Layout of the Week!

This fun little layout of Chloe is the layout of the week over at Scrapologie!

Ranjini has a great website, a wonderful DT and the gallery is always full of cool things to look at!

National Scrapbook Day (or NSD if you are hyper scrapper like some of us, LOL!) is May 5th or TOMORROW! YAY, love that there is a day about celebrating the importance of memory keeping!

Tomorrow I (and a bunch of other life artists!) have a fun thing happening at Two Peas in a Bucket that has to do with this whole NSD thing. So head over there and see what is up if you get a chance!

Also, go to Creating Inspirations tomorrow, a fun sale, inspiration throughout the day and fun people on the message board!

Today the weather is off, stormy and cool. I need some sun right about now, so this has me stuck inside kinda whining! I really need to get off my rump and get some exercise but (punny?!!) I just don't feel like it!

Oh well!

I hope all of you are able to find some way to keep yourselves occupied for the day making and keeping memories!

B-

It is May First!

Totally crazy!
25% of the year has already passed!

Today is also the day the design team at Creating Inspirations uploads all of the new designs for this months kit!
The kit has a ton of Karen Russell Creative Imagination product, and Jenni Bowlin papers and journaling cards as well! Very elegant and fun!
I love this team, they are all very talented, and Beth is such a fun person to work with!
Sonda administrates the site, and she ROCKS!
So this fun group has a great thing going on for National Scrapbook Day (May 5th, Saturday!), a sale!!!
I also have a fun little thing going on at Two Peas that I can't spill about, but has me very excited! So I will be spending some time there on NSD as well!

So make sure you have some paper and glue to play with this week, because there are lots of great places to keep you inspired!
B-

A little Melancholy

I have been a little sad this week.

I have been playing tennis since we moved to Utah at a club located at the mouth of Cottonwood Canyon called Canyon Raquet Club. It was sold last summer to a developer who intended to demolish the entire 23 court (tne are indoor) facility and then re-develop it as high end homes/condos. The head pro at the club was given 8 more months of running the club while tests and plans were being done, but today that time officially is up.

Yesterday morning I played with my Friday morning tennis group for the last time, we had a great little luncheon together, and took a few pics, so sad.

Last night was the closing party and today was the kids last lessons there.

I have gone to that club everyday sometimes 3 or 4 on lesson days. It is a hub for our family and it is going to leave a huge hole in our lives.

We will be going to Lehi where they have built a new facility and where the pros our kids have been learning from will be teaching at. I have taken a job there very part time. On the days the kids have their workouts I will be answering phones at the front desk.

During the summer I will very likely be there every day because of the camps that the kdis love to do.

Very life altering.

B-

Been a While

Things have been a little hectic around here, so I have had to let a few things slide.
Obviously the blogging was one of them, LOL!
Heroes, seriously addicted to this show!
I mean really how stinking cool is this whole thing anyway?!!!!
24 is of course on at the same time so tivo is also way busy at our house!

So I did manage to get Tyler back into the tux and took a few pics, he looked very handsome and was a little more cooperative about the camera thing because he wasn't stressed about the date, prom, dinner, dance, entertain, hang out and be cool thing.

Laurel has been learning how to do handstands (in the house!!!???)
She was never interested in tumbling as a kid so it never happened.
Well, now all 5'10 of her is into learning how to do a handstand with the eventual goal of maybe even being able to walk on her hands.
This has all been inspired by the movie "Stick It", which is quite cute and very teenage girly!

Chloe hasn't been feeling well for the last few days, the sinus/sorethroat ick, it has made her miserable! I think she is on the upswing though, and should be back to right quite soon!

I got my Scrapologie kit in the mail yesterday (finally!!) and in it was a Heidi Swapp stamp that said "today" very simple very cute.
Well Carter saw it and said "this must be for me!" So every day you can stamp "Today was a good day to be Carter!!" I LOVE this guy! He is always so happy and FUN!
I had a small glitch in my track yesterday. I was all dressed and running out the door to get to my tennis groups, and decided to blow my nose before I left.
Seemed like a good idea at the moment, but this is something I have to be super careful about, and so as I gently blew, so did my entire membrane inside my nose.
Both sides for about 45 minutes.
GROSS!
I know, oversharing.
But really, I had to cancel on two groups. Tennis people do not like to be canceled on when they are dressed and ready. So I felt like a complete dirtbag, and to boot, I was sick all day!
Dizzy and lightheaded, so lame!
Anyway, with all the good stuff going on a little bump in the road is no big deal!

