Stationery it is

While in New Orleans recently, on my way to Destin we stopped in a couple of shops near Lakeside. EarthSavers is one of my all time favorite stores anywhere - I just like the lotions and potions. It's a NOLA area exclusive store - my favorite is over in Mandeville. I also found these beautiful black and white embossed cards. Each one is flocked and absolutely perfect. They were at Lazybug but I found some here, finally!

I found the fleur de lis ribbon at Scriptura which is right next to EarthSavers. Very cool stationery store - unusual stuff. We finished off the trip with cafe au lait and beignets at Morning Call - who cares if it was 4 o'clock and almost time for dinner! It's New Orleans!

The prayer card I made, St. Theresa's Prayer is my favorite prayer and I need to be reminded often of the second line... I cut a page from a board book as the base and I keep it in my calendar.

Hey - did you know that Anna Griffin now has a blog? I enjoyed reading her entry about the NY Stationery show. I'm wild about those extreme die cuts - they look yummy. There's a website Oakleaf Acre that features alot of AG products but I haven't been able to locate the large blue diecuts. Hopefully they will be available soon.

In the meantime I'm enjoying several new and a few olds blogs. Definitely Ali Edwards - I'm following every link. And Karen Russell is a must. If you look at Elsita's blog - May 7th entry - I am soooo loving her puppy picture. I am asking for one of my own with my favorite furry babies. I found Elsa while looking at Creature Comforts. Love how her May 27th post refers to the Ann Carrington canvas in Gwyenth Paltrow's house - I fell in love with the photos of her Hampton house. I didn't realize that the canvas was made of buttons! I would love to have that canvas!

I'm off to unpack from St. Louis. I had an absolutely AMAZING time that couldn't have been any better, I don't think. I will post about it in the next day or so - I'm still sorting my photos. What a great time - was had by all!

Disney Paint

While the weather was nice and cool today (what is UP with that, anyway?) it was overcast and cloudy and c'mon, just give us a big ol thunderstorm, already, allright? Geesh. There's nothing like scrapping and watching the droplets fall outside my window. Even a gusher would be okay (provided I'm home and nowhere to go...). But no. not today anyway. Over the past 24 hours I've spent HOURS plugging and unplugging electronic devices in my home and talking to India and Shreveport. I think having problems with my internet service is right up there with root canal or car accident. Just grates on my nerves. My DVR player fried during our last storm (weeks ago) and I've been meaning to take it to Comcast but before I left today, I thought, why not try the old pluggerooo? Never has the word ~boot! looked so lovely. Divine. Another hour or two of the day belonged to me and not standing in that line with gnarly people who haven't paid their bill and want to get home to see Springer.

I did several mundane tasks and finally set out for Chipolte and Home Depot and as a scrapbooker, let me just tell you, that I totally SCORED! This was so amazing. I was pricing a cabinet for my scraproom (it finally dawned on me to get this crap put behind closed doors and add a table to the living room. I think moving away from the computer will free up HOURS of scrap essential time. Smack. Back to the subject. While cruising past the paint section, I saw these. Look right between the lady and the little girl... see all those Paint Samples. Yes, that's what they are - Paint Samples in the shape of Mickey Ears - too cute! and hmmmmm, wouldn't they be just IDEAL for my pages for our Disney trip at Christmas. So cute - they about 2.5 x 3" and I can't decide whether to use them on a single page or as page dividers. Not sure if I'll cut them out or leave them as samples. Just too cute. Total Score! Now as a scrapbooker, can't you just feel the love!

I'm working on making these cute photo wallets. Jen Walker of Creative Stamps and Stickers created it and up close, it is just the cutest. I've been showing it to everyone and once I worked on wrapping the belt around (the perfectionist in me wasn't satisfied), I really like how they turned out. (I switched the belts to make them contrast). I'll make more tomorrow and take a photo - cute little brag books to put in your purse. CSS has several cute projects - I'm going to make the debit card holder tomorrow too. Don't you think we should have this cuteness to show the world, it's our duty as scrapbookers. I made mine out of brown Bazzill bling with a pink bling belt, a flower and a button. There are several variations at Splitcoast Stampers also and a gallery with tons of examples. Instead of a belt, some girls did a slider, which is cute. And lots of variations on the enclosure. So fun. Let's hope it rains tomorrow. :)

