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

Don't forget, you only have 2 more days to join my team at half price. That is just $64.50!!!

Join my team and become a Close to My Heart consultant – Half price special!  For just $64.50 (plus s&h and tax), you receive over $370 in products, including the You & Me Kit shown above.
There are lots of reasons to join CTMH! You may want to get a discount on your own personal purchases, sell to just family or friends, or have the opportunity to earn a full-time income while you work around your own family and work schedule.
Besides being paid for doing what you love, Consultants are your own boss—setting your own hours, work around your priorities, and share revolutionary new products unparalleled in the industry. You’ll also receive discounts on the products you love and have the amazing opportunity to touch hearts and change lives through the joy of scrapbooking and stamping!
As part of this limited time offer, you’ll receive your choice of 3 “Choose Me” collections plus the business essentials! Click here to view the selections and find out more.
Contact me to sign up, or go right to the  Consultant Application.


Happy Scrapin',
Janice

Memorial Day is over and we are officially starting Summer.

I hope everyone had a wonderful and safe weekend.  We stayed home, or should I say we didn't go out of town.  Steve took me yard sale shopping with him on Saturday and Monday.  I really enjoyed our time together.  I found some fabric for aprons and some crochet thread for my new fingerless gloves and some yarn for my hats.  I also found some ribbon and some bias tape for my craft projects.  Here are my pictures of my models wearing some of my fingerless gloves and hats.  I am making these items for the Bazaars this fall.

Miss Hailey is such a ham!  She is the happiest person I know.  Always brings a smile to our faces.

Steve found some old Crochet books from the 1920's, 30's, 40's, 50;s and 60's and this little hat is from one of the earlier books.  it just sits on the crown and gets held on with bobby pins.  Yes I said bobby pins.  I made this one to match one of Hailey's dresses that she always wears.

I made this one all red for Miss Mary, to match her favorite red dress.  Hailey is the model here though.

Crochet hand warmers.

There's that smile again.

Miss Mary loves her hat.

Miss Mary wearing her hand warmers.

Miss Mary is so Beautiful, sweet and innocent.  I just love her Brown eyes and freckles.

It doesn't matter what I make for the girls, they always love it.

I have a new counter because when I logged in tonight the old one wasn't working.  I hope I set the number to the right one.  I was guessing since I haven't been in all weekend. 

Please leave me some love, or comments.  I would love to here from you.   

Happy Scrapin',

Janice

Correction for my previous post - A comment on my cards and weight loss.

My Husband and I went to The Dalles last Saturday for my card class and then went to My Brother's to spend the night.  While we were there we were talking about our Dr. putting my Husband on the same diet that I have been on since November.  I had found what I thought was the same version of the diet online and I even posted a link to the diet.  Well I found that the one that I last posted is more restrictive than the one My Dr. gave me.  So I went searching again and found the one that My Dr. gave me.  Here is the new link. Comprehensive Elimination Diet The other one might give you more benefits if you suffer from allergies and you want to pinpoint it a little sooner.  Or if you want to loose more weight  a little faster, I know that tomatoes and potatoes can actually cause weight gain if eaten a lot.  I only noticed the difference when I was looking at the recipes in other one, it had a blueberry Muffin recipe which I didn't think mine had.  So in looking through the diet I saw that we weren't supposed to have Potatoes and Tomatoes on this version and those are things I know that we  were allowed to have so when I got home Sunday evening I took a look at both versions and compared them.

My Husband made it very clear that I had told him he could have potatoes and he was not dropping them from his diet now.  I know how hard it can be when you go on a really restricted diet and then find out that you have to restrict it even more.  It is not fun, but sometimes it is necessary.  Fortunately for my Husband he can have his potatoes.

I hope this helps some of you.

Happy Scrapin',

Janice

Face Lift?

It was time to change up the blog a little, I'm just not sure I like it.  Only time will tell.  Maybe I will sleep on it over night.

Happy Scrapin',

Janice

A comment on my cards and my weight loss.

Thanks Darlene,  I will post a link to your card here on my blog also.

Thanks for the encouragement on my weight-loss.  I just weighted again this morning and I have lost another 2 pounds, that makes 32 lbs so far, Woo Hoo!!! I love this diet.  I eat like a pig and I still loose weight.

My Husband went to see the Dr. last week and he came home and said the Dr. wants him to be on this diet also.  So I went right to work making sure that he has plenty to snack on.

Here is a link to the Elimination Diet that we are on. Elimination Diet

I thought it would be hard to give up Coffee and Chocolate but it really wasn't when the payoff was being pain free from my Fibromyalgia. I am also taking 4800mg of Guaifenisin that I am sure is helping me too.  I am also following the Guaifenisin Protocol here is a link Guaifenisin Protocol Some people say it doesn't work for them but I swear by it.  I had been on pain meds pretty much since my first car accident in 1991.  I was diagnosed with Fibromyalgia in 1992.  I bought a new house in 1994 and my allergies flared up and I ended up taking Guaifenisin for about 8 years I also had allergy shots for 5 years.  I went off the Guaifenisin in December 1999 and by October 2002 I could hardly dress myself.  I didn't know about the Guaifenisin protocol until my friend asked me if I had tried it in 2005.  I went searching the net, and found it.  After reading about it and thinking back I realized that it must have been helping me the whole time I was on it, I just didn't know it.  I tried to talk to my Dr. that I had at the time, but he didn't know that Guaifenisin came in pill form.  So I started the guaranteeing protocol and it worked well for a while, then I fell in Aug 2008 and tore all the muscles and ligaments in my back.  I couldn't walk, the Dr. told me there was nothing wrong with me and he didn't even take any Xray's or MRI's so then he decided to send me to Physical therapy which hurt me even more.  I finally insisted in seeing a specialist and since I have had back surgery in 1997 I insisted in seeing Dr. Brett.  I trust Dr Brett and know he would tell me the truth.  He is the one who told me I had torn all my muscles and ligaments and I needed to see a pain specialist.  So I had 2 spinal injections and they helped but I still hurt.  My Dr. at the time wouldn't even acknowledge that I was still having pain. So I went back to see Dr. Brett and he suggested that I get a new Dr. and he gave me his Dr.'s name.  So my new Dr. put me on 4800mg of Guaifenisin and had me start the Elimination Diet.  That was November 4, 2010.

