2017 CTMH Convention in Salt Lake City

THE RECAP!

Hello everyone! This is Kirsten here to tell you all about my wonderful trip to Utah and the amazing convention that was put on by Close to my Heart.

This year's theme was "Who tells your Story" and it was absolutely a powerhouse of amazing presenters.

TUESDAY - TRAVELING DAY

Today was the start of my vacation. Whoot whoot! Brandy, Dorothy and I were traveling (and rooming) together. It wasn't so bad, we had a lot of time between flights and were able to get something to eat. We even met up with a few other consultants in the Calgary airport that were also on their way.

The last flight was a little shaky - small plane = more turbulence and weird sounds. But the landscape was beautiful. Very odd compared to Manitoba - I'm used to seeing a patchwork quilt and instead saw this:

Once we landed we were picked up at the airport by a friend of Brandy's. We all went out for supper at the Red Iguana before going to our hotel. I never tried Mexican before but it was delicious! (I'm really fussy but it was pretty safe to order just meat and cheese - LOL)

WEDNESDAY - LEADERSHIP DAY

Leadership Day kicked off with a great opening speech by Monica Wihongi, who also presented the amazing team she has. The ones that work hard for us and that we see as the faces of the company. I really enjoyed hearing everyone's name and job description. It really helps to get the feel of how the company is run and just how much work everyone does.

I even got recognized as a first time promotion leader. I had to go up front and got a yummy candy apple as a gift.

Next we had great presentations from Casey Spinks, JoNell Gneiting, Morgan Vogt, Naomi Smith and Nancy Klein to teach us leaders many practices and strategies to build our business while keeping your own life balanced. There were encouraging words and stories about how life happens and ways to stay motivated and successful. They were really good. Then, COO Brian Holman spoke on how to stay fully charged in our life and business.

Once the classes were over I had quite a few meetings to go to. First was the first time attendees Mix and Mingle. I wasn't too much of a fan of this one because there were a lot of questions that kept getting repeated or questions that didn't really pertain but oh well. We got a little gift after. :)

Next was the Canadian Meeting with Pierre Gelinas. That was fun. I always love having Pierre around. He is so nice and works really hard to improve the business and relationships in Canada. We played a funny ice breaker game where we were in groups of 5 and we had to choose 5 CTMH items that would save us in the invasion of King Kong. So we chose the No Worries paper pack, Paper Trimmer, Micro-tip scissors, Piercing tool, and the Mini stapler. We said we would distract King Kong with the pretty paper, we aren't worried. Then we would shoot staples at him to distract him while we removed the wire from the paper trimmer (the thing didn't work anyways) to trip him. Once he was down we'd stab him with the scissors and poke his eyes out with the piercing tool. Yes we are quite the violent group. LOL.

After the ice breaker we moved into Team awards. I got 4!!! Three were from Brandy (my upline) and 1 from Denise Murray as she is Brandy's Upline. I am so honored! I won Rockstar recruiter, Queen of Sales and the Heart and Hustle Award. And then the Heart and Hustle Award from Denise Murray as well!

Denise Murray also made us all a layout page for convention. I thought that was so super cool! Love it!

Once that meeting was over we went to Karen Morris' meeting. We were just guests but got to participate in the table discussions and see how meetings are run with such a huge group. It was super cool to see! Karen Morris is the leader of the Dream Team and has over 1200 downlines. It's crazy! Congrats to her for all her hard work and 26 years in the company.

THURSDAY - OPENING DAY

Normally this is the day you register and the convention gets to kick off with the Product Reveal General Session. I actually registered the day before because I was eligible for Leadership Day. I was so amazed by the crowd gathered at the doors waiting for them to open. Everyone was buzzing with excitement. There were over 1000 consultants there. People were taking videos, pictures, dancing, and searching for Sticky Boy. How exciting!

