so i never quite got around to filling you in on gasc and the week between that and cha. well, so goes my life these days.

suffice it to day, spending a week in chicago and michigan with catherine ranks in my top five things to do. we had a blast ... laughed all day every day. such a great break for normal life.

thanks, catherine!! meeting you and bonding as we have has been the greatest gift this year as a master has given me!!

pix, of course, are here ---> pix

gasc was, in a word, amazing. cath and i had a blast wandering around the crop on the first night, meeting scrappers and seeing what they were creating. such nice women! and teaching the next two days was an experience i'm so grateful to have had.

i used to work for a scrapbook store and always sort of avoided teaching classes. i'm so not a teacher type. but when the opportunity arose to do stuff for gasc, i jumped (why, i have no idea). as the weekend approached i was sick with nerves. what if people hate the classes? what if i suck as a teacher? what if i forget stuff? what if what if what if? well, turns out nothing bad happened. the students were totally receptive to the projects and playing. and the journaling classes, which were created from the premise of the book i'm currently writing for memory makers, went so well. better than i anticipated. the class was so open and sharing about their writing. it was a pleasure. and my TAs were all the best!!

and now my life revolves around getting back into the normalcy of the school year, marc traveling non-stop, the probability of moving to indiana next year, and writing the aforementioned book.

i'm so sad to see our year as master end, but i'm so excited to hand over the reigns to such an amazing new group! i can't wait to meet you guys at cha in january!!! wear the crown well and do us proud!

i'll leave you with two recent favorite photos ... just because i can! ha ha

i've had a few people ask me if i'm going to write a photography article. if anyone still reads this and wants to see something like that, let me know. i'll see what i can do. until then, though, enjoy my kids! (hey ... it's still my blog. i can brag on them all i want! ;o) )

i'll get to gasc later ... my file server is down while my geek (husband) works on it, so i can't get to other pix at the moment.

but first - and waaaaaayyy belatedly - cha. a friggin' BLAST!!! even more so than anaheim, if that's possible. the only thing missing was our lovely ronee, but we finally got to meet lisa, too, so there you go. yin with the yang.

all the new product coming out is just gorgeous. see here for pix of my favorites. sneak peeks that rock my socks, though:

oh, wait ... that last one isn't product ... what the heck? ;o)

thanks again to christine and greg and eliza and beth and justin and everyone who was a part of cha. it was the best time. and hey - how can you knock staying in a hotel where freggy krueger and jason vorhees party?? seriously!




nothin' more fun than a horror convention, i promise you that. (oh - that's freddy, in the blazer. who would have thought he'd wear that?!)

i've received many emails so i thought it best to just post here and on my personal blog ...

we are all home and okay. the bridge collapse in minneapolis didn't affect us personally, though marc's sales partner's wife crossed it less than five minutes before the tragedy occurred.

this is a stretch that we've driven many, many times in our 10 years in the cities, and i've never felt unsafe on any minnesota road. this situation is so very sad, and my thoughts and prayers are with those families whose lives have been affected.

thanks to all who have inquired about the safety of my family. it means a lot to me to know people care.

i was exhausted ... having stayed up until 2 a.m. to finish my layouts for the memory makers masters contest - an entry that i didn't even decide to do until less than 48 hours before deadline. after a little sleep, first thing the next morning i double-checked that the entry was complete and hauled the thing off to the post office, attached delivery confirmation, and off it went.

and i promptly forgot about it.

when the phone rang in september, i was vaguely aware calls had started but it hadn't really registered to me that i might be a part of that.

because that day in july, one year ago today, i literally thought, "well, that was fun. now i can say i once entered a contest."

i had no idea that i was about to be thrust into one of the most amazing, whirlwind, inspiring, exhausting, blessed years of my life. i've created projects that i'm so in love with (unfortunately, most won't be shared until the "ask the masters" and "601 pages" books come out), i've made friends that i'll love the rest of my life, i've traveled to a place i never planned to see (california), i've become a teacher, and now it looks like my one life-wish is coming true: i'm writing a book about a subject near and dear to my heart. not sure how much more i can share about that, but trust me: it'll be awesome.

