daily dose of spazz

100+ Handmade Flower Tutorials

2011-06-27T11:54:00.000-05:00

Do you?...

This is the hottest way to keep track of all the coolest stuff you find on the web.
It's also a great way to waste a lot of time.
Warning: You will get sucked in and spend hours looking at pages of awesomeness all in one spot.
I save great craft ideas, recipes, and clothes all in this one spot.
And the best part is that it is total eye candy.
So, if you want to track all those sites and ideas in one spot, hop on over.
If you need an invite, let me know.
And you can find me there as spazzgirl, naturally.

On Pinterest and in my daily internet surfing, I've found tons of great tutorials for making flowers.
Every kind you can imagine.
And now you can find them all in one spot!
Just click to follow my Flower Tutorials board and you can get all those great links too.
Over 100 and the list grows every week!

Happy Pinning!

Hero Arts - Thanks for All You Do Card

2011-06-24T11:24:00.000-05:00

Very simple card to share with you today.
I love the bright colors on the kraft cardstock for this lively card.
Flowers are stamped with StazOn ink and then colored with a water brush and dye ink pads for a watercolor look.
I also used a White Signo Gel Pen to add a little pop.
For that main flower, I stamped with StazOn on to white watercolor paper and then colored similarly.
I made sure to make those shades darker so that it stood out more.
Stamped greeting on kraft and matted on black.

Hope you like it.

And now back to my testing of the Silhouette machine for Craft Critique.
My review of the Teresa Collins Stampmaker is now up though and you won't want to miss my cool photo stamps.
Like the one I used to make this neat card for my nephew's graduation.

Have a nice weekend!

Lawn Fawn - Say Cheese! Mini Album Class

2011-06-02T14:29:00.001-05:00

Trying to get back into the swing of things over here on my poor little blog.
It's so neglected with all my time spent on Craft Critique.
I'm a writing and editing crazy person over there.
Did you see all those articles last week on Crafty Businesses?
I'm also getting back into the craft game in another way, teaching.
It's always been one of the things I love most about crafting is meeting other crafters and sharing.
So, I'm back!

I've made some cards and I'm all set up to teach a mini album class, June 11th at Stampology Chicago.
The class uses the new Lawn Fawn Stamps, Say Cheese! and Say Cheese, Too!
If you are in the Chicagoland area and want something fun to do on a Saturday and make a little keepsake for all your fun photos, join me for this stamp class.

And if that wasn't enough to feast you little eyeballs on, here's a bunch of cards also made with the Lawn Fawn stamps.

Enjoy your Thursday and do something creative!

Yeah, I met Martha Stewart

2011-05-23T17:04:00.000-05:00

I know this post is loooonnnngggg overdue.
My friends have been sorely disappointed in my ability to get things done in a timely manner.
But they know me, so they should expect this. No?
And there was a great write-up of our Martha Adventure on Craft Critique, so I figured that bought me a little time.
Granted, not a couple months.
Plus, I never did a write up about my Caribbean Adventure with the craft editor of Martha Stewart, so they are rightly upset with me.

So, I'm making up for it right now with a feast for the eyes of tons of photos from my super awesome NYC adventure to meet the queen herself.

We were literally invited to this special Craft Hour show about 2 weeks before the show was scheduled to be taped.
Even with the short notice, we didn't even hesitate for a milli-second when we were emailed, you don't stammer when Martha's people call.
We made immediate plans to stay with one of our reporters, Morgan, in Jersey because let's face it NYC is big money.
(Plus, I would get to see the Jersey sites and hopefully a little fist pumping)

We arrived in Jersey on Tuesday and Morgan took us to her favorite pub for burgers and brews, which was a perfect carbo-loading pre-taping meal.

Since we were going to be taking public transportation to get into NYC, we mapped out a scheduled and determined we would need to be up at about 5am and out the door at 6:15am.

Now, maybe that doesn't seem THAT early to you but when you are on CST and you are now suddenly on EST with an early wake up like that, it is mighty early.

The excitement of the experience was enough to make me pop out of bed bright and early.

It even fueled me enough to put on makeup and cute clothes.

Our trip to NYC on public transportation was actually delightful.

Jersey folks are super nice and helpful.

I actually thought it was easier to maneuver than it is here in Chicago (and people were way friendlier).

We arrived totally on time, totally shocking for me, with a line of people outside the studio waiting to get in.

Once inside, we checked our coats and headed into the waiting room.

There are photos of magazine covers and Martha everywhere plus, they are playing clips of the show to keep everyone entertained.

I met Grace from Design Sponge in the waiting room.
But didn't see very many bloggers waiting.
We were invited to live blog the whole show and little did we know it was going to be LIVE.
I totally assumed it would be like the Blog Show Martha did, where the whole audience was filled of just bloggers.
But alas, it wasn't.
There was just a handful of us.
And they led us in first.
The studio is so cool in person and there is a lot going on before the show starts.

When we were led into the studio, I about died when I saw where our seats were.
Right in front.
Like the front row.
Like 8 feet from all the action.
And when I saw the names on the seats, mine was dead center.
Right next to Grace from Design Sponge.
When I spoke to her in the waiting room, she said someone was doing a craft from her site on the show which is why she was there.
So I knew the camera would be on her at some point in the show.
Which meant chance were that I would also be on camera.
ON CAMERA!
Talk about instant panic.
I quickly used my iPhone to check my hair and makeup.
And got all set up for the liveblogging during the show.
Joey came around while we were snapping away while he was getting the audience all riled up.

Then a photographer came over and took our picture.
Can you see all that nervous energy on my face?

And then Martha entered.

Cool as a cucumber.

The show started and literally it was right in front of me.

In fact one of the prompter screens was at my feet, so occasionally Martha and the guest would look directly at my feet.

The first project segment was with the Design Sponge girl and again, I knew they would be going to Grace.

RIGHT NEXT TO ME!

I typed away, liveblogging like a crazy person.

In fact, I didn't even see most of the show since my nose was in the computer the entire time.

But then...after Martha made her paper log...the camera went to Grace.

And me.

For that split second I thought to myself, "Hurry, look up. Smile. The entire world can see you and you make faces when you type."

So, I did.

And there I was on TV.

My mom should be happy with all that money she spent on braces now.

Then they went to a commercial break and Martha just kept on crafting.
Seriously, that lady loves to craft.
It was like she just had to finish every project she started.

And then the director would come over and nudge her so they could set up the next project.
It was all very calm and organized.
There's Hannah Milman, the crafter extraordinaire I got to spend a whole vacation with.
She's the sweetest person and just a fountain of information about craft.

In between each segment, a photographer would come out and snap photos of Martha and each guest.

There was a total rhythm to the entire process.

And Martha would crack jokes and say the funniest stuff.
If there was one thing I didn't know about Martha, it's that she is one funny lady.

Then it happened.
Before Hannah's segment, she walked up and hugged Sarah and I.
And just by chance, we asked, "Can we meet Martha? Is it possible?"
Of course Hannah was like, "I'm on it."
And during one of the segment breaks, the director comes out and is like, "All of you, on set with Martha."
Now, you know everyone was instantly up and headed to the right of that table to get close to Martha.
Sarah and I went left.
It was one of the smartest decisions we've ever made.
I should screen print myself a Tshirt that says, "I went left and met Martha."
Well, since we were the only two on her left, she turned and talked to us.
MARTHA TALKED TO ME.
What did I say?
Not sure really besides my name, I know I said that.
But we talked.
And then this photo was snapped.

And Martha turned the other way and quickly met the rest of the bloggers.
And the show went on.
At the very end of the show, before the end, the director came to us and quickly said, "Everyone get ready Martha is going to you next."
Wha...?!?!
Martha was going to introduce us, on camera.
And she did.
I was all clumsy and awkward because I had a laptop in my lap and had to stand suddenly.
And I know I said Craft Critique but totally didn't say my name...duh.
But it was like I instantly became a moron.
After the show, we were allowed on set to take photos.
It was a total privilege since the audience is not allowed on set.

Sarah Moore, Hannah Milman, Hosanna Houser

It was all like a dream.

Like I said, I felt like I missed the entire show.

When I watched it later, I felt like I was seeing it for the first time and that I looked like a total dork.

And if that wasn't enough, we then headed over to the MSLO offices for a private tour with Jodi Levine, the other editor I got to vacation with.

We saw it all!
Every nook and spot in the joint.
Martha's office, where all that cooking happens, the craft room...oh it was just jaw dropping.
And the prop room, where they get all there stuff for shoots and the set.
That was amazing, talk about owning everything.

And we got to pick the brains of the MSLO big shots.
Oh and see new product while still in the testing phases.
So amazing.
It definitely confirmed that it would be a dream come true to get to work there.

Then it was off to find a slice of pizza.
I had to compare to our delicious Chicago variety.
And I wanted to see the Statue of Liberty, if only from a very far distance.

And Time Square.

Dana Vitek, Sarah Moore and Me...The Craft Critique Editors

By 2pm, we were exhausted and headed by to Jersey.
Yeah, like I said it was all amazing.
And any time I think to myself, "Why does so much crap come my way?"
I just remind myself...Uh, You met Martha.

Proof: I Still Craft

2011-01-20T15:41:00.001-06:00

You would think that with all this time at home I would craft all the time.
I mean I have an entire room of crap.
But it's funny how when you have time to do it is sometimes when you are the least inspired to do it.
Kinda like when you are at the mall with no money, you find all kinds of things you want to buy.
When you actually have money and need to find that dress for your cousins wedding, you're not able or willing to find a thing.

Since I get emails from people asking me if I am teaching anywhere or advice on their current project, I finally got my butt into the local stamp store to see if they had any use for a pro-paper matcher.
So, I designed these cards and a few more for their classes and store samples.
I remember crafting being so simple but this was a chore when I started.
I was so outta the swing of things.
It was like I forgot how to ink a stamp.
But I think they came out great and Stampology and their customers seem to like them, so it all worked out.
I used new Hero Arts Stamps for all of these samples.
All the patterned paper is by Hot Off The Press, it's the Vintage Roses Collection.

I love this one, that flower is stamped on felt with white StazOn ink.

These were created with the Scor-buddy as well for those embossed backgrounds, love that.

This is probably my favorite of the whole batch.
I used the clear packaging that the stamps come in to make a window that was stamped in white StazOn.
I also made that little paper flower.

And these sunset backgrounds were great for the silhouette stamps.
This one was done with the Copic Airbrush system.

And this one was done with just dye inks and sponges.
The image was first stamped in Versamark and embossed with clear powder for the resist technique.

Well, at least I can say I made something in 2011.
I also have plans to attend this crop in March for MS, Crop For A Cause.
If you would like to sit at my table and do more talking than crafting let me know, the more the merrier.
It's a great cause with great prizes and I would love to fill a whole table.

Goodbye 2010, Glad to See Ya Go

2011-01-17T16:52:00.000-06:00

To say that 2010 has been challenging would be an understatement.
It has by far been the worst year of my life.
I guess I just have to have faith in the old saying, "whatever doesn't kill ya makes ya stronger" because I learned a lot this year in all the struggles the year presented.
I'm not a person to air my dirty laundry over the internet at all but I will say that I am a person who puts on a happy face and carries on.
Just gotta keep truckin'.
For me.
For the kid.

So, I'm starting off 2011 as best I can.
I'm attempting to be more positive although I think I make that a resolution and it never seems to stick.
I'm still working for Craft Critique and it keeps me busy.
I'm also looking for a new full time gig that can support me and the kid but it has been more difficult than I ever imagined.
Perusing Craigslist every day is pretty depressing, either I am over qualified, under qualified for a job that I have already done and had for years or they want someone who will run their entire business for $10/hr.
It's extremely hard to keep the faith but I am still keeping my chin up.
And my family has been amazing, helping to keep the heat on and food on the table for me and the kid, I couldn't be more lucky in that regard.

Last year I reflected on what I had learned in 2009, which was also no picnic toward the end but it had it's definite highlights.
I also made a list in 2005 and I completely still agree with that list.
And it makes me chuckle, I was funny in 2005.
So here's this year's list....

What I learned in 2010

1. Great friends should never be underestimated.

My birthday, CHA Winter in Long Beach, CA

2. Bad, upsetting, demeaning, fake friends should be removed from your life immediately and permanently.
3. Losing a family pet is just like losing a member of the family and way harder than I could imagine.

Neo, left us April 2010

4. That kid is way smarter than I ever was in school.

The kid won the school Science Fair and here he is at Regionals

5. That same kid is not the smartest outside the classroom.

6. Girl dogs are way more difficult to train than boy dogs.

7. Getting a puppy to replace an 8 yr old dog seems like a good idea but it's not.

Dita, adopted May 2010

8. I can always count on my sister to try and cheer me up with things go bad.

9. Owning a house is really expensive and stressful.

10. A new baby has made my parents baby-obsessed.

The kid and my new niece Lill, September 2010

Little Lill, December 2010

11. Working the Craft and Hobby Show (CHA) for a week is exhausting fun.

The Craft Critique gals, CHA Summer 2010

12. Teenage boys are just as mouthy as teenage girls.

13. Morons are morons, there is no reasoning with them.
14. Lists can never be underestimated.
15. My family is way less judging and more helpful than I anticipated, weird.

Those Mexicans, Thanksgiving 2010

The Irish clan, Christmas 2010

16. Turks and Caicos is one of the most amazing places on the planet.
17. Two big puppies are A LOT of work.

Me with Nasdaq and Dita, November 2010

18. Dating a nice guy is nice.
19. Having someone who knows how to take a photo take your yearly Christmas family snapshot is important.

My little family plus my brother's dog that had to get it the shot, sheesh

20. I'm way tougher than I thought.

So, there it is.
I learned a lot this year and it has not been easy.
But it's life.
And I figure that from where I am now, things can only get better.
So that's what I cling to.
And I am hopeful that 2011 will be my year.

Vegan Chocolatey Peanut Butter Cookie Pops

2010-12-16T18:07:00.000-06:00

Now, I know what you're thinking..."What the hell is the bacon lovin', steak devouring, rib cooking fanatic doing even using the word vegan?"
Well, I happen to be hanging with the likes of a vegetarian these days and since food is love to me, I have been working on ways to make my favorite recipes totally vegan or at least egg less.
It's like Top Chef Challenges in my very own kitchen.

My absolute favorite cookie is the Peanut Butter.
In fact, I like mine slightly burnt.
So, I made a few adjustments and tweeked it a little to add the chocolate but they are delicious.
And I entered it into the Earth Balance BakeOff Contest, wish me luck.
Mama could use that grocery money.
And on the upside I have a boatload of peanut butter cookie dough in my freezer now from all of my attempts.

So here's the simple recipe...

Vegan Chocolatey Peanut Butter Cookie Pops
* 1 1/4 cup(s) of flour
* 1/2 cup(s) of white sugar
* 1/2 cup(s) of light brown sugar
* 1/2 cup(s) of Earth Balance Vegan Buttery Sticks
* 1/2 cup(s) of Earth Balance Natural Peanut Butter Creamy
* 1 1/2 tsp. of egg replacer powder
* 2 tbsp. of Earth Balance Organic Soy Milk Unsweetened
* 1/2 tsp. of baking soda
* 1/2 tsp. of baking powder
* 1/2 tsp. of salt
* 1 tsp. of vanilla
* 1/2 cup(s) of vegan semi sweet chocolate chips
* 36 lollipop sticks

1. Whisk together egg replacer powder and Earth Balance Organic Soy Milk Unsweetened.
2. Add softened Earth Balance Vegan Buttery Sticks and Earth Balance Natural Peanut Butter Creamy style to the egg mixture and beat just until light and fluffy, don
3. Add sugars and vanilla to the mixture and beat until combined.
4. In a separate bowl, mix together flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Whisk together to combine.
5. Slowly add the dry mixture with the wet until combined.
6. Chill dough for at least 30 minutes.
7. Roll dough into 1 1/4 inch balls and insert a lollipop stick into one end. Place on cookie sheet.

