Determination and Perseverance

For the last 12 months I have been working my home based scrapbooking, card making & paper crafting business with a goal in mind. As an Independent Consultant with Close To My Heart in Canada, I needed to earn 31,000 points to earn a trip for two to Puerto Vallarta.

My family and I live in a village of 30 people in Southern Manitoba, just 5 miles north of the North Dakota, USA border. I am challenged with the fact that come Summer in our farming community, anything other than farming & gardening takes a backseat for 3 months which mean little to no sales. The image below shows a white semi circle which represents the area in which I permitted to work while the pink shaded area represents the area in which I am prohibited to work. I am limited to assisting customers and team members only within Canada. Am I going to let that detour me?

No I will find a way to make my business work. If I can do it, so can you~ No excuses.
 
I am coming upon my 10th year as a Close To My Heart Independent Consultant. 

When I joined CTMH 10 years ago, building a business was not my goal. My "WHY" at that time was since we moved from Alberta to Manitoba, I wanted to meet some new friends with common interests and get a discount on my crafting products. Once my maternity leave was over, I was to return to work as a dental office manager. My pay would only yield me $300 a month after paying for childcare care, fuel and expenses. So then my "WHY" changed to earning some money. If I could sell just $1,000 a month in products, I would earn the $300 and get to work from home and raise my own kids. 

An added blessing for me is that I am able to make my own work schedule around that of my family. I am able to go on the school field trips, I can volunteer for cooking hot lunches and I can put my kids after school activities and sports. 

Four years ago, I was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis and fibromyalgia. If I had to work for someone else, I don't know that I could keep hold of a job. With CTMH, when I am having bad days, I can work from my bed. Last week my back went out & I worked from my hospital bed. This JOB offers me the flexibility I need. For that I am so blessed. My "WHY" now includes making money to pay for my children's activities while being able to fully participate in the school events and work as little or as much as my health permits.

Many of you asked me a question the other day. "How did you earn 8,195 incentive trip points in just a month?" So the other night when I went to bed I gave the question a lot of thought. Before I fell asleep I still didn't have the answer but the next morning when I woke up it came to me. It wasn't just ME who earned this trip. It was every single one of YOU who earned it with me. YOU made it happen. So I thought about why would you all want to do this for me. So my final answer is BUILDING LASTING RELATIONSHIPS and NEVER GIVING UP. That is how I earned this trip. Over the last 10 years that I have been with CTMH I have made life long friends with customers, fellow consultants and team members. YOU all wanted to see me succeed so that is why I earned this trip. You all went above and beyond to lift me up because you felt that I deserved this. 

When people would ask if I thought I would earn this trip I would reply, "No, I don't think I will but I'm not going to give up on trying." A few days before the cut off date to earn the points, I had officially earned this trip. I will be taking my 12 year old son, Chase with me to Puerto Vallarta. 

I thank you all so very much for believing in me and helping me reach my goals. If you would like to join my growing CTMH Team, I would be more than happy to help you get started. Simply click the following link to my website to get started. 

http://brandy.closetomyheart.ca/ctmh/what-we-do/be-a-consultant.aspx

My Favourite New Products

Welcome to our August Blog Hop featuring Our Favorite New Products from the NEW Annual Inspirations catalog.  To purchase any of the items seen in our blog hop today, contact your local consultant to place an order.

We hope that you will take the time to leave comments on our posts, as we love to get feedback from our viewers....whether it was something that you really liked or some new technique that was used that you would like to learn how to do....by leaving us comments, we get to hear what you like, and what you want to see. Thank you… now on to our hop! 

If you have just hopped onto my blog, you can start here as this is a circular hop, but if you want to follow us across Canada then please start at the beginning and join Michelle at My Creations with Michelle. If you came from Dat's My Style with Donna then you are in the right place!

I love how elegant & versatile this paper pack is! It comes with 12 sheets, 2 each of 6 designs. The coordinating Uptown Compliments pack is perfect for your layout titles and embellishments too!!

To make the bicycle, I used the new Cricut Flower Market Cartridge. I love how you set the dial size just once & everything is cut in proportion for you.

The sunflowers on this next layout were also cut with the Flower Market Cartridge. I love the simplicity of black, white & grey and that you can add add any colour you want and it just pops off the page.

Your next stop on the Cross Canada Hop is Jan's Work of Heart .

If you get lost along the way, you can head to Michelle's Blog, My Creations with Michelle, as she has the complete blog list.

