Another great shot...

amy & the look
Originally uploaded by emilykhadams.

Yes, Amy cut off 18 inches of hair & donated it to locks of love. She still has plenty of hair to spare. I didn't take as many pictures of Amy since she was on the computer most of the time playing fish tycoon - her favorite obsession...

The photo shoot...

meg collage
Originally uploaded by emilykhadams.

Meg & Amy spent the weekend with us...we played Yatzee, ran errands & just relaxed. Meg was a real sport as I snapped away doing an impromptu photo shoot...I loved the results! Her new haircut rocks - I love the bangs!

Eye candy...

In my internet ramblings I ran across this commercial - Danish director Nicolai Fuglsig sent 250,000 multi-coloured 'superballs' bouncing down the streets of San Francisco in July 2005. I never saw this commercial on the air...but I'm glad I finally did see it. It makes me smile. And it makes me want to go buy some superballs...

A serious case of the Christmas crud...

Well, I'm sick. Or sick-ish. I have that sore throat-congestion out of control-slightly nauseous ick I get every year right after Christmas. Usually I blame it on the pollen {I'm very allergic to Christmas trees & suffer when they're trucked into the city}...but this year I'm blaming it on Matt. He came down with a 2-day version of the crud on Christmas day and was too sick to do Christmas...He's a little better & I'm just starting....ugh. I hate it when we're both under the weather - especially at such a busy time of year.

My uncle & Meg were in a minor {well - not so minor to the car} accident on Christmas Eve. Thank God they are both all right. They were broadsided on the way to the Christmas Eve service by an unliscensed driver...Meg was a rock getting all her info {she was a little confused when she was presented with an ID instead of a DL - being 15 she doesn't have either yet and didn't know the difference at first}.

Other than that...I've been staying crazy busy in spite of how I'm feeling...and by the way, this holiday season brought 4 new additions to my nutcracker collection - my favorite was chosen by my father - it lights up & plays music!!!
Hope you all had a Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas...

180 Chocolate Spoons later...

I feel like I spent the day in the chocolate factory. Thanks to help from my two little nieces we made 180 chocolate spoons {12 bouquets with 15 each} today...I just love chocolate spoons! They make me feel so special, really in the mood for the holidays! And I love making them for others! I color coded my spoons this year & made tags with a color guide and quotes about chocolate :

red - raspberry dark chocolate
turquoise - milk chocolate {with & without crushed peppermints}
orange - milk chocolate orange
purple - special dark chocolate {with & without crushed peppermints}
green - Andes mints

I made a photo gallery just for the chocolate spoon experience. *click here* to see the spoons from start to finish. This is a great project to do with kids. I'm already gearing up for next year...Next year I'm going to do cute little packets of chocolate covered marshmallows {with some of them rolled in nuts or sprinkles}!

If you're not familiar with them, they are just chocolate covered spoons for stirring & flavoring your coffee or hot chocolate. Or for just sucking on like a lollipop when nobody's looking...

More Christmas Crafting...

Another day, another clipboard design. These are the altered clipboards I did for some of the kids on Matt's side of the family last weekend. The calendar can be removed & it doubles as a picture frame. The snappy additions that look like handmade gift tags are actually Target gift cards. I'm glad I said something, because they all thought they were labels only and almost ended up in the trash. I love Target gift cards - these have a paper finish so you can write or stamp on them & they come with a hole punched in them with the string attached!

Updated...

I added some new stuff to my website today...thanks to another tutorial session with Ashley. I finished my much procrastinated pages for Design Originals. There's just not much else to say.... trying to get ready to do the Adams family reunion tomorrow. David & Julia are staying with us and we're doing Matt's family Christmas Sunday morning,then Ella's third birthday party in the afternoon. I'm tired just thinking about it all - but in a good way.

I collect nutcrackers...I inherited my mom's. I'm up to about 60 now. Ginger sent me a link to this awesome site: PIMP MY NUTCRACKER. Spend some quality time on this fabulous holiday time-waster.

Peppers & Papers...

Peppers
Originally uploaded by emilykhadams.

