Magical Hop Into the Holidays with October's SOTM

It's a Magical Hop into the Holidays with CTMH's October's "Stamp of the Month" Blog Hop.  If you've just come from Elizabeth's blog, a big welcome to you! 

There are nearly 60 consultants participating in the hop this month using this super fun and versatile, "Holiday Magic" stamp set, which includes 18 images and sentiments.  See below for a look!  The stamp set is $17.95 or only $5 with a $50 order. 

CLICK HERE if you can't wait another minute to get your hands on this stamp set . . . .

Now, without further delay, here is my contribution this month using "Holiday Magic" - a two page Scrapbook Layout that perfectly captured a special afternoon of holiday baking with my daughter and her Grandmother. Hope you like it!  I'd love if you'd leave any comments and even become one of my "Scrapi Traci" blog followers!

This layout is loaded with CTMH goodies - Roxie Paper Packet, Cardstock (New England Ivy, Desert Tan, Cocoa and Cranberry), Black and Red Embossing Powder, Bling Assortment, Pearl Opaques, ribbon from Red Designer Ribbon Collection, and Mixed Shapes Dimensional Elements (Roxie paper, cut for title with Cricut Art Philosophy Cartridge).  "JOY" letters also cut on Roxie paper using cartridge, then sponged in cranberry and tiny edging in Bronze Glitz Glitter Gel.

Close up of left side above and right side below.

 

  Now, it's time to leave me to visit Angela's blog and see what she's come up with!  I hope you come back again . . .

Horsey Fun with Studio J

Here is a fun "horsey" Studio J layout that I recently did.  I really am LOVING Studio J - it's the perfect multi-tasking project for me.  With all the new Fall TV shows on, it's fun to get in bed with my laptop to watch a show, while slowly catching up on my scrapbooking "to do" list with Studio J layouts, to add to my classic scrapboooking pages!

Scrappin' With Talented Clients Rocks!

I just love these fun layouts that one of my clients and friends, Shea, put together when we were scrapbooking together.  Most especially because they are from two of my favorite older CTMH kits - Splendor and Olivia.

Oliva papers are so pretty, you don't even need to add picture. Did I really just say that?

Jeanette's Answer On Recent Blog Post Perfect

I love visiting Jeanette Lynton's blog . . . today especially, because I really resonated with Jeanette's answer to the following question:

"I love to scrapbook and preserve my family's memories, but it seems like I am always behind. Seriously, I take way too many pictures and still have 5+ years of events to scrap. I don't scrap every picture or every event, but still there are so many events and fun memories I want to capture. How do I do it? Are your scrapbooks up to date and current? If so, what is your secret?"

Here's is the link to Jeanette's entire answer but the following is the part of her answer that I REALLY love:
"Mostly, rather than feeling overwhelmed by lots of unscrapbooked photos, I feel happy knowing I have them: beautiful pictures, beautiful memories, all waiting for me to relive during the creative process. Having many photos to scrapbook doesn't mean I'm behind, it means I'm ALIVE".

PERFECT.

Team Retreats = Super Weekend

Our Fancy Melissa team had a great time in late August at a Team Scrapbooking Retreat in PA.  Given that we are all consultants, we definitely put in some quality hours scrapbooking from Friday night to Sunday afternoon. We only took one fun dinner break at a neat local restaurant called "Out of the Fire!  It was a super fun weekend:

With Melissa Laverty - totally digging the "bring your own wine" thing at this restaurant!

With Laura Piercy - it's always fun with this awesome lady!

The Team - not sure about the picture the server took for us, but better than nothing!!

Now, on to the coolest benefit to  team scrapbooking - checking out all the talented layouts these amazing ladies put together!!

Loved Robin Everett's gorgeous page.

Michelle Auten is hiding but her Elemental Level 2 is beautiful!

Amy Roll's Right Side  "Fanfare"

Amy's Left Side "Fanfare"

Amy's left side "Lucky"

Amy's right side "Lucky"

"Wickedly" Fun Halloween Card

I just LOVE this beautiful Halloween card, made with September's "Wicked" Stamp of the Month by my client, new friend and soon-to-be Scrapi Sister, Maureen Sherrill. Her work is stunning and I'm hoping to share much more of her CTMH designs in the near future!!

More Amazing CTMH Consultant Artwork To Share

It's so fun to see the different card designs that each of the consultants come up with. Every one of them is great in their own unique way!  (Just excuse my photography, not sure what happened with some of them - yikes!)

Fun Stuff In CTMH Clearance This Week

CTMH is constantly adding fun things to the clearance section - "while supplies last" and this week, you'll find some really great items that you don't want to miss out before they sell out.  To order, click here!

