National Scrapbooking Month Video and Layouts

If you are a scrapper, you know that May is National Scrapbooking Month. Each year, Close To My Heart celebrates with a gorgeous, exclusive scrappin' kit that is only available during May, and this year is no exception. Take a little over 4 minutes to learn a little bit about this kit by watching this FAB video. I've also posted photos of my completed layouts below. Enjoy!



My completed layouts (click on either image to see it larger and in more detail):


There are 3 great ways to get this kit:

1. Purchase $50 in CTMH products and get it for only $15
2. Purchase it outright for $34.95
3. Get it FREE by signing up to be a Close To My Heart Consultant for only half price ($64.50, usually $129) in May.

Head to my website to start shoppin'! You'll be prompted to add this kit at the end of your order. You gotta love it, baby!

More May Stamp of the Month Artwork and Sentiment Ideas

This 4" x 4" card was made with the gorgeous May Stamp of the Month. I liked this set a lot when I saw it, but when I started using it, I fell in love with it!

In addition to the already great sentiments included with this set, here are a few more ideas (compiled from ideas from other CTMH Consultants by my friend, Margi): Chair Up!, Just sittin' here, thinkin' of you, Sit and stay awhile, Let's sit and catch up, Let's sit...it's time for girl talk, I chair-ish your friendship, A good friend is like a special chair, Time to Relax, Sit Happens (this one made me giggle! Thanks Mary G!), Sitting next to you is the best place to be, Chair-eee-o!

Close To My Heart products used: May Stamp of the Month (Chairs to You), Mayberry Level 2 Paper Pack, Desert Sand Cardstock, Cocoa Stamp Pad, Watercolor Pencils, Kraft Color Ready Borders, Green Button Collection, 2" Scallop Circle Punch, New England Ivy Ribbon (retired), Round Sponge, 3D Foam Tape.

You can click on any image in this post to see it larger and in more detail, too!

Click here to shop on my website 24/7, even in your jammies!

Happy Birthday (belated), Kori!

The whole past month I have felt like my life has been upside down, what with the move and all. There have also been lots of specials and artwork to post so Dawson, Daysha and Kori all got their birthday blog posts late. Lest you think I'm a terrible mother, just know that they did get their gifts on time. :)

Kori, from the day you entered the world you have brought nothing but joy to our lives. I count my blessings every day that my Heavenly Father entrusted such a special girl to your dad and I. You have been such a sweet, obedient child from the day you were born. You expect excellence from yourself and have the ability to make everyone around you feel special and cared about. You are a hard worker and a straight arrow. You are beautiful inside and out. I LOVE YOU! I wish I could have flown to Chicago for your special day, but you were in my heart here.

FANTABULOUS Sale and My New Facebook Page

Right now on my website there are some FANTABULOUS deals, some items as low as $1.50. Get 'em while you can! These darling whimsy felt die-cuts are just one of the awesome sale items.

Also, I have begun a Facebook Page for my business. I would LOVE for you to "LIKE" me! Just get on Facebook and type "Karen Pedersen, Close To My Heart Independent Consultant" in the search box, go to the page and click "Like". Even faster is just to look for the "Like Button" on the left side of my blog and click there.

I will be filling this page with artwork, interactive questions and contests, quotes, free products and prizes, and just all-around FUN stuff! Tell your friends about my page too! Today I posted a great discussion topic.

Have a wonderful rest of your Friday the 13th.

Studio J Layout and Earthquake in Spain

Here is another of the 10 layouts I made last week at the Studio J Boot Camp. I'd love to show you how to make similar layouts with this wonderful digital online program. I am offering FREE 30 minute one-on-one sessions in which you complete 2 layouts (totally FREE unless you decide to buy them) and also group classes that will last approximately 1 hour where you and 3-4 friends get together (with your laptops) and I help you each build 2 layouts. We can do either option at my home or yours. If you host a group of friends, and they choose to purchase Studio J membership, YOU earn FREE hostess rewards (great Close To My Heart products!). I'm happy to travel to most locations in Utah. Just email me and let me know where you are and we can work out the details (pedermom@aol.com).

