Back from South Louisiana

I'm back from South Louisiana! I taught scrapbook classes at Scrapfest and the ladies were so wonderful! I got to visit with some old friends and ate some yummy food. I hooked up with an artist friend, Kerrie Jones. She talked me in to joining her and her artists friends on the streets of the French Quarter - WITH my paintings NEXT SPRING! I'm so excited.

The only photos I have of my weekend were when Kerrie brought her camera to lunch. I forgot to pack my new camera! Thanks, Kerrie!

144 Class kits to make - oh my!

I'm almost finished! I'm teaching at Scrapfest at the end of the month and I have to prepare 144 class kits. That means cutting every single piece of paper. I haven't scrapped all week and I'm having withdrawals. I'm trying to convince hubby that assembly line cutting of paper does NOT count as scrapbooking.

If any of you are going to be in South Louisiana in 2 weeks - check out the scrapbook convention. It will be fun!

X-Treme Boys

Boys will be boyz and extreme boyz at that. The skate park in our town is temporarily closed and they don't have a place to skateboard. One of the boys' grandpa encouraged them to build a ramp for them to skate (luckily he allowed them to do it in his yard). I tried out my new camera with it's continuous shooting feature - loved the pics. I was glad to get Daniel in action and now I'll have some fresh new things to put in his scrapbook.

Crossed Paths has a new contest!

Crossed Paths announces their first on-line competition! MIX-IT UP simply requires you to use at least two of their lines, on one project; but feel free to use more. Entries can include a single or double page, altered item or card. The competition runs from the 1st until the 31st of March and the winner will be announced on the 5th April.

Need some inspiration? Check out how our Designers interpreted this Challenge. We are looking forward to seeing what you do with our various paper, sticker and embellishment lines!

Up for grabs is a complete pack of the new Crossed Paths EASTER line (two of each of the following: paper, tags, ribbons, resins, crosses & stickers.

You can get all the details and see samples of this challenge at

Crossed Paths

Can it just stay "March" for a few months?

I'm really loving this month. Beautiful weather. Arielle was playing outside again and I snapped this picture of her with my new camera. Loving it!

It feels like SPRING already!

Don't hate me. It has been the absolute most BEAUTIFUL spring-like weather here this week. I say "don't hate me" because in 4 months we will be melting. We never get snow, and when we do get ice - people her don't know how to drive in it and wreck their cars and injure people. But - today the weather was beautiful!! Around 6pm this evening, I realized I needed to take some photos (duh - how can I forget about my new camera??). So, even tho the sun was going down - I snapped these. Jasmine was having fun digging and trying to catch dirt clods that Jeff was throwing at her. She was moving so fast that I only got one good photo of her. Arielle was in the sandbox - a sandbox with PINK sand, mind you.

New Words

Okay - I had to share these. I got these off of Tia Bennett's blog. Too cute!

(makes me think of Arielle calling caterpillars pattakillers.)

The Mensa Invitational once again asked members to take any word from the dictionary, alter it by adding, subtracting, or changing one letter, and supply a new definition. Here are the year 2005's winners:

1. Intaxication: Euphoria at getting a tax refund, which lasts until you realize it was your money to start with.

2. Reintarnation: Coming back to life as a hillbilly

3. Bozone (n.): The substance surrounding stupid people that stops bright ideas from penetrating. The bozone layer, unfortunately, shows little sign
of breaking down in the near future.

4. Cashtration (n.): The act of buying a house, which renders the subject financially impotent for an indefinite period.

5. Giraffiti: Vandalism spray-painted very, very high. (This was my favorite.) :)

6. Sarchasm: The gulf between the author of sarcastic wit and the person who doesn't get it.

7. Inoculatte: To take coffee intravenously when you are running late.

8. Hipatitis: Terminal coolness.

9. Karmageddon: It's like, when everybody is sending off all these really bad vibes, right? And then, like, the Earth explodes and it's like, a
serious bummer.

10. Decafalon (n.): The grueling event of getting through the day consuming only things that are good for you.

11. Glibido: All talk and no action.

12. Dopeler effect: The tendency of stupid ideas to seem smarter when they come at you rapidly. (Also known as the O'Reilly effect)

13. Arachnoleptic fit (n.): The frantic dance performed just after you've accidentally walked through a spider web.

14. Beelzebug (n.): Satan in the form of a mosquito, that gets into your bedroom at three in the morning and cannot be cast out.

15. Caterpallor (n.): The color you turn after finding half a worm in the fruit you're eating.

I love Cards!

Admit it - we all love getting cards in the mail! I've been trying to get some cards made to send to all my convention sponsors. I uploaded a few old and recently published cards in my 2 Peas gallery today. I'm trying to get a few done with Scenic Route's new papers! They sent me a sampling of their 2 new lines and I can't wait to play with it. I got one done so far and it's in my gallery.

