Counting down!

Just a few more hours to wait!!!

Hello From CHA Chicago

Well folks it wasn't smooth and easy but I did make it to Chicago and CHA. Thanks to Delta's usual timeliness I was over an hour late, but based on my experience that isn't bad!

I'm sharing a room with my friend Pat and her best bud Connie! After dropping my things in the room we went over to the convention center where I got my badge printed! Then we went to the "Taste of Rosemont" a eating tasting feast put on by some of the best restaurants in the area to welcome the CHA brass, exhibitors and attendees! I was so happy to see Jo and Jill from Whim-so-Doodle! I say I saw but Jo actually spotted me first! I really do miss their beautiful scrapbook store and the wonderfully talented Doodle Divas!

After stuffing our faces we went to look at the innovation showcase! Some cute things! Can't wait till tomorrow and the official opening of the show!

More tomorrow!

Win a Home Accent Cricut Cartridge!

In honor of CHA Summer, I've decided to giveaway one Home Accent Cricut Cartridge! You have between now and August 15th to enter to become eligible to win this cartridge! Join my followers, or tell me if you already are, Tweet or put a link to the post on Facebook and come back here and add your name and link in the Mister Linky box bellow. Don't forget to add a comment telling me that you are a follower or have become one and if you are new, who sent you. Send your friends and make sure they leave a comment telling me that you sent them! You'll both get an extra entry! So one entry for the link, one entry for the comment, and one entry if you send a friend and they mention your name in their comment! 

I'll be posting from CHA starting tomorrow!!!!

Class Offerings

I thought I'd show you the classes that I'll be offering at Scrap, Paper Scissors.

The first one offered is "Heat Wave" offered on Sunday August 22nd from 1-3:30pm.

The Second class I'm offering is Lovely Canvas Book offered Sunday September 19th from 1 to 3:30 PM.

The Last Class offered is the "School Days", 2010-11 offered Saturday September 25th from 1 to 3:30pm.

One of the things I'm big on is making sure my students complete their album before they go home.  So most everything is pre-cut for you allowing you the time to learn the techniques and put the books together!  I promise, we'll have lots of fun!

Here are some pictures from the Class Launch last Friday!  There are a lot of awesome classes being offered!

Coupons

Hello coupon lovers! There are some great new coupons this week.

AC MOORE
They have a new ad and coupons! (50% off one item 25 to 31 July)

ARCHIVERS
A new ad with a new 30% off coupon, good until the 28th!

HOBBY LOBBY
HL has a new ad and a product specific Krylon Paint coupon.

MICHAEL's
Nothing so far this week!

Well folks, like most bloggers, I love comments so please feel free to leave one when you come and get your coupons!

Retreat - Lake Cumberland , KY - 22,23,24 October 2010

I just had a talk with my new friend Kim and I am planning a scrapbook retreat at her log cabin near Lake Cumberland the weekend of October 22, 23 and 24th.

Scrapping starts at 9am Friday and ends at 5pm Sunday. Cost is $150 per person and includes the following:

Your bed space for Friday and Saturday nights, supper on Friday, breakfast and supper on Saturday and breakfast on Sunday. If we get enough people, we can also spend Thursday evening and night and get breakfast on Friday morning.

 Please et me know if you want to chip in $15 and have me buy the drinks, snacks and sandwish stuff for us to have for lunches on Friday, Saturday and Sunday!

I will be the onsite store and will also bring my Cricut Create and Expresssion and all my catridges as well as my Slice and all the cards I have for it.

4 of the beds are doubles. So we have a total of 12 spaces if  8 people are willing to share and 8 spaces if no one wants to.  Please email me if you are interested.  A $50 deposit is required and full payment by October 1st.

First come first served!  Please email me for additional information.

Coupons...

Hello coupon lovers!  There are some great new coupons this week.

AC MOORE
Lots going on at AC Moore this week.  Here is their weekly ad for you to peruse and they gave us a 50% off coupon for this week and a 40% off coupon for next week! Click here to go print the coupons!

ARCHIVERS
A new ad with a new 30% off coupon, good until the 21st!

HOBBY LOBBY
HL has a new 40% off any single item coupon this week.  The weekly ad also includes Simplicity patterns at $0.99 (one of my favorite sales), 30% off scrapbook adhesives, and Slice products, amongst a whole lot of other specials!

MICHAEL's
Michael's came out with a Bonanza Sale ad this week. 15% off coupon good today Sunday the 18th from 4-8pm only. There are a whole bunch more including 40% off one item, 20% off all Martha Stewart, and 40% off artist pads, open stock paper, scrapbook paper pads, paint, pencils , markers, Jolees and Sticko, syrofoam all valid this week. All the coupons are available here for printing! Michael's has a maximum coupon limit, so hurry over to print them! I recently went to print some coupons and was met with a message that said that they had already allocated their maximum number! That will teach me to post the coupons and not print them right away!

