Playing Catch UP

With all the great storms we have been having and the power going off and on. I had fallen behind on a lot of things. So now with everything back to normal I was able to catch up on my to do list.

Some great news. I am a new Design Team member at Imagine Create Scrap I am totally excited to be a part of this amazing team... I can't wait to get my first kit and get started. Kim just gave us a sneak peek and it's CRATE PAPER... Totally Yummy. Can't wait to see the entire kit. She will have it up on the site in the next few days. So keep an eye out for it.

I decided to submit to the Fancy Pants DT Call. I totally adore all of Fancy Pants Designs Products. It would totally be amazing to Design for them. So keep your fingers crossed.

Here are a couple items I did with the new Fancy Pants Collectins.




Products are from the Mulberry Road Collection. I swear I can scrap this photo of Miranda over and over again.

Tish came over on Tuesday and was having a problem with this frame and her childrens school pictures. They weren't big enough for the frame. So as she sorted paper for me I worked up some magic and went to work. Everything is from the Clair de Lune Collection except for the gems. They are MME and Swarovski. I also added some brown paint to the frame. The frame is from Target. Tish totally loves it and she will be sending this to her Mom as a Christmas Gift.

If you have been looking for the CI Caution Collections or The Marah Johnson Love Struck Collection. Scrappin Trends will have them IN stock again NEXT week. There are some pictures on the main page of the site. Scrappin Trends is taking pre-orders now on these products. If your interested send an e-mail to orders@scrappintrends.com . You will then be sent an e-mail back with pictures and prices of the items for pre-order. There is alot of product coming in, but last time it sold out in less then 12 hours. Act quick if you have been looking for these products.

Scrappin The Weekend away.

I so need to scrap all weekend. I have a ton of projects to get done, finish and start. LOL So with all the new Making Memories goodies that came into the store this week(Scrappin Trends) I couldn't help grab some of the Emory and Abby paper collections. YUM They totally mix well with one another. Here is a fun layout I did that I actually used a sketch I designed for it.

Here is a close up of all the stars...

On Thursday I got a Chaterbox package from Scrapbook Dreamer. I won some of the new Holiday Chaterbox line and I couldn't wait to use some of it. Here is a little project in the works still.

Then to top off an all awesome mail week. I got a package yesterday from my Secret Santa on 2 peas. A box from 2 peas store Address to "Queen Elisa" So yeah I totally tore into that box and OMG I died and went to Hambly Heaven.

Yes you are seeing correct. 7 Hambly Overlays (I put chipboard behind them so you could see all of them), 3 rub-on packages and 4 sheets of Hambly paper. 1 isn't in the picture because I couldn't help but use it. lol Totally awesome right..... I have the bestest Santas this year...

Don't forget about the sketch challenge here on my blog.... It's a few post down.

My Love of Chipboard

Yes most of us scrappers Love Chipboard. It's just so awesome to play with and work with. It gives us that dimention or Pop that we love on our pages or projects. The fun part is finding ways to store your chipboard. I was walking in Fred Myers one day and came upon this craft storage chest and just had to have it to store my chipboard and my cropper hoppers fit in the bottom to store my papers. The top 3 drawers look like this on the inside...... Yes they are all full. Do I need more chipboard? ummmm Yeah. LOL You can never have toooo much chipboard. It's almost like shoes.

So what do you store your chipboard in? I need to figure out something that I can set on top of this to store more chipboard. Any ideas? Oh and it has to look pretty so either it comes looking great or it's something I can alter.

So far my morning has been very productive. I uploaded all the Fancy Pants Images into the store. OMG The Clair de Lune and Mulberry road lines are Scrumptious. Total eye candy. If you haven't seen it yet check out the What's New section at Scrappin Trends .

Don't forget about the huge Paper Sale going on at Scrappin Trends and till the 19th of November with every order you get a FREE Hambly Journaling Bits Overlay in Black

I can see clearly now

the rain has gone. LOL

Yes I have been singing that song all day. TODAY there has been NO rain. wooohoooo Although like they say tomorrow is another day. This week has been a pretty good week so far. On Monday I got an e-mail from Paper ART magazine for my altered treasure box that went to Memory Trends with Stemma. One of my favorite projects. So i'm wayyyyyyyy excited about that. Yesterday at Scrapbook Dreamer My layout "True Colors" was LOTD (layout of the day) I so love that layout. Now to keep my fingers crossed for a few other submissions.

