Just say cheese!

My personal photo of the week. And never let someone tell you dogs can't smile for the camera.

Happy Belated Birthday to Margaret M and Barbara C. You two have birthday's on the same day. Amazing that you both are turning 39 - again! Yum.... how about some Barbie cake???

I'm Spinning!

I'm spinning and I love it! Yeah - I know - you are thinking she's finally lost her mind. Well - that's left to interpretation. Anyway - I joined a gym and I started spinning! ya know, the stationery biking class Of course, my legs are jello and I can't do 'everything' in the class, but I've already come along way since day one. The one thing I wish they would tell you right away is how sore your bottom will be from the bike seat. ouch! Anyway - I'm also doing some of the weight machines and free weights - but I'm soooo out of shape right now- it will take awhile before anything is visible. The main thing is that I totally love it and it is true - excersize gives you more energy.

Summer has officially begun. The ballet recital was Memorial weekend and Arielle and her classmates did a wonderful job. It was a great production. Her ballet teacher was none other than the Queen of Hearts. She was so shocked that her sweet teacher was portraying such a mean character.

Daniel goes to camp for a week this month. He's always so hesitant to go and do something like this, but always ends up having such a great time with his buddies.

I'm going to have to clean up a place in my work area to get some painting done and soon! I have a large painting for a friend that needs to be done last year and then after that, I have a huge order from Mimi's Cafe. Yep - they are opening more restaurants and need more of Jazzy the Mardi Gras Dachshund. I'm glad I've been excercising because I need the extra energy.

Yikes... it's almost gone!

The month of May, that is. WOW! I thought it was supposed to slow down once school is out. We have ballet rehearsals all week. We had kindergarten roundup today. A couple of weeks ago we went to Daniel's school art show. And this weekend was a very special birthday celebration for my mother-in-law. I won't share her age, since it's not polite and all for southern ladies to tell their age. But she doesn't look at ALL the age she is. I hope my kids inherited that "look young when you are not" gene.

Some of the new May Self-Addressed Kit club creations are finally up. Here are my projects. This was a great kit. Check it out (link is in the side-bar).

It's a bit early for Summer... but..

The June issue of Giftmaker Magazine is about to hit the stands and one of my projects in it is posted online! I was so excited to see an image of it. Can you believe it will be July in just 2 more months? So, if you are planning a Patriotic party - click Here for ideas.

Oh - and Happy National Scrapbooking Day!

First Friday in May

I didn't mean to do Friday posts in a row. I just seems that I have more "blog" time on Friday. Okay - those that came in the past week probably are glad I took down the Blades of Glory video. Hee hee - sometimes I just like to surprise people.

Well, this Friday is DATE NIGHT Friday. Hubby and I are going to see Spiderman 3. Since I hadn't seen Spiderman 2, he rented the DVD for me last night - only I didn't get to see all of it because it was a very badly scratched DVD. It got stuck in key places (like when Dr. Ock was becoming evil and when Spidey rescued Auntie and when Spidey and MJ were lovey dovey in the web). But my son filled me in on what wasn't playing. I told the Blockbuster people and they let me get a free DVD - so I got Dream Girls! Yeah. I forgot to see it in the theaters. (yeah, forgot).

So.... for all you fans if Spiderman... how many of you remember when it was a cartoon? I was reminded of the theme song when the lady with the guitar was singing in the movie. I actually remembered that tune.

So - here is for you Spidey fans!

I'm a finalist! Paper Crafts Idol!

I'm a finalist! Yes, a finalist in Paper Crafts' Idol contest. One of my cards was chosen by the Paper Crafts judges to be in the top 20 cards. (I almost want to say "I'm going to Hollywood, baby!"). Now the voting for the next round is up to YOU! Voting for Round 1 has now begun. PLEASE PLEASE cast your vote. I hope you like my card, but feel free to vote on YOUR favorite. (coughvoteformevoteformecough). You have until noon on Thursday, May 3 to vote!

Here is my card:


You can see all of the entries for Round 1 AND vote HERE!

Happy Friday!

