Happy Canada Day 2013!!

I'm home!!! Exhausted & my head still spinning from all the crafty goodness I took in at CTMH Convention in Orlando! Spending this very beautiful Canada Day with my family to relax & recover -- then back to work tomorrow! Lots of blog posts & news to share in the coming weeks. Stay tuned!  

HAPPY CANADA DAY to all my Canadian peeps!!

A layout I made back in 2011!

Happy Holidays

Happy Holidays to you, my fantastic blog followers, readers, customers and friends!   Thanks so much for visiting me here today, and all year long!   I truly appreciate every one of you.  Wishing you all the very best of the season.

See you in 2013!!   

Five Fabulous Finds

Woohoo - - I have another edition of my Five Fabulous Finds for you on this fine Friday (two weeks in a row!!).

1.  Ok people - I consider myself REALLY organized.  I'm an accountant, after all.  It is just part of my nature.  But I read a post this week on scrapbooking organization that had my jaw on the floor!  Seriously!   The article is worth a read.  Even if you don't go to the lengths that the author does - you may pick up some very useful tips in your own 'method' and 'process'.    You can find the article here: A Scraptastic Planning Process.

2.  Had to share a hilarious video with you all!  A fellow CTMH consultant recently won a free timed shopping spree in the corporate warehouse - so fun to watch.  What would your strategy have been?  What products would you have gone for first?  Enjoy . . . Noreen's Shopping Spree.

3.  One of my favourite boards on my Pinterest account is my Recipe board.  One of my most popular pins from this past week has been this recipe for Easy Cinnamon Buns.  Haven't had a chance to try it yet - - but it indeed looks easy and oh so delicious!  Will report back once I get a chance to try them!

4.  Planning a party?  The CTMH Artiste Cricut cartridge is a must have for DIY party decorations.  Here is a great sampling of what you can create for your next party - Jody Gustafson's Clementine Party.

5.  And finally - - a video every scrapbooker should watch.  This video - titled Stand Still, is from Stacy Julian and is set to an amazing song by Hilary Weeks.  Stacy shared it with us at the CTMH Convention in Dallas & there was not a dry eye in the house!    I promise watching this video will re-inspire you to capture more of your family's memories in your photos & scrapbooks :-)

Have a great weekend everyone!  Don't forget I'm running Facebook Friday specials all summer long - one day only offers to all Canadian shoppers - be sure to check out my Facebook Page for today's special!

Five Fabulous Finds

Wow - - it has been several weeks (maybe months, lol!) since I brought you an instalment of my Friday Five  . . . some great picks for you this week:

1)  Are you as into the Olympics right now as I am?  I can't get enough.  I don't watch a lot of TV normally - but during the Olympics my TV is on pretty much morning till night!  Love it.  In the spirit of the games - wanted to share with you this great card I spotted over at the Twinery blog - Olympic Rings - LOVE IT!

2)  Some great tips this week on photo organization at I Heart Organizing.

3)  Tip Junkie shared some photo prompts for August - Moments that Matter.   The idea is to use your camera phone to capture some of those fleeting summer memories.

4)  Here is a great list of FREE Fonts I came across this week.

5)  As you know, CTMH released their Fall/Winter Idea Book this week.   Jeanette Lynton, CEO of CTMH, posted great layouts on her blog using each of the new paper packs that will leave you wanting them all!

Have a great weekend everyone!! Don't forget to enter to win two brand new stamp sets HERE!

2013 CTMH Consultant Events Announced

Two great events announced yesterday for 2013.  If you are not yet a consultant & are interested in attending - be sure to contact me about Joining My Team!!  Would love to have you!

Album Retreat 
This great CTMH led retreat weekend will be held in Salt Lake City Utah - March 14-16th, 2013 at the City Creek Marriott.  You get a weekend of fun & friendship and walk away with a COMPLETED album designed by CTMH!!

