A Kiss on the Chic

Sorry ladies...

I'm going to be a bit indisposed today...

I had my stiches removed this morning and I was going to bend down as I was looking for something and the wound broke open and now it's bleeding and a big hole!

I need to go back to the doctor right now as my friends are here helping me with the kits!

I won't be able to get back to all the emails until after I get home from my dr.s appt. at 1pm.

I'm so upset right now... I wanted this to be all done by my trip and now I'll probably have to have stiches in my leg on my trip!  I also haven't been able to exercise since I got the stiches so I'm really just not happy that I'm not even where I wanted to be before our trip and I can't even exercise this next week either!

Sorry for the ranting, just a little bummed out right now...

Laura

Now that the crazy REVEAL is over...

I can show you some pictures from yesterday at my mom & dad's.

 

Here's Rebecca and Ella!  She was sooo excited to hold her for the 1st time!  She's going to be a GREAT babysitter some day...

 

Ty and I having a "shoot" out...

 

Lance must have taken this picture but it's this HUGE Eucyliptis tree out by my mom's house that we all ate lunch under...  I think there were about 27 of us!

 

Here's some of the little cousins getting their pictures taken!  It's so FUN to see the little ones around again!  My mom was the youngest of NINE kids and so I'm the youngest of ALL the cousins in my generation.  Now my cousins kids are having kids and it's funny to see MY youngest is about the same age as them!

 

Here's my little ELLA!!  Ty & Dawn were so sweet telling Ella to say HI to "Auntie Laura"!!!  She was so tired that day though.  She had moments where she cooed and smiled but I think with that many people over and having been on an airplane the night before and her schedule all messed up, she was exhausted!  She did sooo good though for all that she's been put through in the last 24 hours!

 

Here's not the greatest picture of me but at least I'm holding Ella!!

 

Isabella had a hard time with everything that day.  She was a little jealous of Ella and also b/c there were so many little kids around, she's not used to that at grandmas!  Daddy and I were paying attention to the other little ones a little and of course Ella so Grandma had a GREAT idea to have Isabella decorate all the cupcakes with these mini pinwheels!  She was soooo excited to help and made her happy!

 

Here's one last shot of Ella before they left for their hotel. 

I get to see them all tomorrow night and their staying here for 3 nights!

Tomorrow, I have some friends coming over to help put the kits in their packages so I can mail them out!

O.k. I'm back to the kit emails...

Hugs,

Laura

The TRAVELOGUE KIT is SOLD OUT!

That WAS a record ladies, 10 MINUTES!!

I'm sooo sorry to those who didn't get one and wanted one!  I MAY have 1 left that I kept back so email me NOW and the first person will get it IF it is still available!

I'm off to put Isabella to bed and then back to check on things!

Hugs,

Laura

GET ONE QUICK, they are ALMOST GONE!!!

I think this is a RECORD.  They will probably be GONE by the time I finish this post but get one QUICK if you want one!

Just an FYI...

If you come back to get something else, I will credit you the shipping difference!!!  So go pay for the Travel Kit and then come back and get anything else you wanted!

Laura

They're LIVE!!!

Go check them out and let me know what you think!!

Here's a look again at my Travel Journal made with this kit:

 

And I wanted to show you a close-up of something I fell in LOVE with for this kit:

 

Do you see the "Paris" page that has Marie Antionette on it?  This is a collage sheet a lady put together of VINTAGE images of Paris and Marie!  I LOVE IT!!!

O.k. go have fun, I'll be back in a little after I QUICKLY put Isabella to bed and then I'll share some pictures of Ella too!

5 more minutes!!!

It's ALL ready to go ladies!

Here's a look at a layout Emeline Seet did with this kit:

 

Isn't it GREAT!!!

O.k. I'm off to "PUSH THE BUTTON"...

Have FUN ladies,

Laura

Two hours, 18 minutes and counting...

Happy Monday, here we come!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Are you getting excited??  I've working like a beaver all day to get this ready in time for 7pm!  I've already had a chiropractor appt. this morning, cleaned  my house with my cleaning lady and the girls, TRIED to organize and clean the office (still a work in progress...) and just got back from meeting with the High School Counselor for Victoria's "4 Year Plan!!  That was FUN and I know she's excited about the opportunities ahead! 

I'm back now and getting busy!  The only problem I forsee for tonight is I don't have the picture of the Chatterbox Wood Album & Stand that my friend Cindy sent me!  The file was all messed up and she's downtown right now at a Padres game!  So if you wanted to see that and get the little paper kit that will go with what she did, you'll have to wait or get it sight unseen.  It won't be a "project kit" though, I just have some extra Jenni Bowlin papers that I gave her to play with. 

So I have some good news, bad news and GREAT news about the July kits.  The GOOD news is, it's the BIGGEST KIT I'VE EVER MADE AND IT ROCKS!  I couldn't even believe how much was in this kit!!  I REALLY think this travel kit is going to be something EVERYONE is going to WANT!  The BAD news... It's NOT cheap!  I know I said it's basically TWO KITS... Well, I started adding it up and I stopped counting at $85.75!!!  So, the GREAT news is even though this kit is probably valued at around $100.00, I'm selling it to YOU for $64.99!  THAT IS A GREAT PRICE... and I GUARANTEE IT! ;)- 

I have the complete picture of the kit, TRAVELOGUE, on the blog page and then under it, you will see LOTS of close-ups of it different sections of the kit picture!  Then, at the bottom of the July Kit Page, I list EVERYTHING in the kit!  I did it at the bottom so you wouldn't have to scroll down so much to get to the PayPal Button.

Don't forget, there are some other kits, so grab a TRAVEL KIT FAST and then check all the other kits and see if you want one of those two!!

I hope this night is good for you and you get what you want!  I'm so sorry to those who don't get a Travel Kit if you wanted one.  I just couldn't make too many July Kits and be all stressed out trying to get them packaged up and sent out before I leave for Europe!  And remember, August there will be NO KITS AT ALL!  So grab what you can tonight because I won't be back with kits until September!!

I'll show you pictures of my Ella Day after I get the kits up for sale!

See you later,

Laura

The "eagle" has landed...

It's Saturday night here and my "baby" Ella has safely landed in California!!  Ty and Dawn and Ella are on their way to my moms right now but FIRST had to stop at In-n-Out!! I tell you, if I lived any closer to my mom, I'd be driving down there right now to see them!  But alas, it's over an hour away so I will wait until tomorrow when my mom is throwing a GIANT party for them after church!  There's going to be about 35 people in their tiny house but we will make it work!  I just told her I better wear waterproof mascara tomorrow because I'm going to be shedding some tears when I hold Ella for the first time!

Oh, I also get to BABYSIT her next week when they come to stay at my house!  Ty asked if I could babysit while he takes Dawn to a baseball game and I said, no way!!  JUST KIDDING, I told him YES, YES, YES!!!   Dawn has a goal of seeing a baseball game in every baseball park in the U.S. so he's taking her down to the Padres game.  We'll also be showing Dawn around San Diego on another day too but I can't WAIT to see them tomorrow! 

I don't think I've shown you an updated picture of Ella in a while...  Ty says she's getting chubby but I LOVE it!!

 

I think she's about 2 months here??

And here's one with Dawn and Ella:

 

I think this was taken about a week or so ago.  So CUTE!!  Can't WAIT, I don't know how I'm going to sit through church and then having to drive an hour to get to my moms!  YIKES...

Well, I've been a VERY busy bee the last day and a half since we got back from Palm Springs!  I'm almost done getting the July Kits organized and out of the guest bedroom (i.e. Ella's Room ;)-  and now just waiting on my friends who are hopefully coming over on Tuesday to help "kit" them!  I've taken all the pictures of the kits though and I thought I'd share a little bit of the Travel kit!!

By the way, I know I said this kit will be more $$$ but seriously ladies, when you SEE all that is in this kit, you're going to FAINT!  It's basically like TWO FULL KITS IN ONE!!!  So Rebecca says that would be $64.00 then and I should offer a discount to the first 10 people who order!!! lol...  She's always helping me with ideas and putting the kits together!  Well, I can tell you, I haven't added up the cost of the kits yet, but don't be surprised when you see the price tag on this baby...  AND, the thing is, I'm still missing about 3 or 4 things for this kit that aren't in the final picture but I will make a note on what they are under the kit picture!

Here's a SNEAK at just a TINY bit of the July Travel Kit:

 

This is literally about 1/4 of this kit!  It is SOOO BEAUTIFUL, even I was surprised when I put everything together!  I didn't even have enough room to showcase everything like I wanted to b/c there was too much product!!

So, I thought I would show you my Travel Journal I made with this kit while I was in Palm Springs!  It's a WORK IN PROGRESS ladies, but I thought I would show you what I have so far...

