new scrapbook store coming to our area!!!

Anthologies....... in Hurst

I put the link to the blog in the title. Another store to check out... starting today they are taking reservations for "studio sessions" (aka crops) for the month of October. Sounds like they have a pretty large space and plan to expand.

Cannot wait to check it out!!

-pm

Just Between Friends

Hello all!!

Amy introduced me to this major huge kid to kid consignment event! There is everything for children ages newborn to size 14! Toys, clothing, strollers, car seats, everything! The catch is that you must sign up and tag all of your items ahead of time, only include gently used items, drop off everything on the assigned days and wait for the check! You make 65% off of what you priced it! Every item has a unique barcode number with your consignor number so they know where to cut the check! You can even reduce or donate my items if I wish!

I signed up and have a couple of boxes full of Kylie's clothes. Please come and check out this sale at Will Rogers Exhibit Hall Sept 11-15th... 5 days!! whoo hoo!! http://swfortworth.jbfsale.com/

I personally cannot benefit both ways with this kind of sale anymore but maybe you can! (My kiddo is too big for me to buy anything and I do not run a childcare business anymore) It is too late to sign up for this sale, but wait there is more! There is an Arlington sale (not as big) coming soon October 16 &17 at North Davis Church! http://arlington.jbfsale.com/ If you are interested in selling, please sign up now... the prep is so time consuming!

papermaddam vs. the purple guitar

challenge: making a collage on a guitar

huh?? you ask... in canton several weeks ago i noticed how many ordinary things have now become deco art. hmmmm... how fun!

i have an upcoming birthday, great gift. no pressure. ha

bought a guitar at a thrift store.. PURPLE.

yikes!! oh and i have a complex when it comes to "cruding". sort of a problem when you are attempting a collage. i channeled my inner lesa for inspiration!

whaaa laaa.........

i am thinking that this 13 year old will fall in love with her new wall art. oh... if you come across any guitars at garage sells, thrift stores, or where ever... please let me know. i am making more and have several requests to bling out guitars!!

scrapbook convention

tara, rachel and lc went to the convention thursday. this was lc's first ever convention and she had a blast. we could not keep up with this spring chicken! lol! disappointed that kayla was not out there this year. not too much that was just show stopping but always fun finds and it was all about the bling. colored & traditional pearls, rhinestones.... yum! we had our pic taken at the arlington camera booth. so fun!!

3L adhesive on sale...

check out the HL ad! the adhesives are on sale. hmmm... i remember how rare this was last year and now they are putting this back on sale a little more often like the good ol' days!!

convention time!!

yay! it is almost june and that means the convention is back in town! i always look forward to seeing the new products and vendors. it is so refreshing that this industry is still going strong and is not a "fad". hope you are able to go and have a great time!

i also found several new stores this year!! yay for them! scrapbook junkie in friendswood (near houston) remember when (near lake texoma) and i finally went to crafty scrapper in waxahachie. love them all.

sales this week...

yes i am up. it is 2:37 am and i am planning my retreat pages. if feel like this crept up on me! after my last order to costco for the night i checked by in box. i already have a sale ad from HL. (the link is below) paper, ribbons, stickers, totes, page kits, etc are all on sale (no adhesive and no 40% off coupon... boo) michael's ad is not in my inbox yet and i am sure i have a joann's ad around here somewhere with a 40%.

did you know that michael's and joann's will take each other's 40% and HL. HL will not take anyone's coupon, boo again.

retreaters: make sure you have everything you need... ADHESIVE, embellishments, paper that actually will work with all of your photos (LOL... papers look different somehow on a retreat but they looked good at 2am when i am SO sleepy).... oh yes do not forget your PHOTOS!!

goodnight!

ps: the HL ad
http://www.hobbylobby.com/weekly/weekly.cfm?menu=1&page=1

the economy effects scrapbboking...

so i am blog stalking right now and one of my favs has a blog entry that stuck out... a magazine calling it quits. ugh! so if you like simple scrapbooks... it is gone for good in just a few months. boo :(

also some supplies are on their way out too... heidi grace and little davis designs

here is the blog i like to stalk! www.wewillalwayshaveparis.com

More Proof That The Scrapbook Industry Is Tanking
Two big developments in scrapbooking this week:
First, Simple Scrapbooks announced that the May/June 2009 issue will be their last. This truly bums me out, as it is my favorite out of the current publications. Figures. This announcement came quick on the heels after Digital Scrapbooking announced last November that they would cease publication. Most of the SS talent will move over to Creating Keepsakes magazine. If you have a SS subscription, it will convert to a CK subscription. If you have both a CK AND a SS subscription (like I do), your CK subscription will be extended by your remaining SS issues.
Second, Fiskars announced that they will stop the production of consumable items (i.e. paper, rub-ons, etc.) after their CHA Winter launch. This includes lines such as Heidi Grace and Li'l Davis. Fiskars is returning to what they do best -- scissors and other tools.
It seems that everyone is tightening their belts....

attn: retreaters

you know who you are... surely you have a crop coming up soon..

devlop & download your pics! enhance and resize!

