Album Retreat and Much More!

My table mates - Michelle Nist - Studio J contest winner!
She and her customers ordered 603 Studio J Layouts in Feb.!
Me and my upline, Karen Morris.

March has been a great month!  I made it a priority to attend the CTMH Album Retreat March 14-16th in Salt Lake City, and what a treat it was!  The album that CTMH designed and we created during those 2 days taught me a lot about some of the new products that I hadn't even noticed before, much less used.I tried some scrapbooking styles and new techniques that took me outside my comfort zone.  I'm happy to report that although I didn't finish my album at the retreat, I did finish it when I got home!  My new mantra is "practice imperfection" and one of my favorite new saying that was shared by our keynote speaker, Stacy Julian is "Tell the negative committee that meets inside your head to sit down and shut up!" ~ Ann Bradford


What she meant by that is, most times we are our own worst enemies.  We too often get paralyzed by the need to be perfect.  I challenge you to practice imperfection this week!

Shout-Outs:
Top 10 Personal Sales for March:

Lynn Como
Allisa Chilton
Elisabeth Weaver
Ginni Candelaria
Noreen Petty
Tina Lovell
Dr. Phil Wilhelm
Briana Bostick
Debi Squires
Krista Hershberger

Top 10 Team Sales for March:

Kathy Markloff
Wendy Mulreaney
Lynn Como
Linda Caler
Susan Tomaino
Noreen Petty
Dr. Phil Wilhelm
Christina Eisenhour
Ginni Candelaria
Briana Bostick

Business Bit:

My business tip this week is a bit about marketing - upselling. 

I teach monthly card classes in my home studio using mostly bulk products.  In general, my customers will purchase what they use, so this is primarily stamps, paper packets, inks and the accessories that the bulk items come from.  This leaves out a LOT of our wonderful product line. 

After returning from the Album Retreat - I had finished artwork using Z1811 For Always Assortment, Z1707 Pink Glitter Gems, Z1754 Black and Grey Assortment Sparkles,  Z1821 Black Assortment Buttons, Z1701 Neutral Bakers Twine, Z 1826 Hollyhock Zipper Lace, Z1809 Black Shimmer Trim, Z1817 Washi Tape, Z1825 Keyboard Kraft Alphabet, Z1719 Houndstooth Alphabet, Z1844 Color Ready Trinkets Wooden Shapes and Cork Alphabet.  Most of these embellishments I had never used.

Although my first 2 classes this month had low attendance, I used that to my advantage and did a "show and tell"  I showed them how I had used these products to create my layouts and how much was leftover after 10 - 2 page layouts.  Most of my customers purchased one of more of these items even though I didn't feature them in my workshop!  It still have 2 more classes and I'm going to do my show and tell at both of them.  I would encourage you to try a show and tell at your next workshop.  You can use artwork from a swap or art you created for your own pleasure.  Experiment with embellishments you've never used before.   

Trinket wood heart that has been stamped in black with the polka dot
flower from C1540 Hello Blooms.  Small lettering with Keyboard Kraft
Alphabet - Grey sparkle in the middle of a button.

One of my favorite embellishments that I hadn't used before were the Trinkets Wooden Shapes.  I love how easily we were able to customize them by sponging them to coordinate with our layout and stamp them to give them texture and color.  I also loved learning how to use the Washi Tape, the Keyboard Kraft Alphabet  and putting the sparkles in the middle of the buttons.


Creative Corner:



D1540 In the background stripe
stamped in White Daisy on Juniper CS
I took advantage of the slower drying time and
blended out the seam with a Kleenex

Red Glitter Gems in the center of Black buttons

Solid honeycomb stamp from C1537 Honeycomb stamped in Crystal Blue, Lagoon and Pacifica
Very graphic layout - out of my comfort zone!

Washi Tape banner on Bakers Twine- tedious but worth the effort! More wooden shapes and Kraft alphabet

Back of Bunny Box

Bunny Box created by Tracey Saunders
I taught this at my March classes and Washington Team meeting
Email me for handout



One of my cards featuring the April Stamp of the Month and Surfs Up for my April Card Class.  I LOVE our new
Glitter Paper, it cuts beautifully on the Cricut!  I cut it in narrow strips for this card so one sheet will do for all my classes.

Quote of the Week:

"Whether you think you can or can't, you're usually right"

~Henry Ford