I thought it would be good to repost the diet and guaifenisin info again incase someone new checks out my blog and this can help them too.

Happy Scrapin',

Janice

Card Class in The Dalles.

I have been working hard on trying to make simple cards that the ladies in Flag Stone can make with out too much trouble.  Well I have made several cards but I don't thinks they will be able to do most of them so I have put most of them together.  Here are the cards that I have come up with this time.  I told the ladies we would make bird cards or bird houses, I wanted to make a little milk carton bird house but I couldn't figure out how to do it simple enough.

This is a tall card, it opens from the bottom.  I trimmed the top edges to look like a roof and applied the grey paper.  I used my Creative Memories Circle cutter to cut the hole in the center of the card front.  I used SU's Bird punch and punched one grey flannel and one chocolate bird I hand cut the chocolate bird in half so that I could layer the chocolate over the Grey flannel and I cut a  Sweet leaf wing.  I put a piece of  CTMH Bliss level 2 paper inside the card front and place the bird in the window before adhering the paper down.  I punched the leafy branch in Chocolate, Sweet Leaf and Grey Flannel. I punched flowers in t sizes from Cotton Candy and a Sunny Yellow small Star for the center of the flowers.  I curled the flowers on a piece of foam with a stylus to give them some dimension.  I left the inside blank so that they could put what ever they wanted.  I cased tinakdude's Birdhouse Here is the link. http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/ga...=0&si=bird

 I used Bliss Level 2, Colonial White and Gypsy, SU's 2 3/8" Scallop punch and Marvy's 2" scallop punch.  I used Thank You D1361 for the Thank you.  I got this idea from ijgram's card Heartfelt Sympathy. Here is the link.  http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/ga...=0&si=bird

This card is made with Sunset, Olive, Chocolate card stock. I punched the Bird with SU's bird punch and stamped it with the swirl from Sophia, I embossed the Olive with the Paisley embossing folder and I used the Heart Border punch for the Sunset behind the Olive.  I ran a 1/4" blue ribbon across the olive under the birds. The blue paper is from Lucky level 2 paper pack.  I got my idea for this card from Cindy H.'s CC278 CAS Love Birds or Bluebirds of Happiness Here is the link.  http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/ga...=0&si=bird

 

I love Tim Holtz dies, but I just can't afford them.  So I went looking for a free SVG cut file.  I found it here http://www.theglitterbellboutique.com/2011/04/free-svg-file-of-tim-holtz-birdcage.html.   I punched the flowers out of Cotton Candy and punched the Fern out of Olive I die cut the leaves from myscrapchick's Cherry Blossoms SVG cut files.  The branch inside the cage is also from the Cherry Blossom SVG files too.  I found the little bird on the internet and cut it in Grey and blue and layered them.  I glued it all together before I layered it on to the card front which I put a piece of May Berry Level 2 paper on to Colonial White card base.   

I used Honey card stock and stamped the flourish from SU's Bliss set and again on the White Daisy  card stock center piece.  I punched the bird our of chocolate and stamped the flourish in Honey on the wiOlive leaving just a 1/16th edge and then layered it onto Chocolate then tied the ribbon and adhered it to the card base. I cased Bunny 44's Workshop project #1 here is the link. http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/ga...=0&si=bird

I cut my White Daisy card stock 4" x 51/4" and embossed it.  I then took sponge daubers and inked them in Sweet Leaf and Indian corn blue then sponged the grass with Sweet Leaf and the bird with the Indian Corn Blue.  Adhered it to the Indian Corn Blue card base.  I caesd this one from Arkie's Bird in the grass here is the link.  http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/ga...=0&si=bird

I wanted to make a flower pot card but I wanted to make it easy for the ladies.  So I took my favorite stamp set Aspirations and made a cut file so that I didn't have to hand cut all the flowers and neither do the ladies that come to my classes. I stamped everyone of the flowers so that the ladies didn't have to try to line them up.  I colored the center parts with markers and added 1/4" hole punches to the very centers.  I thought about adding breads but the ladies have a hard time working with small items.  I then decided to use the SU Fancy label punch and wanted to layer it onto another one, but I don't have a larger punch that will fit behind it so I made my own cut file for it too.  That way I can make them any size I want.  I got this idea from Darbaby's Mother's Day Flower pot card Here is the link. http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/ga...i=flower%20pot 

Here it is open, you can write on the card inside.

 

  I love how these cards turned out, but I wish I could make easier ones for them to make.  If you have any ideas I would love some suggestions.  

I hope you enjoy these cards and I plan on making more soon.

Happy Scrapin',

Janice