Album Retreat Coming Soon!!!

 

Album Retreat 2013

July 25th - 28th 2013

Join me for a retreat to remember!  A retreat where the soul purpose of the retreat is YOU!

Come experience 3- full days of pure creative bliss as you immerse yourself in the latest Close To My Heart products, unique layout patterns, and innovative art techniques.

How's this for a little enticement: During the retreat we will begin and COMPLETE an entire album -  10 double page layouts plus a cover page using our newest papers and embellishments while practicing several unique techniques throughout your layouts.  All papers will be pre-cut allowing for faster assembly and more time to spend on techniques and making your layout the way you want it.   Feed your creative juices, and soul, with a big blast of creativity, friendship, and relaxation at Album Retreat 2013.

Now for the details:

Cost:

Basic Registration for the Retreat is $200 which includes your cut papers, album, and basic supplies needed to complete the album.  There are many more items that will be needed to complete the album, but many of them you may already have on hand.  Click here for a complete list and order form of all the remaining items needed to complete the album. Only order the items you do not already own. E-mail me your completed order form and I will send you an invoice for your balance.  Again, all items will be needed to complete your album. 

Hotel:

We will be meeting and the beautiful Drury Plaza Hotel in Cool Springs, TN from Thursday, July 25th at 6pm to Sunday, July 28th at 4pm.   Attendees will receive the discounted hotel room rate of $129.95/night plus tax.  Click here or Call 1-800-325-0720 for Close to My Heart Heather Hicks Album Retreat group number 2179940 to reserve your spot.  Album retreats are a blast when you share a room with a friend or two and giggle all night :)  Reservations must be made by June 30th to guarantee the rate and availability.
Attendees who stay at the Drury Plaza will receive:

• FREE Hot Breakfast - "hot" means fresh pancakes, scrambled eggs, biscuits and gravy, sausage and more.
• FREE 5:30 KickBack  - from 5:30 to 7pm each evening, kick back, relax and enjoy the rotating menu of hot foods and cold beverages.  It's a meal to fill you up.
• FREE Long distance - one hour every room every night.
• FREE Wireless Internet Access - High speed internet in all the rooms, scrapbook/conference room and lobby.
• FREE Soda and popcorn - from 3pm to 10pm every night in the lobby.

So, what are you waiting for.  Sign up now to join me for a relaxing weekend full of fun, laughter, scrapbooking and so much more!

Click Here to go to my blog and register for Album Retreat 2013!

Cricut Party - Wise Old Owl!

Whether you use one Cricut^®-cut piece or several, you can create cute party favors and decorations using your Artiste cartridge. Combine your Cricut^® pieces with unique stamping techniques and you have projects that will knock your guests’ socks off! Want some recipes and tips for how to make this adorable artwork? Below are instructions for creating two pieces from the “Clearly the Best: How to kiss—with stamps” episode. Combine the Cricut^®-cut pieces for these projects with the kissing stamping technique taught in the video, and you have a stellar 3-D item! Want to learn more about the kissing stamping technique? Watch this video

Recipes and Tips

Party Banner
Stamp set of your choice
X5668 Honey Cardstock
X5764 Pear Cardstock
1272 Cranberry Cardstock
Z2197 Pear Exclusive Inks^® Pad
Z2163 White Daisy Exclusive Inks^® Pad
Z1751 Baker’s Twine Harvest Assortment
Z1311 1¼” Circle Punch
Cricut^® Shapes:
Artiste
1″ Shift+3D Object (cut 56, p. 57)

Art Tip! This banner only uses one type of Cricut^® shape, but the finished product is still stunning. Use stamp kissing to randomly stamp across the pieces using the stamp set of your choice. Score with the help of the Cricut^®-cut score lines on the shape and piece together to create little globes. Tie together with baker’s twine and voila!