8. With the flat end of a bowl or glass, gently press out the balls into one inch discs. Cookies will slightly expand while cooking.

9. Place cookie sheet into pre-heated 350 degree oven for 10-12 minutes, do not overbake. Cookies are done when they are golden brown.
10. Allow cookies to rest on cookie sheet for five minutes and then transfer to wire rack for at least 15-20 minutes to cool.

11. Melt semi sweet chocolate chips in a microwave safe bowl for 30 seconds at a time, stirring at each interval, until completely melted. About 1 minute.
12. Add melted chocolate to a sandwich baggie and snip one end to create a decorating bag for your chocolate.
13. Zig zag back and forth with the chocolate and allow them to dry at least 15 minutes. Be sure to start and end off the cookie.

14. Enjoy!

Yummy.
If you like Peanut Butter Cups, you would love these cookies.
And here is the non-vegan recipe, for my egg and butter lovin' pals...

Chocolatey Peanut Butter Cookie Pops
* 1 1/4 cup(s) of flour
* 1/2 cup(s) of white sugar
* 1/2 cup(s) of light brown sugar
* 1/2 cup(s) butter, one stick
* 1/2 cup(s) Peanut Butter Creamy
* 1 egg
* 1/2 tsp. of baking soda
* 1/2 tsp. of baking powder
* 1/2 tsp. of salt
* 1 tsp. of vanilla
* 1/2 cup(s) semi sweet chocolate chips
* 36 lollipop sticks

GreetingsFarm Card and CHA Preparations

2010-07-27T06:00:00.000-05:00

These are busy times in the world of craft.
Twice a year the Craft and Hobby Association hold a Trade Show featuring everything crafty.
It's kinda like a mecca of craft.
This big event is super busy for me and all the great folks over at Craft Critique.
We go on the hunt for great products for a week straight and report back all the details.
It's a rough job that I certainly don't mind doing.

After the Trade Show will be the Craft Super Show which is open to the public. YAY!
There you can take a workshop, do make and takes or just get shopping.
If you are in the Chicagoland area and love crafty deals, I would highly recommend it.
The Craft Super Show runs from Friday, July 30th thru Saturday, July 31st.

The best part about CHA is that I will get to see all my crafty friends from far and wide.
And I will get to meet people that I only know online.

I quickly created this cute little card with a Greeting Farm stamp that Jessica gave me at CHA Winter, 6 months ago.

I used all October Afternoon patterned paper and that cute little girl is colored with Copic Markers.

The flower is from Sassafras.

I am sure I will have tons to share after next week.

To stay up to date on everything happening at CHA this week, stay tuned to Craft Critique.

You can also follow me on Twitter or my updates will also be on Facebook.

Off to the big show...

New Puppy Scrapbook Layout

2010-07-22T15:04:00.000-05:00

I admit it.
I haven't scrapped a single page of anything in almost a year.
Totally shocking if you could see the entire room of scrappy crap that I have accumulated.

Lucky for me scrapping is kinda like roller skating.
Once you know how to do it, you can do it forever although as you get older and more time passes, the first time you get up on those wheels it may be super hard and you may fall on your face.
I decided one day last week that I was going to scrap.
I literally had to make a commitment to myself that I wouldn't give up and just one page done, nothing fancy.

It was hard.
Real hard.

I just haven't done it in so long and really lost my creative mojo.
And I know plenty more crafty people that this has happened to.

So here it is, the super simple page that took me like 2 hours and lots of cursing and frustration...

I used Making Memories Noteworthy Collection which I had sit collecting dust since it originally came out.
And American Crafts letter stickers, Heidi Swapp chipboard flower and Bazzill Eggplant color cardstock as the base although in these photos it doesn't look very purple.

Isn't she cute?
But man, don't let that cuteness deceive you, she is a little troublemaker.
She's 5 months now, totally house broken (thank god) but has her moments where she just feels like jumping up on to our dining room table.
And don't be surprised if you sit down and she instantly jumps into your lap like a 40lb. cat.

2010 has been a trying year so far.
I really thought it would be the year of the spazz and the stars would allign for me but so far that hasn't happened.
As much as I try to keep up with blogging, managing the Craft Critique blog keeps me VERY busy and so does life.
Isn't it funny how life gets in the way sometimes?

But, while I am still job hunting and trying to maintain some sense of order around my house and parent a mouthy teenage boy, I am determined to find my crafty groove again.
So stay tuned, if there is anyone out there on the interwebs who even look here anymore....

CHA Winter 2010 - Part Two, The Trade Show

2010-02-05T18:27:00.001-06:00

By Sunday, after two days of the CHA Super Show, the regular CHA Winter Trade Show 2010 began and I was already completely exhausted.
During one of the Super Show days, my buddy Nancy told me we had walked about 6 miles that day not to mention how much standing in one place we had done.
My dogs were barking.
But I couldn't slow down, once the big show started there were people to see and TONS of stuff to check out.

Here are a few of my favorite things I saw at CHA Winter 2010:

My Mind's Eye, Lil Robot Line!
I have a soft spot in my heart for all things robotic.

The new Dear Lizzy line from American Crafts, Elizabeth Kartchner looks like a model in real life, seriously, and was as sweet as the candy in her display!

The Hambly booth never disappoints at CHA for sure.
Maybe because Allison is always in the booth with a cool Make and Take like this years bangle bracelets...

Or maybe because of their cool projects like these pillows I have been talking about since they posted them on the Hambly Blog. (those are rub ons!!! More photos of the Hambly Booth in my post on Craft Critique.)

And Allison's mom was so sweet to give me the instruction sheet to make these cool flowers in their booth!

Apparently I LOVED the Cosmo Cricket stuff because I had a ton of pictures of their projects.

I fell in love with this little camera from their Joy Ride line, reminds me of a childhood toy I had.

These cupcakes looked good enough to eat but they were made with this new modeling clay, kids would love this stuff.

Speaking of cute, how cute are these?

I guess their name says it all.

My Cute Stamps is a brand new stamp company and I predict these images are gonna be quite popular.

Visited Martha's Booth and saw a couple cool new products like these stamps with coordinating punches, great idea!

And I had to check out the new Halloween stuff, since hers is always my favorite.

This cool project in the Kaiser Craft booth caught my eye because I love functionally crafty projects.

October Afternoon had lots of attention in their booth, as usual.

They introduced these two new lines.

Unfortunately, they only had some of their papers at the show, so I only saw a few of each line.

Studio Calico has their own collections now and their booth was one of my favorites!

Love their new products.

These fabRips are one of the coolest new products for 2010.

They had some of the best layouts at the show, it almost made me want to scrapbook.

Have you heard about the new Metallic StazOn? It's about time!

Stampavie was at the show and had wonderful stamps, perfect for Copic Markers.

Kelso and I checked out the new eCraft by Craftwell.

It's a die cutting machine for people who want to be able to illustrate their own designs and be able to die cut them.

Oh...and there's an App for it!

Spent a lot of time talking with Margie Romney about her new girls' paperie company, she is a real sweetheart.

Her papers and embellishments are awesome.

I have to admit, one of the best parts about going to CHA is getting to see all my crafty buddies that don't live as close as I would like.
Like, Ms. Jessica, who did live in Illinois until a few months ago, it was awesome to see her and the cool stuff in The Greeting Farm booth, love those pinup designs!

And remember, I met Carol Duvall at the Super Show?
Well, I ran into her again at the ProvoCraft Gala and my buddy, Susie got to grab a photo with one of her idols.

At the ProvoCraft Gala, we had so much fun and they gave us presents!

Who doesn't love cake and presents?

All the CraftCritique girls were there which was so much fun to hang out at a party together.

Nancy and Jenny were there, so glad I finally got to meet them.

Heather got to CA on Sunday and I was sad to only get three days to hang with this girl, she's my sister from another mister.

The day I was in CA was my birthday.
It was the first time in my many years that I spent my birthday without seeing any of my family at all and it was totally weird.
But I had my girls to hang with and they were so sweet.
We went to another party with the Scrapbook Etc. group and it was fun.
The most fun was that they had temporary tattoo favors and Dana added one to match mine.
Hilarious.

Kelso was so nice to drive our outta town butts around that night and the girls took me to a hole in the wall place to grab some Mexican food.

It was hilarious and sooooo fun.

I haven't laughed that hard in months and months.

Then, the bestest part of my birthday and this whole trip was our adventure to Yogurtland.

Oh, how I wish we had a Yogurtland in Chicago.

Love these girls so much!

I was so lucky to get to hang with these girls for 6 days.

Now, I have to wait til summer CHA to see most of them.

Boo!

CHA Winter 2010 - Part One, The Super Show

2010-02-02T22:42:00.000-06:00

Ok, here's the start of my recap of CHA Winter 2010, brace yourselves!
It was a crazy week.

CraftCritique had a booth at the CHA Super Show which started Friday afternoon.
Remember, I told ya I have a new job?
Well, this was a great way to get started that's for sure!
People were really excited about our big raffle and we had a ton of visitors to our booth, which made the day fly just blabbing with fellow crafters.

There were lots of retailer booths at the show but also a few Manufacturers who were showcasing new products and had free projects, like ProvoCraft.
People got to decorate their own cupcakes with the new Cake machine and make little boxes to take them home in.
I tried to hijack their cupcake cart once as it passed our booth, but unfortunately I failed.

Their booth was amazing, complete with stage and audience seating area.

They had some of the Ultimate Cake Off bakers there as well, which I thought was super cool.

Craftster was there too with their own booth.

They brought along a few of their cool projects by their members, I loved them!

CraftCritique also sponsored the Handmade Pavilion, which was awesome to have crafters there at the show selling their wares, like my buddy, Erin.

She had the best handmade booth, which she made herself!

And lots of cool samples.

There were lots of cool retailers there, some had some really good deals.

And I ran into this blogger buddy, Donna, who I always wanted to meet and lucky for me, she recognized me right away.

That could have been really awkward.

Oh and I watched a little of Carol Duvall's presentation as well.

But what is more exciting is that I actually met her in the hallway at the show.

I told her how much I loved her and have been watching her forever.

She tells me, "Oh honey, you aren't nearly old enough to have watched me that long!"

I love you, Carol Duvall.

I had no idea what to expect at the Super Show since I hadn't attended the one at CHA Summer 2009 but I can tell ya, it was exhaustingly fun.

I have never stood or walked for that many hours in a row, ever.

And I have never seen that many crafty people all in one place. (8,000 of them!!)

It was great to meet CraftCritique readers and even better to hang out with the CraftCritique girls but man, by the time CHA started on Sunday, I was already exhausted!

That part of the story, next.

One More Sleep til CHA Winter 2010

2010-01-20T11:38:00.000-06:00

My bags aren't packed.
I still have a few errands to run.
There is still food to make for the men to eat while I am gone.
Lists to write with explicit instructions.
But tomorrow I leave for California to attend the CHA Super Show and CHA Trade Show in Anaheim and I can't wait.

I am covering the event for CraftCritique.
See my name in the right hand column.
Yep, that's me!!
New gig, new opportunities but still in my realm of what I consider awesome.
And I couldn't be happier to be joining those talented ladies again.
But this time I am wearing a bigger hat.

So, if you want to know what is coming up for crafters in 2010, you can follow my tweets.
Click Here...

Love to tweet.
I'll be posting pictures and instant reviews and comments on the big show(s).
And follow along with CraftCritique because we have amazing coverage during CHA.
Photos, videos, interviews, sponsors.... more info than you can imagine!
And I can't wait to see all my crafty friends and talk crafts for 6 whole days.
Can you imagine?!!

If anyone has seen any sneak peeks of products they would love to see or hear more about, please leave me a comment.
I'd love to find it at the show and report back.
And if you are gonna be in CA for the show, where?
I'd love to run into you.

Off to prepare...

Party Animal Stamped Tag Tutorial

2010-01-18T16:38:00.001-06:00

Last week's tag challenge over with Louise was to make a birthday tag.
And since you can never have too many birthday greetings, I decided this was a good project of the week.
In fact, the only thing I made all last week.
Seriously.

Here's a little video of the entire process, start to finish.

Stamped Tag with Copic Markers Tutorial from spazzgirl on Vimeo.

Also available on Youtube... HERE.

I am getting ready for CHA this weekend and trying to get all my ducks in a row is a much harder job than I expected.

But I can't complain because I get to leave this freezing cold town for 6 whole days.

Yahoo!

Hope everyone is starting the week off right!

Tag Details: Cardstock by Bazzill, Patterned Paper by American Crafts, Gingham Paper by A muse Art Stamps, Rhino Stamp by Stampin Up, Ribbon by Creative Imaginations, Labels by Martha Stewart, Button purchased from Oriental Trading, Twine from Target Dollar Spot, Colored with Copic Markers in C1, C3 and BG15, White Gel Pen is Inkssentials by Ranger Ink, Traced with Copic SP Multiliner in Black size .05, Genstome by Hero Arts, Adhesive from Glue Dots and Scrapbook Adhesives. I use 3M ATG gun on all my projects!!

I want to Thank You!

2010-01-11T16:52:00.001-06:00

If there is one big thing I learned in 2009, it's who my friends are.
And how thankful I am to have them in my life.
I have friends I know online that I have never actually met and known for years that are some of my very best friends.
(try explaining that to people!)
I have friends I have known for years and have stuck by me through thick and thin.
I have friends I hadn't seen in decade and when we reconnected, it was like a moment hadn't past.

It's those friends that really deserve a card like this.
Although I would have to make about 20 more to cover the great friends who have been emailing their kind words the past couple weeks.

Stamped on Kraft cardstock and colored with Copic Markers, I love the results.
When you color on Kraft, the color will appear darker until it dries.

I colored my Glass Gem Stones with the Copic Markers to match.

I haven't embossed in a LONG time.
My embossing needs a little work.
You may be seeing a lot of embossing in the next couple weeks.

And one of my very bestest friends, Elizabeth, sent me this cool card...

Tiny cross stitch, isn't it cute?!!

She sells these in her Etsy Shoppe.
All different tiny stitches.
It totally made my day yesterday.

Off to start more cards for those cool people I call friend.

My card details: Stamps: Hero Arts CL304, Cardstock: Bazzill, Gem Stones: Hero Arts, PP: Basic Grey, Colored with Copic Markers, Ink and Powder: Stampin Up

Valentine Tag

2010-01-07T10:36:00.003-06:00

Today snow has blanked Chicago and it is gorgeous.
All this white makes everything look so clean and fresh.
Spoken like a true unemployed gal.
If I had to drive out in this mess, that would be a whole different story.

I've been in a bit of a slump lately.

Got a serious case of the blahs and just not feeling like doing much lately at all.

I've been cooking and cleaning and caring for the family but other than that, I am just blah.

So, in an attempt to get back in my groove, I made a super huge list yesterday of challenges, pub calls and project ideas.

And I put a call out to my 301 friends on Facebook to see if people wanted to swap some stamped images with me and luckily, 4 friends agreed.

Sometimes new stuff is just the push ya need, kwim?

One of the first things that I saw in my blog surfing was my buddy, Louise's tag challenge.

