BlissX5

Boutique this Saturday!!!!

2010-11-30T17:38:00.000-08:00

Awesome Boutique Happening This Saturday!

Dec. 4, 9am -1pm

Holiday Boutique & Raffle

Benefiting the East Valley Pride Softball Team

Power Ranch YMCA

4546 E. Havencrest

Gilbert, Az

Tons of Vendors will be there including; J.Wag's DooDads, Pampered Chef, Contagious clothing, Gold Canyon Grannies Boutique, Mary Kay, Mobu Herbals, GIGI Hill, Choose the Writing, Snap to it Charms, Scentsy, Lia Sophia, Canterbury Corner, Stella and Dot, Silpada, San Tan Hills Photography, Brian Ring Design, and many many more.

More Pics of Hair Doodads

2010-11-30T17:27:00.000-08:00

J.Wag's DooDads Hair Accessories

2010-11-18T06:50:00.000-08:00

Party Time!!!

2010-11-16T23:06:00.001-08:00

This Thurs. I'm having another In-Home Boutique Party hosted by my fabulous & gorgeous friend LYNESSA!!!! Can't wait!!! Here are a few new pics from the fun photo shoot we did Fri. My big sis took us to her super secret super cool location! and can I just say the girls rocked it. This is just a sampling more photos will be popping up soon.

Spookalicious Hair DooDads

2010-10-15T13:11:00.000-07:00

Every good costume needs a horrifically haunted finishing touch. So if your looking for the perfect DooDad to top off your creepy ensemble look no farther. You can find all these Haunted DooDads at Contagious. BTW I designed them for Teens & Adults but my teen was off being a teen when I needed to take some quick pics. Miss Iz happily filled in....so I guess little noggins can wear them too! The first two are on barretts, The Spider Queen is an elastic headband & the last two are on firm headbands. And if these don't quench your creepy craving you can place a custom order by e-mailing me. jwagpaper@live.com Spiders Blood

Caught in the Web

The Spider Queen

Dark Mystery

Bloody Rose

The Haunted Heiress

Where to Buy J.Wag's DooDads Hair Accessories

2010-08-30T09:33:00.000-07:00

If you need a Doodads fix you can always find them at Contagious ....a fabulous boutique on Main St. in Downtown Mesa. Or you can host a In-Home Boutique party and get free products & discounts. But if you need some tomorrow you can find me & my goodies at Fitness Works member appreciation day (Higley between US60 & Baseline)

Baby Doodads - Hair Accessories

2010-08-30T09:26:00.000-07:00

Look at this sweet baby in her sweet DooDad....my big sis took the photos. If your looking for a great photographer she's your gal.

Even More DooDads!!

2010-08-25T18:19:00.000-07:00

More DooDads!!!

2010-08-25T18:12:00.001-07:00

Here's some more fun Pics of Doodads that will be at Fridays party. These girls had a blast striking a pose!

Jwag's DooDads Newest

2010-08-25T00:08:00.000-07:00

Ok, I am finally posting some new creations. I was hoping to debut them on a new blog all about hair fabulousness.....but once again technology is in my way. I bought the cutest blog decor and wouldn't you know it blogger changed & now to get the cute stuff on is impossible (even my computer hubby wants to shoot the computer). So this here 'Ol Blog with have to do for now. Check back soon for a link to the new blog that will be cute & full of cute pictures of cute JWag's Doodad hair accessories....basically it will be just too CUTE!

The newest exciting thing I've been cooking up is...................(pretend the dots are a drum roll) J.Wag's DooDads In-Home Boutique Parties.....YYEEAAHH! That's right I bring the DooDads to YOU! I set up shop in-home & bring along a hair stylist to give awesome hair styling tips that go GREAT with my DooDads. Even better if you are the hostess you get free products & discounts.

So all you lucky folks who are invited to Eileens DooDads Party this friday the pics on this post are a little preview for what is to come Friday! Enjoy! I'll post more pics tomorrow!

Check it Out!

2010-06-14T21:42:00.001-07:00

I've been busy!!! Here's a little peek at some of the new DooDads that will be hitting the Contagious store late tomorrow afternoon. There are some fun hair bands that are perfect for 4th of July, but they don't look like they are 4th of July. I've even made 4 new necklaces & more will be coming soon. Have a Happy Day!

Girls Night Out

2010-06-11T16:57:00.000-07:00

Wed. June 30, 6-9pm is my first 'Girls Night Out' class @ Scrapbooks etc. This class is for girls & Gals ages 12 & up. This month I'll be teaching this fun gated scrapbook called 'One Wild & Crazy Summer' it's got lots of fun goodies in it and a journal in the back. So if your looking for something fun to do with your teens or you just need a great book to put your summer memories in come join me @ 'Girls Night Out'

Flower Power

2010-05-19T01:07:00.001-07:00

Flower Power Hair Accessories bought you by........Me! Happy Wednesday!

More DooDads

2010-05-18T15:40:00.000-07:00

Ok, these photos didn't turn out so good but you get the idea. Check back soon I just bought a bunch more goodies to create with.

Jwag's DooDads

2010-05-14T08:44:00.000-07:00

Life is just too busy! Here are a few of my latest hair DooDads on sale at Contagious.

SAVE THE DATE

2010-03-17T02:32:00.000-07:00

Are you craving a day of fabulous shopping with yummy goodies? Did you get your little cuties new easter clothes, maybe you need a new hair accessory or two to match her adorable new dress or some jewelry? And if you got them cute new clothes you need a great photo of them wearing it, right? Or maybe you need some spring decor or just some new decor period? Do you want your house to smell wonderful? Do YOU need some fabulous new clothes at a great price? Well, we are here to help!!!!! My sis and I have put together an awesome boutique filled with all your needs. So tell your hubby you need some fun money and dress your cuties in their easter best and come on over to our SPRING SHOP & SHOOT. Celeste will be doing $10 mini photo shoots and the house will be packed full of goodies...p.s. we have even more vendors coming now than on the flier. Hope to see you there!

J Wag's DooDads

2010-03-02T20:20:00.000-08:00

Hair fun! just finished my first month selling my Jwag's DooDads (hair accessories) at Glitter Box @ San Tan Mall. It went awesome (even better than I thought)! Sad news Glitter Box closed Sat. but they still have their awesome store on Main Street - Contagious & Glitter Box so now you can get Jwag's DooDads @ Contagious .....Seriously the store ROCKS & it is huge and full of amazing finds from womens clothes, kids clothes, home decor, jewelry, purses and on and on with fabulousness!

My Rock STAR

2010-02-26T17:49:00.000-08:00

This is what Pierce is doing 24/7. This kid is AMAZING! He's got mad skills and high morals .......how did I get so blessed.....serious don't know....but so glad I get to watch him grow up! These pics were taken by my big sis photographer extraordinare Celeste. This is her new hobby/job/talent! So if you are looking for an awesome photographer at an even awesomer price e-mail me I'll hook you up with her info. Celeste got these pics printed for me in a metallic paper that is sooooooo to die for.

Christmas is the Gift of Giving

2009-11-15T23:10:00.001-08:00

It's Officially Holiday Season!!!!!!! Do you know how I know....... even my hubby wants to shop......oh and I have created a shimmery, sparkley, silver & gold Christmas book for Bookin' It. Come join me for some glitter fun Fri. Dec. 4th 10:30-2:30pm @ Scrapbooks Etc.

J Wags DooDads

2009-10-27T20:16:00.000-07:00

Well, if you have been wondering why I have been MIA from the blog it's because I have found a new creative love.......Hair Accessories.....girly and wonderful hair fun! It's all I feel like creating lately. It has totally put me behind on everything. And since I am loving it so much I have been selling my creations... mostly to people I know.....but I decided it was time to share with everyone so I am posting some picks of my most recent hair creations. Izzy was MORE than happy to be my model, she's all about the posing. Don't worry I have headbands to fit all ages tiny to teen to haven't been a teen in a long long time (in otherwords my age). If you are interested in purchasing and are local (AZ) e-mail me at jwagpaper@live.com and we can set up a time where you can come and shop through my goodies and spend some dough (so I can keep creating)..... I am pricing everything very reasonable (considering how long each one takes to make I would say they are a total steal). Hope you enjoy my J Wag DooDads!

New Class

2009-08-20T17:42:00.001-07:00

This fall I'll be teaching a new class at Scrapbooks Etc. called '21 Techniques'. I am super excited about it. We'll be using the super pretty new line from My Minds Eye called Oh La La. And my I just say this class is Oh La La La La. '21 Techniques' is all about techniques of course! There are four classes ( Sept 1, Oct 6, Nov. 3 & Dec. 1 -first Tue. of every month) each class we will create 5-6 8"x8" layouts that will teach you all sorts of new techniques using fun products. The classes are $32 each and as a bonus if you take all four classes you get the album and everything to decorate the cover for free, yes I said FREE! Don't forget you can totally use your monthly class coupon and save 15%. The album is down at ETC. if you want a hands on peek. I don't have all 21 pages done yet because I am waiting for some awesome new product from summer CHA. Waiting is killing me! And if you're wondering I will be teaching Bookin' It Wed. Sept 30, 5-9pm (Baby Books- I'm finally doing them, yeah) Fri. Oct. 9, 10:30am-2:30pm (fall theme, I have something super cool planned - if I can figure out all the kinks) Fri. Dec. 4, 10:30am-2:30pm (I can't wait to start this one- the colors are gold, silver and cream, just like my Christmas Decorations....the book is going to look like a wrapped present). Ok, I am done with my annoying sales pitch. Hope all are having a creative day.

It's That Time Again....

2009-07-26T21:57:00.000-07:00

Time to send the kids back to school and time for me to create another School Days Book. This is my four one, WOW it feels like I just did the first one last year. This years (of course) can hold LOTS of your childs special papers......why can it hold so many you ask.....because it is mostly made out of 9x12" clasp envelopes and in between are super cute die cut shaped pages. This book is packed with die cut shapes....just think of all the time I'm saving you if you take the class. And for added fun most of the shapes are cut out of felt, vinyl, denim and even chenille (sooo soft) Happy Creating Everyone

Next Class

2009-07-16T11:43:00.001-07:00

I can't believe it but my last Creative Kids Workshop is next Fri. July 24. Boy it has gone by quick. We will be creating a magnetic frame/message board that hangs on the wall for only $24. It's a totally smoking deal, just the three frames are worth $24. The kids will create 9 magnetics, one is a 4x4 flip book that you can write on with dry erase markers. And the best part is you can pick your color of ink, so it will match your room. This class is great for learning new techniques. Hope to see you girls there. BTW you can buy kits at the store for it but the mask and ink are not included.

