The Close To My Heart 2011 Retired list is here!

The much anticipated 2011 Retired List is here!  Close To My Heart is saying goodbye to some wonderful products, but making room for the new ones.  Items on the retiring list are available only WHILE SUPPLIES LAST!  I suggest that if you see something you must have – order it asap!  Inventory goes fast once the word is out.  Please contact me if you have any questions! Click here to see the Retired list

Update on my garden.

I finally remembered to take my camera with me to the garden yesterday to pick our first batch of fresh peas.

Fresh Peas and Broccoli strait from the garden. Yum.













This is affectionately called the Dinosaur Garden.  The fence in the back is 6 feet tall.  I planted as much as I could in each raised bed and it shows now.  In the bed next to the Corn and Peas is red and green cabbage, egg plant, brussels sprouts, broccoli and cauliflower, and 2 rows of salad greens.  The egg plant is squished at the far end and I'm not sure how it is still growing because I'm sure it doesn't see any sun.  But we are having fun growing all this stuff.

Hailey is showing me a pea she picked and asking can I eat it?
As soon as I said yes she chomped down.  She loves eating them right off the vine.  I'm surprised that we had enough for all of us to have for dinner last night.

Mary and Hailey standing in front of the Corn and Peas.  With the Brussels sprouts almost taller than both of them in the back.  They love to put on rubber gloves and pick the slugs off the plants for me.  So I guess if they eat a few peas before dinner it's not such a bad trade.

I'm sure you noticed that I changed the look of my blog again.  I set up a new Meetup group last night and thought that I should update this site too.  Now I just have to set some dates and times to get together.

Happy Scrapin',

Janice

Tealight Cakes.

I first found these little delights on Splitcoaststampers website and decided to make some myself.  My friend liked them so much she asked me to teach a class on how to make them.  So I did.  I had the class at my house on June 26th.  I had 3 students, but we had so much fun.  I really enjoy sharing what I learn with others.  It makes me feel good and inspires me to continue sharing.  I thought I would share the Tealight Cakes that I have made so far.

If you remember, this is the first one I made.













This is the second one that I made.

Yes I added a Box, after all when you order a cake from the Bakery they come in a box. The box is cut out with the Cricut Tags, Bags, Boxes and more cartridge.  I love this cartridge.  I used CTMH Textured CS for the box.

This cake took me all day.  If you look closely you will see tiny rosebuds around the base of the cake.  My daughter told me that I was crazy and I should not do that again.

This is the top of the cake and it has curly q's that I made by cutting a sliver of paper and raping it around a strait pin.













This is the third cake.

This one didn't take quite as long to make but close.

I took Daisy White CS and spritz it with a mix of Create a shade Pearl paint and water.  Then embossed it with Cuttlebug's Swiss Dots embossing folder.  I punched out the tiny flowers from Lilac Mist CS and layered three to make them look like roses. I used the same punch to make the leaves out of Olive CS.

I used the SU Sizzilits butterfly cut and embossing die on the Daisy white CS that I spritzed.

I also used SU's Border punch and added pearls to the border and pierced tiny holes in each of the scallops on the bottom edge, like a doily might have.

Here is the forth Tealight cake I made.

I cut this box with holes in the sides and tied an organdy ribbon for a handle.

Here you can see that I used the Create a Shade Pearl paint again only I added a drop of Hollyhock ink to it and painted the stamen that I put inside the white Roses.  I also used a Daisy flower punch and created my own leaves.





These little cakes are so much fun and the battery lasts 120 hours.  Can you believe that?

My camera was not working the day I held the class or I would share the pictures of the cakes the ladies made.

If you would like more information on these cakes or if you would like to take a class send me an email jwilson@bctonline.com   Put Tealight cakes in the subject line.

Happy Scrapin',

Janice

Corner Bookmarks.

I like to look on splitcoaststampers.com to see the newest cards and other items they have.  Last week I saw a tutorial for a corner bookmark.  Click here for the Corner Bookmark Tutorial.  I just had to make a few.  Awhile back I found pansies made with the SU butterfly punch so I thought I would combine both.