It's just a Tuesday

Ugh. I'm having re-entry issues. Getting back to normal living after an idyllic weekend in the country with scrapping and peeps and the breeze. Here's another photo to smooth out the bumpy ride back onto my earth. This is the outdoor fireplace which is next to the hot tub. We had lunch out here on Saturday. We ate every meal outside this weekend - so enjoyable. Notice the carving? Yeah. Way cool.
Speaking of Earth, I'm missing the end of the Eckard Tolle classes on Oprah.com on Monday night - it's so nice that they are recorded and we can view them whenver we want. I'm glad Oprah isn't a money whore and tried to sell it - she's giving it away. Very kind. It's funny because the same mantra that is discussed in A New Earth - I keep hearing it other places too. Like the Max Lucado quote.

I saw on Jeanette's blog that Anna Griffin has a blog, which is nice to read. I love her paper and her rub ons are some of the best (Jenni Bowlins are #1 in my book). Too bad her designer doesn't follow her class act.

I really liked the mini-album that Donna Downey has on her blog last week (on the 7th). I love how she calls it "alligatoring" - when a mini album is fatter than its spine. What a great term and we've all made those kind of books. The book in the video looks really cute. I know some people are not fond of Donna and I do get put off with her selling but I will say, she has some very cute ideas and I like her creativity. Okay, I'm getting loosey goosey so I'm going to try to sleep. Good night.

I Scrapped!

therefore I am... or something like that. What a relaxing, enjoyable weekend I had at Las Brisas near Fayetteville with the lovely and exciting Michelle and crew. We had a wonderful time at an idyllic inn where we scrapped til midnight or so and ate outside every meal - things like homemade peach yogurt and fresh fruit, porkloin and grilled zuchinni -and watched cardinals and golden retrievers and never once thought about life's difficulties. I laughed and cried and scrapped and made projects and yet, it also felt great to pull into the driveway today. Here are a few photos of the weekend. This photo gives me that peaceful feeling of being up at Las Brisas. It's only about 1 1/2 hours west of Houston. This is Harriet, my neighbor of 18 years who makes me laugh and is such a great person to hang out. I am so happy that she is happy. Her daughters are amazing and I loved all the laughing we did this weekend. They are so crazy.
It felt so good just to scrap again - pages, of my photos. I love putting together the paper and the embellishments and also that I don't overdo it like you do when you start out. When you're a newbie, you want to put every damn embelly you have on a page. Now I like to just tell the story.

I also made it to the Urban Market today which was soggy but fun. Apparently a huge and I mean really BIG thunderstorm dumped barrels of rain in the Heights (and our house too) and so walking around the market was skawishy but once you got over getting your toes wet - it was great. My friend Karen met me out there and I'm telling ya - she is such a BAD influence on me. It was so fun to have somebody on your wavelength - looking at everything and thinking - what can I make with this? Too crazy... I found several cool finds - my santos angel lady was there - Joyce Schilling and I picked up a couple of hand carved angel busts and a couple of great vintage story books with great pics for collage. And a fantastic childrens book with great vintage type and photos - its an ABC book too - just amazing. I felt a little bit bad for the vendors because the crowd was a bit sidetracked with the dampness so they had to reduce their prices. Next time will be better. The new location is really hidden - which I guess is good - more stuff for us. I love that it happens 3 times a year.

I didn't get much sleep so I'm going to go lay my head down. Make it a great week.

From Las Brisas - God loves you personally, powerfully and passionately. Live loved.

-Max Lucado

The unthankful heart discovers no mercies; but let the thankful heart sweep through the day and, as the magnet finds the iron, so it will find, in every hour, some heavenly blessings!
— Henry Ward Beecher

Urban Market is Sunday

Just a reminder - Sunday is Mother's Day and The Urban Market in the Heights from 10-4. It is a great shopping excursion at a new location - I can't wait! Urban Market is where I found my santos angels last time... amazing treasures - like a small-scale Round Top. I will be driving back from Las Brisas and an all weekend crop with my CM peeps!

Dr. Jill

WOW. What a riveting talk... Not being able to sleep, I was clicking through my usual blogs and stopped at Ali Edwards and found this most influential talk by Jill Bolte Taylor. I'd heard Oprah talk about JBT during A New Earth but never experienced her. WOW. When she started talking about her schizophrenic brother, I could immediately relate (my sister was PS). This site, TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) looks amazing. I don't think I'll be going back to bed now.. Oprah will be continuing Monday Night classes for 4 weeks with Dr. Jill. This is going to be GREAT! It's cute - on her blog page she's just found out she's one of Time's 100 Most Influential for 2008. Way cool.

