Virtual Classroom and Photo Shoot-Join Me

I am so excited to offer something so fun and exciting.  Let me introduce you to my Studio J Virtual classroom.  You might ask "What is a Studio J Virtual Classroom"?  Virtual classrooms are an easier and more convenient way to attend classes, and you can choose when to attend and you can complete the course from the comfort of your own home. It's like having a web conference or on-line meeting where we will desktop share as I walk you completely through the layout at your pace .  All you need is a computer and internet.

Come give it a try.  We will start with the below layout called "Beautiful You"  of course with Studio J you will be customizing the title and colors to fit your photos and needs.

If you don't have photos for the layout no problem.   If you live in the Salt Lake City, UT area just contact me and I will be more than happy to come do a photo shoot of you, your family or anything you choose for me to photograph.  I charge a very minimal fee for the photo shoot.

Before we begin our Studio J Virtual Classroom I will need you to do a couple of things to be ready for the class.  If you are interested please email me at myhandsyourheart@aol.com for further instructions.

I look forward to seeing you in my classroom.-Lynette

Mom's Mexican Salad Recipe

Our house is really a 24/7 house.  I promise you can come by at any given time and someone is up.  Between my teenagers coming and going, my schedule, husband's schedule it is usually pure chaos at my house.  So I try to keep something in the refrigerator that we can quickly eat or grab and go.

So I thought I would share a recipe that my mom use to make when I was growing up. I made it today and thought I would share it with you.   I love it especially in the summer and it can be served as a side dish or main dish.   Hope you give it a try and if you do hope you like it.

1 can red kidney beans (drained)

1 can pinto beans (drained)

1 lb of hamburger (cooked and drained) If I am serving the salad as a side dish I don't include the hamburger.  My favorite is to include the hamburger and serve for lunch. YUMM

10 oz of cherry tomatoes

2 avocados (sliced and soaked in lemon juice so they don't discolor) photo does not include avocados because my kids don't like em.

1 small can sliced black olives

1 bunch of green onions, (diced)

1 head of lettuce (chopped)

1 cup of celery (chopped)

1+ cup of cheddar cheese (grated)  sorry photo does not have the cheese.  I took the photo before I added the cheese.

Toss altogether and add 1 bottle of Catalina French Dressing and mix together.

Just before serving crunch up Doritos, corn chips or Frito's and sprinkle on top or toss in salad.  I prefer Doritos but then again I am a Doritos junkie.

Have a great day.

Convention, Cricut, and Cool Stuff

Just returned from our annual Close To My Heart convention.  It was so fun and amazing other than the fact I got very nauseated on the flight  home and have not felt too hot the last couple of days.  Therefore I have just been hanging out and taking it easy.  I just wanted to give you a few sneak peaks into the new Idea Book that we will available Aug 1st.
We had a couple of create and take sections at convention and made this layout and cube.

 

There is so much fun stuff I will be sharing with you over the next few weeks but I do want to give you a sneak peak at something that all of you will be so excited about.  

CTMH has teamed up with Cricut to provide you with our very own CTMH exclusive cricut cartridge bundle with 3 coordinating stamp sets, coordinating chipboard shapes, and over 700 images and a font - it's an amazing cricut cartridge with 6 function features - it's maxed out. 3-D flowers, flourishes, shapes that coordinate with stamps from the Idea Book  - which are called out in the Idea Book outlined in red so you can see which stamps would coordinate with the cricut shapes easily. Plus if the stamp coordinates, the SIZE setting you need to use on the cricut to cut the coordinating shape is printed right on the stamp set liner next to the image picture. It's amazing and you will love it.

Below is a quick video explaining the new cartridge "Art Philosophy"-Enjoy




Here is a card I got from CTMH when I attended the directors dinner.  I LOVE these rolled flowers we can make with the cartridge.  HOW fun will that be.

New Idea Book and new items will be available Aug 1st.  Check back soon as I will be announcing some exciting specials as well as posting my Studio J virtual classroom.  Let me just catch my breath first.

Have a fantastic day and remember you are always "Close To My Heart"

July CTMH Special: It's a bang of a deal

Bang for Your Buck
Spend $50, get a favorite paper product for $1.

IT’S SIMPLE. SPEND $50, THEN CHOOSE A BONUS ITEM FOR $1 (five products to choose from). Because everyone loves more bang for the buck!

Eligible $1 Bonus Items:

• Creative Basics® Mistletoe Collection (original retail: $8.95)

• Creative Basics® Animal Cookies Collection (original retail: $8.95)

• My Originals® Bits & Pieces Card Kit (original retail: $12.95)

• My Originals® It’s Your Day Card Kit (original retail: $12.95)

• My Originals® Around the Holidays Card Kit (original retail: $14.95)
 
Items can be ordered on my website at http://www.stampinscrapexpress.myctmh.com/ or by contacting Lynette at myhandsyourheart@aol.com
 
 
Have a great day.

Recovery Time

Well I need to update all of you on the latest at our house. It's been a long and difficult couple of weeks as we have made many decisions.

We met with a rectal surgeon about one month ago to further investigate the rectal pain Fred was still experiencing. I was very impressed by Dr. Kim. He is not a big fan of putting patients through pain so we decided to do an internal ultrasound of the rectum to see what is going on.

What we discovered was a hole in Fred's tale bone and the tumor was wrapped around the nerves that cross over the tailbone. So taking out the tumor is not an option or you would have to take out the tailbone and that is something I would not wish on anyone not to mention the mortality rate is VERY high.

So why is there a hole you may ask? Well it is very rare for this to happen. I have been asking all of you to keep us in your prayers and well it worked. I testify that prayers are answered. Fred responded so well to the chemo treatments that it left a hole. What we don't know is if the tumor was already in the tailbone and with chemo it killed the tumor and left a hole or if the chemo was targeting the tumor that is laying on top of the tailbone and weakened the bone to the point that now we have a hole.

We actually are very blessed that the tumor is on the posterior side of the rectum. If it had been on the anterior side it would have been near the stomach and bladder and those are sterile areas and if there would have been a hole created there and then the chemo infused into that area it would have killed him. So thanks for the prayers because I feel very blessed and this could have been so much worse than it is.

Therefore Fred had surgery on 6-30-11. To protect Fred's privacy I am not going to go into details of the surgery, but we just had to reroute things to prevent sepsis (full body infection) in the future and hopefully relieve some of his pain.

Surgery went well and he is recovering well. We still welcome many many prayers. We were discharged from the hospital today.  Hopefully recovery will be very quick and back to regular activities very soon.

Thanks to all of you for your support, love and friendship.  It means everything to us.  Have a great day.

Stadium of Fire and Happy 4th America

A family favorite for the 4th of July is to attend the Stadium of Fire. It's the very best way to celebrate the 4th of July with great entertainment and amazing fireworks.

This year was no exception with the line up of our Murray hometown super star David Archuleta (not to mention we are all big time fans of David) and Brad Paisley. So months ago I ordered our tickets.

It was an amazing show not to mention a great escape from life for an evening. I posted a couple of video's of David singing the Star Spangled Banner and other patriotic songs from the show. Daivd really can pull at your heartstrings singing these songs and makes you really appreciate our country and those who fight for our freedom.

So pause my playlist at the bottom of this blog and enjoy as you celebrate. HAVE A WONDERFUL 4th.