Scrap Bitz

A Birthday Wish!!!

2012-02-10T01:32:00.001-05:00

Hello & Happy Friday to you all! Do you have a fabulous weekend planned? Its Riley’s birthday (# 14) on Sunday so I’ll do a fun post for him on Sunday to celebrate. We still haven’t figured out what we’re doing….pulling info outta a teen boy is HARD man…HARD! So I THINK we are going to DC for the day on Saturday to the Air & Space Smithsonian, then dinner and some other fun activity with him and a friend. Then next weekend he will have a slumber party…umm yay mom will be in Texas so it will be up to my hubby to control the teens hahahaha (no I do not feel bad as that is my life most weekdays and weekends lol). So his big present….we got him into a football camp taught by his favorite Redskin Brian Orakpo this summer. It’s a 4 day over-night camp at a VA college and they do nothing but eat, sleep & run football drills…right up his alley eh? LOL—he’ll have fun and enjoy it I know. He’s such a big guy…6’1 currently and still growing with size 13.5 feet…clothing and feeding him is EXPENSIVE I tell ya---where the heck did my baby boy go? You blink and they disappear I tell you!

NewsBitz:

-My Copic Classes are ongoing at the CMC Classroom and I will be traveling this year again of course…fun for me & you right lol. I will be in Texas next weekend and I have just a couple of spots left if you want to attend…just email me if you want. Then I”ll be in Florida in 2 locations and then WV. I am working on dates for Vancouver and Montreal Canada as well so stay tuned for those Also this summer will be Chicago, Ontario, maybe Buffalo and possibly Montana…yayyyyy! All details will be on www.cmcroad.com for you.

-The weekend of May 19th the Outlawz is having a Crafty Retreat in Baltimore, MD and I will be teaching one day of classes. You can see the details HERE and then sign ups for my classes will be up at www.cmcroad.com --- I will do two classes that day from 8 am till 4 pm if you are interested in coming. There will be other classes, fun activities and people to meet with and its always lovely in the Inner Harbor during spring….so hope you can come!

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Birthday Wishes!!

Ok so today this post is for my friend and fellow Magnolia-licious DT sister Angie Hunt who is a Birthday Girl! Angie also teaches the Distress Inks class over at the CMC Classroom and is the owner of Little Darlings Rubber Stamps Store s and she’s just a super talented designer to boot and I’m happy to call her a friend! So her DT Lead & friend, the sweet Mindy Baxter decided to have a Birthday Post Day for her to celebrate and show off the new Lil’ Darlings stamps “Cutie Pies”. And while you are at it don’t forget to wish Angie a Happy Birthday at her blog here too!

So hope you enjoy and you can pop over to Mindy’s Blog Here to see the rest of the ladies participating with projects today!!

I got to use this super cute image from the Lil’ Darlings “Cutie Pies”…she’s adorable and her name is “What a Sweetheart”. I used papers from Prima for a spring-shabby chic look, I’m soooo ready for spring I tell ya LOL. To decorate I added some swirls made with a Heartfelt Designs SB die “Bella Rose” and then added some Prima flowers. A few pearls finish it off---I added some pearl buttons to her shirt and to the flowers on her hat too. And yes I had to bling her up a bit with some Stickles on her shirt, shoes & sash on her hat.

So go check out these “Cutie Pie” stamps…I’m sure you will find them absolutely adorable and want to add a few to your collection!! Enjoy & don’t forget to visit Mindy’s blog to see the rest of today’s birthday participants!

And a VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ANGIE….I hope its fabulous, fun and filled with lots of love and joy my friend!!!

Some Shabby-Love For Ya!!

2012-02-08T22:07:00.001-05:00

Hello all my friends and I know, I know…(hanging head low)…I’ve been absent from blogging the past few days….sorrrryyyyyy! It has been some CRAZY good times for me the past 2 weeks…dang…LOL! Get back from CHA and kinda…semi-recovered from it and then we headed 3.5 hours south to Norfolk, VA on Saturday to see Eric Church and Brantley Gilbert in concert (me, Alexa, my mom & niece). We had pit seats and yup we were right up against the stage…oh yeah baby…it was awesome and they both rocked it (see pics below). We got home around 3:30 am from the concert, I was exhausted and lacking my voice LOL cuz yeah I’m a bit of a screamer….why not eh?! Then we had friends and teens over for Super Bowl Sunday (yeahhhhhh Giants…way to bring it home) and I think we got in bed at 1 am. Then I was up & out the door by 8:30 am to head to NC to see my friends at Betty’s Stamping & Scrapbooking Room Store (in Greensboro, packed to the gills with goodies so get on over there to shop if you live close lol). I also got to have dinner with my pal Cyndi Bundy at her restaurant in Winston-Salem and then met up with another friend that evening that I hadn’t seen in ages. So bedtime was around 2 am and then I was up and outta there and back on the road home for the 4.5 hour drive…I got home at 1:30 pm and sat in my chair and promptly fell asleep for 2 hours until kids got home. WOW—I never ever take naps unless its on a plane so I guess I was beat huh? Yep I was, so I’ve been working but my creative mojo took a hit and I didn’t even go up into my craft room at all for 4 days but think I am recovered from all that. Slow down? Yeah I hear you all asking me that, and ummmm well NO…not till I’m dead….life’s too short and there is lots to do and I won’t complain much but you gotta do what you gotta do when the opportunity strikes LOL! Plus I’ve always been a very spontaneous person and the more the better is how I like to live so YES 2012 will be packed to the gills with travel, events, family stuff and crafty stuff…so hope you’ll join me on the journey

I had a blast at CHA yes I did and I got to meet up with lots of my friends which is always fun and met some new friends and got to do lots of fun things. I have a slideshow below for you of some pics. Thanks to all the ladies that came out to my classes in Anaheim, it was fantastic to meet you all and so much fun! Some parts of CHA are a blur as I ran from 7 am till 1 am every day working, meetings, lunches & usually 2 dinners and then drinks with another group afterwards. So YES CHA is a blast but boy the CHA hangover can really suck it outta ya…so if you get the chance to go beware ok LOL. I will be at summer CHA in Chicago again this year so if you are coming, make sure to come meet up with me ok…I love to see everyone!

I will tell you another fun CHA story that involved the Magnolia-licious crew LOL! We always go out to dinner with the lovely Diana Crick and this year we went to Bubba Gumps. Well Diana decided to mess with the waiter and tell him it was her 93rd birthday….and YEP he thought she looked fabulous for her age hahahaha. We had some great laughs, some great drinks & food and then ……..the birthday dance. YES all the male waiters came and serenaded Diana for her “birthday” and then she had to get up and shake her booty with them….and YES she did…I thought I might pee my pants I was laughing so hard. It was absolutely hilarious and a highlite…hmmmm Cabio has video so you might want to see if she’ll share it with ya LOL! We won’t talk about the idiot cabdriver that dropped me off in a empty parking garage under the GardenWalk….creepy…scary…and I had to run in heels. So thanks to my NEW cabdriver friend Pev for hauling me around CA while I was there…key to good travel---get a great cabdriver, get his card & call him when you need a taxi which for me was like 5 times a day. In a cab, outta a cab, back in the cab and outta the cab….the bell boys at my hotel weren’t SURE who I was or WHAT I was doing hee hee…its all good!

CHA Slideshow: (yes I have the same outfit on in most pics CUZ that was the only day I really took pics LMBO)

Eric Church/Brantley Gilbert Slideshow:

NewsBitz:

-Ok so I have Copic Classes in Waco, TX next weekend & still have a few openings if you are interested. Also I have 2 locations in Florida the end of the month then I will be in WV after that. Upcoming dates include Baltimore, San Jose, possibly Montana & Vancouver Canada. Keep informed at www.cmcroad.com or email me!

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Some Shabby Love

Today I’m sharing my project for this month’s Magnolia-licious DT Challenge hosted by my friend, the lovely Patti Jo Skogquist this month. She’s challenged us to create Shabby Chic/Vintage Projects and you can find all the details on the Magnolia-licious Highlites Blog and how to join in (plus see all the great DT inspiration).

I chose to use this new cutie from the Sweet Crazy Love Collection at Magnolia-licious—this one is called “Tilda with Peonytails” and she’s just a super sweetie! I colored her in sepia tones but kept the peony in pinks to pop!

I'm entering this into the following challenges:

Penny's Paper-Crafty Challenge (Love is in the Air)

Simon Says Stamp Challenge (Love)

Make It Monday (anything goes)

Crafty Sentiments Challenge (Girly)

Ladybug Crafts Ink TLT Challenge (Loves me Not)

Papertake Weekly (anything goes/love)

My papers are all a mix of scraps from Graphic 45, Melissa Frances and PTI. I used my fab Zutter Distress machine to distress all my papers and inked the edges. Then I had fun adding stuff….for me this is my fave part after coloring, putting different things on the card until I find the right recipe. I used some Prima rhinestone swirls, mix of Prima flowers, some tulle that I burnt (cuz I love to burn it lol) and the Magnolia Doohickey “Vintage Keys” die. The keys got a nice coat of stickles for sparkle cuz you gotta have bling! I also created a few tickets from a Tim Holtz stamp set, cut them out & inked them and added them to the mix.

I colored my image with Copics E47,E44,E43,E42,E41,E40 / E00 / R20,R22,R00. I stamped & colored the center of the peony twice so I could pop one part of it up for dimension. Then I added some Stickles to the flower for more sparkle! Around the edges of the image I stamped some Tim Holtz vintage stamps in brown. The mat die around the image is from Spellbinders. The Prima flowers were all inked a bit with brown ink to distress them too.

Ok that is all for today! I will be back on Friday with a special post so stop back! Also stop by the Magnolia-licious Highlites Blog to join in on the fun there! See ya!

Under the Sea!!

2012-02-03T04:00:00.005-05:00

Happy Friday to you all! Yay oh yay it’s the weekend…crazy weekend for me that is LOL! Tomorrow me, Alexa, my mom and my niece will trek the 3 hours on down to Southern Virginia to see Eric Church and Gilbert Brantley in concert…yeehaw and we have pit tickets. YUP…that means Suzanne will be right up next to the stage…ready to jump on in case I get invited KWIM LOL!! So "just put a drink in my hand” and we will be ready to go (hee hee..mine is Coke of course and yes that is a song he sings)! Then on Sunday we will be having a house full of people and teens for the Super Bowl party, two big screen tvs, lots of food and lots of noise….so god help me that I catch up on some sleep before then LOL.

Now if you were at the BookEndz Wrap Up party last night….well I apologize…heehee…I was still lacking sleep & a little slap happy. And well…the last book got us all started on the downhill of conversations I must say…I was laughing so hard I had tears and scared the cats out of the room. My teens said that I looked like an idiot laughing hysterically WHILE typing AND staring at the computer screen…my son said he’d never seen anything like it (yeah I get that a lot I must say)! But it was good times…oh good times.

Ok I have lots of CHA stories but I’ll just tell one today…its making my laugh as I type and think about it I must say. I will type more on Sunday’s post and have all my pics up for you too! Ok so Wednesday Marti (my pal) and I headed home via Long Beach Airport…it’s a tiny airport of trailers/small houses on a tarmac…I kid you not & I love it. We arrive at 6:30 am after NO sleep for 6 days right, we looked like zombies…red eyes and in a daze…for real-zers I kid you not (everyone has red eyes at CHA from lack of sleep and the dry air in the convention ctr).
So we already looked pretty darn scary I must say heehee. We went in thru security with a total of ZERO people in front of us (gotta luv that) and sat down…well Marti MUST have coffee so she disappeared into another trailer for a bit while I wrote a blog post & checked emails…yes in my non-sleep state yes I did. Then she came back and sat down…a very small Asian woman came and set down a bag full of flowers with roots in a large bag in the seat across from Marti (OMGosh I’m so laughing right now..sorry). Marti stares at it…I continue to type on my laptop…Marti’s still staring at it…the woman leaves….yup leaves the bag in the chair & disappears. YUP she disappeared and we ALL KNOW THE AIRPORT RULES HUH? DO NOT LEAVE YOUR BAGS UNATTENDED yes, YES! Well the woman leaves and Marti is still STARING at it cross-eyed…she leans over to me and is like “dude, the bag is creepin’ me out!” and I say “no worries, she probably went to the bathroom” and I’m laughing. Well the woman doesn’t come back and Marti is still staring at the bag and says “I think it’s a bomb and disguised with flowers” LMBO….her eyes are super WIDE now and she’s freaked and I’m still laughing. She says “well yeah you laugh cuz I’m the one in the direct line of FIRE” and then she jumps up and goes straight over to the TSA security agents to report the bag…OMG I was losing it I was hysterical that I thought they might arrest ME at that point. The TSA agents come over & start poking thru the bag (ummm yeah who pokes thru a bag that could contain a bomb right ahem…yep…lol). Then the small Asian lady comes running up the aisle shouting in her native language…not sure what she said but it all sounded mad…and grabbing at the bag. At this point Suzanne is on the floor, Marti looks like she might die and I’m sure everyone in the airport thought we were LOONS. Anyway they clear the bag and tell her not to leave it and blah blah blah…now the both of us are AWAKE for sure We go to board the plane…yes you have to walk out of the trailer and around the construction on the tarmac and up a gang-plank to the airplane. Marti is behind me & I turn around to tell her something and I see the Asian woman WITH the bag of flowers behind Marti..hahaha..and I say “hey turn around, bomb lady is behind you”! OMGosh if you coulda seen Marti’s face…I was laughing so hard I was crying…the peeps on the plane thought we were officially nuts (yeah maybe we were at that point) and we are dying. I’m in the window seat and Marti is across the aisle shouting that the woman better not sit next to her cuz she’s in the middle seat bwahahaha. They shut the doors and the middle seat next to me isn’t take so MARTI decides as the plane is LEAVING to jump over to my seat side…the stewardess was like “PLEASE DO NOT GET UP, FASTEN your seatbelts and sit down” bwahahahaha. Then Marti sits in the seat and either she was so tired or had become an invalid overnight cuz she’s trying to eat Chex Mix and missed her mouth at least 20 times…OMG there was food everywhere…seriously she is like PigPen from Charlie Brown…the seat and floor were littered with food LOL! I’m sure they were so happy to see us out of California, out of the airport and outta the plane by the end of the day….just another Cha Cha Cha trip for us that is for sure!!!

OK---Newsies:

-New W. VA location (in Charleston, WV at Almost Heaven Scrapbook Store) up at my www.cmcroad.com site if you are near there & want to come see me & take my Copic classes. I’d love to see you! I will have lots more locations up over the next couple of weeks so stay tuned. Next I’m in Texas (still a few spots left), TWO locations in Florida so come register to come see me when I’m there, I just know it will lots of fun !!! I will also be in Baltimore in May if anyone wants to come....there will be an Outlawz Retreat the weekend of May 19th and I'll be teaching so stay tuned for details on that.

-Still time to join in on the CMC Challenge...its all about frosty, wintry projects and you can enter up till 8 pm EST tonight...so hop on over & join in to win! Next Challenge will be up by midnight tonight...everyone is welcome...you can use any alcohol markers or colored pencils to join in!!

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Under the Sea…Under the Sea!!

Today SCACD is releasing some awesomely cute stamps by Sylvia Zet for SCACD and I’m using “Elania” from the Adventures of Loli & Poppy line. Isn’t she adorable? There is also a Victoria Case release for SCACD too and you can see those cuties HERE! The DT and special guests are having a fun blog hop so you can see all these cuties in action…so make sure to hop along…you can see the whole hop list HERE too!

I kept my theme very Under the Sea and I must say I spent a lot of time on this card (it could be because I was both tired and too much of a fiddler with it lol). But I did love making it and hope you like it too!

If you are overseas you can get these at Elaine’s fab shop Quixotic Paperie!!

My papers are a mix of Prima and Memory Box that I had in my scraps…yup still trying to use up my scraps before I order more paper…ahem well I did order more paper but shhh don’t tell okay? LOL! Then I got busy with the details cuz’ I’m BIG on details, that’s the best part for me. So out came a MS border punch and a SB die (both done in black)….some clear Bella Baubles for bubbles, mini shells and then I distressed the edges with my Zutter Distress It machine. The leafy dies were done with a Marianne Designs die and then I inked them with black and added Stickles for sparkle.

This cutie is being entered in the following challenges:

Make It Monday (anything goes)

Craft Us Crazy (anything goes)

Delightful Challenges (dies/punches)

Do You Stack Up (anything goes)

Divas by Design (anything goes)

Creative Card Crew (fantasy)

So okay…yesterday my inner pyromaniac came out…I told Marti on Google Chat (yes we chat on google all day, I also text with my pals Tina & Anary & Pat all day too lol) that if she didn’t hear from me for hours that she should call 9-1-1!! I had fun burning tulle and ribbon for a nautical-sea-life look…what fun is that…oh boy…you should soooo try it! I loved the curly, crinkly look that it gave…very cool and no fumes involved…I promise hee hee.