I challenge you this week to send a friend a CARD this week! Just to let them know you are thinking of them. We all like getting cards, right?

Hope the rest of your week is great!

Scrapfest Convention in South Louisiana

It's almost here - The Scrapfest Convention is just a few weeks away! I'll be teaching six classes there. I have wonderful sponsors including Flair Designs, Scenic Route, Prism Papers, Imagination Project (Gin-X), Nunn Designs, Sarah Heidt Photocraft, Creative Impressions, and Adhesive Tech. If you are in the area - I hope you can attend - and try to find me and say hello! I'd love to meet you!

Here's the link to the convention

Scrapfest Productions

It's FRIDAY!

It's Friday! I just created a simple layout from our beach trip last summer. Arielle, who loves the water (afterall, she think's she was named after Ariel - the mermaid) - didn't want to get her "pretty new dress" wet. I assured her that it was perfectly fine this time.

I'll have two cards in the special holiday issue from Papercrafts! It should be in the stores in the late fall. Have a great weekend!

Birthday Cake

I made a layout with the new CHA Released Crossed Paths paper called "Delight". Arielle just had her 4th birthday. This layout is featured in the Crossed Paths Gallery.

I'm going to a crop tonight - so I hope I get more things done and finally get to use things from my CHA Designer bag!

Back to the paper and glue!

Now that I'm back from CHA in Vegas - it's back to the paper and glue. And to motivate me - I had two things picked up this week. One for Memory Makers 502 idea book and another for the new Layout Blueprints idea book.

I have plenty of motivation for pages, my CHA photos and Arielle's 4th birthday party photos!

More CHA pics...

And what would Vegas be without Elvis....

Various CHA photos

These are a variety of pics from the show that I was able to get. I met fellow Crossed Paths members Mimi Schramm and Kathleen Summers. We took a photo in front of the booth. I took some pics of some work I had at Everlasting Keepsakes booth and at Limited Edition / Art Warehouse / Hampton Art's booth. I met my fellow Scrapfriends Review team members at the designer dinner - Eli (who is also on the Spellbinders team), Catherine Sebree, and Kathleen Campos (Zsiagette). I'm waiting on more designer dinner photos from other cameras (so hurry and send them please). And I met my "bestest" friend in person - Cindy Smith along with her Paper Salon team member Linda Beeson (in the photo, too) and met the rest of the team but didn't take pics.
Ali Edwards came in our booth but she really wanted to look and I resisted asking for a photo. I met Tim Holtz briefly and at the end of the show, some of the Flair girls came back with all his demo stamps - so I'm now the proud owner of one of his very much used "dream" stamp.

CHA with FLAIR

The Flair Booth looked FABULOUS! The girls did a wonderful job setting it up. The new rub ons, scrapbeads and bag of tags are HOT as well as the True Love collection. The Flair Girls are fabulous. We all wore Flair T's on the last day. We went to Fatburger on Monday night (I kept calling it WhataBurger) with Stacy, Karen, Donna and Kelli Noto, Kathi (from scraptalk) and Becky Thompson. Then we went to M&M World (the Giant M&M store as Karen called it - where I thought they sold "giant" M&M's.) I bought some rare colored M&M's for the kids and resisted all the other cool M&M products that I now wish I would have bought. We also visited the coke store a couple doors down.. well, we actually wanted to use the upstairs ladies room facilities. My feet hurt SO BAD from standing in the booth all day and I absolutely could not walk another block that night. Here are more pics.

CHA Vegas! My Big Adventure

I made it to Vegas and back! I'm tired but wanted to update my blog just a bit.

I left Sunday at noon on a small.. what Cindy Curtis calls a "puddle jumper" plane. It had 3 aisles of seats.. Aisle A,D and E. I was seated in 6B. Go figure!!!

When I got to Houston I phoned my husband. He and Arielle were watching me board the small connection plane and Arielle yes yelling something to me. Of course, I couldn't hear her. Jeff said she was yelling:

"Bye Mommy. Go have an adventure!"

On my flight to Phoenix I sat next to an asian lady on her way to Alaska who gave me hopia. Is hopia legal? Just kidding. It was quite tasty. Her name was Cindy. Cindy - if you ever find my blog (because I forgot the blog address - let me know if that list of ingredients was correct).

On my way from Phoenix to Vegas, I was fortunate to sit next to a flight attendant flying to Vegas for a job. Her last name was Kuhlman and I had to ask if she was related to Kathryn K. She said "no" but her miracle child daughter was named after her.

It was a mad dash to get a shuttle to the hotel just in time to catch the Flair girls as they headed out to the Bellagio for dinner at the Olives. The food was fantastic. We ordered 3 desserts and passed them around the table so we could sample everything. We went to the fountains and watched the show and I almost cried. It was beautiful.

