Sock Monkey Saga

Every quarter I do a page swap with some of my great friends. I get new layouts, time with some really good friends, new ideas and lot's of STRESS. Self induced stress! Beside the fact that I am a perfectionist to the point of paralysis, I decided to up the stakes this quarter. I have been thinking about doing a page with a Sock Monkey and stupid me I actually mentioned this at the last swap and when everyone said "OOH, you should do that for next time" I stupidly agreed. Did I mention how stupid that was?

Now the pressure was on. At the time I thought there has to be a lot of paper piecing patterns, pages to look at on the web, monkey paper, etc., etc. Wrong! I think I found a total of 4 pages of monkey patterned paper (which I didn't like), no layouts, and no paper piecing patterns; sheesh, you would think Martha would have at least 6 paper piecing patterns. Martha, I am very disappointed you are after all the craft queen.

In the meantime I was at Roberts and found some great paper for 75% off and thought perfect, cute and affordable, can't go wrong. So now it is less than a week before the swap and I have not even started. I first started thinking of excuses of why I couldn't do the swap; such as I cut off my finger while chopping walnuts (I don't even like walnuts), I was called to jury duty, I shot my eye out with a BB gun, my scrapbook room was flooded, but alas none seemed good enough, I guess I was stuck making the stupid pages. While fighting back nausea and the trying to find the will to live I had the brilliant idea to look for Sock Monkey cards online. I didn't end up finding one Monkey that I loved, so my Monkey is a mix of a few different ones.

So now I have the Monkey somewhat figured out and I think the rest should be a breeze. Wrong again. I sit down with the paper I bought and went totally blank. How am I going to use a Sock Monkey on this wild paper? The colors are wrong the pattern is wild and my creative block is turning into a wall. So I ate 3 chocolate kisses watched some T.V. and closed the door on my craft room and walked away, so much for getting anything done. Now it is 4 days before the swap and I head back to my craft room and decide I am not coming out until I have accomplished something. My accomplishments were to eat 2 more kisses and pull a bunch of stuff out. Whew, that was tough; time to go to bed.

Three days before the swap the wall came down and it all started to come together. I think the fear of disappointing my friends outweighed my desire to vomit. My pages may not be the best but they are done and I think they might even be growing on me. The older I get the more I find I procrastinate. The closer the deadline the more my creative juices flow. What's with that? Fortunately, by the time my packets were done I was excited again for the swap and I loved getting all the beautiful pages from everyone else. I guess I will not quit quite yet, maybe.

Celebrate National Scrapbooking Month

Close to My Heart and I are celebrating National Scrapbooking Month with an exclusive Scrapbook Kit only available through May 31st. It's a beautiful spring-themed scrapbooking kit that includes new, coordinating B&T Duos® die-cut papers, B&T Duos, Irresistibles™ chipboard die-cuts, My Stickease® adhesive images, Flip Flaps™, plus more favorite accessories and papers. It also includes an instruction brochure for easily creating two beautiful two-page layouts—with no stamping required!

Below I have listed 5 different ways to purchase the kit:

• Purchase the kit outright for $19.95
• Place a minimum order of $40 and purchase the kit for only $10
• Place a minimum order of $60 and purchase the kit for only $5
• Host a Home Gathering with minimum sales of $300 and receive a kit FREE! 
• From May 1–31, sign up as a new Consultant between and receive a kit FREE!

My favorite thing about this kit is I was able to customize the die-cuts by adding Tulip and Hydrangea ink to make the embossed resist designs appear. I also loved being able to add 6 extra photos using Flip Flaps™ (they are hidden under the right hand pages on both layouts)

Click on the picture on the right hand side of my blog for more information. Contact me before MAY 31ST so you don't miss out on this fantastic offer.

March #3

March 18th was the talent show at Hidden Hollow Elementary. Cheyanne started playing in the school orchestra last October. She is a natural! Violin is the last instrument I thought she would ever want to play but I am sure glad she chose it. Learning a new instrument is always hard especially when you have Rheumatoid Arthritis like Cheyanne. I am such a proud mama! As I watch her fight through the pain and frustration I am continually amazed at her determination and strength. I admire her so much; she is one of my greatest examples of tenacity and character. Cheyanne, I wish you health, strength, love, and a strong testimony. I WISH YOU ALL YOUR HEART DESIRES!

My wish, for you, is that this life becomes all that you want it to,

Your dreams stay big, and your worries stay small,

You never need to carry more than you can hold,

And while you're out there getting where you're getting to,

I hope you know somebody loves you, and wants the same things too,

Yeah, this, is my wish.

-Rascal Flatts

WAY TO GO BABY! KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK! YOU HAVE MANY GREAT AND MARVELOUS ADVENTURES IN YOUR FUTURE!

