{bliss}

Happy Leap Year!

It is a bright and sunny morning-before-a-storm.  We're going to get walloped with yet another winter storm overnight, but right now the sky is blue and my birdfeeders are busy!  We had a bunny sometime overnight, because there are bunny tracks all around the back feeder.  I toss out apple peels and cores for whatever critter finds them yummy, so I guess Mr. Bunny found them last night.  Aileen is so excited, because she thinks that it might have been the Easter Bunny!  ;)

Today's Feature at Peek is multi-photo layouts, and I have two to share with you.  The first one uses 10 photos, the second has 7!  Happy Leap Year!

I'm it!

I was tagged by my friend Stephenie, our wonderful Fiskateer #003, who was tagged by Stephanie, who was tagged by Stacy J. so I can't break this chain!  Ok, so I have to list 7 random facts about myself - (that should be pretty easy, huh?)  Here we go:

• I have lived within 50 miles of where I was born my entire life, but if I had to pick anywhere in the world to live, I would choose a little village in Ireland where my husband and I stayed while on our honeymoon.
• I've been a bookstore manager most of my professional life.  But some of my "in between stores" jobs have included stints working for a technology company licensing software, a real estate office, and in the Product Development department of a greeting card manufacturer.
• I can recite most of the lines in Star Wars along with the characters.  The original Lord of the Rings animated motion picture too!  (yes, I'm a geek!) 
• I get twitchy if my on hand supply of Cinnamon Altoids drops below one box.
• I don't like to eat breakfast, but love to eat "breakfast food" for other meals instead.
• I can name almost all of the original 151 Pokemon.
• I used to do historical and fantasy costuming and would travel around New England attending events with the SCA when I was in my teens and early 20's.

So there's my seven weird facts about me!  Now I need to choose 7 people to tag...  How about Sharon, Cheryl, Heather, Donna, Terri, Em, and Angela.

Thanks for the tag, Stephenie!  :)

Product Showcase 2.28.08

The collection Pat is showcasing at Peek today is Bo Bunny's "Pep Rally" collection.  The patterned papers are so much fun, and I had fun figuring out some creative ways to use the big stickers that coordinate with the collection.  I used the biggest one for a title block (and later used the "bookworm" sticker to make a bookmark for Brigid!)  Pat is featuring it at 50% off today, so don't miss out!

In other product notes, the Jenni Bowlin embellishments came in and are going fast.  I love the new journaling cards!  The turquoise ones will go perfectly with her new paper collection, and will coordinate with a lot of the other new collections that were released at CHA!  Pat has the Calendar Cards, the scalloped tags, the label stickers, the die cut stickers, and the cool Tickets in a variety of styles.  Other Jenni Bowlin new release items should be arriving on Monday.

I've been working this week on some seasonal papercrafting projects.  Some Easter cards using CI's new "Hippity Hoppity" collection are up on the CI blog today.  :)  I've also done a St. Patrick's Day piece that I really like!  St. Pat's is big in our household, and I'm happy to have a new decor piece to hang in the kitchen when we have our big St. Patrick's Day dinner!  Do you papercraft for spring holidays?  The girls are already starting to ask when they can color Easter eggs!  Hard to believe that Easter is only about 3 weeks away! 

different day, same old stuff!

Still dealing with yukky weather.  We got 6 more inches of snow followed by sleet and rain overnight, and it is still raining.  What I wouldn't give for a 60 degree day and a crop of daffodils right now!

Still dealing with illness in the household.  This morning it was Brigid's turn not to feel well.  Ugh.

I am SO ready for spring!

However, I've got a fall layout to share!  This is based on Em's latest sketch - as usual, I started out using it straight, and then mixed it up a bit!  Used a bit of my favorite MuMo collection for it - I love "The Man in the Moon" collection.  Still very sad that MuMo has closed its doors.  There are some more "oldies but goodies" on this page too!  Very old Scenic Route (the gingham) old Chatterbox (the polka dots) old Basic Grey rub ons (from their first collection!) and very old Cloud 9 photo stickers too!  I'm having so much fun taking a walk down memory lane with all my favorite scrapbook companies and products.  I bought this stuff for a reason - because I love it! - it's about time I am finally using it all!

ETA:  Some NEW stuff to check out!  Pat just got in half of the new Jenni Bowlin goodies - the other half should arrive on Monday!  woo hoo!  link to Jenni goodness

Oldie But Goodie Challenge #2

While I was doing my major clean up of the scrapbook room in January, I came across a lot of collections that I remember being oh, so excited about when they were released, but had languished unused in the paper keeper ever since. One thing I noticed is that often there was a similarity in color scheme or design with a new collection that I love, thus my new challenge!

My example page mixes SEI Grannie's Kitchen (old) with some My Mind's Eye Bohemia (newer) with Autumn Leaves Manhattan (brand new!). Take a dig through your stash and see what Oldie But Goodie collection you have that will coordinate with a new or current collection.

I've started a thread over at Peek if you'd like to take the challenge.  Upload your layout to the gallery, and link it in on this thread, and I'll draw a name or two at random for some goodies at the end of next week!