It's just such an amazing experience to be there in person and see everyone so happy. Amazing. The second those doors opened people started cheering and whistling. People were dancing up on chairs so that their team members would find them. The excitement was surreal. Some of the highlights of the general session:

• Marching band came out to start everything off with some amazing music! And then streamers flew everywhere!
•  Short video clip of home office on the screen that zooms in on our amazing CEO and Founder Jeanette Lynton waving to us with Brian and Monica on the screen and then the curtains went back and there she is with her family!
• Skits put on to tell the amazing story of Jeanette and how she came to create CTMH and it's growth.
• New product reveals including:
• Revamped whole new Basics color palette. All current colors are retiring except Black and it is becoming a stand alone with White Daisy. The new colors are called: Linen, Mink, Pebble, Heather, Pewter, Charcoal, Espresso, Nutmeg, Toffee and Almond. Colonial White is retiring.
• New color of the Year: Bashful (a light pink)
• Two toned cardstock. All colors will have a lighter shade of the color on the reverse side. Opens up a lot of possibilities and essentially gives us 84 colors to work with.
• Sidenote: We also now have silver and gold foil paper and vellum
•  New Workplace Wonder pieces including a swivel base and top, Mini Tray, Ribbon Organizer, Medium Tray and Medium stack. Love it!
• New Make It From Your Heart Volume 3 with holes so it can easily slip into an Everyday Life Album.
• 2 New 10- 2 page Cut Above baby kits (1 girl, 1 boy).
• All our new fundamental paper packs and coordinating ribbon and complements.
• New thin cuts including borders, tags, banners, words, and letters!
• New cricut cartridge in both digital and physical versions called You Are Here.
• New digital only mini cartridges for each USA, Canada and Australia/New Zealand.
• 3 layered stamping plus many new stamp/thin cut bundles
• New hostess rewards that include the ability to purchase a cuttlebug and cricut explore.
• THE NEW HOLIDAY EXPRESSIONS (Sorry only available for convention attendees)

After the general session was over we had to rush and grab our boxed lunch provided by CTMH, our new catalogs and catch our bus to head to HEAD OFFICE for a tour. Wow!

This is something that has never been done before and it's like a dream come true. We got to see a bit of the warehouse, get our picture taken by a professional photographer in front of the building and sign, and tour the lobby, creative area, boardroom and JEANETTE'S OFFICE. To be honest I nearly broke down when I entered her office. It was seriously like entering the President's Oval.

All too soon it was time to go. While we were there we got our amazing Convention bag (pictured in the photo of me about to enter Jeanette's Office and a M size stamp that says "You are Welcome Here". This was the most incredible experience. Loved it. Thank you so much CTMH for doing this for us.

After we got back we grabbed our creative supplies and went to the Creative Session. I got to meet many people from Head Office throughout the day and took selfies with them. They are all extremely kind and talk to you as though you are important. The things they did for us the entire weekend... just WOW.

FRIDAY - THE MIDDLE DAY.

Today at the general session we had such inspirational speakers. I cried so much it's crazy. We started off with the amazing Stacy Julian who talked about how important is it to share your story and how everything can be story-ish. She also announced a new venture coming as a partnership with her and Close to my Heart in 2018! More details to come later.

Then came the inspirational story by Stephanie Nielson, a plane crash/burn survivor. There was not one dry eye in the room. That woman is totally amazing. If she can overcome all the obstacles that came her way than anybody could. Beautiful inside and out.

In the afternoon we had a business class by Shari McAllister. It gave me many ideas on how to further my business to become more successful. It was interesting.

Next was the amazing Extravaganza presenters. Wow! Such beautiful work to showcase all our new products. Loved it! Made me want to create!

We went back to our room early that day and did some work and created wish lists after a nice supper at the Cheesecake Factory.

SATURDAY - CANADA DAY

Wow, busiest day of my life. I woke up at 4h45am to go walk/run a 5K for Operation Smile. It went much better than I thought. It was shorter than I expected and finished just under 29 minutes. I decided to walk the other 5K back to the hotel since I felt fine. (Bad idea - my legs were dead the next morning). It was really nice to see different things, downtown SLC and the State Capitol. The race was on Capitol Hill.

When I got back I had to shower and get ready for the general session. It was Canada Day and Brandy gave me a Canadian T-Shirt. That was awesome.

At the General Session they did more awesome reveals such as:

• An exclusive Canadian Celebrate 150 years bundle which includes cardstock, the new digital cricut cartridge featuring Canada and the exclusive 150 Years Canada Stamp! The official logo! It is available for all of July and the stamp will be available until the end of the year.
• The next convention will be at Red Rock in Las Vegas! Where Sticky Boy and Sticky Girl will be getting married.
• Our next incentive trip will be a 7 day Western Caribbean Cruise!
• Jeanette Lynton herself! She came onstage to share her heart breaking story of her journey with Lyme Disease. Again, not a dry eye in the room. She also did some Q & As and forced her good looking hubby to show us some karate moves. She is a hoot and I love her so much! I'm so glad she is starting to heal and I pray for a full recovery!
• Operation Smile video, talk about their mission and then the Auction! We raised around 45 000$ over the weekend for Operation Smile! Whoohoo!

