A Kiss on the Chic

Love, Tuesday...

So much going on but I remembered to do my "Love, Tuesday" post!  Feelin' pretty good today about that.  :)

Had a WHIRLIND weekend with a class at PaperTales, which was SO FUN!  I can't believe it was my first class of the year!  How did this year go by so fast that my first class is in APRIL...

 

Then we had a  UFC fight party (yes, you heard right...)

The things we do for love...  So out of my realm, but it's the 2nd UFC party we've had and even though I can barely stand to look at the fighting (this is the REAL DEAL folks) it's fun to have people over and it's "kind of fun" to watch too.  lol

But now I'm in the mad dash to get ready for the "Affaire at Tiffany's" event!  It's going to be SO much fun, but I have to say that I'm a bit nervous teaching and getting everything PERFECT for this event.  I've taught at CHA several times so I'm used to teaching to big crowds, but 70 LADIES is a LOT and I am just praying that all goes well!  I'm kitting everything and making sure all it set to go so it's a nice and easy class for these ladies and they don't have to do too much work.  Have a showed pictures of my class??  

Here's a SNEAK inside:

I'm SO excited to be teaching this!  It's going to be an AMAZING weekend starting on Thursday night with a Vendor Soiree that I'll be a part of and then Friday and Saturday packed with classes and FUN times!  So excited to meet all these wonderful ladies!  And guess who my helper is going to be?  

My Audrey Hepburn, Paris loving daughter Victoria!!  So excited to share this weekend with her!  This picture was taken last summer IN Paris in a beautiful courtyard in the St. Germain arrondissement.  I sure miss Paris right about now... Maybe I need to do a Paris CREATIVE Retreat some day???

And since I've been in the CREATIVE mood lately, I came up with another class for Paper Tales!  This one is so "me" because I absolutley fell in LOVE with these products at CHA.  Pink Paislee and Heidi Swapp came together for this line called "Sugar Chic" and can I just say WOW!  It's SO pretty, you can't even find it anywhere!  So, I've got a class for YOU.  

 

It'a a Memory File Album!  "A Fabulous Time" is the title and I will show you how to make a very interactive album with TONS of space for photos!  The files come in sets of 6 so you will get to choose which 2 folders you want to make your album with.  And there will be added goodies to this project too!  

Here's a SNEAK inside:

So that's for May 12th from 11-3pm and it's going to be a GREAT class, so call Paper Tales to sign up at  619-222-2150.

Oh, I wanted to mention that the Scrap 365 blog has a new Sketch Blog!  I wanted to mention it because it's a fun site and I think I may join in too!

 

Have a GREAT Tuesday,

Laura

I just can't get it "together"...

I have to apologize.  I just can't seem to get a regular blog schedule on this blog anymore!  I was trying to at least do a "Love, Tuesday" post, but that keeps getting pushed back too.  ugh...  

I'm SO sorry, I really want this to be a great blog, but it's just not happening anymore.  My life has taken me in other directions and with the event in Italy this September, Kim Caldwell's  event in May and some other CREATIVE things I'm working on, it just isn't letting me have time to blog on here much...

Maybe some day I will get back to a regular schedule on here.  In the mean time, please follow our JOURNEY over at: Our CREATIVE Retreat site

 

I do want to share some things with you on here and you can check back here for updates once a week or so.  I value ALL of you who come here and want to follow along, so please know I'm still thinking of you and want to share my creative journey with you!!

Which leads me to say...

There are BIG things coming up!!  I MAY have some NEWS to share with you about my future plans...of teaching, of events, of CREATIVENESS!!  And I'm excited to say that a lot of these things include things MUCH closer to home.  :)

So stay tuned... Fall of 2012 and 2013 are going to be FUN, FUN, FUN!!!

Hugs,

 

Laura

 

Love, Tuesday...

 

I'm headed to Pasadena AGAIN to have Victoria's jaw and incision looked at.  So I thought I would bring along some of my Scrapbook Postcards so I could drop them off at a couple stores in that area.  Not sure where they are yet, but will google search a bit this morning..  Any ideas??

I hope all of you had a WONDERFUL Easter!  Ours was a bit different this year.  Usually my mom has been having it at their house with all the Broekema clan over, but this year was low key with just mom and Lance's mom and dad at a restaurant.  It was kind of hard to see the change from last year to this one.  But, we are so thankful my dad is being cared for at a wonderful home and we had lunch close to the home so we could all go over there and spend some time with him after lunch.  It was a beautiful day and we sat in their nice outdoor patio for a while.  I know change is good and life does change, but some times change is hard too.  It's an adjustment I guess...

This week Victoria has her Easter break, so she's going to spend some time with my mom and visit with her and grandpa.  I on the other hand have to get ready for Kim Caldwells "Tiffany Affaire" event coming VERY SOON!  I need to get into "kit mode" this week and make sure I have EVERYTHING for this class ready to go!  May 3 is coming WAY too soon, but I'm SO excited to be teaching at this FABULOUS EVENT!!  

Before I go, here's a little "blurb" I wrote up for anyone that wants to post this on their blog.  I'm trying to get the word out that the CREATIVE Retreat in Italy is a GO and we can still take sign ups until end of May!  Feel free to share this if you like!  

Have a GREAT Tuesday,

Laura

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We are SO excited that our Scrapbook Retreat in Italy this September is a GO!

The week of September 15th ~ September 22nd, 2012 is going to be an UNFORGETTABLE week of fun on the shores of beautiful Lake Como!  We will be CREATING gorgeous treasures with our wonderful teachers, enjoying the beautiful sites in and around the Italian Lakes Region, sampling the wonderful flavors of Italian cuisine and relaxing by the lakeside pool of the Grand Hotel Villa Serbelloni.  And...the GREAT news is that YOU still have time to join us!  We will be taking a few more sign ups until the end of May.  So check out our site at: http://akissonthechic.blogspot.com for all the details and take a look at the beautiful pictures of this amazing area!  The flights to Milan, Italy are REALLY great right now and I have a discount code for those attending to save you even more!  So feel free to email me with any questions you have at: Laura@akissonthechic.com.  We hope to see you there in September!

 

Easter Break

 

It's Easter Break for Rebecca & Isabella this week (Victoria's is next week) so we are enjoying some relaxing time at home and at my moms this week!  

So we are just going to enjoy the nice weather,  do some reading, catch up on things and work on our backyard to make it look kinda like this:

Found this "Tuscan" looking backyard on Pinterest here:

http://smallplacestyle.blogspot.com/2010/04/lets-get-outside.html

Just LOVE this style!!

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Speaking of  "ITALY"...

I am SO happy, humbled and BEYOND excited to say that...

OUR ITALY EVENT IS A GO!!!!!!!!!

It's been a few weeks of researching things, looking at everything one more time, making some changes due to contracts and class size and I can officially announce that we are going to Italy in September!!

Here are a few UPDATES:

1.  We have enough students to make it work so I have contacted American Airlines and have set up a GROUP DISCOUNT for the airfare and if you are planning on coming, but haven't signed up yet... NOW is the time!  Last month we were checking on flights and they were around $1,200!  Right now they are as low as $850!!  I am booking the teachers and my flights ASAP!!  I know with gas prices so high, rates could go up any day, so check those fights out and if you sign up, I can give you the A Kiss on the Chic discount with www.aa.com!!

2.  I still have some apartments available, but unless you have a disability, I won't be using the Hotel Florence next door any longer as a hotel choice.  It's much more cost effective to have everyone in the same apartments.  Now if you book the Hotel Florence yourself, that is a different matter, but to cut some costs, this is one of the changes I had to make.  I still have a few medium and 2 large apartments left, but there are a few groups/families that are about to sign up so they may be taken soon...

3. Some of us are taking a side trip AFTER the Event to Venice, Italy!! Venice is like NO OTHER city in the world.  I was SO taken aback by it the first time I saw it and it's really a MUST SEE at some point in your life.  So, the event is over on Saturday and we are planning to take the train to Venice and stay for 3 nights.  This is not really something I'm coordinating, but I will have details on that if you are interested.  When in your life are you going to be ONLY 3 HOURS AWAY FROM VENICE AGAIN??  So that is an option after our Event if you'd like to join some of us!!

4.  I have done some research on excursions and things to do in the area and I'm VERY EXCITED about that!  I will give more details as we get closer, but one thing that I found is an ANTIQUE MARKET in Bergamo!  This is a beautiful old walled city about an hour from Lake Como and they have an Antique Market every third Sunday of the month!  Well, guess what... We will be there on the 3rd Sunday!  So I think it's a MUST to go to the ANTIQUE MARKET!  This will be on the Sunday after we arrive and I had set that day aside for a "day of rest".... But, I want to make this trip available to those who WANT to go!  So you can decide if you want to relax by the pool and enjoy a day of rest or come with us to the Antique Market.  Totally your choice, but this is a unique experience that doesn't happen very often...

5.  I'm looking for a photographer for the Event!  This must be someone who is going to the event as a paid student.  If you are and you'd like to take some pictures of the event and set up some photo shoots for the students, this would be a way to supplement your costs.... 

I think that is all I can think of right now.  I'm sure there is more to say, but I'm so excited my brain is not fully functioning!  :) 

I will be updating this blog and our Yahoo Group every week now that we are FULL STEAM AHEAD.

Here are some pictures of the Lake Como area I found onwww.Pinterest.com this week:

This is a lovely area I think in Varenna where a waterfall comes down from the hills and sprays a fog like mist onto this beautiful old bridge!  This is definitely a must see and we will be eating dinner in Varenna one night as well.

This is the GORGEOUS grounds of Ville De' Este on Lake Como!  This is THE top hotel on the lake and I've never seen it, but heard it's breath taking!  I think an excursion to this hotel for a tour and lunch is a must on the itinerary!!

Another beautiful landscape of Lake Como with the colorful villas and the bridge.  I'm not sure where this is located, but you will have a whole week to explore and find lots of places like this!!

Speaking of exploring... Maybe we will find this guy on Lake Como??  :)  Just saying...

Not sure where this is on Lake Como, but what a photo!!  If you haven't checked out Pinterest yet, it is an AMAZING site with SO much to {LOVE}

Again, email me if you have ANY questions!  There are some spots left, and I can take signs ups until May now that it's a GO!!

Thank you again for all who are coming and all who are SO supportive of my dream to have this event!!  It's such a blessing that we have such a wonderful group going and I feel such JOY at being able to share this part of the world with you!!

HUGS AND THANKS,

Laura

**The above post was copied from my Event blog at:  http://akissonthechic.blogspot.com

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What are you doing for Easter this year?  Would love to hear your plans...

 

Have a very BLESSED Easter everyone!  

 

Hugs,

Laura

Love, Tuesday...

Nope, not loving THIS Tuesday.

I may have to have a pitty party tonight.  I think I'm going to invite Ice-cream and my good friend Chocolate Chip Cookies.  

 

sigh...

Headed to the Dentist...

 

Ok, I'm usually not such a wimp...

But I HATE going to the Dentist!  I haven't been in years... (sorry mom) and I MADE myself make an appointment last week.  It's funny because they said they had THAT DAY available, and I said NO!  

WAAAAAAY to shocking for my system.   :)-

 

Maybe if I had this guy as a Dentist, I could deal:

Actually, nope.

 

So wish me luck, I'm PRAYING no root canals are in my future...

Laura

Love, Tuesday...

Hello SUNSHINE!!

It's been a weird week with so much rain and greyness... Then in the midst of this grey, my brother is posting pictures of their family enjoying a SUNNY Michigan!  lol.  In the 70's for them is NOT normal for March.  It was actually FUN to see them all out playing in the nice weather, I think we switched weather for a few days... 

 

I can't believe Ella is almost 3 years old!  I remember when I was sharing photo's of her just born!  And now Megan is 8 months old... Miss those little girls so much.

So while they were enjoying this, we were enjoying this:

SNOW!!!  Crazy, but true!

We woke up on Sunday and Rebecca saw a friend on FB share a picture of SNOW in her backyard.  Not this much, but we don't get snow... EVER.  So we decided to take a drive about 20 minutes from our house and this is what we saw!  Not just a little snow, a TON of snow and it was still snowing!

We weren't really prepared to go out in it, but we stopped for a few minutes for the girls to play a bit...

 

Pretty cool for us.  

But then two hours later we were in the ER with this one:

She was doubled over in pain and it wasn't stopping.  She's never done that before so we called the her dr. and they told us to take her in for xrays at the ER.  

The good news is she was fine and sent home within a few hours!

What a WEEKEND. Lately is seems like I'm just getting over the weekend and WEDNESDAY is already here.  :)

BUT... Today is my hubby's birthday!!

So we are going to celebrate and enjoy some family time tonight!

Tomorrow, I will be going to the dentist (which I DREAD) and then coming home to blog a bit about the upcoming Italy trip!

So stay tuned...

Hugs,

 

Laura

Happy St. Patricks Day!

Found these ADORABLE s'mores on Pinterest today and thought I'd share the LINK to make them!

I hope all of you are enjoying a WONDERFUL Day and are filled with the "Luck of the Irish" TODAY!!

 

**Some important updates will be on this blog on Monday, so come back and see what things are in store!!

Have a GREAT weekend everyone,

 

Laura 

TGIF...

Is that how you're week feels too?  Planning a little trip mid-week was nice, but coming back to SO much...was not so fun.  I've started writing more LISTS to keep me organized, but it's still got to get DONE, right??

I have to tell you a secret, well you may have already guess it... I'm NOT one of those "SUPER MOMS" who has everything together!  I may LOOK like I do, I think some people THINK I am, but I am SO NOT.  THE PROOF is in my purse...  :)-  I'm the embarrissing lady with the grocery reciepts sticking out of my purse.  AND the straw wrappers or kids trash on the floor in the car!  UGH... Why can't I be that nicely organized, put together lady who picks up their kids with beautiful hair and nice outfits on?  I actually wore my PAJAMAS to take the girls to school this morning!  So, I may "look" like I'm some super woman to some of you (who live FAR away from me... HAHA) but the reality is I'm trying to just KEEP UP with my life!

