Thinking British

Welcome to sample week...while my compadres are at CHA I am working on a batch of samples for a show in the UK in February.




note:I did actually remember that it's football, not soccer - I am very impressed with myself.
My goal is to get all the samples we need to send done by tomorrow
(I hope).

Enjoy!

Wedding Card: Blushing Bride Clear Cut-Outs by Magic Scraps, Stamp by Hero Arts, Ribbon from Offray & ink from Ranger, papers unknown.
Birthday Card: Cocktail Party Clear Cut-Outs and mini fasteners from Magic Scraps, Stamp unknown, paper by Gin-X.

Summer in France: travel paper, clear cut-outs, library pockets, transparency, freeze frame (transparent film strip), photo turn & mini fastener all from Magic Scraps, Rub-Ons by Rusty Pickle and Lil' Davis, ink from Ranger.
Football: all boy papers, clear detail minis, flair, two-fold fasteners, frameworks, transparency and mini fasteners from Magic Scraps, Rub-Ons by Gin-X.
Grandma's Angel Baby: Shopping Clear Cut-outs, transparencies (red & clear), photo turns and mini fasteners from Magic Scraps, Rub-Ons from Gin-X.
Wedding: Blushing Bride Clear Cut-Outs, clear details, photo turn, round & square mini fasteners from Magic Scraps, Tab and rub-on frame by Heidi Swapp, Rub-On letters by Gin-X, ink from Ranger.
Girl's Night Out: Cocktail Party stickers and mini fasteners from Magic Scraps, patterned paper by Wordsworth, Rub-Ons from Ginn-X and Lil' Davis.

Quiet Sunday afternoon

It's quiet...
too quiet.

It's been a good weekend so far: did the grocery store, the house is still clean, went to dinner with Angie & Steve last night, I started a new book (Wicked), Matt just brought me chocolate & now he's off to get a light bulb. I went ahead and made cornbread and put together a low sodium version of king ranch chicken casserole together for dinner. I mean, I'm really ahead of the game over here. I'm about to settle in to scrap some recipe pages for a swap I'm in, but it's sooooooooo quiet.

Last night I dreamed I was in Vegas at CHA, again. Hello to all my friends that are there. I am thinking of you.

And even more samples...

I might sound like a broken record, but, man is this stuff fun to work with!

The bubble layout on the left got a little more busy than I anticipated, but the colors are so much fun!! I used rub-ons & added fasteners to the poly tag. It features Clear Accents with Fasteners (the blue bubbles) and a poly tag from Magic Scraps' Route 99 collection, Clear Colors (pink transparency) by Magic Scraps, Tab with eyelet made from Trimz, epoxy sticker and paper from Junkitz, Rub-Ons by Gin-X, office supply date stamp, ink from Ranger.



This beach baby is too cute - they couldn't have dressed him better to match our new beach line. This layout is 100% Magic Scraps!

Route 99: flat paper clips & a poly tag.
Collections, etc.: plain & patterned paper, clear colors (teal transparency), adhesive rub-ons with blue faux embossing sheets, clear reinforcements from clear detail minis, mini fasteners.






I so get it now...when these clear accents came in I thought....green??? Then I realized they were perfect for scouting pages. They would also be great with any garden or flower photos...majesty of nature type thing.

It uses clear accents & fasteners from Route 99, ribbon & ricrac from Michaels, a ton of cardstock from Bazzill, rub-ons by KI & ink from Ranger.



As usual, I saved my favorite for last...
and no, that's not me...
I do not hold the patent on the name Emily...

To be truthful, I'm not much of a cat person (proof:I've done 3 dog samples and no cat samples til now) . But, what do you know, this is my favorite today. I think some of it has to do with the look on the child's face vs. the look on the cat's face. Oooh,...and I got to photo tint. I looovvve photo tinting.

