Creative Escape Here I Come !!!!

Bags Packed - Check

Blingy Pink Cowgirl Hat Ready -Check

Loud and Fun Blingy Zebra Tote Bag Crammed Full - Check

First Class Plane Ticket - Check

Ready to Have a Fabulous Time ? YOU BETCHA !!!!!

I am all ready to hit the door in a few minutes and go to the airport to head to Phoenix for Creative Escape. I managed to get a little bit of sleep last night as I am so excited to be going I can hardly stand it.

After several months of getting to know a few of the ladies going from around the world...Japan, Norway, Hawaii, Canada and across our great nation, through the yahoo message board, I know I will have a fabulous time! I am so anxious to actually meet these wonderful ladies who are just as excited as me to go to Creative Escape.

I will be at the posh Wild Horse Pass Resort & Spa for 7 glorious days. There will be lots of shopping, hugging new friends, drinking and laughing in my future!

Plus the best part is the workshops I will be attending.....so much dang creative people are teaching the projects this year, they out touting this as the best CE ever!

Thank you hubby for letting me go on this trip to celebrate my 50th Birthday coming up in September. I love the fact you know how much I love to feed my creative spirit!

Below is a picture of one of the humongous suitcases I have crammed full of gifts, workshop supplies and snacks. So much Pink, Bling and Zebra is stuffed in this bag it hurts your eyes ! LOL

I promise to post pics when I get back. Gotta go eat some breakfast real quick....so see ya when I get back !

More CE Prep Goodness !!

Do you know what happens when you take a Hambly pink transparency, some clear acrylic and a graphic print out of a button and a fiskars circle punch and mix them all up ? Yep, you guessed it ....one more adorable charm for the charm swap.

Here is the new charm I made the for 2nd Chance Charm Swap at Creative Escape.



The Creative Escape crew and Heidi Swapp's latest venture, House of Three, posted a fun digital autograph book for us to print out and create a book to have our teachers sign. I whipped up this little book over the weekend. The front cover is actually flocked embossed black pattern paper that is gorgeous IRL but you can't see in the photo too well. I also POPPED the Creative Escape graphic up over the pink Hambly transparency.


On the inside of the book is a page for each Creative Escape teacher to sign. I designed each page to represent the style of that particular teacher. Here is the page I did for the INK GOD, Tim Holtz to sign...So very excited to be taking a class from him !! On the left hand side of the layout, I will put a pic of me and the teacher.

Hope you like what I did. I can hardly wait for Creative Escape...only two more weeks and I will be on that plane heading to Arizona !!!

How Charming !

I posted a few months ago that I had joined the Creative Escape Yahoo Message Board. As part of being on the board, participants get a chance to sign up for some amazing swaps.

One of the several swaps that I did, was the charm swap. We had 75 amazingly talented ladies participate to create all handmade charms. I received my set of the charms this week and have spent the past few hours placing them on a custom beaded necklace to show case all these beauties at CE.

Here's a pic of what I will be wearing in just a couple of weeks at CE.

Isn't it beautiful ? I just love how different each and everyone of these charms turned out.

I loved this so much, I have joined the 2nd Chance Charm Swap so I can add even more to the necklace :) Stay tuned for more charming goodness !

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.

I Love "My Little Shoebox", don't you?

As you saw in my earlier post of the "Tweet Family" album I made recently, I really love the colors and graphics on the My Little Shoebox products. Not only are their papers yummy but they have some cute embellishments too. I had a stack of the journaling cards sitting on my scrap table and decided to make a quick little mini book out of them about The Things I Love. I just might add this to a bigger album I want to work on that has pics of some of the things I love and why I love them.

I sent a pic of this over to Suzy West who is their lead designer and she posted in their website
http://mylittleshoebox.typepad.com on her June 30 post. It is the last one in a long list of other adorable projects made by their design team and other fans. I am so proud to see it on their site.

I can hardly wait to see what they reveal at CHA Summer in July.

Thanks for looking...hope this inspires you to use journal spots in unusual ways !

Happy Summer Everyone ...The HEAT is here!

WOW - where did the month of June go? Around our house, June is the month to celebrate the men in our lives. My dear hubby's birthday one weekend and then Father's Day the next, kind of filled up this month. And then of course, we have had our great HEAT WAVE here in TEXAS with several 100 degree plus days. Finding ways to stay cool in this weather has also been a priority :)

This year for hubby's birthday, I surprised him by picking one of our lesser known museums...The History of Printing and organizing an outing there with some friends. It was really fun and we even got to see an exhibit on paper watermarks which was very interesting to learn about. Afterwards we all went to a really cool place to eat that is kind of an upscale but casual old ice house called Beavers. We had a fabulous time and enjoyed the evening.

Happy Birthday Sweet Hubby....I Love You So MUCH !!!!