Another day, another scrapping adventure. I feel like the Queen Procrastinator Extraordinaire. I am working on several pages & cards to contribute to a book and am so close to being done...but I feel tapped out. I took a break and did "real work" for a while this afternoon & am on a serious creative roll now. I have so much work to do - I could work all day & night and might not be finished in time. I think I'm going to take the easy way out with Christmas presents this year - I'm just not feeling it.

I cooked something new tonight & it was a huge hit with Matt...these are the best Stuffed Bell Peppers I've ever had:

4 green or red bell peppers
1 medium yellow onion, peeled and chopped
1 clove of garlic, peeled and chopped
1 lb of lean ground beef
1 1/2 cup of cooked rice
1 cup chopped tomatoes, fresh or canned
1 tbsp chopped fresh oregano
1 tsp of dried oregano
Fresh ground pepper
shredded mozzerella
parmesean
1/2 cup ketchup
1/2 tsp of Worcestershire Sauce
Dash of Tabasco sauce

1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil over high heat. Meanwhile, cut top off peppers 1 inch from the stem end, and remove seeds. Add several generous pinches of salt to boiling water, then add peppers and boil, using a spoon to keep peppers completely submerged, until brilliant green (or red if red peppers) and their flesh slightly softened, about 3 minutes. Drain, set aside to cool.
2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Heat 4 tbsp of oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add onions and garlic, and cook, stirring often, until soft and translucent, about 5 minutes. Brown meat and add rice, tomatoes, and oregano, then season generously with salt and pepper. Mix well. Stir in shredded mozzerella and parmesean.
3. Drizzle 1 tbsp. oil inside peppers, arrange cut side up in a baking dish, then stuff peppers with filling. Combine ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, Tabasco sauce, and 1/4 cup of water in a small bowl, then spoon over filling. Add 1/4 cup of water to the baking dish. Place in oven and bake for 30-40 minutes.

Fun with Photoshop Filters...

Today is one of those days I absolutely love my Photoshop Elements 4.0! I've been playing with filters...this is the watercolor one & it rocks!!! I've also fallen for film grain, poster outline & crosshatch.

I've been working on web updates & should have some new additions on my site later this week.

If you enjoy the occaisional glass of wine, I have found a class pairing for you: Becker Vineyards {yes, a Texas wine} Muscat Canelli Amabile with Nestle Chocolate Chip cookies! Some muscats pair with chocolate really well & this is one of them...just chilling out listening to Ocean's Eleven cleaning my studio...

Many thanks to CK for featuring me in their holiday online event! It was really neat to see it up there. If you haven't looked, check it out. Bonus - I included the recipe for my famous bacon cups!!! {Makes my mouth water just thinking about them!}

Great deals and holiday fun online with CKU...

That's right...CKU Home Study is running a special on their classes just in time for the holidays! They're featuring me & some of my wrapping holiday projects {even my favorite holiday recipe} on Tuesday, Dec 12th in a special holiday home study section of their website. Imagination Project as donated six big holiday prize packages for giveaways there tomorrow, so be sure to check it out! Ashley is the other celebrity guest there tomorrow - long live the potato!!!

My name in lights...

This was a fun surprise when we drove up to Cord's Scrapbook Studio tonight. I've never "had my name in lights" like this before...it was pretty cool.

The store is gorgeous - part camera store, part scrapbook heaven & part coffee shop. I met a great group of ladies & taught my Hopeless Romantic class. Not only did they hook me up with a great hot chocolate, they made me a gorgeous thank you card. Janice & I had a late dinner & now I should be sleeping...oh well...

Cincinnati snow...

This morning Laura said..."There's school delays and a lot of stuff about the traffic on the radio, but I don't know what's going on." I opened the blinds and the world was white. It was really coming down - not predicted, roads not salted. It turned out letting up & clearing out early, but I freaked out anyway. It took us about an hour to get into the office.

Laura's back is totally out & she is in miserable pain. As a result she can't go to Columbus with me this weekend. That's OK - I just want her to get better.