Oh and to top it all off. Yesterday Fancy Pants and We R Memory Keepers annouced there Design Team call. So totally excited about all this. I totally LOVE Fancy Pants and JODY is soooooooo super sweet. I knew the DT was coming I just didn't know when. So i'm totally stoked. We R Memory Keepers another favorite company. I totally love there products. So will I be doing both calls? I'm not sure yet but I do know I will be sending in my stuff for Fancy Pants. We will have the complete (yes the FULL) NEW Fancy Pants Lines in Stock Next week at Scrappin Trends . The Clair de Lune line is scrumptious. It is a Christmas line. Yall are just gonna eat it up. The Mulberry Road line is ohhlala and would make some great Valentine projects. We have all 5 of the Rub-ons coming as well. Some more of that YUMMY BIGGEST CHIPBOARD. Those Alpha letters are amazing. We have some in stock now and I have more on it's way. So if your looking for some Fancy Pants New products we will have the images up for these later on this evening in the store and ready to order. They just won't ship till we get the product next week. We also have 3 other Fancy Pants lines in the store and ON SALE. They are going fast so don't wait.

On the home front. Noah comes home today with an assignment in his photography class. They have to take a few pictures of one of there parents. UGH...... GULP.... I totally hate my picture being taken. So yes he was totally shocked when I said yes to him. He was thinking I would have to tie his dad down so he could take his picture. LOL So he got the camera and not just any camera in the house he wanted to play with my new Olympus Evolt. So the awesome mom that I am I let him. I have some major bags under my eyes from not feeling well the past few days. So for your amusement here they are. Now don't be blowing these up and throwing darts at them. LOL

I totally love that camera. To get a shot of someones true eye color is difficult on some cameras and as you can see I have 3 different colors that make up my eye color. People always tell me that I have cool eyes. I really like that shot and I think I will scrap it.

Don't forget about the SKETCH CHALLENGE that I put up on the blog a few days ago. Scroll down to see the details I have a great RAK package ready to go. I will say this. It has some HAMBLY in it. If that doesn't get you moving then I don't know what will.

Rain Rain Go Away

Here in the state of Washington we have just been getting hit with loads of rain.

They say these storms that we are getting back to back are really bad. The flooding that is going on out here is crazy. The news says the storms are the worse they have seen in over a decade.

A friend of hubby's and mine took these pictures. I'm not sure where he lives but it's only about 20 minutes from us.

Can you imagine sharing your road with Salmon?

Or what about a house floating down the river?

I just can't imagine. Where we live at the rivers are all overflowing. We live up high enough that it isn't an impact on our home but several streets out here are closed due to the river overflowing.

I plan on going out today to take some pictures of my own if we get a break in the rain. We are suppose to have a few dry spots today.

November Sketch Challenge

So with all the great e-mails I have received about my sketch in the Nov/Dec Ezine at Scrappin Trends I decided I would use that sketch as my first challenge. Do a layout using this sketch. Once your done reply to this entry with a link to your layout. You can also view the EZINE to see how a few of the Design Team Gals at Scrappin Trends used this sketch.

Have your layout links up by November 27th.

I will pick my favorite layout and send that person a rak with some awesome scrap goodies.

I only send out the best products and I would never ever send out anything I wouldn't use myself.

Thanks to all who sent me e-mails... They totally make my day.

Sketches

I love to design Scrapbook layout sketches. More then scrapping with a sketch. lol Sometimes it's hard to think out of the box on a certain sketch and while others just totally fill you up with inspiration. I love checking out the sketches that Amy Elkins designs for Layout Blueprints . They are always full of inspiration. I love to do one page layouts. I don't know why. I seldom do 2 page layouts and Layout Blueprints has helped me with doing more 2 page layouts. I just started to design the sketches for the Ezine at Scrappin Trends. The Nov/Dec issue has a fun sketch. I have got a ton of e-mails from people that receive the ezine about my sketches and it has totally made me want to keep on designing. I have always loved to design stuff as a kid and well I don't think I will ever stop. So I decided to put up a sketch each month on my blog and make it a challenge. My next blog entry will say more about the challenge. Here is a sketch I did a while back that we used at Scrappin Trends for round 2 of the summer bash contest.