if you have a retreat coming up i suggest not waiting until the week of to start your planning and most of all your SHOPPING. the worst part of this is when the store doesn't have what you are looking for. frustrating!! start looking at the ads and shop the scrapbook stores (there are a few left!) I was just browsing the new hobby lobby and michael's ads that I get every sunday in my in box. michael's has ribbon on sale and hobby lobby has spare parts on sale. these are the most used products besides paper! brads, eyelets, metal findings and ribbon, OH MY!! we all need a nice healthy stock of these! when you plan out your pages you often forget about the embellishments. this can be a YIKES situation! INSTEAD OF A PLAIN PAGE.. GO SHOPPING!

as for adhesive, a girl cannot have too much. I have yet to see this go on sale for a long time (3L that is) you have to pounce on this coveted product. HL has been stingy with their sales lately. you may want to keep an eye out on joann's. the most they may do is 40%... better than full price!

always plan for too much, really. who wants to finish early?? not enough pictures for pages? bring another project, like cards.

plan your pages until you are happy with them... do not settle. put them away and start on a new page, this may help. these are YOUR pages. plan them how you want. if you get scrappers block, us retreaters always have an opinion!

the key here is... come prepared! whether it is a day crop, or an entire weekend. you are paying a fee to go on this crop, make it worth it by coming prepared. you owe it to yourself and your albums!

happy croppin! have fun!

got clues??

kylie wanted to be nancy drew for halloween. but... she now has a softball tournament scheduled and it interferes with trick or treating and basically dressing up. i decided to take her for portraits of such a great idea. the photographer was so excited to take these. my mom found an orginal nancy drew book which made the nostalgia of these pics come to life. they turned out super cute...

why???

i swear i am still here. october is so packed for some reason; it is only day 10. is it the christmas rush starting? i have completed several halloween crafts that i need to post. halloween is not even over and i am already thinking about my christmas crafts. what is up with that??!!

this week... i have been inspired to bake more, decorate more and just be more crafty. i have stalked several blogs... if they can do it, so can i. did you know i have another blog....

www.cakesbyauntiem.blogspot.com please check it out!!

....-....-....-....-....-....-....

i need to vent. so kylie plays tournament softball. there is a tournament every weekend from mid september thru november. we are only scheduled for 2 so far this fall season. that is not my beef. my beef is that one of those fabulous fall weekends is no other than halloween. yep, she plays on friday night, the big day for every kid. so not only has this coach stolen a fun night from my kid who loves to be creative and dress up, HE STOLE SCRAPBOOK PAGES FROM ME .........ahhhhhhhhhh. how dare he. this better be one fantastically decorated ball park for this scrap chic. UGH, he has NO idea who he is messing with..... -pm

waxing dilemma

ok i must share what happened to me and kylie last night. she got ready for bed and i noticed her eyebrows needed some immediate assistance. she agreed. (background: i have been waxing her eyebrows for a couple months now) i heated the wax, like normal and did one side, beautiful. so now for the other side. as i dip the stick she says, oh let me get my hair out of the way, as she sweeps her hair i am coming towards her with the wax and oops, it drips on her. well just not on her, JUST HER EYELASHES. now her eye is totally shut, the wax has adhered to both her upper and lower and oh did i mention that this covers half the width of her eye. has anyone noticed her blessed eyelashes, she has a ton of them. ok, instead of panicing, i ask scott to get us a towel to wet it to hopefully loosen the cooled wax. nope. i go and get my eyelash comb to maybe pull it out, painful for her and not really working. she was like, can we call someone. this WILL NOT defeat me in any way, i will win. we are going at it for a while and then i thought about what "Kim" would do in this situation (the asian lady that does mine) oh, she puts baby oil on afterwards and i bet this will help. so i have some eye makeup remover pads and we were literally soaking her eye with oil. this was loosening the wax slowly but surely. after at least 30 minutes of this trama, my daughter can open her eyes and now go to sleep. UGH, what a mess. so advice: if you find yourself dropping hair wax on someone's eyelashes, think like Kim and get the baby oil STAT.

Michael's... breaking news....

ok, i know that i complain ALOT about how this company took away our specialty store Recollections. this was the "go to store" for the special papers, albums and ideas. ok, michaels has some what redeemed themselves with me. i was browsing thru the north east area the other day and found myself noticing the new sign at the michaels location. i thought i should check this out. this store is a touch better than mine on cooper. it was very sunny out and you know when you are walking into a store and there is so much glare you feel somewhat lost? ok, i saw some sparkle to the right, they have a monstrous bead section. good for them, not for me. i hate beadwork, too tedious. so i look straight in front of me to see that there is no tall aisles in the middle and there is something hanging from the ceiling, like a large sign. OMG, they have gutted this store and put in wood floors just in the center of the store, and what is on these nice new wood floors in the center of the michaels store you ask??? yep, scrapbook aisles just like recollections would have. now, the stock is not old school michaels at all, it is some of the old and lots of the new. like good brands such as making memories, tim holtz, autumn leaves and MANY more. whew... i was in scrapbook heaven. the spots are not all full but they soon will be. the grand re-opening of this store is scheduled for october 5th. even the dollar section is awesome. they are set up alot like joann's check out area and designed like recollections in the scrapbook area, the bead area is cute for those who enjoy this craft, the framing section is nice also. the craft area is well stocked and easy to navigate based on age/level. i am impressed to say the least. no sales of course, remember recollections you were accustomed to paying $0.79 and up for paper, they too are proud of their stuff. i thought i would never say this about michaels but they have good cardstock also. now the one thing that will make me angry is if they do not do this to my store and include the space next to them formally known as recollections. i deserve this store as to those at the hurst/fort worth area (brenda and tara) for now i will just make that trip on over. remember oct 5th, mark the calendars and make it an early trip!! -pm

