A Quick Welcome to Arrows of Hope Designs

Hello Crafty Friends,

Welcome to my little corner of the online world where I share my journey in creativity. Here you can find regular doses of inspiration for paper projects, tutorials on different crafting techniques, organizational tips & tricks, and featured products from Close to My Heart (CTMH).

I love the process of designing and creating cards – seeing something that was once just a vision in my head come to fruition in front of my eyes (sometimes easily, sometimes through some a lot of trial and error), and then sharing it with others, has been a very fulfilling pastime in a busy life. Here are some recent cards I made, using a variety of stamping techniques and products. I can’t wait to share more with you on this blog.

My Promise to You

Everything I will share with you on this blog will be 100% authentically me. While I am a Maker (Independent Consultant) with Close to My Heart, I will only feature products that I believe are of premier quality and worth the money. These are ones that I use in my own projects – whether as gifts for someone, or for finished cards that I sell to others. Ask me about any products I use that catch your eye.

I thought a fun way to end this first blog post was to share ten random facts about myself so that you can get to know the person behind the screen a little better. Hopefully we can connect over something we have common!

And so, in particular order, I present:

10 Random Things About Me

• My faux-hubby (as I call him, since technically we aren’t married) is also my oldest friend – we met back in high school at 16, but didn’t get our sh*t together until our 30s 😂

• We have a beautiful almost 4-year-old boy, who was born two days before my birthday. I now joke that he stole my birthday thunder. To add to being eclipsed by my children, we have a second boy due the week before my birthday this year 🎂

• As my son’s butt is advertising, I am Canadian 🍁 I’m currently located in Toronto, but have also lived in Ottawa and Montreal. I’ve had the opportunity to travel from coast to coast (Prince Edward Island in the East, to British Columbia in the West, to Nunavut in the North). I have one province (Saskatchewan), and two territories (Yukon and North-West Territories) left to explore.

• I used to be obsessed with The Care Bears as a kid, and would get up super early to catch the cartoon on TV. I have not been successful in passing this obsession on to my son. It’s all Paw Patrol up in this household #ruffruffrescue

• I have never broken a bone in my body *knock on wood*

• I used to be a diplomat for the Canadian government, and got to work abroad at the United Nations in New York City, as well as in Italy. I loved the embassy parties, diplomatic passport, and prestige. I did not love the extreme pressure of not accidentally causing an international scandal by providing wrong briefing information to our Prime Minister #impostersydrome 🤣

• I am now a Grade 7/8 English teacher, just north of Toronto. I am passionate about equity in education, and am continually learning to be better at the best job in the world. My favourite part of teaching is reading aloud to my too-cool-for-everything middle school kids, because they totally get into it – yes, even teens love story time.

• I cannot blow a bubble gum to save my life. Countless students have tried to teach me over the years, none have succeeded. It’s a running challenge in my class at this point.

• I am rationally ridiculously afraid of moths – ever since reading a horror story about them as a preteen, I cannot see one without panic setting in. Ask me how I somehow manage to survive cottage season in Northern Ontario 😂

• I have always loved being creative. Growing up I wrote stories and poetry. I made rudimentary scrapbooks (pictures taped into a notebook with words from magazines glued around them), and have a plethora of memory books in my attic to document my embarrassing super cool teen years. Ten years ago, I discovered CTMH and dabbled in card making, but then life got busy. Recently I have returned to discover that my passion has doubled, and I am so excited to be starting on this creative journey with you!

So, that’s me in a nutshell. Leave a comment below and share a little about yourself. What do you love? What scares you? Do we have anything in common? What brought you here? I love to “meet” fellow passionate crafty folks, and hopefully you’ll stick around long enough for us to become creative friends.

I hope you have a look around while you’re here. There’s information about CTMH as a company, opportunities to join the creative adventure, and a section to purchase some finished cards. My hope is to energize you to add some creativity into your own life, in whatever way works for you.

Thanks for joining!

Aggie – Arrows of Hope Designs 💘