April Newsletter

   Happy April, everyone! No jokes on the blog today. Just promotions and deals! Can't go wrong with that, right? My April newsletter is now out, and I'm so excited about the "Baby, You're Worth It" campaign!

   You can check out all the details and get the full scoop by clicking the newsletter link below:

Click Here to view my April Newsletter

  
   As always, let me know if you have any questions or need assistance scoring these awesome deals for yourself! Until next time:

Here's to life, love, and creativity!

Celebrate Fall!!

**This post never published this month, but I decided to post it anyway in case anyone wanted to view the newsletter.** 

 Fall is officially here, and so is my birthday month! I have a lot to share with everyone this month, and cannot wait to reveal my latest deal; FREE hostess rewards! Make sure and read my newsletter to get all the information!

Click here to access Candid Correspondence: October Newsletter

   I still won't be posting as much on my blog this month since I am still on baby time! Things are getting better and I am able to get some things done during nap time, but, as many of you know, my time is very limited these days! I wouldn't change it for a thing, though, and I appreciate all of you for being so understanding! Have a great October, and until next time:

Here's to life, love, and creativity!

McQuistan Baby Month!!

   I can't believe it's already August! The countdown is on to meet our little one now, and I think we're just about prepped and ready for him! I apologize that I haven't been able to post as much artwork as before, but I just haven't had the chance to get creative lately at all! I am hoping that these next few days before baby can also be creative, relaxing sessions for mommy! :)

   Many of you have seen my newsletter already since you're on my newsletter mailing list (thank you for that!!)! For those of you that haven't heard of all the amazing things going on this month, you can check out my August newsletter below for all the inside scoop! Let me know if you have any questions or are ready to take advantage of these amazing August deals:

Candid Correspondence: August Newsletter

   If you didn't catch it in my newsletter, starting today you can view some of the new products that are now available by checking out my YouTube page! Here's the quick video I did showing off some of these amazing new items for all of you:

   I hope you enjoyed my exclusive video for you all, and, as always, if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask! Until next time:

Here's to life, love, and creativity!

Making Small Changes

    I have been thinking about my brand a lot lately. I originally named this blog Candid Captures because I love taking pictures and displaying my projects. However, my Close to My Heart business has been a huge part of my blog and my main focus these days, and the name/brand "Candid Captures" doesn't necessarily fit.

    So after a lot of thinking and debating back and forth, I have decided to make a small change in the name and brand my little business as Candid Crafter! I think it's more appropriate and fitting to my style these days, but yet still has a catchy ring to it!

    This would also make my team members Candid Crafters! :) Definitely more fitting and appropriate for us, and I think will work well when we display and post things under our team name!

    I have already made a few of these changes to my Online Shop and on my Facebook page descriptions. I am hoping to fully transition most of my stuff soon so that it's all streamlined.

    So please bookmark these new web addresses, and thank you for your understanding my quick little changes! Hope you all are having a great week, and until next time:

Here's to life, love, and creativity!

Creative Adventure: Day 5

    Happy Thursday, everyone! I am dragging today! I think all this running around the last two months has me worn out! Plus my bed was feeling a little extra cozy this morning, and made it impossible to want to get up! Here I am, though, with another installment of my Creative Adventures this summer!

    Today I wanted to show off some Candid Crafters Team Members! These ladies are amazing women who have become good friends over the years, and also happen to be very talented paper crafters! So today I wanted to show off their artwork as well as some snapshots from a couple of our recent get togethers!

    First up are my good friends Shannon and Sophie! They joined my team in April because they loved all of the CTMH products and wanted to get discounts on their favorite items! Plus the Consultant Promotion we had in April was an amazing deal!

    I met Shannon through my husband, Ian. He worked with her husband, and found out that both of their wives loved scrapbooking. So they introduced us, and we became good friends!

    I met Sophie through Shannon (triangle after triangle)! Sophie was Shannon's daycare provider when her kiddos were younger, and they started hanging out and scrapbooking together for a girls' getaway! So when I met Shannon they invited me along to their crafty getaways, and we all became friends after that!

