I hope everyone had a GREAT weekend and really kickstarted their Christmas Season with some Holiday Cheer! It's getting REALLY cold here, so it was easy for us to get in the spirit with warm sweaters, scarfs and jackets this weekend! We had a successful garage sale on Saturday and did a little cleaning up and decorating this weekend, including putting the lights up outside. That is a TASK I tell you! Usually Lance has one of the girls help him, but this year it was me and I don't like it. :)- Can't we just hire someone to do it? hehehe...
I can't believe it's already December 5th! Can you? I have to confess that my "Decemer Daily" hasn't been DAILY... in fact, it's been non-existant! HA. I will have to get a jump start on that today, but I'm not going to beat myself up over it. The Holiday times are already stressfull enough, I don't need to have an added pressure. I really am bad at taking pictures when we are at home, but I think I'll make sure I journal about each day and then go back and add the photo's when I take them.
I have some news to share today...
Just like I can't believe it's already DECEMBER, I can't believe it's been a YEAR since I joined the Teresa Collins Design Team AND the Webster's Pages Design Team ! It has been a busy but very rewarding year for me and I'm SO blessed to have been a part of these WONDERFUL TEAMS! I have heard of some ladies having not so pleasent experiences on DT's and I can honestly say these two teams were a complete JOY to be on! Each and every lady on BOTH teams were so kind, gracious, talented and professional! I am going to miss EVERY ONE OF THEM!
And the reason I'm going to miss them is because I have decided to step down from both. It was NOT an easy decision, but I feel it's my time to move on and spend more quality time with my family. Before I accepted these two DT's, I had stopped doing my Kit Club so I could spend more time with my family. Little did I realize at the time, that I basically just switched being busy to something else. :)- That "busy" was more FUN than I can describe, but nevertheless, it was still a big time commitment.
So after much thought, prayer and tears, I have told both teams I wouldn't be returning for a 2nd term. Oh, it's such a hard thing to do! When you LOVE what you do, and I really LOVE BOTH TEAMS, it's like taking a part of you and putting it away somewhere. But... I know it's the right decision and believe me, I will ALWAYS support both Teresa Collins and Webster's Pages with everything in me. They are 2 REALLY FABULOUS companies run by 2 BEAUTIFUL LADIES and I just can't say enough about what a blessing they were to me this past year! I have grown so much and learned SO much from them, I am forever grateful!
I know I will still be a part of these teams and they know if they ever need anything, they can call me and I'll be there to help! And I get to see them at CHA, so it's still going to be FUN to visit with them and see my DT buddies here and there! Some may even join us on our A Kiss on the Chic Bellagio Retreat! I would {{LOVE}} that!
So, in honor of the two fabulous Design Teams of 2011 I was on, I thought I would share a few things I've recently designed for them as I wind down my term with both teams...
This first design is something I made for Webster's Pages in under 30 minutes!

This "Believe Tree" was SO easy to make with WP bloomers! I just simply used 3 different colored bloomers and alternated them down the styrafoam cone and attached them with pins! This was you can use the bloomers AGAIN, after the Holidays if you wanted!

I used some pins from the WP's line and some that were just pearl pins from my local craft store. I cut the bloomers to fit around the cone at each level and then attached with the pins to complete the circle. I also added more pins when I was done to make it look like they were little ornaments on the tree! :)

Then I used a journaling card, a floral bouquet, a cameo pin, some netting and a silhouette and make a little grouping on the tree for some impact. I found the "Believe" word from a K&Co. Christmas emebellishment pack.