I punched the butterflies out of the Veranda papers and sponged the edges with Chocolate ink.  I added the details to the pansies with a black ink pen.  I added Stardust Glitz to the center of the pansy and then added a colonial white bigger brad to the center.


I loved how it turned out.




I wanted to make a card that included a corner bookmark and this is how it turned out.



Aspirations is one of my all time favorite stamp sets and the Unforgettable paper pack is so pretty.


























As you know I couldn't stop there so here are the others I made.







I still think I should add leaves to this one.

This one you can use it either way this is the front side.  I used Cuttlebug embossing borders and then sanded the raised images.




And this is the back side of the same bookmark.














I made a few cards while I was playing around too.  Here is the Butterfly card, it is 5 1/2 x 4 1/4.

















Then I made some easel cards, these are both 3" x 3".  I used the SU Butterfly punch to make the butterfly pansies and the new SU Sizzilit die that embosses and cuts the smaller butterflies.  I also used the SU Border punches.  I wish CTMH would add punches to our Idea Books.

I showed these to my husband who collects books and he said he wouldn't use them in his books because the brads are too bulky and would damage the pages in the books.  So I don't have to worry about him running off with any of my bookmarks.  I do think his mother would love to have one though.   I will save a few of the things I made for another post later on.

Thanks for checking out my blog, if you would like instructions or information on any of these items please feel free to leave a comment or send me an email and I will get back to you as soon as I can.

Happy Scrapin',

Janice

Broccoli Crowns.

I went out to the garden tonight and I picked 2 Broccoli crowns.  Then I went to the Blueberry bushes and picked a handful of blueberries.  The garden sure likes this heat we are having.  The corn stalks are as tall as I am now and just a couple days ago they weren't to my shoulder.  We have pea pods on but they aren't ready yet.  Our bell peppers have blooms and so does our jalapeños.  Our squash and melons are blooming too.

I went to Radio Shack and bought a new battery for my camera tonight.  So once it is fully charged I will be able to take pictures of all the items I have been making.  I really should be making more stuff but it is hard to get motivated with all this heat.  I'm not sure how long this heat advisory is supposed to last but I am ready for some cooler weather.

I had a friend of Dawn's & Charlie's look at my A/C in the van today and he thinks he fixed it but he is coming over tomorrow to check and see.  It sure was nice to have A/C again.  He suggested that we drive it around for a while to make sure the stuff he put in circulates through the system, so I took the kids to Cruisers for Ice Cream cones.  They all wanted the Flavor Burst kind and wouldn't you know it the machine stopped after 1 cone.  So then we all decided to get the regular swirls since that machine was working and it too stopped working when it was my turn to order.  Wouldn't you know it was going to work that way.  Dawn was nice and shared hers with me.

I hope to have pictures to post tomorrow.  In the meantime thanks for letting me share my stories with you.

Happy Scrapin',

Janice

Convention starts tomorrow, in Washington D.C.

When I found out that this years Convention was going to be held in Washington D.C. I wanted to go, mainly to see the sites.  They do spoil you at convention with all the new products they give out.  Maybe convention 2012 will be held closer to us and I will be able to go to that one.  If I were smart I would set aside money each month  just for going to convention.  I will wait to see where they are holding the next one before I make that decision.














I would love to see The Smithsonian Museums 


















and the Jefferson Memorial and I will get to some day.







We have someone on the inside, who is giving us tid-bits of information about some of the changes that are coming and so far the changes are sounding real good.  I can't tell you what I have heard yet, but keep watching my blog and I will reveal them as soon as I can.

I went to Radio Shack yesterday to get a new battery charger for my camera but was told that any charger with the right connection on the end will work.  So I came home and found a charger with the right connector and plugged it in.  It charged just enough to flash the picture on the screen and then gives me the message  "Replace the battery pack."  So I am off to Radio Shack to get a new battery and see if that will fix my problem.  Hopefully I will be able to share some of the things that I have been making.

