It's a New Day

My husband got a great shot of the sun rising at the beach this weekend. It was our first vacation in a long while and we had a great time. I am very blessed to have such a wonderful family. I love and appreciate them soo much.

What's in the Hopper

Definition - In politics, in the United States House of Representatives, the hopper is the box which sits on the House Clerk's desk, into which a bill or resolution is dropped for introduction. In agriculture, a hopper on a combine is a tank or bin where the harvested grain is temporarily stored until it is unloaded to a truck or grain cart. I use this phase to mean that something is waiting to be dealt with at another time. Read more: What does "in the hopper" mean? Answerbag http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/300004#ixzz0xoUxmO5D

Right now my hopper is about to burst! I have been neglecting my little bloggy blog for good reason though, just not enough hours in the day. I have been trying to focus my attention on building my website, which has turned into a wonderful yet time consuming venture. My husband lends his constructive criticisms and I think I will be able to launch it really soon. I want to use is as an online display of things I make as I grow in my papercrafting.

Reggie is always selling for me (whether I am ready or not) so I have made a couple of layouts for a few employees at his job. The first thing I made was a tri-fold mini album and then I did an 8x8 easel display. I made my own easel back and I am going to share how I did that in an upcoming post. Unfortunately he takes them immediately and I don't have pictures.

Then I got an order for 50 (then it changed to 60) favors for a man's 50th birthday party. The colors were gold and cream and he is a big Teena Marie fan. So I wanted to do something manly and something that incorported some of her lyrics. So thanks to the tutorial found here - http://inspirestampin.blogspot.com/2010/04/easel-card-with-drawer-tutorial.html
I came up with these (the pillow box was not used) -

They were a big hit and I am glad she liked them but I made one nearly fatal mistake....................I accepted this order for 60 boxes, Yes I said 60, to be completed in three days. there is so much detail that it almost killed me. I had to get my girls to help, Reggie to help and if only the dogs could have helped, things would have went even faster. Reggie and I agreed that I undercharged for the time and labor but I took it as a learning experience as to know what to do and what NOT to do.

Now I am trying to find the perfect balance between creating the layouts I really want to and creating things for my first craft fair (and other people), which by the way if I don't chicken-out will be October 23, 2010. I am also planning an exhibition and class at a local senior center in the early fall, we are going on a mini vacation in two weeks, oh yeah and having a small (or so I think) barbeque for Labor day. I mean really, there are only 24 hours in a day?

Being Unique

So as I mentioned in my last post I am planning on vending at a couple of craft fairs this year and with that being said I wanted to start my own website so that I can direct people there to see my work.

So one evening while lying in bed not doing what I really wanted to do *wink*, Reggie and I came up with a name for my business - Unique Boutique Paper Creations. so what's next - I needed a logo. I came up with a general concept but it really needed to be polished. This is where it is so nice to know so many talented people and I enlisted the help of my super creative graphic artist friend, Kate who brought my logo to life................................and here she is -

And I just love her! I am going to customize my blog with her and she will be on my website, business cards and anything promoting my crafts.I haven't given her a name but my first instinct is to name her Sparkle.

For Real this Time

Last year I half-heartedly attempted to attend a few craft fairs. What that means is I said that I was going to attend, I paid my table fee like I was going to attend and I even made some products like I was going to attend and for some reason or another I backed out twice.

Well this year is going to be my year. I am getting ready now for the Fall and this year I plan to do at least three - count them - three, craft fairs. So last night I got to crafting and made these adorable post-it note holders (please ignore my coffee pot/toaster in the background.

I found the tutorial here on Dawn's blog via splitcoaststampers. There are so many talented ladies out there with so many great ideas. My problem now it thinking I can make EVERYTHING, lol and as the slowest scrapper in this town, I know that is not possible.

The other thing I have trouble on is setting my prices so I will let my husband do that part. Jada is my leading sales person, okay she is my only sales person and we are going to make t-shirts to wear at the craft fairs. I will share my products with you as I build up my stock, I have a lot of ideas bubbling in my head hope there is no overflow, lol.