Also wanted to include a photo of this adorable little blue and white bird pitcher I picked up at the Guild. I think it is so cute and sweet!

All of April

Where shall I start? Back to April 11th? I have a wonderful friend in Canada named Charleen, a skate coach who made her first journey to Texas so that we could invigorate the Texas scrapbook economy and that we did! That girl kept me hopping every minute of the visit – I have finally met my match and she wins… I was worn out. She started at the Galleria on Friday afternoon, unfortunately I had to work. Saturday we went south to Scrapbook Junkie, Tuesday Morning, Burlington Coat Factory, a nice lunch at Cracker Barrel and then on to Novel Approach and By Design. By then it was noon… okay, not really but whew, it was a lot of fun. We headed out to Archiver’s, Kohls and Hobby Lobby in the evening with a final stop at Chipolte. Sunday we took a photo with our beautiful CE aprons from Jeanne Kelly:

We went to the opening of the new downtown park, Discovery Green and then out to Cypress for the new outlet mall. See – I’m not kidding! Monday, she walked over to IKEA and then to Memorial City Mall. You’d think we forgot the whole purpose of the trip was Bruce Springsteen but we didn’t. He was amazing, even from the nosebleed seats behind the stage. I’m so glad I went – there is nothing more invigorating than live music – it is pure joy down to your core. I’m so thrilled because Tina Turner announced this week she’s back on tour and I will travel wherever I need to see her. That is one final tour I regret missing.
Okay back to mid April, on Thursday I left for Nashville and reunion of my peeps from CE at Scrap Etc that was held at the Gaylord Opryland Hotel. Wow, what a place! Correction – what a beautiful and expensive place. The event was good fun although I feel very tainted these days, a little burned out by events. I still have a couple in 2008 but I think I will be slow it down in 09, so that I can savor each one. Here are a few things I loved about SE: my Houston homies (Kristin, Karen, Sandy, Sandy) attended and loved it, the classes were all good and I was relaxed doing them, seeing Donna and Ann again from 2006 – my first event ever and I knew no one, seeing Megan and Mel, hanging with Jeanne and getting to meet Cathy and Nan (hearing about Cathy’s business was very interesting), seeing Debby Schuh and Pam.

In completing a recent circle journal about Simple Joys, I know that scrapbooking gives me that - wholly (holy!) and completely on such a deep level. Connecting with other women and laughing and playing with paper - what's not to love! But I digress...

Sandy Horton gave me a tiny clay book that is the finest crafted gift I have ever received, it really is amazing. It is stamped with a dragonfly and has tiny gold dragonflys attached on the cover and with the ribbons on the spine. Phenomenal. I wish I had visited more with different folks but there’s only so much time. We had the best group leader, Brittney Smith and I’m not just saying that. That girl had a fantastic attitude and kept us all on track. I even won an Epson picture mate printer, which was so shocking and amazing all at once. They said I had the Miss America look – happiness and shock at the same time. I was honestly looking at buying one so this was such a great gift. Jeanne had a new Sony camera and when I got home, I ordered one also. Very cool 2 pound point and shoot at 10MP, 5X zoom and the 3.5” screen is what captured me. I keep it in my purse and love being able to shoot anywhere I go.
Since then life has been keeping pace – took an acrylic album class at Archiver’s last night – cute little project for only $15 – what’s not to like? Saturday I am taking all 3 of Debby Schuh’s class at By Design – can’t wait. Saw samples at SE (thanks, Josie for bringing them!) and they look amazing. I love her techniques – I always learn something new.
Work has been less than satisfying and I am wondering why I stay at such an abysmal place. I was asked to travel the weekend Charleen was visiting and said no. I’m glad I’m not a workaholic anymore. Scrapbooking has taught me many things.
And finally, I am loving Oprah’s online class and Eckard Tolle’s A New Earth. It is so calming and peaceful to participate in the class, although I’ve missed several. I can still go back and watch on line. I wish I had time to participate on those message boards. It makes me appreciate Oprah even more. Hope you are having a great week!