It has been a very busy month.

Wow, I finally have time to post, sorry I don't have any pictures to go with it.  Once school got out I thought things would slow down, but not for me.

I have yard work and now the strawberries are on, we picked 3 large bowls this morning.  I still have to plant the rest of my garden, Squash, watermelon and potatoes.

 I just got back from McChord AFB, I went up there with Steve to learn about Retirement and how the system works.  They took enough information to fill two weeks and crammed it into 4 days.  We learned that we don't know how to build a resume or how to write an accomplishment statement.  There was lots of great information, but not as much as we were hoping for on the VA benefits.  We did soon realize we have a lot of work ahead of us for the next six months.  We were told about a website called LinkedIn, it is a networking site where you sign up for free and then link with everyone that you know and they can help you find a job.  I signed up and found several groups that I want to be involved in, and several people that I know.  You should check it out.

I am so excited, I just sold my first Item on Etsy.  I have had several items listed since March 21st, so this was awesome to find in my email this morning.

Well I have to run some errands and put the Rolodex in the mail and then back to the yard work.

Happy Scrapin',

Janice

Card Class in The Dalles this Saturday!

I have been working on my cards for my class this Saturday.

This is one of my cards.  

I would love to show you more, but I have lost my Camera charger and I can't take any more pictures until I find it.

Happy Scrapin',

Janice

Jordan had his 6th grade Promotion on Thursday.

Jordan plays Clarinet in the band, he is in the center.

  Jordan was one of several students who received the President's Award for Educational Excellence.

He also received a letter from the White-house and a Pin with the Presidential seal.  To be eligible to receive this award, they have to maintain a 3.5 GPA or better all year.

Here Charlie is putting the pin on Jordan.

I am so proud of Jordan, he has been on the Honor Roll all year long, 

despite all the medical issues he has had this year.  

He gets to go to Middle School in the Fall.

Watch out Baker Prairie!!!

On Wednesday, Dawn, Tiffany and I made 78 Boutonnieres for this celebration.

This gives me something to scrap, so watch for it in the coming weeks.

Happy Scrapin',

Janice

Rules of Hailey!

#1 Do not let your cat eat your flowers.
#2 Don't let your cat ride a bike and run over another cat.
#3 Don't let your cat eat your toilet paper and not get it back.
#4 Don't let your cat eat your twinky.
#5 Do not let your cat eat your favorite Elephant toy.
#6 Do not let your cat bite your fingers hard enough so you have to go to the hospital with the cat still biting your fingers.
#7 Don't let your cat eat a fire fly in the car.

Just wanted to spread some laughter with you all.

Happy Scrapin',

Janice

Floods and Tornado relief fund

You & Me Stronger Together kit.

Many of you have asked us if there is something we(Close To My Heart) could do to support those affected by recent severe weather in the US, and we've also had requests to extend the availability of the You & Me scrapbooking kit offered during the month of May. We've combined those two aims into a single campaign called You & Me: Stronger Together, to raise funds for the survivors of the severe storms that have pummeled the Midwest and Southern states.

During the month of June, order a You & Me Scrapbooking kit, which Includes:
1 – My Acrylix® You & Me Stamp Set (D-size) a $22.95 retail value by it's self.
1 – 12" × 12" Colonial White Cardstock
6 – 12" × 12" B&T Duos® Papers
(New! Cardstock-weight)
1 – 6" × 9" You & Me Irresistibles™ Chipboard
Die-Cut Sheet
1 Yard – Chocolate Stripe Ribbon
1 Package – Opaques Mocha Adhesive Gems
1 – Instruction Guide
Featured Colors: Chocolate, Crème Brulee, Olive and Smoothie for only $15 US/ $16.50 CAN (a retail value of $34.95/$38.95), and a portion of the proceeds will be donated to theAmerican Red Cross 2011 Floods and Tornadoes relief operations. The You & Me: Stronger Together campaign will continue until June 30 at 11:59 pm (MDT) or while supplies last.  To order the kit call me 503-708-6889, or send me an email jwilson@bctonline.com.

You recently helped Close To My Heart raise $80,000.00 for Japan!  Thank you for your help.

If you have any questions please call me 503-708-6889, I will be happy to answer all that I can.

Happy Scrapin',

Janice

Studio J® Free-for-All!

During the month of June, Close To My Heart is giving everyone a free Studio J JPG file- no purchase required!  Simply log on to Studio J, create a layout, then order one JPG file of your layout.  It's as easy as that!  Download and save your file so you can post your layout online (blog, facebook etc), email it to family and friends, or print them.