This week was polka dots and stripes.

Her vintage valentine tag is so cute and I thought that attempting to make something Valentine like would really be a challenge since it is my least favorite holiday.

My stripes are a loose interpretation but I had them in my scrap stash so I must get points for that.

I love these colors together.

And that stamp is one of my favorites.

I know just the man who deserves this and about 100 more.

Anyone else making anything Valentine? And who do you make them for?

Card details: PP is Stampin'Up, Stamp is Pink Paislee, Ink is Versacolor embossed, Ribbon is May Arts, Button and Ribbon is Stampin'Up

Hello 2010

2010-01-05T11:30:00.000-06:00

Yep, twenty ten is here.
Or do you say two thousand ten?
Whatever the case I couldn't be happier a new year is upon us.
It's like a clean slate, starting all over, a brand new beginning.
And I am ready for it.

2009 totally sucked.
There, I said it.
And have heard it a lot in the last week on Twitter and Facebook.
Sure, there were a few great things that happened in the year but as a whole, it pretty much stunk.
The year just flew by, working way too much and there were so many sour notes that I am happy to welcome the new.

When I was looking back at the 'ol blog for posts about previous holiday seasons and new year's thoughts, I found it VERY interesting.
I forget how long I've had this thing.
Almost 5 years!!
And I forget how interesting and insightful it is as a journal.
Well, back in 2005, I wrote this about what I had learned that year.
And I thought, "That was a great idea, wish I did that every year".
So I am again this year.
And I HIGHLY recommend it.
So, here it is, the good, the bad and the ugly...

What I learned in 2009

1. Buying a house is not as fun as you would think.
2. Even the best dog can do bad things.
3. Sometimes doing hobbies can feel like more of a chore than a joy.
4. Friends you've never met in real life are sometimes your closest friends.
5. It's never too late, for anything.
6. Puppies are a good substitute for a baby, they sleep in cages.
7. I'd rather a BBQ in our backyard over a restaurant any day.
8. Living together is much easier with more square footage.
9. Parenting a teenager is very frustrating.
10. The kid is way more like me than I ever thought.
11. Sometimes your very best friends aren't who you thought they were.
12. Labeling boxes for a move cannot be underestimated.
13. I'm not married to the most amazing man.
14. Vegas with this same unmarried amazing man is not as much fun as I thought.
15. Sacrifice should never be at the expense of family.
16. Holidays at home are the only way to go.

17. Working at a craft store is one of the best jobs on earth.
18. Working at a craft store is one of the worst jobs on earth.
19. I've missed a lot of my old friends, thanks Facebook.
20. I am one lucky girl to call this my family.
2010 is seriously a new chapter and I am excited for what it will bring.
Hopefully all good stuff. (fingers crossed)
And I'm not making any resolutions this year, is anyone else?

Happy Day!

2009-12-28T11:05:00.004-06:00

What a great day!
Christmas is over...Yahoo!
Nothing major on the To Do List, except grocery shopping.
Slept in til 10a.
And Purple Rain is on the DVR.
All is right in the world.

I made these cute little cards just for this kind of occassion.
When you just wanna tell someone, you rock.
They're in My Etsy Shoppe.
Made with the cutest My Little Shoebox papers.

I made these little cuties at home in all my spare time these days.
They are totally like the ones I made back at the store, in September.
See, they were posted here....

And if someone was blind or unable to play those games in the Highlight magazines as a child they may think they were the same cards.
But look!
They're not.
Different tickets, different dollies, even a different green for the grass!
Go ahead take a closer look and play, "One of those things are not like the other."

Here's the original...

Here's my new version, made at home...

See!
Different.
Anyone can see these are not the same card.
Because I don't have my original, unfortunately, I left it as well as hundreds of others behind.

Can everyone else see that these are not the same card?
Even though I designed both, I thought it was pretty obvious but maybe it's just me.

If anyone wants to make their own card exactly like this one, feel free!
The paper is sold at All that Scraps and Scrap Boutique and I am sure plenty of other places, search for My Little Shoebox, Little Ladies Collection.

And the cards, my cards that I made at my own house on my own time, are for sale here!
I hope that clears up anyone's confusion.
Thanks and have a great day!

Card details: PP is My Little Shoebox, Tickets are Creative Imaginations/Creative Cafe, Cardstock is Bazzill.

Preferred Lawn Santa?

2009-12-16T13:04:00.003-06:00

In our house, we are very opinionated.
Shocking, I know.
And we like to "express" ourselves.
Again...you're shocked.

Well, the current debate is over holiday lawn decorations.
Whether the old school plastic Santa

Kicks the new school inflated Santa's ass!

And every time we see one or the other, the argument continues.
Good thing we have neither, not even lights or nuthin'.

And the kid says, "they're both stupid".
What do you think?

Only 10 days til Christmas?

2009-12-15T11:08:00.003-06:00

Really?
Well, I guess I should think about buying a present, huh?
We haven't even begun.
Yep, we are major procrastinators.
And we're having Christmas dinner here, at our house.
At least I know what we're having, kinda.
And if the kid continues to change his Christmas list daily, he'll be getting cash.
It went from an Xbox to clothes to computer stuff to his latest request...a bar of gold.
Yep, it's what every teen wants for the holiday season...GOLD!
Apparently he saw something on the news about the value of gold.
Or maybe all those, "Send us your gold!" commercial have gone to his head.
Whatever the case, he better make a final decision.
It takes Best Buy elves a couple days to make an Xbox360.

On the home front, I am still playing house.
And besides the lack of a second income, I'm enjoying it immensely.
The kid tells me almost every day, "I am so happy you're here mom."
That makes me feel good.
It could just be all the baked goods I've been making lately, but it still puts a smile on my face.
And the man isn't complaining all that much either, which is good for my guilt.
He's been working extra jobs out in the freezing cold and tells me almost every day, "don't worry."
I'm a lucky girl.

And last week was pretty much a waste because when the man came back from New Mexico, he brought with him some nasty germs and succeeded in giving me a doozie of a cold.
Wiped me out for days.
Lucky though, it moved in very quick, was total misery for like 3 solid days and then gone.
I could have sent myself this card...

Hope everyone is remembering to wash those hands and staying healthy!
Have an awesome Tuesday.

Card details: Stamps by Cornish Heritage Farms, Colored with Copic Markers, Patterned Paper by October Afternoon, Stamped with Memento Ink, Cardstock by Bazzill. Card available for sale HERE.

Happy Friday

2009-12-04T15:44:00.002-06:00

Well, the kid was off school today so we enjoyed sleeping in, followed by a big bowl of warm Cream of Wheat.
Yum.
Almost as good as when my mom would make it on cold morning for us but I think she used a lot more butter.

We have spent the day in our jammies, total bliss.
We watched some Survivor since the kid had a homework assignment that required it.
Can you believe that??
What if we were one of those families that didn't watch TV?
Then what?
How would he ever understand Lord of The Flies without Survivor?
Man, times have changed.

I am still keeping busy making stuff for my Etsy Shoppe and just for fun.
I even made a December 2009 mini album to document this holiday season.
The December Daily project is just too much pressure, but I thought this was a happy compromise.
When I get a few pages done, I'll post it.

Here's a sweet little card made with an image I got from my stamping group over a year ago!

Isn't it a cute stamp?

I may head over to the One of a Kind Show tomorrow, downtown while the kid is at the Nerd Academy.
Lord knows I don't have any money to spend but I love seeing what everyone else is making these days.
Have a great weekend.

And btw... I am not the only one who is a major blog slacker, I got half way thru my bloglines to find many, many bloggers with their last posts being in April or earlier! I am still catching up, so I will "see" many of you soon!

(Card Details: Stamps from Stampin' Up!, Colored with Copic Markers, Spica Glitter Pen, Ribbon from Creative Cafe, Patterned Paper from Cosmo Cricket and A muse, Stamped with Memento Ink on Neenah Cardstock)

Pick your Jaws off the Floor...

2009-12-03T13:49:00.004-06:00

Yes, it's a post.
Yes, it's been a LONG time.
I know, I know, I know....
Apologies, now let's move past all that.

There's a lot going on in my world, most of which is still whirling and buzzing.
I don't even want to talk about anything just yet since the whirling and buzzing is still so new and fresh but it is giving me some free time that I haven't had in a LONG time.
And so I am playing full time mom to the kid.
And woman to the man, clean house and hot meals every day.
And catching up with my friends who were placed on the back burner.
And that all feels good, real good.

And I am making lots of stuff too, just for fun.
I have almost completely found the love of it all again and it makes me happy.

The kid is real good, he won his school's Science Fair and is now on to Regionals in January.
And for the most part, other than the nagging and help with the poster, he did it all on his own.

His project was on Using Bacteria to Speed Up Decomposition and for the most part, I understand it all but the crazy math equations had to be explained a few times.
He's still in the Nerd Academy on Saturdays, so we have a 6 day school week with all the homework that is involved with that and we are still getting straight A's but it has not been easy this year.
And we are still in the whole hellish High School Search, you would not believe the paperwork!
Entrance exams start in January and anxiety is really starting to set in, poor thing.

I am up and running in my Etsy Shoppe too.
Mama's gotta make money somehow, right?!
This little cutie is in the shoppe...

I have lots of projects to post, I swear I could use an assistant to just photograph and post these things.
And I have stamps to sell as well that will go up in the shoppe too.

I look forward to getting a look at everyone's blogs and catching up on what's been going on, I am sooooo outta the loop.
Off to catch up on my blog reader...

(Card Details: Stamps by My Favorite Things, Colored with Copic Markers, PP by A muse Art Stamps, Stamped with Memento Ink, Punches by Marvy)

Online Classes Available

2009-09-12T09:38:00.000-05:00

In all my free time when I am not taking care of a new puppy, running a Scrapbook store and caring for my family...

Whether you live 5 minutes from me or a continent away, you can take my classes in your own home in your jammies!

I have two great upcoming classes coming up.

Begins September 29th
Digital Photography is an amazing tool if you know how to use the camera. There are so many buttons and sometimes it is hard to just figure out what to do just to get a good picture.

This course will cover all the basics you need to get started with your digital camera as well as some tips to get the best shots you can. We will cover all the automatic settings, what all those little symbols mean and when to use them. Also, we will discuss in detail how to use light to your advantage in terms of your camera settings as well as the placement of your subject. whether you have a simple digital point and shoot or a DSLR, this course will cover all you need to successfully operate without looking at your user manual.

Photography doesn't have to be difficult. I will explain in instructional slide shows or videos how to make your digital camera your best friend and get the pictures you want.

This class will include slide shows or videos, photo tutorials, sample projects, student art galleries, discussion forums, scheduled chats and a useful plain English glossary of all those confusing photo terms.
Begins October 20th
Copic Markers are one of the most popular tools in paper crafting these days. Why not incorporate them into your scrapbooking pages?

This class will cover how to use your markers in other ways than just coloring to create stunning, vibrant layouts. I will walk you through all the techniques and show you just how to use those markers in tons of new ways.

Join me for this 3 week class, where we will cover more than 5 techniques and I will walk you through it all step by step.

This class will include instructional slide shows or videos, photo tutorials, sample projects, student art galleries, discussion forums, scheduled chats, and informational links.

I can't wait to get started with this new gig.
I will get to meet even MORE people in the cyber world and make more crafty friends.

My Busy Life

2009-08-24T15:15:00.000-05:00

(that title's an understatement!)

I don't think that title is larger enough or bold printed enough for the magnitude of my busy life.
I miss blogging.
I miss being bored at work.
I miss having extra time, just a few extra minutes to breathe.
I miss my friends and family.

But life is good.
Real good.
We are all moved in and settled (for the most part) into our new house.
There is always something to do or fix, but compared to a year ago and living in a tiny 2 bedroom apartment....we are in heaven.
Our family has been a major help to, installing water heaters, painting rooms, advising, and helping in about every way you can ever imagine, thank god.
Here we are the weekend we finally moved in back in late May...
(the kid IS a lot taller but he's standing on a higher step too, he's not THAT big...yet)

And the store, everyone is always asking, "How's the store doing?", well it's fine.
Could be better, could be a lot worse.
I've met so many crafty people at the store and am so lucky that part of my job is to hang out and talk crafts.
That's probably the best part about the store, the people.
I am even more busy this year than last, you would think that I would have learned to do things a little more effectively or been more organized but sadly I am a person who creates work for herself.
Like I tell my friends, I am the person standing in a large hole and instead of climbing out, I'm digging myself deeper.
We celebrated our first year anniversary and we have learned a lot in the first year, so hopefully we will have an even better second year.
And we've learned some lessons, the hard way but will just grow stronger because of it.

And since I have so much spare time.
And I'm already so deep in that hole.
I dug even deeper....much, much deeper.
And adopted this little bugger from PAWS.
Meet Nasdaq. (this picture is the best representative of the massive size paws this little guy has and just how big he will grow to be)

He's my new baby.
Everyone is always commenting about how I ONLY have ONE kid.
Well, I actually have three now.
And they are all adorable.
And two out of the three don't talk back.
Our old dog Neo is still getting used to having the little troublemaker in the house.
But he has a #1 fan who is always giving him undying attention, so that has to makes him slightly happy.

And he is an amazingly good puppy.
We've had him 3 whole weeks and I really think we are about 90% housebroken and he already knows sit really well.
He eats EVERYTHING, especially sticks, but luckily if you just tell him to drop it, even from a distance, he does.
And he is kinda lazy for a puppy so we are lucky he isn't a hyper little fella.
Oh yeah, since I know you are all wondering since you saw the size of those giganto paws...He's 13 weeks old today.
Like I said...He will be HUGE, bigger than our Rott when full grown.

Oh and the kid, well, he's still a teenager.
And he has lots of teenage angst from being misunderstood, naturally.
But luckily the nerd academy is finished for the summer and he's been off a few weeks now and the happiness that comes from a lack of homework has definitely made him nicer to his parents. (and vice versa)
He starts 8th grade in a couple weeks and I can't believe we aren't in kindergarten anymore, time flies.
And he's learning very quickly about girls.
And his mother is not happy about it at all.
Or handling it well.
I find it hard to accept that my baby isn't a baby any more.
Which is exactly why we now have a giant puppy so that I have someone at home to baby that doesn't tell me how uncool I am all the time.

And I still make crap.
Tons and tons of crap to be exact.
I am teaching about 20 classes a month at the store, so I'm still crafty if not craftier than I was.
Here's a little proof...

If you want to see more of my creations and need a little inspiration, check out the CraftFancy Gallery, I make most of that stuff as well.
Or on our CraftFancy Blog.
I also just started unpacking all my crap from when I moved it all into storage back when we moved into the tiny apartment and man, do I have too much stuff!
I am working on organizing and arranging, but expect pictures soon as well as a big giveaway and little garage sale.
I couldn't possible use all this stuff in my lifetime.

And I am teaching a couple online courses as well.
(there she goes again diggin' that hole deeper and deeper...see what I mean??!)
When I get more details and set dates, I will link it all up on this blog.
Since I will be blogging more, it's on my lengthy To Do List toward the top, right below Sleep, Feed Family and Breathe.

That's about it for now.
Back to work, lots and lots of work.
And then off for the week to get ready for our Housewarming Party on Saturday.
Talk about stress.
Hope everyone is well, I need to catch up with my bloglines reader that has over 5000+ unread entries.
Yikes!
Chime in and tell me what's new, save me from my blog list, please!!

Selling off one of my children!