    I don't have any of these ladies' artwork to share today, but I have pictures from my last couple crop events where these two attended and stayed all day to play!

Croptoberfest: October 2013

Scrap Your Stash Event: April 2014

 
    The next team member is Jessica from Waukee, IA! I met Jessica when we both worked at Famous Dave's in Des Moines. She and I became friends pretty quickly, and then started getting together to scrapbook at my house every now and then! Jessica had a CTMH gathering at her house last year, and it went over so well that we decided to start a monthly club where I come down and do a project with the girls, and they get to see all the products and have a girl's night! It's been a ton of fun, and everyone looks forward to our workshops every other month!

    Jessica became a member of my team in April as well because she has fallin' in love with CTMH as much as I have! She has been working on a couple projects for other teachers in her school, and started using CTMH products to finish their albums and mini books! Here are a couple pictures of the most recent mini album Jessica made for a fellow teacher:

The front cover of the Baby Mini Album

The front side of the accordion mini album

The back side of the accordion mini album showing both covers

     Didn't she do an awesome job? I just love how cute it is! I'm sure the teacher she made it for was excited to receive it as a gift!

    Another member of my team is Ellie! Ellie lives right here in Hastings, MN, and signed up as a member in April, too! We met because a coworker and friend of Ellie's found my CTMH site online and asked if I could come do an album demonstration for a group of girls looking for new albums. That group of girls and I became good friends after that, and did some scrapping together a few times!

    Ellie use to be a Creative Memories Consultant, and decided to join the CTMH team in April with the great promotion and an anxious group of friends that were hoping for some "Ellie Workshops"! So she hit the floor running and has done awesome making her hobby into a little business! She is super talented, and I love seeing what she's creating week-to-week! Here are a few glimpses at some recent artwork by Ellie:

Upcoming Layout for a workshop she is doing

Cute little tag using the August SOTM: What a Hoot!

Timberline layout she did as a workshop a couple months ago

Beautiful card she taught at a card workshop she had a couple months ago!

    Isn't she inspiring?? I love watching her post artwork! She's been so fun to have on my team, and to meet up with around town for ideas and to share experiences!

    The last couple girls I do not have recent pictures of, but I can still tell you about them! Kim is my CTMH upline (meaning I signed up under her when I started)! She is also my cousin! Kim introduced me to CTMH a little over 3 years ago, and I haven't looked back since! I had the pleasure of having Kim in my wedding, and I get to return the favor this fall for her's! Remember my Timberline layout from May with pictures of a cute little guy? That's Kim's son, Landon! Here's a refresher:

    Isn't he a doll? He's gotten a lot more mobile these days, and I cannot wait to visit with them again when I'm down in southern WI!

    The other team member is Katie! Katie is a good friend of Ellie's, and they use to work together in Hastings. Katie moved to the St. Cloud area a couple years back, though, but every once in a while will come down to have a girl's crafty weekend with everyone! I met her at the last couple get togethers with Ellie and the girls, and her and I hit it off right away!

    Katie also signed up in April and has been loving CTMH since being introduced in January! I am looking forward to visiting with her again soon and seeing what she's been up to in the northern part of the state! :)

    So that's the team! It's a great group of girls, and we have a TON of fun when we get together for meetings, crafty weekends, and just girls nights! We had a couple team meetings together at the beginning of July, but of course I forgot to snap some pictures of our meetings! Yep me....the photo paparazzo.... forgot to take photos! Go figure, but I will definitely be taking some at the next couple get togethers!

    Looking for a good excuse to join us for girl's night and crafty weekends? You can be a member of my team, too! Plus who doesn't like their favorite products for a discount? You can find lots of information under my "Joining" tab above, or you can contact me anytime! We would love to have you join us as a friend and fellow crafter!

    Hope you enjoyed meeting the team! Stay tuned tomorrow for another edition of my summer Creative Adventures, and until next time:

Here's to life, love, and creativity!