So this week, I've had SO many things on my "TO-DO" list and not much has gotten done.  Hopefully the garage door guy will come when he SAYS (he's 7 minutes behind schedule) and fix my garage door so I can drive INSIDE it and then I can cross off one thing on my list... :)  

Lance and I took a two-day trip to Vegas this week for a trade show and a LITTLE relaxing, which was nice.  He had to go see some things at the tradeshow so we also decided to take in the Phantom of the Opera show.  We've seen it MANY times but it NEVER gets old to us, it's our all time FAV show!  A little heads up about Phantom at the Venetian in Vegas... It's GOING DARK on September 2nd for GOOD!!  I couldn't believe it.  It's such a GREAT show but it's run it's course at the Venetian I guess so if you want to see it, GO NOW!  We are trying to plan a trip back before September 2nd with the girls so they can see it there one last time.  The theater it's in at the Venetian was built JUST FOR The Phantom of the Opera and it's AMAZING to see it there!  

I also did a little bit of shopping, we ate at Mix and actually gambled a little!!  :)  I can't tell you how many times we've been to Vegas over the years... maybe 20-30 times??  I've maybe gamgled 2 times?  Seriously, we just don't gamble.  Lance works too hard for his money to give it away like that!  hahaha...  But we were eating dinner at Mix and talking about what we wanted to do afterwards.  We both thought it would be fun to play some BlackJack or "Wheel of Fortune" together!  So we headed downstairs, tried a little BlackJack for a bit (I had to have help b/c I didn't remember all the tricks) and we were ahead about $85, so we took our chips and cashed in.  Then we found a "Wheel of Forturne" slot machine with the "Free Spin" on it and sat down there.  There were two on the NICEST ladies next to us, cheering us on and guess what..  I WON!!  I got a FREE SPIN and it landed on 1000!!  Now mind you, it was 1000 QUARTERS, so I WON $250!!  I was screaming, the ladies and Lance were screaming and everyone was checking it out!  It was hilarious!!  The ladies were saying "CASH OUT, CASH OUT" so I did and I had $304 on my ticket!!  So exciting!!  That was SO fun!! 

But now we are home and it IS good to be home, mess and all.  I don't want to give the impression that I dont' want EVERY BIT of my life... I just wish I new how to be a better mom, wife, housekeeper, artist, event planner, travel planner AND health and fitness guru... all of the above!! :)-

Oh, we're also changing to a  FULL TIME  Gluten Free lifestyle, so that's another FUN challenge!  Basically we are focusing on VEGGIES, FRUITS, PROTEINS and other grains besides Wheat/Gluten products.  I've tried this with Rebecca years ago b/c I think this is a problem for her, but never stuck with it.  I think it's because it's just too hard to have only ONE person on this.  So we as a FAMILY decided to give it a try TOGETHER!  It will help up loose weight, help us focus on unprocessed WHOLE foods, see if things improve with energy level, dry skin issues and just overall HEALTHIER bodies!!  I'm excited, we've been working on it for the last couple weeks, but now we are ready for it FULL TIME!  I've loaded my Pinterest Board with LOTS of options and the grocery trips are about to happen...  Wish us luck, AND if you have any Gluten Free Recipes, send them my way!! We'd love to have LOTS of options.

On top of that, I have a few "scrappy details" to work on...

1.  I haven't taught a class in 2012 yet!!  YIKES.. where did the time go??  I REALLY want to, but I just haven't had time to bring this to Paper Tales:

I think I may do this as a Project Kit in my Etsy Shop  After looking at my schedule, I'm literally busy EVERY weekend with some Volleyball tournament, plans with friends/family,  some school event, vacation plans, the Tiffany Affaire...all the way until end of JULY!!  

2.  I need to FILL  my Etsy shop again!  I have these really cute Canvas sayings I'm painted and want to put in  my shop... I also have some new "paper kits" that are themed and ready to be put into a "mixed media" album!  They're really cute and I just need time to photograph them!!

3.  I want to order the new lines from Pink Paislee!!  I plan on making 2 Project kits... One with the LONDON MARKET and one with Heidi Swaps SUGAR CHIC!!  So if either of those interest you, LET ME KNOW!!  I'm going to be ordering things soon to make two class projects.  I think they will also have to go in my Etsy shop or some sort of online class...

4.  I thought I was going to teach all over the U.S. this year!!  I have stores in Florida, New York, Arizona and North. California that I REALLY want to teach at, but I just can't pull it together, YET...  I promise I will get out there at some point!  Maybe AFTER the Bellagio Event in September??  So if there is a store near you that you'd like to me teach at, LET ME KNOW!!  I'll see if maybe FALL 2012 or 2o13 will be the time for traveling around and teaching!

5. Speaking of my retreat in Italy...  I've EXTENDED the DEADLINE TO SIGN UP!  Not sure if I mentioned that on here?  But if you're still on the fence, you have a bit more time!!  The spots are filling up though, so don't wait too long.  I need to make some decisions about things by March 16th and then start booking airfare, so JOIN US NOW if you want to come!  I've had three more ladies sign up in the last week!!  If you wanted to share a room with some friends or family members,  I have only one Large apartment left for a family/group of 4-6 people!  And YES, you can bring family members who just want to come to Italy with you!!  

Ok, another book I guess...  Sorry about that and sorry if I'm feeling a bit "whiney" today in my post.  I have SO much to be thankful for and LOVE every bit of my life!!  I just don't know how everyone "does it"  and would LOVE some help figuring out how to be AHEAD of things, instead of always feeling like I need to get CAUGHT UP...

Have a GREAT weekend and let me know if those PROJECT KITS sound good?  I'll start planning for those and put those in my Etsy shop when the new PP comes in!

Hugs,

 

Laura

 

 

 

 

Love, Tuesday...

 

I know I talk a LOT about my Scrapbook Retreat that's coming up THIS September...

But I just really have dreamt of doing this kind of event in this EXACT location for a few years now and sharing this "Slice of Heaven" with YOU LADIES!!

The time is sadly coming to an END (very soon) to sign up for this event and I REALLY want you to come!

Italy is such a beautiful place but I have to say Lake Como is really the crown jewel.

Full of COLOR...

 

and ARCHITECTURE...

BEAUTIFUL coffee...

AND...

a RELAXING atmosphere!

 

So, it really is my desire to share this with you and I hope you can join us in September!

Click Here to find out all the details and sign up!

 

Hugs,

 

Laura

 

Love, Tuesday...

 

Long weekend is over and the kids went back to school.... ****WAIT****

No they didn't!  Victoria has the whole week off and Rebecca is sick AGAIN.  ugh.  Rebecca woke up in the middle of the night with stomach pains, nausea and dizziness.  That poor child just can't get a break.  I really think it's the antibiotics in her because her body is just not fighting off things it should be able to.  Please pray for her to have healing and for us to find out why she gets sick so much.

Trying to figure out how to stay healthy is a BILLION dollar industry these days.  It's so hard to figure out what to do!  One of the things I'm trying to change, to possibly combat our health issues,  is our eating habits.  I wouldn't say we eat BAD, but I do think we are the typical American family who eats burgers, pizza, pasta and ice cream on a regular basis.  Now I've tried to make healthier choices WITHIN those meals, like buying organic pasta, cheese, meat and etc...  BUT, that's not really getting us that much healthier if we are still eating these types of foods.  

SO, with Victoria as our guide (because she's been at it since after Thanksgiving) we have been gently moving towards a healthier diet of "GOD" food.  I can't say that we stuck with it like her (she's lost 15 pounds!) but yesterday I made another HUGE change in our meal plans after reading this article I found on a friends FB page:

 

Three Hidden Ways Wheat Makes us Fat

 

Now I THOUGHT eating Whole Wheat was good for us?? (Let me just say,  I'm not preaching to anyone here, just look at the article and think for yourself)  I think there are a LOT of ways to make healthier choices, but I have found that getting back to the BASICS with our food is best.  Unfortantely, some "GOD" foods have been altered/genetically modified and are not what He intended them to be.  So, with our family, we are going to try and eat as healthy as possible without wheat and processed foods and hopefully it will help our health and get Rebecca's immune system stronger.  (I've thought she might have a Gluten problem for some time now)

I'll let you know how things go, but our goal is to eat as close to how GOD intended our food to be.  It's going to be DIFFICULT, but the whole family is on board and that's the hardest hurdle to jump over so I'm happy about that!  :)

So tonight we had "Taco Wraps" for dinner!!  So that is what I'm LOVIN' tonight!

Just like "Asian Lettuce Wraps" from PF Changs, turn your TACOS into lettuce wraps and you don't have the wheat/gluten from the tortilla!!!  And they tasted GREAT!!  Why didn't I think about this before I saw it on Pinterest??  Gotta love "The Pin"...

Speaking of Pinterest, I forgot to put my "Pinterest Thursday" post up last week.  I'm so lame some times.  I don't know about you, but I have SO MANY things I WANT to do, but just can't accomplish it all, or just plain forget about things because there is just TOO MUCH ON THE BRAIN!   But if you've followed my blog long enough, you probably are already aware of this flaw!  :)-

Before I leave you though, I want to share an album I had published in the Scrap365 Magazine a couple months ago.  Since I'm not on any DT's now, and this is the only real "work" I'm doing, I forget to share about it.  I can't really share what I AM working on with them because it's going to be published and it's Top Secret until it's out in the Mag...  But I can share this album I made this past Fall about our trip last summer to Bellagio, Italy!! 

I absolutely {LOVE} this My Minds Eye line with the yellows and creams and blacks!  I mixed a few thing together from their lines and others, but yellow just makes me HAPPY!!  I took a Clear Scraps 8x8 Album and then added some extra pages because that's just what "I do"... hehehe

And here are the inside pages: (NOTE:  I don't usually journal in my albums until AFTER I take pictures and post it on my blog or the internet.  Unfortunately this one was for a publication and I FORGOT to journal before I sent it to them in the UK!  oops...)

So check out the Magazine for the step-outs to make this album!  It's a GREAT magazine and I'm SO excited to be a part of it!  I have found that I'm tired of a lot of scrapbook magazines lately and this new magazine and really stepped it up a notch!  There are so SUPER talented ladies who design for this magazine and each month I am AMAZED at all the INSPIRING work that is there!  So go grab one at your local B&N or other book store, you won't regret it!!  Or better yet, go to the link above and subscribe!

And speaking of ITALY... 

I am BEYOND excited that Lance surprised me and the girls on Valentine's Day and told us that he is taking us back to Italy THIS SUMMER!  So many happy tears when I heard that!!  We thought we were going to do something closer to home this summer, but there is just something about Bellagio, Italy that has pulled at our heartstrings and we can't stop thinking about it.  We work really hard to save the money to do these kinds of trips and the GIRLS are even contributing this year!  I don't know if I've talked about this, but we clean my husbands offices EVERY weekend.  All the girls and I work hard every Saturday making all 10,000 square feet of his offices look perfectly clean and ready for the next week.  It's something we've done for years and this year the girls and I have offered to contribute that money to help pay for this trip.  I guess that really shows me how much the girls do LOVE Italy and want to go back!    So we are going to be staying in Bellagio (of course :) and going somewhere we haven't been...  Portafino and Santa Margherita, Italy!  We are SO excited to see this area of the Italian Riveria AND plan to do a side trip to Cinque Terre from there as well!

 

Lance and I were in Riomaggiore (one of the 5 towns of Cinque Terre) for a few hours on our way to Monte Carlo back in 2009 for our 20th Wedding Anniversary.  It's a BEAUTIFUL part of the world for sure and I can't WAIT to see it again with the girls!!

And Portafino is SO beautiful from the pictures too, so I'm excited to explore that area too!  If ANY OF YOU have been to this area, please leave a comment with any ideas for things to do, places to see, restaurants or any advice!!  Would LOVE to hear from you!!

 

AND..

If you still want to join us for Bellagio in September...

you can still SIGN UP FOR OUR EVENT here!  It's not too late, so go check it out today!  It's going to be SO much FUN and I would love to meet you in Bellagio!  :)

Well, I had no idea this was going to be a BOOK.  For those of you who stayed all the way through, thanks for listening to me ramble on...  

Have a GREAT Tuesday everyone!

Hugs,

Laura 

 

 

 

Grab BAGS are up for SALE!!

Hello ladies!!  

I hope you all had a WONDERFUL Valentine's Day!!

We had a GREAT day and with us,  it's more about FAMILY  so we enjoyed a FULL day of LOVE.  The girls all had fun days at school with little parties or just little treats from their friends and I cooked Lasagna Bolognese all day and got the dinner and treats ready for that night while they were in school.  Such a FUN day when you are focused on EACH OTHER!

My dear hubby and I celebrated not only Valentine's Day though, but 24 YEARS TOGETHER!!  Yes, we actually met on Valentine's Day!  ( It wasn't as romantic as it seems...  lol) We were on a blind date that I swore I would NOT go on b/c I had the WORST blind date in history (that I should probably share at some time b/c now I can laugh about it..) but in the end, I'm SO glad I did go on THIS blind date becaue this one worked out pretty good!  :)-

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So onto the Scrapbook SALE!!!  I didn't want to start it yesterday since it was a Holiday, so TODAY THEY ARE READY!!

YES, The MOTHER LODE of Scrapbook SALES is READY!!

I've listed ALL my Scrapbook supplies and put them in the "Kit Club" section of THIS BLOG over <-----  there on the left hand side!!  

They are under the  "Grab Bag" Sale and are ready for you to go have FUN shopping!

I've explained what's in each bag and there are only a few bags for each type.  

If you have any questions let me know, but you can grab them NOW!!

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ALSO, a last CALL for the Scrapbook Retreat's $200 discount is TODAY!!

You can sign up here to get the discount!

AND...

Speaking of Bellagio, Italy

WE (as a family) got another "present" for Valentine's DAY!!  It makes me cry just thinking about it...  But my DEAR HUBBY surprised us all...

He's taking us back to Bellagio this SUMMER for our family Vacation!!!!!!!!!!!!

You may think that we've been there, done that.  Why would we want to go again??Well, all I can tell you is that we LOVE Lake Como like nowhere else we've ever been to!  It's just a piece of us now and the girls and I were wanting to go back SO bad this summer but we thought it wasn't going to happen.  We were looking into a Hawaii trip or a NYC trip, but the apartments at the Villa Serbelloni end up being a better deal that going to Hawaii, believe it or not!!  So I can't even begin to tell you how excited we are about this SURPRISE and how many HAPPY TEARS I've cried since he told us last night!  What's funny is I made each of the girls a Valentine's Card with a picture of them on it.  I was going through the pictures on my computer and starting tearing up yesterday looking at our pictures of Bellagio this past summer.  Here's a few that maybe will "explain" why we keep wanting to go back...