The other option

So in the scrapbooking world as most of my friends are a part of. We have all become to love our poster paint sharpies.... Well they can be kind of hard to come by. Then when you do find them they are a bit expensive. Yes I have paid over $3.00 just to get my hands on a sharpie. So if your like me and love your white sharpie then of course you want other colors so the search begins all over again. Well being a Scrapbook store owner (Scrappin Trends) I get e-mails all the time for sharpies and yes I have ordered them and sold out within days. We put them in our kits and those sold out in days and we have even had a waiting list for them. Yes crazy I know. Anyway those that know me know I am always willing to help the next scrapper. Get you the things your looking for. Yes I even ordered up a ton of Prima vases for the contest going on now just to help people get what they wanted. So anyway back to sharpies. So a few months back I found a different white paint marker that was also acid free. So I had to purchase it. Got home tried it and loved it just as much as my sharpie. To be honest with you. I think it is better then then sharpie on Darker paper. The white seems to be more white then the sharpie that tends to be a bit off white if you know what I mean. So yes I have been on the look out to find more of these paint markers. So the other day while I was shoping at Wal-Mart Yes Wal-mart. I was looking in there craft section by the paint and the wood alpha letters when I looked up and guess what I found.... Yup they were there all this time. I never would of thought that Wal-Mart had what I was looking for. Plus they had them in color packages with 5 different colors in each. So if your still looking for sharpies go and check out your local Wal-Mart in the Craft sections for these little babies. They come in Fine point and Medium point tips.

They are made by Elmer's They say they are Non Toxic (great for kids), Acid Free!!

You will not be disapointed with these and the best thing is they are $7.97 for a package of 5. You can also get them one at a time. I got a silver metalic one for $2.57 which I think was a bit more then the regular colors because it was metalic but I could be wrong.

Be sure to come back and let me know what you think of these because I know you will be running out to Wal-Mart to find these.

I love Halloween

With it only being 7 days away I have totally been in the Halloween Spirit.

I scrapped this layout on Friday and I just totally love how it turned out.

I used the Halloween Spooky Kit and Embellishment Kit the we put together at Scrappin Trends

I can't wait for Halloween this year.. I am just keeping my fingers crossed that all goes well and we will be home for trick or treating.

Things that can happen on a sidewalk...

Have you ever thought about all the things that have happened to you on a sidewalk or being in the wrong place at the right or wrong time?

I have been doing a lot of thinking or you can even call it soul searching. You know the kind of thinking you do when everything is at peace or it's totally quiet in your house and you just consume it and get into deep thought about the things around you, the things that have recently happened to you and those things that for some reason are never very far from your thoughts.

This week something not so great happened to me.

I had to fax a few documents off and went into one of those mail box etc places. Ones I hardly ever go to but I knew if I stopped at Staples to fax (like I usually do) I would leave there with a cart of thing that well I either need or think I need. So I thought I would go to a place where I can just fax and leave. Well after I got done getting my documents faxed and paid I was walking out and an elderly lady was walking out the door at the same time. So I helped her out with her cart she was pushing. We were standing on the sidewalk chatting waiting for cars to pass so we can get to our destination (mine was my car). When a very large man comes bolting out of a store near by and running down the sidewalk. We were watching this man get closer and closer to us. I thought he was going to keep on running. Well he decided he would get a kick out of pushing me and the lady off the sidewalk. He pushed us very hard off the sidewalk. I fell into the parking lot as the lady and her cart on top of me. Almost getting hit by a car. I looked up at the car and realized it was a police car. The officer jumped out of his car looked at me and the lady as I yelled we are ok just catch him. So the officer took off after the man. Store owners and customers came out to help me and the lady up and get all of her stuff back into her cart. The rescue squad came and checked me and the lady out. We were ok but very sore. The police man did catch the man who we found out was stealing stuff from one of the game stores near by. I have talked with the elderly lady and she is doing well. I am still a bit sore and bruised pretty badly. My right leg is bruised from my right thigh all the way to my toes. I am just very thankful that this man didn't have a weapon.

The good thing about what happened is the elderly lady didn't get hurt as bad as I did and we exchanged numbers and we have called each other several times checking on one another. On Tuesdays I am picking her up and taking her grocery shopping as she doesn't have a car and no family around to help. She will be with us on Thanksgiving and if we don't go out of town for Christmas I will be inviting her as well.

In getting hurt and taking time to rest and relax I read a great book.

I haven't read in some time due to being so busy. I love to read. I usually read a book a day.

If you are looking for a book full of laughter, a dog who is always snatching someone's food, an aunt that loves to go on high speed chases, A sexy carpenter and oh yeah a yuppie flasher. Then "Smitten" by Janet Evanovich is for you. It's a great read for those cold rainy days that you just want to cuddle up with a blanket and sit by the fireplace or even curl up with your man and read for an afternoon.

I am currently reading "The Rocky Road To Romance" by Janet Evanovich. I'll tell you all about that tomorrow. It's great so far.