I really, really can't wait to get home. I miss Matt so much. I miss my bed. I miss home cooking. I miss Amigo's hot sauce. I miss talking to my dad on the phone a few times a day. I need to get back to making my Christmas presents. I have a ton of stuff to do. But I'm getting a lot done here & I've learned & planned a lot this week too.

Bubble tea & the dancing turkey...

I saw Kentucky today...pretty, rolling hills. Passed the Wild Turkey Distillery. The presentation (in Louisville) went great with the Bricking group & we visited a soon-to-open store in Georgetown before we came back to Cincinnati. Janice & I had a fantastic dinner at the Green Papaya in Hyde Park & I tried Thai tea-bubble tea {note the humungo neon straw}.

Janice brought the comic relief. She went to a party last night & got a turkey in the White Elephant gift exchange. It said "Happy Thanksgiving from Daddy, 2003" on the bottom, which made it even funnier. Check out the DANCING TURKEY.

TrendWatcher, the class available online...

TrendWatcher is up & running {and misspelled - soon to be fixed}! This 45 minute class is now available online through CKU Home Study...

Want to predict the future? Become a trend watcher to keep your style updated and cutting edge. Look back on the past to learn why designs cycle. Explore the history of 20th century pop culture and the influence of American generations on design. Also learn how to recognize design cycles are reflected and accelerated in the paper arts industry. "Take the pulse" of America to spot upcoming trends & hot products.

Increase your "visual literacy" by mastering trend watching, i.e. learn to see what you’re already looking at every day. Having a better understanding of your visual world can help you be a better shopper, from scrapbook supplies to fashion by increasing your awareness of what’s the “next big thing”. This class would be invaluable to any level of scrapper, whether starting out or professional. It is a must for scrapbook teachers, designers and anyone with a passion for history and design. After achieving an understanding of trend watching, we will create a TrendWatcher journal to hold your design predictions. Come explore the future of scrapbooking with the TrendWatcher!

You will cover a composition book to create your own TrendWatcher journal. Not only will the class cover how to recognize and identify upcoming trends, but how to track and record them.

I hope you enjoy the class as much as I enjoyed creating it!

Live from Cincinnati...

No one warned me that it would be pretty here...as Janice drove me in from the airport in Kentucky, we rounded a corner and - BAM - there was Cincinnati, reflecting off the Ohio river just like this. I was a little taken aback. I didn't expect anything bad, I just surprised - it was downright glowing & pretty.

Um, it is cold. Not unbearably, but the mornings are pretty brisk {in the teens with light snow flurries this morning - no accumulation}. We're doing a lot of planning for the next year - what we want to do as a company and how we want to further shape our image in the industry.

Janice & I go down to Lexington, Kentucky tomorrow for a rep training session & to visit a store. We'll probably be out & about all day. It will be nice to see some of the country up here.

I'm staying with Laura this week. Her apartment is cooler than my house. And she's a rock star. We were listening to a great cd in the car & when I asked who it was, she said, oh - that's me and Chad {her boyfriend}, from back in the days when we were performing & recording. Oh my goodness - I am in the presence of greatness...she is a-m-a-z-i-n-g!!! {go to their my space page & hear some of their recordings - I love "I would"}

Since I last blogged, I bought & read Running With Scissors on the way from Dallas to Manchester. Not my cup of tea. Probably well written & thought provoking, but so distractingly bizarre it was hard to read. To keep me going between Manchester & Cincinnati I bought & started Son of a Witch - excellent, so far. I loved reading Wicked & plan to finally see the musical next summer when it comes with the Dallas Summer Musicals.

Gone again...

Today's a travel day...from Dallas to Cincinnati, from Cincinnati to Manchester (NH) & driving into Andover MA. That's a lot of go time. I think I'm ready to be out 8 days...except I fear my Christmas gift making will be in panic mode when I get back.

Matt's sister, Tammy is dancing in the Adolphus Parade this morning! It's televised in the DFW market & they rereun it on Christmas day. She's a butterfly with the Neiman Marcus float. Check it out if you have a chance...