With the School Holidays coming up and particularly after all this rain we’ve been having in Sydney, I bet you’re thinking of things you can do with your little people that will keep you both entertained. Well, how about bringing them along for some crafting fun?

On Thursday the 13^th of April, from 10 – 12, I’ll be hosting a Mum and Kid's Scrapbooking Workshop in Newport. For $25 one Mum can bring one child along with them and I’ll provide the supplies you’ll need to create one double scrapbook page layout and some cute cards that would be a perfect gift for their friends! If you’d like to bring more than one child, it will be an extra $10 per child but just let me know so that we can make sure we have everything we need for you.

Just bring along 4 – 6 photos which your child wants featured on their page and a little bit of creativity, and together we can create your little one’s page.

This is a great opportunity for them to document their memories and moments that they’re proud of and capture their hopes and dreams on their own scrapbook page. By taking the time to focus on their memories and talk about their feelings around these moments, it will boost their self-esteem and it will be great for fostering their self-expression and creativity.

For more information please contact me or if you’re ready to book your spot in the Mum & Kid's Scrapbooking Workshop, follow this link. 

A number of years ago - the exact number I’m not going to mention - I was lucky enough to discover a wonderful hobby called Scrapbooking. I loved taking our family photos and creating beautiful albums which I knew would be something that I would look back on with pride and that my children and one day, their own families, could enjoy. In time, I came to realise that I could turn this wonderful hobby into my career and then I discovered Close to my Heart.

As most of you know, I had a bit of downtime over the festive period with family visiting and my workroom being out of action and it led me to think about what Close to my Heart means to me. CTMH is a place where women gather and work together on their craft projects but it’s not a single place that they then leave and become disconnected, it’s a community. We have many places away from the workshops where we share ideas, discuss our projects or borrow bits and pieces in order to create that perfect card or scrapbook page or gorgeous gift and once it’s completed, we share the excitement and success of that too!

I’ve noticed that for those women who have young kids, there are mother’s groups or playgroups or other support groups that they can join in order to meet new people, or to feel part of a community. To me, Close to my Heart provides that kind of support and friendship. People of any age or gender can come along to meet others who are like-minded and it gives me such joy to see the way new faces are immediately welcomed and made to feel part of the group. Together they are able to learn a new skill and create something that they feel proud of while forming long-lasting friendships.

From the perspective of someone building a career from Close to my Heart, what I truly love and appreciate is how easy it is to teach. CTMH provides us with an endless supply of support and instructions for each and any of their products. The idea is that, with so many resources, we are able to focus on the community and the relationships we are building and not on the detail of how to use each product and which embellishment is going to look best where. However, you can lose yourself in that too, if that’s something you love!

I guess when it’s all said and done, Close to my Heart to me means community. It means fun, laughter, sharing and it means joyful crafting.

If any of these things appeal to you, now is the time to get in touch. For the month of February, Close to my Heart is making it very tempting to sign up and join the team. Along with all our usual fantastic things, this month you will also receive the February, March, and April Stamp of the Month sets FREE—an additional $81 in retail value! For Former Close to my Heart Consultants: As a special offer this month, you can choose a no-kit sign-up option that will let you become a Consultant again without paying for another New Consultant Kit! Sign up for just $75 and you’ll still receive the $75 in Select Product Credit PLUS the three Stamp of the Month sets!

If you’re looking for more information on becoming a Close to my Heart Consultant, read through the FAQs here or if you’d like more information about this awesome offer, please contact me here.

If all of this is enough to make you want to sign up right away, fill out the application form here.

Have you ever thought about joining the Close to my Heart family? Now is the time! Whether you’re looking to build a business, which has great support or simply to get a discount on your gorgeous craft supplies, Close to my Heart have created an offer that makes it even harder to resist. When you sign up, you’ll get all of this:

On top of all of this, if you sign up in the month of February, you will also receive the February, March, and April Stamp of the Month sets FREE—an additional $81 in retail value! 

For Former Close to my Heart Consultants: As a special offer this month, you can choose a no-kit sign-up option that will let you become a Consultant again without paying for another New Consultant Kit! Sign up for just $75 and you’ll still receive the $75 in Select Product Credit PLUS the three Stamp of the Month sets!

If you’re looking for more information on becoming a Close to my Heart Consultant, read through the FAQs here or if you’d like more information about this awesome offer, please contact me here.

If all of this is enough to make you want to sign up right away, fill out the application form here.

As we all do, at the beginning of a new year, I’ve been mapping out my calendar for 2017 and I’m a little excited!