Owl Miss You Bag
1385 White Daisy Cardstock
1292 Crystal Blue Cardstock
X5668 Honey Cardstock
X5930 Slate Cardstock
Z2162 Honey Exclusive Inks^® Pad
Z2117 Crystal Blue Exclusive Inks^® Pad
Z1349 Shimmer Designer Brads
Z1752 Sparkles Clear Assortment
Z1311 1¼” Circle Punch
Twist Ties
Thread
Cricut^® Shapes:
Artiste
4½” 3D Object (p. 77)
4½” Shift+3D Object (cut 2, p. 77)
1″ Shift+Accent 2 (p. 51)

Art Tip! This project uses many Cricut^® shapes and all the pieces coordinate so nicely for an adorable finished product. Use the Artiste assembly booklet to put the bag together and then add the embellishments. The feathers are created with punched circles that are stamped using the kissing technique; however, if you don’t have the circle punch, you can easily make these using the Cricut as well. The eyes were created using Shimmer designer brads, but you can use any large brad or button to create the same look. Finish with the “owl miss you sentiment” for a special touch.
Don’t have the CTMH Cricut Cartridges?  The wise ole owl says- Click here for more info!

New Items on Sale

Here are some awesome new items for sale on my website that have just been reduced!  Shop here to order yours now before they are gone.  They are sure to sell out quickly!!! 

My Originals® Sweet Surprises Card Kit
Z1731 $8.00

Bouquet Assortment
Z1694 $1.50

Color-Ready Arbor Wooden Shapes
Z1765 $2.00

Foundry® Number Plates
Z1712 $1.25

Stella Complements Canvas Shapes
X7147C $1.50

Urban Felt Alphabet
Z1695 $1.50

Foundry® Ribbon Slides
Z1460 $1.00

My Legacy Writers® Black Pen Set
4275 $9.00

Parlor Velvet Rub-Ons
Z1742 $1.50

Haunted Assortment
Z1741 $1.00

My Creations® Banner
Z1378 $2.75

Wooden Designer Buttons
Z1387 $1.50

Mini-Medley Accents Black Collection
Z1393 $1.50

Milepost Shapes
Z1464 $1.00

Boutique Assortment
Z1763 $1.50

Buttons Clear Assortment
Z1391 $1.25

Scroll Album and Accessories
X9999 $12.50

Newsprint Rub-Ons
Z1388 $2.10

Flirty Complements Dimensional Elements
X7160C $1.50

Mischief Level 2 Paper Packet
X7144B $2.50

Mischief Paper Packet & Midnight Felt Shapes
CC10181 $4.00

Midnight Felt Shapes
Z1462 $1.50

Superhero Complements Rub-Ons
X7152C $1.50

Roxie My Stickease® Adhesive Sheets
X7140C $1.50

Canvas Badge Buttons
Z1397 $1.70

12" X 12" Snapease™ Album System
Z4110 $1.25

Two Weeks, Two Complete Albums!!!!

Yep, can you believe it!?!  Going to the Album Retreat a couple weeks back, we created an entire album in only 3 days!  It was an amazing experience and I can’t wait to share with you all that we created but I am still waiting for some of my pictures for the layouts to come in so I will post those layouts as soon as I can. 
However, can you believe then in  two evenings, less then 6 hours I had my album completely finished from our trip to Cancun!?!  I decided the best way for me to remember everything and be able to get it all down in my album was for me to scrapbook it quickly which meant digitally – using Studio J.  Now for those of you who are a true, traditional scrapbooker – let me tell you – so am  I!  I love using the papers, ribbons, stamps, cutters and whooo don’t forget the bling – love the bling!!!!  But, sometimes I want to get an event done before the time passes and I forget many of  the special memories or funny little tidbits that made us laugh.  With kids, homeschooling, church and lots of other events, my life is usually in high speed so it’s hard for me to scrapbook events during the same month, or sometimes same year, as they happened.  I’m sure that never happens to you – LOL! 
So – here is a peak into out trip to Cancun:






Beautiful wasn’t it.  I honestly have to brag on Studio J with these layouts. Last year Close to My Heart came out with Express Collections in Studio J.  These collections are theme related and make scrapbooking as easy as it can get.  It is pretty much a drag and drop option to scrapbooking where the layouts are completely created for you and you drop your pictures in, add your journaling and Viola – you are done.  You can add additional embellishments, journaling blocks, change titles, colors, and more if you want but you don’t feel like you have to because the layouts are completely gorgeous already.  You can pick one layout from the express collections or use the whole album.  I created my layouts from a few different albums, whatever I needed to get the look I wanted.
If you like the idea of digital scrapbooking but you want to make it completely yours, without the layout completely created for you already, Studio J still has their original line, with more and more papers and layouts added throughout the year.  These layouts give you maximum flexibility letting you choose what papers, layouts, colors, embellishments, font, etc. – everything to create your own layout but completely from your computer.  AND no matter what option you choose, the double-page layouts are only $6.95!!!  Now – that definitely can’t be beat!  Check out Studio J  for yourself.  Happy Creating!!!