B-

So Cute!

Taylor and Tyler in front of Tuscany!
They are both so sweet, and so cute!
Yup, I am biased, but this was a very cool mommy moment!

I am also a little upset with myself, I changed the batteries in my camera and forgot to reset the size to 6 mega pixels so all of my pics are in 1, one stinking lousy megapixel!
I want to cry for being such a ding bat!
I have been dying for a new camera for quite a while, and this is why! I bought the darn thing so long ago when 6 was a huge thing! Now, 6 is tiny and 1 is basically uneditable, seriously sick to my stomach right now!!!
This kind of problem just wouldn't happen with new cameras and the way their batteries are set up!
I have to literally reset the entire camera when I change batteries, and it is so often that you would think that I would have learned by now!
This is tragic to me.
Anyway, they did a group activity of laser tag earlier today, and they had a great time, and dinner at Tuscany is always delish so this is going to be a day that will be remembered fondly!
B-

Tyler and Taylor

Okay, so here is a toungue twister...
Tyler is taking Taylor to the restaurant Tuscany to try to show her a good time.
Her brother is Tyler, her Stepdad is Tyler and now sweet Taylor is going with Tyler to the Prom.
The details:
Tyler's date told him on Wednesday that her parents weren't going to let her go to the prom.
That is all Tyler would tell me, that is all he knows. He was soo disppointed!
I was talking to Teresa about it, and she was so sad for him. So she suggested that maybe Taylor would be able to go with him if he still wanted to go. I talked to him, I talked to Teresa, she talked to Taylor, she called me back.
This went on all day yesterday, but when it was all said and done, the darling Taylor will be accompanying my sweet Tyler to his Junior Prom.
Yes, a blind prom date. And I can honestly say that there are few girls that I would trust my sweet son's heart with! Taylor is a ray of sunshine, and I know that they will have fun because she is such a fun young lady with great ideals!
So, yeah, I plan on taking a few pics, and Teresa is a bit of a shutterbug as well, LOL!
Both of these kids are so photogenic, that it will be fun to snap shots of them all dressed up!

Also today Laurel had her Keys to Success assembly at school!
I got to go and I took my camera and I knew that the batteries were low, so I took extra! I should have changed them before I got there though, as soon as she got up on the stage to have her turn to try her key, the flash sucked the batteries dry and I only got ONE picture, waaaahhh! It was so cute to see her up there holding the key and trying to turn the car on! A bit of a bummer that it wasn't her key, but soooooo proud of her and her efforts to improve in her academics! She might end up with a 4.0 this semester, and we are so pleased with her!
I think it has really helped her self esteem too, she really has grown up so much this year, and while it is exciting, I am kind of bummed to have it all going so fast!
Anyway, life is just one big adventure here!
B-

Circumstances

There are circumstances in which things must change, and this is one of them!
There have been huge changes afoot for Lazar StudioWERX in the last few months!
After having a wonderfully successful CHA winter in Anaheim and then hosting a mixed media art festival called ARTistry, Lazar StudioWERX has now opened a storefront In Vancouver BC in conjunction with the existing business of RubyDog's Art House to create a mixed media shopping extravaganza!
So to coincide with the timing of this exciting event a call to create a new design team has just been put out!
Here are some of the juicy details!

Submission Criteria:
In order to evaluate potential Team members and their creativity with rubberstamping, collage, mixed media and of course scrapbooking, you are required to submit the following eight projects for consideration:

Minimum 2 Card Designs that combine rubberstamping, pattern paper and other embellishments as needed to complete the design

Minimum 1 Card Design that includes mixed ephemera or found objects in combination with paper and rubberstamping

Minimum 2 Scrapbook Layouts that include a mix of rubberstamping, paper and vintage/found ephemera - any size

Minimum 1 Altered Art project - should be dimensional and at least 4x4 in size

Minimum 2 Digital or Hybrid Layout/Card Design

Examples of Art Journal or Altered Book pages if possible.
Supplemental material may include:
collage and assemblage artwork
mail art and/or faux postals
fabric journals

What do you get out of it?
Bi-Monthly mailing of paperWERX papers, Poppets(R) products, digiWERX digital scrapbooking products and a collection of authentic vintage ephemera with a minimum retail value of $75
The opportunity to experiment and stretch your creative boundaries with new products and projects
Potential product design opportunities or provide creative input into the development of new products
Meeting new people and sharing your art with more than the scrapbooking world!