Staying cool during this heat wave has meant I was able to fit in some scrap time. In honor of our upcoming Indpendence Day, I made this layout to showcase some of the things that are family traditions at our house....Neighborhood 4th of July Parade....Big juicy slices of Watermelon.... And of course the ALL AMERICAN MEAL - Hamburgers and Hot Dogs !!

Sure hope you and your family have a wonderful and safe 4th of July Weekend !

What an Honor...A Blog Award for little 'ol Me !

I am so honored that Helen Mill's from the CE Yahoo group was nice enough to nominate me for this Kreative Blogger Award. I have NEVER won a blog award before ...this is exciting stuff !



Okay, so part of winning this Kreative Blogger Award is to PIF (Pay It Forward)...there some rules to follow too.

Here are the RULES for this AWARD:1. Thank the person who nominated you for this award - DONE !

2. Copy the logo and place it on your blog - DONE !

3. Link to the person who nominated you for this award.
http://www.helen-mills.blogspot.com/

4. Share 7 things about yourself that people might find interesting:
1) I almost got kicked out of the Louvre in Paris for touching a marble statue in a "private place" ....LOL
2) I LOVED Zip Lining over the jungle in Belize !
3) I have ALWAYS wanted to jump out of airplane (with a parachute of course)!
4) I LOVE anything with BLING on it !
5) I was the only woman playing Fantasy Football (for the first time mind you) at my office
and ended up winning the league much to the dismay of the 11 guys I beat !!!
6) My hubby and I blow each other a kiss EVERY DAY at 11:11 am when we are not together
and lock lips when we are actually together....been doing that for 28 years! (I highly
recommend you pick a time and do the same - helps keep the romance going).
7) My friends think I am a little bit crazy and a LOT OF FUN and they can always count on me to be there for them!

5. Nominate 6 Kreativ Bloggers and post links to their blogs. Here are my nominees:http://carolstoler.blogspot.com/
http://fayescrafticorner.blogspot.com/
http://dawnhueser.blogspot.com/
http://gbaures.blogspot.com/
http://elfgirlsmom.blogspot.com/
http://flatfishpaperarts.blogspot.com/

6. Leave a comment on each of the blogs, letting them know they have been nominated.
In the works now !

Check out all the wonderful nominees and Helen who nominated me! ENJOY YOUR WEEKEND LADIES...MINE STARTS NOW !

Tribute to my Tweet Family !

I noticed when cleaning up my scraproom the other day that I had lots of extra copies of some cute photos of my family. You know, those photos that were good but not "the picture" to include on a page or book. I know we all have these extras we hate to just get rid of, don't we?

Well dang it, I didn't just want to relegate them back to the storage box so I whipped up this mini album using a Fancy Pants Acrylic Scroll Album and some adorable My Little Shoebox pattern papers and loads of embellishments and trims and stickles..oh my !

It's kind of hard to tell in the pic but I covered the chipboard
pp covered birdie with some Glossy Accents so they matched
the fun Thickers Chit Chat Orange Puffy Letters...

All 5 of us..LtoR:Me, Michael, Crystal, Heather & Bianca

I decided after I added the pics to the pages that it would

be fun to add what each person loves but I didn't want to

journal so I came up with just using a few words...I

liked trying this different way of journaling on my album.

And of course I couldn't leave out my "granddog" Winston

since it is a MY TWEET FAMILY ALBUM

Definitely had a blast making this and really thinking about what my family loves to do. It turned out to be just the perfect place for those extra photos to call home !

I was INSPIRED this weekend....

Over the long Memorial Day weekend I was able to crank out some 8X8 pages for the Creative Escape Yahoo Group Page Swap...I only signed up to do 1 set of double page layouts but after I got all the stuff out and started playing around, I came up with one idea after another. I ended up making a total of 50 8X8 pages (2 sets of double pages and 1 single page set). Check em out:

"MOMENTS LIKE THIS ARE TRULY UNIQUE" layout plays off the WILD SIDE hint for CE. I just loved this zebra print pattern paper and had fun folding it to add more interest to the page.

"SO SWEET" SINGLE PAGE LAYOUT featuring Heidi Swapp's Bling, photo corners, paper flower and ribbon. Plus my favorite fiskars punch...threading waters added just the right touch to this sweet layout.

"Creativity is..." double page layout has many cute custom made embellishments....including using some Tim Holtz stamps and tag made from his glass bits and pieces. I added a cute Maya Road green leaf pin, some wonderful green vine Prima tape and absolutely beautiful embossed felt black paper with all the yummy piglet and parakeet bazzill to make this lovely layout.

Hope you have an INSPIRING day soon and crank out some things you love too !

How CHARMing !!!

Okay, I promised to post pics of the charms I made for the Creative Escape Charm Swap so here they are.....I had fun making them and I love how they turned out. I hope all the CE Charm Swappers like them too!