This layout features adhesive rub-ons with silver faux embossing sheets, clear detail minis, mini fasteners and felt die cuts from Magic Scraps, patterned paper from Design Originals, an office supply date stamp, and inks from Ranger. I used Ranger's distress inks with cut & dry nibs & foam to do the photo tinting.

More to see

Well, it was another productive day working with our CHA release products...here's what I have to show you...


"Future Starlet" features Clear Accents & Mini Fastaners, Photo turns and a poly piece from Magic Scraps' Route 99 line, Virtual Metal letter stickers and Clear Colors (red transparency) by Magic Scraps, Rub-Ons from Gin-X, and paper by Creative Imaginations.








"I love you" features felt ribbon from Magic Scraps' Route 99 line, Adhesive Rub-Ons used with faux embossing sheets, felt die cuts & mini fasteners from Magic Scraps, Label holder by Heidi Swapp, ribbon from Offray, and ink by Ranger.








"Gracie Smith" features felt ribbon, poly pieces, clear accents & mini fasteners from Magic Scraps' Route 99 line, clear colors (pink transparency) by Magic Scraps, Tabs from Heidi Swapp, Rub-Ons by Wordsworth, Making Memories & Heidi Swapp.









I saved my favorite for last...my Valentine card...
This features Stapler free Staples, photo turns and a flat paper clip from Route 99, Mini fastener from Magic Scraps, File Folders & ledger paper from Design Originals, rub-ons by Heidi Swapp & Making Memories, office supply confidential stamp, alphabet stamps by Hero Arts, red flourish paper by Scrap-Ease, inks from Ranger.

Where have I been?????

Another mysterious long break from blogging.....let me fill you in.

Saturday: Cleaned scrapbook room - all day......
Sunday: Cleaned house until I couldn't do anymore - all day...........
Monday: worked & slept
Tuesday: worked from home, watched American Idol & fell asleep before I could blog...
wow, that's not too exciting.

However, i DO have some exciting stuff to show you....I'm working on some last minute page samples for our booth at CHA & working with the SUPER stuff from our new dollar line, Route 99! It's addictive to work with, I especially love the photo turns...you'll be seeing a lot of samples in the next few days, so stay tuned!

This is a small piece I did to show fun ways to use photo turns. My favorite is the holly. Use a regular hole punch to scallop the edges then add mini fasteners. The flower was Tracy's idea. With the turns stacked like that it's a little tall, but not higher than a pop dot.
Photo turns, Mini fasteners & Plaid paper Magic Scraps, Square paper KI Memories, Rub-On Wordsworth, Stamps Fontwerks, ribbon unknown, Ink Ranger


The "World's Cutest Baby"features poly pieces (the blue ribbon accent), photo turns & a poly tag (SuperStar) by Magic Scraps, Rub-ons by Gin-X and patterned paper by Junkitz.

"London Times" features Clear Accents & Mini Fasteners (the gears) & transparency by Magic Scraps, A watch face from 7 Gypsies, Rub-ons from Making Memories & 7 Gypsies, Clock parts from Walnut Hollow, Paper from Rusty Pickle & Bazzill, a map, ink from Ranger.

This layout features one of our new collections, the Beach line and I went ahead & threw in some photo turns, cause I just couldn't hellp it!!!!

Paper (solid & patterned), light blue transparency, library pocket, framework (picture frame with overlay), Clear Detail Minis (words on transparencies & clear color reinforcements with fasteners), Virtual metal letter stickers, felt die cuts all from Magic Scraps, file folder by Design Originals, stamps Fontwerks & office supply date stamp, ink by Ranger.

I have more that are started so keep checking back!

I've been tagged!

The rules for this particular tagging are as follows: Remove the blog name in the top spot from the following list and bump everyone up one place. Then add yourself to the bottom slot.

Courtney
Leah
Amy
Ginger
Emily

Then you get to select five people to pass the love on to. I'm choosing 3 of my favs, because Ginger - the one who tagged me - already tagged the others I would've chosen - Theresa & Stacey!:

Ashley Smith
Kate Lynch
Heather Ales

Here are the questions.
What were you doing 10 years ago? Working as a bank teller, flirting with a courier (ended up marrying him).