Last Thursday I had a small class at my house, and we made Tea-light cakes.  I wish my camera would have worked because the ladies made some very cute cakes.  The ladies said they had a great time and wanted to come again sometime.  They live in California, so it will probably be next year.

Happy Scrapin',

Janice  

Where did June Go?????

Wow, I know I have been busy but this is just crazy.  I can hardly believe it has been a month since I last posted.  I haven't been making many craft items lately and yes I do miss my creating time.  The grandkids are out of school and we went to see 2 of the best movies ever.  Shrek 4-D last week and the of course Toy Story 3 yesterday.  If you haven't seen them yet and you have kids or grandkids you really should.  I have to say that I really liked Toy Story 3 better than Shrek this time but they were both very cute.  On the way home we all talked about the parts that made us cry.  Some of us held out a little bit longer than the others but not by much.  It was AWESOME!!!

I have some pictures to show you just how busy we have been around here.  My Son-In-Law Charlie, made me 2 more raised garden beds so my garden got a lot bigger this year.  And he added seats on all 4 of the beds.  Now we can sit and enjoy the sun or the view and latter we can sit and harvest the veggies.

Plus he tilled up the ground so we could put the vining plants like pumpkin, cantaloupe and watermelon in the ground. At the end of the garden we have potatoes growing in tires and under the straw just to see which method works best for us.  We also have our compost bins there too.

I planted Corn and Peas together on the left and yes the peas are growing faster than the Corn.  On the right we have Brussels sprouts with red and green cabbage, Cauliflower and Broccoli.  Believe it or not we even have Eggplant in that bed too.

This is Dawn's Headache Garden.  Dawn uses a mask when she gets a migraine that has several herbs inside it and it really seems to help her so we decided that she should grow her own herbs and make her own masks so that she doesn't have that extra cost and headache of finding the masks.  The plants are small now but should be bigger for harvest time.  If I can remember right she has Lavender, Hops, Valerian Root and Lemon Verbena all in this little bed.  By the way Dawn has a new Dr. and she seems  to be doing much better now that they took her off the morphine like she was asking them to do.  She hasn't had to go in for a shot in over a month. YEAH!!! She was having to go in every week and sometimes twice in a row to stop the migraines, while she was on the Morphine.

This is the retaining wall that Charlie built me last year while Steve was gone on a deployment.  I usually do something to the house while he is gone but this is something that we have talked about since we bought the house 16 years ago.  This was just the perfect height to plant the strawberries that were wandering out of their pots that I had them in so this is what it looks like today.  Behind the two planters all the way to the fence is Strawberries and we picked 3 Tupperware cereal bowls full today.  We picked 2 bowls full yesterday and had them on Ice Cream then got up this morning and had them on pancakes.  It was yummy!!!

Yummy fresh strawberries strait from the garden.

This is on the other side of the fence from the Strawberries and yes the Strawberries are trying to take over that area too.  If you look closely you can see them on the far left side of the picture.

We have 6 Blueberry plants along the fence.  Now we have to find a place to put 6 Raspberries, 2 Josta Berries and 2 Saskatoon's.  I will have pictures later.




Once I find the battery charger for my camera I will get some pictures of the work that Dawn and I have been doing in the front yard.  So that you can see that I really have been busy not just sluffing off like usual.

I really do plan on getting back to creating some new items and I do actually have a Dry Erase board that I made from  "A Miracle Awaits You!" kit. That I think is my best board yet.

I hope you are all enjoying your summer as much as I am.

Happy Scrapin',

Janice

Oregon City's Farmer's Market.