Convention

CTMH's annual Convention will be held June 27-29th at the Coronado Springs Resort in WaltDisney World, Orlando, Florida!     Join CTMH for 3 fun filled days of classes, new product excitement, and so much more!!!

Hope to see you there!

Convention Update from Leadership Day

Just a quick update for all of you interested in what's happening here in Dallas at the 2012 CTMH Convention.  Today is Leadership Day - - a special day for team builders.  We had a great start to our week this am with some hints of all the exciting things to come tomorrow!   A summary of the morning news:

Brand new re-designed & re-priced New Consultant Kits - your choice $49 for the "Essentials" kit or $99 for the "Essentials Plus" kit. Available starting tomorrow! Other news - Studio J 'Memberships' are retiring. All content will now be Free to ALL users and all purchases will include a Free JPG of your layout. Layouts will be priced at just $6.95 for each 2 page layout. (For those who are already members - no worries - transition 'bonuses' for you!) New Studio J enhancements will be announced tomorrow! Our next incentive trip is a land trip - all inclusive resort in Costa Rica!!!!!! Who wants to join me in earning that one!!??!? Wow! It sounds amazing! Great presentation this am from Dana Wilde of "The Mind Aware" program - loved it!

Me & my roomies Kristine Ponte & Brandy Lees!

Little peek at new product!! This is the new "Essentials" consultant kit for Fall/Winter 2012

I'll check back in after our business classes this afternoon!

My Summer Memory Keeping Project

I started this week on a HUGE undertaking!!
My grandparents will be celebrating their 60th Anniversary this summer.   Truly amazing!

At their wedding - 1952

At their 50th Anniversary Celebration in 2002

Well when we started planning the celebratory events for this momentous occasion, it seemed to make sense to me that I volunteer to create a slide show for the reception and an album to give my grandparents as a gift.   I do 'memory keeping' pretty much full time, right?!?!

Well - - let me tell you - - 60 years of marriage, 4 kids, 13 grandchildren, and 13 great grandchildren create a whole LOT of photos & memories.     This is going to be a really big job that is going to consume a big chunk of my time over the next 6 or so weeks - - but I think it is going to be sooooo worth it.

Here is my plan - I have been collecting photos from cousins, aunts, uncles, and other family & friends for the project.  (I'm talking a whole big box of photos people!!!)  Some are on CD but most are originals requiring scanning for my project (yikes - the scanning takes a lot of time!)   I recently purchased a Mac (which I love!) so I'm creating a slideshow using my IMovie software on my computer.  I have begun this phase of the project & it is going pretty well so far.  I still have some photos to add that I'm waiting for from people & lots of captions/dates, etc., but the general framework of the slideshow is in place.    I basically set up the slideshow as a timeline of their lives.   I'm quite excited about how it is all coming together.  The biggest challenge with the slideshow is keeping it to a reasonable length!  As I said - 60 years = lots of photos.  Our family is large & I want to make sure everyone has their special photos of & with grandma & grandpa included in the presentation.  But I may have to work on paring it down a little when I'm done adding all the content.

The second phase of the project will be to complete a Studio J album to give my grandparents as a gift at the Anniversary celebration.  I can't possibly include all of the photos that I have collected in the slideshow presentation - we'd be watching it all night - so I'm hoping by doing the album I can add more photos and memories and more written details.   Also - by creating a Studio J album, I'll be able to provide extra copies of the layouts for anyone in the family who would like to have this collection of our family photos and stories in their own homes.    For myself, I plan to have a copy printed for my family & am so excited that my kids will have this record of our extended family's history and heritage.

(On a sidenote - for those that don't know, Studio J is CTMH's digital scrapbooking program!  One tip I've already learned - if you are scanning photos to include in your digital scrapbooking & plan on printing the layouts - be sure you set your resolution on your scanner high enough for 'print quality'!!)

