Meet our new DT!

With 8 new DT members, it's going to take me a couple of days to post all these intros so let's get to it!

In 2012, we will have two DT Teams - Team A will be headed up by myself and Team B will be headed by the talented Haley Dyer, who was a DT member last term.

Now for our new members - on Team A, please welcome Joelle Hiller!

My name is Joelle Hiller and I live in Western New York with my husband of 13 years, our two kids, 7 and 1, and our two cats.  I worked for 15 years as a high school math teacher, but recently left that position and am in the process of figuring out what I’d like to do next.

I have been a CTMH consultant since June 2009, which is when I saw paper samples for the first time and got myself hooked.  I love scrapbooking and card-making, and as much as I am a tech-friendly sort of person, I can’t see myself ever switching entirely to digital scrapping.  I love playing with paper, ink, and stamps; sitting in front of a computer just isn’t the same for me.

Being on the H2H design team now gives me an “excuse” to make my hobby a priority.  I am excited to contribute to this creative community that has provided me with tons of inspiration.  When I’m not busy creating, I like to read novels and research my family tree.

You can stop by and visit Joelle at her blog here: http://scrapbooksnippets.blogspot.com.

And from Team B, say hello to Ann Lessner:

 

Hello everyone my name is Ann Marie Lessner.  I am so happy to be apart of H2H.

I have been scrapbooking and stamping for almost 10 years and I have been apart of Close To My Heart for 4 years.  All my life I never thought of myself as crafty but when my best friend invited me to a stamping party something changed.  I found I really enjoyed making cards and gifts for my friends and family.  When I found Close To My Heart and saw how beautiful the stamps and scrapbook paper was, I was hooked from that point on.  I have also met the kindest and sweetest people during my time with this company.  Women who are willing to do anything to help you succeed.  

I have been married for 17 years to my high school sweetie.  We met the first day of my freshman year on the bus on the way to school.  We have been together ever since.  We have to wonderful kids, my daughter who is fiercely independent is 16 years old and working on picking just the right college.  My son will be 13 on the 21st of this month!!  He is such a hard worker and quite the good football and basketball player.  He also is an animal lover and I have yet to meet an animal that doesn't love him in return.  We have a mini zoo going on at my house with 3 dogs, 1 cat, 1 fish, and 1 lizard.  But in the next month or so we will be getting ducks again so my kids can raise them for 4h.  

I am looking forward to my time here with H2H and getting to know everyone.  Thank you for the wonderful opportunity!

Check Ann out at her blog here: http://www.creativeramblings345.blogspot.com.

More to come tomorrow - stay tuned!

Welcome to a New Year and new faces!

Welcome to H2H 2012! We have a lot of cool challenges coming your way with more Design Team members than ever before! This week, you will get to meet them all, starting today with our Guest DT for January, Jami Larson!

Hello, my name is Jami Larson and I'm thrilled to have this fun opportunity as the January guest designer. Thank you so much to the gals at Heart 2 Heart Challenges. I am from a town, of about 1500 people, in Northeast, South Dakota.  I am a mom to three boys ages 11,15 & 17, and have been married for going on 20 years. I have only been a CTMH demonstrator since August and am loving all of the great friendships that I have come to know, through what I do.  I am a complete Cricut addict, so the cartridge is what lured me in, and I am loving the Cricut/stamp combo. I am not a huge scrapbooker but do like sending homemade cards.   I'm rather practical and love using my Cricut and stamp sets to make fun, yet useful gifts. I'm so excited to be here and look forward to being able to share some projects with you.

We are excited to have Jami joining us and she is going to be playing along with us every week this month! Just so you know, all Guest DT members are chosen from our monthly Top Ten and this year, they will be hanging out with the DT every week (if they choose to). So watch for Jami's artwork starting this coming Monday, Jan. 9th and stop by and visit her blog at http://thepaperfarm.blogspot.com/.

Tomorrow, I will start to introduce the 8 new DT members - be sure to stop back and say HI!

DT Call reminder and SCRAPBOOK layout!

This month's scrapbook layout by Cheryl is a little late but I know you're all busy with holiday happenings so I know you'll forgive me!

Before I direct you to the sketch and sample however, I want to remind you about our Design Team call. So far, I have received very few applications so we need more people to apply!! Please consider trying out for the team and send your application to me today. Details on how to apply can be found in a post below.

Now for our next scrapbooking "challenge". You can find Cheryl's wonderful sketch and sample layout on our H2H Scrapbooking page. Check it out and play along. You know you have photos that need to go into albums!

Have a wonderful holiday!

Addicted to H2H?

I keep forgetting to post the names of those who played along with every H2H challenge in November. They are:

Sheila H.

Twyla Norris
Wendy Coffman
Kelly Brandt
Amy Moore
Karen C
Donna Davis
Polly
and our Guest DT Allisa

Thank you all for hanging out with us! If you don't have one already, feel free to pop over to our Badges page and grab the Addicted to H2H badge for your blog! And if anyone was missed on this list, please contact Haley at inkyscrapper@gmail.com and she'll add you.

Have a good week everyone!

A Virtual Holiday Card Exchange

Well it's our last challenge of 2011 - we hope you have enjoyed all the challenges we posed to you through out the year! Before we get to this last challenge, I just want to thank this round of the Design Team one more time for all their help these past months - you have all been beyond fabulous! Haven't they been great?

