Peek at the New TLC Products

I thought that the peeks we got of the new TLC products were so outstanding that I decided to keep working with TLC despite all the changes and despite the fact that I can get so many things with a higher profit margin elsewhere. So I thought I'd share a slide presentation created by the "Ettes" the fabulous TLC designers.

The products won't be available to the general public until 15 June, so this isn't so much about selling right now but rather about admiring, LOL!

Also, if you go to TLC today, and click on the ideas link at the middle bottom of the page, there is still time for you to vote for my Amy and Eli album. To vote for each of the participants just click on one of the 5 stars under the information. Hopefully you will feel that I deserve 5 stars, LOL! The winner gets $75 in TLC products or is that $75 to buy what you "want" in TLC products!

April Winner Blog Posting Prize

In my post on April 1st, I spoke of two things, absentmindedness and the April comment challenge prize. This is not a big comment month so far, so I'll just show the one gift, who knows if there will be more... that really is up to all of you!




Oh, I thought I'd plug a new Scrapbook store opening in Nassau! The 1st scrapbook store to open in Nassau! Yup, now when you go on a cruise to the Bahamas, you can visit Keshia the owner and tell her that M-C says hi! Sounds like it will be a darling of a store when it opens at the end of May. I'm hoping to be there teaching a class prior to the opening as Keisha is planning on a big launch party with make and takes and a class that will be fun for beginners and more experienced scrappers alike. As soon as she can send me some photos, I'll share!


I need to get on the phone/email and see if I can round up 4 people for my little mailbox class and get that all sorted out. Here is a picture again of what it looks like!

Working on Cards

Well I'm thinking that the blog challenge is a little stalled. I guess that's my fault, I haven't blogged all that much! There are so many things that need doing that sometimes, I'm not sure at the end of the day that I've gotten anything much done.

In many ways I'm not really a girly girl. For example, getting my hair done at the salon or getting a pedicure or a manicure are not "fun" things for me. So when it's time to color my hair, I've learned to do it myself. It takes a lot less time and I can go for 6-8 months without setting foot in the salon or paying those outrageous prices. Coloring my hair was on yesterday's to do list as were making some cards. First these are hybrids. The portion with text was done digitally and printed out for each of the cards, while the rest is made with traditional scrapbook supplies. You can click on them to see a larger version.

I also completed a number of Christmas cards for the ongoing challenge on RCS.

You can see those in my online gallery. Here is one in case you don't want to go browing:

I also went over to Scraptopia and had a great time talking with Jackie. Made a couple of purchases and spoke of future plans.

Seeing Clearly

Well I finally took pictures of the clear cards I made. The blue one is the one I used for the make and take and the other is for my MIL. I hope you like them.

I've spent the last few days getting out wireless network to work. After spending at least 3 hours on the phone with 2 different Verizon guys and buying a new wireless router at the recommendation of the first guy they finally sent a tech out. Seems they had upgraded their equipment and the first guy I spoke to got it all wrong. I brought the router back to Comp USA and held my ground until they agreed to reimburse me the whole amount and not just the cost less a 15% restocking fee.

I hope to get some more scrapping done tomorrow, I've got quite a few projects underway and it would be nice to finishe some of them! I have a bout 20 pages to do on my soon to be born nephew's 12x12 book, a class with the little mailbox I showed you a few weeks ago to get scheduled and the final kit count done, my MIL's recipe scrapbook to work on and a photography album that I've started and want to work on. In addition I've also got to finish the class project for one of the LSS and put another together for the other LSS. In addition I have a business expo early May that I have a booth at and then I'll be getting ready for CKC Fort Lauderdale where I hope to introduce the new TLC line as well as some of the other items I plan on selling there. Somehow, I have a feeling I'm going to be rather busy!

Anyhow, I hope you're all having a great weekend and scrapping your hearts out!