 

Now I'm NOT done with the cover and I'm actually playing around with the TASSEL and the metal crown at the top (those are not attached as of yet).  Don't hate me but the metal embellishment at the top is NOT included in the kit...  It would be if they had 24 of them but sadly they did not.  BUT, the good news is the Tassels WILL BE!  I thought that would be a fun addition to this journal/kit so I think I'm going to hang some charms and HS jewels from it too.  I'm also going to outline the word "Europe" at the bottom so it stands out more and add the year below it.

This Heidi Swapp album is REALLY my FAV album in a LONG TIME!  I told you it had all different pages and mediums inside, well I've played around with just a few of them so I thought I'd show you what I started doing:

 

This is the inside cover and I've used the wallpaper on here and the other wallpaper on the cover and all the chipboard index pages.  Here is one page in the album that is printed in her beautiful stamp image and lined on both side!  I LOVED this page the best and decided I would make this my Title Page.

 

oops... I gues this one wasn't lined on both pages but other ones are.  Here you can see the first chipboard index page and I covered them all with the same wallpaper as the front of the album.  I'm going to use the Dymco label maker to put "Week One", Week Two and Week Three on the tabbed index pages. 

 

Now on the back side of each tabbed page, I've covered it will some PP.  Here you can see the next page in the HS album is also lined and has a beautiful stamped image!  Isn't this just gorgeous!

 

Here's another tabbed index page that I added a little of the polka dot paper onto.  you can also see the plastic sleave on the other side.  Their are three of these to store photos or anything else you want!

 

Here's the backside of Week Two and you can see another different page from HS in the album!  This one actually opens up and has a two page spread!!

 

Here's a Pocket Page from the album.  There are 3 of these so you have one in each section.  I've covered the pocket and added a little ephemera from 7 gypsies. (yes, it's included...)  You can also see the page that has a subtle damask pattern.  That is part of the album pages as well!  I tell you, this album has sooo many different pages and so many different KINDS of pages!!

 

Here's the last index page

 

and the backside of that last index page.  Here you can see another page with the date stamp and it's lined as well!

I can't WAIT to take this on my trip and add my journaling, put my ticket stubs and other ephemera from my trip in it and add TONS of goodies from this kit!!  You BET I'm scrapbooking on this trip!!  I plan to cover the back cover as well and add a lot of ephemera to the index pages and pocket pages!! 

So there are only 24 of these kits ladies!  It's going to be first come, first serve and they will probably SELL OUT in the first few hours if not sooner!

SO.... REMEMBER TO BE HERE, ON MY BLOG ON MONDAY, JUNE 29TH AT 7PM, PACIFIC STANDARD TIME!!  They will be on the left side of the page under Kit Club!!

Oh, before I forget... I updated the website with the June Kits and the June Kit Gallery so you can see ALL the layouts and albums and altered art from the Design Team, Irene Tan and myself!! Go check it out and stop back while I'm gone if you wanted to see a specific layout you wanted to copy.

O.k. I'm going to try and clean my office tonight!  It's going to take a few days I'm sure but I NEED to start on it NOW!!

Oh, one more thing (this is truely how my brain works ladies... sorry about that :)-

I wanted to show you another thing that will be up for sale in July:

 

Remember this Make-n-Take that I did for the Reflections Event?  Well, I have a few left so I thought I would have these up for sale in July in honour of our trip to Paris!!!

Here's a couple more pictures of it:

 

It will come with instructions and everything you see to make this VERY CHIC Parisian mini album!!!  

I've also got the Summer Wishes Kit, the Uniquely Chic Kit AND my friend Cindy is making an album with some papers I have AND the Chatterbox Wood Album and Chatterbox STAND!!  Yes, I have those in stock but VERY limited!  She'll show you what she's done with hers and I will have both the album and the stand for sale seperately as well as a VERY small kit of the papers she's using if anyone wants that as well!

O.k, that's it for now...  Meet me here on Monday NIGHT AT 7PM, PST!!!  I'm going to be sending out ALL the July Kits no later then the end of next week so you will have these kits VERY SOON!  

One more mention:  IF YOU DID NOT GET YOUR CROCHET CHERRY LAST MONTH IN THE SUMMER KITS, PLEASE ADD A NOTE TO YOUR JULY ORDER IN THE NOTE SECTION THAT SAYS YOU NEED A CHERRY! Thanks!!

Hugs to all,

Laura

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

Oh MAN... I knew I would forget SOMETHING!!!

I was BLOWN AWAY last night when I opened my packages from Angela Harris !!!

She is SUCH a doll and has made some VERY special tags for the July kit this month!  Well, she said she added something "extra" and boy, did she!!!  Look how sweet she was to me:

 

She made me a Clutch PURSE!!!  Can you believe it??  And check out those vintage earrings as well!  And guess what... She doesn't know this but I've already coordinated my WHOLE wardrobe and guess what colors I've chosen.... Red, White and Black!!! (yes, I'm wacko but hey, a girl has to coordinate with her Travel Kit Papers right??? ;)-  So this purse if PERFECT for a night out on the town in Paris!!!  I also LOVE the two tags she made just for me and did you see the vintage book??  It's a fold out picture book of ROME!!  I'm tempted to add a page to each kit... Would that be terrible to "tear" up this book???  But I have to say a HUGE THANK YOU to Angela!  That is just unbelievable that you would go out of your way like this for me!  I'm sending you a BIG HUG and know that I am VERY TOUCHED by your kindness!! 

Love, Tuesday...

I thought I would share some SNEAKS of the Travel Kit for the "Love, Tuesday" blog post so here's a few more things that will be included in the kit:

 

Vintage flower cabochon's!

 

FUN luggage tags!  This kit is going to have a TON of tags in it!  I figured they are great when journaling and I tend to use a lot in my travel journals or albums...

 

More cute tags with a vintage look...  btw, the Prima red flowers will be in the kit too!

I know I showed you these cameo's before but I got them in the mail and HAD to show them again because they are stunning!  Do you see the iridescent look to the girls?  They are not embossed but the opposite of that?  not sure what that is called but the are indented and have such a beautiful European feel! 

Also, the crown tag will be in the kit from my friend Angela Harris and she's made some EXTRA SPECIAL tags as well! 

And... the paper behind all these will be in the kit too!  it's from the Paris line from GCD Studios WAIT until you see how GREAT their papers are in person!  They have such great textures on their papers and some really great designs!  You'll be getting most of this Paris line in your kit!  Also, there will be some of the Graphic 45 papers from all three of their newest lines and some Prima paintable papers and even an elegant Chatterbox paper!

Here's a few more things for this kit that are still making their way to me...

 

 

 

 

These are unused vintage buttons from an old mill in England.

O.k. hope I've got you excited for this VERY LIMITED KIT!  Remember there is only 24 of these kits and I made them very special because of our Europe trip!  Be sure to be here on June 29 at 7pm, PST if you want one because they may sell out in 15 minutes like the Irene Tan kit did this month! 

I'm working on my travel journal this week in Palm Springs and will show you it when these kits go live!  The album I'm using will also be in the kit and you will LOVE this album for sure!  It has so many different types of pages and mediums, it's really GREAT!

O.k. before I get back to my vacation, I will show you a SNEAK at the other kit i will have this month.  It's a beautiful floral kit that I'm having Melanie S. play with and she'll show you some things she's doing with this kit while I'm gone on our trip!

Here's the SNEAK:

 

Lots of PRETTY Prima goodies and Webster's Pages papers and some great metal and jewel accents and even a GORGEOUS brown felt gate!!

Have a great week!

Laura

And the Wedding Kit goes to...

Tiffany H !!!!!

Here's her entry:

Im still a newlywed. My husband and I got married November 8th 2008. Which makes us married for 7 months, but we've been together for almost 5 years. We met in the Army and I moved from California to Mississippi for him. This past Saturday I had to say goodbye to him for a year as he departed for his second tour of duty in Iraq. One of the things I love about my husband is his heart. As a medic in the Army he has seen some very hard things and he is always touched by them, he hasn't hardened himself to the suffering he has seen. It's not that I wish him to go through that pain; but I love that he does care so much. It is his heart that allows him to be so good at his job and save lives.

Rebecca wrote down all the names for the contest and I let her pick this time.  She was instantly touched when she read this entry!

So CONGRATULATIONS Tiffany!  Just send me your address and I'll mail that out when I get back home...

We're in Palm Springs right now and just got back from the pool.  Victoria ran into a friend from school at the pool too!  What a small world...

Over the weekend, we went to Disneyland for the day as our passes had 1 day left on them and they expire soon so we needed to use them before we leave for Europe.  Unfortunately, (or fortunately for the kids ;)- I just had surgery on my leg and b/c I twisted my ankle and it's still weak, I rented a wheelchair.  It was embarrassing and I felt weird doing it, but the girls LOVED bypassing part of the lines for all the rides!    That was pretty cool, I'd have to say myself...  I didn't go on all the rides with them so they were on their own for some of them, but it was a life saver not having to walk all day and night.  We would have had to go home hours earlier, I'm sure.

