(diva)logues

Happy Birthday to you, sissy...

Yesterday was my sister's birthday.  Not only do we look alike & act alike, but our birthdays are 4 days apart.  Could be a reason we act alike...we put the BULL in Taurus.  We've always celebrated together and we'll be doing so this weekend.  Can't wait! 

Anyway... I needed to make a card for her.  And since she's a bit of a fasionista like myself... I decided to use a Basically Bare Dress Form.  The "skirt" is 2 layered cupcake liners.  I had a card published in Cards Magazine a couple years ago using the same technique.  You can see that one here... using the same kind of cupcake liners too, I might add...  

I used paper from the Nikki Sivils' Audrey collection for my card & random bling for my "belt" + "necklace." 

And celebrate in style?  We always do! 

And speaking of Basically Bare, we have a product swap coming up at the end of the month with them + Nikki Sivils.  I made something fun for that yesterday.

In other news around here...

Bryn had her art show on Tuesday, her DARE graduation ceremony last night with the entire 5th grade class and a talent show this morning where she sang "A Thousand Years" with her bestie.  My best friend in 5th grade & I used to sing ALL.THE.TIME. which drove the 2 boys we had assigned seats with in the cafeteria totally nuts.  LOL  Tomorrow I have to go back to school in the morning because she's receiving some kind of award at the all-school awards assembly and then again in the afternoon for the last day of school party.

Summer is here & I have to say, I'm not totally ready for it. 

Time to figure out how we're going to stay busy.  Pronto...     

It is what it is...

Well... I suppose I participated in my own little version of National Scrapbooking Day, minus the Cinco de Mayo margaritas.  Or perhaps you might say I've "celebrated" the whole week. 

Yesterday Bob said to me, "You sure have been busy working this week.  You got a lot accomplished." 

I said, "Yeah, as you recall, it hasn't been such a great week.  And creating takes my mind off things." 

Seriously though.  I made 10 pages + 1 card in the last week.  I think that might be a record.  Would much rather it didn't take sucky stuff to get me lost in my craftroom, but such is life I guess. 

It is what it is. 

More old photos from last year here, with another random mix of products.  Gee that never happens.  My craftroom floor looks like a grenade hit it, so I kinda just keep picking up stuff that matches & going with it.  I'm fairly confident that when I bought these Crate Paper chipboard stickers last year that my original intention wasn't to use them with some old and new Nikki Sivils' paper, but it works for me so it's going in the book! 

 

The red paper is from Nikki Sivils' Audrey collection.  The blue background paper in the middle is from Nikki Sivils' It's Raining, It's Pouring collection.  I just cut off the scalloped border from it.  I used a SRM school sticker and some tiny little Want 2 Scrap bling on my tree & on the door.  Love their bling! 

Bryn had her bestie spend the night last night & now they're off with her friend's dad seeing the movie The Avengers.  I haven't heard boo about it, but I have read quite a few comments on Facebook about how much people love it.  Have any of you seen it yet?  Hopefully it's age-appropriate & NOT scary.  That girl does not do scary movies.  Nor does she even do movies like Elf.  Remember when I mentioned how much she cried & had to stop watching it only a half-hour into the movie?  And I was thinking... it's Will freakin' Farrell... how sad can it be??! 

Just wait until she gets to be my age.  Everything will make her cry.  Or yell.  Or laugh.  All in a matter of minutes.  LOL

National Scrapbooking Day...

 

 

Just a quick FYI...

There's a HUGE give-away going on this weekend at the Nikki Sivils' blog in honor of National Scrapbooking Day.  So be sure to head over for there for a chance to win Nikki's new collections.  Looks like there will be 3 winners chosen, with one of those winners receiving ALL FOUR of her new collections!

Good luck & enjoy your weekend! 

Happy CINCO DE MAYO too!

Nikki Sivils + Sketch Support...

For the month of May, Nikki Sivils has teamed up with the Sketch Support blog for a cross promotion.  All month long there will be different sketches featured, with some of our design team featuring their take on each sketch. 

The first sketch featured is a card sketch...

    

I used the Nikki Sivils' "Messages" collection to create my card (and no, not because the sketch says MESSAGE, MESSAGE... no subliminal "messages" here.  LOL) 

I also added some Maraschino twine from The Twinery to finish off my card...

Head over to the Nikki Sivils' blog and to the Sketch Support blog to see how everyone else interpreted this sketch design.  And fyi... the Sketch Support blog is doing a little Nikki Sivils giveaway!   

In totally unrelated news... I did 3 hours of Zumba today for a middle school field trip that came to the Y.  My body is beat up, but I am ready for the weekend!

