Needed another day...

After my long weekend, I needed just one more day to recover!  Monday's trip to Busch Gardens was fun...but it was HOT.  I think it drained the life right out of all of us!  There was a lot of laying around the house and several naps for Grace yesterday.  Tyler and Branden didn't even want to go outside yesterday to play...still TOO HOT!  I could have used another day to sleep in!  Oh well, hopefully this short week will be kind to me and I can recover over the weekend.

I have a few pictures from our Busch Gardens trip, but haven't downloaded them just yet.  Maybe tonight.

HAPPY FRIDAY!!!

I can not even begin to express how happy I am that it is the weekend!  Seriously, I think this may have been the longest week ever.  I'm particularly excited because I have a four day weekend.  I am staying with my sister's kids Sunday through Tuesday while she and her husband are out of town, so that should be fun.  I am planning on taking all three of them to Busch Gardens on Monday (and no, not by myself...I'm not THAT crazy)! 

I'm particularly excited to have all day tomorrow for crafting.  Cards are on the agenda.  I will try to remember to take pictures...I need to get better about that.  It will be good to visit with my friend Lea and get some creative ideas out of my brain and on paper!

It's late, and I need to be well rested, so that's all I have for today.  Happy crafting everyone and I can't wait to show you what I come up with tomorrow!

Chalked Flower Card...inspired by Tresa Black

I made this card tonight after watching the Ustream video Tresa Black, another consultant, posted last week.  She taught a chalking technique that was actually pretty easy, and that is what gives the flower that 2-toned look.  All products from Close To My Heart.  Hope you enjoy!

This is the inside of the card.

BUMMER!!!

I hate Sunday nights.  The weekend is too quickly coming to an end...why do the weekends go so fast and the weeks go so slow!?!  I have this same conversation with myself every weekend.  Oh well, I guess it's time to get back to work tomorrow.  I hope I can keep myself occupied enough for the next 5 days to go buy quickly.

On a happy note, CTMH has announced that the next convention is in Aneheim, CA next July.  While this is REALLY far away from home, and will probably be pretty expensive, I really want to try to go, so I need to start planning now.  Step 1: Put in for the time off.  Step 2: Sign up for Dollars to Disney.  I guess it's a good time to really start working the business, huh?

Reunion...

Boy do I feel old.  Today is my 15 year high school reunion.  I'm not going this year, but it sure does make you think about how long ago that all was...feel like just yesterday sometimes and at other times it seems like it was a whole other lifetime. 

Well, I hope everybody  has a good time...doesn't party too hard (we are getting too old for that) and that someone takes a lot of pictures!

Is the MOJO back???

Well, I'm not sure, but I was able to make a couple of cards last night and that is progress!!!  I think sometimes I get so hung up on what to use I just get to a point where I don't want to use anything!  It's crazy.  Hopefully last night's little burst of creativity will carry through to this weekend!!

Close To My Heart Updates from the 2010 Convention!!

I am so sad that I could not make it to the CTMH Convention this year, but I am so happy some of the consultants that are there have been sharing pictures and updates and I wanted to share those with you!

The first update is the release of 8 new colors!!!  They are all in the Summer collections and they are: Gypsy, Pacifica, Sunset, Cotton Candy, Lagoon, Pear, Sky & Smoothie.  Great, bright colors!!  Can't wait to see them in person!!!  Of course this will mean that some colors are retiring, so I will have to stock up on those...oh darn!

More updates to come...I don't want to spoil all the fun at one time!!! :-)

I think I've lost my MOJO!!!

Seriously, I am in a creative funk.  I had a nice, long 3-day weekend and all I intended to do was scrap, but what I ended up doing was NOTHING.  Oh, I attempted a card or two, but I would sit there for a few minutes and then NOTHING.  So, off to the couch and the laptop I would go.  I will say I feel really well rested, I took plenty of naps!  But now I am bummed that I wasn't at all productive.  :( 

Maybe I'll have better luck next weekend???

Another Monday....

So, I woke up this morning, feeling not to bad considering, and was even ready a few minutes early.  So I grabbed my stuff and out the door I went, flipping the lock on the door as I walked out...WITHOUT MY KEYS!!!  So what started as a pretty good day for a Monday ended up with me running late for work and just feeling out of sorts for the rest of the day.  Thankfully, work wasn't that bad!!!

