National Scrapbooking Month

This is my favorite month of the year!  Not only is it my birthday, which I start celebrating as early as I can, but it is National Scrapbooking Month!  That means I get to organize a full day crop and I plan to get a ton of my scrapbooking done!  Our Crop day is always the first Saturday of May, and I am STOKED to be headed to a full day of scrapbooking and no interruptions!

I have already pulled my pictures and put them with the B&T papers I want to use for Saturday.  That, for me, is half the battle.  Once I have that done, I just pull out my CTMH design books and start creating!  I am planning on pulling enough cardstock today to get through all those paper packs without bringing my whole scrapbooking room to the crop.  And, I have already decided that my mission (and I do choose to accept it) is to use chipboard and embellishments, brads and eyelets, waxy flax and sparkles on ALL my pages!  I am guilty of under embellishing, so, I am going to glitter and grunge all day Saturday!

I will start cooking on Friday and have everything ready for my friends that are coming to play with me on Saturday.  Crock-pot Fajitas and lots of munchies to get us through the day!  My car will be packed Friday night, and DH has already volunteered to come with my Saturday morning and get things unloaded and set up so we girls can play.  What a good guy!  I think that is my favorite birthday present.  He is so wonderful about helping me with my scrapbooking business and all of the fun events I have with my friends.  What more could a girl ask for?


Well, you know I hate to publish a blog without pictures, so I am posting the CLUB projects my little group of friends did last month!  We used the LUCY paper packet from CTMH and made these wonderful cards!  I love how soft and dreamy the papers are.

And I had an awful time finding pictures to use on the scrap book page for this paper.  I resorted to digging out my college pictures.  And these are them!!  ha ha   I don't have very many, so I had to make them work.   I must not have owned a camera in college, or I am nothing like my oldest son, who live in front of the camera!! The picture of me with the beer (probably the first one I drank in front of my parents) is one of my favorite pictures of myself.  I don't know why, but it is.  I am glad to see it in a book finally!  

So, there you have it.  My girly pages!  ha ha   The rest of my paper pack is going to be used for birthday and sympathy cards, and maybe some pictures for the book I keep of my clients at the salon.  A bunch of prom girls in that book!   Now, I am off to finish packing for NSD and get myself to work today!  

See you soon, c

Check out this month's special from Close to my Heart!  I just got mine and can't wait to play with it.  You can get one for yourself by placing an order from the Spring/Summer idea book for $35.00 or more in product between April 17 and May 31. You will get the 'Dotty for You' paper pack for only $5.00. That is a great deal considering the paper packet includes 24 coordinating B&T duos and an idea sheet!  Not bad for $5.

You could also have me come and do a gathering for you and your friends to earn this paper pack. Invite all of your friends to come and spend a fun afternoon making cards or a scrapbook page and if you gather $400 in sales, you can get the paper pack for FREE!  And you get to have a great time playing with friends.

One other way to get this paper pack for FREE, sign up to be a Close to my Heart demonstrator. This is the funnest job I have ever had and the cost is minimal.  Sign up this month and get the Dotty for You paper pack FREE!

Contact me if you are interested in any of these options!  I would love to hear from you.

What Happened to Winter?

I can't believe it is April already.  We had a long and painful last month or two.  We've managed to catch every single bug that has run through town.  I am tired of being sick!  It has also really put a damper on getting anything done not only around the house, but in my scrapbooking room.  I managed to get the Club projects done on time (barely) and managed to have a meeting with some of my new recruits just this last week, but things have really suffered.

Today, I am feeling much better and hoping to get on the road to accomplishment.  I spend most of the morning working on my taxes (something I am NEVER putting off this long again) and this afternoon, after maybe a quick nap, I am planning on getting started on my club projects for April.  We have a busy month, with a little trip to Denver in the mix, so I really want to get things started early.

I am starting to plan our wonderful FIFTH ANNUAL NATIONAL SCRAPBOOKING DAY!  On May 5, a bunch of us will be meeting at 8AM and scrapbooking our little hearts out until about midnight.  I am so excited!  I have already ordered my pictures and am planning my pages! I hope to get a ton of pages done and use up more paper!  I really need to whittle down my supplies.  I have a hard time buying new stuff when I know what is sitting at home.  What do you do to use up paper?  I am trying to budget more scrapping time in my week and hopefully use up paper not just on pages, but get some cards going again.  I have really fallen behind on that.  I think I may be putting some of my cards in the salon for sale this year.  We will see how that goes.

Well, I have probably rambled enough for now.  I am sorry no art went up today, I will make sure and have some next time I post.  See you soon - c

A New Addiction

I'm sure you all know that I have a small problem with SPIDER SOLITAIRE, and that I spend a LOT of time on the internet and in my scrapbooking room.  Well, add PANDORA radio, and PINTREST to those addictions, and I have a Very Serious Problem!  This is Crazy!

It all started when I sent my alarm clock to Denver with Will.  Well, that was my radio in the scraproom.  A few days ago, I remembered that a friend of Will's had put Pandora on my phone, and I loved it!!  I can tell it what artists I like, and it plays those artists and that style of music.  I can set it to shuffle, or just one artist. It is wonderful for when I am scrapping and I love that I can change it all depending on my mood.    So anyway, I remembered hearing that they had a version for the computer now.  I downloaded it to the computer in my room and it hasn't been turned off since.   I love spending time in my scraproom now as long as I have something to listen too.  Especially when DH is going to bed at 6PM, I need some company.  PANDORA is it!