April Recap

    I cannot believe I am staring at the last day of April already! I think 2014 is shaping up to be the fastest moving year yet! It's unbelievable how the time is going by! I hope you all had a wonderful month, though! I was still pretty busy this month, but was able to be home a little bit more to start getting some Spring projects done around here! Hopefully May will prove to be just as productive and exciting! 

    Before we can start talking May, though, we need to finish talking about April! I had a blast playing with paper in April. I was able to use a lot of products, so I had a hard time trying to pick only 5 of my top products this month! I grouped a few hand-in-hand products to fit them all in! :)

Here are my top 5 picks for April and why I chose them:

5.) Stitch Guide and Foam Mat

• I love these tools by CTMH! I use them frequently, but had a blast using the stich guide, especially, in different ways this month! The stitch guide is made of a hard acrylic base with a grid pattern printed on it and holes through the acrylic to put stitched shapes and patterns on any of your projects! The foam mat goes under your project to protect your work surface when using the piercing tool. The foam mat spans the length of the stitch guide to make it much easier to continue a pattern across your entire project! I just love all the fun things you can do! I like making faux stitching by using a pencil to fill in the dots and a marker to connect them to look like stitches!

CTMH Stitch Guide (Z1852)

CTMH Foam Mat (Z1859)

Here is a picture of some faux stitching that I did on an Ariana layout recently. The holes were made using a pencil and the stitch guide, and I used a Slate Alcohol marker to connect the lines in a stitch-like pattern.

4.) Ariana Complements 

•  It's no surprise that I am crushing on the Ariana Complements given how much I enjoyed the paper pack and workshop this month (see below for more details on this)! I have used almost all of these delightful goodies this month! These very durable, chipboard elements added texture, color, and dimension to my projects, and I could not get enough of them! You can see these cute elements all over my projects this month, and I'm looking forward to using the rest with my scraps and extras to make a few more!

3.) Balloon Talk Stamp set

• This month's stamp-of-the-month had me swooning with ideas ever since I saw it in February! I love that there are so many stamps included on this set (24 total to be exact)!! I also love that there are different sizes to each of these phrases, sayings, and words! The font is really fun and cute, too! I just love it! I was inspired by a team member's card project to make some cute "Thank You" tags using this set! I also want to use more of these on my next layout design to add an element of fun to the whole project! 

2.) Base & Bling necklace and style sheets

•  I had a blast playing with the Base & Bling necklace line at my Workshop Wednesday this month! My Base & Bling Buffet was a ton of fun, and I was pleased with the two necklaces I made using the pendants, charms, and rhinestones! Plus it was so easy and fast to do! I think I made two necklaces in less than 3 minutes! Of course the longest part was trying to pick out which design I wanted on my pendant! 
• I also really love the Base & Bling Style sheets that are in this collection line. These cute little stickers are perfect not only for these necklaces, but also on cards, tags, layouts, and other fun projects! You get so many little stickers for such a great price, so it's definitely worth stocking up for future projects and embellishments!

1.) Ariana WOTG Kit and Paper Pack

• I absolutely love the Ariana WOTG Scrapbooking Kit! The stamp set is so cute and fun, and the Ariana embellishments that come in the kit are some of my go-to elements for any project! I am going to need to get more of the Ariana bows because they're just too cute! I also used the Black and Grey Epoxy Bubbles a lot to add a really nice finishing touch on many of my current projects. The sketches in the workshop were my favorites, too! I love all the layers and different paper styles coming together on one layout! I had a blast using all of this fantastic product, and hope that all of you get a chance to play with it as well!  

    There it is; my top product picks for April! Did you get to use any of these amazing products this month? Are there any products you would add to the list? I hope you all get a chance to play with these amazing items soon! If you are needing any of these products for yourself, make sure and visit my CTMH Online Shop to get your hands on these goodies today!