I had this clay pot, but you can use any pot for your tree and stuff it with more green foam and then add the greenery at the bottom and some more flowers and emebellishments and your done! It was easy, FUN and a colorful Christmas project for the house! I think this one is going in Isabella's room because she's in LOVE with it!
Then I made something with the new Teresa Collins Carolina Breeze Line that I LOVE! This new line has such a fresh look with the yellow, black and grey! I wanted to make a Gratitude Journal for 2012, so I designed this yearly journal:

I will share more on this album later... (It may be a up-coming class??)
Then this past week, we've had a swap over on Webster's Pages with a company called Dusty Attic , they make some AMAZING chipboard and we all got a chance to play with it! I made an album with their chipboard, WP's papers and Clear Scraps Acrylic :

This album is with WP's Winter Fairytale line that I just LOVE!! It's so girly and "fairytale" and I know Isabella is going to want this one too! :) Here's a few more pictures of it, but go check out Dusty Attic's site! You'll see some familiar faces over there for sure!



Such a lovely color pallete to work with!
I really feel SO blessed to have been given the chance to work with BOTH companies this past year! For them to consider ME to design and spread the word on their beautiful products, it's just such an honor! I thank BOTH of them from the bottom of my heart!!
I will be saying goodbye to these companies only in the terms of a design team contract. I STILL will be using their products on a regular basis, following their blogs, chatting with them online, waiting to see what their NEW products will be... and buying them as SOON as they come out! :)
And I won't be gone from scrapbooking! I still have a PASSION for this artform! Among other things, I will be a contributing designer for Scrap365 Magazine! IN fact, I got my very 1st issue of the magazine a few weeks ago and I was THRILLED to see it! This is a MUST magazine ladies and if you haven't signed up for a monthly subscription, go to the link above and check it out! I'm also excited b/c this magazine has MANY of my DT buddies in it! This was such an EXCITING thing for me to see and I'm happy to join them ALL on this new journey!
And here's a SNEAK of something I designed for Scrap365 for an upcoming issue:

Of course, you can see what the "Theme" of the album is....
And that is another thing that will be keeping me busy next year!! I'm just so excited about the "A Kiss on the Chic" Bellagio Retreat and I hope YOU are too!

You can go to the event Blog and check out all the details and sign up! Right now I'm running a special so go check it out. I am also in the works for some AMAZING things for this event, so stay tuned! I've had more sign ups this past week b/c of the special I'm running, so DON'T WAIT... make sure you don't loose your spot! I know this event is not something everyone can go to. It's hard to come up with that kind of money... But I'm REALLY telling you to try your hardest to come! Like my husband says... "Bite the bullet" and just make the sacrifices now. Start your payments now, they are only $250 a month and you will be SO happy you did! This is a once-in-a-lifetime event and I know you will be changed for having come to this retreat in Italy!
We don't want you to miss out. I saw some ladies who are contimplating going as a group of friends and they were talking about starting now by cutting back and eating top ramen! lol... That's pretty funny but hey... if it gets you to Italy, go for it! I know in our own family, we have gone two summers in a row because we have made those type of choices! My girls don't get the clothes, purses, make-up and such that they see other girls getting. We don't eat out and go to fast food that much. We use coupons, wait for things to go on sale, use our Smart Card for 1/2off deals at Jamba Juice, and have baked potatoes, soup and salad or mac-n-cheese for dinner to cut down our grocery bill... BUT, I can HONESTLY say that my girls wouldn't want it any other way! They don't even want anything for Christmas AGAIN this year! Last year, we didn't do presents, because basically the trip to Europe WAS their present. This next summer we don't plan on going back to Italy, but they still want to save for the following summer when we do go back. They just have got the bug to travel and they are in LOVE with Bellagoi, Italy and that's what they'd rather spend their money on. In fact, Victoria has a "Bellagio" jar in her room! She puts ANY money she gets in that jar! She wants to go back the summer she graduates (2013) and she's saving her money so she can. She reallizes your "dreams" don't come true without ACTION and I'm SO proud of her for going for her DREAMS!!
Wow, sorry for rambling on...
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I wanted to do a RAK in honor of Webster's Pages and Teresa Collins Designs!! I think it's appropriate to end my year with a RAK filled with some beautiful designs from both of those companies!! So, leave a comment on THIS POST and tell me what a DREAM OF YOURS IS!! I would LOVE to hear them!
Have a WONDERFUL Monday and HUGS to all of you,
Laura
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