After the general session we Canadians got a special luncheon. It was awesome. Good food, awesome surprises and great company.

Then we all went to the stairs to take a picture and unsuspectingly broke out singing the National Anthem. People stopped and watched us in awe. (Well, I hope awe anyways haha). There is a great Facebook Live Video on Close to my Heart's facebook page.

After lunch we had a great business class on Social Media by Karen Pedersen. It was perfect! I only saw the beginning as I went to prepare backstage to present after her but she did a great job.

It was my turn to present! I was SO excited and honored to be doing this. I loved it. I got to take a selfie with Monica backstage before I went on. I just felt so... important. :)

Apparently I did a good job presenting and that makes me happy. If only I can inspire 1 person I've accomplished something. I really enjoyed all the wonderful ladies that came up to me after to congratulate me and to share their inspiring stories of adoption. I loved it and wished I could talk even more about it. Keep sharing your stories!

Last event of the day and weekend was the Awards Gala. We got to get all dressed up and got served an amazing supper. Congrats to all the award winners!!! Great job and keep working hard!

Don't forget the inclusive convention stamp sets we got <3. I can't wait to make my convention album.

 It was a great evening. I got to go back up on stage again to congratulate the presenters.

At the end of the awards we had a special guest come out. Jeanette in her wheelchair out on stage to say a huge thank you to Monica for her hard work and dedication the last 25 years! Again we all stood and cheered... and cried... it was so amazing!

Thank you for everything CTMH! This trip will forever my etched in my brain as the most fun I've ever had. I am so honored to have been asked to present and to take part in such an amazing event. I have no words to describe the absolute experience. It was beyond what I could have imagined. I love this company SO MUCH. I could never leave.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you! I have come so far since becoming a consultant, both as a person and as a business. I owe it all to this company. I made so many friends through scrapbooking that I would have never had. I owe it all to you. Thanks! See you in Vegas next year!

P.S. If any of you want a part in this fabulous business please click the tab called "Join my Team" at the top of the page. ;) Hope to see you all in Vegas next June!

WYW Cardmaking Blog Hop

Hello and welcome to our Workshop Your Way Cardmaking Blog Hop.

If you have just joined us you can start here and continue on, as this is a circular hop or if you get lost along the way you can start at the beginning with Melinda's Blog as she has the complete list. If you came here from SNIPS, SNAPS & SCRAPS you are in the right place. Now on to my project: 

So I used the Mother's Day Cardmaking WYW Kit to make some thank you cards and Mother's Day cards. I was iffy at first buying the kit because I find the cards a bit plain but in the end I realized with a little bit a adding my own touch you can still follow the simple instructions to make amazing cards quickly!

For this kit I decided to use the Silver shimmer trim and did all four versions of the cards they give instructions for.

Then I used the stamp of the month last month to make this one for my Grandma:

Here are the other two I ended up doing as well.

Using the contents of the kit I ended up making about 10 cards. It was fantastic! This encouraged me to buy more kits like this in the future! They give you a good starting point to make these cards and a fantastic stamp set! Love it! I think we are already sold out of this particular kit but there are still some left of the other three so hurry up and get them before they sell out! Last month!

Supply List:
Mother's Day Cardmaking WYW
Silver Shimmer Trim 

Thank you for checking out my project. If you would like to place an order for any of these supplies you can buy them here. If you enjoyed my project please comment below as we love feedback! Next on our blog hop is Melinda from IF YOU BLING IT. Make sure to check out her amazing work featuring this same product.
 
Have a great day!

CTMH Technique Blog Hop - Vellum Makes Everything Better

Hello and welcome to our CTMH Technique Blog Hop.This week we are featuring our vellum paper.

