Lookeee What I Got !!!

I was so excited to see the USPS package from my CE Let's Escape Partner, Francisca B. of California, sitting on my porch when I got home today. I was SHOCKED when I tried to pick it up because it was so heavy. After checking out the pictures below...you will see why the box was so heavy!! Francisca really out did herself in putting this package together for me. I can't wait to give her a big ole Texas size hug when I meet her at CE in a few short weeks :)

Have you ever seen so many wonderful things all in one package? I am so excited to get to play with all these goodies!

Francisca took so much time and effort into creating this wonderful hanging magnetic board for me. I just love it! It is already hanging in my scrap room in a place of honor and ready for use :)

And this adorable journal that Francisca sent me is so cute and will definitely come in handy for CE notes.

THANK YOU FRANCISCA...your generousity and creativity is greatly appreciated !!!

Okay, now I gotta go find room to add all this loveliness to my stash !

Wish I was there ....

Hi Fellow Scrappers !

I didn't go this year to CHA Summer...between my eyelid surgery earlier in the year and work and going to Creative Escape in August, I just couldn't commit to going this year. However, I hae been following closely all the great stuff being released this summer show.

I don’t know if you are all just as big of a fanatic about CHA new releases from the various manufacturers but I wanted to share this lady’s flickr pics of Summer CHA….she has great photos of tons of the booths and up close views of projects too.

Grab yourself a favorite beverage, a note pad and pen to make your wish list, then hang up the “Do Not Disturb” sign on your door and sit back and watch the show. Warning…it will take you about 45 minutes to go through them all…I kind of skipped through some of it so it might take longer.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/shoppingdiva/sets/72157621752730603/

Note: In upper right corner is the slideshow button …hit that to get started. Then you can skip around double clicking the pics on the scroll bar across the bottom.


Some of my favs are:

The Ribbon Truffle and cupcake Display at Ribbon Ring booth
Melissa Frances vintage line…gotta have a bunch of those white embellies and the little girl paper line
Pink Paislee stuff
Maya Road
Primas
Inkessentials display….check out that clear Rock Candy Distress paint..tons of possibilities with that stuff
Sassafras Monstrosity line….cutest new line of the show IMO (in my opinion)
And Teresa Collins Friends Line, Basic Grey and Glimmer Mists screens and Hambly and…..

Okay, I will stop now. My hands are shaking at the thought of getting some of this stuff later in the year when it hits the stores :)

Enjoy !!

Wanna See My New "PET" ?

For the past three weeks I have had a little visitor on my front porch like clock work every day between 2 pm to 3 pm, without fail. He comes to take a nap and then runs away after about an hour. It is the darndest thing I have ever seen!

I posted a couple of pics I took this weekend. Take alook and let me know what you think of my new "pet"...I think he must have escaped from Disney, don't you?

It is the only "pet" my dh will let me keep as long as he stays outside :) LOL

This is his cute "Disney Squirrel Look"....don't you agree ?

This is my "Pet" in nap mode....ususally his eyes are closed but the sound of the camera woke him up.....So sorry little one.

We are guessing that it is sooooo hot in Texas right now, it is even too hot for the squirrels to hang out in the trees.

Hope this post brought a smile to your face today! Now bring a smile to someone else you know.

Most Awesome Make N Takes Ever!

Lucky Me...Yesterday I got to hang out with some of my fellow CE goers at By Designs Bistro Event. We made the most wonderful Make N Takes! And my friend Timi Forrest designed the very bestest one....the Celebration Plate! Who knew a plate from the dollar store and some scrap supplies could turn out so wonderful? Well, I guess I have to bow down to Timi's creative vision because she totally nailed this make n take !

Here is Timi's Design Example:

And while I sitting there doing my MnT, I too had a brain storm and decided to make mine a 50th Birthday Celebration Plate. So as Timi told me, take it home girl and "Debbify It", so I did!

Here is how my plate came out after "Debbifying It"

As you can see I added a few more lucious details like rhinestone flowers, gorgeous sequin flowers and a couple of beautiful gossamer and jeweled butterflies to complete my Celebration Plate to display in my home. Now all I need to do is wait until I turn 50 in September and get my picture taken in my favorite brown shirt and waalah...a wonderful keepsake plate!

Thank you Timi for the inspiration. I can see myself making these for all kinds of celebrations..weddings, babyshowers, birthdays, new home, etc.

Now I really must say the other two make n takes were equally as wonderful but I haven't exactly figured out what I am going to do with them just yet so stay tuned for final results in a later post.

This next one was taught by a couple of other talented designers at By Designs, including our very own CE goer, Beverly Harrison. This was a blast to make and is so beautiful!

This is a wonderful 6X6 transparency that we distressed and embellised to add to a page...I also think it would make an awesome album cover...so that is most likely how mine will turn out.

And the other MnT was really adorable too...A recipe card project. I plan on making a family recipe mini album soon and this is just the jump start I needed to finalize what I wanted to do.

I didn't take a picture of that one so will post it another day.

As you can see, I had a happy scrappy day! Hope you did too and found some inspiration and acted on it yourself!

Who Knew Zebra Stuff Could Be So Cute !!!

I joined another one of the fun swaps for Creative Escape to get to know another person going. This one is called "Lets Escape" and you make up a gift basket of goodies ...both bought and/or handmade getting one item for each letter of the swap name. You can use the questionnaire your partner sends you to make sure you pick things they will love.

