How many days until what?

Christmas is coming early this year, don't you think? Odd being here in California because I usually rely on the snow to get me in the holiday spirt.

Couple of fabulous things this week. If you are in the bay area, stop into the East Bay Outlet for Creative Reuse at 47th and Telegraph. Hero Arts donated all of their discontinued product to this non profit group and they are selling stamps and inks for $1.00. This is brand new product and includes StazOn inks, Whale of a Punches, etc. A very good deal.

I had a great conversation with Carina today at the Scrapbook Depot in San Carlos. She is fabulous and has a great store with a very nice workroom. We talked about life and product and we agreed that I could teach some classes at the Depot. How cool is that? I'm putting together 2 2-page layouts, one for Christmas/winter with (of course) Cosmo Cricket and New Year's with Luxe designs. I think it's going to be very cute. I'll have the samples finished before Monday. Second book is 6x6 tabbed album for Valentine's Day. Some Cricut cuts, some Queen and Company, some alcohol inks, rubons, etc. etc. etc. I'm looking forward to teaching the acrylics some more. The book will also feature the new Valentine's Day paper from Luxe Designs.

That's all for now. Gotta go make some Christmas Ornaments.

Sue

I really need to get the hang of this thing.....

So I know it has been too long. What can I say? Life happens.

My Very Merry Mini Album class at Scrapbook Territory went very well. Both times. I had a total of 16 people take the class. Lots of fun. Everyone had a great time, including me.

Because it is coming up on December and schedules being what they are, I am working on Valentine's Day projects to be on the schedule in January. One will be (and here is a surprise) Cosmo Cricket's Hey Sugar line with zutter and ring bindings and stickers and.... well, you know the rest. Lots of cool stuff.

The other class is with the Bo Bunny LOVE book, you know the one with the letters at the end of the page. I was going to use the Rusty Pickle Chocolate Kisses line but I found out that the Basic Grey line for Valentine's Day will be at Scrapbook Territory on December 15th, so I will be making the sample with that paper. Wait until you see the paper. It is not to be believed. Very very cute.

On a personal note, we enjoyed our Thanksgiving holiday with the neighbors. They invited us to join their family for the day. Lovely people. All I had to do was a Lemon Meringue pie. How easy is that? There was just a ton of food featuring 7 (yes seven) different kinds of pie. Who needs turkey with all that pie?

Hope this post finds you all well. Favorite new product this week? Urban Lilly hidden journaling cards. Best thing added to clearance this week? Rusty Pickle coupon books for $3.49.

More later.

Running to Catch Up (again)

It has been a while since I have been here and so much has been happening!

First of all, and most fun, I taught my first class at Scrapbook Territory yesterday! I had a great group of very very talented customers and, although it took a little longer (really a lot longer) than scheduled, everybody had a great time. Beautiful Mini Christmas Albums using Cosmo Cricket product. So many sign ups for the first session, that we have added another session in a few weeks. How great is that.

Secondly, and almost as much fun, I worked for Rusty Pickle at the Sacramento Expo. It was a great three days, lots and lots of fun. Alaina, Brenda, and Beth were fantastic and so great to work with. Some of the gang from Scrapbook Territory were there. It was so good to see them.

Chris is in the midwest on his tour of the family. He spent time with Melissa and Kevin (and Jacques, of course), on to Cincy to visit Dad, Phij and Nancy and now in Peoria to see Geoff, Missy and the babies. I'm jealous. He has promised pictures of all of his stops. More to crop, just what I needed.

Shake Rattle and Roll

Chris was awake for last evening's quake, in fact, he noticed it first. It was a big one centered between here and San Jose but felt as far north as Oregon. Not much here, all the pics remained on the walls and the glasses all made it through without breaking. The dogs were not impressed.

Got up this morning and finished this page. I keep scrapping these pictures over and over but they are so good. This page is part of my submission for the Daisy D's Design team. Do you like it?

Happy Halloween to all. Samantha is going to be Red Riding Hood (there's something to send you looking for specialty paper) and Little G will be a pumpkin. Our other young family member is going as a bumble bee. Here he is trying on his costume.


Happy Spooky Day, all.

Star Struck

This has truly been an incredible week. I got to meet two of the driving forces in scrapbooking/stamping, both in the same week!

