You gotta think about that

We took Nick to see the Imagination Movers.  He loves them.  If you don't know them and you have kids - you should.

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They are NOT the Wiggles.

They are NOT Barney.

They are NOT annoying.  At least I don't think so.  They're cool.  They are 4 dads from New Orleans that started a kids rock band.  If I'm going to be humming songs I hear on a childrens channel, I'd like it to be their songs.  At least they're cool.

And I do find myself singing their songs.

When I have a problem, erm, Idea Emergency.  You gotta think about it.  You gotta talk about it.  You gotta sing about it.

This was huge.  My parents take Nick to stuff all the time (Mickeys Magic Show, the Circus etc) but this was his first concert.

After dropping a weeks paycheck on souvenirs and concessions, we found our seats.  Dead center, and close enough that we were still part of the show.  They came out into the audience a lot which was cool.

The show started with Choo Choo Soul.  Another one I really like. Hey, it gets Nick to do letters and numbers.

DC and Genevieve put on a great show!  They are lively.  DC has some moves too.

Then the Movers came out.  What a great show!  They brought along Nina, Warehouse Mouse and Eddie, the Warehouse Monster.  They sang all of our favorite songs and even some new ones from the new season.

By the time it was over and they were coming out for the encore, my son was asleep in his chair.  My mom and I were still dancing though.

Venice Beach

First stop - Urbanic.  Much smaller than I expected but a lot of fun stuff packed into a small space.  I definitely need to go back. 

 We walked up and down Kinney Abbot.  So many cute shops - so little time.  A quick bite to eat here.

 Then we drove down to the beach area.  Cruised along the beachfront and decided we needed to come up on a day when we had more time.

 More Abbott Kinney.....

 Cool mural.

 Thats exactly what you think it is.  Sorry, I had to post it.  I just think its funny that everyone is so against legalizing it yet there are places that 'fill prescriptions'.

 More murals.

We have a day planned in March to spend the entire day in Venice and Santa Monica.  The Pier. The Aquarium.  The beach.

More projects

I promised I had more to share.

Using the new Echo Park for the Record.  Notice a pattern here?  I think Echo Park might be my favorite company. These papers were perfect for this photo.  Taken in 2000.  I was just a baby here.  So was my husband.  We were in New York for my cousins wedding.  We were dating.  Totally in love.  He'd never been to NYC before and I felt I had to share it with him.  I pretty much dragged him all over.  I made him eat food from a cart on the street.  We ate at Carnegie Deli and we rode in a horse drawn carriage through Central Park.  Totally cheesy, totally touristy but SO much fun.

And this one.  I love the new My Minds Eye papers.  I wish my store could carry them but MME does not sell for me.  So I need to hit up my local store.  There are a few lines I love that I've tried carrying.  They don't sell.  So I get pick them up when I can.  I also have the new Fuji Instax camera.  Got a deal on it that I couldn't pass up.  I'm slowly learned how to use it.  I totally stole the layout idea from Cori.  I have an idea for that tag.  Some Zing.  A cute stamp and something else.

Using Graphic 45 - On the Boardwalk.  I'm not a huge fan of Graphic 45 but this line really caught my eye.  Its an older line but I've been holding on to it for a special occasion.  I dipped into  my supply to make this layout.  Martha Stewart border punches, My Little Shoebox Tiny Alphas (they come in over 30 colors), another KI Memories Glitter Words sticker.  That ice cream glass is cut from the back of a tag I got in a Studio Calico kit.  I've been holding on to that one too.  Right about the time I got the papers and the tag, I got word that Farrells was opening up again.  I used to go to Farrells all the time as a kid and then Marriott bought them.  They ruined them and before you knew it, Farrells was gone.  Some guy with a vision, found his ribbon from the time he ate the Pigs Trough all by himself and decided it was his mission in life to reopen this restaurant.  The very first location opened up about 10 minutes from my house.  Guess who was waiting in line......

I had to steal the hat from our waitress for this picture.  They don't give them out anymore.  I'm so glad I get to share this with Nick.

Last I wanted to share a special layout.  Having so many international customers is amazing.  I'm introduced to some pretty cool customs and different parts of the world.  Since I {heart} traveling but can't really take off on a world tour (like when we were childless) this is as close to traveling as I get right now.  So when an international customer ends up in my part of the world I love meeting them!  I recently met Merdrey and Piradee.  I have pictures somewhere....

Last year, Merdrey had a little giveaway on her blog.  I knew the answer to the question but I hated to answer.  I have a little advantage owning a store.  She generously offered to give me a prize anyway.  That prize was a layout created by her.  She brought it to CHA with her.

Finding time to scrap

because thats why I take the pictures right?  I carved out a few hours this month to make something.  Really, I was at a breaking point.  I love owning a store but sometimes the responsibilities that go along with it are just too much.  So I broke down and brought people in to help me.  In the past, my wonderful friends have spent the day helping me catch up on order so that I can handle some website updates but I really needed someone on a regular basis.

So, 2 days a week, there is someone that comes in to help fill orders.  I used to work with her way back when I had a 'real' job.  She was telecom and I was Help Desk.  In the past 2 weeks since she's been here, it's freed up little bits of time that allow me to spend more time with my son (like taking a day and going to Disneyland).  In the end, the business isn't suffering.  Instead, its growing.  Again.

So while Alyssa handles the DT and the blog and Pam fills orders - I'm adding new products to the store.  I'm able to finish editing the pictures from CHA (because you really want to see them right?) and assist with the warehouse 'remodel'.  After the construction to repair the leaks, it needed some organization.

See, I'm organized but I'm not.  When it was just me filling orders, product had its place.  I *knew* where it was and it made sense to me.  Not to the people helping me though.  What they don't see as 'buttons', I do.  So, slowly, I'm working on some reorg for this poor thing.  That includes new racks, new ways of storing and displaying the boxes of product so that we can pull items easily.

And it reminds me of all the products sitting in my *stash* that are seriously neglected.  Like the cute little containers of Zing.  My mists.  My washi tape.  And that rack of patterned paper.  We won't even go into how many trees make up my stash.

About that stash.  Its a little lighter this week after throwing together some layouts and a quick mini book.

Daddys Girl - Echo Park  - Little Girl line(Excuse the wrinkled white paper.  Thats where the photo will go when I get it printed).  KI Memories pocket and Glitter Word stickers, Studio Calico stamp with Jenni Bowlin ink pad, Bakers Twine, Martha Stewart Border punches, Maya Road velvet ric rac and some My Little Shoebox Tiny Alphas.

Another one for the same friend.  No title.  But her little outfit was yellow and navy.  I mixed and matched the Little Boy and Little Girl lines from Echo Park.  The navy paper is from the Little Boy line and the yellow is from Little Girl. Circle punches, border punches and heart punches.  I used my Tim Holtz Tiny Attacher to staple the tiny hearts.  The dress is an older Maya Road item. It was from the girls chipboard keychain we sold a couple of years ago.  I've been hoarding it for something like this.  I tried to recreate an outfit similar to the one in the picture (again, one that needs to get printed).  The flower is cut from the KI Memories Glitter Words.

A mini album using scraps from Echo Park Little Girl.

Just something quick I threw together.  I used a Jenni Bowlin paint dabber (Malted Milk) to cover the edges of the Maya Road mini.  I didn't want to waste time cutting the paper out to fit or using a craft knife.  I'll be adding Stickles and other random bits (butterfly punches) before I send this to my friend.

I have more to share but I'll save that for another post.