A Kiss on the Chic

My email is being worked on...

But I thought I'd share a few things...

I uploaded onto the September Kit page the pictures of the Passion for Fashion Stamps and the Prima Vintage Dots Stamps so you can see those now.  The Fashion stamps are simply GORGEOUS!!

The other thing is that my friend Cindy came over and brought over one of the canvas tags we're making with the new Tim Holtz Fashion stamp on it!  It's not done yet b/c we're going to put a hole at the top and turn it into a tag with an eyelet and ribbon but here is an idea of it:

 

We're also doing a school themed tag with the Tim Holtz numbers stamp for the School kit! Those will be in EACH KIT THIS MONTH, even though they are not listed!

O.k. I'm not sure but I'm getting emails now and people are having a hard time with the Paypal buttons as well??  Everything should be up, but I think the kits might be sold out??  I will check and see right now through PayPal...

Sorry this month's kits are not going very easy for all of us!!!

Laura

Computers always have the WRONG time to mess up!!

Well, my hubby figured out the problem and it's the email server...  The computer nerds are working on it as we speak but I can't tell you how frustrating this is not to be able to know what the heck is going on?? 

I don't know if you have any questions, how many orders, if anything is sold out?  NOTHING...

I'm so sorry if anyone is trying to get in touch with me!!

I am hoping this will be fixed by morning!!

Thanks for your patience, I have very little left right now...

Laura

Email problem!! ugh...

I can't get my emails right now!!!  I was wondering why it was so silent out there in cyberspace???  So I just went to PayPal to see if there were any orders and sure enough, looks like over 20 orders just on one page I checked! 

So, I'm going to shut down my computer and restart and hopefully get my email to work!  Sorry if any of you have any questions, I'm hoping this works...

Laura

They're Up, They're Up!!

Go get them quick ladies!!!

I didn't quite have EVERYTHING done in time but the main things you need are up, the pictures and PayPal buttons! 

My family is bugging me that I had dinner in the office on my B-day party night(actualy B-day in tomorrow)  So now they want me to come and open presents soon...  I will be on here off and on tonight b/c of that but will be here for the next 15 minutes for sure to answer any questions!

Have fun shopping and don't forget to check out the SALE PAGE AND THE PAST MONTHS KITS, THEY ARE ALL UPDATED!!!

Hugs,

Laura

1 hour to go...

Hi again,

I just wanted to update everyone and let them know a few things...

1. The September kits WILL BE READY ON TIME!  YEAH!!! I'm all done with the codes for Paypal, now I'm just making sure all the pictures are up and going to try and get some layouts up on the gallery on the website and get the contents of the kits up!

2. The May, June & July Kit pages are up NOW!  I've update all those kits with current quantities so if you wanted one of those and didn't get one (Love Kit ;)-, you can go do that NOW!! 

3. The KIT SALE page is also up NOW!  I have stocked that with a TON of goodies and past kits at 50% off or more!!!  So make sure you check that page out NOW!!

4. If you purchase anything now, before the September REVEAL at 7PM PST, and then purchase later, I will refund you the difference on shipping everything together so don't feel like you have to get it all on one order. (It may take me a week to figure out the shipping and get it refunded back to you after it is shipped out)

5. I have a TON more goodies I was going to put up on the KIT SALE page but instead, I'M GOING TO GIVE THEM AWAY!!!  So, for every order over $50.00, I will throw in $5.00 worth of product!  Every order over $75.00, I will throw in $7.50 worth of product and for every order over $100.00, I will throw in $10.00 worth of product!!  So go shopping!  And, I will combine orders if you shop now and later tonight!!

6. These kits are going to sell out FAST!  I have the pictures up and the extras (not in the pictures) in a seperate picture AND THERE IS EVEN MORE!  I cut up some canvas and we're stamping some BRAND NEW TIM HOLTZ stamps on them for both kits this month!!!  This is not done yet, but will be in each kit! 

There will also be a ...

A SURPRISE FROM MY DAUGHTER REBECCA!! 

She has been working hard this Summer to make something special and it truly is ADORABLE!  I can't show you yet, but it will be something ONLY IN THE SCHOOL DAYS ADD-ON KIT!  She didn't have time to make one for EVERY School Kit, so I told her to make them for the ADD-ON Kit and I'll show you what it is tomorrow!  It is from her HEART and it is soooooo sweet, I know you're going to want one!  She is trying out this out now and is planning to make some things for future kits as well!

O.k. just to get you a little bit more excited, I thought I'd share a few more layouts from the Design Team!!

Here's a LO from Norma:

 

This is using the School Days Kit!  Love how she cut how the little squares from the paper!!

 

Here's a LO from Emeline with the Passion for Fashion Kit!! 

 

And here's a SNEAK from another GREAT layout from Norma!!!

O.k. my family is bugging me to eat dinner with them and open some B-day presents!  I promise I will push the button at 7pm for the Kits but I may not have everything done 100% on the pictures and content...

See you here soon!

Laura

O.k. so you're hearing from me again...

I'm sorry but I got SOOOO excited when I was sizing the DT ladies layouts and such, I had to share a little...