Here is a whole box of the little charmers...aren't they cute all tucked in and ready to ship !

I will take some pics of the pages I made for the page swap and post them later. Enjoy your evening everyone.

Miss Me?

Haven't had much time to post this past week. Had a big project at work that needed to be completed that kept me working round the clock. The little bit of time I had in the evenings I spent working on my charms for the Charm Swap for the Creative Escape Yahoo message board group. Just finished them up tonight...all 85 of them ! I will try to take a picture of them and post later this week.

Of course I have gone on a few bike rides on my new bike...still haven't thought of a name for her yet. Any ideas any one?

It is so wonderful to to be able to go on a bike ride with dh. We have ridden around the beautiful campus at Rice U. We also took a little trip through Old Braeswood Neighborhood this past Friday on our way to rent a movie. How fun is that? Riding your bike to the movie kiosk !

After sleeping in this morning (what a nice luxury-can't remember the last time we did that), we got up and went and saw the new Star Trek movie. LOVED IT !!! Had so much fun. Told DH we needed to go see it again on the big screen and then buy it when it came out on DVD....he agreed. If you haven't seen this movie, go see it. It has all the great elements of a good movie....touching scenes, great acting, humorous lines and incredible action scenes. What more could you want ? Seriously, I wouldn't consider myself a true Trekkie but I do recommend you go see this movie.

Gooooooooooooo ROCKETS !!!!! Just wanted to mention we will be rooting for the Houston Rockets to win the basketball game tomorrow afternoon. To make sure of that, we are getting together with friends, drinking beer and margaritas and eating fajitas while we cheer our team to victory!!!! Won't you join us in cheering them on :)

Okay, it's late, I am tired and starting to ramble. Hope everyone enjoys your Sunday as much as we will !

Check Out My New Sweet Ride !

This absolutely gorgous, comfy new bike is all mine...courtsey of my dear hubby! I have been wanting a new bike for a while since my old bike was stolen last year. Now that my eye is doing so much better I can finally do some exercising and biking seems like a great idea to kick that off.

After trying out a few different brands and styles, I was almost giddy after riding around in the parking lot testing this bike out. I rode up to my hubby and joyfully declared "this is MY Perfect BIKE" ! He was charmed by my apparent enthusiasm and we bought it immediately. I AM SO EXCITED !!

I used to love to go on bike rides. It is such an incredible feeling to be zipping around on a bike. I imagine it is similiar to the feeling a bird might have while flying around in the sky.

As a kid I spent hours on my bike traveling all over the neighborhood, riding over to friend's houses for sleep overs or going to the neighborhood grocery store for my mom to buy a loaf of bread (the only thing she would let me carry back while I was riding a bike). From sunrise to beyond sunset, if my parents could find me, most likely I was out on my bike. It was a purple schwinn bike with one of those banana seats and a white basket with flowers on the front and streamers on the handle bars. I LOVED that bike at the time....I can't remember whatever happened to it exactly but I know that bike was well used and appreciated.

I can't wait to ride my new bike up to Hermann park or along Braes Bayou or over to a friend's house. Such sweet memories it will bring back for me.

Now I just need to think of a good name for my bike. A bike this special certainly deserves a good name. Hmmmmmmm, let me think about this for while to get just the right name.

It is a lovely shade of lite aqua blue called prada sky and rides like a dream. If you have a suggestion for a possible name, leave me a comment.

I hope you find something joyful or a sweet memory comes to mind from something you loved as a child.

Happy Mother's Day tomorrow to all the Mommies in the world!!!!

OMG ! I am actually G-O-I-N-G !!!!

Quick, Pinch me someone ... I think I must be dreaming !

I got "THE GOLDEN EMAIL" to register for Creative Escape sponsored by Bazzill and Heidi Swapp (http://creativeescapeaz.com/2009/classes/) in August 2009 being held at the fabulous Wild Horse Pass Resort & Spa....

and I GET TO GO !!!! Because my DH is the BESTEST GUY in the world and encouraged me to sign up!

This is an ultra exclusive scrap event that you can only get in by "lottery" pick since so many people want to go. AND I GOT PICKED !!! YIPEEEEEE ! I registered way back in Sept 08 and they don't even start drawing names until end of March 09. Crazy, right? I have tried for the past 3 years to go and never been picked. 2009 is MY YEAR !!!

Creative Escape is the most AMAZING SCRAP EVENT IN THE WORLD .... 8 of the most amazing creative art teachers help us stretch our creativity in 8 different workshops with the latest and greatest products PLUS you get pampered like you wouldn't believe in a wonderful
4 star resort.

I am floating on air and dreaming of all the creativity that will be flowing around me with other scrappers attending this event ! It will be heaven....or atleast my idea of heaven.