This layout features my missionary son, Tannon who is currently serving in the city of Murcia, Spain. I chose this one today because of the earthquake that hit Murcia yesterday (see below). I know Tannon is involved with much service helping those who were hurt, injured and displaced from this tragedy. You can click on the layout to see it larger and in more detail.

The journaling on this layout reads: "Tannon has no fear. He can't sit still for more than a few minutes. He's always on the go, finding the next fun thing to do and making everyone around him laugh non-stop. I miss him so much as he is serving his mission in the Spain, Malaga mission but I know that he is using his personality plus and charisma to help bring those he teaches unto Christ. I wouldn't have it any other way!"

Back to the earthquake: We just received word that all the missionaries are safe and unharmed. Please keep the area and it's people in your prayers. So far 10 are confirmed dead and many, many more injured and displaced.

I don't have details about Tannon, but I do know he is fine and is in training meetings all day today with the mission president to receive instruction on how to help the people in the area. I'm sure it will be much like what Easton did on his mission during the time after Hurricane Ike (although not to nearly the extent)...LOTS of service and helping families.

This earthquake was nothing like what happened in Japan recently, but it did it's share of destruction and was measured in Tannon's area at 5.9. It damaged over 22,000 buildings and the falling debris injured many people and displaced many families. Spain is usually very low-risk for earthquakes so buildings are not generally constructed in a way that protects them against the shaking. There continue to be aftershocks in the area, some as high as 4.1.

It's funny. Kori called me yesterday when it happened to see if I had heard. I hadn't and was immediately a little panicked. Within minutes I felt a calm come over me and knew that Tannon was okay. I felt so peaceful. I am so grateful for the Holy Ghost! When I received the email from Tannon's mission president this morning telling us that the missionaries were all safe, I was glad to have it, but I already knew. When Kori called yesterday to tell me about it, I was teaching a scrapbook class. One of my customers who was there knows Tannon quite well (her daughter and Tannon grew up together and are buddies). She said, "Karen, can't you just hear Tannon now? He's probably saying, 'Cool! How many missionaries get to experience something like this on their missions? All the service will be TIGHT!'" If you know Tannon very well, I'm sure you'll agree. He will find a way to stay happy and positive about this new development and will find the joy and 'fun' in serving others. Tannon has the knack of finding fun in the worst of situations.

Please keep the people of Murcia and Lorca, Spain in your prayers.

May Stamp of the Month 6 x 6 Card

Today I thought I'd share a 6" x 6" card I made with Close To My Heart's oh-so-trendy May Stamp of the Month (D1456-Chairs to You). Find out how to get it here.

As you know, if you are a frequent reader of my blog, I LOVE colored pencils, specifically watercolor pencils. I love the soft look they give and the ease with which they blend, with or without a waterbrush. These chairs were colored without using any water...just the pencils.


Close To My Heart products used: May Stamp of the Month -"Chairs to You", Mayberry Level 2 Paper Pack, Cocoa Stamp Pad, Basic Button Assortment, Watercolor Pencils, Kraft Color-Ready Borders, 3D Foam Tape, Round Sponge.

Stay tuned! I'll be back tomorrow with some more beautiful Studio J artwork.

Studio J Layout and Motherhood

Today I am sharing the 2nd of 10 two-page layouts I made this week with Studio J to create an album about my family. I thought this one was perfect to share on Mother's Day. This layout ended up being a hybrid layout. The photo you see here is BEFORE I added some tactile flowers and sparkles to the layout. It celebrates my daughter, Kori and her motherhood. If you click on the photo, you can see it larger and in more detail. If you missed my last post, the one that showed the first layout in the series of 10 I will be sharing over the next week or so, please refer back.