What were you doing 1 year ago? Getting ready for CHA, Matt & I decided to redo our kitchen ourselves (which turned into him doing it himself)

Five snacks you enjoy (in no particular order, as all snacks are created equal):
Honey Buns
Cheese & Crackers
Fugi apples
Clementines
Baby carrots with black pepper (2 lb a week habit!)

Five songs to which you KNOW all the lyrics:
Hit Me With Your Best Shot, Pat Benetar
Tainted Love, Soft Cell
Fly Like an Eagle, Steve Miller Band
Abracadabra, Steve Miller Band
Love Me or Leave Me, Nina Simone

Five things you would do if you were a millionaire:
get out of debt
do fabulous things for our families
buy a kid (adopt)
get Matt a really cool fully-loaded garage to work on his go karts & lawn mowers
do a "What Not to Wear" on myself & get a new wardrobe

Five bad habits:
passive-aggressive, wishy-washy, non-confrontational
eat too many honey buns
ask Matt for presents
I complain a lot
I steal Matt's slippers

Five things you like doing:
getting presents
reading
making gifts for people
buying fabric
sleeping

Five things you would never wear, buy, or get again:
Campbell's soup to go - enough sodium to kill me
Black Cherry Vanilla Diet Coke - Kate says it's like drinking a can of buttercream frosting & I agree
a plain store-bought greeeting card - unless it looks handmade, I just don't like them anymore...
control top pantyhose
pointy shoes

Five favorite toys:
my cathedral shaped bundt pan
my heat gun
any remote control...
? I'm not very gadget oriented & am between cameras, so that's it

First time you got kissed: How was it? What kind of quiz is this? Please...what can I say - I was kissing a 15 yr old - how good do you think it was?

First time you drove a car: awful, I'm amazed I lived to adulthood...

First time you scrapbooked: age 8, Junior Chef of Dallas competition. Had to create a "Recipe Scrapbook" complete with pictures & journalling for the competition.

First time you went on a date: Age 16 - Chili's & we saw "The Princess Bride" on its opening weekend.

First time you fell in love: I've had my heart broken a lot, but I've never loved anybody the way I love my husband, Matt. We've been together 10 years, married 6.

First time you cooked for someone: Cooking since I could walk!!!!

First time you got on a plane: I don't remember when it was, but my Grandpa was on the flight crew & would come and check on me. (that would be Braniff - you do the math)

First time you shaved your legs: Sixth grade graduation, my mom cried.

First time you put on make up: Seventh grade - blue eyeshadow & pink ice lipstick - and lots of it!

First time you moved out of your home: To go to an all-too-party-filled semester in college, then back home til I married at 28.

Big snogs from across the pond

Everyone, this is my friend Claire. Claire, this is everybody.

I met Claire at Ranger U last year & we really hit it off. She lives in Nottingham and runs a few scrap & stamp stores there. She's the Card Fairy. I got an email from her today titled "BIG SNOGS FROM THE CARD FAIRY" - made me smile. She also said we should "communicate more than once in a pink moon." :) That's cute. I'm going to use that. If you're going to CHA-Winter, be sure and stop by the Hampton Arts booth to meet her!

Yet another busy & productive day at magic scraps....i.e. I need to get back to work now. I just wanted to share the smile.

Claire, if you read this, big snogs back at 'ya from across the pond!

Another season with Simon

I love Simon Cowell. Something about the way he speaks his mind really appeals to me. Yes he's tactless & even rude, but you always know what he thinks & if he likes you, you know you're really talented.

OK - down to business, 2 nights - Atlanta & Denver. What I'd like to know is where are the friends of all these people who can't sing? I mean, someone should've mentioned that these people are not American Idol material! Actually, someone should've mentioned a few of these people should never leave their homes. A surprising trend - are you noticing how young the contestants are this year? Too bad I'm over the age limit; I'd be making a fool of myself with the best of them.