Happy Friday & Happy almost Cinco de Mayo! 

Be kind... for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle...

Just a few more random pages.  I seem to be on a creative roll lately.  Probably because disappearing into my work takes my mind off other things.  I'm definitely trying to roll with it though, because most of the time the creative mojo just isn't there.   

The first page has photos from back in 2010.  I ran across them when I was going through all my old photo files on my laptop and started laughing out loud again.  This was the day I was waving good-bye to Bryn and her Bitty Twins while Bob was pulling out of the driveway.  As I was waving & he was backing up... he backed over one of the sprinkler heads & caused a huge geyser of water that was spraying into the backseat window where Bryn was sitting.  She started screaming.  I was yelling, "Bob!!!  STOP!!!"  Finally before he turned to drive down the street he realized what happened and said he couldn't hear me yelling at him because Bryn was screaming in the backseat.  I said, "That's because water was spraying in on her!!" 

The 3 of us together = one nutty combination. 

Just a random mix of products.  The car & heart are from the Nikki Sivils' Noah collection.  I put some Want 2 Scrap bling on the tires.  The lined paper is from Nikki Sivils' Summer collection.  I paper-pieced my own drops of water...

Another random mix here.  Sometimes things just need googly eyes added to finish it off.  Or maybe it was to make smile.  Either way, it worked for me...

And I finally used these professional photos + a screen shot of the website that were taken for this recording studio photo shoot with Bryn & some friends.  Another random mix (surprise, surprise) of whatever happened to be laying on the floor that matched.  Heehee.  The headphone & records were from the Nikki Sivils' Dan The Record Man collection.  More Want 2 Scrap bling on the headphones too... 

I think it's obvious I like those red Bella Blvd letter stickers.  They've only been on 3 pages in the last week. 

On Charter's home page today, one of the "hot searches" they were highlighting was "What's the best way to get rid of a migraine?"  So I clicked on it... because I have a migraine today.  And I get to teach 4 hours of Zumba tomorrow for another middle school field trip at the Y, so I'm kinda hoping I'm not teaching with a headache.  The article is A Better Route To Migraine Relief, by Dr Andrew Weil.  The last paragraph stuck with me...

"Finally, if you continue to have attacks, try to change the way you think about the headaches. Migraine is like an electrical storm in your head - violent and disruptive, but leading to a calm, clear state in the end. You may, upon reflection, discover that it is not so bad to let yourself have a headache once in a while. It is a good excuse to drop your usual routine and go inward, letting accumulated stress dissipate. As you come to accept migraines in this way and see them as serving a purpose in your life, you may not have them so frequently." 

I ♥ Target...

...because who knew I needed some washi tape when all I walked in for was laundry detergent & shampoo? 

Oh ok... I had chocolate on my list too.   

But have you noticed that in their office/school supply section they carry this cool tape now?  And you know that washi tape is one of the "in" things in scrapbooking, but it isn't cheap.  This 4-roll Target version for only $5.00, however, is a GREAT deal if you ask me.  Did you even ask me?  They had 4-packs of other colors too, but I went with the red set...

And voila... a taped border is a quick and easy way to add color + pattern.  The tape is a bit transparent, so you can tell I didn't get it lined up exactly straight but I'm all about imperfection here.  Only in scrapbooking though, not in trying to tame my wrinkles.  And even then I'm not doing a great job, but let's move on... 

This was another page I finished over the weekend.  Pretty basic design here, which is good when you're just trying to get pages into the books & not worry about too much detail.  The patterned paper is from my Recollections All Girl paper pad, a Nikki Sivils gingerbread house, a white SRM sticker sentiment adhered directly onto my photo, Bella Blvd letter stickers & my Martha Stewart snowflake punch with some pink Want 2 Scrap bling in the centers...

Another event documented and into the scrapbook.  I'm on a roll here...

"Turn up the music, I need it in my life yeah... turn up the music, just turn it up louder..."

 Happy Monday! 

I've received a several emails from out-of-town friends about the storms in our area over the weekend, since it made national news.  The weather was different for everyone around here.  My parents, who live a half hour away, only had rain.  We had 2 separate hail storms on Saturday night.  The first one happened around 6pm and shortly after that a tornado siren was sounding.  No tornadoes touched near our home, thankfully, and we were only under the warning for an hour... which was good since we had dinner reservations for Bob's birthday.  LOL  The 2nd hailstorm happened around midnight that night.  Very unusual to have hail twice in the same day. 