Here's a layout Emeline Seet did with the Passion for Fashion line:

 

so adorable!!!    She also did some AMAZING things with the vintage magazine paper too but I'll share that tonight...

Here's a SNEAK at Melanies ADORABLE School Days project:

 

Don't you just LOVE the denim and how distressed it is??  That's how BOTH the denim and canvas are!  And just so you know, tonight if you want to make this project, you will have a choice of either the Denim, Canvas or Wood for this project!!  Here's a couple more sneaks of her album:

 

 

o.k. back to work...

KIT REVEAL TONIGHT!!

I just got home from Isabella and Rebecca's 1st day of school!  Isabella is in Kindergarten now!!!  She did really good, she didn't cry but she wasn't too happy when I had to leave.  I thought they'd let the parents stay for a while but she scooted us out pretty fast...  (I cried a little in the car on the way home :)  THAT'S MY BABY!!!  I'm still having a hard time with it...  But, I had to take Victoria too the dentist and since she doesn't start until tomorrow, I took her out to breakfast before the dentist and then we just got home from her school because she needed to know if her schedule was changed.  And good thing we checked because it is a BRAND NEW schedule and she wouldn't have had a clue where to go!

So now I'm home, starting on the KIT REVEAL and praying I can get everything done by 7pm PST tonight!  My family is throwing me a B-day party tonight as well during the middle of all this madness so who know's ladies... I'll apologize in advance if things don't go off exactly at 7pm... 

I have SOOOO much to share with you ladies as well but today I have NO TIME to "chit chat"... So I'm off to work REALLY FAST and hopefully get some things on here on time!

I'll leave you with just a couple quick pictures:

 

Yup, that's Isasbella!  hehehe...

 

They line up together and get to play outside in the morning together!!  Rebecca's just as excited as Isabella is about that!

 

She did NOT want to wear her new shoes to school!  So, hopefully tomorrow...  The sun was so bright outside and soooo hot as well!  These poor kids have to stand outside and listen to the principal for WAY too long in these HEAT WAVE days!! 

 

 

 

And off to the classroom she goes!  Now if I just had seen that little sign next to her...  She needs to work on BOTH of those!! lol...  You'll do GREAT Isabella, I just know it! (now if I can hold it together... ;)-

Here's the SNEAKS of the Kits tonight for everyone to see one more time:

Passion for Fashion:

 

School Days:

 

and there's LOTS MORE!!!  You may not hear from me again until just close to 7pm...  I know this is going to be cutting it VERY CLOSE...

See you all here tonight!!  REVEAL AT 7PM PST...

Hugs,

Laura

I'm HOME again!

I am home from CREATIVE ESCAPE and back with my family and Lance just informed me he is taking me on a DATE!  So he's been planning this "SECRET DATE" for a while and it was going to be tomorrow night but since I told him the KIT REVEAL is tomorrow night, he said we have to go on it tonight then! (my parents are here to watch the girls...)

So, I have NO IDEA what is in store for me tonight... and I LOVE IT!

I will take the camera and take pictures (rated G of course ;)- and share all about Creative Escape and this wonderful "life changing" weekend AND my DATE with my wonderful hubby!!

Be back tomorrow!

Hugs to all,

Laura

Headed for Creative Escape!!

Hi ladies!

Wanted to say Hi real quick before I head down to the airport and go to Creative Escape!  I'm so excited to go to CE as I've never done anything like it!  I will make sure I bring back lots of pictures to show you and I'm sure I will be bringing back some GREAT new techniques to share with you as well!

We've had a whirlwind of a week with going up to LA with my hubby for Legally Blond:

 

I forgot my camera so these aren't so great with the iPhone... But, the show was REALLY good and I would recommend this if it comes to your town because it was FUNNY and a GREAT message for girls in the end!!

It was a beautiful weekend and our hotel was really close to the Hollywood sign (seen in background but very blurry)

We couldn't go up to LA without hanging out at the Grove and Farmers Market or a quick stroll down Rodeo Drive:

 

 

 

 

Oh  my STARS, this place is in the Farmers Market, right next to this:

 

How's a person to choose??  These donuts are FAB people, the Food Network star Giada goes here and talked about them on her show...  So which one did we choose?

 

We both went for the HOMEMADE DRUMSTICKS from Bennets!  And WOW, were they GREAT!  My friend Stacey lives right by this place, I don't know how you stay so thin girl!?!  ;)-

 

This Grove is so beautiful and has sooo many wonderful shops in an outdoor setting!  I have to say, it's WAY better then walking down Rodeo Drive.  If you come to LA, don't miss this place!!  It's connected to the Farmers Market so don't miss that either.  It's not really a "farmers market" like you think, but a wonderful place with lots of food places, food stalls, gift shops but all old school, with a "Old Hollywood" vibe...  You'll see pictures of Frank Sinatra eating at the Pizza Place or  you can imagine Dean Martin or Marilyn Monroe had coffee and donuts here... It's just COOL...

But we did manage to go to Rodeo Drive for a while and actually the street behind Rodeo has more fun and afforadable shops and restaurants.  We NEVER had bought anything on Rodeo Drive before but lance got me something for my birthday at the Juicy store:

 

Yup, my very 1st Juicy PURSE!!!  O.k. which one do you think I got??  I'll leave that as a surprise and show you on my actual birthday...

