A Day out shopping

Tate and I got out today. We had to. Try keeping the house clean and ready to be shown to potential buyers with a 2 yr old.

Today we went to Red Lead Arts in St. Louis and I am inspired every time I go in there. Yes--they have scrapbook paper, but it is SO MUCH MORE. They specialize in more altered art and other papercrafting supplies. Every trip, I see so many things I have never seen before (for sale and things created) when I enter.

Red Lead's blog

Also, If you are free Saturday night, come join an online "blogger's ball" hosted by Paula's Palace of AltAred Art. Check it out if you are confused.

London!

24 hours ago, Paul called and said "I don't mean to mess with you, but we are moving to London in June instead of Colorado Springs in July".

After the initial shock of the very unexpected change, I was thrilled!! We are very excited and hoping Tate comes back from our 3 year tour speaking like Harry Potter.

We are scrambling to get everything done before we need to leave (sell house, passports, our kitty up to date with shots, etc etc etc) and can't wait to collapse in bed tonight.

Wrestling Layout

This morning my mom decided that she is going to make scrapbooks for the Wrestler's for TOMORROW's banquet. I started to brainstorm with her, and started my first page for Justin (my honorary brother) since that was on the project list anyway.
The "Why Wrestle" thing is hard to read, but makes the page. I got it online...

Happy Easter!

Our Easter Ham:We woke up to snow falling...it didn't stick, but it was falling. Yes, our egg hunt was INSIDE.

Scrapbook Retreat Report

Amazing...is all I have to say! I had a wonderful time and couldn't believe it was time to go when it was over. I met some incredible women and everyone was so nice, so generous, and creative. A few of us are going to be able create together again at the CK Convention and I can't wait.

Here are a few things I made:



My "happy house pin" that I renamed my "happy housewife pin". I would have never tackled this project alone but Debbie and Paula, two wonderful ladies I met while at the retreat walked me through...

Tate's favorite creation from the trip. He saw it in my bag, claimed it for himself and hasn't put down his "magic wand" since he discovered it. I had to hide it when we were at school today. If you are in the IL area, our 2 hosts Paula and Carla, will be having another retreat soon. Check out Paula's blog in the future for details.

7 Random Things TAG

Thanks, Stephanie, for the tag....

So here's my list.

1. I've lived A LOT of places. Sacramento/Davis, CA are my favorites. The house I lived in was my fav as well, even though it was small, outdated, and not exactly in the safest neighborhood.

2. I play the flute. I love to play for fun and with other people. Any genre of music will do...

3. I used to fly airplanes for a living. Being a mom is much harder. And it is much more rewarding, but definitely harder.

4. I have brothers young enough to be my kids, but I am as close to them as I am my other siblings who are 2 and 6 yrs younger.

5. I met Paul at a wedding in Vegas. We had a mutual friend for 10yrs, but didn't meet until her wedding and we dated while I lived in CA and he lived in TX until after we were engaged. We are celebrating our 5th anniversary this year.

6. I love public transportation. It relaxes me for some weird reason.

7. I am Chinese, Mexican and Caucasian.

***If you read this, you are tagged!!!

This weekend

***I am going to an altered scrap retreat this weekend and I am very excited. I need to get away and the site is supposedly in the middle of no where, which sounds GREAT to me.

I am kind of a symetrical scrapper, so I can't wait to learn more about the altered look.

Happy St. Pat's Day and have a good weekend.

New Book to check out

Have you heard about this book? "THE CREATIVE FAMILY"
http://www.amazon.com/Creative-Family-Encourage-Imagination-Connections/dp/1590304713/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1205345413&sr=8-1

I have been reading this blog in the past few months, and this family inspires me in my everyday life. We even made our own book making kit like this one:
http://soulemama.typepad.com/soulemama/2007/11/making-books.html

SO many great ideas!

**I'll post a photo of our kit once Paul gets the camera up and running. :)

House for Sale!

Hi all!!

WE ARE MOVING TO COLORADO SPRINGS. Yep--Paul got his assignment and we leave in July. I have been busy scrambling to get the St. Louis house ready to sell. So....if you know anyone that wants to live in the IL side of St. Louis suburbs...CALL ME!

I am really excited and ready to make the move. I hate the actual moving day, but I love moving. Oh and I apologize for the lack of new photos...don't ever give your camera to a 2yr old.

Blog Absence

We went to MI for a surprise trip. My little brother was in the state wrestling tournament--they came in 2nd. Then, we got sick. Today Tate is snuggled in the couch with his bowl of dry cereal and lots of tv. I am so tired of the tv, but I need him to lay down. He sounds like a little 2 yr old froggy.
We will be in PJs all day.

Travel Scrapbooking

I am in the process of organizing my scrap stuff and preparing for 2 scrap events in the next few months. Got any ideas on making it easier to transport my stuff from scrap area to event??

The big challenge is ribbon. In the past I have stored it in an embroidery box, then I used ziplocs arranged by color, and I am admiring the clothespins with the ribbon wrapped around, thrown into a big fishbowl. But then how do I travel with it??

A few things I found online:

http://home-and-garden.webshots.com/photo/2983352970054254152GGfdvD

http://www.ribbonring.com./

http://www.scrapbookeronline.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=26

http://www.madcropper.com/ribbon-storage-101-by-candice-palmer/

Got any suggestions? Not just ribbon, but any travel-with-scrap stuff ideas?