Bob's State Farm office is in a different area of St Louis and that area probably sustained the worst hail damage of anywhere.  Needless to say, he & his staff will be very busy taking claims today & probably all week.  The airport is also in the area & my sister's car was parked in an uncovered lot over the weekend while she was out of town.  She came home to a badly beat-up car.  Add that to the list of claims from Bob's policyholders...  ;-)   

Bob turned another year older yesterday.  We celebrated his birthday on Saturday night at a restaurant and then again on Sunday night at our house with family.  Bob also went to the Cardinals game with my dad yesterday.  They each got a mini replica of the 2011 World Series trophy with their paid admission.  Their seats were in the Champions Club (an all-inclusive area with food + drinks) which was a Christmas gift from my sister.  Fun day for them, except the Cardinals lost. 

In addition to celebrating his birthday, I also managed to get quite a bit accomplished.  I finished choreographing a new Zumba routine that I'll be using in class today and finished 4 new scrapbook pages.  Slowly trying to get through old photos from last year that I still haven't used yet. 

Like this event.  My friend's daughter & I share the same birthday.  And I always tell her we're cool girls.  Well even without the shared birthday we're cool girls, but that's beside the point... 

I used a random mix of Echo Park paper & letter stickers, Nikki Sivils scalloped border strips, SRM border stickers and American Crafts + the Twinery for my "balloons"...

Time to put on my dancing shoes & go teach ZUMBA!

Have a great week, everyone! 

Nikki Sivils + Glue Arts...

Head over to the Nikki Sivils blog to check out the product swap going on with Glue Arts today & tomorrow! 

Glue Arts was very generous with our team in sending several different adhesives!  I made a card for "dad" using the Nikki Sivils Noah collection .  I used Glue Glider Pro under my Father Knows Best sentiment and the U Cut It 3D Adhesive Foam Blanks under my patterned paper to raise it up a bit so I could wrap my twine around my paper.  I also put a small square under my star.  Both adhesives ROCK.  Very easy to use & adhere well to paper...

(The paper used for my card was cut from the cover sheet to this collection...can't waste one bit of it!)

And since Bob's birthday is this weekend... guess who will be receiving this card? 

Check out all the inspiring ways we used these products and MORE on the Nikki Sivils blog and on the Glue Arts blog!  Leave a comment at each manufacturer's blog today & tomorrow for a chance to win some prizes! 

Good luck and have a great day!  I'm off to do ZUMBA!  Woot woooot!

April is already half over...

Just a quickie... as today is my day to share a few projects on the Nikki Sivils' blog.  I almost forgot it was the 15th already.  This month is certainly flying by!   

I used the new Audrey collection to create a page about the Garth Brooks show we recently attended.  The musical notes patterned paper made me think "concert page." 

My journaling was taken from my blog post about our Vegas trip.  Just copied + pasted it into Word... then printed.  Easy peasy.  I used the Maraschino twine from The Twinery to finish off my flag banner...

I also made a boy's birthday card with the Noah collection.  I added some Want 2 Scrap bling for the tires and some Shore twine from The Twinery...

Hope you're all enjoying your weekend!  Ours has been a TON of FUN! 

"I wanna dance... and love... and dance.... again..."

Last night as I was tucking Bryn into bed & saying good-night, I told her I'd see her in the morning after my 6:30 Spin class.  She said, "Yeah... I'll just be waking up & eating breakfast when you get home and you'll come in the door yelling, I'm ready to start the day!"  I laughed... because really I do usually say something obnoxious like that when I'm coming home from a butt-kicking workout that early in the morning.  At 5:55am when my alarm goes off, however, I'm not exactly thinking "I'm ready to start the day" though.  And just to aggravate her, I burst through the door this morning and yelled that.  She smiled.  She loves me.  

I registered Bryn for the new Zumbatomic class at the Y (Zumba for kids) and her first class was last night.  The instructor for the class couldn't make it though, so I subbed the class.  I had 9 awesome girls, aged 6-12.  It was lots of fun!  Well... minus the part when we got in the car & Bryn said, "Did you have to shake your boobs?"  Not only don't I have much in that department to shake, but I told her I wasn't shaking them & I did try to change the dances and make them appropriate for kids. 

Seriously?  Like I would stand in front of her class & shake my boobs?  

Welcome to the tween years.  I'm still wrapping my brain around this phase we are now in, of whatever I do being questioned.  Next week, we shall see if the real instructor shakes her boobs too.  LOL 

Ok, so what else...

Mother's Day is around the corner, so I needed to come up with a Mother's Day card for the next Nikki Sivils E-Blast that goes out to all the retail stores.  Also... it will be nice to have a card already made for the occasion, since I seem to be doing things at the last minute lately.  I used the Audrey collection to assemble my card... 

