Team Holiday Party

Yippee... December is almost here! December 16th is the date of my CTMH team Holiday Party. We will be participating in a Cookie Exchange. Not only can we stamp... we can cook too!

I put together this adorable recipe album using our My Creations Display album! My friend and grandma upline Bren Yule inspired me to make one. How cute would this be to do for a gift or for family recipes.

I have made up a few extra Workshop In The Mail kits for this album. If you would like to order this kit- I can send you everything you need to make one. The cost is $25.00 plus shipping! In your kit you will receive the following- Display Album, Evensong Level 2 Paper, Embellishments and directions!

I hope you enjoyed the artwork.

Tina Sutton

Check out Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is a week away! I thought I would share something that touched my heart!

Check out Thanksgiving Here!

Bad Dog Dixie

My darling Dixie....

For those of you who do not know Dixie, she is my 10 year old lab. She is the best dog ever! She minds well, is very loving, an all around good dog. When she is home alone, she is able to roam the house freely as she never misbehaves. Daisy, my springer, is another story, as she has to stay in a crate. Daisy has separation anxiety.

Today, I came home to a DIXIE MESS! I had been gone all day and I guess she got tired of waiting for dinner. When I walked into the door, she tucked her tail and ran into the bedroom. When I went into the laundry room, I found out why!

Darling Dixie became Bad Dog Dixie today! Enjoy the photos of Bad Dog Dixie. What a mess!

Still mopping the floor,

Tina

Market Basket Pensacola

I will be in Pensacola working the Junior League Market Basket for the next few days! I am so excited. This event is wonderful and is sure to put everyone in the holiday spirit! Last week I was at the Mistletoe Market in Ft. Walton. My favorite vendor- Bay Petal were there. Look at these darling holiday shirts that they had for sale. TOO CUTE! I hope if you are in the local area, you will come visit my booth!

Tina

Redneck Christmas Tree

Since I am a southern girl with southern roots, I feel that I am allowed to post photos of this Redneck Christmas Tree! A friend sent me this photo and I just had to chuckle! I have to admit it is actually very pretty, especially when it is all lit up! Hmmm, maybe I will have to start saving coke cans! What do you think?

I'm starting to get that Holiday Spirit!

Tina

Mistletoe Market

I am going to be out of the office until Monday. I will be working the Mistletoe Market in Ft. Walton Beach this weekend. If you are in the area, please stop by my booth and make this darling card! Hope to see you there. Ho Ho Ho!

Tina Sutton

I Love Snowmen!

I love CTMH's new snowman stamp set... All Decked Out! I had fun playing with it this week. This card was made with Life's Delights papers! Check out the ear muffs, they are made with Corduroy Brads- a CTMH exclusive. This card just makes me smile. Thanks to my friend Bren Yule who inspired me! Hope you enjoy it!

New floors in my office. LOVE IT!

It was a long week but the office floor is completed. We are so happy with it. The great thing about installing new floors is that you have to take everything out of the room before you install. Then when everything goes back into the room... you purge.Every piece of paper, every paperclip, every ink cartridge has a place . YIPPEE SKIPPEE! The scary thing is I cleaned out 15 ink cartridges. Only 4 work for the printers that we have now. YIKES... that's a little scary. Maybe installing new floors should be a yearly chore. LOL!

My friend... Ireland

One of my dear friends and downline- Jennifer Bohnart has a beautiful daughter named Ireland. I have a special connection with Ireland. She used to live in Navarre and I just loved her. Ireland used to make me beautiful cards!!!! The other night, I went to my corporate website (www.missgingerdots.myctmh.com) and on the front page was a layout that the CTMH artists designed with IRELAND on the layout. She is so beautiful and the layout show our amazing die cuts! I was so excited, that I called Jennifer right away. FUN, FUN, FUN! I just had to post this to my blog. Congratulations IRELAND! You make a beautiful model!

Home Improvement happening this weekend!

Carpeting... I am so over it. I vacuum daily, I shampoo monthly and it is still yucky! With two dogs and a hubby who won't take his shoes off, it is impossible to keep clean. I am DONE with it.

A few months ago, we bought new flooring. The challenge is finding the time to install it. This morning we woke up with lots of energy and cleaned out my office. Today we are putting down the new flooring. YIPPEE SKIPPEE! I am so excited. One room at a time!

Enjoy the before photos! The after will be later. I guess I won't have time for scrapbooking today! Heavy sigh...maybe tomorrow!

Friends

I had a long lost friend get in touch with me today. I can't begin to express how much I have missed having this person in my life. It made me realize how important friendships are!!!! I thought I would share this article. Enjoy and go grow some friends!

Creatively yours,

Tina

Best Friends: How to Grow a Friend
footsmall1.gif (879 bytes)Friendships. A twelve-step program footsmall.gif (881 bytes)Friends.

The best time to grow a best friend is before you need one!

