You’re crafty!

Tags

Close To My Heart, Creative Memories, creativity, Olive Garden 1630

There comes that moment when your boss looks at you and says, “You’re crafty!” and you know you should probably run away, but that is not an option.  Then you are handed a to-go bucket for soup and asked to decorate it to hold the tickets in a contest.  Of course, being a good employee, and at least a moderately crafty person, you rise to the challenge and take said bucket home with you.

Then you sit and think.  You get out your scrapbooking supplies and tools, dragging them all over the  kitchen table.  Then you do anything BUT decorate the bucket for the next 36 hours or so.

Finally you are out of time.  You have two hours to deliver said bucket, pleasantly decorated, so you have to stop thinking and DO SOMETHING!

The initial plan was for the bucket to be covered with wine-colored card stock, which I would then embellish with stars and other bling.  As the bucket sides tapered towards the bottom, this plan proved unfeasible.
I stumbled upon the Shimmer Trim in my Medium Organizer.  I realized that my Shimmer Trim was in proper wine colors:  gold, red, purple, and bronze, and that the flexibility and “stickiness” was just what I needed to cover the sloping sides of the bucket.  (To buy any of these products, visit my Online Business Address.)  After developing a pleasing horizontal striped pattern, I decided to follow the same plan for the bucket lid (first cutting a slice out of the center to put the tickets through).
When the bucket and lid were covered, I punched a tag from a scrap of Whimsy Paper Fundamentals using my old Creative Memories tag punch.  I wrote “tickets” on one side of the tag, and “wine flights” on the other, then tied the tag to the bucket using the Thistle Diagonal Striped Twill, and it was done!

My completed ticket bucket, using Shimmer Trim compliments of Close To My Heart.

I am happy to report that my boss LOVED the completed basket, especially when I explained that I can remove the current tag and change it whenever her contest changes.

For the love of direct sales

Tags

Avon, Close To My Heart, Creative Memories, entrepreneurs, home parties, Jamberry Nails, Jer Marai, Miche, Origami Owl, Tupperware

I love direct sales. Over the past forty years I have sold Avon door-to-door (twice), been a Tupperware lady (also twice), demonstrated and taught for two different stitchery companies, been a Creative Memories consultant, and am now happily serving as a Close To My Heart consultant. And oh, yes, I mustn’t forget my stint as a lingerie model for home parties by Jer Marai. As I said, I love direct sales.

So imagine my contentment tonight at my neighbor/friend/in-law’s Jamberry Nails party. Jamberry Nails is a fairly new party-plan company that sells vinyl nail wraps and accessories. I met the consultant earlier this week at Helping One Woman, and discovered then that she would be the demonstrator at tonight’s party. I arrived with my Close To My Heart thermal cup in tow at the home of said neighbor/friend/in-law who has recently become a designer for Origami Owl Jewelry.

A quick inventory around the room made us realize that every adult guest there also had a direct sales business of some sort. There was a sales rep for Miche convertible purses, two Origami Owl designers, me with Close To My Heart, and one gal in the process of getting her “cottage” license for cake baking at home. What a wonderfully creative group of entrepreneurs! The economy as a whole may be struggling, but for us, the future is in our hands.

These days, no matter what your interest, there is a direct sales company making it possible for you to succeed in the marketplace. All it takes is drive, imagination, creativity, and a lot of passion for sharing the fun with others. Party on!

National Scrapbook Day

Tags

Creative Memories, fudge, National Scrapbook Day, scrapbooking, sharing

After yesterday’s melancholy anniversary, today was all sunshine and busyness. A group of dedicated scrapbookers are getting together for National Scrapbook Day tomorrow, and I spent today getting ready for my part of the occasion.

A fair question might be, “How can one woman have so many scrapbooking and storytelling supplies?” And a fair answer might be, “They weren’t all for me. I bought merchandise so my customers could get immediate gratification, instead of having to order from the company and wait for delivery.” Of course, another very legitimate answer might be, “My eyes were bigger than my scrapbooks!”