So here's some pictures of us, wheelchair and all...

 

Here's Isabella driving!  Take a look at the next car and that's me and Rebecca.  I'm on the cell phone emailing a kit club lady! ;)-  And then in the back is Victoria and I told  her I got a "glimpse" of what it's going to be like in a year or two when she's driving and I don't like it one bit!

 

This is her first time wearing an "disney" outfit to the park and she LOVED it!  She was all excited to meet Minnie and Mickey!  Unfortunately, we only saw Mickey b/c Minnie had to have a "lunch picnic" with Daisy when we went to her house...

But here she is having fun in Minnie's house:

 

 

 

 

Then we went to It's a Small World while Lance and the two older girls went to Space monition.  I won't spoil it by showing you many pictures of the changes inside this ride but here's one little peak:

 

Think Disney Characters INSIDE It's a Small World!  Really fun to look for new things in an old favorite.

 

Peter Pan ride was so fun and one of Victoria's FAV rides!

 

 

 

 

 

O.k. here's the picture Lance took to put on my blog...  Kind of embarrassing but it sure helped me have a better day and hopefully I won't have to do that again!

We had a great day and it's FUN here in Palm Springs!  I will be taking this week off enjoying this time with the girls before we leave for Europe.  I've also got some Clear Scraps work to finish before CHA and some reservations to make for Europe.

Please feel free to email me if you need something but I may not get back to you for a day or so since the internet here is sketchy. 

Tomorrow I will do a Love, Tuesday with some SNEAKS of the TRAVEL KIT and the other smaller kit.

Have a GREAT week and make sure you check back for the sneaks and the 411 of the July Kit Reveal on June 29th, next MONDAY at 7pm PST.

Hugs to all,

Laura

Friday night and lots to do...

Hi ladies!

I know I've been MIA for a couple days but it's really busy around here with the kids home from school and getting ready for all KINDS of things!

The day just kind of escaped me and I'm running out of time on this weeks contest so I'm going to postpone it until Monday!  So if you haven't had a chance to post a comment to win the special Wedding Kit, you have the weekend now!

I'm trying to get some Clear Scraps work done and I finished my Wedding Album!  I can't believe it's almost 20 years later and I'm making my FIRST scrapbook album of our wedding!  That's just sad...

But here's a few pictures of the Clear Scraps Word Album I had them send me:

MARRIAGE by Laura McCollough

 

Here's a few inside pages.. don't laugh I got married in the 80's...

 

 

 

 

 

  

So that's just a few pages... it's a pretty big album and I may try to post it on Twopeas some time next week before it's shipped off to CHA.

I did  a layout today as well so you can see I've been pretty busy.  Tonight I'm starting to pack for Palm Springs AND Europe!  I'm going to be gone all next week in PS with the girls and my in-laws and then I come back and Ty and Dawn and ELLA come to CA for a visit and then after that we leave for Europe!  Crazy roller-coaster days ahead (literally tomorrow ;)- 

I have decided to put up the July Kits on Monday, June 29th at 7pm PST!  This gives me an extra day to get the kits up for sale, purchased and boxed up and shipped out!  My goal is to have ALL the boxes shipped out by the end of that week so I can focus on getting everything ready for our trip! 

I will update again on Monday with the winner of the Wedding Kit, I'll talk more about the June 29th REVEAL and show you some SNEAKS of the kits!

Oh, I have a contest going on over at Logo Tournament for someone to come up with my NEW LOGO!!  If any of you are designers, head on over there and give it a try!!

Have a GREAT weekend everyone!

Hugs,

Laura

P.S.  My leg seems to be healing fine.  I twisted my ankle a couple weeks ago and that is on the same leg so with both things together, I look pretty sad... I'm still limping a little as I feel the ankle is still week so I'm trying to stay off of it as much as I can or wrap it when I go out and I have a big bandage on my leg where the growth was taken out so it definately looks worse then it is!  Keep praying the growth is not cancer as the dr. said it's most likely not but there is a very slight change it could be a really rare cancer I couldn't name if you asked me too...

Love, Tuesday...

Here is what I'm LOVING today and getting EXCITED FOR:

 

My hubby and I spent the other night pouring over the guide books and internet to figure out what we wanted to do in all the places we're going!  I'm getting so PUMPED about our 20th Wedding Anniversary trip and it's coming up, right around the corner!!  We are feeling a bit stressed that we don't have a LOT of things done yet, but we are excited and want to try and plan as much as we can now BEFORE we go...  We've already got our reservations at Le Jules Verne Restaurant on the 2nd level of the Eiffel Tower and I'm sooo excited to be IN the ET at night and see the light show!!  Now we're just trying to figure out the other restaurants we want to go to in Paris, London, Lake Como, Venice and Monte Carlo!!  If anyone has any recommendations, please tell me!!  We're doing a cooking class in Lake Como, seeing an Opera in Venice, riding bikes on a tour of London and that's about it that we've made reservations for...  So needless to say, I'm going to be on here less and less as we get closer to leaving as I'm needing to organize and get everything in order. 

My surgery went pretty good yesterday.  Thanks for all the thoughts and prayers!  I didn't think it was going to be a big deal at all but I ended up feeling pretty sick while they were doing it and they must have noticed b/c they asked me how I was feeling and I told them the truth, pretty bad!  They quickly laid down the table I was on so the blood would flow back to my head!  I've never passed out before but I think I was about to then...lol...  I'm blaming it on the medicine and not me being a weakling! ;)-It's pretty sore today and I'm just praying it will heal in two weeks so they can take the stiches out like they said.  I can't go in the pool next week though so I'm bummed about that... 

Oh, my Summertime Banner is on the TOP 10 on www.twopeasinabucket.com if you want to go see it (and vote ;)- You'll also be able to check it out better b/c I put some close-ups on there.  For those of you who got the Summer/4th of July kit and wanted to make it, that would be a great place to check it out!

I am finishing up the Int'l shipping today so I can get those sent out tomorrow and then be DONE with the June kits!  I also got a box over this weekend, October Afternoon...  BUT, the Rubber Charms were NOT in the box!  It was just the Rub-ons.  So for those of you who bought the Rub-ons, I will be mailing those out soon.  Let me know if you plan on getting a July kit and then I'll wait to mail them then.  I'm going to call OA tomorrow for 1 MORE TIME and see if they have any information on the Rubber Charms.  If they can't give me an answer, I'm going to most likely cancel that order and refund you the $$ of the charms if you ordered them.  I REALLY don't want you to wait that long.  The other option is to switch your order to the Rub-ons instead of the Rubber Charms b/c I think I have some of the Rub-ons still available...  But I'll update you on that as soon as I have a final answer.

I'm almost done with the wedding album I'm working on for Clear Scraps and I'll share that soon!  I will taking next week off to get some things done for Clear Scraps and I'll be in Palm Springs for the week.  You can still email me if you need anything since I'll be taking my computer with me.  I'll also be updating the website DT Gallery since you will all have your kits by then and will want to see the DT layouts.  I didn't get a chance to work on the Irene Tan Instructions last night b/c of my leg but I will try to get to those tonight or tomorrow and email them to you along with the June Sketch from Norma Kennedy.  I did already send out the Summer Banner Instructions to everyone so let me know if you didn't get it.

I think that's it for today.  I LOVE reading all your comments on the blog about your hubbies!!  Keep it coming as I'll pick the winner of the WEDDING KIT on Friday!!

Have a GREAT Tuesday,

Laura

Happy Monday Morning!!

I can't believe it but I slept in until 8:30!!  Ahhhhhh.... Gotta LOVE Summer!!  I feel so rested today and Isabella snuck in bed with me this morning and snuggled for a while before she wanted to come down stairs so it's a GREAT start to a Monday morning for sure!

Today I have my outpatient surgery to remove the "growth" on my leg.  I wouldn't call it a mole b/c it's not, but I can't remember the fancy name he gave it...  Not looking forward to them cutting it out and sewing it up...  I think it might interfere with my Palm Springs trip next week too.  We go every year right after the kids get out of school with my in-laws for a week and I have a feeling I won't be allowed to go in the pool since they told me it would take 2 weeks to heal...  

Today before the surgery I'm going to concentrate of getting the Step-by-Step Instructions together for both June Projects!  I think most of you will be getting your boxes in the next day or so and some already have them and you're probably wanting the instructions ASAP!  So today I finally have some time this morning to write those up.  (Can you tell this is my least favorite part of the design process?? ;)-  I will email those to everyone as soon as I get them done.  If you don't get an email, just send me a quick one b/c I may not have everyone on the list...  OH... I'll also email you the June Sketch from Norma Kennedy too!!