Changing colors...

I just love it when the leaves start to change colors. That is one thing I miss about back home. You can watch the trees for days and days change colors. Here in Washington it seems like one day they are green the next they are a different color and then there brown and falling off the tree.

My daughter is now in Jr. High and with that she has started to come out of her shell so to speak. She is starting to voice her own opinions. Pick out her own outfits and yes she has started to shop in the Jr. Section. Not the little girl section any more. I don't mind it as long as it's all in good taste. So when we seen this shirt not only did we fall in love with it, but the first thing that came to mind was omg I have paper at home that will go awesome with that. LOL My daughter and husband laughed and shooked there heads at me like I was a complete nut case. On the other hand I loved it and couldn't wait till I caught her in the shirt and could take a picture to scrap.

It goes perfect doesn't it? LOL

So yes things have been busy. I think my pace this week has been as fast as the leaves changing colors out here. Boxes and boxes and boxes have been pouring in for the store and i'm waiting for more. Sharpies will be in this week. So excited about that. In all kinds of colors. Plus the rest of my Halloween kit stuff. I can't wait to sit down and play with all of that great stuff. I just love halloween. So on top of unloading boxes and sorting paper we picked 7 new design team members for Scrappin Trends. Well Sara and Susan had there work cut out for them. They picked 5 and made me pick the last one and well I couldn't decide so I picked two. lol The team is amazing. If you haven't checked out the gallery at Scrappin Trends you need to. It is sooooooooo full of inspiration. Amazing to look at.

So if you don't hear from me on my blog in a few days it may be because I am under a pile of amazing papers. lol

What makes you laugh?

I love watching my children. Especially when they don't realize i'm watching them. My little guy (Joshua) cracks me up all the time. He is a character. At 5 he says and does the most amazing things. He loves to read and do math. He can add numbers in his head already. Everyday when he wakes up he say "mom give me a math question." So I always have to have one ready for him. There not just those "what's 2 + 2" questions. This morning his question was.

If mommy had 8 cookies and gave 2 to Joshua 1 to Isaiah, 2 to Noah and 1/2 of 1 to Miranda how many would mommy have left. He laughed right away and says mom come on that is so easy it's 2 1/2!!!

So tomorrow morning I am gonna make it harder on him. lol

So back to the question at hand.... what makes you laugh????

In thinking of that question all week. I came across a picture earlier this week that I just had to use for the Arctic Frog Deal of No Deal challenge.

The Challenge this week is to use a comic book one word expression on your layout.

So when I seen this certain picture I knew exactly what I wanted to do after my husband pointed out that infact the word I wanted to use is in a comic book which they turned into a movie. I didn't realize it was a comic book before. Thank goodness my hubby knows his comic books! LOL

I hope this layout makes yall laugh as much as it has made us laugh.

So really it's the simple things in life that make us laugh the most. Seriously think about it. We always get a great laugh when we watch our children, pets, spouses etc and we get even bigger laughs when they don't realize we are watching them. Simple!!! It feels great to laugh and well it puts a smile on your face. So make sure you reflect on the simple things in your life and get a great laugh out of it.

I LOVE MUSIC

Music..... I love music. I am always singing. I drove hubby nuts this morning with a song and now he can't get it out of his head! LOL The funny thing is I have no idea how I know this song or who sings it. "Puff the magic dragon" LOL Yeah that must of been something that my mother listened to!!!LOL

So Music is my thing!

I love the freedom of music. That artist can write what they are feeling, put it in a song and let the world hear it. AWESOME!

So those that know me know I love Billie Joe from Green Day.. MMM MMM MMM Next to hubby that is! LOL

So I decided to start a Rocker Challenge on www.ScrappinTrends.com The challenge is that you have to do a layout with your favorite rocker, group etc. Use there Album cover as your sketch for the layout..

So I did Billie Joe aka Green Day....

I totally LOVE how it turned out!!!! I did the layout on a piece of glass to get the effect I wanted.

The cover of the album is kind of cool. It has a clear hard cover that slips over the case. So when you slip it off the case it is clear with all the photos, titles etc. on it. Totally cool! That's why I used glass for the layout! LOL

Wow it's been awhile

What can I say... I have been totally busy this summer. I can't believe the summer has come and gone with school starting next week.. Wow where does the time go? So we went on vacation this summer. We took a month long trip back home to Illinois. It had been awhile since I seen my parents, little brother and family. I so missed them and Loved every min. of my visit. Just being around family really made me miss them more. I know it sounds totally weird but when you haven't been home for 5 years. You just keep on missing everyone. I really think I miss my dad the most. I am a daddy's girl and I swear I can't go a few days without calling him to see how he is and what he has been up to. I swear he must think i'm crazy, but I love to check up on him. My mom is always on the go so I feel like I have to. LOL

Well today was kind of a bummer day!!!