On Thursday I spent a fabulous half hour with Jackie Leventhal, the founder of Hero Arts. Yes, Chicago area buddies, I actually made it in the door at Hero Arts. What a fabulous person Jackie is! She had just finished shooting the 2008 catalog (wait until you see these stamps!) and was talking about her customers. It was truly one of the highlights of my California adventure so far.

But then, yesterday I was working (yea, so much for the retirement thing) at Scrapbook Territory. I was just Diane and I and Diane had a class and there was a baby shower later so there was a lot going on. Well in the afternoon, Diane was having a conversation with a customer about Mrs. Grossman's product. I told Diane the story about a customer at Archiver's who's name was Pat Grossman and when she came into the store we used to announce that Mrs. Grossman was there. Diane turned to me and said, 'That woman I was talking to was Mrs. Grossman. Don't you recognize her?' Sure enough, it was Mrs. Grossman. I was introduced. How fabulous is that?

The most amazing thing about both of these women was their true love of the scrapbook/stamping craft and their lack of snobiness. After changing and shaping the craft as much as they have, they still were passionate about their products and their customer care. I compare that to the exclusive attitudes of some of the folks on the boards who have merely created for their own pleasure or the call of a design team and am even more in awe of these two women.

Enough about the soap box today. I have lots of sign ups for my Cosmo Cricket class and the real sample for the acrylic dog album is almost done.

All in all, life is good.

Running to Catch Up

It has, again, been a few day's since I visited. Here's what I know today:

This is the pic of my scrapbook class in Paris. I know I promised it before, but I could not find the CD with the pics. Since I spent the better part of yesterday shovelling out the scrap room, I thought I would finally post the pic. This was truly a great group of scrappers. So much fun. Really helped to make my Paris trip fabulous.

Dilema: CKU Chicago or Scrap Etc. in Nashville? Scrap Etc. had some openings appear on their roster. I was wait-listed. Guys, if you're reading this, let me know which one you're going to. Don't want to do either alone.

We had a quiet weekend here. Enjoyed the fact that there was not a lot to do. Caught up on some TV, had Sunday Dinner pot roast, and generally enjoyed our fabulous life.

Submitting some things to Daisy D's. They're looking for members for their 2008 design team. How fabulous would that be?

Have you tried the new Prima Paintables paper? Watercolor paper printed with black and white paper. It's like a big coloring book page for adults. Really fun stuff. You can get exactly the colors you want for everything. I am almost done with my first page and will post when I get it done.

No more for today. I think this has taken up quite enough of your time as it is.

Lots Goin On

So first of all, I think that there is no way that I will ever be able to do this every day. That being said, I have been trying to get in here to do this for a day or so now.

So I've attached two fabulous pictures from Paris. We saw different things on this trip than we did on the first. But we also saw some of the same things we saw last time. We have some scenes in pictures from both trips. That's going to evolve into a mini book, now and then thing, some time in the future. Opportunity to put another project on the list of things to be done.

I'm also posting a pic of my scrapbook class at Le Temple du Scrap. They were truly wonderful to spend time with and I am very glad that they allowed me and my non-existent French to join them for a day of playing with paper.

And now for the news: My first class for Scrapbook Territory is finalized, the sample is in the store and the class date of November 11 has been finalized. How fabulous is this! We're planning an 8x8 acrylic dog book for December 1st. Very cool stuff.

Take a look at the pics. Would love to get your feedback.

City of Lights - More Days (What day is it?)

I've got to figure out how to do this every day, or is that a requirement?

OK, so on Tuesday we went to Chartres (did I already talk about this?) on the train. Beautiful cathedral a little over an hour from our hotel by train. To get to the train, we walked to the station. Part of our walk was through a cemetery. Got some great pics (if there can be great pics in such a place) including Sartre's grave.

Chartres was fabulous. Little hill town with this cathedral that can be seen for miles. Two bell towers with different architectures.

On Wednesday, I tool a class at Le Temple du Scrap. FABULOUS. Did I mention it was FABULOUS. There were six of us in this 6 (no typo, 6) hour class. We all started at 10, went to lunch at 1 and worked until 5. Wonderful classmates and a FABULOUS instructor. Everyone was so friendly and helpful and the project was wonderful. Definitely something I will post pics of.

Speaking of pictures - camera is unhappy downloading to Chris' computer, so until that gets figured out, no pics from the road.

Today I went to the Louvre. Lots of French sculpture, Egyptian carvings and the private salons of Napoleon III. They also had a special exhibit of Iranian art which had absolutely beautiful bookplate artistry. All in all a great day.

