May SOTM blog hop

Welcome to the May Stamp of the Month blog hop featuring S1305 Pinwheel.  Whether you're starting your journey here, or you hopped over from Elizabeth's blog, you're right on track!

Uh oh!!!  I forgot about this hop!!!  I took a last minute trip to Disneyland to celebrate my birthday and I totally forgot about the hop.  Sorry!!!  I'll get my artwork up as soon as possible!!

In the mean time you can hop through my buddies blogs to see the amazing things they created with the May SOTM..

So hop on over to Sheila's blog to see what's next...

Behind the Scenes at the Paper Cupcakes Team Retreat

Last weekend my upline, Bren Yule, hosted a team meeting/retreat at Rabbit Hill Ranch.  11 of us were able to stay for the whole weekend and we had over 20 people at our meeting on Saturday.  We truly had so much fun.  We laughed, and laughed and laughed.... and in between we made a few projects.

When one of our buddies said to save her a "comfy chair by the bar" for the team meeting we knew we had to create a special chair tag for her.  Denice and I started the tag (Denice welded all the letters in cricut craft room) and then we passed the tag around the room and let everyone add a little something something...

It turned out so cute!

Here are a few behind the scenes photos....

Denice working her cricut craft room magic!

My buddy Gail, who was probably sorry she sat next to me by the end of the weekend...or maybe 5 minutes after we got there. LOL

Who are all these crazy characters?  A little still shot of us in our wonderful Harlem Shake costumes.

I forgot to take pictures until after a couple of people left.  No way would those tables be that clean otherwise!!

Of course, they probably were never as messy as my area!  How does it get like this?  I think someone came in and just threw a bunch of stuff on my table to make me look like a slob!

Sneak Peek at the May National Scrapbooking Month Special - Dream Pop

I took a little time out from making our Harlem Shake - Scrapbook Style video, to actually create some samples, at our team retreat last weekend.  I brought the Dream Pop paper and some coordinating accessories and inks and set out to see how many different things I could make.

I figured that since I'm going to tempt you with a sneak peek at this special, I might as well go all out and share my little bakery treats!

I used the Artiste Cricut Cartridge and my Cricut Expression to create these adorable treats.  The pie box is cut at 6" and the cupcake is cut at 5 1/2". I love how perfectly the Colonial White Rosette Ribbon goes with them!  The little bow on top of the pie box is cut on the cricut too.  I kept the design sweet and simple so that you could easily make a bunch of them for your next party!

This is just the beginning!!!  I made a ton of samples and will be featuring them over the next couple of weeks so make sure to check back often or subscribe to my blog.

How can you get the Dream Pop Paper Pack?
In honor of National Scrapbooking Month, you can get the yummy Dream Pop paper packet for only $10 when you spend $35 in May (valued at $19.95 retail)! This exclusive paper packet includes 12 cardstock sheets as well as 12 B&T Duos^® papers that were specifically designed for this promotion only—you can’t get these sweet colors and patterns anywhere else! Start National Scrapbooking Month off right with a unique paper packet at a bargain price and get your creative juices flowing! Also, consider hosting this month: Hostesses receive one paper packet free with qualifying May Gathering sales totals of $400 or more.

So "POP" on over to my website starting May 1st to get your own "Dream Pop" paper pack!!

Harlem Shake at the Scrapbook Retreat....

So what did YOU do this weekend?

Me?

My weekend was filled with hilarious laughter, some scrapbooking, some stamping, some card making and some Harlem Shaking!!

I tend to come up with some interesting ideas and I wasn't sure this was a good one.  In fact I almost chickened out and didn't share this brainstorm.

It all started with a phone call to Bren...

"Hey Bren... I have a really funny idea.  Have you ever heard of the Harlem Shake?"...

Then I had to explain what it was and encourage her to watch some videos.  Some of those videos can be a little...well... ours is probably one of the cleaner versions.

Less than 48 hours later this was born





I think the best part was that my AMAZING team mates totally jumped on board.  Many of them had no idea what we were talking about, but they brought costumes and totally went for it.  I have watched this video about 20 times and I laugh every single time.  As you look around at each person and see the crazy things they did.  It just cracks me up.

Now do you see why I love these women so much!!!!!

I can't promise that every team meeting or retreat will look like this one, but I can truthfully say that I have created some amazing memories and I have the most fabulous friends because of the connections I have made with Close To My Heart.

I would love to have YOU join my team!!  The recruiting special is still going strong.  You get 4 FREE stamp of the month sets when you join by April 30th and our kit price is only $49!!

Hop on over to my website and start your memories today!

Chantilly Chalkboard Technique Card

I found a bunch of photos I haven't blogged.  I guess I better get busy and get some posts written!!

Last month I was going through a bit of a chalkboard obsession!!!  It started out because I fell in love with our chalkboard marker!  I used the marker to create the little polka dot border on the card below.  It shows up beautifully on dark paper and makes it fun to add little white accents.

The stamp I used is from the For Always Card Workshop on the Go Kit (G1060).  I love that stamp set so much!  I just keep using it and using it.  I used our white daisy ink pad to stamp the image.  Just give it a few minutes to dry and it comes out perfect.  No need to emboss!

Supplies Used:

• White Daisy Stamp Pad
• Chantilly Paper Packet
• Chantilly Textiles
• Chalk Marker
• Black Cardstock

Sunday's with Daddy

I think I've mentioned it a few times here, but my Dad is pretty sick.  We've had many close calls over the years, but like a cat with nine lives, he keeps cheating death.  At some point you begin to wonder how many lives he has used up.  A couple of months ago, we thought he was at the end of his ninth life....

I love my Dad and we have always gotten along well, but he's not what you would call communicative.  If you call him on the phone, you better have a list of topics to discuss or he'll be hanging up the phone or passing it to someone else pretty quick.  Of course you can get him pretty worked up if you bring up a topic that he is passionate about, and 20 years in the Navy means there's a sailor's mouth to go with it!  So conversations with Dad are kind of a balancing act.  I'll admit that I have brought up a contentious topic a time or two, just to get him to talk to me. 

I didn't worry about Dad much before.  He keeps himself busy. I know he loves me.  He knows I love him.  He doesn't expect me to call or visit all the time. After all, the phone works both ways.  It's not like he's calling me!

Well he has been so sick, that he has been pretty much bed ridden.  My step-mom handles so much and calls and visits ARE important to her, so I decided I need to make an effort to try and visit every Sunday.  At first there were a lot of things to discuss.  Fun topics like what kind of funeral he wants to have and the importance of following the "rules!"  He's now being fed via IV and you can tell his brain is getting food.  He is more coherent and he will actually carry on a conversation if you can come up with a topic.  I noticed that he started to get the little sparkle in his eye when I would show up to visit and he would ask about my trips and my son.  Could it be that my dad was talking to me?

One day I had a brainstorm.  I had been seeing many blog posts and pinterest posts about people participating in "list a day" challenges.  What if I give my Dad homework each week?  I could assign him a list or two to work on and then we could talk about them on Sundays.

Little did I know how amazing that brainstorm was! A couple of days after I emailed the first lists my step-mom wrote back to say how much fun he was having.  

I think we are all having fun!  And because he has shared so many interesting stories, I thought it would be fun to start a new series called Sunday's with Daddy.  Each week I'll share part of what he has shared with me or one of the pages in the scrapbook I've created about our visits.

So be sure to come back on Sunday for the first installment of  "Sunday's with Daddy"

I haven't taken any photos lately - but here's one from December so you can see how tiny and frail he was.  My step-sister (Catherine) and I brought a little Christmas cheer...