yes, this year has been amazing. and after meeting in anaheim for cha-winter, catherine, ronee, crystal, katrina and i all agreed that memory makers would have to pry us away from our titles. and in chicago two weeks ago, we again told the powers-that-be that maybe they should just keep us and avoid having to train a new group. really, wouldn't that be more efficient?

we've seen the magazine go from that unfortunate december issue to what it is now - a magazine people once again love and praise and look forward to receiving. and we have to think that being a part of that is something special and amazing. we feel like we have a little ownership over the future of memory makers.

so to christine and holly and patty and beth and mr pyle and greg and katie and our handler and tom todd and anyone else with whom we may have crossed paths this year - be warned: we love you and aren't ready to break up!! (hee hee) and to all you designers out there who are biting nails right now, i want to say good luck, and prepare to fall madly in love with the next year of your life.

(oh - and cha and gasc were truly amazing. will post more - including pix - as soon as possible.)

so, gasc is coming up. and i'm just NOW getting all my stuff from sponsors and getting samples created. a little late, i realize that.

with any luck, the wait will be worth it.

here's a peek at the project for the decorative garland class, sponsored by the always amazing people at cosmo cricket:

i just hope the class is fun and the people who attend will love their projects!!

now i'm off to work on the samples for the technique tuesday scalloped border tiles, using gorgeous baby/spring-inspired lines from sonburn and paper salon!!

cheers!

for years i collected pink scrap supplies. even when henry was an only child and there was no sign of a sibling - girl or otherwise - on the horizon. i just always hoped i'd one day get to scrap pink.

well, i think the time has come:

my daughter, at two years and three months of age, has decided that girly stuff is IT. she loves princesses. she loves strawberry shortcake. she loves to feed her babies and tuck in her teddy bears.

where this came from, i have no idea. i've dressed her in greens and oranges and yellows since day one simply because *i'm* not a pink girl. but somehow the little girl-ness in her has emerged. with a vengeance.

she loves to catch bugs, get dirty, and wear her nemo jammies, so i'll get to continue scrapping her pages in colors that i, personally, prefer. but there's a part of me that's so happy to start pulling out that much loved, much wished-to-use pink stuff.

june is almost over, and though henry's been out of school just under three weeks, it feels like summer is in full swing.

he ended the year really well, and was sad to leave his teacher and friends. mrs geisler has been phenomenal for henry, and i'm so glad we switched schools last year. it was totally worth the stress and hassle that we endured last summer. and it turns out we were right on the money about how a more progressive school would help henry: at the end of kindergarten, he was reading at a second grade level. now he's knocking on the door of fifth grade reading. he's currently plowing through the lemony snicket series at warp speed. makes his english-major mommy very proud, indeed.

the night before school was out i realized i hadn't made a teacher gift for mrs g, so i gathered together a couple of patterns of paper, a couple types of hambly, some scenic route chipboard, light blue doodlebug paper frills, and a few other tidbtits. what resulted was actually fairly sweet, i think, even though the pix of it sort of stink because i was in a major hurry to not be late on the last day of school ... :

she loved it, which is all that really counts.

since then, marc went to california for a week to take his first class/test in a series of five for his red hat architect certification. (a fairly stringent series ... there are only about 70 people who hold this certification in the world, and my man passed with a 94% ... yay, marc!!) then we had a week of semi-normalcy ... the kids swam in the blow-up pool, we went to the park, we hung out. and last week marc went fishing in the boundary waters with my dad, uncle, and brother-in-law, while my mom and sister and i, along with the kiddos, headed to the north shore for three days of relaxing and hiking and seeing the sights. neither mom nor becca had ever been up there so it was a huge joy to show them one of my favorite places. ironically, my last technique layout as a master features a photo of the north shore. keep an eye out for it in the november/december issue!

i'll leave you with a few photos (and a few more, if you're interest in gorgeous scenery has been piqued!!) of the loveliness that is northern minnesota. i need to get my scrap on soon ... there are some shots i can't wait to play with!!

i've taken a little scrap-break lately ... needed to get my stuff cleaned up and reorganized after a couple of months of project on top of project and the manic accumulation of new stuff. i can't think when i can't find work space, so it became urgent to do a little supply reduction surgery.