With all the singing, I missed Texas SWAT which I like almost as much as Dallas SWAT. I consider it my civic duty to watch both, in case I go to the McDonalds (it's always McDonalds) they're busting druggies at, or they're arresting some one I went to school with (it's possible), or maybe they're tracking criminal activity in my neighborhood - you have to watch these things when they're filmed in your home city...anything can happen! If I stay up til 10 tonight (ha!) I'll have the chance to watch it again. I wouldn't bet money on it, though. I've been falling asleep by 9 most nights lately - while it's led to some great sleep, it's very hard to actually get anything done (like catch up on my television)! ;)

The Power of Deconstruction

One of my art teachers in college would always tell me, "Emily if you can create it once, imagine how great it will be if you destroy it and begin again. You are creative. You proved that when you made it the first time. Free yourself to improve on that and start again." Smart woman...I (we) spend so much time and effort getting things right the first time that we often doubt the power of deconstruction. So many times I have been "almost" finished with something when I spill my drink or drop on some rub-ons or maybe an ink pad - you'll love this - or tip over an open (completely unscrewed) bottle of glue. Every time I started over the finished product was better than what I started with. Every time. I hated every minute of the recreate, but the results were always worth it.

Why am I waxing philosophical today? Let's put it this way, I did a little deconstructing today and instead of getting ruffled & procrastinating I just did it - and I am really happy with the results. I feel like I accomplished a lot today.

I talked to friend I hadn't heard from in a while, Mary Lawler from Canson. We talked about catalogs & samples and things, and then we took a few minutes to catch up on each other's lives. This is such a small industry we work in, it feels more like a family than a "job". Unless I miraculously make it to CKU Provo this year, I might not be seeing her until Master's. I also talked to Theresa this afternoon. She's been so good about checking up on me. It's been a real comfort to talk to someone who's been through a stroke & a full recovery.

These are two of the books I made on Saturday & a detail from the inside front cover of the cat book.

Survived another weekend....

After a week of constant blogging, it was weird not to write anything this weekend, but it was busy, busy at my house, so no soup for you.

Matt's dad was in town & they played go-karts all weekend. James was up here to pick up a new one he bought from Matt's cousin up by Lake Texoma. Then Matt's been having real problems with one of his newer riding lawnmowers "the green hornet" (I named it that because it's so pretty, however, I soon realized he was spending so much time with it, it turned into "the mean, green divorce machine"). Something about a fly wheel...the magnet broke off down in it and...well, if I don't want to know, you probably don't want to know either. Anyway, they finally got it fixed & it's the green hornet again! It's so loud & powerful when it starts, it shakes the couch in our living room. :) wow....

I covered books all weekend. I did 10 (4 comp books & 6 spirals). I even made some for myself! (that's rare) I scanned in two that I'm sending off today. I also went to the fabric store and found some incredible materials!!!

One of my favorites...

I wanted to post a layout that I really liked...lately I have been making & giving away so many things it seems like I have much time to scrap my own pictures.

This is my cousin Meg, now 14, notice the resemblance? She's fabulously punk and loves Hot Topic. I have two cousins, Amy (16) & Meg - both sweet, little punks. If you ever read this - hellooooo there.

OK - the house is clean enough for a father-in-law invasion (not a mother-in-law visit, but that's OK 'cause she's not coming this time). Weekend goals: I have a few composition books to make and several microscope slides - but first (and this is a big but) I have to clean off at least one surface in my home studio before I can start anything. Also having an informal birthday party for Matt's dad while he's in town on Sunday. Having Matt's brother & sister and their families over - it's as simple as fried chicken, diet Dr.Pepper, queso, guacomole & chips - that man is easy to please. :)

Scrambled brains...

