And there goes another week!

I can't believe that two weeks into it, my kids are still feeling draggy due to Daylight Saving! Can someone stop the madness? Please?

My life has been the usual excitement! Laundry, vacuuming, cooking, Pinteresting, procrastinating about the basement, trying to figure out 7th grade Math, Angry Birding (the Rio version.) Good stuff.

I did go out to lunch with some of my local friends. We went to this amazing little restaurant that we all love. Ordered our food, and started yapping. We haven't seen each other for a while, but we've known each other for almost 9 years. Halfway through the meal, we notice the restaurant is filling up with smoke. Then the manager shows up to apologize that they have no electricity. OK, I can eat with just the sun shining through the windows, but why is the restaurant smoky? My guess is that their exhaust fans were down, and they just kept on cooking with their wood burning grill. We try to keep on chatting and noshing. Pretty soon, we are chatting, noshing, and coughing. Add some eye rubbing. It was nuts! But we stuck to it because it was my goodbye lunch. I left smelling like I had worked all day in a smokehouse. Later when I picked up the kids, my middlest hugged me and said I smelled like bacon. Which I guess is not a bad thing altogether. As long as there aren't any lions around. I hear they like bacon.

And of course, I can't possibly sign off without a photo or a layout. How about both? I know! You get so much for your money here. Yes, I do know how to please a crowd. You are welcome! Have a good weekend!

Pre-smoked. Love those girls (and should probably tell them I posted their photo online. Oops. You don't want to be my friend. This could happen to you.) BTW, do you see those super cool dog profiles cut out of canvas on the upper left? I think I'm going to make something like that. Minus the dogs. You've been forewarned.

I love this layout about the walks the littlest and I used to take before he started going to school daily. Sigh. I miss that. As seen in the March/April 2011 issue of Creating Keepsakes magazine. Copyright Creative Crafts Group. Posted with prior permission from the publisher.

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Flowers & Cranes

I made a card! Yes, that is a crazy thing indeed. But even crazier is that I have nine flowers on that card. NINE! Nuts. I never use flowers. Usually. I made it for Lily Bee, and there is a little accompanying tutorial on the blog.

On a much much much more important note, my friend Melanie linked on her a blog a beautiful project involving making paper cranes to "wish for continued strength, peace and eternal hope to our friends in Japan." If you are like me, and you have been thinking about what's going on Japan pretty much non-stop, and you've donated money, and you have no idea what else you can do, this is a hands-on project you can participate in. You can read more about it here.

Every little bit of love helps.

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Happy Spring!

Happy Monday. Have I mentioned how much I love Mondays? Something about it being the beginning of a new week filled with lots of new adventures.

Plus I did have a great weekend. The sun was shining, my husband was home from a week long conference, and he cooked all weekend. And did the laundry. And I slept. A lot. YES, it was a good one.

Which brings me to this week's shiny new adventure: cleaning out my basement. If you've been reading my blog for a few months, you know that I'm moving. Really soon. In less than one month. You also probably know that I've been living in this house for almost nine years. We moved here from a bigger house, and a lot of the boxes just went straight into our basement. And there they sat. Unopened. For nine years. I think it's time to deal with those boxes. Something to do with curb, trash pick up date, and Salvation Army. If I haven't needed whatever was in those box for almost a decade, I don't really need them.

And if opening those boxes won't be an adventure enough, have I mentioned that I have a dark and dank unfinished basement? Uh yeah. Good times ahead. There is also the occasional snake down there. Need I say more?

No, sorry, there will be no sharing of basement photos (I want to be done and get the heck out.) What I can share is this layout in the current issue of Creating Keepsakes (that would be the March/April 2011 issue.)

As seen in the March/April 2011 issue of Creating Keepsakes magazine. Copyright Creative Crafts Group. Posted with prior permission from the publisher.

This was such a fun layout to create. I got to dig out photos of me throughout the ages. (Yes, you can click on it and get a much bigger view, and see my 70s outfit.) And yes, that would be me by the fruit cart. I was three, and really wanted to be part of this little group of street urchins. I'd strip down to my underclothes and go barefoot when the grown-ups weren't looking. My mom hated that. To this day, she insists that I dress nicely and wear makeup to go to the grocery store with her. Which I don't. Which vexes her.

It looks like I'm wearing shoes in this photo.

Alrighty. I think it's time to tackle the basement. If you don't hear from me in a few days, send the kids down to rescue me. They like snakes.

ps: by the way, thank you for the answers on circular farming! Now, I really want to see one up close.

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in less than 24 hours

I flew to Denver, taped a 4-hour segment of scrapbooking tips and tutorials, had lunch with Lisa Dickinson, and flew back to Philly. Phew. My arms are tired. (Sorry! I've been wanting to use that line in a long time. Yes, I should have just saved it forever.)

