Project Inspirations: Fabulous Fabric

Learn how to dress up a scrapbook layout with fabrics from the Chantilly and For Always textile collections from Close To My Heart. These fabulous fabrics are sure to punch up the pizzazz in your papercrafting!

Happy Scrappin',

Janice

Such a Treat

Learn how to create a homemade gift from the heart, personalized down to the very container itself, thanks to Close To My Heart's gift giving products. From muslin drawstring bags to treat tubes, there's a container for your special treats for a special someone.

Hope you enjoyed this little video.  You could give this to Mom for Mother's Day or even for Dad on Father's day.

Happy Scrappin',

Janice

One Sheet Wonder cards - Update

I am teaching a class called One Sheet Wonder.  I will show the class how to take 1 sheet of background and texture or decorative paper and make 15-17 cards from it.  Here is a sample of the basic cards using CTMH's Buzz & Bumble paper pack.

Like I said basic, but look at what I turned them into.

You can find lots of cutting diagrams on Pinterest and other sites, but not all of them have pictures of what to do with the pieces once you've cut them.  I made my own cutting diagram using some of the other ones as a guide.  I am providing all of my attendees my cutting diagram, pictures of basic cards and ideas of what to do to take them to the next level.  This would be a great gift to give someone who loves to send cards to friends and family just because.

I am teaching this class on Saturday,  May 11, 2013 at 10:00 am. The cost is just $10.00  If you wish to take the class or know someone who would like to take the class, please email me at jwilson@bctonline.com for the directions.

Happy Scrappin,

Janice

Pop & Country Concert 4 Vets - Saturday April 27, 2013

The Veterans Court will assist those who have faced challenges in addressing combat-related trauma, and as a result, have entered the criminal justice system for low-level offenses. Approximately 1.7 million American troops have served in Afghanistan and Iraq, and one in five has returned with a mental health issue, the Department of Defense has estimated. Approximately half of those affected have sought help, and about half of them have received suitable care. War-related illnesses can contribute to escalated suicide attempts, arrests, incarceration, divorce, domestic violence, homelessness and despair. The court’s specialized treatment program will meet the particular needs of these veterans. 

Let’s honor our military, 

The men and women who serve, 

Whose dedication to our country 

Does not falter, halt or swerve. 

Let’s respect them for their courage;

They’re ready to do what’s right 

To keep America safe, 

So we can sleep better at night. 

Let’s support and defend our soldiers, 

Whose hardships are brutal and cruel, 

Whose discipline we can’t imagine, 

Who follow each order and rule. 

Here’s to those who choose to be warriors 

And their helpers good and true; 

They’re fighting for American values;

They’re fighting for me and you. 

 By Joanna Fuchs

For more information contact: 
Shauna McCloskey, 
Therapeutic Specialty Courts 
Coordinator 
Phone: 360-397-2431 
Fax: 360-759-6582 
Email: shauna.mccloskey@clark.wa.gov 
For more information on drug and 
veterans courts nationwide, please visit: 
www.allrise.org

You can purchase tickets to the concert here. http://clarkcountyvetscourtboard.org/events.html 

I met a lady today selling tickets to this event and wanted to share the information with you so that together we can help more Veterans.

Happy Scrappin',

Janice

One Sheet Wonder Card Class

Saturday May 11, 2013  10:30 am.

One Sheet Wonder Card Class - 15 cards for $10.00.

I will show you how to take one 12" X 12" sheet of Background and Texture paper (B and T) and cut it so you can make up to 15 cards.  I will have several of my sentiment stamp sets, Ink Tower, Blocks and my Cricut available for you to use to finish your cards. 

Please bring your favorite adhesive, paper trimmer and scissors, you can bring punches, stamps, stickers and embellishments to finish the cards.  We will be using the B and T paper from the New "Dream Pop" Paper. May is National Scrapbooking Month and this is the Special.
Starting May 1st. If you place an order of $35.00 you can get this paper pack for just $10.00.  This picture does not do the paper justice at all.

Here is what you will get;
1 sheet Dream Pop B and T 
4 sheets Cardstock 
15 card bases (White)
Cutting Diagram and print-out of picture below showing the completed cards.

The basic cards will end up looking similar these.
These cards are great for building up your stash, you can keep them simple or embellish them as much as you want.  Here are a couple examples using Buzz and Bumble.  I kept these pretty simple by just adding a stamped sentiment.



















Here I added a stamped image and cut out flowers then added chocolate pearls to the centers.  The Bee and one flower is popped up on foam tape. Then I stamped the sentiment.             





















