The front door.

:Ahem:

That's all.

xoxo

Let the Races Begin...

That's what it feels like anyway.  The race to Christmas.  With so much to do and not enough time to do it.

And me...  incapable of turning down a project.

And so this morning I made a flower for my necklace.

And this evening I will make about 30 more. 

More to come....  Including my return to Etsy.

xoxo

Cam

Cam - The Rambling Wo-Man..

Seriously? 

I'm a bit behind the blogging schedule (in my mind I seriously just thought, "there's a schedule??"...)  Yes, I know... 

But,

Life
is
so
busy.

Sometimes I have to remember my priorities; and they are things like helping my children with their homework, and gymnastics class, and basketball practice, and counseling appointments...  I could go on and on, but I know I don't need too.

You're
probably
dealing
with
the
same
things
yourself.


And so, thank you.

For being patient with me.

Because even though I feel like there are so many things I want to write about and ideas for projects...  sometimes life gets in the ways, and if I forget about what's really important...  well then I won't be me anymore, and what fun would that be?

So here's some of what's going on.

Rendi.  Growing like a weed... but the good kind of weeds. And not that kind of weed.  :)  We're going to be having a BIG party/bash/throw down/event very soon...  It's going to be amazing..  Melody and Kathy and I will be there along with some really amazing friends of ours.  We're planning away and so very excited. 

I Realized what a great business gift item Rendi products make and picked up a good order.  Now is the time...  If your business sends out holiday gifts, and you're looking for something amazing and affordable lemme know.. :) I will totally hook you up.  :)

Teresa Collins Designs.  Love her, love her work... but not designing for her team anymore.  Teresa has some pretty---.....  she's doing great---........  Okay so she's working on something.....  Okay.  I really can't say anything, because I really don't know anything, except that Teresa needed to make some changes... more notably, requirement changes, and it just wasn't a good fit for either of us anymore. We have parted as friends and I hope we always will be.

On another note, After some encouragement, I'm strongly considering making some paper necklaces for the holidays and posting them on Etsy.  Mostly because I'm delusional and I really think I can fit another item on my already toppling plate.  Mostly I'm excited becuase someone I really admire, with a reputation for very good taste contacted me asking if I would sell her one.  :)

In December I'm going to the Charity Wings - Seaside Soiree in San Diego.  I'm so excited.  Some of my favorite Brave Girls will be there as well as some amazing talented people I'm really looking forward to meeting. 

I really want to tell you all about Brave Girls Camp 10-10, but that post is going to need some real time.  I want to make sure I do it right, and so I want to make sure I have time.  Soon.  I promise.  xoxo  (It was sooooooooooooo amazing.)

Working is fabulous (refering my full time job).  A good friend of mine started working with me and she's an excellent match for the company and what we do.  Full steam ahead...

As I'm writting, it kind of sounds like life is perfect.  It's not.  It's so totally not perfect, but I make a conscience decision to focus my attention on what it going right, and not on what isn't.

It
has
made
all
the
difference.

Focus is everything.  Where you are focused is where you will consciously and subconsciously focus all of your energy and your attitude will develop around it.  Isn't it ironic if a couple things don't go how we expected in the morning... and we maybe start thinking, "Oh man, I need to tell someone about the horrible morning I've had, I hope it doesn't turn into a horrible day!" well then... wouldn't you know it, the rest of the day just all goes downhill?  Or does it? 

Have we focused so much of our attention on looking for "What ELSE can possibly go wrong to ME today??" that things that really are not that big of a deal, or we might not have even thought twice about suddenly go on "the list".  Don't tell me you don't have one? The list of all the bad things that have happened today, or this week, or this year...  so we can tick them off to anyone who might listen.  I'm guilty.  SOOOO guilty. 

One day I perceiving my morning to be particularly bad, and I decided to try something.  I started telling myself, "This is going to be a fabulous day!" and I started to look for the positive things... just little things, like, when driving, "oh that person just let me in because it's my lucky day!"  AND seriously.  No cheating. 

Here's what cheating looks like, just so we're clear:

"okay, I'm going to try this positive thinking thing..." (even though I'm having the crappiest day ever becuase of 1. this, 2. this, and 3.THIS (that was a big one), and ...and..and... but whatev' I'm thinking happy thoughts.)

