It is cold and quiet around here today and I plan on taking some serious time to get caught up on all the little things I have been too busy to get too.  For example I need to purge my bathroom drawers and reorganize my “beauty supplies.”  I need to reinstall my printer so that I can get the scan function to work.  I need to get all my itunes and contacts uploaded to my MobileMe account so I can sync all my devices.  Then if I get all that done I plan on getting ALL of my digital photos organized and uploaded to some type of back-up service.  I also got notice that one of my library books is due back in 3 days so I need to finish the book I am reading.  I doubt I will get through all of this today but it is a good goal to work towards.

I did get the chance to “play” a little last night with a few of the new Pink Paislee products for our upcoming January release.  Although we don’t have any of our physical product samples yet I was able to create a digital layout last night and I am loving it so far.  I wish I could show it off…but you know I just can’t.  Let’s just say that I was scrapping a photo from last summer and all the fun and bright colors were making me very VERY happy!

Since I hate updating my blog without sharing a photo…here is a quick snapshot of my son Connor as a mummy and his friend Alex right before trick or treating on Halloween night.

Enjoy your weekend!

This is an awful photo (because Cozmo doesn’t want to be in pictures just yet) but this is our doggie Cozmo in his Halloween T-Shirt. What a cute little frankenstein huh?

I couldn’t convince Barry that he needed a full on costume but I did manage to sneak in this little “t” from Target on one of my last shopping trips. He is oh so spooky!

About 4 weeks ago I got a crazy whim to “makeover” the guest bathroom in our house.  The guest bathroom is a very small 1/2 bath but because it is on the main floor of the house and we work from home on most days, it tends to get the most use!  The original “look” was getting very dated and I was feeling bored with it.  Originally it featured pale yellow walls and a pretty bad wallpaper border around the top and it was starting to make me feel drab every time I went in there.

Part 1 of this makeover didn’t exactly go off without a hitch but I won’t even go into the details.  What I will tell you is that we hired someone to come in and add plaster to the walls to create a venetian plaster effect and now I just need to paint over that and do some touch ups on the baseboards.

Part 2 happened today (and it was a surprise even to me) because as I was strolling through Lowe’s and I found this gorgeous vanity cabinet.  Now we really don’t even NEED a new vanity because we have a pretty gorgeous pedestal sink but I just couldn’t help myself.  I ordered this one right on the spot. I didn’t even have to think about it because I just knew it would be a perfect vanity for the space!  Believe me it will look amazing against our metallic brown Ralph Lauren paint and it will give us the much needed storage space that our current pedestal sink is lacking.

All in all what I thought would be a simple “new coat of paint” has turned into quite the makeover and I am sure I am not done yet.  I know I will want to add new accessories too! 

I promise when it is all put together I can post some pics.  I also need to post pics of our house that was recently repainted right???

Last weekend I drove up to Minnesota to attend a craft event hosted by Archiver’s in the Mall Of America.  Of course I was representing Pink Paislee at this event and we loved being a part of that….but the funny thing is…as we were getting ready to head out of town on the last day some other “crafters” told us about the annual Junk Bonanza event that takes place about 15-20 minutes south of the Mall.  Of course we were totally up for some “junk” shopping since the van was empty so we looked it up on the ole iphone and off we went.

The only bad news is that I didn’t have any cash on me and no one took credit cards at this event.  Needless to say I didn’t bring any of these goodies home.  Here is a quick photo collage of just a few sights I stumbled upon that day.  I totally love the scrabble tile idea for creating some halloween words!  So fun.

If you live in the Shekopee, MN area then this is something you MUST do every year.  It was really a ton of fun and we saw some unique treasures along the way.