The Reviews are In

I had this great idea to post reviews by subject, but today I am going to give you "review vomit" of everything I experienced this weekend.

Wei Hong Chinese Restaurant
7740 Olive Blvd; Saint Louis, MO 63130--I went twice this weekend. It was the BEST and FRESHEST Chinese I have ever had. I have been to many a China town AND I eat a lot of Chinese food. Other interesting fact about the place: it used to be an old porn theater!! The second night we went, they had Chinese dancers on the stage (non-porn...lol) performing for the Chinese New Year.

Korte Recreation Center
Highland, IL--Translation: Indoor water park for toddlers. IT WAS AWESOME!! They had a small lazy river and a toddler swimming area with slide and fountains. Best of all...the water was warm.

St. Clair Bowl
Fairview Hts, IL--Illinois is smoke free now. This made going into a bowling alley soooo much better. Tate had a blast and loved it, which was cool because I initially thought I was going to be chasing a 2 yr old around while everyone else bowled.

City Museum (we went on Wed last week...)
St Louis, MO--Everyone said that Tate was too young for this museum. Nope!! We had a great time. It is kind of like someone gave some artists some good drugs and said "go forth and create!" I loved the decor and the stuff inside, though the "aquarium" (more like lots of fishtanks wedged in weird stuff) seemed a little worn. Also, it isn't exactly toddler-friendly...lots of sharp edges and stuff they can get hurt on if you don't watch your kid. Other than that, it was amazing. Oh and they had good food in the cool cafe. YOU HAVE TO GO HERE IF YOU HAVE NEVER BEEN--IT IS COOL.

Emerald Isle Spa
Swansea, IL--Won't be back. My 21 yr old aesthetician was very knowledgeable (her mom is a dermatologist) and they made a good effort on decor. The waiting room is weird, with everything from soup mix to mascara to plastic butterflies for sale. Decent service, but not where I plan to drop a hundee again. I sound like a brat, but the last time I had a facial, was like 6 years ago and I was disappointed.

I'd love to hear your reviews of anything, too. Sorry that most of the stuff is St. Louis related, but hey, if you ever come to visit, you'll be prepared.

Stinky Gnome

A few weeks back, Tate and I made this little gnome at his school out of felt and wool. He's pretty cool.

Later in the week, we played "hide-and-go-seek--gnome version". I would hide him and Tate would find him, giggle, and yell "AGAIN! AGAIN!"

Then we lost him. "Stinky Gnome! Stinky Gnome!"....for a week. I looked and looked, and no gnome. I thought our cat may have run off with him, because we could not find him. Yesterday I was determined to find him.

After ripping apart couches and looking under everything, I finally looked in Tate's trunk of his little car. WE FOUND HIM!!!!!!!!

I will be hiding a gnome this afternoon...

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle Scrapping!

I once read on another blog about how, as scrapbookers, we use lots of paper and it isn't really an environmentally friendly hobby. I think on Ali Edwards' blog, she mentioned looking for stuff around the house that you can transform and use. So one afternoon when Tate was bouncing off the walls, we went looking...

Red Robin Coasters... I plan to acrylic paint over them and embellish as needed. I am actually in love with restaurant/bar coasters because they are perfect as large statement-making embellishments.
Here are lots of shapes cut with my Sizzix. Tate and I dug through the recycling bin. What he thought was a kid project, was really for mama's scrapbook stash.



A few layouts made with the shapes we created:
1. The "Love" and heart were made out of a Kashi Cereal box.
2. All of the hearts were cut from stuff we found in the recycling bin. My fave is the large one with the red flower brad...it was from a Totino's pizza box and it has a little tiny picture of a pizza on it!

Oh, and Mom, don't show Catie because this scrapbook is a surprise for her!!

Celebrate!

We are still celebrating Mardi Gras at our house. And BIG thank yous to Aunt Stacy for providing the beads with the whistle attached. It is Tate's new favorite toy. Paul and I had a 20 min "mini-date" while our friend, Mike O. was here. We ran to Steak and Shake to get shakes and to the grocery store. The guys were craving ice cream, I was craving fresh flowers.
And I mailed this to my niece today. Happy Valentine's Day Catie!!

Also, Happy Chinese New Year!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Crafts and Baking

50 cent wood hearts, letter pasta, glue, glitter, paint=FUN.

Late one night when Paul was gone, we baked bread. And he was getting a little punchy with it being so close to bed time. He slammed his face into a bread ball covered with flour.

After our 8 inches of snow... SO BEAUTIFUL. It is a bummer that it has melted :(

Scraplift

Inspired by Elsie Flannigan's 52 Scrapbook Challenges #12 "Scraplift a LO Shape". I basically was copying the starburst shape and the small words in the "rays". Oh and the buttons....I LOVE the buttons.

One thing I have been admiring in the scrap world are people who are not afraid to use lots of stuff. I used to try and conserve items, but USE IT!!! it is a great excuse to buy more stuff to play with.

I was able to escape to Mardi Gras this weekend. This was my first adult time out since Tate was born and a great time was had by all. Here I am with my friends, Sara and Stacy. Paul stayed home with Tate since he has been the last 2 years.

How to check the weather

When your cat won't leave the heater, you know it is cold outside!

And inspired by Donna Downey's "Flautist", here is my own who became very frustrated when he couldn't make any sound with it...