Movie Party Review

2009-07-06T14:41:00.000-07:00

17 kids ages 3-5 years old....crazy yes, but so cute and so fun! The only kid who couldn't make it was my niece Malia, who was home super sick, poor thing. I never would have survived if it wasn't for my big kids. Sierra and Gabe took the first shift, they wear incharge of concessions. I found sesame street paper cups with lids and straws at Walmart and some cute paper popcorn bags at Hobby Lobby. The kids were really excited about their popcorn bags and cups, in fact they all took them home with them to make more popcorn at home. The first 45 min. the kids actually sat and watched the movie but once they had eaten all their treats they had enough of sitting still. It was funny how the kids began leaving the room, it was literally youngest to oldest. The girls began playing the usual elaborate imaginative games and the boys went wild. That's when Pierce got put to work. The six boys chased Pierce for at least an hour running and screaming and giggling the whole time. Pierce finally throw his arms in the air and said,"I give up, you guys win!" to which Max exclaimed, "We WIN! We WIN! yeah baby!" Then all the boys said lets do it again. Max was in boy heaven, he is always surrounded by girls, so to have five other boys over was so exciting to him. And so cute to watch. Izzy and Max had so much fun, they really love throwing parties. It was totally worth the chaos to see their happy little faces. I think we will definitely have to do it again, only next time 2 hours Not 3 hours.

Next Creative Kids Workshop

2009-07-06T14:35:00.000-07:00

Just a quick blog to remind all tweens and teens this Friday July 10 is my next Creative Kids workshop. We will be creating this cute journal. Kids will learn how to sew a book and fun accent stitching, plus I will be teaching them some keys to successful doodling on the projects. Hope to see you girls there.

Surprise Mini Projects

2009-06-25T09:26:00.001-07:00

In my Creative Kids Workshops I have been doing an extra little mini SURPRISE project each class. Which may I just say has been so fun to plan! I thought you all might like to see a pic of the last one, my Sierra graciously agreed to model it for me. We made fabric/felt 4th of July barretts. And since they are so cute I made two for each little girl in our family = 14 barretts, my fingers were so tired at the end. Now we have to do a photo shoot with all the girls wearing them....can't wait it will be so fun. By the way if you love felt and fabric, fun and funky barretts but don't want to make them check out the beyond adorable ones down at Scrapbooks ETC. made by the cutiest little chick Janeya (her mom is Kelli Collins, super cool lady)

'AMERICA' Banner

2009-06-25T09:12:00.000-07:00

In the mood for some 4th of July decor. I made this banner to go with my USA wood blocks (there were still a couple kits left at ETC., last time I was there) Some ladies asked me if I would post pics of each letter, so here they are ladies..... enjoy. By the way I really did put the pictures in in order to spell America, but they definitely didn't show up that way here. Hope everyone is having a super creative day!

"We neeeeed a Movie night, too!"

2009-06-22T20:31:00.000-07:00

So, here's the thing I love using actual tickets in scrapbooking. While I was kitting my first Creative Kids Workshop Izzy spotted the pink tickets I was using and got sooooooo excited. She immediately asked if she could have some, then her plans began, "We neeeeed a movie night too!" For the next hour she danced and sang as she glued tickets to computer paper making big plans on inviting all her and Max's friends over for a movie late night. It was so cute, I even set up the video camera to film her as she stood at the kitchen table singing, "I'm gluing tickets for my friends..... 'cuz it's a friends movie night.....my friends are coming with their tickets to the movie night.....'cuz it's a movie night" the whole time shaking her tiny bootie. Of course Max got in on the plans immediately, Izzy had him running around getting her supplies. Max of course was doing his own version of the 'friends movie night song' his versions of Izzy's songs are usually more like fight songs...he has to kick and jump and break dance while he does it. Oh my goodness it was to die for cute. I love love love that Max & Izzy are best buds and have enough imagination for five kids. Well, I of course promised that day we would have a movie party for the little kids (seriously how could I not and how could I not invite every kid they wanted too). It has taken me two and a half weeks but I have finally made and delivered invitations, with tickets of course, for the big movie party (they invited 16 kids ages 3-5 ...I have officially lost my mind). Max had to have blue invitations for the boys, which of course meant I had to make blue tickets.....NO pink for the boys....and just so you know he SAYS he called them and they wanted blue not pink (yeah, he never called them, but his little made up stories are so cute we just go along with them) Anyway I thought I would post some pics of the cards we made with little pockets for tickets. Izzy and Max want them to bring the tickets to get into the movie party. So cute .....I LOVE this age so sweet, innocent, full of imagination, excitement, love and they can dress themselves and go to the bathroom by themselves...Yeah, Life is good in the Motherhood.

Next Class

2009-06-13T14:02:00.000-07:00

The next Kids Creative Workshop is almost here.

It will be Friday, June 19 @12:30-3:30pm. We will be creating this USA decoration plus a surprise project (my favorite of the surprise projects). I hope to see all you girls there, and if you aren't a tween or teen but want to make this project you can buy a kit. Hope you all have a super duper creative day!

12x12 Happiness

2009-05-26T01:24:00.000-07:00

Oh, how I LOVE creative time. Can I just say how absolutely happy creating makes me. I don't care what artsy, creative or crafty thing it is, as long as I get to use my hands and make it look pretty or cool, I am in BLISS! I am so thankful for the blessing of creativity Heavenly Father gave me. When I am not creating it's like I have an itch I can't scratch. So the last 2 weeks I have worked really hard at scratching! I had so much fun SCRAPBOOKING! I haven't scrapped 12x12 layouts (for myself) in a long while, so I decided it was way overdue. Here are a few of the pages I've done lately. The pics of them aren't great but oh well.

Little Entrepreneurs

2009-05-15T16:31:00.000-07:00

These two little cuties are cooking up some creative fun this summer. They will be teaching kids scrapbooking classes at our house.

They are calling their business M&S 'r' Scrappin' ( aren't they cute) They have two different age groups 4-6 years & 7-11 years. The classes are 2 hours long and on every other Weds. each class is $10. They are mostly doing mini books, but there are some other projects too. They have some super fun stuff planned. If you are interested you can e-mail me at jwagpaper@live.com

Creative Kids Workshop

2009-05-12T13:28:00.001-07:00

Summer is almost officially here, although the over 100 degree weather outside says it's already upon us. If you don't know what to do with your tween and teen girls this summer sign them up for Creative kids workshop at ETC with me. These pics are of the journal we will be making in the third class on Fri. July 10 12:30-3:30. The girls will learn how to sew a book, do some decorative sewing & we will practice our doodling skills. By the way there are always late night crops on Friday nights until 11:30pm, so after your daughter is done with class you and her can stick around for some more girl time (my daughter LOVES the late niters. The second class on June 19 will be a fourth of July decoration. I haven't designed it yet, I am waiting for all the new 4th of July goodies to arrive. Have a happy creative day (Iam finally going to goo eat lunch, yeah)

A New Family Member

2009-05-11T01:19:00.001-07:00

I have been married for 14 1/2 years and my hubby has always wanted a dog and for 14 1/2 years I have said NO WAY! But for some very strange reason when I saw the sweet little six week old golden retrievers at the Lehi Days rodeo I suddenly was the one saying maybe we should get one. It is official stress makes you do crazy things! That night after the rodeo John and I told the kids we were going on a date and two hours and way too much $ later we came home with 'Hobbes'. Their faces were sooo cute when they saw him (except Pierce, he sooo didn't care, yeah his is 13) So here are some pictures of Hobbes when we first got him at 6 weeks. He was a little fluff ball, so cute! The last picture is of him and Gabe today. Hobbes and Gabe are our patients today. Gabe is apparently extremely allergic to some plant at a park on the street behind us. John and him took Hobbes for a walk and came back with Gabe's eyes almost swollen shut, poor kid. He's looking lots better tonight. Hobbes got fixed on Friday so he is sporting the super fashionable cone head look. The cone head thing is so funny, he keeps tripping himself and then he just gives up and lays down. So I guess you could say I now have 6 kids (seven if you count John,lol)

I'm Alive!!!!

2009-05-08T23:27:00.000-07:00

I seriously can NOT believe I haven't blogged since January. That's so sad and a bit pathetic, but it was also nice not thinking about one more thing.

SOOOO SORRY to anyone who I promised to e-mail or if you e-mailed me and I didn't respond. I do have a good explaination (Not just total laziness) We have been having computer issues. My adorable pre-teen daughter set our computer to record three tv shows EVERYDAY.......three shows that each air 2-3 times daily can add up pretty quick......like over 1000 shows recorded.......yes I am serious, she actually recorded over 1000 tv shows. In her defense she claims she didn't know she was recording all of them......which sounds about right......but seriously that child has got to STOP clicking OK on every pop up!!! (by the way if she finds out I blogged this I am sooo dead! So i am telling you this at a risk to my own life. She's a little sensitive about the topic) Anyway 1000 shows can fill up a computer pretty quick. My hubby's best guess is that because the computer was so full it wasn't able to upload the internet explore updates. So john fixed that problem ....then it still didn't work.......then the problem seemed to be our parental safety set up.......then he thought it was Cox............Long story short John finally switched our internet provider, which meant my cox e-mail address was NO more. So I never got the e-mails and I have lost all my contacts....so sad. So if you don't totally hate me for seemingly ignoring you, you can now e-mail me at jwagpaper@live.com

Since I can not stand blogging without photos here are pics of my project for the my first Creative Kids Workshop (for tweens & teens) I had so much fun making this little colorful and funky BFF mini book. The book is down at Etc you have to check out the cute pics of Sierra and her BFF Melinna. I took the girls to Mesa Arts Center for their 'photo shoot' It was perfect!!!!! They have these awesome colored glass walls there that TOTALLY matched the colors in the book.....happy happy day! If you have never taken pics there you have got to go. I added a couple of pics of the girls, too. Have a happy creative day!

AHHHHHH!!!!! Too Busy To Blog!!!!!!! Now That's Just Wrong, But True!

2009-01-19T22:45:00.000-08:00

Oh Me, Oh My, have I been Busy!!!!!!! And of course I have almost no pics of my busy work to prove it, dang!
We had a wonderful holiday season, that I'll tell you about it later, tonight I can't sleep so I am blogging with all my excusses why I haven't blogged (heeheee)
Ok, here is my excuse of busyness:
1. Made my mom, sister & sister-in-law magnetic calendars (still don't have mine done, so typical Jen)

2. made my Mom a 8x8 scrapbook of last Christmas (seriously 2 weeks of staying up until 2am) it had over 240 pics in it, on over 40 layouts -crazy+fun+tired=happy mom -which=happy me!

3. Made 12 cute little Christmas tins full of chocolate & carmel pretzels for teachers and activity girls

4. Made the 'Joyful' banner (in pics) don't you love all the glitter (glitter = happy me)This project was super fun because I made it when Sierra and her BFF Melinna and I had a girls crafty night.