This week has flown! It's Friday and I'm going to my scrapbook store crop tonight. I'm going to try to put a dent in my Disney photos. I hope I make some progress. I only printed about a fourth of my photos. It's so hard to choose!

I got my copy of Papercraft's Scrapbook to Cards earlier this week! It's a hardcover idea book with FOLD-OUT pages. I was so blown away when the editors asked me to participate in this project. YES! It has been a "dream" to work with Papercrafts on special projects. WOW. My scrapbook store has almost sold out of their copies. It's really awesome. They use scrapbook pages as inspiration for cards and other projects. SUCH an awesome inspiration!



My little one graduates from K4 in about 2 weeks! Yes - 2 weeks. Time has flown by. And my husband's niece gave birth to a beautiful baby boy earlier this week. I hope to get some awesome baby pics of Baby Jonah and make some pages. There's always a reason to create a baby scrapbook page, right? Can't wait.

Here's a layout I made of Arielle meeting Mickey for the first time. He was the first character on the first day of the first park we went to. Imagine that. I used Scenic Route paper and alphabet. I have more to do of both kids. Hope I get lots done in between working on special assignments. Happy Friday!



In case you are wondering - I have temporarily added Bo Bice's video to my page? (scroll to bottom) Why? Because I love his music and we recently saw the "Blades of Glory" movie and I laughed so hard. It was one of the funniest "stupid" movies I've seen in awhile.

Have a great Friday!

Hit the Beach!

Okay - did I get your attention? No, we're not going to the beach, although that does sound wonderful. "Hit the Beach" is Flair Designs' newest scrapbook paper collection! Just in time for sunny days, splashing in the pool and those oh, so wonderful beach visits. And, for those fortunate enough to go on cruises (yeah, it's on my list) the Set Sail papers and anchors away stickers are for you! Check out the entire collection at: Flair Designs

Here are a few of my recent creations with the new papers and sticker collections

Happy Hump Day

Happy Hump Day. We are playing hookey today! Arielle actually TOOK a nap at pre-school yesterday - so I knew she was still exhausted from the trip. She's been sleeping in a bit late for her, so I let her skip school today. I'm still in my PJ's! Somehow I always manage to get her dressed even tho I'm still not. LOL. I've never been one to let me kids go anywhere without clothes on, shoes on and their hair combed. When my son was small, 3-4 years old, and we would go to the grocery store, he would see a kid with no shoes on and tell me "He doesn't have shoes on". I'd say - yeah - I know. I can't imagine. Unless the mom actually carried them every step of the way, thru the parking lot (usually hot in the summer), and everything - I can't imagine. Now the HAIR? Can we twalk? How hard is it to spritz down little boys hair that is sticking straight up from being slept on and comb it down. Really, how hard is that. Do these people not SEE that their child's hair is mussed? okay, okay, boy - how did I get on that subject??

Well, I'm still deciding on what WDW photos to order from Shutterfly to begin working on albums. Yes, albums. One for Arielle and one for Daniel. NOW I wish I would have paid more attention to people's Disney albums. How in the world am I going to do this? So many photos and I'm a slow scrapbooker!

Well, I was just taking a break from finishing up some projects. Soooo many things to get done, get mailed, get uploaded, and get submitted. Still recovering from having the house in shambles for the new flooring AND leaving a week later for vacation. But, that's okay, right? At least Arielle's hair is combed... or is it? Arielle, bring me your brush!

Entertainment at MGM

We had a 2 hour wait for the Fantasmia show at MGM. My daughter didn't have any problem finding something to do. These are her new friends from Ohio: Kaylyn, Mary, Lilly, Heather (and at the food counter was Cassie). (hoping these videos work I took them on my camera!)


and another cute video:

What a Magical Vacation!!

