It's the end of August!

And I really haven't accomplished much at all! It has been a crazy time.

1) I'm working on my Master's degree.

2) I left my secure full-time job to teach! (I'll be a long-term substitute this year and praying for a position for next year)

3) I went to Scentsy convention! (Yes... I sell Scentsy... and I LOVE IT)

But! Never Fear! I'm working on a project! I have a daughter who has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder and developmental delays. The real challenge has been discipline. She is sometimes all over the place. And this is what happened:

1) Listened to a friend talk about how her granddaughter has a treasure box. This box holds all kinds of cool stuff that if the little girl is good she gets to choose from. Just 1 item per day. But she has to earn her item through good behavior.

2) I told a story to my sister about how my mother asked my daughter if she'd rather have a spanking or miss dessert. My daughter chose the spanking. So my mother made her skip dessert LOL. My sister says to me... hmm... she's reward driven.... I said hmmm... you are right.

3) So I was on the hunt for materials to make her a treasure box of her very own! When I'm done, I'll get it posted.

But let me tell you my ideas for what to give her. I found a great place that sells hairbows for $1. I know... I make them right so why would I pay for them! (Time is the answer here). And we have a $1 costume jewelry store in town, plus some added little this' and that's from the $1 store in town. I'm not even done with the box yet, but she sure has been good in anticipation!

I'll post again with pictures, and ideas soon!

Client Gifts

If you've read any of my posts before, you know that I'm in sales for my full-time job. Part of what I do is giving the clients little tokens of appreciation, and I'm stretching my imagination because I want what I had out to be a bit more personal.

Today I made some Starbucks coffee gifts. It was really easy. I found some great coffee cups at a $1 store, some brown crinkle filler, some clear party bags, and I have tons of ribbon laying all over the place. I headed over to Starbucks and bought their Coffee Via and this is what I did:

Step 1: Cut out a 2 1/2" X 3" card (I used a creme cardstock)
Step 2: Get a corner rounder and round the corners out
Step 3: I stamped on them, a little pot with steam and Thank You
Step 4: I aged the paper by using a sponge to distress the edges all the way around
Step 5: Sink this down into the cup so the words face out
Step 6: Put in the Starbucks Coffee Via
Step 7: Put in the Brown Crinkle filler
Step 8: Put in the clear party bag
Step 9: Tie close with ribbon.

There ya go! Inexpensive ways to show your appreciation! Here are my finished cups.

New Catalog... A great Deal! A Great Sunday!

Close To My Heart has finally unveiled their fall/winter catalog to their consultants and man is it AWESOME! Customers can view the catalog beginning Aug 1 on my CTMH website. But... I'll give you a little sneak preview what is new:

1 - EXCLUSIVE Cricut Cartridge! This cartridge has over 700 cuts and comes with 3 stamp sets and 3 chipboard sets! Best of all the catalog is layed out showing you what stamping sets the cricut cartridge has cuts for! ONLY $99. And there is buzz that for the August launch there will be a purchasing incentive to make it 1/2 off! I'll let you know when I know more!

2 - Stamp price DECREASE! Yep... some of the stamps and stamp of the month stamps have new pricing.

3 - GORGEOUS new papers. I don't want to spoil it but for all those zebra print fans, lets just say there is a set that has you in mind!

4 - AWESOME holiday sets! Papers for fall, Halloween, and Christmas! And of course... gorgeous stamps for all the holidays.

I can't wait for you to be able to see all the wonderful things CTMH has done for this upcoming season!

Now for my steals and deals! Today I went into Michael's to get some Cricut mats for my cricut. I always wander back in to the clearance section to see what I can find... And I found a GREAT deal.


Yep. Retails for around $69.95.... and I paid $29.99! I'm so excited for the upcoming workshops!!

And... I think I've fallen in love with a new cutting system. Not that I don't LOVE my cricut... but... check out the Pazzles. Crazy name AMAZING things you can do.
Visit the Pazzles Website and check it out!

Just a quick overview:

1 - No cartridges
2 - This machine can cut, WRITE, distress, emboss, etch, and well... the list goes on and on. This is a definite must LOOK at!

Plus... they even have a commercial version for those that are in business.... just saying...


If you google "Pazzle $99" you can find the link to pay only $99 for this machine instead of $599 by getting a two year subscription to the Pazzles craft room. They also have a $199 option with a 1 year subscription which if you can afford the extra bucks up front makes this machine cheaper!

Happy shopping :) If you get one let me know what you think. I'm trying to hold out and not do it, but I don't think I'll hold out for long!