On Saturday May 15th Dawn and I went to the Oregon City's Farmer's Market to see if we could find the herbs that go into the Migraine masks that help her when she has a Migraine.  We found a few and while we were there I decided to ask if there were booth spaces available and how much it was to get one.  The gentleman there said to call the manager Jackie on Monday.  So I did just that.  The first call I made Monday morning was to Jackie.  Jackie answered the phone with her beautiful British accent, and she asked what kind of product I had to sell, I told her that I had strawberry plants, Day Lilies, Bleeding hearts and Hardy Geraniums and that my Grandson has about 40 Chestnut trees.  So Jackie says, What do you mean your Grandson has Chestnut trees?  So I explained that Zack had gone to SE Portland with his other Grandmother back in October of 2006 and found chestnuts on the ground and brought them home and planted them in a hole under my two big Cherry trees in the back yard.  He came in and so proudly told me how he had planted them.  I explained that they would need a better spot with lots of sunshine if they were going to grow.  So Zack and I went out aback and gathered up the chestnuts and I gave him some pots with soil and showed him how to plant them.  Early next spring we watched as all 50 chestnuts sprouted.  We of course had to put them in larger pots.  Now they are 3 years old and are 3-4 feet tall.  Jackie said to me, "I have about 8 or 9 plant vendors and really don't need any more, how ever; I would love for your Grandson to bring his Chestnut trees."  She was so nice and wanted to encourage him that she said she would take 10% of his sales at the end of the day.  Since I didn't know what type they were I decided to look again on the internet to see if I could identify them.  We found out that they are Horse-chestnuts and are not edible.  Bummer, but Jackie introduced us to a lady at the Farmers market that has some of the edible kind and Zack talked to her about getting some chestnuts from her to start a few edible chestnut trees. 


So Saturday May 22, Zack and I spent the day at the Oregon City's Farmer's Market with his trees.  At first Zack was a little shy but I suggested that he stand out front of the Canopy and with a smile say Good Morning to everyone who passes by and if they return the Good Morning he could then ask "Can I tell you about my trees?"  The first couple of people, who passed that he said Good morning to, just passed on by.  So Zack's Dad said that statistics shows that for every 100 people 5 will return the Good morning so don’t give up.  So, he again said Good Morning and this time it was returned.  He made a sale, $10.00.  He was so excited that he just kept saying Good Morning and if they returned the Good morning he asked "Can I tell you about my trees."  This brought more people over just to listen to his story.  They listened and asked him how big they would get, and if they were edible.  He knew all the answers and they thought he was so cute that he sold 3 trees in the first 1 1/2 hours we were there.  One lady asked what he was going to do with the money he earned from the sale and he said "Put it in the bank." with the most bummed voice.  She said you don't sound very happy about that.  So he said I really want to buy a DS with it, but Grandma thinks I should put it in the bank.  So she said, well I don't have a place to put a big beautiful tree like this, but what if I give you $5.00 so you can get that DS you want.  He was so excited.  He made sure to say Thank you very much!  

The weather was cold and windy but the rain held off till about 1:30 pm.  So when it was time to tell Jackie how much he sold, he walked over and said "I sold 4 trees for $10.00 each and got a $5.00 tip."  She said "Don't tell me about the tip, so you made $40.00 and that means 10% would be?"  Zack said $4.00.  So he took $4.00 to her.  Jackie asked if he would like to come back another day and Zack of course said yes.  Then as we were loading the rest of the trees back onto the trailer, Jackie came over and said I would like to buy one of these beautiful trees you have and gave him a $10.00 bill, and said she would send her husband to pick it out.  So Zack ended up with $51.00 for his day at the Farmer's Market.  Everyone that listened to Zack's story about his trees was impressed that he knew how tall they would get and how wide of spread they could have.  He knew that they have large clusters of flowers and that they are not edible.  They asked him all kinds of questions and he answered them with out looking at me for the answers.  He loves his trees and anything else that he plants and Jackie was excited to see a 9 year old with his passion for plants and trees.  I had so much fun watching people ask Zack questions about his trees and see their reaction to him knowing the answers and complimenting him on being such a great salesman.  Even the gentleman that we shared an awning with enjoyed watching the reaction of people as Zack told his story.

Now I get to scrapbook this for Zack, so that he can share it for years to come.  I am so proud of Zack.  