Just a few random an unedited photos from our WDW trip! We went to all the theme parks. Saw tons of characters. We first met Mickey at Animal Kingdom. Arielle fell on the way out and Mickey followed her down the path and hugged her and wiped her tears away. Awwweee! that was priceless. We did the Safari there. The next day we went to Epcot. We took turns doing the Test Track. Jeff and Daniel did Mission Space. We met Gemiel Matthews and her son T.J. (she's my fellow Flair Designs sister) at Epcot. We had lunch with her and walked thru a few of the countries before we had to say goodbye, but I ran into her, TJ and Tim at Magic Kingdom the next day! Forgot to get pics! woops! We had a Princess Dinner at Norway's Akersus - met Cinderella, Belle, Jasmine and Aurora. Daniel was feeling bad that day. The next day he got a shot and was off to Magic Kingdom. We stayed until midnight. We were walking around the crowd and ended up at the gate that started the beginning of the lighted parade (8-9pm??). We couldn't have planned that. It was awesome. The crowd, however, was dangerously thick. They turned people away that day at 1pm (Daniel and Jeff were coming to meet us after his doc visit and he had to tell them we were already in there so they would let them in!). We made our way thru the crowd that was gathering for the 10pm fireworks and we got on the bridge right under the wire that Tinkerbell uses to fly from the castle from. That was awesome! Then we went straight for the rides, which - YEAH! had no lines b/c it was so late. We rode Winnie the Pooh, Small World, Buzz Lightyear (all together) and then I (gulp) rode Space Mountain with Daniel. I rode it when I was his age and didn't like it any better then. At least this time they didn't have Michael Jackson music blaring in your ears. LOL. Well, that's just a few highlights. Too much to remember! Our next park was MGM Studios. Saw Lightening McQueen and 'Mater from Cars. Did the Star Wars thing (including Arielle, which she didn't like much). And oh my gosh - I did Tower of Terror. Closed my eyes the whole time except for one time when the elevator door opened. Jeff rode it next. Couldn't get a fast pass for the Rock N Roller Coaster, but really, no one wanted to ride it with Daniel. Stayed for 2 hours in the Ampitheater waiting for Fastasmia and Arielle was entertained (or entertained) some high school band girls from Ohio. That was really fun. I think my favorite parks (at least for this trip) are Magic Kingdom and Epcot. I REALLY want to go back to Epcot and take alot of time at the countries. We didn't even get to visit half of them. Daniel and Jeff liked MGM the most. I asked Arielle what her favorite ride was and she said "All of them". But, she'll tell you she didn't like the Star Wars simulator. She LOVED the Winnie the Pooh ride. Well, that's about all the highlights. Whew - we are so tired!

No One is Home

...waving hi at Margaret!! Don't bother reading here until next week. Have a wonderful week everyone. Oh - and I found out this morning that one of the girls I've been on 3 Design Teams with is going to be there, too! We're meeting up at Epcot. I can't wait! Meeting her will be fun. You'll have to wait until I get back to find out who she is!!! We're off!!

Scrapbooking on a Budget?

Budget, what is that??? he he he

Julia Sandvoss (one of my Paper Salon sisters) challenged me and several other designers to create pages that cost less than $3. See how much I spent on this 'budget' page and see more examples from designers at Scrapbooking on a Budget



Meanwhile, I have tried to take care of last minute papercraft projects AND clean AND pack. Not doing too good on the last two, but I still have another day. I did get a request from Papercrafts for the "Room to Room" issue. I had to decline an assignemnt because I'll be gone all next week, but I told them if they could extend the deadline.... still hoping they will. **(Update - they gave me an extension...yipppeee)**

A bit of personal Disney triva for ya. Did you know that I actually participated in the Mickey Mouse 50th Birthday Parade in Magic Kingdom? That was 1978!! Our high school band marched in the parade. Imagine entering Magic Kingdom via the "backdoor" and actually seeing Minnie Mouse walking around without her head! I think the photos for this are in the attic. (not of headless Minnie, silly, just of us kids). I really wanted to post a few (even tho they are terrible photo taken with a 110 camera...remember those??). I did, however, find a link online to someone's photos of the event. Look here Mickey's 50th Birthday Parade


...the journey begins in less than 2 days.....

Many Minnies....

just 5 more days......

Dear Granny...

Dear Granny

I sure do love my new outfits.

Thanks so much. Here is a photo of me wearing my new clothes today.

Arielle




****SIX MORE DAYS UNTIL WALT DISNEY WORLD******

A Shout Out to the New CK Hall of Fame 2007 Girls!

