Scrapbook Expo Day 2

Hi Ya’ll, I’m Back!

Have you been breathlessly awaiting today’s installment? Well? Have you? oh, not really? sigh, I was afraid of that….Oh well, I’m here now, so I will tell you the rest of the story!

Ok then, the day started at 7, got up, got all my stuff together, went downstairs and got some French toast and coffee and headed out. The first class was at 9.

The first one was A boys life chipboard album, by Rusty Pickle. Parking was horrendous so our instructor was a trifle late and flustered, but her Teacher’s Assistant (TA) had everything well under control…we already had our kits, she had already collected our ticket stubs and we were all ready when she walked in at 5 minutes til class time. That was a fun class, it was rather fast but not frantic…we did not finish the album of course, that rarely happens in a workshop, but it was fun anyway. I finished that one when I got home and it’s really cute.

Then came the marathon! I signed up for FOUR S.E.I. classes! one right after the other, one at 11, one at 12:30, the next at 2:30 and then the last at 4:30. That is with a half hour between each class for clean up and set up.

Ok, the first one was to teach us 4 ribbon techniques. And although I don’t have a picture up of that one, it was really cute. It is the word Friends, cut out and embellished. We only had an hour for that class and it really wasn’t long enough to get it all done…that one was truly frantic! But with everyone helping each other, we finished on time with a great little album.

Second came the 4 album enhancing techniques – In that class we worked on a “scrapbook in a box” and learned how to make French knots – work with linen paper – doodle with a stencil and ink edges. That was an hour and a half and it took a bit of work to keep up, but it was still fun. We almost finished a 20 page 8x8 album. I finished it when I got home and now need to find photos that will do it justice.

Third was a 2 page spread to learn how to have motion on the page. We learned how to cut page protectors and make slides and folded papers to hide then reveal the photos or journaling. This class was a little more leisurely and we did finish everything there. Again I need to find the ‘right’ pics.

Last, but certainly not least, was the Velvet paper techniques. We were supposed to learn 4 ways to work with/enhance/embellish velvet paper. Inking, stamping, embossing and rub ons. That was a 6 panel accordion album made out of heavy chipboard and is really kewl! It is one of my favorites. That was a really laid back class since it was the last one of the day and we didn’t have to be out by any specific time. It was a lot of fun and I would really like to do one like that again.

I didn’t really have any time left over for make & takes, so when I had a couple minutes between the S.E.I. classes I ran around the exhibit floor and bought my stuff and purchased the M&T kits to bring home and do.

I also bought a Zutter Bind-it-all system! www.binditall.com That is going to make some of the paper crafts I do SSSOO much easier! That is how I bound this word bloom album that was one of the M&Ts.

And I also used it to punch the holes in one of my coaster boxes (not this one of course, but the other one lol).

The trip home was pretty uneventful, except that Trav was the navigator, since I was driving, and he sent us the wrong way on I-4 and we ended up going approx. 24 miles before turning around and heading back. Got caught in the traffic madhouse by Disney and that took some time to work thru, but once we were past that it was smooth sailing all the way home.

I had taken Monday off from work too just cuz I KNEW I would want to play with all my new treasures, so I just planned to craft. And except for a little run in with a wild animal early on in the day, it went relatively nicely. (and I’ll tell you THAT story in a day or two lol)

So there you have it folks…the continuing saga of the crazy lady with the funny name. (read that in a radio announcers voice….bet you can’t help but laugh!)

Bye ya’ll

Need an Excuse to NOT drink and drive?

link to the story

http://www.gainesvillesun.com/article/20080404/NEWS/804040359/1002/NEWS

Scrapbook Expo

Scrapbook Expo

We went to Orlando this weekend to attend a Scrapbook Expo. I was SO excited!! I signed up for 9 classes/workshops!

We took Friday off and got up at 4:30 in order to make sure we were packed and on the road by 7am. We were taking the laptops, the cameras, the food and on our way we went. Got about a mile from the house when Trav turns the truck around and said, Forgot my laptop!!! Lol. Since he was planning on working on a project while I was in class, he had to have that little baby! So, we went back.