The girls enjoyed this are of Tremezzo, behind Al Veluu Restaurant as we explored the area and were amazed at the beauty that surround them.

The girls having FUN on the ferry ride back to Bellagio from dinner in Varenna.  

Not the best photo, but I didn't take very many photo's of the 3 girls together last summer.  This one is in front of the Serbelloni Hotel by the Veranda.

This next summer I will be using by GOOD camera no matter what.  I was lazy last summer and the photo's are proof of that.  I used my cellphone camera a lot and they just don't do this justice.  But I still love the look on her face and SHE wanted me to take this photo in this walkway.  I'm so thankful that even the little one appreciates where she is and how different this is then our normal lives.

The architecture is just so BEAUTIFUL.  Every where you walk, you could take a picture of something AMAZING!  

Beautiful views like this is how I can explain it...

 

Hugs,

Laura 

 

A New Video!

Here's a fun little video Victoria and I came up with yesterday for the Bellagio Retreat!

 

 

 

Have a look and sign up soon!  There's a $200 discount if you sign up before February 15th!!  And the DEADLINE to sign up is March 1st!

Have a GREAT Monday!

Laura

P.S.  The Scrapbook Kits are going up on HERE real soon, so check back tomorrow!!

 

Project Life and an upcoming class...

So I heard back from the staff over at Project Life about our questions.

Here's their response:

"Hi Laura,

Welcome to Project LIfe! We think you will love the simplicity and hassle free way of documenting your life, telling your story. Let me explain why we've been out of stock on so many items so you can share with your followers. 

When David and Becky started this whole concept they had no idea how fast it would catch on. So while the growth is fantastic, it has caused some growing pains. It has been a very complicated and expensive process to take her idea from concept to production so we can all enjoy Project Life. Because we had no idea just how fast Project Life would grow we found ourselves barely able to keep up with the demand, which left gaps in our product availability.

David and Becky are working very hard to make sure we have all our products available all the time. Not only are they working hard to keep  products available, they are also hard at work designing more products so you can have more options documenting your life in a more simplified way. 

It's a very exciting time for us here at Project Life! We are passionate about what we do, so you can bet we will be around a long time! Becky has some awesome and exciting projects she's working on such as school kits, themed kits, and of course new editions of Project Life each year.

We're glad you're considering Project Life as a way to document your life! I hope I've been able to answer your questions so you feel more confident about making the switch.

 

Christy
Customer Service
Becky Higgins LLC"

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So it looks like it's been a pretty big success and they are in the process of making more available soon.  They also sound like they will be around for years to come.

What do you think?

Here's a few more PL ideas I found on Pinterest:

Some journaling tips:

original link

Free printable journaling cards:

Original Link

A colorful PL Page:

 

Original Link

I think there is really something here and I want to get started on it!!  I have the "1st Edition" Project Life that has been sitting around for a few years.  It's a bit outdated to my style but I think I'm going to re-work it, print some free journaling cards online and get going on it for this year.

I will admit that I'm a bit afraid of it though...

I'm not big on journaling every day and I think I'm intimidated by the weekly upkeep of it.  I have high hopes of doing it, but then I usually end up being bummed that I didn't follow through and journal like I wanted to.  

So I'm still trying to "think outside the box" a bit and come up with something that would work for ME.  Maybe a MONTHLY album instead of weekly>

Or maybe a type of Smash book

Have you seen these?  

They are SO cute and of course I have the PINK one!  :)

They are a journal that is completely random pages, with the ability to add photos, ephemery, anything at all and record your life!  It looks FUN and even though it's not really an "album" or a yearly recording of your life, it looks like a great JOURNAL to keep with you and have fun with!! 

I guess they were at CHA and I'm bummed I didn't see them b/c they just came up with a larger sized one!  The one above is about 7.5 x 10" and the new one is more like a 81/2" x 11 size.  They also came out with some new accessories to go along with it.

What do you think of this?  It's definitely a "funky" alternative to scrapbooking...

I found a couple pictures of the new ones from CHAW online:

Here's a Video that shows a bit about it from PaperClipping.com

 

Let me  know what you think! Again, I don't think this would be my ONLY source of documenting our year, but it sure is a fun way to journal!!

I think we are onto something though.  Yesterday as I was thinking throughout the day, my brain was working on an idea.  I still want to SIMPLIFY things, I don't want to have to buy a lot and I'm done having expensive scrapbook pages.

I wish I worked for a company that could DESIGN what I want in my head and make it inexpensive and EASY to do...

To recap what I want:

1. To RECORD our families MEMORIES

2. Accomplish this is a TIME EFFICIENT way

3. NOT spend a LOT of $$$

4. SIMPLIFY the WHOLE PROCESS

Still working this out in my brain...

Speaking of WHICH, my brain is working on this for a CLASS!  I want to have an album class at my home in March or April and I want to incorporate this IDEA for the class!  I want to come up with a way to make a YEAR LONG album in one night!!

So stay tuned if you live in the area b/c I'll be sending out FB invites soon!

But for now, I'm still purging my Scrapbook room and will be bringing THAT to my blog here soon "FOR SALE"...  :)

Hugs to all,

Laura

 

Wow, I guess I hit a "hot button"...

I've had quite a response from yesterday's blog post!  Lots of emails, comments and FB messages...

I guess I have always been the type of person who is an open book and says what I'm thinking.  If you've followed my blog long enough, you get that.  :)

I want to make it clear that I still LOVE Scrapbooking, in all it's forms!  I even said that yesterday...  I just can't do Scrapbooking anymore that's the time consuming, fussy, 1 page, 1 photo, expensive layouts anymore.  

(Here's the infamous layout that made it abundantly clear to me that I need to change)

 

I mean I do love the layout, it just took too much time!  My darling Isabella is on a park chair in Jardin des Tuileries in Paris, France!!  It's a beautiful picture, I blew it up to 5x7 and picked the color scheme, the embellishments, everything I LOVED and put my HEART into this layout.  There's absolutely NOTHING wrong with that!  It's just NOT for ME anymore.  I want to tell the story in a BEAUTIFUL way, but I need to find a way to do that that takes LESS TIME and LESS MONEY.

It's just too expensive to do this with EVERY 1 PAGE layout!

I "fusssed" with this 1 PAGE layout, with 1 PHOTO for HOURS!!  

So, I'm still going to RECORD MY MEMORIES, I just don't know exactly how I will do it.  I do know that I can't continue doing it like the layout above.  

Some of you asked me about "Project Life" and this may be the direction I'm headed but I'm not sure yet.  I will tell you that I EMAILED them over at PL and told them how I'm feeling and if PL would be the right choice.  I asked them how to order, where to order, will it be around years from now, and why does it look like it's sold out online just about everywhere.  

I will let you know what they tell me and I'll keep you all up-to-date on what this new journey for me will look like.  If I had my DREAM, it would be to come up with something we could ALL do together that would solve this dilemma.  I'm actually thinking of teaching a class at my home soon that will be a WHOLE YEAR in one night!  It's a challenge for sure and I'm not sure how I'm going to pull this off, but I want to do this so bad!  I have YEARS of photos that I haven't had time to scrapbook.  It would be nice to come up with a system that I could teach that would bring us up to spead on our photos and be fun, creative, tell our story and is BEAUTIFUL.

So stay with me.  I think I've said "out loud" what a lot of us are thinking and it's a good thing to communicate this!  Now lets try to figure out how to change this, make it work for us and keep us all creating and recording our memories!

And THANK YOU for all your comments and emails!  I love this forum to voice things and hear back from YOU and work on making things better for all of us!!

Hugs to all,

Laura

 

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BTW, I had one comment about my Bellagio Event in Italy and I wanted to let all of you know what I wrote back and said because I don't want anyone to be confused with why I would still do a "Scrapbook Event" if I dont' want to "scrapbook" anymore...

So here's my response:  

"I will always be creative and look for outlets to do that! I'm very passionate about being creative and sharing our "Story" in unique ways.  The teachers for my event know that and we have some wonderful classes on journaling, jewelry, altered art and a travel album we will start first on and that will be used as a keepsake for that trip!  

So I'm not giving up my passion for recording our lives, Im looking for a way to do that in a simpler, more cost effective and time saving way..."  Laura

I hope that makes sense.  I KNOW Italy is not a "cost effective" place to have a retreat though and I'm aware that it's not for everyone.  It's just been a DREAM of mine for a few years and maybe it will be fullfilled this year!!  I STILL plan to TEACH and I am STILL passionate about recording our memories and in fact have been asked to teach all over the U.S. by different people and may just start doing that this year!  After I figure out the direction I want to go in...

Love, Tuesday... (Are you sitting down?)

 

This is BIG.  It's been building for a while and I can't stop thinking about it.  I kind of hinted at it a week or so ago but now I know in my heart for SURE...

I {heart} Scrapbooking BUT... I DON'T WANT TO SCRAPBOOK ANYMORE!!

Seriously, I'm not joking.

...and btw, the drugs for my Bronchitis are not impairing my judgement :)-

See the thing is this.  I don't have the time.  I DO NOT HAVE 2 HOURS+ to work on a 1 PAGE LAYOUT!!  It's RIDICULOUS!  And with this being the current way of "scrapbooking,"  I just can't do it.  

Do YOU have the time for this?  Maybe it doesn't take you that long to do a page... Maybe because I was on two DT's last year I fussed with my layouts too long?  IDK... but I do know I can't scrapbook like this anymore.  

SO, I'm PURGING my Scrapbook stuff!!  Yup, I'm getting RID OF IT!!  

I am looking into OTHER WAYS to record our family memories and there's a few things I want to do INSTEAD.  

Like for starters... Project Life 

It was started a couple years back by Becky Higgins.  It's a way to document your year in very SIMPLE, easy steps that looks like this:

 

You can find all kinds of examples and ideas on Pinterest.  Here's a few:

 

or this:

or this:

So it's STILL very CREATIVE, but within ONE YEARLY album, you record everything!  You can get as ARTSY as you want or you can keep is SIMPLE.  But I'm really thinking this is the way to go for me.

Any of you Scrapbook this way?  I'd love to hear your feedback.  I actually bought this system a couple years ago when Becky first came out with it.  It sat in my garage.  I just don't think I was ready to simplify my "scrapbooking" yet.  But now I want to SO BAD because I just can't scrapbook the traditional way anymore!

I also may still dable in "mini-books" but that will ONLY be for special occasions, gifts and for vacations.  I still think it's important to document those special memories, but again, NOT in a 2-3hour layout with ONE or TWO photos!  It's just crazy what it has come to.  I also thinks it's crazy to spend so much MONEY on ONE LAYOUT!  It's just gotten out of hand!  I look at the layouts on 2Peas and Scrapbook.com and they ARE GORGEOUS, don't get me wrong, but they are loaded with flowers, swirls, trims, embellishments and it's just too much $$$. (and one or two little photo's)  I can't justify the time and money it takes to do that anymore.  Boy, I hope I'm not upsetting anyone.  This is a PERSONAL decision for ME and because this is my blog and I "tell it like it is" in my world, this is what I've decided.  I may change my mind, I may still do this type of LO once in a while for a special event or for a magazine, but overall, I'm really done with it.

So this week that I've been home with Bronchitis, (and with Isabella and now with Rebecca too) I've been PURGING my Scrapbook room and I've got a LOT of goodies for YOU!!

Yes, I'm planning on a HUGE SCRAPBOOK SALE!  I think I may put it up here on the blog like my old kits!??  What do you think?  

They will be kind of like my "Grab Bag" kits, but with a theme!  So probably a color theme, or special event theme or even a Specific Mfg. company theme. (i.e. 7 Gypsies, MME or what have you...)

I will let you know when they are ready to be posted and I may take some pictures of them so you have an idea of what you are getting.  But expect them to be FILLED to the BRIM for a GREAT PRICE!!!

I'd really like to hear your thoughts on my "Epiphany" and if you ladies have any ideas to simplify and cut costs on your memory keeping..

Oh and even though I won't be "Scrapbooking" anymore, I still will be enjoying CREATIVE TIME!  I plan to continue to CREATE with mixed-media, altered art, journaling and things I can display in my home.  That is where I feel the art of our memories can truly be enjoyed!

Hugs to all,

Laura

 

You've heard of "Love, Tuesday" but now there's "Pinterest Thursday"!!

YES...  I thought about it and it's just a "no brainer" to me because I am ADDICTED to Pinterest and I want to share it with all of YOU!

So, on Thursdays I thought I would bring to you what I found "Pin" worthy for that week on Pinterest. 

If you haven't heard of Pinterest before, you will soon enough!  Basically, its a website that you can go to and find pictures of MILLIONS of things and with those pictures are links to the original post of the picture.  Now not only can you see a smorgasboard of pictures on things like Travel, Crafts, Recipes, Home Decor, and anything you can think of, you can "PIN" the things you like onto your boards.  These are basically like Bulletin boards or Inspiration boards that are stored online at Pinterest for you!  That way you can go to Pinterest at any time, find a recipe you found online or a crafty item you may want to try your hand at, RIGHT ON YOUR BOARD!  It's AMAZING and HIGHLY ADDICTIVE, so make sure you think twice before joining... :)-

So you can come here on Thursday and see a little bit of what Pinterst is all about.

Sound good?

So to start I thought I would share a picture and link from each of my "boards" on Pinterest.  The first one is something I found tonight and I pinned it to my "For the Home" board:

Link to original post  LOVE the color and pattern on this loveseat!

And another picture I loved today and pinned to my "Home" board:

The link to the original poster   Love the painted floor boards and nook!

 Now another board I have is called "Artsy Stuff" and here's a beautiful picture:

 

Link to original poster  This is a lovely box cover!  

(Now when you are on Pinterest, all you have to do is click on the picture and that will take you to the link to the orginal post.  I can't do that on here, so that is why I am adding it to give credit to the orignal poster)

Now I'll share a picture on my "Fashion" board:

Link to original Poster  Fashion is my downfall for sure, and this site is the BEST for putting outfits together!  In fact, when I go to pack for a trip, I go to my "Fashion" board and it really helps me put together looks.  I may not have everything that is in each picture, but it helps to figure out what goes good together!

Next board I have is the "Scrapbooking" board:

Link to original Poster  Love this site for inspiration!!

I have to say that Pinterest is GREAT for finding recipes!  This is the BEST source for finding something to cook!  I've made countless recipes found on Pinterest and want to try this one soon:

Link or original Poster  An easy pasta dish with almost all the ingredients already in your cupboard!!  DONE.