Here are just a few listed:

One of my favorites that's being retired. Kraft Ready Borders - $5.50

The last of their Level 1 kits (pictured is Mayberry) but they are also selling Fanfare, Sophia and Lucky for $7 each



My Acrylic Block Organizer - $17.50 and Mini-Medley Accents Holiday Collection - $2



Stunning CTMH Consultant Card Swaps

I have been so enjoying looking at the Convention Swap cards that I have on display in my Scrapi Studio that I wanted to share some of these beautiful creations.  My fellow CTMH consultants are a super talented group of woman.  The cards are so varied, unique but all gorgeous. I hope you enjoy seeing these cards all throughout the week. 

The Importance of Hobbies for Stress Relief

* Crafting and Exercising Have Similarities

* Scrapbooking Really Can Be Cheaper Than Therapy

* Change Your Thinking From Quantity to Quality

* Benefits of Regular Monthly Classes

Life is busy.  Sometimes we get so bogged down in our work, home, family and friend responsibilities, that it sometimes seems impossible to find any available time to work on a hobby! Why is this a big mistake?  Because hobbies are a natural stress release from the regular grind of our daily lives.

Crafting and Exercising Have Similarities

Believe it or not, crafting and exercise have much in common. The fitness experts say that scheduling time in your busy schedule for exercise actually gives you more energy and makes you more efficient in getting your long "to do list" accomplished. Crafting works the same way - although it seems like carving out some hobby time seems ridiculous in the grand scheme of things, doing so actually makes you a happier person (a nicer wife, mother, friend, and daughter). 

Scrapbooking Really Can Be Cheaper Than Therapy

Lately, I've been seeing quite a few articles online and in magazines about the correlation between hobbies and stress - enough, that it validates one of my favorite phrases, which is 'scrapbooking is cheaper than therapy".  The experts apparently agree.

Click here to check out one such article from Stress Management Expert Jennifer Purcell:

 "Hobbies in general can be done when and how you want. Hobbies allow you to have a certain measure of control over your life. If you don't feel like finishing your scrapbooking project, so what? There's no external pressures or deadlines to do it. You can take as long or as little time as you like to complete your hobby".

Learn To Change Your Thinking About Hobbies

This one particular excerpt is particularly interesting to me because it's actually one of the many excuses I hear from people about why they haven't started a hobby, or why they have kept themselves from continuing one that they so clearly enjoy. 

With our fast-paced lives, we are constantly feeling that need to do as much as we can in as little time possible, even if it's in the midst of an enjoyable hobby.

After 13 years of scrapbooking, I think I've finally gotten it. Regardless of how much I might get done when I'm crafting, the enjoyment and fulfillment is the same. By complaining about how little I've gotten done or how slow a crafter I am, I am actually taking away the good benefits I derived from the time I spent on my hobby.

Hobbies should be the one area in our lives that we should do for true pleasure and we should make an effort to keep from grading ourselves during the activity.

Benefits of Regular Monthly Classes

The greatest benefit of monthly classes is that it gives you the opportunity to schedule time to scrapbook your family's memories on a regular basis.  It could be a crucial piece of the puzzle for how you get yourself to make time for your hobby. Not only will you come away with beautiful layouts, but it will get you inspired and more likely in the mood to want to carve out even more time to work on your hobbies in between classes.  Even better, it might make you schedule a daily or weekend crop to really get those batteries charged!!

Happy FUN and STRESS-FREE Scrapping!

Elemental Kit Just TOO Awesome To Miss

My August classes put together the "Elemental" Level 2 kit plus a bonus layout with stamping - my first class using the beautiful materials from the 2011 Autumn/Winter Idea Book.  Unfortunately August was crazy busy and although I managed to squeeze two classes in for these gorgeous pages, I never managed to get a photo of the layouts up on my blog.  Since it's never to late to show great scrapbooking pages, here you go:

Elemental Layout #1 - These pages were perfect formy traditional first day of school photos!  As I said on the layout, it was a big year for us - first year of high school for my son Alex, and last year of elementary school for my daughter Haley.

I am excited to add pictures to this layout - it's next on my to-do list.  Such great pages and so many picture choices!!

Elemental Bonus Layout - The right layout is straight from page 26 of the Idea Book. I loved the layout and the "Love Life, " stamp set so much that I just had to include it in my class. As a special bonus for this bonus page, I even offered the stamp set at a 20% off to anyone who wanted their own set for the class!

The class will be repeated on Mon., Sept. 26, or can be done during any of the Mischief Sept. classes.  The cost is $36 or $30, if you choose not to buy the Cork Alphabet.