Tag Archives: card making

January 3, 2014 · 8:56 pm

Weekly Wrap-Up . . . New Years Week . . .

This week, we had our mid-week service on Tuesday instead of Wednesday. We had a potluck fellowship at 6:00, followed by the service at 7:00. Two of the boys at our church are home from college for Christmas, and they, along with two of the boys from the teen group each were given the opportunity to preach for about 10 minutes each. I thought they did an awesome job! The service ended around 8:30, and we went home to get the boys to bed. In fact, my husband and I did not stay up late, either, because he had to get “The Batman” and “The Artist” up very early, so that he could get them back to the church in time to leave with the youth group for winter retreat, in Colorado.

On New Years Day, the rest of us kind of had a lazy day. I wasn’t feeling real great, and napped off and on, but was better by that night.

On Thursday, friends from church came and got “Mr. Loquacious” and “The puzzler” for an overnight with their kids. I ended up with most of the day yesterday and today to myself!

I told you yesterday what I would be doing with the time, and I did. As I mentioned yesterday, I’ve decided to join in with the Pantry Challenge posted by fellow blogger Jessica Fisher over at Good Cheap Eats. As I told I would, I cleaned out and inventoried my pantry, fridge/freezer and deep freezer. I’m embarrassed to say I had to throw out a bunch of stuff. That’s the other reason I’m doing this, so I can learn to keep track of what we have, and use it up, thereby being a better steward.

So, I have rather a lot of odds and ends in the pantry, but very little meat, veggies or fruit. So, before I head out in the morning for groceries, we’ll be going over what we have and figuring out what we need to go with it.

I will update on the pantry challenge at least a couple of times a week. Not necessarily every day, because I have other things scheduled for posting too, but I will keep up to date on this. 🙂 You can find out all about where I got this idea by clicking the graphic below . . .

Today while the kids were all still gone, I worked on my ministry cards. I have my own tiny ministry at church with my hand-crafted cards. So far, I have eleven ladies and one family on my encouragement list, and I make them a card every week. I bring them to church to give them on Sunday. I really enjoy it, it feels good to encourage others!

I also worked on getting my blog planner printed out so I can either get it into a notebook or have it spiral bound at an office supply store, and printed out the words to the song I’m singing next Sunday evening, so that the pianist and I can practice it.

Then, it was time to go pick everyone up! We got back a little while before my husband got home, and then he cooked supper, hamburgers and hot dogs, the extras we didn’t use on New Years Day. We also had the rest of the potato salad, coleslaw, and some potato chips. It was nice. 🙂

How was your week? Why don’t you write about it and then link up with us over at Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers? Click the graphic below to read about the guidelines . . .

As always, I’d love it if you joined me on all of “My Journeys Through Life”! Just enter your email into the “sign me up” button at the top of the blog, and never miss another update! And, if you enjoy “My Journeys”, please do go to our Facebook Page and “like” it. I’d sure appreciate it if you did! 🙂

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Filed under card making, Christian faith, Church, family, Kids, Mesa Baptist Church, Pantry Challenge 2014, Ultimate Blog Challenge January 2014, Weekly Wrap-Up

Tagged as card making, children, Christian Faith, Church, family, food, kids, Mesa Baptist Church, Pantry Challenge 2014, Ultimate Blog Challenge January 2014, Weekly Wrap-Up

November 1, 2013 · 1:00 pm

Weekly Wrap-Up . . . Oh What A Busy Week We Had! :-)

I think that Monday was the ONLY day we stayed at home! Tuesday, as I posted earlier in the week, Our church homeschool group had a field trip to McCall’s Pumpkin Patch, in Moriarty NM, followed by Ladies Bible Study at church that evening for me.

Then Wednesday of course, “The Batman” and “The Artist” had Teen Choir, after which we had Bible Study and Prayer Meeting at church. On the way home after church, we needed to stop and buy milk, because nobody had told me the day before that we were almost out (I don’t drink it, so I didn’t know).

Last night, our church had the annual Chile Cook-off and Fall Festival. I’ll be doing a post in the next few days with pictures from that, but here’s one picture of some of the Chile entries before we began sampling! 🙂

This morning, our church homeschool group met for our November activity, which was a missions project, as our missions conference is this month. We divided into groups, three families per group, and we each filled a box with gifts for our assigned missionary family, along with a box for one of our college students who are away at school.

Here are our packages, with the kids in our group . . .