Thanks for letting me share my day with you, and I will make sure that I post his Scrapbook pages here when I get them done.

Happy Scrapin',

Janice

May 15, 2010 OPEN CROP!!! 5:00 pm to 9:00 pm.

This Friday is my next crop, call or send me an email if you want more information and or directions to the BCT community Room.  I have lots of fun things I have been working on.  3D flowers, tea-light cake and Dry Erase Boards.  If you wish to make any of the items you have seen on my blog let me know and I will make sure I have everything to make the project.  

If you scroll down you will see the Display board with all the Cherry-O pages and cards that I made last month getting ready for the Girl's Night Out crop on April 30 and May 1st.  I made another layout using the Imagines how to book page 18 Sideline Surprise.  It turned out very cute. 

If you haven't picked up your new Summer 2010 Idea book stop by on Saturday and say hello. 

This is the make-n-take card that I will have for you to make on Saturday, who knows I might just have another one too.  I guess you will have to stop by and see what else I have for you.

I was hoping to add more pictures, but my computer has other plans tonight.  


Happy Scrapin',


Janice

Mother's Day.

I hope every one enjoyed their Mother's Day.  My Son, Son-in-law and Husband set up my Green house that my Husband gave me for Christmas.  My Husband gave me a Rot Iron Potting Bench to go inside it, so I can start my plants earlier next year.   I can hardly wait to start using it.

 I haven't been able to sit in my recliner for about 3 months and the only chair I don't hurt in is the chair at my computer, which is in the back bedroom.  I think the spinal injections that I got in Dec 08 and Jan 09 are wearing off.  When I would sit in the recliner, movie theater seats or on a hard chair, it felt like my tail-bone was being ripped right out when I stood up.  Not a feeling I liked to experience.  On Tuesday last week Dawn was told about a lift chair, they wanted to give it to someone who could really use it.  She asked if we could go look and try it out.  We went over on Wednesday, tried it out and brought it home.  It is nice and in great condition.  I now have a chair I can sit in and be with the family more often.  Thanks Dawn, I love my new chair.  

Steve took me out for breakfast for Mother's day and then we stopped at a few yard sales.  

I will post some flowers that I have been making later today.

Happy scrapin',

Janice

Studio J

If you haven't checked out Studio J yet click on the link on the right and try it out.  It is fun and easy to use.  It doesn't cost a thing till you decide you want to purchase your layouts.  You can play with all the papers and embellishments you want and then make your own pages the way you designed them online, and you don't have to purchase anything.  Give it a try and tell me what you think.

Happy Scrapin",

Janice

Girls Night Out!

Wow!!! This was fun.  I can't wait till December when they have their next Crop.  I signed up to be a Vendor but after getting there and setting up all my stuff, I wished I had signed up for the Crop.  They made the cutest Mom chipboard books.









I made the Cherry-O Workshop On The Go kit.  I also made the page on the front cover of the New Summer Idea Book and the page displayed on page 8 in the Summer Idea Book.  I didn't get the cover page completed but I will finish it soon.  Here is my display.

















I also made 2 Dry Erase Boards.

And while I was sitting at the crop, I made a 3" x 3" mini card and a  Tea Light Cake to match.

As you can tell, I cheated a little and used some of SU's Punches.   I love their punches, I think they dress things up a little and I wish we had more punches.  

I am having my next Open Crop on May 15th, send me an email if you want more information. jwilson@bctonline.com

Happy Scrapin',

Janice

Girl's Night Out!

If you get the chance to stop by my booth, mention that you saw this on my blog and you will get a new Summer Idea Book for FREE.  Any one who does not mention this post will pay $3.95 for their Summer Idea Book.

I have been working hard on getting samples of the Cherry-O level 2 paper pack, after this weekend I will post the layouts on my blog.

