Clean Sweep - Reality not-for-tv comes to Betsy

Yesterday, at the weekly IFOS meeting we welcomed a new "member," Capri's old friend and my new friend, Ramona. We had a lot of fun, as usual, and Ramona insisted on a house tour, which eventually included the Craft Cave. (Click on their names to see their craft blogs.)

Here's where it gets ugly. After a year and a half in this house I am far Far FAR from being organized in my craft cave. It's still floor to ceiling with boxes, many of which don't even belong in there, I am sure, and what is unpacked is scattered [what appears to be] randomly throughout the room. I have four tables in the room, none of which has sufficient surface space to work on, that is providing I could access them without risking a broken limb. No photos today, but I promise I will post some in the future.

I don't know how it happened, it might have occurred during a weak moment, but these two women apparently tackled me, threw me to the ground, tied my arms behind me and waved craft supplies in my face as torture. They proceeded to inform me that I would not be allowed to play with, purchase or even look at another craft item until I agreed to their terms. These terms are not pretty and cause extreme stress for me... I would have to allow them access to my craft cave to sort, organize and rebuild from scratch. They made me pick a date and put it on my calendar. Excuse me, I have to find an inhaler - I don't think I can breathe!!

This made Capri very happy as she has been trying to twist my arm to do this for a while. I suspect that is why Ramona joined us yesterday - Capri knew that it would take an intervention of more than just herself to achieve results of any type.

Springing the news on my husband resulted in shouts of joy. He is so on board with this. He's willing to cook gourmet meals for the crew, build shelves, just about anything to get that room into shape and usable.

My palms are sweating. I can feel a flush moving up my neck. There are going to be people going-through-my-stuff. I don't know if I can take this!! The big day is February 27th. I think I'll have to learn yoga or some sort of mediation techniques before it gets here.

This is where the photos come in. I will post before and after. But no *before* until *after* has come. It will be worth the wait. In the meantime, enjoy the slide show of my newest downline's (lovely daughter, Alyssa) acrylic album. Btw... the card at the top of the page is hers, too. She made it yesterday after claims of not having made a card in years. I think she's really talented and "Wishes" by Jeannette Lynton is an awesome book for those (like her and me) that want some inspiration.

The Stamp Goddess

We interrupt this blog to give a big old shout-out to the Stamp Goddess. As much as I wish I was the Stamp Goddess, that actual honor goes to my friend, Tresa Black.

I know we all love to see one another's artwork through our blogs, but today I am going to share Tresa's studio tour with you. It's a well organized workshop and I am sure you will find some great ideas to glean from her! Please enjoy....



You can find many more of Tresa's Fabulously Artsy videos on YouTube.

Close To My Heart Convention

The Close To My Heart convention is coming up this July. In case you don't know, that is a big deal to us consultants! There are a lot of different reasons to go and all of them good. It's a great time to get information and training from the "big dogs" (sorry ladies) and experts in crafting, sales or marketing. It's a time to get the first preview of the 2010 Winter Catalog & Idea Book. It's a fantastic networking opportunity. We get to play with new product and make things. And probably my favorite part, we get to catch up with people we haven't seen since the last convention and make new friends!! I loves my Close To My Heart friends!!!

Who wouldn't want to be part of that? My daughter wanted to so much she even signed on to be a consultant! I am so excited to be sharing this experience with her! And early in March she will have her first gathering. We are X*Cite*Ted!!

Part of convention is a scrapbook contest. It has specific instructions for six 2-page layouts. I thought it would be Fun to participate in the contest this year and my entry has to be there by May. I need some help, though. I have three subjects I can scrap around and I am at a loss which to use.

First I thought of my darling daughters and milestones in their/our lives. Obviously I have LOTS of photos and mementos to work with on that subject. However, photography is part of the evaluation and some of those old photos are not so good!

Second subject is Harriett and our family's relationship with her. She was not ever a particularly willing subject when it came to capturing her on film, but I have some ideas to make pages about her that are not necessarily photos of her.

Third is my Mom. I have been wanting to do a tribute album to her for a long time, too. Unfortunately, she can't appreciate it like she would have had I gotten to this earlier. As a subject she offers me an amazing amount of topic to work with.