And then there is PINTEREST.  WOW!  What an amazing product (or time waster!!) I love that I can pin 'stuff' to my 'boards' without it taking up room on my computer and I can refer to to any time I want.  I especially love it for the recipe ideas I have gotten.  Just this week I am planning on trying 2 that I found on pinterest.   So many times in the past I would see something and think I "might" use that someday and either write down a website on a slip of paper (you DO NOT want to know how many of these are all over my house) or I would hope I would remember where I saw it later when I needed it.  With PINTEREST, you have it!  Boom!  Just check your board.  And you can pin anything from any website, blog, or other internet location.  I spent one whole day surfing other pinners sites (I do not recommend this - nothing got done!) It can be a waste of time, but maybe with some self control (OK - stop laughing!!) it will be the best thing since sliced bread.  For me anyway.

Well, I'm off to continue getting ready for the retreat next weekend.  I am going to try not to bring everything I own, so I am starting to pack now.  I will chat with you all again soon!  c

Another week

Do you ever have those weeks where you just can't seem to get ahead?  I think I am having one of those.  I had great visions of pictures on my blog this week, but haven't really taken any pictures.  I need to get my camera out.  I should show you what I know is slowing down all my creativity.  My scrap room!  It is still a total disaster, and I have made some progress since the Christmas clean up.

I'll tell you what, I have a couple extra days off of work this week (sad!  very slow week for me.) So I will clean up one area and post a picture by Friday.  I am going to be accountable, even though I am getting ready for a class and need to get some personal scrapping done (like Christmas! hello!) I will put together a storage box from Micheal's I've had for months, and get that whole wall of my room cleaned up and post pictures. Maybe you can even give me some storage tips. I think I could use them!

So, I have my list of 10 things to get done today.  And then I will get to work on this room.  One of the things on my list is Hobby Lobby, so don't look for me too soon!  :)   c

A new Class for my Friends!

I have been meaning to get a project done so that I could post it here, so that I could teach a class on it.  And then, well, life happened.  I have mentioned that before on this blog I believe. It was in the plans for last week and I was lucky enough to catch the stomach bug that has been going around, so I didn't get it made.  But, that doesn't mean that I don't want to teach the class. So, here are some pictures of the envelope album I am going to be teaching on the 29th.  Only, imagine it is a winter theme, in blues and greys.  With lots of snowflakes and glitter.  You get the idea!  You are all creative talented people, I know you can imagine it.

The front cover

Look at all the room for pictures and journaling!! 

And the TAGS!  my goodness!

This looks so hard, but it really is a fun easy project. 

I would love to teach you how.  

Just contact me and we will get you signed up for the class!

Don't forget though, think SNOW!  Ours will be COOL!

See you in class!  c

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

How is everyone doing out there?  I, wanting to remain consistent and all, am way behind on life right from the bell!  Our Christmas was lovely, but then things kinda fell apart around here, for me at least.  As you all know, I don't deal with change well.  That old German in me digs her feet in and drags along, fussing and moaning for as long as possible.  I feel like our whole last 2 years has been nothing but transition.  The final straw, my oldest son moved back to Denver on Dec 28.

Now, I know this doesn't sound like much, but my house is all tore apart once again.  He leaves, his friend moves in, he comes home, his friend leaves, hubby changes jobs (several times!) and now he leaves again!  Whew!  I am hoping, after this weekend when I take his furniture to him in Denver, my household can settle down into boring, DULL, routine.  That is where I function best and that is what I am praying for in 2011.  BORING AND DULL!

So, on to life.  About the time Will left, my computer started really acting up.  Thank goodness we have been saving to get a new desktop.  Our first weekend of the new year was spent looking for the best deal on a computer.  We ended up getting this wonderful desktop that is all in one.  I have always hated having to deal with the CPU tower, and this computer has the CPU in the screen!  LOVE IT!!

Right now it is in my scrap booking room, but next week, we will have OUR OWN OFFICE!! Jamie is moving into Will's old room (of course) and we are taking over his bedroom.  I am so excited to be acquiring more space.  I may even have some place to keep my scrapbooks while I am not working on them.  Ultimately, I hope to actually finish some!  OMG  Can you imagine??  hee hee

Christmas was so wonderful.  I celebrated many times with friends and family.  I just want to share a few of the fun pictures from our parties.

In Sturgis, we did a Yankee Gift Exchange where you can 'steal' the gifts.  It was so nice and polite in the beginning, but got ruthless at the end!  :)  I don't think I have laughed that hard in ages!

We exchanged home made gifts in my Rapid City groups. Love these matching gift bags and cards made by Rachel.

 Look what Deb got!

A beautiful Holiday wreath made from our AP philosophy cartridge and CTMH papers. 

Ginny doesn't look too sure about this. 

And this is me, with my friend Sally who drew my name.  She made me this adoreable bank from a glass block. The words are "my fund" and it has a button to hang what ever tag I want.  The one shown says "motorcycle" but I also have tags for shoes, chocolate and party.  What a great idea. 

Because some of our supplies were back ordered, we did a whole different project that all my other groups. We did candy cane toppers.  They turned out so Cute!!  Thanks to my up-line for the great instructions and idea. 

So, back to this new year thing .... I have some goals, all lofty and probably beyond what I'm really able to accomplish, but worth a good effort any way.  Maybe you would like to play along with me?
1. Scrap 3 pages a week (I was going to say day, but we all know that won't happen!  ha ha )
             one current,one from an unfinished project and one from my BOOK OF ME
2. plan and execute one additional workshop per month for all of 2012
3. Continue to make and send cards overseas for the soldiers allowing us to live as wonderfully as we do.
4. USE UP SUPPLIES!~!
5. HAVE FUN and play with my friends more.

See, that's not too bad.  Now, what are your resolutions?

I think this post must be long enough to make up for how long it has been since I have been here. So, I am off to do some more scrap booking.  See you all soon!  c