Paper Cupcakes Blog Hop featuring It's Your Day

Welcome to the Paper Cupcake's Blog Hop! (Paper Cupcakes is the team name of my great upline Bren Yule!)

Whether you are starting here, or hopped over from Bren's blog, you're right on track!

Today we are featuring the National Stamping Month double stamp set "It's Your Day."


You can purchase this fun set for $5 when you place an order of $35 or more between August 15 and September 30, 2012.

I love how  many fun background stamps come in the set. You can make patterned paper to match any color combination.

Combine Specials and Get More Bang for your Buck!!!!

Not only is this a fabulous deal all by itself, but just look what you can do when you combine specials and the purchase of our new Artiste Cricut Cartridge

Purchase the Artiste Cartridge - $99 (includes 3 stamp sets and 3 pkgs of dimensional elements)

That purchase qualifies you to purchase the Stamp of the Month for $5

and the It's Your Day double stamp set for $5.


For $109 plus tax and shipping you end up with

• Artiste Cartridge
• 6 Stamp Sets!
• 3 Pkgs of Dimensional Elements
• And a fun little organizer bag from me to you to keep it all organized together

Now hop on over to Heather's Blog to see what she has created!

Love Decor featuring CTMH La Belle Vie Paper Pack

Here's another fun sample from my Extravaganza booth at the Close To My Heart convention.  I created my own chipboard pieces and covered with paper from the La Belle Vie paper pack.  I used my cropodile to punch holes and hooked together with extra rings I had from the banners we sell in the catalog and I added some of our fun new Tulle!!! Love that stuff.  You can add it to anything to give it a little "ohh la la."

This is a really quick and easy project that you can adapt to any home by switching the paper pack to one that matches your decor.

I included pictures of a few of the things I love...

My crazy Merrill family!
My boy and his girl walking with my little pup.
My hubby and I
and of course...who could resist that little Maisy face!

Supplies Used:

• X7158B La Belle Vie Paper Pack
• X7158C La Belle Vie My Stickease
• Z1798 Black Tulle Ribbon
• Z1393 Black Mini-Medley Accents (ribbon)

You can order any of the supplies I featured on my website or contact me to get details about how to host your own gathering online or in person!

Card featuring CTMH Flirty Paper pack

Heading off to girls camp and I didn't quite get all my posts scheduled before hand so I thought I would test out my blogger iPhone ap. So far it's looking good. I might just be able to send off some updates from camp if I have a good enough signal.

Here's a quick and easy card I made featuring the Close To My Heart Flirty paper pack.

fun technique - color sparkles with our new markers to match your project.

CTMH Cricut Artiste - Pop-Up Cards

One of the keys I was assigned to use for my Extravaganza Presentation at the Close To My Heart 2012 Convention was the "A" key and it contains fun pop-up cards.

You can create a card that says "Hello" or one that says "love," but as you can see on my board below... I came up with a third option.  Simply flip the card insert over, or cover it with paper and you can have a blank canvas to create whatever kind of pop-up card you'd like!

I'll post a better picture later...but can you tell what part of the key I used to create the little gift with the eiffel tower on the tag?  It's the adorable mailbox!  I put two mailboxes together to create something new.  Stay tuned and I'll post a better picture and more details.

Supplies Used:

• La Belle Vie Paper Pack
• CTMH Cricut Artiste Cartridge - A Key as well as a few cuts from other keys.
• Glamour Glitter Alphabet
• Birthday Stamps/Balloons are from set included in Artiste Bundle
• D1528 Jardin Stamp Set
• La Belle Vie My Stickease Assortment
• Black, Smokey Plum, Desert Sand and Blush inks

Are you ready to add the Artiste Cartridge to your collection?  You can purchase it, or any of the other Close To My Heart products I've featured, on my website, or contact me to book your own online gathering and earn FREE product too!

Have you ever thought about it?

Have you ever thought..."Dawn sure has a lot of fun with Close to My Heart, I'd love to do that?"

Well maybe now is the time!  Close To My Heart updated their kit prices and made it even easier to start your own business.  If you've been scrapbooking and stamping for a while and have collected your own stash of supplies then the new Essentials $49 kit (approximately $130 retail value) is just for you.  You can plan your first workshop or gathering by making adorable samples with the Avonlea products included in the kit and then order what you need for your next event and customize it to your needs and likes.

If you're brand new to Close To My Heart and don't have as many tools in your stash, you can take a look at the $99 kit (approximately $280 retail value) to see if that meets your needs better.

And to make the deal even sweeter...the August special means you will also receive the amazing bag we received at convention.  These bags are so highly coveted that my fellow consultants that did not attend convention have been BEGGING to buy one!!!  While CTMH says they have many of these bags in stock, they also said "while supplies last!"  And I have already seen a ton of people signing up today so if this is something you want to do.... do it RIGHT AWAY!