If you have a Studio J or MyCTMH account, just log in and start creating.  If you don't have an account, creating one is easy.  You can access Studio J here.

I love how easy it is to use Studio J.  Creating beautiful layouts is fast and simple.  You can do more creative things with Studio J layouts too, such as adding additional photo mats while creating the layouts or embellishing them with bling once you have them printed. 

You can create and immediately purchase your layouts, or you can save them for later completion and purchase.  I love this part.  I have lots of digital photos hanging out on my computer waiting to be printed.  When I upload them to Studio J, I can resize them.  That is one thing I struggled with when printing out my pictures first then scrapping them later.  I normally printed everything in 4x6 then when I got around to scrapping them, I wished I had made some larger. 

Studio J requires no purchase or tools other than an Internet-connected computer. Studio layouts can be created quickly for the time-challenged and have many flexible options for artists who want a custom look. Plus, Studio J makes it easy and affordable to print multiple copies of the same layout, perfect for giving to friends and family, as awards for team members, and more.

Studio J lets you choose from many of your favorite current and retired classic kits as well as kits exclusive to Studio J. All the same B&T Duos papers and My Stickease^® found in a classic My Reflections kit are available within the corresponding kit in Studio J. However, in contrast to classic papers, studio papers give you the option to change the color of the monochromatic sides of the paper to any color in our 60-color palette. The software allows you to add distressing and embellishments as well as edit your photos, allowing you to adjust the photo’s brightness and contrast, saturation, sharpness, etc. Studio J even has tools to brighten teeth, erase wrinkles, soften blemishes, remove red eye, and more

Discover how quick and simple scrapbooking can be with Studio J- and get your FREE JPG layout in Free-for-all June!

If you are curious about Studio J, give it a try in June- the price is definitely right :-)

So what are you waiting for go check it out.

Happy Scrapin', 

Janice

Ancient Civiliztion Celebration.

This time Jordan and his class mates studied Roman and Chinese civilizations and had the celebration.  Jordan chose to dress up like The Jade Emperor 

AKA -  Budah. 

During the celebration Mr Bartsch (who retires this year) plays a game of Jepary and the students have to give the answer in question form.  They are broken into for color teams, Red, Blue, Green and Yellow.  He calls   one person from each team to answer the questions then they keep the question card to help keep score.  After they play about 15 minutes they send one of the teams out into the hall to set up their Museum or display.  The rest of the teams continue to play until the museums are ready to veiw.  Then the three remaining teams go out into the hall with clip boards in hand.  They have to ask all of the students who have the museums at least 3 questions and write down the answers before returning to the game.  Each team takes a turn to show their museums.  

Here is the back of Jordan in the costume I made last night.

 Jordan writing down the answers to the questions he just asked.

 Here is Jordan's poster display of the Jade Emperor.

Jordan answering questions about the Jade Emperor.

Grandpa and I went this morning to help where ever we were needed and while we were waiting Steve(Grandpa) decided to draw a dragon on the chalkboard from one of the displays from the back counter. 

 Here Jordan is answering a question from Mr Bartsch.

 The dragon completed.

You should have heard the students when they saw what Grandpa was drawing.  They were so excited.  Steve thinks it could still use a lot of work.  

After the games are all done and they finish with the museums they get to feast on some wonderful food this time it was Chinese food.  They usually get the food donated but I didn't hear who donated it this time.  We came home for lunch so I didn't get any good pictures of the food or the students.  

Dawn and I made paper Fortune cookies.  Which we were told that the students took one of before getting their real Fortune cookies.

This is the center piece that Dawn made for the table.

Dawn and I made the Koi kites that were hanging . 

Steve brought some old coins for the students to look at.

Charlie and I made the fans to hang on the walls.

The students have so much fun and really look forward to these events, which last most of the day.  

Most of the items we had to work with were Chinese, so I spoke with Home Depot about making some columns for the school to keep for these events.  Of course that will not happen till next year but then we won't have to work so hard to find things we need for these events when Zack goes into the 6th grade in 2 years.  We also have Mary and Hailey following close behind.  

I hope you enjoyed my story about the days events and will come back soon to see what else I have been up to lately.  

Please look at the rest of the posts from today as I have made about 4 posts just today, ok tonight or this morning, what ever you want to call it.

I hope to get back to stamping as soon as I finish the dragonflies for my SIL.  I will share those too when I  get them finished.