Well folks, like most bloggers, I love comments so please feel free to leave one when you come and get your coupons!

Wedding Book Video

I wanted to show you the video of the wedding book since I think it shows better than the pictures the dimensions and the glitter of the paper I used. I love the paper.  The price point is slightly higher, but there is so much more to this Best Creations line, that I thought it was worth it.  In the interest of full disclosure, I haven't met the people at Best Creations, but Pat has and they are giving us our passes to CHA. I had bought their paper and used it prior to meeting Pat, so you know that I honestly love it.  In a previous post, I showed you the little book that I had made for Jessie using the same paper. Let me know what you think! Oh I wanted to say that the dog in the album isn't a collie but a sheltie. Not a difficult mistake to make when you have no way to gage the size since they definitely have a similar look! Best Creation paper is available online at A Cherry On Top, my favorite online store.  I've provided a link to their store in the left side column of my blog!

Coupons

I promised some people that I would keep on posting any Archivers coupons, so here they are:


AC MOORE
 There are  new 40% off a single item and 60% off framing coupons for AC Moore good until the 17th.

ARCHIVER's
Archivers has a new ad and a new 30% off coupon good only until July 14th! In fact I'm about to print mine out!

HOBBY LOBBY
HL has a new ad and a new ad and a 30% off coupon on Artist Books.

JOANNS
Last weeks coupons is still good until the 17th.

Busy Bee Buzzes In

Life is what happens while you are busy making other plans!  How very true!  There has been so much going on that I haven't done much but create scrapbook projects, listen to lots of advice, fill in paperwork, review paperwork, do research, and eat and sleep (the last two are mandatory activities, don't you know!)  Thankfully, I have friends who understand and with luck everything will fall into place shortly! Between creating four projects for four different classes including a proposal for CKC, Hubby and I have also had to deal with a proposed zoning change in our neighborhood that would have tremendous impact on our quality of life!  In fact we just got home at 11:30 pm from a Public Hearing of the Boone County Planning Commission on the proposed development.  The meeting started at 7:45! Needless to say we were not the only ones there that opposed part of this development! But let's put all that aside! What I really want to talk about tonight is the happy things that have happened.

First, I'm almost able to walk again, without considerable pain. It seems that I had some ligament problems in my left foot, and my right hand, which I didn't tell anyone about until now, likely related to the black box antibiotic that I took! They aren't healed, but both are better! A good thing as I had to stop taking the anti-inflamatories!  They turned me into a raging maniac that didn't want anyone to come near her or ask her anything! Talk about short fused! I couldn't even stand myself, LOL!
I'm also happy that despite my month long absence from the gym, I haven't gained any weight.  I might have even managed to lose another couple of pounds! For some people, losing a couple of pounds isn't all that much, but I've lost 12 pounds over the last 4 months, just by making better choices and trying to stop eating as soon as I start feeling full! Best of all, I'm not finding it all that hard to stay away from the bad stuff.  For example, after the meeting tonight I went to fill my gas tank and get some milk. On my way to and from the fridge for the milk,  I walked by my favorite apple turnovers, chocolate bars and chips.  While it crossed my mind to get one or more of them, and I would have in the past, I seriously just went, hey, don't need them.  I bought the milk and walked out!  Anyhow, back to happy!

Next. happy thing, the replacement for the Cricut Gypsy I bought oh 8 weeks or so ago and that didn't work, finally came in from Provo Craft.  Unbelievable how long it took for them simply to ship the new one out, they received the non-functioning one on June 17th.  More scary is that it might have taken even longer as my first support request made by phone, was apparently lost! Luckily, something made me call them back and ask a question, and they couldn't find my support ticket! A new one was created and I eventually got the return shipping label! The first Gypsy that I received, would not even go beyond the first calibration screen! So I'm happy that I finally have a working Gypsy that I can play with! 

My next two reasons for being happy are one, that today Charlene was over to scrap with me! That is always a happy day for me! She was working on layouts to put professional pictures of her kids and grand kids, while I was working on a summer themed album for my Scrap, Paper, Scissors (SPS)) teaching debut. I found myself needing to draw on an item before I cut it out on my Cricut!  And Bang!!! It occurred to me that my friend, Pat (Davenport) had taught me how to do that and it was in one of her books somewhere! And it was! That was my second reason for being happy today! I was thrilled to see another example of the good investment I made taking that class! BTW, the class, which was the first class I took at Scrap, Paper, Scissors,  is where I first met Pat! I'm hoping that she will allow me to sell her books in my Etsy shop!  They are well put together with exercises that really allow you to understand how to do things and as I discovered today, what she teaches you, stays in your mind. I'll let you know if she says yes!  So far she only teaches at big scrapbook conventions, such as CHA, CKC, Great American Scrapbook Convention and from time to time locally, which for her is the Dayton area!  So I was lucky to catch her class at SPS! Here is a peak at the sun I wanted to draw on before cutting it and glazing the face! It is glazed, but you can't see that in the picture as I wanted you to see the face! It will be featured on the cover of the mini album!