2009-02-21T16:13:00.002-06:00

We finally found the house of our dreams, thank god.
(more on that later)
But now we need all new stuff to put in this house and having two cameras seems a little ridiculous.
I'd much rather have a new couch.
Or rugs.
Or curtains for the one million windows on the place.

So we are selling off the one that never really got used anyways.
It's a Nikon D40x.
And it has the kit lens.... 18-55.
As well as a zoom... 55-200.
And filters on the lenses.
And This Book as well.
And all the info, cords and stuff that came with the camera.
We are asking $850.
I think I can buy a couch with that amount.
And it is seriously like brand new, I think he took like 10 pictures with it.
This camera is listed brand new on Amazon with these lenses for almost $1900, so this is truly an amazing deal.
All the details on this camera are listed on Amazon, HERE.
Any questions, just ask.
Email me at spazzgirl555{at}yahoo{dot}com.

After our deal goes through, I'll be back with more details about our new abode.
Until then, keep your fingers crossed for us!

Hello 2009!

2009-01-23T11:55:00.033-06:00

(this is for my buddy Michele who begged me at the beginning of January to update my blog, I finally updated Michele! Can you believe it?)

It has been a crazy few months.
The holidays always throw me for a loop and this year it was even more insane with the store and the crazy snow we have been having, I am amazed I haven't checked myself into the funny farm yet.

Here's a quick recap of the last few months.
We had Thanksgiving with the family and of course there was lots of wine involved.

My sister and her fiance, K-Fred were there.
Did I mention before, she's engaged?
My nephew was showing off his new facial bling.
Nice...real nice.
And of course there was turkey.
And I tried to get a nice photo of me and the kid but I refuse to be shorter than him.
While I was trying to tippy toe my sister was jumping up behind us to try and get in the photo.
This cracks me up.
And now when I say I am the tall sister at 5'3", you will all believe me.
We had originally thought that we would have bought our house well before Thanksgiving and been able to host the major holidays in our new home but that just didn't work out as planned.
This made for an even grumpier holiday season.
I pouted about not having a tree.
I pouted about not getting to bake since all my cookware is in storage.
I pouted just to pout.
It was not a happy time in our house for sure.
And now looking back, I think it was probably for the best.
I didn't need all that hassle this year.
I didn't have the time for the tree or the baking or the decorating.
I did all my Christmas shopping 3 days before Christmas for christ's sake.

So I sat back this year and just went through the motions of the holidays.
We had Christmas at my dad's first, before Christmas.

And while opening presents, my father wouldn't turn off the golf game, so Tiger is in all my photos.

I got some really nice gifts.
And my parents weren't really thrilled that I still haven't opened my expensive cookware from last year.
But they bought me new kitchen goodies to go with them when I do eventually open that box.
My sister was there and I only see her a few times a year.
Nice to see that the kid ruins pictures he takes with everyone, not just me.
Christmas day was spent at my mom's house which is convenient because she lives so close.
Most of my siblings weren't there.
Only these 2 were.
The kid was being himself as usual.

And apparently I was in a totally pouty mood that day too because when I went searching for Christmas photos I only had about 5.

When my brother and his girlfriend came back from her family in Minnesota, we had Christmas for the third time and apparently by then I had had enough because I don't have a single photo!
I have to admit, not having pictures is kinda sad but not having to be the one taking them all the time is kinda nice.
It was good to just sit back and enjoy.
Even if there is no proof.

New Years was low key as usual.
We went to dinner to celebrate my psuedo-SIL's bday.
My little sister was there with her new beau.
Here's my brother and his 'stache.
Oh yeah, that's Katie and the kid too.
That 'stache kinda steals the photo and I forget there are other people in there too.
And this is officially the first photo of 2009 the kid had ruined.
Love my triple chins in this picture.
And am I singing??
WTF?
The kid turned 13 on January 1st too.
And I don't have a single picture of that either.
I think I just freaked out all day.
Pray for me people...pray that I survive these teen years.

My word of the year....TIME.
Make time for my friends.
Cherish time with my family.
Make time for me.
I need more of it and to learn to use it more wisely this year, for sure.

And for all you crafty people, I have made a zillion things in the last few months.
So feast your eyes on these...

(If anyone needs details about any cards, just shoot me an email or check out the CraftFancy gallery.)

I bought a paperwhites kit at Target after Christmas on clearance for $2 and last week they shot up like this...
This week they are gorgeous and smell great...

I am off work for 4 days and I am trying to distance myself and just enjoy being off.
Easier said than done.
I'm heading to the south side later.
I'll probably get lost like I always do.
I am meeting up with my friend Josie tonight to check out her new house.
Then it's off to see the stamping divas.

Tomorrow I am having a complete makeover and I am toying with the idea of an extreme change in hairstyle.
But I am a total chicken when it comes to hair, so we'll see how that goes.
And then out to dinner with my favorite friends and family tomorrow night at one of my favorite restaurants, Friendship.

Have a great weekend.
And enjoy it without your cameras or from the other side of the lens.

Joanne

2008-12-14T17:01:00.003-06:00

It is with a very heavy heart that I type this post.
I got a call from my buddy Michele yesterday, which I should have known right away was a bad thing since we rarely call each other on the weekends because we are so busy.
Our friend and fellow stamping diva, Joanne, passed away Friday night.
I think I said, "Wait...What?!!" about 5 times on the phone.
It is a shock to say the least.
Sudden and shocking.

Joanne was just the nicest person.
She had a kind heart and a sunny disposition, complete opposite of me.
She was a very talented stamper and cardmaker.
She loved her family and friends and it showed.
And she will be missed very much by anyone who knew her.

The first time I met her, she brought along this card as our project of the month.
And it's still one of my favorites.
I'm glad I never sent it to anyone.
I'll treasure it always.

I know Joanne is in heaven now where there are unlimited Copic makers, cardstock in every color you can imagine and your letter stickers never run out of the letter E.
She's making cards for all the angels.

It just reminds me again to tell the people in my life how cool they are.
To tell my family that I love them.
Hug my friends extra tight.
And make sure that everybody knows that they mean something to me.

Joanne, I will miss ya.
The divas won't be the same without you.
I was lucky to have called you my friend.

My Christmas Past

2008-11-22T13:00:00.000-06:00

Yes, still majorly busy.
But with the "most wonderful time of the year" upon me, I am feeling even more rushed, stressed and chaotic.
My grinchy attitude has already begun.

Although, I just reconnected with grade school classmates this week on Facebook and lemme tell ya...it was the highlight of my month!
If you are on Facebook, look up those old pals, it seems like everybody's on Facebook these days.
And to think that I was just happy to see all my crafty friends there, I had no idea everybody else was there too.
I haven't talked to or seen many of these people I have "friended" this week in over 10 years!
Ahhh...good times.

I am teaching at the store like crazy.
And this is definitely one of my most favorite things.
I made it using all my mom's old Christmas photos she used to keep in a little album that she put out each year.

There I am with my sister.
Love those flannel shirts and Dorothy Hamill haircuts.
There's me again in 1990.
Gosh, my hair hasn't changed much, how sad.
And that coat that my brother is wearing in this photo is so similar to the ugly Brady-esque jacket that Max is sporting these days.
That's my little sister just a few years ago and she is still that short.
Sadly everyone still thinks she's 12 when she's 26 now.
I love that smile, can you tell I hated having my picture taken as a kid?
And this was during my tomboy phase when I didn't where anything girly for about 5 years.
That brown hoodie was one of my favorite things.
And check out my green pants. Lordy!

That's my cute little sister.
Man, she was a doll as a child, super cute.
And I love my little brother's Jordache sweater.
Max said he wishes he had one just like it.
I love flipping through this little book all the time.
I have a flood of memories.
I just hope mom likes it.
She's not crazy about crafty projects but I think she may approve.

And I totally got this idea from the fabulous Louise who is so kind to share her best ideas with me.
It seems like everyone and there brother is making a Holiday countdown thing this year which is awesome.
Are you making one too??
Share.

PS. I'm teaching this class next Saturday, November 29th if anyone is nearby.
Checkout CraftFancy.com for more details.

Proof of the Chaos that is My Life

2008-10-24T14:50:00.001-05:00

(I know, you are all shocked to see an actual post...I am too.)

I am nothing but busy these days and it seems that when I get a minute to myself all I want to do is sit on the couch, turn on horribly bad TV and just veg out with a cocktail in my hand.
All those years I thought I was busy don't even hold a candle to the stress I am experiencing these days.
I am missing my slacker job more than I thought I would.
I definitely miss being home at 3:30p every afternoon.
And I definitely miss being able to be online and visit all my online buddies, see what they are up to, see how big their kids are getting, see all the cool things going on.
I feel very outta the loop these days.
And I miss you guys.
No, seriously...I really miss my online life.

The kid is keeping me busy as usual when I am at home.
We are in Science Fair mode again and since we placed 4th in the school last year, the kid has aspirations that he will win it all this year.
Which translated means that mom needs to step it up this year.

Friday I actually made my way down south to meet up with the stamping divas.
Michele, Joanne, Kim, Sharon and Lynda were all there.
So good to hang with some crafty girls and absorb some mojo.
(mine is wearing a little thin these days)
And I brought this little card as our project of the night.

Then Saturday I found myself at this school for a High School fair for the kid.
(I didn't want to believe he was old enough for a high school fair either!)
And they were prepping for interview questions to get into some of the best high schools in the country.
It was like college stuff, seriously.
And the kid was wearing the horrid 70s Brady jacket as I have been referring to it.
It is awful and I hate it.
And he LOVES it.
Here's a blurry glance for everyone that I have been trying to describe it to.
And I love this picture, doesn't he look so grown up?
And this blurry one is my new fav, even blurry.
He looks so mature.
And those eyes...no wonder he is popular with the ladies.
He is still dying to get into the top high school in the state. (#14 in the country)
And it is almost impossible.
He is also interested in a couple private schools in the city, one of which the fair was held.
And it is only $26k a year for them!
What a bargain.
But if he gets into one of them (with a full scholarship of course because there is no way in the world we could afford that), he would get to look out at this every day.

I am still creating like a mad woman.
I know you wouldn't know it if you looked at this blog .
But trust me, I am.
My current fav is this little planner I created as a class for the store.
More details (and projects) are on the CraftFancy blog.

And here are just a few more things to prove that I am still a crafty chick...

These last two cards are the latest additions to the Where Are They Now? Gallery.
It seems that people with sticky fingers also like cards.
My list of stolen cards is growing at a more alarming rate than I anticipated.
I make sure I take pictures before I place anything out in the store anymore, I have to.
And that is sad.

I hope everyone is well.
I don't blog hop at all anymore, so drop me a line, leave a comment.
What's up people??
(miss ya!)

Clever Excuse Inserted Here

2008-08-22T14:31:00.000-05:00

After a month long break from personal blogging, I don't think I can come up with a good enough excuse as to why I haven't, but I'll try...
Let's see...

Excuse #1: Stores take a lot of work.
Yep, I am work, work, working hard at the store almost every single day and when I am not there working, I am working on something for the store at home pretty much.
I am loving it completely.
But I am exhausted and always stressed.
It seems that I am never caught up.
I scrap every single day, although without a single thing posted on this blog, you would never guess.
Some of my goodies are posted on the CraftFancy blog and in the gallery on our website.

Excuse #2: I live with a man now.
And it is going surprisingly well.
But I like to spend time with him and he is always around to do that with, so blogging takes a backseat to that any day.

Excuse #3: I had A LOT of homework all summer.
The kid is done at the nerd academy now but it was pretty much 7 weeks of pure hell.
He had school every day from 8:30-3:30 and then would come home to do homework til he went to bed at 10p each night.
Yep, 5 hours of homework a night.
I never worked that hard, even when I was in college.
And I think I was happier than him when it was all over.
It will start again in September for Saturday classes and I am already cringing.

Excuse #4: I went on a mini "vacation" for 4 days.
I use the word vacation very loosely because we just went to Wisconsin Dells.
But I was off work for 4 whole days.
And besides checking my email only once, I did nothing scrapbook or store related.
And I spent time with my guys.
And this kid, who will be 16 in like a week.
I can't even believe he is my sister's kid, he looks less and less like her every day.

But it was awesome for Max to have someone to hang out with.
Even if between the three of them, I heard, "That's what she said" about a thousand times.
We spent a ton of money on this machine in the arcade.
And I even had a date night with the man.
We went out for a nice kid-free dinner and hit the Casino.
Shockingly, we were ahead when we left Wisconsin on Wednesday.
And our resort had waterslides, GoKarts and rides right there, so we had fun with that.
Although, I am totally beat up and bruised because apparently I am too old for those kinds of things.
And did you know you are supposed to hold on when you ride a waterslide?
The boys road the scary scary waterslide.
I took the pictures.
And cringed as my baby dropped to his death.
Oh wait, he's still alive.
And the last morning we were there, I insisted we ate at Paul Bunyan's.
My grandma always took us there when we went to the Dells and had such fond memories of it.
Boys aged 12-16 don't really find as much amusement in it as I did as a child.
I rode the Zeus rollercoaster to make up for my lack of enthusiasm over the freezing cold pools and waterslides.
Can you see me and the nephew?
The kid wouldn't ride, he was too chicken.
But he did ride the bigger rollercoaster.
That's only because a girl went on it with him.
The boys had fun hanging out and pretending to hate everything.
I had fun wearing a bikini and not feeling like a beached whale.
And the man had fun because we hit the Casino twice and won.
(plus, they sold beer at the waterpark and that made us both happy)

I totally miss all my blogging buddies.
But all is well and right with the world....Just busy.

CHA Brief (very) ReCap

2008-07-20T22:05:00.017-05:00

I spent 4 days at CHA this year and it all started with some special Certification training with these babies...
The certification was taught by Marianne Walker and was about 5 hours of intense coloring.
Ok, that sounded ridiculous but if you know anything about Copic Markers, you would know that these little babies are amazing little tools.

And this woman is seriously a Copic marker master.
Day 2 was more education as well as some sneak peeks from Fiskars and Creative Imaginations before CHA on Friday.

The highlight on Day 2 was that I got to spend a couple hours with this guy and I finally know what the heck to do with alcohol inks.
On Friday, CHA officially started and I was lucky enough to get to hang out with Michele for the day.

She was our "average shopper" assigned to help us pick things for the store that people will love.

It's a real tough job... but someone has to do it.

She looks miserable at the Hero Arts Make and Take... doesn't she?

I was officially in charge of making sure this chick ordered the best things at CHA and trust me, I made sure all things fabulous were ordered.
And I got to see some friends on Saturday.

Like Emily, who is the fresh face in Creating Keepsakes August.
And I ran into my girl, Josie, who I don't see nearly enough and we live in the same town.
And we got a picture for the store with this lady.

I know you aren't gonna believe this one but she actually told me she watched one of my videos.

Me?

Seriously?

And even more amazed that Debbie Olson and these 2 gals, JeanneS and BadSherry even knew who I was.

These ladies are stamping royalty, I am a mere peasant.
I met a whole bunch of other bloggers who I didn't even know before and was again flattered at the proclaimed stalking they are apparently doing.

Stalk away ladies, I don't think I am stalk worthy at all.

And it was so nice to hear people's excitement about the store, so cool.

Keep spreading the word ladies.

I took a bunch of videos and pictures which will be up at CraftCritique soon.

I have hours of editing to do.

This year's CHA show was OK.

In past years it has been absolutely outstanding but this year was about half the size and not too many must-have products like in the past.

In my opinion, kind of a disappointment.

There were a couple cool things though.

And I will leave you with just one picture of the most amazing stuff I saw at CHA.