I’ll do a full post about that later, too, with more pictures. Meanwhile, that’s how our week has been, and now I am finishing this post, doing laundry, getting things together for a Close To My Heart Gathering being held tomorrow, and then getting my ministry card that I do each week made.

So, how was YOUR week? Why don’t you write about it on Fridays and join the weekly wrap-up linky? Just click the graphic below to find out how!

As always, I would love it if you would join me on all of “My Journeys Through Life”, by entering your email information in the “sign me up” button at the top of the blog. And please, do also go here and “Like” our Facebook page! 🙂

We Have a Winner!

You all know that I recently did another Close To My Heart Gathering as a benefit for Deputy Shannon Key, and that I was going to do a drawing, giving one entry for every $25.00 spent (before tax/shipping). Well, with this gathering, we raised $73.43 for Deputy Key’s fund! 🙂

As promised, I asked one of Deputy Key’s children to draw the winner for the contest.

Here is Deputy Key‘s eldest daughter with me, getting ready to make the draw . . .

Who’s name will be on that paper?

And the winner is . . .

Rose Yates, of Rio Ranch, NM!

Rose has chosen a set of note cards for her prize, and as soon as they are completed and given to her, I will post pictures so you can see what they look like.

Stay tuned, there will be a drawing from my next gathering, later this month, as well!

As always, I’d love to have you follow my blog via email! Just click the “sign me up” button at the top of the blog and enter your email, and never miss an update! 🙂

Changes . . . and a benefit to help a Sheriff’s Deputy!

Recently, I needed to put together a two page scrapbook layout as a sample of one of our new Close To My Heart paper packets and Workshops on the go Scrapbooking Kits, which made me really realize just how far I have come from the beginning of my bariatric journey. I chose to use the Workshops on the Go Sarita Scrapbooking Kit, because I really like both the papers and the theme. I felt the theme, although shown in the idea book as a romantic layout, also perfectly fit the changes I have gone through over the past two and a half years, and since I’ve done very little scrapbooking about myself (because I so hated pictures of me), it would be fitting to use this layout to showcase what I have done, for me and for my health.

The left side of the two page layout shows pictures of me from January, 2011, the day before my bariatric surgery.

And this one, which is the right side of the two page layout, shows pictures of me from Christmas 2011, and May of 2012, which is when I was honored at the Centurian Awards Ceremony held at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit MI, and received my Centurian pin, given to those who have lost at least 100 pounds and/or reached a healthy BMI. I had done both! 🙂

If you click on the pictures, you can see them bigger than they are on the blog post.

I am so pleased with the difference this has made in my health, and in my physical abilities. With four special needs children, I NEEDED to get healthier, and I have. I am no longer taking two different versions of insulin, whereas before surgery I was on a short acting insulin shot before every meal and a long acting insulin shot before bed each night. I no longer take blood pressure medication or cholesterol medication. I am no longer restricted to shopping in plus size clothing stores, having gone from a size women’s 28 down to a Misses size 12 – 14, depending upon the style and manufacturer. I have lost 157 pounds, and I intend to never, ever go back to what I was when I weighed in at 320 pounds!

Now, after years of avoiding putting pictures of myself into the scrapbooks I love to make, I want to make one documenting my own journey from before weight loss to now. Close To My Heart is going to help me do that, with the beautiful, quality products available, which are extremely easy to use for anyone. Trust me, if *I* can stamp and not mess it up, so can you, and the CTMH scrapbooking and card making products are so beautiful, I know you’ll love using them as much as I do!

While you can, of course, use the Workshops On The Go Kits exactly as they are pictured in the idea book, as you can see by what I did, they are certainly adaptable to whatever theme you want to make them into.

I would love it if you would consider me for your paper-crafting ~~wants~~ needs. You can go directly to my CTMH website and shop to your heart’s content! There will often be a gathering listed on the site. If you click on the link by “join one of Lori’s gatherings”, you can join that gathering to shop. Even if there is no current gathering, you can still shop directly from the site and your products will be shipped directly to you!

There is currently a gathering listed as “New Idea Book Open House”, which will be closing as of this Friday, August 30, 2013. If you’re interested in purchasing from Close To My Heart, this would be the perfect gathering for you to join, because not only will you receive the yummy August Stamp of the Month Set “A Chocolate Affair” absolutely free with your $50.00 order, this gathering is actually a benefit for Deputy Shannon Key, a Deputy with the Bernalillo County NM Sheriff’s Department, who is a deacon in our church. You can read more about his ongoing battle with brain cancer here, in a series of articles and news stories.

