Lordy, Lordy Cindy's 40!

Today one of my "oldest" and best friends turns 40!! Wow, I still can't believe I have friends that are THAT old! lol

I've been thinking about this post all day today and wondered "How do I tell people that don't know Cindy, about her?" Well I think it's best said with the help of photos. heh heh heh...

Let me see, from a early age it was obvious that Cindy had the potential to be a super model. Just look at that natural posing ability.



And looking at this shot I can't believe she wasn't scooped up by Elite Model Management and put on the catwalks of New York and Paris. Not to mention her friend there, she's fabulous!




















And she has natural spokes model abilities. Move over Vanna White. Who are all those men in the background? Fans? They must have seen the tube top photo.



Cindy has always been a creative girl. Just look at those hand made crotcheted headbands!



Cindy has always been a bit of a "fashionista" as witnessed previously in the photo with the tube top and silky short shorts, but here's another example. Here she is rocking her Senior Prom dress.




















And who says large print is only for tops? Au contraire mon frere.




















In all seriousness Cindy's always been a wonderful and loyal friend.







She knows how to have fun.




























And she can party like a rock star, a Guitar Hero rock star that is.




















She's stuck with me in good days and bad hair days. Whoa Nellie!



She has performed her share of bride's maid and maid of honor duties.






















And when it was her time, she rocked her bridal ensemble.



Oh whoops, I guess that was her bachelorette ensemble. Here she is with her handsome hubby and two of her wonderful friends. What a beautiful bride.











Now she has a beautiful family and a new fancy schmancy smarty pants job. (Don't ask me what she does, I still don't really know.)



And still has me as a friend after almost 30 years (at least I hope so after this blog post). Who could ask for anything more, seriously? lol



I'd say that's a great first 40 years. Here's to the next 40 Cindy Mae Rambler! Cheers!!

Love,
Beulah Jean

January's Card Workshop

I just wanted to share the cards we did in my January card workshop last month. I had posted them on another website that's just for Close to My Heart consultants, but forgot to post them here. I guess I should have posted them before now since Valentine's Day is over, but you can show love any day of the year right?

When doing cards I usually find inspiration from other consultants, whether it's the layout of the card, the color combination or completely CASE'd as in one example below. (CASE'd means Copied As Seen Exactly) Hey if someone's done it perfectly already, no need to reinvent the wheel right? :) So here are the 4 cards we made and one non-card project.

This first card shows the technique of making "crumpled flowers". My friend and fellow consultant Karen Gerlach showed us how to make these at a unite meeting a while back and I just thought they were fun and easy! We used the "That's Amore" paper and the new "State of Mind" stamp set. This set has a lot of uses for cards and scrap booking with it's fun definitions.




This next card is a little 4x4 card that uses the new Petite Perks stamp set that's seen on the back cover of the new Spring Idea Book. I gave a stamp set to each of the workshop attendees, so they could go home and make some Valentine's cards if they wanted. The color combo was inspired by a card done by fellow consultant Tiffany Smith.



We used something called Liquid Glass on the bees and beehive to add a little dimension. It's a little hard to show in a photo, but it gives a 3-D shiny effect to whatever you apply it to.



Here's the card that I CASE'd from fellow consultant Debi Davis. She even sent me her instructions to follow. I just love how she made a tag out of the circle she cut from the front of the card. This stamp set "Love Birds" is one of my favorite new stamps from the new catalog and I love the new "Veranda Creative Basics" paper!

Here's the front of the card with the tag.



Here's the inside of the card.



This next card uses a design that's called a "Double Diagonal Pocket" card. My good friend and fellow consultant Linda and I presented this folding technique at a multi-unit meeting earlier in January and I wanted to try it in my workshop as well. It seems like you're doing Origami when you're doing all of the folding, lol. I think this was my favorite card we made. It uses the new "Topstitch" paper and the cute stamp called "Childhood Portrait".




















This card style doesn't open, so you write your greeting on one of the pull out cards or tags. These are great for sliding a little gift card into the front pocket, too. Here it is with the card inserts pulled out a bit so you can see what I'm talking about.




















And last but not least we made what's called a "Bag-a-Lope". The layout was inspired by another consultant, Angela Tutton. Angela had made a table tent, but I wanted to make a bag, so I used a technique that I saw another consultant's website. Her name is Tresa Black and she's so fun to watch. Click HERE to see her You Tube video instructions for the Bag-a-Lope.

For our project we used a 5x7 envelope, just the right size to put a handful of candy or treats inside for someone. The stamp we used is the February Stamp Of The Month called "Piece of Cake". I love this stamp set and it's only available this month, then it will be gone! :(

Here's the cute little bag-a-lope.




















Here's a close up of the image. We used Liquid Applique to make the "frosting" on the cupcakes and a little Liquid Glass again to make the cherries shiny. So cute!



Thanks for looking! I've tried to create links to many of the products shown in case you're interested. If you have any questions at all, feel free to ask.

Also, my February card workshops are this coming weekend (Feb. 27th & 28th), so if you're in the Forest Grove, OR area and would like to come by, just send me a note and I'll get you the details. Here's my email address: kandi@myctmh.com

Happy Monday!

♥ Happy Valentine's Day ♥

I was reminiscing this Valentine's morning about my baby boys and these cute little photos we had taken of them. My scanner's not hooked up so my mother-in-law, Rose came through for me. Just look at these little cupids...

2001 - just before Mateo turned 1




















2004 - just before Jaxon turned 1




















Oh man, how I love these photos! Just wait until I get to pull them out in the future and remind the boys of just how much I love these photos. Maybe when they bring their first girlfriends home? Maybe a wedding video? You just never know... heh heh heh