C-A-M-P-E-R-S, Camp Paradise Campers are the best.............

Yes you've guessed it right, I am going to participant in the Cropping Paradise's new fun camp themed challenge http://croppinparadise.blogspot.com/2010/06/croppin-paradise-summer-event.html. I am going to try to earn at least eight merit badges, keep your fingers crossed for me. See you, I gotta run out and get some marshmallows.

After committing to a week of posting I came home to this super cute award from one of the fliest women I know EssenceVibez (who has the cutest blog, i must say)

here are the rules:
- Thank the giver
- Share seven things about yourself
- Pass award on to 5 bloggers
- Contact the bloggers and let them know about the award

drumroll please!:

1. I learned to drive at the ripe old age of 28, better late than never I guess
2. I have a small hole at the top of my ear on the right side, or maybe the left, I forget but I know it's there

3. I would love to be able to deliver my own eulogy, no one knows me better
4. l remember names very easily, I like to address people by their names as a sign of respect
5. I rarely wear makeup
6. My high school mascot was The Care Bears so I collect them when I can
7. I can do a trick with my nose that freaks little kids out, lol

I pass this fabulous award on to:

Mika

Iffy

Myia

Nae

Taj

Happy fourth of July everyone!

A Poem to Young Women

My oldest daughter likes to write short stories and poems. She is a typical teenager so i don't get to see her work too often, so I was honored when she shared this poem with me.

Young Women by Jasmin

Young women are now being categorized as

Being disrespectful, showing too much cleavage, and having no class.

They say we disrespect our bodies and ourselves

Older women looking in disbelief and their hearts melt.

But wait......................

Some young women are leaders and strive for better opportunities.

Some young women respect themselves and their bodies.

Some young women come to be Secretary of State.

Some prefer education and being safe.

There are young women who will run for president.

Confident and standing in an honorable stance.

Dignity and respect filling their hearts

Striving to do great from the start.

So why can't we be seen as honorable women standing firm like concrete?

When each and every young women has a different personality.

I would like to be remembered in life for my good done on this earth.

Because negative was never in my vocabulary even from birth.

I was born to achieve great things and that's what I shall do.

I am a confident, respectful, ambitious young woman.

Are you?

Creative Scrappers #108

I am trying to branch out and enter challenges, plus my sister-girl Myia is on the design team! I created this for Creative Scrappers challenge #108. I love how they give you a different sketch each week and you can choose which one you want to enter.

This is my youngest daughter Jada, just being her fabulous self. I used My Mind's Eye Quite Contrary PP, DCWV chipboards accents, Maya Road Chipboard, Heidi Swapp bling and rub ons, Pink Paislee chipboard alphas. I tried to spray some glimmer mist on top of the butterflies on the background paper for a different effect but it doesn't show up too well.

Rocking the i-Rock

Monday I got the i-rock by Imaginisce and I couldn't wait to try it out. As a tool junkie I was so excited to give it a shot. Here is my review -

First the pros and cons -

Pros -

• Very lightweight and easy to hold. It is a pretty pink color.
• Works as advertised.
• Battery operated, great to move around with.

Cons -

• Well hopefully this was just a fluke on my unit but the "on" indicator does not work and I burned my hand trying to see if it was working. Now considering how hot these get, it was very painful. (I am returning mine for this reason alone).
• Battery Operated, needs three double AA and that can get costly after while.
• It doesn't come with any jewels to use even as a sample, all acessories are sold separately.
• Gems can start sliding if you press too hard so you want to be very careful.
• The small head seems to limit the effectiveness when using larger gems.

How it works -

The gems come with a hard adhesive on the back. You put the gem in place, then place the heat tool on top to melt the adhesive underneath.

Overall it works great! And man-o-man does that adhesive hold. Now working with the gems can be a pain, especially the smaller ones but they sell an accessory that makes it easier to pick them up, I just used a q-tip instead and it worked fine.