Here is what the journaling on this layout says, "Kori has been beautiful since the day she was born, inside and out. While that is true, I don't think she has ever been more beautiful to me than since she became a mother. Watching her with her little daughter, Daci, seeing the love in her eyes, watching her mature as she fills the role of wife and mother, and seeing how much she loves doing it makes her glow. As her mother, there is nothing more that I could ever want for Kori than for her to be married to the man of her dreams for eternity, to experience motherhood, and to love both of those things more than anything else. That's what it's all about. And that's just beautiful."

I am so blessed to have such wonderful mothers in my life. My own mother, Nedra is truly an angel on earth. I couldn't have been given a better mother. She is kind and sweet, through and through. She always put her family first. My grandmother, Winona is someone I am very much like. We both love pretty dishes, cooking, entertaining, playing games, and are super-competitive. She is 92 and still going strong. My daughter, Kori is such a good little mommy. I am so proud of her and Rick and the way they are raising our granddaughter, Daci. It is so rewarding to watch my daughter teach her little girl right from wrong and love her like I loved my little munchkins.

These two photos are priceless to me. They are 5 generations: Daci, with her mother, Kori, with her mother, me, with my mother, Nedra with her mother, Winona.

This Mother's Day was so special because there are 2 times a year we missionary moms actually get to talk to our missionary sons: Mother's Day and Christmas. I got to spend a whole hour on the phone with my Tannon this morning. It was heaven on earth. I couldn't have gotten a better Mother's Day gift! I love you, T-Man.

Thank you to my family for spoiling me even though they couldn't all be here with me. The flowers that arrived yesterday were so beautiful. Kori wrote a beautiful post on her blog today too.

Thank you to my hubby, Dan-the-Man who has journeyed through parenthood with me. Thank you to my 4 beautiful children who have made motherhood such a pleasure.

Happy Mother's Day to all of my readers. I hope your day is wonderful.

Studio J Layout and Happy Birthday, Daysha!

As always, you can click on any image in this post to see it larger and in more detail. You may want to with this layouts as I tell you about some of the techniques I used on it!


How weird was my last post? Don't answer that. I got it ready before I left for a WONDERFUL 2-day meeting with Close To My Heart called "Studio J Boot Camp" (more on that in a minute) and set it to post on Tuesday. When I saw it I thought, "What the heck? I did not create that post to look like that!" Alas, I was too busy at this meeting to even do anything about it. All of the information was in the post but as you saw, it was CRAZY BIG with CRAZY SPACING. Who knows why. I have never had that happen before. Here's to hoping this one doesn't do that! I guess the good news is that I'm home and can fix it if it does. :)

In case you lost your patience going through that Tuesday post, here (in just a few words) is the gist of it: In May you can become a new Consultant with CTMH for less than $65 (half price) and get over $300 worth of product in your kit....INCLUDING A FREE $99 ONE-YEAR STUDIO J MEMBERSHIP and the beautiful May National Scrapbooking Kit (valued at over $35)! I personally think it's more than worth signing up just for that membership and to get your Studio J layouts at a consultant discount. Call or email me if you are interested (801.360.9896, pedermom@aol.com), or click here to get started signing up. I suggest you do 'choose me' kits 2, 3 or 4, and 5 (you get 3 "choose me" kits included in your kit cost).

I spent the past several days with some of my fellow CTMH peeps learning some amazing advanced techniques with Studio J (CTMH's perfect answer to the digital scrapping dilemma) and created a 20 page (10 two-page layouts) of my family in the process. Here is a photo of me and my sweet CTMH buddy, Amy with our delicious "Nothing Bundt Cakes" cakes. I HIGHLY recommend these...DEE-LISH (I have no stock in this company. I just love it! {lol}). My album is beautiful, if I do say so myself, and I am soooooo excited to share some of these techniques with you! {I just saw that Jeanette Lynton (the owner of CTMH) just shared some more about Boot Camp on her blog here.} Anyhoo....for the next week or two I'll be sharing a layout here and there (you'll see today's at the top of my post and also below as I talk about it a little bit) and telling you a little bit about the techniques I used on each one. Ready, Freddy? Here we go.....

