YUM!

I had my girlfriends over for a scrapbooking weekend. We spend Friday, Saturday and part of Sunday scrapbooking like crazy! We had food, movies, pictures and all the scrapbooking supplies we could possibly need.

To make things easier, we all are responsible for one meal and a snack (one salty snack and one sugary). I wanted to share with you the snack I made (ok...my husband made them for us, but YUM).

At our local grocery store (HyVee) I found these little croissants. You take some marshmallow creme and spread it on the croissant. Then you put 3-4 pieces from a Hershey's candy bar (I like milk chocolate but Lori & Sara got the dark chocolate) slice some fresh strawberries and then put in your Panini maker. OH MY GOSH this is so yummy! My husband calls them Smores for grown ups! LOL

They were very yummy, a little messy, but so worth it. I got this recipe out of the more recent Food Network Magazine. They have devoted their little recipe book (that is in the magazine) to paninis. We just love making different kinds of paninis so this was right up our alley.

For lunch we had ham, apple and brie paninis on ciabatta rolls. Then my husband made a mayonnaise spread for them too. He took some mayo, orange zest, orange juice and garlic, mixed it up and spread it on the ciabatta roll...added the ham, apple and brie and stuck it in the panini maker. YUMMY!
We got a lot scrapbooking done and it was great to have my husband helping make the food! He really is very handy to have around!

Give these recipes a try. Very easy and VERY GOOD!

Bon Appetite!

More Pictures Per Page

I love our new Flip Flaps! They are a GREAT way to get more pictures on each page! This layout was done using one of our Imagine layouts. I just attached a 4 x 12 flip flap to the top and got an additional 6 pictures on my page!

How cool is that! Now instead of making an extra 2 pages, I was able to just add our flip flap and pictures and I am DONE!

Close to my Heart just keeps making it easier to get my scrapbooking done. Oh how I love that. If you don't have any flip flaps, you need to get some. They are only $3.95 for 8 of our larger ones or for 15 of our 4 x 6 flip flaps. I LOVE THESE! Once you try them, you too will love them!

Good to Get Away!

It is good to get away, but there is no place like home!

Last week I was in Park City Utah with my fellow Advisory Board members and the CTMH corporate staff planning and discussing. It was a a lot of fun and a lot of work but we got a TON accomplished. Stay tuned for some fun and exciting things!!

Here are some of the pictures I took on those few minutes that I was outside. LOL The picture below is actually taken from the window of our condo/meeting room. It was so beautiful.

Fall was just starting to come to the mountains and the trees were starting to turn those bright vibrant fall colors. It was beautiful. This picture of the little pond was on the property where we stayed. It is just such a different look then we see in Nebraska! LOL

But there truly is no place like home. Something about sleeping in your own bed is so nice.

I hope you have enjoyed the summer and have taken some GREAT pictures...now it's time to scrapbook them all! lol

Traditions

It is a tradition that when you go to a CTMH event, you make something cute for your room mates or those who you will be spending time with. I am going to our Advisory Board Retreat in Park City Utah and I wanted to make my fellow board members and the corporate staff some little gifts. This is what I came up with.
They are fold out photo albums for my fellow board members, and also Jeanette, Kristine and Monica. I didn't think the boys would like these, so I make them a snack bag filled with trail mix. And of course I had to use these ADORABLE monster stamps!

The colors I used are from our Olivia kit. I just love the fall look. The stamps are called Party Animals (D1437 $22.95).

These treat bags are a GREAT inexpensive way to make something for someone special. You can make these for teacher gifts, roommates, co-workers just about anyone and you can put anything in the bags. Just get a ziplock bag of your choice, measure the top and cut your cardstock to fit. It is that easy!

Art & Soul Episode - Eclectic Elegance

It's time once again for our newest Art & Soul episode! Go to my website and click on the CTMH TV button and watch the newest episode. You will learn how to balance your layouts, how to tie bows, working with ribbon and making the very popular flowers with ribbons.

So check out this episode now! It's only 12 minutes and 18 seconds long. And you will learn so much!

Christmas Cards on a Budget

I know, I know...Christmas cards already? Well, I do believe it is time to THINK about our Christmas cards, and this one is using our A size stamp set...called A TIMBER. The stamp set is only $7.95. It is a set of 7 stamps...for JUST $7.95! Can you believe it? You can take some paper you already have, or you can use our new Mistletoe kit like I did for your cards. Match your ink to your paper and off you go!

I used Cranberry, New England Ivy, Honey, Cocoa and Colonial White. If you are on a budget but still want to make your own Christmas cards, then you need to consider this stamp set!

And now that I am thinking Christmas cards, I guess I need to think about what I am going to use to make mine! Hmmmm...so many stamps, so little time!

Use What You Have

I am still working with my theme this year of USING WHAT YOU HAVE and here is a PERFECT example of my theme. I actually got the idea out of our new catalog on page 42. I used different stamps, but that is ok...I used what I had. And these adorable little snowmen are my favorite!

The paper is from our Cherry O kit. These are papers that we didn't use in our groups so I pulled them out and used it here. Never would I have thought of using Cherry O paper for a snow layout. But it totally works! Especially those of you who have little girls in pink! I am going to use this layout...I think we will get a little snow this year and when we do, I need to find something pink and go make a snowman! LOL So get out this paper and make this layout so it is ready for those upcoming pictures...or maybe you already have some!

Oh, and I used our Pearl Opaques on the snowflakes. LOVE THESE!!

September Stamp of the Month

Our September stamp of the month is our scary Thriller stamp set. Here are some samples I made using it. I got my scrapbook page idea from my favorite Mac Buddy Karen! THANKS KAREN! Her's used red cardstock, but I put my own twist on it and used our new Pear cardstock.
Check out these cards. Scary, but a fun scary! It is a cute stamp set and only available in September, so if you want them, you need to get them before the end of the month!