Scrapping Goals '09......update

Goal making is not for the faint of heart.....or the scatterbrained.

While I wouldn't say I'm a total failure since any result at all from making goals is a good thing, I wouldn't exactly say I'm having great success with achieving my goals either.

1) taking daily pictures - so not happening BUT I am making a more conscious effort to use my camera and I have been taking pictures (including one of the shipping label on my latest CTMH parcel....and Carrie called me a freak for taking it - whatever! I was excited...and it IS a picture from my daily life) Anyway, some of my recent pictures are pretty cool. I've been spending some time getting to know some of the more advanced features of my new camera and the results rock. I'd post a picture or two but my camera has been loaned out to a camera-less Carrie so she can take pics of that cute kid of hers while her own camera is touring worlds down-under for a month. My latest experiments are still on my camera but I'm hoping to have it back in a few days to retrieve them.

2) one layout a week - hahaha. Oh I make myself laugh. I've managed to start 4 layouts this year (not counting the one I "started" for the January demo). Started as in, they aren't quite finished - they either need journalling done, or I messed up an accent and need to redo it, or I didn't have something I wanted to use with me at the crop Carrie and I went to last week. I did manage to finish a layout I started 4 years ago though. Does that count? Anyway, scrapping at home just isn't happening lately. I blame massive doses of cold medication, plague-carrying children, a teen drama queen hell bent on making me into a raving lunatic and a stack of accounting paperwork I need to do for the government before they lock me up for reasons other than insanity. Oh and planning for the May Crop has been high on my priority list too so sitting down to scrap hasn't been.

3) printing pictures once a month ---- oh oh oh! I did this one! I had about 50 pictures printed this month! Awesome pictures - some recent, some from a couple years ago. So excited to have new material to help inspire me to scrap.

4) and I am having a scrapping good year so far. Even if I'm not getting actual pages done, I've been sketching and journalling and planning future pages.....and shopping. Heehee. How can all that not make for a good scrapping year.

Anyone else make any goals this year? How are you doing on them?

Celebrate Good Times!!!

Celebrating CTMH's 25th Anniversary with a gift for YOU!

Receive the Good Times stamp set Free with the minimum purchase of $31.25 in stamp sets until February 28th.

Doing the Happy Dance!

I'm celebrating today!

I used to wait anxiously for a new box of CTMH goodies that was enroute with so much excitement but the past 9months it's been a different kind of anxious because there have been issues with lost, missing, misdirected or just plain forgotten about packages traveling through the system. Seriously, I still don't understand why it took 5 business days for that last package to get here from Winnipeg -45mins away! I know a few of you had to wait extra long for orders lately and it frusterated me that I could do nothing to improve the situation except repeatedly call UPS and CloseToMyHeart and stay on top of where packages were at all times.

Well, today I'm doing a Happy Dance! The order I submitted last week was put on a trial run of a new shipping method and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the feedback CTMH receives on this trial from other consultants is as good as what I had to say about it. With this new shipping method, the order took one week to get here from the time I submitted it to CTMH. A week! 2days to pack and ship out and then only 4 sweet little business days for it to get through customs and arrive HERE....in town....and be IN MY HANDS! Now that is amazing! I'm going to think positive and hope like crazy that this is the new norm. After this, I don't think I could go back to waiting 7-8 business days.....and especially not 15+days!

We missed you on the 31st

Crop Day at Minerva Hall on January 31st was tons of fun! Everyone (except moi) got so much done although I'm sure my SIL Heather would argue that point - she worked on one 2page layout almost all day...but it was SO worth it.

Thank you to everyone for your "January" orders. This month...well last month actually, 5 lucky people received rewards in one form or another. Congratulations Heather, Christine, Anita, Leanne and Judi. How this worked was for each $25 spent, I added one ticket into the draw and the number of tickets drawn out was determined by total sales for the day. I am going to continue on with this format for a few months and see how it goes. I am also accumulating all tickets each month into another draw and at the end of the year someone will win a super prize basket of goodies.