I am so undecided. All three of these really appeal to me and eventually I will do them all. But I don't know which one would be best to do first or offer the best potential to winning or placing in that contest! HELP!!

Anniversary Card

I am thinking I better get busy and get some crafting done - the kind I can share with you!!

This is the 25th Anniversary card I made for my husband for our anniversary. I am very pleased with how it turned out!

Liquid Glass!

One of my very favorite products from Close To My Heart is Liquid Glass. You might think this is a funny choice... it has no colorful component to please my eyes, it doesn't coordinate with other papers or embellishments, it just adds little accents here and there or works as a strong adhesive.

EXACTLY!! It can highlight a little swoosh or swirl, it can make a word *pop* out from other words, it can add the tiniest bit of shine to a spot that "just needs something" like a little tear drop. I love it!

It also thinks it's glue. I try to tag my new Christmas tree ornaments each year with the year and the name of the giver. It gets a little tricky to get the tag tiny enough to be nearly invisible and then to find an appropriate place to adhere it. Liquid Glass to the rescue this year! All new tags were easily placed and no worries that they will fall off! My daughter even used it to fix the broken frame of her glasses for a week or two until she got new ones. Yes, I am serious.

Now I want to tell you what you can do with a little bit of ribbon, some glue dots and some waxy flax that will enhance your Liquid Glass.

Some crafters, unlike me, are very organized and never ever misplace anything. You know the ones, they always have exactly what they need at their finger tips! With Liquid Glass that one thing you need is a pin to reopen the passageway for the Liquid Glass to flow. For a while I just kept the pin in the bottle and didn't use the cap, but that can create problems if you want to leave home with it.

So today I took a length of ribbon (Juniper from the Jingle Creative Basics package) and used glue dots to adhere it to my bottle of Liquid Glass. I made a couple of ribbon loops in the middle and pushed them to one side. To be sure this ribbon would stay on my bottle for a long time (hopefully until it's empty) I tied a piece of waxy flax over the top of it.

Then, the really cool part!!

I pushed a safety pin through the ribbon, where the loops are, and closed it. I will never ever be looking for a pin to unstick the tip of the bottle again!

I feel so clever!!

Christmas Cards

Now that Christmas has come and gone I can share the cards I sent out this year. If you didn't get yours let me know and I'll check into it. It could be because I didn't get one from you so I had no return address to mail to.... That's my little attempt at humor today.



I was so intent on getting my cards all mailed out before Christmas, a change I decided to implement this year, that I forgot to take photos of this one. A big thanks to Susan and Dennis for emailing me a photo of their card.


When I began running short on time I switched over to a set of cards designed by my friend Shari. Her awesome instructions allowed me to crank out another 20 cards in record time. I tweaked in a couple of places but most of the cards are a straight stamp lift. I apologize to anyone who received on of these and thought it was my original work, which it was stamped as on the back, but only because I wasn't able to find a stamp with simply my name. My apologies to you, too, Shari.

...and the Shoppers Rush Home with Their Treasures!

What a month it has been! Or a couple of months for that matter! I thought I had my Christmas all "wrapped up" at the beginning of the month but I find myself busier and behinder than ever as the days march along. How can this possibly be??

I signed up for a recipe swap at the last possible minute. What kind of fool am I? Being an ace procrastinator and a struggler of ideas, I thought it would behoove me to go another step and sign up for three spots. I think I need my head examined. Oh, did that already, too.

Because I was terrified to let my husband know I had committed to another thing, I was trying to be sneaky about working on this swap - like in between stamping gift tags and Christmas cards. I didn't quite get away with it and he found me out... but not until I was almost completely done. I got them into the mail only one day late. That could be some sort of record!

The swap was 6x6 Crock Pot Recipes, CTMH products only since the players were all CTMH consultants.

Chicken soft tacos is my submission for the Main Dish category. I chose the colors based on the Mexican flag.

German Potato Salad is my Side Dish entry. Also based on flag colors, Germany this time, Black, Red & Gold.

My final submission is in the Desserts category, Cinnamon Raisin Bread Pudding in shades of browns. I should get 5 more back in these categories - I'll share them when I do.

Merry Christmas!!