This is a wonderful team to work on, and the products are so INSPIRING!

We want YOU!

So give it a whirl, and share your love for creating fabulous things with other fabulous people!

If you have questions or thoughts, I would love to hear them!

Let these circumstances put you in with a fun group of creative people!

B-

Easter Sunday!

Easter was a beautiful day here, church was wonderful and the kids had a great day!

I am always so grateful to see the green back in the yard, to hide the eggs and smell the fragrance of the hycinth in the air!

I am a tough egg hider too, we have been doing a golden egg, and it is one of the hardest to find! This year I bought a few extra golden eggs, so there were three instead of one big one.

The kids really enjoyed this, and managed to find them all!

I think we hid about 150 eggs and then a few little random pre-wrapped candies.

Lots and lots of sugar!!!

I myself have consumed almost an entire bag of those evil little Cadbury Royal Dark eggs, they are so YUMMY!

Tyler didn't hunt for eggs this year, sad day for me!

He bribed Carter to share some eggs for a Squirt soda!

Love my boys, they are so cute!

Laurel got home late from Las Vegas and she had a great time, such a "big" experience for her!

So proud of her and her willingness to try new adventures!

So tomorrow they go back to school and I will miss them, but summer break is not far off!

YAY!

B-

Easter Saturday

The hycinth are up and smell wonderful, the tulips are popping their heads up and Danger Kitty (not!) decided to take a brave gander outside!

She usually only makes it to the deck before some noise freaks her out and she comes scampering, with her tail all bushy, inside!

The birds are chirping and Chloe is willing to hold her paw, so to speak, so she is venturing out to the flower beds to watch the birds and bugs!

As for the rest of us, we are going to have a trip to Target and some Saturday tennis for Carter!

Yesterday I took Chloe out shopping and we had a great time!

We found a darling dress, skirt and pants, with some cute tops and the perfect spring espadrilles! We got a little denim jacket to top it off in case the weather is not cooperating, it is Utah and it changes here in the blink of an eye!

Anyway, I hope that this Easter brings me a renewal of energy and hope, it is what I love most about this time of year is seeing the things that have been gone come back and they seem even more beautiful than before!

B-

Big News!

It was a very exciting day today!
I will be a design team member for the Creating Inspirations online store and kit club!
I met Beth last summer at CHA in Chicago through Suzanne Quillen who was on her design team then!
This team is amazing, and it will be so inspiring and motivating to be trying to keep up with them!
The store is great, the kits are gorgeous and the inspiration is spilling over!
Also there is always something fun, interesting or inspiring going on at the message boards!
Beth is a little prankster and loves sharing her surprises and they never disappoint!
So follow me over, I hope I get to play with you there!
B-

Go For It!

Whatever you do, do it with all your might.

Found this yesterday at Creating Inspirations.

Holly Pittroff does an inspirational quote or thought most everyday, and she does a great job!

They are always thoughtful and insightful and leave me feeling better, so thanks Holly!

I have been struggling in my personal life, just the little things that get on your nerves, but it has been going on for so long that I just feel raw. So I love these thoughts that Holly finds, it just reminds me that I am not alone, I am not the only one and I need to do the best I can everyday.

I have played tennis for 3 hours for the last couple of days too, and I am exhausted, but it helps my anxiety so much that I really appreciate being able to go and play!

I am sending my oldest daughter to LV (Jessieville, LOL!) tomorrow with her tennis coaches and friends to go to a tournament, and I am not ready for her to be gone for a major holiday. I have always had the kids and family together for these important dates and it is going to be hard for me to not have her around!

Have fun and be good Laurel! (love ya tons missy!)