I'm working on a lot of Clear Scraps projects for CHA Summer this week and I'm taking a lot with me to Palm Springs to work on at night too.  I've been told I can show everyone the designs I come up with so when I'm done with the word book I'm doing on my wedding, I'll share it here!  I used the June Love Kit and It's turning out really nice! 

O.k. it's almost 10am now and we haven't had breakfast yet so I'll leave you with two more things and then do my motherly duty...

 

Here is another take on the Summertime Kits!  My friend Cindy Earnest, who helps me every week and is a DEAR friend brought this over to show me!!  Isn't it GREAT??!  I LOVE seeing everyone's take on my kits and she is so talented!  Her house is decorated in "Americana" style and this is so PERFECT for it!!  Here's a few close-ups so you can see what she did with her banner. 

 

 

 

I just LOVE it!  Way to go Cindy!  She used ALL chipboard for her banner pieces by the way.  Oh, I have to share something she told me this morning...  Last Thursday she was going down to Paper Tales to take a class with JENNI BOWLIN!  Yes, Jenni came out to California to teach some classes and have a CA vacation with her family!  So since Cindy was going down to Paper Tales, that's why I had kind of a deadline on the Paper Tales class project I made:

 

I wanted Cindy to take this with her since I don't get down to the store very often and I know they'd like to have it before I leave for my trips.  Well, I guess Jenni saw this and LOVED IT!!  Cindy said they all loved it at the store so I'm SUPER excited!  (It's always a good thing when people like the class projects you work on b/c you just never know... )  I'm trying to make things "out of the box" each time and show new techniques or different products you can use in scrapbooking...  Sometimes that might be a little "to out of the box" for people so that's why I just never know how things are going to go over at stores...  It's like the Random Thoughts class...  You know how I showed you the "technique" I came up with with the Prima Artful Cardboard and how you can cut into it with an exacto knife to give it dimension??  Well, that was kind of "different" and I wasn't sure if people would just think it's WEIRD or brilliant?? lol...  That's why I usually put "quotation marks" around the word "technique"  because I don't consider myself educated in certain correct ways to do things...  I've never taken a class showing me how to stamp or how to sew or how to... anything!  So please don't come here if you want the CORRECT way to do something.  My "techniques" are just me playing around and trial and error... ;)-

O.k. that was way off subject...

Last thing is:

DON'T FORGET TO LOOK AT YOUR BOX WHEN YOU GET IT!!!  One of you got a "SPECIAL" box from Isabella!  Remember I said she decorated ONE BOX and whoever gets that box, gets a prize?!!  Well, I didn't even know who HAD the box until this weekend when I was printing out the shipping labels and saw who it was!!  So I promise it was totally random and don't forget to look at your box to see if YOU are the WINNER!

I also have another KIT to give away this week!!  I made a special WEDDING THEMED KIT that has some items in it that no-one else got!!  It's a GREAT KIT and I know you're going to WANT THIS KIT!!  SO.... I want you to leave a comment on this blog and tell me 1. what year you got married, 2. how many years you've been married and 3. what is one thing you still LOVE about your man!!

I'll announce the winner on Friday night!!

Take care and have a wonderful Monday,

Laura

UPDATE:  1:15pm  I JUST SENT THE INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE BANNER TO EVERYONE!  LET ME KNOW IF YOU DIDN'T GET IT.  ALSO, I JUST POSTED ALL THE PICTURES OF THE BANNER ON Two Peas if you wanted to see it up-close (and vote on it ;)-  I need to leave for the doctor soon so I will do the Irene Tan instructions later tonight! 

It's 6:30pm and UPS just showed up!

Can you believe they are still working at 6:30pm??  Well, I got my Clear Scraps box though and I'm HAPPY!!  I will be working late for YOU tonight!!  (Do I get paid for overtime??) hehehe...

I will try to get EVERY BOX shipped and OUT OF HERE tomorrow!!

Have a GREAT Friday night,

Laura

SUMMER has officially started!!

Whew, we are all done!  What a week it's been!  I feel the need for a NAP right now like nobodies business but alas... More work to be done...  But the program for Rebecca was so neat and she's such a sweet girl.  She did GREAT on her solo and the dance was all the 4th grade girls and it was so moving!

There is sooo much to share with you from this week so be ready for a HUGE photo log...

First is the girls CYT show performance.  The were Ninja's in their skit and were doing a "STOMP" type of performance with the trashcans and barrells:

 

 

 

Then there was Isabella's graduation.  Their class sang a French song b/c their teacher was born in Paris, France and they were the class that was showing the "language" part of school...  The hats the teachers are wearing are from our last trip to Paris!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Is she miss photogenic or what??  They were suppossed to were a red dress and she didn't have any.  Then I remembered this red dress Rebecca got when we were in PARIS and found it in the back of her closet!!!  It was a little big but it WORKED and the teacher was sooo excited to see her in a dress from her "homeland"... ;)-

Then we had Victoria's Birthday on the same day...

 

 

 

Happy 15th girlie!!!  She also got her hair done on her birthday which was a SHOCK when I found out how much it cost... (maybe that much for an adult, but for a 15 year old?? yikes...)  She's been wanting a Volleyball for a while now and she's officially moved past Tennis now, so I think she may want to go back to Volleyball and try out for the Freshman team this Summer.  In fact last night after Graduation, she met the Volleyball Coach at the restuarant we were at!

Then It was a half day for her yesterday, a quick trip over to her new school to register, Rebecca had a pool party, I had a deadline on this:

 

It's a class for Paper Tales in August!!!  I told you I found some AWESOME fabric at a store in town... Well, I JUST finished this idea of mine literally 2 minutes before my friend Cindy came over to pick it up to take there yesterday!  It was SOOOO much fun making and I can't WAIT to teach it at Paper Tales!!  It's a chipboard hanging frame with basically LOTS of stuff from the June Summer Kit and all the fabric you see here!  I'm just showing you a "peek" of this class as I need to keep it under wraps until after the class!

So then after that was checked off the list, I had to get grab Rebecca from the pool party, get back so I could get some things for Victoria for her graduation and come home to a frantic teenager b/c the shoes she planned to wear was missing a jewel. (there my shoes that I always wear to Las Vegas)  So I had to run to Michaels and see about finding the EXACT shape of jewel to fit... Then we were off to Junior High Graduation:

Well, we gave her her present first...  A pair of pearl earrings in a Tiffany Box:

 

Well, the pearls are actually from Macy's but she's been eyeing my porclein Tiffany Box for YEARS and I decided to pass it down to her!  I guess with real pearls the lady said you have to take special care of them and keep them seperate from your other jewelry so I thought that was a perfect box for her to keep them in then...

 

Here's our girl, walking down the aisle!  Don't even want to THINK about the other "walk down the aisle"... lol...  And she did such a GREAT JOB!!  She was close to the end of the kids and I was watching all the girls walking in there heals and their expressions on their faces.  A lot of them were looking down, or covering their faces with their hair and not very confident.  So I was getting nervous for Victoria and wondering what she was going to be like...  Well, NOT TO WORRY... She handled it with grace and really took the pressure off of herself by actually looking INTO the audience for people she knew and was quickly saying Hi to them or giving them a little wave.  I thought that was so great of her and a way to be confident but not to "CONFIDENT" in you know what I mean...  And check out the shoes...  My "Las Vegas" shoes looked PERFECT with the dress!!

 

Trying to keep Isabella occupied for 2 1/2 hours wasn't a JOY but she did pretty good over all.  She had to go potty RIGHT before it was Victoria's turn to get her certificate so we ran to the bathroom and a minute later my mom rushes in and says "she's next", hurry and go back!!!!  So I run down the hallway and she was JUST having her named called!  Perfect timing right??

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then afterwards we went to dinner and this is what she does:

 

TEXTS!!! 

Until she shes one of her best buds at the same restaurant:

 

I have to say, it's a weird feeling that I had last night...  I can't really explain it, but I was talking to my mom this morning and it's as if she's already "gone"...  I mean I know she's NOT, she's only going into 9th Grade... But, after the Graduation, she was off to talk to all of her friends and being the social butterfly she IS, and then texting all her friends afterwards and I just thought, "she's becoming an adult" and I need to "let go" more...  It's not like my middle one who is 10 and it's still about "mom and dad" more then friends and "life"...  She's really becoming an independent person and that's GREAT and sad at the same time??...   I certainly WANT her to be capable on her own and have LOADS of friends and be well rounded in life, but I was sad to see some of the "strings" get clipped last night... Is this making any sense? or am I just a babbling, sappy mom right now??

All this is to say, we LOVE you Victoria and are SO PROUD OF YOU!!  You ARE on your way into adulthood and you're making some GREAT choices in your life!  We continue to ALWAYS be here for you,  support you and pray for you as you make that journey!