5. Made our family Christmas PJ's, ok I didn't actually make them but I embroidered them, which took forever because I could only do it when kids were asleep and because I put a ton of fabric glue on, which I found makes it crazy hard to get a needle through (note to self: less glue)

side note: my favorite Christmas tradition John and I started for our own family is we all get new Pj's Christmas Eve night (I try to have them matching). This year I was struggling to find us all matching PJ's. So I figured we could do girls and boys, basically that meant I was going to have to wear pink elephant jammies in yucky flannel. Which lead me to plan B - grey sweat pants & black t-shirts that I could jazz up. The best part was Sierra said they were her favorite jammies ever! And Gabe wants to wear the shirt to school, so I guess they were cool enough for boys. Notice Pierce in the picture, he got sick Christmas Eve AGAIN! Don't worry he was fine in the morning, Christmas miracle.

6. Started my A2Z class project (it's at the store if you want a peek)

7. Had my brother-in-law staying with us forr over a month

And finally the 8th and biggest reason I have not blogged, we have had our house up for sale. Do you have any idea how hard it is to keep a house show ready with 5 kids, ugh. We did get an offer after only 10 days, but just found out today it fell through, ugh again with the perfect house thing.

Oh wait there are 9 reasons, we've been sick for over a week.

Well, I must say that like rant relieved a lot of guilt for me.

Have a happy day!

Hope You Had a Happy Turkey Day!

2008-11-28T21:09:00.001-08:00

I hope everyone had a super Thanksgiving!!! I was blessed with two. We had a early Thanksgiving lunch with John's family, then a huge dinner with my crew. My Mom LOVES LOVES LOVES to cook so we had a serious feast, does three different yam dishes tell you anything. I was in charge of dessert for both...which is my favorite because I can turn it into a craft project.....I made 5 pumpkin pies, 20 pumpkin turnovers, one Thanksgiving cobbler, one pumpkin roll and 60 rice krispy pumpkins.....sadly i didn't get pics of my pretty pies and turnovers (pie crust is so fun to play with) but I did manage one pic of my rice krispy treats for you guys.....I added orange food coloring to the marshmellows once they melted, the steams are pretzel sticks and the leaves are pie crust I cut out & baked then covered in green icing/glaze......the kids loved them.
Our cousins came this year and brought with them one of their Thanksgiving Traditions.....first I would just like to say I did not participate in this cruel yet amusing tradition.......The Bedfords bet on their after dinner weight......My cousin Garrett actually brought a scale with him and had everyone (who was willing to participate) weigh in, then place their bet on their after weight and what they thought would be the top amount gained by the end of the evening. Needless to say Garrett came to win ...... he proudly won with a full stomach and 4.5 lbs. gained. The funniest part had to be when my brother-in-law Rex decided to mess with Garrett (who of course had to oversee the weigh ins, holding his little pen & paper) Rex had put a couple of little 5lb. weights in his pockets before getting on the scale.....Garretts jaw dropped when he realized it was a 10lb. gain......Rex could barely keep a straight face....he finally pulled the weights out of his pocket and we all laughed. My six year old nephew was the most excited about the bet..... he kept checking his weight and reporting back to my sister......one time he came to her and said I lost a 1lb., I think it's cuz I went to the bathroom, lol.
Kids are so funny!!!
I am including a picture of my next Bookin' It class, which is this coming Tues. Dec. 2(yeahhhhhhhh)The book is the 12 days of Christmas song. Hope you all survived Black Friday.

He's 3

2008-11-22T19:53:00.000-08:00

Now, that's the face of a happy 3 year old boy!!! Max, of course had a 'Cars' birthday party. This boy is car obsessed, Lighting McQueen, monster trucks, dump trucks, big wheels, hot wheels as long as it has wheels. Notice how the table is all set......I had all the paper goods set out on the counter and after I put the table cloth(plastic) on Max said"oh, my friends need them plates", he then set the table naming all his friends who were coming. The only adult he set a place for was my sister who he calls 'my leste' her name is Celeste, unfortunately she couldn't make it, but three of her kiddos came so he was happy to have cousins. So many of the kids we invited were siblings, so when I wrote up the invites it didn't seem like that many, but in reality it was 14 kids 4 and under....I know holy cow!!!!! Max had a blast. I loved watching Izzy become a social butterfly at the party, school has really brought her out of her shell and I swear her new hair cut has given her more confidence.....she's hot stuff now....she loves doing her hair. Just had to share that sweet face.

A Gift for Violet

2008-11-22T19:33:00.000-08:00

Hi there, I just thought I'd show you some pics of the gift I made for my friend Jodi. She just brought another beautiful, button-nosed, chubby cheeked cutie pie into the world......little Violet. I made her gift out of an old encyclopedia.....I screwed the pages together and glued some too, then cut two square openings

into the book pages ....... made tiny books that slide into the openings....to hold pics. I also cute a recessed area out of the book pages to hold a photo. I don't know if my description makes sense, but anyhow here are the pics.

Gratitude

2008-11-17T12:50:00.001-08:00

Just a quick reminder Nov. 22 @10:30 is Bookin' It. This Month is the gratitude journal. I finally finished Dec. 2 Bookin' It project, you can check it out at Scrapbooks Etc. I forgot to take some pics of it before dropping it off, so I'll post pics of it later. Have a super dayy everyone!

New Do's

2008-11-12T09:12:00.001-08:00

I forgot to post pics of Izzy and Max's new Do's. She pretty much just buzzed Max, I love him with spikies. Izzy got a Bob and it brought out her curls again. Isn't she just the cutest! When they cut it they blow dried it, flat ironed it and even back combed it. Izzy loved all the pampering. She loves her haircut! Izzy's hair always gets static crazy after riding in the car, so the girls said to rub a dry sheet over it. So Izzy made me bring a dryer sheet with us everytime we went somewhere that day so her hair would be "beautiful'. She is becoming quite the girly girl, she just now came in and asked me to paint her nails. So fun!

Patient Update

2008-11-12T08:25:00.001-08:00

He SURVIVED!!! Gabe is doing great, now. He had his surgery Friday Morning @ 8am, which meant we had to be in Phoenix at 7am, brutial! i am not a morning person, I soooooo wish I was. The Dr. didn't do the pins which means his cast is huge! Seriously, that things weighs a ton and Gabe is acting like it weighs 2 tons. He was being totally dramatic Friday and Saturday. His hand got really really swollen, which of course hurt, which of course meant more sudden loud moans and whins. Yesterday was the first day he went all day without his sling. He still isn't walking normal, apparently a large cast makes Gabe walk like the hunchback of Notre Dame. he really is fine, the worst part is he can't get a good nights sleep, so his TIRED. He keeps hitting himself during the night with the cast, lol. He's a wiggly sleeper. This picture is of him Friday night. On the way home from the surgery he kept crying, he was really hurting. My mom called to see if he was ok and I asked if she could bring him a movie to watch (my mom has more movies than Blockbuster) she said she had just bought 'Journey to the Center of the Earth' and Gabe could be the first to watch it. When I told him he stopped crying for a few minutes and actually smiled. So I got a quick pic of him in the 3D glasses, so cute.

Gabe Update

2008-11-06T19:28:00.000-08:00

Well, Gabe FINALLY got to go to the Dr. today. He has had a couple of bad days, but is doing much better today. Bad news is he has to have surgery bright and early tomorrow morning. He may need pins put in, the Dr. said he'll have to determine that once he is in surgery. He said because of Gabe's age this kind of break is tricky, since kids grow so much at this age. At this point I would rather them put the pins in because the Dr. said if the bones are not lined up perfectly and secured right his arm could grow wrong/deformed. So say a little prayer for him. Believe it or not he doesn't seem scared, in fact I think he kinda thinks it's cool.
And thank you to all who posted comments on my last post, Gabe loved reading them, he had a grin from ear to ear and did his little bashful giggle.Thanks! you made his day!

A Horrible Horrible Day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2008-11-03T21:49:00.001-08:00

Here's what I learned about myself tonight....I am terrible in crisis situations. I was making dinner while my kids were out front playing. I suddenly heard Gabe making a weird crying kinda scream/whimper. I turned the corner to see my beautiful sons forearm dangling in a Z shape. Sierra (also not good in injury related crisis, we discovered) saw it at the same time as me. We both screamed like idiots. I knew immediately we had to go to the hospital. I was in such a panic I couldn't find my purse or keys, which were in front of me. Sierra and I were totally freaking out. Pierce couldn't bare to look either, but instead of screaming in horror he just kept telling Sierra and I to shut up. I did get it together and we made it out the door in seconds which felt like forever. Luckily we have a new hospital just minutes away. Gabe was in so much pain he started to pass out in the car. Thank heavens there was no blood or I wouldn't have been able to drive. Poor Gabe was going into shock. They didn't even make me sign in they just immediately wheeled him in. He broke both bones in his forearm. They had to knock him out to set his arm. The post X-ray didn't look great, the Dr. said he may need surgery. Tomorrow we will go to the pediatric specialist to find out if he needs surgery or not and when he will get his cast ( he is hoping for an orange cast, he's loved orange since he could talk)
So your probably wondering how he broke it......he and his friends and Pierce were playing dodge ball.....on their bikes!!!!! Pierce as any great big brother would do was throwing the balls extra hard at Gabe. Pierce 'accidentially' hit Gabe on the side of the head and Gabe feel off his bike and BREAK!!! Gabe was so funny at the hospital he asked me, "can Pierce pay me for this?" He feels it's worth at least $50. I said no it was an accident but I will make him be your servant all week, Gabe still wants the $. John & I were worried about the kids, Pierce & Sierra are old enough to babysit but I knew they would be really worried and probably a little scared. so we had my mom go to our house to help get Izzy and Max to bed and check on the big kids. When my mom got there she said they already had the babies in bed and were cleaning the kitchen and folding clothes. It was very comforting to come home and see them working together for us. Now if they would do that when someone isn't hurt. So please pray for Gabe that he will be able to sleep through the night & won't need surgery. Thanks

A Prayer for Emily

2008-11-02T22:35:00.000-08:00

I know I haven't mentioned this before on my blog, but a friend of mine from Scrapbooks Etc. Emily, has been going through a rough time. Her husband has been fighting cancer for the second time. Emily has been keeping us all informed on a blog she created about his fight. I hadn't checked it since last Tues. I just checked it and Her husband has lost his battle with cancer. I hope Emily doesn't mind me sharing. I just wanted to ask everyone, even if you don't know her, to please put Emily and her children in your prayers. Emily is an amazingly strong person. She and I used to close at the store together. She'd make me laugh so hard I'd cry most nights we worked together. Tonight I am crying for her and I pray she has comfort and peace. Please pray for Emily!