So . . . if the blog is quiet in the next several weeks - - you now know why!!  I'm not absent - just working away on this gigantic memory keeping project.   I hope to share some of the finished product here once I'm done - so stay tuned for that.

Wish me luck . . . 49 days to go until the party!

Vote for your favourite cards!

Hey all!!

My CTMH team leader, Pam Klassen, has organized a team artwork contest  . . . and, of course, I had to enter!! Love me a good challenge!

So, now - - I'm asking you to vote :-)  I can't tell you which cards are mine though!  I'm hoping you'll take a look at the categories & pick your favourite for each . . . and, just maybe, you'll pick mine!

Part 1 - Thank You cards only, size 4.25" x 5.5", using current CTMH products
See the entries & VOTE HERE

Part 2 - Cards of any size & any theme, using current CTMH products
See the entries & VOTE HERE

Thanks friends!!  I'll let you know the winners when the contest closes :-)  (You have until Tuesday to vote!!)

Last weekend

Totally non-crafty related - - but thought I'd share what I did last weekend!

Months ago, one of my good friends & I planned a girls weekend away in Banff.  (Just because us moms need a break every once in a while!)  We booked a hotel room and a day of spa treatments!  Then, about a month ago, we found out that the Live with Kelly show was coming to Banff the very same weekend to tape 4 shows!   How fun!! What a great addition that would be to our girls weekend!  So we went through the process to apply for tickets!   Sadly, as the weeks passed, we were very disappointed to hear NOTHING about the tickets.  There was a chance we would get into a show as stand-bys, but it wasn't guaranteed.

Then on Friday, the day before we were to leave - guess what showed up in my mailbox!!  TWO tickets to the taping of one of the shows!!  Awesome - we were so excited!!

So, off we went - - and what a fabulous weekend it was!   We stayed at the Fairmont Banff Springs - - which is just one of the most beautiful hotels in the world! 

We enjoyed a day of pampering at the hotel spa on Saturday.  Spa treatments, lounging in the mineral pools & hot tub . . . ahhh - - RELAXATION!!  We enjoyed a delicious dinner at one of the hotel restaurants and then a quiet evening chatting & reading our books.  We went to bed quite early -- we had to be up VERY early to get to the show taping!  

So - early Sunday (i.e. 5:45 am!!) we were up to get ready for our 'tv appearances'!  Ha, ha!   We had to catch a shuttle bus to the taping location by 7am!

And we were on our way to the show with tickets in hand!

Then, the not so fun part of the day!  We were quickly wisked through security, metal detectors, bag checks, etc. and brought into the audience holding room.  Oh my god - no chairs.  We were in the holding room (which was very hot!!) for over an hour & a half - standing - in heels - with hundreds of other people.   This was totally ruining our fun!    I thought my back was going to seize up (and I'm not old!)  People were getting very grumpy, let me tell you!

And then, finally, it was time to head in to the theatre where the taping was taking place to grab our seats.

A view of the set before the show:

And a few pics snapped during commercial breaks:

Overall - a really great experience.  We had a lot of fun and it was very cool to see all the behind the scenes stuff and all that goes in to doing a show like this.    Kelly and Mark (and the guests - Jason Biggs and Hee Jun Han) were all HILARIOUS.  I came away from the day liking Kelly even more than I did before, for sure!   Sounds like they all enjoyed Banff as much as we do!  (We are so lucky to live an hour away from this amazing National Park!)  If you watched the show (it aired on Monday morning) & were looking closely in the crowd - you could even see me briefly with a big smile and clapping enthusiastically (as we had been instructed to do!!). 

I have another few busy weekends coming up (although nothing as exciting as last weekend's events!) -- so my crafty time will be short this month -- but I do have some artwork I've been saving up to show you - - so I'll still be here regularly!     

Hope spring has arrived wherever you are!  We are getting more snow here tomorrow!! Uuughh!!



Last Chance to Enter! Don't Miss Out!!