i spent three nights going through pretty much everything i own and creating kits to sell at my local scrapbook store's annual garage sale ... if you're in the minneapolis area the weekend of june 30th, stop buy and look for some amazing deals!! quite honestly, a major chunk of my stuff will be donated to a scrapbook-in-the-classroom organization. if my stuff can help teachers and kids, i'm all for it.

and seriously ... look at all the stuff i had to go through - and this is just the paper! at least 50% of what you see here will be leaving my basement. streamlining is one of my favorite things to do!! and honestly, reducing what i have to choose from makes me scrap so much more easily and quickly ... looking through what i own, honestly seeing it and deciding whether i really love it or will ever use it, refamiliarizing myself with what i have and where i have it ... it's a great way to jump start creativity and enthusiasm for playing with products.

in other scrappy news, i recently was the guest designer for my friend kirsten hegman's amazing monthly kit club, those were the days. what an awesome, awesome kit she sent my way!! new fontwerks papers, gorgeous hambly stuff, fun little bits of this and that ... so cool. here are the projects i made for her:







and this little mini-album project makes me so excited ... the north shore of minnesota is one of my very favorite places to go, and i'm heading up again in two weeks with my mom, my sister, and the kiddos while our menfolk are in the boundary waters fishing and living without running water and electricity for a week. i think our week sounds better.




now that my area is cleaned up and purged, i'm ready to start scrapping again!! i've rediscovered some amazing papers that i can't wait to play with, i have renewed energy, and i've amassed way too many great photos lately. time to get busy!!

we're less than a month away from the halfway mark of 2007?? nuh-uh. no way. i don't believe it. didn't i just get the holiday decorations put away? where have the last five months gone?

i know i've done some scrapping ... i seem to recall sweating deadlines and creating under pure adrenaline and caffiene. i'm pretty sure i've taken care on my kids ... they seem healthy and clean and dressed. i might have spent a moment or two with marc ... his head is cleanly shaven and his clothes for work are clean, and those things don't happen by themselves. and there are three new pairs of dress flip flops in the entryway ... at some point i must have snapped and bought new shoes. and i know our bedroom isn't purple anymore, for the first time in two years ... that little project isn't a product of elves, as far as i'm aware.

but seriously ... june?? already?

somewhere in the past couple of months i think i agreed to work on a column, and i might have sent in a book proposal. but i may have dreamed that both are now in progress ... i can't believe i actually agreed to them because i KNOW what my immediate future holds. i'm entering a phase that includes summer break, marc traveling an insanse amount (he'll be home for eight days in june. eight.), my own travels to chicago for cha and michigan to teach at gasc and winnipeg to teach at canada scrapbook crop for kids, having the bathrooms renovated, and a possible/probable move to carmel, indiana. so there's no WAY i would willingly take on more work, right?

i think i'm in denial. about what day it is. what month it is. what i have on my "to do" list. how little help i'll have around the house. how my daily child-to-mommy ratio will double next week.

maybe i'll just sit back and sip some iced tea and flip through martha stewart and watch the kids run through the sprinkler while marc grills dinner and the cleaning ladies make sure my house is perfect.

and then i'll go watch those silly pigs fly.

i was so sad to think of my masters year winding down, but i have a feeling the next eight months will be even busier. on one hand i'm beyond thrilled to continue working for f+w/memory makers ... i love this company!! on the other hand, i'm a little nervous. but when it rains, it pours, right? and there are definitely pots on gold at the end of the rainbow ... i'll be writing, which is what i love and is my life-plan anyway, and the thought of living in the same state as our families for the first time in eleven years is exciting, and seeing the kind of house we can afford in indiana for what we pay in minneapolis is exhilirating. and summer brings lots of fun for the kids, which is always good for photo ops. so if i look on the bright side, it's all good. just all compacted into a much shorter, sooner timeframe than expected.

we should always be careful what we wish for. i think that's, like, the moral of this little story. because it sure as heck doesn't have a point.

ha ha.

spring is all around, projects are in full swing, summer is approaching quickly, but i wanted to take a moment to just BREATHE.