I added a staple to the center of each of the heart cut-ups and then pulled each side of the heart away from the paper to add some dimension...

I'm attending another cooking class with my mom & sister tonight.  I'm sure there will be something amusing that happens... there always is... so more on that tomorrow!  You can be sure, though, that I won't set my wine glass on the food prep counter this time... just incase the wine police is watching.   

And PS...

I'm LOVING this new Jennifer Lopez song. 

Nikki Sivils + PSA Essentials promotional feature...

It's Day #2 of the 2-day PSA Essentials + Nikki Sivils promotional feature on the Nikki Sivils blog.  Make sure to check out Nikki's blog for a chance to win one of her new collections!  There's also a blog hop happening on the PSA Essentials blog this weekend, so head over there for the details and a chance to win more prizes! 

PSA Essentials sent me their Peel + Stick "Carriage" stamps.  Simply peel them off the sheet & stick them onto a clear stamping block.  So easy...

I stamped onto plain white cardstock and then used my circle punch on my stamped images.  I punched a couple more circles out of the polka dot paper to finish up my "banner" and then inked all the edges with a black ink pad.  I added some of my Pink Sorbet twine from The Twinery to finish off the ends and put each circle onto a pop dot to add some dimension.  My card was made using Nikki Sivils' Noah collection...

Love that blue + red paper with all the words on it.  And the polka dot paper is too cute...

Don't forget to check out the Nikki Sivils' blog for details on how to win a brand new Nikki Sivils collection + some PSA Essentials stamps! 

Hope you all have a very blessed & HAPPY EASTER tomorrow! 

Well, peeps, it's almost Easter...

Back home... back to Zumba & Spin... back to buying groceries & filling Easter baskets!  I love being home.  Easter isn't my favorite holiday though.  When my sister passed away 10 years ago on March 31, it was Easter morning.  Hard to believe it's been 10 years already.  Hard to believe I'm actually happy again, when at the time all I wanted to do was get in my car, keep driving & never look back.  Having a 9-month old "angel" to get out of bed for every day, saved me though.  Thank God for the angels that come into our lives & save us.

Actually I'm looking forward to spending time with family & friends this weekend!  And Bryn has a friend spending the night tonight, so she'll have someone to dye our Easter eggs with besides me for once.  Speaking of which, did I mention that she gave me her birthday list the other day?  There were only 2 things on it:

1. A cell phone. 
2. Adopt a baby.  Preferably a girl.

She's been asking for a cell phone since she could talk.  The baby is a new one.  I think she came up with that grand idea when my cousin recently adopted a baby.  Needless to say, I told her she better come up with a new list because she wasn't getting either of those things. 

Fairly confident she's going to be a sales person some day.  And the good news is, she'll be very prepared to hear the word NO from potential customers... as she hears it all the time from us.   

Anyway... back to Easter.  Making a couple cards is much easier than adopting a baby, so I'll just stick with what I'm good at.  I decided to get a little crazy & use the Exit Here collection from Nikki Sivils (a travel-themed collection) to make a couple Easter cards.  I think the colors in the collection are very Spring-like, so I thought it could work.  I drew my own bunny shape onto the yellow-patterned paper & then cut it out.  I pulled off the end of a Q-Tip to make my cotton tail and ahered it with Beacon's 3-in-1 Craft Glue... my new favorite adhesive.  I also added a couple blue Burlap Buttons to the ends of my flag banner...

I made a similar card using the same collection, except on this one I added some lined paper to the middle.  My "eggs" are oval-striped punch-outs that are included in the collection.  Perfect as an egg, I say! 

And speaking of Nikki Sivils... we have another 2-day cross promotional feature going on that started today... this time with PSA Essentials!  I'll be back tomorrow on day #2 of the feature with my project, so I hope you can join me again then! 

Happy GOOD FRIDAY, everyone peeps!

Happy Birthday, Nikki Sivils!

Happy Birthday to you... happy birthday to you... happy birthday, Nikki Sivils... happy birthday to you!!!

My card was made using the new Nikki Sivils' Audrey collection + a Basically Bare dress form + some Want 2 Scrap bling + Glossy Accents on my shoes to give them the look of patent leather... 

Head over to the Nikki Sivils' blog today to check out all the birthday action. 

There's even a little giveaway going on... just incase you're interested!   

I ♥ bakers twine...especially when it comes in a rainbow of colors!

It's day #2 of the 2-day feature of The Twinery on the Nikki Sivils' blog.  The Twinery was extremely generous with our team & sent each of us their Ultimate Sampler Pack.  Can you say a rainbow of bakers twine?!  I was LOVING it... 