Here I cut out shapes from the Artiste Cricut cartridge in 2 sizes.  I hand cut two flowers and colored them in.  I cut 4 leaves out from the same cartridge also.  I stamped the sentiment on the Die cut shapes.  I used liquid glass and put clear micro beads on the flower centers. Once the flower centers were dry, I assembled the card. 

       

Here are the 15 cards that I made using the Cutting Diagram.

Please email me at jwilson@bctonline.com or call me at 503-708-6889 for directions. 

Happy Scrappin',

Janice  

Love Your Layout: April 2013

Use Studio J®, Close To My Heart's online scrapbooking software, to create a beautiful layout in just minutes by watching this month's Love Your Layout(sm) video. You'll learn creative techniques on how to add stitching to My Stickease® images, accent with background and texture "tape," and create a slanted border for a lovely layout in the For Always kit. Log in to Studio J to create it yourself while you watch!

I hope you try this FREE online software just to see what it's all about.  Please let me know what you think about Studio J.

Happy Scrappin',

Janice

Creating with Canvas

Learn how to add photos to canvas by using Close To My Heart's My Creations™ canvas display, your favorite photos, tissue paper, and finishing glue.  You can order your canvas' here 

I hope you share your creative canvas' with me, I would love to see what you create.

Happy Scrappin',

Janice

Update on my chickens.

The hens that hatched out in October are starting to lay now and boy was I surprised.  I have 2 Banty/ Cochin hens, one Black and 1 Red, 2 Banty/Frizzle hens that are Red. and 2 Silver Laced Cochin hens and 5 Black Australorp mix hens. They are mixed with Buff Orpington and Ameraucanas.   2 are solid black and 2 have a little color on the front of the neck one almost looks like a Rooster, with the 2 tone feathers on the head and neck, they are reddish orange then she has blood red feathers on her wings and chest.  She is Beautiful.  Diffenatly an Ameraucana mix.
That is a total of 11 hens. I think that is enough for now.

So I have been getting some dark green eggs which is an Ameraucana trait but yesterday I got quite a surprise when I went to gather the eggs.  I only got 5 which was not a big deal, but the size of one was, that poor hen must have hurt laying it.

 The little light brown egg is a Banty egg so it is a little smaller than a regular egg, but the green one in the middle is a normal Ameraucana egg.  the one on the right barely fits in the egg carton and then it won't close all the way.

 When I first saw it I said OUCH!!! Dawn said she had gotten some really big eggs, but I didn't think I would get any this big.  That one egg makes the banty eggs look even smaller.

 I also ended up with 4 Roosters out of the 2 hatchings.

 Miss Mary, my chicken whisperer holding Mr Speckles, who looks like his dad Zeus did.  He is a mix between a Silver Laced Cochin Banty and a Silver Laced Wyandotte.  He is the size of the Wyandotte not the Banty.

 This Rooster is a Black Australorp/Ameraucana mix.  You can see a little bit of coloring in his neck but not much.  He has the puffy cheecks that the Ameraucanas have.  We are calling him Mr. Ameraucana.

 This Rooster is a Black Australorp/Buff Orpington mix.  You can see some buff colored feathers in his neck area. Black Australorp roosters are very tall, they stand taller than my knees, I am 5'2".  The one below has a lot of buff feathers in his neck area and on his wings.  He looks more like what they call a splash.

 I am thinking about selling the roosters, I don't really need any new babies this year.  I can't eat the eggs like I had planned when I first got the chicks so now I am selling the eggs.  Mr Speckles keeps everybody in line for me and makes sure they all go to bed at night, which is nice.

Happy Scrappin',

Janice

30 Ways to Promote Your Blog Posts.

If you are new to blogging or just don't know how to promote your blog this is great information.  Well worth the effort of signing up for some of these sites and most are free to join.  You can decide if you want to get emails from them or not.

I am connected to Facebook, Pinterest, Google +, StumbleUpon, LinkedIn & Networked Blogs.  IO am still learning about this stuff myself and I like to pass on great information.  I guess I will be sending some of my posts to Amazon and a couple others.

I hope this helps some of you, who, just like me don't know where to go.

I have watched my blog grow by leaps and bounds then just drop to hardly anything.  I want to get more followers and actually hear back from followers about my content and artwork.