Hugs,

M-C

A New Sense of Freedom

Well the taxes are done, the ones for 2007, the sales taxes for January till March for Florida and I've answered the IRS's questions on the 2006 questions. I feel so much better to have all of it out of my hair! Yippee! Life has not been all that easier, my computer is hiccupping, took 2 hours of playing with it to get to boot up the other day and yesterday our wireless router, courtesy of our ISP went on the fritz, but I'm still happy the taxes are done~!

It allows me to get back to talking papercrafts and particularly scrapbooking! So first, let me share a tag I made for the RCS tag swap. I'm going to warn my buddies not to come and look if they want to keep the surprise till they receive them in the mail. But I really wanted to share. We had to make them all identical and we had a choice of themes either summer or vacation. Until I added the little saying on the tiny piece of paper, I think it could have been either. But once it was added, it became more vacation since it says "Having a Great Time".

I also was at a crop this weekend where I vendored and did a make and take. The project I chose was a clear card so that I could show people some of the techniques to use when working with a clear/acylic album. We had a great time. I've included a picture of what my booth looked like. Click on it for a bigger view.

Don't forget to leave a comment. The comment contest is ongoing and the name of one person will be picked from all the entries and a prize awarded on May 1st! The more entries, the more chances you have to win! One comment only per day!

A day of Fire and Memories

Janie and I were having a coffee before going to Curves this morning, yes, I'm back at the gym and this was the 3rd day in a row, yeah me. Anyhow, she mentioned that a historical building had burned to the gound in Tibet. My first thought was not those poor people. Janie looked at me like I was being a little weird as I shared my views on what was going on in that country and the country that is occupying it right now. Finally we figured out that where I had heard Tibet, she had said Quebec. Oh my, a historical building in Quebec? Thank goodness it wasn't the Chateau Frontenac, was my first thought. Not only is the beautiful city of my birth celebrating its 400th anniversary this year, but my very dear SIL works at the Chateau! Arriving home, I quickly checked the internet and UTube to see if I could find out more. I found this.

Oh my goodness its the Armory on Grande Allee! The home of the Voltigeurs de Quebec. I've been there, in fact for many years I passed it on my way to and from school. Then on my Captain's qualifying course, when I was living and training at the Citadelle de Quebec, we had colleagues who were from the Voltigeurs! They took us to visit their armory which is close to the Citadelle. What a beautiful building! What a terrible loss! My heart goes out to the men and women of the Voltigeurs de Quebec. My thoughts and prayers will be with you as you rebuild your armoury, as I know you surely will.

My heart also goes out to you because I know from experience what it feels like to lose a home to fire. How devastated and vulnerable you feel. How terrible it is waiting for your home to be rebuilt and your life to go back to a "normal" that will never quite be the same again. As a soldier and a former member of the Royal Montreal Regiment, I also know that your Regiment is your 2nd home as well as the place where you volunteer your time and meet your friends. I hope you will be able to go home soon.

My thoughts also go back to all the fires there were in "Old" Quebec when I was growing up and how terribly difficult it is for the firefighters to work even a small fire in the bitter cold with the water freezing as it hits the ground and hits their boots, hands, faces and ladders. I remember the rivers of water racing down Cote de la Montagne, the street I lived on. It became streams of frozen ice that cars could not drive on. The street had to be closed! And my thoughts turn to the January night when my house burned and my son and I had to evacuate to the neighbors. 7 months and four moves later our house was finally ready to move back into.

Firefighters are always heroes. The firefighters that have to work in the frozen lands of the northern hemisphere have my undying admiration!

Bridge Over Troubled Waters

How appropriate the song at the top of my list ended up being! Hard to believe, but TLC as a consultant company is no more. Fortunately they still exist as a buyer's club which is really good for those of you who like their products and just want the discount for your personal use. Better still for those of you still interested, the prices have gone down.

For anyone interested, they do have great products and they have lowered the prices. I will continue to sell TLC products as I have accumulated some inventory in preparation for CKC Ft Lauderdale. I need to wait till the dust settles and see what happens with that. For those of you who were in TLC with me, I had a hunch things were not going well, but they had recently started speaking of the new line and shown some samples and I was lured into thinking everything would be all right!

