Urban Market

Want to see what I found last week at Urban Market?  When I saw this... I thought about it for a bit and then grabbed it!  Surveyors pole.  Half off.  Its like 15' long.  Wanted one, ever since I saw it on the cover of Holly Becker's book, Decor8.  I can say Holly Becker, like I know her because I met her at The Creative Connection and I know she totally remembers me.  out of the 2,000 people that came up to her there.  For reals.  Say hi to Junior, who's rocking the survey stick. 

And I saw these kissing dutch kids and went back to get them and couldn't find the booth.  How silly - the place (UM) is not very big but I just didn't see them.  I thought they were cute and I love all things Dutch, including my old company.

This lady always has cool ironstone and I loved this display.  

I did land at Kay's booth (again) -she has a shop at Memorial Antiques near the old Academy on Katy Freeway.  Last time I picked up some black globes and large acorns from her.  This time some 4" printers blocks.  And when I professed my love for them, she seemed to think they should all go home with me and not her.   And so for $30, they were mine.  There are tons... and the font is cool.  Looks like another mirror is in my future.  Did I tell you what happened to the last one?  In May I hauled it to Inspired in Charlotte, NC and when the sweet client gave me the cash, I put it in my pocket.  or so I thought.  It fell out.  Some wait staff at that hotel was very happy that weekend.  I wasn't.  Still haven't figured out my lesson... 

Several projects are in the hopper... I've finally figured out a project for all my hotel keys!  I hope I can pull it off - combination of this design and a few modifications in my head.  My dear friend, Cindy's husband, Greg made THAT board for me - is that too kind!  I was so thrilled.  Oheeee.  I've also been making banners out of piano roll paper.  I was trying to figure out what to do with it... I guess you could always cover something with it but I like using it as the foundation for a wall hanging.  I've made but not finished a Christmas hanging and a pink/girl hanging.  And then finally, I spotted this box at Goodwill for $3.  It screamed for maps and I used an 8x8 page of Lille from 7Gypsies along with several embellies, like a flinch card, lace, dennison label, slide negative (thanks to Cathe Holden's TCC class - very cute idea - you remove the negative and replace it with a mini vintage photo).

I hope you have a good Sunday and a great week!  Next week - can you say, ROAD TRIP...Waco for Debby Schuh's classes at Crop, Paper, Scissors and perhaps a stop in at The Craft Scrapper in Waxahachie.  Yes! I have seen these books (Grace Notes totally speaks to me) and they are faaaa-buuuuu-lous!

Suziblu

Oh me. I'm getting that weary, tired feeling again. I just hate it but there is nothing I can do but lay down and chill. His name is Grief and it just wears me out. I was fine up until today. I've been making some embossed cards for Christmas - embossing is definitely my favorite. Here, I'll take a pic. I was thinking the silver looked better but really the black is pretty nice. The jingle one is made with a brass stencil and paste. I really got into paste last year and haven't done any since. But I LOVE embossing.

I mentioned a few days ago missing a bid on Tracy Niehues clown on ebay. I'm fascinated with doing a project with a little round head and ruffled collar made from crate paper. I still haven't figured out how to do it but I will. Anyhoo, she mentioned this blog and so I took a peek. WOW. Suziblu. I don't know how to describe it other than inspiring and amazing. Look at her vlogs about starting an art journal. She is really adorable and it inspired me to start my very own art journal. You start off by writing all the reasons you can't or won't have one and then you cover it with gesso. I had to laugh because about 18 months ago I kept asking everybody - what is gesso, what do you do with it, what is it for... well, now I'm a gesso, matte medium kinda girl. Crazy. Back to Suziblu - this girl has definitely got "it" in charisma or spirit or - I don't know what but I am spending my time looking at her videos.

Nannie came back from New Orleans just now - I made some yummy turkey soup. It is good that she is home. Its funny because I'm not used to living in a quiet house - I'm glad she's home.

Joy is not in things it is in us.

Back in the Saddle

It rained most of the night... what a great way to wake up on Sunday morning! We really needed the rain so I'm enjoying it plus I have plenty to keep me busy at home today.