I found this information on Facebook and shared it on  my page.  Here is the link to Launch Grow Joy.com http://launchgrowjoy.com/30-ways-to-promote-your-blog-posts/#


Happy Scrappin',

Janice

Later Sk8r Squash book

I am teaching another Squash Book class on the 20th.  This time we will be using the CTMH Later Sk8r paper pack X7167B $9.95, Later Sk8r My Stickease Assortment X7167C $4.95.  The stamp sets are Fast and Furious D1541 and the Later Sk8r Workshop On The Go stamp set G1057 $29.95.  These items can be found on pages 44 - 49 in the Spring Summer 2013 Idea book.

Here are pictures of my Later Sk8r Squash book.

This time I made pockets and added tags and photo mats to go into the pockets.  This adds more places to put photos.  This will easily hold 12 photos on the inside and then you have all the triangles you can add photos to also.  Then there is the back side where you can add at least 6 more photos.
I added Gypsy cs to make it a little more feminine so someone could use it for a Mother's day gift.

There are 4 tags for journaling.  I cut them out using the Cricut Artiste cartridge and stamped on both sides.  The one that says It's all GOOD has a piece of the border sticker from the My Stickease Assortment.

 The first tag has part of the border strip that you cut off the edge, that says Hangin' out, also has a gear sticker at the bottom from the My Stickease Assortment.  The second one in also has a sticker from the My Stickease Assortment.

 These are the photo mats and I used the SU Tab Punch and coordinating stamp set.  The cardstock is CTMH Pear and Outdoor Denim.

This class is $15.00 if you would like to take the class, call me 503-708-6889.  I have complete instructions if you have the stamp sets you could order it by mail.  The $15.00 does not include shipping.

Happy Scrappin',

Janice

Join My Team for just $49 in April and get $220 of product!

Sign up and Celebrate!!!

Are you looking for a way to get great crafting products at a discount?

Are you looking for a way to build relationships with others who share your passion of papercrafting?

Are you looking for a rewarding business where you have the flexibility to set your schedule to fit your season of life?

Wouldn't you love to be paid for doing what you love... sharing the art of scrapbooking and stamping?

If you answered yes to any or all of these statements, then you owe it to yourself to find out more.  Contact me today (503-708-6889 or jwilson@bctonline.com) and I will gladly answer any questions, you might have about Close To My Heart.

If you know you are ready to sign up, I would love for you to join my team. Click here to fill out the application today!  I offer as much support as you need as you grow your business.  CTMH really is like a family and I look forward to sharing the experience with you.

This deal couldn't be any sweeter.   The kit has been modified to include everything you will need to get started without the large quantity of business supplies.  It is designed for the person who might just be looking for the discount and is not sure about pursuing it as a business.  The kit includes the Chantilly Workshop on the Go, Chantilly Compliments Dimensional Elements, 3 Idea Books, 5pks of order forms and hostess rewards forms, petite perks stamp set, Reflections Scrapbook Program, Originals Card Confidence Program, Buttercup Exclusive Ink Pad, Cotton Candy Exclusive Ink Pad, Wheel of Life Stamp set, spinner, For a Friend Stamp set, and a 4x5 block.  Total cost will be $49 plus $10 shipping.  Retail value is $155.

Now if you know you want to try your hand at the business end of this like me, then you want the Master Kit which inlcuded all of the above and additional tools and business materials.  Cost is $99.  Retail value is $335.

But wait for the month of April the deal gets even sweeter.  When you join my team in April you will also get the April, May, June, and July Stamp of the Month stamp sets for free! Now that’s a reason to celebrate!

These stamp sets are D - size and retail for $17.95 each.  That is $72.80 for all 4 stamp sets.

*No additional shipping/handling or tax will be applied for the free stamp sets. Only new Consultants who sign up during the month of April will qualify for the free stamp sets. Offer valid April 1–30, 2013.

Offer valid April 1–30, 2013.

Happy Scrappin',

Janice

Happy Anniversary to me!!!

I am so excited, today is my 6th Anniversary with Close To My Heart.  I can hardly believe it has been that long.

Happy Scrappin',

Janice

Easter

Well, this Easter was a little different. We usually have Turkey and Ham, but this year we had Lamb chops.  Steve and I liked them but they were too fat for the rest of the clan.  We did have some good Patty Pan squash and some Steamed Normandy mixed vegetables.  I didn't even make deviled eggs this year.  I hard boiled 2 dozen eggs but didn't get them colored either.  Dawn made some Croissants shaped like nests and baked colored eggs inside the nests.  They looked delicious, she didn't take many home so they must have been good.   They also brought a fruit salad that looked good.  I didn't get anything done that I wanted to, because I was out of town on Saturday.  But we did have Easter baskets for the grandchildren and they hunted eggs outside.  Grandpa even got in on the egg hunt.  Here are some pics.