L is for LIPS - pamper your partners lips and make them smile
(I sent cute lip shaped container of lip gloss in luscious pink shine)
E is for EXPRESSION - item that lets your partner express themselves on their scrap projects
(I sent Elles Studio Journaling Spots and Making Memories Animal Print Letter Stickers)
T is for TRANSPARENT - include a transparent item
(I sent Heidi Swapp's new adorable Clear Accent Shapes)
S is for SPARKLE - a girl's gotta have their bling!
(I sent packages of Kaiser bling in pink and green CE colors and CE Crystal earrings I made)

E is for Embellish - fun scrapbook embellishment
(I sent my and stitched felt flowers in CE colors and zebra felt and ribbon)
S is for SWEET - a yummy treat for your partner to enjoy
(I sent Gummy Bears cause she loves those as much as I do!)
C is for CHIPBOARD - some fun chipboard
(I sent Me & My Big Ideas "Kids" Shaped Mini Chipboard Album & matching embellies)
A is for AWESOME - something awesome from Heidi or Tim's scrap stuff for your partner
(I sent the new Tim's Tiny Attacher from my partners wish list)
P is for PAMPER - spoil your partner with something to pamper herself
(I sent Spa Gloves with lotion to pamper her hands after all the scrapping we will do)
E is for EXTRAORDINARY - create something for your partner to enjoy
(I sent a mixed texture shaped mini album with may textured papers, custom made zebra
flip flops and a beaded scissor charm for her to enjoy)

I can not tell you how much fun I had finding items to send my Let's Escape Partner, Veronica.
I have been dying to post the pic of what all I sent but had to wait for Veronica to acknowledge the package first since I wanted it to be a surprise.

And of course, she was sooooo sweet to say how much she loved all the goodies ! I can hardly wait to meet her IRL and give her a hug!!!

Wooohooo I Reached My 50 RAK Goal !!!

Each year the Creative Escape Yahoo Message Board of which I am a proud member of this year, encourages us to get to know other attendees by sending out RAKS (Random Acts of Kindness) packages to people we don't know. They can be big or small, handmade or bought...the point is you brighten someone's day by sending them a package in anticipation of CE.

Since I am going to CE this year as a special celebration of my 50th Birthday (thanks to my dear hubby)....I decided to send out 50 RAKS of goodness to my fellow CE participants. I had so much fun making and sending special items to 50 different ladies.

This week I reached my goal....I finished packaging up and mailing out the last of the RAKS to get to 50 ! I was smiling like a big kid when I put these packages in the mail at the post office :)

I hope that my efforts have brought smiles to the faces of people I hope to get to meet and know a little better at the end of August at Creative Escape.

I have really enjoyed the RAKs I have received from other participants and appreciate their thoughtfulness. This event is going to be so full of talented and special women that I am already honored to be in their midst come August.

Hope you have a wonderful week....do a little something to bring a smile to someone you would like to know.

Cool New Tool - The i-top from Imaginisce

CHA Summer is coming up at the end of the month, and I just LOVE to see what new tools will be hitting the shelves soon. This time the clear winner of the tool premieres will be by one of my favorite companies, Imaginisce ! They have come up with the most wonderful tool called the
i-Top to allow you to make your own brads!

My head is already spinning with ideas to use this tool with .....fabric and paper and pictures oh my ! I am so wanting this tool to make a family tree brads with my families faces on it to put on a canvas background ....doesn't that sound cool !

I know some of you may be thinking, can't I just use the button cover maker I bought at the cloth store? Well, speaking from experience let me tell you it doesn't even compare to this great new tool.

1. The i-top tool easily uses not only fabric but photos and scrapbook paper...the button cover maker thing really only easily does fabric, the paper tears in it easily.

2. The i-top tool is easy to use and you get perfect results each time....the button cover maker thing requires the strength of hercules to push the material over the button cover and if you push too hard it tears your material and makes it useless.

3. The i-top tool makes BRADS that are great for not only embellishing but connecting elements together and doesn't require further attachment adhesives....the button cover maker only makes buttons which require some other form of adhesive.

So, in conclusion, scrap tool junkies like myself will find many useful things to do with the i-top to make our projects even more special. Thank you Imaginisce for pushing the limits of scrap tools !

It's time to CELEBRATE!!!

As we celebrate our nations Independence Day, I am once again reminded to be thankful for the country I live in and the previleges I enjoy. Many men and women have made the ultimate sacrifice so that we may enjoy that freedom. I am sending out my sincere thanks to all of them and their families.

The 4th of July has always meant four things to me....watermelon, bar-b-que, bug spray and FIREWORKS !!! I am a BIG FIREWORKS FAN...Always have been, even as a small child. We used to all pile in the car and head out to see fireworks sponsored by Astroworld or one of the big shopping malls here in town or head down to the beach house and fire off our own fireworks. We brought lawn chairs and watermelon in a cooler and lots of BUG SPRAY (yes, the mosquitos in Texas have been known to be large enough to carry off small animals and children - or atleast that is what my dad always said to get us to wear that stinky bug spray) LOL.

When I was really young, my dear dad used to tell us that the fireworks were in honor of his birthday which is 4th of July. He had us believing that for years....until I was old enough to figure out he had been teasing us ! But it was still a fun thing to hear him say every year...he has carried that TALL TALE tradition on to my children and my grandchild which has now become a family legend.

Happy Birthday Dad...you have always been my hero and deserved all those fireworks on your birthday !

I love this picture I took last year of the fireworks display and wanted to share it with you all. Unfortunately, this may be the only fireworks we get to enjoy this year since we are under a burn ban here because we are short several inches of rain. It has been HOT and DRY in Texas and that is NOT a good mix for fireworks. So, we will have to be content to see fireworks on TV or look at photos like this one.

Hoping that you and yours have a fun, safe and happy 4th of July. And remember to take a moment to thank the men and women of our country who help us all to enjoy our freedom.