Since buyers clubs are the way to go, I've gone ahead and joined a company that has some of the latest and best items such as Basic Gray, Fancy Pants etc. Bear in mind that this is not a consultant MLM company. Please use my AC Bailey's link when you go over there so that I get the credit for anything you do while there.

For now it's time to do taxes, get ready for the crop I'm vendoring at next weekend in North Tampa, and change the first song to something like We Shall Overcome, LOL! Vroom, vroom, M-C is on the move again!!!

A Truly Blessed Day

What a wonderful day I had! Rick was around much of the morning. Janie picked me up at 11:15 and took me to Mimi's Cafe for lunch. I had the roast turkey, very yummy! Then we went back to my house and opened my Kellar Creations order that had just come in. Pearls, rhinestones, beautiful paper with matching brads, some wooden clocks to decorate. It was really fun opening the box. Thanks Janie for a wonderful and memorable lunch, for the great presents and of course for having the foresight to bring your camera!

I am such a lucky lady. Hubby's aunt, brother and mom called today as did my brother, my best friend from Ottawa, my best French friend who lives down the street from where I used to in Parrish FL. Another friend, Judith also affectionately known by some as the Puerto Rican Mafia Godmother, dropped by unexpectedly, also bearing gifts. She couldn't really stay long, but while she was here we had a few laughs! Last but definitely not least my son called once he was free, which was after work and after Kendo.

I also of course had to do a little work as I have a crop I'm vendoring at on the 12th. So I had to prepare catalogs for the gift bags with a discount and information on TLC etc. Tomorrow I have to be a good girl and go back to the gym. So up not too late, breakfast, gym and then I have to make sure that I get the items off to the lady who is stuffing the bags as I am already a little late with that. Then back home to finish putting prices together and tidying the house, followed by cleaning it all up before the crop at my house on Friday which goes from 6:30pm till midnight. I'm looking forward to seeing old friends and making new ones. All in all as you can see, another exciting day in the life of MC, LOL!

And the winner is...

Well it's been a busy day, but then which day isn't? Looks like the prescription for my glasses has changed yet again. Isn't getting old a pain? Well not really! I got an email form my friend Katrina today, that reminded me that we are lucky to be getting old and to be alive! On the eve of yet another milestone in my life, I am indeed happy to be where I am, who I am and much more that that, to be surrounded by the people that I have come to love and cherish. Yup as of tomorrow, I can now move into many if not all senior communities. Unbelievable! How the heck did I get here! But right now that's probably not the topmost thing on your mind! You probably want to know who won the posting contest for this month, right?

Well there are things that happen when you are old...er. Your mind wanders and sometimes jump from one topic to another. You are more likely to lose your train of thought and have any of you noticed that you often walk into a room knowing that you went to the room for a reason, but you can't for the life of you remember what it was? But to get back to the contest, I did pick a winner today and that lady is going to be very happy with what I've got going her way.

Did I mention that my first call of the day was fom a nice lady from whom I buy wholesale scrapbook products? We chatted for a while. She does expos and I got to see her this weekend. But I digress. Here is what the winner will get.

1 TLC 12345 Chatter Book and 1 Runway Meadowbrooke Shapes Kit and a surprise or two not mentionned here!

Curious to know what our April winner will get? Come back tomorrow and see what it is! And don't forget that the more "different people" post comments, the larger the prize is! The more often you post, the more chance you have to be the winner!

Seems to me I forgot to do something. Hmm... could it be that the winner is scraplin also known to her friends as Linda! Congratulations! Please email me to confirm your address and I'll ship that out no later than next Monday!

Linda, I hope that you enjoy your prizes and continue to post next month.

Woohoo! I'm back from the Scrapbook Expo

What a wonderful expo for at least 4 members of my Scrapbook Buddy group! We all won prizes! But more on those later! Yup, I'm a tease! Aww come on, don't spoil the surprise by peeking below!