Here's a little about how I run my team and what you can expect from me.

• I have been with Close To My Heart/D.O.T.S. for 17 years so I have a wealth of experience running and adapting my business to the needs of my family.  I have also been honored to be selected to teach at many of the CTMH corporate events and conventions.
• I have a team facebook group set-up where you can get to know fellow team members and learn from each other.
• I post little challenges and inspiration 1-2 times per week.
• I am a "no pressure" girl, so that means I am here to lead and support you, but I will not hound you!  You tell me what your goals and needs are and I will try to help you along.
• Team meetings in San Diego and I am available to skype and email my long distance team members.
• I also allow my team members to attend my workshops/crops (as long as there is space) so that you can create fun projects and see how I run my business.  You can adapt and improve upon my ideas to build your own business.

Please feel free to contact me if you have any additional questions or pop on over to my website and start your career today!  We can't wait to welcome you to the Paper Hearts team!

CTMH August SOTM Blog Hop

Welcome to the August Stamp of the Month blog hop. You may be starting here, or you may have hopped over from Teresa's blog, either way you are in for a treat.  Once you're done checking out my creations, simply follow the link at the end of my blog post and continue along on your journey.  Eventually you will finish the loop and see all the fun projects.

This month we are featuring S1208 Baroque Borders.

Baroque Borders is one of those stamp sets that is great to add to your collection.  You can use it to create quick and easy backgrounds that will add richness to any project.  I've taken one of the stamps in the set and stamped champagne ink on champagne cardstock to create the background below.  You could use this same technique on a scrapbook page or a 3-d item.

I also used our new Close To My Heart Cricut Artiste Cartridge to cut the paper the saying is stamped on.  Not only do the stamp sets tell you which cartridge to use and what size to cut the image, but now they also tell you what page the image is on in the book. I simply chose my stamp, next to it it said "1 1/2" pg. 65," so I flipped to that page, found my image and cut it.  Definitely Faster, Simpler and Easier!!!

You can also use the images as a focal point on any project.  On the card below I decided to use one of the beautiful corners as my main image.

I stamped it in outdoor denim on the blue grid pattern in the new Scholastic paper pack.

And just for fun, I flipped the same paper over and added some of our new burlap ribbon to create the card below.  You would never know I created both of these cards with the same paper pack!  They look completely different!

Supplies Used

• Champagne  and Outdoor Denim Inks
• Scholastic Level 2 Paper Pack
• Z1701 Bakers Twine - Neutral Assortment
• Z1760 Burlap Ribbon
• D1525 Casual Expressions (set of 12)

Please contact me or shop on my website if you would like to purchase any of the items featured.  I conduct workshops in Lakeside, CA and am available for retreats, parties and private workshops in the San Diego area.

Now it's time to hop on over to Judy's blog to see what she created

Sight Seeing during the CTMH Convention in Dallas

One of my favorite things about attending Convention (besides getting to see all the amazing new products live and in person!!!) is the opportunity to hang out with fellow consultants and team members.  It is always a crazy fun time.  Some of them might say I bring along the crazy, but I think my buddy Heather might have to take on some of that responsibility too.

First we hopped on a bus to take us to downtown Dallas...

Heather wore her new boots!  Apparently they serve drinks and very hot cowboys help you try boots on.  Her story about her shopping experience definitely made me consider buying some boots!

But we went to dinner next door instead.  We enjoyed some fabulous steak!  Yummm... Texas serves my kind of food!  Sorry, but there is not a vegetarian bone in my body. 

Sure wish I had my bike so I could join the group ride that was going by!

Thankfully Heather had taken a tour of Dallas before we arrived and she has an AMAZING memory!!  She shared all sorts of cool stories, facts and trivia about the area.  I think she could seriously get a job as a tour guide!!

I love taking pictures of beautiful buildings with interesting architecture!

This JFK monument was purposely built to look unfinished to represent the unfinished life of JFK.

I have grown up hearing all the speculation and conspiracy theories about the assassination of JFK, but it was a little before my time so I never really had a personal connection to it.  Visiting the area and the site gave me a very different perspective.  I was amazed at what a small area it was. It was fascinating to see where the route was originally planned and where it was changed to.  

I am so glad that we took the time to visit this area during our trip!

The Grassy knoll.....Even this picture makes the area look bigger than it is.  It is not a large sprawling area of grass.  It's very small and the street is only two lanes.

I had such high hopes for this picture!  You would not believe how long it took us to pose and get the camera set up...but then it was getting too dark.  I had to lighten the photo up so you could even see us!