Rainy weekend = Scrapping {Updated with pictures}

More rain predicted for this weekend. Lots of rain.
During a break in the storms, we took a quick drive up the mountain road behind the house and got a shot of the snow on the mountains. These would be the Big Bear/Arrowhead mountains. If we didn't have to put chains on the tires, we'd be taking a drive up there this weekend.


So, that means, I'm staying inside and working on projects for my Gallery. I haven't uploaded in a while and I have a stack of layouts and mini albums just waiting to be uploaded.

The Design Team has some amazing projects up using their December/January kit.

The Anniversary sale ends January 31st. Hurry up and save an additional 15% off your order. Almost everything in the store has been marked down to make room for the new items coming in.

*** FOR THIS WEEKEND ONLY *** Orders over $50.00 will receive free shipping. Normally, we offer free shipping on orders over $75.00. With prices so low, you can get a LOT of paper for $50.00. (Free shipping minimum is different for international orders.)



Look for announcements on contests for February. Lots of CHA giveaways are planned.

Since I haven't had much of a chance to take pictures, I stayed up late tonight and started. Of course, the light isn't the greatest, but its getting done. Taking care of a 6 month old is hard work. Especially when that 6 month old demands attention every minute he's awake. When he was younger, I could put him in the swing and get things done. Now, he's not happy with the swing. He wants to play, which means my days are filled with Playschool toys that light up and sing silly songs. Any free time I get is spent filling orders. This leaves little time to be creative these days. BUT, my husband promised me a baby free weekend so my plans are to get as caught up on the baby's book as possible. I'm halfway through his November pictures now. By the end of the weekend, I should be caught up.

Thats a good feeling. Now, I only have 6 drawers of other photos to put into albums.



What are your plans this weekend? My iPod is charged up and ready for the Scrap Marathon!

Hunkered down.....

in my studio creating.

Lots of rain this week. It could be worse. I could be buried under lots of snow like some people. Wait, I LOVE snow! My husband and I were thinking about running up to the mountains this weekend and taking the little guy to see snow. We'll see. Right now, they're reporting you have to put chains on so it may be a 'no go'. I've got the chains, but my husband isn't looking forward to putting them on. Its still cold here. In the 30's, which is cold for SoCal. It means I get to wear my flannel pajamas and have fires every night. Do you know how fun it is to crank up the fire and watch the hockey game? A lot of fun!

So, its cold and CHA is right around the corner. I'm trying to use up my old stuff to get ready for the new stuff. (Yep, I'm just like the rest of you!) My studio is getting a workout this week. I'm also cleaning out a bunch of stuff I know I won't be using anymore. No matter how much I clean, I can always find something to add to the 'never going to use' pile. I keep one in the corner of the spare bedroom. A lot of it gets sent to my cousin and the rest will be going out the door in donation form.

I hardly ever get a Michaels ad, but last weekend, I got one. They have the Iris totes on sale. Yeah! $5.00. I bought 8 of them. Clear and purple. Those that know me, know I don't do pink, so I left the pink ones for some other 'pink person'.

Lots of fun stuff coming to the store in the coming months. I'm sure most of you have seen some of the Sneak Peeks out there. They are all over the place.

Here are some of our favorites:

American Crafts (NEW Thickers! Even glittery ones!)

Glitz Designs

Daisy D's

Prima

Scenic Route

Imaginisce

CherryArte

KI Memories/Love Elsie

October Afternoon

and more!!

The show is only a couple of weeks away. The camera battery is charged and ready! We'll be updating the blog each night with pictures from the show! We'll also have lots of giveaways too.

ETA: OKay, my links to the above are not working. Blogger seems to be having issues tonight. Most of these updates can be found on the Manufacturers blogs and websites. I'll check back in the morning to see if the links are working.

Tags

So, I've been trying to think of some really cool tag idea for my husbands gifts for his guys. We (I) put together a Movie Night in a Bag deal for 14 people. A bag of microwave popcorn, candy and a Blockbuster Gift Card. So, how to present it?
I'm all for the brown bag look this year so I put everything in brown lunch bags. After several days of nothing clever, I emailed Nora Griffin. She's the Queen of crafty, especially tags. Love her tags.

Her answer was simple: keep it simple. Movie theme = red and white stripes. So, I searched high and low for a cute lined stamp and found a cute Technique Tuesday stamp. I've had this in my stash for quite some time. With a little bit of embossing powder, I came up with this. Nothing special, but it works. And I ended up liking my simple but cute popcorn tubs.
Movie Night font is also a TT stamp. Thank you NORA!

Busy time of year.

I need to update my Gallery at the Store with my recent projects. So many of them laying around.
Its been a busy month. A trip to New York to see family, working on Christmas presents and making this the best first Christmas I can for the baby. Not only did we take him to New York, but we gorged ourselves. Its our yearly 'fill up on Italian pastries' trip. We hit the bakery almost everyday. We took a red eye flight and they first day my dad was at the bakery almost the second they opened. He bought what he called 'the starter kit' of pastries. Enough to get us through the first day. And the Entemans cakes! Oh my! They were stacked 5 high and 3 deep on the counter in my aunts kitchen! It was crazy. Now that I'm home, I'm eating bread and water to make up for it!

