Card Kit Venture

Card Kits

Hello all! I'm back! Card Kits, you ask? I've decided to start a new venture in my creative life. I will be creating Card Kits to sell, those that live near can pick-up their kit and those that live elsewhere can choose to have their kits mailed! This concept is perfect for everyone! 

The kits will include precut paper, pre stamped images and various accessories. The only things you'll have to do to make the featured cards will be...order the kit and assemble the cards based on the photos on my blog! It's that easy! 

The first kit is coming soon, so stay tuned!

  

My Scrapbook Room

 

 

 

Here is my humble abode of a scrapbook room! This is the family headquarters...homework, decisions, discussions, finances, phone calls, planning, web surfing, scrapbooking, card making, and gift making...it ALL happens in this room! The kids know they're about to get a "talkin" when I ask them to pull up a chair at my desk! LOL! But seriously, this is the spot in the house where most everything happens...I suppose it's because I'm always at my desk (if not the kitchen!) :0)

Most of the furniture is from Ikea. The all too affordable & functional Expedits frame my desk and most of the walls. I love the black furniture finish against the creamy latte colored walls with red accents that really POP. Anyways, I've had a vision for the fourteen years I've been scrapbooking and it's finally come to fruition! I do truly enjoy spending time in my scrapbook room and having a consistent place for the kids to work on projects, homework and whatever else they do.

I hope by sharing these pictures you feel inspired to organize, decorate or just scrapbook today!

Happy Scrappin!

Ultimate Scrapbook Rooms!

I came across (gotta love google) these two amazing pictures of scrapbook havens! I love the white with red accents in the first picture, and LOVE the chandelier in the second pic!! I also think the white adds a crisp brightness, and allows all the other colorful accessories to pop beautifully!


I so wish I was disciplined enough to organize/decorate my scrapbook room like this...bah humbug. I'm going to clean up my room this week and will post pictures soon. 

Happy Scrappin'!

Thanksgiving!

How adorable are these chocolatey turkeys?? 

I saw these at the Our Best Bites blog and had to share them with you! Definitely check them out, they have lots of wonderful ideas!

Thanksgiving is fast approaching, and I'm happy to say that I've purchased all of my thanksgiving necessities...well, except for the turkey brine from Williams Sonoma. Since I'm attending an all day scrapbook crop today that happens to be by the mall, I plan on making a quick stop! :) After that I'll be ready for Thanksgiving...yay! 

Oh, if you're wondering about the brine. I stumbled upon this blog entry at www.skinnytaste.com 

that provides the details of the exact brining process I follow with the Williams Sonoma brine. Check it out! The end results are succulent, juicy, tender and unbelievably delicious turkey...everytime!

The brine is sold out online but hopefully you have a WS store near. Trust me, once you brine your turkey, you will never go back!

Have a wonderful weekend!

I'm back!

Hey everyone! I've decided to reopen my blog for viewers! Sheesh, it's been a long time since I've posted. To be honest, it feels good to blog again. Although I am no longer an active CTMH consultant, I still feel that I can share creative artwork/information with you. 

At the moment I don't have a specific direction of where my blog will go. I mean, when I was a consultant the content was obvious, right?! But now what? I don't really know, I suppose I'll figure it out in time. 

Mayberry - Close To My Heart

I chose to use the new Mayberry paper for a card swap. I love the spring feel and lively color combination. I also incorporated several new stamp sets, embellishments and techniques, check them out below!

 Circle card featuring Close To My Hearts Canvas Badge Buttons (NEW!) and the Pearl - Opaques Adhesive Gems. Don't you just love the Crinkle Flower technique?!

 This cute little altered flower pot is a Target dollar-bin find. I've seen them many times but didn't quite know what to do with them. BUT, when I saw them this time around I knew I wanted to incorporate them into my swap. They'd make perfect little gifts!

LOVE this card! I used the NEW #C1445 Bless this Nest stamp set and the NEW Craft Color-Ready Borders! LOVE THOSE! I simply sponged one strip with cocoa ink and it coordinated perfectly! These borders are so easy to use and best of all they're adhesive backed, definitely worth $5.95 (for 50 pcs!!)

When I saw the #C1460 His and Hers stamp set I just knew I had to have it! I used a couple of brads for the stove top knobs (too cute) and added some shimmery glitter to the stainless steel stove (can't really notice that detail). Notice the fun paper pleated technique!

Hope you feel inspired to create today!