Oh, wait! I almost forgot in all the hustle and bustle of this week to post a Happy Birthday to my wonderful new daughter-in-law, Daysha. She's a Cinqo de Mayo baby and I'm proud to say that my son spoiled his new bride rotten yesterday. We celebrated her birthday here last weekend since they live 3 hours away and we couldn't actually be with her on her birthday, but I did want to pay a special tribute to Daysha here on my blog. Happy Birthday, Daysha! I love you!

Okay, Freddy. Now I'm ready to tell you more about the Studio J layout below.

I specifically designed this layout to be the opening and closing pages of my album. The first page ("Uniquely You") talks about how I feel about my life and family, which is what my album is all about. The second page was designed to be the closing page of the album, that's why it says, "This is not the end, it is only the beginning.". Is this layout making more sense now? I hope so. I 'm proud to say that I won the Boot Camp Journaling Award on this layout. My prize was a brand new album! Cool beans!

If you click on the layout, you should be able to read the journaling, but if you can't, this is what it says, "I wouldn't trade places with anyone! I love my life and am blessed beyond belief. My most treasured gifts are my family and my membership in Jesus Christ's church. When I was a little girl I dreamed of what my adult life and my husband and children would be life. They are better than anything I ever could have imagined. Thank you, Heavenly Father. I don't know what I ever did to deserve such a rich life, but I'll take it!"

A few of the techniques I applied to this layout are:
*resizing MyStickease (the sticker accents)
*journaling on MyStickease tags
*moving MyStickease in front of and behind other accents
*changing patterned paper to tone-on-tone patterns instead
*changing the intensity of color on papers
*distressing the edges of papers with inks digitally

I would love to set up a FREE 30 minute one-on-one session with you in which I teach you a little bit about Studio J and you create TWO 2-page layouts. REALLY! 30 minutes, baby! Call or email me to set up a time (801.360.9896, pedermom@aol.com). If you are in Utah in the Salt Lake, Utah or Davis County areas, I'll come to you or you can come to my home. If not, we can do it over the phone.

Over $300 for $65!

Click on any photo in this post to see it larger and in more detail. There really is a reason for this beginning photo of Dan-the-Man and I from one of our cruises to Alaska, but you have to read the whole post to find out what it is! Yep, I'm tricky!

I told you yesterday that I would share today how to get over $300 in products for only $65. Remember that? If you need a refresher, here's what I said, "Want to know how to get a Close To My Heart one-year Studio J membership ($99 value), a scrapbooking kit (worth $12.95), 3 stamp sets (over $50 in value), 3 stamp pads ($15.75 value), accessories (worth about $8), 2 scrapbooks (approx. $35 value), and an acrylic block (worth $10.50), and the May National Scrapbooking Month kit ($34.95) AND MORE for only $65? I'm not kidding: over $300 for only $65!"

Well, I'm back today to fulfill my promise. Here's the scoop:

During the month of May the New Consultant Kit is HALF PRICE...AND you get the May National Scrapbooking Kit along with it! The New Consultant kit is usually priced at $129 (still a GREAT price for over $300 worth of stuff), but during MAY ONLY it is half price, AND you get a FREE NATIONAL SCRAPBOOKING KIT along with it.

For the value of the one-year $99 Studio J membership, it's worth it alone. But, when you consider all of the other things you get in the kit, it is astounding that Close To My Heart is offering this AWESOMER than AWESOME sign-up special.

Click here to sign up, but not before you finish reading all the details in this post.