Yes she’s colored with Copics including the background… BG11,BG10,BG000 / W9,W5,W3,W1 / E44,E43,E42,E41 / YR02,YR00,YR000 / E50,E25,E31 / E11,E00. I added Diamond Glaze to her tail and for some of the smaller bubbles, then while it was wet I sprinkled my fave DecoArt’s Glamour Dust on top…it suspends in the liquid for a cool effect. I inked around the edges of the image and then rubbed stardust Stickles on top for sparkly watery effect.

So now to finish off the blog hop please hop on over to my fabulous friend

Anki’s Blog Here!!

Make sure to check out all the new stamps at SCACD and while you are there check out the Memory Box dies….all are in STOCK now and they’re gonna fly out fast!!

A Short Story!!

2012-02-01T10:27:00.000-05:00

Happy Wednesday my friends! Whooo-hooooo..........those are the sounds of a very tired girl! As you are reading this I hope to be making my way back across the country home to Virgina with my pal Marti. I am typing this at 2 am so if it doesn't make a whole lotta sense...well I apologize but I'm pretty darn tired at this point!! I think I MIGHT have gotten a total of 15 hours of sleep since I got to California last Thursday, and that is NO lie. One meal a day, no sleep and lots of walking, standing, working & smiling can do a body IN! LOL! I'm hoping to sleep the whole plane ride because as soon as I get home I know the laundry will be staring at me, the teens will be fighting with each other to talk to me & tell me the stories of while I was gone, and the animals will alternately love on me and then go pout for awhile...ahhhh home sweet home. Both of my kids are sick and hubby still has bronchitis so I'm so hopeful to not pick up their germies but I have YET to come back from Winter CHA and not get sick...ugh! BUT I do plan on being in bed by 9:30 tonight....yeah that's WAY early for this girl but I'm sure I will pass out & I soooo look forward to climbing in my bed with my blankies & fave pillow :)

And YES, YES I have a ton of stories and pictures to share of CHA! For those of us that have been going to CHA for a lonnnnnnng time (we call ourselves dinosaurs lol) its always a ton of fun to see each other again, hang out & laugh and carry the "looks" on our faces of pain/exhaustion LOL! Each day is spent on the floor from early morning to 6 each night, for me that included working and then fitting in about 22 meetings with companies/stores in hour long spans. Then you rush back to hotel to freshen up (or try to in my case cuz by day 2 there's not much hope left lol) and then out to dinner #1, then dinner #2 and possibly drinks with another group of friends so that you fall into bed around 1:30 - 2 am and get back up to do it again at 7 am. And I'm a VERY light sleeper and I had two roommates that SNORED (god love them it was like a symphony in my room) so yeah not much sleep for me. I love 'em but next time I'm thinking I'm just gonna have to have my own room KWIM....I've traveled too much the past 2 years and I am getting too DARN OLD to not have sleep...this body is starting to break down LOL!

Thanks to ALL the wonderful ladies (and a few gents too) that came by to see me, caught me in between meetings or tracked me down on the floor while I was there. Its always so much fun to meet everyone, put faces to names and spend a bit of time with you all. I always appreciate the kindness & support that is shown to me and it never fails to amaze me that anyone would even recognize me let alone want to meet me...so thank you for that! And to ALL MY FABULOUS friends that I see each CHA...as always it was a total blast and I enjoyed every minute with you all...and remember WHAT HAPPENS AT CHA....STAYS AT CHA....LMBO!!!

So I will post again with some stories, pictures and new release from SCACD on Friday so stay tuned for that ok!!

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Gina K Release Day!!

Today is another release day for Gina K Designs and as always there are some fabulous stamp sets to be seen! I'm showing two today and both are more 4x4 style notecards that can be done fairly quickly if you want to make multiples. This first one has images from the new set "Stately Flowers 3" by Melanie Muenchinger and I chose to use the beautiful Magnolia image. I love magnolia flowers, always so elegant and beautiful and so representative of the Southern states. I kep the colors to fresh green and whites to really make the image pop and for a bit of "early spring". I used a CB embossing folder on the green cs and the mat is a Spellbinders die that I really love.

I colored the flowers with Copics using my W grays and then YG67,YG03 & G20--then cut them out & popped them with dimensionals. And I adore the sentiments in this set but especially this one...its something I try to remember each day and in all of my travels. I'm a firm believer in what you put out there comes back to you ten-fold so I try to put goodness, kindness and love out there as much as I can and when I can....something I've tried to teach my kids as they grow too.

My last card today is done similarly to the first one but uses the set "Menhdi Wishes". I chose the fish image and stamped it in blue Memento ink, colored some parts with R24,R22,R20 and then stickled the entire image for sparkle. The navy cs was embossed and then I added a few oyster pearls to the corner for decoration.

Ok that's it for me today but I hope you will hop on thru all the designers blogs below, leaving comments along the way so you can have a chance to win a Grab Bag of stamps from Gina K too! Have a fabulous day everyone!

Gina K
Melanie Muenchinger – Illustrator Stately Flowers 3
AJ Otto
Carolina Buchting
Cathy Tidwell
Donna Baker
Emily Giovanni
Giovana Smith
Jennie Harper
Jimmi Mayo
Lori McAree
Michelle Woerner
Sharon Harnist
Suzanne Dean (that's me..thanks so much)
Theresa Momber
Tina Gilliland
Vicki Dutcher

Lil’ Bitz of Love!!

2012-01-25T00:42:00.001-05:00

Happy, Happy Wednesday to you all! I am in high-motion-stress-run-crazy-lady mode today (well for the past 3 days) getting ready for CHA, my classes and all the other stuffs that need to be finished. And my hubby has been traveling this week (geesh what the heck was he thinking huh lol) so he’s not any help and of course my teens aren’t much help either. They’re more worried that they have clean clothes and food they like to eat….ummm whatever!!! But being the good mommy I am (uh huh yeppers I am) I finished every scrap of laundry, filled house with groceries and easily prepared food so no one STARVES to death! Even the animals have a fully stocked cabinet of treats & food. I leave early tomorrow morning and THANKFULLY I have a straight flight to Long Beach, CA and get in at noon Cali time. Tomorrow evening I have dinner with some friends and then my roomies Marti & Tina get in around noon on Friday to get the party started. Here’s the deal with CHA…everyone is on Facebook in the very late evenings…it’s a sickness—we FB each other even if we are in THE SAME ROOM….so if you want to see all the crazy goings-ons then log on…cuz trust me people get NUTTY when they are away from home, too much caffiene or other beverages, and not enough sleep does ODD things to people. I’ve seen it happen year after year and I never fail to be amused…and yeah sometimes I AM THE AMUSEMENT! But I never drink alcohol while at CHA, just soda…I’d rather watch the “others” LOL and alcohol just makes me sleepy & I don’t need to be any more tired than I am KWIM. If I do have a drink I’ll have a glass of wine but I’m not much of a drinker….I’m MUCH more FUN if I stick to SODA which is always my beverage of choice. (hmmpppftttt I had someone tell me that my drinking soda was NOT very classy…excuse me…well then I don’t want to be classy I told them LOL..I mean really) SHEESH! LIke telling me would really MAKE ME CHANGE OR CARE MUCH…I THINK NOT hahaha!
And I have a certain friend (oooh lordy she may kill me but I won’t say her name ahemmm hee hee) who wandered aimlessly down the street in Chicago asking random strangers if they “knew that Stevie Nicks was gay and were they surprised by it or not?” LMBO…I literally was on the sidewalk laughing my bum off…she doesn’t drink often or very much but it was JUST enough to get her to act ODD hee hee (I call it the CHA phenomenon). She may shoot me for sure now for sharing that but lordy it was funny---we’ll see what she does this time! So usually I head home from CHA totally exhausted and my jaw usually locks up from too much laughing, talking & smiling…I kid you not…that’s a site for sure..not a pretty one either LOL! And my pal Marti might be smothered this year…she’s a real handful that small lil’ chica that she is….she loses every SINGLE ONE of her hotel keys, every year first of all (last year she lost it before we even got to the room) and she has odd hours. She usually gets up around 3:30 or 4 am here at home so at CHA on West Coast hours she wants to wake up at 1 am and SKYPE her family…OMG…we have screamed & thrown things at her to shut her up LOL. So now she goes down to the lobby in her jammies, gets her coffee and does her stuff on her laptop until around 7 am when the rest of us “normal” folk wake up. In LA last year we were walking to CHA and a lady at the corner asked her (in complete seriousness) if she was “medically a dwarf”? OMG I and our friends bust out laughing cuz Marti IS under 5 feet but she will KICK YOUR ARSE---so Marti says “NO” and the lady says “well I think you are considered a dwarf at your size” and Marti says “NO I’m just short, my family is short”…at that point we knew to run….we were laughing hysterically and Marti was evil-eyeing us so we RAN…she SKEERS ME sometimes LOL and she KNOWS where I live bwahahahaha But she’s my smurfette buddy & I wuv her!! Ohhh the fun that is coming soon….stay tuned for all THAT!

PS....yes it was NOT a good Football Sunday in the Dean household...hmmmpppffft...neither of my teams won sadly...boohoo for the Ravens although they played awesome and I feel bad for the kicker Cundiff. But I will still watch the SuperBowl but I'll be rooting for the GIANTS!!!!! LOL!

NewsBitz:

-I had to get a larger room for my Copic Classes at CHA so I have a few spots that are open if anyone would like to come. See details at www.cmcroad.com and then just email me ok! We are sure to have LOTS OF FUN!

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Lil’ Bitz of Love!

Today I’m sharing a JUST FOR FUN card…I rarely get to play just because these days (and that’s ok I’m not complaining…just stating LOL) and I picked this NEW Tiddly Inks digi stamp called “Wryn-Grow a Little Love”. This is a new character and she’s just adorable…Christy Croll always does the cutest lil’ images. I decided to make a card that’s appropriate for Valentine’s Day or Just Because!

I'm entering this cutie into the following challenges:

Anything Goes Challenge (2 the 1 U love)

Die Cuttin' Divas (die-cuts, bling, buttons or bows)

My Time To Craft Challenge (fave embellie--mine is always die cuts)

City Crafter Challenge Blog (sketch--mine is flipped sideways)

Make it Monday Challenge (anything goes)

There She Goes Challenge (love is in the air)

My papers are from MME’s “Lost & Found: Market Street”—I love the fun mix of patterns and soft colors. I used my Heart Nesties (yep I bought them a couple years ago..I tend to stay away from dies of shapes like this but I love the hearts and stars nesties) and then sponged the edges with ink to “shabby” it up. The border trim is done with a MS punch, pearls, a bow and sentiment from PTI.

Awww isn’t she sweet….see more of Wryn HERE!? I colored her with Copics R22,R20,R00 / BG13,BG11,BG10 /Y21,E35,E31,E50. Then I stickled her dress up to bling it up prettily of course!

That’s it for me today! I will try to post some newsies while I’m away and I have some projects next week for the newest Gina K release too—so stop on by. Otherwise you can follow along with my trip on Facebook & Twitter LOL! Have a great weekend!

Music to my Ears!

2012-01-22T16:20:00.000-05:00

Happy NFL Sunday my friends! I’m typing this as I’m watching the Raven’s play and I can’t say for sure whether this post will make sense or not LOL! I’m hoping for a Ravens win and a 49ers win so that the Harbaugh brothers *both coaches* meet up in the Superbowl…..rock on!!!

I have to go over to the high school at 5:30 to set up for the musical tonight but we are only staying for the first part to see Alexa & then going home….geesh why have a musical on an NFL playoff night…not wise LOL! Let me tell you a funny…..quite a few years ago I asked hubby for tickets to see “Mamma Mia” on broadway in DC for Christmas. Well he was so excited to give me the tickets that year because he got us 3rd row, oh yeah baby LOL. Well we later figured out why…..the tickets were for Superbowl Sunday….yeah no one was wanting to go that night LMBO! But hubby was a good sport and he took me without any complaints…that was the year Janet Jackson had the “wardrobe malfunction” heehee. So every year I tease him & say “hey wanna go to the theater in February?” But it was worth it, I loved that musical and danced & sang the whole time….ummm yeah no hubby does not sing & dance along with me….but he does tolerate me doing it well!

NewsBitz:

-Want to come take a Copics Class with me? I have upcoming classes in Texas, Florida and soon W.Virginia, Baltimore, Montreal and more. Go to www.cmcroad.com to see!

A Big Thank You to Pixie Dust Studios for having me as their winner for my Love Letters project here! I sure appreciate it!

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Singin’ Along With Meeeee!!

So Sunday is Smash Book Day from now on….well as much as I can try LOL…keep me on track so I can actually document events, places, and stories this year. If you haven’t joined our “We R Smashin’, Scrappin’ & Journalin’” group over at the CMC Classroom, well then you are more than welcome to---everyone is welcome! Its not just for Smash Books---if you love scrapbooking or art journaling well then this group is for you too. We will have monthly themes/prompts/ideas that you can incorporate into your books and then you can enter into the challenge if you like to win a fun prize. Smash books are just an easier version of scrapbooking, they are meant to be done faster without as much layout/detail as you might spend on a traditional scrapbook….yes, which is why it appeals to me…LOL!

So I decided to do my next 2 pages on my last trip to Vegas where I met The Voice winner Javier Colon….yep I’m still a tad giddy about that…for sure!!

I printed out all my pictures that were taken by a random person at the Monster Cable Booth LOL. On this side I used one picture to make a pocket so I could slip in the autographed card he signed for me & Alexa---I didn’t want to adhere that down to the book.. The dice/card images are just clip art from the web that I printed and cut out….then added Stickles to bling it up….its all about Vegas baby!!

On this page I added more pictures and matted them like film rolls a bit and typed up the story…I can only write for so long so I tend to type my stories…my hands cramp up easily and then my handwriting becomes illegible and ugly LOL. I used a letter stamp and colored in the white with my Sharpie Poster Pain pen & added some white dots around the black cs. This page took me about 20 mins to do which was awesome…nice and quick. And Alexa worked on hers at the same time…she’s running a teen area at the CMC Classroom for Smash booking teens. If you are interested in getting some Smash Book Goodies….7 Kids College Fund has a great selection HERE (if you want to see what kind of pages are in each book go to the EK Success site & click on larger images to see insides).

Have a great weekend! See ya soon….hoping for a BIG RAVENS win…whooot!

I Gotta Dance!!!

2012-01-20T02:00:00.003-05:00

Helllooooo & Happy Weekend to you all! Dontcha’ just love the weekends? It is NFL Football weekend here for sure….the Baltimore Ravens (Go Ray-Ray’s) play early on Sunday so you know where we will all be huh? Sunday evening hubby & I have to set up for Alexa’s Musical at her high school so we will miss the 2nd game…but we’ll be taping it so no sneakin’ me the score ok LOL. Alexa has another Sweet 16 Birthday party this weekend too & the birthday girl is taking them to Washington, DC to spend the night & have dinner. Now this is like Birthday party #5 for 16 year olds so far for her (oy veyyyy)….the last one they all took a limo to DC for dinner & sight-seeing…ummm do I have any clue what I’m doing for Alexa’s Sweet 16 in April yet? NOPE LOL! Not a darn clue but possible things are a weekend trip to NYC or a spa day but I don’t believe in huge, over-the-top parties…that money is being saved for her college not for a 16th birthday party…to me that’s ridiculous to spend $10,000 on huge formal parties for teens when I’d rather put it towards her education or even future wedding KWIM. Alexa’s BFF’s 16th birthday is the same date as her’s so there has been talk about having a joint event but I still gotta put my thinkin’ cap on…..however….

I’m not really in the mood to think about any events for my lovely, teen daughter…oh my! She got her braces on yesterday and let’s just say that the “princess” turned into the “wicked witch” and it was OH SO MUCH FUN….yeah the kind of fun that you NEVER want to have again…you know…we’ve all been there before huh? Now granted I am somewhat sympathetic…stop laughing, I really am…but…….come on! She is one of millions that has braces…I had braces when I was in high school & I turned out ok right? (well no laughing ok..that wasn’t a funny) AND we paid EXTRA to get her the white/ceramic braces so you can barely even tell she has them. And she only has to have them on for 9 mos…some kids have them on for years….so yeah I don’t feel that bad for her LOL. So there were tears, screaming, yelling, boo-hooing & all that jazz….between the sick boys in the house & then the brace-queen I was about to guzzle a whole bottle of wine & consider the use of other bad carcinogens for a bit last night…my head was splitting open. And to make matters WORSE we had to go dress shopping after the brace-fest for a dress for her dinner on Saturday night…oh yeah I know how to start a party don’t I….ummm no, not really but I am good at wallowing in self-inflicted torture apparently! I mean a teary teen, with new braces trying on dresses that made “her look plump”(umm no), “too short”, “too pale”, etc---I was slowly pulling out each strand of hair, very slooowlyyy…1 strand at a tiiiimmmmmmme….so that the pain of scalping myself suddenly was much worse than the pain of being where I was with a teenager hell bent on making me wanna shoot myself with a LARGE gun!! But I grinned and bared it the whole time, and finally we agreed on a dress and I managed to get us BOTH home in one piece….no recreational drugs used I promise! LOL! Yeah I can NOT STAND WHINING, GROANING or TEARS of any kind…some may say it’s a character flaw of mine but I have to disagree…my kids will tell you that I regularly say “Suck It Up-Move On”. Yeah some will say it’s a bit harsh but its not that I don’t baby them a bit when its needed…cuz I do…but I’m not going to entertain whining/crying about things we cannot control and situations that we find ourselves in. Life is HARSH, this I know well & they gotta learn now that its best to deal with it quickly, put it in its place, put a positive spin on it the best that you can and keep on moving. We all have to do things in life that aren’t nice, aren’t fun and maybe not exactly what we planned….BUT…you still gotta live your life so its best to learn early how to deal with it all. And that is really what I hope they learn from me, glass half full, deal with it, suck it up & LIVE the best that you can with what you are given

And here is the “princess” herself…yep you can barely see those braces huh? Geez…..she's still beautiful no matter what, but she'll say I have to say that cuz I'm her mom...lol!