Actually got on the road at about 7:30, and headed out 27 to Ocala. We planned on stopping on the way to pick up an insulated mug that would fit into my drink holder that clamps on the table, figured that wouldn’t take long. Wrong! Couldn’t find one that fit…so we stopped at Wally World knowing that they had the Bubba mugs with the skinny bottoms – rrriigghhtt, that was a real adventure. Couldn’t find them in housewares, nor could we find anyone to help us…oh we found people all right, they just were not going to help. The guy in automotive, when asked where the mugs were in his department acted like it was an imposition to point down an aisle and say, “somewhere past the oil”. Finally a young lady from sporting goods tried to help and was totally confused when she realized that an entire aisle was missing. That’s when it hit me, seasonal!!! So I went searching for the coolers and sun tea jugs, and there they were. One style, looks like a basket ball…ugh. But it would work, had a cover, wouldn’t sweat, could put a straw in it and it fit the holder. So 45 minutes later, we were back in business.

Back to the truck and let’s get going!! Ah, shucks, I’m hungry! Ok, make a quick stop at Mickey D’s for breakfast and get back on the road. Finally!!!

So, on the road we go, and believe it or not, the rest of the trip down was uneventful. We were running a little later than I wanted so we arrived at the Convention Center at approximately 10am and my first workshop was at 11. I needed to find the registration desk, get my tickets and room info and find the room and be there on time. And I MADE IT!

My first workshop was Celebrating Sisterhood, with Sue from Albums & Answers, making a 6 x 6 accordion album – using accordion paper for the inside, but constraining the spine with ribbon so it was really a book. It was fun and the instructor was very good with an excellent sense of humor.

My second one was was Bright Birthday Mini Album, same as Sisterhood, but with a different theme. Very cute.

and then we scrap outside the book with a wall hanging, absolutely adorable…Live, Love, Laugh with Keller’s Creations – they were hilarious and the class was great…fast paced, but not the speed of lightening fast lol

After that was about an hour and a half break, so I called Trav and asked him to pick me up so I could eat, then bring me back in time for the 6:30 workshop. Which he did. While I waited for him I took my first walk around the exhibit floor, lots of kewl stuff just waiting for me to find it.

Which eventually I did

This one was Expanding Baby Album – This was kind of a unique project, and I think that if all the components had fit together properly and the instructor wasn’t ill, it would have been a great class…but…I am planning on making this one at home, on my own, to see if it works out any better. I would really like this one if it is done correctly.

and that was it for Friday, Trav came and got me…it was right about 8pm. Long Day, but BOY did I have fun!!!!

And that’s it for today…stay tuned for Saturday!!!

thank you

Thank you to my loyal friends who have been checking back on a regular basis. I am sorry I haven't written in so long, it seems that my blog gene went dormant when I was sick and is just now waking back up. Tomorrow I will tell you about the Scrapbook Expo we just returned from yesterday - and maybe about the wild animal in the front yard today....nah, that one can wait til Wednesday!

See ya tomorrow and Thanks again.

I'll try to change my header too lol

our weekend

We go into Ocala every weekend, usually on Saturday, to do our grocery shopping and this week was no exception - even tho we had gone to G'ville first thing Saturday to pick up some furniture. We went a little later than usual due to the G'ville trip so were coming home after dark. We were only a few miles from the county line when we saw a cop pulling a car over on the other side of the median. Figured they must be running radar so checked my speed and made sure I was at least close to legal. About a minute later I glanced in my rearview mirror because there was a care really close behind me all of a sudden...then he started to pass me and I realized it was another cop. No big deal, I wasn't doing anything wrong, so he gets about half way past me, then hits his brakes and pulls back in behind me...great - I had a headlight out, so we knew at that point that he was going to pull me over and sure enough, he did. You see, we noticed our headlight out on Monday, I think it was, and on Wednesday we stopped on our way home for a headlight bulb and windshield wipers (you remember Wednesday don't you? the night we SHOULD have stopped for gas?!?!?) Trav had planned to put it in on Thursday, but, as you might have noticed, it rained...Thursday AND Friday!! So that didn't happen. And what with going into G'ville Sat morning, we sorta forgot and so....we got pulled. Now, the officer Could have been a butt head and written me an equipment ticket or warning, or even given me a lecture on not being safe with out both headlights...but he wasn't and didn't. Maybe because when he got up to the window to talk to us, Trav was holding the package with the bulb in it up for him to see and half laughing and I was handing over my license. He started laughing as well, ran my license gave it back and told us to have a nice night. I thought it was funny. And was really glad that we had that bulb in the truck with us. And you know what? that bulb is STILL in the truck!!! Trav is sick today and since it almost takes an act of congress to change one of those bulbs, it didn't get done...so I better not drive home in the dark tomorrow lol

