MY STORY

About 9 months after my first son was born, my cousin-in-law invited me to her Close To My Heart club. She had been inviting me for a while but I had always had some excuse not to go...

baby might need me
too much work to do
too tired

But when I said, “I don’t know how to scrapbook”  that was it, she’d had enough excuses!  And now that I think about it, I think I was simply too nervous to meet new people.
    

I went with her not knowing what was in store for me. I met her club members and proceeded to make the page her consultant had displayed.

I had such a fun time! The pages were beautiful, the cards were so cute. I made one for my husband, thanking him for letting me go. I was in a room full of grown ups doing something creative and I was hooked. I joined their club and looked forward to that one day each month when I could get with these women and make such great keepsakes. Anytime the consultant would call to say my order had arrived I would feel like a kid at Christmas!


It’s been over 10 years since I started papercrafting and that feeling is still there. I love showing my kids (3 boys now) the pages I’ve made for our albums. And they love to look at the pictures of themselves. My husband says he likes being able to “place an order” for a card for coworkers or family member and knowing he’ll get something unique and personal.

Years ago, my parents celebrated their 30th wedding anniversary. I had covertly collected boxes of pictures from their house under the guise of scanning them into our computer. It took me almost 2 months but I put together an album for them covering a lot of those 30 years.


What made it so easy was having everything from the Close to My Heart catalog I needed. I did not have to stand in a store and try to match colors of papers to inks and markers, because Close to My Heart had already done that!
 I had all the embellishments I could ever want. The How-To programs were a life saver as well as a time saver. I could put together creative, good looking layouts in no time. The albums were practical and well made. If I changed my mind about the order of pages I could simply move them around and not have to worry about completely tearing apart the album.

When I was done with it I first showed my brothers and sister. They loved it! When it was time to give it to my parents I was so excited to give them this gift from my heart. They looked through the pages and I could see tears in their eyes. Even my dad. I felt so happy to give them this.


Of course that album has continually been updated with additions to the family over the years. Actually, I think it may be time for another album all together!

It has been quite a journey for me and scrapbooking.  When I became a consultant, I was nervous and excited!  Could I turn this hobby into something more?  Of course!  And I did!  Now I have a wonderful team of consultants working and sharing together.

I love this company and everything it has to offer. I love that I can have fun and relax while I scrapbook.  But what's more, having CTMH in my life has given me so much more than scrapbook albums and cards.  It has lead me to new friends, made memories for my family, and made me feel more creative.
And now I have a chance to share all that with you!

I don’t think I’ve thanked my cousin for getting me to that first meeting…maybe I should make her a card.