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...

Finished Planner

I made this out of cereal boxes, covered in scrap paper. I am not loving the tabs, so I might change them out. I printed the days of the week on regular office paper and stamped the dates at the top and at the sides of each day. I added rub-ons throughout the planner to add cuteness to each season! I still have more to add...

Yay!!! It is SNOWING!!!!

Stuff I want to do

OK so we were reading "If you take a mouse to school" and the kid in the story has these awesome chocolate chip pajamas on. Tate points them out every time we read the book. I tried to find some online, and they don't make them. So I am going to try.



Every time I try to sew I swear to never attempt it again, but now I am excited to try to make these for my little guy. I might even try to make felt cookies to sew on warm pjs. We'll see...

***UPDATE: The photo of the cookies aren't mine, but from an etsy creator. http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=9101772 Very cute stuff that you should check out. I'll be happy if my felt cookies look even half as cute!!

Also, so inspired by the perfectly dressed women in the show "Cashmere Mafia". It makes me want to GROOM!!

Finally a Layout!

**updated photo

Parent of the Year

Today is one of those days that I will NOT be winning the "Parent of the Year" award. It is one of those days where stuff your mom said, that you promised would never fly out of your mouth, does in fact, fly out of your mouth and you will do anything to get through the day.

Ok, for my scrapbook friends/siblings/random reader who don't have kids, I realize how boring this is. I remember being single back in the late 90s, when the only people who scrapbooked were stay-at-home moms, and I was the single working girl seeking out Creating Keepsakes consultants every time I moved. Which was a lot. While they were scrappin' their cute 1 yr old bday party, I was scrapping pictures of myself getting drunk in Vegas or doing other nonfamily oriented things and I was trying hard to hide the layouts, as to not offend anyone!

Back to my bad parenting...
Yea, I turned off the tv in hopes of playing games, creating art, whatever seemed somewhat better than "magical light box". I had a riot on my hands. There is marker on Paul 's beloved dining table, I had a bouncy ball thrown at me, and I think we hit an all time record high for time-outs today. Oh and my resolve to "always stay calm" flew out the window as Tate threw his train track on the floor for the bazillionth time in a row.

Then something changed... I gave up. I made some tea, continued making the bread we had started and kind of ignored him. He actually started playing on his own, and we both just did our own thing for at least a half an hour. By that time, we were both chilled out and it made the time until beloved naptime a lot better. In fact, when he wouldn't come to get changed and had a load of poo in his pants, I just walked out of his room, shut the door and went and cleaned up the living room. By the time I got back, he immediately ran over and laid down to get changed. AND he went right to bed.

This parenting thing is hard sometimes!

Bali: I love this house

This is a house that was featured in Cookie magazine. The pagoda looking thing is the girls' bedroom. Can you imagine anything cooler?? Some of the rooms have glass windows, but a lot of it is open. I love the whole idea of this house, but I am so used to the security of being able to lock things up. Kind of sad, but it would make it hard to sleep there. In any case, I would LOVE live here if I could get past that one aspect....

Cool Things from the weekend

1. Thai food--haven't had it in 8 months!

2. The movie "Waitress", the song "Baby Don't ya Cry" from the movie...

3. Working on my scrapped Planner--hopefully to be done before December!!

4. Monday Morning

Overlooked Challenge #1

"Sure.You might have tons of them in the cabinet.
And yes, you might use them all at one time or another.But there is always that ONE that you prefer. That one you will search in the dishwasher for as opposed to simply grabbing one off the shelf."

Ok, Here is the favorite cup. It was my sister's and it is the cup I use most often.
One of the reasons it is my favorite, it that I have one very similar that was #1 before my sis passed on and left me hers. This one was my very first item I bought when I was first on my own after college. I bought it at the local grocery and used it for a bowl, for coffee, for everything. I love this cup. And then my sister "gave" me hers. And it is even better... It is bigger, more ergonomic to my hands, and well, my sister's.


Here is my coffee cup cupboard, and I have to say, when thinking about the challenge I have a lot of favorite cups. In fact, there is not a cup in my collection that isn't special!

Thanks to the fellow bloggers who introduced my the Overlooked Challenge.

CK Convention

Sorry....no pics today!
I just signed up for the CKC in St. Louis and I am really excited to give myself an excuse to scrap, shop, and just enjoy for a day or so. This year I signed up for 3 classes and a crop, which is BIG, considering I usually just take one class and then wish I had signed up for more.

I am looking forward to seeing anything new in the industry to spark my creativity. I am particularly excited for the Clear Album Class after seeing Ali Edwards creations on her blog.

I am still working on the planner...tornado warnings and feverish toddler have delayed me.

2008 Planner

SO I had this great idea to make my own planner from cereal boxes for the cover and pages made on Word. I get it all done, make cute pockets, and place for my removeable to-do list and grocery lists and Kinko's can't bind it!

Well, ok, they might be able to, but the cardboard in the center is too thick (the to-do and grocery list page) and it will cost $10 (an extra $5 due to irregular size). If you make your own planner, go for 81/2 x 11 and it is only $5. I have some metal rings that I might use, but I am looking for suggestions!

I am not finished embellishing until I can figure out how to bind it all together.
Also, include a link if you have made a planner in the past--I'd love to see your work!

Year of the Pig--be over!

The Chinese New Year isn't until February, and this past year was the Year of the Pig. It is said to be unlucky for anyone except those born in the year of the pig.

Yea, today I found my cat, Smokey, frozen in the lake that our house sits on. Rest in Peace, buddy. The totally weird thing is that my parents' cat, Sam, died the same way 3 days before I left MI. My sister must want some pets.

Really looking forward to the Chinese New Year....

Resolutions?

Yea, I don't have one.

Today it is FREEEEEZING out and we had ice on the INSIDE of our windows. The poopy thing is that there is no snow! I don't mind cold if there is snow to play in.

I am in one of my favorite cold weather outfits today. Flattering?? Not exactly, but so comfy. It is my gray flannel skirt (that Tania gave me) with my dark gray Banana Republic turtle neck from a bazillion seasons ago, and tights. I will don my FAVORITE red Mary Jane flats when I have to head to Home Depot in a bit. I have to get that funky shrink wrap plastic for your windows to try and keep it warmer in here. Yea...the outfit is kind of school marm, but I am warm and cozy.

What is your favorite cold weather outfit? Feel free to describe in fine detail...

Back from Blog Holiday

Hola....
It has been a hectic few weeks since Paul returned home.
1. Trying to see everyone that Paul (it feels like) has ever met since his return.
2. Going to Iowa and getting snowed in while in BFE WITH A TODDLER.
3. Continued to unpack and clean--still not done.
4. Organized scrap area (one of the few fun things of this holiday season)
5. Gained some weight (struggling to breathe in my jeans as I type this.)
6. Played Sponge Bob Diner Dash A LOT.

SO glad to be hanging out at home and playing games for New Years.

I hope everyone has a Happy New Year. 2007 SUCKED a*%, so I am pretty excited to ring a brand spankin' new year.