Welcome!

My name is Strescha and I am a scrapbooking addict. Welcome to my blog! I created this blog because I love scrapbooking and Close To My Heart and I am eager to take you with me on my papercrafting journey!

So I thought that for my first post I could tell you a little about myself. I am 25 years old and I became a scrapbooking addict almost 4 years ago when I got married. While Chris and I were planning our wedding, my future mother-in-law asked me if I planned to scrapbook the photos, and I said yes. To be completely honest, at the time I wasn't sure if I was going to scrapbook or not. The driving reason behind saying yes was that I was eager to please my future mother-in-law. I am so happy that I said yes. After we got home from our honeymoon, my MIL(mother-in-law) invited us to have dinner and to help me my album started. I spent a few hours in her craft room learning a few simple techniques. She gave me a few things-some paper, embellishments, etc. and made plans to get together over the weekend to work on my scrapbook some more. I cannot express to you how much fun I had that first night. I was hooked and not just on scrapbooking either. That was the first time my MIL and I had to chance to sit down and really talk and get to know each other. Here we are, almost 4 years later and my bond with her is one of my most cherished relationships. She's more like my mother, and I will admit that as close as my husband is to his step-mom of over 30 years, I am definitely closer.

Sorry to go off on that tangent, but my MIL is a big part of my papercrafting journey. So I scrapbooked our wedding and honeymoon, then our lives. Holidays, birthdays, day trips, pets. Cardmaking was always in the back of my mind though. I loved scrapbooking, and I felt like I would be cheating on my scrapbook if I started making cards. As much as it intrigued me, I would not try it. Then Father's Day came a couple years ago. I had an awesome gift, but no card. Let me tell you, I am not a no-card type of girl. When I give a gift, there's always a card with it. So I relented and made one. It was definitely different to be decorated a 4 1/4 x 5 1/2 cardbase instead of a 12 x 12 scrapbook page. And I was stumped. I had never decorated something so small. So my first card was primitive for sure. I don't have a picture of it, but I will never forget what it looked like. And I gave it to my father-in-law and I know it was plain and he probably didn't like it, but I was proud to give it to him. It made me feel so good to give someone something that I made with my own two hands. So I started making all my cards. Then facebook came into my life and I started photographing and posting pictures of my cards. Then eighteen months ago, I was at my in-laws house scrapbooking with my MIL and she said to me, "Have you ever thought about selling Close To My Heart?" My immediate reaction was, "What's Close To My Heart?" I told her I would think about and forgot about it....for six months. Then one day CTMH popped into my head and I e-mailed a consultant for more information. After seeing the products, I was in love. I knew CTMH was for me. So I signed up and here I am, about to celebrate my one-year anniversary with the company. And I couldn't be happier. CTMH took my papercrafting and catapulted it to a whole other level. I've learned so much, and I think that when you papercraft, learning more tips techniques only makes you better. Your projects can be either simple or complicated or both at the same time. I will be posting pictures of my cards and layouts for your use. Scrap-lifting is encouraged here!


Create-Away,
Strescha