But because Trav is sick, I didn't get my normal Sunday morning breakfast in bed with the Sunday paper and my sweetie...and I had to go get my own paper!!! I couldn't get the Ocala paper at the little store closest to our house so I had to drive on into town to pick it up...was coming back home via 27 when I looked to my left and what do you think I saw? A COW!!! Grazing on the side of the high way, just as happy as could be...and walking straight for the road! I couldn't just drive on when someone could get hurt, so I flipped around and pulled off the road between the cow and the road...and honked the horn a few times. Both to hopefully move the cow away from the highway, and maybe alert the owners that there was a problem. Well, the cow moved, but no humans showed up. So I called the sheriffs department. I told dispatch that if it had been a horse, no prob, I would go get it...but I don't do cows! no way, no how. she said she would send someone out and thanked me for calling. After I hung up I realized that I couldn't leave until someone got there, cuz I would feel responsible if someone got hurt...so I sat there...and sat there...and honked on occasion when she got too close to the road. It took about 20 minutes for a deputy to arrive, at which time he came up and thanked me for helping out and I drove off. On my way home I thought about the irony of the two encounters with the law...(I have a twisted mind)...one cop pulls me over - no ticket, but stressed - so I send another cop on a cow roundup....lol...it's karma I tell you, it's karma - like that old tv show Karma & Dread? you remember that one don't you? lol good nite ;o)

We Are Blessed

We Are Blessed.

some days are better than others, lol

Wednesday Trav and I were being lazy…we went to eat at Bennigan’s on the way home and when we were finished eating it kinda looked like it was going to be really rainy, so we decided not to stop for gas. We determined that there was plenty to get us home and then back into work on Thursday. We stopped and picked up some parts for the truck on the way home and that was it.

So, on Thursday we came into town, I dropped Trav off at work and came to my building and went to work. Trav was trying to make up a little time at work from having to be off on Monday for the washer (that’s another story altogether) so he IM’d and asked that I pick him up, so that he could work that extra hour. No problem, I say (well, not quite that cavalier as I HATE having to drive over there at 5pm, but you know what I mean). Five o’clock rolls around and I go get him…traffic is really bad for some reason and we sit in traffic for about 10 minutes before we make much headway. Then we stopped at the drug store to pick up some meds. Then it’s time to go to the gas station…we are going to hit the one right before we leave town.

Weeellll, sitting there in traffic I was starting to get just a trifle nervous about how close we were cutting it, in the back of my mind was the thought that it would really be a bummer to run out of gas in the middle of traffic and have to wait for triple A to get there as we blocked the road….not a happy thought. As we made our way closer and closer to the station, I was relaxing a little at a time, thinking that we were doing good. So we are about a block and a half from the station, still on the main road, just at the entrance to the Publix shopping center and….yup, you guessed it, we ran out of gas. The truck just stopped running and refused to re-start. Before it came to a complete stop, Trav jumped out and started pushing and told me to steer into the parking lot…that truck is heavy! So it didn’t make it very far, he was pushing, but you know how that goes, right? the road was wet – it was drizzling and the entrance to the parking lot was slightly up hill…not a good combination, so I hop out and try to steer and push at the same time, it almost works…we are making progress, when whoops, we seem to both slip in the water at the same time and the truck starts rolling backwards…right back into traffic! I quickly hop back in and hit the brake, then get out and we try again, nope, not working. The cars are going around us and pulling into the parking lot, just ignoring us…brats! I am really starting to get worried about now, that someone is going to hit us or run into Trav at the back of the truck, when from across the parking lot – An Angel starts jogging towards us!!!! As she ran to the back of the truck she exclaimed “I’m not very strong, but I’ll help!” And put her hands next to Trav’s and saved the day. That little bit of help was all it took to get the truck (and Trav) to safety. After we stopped, she offered us the use of a gas can she just ‘happened’ to have in her trunk. So, off he goes to get it and to walk the block or so to the gas station. She works at the Publix right there and was on her way to work when she saw us struggling. Without hesitation, she threw herself into helping and went even further by providing the gas can- she had no way of knowing if we would return it or just take it and go on our way.