B-

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-

Slippery Slope

Poor little Tori.
We had a plan, and it was a good one.
Take all the kids sledding at the elementary school, have some hot chocolate and then a dinner together...
sounds nice right?
Well we weren't at the school for even 15 minutes before Tori takes off after Tyler and she slips, falls and starts crying hysterically. She has been known to be a little dramatic so it took a few minutes to calm her down and figure out what was going on.
She hurt her leg when she slipped and there was a huge bump on it, if you tried to touch it, she went sideways with pain. We thought she might have fractured it, so we sent Rick and Bri with her to the hospital and we stayed with their 3 our4 and kept playing.
They called us a couple of hours later to let us know that it did indeed get broken and that they would be a few hours with the splinting and such.
It is a bummer that she got hurt so badly, and it was not doing any of the sledding, it was just from the pre-excitement goofies.
I see a big pack of sharpies is in her future.
B-

update: So we were rude and continued to play. And of course, I did have to sled because I am a big goofball. Thought i would add some of the cute pics from the day!

We fed the kids little cesar's pizza and watched some movies until we got the call that we could bring them home. Tori is going to spend the next few days at home off of her leg, it can't be load bearing, and they need the swelling to go down before they can cast it.

Yeah, I had no gloves, and the gloves on the littlest one look a little big, pieces of the puzzle coming together, hehehehe!

Yup, hers got soaked, so she stole mine!

Just My Style

So one of the things I am constantly struggling with in Scrapbooking land is the need to have a style.

I have one, it is the do what ever I feel like doing when I feel like doing it.

Apparently this is not a recognized style, and one that most editors or owners prefer not to have to deal with, LOL!

I am a dress up when it is time to dress up, jeans and t-shirts for all the other times except when on the tennis court which is then a very cutesy short skirt and top.

And in spite of the fact that I have no style, will you still love me anyway?

B-

Supergirl?!!!

So the story goes like this...

while at CHA I spent the entire week looking at the warty backside of the SandyLion booth.

Pooh, Tigger, Mater etc.

NOT good for the whole creativity feeling the mojo kind of thing, kwim?

So by the end of the week we had plenty of jokes at SandyLion's expense.

then Christina has the nerve to ask during breakdown if she can have the supergirl stickers that had been part of the mocking. The guy was very kind and went to check if they were a mock-up or the real thing. If they were real, then yes.

So of course they were real, after a few giggles and wondering what to do with them, Christina challenged me to use them in some campy way!

So here it is, two weeks later...

A poppety version of supergirl! Not terribly impressive, but very fun to do!

So here is the challenge if you are reading this:

Find something in your stash that isn't something that you would even consider using anymore and use it! Have fun with it and then share a link with me! I would love to see some silly crazy fun stuff!

B-

Been able to get about a layout a day done, feeling like I'm on a bit of a roll!

Super mojo-nated with the arrival of both of my kit club boxes yesterday! Kind of wish that they would arrive like a week apart so it would feel like christmas more times a month! I love both of these clubs, and even though I live where I can find most of the things that come, I love surprises so much that this is a fun way to spend my scrapping money! It pushes me to use things that I wouldn't usually pick for myself and to enjoy special touches that I would never be able to find because they are made only for the subscribers of the clubs. LOVE that part, the extra little goodies are so cool!

The snow in my yard all melted this week because of rain storms, and I have to admit that I am sad! I love the snow, and I would love to have it around for much longer than the average person. I don't get cold, partially because I am really good at choosing layers and partially because I don't hold still for very long, LOL!

Dave is such an oven that if I do get chilled, I just make him be my personal heater for a minute and then voila, warm again!

It has been fun around here for the last day, my brother surprised his wife for her birthday (they both share the same day, but it was for her--no really...) by taking her to a nice hotel and a FAB dinner out last night. I took their four kids and we had the biggest slumber party last night! There are sleeping bags everywhere, and the house smells like pancakes!

I am missing a fundraiser crop that I have gone to for the last couple of years, but Rick and Bri really needed this! I am sure they won't even notice that I wasn't at the the crop, but my bro would have noticed if I hadn't been there for them! Anyway, they have such darling, hilarious girls that it is a hoot! Love those girls!

Anyway, still working on the special gift, another 2 am last night and I am only half way done (boo hoo!) but it wil get there, just not by tomorrow afternoon...

With the girls here and an obligation to play league tennis today, my day is a little full, I probably won't get to work on it until late this evening again.

We do what we can!

B-