Did you hear the news?!?! I'm giving away a $100 CTMH shopping spree to one lucky Canadian! 
Tomorrow at midnight is your deadline to enter!

Read all the details and get your entry in HERE!!

GOOD LUCK!!

Five Fabulous Finds

Another five fabulous finds for you today (my 'picks of the week' you might say!):

1)  Gloria created a really great masculine birthday card this week.  The stamps are CTMH and I just love the clean & simple layout of this card!  I know a lot of people struggle with ideas for masculine projects so I definitely wanted to share this one with you!

2)  What can you do with little strips of paper?  Sooooo many things!!  Check out all these great projects I spotted this week featuring paper strips:  HERE, HERE , HERE and HERE.

3)  If you haven't seen Mary Fish's amazing craft room yet - - take a peek.  Warning - your jaw will hit the floor! 

4)  Did you know that Creating Keepsakes magazine has a new free downloadable font each & every Friday?  This week is a very cute handwriting font called Carolyn!  Available for one full week!

5)  Just for those of you who missed my post HERE on my love of my new Canon camera . . . my fifth fabulous find for this week is the Kelly Moore b-Hobo bag!   I have mine on order!! Yippee!

Have a great weekend everyone!

Oh my dear Canon . . . How I Love Thee!!

Crazy that I could be so in love with a piece of technology, but I really, really am!!
Hubby got me a Canon T2i for Christmas - my first DSLR.  I love taking pictures and have loved the several Kodak point & shoot digital cameras I've owned in the past 9 years.   I'm no professional photographer and have no aspirations to become one, but I've been really wanting to expand beyond the point & shoot world in the last year or two.  I have found that as my scrapbooking hobby has become a passion - I'm more & more interested in the photos themselves.  Specifically, I really want GREAT photos to put in my scrapbooks.  Well, my wish finally came true!! (I think hubby got tired of hearing me whine about all the things my current camera couldn't do, or maybe sick of hearing me say "That's my camera!" every time we saw the Canon commercial on TV.  Ha, ha!  I know, not very subtle!). 

So now that I have this wonderful tool - - I realize just how much I have to learn!

I have quickly realized that I really have no idea how to go beyond the automatic functions of the camera at this point.  So I've been reading diligently and a camera class is on my 'to-do' list for this spring.   

I've also realized just how many accessories a DSLR girl needs!  Oh my!! The shopping list is endless!  I've already picked up another lens for the camera (I need a zoom for photographing my kids playing sports, etc.!).  And of course I had to get a big SD card, because you never know how many pictures I might need to take in a single day!  And today, after much deliberation between brands & styles, etc., I ordered a great camera bag - the Kelly Moore b-Hobo!  Can't wait to get it!   Pricey, but after reading various reviews etc. online - - I think this is the bag for me!!  I've been browsing Etsy for camera strap covers, and lens pouches and all sorts of pretty little things!     Who knew that a simple camera purchase would lead me down this road . . .

But it is all so worth it.  Even in auto mode, I can already see the difference in my pictures!! 
Here is one I took a few weekends ago in Lake Louise, Alberta before dawn right from the window of our hotel room.  Do you see the moon?  The beauty of early morning was stunning and I love that I could capture it with my new camera!

So that has been my obsession the last few weeks.  It has inspired me to ramp up my scrapbooking because I'm so happy with all the new photos I have to work with! 

And now I better get back to work  . . . need to pay for all my new goodies :-)

Five Fabulous Finds

A new Friday feature perhaps?!?  I can`t promise it will be every Friday - - but every so often for sure!  I've seen a few other blogs posting 'picks of the week' type posts and thought that was such a great idea.  I spend a CRAZY amount of time surfing other blogs & websites and lately 'pinning' on Pinterest.   I thought I would share the inspiration and post some of my favourite finds from this week!

1)  A FABULOUS boy birthday card by Vicki Wizniuk using the new Superhero line of papers/embellishments from the Spring/Summer 2012 CTMH Idea Book!