 Grandpa picking up an egg that everyone else had passed right by.  Dawn is concerned that Grandpa may be reverting back to his childhood a little faster than we thought. I guess I'll have to buy him a basket of his own next year.

 Jordan found one close by too.

 Hailey saw one at a distance and took off running to get it before anyone else could.

 Mary was searching near the chicken fence, and still missed several.

 Jordan and Hailey trying to find the last few eggs that were missing.

 Zack finally found one.  I filled about 65 plastic eggs with candy and Dawn boiled 3 dozen so there were plenty eggs to find.

 Grandpa was helping Mary and Hailey find the eggs out by the garden beds.

 Zack and Mary still looking for eggs.

  Grandpa was also picking up toys so he could mow the grass right after the egg hunt.

Finally caught Jordan picking up an egg.  

I hope everyone enjoyed their Easter.  We certainly enjoyed ours.  

Happy Scrappin',

Janice

Spring Break was a busy week for me.

On Sunday, my Sister and Brother-in-law brought their granddaughters down to my house so that the older one could stay the week with me.  Amber is usually very quiet and shy, so I wasn't quite sure how this was going to work, since I usually spend a lot of time with my grandchildren and they are not so quiet and shy.  A few days before she came I sent a text to Amber asking what she wanted to do when she came down.  Now she is 15, and I live about 15 minutes from Clackamas Town Center.  I'm thinking a typical 15 year old would want to go to the mall, or go shopping or something along that line of activities.  Amber replied " Sew & Dye".  I replied " as in Tie Dye?" Amber replied as in Cos-play   Luckily I was sitting at my computer when I received the text, so I looked up Cos-play  ah ha, Costume Play.  I wasn't sure exactly sure what she wanted to do so I replied "OK, you might have to show me how".  So when Amber arrived, we visited for a bit and then Nanna, Poppa and Crysta headed back to The Dalles.

Amber had been working on a My Little Pony costume "Flutter-shy" and asked me to help her sew some wings and ears onto a hoodie that she also needed dyed.  I also sewed up a small backpack that Amber designed and cut out. I didn't get pics of the backpack.

Here are some pictures.

I almost forgot, it took us 4 days to get her hair from dark brown to this shade of pink.

 Amber cut out the ears and I sewed then up on the sewing machine, stuffed them, then stitched them onto the hood where she wanted them.

 I found a black and white pic of the wings for Flutter-shy and made a cut file then we cut out the pattern for the wings on the Cricut and hand cut the fabric.  I sewed them up and stuffed them, then cut a hole in the back of the hoodie and stitched the wings on making sure that I double stitched the edges of the hoodie.

 I also hand stitched the outer parts of the wings to the back of the hoodie to keep them standing out.

Amber hand painted all the cutie marks (Butterflies) on the hoodie and skirt.  I think she did a great job.  We had so much fun.  She was a hoot to be around.  Not shy like normal.  We visited late into the night most of the week.  She is such a sweet heart.  

On Thursday, I took my 4 grandchildren, Amber and my Daughter Dawn to see The Croods. What a funny movie.  We laughed our butts off.  Thursday night Amber and I were dying her hair again and while we were waiting for the 40 minutes to pass we were visiting at the dinning room table.  I have automatic sensors on my dining room light and if you don't move for about 8 minutes, the light shuts off. Well, we were sitting there visiting and apparently hadn't moved because the light shut off, both of us raised our arms to get the light to come back on and at that instance it hit me to blow on my hands as if I were trying to get the flame to flare up again. (as in the movie) we laughed so hard, we had tears running down our faces and we couldn't hardly breath.  We couldn't look at each other with out laughing again.  I am still shocked that my husband slept right through it.  

When we took Amber home on Saturday, she asked if she could spend more time with me this summer. What a pleasure it will be to have her come back.  Crysta wants to spend some time with us too.  I am looking forward to spending time with both of them, getting to know them better and having them get to know my grandchildren better too.

I will have to make a mini scrapbook of our week.

Happy Scrappin',

Janice

On my way to a Healthier me.

As you know, I started a Comprehensive Elimination Diet on November 4th 2010.  At first I didn't know what to expect, or what to eat for that matter.  After being on the diet for a week and a half, I felt so much better that I stopped taking my pain pills and muscle relaxers, they weren't working anyway.  I've not had to take them since.  I lost 42 lbs, which felt so good. I started sleeping all night again too.  I was able to do more than I was used to doing and everyone around me kept saying don't over do it, slow down, take it easy.  Do you have any idea how long it's been since someone told me to slow down?  Years.  Even my grandchildren were having a hard time keeping up with me because they were used to having to go slow for Grandma. Well not any more.  I felt free and alive again. 