 A great site for "Health & Wellness", here is a mask I want to try for my face soon:

Link to original Poster  Helps clean your pours and reduce acne and puffiness!

My "Outdoor Living" board has this STUNNING picture:

Link to original Poster It this just gorgeous!!?

I have a board on "Places I've Traveled":

Link to original Poster Love this image of the Eiffel Tower!

Another board on just "Photography" is a great place to learn more:

Link to original Poster  This is GREAT idea for a photo op background!

Another great idea is to have a board on "Places I want to Travel"

Link to original Poster I've seen a lot of Italy, but not Sorrento yet...

You can even have a board of your own "Designs"

and I even have a board dedicated to "A Kiss on the Chic's Bellagio Retreat"

 

Link to original Poster  Beautiful Lake Como, Italy!! Are you going to be there with US in September??

 

So there you have it!  What do you think?  Just a little "tutorial" on Pinterest for you!  So check back here for more Pinterest Pictures on...

 

Pinterest Thursday!!

See ya then,

 

Laura

Back from CHA! (photo heavy)

 

CHA is such a FUN show to go to for us "crafty" girls and I was SO excited to spend a few days there helping Clear Scraps , and also handing out postcards for our Bellagio Event , AND seeing all the TEACHERS that are going to be teaching in Italy this September with us!!!

It's also fun because I've gotten to know SO many ladies in the industry now and to see so many of them there and have a chance to talk to them is such a blessing!  It's funny because on Saturday I helped Clear Scraps set up their booth and I was also going to help Brandin at Webster's Pages if she needed help and I couldn't find her booth.  I finally looked in the CHA handbook and low and behold, she was within eye sight of the Clear Scraps booth the whole time!  Anyways, it was great to chat with her and see the new lines and then KICK myself that I stepped down from the team...  Same thing with Teresa Collins , I had to really question why I stepped down from those two teams because their new lines are SO AMAZING and I'm wishing I had a chance to CREATE with them right about now.  :)  But the ladies have GREAT DT ladies and their booths were GORGEOUS and they are both such classy ladies in this industry and I just feel blessed that I've had a chance to work with both of them!  (You hear horror stories of DT drama and both my teams last year were totally drama free and I met some of the most wonderful ladies I've even known in my life!)

Speaking of all the ladies I chatted with, I'm such a ding dong b/c I didn't take pictures with harldy any!  It's probably a good thing b/c I got a nasty chest cold and am actually going to the doctor in a couple hours to have it checked. (and I haven't been to the doctor in YEARS for myself, so that shows you how yucky this one is...)

 

So before I head to the Dr. I thought I would show a little re-cap of the show through my lens:

 

If you've been to CHA before, you know it's always starts off with this bagpipe procession through the tradeshow floors.  It was just going by the Clear Scraps booth as I was getting to the show on Sunday morning!

Speaking of Clear Scraps, they have some new things I wanted to show you!  I just LOVE these new small embellishments and they are SO fun to create with.

Here's an example of someone running them through an embossing folder and creating this darling dress form example!  I'm not sure who on their DT did this, but a GREAT idea!!

They also have a new line of CARDS!  It's called "Send it Clear" and it WON Top 20 Innovative products at the show!!  

Here's an example from Leah on their DT, but they come in ALL KINDS of shapes and they are SO fun to work with!  That's actually what I did the make-n-take for them each day.

 

The "French General" is a store in L.A. that I can't believe it, but I have never been!  But, they have teamed up with Jolee's and created a beautiful line that I know I will hoarding soon!  lol...

Here's a few more pictures of it:

Basic Grey had these CREATIVE canvases that you can add things to and really got my juices flowing...

Canvas Corp has been one of my FAV companies since I spied them at a show a couple years back.  I've used their products in my classes many time and I'm SO excited that they are coming out with even more GREAT products!!  I LOVE these canvas flowers in all different colors!!

They also have some new DENIM items along with their canvas and burlap products!!  Will be ordering from them for sure!!  And since Canvas Corp just bought 7 Gypsies AND Tattered Angels, this company is here to stay for a LONG time!!  So happy about that!!

 Speaking of 7 Gypsies, they have some new "alterable" items that I'm just LOVING!!  These new wood boxed with the circle and square "frames" are just LOVELY!!!

They also have a new line called "Trousseau" that is SO lovely and a bit of a different color scheme for them. It's so pretty and this "inspiration board" above is what prompted the new line.  (I wish that jeweled heart was in the collection, don't you?)

 

Of course Prima has GORGEOUS new items and this line called "Almanac" was one of my FAV's of the show!

Here's a layout someone on their DT made with it:

Isn't is beautiful?  Sorry I don't know who to give credit to, but everyone over at Prima is just UBER TALENTED!!!

Then there's the talented ladies over at Glitz Design who have a new line I'm ALL OVER.  "French Kiss" is so pretty and I'm sorry this photo is blurry b/c it does NOT do it justice...

They also have a new lined called "Happy Travels" that works real well for boys and for travel!

 Crate Paper has really become one of my FAVORITE companies lately and I'm happy to see another pretty line called "Pretty Party".  Just lovely isn't it?  They are now owned by American Crafts and I will be ordering from them soon as well!

Oh, I ran into my dear friend from back in the Clear Scraps days, Sally Lynn McDonald!  She is just SO creative and was all over the place at CHA with her talented self!  Such a beautiful and FUN lady!!  

Then I just HAD to take a picture with Rebecca from Pink Paislee in front of my FAVORITE new line at CHA... London Market!!

WOW, when I saw this line revealed on-line before the show, I was falling off my chair!  You now I'm a "travel bug" but when I saw this line I thought... "How did Rebecca get inside my head and make EXACTLY what I would want in a line?"  hehehe... Obviously this was in her head, but I was  just SO excited to see this line in person and you can BET that I will be teaching a class with this line ASAP!!  I know we are in front of it so you can't see it good, but here's a photo I took (sorry, I used my iPhone for all the pictures):

Now it's true it has some "English" embellishments and a travel related theme, but this is pretty open to any type of CREATIVITY and I will show you how very soon! :)

Here's a link to the complete line on their blog:

London Market

Go check it out, it's "to die for"... :)-

Last but NOT least...

I had a chance to have a brief meeting with all the teachers who are teaching at the Bellagio Retreat in September!!  

Tammy Tutterow wasn't able to come b/c she was busy in the Sizzix booth, but all the other ladies were there and here's a quick photo we took together:

Debby Shuh , Lisa Pace , myself and Stayce DeWid all at the Maya Road booth!!  Can't WAIT for September ladies!!!

Speaking of which...  I handed out hundreds of postcards for our Bellagio event at the show!!!   We shall see how many ladies sign up in the next few weeks from that!  

SO...

We are DOWN THE THE WIRE on this Event!  I will be making final decisions at the end of THIS MONTH so if you are thinking of JOINING US...

NOW IS THE TIME TO SIGN UP!!!

There is a discount if you sign up BEFORE FEBRUARY 15th, so make sure you take advantage of that.  And just think about it, pray about it and let me know if you have ANY questions about i!!

We want YOU to come and join us for an AMAZING week, so sign up TODAY!!

Go to the website and find out all the details at:

A Kiss on the Chic's Bellagio Retreat

 

I hope you enjoyed my CHA recap!  There was SO much to see and I couldn't even begin to take pictures of everything I LOVED, but this is a little taste and I'm sure there are some great pictures of all the new releases all over the internet now.  :0

Have a GREAT day,

 

Laura

 

Headed to CHA!

 

So many emotions are going through me right now...  I am SUPER EXCITED to go to CHA, excited to get away for a few days, excited to be in the "candy store" of CREATIVENESS and excited to see a bunch of my dear crafty friends!!  But when you go away for four nights there's SO much to be done BEFORE you leave...  Ladies, I know you know what I'm talking about!   So it's hard to leave and it's hard to "let go" because  it's questionable if the girls will get their vitamins, eat properly, get to bed on time, finish their homework, etc. etc...  I KNOW dad will do fine and I know they will all survive... I guess it's just the momma bear coming out in me.  :)

Ok, now that I got that off my chest!  I AM excited to see all the new goodies at the show and I hope to take pictures and share them with YOU!  I just won't have my computer with me, so I'll have to figure out how to share them on Instagram and Facebook.  My computer will stay home b/c the girls need to use it for homework assignments.  I will be staying with my mom though so I could use her computer and maybe get on my blog, so you can check back here and see...

Before I go though, I did want to finish the conversation I started a few days ago about Inspiration or Scraplifting.

I do agree with your comments that Scraplifting isn't a bad thing and it is a form of flatery.  I am BEYOND honored that there are people who come to my blog for inspiration and to scraplift ideas they find here!!  I think BOTH things are totally cool.  I guess because I'm on the "inside" so to speak, I'm very careful not to "scraplift" other artists and thus why I don't buy idea books or blog hop much.  But now with Pinterest and other sources, it's hard not to see other artists works and NOT be INSPIRED... AND want to scraplift what you see!  

So, I'm trying to work this one out in my brain and here's what I think I'm OK with, for ME.  

I showed you this layout that INSPIRED me as I am trying new "styles" and want to broaden my scrapbooking world:

and so when I thought about this layout and how I wanted to be INSPIRED by this and try this "random" type of scrapbooking, I thought I would try SEVERAL things.  (AGain, this layout is by "MUMKAA" on Flikr.  So whoever you are, THANK YOU for inspiring me and for letting me LEARN for this layout!)

Onto my process...

First, I thought I would try to really learn from this layout AND in the process of learning, "scraplift" it.  I found a paper that was similar, I went with the same color scheme, I focused on the random elements on the page and pretty much tried to emulate it.  

So here is my "take" on scraplifting this layout:

I don't feel like I "copied" the above inspiration and I do feel like I LEARNED for it!  I was happy that I "freed" up my mind a bit with this and went for the "randomness" of the LO above.  It's not quite as free form as the original, but I'm happy with it and I think it opened me up to thinking outside my normal "box".  I mean I've never put random little specks of paper on my layouts and then used a pen to draw around them!   But I have to say, I LIKED IT!  lol...

So next, I wanted to continue the "randomness" of the original LO and thought I would just go with that theme and not try to scraplift anything.

Here's what I got from that:

(I have to apologize for my photos, my camera is wigging out on me and I'm not getting the best photo's.  Maybe someone at CHA can help me figure out the problem)

Anyways, This was again just randomness, but with a different look.  I actually had this white cardstock sitting around with the "frames" already painted on.  I had some of that Delta thick paint(can't remember the name off hand) and the mask from TA and had applied this to this cardstock a while back.  So I used that paper as my start for another "random" LO.  This time though I didn't "scraplift" anything.  I just learned from that first LO how to think about elements on the page that may have nothing to do with the picture, but as a whole, work well together to create a theme!

So what do you think?  I'm actually liking this process and having a LOT of FUN with it.  So I didn't stop there. (and quite honestly I probably should have :)

Because my next layout was again, taking the theme of "randomness" and applying it to a BOLD paper instead of a cardstock or simple polka dot paper.  This was my hardest experiment so far and I'm not quite sure I like the results if I'm honest...

But here's the result:

I don't know if this one works.  I think maybe the colors are working together but the paper with the numbers may be overshadowing the whole page.  Then the two photos are taken in the same location, but maybe two different in their composition...

Anyways, I'm not loving this page and that's the process I think I will continue to work at.  

But, that is why I'm totally fine now with finding INSPIRATION from others, learning from other types of styles and I'm somewhat fine with SCRAPLIFTING as long as it's to learn  from and not copy.  Now that's just for me and my personal "rules" because I am in the industry and  I want to be careful and always know it's my work that I'm sharing with others.  I don't want anyone to say my style is "just like" so and so or that I made something to similar to someone elses work... 

So that's the LONG story of it.  If you're still around and reading this, thanks for endulging me! :)

I'm off to bed to get some much needed sleep before the WHIRLWIND of CHA!!

Hugs to all,

 

Laura

P.S.  If you would please lift my mom up in prayer on MONDAY, she is having a lumpectomy around 9am and I will be sitting in the waiting room and taking care of her and would really appreciate it!

 

 

 

Love, Tuesday...

I thought I would have some things to share with you today that I've been working on.  But I don't...

I've been working on some NEW things for my Etsy Shop and I'm REALLY excited to share with you! It's just going to have to wait a bit.  This week is finals week for Rebecca so it's a half day every day.  Victoria is home sick with a cold and I'm trying to get ready for CHA.  So as you can imagine, life it not on schedule this week!  :)

I've also been learning some new things lately though and I DO want to share them!  I'm hoping I can finish up some things and then take pictures later today in between volleyball practise and homework.  Boy, did that sound like I'm in volleyball and doing the homework??  It may as well be though right?  The life of a busy mom...

I'm also having a little quandry with Inspiration OR Scraplifting???

Ok, so I'll spill a bit of what I'm wondering.

I know everyone has their "style" of CREATIVENESS.  I'm just really tired of mine!  Yeah, it's true. bored. uninspired.  All of the above!  I know you can't really get AWAY from your own style, but I'm trying to LEARN other styles right now. Is that even possible? Or is it going to end up looking like "me" in the long run anyways??  IDK..

So my question is this:

When you look at other peoples "STYLE" on Pinterest, or Facebook, or TwoPeas or where ever... Is it OK to scraplift it?  IS it scraplifting?? OR,  are you just getting inspiration from it?  Seriously ladies, I have had this question in my mind for a LONG time!  That's why I don't buy "idea books" and I try to keep my head down and just do what comes from ME.  But now I'm wanting to expand my CREATIVENESS and I'm wanting to delve into the more "RANDOM" artist within!  hahaha...

So, I want to show you a layout I found "INSPIRATION" from, (basically scraplifted it in my opinion) and then I want to show you how I MOVED on from there...

 

But dang it... I can't get around to sharing this yet b/c I haven't taken the pictures of my metamorphasis yet!  

But, I've had SO much fun this weekend trying this "new" STYLE of scrapping!  I would say it's not that far from my own style, but I'm trying to be more RANDOM...like this layout above by mumkaa on Flikr.  (sorry, I don't know who she is, found this on Pinterest and fell IN. LOVE.)

So I'll try to finish up my Etsy stuff and get some pictures taken later today and then we can have a discussion on where the "line" is with Inpspiration or Scraplifting.

