Cookie Exchange Album FINISHED!

I finished my cookie exchange album this morning.  I finally got my photos developed and put where they belong.  The album is from my Scattered Hearts annual Christmas cookie exchange.  I used CTMH all-sorts album and had so much fun creating with it.  There was only one small problem, I didn't have enough pages to get everyone's photo in the book.  Not to worry, when I get home from New Zealand, I am going to create another album using the same, fun, Jingle paper and buy bigger key rings and finish the album with everyone's recipe and photo. Great idea huh?

This year I mxed up the recipes and photos to get more in the album.  This was my team member, Jackie Gay's idea.  She is brilliant!  Thank you Jackie!

I hope you enjoy the book.  I had a blast creating it and sharing it with the team.  I even had some long distance ladies participate.  Fun, Fun, FUN!

Close To My Heart's Regional Celebration in Minneapolis

I am home from an amazing trip to Minneapolis. Close To My Heart's Regional Celebration was AMAZING! I had planned to keep everyone updated when I was there, but I was too darn busy running around. I think I averaged about 3 hours of sleep a night. They say that a picture is worth a thousand word words, so I am going to spare you the thousand words and let the photos tell the story. ENJOY!

Tina

Leadership News 2009

Hello Blogging Friends! I am home from the amazing 2009 Leadership Conference. I am so excited to share my Close To My Heart News with you! There is so much news I don't know where or how to start so I will break it down- Step by Step!


New Idea Book- IT IS BEAUTIFUL! It has a new format that has larger photos of artwork and stamp sets making it easier than ever to see details. Our new papers and stamps are beautiful. The idea book goes LIVE on September 1st. I am having an NEW CATALOG PARTY on September 2nd. If you are local, please make plans to attend. Details at www.missgingerdots.myctmh.com!


Studio J- You think you like Digital Scrapbooking? Wait until you hear about STUDIO SCRAPBOOKING! Close To My Heart has released a new way of scrapbooking online and it will be like no other! It is scheduled to be released in the first quarter of 2110. In the mean time visit www.studioj.com! Bring out the tissues!


Chocolate University- I organized a training day for my team that attended Leadership. We called it Chocolate University. FUN, FUN, FUN! I have such a great team of leaders and consultants that are so willing to share. It truly is a sisterhood. We made beautiful My Creation Albums using Level 1 Paper Packets! Don't I have a great looking team? I am so proud of them and we are looking for fun new people to join us! Email me for details!


Operation Smile Artwork- As many of you know, our company supports Operation Smile. At leadership, they had a silent auction, with all proceeds going to Operation Smile. (www.operationsmile.org) I was honored to be asked to create some artwork to be auctioned off! I created an acrylix album in the shape of a little girl's dress. It auctioned for over $100. I am so happy and honored to be able to contribute to this charity! I will post photos of the inside of this project at a later time!

Jeanette Lynton, Pam Miner, Me, Chris Szczechowski and Casey Spinks (in pink) at Disney!

Director's Night at Disneyland- The directors of Close To My Heart were honored with an evening at Disney. We all got a fast pass to go on a ride of our choice- Terror of Tower, California Screamin' or Soarin' Over California (aka- the grandma ride) I chose the Grandma ride and I still had white knuckles. But, boy was it a fun ride. I am so thankful to work for such a generous company that rewards performance. Thank you Jeanette!

Ribbons and Awards- I love ribbons. That was my WHY- when I started building my business. My first convetnion, I only had a nametag- no ribbons. Each year I strive for more ribbons. I had to post a photo of my ribbons that I received at Leadership. I knew my team would get a kick out this photo as I always share the ribbon story. Aren't they pretty?


Awards Night at Leadership- Another evening that I love at leadership is Awards Night. This is the night that the top performers in the company are honored! I was so proud of my team and myself! (yes, I will admit it- I love awards too!) Congratulations to the following Scattered Hearts Team Members, they are SENSATIONAL-

Linda Haapala- RISING STAR! (WOOOHOOOO)- She earned a THOUSAND dollars! WOWSA!
Kelly Munger- TOP PERSONAL SALES- NEW CONSULTANT! Please post!
Top Unit Sales- Our team was Number 3 in the company!!!!
Recruiting- We ROCKED this catagory-
#10- Shannon Buck, Doresa Lambrecht
# 6 - Casey Spinks
#4- Lisa Mosely and myself!

My Personal Awards-
* Centennial Club- 100 gatherings this convention year
* Number 1 MyCTMH Sales
* Number 4 Personal Sales
* Number 4 in Recruiting
* Number 3 in Team Unit Sales


Scattered Hearts VIP day- Segway Adventure- My 2009 team supestars spent the day after leadership exploring Long Beach. We did it via a Segway Tour. Did I say FUN! We had such an amazing experience, hanging out together and enjoying each others company! What else can I say... Congratulations to Doresa, Jo, Jillene, Casey and Chris who all earned this amazing afternoon. I love you guys!

Front Row- Tina Sutton, Jennifer Bohnart, Cherie Lynn Hagan
Back Row- Cindy Cromwell, Kelly Rizzon, Chris Szczechowski, Elizabeth Chu, Rachel Holiday and Barb Carrico

Friendships that are made through CTMH- The thing I love most about Close To My Heart are the friendships. I have met the most AMAZING people in this business. I have one last photo to share and this is just a picture of a few of my friends andt team members with the new idea book. I love these ladies more than I can ever put into words. Thank you for making this company the best the company around! Until next year....

Atlanta Expo, so much FUN!