 

Then today was the last of our programs... Rebecca's school had an all school performance and she had a SOLO!!  It's her first real solo at a big school program and she did GREAT!

 

 

That's here nealing down for the dance.

 

 

Her and her teacher!!  She's was SOOO wonderful with Rebecca this year!  We are so sad to let you go!  You were an inspiration to Rebecca!!  We LOVE you and will remember you forever!!

And NOW it's SUMMERTIME!!  And I'm not nearly ready for it... 

But before I can officially start MY Summer, I need to fill you in on some things...

1st off, the Love Kits WILL be mailed out AS SOON AS I get the box from Clear Scraps!  I should be getting it today but I haven't seen it yet... It's about 3:30pm PST and I was REALLY hoping to get it by lunchtime so I could mail them out today!!  I'm so sorry that this has taken sooo long!  I have everything else I need so we're just waiting on the albums...    I'm also waiting on the Cherries from Switzerland but I've mailed all those kits out if you didn't order the Irene Tan kit.  I'll mail out the cherry if you didn't get one, when I recieve them.

O.k....

Here are the FIVE winners of this weeks RAK:

SandyB.

Debbie Oneil

Jeanne K.

Andi M.

Angie T.

CONGRATULATIONS!!  Send me an email with your address and I'll mail those out!

Lastly,  the July Kits!!  I'm REALLY excited about these kits and I wanted to share a few pictures of some VINTAGE finds and such that will be included in this kit!  This TRAVEL kit has a "European" flair to it so here's a few things making it into this kit:

 

 

VINTAGE PHOTOS from all over the WORLD!

 

German Road SIGNS AND FLASHCARDS!!

 

Vintage TRAVEL BOOKS on VENICE, ITALY!

 

One of these wood Eiffel Towers from my good friend Kim Hesson!

 

This WALLPAPER of PARIS!!!  I'm thinking of using this to cover an album!!  Or it would be GREAT used as your Layout backround or on an altered art item or on a canvas or... SO MANY THINGS!  I have this coordinating wallpaper boarder in the kit too:

 

I can't WAIT to make my TRAVEL JOURNAL before our trip!  I better get a move on it though...

 

 

 

O.k. that's just a TASTE of this kit!!  I have sooooo much more in this kit!  Now you can see why this kit is NOT going to be the normal $32.00 Main kit...  More on that later...

I'll leave you with two more pictures of things I received in the mail lately...

The BRAND NEW Chatterbox Album Stand!!  AND, I have the wood album that goes with it in the June Kit section of the blog!

AND...

 

BRAND NEW PRIMA GOODNESS!!!

All these JUST came out, literally THIS WEEK and I already HAVE THEM!!  All new designs, colors and textures!!!  So look for those two things in JULY as well!!

Have a GREAT weekend!!  I'll update you later tonight if I got the box from Clear Scraps or not.  If I do and it's past 5pm, I'll work by tale off tonight to get these in the mail tomorrow for all of YOU!

Hugs to all,

Laura

One more program to go...

This has been GRADUATION week here at our house!  Last night Victoria GRADUATED from 8th Grade and she did GREAT!  There's just one more program at school today as they "promote" Rebecca to 5th Grade.  She has a SOLO and a dance to perform and then we're done and SUMMER CAN BEGIN!!

I'll be back on here later this afternoon with TONS of pictures, the WINNERS of the RAK and updates on ALL THE KITS (even the July kits ;)-

Hugs,

Laura

Love, Tuesday...

 

Is that not the cutest???  Baby Ella is almost 2 months old now!!  And Ty has a video of her cooing on FB that just makes your heart melt!  I can't WAIT tell they come out her in just a few weeks!!!

She is DEFINATELY what I'm LOVING today!!!

O.k. I can't take my eyes of those "baby blues"... But, I need to update everyone on some things...

First,  I'm almost done invoicing everyone for the Irene Tan Project kit and any other items you wanted.  I have a few more left to do so don't panic if you haven't recieved an invoice yet...  It's just been a VERY busy week with the last week of school and such...  I probably didn't time this very good... 

Secondly,  tomorrow I will be mailing out as many kits as I can that DID NOT order the Irene Tan Project Kit or the Summertime Banner Kit.  Both of those I'm waiting on the Clear Scraps acrylic.  I did finally get a hold of J&J and I asked them to RUSH me the items I need for these kits so I should have them by Friday.  I'd REALLY like to get EVERYTHING out the door by Friday night so I don't have to think about it anymore...  You should see my office and the boxes in here!  I ordered everything else I needed for the re-order of Irene's Kit and I'm praying I get everything by Friday as well.  I will keep you updated on here so just keep checking back.  I'll probably update everyone by late Thursday and let you know what I've received...

I am REALLY on a count down now for our trip and getting DT work done for Clear Scraps and end of school stuff with the kids so I may not be on here as much or get back to you at lightning spead. ;)-  Next week I am going to try and get an insane amount of work done since I have the kids home, no school and LOTS to do.  I'm also having minor surgery on Monday so I'll be home all week recovering. (it's just a growth/mole on my leg that has been there for years but doesn't look good so we're removing it...)  I am going to also try to get the ladies over next week some time to help put together the July Travel kits so that is done and taken care of.  I don't know WHAT I was thinking doing a July kit??

Speaking of the July kits, as I was organizing the guest bedroom last weekend, I remembered I had some product that I never put into a kit.  So... In addition to the July Travel Kit, I'm going to have a small Websters Pages/Prima kit!  There won't be any time for making layouts or examples for you, but if you wanted their Magical/Whimscal?? line, that's what it is and I have some Prima flowers and felt fences to go with it.  I'll also have a Summer Cardstock Pack for sale that has some really nice summer colors...  I'll also have the Summer Class Kit that I thought I was going to have time to teach but now am just offering to YOU SPECIAL LADIES!!  And, for those of you who wanted the Paris Make-n-Take, I have a few of those left and I thought I'd put those up at the same time since it's a "Travel" related mini album.

So, that's a little taste of what is coming for July!  I MAY CHANGE THE DATE OF THE JULY REVEAL... I'll update you on my decision this Friday so you can plan for that...  It's just that the last week of June/1st few days of July, my brother's family will be here and I really don't want to have too much going on when they are here.  Plus, if I can take care of this as early as possible, then that's less I have to take care of before we leave... 

Remember, I won't have ANY kits in August so this will be the last kits for sale until September!!  Also, the Travel Kit is a VERY LIMITED kit and will sell out FAST because of that AND what I have IN the kits!!  (so excited to show you!!)  The Travel Kit will not be the normal $32.00 kit.  I have SOOOO MUCH in this kit and haven't figured out the price yet, but just get ready so you don't have sticker shock!! ;)-

O.k. I think that's it for now...

I'll leave you with some layouts from the DT:

 

Here's another BEAUTIFUL layout from our AWESOME Guest Designer, Irene Tan!!

She is so amazinly gifted!!  I can't WAIT to see what she comes up with for the Clear Scraps booth at CHA this Summer!  She told me she's making an album with the left overs from this kit and I told her I was too!  I have a Clear Scraps Word Book, MARRIAGE and I'm using this kit to make it!!  I'll share with you when it's done...

 

Here's a picture frame Emeline Seet made with the Love Main Kit!!  SO PRETTY!!

 

Here's a layout from Norma.  Can't remember if I shared this one already??  Love this random look of "love"!!

 

Here's a layout from the Summer/4th of July Kit from Danielle!!  What a cutie in the picture!

 

Here's a FUN 4th of July layout from Melanie!!

 

And a fun journal album that Norma made with the Love Kit!  In fact, I think this is up in her Etsy shop!!  So go grab it if you like it!!

Alright, my parents are here for a few days for all the graduation and birthday celebrations so I better go make something for dinner...  I can't believe my first born is going to be 15 tomorrow!!!  It goes by way too fast... 

Take care,

Laura

Happy Monday morning...

(actually, it's Sunday night while I'm writing this... )

And that's because today (MOnday) is my LAST day of having all the kids at school before Summer starts!!  You know what that's like right ladies?  Come on, be honest...  We all LOVE Summer, but the kids are all home, every day, all day, with nothing to do...  You have to make breakfast, make lunch, make snacks and make dinner AND try to think of things to keep them busy with all Summer...

SO, today I'm taking a ME day!  Well sort of...  I'm going to a nice outdoor mall, going to enjoy the nice San Diego weather, look for graduation presents for Isabella and Victoria, a birthday present for Victoria (2 more days until she's 15!!) and maybe look for a dress or skirt for me for our trip this Summer!  I may even sneak by Paper Tales if I have enough time!!  LOVE that store!! 