It took me almost 2 years to add foods back into my diet as I was afraid the pain from my Fibromyalgia would come back.  I started adding foods back in sometime in September 2012, since then I have learned that I am VERY sensitive to peanuts, Soy, Gluten and Eggs.  I have found so many great recipes and created some of my own, however I have gained almost all of the weight back that I lost.  I found that all grains cause weight gain so take it easy on the grains.  You should also go Gluten free for at least 1 month before you try any of the gluten free grains, like Quinoa, Millet, Buckwheat and others, as you can develop sensitivities to the Gluten free grains as well.  Dr. David Clark suggests that you might have leaky gut syndrome and you should correct that before adding in the Gluten Free grains.  I am trying to loose the weight again and have found some very interesting books that I think will help me do just that.  If you know me, you know that I am not one who gets lost in books, however I have been trying to change our eating habits and trying to get both of us healthier, just because I want to keep Steve around a lot longer to torture him, and so he can enjoy the grandchildren as they grow.  Steve has Dementia on both sides of his family and I am hoping I can lessen the effects on Steve so that he can enjoy more of his life. Whether he wants to or not.

In reading the following books, I see how you can reverse most illnesses just by changing your eating habits.  The more fruits and vegetables we add back into our diets the healthier we will be.  Over the last 50 years we have been eating so many prepackaged foods that are literally killing us. So many grains have been Genetically modified to be a more dense, low growing crop to make it easier to harvest and make the harvest more bountiful and more disease resistant.  They didn't worry about long term effects on us.  I was watching a YouTube Video on how to make Gluten Free Baking powder biscuits the other day and they were talking about wheat originally had 14 

Chromosomes and now it has 42.

Dr. Daniel Amen has a book called Change your Brain Change your Body, which I am reading.

• The Craving Solution — Use Your Brain to Increase Your Willpower and Calm the Urges That Prevent You From Achieving Your Goals
• The Weight Solution — Use Your Brain to Achieve Your Optimal Weight
• The Nutrition Solution — Feed Your Brain to Look and Feel Younger
• The Focus and Energy Solution — Boost Your Energy to Stay on Track toward Your Goals
• The Stress Solution — Relax Your Brain to Reduce Your Wrinkles and Improve Your Immune System
• The Heart Solution — Use Your Brain to Strengthen and Soothe Your Heart

Dr. Amen also wrote Change your Brain Change your Age. 

• Boost your memory, mood, attention, and energy
• Decrease your risk for Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia
• Eat to live longer
• Reduce the outward signs of aging and make your skin more beautiful
• Promote the healing of brain damage due to injury, strokes, substance abuse, and toxic exposure
• Dramatically increase your chances of living longer and looking younger
• And much more.

Steve's cousin suggested a book by Dr. Fuhrman called Eat To Live. The Amazing Nutrient-Rich Program for Fast and Sustained Weight Loss.  

Dr. Fuhrman suggests that you eat; 

2-5 servings of raw & cooked vegetables a day, 

3-5 servings of fruit, 

1-2 servings of beans,

1-3 servings of nuts & seeds,

1-3 servings Whole grain products/Potatoes

Only 2-4 servings per week of Animal products, which includes white meat foul, fish, eggs and low fat dairy. Absolutely NO processed meats, cured meats, barbecued meat or full fat dairy.

1200 mg or less of sodium per day.

1-2 Tablespoons Fats/Oils, olive oil or acceptable substitute. Includes;non dairy spreads without trans or hydrogenated fats. 

In his book he talks about the value of nutrient dense foods. And has created a ANDI food scoring guide.  So I purchased both, Eat to Live and the Nutritarian handbook.  I purchased all the books that I have mentioned on Amazon since they were less expensive than on both Dr's websites.

I am happy to say that I have finished the Nutritarian Handbook and am about half way through Eat to live.  They are very interesting to me and I am learning a lot.  I am planning on planting lots of green leafy vegetables in my garden soon, using what I have learned from these books. 

I've started eating a lot more green leafy vegetables and more fruit.  I know that I am not up to his minimums yet but hopefully soon and then to see the results.  I will try to keep up posting on the progress and hopefully I will start to see results very soon.  

If you are reading the same books or have found other great books on the subject and are trying to get healthier I would love to hear from you on your progress.

Happy Scrappin',

Janice