Ok its video time….yep I feel the need to start your day with a funny…and this is cute, funny & touching and sure to bring a SMILE to your face. A friend showed me this video last week & I just loved it….they said it reminded them of what I might have been like as a young child…bwahahahaha…umm yeah no. I might’ve been a bit “funny” hee hee but I was VERY QUIET & SHY when I was small…NO LIE. Ask my mom & she will agree—I barely talked…then high school came & well I guess all hell broke out cuz my voice suddenly found me & I’ve been using it ever since…and yes I sing loudly…and dance wherever I may be…heehee…lucky you all huh? But this girl will be a star one day for sure…so have fun smiling & watching!

***My friend Tina Gilliland is celebrating her Blogaversary and one of the prizes is a CMC Copic Online Class at my classroom....so hop on over HERE to enter if you want a chance to win!

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Just Dance!!

Today I’m sharing a whimsical project with you featuring these sweet NEW “Spring Flora Fairies” for SCACD---this one is called “Iris” (and she comes with an iris image too). There are a few of these cute fairies & they are perfect for your upcoming spring projects I used some beautiful new papers by Glitz Paper “Vintage Blue Fancy” –I love this new Glitz paper line….beautiful patterns & colors.

I used a mix of Prima & Wild Orchid Crafts flowers and the sentiment is from Technique Tuesday. The scrolls were made with a Magnolia Doohickey die and I liked that they framed the image like fairy/butterfly wings. She was colored with Copics in blues & yellows and then I stickled her wings and bodice…I added a small pearl accent to her bodice as well.

Ok I hope you all ENJOY & TREASURE your weekend! I’ll see you back here on Sunday with another FUN SMASH BOOK post for y’all! See ya!

Make it LOVE-ly!!

2012-01-18T01:26:00.002-05:00

Happy Wednesday everyone! Hope your week is going swell so far. Sickness has stricken the Dean household…tis the season I guess. I was sick first with a head cold and then…………dah-da-dah-dum…the BOYS got sick….which is like the WORLD HAS ENDED I GUESS! That’s right…sickness totally paralyzes the men in my household…I kid you not…it attacks the muscles of their legs and brain & cripples them into moaning, groaning, annoying beasts that take up major space in my family room. Meanwhile I who have the SAME sickness is scurrying around doing chores, attending to household issues AND working…am I laying down? NO! Am I groaning & moaning? NO NO NO! What the heck is that all about? Seriously its like a germ floats in a man’s nostril & travels up their brain & turns it into mush…causing them to revert back to non-moving babies. UGHhhhhhhh! Not that I don’t have a “smidgen” sympathy cuz’ I do but if I’m sick to & I’m able to move & do stuff then in my opinion SO SHOULD YOU—COME ON!!! And another thing…we know you are sick…you don’t need to MOAN & GROAN & COUGH so loud that the windows rattle…I GET THE POINT!! Sorry I had to vent…after 17 years of marriage I woulda THUNK that he’d get the message but apparently not. And I had hoped I was raising my son to be BETTER at being sick…but apparently not (I now apologize to all his future girlfriends or wife..I’m so very sorry)! Ok I’m done now…I think…I might persue the stupidness of their actions in my head for awhile longer…until I get tired of thinking on it…and it finally escapes from my thought processes LOL!

Ok so here is story #2 for you from my Vegas trip…I have a couple more that I may share with you LOL! This one is short…thank god for that right…I hear you thinking that bwahahaha! So at the CES (Consumer Electronics Show) in Vegas there were a ton of celebrities, none that I was absolutely dying to see other than Javier (see post below). I was not well when I was in Vegas…yeah I was starting to get sick but was resisting as best as I could. So at one point I needed AIR…yep just plain old fresh air..I struggle a bit in large crowds mentally as well and there were SOOOO many people there (100 x what is at CHA) coupled with the fact that I was getting sick I felt that I may pass out. So I went out a side exit to get air…the guard said I could go out…well I guess that exit was a VIP entrance…who knew?? LOL! But he let me out and I was thankful then I realized that it was the “celebrity” area & I started giggling…heeheehee. So I stood there caught my breath and watched all the celebrities come in & out including Jillian Michaels (boy she is TINY, I mean tiny but all muscle & very pretty) and the Jersey Shore cast (let me GAG myself now…sorry I’m so NOT a fan of them). It was like my own private viewing party LOL! Well after about 15 mins I was ready to go back in so I did. I was texting & walking…yeah yeah yeah I know that’s dangerous for me…but I was anyhow. Soooooooooo I was in a bit of a rush to meet some people there so I was walking pretty fast & texting…and BAMMMMM!!! I slammed right into someone so hard I dropped my phone & purse and someone grabbed me, heeheheehehehee! When I came to my senses I looked up and I had run smack dab into Dennis Rodman…who is a HUGE man, HUGE! (he’s a former NBA player…google him if you must lol) I’m not his biggest fan…yeah he’s a bit of a freak LOL but whatever, I’m not into his personal biz-ness Anyway he was laughing & said he’d never seen a tinier person almost knock the “SH*T” out of him before and live to tell about it which made me LAUGH and this is what I said (oh dear me) “That’s ok, apparently I do this a lot & I still have yet to learn my lesson”!! Well he thought that was hilarious for whatever reason and he asked what I was doing there & where I was going & if I needed “HELP”---geez I musta looked out of it or something but I managed to laugh & say thanks & walk off. I know he was probably watching me thinking I was the craziest person he’d seen that day as I literally knocked this huge man over and HORRORS I didn’t even act like I cared who he was….bet he doesn’t get that often hahaha! I SWEAR I’m going to NOT text-n-walk anymore, I SWEAR it!! You heard it here ok? OK? He’s about the 4th person I’ve ran into HARD & then there was the time in Chicago where I wiped out on the people mover cuz I was texting & not paying attention…yeah I know…it’s a bad habit & I’m gonna STOP it LOL! Cuz’ god only knows who or where I might wipe out next KWIM (really I promise lol..no more).

NewsBitz:

-Ok I have 2 spots left in my Anaheim Copic classes….if you are interested in either spot please email me. It will be a TON OF FUN!!! My next locations are Texas, Naples/FL & Port St. Lucie FL—go to www.cmcroad.com if you are interested. In Port St. Lucie I am debuting a NEW Class “X-treme Copic Techniques” that will take you wayyyy outside the box & have some more fun with coloring!

-I have a TON of new things coming that I’m super excited about…and I hope you will be too…so stay tuned! Also if you are out at CHA…come FIND me & say HI..I promise to NOT wipe you out!! I’d love to meet you…I’m at the Scor-Pal/Magnolia-licious on Sunday & Monday…Tuesday I will be wandering the floor so WATCH OUT hee hee! Yes, YES I will be hyped up on Cherry Coke

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LOVE-ly!!!

I am hosting a fun “Mix It Up Monday Challenge” at StampTV & its all about LOVE! Everyone is welcome to join in, you can use any stamps it just needs to be about LOVE, LOVE, LOVE LOL! So you can see the challenge HERE & of course you can win…winning is good (according to Charlie Sheen…hahaha)!! I have some inspiration photos over there too to get your mojo flowin’….I based my card on the photo below.

I'm entering this into the following fab challenges:

Make It Monday (anything goes)

Anything Goes Challenge

Lexi's Creations Challenge (anything goes)

My Grafico Challenge (valentines)

Paper Creations Ink (Love)

I made this card so it would be appropriate for a guy or a girl…totally appropriate for my hubby for Valentine’s Day….if he gets off that darn couch & stops groaning that is…before I smother him….just kiddin’…well maybe now..LOL! I used the fabulous NEW StampTV Kit “True Love” for my card…this kit is packed with great images & sentiments. I embossed the main image in white onto the red cs and then added some pearls & stickles to bling it up a bit (no card of mine is finished until the sparkle is added lol). My papers are a mix of papers from Basic Grey “Little Black Dress” & Kaisercraft “After 5”. The die cuts are by Spellbinders and I tied off a bow with some Bakers twine, button & sentiment tag. Some more pearls in the corners to finish it all off.

Hope you can hop on over to StampTV & join me in the challenge! See ya on Friday!! And oh yeah it’s a FOOTBALL weekend in the Dean house…goooooo RAVENSSSSS….rock the PURPLE y’all cuz they are bringing it LOL!!!

Love Letters From the Heart!!

2012-01-16T03:55:00.002-05:00

Well hello everyone—wow what a crazy few days its been…seems like I was just getting ready for my trip and boom now I’m back home recovering still. And oh heck yeah do I have stories for you LOL…I’d have to be comatose while traveling to NOT have any right? Well I’ll let you in on a secret…I left Wednesday morning at the crack of dawn for Las Vegas to attend the Consumer Electronics Show…can’t say why yet but it has nothing to do with my craft world stuff’s LOL. I’ve always got some surprises up my sleeve ‘eh!? Let’s just say I’m a bit…well a whole lot…of a tech-gadget-computer geek and always have been so going to this show was a dream come true for me. But let’s start with the trying to actually GET to Vegas…I purposely picked a flight that was flying thru Charlotte because I figured I’d have less issues with weather incidents…right…right? Yeah..ummmm NOOOOO! Not only that but instead of flying out of the airport that is 15 mins from my house I had to drive 1.5 hours to Baltimore to catcht the flight and we get on the runway and they say they have delayed our take-off….what…yeah ummm Suzanne only had a 40 min window between connecting flights so this was NOT looking so good. Panic bells went off in my head…beeepbeeepbeeeeppp…then they wouldn’t tell us why or when we would be leaving. CUZ APPARENTLY CHARLOTTE WAS HAVING THUNDERSTORMS & FOG…yeah weather incidents…OMG I was ready to shoot myself. So by this time I knew that I was going to miss my connecting flight so I had hubby book me another flight once I got to Charlotte just in case…if you remember my disastrous United incident in Chicago this past summer…well you know why I was planning ahead. 45 minutes later we were cleared to go…they said we had a 4 min window to take off…but CERTAIN DUMB-A PEOPLE WOULDN’T TURN OFF THEIR ELECTRONICS!! Well Suzanne was ready to lead the REVOLT to storm the back of the plane to tell them peeps to shut-em down..I mean really…REALLY? We actually got to Charlotte only a few minutes late & we were hoping the connecting flights were delayed…yeah nope…I missed my flight by 2 mins.. 2 FLIPPING MINUTES OMG!!!!! But I have to say I was impressed with US Airways…they had booked us all on the next flight when they knew we would miss it and I had a seat on a plane to Phoenix then Vegas 45 mins later…that is good customer service I must say (United…hey hey…take some notes here ok)!

Now here is where we move into the story part #1…on the flight to Phoenix I am stuck in the middle seat (can’t complain cuz I woulda sat on the floor just to get there) but you know I don’t DO middle seats..I’m a window seat kinda gal. My seatmates were very polite & quiet BUT THE GUY BEHIND ME O.M.G!! He was dumb…I kid you not..like dumb like dirt…obnoxious…loud…and drunk! The plane takes off and the captain says “arrival time in Phoenix is 3 hours & 26 mins”…the guy FREAKS OUT…starts screaming “HEY they didn’t tell me we were goin’ to Phoenix…my ticket says I’m goin’ to Vegas…WTH?”!! Yeah..ummm your final destination is always printed on the ticket cuz we weren’t changing planes in Phoenix KWIM…so he starts arguing with the stewardess and cussing and being just FOUL about it. Then he says well how long will it take me to drive from Phoenix to Vegas cuz I’m not getting on another plane….ummm like 5 hours dork…LOL. So he freaks out again…then he says well is Phoenix or Vegas a bigger city in Arizona? LMBO…yeah Vegas is in Nevada buddy not Arizona…at this point I was ready to turn around and light it up with him…people were laughing and just horrified by him. They finally serve him another DRINK and he shuts up for a bit….meanwhile I’m talking on FB with about 5 friends (yes in-air wi-fi) and have my headphones in and one of my friends said something & I bust out laughing…very LOUDLY…and couldn’t stop (let’s just say there coulda been TEARS running down my legs heehee)! I’m sure everyone on the plane thought I was a loon but that’s ok cuz it was funny and then I realized I was also singing along to my iTunes music too….oooopsies LOL. We got to Phoenix and let’s just say we had flight crew change & I got the guy ejected from the plane so he was GONE—good riddance—TSA came & took him (I’ll tell you how I saw him later on in my Vegas visit too…ewww ucky). So that’s just the one travel story…I’ll share more with you this week cuz I have LOTS more, oh yeah there is MORE!

But my fave story that I have to share before I shut up is the CES show (Consumer Electronics Show)—I had a freaking blast running around there and playing with all the new gadgets (will tell you some of my fave finds later this week) and the show is 90% men…10% women…hahahaha…so if you are single that is the place to go to find a man…LMBO!! What I love is walking up to a tech guy and they are looking at me like I'm a dumb woman and then I open my mouth...yep I do...and I can go head to head with them all the way in geek speak...yeah I love that...leaves 'em a bit shocked which makes me giggle!! And at the show they have a ton of celebrities…a ton of them…but none of them interested me that much although my daughter said I MUST come home with Justin Bieber’s autograph….yeah no I didn’t LOL! BUT I was at the Monster Cable booth looking at new hi-def headphones for my music listening enjoyment when I noticed a poster saying Javier Colon (winner of The Voice) would be there…ummm I’ve been obsessed with his voice since we were in Maui (yeah I made the family watch the Voice in Maui..so what’s it to ya LOL). I just think he’s such a nice & humble guy…and the dude’s voice is so pure and fabulous…I’ve had all his old music, got his new album & his holiday music and I follow him on Twitter…yeah I wuv him!! He was due there at 3 pm…it was 1:30 pm and I was talking to some of the Monster executives…yes I made lots of contacts at the show…new friends too…heehee and said hey I’ll be back to see Javier save me a spot in line. Well they saved me SPOT #1—oh yeah baby I was FIRST IN LINE TO SEE HIM. I was one of the only women in line with about 100 men who most didn’t know who he was but were getting autographs for their wives or something…you know…not TRUE FANS like myself..LOL! I was so giddy…when I get giddy I laugh and dance in place…yeah I do…like a weirdo but I can’t help myself....nor do I care much what people think LOL..I'm too old & been thru too much for all that jazz. The Monster Execs thought it was hilarious and they were like “you’re a real fan huh?”…ummm DUHHHHH ARE YOU KIDDING ME!!? They are playing his music and I’m SINGING & DANCING and glaring at all the NON-FANS LOL --when he comes out…yeah I couldn’t help myself…I squealed…LOL! I literally danced up on the stage…I was squealin’ & jumpin’ and he spent almost 20 mins just chatting with me (the execs informed him that I was a VIP fan hahahaha & I could take all the time I wanted…yesirreeeee). He was so NICE, we chatted about his music, the show, Blake Shelton…umm yeah, his family and then I asked him to sing (yes I did…I don’t care lol) and he did…I was his backup singer and dancer..whootwhooot! Then he said “can I give you a big hug?”…WELL YES YOU CAN JAVIER…meanwhile the Monster execs were dying on the side of the stage laughing. But I got his autograph, lots of pics (see below) and he said hey tweet me a picture & I’ll tweet you back…he says I read all my tweets…and guess WHAT? HE DID TWEET ME BACK…ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh I was SQUEALING….and then Alexa tweeted him & he tweeted her back too…isn’t that so sweet? I just love him even more…what great character, kindness, and sweetness to go with his fab voice…it really was an honor to meet him and I will always cherish that and I hope he goes farrrrrr! So if you have no idea who I’m talking about…then go listen to him sing HERE ok..show him some LOVE! Whooot I’m still on Cloud 9!!

PS—I’ll tell you about what celebrity I literally RAN into on the floor later in the week…yeah I ran into him alright…knocked myself out…hahahha..I have that kinda luck huh!?

