Yes, yes, I know it has been forever but life has certainly got in the way.  My father passed away the end of June and taking care of all the aspects of that has been very time and energy consuming.  He is shown here in the 2nd picture down on the left sided column with baby Teddy.  I have managed to keep up with my Close to My Heart business and will be attending a Regional Convention in St. Louis next weekend.  As part of that, we were given a Studio J assignment to do 5 two-page layouts.  Now I would much rather do conventional scrapbooking but I have this habit of doing what I am expected to do (but maybe not until the last possible minute), so I hunted up some pictures that would work.  For one of the layouts I chose to do a composite of Teddy pic's.  Since you get a jpg for each of the layouts you purchase, I can share this layout using a new Studio J exclusive paper kit.  You can't buy this paper anywhere else but in Studio J and it is so cute with all the pets on it.  Studio J has really improved, making it even easier to use and personalize.  The big picture on the left page is now my screen saver, I didn't realize it was so cute!  The top picture on the right page is the latest one of my little rescued baby.  I can see that waiting until the last minute for this project has its downfalls.  I forgot to send the mat for my journaling to the background so all you see is the big cranberry block.  And while it is very cute, I didn't intend to use that big picture twice.  No harm, I can redo my journaling and mount it on the finished layout and if I really want to, I can put a different picture on top of the duplicated one.  If I had done my assignment earlier, I might have caught these booboos but they are easily fixable, just like with conventional scrapbooking.  It doesn't cost anything to try it for yourself.  Just go to StudioJ.com, download some pictures and play.

Teddy

Thought I would post a picture of Teddy, the cat I hand raised from 3 days old. It is sure hard to imagine when he was so small and helpless. He is now nearly 5 months old and while he sometimes bites and gets into things and makes mad dashes for any open door (inside or outside doors, it doesn't matter), mostly he is a rumply haired sweetheart.

Omaha Leadershare Operation Smile auction

This last weekend my 2nd upline, Shari Froemming and her best friend Julie sponsored a Close to My Heart Leadershare event here in Omaha. Three top execs from corporate came and lectured and provided the materials for cards and a layout. It was attended by 105 consultants including myself. One of the events was a live auction with the proceeds going to CTMH's favorite charity, Operation Smile, which provides free facial reconstructive surgery around the world. Shari encouraged us all to donate an item for the auction. I decided to make this centerpiece, using our Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge to cut out the 225 flowers necessary to cover a 7.5 inch foam ball . I also made the table topper with fabric I had on hand that reminded me of our spring paper kit, Stella.
There were some wonderful items for the auction. I was so very thrilled and astounded as the bidding on my project kept going up and up and up! This group of 105 consultants ended up donating $1100 for the auction items - almost 5 operations paid for (and I am sure the open donation box more than added the rest.)