I had such a great time! After picking Janie up at her house we drove to Orlando via Lakeland so that we could stop at Violettes. Janie did some shopping. I was good and just looked around and watched her shop! After eating at one of the best Chinese Buffets ever, Janie is better with names and might be kind enough to post the name in a comment, we went on to out hotel in Orlando. It took us a little while to unpack since our "luggage" included 2 folding tables and chairs , my cuttle bug, QK, BossKut dies as well as a whole lot of scrapbook supplies. Oh and I forget a very small suitcase with clothes for me and a slightly larger one for Janie. Our first night we decided to just scrap the evening away!

We did exercise while we were there! What can I say, we are ever so conscious of our waistlines (I'm definitely on the lookout for mine, which I lost in 1997). Given that the fastest way to the convention center was to hoof it there, we really had no choice, for which I'm quite grateful! The first day, the 20 minute, slightly uphill walk, left us slightly winded. By Saturday midnight, we could do it under 17 minutes, talking and laughing all the way! Three cheers for the grand (Janie) and her sidekick (moi)!

We shopped, took 2 classes, went to two evening crops and just enjoyed! Now for the prizes. Most of you already know that I am the organizer of the Scrapbook Buddies, a scrapbook meet up group that I started 18 months ago. Janie recently was elevated to the august title of assistant-organizer and Sharon and Anita are members. We planned on meeting up with them on Friday at the crop.

If you've been to a Scrapbook Expo, you also know that you do not have to be present to win a prize. Some, including the grand prize are drawn from the advanced ticket sales or pre-registrations and others are drawn from the tickets required to get into the convention, whether they are or aren't pre-purchased. The names of the winners are posted on a board at the entry to the floor and everyone checks the board.

Janie and I had quite a surprise when we came back from lunch on Friday. We read the name of the winner and all of a sudden I turned to Janie and told her that's our Sharon!!! Indeed Sharon, shown in the picture wearing a read sweater, won the grand prize of the beautiful scrapbook armoire shown in white, which is precisely the color she picked for the one they will be shipping to her! She has to pay for the shipping but so what, she won the armoire!!!

Anita and I also won door prizes, though small ones at the Friday night crop. Janie waited until the Saturday night crop, while I was out to dinner, to win a wonderful lavender faux-suede scrapbook bag filled with three months worth of storyteller monthly kits! Just a great, great prize! I also won a door prize at Saturday's crop, a size small t-shirt that the two ladies sharing our table both wanted. So I traded it in for some nice embellishments which I was able to start using right away. I'm realistic enough to know that no matter how much exercises I do, I will never be a size small, LOL!

Speaking of Saturday's dinner, which Janie was invited to but decided I should just enjoy with my son and his girlfriend, it was at Nelore, an authentic Brazilian Steak House. The occasion was my birthday, since we won't see each other the day of. Can I say OMGosh!!! It was amazing! Simply, simply amazing food, a wonderful ambiance, a charming waitress and all the food you can eat! Add to that charming hosts my son and girlfriend and the whole thing was just perfect! Yummy to my mommy's tummy!

All in all a wonderful weekend, where I did get some work done, but mostly had a great time, shared with wonderful people!

Have a great week people! You know the routine...it will only come once, so make the best of it! Oh! and don't forget! Tomorrow is your last chance to post comments for a chance to win the my March scrapbook/prize giveaway!!!

I'm All Good - Sort of!

Well at least my knee is! They took x-rays and determined that the implants are adhering to the bone and that the whole joint looks as good as it possibly can. The clicking, which they don't tell you much about prior to surgery, is apparently my new friend for life and just something I have to get used to, yeah! What I was told pre-surgery was that it would be there until the plastic components moulded themselves to my knee movements and would go away in about a year! Maybe someday they will make quiet knees, not that other people can necessarily hear the crunching.