Flower Soft.
And yes, we will have it in store with classes as well.

More to come soon.

If life wasn't crazy enough already...

2008-07-15T10:04:00.003-05:00

It is CHA week here in town.
And starting tomorrow, I will be living at the Rosemont Convention Center.

Michele and I will be at Copic Marker training for hours and hours tomorrow.
Then more classes for the store on Thursday.
And then back on Friday and Saturday to shop for the store and do a little taping for Craft Critique...did someone say CHA videos?
Yep, this year a press pass will let me tape all the coolness of CHA.

So, if you are going to be there just look for the wacky chick with the video camera blabbing about how we will fit all the new papers in the store.
And be sure to say Hi!

Life is BIZ-AY!

2008-07-03T10:25:00.000-05:00

Yes, I am still alive and kicking.
(thanks to all the nice people who sent emails to make sure I was still among the living)
I am so super busy these days that I am amazed I find time for eating and sleeping.

The kid is at Nerd Academy now til August 1st and it is majorly hard.
I am having difficulty helping with most of the homework.
He's only in 7th grade.
And there is a ton of homework which we didn't really expect.
Some homework would be fine but 4 hours a night is just painful for everyone.
Only 4 more weeks to go.

And the commute to the Nerd Academy from home each morning is a nice tour of the city.
I am amazed every morning that I don't see cyclists strewn along the streets.
With the way they ride and nearly cause accidents left and right...there should really be more tragic accidents.
After leaving the drop off in Lincoln Park, I head north to the store each morning and lemme just say...some mornings I am leaving my house at 8a and get to the store just before 10a!
Road rage is so much clearer to me now.
And I am having a problem staying awake on the road in the mornings, the traffic and lengthy commute make my eyelids super heavy.
I have started a regime of Red Bull in the morning the past couple days and it seems to be helping.
Last week I would drop off Max and tell him, "Have a great day and pray I don't die in a fiery wreck today!"

The store is great!
Our website is now up and awesome, thanks to Karen.
(If you are looking for anything web related, Karen is the gal to go to!)
She got the website up and running and even re-vamped our blog.
Now all we have to do is get the online store running and we are totally set.

Our Grand Opening was last weekend at CraftFancy and it went great.
I am just amazed at the power of word of mouth in scrapbooking.
My buddy, Greta blabbed about the store online last week and low and behold...2 girls from Fremont, Illinois (3 hours away!!) showed up to shop!
If I ever doubted the power of Greta, I don't anymore.
And everyone is telling everyone, which has really been the best advertising we could have ever hoped for.
So, thank you to all the blabbing crafters, you keep us in business!

I am officially moved, again.
Anyone who has known me for a little bit will know that this is the 3rd time I have moved in 3 years.
Yes, I am insane.
Well, the last time was just up a flight in the same building.
That was stupid now that I think about it.
But now I am temporarily moved into the man's apartment.
We are attempting to buy a house and it is taking longer than expected to find a dream home we can afford in the city of Chicago, so for now we are all cramped into his place.
So far, we are all surviving but it's only been 3 weeks.
And if he doesn't let me use his computer, since we don't have ours connected yet, I may kill him in his sleep tonight.
So, I'm definitely not a single gal on my own anymore.
Although, I am still technically single, no ring on the finger yet.
Not that I am holding my breath, I don't really care about such things.
I'm just happy we're all happy and all together...finally.
So yes, me and the baby daddy have shacked up.....Finally.
And once we find a bigger house for all of us and the dog, I will be even happier.

I am still creating like mad.
Especially with the store needing so many samples and classes.
It's what I spend my days doing, in between business stuff and chatting with crafty people.
And I couldn't be happier.
Even with the life-sucking commute.
It is my dream job.
Jealous?

And here's a little proof that I still make stuff:
It's the new SEI Poppy Collection.

Have a wonderful holiday weekend!
I am looking forward to relaxing and having a few days that I don't have to work, pack or move anything.

Off to make something fabulous....

Did Anybody See??

2008-06-15T20:15:00.005-05:00

Guess who's on Making Memories blog today?
I've been keeping this mum for a LONG time and man was it hard.
These little babies are the featured video of the day...
And if the crazy fast video is not your style (I had to make it fit in Youtube), you can watch the longer, slower, less crazy video that I taped first.

Making Lighted Cubes Tutorial from spazzgirl on Vimeo.

The MM features video can be viewed HERE (on Vimeo) or HERE (on Youtube).
Vimeo's quality is much better than YouTube.
And if you are in the Chicago area, the lighted cubes are right here in the store, so be sure to stop by for an up close look!

All my videos can be found on Youtube or Vimeo...be sure to subscribe so you'll know when new ones are up and ready.

Day One...I survived!

2008-06-10T09:51:00.003-05:00

Ok...very quickly because I am expected to open the store in the next 5 minutes...

THANK YOU so much for all the well wishes, shout outs, blog posts, phone tree calls to all your friends, encouragement about CraftFancy's opening day, it means the world to me and made our first day open a HUGE success!
All the awesome women I met yesterday and blabbed their ears off was so much fun and all the smiley faces made it more obvious that we done good.
After months of getting everything in order you start to wonder...Did we order the right stuff?
Will people like the way it looks?
Are the lights in here hot or is it just me?
(ok, maybe I am the only one that thinks that last one)
And all the compliments and encouragement I heard yesterday made my day.
So again....Thank You!!

Yesterday was my first day of not sitting behind a desk all day and I can honestly say I was wiped out when I got home last night.
This is what it is like not to be sedementary all day, huh?
I'm already kinda missing my days filled with the web, especially my email buddies that used to keep me entertained all day.
And I am already trying to figure out how I will keep up at home but I am sure it will get easier as time passes.
Well...gotta go open a store and do something crafty...ahhh...this is the life!

The Big Day is HERE!

2008-06-06T13:35:00.001-05:00

I am currently trying to survive my last day as an office slave.
I'll have more details about that next week, 9 years at one place really makes a mark on a person.
But just wanted to give everybody a heads up on the store and that if it seems like I am not online as much as I used to be, you'll know why.
Monday, my dream job begins!!
{{fingers crossed people}}

(details about the store as well as a list of what we carry can be found HERE)

DO NOT PANIC!

2008-06-05T14:14:00.003-05:00

I know everything here is looking a little off right now but don't ya love the new style?

My blog is just getting a total makeover and will be in full functioning order soon.
This amazing chick is revamping my whole look and she can work on yours too!
She has amazing rates and as you can see....She does magic with HTML.
Me + html = broken banner and links.

So, check out her website, Polka Dot House Designs if you are shopping for a new look for your own blog and I will post more details and stuff about it soon. But I can tell ya, her work is awesome and man, she is fast!

In the meantime, talk amongst yourselves, I'll give you a topic...Basic Grey paper is not really basic and not all grey...discuss.

Letter Challenge

2008-06-04T09:00:00.001-05:00

The challenge over at ScrapYourCrap is near and dear to my heart because well...
My name is Simone and I am a letter sticker addict.
Seriously.
I have a hard time not buying letter stickers anytime they are around.
And no matter how many letter stamps I have and that they are so much more economical (and you know I am a cheap gal), I still can't resist them.
And I use them on almost every page I make.
If you are like me and have a ton too, especially several kinds with certain letters missing (for me, it's S, M and E), then this challenge is perfect for you.
Please join us!
This title on this layout cracks me up!
But they are.
And look at all those letters I'm using up and all those brads too!
And that patterned paper, American Crafts' Celebration line, only cost me 20 cents at a sale a couple weeks ago!

I totally Frog-ot!

2008-06-03T11:50:00.001-05:00

These southside stampers I know get together once a month and do a little stamping and a little swapping of images.
Of course because I am a northsider, I have a hard time making the once a month session.
You should see the tolls I have to pay to get there!
And of course I have been a little busy lately.
But Michele was nice enough to stamp last month's image for me and shoot it in the mail a couple weeks later. (oh, you are more like me than you know Michele!)
She only did because she knew I would have an opinion about a frog fishing.
I mean come on, frogs don't even eat fish!
And if he did, wouldn't he just jump in the water?
But I figured it out...He is fishing for love! Another frog.
A girl frog!
Or boy frog, not that there's anything wrong with that.
Oh, how I justify things to myself for entertainment purposes.

For this card, I finally busted out my Copic Maker Airbrush system and used it on this card and the entire backside of my left hand.
I've had the thing since Christmas and figured since I am taking the Copic Certification next month, I may want to try it at least once before then.

Little froggy is colored with Copic markers and the sentiment is a stamp from Stampin' Up! that I altered. That patterned paper was in my scraps so I haven't a clue who makes it and even though you can't see it, there is a tiny bit of sparkle on the heart from a Spica Pen. Stamp is from Snips 'n Snails, Erica Payne sells these through ebay but I see she currently has none available, so check back later.

The southside stampers cards:
Michele
Lynda
Kimberly
Joanne

DT Work

2008-06-02T17:05:00.001-05:00

My stint as GDTM for NoelMignon.com is officially over.
I had a blast working with those girls and Noel for the month, she is an awesome person to do design work for.
Here are the last of my projects that I haven't shared.
All the details are on the Layouts and Projects blog.
That Thank You card is for you, Noel.
Thanks for picking me to bat for your team for a month!

And her new kit, Cotton Candy, is up on her site and if you need a reason to take a peek, I would say there are 20 pieces of patterned paper inside and check this out:

New Store Sneak Peek

2008-05-30T09:35:00.000-05:00

In order to maintain some sort of order in my life (was that just an oxymoron?), I have set up a separate blog for the new store, CraftFancy.
There you will find all the store information, pictures, video, freebies, etc.
So add it to your favorites, tell your friends, go on over and take a look... http://www.craftfancy.blogspot.com/.
And today, you will find this little sneak peek video that we took last weekend.
Don't mind the empty shelves and boxes everywhere.
And try to bear with the craziness of the video, the kid filmed it and I could just kill him for the 2 minutes of my booty he shot.
But enjoy and if you are in the area....I will see you soon!!

CraftFancy Scrapbook Store Sneak Peek from spazzgirl on Vimeo.

Busy, Busy, Busy...

2008-05-28T10:01:00.001-05:00

Life has been a bit busy lately.
With my gig on the NoelMignon.com dt, working on CraftCritique reviews (I have one up today), working the office slave job and raising an upstanding citizen...I have barely had a moment to breathe lately.
I completely forgot to post these RAK cards from some great gals...

This one from Lynn, this is soooo me. Love the sentiment.

And this little Bella from my buddy, Donna. She also sent me a little skull, this gal knows me so well.
And a huge thanks to Paula for sending me just a little more sunshine. While you are all warm and toasty, we are having a high of 55 degrees today! She may not be a regular blogger at the moment but it's nice to know we are still buddies.

And there is big news here at Max Central.

We got the letter on Friday that Max has been chosen to attend the High Jump program for (according to the acceptance letter) 2 years of rigorous education.

So out of the 400 kids who applied, Max was one of 65 who will be attending a 3 day overnight outdoor education course followed by 6 weeks of summer school and then Saturday school during the school year.

I'm thinking the same as you...what kid WANTS to do this??!

Yeah, that's my kid.

Totally switched at birth, nothing like me as a child.

He has had his heart set on going to Northside Prep since 4th grade and now that it has climbed to 14th place on the list of best high schools according to Newsweek, this program will greatly increase our chance for a spot in the Class of 2014.
So, to award the kid for his amazing accomplishment and to keep tabs on him while he is studying in the city all summer, I broke my cellphone rule that he had to wait til his 13th birthday.

He's pretty happy.

I was out at the new store, CraftFancy, on Saturday attempting to make all the baby goodies fit into the baby section of the store, which is nearly impossible.

The great news is that we passed the Village inspection today and will be opening our doors on June 9th! {I am working on editing a video I took on Saturday for a sneak peek for everyone this week}

I have officially quit my office slave job with corporate america and have my last day of sitting and typing on June 7th.

I am ecstatic about this and kinda stressed at the same time, trying to tie up loose ends before I am gone.

I've pretty much run the business on my own for the past 9 years, so I need to teach my boss how to use a computer before I leave in two weeks.

This explains my lack of comments on my favorite blogs and the reason I have yet to fix my blog banner that I broke last week.

But I hope to check up on all my blogging buddies real soon.

And I truly hope this is not a peek at the way things will be once I am not sitting in front of a computer every day and don't have time to surf the web and chat online with my friends...that could take some major getting used to.

My buddy, Michele

2008-05-22T09:30:00.001-05:00

This is my buddy Michele.
And I am now officially amazed that I have only 2 pictures of us together and we both look good in both pictures.
I am pretty convinced I can now only take photos posed next to her.
I love the way this LO turned out, totally simple with just a hint of sparkle on the butterfly with stickles, Michele loves the glitter.
And it is totally true.
She does totally get me.
We've been bestest of friends I think since the moment we met and we have so much in common, it is insane.
And she listens to my complaining all the time, like a trooper.
And lets me razz her to no end and takes it like a champ.
Yeah, I total love her.
She makes me look good in photos and is an awesome friend.

All the details about this page are featured over at the Noelmignon Projects Blog!!

Remember Foam Stamps?

2008-05-20T09:15:00.004-05:00

Do ya?
Well about 3 years ago they were all the rage and everybody had them.
Heck, everybody made them too.

Some of us still have some (or a ton) and never use them.
So that's the challenge over at SYC this week.
The title here was stamped with white paint first and then I journaled over it.
More details over at the ScrapYourCrap blog.

This picture so sums up the kid these days.
He is computer obsessed.
And it is always, "Ok, one minute!"
"Hang on, I'm saving."
"Just let me get to the next level."
Drives me batty.
I always say, at least he doesn't watch TV.
But wait, that little monitor is like a TV!
Ahh, but it is interactive.
And he mostly plays strategy and simulator type games.
He's currently hooked on Command and Conquer.
And occasionally he dabbles in the old school Nintendo.
But who can blame a kid for wanting a little Donkey Kong once in a while.
Especially after seeing this awesome documentary about it.
Just hope he doesn't want to be like the grown men in the movie, spending their whole life trying to beat the dang thing.
I hope it starts to warm up some more so I can encourage a little more movement out of that kid besides his fingers.

My Mini Garden

2008-05-15T16:24:00.001-05:00

I definitely do NOT have a green thumb!
I try and try to keep things blooming and they always die on me.
I luckily still have one house plant, Pauly the Palm Tree.
Corey the Cactus is still alive too, but that doesn't really take any sort of skill.

For a little project on the GDTM for Noelmignon.com, I used these little pots I got at the Target $1 spot and look, they're even growing!!

For all the details about this project, go to the Projects and Layouts website.

Day Late and $1 Short

2008-05-13T11:14:00.000-05:00

I am a chaotic person by nature.
I've got that kid.
I work almost full time in a ~~dungeon~~ office.
I pick up an extra kid after work every day and am responsible for him maintaining average grades as well as my own kid.
We eat a home cooked meal almost every single night, nothing extravagant but it still requires preparation and heating of some sort.
I try to maintain a love life with the man, mostly with just phone time (ok, that sounded bad) but occassionally I may even lay my eyes on him.
And it is just the way of my world.
Do I love it this way? Nah.
Do I kinda like it? Yeah, kinda.
I think I would be easily bored without it all, the constant motion, the underlying stress of each day.
It's the adult ADD.
I never would've admitted that before but I am really starting to come to terms with me.
I'm OK that I am a tad crazy, always.
And that I am unorganized and spazztic.
And constantly late.
Wait, that part of it, the tardiness, I don't enjoy as much.
At all.
I am your friend that will send your birthday present or card a month (or more) late.
I am the one always late to meet up.
Punctuality is not one of my talents, at all.
I'm just happy when I meet my deadlines occasionally.