Baby Masina

2008-11-02T20:36:00.001-08:00

My sweet little niece Masina Louise Medley is already two months old and I am just finally finishing her first year book tonight. I have made a first year book for each of my brothers little girls. Really I'm not late I'm right on schedule. I started making these books three years ago as a Christmas present for Michael & Vao. Tiana was almost three months old at Christmas, then I (as Usual) finished Nua's book when she was almost two months and now Masina's.....so see I'm just trying to be consistant. Any old how I just thought it would be fun to post some pics of some of the book. I am hoping the style of this book fits Masina's personality as well as the other girls books fit theirs. Tiana's book it bright, colorful and playful and a bit crazy just like her, we call her the ring leader, she's a character and a half, she keeps us laughing and on our toes. Tiana's book has a lot of clever openings and hidden spots for journaling. Which so fits her, she is CLEVER! Nua's book is very soft and shimmery with pale colors. Nua is as sweet as sugar, much calmer than Tiana (but can hold her own) with a gap toothed smile that melts your heart. So I am hoping I got it right with Masina's book. If I did she'll be sweet, colorful, flirty and playful. We already know she is a flirt, she LOVES to be talked to and is a snuggle bug. Aren't babies just an absolute blessing!

A Little Bling Never hurts!

2008-10-29T20:13:00.001-07:00

After my class Friday, I decided I wanted to jazz up my project(that's right, I said jazz up, it's more fun if you do jazz hands while you say it, too). I had taken some pics of the girls just for the project. We went down to this old historic house in downtown Mesa, I can never remember the name of it. It is on Center between University and Main St., it's an awesome place to photograph. But I seem to be cursed when I go there to take pics, because both times I forgot to check if my battery was charged, so both times I only got a few pics that were good. I totally recommend it if you are looking for a new spot to photograph. I wish I knew more about photography.

Homemade was a fun class, it was small but that is such a nice change. I felt so privileged, because I had the sweetest mom and 2 daughters in the class. They were here on vacation from Scottland, so of course I just wanted them to keep talking, I love listening to their accents especially to the kids. Well, I just thought I would quickly post these pics so you gals from class could have some more ideas on how to bling up your projects. John and Gabe just walked in from football so I must say good-bye, I feel like I haven't seen John in forever (since football season started) so I am goin to go get me some hugs and a kiss or 2.

Spooky Spirit

2008-10-28T14:00:00.000-07:00

I have been in such a Halloween craft mode lately, it's all I want to do. My poor sweet husband has been biting his lip for a week now, because Sierra and I decided to bring a a big folding table into the family room so we could get crafty and be able to all be together. So yes my family room is still trashed a week later and I keep saying 'today I am totally putting all of this away" then the next thing I know I've got another little project, gift, card, invitations or whatever that will 'just take a minute" and then I promise "tomorrow I can totally clean it up" and here we are today; I am planning on making the invitations for Activity girls and a gift for a friend. So I guess tomorrow, hah haha.

I shouldn't feel too guilty, since John has managed to lose our fall decorations. So see I had no choice but to make some new ones. At least my ghosts weren't lost. I made the BOO banner and I'm thinking I totally need to make one for fall to replace it after Fri. And then maybe a Christmas one to replace the Fall one, and then maybe a Valentine one to replace the Cristmas one, and then of course we'll need Easter & 4th of July too. Oh will the crafting ever end? We hope Not, right!!!?

Do you think my kids are hungry?

2008-10-27T23:40:00.001-07:00

I love Fall food. Of course living here in AZ, we don't actually have fall. We have two seasons here: Really Really horribly miserable HOT & not hot. I am happy to report it appears (don't hold your breath) that we have finally entered the 'Not Hot Season'. Thanks to the nice weather we can finally start enjoying yummy comfort food again, so tonights menu was Chicken Pot Pie (from scratch thank you very much). And since it was from scratch it took forever to make, which lead to very hungry kids. Max and Izzy were very anxious and excited as you can see, they went and got their chairs and sat in front of the oven singing Chicken Pot Pie, Chicken Pot Pie, Chicken Pot Pie. They were so cute to watch, which made it even more disappointing when neither would eat it, in fact they cried, oh happy dinner time, happy dinner time again. At least the big kids loved it. I made two pies and only one half is left. Now let's just say a pray that Max and Izzy don't wake up in the middle of the night starving.

Haunted Houses

2008-10-27T08:01:00.000-07:00

I so forgot to post pics of the banner I made for Halloween. I had so much fun making this. I stole the idea for the beads from Creating Keepsakes magazine. I used some of the house shapes from the house books I made the teachers as a templated. I also made one other banner I hung on my front door, I'll post pics of it later. Right now I have to shower and get out the door. See ya later, alligator!

Gratitude

2008-10-26T21:07:00.001-07:00

Thanksgiving is fast approaching. And each Nov. I teach a book that revolves around gratitude and being thankful. I started making the books for two reasons, 1- I am terrible about taking photos at thanksgiving and 2- for a family tradition. When I was a kid we would always have Thanksgiving at my grandparents home and after the food was blessed my grandpa would have us go around the table and say what we were thankful for. Grandpa has been gone now for 18 years, but I want my children to have that moment on Thanksgiving where they ponder gratitude. The books have been a great way for me to make more of a memory out of each Thanksgiving. The kids usually write silly things, like when Pierce and Avery wrote 'I am Thankful for me, myself and I', but that year my sweet Gabe wrote 'I am thankful for my Mom" which still melts my heart.
This years is a 6"x8" book called Reflections of Gratitude. I think it is important to Reflect back over the past year and truly take a look at all we have to be grateful for. One thing I am Grateful for is Basic Grey paper, because the moment I saw it, I saw this book in my head, which made me happy. This book is truly reflective, the front and back covers are clear acylic pages with a silver leafing technique (can't wait to show you gals how to play with silver leaf) The first page is actually a mirror, that we will be aging with alcohol ink. Everything is reflective from the mirrors to the silver stickles to shimmering tulle. So if you are wanting to reflect on gratitude this Nov. join me Nov. 22 at Scrapbooks Etc.

Homemade

2008-10-21T22:04:00.001-07:00

Just a quick reminder Homemade is thisFriday @12:30-2:30pm. We'll be painting this wood frame with a great paint technique & creating a mini book in the opening. Hope to see you there.

Haunted Houses

2008-10-20T01:04:00.000-07:00

It's time for teacher gifts!!!!! This Halloween I made them these super cute house books from Little Yellow Bicycle. These books rock, they come in black, which so saved me tons of time. There was soooooo much fun Halloween papers this year it made my head spine and my store credit dwindle away. The first picture is the gift bags, Sierra actually made the middle one herself. The second picture is from the inside of Izzy's book (cover is last picture) We used Imaginisce for her book. Izzy was so cute helping make it. She kept wanting to put 'purple jewelies' (rhinestones) all over it. The second book (if it actually shows up on the blog in the order it is right now?) is the book I made for us, I used Making Memories & My Minds Eye. My favorite part is how cool the crackle accents turned out on all the stickers and paper. I also got a little stickles crazy. Next is the book for Gabe's teacher, we used Cosmo Cricket on it. Last is Sierra's teachers' book, we used Little Yellow Bicylce in it and tons of stickles. Sierra and her BFF Melinna and I all stayed up super late one night Halloween scrapping.The girls really had fun. Sierra was going stickles crazy, she glittered everything she could. Hopefully I didn't ruin Sierra's fun by getting after her using almost all the stickles and most of the really good brads. I'm all for sharing but sometimes I must admit I'm not so good at it, especially when it sharing scrapbooking supplies I really like with kids. But I must at least give myself credit for letting the girls create whatever they wanted. They made 12x12 books, that's a LOT of supplies and lots of fun. Ok, I just realized it's 1:40am and I still have stuff to do. Tomorrow I'll try to post pics of the banner I made for Halloween. Halloween is soooooooo Fun!

Playing Catch Up

2008-10-03T19:59:00.000-07:00

Ok, so as usual it has taken me forever to blog again.. Things have been crazy busy! But I promised I would post more pics from Izzy and Tianas' party. They were just so cute together!!

This is the placemats I made with a die cut at etc.

I made the Happy Birthday banner with Basic Grey paper and crete paper and some leftover embellishments. I must admit I really had fun making everything!
Well, I must get back to the house full of crazy pre-teen girls, sierra is having a late night with 4 friends, which is the noise equivalent of ten kids.

Izzy & Tiana's Princess Party

2008-09-24T18:41:00.001-07:00

Here is a little peek at the invitations, wands and crowns I made the girls and Max for the party. The littler crowns with letters on them were for their friends, I put the first letter of their names on the crowns and goody bags. The jewels were pink and clear but the flash seemed to make them look orange in the photos. I of course had to make the Birthday girls bigger crowns. Thanks to Amy Totty, who cut them out on her big Cricut Expression, so they could be fit for a true Birthday Princess. The big rhinestone brad on the birthday girl crowns is Anna Griffin (or is it Melissa Frances? oh, crap I can't remember), love those brads. And of course Max had to have one too. Max said he was a King not a Prince. The fuzzy feathery stuff I got at Michaels, which by the way it was floating through my house for days after. I bet the moms just loved that.

Well, that's all I have time to show today. I am officially having a crazy Mom day today. My morning started at 7am, I got to go to school with Pierce for shadow your student day, then we had to deliver birthday cupcakes to Sierra at school(she's officially 11 today), then I ran to Etc. to gather more product for my class on fri. and ribbon for Actitvity girls (my church calling, the best calling in the world!), then I took Pierce and Sierra to violin and piano, then set up for Activity girls, then Picked up P &S, then went to Activity girls and now I am home for a whole hour until I have to go pick up Pizza for Gabe's entire football team and then we get our oh so healthy pizza dinner at football practice and finally I hope to have everyone in bed in time for me to enjoy watching my one night of TV - it's Bravo night - Project Runway & Top Design.. yeah!!! But of course I must shower before watching TV because TV is so much better in your PJ's. I hope you are all surviving your crazy Mom days with joy.

Vote Wagner!!!!!