Love,
Mom

March #2

The first week of March was filled with a vacation to St. George and Las Vegas. Taylor had a competition in Vegas with the Westlake Ballroom Team so we decided to leave a couple of days earlier than the team to have some family time together. First stop, St. George, after eating lunch we headed to the Dinosaur Tracks Museum. We love DINOSAURS! Really, who doesn't like a good fossil? The Museum is located at Johnson Farms and is still an active dig site. This is a definite must see! We rated it 4 stars (one for each of us).

After the museum we went and found the house we would be staying in. All I can say is WOW! The neighborhood and house were magnificent. The subdivision is perched on a bluff overlooking St. George. When our friends generously offered their house to stay in we had no idea it would be soooo big and beautiful and the views so GRAND. We were really living the life! Do too being struck dumb we were unable to rate this.

The view from their deck.

This is the backyard of the house next door. It can be yours for a cool 2.4 million.

After discovering how the other half lives we headed to Snow Canyon. By the time we got there the shadows were already filling the canyon which made for some very beautiful pictures. I love how the movement of shadow and light create a new scene every few minutes. This fantastic adventure was rated 8 stars (one for each of our hands).

Wednesday thru Sunday was spent in Las Vegas. Before Taylor met up with the Ballroom Team we were able to do some shopping together and eat at Roxy's diner.

Taylor spent most of her time with the Westlake High School Ballroom team having a great time. She saw the sights, went swimming at the pool on the roof of the Stratosphere, and practiced for her competition at the Las Vegas Showdown.

Darin, Cheyanne, and I went to Coca Cola World, M&M World, Harley Davidson Cafe, and for Cheyanne's birthday the Shark Reef Aquarium.

We were able to meet up with Taylor and the team at the Hard Rock Cafe on Thursday night. Friday night we went with the team to watch the Vegas Showdown. This was the night pros competed from around the world. A night of wonderful dancing and great costumes.

Saturday we watched Taylor and the team compete and ended the day by watching the marvelous Blue Man Group perform (Blue Man Group was rated 50 stars, one for every team member, adult, and child attending). BMG and their band came out after the show and took pictures with everyone. What a patient bunch of guys, dealing with 40 high school kids, and not actually killing any of them. Sadly, I forgot my camera when we went to see BMG so I will post pictures when I get them from Taylor's friend.

Shark Reef Aquarium at Mandalay Bay.

The view from our hotel the Stratosphere.

Pictures of the team taken by Hayden.

Taylor waiting to compete her second dance.

After all was said and done we had a fantastic time together. Unfortunately, Taylor didn't place but she came away with some great experiences. She was able to compete at a much larger event then she ever has and was able to create some great memories with her team. Darin and Cheyanne both got to celebrate their Birthdays out of town. I was able to have my husband to myself without being interrupted by his cell phone. Cheyanne was able to have some one on one time with just Darin and I. And we all came away with priceless memories and experiences we will treasure forever. I guess you could say we rated this as big as all the stars in the universe.

March

It's April what? April, what happened to March? March was so full of activities with a vacation to Las Vegas thrown in that it has taken me until April 15th to digest it all. There is so much I want to share that I have decided to update you on the last few weeks with 3 different posts.

This first post is to show you the pages from March workshops using the Caboodle kit (X7121B) and Stickease (X7121C). The pages also include Tiny Tabs (Z1271) and ribbon from the Sweet Leaf Collection (Z1125).

I would love to have you join us for April's workshop on Saturday, April 24. If you are interested please email or call me by April 19th.

April Card Group

I meet with a fantastic group of ladies every month for a card group. I am always so impressed at the level of creativity and talent. I look forward to getting together every month to chat and make cards. Life is always good the second Tuesday of the month. I hope the beautiful cards inspire you to create something for yourself.

Dianna's card

Justine's card

Cryssy's card

Debbie's card

Mindy's card

my card

CPR Retreat Revisited

Last September I was lucky enough to be able to participate in a fantastic Scrapbook retreat put on by my uplines Lynette and Karen (see my post from September 23, 2009). We had a contest for the best layout that included CPR anywhere on the layout. AND I WON! Why am I bringing this up now, well I finally developed my pictures and got them on the layout. Better late than never, I guess.

Products used: Love Letters Rub-Ons (Z1098) and Nature's Ambiance (Z1097), Tulip CS (X5753), Crystal Blue CS (1292), Twitterpated B&T (X7118B), Daydream B&T, Chocolate CS (X5643) and ink (Z2111), Unforgettable B&T (X7106B), Notebook B&T (X7102B), Honey CS (X5668), Sweet Leaf CS (X5639), Dimensional Elements Fresh Shapes (Z1019) and Framed Fun (Z1140), and the Playful Flourishes Stamp Set