Scenic Route DT calls went out today and well I didn't get a call. Something I was hoping for, but with over 500 submissons and only 9 spots. They sure can't pick everyone!!!

However

Chelsea from Stemma really liked my Altered Treasure Chest that I just did and wants to display it at Memory Trends. I am soooooo super excited about this. So this totally made my day!!! To have something that I made for myself to be on display at a big show like Memory trends is totally HUGE for me!!!! I did submit to the design team call at Stemma. I will keep keeping my fingers crossed for that one!! It would be such an honor to design for a company like Stemma. They were the company that totally blew me away at CHA. They were so fun and friendly and always asked how you were doing. Awesome awesome Team!

Our Hero's We will never forget you!!!

Today is Memorial day. So today is one of those days that we just can't forget what all our service men and woman do for us.


The USS Cole

A navy ship which was harbored in the Yemeni port of Adem on Oct 12, 2000 was attacked suddenly by two suicide bombers said to have been sent by Osama Bin Laden. 17 crew members passed away that day...leaving 37 critically injured. May they rest in peace.

September 11th

Then just over a year later America was attacked again by the same man (Osama Bin Laden). Only this time with much more force. The Twin towers, which housed thousands of civilian workers, our airports and planes and our Pentagon.

At 9:43 a.m., a hijacked Boeing 757 slammed into part of the 29-acre complex used by uniformed and civilian employees of the U.S. military. The crash killed about 200 people, including all 64 on the plane. Tens of thousands more were evacuated.

May we never forget!!

USS Abraham Lincoln: The “Gray Angel”

Almost immediately after the tsunami struck, the USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) Carrier Strike Group began making its way from Hong Kong to the west coast of Sumatra, Indonesia, where the ships, in coordination with the Indonesian government, would focus on relief efforts with Indonesian forces, other countries’ forces, and international agencies in the Banda Aceh region. The Ship took position off the island of Sumatra with their helicopters that became critical to the relief effort. The carrier group also housed and transported international relief workers.

Upon arriving off the coast of Sumatra on 1 January 2005, sailors from the USS Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group began working around the clock to deliver relief supplies ashore to the tsunami victims. The strike group’s Commander, U.S. Navy Rear Adm. William Douglas Crowder, said the volunteer spirit aboard the ship was hard to deny. Earlier he told reporters, “I’ve got about 6,500 sailors in the strike group, and as I was walking around the ship, they were tugging at my sleeves and saying, ‘Admiral, I want to volunteer to help.’”

The USS Abraham Lincoln is very dear to my heart and is forever a name that will be in our stories for many years to come. My husband is Stationed aboard the USS Abrahamn Lincoln and I am proud to say he was part of the Tsunami relief mission. We hate to see our sailors go but to know that they are out there protecting us and many many others. Makes me proud to say My husband is a USS Abrahamn Lincoln Sailor.

It's all about the TAE KWON DO!!

Being a military family with a hubby that is active duty can cause some problems. We are waiting on new orders and well we have a general idea on where we will be moving. So I start looking into Tae kwon do dojang's well the closest one is 1 hour away and I haven't called to find out if it's WTF (world tae kwon do federation) Tae Kwon Do yet or not! There is about 4 or 5 different forms of tae kwon do that is taught and well my oldest is a black belt and will have his 2nd degree black belt before we move and the younger one is getting his green belt this Saturday at the belt ceremony and will have his senior brown by time we move. I don't mind driving an hour away but the odd's are this dojang isn't even WTF! So how do I break it to my kids that there tae kwon do journey will have to be put on hold for 4 YEARS??? I just don't have the heart to let them down. So I tell hubby we seriously can't move there! LOL He wasn't impressed! So what is a mom to do?? You can bet this subject isn't over with in this house! LOL Below are some pics of my oldest doing Tae Kwon DO!

Another layout using CherryArte once again.

I just couldn't help using these pictures from crazy hair day with the CherryArte Boys Boys paper line. I also had to use some new chipboard shapes I got my hands on by a new company!!! They totally rocked...
Doesn't he look cute with his blue mohawk?? LOL He is so silly and can't wait for another Crazy hair day at school!

Ok and how cool is this