If you order from the current gathering (New Idea Book Open House” on my Close To My Heart Site and get your order in by this Friday afternoon (August 30, 2013), then you will also be eligible for my prize drawing. With every $25.00 (pre-shipping/tax) on your order, you will have one entry in a drawing for your choice of a set of hand-crafted by me note cards (value $25.00), a retired paper packet (value $19.95) or a retired stamp set (value varies). The winner will be drawn by one of Deputy Key’s children, and will be able to choose which prize they prefer. If you book your own online gathering with me, and date it within the next month, I will give you an additional entry and set you up with E-Zinvite, so that you can invite all of your guests via email, and you can also make it an even on your Facebook page. Your party will have its own link on my site, your guests will receive their product shipped directly to them, and you’ll receive generous hostess rewards. What a win/win for you!

I hope to hear from you very soon, and I hope many of you will want to help Deputy Key by making an order on the current gathering “New Idea Book Open House”. All of my commission from this gathering is being donated to the Deputy Shannon Key Fund to help with the many costs associated with the treatment he must undergo, and to help his family during this time. Please consider this a worthy cause, and help out by ordering from this gathering. You’ll be helping someone who is very humble and deserving of your aid, and also making yourself more able to beautifully document the “changes” in your OWN life! 🙂

As always, I would love to have you join me on all of my “journeys through life” by following my blog. To receive a notice each time there is a new post, just go to the “sign me up” button at the top right of this page, click on it and enter your email. Hope to have you join me on “my journeys”!

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Filed under Bariatric Surgery, card making, changes, Close to My Heart, health, just me, scrapbooking, stamping, weight loss

Tagged as Brain Cancer, card making, changes, choices, Close To My Heart, Deputy Shannon Key, health, new life, paper crafting, weight loss, weight loss surgery

August 1, 2013 · 4:54 pm

Come and see our BEAUTIFUL New Close To My Heart Products!

I am SO excited about all the beautiful new products in the Close To My Heart new fall/winter catalog, which is live to customers as of today, August 1. 2013!

To celebrate the new catalog, I’ve joined with a large group of other Close To My Heart consultants in a new product blog hop. I have chosen to use the gorgeous new Laughing Lola paper, black cardstock, white Daisy cardstock, the Gypsy Exclusive Inks Stamp Pad, and from our new Minis collection, the My Acrylix A True Thank You stamp. To put it all together, I used Close To My Heart Bonding Memories Glue, and Close To My Heart 3-D Foam Tape.

So, without further ado, here is the set of coordinating Thank You notes, made using just one of the double sided patterns in beautiful new Laughing Lola paper pack!

I hope you like the idea of having a whole set of coordinating cards, whether for thank you cards, thinking of you cards, or a variety of occasions, and that this gives you an idea of what you can do with just one of the patterns from any of our exclusive paper packs!

Please let me know how I can best help you with your paper crafting needs! 🙂

Click on the linky tools link below to see all of the other entries . . .

This blog hop is open for members of the CTMH Blog Boosters. Please do not add an entry if you are not a member of the group

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Click here to enter your link and view this Linky Tools list…

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Filed under card making, Close to My Heart, CTMH New Product Blog Hop

Tagged as card making, Close To My Heart, CTMH New Product Blog Hop

July 23, 2013 · 1:33 pm

Christi The Coupon Coach: Couponing Made Simple . . . A TOS Molly Crew Review

Full disclosure here, I just love it when I get a review from the Molly Crew at The Old Homeschool Magazine! These reviews are for products for us mamas, not just for the kiddos. 🙂

This time, I received a copy of the book “Couponing Made Simple“, by Christi the Coupon Coach (Christi Bassford).

This is an extremely easy and quick read at 123 pages, and the type is a bit larger than normal, which I personally appreciate, given that my eyes are getting older every day! I was actually able to read this in one day, a major feat in my house, lol!

Christi’s system is pretty simple, as described in the video below:

Right from the beginning, I liked her Dedication page, where Christi did the obligatory dedications to various loved ones, but she also made a point of putting the following in her dedication something that matters to me, and to a lot of my readers: { “Most of all, my work I dedicated to my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. It is by His grace that I draw every breath and strive to fulfill the command “whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God” } This is an attitude that is very important to me.

From Christi’s website:

“What if you could save 50% or up to 80% on your grocery bill??? If I can, why can’t you? Join me as I teach my step by step plan that has helped me and others save thousands of dollars on groceries!
There is a lot of buzz about couponing. A lot of people are excited about couponing and want to do it well, but I have found that many become overwhelmed, confused and unorganized.