when i was a little girl, we would visit my great-aunt and great-uncle (technically, i think they were great-greats to me) at their farm in rochester, indiana. while there, we would walk down the road to my great-great-grandparents' house. it is a small white house on a large yard, overlooking a field. there is a footprint where a barn used to be, and a creaky swing on the cement front porch, where i played for hours as a child. i can still close my eyes and smell the musty scent of the cement, the soft pungency on the spirea bushes that surround the porch, hear the wind whistling through the screens behind me, hear cows lowing somewhere in the distance. when i think of a peaceful place, i immediately think of this house. my grandma now lives there and i truly wish i could visit more often.

one thing i always loved about that house was a large lilac bush in the side yard near. i remember sitting in it's shade and stringing hundreds of little blossoms on thread to create a garland. i would pick sprigs and walk around for hours while holding them to my nose so i could smell only the sweetness of the flowers. and i vowed that when i grew up, i would have a house surrounded by lilacs. and peonies, but i don't have any so that part of the story will have to wait for another time.

i've been a homeowner for ten years now, two different houses in two vastly different parts of the city. at my old house there was a huge, neglected lilac in the back corner of the yard that had overgrown itself into a tree and hung out over the alley. i could barely reach any flowers because they were so high, but i could still smell them on the breeze occasionally.

at my current house, there are two small lilac trees in the front yard by the garage. they are spindly little things, a little too leggy from lack of pruning by the previous owners, but the most fragrant flowers grow on them. i love these little trees. last year they produced one flower. one. it was miserable. but this year it's covered, and every day i check the progress of the flowers. this weekend i will cut an armful and bring them in the house to enjoy for the duration of their brief life.

lilacs are home to me. they are as connected to my childhood as anything else. the scent takes me to a happy place in an instant.

what does that for you? is it a smell? a season? a song? find it, close your eyes and let it take you to a place you love, and then write it down. make a page to celebrate it. give yourself a reason to just breathe for a few moments and go where the memories take you.

i'm going to be teaching four classes in winnipeg at the canada scrapbooking crop for kids fundraiser for the canada children's hospital.

bwahahaha. i'm scared to death. what was i thinking?!

just a sneakie-poo at two of the classes (the other two are currently in progress, but i'll post them soon):

the first class is a transparency class, using transparencies from hambly screen prints and ki memories. we'll be using paints and other embellishments to personalize transparencies.

the second class is a calendar organizer that you can keep close - in your purse, in your desk drawer, etc. - so that you have important dates and birthdays at hand.







if you're gonna be in winnipeg in october, stop in! take my class! just please don't heckle me ... i'm very new at this whole thing.

1. have you seen the new heidi grace lines?? holy heck. i love heidi grace, but she's totally outdone herself this time around. can't wait to play!!
2. love my printer. if you are ever offered a printer that will give you a 13"x19" photo, take it!!
3. i ran out of body wash the other day but was heading to the mall, not target, so i popped into the body shop and grabbed some almond shower gel stuff. um, hello ... where have i been?? this stuff smells amazing and my skin is so soft! so much for all these "moisture" this and "shea butter" that ... i still itched. but almond body wash? yes. no itchies.
4. merry maids = my new best friends.
5. taxes suck. last quarter's compenstation check was taxed at about 30%. this quarter's, which was more than twice the last one, was taxed at nearly 50%. what the heck is that about?? so much for buying a new fancy lens and a fridge.
6. ... but hello gorgeous dresser from restoration hardware, new lamps and bedding, new paint, new carpet, and new bedroom after two and a half years of waiting and living without furniture but with horrid purple paint on the walls!! (and hello to the four lovely ladderback dining room chairs from pottery barn that appeared on my doorstep today, just in time to replace the hand-me-down chairs we've had for 10 years that no longer support the body weight of anyone in this family.)
7. my parents, sister and brother-in-law will be here in 28 hours ... and i'm taking my sister to my salon to get her hair chopped off for locks of love. so very cool. and yes, my camera will be handy.
8. marc just found out his travel schedule is increasing dramatically at work from now on. on one hand, more money and frequent flier miles. on the other hand, insanity and vodka. decisions, decisions ...
9. henry gets to play a tree in his first school play in two weeks. a tree, people. can't wait to see what kinds of faces he pulls while holding up construction paper branches.
10. it's now 4.5.07. nighty night.