Don't forget to check out my Close To My Heart website to try out "Studio J online Scrapbooking"  You can set up an account and get started right away or you can select "I'm not ready to create an account", and try it out.  It is free until you decide you wish to purchase the layouts.  This is an awesome way to get started scrap-booking, you can go to my website 24/7/365 and check it out with no obligation, or the mess of actual scrap-booking.  The printed pages are absolutely beautiful.  They are printed on Glossy Photo paper.  Once you try it out, I would love to hear what you think about it.

Well I need to get back to working on my layouts so I can be ready for the Girls Night Out weekend event starting tomorrow.

Happy Scrapin',

Janice

Old Friends!

I went to The Dalles last Thursday to help run an Estate Sale for my in-laws.  They are awesome people and have moved in with my Sister-in-law Dianne for a little extra help.  I have always known how special they are but to see all the people who were concerned that something had happened to them was very touching.  We had so many people try to pay their condolences only to find out that they moved.  At one point the front room was full of people and a lady offered her condolences and I said that they were both fine, and that they had moved in with their daughter for a little extra help.  The entire room turned around to hear what I was saying and then expressed relief to hear that they were OK.  Some of the people didn't know their names, but see them on the porch and wave or walk by and visit occasionally.  To see how many lives they have touched just by sitting on the porch was awesome.  

Steve's Sister Dianne and Brother Jim and Jim's wife Alex helped us get the sale ready and for me it was fun to listen to Jim and Dianne in the kitchen pricing the dishes.  I was in the bedroom setting out the quilting books and magazines.  I walked around the corner to find Jim in an old frilly Apron and Dianne explaining why she priced a plastic Mid-Columbia Medical Center water cup at $1200.00.  Dianne explained that $1200.00 was 1/2 of what it cost to get the cup, since you only get them if you spend some time in the Hospital.  Yes we knew that it wouldn't sell but we were having fun while we were working.  On Friday during the sale Jim put a $1.00 sticker on Steve's back just out of his reach to take it off.  I mentioned to Jim that I personally thought Steve was worth more than a dollar and he said he was only selling the shirt off Steve's back.

The sale was a lot of work but a lot of fun at the same time.  On Saturday, Steve made signs saying that everything was 1/2 off.  So, that meant that all of the 25 cent items were now 12 1/2 cents.  But no one had the 1/2 cent and we sold all the tools the day before, so I couldn't cut the pennies in half.  I'm sure some people thought we were a little loony but that's OK.  We ended up with about $1100.00 and it only took a day and a half.

While I was helping with the sale an old friend of mine from school stopped by.  We haven't seen each other in 30 years.  It was almost like we had never lost touch.  It was so nice to see her again.  I hope we get to see each other more often.  

This is twice just this year that I have had my friends from 30 years ago find me.  I have thought of them often, but didn't know where to look for them.  

I hope, that when I am older and sit on my porch and wave to everyone, that I have touched so many people's lives and they show how much they care.  

Happy Scrapin',

Janice

Girl's Night Out!

I have been invited to be a vendor at the Girl's Night Out! Shopping Extravaganza!!!  In Molalla Oregon on April 30 and May 1, 2010.  Girls Night Out is put on by "Like That Productions" The event is open to the public and free to get in, they are offering an all night crop, which you will need to sign up and pay to reserve your spot to crop.  You can get more information here!

I am so excited,  I will have my new Summer Idea Books there and lots of other items.  If you get a chance, please stop by and say hello.  I would love to see you.

Happy Scrapin',

Janice

Yes, I've been playing again!

Here are a few 3" x 3" cards and Easel cards I have been making with the new Cherry-O paper and the Petite Perks- Dreams stamp set.













I even did a little stitching.













Yes, I was a very bad girl and purchased some punches from my Friend Teri who is a SU demo.

But look how cute the 3" x 3" easel cards turned out.

This is a set we consultants can give to our customers how ever we want.


















Look it even comes in it's own little case.

As you can see I am lovin' this little set.

If you would like the directions to any of these cards, leave me a comment or send me an email and I will get the directions to you.

I hope you have a wonderful day.

Happy Scrapin',

Janice