I had a great time at the Scrap etc. crop at By Design yesterday - met some new people, and saw some friends from CE and MIT. Creative Cafe is in the house - which was fun to see. Lots of great Hambly too. There was a birthday party going on, along with our SE crop and it was a great combination - fun to see everyone's projects. I really enjoyed visiting with Kristin F and Heather from Geismar - even though they were across the room. We had lots of laughs about BFFs and BFTs with Cindy and Laurel (it was Laurel's birthday). It was such a relief to be out and about and playing with my stuff. It has been so hard lately to get dressed so more than anything I enjoyed just being out of the house and being with scrappers was a total bonus!

I couldn't sleep last night so I watched Oprah on tape - the second show about hoarders. It was really interesting because I think its intrinsic to store your stuff (like the cavemen) -it's human nature. Of course, the couple they showed was over the top but it made me think about my buying habits of scrapbook stuff. My first inclination was to go cold turkey and yet after reading ScrapScene I realized that was a bit unrealistic. I'm going to think about it further and put some limits down because I have more than I'll ever use and I think it is preventing me from finishing projects. I have tons of good ideas but I get bogged down by the buying so we'll see what happens. And then I'm off to thinking about another project. I'll give a think about it over the T-giving holidays.

Last weekend was the Nutcracker Market, which is my favorite event in Houston and though it wasn't a typical year for me this year, it was still fun and I enjoyed the shopping. I found this vintage hankerchief hanger from a local store, Embellishments that's probably 3 miles from my house. Crazy, huh. They are holding my Glimmer Mists for now, I'll add more to the top and bottom pockets. Isn't it a beautiful, vintage look! I'm lurving it. I love the possibilities of having such a beautiful piece and yet storage too! Win-win for me.

Silver Bella - wow. I have enjoyed the eye candy from various blogs about the event. It will definitely be on my "to do" list for 2008. I'll have to work out an arrangement with Nutcracker (their 2008 dates are Nov 13-17) but I want to be a Bella in 2008 - that is for sure! I was fortunate enough to order (I know what you're thinking!) the kits from Kimberly Kwan that should arrive this week. Can't wait! It looks like such a great event and I am moving more towards vintage creating so it especially speaks to me.

Hey, did I mention that I'm in assisted living? Yep. I'm getting assistance with the yard and housework, with car cleaning, nail polishing and dry cleaning... you name it, I'm going to get some assistance if it keeps me from enjoying my life and creating! (I heard that from some comediane and thought it was just hilarious and have now made a marked effort to get as much assistance as I can afford. )

The new banner photo is of my sweet mother holding the prettiest baby evah (moi) and my older brothers and sister. You can see there was a run on pea coats at K-mart that year and all the Nelson kids were stylin. Some of my most favorite photos in the world are of my brothers and sister when they were children. So adorable. My sister passed away two weeks ago. I appreciate everyone's kind words. I'm not much for PDG so trust you'll understand the silence.

Craigslist and Debby Schuh

I finished Eat, Pray, Love this afternoon during our daily rainstorm. Man, it is an amazing book - I hated finishing it. Such an interesting story - I hope she writes another book and soon! Makes me want to go to Bali and that's plain crazy! Yesterday was busy ... starting at By Design Scrapbook for a class with Debby Schuh. This book is absolutely gorgeous - it's a 7 Gypsies envelope album covered in Anna Griffin papers. I loved it - lots of pockets. We finished it in 3 hours. It was a fun class too - lots of a good chatter and interesting people. Debby is such a nice person and relaxed - great teacher too. Sandy who is also going to CE came and then Anita from Maridawn's - nice to be amongst familiar faces. I hated to leave but we had a family birthday party last night and I still had two cakes to make! I made a white cake with whipped cream frosting - I think that is going to be my favorite cake now. I used heavy whipping cream for the frosting and it was divine. The other cake was a German Chocolate with traditional coconut pecan icing. Does anyone know why a german chocolate cake crumbles? Made me sort of crazy - I guess I beat it too much. We have spaghetti pie and lots of yummy munchies. Our family spends a good hour at the hor devours table - my hubby never understood that but he was right up there with the best of 'em last night. Lots of presents and cake and everyone was happy - it was a fun night. But alot of work... I was tired today. I finally got busy around 3 and listed 4 different items on Craigslist. I've SOLD two of them already! Yippee - me likes craigslist. It's such a great way to get rid of stuff and make some cash. And no fees - that's the best part. I also ran a load of car load of donations to the local shelter called Turning Point for homeless over 55. Feels good to help those folks. Now the back of my car is empty and ready to be loaded up next weekend when we go to Canton! Yipee for First Monday and then on Saturday to Shreveport for a little bit of gambling. My kind of weekend! Now, I've just got to make it through the week.