Well, we got the truck running, pulled around the parking lot, parked the truck and went into the store, with the gas can (now empty and in a plastic bag) looking for her manager…we really didn’t think they would want that can in the store but what to do with it then? We located her manager and explained what had happened and he took us to where she was – he asked her if she had been on break or just coming in and she said just coming in, so he asked if she was late because of it. She looked scared and said no, then amended it to – about 2 minutes. He then stated that he would make sure that she was paid for that time and that he appreciated her helping us and please take the gas can out and put it back in your car. The smile on her face was radiant! and she took off like a shot. As we walked back to the door the manager was telling us that they have a program there in which they award their employees tokens for doing certain things and they can use these tokens to buy gift cards and things like that. He assured us that she would most definitely be the recipient of one (or more) of these tokens. He thanked us for bringing this to his attention and we left.

We drove over to the gas station, filled up the truck and headed home in the rain.

We made it without any other incidents on the way….

Then we stopped to pick up the mail and had another surprise in store…a package from someone I correspond/interact with on a message board (Crafty One at Daisie Company) with some really nice little goodies in it…I had been RAK’d!!!!! How did she know??? How could she Possibly have timed it so that this package, and all it means, would arrive Just at that moment? When we had had a rough time and needed a pick me up? TWO Angels in one day!!! We are Blessed!

As Alabama has often said “I believe there are Angels among us”…we were blessed to encounter two of them in the same day. Thank You God.

Later

I am your child

ok, here is the second one thanks for looking

http://www.gottapixel.net/gallery/showphoto.php/photo/96596

Forever Young

If you are interested you can go here to look at my latest Lay Out. I'll be putting another one up tonight sometime.
Be sure to leave a comment and let me know what you think.
Hope you like it. [shy smile]

http://www.myscrapshop.com/gallery/displayimage.php?album=lastup&cat=1&pos=0

Migraines - there aughta be a law

I hate these, sorry if this post is a little on the negative side...don't mean to be, but if you have ever had a migraine then you will understand. They are bad enough when they kreep up on you during the day, you kinda get yourself in the zone to deal with the pain and take your meds as soon as you know...but to wake up at 3 or 4 in the morning with a full blown migraine is really the pits. It's pace the floor time because it takes 30 to 45 minutes for the meds to start to work and there is no relief from the pain until then. I miss way too much because of them and we don't know exactly what causes them in the night. During the day we can usually trace them to something, a smell, a stresser or a movement/action...but at night? All I'm doing is sleeping!!!! at least I THINK that's all I'm doing...may be there is more to this than I realize and I should start filming the bedroom at night in an effort to ascertain what is REALLY going on in there? Nah, that would be silly, it's just the three of us, Trav, me and Loverboy, the cat....unless the cat is sleeping on my neck, then it's got to be internal. Oh well, at this point all I care about is it is gone now and the after effects of the meds will wear off soon and then I can be sorta normal again. sigh, what a delightful sounding word that is. later

The Treasure Hunt

I gotta tell ya, that was a LOAD of fun! Found lots of treasure and tons of free stuff and discovered about 45 new designers I hadn't heard of before! This was great - and something that pretty much kept my attention for hours this weekend...had to use my brain and that was a stretch lol
If anyone is interested here is the link to the layout I made with one of the kits from the hunt.

http://www.digishoptalk.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=272811

I just LOVE getting freebies, there is no doubt about that one, but to have to work for them was much more fun than I thought it would be. Sending out a really really big THANK YOU to the designers for sharing their talent and time with us, to the administrators who orchestrated the whole thing and all the people who helped along the way. It had to be an astronomical amount of work to set it up and to moderate it. And then that really really depraved individual who decided to try to ruin it for everyone...glad SHE lost, we were inconvenienced and some of those poor folks had to work hard fast....but....WE WON in the end!!!