Thanks for hopping along with us - we hope we were able to inspire you to get creative using some of the designs, products and techniques seen along the way. We hope you will join us again next month when we will be featuring projects with a Back to School theme.  So mark September 15th on your calendars and hop along with us.

Cardstock Creations Blog Hop

Welcome to our March Blog Hop featuring Cardstock Creations. To purchase any of the items seen in our blog hop today, contact your local consultant to place an order.

We hope that you will take the time to leave comments on our posts, as we love to get feedback from our viewers....whether it was something that you really liked or some new technique that was used that you would like to learn how to do....by leaving us comments, we get to hear what you like, and what you want to see. Thank you… now on to our hop!

If you have just hopped onto my blog, you can start here as this is a circular hop, but if you want to follow us across Canada then please start at the beginning and join Michelle at My Creations with Michelle. If you came from Cheryl Simpson's blog, Scrapbooking with Cheryl then you are in the right place!

To make this wreath, I used the Artiste Cricut Cartridge from Close To My Heart. The flowers are from page 54 using accent 2 & the "f" key. The 12 large flowers were cut at 8" while the 24 smaller flower were cut at 3". I used our quilling tool & Liquid Glass to make the flowers and hot glue to adhere the flowers to the 12" wooden wreath.

Your next stop on the Cross Canada Hop is Scrapbooking with Kirsten Jade .
If you get lost along the way, you can head to Michelle S Blog, My Creations with Michelle , as she has the complete blog list.

Thanks for hopping along with us - we hope we were able to inspire you to get creative using some of the designs, products and techniques seen along the way. We hope you will join us again next month when we will feature Spring is in the Air. So mark April 15th on your calendars and hop along with us.

Studio J

For those of you who LOVE using Studio J, make sure to get your artwork completed & purchased before the end of April as CTMH will no longer be supporting this product. It's unfortunate that over the past 7 years that there has not been enough use of the program to continue to make it a viable product for our company. It's a wise business decision but disappointing to us at the same time. I wish more people had gotten on board with using the program to have had it be able to continue but C'est la vie. meanwhile, I will continue to get as much done as I can. I love using the program for my photo printing of all those odd sizes for layouts~ Hope you do too!

Artistry Cricut Collection Blog Hop

Welcome to our October Blog Hop featuring CTMH’s newest Cricut Collection, Artistry.  To purchase any of the items seen in our blog hop today, contact your local consultant to place an order.

We hope that you will take the time to leave comments on our posts, as we love to get feedback from our viewers....whether it was something that you really liked or some new technique that was used that you would like to learn how to do....by leaving us comments, we get to hear what you like, and what you want to see. Thank you… now on to our hop! 

If you have just hopped onto my blog, you can start here as this is a circular hop, but if you want to follow us across Canada then please start at the beginning and join Michelle at My Creations With Michelle. If you came from Jessica's Create By The Lake then you are in the right place!

At the Close To My Heart Convention 2015, we made a great layout with the theme "Up" from the movie Up. 

I wanted to be able to recreate it for a class and have it easy to duplicate. With the new Artistry Bundle, it was a piece of cake to make the balloons, house, banners, arrow and gold glitter bow.

There are some new cardstock colours in the Enchantment Colour Palette. The base pages are Peacock & Eggplant. The white paper is the new Watercolour Paper and painted with the new Watercolour Paints.

I had a lot of fun using the Fundamentals Paper which are double-sided with the same design on both sides, one side with a glossy pattern.

I hope to see you at an upcoming class~

Your next stop on the Cross Canada Hop is Jan's Works Of Heart. If you get lost along the way, you can head to Michelle's Blog, My Creations With Michelle, as she has the complete blog list.

Thanks for hopping along with us - we hope we were able to inspire you to get creative using some of the designs, products and techniques seen along the way. We hope you will join us again next month when we will be feature Preparing for Christmas. Mark November 15th on your calendars and hop along with us.

Fabulous New Paper Pack~

Welcome to our September Blog Hop featuring our favourite paper collection. We hope that you will take the time to leave comments on our posts, as we love to get feedback from our viewers ....whether it was something that you really liked or some new technique that was used that you would like to learn how to do. By leaving us comments, we get to hear what you like, and what you want to see. Thank you and now on to our hop! 


If you have just hopped onto my blog, you can start here as this is a circular hop, but if you want to follow us across Canada then please start at the beginning and join Michelle at My Creations with Michelle. If you came from Jessica's blog, Create by the Lake then you are in the right place!