2008-09-22T01:25:00.001-07:00

We've finished week one of the Big Campaign. Tomorrow we enter the home stretch. Speeches and voting are Thurs. and Friday will tell all. I am a bundle of nerves.......what if one wins and one loses.....what do you do. I actually think Gabe would be fine, Sierra will be devastated. I still can't believe how many kids are running. Gabe is running for Public Relations, there are three spots -luckily because there are 32 kids running for it. That's right I said 32, holy crap hah. Sierra is running for Vice Pres. there are 11 kids total running for VP. So basically their odds are the same. They have been passing out stickers, pencils, we made some buttons (which I forgot to take a pic of) and of course they were allowed four posters. Here are the pics of the posters we made. Sierra was so cute. I had bought the posters while she was at school and the moment she got home She was dying to work on them, but I had to go to work. I figured no big we'll work on them tomorrow. I got home from work after everyone was asleep and I found my kitchen table covered in painting supplies and three of her posters painted (see photo). She had done them all by herself. And me being the lame overly involved Mom paniced. I told John but you know everone is have their parents help them and what if people can't read it and she loses, and my wonderful NOT overly protective hubby said "then she loses doing it her way". So I listened to my man and I held my tongue and just said great job, way to do it all by yourself. I am really proud of the way she did it herself, she did a great job. But then Gabe wanted me to help him, so we got out the Cricut and fun paper and got to work. He picked all his papers and designs. He was the master of the Xyron & cricut. As Gabe & I are working away Sierra comes in and says she still needs to make one more poster and was thinking maybe she could use the Cricut and some of my paper. Only problem was she had managed to lose one of her poster boards (how do you lose a huge poster board, seriously?!) So she decides to use the back of one she already painted. Once she found the hot pink & black & white she was redoing all her posters. I am so glad I didn't say anything and she did it herself, (and I still got to help,lol) Speaking of losing posters, somehow Gabe lost one of his completed posters when he was putting them up at school (again, how do you lose a huge POSTER?! yahhh kids) This week is more of the same , pencils, stickers, buttons and a secret handout we are saving for Wed. I'll tell you later. Now I must sleep. And I promise to post Izzy b-day pics soon.

Homemade & Football

2008-09-20T17:20:00.001-07:00

Well, I just realized I never posted a pic of the boy version of my homemade project. Homemade is next Friday at 12:30 - 2:30pm, it's BYOJ (bring your own jeans) everything else is included.

Today was Gabe's 3rd football game. It was at noon which equals 105 degrees. Have I mentioned how much I hate being hot?! But it was so fun to FINALLY get to go to his game. I missed the first game for a church thing I had to go to and last week I was getting all ready for Izzy's party. I love watching him, because I know he is so happy when he is playing. I never thought I would be so grateful for Football. I am definitely not a pro athletic photographer. Man it's hard to figure out whose who and then to actually take the pics fast enough to catch the action. Gabe made an awesome tackle right in front of me, it was one of those total take down type tackles, well I was so excited and so flustered I didn't zoom out quick enough or even aim, so I totally missed it. It would have been such a great photo, dang it! Well, I better clean this artroom so I can do some serious creating. Hope to see you at Homemade.

Tool Love

2008-09-14T23:31:00.000-07:00

Oh me, Oh my, I have been so busy!!!! I never would have survived this crazy creative week without these four great tools! I was never one for buying pricey tools, I use to just get by with whatever I had,ie: glue stick, trimmer & scissors, I thought glue dots were slurging. I am now and forever a firm believer in the right tool gets the job done better and done easier! I would have pulled my hair out today if I would have had to glue all the letters on Gabe & Sierra's posters, but lucky me I have a Xyron. A year ago, I am embarrassed to admit, I didn't even know what it was and now I can't live without it. And then there is the big ATG gun I was so afraid of and too cheap to buy for so long, life saver. The other tool that I could NOT have created without this week was my Cricut. My sweet hubby bought it for me last Christmas, and my first thought was "that was really expensive, I can't believe he bought me that". And anyone who has spoken to me lately knows I am obsessed with the new Cricut cartridge- Storybook.....I Love Love Love it! I did everything for Izzy & Tiana's b-day party with it. I'll post pics from the girls party later and all of Gabe & Sierra's campaign stuff. And then I'll get back to other creative stuff that have been sitting on the back burner forever.

Homemade

2008-08-19T13:07:00.000-07:00

I've been busy working on my newest class at Scrapbooks Etc. called Homemade. The first class will be Sept. 26 @12:30-2:30 and here are a few pictures of what we will be making. It is a mini book made out of old jeans. Each student will be required to bring in their own old beat up jeans. I decided if everyone brought in their own jeans then I would have more $ for embellishing and cuteness, plus that would be a lot of driving around to find deals on old jeans and most people have at least one pair hanging around that really should be in the trash, lol. There will be boy and girl versions to choose from, this is the girls. I am almost done with the boys, I'll post it as soon as it is done. Well, I think Max and Izzy are getting into mischief so I better say good-bye. I hope everyone has a wonderfully creative day!

School Days

2008-08-16T15:22:00.001-07:00

Well, my Sept.2 Bookin' It class project is finally done. Here are some pics of the School Days album we will be making. It's an 8 1/2"x 11" Making Memories rick rack album. It has ten completed layouts and 3 folder pages for keeping all those special papers and artwork. If you want to see it in person it will be at Etc.

Speeching of school I have to go get instruments for my kids today. Orchestra starts next week and Sierra has out grown her violin and Gabe is going to start Cello, very exciting. And Pierce is coming along to drool over guitars, he and Gabe both want guitars for Christmas. Yes that's right my three oldest all know what they want for Christmas already. Sierra wants a digital camera, she has found a green one she really likes, it's all about the color and how it opens. She is so not getting the one she likes, she's only 10 and it's over $200. So I figure as long as I find a green one she'll be happy, she's pretty easy to please. Well, wish me luck shopping or should I say wish my pocket book luck for good deals.

Izzy goes to school & a Halloween book

2008-08-12T18:41:00.001-07:00

Well, I now have 4 out of 5 kids in school! Wow! Izzy seems so little to be going to school, even if it's just preschool. She'll be going three days a week for 2.5 hours. She was so excited I couldn't get a normal smile out of her. She has been in the best mood all day. She's so proud she goes to school too. I think Max enjoyed everyone being gone for a little bit. i don't think he liked all the attention Izzy got from everyone asking about her first day, he kept answering for her.

Subject two, Halloween book sneek peek. I know it seems crazy that my Oct. class project is already done when my Sept. isn't, but all the Hallowen paper is in and it's to die for. I choose the new Cosmo Cricket and the album is another Making Memories (this time 8x8) The album is just a plain kraft paper,, but I covered it with textured paintable wallpaper(love that stuff). The book is down at Etc. if you want a first hand look.

Back to School...Yeah!!!!!

2008-08-11T21:44:00.000-07:00

I did it!!!! I survived summer with 5 kids home and ridiculous heat. Ok, I'll be the first to admit this was by far my longest summer Ever!!! In my defense the insanely high tempatures make me a bit grouchy (maybe even unbearable to be with). But today my three oldest all went to school for 7.25 hours - do you hear that, that's the sound of quiet! Joy! Pierce actually started Junior High last Wed. I know what your thinking, but Jennifer your much too young to have a Junior high kid (lol), I wish. He left Wed. pretty nervous, Thurs. a little less nervous, Fri. tired but confident and Today he had fun! Sierra of course was a bundle of excitement - Sierra's definition of school is, "a location in which to socialize, giggle, play and make friends" and that is why I am making her run for office. She finally agreed once my mom said she'd buy her a new outfit, which has prompted Gabe to ask if he can have a new watch if he runs for class representative. Speaking of Gabe don't ya just love the smile!

On to subject #2 Bookin' It. I decided I definitely need to do another School Days book this coming Sept. 2 (Tue 10:30-2:30 &5-9pm) This will be my third year doing a school album and this year I am doing an apple theme. It's not done yet because I have seen online some cute apple papers that are coming soon that I might want to use. So I have decided to wait until Wed. and if they don't get here by then, then it just isn't meant to be. So keep your eyes out for the sample in the store and I'll post it as soon as I finish. I know I haven't been to good at posting this summer but it is one of my new goals, wish me luck. Hope you have a joyfully quiet day tomorrow.

WOW!

2008-08-09T00:56:00.001-07:00

Wow! Is all I have to say to the overwhelming response to my Aug class. I just taught it Wed night, what a busy night (more for the ladies than me). It was a full class plus I had a waiting list of 16. I wanted to be able to teach twice but unfortunately we couldn't get any more of the albums (Making Memories was out of them). I had a couple of ladies asking to buy pics and instructions for the book. So here is what I came up with. If you are interested in photos & instructions just e-mail me at jwagpaper@cox.net The price is $10 and I will e-mail the instructions & pics to you. Hope everyone is having a super happy and creative day!

More Creative Kids

2008-08-02T14:27:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I had three girls MIA for my last Creative Kids Workshop (I know two were at their cabin, which I am so Jealous of). So I thought the easiest way for them to see what I created with the papers I put together in a kit for them was to post it on my blog. So here you go girls. Have fun creating. Sorry if the pictures are out of order.

Such Creative Kids

2008-08-02T14:17:00.000-07:00

Last week was my final Creative Kids Workshop. We made All About Me mini books. Here are some pics of one of the sample books I created for inspiration for the girls. My daughter Sierra picked out the paper and a lot of the embellishments for this book. The girls had 7 different pattern paper schemes to choose from. I brought in my cricket for them to use (which they LOVED) My favorite embellishment I got them was springs for their metal 'ME' on the cover of their books. Their books had ten pages in them and three clear acrylic tag pages, that the girls acohol inked (they had a messy blast with this stuff, plus they loved that most of their moms didn't know how to acohol ink)Basically it was a huge free for all. The kids were so creative and so excited to do it 'their way'. Sierra was my helper again, she really saved the day for me, she's a huge help and I couldn't have done it without her. All in all it was a crazy fun day!

Kids Creative Workshop- FUN FUN

2008-07-06T13:54:00.001-07:00

I survived Creative Kids Workshop!!!! 20 kids, 4hours and no rules - yeah it was crazy!!!! But it was great. It was all girls, surprise surprise. For June we made banners/bulletin boards. The girls got to pick out what they spelled (most did their names), the paper, paint and embellishments. I let them go into the store and pick out their own ribbon, they really liked this part! I don't think I have ever had such a huge ribbon bill. It was so fun to watch them getting so excited and they really made some super cute stuff. I let them take home all the letters they wanted, boy were they excited. And yet I still have tons of letters left.
I thought it would be fun to post pics of what my kids and I made for examples in class. Pierce's is the Rock On, Gabe's is Cool Dude, Sierra's is obviously Sierra. The picture of Sierra holding the 'Melinna' sign is one Sierra made when we came home from class, she was dying to be crafty when we got home. She made it for her best friend, she did almost all herself. She's becoming quite the little creative wiz. If you are wondering what we used for letters it is Creative Imaginations- it's an awesome alphabet set. Rock On was made with some die cuts at Scrapbooks Etc.

July's Creative Kids Workshop is a mini 'All about Me' album (6x9). There will be three book color schemes to choose from.

What a great week!

2008-07-06T13:34:00.000-07:00

I had Bookin' It Thurs. - it went really good, great group of ladies. Pierce was my assistant in class. It was fun to have him there, he was a good helper, he mostly drew during the class. He has become quite the little cartoon artist, he even has his own style already.

Friday was 4th of July but to me it's Johns Birthday. John went and worked out for 2hours then went to lunch with his sister, then we all went shopping for Dad. Guess what John bought for himself- nothing, but Max and Izzy got some new clothes - so it definitely was a parents birthday. My mom had us all over for a barbeque like every year, it was a blast and yummy - steak & shrimp yum yum.