So overall I recommend it as long as the indicator light works, if not it can be a pretty dangerous tool to have around, especially if you have children. If you have the hotmarks tool already (as I do) you can just buy the gems and it will work exactly the same but unfortuantely that has a cord. If you don't have the hotmarks already then the i-rock is definitely a better deal price wise.

Remember the sketch I said I was working on a few posts ago, well here is the end result usisng the i-rock.

Tuesday Thoughts in a Few Words

• Early Morning construction, are you kidding me!
• Where is my dress?
• Okay a little too sexy for work, take two.
• Quiet ride, school is out for the summer, God is talking- be quiet.
• Got to write down the menu for the party.
• So many numbers on spreadsheets, so little time.
• Mmmmmm, a nice cup Joe!
• A lot of morning silliness.
• The emails are HOT!
• Something is brewing and you are going to love it.
• Do you remember, the 21st night of September.
• Ooooh I like it!
• You should live up to your obligations like a man.
• POP! I can't wait!
• Three day weekend!
• Why is the clock moving so slow.
• I missed the meeting but you all will be in trouble.
• Curly hair is sexy.
• It happened yesterday but it still hurts.
• I didn't invade your privacy, I found it by accident.
• 30% off the entire store.
• traffic drama, are you serious- stop double parking.
• need to go to bed earlier, good nite!

Something New

My girl Jojorenee (aka Mika) came up with the cutest challenge based on having a wedding. Here are the guidelines:

Something old, something new
Something borrowed, something blue
And a silver sixpence in her shoe.

A sixpence is a coin that was minted in Britain from 1551 to 1967. It was made of silver and worth six pennies. So this wedding tradition is definitely English, and many sources say that it began in the Victorian era.
Each item in this poem represents a good-luck token for the bride. If she carries all of them on her wedding day, her marriage will be happy.

WEEK 1: Something Old - This week use papers or embellishments from your stash in a LO that is older than 3 years or dating back to when you first started scrapping.

WEEK 2:Something New - This week use something new! We should have our Scraproom kits for those who have joined. Or just any new papers you got in the last month- crazy shoppers you!!! So stop just smelling the paper and dive in an create something.

WEEK 3: Something Borrowed For this weeks challenge use something borrowed

WEEK 4: Something Blue This weeks challenge is to use a LO featuring all one color of your choice or if you like blue go right ahead!!

WEEK 5:And a silver sixpence in her shoe. Create a LO and include a shoe and/or something silver on it!!!!is

I am sooo far behind on this challenge because I am the slowest scrapper in the world but here is my something new layout based on a sketch from Creative Scrappers #108 and the Paper and chipboard butterflies came from the June Scrap-room kit - feel free to participate in this challenge, it's a fun one!

Technically

Okay, i know that it is technically Monday and I had the best of intentions to do this earlier but it was so hot today that I have fallen completely behind schedule and will be posting again later.

Although scrapping is my passion, scrap shopping is fun too. I have a couple of orders coming that have me staking out the mail all day long.

• I can't wait to get the i-rock - this tool promise to be a bling machine. I haven't read any reviews for it yet so i can't wait to get my hands on it and try it for myself.

• Next is Echo Park's newest line, Walk in the Park. I love the colors and the elements look like so much fun. I can already picture my first layout using this line.

• I love my slice and they have some of the cutest design cards, right now this is on my wish list. I love to cook and this font can be used so many ways.

• And right now I am working on this Page Maps sketch. I have my general concept laid out but it is just missing something...............................................well as soon as I figure out what I will post it.

No Mail Day - Ugggh!

Okay we all know the reputation of dogs and mail carriers. And believe me I always thought that was a myth, I mean what would make a dog want to attack a mail carrier for no reason. Cartoons always satires the situation and I have even chuckled a few times at the images of a dog tearing down the street after the mail carrier but now this has just gone too far because I am directly involved. My little baby Oreo absolutely despises our mail carrier. I don't know why but she charges the front door when the mail is delivered and even stands on her hind legs, looking out of the window to make sure she is gone. Now trust me, Oreo's bark is way way worse than her bite.

