The Far Side

In only a few short days, though they feel kinda long- I will be heading to Italy and Greece! I cannot wait! The second honeymoon! After 25 years of marriage. Sometimes it doesn't feel that long and other times it feels much longer but that's the same way with anything. That's why we make our scrapbooks and journals and other ways of preserving our memories.

I was talking to somebody, can't remember who, the other day and asked what their grandmother's normal day was like. She said she really would like to know. You know what I'm getting at, right??? I challenged her to write down what her ordinary day was like to pass it on to HER grandchildren. She doesn't have any yet. (I remember who I was talking to) She said her days weren't interesting. But that's still something future generations would want to know about because their day-to-day life will be so different than ours. Just look back at your childhood. It was very different than our kids. In so many ways! So that should be reason enough to write it down. Even if you don't have pictures. Ali Edwards, a very famous scrapbook artist does this "A week in the life" album many times. I've even been one of her teaching assistants for one of these classes and she's right. Take some pictures of the things you see everyday- coffeepot, laptop, store you go to. Anything that is a part of your regular day, then write about it. The way these things are done 20 years from now may be so different it will bring back memories for us. Go ahead, I dare you!

I bought an 8g memory card for my camera so I am planning on taking lots of pictures. No promises on the quality! Oh, and I had to remind my husband that when we are in Greece not to be surprised when they call me goddess since that is what my name means!! So when we come back I will make him bow to me and address me as such!! tee hee I couldn't keep a straight face!

Caio!

Scrapbook Expo

This last weekend was the Scrapbook Expo in St. Charles Il. I missed it last year as I was moving my daughter into her dorm for freshman year but this year she is attending community college so she's living at home.

I had such a good time at the Expo. Julie Creek from Creek Bank Creations asked me to work in her booth but this year I decided to take off and play instead of work so since my son Erik, 22, has worked at a scrapbook store I volunteered his services. I think he enjoyed it! She said he did a good job. That's my boy! Friday I spent the time perusing the booths searching out the deals and found some good ones. At scrapbuck I bought pop-dots for $1 each!!! Who doesn't need more pop-dots!!! Of course I bought a cute die cut "Dance" album from Creek Bank. They can laser die cut anything so contact them if you need things. creekbankcreations.com I did a few make-n-takes and had to buy some templates for some inter-active cards. Great for some classes for the November crop!

On Saturday I took some classes. 2 were taught by SEI and the other was taught by My Monster's Creation. I always like taking SEI classes because they have such great directions and are so coordinated, unlike moi!!! My wedding album is the Twitterpated 8x8 book in a box. (of course it took me 20 some odd years to actually make an album....) We made an acrylic album in one of the classes and it is so pretty. The other class was making an envelope album. In the My Monster's Creation class we started making an album with an acrylic cover and I used glimmer mist on the other pages. I really need to practice with this medium. I need to use a lighter hand is what I need to do!

I think my favorite part of the expo was catching up with friends I haven't seen for a while! Friends from Archivers- fellow employees as well as customers, Facebook friends, Yahoo group friends, customers I sold Cricuts to at Costco!!! Students from my classes. Wonderful surprises!! My friend Chris and I were talking about our other friend Dell, who we hadn't seen in years and later I was on the phone and who was standing there staring at me???? DELL! Spooky!!! But a very good kind of spooky! Made some great contacts for Cricut classes. I really had a great weekend. I hat dinner Friday night with Linda Holland, a wonderful person I met while doing a demo at Costco. We have since become friends and partners. Her basement is Heaven and I am blessed to be able to teach classes there. All kinds of classes. Cricut, technique, projects, etc. Linda is a rep for The Angel Company and is Copic certified and has so much knowledge that I'm looking forward to lots of fun things. Saturday I met up with Karen Klos, Marissa Crome and never found Denise Britton. I help Karen with her crops at Eaglewood in Itasca. We have one coming up in November. Karen does such a great job with the crops. She puts so much work and love into them that is shows. Then I had dinner with my Yahoo girls who happen to work for Pazzles! I've known Klo and Stephanie for a very long time, before I knew what Cricut was and I worked in their booth a few times. I also ran into some Circle Sisters like Kris! So, overall I had the best weekend thanks to this wonderful hobby!

Oh, I bought a t-shirt that says:

Scrapbooking started out as a hobby.....Who knew it would turn into this!!!

Right???