Sweetheart - Close To My Heart

These lovely SWEETHEART cards & gifts were made by a very special someone...Tracy Lunceford from Portland, Oregon. She is extremly talented and creative, I just adore her! We swap cards upon the release of each new CTMH Idea Book. It's always fun and exciting to see how we're going to "wow" each other next.

Happy New Year!

Hello! Well, well, well, it's been quite a while since I last posted! And you're probably wondering about that picture...up there ^! That's my DAD! The best dad in the world! One of my favorite guys other than my husband and son!

Truth is, I haven't posted much lately due to some family circumstances. You see, my parents were in NY for thanksgiving. I am so thankful to have spent that time with them. But during that time, I just knew, I had a feeling something wasn't right with my dad. You know the 'ol intuition was kicking in and I felt uneasy about it. I couldn't exactly put my finger on it at the time, but my dad just wasn't being...dad!

So the visit was short & sweet and off they went back to TX.

To make a long story short. The exact same day I convinced my husband to go home for Christmas was the same day I got "the" phone call, those dreadful phone calls...

My dad was rushed by ambulance to the hospital for chest pain. Chest pain wasn't all...sweaty, dizziness, shortness of breath and pain in the upper shoulder, neck & head. My mom assured me that he was fine. He stayed the night at the hospital, was sent home the next day with a follow up appointment with his physician.

At that point, I knew. I knew something was wrong. I knew my suspicions were valid. I needed to go home. I needed to be at that doctor appointment with them.

My mom called me at 11am and by 2pm I was at the airport! We went to the dr’s office on Thursday. They immediately arranged an angiogram to be done the following Monday. On Friday we went to the hospital for all the pre-op business. I was supposed to fly home on Sunday, but knowing the angiogram was scheduled for Monday, I stayed.

Monday rolls around and we leave Stephenville as happy campers expecting to return that evening. I never made it back to Stephenville. The angiogram is a 45 minute procedure. My dad was out in no time, 30 minutes tops! We thought that was a good thing…

Again to make this short. My dad had five blocked arteries and an aneurysm in the left main coronary artery. He had triple bypass surgery on Dec. 15th. The surgery went well, he was in ICU for 72 hours then transferred to the coronary step-down unit for another 72 hours.
As I type, he is safely recovering at home. It will be a long process but I have faith he will be back to normal in no time! That goes to show...always follow your instinct...I KNEW something was wrong with my dad during Thanksgiving. He finally admitted that he felt ill during the thanksgiving trip...SEE, I TOLD YOU SO!

After rescheduling my flight three times, I finally made it back to NY on Dec. 18th. THEN, my seven year old had surgery on Dec. 21st!!!

His was a simple procedure, an adenoidectomy. Nonetheless, it was stressful having to take him to the hospital at such a young age. No one wants to see their children in the hospital…especially with IV’s and such! It looked much scarier than it actually was. It was an outpatient surgery so we were home that evening.

Besides all of that….I still had to prepare for Christmas! And to prove when it rains, it really does POUR...my computer crashed on Christmas day!! UGH!

With all that said, December was an overwhelming month! I was happy to push 2010 back and welcome the NEW YEAR! I have been absent from the blogging world, but with good reason!

My computer is now up & running, Troy is back to his silly self and things seem to be getting back to normal.

So I close this novel of a post with...I am in the midst of creating some wintery pages for the Scrapbook Club, stay tuned…

Christmas Cards

Ladies Night Out!

Many thanks to everyone that attended the Ladie's Night Out at the historic Groom's Tavern. It was an evening full of shopping, prizes, snacks and great fun! I had an overwhelming response to some of my handmade gift items!!! YAY! The cocoa wallets and cupcake kits sold out almost immediately!

If you are interested in purchasing or learning how to make any of the items I had available, please contact me directly at rita_mefford@yahoo.com or 518-280-3573.

Congratulations to Jenn for winning the Magnifique hostess basket!! She won a free scrapbook class for six plus a cute basket full of goodies!

Olivia scrapbook pages - Close To My Heart

Happy Halloween

Some of my favorite spooky cards from the past!

Wishing you a safe & happy halloween!

Magnifique Ladies Night Out & My gift to you!

Clifton Park presents the 4th annual

Ladies Night Out

Friday November 5th, 2010

5pm - 8pm

Join me for an evening of relaxation and shopping as local vendors have their house party at the Historic Grooms Tavern.

Bring your mom, daughters, friends and co-workers!

Get your holiday shopping done early while pampering yourself, you deserve it!