I pulled out my new Noah collection & picked the Maraschino-colored twine to make my banner.  I adhered my twine onto my banner using Beacon's 3-in-1 Craft Glue, which dries clear + quick...

The Noah collection is obviously aimed at boy-themed projects, but I wanted to show it's versatility & made a sports page about my niece!

BOTH companies are doing give-aways...so check out the Nikki Sivils' blog today for all the details & for more inspiring ways to use TWINE!

Happy Friday!  I'm off to teach Zumba for 2 hours at the Y for a middle school field trip.  Thinking it could get a bit crazy.  But after that, I'm headed out for some fun in the sun... so it's going to be a GREAT day!

Have a great weekend everyone!

Trippin'...

Just a quickie today, as I need to be cleaning + packing! 

Packing is fun.  Cleaning... not so much.

Been doing quite a bit of creating lately with Nikki Sivils' products for some upcoming posts.  Here's one I made using the Exit Here collection with some old photos I found from 2 years ago.  It was a field trip that Bob volunteered to go on with Bryn... his first & probably last... LOL...so the pictures were taken with his office camera which isn't a great quality camera.  The fact that he took all these photos though, is really all I care about.  (He knows how to make me happy. ;-)  I don't need award-winning photos (or pages, for that matter) in our scrapbooks... just need the photos + stories.  It's really all that will matter in the future!

I machine-stitched all the borders of my sun + rays to better define the outline of it and added some pop dots underneath my sun to give even more dimension...

And speaking of Nikki Sivils... today is day #1 of the Nikki Sivils + The Twinery feature on her blog.  Head over to Nikki's blog to find out about the give-aways going on today & tomorrow.  I'll be back tomorrow with my project that I created using some twine from The Twinery! 

Back to packing.  Almost time for some fun in the sun... woot wooooot!

Have Passport, will travel...

Here's one last project I created for Nikki Sivils' booth at the 2012 Winter CHA trade show in January, using the brand new Exit Here collection.  I love this travel-themed collection & especially love the Passport cut-out that's included.  How CUTE is that?!  I decided to use mine as the cover of my mini book, even though I obviously didn't have to leave the country to attend this particular event.  My book includes photos + memories from the Summer 2010 CHA trade show that I attended in Chicago that year.  What a FUN event that was!  

I was actually there to represent 2 manufacturers... Nikki Sivils and SRM Stickers... but since this book was to be used on display in Nikki's booth, I only included photos from her booth in here for now.  I will add all my SRM Stickers photos + memorabilia to the book eventually... 

I just adhered my patterned paper (or photos) onto scrap pieces of cardboard, cut to size, as the foundation for each of my pages...

No matter what good things happen to me in this industry... NOTHING will EVER top Nikki naming a piece of patterned paper FOR DEANA after me & I got to see it in her booth at the show.  Still gives me goose bumps...

Just a simple book ring to hold it all together and still plenty of room left for the rest of my photos! 

TGIF and yay for the weekend!  Bob is going Downtown to watch the NCAA Midwest Regional tournament games tonight & Sunday.  I'm subbing a Zumba class tomorrow morning or I'd be going out late with him tonight!  Gotta behave sometimes.  ;-)  BUT... we'll have fun celebrating a birthday out tomorrow night, so I'm looking forward to that!   

Hope you have a GREAT weekend everyone!

Monday... FUN day...

We had a blast over the weekend... lots of fun with family & friends on Friday & Saturday night!  Well... minus the part when Mizzou lost, that is.  The weather has also been fabulous around here, even though we also had a huge spring-like thunderstorm over the weekend.  This "winter" has been unseasonably warm and I love it.  Snow is nice around the holidays, but I don't need it during this time of year!  I'm ready for fun in the sun right now! 

So... with warm weather outside, it was the inspiration I needed to get around to doing something with these zoo photos we took at the end of last summer.  It's a mix of mostly new product I've recently received..."Caribbean" twine from The Twiney (more on them soon!), KI Memories "Hot Date"paper & letter stickers, Nikki Sivils "Audrey" border strips, SRM Stickers flower border sticker, Dear Lizzy chipboard pieces, a couple other random scraps of paper AND 2 old, old, old (did I say old?) animal stickers (Me & My Big Ideas... I think??  Lost the packaging)...        

Hope your St. Patrick's Day weekend was a blast.  No one got pinched around here... we were all wearing our GREEN!

It's Monday... my fun day, Zumba day!  Woot wooot! 

Hope you have a FABULOUS week, everyone!

Who's ready for a little "Spring Fling?"

......... 