Provo Gala

Let me just tell you this!!! My poor body is so exhausted after 2 very full days at the CHA SuperShow ! I had received an invitation from Provo Craft to attend their Launch Gala where they introduced their new machine the IMAGINE!!! This machine is just amazing. It not only cuts the images from the cartridges but it will print them in colors or patterns too! The printing capability was designed by HP so you know that they know what they are doing so that won't be a problem. There is an touch screen where you do all kinds of things with more functions than the expression. It is compatible with the Gypsy and the Jukebox but they are still working on the software for the Design Studio and hope to have it up and ready soon. PC also had entertainment! David Garibaldi. He has large black silk canvas' set up and he paints to music. He does portraits of famous people in less than 10 minutes. It takes you a while to figure out who it is but they are amazing!!! The talent this man has is mind-blowing. He did John Lennon, Mick Jagger, Martin Luther King and then he did Albert Einstein---UPSIDE DOWN!!!! You'll have to go to YouTube and check him out. Of course he also made the Cricut and he was cute!!! Everyone who attended, company reps, retailers, blog owners, press, and some Cricut Circle members each received a certificate for the new machine!!! Am I excited???? YES!!!! So once it comes I'll be playing with it and posting lots of info.

Cricut Imagine

Just got home from the Cricut Gala at CHA and I got a certificate for an IMAGINE! It is the new machine from Provo Craft. It is a joint project between PC and HP. It not only cuts the images but prints too. Colors, colors, and more colors!!! So now, when I am doing my demos and someone asks me "is it a printer??" I can finally say "YES!!!!" lol I can't wait for it to come so I can play with it!!!

Got to meet up with some awesome friends too! Jennifer from CraftTest Dummies, Lisa Falduto of PaperFashions Boutiques, Pinky- a Cricut Circle design team member, Erin Schlosser of Schlosser Designs, Sesil Chavez- a fellow demoer!! Had a fantastic time and can't wit for Friday's events!!!

How Time Flies

Goodness- I;m way behind in my posts and so much has happened in the last 3 weeks!! I demo'd the Cricut at several Staple Stores in Boston. Never been there--very nice town. Ended up staying an extra night since there was so much bad weather here in Chicago which continued when I got home. Lost electricity for quite a while. Luckily it wasn't very hot. Then the following weekend I got to go to Denver to demo the Cricut Cake. Once again, I've never been there before and I just loved it. My mom lived there when she was little and told me it was pretty but you don't appreciate thing like that until you see them. I love being able to travel for my job. I get to meet so many people.
Speaking of Criciut, has anyone joined the 'Circle?" Of course I did and the cartridge is pretty. I'm anxious to see how the rest of the year pans out. I love new things. Oh, that reminds me- the Cricut Lite cartridges that are exclusive to Walmart. Of course the Walmart closest to me does not have them- sounds like a plot to me-so I have to travel around to get them! Torture.
Another big thing that happened was that I turned 50! A half century old. That sounds old but you know what? I don't feel old and I think I'm happier than I've ever been. My kids are awesome, my husband is great and I love my job---what more can you ask? I live in a great neighborhood with fun friends, have many people I love who love me, I really feel blessed. And that's a good thing.

Here we go--

Cryotherapy went well on Thursday. Now I have a big blister next to my left eye. It will scab then fall off. Visit the doc in 3 weeks to make sure it was all caught then clean bill of health. Using sunscreen and looking for floppy hats!! I don't look good in hats! I also told my friends that I DID NOT want to end up with 50 hats for my 50th birthday! Seriously. Not funny. Ok, maybe a little bit.

A funny thing happened the other day. I was reading Scrap Scene and saw this really cool recipe kit. So I went to www.paperfashionsboutique.com . I ordered it because it is adorable and I thought it might make a cute Christmas present for my mother-in-law. She's very difficult to buy for so I usually make a home decor item. Then, lo and behold I get an e-mail from Lisa Falduto the owner of the site and it turns out that I know her!!! We were 2 of the original 12 doing the Cricut demos at Costcos! How cool is that?? I mean, she is such a cool designer and her blog is awesome and so are her kits. And I know her! You HAVE to go see her website. I can't wait to see what the July kits are going to be. What's cool about the kits is that you can order the one(s) you want but you aren't obligated to get them all. So you aren't stuck with something you don't like. Yes, when my kit comes I will take a picture and post it here. My web techie Corinna will do the putting of the picture on since I'm still learning, but it's exciting, isn't it??

See a Spot, Call a Doc

Just a little reminder to everyone that since the warmer months are upon us to keep an eye on our skin and if you see any unusual spots on your skin please contact your doctor. I had a spot near my left eye that made me uncomfortable so I made an appointment to see a dermatologist. Am I glad I did. She took a biopsy and it came back early stage cancer so I am having it removed next Thursday. Some of you may know that my sister passed away 2 years ago from ovarian cancer but she also had melanoma. If she had caught it in its early stages it wouldn't have advanced to that stage. I'm not a big sunbather tho I did do my share in my teen years and when my friend owned a tanning salon years ago but I'm bored easily and need to be doing something instead of sitting there. So, I don't want to be preachy, but please, it's better to be safe than sorry. Keep me in your thoughts next week.

Have a great weekend!