Studio J went LIVE today!

I first saw Studio J as it was being developed last summer in California at CTMH leadership. It's going to change the way people do digital scrapbooking...it's so much more than that. I know all of you want to know when you can actually start playing with this amazing program. Well wait no longer. It went live TODAY!!!! YAY!!

All you'll need to do is go to my website http://jeanie.myctmh.com/ and you'll see a link that will connect you to the STUDIO J program. While you are on my website you will want to create an account there. This gives you the designation of being one of my customers and will hold your unpurchased projects for 90 days from when you started building them.

You'll be able to choose from some of our most loved paper packs and even some STUDIO J exclusives, pick from tons of our designer layouts, add our exclusive mini medleys accents, distress your pages, even add our stickease stickers and more ...you are so going to be addicted to this program once you start playing with it. Now here's the kicker....IT'S ALL FREE! You can upload your pictures and create your layouts free of charge. Our software is not something we charge for like other companies.When you're ready to make an album you can purchase your layouts for an introductory price of only $12.95 for a double layout. . . Better Yetorder five-nine layouts and get five free memory protectors. . .Best of Allorder 10 layouts and get 10 page protectors FREE and FREE SHIPPING. Now who couldn’t complete 10 layouts in three months time? That would be the frequency you would need to purchase layouts in order to not loose them in the computer records. Better yet once you purchase them, you can go back to order additional copies if you need them for relatives and friends. Making any type of Studio J purchase keeps your active projects in your account for another 90 days, and purchased projects remain in your account for one year following purchase. I know that you'll be amazed at quality of our printed layouts, the ease of our program and the creative aspects only Close To My Heart could provide. I've never know Jeanette Lynton to create anything that isn't the best on the market and STUDIO J is for sure the BEST!

Are you getting excited to know more? Go to my website http://jeanie.myctmh.com/, create your account then follow the Studio J logo on the left column. If you want to have some time to see how Studio J works, make sure to stop by this coming Saturday, May 1. I am also interested in setting up individual 1 on 1 times with you to get you rolling, so get in touch and we can do that soon. You say you don’t live close to Zumbrota, but still don’t want to try this by yourself? Arrange a phone call where we can cover your questions and concerns. I’m even willing to be on the line while you get started with your first layout.

Anyone who orders 10 double page layouts through my website during the month of May will be thanked by me with a chance to win a free 12 x 12 linen album (retail value $27.95 + S/H and tax)! Dig in! Get those layouts going and let me know if you have any questions.

Earth Day 2010

Were you kind to the earth today? It has been 40 years since the first Earth Day. Have we made progress? Every little kind thing we do does make living here better for ourselves and others. I can't say I did anything major today, but I did collect paper items from around the house for recycling. On a regular basis I collect soda pop tabs from collection spots around work (and home) and turn them in to the Rochester Ronald McDonald House for them to recycle and collect the money.

I did take a few moments to walk around the house to assess where the weeds were and what flowers were blooming, but didn't take any photos to share. My hedge is in tough shape, so hope to spend some time on Sunday triming that back into a better shape.

MAY 1 -SEE NEW CTMH IDEA BOOK, CROP WITH ME, PLACE ORDERS FOR NEW SUPPLIES AND WIN PRIZES!
We are coming close to the end of the month of April and with that the current CTMH Idea Book will be replaced with a new Idea Book - always exciting to see the new book! May 1 falls on a Saturday this year and I will be hosting a crop day where the first 6 people to sign up can come here to spend the day working on their own projects from 10 am until 4 pm (or whatever portion of time you care to spend working on your projects).

At 2pm I will host an unveiling of the new IDEA BOOK - come in and get yours free that day. If you can't get here that day, email me and ask to have one sent to you. At 3pm we will have a quick make and take project with some of the new papers. Hope to see you on May 1!

The whole month of May is designated as National Scrapbooking Month. Watch for specials happening all month! Order your supplies during May and include the Miracle Kit with your order. I will be hosting a free work session using the Miracle paper kit on June 3 (Thursday evening) from 7-9pm or June 5 (Saturday) from 2-4. Make sure you get one or more kits while they are available to order - only during May!