It's hard not to want to play with my latest toy. Post appointment, I had this urge to give my PGC also known as my new SUV some room to roam and so I took it to Lakeland for a spin. It was one of those spur of the moment decisions as I was getting within feet of the I-4 exit off I-75. Did I mention that Lakeland has an awesome LSS named Violettes? I decided to stop in and take a look and on the way home, I stopped in at Scraptopia to say hello to Jackie the owner. I've got to say though, that neither store has a great web presence.

Unfortunately I seem to have picked up was some sort of bug on the way and I've just spent the last few hours in bed feeling terrible. Not sure where it came from, but it sure came on quickly! So I'll keep today to a short post and hope everyone out there is feeling better than I am, LOL! I want to scrap and I still have a lot of organizing to do! But I'm going to make the best of each moment I get to sniffle, cause each one only comes once, haha!

So to show you that I still have a sense of humor, I'll leave you with two pictures of me taken at Scrapbook in Paradise during the treasure hunt. Not sure what I look better as a pirate with a huge head or a flat chested mermaid with big hair? You tell me!

The Never Ending Task

Before I get to the never ending task, I guess you've noticed that I've added some of my favorite songs to the blog! Just found out how to do this and enjoyed it! Hope it didn't wake anyone up at your end! I know how it can be to expect to navigate to a quiet blog and suddenly find your ears assaulted by someone's idea of a good song!

Anyhow back to the Never Ending Task!

No I'm not speaking of dishes, laundry or grocery shopping. If you're a scrapbooker, you've probably guessed that I'm speaking about scrapbooking supplies. Somehow getting organized is a never ending chore. Buy just a few dollars more of paper or embellishments and suddenly you get the urge or is that the NEED to re-organize. What's with that?

Just so you know I got hit by the re-org bug in a big way! I guess it was caused by the Scrapbook Treasure hunt. You see the 1st store we went to had racks, great racks if you ask me for sale. They break down completely which is marvelous and they hold a ton of products! At any rate yours truly got the racks and then realized that they barely fit into my car, hence the need for a new SUV! OK, that's not quite true, but anyhow, once I got the racks into the house nothing would do but that I completely re-organize my for sale stash of supplies! I've been working on it for a couple of days already!

Here is a view of the racks as they are now, set up at the back of the kitchen in the eat in area. (I don't cook so nothing is really in danger!).Plus I have some awesome supplies for sale from Cookbookin and they really look good in the kitchen, LOL!

On another topic, tomorrow is my one year check up on my knee. I sure hope that everything is going on as it should in there and that the bones have fully knitted to the hardware. I still get a lot of clicking and strange sounds and there is still some discomfort when I touch the areas under and to the inside and outside of the knee. So it's up early tomorrow to make sure I make it on time to my appointment.

I hope that all of you are having a great day and that you did not miss out on a single moment of joy today! Enjoy the music and remember, each moment of your life only comes "Once!"

Happy St Patty's Day

I wish you the luck of the Irish. I'm not sure if somewhere deep inside me there is Irish blood, but I can tell you that there certainly is a part of my soul that belongs to Ireland. As a little girl I went to a Catholic School run my a wonderful order of nuns called the Religious of the Sacred Heart of Mary or RSHM. I would not be guessing to say that the sisters were influenced by their Irish members. Marymount Quebec had a great tradition of arts and sports as well as being top notch academically. Each year we put on many shows, but one that we always did just for fun was our St Patrick's day show. If my spirit wasn't born Irish, then certainly it was lifted by the beautiful tunes such as the one I've included here for your enjoyment and it danced an Irish jig, much as I learned to do. When I think of St Patrick's Day I think of my cousin Eugene, who we affectionately called Paddy. The RSHMs and Paddy are hugely responsible for my looking to the positive in people and in life. This is a tribute to them.

Happy St Patrick's Day to all of you!

Some fine Pipes!

I found this on my friend Marie Laurence's blog. She obviously found it on YouTube or someone else passed it on to you. I really like the sound of this so I thought I'd share too! Hope you are having a great weekend and that your upcoming week is a happy one!