Weekend

It's the start of another great weekend - not alot scheduled and hopefully some time for scrapping or shopping for scrapping. A couple of good ideas in my head, rolling around. Last weekend I put the finishing touches on this Donna Downey project that we did in Vancouver in March. It's Bazzill 3 x 5 chipboard that you punch a hole and add little tags with sayings from 7 Gypsies. I love this project because it takes old photos out of the box, into the light of day. On the back side of each tag is the word. And yes, those are all of me, from the 60s. I love the first tag of Baby Me with my Dad. I've bought more chipboard from Scrapbook.com because I definitely want to do another one - different theme. We also used our Fiskars drill which was cool since it had been new in the package. I like learning how to use the stuff I have! At some point, I want to complete the Ali Edwards book "Evolution" - mainly because I have the photos printed plus I LURVE the transparencies and went nuts afterwards and bought a billion of them, along with the billion my BSBFF, Jeanne (and world's most totally awesome roomie) collected for me. What is life without having your peeps getting your back at the lss! Man.

So the new PB catalog arrived, along with PB Home and I almost missed this shot: Isn't that a cool use of a vintage Hamilton printer tray? Several months ago, some English blogger did a throwdown about printers trays and I was all into it - I think she did a seashell theme with patterned paper. She offered to sell and send an extra tray but as usual, I went ebay searching and found one. It's been sitting lonely by the door - now I have another idea for it. I wasn't so thrilled with cutting paper to fit all the little holes so the PB version seems more doable. Plus I hadn't settled on a theme. Hmmmm.

Fun to think about! I did one easy project last weekend - took a 99c plaque and added a cute story/poem my niece wrote about her (other) grandmother. Added a few buttons and ribbon and wah lah! Fun stuff.

On Memorial Day I did some furniture shopping at Star and snagged two cool deals. This chair arrived yesterday. I can't seem to find a picture of it but it's a nice big comfy chair with ottoman in a light microsuede fabric. I've stopped the pups twice now from getting up on it and they both look at me incredulously like, you're settling limits for us! Yep - we want to keep the new stuff looking nice for a while! The sofa is for the sunroom and it's a large celadon (green) sectional which will fit perfectly near the window. Good for naps and reading! It won't arrive til end June but first rainy Saturday we have - I'll be on it!

And finally, I mentioned I brought alot of books and mags during vacation. I finished one book in a little over a day, called 90 Minutes in Heaven by Don Piper. It was recommended to me by my new scrapping friend, Anita and she was right. It's uplifting, and an easy read. It gives a great insight into Heaven and life lessons. "Ask for help" was probably the biggest message I got, so I'm practicing that with the care of my Mother. Good stuff. Enjoy your weekend!

Back in the USSR

....sung to the Beatle's tune...

It's my favorite kind of morning... the sun is shining, the coffee is flavored with whipped cream. I cuddled with puppies before I got out of bed, just hanging out at home. Oh wait, here - this will give you a better visual.

I love the long shadows across the grass, which is getting very very green these days. In my first house, I lived in a neighborhood I called "Pamper Box Row" because on garbage day that was all you saw - pamper boxes. It was a simple tract-home starter neighborhood with lots of babies. And I was the token single girl (see, Charleen we're all token somethings at some time). That's why I love this neighborhood so much with the big trees and tons of squirrels - it's 50 years old (like me). And it's because I stayed on PBR for 15+ years that I can live here comfortably. It all works out, which was hard to believe sometimes when everyone was moving up and out while I stayed. But I'm enjoying what I have now.