Have you been considering holding a home gathering - May is the time! Check your schedule and contact me to book your gathering while I still have a few choice dates left. Let's party! If you don't want to host it at your place, let me know and we can arrange to have you host your gathering at my place - all you need to do is bring a light treat to share with your guests.

Administrative Assistant Recognition

This week has a couple of celebrations going on - National Lab Week for those of us working in Medical Laboratories and Adminstative Assistance Recognition Week. I volunteered to make a card for our Administrative Assistant. The stamps used are not CTMH images, but everything else is using CTMH products. I am finding that Twitterpated and Caboodle papers mix well together. Sorbet and Sweet Leaf are my major color accents. The bottom card has a little scrap of Miracle paper underneath the sorbet ribbon. I know I agreed to make one card, but with three, the others can choose which they like best. The tulips were colored in by using our watercolor pencils - so much fun! If I get up early enough tomorrow morning, the adminstrative assistant will get colored in too.

More Miracles

I need to thank a fellow CTMH consultant, Beckie Lehman, for the inspiration for these four cards using the Miracle kit now availabe for ordering through me. She took her paper pack and made the most out of it! She did add a few extra sheets of cardstock in order to get 14 - YES, 14 cards out of the kit! These are the four I made this morning. While these are all standard A2 card size (5 1/2" x 4 1/4") some of the others will be smaller or larger. Yesterday I cut the papers for all 14 cards, so the parts and pieces are there for me to continue. I just need to find the time! Today the weather is so nice, I need to stop these indoor activites and head out to do some yard work.

Another place for you to look to see more about the Miracle kit is to click the logo for CTMH on the right side of my blog. It will take you to my web page where you will see the kit advertised. Follow the info and click on the arrow at the bottom of that photo to find out more! You can order directly from my website to get your kit, or contact me if you have any questions. This kit has been great fun to work with so far (I think I may need to get another!) Got to sign off. . . I think I hear some weeds calling my name.

National Scrapbooking Month is May!

Beginning April 15 order your own Miracle paper kit to celebrate National Scrapbooking Month. From April 15 - May 31 purchase the kit outright for $19.95 (CC1009). The kit is a spring-themed grouping of everything you will need to complete a couple great 2 page layouts and some cards. The kit includes an instruction spreadsheet to guide you as you complete the projects. Some talented CTMH consultants have used this kit to create their own projects. I hope to try this also.

Want the kit for less? You can get other CTMH products at the same time! Place an order for a minimum of $40.00 (excluding Studio J orders) and purchase kit for only $10.00 (CC1009A). Place an order for a minimum of $60.00 (excluding Studio J orders) and purchase kit for only $5.00 (CC1009B). If you host a Home Gathering with minimum sales of $300 you receive kit for FREE (CC1009C).

Be the first to send me an e-mail stating that you would like to book a Home Gathering and hold it before May 15 so you can get the Miracle paper pack FREE and you will get an additional gift from me to thank you for your booking!

Goodbye, Diane

Today is the day my basket guild group says goodbye to one of our members. The last couple months she has been dealing with inoperable cancer. Thursday morning as I was getting ready for work and thinking about Diane I remembered what someone in my breast cancer support group did when Liz died. They had made pink ribbon pins for each member of the group to wear at the funeral. Trying to translate this idea to Diane I came up with making heart pins (her business name was From the Heart). I used one of the many hearts included in CTMH's stamp set So Luck (C1390 $13.95) which was new in our spring idea book. I stamped onto a piece of packaging chipboard that came from CTMH with my summer Idea Books! It was white on one side so worked well. The color ink I used was Cranberry which is a nice dark red unless you put liquid glass on it - then it turns an orangish red. I put clear embossing powder mixed with prisma glitter - still turned orangish red. A new lesson learned. The surface of the pins had a rough feel from the glitter, so I added a layer of liquid glass.