At the end of this month, I finally get to reveal the new Workroom to all my lovely customers. It’s been a crazy few months, with my office and Workroom all in boxes and I’m really grateful to all you ladies who have been so patient while I work around that. It’s going to be pretty fun to share the new space with you and I hope you love it as much as I do!

In February we have our Coastal Retreat on the beautiful Northern Beaches of Sydney. I can’t wait to have a couple of days with an awesome group of ladies where work on some crafting projects together, share ideas and get inspired by the amazingly creative things that they can do. If you’re interested in joining us there are limited spaces remaining so, make sure you contact me for more information.

Of course, each month there will be my Workshops and I’ll make sure all the dates and information are posted on my Facebook page so that you can join us as much as you’re able. There’ll be a bit of travel this year too as I make my way around the country to see my wonderful team and catch up on all their news.

Last but certainly not least, it’s going to be a huge year for my family. It’s Annie’s first year out of High School and she’ll be celebrating her 18^th birthday – I can’t believe it! Not to be outdone, Ryan is turning 21 – how did that happen?! And Matt will be graduating from the University of Hawaii at the end of the year.

All of these events and celebrations make me pretty happy about the year to come and I can’t wait to share it with all of you! For now, I thought I would leave you with a picture of my favourite beach :)

Some of you may remember a post I put on my Social Media sites recently about Thanksgiving conversation starters. It was originally a post from the Close to my Heart blog with a great idea for kick-starting the conversation with your family around the Thanksgiving table. There were suggested questions for adults or children, with fun questions like: Tell your worst date story or What would you do if you were invisible for the day? Now, for those of you that know me, you’d be aware that I don’t usually struggle with keeping a conversation going but, the thing I really liked about these questions was that they brought up topics I would never think to ask my family about. You know those type of things that you kind of already know or feel like you should, so you don’t ask? I also don’t know about you and your families but sometimes it can feel like you talk so much about what is happening day to day that you don’t take time to talk about the fun stuff! So when this post popped into my inbox I thought, why not?!

With my Mom in town and lots of workshop and travel prep to do, we decided to sit down and have a craft day, which  included making our conversation starter jar. Now, you can make this as fancy or simple as you’d like to. We decided to keep it pretty simple with just a cute jar and a ribbon tied around it but feel free to let your creative mind go crazy and put some of those Close to my Heart products and ideas to use! With a range of different ages at our table, we wanted a mix of questions so we printed each of the options in a different colour. That way, when someone was picking out a question to ask me, they would pick out a red/adult question versus a green/children question for my son, Ryan. From there, the questions just needed to be cut up, folded and thrown in the jar, ready for a our Thanksgiving meal the next day.

Stomachs sufficiently full and feeling very relaxed and content from our delicious meal but not even close to being ready to think about the delicious pumpkin pie waiting for us, it seemed to be the perfect time to pull out the jar. I have to admit there were a couple of obligatory groans from the family as it came out but everyone was more than willing to give it a go and as everyone around the table gradually had their turn responding to a question, we could all see what a great idea this was! My husband, Bob had tears running down his face at one point and I’m sure I saw a few wide-eyed, slightly surprised looks from the kids at some of the responses from their parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles.

I can’t overstate what a fantastic addition this was to our Thanksgiving celebration. We had such a wonderful time making our way around the table and either learning something new about each other or being reminded of that thing that had happened so long ago, it had slipped from our memories. We will definitely be trying this again at our Christmas table this year and might even add to the fun by encouraging each participant come up with their own question. If this seems like something you’d like to try, please take this free download and print it out for yourself. 

Download the adult conversation starters here.

Download the children conversation starters here.

I would love to hear from you once you’ve tried them yourself to see if you and your loved ones enjoyed the conversation starters as much as we did or perhaps you found a really fun and creative way to present your jar of questions.

As my three beautiful children continue to grow and develop into wonderful young adults, I have moment after moment where I am thankful that I have preserved our family’s memories.

Just last week our youngest, Annie started her HSC, the final exams she will sit in High School. Now, as we all know, reaching your final weeks of High School is a time of reflection. As the school days draw to an end, we can’t help but look back on all the moments that have guided us to this point. The first day of High School, the many school camps, sports days, excursions, dances and all the other fun times that have combined to make up our time at school.

Over the last few weeks as this conclusion has drawn closer for our daughter, I have felt so privileged to watch her make her way through all these carefully preserved memories. I found her looking back through her school days scrapbooks, reading the stories, pulling out her awards and giggling at the photos of her and her friends.  It warms my heart that her albums are a source of encouragement, confidence and strength for her and something that I was able to provide.

When it comes to these exams, our focus is not the marks that come out of it but on the adventures which will follow and my hope is that she continues to be this young woman who is making me so proud and that we are able to stay with her on that adventure.