There's a brand new Nikki Sivils' kit available this month packed with goodies from the "It's Raining, It's Pouring" and "Willow Bee" collections.  It's a WAY fun kit and a STEAL for only $26 + shipping!  Head over to the Nikki Sivils' blog for all the details about Nikki's "Spring Fling kit"... but hurry... quanties are limited!  There's a buy-now Paypal button link to make your purchase quick + easy!  You're going to love this month's kit! 

Those are 2 favorite collections of mine, by the way... they had me at the clouds.  ;-)

And speaking of "spring flings"... only 21 more days until we're out of here again.  And hopefully this time, it will be warm enough to go to the pool because it sure wasn't in Vegas! 

Have a FABULOUS weekend, everyone! 

"We know who wears the pants in your family..."

image

Long day so far beginning at 5:55am when my alarm went off so I could do the 6:30 spin class, which has become part of my new work-out schedule.  The class ROCKS.  I'd prefer a more reasonable hour to spin, but for now it's working for me and I'm still back home in plenty of time to help Bryn get off to school.  Yay!   

After that I had a rescheduled appointment to take my Tahoe to the dealer.  Long story, short... I took it in last Wednesday.  Sat there & waited for the repairs for 45 minutes before Glen, the service manager, came out to tell me that "George wasn't quite available to work on my vehicle yet & I know that Bob always wants George to work on it... so could I take you back home instead of letting you just wait?"  

I said, "Umm... maybe someone other than George could work on it today & I'll let Bob know I said it was ok?" 

He said, "Oooooh... I know that look!" 

I'm thinking, ummmm... actually that was a nice look??  It does get worse though.  Haha

Anyway, it was apparent that even if someone other than Geoge was going to immediately (yeah, right)  start working on my car, it would be at least another hour before it was finished.  I called Bob... he said it wasn't that big of a deal anyway & to reschedule for another time.  So I rescheduled for today at 10:00.

This morning I asked Bob to call Glen & tell him that anyone could work on the Tahoe today, that it didn't HAVE to be George... just incase they didn't believe me that Bob said it was ok! 

So, when I walked in today, Glen said to me, "I had to try not to laugh when Bob called me this morning.  We know who wears the pants in your family."

I said, "Well, Glen... as you can see... I'm not wearing a dress today." 

LMAO!!!! 

Reminds me of the movie "Raising Arizona" when Holly Hunter is ripping on H.I. in front of his 2 friends & John Goodman's character says, "Well, we know who wears the pants in your family H.I."   Such a dumb movie, that is Bob's FAVORITE movie of all time, but that line made me laugh out loud!  LOVE IT!!!    

Anyway, Glen proceeded to randomly give me $h#t for the next 2 1/2 hours that I was there waiting, and I gave it right back.  Funny guy.  If it weren't for him, I probably would've been way more annoyed about how hungry I was getting, considering Bob told me I'd probably only be there for about an hour.  Yay me!

But... I've finally fed my face and Bob just texted me that he was bringing home dinner so... all is good!  ;-)

And here's another card that was posted on the Nikki Sivils' blog yesterday, along with a tutorial for the new page I posted... 

The card was made with the Exit Here collection for Nikki's booth at the Winter 2012 CHA Trade Show.  If you missed the Nikki Sivils post from yesterday, you can see it here!   

And yay for wearing pants.  Preferably ZUMBA pants... you know what I'm sayin'... ;-)

It's a banner day...

It's the first Tuesday of the month... so that means it's my day on the Nikki Sivils' blog.  Head over there today to see how I created this page... and then you, too, can become as obsessed with making flag banners as I am. 

Or... is it just Bryn that thinks I'm obsessed with making them? 

In addition to that page I made using the brand new Messages collection from Nikki Sivils... I also made this "thank you" card...

I have a couple more cards I made for her Winter 2012 CHA booth on Nikki's blog today, as well.  

On my way out the door to Spin class & then to lunch with friends. 

Did I mention I'm glad to be home?  ;-) 

Sweet emotion....

It's Monday... aka. my day to teach Zumba!  Love that!

Had a fun time seeing family in Illinois over the weekend to celebrate 3 grandkids' birthdays.  The good news is, while we were there... we went to my favorite Mexican restaurant outside of Mexico.  YUM!  The bad news is... Mizzou lost to KU in overtime... even though at one point they were up by 19 points.  POO.  Bob was not happy.  LOVE those kids though, and I even managed to put together a very tricky Lego Batman airplane. 

I also found out my sister got a BIG promotion and will be moving to Denver soon.  Happy for her, but I'm going to miss her SO MUCH! 