Ok here are many pics that one of the guys in line took during my “moments” with Javier LOL…I will treasure them always!! Click HERE to come to my blog if you get this by email ok to see the pics!

My all time fave Javier song below:

*****Winner of the Aussie “Koala Hug Tilda” stamp & paper pad is………………..Cheri of “Cheri’s Shack”—congrats Cheri, email me for details ok! ******

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Love Letters-“A Maggie Blog Hop”

Today the Magnolia-licious DT has a super fun, SWEET CRAZY LOVE Blog Hop for you today….lots of beautiful Valentine inspired projects using the new collection “Sweet Crazy Love” from Magnolia-licious! You can find all the hop details and how to play along at the Magnolia-licious Highlites Blog !

I decided to create a Twisted Easel Card that I tweaked a bit to try something a bit different. The whole card measures 5.5” x 5.5” and lays flat for mailing. I used this sweet cutie called “Tilda Lovelaced Shoes”—isn’t she adorable & I love that love is written on the bottom of her shoes, cute huh! My papers are new from Glitz Paper “Pretty In Pink”—I love the vintage, romantic patterns and I distressed them all a bit more with my Zutter Distress Machine. I used my heart & scalloped heart SB nesties, some tulle, tickets, hatpins and swirls from Memory Box (did you know Magnolia-licious carries dies by Memory Box, Magnolia & Marianne Designs now)!!

I'm entering this into the following challenges:

Gingerloft Challenge (anything goes)

Let's Ink It Up (anything goes)

CES Challenges (vintage dahling)

Designed to Delight (hearts)

Pixie Dust Challenge (hearts)

I love the way this pops up in a modern-fun way…but yet the style is all vintage..I love to mesh styles like that to keep it fresh. I wanted to make sure that the card looked good from each side no matter what & also the inside too. It props-sits up by tucking up next to the sentiment from PTI that I added a few more hearts, pearls & stickles to.

Tilda was colored with Copics (RV17,RV13,RV10 / E44,E43,E42,E40 / E11,E00 /E25,E31,E50) then I added some Stickles of course. I masked her & then stamped over her with a PTI script stamp and inked the edges a bit. The inside has music paper that is just light enough that you could write a sweet note to someone special.

I’m the LAST STOP on the Blog Hop Today--so thanks for hopping!

So if you haven’t checked out the new Sweet Crazy Love Collection at Magnolia-licious then hop on over & do that! Also keep up with the Blog Hop today by going to the Magnolia-licious Highlites Blog.

Let's Get Smashed!!

2012-01-11T08:03:00.000-05:00

Happy Wednesday Morning to you all! On the road again...feels so good to be on the road again.....lalalala.....LOL! Yep, I am at the airport....waiting for my flight....to go....???? Well can't tell ya that but do know I will bee-boppin' my way across the US today and I'll be on Facebook letting you know what I see and do and find LOL! My first trip of 2012 and I'm praying for a smooth trip, no delays, weird weather, lost bags or fall-downs LOL--so please pray with me ok!? There is a storm system moving up the East Coast so I'm hoping to fly out before that affects any flights and less turbulence for me. I plan on sleeping on my 2nd flight and I have a prime-window seat with my name on it and I'm hoping NO WEIRDOs sit next to me...but you know I attract strange people like a darn magnet. I just checked and so far no one has purchased the seat next to me on my 2nd flight so I'm hoping that holds LOL..and nope I'm not flying Southwest out but I am flying it back home. No sing-a-longs this morning....too darn early for all that & I am NOT a morning kinda girl...I'm sucking down my Cherry Coke as fast as I can to get that caffeine into my system. If they could create an IV version for my Cherry Coke I just may buy it...I have a feeling that today is going to be a 4+ Coke kinda day hahahaha....so WATCH OUT!!

Here's a funny video for you...this guy Remi does a whole series of these videos...and yes they CRACK me & the teens up. He's crazy--a total loon but you just gotta laugh (if you like this one...then make sure to watch the Kangaroo Man & Urban Touchdown ones...omgosh I'm giggling right now)

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Get Smashing!!

I have a new group at the CMC Classroom and it debuted this past Monday with a fun chat & party on the site (if you were there, thanks for coming by, it was crazy, fun & fast)! It's called We R Smashin', Scrapbookin' & Journalin' -- so if you like to do any of those or want to get started come join our group!! I gave away a bunch of Smash Book goodies and gift certificates to those that came & played some travel trivia with us. Smash Books have gotten pretty popular & you can view some videos of them HERE. They are similar to scrapbooks except the idea is to kinda "smash everything" in there...you don't concentrate on layouts as much as you do in a traditional scrapbook. So you can glue in receipts, pictures, ticket stubs and write in there---they are meant to be put together quickly which is highly appealing to me LOL. I started scrapbooking (traditional) 15 years ago when there was just stickers & decorative scissors (heehee...remember those days) and I loved it...but darn it...I'd spend 2 weeks and $150 on a 2 page layout & be stressed. So I switched to mostly digital scrapbooking (although I am sooo far behind) and eventually moved into other paper crafts like card making. So I have 3 Smash Books I'm working on this year...yeah yeah when do I have the time....wellllll...that is why I created the group so that it would keep my "rear in gear" and get it done. So even if you don't use a Smash book but are a traditional scrapbooker or just want to use a notebook YOU ARE WELCOME at the group--its open to everyone. Each month we will have a theme/prompt/idea to get you started & then you can enter your projects that month for a chance at a great prize. The first 2 Smash Books I'm doing are a Random Suzanne Thoughts/Ideas and a Travel Book that I will carry with me to document all my travel goings-ons while I'm away. So below are my first couple of pages for you.

Alexa is also operating a Tween/Teen area on the group for those that want to join in...she's working alongside of me with her own Smash Book and will maintain a special area for teens to hang out, share ideas and projects.

PS--that great blinkie was made for me by Tiffany of Tiffany Doodles--she rocks!! And you can grab it for yourself if you'd like over at the CMC Classroom or email me for the html code ok!

So the theme/idea at the group for the month of January is Bucket Lists/2012 To-Do Lists/New Year's Resolutions. I created a kinda mental "2012 Goal List" for myself of things I want to try & maintain and do this year personally like to "BE PRESENT IN THE MOMENT"--really enjoy each moment without worrying or thinking about what comes next. "TO BREATHE even when the stress seems overwhelming"---like little mantras to myself I'll be chanting this year....yes crazy Suzanne talking to herself again LOL. My next page will be "Things I Want to Do/Accomplish Before I Turn 40" (that's 2 years folks...yikes) and that list may be VERY LONG so I'm working on that next week. I have always written my goals down since I was very young...I believe that seeing them in writing and reminding yourself regularly keeps you going down the path to doing them...I've always been goal oriented. Keep your eye on the ball kind of mentality :)

I typed my list up on Word and printed it out and then just added some embossed card stock, some Smash tape and a few embellies with supplies I had on hand. Remember that to do these books you don't need special supplies if you choose...use what you have, use an old book or notebook and any paper crafting supplies you already own. I got a few Smash Book items like the books, some smash pads and some of their decorative tape but for most of my book I will just use what I have. I also stamped a few fun images and doodled a bit on this page...I like to doodle...a lot...I forgot how much I liked to do it LOL!

Find a great selection of Smash Goodies at 7 Kids College Fund and Oh My Crafts!

The second page already had this great "I AM" prompt on it so I decided to run with it. I doodled and wrote all the things that I think describe me best and who I think I am. I just had fun with it and filled in areas with some doodles, smash tape & Stickles. I used my Copic Spica pens so that all my writing has a subtle glitter to it for fun. Just a fun page to look back on and for my kids & grandkids to read one day!

Well that is it for me today! I hope you will come on over & join us at the group and have some fun with us. Its a great place to chatter, share thoughts & ideas and your projects with everyone. And for someone like me....well its a great motivator to keep on smashing LOL! Hope you all have a wonderful week and I'll be back this week to post some pictures for ya too!

A Rusty Ride!

2012-01-09T01:51:00.002-05:00

Happy Monday my friends! Whooo-hoooo did you all watch the Play-off games this weekend! The Dean household was ON FIRE—SCREAMING—for TEeeeeebooooow of the Broncos. We were yelling like a BUNCH of maniacs…welll guess we always are maniacs LOL! We strongly, strongly DISLIKE the Steelers (hey we are Ravens & Redskins fans & Steelers are our biggest rivals ‘eh)! So we enjoyed seeing the Steelers crying into their terrible towels…sorry I haddddd to go there hee hee! That overtime pass and run down the field..whoooowheeee…we were at the table eating my homemade chili-n-biscuits and we were jumping and screaming all over the kitchen…then we STOPPED. Cuz you know in the NFL you celebrate a touchdown…when you hear….there’s a flag on the field?! LOL! But not this time baby….oh yeah that was a GOOD touchdown and I’m a TEBOW fan. After all the negative commentary about him I was so rootin’ for him to have a great game & I wasn’t disappointed. Looking forward to next weekend’s games---hopin’ the Ravens beat the Texas, and the Saints beat the 49ers. Alexa and I are making these cute football strawberries (that I got from Pinterest), 7 Layer Dip and mini-pizzas for the occasion –so looking forward to it

I also got down 10 of my 11 Christmas trees down & packed away and all cleaned up thanks to help from my hubby. The house always feels so bare after its all gone for awhile..I miss the twinkle of lights and smells of the trees that’s for sure. But our real trees needed to get out to the curb for recycling to pick up and they were starting to drop a ton of needles…never fun to clean up. And I cleaned up my craftroom…I won’t even tell you what a disaster my room was…DISGUSTING! I had so many boxes of stuff…craft stuff and some hadn’t been opened or organized. I had been so busy the last 6 mos that nothing got put away and it got to be such a huge CHORE and I had NO time to dedicate to it. So I took 4 hours to really clean it up & semi-organize it today and whooo I feel so much better going in there….it’s a relief actually and my mojo is re-energized. I didn’t go overboard with organizing because when my room downstairs is ready I will just be moving and organizing it again…so I didn’t want to do the job twice…but I needed it to be cleaned out and organized enough that it made it easy for me to work and know where stuff was. I was spending so much time looking for things that I was wasting too much time and I don’t have time to waste KWIM LOL! But all in all I was happy with everything I accomplished this weekend and felt I got a lot done. I also did some reading, some eating, some watching tv and spent time with my family. We watched “I Don't Know How She Does It” and I swear at times it was like watching myself….yes..including the part where she’s skyping with the business guy but doesn’t know he’s watching & she’s adjusting her pantyhose & then falls into the chair..uh yeah…done dumb stuff like that before. Hee hee heck I do dumb stuff like that all the time! And I have a surprise trip this week…can’t say where I’m going…but I’ll tell you after I get back…LOL…its top secret again! I’m sure there will be some kind of shenanigans and I’m sure I’ll tell you all about it…so stay tuned for my first trip of 2012 LMBO!

NewsBitz:

-Thanks to all the participants for the Holiday CMC Challenge! All the winners are posted up on the site so go see if you won! We raised $500 (I’m topping it off to reach a full $500) for our Reading & Literacy Charity and I know that will buy them a bunch of books for the children which makes me happy. If you’d like to donate “just because” you can do that through the end of January directly HERE! Thanks everyone!

-Tonight we have a NEW GROUP debuting at the CMC Classroom called “We R Smash Bookin’, Scrapbookin’ & Journalin’!!”. So if you are interested in any kinds of scrapbooking or journaling or want to get started, then hop on over and join us! If you’ve heard of Smash Books—well we are doing those too but you can use any kind of book you’d like. Each month we will have some fun themes/prompts/ideas for a fun challenge that you can join in on too (I hope it motivates me to get going with my books this year LOL)! We have a fun chat/party planned at 7:45 pm EST tonight and everyone is welcome (you just have to join the site & scroll down till you see the chat box on the main page)—I’m going to be giving away some fun prizes too! Hope to see you there! (ps—if you’ve never been to a party/chat at the CMC site…well you are in for a treat lol…always fun, fast paced and lots of chitter chatter!).

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Want a Rusty Ride!!?

Today I’m sharing a fun masculine project with you all. I know so many of us struggle with male-influenced projects and I have to say I like the challenge of them. I find working-outside-the-box fun and makes me energized to try new things. This image is a digi stamp from Fred She Said called “Old Truck”. I love this old truck…reminds me of pictures of my grandparents old Chevy truck from back in the day LOL. And I used a technique on this truck that I teach in CMC Copic Class 5 – to put rust on your colored images…a fun technique, not too hard but it just takes some time & patience.

The cardstock is a mix of SU & PTI, some scrap pattern paper and then I distressed all the edges with my Zutter Distress It Tool. The rust cs was embossed with a clock-works embossing folder (see some cool grunge emboss folders here) and then inked to bring the background out a bit. I wanted to make my own “gears” so I used my Spellbinder Pinking & Regular Circle Nesties to create gears. I inked them, distressed them, added some silver stickles and added them to the card. The corner elements are all brads…however I don’t like to punch many layers of cs…so I cut the ends of the brads off with my Tonic Scissors and add them with glue dots. The sentiment is from PTI and then some twine to finish it all off.

I'm entering this card into the following challenges:

Pile It On (Manly Cards)

Here Come The Boys

(sketch/boys--I flipped my sketch)

Speedy Fox & Friends (brads & eyelets)

Adding rust to objects with your Copics is FUN! I always encourage everyone to look at items around them or google pictures when coloring to see how color and light play—it helps with your coloring. For me this was a really fun project to create and the technique is a fun one—one of my faves from Class 5. I added Diamond Glaze to the windows, bumper, bolts on tires and headlights and then lightly sprinkled DecoArt Glamour Dust on the Diamond glaze while its wet…it suspends in the liquid for a cool effect. Then I used a bit of Distressed Stickles (in haystack or something like that lol) on the gravel for some extra texture.

That’s it for me today…hope you like this project, this image is one of my faves from Class 5 and I was happy to put it on a card! Great for any guy in your life! Hope you have a fabulous day…I’ll be back on Wed with a Smash Book project!

Good Friend Blend!

2012-01-06T01:15:00.000-05:00

Happy TGIFriday all my friends! Can I just say how much I love y’all? You make me smile everyday and I appreciate that and if I make you smile, laugh, giggle or pee your pants….well then…I appreciate that too LOL! If my blog gives you a little smile during the day then I fell like my job is done. I try to keep things light & fun on my blog as I know we all have lives and the daily doldrums that can come along with that. I also try not to get into opinionated topics like religion and politics…hot button topics…things that get people going in unpleasant ways. I don’t want my blog to be about that…however I DO have opinions on both…I just don’t share that with you all unless we are having a private conversation and you ask me. It seems anymore that when you TRY to discuss either, people STOP listening once they find out that you are not agreeing with their views or beliefs. Then they get emotional…angry…yelling…and attack…not necessarily your opinions, but you personally because they haven’t stopped to FULLY listen to your reasoning or tried to understand. I like a great debate with someone who has great ideas, can back their statements up with facts and someone that values my opinion as well. While we may NOT agree on our stances…we both APPRECIATE the other’s views…and most importantly we RESPECT each other as human beings with emotions, opinions & thoughts. It doesn’t mean that someone is stupid, brainless or dumb just because they don’t agree with you. TRUST ME…I read and hear a lot of things I don’t agree with…BUT I respect that it is that person’s thought and opinion. I don’t attack the person because of their view or make nasty comments…I simply move on and put it in its place…doesn’t bother me in the least that you have thoughts different from me. Life would be WAY too boring if we all thought the same and wanted the same things out of life. HOWEVER we must remember to keep understanding, respecting and showing kindness along the way. If we all stopped to really listen and understand what the other person is really saying or how they are feeling, the world might be a kinder, gentler place. So you won’t ever see me speak politics or religion on my blog…NEVER EVER…or Facebook either. But on occasion I WILL throw a comment out on Twitter and hey you know what? We live in the good ole USofA and my right as a citizen is freedom of speech, free thoughts and I can speak as I please. Does that mean I want you to change how you feel on the subject…NO…I’m not trying to make you think like me or believe the same things as me. Absolutely not! But it is my right to put a comment out there…its my thought that I’ve thrown out there to the wind…I’m not asking for comments or rhetoric on it...just putting it out there. If you put a thought out there…I’ll respect it…I might even laugh or agree…but I will NEVER attack you for it, nor will I be unkind or ungracious towards you for it. That is not how I live my life or treat people in this world. So people may NOT like what I have to say…but guess what…I don’t care, I stopped caring a long time ago about that…stop reading it…don’t follow me…its your right to not agree so stop reading my comments…I don’t read things I don’t like…so just walk away…unless you can disagree in a respectful way between one intelligent human to another. Ok…you feel me on this…get where I’m coming from…I won’t treat you like a doormat or a ninny or a dumb-butt ever…so don’t treat me that way either. And if you do…welllllll…I do have a mouth & yeah I like to use it…I won’t back down…I will answer you for sure…but I will do it in a respectful and civilized tone. AND that my friends I know for sure!