A post with artwork and the product demos/instructions from January's crop day are coming. Last week was another week of sick kiddos & tempermental computers around here but I am working on that post.

ANNOUNCEMENT!!!

Here's the news you've been waiting for. Details for the upcoming crop weekend are now available. Here is the *reader's digest version* Leave a comment on this post if you did not receive the email with attached registration form and would like to receive one.


National Scrapbooking Weekend
3-Day Crop

May 1st, 2nd & 3rd 2009


The first Saturday in May is officially “National Scrapbooking Day” and to celebrate this fabulous event, join us for a weekend of pure scrapping fun with games, prizes, challenges and classes galore at Minerva Hall – 1 mile south of Gimli on Hwy 8.

Friday: 5pm to Midnight
Saturday: 9am to 2am
Sunday: 9am to 5pm

The hall has great lighting and plenty of space. Tables will be grouped together and will seat 5 scrappers with ample floor space around the tables for your crop totes etc.

Get a head start on the weekend with Friday night’s crop complete with an early-bird door prize and an evening snack. Saturday / Sunday registration includes a Welcome Pack, door prize entry, make ‘n’ take classes and snacks through out the day. Early Registration Deadline -- March 7th. Prices after March 7th are listed in brackets. Final Registration Deadline -- April 4th

3-day crop -- Friday, Saturday & Sunday
$55 ($65 after March 7th) *includes Welcome Pack,
snacks, 3 classes & door prize entries.

An optional meal package is available for
Saturday & Sunday $10/day

Can't get away for the entire weekend?
Join us for a little while

Friday ONLY 5pm to Midnight
$10 *includes evening snack &
early-bird door prize entry

Saturday ONLY 9am to 2am
$35 ( $45 after March 7th) * includes Welcome Pack,
snacks 2 classes & door prize entry

Sunday ONLY 9am to 5pm
$25 ($35 after March 7th) *includes Welcome Pack,
snacks, 1 class & door prize entry


So.......who's coming to the May Crop???? More details on contests, activities and fun fun fun will be posted here in the coming weeks. Let the count-down continue.........12 weeks!!!

February '09 Newsletter

I can't believe it's almost the end of January already! Wow this year is flying by faster than imaginable.

I've been busy busy busy making plans and lists and brainstorming ideas for the upcoming

National Scrapbook Weekend
Crop Around The Clock
May 2nd & 3rd, 2009.

That's only 14 short weeks away! I'll be sending out registration forms this weekend. If you would like one sent to you leave a comment on this post and I will forward one to you when they are available.

*** Put on your thinking cap too ..... I'm still brainstorming ideas and the more input I get the better! ***


My website http://www.kdann.myctmh.com/ has been 'new and improved' and now has some new and improved technical issues and my 2009 calendar pages have been wiped clean. I've entered upcoming crop dates numerous times but they don't want to stay put so for now please don't refer to the calendar on my website for crop info. Below is the information on upcoming crops.


Upcoming Dates to Remember

Crop: Saturday January 31st **that's THIS weekend! 10am to 10pm

Cost: $10 includes a few scrapping goodies, use of my stamps/inks/tools and a quick product demo and stamping technique class featuring a few of my favorite things including one of my new fav tools that I don't know how I ever lived without.

As usual, coffee & snacks are provided. (I'm hoping to have some yummy leftovers from my Epicure party the night before to bring along. Mmmmmm ) Bring your own lunch/supper - there is a full kitchen available.

Who will be this month's Mystery Hostess? All orders placed on or before the day of crop will be entered to receive the hostess rewards for the day. *If you cannot attend but would like to place an order, please contact me by Friday afternoon to be eligible to be the Mystery Hostess.

Can't make it to crop? Be sure to check out my blog next week for an online version of the class.


Mark your calendars for crop dates on:

February 21st - Class info: Scallops are a hot new trend lately and I'll show you some products and tips and tricks for making and using scallops on your layouts and cards.

March 21st - Class info: Extreme Makeover - Chipboard Edition. Come check out what you can do with a few products and tools to make your chipboard alphabets and accents POP!