Perhaps you've noted, I went AWOL for a while - not sure really why other than life got busy. We had the Passport Saga before I went to Vancouver. Final advice - renew your passport NOW if you're planning any travel in 2007 or 08. Mine arrived less than 24 hours before I left. Nope. Not the way I like to live. But it all worked out. I met 6 friends from CE in Vancouver for an art workshop that was fantastic. Each full day with a different teacher, which I find to be an excellent format. You can play and make stuff without jumping up and rushing off + hanging out with my peeps (Charleen, Megan & Mel) was great. We made poppets with collage artist Claudine Hellmuth that look something like this. She is very sweet and loves animals. I had a great time in class playing. Also had my first class with Ali Edwards, which was terrific. She is as nice and great as everyone says. On Day 3 we had class with Donna Downey, which was great fun. I was surprised because I wasn't sure what I thought of DD - sometimes I think she's too commercial, kind of like Rachel Ray of the scrapbook world. But once I got over feeling jealous of her good fortune, I realize she's crazy and fun and has a good heart and is a good teacher. We made two projects in her class - a chipboard book on a ring and a 6 x 6 folded book. I just figured out that the chipboard project will be ideal for a project for my neighbor. Excellent!

Jeanne, Tanya, Sandy and I went up to Vancouver early so we could enjoy the city. I feel so fortunate to have met these girls and that they're willing to go and do - just my kind of people! We had a blast even with the cold and wet! You can see my pictures here: http://picasaweb.google.com/pegomh. Vancouver had a wicked storm earlier this year and it created chaos in Stanley Park: lots of huge, mature trees were down. Stanley Park is a gorgeous park on the edge of the city, 1000 acres and its one of my favorite parts of Vancouver. In talking to local Canadians, the damage at Stanley Park is tragic and I share their sadness. It was rainy both days we went to the park but that's okay. It's still amazing. In the past when I went to Vancouver, it was always warm and gorgeous weather. So, I finally "get it" - the pics of the flurry of colored umbrellas. I saw the winter Vancouver and it was still great fun!

Okay, I'm off on my southern tour, i.e. Scrapbook Junkie in Kemah, (my favorite LSS) and since I'm getting an early start, I'm going to stop at Michael's and use the 30% coupon on entire order and Hobby Lobby! And possibly Novel Approach and Just for Fun. Why not. Then I can focus on purging my scraproom for Maridawn's garage sale next weekend, where I will surely make big bucks selling all the stuff I don't want! Right. Happy Easter!

Few more pic... olives at Granville Island market .

A giant inukshuk at the beach. I bought one of these in glass. In 2010 the Winter Olympics are being held in Vancouver and you see this symbol everywhere. It a directional marker that signifies safety, hope and friendship. Love that..

Probably my fav pic of the weekend - Tanya looking pretty relaxed and accomplished while making a poppet of her family. I still laugh out loud when I think of Tanya's antics in the Business Center at the Hampton Inn (which was great, btw). Jeanne's on the computer, so I handed a ringing (in my mind, at least) phone to Tanya who answered with a naughty smirk on her face and a long Noooooooooooooooo. No idea who her imaginary friend was but I'm thinking the question was along the lines of what are you wearing, are you alone? It was priceless. It was so great to get to know her and Jeanne, Charleen (our favorite Canadian) and Sandy better. And we meet again in September for CE! I'm a lucky girl.

More CHA

I mentioned Karen Russell's Wildberry collection yesterday - here's a pic from her blog. It just doesn't do it justice - the colors are beautiful together plus I am in love with her scalloped paper with lines!

There were a few booths at CHA that I totally missed - I don't remember seeing Basic Grey and unfort. Autumn Leaves was on the opposite end and I only zoomed by once. I'm crazy about their stamps. KI had the cutest make-n-take: a tiny red suitcase with a few flowers. I really wanted one but I didn't feel right doing m-n-t since I'm not a store owner.

These girls have some great CHA photos.

One thing that I saw everywhere was luggage (pink and this wild orange/gold) from Zutter. It's a binding machine for smaller projects. I didn't stick around for the demo but it seemed pretty neat and a TON of store owners were walking around with the luggage. I believe it was $99 for a bunch of pieces. I'll be interested to see if anyone in Houston got it.

I did see Maridawn and the ladies from Scrapbook Village at the show.

Pine Cone Press had all their beautiful BLING - it's not new but I am still crazy about it. And they have purple!