(Okay here we go...) "yay me.  woohoo..  it's going to be a greeeeeat day...  i bet the driver of this car next to me is going to let me in because i'm having such a great day" (I bet they really DON'T let me in because this is just a CRAPPY day in my Crappy life....)

(OKAY see!  They freaking didn't let me in because they're just a JERK, and this is a CRAPPY DAY and I AM so irritated and ANGRY and Frustrated and I NEVER sHOULD Have Gotten OUT OF BEd at all because they world hates ME AND NO ONE LOVES ME AND i REALLY SHOULD HAVE JUST HAD WORMS FOR BREAKFAST AND.... ARRRRRGGGGGGHHHHHHH!)

::breathing:: steering wheel gripped tight::eyes buldging out of head::

::breath::breathe::

::Breathe some some::

(Must try a bit harder.) "I am a nice kind sweet person because that GUY was clearly in a hurry (BIG FAT JERK) and I was being very kind to let him go on ahead. (YEAH RIGHT! I should have freaking cut him off... Wheres the FIRE BUDDY!  I settle for tailing him...)  I am nice and kind and wonderful and it's going to be a great day."  BIG FAT STUPID LIE.  My Life sucks!!  (This is the stupidest thing ever.)

Ah-hem.  Not so productive.  Don't give it the half try.  Give it the whole try.  NOBODY deserves to walk around from morning to night tallying all the "Alexander and Horrible, Rotten, No Good, Very Bad Day" events.  Don't do that to yourself. 

And besides

It's way more fun to tally the good stuff. 

xoxo  Love ya.

Cam

Have you any Rendi?

  

 I've done it.

I've signed up for my first ever network marketing opportunity. 

I'm in shock. 

I have always been sooooo anti-network marketing.  I won't listen to pitches, I'm not interested, and I don't want my friends to bug me about joining.... and I wouldn't want to bug my friends about joining... or buying... either. 

Then came Rendi.  I'm not going to tell you much about, just why I decided to go for it.

1.  First and for most, my number 1.  Rendi is a part of an established 20 year company with a great reputation for quality and ethical business practices... AND they are completely new to the home party market.  Literally Zero market saturation.... Okay they did launch on October 1, 2010, so maybe .0000000001% market saturation..At this point there have probably only been a small handful of parties that have even been hosted across the entire nation... and  by a handful I'm talking about less than 30.  Brand new market.

2. Brand new concept in product and home parties.  The Rendi products are beautiful pieces of wall art, customized with your sentiments, quotes, names, dates etc.  Your order is placed via the website and the product is created and shipped, here in the US (Trinity, Colorado to be exact) and shipped within 48 hours.  AND the prices are extremely affordable. And my good Friend Melody Ross designed one of the lines and I love, love, love her artwork.  At the home parties guests are encouraged to bring their laptops, and place their orders online.  The only product you bring to the party are the personal pieces you have purchased for your home.  No inventory to carry.

3.   Next, and more important tome than the products:  I have had the privilege of conferencing directly with Annie Danielson, the founder of Danielson Designs and Rendi, and I am sooooo impressed with her.  For about 30 minutes Annie spoke of her love and passion for personal development, and especialy for the joy she feels when women grow and do things they never thought they could ever do.  She is passionate about helping women grow and recognize their inner strength, and accomplish dreams they believed were completely out of reach.  You could almost feel the tangible passion in her voice and words. 

Danielson Designs has always utilized women, stay at home moms, single moms, etc.  in the production of their products.  Giving women the opportunity to work from home while adding to their household income.  This is something I am passionate about.  I own a fulfillment company and I try to do the same, taking projects that I can assign out to stay at home and single moms who desperately need the income, and desperately need to be home for their children.  It helps these women be able to accomplish what is most important to them.

After the 30 minutes Annie spent discussing her passion for helping women to grow, she said goodbye...  not a word about sales, revenue, recruiting, money...  Not a word about build, build, build, go go go... sell sell sell that I would have expected from the owner of a new company pre launch.  I honestly believe Annie is 100 times more passionate about helping women succeed and follow their dreams than she is about "getting rich." And the staff at Rendi seems to mirror Annie's sentiments. The environment is extremely positive and supportive. Please don't mistake my words to imply Rendi is not going to be financially successful.  They will be.  No question.

