THE MI-5

A couple of times a year, I write an MI-5 about the new scrapbooking paper from Close To My Heart. Here’s the newest edition, in case anyone would like to play along…

1. JINGLE – This is the annual Christmas paper. The colors are not the “commercially” bright red & green. Instead, they are the colors of Crème Brulee, Juniper, Olive, and Tulip. Tell us about a Christmas tradition that is not “commercial”. Making homemade ornaments? Reading a story? Making popcorn balls with the kids?

I am really not "into" the whole commercialism of Christmas. I'm not overly fond of Santa, the reindeer, and the North Pole. I much prefer focusing on the Nativity. When I was a child, my grandmother let me set up a very old Nativity that belonged to one of my Great Aunts (I forgot which one---it was on my grandfather's side). Anyway, I looked forward to putting that together every year. My grandmother told me that I would get to have it someday, and when I do, I'll build a room onto my house if I have to in order to give it a proper place.

2. SWEET HOME – Let’s think “commercial” this time. What does your house need to have in it to make it feel like home? I’m not talking about family, love, peace, etc. I want to know about games, electronics, food, etc. Tangible stuff.

I'll definitely need a computer, a DS, a Playstation for DDR, a DVD player for my Leslie Sansone in-home walking, a cat, and all of my scrapbooking stuff. An awesome rocking chair is a must, too.

3. GRACE – What does grace mean to you? You don’t have to get “religious” here…But what do you think of when you think of grace?

To me, it's God's unconditional love. God loved me, even with all of the horrible things I have done. Because of His love, and the sacrifice of Jesus, I am forgiven. It is not about what I have done, it is all about what HE has done.

4. TWITTERPATED – Have you been bitten by the Twitter bug? Why or why not?

I am not into the whole Twitter thing, nor do I expect to be in the future. Facebook is the closest thing to Twitter that I do. I have a cell phone, but it is only a Tracfone that is turned on when I leave the house. (It's just for emergencies.) Isn't Twitter really dependent on a cell phone? I don't even know.

5. STUDIO J – For the first time, Close to My Heart is going digital for some of its scrapbooking. If you could “invent” the next digital craze (an app, a program, a product), what would you want it to do?

It's probably already out there somewhere, but I'd really like a digital camera that is SUPER easy to use and takes FANTASTIC pictures, no matter how camera illiterate one might be. I've had two digital cameras now (neither of them SLRs---they are too difficult for me) and neither camera can take a half-decent picture. It's probably just my own inadequacy, but I sure do prefer the quality of my old Ricoh film camera. I love that digital pictures work so well for the computer and stuff, but I just don't care for the quality that I get.