Things I'm thankful for....

I hope to focus this month on the many things I am thankful for. Recently my husband and I were able to get away for the weekend without our children. Before leaving I asked him, when was the last time we went on an airplane without any kids? Even when we went to Europe we took our three-month-old baby (I plan to remind said baby of that when he's older!). We went to Atlanta in 1996, but we were not on the same airplane so that doesn't count. I think we had to go as far back as our flight to Alaska for our honeymoon cruise. Wow, we are going to have to ditch the kids more often.

I am thankful we are at a time in our lives when we can get away without children and look forward to their warm welcome when we return.

Here we are together on the Oregon Coast (I wish I had a picture of us sitting together on the airplane for posterity).

We survived another Halloween

I've decided after this year that I am not a fan of Halloween on Saturdays. It makes for a really long day for the kiddos to wait for dusk. They were in the costumes by lunchtime. And we had church the next morning at 8 AM. Luckily there was no make-up or hair coloring that needed to be washed out.

Bring On The Candy

I am a sucker for Halloween themed scrapbooking supplies: paper, ribbon, embellishments, stamp sets, you name it. I don't know what it is about those gobblins & ghouls, but they get me every time. I made this layout with a 'witches brew' of supplies from various shopping sprees. Do you like how I stacked buttons on top of buttons? The title was created with Extreme Caps alphabet stamp set (Item D1250) from Close To My Heart. Their White Daisy exclusive ink really makes the stamped letters pop off the black cardstock.

Monster Mix

I recently visited my daughter at her college campus. It never hurts to take treats along to starving students, right? So I purchased this plastic container from the superstore and decorated it with themed ribbon and some of my Close To My Heart Halloween stamps. Then I filled it with yummy treats. I had to keep my husband and younger children out of the jar until I could deliver it.

And The Winner Is...

Last month I sponsored a shoulder tote give-away. There were many ways to earn entries into the drawing for this new tote from Close To My Heart. With over 34 entries from 12 participants, I'm happy to announce the lucky winner is Katie L. WooHoo!

For those of you hoping to win, don't despair. This attractive bag is available for purchase from the CTMH Fall Winter Idea Book for $29.95 (Item Z4204). And if you order one by October 23rd, I will pay the shipping and tax for you...that's a savings of nearly FIVE BUCKAROOS! You must purchase directly through me rather than my website to receive the discount. Offer ends October 23, 2009.

Save The Date...

I'm so excited about this new stamp set called Save The Date (Item D1386). You can see the complete stamp images on page 80 of the Fall/Winter Idea book. [Just follow the link on the right...see that book with the three girls on the front? go ahead and click it.] Anyway, back to why I love this stamp set: it's loaded with tags such as dates, seasons, holidays, and years going all the way to 2016. This makes it so easy for me to quickly add a time stamp to any scrapbook layout, such as this one of my little cutie on her 100th day of school.

See how I stamped JAN 2009 in the corner beneath that photo? I could have used January 2009 or New Year's 2009...yep, it's all in there.

And when you purchase this set, you're on your way to qualifying for a free Everyday Celebrations card kit. More details about that are on the right too.

Shoulder Tote Giveaway

That’s me sporting my new shoulder tote from Close To My Heart. It features cute top stitching and silver rivet accents. This handy bag comfortably holds 12” x 12” papers and even an album, with plenty of pockets for my smaller items. I love carrying my bag to crops and workshops.

On October 1st I’ll draw the name of one lucky winner who will receive an amazing tote just like this one absolutely FREE (retail value $29.95).

You will qualify to win this stylish bag when you do any of the following activities by September 30th —number of entries shown in ():

* Purchase or earn free the Everyday Celebrations card kit (1)
* Purchase or earn free the Stamp of the Month: Treasures (1)
* Purchase any size stamp set (1 each)
* Purchase the Jingle workshop kit, item G1002 (2)
* Bring an outside order to the September workshop / club (2)
* Join my Kit of the Month club (scrapbook club), or have a friend join if you’re already a member (3)
* Host a gathering or workshop (10) Workshop must be held by October 30, 2009
* Join my team and sign up to be a CTMH consultant (10)

Contact me or visit my website to place an order or to reserve a seat at a workshop this month.