If you have just joined us you can start here and continue on, as this is a circular hop or if you get lost along the way you can start at the beginning with Melissa's Blog as she has the complete list. If you came here from SCRAP N ROLL you are in the right place. Now on to my project: 

For my project today I decided I wanted to use up some of the leftover PML cards from the Forever & Always Cut Above Kit. It was the last layout I needed for my wedding album and it couldn't be too "girly". I used the copper stripped vellum pieces from the Rustic Home Collection and flipped it over to get "silver" type lines instead of the copper. As you can tell it is behind the flower card and photos in the last picture. The right strip of white wood grain patterned paper were two PML cards from the Forever & Always Cut Above Kit as well. ;)

I used many different paper and scraps from here and there to complete this page, bringing it all together. I was quite pleased with the way it turned out. Don't forget that our Cut Above kits are only 9.50$ this month only! While supplies last.

Supply List:
Rustic Home Paper Pack
Forever & Always Cut Above PML Cards
Live Beautifully Stamp Set
Live Beautifully Cut Above embellishment (the black leaves)
Gold Glitter Gems
Hello Lovely Complements
Blush Shimmer Ribbon  
Slate & White Daisy Cardstock
Black Ink Pad
Stapler & Staples 

Thank you for checking out my project. If you would like to place an order for any of these supplies you can buy them here. If you enjoyed my project please comment below as we love feedback! Next on our blog hop is Melissa from HEARTFELT SENTIMENTS. Make sure to check out her amazing work featuring this same product.
 
Have a great day!

Constant Campaign Blog Hop - Thin Cuts

Hello and welcome to our Constant Campaign Blog Hop. This week we are featuring our Thin Cuts.

If you have just joined us you can start here and continue on, as this is a circular hop or if you get lost along the way you can start at the beginning with Melinda's Blog as she has the complete list. If you came here from SHEILA'S STAMPING STUFF you are in the right place. Now on to my project: 

This is a very simple layout that came with the Dreamin' Big Workshop Your Way instructions. I thought it was perfect for my pictures. But of course the fox in the Some Kinda Wonderful Cardmaking stamp set was so darn cute I just had to add it. I love that CTMH has coordinating stamp set with a thin cuts package. Amazing. This layout was simple, quick and beautiful. 

I stamped the fox with our archival black ink and then used our amazing waterpaints and brushes to color it in. Then I just went over the outline of the fox with our journaling pen just to make the image a bit sharper. Hope you like it.

This set is so versatile you can add the cute little characters to pretty much everything. Love it. Don't forget you can get it at 25% off this month!

Here is a look at all the stamps offered in this set:

Supply List:
Dreamin' Big Workshop Your Way
Some Kinda Wonderful Cardmaking Stamp Set & Thin Cuts.
Archival Black Ink
Water paints
Paint brush set 

Thank you for checking out my project. If you would like to place an order for any of these supplies you can buy them here. If you enjoyed my project please comment below as we love feedback! Next on our blog hop is Krista from KRISTA'S CRAFTY CORNER. Make sure to check out her amazing work featuring this same product.
 
Have a great day!

Cross Canada Hop - Language Stamps

Bonjour / Hola / Hello

Welcome to our March Blog Hop featuring CTMH stamp sets that are available in French, Spanish and English. When you flip through the catalogues those stamps are identified with a World globe. 

We have an amazing group of talented ladies all across Canada, and they sure would love to hear from you, so before hopping onto the next person, take a moment and leave a comment about what you loved.

If you've arrived from Donna of DAT'S MY STYLE then you are in the right place! If you would like to start at the beginning of the hop, and continue from East Coast to West Coast, you can start here “CREATIONS WITH MICHELLE”

My family is a french speaking family. We speak French at home, at daycare, at school and I work in the French daycare so naturally I like to buy the French versions of our stamp sets. I was that lady who sent in a request every year for French stamps and starting with the new annual catalog we now have a handful per catalog. I love it!

 Here is a page I created that I am using for my title page of our new family album. In case you don't understand French "Aujourd'hui" means "Today" and "Tu rends mon coeur joyeux" means "You make my heart happy". I used two different stamp sets on this page. Hello Lovely Scrapbooking and Happy Heart.

I really like these two sets and they are extremely versatile for any layout or card.

I heat embossed the title as it is difficult to stamp ink over the vellum paper from the Rustic Home paper pack (backside). I used some leftover scraps and PML cards from the Hello Lovely paper pack to embellish. The flower bunch to the right of my youngest is cut out of a PML card. 

I also hand stitched a bit on my layout in the corners using our stitching guide ruler.