*Please contact me to let me know you will be attending crops. It makes setting up easier when I know how many people to expect and so I have enough product on hand for everyone.
January Crop Attendance: Christine, Marlene, Hazel, Heather D, Judi, Anita, Heather C, Anne,
(if you aren't on the list and will be joining us please let me know )

Sales, Specials and Other News


Key To My Heart (click to view National Papercrafting Month/Key to My Heart info)

There are just a few days left of National Papercrafting Month. January 31st is your last chance to get the Key To My Heart special. My set arrived a couple days ago and I have to say.....WOW!!!!!
The paper is even more delicious in person and the stamp set leaves me speechless.
More details are also posted here on my blog and I'll be posting some artwork today as well.


Stamp of The Month (click to view past/present/future stamp of the month sets and artwork)

Don't forget the time-limited January Stamp of the Month set available until the 31st This calendar stamp set has limitless potential. What an original way to 'date' the event featured in a layout with a calendar image and the date circled.

February Stamp of the Month (available from Feb 1-28) features Easter egg shapes in a huge variety of patterns and designs. Again the potential of this set is limited only by your imagination.


Celebrate Good Times

Starting February 3rd (which just happens to be my birthday) until the 28th, everyone who purchases MyAcrylics stamp sets totaling $31.25 or more (K-size customized, Stamp of the Month, and any discounted retired sets excluded), will receive a totally cool, custom-designed B-size stamp set, appropriately titled "Good Times." It's a celebration-themed set, with a variety of fun party icons and sentiments like "let's party" and "hip hip hooray" that are oh, so versatile. The reason we are celebrating is that 2009 marks 25 years of business for Jeanette Lynton, founder and CEO of Close To My Heart and that is definitely something to celebrate.

Discontinued Items at a Discount

Any remaining stock of items that were discontinued on December 31st have now been added to my website. You can find these remaining items in the DISCOUNTED section of the shopping cart and are available while supplies last. You will notice there are NO stamp sets listed on this discounted section. Due to the fact that the Good Times special features stamp sets, in order to avoid any confusion, discontinued stamp sets left in stock will not go into the discounted section until after the end of February when the Good times special has ended.



~ Kirsten

Welcome 2009

Wishing you all a Happy New Year!

I've never really gotten into making a list of resolutions for the New Year but for some reason I feel like setting a few scrapping related 'goals' for 2009. For the last couple years I've felt less than productive when it comes to my scrapbooking and I've been trying to think of reasons why. In the past I've participated in challenges with some sort of goal-oriented end result and they really forced me to sit down and get to it rather than just think about it.

While reading my latest issue of Creating Keepsakes, I came across an article that really interested me. The idea surrounds the concept of taking at least ONE picture EVERY DAY for the entire year and then scrapping them. The album pages are broken down by week so that at the end of the year you would have 52 pages and a record of the day to day happenings of your life. I've fallen in love with this idea. I may not actually go so far as do make the weekly pages with what happened each day of the week etc but I'm totally into the taking the every-day pictures part. I tend to forget about taking pictures unless there is a specific event going on (and even then I forget too).

There was a time that I used to scrap almost daily even if it was only for 15mins at a time. It was my 'me-time', my time to relax and unwind. To re-spark my creativity and get myself scrapping I'm going to set a goal to make at least one layout (either one or two pages) each week this year - aside from any pages I may make specifically for demonstration purposes and/or pages completed at crop days.

While I'm setting goals for this year, I just thought of another one. PRINTING pictures. Since going digital a few years ago, my computer has filled up with beautiful photos but I rarely take the time to get them printed. I'm making it a goal to have photos printed at least once a month this year. I figure if I'm making at least one scrapbook page a week this year the photo albums I store my pictues in will empty out quickly so I'll need to replace those scrapped photos with a whole new batch of memories waiting to be scrapped.

So, there they are. My 3 scrapping related goals for 2009:

1. Take at least one daily-life picture every day.
2. Make the time to scrap at least one layout each week.
3. Have a batch of pictures printed each month.
and all of those add up to a 4th goal........
4. Have a scrapping good year!

What are your scrapping goals for 2009 ?