And now I am hopping off of my free speech rant today with a funny for you (and yes my daughter may kill me for this but I cannot resist). She left for school yesterday morning and hubby drove her up to the bus stop on his way to work. She kept telling him she smelled “poo” (yes poop lol). He was like “I don’t smell anything” and Alexa kept insisting she smelled it. So she gets on the bus and asks her friend if she smells it and she says “NO”. She gets to school and goes to class but still smells it so she asks her friends….to smell her…lmbo…to see if she smelled or her clothes smelled. They said nope they smelled nothing. So she was sitting in chorus and still smelled it and she had her leg across the other leg….when she saw IT! Yep she had stepped in doggie poo somewhere between the front door & the car (not our dogs cuz they only go out in the backyard & we scoop the yard every week). She had a nice smearing of doggie poo on the bottom of her boot…just thin enough that she didn’t feel it or really see it! OMGosh I laughed so hard…the poor child knew she smelled poo but just couldn’t figure out where it was! She did NOT think it was so funny…however me & hubby DID bwahahahaha! I can just imagine her face when she realized WHERE the poo was hee hee…and I can easily laugh cuz with 7 animals I have stepped in it, touched it by accident and cleaned it so no big deal

NewsBitz:

-You can still enter for some fun Blog Candy on the post under this one! You have till tomorrow (Saturday) evening to do so!

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Special Friend Blend

So for all of you, my friends I have a special card for you today featuring a super-cute Elisabeth Bell for SCACD image called “A Cuppa” from the Odds & Ends Collection. She’s just so sweet with her cup of cocoa (or tea if you like tea—me I prefer hot cocoa..it’s a sugar & chocolate thing lol)! And if you are in the land of the “freezing” like me…you probably want to drink something warm & cozy while you settle in to read a book…or my blog hahaha…or just relax a bit. The papers are by MME “Honey Cake”—love the mix of soft blues & pinks.

The pretty doily die is from Cheery Lynn Designs, then I cut another scalloped oval out of my aqua cs and embossed it with a fab emboss folder by Craft Concepts “Garden Swirl” (I loveeee my embossing folders). Then I just layered a few Prima flowers and a bow made with my Bow Easy to finish it off. The sentiment is from a PTI set that I love!

The image was colored with Copics- BG75,BG72,BG10/ R22,R20,R00. Her bow and sash I stamped & colored twice, cutting one set out to pop up for extra dimension on the image and of course I stickled them for sparkle!

So CHEERS to the weekend, CHEERS to all of you & may you have lots of fun and fabulousness this weekend!!

In the Land of Oz!!

2012-01-04T08:08:00.001-05:00

Happy Wednesday to you all---hope you make it a GREAT DAY!

Its another FRIGID COLLLLLDDDD DAY here in Virginia…again….yeah its winter—go figure…but I don’t have to like it LOL! I can’t wait to get to California to soak up some sun…yep there better be SUN…or else! Well its 2012…a year of new beginnings…new bucket & to-do lists…new shenanigans!! I have lots of things I want to do this year…lots of ideas and things I want to share….so we will see how much I ACTUALLY get done with this year. If I could add 10 more hours onto each day…dang I would be good to go! So stick close to me this year and you can join in on all the craziness with me ok….you wanna stick around? LOL!

The above pictures are a good example of how my day is full of chaos & distractions…seriously even with teens at school & hubby at work…the animals, doorbell, phone, computer & chores distract me. This is Tinkerbell, she is my daughter’s cat but she adopts me when Alexa is at school…I’m so thankful for that…yeah I am…hahahaha! She is ANNOYING!!! OMGosh I love her to bitz but she drives me NUTZO!! She wants to be ON me, on whatever I’m coloring…sitting on my laptop, eating paper, dragging embellies off the desk. And the whole time she wants to HEAD BUTT me….yes head butts…her & her brother like to head butt us…its cute the first couple of times, but after the 20th time I’ve had enough. Seriously I would get SO much more done if I put all 7 of my animals in animal-daycare…not sure anyone would want all 7 but it sure would help a girl out!! Do you feel my pain…you feelin’ me…do you have similar issues? LOL—vent to me..make me feel better..tell me your stories!

Did you watch my goofy video from yesterday’s post yet? Yeah, yeah I hear y’all…you feel sorry for my hubby & all that…whatever…he loves us and puts up with us so its all good…sometimes he acts like a grumpy elf but we love him anyways. AND YES my son laughs just like Anderson Cooper….click here to listen to Anderson (if you never saw this video of Anderson I DARE you to not laugh cuz its funny even the 100th time you watch it & scroll down to watch the video from yesterday. All I have to say is that we know how to entertain ourselves very EASILY in the Dean family LMBO!!

NewsBitz:

-Tomorrow is the last day to enter for the CMC Challenge Group’s HUGE HOLIDAY CHALLENGE to win a NEW Cricut Mini, a Kindle & other craft goodies! If you don’t have time to enter you can get some entries by donating to our wonderful charity---all details are at the group here (everyone is welcome to play)!

-If you will be at CHA this month in Anaheim, I am teaching Copic classes on Jan. 28th if you want to come! My next spots will be in Texas & Florida…all info is up at www.cmcroad.com ---always a fun time and would love to see ya!

-SCACD is back open after their holiday break & the store is stocked with yummy goodies (just to clarify this is NOT my store, my pal Susana owns the store ok lol, we get confused a lot! New papers here, New Embossing Folders here & new adhesives here!

-Read carefully…I have blog candy in this post! I also listed a winner yesterday from my other blog candy…so you might want to check to see if its you LOL!

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The Wonderful Land of Oz!!

I’m gonna share sumpin’ with you all ok! I see you all bracing yourselves…LOL…its not scary I swear!! My #1 Bucket List item is to go to Australia…since I was very small its always been a dream of mine to go to Maui & Australia. I did Maui last spring with my family & it was AWESOME. But now Australia is breathing down my neck to come visit…when I go I want to go for 2 weeks…cuz it’s a 16 hr plane ride…omgosh can you see ME on a plane for 16 hrs…now that may be SCARY hee hee! But I might have something up my sleeves this year that may get me there…so stay tuned cuz I might be going all Crocodile Dundee on ya at some point (yes it is a beloved 80’s movie that I love so there)!! And I want to see & meet all my Oz friends in person & give them hugs and hang out in the sun with them!! (and hug koala bears, and surf, & snorkel and say g’day mate---you get my drift ‘eh)!

So when I saw this SUPER CUTE “Koala Hug Tilda” that my friend Bronlyn Jones of Shop Bron (for Aussies - go here to shop) was carrying (exclusive to her store it was) I HAD TO HAVE IT!! Well she was kind enough to send me TWO of them…yep that’s right…I have one to give away to someone who leaves a comment on my post!! BUT WAIT….even better…now Diana of Magnolia-licious is carrying this exclusive stamp in her store in the US so everyone can easily get one for themselves HERE….totally cool huh? So this card is basically ME…yep me dreaming of going to the Land of Oz…one day soon me hopes!!

And this is also my card for the Magnolia-licious DT Challenge for January as well..hosted by the fabulous Cheryl Rowley. She's given us a fun yet easy challenge…ANYTHING GOES…and you can find out details & play along at the Magnolia-licious Highlites Blog !!

I decided to create a frame card to showcase this cute stamp and the “Waterfall Background” from the Pet & Animal Collection (looks to be out of stock but I’m sure Diana will get more in if you ask her sweetly). The paper is some I had from Bo Bunny…I liked the map/vintage feel of it and pulled out the tangerine color as an accent color with the greens & tans/taupes. I put all my cardstock on my card base & then cut the oval nestie shape out at once thru all the layers with my Cuttlebug. The waterfall scene was colored & cut out and then added to the backside of my frame oval with dimensionals. The leaf die is by Marianne Designs (see some of them here, also Memory Box here & Cheery Lynn dies here) and the smaller leaf is a MS punch & then the edges were sponged with ink for dimension. I created a double bow with my Bow Easy and then used my handy-dandy Scor-Tape to create the rippled ribbon look along the frame.

All my images were colored with Copics – E44,E43,E42,E41,E40 / YR15,YR12,YR00 / W5,W3,W1,W00 / E25,E31,E50 / E00,E11,R20 / YG97,YG95,YG93,G20,YG03 / YR20,YR23. I used a more dotting motion with my markers on the cute koala bear…gives him some furry texture. Then a few of the mountains, Tilda’s shoes and the koala’s nose got a shiny coat of Diamond Glaze. To make the foam/bubbles on the waterfall pop I used Liquid Applique and then added a coat of Stickles to the water (and to the leaves & mountain greenery).

BLOG CANDY: Ok so I have a cute “Koala Hug Tilda” to give away (thanks Bronlyn) and a pack of 6x6 paper (shhh it’s a surprise pack) to someone, anyone, who leaves a nice comment on this post by Saturday, Jan. 7th LOL! And pop on over to the Magnolia-licious Highlites Blog to join in on the fun challenge with us!!

Want Some Quickies?!!

2012-01-03T08:55:00.012-05:00

Happy 2012 my friends—may it be joyful, happy, blessed and wonderful for you all!! And HEY HEY- get your minds outta the gutter, cuz I don’t mean “THAT” kind of quickies LOL--this is NOT that kinda site---I MEANT craft projects that can be done quickly I have posted below for you today!! Wowweee you guys are starting the year off right huh? Bwahahaha---just kiddin’ ya! I hope you all celebrated the New Year safely and in a fun way. We spent the weekend in Baltimore’s Inner Harbor ringing in the New Year for 2 nights--it was cold but lots of fun. There is store in the harbor and it's called "Sugar" & I believe it was created for me...it is filled to the brim with sweet stuffs and yep I got a whole bag of sugary goodness while I was there LOL (can u say GIGANTIC Sweetarts & Spree...yummers)! I was wound up that first night & so were the kids...hubby might have been a "wee" bit peeved at us LMBO! :) The kids and I were up till 3 am cracking stupid jokes, taking weird pics of ourselves on IPhoto and just being ODD and giggling. Hubby should be used to it by now but its ok...it was FUN & we did get him to laugh (and got some pics too)! There is short video below the slideshow pics of the teens & me having fun with iPhoto on my Mac---yes we are in our jammies & being silly...our usual mode LOL! The slideshow has some pics that we took with IPhoto--they NEVER fail to crack me up!! (if you get my blog by subscription you must go to my blog to see pics at www.scrapbitz.blogspot.com)

The next nite we had dinner one night in Fell’s Point at a great local pizza joint and I couldn’t have felt any safer because we had about 50 cops and cadets in there with us—they were patrolling the harbor for New Year’s Eve! The teens and I had the jukebox boppin’ with “Red Solo Cup”, Luke Bryan and some Eminem that I’m so SURE they appreciated LOL but we were singing & dancing (hubby assured me that they were not gonna sing along…but….AHA…a few did join in LOL…see I can get anyone to do a sing-a-long if the mood is right)!! I have a slideshow with pics below for you if you’d like to see….LOL! Then we basically froze (couldn’t feel my fingies or toesies at all) while we waited in the harbor for the fireworks….which were set to music and spectacular!! However coming back to our hotel at 1 am to watch Dick Clark’s show I wasn’t sure if I was walking because my feet were completely numb and apparently I looked drunk even though I’d only had Cherry Coke with extra sugar…and some hot cocoa…I swear on the bible LOL! We did see (or I saw…ewwwww…tried to shield the teens) a very large woman dump her clothes & streak down the street nekkid…yep nekkid like a jaybird….guess unlike us SHE was feeling hot…never know what you may see in the city ‘eh? TRUST ME I HAVE NO PICS OF THAT LOL! No worries…my goal in life is to always HAVE AS MUCH FUN AS I CAN, no matter where I am and what I’m doing. I’m hoping the kids are learning that lesson too…life’s too short to not smile, laugh & enjoy it and we had an AWESOME time in Baltimore (even the nekkid lady part hee hee)!

Then we had jammie day and spent it watching football and hanging out at home yesterday, I made a Mexican dinner and finished up with homemade Texas sheetcake brownies (ooohhhh so yummy indeed)! Although I had a wonderful break, definitely recharged my mojo & batteries I am happy to be back on track and schedule. And as much as I love my hubby and teens….I am THRILLED to have them back at work & school as I get NOTHING done when they are home…NOTHING I tell ya!! So I’m working on projects this week and some other surprise stuff that I will reveal over the next month for ya too—lots of cool stuff! Now to get my new craft room finalized and worked on and get geared up for CHA in a few weeks…yikes…cannot wait though!!

Slideshow of Pics:

That is my son giggling in the video &

YES he sounds just like Anderson Cooper LOL

NewsBitz:

-Still a few more days to enter the CMC Holiday Challenge at the CMC Challenge Group --- everyone is welcome to enter & if you don’t have time to make a project you can donate to a fabulous charity to get entered instead. A new Cricut Mini machine, Kindle and other craft goodies up for grabs!

-A New Group over at CMC has been created too and its called “We R Smash Bookin’, Scrappin’ & Journalin’”—anyone can join us—click HERE! Its going to be a fun group to share ideas, projects, tips and some challenges to get us all going on our scrapbooks, smash books & journals. No supplies needed other than those you want to use, so come join us for some fun! I hope it gets me going on a few of my Smash Books & Journals I’ve been wanting to start this year! Kick Off Party will be Jan. 9th at 7:45 pm EST at the CMC Classroom!

-If you will be at CHA in Anaheim in a few weeks…guess what…so will I!! LOL—I will be teaching Copic classes on Jan.28th if you are interested in learning how to color/shade/highlight with those Copics---all details at www.cmcroad.com … I’d love to see you and it will be LOTS OF FUN I promise!

-Winner of my Gina K Blog Candy from this post is…..KonaRose of “Welcome To My Periwinkle Corner”! Congrats to you…please email me for details on how to claim your new stamp set!!

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Gina K “StampTV Kit” Release!!

Today the Gina K DT is sharing projects all made with the NEW StampTV Kit “True Love” which includes a huge (fabulous) stamp set full of great images, papers & cardstock, ribbon & brads to create some fun projects. I decided to limit myself to my scrap pile for my projects and create 2 cards that would be simple and easy to recreate if you wanted multiples of each.

The first card I kept to all soft pinks and feminine papers and embellies. I used the heart images from the set to create 2 overlapping hearts—then pierced the one heart and along the bottom of my embossed cardstock. Some Stickles got on there too for some pretty bling. Just some scrap papers, embossed pink cs and some ribbon finish this one off.

The second card is done in darker tones of cream, black and soft aquas. I stamped the cute typewriter image first and highlited it a bit with Copics then I embossed the whole card (cream cs) with my Swiss Dots CB embossing folder for some fun texture. And yes the typewriter got a nice coat of Stickles to make it sparkly. I cut strips of patterned paper and adhered them to a piece of black cs & then added a few buttons to embellish.

These cards could be made easily & quickly for a set of notecards or Valentines. There are so many images and sentiments in this set that the possibilities are endless!

Ok so continue on your hop today with the list below & leave comments along the way for a great chance to win!!

Happy New Year My Friends!

2011-12-30T08:56:00.001-05:00

Well I hope you all had a fabulous holiday this year! I know I have enjoyed it very much and I’m still “technically off” until Monday. That is why you haven’t seen much of me on my blog lately—when I take off for the holidays I REALLY take off and try to stay off the computer and away from my craft table. I know a lot of you have time off and you GO to your craft room to get away BUT for me that is considered “work” even though I enjoy it…I still gotta get away from it to recharge my mojo. I know…I know…this energizer bunny DOES need to recharge her batteries now & again…shocker! LOL! Plus I’m getting ready to start packing up my studio for a move downstairs to my new room that is much larger…still lots to do before that happens but I’m excited. I hope to be done by middle of February with it & then I’ll share some photos and yes it will STILL match my blog LOL! But more cabinets and shelves, a new table/desk and a new chandelier!

We had a fabulous Christmas and Santa was good to the kids of course!! They got lots of cool prezzies BUT their biggest presents they were sent on a Holiday Scavenger Hunt for. I always do this for the largest present as I think its more exciting and builds up the anticipation for them! They always get 5 clues…all done in limerick/riddle by me and they each are labeled with their initial and a number (the order they should be found) so they don’t accidentally pick up the other’s clue. Then hubby and I hide them in the places that coordinate with the riddles the night before. Riley struggles a bit more with the limerick but he finally figured it all out LOL. Alexa’s big prezzie was a new Apple Mac Pro laptop (her Toshiba of 6 years had literally died 2 weeks before). The funniest thing is that after she opened her gifts and there wasn’t a laptop under the tree…she says “oh well maybe next year I’ll get a Mac” LOL! Then I handed them both their first clue and asked if they accepted their mission hee hee---yes we videotape the whole thing. Riley’s large present was a case for his Warhammer game pieces---if you are NOT in the know its an EXPENSIVE fantasy/war game played by teen & adult boys LOL all over the world. Riley has always been into wars (of all ages) and battle strategy so him & his friends play this every weekend at our local hobby shop. I don’t understand any of it but it uses lots of math & thinking so I’m all for it LOL! So he was thrilled! And yes they got lots of NFL gifts that they asked for…I told you we were a HUGE football family Below is a slideshow of holiday pics for you. We spent Christmas day in our pjs at our house just hangin’ out & enjoying the day. Then the next day we went to my parents house to celebrate with my entire family—good time, nice & relaxed & fun.