The Flair Girls actually have a cab driver that they call when they are in town. His name is Allen and when we have a big group and need 2 cabs, he calls a buddy. Allen insists on opening ALL the doors for us, will take you anywhere you want, and his business card says "what happens in vegas STARTS IN MY CAB". LOL

I'll post more later!

I'm January Guest Designer!

I'm the Guest Designer for January at Rocky Mountain Hobbies. They normally start the "month" on the 15th but were a bit behind this month. You can view my schtuff at

Guest Designer Gallery

I'm heading to CHA tomorrow. Cheack back - I'll try to update this (if I can get to a computer).

I'm Going to Vegas!

I just got my tickets! I'll be at CHA -Winter 06. Look for me at the Flair Designs Booth! You can read about CHA > >HERE!

Tagged!!

Okay - so Cindy Smith tagged me. That was yesterday. I guess I need to do this today so I can tag someone else.

3 Jobs You Have Had

1. Administrative Assistant (Real Estate Management)
2. Hospital Admissions Clerk
3. Supervisor for Computer Deptartment of Chiropractic Chains

3 Movies I Could Watch Over and Over

1. How To Lose A Guy in 10 days (or is it 7 days??)
2. The Matrix
3. The Sound of Music

3 Places I have lived (besides where I live now)

1. France
2. Klammoth Falls, Oregon
3. Natchitoches, Louisiana

3 Places I have been on vacation

1. Destin, Florida
2. Cancun Mexico
3. Washington, D.C.

3 Websites I Visit Every Day

Two Peas in a Bucket
Scrapfriends
Rocky Mountain Hobbies

3 of my favorite foods

1. Grilled Salmon
2. Chinese
3. Wedding Cake

3 Places I'd rather be right now

1. Somewhere Tropical
2. Touring Europe
3. DisneyWorld

3 Bloggers I am tagging:

1. Rachel Thacker



2. Catherine Sebree



3. Francine Lyon

A Jolly Old Soul

Arielle went to visit the man in the big green chair sitting in front of JCPenney's at the mall on Dec. 12. She really took to him this year. She didn't want much to do with the man from last year. She talked this dude's head off. He was a really jolly old soul.

Merry & Bright?

Took the kids to see Chicken Little today. It was Arielle's first time in the movie theater and she was wonderful. We picked up some Santa hats (didn't want to climb in the attic and look for last years...) Just playing around with doing indoor photo shoots with a backdrop. I hate the lighting and shadows. *sigh* It's not even December yet, and it's WARM here, so it's hard to think about Christmas! I wanted to do a family shoot, but Jeff had to work late - so I just played with Arielle. Jasmine joined in on the fun towards the end.

Louisiana Thanksgiving

It was a nice Louisiana Thanksgiving. A nice, warm (not hot), sunny day in the country at Jeff's brothers house. Arielle played with her younger cousins, and Daniel enjoyed the riding the 4-wheeler - even taking Mom for a ride. I took lots of photos and enjoyed watching the kids play. We even gathered on the huge front porch steps for a family gathering photo.

Next door is a stable with HORSES! We took the younger kids down for a visit.

Blah Blah Blah

I only blog when I have something to blog about... Hmmm... lets see... Oh - I thought of something. (he he). I won a random drawing at Scrapbook Resumes last week. They are celebrating their anniversary and giving away prizes daily! One of my prizes is a P3 paper organizer and it should arrive today! I can't wait. The whole prize package has a retail value of $150!

I did have an interesting phone call this morning from New York. It was from the secretary of a previous art collector - a collector of my SON'S art work, that is. When the 9-11 events happened, Daniel participated in the 9-11 charity art auctions on ebay. One of his collectors was extremely moved by his participation. When Katrina hit Louisiana, he was concerned about us and mailed Daniel a letter. The letter was returned because our address changed - so they tracked us down and phoned us. They are resending the letter. I wonder what it says. Anyway - you can view the art at this link http://www.ebsqart.com/ArtMagazine/za_109.htm

Speaking of art, I'm going to get to work on some new pieces and some commissions soon. I'm going to have to put up my scrapbook projects for several days. I love doing both but the transition for one medium of creating to the other is the tough part.

Heart Smart Potato?

My dad sent me a photo of something he dug up in his potato garden. He calls it his heart-smart potato. What else can I say?

Dad, you have a true green thumb.

Kids and their honesty

or curiosity. How do you teach a 3 1/2 year old outgoing young lady that it is NOT appropriate to tell an older gentleman that he has a big tummy? And that its not polite to tell him he has a baby in his tummy?

Oh, the joys of my delightfully verbal joy bundle.

Pa pa pa pa PUMKINS!!