I almost didn't think I was going to get a "me" day with the crazy weekend I've had..  My ankle has been REALLY fragile since Friday night when it got twisted pretty bad but  I think it's going to be fine now.  I stayed off of it most of the day yesterday and even SAT on the COUCH!!  (you probably figure I don't do that much with my busy life and you'd be right ;)-  But, I sat on the couch while Lance and the girls made dinner!!  That was a comedy act I must say...  I think they had to ask me a million questions just to make "little pizza's"!!  And they were fighting over who could grate the cheese! (Isabella won that one, sort of...)  But today my ankle is doing MUCH better and hopefully I'll be back to normal in the morning. 

I thank all of you who sent your well wishes to Deb!  You are all such wonderful ladies and I am so thankful I have all of you visiting my blog and making this a "family".  I'm definately going to have to have a message board for us on the website because I want all of you to get to know eachother even more!  Speaking of website, I'll try to get the Gallery up for this month tomorrow so you can see all the designs in one place.

I have taken most of the day today (Sunday) to get all the kits finished and to see what I had left over.  I know a LOT of you wanted to be on the Irene Tan list and a lot of you wanted to know if I have any more Summer kits left!  the answer is YES to both of them and I will email all of you by tonight (Monday) that wanted a kit and let you know if you got one! 

And, since I had such a GREAT day of organizing the Guest Bedroom (partly to get it cleaned up for when my brother's family comes to visit us soon!!  yeah!!!) I thought it would be a GREAT idea to do another GIVEAWAY!!!

I came up with 5 prizes so you have a GREAT chance of winning one this week!!

Just leave a comment on this post and I'll announce the winners on Friday!  Why don't you tell me one of your FAVORITE Summer memories!!  We'll have FUN reading all the posts and you might get a PRIZE out of it too!!

Have a GREAT Monday,

Laura

And the winner is...

We just got home from mailing off a bunch of boxes and Rebecca just finished writing down all the names for the drawing...

 

Good luck to all of you!!

 

By the way... I'm sitting on the couch as we do this because last night I was up until 1am and when I got up from the computer chair, for some reason my right foot didn't move in the same direction as the left and I twisted it pretty bad.  It's been very fragile all day and now just at my hubby's office it got worse with very sharp pain.  I don't know what I did but I guess there's no exercise today...  Any one know what this could be?? It's not the ankle, it's below the ankle, lower onto the foot on the left side of the right foot... Any nurses out there??

 

O.k. Rebecca is sitting down with me again and the "hat" is acually a plastic popcorn container... Ya know the kind you can get at Target for a buck... ;)- lame, I know...

 

I'm really making you wait aren't I ???  O.K.....

 

THE WINNER IS:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

VALERIE BISHOP!!!

 

 

 

Congatulations!!!

 

WOW, I just was chatting with her this morning!  She's going to BE SO EXCITED!!  I don't feel like getting up to get the camera to document this but Rebecca picked out the name so blame her if it wasn't your name.  hehehe...

 

Don't feel bad though because I'll be having a LOT more fun games and prizes this month!!  Next week I'll be excited to see who got the "SPECIAL" box that Isabella decorated!!  Believe me, you'll know it's you when  you see this box all decorated up by a 4 year old!!

 

I've been thinking a lot lately about this past year since I started the A Kiss on the Chic Kit Club.  How it's changed me in so many ways.  I had a comment from one lady recently that made me think about how "busy" I am and that is something that has "stepped up" since starting a Kit Club for sure but this is what I said to her and I thought I would share it with all of you too...

 

"Ya know, a year ago before I started all this madness I was just your normal wife, mom and scrapbooker...  Now I look back and think how much this year has changed me and even though I am VERY busy, I think it's a good thing. IF I remember to balance this "job" with my responsibilities at home of course.  But I think my life is sooo much "richer" now then it was before!  (not $$ wise and I know you know what I mean)   I look back before I started this and there was a LOT more "down time" but I remember  that it was spent doing useless things like solataire on the computer( you can get sucked in for hours on that ;)-  or going out to "shop" when I really didn't NEED anything, or flipping channels on the TV and those kinds of mindless things...  Those things are all FINE things but the fact that I don't have time to watch TV or play a mindless game, or check out websites or blogs I'd  like to look at doesn't bother me at all!  What I'm doing is soooo much more rewarding and getting to interact with sooo many wonderful ladies makes all the hard work WORTH IT!!"

 

So, NO... I'm not Wonder Women by any strech of the imagination.  But I LOVE what I do and I LOVE this Kit Club and I LOVE getting to know all of YOU!!  If I have less time because of that, It's ALL GOOD...   I have BIG plans for this Kit Club so we're all in this together right??!!

 

Speaking of "all of us"...

 

I have some VERY SAD news to share.  I've been crying all day because one of my DEAR, DEAR friends is stepping down from the Design Team. 

 

Debra Famularo has asked to step down from her DT responsibilities.

 

She has sooo much going on right now in her life and I've shared some of it on here about her In-laws but right now she needs to focus on her family and I totally understand that!  It's not the understanding part that is so hard... It's the emotional side that's REALLY hard for me.  She is someone who has been with me since my days selling on eBay!  I will miss her creative STYLE, her enthusiastic ATTITUDE and her TREMENDOUS help!!!

 

I know she will always be a part of "us" but I am already missing her...

 

I LOVE YOU DEB and I will ALWAYS have a place for you here at AKOTC!!!!

 

Here's one more look at Deb's designs over the past year:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We'll miss you Deb!! 

 

O.k. Blog hop is officialy closed...

It's after midnight here and the BLOG HOP is now over AND I'm still printing shipping labels!! I think I've been doing this since this morning at 9am and just stopped to take care of the kids here and there... I'm mailing out about 20 boxes tomorrow, I mailed a little less then that today and the majority will be next week. 

Those of you who ordered the Irene Tan Project kit may need to wait a little bit.  I still haven't heard from J&J if they mailed my box yet.  They are at a convention (Great Amerian Scrapbook??) and I heard from one of my ladies who is there, that they are VERY busy and have TONS of people in their booth all the time!  That's always good though right??  I'll try to get an answer by Monday morning so I can update all of you.

I've also ordered just about EVERYTHING for the Irene Tan Project Kit and even though I said I wasn't going to be able to get this 2nd shipment out until September after our Summer trips... I changed my mind!!  Since I should have everything by late next week or early the following week, I'm going to go ahead and put those together for you just as soon as I recieve everything!  I figured since I won't have 2 kits for July, this won't be that hard to do and then I'll feel better about not making you wait so long.  This will also save on shipping IF you decide to wait until I have these kits ready to go with your other kits.  IF NOT, no worries, just send me an email that you don't want to wait and you'd like me to send your other order now.  This only applies to the Irene Tan "re-order" not the original kits that sold out in 15 minutes!  Those will go out with your orders the minute I get the Clear Scraps albums!!

The only other issue with this months kits is I'm waiting on more of the handmade cherries!  Oh, Did I ever mention that was the surprise all the way from Switzerland??

 

Yup, that's the CUTEST Cherries I've ever seen!!  I had her make a TON of cherries for my kits and then guess what... I trippled the order!!  lol...  She made me more that are on the way for the Summertime Banner Kit and then she's making me another batch for a class at Papertales in August!  Oh, I'm telling you... this project I'm making for that class is going to be a definate FAV of mine!!  I'm having a special wood "item" made for this class and there's a TON of FABRIC on it, trimmings, these cherries, AND the Webster's Pages Papers from this months kit!!  I don't have an exact date yet, but I'll let you know as soon as I'm done figuring out my crazy Summer schedule!  My friends are going to the Jenni Bowlin class at Papertales next week and I'm soooo jealous!  I wanted to go and almost signed up until I realized it was the same day as Victoria Graduates!!!

Can you believe it?  She's going to be 15 this Wednesday and then she graduates on Thursday!!  AND, GREAT NEWS...  She got accepted into the High School she applied to!!  They met with us today and interviewed her seperately and then Lance & I seperately and the all of us together!  Wow, that seems like a LOT for a High School doesn't it??  But she was accepted and we're so PROUD of her!!  She's a really special girl, especially in this day an age...  She is very confident in who she is and what she believes in and has the kind of personality that makes everyone want to be friends with her.  They even told her she'd be great as a leader in ASB but it's too late this year so they told her to go for it for her Sophmore year!   

Next week is going to be a VERY busy week with two graduations, a birthday,  the kits being mailed out, dr's. appointments for just about all of us before we leave for trips this summer, (I'm getting a UGLY mole removed from my leg and I think they're going to have to dig pretty deep... I know TMI...) and we wanted to take the girls to Disneyland after they get out of school since we have 1 more day left on our passes that expire while were gone this Summer.  Ya, I know mom... I have a busy life... I'll be fine.

So if you don't here back from me in my normal bullet spead, that's why!  ;)-

I will keep you updated on the arrival of those items.  I think there's just a few kits that don't have the Cherries from Switzerland.  I really don't want to hold up a kit just for that since I planned these kits for JUNE so you could have time to play with them or make the banner to put up NOW!!  So I'll mail out those kits now and send the cherry in a little envelope as soon as they arrive.