So I really hope that everyone had some reasons to be happy recently! If so, please share!  I'm sure that I'm not the only one that feels better writing about and reading happy stories!

Coupons!

Sorry, I am late with the coupons this week! 


AC MOORE
40% off this week, plus 50% off on July 2nd coupon here!

ARCHIVER 

Latest ad is here and the coupon here which is only good until tomorrow. Not so good since I'm going to Archivers the day after tomorrow!

HOBBY LOBBY
This week's coupon is 50% off 3-D embellishments and is good till the 3rd. Click here to see what else is on sale.

BTW, is anyone using these? Should  I continue posting them? Just asking!

Teaching Classes

Hi all, well it is official, I will be teaching classes again.  Yeah!  I've missed it, alot! I'm busy preparing two classes for Scrap, Paper Scissors in Loveland, OH and one for C-Shore Creations, Inc in Bellevue, KY.  Here is a short video showing the mini-book we will be doing at C-Shore.  I'm hoping to put kits for that minibook up on my Etsy store early next week.

Hope you Like it! You can order your kit on my Etsy shop now for delivery within three weeks! Or, you can order it already made!

The Wedding Album

Well here it is, the wedding mini-album I made for Pat that will be seen at CHA! As mentionned yesterday, the paper is by Best Creations, there are flowers by Prima and Petaloo and embelishments from Jolee's, MAMBI, and lots of items cut out with my cricut, some using the I Thee Wed and Bloom cartridges.  The wedding card on the front page is not by me, Pat had that made by one of her daughters I think.  The flowers and butterfly and the flowers on the bride's bouquet are additions that I made.  I hope that Pat likes it when I bring it to her tomorrow!

Hope you like it! I also named the mini-album for the class that I posted yesterday, "A Time for Sharing". Tomorrow in addition to seeing Pat to deliver the album, I'm also going to see about teaching at a couple of stores!  I also be opening a new etsy shop, please check back for an announcement about that in the next few days!

Has it Been Five Days?

Oh my! I looked at my blog and have five days really gone by since my last post?  Of course I updated last week's coupon post since then, but still, where has the time gone?  For one thing, I've been battling another nasty bug, and am on round two of antibiotics, this time, Cypro!  Anyone remember that one from the anthrax scare in 2001? What is it with these resistant Kentucky bugs I seem to be catching?  But enough about being sick!

I've been working on a wedding mini book that I was commissionned to do.  All the papers I used are from the Best Creations line of papers!  BC is known for their beautiful glitter paper! The album is finished, yeah! I'm hoping that Pat will both really love it and give me permission to share it with you! She plans on bringing it to CHA so that we can show it to Richard the owner of Best Creations!  How awesome is that?

Friday, I created a mini-album to offer as a class and I must say I love the project and I've already got one taker for the class! I used the Girls' Paperie - Paper Girl Collection to make it! I still need to add the title and I'm debating whether people should also make their own bigger rose for the front of the book, not sure they'll have the time! Maybe we can do that in the next class! I spent a bunch of time today using different punches, die-cuts and techniques trying to come up with an easy to teach flower, both big and small!  Getting there, I think!

As part of the e-course I've been taking, I've been reading blogs, lots of blogs, but I've got to say that the one that has captivated me this week is Monica's White Bench Blog and particularly her post about her creative space!  I just have to share that with all of you, her space literally makes me drool, not because it is big, but because it is so absolutely beautiful!  Way to go Monica! What's more, Monica, like me, loves to make teddy bears, though like me too, she hasn't made one in a long time!  Have I ever shared my favorite bear? Well here he is, meet Loam. I took that picture of him today, just beautiful out there, isn't it?

Lastly, I've been spending time looking for pictures, any pictures of my Hilltop Friends' week long visit to SLC and all things scrapbooking and well they all love to eat too.  So between classes, including one by my friend Sue Neil, and visits to various scrapbook manufacturers, they've been visiting diners featured on the Food Network's Diner's Drive-ins and Dives show. They've been having so much fun on such a fun packed schedule, that I'm thinking that I'll have to wait till they get home to read and see more! Lucky them!