There were so many scrapbook booths to see but I did stop at one thread booth - Kreinik's. Apparently these people have been around awhile and I really enjoyed talking with Doug Kreinik because he had some awesome altered projects. The guy likes taking dollar store items and jazzing them up. He also used alot of these very cool things called beadlets. Maybe everybody has used them but I haven't. I'm ordering some today - I like jazzing up Target 1 spot stuff. Check out the Threadster pen - it was very cool. You just place some of the red tape down (and I have tons of it in all kinds of shapes) and you can draw any design with the thread. Then you fill it in with beadlets.

The Art Glitter booth was my first stop - while some of her suff is wild, I do like the art glitter. We used it at Creative Escapes and I also used it on my Christmas cards (thanks to Martha Stewart). It really does dress up a plain card. Martha showed some slides during her speech - I just love the snow effect.

Tinkering Ink has a very cool line called Covent Garden that looks great. I have to say their website it one of the coolest I've seen for scrapbooking. I'm not much for music but theirs appeals to me. Nice and mellow. This LO is from Tiffany Smith - just adorable.

My goal this weekend is to put some stuff on ebay! I've got too much stuff.

Kid in a Candy Store

I'm back home and it feels soooo good - I missed the comforts and my puppies. Waiting for me was an AMAZING package from my friend, Jeanne. It was so incredibly cute and such a nice surprise. It's all PURPLE - flowers, ink, brads, sharpie, ribbon - you name it - it's in there. She is just the best! I was in Anaheim for... CHA.

CHA is everything you think it would be... just amazing and fun and tiring (like any convention). When you love scrapbook products as much as I do - you are literally a kid in a candy store. You are so hyped up when you see all the beautiful product - it's hard to contain yourself. They place the first time vendors downstairs, which is pretty smart. There were a couple of stand outs but mostly I liked Luxe Designs - they have two lines available: Cashmere Sweater and Classic Black (ready to ship Feb 3) and both of the designs stood out. They're located in Dallas and I think they will be one of the new players. I have one other new favorite but I'm saving it for later...

From the big boys, some of my personal favorites are: Anna Griffin's new LuLu collection, Karen Russell's Wildberry, all of Delish, 7 Gypsies Hudson Valley, SEI Morning Meadow and all of their velvet paper, Bo Bunny Beauty, Prima MDF projects - all of them! Heidi Swapp has more acrylic stamps with a nice big font and more masks! Yes, the bird mask from Capri's room. I think she said it ships February 19th.

I'll be back in a bit to update... need to get some vegetables in the oven to roast!

Had a great Italian dinner with my CJ friend, Patsy from CE - it was so nice to visit with her, get to know her better and exchange ideas! Whew... I don't think there was a moment of silence, except when they brought out garlic bread with lots of slivers of garlic! Yum. Patsy was working at the UHU booth, along with Tasra Dawson, who wrote this book, Real Women Scrap. I had a chance to start it on the flight home and I'm enjoying it immensely. My favorite so far is the thought of "cropping" out what's not working in your life, just like you do a photo. I wish I had the chance to spend more time visiting with her - she's very down to earth and approachable. But of course, when you read her book - that's what she's all about!

At the end of dinner, I realized Claudine Hellmuth was across the way. She will be in Vancouver for the Artistry 2007 workshop, that a bunch of us from CE will be attending in March. She did the cutest puppy puppet in Craft Lab a few weeks ago. She was dining with Christina Lazar Schuler. Ali Edwards & Donna Downey are also teaching. I was so happy when I got home to get an email from Charleen (another CE alum) - she made her plane reservations and will be going also. How awesome is that! I am just amazed that this great group of women are willing to travel and attend fun workshops. Too cool!

I enjoyed Martha's keynote speech, just because I like Martha for the most part. The logo for her new EK Success products (to be carried by Michaels) is a beautiful blue and chocolate - my bedroom colors! She didn't give much insight to the product lines so we'll just have to wait.

Also visited with Debbie Schuh from Anna Griffin - she is so gracious and friendly. I enjoyed hearing about her plans for Germany in April - just hope she's back in May at Moments in Time.
Guess I should go snuggle with the pups and watch all my taped shows: The View, Oprah, and Decorating Cents. Work tomorrow... need to scratch more coin for the next trip!