And as the GDTM for Noelmignon.com this month, I am happy to report, I made my first deadline, thank god!
My submission for the Manly Challenge over there, you have til Friday to get your entry in and possibly win your own spot as GDTM for June.
Or if you want a little more permanent spot on a DT, she is having a call for that as well and all the details are HERE.
I can say, having been on the team for the past few weeks, it has been a breeze and the girls and goodies are fabulous, so if you're looking for a great site to do a little work for, I can't recommend her enough.

This page was made with the Scenic Route Providence line, completely. The only extras were the little buckle and the black chipboard from American Crafts.
LOVE those chipboard pieces!
Design is based on an Ali Edwards in one of her books, not the Life Artist, probably the patterned paper one, I love that book.

I know I am sucking at this whole blog thing(see above) but I am way busy these days with work, the new store (which I do not own, am just working there once we open, if ever), that kid, trying to find a house (did I mention that?) and still watching that devil child afterschool.
So bear with me.
And if you wanna see what I am doing, thinking, up to...Check out my twitter on the right side of the blog and also here.
Just more of my daily ramblings and nonsense.

Elizabeth's room of sCRAP!

2008-05-07T09:08:00.001-05:00

This is the very last of my scraproom tours I have.
Makes me a little sad because I don't have any more to work on (hint hint!) and because it seems like lightyears since I've seen this girl.
In the beginning of this video, you can see how I got the great product for the scrapMYcrap challenge over at SYC this week.
You can't hear Elizabeth talking but I swear when I watched it last night, even without the volume on, I could hear her like I was there all over again.
Man, I miss you guys!

Now a little bit about my buddy...

Name: Elizabeth Manna

Blog Address: My Own Lil Space

Etsy shoppe: good morning sunshine

Before you had a whole Room, where did you craft?: In my old house I carved me outta a space in my bedroom or I would use the dining room table…when I lived at mom’s for that year, I scrapped in her poker room.

What are 3 words you would use to describe your room?: MINE, over-stocked, serene

What do you love most about your room?: The fact that the windows occupy almost a whole wall (even though I need that wall space) but it lets in the most amazing sunlight. Plus, I get to look outside into the country.

Least?: As you can see I have entirely too much crap. This stems from being a hoarder, but I can’t get rid of it (see?!) and plan on using it all one day. Having all that crap though has come in handy in the past so I shouldn’t complain.

If you could change one thing about your room, what would it be?: More wall space to hang things. Unfortunately due to having a ton o’crap, my wall space is occupied with shelves.

What do you think is the coolest thing in your room?: Would be the shelve that you see with all my paints in it. My mom scored this at a yard sale. Actually she bought it from another customer for $10-$15 (I can’t really remember). Can you believe that price though??

How do you keep "organized" in your room?: Actually in the video this is the cleanest my room has been….lol. One thing that really helps me is to clean up as I go if possible. This is the biggest tip that I could offer anyone.

What do you own the most of?: Oh good grief…I have a lot of everything especially ribbon, paper, and stamps.

Do you craft sitting or standing?: sitting

Do you listen to music, tv, chat on the phone while working?: MUSIC….nothing like some classic rock to scrap too!

What crafts do you dabble in?: I like to make jewelry, play around with fabric, knit, cross stitch, play around with paints, and all sorts of other crafty stuff. If its crafty, I’m there.

Now how about a look at all her fabulous stuff...

Elizabeth's Room of sCRAP! from spazzgirl on Vimeo.

Little Mr. Smarty Pants

2008-05-06T11:52:00.000-05:00

I realized when coming up with one of my latest layouts, I never even mentioned that after the weeks of science fair bitching, I never even mentioned that the kid placed 4th.
Duh!
Well, he did.
His project was 4th in the fair which is 4th through 8th grade, so I was pretty impressed with myself...I mean him, I was impressed with Max.
The top 3 spots were held by 7th and 8th graders and so it was a big deal that he won.
He missed going to the regional fair by one spot and for about a month kinda wished that 3rd place kid would come down with chicken pox.
But now that he has his taste of the limelight, this may have been what sparked his whole new outlook on his school career and put us where we are now...approaching an entire summer of school by choice.
He's totally not my kid.
I was not like that at all as a child.
As parents we stress getting good grades and the importance of education but by no means are strapping him to set of Encyclopedia Britannica's each night and telling him, "Memorize!"
It's all him.
And it makes me proud.
And a little freaked.

This is for the project RAK challenge we had over at the ScrapYourCRAP! blog this week.
Be sure to check out all the great projects with this paper lace and we are giving away some lace to two more people, so head over for a freebie!

Details: Paper Lace, Diecut Paper by KiMemories, Labels by Jenni Bowlin, Creative Cafe stickers, Making Memories Letter Stickers, Doodlebug Letter Stickers, Scenic Route Chipboard Piece for the "cool".

She {hearts} Candy Too!

2008-05-02T18:29:00.003-05:00

My very first article is up over at CraftCritique.
It features this Layout...

Be sure to check it out!
And if you are looking to spend a little money tomorrow for National Scrapbook Day, my buddy Noel is offering free shipping all weekend in her shoppe and her current kit is awesome!
Happy NSD People!

Winner!

2008-05-02T18:25:00.003-05:00

It took the kid three times to pick a number between 1 and 38.
He's gifted alright.

But finally he said 28 and so the winner is.....

Stephanie said...

Vacation, I sit for teachers and get the summer off to travel and see my GD... I love everything about summer, warm nights, bird watching, long walks on the beach.

April 30, 2008 12:34 PM

Email me your info Stephanie and those summer goodies will be sent out to ya on Monday!

Almost at peace with nature...kinda.

2008-05-01T12:16:00.005-05:00

See people...the nest is still in tact.
Still on a window ledge, just not my bedroom window ledge.
After some careful consideration and a small amount of internet searching and encouragement from some of the blog comments, I decided that I just could not bear the idea of chirping every morning at dawn.
Yes, I realize some of you early birds are up way before that.
And that some of you enjoy the sounds and sights of nature.
But I am not one of those people.
And I am Ok with that.
I live in the city for a reason.
It is the sound of the roaring expressway 2 blocks from my house that lulls me to sleep every night.
It is the sound of various car alarms going off at all hours of the night that never wake me from my slumber.
I am a total night owl and sleep is toward the very top of my list of things that I absolutely love.
So, eight hours a night is a necessity to me.
I could easily sleep 10 or 12 hours and not feel like I wasted any time at all, I actually am pleased I spent it doing something I love.
And the kid doesn't even start school til 9am, so it seems rather pointless to be up before 7:43am.

All this in consideration, I thought it best to carefully move the nest.
And not across the street to the park, although that was an option but to another window.
I figured the momma bird would be happy that I just relocated her to another portion of the same building and would be able to find it easier.
So, I went to my handy dandy pile of chipboard sheets and took 2 sturdy ones.
I figured I needed one to push the nest on to the other, that way I wouldn't put people germs on the nest.
I called for the kids.
One to help me with the nest and one to hold the baseball bat in case the bird decided to swoop in and peck my eyes out.
I carefully opened the windows and began trying to scoop the nest on to the chipboard.
It was really on there.
Like molded to the window with mud, she had done a marvelous job.
It wasn't moving as gracefully as I imagined in fact it wasn't budging at all.
So I pushed a little harder, telling the boys the whole time..."careful, careful, carefu.....oops!"
Crap!
I pushed too hard and instead of it transferring to the chipboard it flew off tumbling toward the ground.
The boys began laughing hysterically and I did too because I was being so careful and chanting the whole time..."careful, careful"
Max took off outside to grab the nest and check out the damage, I followed behind him.
I was running down the stairs and out the front door saying, "Be careful with it, don't mess it up, I like nature, I didn't mean too, I was just trying to be good, Oh damn, It's ok, It's ok."
Like the karma police were listening.
Max scooped it on to the chipboard.
It was a little messy but still in tact, like I said, she did a good job.
I put the nest on the intended window in the front and took that picture.
Max just shook his head at me saying "tsk, tsk."
That kid preys on my fear of karma, I swear.

The next morning, same time, I heard the chirping and flapping again at my window.
I told Max when he woke up, "Those birds were on the ledge again."
"Think they're mad?"
"I think so, I coulda sworn I heard an f-bomb in between tweets."
I am praying she finds her nest and stops landing on my window each morning to yell at me real soon!

Chipboard Challenge

2008-04-30T10:37:00.001-05:00

I'll tell ya all about the birdie tomorrow, I'm gonna try to phrase what occurred in a manner that will be pleasing to aviary lovers everywhere.
I'm just not sure of a good synonym for "oops" yet.

Until then, the challenge this week over at ScrapYourCrap is to use up some chipboard.
I have a ton, so this challenge was one of the easier ones.
I used naked chipboard and inked it up with some white pigment ink and embossed them as well before added some stickers to them.
And also used the new Providence line from Scenic Route that I got from Noel's store and I love the colors.
It wasn't really on my must-have list, but since I have gotten it, I can't stop using it.
I also used some Scenic Route chipboard letters and inked the edges of my patterned paper.
Just a simple LO of Max's dog.
He is always looking for attention and secretly wishes he was a lapdog but at 100 pounds there is no way he sitting in anyone's lap.

The RAK is still open til Friday, so don't forget to leave your comments there!

Come 'n Git It!

2008-04-29T12:00:00.010-05:00

Man, after the 45 minutes of flurries we had yesterday, I am doubting whether we will get summer at all this year?
Here's just a little something to thank everybody for reading and commenting for the past 3 years...just a little summer delivered right to your door.

Just lemme know what you love most about summer in your comment and I'll pick a winner on Friday morning who's gonna get all this loot...
These will come in handy for a challenge over at SYC in a couple weeks!

This Day is for the Birds

2008-04-28T12:47:00.003-05:00

This morning I heard some very loud tweeting near my head at about 6am.
I thought I had heard it last Friday too but it didn't seem quite as loud as this morning.
And we were away all weekend, so I kinda forgot about it.
So finally, after much tweeting and flapping, I figured..better open the blinds and take a look to see if the neighborhood birds had decided to hold their morning meeting on my window ledge.
Open the curtains, lift the blinds...
What?!
A nest.
A whole lovely nest that some nice bird must have constructed all weekend.
No eggs, just an empty nest.
Close the blinds, shut the curtains...try to get a little more sleep before the alarm...
Nope, not gonna happen...more tweeting and flapping, ugh!

Once the alarm went off, I called for Max.
"Max...You've gotta see this crap!"
"What is it? Something good, something shocking? What? What?"
(he is very much like a hyper puppy when he doesn't know what's coming)
"Look. A nest!"
"Wow, no eggs though."
"No eggs but plenty of noise. What the heck am I supposed to do?"
"Ya want me to take it."
"No, I don't want that thing in here."
"But, it's cool. I could take it to school."
"And say what? Hey teacher, check out this cool nest I stole from a poor bird and brought in."
"Fine, then just push it off."
"Naw, I don't want the karma that follows destroying nature."
"Then, I guess you're gonna have to live with it."
"Wait, go back to the pushing it off...how would I go about that?"

I don't think I'm gonna push it off people.
Although I want to.
{I know I am a horrible person that hates birds and ladybugs too!}
I am seriously afraid of karma, so I can't just "Oops, did I push that when I was opening this window in 40 degree temperatures?"
But I definitely can't listen to that thing every morning and especially if she fills it with little squawkers, ugh!
Could you imagine the noise?
I am unpleasant enough in the morning with 8 hours of sleep, I can only imagine the pleasantness that would follow all the mornings of that.

Anyone got any ideas on how to relocate a bird?
That 6am chirping is making for a grouchy kinda day.

Cute Cards

2008-04-25T10:16:00.002-05:00

At the end of March was my little sister's birthday and I was flabbergasted when my mother pulled out a storebought card.
Egad!
I only have hundreds of cards at my house.
She only lives about 3 miles away.
And here she had gone and spent hard earned money on something that I make hundreds of a year!
So, a couple weeks ago, I packed up all my cards and took them to her house for everyone to take their very own stash.
You know, keep a little supply of the necessities...birthday, thank yous.
Well, everyone was looking through my cards, picking out what they could use and my little brother says, "Man, everything is just so cute. I can't give anyone one of these cute cards, can't you make something a little more guy like?"
Cute??!!
I am a person who tries to limit her cute.
Seriously.
So after I tried to defend my box of perfectly proportioned cute cards, I looked through them myself.
And wouldn't ya know...They are all cute!
Bleh!

So, I am now on a quest for non-cute.
I need some guy stuff, something that a guy could give and receive.
Less cute, more manly. Grrrrr.

But in the meantime, look at the latest cute....
This is an image I got from Michele, she will I am sure pipe in and tell us who makes it in the comments section, won't ya?

I also sent out a ton of cards for RAK lists and to peeps I just love, just cuz.
And I plan on sending out many, many more.
The problem is that the blogger RAK group I belong to on SCS is less than desirable.
I don't know how many of you are on this list, but last year alone I sent out about 30 cards and only received about 10...hmmm.
Plus, I had many cards that weren't even acknowledged at all, which is just plain rude.
So, I am hesitant to send out too many more cards to this list, especially with the price of stamps these days.

Would anyone like to join me in starting a new list?
A new group of blogger RAKers?
Or does anyone know of another more reliable group?

Just your typical weekend chaos...

2008-04-21T10:00:00.010-05:00

Friday night I spent my time entering product for my new job.

Oh, did I fail to mention a new scrapbook store is opening up in my neck of the woods?
Yep, you heard right Illinois residences, a new shoppe is currently underway.
Well, we are working as quickly as possible.
Where, you ask?
Arlington Heights.
When, you say?
After we make it look more like a store and less like this...

There was an 8am soccer game Saturday morning which I did not attend.
Yep, I am the bad parent that opts out of games earlier than 9am for my own sanity.
And then, after that and the world's fastest shower, we headed off to Max's interview which was at 11am.
Parking is a major PITA in the part of town, seriously.
It cost me $11 for an hour and a half!
But the kid did awesome and looked great, so think we may be a shoe in.
The best news I heard was that they had 400 applicants and only interviewed 100, so that alone impressed me.
Now, all we need to do is be one of the 65 they take in the program.
The worst news is that he will be in school almost all summer, full-time, which really puts a damper on some of our normal summer fun.
But he did let me take this picture, in front of the other school building, so as not to embarass him too much.

Then we drove 2 hours to University of Illinois to visit my baby brother.
We usually go down a couple times a year but this was the first time due to our crazy schedules.
We went to dinner, watched Juno with some of his friends and just hung out.
We also walked around campus because it was a perfect day yesterday and I always think this is one of the coolest looking campuses.
These two are really starting to look like twins, they even wear the same shoes!

We walked super far just so that the kid could get one of these...
What?!
Never had a bubble tea?
Drove back home with some of my brother's junk to move back home.
We needed to be back to go to Sunday night dinner, it's our family tradition.
Got back, raced to make this page for the SYC challenge this week.
I was so happy this page took me like a total of 30 minutes, start to finish!
I used the new Scenic Route Providence line I got from Noel's store.
And 24 brads!

And now it is Monday, the weekly chaos starts all over again!
Although sometimes the weekends are more exhausted than the week days!

I see I am now at 40,000 visitors {thanks!} so I will post the blog candy tomorrow, I need some photos of the goods so that you know what you'd be winning, right?