The reason I was so crazed last week was a mixture of a few deadlines. Working on pages for a future CK issue, and creating samples and step-by-step instructions for my video segment. Let's say that when I said yes to the video thing, I had  no idea how much work I'd have. But I can't complain. It was a fun experience. And I finally got to meet Lisa (more on that later.)

Set before we started.

Set with me. Ahhh, so much better.

I didn't have a chance to take many photos, since the kind folks at the studio were slave drivers. OK. Fine! They weren't slave drivers. But we had a schedule to follow. So I took a few of the set and a slave driver studio person took one of me. Can I call her my handler? Because I was listed as talent, which prompted me to text my husband about the rock star tantrum I was going to throw. But I didn't. Sorry to disappoint you. I did request champagne and caviar upon completion of work, but instead they all left to eat lunch, and me to clean up. True story. Lisa was there and she can attest to the veracity of this account.

Me with the people who seemed so kind, until they abandoned me for lunch.

Speaking of Lisa. What a super nice, fun, and beautiful person. We've known each other online for a long while now, but never met in real life. She drove across the entire town to meet me, and Denver is a big place! She came by, kindly sat quietly behind the giant screen (she could have been mocking me, but she didn't), and waited until I was done. Then she took me to a super delish Tex-Mex place and we chatted like old buddies. Not that we are old, what I mean is, long time friends. Alas, she had to go pick up her kids from school. But before that, she dropped me off at the aiport, where we asked a skycap to take a photo of us. I kinda wished he had mentioned my blouse clinging to me? Not a good look. Lisa, of course, looks fabu! Can't wait to spend more time with her. I owe you two beers, Lisa! And margaritas too.

The always beautiful Lisa. She's good people.

I'm super tired, but happy to be home. One last question before I sign out. Does anyone know why do people farm in crop circles? Wouldn't the land at the corners be wasted? Can you tell I know nothing about farming?

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Random. With Flowers.

Eek. I'm super busy. But I'm a major procrastinator too. So I thought I'd post a few more random bits along with photos of flowers. I'm using them for a layout, so heck I thought I'd share them here too.

Random bit #1. My friend Teri Anderson is doing a giveaway at the Paper Crafts blog. Two words: Divine Twine. (Did I hear a woohoo?)You have til the end of tonight to enter to win. I wish I could enter. Grrr.

Random bit #2. Speaking of giveaways, Creating Keepsakes is giving away some good stuff too. Cuttlebug, anyone? Again, I wish I could enter. Bah.

Random bit #3. I found this Angry Birds softies tutorial. How freakin' cute are they? I want one of each. My kids have assigned each of us a character from the game. And apparently I'm the bomb bird (black quail). I'm told that it's because I'm volatile and prone to explosions. Nice. Thanks kids. I'll be remembering you in my will. NOT! (At least I'm one of the good guys. My husband got assigned the pig with the mustache!)

OK. Ran out of randomness for today. I know. Lame. Let's move onto flowers photos, shall we? The hydrangea, the tulips, and the lily of valley are from my yard. But I think ranunculus are definitely going to be in my garden in the near future. (Plural of ranunculus? Ranunculuses? Ranunculi?)

Random out. (Til next week, anyway.)

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Ridiculously Random

1. Don't fall off your chair. I'm actually scrapping today. I know, huh? Such a rare thing for me. But I'm working on some technique-related things for CK, which is kinda funny, isn't it? I'm not a technique person at all.

2. Kelly has posted about my visit to NY on her blog. Her photos are WAY better. Go check it out.

(Stole this photo from Kelly.)

3. I finally spruced up Mel's blog. She asked me months ago, but I was, uh, busy. Truth is, I'm just a lazy friend! But if I may say so myself, I think it looks good. But now my blog looks blah.

4. I was watching The Godfather a few weeks ago, and wondering about the location used for Jack Woltz's house. You know, he's the guy who refuses the godfather and wakes up with a horse's head on his bed? Fast forward to a few days ago, when I'm looking for a rental in Los Angeles, and for fun, I decide to check out the most expensive houses in town instead. (I like to torture myself like that). And guess what I found? Jack Woltz's house. Going for only $95M.

(I "borrowed" this photo from the Hilton-Hiland site.)

5. I'm having lunch with Lisa in two Mondays. I'm so excited to finally meet her. I'm writing this here, so she can't cancel on me last second. Because now all of you, my faithful blog readers, will know about it. And expect a report when I get back. (Yes, all ten of you!)

Good stuff, huh? Thank goodness it's Friday. And thank you for reading this. Have a great weekend.

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Lily Bee Design Team Call!

It's happening. NOW! I can't say enough good things about this company, the people running it, the team. Kristen, the owner, and her family are honest, fun, talented, and kind people. The design team are honest, fun, talented, and kind people. REALLY! I've only been on the team for a few months, but I've enjoyed every moment. And I don't have to tell you about the products, right? Surely, you seen it and read about it all over the interwebs. So yeah, enough of my yapping. Click here to check it out. Good luck!

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