And Sew On

My Arbonne

 

I've been holding out on you guys.

It wasn't on purpose-- I just wasn't quite ready share yet.

No. I'm not pregnant. :)

I've started my own business as an Independent Consultant with Arbonne International.

Have you heard of it? No?

Well, I started using Arbonne in January after a friend gave me a sample. Let me tell you, I am a product girl from WAY back. I love a beautiful product, and I have tried many, many things. I wasn't expecting to love Arbonne... but I did. I started buying it and using it without ever even thinking that I would do it as a business.

Then my friend, Sherry, started. I saw her succeed. I saw her succeed quickly, but without hard selling people-- which had always been my fear with network marketing. Knowing that my close friend was doing Arbonne made me take a second look. My husband researched the company and encouraged me to do it. So, after some more research and some serious soul-searching I decided to take the plunge.

Why?

• because I love performing, but I love being home with my kids just as much. I want to do shows that are fulfilling and important to me-- not any gig I can get, regardless of whether or not it's good for my family. My kids miss me when I'm gone, and Arbonne fits beautifully in the nooks and crannies of my life. Anyone. Can. Do. It.
• because I love the products and I really don't have to "sell" them. I present them, tell people about them, and they buy them or they don't. It's as simple as that.
• because I can feel good about products with no mineral oil, petrolatum, parabens, phthalates, PABA, and other harmful chemicals. I've learned so much about what is in our personal care products, and even if someone isn't interested buying them products, at least they are more informed about what is on the label of what they do choose to buy. I like that I am teaching people to read their labels with a critical eye.
• because I saw a real opportunity to bring in a second income for my family in a reasonable amount of time.

I've been doing the business for exactly two months now. Yes, it is work, and yes, there are times it hasn't been easy-- but even in this short amount of time it is working.  I have reached my first promotion (which allows me to make a higher percentage on sales), and I have signed three consultants! What I love most about this is that I am not trying to sell thousands and thousands of dollars worth of products month after month. That's so intimidating! What I do is redirect my own spending for shampoo/skin care/vitamins, etc, and then I teach other people to do what I do. I do spa parties a couple of times a month, and I lend out samples for people to try.  I am always in contact with my team, and helping and encouraging them. When we all just do our bit everyone becomes successful. I'm already seeing that happen, and it's very exciting. I promise, this is not a pyramid scheme, or a scam. It's a 31 year old company whose C.E.O. used to helm both Proctor and Gamble and McDonalds!

So-- that's my news! That's why my blogging has been a little less regular. This isn't going to become an Arbonne blog, or anything-- but it was starting to feel weird not sharing this with you guys! I wanted to get all the info out there so that you would know what I was talking about if it comes up once in a while.

I have set up my own Arbonne website where you can check out product and purchase, if you'd like:

My Arbonne Website

 We are in the USA, Canada, the UK and Australia. I can sell to anyone in those countries and also have consultants there! It's exciting to think that I will have teams in different countries someday. If you would like to learn more about the products, or the business, feel free to write me at [email protected]   I am always happy to give info, or just chat! I know there are a lot of misconceptions out there about network marketing companies, so I'm happy to field any questions you might have.

Also have a look at this video to learn more:  

 

Thanks for letting me share. It was a big leap of faith for me to blog about this, so please think happy thoughts and wish me luck. :)

 

A Scrapping Getaway

Last weekend I went on a 36 hour scrap getaway to a friend's family cottage in Muskoka. For those of you not familiar with Muskoka, it is a stunningly beautiful lake region about 2 hours north of Toronto. We set up a big table in front of the living room windows and had this view as our scrapping inspiration:

Pretty amazing, eh?

I completed 6 layouts while I was up there-- one of which I shared the other day, and another is in this month's write.click.scrapbook gallery. Here are the rest, using a bunch of Amy Tangerine, other American Crafts, Studio Calico and Pink Paislee.It's worth noting that a few of these layouts I absolutely LOVE, and others I just kinda like-- but what matters is the photos are scrapped and the stories are told, because there are always new photos coming in! Every layout doesn't have to be a masterpiece. Really. :)

"Audrey and Dalia" 

Audrey and her bestie, Dalia. A fun, quickie layout that uses some Amy Tan packaging as the journaling block:

"Dreamy"

Probably my fave of the bunch. I just picked four papers I loved and added them to the Amy Tan stitched paper. The photo was taken on Thanksgiving, standing over the girls as they lay on the grass.

"The Joy of Turning Five"

Special event layouts are never my faves. Too much pressure, I think. These photos just express how excited Audrey was to turn five. I used the flash here because there just wasn't enough light in the room. The moral of the story is use your flash if necessary because although it might not be the most beautiful photo, the moment is still captured. That is one happy five year old!

"Two French Braids"

Again, I just gathered together supplies I liked and made them work. I played. It was fun. I had no boundaries-- no assignment to complete, no product I had to incorporate. I do so much assignment work that this was very freeing for me! Never save products for the "right" photo, or the "right" layout. Use the things that make you happy-- soon enough there will be new collections you will be dying to use, right?

Cut it up. Stick it down. :)

There you have it! I hope this becomes a regular thing. It was so much fun. :)

Halloween, a few days late

I am late with Halloween photos, I know! We had guests for the weekend, which was such fun, and life continues to roll along at a quick pace.