Then I had to bake the Christmas cookies and goodies for friends and family. Crazy! I'll post pictures of the finished product later. My dining room table is a mess. Nick got his first taste of fudge......








I've been working on Christmas presents for the family. I'm making everyone a little something this year. I found that Michelle Hills kits from Polka Dot Whimsy make some great gifts. If you've ever taken one of Michelles classes, you know her love of 'extras' or 'doodahs'. She searches out the perfect 'extras' for all of her kits and classes. She started her own Kit Club in September - one smart move! She's got an eye for cute stuff. I'm addicted! And since I can't get out and take classes like I used to, this is the perfect thing. Michelle Hill delivered to my house!


I'm addicted to mini albums. Here are some of the ones I'm giving away this year to some lucky family member - design courtesy of Michelle. I also made some of my own mini albums and those will be posted in a couple of days. I need to take more pictures, upload new product for the store, get the rest of the Christmas cards out etc. You know, its a busy time of year. I'm trying to get it all done today so I can enjoy the last week before Christmas.

One thing I've been dying to do (and I had the perfect photos sitting here for it) is lift this layout I saw on 2Peas. It was the Layout of the Day a few weeks ago. Awesome. Of course, I couldn't use pink for a boy, so I tweaked everything a little. I used the new Pageframes 12 inch antique frame, Prima Crystal Swirls, Scenic Route paper (worn lined paper by Scenic Route) and some chipboard embellishments by Lil Davis Designs. I chalked and glittered the stars and letters (both LDD). All embellishments are placed on the top side of the acrylic sheet while the paper and pictures are on the backside. I edged the acrylic sheet with light blue Stickles. I've got a collection of Stickles and other glitter glues that you wouldn't believe! I love that my little boy likes to cuddle. He'll cuddle with me under the down comforter in the morning when he wakes up and sometimes goes back to sleep.



Also, I used the smaller acrylic shapes from Pagesframes to create some ornaments for the family to commemorate the baby's first Christmas. I used glitter and Stickles on some of them and I embossed the rest. I used a 3 inch Marvy scalloped circle punch to punch out the picture of my little 'elf' and attached it to the center. Some of the acrylic shapes already have holes punched in the top, but some don't. You can use your trusty Crop-A-Dile to make the hole. (This is the best money I've ever spent on a tool.)

More to come later! I need to get the Pageframes items uploaded to the store.

Don't forget to add items to your Wishlist! Anyone can access your Wishlist and purchase items from there for you! Wouldn't that be the perfect gift! Orders can be shipped to you directly or to the person purchasing them for you. We also offer cute Gift Certificate holders. You have until Friday to request the Petal Envelopes for Gift Certificates. This should guarantee a Christmas delivery. A Stash Gift Certificate would make a perfect gift for you or someone you know!

The rest of our time in Vegas.....

was spent partying with other Kings fans before the Frozen Fury game on Saturday. I love the fact that Memory Trends was the same week so we only had to make one trip.

We missed this last year when we were in Europe and were supposed to miss it this year to be in Hawaii. With the business and the new baby, we stayed home.

So, what do the cool Kings fans look like?

Thats my friend Mandy in her Avs Suck jersey. She's been wearing that every year now. The Avs fans hate it.

And of course, there were about 3 Duck fans that felt the need to show up. Not sure why. We made them feel welcome. :) Actually, we didn't. :0

You can see more pictures HERE.

We took Nicholas to the Shark Reef at Mandalay. He made friends with the alligator.

And we had dinner at Hofbrauhaus - the annual get together for the Kings fans on Friday night. This year, the celebrity beer tapper was Neil Diamond. Yes, THE Neil Diamond. I thought he was an impersonator but this was the real thing. He had the entire place singing Sweet Caroline and standing on the tables with beer steins in hand.

Speaking of beer steins, my husband HAD to get the 34 oz Stein. This is German Beer so the alcohol content was just a tad bit higher than the American Beer. 6.5% to be exact. I had to drive back to the hotel.

Oh yeah..... WE WON!!!!!!!!!!

Dustin Brown scored the winning goal in the shootout. It was great to start the season with friends we've made at the games in the past. Frozen Fury is always the annual start of the season for us, even if it is a pre-season game. It has a playoff game atmosphere.

Vegas BABY!! {EDITED}

We're off to Memory Trends in Las Vegas.

Remember to enter coupon code MT07 during checkout to save 20% off your order.

We'll be updating from Vegas with pictures of new product from the show!

Edited:

Here is the King of Vegas on his very own Queen bed. He's ready for Memory Trends and the hockey game this weekend.

Classes.....

Just because I own my own store, doesn't mean I'm not out there taking classes. I had a chance to take a class at a friends store a few weeks ago taught my Cheryl Mezzetti. She used the Honeydew and Teal papers from Creative Imaginations and the Brooke Peek-oh-Book.

Here is a quick shot of Cheryl's finished book -

BLOOM BOOK

Love the colors and the feel of this book. I've also designed my own Brooke Book using the Junkitz Extreme Boy line. This is a great little mini book with so many options. Each page has a pull out to hide more pictures or journaling. You can find the Brooke books and CI Papers in the Stash Store.