on”.  To pass on the stories, the love for creativity, the heart for others and the chocolate chip cookies. :)

What is your why for scrapbooking?

Thank you cards take 2

Here are a couple more cards that I created for the sponsor of my husband's mission trip to the Ukraine.

This first card, I have have shown before but I made a few changes to it.  If you remember this is our Avonlea papers that are currently available.  This card was made using one simple cut from the Artiste Cricut Cartridge.  It folds up in half allowing a note or gift card to be tucked inside.  To make this card a little different, instead of using silver shimmer trip, I used our soon to be released bronze shimmer trim and an Antique Copper Designer Brad in the center of the flower at the top where the card closes. To embellish the envelope, I simple added a strip of paper to the bottom of the closer and added an adhesive backed badge button from the Wrangler assortment.

This second card was used with our retired Cherry-O papers and embellishments.  I made the Chocolate and Ruby cardstock scalloped borders with our corner rounder by taking off the guide and putting the paper flat in the punch instead the corner. We have a new corner rounder punch and a new scalloped border punch coming out in our new Fall and Winter Catalog on August 1st so check back soon to see them.  The new corner rounder will make a more wavy look while the scallop punch will give you more of the look shown here.  If you already have a corner rounder, give this a technique a try in the mean time.  The Thanks a Bunch was stamped using our Thank You stamp set.

This final card I will show you today was made with our current Chantilly papers. I cut two small strips of paper and dove-tailed the ends to make them look like ribbon. I again stamped the sentiment using the Thank You stamp set.  For embellishments, I used a butterfly from our Just Bloom Flutter Paper Shapes.  I love these because you can sponge ink on them for a soft subtle look, rub them in ink for a much brighter look or leave them as they are and they are simple and beautiful too.   I rubbed a little cotton candy ink on the corners of my butterfly to help it stand out a little and put a 3D foam  under it too for added dimension..  Below the butterfly I cut off a small flourish to give a little sparkle and have it look like the trail of the flying butterfly. As a final touch, I added sparkles and Pink Glitter Gems to give the card a final pop.

I hope you liked the cards.  In the next couple days I will post the final cards I made so keep checking back.

Thank You Cards

In my last post I told you that my husband traveled to the Ukraine for a missions trip.  We were asked and he left for Ukraine all in the time frame of only one month!  Because this wasn't something we had anticipated we had to raise support for his trip.   This trip meant so much to us and we really wanted to show everyone our appreciation. I didn't feel like a simple store bought card was enough so I went to work on some handmade cards.  I keep a box of left over scraps of papers from all my workshops to make cards from.  Needless to say, I don't get to make many cards due to time constraints so my box was overflowing and gave me plenty of options :).  Many of these papers are retired, some are not, but I think they all turned out well.  What do you think?

This first card, I made with just a simple white card base from our value pack and stamped the chevron pattern from the In the Background stamp set with Honey ink three times in the middle of the card. I then placed a simple lagoon strip of cardstock in the middle with a large White Daisy Paper Flower in the center. In the middle of the flower, I used one of our Irresistible flowers, colored with honey.  I love our Irresistibles because there is always a resist pattern on them that will not allow the color to be picked up giving you a dimensional look that was easy-peasy.   On top of that, I added a lagoon flower from the For Always Accents.  The sentiment "Sincere Thanks" was stamped using the Card Chatter - Sympathy stamp set.

I also wanted to dress up the envelope so I simply added another Chevron stamp, this time stamped in lagoon.  You can see the envelope peaking through behind the card.

 If you like the look of the Irresistibles, watch this video that Close to My Heart recently made, showing you some other wonderful things that can be done with them.



During the next couple days, I will give you a close up view of the other cards as well.  Keep checking back!