That is why I have taken the new world of couponing and put it into a book that gives a step by step plan to follow. I have also developed an organization system. This allows people to be successful on their very first trip.”

I was excited to try Christi’s system, because anything that helps me to be a good steward of what God provides to us is something I want to learn about. Unfortunately, I did not do well with the couponing for groceries or household items, primarily because the coupons we received really did not have any for things we actually need or use, plus, I was recovering from surgery, and my husband was doing all of my grocery shopping. Because we ended up with a lot of out-of-pocket costs for my surgery, and are still paying off the surgeries he had in December and January, we really are needing at this time to buy only what we absolutely need, and not stock up on much of anything. That was a bit of a disappointment, but in her book, Christi goes way beyond couponing for groceries and such. She talks about saving money in many other ways, such as thrift shops, yard sales, and the thing that worked for me, the fact that sometimes, it’s worth it to wait for something to go back to full price, if you have the right coupon.

I have long desired to buy a Cuttlebug embossing machine, made by Provocraft, to use along with my Cricut when I am scrapbooking and making my hand crafted cards. The machine is regularly $89.99, but one week, it was on sale for $69.99 at Hobby Lobby. I had been saving a $20.00 gift card I had received as a birthday gift back in January (thank you Charlene!), and thought I would strike while the iron was hot, but Christi says to wait until you can get the BEST deal. Well, Hobby Lobby has a weekly coupon for 40% off, but that works only on regular priced items. If I purchased it at the sale price using my gift card, it would have cost $69.99. I figured out that if I waited a week for it to go off sale, I could use the 40% off coupon, bringing the base price down to $53.99, then stack on top of that my $20.00 gift card, bringing my final price down to $37.77, after the state sales tax was added on.

Here is my Cuttlebug . . .

Here is my receipt!

Also, her advice to watch for the rock bottom sale price paid off as well. Hobby Lobby put all of their embossing folders on sale for 50% off, which brought them to $2.50 each, so I got six. Here they are . . .

They also had the storage tote for embossing folders on 50% off sale, so I got that as well . . .

And here is the receipt for those items!

And would you like to see why I so very much desired these things? It was so I could make things like this, for my personal card ministry, and because I also want to begin selling my hand crafted cards. Here are two different cards I made using my Cuttlebug along with my Cricut, which I already own . . .

So you see, even though I have not yet mastered grocery shopping with coupons, I was able to save a bunch on things I really ~~wanted~~ needed! I do intend to try again with the grocery system when I am able to drive again, and when/if we begin seeing coupons for things we would use.

I think the best part of the book is in chapter ten, “Beyond Couponing”, in which Christi tells us about “the best deal”, for which you don’t even need a coupon, and it is absolutely free. By ending the book with this particular deal, Christi is absolutely living out her Christian testimony, and following a command given by Jesus Christ. I hope you will read it, and believe, because I’d love to meet you in Heaven one day! 🙂

I do recommend this book if you want to read about different ways to save money for your family. If you do want to coupon, Christi also gives a list of her favorite online coupon match sites here.

You can purchase “Couponing Made Simple” by Christi the Coupon Coach” here. The Physical copy of the book is $18.00, and the Kindle edition is $4.99.

To find out what other crew members thought about this book, please click below

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Filed under card making, Christian faith, Couponing Made Simple, Molly Crew Review, paper crafting, Schoolhouse Review Crew Post

Tagged as card making, Christian Faith, Couponing Made Simple, Molly Crew Review, paper crafting, Schoolhouse Review Crew, TOS Review

July 16, 2013 · 12:20 pm

Close To My Heart Winner!

I have just begun the final online gathering for the spring/summer 2013 idea book. This is your last chance to score your spring/summer favorites before they retire to make room for luscious new fall/winter product, PLUS, during the month of July, you qualify for the Workshops on the Go “Canvas Art Kit”, item # G1062, priced at $39.95, for only $19.95, with no minimum qualifying order, while supplies last.

In addition, for this gathering there will be another drawing. For every $25.00 on your order, you will again receive an entry into the drawing. This time the winner will receive their choice between a handmade set of note cards with holder (value $20.00) color choices to be determined by winner, or the retired paper pack “Dotty For You”, from our National Scrapbooking promotion of 2012 (value $19.95).