I have joined a couple of message boards and have found that the positive atmosphere that is a constant on all of them is really really good for me...it helps keep me upbeat and remind me that even when bad things happen, good things can come of them. They give me ideas for new stuff and praise me for my stuff even if it's not that great....incentive to get better lol I'm really glad I found them. Daisie Company, My Scrap Shop and DigiShopTalk are the three that I frequent the most, but there are more, Scrap Girls and Make it Scrappy come to mind right off. Go visit them and see if you like it as much as I do...we always need new good folks to join us. The links are in the sidebar to your right.

Anyways, that's about it for today...talk at ya later!!

FUN TIME

	what's it all about? a whole bunch of designers have what's it all about? a whole bunch of designers have come together to create a treasure hunt for you. Each stop will provide a clue to the next, and you get free products all along the way! You should start here: http://www.digishoptalk.com/boards/showthread.php?t=107875&page=2 You will also end up at digishoptalk. There is also a contest for those scrapping with their loot. Lots of prizes for the participants. Take this opportunity to get lots of free products, perhaps win some more AND to get to know designers that you might not have heard of. It's going to be lot's of fun, so please join us! Remember, start at the link above, you will miss out on some great goodies if you don't start at the beginning.

I think I am not ready for this again...we went shopping Saturday for building supplies to start on our remodeling again...

we are going to be closing in the back room next, so that we can have an indoor staircase to the basement, which at some point in the future will be our master bedroom suite. At this time the back room is actually enclosed, but not sealed...there are brick/block walls and a concrete floor...pretty utilitarian, not something one would want as an inside room...sooo
insulate the ceiling and create a ceiling (only bare rafters right now), close in the roof area and the eaves, cover the walls with plywood and paint them, find something, probably linoleum to put down on the floor. This will be a combination stairwell room, laundry room and freezer room. Doesn't really sound all that hard does it? hhmm, maybe it isn't, but we have not quite finished the kitchen yet and it's been just short of a year and here we are starting another stage of this madness - er - I mean, remodel....like I said, I'm not quite sure I'm ready for this. Here are a couple/three pics of the back room as it was when we built the washer/dryer platform...it's a bit messier now. lol

Template challenge at My Scrap Shop

Well, I just placed this layout on My Scrap Shop template challenge, the first real challenge I have done to date....I kinda like it. What do YOU think??

Well here it is Monday evening and I skipped writing another day yesterday...bad bad YF, sorry folks, I'm really trying - I'm not doing so good, but I try lol

Heard from a friend tonight who we haven't spoken with in a while, good to know he and his wife are alive and doing well, kinda miss them around here, no one pulls me over just to talk anymore...sigh.

Typical Monday at work, too many distractions, difficult to buckle down, got the essentials done, but still have loads of other stuff to do, have to do better. Right, like THAT's going to happen lololol

We picked up the components of a drip watering system Saturday to use in our greenhouse - it's just a little thing and the only way to water the plants in there was to set up a sprinkler so we didn't have to keep opening it and letting in all the cold air...well, the sprinkler need just way too much water pressure in order to oscillate, so...we are going to change the system. I think it's a good thing anyway because we can set each plant up with the right amount of water, instead of flooding all of them. It may take a while to get it set up, but it should work pretty good when it's done. Then we can add on to it in the spring when we plant Trav's orange seeds. I'm really looking forward to getting it set up, I like the idea of doing it right. Anyway, if it follows the same way most of our stuff does, I'll be able to post some pics to show you how hard we are working. lol

well, guess that's it for now, except to say HI J & J!
and Welcome Home D & K and O & S hope you enjoyed your cruises, brats!