I will post the winner of the BLOG HOP later today (Saturday) since I want this to be "official" and my little "official helper" is sleeping right now!! hehehe...  I also need to make sure whoever we pick out of the hat has truely gone to each site and left a comment.  I mean, this is for TWO FREE KITS PEOPLE, gotta be fair!!

I'm off to bed now before I REALLY sound wacky or spell everything wrong..  But, I'll leave you with a few more layouts from the DT:

Here's one from Debra Famularo!  I LOVE this pink on the Invisibles Paper!!  By the way, please keep Deb in your prayers.  I haven't heard from her in a couple days and I think it may not look good for her in-laws.  It's terribly sad that her husband may be loosing BOTH parents at the same time...

 

Here's the same paper, just a different take on it from Irene Tan!  That's why I LOVE having a Design TEAM!!  You get such beautiful takes on the kits each month!

 

And here's one from Melanie S.  I don't think I've shared this one yet??  It's with the Summer kit and it's sooo FUN with all the "tear outs" and handcut flowers!!

Oh, I LOVE my Design Team!!  Thanks ladies for making such GREAT layouts!!

Hugs to all,

Laura

Oh, Oh!!! P.S.....  I think I'm in the current issue of Scrapbook Trends Mini Album book!  I've been to Barnes & Noble Twice and they don't have it, I looked at Michaels and JoAnns and can't find it... So if anyone has it and sees my little Disney mini album, let me know please!!  I'm sure I'll get a copy from ST but that won't be for a while and I'm so curious how it looks!!

Blog Hop starts TODAY!!

Hi Ladies!

I am so excited for this part of our 1st Anniversary party that's taking place ALL month long!!  So today...

LET'S GO BLOG HOPPING!!

For those of you who don't know what a "blog hop" is,  I'll explain...

I'm going to ask you some questions and you need to go FIND the answers at ALL my Design Team (DT) ladies blogs and THIS blog as well!  You'll go to each DT blog (they're all listed on the left side bar <---)  try to find the answer, LEAVE A COMMENT AT EACH BLOG, (not the answer, just a HI, I'm here on the blog hop type of comment)  then come back to THIS blog and leave your ANSWERS in the comments section of THIS POST!!  Easy enough?? 

Now you'll not know which question is for which blog so you'll need to do a little "digging" at each blog you stop at to find the answer.  If you've been following my blog for a while, you may know the answers without even going to the blogs, BUT YOU HAVE TO because I want you to go to each DT ladies blog, have a look around, and LEAVE A COMMENT!!

O.k. here's the Questions you need to find:

1. Who's been published in Paper Crafts Magazine?

2. Who is a "Coffee Addict"??

3. Who recently celebrated her birthday??

4. Who has a Latin origin?

5. Who lives in a "virtual" mansion?

6. Who designs for Clear Scraps?

So go find the answers, leave a comment on EACH blog, then come back HERE and leave your ANSWERS on this post!!! 

I'll give you until Friday at midnight to get this done!  Then I'll announce the winner this weekend!!  The Prize is a TWO FREE MAIN KITS!!! You can pick which months you want, both in the same month or spread it out over two different month!

READY, SET, GO!!!!!

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

O.k. this is other info for those who are already done with the "Blog Hop" ...

Yesterday I told you I forgot to put THREE things in the Summertime kit!!  Well I thought I would show you what they are:

 

These VINTAGE Sheet Music STARS!!  These are coming to you all the way "across the pond"!  A lady I found on Etsy, punches all different things for vintage music paper, vintage maps, vintage EVERYTHING!!  So these will be in the Summertime Kits!!

 

NO, not everyone is getting one of these!!  BUT, my dear friend Cindy PUNCHED a 12x12 strip of white cardstock with this ADORABLE Martha Stewart PICKET FENCE PUNCH!!  It's sooo stinkin' cute!!!  Each Summertime kit is getting one of these too!

 

Are these CUTE or what!!??  I TOTALLY forgot about these!  I should have them by today but I ordered them to be custom made, completely "spaced" on them and they will be in the in the Summertime/4th of July kit ONLY.  I don't think I ordered enough for BOTH the Main Kit and the Banner kit... (sorry, I doubled my order AFTER I ordered these)

I don't think I have anything for the LOVE kit that wasn't pictured but I may??  I always add little things in there when we're kitting them!  In fact, TONIGHT is my "Kitting Party" and I think I have about 5 ladies coming over so that's going to be a HUGE help!!  I'm going to try and get ALL the kits for THIS month kitted AND get the July Travel Kit kitted as well.  I don't have EVERYTHING for them yet, but I have enough to where we can start the process and that will help me BIG time since I can't do anything last minute for July.  I don't even know how I'm going to DO kits in July??  Which brings me to another thing I wanted to discuss...

I've been VERY excited about the July kits for a LONG time!  In fact, one of the kits, I've had just about EVERYTHING for since March!!  That's the Passion for Fashion kit.  Debra Famularo has offered to make the project kit for it and it's AWESOME!!   Here's the problem...  With me leaving for Europe right after the 1st of the month and Debbie has BOTH inlaws in the hospital and her husband with them right now, I feel led to wait on this kit.  The GOOD news in all of this is...

I'm going to ADD to this kit, items FROM EUROPE!!!  You know I'm going to be searching for vintage finds ALL throughout my trip this Summer and I planned on having a kit when I get back with all my FINDS! Well, what a GREAT idea to turn the Passion for Fashion Kit into the  "Haute Couture" Kit from A Kiss on the CHIC!!!  This will be a "Uniquely Chic" kit and will be VERY LIMITED in quantity but I have a feeling it's going to be another FAV kit of mine!!

So, for the July kits, I'm still doing a TRAVEL themed kit and it has a very Vintage/ephemera feel to it so I've VERY excited about it!  I'm also going to be bringing a special "Uniquely Chic" kit back that I was going to teach this Summer but with my schedule, I only have time for 1 class this Summer and I already have something else planned for that! (more details on that soon ;)-

O.k. I have my friend Cindy over now helping me with the kits and I need to get ready for tonight.  So go have FUN checking out the DT blogs and remember to come back here with your answers!!

Hugs to all,

Laura

OOPS... forgot to mention 3 other things:

1. I have called October Afternoon several times, emailed them MANY times and I still don't have an answer on when they will be getting in the Rubber CHARMS!!!  This is VERY frustrating for a Kit Club Owner.  Unlike a store who just doesn't sell them, I've already had you ladies PAY for them!  I am suppossed to hear back from a manager?? today but we'll see...  They do have the rub-ons and shipped them out yesterday to me.  After I hear from them, I will update everyone on what we should do about the rubber charms.

2. The other thing is the shipping of your kits.  I tell ya, the best laid plans...  The owners of Clear Scraps are at a show and I don't know if they've shipped out my product yet or not?  They typically do it all themselves and the lady at their store didn't know when I called the other day if it was shipped or not.  So, I am going to ship out as many kits as I can THIS FRIDAY, tomorrow that DON'T need any of the acrylic pieces or the rubber charms/rub-ons.  Then I'll update you as soon as I know on the those things early Monday.  That way you'll know if I'm mailing out on Wednesday or a little later... Keep your fingers crossed!!

3.  I am placing my order today for all the items in the Irene Tan kit!  Since I'm not doing a 2nd Main Kit for July, I MAY be able to get these kits together before I leave and you won't have to wait until September!!  The other thing is, I've ordered EVERY ink, paint, stickles, etc. that Irene used on her project kit and will be selling those here on the blog!!  They will come in a set and I only ordered enough for 6 sets!!  I didn't figure everyone would want them, some might have them, and some people may go to there LSS with the list of inks that will be included in the instructions... So if you want this set, send me a quick email and I'll put you down for that as well!!

o.k. think I'm done now... a MILLION things going on right now...

Blog Hop Tomorrow!!

Be here for ALL the FUN!!

I'm off to a concert and will post all the details late tonight or in the morning!!

I also forgot THREE things that go in the Summertime/4th of July kits and I'll post pictures of those tomorrow, lucky YOU!!

Have a GREAT night,

Laura

Love, Tuesday...

This one is hard because I have sooo many things I'm LOVING right now!!

But since I promised a picture of the finished "In the Good Old Summertime" Banner...

 

I'll start with this!  I finished it and I LOVE it!  Here's the picture of the Summertime Banner Kit that I'll be replacing the old picture with this very soon...