1990 Re-Visited

2008-04-18T14:00:00.001-05:00

I have been pulling out old photos lately to inspire me to scrap.
It seems to be working.
But it also seems like more of a walk down memory lane than anything else.
I've been thinking a lot about my life, where I've been, who I am.
I've pulled out old pictures of me, or the kid, and on occasion, I've even been getting a little misty.
So unlike me.
It's amazing how fast time flies.
And I look at old me and try to imagine what she would think of this current version of me.
Would old me walk right up to current me and give her a good smack, "What have you done?"
Seriously.

When I found this picture of me and the man, I instantly felt like I was 18 again.
Totally stupid and naive.
And completely smitten with this man from this very first prom night.
It was the easiest I have ever fallen in love in my life and the hardest, for sure.
And as much as I hate this picture of me (I remember I was eating fruit salad as it was shot), the memories of myself in this moment, in this picture, are priceless.
It just makes me want to take more pictures.
And pull out some more oldies.
I'm still astounded at how skinny we were and amazed that these too people made the coolest kid on the planet.

Paper is Theresa Collins and Foofla, Stickers are Making Memories, Grungeboard heart, Making Memories flower and brad.

Weird Happenings

2008-04-16T12:00:00.000-05:00

* I won the contest over at Noelmignon.com for my ballz page.
I am the GDTM for May, so expect some new pages soon with all my new goodies.
She has an awesome kit right now too, that Treehouse kit...Wow!

* The kid has been applying for some special gifted programs he was invited to apply for because of his rocking ISAT scores and grades and we have an interview on Saturday at High Jump which is a crazy intense educational program to groom kids who want to go to selective enrollment high schools.
They go to school Saturdays for 2 years and sessions in the summer too!
It is crazy learning.
But I think it is the only way he will get into his choice high school which was named #25 on the best schools in the country.
Plus, he is just way into school, which is totally weird.
(he definitely did not get that from me!)
And in the same week he was invited to apply for a gifted off campus program for next year that will give him high school credit.
He's excited that his Fridays would be half day at school if he gets in.

* And I have some other exciting news coming that will be revealed somewhere big in the next few weeks that I am absolutely giddy about.
It is just weird to have so much luck in one week, I am about the most unlucky person I know.

* And there are definitely weird things going on in the medicine cabinet.
I'm now scared to brush my teeth!

Mother of One, Again

2008-04-13T20:33:00.006-05:00

No, the mother does not read the 'ol blog.
She most probably doesn't know what a blog is.
And if she did, I wouldn't care...I told her all this in person and on the phone.
Us, single moms need to stick together!
Which is the reason I watch this kid to begin with, to help out my fellow SM.
But last week was so mentally exhausting, I was completely worn out on Saturday.
I did absolutely nothing.
Max was so excited to have order in the house again.
Went to a family dinner and took some headshots of my baby brother, but that was it.
And yesterday was pretty much spent the same way...doing nothing.
I watched bad Tv and stayed in my jammies all day.

This page is up at Scrap Your Crap for the challenge this week.

It's Tool Time over there this week.
So pull out your tools and try to use 2 or more on a layout, project, card...whatever, just use them!
I used my Sizzix (the old school red one!), my Bind it All and the Cropadile on this page.
And I realized that I broke my Cropadile!!
Has anyone else done this?
The little nib that holds the eyelet to set it was broken off.
I guess I don't know my own strength.
And now I need a new one because it sets the eyelets all wonky without that piece, which is why mine look weird here.

Ballz Challenge

2008-04-11T18:46:00.006-05:00

It's 6:47pm, Friday and that extra kid is FINALLY gone.
The mom was supposed to be home Wednesday night but she was booked on American Airlines.
Then there were storms last night.
And today I got to spend all day at home with the boys because there was no school...
so I am pretty much exhausted mentally.

If there is one thing I learned this week, it is that my child is VERY well behaved and every time he opens his mouth to get all teen sassy, I am going to have to remind myself of this long week.

I got one layout done today and I had intended on scrapping all day, that didn't happen...
It was for the challenge over at Noelmignon.com.
I know this picture is not the best, a bit blurry.
I got a new lens last week (50mm/1.8f) and I am still getting used to it.
I used some Scenic Route patterned paper and the Making Memories letter stickers that are my favorites.
I also used those washers with the words on them, which have been in my collection for many, many years!
The ribbons are Michaels, Target $1 spot and Creative Cafe.

I am looking forward to my weekend as a mother of one.
I just hope all that talk about getting snow was just another one of those pesky weatherman errors.

And the week goes on...

2008-04-09T16:58:00.006-05:00

Yes that extra kid is still here.
And yes, I am still coping...barely.

It is unfortunately THIS child that is making me want to slap someone.
THIS child who doesn't understand what it means to talk with an inside voice.
THIS child who is still in possession of stolen merchandise and refuses to return it to school.
And THIS child that has had every possible privilege already taken away, the only thing I have left to threaten him with is food.
"You better behave if you want to eat!"
And the sad thing is that with nothing to possibly do but sit and read and sleep, his response is "oh well, not so bad."
Yeah...someone needs a good ass whooping!
Seriously.

Today I hid back in the room of crap while my responsible child did his homework himself and is now out at the park practicing soccer because the season starts this week.

It is more of Elly's Squirrellystamps!
This time it is the little gnomie and the house.
When I first saw the little mushroom house I mistakenly referred to it as the "smurf house" but Elly quickly set me straight.
I colored the image with my Copic markers and added a nice white fluffy beard with some liquid applique.
It just didn't look right without it.
That green rik rak is from the Target $1 spot, I am thinking I shoulda bought more when they had it, I am nearly out of all three colors.
Don't forget to check out Elly's etsy shoppe for more great designs.
They are all unmounted rubber and work great with double sided tape or ez mount!

Back to babysitting duties.

Malfunction...

2008-04-08T11:26:00.001-05:00

My week with two boys under one roof is...interesting.
One of them has already tried to play the waterworks card, didn't work.
I am a ruthless leader.
And one of them has difficulty telling the truth which in my book is the #1 worst thing you can do.
Unfortunately that one doesn't fear my wrath as much as the one who has put in 12 years with me, so it is hard to scare any sort of sense into him.
Unfortunate.

I made this card over the weekend.
Thought I would get in a little crafty time yesterday but I was too busy listening to excuses and explaining what "possession of stolen goods" meant in jail terms.
This is another belated birthday card that needs to go out.
I am a total slacker friend and family member.
I used this awesome stamp I got from Elly who sells these cute stamps at her etsy shoppe and did I mention they are totally cheap and are awesome.
This little robo guy is just $4!!
And she sells the little gnomie guy too that I love so much.
The paper on this card is the new Cogsmo line from Cosmo Cricket.
I colored with my Copics and on the inside it reads.."Malfunction...Happy Belated Birthday!"

Off to look up jail times for petty theft...

Beautiful Monday!

2008-04-07T11:04:00.002-05:00

We had a beautiful weekend here in Chicago.
The temps were in the 60s, sunny skies and it was gorgeous.
Kids were in Tshirts and shorts (we get a little carried away when it gets just a tiny bit warm here) and our park across the street was packed.
We even grilled some steaks on Saturday, I almost forgot how good that is.

I unfortunately spent a lot of my time indoors on Saturday doing some much needed spring cleaning.
I even moved the couch!
You shoulda seen the colony of dustbunnies under there.

And I rewarded myself by pulling out the Copics and making a few things, like this card.
The image is from Whipper Snapper, I got it from Joanne a couple weeks ago.
And that sentiment is SU!
That ribbon was colored with my Copics to match the birdie.
I have been trying to make a bunch of belated birthday cards as it seems that I am always late.
And see all those buttons?
Well, we are getting all button crazy over at Scrap Your Crap this week, so if you are like me and have a few (I have well over 1000!) then join our challenge this week.

I am playing mom to an extra kid this week.
The little boy I babysit afterschool has moved in til Thursday.
So I am up to my eyeballs with, "He hit me! I'm bored. Why?! Max said..."
It's only been a day and I am ready to ebay both of them.
Anyone in the market for 11 and 12 year old boys?
But it is a good reminder that having one kid is a good thing.
It cures the baby woes real quick.
Now, I just need to figure out a way to get two only children to get along for the next 4 days...
(or I'll just be hiding in my room of crap!)

Wassa Goin' On?

2008-04-03T09:45:00.002-05:00

Man, I am a slacker, huh?!
But I am too exhausted to have been slacking.
I'm just busy...yeah, that's the ticket...busy.

* I am working on stuff for Scrap your Crap.
This week we're all getting felt up...no, not in a back seat kinda way!
So if you've got some felt laying around, come on over and join us.
My LO makes me giggle, look at how little the kid is.
Now we're eye to eye!

* I watched the movie, The Mist last weekend.
It's the one by Stephen King.
I can't stop talking about it.
Watched it twice.
It was a totally commentary on human nature and scary true.

* A very lovely gal sent me one of these to try out and review.
I guess cause she saw my video and knows I have a lot of ribbon.
So, expect to see that coming up next week.

* I'm also catching up on Rock of Love.
But I'm only on season one, still.
Without cable, I have to watch these things on DVD or in this case I bought it from Itunes so that we could watch it on the plane from Jamaica.
I am hooked.
The stripper just got Bret's name tattooed on the back of her neck....omg...I thought for sure he would stop her.
But that would be sane!
And even though I know who he picks at the end, thank you very much Greta, I am still enjoying the process immensely.
"Don't threaten me with a good time!"

* And I went and saw my buddy Michele last Friday all the way in the south suburbs which is a feat in and of itself on a Friday night during rush hour traffic.
We traded some images.
And Joanne showed us how to make this card.

Isn't this stamp cool?!
It's from Outlines stamp company and after lots of coloring with my Copics and cutting, lots of cutting, it look totally cool.
I think we successfully convinced Joanne she needed Copic markers.
And a blog. (just sign up already!)
Until then, you can see her gallery here.

* I also got a challenge done for NoelMignon.com.
And it was on time, for a change.
It was a sketch challenge, if anyone is looking for a good sketch, it is still up at her site and it's a good one.
And she has a new challenge posted as well.
The winner will get a spot as Guest Designer and the topic is balls.
Heehee...I said balls!

This LO is totally Scenic Route.
Perfect Camping paper.
And because it came with letter stickers and coordinating cardstock...this was super easy.
Even those chipboard circles are Scenic Route.
Again, super old pictures that make me laugh.
Man, I was hammered in that group shot but boy was it a fun weekend.

* I am addicted to the group Vampire Weekend.
Love the whole album.
It is exactly my kinda music.
The kid is now appalled that we like the same thing.

* Hell's Kitchen just started again this week.
I am addicted to people cooking and Gordon yelling at them.
I know, it's a sickness.
But there is nothing like high pressured lobster bisque.

That's about it, I think.
Just busy.
Today is sunny and I hear it will be almost 55 degrees...woo hoo, heatwave!
So before it turns totally gorgeous and perfectly 70 degrees I have been crafting up a storm and working on more videos.
Because once 70 hits, there is no way I can be kept inside.

Oh and it looks like I am coming up on 40,000 hits.
Can that be?
Really?
I'm just shocked when one person reads this wackiness.
Well, when that bad boy hits the big four-oh, I am giving away a little prize package filled with all kinds of summery goodness.

Nancy Jones' room of sCRAP

2008-03-28T09:54:00.005-05:00

I can't believe it has been a month since I was down south visiting all my scrappy girlfriends.
Feels much longer actually.
And I miss the awesome 70 degree weather, can I just tell ya we had snow again yesterday!
And I miss talking in scrap lingo with people who get it, everyone around here looks at me like I am bonkers if I use the word scraplift.
But I can't imagine the insanity if we all lived in the same town, I don't think one town could survive all us girls.

When I was in Mississippi, I was so lucky to get a chance to drive on over to Alabama (why not?) and finally meet Nancy Jones.
I've known Nancy online for a while and have always thought that her and I would always be a good match in a sarcasm contest.
And I was right.
She is a zillion times better in person, my face hurt from smiling and laughing when we left.
And an amazing scrapper, in both quality and quantity.
That lady scraps a lot!

So, here's a little info on my buddy Nancy and look inside her awesome room of sCRAP.

Name: Nancy Jones

Blog: That's Nancy with a Jones

Before you had a whole Room, where did you craft?: oh god I have a photo its scary but in the living room on the floor.....

What are 3 words you would use to describe your room?: MY SAFE haven

What do you love most about your room?: its MINE, has all my favorite things in it.

Least?: it can always be bigger.

If you could change one thing about your room, what would it be?: it wouldn't matter how big it was I would always want it bigger hahaa.

What do you think is the coolest thing in your room?: my scrap shelves my father in law made me. I LOVE THEM.

How do you keep "organized" in your room?: I go on a mad organizing spree every few months and re organize everything.

What do you own the most of?: patterned paper

Do you craft sitting or standing?: both

Do you listen to music, tv, chat on the phone while working?: all of the above. Whatever I am doing when the mood hits, whether its a tv show or listening to the radio or music or chatting on the computer I still work on pages or whatever I have going.

What crafts do you dabble in?: Mostly just scrapbooking and paper arts.

Nancy's room of sCRAP from spazzgirl on Vimeo.

Be sure to visit Nancy, read a little and you will be hooked, and let her know you saw her Mecca of Goodness on my blog!

Ribbon Storage Tips

2008-03-24T16:44:00.005-05:00

So here's the latest installment of lame, somewhat organized tips.
These are just a few ideas of how you could store your ribbon.
One of my favorite things to use for storing ribbon is my spool holder which was made by Greta's hubby.If anyone is interested in getting their very own, you can contact Miss Greta via her blog.
They are totally reasonable and I have never seen anything quite as cool or useful.
She's taking orders for unfinished ribbon holders in 2 different sizes, mine is the smaller version. Hers is featured on the video of her room.

So here's just a couple things I do...Enjoy the show.

Ribbon Storage Tips from spazzgirl on Vimeo.

Music by Smashing Pumpkins, Mayonnaise, forgot to add that to the video.

Spring RAKs

2008-03-22T12:50:00.006-05:00

Just a couple of great RAKs just in time for spring.

This first one is from Melissa using this cute little chick.
It even came complete without glitter, my arch enemy.
Thanks Melissa!
And Michelle is one of my bestest blogger pals, she always sends a cute card when I am least expecting it.
And always in a style that I absolutely LOVE, like these cherries.
I love this card, those cherries are perfect, thank you.

Hope everyone has a lovely Easter Sunday, we are still sick in my house and got a few inches of snow yesterday, so Easter will be spent indoors doing just about nothing.
Back to business on Monday!

Home again, Home again Jiggity Jig!

2008-03-20T14:39:00.003-05:00

Yup, I'm back!
Miss me?

Jamaica was fabulous.
Except for the fact that I got there and realized I didn't have the CF card in my camera.
Oh, and I got a stomache bug the very first day so I spent a lot of time praying to the porcelain god or sitting on his throne while on vacation.
And I am still pretty much as white as I was when I left, mostly do to all the time I spent in the room.
Yup, that's totally me.

But I met completely amazing people.
And I chilled a lot, mostly because I was sick until the day we left, but I don't know if I would've relaxed as much had I not been sick.
And I drank a little Rum Cream and ate very little jerk chicken.
But all in all, it was totally fab!

And while I was away, announcements were made over at Craft Critique about some new reporters and guess who's name was on that list??!
And there is a great challenge with flowers over at Scrap Your Crap.

For now, it's off to catch up....you would not believe the number of emails I got while I was gone!
Til tomorrow....