Truly these were (mostly) beautiful products. And I have made wonderful albums from them. But life is too short and I have too much product from my old (now extinct) company. I need to make room for NEW STUFF…from my new company!

So at our NSD event tomorrow I will have table after table spread with an (I hope) intoxicating array of papers, albums, tools, pens…you name it…to share with the other ladies there. Our shared dinner will be a soup bar, with selections to satisfy the most indulged taste buds. And there is a big batch of my mother-in-law’s delicious fudge waiting to be nibbled, too.

And when it is time to pack up and go home, I hope to be able to return with fewer boxes than I had when I arrived. And a tidy little sum in my pocket. I think they call this “progress”.

Hooray!

Tags

Close To My Heart, Creative Memories, Jeep, Jeep Grand Cherokee, mechanics, Visalia German Automotive

After nearly three months in the shop, my Jeep was finally ready to come back home with me tonight. When last I saw it in the shop yard at Visalia German Automotive, it was absolutely filthy from sitting outside in the weather (with the side window open and a towel thrown across). I am grateful that the mechanic rinsed it off for me, but oh, the inside is so gross. I didn’t have the oomph to clean it out tonight, but I am just so thrilled to have it back.

I thought I had gotten past mourning my Creative Memories business, but when I pulled up outside the shop and caught a glimpse of my rear window with the familiar Creative Memories logo (now extinct and extraneous), I caught myself choking down a small sob. I haven’t removed the logo because it keeps my silver Grand Cherokee from looking exactly like all the other silver Grand Cherokees in the grocery store parking lot. Soon I will order the window signage for my new business with Close To My Heart.

Meanwhile, I will continue reacquainting myself with the bells and whistles of my jeep. Each car I have driven over the past few months has had the gear shift in a different place, the emergency brake with a different configuration, and the gas tank on a different side. I need to return to knowing exactly where everything is, so I can drive on automatic pilot. I appreciate the wonderful friends who shared vehicles with me or helped with my chauffeuring duties. It made all the difference in the world.

Life is back to normal. Hooray!

Goodbye 2013

Tags

2013, Close To My Heart, Creative Memories, family, NaBloPoMo

2013 has been a rough year for many of us. In our own small circle there have been way too many deaths, especially of young people. Too many job layoffs, especially again among young people. Our dollars aren’t stretching as far as they used to, and fewer of them are coming in. I caught myself rejoicing a couple of weeks ago because gasoline had dropped to $3.27 per gallon…then I remembered with amazement when I rolled my room mate’s Volkswagen back in 1969 and “wasted” a tankful of expensive Paso Robles gas (for which I had paid $.27 per gallon), and walked away unhurt! After ten years as a Creative Memories Consultant, I watched that beloved company file bankruptcy and mutate into an unrecognizable entity, and I sadly said goodbye.

Some wonderful things happened this year, too, though. We had two baby boy cousins born in the spring, and our baby girl cousin turned one year old. Olivia started preschool in the fall, and Lily began dance lessons. Now that they are older, their grandfather is spending more time with them, which is good for everyone involved. My children and their significant others were here under one roof for both Thanksgiving and Christmas, and the joy of being together was indescribable. Two very precious young people were finally married. I’m just beginning a new business as an Independent Consultant with Close To My Heart, and will continue to teach the importance of family storytelling.

And thanks to NaBloPoMo’s November and December challenges, my very catch-as-catch-can blogging has become a daily event. Very soul-satisfying to this word-loving grandmother!

I’m writing earlier than usual this evening, so that I can spend time with Olivia and Lily as they “stay up for New Year’s Eve”. We will share popcorn and sparkling cider while watching television in our jammies. I brought home a bag filled with their Great Grammy Pender’s vintage noise-makers, so they can make a lovely racket outside at midnight. We will say “Goodbye 2013” together, and look with hope to a fresh, new 2014.

Happy New Year to all!