Know

My word for 2007 in line with the Ali Edward's challenge is Know. Know your strength. Know your power. Know yourself. I am considering it divine inspiration because it just came to me one day. Know your value. Know that you don't have to do it all. I could probably do a layout a week and have enough inspiration for the year. It's a pretty powerful word. I've been in a pretty hard place lately about my job. They only want me to work 3 days a week on contract. I want full time but I've come to realize I don't want it there. We've had several issues come up at work that justify a full time position but they just don't get it. And frankly, I don't feel like trying to convince anybody. I would have years ago but now I don't want to take on that battle. I know my value. If they don't, I'll find someone who does. But for right now, I'm stuck and its not fun or happy or comfortable. I'm so blaise about it I don't care if they read this. It's put me into the dumps, along with a few other life happenings but I'm trying to remember: This too shall pass.

The next week is extra busy with homeowner association stuff, including the opening of the new Archiver's in Katy on Friday. Woo hoot! I hope to be at the door at 9:30 when they open. And Saturday I leave for winter CHA in Anaheim, CA. I can't wait to experience it. This weekend I'm going to an a crop at Michelle's on Saturday and working an open house for my former neighbor, Wanda. Love showing a house. Maybe I should be a realtor, who sells her scrapbook wares. ha.

After reading the last paragraph, it comes to me that perhaps I should just be grateful. It's a good life. I will focus on that for now.

The sinus surgery went fine. A tad painful but more aggravating than hurting. Still healing but I hope it will prove to be worthwhile. Anything was better than the 10% use I had.

I hope to finish my latest LO and post later this weekend. Perhaps some inspiration on Friday!

Snowflakes and CJs in a Scraproom

This is just too much fun... you have to play with it. You can make your own snow flakes. Pretty cool when it's 70 degrees outside! Make a flake.

I just finished Megan's post CE circle journal, my scrap space. It was fun to do and of course, I included some hidden journaling. It is so much easier to do a 2 page LO than set up the whole book - this went way quick, even though yorkphoto didn't get my photos to me on time! I didn't do alot of embellishing - the paper has a great fuzzy texture so I just stuck with that.

This is the hidden journaling on the left side which basically explains that we bought and remodeled our house in Feb 2004 and we didn't have much family in Houston then, so we decided to forgo a dining room. The room is constantly evolving - in the two weeks since I took the photo, I've moved a bunch of things around, already!

This is the sign in card. I stamped on the back with my new address stamp from Three Designing Women and added a few words about me.

Here's a pic of the corner of my scraproom INCLUDING my scary monkey ala Tim Holtz. He found one in an antique store. I found mine on ebay. He's sitting on an old Remington ammo box. It looks pretty junky... and I need more vertical paper holders. Yes, Megan, that is your mail-box for your CJ on the same shelf. But it's gone now! I don't know if everyone else has this problem but I seem to collect magazines and can't toss 'em. I have 4 or 5 stacks in the sunroom right now that need to be purged. I have some friends who barely scrap so I was going to share them and then donate the rest to the local assistance ministries place (they sell them). I am looking for a tray to alter with chalkboard paint. Moments in Time has a cute vinyl tray with Christmas paper that is really adorable. I'd like to do that also! I looked at a dollar store but the tray didn't have a flat surface. I'll keep looking.

Projects!

It's almost midnight and I am soooo tired but I want to post some pics of what I've been working on... I made this for my hubby... Manly yes, and I like it too! It's just a wall hanging on a paper mache plaque. This chocolate polka dotted sheer ribbon is my favorite right now... I also have been working on a birthday book for someone's 50th birthday. I got the pictures yesterday afternoon and I finished it tonight - over 25+ pictures! I did two accordian fold outs so I could fit them all and then put it in a board book. I'm not sure a board book was the best choice but it's done and I'm liking it! If I had more time, I would have made some different choices but I need to deliver it tomorrow. The pictures of the girls in this book are adorable - they really are cute kids and one of them is incredibly photogenic (she's 3!).

I left the space under celebrate for the 11 year old to write a note. The 4 year old wrote "Dady Miner". She's 4 and she can spell!
Okay, my last pic is a clipboard I made for my Christmas secret sister: You can't see but there's a cute white initial tied with ribbon. I love taking a 97 cent item and altering it!