Greta's room of sCRAP!

2008-03-13T09:31:00.004-05:00

Before I leave for sunny and warm Jamaica where I will instantly burn when I step foot off the plane, I wanted to share one more video from my Miss-adventure.
A look inside my buddy Greta's scrappin' lair.
If I ever thought I had too much stuff, I was totally validated in Mississippi, those girls have a lot of stuff!
I wanted to interview each of my southern pals while I was in their rooms but alas, there was barely enough time to get just the videos!

So, here's a little bit about Greta's hideout...

Before you had a whole Room, where did you craft?: my living room, kitchen table and I even took over the foyer in my old house…I had that mess everywhere….

What are 3 words you would use to describe your room?: unorganized chaos

What do you love most about your room?: the lighting..when we were moving in o’neil had the electrician come in and put up fluorescent lights

Least?: the carpet…BLECH! That is coming up soon

If you could change one thing about your room, what would it be?: THE PAINT COLOR …working on that this spring…I thought I could live with that color but I just can’t do it

What do you think is the coolest thing in your room?: my ribbon holder the hubs made for me

How do you keep "organized" in your room?: organized?? what is that? {snort}

What do you own the most of?: hmmm…patterned paper, thickers, chipboard and felt

Do you craft sitting or standing?: both

Do you listen to music, tv, chat on the phone while working?: music

What crafts do you dabble in?: I sew and scrap…that is it

You can check out Greta and her crap at her blog --> HERE.
Enjoy the show!

Greta's room of sCRAP from spazzgirl on Vimeo.

EDITED: I just wanna add that those drawers that are all nice and conveniently closed are filled to the max with CRAP! Seriously...she knows how to pack it in when she hears the camera's coming!

scrap MY crap challenge

2008-03-12T10:23:00.003-05:00

We are looking for some Players over at Scrap Your Crap.

So, if you are up for a little challenge....head on over to the blog and sign up to
scrap MY crap!!

Stay tuned, before I leave for sunny Jamaica mon, there will be a little video and a little giveaway you won't want to miss!

Anthologies Scrapbook Studio

2008-03-10T09:52:00.009-05:00

If there is one thing I know about crafters, it's that we like pretty stuff.
We are generally people who love the look, the feel and sometimes even the smell of things and usually buy accordingly.
I am a totally visual person.
And so I love to see people's stuff.
I love to just look.

And so, while in Mississippi visiting my friends, I not only taped each and every scraproom I visited but I also made a short video of the scrapbook store in Biloxi called Anthologies Scrapbook Studio.

This is a cute store that is run by Jennifer Fox, who is not only one of the friendliest people I have ever met, but also a great scrapper and mom.
She single-handedly runs this well stocked store and also makes almost all of the store samples.
Inside you can find all sorts of lovely product such as Hambly, KI Memories and even the Creative Cafe!
And there is a good mix of themed lines as well as trendy, I love that.
And TONS of ribbon...my weakness.
And most of the store is arranged by product line...YAY!
And she carries entire lines of product, not just a few choice pieces, which is also remarkable.
And then there are sections for baby, school, etc. as well.
Which makes it easy to find something if you have a specific project you are working on.

So enjoy this little look inside this awesome store.
And if you are in the area, be sure to stop by and tell her some spazzy chick from Chicago sent ya!

Anthologies Scrapbook Studio from spazzgirl on Vimeo.
If you are unfamiliar with viewing these videos online, it is best to hit the play button, then pause til the entire video loads.
That way you can view the entire video without it stopping to load while viewing.
Hope that helps.

Happy Birthday Melana

2008-03-10T08:30:00.002-05:00

Happy Birthday to the cutest little princess in all of Biloxi!!

Happy Bday Melana from spazzgirl on Vimeo.

Old Skool Paper

2008-03-06T11:45:00.010-06:00

This morning...

Me: Max, take a picture of me with this paper, I gotta show Greta and I look cute today.
Max: You look cute today?
Me: Don't start, just take the dang picture.
Max: Why are you taking a picture of paper, I mean....
Me: JUST TAKE THE PICTURES!!
Max: Don't I need a flash?
Me: Nah...just take 'em.

Fine...here's the flash.
Isn't this the paper you own too Michele???
And the grand finale of the worst patterned paper I own and yes, kept after I sifted through my paper and gave away all the horrible prints I had in my collection....

I don't even go to the beach.
Or own a sealife stamp to use this on a card.
I don't even know why I bought this paper to begin with.
This paper has to go or be used in the next 30 days, or it is outta here.
It is on death row waiting for a pardon.

If you have paper like this in your collection, old patterned paper, join us over at Scrap Your Crap and check out what Greta and I cooked up!

I went to Mississippi and all I got was this lousy Strep!

2008-03-03T20:10:00.007-06:00

Yep, we came back and got sick.
I kinda expected it, with all those germ infested planes we rode.
And when I came back to work last week, my computer was sick too.
He greeted me with tons of porn popups.
A girl can only find her horny match so many times before getting bored.
And very angry.
So after countless hours with tech support.
I am virus free again.

And totally behind on my work.
And about 1000 posts behind on my bloglines.
And I leave for Jamaica in 10 days!
So much to do, so very little time.

And yes, I still scrap!

I've run outta new pictures to scrap that inspire me, so I started sifting through old photos that I never scrapped and it was like a trip down memory lane.
So, if you are in a scrappin' rut, I highly recommend digging through your old photos.
I think I actually forgot how little the kid was once.

Letters in this page are the negatives from my American Craft letters, this is one of my favorite cheapo tips and I use it all the time.
The paper is from KI memories, I bought it while in MS.
And if my friends ever questioned just how cheap I am, they witnessed it firsthand at the LSS when I only spent $20.

My Miss-Adventure

2008-03-03T18:54:00.019-06:00

Here is a brief recap of last weekend's Miss-Adventure.
The kid, Josie and I arrived safe and sound Friday night.
Not a single aviation glitch.
Josie was sitting a few rows behind us with a woman changing her burrito eating baby a few dozen times.
I was sitting on the aisle where I witnessed a woman lay flat out on the carpeting in the middle of the aisle about 3/4 of the way through the flight.
With her face pressed to the carpet, she calming explained to me and the flight attendant that she was just really dizzy and felt so much better clinging to the airplane's carpeting installed circa 1975.
That vision alone, almost made me require my barf bag.

On Saturday we ventured over to Elizabeth's house for her big birthday celebration.
We also visited the LSS in town (video coming!).
There was food.
And many presents.
Oh yeah baby...Look who's got a new gun!Here's *e* with her little Bella and her awesome Mom, Juls.
This picture was right outta the camera...they are just that good looking.

And Aimee was there too!
And who could resist using our wooden angel wings as 'staches!
Here's all us gals!

The next day we drove to Alabama to visit our buddy Nancy.
I told Max I was on my blogging world tour 2008.
We stopped at the beach for a few photos.Sometimes the kid was cooperative, other times not so much.
Now, this gal Nancy I have known for a while online.
But in person...Oh my, a thousand million times better!
Her hubby is a dream.
He was cooking, cleaning, tending house...this man is a prince.
And her scraproom...it would make you swoon. (video coming!)
Here we are after we were well fed and laughed until our bellies ached.We stopped to see the Katrina memorial and snap a few more photos...just cuz.
The lighting was perfect too.
The rockstars...On Monday we were flying back outta New Orleans.
Did I mention I went to four states last weekend?
While in New Orleans we got to see some sights.
Like the St. Louis Cathedral.

We even went inside although I feared one of us would instantly burst into flames upon entering.
My money was on her...she was wearing the shirt that said sinful!
(might as well have worn a target!)
And we saw Bourbon Street.
When asked how Bourbon street was Max has been replying, "stinky".
I think he thought he was a politician that day.And right before heading to the airport, we stopped at Cafe du Monde to get some beignets.
Max has been requesting that I make some, I told him I could just get him a big bowl of powdered sugar...pretty much the same.
We took our extras to go, good thing.

Then we were off to the airport for our 4pm flight.
I called on the way, since it was already raining or sleeting in Chicago.
The new departure time was 5pm.
We checked in, the lady at the desk told us it would be closer to 6p than 5p.
We figured we were in for a long wait.
So we planted ourselves in seats between 2 gates, ours and Los Angeles.
NO is a small airport.
And we waited.
Or backs to our gate, the whole time someone stayed in our staked out seats.
And at about 4:45p, I looked over my shoulder to see...No one.
Everyone in the Chicago area...GONE!
We ran to the screens to see if the gate had changed.
The only other Chicago flight was American and we were flying United.
I called, it said our plane had left at 4:39.
So we head back out the security gate, because there is no one to be found anywhere and are met with the most unpleasant woman.
She had a hard time believing we were at the gate the whole time and missed the plane.
Yeah...so do we!
I am so lucky, a thousand times over, that Josie was with me.
I felt like a complete moron, but it wasn't just me.
We all missed it.
So, our only option was to fly to Denver and then Chicago or wait til Tuesday.
So we flew to Denver.
And once on the plane to Denver...there was a computer problem.
We sat on the plane without taking off for almost an hour!
To make it up to us, they let us watch Dan in Real Life.
Then off we went.
We knew it was gonna be a close call for us to make our connecting flight but we figured...what else could happen?
Well, as we got closer to Denver, we were stuck in the air because of a storm.
And as we landed....we missed our connecting flight.
We just had to laugh and half cry.
Then when we ran our butts over to the nearest desk and got a new flight.
And guess what?
That flight was delayed too.
We finally got back to snowy Chicago at 2:15am.
And then we had to find our luggage that had arrived home many, many hours earlier.

After that it was off to the public transportation for a ride home that made me wish I had been packing heat that night.
Josie almost became a 48 hour missing person mystery.
And we were finally home, safe and sound after dragging my luggage and a tried boy through the snow, at 3:45am.

Phew!
That whole last 12 hours was dreadful.
But all and all, it was a marvelous time with awesome people.
And I will only travel with Josie from here on out.
No one can appreciate a mullet like that girl.

The Miss-Adventure

2008-02-26T14:01:00.003-06:00

Spent the whole weekend with these girls and miss them already!

I only have a million more pictures.
But they will have to wait.
We had quite an adventure trying to leave the warm weather of the south to return to a snow storm!
Josie, Max and I had 12 long hours of traveling across country just to make it home by 4am today.
We took the route from New Orleans through Denver to Chicago....
Yeah, it's a long painful story.
More to come.
Happy Big Fat Birthday to my buddy, Elizabeth!

Copic Card- Video

2008-02-22T09:21:00.003-06:00

As if you weren't spoiled enough with the peek into Michele's room of crap the other day, I present you with a little something to tide you over while I am on my MS-adventure.

I'll be back Tuesday with more videos, a look inside Miss Greta's craptabulous room and Elizabeth's craplicious area, as well as interviews with some of my most favorite girls!

Mississippi....watch out! Here I come!!!

Copic Markers - some basic info as I know it.
I am by no means an expert in the field of Copic Markers.
In fact, I would say that I dabble in the field of Copic and mostly marvel at the beauty.
So, these are just some info that I have found in my Copic experiences.
Or should I say, in my awkward attempt in using them.

Here's just a few questions I hear all the time.

1. Should I get some? Are they worth the money? Do I need them?
Well, being the self-proclaimed cheapskate as I have said many many times.
You don't need them but you may want them.
They aren't a necessity.
And if you don't own a good set of markers already, I would suggest that you consider these because even if you build your collection slowly, they are a great investment:
* They are refillable
* The nibs are replaceable
* They are artist grade
* There are like a zillion colors
* You can colors on all kinds of stuff

2. Are they easy to use? How long did it take you to "learn" to use them?
Easy to use....No!
I'm still learning.
Much like playing an instrument, I feel like when I don't use them for a while (a couple) weeks, I almost "forget" what I am supposed to do.
Seriously.
It took me about 2 weeks of constantly playing with them just to get some basic idea of what I was supposed to do.
I also watched, intently, the Copic lady show me how to use them for about an hour at CHA last summer.
And Michele gave me some basic pointers too in person.
So, it's not easy and there is a huge learning curve but if you are a little patient and like to play with coloring, the process will eventually become fun as well as challenging.

3. If I already own some markers, should I get these too?
If a friend asked me this question, I would say no.
If you have markers you like and you're getting the results you want, stick with those.
Again, it may just be the cheapskate in me that is advising you.

4. What kind do YOU own?
I have the sketch variety.
Yes, the cheapskate owns the more expensive version.
The only reason really is that I wanted to get the most bang for my buck.
The sketch work with the airbrush, there are more colors available and they have more replace-ability.
I also own the airbrush system but haven't even tried it yet.
It scares me.
But Max has and he LOVES it.

5. How do you store them?
I store them in the box they came.
Standing up, you don't have to lay these down.
I am sure I will eventually change my storage plan for these babies because as I buy more, I need a bigger box or something.
But I want to be able to travel with them as well.

6. Are you gonna make a video showing how to use them?
Sure.
I just wanted to show basic process for this one.
But I would be happy to add a little video tutorial to show a little more how it is done.
Just let me start playing with them again to focus my skills.

Let me know if you have any other questions.
See the part at the end of this post where it says...Comment?
You can comment there!
Or ask a question!
Or just say hi!

I also have a tutorial HERE and some more information about these amazing markers.

Now, on to the show!

Copic Marker Card Video from spazzgirl on Vimeo.

Tagged

2008-02-21T14:50:00.004-06:00

I got tagged by Linda over at A muse.
So here it is...fast and brief.

Stamping style - simple

Inspiration - everywhere but mostly online.

color - green. love green so much I could use it on every project!

work space - packed with crap

perfect day - jammas all day, clean house that I didn't clean, crafting and movie watching and delicious food that I didn't have to make or clean up after.

first job - day camp counselor at 13. Man, I have been working forever!

wildest dream - birds grabbed hold of my shirt sleeve and carried me to a blimp so I could try and save the people...it actually is probably not my wildest but it is recent.

ink - always winds up on my hands, my clothes, my face...man, I am sloppy.

beverage - diet soda. It is my weakness.

biggest challenge - sticking to things. I always try to commit but I suck at commitment.

Stay tuned...Tomorrow I have a little treat for ya.
Off to run errands for my trip tomorrow.
If you haven't seen Michele's Room...you can see it HERE.

Michele's Room of Crap

2008-02-18T21:18:00.011-06:00

Ok people...you ask, I provide.
An all new video!
A little look inside Michele Kovack's room of crap!

First, you should know, Michele and I are the best of buds.
I think we were the second we met actually.
I spotted her out of an entire crowd at CHA last summer.
And the first time we chatted, I knew we were cut from the same cloth.
Me a little less straight of a cut, but all the same fabric.
So like all my other buds, she humors me when I suggest...Hey, let's make a video!
She's good like that.
And when I tell her, I'm gonna ask ya some questions, OK?
She doesn't even ask beforehand what they are or if I know what I am going to say.
(I didn't)
And she let me take these pictures of her stuff too!

So, I just love her.
And she is just the cutest and one of the best gal pals a girl can ask for.
This video is a little goofy, but a good glance at her room.
And the little voice you hear chiming in would be her son Kyle who couldn't help but comment while he watched the moms acting all goofy.
For more about Michele and her awesome creations, you can check her out HERE.
Be sure to let her know you saw her here.

And if anyone else wants me to visit their room of crap, all it takes is an invite!
Enjoy!

Chelemom's Scraproom from spazzgirl on Vimeo.

(ps. This is the tool that Michele regrets buying...HERE.)