clark labs sale!! ...expires 9/17/08

just wanted to share... clark labs is running a special on 4x6 prints $0.05 EACH!! not too shabby! offer ends soon... act on this one!

***Order up to 100 4x6 prints today and pay ONLY 5¢ Each!Coupon Code: CK5PRTS
Expires: 09/17/08

-pm

target dollar spot... AGAIN

so last night i went to target to get my nkotb cd... don't hate it is really good. well of course i must go to the dollar spot when at target. ugh... they have new stuff out. halloween, sports, jewel tone papers. also they have clear stamps, card kits, scrap packs. anyway, it was just thrown in there and the person who did it just did not care so everything is scattered. i am sure they will be getting more in. just wanted to give a heads up! (i was at the target on 360 & sublett) -- pm

August & September Page Kit of the Month

Just a reminder... I am hosting Amy's page kit class on September 6th at 10am. I will of course have yummy treats to eat! I hope to see you there!



One hitch, I need for you to RSVP thru the evite invitation and to pay Amy in advance. This would help her tremendously on preparing the kits and having emough for everyone. If you have already paid, that is great! Thanks again!!



The September Catalog is greatness! I cannot wait for you to see it! -pm

c1ub e1even

ok, did you think i did not survive the parties??!! well barely. it has been a whirlwind of a couple of weeks, the time passed so quickly!

the slumber party was A.W.E.S.O.M.E!!!! we worked our butts off but it was worth it! the girls had non stop fun and i think the majority of them crashed at 3:30am, yikes! so i have to send a shout out to the helpers.... brenda, tara, rachel & melissa! we could not have pulled this party off with out the great help we got from you all!!

whew... let the parties begin

so i apologize for my extreme absence. it is birthday time here in the household and kylie is having 2 birthday parties because she is having her first ever slumber party. yea! well on 07/26 we hosted the "family and friends" party here at the house. see my sign in page!! (saga with that, 45 minutes before the party went under way I am loading the cupcakes to the dessert tower and whoops there goes my entire glass of water on it, needless to say a new one was made very quickly!!) everyone seemed to have a really good time and it helps that we had ALOT to eat, including kylie's own new potatoes from her garden with papa harse. yummy :) we were being swarmed by BOYS..... we need some girls to even this out!! kylie was given so many great clothes and had several gift cards for her favorite clothing store JUSTICE. she picked out some really great outfits that all mix and match very well. OK, tonight is the much anticipated slumber party... gotta get back to work :) -pm

somebody's shootin' at somebody...

i have to share a very LOL story of my fearless gun toting husband (God bless this man!) so yesterday afternoon, Scott is standing in the kitchen, I am coming into the house from the garage holding a mound of items, Kylie is at the kitchen table drawing or something. apparently there is a noise none of which could POSSIBLY be made by me knocking into the door with my armful of items or Kylie flicking papers. NO, gun shots for sure. (his exact words contain non-pretty words, so i will make this PG rated) "what the *bleep* was that?? who the *bleep* is shooting?? OK, do not ask me and do not stand there mister fearless leader of the household. his eyes are HUGE at this point and i have to say i am giggling and he is serious. i assure him this was one of us making a noise. OH NO, somebody's shooting. ??????????? ok, get out of here and figure this out--- i am not going out there. (whatever dude) he finally goes out side and apparently he is right... the junk man across the street heard the same thing, similar to a shotgun sound and they both walked out at the same time. PLEASSSSSSSSSE people... it apparently was close but maybe a street over, i laughed about this all evening and he sorta laughed but assured what he heard was for real, still makes me laugh because his face was priceless. SO last night as we are going to bed, he must flip through all of the channels just in case there is something good on and here you go a western, with young michael landon and his exact words were "somebody's shootin' at somebody" OH i have to blog this and he just laughed!! There has been many nights of strange sounds in our house over the years and he has popped out of bed with his whitey tideys on packing heat running through the house, i have never been fortunate to actually see the face that goes with this until yesterday in my kitchen, LOL! his gun lay beside him for the rest of the day, as if we are under attack, too funny!! --pm

she's turning 11 :(

we went to veterans park this morning and took some (over 200) pics and three different outfits. it is so hot you can only stay for a bit... not sure i quite have the stamina to be a true photographer. just need assistance with the editing, to make me look more like a professional. tara is on top of that! here are the unedited pics, well just a few...