I was so inspired by a card that the Art Department at Close To My Heart made, I had to give it a try. 

What do you think...did I get close? I hope you are inspired to give it a try too.

This is a 5 x 7 card the features the new La Vie En Rose Paper Collection.

I used the September Stamp of the Month, Paper Garden and inked the image with Whisper Ink and the painted with our new  Watercolour Paints.  
I used silver shimmer trim, grey enamel gems and whisper thick twine.

These are so simple to and a ton of fun too!

I love just how versatile these papers are & can be used for so many different occasions. Each collection retails for $11.75CDN and you get 2 sheets of 3 designed double sided papers plus 6 sheets of coordinating cardstock, that's 12 sheets of paper that are all coordinated for you for just $11.75!!

Your next stop on the Cross Canada Hop is Jan's Work of Heart.
If you get lost along the way, you can head to Michelle's Blog, My Creations with Michelle, as she has the complete blog list. 


Thanks for hopping along with us - we hope we were able to inspire you to get creative using some of the designs, products and techniques seen along the way. We hope you will join us again next month when we will be featuring our newest Cricut Cartridge, Artistry. So mark October 15th on your calendars and hop along with us.

Today is the Big Day!!!

September 1st marks the launch of our brand new CTMH 2015 - 2016 Annual Inspirations as well as our Holiday Expressions Idea Books!! 

 

The Holiday Expressions is good from September 1st to December 31st, 2015, while supplies last. You can check them out at http://brandy.ctmh.com/

Have you had the opportunity to check out the September Stamp Of The Month? WOW!! Just $6 with each $50 in purchases~ 

The flowers and petal that are outlined in red coordinate with our Cricut Artiste Collection. That means you simply cut them from your Cricut machine & then stamp on the cut piece, eliminating fussy cutting! Check out some of the beautiful artwork created with this set~

The artwork above is stamped with our Whisper Ink and then the new Watercolour Paints are used over the stamped image. Such a pretty effect!

Jump On It July

Jump on It July

July Constant Campaign

During the month of July, when you purchase $25 CAD in current, retail priced stamps, you qualify to receive either the July Stamp of the Month, My Acrylix^® Life Is Wonderful, FREE or any one of the Hostess Rewards stamp sets featured in Annual Inspirations 2014–2015 or Seasonal Expressions 2 for only $5 CAD! That is a savings of up to $19.75 CAD! The July Stamp of the Month is a lovely, versatile stamp set that is a great match for your cards and layouts that celebrate all the wonderful things—big and small—that life has to offer. 

Additionally, the Hostess Rewards stamp sets have previously only been available as part of the Hostess Rewards program, which means now is the perfect opportunity to get those special stamp sets you’ve had your eye on! To get your FREE stamp set or your $5 CAD Hostess Rewards stamp set, simply place an order for $25 CAD of any current, retail priced stamps.

Here's a full list of the stamp sets available throughout this promotion~

Product Item Numbers:

 S1507 My Acrylix® Life Is Wonderful

C1614 My Acrylix®Tagged with Love

C1613 My Acrylix® Paper Bird

B1477 My Acrylix® Exotic Flower

D1615 My Acrylix® Sweet As Sugar

B1454 My Acrylix® Thanksgiving Wreath

C1596 My Acrylix® Happy Hexagons

    C1587 My Acrylix® Sing Glory

   B1455 My Acrylix® Be Jolly

   C1593 My Acrylix® Hats Off

 A1169 My Acrylix® Well Wishes

 D1608 My Acrylix® Better with a Friend

 B1458 My Acrylix® Cuddly Salutations

 A1163 My Acrylix® Practical Planning

 

This offer is available only during the month of July and applies only to the July Stamp of the Month and current Hostess rewards stamp sets, so spring into action and jump on this deal before it’s gone! Shop HERE

Dates: Offer valid July 1, 2015(9:00 am MDT)–July 31, 2015(11:59 pm MDT).

Close To My Heart is so....

Close To My Heart is so FABULOUS! 

With the June, Summer Crush promotion being such a great success and CTMH running out of one of the items that qualify orders to receive a FREE stamp set, what do they do? 

End the promo?... Nope~ The offer a substitution for that item so that all of their fabulous customers & consultants who want to take advantage of the deal still can!
 