    You also do not want to miss out on all the amazing specials and promotions that April has going on right now, too! These promotions and specials end at midnight tonight, so be sure to take advantage while you still can! Here's a reminder of all these great deals for you:

April SOTM: Balloon Talk 

 

    Get this cute and versatile stamp set for only $5 with a qualifying purchase of $50 or more this month! These images are perfect for adding little details and phrases to any project! I have loved playing with this set all month (hence why it made my top 5 list this month as well)!!

April Layout-of-the-Month:Ariana

    The April LOTM features the Ariana Paper Pack! If you purchase the Ariana paper pack, or the Ariana WOTG Scrapbooking kit, you will receive all the die-cuts, stamped images, and assembly instructions needed to complete this LOTM for FREE! However, this offer is only good in the month of April, so take advantage of this amazing deal today by placing your Ariana paper order with Candid Captures! 

End of Scrapbusters April Challenge

• This month the hubby and I have been getting ready to remodel our office space! So I wanted to have a fun challenge for everyone to play along with me as I went through my stash! This month we have been digging through our stash to complete challenges and projects that use up our old forgotten goodies! Thank you to everyone that participated this month and played along with me all month long! I hope you all had fun and were able to use up some of that old stash that you dug up! Those of you that participated will be contacted this next week concerning your prize for being a "Stashbuster"! I am hoping to post pictures of my new office space once we finish putting it all back together and put all of the stuff where it belongs (might be a while yet!!) ;)

 

End of April Promo: Consultant Sign-up

 

    With the end of April quickly already upon us so is the amazing new Consultant sign-up promotion! I wish I could take advantage of this fantastic deal! For only $99 you get the brand new Consultant kit featuring the complete Skylark product line, exclusive products that are only available to consultants, and a CTMH Cricut Collection of your choice! That's over $400 worth of product for only $99!!! It's such a great deal! Now is the perfect time to join up even if you are only wanting the products for your hobby! You can get a great deal, 6 months of obligation free consultant discounts and exclusive products, and sneak peeks of new, never been released products! 

    I recently posted a FAQs section on my blog for anyone that is looking for a few more answers about signing up as a consultant! Contact me today with any other questions you have about signing up for this awesome deal or get started by signing up today and start taking advantage of your discounts now!

Rediscover Creativity FREE download

    Last, but not least, is the FREE Rediscover download from CTMH! This month the theme focused on "creativity", and this fun alphabet download is perfect for adding simple monograms and a steampunk vibe to any project! Get your download today before midnight on my CTMH Online Shop!

 

     That is the wrap up for April, everyone! If you have any questions or need anything, please let me know! I hope you all have a great rest of the week, and stay tuned tomorrow for May's specials and promotions reveal! Until next time:

Here's to life, love, and creativity!

Rediscover Event: Minneapolis

   Yesterday I attended my very first CTMH event since becoming a consultant last fall! CTMH Corporate has been traveling to different parts of the US and Canada to hold regional events called "Rediscover" these last few months, and I was able to go to the one they held in Bloomington last night!

    I cannot even explain how excited I was to attend this event! I love this company, the products, and the team that I'm on. So I was excited to learn about more of the changes coming up, CTMH Convention this summer, and much more! Believe me.....it did not disappoint! What an amazing company!

    Monica Wihongi was our corporate representative, and she was fantastic! She shared so much with us (both personal and business), and was so approachable and sincere! It was really refreshing! 

Monica Wihongi-Vice President of Training, Events, and Consultant Services

    We talked about some of the changes that CTMH is making this year (new Idea Books this Fall!!!), retiring products, and new products! Plus we had a creative session where we had some hands-on experience with some awesome new products (more on this later)! Here are a couple things I can share with you from last night's presentation:

New Albums: 

     The new albums are being shipped as we speak! I was able to view and handle the D-ring albums last night at the event, and they are really nice! The fabric is beautiful and adds such a wonderful finishing touch! The D-ring albums should be available for order in the next 2 weeks, and the post bound albums should be available for order by the end of May! One of the reasons there is still a delay is that once corporate receives the albums they do a quality control check, manufacturing check, and overall "standards" check to make sure that the products we are buying are absolutely Close to My Heart quality products!