Big news for the Creative Imaginations team.  CI has added a new member, Jen Davis to the team!  Jen has a fun, fresh style and I am looking forward to working with her this spring.  The CI blog has been updated with a few projects I did for CHA using Teri Martin's beautiful "Sweet Beginnings" line.

It's snowing again (big surprise) here in NH.  But at least Aileen is feeling better.  Hope everyone is enjoying a terrific Tuesday!   

February school vacation

...is not starting off as well as I would have hoped.  I got home from work on Saturday night, and around 2am, Aileen threw up.  Got her cleaned up, changed the bed, 4am same thing.  She ran a temperature on and off all day, so I called into work for the evening.  When she's sick, only Mama will do.  I got her to bed at 8:20 and was ready to dial in to my conference call at 9, when I heard Bee calling from upstairs, "Mom!  She's doing it again."  *sigh*  Got her situated and made my call, and went to bed fairly early myself.  Woke up around 4 to check on her, and she was burning up.  Gave her some Tylenol and went both went back to sleep, and got up at 7 as usual.  She actually seems better this morning - she's talking and playing, which is a far cry from the laying on the couch looking miserable that she did all day yesterday!  So maybe she's on an improving trend, and will bounce back completely so we don't lose our whole vacation week.  We've got places to go and stuff to do!  :)

My page for today is one that I did for the booth at CHA that features one of CI's Magazine Cover transparencies.  They are so much fun, and I enjoyed putting this page together!  The patterned paper and stickers are all Narratives Melonberry - love the summer-y colors!  The flip flop photo was just perfect for my "magazine cover"!

I have some "kits" that I have made up listed on SA if you'd like to take a peek.  :)  I'll be listing more, including more idea books later this week.  Thanks for looking!

yes, you guessed it...

....more SNOW!  The storm has arrived much earlier than expected, so I am keeping a close eye on the cancellations and early release list today.  It wouldn't surprise me at all if they let the kids out at 1pm again today - especially being the Friday before February vacation week begins!

This is one of my favorite Sassafrass Lass collections - "Felicity" - looooove the purple and I had fun mixing it with some MM goodies and my embossed Technique Tuesday Fundamentals chipboard frame!  I've had the die cut "So Sweet" tag for ages, and thought that it was a pretty good title for the page!  The journaling is in the pocket!

Don't forget - we're having a chat with Stacy Julian at Peek tonight at 9pm!

I've posted a few more "kits" in the Marketplace forum at SA.  Here's the link. There is a separate thread with books and embellishments and I will be adding some storage items as I go along too! 

Have a happy (snowy) Friday!

we love you, Mrs. B!

Today was Aileen's teacher's last day.  She is retiring due to health concerns, and we surely will miss her!  I quickly grabbed a photo of the two of them on Tuesday (Aileen had brought her flowers, and scrapped it last night.  She gave Aileen a stuffed Marie kitty that had been her daughter's toy that had been in the classroom this year, and told Aileen to take good care of her.  She sent along a bunny too, who has been named "Button" and is technically Brigid's, but Aileen seems to be much more attached to it than Brigid.  Aileen is going to miss Mrs. B. so much.  She is a wonderful teacher, and we are all very sorry to see her go.

product showcase - SEI Morning Meadow

This collection was the perfect balm for the spring fever I have been feeling for the past few weeks.  Great color scheme, fun embellishments, and really cool specialty papers chased away the winter blues! 

here comes the sun

Now this is more like it!  Bright sunshine this morning (coming up earlier and earlier every day!) and there is considerably less snow in the front yard than there was before yesterday's rain.  Spring is on the way - yay! 

I seem to be hung up on this black, white and red color scheme this month!  The black and white paper is one of the new die cut "5th Avenue" papers from Making Memories, and bunches of other stuff on the page is MM too.  The big red felt swirl has been sitting on my scrapbook table imploring me to use it since Christmas-time, as it is part of the felt shapes from Fancy Pants, so I am happy that it has found a home!  If you look back in my archives, you might find a photo of Brigid wearing that same "100 pom pom" sweatshirt that I made for her 100th day of First Grade.  I am happy that it survived to be worn again, and both girls wore it on their respective 100th day this year!  We lost a few poms by the second wearing, so it is now a "97.5 pom pom" shirt.  lol!

I feel like this week is the calm that follows a storm.  Last week was filled with the hoopla and excitement of the show, and I feel like this week, we're all taking a deep breath.  The new products have already started arriving at Peek.  Pat got in the Wonder Years collection by Daisy D's yesterday at Peek.  New stuff expected soon: Cosmo Cricket Cogsmo, new KI Love, Elsie, new Sweetwater, new Fancy Pants - all kinds of great new stuff!

This week is a tough one for Aileen.  Her beloved kindergarten teach is retiring due to health concerns.  She really likes her new teacher, who has been transitioning into the class since the holidays, but it is going to be hard to say goodbye to Mrs. B.  We're going to pick up some flowers on our way to school today and I've written her a note in a card.  *sigh*  There have been a lot of changes to the classroom this year.  Mrs. B's assistant left in January to work with the preschool kids, and classmates have sort of come and gone throughout the school year.  One little girl is moving back to Florida at the end of the month, so her class will be back down to 7 again.  Lots of changes for a little girl who sometimes has a tough time with changes, so it is no wonder she's been a little "stressed out" lately.