 

 Leave me a comment if you have any questions on my technique or if you like this page. :) Have a great day!

Supply List
Rustic Home Paper Pack
Hello Lovely Paper Pack
Hello Lovely complements
Hello Lovely Scrapbooking (French) Stamp Set
Happy Heart (French) Stamp Set  
Sea Glass Cardstock
Gold glitter gems
Black, Sorbet, Fern, Sea Glass Ink
Black embossing powder
Craft Heater
Versamark Ink
Black thread
Stitch guide ruler
Journaling pen 

To purchase any of the items seen in our blog hop today, contact your local consultant to place an order.

Your next stop on the Cross Canada Hop is  Janet of JAN'S WORKS OF ART. If you get lost along the way, you can head to Michelle's Blog, 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 creations using the Shinhan Touch Twin Markers. So mark April 15th on your calendars and hop along with us.

CTMH Technique Blog Hop - Thrilled about Thin Cuts

Hello and welcome to CTMH's Technique Blog Hop. This week our featured technique is "Thrilled about Thin Cuts".

If you have just joined us you can start here and continue on, as this is a circular hop or if you get lost along the way you can start at the beginning with Melissa's Blog as she has the complete list. If you came here from SCRAP STAMP SHARE you are in the right place. Now on to my project:

Okay so I totally forgot I was taking part in this blog hop until 8pm the night before lol. SOOOOOO I just went back to find some projects I have made recently. Did you know we recently got some new thin cuts to go with some stamp sets from our annual catalog? We got thin cuts for the A1193 Wreath, C1664 Swirly Seashells, D1706 School Kids and B1532 Sweet Birthday.

In this page I used the School Kids stamp set before the thin cuts came out and had to fussy cut these little characters. I am so pumped that the thin cuts came out for this set.

 

Ahhhh love these Swirly Shells! I used Archival black ink first and then painted with the water paints and then I ran them through the Big Shot. I always stamp first and then cut as I have a magnetic board and love the precise cuts!

Supply List:
School Kids Stamp Set & Thin Cuts
Swirly Shells Stamp Set & Thin Cuts
Enchantment Fundamental Paper Pack
K-6 School Complements
7-12 School Complements
Marker Alphabet Stamp Set
Assorted Shinhan Markers
Poppy Ink
Water Paints
Sea Glass Cardstock
Sea Glass Glitter Paper
Gold Sequins  

Thank you for checking out my project. If you would like to place an order for any of these supplies you can buy them here. If you enjoyed my project please comment below as we love feedback! Next on our blog hop is Terrie from INKY HEARTS PAPERCRAFTING. Make sure to check out her amazing work featuring this same product.

See you on January 15th as we will be featuring our Crazy for Complements. Have a great day!

December SOTM Blog Hop - Thoughtful Flowers

Hello and welcome to CTMH's Stamp of the Month Blog Hop. This week our featured Stamp of the Month is called Thoughtful Flowers.

If you have just joined us you can start here and continue on, as this is a circular hop or if you get lost along the way you can start at the beginning with Melinda's Blog as she has the complete list. If you came here from GINA'S LITTLE CORNER OF STAMPINHEAVEN you are in the right place. Now on to my project: 

It has been awhile since I have participated in a Blog Hop. I've been just way too busy lately. I originally planned on making a beautiful scrapbook page but in the end I once again had no time. :( 

Oh well. Here is a card I made using the SOTM. I stamped with archival ink and used the waterbrush to paint in the flowers. I know the lighting in the picture is pretty bad but it is honestly beautiful up close. I did a lot of layering and used 3D tape. I plan on painting up a whole sheet of flowers and making a gorgeous layout using the technique. I can't wait to have the TIME! lol.

Here is a look at all the stamps offered in this set:

Supply List:
December Stamp of the Month: 6$ with a 50+$ purchase
Whimsy Fundamentals
Whimsy Ribbon Pack
Archival Black Ink
Pansy Ink
Small Waterbrush
Waterpaint Set
Watercolor Cardstock
3D Tape

Thank you for checking out my project. If you would like to place an order for any of these supplies you can buy them here. If you enjoyed my project please comment below as we love feedback! Next on our blog hop is Nancy from PAPERCRAFTING WITH HEART. Make sure to check out her amazing work featuring this same product.

See you on January 1st as we will be featuring our next SOTM Adore You! Have a great day!