CTMH's Slate Circles D-ring album

CTMH's Cocoa Damask D-ring album

    The albums we have in the Idea Book now are officially retiring and are available while supplies last. The Black Faux Leather Album (Z1345) is officially sold out and so is the Work-in Progress Chocolate Album (Z1348). Currently we still have Faux Leather Albums in the following colors: Dark Chocolate (Z1342), Hollyhock (Z1344), Outdoor Denim (Z1346), and Dark Cranberry (Z1343). The main reason for retiring these albums is that we have more than a year worth of inventory in our warehouse of these albums. They have not been selling, and the quality has not been performing like CTMH would like. In order to continue to give you and me (our awesome customers) quality products, we needed to change the albums and release a better, higher quality album! So that is what's happening now! It's super exciting! I liked our Faux Leather Albums, but these newer albums are definitely a better quality album and very sturdy! I cannot wait to get my hands on one! 

Markers: 

 

    We are also in the process of retiring our Exclusive Inks: Alcohol Markers. The main reason for this change is the quality control of the markers. We have had manufacturing issues getting the markers to be the quality of marker that CTMH would stand behind as a core product. I love alcohol markers, but ours have not performed in quite the same way as we were hoping. So in order to better serve you and I, CTMH is going to be using a third party provider for our markers in the new Idea Book (releasing August 2014)! This was a hard choice because we no longer can "brand" the markers as ours, but, as Monica said, branding is not everything; making sure that CTMH customers get a quality product for their money is most important!
    

Creative Session:

    I absolutely LOVED our creative session last night! It gave me some amazing ideas for upcoming Workshop Wednesdays, and for new product use in the future! We were able to make a Base & Bling necklace of our choice (using the buffet style like I had at my Workshop at the beginning of the month!!), and we received an entire Hip Pics album kit to make a super cute summer album! 

  
    It's hard to tell from this picture (and I cannot show you the new product quite yet), but we received the following products during our creative session:

-Hip Pics Album
-True to Life stamp set
-Hello Summer stamp set (set to release in the Annual Idea Book 2014-2015)
-Pre-cut papers (including a new B&T paper called "Seaside" also releasing in the Annual Idea Book)
-Flamingo Dots
-Gold Polka Dot Washi Tape
-Best Day Assortment pack (from the My Crush Albums line)
-Base & Bling chain, pendant, charms, fashion sticker, and glass cover!

    It was SOO much fun, and I loved these cute and easy projects! May's Workshop Wednesday, on the 7th, is going to be utilizing this Hip Pics Album idea for our creative project! So stay tuned for some sneak peeks and additional details! 

    Did I mention that I attended this Regional Event for only $30!?!?! I received over $80 worth of products during the creative session, and that's without winning anything! They were also giving away exclusive stamp sets and one page exclusive layouts! I didn't win any of these, but it was so fun to be there and just participate in it all! :) Would you like to find out how you can attend one of these amazing events with me? Ask me how before the end of the month! 

Here's a picture of Monica and I in front of the Rediscover banner at the end of the night! She was so sweet and gave me the biggest hug like we had been friends forever! Such an amazing experience!

    I hope you all are having an amazing week, and I am looking forward to seeing those of you attending the "Scrap Your Stash" crop tomorrow! Enjoy this beautiful day, and until next time:

Here's to life, love, and creativity!

Happy Belated Easter!!

    Good evening, peeps! I hope you all had a wonderful Easter weekend! I am LOVING this warm weather and plentiful sunshine! Spring is officially here, and I couldn't be happier! 

    I am finally back home after traveling every weekend for the last two months! Of course this doesn't mean I'm without busy work! My in-laws are visiting this week, Scrap Your Stash is coming up this Saturday, and I have a CTMH regional event up in Minneapolis on Thursday night! I'm not complaining, though! I love staying busy and planning events (if you couldn't tell)!!!

