The Final Countdown

Okay, those of you who remember the 80's may be humming this song in your head as you read this. Consider it your soundtrack for today's post. I watched Pitch Perfect last night with my family and as a result, this song and more than a few others are also running through my head today.

Anyway, there is a reason for the song reference. We are only days away from the release of the new Close to My Heart Spring/Summer idea book and that means we are also only days away from certain products retiring once and for all. Please see my December 21st blog post for retiring products. Don't miss out on that stamp set or darling embellishment that you absolutely have to have because you failed to get it by January 31st.

We are also on the final countdown for the Whoo's Your Valentine special. The remaining supply is very limited so if you still want one, place your $35.00 order today on my website or give me a quick call of email so you don't miss out. Remember, it is just $10 with a $35.00 order and it is well worth it.

And we'll begin counting down to Valentine's soon. Here is a Valentine countdown that I created using the stamp set from Whoo's Your Valentine. It was inspired by a Heidi Swapp Valentine shadow box. I just added a couple more envelopes cut with my CTMH Artiste Cricut cartridge, used Close to My Heart products, and made it into a countdown instead. The plan is to write nice things down on the back of each number that my family can do to show how much we love each other.

This XO heart is one of my favorites in the set.

This little owl rivals the XO heart as my favorite though.

And that is all for today but that is a lot! So don't miss out. Get your retiring items and your Whoo's Your Valentine kit as soon as possible and reserve your copy of the new 2013 Spring/Summer Catalog! It is fabulous!

Crunch Time

Me, in my favorite pink coat, contemplating the Bean.

I am behind. I spent the last week in Chicago for work which was actually quite fabulous but has put me behind on everything (including work). I returned from Chicago and after a very brief interlude with my family and timeout for church on Sunday, spent the weekend holed up in my scrapbook room creating for a swap due this week. I can't even tell you how many movies played through my DVD player while I was working ("You've Got Mail" played through three times--love that movie). I have yet another project for my Close to My Heart Kindred Spirits group this weekend (name that book) which will be taking up the remainder of my evening after dinner. At some point, I will breathe, sleep, catch up on some DVR'ed TV, finish my latest book and create something fun without an associated deadline. Well, maybe I'll do at least a little bit of that.


But in the interim, here are a few creative ideas from past deadline crunches. Enjoy!

Speaking of crunch time, the Whoo's Your Valentine promotion is almost sold out! If you want one, order quick!

Living With Our Photos

I firmly believe that scrapbooking is about more than applying pictures to paper and throwing on some buttons, ribbon and embellishments. It's about more than journaling the who, what, where, when and why. Scrapbooking is about spending time with your memories, about taking a moment to reflect, to ponder, to smile or to cry.

For years, I have kept all of my pictures in chronological order in albums so that when I needed to find the 1998 Disneyland trip, I knew right where to look. And when I have scrapbooked the photos that tugged at my heart at the moment (or matched the great new paper I just bought--admit it, we've all done it!), they were carefully placed into color coded albums. When we finished my scrapbook room, my husband built a shelf at my request that ran along the top of two walls. The shelf was pretty and was the perfect height to hold my albums. Unfortunately, the shelf was also high enough that I had to stand on a chair to reach any album. But they were safe and they were organized and they were all in my scrapbook room where I could get to them when I needed them so all was well, right? Wrong. It has bothered me over the years that the people I was recording all these memories for really didn't have much opportunity to look at them. Out of sight, out of mind.

Recently, my husband and I revamped my home office. In addition to my Close to My Heart business, I work as an account manager for a company out of Chicago from my home. For two and a half years, I have worked in a corner of my dining room on a creaky antique drop leaf table. Knowing that this room would never officially be a dining room, it was time to get a real desk and some office storage. And one of the things I wanted was book shelves, book shelves that I could put my photo albums on so they were easily accessible to everyone (including 5 ft 2 in me). And so, thanks to Ikea's Expedit shelves, my photos are now in my home office. And you want to know the best part about it? Within an hour, I walked by to see this.

This is exactly what I was going for.


Need some help with photo organization? Check out Stacy Julian's Finding Photo Freedom class on BigPictureClasses.com. She does it yearly and this year's class starts in February. It's well worth the time and money if your photos are overwhelming your life. Or buy her book, Photo Freedom. When I discovered her book and later her class, she not only refined some of the things I was already doing, she took me to the next level.

National PaperCrafting Month

January is National Paper Crafting Month and in anticipation of Valentine's Day AND the new Spring/Summer Catalog that releases on February 1st, we have a special for you. The Whoo's Your Valentine kit is absolutely fabulous.

It comes with all you need to make 12 of these adorable Valentine's. For the stamp set alone, it is well worth it. I absolutely love that owl!

Check out the video below for more details. With a $35 purchase in January, you can get the kit for just $10.00. It truly is a bargain. And check out my post from December 21st for the retiring product list. Now might be the perfect time to load up on retiring product and qualify for the Whoo's Your Valentine set at the same time.