Life is Better in Flip Flops!

In celebration of summer time and cute flip flops, check out this cute banner. I can't take credit for it. I totally stamp lifted it from my wonderful friend Ginni Candelaria. Yea for summer and Yea for creative friends who inspire us!

Close to My Heart Convention Recap/Retiring Products

Now, that I'm a little more rested from my week in Dallas for the Close to My Heart Convention, it's time for a recap of some of the fun had there. First of all, can I say I'm still on creative overload? There are always so many wonderful ideas and crafting goodness that I leave with my head spinning with all the things I want to create. If you've ever considered being a consultant, the opportunity to attend convention is well worth becoming one. (If you've considered it, let's talk--it's less expensive than ever to sign up). Here's just a few quick snapshots of some of the ideas featured at Extravaganza, a day of wonderful classes. And they are all made with new product that will be in the new Close to My Heart Idea Book that goes live August 1st!

 

These pinwheels were made by Victoria Fage with what I believe is going to be one of my favorite new paper packets, Clementine.

Michelle Snyder made this fabulous photo tray. Yes, we have photo trays in the new catalog! I'm very excited about this.

I don't know who made this fabulous air balloon but I LOVE it!

I also don't know who to give credit to for this table of wonderfulness but these are some colorful and gorgeous samples of what the Cricut Artiste Cartridge can do. It has so many fabulous new shapes and themed projects that you are absolutely going to need this one. (I just got mine and am dying to play with it).

And what is convention without fabulous fun? As a Senior Director with Close to My Heart, I was spoiled rotten. First of all, they took all the directors to dinner at Eddie Deen's where the rolls and the steak were a little bit of heaven. And they presented us with a bit of Texas bling.

And on Awards Night, I even got my own star on the Close to My Heart Walk of Fame!

And of course, my favorite part of convention is reconnecting with old friends and making new ones. I absolutely love the camaraderie amongst Close to My Heart consultants. We support one another through thick and thin and the encouragement, generosity and open sharing of ideas is truly amazing.

And I already talked about this fabulous woman (center) in my last blog post. Her convention speech on being enough and capturing the present was inspiring.

If you don't know much about Stacy Julian, you should. Check out her blog at stacyjulian.com and I do believe you will become a big fan in no time.

And of course, there was the catalog unveiling. I can't even go into all the goodness in this new one--home decor items, new colors, new paper, new stamps, new accessories, new Studio J announcements. It is going to take several posts. But I have catalogs now and you can being ordering from this catalog August 1st. Contact me and I'll make arrangements to get you one. You are going to love it!

And don't forget, with a new catalog, there are a few things that have to say goodbye. Close to My Heart will be retiring some paper packets, colors, and accessories. So order today if you still want any of these goodies because as of midnight on July 31st, they will be just a fond memory.

Retiring Colors (so that means all paper, ink pads, and reinkers in these colors will be gone):

Grey Wool

Grey Flannel

Vanilla Cream

Colonial White (ink and reinker only--cardstock will still be available)

Parchment

Brown Bag

Baby Pink

Taffy

Sunkiss Yellow

Key Lime

Heavenly Blue

Lilac Mist

Spring Iris

Amethyst

Holiday Red

Sunflower

Dutch Blue

Moonstruck

Vineyard Berry

Tulip

Garden Green

Petal

Garnet

Pansy Purple

Note:  All markers in all colors will be retiring to make way for new alcohol based markers.

Retiring Paper Packets and coordinating stickease and accessories:

Lucy

Footloose

Superhero

Cruisin'

Typeset

Roxie

Elemental

Sonoma

All current Workshops on the Go will be retiring as well.

Retiring accessories:

Sweet leaf grosgrain ribbon

Bottle Caps

Seaside Wooden shapes

Comic Badge Buttons

Heirloom Assortment

Lots of Dots Dimensional Element Alphabet

My Creations All-sorts Mini album

My Creations Mix n Mingle album

My Creations adorables

My Creations Cube
Craft Tray

I think that is all of it. You can order on my website or call me by the 31st to place your order.

Okay, now I'm off to play! With Stamp Club on Friday, I've got some creating to do. Take care all!

Home from Convention

I just got home last night from the annual Close to My Heart Convention in Dallas, TX and my head is spinning. I am completely exhausted from all the fun and overwhelmed with all the new product (available August 1st) and creative ideas, including a new Cricut cartridge with 700 images (698 new one and a circle and a square). I'll be posting more on that soon.

But for today, I just wanted to share with you one of the most positive experiences I had at convention. Those of you who know me know that I am a huge Stacy Julian fan. I won't go into all the reasons why I love her right now. Just know that she is one of the most sincere, wise, creative, inspiring people I know and I am happy to have met her and spent time with her on more than one occasion. Stacy was the keynote speaker at convention. She spoke to us about being enough, about creativity, about letting go of the guilt and obligations we impose on ourselves. And she spoke to us about being present in the moment. She shared the following video clip with us and it brought me to tears. So today, in spite of all you may have to do, I hope that you will take a few minutes to watch this video clip and then, take a moment to be still. In her own words from her blog:

My message is that time moves so very fast and most of the time we do too. But, we can choose (with practice) to slow down and to savor simple everyday moments. We can pull out our cameras and take pictures and we can live with these pictures and let them work magical things inside of us. Doing so will make us more grateful, more content, more aware and more happy. There is so much that is overwhelming and challenging in life. Efforts to capture and share your memories should be neither.

Enjoy.