She has never bitten a soul, to be honest I don't know how far she can open her small mouth and as you can see she is not that big and she is full grown. Well in the summer she likes to sun bathe on the porch and our mail carrier will not come near our door. So today I missed my Oh My Crafts order with my Forever Young cartridge and the new Echo park line, I am so disappointed! Bummer! Oh well, maybe Monday.

Determined

I am setting a record blogging personal goal of posting something new everyday for the next week. Is that really possible? Well of course anything is possible but I get so easily distracted. Do I even have that much to say.......................Uh yeah, duh! I have so much coming up, like CKC Valley Forge, my annual block party, summer CHA (I love checking out the sneak peeks), my recent purchases should be arriving any day and the Scrap Room will be starting their sneak peeks of the July kit. Not to mention the layouts and cards I get done this weekend, so I hope to at the least keep it interesting.

To start a co-worker of mine is getting married July 10 and we had a shower at work for her. I volunteered to do the decorations and it turned out very nice. I did the Martha Stewart tissue paper pom-poms (sorry I don't have a picture but they were super cute!) , a candy bar with personalized bags and the creme de la creme was my first ever favor cake. It was perfect. I already have an idea for one for a baby shower cake, I just don't know anyone expecting, lol. Maybe I will just make it for the heck of it.

I am trying

to keep up with my blog but life just keeps getting in the way. So instead of trying to update my life over the past eight months I just want to say I joined a kit club. I had various memberships in the past and by joining a club I hope they ease my shopping addiction (yeah right). So after months of debating I finally jumped in and joined the Scrap room. I like their kits because you get a sampling from four different lines. It is just enough to get a flavor for the line and they offer great add-on kits. I will share some of my creations in my next post.

In Knots

The one thing I have learned my moving into my own scrap space is that organization is key. As I was trying to figure out what to do with the various ribbons that I have collected over the years, I remembered seeing this idea in a magazine {sorry, can't remember which :( }and online several times and decided to give it a try. I love the results!!!!

First of all going through my ribbon baskets has been like being on a treasure hunt, I forgot about so many different patterns that I have. It has been very exciting. Next I figured out quickly that there is no way I can complete this task by myself so I have enlisted the help of my youngest daughter (at a price of course!). So we started out with some old -fashioned wooden clothespins and wrapped the ribbon around the pin and secured the end with a straight pin. It looks great but these clothespins are hard to find and we ran out of the few I found quickly. So next we started good ol' reliable popsicle sticks. These babies are so versatile! We employed the same concept and wrapped the ribbon around the stick and secured it with a straight pin. I was even able to find some cute straight pins at the local Rite-aid (see the yellow butterflies, pretty clever, huh).

When we finish I need to figure out how I want to store them. I know I want something clear and easy to access. I was thinking Ikea might have something that works (any reason to shop, I know, lol). If you have any ideas feel free to share! Thanks!

P.S.

I really have too much ribbon, can someone just slap me if I tell you I am buying more ribbon! Then again,I probably just won't tell you now though, lol

Blog Giveaway

I am so excited, I can't believe how many people have giveaways on their blogs, check this one out on Melissa's blog, http://keepsakesbymelissa.blogspot.com/ the prizes are awesome!

Breathe Again...

I definitely have to post more frequently, by the time I get on here I have so much to say that it becomes a super long post. So now I don't know where to start! This summer I made a total of 25 pounds of potato salad, hosted three parties, went to two weddings, went to a crop retreat and spent more weekends with my extended family than I have in the past five years and it has been fun. I have been working 4 ten hour days at work to have Friday's off and this is the first Friday I have had for me since the beginning of summer and what am I about to do........................... yes CLEAN! There is so much to do around the house I think that is where I will start after I catch up on some blogging. So do you want to see a few pictures? This is my Man, the love of my life Reggie. We have been together for eight years this December. It has not always been easy and we have had some devastating situations, one of them being a stroke he had three years ago (He is fine, he just still has slight paralysis in three of his fingers). He is such a fighter, even on the way to the hospital he was trying to make his arm work - determined not to let the stroke get the best of him. His favorite spot in the summer and even in the winter sometimes - is on the grill! This man can barbeque his a double s off. Which probably explains why we had about 60 people at our block party, lol. We are having another block party on the 29th and he has promised to keep it small - we will see!