~No Entrance Fee, Door Prizes & Refreshments, 20+ Vendors~

The Magnifique basket featured in this post will be raffled as a door prize!

~ Host a free scrapbook class for you & five friends and get your very own basket with handmade invitations (my gift to you!).

November & December dates available. Don't delay, contact me today! ~

Lucky 7!

This is my son, Troy. We celebrated his seventh birthday this past Monday {sniff}. I just can't believe he's seven. He's growing up waaaaay to fast. He's at the stage of NOT giving me a goodbye kiss OR hug at school. But I really can't complain because he still cuddles with me in the morning, gives me lots of kisses before bed and says I'm the best mom in the world! :0)

We're having a birthday bash for him on Friday (at Chuck E. Cheese's) but still had a family celebration at home (see photo above). I also had to include a soccer picture of my little stud. I love his little sheepish grin in this pic.

Wish me lots of fun and patience on Friday!

Happy Birthday, Troy!

Hooligans Artwork / Team Swap

As promised! Here's the Hooligans artwork I created for a team swap! I am absolutely in LOVE with this paper. It is so bright, fun and totally perfect for Halloween but still versatile enough for plenty of other purposes. The cute little purse has wrapped nuggets inside, perfect for a teacher gift!!!! Hope you like everything and feel inspired to create today!

Click here to view & order the entire Hooligans line!

Bieber Fever!

The Biebs!
Daisy (my daughter) & Jordan

Crazy, crazy, crazy Bieber fans!

Tonight was the Justin Bieber concert at the Times Union Center. The concert was an early birthday present for Daisy, my daughter, whom will be the BIG 13 on Monday. It was a fun night filled with SCREAMING girls! I mean seriously, think about it, thousands of girls screaming at the tops of their lungs! God bless the lady that so generously gave me a package of ear plugs!
Anyways, the girls had a blast, met up with friends and wound up in the front row on the left side of the stage!! I watched them from above and enjoyed watching my baby girl dance her little bootie off! Aaaaaah, to be that young again! It makes me so very happy to see her happy...the many blessings of being her mom! ~Love you D!~

We finished the night by going to Friendly's for some fries & burgers! Then home to upload the pictures as soon as possible so they could share them on Facebook! After tonite, I can without a doubt say I've witnessed the Bieber Fever!

Back to School Card Workshop $5 or Free!

Here's a Back to School Workshop for you!

Join me for this fun workshop where you'll make three adorable cards and a box band. I'll show you how create a pocket card, how to *build* your own background stamps and how to add personalization to a simple box of pens or pencils! Don't delay, RSVP today, space is limited!

Workshop Fee: $5 or Free when you place any order of $20 or more.
Workshop Dates: Friday September 3rd @ 7pm or Sunday September 5th @ 5pm
RSVP : Contact me at rita_mefford@yahoo.com or 518-280-3573 by August 31st, 2010 OR register NOW on the left side bar!

Can't attend the workshop? Order your kit for only $8, it includes postage, prestamped images and precut paper delivered right to your door!

Tools To Bring: Adhesive, 3-D foam dots, scissors, glue dots

~Two $1 lottery tickets (for pocket card) and a box of pencils or pens as shown in picture~

Classy & Fabulous!!

I am lovin' my new custom blog banner, aren't you?!!!! Stinkin' C-U-T-E!!!! I've been revamping my blog, website and overall business concept. I have many new things in store for you, so check back soon or subscribe to my newsletter (by entering your email address on the right column)and be the first to know!

Making changes!

My blog is under construction! In the next couple of days my blog & CTMH website addresses will change. I apologize for the inconvenience but know that I have a purpose!!!!!

You can continue to visit my blog at http://www.istamphearts.blogspot.com/ for the next couple of days until it begins to redirect the traffic to my new domain http://www.stampinrita.com/ . You'll want to resave my blog to your favorites in order to skip the redirecting process in the future. MY CTMH website will not redirect to the new address so please take note of the new change.


My new blog address is www.stampinrita.com
My new CTMH website address is http://stampinrita.myctmh.com

Why the change? I'd like to keep the iStamp Hearts name exclusive to my CTMH team. I feel that the title does not reflect what is actually in my blog! My blog is just that, my blog! I've started a Facebook team page and that is where I will carry on with the iStamp Hearts "brand". Of course there are other reasons but this is the main one!

Will my blog change? No. Just the domain/address and overall look will change. Content will continue & improve in the near future!!! YAY!! I have lots of ideas & changes...if I could just find the time to do it all!!!!