2)  Learn with Jenny - one of my new favourite blogs to visit!  Jenny is a scrapbooker, but that is only a small part of what her blogging is about.  She is also a cancer survivor and is on an amazing journey!  After beating cancer she decided she was going to live life to the fullest and has made a list of 1300+ things that she wants to do/experience/accomplish.  Her blog is such an inspiration and I look forward to each and every one of her posts!

3)  Banner birthday cards!  Banners were a big trend in 2011 and seem to still be 'hanging in there' (ha, ha!) - here are three great banner birthday cards I saw this week:  HERE, HERE & HERE.

4)  The Fall/Winter 2011 Idea Book from CTMH retires at the end of this month.  My favourite retiring product that I will miss the most (and will be stocking up on before the end of January) is: the Dreamin' paper pack!  Can`t get enough of the gorgeous tones in this paper!

5)  Completely unrelated to scrapbooking - but a fabulous find none-the-less - LOVE LOVE LOVE the jewellery from SO PRETTY!  You can find her Etsy shop here and her Website here!  Check it out if you get a chance - beautiful stuff (I don't normally wear a lot of jewellery but I love the style of her pieces!)

So that is it!  My first Five Fabulous Finds!!
Hope you have a fabulous Friday!

Year in Review & Looking Forward to 2012

2011 has been a great year for me . . . highlights were:   Great vacations to Hawaii and California with my family and friends.    I enjoyed a fantastic & fun CTMH convention in July in Anaheim.  I saw the number of consultants on my CTMH team triple.  I was published in a magazine for the first time.  My artwork won several CTMH contest categories this year.  I participated on a Design Team for the first time.  I went ziplining for the first time (so fun!).  My hubby & I celebrated our tenth wedding anniversary.  And most importantly my kids are happy and healthy. 

Here, in no particular order, are six of my favourite projects from the past year (because I couldn't narrow it down to just five!):

1)  Future All Star Layout (this is my first published layout - in the Summer 2011 issue of Canadian Scrapbooker)

2) Vegas Layout - - love everything about this layout - - everything just came together for me on this one!

3)  Xmas Dreaming layout - - I love the simplicity of this layout.  It was quick to do and yet I love the end result.   I need to do more layouts like this!

4)  The Puck Stops Here - - love the title!! I racked my brain for a title on this layout and when it came to me, I knew it was perfect!! Don't you love that feeling?!?!  (This layout was also one of my 2011 CTMH Contest winners).

5) Full Throttle Layout - not sure why I like this one - but I do.  I think it is partly because I challenged myself in creating this layout & stepped outside of my 'box'.  I challenged myself to use the paper from a 'wedding' kit (Bliss) in a non-wedding way!!    I also tried to use a variety of embellishments & accents from different manufacturers, paper lines, etc. to pull the layout together (which I don't normally do!!) and was happy with the result!    Scrapping your stash is always a good feeling!

6)  Time Well Spent layout - KRAFT!! Kraft was new to me this year & I love it - - my new favourite 'neutral'!   

So what is ahead for me in the New Year?  Well, I have a few goals.  I want to scrapbook more.  And I want my scrapbooking to include more meaningful stories.  (And I would love to help others do this too!!)  I would also like to spend more time submitting to magazine calls.  On the business side of things, I plan to focus more on my crops and retreats and will do fewer smaller classes/workshops (prioritizing the things I ENJOY doing the most!).  I would like to learn more about photography this year if time permits and on a completely unrelated note, I would like to take skating lessons.  I would like to simplify and improve the organization of our home.   I did a better job in 2011 than I did in 2010 of maintaining balance in my life and learning to say 'no' if needed so that I don't take on too much.  I want to continue that in 2012!     Lots of big ideas running through this head of mine!! Now to put it all into action!   Stay tuned for progress updates!