Booking Board

I got this idea on the Journey to Director board on the CTMH forums, so I can't take any credit. But I loved it so much I had to make my own! This is called a booking board:



All you do is set these up at your parties and encourage your attendees to book a party. They use a dry erase marker to book a date. You can either pre-select open dates they can sign up next too, or they can choose their own, your choice.

What I really liked about this project is that it is manageable for so many businesses. You don't have to be a crafting Queen to have one of these for display. It would work great for any Direct Sales consultants. Imagine it at your Scentsy, Mary Kay, or WHATEVER table.

My materials:

12 X 12 scrapbooking frame (purchased @ Michael's)

You & Me scrapbooking set from CTMH

I used cocoa Ink, and the small and large chocolate alphabet sets.

I love these papers and all I did was a little inking to make some of the paper looked distressed and there you go!

I'm thinking of offering pre-made one's for sale on my website store. But this pretty girl is mine!

Happy Weekend!

Update: Being Creative With Your Job

I am getting ready to take my first basket over and wanted to add a special little something. This idea came straight from Jeanette Lynton's Originals book. Wish I was smart enough to come up with this design! If you don't own a copy of her book you are missing out! Click my link on the side bar to order your's today!

At any rate: here is my creation for a client!
I hand stitched the little pocket and used some cute pieces to really make the card pop. I'm really hoping the client likes it and thinks WOW she made this herself just for me!

Have a great night everyone!

Card Challenge

Hey everyone, I made a little card for a card challenge you can see HERE. The theme was buttons, so I got my inspiration from a card in the Originals book by Jeanette Lynton and this is what I came up with:


Here is what I used:

Fanfare B&T's X7138B
pg 13 Originals by Jeanette Lynton
Dutch Blue Ink Z2119
Tulip Ink Z2166
Sunkiss Yellow Ink Z2151
Thoughtful Seasons (Happy Birthday Stamp) D1299
Jubilation (Fireworks stamp) D1457
Shining Star (Star Stamp) D1320
Foam adhesive (to make things pop)
Daisy Buttons

Have a great card for buttons? I'd love it if you'd share! Happy Crafting!

Being Creative With Your Job

I know many people don't have to think twice about how to be creative, unique, and absolutely personal in everything they do, but I'm a slow learner ha ha! So I'm going to share my insight with you just in case you are a slow learner like me!

My full-time job is in the construction industry. My clients or rather my company's clients range from the small business owner to the Fortune 500. My job is to go out and sell our product, maintain customer relationships, and develop new customer relationships. Yes, that makes me a salesperson. For those who think "Ewww... sales" I promise its not bad, it is actually a lot of fun. For those of you that think "Oh... the easy life" I promise you, I do more paperwork than the office manager! Here is what I've been pondering on here lately though.

I go out and visit clients and get to take them to lunch, dinner, social events, drop by their offices, and sometimes bring them little tokens to remind them that they like doing business with me. Some company calls these marketing tools. I know you've seen them and you've got several around your home and office. Pens, pencils, paper, envelopes, sticky pads, koozies, coffee cups... all bearing said company's logo. Well, I get to buy these wonderful items too. Only I can't handle being the "average" salesperson, so I'm taking it a step further. Here is what I want to do:

1) Gift baskets - Yes, put the all important pens and paper in there, but also make chocolate chip cookies, or muffins, or brownies. Add a bow, and a personal handmade card.

I know many of you maybe thinking.. um, I can buy these and don't need to spend time making them. Well, there are two reasons for me wanting to do this instead of just buying them.

1) My clients are personal to me. I want them to know I consider them important enough to spend my time on them.

2) You never know where your talents of client relations will lead you. Who might see this basket?

3) I just find it great to make people smile, and I've never had anyone say... oh... wonderful... she brought cookies....

4) I'm saving my company money. Yep I will. I am a smart shopper and put the ingredients together of a beautiful basket that would cost over $100 for a fraction of the cost!

*I tested this theory out by the way: I went to a local "snazzy" gift basket establishment and bought some baskets for clients. The baskets were $40, $30, and $20 respectively. This is what I found.

I could have bought baskets like those at the dollar store.

The most expensive basket contained about $2 worth of goodies in it (if you were to make them up and divide the pieces up the way they did)

Great for that company for making such a tidy profit. Great for me for figuring out, I could save my company $38 per basket. And since I have 100's of clients and 100's of more potential clients, that's A LOT of dough!

So boss man, if you should happen upon this blog one day.... recognize you have an awesome employee!

Now I'm off to make a batch of Thank you cards. Nothing says customer appreciation like a THANK YOU! How often do you hear it while you are out shopping?

Have a great day!