Hello from Cancun!!!

Well it has been a very busy week.  Last week started me off in Utah for Close to My Heart’s Album Retreat getting me back late Sunday night and leaving Monday night for Cancun!  It’s been a busy time but an absolutely wonderful time too!  Both trips have been amazing!!!

In my last post, however, I was telling you about the Album Retreat and I wanted to give you a closer peak into my weekend.  As soon as we arrived and were registered, we were ushered in to our event and immediately received another gorgeous shoulder tote.  This is the same bag we received at Convention last year but I absolutely love this bag. It has a vinyl cover to help keep it clean and fits my album, cutter and even my laptop for Studio J scrapbooking too!  I love it so much, I even brought it to Cancun with me for my carry on bag!  Anyway, back to the retreat – lol! . 

Inside the bag was all this wonderful product including a zipper down CTMH jacket, Black Scrapbook Album, 8 different stamp set, a ton of embellishments, and on and on.  I know this picture doesn’t do it justice to show how generous corp. was to us but it was the only picture I had time to take before they started us out on our first project! 


As a special gift during one of our late night crops, we also received this cute little stamp set design my Jeannette Lynton, founder of Close to My Heart.  She made it specifically for the Album Retreaters.    The wording says “Friends make memories and the Heart preserves them.”  How cute is that!!!  We were also supplied with a package of our cute My Creations small paper pouches (Z1827) so we could create the following cards and gift bags. This was perfect as I always include a small card inside my kids lunch during our coop days, and being out of town on their next day, I wanted to make sure I had my cards ready before I left.  This helped me get things together ahead of schedule.  For the boys, I made a couple just like below but stamped in Pacifica blue  to make it a little more masculine .    Just a little hug from mama as I was out of town.  I probably should have made some for the grandparents who watched the kids while we were away .

2013 Close to My Heart Album Retreat Rocked!!!

Wow!  What an amazing trip this weekend was!  I was blessed to be able to go to Utah for the weekend to take part in an amazing, scrapbook filled weekend, hosted by Close to My Heart staff for their consultants.  This was a closed event, for consultants only  - I just love being a CTMH consultant!!! 
The Album Retreat was exactly what it sounds like, one weekend to create a complete scrapbook album. The theme – me.  Now, I have to confess that I didn’t know what the theme of the album was going to be about when I signed up for the retreat – I was just ecstatic that I was going to be able to participate in an album retreat from CTMH.  I have always heard awesome things from everyone regarding the past album retreats and I knew I didn’t want to miss this one if I could help it.  Once I heard the theme, I was a little nervous – I mean who ever scrapbooks about themselves.  We scrapbook about our kids, our husbands, our trips and travels, just about everything else but never ourselves!
The homework started rolling in (homework  -i.e.., what we want you to do to prepare for the retreat) and I was having to find pictures and journal about my favorite things, people, best friends, spaces, colors, etc. – WOW,  was that tough!  I think this had to be one of the hardest projects I have worked on in a long time but the end result – AMAZING!!!
Over the next several posts I will share some of the things we received and created, people I saw, what’s going on with Close to My Heart and so much more but until this check out this cute gifts I received as soon as I arrived.
This is a picture of a lanyard that one of my roommates made out of our For Always Textiles.  The beautiful flowers were made using our paper flowers, sparkles and Black Tulle Ribbon.  Isn’t it gorgeous!!!

Kristine Winfield from our corporate office, recently did a video on the Textiles and how to use them. You can watch it below.


If you would like to try the Textiles – you can get some here on my website.

Heather shared an Instagram photo with you

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