Ever since we rode by last week I have heard nothing but "Are we going to the pumpkin patch? Are we going to the pumpkin patch?" from my eager little miss. Well, we took our first of hopefully many trips to the "pumpkin patch" today right after church. I love to get lots of family pics. We don't ever make it a point to get pics of the family together except at Christmas - so going to the patch is another excuse to play around with photos. The weather cooled off AGAIN (we had upper 90's again last week) so we could go without sweating. Now I have something new to put in my scrapbooks. I'm sure we'll be back SOON since somebody won't let me forget that the patch is open. Have a great day!

What????

So hubby was off work and wanted to go to the grocery store. I hopped on the motorcycle and he got on back. (wow - he let me drive?)He didn't want me to get on the interstate so I went through town. When we got home - I came to my computer desk in my scrapbook room and OH MY GOSH! My desk was cleaned off and what was missing?? My camera.. my scanner and my printer. WE HAD BEEN ROBBED! How in the ????. I opened up my supply closet to see what else they made off with. Hanging on the inside of the door was a Nikon camera bag. Hmmm. I don't have a Nikon. Then it hit me! My parents were in on this. My birthday was a few days away - and YES! They not only bought me a Nikon digicam - but a new printer! OH BOY! Mom couldn't help but clean off the clutter from my desk. Dad was mad that I 'figured' it out. He came out of hiding and asked why I opened the closet door. Duh - dad. I thought I was robbed.

So as we were hooking up all the new gadgets - I spied a HUGE flatbed scanner. My sister quickly pointed out that they didn't bring that - that was hubby's doing. I almost cried then. No more stitching my 12x12 pages together. WOW! I can't believe this. How did he know? Which one of my scrapper friends did he talk to?

Then I did cry. I woke up.
Oh well, a girl can dream.
Have a great day!
P.S. We don't have a motorcycle. : - )

I think Fall finally made it to the South

Welcome Fall! I think Fall has finally made it to the south. I opened up the door a few days ago and AAGHH - cool air. My dog is even insisting on sitting outside IN THE SUN to get warm. Don't get me wrong - we still need the A/C going but it was cool enough for hubby to trim bushes without sweating in the evening. Fall reminds me of bon fires with roasted weiners and marshmallows. I'm strange - I love my marshmellows nice and toasted - even scorched (dare I say burnt?). When we were younger - I remember having the largest bonfire ever. Dad had all the pinetrees cut from the front yard and that was the fuel for the fire. We even have photos of it (somewhere?). I love seeing harvest decorations in people's yards when you drive by (reminder... have hubby go to attic for fall wreath..) It's like fall is the "yellow light"... it means slow down and take a breather. Afterall, Thanksgiving is right around the corner - time to be t-h-a-n-k-f-u-l - especially after so many have suffered so much of a loss with the recent storms.

Another storm?

I can't believe it. I don't think anyone really can. Another HUGE massive hurricane heading toward the gulf. I hope and pray everyone gets out. Please get out. Don't chance it. This thing is huge. We are in NE louisiana - so we aren't going to get the worst of it, but it could still pass over us. The projected path is below. We are to the left of where the "S" is in the word SUN AM. If it turns just a bit east - Rita will be visiting us.

The weird walking stick bug

Okay - so I never thought I wanted to blog. Do I have the time? What do I write about? Would it be interesting enough? Bla bla bla... So today my dachshund, Jasmine (Jazz for short - no pun intended for a long dog) kept wanting in and out and in out. She usually does NOT like to go outside by herself. We even have to stand on the patio for her to do her doggie thing. She's such a weinie (again - no pun intended). So yesterday I thought she saw a lizard on the patio. I don't ever "show" her lizards because the times that I did, well, they didn't have a very long life span after that. So outside over and over I let her go. Then she started barking - very intensely - hmmm... wondered what it was? I looked and she was in attack position against - a "weird stick bug". It was a praying mantis. Not a walking stick - a full - fledged praying mantis. I think this bug must have been the "high priest" of the area - he was rared up with his "hands" up trying to claw at Jasmine, and he had a set of wings all flared out behind him. It was the weirdest thing I have ever seen of this nature. I told my daughter to come and see the "weird stick bug" trying to attack Jasmine. I didn't even take a photo - I didn't want to interfere with what I was watching. Jasmine tried to bite at this poor weird thing - then I felt sorry for it. As "big" as he thought he was - and in the bug world I'm sure he was hot stuff, he was nothing compared to my vicious attack dog. (snicker). I told her what a good dog she was in defending her family from the weird stick bug and that I would give her a milk bone if she came in. She agreed to that and came in. I stood by the door and watched this rather freaky looking insect make its way back to safety to the grass in the backyard. I wonder if he has nightmares about being attached by the "weird long canine".