Sound good?

ta, ta for now,

 

Laura

 

P.S.  To Beth W. and Pam??  I promise to get those RAK's out this week before CHA!  :)

P.S.S.  For those STILL interested in the Bellagio Event, I just posted the "Couple's Price" on the blog at http://akissonthechic.blogspot.com  It could be for your spouse OR a friend who wants to join you in Italy, but isn't interested in the CREATIVE classes.   So go check that out!  There will also be a SPECIAL I'm going to run until February 15th and I'll announce that right before CHA starts this weekend!!

A Kiss on the Chic's Bellagio Retreat

Wow... look MOM, I'm at the People's Choice Awards!!!

 

Yes, tonight is a CRAZY night because I'm going to be at the People's Choice awards!!! Will probably be in the nose bleed section, buy hey, it's going to be FUN anyways!!

Now the dilemma all day has been "What DO I WEAR???"  I'd like to just be comfortable in a pair of jeans and a dressy top, but I have a feeling that wouldn't be a good idea??  So, I'm opting for this dress (since I can't fit in very many dresses in my closet at the moment, "thank you" very much Christmas :)

 

It's a cute "little black dress" with a bit of ruffles at the bottom and the sleeves and I'm pulling out my lace-up black boots for a little BAM! Maybe a flower instead of the necklace... IDK??  What do you think??

Now I hear I can't take a camera inside, but they can't take my iPhone away, so I'm just sayin... I may have some "things" to share tomorrow.

I've been thinking about who I am excited to see tonight.  I've seen my share of celebs, but tonight... it's going to be CELEB CENTRAL.  I hear Faith Hill is going to sing, so does that mean this guy will be there??

just wondering?  hehehe...

I would like to see the cast of  Real Housewives of Beverly Hills:

That is my guilty pleasure show if I have to admit it...

I would also love to see the cast from Person of Interest:

 

That's my new favorite show and I really hope they don't cancel it!!

And I'll just through this one in for my hubby since I put the Tim McGraw photo up...  I KNOW my loving and very faithful husband would REALLY like to see this person tonight:

Sofia Vergara.  Ya, ya I guess she's pretty.  :)-

So overall I'm SUPER excited, can't WAIT to get there and better go get ready NOW!

Let me know if you see us tonight in the background!!!  We'll be WAY in the background, so get your glasses on...

I'll tell you ALL about it tomorrow!!

Hugs,

 

Laura

 

 

And the WINNER is....

 

Beth W.  She wrote:

 

"The sparklers-I think I have them all.I use them frequently-but sometimes it makes me happy just to look at them.They're so darn pretty!"