Had dinner with Lea, came home and worked on some scrapbook stuff and now I'm off to bed, listening to the rain...so I guess that's a not so bad end to a Monday after all.

Night all!

Great weekend so far...

Last night Gracellyn spent the night so her mom and dad could take out Tyler & Branden to the movies.  It was, as always, a delight to have her over!  Here she is playing with my paper flowers.  What a mess!!! :)

After the flowers, she wanted to show me her stinky feet...so here are some pictures of that!

And then...she went on the potty like a big girl...and these are the pictures of her "pee pee dance".  I tried to take video,  but she wouldn't repeat the dance performance.  Trust me, it was HILARIOUS!  (And check out her new favorite PJ's...did NOT want to get dressed in her play clothes in the morning!)

Today, Erica came over so we could make the invites to G's 2nd birthday party.  After G's nap, she wanted to get in on some stamping, so I've included some photos of that too.  We also made a sticker book today, but I forgot to take pics of that.  She picked out the stickers and placed them...she was mostly interested in fishy stickers and clearly knows how to say "sticky" and what that means.  It's so much fun to see what she takes an interest in and I love that she loves to be crafty! :)

TGIF!!!!

I love Fridays!!!  I love them even more at 5pm, but that should be no surprise.  I wish though that Fridays (after 5) and the weekends would go by as slowly as the rest of the work week does.  It just doesn't seem right that the fun days should fly by so fast!

Tonight, Gracellyn will be sleeping over so that E&M can take the boys out on the town.  I love our little slumber parties.  They definitely aren't late nights...but I love that she loves to come over and stay.  Tomorrow, Erica and I will be working on the birthday invites for G's 2nd birthday and I hope to also work on some of the new projects I have out of the Summer IB.  I really hope to have some pictures to post soon!

I hope you all have a Happy Friday and a wonderful weekend!

Why isn't it Friday?

I find that Thursday is a rough day for me. On one hand I'm super excited that the week is almost over, but on the other hand it's just not over fast enough! Today has been especially hard to focus on work as I'd rather be day dreaming about all the fun stuff I want to create with my new CTMH swag waiting for me at home.

I'm excited to start offering a monthly workshop for the CTMH Workshop on the Go starting in May. I already ordered all four kits for the Summer Book and can't wait to start putting them together this weekend (or maybe tonight if I have the energy). How exciting!! It will be fun to have a fun Friday evening to catch up with the girls and get some scrapping done!

Well, I guess I should get back to work...LOL. One more day until the weekend! :)

And yet another Monday!

So, it's been almost 3 months since my last post. Maybe blogging isn't for me! I'll keep trying!!!

Here's a little of what's been going on here...

Matt, Kristi, Maya and Olivia (MKMO) just left on Saturday AM from their week long visit. It was SO MUCH FUN! Despite fighting a cold and managing some burns from the beach, I enjoyed every single minute of it! It was a crazy non-stop week, and I hope they had just as much fun. Hopefully I will have some pics to post later.

Monday, Monday

Oh how I dread Monday mornings. The best thing about this Monday is that when this day is over I will be one day closer to a four day weekend!

I have been trying to find ways to introduce Close to My Heart to people without being pushy or overbearing...I have experienced that from some other direct sellers and I HATE feeling like I'm being hounded. I was able to share a little bit today with someone at work, but I'm just wondering what the best way is to approach people. I know that as gatherings occur and I meet more and more people through them the word will spread, but I know that will not be enough to launch this journey where I want it to be.

I guess this is just all a learning process and I'll probably have a lot of trial and error along the way.

A new year, a new adventure...

Late into 2009 I decided to start doing something that will help support my love/addiction of all things paper crafting by becoming an Indepenent Consultant for Close to My Heart. While I'm still learning all the ins and outs of a direct selling business, I am enjoying becoming acquainted with all the new products and how CTMH operates. I have set up a website through CTMH and you can check it out at abbycandlish.myctmh.com.

I'm excited to have a handful of home gatherings already booked and can't wait to see where this new adventure leads. I love sharing my love of scrapbooking and cardmaking with others and I hope that many others catch the "fever"!