Coffee & Shopping

Today was our "girls day out" first we had to get our coffee & pastry fix at Panera Bread & Starbucks drive-thru.

Wati & Kylie, Sylvia, Janice, Mom and myself went on our annual shopping excursion to Fredericksburg. Seemed like the day just flew by so fast....shopping can really wear you out. We made a big dent at Scrapdoodles, The Croppers Corner & A.C. Moore. On our way home we stopped by Memories Galore for the Quickutz National Scrapbooking event. As luck would have it, Sylvia won the Grand Prize drawing and got the Silhouette. YEAH!!! We closed them down didn't leave there until 9:30 pm by the time we all made it back to Colonial Heights we were all starving. Janice, Mom & I ended up going to Applebee's around 10:00pm.

Here are some pics from our day...

   

Madison's Birthday Sleep over

And if we didn't have enough fun during the day, we kept on going for a sleep over for the same night. Marty went & spend the night with his Dad to watch the Richmond race so it was all girls. Madison had 3 friends (Avery, Audra & Kylie) stay the night and they put on a "Hannah Montana" singing and dancing show with wigs, guitars and all. It was so cute to watch them. I took mini video clips I know Madison will cherish them one day. We also did a paper crafts project, watch movies, had pizza for the kids and Wati also stayed the night and cooked her famous Malaysian dish for Mom and I. The party went on well into the night, the girls were having so much fun they could not get to sleep so finally around 1:00-1:30 a.m. we had to shut all the lights out and tell them time to go to sleep.

     

Madison's Birthday PARTY!!!

Did we have too much fun today or what, but it was a long, very long day! The weather held up very nice to have her party outside like we had planned. It was a beautiful day. There was grilled hot dogs, the caterpillar game, piñata, cake & ice cream, unwrapping of the presents and playing on the swing set.

   

      

  

Happy Birthday Madison

I can hardly believe my little girl is SEVEN today!!!! My babies have all grown up. We made Hannah Montana cupcakes last night for Madison's class today. She decorated them with skittles and we put neon pink whipped icing on them.....I think the best part of baking cupcakes was when Madison got to lick the bowl. I know as a kid that was my favorite part too. They look so good....Mmmmmmmm........

Creative Cafe project

A special Thank You to Kathi...while I was in Memories Galore yesterday, Madison was Kathi's little helper. Kathi found out that Madison's Birthday was next week, so she had Madison pick out a little something in the store for her Birthday. Madison chose the Creative Cafe Project mini flower box. As soon as we got home Madison was ready to put it together. Here is the finished project. It is just so cute!! You can make one too, they have the kits all made up in baggies ready to go.

Photo effects so, so easy

I found the most awesome FREE website to add photo effects. It will make your photos look like you sent them to a professional. You can now get the results of having Photoshop without having to figure out the program. It does most of the effects that you can do in Photoshop. Here are some photos I played with, so you can see just some of the things you can do with this program. Enjoy!!!

http://www.picnik.com/app#/home/welcome

 

Upcoming class update

I think what I might decide to do for the Summer months (May, June, July & August) is to still have class projects, instead of having a class setting each month, I plan to do them as kits only. It seems to be hard during the Summer to get most everyone together to schedule a date that works for everyone. I know I am pulled in different directions with School out and kids at home. Plus I always go to Florida for two weeks in the Summer to visit my family and I am not really sure exactly when I am planning on going just yet. So I think it would be best to just still have class projects but as kits with a CD.

I have an idea for May's Class kit, just think of butterflies and Spring colors.  I will post all the details soon and send everyone an email with sign-up deadlines.

Zoo Digital Collage Layouts

Zoo Field Trip

Today was Madison's First Grade Field Trip to the Richmond Metro Zoo. What a beautiful day it was to be outside. I managed to get the most awesome pictures ever!!! When we first got there and started walking towards the giraffes there was a peacock just walking along, all of the sudden he bowed up and spread open his feathers. We tipped toed up to him and he turned around and I got the most amazing picture of him, then I had Madison slowly walk in front of him so I could get her in the picture and he stood still long enough for me to snap a picture. I tested my camera out today and played with several modes and got some very nice shots of the animals.

Something to get you in the "Spring" of things

I wish I could take credit for this wonderful project, but I did not make it. Linda Albrecht who is a fabulous designer for Pink Paislie , made this lovely spring home decor hanging. If this doesn't get you in the mood for Spring I don't know what will!!! Here is the link to visit to find out how to make it. You will just fall in love with  the Pink Paislie projects.

http://pinkpaislee.com/blog/?p=124

Back to Scrapbooking :)

My personal layouts have taken the backseat for quite sometime now, but now with my workspace cleaner than ever I am now in the mood again to scrap. Here is my latest creation I did today, I still have a little journaling to do to finish it up, but I couldn't wait to post & share. I used my left overs from March's Class kit papers and added other embellishments. I am loving those Sassafrass Lass Owls.

Bad, Bad, Blogger....

I've been a bad, bad blogger.....I have neglected my blog postings since March's class. Seems like time just goes by so fast and before you know it another month has passed. But on on a much happier note...I have fallen in love all over again!! With whom you ask? Not with whom but with what?  with my NEW front loader Steam Washer & Steam Dryer. I now actually enjoy doing laundry, amazing what can happen with new technology. I can honestly say I am waiting each day for another load to accumulate just so I can do laundry. I have been Spring cleaning my scrapbook workspace and finally have re-organized my stamps and put together all of my Stampin' Up stamps were un-mounted. Now when I am ready to sit down and scrapbook I will have everything put in it's place at my fingertips. The only problem with that is, I am now too organized I might not be able to find anything....LOL.