I've had one of the more fun days at work than I've had in a while (clue: I'm still here after 6:30 pm). We had reps come in to train with some of our sales team and that was nice to have some extra bodies in here - but Kate gave me a project that's right up my alley. We're working on a new product for CHA-Summer and, well, I don't want to give it away...it has to do with groupings of letters and how many combinations you can make from them. Talk about a little slice of heaven - let me tell you, I am feeling like quite the scrabble champion & with 3-4 columns of words per grouping I know I haven't even gotten partway finished! I'm going to have to spend more time on these for fun later...I even spelled some of the bad words just for fun (although I don't think anyone would ever need that on a scrapbook page).

Another thing about staying in the office a little later, my father-in-law will be staying with us this weekend and we are "cleaning house" tonight (yuck) and dinner tonight is something my husband knows how to cook - so the oven is already on. I did contemplate taking home the last two scrambles...I even asked him if he minded if I worked instead - he was so sweet. He said "Go ahead, do what you need to do. I can handle everything". And while I like the sound of "I can handle everything"...I know me. I can't just sit around when someone else is cleaning even as slowed down as I am right now. It also just occurred to me that I have been up here working for over 9 hours looking at letters all day and I have scrambled brains...

Oh my goodness, I HAVE A DESK...I cleaned today & was so moved I wanted to document it -because it won't last long. Notice - hanging on the wall on the left - it is my rubber chicken necklace. And, yes, I do wear it sometimes. :)

Is this normal?

Last night, exhausted, we called our regular joint for Chinese food. It went like this...

"Hi. I'd like to place an order for delivery"
"You order here before?"
"Yes. It's 3..."
then before I could get out another syllable...
"oh - Herro, xxxxx-xxx (a miserable attempt at my street name, but at least they can find the house). How you? You paint new room in house yet? You clean? I know you need clean. Ok-Ok- two house beef, no bamboo, little spicy, large side sweet & sour- you have friend?" (translation: is Martha there and if so shall I add Hunan Shrimp to your order?)
"No."
"You want dumpling?"
"No"
"Yes, you want dumpling. Fried?"
"yes, please. thank you."

I ask you - is this normal??????????

So Matt went to the door..."Where wife? Wife OK? I see wife." and in she comes. She found me in my studio on the computer (trying to figure out how to get a picture on my profile - still). Glad I wasn't in the bathroom.

I don't know, at times I'm a little embarrassed about how much we must actually order from there to have fostered this level of intimacy with our delivery person...but who cares. And they don't use MSG so I can order virtually anything!

Top menu picks from HoHo China:
1. House beef - no bamboo, mild (mild is so hot it makes us cry)
2. Sesame Shrimp - they make it just for me :)
3. Sweet & Sour Chicken, vegetables on the side - Matt's
4. Sesame Chicken
5. Chicken or shrimp Fried Rice

and always, always a side order of dumplings...

There's a first time for everything

OK - I'm a "blogger" now. I'm not exactly sure who will ever read this, but all my friends are doing it & it seems like more fun than jumping off a cliff...so here goes.

Who am I? So glad you asked: wife, paper artist (love that self-proclaimed title), friend, patient, teacher, daughter, aunt, cousin, niece, Christian (not necessarly in that order).
What am I? tired, a good cook, an avid reader, a super-crafter (I do a little of a lot of different things), generally imaptient, an obsessive proof reader and a little sloppy in the laundry department.
What else do you need to know about me? married to superman (Matt - he's my hero), officially Education Coordinator for Magic Scraps, Harry Potter fan (down to the ring on my cell phone), 34, recovering from a stroke, trying to "embrace the low sodium lifestyle"

My first goal as a blog is to post my @*!?$% picture. I know there's a "help" section and I need to download "hello", but nothing's going. I am a wee bit technically challenged. I make up for it by having fabulous hair. So far it hasn't gotten me quite as far in life as I'd hoped. Should've paid more attention...where? If I don't even know when I should've paid more attention - that can't be a good sign.

can't find a decent recent photo, so this will have to do for now...








nothing like editting things in later...this is me post-pacemaker 2006!