POO again...:-( 

Here's another card I made for Nikki Sivils' booth at the 2012 Winter CHA Trade Show using the Exit Here collection!  I just used a journaling card, some letter stickers & some cut-outs, along with some ribbon to make a quick and easy card...         

I love quick & easy!  ;-)

Have a GREAT WEEK, everyone!  I'm thinking it's going to be REALLY great!   

"Hello... is it me you're looking for... "

Hahahaha! 

For the next 2 weeks... introductions are being made on the Nikki Sivils' blog of her new 2012 Design Team.  Today is my day to be "introduced"... although I've kinda been around for awhile... like since the beginning... sooo...  Hi again!  It's me!  Still loving Nikki Sivils & loving being part of her team!  Thank you to Katrina for the sweet intro about me on the blog today.  Love ya!    

Here's a few more of the projects I created with the Exit Here collection for Nikki's booth at the 2012 Winter CHA Trade Show...     

I know, right?  So unlike me to actually hand-stitch something.  It's been awhile since my lazy butt got out the embroidery floss...

I've mentioned it before, but it bears repeating.... I love the Exit Here collection!  Fun colors, patterns & perfect for all our travel photos! 

I guess I'm just gonna have to leave town soon so I can take some more photos...Woot wooot! 

Happy ♥ Day...

Happy Valentine's Day!  We'll be celebrating with our annual tradition of making lobster at home for the 3 of us.  It's too hard to get reservations at a restaurant and I'd rather celebrate with BOTH my Valentines anyway.  Plus... Bob & I already had dinner out with friends last weekend, so technically we've already celebrated.  ;-)

This year, Bob gave me a different kind of "bling" for a gift... a blinged-out swimsuit!  And since I have 3 fun-in-the-sun trips between now & the end of March... this suit will definitely come in handy!  I say that with hope... as I haven't tried it on yet.  It may not fit.  LOL

     

So anyway... since it's Valentine's Day, we were asked to create a Valentine-themed project using any of Nikki Sivils' collections.  I used one of our family photos taken by Fitzgerald Fotography LLC...

I went with a combination of Nikki Sivils' collections to make this page... Sugar Cookie, Max & Mollie, d Summer & the new Exit Here woodgrain paper... basically lots of PINK! 

Also... just another reminder to check out the "Box of Love" deal on the Nikki Sivils' blog.  There's been a great response already, and quantities are limited... so hurry! 

I hope your day is filled with lots of LOVE... and chocolate, too! 

XOXO

"When you're feeling down & out... and you've got troubles on your mind... love will save the day..."

Eventually... things change.  Sometimes I go with the flow, other times I'm kicking & screaming the entire way.  Change is good though, right?  Right...

Bob gets to deal with my kicking & screaming, so-to-speak.  I have to say though... he does save me.  Mostly from myself, I suppose.  We take the day-to-day for granted sometimes, probably more often by me than by him... but he's the love of my life.  And I wouldn't want to be traveling through this life without him.  We make a good team.  Not a perfect team, but a really good team.  We get each other.

Whitney Houston's death kind of got to me today.  I was listening to the radio & they played a clip of a lot of her "best-of" hits.  I grabbed my phone to download a couple favs of mine.  Then they were talking about her daughter... how she'd gone to the hospital twice that day after she had passed away.  I just sat there & stared out the window.  And then I started bawling.  I know that feeling of disbelief when someone you love passes away suddenly and without any warning whatsoever.  My sister & I went to the hospital later that day after our other sister had passed away.  She had already been taken to the morgue by then, but we hadn't seen her.  So they brought her from the morgue to a hospital room for us.  I needed to see her.  I needed to know it was real and not just the worst nightmare in the world.  It's a memory I wish I could erase from my mind, but I had to say my goodbyes to her in her body... even though her soul had already passed on.

I'm a mess sometimes, what can I say.  

In the meantime... it's almost Valentine's Day.  So I ran out today to get some gifts for my Valentines.  I'm also busy making some cards using the old Sugar Cookie collection from Nikki Sivils...

And speaking of Sugar Cookie... head over to the Nikki Sivils' blog to check out the "Box of Love" you can purchase for an awesome price!  But hurry... it's only while supplies last.

Have a great week, everyone!           

Woot woot!!!

The Winter 2012 CHA Trade Show is well underway!  Did you know that Nikki Sivils was chosen for the "Service to Humanity" award by the CHA committee? 