Congrats Beth!!  Send me your address and I will get a nice little care package sent out to you!!  Btw, I LOVE the sparklers too, they are SO pretty!

~~~~~~~~~~~~

This week has been a weird transition into 2012.  The two younger girls are back at school but Victoria had one more week of vacation so it's still a bit active around here during the day.  I think her and I will have a lunch date together today before the younger ones are out of school.  Just a nice time to chat about "life"...

But what I've noticed this week as well is the change in activity level for ME!  I guess I'm still trying to figure out my days while the girls are in school.  2012 means NO Design Team requirments (except for the UK Magazine which is a once a month thing) so I'm not going into my scrap room very often now.  This was a conscious effort on my part to spend more quality time with the FAM and focus on them and our home.  But when they are in school... what am I going to spend my time doing??  I usually was quickly cleaning up the house in the morning and then going in my scrap room.  But now when I go in there I'm a little at a loss as to what to do in there!  lol...  I know this shall pass and I will get my "mojo" going soon, but now that I am free to CREATE whatever my heart desires, with whatever my heart desires, I'm trying to find my "voice" in all of this.  

What do I want to say?

How do I want that to look?

What do I want to "record" of our life?

Where do I want to display these creations??

I'm a bit out of sorts I guess and now that I'm a "free agent" and can use whatever papers, objects, embellishments, etc.  for my designs, I find myself overwhelmed.  Oh, I know I will find my "style"...  amd I'm a bit excited to try all kinds of things, but it's also just a bit strange to me.

I did "play" a little in there today and it's still a work-in-progress but I'm pretty excited to say I'm working on my 1st class project/kit for 2012!!

Want to see a little bit?  

Playing with altering  an old book with material, vintage lace and just some PRETTY stuff!  Not sure if this will be a class at Paper Tales or a class I sell in my Etsy Shop

So stay tuned.  Don't forget me...  I'm still going to CREATE and SHARE my life and I hope you will stay around to be a part of it!

Hugs to all,

Laura

 

My word for 2012...

 ...is Grateful.  I want to be GRATEFUL for all of it.  The good, the bad, the GREAT, the sad, the hurt, the beautiful.  ALL of it.  I don't know about you, but I need to be reminded to be GRATEFUL.  It's easy to focus on what's not going the way I want.  It's hard to be grateful for it going His way.  So this year I want to be thinking about how many blessings are ALL AROUND ME and be GRATEFUL.

So, I made this journal to keep that my focus.

I showed a SNEAK of this a week or so ago, but I'm going to give you some more looks into this journal.  I thought I may do this as a class so that's why I didn't share too much.  I've decided I don't have time to do this as a class right now, so I want to share what I did to make it here.

First, I used "Carolina Breeze" from Teresa Collins and an old book.  Teresa was kind enough to send me a little paper kit of this line after I was "retired" from the DT, and I basically used it ALL up on this journal.  I so love how it turned out and I'm so excited to keep this journal by my side to write in and remind me to be GRATEFUL.

I'll apologize for the color of these photos, I think I took these on a very cloudy day. But to start this journal, I cut out the pages of this book with an exacto knife.  Then I cut a 1" strip of chipboard to put in the spine of the book for more strength.  After this was glued and dried, I used one of Tim Holtz binder rings set and attached it with the brads it comes with.  This is the base of the journal.  Then I started cutting the Carolina Breeze papers into about 5x7 pieces and 4x6 pieces.  Then I printed out monthly calendars on heavy cardstock for each month of 2012.

After I had all the papers cut and calendars printed, I went through all my "stash" and found things I wanted to add to this journal.  I found LOTS of fun elements and just made a pile on my table to pick from.  This is where design fun comes in.  I have about 5 pages for each month.  A 5x7 page, a 4x6 page, a calendar, a graph paper page and a misc. page.  Then I just started added elements onto these pages.

I also wanted to add a real homemade look to the journal so I added random edging on each page in black pen.  

So here's how it looks all tucked inside this journal:

I just get so HAPPY looking at this!  I {HEART} these colors in Carolina Breeze and it will be with me for all of 2012!  I think this journal is going to help me focus on my WORD and what a fun project to make as well!   

So what's your word for 2012? Why don't you make a journal to focus on your word for the year!?

Hugs,

Laura

 

a fond Farewell...

I am offically NOT a Webster's Pages DT lady anymore.  A moment of silence please... (*sniff, sniff*)  It was time for me to step down with all I have going on with my family and needing to spend more time with them this year.

What I AM though is a devoted Webster's Pages follower now!  :)  I can't love them anymore than I do and I have to say this video they created puts such a HUGE smile on my face! (and makes me question why I stepped down from the team... lol)

Watch this 1.33 video.  It introduces their new "Sunday Picnic" line and it's just so darn CUTE!!!

Welcome Webster's Pages Sunday Picnic from Webster's Pages on Vimeo.

If you can't see the video, follow the link below:  

 

http://vimeo.com/mynoveltree/websterspagessundaypicnic

 

And in honor of my VERY FOND time as a WP~DT member, I would like to share some of my FAV projects from last year:

A little tin can of "love"

An embrodiery hoop

A fun cube I designed

One of my FAV mini albums!

A really fun birdhouse to make with Ladies & Gents

A layout from one of my FAV places on planet earth... Lake Como, Italy!

Suitcase of memories

another mini album that I just {heart}

My birthday present to myself.... a braclet with WP blooms and flowers

A very "princess" mini album

A layout of my oldest daughter

My first handmade necklace!

 

And, a layout about my dream to have a home on Lake Como, Italy :)  

I sure had a GREAT ride with everyone over at Webster's Pages!  I love them ALL and especially Brandin who is such a sweatheart!! I will miss all of you!  xoxo

Make sure you go give them some love over on their Blog and check out the new designs and the new DT members!!  

Now for some FUN...

I want to have a little GIVEAWAY!!  Just leave a comment on THIS post and tell me what is your FAB Webster's product and I will do a little GIVEAWAY!  I'll announce the winner on Friday!  The Winner will recieve a nice care package from me with all WP goodies in it!!  

Hugs,

Laura

 

A year in a photo...

As we reflect on the past year, I pray that the New Year will bring everyone Love, Peace and JOY!!

Happy New Year!!!

 

Hugs,

 

Laura

Looking forward to 2012...

 

Boy, am I looking forward to 2012!

It's been quiet on here for so many reasons, but I have to say that I would really love to just move past 2011 and start 2012 NOW.  This past month has been difficult for us as we've lost our dear Scarlet, our loving Grandpa and are dealing with putting my Dad into a nursing home the day after Christmas.  It hasn't felt like a "Merry" time right now and even the girls have noticed the house is not the same.  

The GREAT news though is that my brother is coming with Ella on Christmas night!! We are SO excited to see them and play with Ella!  He decided to fly out to help move my dad over to the nursing home and help my mom get adjusted as well.  So the girls are SUPER excited to see them and babysit Ella!  We are so glad that they can come out and bring some JOY this Holiday to all of us.  

So I will be taking a break from this blog until the New Year to spend some quality time with the family!

 

My prayer for all of you is to take in every moment

with your families and friends and ENJOY LIFE!

 I hope each one of you have a WONDERFUL Christmas

and BLESSED NEW YEAR!!!

xoxo Laura

 

Love, Tuesday...

Another sad Tuesday... 

Last week Tuesday our little dog Scarlet went to doggie heaven and this past weekend, Lances "Pa" went to heaven as well.   Ernie Di Liberto was Lance's grandpa and was a very special man.  He helped EVERYONE and ANYONE who needed help, he sacrificed his time, his money and would do just about anything for you and his country! He was 93 years old and leaves 4 children and countless grandchildren and great grandchildren.  We are grateful to him for his love, his humor, his kindness and his giving heart.  He will be missed by many.  We will be having a memorial service for Pa on Friday and ask that you pray for his children in this time.  We are so thankful to God that he was a part of our lives and now he is with Him in heaven.

It's been a strange Christmastime this year and I'm a bit out of sorts.  I miss Scarlet roaming around the house, looking for food to eat and barking to go outside.  It's weird how the things that annoyed you, can now be things that bring a smile to your face.  I've realized since she's gone that I'm a "dog person".  I know that sounds silly, but I didn't think I really was.  I'm not all "ga-ga" over my dogs; they are a lot of work, I'm busy with other things, and they can annoy me... But, what I know now is that they are still a big part of my JOY.  When the kids are in school it's so quiet now.  I still think I hear her or I'll wonder where she is for a second and if I need to bring her back into the house from outside.  I told the kids that we needed to wait before we can get another dog, and I want to wait... I just don't know how long I can wait! :)

I think I'm going to make some Christmas cookies tonight so we can get a bit more festive around here.  Any suggestions?

I have my standard cookies I make every year.  I love these cookies and I love the story behind them...  

A Dutch cookie called "Duimpjes" (which we pronounce like "dime-sha" but don't know if that's right??) This cookie originated WAY back in Holland and has been handed down from my mom's family from generation to generation and I'm so happy to say my daughters love them to and I can just see them making them for their kids some day too. {heart that}  Any of my Dutch friends know how to pronounce this correctly??

A Greek Wedding Cookie called "KOURABIEDES" (which we pronounce like koodabee-et-ahs, but I KNOW that is wrong) This cookie came from the ONE Greek that infiltrated our Dutch family!  lol...  My Aunt Gen married Manuel Voulkus, a BIG Greek Guy with a booming voice and even "louder" beard!  :)  He was quite the character and I loved him dearly.  He owned a diner in Bozeman, Montana called "The Burger Inn" that was THE place to hang out back in the day.  I even have the one remaining glass ash tray from the place that is now just a part of history in that town.  How did I get it you ask?  Well, my Aunt passed a way earlier this year and all of us cousins got to pick a couple things from her stuff and I went straight for the ash tray!  Pretty funny since I have NEVER smoked, but it just brings back memories of going to Montana every summer growing up and my Uncle Manuel.

The last cookie and one that I'm requested to make for my hubby each year is the "Nutjammer".  I don't really remember where this one started except that it's also from my mom's repertoire.  Not sure if it has a "history" but they are just darn good!  These are the hardest to make of course and the most annoying to make because of the gooey mess with the jam.  But, I will again make them and eat WAY to many warm ones off of the pan...

So, do any of you have a cookie with a history you'd like to share?  I would LOVE to hear it!!

Hugs to all,

 

Laura

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A New Design Team Call!

 

Hi ladies!!  I know a few days ago I mentioned that I would not be returning to the Design Teams that I was on this past year.  It's SO hard to say goodbye because they were such GREAT teams to be on!  So,  I wanted to share with you an EXCITING bit of news....

Websters Pages is doing a call for the 2012 "Clean &  Simple" DT!! 

Webster's Pages is known for their GORGEOUS papers and embellishments and boy, can you go CRAZY designing with them!!  But, in a BOLD and INGENIOUS move, Webster's Pages has decided to ALSO make a more "Clean &  Simple" line for those who aren't quite into all the layering and frills.

Take a look as some of the layouts they've come up with as examples:

 

How FUN is this going to be!!!

So, I wanted to make all of you aware so you can go TRY OUT!!

All the details are on the link above.  It's going to be an AMAZING opportunity!  And just from my experience with Webster's Pages, I can tell you that they are one of THE BEST DT's to work for!  There was nothing but LOVE the whole year with everyone being so kind, so supportive and of course Brandin being an ANGEL!  I couldn't have asked for a better team to be on, so go try your luck!!!

Hugs,

 

Laura

Love, Tuesday...

 

This post is hard to be "loving" today...

 

Today our dear Scarlet went to doggy heaven.

 

Lady Scarlet Syrah of Glenwood went to doggy heaven on 12-06-2011 at around 9:45am.  She was the best dog you could ever ask for and she is deeply missed.  She had heart failure and her lungs were filling up with fluid and even with the medicines we could tell the time was near. 

She was my "scrappy" buddy and it's been hard today to be at home without her.  I guess that will take some time.  I heard that Isabella and Rebecca both prayed for her at school today and they wanted to know right away about her when I picked them up from school.  

I think we will talk about her tonight as a family and try to have each family member say something they loved about her.  There are lots of things to remember and we will always cherish our time with her.

Thanks for all your kind words on Facebook.  We appreciate all your thoughts and prayers.

We LOVED our dear Scarlet.

Hugs,

Laura

 

Happy Monday!! (sorry, LONG post, but there's a RAK at the end :)

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...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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

 

 

 

 

Love, Tuesday...

 

Well, did you all survive the Thanksgiving weekend?  It's crazy now how FAST things move during that weekend and I just wanted to SLOW IT DOWN... 

(Isabella doesn't now how to slow down though...)

We decided to stay home on Thankgiving and enjoy a day with just our little family.  We also did a little "non-traditional" meal by making an Italian FEAST!  I was begged into making my Lasagna Bolognese and so we decided to have green beans and my famous "pull-apart" bread to go with it.  The lasagna takes about 6 hours to make, so after breakfast I pretty much switched to dinner...  :)  

But we had a great time, relaxed, watched some movies, played games (Isabella WON 31 blitz) and just enjoyed a day at home.  It was GREAT!

Then there was a debate about "Black Friday"...

Should we go?  Should we go at MIDNIGHT, or go at 6am?  What do we NEED? (because we are trying to stay focused on NEEDS, not wants) Who is going on this shopping trip?

But guess what!  I posted something on FB and low and behold a BRILLIANT idea was brought to my attention...

SHOP ONLINE!

Why I didn't know about this or think about this I have NO IDEA.  But, it was GREAT!  We NEEDED some towels b/c we still use the one we got as a wedding gift 21 years ago.  (we really do!)  We needed/kinda wanted a crock pot.  I thought we had one, but we dont'.  It must have gotten lost along the way with house moving and I've never desired one that much until Pinterest!  Man, that site had some AMAZING crock pot recipes on there and we are excited to try them!  Oh, and we NEEDED school pants for the younger girls.  They litereally don't have ONE PAIR b/c all they want to wear is skirts or shorts, but it's getting colder now so they NEED to wear long pants.  So we got ALL these goodies in the comfort of our home on Thursday night BEFORE midnight at the same price the people who went out at Midnight got!  AND... FREE SHIPPING!  So sorry, but we SCORED!  Thanks to Kohls and Macy's we are all good!

So these towels...

and this crock pot...

Should be arriving any day.  Better go get my shopping list ready so I have the ingredients for some great crock pot meals!

Now I want to switch gears and let you know of a little SURPRISE I'm revealing on the Bellagio Retreat Site :

Stayce DeWid is going to join us in Bellagio, Italy next September to teach a class and a make-n-take!!!  I'm SO excited that she is coming along with us!  She is a friend, an "A Kiss on the Chic" Kit Club lady who bought my kits, a talented artist, and a JOY to be around!  So please welcome Stayce to our Italy Retreat!!

She works for Prima and Tattered Angels and I know she's going to be bringing some AMAZING talent and goodies with her to Italy!  So come join us for a Once-in-a-lifetime event!!

Speaking of the Event...  I had a lady want to sign up but said she was busy at that time (Sept. 15-22, 2012) and wanted to know if I was going to have another one in 2013?  The answer to that is most likely no.  I would LOVE to plan this every year, but unless I have an overwhelming response to the one in 2012, I don't think I will be doing it in 2013.  So NOW IS YOUR CHANCE LADIES! hehehe...

And, don't forget you can SECURE your spot for just $!100 right now!  Spots are filling up, I just had some more sign ups in the last couple days, so don't MISS OUT.  I want EVERYONE to come if you can and I don't want it to be too late for someone either.  You can make payments next year, so just sign up TODAY and you'll be set!

You can sign up TODAY at A Kiss on the Chic's Bellagio Retreat 

Now last thing...

I wanted to let you know that I'm putting up a ton of NEW ITEMS in my Etsy Shop later today.  So go check them out and let me know what you think!

Here's a SNEAK at a few of them:

1. I decided to make some Christmas TAGS!  I have 7 sets and they are all one-of-a-kind and made with love.  I've handmade the flowers and added gems, vintage lace and they are all so cute and I had so much fun making them!  I won't be making any more, so if you want one, grab it fast!

 

2. I made some metal tags/ornaments.  You can use these either way.  

These turned out beautifully and I'm keeping a couple of these! :)  I have 6 of these I think and won't be making any more of these either.

3. I made an large star sign.  It's about 8" around and it has a "shabby chic" look to it.  I can make a few more of these, but I'm only listing one right now.

So go check out all the tags and such.  They should all be up by later today!

Have a GREAT Tuesday,

Laura

 

 

Cyber Monday, and $100 gets you...

 

How about for your online "shopping" today, you RESERVE your spot for THIS!

 

YES, for $100 you can SIGN UP and RESERVE your spot at the week long Bellagio, Italy Women's Retreat!!  From NOW until December 31st, you can sign up for just $100 dollars and that will hold your spot at this AMAZING event!  I know some of you ladies are on the verge of signing up but have extra expenses during the Holidays, so I wanted to make it a little easier on the budget for you.  The normal 1st payment is $550, but NOW until December 1st, you can sign up for just $100 to SECURE your PLACE.  Just go to the site Here and find all the details under the REGISTRATION page.  You're normal payments will begin on January 15th for $250 and the balance will be added to the end payments!  See how easy that is?  

So just open the door to this "Once-in-a-lifetime" opportunity and come join us! You won't regrett it for an minute, and I know you will come away with the most incredible experience. We are so excited about this event and I want EVERY SINGLE lady who wants to come to have a chance to come.  I know it's not easy to afford a trip to Italy, but I've really made it affordable with the price and the payments and what you are going to get out of this type of experience truly is PRICELESS.  

And also unforgettable!  My girls have been there twice and it really is a daily occurance that they talk about it and try to figure out how we can go back and when!  It's become a part of their hearts and they are willing to make sacrifices just to go back.  They save their money, they are ok with less clothes (and that's saying a LOT for teenagers :), they just want to save up Christmas money, birthday money to have this experience again.  And I want you to see why it's such an amazing place and it really brings you back to a different time.  