Starting Jan. 9 of 2012 we will have all new DT members and maybe YOU will be one of them. Be sure to check out the post below this one for details on how to apply. H2H wouldn't be here without talented people like yourself helping out!!

Now on to our challenge. Since it is the last challenge of the year, you can play along with this one right past New Year's Day! We're calling it a Virtual Holiday Card Exchange and here's all you have to do: post any holiday card you created using Close To My Heart products and wish everyone who stops by your blog a very Merry Christmas, Happy Hannukah, Happy Kwanzaa or whatever you celebrate this season!!

And now for holiday wishes from our Design Team, check out their cards (and blogs) below - be sure to leave them some love, too -

Michelle

Jody

Debi

Pamela

Haley

Mary

From all of us to all of you - thank you for keeping H2H a fun, inspiring place to visit and may you all have the very warmest and merriest Christmas and a fabulous New Year~~

New Design Team needed and some changes

It is almost the end of another year and this Monday will be our last challenge for the year as well as the last time we will be seeing our fabulous Design Team at work! A great BIG Thank YOU to my great team - they have really put in a lot of time and effort this term to bring everyone some awesome inspiration! You will all be missed!

But with their departure brings an exciting opportunity for you! It's time to apply for the next round of the Design Team here at H2H and we're changing things up a bit.

In 2012, there will no longer be any sponsored prizes. The majority (about 98%) of our players are consultants and there really is no sense in having consultants sending other consultants product. Seems kinda silly. Now that doesn't mean there won't be occasional goodies to be won but they won't be on a regular basis and they might just pop up and surprise you so you want to be sure to continue playing along with our challenges!!

Another change to the H2H blog is the formation of not one but TWO Design Teams!! The teams will both have 6 month terms but will split the responsibilities with Team A inspiring us one week and Team B inspiring us the next. This allows the teams members to get a little "break" and gives them additional time to get their artwork ready for their week's challenge.

If you would like to be considered for one of the teams, here is the application process:

* Email me with your Name, Address, Blog Address, Email Address and a little bio about you. Be sure to tell me how long you have been a consultant (you MUST be a CTMH consultant to be considered for the team but you can be in Junior status) and why you want to be a part of the team.

* You MUST know how to write and publish a post on Blogger. Each DT member will have a couple of weeks in which they will be responsible for creating the Monday challenge post. Don't worry - I (and another team leader) will be around to help out with this as well but please only apply if you are comfortable blogging.

* You must send photos of three of your pieces of artwork. DO NOT send me a link to your blog to look at your artwork there  - I want you to pick what you consider three of your best and include them with the application.

ALL applications must be received by December 30th. I will make the selection of the new team members by January 1st and the new team will start on January 9th.

Here are some more things to keep in mind about a position on the DT:

* You must be willing to join a Yahoo Group set up specifically for team members.
* You must be able to participate in every challenge for your team's week (posted by 6:00 am on Monday mornings) and have your artwork for each challenge posted to the DT Yahoo Group the Saturday before the challenge begins.
* You must be willing to post your artwork on any other boards/galleries you belong to and advertise our challenge blog whenever and where ever you can so we can continually grow in numbers of participants. We currently have a group at Paper Craft Planet and on Facebook that I would like DT members to join but this is optional.
* You will be expected to participate in any extra programs that we may decide upon as a team. You are also expected to weigh in on your choices of winners in monthly awards (Top Ten).
* You will be expected to visit the blogs of the challenge participants and leave comments.
What you get in return:

* Committment to producing artwork once every 2 weeks gives you an opportunity to create on a regular basis!
* Increased blog traffic which will hopefully lead to an increase in your business!
* Fun and fellowship with the entire team and a chance to meet new consultants and CTMH fans!

I think that about wraps it up. What are you waiting for? Send in your application today!! (Any questions can be directed to me at mbryt1@bex.net).

Oh so much to talk about !!

I know, I know, another week has come and gone and I am just not getting around to November's prize winners and Top Ten! Where does the time go? Our prize winners from our fabulous November sponsors are:  From week 2 (metal challenge) - #18 Donna Davis and from Week 3 (gratitude challenge) - #15 Kelly Brandt! Ladies email your mailing information to me and I will forward it to the sponsors.

Our Top Ten for November are:
Week 1:

Week 2:

Week 3:

 Week 4:

There is no Top Chick this month as there is no December Guest DT. But that doesn't mean there wasn't outstanding work this month! Just click each photo above to see the complete project these ladies made - awesome! Congrats to you all! Your badge info will be emailed soon.

Now on to this week's challenge. Remember, we are not playing for prizes this week but we hope that won't stop you from joining in!

This week we are working with an inspiration photo - take a look:

So much to love here! The colors, the giant letter, the ribbon, the twiggy wreath....what speaks to you? What about this photo will inspire your project this week? Let's see what the DT came up with:

Pamela

Haley

Jody

Debi

Michelle

Now it's your turn. Use the photo to get those creative juices going and then post your finished project below. We're looking forward to some great artwork!!

And one last thing - I will announce the DT application information in the next couple of days as well as the list of everyone who participated in every challenge in November so come back soon!

Please remember - you MUST use Close To My Heart products in your artwork or your link will be removed. Thank you.