Wow…I just can’t seem to keep up with my personal blog.  Believe me, I do like having a one way conversation with myself and I even like sharing a bit about what I’m doing personally with visitors who read this blog; but for the life of me I just CAN’T find the extra time.  One thing is for sure, our company gets busier everyday and it is all I can do to enjoy a few minutes of quiet time to myself.  So..I thought it might be fun to post a quick bullet point list of what has been going on in my life this past month:

• I bought the 3Gs iphone recently and I absolutely LUV IT!  After jumping in the pool in Orlando to save my son from drowning (thus ruining my other cell phone) I decided to splurge.  All I can say is I can actually see websites, see attachments in email, and read the news on CNN.  It is like having a mini computer.  If you don’t have this phone yet then save your pennies.
• I also got a new Mac computer with a 24″ screen and a new photo printer.  Don’t ask.  Now I have 2 macs and I love them both for different reasons…LOL!
• My son just got really ill and we found out he had pneumonia and an ear infection.  We have been nursing him back to health the past two weeks.  He also started the 1st grade and without any tears this year.  I am so proud of him.
• I have been crazy busy planning for 6 teaching / store events coming up over the next two months.  Thank god we have an employee now who can keep me on track and help.  She has been a godsend.  Thank you K&Company for letting her go.  We are wondering how we managed our first year without her.
• I found out my 20 year high school reunion is going to be October 2nd and 3rd and of course I am scheduled to be out of town.  I am kind of bummed I won’t be able to catch up with some of my old “girl friends” from high school.
• I volunteered to be on the yearbook committee for my son’s elementary school. Not sure what I was thinking because I have NO TIME to spare but hopefully it won’t require to much of my time.
• Did I tell you we got a puppy?  Yes he is a little 5 lb. furball (see image below.)  His name is Cozmo.  We named him that because he runs so fast (like lightning) and it reminded us of outer space.  (ok…it’s a stretch but it fits him perfectly.)  He is just about 100% potty trained so now we really get to enjoy him   As you can see he likes to help us with our paperwork around here.
• I recently learned that createmykeepsake.com is going to be closing.  Of course this was sad news for me as this was the first business I started in 2005.  It hate to see it shut down but of course it isn’t my decision to make.  The current owner is taking her life in a new direction and I completely understand that.  For about 10 minutes I was tempted to buy it back and hire someone to manage it for me.  But….I knew that wasn’t realistic and I had to let it go and say good-bye.
• And in some really sad news…my sister in law was found dead last Sunday morning and all we can tell is that her body just shut down.  She has had heart problems in the past but she was only 36 and this was a bit of a shock to everyone.  I feel for my brother and their kids.  I feel helpless and don’t know what I can do to help.

Whew…how is that for sharing?  Now I really really need to go finish up a layout for one of my upcoming classes.  I hope you all have a wonderful labor day weekend.

We are back from Orlando and our trip to Walt Disney World.  Unfortunately, we didn’t make it to every Disney park during our trip, but we did visit: The Magic Kingdom, Hollywood Studios, Animal Kingdom and a Disney water park called Typhoon Lagoon.  If you want to hear some shocking news I will tell you that our family enjoyed the water park better than the actual theme parks.  I know….CRAZY right?  Of course the castle was cool and the nighttime parade and the fireworks were amazing but we had the most fun and the most gorgeous relaxing day lazing in the water at Typhoon Lagoon.  It probably didn’t help that it was 100 degrees and humid and we were miserable while walking around the other 3 parks 

I have a ton of pictures to view and edit but I wanted to share this fun photo of our family pretending to be Han Solo, Luke Skywalker, and princess Leia.  Hmmm…if only I were that thin…LOL!   This was just part of the fun we had during our visit to Hollywood Studios.  Star Wars was a must see event for us and of course our little jedi got to go up on stage for Jedi Training which made us so proud and happy!

Enjoy the photo and the trip back in time.  Dont’cha just love this shot of Barry as Hans Solo?  I swear that hairdo is so flattering….LOL!

I will try my very best to upload more pics in a few days.  As always I so often forget to enter tidbits here on my personal blog….shame on me!