The Summer Crush campaign has been a huge hit! Due to overwhelming popularity, the My Crush® In the Pink assortment (Z2042) is no longer available for order; however, we don't want to leave the My Crush In the Pink books out of the campaign fun while they are still available in inventory. So for the remainder of the campaign—or at least for as long as the In the Pink books remain in stock—the My Crush In the Pink clips (Z2048) will be available as a qualifying item for the In the Pink campaign combo. Simply order both the In the Pink book (Z2000) and the In the Pink clips and receive the accompanying My Acrylix® Glitter Glam stamp set (B1465) FREE! This offer applies only to the In the Pink campaign combo and not to any other qualifying combinations available as part of the campaign.


Make sure to order yours before they're gone too. SHOP NOW

Time is running out~

Close To My Heart has put out the list of products that will be retiring as of August 1st or when supplies are depleted. If there are some of your must have items on this list, you are best to act now.

You can check out all the these items HERE.

There are over 250 items items on this retiring list! Be sure to share this link with your friend who won't want to miss out. Consider contacting me so you can make your order(s) into a "Party" where someone will even earn the FREE Hostess Rewards. If you are not near one another I can easily create you your very own "Virtual Party" online where you will also be able to earn the same FREE Hostess Rewards.

Get them before they're gone...

Check out these beauties creating with their My Crush books~ You can get a super deal in June... When you purchase one of five My Crush books & their coordinating Assortment, get the coordinating My Acrylix Stamp Set FREE! That's a value of between $10.95 & $15.25, depending on which bundle you choose. Order soon because these deals are only available while supplies last. Order Now

June's Summer Crush!

During the month of June, when you purchase any My Crush™ book and its accompanying assortment pictured in Annual Inspirations 2014–2015, you will receive the coordinating stamp set FREE! That is a savings of at least $10.95 CAD! Choose from five lovely My Crush book offerings that will provide a swoon-worthy background for your favorite memories. From family reunions to camping adventures to holiday countdowns—and much more—you will be crushing on all these books and the possibilities they provide. 

Every My Crush book features a hard cover with wire binding and cardstock-weight pages that are printed with eye-catching designs to form the perfect bases for your memory keeping. Additionally, each My Crush book also features unique details—from glossy print, to vellum pages, to gold foil, to ink-resistant patterns—that make displaying your personality easier than ever. Plus, once you add the artistry of the coordinating assortments featuring sticker sheets, envelopes, alphabets, cards, and journaling spots, along with your free stamp set, you will be well on your way to your own gorgeous mini book creation! 

This offer is only available while supplies last and once they’re gone, these books are gone for good, so put your orders in early to get your summer romance rolling today!

Dates: Offer valid June 1, 2015(9:00 am MDT)–June 30, 2015(11:59 pm MDT).

You can also get this fabulous stamp set, Ice Cream Dream for just $5. with a minimum $50 purchase.

So many possibilities with this set~

Close To My Heart's Crush books make the perfect gift for teens too! What better way to give the gift of memory keeping in 2015~

Are you ready?

Are you ready for a super special deal from Close To My Heart??

Recruiting on a Roll is our March special~ See the available kits here.

Thinking about joining Close To My Heart? March is the month to do it! During the month of March, new Consultants who enroll will receive a FREE shoulder tote (a retail value of over $29 CAD) in their New Consultant Kit. Our New Consultant Kit is just $109 CAD and includes nearly triple the retail value in products and supplies. Including your FREE shoulder tote, that is a savings of over  $320 CAD! Additionally, new Consultants who remit $300 worth of commissionable sales in their first 40 days after their New Consultant Kit ships will receive the rolling tote (a retail value of $164.95 CAD) as a FREE bonus (not including shipping/handling)! These organization pieces are only available while supplies last, so hurry on over and join as of March 1st (9am MST)!

Album Allure~

Album Allure is Close To My Heart's February Constant Campaign!!

Some albums are Ruby and others Lagoon; they’re all buy one get one half off—a treat just for you!

During the month of February, when you purchase one of Close To My Heart’s alluring coated canvas albums you will be eligible to receive a second album of your choice at half price. That is a savings of over $17 USD / $19 CAD! These albums are available in a gorgeous variety of colors and patterns in both post-bound and D-ring styles—perfect to pair with traditional, Studio J^®, or pocket scrapbook layouts. This offer is only available while supplies last, so make certain to get your order in early to ensure you can choose the styles and colors you love. They’re going fast and are built to last; so don’t delay—place your order today at http://brandy.ctmh.com/

Dates: Offer valid February 1, 2015–February 28, 2015. 

Don't forget to get your $5 Stamp Of The Month with every $50 on your order.