This is me and my niece. I love her to death. She is the one I can talk to and hang out with. We go Black Friday shopping every year (even when I don't fell like it, lol). She fell in love young and married a guy who just turned out to be nothing like he seemed. She went through a hard divorce in her twenties and struggled as a single mother until she me Bryan. He is a refreshing change to the men she was use to and he loves her to death. He calls her the boss. Together they are a loving couple and I was honored to be he maid of honor. This is a picture from her bridal shower (the pg-13 version - I haven't seen the x-rated version yet)!

This is me with my four sisters, now they would kill me if they knew this picture was up here because they don't want to be "all over the internet" but I don't think they know about my blog so I am safe for now, lol. I am the youngest with a 14 year difference between me and my oldest sister, our relationship is strange but all in all if something happens, good or bad, we are there for each other. I love each one of them. This was at my sister in the middle fiftieth birthday party this summer.

And I got to meet my sister from another mother Mika, yes we even have the same name. Sometimes I swear we were separated from birth and genetically altered, lol. We think alike too much! She makes me laugh and has the prettiest smile. We had a good time scrapping until our eylids dropped. I have to blog about the trip in a separate post to give the full details. Thing won't be complete until we meet our third muskeeter Myia! She is my girl and above all she keeps it real ! That girl is a very creative scrapper and can work magic with her pattern papers. I should start working on Reggie now to take me to Vegas! Myia-boo here we come!

And finally this is me, tired from all of these activities, bored at work and playing with my camera! Have a great weekend - I am going to try to complete some sketch challenges, clean up a little and then get ready for date night with Reggie!

CKC Valley Forge and the Stanky Leg

Okay, the two are in no way shape, or form related, lol. I visited the vendor faire on Friday with my girlfriend Kathy from work. She is a beginning scrapper and had never been to the vendor faire before. All I know is that should I become missing it is because her husband killed me for exposing her to CKC, lol. I actually did more shopping than I planned but I treated myself and my Scrapping Sister! Here is a look at my booty.......................not my booty booty, lol here is what I walked out with.

First this is already en route to my girl - 1/2 of an American Crafts paper pack, some green glitter thickers that are so pretty in person and an American crafts rub-on book. But wait.......................there is more!



Here is some Scenic Route chipboard. A cute Sassafrass paper pad, a film strip with her son's name on it and some Basic Grey bling a cute orange lady bug......................................is that it? Heck no! There is still more!



And finally a Scenic Route paper pack that includes some beautiful orange chipboard letter, some pretty paper, cardstock stickers and rub ons!

And for myself..........................I got some bling, glue arts refills, I have film strips personalized with all three of my girls names (my baby niece is included in the count) some pom-pom ribbon (it looks fun to work with), some thickers, American Crafts felt stickers, a few sheets of Basic Grey's lemonade, (which I thought was beautiful in person, still didn't want Junebug after seeing it in person), Basic Grey bling, six bottles of stickles (not pictured) some American Crafts and MME "Breaking Free" papers and some copic markers! I have never used them before and they are my most exciting purchase!

Saturday was my sister's fiftieth birthday party, which was a huge success (I will post pictures soon) but girl I had to show them up when my song - The Stanky leg" came on. I wore a cute orange Maxi dress and i felt really good about my "grown woman" status. Here is my self-portrait for the night!

TTYL!

Jumping In

Okay,
Along with blogging more I plan on enter more contests and challenges. there is a new challenge blog called Candy Shoppe Designs recommended by my lil' scrapping sister Myia - Check them out, they are doing some awesome giveaways right now! If I can do it, so can you!