Happy Scrapin',

Janice

You & Me Stronger Together kit for Floods and Tornado relief.

Many of you have asked us if there is something we(Close To My Heart) could do to support those affected by recent severe weather in the US, and we've also had requests to extend the availability of the You & Me scrapbooking kit offered during the month of May. We've combined those two aims into a single campaign called You & Me: Stronger Together, to raise funds for the survivors of the severe storms that have pummeled the Midwest and Southern states.

During the month of June, order a You & Me Scrapbooking kit, which Includes:
1 – My Acrylix® You & Me Stamp Set (D-size) a $22.95 retail value by it's self.
1 – 12" × 12" Colonial White Cardstock
6 – 12" × 12" B&T Duos® Papers
(New! Cardstock-weight)
1 – 6" × 9" You & Me Irresistibles™ Chipboard
Die-Cut Sheet
1 Yard – Chocolate Stripe Ribbon
1 Package – Opaques Mocha Adhesive Gems
1 – Instruction Guide
Featured Colors: Chocolate, Crème Brulee, Olive and Smoothie for only $15 US/ $16.50 CAN (a retail value of $34.95/$38.95), and a portion of the proceeds will be donated to the American Red Cross 2011 Floods and Tornadoes relief operations. The You & Me: Stronger Together campaign will continue until June 30 at 11:59 pm (MDT) or while supplies last.  To order the kit call me 503-708-6889, or send me an email jwilson@bctonline.com.

You recently helped Close To My Heart raise $80,000.00 for Japan!  Thank you for your help.

If you have any questions please call me 503-708-6889, I will be happy to answer all that I can.

Happy Scrapin',

Janice

Hailey Graduated from Preschool today.

Wow!!!   Hailey will be going to Kindergarten in the fall.  

Jo and Hailey have been best friends since birth.  

Jo is 2 weeks older than Hailey.  Their Mother's are also best friends.

Mary, Jo and Hailey.

Teacher Jamie and Hailey with her Preschool Diploma.

Hailey and Jo enjoying a treat after Graduation.

Jo and Hailey again.

 Jo, Hailey and Brody. 

They have so much fun together, it is sad that they will all go to different schools in the fall.  

I hope we can set up some play dates for them to be able to stay close.  

Happy Scrapin',

Janice

Studio J® Free-for-All!

During the month of June, Close To My Heart is giving everyone a free Studio J JPG file- no purchase required!  Simply log on to Studio J, create a layout, then order one JPG file of your layout.  It's as easy as that!  Download and save your file so you can post your layout online (blog, facebook etc), email it to family and friends, or print them.

If you have a Studio J or MyCTMH account, just log in and start creating.  If you don't have an account, creating one is easy.  You can access Studio J here.

I love how easy it is to use Studio J.  Creating beautiful layouts is fast and simple.  You can do more creative things with Studio J layouts too, such as adding additional photo mats while creating the layouts or embellishing them with bling once you have them printed. 

You can create and immediately purchase your layouts, or you can save them for later completion and purchase.  I love this part.  I have lots of digital photos hanging out on my computer waiting to be printed.  When I upload them to Studio J, I can resize them.  That is one thing I struggled with when printing out my pictures first then scrapping them later.  I normally printed everything in 4x6 then when I got around to scrapping them, I wished I had made some larger. 

Studio J requires no purchase or tools other than an Internet-connected computer. Studio layouts can be created quickly for the time-challenged and have many flexible options for artists who want a custom look. Plus, Studio J makes it easy and affordable to print multiple copies of the same layout, perfect for giving to friends and family, as awards for team members, and more.

Studio J lets you choose from many of your favorite current and retired classic kits as well as kits exclusive to Studio J. All the same B&T Duos papers and My Stickease^® found in a classic My Reflections kit are available within the corresponding kit in Studio J. However, in contrast to classic papers, studio papers give you the option to change the color of the monochromatic sides of the paper to any color in our 60-color palette. The software allows you to add distressing and embellishments as well as edit your photos, allowing you to adjust the photo’s brightness and contrast, saturation, sharpness, etc. Studio J even has tools to brighten teeth, erase wrinkles, soften blemishes, remove red eye, and more

Discover how quick and simple scrapbooking can be with Studio J- and get your FREE JPG layout in Free-for-all June!

If you are curious about Studio J, give it a try in June- the price is definitely right :-)

So what are you waiting for go check it out.

Happy Scrapin', 

Janice