I am off thru Monday to celebrate the New Year with my family. We are headed to the Inner Harbor in Baltimore today—they do lots of fun New Years Eve events along with fireworks over the water so we are looking forward to that. Then back to the grind for 2012 and I have LOTS & LOTS planned for the new year so just wait---I’m super excited about the things I have coming this year. Whoo hooo and happy to have you all with me along for the journey! So a very Happy New Year to you all—may it be blessed and fabulous all year long!

Slideshow of pics for ya: (if you get my blog by email click here to see)

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Gina K Release Hop!!

Today the Gina K DT is having a fun blog hop for the NEWEST stamp releases for Gina K including “Stately Flowers 2” by Melanie Muenchinger and “Mountain Wilderness” by Theresa Momber. So make sure to hop around (see list at bottom of post) today and leave comments for your chance to win a Grab Bag filled with stamps!

I love to color flowers, I love to look at flowers, I like to grow them outside…but alas I can’t have them inside because my one cat EATS them all to shreds LOL. So I will settle with all my paper versions and the ones in this second set "Stately Flowers 2" (sequel to the first “Stately Flowers” ) and just as beautiful! I chose to do the Kentucky Camellia (the smaller flower version from the set) for my project. I love pink Camellias so I colored mine pink and used papers from Authentique for a very feminine card. The bottom I punched with a MS border punch for an elegant edge.

The doily die around the image is very delicate which I loved---went along with the softness of the flower image. The image was colored with Copics R22,R20/YG95,YG97 and the edges softened with SU ink. Then a nice coat of stickles of course to bling that flower up a bit!

My second project uses Theresa’s “Mountain Wilderness” set which is fantastic for those nature lovers and masculine projects! I used 3 of the stamps to create a mountain scene for this card. I distressed all the edges, used a CB emboss folder, brads and some buttons & twine to round out the “wilderness” look. I used some Copics softly to just highlight the stamp images a bit (W3,W1,YG95,C3,C1,BG32) and then added some stickles to the water to make it sparkle.

Now continue hopping along today and leave comments for a chance to win Big!!! Happy New Year everyone!

Gina K
Melanie Muenchinger – Illustrator Stately Flowers 2
Theresa Momber – Illustrator Mountain Wilderness
Michelle Woerner
Sharon Harnist
Suzanne Dean (that’s me—thanks)
Tina Gilliland
Vicki Dutcher
Carolina Buchting
Cathy Tidwell
Deb Felts
Donna Baker
Giovana Smith
Jennie Harper
Jimmi Mayo
Lee Murphy

Happy Holidays!!

2011-12-23T01:40:00.001-05:00

Hellooooo all my friends! Where the heck have I been huh? LOL—just busy with holiday stuff-s and spending time with my family—that’s what the season is all about right? We are holly-jolly happy in the Dean household---the weather has been in the 60’s which is FANTASTIC. Alexa & I were out grocery shopping yesterday and we had short sleeves on, I freakin’ LOVE THAT! It made the traffic & crowds not seem so bad. Although I did have a “shopping cart” incident where the case of soda fell off the bottom of the cart in the middle of the road outside of Wegmans and my cart got lodged on top of it. The funny part? The cart was so heavy from all the groceries that me & Alexa couldn’t lift it up over the soda case (yes it was my Cherry Coke lol) so traffic has NOW stopped & we are laughing hysterically. Two ding-dong girls trying to lift a loaded cart but it NOT moving an inch—oh what a sight that was! BUT—chivalry does exist cuz a very nice man came to our rescue & helped us out.

So the kids are out for school (lord help me) and last night Riley had 4 of his friends over to play Madden Football on the Xbox 360 & play pool & have a sleepover. Alexa was over a friends house making cookies for a bit while I was in the kitchen cooking & baking! My parents are coming up today for a late luncheon so I made some goodies---buffalo wing dip, pineapple cake w/ buttercream frosting, Muddy Buddy mix (yum & so addictive, see here if you have no clue what I’m talking about lol) & we’ll have some cold salads & panini’s too (I loveeee paninis—Reubens, Roast Beef & Honey Ham paninis). Christmas Eve will be spent at dinner at our fave restaurant which is a tradition—no cooking for mom yayyyy! Then Christmas Day we are not going anywhere or having anyone over---that’s a first in 17 years. So we will stay in our jammies, have some sweets for breakfast and hang out and then have a quiet dinner (Prime Rib—yummers). Then Monday we head to my parents house to exchange gifts & have dinner with my entire family—good times! We are sticking around our house thru the New Year and I’m looking forward to sleeping in and reading a bunch of good books!!

The other day Alexa & I had arts & crafts day on the kitchen table---it was a MESS! I was working on the ornaments below and she was making a Smash Book for her BFF Maddy with LOTS of help from Mom of course LOL! Have you seen the Smash Books (go here for a great selection)? They are fun, quick & easy scrapbooks to make. I bought one to create a scrapbook of my travels, when will it get done? Not really sure but I have all the supplies to make it hee hee (duh right)! So Alexa did a good job with my help hee hee & then we took some pictures to share with you all—then headed over to her friend’s house to give it to her.

So I hope you enjoy the holidays wherever in the world you may be! May it be filled with joy, love, laughter and family & friends! Enjoy every minute and I wish you all a fabulous New Year as well! Thank you for your kindness, your support & friendship this year and thanks for following along with me on my travels, journey & incidents. I’m sure 2012 will be just as good or crazy or sweet or fun or a bunch of things and I am SO LOOKING forward to it!!

Slideshow of my Rec-Rm Christmas Trees AND Smash Book

NewsBitz:

-Don’t forget my first Copic classes of the New Year will be in Anaheim, CA on Jan 28th before CHA! If you want to come I still have a few spots—go to www.cmcroad.com! I’d love to meet ya!

-All the classes (not just the Copic ones) are on Holiday Special thru Jan. 5th—so hop on over to the CMC Classroom to see if any want to hop into your holiday stockings ok? LOL!

-Also don’t forget about the HUGE HOLIDAY CHALLENGE going on thru Jan 5th at the CMC Challenge Group! A Cricut Mini machine, a Kindle & more fabulous gifts will be given away---EVERYONE is welcome to join and there are many ways to play ok!

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Holiday Music Notes

So my latest addiction is Pinterest---if you haven’t heard of it, well go over & check it out and have fun! I have found so many great ideas and recipes! I saw some fabulous sheet music ornaments from Etsy pinned on the site and knew I had to make some. Below is a quick slideshow of how I made these if you wanna give it a go. I had vintage music sheets that I used for my ornaments and then I dumped lots of Deco-Art Glamour Dust on top of them while they were wet so they sparkle prettily. I dressed them up with some flowers, bows & holly leaf cutouts. They are now hanging on my tree—I just love them! And so easy to make!

Slideshow of how to make these for ya:

Xmas Glitter Graphics

Spreading Christmas Cheer for all to Hear!!

2011-12-18T02:37:00.000-05:00

Happy Sunday everyone! Yes the Dean family are HUGE “Elf” movie fans—we watch it twice every holiday season (if you got that tidbit from my blog title today lol). Gotta love Will Ferrell in tights hmmm? hee hee I love the scene where he tells the raccoon “hey little guy, you just need a hug dontcha’?” LMBO and when he drinks the whole bottle of Coke at dinner with syrup on his spaghetti--ewww Oh yeah we can quote that movie all the way thru trust me! Today hubby and I are marathon shopping to finish up so if you live near me---WATCH OUT cuz we are coming!!! I have a few stops to make and I want it to be quick & pain free. I was almost involved in a MAJOR accident the another night in my car with Alexa—I was sitting at a light and 2 other vehicles almost had a high speed collision in front of me and I could just see one of them hurtling into us. Scared the bejesus outta me since I had the other accident this spring when a teen who was texting on his phone rear ended me at 60 mph—NOT FUN & I ended up with a concussion & whiplash. And this weekend a teen was texting and the kid ran his car up a hill and into the side of a house—yeah my son’s friend’s house. SCARY---slow down people, pay attention and GET OFF YOUR STINKIN’ PHONES when you are driving for goodness sake—no phone call or text is ever worth losing a life! You don’t want to ruin your holiday or someone else’s KWIM—life’s already too short, don’t make it shorter. AND YES this is a public service announcement from Suzanne LOL but it is the truth! I’m afraid to drive during the holidays—people are SCARY!

So this post is a mumble-jumble of holiday goodness for you---read thru the end ok for a fun treat for your ears! I have pictures in a slideshow of most of my trees/holiday decorations in the slideshow below, a few of my cats and Alexa’s chorus concert. I will add more pics later this week when I get them taken for ya--I am missing pics of my rec-room jewel tree and outside of my house (I have a light strand out so gotta replace that first lol). I love sitting in my family room at night with all the trees lit and the lights off—holiday goody-ness for sure! On the tv at my house currently? Either a holiday movie or an episode of “Chopped” or “Iron Chef”. And don’t even get me started on our fave show this season “Once Upon a Time” – oh yeah we are LOVING that one (anyone know why Lil’ Red Riding Hood looks like a slutty Amy Winehouse—really she does, just sayin’ LOL)!

Slideshow—come to www.scrapbitz.blogspot.com to see pics if you get this by email:
And here’s a holiday funny for you---NAKED SANTA—yes indeedy you know if there is one that I would find it for my trees. I got this cutie from Etsy.com cuz it makes me laugh and makes me HAPPY! LOL—yeah I’m a strange one but you gotta love a naked-Santa-bum!! (bet those are words you’ve never heard uttered huh?)

My CMC DT is the BEST GROUP of gals I could ever have asked for! I love these ladies and so happy to know them all and call them friends. Not only are they talented but also big-hearted, fun and generous and I feel blessed to have them on my team! So these great ladies pooled together and bought me a FABULOUS prezzie---oh yes they did! (see below) YEP 2 NEW Zebra (zebies, love me zebies) suitcases for traveling in 2012---oh yeah just my style and I ADORE THEM!!! AND NOT ONLY that but each day two of them are posting a project they made & sent to me on their blogs----awwwwwww….how sweet is that? I am so honored and totally humbled that they would do that for me…it ALMOST makes me cry (but I’m not a crier…I think)! So please if you have a chance, make sure to stop by their blogs to SHOW THEM some love for me ok—they are super talented so you won’t be disappointed! (the list & dates are below for ya)

CMC DT Post Order:

15th Renkata and Sandie
16th Ruby and Steph
17th Shelby and Marie
18th Suzanne F. and Hazel
19th Michele and Andi
20th Charlene
21st Pat and Melanie
22nd Jenn and Dana
23rd Brook and Anary

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Also the CMC Challenge Group is having a HUGE HOLIDAY CHALLENGE thru Jan 5th and lots of great prizes! Everyone is welcome to join in with Copics, ProMarkers, Distress Inks & Colored Pencils for this challenge ok!! So read all details below and hop on over HERE to join in the fun!!

NEW CHALLENGE #33 will run until January 5th!

Your challenge this time is all about

** HOLIDAY JOY--in Golds. Creams & Whites**

Show your holiday joy with sparkling colors of GOLD, CREAM & WHITE!

(yes you can use some other colors like hair/skin/etc but the majority of colors should be Gold, Cream & Whites)

We want to see you use YOUR COPICS, COPIC REFILLS OR COPIC AIRBRUSH SYSTEM (Or ProMarkers and Colored Pencils)

Use Inspiration Pictures Below as well!

CHALLENGE RULES

-Use any image you want BUT MAKE SURE YOU LINK BACK TO THE CMC CHALLENGE in your blog post!!

-ALL PROJECTS MUST BE NEW & NOT BACK-LINKED!!

-Image MUST be colored with Copics or ProMarkers or Colored Pencils!

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For this Challenge we have LOTS OF PRIZES!!

AND A WAY TO DONATE TO A WONDERFUL CHARITY!!

WHAT YOU CAN WIN:

-1 person will win a NEW Provocraft CRICUT MINI machine

-1 person will win a NEW KINDLE E-READER

-1 person will win a $50 Gift Cert. to SCACD

-1 person will win a $25 Gift Cert. to the Paper Temptress

-1 person will win 5 digis from Tiffany Doodles and a $15 Gift Cert to 7 Kids College Fund and a Gilli Gift Bag

HOW TO PLAY:

4 different ways to enter

-Enter up to (2) TWO projects into the link system below by Jan. 5th

-Enter (1) one project into the BookEndz Challenge

-Donate a $3-5 donation to the Charity below for 1 entry

-Donate anything over $10 to the Charity and get 2 entries

OUR CHARITY:

Reading is Fundamental is the charity I have chosen to sponsor this season. As you all know I am an avid reader and it amongst my very favorite things to do in my spare time. I truly believe that literacy and reading opens up many doors in life for everyone. Not only can you find joy in books but it opens your eyes to other cultures, places and people that is so worthwhile. And just the fact that a huge part of life involves being able to read--to get through school, get a great job and navigate through life. For me teaching children to read early on in life is a MUST yet so many children are not provided with the basic materials to learn to read. So this charity is a non-profit that provides books to children and opportunities to bring literacy into areas that need it!

** CLICK HERE to DONATE **

thru a secure First Giving Site (make sure to enter your name if you are entering for a prize)

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And a last thought for you all today cuz I know you need more crazy-silliness from me, yes you do, I know you do!! LOL! This song was written for me, yes it really was….don’t believe me? Well then….just listen to the chorus of this song & you’ll know that it was made for me. When I first heard it I almost drove off the road LOL—its my new theme song! Hope you like it!!! (PAY ATTENTION TO THE CHORUS ok)

Silver Bells!!

2011-12-15T08:55:00.001-05:00

Happy Thursday everyone! How’s your holiday preps coming along! I’m hoping to get some more of my prep done today and then be 100% finished by Sunday evening I’m hoping (shhhh let me live in my happy delusion ok). I am choosing my holiday recipes with Alexa solely off the Pinterest site—I kid you not that site has the yummiest recipes. WARNING—do not go looking at that site when you are hungry trust me on this. You will be left drooling with yummies floating around in your head YES the holiday season is all about the tummy yummies of course….its not a great holiday if you aren’t groaning with happiness after each meal and then SQUISHIING into your pants the next day right? Ahhhh the joys of fudge, eggnog and ham and fudge and turkey and fudge….yeah you get where I’m going with that LOL! So enjoy—it only comes once a year so you gotta live it up!!!!

And this morning we are off to the orthodontist with Alexa—yeah she’s super thrilled about that—uh huh….NOT! But she has to have them for at least 7-9 mos to straighten up those top teeth so she’ll have them off by her junior year of high school. Let me tell you this is a hot topic of tension in the Dean household, yes it is…she is not a happy girl about it but oh well. Gotta do what we gotta do and sometimes life isn’t always what its cracked up to be and isn’t always fun! Santa is bringin’ Alexa a brand new set of braces this holiday season LOL (hahaha yeah she won’t find that very funny)!

Ok so I’ll keep it short for ya today since we all have lots of holiday stuffs to do hee hee! I will be back tomorrow with a long BUT fun post for y’all so please stop on back by!

NewsBitz:

-Remember all classes over at the CMC Classroom are on a Holiday Special Sale right now so hop on by!

-If you are in California or will be for CHA this January I’m teaching my Copic classes on Jan.28th and all details are at www.cmcroad.com – I’d love to see you there!

-My super Holiday Extravaganza CMC Challenge is going thru Jan.5th with fabulous prizes…including a NEW Cricut Mini machine, a Kindle and other sweet goodies! So hop on over---there are LOTS of ways to enter and donate to a great charity too!

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Silver Bells….well how ‘bout Silver Accents!! LOL!

Today the Gina K DT has a fun blog hop planned for you using a new Stamp Kit called “Nature’s Greetings” (you get the stamp set, papers, ribbons & brads & DVD when you purchase). If you have been hopping you came from sweet Michelle’s awesome blog, so make sure to continue on your hop below! I also have some yummy blog candy to give to one lucky commenter—so leave a comment on this post by Sunday, Dec. 18th!!

I decided to keep my colors to silver, black & whites. I used two stamps from the set to create a fun background paper in black and silver inks. Then if you look closely there are crystal polka-dots on the paper too---I made those by dotting on Stickles (in stardust). I put the tip of my Stickles down on the paper each time to create a perfect uniform size polka-dot throughout the paper. The silver cs from PTI was embossed and then I added a border made with a MS border punch. The main image was embossed---for a fun look I stamped the butterfly from the set in silver metallic ink and then embossed over it with white EP. So the silver shows thru the white just a bit. Then I used a Spellbinders Nestie to cut it out and dotted along the nestie shape (with the cs still in the die) with my silver Sharpie pen.