Sat. we went to Prescott and marched in a parade for APS (john's work). Izzy was so cute on the back of the truck waving her flags. Max, Sierra, Gabe and John all walked and handed out flags and fans (the prize handout of the parade). It was fun, it got super hot during the parade, but once the parade ended the weather was awesome. We just strolled around the Arts & Craft Fair and the whiskey row. I really like Prescott, especially the old Historic homes. We decided to take the long way home, the scenic Route, the car sick route. I thought I was going to die or throw up. I usually don't get car sick, but holy cow I was miserable. I survived, unfortunitly Gabe didn't, 20 mins. from home he started throwing up. We luckily had a bag, but not everything made it in. He totally threw up on Sierra! Which you can imagine didn't go over so well. Poor little boy, he almost made it one windy road trip without getting sick. I think John is finally convinced we need to buy dromamin before road trips now. Even though we ended with a mess we all still had a great time and have decided we are going to make it an annual thing. My only regret is I forgot my camera, luckily my sister-in-law had hers so I'll be bugging her for copies. I'll post them when I get them. Have a super great day!

Celebrate Our Nation Bookin' It Style!

2008-06-30T23:25:00.000-07:00

Bookin' It Thurs., July 3rd @ 5-9pm. I love holiday books and 4th of July is extra special to me because it is also my Cute Hubby John's B-day. He'll be 37 this week, wow how time flies. So since I love this Holiday so much we are going to be making 2 books to celebrate our beautiful Nation. Hope to see you there.

CLASS TIME

2008-05-31T15:22:00.000-07:00

iT'S ALMOST TIME FOR MY NEXT BOOKIN' IT CLASS-JUNE 3 5-9PM @ SCRAPBOOKS ETC. THERE ARE ONLY 4 SPOTS LEFT LAST TIME I CHECKED, SO IF YOU WANTED THE 'MAN' BOOK HURRY, HURRY.

CREATIVE KIDS WORKSHOP IS COMING SOON. THE FIRST CLASS IS JUNE 27, 12:30-4:30pm. THE FIRST CLASS IS A DECORATIVE WORD PIECE FOR THEIR BEDROOMS & A COMPOSTION BOOK. HERE IS A LITTLE PEEK AT THE ONE WE MADE FOR SIERRA AND A PIC OF THE COMPOSTION BOOK WE WILL BE MAKING. HAVE A SUPER DAY!

Photo Fun

2008-05-15T15:10:00.000-07:00

I almost forgot to post about my other class in May. Photo Fun is May 23 10:30-12:30. I am totally excited about this class. I am going to be teaching 6 ways to alter your photographs. Students will need to bring in 6 black/white and 5 colored 4x6 photos. The photos need to be printed professionally (Ritz,Cosco, Walmart, wherever you like) not at home. Class includes a 12 x 12 layout and tag book to keep your pics & instructions for future reference. This is a picture of the layout we will be making and one of the photo techniques. Have a super day!

Celebrate Men!

2008-05-13T14:06:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I am going to brag about just how great my man is for a minute. Last weekend was Father's and sons campout for our church. My husband loves going on it every year. In fact he usually helps plan it, he loves searching for new campsites. This year he of course took our three boys ages 12, 9 & 2. Our next door neighbors husband was out of town (they have 6 boys, wow) so John also took their 11 & 9 year olds. So he went with five boys, then when they got there they found this really cool hiking place so two more boys (ages 12 & 9) wanted to check it out so he brought them home as well. That's right he drove home with seven boys for two hours. I think he must be hoping to get man of the year or something. So in honor of all the great men in our lives I decided that my June 3 Bookin' It class would be a Father's Day book. The title page reads "What makes a Man" so you could totally make it for someone without kids too. This class will be a little different then others. You'll get a 6 x6 album that we will make look like red leather (so cool) and then we will do 10 -6x6 layouts. I choose to sew on my pages with my sewing machine but it is an option in the class. You will also receive color copies of ideas for 10 more layouts that you can create on your own. I am also including all printed words for the extra pages. I really had fun creating this one. It is down at the store if you want to check it out. Have a super day everyone.

Scrappin' Sampler!!!!

2008-05-12T20:13:00.001-07:00

The Scrappin' Sampler is this Sat. at Scrapbooks Etc..
If you have never been I totally recommend to go. They have 3 time slots 10:30-11:30, 12:30-1:30 & 2:30-3:30pm. During this quick one hour you will get to make three make-n-takes, each is taught by a different teacher. It's a great way to meet different teachers and check out their styles. The cost is $2.50 but you get a coupon for $2.50 in store credit - so basically it's FREE. Plus, you get 15% off all classes. It's a smokin' deal. So I thought it would be fun to give everyone a sneek peek at my project (shhh it's a secret) and here's another secret, I'm teaching at 2:30-3:30pm. Hope to see you Sat.

I'm so slow!

2008-04-13T21:16:00.000-07:00

I have finally finished my May class project. It is a Mother's day book. It only has five pages in it, right now your thinking that's a gip but wait every page is like a little mini book inside the big book. This is the perfect book if you have a big family or lots of photos and sweet words to write. My idea was that there would be tons of journaling room & photo space so everyone in the family could write something special to Mom. This is definitely going to be a busy class full of book making techniques. We will also be playing with Grungeboard, one of my new favs (but I must say it smells like tires,yuck) Have a super day!

CI Layouts

2008-04-09T21:16:00.001-07:00

Ok, so I know I'm not exactly known for my layouts (I'm not really even known, lol) but I really do love doing 12 x 12 layouts. Soo here are some I did for CI. The two of Izzy and Sierra I used Mariah Johnson -Rock Star paper line, Eclecti-ka chipboard crowns and Swatchbook, plus Creative Cafe paper and velvet ribbon and the Narratives Swatchbook. I also foiled the chipboard again (me likes the foil).

These two layouts with my boys on ponies is the Signature Western Spirit line. I love this line I actually bought myself a bunch more from this collection so I can do an entire album about our day at the rodeo. I plan on putting it all in one of the new Lickety Slip Bazzill albums, because I took 131 photos that day (well, actually I took almost 200 but I only printed 131, oh my)Lickety Slip is so going to save me time!

This layout is of sweet Sierra and Max. I love how you can see just how much she loves Max in these Pics. In fact she can't get enough of him, she'd do anything for a huge and kiss from him.

I used the Narratives paper and Swatchbook, Creative Cafe felt flowers and I cover more of the Ecleti-ka chipboard with foil, I used the black metallic in this layout then alcohol inked over it to distress it a little. And of course I had to add a little bling. By the way all the foils I used were from the naturals line.

CI Stuff

2008-04-08T19:01:00.001-07:00

This is the Maria Purse (half Moon), with Creative Cafe paper & embellishments and Narratives Swatchbook.

This is the Travis Case. I LOVE the removable compartments. What I think is so funny about this project is that I made it before I watched the little demo on scrapbooking.com, I used the same paper she used making the recipe card box, I swear I didn't copy, lol. Can you tell I like ripped up old denim.

Here's a little notebook I made with the Day by Day paper line. The stickers make it so easy to work with.

More CI fun

2008-04-08T12:31:00.001-07:00

This little purse book is the Bare Elements Valerie purse and I covered it in Marah Johnson Gala Papers. The crown is Marah Johnson Eclecti-ka chipboard (love) and the little jeweled brad is also from Eclecti-ka. Ok, so do you want to know how I made white chipboard gold? Creative Imaginations has this cool foil. It comes with glue to apply it, but I found the easiest way to apply it and get the smoothest coverage to small chipboard pieces is to use the Magic Sticker Maker (my new favorite tool). I also added some alcohol inks over the foil to give it an aged look. I had a lot of fun playing with the foils. If you look close (it's hard to see inthe pic) you can see gold dots on the paper. I created them by putting glue dots on randomly then applying the foil. Double sided tape also works great with the foil, so do tape runners. So if you want something new to play with I suggest trying out the Creative Imaginations foils.

Fun with CI

2008-04-07T16:21:00.000-07:00

Well, Last Wed. was my April Bookin' It class. It was a fun night the ladies were real troopers. I definitely put them to work, we played with crackle paint, flocking, alcohol inks, the sewing machine, the zutter and a paper tagger (we only broke three needles, lol). It was a busy night but they did a beautiful job on their projects. And I am happy to report that all the crackle paint turned out great some even AWESOME! Thanks again ladies for a great night.

Onto another topic, I got to play with a bunch of Creative Imaginations products this last month as their March Guest Designer. It was a lot of fun. So I thought this week I would post all the stuff I made. This little book is all about my little Izzy being silly. I used the Brenda large tag book, Narratives Melonberry paper, journaling spots plus the Narratives swatchbook and ribbon tape. I love that the ribbon tape is self adhesive and easy to use but it did come off of the spin kinda easy but that was easily fixed with matte Modge Podge. One thing that is great with most of the Bare Elements is there are die cuts that fit them so you don't have to cut them all out. Sometimes they don't fit perfect, but they are usually an easy trim. Scrapbooks Etc. has pretty much all the die cuts you need for Bare Elements goodies. And a little side note: seriously how funny is it that she is trying to put on a bra at 20 months. She's so funny!

Bookin' It

2008-03-29T22:06:00.001-07:00

I can't believe March is over, ugh. Which means it's time for Bookin' It, April 2 5-9pm. I'm not sure if there is any space left because I am limiting the number of students to 20 since we will be doing so much. It's going to be a messy good time. So call or go down to the store to sign up quick. This book is full of techniques and great trims. We will be using crackle medium, alcohol inks on acrylic, paint and flocking. The book is an 8x8 chipboard book. My favorite part are the handles. Have a super day!

Cafe Cuteness

2008-03-20T13:51:00.000-07:00

Ok guys, you have to check out this cute demo on scrapbooking.com using Creative Cafe goodies. I love what she does to the cardstock flower she puts inside the box lid, I'm definitely trying that technique.

Guess What

2008-03-19T09:42:00.001-07:00

Guess who's the Guest Designer for Creative Imaginations this month .........ME. It was so fun to get a package of goodies to play with. I've been busily working away and enjoying every minute. They will be posting all my little creations on their blog at the end of the month, so keep an eye out. And just to get you curiosity going here's a little sneak peek at one BE project I did (I love BE stuff) Have a happy day!!!!!!!!!!!!