Yesterday I went to a sale at Good JUJU (a fun, funky antique store that is open once a month) and while I was there I picked up this cute chalkboard sign for my son’s room.  Now this isn’t the only thing I bought for his room lately.  There is a lady down at Good JuJu who has been making items just for me in this fun blue paint.  This is the 3rd item I have bought from her in the past 3 months.  I have purchased a dresser, a small nightstand, and now this chalkboard.  All of the items are finished in this distressed blue color and it is starting to look very “pottery barnish” in his room I must say.  I laughed at her yesterday because I wasn’t even planning on buying anything and then when I saw this chalkboard I just couldn’t resist.  I even told her there was no way I was coming back next month and she said “that’s good because I am almost out of that blue paint.”  We had a good laugh but seriously she did me a huge favor.  For less than $150 I have outfitted my son’s entire room.  Now I just need to paint his walls a dark khaki color and we will be almost all done.

So…..I hope everyone has a happy 4th of July.  We watched fireworks last night and will be headed to a friends house tonight for BBQ and lots of neighborhood fun.  Enjoy your holiday.

Hi all!

I wanted to share a quick layout I finished this week. This is CRAZY even for me but I really wanted to try and create a birthday layout using the Jenni Bowlin chipboard banner shapes.  Since I always struggle with birthday themed layouts I wanted to just do a quick layout with my son as the focus.  It was his 6th birthday and that is why you see so many 6’s on here.  And can I tell you how much I LOVE the hambly frames in yellow!  Total delish.

Anyway…we had a “scurvy pirate” theme and I thought he looked hilarious in this mustache.  I just happened to catch him giving me a big “argghhhh” in this shot as he was getting dressed for the party.

So….anyway here is the latest!

I promise I will be back next week with pics of our house all painted and pretty; I am just waiting for my husband to finish removing the tree stump in our front yard because right now it is an eyesore.

Hi all!
I am feeling so guilty today. Guilty I haven’t paid any attention to my personal blog. Guilty I purchased 3 cards over the past weekend instead of hand making my own. Guilty that I am here surfing the net instead of working; and guilty that I want to skip work all together and go buy flowers for the front patio now that my house is all done being painted!

I hope everyone had a marvelous Mother’s Day! I got to sleep late and then my husband made me a delicious brunch! My son got me the cutest handmade paper flower in a pot that he made at school and it is just adorable; it is now sitting proudly on my desk. It was the perfect day.

I will be back later this week with before and after pics of my house! We finally got it painted and our new concrete porch looks like it has always been here. I think the only thing left to do to this house now is a renovation of the backyard and an overhaul of our master bathroom. Once those things are done we will have changed and updated everything from when we originally bought it. Crazy HUH?

Ok…now I need to stop feeling guilty and get back to work

I get a ton of emails.  I mean A TON.  But I never get tired of the emails that pop into my “inbox” when a project or layout I designed is requested by a magazine!  This afternoon I got an email from Scrapbook Trends and they want to add one of my layouts to their September issue.  YEE HAW!

I have been so busy with Pink Paislee that I haven’t had a lot of time to submit projects to magazines this year, but over the past few weeks I made a real effort to send in some things and it paid off! Thank you Paige

Yes another layout! Two projects in a week from me is pretty rare these days huh?  When I printed off my snow pics last week I also printed 2 smaller sizes so I could create another layout about Connor having fun in the snow.  I rarely do winter layouts so I wanted to take advantage of it…

I love the way this turned out; hand cutting that BasicGrey paper took me about an hour on the couch but it was time well spent..LOL! I also love the way our fabric flowers (paislee petals) look on this page.

Hope you enjoy!

I will not be blogging for a bit after today.  I am headed to a store event in Texas this weekend and Jill and I have decided to drive.  Needless to say it isn’t exactly a quick trip!  The good news is I plan on taking lots of pics along the way so I can share those when I get back.

We have lived in our house almost 8 years now and we are finally getting a new porch.  Our house was built with a wood porch which is completely unheard of.  Every other house in our neighborhood has a concrete porch so we have never been able to figure out how our house ended up with wood planks.

So….skip to today.  The concrete truck is here and they are pouring in the concrete as I type!  Once it is all dry and finished I will get out the planters and decorate my new porch.

Next up…new paint colors for the whole house.