So that’s all for me today BUT REMEMBER if you leave a comment on my blog post (by Dec 18th) you will be entered to win a NEW Gina K “Make a State-ment” stamp set! Now that’s some calorie free holiday goodness

Ok so now you need to hop on over to

Tami’s fabulous blog HERE!!

Grey Skies, Happy Times!

2011-12-14T08:55:00.002-05:00

Hi all my friends and ONLY 10 MORE DAYS till Christmas----ackkkkkkkk! LOL I am sooo behind on my shopping that it isn’t even funny—Sunday hubby and I are going to finish all the holiday shopping. We are like a tag team in the stores hee hee—running this way, texting each other and then meeting up at the cash registers. Its fast and with a list we can finish up quickly with only a few stops—just the way I like it. Then we have a marathon wrapping evening each year where we have lots of yummy goodies to snack on and watch movies while we wrap every last present. We usually finish up around 3 am LOL exhausted but at least its all done. Hubby is a very sloooooooooooooooow & meticulous wrapper so I assign all the large or oddly shaped presents to him while I rip thru wrapping everything else and adding bows & tags. And yes I pick a color scheme each year and everything matches---last year was teal, silver, hot pink & green. This year its all white, silver and blues (yeah I’m anal that way so shoot me). Then we lock up everything in our spare bedroom until Christmas morning. We have been doing it like this since the kids were tiny hee hee and sometimes it was almost hilarious the things we’ve done. Building tricycles, barbie houses, train boards, and last year putting together a complete drum set for Riley---oh my goodness & you know the directions are never good so it takes twice as long as it should. (James and I are looking at each other saying "why did they only send the directions in Japanese?" LMBO) GOOD TIMES RIGHT?!!! That’s what holiday memories are all about! (and the stress, craziness & exhaustion too) The funny thing is that as the kids get older the present pile gets so much smaller but so MUCH MORE EXPENSIVE—now how the heck does that happen? LOL ;)

Tonight we are headed to see Alexa sing with her women’s choir at the high school. She has a solo so this mom will be very nervous for her but oh so proud. I hope to actually remember my video camera this time to tape it all—yes trust me I forget it a lot or forget to charge it (yeah it’s a running theme in my life, ask my hubby). Riley has a band concert at his school tonight as well but because he has 5 concerts this month, one of which I already went to we will head to Alexa’s tonight. Then see his other two band concerts next week—whooowheee it is hard balancing concert nights when they are not in the same school. Next year they will both be in high school so it will be a bit easier (I hope).

NewsBitz:

-Ok so there is HUGE MONTH-LONG CHALLENGE over at my CMC Challenge Group (runs thru Jan 5th). There are lots of different ways to enter for all the fantastic prizes (including a NEW Cricut Mini Machine, a Kindle and other fab crafty prizes). You can also enter by donating to a charity “Reading is Fundamental” which promotes literacy programs and books to children—reading is one of my fave things to do and I think it is so very important to establish early on. You need it to get through life, school and for fun so I always support reading programs. By donating you can get entries into the prize pot—so even if you don’t have time to make a project (theme is golds, whites & creams) you can still enter. I do a couple charity events a year and hope to raise some money for a great organization.

You can see details of the charity & donate HERE! Head over to the CMC Challenge Group to see all the details, ways to enter & prizes!!

-Anyone going to CHA in Anaheim, CA in January? Anyone live in CA & want to take a Copics class with me? I will be teaching on Jan.28th in Anaheim for 1 day and all details/registration is up at www.cmcroad.com – I’d love to see ya!!

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Grey Skies Can Bring Happy Times!!

So today I Brake For Stamps has some new Wee Stamps (a Whimsy Stamp Company) in stock & for sale and they are just cuteness personified! This lil’ cutie is called “Spring Bringer” and even though we are not yet in the depths of winter here (ugh) I am ready for spring LOL! I love everything in bloom, warmer weather and more sunny days—makes me a happy girl. So I’m bringing a little bit of spring into your day today for ya!!

My papers are new from Teresa Collins “Carolina Breeze” – I absolutely love the gray & soft yellow colors and patterns in this paper pad. The sentiment is from PTI along with the silver shimmer cs I used. I used a mix of Wild Orchid Craft flowers & rosebuds along with a Cherry Lynn Designs die for my leafy scroll. The embossing folder on the yellow cs is a newer one by Crafts Too “Scrollworks”.

I'm entering this into the following fun challenges:

Make it Monday (anything goes)

Paper Creations Ink (bling it)

Cutie Pie Challenge (sentiments)

Pile It On (bling)

The Crafty Pad (no xmas or bdays)

Awww isn’t she a sweetie-pie? I colored her up with Copics C7,C3,C1,C00 / Y11,Y000, Y21 / E11,E00,R20 / E25,E33,E31,E50 / G20,YG93,YG97 & BG10. Then I added some Stickles to her wings, pants & flowers. A few mini yellow pearls finish off her pant legs. She was fun to color!

That’s all for me today! I will be back tomorrow for a special Gina K Blog Hop—so stop on back by! Holiday hugs to you all!

I’m a Kitty…Meowww…Meoww! LOL!

2011-12-12T10:27:00.001-05:00

Hello all my friends—how are you this fine Monday? It is brrrrrr…..COLD with a capital “C” here in Virginia oh my goodness…I cannot stand it…yuckers! I need to get myself somewhere warm real quick—the icicles on the end of my nose are growin’ LOL! I am feeling better although the head cold is lingering which I hate---gotta hate that ‘whoooooooooooooosh’ feeling everytime you bend over & move your head (and nope I haven’t been drinking hee hee). And I want to thank EACH & EVERYONE of you that left me comments, sent me emails and facebook messages – that means SO VERY MUCH to me and I appreciate you taking the time to do that and thank you for your sweet sentiments. The “issue” has been resolved thankfully after a long bit of time, lots of stress and mental pain and I’m happy to be DONE with it. So I will NOT share what "place" did this because it was resolved and I’m not a vindictive kinda girl in any way….however if I know any of you are doing something with said place I might warn you carefully as I would hate to see anyone else get hurt. But do know its not any of the places I love & work for But I’m done with it, over it and putting it all in its place—it’s the holidays after all and I am way late in getting my bum in gear for it (ahhhhhh Xmas shopping still to do…arghhhh…ackkk…yikes)

Now here’s some funnies for you below…yes stuff like this makes me laugh…yes I do repeat this to my family over & over….then laugh hysterically…why…cuz these things CRACK me up…told ya I was a weirdy hee hee! They fit into the kitty-cat theme I have going today!

Have you discovered Pinterest yet? OMGosh if you have hours upon hours to WASTE then I encourage you to go there ok…you can follow me if you’d like…then I will follow you so I can get more pins….cuz it’s a sickness I tell ya. I got an invite last spring and I just now logged into it this past week LOL—thank god I waited cuz I was on it for like 3 hours. Tons of fabulous ideas, crafts & recipes….my brain is full of ideas…yet sadly I lack the time to try most of them…but I repinned them so IF I get time I know what I can do (you can either thank me…or smack me another time ok…after you are done spending 10 hours on there)

The Dean family spent Friday at National Harbor outside of Washington, DC---we went to see the ICE Show at the Gaylord Resort which is always a highlite of the season for us. It is a frigid 4 degrees inside and man-oh-man is it cold…my hand hurt so bad that I had to hurry thru the end…it was killing me. Chinese ice artisans carve over 2 million pounds of ice for this show each year--so very cool! And always fun and this year it was Merry Madagascar themed and you know what that means right? Yep….zebies and pengys…Suzanne’s verbage for zebras & penguins…my fave!! LOL! We spent the night at the harbor and also headed down to DC to see the National Christmas tree & state trees. (I will say I was underwhelmed by the Natl tree…mine in my family room is bigger…I kid you not…I really don’t lol!) So below is a slideshow of pics for ya to see! I’ll have pics of my house this week for ya…gotta put up the greenery still as its been too cold for me to go & gather it. (if you subscribe you need to come directly to my blog HERE to see the pics)

Slideshow:

I’ll have a bunch of NewsBitz for ya this week including the HUGE CMC Challenge I have going on now where you can win a NEW Cricut Mini & Kindle and donate to charity! All classes at CMC are also on a Holiday Sale! Going to CHA—come take a class with me on the 28th of Jan….details at www.cmcroad.com !

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It’s a Birthday Blog Hop Today!!

Awhile back a friend of mine asked if I would participate in a fun Birthday Blog Hop to celebrate her birthday….well of course I would…how fun! So we are celebrating Jeanine’s birthday today with a fun hop and a way for YOU ALL to win some yummy blog candy. So if you are starting with me, head over to Jeanine’s blog HERE to see all the fun details ok! And lots of fabulous, fun & wonderful birthday wishes to Jeanine today!

I’m using this super cute & new Elisabeth Bell image for SCACD called “Happy Days”---she’s perfect for a happy day eh!? I just loved her big 50’s style skirt and cardigan (they had great style back then didn’t they) and I had a ton of fun making her skirt into a leopard pattern---that’s something fun I teach in my CMC Copic Class #5

I'm entering this into the following challenges:

Corrosive Challenges (anything goes but Christmas)

Basic Grey Challenges (anything goes)

Squiggle Stamps (celebrate)

Crafty Catz Weekly Challenge (anything goes)

I used some fab papers called “Little Black Dress” by Basic Grey---great patterns, I just love it! The sentiment is from a PTI set and then I used some layered Primas to create all my flowers. The black border was made with a MS Jumbo punch and the swirls are from Heartfelt Designs “Bella Rose” die.

So I colored my image with Copics- E33,E31,E50 / C9,C5,C3 / E11,E00,R20 / YR23,E25,YR20. I drew my leopard print onto the skirt with my black Spica so it has a bit of sparkle then filled them in with copics. Always color and shade your image first…then add a pattern on top. Her sweater, shoes, hairbow and ruffles got a nice coat of Stickles—her belt buckle got gold Stickles.

Ok so that’s it for me today….hope you enjoyed this MEOW girl hee hee!

So now you need to continue on your hop by going to celebrate over at

Jamie’s Blog Here

Blessings and some Reindeer!!

2011-12-07T21:12:00.002-05:00

Hi everyone! I apologize for my long absence here at my blog! The first of December is always a bit crazy as I get my holiday decorations up and do some cleaning along the way. I’ve also been catching up on things that were neglected while I was busy traveling & working—cleaning out closets, washing curtains and bedding and all that fun stuff—NOT LOL! I have 2 more trees to finish up today and I’m all done—the kids put their trees up in their rooms so we are at a total of 11 trees. Tree 12 was supposed to be on the patio but the stand is broken and I have yet to find a replacement tree in the stores and tree 13 was to be animal themed but I am not going to get that one done this year. Riley has come down with viral pneumonia and as most of you know has asthma really bad as well—so he’s been pretty sick and we’ve been tending to him. And then I have been sick as well so I am just a bit slower this year than normal but that’s ok—I got done what I needed to and I’m happy. I will share pics of all the trees soon---I have to get greenery from the yard and its been raining/sleeting for 2 days so waiting for it to all dry out before I bring it in the house and then I’ll take the final pics of the house. We did have a beautiful day to “hunt” 2 of our real Christmas trees, in the mid-50’s and we found 2 extra special ones for our house. Below are a few pics—the big tree is 13 ft and is in our family room (oh that was fun to decorate, hee hee).

(Photos: me and Alexa at the tree farm, the kids & I with our 13 ft tree, my dog Casey dressed as “ELF” and 2 of my kitties in one of my decorations boxes)

I’ve also been through the wringer in a bad,bad way I am sorry to say. I won’t go into too many details though, those of you that know me well are aware of the situation & I thank you for your support. I have been burned bad by someone that I trusted, put my trust into for others as well and then got slapped in the face after the fact. I’m still waiting for a resolution at this point and hoping for the best but that remains to be seen. This has been ongoing for the past few weeks and it has seriously dampened my mood and stressed me beyond comprehension. I don’t understand how someone can be so manipulative, two-faced and a thief and manage to run a business that caters to people who trust you and rely on you. To lie to your face over and over again and then look in the mirror and be ok with themselves. How can someone do that? My trust was severely broken and my faith in people very shaken and during one of the most special times of the year for me & my family. I have to say it took a beating on me both mentally & physically and that’s why I haven’t posted much, my spirit was just tired out and I did NOT want to put that out on my blog for you all. BUT I have seen the good in other people, people willing to help above & beyond the call of duty, people who support me and will go to bat for me, and friends that will listen to me vent and I know that they are there for me no matter what. That is TRULY the majority of people I know, people I’m lucky to have as friends and that is what the spirit of the season is about—those that love & care about you. Who want to do good, who want to be a friend, and who want to help. I am so very, very thankful for everyone that is in my life—I’m a very lucky girl no matter what happens. I don’t count my success in money, or classes sold, or miles traveled but in the beautiful friendships I’ve collected along the way and the people that I have been lucky enough to teach & meet as well. So to all of you, a big THANK YOU and I am a lucky girl and I am BLESSED this holiday season with my health, my family and my friends!

NewsBitz:

-All classes at the CMC Classroom are on Holiday Sale thru Jan.5th! This includes my copic classes AND the Cricut, Distress Inks, Magnolia and Prisma Pencils classes too. They make great gifts as well!

-I just sent out a Holiday/Decmeber News Blast to everyone who is a member of the CMC Classroom site (all are welcome). You can find it HERE as well in case you missed it. It explains all upcoming events at CMC that you won’t want to miss!

-Next trip for me will be in January for CHA in Anaheim! I will be teaching classes there on Saturday before CHA begins and you can sign up at www.cmcroad.com if you are interested—I’d love to see you!

-Starting Dec. 10th the CMC Challenge Group starts a month-long challenge with a HUGE Prize pot! Prizes include a NEW Cricut Mini, a NEW Kindle and lots of gifts from some awesome craft companies! You can create projects to enter AND/OR donate to a worthy cause for an entry. Yes once again I am raising money for a worthy organization this holiday season—let’s see what we can do this year!! Details will be up at the site on the 10th!

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Santa’s Reindeer!!

This is a holiday project I made for a new Brazilian Crafts magazine—they asked me to create a holiday card for their debut issue! You can see more of the issue HERE and on the page next to me is my friend & DT sister Mindy Baxter as well! This is also a special Mingle card that I sent to my friend Jean Hempel—if you are lucky enough to know Jean, you know what a sweet lady she is. She has always been so kind to me, sending me lovely messages all the time and sharing a bit of her life with me. So I wanted to send her something special for the holidays along with a few fun gifts to let her know how appreciative I am to know her!! So a big thank you Jean for your friendship!! And of course both of my stamps are from Magnolia-licious –the best place in the world to get Magnolia stamps!

I have used cute little “Reindeer Tilda” from Magnolia-licious along with another Magnolia sentiment stamp—she’s from the Merry Little Christmas collection. You can see all the holiday stamps from that collection HERE! The papers are by Bo Bunny “Blitzen” and I used a Sizzix embossing folder for the blue cs and a MS border punch as well. The die mat behind the main image is by Spellbinders and snowflakes done with MS punches. And yes some Stickles in a few spots too!

Remember that Magnolia-licious has a fabulous contest called “The Holiday Wrapped Up Challenge”—fun prizes to be had so come on over & join in!

Thanks everyone & see you back here real soon! Holiday hugz to you all!

I’m a SINGER..falalala!!!

2011-12-02T04:00:00.002-05:00

Yay and thank goodness it is FRIDAY—yeehawww! I am looking forward to some time OUT of my studio and OUT of the house LOL. Tree hunting we a go-ago and praying weather is good. Do any of you have any early holiday plans this weekend? I hope to have all my Christmas cards addressed and mailed by Wednesday and NOooooo I do not make them (GASP..OMGosh…Nope)—I make SnapFish photo cards LOL. I do mail out about 12 homemade cards to a few friends and family who really appreciate them. And I’m wayyy behind on Christmas card making anyway this year, kinda like I’m a little behind on everything at the moment. But that’s ok I’m slowly getting caught up and getting ready to sloooow down a bit. Yes I DO slow down, maybe not to a standstill but to a sloooow buzz hee hee. And I’m feeling a tad better yes, but I don’t get the flu shots to all those that emailed me—NOT cuz I’m afraid of shots (you don’t wanna go into my medical history) but I don’t like to put extra drugs into my system or take meds unless I have to. Yep I'm that girl--I'm a Taurus--a proud Taurus--super stubborn and hard-headed--yes I am!! And I did get the flu shot twice and got the flu both times, so I stopped getting it and have pretty much not had the flu that much until last year. But I know my immune system is low right now, stress is high so buggies are gonna get me but like I said…not much slows me down except for the “d” word that rhymes with beth LOL. You gotta keep kickin’ till you can kick no more. So all will be ok in the Dean household this weekend—deck the halls we will goooooooo and doooooo---yes I’m singing to youuuuuuuuuuuu LOL!

