Back to the CK offices

Only this time I didn't feel like throwing up, it was great!


I took in the layout that was requested for the Hall of Fame edition, and it was such a relief to get it gone!


I was going down that way anyway because I helped Rick move today into the home that he and Bri just bought in Highland, so I asked if it would be okay if I just dropped while I was down that way. It was much easier than boxing it up, going to the post office and shipping and then worrying and tracking it for four days!

This is a layout of Laurel that was swapped out of my entry, maybe that was a mistake, maybe it was a good thing, I will never know, but I do love it, it speaks of my relationship with Laurel so precisely yet poignently! The reason I traded it was that I had made it clear back in December (didn't do the journaling until the end of January, was waiting for the "perfect" thing) but in the January Jenni Bowlin Technique on her website, she showed a technique very similar to this one. I cried. This was not necessarily rocket science in the technique department, but it was terrible timing. Anyway needless to say, I didn't want anyone to think that I was desperate for ideas and poached one at the last minute.

The overlay has old Dee's Design by My Mind's Eye rub-ons with paint underneath to give depth and great rich color that you just can't get from a printer. Then the bottom is old German candy box paper that was sewn onto the bottom for that lacy looking detail! A few Making Memory pins strategically placed a Teresa Collins flower with some bling and some of her tiles for the title!

I am grateful that I was selected for this honor, and hope that people will find my work inspiring and fun. But in the long run it is the memory of this conversation that I had with my daughter that will ultimately be my blessing for having such a crazy, fun, obsessive hobby!

B-

Self Googled

Today I was told that I had been googled.
An interesting concept, someone googles you learns more about the name than they wanted to, and maybe even ran across some interesting or possibly helpful information.
So out of curiousity factor, I googled myself.
Found A LOT of Becky Olsens out there, most are far more accomplished than I, and probably more interesting to read about! Not much on me out there, which is fine by me, LOL!
But I took it one step further and googled my message board user name which is a little more unusual, and found out lots more about myself than I anticipated!
Does this seem backward to anyone else?
You use a name on the message boards to maybe soften the impact of being so many places at once, it is kind of your inner child coming out to play. And the name that you go by you expect that people really know who you are and all about you.
Today I learned that this is just not the case necessarily!
I found out that a scrapper I enjoy, Caro, used me for a scraplift challenge, I am completely flattered and absolutely dumbstruck because she is from FRANCE! Scroll down the link a bit and there is a layout that I did for the Scenic Route booth for CHA-Summer. Blew me away!
So how darling is this lift? How fun to find this one too!Anyway, I don't know who did these, but they did a great job!
Anyway, go google yourself! I think it will surprise you with what you find!
B-

Rock Stars!

Give the kids some sunglasses, a camera and they can entertain themselves for a few hours!

While Tyler was in New York last year he bought some really nasty bright yellow Oakley knock-offs for $5! He had a great time pretending he was all that, but know he has grown up and can afford the real thing so the old ones can now be toys!

Carter kept putting them on and then turning his head to give the "Blue Steel" (Zoolander rocks btw!)

Laurel would snap the pics and then it would start all over again!

So then of course it was her turn, and she was too good for the FAUX-kleys so she got out my good ones and it went on from there.

I just am so lucky, I have kids that crack me up! Isn't it hilarious that this could entertain them for so long! And I have to say, I think that they are pretty darn cute!

So yeah, I think my kids are rock stars!

They are sweet, kind and oh so funny and isn't that what being a kid is all about!

B-

The faith to bring the umberella

So there is a Mormon Pioneer story that goes like this:

The first summer that the pioneers came into the Salt Lake Valley it was barren.
They planted all of the grain that they had set aside to farm this coarse land. They tended and worked and prayed that all would go well because that was all they had. Failure would mean death to many.
It was a very hot and dry summer and the crops began to fail because of the lack of moisture.
So the pioneers fasted and prayed for the moisture to come.
One evening they decided to gather and pray together for the blessing of moisture that was so desperately needed.
There was only one person who brought an umberella. And it was a young girl.
It began to rain, and there was one person there who had complete and perfect faith and had come prepared.
I wish to have the hope and faith of a child.
I try to bring my umberella when I need a blessing, sometimes it is hard.
But being prepared to meet the blessings that the Lord gives is not always so easy, we become skeptical and callous. Faith is a tough thing in the world we live in, we are on the Lord's time table and not our own.
We may not understand why or when, but we should bring our umberella.
B-

March 21st at 2:37

I got a call from the fabulous, friendly, fantastic Fred!

I have heard about Fred, but have never had the opportunity to visit with him.

What a great guy, doing what he does, making people happy by calling them and making their dreams come true.

He called and asked if I knew why he was calling, and I told him that I hoped so! He proceeded to inform me that I had been selected as an Honorable Mention in the Hall of Fame contest and then asked if I had entered before. I told him that this was the first time I had entered and that my heart was pumping chunky peanut butter because I was so surprised that I was getting this call because of that! He told me how happy that they were for me for having this success my first time, and then...