When you sign up you get a basic business kit with all the business stuff (Idea Books, order forms, etc) you need to get started. You also get to choose 3 of 5 add on kits, all included in the $65. Here are the three "choose me's" I suggest:

First "Choose Me" I suggest: Choose Me #2 - Ignore the print on the photo below. As you know it's not $129 to sign up in May, it's HALF THAT! WOO HOO! Choose Me #2 is a FREE 12-minth Studio J Membership.
Second "Choose Me" I suggest: Choose Me #3 or Choose Me #4

Here's #3:
#3 includes:

• Workshop on the Go Mayberry Kit
• My Acrylix Summer Days Stamp Set
• Smoothie Exclusive Inks Pad
• Olive Exclusive Inks Pad
• Pink Brad Assortment
• 2" x 3 1/2" My Acrylix Block (not shown)

Here's #4
#4 includes:

• Workshop on the Go Lucky Kit
• Lucky Level 2 Chipboard Assortment
• My Acrylix Enjoy Life Stamp Set
• Outdoor Denim Stamp Pad
• Desert Sand Stamp Pad
• Kraft Color Ready Borders
• Round Sponge
• Edge Distresser
• 2 1/2" x 2 1/2" My Acrylix Block (not shown)
  

Third "Choose Me" I suggest: Choose Me #5 -
#5 includes:

• 12" x 12" Dark Chocolate My Legacy Faux Leather Album
• Outdoor Denim Quick Pic Album
• My Acrylix "Ciao" Stamp Set
• Chocolate Stamp Pad
• 4" x 4" My Acrylix Block

I also suggest you choose the option of having your very own website for a first year introductory price of $5.95 per month. If you promote it well, it will MORE than pay for itself with online orders.

And like I said before, you also get the GORGEOUS National Scrapbooking Kit for FREE.
National Scrapbooking Month kit includes:

• You and Me Stamp Set
• 12" x 12" Colonial White Cardstock
• 6 - 12" x 12" Patterned Paper (B&T) Duos (new cardstock weight)
• 6" x 9" You and Me Irresistibles Chipboard Die Cut Sheet
• 1 yard of Chocolate Striped Ribbon
• 1 package of Mocha Opaques
• Instruction and Cutting Guide (full color)

Here are my finished pages:

And lastly, but certainly not leastly today I wanted to say Happy 26th Anniversary to the love of my life: Dan-the-Man. The past 26 years have been the BEST I could ever have dreamed of. I love you with all my heart! There is no one I would rather spend eternity with.

Close To My Heart's May Stamp of the Month

Click on any photo in this layout to see it larger and in more detail...

Want to know how to get a Close To My Heart one-year Studio J membership ($99 value), a scrapbooking kit (worth $12.95), 3 stamp sets (over $50 in value), 3 stamp pads ($15.75 value), accessories (worth about $8), 2 scrapbooks (approx. $35 value), and an acrylic block (worth $10.50), and the May National Scrapbooking Month kit ($34.95) AND MORE for only $65? I'm not kidding: over $300 for only $65! If you want to know, and I mean seriously, who wouldn't, check back tomorrow. I'll tell you then! How's that for suspense? I just love surprises!

Today, to keep you happy instead of dying of suspense, I thought I'd share the unique and fun May Stamp of the Month (D1456-Chairs to You) and a layout I made with it. When I saw this set, the first thing that came to my mind was "No Empty Chairs." Here's a close-up of the journaling on the layout (you can click on the photo to see it larger and be able to read it):

I will continue to share artwork that I have made with this set here and there throughout the month of May.

Here is a photo of the carrier sheet of the stamp set. The actual size of the carrier sheet is 6" x 6". These chairs and sentiments are so much fun, and you'll see chairs all over the place right now in the crafting world and home decor. Leave it to CTMH to stay on the edge of the trends!

There are several ways to get this set:
* earn it FREE when you spend $100 or more (before shipping and tax)
* earn it for 75% off ($5.74) when you spend $75 or more (before shipping and tax)
* earn it for 50% off ($11.74) when you spend $50 or more (before shipping and tax)
* earn it for 25% off ($17.21) when you spend $25 or more (before shipping and tax)
* purchase it for full retail price ($22.95)

Head to my website to start shopping. You will be prompted to add the Stamp of the Month for the appropriate discounted price or even FREE at the end of your order. Don't forget to add the May National Scrapbooking Month Kit to your order too. You'll be prompted to add that too. It's a must have!