"Nikki Sivils coordinated craft relief efforts following the 2011 tornado in Joplin, Mo., working with dozens of companiesto secure, organize and distribute $50,000 worth of donated scrapbook supplies to the victims of the tornado. On Sunday, July 10, 2011, Sivils and her team delivered 50 tubs filled with scrapbook supplies to crafters who lost everything in the tornado. The donated supplies also went to local schools, the Spiva Art Center in Joplin and were used for the children’s ‘Healing Through Art’ program. Her efforts following the disaster helped return some normalcy to the local area and scrapbooking community. Sivils selfless activity directly inspired two other craft relief efforts in Joplin where products and funds were raised for St. Mary’s Elementary School, as well as an art auction benefiting the City of Joplin."

Very, very cool!  Congratulations, Nikki!  You deserve it, girl! 

image source...

In other very exciting personal news... I just found out today that I'll be on the next sessions schedule at the YMCA with my own Zumba class on Monday mornings.  I AM SO EXCITED!!!  I've already been working on new routines, but this news will kick my butt into gear to come up with more!  My first class will be on February 20th. 

Woot woot!!!

A little too connected...

I have to admit...I have mixed feelings about Facebook lately.  It can be a good vehicle for getting hurt feelings.  You know the old saying... what you don't know (or see on Facebook) won't hurt you.  On the other hand, when I went to my 25th high school reunion, I felt like I was still in touch with a lot people BECAUSE of Facebook.  It gave you something to talk about....because you'd already been chatting online.  I liked that.  The majority of time when I'm on Facebook, though, there's something that makes me laugh...sometimes to the point of tears in my eyes.  I like that, too.  I like staying connected. 

Like I said... mixed feelings.   

So... I had a handful of photos from my 25th reunion that happened in September.  I wish I had taken more & especially wish I had one of just Sally, Steph & I since we've been friends forever (since 2nd grade with Sally & since 6th grade with Stephanie)... but I worked with what I had.  And as I was trying to decide what products to use with my photos, I noticed that there was a lot of green & yellow in the School Is Cool collection from Nikki Sivils.  And how perfect is that, since our school colors were green & gold? 

I added a brown Burlap Button to my camera punch-out & I also used some SRM stickers... We've Got Your Number & Class of '10...

 

Got my run in this morning & I'm almost finished choreographing a new Zumba routine...without any help from videos.  And it ain't easy peeps.  LOL

TGIF & have a fabulous weekend, everyone! 

I'm ready to "exit here"...really... I am...

A couple of my new projects were posted on the Nikki Sivils blog last week using the new "Exit Here" collection.  I love that she created a travel-themed collection this time, as we do a LOT of traveling every year.  In fact, we already have 4 trips planned between now and June!  Yay!  I'm so ready to get out of town!       

I'll be posting more of what I created for Nikki Sivils' booth at the Winter 2012 CHA Trade Show, the closer we get to it.  It's next week already!  If you're attending... look for Nikki's booth #3047.   

Also... there are some brand new badges to go along with Nikki Sivils' 4 new collections.  Post one of them on your blog... and you just might win that collection! 

 

 

Have a GREAT week! 

New product releases for Nikki Sivils...

Head over to the Nikki Sivils' blog today to see all 4 brand new collections in detail, that will debut at the Winter 2012 CHA Trade Show at the end of this month! 

You can see each collection in it's entirety on the Nikki Sivils' blog.  I've only had the opportunity to work with the Exit Here collection, so I'm excited to work with the other 3 collections after CHA.  They are ALL so CUTE! 

Also, leave a comment on Nikki's blog for the chance to win the collection of your choice!  Woot woot! 

Craft Storage Ideas...

I found out yesterday that my craft room was featured on the Craft Storage Ideas website.  There are lots of other inspiring craft rooms there as well!  Check it out... it's a fun site! 

You can see more of my craft room right here.  Things have changed a bit since I posted that back in 2010... like our gecko & his little home that's been added to my room... but you get the idea.  ;-)

Off to Fed Ex... to send off 3 new pages, 4 new cards and 1 new mini book that I created using the brand new "Exit Here" collection from Nikki Sivils.  One of my new pages was posted on her blog yesterday.  You can see it here.  I LOVE that new collection!  If you're attending the CHA trade show... you can check out all the new projects & collections in her booth. I will also be posting mine here soon, so stay tuned for that...

Work it, baby...

Happy Martin Luther King Day...

I'm busy working-out & working.  It's a mad dash to finish up my projects for Winter 2012 CHA & get them mailed off in time for my deadline, while Bryn is busy playing with a neighbor friend today.  And speaking of my new CHA projects... have you seen the one that just got posted on the Nikki Sivils' blog?  You can check it out here, along with a detailed look at all the new papers, cut-outs & stickers included in the new "Exit Here" collection.  I adore that new collection... it's just too darn CUTE. 

As for the Nike ad... I tore it out of a magazine. 

It just spoke to me...