I had to take this photo of a single pin without a flash because of the glitter, so its not the best. Before embossing I stamped her name on each pin using a retired CTMH set - Doodle alphabet with cocoa ink. The letters look like they are floating in the embossing powder or liquid glass layer instead of stamped on the surface. I made 26 of these pins. About 18 guild members responded they would be attending the funeral and would be honored to wear the pin. There may be a few who didn't respond or read my e-mail, so thought I'd better have a few more. Diane will be remembered for her good deeds long after today. Also, most of us are not wearing black to funeral - bright colors are the order of the day!

March 2010 - NO SNOW ALL MONTH IN MN!!!!

March was a busy month, especially the last week. It was hard to pick just one photo to represent the month for me. There was one unusual event which I have highlighted in the title of this blog - no snow. There is no picture to document this. I have decided to highlight Kaylan's Bridal Shower as a highlight of the month. The cake was made by Jill at work - she used the CTMH stamped images from the invitations I highlighted in last blog to decorate cake. Kaylan has really been a part of the family for quite a while now, since she and Matt have been going together (through their ups and downs) for some time, but the wedding will take place in May.

At work Gregg is getting ready to retire. He is now in his 32nd year at Mayo. His "official" retirement party takes place next Friday, April 16th, but his 8 closest co-workers and sposes held a "roasting" at Terri & Craig's house early in March. Here is a photo of Gregg and his wife Mary. Gregg is wearing one of his gag gifts - an apron declaring him the master fish chef for him to wear at his next fishing trip. Today he was beginning to clear out some of the things accumulated during his time at Mayo - what a process.

March also saw me attending the funeral of my cousin Gary. He had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer around 2 years ago, so it was quite a trip for him which ended with his coffin being taken to the cemetary in a horse drawn wagon. I like this picture of the horses because I happened to catch my gold PT Cruiser in the background - not on purpose! Gary was a cowboy in every sense of the word, so he went out with a cowboy's funeral. Roy Rogers had written a Cowboy's Prayer which was included in the printed program and the last song at the funeral was a recording of George Strait singing The Cowboy Rides Away. It was good to see some extended family, but was a quick trip to Jackson and back in one day.

The day after Gary's funeral I got together with a group of friends and co-workers to celebrate Ruth's birthday. Her birthday is earlier in the month, but it took until almost the end to find a time that would work for all of us to get together. We are kind of a birthday club, since we try to at least plan things to do about 4 or 5 times a year. Mary B. (back left in photo) has a birthday in January, Ruth's is in March (sitting - looks like the rest of us are trying to keep her from leaving!). My birthday is towards the end of June so we usually try to have a pool party at Ruth's to enjoy the warm MN summer. I'm in the middle of the photo. Mary V. (back right) has a September birthday and then we try to plan a holiday get together that happens sometime between November and January. This year our holiday celebration and Mary B.'s birthday happened at the same time.

Here is documentation of my last Holiday celebration for 2009. These are college friends (most truly are - we have just adopted Sharon as a college friend, even though Becky didn't introduce us until about 2 years ago). In this photo Becky and Sharon are in front with Kris and Jane behind. I took the photo, so I'm behind the camera. Kris gave us an evening out at The Melting Pot in Minneapolis as our Christmas gift. Thank you Kris! Back in December we began looking for a good date and came up with March 27.

The Melting Pot is a fondue place where you have heating surfaces in the table and you take care of cooking your meal. Our appetizer was a cheese fondue. Here Sharon is adding the veggies to a pot of some kind of red wine broth mixture. Note the little bottle of tabsco sauce front bottom left. Sharon's meat was cagjun seasoned. After she had fondued a few pieces we were all tasting it on ours from cooking in the same pots. LOL - it was fine.

Almost all of these pictures that I have highlighted as March memories occurred in the last few days of March - whew. 25th - Gary's funeral 26th- Ruth's lunch 27th- The Melting Pot 28th - Kaylan's Shower. It has taken me a few days to recover.