4. And Finally, the affiliations, structure of Rendi, and their compensation plan.  The compensation plan is truely one of the best in the market.  Extremely well thought out.  Rewarding of hard work, and quite high paying compared to the rest of the home party market. Months and months and months of planning has gone into the development of the plan, utilizing industry experts, and professionals to ensure no detail is left unattended.  And of course, Rendi is a HUGE supporter of BRAVE GIRLS!!!  Brave Girls Club is also an independent stylist, and have asked me to be involved with training and managing a portion of our team.  I have also been selected to be a part of a small group of about 10 people who make up the Rendi Leadership team.  As such I receive specialized training, and new announcements before general release.  Personal training meetings occur at least once a week with in-depth discussion about every aspect of Rendi.  It's amazing, and provided with all the tools I need to help my team be successful. 

Rendi is going places.  Fast and big, and I'm going with them.  Would love to have you come along. If you'd like more information please check out my website, or shoot me an email. 

www.camille.rendistyle.com

camillemcc@gmail.com

Love you.  xoxo

Cam

Jennica's Baptism and the Dress

The Dress first.

I LOVE to sew.  Sometimes I forget that I love to sew because I never have time for it.  When my daughter was born we gave her a special blessing and I made her a beautiful baby gown, the really super long old vintage style.  And so when she decided to be baptized I really wanted to make her a dress.

In my limited time, I found this pattern.  It was close to what I wanted, except I wanted to add a wide waist band, and trim, but the basic style was right.

A few minor alterations, and of course lots of extra embellishment and ...

we have a winner.

LOVE.

Love the way it all came together and turned out. 

Because I was using white cotton fabric I cut two of every pattern piece and stitched them together to made the fabric twice as thick... and less transparent.

I added lightly gathered layers of fabric cut on the bias with unfinished edges to the sleeves and skirt.

For the waistband, I trimmed about 2.5 inches off the top of each piece of the skirt pattern.  Then I cut a section of fabric approximately 30 inches x 3.25 inches.  I folded and pressed the fabric in 1 inch sections, then stitched along the fold at the 1/16 mark to add the vertical lines.  I know there is term for that...  I just can't recall what it is...

To the bodice I added whimsical handmade flowers and  simple buttons.  I used diamond glaze to add the word "beautiful" from a vintage dictionary to one of the buttons.  

I really wanted to achieve a vintage, handmade appearance.  Some green ribbon stems finished out the design, and were stitched into the waist.

Seriously...  I know.  We are going to have REAL boy problems.  I don't know how I ended up with such a beautiful, amazing daughter. I love her so much. 

This picture from Jennica's baptism is awesome.  Did you check out Jesus grabbing my husband by the ear?

Classic.

The baptism was wonderful.  My 5 yr old said the closing praying, in a room of about 40 people, and asked God to bless grandma and grandpa not to get 'attacked' when they went home. 

It was a beautiful day.

Then this morning Jennica was singing a church song.  The lyrics say:

"I know who I am,

I know Gods Plan,

I'll follow him in Faith."

Only Jennica was singing it:

"I know who I am,

I know Gods Plan,

I'll follow him in vain..."

We might have to work on that one...  especially since she does not believe me that she's singing it wrong.

xoxo Cam

Look what I found on You Tube...

I didn't know about this and it's totally weirding me out. I wrote the text for an article on Scrapbooking.com, but I didn't know about the video.

Really awkward listing to my words being read....

Jurra Does More than Just Announcements...

Meet Jeri Lynn.

Jeri Lynn is absolutely amazing. She has a unique independent spirit, and she is brave enough to follow where it leads her. Even when the decisions are hard and ... and even when the decisions are painful. She reminds me of who I wish I had been when I was her age. I admire her so much. She is a very special friend of mine... and very talented.

I LOVE her style.

Jeri Lynn is a graphic designer... just starting out.. but you would never know it.

If you've been to my blog in the last 3 years then you're well aware of how much help it needed. I can handle basic editing, and I can build a design with premade digital elements, but that is as far as my graphic design talents go. And so naturally, I hired Jeri Lynn to build me a new tag and a new background. LOVE LOVE LOVE what she came up with. Made a few changes to the background papers to accommodate my blog format, and wah-lah, Gorgeous. She nailed my style.

So HAPPY.

Jeri Lynn specializes in announcements... graduation, weddings, baby... you name it. Check it out: HERE

http://jurradoesannouncement.wordpress.com

Oh, and here's fair warning: Around graduation time... might want to get your orders in early. Jurra gets pretty busy.

xoxo Cam