Written or compiled by Joy Stevens


1. People Equal Friends.
There is a certain chemistry with friends just as in a love relationship. Therefore, contact with other people is the first building block to grow a friend. Friends can't grow in a vacuum. Best friends take time.
2. Talking Is Essential Among Friends.
Talking between friends requires reciprocity. In a mutually satisfying friendship, both friends talk and both friends listen. Friends talk appropriately to each other.
3. Friends Acknowledge Friends.
Friends acknowledge each other when talking. Many conflicts in your personal relationships can be avoided if you will take the time to acknowledge other's feelings and points of view.
4. Friends Listen to Friends.
Listening to friends in an important step in building a closer friendship. We often take listening for granted, never realizing what it means to really listen to a friend.
5. Friends Attend to Friends.
Friends focus during conversations. Friends pay attention in conversations. It means that your ears, your eyes, your body and your feelings are all focused on that person at the time.
6. Friends Show Empathy With Friends.
Empathy is identifying with your friend's feelings and seeing life through your friend's eyes. Confidences are freely given when they are received with empathy among friends.
7. Friends Touch Friends.
Touching is a warm form of communication between friends. When you see best friends communicating, you will notice friends "listen with their eyes," stand close together, and touch comfortably.
8. Friends Praise Friends.
Affirmation is a powerful tool for growing a friend. Genuine praise can affect your friends' lives. Be liberal with praise for all of your friends, including your casual ones.
9. Friends Are Loyal and Trustworthy.
Trust and loyalty go hand-in-hand for friends. Friends can trust you with their secrets, both large and small, because good friends never break a confidence. Good friends are forever loyal!
10. Friends are Equal.

Flip Album finished

This weekend I worked on a mini-flip album. I created it with CTMH Perfect Day Paper Packet and some photos taken in Malta! I am excited with the way it turned out, so I thought I would share. Enjoy!

Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween from The Sutton Family!

I've been run over by a FLAT IRON!

I am officially out of the 80's! I went to the hair salon today and got FLAT IRONED! Wooohooo! Just thought I would share!

Whew... what a week!

I am home from a wonderful seaside scrapbooking retreat. I completed 48 pages. YEAH ME! I will try to post pictures later.

This week has been nuts. I have my Christmas Crop on Saturday and stamp club on Thursday! In addition to that, I just designed my Christmas Card Workshop scheduled for December 4th. I have very limited seating, so register asap! I thought I would share some photos. I hope you enjoy them, and as always, feel free to stamplift.




Hopefully I will have more time for blogging next week. Until my next post- happy creating!

Tina

Off to Scrapbook By The Sea!

I am off to a scrapbooking retreat- as a GUEST this time! WOOOHOO! I usually host the retreats and I don't get time to scrapbook my own stuff. This weekend is going to be different. I am off to scrapbook my Europe trip. WOOHOO- I am so excited. I wonder how many pages I will finish?

What makes it even more exciting is that I will be staying ON THE BEACH! I love the beach and find I get my best and most creative work done when I am looking at the sea. I am so excited.

Off to throw the suitcase together! I will be home on Sunday!

Doing the Happy Scrapbooking Dance-

Tina

Black Bear, Black Bear- What do you See?

I see Kent and Tina... looking at me!

Ok, here is the story. It is 9:00 p.m. I am leaving for a scrapbooking retreat tomorrow! My DH is helping me load the car with all my scrapbooking treasures. Kent is talking to the neighbor across the street and our neighbor Charlie says... "Is that a bear?" We look up and see this beautiful HUGE black bear in the middle of our street, just looking at us! Kent starts backing up slowly, Charlie calls wildlife and rescue and I run and get my camera!

When I return outside the bear is gone! Darn- I missed the Kodak Moment! We have a wildlife preserve behind us, and Mr. Bear had disappeared into the night!

When we return inside, we immediately run to the computer and do a search on Florida Black Bears! Here is some advice if you are in Florida and encounter a bear...

Don’t approach any closer, and don’t whip out your camera and start taking pictures. It’s important not to make any sudden or abrupt movements. Let the bear see you are a human and mean no harm, by slowly waving your arms and continuing to talk in a low, firm monotone voice.

Oops.

Just in case you are interested...

Florida Black Bears

Paris in the Fall!

I finished my first scrapbook page from my Europe trip! LOVE IT! I used a layout from Workshops on the go! I think my photos were just perfect for the layout! If you want to make your own layout like this (plus 4 other pages and cards) you can order the products online or come to my workshop on October 30th. FUN, FUN, FUN!

Click here for details!

Trick or Treat

It's that time of the year. Look how we spent Saturday! Actually, we had a neighborhood party last night so we spent the day preparing. My girls (Dixie and Daisy) loved all the festivities!

I'm Home!

I am home from Europe. We saw 8 countries in TWO WEEKS! It was the BEST TRIP EVER and I can't believe I earned it for FREE! I thank God every day for bringing CTMH in my life.

My plan was to update my blog each day. I did great for the first two days. After we left London, it was hard to get Internet access in France. Once we left France, I was way too tired. We were getting up every day at 5 a.m and going until about 11 p.m. at night. Here was our itinerary:

Day 1 and 2 London
Day 3 Lille France
Day 4 Paris France
Day 5 Brugge Belgium
Day 6 Back to Paris to catch a plane to Barcelona. Then traveled to Vic Spain!
Day 7 Touring Spain- Perratallada Spain, Pals Spain, Besalu Spain and Rupit Spain
Day 8 Back to Barcelona to catch the cruise ship
Day 9 At Sea
Day 10 Malta
Day 11 Pompeii, Sorrento and Capri Italy
Day 12 Rome
Day 13 Florence and Pisa
Day 14 Villa France- Monte Carlo and Capri
Day 15 Travel Home

I could write a book on my adventure! As I said earlier, it was a trip of a lifetime!

The one thing I was not prepared for is the JET LAG! I am crashing each night at 8 and waking up at 2 a.m. I have done this for a week now. My mind won't turn off.

I thought I would share a few photos! Enjoy!