Anyhoo! Here are the girlies:

Audrey was a witch, with a handmade wand crafted by one of our houseguests, Yoav. She couldn't decide if she was a good or mean witch, so sometimes she cast mean spells:

and sometimes nice spells:

As for Lily... can you guess what she dressed up as?

Tinkerbell, of course! She was not interested in wearing the actual Tinkerbell costume we had, but put this outfit together instead. (She refused to leave the rolling suitcase out of the equation for the photos.)

I like to think that she rejects the Disneyfication of the J.M. Barrie classic, and dressed up as the Tinkerbell she sees in her imagination!

 

My Scrapbook Nook Blog Hop

Welcome to the hop from My Scrapbook Nook!!!!

We're offering one lucky lady a 3 month subscription to these gorgeous kits and several smaller prizes for other hoppers!

We have hidden 7 birds among the design team blogs....so hop around, find the birds and keep track of who's got em'. Once you've found all seven, email those names to: [email protected]

One random winner from those that find all the birds will be drawn to receive a 3 month subscription to the Nook ;)

As for the rest of the prizes, they will be drawn from the designers blogs at random. So comments are optional, but the more you leave the better your chances are of winning a prize, which include kits!!! For an extra bonus drawing for a $50 prize pack- leave a comment at Danni Reid's link including a link where you have facebooked, blogged or tweeted about this hop- you can leave up to three comments for a shot at that $50 prize pack!


The Nook kits are filled each month with the latest paper collections and embellishments to make you swoon! They are a fantastic deal and our international ladies love the low shipping ;) If you sign up for a 12 month subscription you'll get a free kit after your 12 month mark! Now that's a bakers dozen of goodness!

My first Nook kit is on its way, and I just can't wait to get going with it! I see such beautiful creations going up in the gallery from the team and members-- there is such inpsiration to be had there!

Thanks for looking and here are your hopping orders!


Shelley
Danni
Kim
Stacey
Pamella
Nicole
Jaz
Deanna
Carol
Hilde
Lilith
Marinette
Anna
Jessy
Katarina
Gina
LG
Leah

Hop ends on Fri., November 4 at 11:59 pm Pacific Standard Time.
Winners will be announced on Sat. November 5th!

Be Sure to check out our Christmas Card Class and New Contest "Card Sharks!" a fast paced, four week battle of creativity!!!!

American Crafts Guest Designer

I was so thrilled when American Crafts contacted me about being a guest designer this month. They really are my favourite company, so getting a box of "Nightfall" and "Garden Cafe" in the mail was a pretty big treat!

"The Sparkly Witch"

When I saw the chalkboard papers I was a little unsure what to do with them--- but the minute I set photos against that dark background I was hooked!

I printed the journaling onto twill ribbon, and used a white pen to repeat the dotted line theme around the felt embellishment:

"Halloween"

I'm a grid girl, and the squares on this Nightfall paper were just begging to be filled!

"Boo Treat Bag"

I love the idea of hanging this treat bag on someone's doorknob for them to come home to...

A little hand cut fringe and some wine cork stamping added a little pizzazz!

"Me and You"

Lastly, a little tone on tone layering-- I cut a 12x12 piece of paper down to 8.5x11, then cut the scraps into tags to match the size of the "Garden Cafe" tags. The photo was taken over Thanksgiving when the weather was ridiculously warm!

A little hand journaling and some ribbon to trim the tag!

Thank you, American Crafts!

A Confetti Thank You Card

I made a Thank You card the other day, using some yummy American Crafts products that arrived on my doorstep a little while ago. It would never have occurred to me to use black paper-- but now I'm in love with the impact it gives, and the way colours just pop against it.

Originally, this was just the circle accent against the black and white patterned paper, but something about it felt unfinished to me. I needed to tie the colour palette together with some little bits of confetti inserted into the dotted white line.

Done. Love.

Next!

Amazing

"When I see your face...there's not a thing that I would change...because you're amazing...just the way you are."

 

Who knew that the cinder blocks on the side of the Staples building would make such a cute background for the kiddos?

Happy Thanksgiving

Cocoa Daisy "Farmer's Market"

Imagine my delight a few weeks ago when I received an e-mail from Ronda Palazzari, the DT co-ordinator at Cocoa Daisy, asking me to be the guest designer for their October kit, "Farmer's Market". Given my love of autumn, this really was the perfect kit for me. Here's what I came up with for the folks over at Cocoa Daisy!

"Reservations for Six at 6"  

Instagram photos of my girlfriend's birthday dinner blended perfectly with a moody black and grey palette, with hits of red/orange/green. The journaling is about how much fun we had, but how pathetic it was that our dinner reservations are now made for 6 pm!

I played with my circle punch and pop dots for the layout, nestling embellies in little half-circles of paper. The Amy Tangerine chevron is totally my fave!

"Cloche"

I wanted to document my perfect fall hat-- one that I had been searching for forever! I also wanted to play with a chevron pattern, but not in the traditional way.

 

"Autumn Beauties"

The exclusive stamp with the main kit was a honeycomb. Now, I'm not a stamper, so this forced me to try it out and be creative. I loved how it turned out!

I first stamped a honeycomb pattern onto plain cardstock, then stamped on the back of a few pieces of patterned paper and cut out the little hexagons-- popping some up on foam dots.

Finally, my card. I blew an entire package of Amy Tangerine paper leaves on this card, but I think it was worth it!

I'm putting this aside for the next time I need a really special thank you for someone.

Thank you, Cocoa Daisy, for the opportunity to design for such a great community, with such a rockin' kit!