   I have so much to share with you today, though! I feel bad that I have to combine it all in one posting, but I promise to share just as much eye candy as I do nitty gritty details! ;)

   Did you see my Facebook posting today on photo printing specials? If not, you need to check out these amazing deals on my Facebook page! Now is the perfect time to print those cute Easter pictures for practically nothing! Shipping and Handling runs around $5.90 for a 3-5 day shipping time, but even with that the prints are only $0.07 each! It's a great deal!

   I have been making some time to play recently so that I could share some fun and amazing projects with you all! I was at an all weekend crop a couple weeks ago, and I was able to wrap up some details on a few projects last week, too! So I was pretty pleased with how much I was able to get done in a short amount of time! Plus I FINALLY have time to post the April LOTM! It has only taken me 3 weeks to get it to you! I'm so sorry about that, everyone! One of these days I'm going to be ahead of the game! So without further ado, here are some of my recent projects for April:

APRIL LOTM:

April LOTM featuring CTMH's Ariana Paper Pack, Artbooking Cricut Cartridge, and Ariana Dimensional Elements

Here's a close up of page 1 of the April LOTM

Here's a close up of page 2 of the April LOTM. When you purchase the Ariana paper pack or Ariana WOTG kit, you can receive the assembly instructions, die-cuts, and stamped images to complete the LOTM for yourself! Order yours today!

 

 Workshop Wednesday: Base & Bling Buffet

Here are two of the examples I made for the Base & Bling Buffet that was held on April 2nd! Everyone was able to choose their chain, pendant, charms, and background piece to create a unique and cute necklace! Everyone also made a gift envelope from the Ariana paper pack to display their projects on or to give as gifts (Mother's Day is now done!!)

WOTG: Ariana Scrapbooking Kit

I modified this main layout just a little bit to accommodate larger picture sizes and die-cut frames! I love how it turned out, and love the look of the layered pieces throughout the background!

Close up view of the details on page 1 of the WOTG layout

Close-up view of the details on page 2 of the WOTG layout! I love those Ariana bows that come in the Complements pack! Too stinkin' cute!

Additional layout made using leftover papers from the Ariana WOTG kit! I wanted to make a more masculine layout using these papers to show the versatility!

Close-up of page 1 shows some stamping and the Ariana Dimensional Elements that I used

Close up of page 2 show some stitching and stamping that I did in the corner to add some extra texture and detail overall

Wabasha Crop Make-in-Take Layout:

This was a make-in-take that I did at the all weekend crop a couple weeks ago! I wanted to create a layout that incorporated lots of pictures and simple details! The "pleated" paper border was inspired by the Ariana artwork shown on page 30 of the Spring/Summer 2014 Idea Book.

This close up shot shows some simple and easy stamping and embellishments to create amazing details on the page 1

This close up shot shows the faux "pleated" border made from Ariana paper and more of the cute embellishments

More projects using the Ariana Paper Pack:

I used some Ariana scraps and a border punch to decorate this handmade envelope

Here is the inside liner of the handmade envelope I made to fit this card I had in my stash! The green from the Ariana papers complemented the Pemberley blues perfectly!

These cute tags were made using the April SOTM: Balloon Talk and Ariana paper strips from my scrap pile

Here is another color combination I tried on some tags with the Ariana paper scraps

 

   With the end of April quickly approaching so is the amazing new Consultant sign-up promotion! I wish I could take advantage of this fantastic deal! For only $99 you get the brand new Consultant kit featuring the complete Skylark product line, exclusive products that are only available to consultants, and a CTMH Cricut Collection of your choice! That's over $400 worth of product for only $99!!! It's such a great deal! Now is the perfect time to join up even if you are only wanting the products for your hobby! You can get a great deal, 6 months of obligation free consultant discounts and exclusive products, and sneak peeks of new, never been released products! Contact me today with any questions you have about signing up for this awesome deal or sign up today and start taking advantage of your discounts now!

 

    Well paper crafters, I better get to bed! I hope you enjoyed looking at all the fun projects I have been working on these last couple weeks! If you have any questions on products used, please let me know! Otherwise, have a wonderful rest of your week, and until next time:

Here's to life, love, and creativity!