I'm going to bed. This midnight bedtime is too much for me! G'night.

Sunday is Scrapping

I finally figured out why my fingers are so cut up and rough - Diamond Glaze and others! I haven't been very good about keeping the glue off my hands - keeping them washed. It was a great Sunday today. I piled all the junk from the table onto my desk and then put it where it belongs. Organized a bunch of drawers and put up scrap paper (which was overflowing). Last night I ordered something like 225 photos to be printed! York Photo loves me - that's for sure! I took a break and made some pumpkin bread and then came back and made 4 projects. I did two for my secret sister - her initial and a clipboard and then embellished a small note pad - nothing fancy. I also did a paper mache wall hanging (small) with the Serenity prayer for my husband. I used some cool brown plaid paper. I am telling you - I am totally in my "Chocolate Period" (not to be confused with Picasso's Blue Period). Everything I am doing right now is in the shade of chocolate. I absolutely love Coach's choice of chocolate. This is my current choice - the bling around the top is a nice touch. Target has some great 600 count sheets in chocolate that they had at some ridiculous price for Black Friday. I really would like to do my bedroom in blue and chocolate but the trend is espresso and that pale shade of green (which is pretty but not what I want!).

I had to follow Martha's advice and add some glitter to my Christmas cards. She's absolutely right - just a little touch of bling and it makes a difference.

I did a southern tour and NW tour of scrapbook stores this weekend. Friday I ran down to Just for Fun to pick up 6 HKS bat masks - people on the BPS A Year to Remember yahoo board were looking for them and they are sold out at Advantis so I RAK'd 6 people - which was fun to do. First I ran to Junkie in Kemah - I tell ya, they have some great stuff down there and stock that nobody else has. It's really fun -I just wish it wasn't so far away. Also ran into Novel Approach and picked up a couple of items for my Christmas Secret Sister - she wants Colorbox chalk, which they carry. I didn't get home til after 6!

On Saturday we kept 2 little girls, ages 3 & 4 and man, I was so dang tired after that! That is alot of work. It really kind of helped me though, because I have been mourning the fact that I never had children lately. This was the flip side to that, which was nice to see another perspective. Taking care of kids is alot of work! They left at 3 so I managed to run out to Memory Depot. Unfor. they are closing their Houston store and all was 30% off. Like Novel Approach they have great stamping supplies, so I picked up some good stuff. Also stopped in at Hobby Lobby and got Christmas wrapping supplies at 50% off. Now the picture is clearer... why I had so much rearranging and putting away today! I am free all of tomorrow, so I hope to get more projects done. Wish me luck...

If not Now, When?

I have slightly less than 8,000 projects to do. That number can now be reduced by TWO! Here is a picture frame I did for my hubby. While attending a class with two co-workers, they went to Graceland. He doesn't travel much, so I know he'll like this. I know it's pretty busy but, I don't know, I just felt like putting ribbon and such on there. I'll relax once I do more projects... at first I feel like I have to cram it all in.

Personally, I don't think its that bad that it took me two months to finish my Creative Escape clock. I didn't have photos at the time, plus the word "forever" just bugged me so I hit a wall about finishing it. Well, when I got home, I decided to do it in this theme. It's for my husband and he is going to love it. He has a wicked sense of humor so I had to leave the 6 off and put a 5 instead. It's just so ~him~. I love masks now. I hope the clock works for a while! I have another one I bought from Wal-mart that I want to do in the CE theme with paper and the buttons as numbers.

So, it's okay that I'm still in my pjs and its 1:45 on Saturday afternoon. I think so!
And if you're outraged by O.J. Simpson getting any kind of publicity, please see the Goldman's website. To give anyone the opportunity to discuss possible murder or that they did murder, is not appropriate. I wrote to the bookstores (and got a reply back from Borders).
Last bit... I got my Karen Russell project kit - the J word. Obviously with as much blabbering as I do, I don't have trouble with journaling - I just loved the scalloped paper and the Creative Imaginations stuff so I bought it. I really like it. I didn't realize how much of that stuff she designs but I do know that it speaks to me. Oh and have you seen the Making Memories Wall Text... Way cool. One of HKS' team, Liz Eaton used it as a mask on her worktable. Looks amazing!