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Gifts from Leadership Friends

I was so excited to post pictures of my friends, that I forgot to post pictures of the neat crafted things I received from my friends.

These came from Briana Bostick, Sue Laufer, Noreen Petty and Sarita Schraeder. The Caprice mini accordian envelope album was made by a sweet consultant who was just handing them out. I know a lot of work went into this, so I’d love to give you credit. Please comment if you’re out there.

Took the kids and their friends to the park today. Needed to get some pictures taken. Got all this new fabulous paper to play with. Here is a shot I got of Lawson & Cate up in a tree at the park. Love it, love them!

Hoping to play with my CTMH stuff this weekend and have more to post next week.

Have a terrific weekend!

CTMH Leadership Conference 09

I’m finally starting to come back to earth from my Close to My Heart Leadership Conference experience. Man, there is no better place for a die-hard scrapbooker, card maker, paper crafter than a Close to My Heart Event. I can’t even believe that next year, our convention is going to be right here in Washington, DC! Are you kidding me?!? I think my head might actually pop off in excitement with my team members there, too!

Anyway, besides the $200 in free product we received from CTMH, the best part of the conference was getting to meet so many amazing women. My only complaint was that I didn’t have more time to spend talking to them. But, I did make some real connections with a few:

Seriously, I have met a “soul sister” in Sarita Schraeder. We have the same silly sense of humor and were just on the same page with so many things. We met basically in passing at Convention last year and hooked up to be roommates at Conference. Ridiculous fun! I miss her already!

And, I got to spend time with my Twitter buddy, Mandy Leahy. We were tag-team-Twittering the entire weekend. Is she not the stinkin’ cutest thing ever!?? And that hair. I’m not kidding when I tell you that it is so great that at one point another consultant come over and took pictures of her at three different angles. She is a rockstar and I am sure that she is going to be walking that stage soon!

Did I tell you yet where we got to go for the Director’s Dinner? DISNEYLAND’s California Adventure! I was welcomed with open arms by these 4 amazing people, all of whom are recruiting gurus (Amy Rafferty #3, Noreen Petty #2, Briana Bostick #1, & Phil Whilhelm #4). Noreen Petty, second on the left, “adopted” me and she is a serious CTMH superstar! I am so proud of her for making Advisory Board for the 2nd year in a row!

It was such an initmate dinner. So much so that I found Jeanette Lynton, our founder & CEO watching the parade alone. I went over, introduced myself and told how much I loved the company. We talked about how excited we were about Studio J and the other amazing things to come with CTMH.

And I love love loved being whisked through the crowd (I think only a few people were hurt) to run over to Disneyland’s Big Thunder Railroad Roller Coaster by Briana – she is a real firecracker! Love our talk in line and at dinner.

Here we are waiting for our ride in our Mickey Ears!

Finally, the icing on the Conference Cake, was placing 9th for recruiting for the entire company, tieing with Lori Leng and Deborah Baldock (both amazing leaders). I received a gorgeous engraved crystal heart piller and got to have my picture taken with Jeanette (will post that as soon as I get that picture). What a thrill to be recognized for doing something you truly love and believe in with all of your heart – sharing the amazing opportunity that Close to My Heart offers with the wonderful women I meet.

What’s next, you ask? Well, Regional Celebration in Minneapolis at the beginning of October, of course. But in the meantime, I’m in the final countdown for the trip I am dying to take in March – a cruise to the Western Caribbean that I can take Mike on for free with Close to My Heart. Just need to earn a few more points and we’re there! How flippin’ cool will that be?

Does all this sound like fun to you? I’d love for you to join me.

How?

Become a Close to My Heart Consultant – it’s that easy!

CTMH Moon Doggie Vacation Scrapbook Layout

Note to self for future CTMH Conferences: Do not schedule ANYTHING for the following week!

What was I thinking! Seriously, I am EXHAUSTED! In the past three days, I’ve held one Workshop on the Go Gathering, two Junior Scrapbookers classes and one Mommy & Me Home Gathering! Insane. My head is filled with everything I want to do with my CTMH business that I really just need a few days to process it all. Phew.

But I’ve posted the Moon Doggie Layout the girls did last night at our Mommy and Me Party. I hope they had a fun time. I think it was fun for them to see where their Mommy’s go at least once a month.

I used the Vintage Post Card Stamp set, Moon Doggie Paper and the crocheted ribbon from the Colonial White Ribbon Rounds.

Multi Media Art Canvas for Operation Smile

2 weeks before Conference, I got a call from one of Close to My Heart’s Executive Directors asking me to participate in their first ever Operation Smile Silent Auction. She asked me to create a wowie, over the top piece of art. I had no idea what to do, because I guess I’ve always felt like I’m a great copier, but an artist, not so much. But then I thought about the canvas I created with Claudine Helmuth (see it here) and realized that I could do the same thing using all Close to My Heart Products, especially Liquid Glass, Paint & Reinkers. So I created this canvas. It was an honor and a thrill to have my work next to such talented artists as Bren Yule, Karen Pedersen & Lisa Stenz (amongst several dozen others).

The auction raised over $5000 for Operation Smile. At $240 per operation, that’s almost 21 children whose lives have been changed. So cool!

To see a slide show of each of the individual technique canvases, click here.