More tomorrow. May go for the Parisian haircut or the artist colony around the Basilica of the Sacred Heart. Decisions decisions.

City of Lights - Day 1

Well it's not really a day because we spent most of it sleeping. Our flight left at 4 p.m. Sunday afternoon and we arrived in Paris at noon local time on Monday. Great flight over Greenland and Britain. Very little turbulence.

If you ever have an opportunity, fly Air France. All cocktails (limited to wines, brandies and champagnes) are complimentary and the food is good for airline food. Long flight though. 11 hours in the air.

We arrived, grabbed luggage and took the subway to our hotel which is right across from the subway station. Great room at the Hotel du Midi. Tiniest elevator (one person and one suitcase or two people per trip). Then we slept for about 5 hours. Not much sleeping on the plane. Was kinda like the night of the living dead on the plane. People constantly up and walking the aisles, some of them in groups. I mean I know all that stuff about walking during long flights but this was ridiculous and our seats near the lavatories didn't help keep the crowd noise to a minimum.

For dinner we ate at a restaurant called "Indiana" which served tex-mex and had Indiana Jones type artifacts (spears and masks on the wall) but an indian chief on the cover of the menu. Go figure. We walked a few blocks after dinner, watched a little tv and back to sleep.

Tomorrow - Chocolate for breakfast and Chartres all day.

A good scrapping goddess day

We went to lunch yesterday, my husband and I. Jupiter in downtown Berkeley. Very excellent pizza. After lunch he dropped me at Scrapbook Territory in Berkeley. I thought I had died and gone to heaven.

I thought I knew product, but there were things there that I had never seen. What a phenomenal place. And the girls working there were so friendly. Truly may have to be my new scrapbook home. Not to mention they have a mascot. Wilbur the lab. He hangs out, guards us all, and occasionally barks for water. Very Very cool place.

Not only that, I spoke with the owner about teaching some classes. I am putting together a spec for her for a Christmas memory book using the Cosmo Cricket Be Good line. She and I will get together when I get back from Paris.

As if all that wasn't enough, Rusty Pickle wants me to work Scrapbook Expo for them in Sacramento. I guess those dozens of e-mails I sent out paid off. No details yet on what I'll be doing, but who cares. IT'S RUSTY PICKLE!

Good day for scrapbooking......

Tomorrow - the story of Bernie.

Did you miss me?

I've been gone for days. Not in a car, but prepping stuff for the weekend at Wishfest. This was a truly fabulous weekend. 8 classes, two crops. The best part - except for the pictures, 4 of the projects are actually DONE. How cool is that. For thumbnails of the projects go to http://www.mydaughterswish.typepad.com/wishfest/project-preveiws.html. I'm showing a picture of the cover of one of the unfinished project. Basic Grey - how cute is this? The instructors were unbelievable, the classes were small and the company fantastic. So what's not to love.

I came home to 3 live mammals (the same number as when I left). The house did not burn down, neither Chris or the dags starved to death and they seemed happy to have me back.

As much fun as I had and as many fabulous people as I met, I still all of my Chicago buds. Was good without you all but was different without you all. You would have loved these projects. I'll be taking pics and posting the finished stuff and I have printed instructions for most.

The reaction

As expected, Kandy was convinced that the emperor had stolen my soul and led me to the dark side. We compromised by calling it my web page instead of referring to it as the B word.

I found a scrapbook store in Paris - Le Temple du Scrap just 2 blocks from the hotel (Nods to the better half for hotel selection). They are offering classes the week that we are there and a very nice instructor named Emma assured me that my lack of French language would be welcome in the class so....

I'm taking a class called Travel Flag book. Their classes go from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. with an hour for lunch. HOW CIVILIZED! Pic of the book available at http://scraptothemax.canalblog.com/archives/mini_albums/index.html.

Pics are small 2x3 and the album is 6x8. I'm doing our weekend in the French countryside from earlier this year. How cool is that!

OK, so I give up......

Having resisted the need to blog, I have finally seen enough to know that I can resist no longer. (I might just throw in some pics of the grandchildren and some scrapbook stuff too!)

My favorite pic of the grandchildren. How cute is that.

Also, a view of part of our deck. More pics of the house to follow.

Kandy - I'm sorry, I just couldn't stay away any longer.....