I am home from Atlanta and all I can say is "WOW... what a good time!" I sure am tired but it is a good tired. I just love Atlanta as the people in that town are so fun and so friendly! I can't wait to go back! Atlanta's southern hospitality is the best. I thought I would share a few photos of the weekend. Enjoy!

Tina

I've been scrapbooking

I have been extremely busy with CTMH! (Busy is good)!!! I have been lacking in my posting due to my schedule. I haven't had time to post or create until last night. Kent was out of town for one night and I stayed up and scrapbooked until the wee hours. I started working on a Retreat - My Creations Album. It is a perfect size for my team retreat photos. I actually created the entire cover last night. I thought I would share.

I would like to take credit for the color combination but I was inspired by Jeanette Lynton's blog post about Moon Doggie Goes Pink! That is how I came up with the binder cover. I love the way it turned out.

Tonight I am doing the inside pages. I will post them when I finish. Who would guess that Moon Doggie looks so good in pink. Thanks for the inspiration Jeanette.

Tina

SCRAPBOOKING TIP- If you notice the "E" in the word Retreat, you will see it is not all there. I goofed it up and didn't realize it until after I took the photo. My good friend Barb (waving to Barb) shared a tip with me. If you take a piece of tape and put it over the part you want to remove... it comes up COMPLETELY! I couldn't believe how easy it is to fix. I just added a new "E". My book it totally fixed and I am so happy. I am too tired to take another photo tonight. I will post the cover again, along with the inside pages tomorrow so you can see. EASY PEASY!

Seagrove Retreat

One Awesome Beach House + Seagrove Beach Florida + 12 Close To My Heart Consultants + A house full of Close To My Heart Products + 12 pairs of the cutest pink pajamas around... flamingo sunglasses included = FUN, FUN, FUN!

I just returned from my annual team retreat. It was held in Seagrove, Florida and I had 12 team members spend the weekend with me scrapbooking. I can't begin to tell you how much fun we had. We worked on our scrapbooks, we rode bikes, we hung out at the pool, we ate, we stayed up past midnight and some of us slept until noon! It was a FABULOUS weekend. I am so blessed to have such awesome ladies on my team and to call each one of them my friend! Words really can't describe the weekend, but the photos tell the story. Enjoy! I know that these photos are going to make awesome scrapbook pages. I can't wait until the next retreat when I actually get to scrapbook them.

Creative Hugs,

Tina

Team Holiday Party

I hosted a team cookie exchange on Tuesday night. We had SO much fun and I ate so many cookies that I was sick. (that is why I wasn't blogging yesterday). We made 3 dozen cookies, ate 1 dozen and took 2 dozen home. Fun, Fun, Fun! Not only can my team scrapbook, they can BAKE! The cookies were GREAT!

After the cookie exchange we did an ornament exchange. Then we created our team holiday recipe albums. I thought I would share my album. It turned out so cute- so photos don't do it justice. We actually had 28 people participate. We only swapped 12 recipes, so I don't have all the photos and recipes scrapbooked. The book actually stands up- like the cover and first page shows. I photographed the recipes flat so that you can see how I put a photo of the baker on the top and the recipe on the bottom. I am so darn excited over this book!

This recipe album makes a great holiday gift and is perfect for cookie exchange parties!

My camera battery pooped out half way through the party so I only have a few photos from the party to share. I am hoping that our team photographer- Rae Bangs will share some of her awesome photos.

This album was inspired by my talented second upline Bren Yule! She made a family recipe book that got me so excited that I had to make one too! Thank you Bren!

Enjoy the slideshow!

Tina



Here are a few recipes to enjoy:


Oreo Snow Balls
By Leah Marlow

Ingredients:

1 package Oreo cookies
1 (8 0z.) package cream cheese (softened)
1 package white chocolate chips
1 tablespoon shortening

Crush the entire package of Oreos (use food processor or blender).

Mix the softened cream cheese into the cookie mixture.

Form into 1 inch balls and put them in the freezer to harden a bit.

Melt the white chocolate and shortening in microwave. Remove
balls from freezer and place on wax paper. Drizzle the white chocolate
over balls or dip them into the white chocolate. Place snow balls on wax
paper and refrigerate. Makes approximately 3 dozen.

ENJOY!

Cherry Chip Cookies
(from Meredith Painter’s great grandmother, Hazel Likely)

2 sticks softened butter 1/8 tsp. salt 4 oz. cherry chips
½ cup sugar 1 egg yolk ¾ cup crushed cornflakes
2 tsp. almond extract ½ cup chopped nuts2 ¼ cups flour

Cream together butter, sugar, egg and extract, add dry ingredients then stir
in chips, cornflake crumbs and nuts. Very thick dough…can add water Tbsp
at a time as needed. Roll into 1” balls, place on ungreased cookie sheet and press
criss-cross with fork. Bake at 375 degrees for 12-15 minutes. Cherry Chips can
be ordered from Gurley Foods (320)325-0600.

Tina's Note: These cookies were great. They are worth the hassle of ordering the Cherry Chips. I ordered a box of 12 packages. I am going to impress my Mother - in- law with these. My MIL is a wonderful baker!

Glazed Crackers Cookies
From the Kitchen of…Tina Sutton…Navarre, FL

1/2 Cup Margarine
11/2 Cup Unsalted Butter
½ Cup Sugar
1 tsp. Vanilla
1 cup chopped pecans
2 packages chopped pecans


Preheat over to 350 degrees. Combine margarine, butter and sugar. Boil 3 minutes. Add vanilla and pecans. Arrange crackers on two cookies sheets and spoon butter mixture over crackers. Bake 8 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool briefly. Remove crackers from cookie sheets with spatula.