 

The Summertime/4th of July kits is now SOLD OUT and I think I only have 1 or 2 of these kits left!!  If you're interested in either one of these kits, email me and I'll see if I have any left that I didn't put in the PayPal Qty. (I usually hold back about 5 for my own sanity in case of mistakes on orders ;)-

Here's 1 close-up of the banner with the Clear Scraps Banner pieces:

 

I used 2 of the Clear Scraps acrylic scalloped banner pieces in the kit AND a Clear Scraps star.  I LOVE how the Webster's Pages Transparency looks behind the acrylic pieces!!  This was a FUN banner to make and I already have it up in the family room!  As soon as I get a minute to change out my seasonal decorations (yes I decorate for each season, just check my old blog posts) I'll share pictures of my summertime theme... ;)-

So another reason I'm so LOVING this Tuesday  is because of our Guest Designer, Irene Tan who is an AMAZING artist!!  You've already seen this, but it's so beautiful I'm going to show it again:

 

This Project kit SOLD OUT if 15 minutes!!!  No wonder right??  It's about the most GORGEOUS album I've EVER SEEN!!!    I'll share just 1 inside page:

 

The colors of this album are soooo pretty and I really never was a GREY person before but what I'm realizing is how it works PERFECTLY with Black & White photos!

So if you wanted this Project Kit and didn't get it, email me and I'll put you on the ever growing list!  I mentioned before, I can't get this kit together until AFTER I get back from Europe this summer so you'll be waiting until September.  If that's o.k. with you, then MAKE SURE YOU ALSO GET THE LOVE MAIN KIT NOW!!  There's only about 9 of those left and YOU WILL NEED THAT KIT AS WELL TO MAKE THIS COMPETE ALBUM!!

Irene is such a dear person and I wish she could make it to a CHA but living so far away, she hasn't been here in the States yet.  BUT, I have a feeling with Tim Holtz being inspired by her, she will eventually get here!   She has recently been asked to design for Tim and from seeing her work, and you WONDERFUL blog with all kinds of tutorials, you'll be a FAN of her too!

I "met" Irene through our DT work with Clear Scraps.  She inspires me everytime I visit her blog or see her creations and a while back I asked her if she'd be a Guest Designer for my Kit Club and she said YES right away!  I knew I wanted her to be the GD for June becuase I just KNEW she would ROCK the Heidi Swapp and Tim Holtz products that I planned for this kit!  Was I right or what??   She's also just a sweet lady who I've chatted with through our CS message board countless times and have found we have a shared LOVE of this art from and lots of things in common.  Check out her blog and you'll be AMAZED at her GOD GIVEN TALENT!! 

I was just telling her the night of the Reveal that it's so beautiful to see when someone USES their God Given Talents and Irene is an example of that for sure!   I truely feel everything comes from God and he gives EACH of US talents and when we seek out what those talents are and use them for good, it truely SHINES THROUGH and is BEAUTIFUL!   I'll be sharing more on Irene Tan through the month and examples of her talent but here is one layout she made with the kit as well:

 

I think that is her, isn't she beautiful!!  She used the Heidi Swapp Invisibles Chipboard Sheet!  I know a LOT of you wanted these sheets so I'll be ordering MORE as well!  She used a lot Tim Holtz Inks and even though they are not included in the kits,  I'm making a call today to purchase some and they'll be available here on the blog next week.  Or if you bought the kits, you'll have a list of them to take with you to your LSS to purchase.

So stay tuned all month long for more about Irene and more layouts from her!

I also want you to make sure you keep coming back for my 1 YEAR ANNIVERSARY PARTY!!      There will be PRIZES, GAMES AND FUN THINGS ALL MONTH LONG!  This week is a little crazy with year-end school stuff and two sick kids now (and I'm still fighting it...) so I'll be enlisting the help of the DT this week on the blog!  The BLOG HOP will be later this week and I'll get back with you on that soon.  Also, the 2MONTH FREE SUBSCRIPTION will be soon, so don't forget to check in here every couple days...

I also wanted to mention that I posted last week or maybe a couple weeks ago that I changed the shipping date to Wednesday.  Friday was just waaayyy to crazy with my schedule and the kids always having things going on that day.  So I decided to change it to the middle of the week.  (Thanks Cindy for coming up with the idea!)  That way, it's easier for me, YOU get your kits by the weekend to PLAY with and you can get through the weekend,  come here and see if you want anything, purchase it at the beginning of the week, and I have time to get it together before Wednesday!  So, it's all around a "Good Thing" as Martha Stewart says!!  Oh, I just thought of something I finished I can show you that has Martha Stewart product on...

 

I can share it b/c it's not Clear Scraps " TOP SECRET NEW STUFF "... It's got a TON of Martha Stewart goodness, Hambly and American Crafts!!  I think I'm going to bling it out some more before I ship it off to CS for CHA Summer but here's a few more pages of it.  It's there "Chip - n - Clear" Purse set.

 

Here's a view from above so you can see the whole purse.  I think they had an idea of a little girls "dress up" purse when they designed this chip-n-clear set but when I was playing around a couple weeks ago with my new Clear Scraps box of goodies, I got inspired by the Hambly circle tranparency and wanted to make it a more "Stylish" album for ME!! hehehe... I just turned *40* hush, I'm I'm still having a hard time about it... But anyways,  my hubby took me to Las Vegas for my 40th and I had some pictures he took of me that I thought didn't turn out too bad, lol, so I decide to make this a "Chic Purse" about that trip!

 

There are several scalloped acrylic pages in this set and chipboard pages.  I layered a lot of them and played around with Hambly rub-ons, transparencies and the acrylic pieces in the CS purse set like the shoe next to my  picture!  And notice the Hambly butterflies sticking out from the top of the purse!!  After I saw the circly tranparency and the butterfly transparency, I knew I wanted some of them coming out from the purse!!

 

Here's another page where you can see all the layering on the bottom page.  All KINDS of tranparencies, acrylic pages, rub-on put in strategic places and fun and colorful Martha Stewart papers and American Craft papers!

Here's one more and then I got to get to work...and a work out today!

 

Here's one of the last pages.  Do you see my hubby and I kissing in front of something?  That's the Eiffel Tower in Las Vegas!  We were actually at the Bellagio that is across the street and we had someone take it of us from there because you get the Eiffel Tower in the background!  We did this same pose when we were in Paris 5 years ago but it was daytime and we had an umbrella in the picture (the the famous photo years back).  I can't BELIEVE we will be in Paris in just a few short weeks from NOW!!!   We even have dinner reservations at the Eiffel Tower Restaurant!  So we'll be sure to take a picture like this at the REAL Eiffel Tower at night this time with no kids this time, Oh yeah baby!!! 

That reminds me that I need to make soooo many more reservations before we leave!  I really need to be on here less and booking stuff more!  (My hubby reminds me of that on a daily basis...)  We're taking the Flat Tire Bike Tour in London and Paris and I need to book those.  I also need to book all the nicer Restaurant Reservations and let my friend Rebecca know what Jules Vernes Restaurants we want her boyfriend to book for us. (he's got them EVERYWHERE we're going and her boyfriend works for Jules, that's how we got the Eiffel Tower Reservation)...

O.k. I think I got sidetracked with the Marth Stewart thing...

I was talking about this shipping of the kits...

I obviously won't have the kits ready to be shipped out this Wednesday, since that's tomorrow and I'm still getting orders and need to start packaging them up.  So, I will be shipping them next Wednesday, the 10th (Victoria's 15th Birthday!!)  I'm having my "kitting party" this Thursday night so I MAY ship some kits out on this Friday but don't hold your breath...  I can't get very many together this week because of sooo many school activities with the girls, Victoria's birthday party with her friends, the kitting party, CYT performance tonight, Glen Beck show tomorrow night (yes, hubby didn't really clue me in on that one early enough...) and a school interview Lance and I have on Friday for Victoria and with a new High School for next year...  She already passed their entrance exam but they have an interview process before they "accept her".  I'm sure they will accept her,  but this is the process they go through...  I don't remember it being this way when I was in school???

So, I'll leave you with a couple more examples from the DT:

 

Here's a layout from Emeline Seet!  Love the picture of her little girl!!

Here's a little heart journal Norma Kennedy made with the Love Kit.  So pretty!!

 

And here's another layout from Danielle with the Summertime/4th of July kit! It's PERFECT with this picture!!

Have a GREAT TUESDAY ladies!!

Hugs,

Laura

No post today, sorry ladies...

I am so sorry but "life" got in the way today of my blogging...

I will update tomorrow on things and share more about our WONDERFUL Guest Designer, Irene Tan!!  I'll also show more layouts from her and the other DT ladies and show the FINSHED Summertime Banner!! (it's sooo cute ;)-

I'm off to bed early tonight to hopefully get some energy back...

Laura

And the WINNER is...

Sandy Fisher!!!

Congrats Sandy!!  You'll be getting a nice PRIZE in your box this month!!

Goodnight ladies, I'm going to finish up here and get some sleep!  I'll be working on updating the website, the contents on the kits and finishing the BANNER tomorrow.

This was a FUN night with all of you!

Hugs,

Laura