My phone died! I went through a bad service area and it dropped the call! Thank goodness that Fred is not easily annoyed and didn't give up on me! He calmly and sweetly called back and we finished the rest of our conversation. At some point in the conversation I asked him how many married women had proposed to him, and that I had a very cute daughter too. What the ????

My husband was even in the car just looking at me like I had completely lost it, which by the way I had!

I soooo didn't expect this and it really means so much to be in this group of talented people!

B-

Costco

So how is it that you can spend $330 at Costco in an hour, come home put it away and not even "see" where it all went?

The obvious answer is that you might be blind or have a room that is just for things you don't ever want to see again.

My answer is that I live with pirahnas.

I buy anything that even resembles food, and about twenty seconds later...

GONE!

Don't get me wrong, I think that pirahnas are a necessary link in the ecosystem. They clean up natures messes, right? Wrong!

After these pirahnas there are even bigger messes than before.

I have to admit that it is a little embarassing to show pics, but I mean really, do they have to be so cavalier about their destructive eating habits?

This species runs rampant in my home and cannot be removed!

Any thoughts on how to deal with them?

B-

Monday!

I am glad it is Monday.

Monday brings a new week, more time to get things done, more energy, more hope.

I did this layout this weekend, it is a very old pic of Laurel (eleven years!)

It seems like yesterday that it was taken, but so much has happened between there and here.

This layout I did a a week ago, and it doesn't show how much she has grown and what an exceptional person she has become.

I love my kids, they are really amazing people!

We have had some adversity in our lives, and our kids really pull for us and work as a team when it comes down to it!

LOVE THEM so MUCH!

So much to be grateful for.

Anyway, I hope this week brings the changes that we need.

B-

Tuesday stuff

I have been having a ton of fun downloading digi products and printing them out!

This layout was done with Rhonna Farrer's Parisian papers with some color adjusting and size changes, printed out on Making Memories ledger paper. And instead of put the type on the photo in photoshop, I hand stamped it for a different approach, very fun!

I have been working on some digital elements of my own and have made a couple of layouts with them. It has been a fun new learning experience to try to get what is in my head down into the computer program.

Definitely a learning curve!

On a different thought, tennis lately has been great. My coach has been really hardcore with me and it is paying off! My game is improving in the goals that I have set and it is very SAWEET! I love hitting the fuzz off the ball and having it come back for more!

B-

A call even closer to my heart!

The uber fun, creative, talented Christina (and saintly, adorable, wonder hubby Terry) has been very busy!

She has a ton of cool stuff going down right now, making me a little disappointed with the loops that life is throwing at me right now!

I wish so bad that in three weeks I were doing the ARTistry event she has been planning.

With the best of intentions, I had been planning on getting there, but it just isn't going to happen, and I am pretty bummed!

BUT...

I will be there in spirit, and for right now that is enough.

AND...

there have been some large changes in the design team there. I will be leading the team still, but

there will be a new group joining me, and we don't know who they are yet...

DO YOU?

Will you join me?

I promise it will be fun!

B-

Rouge de Garance DT call

So wouldn't this be a fun team to be on?!!!!

Rouge de Garance is looking for FOUR talented, versatile and creative US designers to enlarge their international Design Team. We want to see fresh uses for products and innovative, out of the box thinking when it comes to layout design. Strong photography and digital skills are a plus. You will be required to make at least 2-4 layouts a month and post them online (on your blog/Twopeas/messageboards/... up to you) and on our blog. If you work for magazines, editors,teach es, please say so on your resume. Communication is the key to success : we, at Rouge de Garance, are a solid, communicative and strong team and we're looking for people who enjoy working in a team. Compensation for our designers are a large variety of free Rouge de Garance products, free passes for CHA, and exposure through our website and in catalogs. The contest will run from March 1st through March 31st 2007. It's our 1st anniversary and we want to celebrate that by opening our french style to the world! We will announce the FOUR new additions by April 15th 2007, once the designers have been contacted and accepted their posts. The design team position is a commitment of a year. We will review whether or not you continue at the end of that term. APPLICATION REQUIREMENTS: Your application and scans should be emailed to DTcontest@rougedegarance.com . Scans should be less than 300Ko. That application should include answers to the following questions: Name Location - Country Email address Do you have a blog? Any CURRENT design team obligations) A link to your online gallery Send us a resume of your publication/workshops/events you've done in the past Tell us a little bit about you :why would you be a good fit for Rouge de Garance and why are we a good fit for you? CONTEST SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS: Send us your TWO favorite layouts of your choice - one in a 12" x 12" format and one in an 8.5" x 11" or 12" x 12" format and an altered project. We also require that you submit one layout created especially for this search. The requirements are that: *the layout may be either 8.5" x 11" OR 12" x 12" - your choice of size * the topic/subject of this layout is : YOU !!!! Make a layout and talk about you ! We wanna know why you scrap, what you enjoy in scrapbooking, and what's important to you when you scrap. Think about it like a resume, sort of. Be funky, be fresh, be inventive, be colorful, be YOU ! If you could use some Rouge de Garance products, it would be a plus, but this is not a requirement. We're looking forward to hearing from you !
Rouge de Garance blog
They have beautiful paper, so if you have a little free time on your plate, you should give it a shot!
B-