This was taken two summers ago, the first time the girls went to Bellagio, Italy and it's so neat to see how much they have grown up since then.  We will always have these memories and I'm so GRATEFUL for that.  Italy truly is a special place and I think (and so does my family) that Lake Como is the GEM of Italy!

So save your $$, reserve you place, and join us here:

If you have ANY questions, please feel free to email me.  The spots are FILLING up and I want ALL of you to have a chance to make this incredible event!  

Oh, I wanted to mention I've also added another payment option!!  

I know there are some ladies who LIVE in Italy and would like to go, but do NOT need accomodations!  So, I've opened up an option #4 for payment that does NOT include hotel accomodations.  This option if obviously for those who have somewhere else to stay or may go home at night on the train?  But... if any of YOU want this option b/c you'd like to make your OWN hotel accomodations, please feel free to sign up with that option or email me if you would like to spread the payment of option #4 over the next months leading up to the event!

You can find out all the info on the site at: A Kiss on the Chic's Bellagio Retreat

Tomorrow, I'm going to ANNOUNCE a special SURPRISE!!  We have another teacher joining us on this journey and I will REVEAL it tomorrow on this blog and the event blog!

Have a GREAT Monday!

 

Hugs,

 

Laura

So Thankful...

 

Happy Thanksgiving to all my blog friends!  I'm SO THANKFUL for each and every one of you and the friendship and community that we share!  I hope and pray you will enjoy a very BLESSED day with family and friends!

We are taking a day to be "still" at home with our little family and enjoy some good food, time for games, reflecting on the year and it's memories, and being THANKFUL for all of it!!   

Love to all,

Laura

P.S. the picture above is in honor of our "Thankful Feast" today...  I have been pursuaded to make an Italian meal today of Lasagna Bolognase,  Pull-Apart bread, green beans and Italian Cream Cheese cake!! :)

 

 

Love, Tuesday...

 

Getting ready for Thanksgiving here this week and wanted to let you in on a GREAT deal starting at MIDNIGHT on Thankgiving night over at Webster's Pages!

They are having TWO Black Friday deals that will BLOW YOU AWAY!!!

Websters Pages is going to have two kits FULL of great products AND a project kit to go along with it!!!!  Here's some SNEAKS on both kits:

This kit has SO much product and do you see a project/album somewhere in there??  I wonder who made that?? :)  This package will come with ALL THIS plus step-by-step instructions to make that album!

 

Here's the 2nd kit they are offering and it's HUGE too!!  This one comes with a layout and card project that is SO pretty with all these colors!!

So make sure you head over to Websters Pages on Thursday night at Midnight because these kits will SELL OUT FAST!!!  They are only $25 per kit!!!

Set your alarm clock ladies...

That's what I'm LOVING today!!

Hugs,

 

Laura

Scrap 365!!

 

 

I am SO excited to get my hands on the VERY FIRST ISSUE of Scrap 365 Magazine!!  I guess they sent this to my husbands office address the other day and HE has seen it, but I haven't yet!!!!  lol   He told me last night at dinner that I had some mail at his office and it was a couple issues of THIS Mag, so he opened it and had a look-see!!  How funny is that?  I haven't even seen it yet, be he assures me it's really good!!  haha!

So, I'm going to go see if I can find it in his office and take a peek at it..  I've already seen my friend Amanda Jones in the issue from her FB page and I have to say it's GREAT!  I really think this Mag is right up my alley and I'm SO excited to take a look!!

So, if you haven't subscribed yet, you can go here to SIGN UP!!!  

The magazine comes to newstands on November 18th!!!  So excited!!

And guess what...

 

I'm ADVERTISING in the Magazine!

 

Yes, our Bellagio, Italy retreat will be IN THE MAG!!  I'm SUPER excited about this and hope that everyone will take a look at it!  I figured since this magazine is from the UK, there will be people over there that are a LOT closer to Italy, that they may want to join us!  

So if you haven't signed up yet, go to THIS SITE now to find out ALL the details and get in before it sells out!!

Have a GREAT day everyone!

Laura

 

And the WINNER is....

 

Mary T!!!

"they are both beautiful laura!!!" mary t

Congrats Mary!! Send me your address and I'll mail out a Grab Bag for you!!

Here's the COMPLETE pictures of each project I had you searching for for the RAK:

A grateful mini album on the Websters Pages blog

and

And a photo tray I made of our 3 girls on the Teresa Collins DT Blog !

 

Here I am forgetting about an upcoming class I'm doing again...  I swear, I'm not good at marketing!  

Anywhoo....  If you are in the area and want to take a class with me, I am teaching this "DECEMBER DAILY" at Paper Tales on Sunday at 1pm.  Their phone number is: 619-222-2510 to call and reserve your spot!  I think I may have 1 more spot left, or it's sold out, I'm not sure.

And this is the last class I have scheduled for this YEAR!  Wow, that seems crazy to me, but I just haven't had time to schedule anything else.  I have SO many projects I'd love to teach but not enough time in my life...  

I will say with that, I am considering some other options for teaching and have been thinking about it over the last couple days.  Then this morning I got an email TOTALLY related to the specific thing I was thinking about!!  How is that NOT a God thing??  So, I'm prayfully considering some things and will let you know when I figure everything out!

I'm also going to be busy next year with this:

Yes, our Women's Retreat in Bellagio, Italy next September!!  It's going to be such an AMAZING event and I REALLY hope you ladies will consider coming along!  I haven't been marketing this event that much as well, but it will be kicked into high gear soon!  I have another announcement on this event NEXT week for sure!  I already have the green light on it, so I will be sharing details on things on the Event Blog soon!  

So, if you are considering joining us, please sign up soon!  I don't want you to miss out and it's getting time to make a decision if you're thinking about it.  Wouldn't this be an AMAZING Christmas gift??  A week long CREATIVE, RELAXING, SITE SEEING trip to Italy!!!  

So excited about this, I just wish September was NOW!  :)

 

Well, I better get back to kitting the class on Sunday.

 

Have a GREAT night,

Laura

 

Love, Tuesday...

 

Aw...a month ago I was enjoying some shaved ice and this view.  How time flies... 

 

Hello blogland!  

I wish I was still in Hawaii, but since I'm not I wanted to jump on here real quick and let you know that I'm going to announce the WINNER of last weeks RAK later today!!

I have a MILLION errands to run today (including getting 3 pizza's for Victoria's class BEFORE 10:45am??) and I didn't want you to think I forgot about the RAK...

SO, this will give anyone who hasn't seen last weeks RAK post a chance to quick enter for a chance to WIN!

Have a GREAT day and check back later to see if YOU won!!

ta-ta for now,

 

Laura

 

 

A flower garden on Etsy!

It has been a "garden party" at my house lately!  We have been having SO much fun making fabric flowers to put in my Etsy Shop! 

You want to see some?  I think I have about 15 or 16 sets in my Etsy shop, but I'll share some here so you can take a peek...

 

 

This is just a few of the flower sets in my shop!  If you want to see more, you can check out ALL of them in my Etsy Shop 

They are all ready to use in any scrapbooking project OR as an accessory for YOU!  These flowers would be GREAT as a broach for an outfit, a headband for your hair or any other FASHION statement!  So they are all "One-of-a-kind" flower sets and if you email me through Etsy, I can make more if needed OR change the backing to a clip or headband if you want!

Hope you enjoy them!!  There will be more to come in the future and I will be making some paper flowers as well.

Have a GREAT Monday,

Laura

Affaire at Tiffany's

Registration is OPEN!!

Go quickly if you want to join us next May for a weekend of CREATIVE FUN!!  Follow this link to Kim Caldwell's blog and SIGN UP today!!

This is going to be an AMAZING weekend and I'm still pinching myself that I'm going to be teaching at this event!!

Did you see the SNEAKS of the project I'm teaching??

So excited!!

 

Hope to see you there!

 

Hugs,

 

Laura

 

P.S.  Some of my FLOWERS have arrived in my Etsy Shop! so go check those out too.

 

Two in the same day??

As part of two design teams, I have kind of a crazy schedule with all that needs to be done.  So it's funny to me when I'm working on two projects at the same time because BOTH design teams have my projects posting on their blogs on the SAME day!

So, if you want to have a "Laura" day online, you can check out BOTH projects here and here !  lol...

AND, let's make this REALLY fun and have a RAK while we're at it...

If you go to BOTH the Webster's Pages Blog AND the Teresa Collins DT Blog and leave a comment and then come back HERE and let me know, I'll enter your name into a RAK on MY blog for a Grab Bag from my Etsy Shop !

Sound like FUN??

Ok, here's a couple SNEAKS of the projects:

and

Have a GREAT weekend everyone!

Hugs,

Laura

P.S. I haven't had a chance to get some NEW items up into my Etsy shop that I talked about last week.  I REALLY wanted to get them in there, but LIFE is a bit overwhelming right now and after I'm done with a few projects this weekend, I should have some time to put those in there.

Love, Tuesday...

 

I finally have the Grab Bags in my Etsy shop and even added MORE things!!

 

They are stocked FULL with all new products, so go check them out!!

 

I also added some new items like this BRAND NEW project kit:

 

I {love} this project...  I am SO excited for you to see it AND make it!  It's a "Countdown to Christmas" Calendar Wall Hanging.  now that's a mouth full... hehehe

Basically, I wanted to make a countdown calendar but something you could also turn into an ALBUM when you are done!  So, I attached the Tim Holtz binder clip to the wood and then added a mini album to the wall hanging!  When you're done with the calendar inside the album, you can put your Holiday pictures in it and put the back page of the album on it and viola', it's an complete album!!

So this kit is in my Etsy shop NOW and you can get it in plenty of time to make it before December 1st!  It will have everything you need to make it (including the cute fabric flower :) and step-by-step instructions.  So go check it out now!

I've also got the AWESOME grab bag sale going on on my blog and those are LIMITED, so you want to get those while they last!  I'm telling you, they are AMAZING and full of NEW product!  I have pictures on Etsy of just SOME of the items in the kits, there's even more product I've added PLUS it doesn't even show you all the papers in the pictures!  So, if you've bought my Grab Bags before, you know what an awesome DEAL they are...  Go grab some while they last ladies!!

And I don't know if you're FB friends with me, but I was SO excited this weekend b/c I came up with a whole new idea for my Etsy shop!   I'm ALWAYS making flowers, I LOVE flowers, I've showed many tutorials on my blog and in my classes on how to MAKE flowers... so I've decided to start SELLING flowers!  So within the next week, I will be adding a whole new section in my Etsy shop of FLOWERS!  I'm SO excited, I hope you will stop on my and check them out.  I've put a lot of LOVE into them, and my girls are even excited about it and have made a few for you!!  (Isabella keeps wanting to make more, lol)  So I'll share a few SNEAKS on here later this week of my new Flower Shop!  How funny, I always wanted to have a flower shop when I was little...

 

Speaking of Isabella, she turned 7 over the weekend!  It's CRAZY to Lance and I that our baby is 7.  Just last week we were walking somewhere and Lance turned around and looked at Isabella and just thought it was crazy how tall she has gotten?  He couldn't believe it, he even wanted to measure her because he was sure she had grown 2" in the last month!  lol...  But she sure is growing up and we are SO proud of what a great girl she is.  She LOVES school, she's really cares about her friends and others, and she loves the Lord so much!  She loves to memorize bible verses and sing songs and I'm so pleased with how gentle in spirit she is becoming. (there was some doubt for a while... hehehe)  Happy Birthday to me sweet Isabella!!

Over the weekend, I also got a SURPRISE in the mail:

It is the November Issue of Creating Keepsakes magazine and I'm IN IT!!  I'm telling you I was SO excited about this!  What you don't know is that I've been trying to get into this magazine for YEARS!! I have been published in a lot of magazine but this one was just beyond my reach... lol  Until NOW!  I'm SO happy about this, I finally "cracked the nut" on this pub and it was a hard nut to crack!  :)-  Let me know if you see my layout in there, it's about Victoria and I's time in London last summer.

Ok, I'm off to make more flowers for my new flower shop!

Have a GREAT Tuesday,

 

Laura

 P.S.  If you feel lead, please pray for my mom, she's going through a tough time right now and could use some extra help from above.

Glue Arts Swap

Good morning Monday!!

I wanted to share with you a FUN week going on over at Glue Arts AND Webster's Pages because we are having a swap this week with both of our DT's!  There will be fun prizes and some GREAT inspiration from all the design team ladies, so head on over to BOTH of their blogs for INSPIRATION!!

I thought I would share a SNEAK of my project on here but I'm not sure what day it will be showcased on their blogs...

It's a metal birdcage I found a while back at my local craft store and thought it was perfect for making something altered for this Christmas.

So make sure you head on over to their blogs and check out all the cool things going on and leave a comment to let them know I sent you!!

Have a GREAT Monday,

Laura

 

Giveaway on Teresa's blog TODAY!

Hello ladies, just a quick post to let you know that Teresa Collins is having a GREAT giveaway on her blog TODAY!

So go on over there and leave a comment to be entered to WIN!!  These cartridges are VERY hard to come by.  They have SOLD OUT everywhere, so this is YOUR chance to WIN one!!

Teresa is also on Good Things UTAH right now!!  So if you're in the area, tune in!  If not, here's a few examples of what she is showing on TV today:

 

All these things she made are WITH the cartridge above!  AND... she's also got a FREE download on her blog today for these labels above!!  

So head on over there NOW to get the FREE downloads AND a chance to WIN!

 

Have a GREAT day,

Laura

Did you see Ali's Italy pictures??

 

Oh my, I was looking at Ali Edwards blog today and WOW, she has a ton of photo's from her Italy trip!  She just got back from a scrapbooking tour through Italy and it makes me want to go RIGHT NOW!!

Check out her blog and maybe it will make YOU want to come with us to Italy next September!!

Here's one of her photo's from today's post:

Go check out ALL the photos and you will just fall in LOVE with Italy!  

And while you are there, try to find the "A Kiss on the Chic" Bellagio Retreat blog button!!  It's REALLY small, but it's on the right hand side!  Go click on that and say HELLO to us over at OUR blog for our retreat NEXT SEPTEMBER!!!  

Seriously though, Italy really is like no other place I've been.  To see Ali Edwards pictures today was such a JOY and it really brings home the fact that we are going to get to do something similar next year with a bunch of ladies and enjoy some scrapbooking too!!  

In fact, I have a few MORE ladies who will be joining us and that SURPRISE I will be able to share next week on the Bellagio blog!  I'm SO excited about it though...

And on a couple other pieces of news:

 

1.  My Etsy Shop is getting filled up again!  I have a few things newly listed, some SALE items listed and I will be trying to finish my GRAB BAGS and list those tomorrow!!  So go check out my shop soon!!

2. I will be the featured guest designer on Teresa Collins Design Team Blog TOMORROW, so go check out the creative things I did with her Haunted Hallows line!  And leave a comment please if you stop in, I'd LOVE to share some love around on their blog!!

3. Kim Caldwell's Artistic Affaire is about to take sign ups!!  I'm SO excited to be teaching at her "Affaire at Tiffany's" event next May and I hope to see you there!!  Check out Kim's Blog for more details soon!!

 

Lastly, while I was in Hawaii I brought along some scrappiness with me.  (you know I had too :)  and I had seen this quote on FB that I really liked.  So I decided to make something for Victoria with this quote on it and it's a little plaque she can hang up or put on her desk:

 

I am in LOVE with the new Crate Paper Random line and this is pretty much all goodies from that line.  I have to say Crate Paper really is one of my new FAV companies.  They really come out with some great color combos and have fabulous embellishment too!!  Go check out their new Paper Heart collection that was just revealed this week, it's adorable!!  And their blog is great too!

 

Ok, I'm off to bed soon... kiddo's are sick and momma needs some sleep!

Hugs,

 

Laura

New Etsy items... postponed

 

Hi all,

I wanted to quick take a moment and give a heads up to all of you that I'm NOT going to get to my Etsy Shop until next week!

I just got bombarded with a "to-do" list after I got back from Hawaii and I can't find the time this week to put my new items and GRAB BAG's into the shop!  I hope you'll forgive me and save up those pennies for NEXT WEEK!  

I have a class this Saturday at Paper Tales in San Diego and a project due on Sunday for an event next May on top of some other designs that were due this week.  So I thought I would send you off for the weekend with some pictures of a more relaxing time... in Hawaii from last week! :)

So just imagine yourself here:

in perfect 80 degree weather... That's what I'm thinking about right now. :)

 

or at the gorgeous Grand Wahlea Hotel:

enjoying the view and a lazy day...

How about enjoying a Luau right on the beachfront with friends:

Or enjoying a helicopter ride around Maui:

and actually making a landing next to Oprah Winfrey's property to have some Pineapple Champagne:

or seeing waterfalls like this:

OK, I wasn't going to say this, but... I had to take that picture while looking STRAIGHT ahead and just aiming my camera to the side... I got REALLY "air sick" on this helicopter ride.  I did NOT up-chuck but I will say that it was worse than last years helicopter ride and I've decided I can cross this off my bucket list now! :)

Being on the ground was much more my spead:

and enjoying GREAT dinners, like Mamma's Fish house:

And now I just want to remember the great week it was with my hubby celebrating our 22nd Wedding Anniversary, pampering his employees/friends and enjoying a great book by my side on our deck and out at the pool/beach...

Hawaii, I will remember you often!  Especially when I look at my "to-do" list and wish I was back in your beautiful islands.

Oh why can't we ALL be on "island" time...

Have a GREAT Thursday and take a momment to ENJOY some "island" time where ever you are!

Hugs,

Laura

 

Love, Tuesday...

Hello Tuesday! 

So,  I'm loving THIS today.  Check it out, it's Webster's Pages NEWEST idea!!

It's their new site called "Novel Tree" that is AMAZING Photo Books that are surely going to be the new standard in easy album systems!  Similar to a "Shutterfly" photo book, but SO much more!  With the look and feel of Webster's Pages beautiful papers and embellishments, these photo albums are GORGEOUS!!  They are also WAY more advanced than any other photo book system out there because of the beautiful options, the pocket books and scrapbook pages that they can print out for you! So make sure you have a look at My Novel Tree Site!  

And to all my friends who LOVE to look at scrapbooking layouts and albums but don't have the time or energy to put into them, these would DEFINATELY be for you then! These are EASY, FAST and BEAUTIFUL!  So anyone can make these with their photo's and have them done in no time at all!

Here's a couple examples of their photo book pages:

You will LOVE them!  I can't WAIT to play around on here and make a photo book!  I'm thinking I will have one printed out and then when I get it in the mail, I will embellish it a bit with some Webster's Pages blooms and other cute stuff just cuz that's me, I can't stop embellishing! :)

Oh, they have a page on Facebook , so go "like" them and learn all about this wonderful new idea!!

And speaking of my own "spin" on things, here's a few designs I made in the last couple weeks with Webster's Pages new CHA Summer lines:

Here's a layout with the new Celebrate line.  I SO love the colors in this line!!  I made this layout for the October Guest Designer lift and I "scraplifted" the cloud idea from Stacey Young, our AWESOME Guest Designer for Webster's this month!

Here's a card I made with the same "Celebrate" line.  I just am in love with the new jewel stickers!  They come in all kinds of colors and patterns and I am having FUN playing with all of them!!

Lastly, I made this embrodiery hoop with Webster's Pages new "All About Me" line.  I'm really in love with this type of medium and I plan to make one for each family member and hang them on a wall upstairs.

I hope you LOVE your Tuesday too!

Hugs,

Laura

Happy Monday!!

 

Well, I'm back from a whirlwind month of trips!  We just got back from Hawaii with my hubby's "Summit Club" and we had a BLAST!  So relaxing and so much FUN!  I'll share some pictures tomorrow...

I wanted to take some time today to show you some things I've made over the last year with Teresa Collins Designs ! I can't believe it's almost been a YEAR since I got the call from her to be on her team!  What an exciting year it has been and I'm looking forward to creating more with her wonderful products!!  Have you seen her new line "Caroline Breeze"...

 

I {heart} this line SO much!!  The grey and yellow with accents of black is just so pretty!  I can't wait to play with some of this!!  

But I thought I would share some things I've made with her products over the last year because I don't think I've shared a lot of these.... 

Here's some layouts from the last year:

 


 

Wow, that was just a small handful of the layouts I've done!  It's been a busy year...  I have some more recent ones but I don't think Teresa's had a chance to put them up on her blog yet, so I will let you know when those are up over there!  I'll share some altered designs later this week... BUT,

I  wanted to let you know that I'm going to be updating my Etsy Shop this week with TONS of Teresa designs AND Webster's designs!  I'll post a few pictures on here this week when they are up!  I also wanted to let you know that I will have some NEW grab bags in my shop as well!  I'll take a picture of ALL the goodies that I have from Pink Paislee, 7 Gypsies, Jenni Bowlin, and MANY more that I'm putting into some new GRAB BAGS for my shop!  You don't want to miss these, they are GREAT deals!!

So, hopefully this week I will be on here almost every day updating you on things!  I have some NEWS on the Webster's Pages front as well, so check back this week for some FUN posts!!  

And as always, things are still going strong for the "A Kiss on the Chic" Bellagio Retreat next September, 2012!!  Make sure you reserve your spot for a WEEKLONG adventure to Italy with us!!  

It's the PERFECT time of year to visit Italy!  The weather is still nice, the airline fares are at their cheapest and you get to enjoy the REAL Italy while also enjoying some AWESOME classes with Debby Schuh, Lisa Pace, Tammy Tutterow and myself!!

Check out our blog here

Have a GREAT Monday,

Laura

So many things going on...

A quick post because I forgot a few things!  That's typical for me though...  lol

First off, I was SO honored to be the "Featured Artist" on Scrapbook News & Review this week!! I forgot to mention that earlier! But,  I would LOVE for all of you to go on over there and say HI, leave a comment and let them know that you stopped in from my blog to see them!  That would be GREAT!!

I show you, step by step, how to make this project over on their site:

So if you want to make this lovely canvas or something similar, go on over there and check it out!!  They even gave me a cute "badge" to put up on my blog:

Now if I could just figure out how to put that on my blog... I'm telling you, I'm so blog illiterate!!  

The other thing I wanted to let you know is that I'm advertising this:

On Ali Edwards Blog!  Yes, for the month of October you will see a LITTLE button on the right side of her website that looks like this:

and it should link you back to the "A Kiss on the Chic's Bellagio Retreat" blog!  Could someone do me a HUGE favor and check it out for me and let me know if it's working?  I'm sure it will (starting tomorrow) but I'm leaving in the morning for Hawaii and won't be online for a day or so.  I'm really excited about advertising on Ali's website because she is leaving TODAY for Italy!  Yes, she is doing a scrapbook retreat in Italy next week!  SO...I'm really hoping that the ladies going or the ladies that wanted to go will check out MY retreat next September in Italy!!!  

And, for those who are on the fence, don't just think about it... SIGN UP NOW!  I'm serious when I tell you, you won't regret it!  We are going to have an AMAZING time and have such a loaded week with incredible classes, events, food and time to explore!  I can't tell you how excited all of us teachers are AND there will be a big SURPRISE coming soon!  I've been SO busy with a few trips that I haven't had time to finalize it, but there will be some EXCITING news coming soon...

THANK YOU for all the wonderful comments on my blog from all the Scrap 365 blog hop ladies!  That was FUN!!  I was told that they picked a WINNER and you can find out all the details of that here   Go check it out!!  Also, now you can SUBSCRIBE to the new magazine ONLINE!!!  It was a phonecall to the UK, but now they have a link that you can go to to ORDER NOW!!  Here's the link: Scrap 365 Subscription  It's going to be an AMAZING magazine and I'm SO excited to be a part of it!  Go check out the link above to see some SNEAKS!!

Well, I hope all of you have a MARVELOUS weekend!  I am headed on an airplane with about 12 people from my hubbys work in the morning for Hawaii!!!  We are SUPER excited to enjoy some time over there for Prosite's "Summit Club"!!  It is going to be a GREAT time with friends and I'm so THANKFUL to family and friends at home that make it all possible!  I couldn't go and enjoy this time with my hubby if it wasn't for all of them!  xoxo

And speaking of my hubby...

It's our 22nd Wedding Anniversary TODAY!!

Yes, 22 years ago TODAY, we were married and celebrating our day in Long Beach, California at the Rusty Pelican restaurant on the water on a perfectly sunny, beautiful day!  Wow, I was just a baby back then... How grateful I am that the Lord chose Lance to be my husband!  It has been an AMAZING 22 years full of so much love, joy and blessings!  We have been through SO much together and I wouldn't have wanted to go through any of it without him!  Thanks babe, I LOVE YOU!! 

Ok, I'm sure I'm missing something but I've got to run and get the girls from school and then pack before we take the family out to dinner to celebrate our Anniversary!  I think it's the first time we have celebrated it with family, but actually I like that idea b/c they are certainly part of our 22 years together!!  :)

Well, not a quick post but...

Hugs to ALL and have a MARVELOUS weekend,

Laura 

Back home... (photo HEAVY)

Had a GREAT time in San Francisco with my hubby and some of his employees!  I forget how much fun San Fran is and this past week was such perfect weather too!  I don't think I've ever been to San Francisco where I didn't need a jacket.  Only one day was foggy and cold and the rest were sunny and warm!  Of course the day it decided to be foggy is the day I went on a tour of San Fran...  

Here's a photo journal of our trip:

This was St. Pauls Cathedral right next to the high rise hotel we stayed in next door. I think it's so interesting to see the different era's of architecture right next to each other.

The entrance to China town!  I really love this part of San Francisco and I wondered around here for a couple hours and probably bought a little too much there... :)

This really cool building is owned by Francis Ford Coppola and he has a restaurant at the bottom.  I wanted to come back there and have dinner but we already had all our dinner reservations made...

I'm so bummed that we didn't get to ride on the Cable Cars!  I love this iconic symbol of San Fran, but we just didn't find the time...

I saw all these guys in China Town playing a game.  This whole park was all these old men playing games so I had to sneak up and take a picture!  :)

I took this photo of China town and then edited it with my iPhone app called Instagram.  I'm SO in love with this app, I basically want to edit ALL my photo's with this app!!

Here's another picture I took and then edited...  Anyone figure out what this reminds you of??  I text it to my daugthers and they knew RIGHT away!  10 guesses...

After San Fran, we went up to Napa for one night to reward the Top Sales Person for last month with a weekend of some great food and wine tasting!  We had a BLAST and it was a chance to also see some family (Lance's family lives up there) and enjoy the beautiful Napa Valley.

So we drove up to Napa and stopped in at Bouchon Bakery, a Thomas Keller restaurant, and look who we ran into:

YES, that's David Beckham!!!!!!  I walked into this itty bitty bakery and he was right next to me.  The guys were still outside so I walked outside and said "who's that guy who plays soccer and is from England?" and they all look at me and say "David Beckham..."  and I say "He's in the bakery" and you should have SEEN the look on their eyes!!!!  hehehe... They all swooped in for a look and yup, it was HIM!  Chris, the "Top sales person of the Month" got a picture with him and Lance got an autograph.  He was very nice and was very accomodating and he was with one of his sons, who had great maners when I walked through the doorway at the same time as him.  Love it when the "celebs" are really nice!  Btw, we saw Victoria Beckham shopping in Yountville later on that day!  This was SO gret for Chris to get his picture with David b/c he plays soccer and just got back from a tournament in Costa Rica!  He even asked if we PLANNED this for him!  hehehe....

So because we have family up in Napa and the fact that one of them works for a Winery, we have had this AMAZING "backstage" pass for the second time.  There is a winery called Mount Veeder that is up in the mountains of Napa Valley and it has a special spot at the top of the ridge where they have one slab of cement and some table and chairs.  We came here with our cousins 3 years ago and had an awesome picnic that Lance has been talking about ever since.  So we asked if we could do that again this time and Mark made it happen again!  We get to this private entrace, he opens the lock and we drive THROUGH the vineyards up the mountain to this perfect spot!  You can see the mountains and fur trees all around you and the vineyards and valley below.  It's incredible!  

Since last time, they've upgraded the picnic table to a few of these nicer tables and I think they've realized what a special spot this is and have had a few private picnics up here.  It truely is a beautiful spot, even with a little sprinkles that we experienced!

Here we are setting up our picnic foods that we got at a great little gourmet market in town.  We were all chopin' at the bit to get our hands on the food!

Here's Lance and his cousin Tina.  Her and her husband are SO great and really treat us to a fabulous time whenever we come up to Napa!  They really make our desire to want to move up to Napa seem like a real possibility!  Love them.

And here we are in the vineyard.  If you've followed my blog long enough (3 years ago) you'll find a similar picture at this exact spot!  In fact my hubby knew it was coming when I said I wanted to take some pictures... :)  and he even didn't give me a hard time when I wanted to do this photo op either:

Well, actually he did give me a bit of a hard time... 

Love the deep color of the grapes!

Love this picture with our cousins in the vineyard!

And what could be better than Auntie Bestsies Biscotti on a day like this!!  We couldn't come to Napa without visiting Tina's mom and dad and we were treated with her famous Biscotti's!  (and don't say "BiscAUGHTI"... the Italians don't like that....) It's "BiscOATi" as we were reprimanded by Uncle Gemy! :)-

I have to show you the funniest photo:

I don't know if you have heard of "planking" but it's a new phenominon that kids (of all ages) are doing!  They take photo's of people laying flat "planking" on all sorts of surfaces.  Here is the "Tops Sales person of the Month" planking in the winery!!  lol..

So after our picnic, we headed back down the mountain to one of the most exclusive wineries in the Valley:

Opus one is a collaboration between the European wine family, the Rothchilds and the Napa Valley pioneer, Robert Mondavi.  You can't get into this winery...

You can't see this, but the sides of the building have landscaped grass growing up to the roofline!  It's really cool and that top round part is a terrace that looks out to AMAZING views of the valley!

And you don't EVEN want to know how much those 7 glasses of TASTINGS would cost you.  Mind you, just TASTINGS, not even a full glass of wine!  But, thanks to this guy:

They were FREE!!  Oh yeah, it's GREAT to have family "ins"... That's that beautiful terrace I was talking about.  365degree views of the Napa Valley!  So what am I doing in smog filled So. California??

The next winery was much more down to earth.  SilverOak has beautiful grounds and we got a nice tour of the place as well. 

One of the barrell rooms reminded Lance of his Nana Chacheina's garage b/c I guess she was making a little "homemade" version back when Lance was a kid!  lol... He says he LOVES that smell and wants to have a barrell in our garage so it can smell like he remembers as a child!  

For dinner we ate at Michael Chiarello's Restaurant, Bottega, in Yountville.  Remember him from the Food Network:

His restaurant was AMAZING and even though we didn't get to see him, we had a GREAT time with family and friends!!  If you go here though, you have to try this:

It's an appetizer and I can't remember the name, but it's prosciutto HEAVEN on a plate!  OH. my STARS.  I wish I would have known this was SO outstanding, I would have just ordered THIS!  It's basically a fancy version of the prosciutto wrapped melon that has been "deconstructed" and it was AMAZING!  Those "fritters" are little breaded pasta's, then theres this "foam" in the bowl and you just eat a bit of all of it in one bite and it's MAGIC!!  OK... I'm ready to book my plane tickets back.  

Had a great night at dinner, our hotel was FANTASTIC, (The Villagio in Yountville) and the last day was off to a great start!

I'm bummed b/c this was a gorgeous archway and the lighting doesn't show it off well.

We went to Rombauer Winery this morning and I have to say, it's one of my FAV wineries!  It's not only one of the BEST Chardonnay's I've ever had, it's one of the most beautiful places in the Napa Valley!  If you go to Napa, don't miss this gorgeous winery.  The actual wine tasting room is not much to write home about, but the location and the grounds of breathtaking and I highly suggest getting your wine tasting and then take it outside and sit on their veranda or walk through their mountain paths.  It's gorgeous!!

There are many paths all around the grounds and even a secret TUNNEL that will wisk celebrities to a private area for weddings or parties!!  Chris and his girlfriend were allowed access to this secret area by the groundskeeper while they were walking around.

Then our last winery was an actual CASTLE!!  It was very impressive when we drove up to it, but we weren't that impressed with the wine or the winery.  

Heading back to San Fran to come home, we took a detour through the Golden Gate Bridge and stopped to take a few photos:

The tour I went on in San Fran I couldn't even see the GGB, so it was fun to come back by here on a clear day and have a beautiful view of this magestic bridge!

A great getaway and it was nice to see a part of California we don't get up to very often.

Sorry for the HUGE post, I wanted to get this all down on here as I use the blog for my travel journal as well...  I don't have time to do both these days. 

It's also our 22nd ANNIVERSARY today!!  I'm so blessed to have been married to this man for 22 years.  I can't believe I've now been married for OVER 1/2 of my life!  What a blessing it has been to be married to a man who loves me for who I am,  who supports me in whatever crazy endeavor I want to dabble in, who is a great father who makes our kids laugh on a daily basis and who works so hard to provide our family a wonderful life!  Thanks Lance, I LOVE YOU FOREVER!!!

On a last note,

I'm going to be updating this blog soon with some designs I've created over the months for Teresa Collins.  I  can't believe it's been almost a YEAR since I started on her Design Team!!  It has been such a JOY to work with her and everyone on the team.  I'm looking forward to what new and exciting things she had going on and what the future holds for Teresa Collins Designs!  Teresa is an AMAZING women who I admire greatly and I know you all do as well.  So I thought I would share some some creations I don't think I've shared on my blog and also wanted to show you her NEWEST line that is coming out soon!!  I think it's my FAV line so far... (although I say that every time :)

 

Have a GREAT day,

 

Laura

 

 

 

 

 


 

 

Time for BIG NEWS!!!

 

I know I've been kind of quiet on here for a while.  It's because I've been working HARD to get a lot of designs together for a NEW MAGAZINE!!!

YES... I can't tell you how excited I was to get an email asking if I would like to be a part of a new Scrapbooking Magazine!!!

It's called Scrap 365 and it's from the makers of the publication "Craft Stamper" in the Uk!  I've seen this magazine in Barnes and Noble here in the States and when I got the email that they wanted me to join the team for a Scrapbook Magazine, I said YES right away!!  

So, in order for YOU to get to know what Scrap 365 is going to be about, we thought we would have a BLOG HOP!!

Here's where everything starts from:

Scrap 365

That's their blog and it's where you will be able to find out all the NEWS about this new magazine, when it's launching it's first issue, who's on the team and what exciting things are going on!!

If you're coming to my blog from one of the other team members...

HELLO!!!

Here's a few things about me:

 

That's me.  I just had another birthday and my oldest daughter Victoria took some pictures of me on my B-day.  I'm in my 40's, but that's all I'm sayin. :)  I use lots of exclamation points and smiley faces in my posts and I know I shouldn't but I can't help myself!  I have "scrapbooked" all my life and truely have a PASSION for this art form.  And to me it definately IS an art form!  It's not just a craft, or hobby... We are making beautiful art AND preserving precious memories!  I love to teach others about this art form and have taught for over 7 years.  My dream is to teach in Europe and that dream is becoming a REALITY next September!  I still can't believe it, but I've organized a Scrapbook Retreat in Italy for next September 15th - 22nd, 2012!  It's going to be an AMAZING weeklong event with some BIG TIME teachers and I would LOVE to tell you more, but this blog post isn't about me... it's about Scrap 365!!!

SO...

To play along on this Blog Hop, just leave a message HERE on THIS post, as well as ALL the ladies' blogs and Scrap 365's blog and you could WIN a GREAT Prize!!!  You have the chance to win a YEAR'S Subscription to Craft Stamper magazine and over £20 worth of stamps!  That's a GREAT deal ladies, so don't miss out!

Now, if you're in the UK, you may want to go to the "Big stamp and scrapbook show" at Alexander Palace in London over the weekend of 24^th September.  If you visit them at the Traplet stand (#63) you can see a sneak peek of the mag and get a special subscription deal!!  

Also...

The 1^st issue of Scrap 365 will be on sale on the 18^th November on the newsstands and digitally worldwide so mark your calendars for that.  I know I can't WAIT to see all the wonderful designs that will be in this magazine! 

Oh, and you can follow along with them on Facebook:  www.facebook.com/scrap365

or Twitter: @scrap365mag.com

Now after you leave a comment HERE, follow this link to Mahlin Wiggur's blog and say Hello to her!!

It was so nice to "meet you"...  I hope you stay awhile and check out some of my other posts.  You can find out more about my style of work, my Kit Club, my Etsy shop and my Scrapbook Retreat in Italy all over this blog.  :)-

When you leave a comment on this post, I would LOVE to know where you are from, so if you could say where you are from, that would be GREAT!!  I LOVE to travel and we were blessed to take a year of and travel the world about 8 years ago, so it's always fun to see where everyone is from!!

Have a GREAT day and have FUN blog hopping!!

Hugs to all,

Laura