Please, go to my website http://lorimoffit.ctmh.com and scroll down to where it says “join one of Lori’s Gatherings”, then click on “final spring/summer gathering” You may order anytime between today and next Friday, July 26, 2013, which will allow time for the order to be in during July. Note that when you order from an online gathering, you don’t wait for the gathering to close before receiving your product, it will be shipped right away, so that you can play! 🙂

All of that said, let’s get on with the news about the last winner, and pictures!

You may remember my post back in May when I told you about the online Close To My Heart gathering which was a benefit for Sheriff’s Deputy Shannon Key. Well, because of my surgery, it took a little bit longer than I anticipated to do the prize drawing and make the winner’s cards. The winner was PJ Pearson of Rio Rancho, NM, and her name was drawn b Sheriff’s Deputy Shannon Key’s daughter. I tried to get good photos of everything, but some are a little blurry, sorry about that, I will do better next time!

And here they all are, encased within the matching holder . . .

I hope you will consider me for your paper-crafting needs, and remember, beginning with the fall/winter idea book, there will be some other fun crafting options as well, like jewelry!

Have fun crafting!

Preparing for Surgery and hosting an online benefit . . .

I’ve been working a bit each day at getting things in order around here, because one week from today I will be having surgery on both of my feet, and would really prefer not to have to worry about keeping up with tons of work after that. My theory is that if we can get things in order now, it will be easier for my kids to keep up with it until I’m “back on my feet”, lol!

I have extremely bad hammertoes, three on one foot, two on the other, and they will all be dealt with in one surgery, so as to avoid going under anesthesia twice, or having two surgical and two hospital co-pays.

I’m also working ahead on making cards. I have a little ministry in which I make a card every week for some ladies at church who need encouragement for one reason or another. So far, I have five ladies. I do a card for them each week, and I pray for them every day. We also have three kids at church graduating this weekend, so last night I got one of their cards done, and today I’ll work on the other two. We have one other graduation coming up, but that isn’t until the beginning of June, which is good, because I have to go buy more grad themed paper for her card. 🙂

Another thing I’m working on: for those of you who don’t know, I am a consultant for Close To My Heart (http://lorimoffit.ctmh.com), a company that produces BEAUTIFUL, high quality, easy to use products for scrapbooking and card making. I am currently hosting an online party as a benefit for Bernalillo County, NM Sheriff’s Deputy Shannon Key. He is a deacon in our church (http://www.mesabaptist.org), and is going through his second battle with brain cancer. Because it is so bad this time, it is inoperable, so the only treatment available is mostly experimental, done at Cedars-Sinei Medical Center in Los Angeles, and not covered by insurance. You can read more about Deputy Key at http://www.krqe.com/dpp/features/nm-deputy-faces-another-cancer-battle .

To help build the Shannon Key fund, I am, as I said, hosting an online Close To My Heart party. 100% of my commission from this party will go to the Key family. Some incentives for you: if your order reaches $50.00, you are eligible to purchase the May Stamp of the Month set for only $5.00. This will also make you eligible for the exclusive, only available this month, special paper pack called Dream Pop, which was created especially for National Scrapbooking Month. But wait, there’s even more! Every order that is at least $25.00 will be entered into a drawing for a set of notecards handmade by me. For every $25.00 you order, you will get one entry. If, in addition to your order, you book a party of your own, I will give you an extra entry. When the party closes, I will ask one of Deputy Key’s children to draw the winner. At that time I’ll consult the winner for their favorite colors before making their cards. 🙂 If you’d like to participate in this very worthy cause, you may order anytime between now and May 26, 2013, when the party will close. When you order from my website http://lorimoffit.ctmh.com your order will ship directly to you, and you don’t have to wait until the party closes to receive your order. I hope many of you will choose to help. Even if you aren’t a scrapbooker or card maker, I bet you know someone who is, who would LOVE to receive a gift of products to use in their hobby. Close To My Heart products are top quality, beautiful, and very easy to use. Even *I* can’t mess up when using them, lol!

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Filed under card making, Close to My Heart, health, stamping

Tagged as Bernalillo County Sheriff's Deputy Shannon Key, card making, Close To My Heart, health, scrapbooking, stamping, surgery

Tag Archives: card making

Weekly Wrap-Up . . . New Years Week . . .

Weekly Wrap-Up . . . Oh What A Busy Week We Had! :-)

We Have a Winner!

Changes . . . and a benefit to help a Sheriff’s Deputy!

Come and see our BEAUTIFUL New Close To My Heart Products!

Christi The Coupon Coach: Couponing Made Simple . . . A TOS Molly Crew Review

Close To My Heart Winner!

Preparing for Surgery and hosting an online benefit . . .

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