As 2011 draws to a close, I would like to take this opportunity to thank you all for your interest in me, my blog, and my crafty creations.   CTMH and blogging have opened up a whole new world to me these last few years and I can't wait to see where it all takes me next!  

HAPPY NEW YEAR!! 

And the Winner is . . .

Hope everyone had a great weekend!  Thanks to all of those who commented on my Thankful Blog Hop post to enter to win two great CTMH stamp sets!

The winner is . . . .

Jamie said...



what a great 2 page layout I absolutely love it.. its so nice and i love the colors you used. tfs


Congrats Jamie -- send me an email at csironside@shaw.ca with your mailing address & I'll get those stamp sets in the mail to you!

What a weekend!!

Had an amazing time with the 40 attendees and my two co-hosts, Heather Kinahan and Noreen Smith, out at Canmore this past weekend for our Spring Retreat!  All the feedback we received has been extremely positive - we are so glad that you all had a great weekend!  We are already looking forward to the next one!  Thanks to you all for being such a great group & making the weekend what it was!

Ready to go!! Back of my van!

 Passenger seats of the van:

 Arrived in beautiful Canmore:

Scrap room ready to go -- can't wait for our guests to arrive:

In action & working hard:

Whew!! Now to catch up on my sleep!  So much fun!!

April? Really?

This is what we woke up to yesterday morning here in Calgary:

The only thing I'm thankful for about this is that it is not also 20 degrees below. 
But still, ENOUGH ALREADY!!

A Slice of Real Life

I recently started following two really great blogs.  The first I discovered via Facebook as the blogger is an old highschool friend of mine - Jo-Anna blogs about "A Pretty Life in the Suburbs".  And then, through Jo-Anna's blog - I then discovered "I Heart Organizing".
These blogs are right up my alley - - every scrapbooker loves all things 'pretty', right?   And my Type "A" Accountant personality most definitely does Heart organizing!!  

Well in the last few weeks these bloggers have been posting about spring cleaning, organizing, and purging and I must say I am inspired!!
I've had a whole lot on my plate this past year - by my own doing - I always take on too many projects!   And I have to admit - I've been letting things around the house 'slide' quite a bit!  As things have deteriorated around here - it has been weighing on my mind - but I felt overwhelmed about where to start to get things back in shape!   So - my new plan as of this week - tackle at least ONE 'project' per week.  No need to do it all at once.   But by doing at least one thing per week - - I'll feel like I'm getting somewhere and it won't be so overwhelming!   
So I started today with project #1 -  the upstairs linen closet!  
Here is my before (so embarrassing to share this pic!!):

And - 'ta-da'  . . . . here is my 'after':

It feels soooo good to even have that one little thing done! 
Now I can spend the evening in my craft room absolutely GUILT FREE!!  Look for a crafty post to come tomorrow!!

Open House Prize Winners

Where did this week go?!?!
I just realized that I haven't announced who the prize winners were from my Open House last Friday!
So, without further adieu:
The winners were - - Donna, Jill, and Lauren!

Congrats ladies!!  I'll be in touch to deliver your prizes!!

CTMH Regionals in Canada this year!

CTMH announced today that we'll be having TWO regional celebrations in Canada this year! Woohoo!!

The dates & locations are:
April 15 - 16, 2011 - Toronto
September 23 - 24, 2011 - Western Canada (location TBA)

I won't be able to make it to Toronto in April . . . but I will definitely plan to attend in September for sure! 
Hope to see all my fellow Canadian consultants there!  (If you haven't been to Regionals before - you don't want to miss it,  it is kind of like Convention on a smaller, more intimate scale!  Lots of creative time with brand new products, great classes from Corp, and lots of social time with the ladies who love CTMH as much as I do!)

Sound like fun but you're not a consultant?   Join my team and you can join the party!!  (Hey, and why not come to Anaheim with us in July too for Convention!!)
Email me anytime to find out more!