Congratulations to the new 2007 Creating Keepsakes Hall of Famers! I'm looking forward to seeing more of your already inspiring work.
Check out the complete list

here and if you click on each person's name, you can hear the special phone call from Lisa.

And lets not forget the Honorable Mentions! Shoot - I think everyone that put together an entry deserves a prize.
I bow to each of you.

It's a Puppy!!!

okay- okay- not a "real" puppy. This is a story about my silly little dachshund Jasmine. Her adventures inspired me to write my first entry in a blog. So what's up with her now? She thinks she's a mommy! This isn't the first time she's done this. More like, at least the third. I've lost count. Her puppy is a little pink puppy that I brought back to her from my trip to California. When I told Arielle I had suprises for her and daddy and Daniel, she said "What about Jasmine?". So the next store I went in - believe it or not, had pint size pet toys. It was just a toy until last week. It is now her pride and joy. She carries it everywhere with her and, until we put her bed in the pet carrier (which we only use when we need to confine her - a rare thing) she was unsettled. She roamed from room to room whimpering. I tried putting her in our closet, but she wasn't satisfied. One night Jeff told me to go look in Arielle's stuffed animal toybox and there she was, nestled in on top of Minnie Mouse and a lion, nursing her fake pink baby. Arielle didn't want her in her room (poor Jazzy), so that is when we got the crate out. It has been her sanctuary. Want a peek at the new mommy and her bundle of fluff?




I guess I need to make a scrapbook page about Jazzy's and her baby. Really, I miss my dog. She stays in her "nursery" all day. I have to make her come out to eat and do doggy biz.

I'm loving my new work space. I'll be working some brand spanking new product this week for product packaging. I'm so glad my room is ready for fresh inspiration. Speaking of inspiration - these are the first two layouts I've created in my new room.

The first is using 'Story of a Seed' collection from Dream Street papers.


This spring page uses Karen Neuberger's Serenity line from Paper Salon.



And a note to Margaret. I'm so sorry I haven't blogged regularly in like - forever. I'll try to remember that you need to rest your eyes from all the paper work and try to make your visit here worth your while - but - well, things aren't THAT interesting. LOL So glad you have a slew of other scrapbooker blogs to stalk. *wink*

A new look!

For my scraproom. (My blog will get a new look - soon!) For the past few months we knew we would be doing some major things in the house, and in my scraproom/office. Back in November Jeff went to Dallas and brought back the huge Expedit shelves from Ikea. I saw photos of Hilary's scraproom and immediately wanted those shelves. (way to expensive to ship...another story). When Jeff said he was going to Dallas - bingo! I have to add - I still absolutely covet Hilary's scraproom. That's still another story. Love it Love it! Thanks, Hilary, for the inspiration. Once I "saw" a way out of my chaos, I knew I could do it.

Anyway - we didn't put them up yet b/c we needed to replace the floor... all the flooring except kitchen and bedrooms/bath. Water had been leaking from the back door and the water was hiding under the "floating" floor (that's what they call click-locking floors). Yes - literally - our floor was possible floating on water. Because of the plastic sheeting underneath - the water had no place to evaporate. That explains my sudden "allergies" that started last spring. Yep - once I FINALLY figured it out, we pulled up the floor in my office - the major source of my sneezing. It was all wet underneath. But our wonderful insurance company covered the cost of replacing. Then came the holidays and CHA. Way too much going on to do anything - so FINALLY - last week we did it. We have beautiful hardwood floors now, and my very very very much needed shelves are up in my work area. I still have much to do and alot of things to purge, but now I won't be embarrased for people to come over. I purposely did NOT take photos of the before. It would be way too embarassing.(Trust me, I'm not exaggerating). Some of you have had the unfortunate experience to witness the chaos in person (Margaret, Mom, Maraya and unfortunate family members and friends whose name may or may not begin with an "M"), so I know you are rejoicing in the new look. It's far from finished or perfect. In fact - as you can see I still have one overstuffed cardboard box with homeless items spilling out. But I'm working on it.

So - without further boring you...here are the pics! (click on the pics to enlarge them)