Rotating sneak peek

I have almost finished the class example for the March class... Rotated "Everyday Moments". I just wanted to share & tease you a little. Each page is different, I still have a few more things to add , but here is a sneak peek. Now off to start my mass production kit process, I have lots of stamping and punching to do......

enjoy!!

Bad News/Good News

I have something to share with you about Stampin' Up....some good, some not so good.  I will start with the bad news first.  As we all know that gas prices have gone up drastically, which means UPS shipping rates have gone up too. Now it is seems to be effecting everyone.

Bad News:  Starting April 1st, Stampin' Up is going to raise their shipping rates from $3.95 or 10% of your order (which one is greater) to $6.95 or 10% of your order (which one is greater) So what that means, is you almost have to order a $69.50 order to make the shipping worth your while so you only pay 10% of your merchandise order total for the shipping, if not you will be spending $6.95 shipping on an order smaller than $69.50. 

Good News:  Starting in April 2008, you can use your debit card or your credit card to purchase Stampin' Up merchandise through your demonstrator. They are finally going to accept credit card payments!!

Below is the Shipping notice straight from Stampin Up

Minimum Shipping Price Increased
March 3, 2008

As you've heard by now, we're raising our shipping prices. This is a move we've postponed as long as we possibly could, but with rising prices affecting almost every aspect of doing business in today's world, we finally had to.

We considered several different options, and after gathering input from many sources, including the Advisory Board, we choose a strategy that was very simple and straightforward--we simply upped our minimum shipping price to $6.95. Other options included tiered levels of increases based on the size of the orders, and frankly, most people we talked to felt those options were difficult to understand and complicated to implement. Since the end result was the same for all options, we went with what everyone felt was the most simple approach.

Keep in mind that this increase won't affect your workshop orders; nothing will change for your workshop customers! We feel strongly that workshops are the heart of our business, where relationships are made and strengthened, and where you reinforce your value as an expert your customers can rely on as they express their creativity. The increase will affect orders placed outside the workshop environment, including your own supply orders.

We know this news isn't welcome--and we wish we didn't have to do it. But we also know that you understand the costs associated with doing business. We thank you for your understanding, and we appreciate your support.

All I want is my....two top teeth

Last week Madison had 3 teeth that were very wiggly and ready to come out. She lost her bottom one that was loose last Thursday 2/28/08.  I  knew the other two top teeth were going to also come out any day. She has been wiggling them a lot to try and get them out. Yesterday in the bathtub I felt one of her top teeth and it was literately just hanging there so I pulled on it and it came out! She was so excited!!  Now all we had to do was keep wiggling the other top tooth because it was the only one left that was loose. I thought it would last another day or two. At school today 3/04/08 she was sent to the clinic and the Nurse pulled it out.  As you can tell the "Tooth Fairy" has been very busy at Jack Flash Lane.  :)

   

Before...just one tooth on bottom                    After...all three missing

New Hero Arts clear stamps

http://www.heroarts.com/products/productsCatalog.cfm?catalog=40&file=false&StartRow=21

I was just browsing the Hero Arts website checking out there new clear stamps and came across these two that I thought were really cute. Above is the link if you are interested in ordering them.

       

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I found this funny while surfing the net and thought you would get a kick out of it

Dear Tech Support,

Last year I upgraded from Boyfriend 5.0 to Husband 1.0 and noticed a distinct slow down in overall system performance -- particularly in the flower and jewelry applications, which operated flawlessly under Boyfriend 5.0.

In addition, Husband 1.0 uninstalled many other valuable programs, such as Romance 9.5 and Personal Attention 6.5 and then installed undesirable programs such as NFL 5.0, NASCAR3.0, and Golf Clubs 4.1. Conversation 8.0 no longer runs, and Housecleaning 2.6 simply crashes the system. I've tried running Nagging 5.3 to fix these problems, but to no avail. What can I do?

Signed, Desperate

-------------------------------------

Dear Desperate:

First keep in mind, Boyfriend 5.0 is an Entertainment Package, while Husband 1.0 is an Operating System. Please enter the command: 'I Thought You Loved Me.exe', try to download Tears 6.2 and don't forget to install the Guilt 3.0 update. If that application works as designed, Husband 1.0 should then automatically run the applications Jewelry 2.0 and Flowers 3.5. But remember, overuse of the above application can cause Husband 1.0 to default to Grumpy Silence 2.5, Happy Hour 7.0 or Beer 6.1. Beer 6.1 is a very bad program that will download the Snoring Loudly Beta. Whatever you do, DO NOT install Mother-in-law 1.0 It runs a virus in the background that will eventually seize control of all your system resources. Also, do not attempt to reinstall the Boyfriend 5.0 program. These are unsupported applications and will crash Husband 1.0

In summary, Husband 1.0 is a great program, but it does have limited memory and cannot learn new applications quickly. You might consider buying additional software to improve memory and performance. We recommend Food 3.0 and Hot Lingerie 7.7.

Good Luck, Tech Support