Rodeo Round Up

2008-03-18T21:32:00.000-07:00

Tonight I thought I'd post some pics of the Rodeo book I made awhile ago but just finally officially put together a couple of weeks ago. I must admit I love this book for two reasons; #1 It's all about a fabulously fun famly time at the annual Lehi Days Rodeo and #2 the awesome cowboy paper by Cosmmo Cricket. I was so proud of myself for actually having this book finished before we attended the Lehi Days Rodeo this year. Once again we had a great time at the rodeo. Izzy and Max were able to get more into it this time and the big kids were more daring. The only downer was that I missed the boys calf riding (Gabe actually did it this year). I was late for a good reason, my memory card was dead so I was out buying a new one. But I got lots of other great pics. I'm already to scrap this years event, I have the perfect paper from Creative Imaginations Signature line called Western Spirit. I'm so ready to get busy on it, but first i need to finish my next Bookin' It class project, so check back soon I'll post pics for my April 2 Bookin' It soon. Have a super day!

What a Lovely Day!

2008-02-28T10:54:00.000-08:00

Le jour D'Artiste is complete. It was an absolutely wonderful day with absolutely wonderful ladies! I grabbed these pics from Carol's blog because my cameras memory card was corrupt so I was very sad I couldn't take any pictures. Other than me not having my camera everything went perfect. The ladies were real troopers, they pretty much worked all day. We tried to keep them energized with goodies. And I'm pretty certain all the prized helped keep them happy too. Well, thats all my time today Max just came in with applesauce all over himself. But we are definitely doing it again next year!!! Thanks Tena, Jenny & Carol for being such a joy to work with. And thank you to all our Artiste who joined us for the day you were just lovely!

Sweet Babies

2008-02-22T21:28:00.000-08:00

There is nothing sweeter than a brand new baby. From their sweet smell to their angel soft skin, there is just nothing sweeter!! I love making baby books for family & friends. So I thought I would show you all the latest baby book i made for my friend Sarah. This one is a first year book, perfect for keeping track of your little ones growth. It totally matches Max's Itsy Bitsy Pieces book. Which is why I so wanted to keep it. I have no idea how many baby books I have made for others but I know how many I haven't finished for my own kids, so sad so true. But I still absolutely love making them for others. There is just something special about giving your time & creativity as a gift. I think I do it just as much for myself as for others. Creating for others is just blissful!!!

Well, I must head off to bed. I promised myself I'd be in bed super early tonight, yet here i am still up. I am blaming the chocolate dipped strawberries I just finished making for Le JOur D'Artiste, which is tomorrow morning. I have to be at the store by 7am, wish me luck with waking up early.

Le Jour D'Artiste

2008-02-19T12:10:00.000-08:00

It's almost here!!! We all met yesterday for some final planning and may i just say it's going to be sooo fun. Everyone brought their projects in and they are wonderful. Jenny is teaching a lovely keepsake box, she'll be showing how to do a great technique on a HS ghost, plus other super products like crackle paint and glimmer. Carol's is wonderfully vintage made with a gate frame and an old book, you just have to see it. Tena will be teaching book construction. Her project is a very clever book sleeve and two books, it's so cute and colorful. And finally I will be teaching a home decor project that we'll use some of my favorite products on (think texture). Tena has some great pictures of all the projects on her blog, so be sure to check it out www.tenasprenger.typepad.com I am so impressed with all these ladies talents and I am soo glad I get to teach with them all Saturday. I think there are still a few spots left so hurry if you want in. You can call the store at (480)854-2303. It is just so ooh la la!

We (heart) Teachers

2008-02-15T08:01:00.000-08:00

Valentine's day is already over! How is this possible? I feel as if time is in hyperspeed, I wish it would just slow down a little or even better I wish there were about 10 hours more in each day (just the thought sounds wonderful). Well, it wouldn't be valentines without making the kids teachers presents. We decided for family home evening this week we'd go down to the store and die cut hearts to make books out of. I came home from that adventure a bit stressed out to say the least, 5 kids in a scrapbook store = not fun. It started out fun then ended differently. So needless to say we didn't finish the gifts that night. We got them all done on Wed. night. The kids enjoyed picking out the papers to use and deciding on the shape of their books. The boys weren't in to the hearts, so Pierce picked out the file folder shape which meant Gabe had to have it too, which is what started the not so fun part of the night. I love my boys! I love my boys! I made the boys glue their papers all onto the chipboard pages, but that was all they were willing to do which was fine with me because I really wanted to decorate them anyway. Sierra was so cute she wouldn't let me do anything, she made her book all by herself. She had so much fun, she really loves to create things. I am bummed, for some reason the picture I took of the book she made is off my camera, so I don't have a pic of it. Izzy and Max wanted to be part of everything too so we made their primary teachers gifts too. Those two were so cute!!!! They worked so hard gluing all the pages on. They kept telling me "Mommy I like gluing" then Max would say "I sticky!" They were so proud of what they had made. Their books are the heart shaped ones. And the big black heart is the valentine made for Gabe. This is our fourth year with Gabe's teacher Mrs. Berenter, our school use to loop so Pierce had her for two years nad Sierra had her last year and now my Gabe has her. Every Valentines Mrs. Berenter has the parents make a big heart Valentine for their child and then at their Valentines party she surprises the kids with them. I was actually a little stressed out making Gabes he had high expectations and he'll tell you if he hates it. Luckily he was very happy with. But the kids weren't happy that I didn't make it to their partys, Izzy and Max were sick. Well, I hope everyone had a super Valentines.

Girls Rock!!!

2008-02-12T23:51:00.000-08:00

Well, I thought it was about time I showed off my girly cutisy side. So my March 7th Bookin' It class is all about the girls! We'll be using My Minds Eye and K&co. paper, some awesome K&co felt ribbons, jumbo square brads and rub-ons. I am so excited about it because first of all the book is scalloped and second it fits perfectly in a box that we are going to deck out. We are going to be playing with UTEE, which if you have not tried you are going to love! So here are some pics of the finished project, it's down at Scrapbooks, etc. if you want to see it in person.

Ooh La La

2008-02-11T13:17:00.000-08:00

Le Jour D' Artiste is just around the corner, Feb. 23 9am - 6pm. So I thought it would be fun to post my project. I am doing a home decor project, we'll be playing with texture, fun fun. There might still be space available, so if you are interested I'd hurry down (or call Scrapbooks Etc. 480-854-2303) and sign up. It's going to be a wonderful creative day with food, fun, prizes, great projects and Carol Wingert, Tena Sprenger, Jenny Packard and me.

Valentine's Fun!

2008-02-10T21:14:00.000-08:00

I love Valentines' Day! And I love that now a days it's celebrated for a couple of weeks. I was in a party kinda mood, so Max, Izzy and I had a Valentine party with their little friends Friday. Twelve 2 & 3 years old to be exact. It was so fun. First we had a heart hunt, Sierra and I covered the hallways with paper hearts (the bottom 3' that is) and if they found a heart with a stamp on the back they got a prize (don't worry everyone got a prize.) Then we ate heart sandwiches and frosted heart sugar cookies. And finally exchanged Valentines. I made all the kids these heart bags to put their valentines in. They were so excited to get their bags and valentines and us moms had a blast watching them playing and getting to visit with one another. I hope everyone has a wonderful Valentine's Day.

Girly fun for March

2008-01-31T22:59:00.000-08:00

Here's a little peek at what I am working on for my March Bookin' It class (March 7, 10:30-2:30pm). As you can see I was very much in a girly mood. I just couldn't resist the K&co Urban Rhapsody line (the jumbo fabric square brads were calling my name) and it goes great with My minds eye Kaleidoscope confetti line. It's going to be a very product load project, tulle, felts, ribbons, chipboard embellishments, buttons, brads, rhinestones etc.. The letters I am using for my A 2 Z classes came in a box, so
to me that means free product for another project, yeah! We will be decorating the box
and making a scalloped book that fits perfectly inside. i'll be teaching how to use UTEE (ultra thick embossing enamel), which if you haven't used it before you are missing out, it Rocks! Once I get some new cute pics of my girls done the book will get finished in no time. I have my Valentine Bookin' It class tomorrow. It will be a busy class, but then again it wouldn't be one of my classes if it wasn't a little crazy right. I really should sleep now so I will be alive in the morning (oh, how I wish I was a morning person). Have a super Duper day everyone!

Monday Holiday!

2008-01-21T21:04:00.001-08:00

Don't you just love a Monday holiday! A long weekend, No school, no work, just family time. We started the day off going out for bunch, then bummed around the mall for awhile and of course squeezed in a quick trip to Scrapbooks Etc. for a few last pieces for my Feb. Bookin' It class (Feb. 1 -10:30am-2:30pm) John and the kids played outside until dinner which gave me time to finish my class project. So now I get to finally show it to all of you. Are you in the mood for love? It's time to get romantic.
This book is big! I used the Bazzill scalloped heart for the covers,which is close to 12 x 12. You can fit a good amount of pictures in it. I of course don't have a lot in it because I realized as I was making it John and I never take our picture together, so sad. I will probably take it down to the store tomorrow or I might wait until Wed. night when I work.

I won't be doing to much driving until my new drivers license comes. That's right I need a new license, why you might ask? Because some crummy person stole my wallet out of my purse which was in the office while I was teaching at the scrappin' sampler. So whoever you are you stink! The creepy part to me is this person probably knows who I am or at least has seen me teaching and working there. I just soooooo do not understand how someone can just take something that isn't theirs with no regard for how it will effect others. Anyway, that's my soap box for the
night. I don't want to dwell on the negative stuff, which is so hard to do, which is why it's one of my new goals..... to be more POSITIVE. Well, here's to a positive night ya'all.

Overwhelmed!!!!!!!!

2008-01-20T21:27:00.001-08:00

Have you ever felt overwhelmed, kinda like your drowning in your responsibilities? Well, that has been me for the last two- three months. If only I could buy me some time, I would definitely pay top dollar for some extra time (for myself). And that is why it has taken me so long to post these pics for you ladies out there who requested them. I'm so sorry it took so long. And for those who don't know what these pics are, they are from my Dec. class. It was definitely one of those classes where I really put the ladies to work. We painted, we stamped, we inked, we got messy, but all in all it was worth it right gals. My book still doesn't have pics in it because I think I am going to give it to my cousin for a wedding gift. His fiancee was at the store and really loved all these papers. They are a super cute & sweet couple so they will look so pretty in it. Hope everyone has a super day!

A 2 Z class

2008-01-06T12:46:00.000-08:00

Well, I hope everyone has recovered from the holidays. I must say this year the holidays kicked my but!!!!! I've been super busy trying to get ready for Jan and feb classes. I had my Bookin' It Class Jan. 2 which was a bit stressful to get ready for. Luckily I have Tammy kit for me or I would have lost my mind. Speaking of classes I thought I'd post some pics of my upcoming classes or at least sneak peeks.
My next class is A 2 Z Techniques Jan. 18 2-4:30pm. Some people have been confused about these classes, so I'm hoping I can explain better. There are four classes each $35 (Jan. 18, Feb.15, Mar. 28, Apr. 18 all @2-4:30pm). Theses classes are all about techniques! Each class you will learn 6-7 techniques that we will do on chipboard letters. Then we will use the letters on
8 1/2 x 11" layouts. So if you take all four classes you end up with 26 -8 1/2" x 11" layouts and as a little bonus if you take all four classes you get an album and products to decorate the cover FREE!!