PS—yes I am a BAD patient, yes I do NOT listen to advice, yes my mom is shaking her head along with my hubby right now. And nope it will never change LOL!

My 2 cairns cocking their heads – this what they do when I talk to them LOL and YES I do talk to them a lot (along with the walls and myself hee hee)

NewsBitz:

Winner of my Blog Candy from this post is……#157 Hilora! Congrats Hilora—please email me at sjdean@smartneighborhood.net for details!!

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Sing Me a Melody!!!

Today is a new Elisabeth Bell release for SCACD called “Odds & Ends Sampler”---can I hear a yayyyy yeah!!? I love, love this image and I even named her—how about that? Her sweet name is Melody….yep cuz she’s singing some melodies bwhahahaha…yeah I humor myself when I type my blog hee hee. I see her as a mini version of myself (ahem…a much younger version of meself) and yep I love to sing and dance and NOPE I don’t care where I may be! Yes I am that annoying person that you all look at in a store going “really, is she dancing?” LOL oh yeah Doesn’t she just make ya happy? You gotta be happy—life is short—smile, laugh, sing and dance more and you will be happy I promise, even if its just for a few minutes!! So the DT is having a fun blog hop today to show off these great stamps so make sure to hop around and see, and you can buy them all HERE!! You should have come to my blog via my friend, the very talented Melanie!!

I'm entering this into the following fab challenges:

Crafty Purple Frog (someone special)

Willie Sketchie Challenge (anything goes)

Cooking It Up With Katie (anything goes)

Divas by Design (anything goes)

Party Time Tuesdays (anything goes)

So I have been on a mission to use scraps from my HUGE scrap pile lately. Now don’t get me wrong I loveeee paper and you can see all the NEW yummy papers at SCACD here (yep I can enable cuz I already got them bwhahahaha). So its all papers from SU that I used and embellished (added black dots to the paper on right and then stickles to all the dots on all the papers). The black cs was embossed with a CB zebra folder too…mmmm love me some zebra print yes I do. If you like animal prints too all 4 of the CB emboss animal print folders are 25% off HERE! The swirls and mat die cuts are from Marianne Designs and the sentiment I created on my computer. She’s such a cutie!

She got colored with Copics BG13,BG11,BG10 / C3,C1,C00/ E25,E31,E50 / E11,E00. The swirls were done with a PTI set and then I shadowed around her with Copics as well. She got Stickles on her star patterned areas and her pretty hair barrette. Diamond Glaze on her brush for shine.

Ok that’s all for me, but now you need to keep hopping to see all the other cuties the DT has used today! And as always you can shop for them all HERE!

So next on the hop is my talented friend

Anki

Come Dance With Me!!

2011-12-01T08:55:00.002-05:00

Hello everyone and a very happy Thursday to you all! Suzanne is sickie-poo, yep I think the flu-eth cometh to suzann-eth via the teens or hubby and the “golden throne” has been my god for 2 days sadly! So hoping to get both my energy and mojo back tomorrow so my decking the halls can begin—13 trees and outside decorations don’t put themselves up KWIM. We are going tree hunting this weekend to find 2 perfect trees—one real one (at least 13 ft tall) for the family room and one for the rec room (usually a blue spruce). One of our fave activities to do each year as a family, we go to a tree farm near the base of the Blue Ridge Mtns and its beautiful. I am the official tree picker and most years I have both trees picked out within 20 mins—then James & Riley saw them down and haul them to the barn. Alexa & I are responsible for getting everyone the hot cider and that they drill holes correctly in the trees LOL (yea we have the easier part but shhhh don’t tell). Then we load them….err..James loads them on top of our SUV while we usually huddle inside warming up LOL, and then we bobble our way home to get them in the house. I’m the light person—I do all the lights on all the trees and I HATE IT—it’s the worst part. Usually when I’m done lighting them all I can barely move my hands as they cramp up quickly and look like the darn crypt keeper but with tree needles and glitter in her hair! James’ main job is to help keep the lights untangled and hand them to me…that is when he’s paying attention to the job & not the tv, or dogs or whatever. Getting up on top of a ladder…teetering & tottering to string lights on a 13 ft + tree can be a bit stressful. Yeah me on top of a ladder (don’t lie I know you are picturing it right now & giggling---yep you are)? Not a good thing at all…klutzy me on top singing carols and just generally being holiday annoying…can lead to disasters. BUT I will say I have yet to fall off LOL…don’t jinx me ok…I need NO injuries or my trees won’t get put up and trust me that is NOT GONNA MAKE A GOOD STORY PEOPLE!!! Cuz left up to James….yeah well he’d only have one tree up but we all know I am a tad XTREME and ODD and must over-do most things in my life for whatever reason (I’ll save the psycho analysis for another day when my brain is working ‘k). So bring on decking the halls, singing carols, cooking cookies and drinking eggnog – RIGHT ON! Now to get the flu-eth to leave the hous-eth...hmmmmmm

PS—yep Suzanne DID get her front tix to see Luke Bryan in March, yes I did and I’m a very happy girl! Now I’m stalking….errr…staking out the site to join the lottery for the meet-n-greet passes. I know it might be scary for Luke but awwwwwwesome for me yes? hee hee hee!
PS2--Yes Alexa was aware of the post from yesterday about her blankie--it may be be shabby but she's a PROUD shabby blankie owner I guess LOL! The kids always know what I'm writing on my blog trust me.....;)

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Come and Dance!!

Today I’m using 2 of the fabulous new stamp sets released by Gina K this week. I didn’t receive one of the sets so I am using a new Stamp Duo in place of it today (but I cannot wait to get the beautiful “Dogwood” set as its stunning)! You can see all the Stamp Duos here and I’m using “Because of You”. I like to dance, yes I do and sing too, line dance & club dancing (so shhhhh lol) especially so I love this silhouette image of a dressed up couple having a night out! (my hubby does NOT dance though hee hee) I didn’t use the sentiment but there is one included that’s beautiful. All the papers are by Prima and I kept them distressed for a shabby chic look. This image would work beautifully for a wedding, anniversary or Valentine’s Day project and more!

I dressed the card up with ribbon, Prima roses and flowers, Viva Décor Pearl Pen in black and black Stickles. The leafy scroll die is by Marianne Designs.

The second card uses a new set by Tami Mayberry called “Label Borders” which is full of fun labels, border looks and sentiments to mix and match. I chose to make an early Valentine’s Day card (yeah I must have it on the brain lol) using just cardstock. I embossed my cardstock with a CB embossing folder, the black edging is made with a MS border punch and finished with some pearls. I spritzed the whole card with some Smooch Spritz to make it really sparkle.

Close up of the border—I colored the inside with a hot pink Copic (RV14) and then I used by Black Viva Décor Pearl Pen to add more dimension to the sentiment and border dots.

Ok that’s it from me today but make sure to keep hopping today to my DT-mates below for a chance to win some great grab bags of stamps if you leave comments as you hop! And you’re sure to be inspired along the way too!

Gina K
Tami Mayberry - Illustrator Label Borders
Theresa Momber – Illustrator Dogwood and Butterfly
Tina Gilliland
Vicki Dutcher
Carolina Buchting
Cathy Tidwell
Deb Felts
Donna Baker
Emily Giovanni
Giovana Smith
Jimmi Mayo
Lee Murphy
Melanie Muenchinger
Michelle Woerner
Sharon Harnist
Suzanne Dean (that’s me, thank u all)

Where In the World…?

2011-11-30T08:55:00.003-05:00

Hi everyone and Happy Wednesday to ya wherever in the world you may be! So what are your thoughs on BLANKIES! LOL! Do your kids have a favorite item that they’ve had since they were very small? My two teens do although my son put his “Lovie” away last year—its in his nightstand but he doesn’t sleep with it anymore. (sniff sniff) He realized that he was a bit older and ready to put it away!---OR he realized that his friends might see and would rather die than suffer the pain of their torment about it! HOWEVER, my 15.5 yr old daughter has her baby blanket still and we’ve been trying to pack it away as it’s a bit shabby…hobo looking shabby…barely holding together shabby! (see pic) I mean its not even pretty, just kinda scary and she travels with THAT--ewwww? BUT she is resisting and after many attempts by my mom to fix it, it is now beyond repair LOL and the lady that made it for her is no longer alive sadly.

YES-that is Alexa peeking out of her holey blankie LOL!

Alexa still sleeps with it but that is not where the problem lies. She carries it around the house with her and whenever she sits she likes to twirl/scrunch it in her hands which is why its come unraveled LOL. Even when she’s in bed at night its being twirled. Yes perhaps she has a bit of her ADD Mom in her system so shush--this post is not about me but her. Now I’m all for habits that comfort you as long as they are safe BUTTTTTTTTTT….the blanket needs to be packed away before its nothing but a ball of yarn Everyday I travel thru the house picking up pieces of yarn that have come off the blanket—drives me batty—although the cats love it--I mean I thought I could pass the point of cleaning up after her! My daughter is a bit like Charlie Brown's friend PigPen--yes this is her nickname I kid you not (yeahhhh you remember PigPen-the kid with the dirtball flowing around him). I told Alexa its time to pack it up so she can still have a piece of it for her memory box (and future kids). What do you all think? LOL—she doesn’t want to give it up and I don’t crochet so I’m not making a new one KWIM. And when I turned 5 I had to give my blankie to Santa (righhhhhtttt Mommmmmm) and it was traumatic for me--maybe this is why I still have Santa issues and put up 13 Christmas trees in hopes he'll bring my blankie back...hmmm (yep yep)! I liked to rub the silk edges of my blankie on my nose (yeah yeah I did so what’s it to ya LOL). BUT Alexa is 15 so it should be less traumatic and part of growing up, yes? OMGoodness this battle is ongoing so maybe Santa needs to take it on Christmas Eve hee hee…hmmmm…need to ponder on this me thinks!

PS—I got Pit tickets to see Eric Church and Brantley Gilbert in February and a backstage pass—whoot whooot, I’m stoked, loveeee them! BUT GUESS WHAT? YEP, LUKE BRYAN tix go on sale at 10 am today for fan club members (duh yeah I’m a member) and I’m so going to see him again. But shhhhhh don’t tell him, I don’t want him to think I’m a stalker…or something…hee hee!'
And oh, oh, oh---guess who followed me on TWITTER---OMGGGGGoshhhh I almost fell outta the chair yes I did. None other than his hotness Chuck Wicks....oh yeah....oh yeah....I'm doing the happy chicken dance right now gals..yep I am! Ohhhh I love himmmmmm and his songs and hissss music and hissss hotness hee hee! Yes hubby thinks I'm a TOTAL LOON...oh wait....yes I am...hee hee hee!

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Sneak Peeks for Gina K

Today kicks off the sneaky peekies for the fabulous NEW Gina K releases that were released last night! You can purchase all the sets HERE—but if you hop along on the blog hop today and leave comments you will have the chance to win a GRAB BAG of Gina K Stamps (12 stamps in each bag—how cool)!!

I know masculine cards can be hard for some to make—even I find them difficult at times but I love a good challenge! I’m the person who LIKES to go outside of the box (yeah you read my blog so you know that huh LOL). So this card will actually be my Valentine’s Card for my hubby in 2012—I love this sentiment and its actually how I feel about my hubby (awwwww). So I kept all my papers vintage and shabby, colors to creams, browns and soft blues. I used the fabulous set called “Make a “State”ment” designed by Melanie Muenchinger for Gina K—love this set!

I chose to use the stamp of the US for my focal image. I stamped it onto my patterned paper (all papers by BoBunny, inked edges and added stickles to the edges for some subtle sparkle cuz all my projects must have a “tad” of sparkle LOL. The blue cs was embossed with a “clock” embossing folder and then inked. Some twine, pearls and button finish it all off. All my colored cardstock used on both of my projects is from Gina K’s “Luxury Line” here---nice weight and great for layering!

The second card today I combined two new sets “Stately Flowers” AND “Make a State-ment”—they pair beautifully together! I used some older K&Co papers because I wanted my Texas Bluebonnet stamp to be…well…blue LOL! The trims were done with a MS border punch. Then I created a fun sentiment banner that I bent softly and capped with a button.

Then I stamped that same US Stamp in blue, added the cute thumbtack stamp to the state of Texas and stickled the whole state LOL! Nope I’m not from Texas but I have spent a lot of time there and I love it! I’ll be in Texas in February to teach my classes too and cannot wait!

Ok that’s all from me today BUT make sure to keep hopping along today for a chance to win a great grab bag of prizes from Gina K!

Gina K
Melanie Muenchinger – Illustrator Stately Flowers and Make a Statement
Carolina Buchting
Cathy Tidwell
Deb Felts
Donna Baker
Emily Giovanni
Giovana Smith
Jennie Harper
Jimmi Mayo
Lee Murphy
Michelle Woerner
Sharon Harnist
Suzanne Dean (that’s me, thank u)
Theresa Momber
Tina Gilliland
Vicki Dutcher

How State-ly Are You??!!

2011-11-29T08:55:00.003-05:00

Howdy my friends and Happy Tuesday to you! I know, I know its been almost a week since I’ve posted—sorry LOL! Between the holiday and a whole lotta work I just haven’t had time to make anything to post—I worked all holiday weekend on CMC Copic Class 5! And GUESS WHAT? Its finished---yayyy---break out the bubbly cuz I’m a happy girl! Over 80+ hours on Class 5 and I hope those that take it have fun—I sure had fun creating the techniques and shooting it all. If you are not familiar with my online classroom Color Me Creative – it is a fun classroom where you can join Copic classes with me anytime, they are done on your own time and you have access for a year! So this is my last Copic class for the classroom of this size anyhow taught by me but there are other classes with great instructors on the site too! The collage below gives you a hint of some of the fun the class offers!

Thanksgiving was good, great to spend time with family and watch some football. We went to see “Tower Heist” this weekend with the teens and their friends and I have to say it appealed to my 5-yr old sense of humor LOL! Hubby had one of sneak-freak-cleaning-attacks while I was working which is NEVER fun for anyone in the house. He gets VERY grumpy as IF we asked him to organize and clean and then he decides to vacuum while I’m video-taping my class videos. ummmmm….not working for me….and he has the nerve to get annoyed with ME?…yeah NO! I love him to bits but he picks the MOST INOPPORTUNE times to clean I tell ya---vacuuming out the car when we have to leave to get somewhere, clearing out the pantry 1 hour before dinner guest arrive and yada yada (if you don’t believe me ask my mom as she’s witnessed the craziness) LOL! I’m all appreciative of the help but pick a good time and lose the grumpiness---I’m not grumpy when I clean, well I think I’m not Arghhhh men I tell ya……

NewsBitz:

-Yep CMC Class 5 is up and ready to go, see all details at the CMC Classroom!

-My next CMC Copic classes on the road will be in Anaheim, CA and then Texas. See all details at www.cmcroad.com (I will be in Vancouver, Montreal and more this spring so stay tuned)

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Gina K Invitation Blog Hop – Sneak Peeks!!

We are very excited to extend an invitation to Gina K. Designs November Release Party. We have a fun evening planned for you - chatting, prizes, challenges, stamp sets reveal, design team shares, and most importantly, you can start shopping at 7 PM (CST)!

If you came from my best pal Tina’s Blog you're at the right place. If not make sure to head over to StampTV where you will find a list of all those participating in today's hop.

Hope to see you at the party, here are all the details:

When: Today, Tuesday, November 29
Where: StampTV Release Party Forum
Time: 7 PM to 9 PM (CST)

Today starts off a round of fun blog hops for the new Gina K releases—yay! So some of the DT is showcasing different stamp sets on their blogs today as sneaky peekies and then the next few days will be release peeks with blog candy, so don’t miss it! I am using a set that I absolutely adore and love by Melanie Muenchinger for Gina K called “Stately Flowers” which I think may be an ongoing sequel kind of set hmmmmmm…LOL! I chose to use these beautiful California Poppies and colored them in the bold yellowish-orange of the state flower. Amazingly I had new paper by Authentique that matched perfectly and even had poppies in it, LOL, love it when that happens. A double bow tied with my Bow Easy, some pearls and fun little tag finish it off.

I'm also entering this into the following fab challenges:

Make It Monday (anything goes)

Crafty Boots (anything goes)

OutLawz Challenge (greeting card/sentiment)
The Ribbon Reel Challenge (ribbon/anything goes)

I tried very hard to get a good picture but its still hard to see—I masked the flower and stamped over it with the word “California” in soft aqua ink to create a background pattern. I used Copic Colors YR18,YR15,YR12,Y35, YR00,YR20 and YG67,G20. I added a few stickles in the center of the poppy for sparkle.

Ok hope you enjoyed my project and hope the brightness cheered you today and I’ll see you back here tomorrow! Now make sure to keep hopping to see more fabulous sneak peeks from my DT-mates!!

Next up is Sharon’s fab blog HERE!