Here is a little sampling from the class layouts. We will be playing with everything from, paper, ribbon, inks, 3 different crackle products, paints, textures and more. There are even a few techniques I used to do when I faux finished. It's going to be a lot of fun.

And here are the teasers I made for a class or shall I say event I am totally excited about. Feb. 23 @ 9am-6pm is our Le Jour D' Artiste day of creating. Carol Wingert, Tena Sprenger, Jenny Packard and I are all teaching together. We are each teaching a project, I am doing a home decor project that I am super excited to teach. We will be having lunch catered and goodies and prizes. It's going to be a blast so sign up quick.

Also this month I'll be teaching at one of the scrappin' sampler classes on Jan. 19th. I highly recommend signing up and fast. There are three sessions and each session has 3 different teachers teaching fun make -n-takes, you make something with each teacher. It's only $2.50 and you get a $2.50 store coupon. I taught one last quarter and it was so fun and fast. Well, it's Sunday and I need to be with my gang so have a super day!

Mema's Christmas Olympics

2007-12-26T18:13:00.000-08:00

What a great party!!!! My mom throws a huge Christmas party every year, she's done everything from bringing in snow, rock walls, going to Amazing Jakes (never again), having a carnival and on and on. Well this year we had a Christmas olympics complete with an award ceremony and real metals. She planned so many events we didn't even get to them all. Everyones favorite was definitely the obstacle course. We had a kickball tournament, sack races, three-legged races, basketball tournament, obstacle course races (even the adults did it, it was hilarious), wheelbarrel races and cheerleading.

Sierra was a climbing pro and an excellent cheerleader. She and her cousin also won the three legge race. Go Girls!

Here's Max helping John play first base, he kept jumping on and off of the base, John would have to grab him before the player came. Max was in heaven b out there with the big boys. He followed John around all day. So Cute!

Izzy's favorite race was the sack race, she loves to bounce.

The boys really liked seeing how far they could jump in the obstacle course.

All in all it was a great day!

'tis the Season

2007-12-16T22:42:00.000-08:00

I love love love Christmas time!!!!!! I especially love decorating for the Hoidays! Every year I set up two Christmas trees, one in the living room that is all pretty in silver, gold & cream (matches my Grandmas furniture perfect) this tree the kids call mom's tree because I don't share, only I get to decorate this tree, lol. Then in the family room we put up the smaller older fake tree and the kids & I usually make new ornaments to decorate with, it's lots of fun. But this year I decided to do things different. Last year I saw a Christmas decorating show on HGTV (love decorating shows & HGTV) and this decorator took an artificial tree and turned it into a spiral topiary, and ever since I've been dying to try it......so this year I did. I took the older small fake tree and bent and twisted the branches until I had a spiral topiary. It was really hard and my hands were killing me after the almost two hours it took to do it, but I think it was worth it, the kids think it is so cool. and since all you do is set a few ornaments on top of the spirals I had tons of ornaments left. So this year the family room gets the big tree and pretty sparklie ornaments. I did add some big red poinsettas for some color. I do feel bad that the kids and I didn't get our crafty time together, they did ask what we were making for it. But I honestly think the boys are relieved, Sierra is really the only one who enjoys it like me.
Well, I better get back to my Bazzill assignment and making the CD of party photos for my mom. Her big Christmas party was yesterday I'll have to tell you all about it next time...it was awesome!

Me & my crazy LIFE

2007-12-13T22:09:00.000-08:00

I can't believe Dec is half over already....yaaaaaaaaa help!!!!!! Between Christmas shopping, making gifts, working, teaching and kids I am feeling a little stretched, but in a good way, right? I am 90% done with shopping, only 10% done with gift making (and that doesn't include baked gifts, one of my favorite holiday traditions) but I am done with one of my class projects for Jan., so I thought I'd show a little peek. The class is Bookin' It Jan 2 @ 5-9pm. and i am so excited about it, because I really need what we are making........a planner!!!! It's a great book because it's practical, plus the colors are sooo fun, all my favorites: orange, turquise, brown, green and of course cream. It's a little more on the cute side than my usual stuff, but still me. It's stuffed full of everything we need - monthly calendars, to do lists, goal lists, notes, addresses, photo pages and even a few blank pages for sketching. I'll be taking down to Scrapbooks etc. tomorrow,so yyou can see it in person if you want.

2007-11-27T22:42:00.001-08:00

Oh my, I didn't realize just how long it had been since my last post. Our laptop finally died so I was computerless for a few weeks and of course it happened a few weeks after my last post making this post forever away.
Not much is new around here except potty training Izzy, which has really turned into me being potty trained. Seriously, potty training sucks! Max wants to potty train too, and in his little world that means you wear your underwear over your diaper and sit on the toilet fully clothed and just flush it over and over again. I really did try training Max too but it was abundantly clean right away he was not ready. But he sure looks cute in his Cars underwear. Max just turned two a couple of weeks ago, dang he's so cute.
In totally unrelated news, I just had to post a couple pics from Pierce and Gabe's mud war. They had it a few weeks ago when it was still warm. They had a ball. My yard looked like crap afterwards and it took forever to get all that mud out of their hair, but to hear their giggles was worth it. The funniest part was when Daddy made them strip down and hosed them off before they could come in. They're clothes were so covered I throw them away. Watching them out there brought back so many memories of growing up. When I was little we would soak the side of our house that was just dirt and do the same thing, I remember painting the swingset and my cheeks with mud- definitely my favorite part. Mud is just an important part of childhood, don't you think.

2007-10-01T16:22:00.000-07:00

I am quickly realizing what a terrible blogger I am. I can't believe I forgot to blog about this big event. Sierra has been growing her hair for over a year now to donate to Locks of Love and she finally had enough and chopped it all off last month. A full 11 inches! wow! I was really proud of her for doing it. Here are the before and after pictures. I can not tell a lie I miss her long hair, but Jill gave her a great haircut. No matter what Sierra does to her hair she will always be beautiful. If you are interested in donating your hair for childrens wigs you can go to www.locksoflove.com for more info.

2007-09-30T23:59:00.000-07:00

I almost forgot to post this. My hottie hubby had these beautiful flowers delivered to me for our anniversary. I was as usual the loser spouse and got him..........nothing. I am so not romantic and I'm not so great at picking gifts for John, in fact it totally stresses me out!!!!!! Although I must say I did good this last Christmas. Well, the bed is calling me, I've got to get ready for my class this Thurs., there are still a few spots left.

2007-09-30T23:17:00.000-07:00

What a weekend!!!!!
Can we say party hard!! Last weekend it was party central around here. We started Fri. evening with Sierra's BIG 10th b-day slumber party, that she has been planning for a year now. I must say it was so fun!!!!! I had as much fun as the girls. Sierra invited her 3 best friends and we had an Asian evening. My sister-in-law Wendy lives in China and she is the one that made it all happen. She did all my shopping for me, she got each of the girls a silky Asian outfit, a jewelry box, notebook, pencil chopsticks and a bracelet. Gotta love the prices in China, I actually spent more on all of Izzy's Birthday decorations and pinata then the girls stuff, crazy. So Sierra's party started with the girls all opening their presents, next we had a little photo shoot (the girls really got into it with lots of funny poses), a Japanese dinner followed (we got out all our Japenese dishes and decorations), then it was birthday cake time....Cheesecake of course for Sierra. After dessert I ran out and had all the photos printed for the girls to scrapbook. I put together some little 6x6" chipbook albums with my zutter (I so love my Zutter) and die cutted some fun flowers and got out a ton of old embellishments and let the girls go wild. The girls were so excited when they saw everything set up for them in my artroom. It was a great party.

Then Sat. Izzy had her 3rd b-day party. She was so cute when we went to Party City to pick out her party stuff. She walked into the store saying I'm having a Cinderella party, we loaded the cart with Cinderella everything then she saw all the Backyardagains stuff and went nuts "I want a Backyardagain party!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" She was sooooo excited especially when she found the Backyardagains microphones and masks. And the Uniqua pinata made her giggle and giggle.
We got lots of stickers and the kids all decorated their own goodie bags. It was afun party.

Izzy really liked her presents, here she is hugging the cow Madison gave her.
And if that wasn't busy enough our 13th anniversary was Sunday, needless to say it didn't get quite the attention the girls got. My dad did help us make it at least relaxing, he took all the kids for about 5 hours so we could be ALONE!!! I still can't believe it's been 13 years, lol.

2007-09-28T17:59:00.000-07:00

I almost forgot to mention one of the one of the great traditions they have at Creative Escape, Dessert First!! This is me and my sister Celeste enjoying the indulgence. Celeste was my lifesaver at the event, can we just say Sisters Rock!!!

2007-09-28T17:18:00.000-07:00

Trunk Show Fun.......
Here is Rhonna Farrer's table. I loved seeing her 21 challenge books up close. I really like the way she uses transparencies and overlays in her stuff.

Heidi Swapp's table was full of great layouts. It's always fun to see the actual page after you've seen it in books. Cute Stuff!

I sooooo love setting stuff like this up. This is my table or really tables, I decided to bring tables from home, because frankly it was driving me crazy putting all my pink foofoo stuff next to my warm fall colors. I know I'm goofy but like I said I love setting up stuff like this. I decided to do a theme and since we were using the new Bazzill In Stitch'z that I designed I thought a sewing theme would be appropriate. So, instead of table clothes I used dress pattern tissue and I had 4 dress forms on display that I dressed up. I really had a blast making everything.

This fun lady is the fabulous Lesli Spafford. Seriously, you can't be around her without feeling happy, she's just so dang fun and full of life. Her hubby is SUPER HUBBY, he made enough sugar cookies for everyone who attended and they gave them out at the trunk show. Her and Steve used to cater so I loved that they decorated the table with sweets, such a perfect way to display her great cards.
This is Chris Randalls table. I wish I had a close up of the chandlier she made, it was amazing!!!

I totally want to make soldiered ornaments for Christmas after taking her class. She's so talented and sweet.

This is Ms. Heidi Lynn's table. I thought the jumbo layouts were way cool. She also made the paper topiaries, too cute. She's a sweetie.

This is Tracy Niehues beautiful table. She had some way cool projects on her table. She even wrapped chocolates in pattern paper to give to the ladies. Her cards were amazing, she wrote a card book awhile ago and I really need to get it for my mom. I wish I had some close up pics of her stuff, they were too cool for me to describe correctly. She is what I call a clever crafter.

All in All it was awesome!!!!! I feel so blessed that I got to be part of this amazing event. Have a super Duper Day Everyone!