But check out this cool sign in their store:

 

Oh and a restaurant in LA had a HUGE wall that was a scene with Marie Antionette!! It was night time and I didn't have my good camera but it was super sweet!  I'm working on my Marie album right now and hopefully can play with it some more at CE... I've heard we don't have much time though so not sure if I can finish it or not..

 

Lastly, we stopped in this Paper Source store and it was GREAT!  I could have spent hours in here looking at everything but I will say that I did score some FINDS for the kits!!

O.k. I've got to run and get on an airplane... Please pray for safety...

Hugs to all,

Laura

We are all soooo "connected" to our computers...

Isn't is amazing how much we live and breathe by our computers?  It's been soooo frustrating this week to know you've SENT emails but no-one is RECEIVING these emails!!  And, to wonder if anyone is sending ME emails and I'm not RECEIVING them??  I've had one of my DH's computer guys working on it and they still can't figure out the problem!  I'm so sorry to those of you who I NEED to comunicate with and can't!!  I'm really hoping this is taken care of by the end of the day but I know my hubby is in the LA office today for meetings with the computer programs, etc... and not sure when the meetings will be done in order to help me??

Oh, my other email at Gmail my work... if you sent me an email, try sending it at:

[email protected]  That isn't connected to their server...

But, onto CREATIVE news!!  I've had a REALLY great time since I've been back from all our Summer trips being creative, being published again, the kit club being reviewed, teaching a class, and spending time making an mini album of our trip and getting ready to ROCK the September Kits!!  So I thought I would fill you in on all the news:

1. I'm going to be published (2 times) in the Dutch Magazine, http://www.creatiefmetfotos.nl/ !!  This is the magazine that published my "Life of Adventure" album of our trip "Around the World" and the owner, Wim Kross, has been so kind to me since I met him at CHA Summer 2008 and he has carefully wrapped up and taken a few of my albums home with him and his daughter that time and the last time at CHA Winter.  We have had a few chances to chat as well about my own Dutch Heritage and some day I plan to make it out to his Memory Museum in Holland, I promisse Wim!  My plan is to fly into Amsterdam next time instead of London so I can show my girls and hubby where my family is from!  Oh, and one of the Dutch Designers on the Clear Scraps DT with me, Hilde Janbroers, is teaching my "Life of Adventure" album on September 12 at their workshop!  So if you're in the area, make sure you sign up for that class, Hilde is truely talented and I'm sure will be making a GORGEOUS version of my album!!

2. A Kiss on the Chic Kit Club is going to be reviewed very soon on http://www.scrapnart.com/ which is an ezine magazine!  They emailed me months ago about this and I sent this a whole bunch of June Love kit for their DT and now in the Sept/Oct. issue, they are reviewing my little Kit Club along with about 25 other kit clubs!  So, we'll see how ours stacks up!  I'm just a little kit club so I'm not sure how I'm going to stack up against the giants in this business, but if you want to see, make sure you check back on their website soon! ( I sure wish I had the website all updated... anyone out there with graphic art experience??  Even though the DH does this for a living, I'm the last on the list! hehehe)

3. Teaching at Paper Tales was truely a GREAT day and it just reminded me how much I LOVE to teach!  So anyone out there wanting a teacher for an event??  or want me to come to your LSS, I would LOVE TO!!!  (Hello Teresa, Donna, Heidi, and the list goes on and on ;)- 

4. Speaking of teaching and being CREATIVE, I had my dear friend Cindy Earnest over yesterday to help me get all the kits ready and we always have such fun brainstorming ideas!  She was helping me VERY CAREFULLY,  cut out the VINTAGE school book pages, the VINTAGE 1915 & 1916 FASHION MAGAZINES and the Italian Fashion Paper for both kits!!  The paper is VERY old and thus, very fragile!  I'm going to be playing with some of it soon and showing you some ideas you can do with this paper but I suggest using some archival spray on this paper if your photos will be touching it.  Anyways, getting back to being CREATIVE...

5. I'm having a CREATIVE party at my house!! Yes, we got to talking about how I used to have classes in my home and I really miss that time with my friends and having some fun scrapbooking, eating and talking.  So on my birthday, what better thing to do then have a GIRLS CREATIVE NIGHT!!  I'm going to be making a MIXED-UP album kind of like this:

 

 

Where it's got all different page sizes and mediums!!  But, using the new Melissa Frances BINGO Album:

and a FALL THEME! Kinda like this too:

I pulled this out yesterday when Cindy was over and I really fell in love with this album again!  I made this while I was in San Antonio last September at one of Lance's tradeshows. Fall has always been my FAV time of year and the "shabby chic" look of all the Jenni Bowlin goodies looks so GREAT with the Basic Grey papers!  I never got around to teaching this as a class, that would sure be fun to do maybe at a store this Fall.   Do you see how this is a Clear Scrap Circle album I turned into a Pumpkin with the green stem and Kaiser kraft wood swirl at the top?  O.k. need some creative time again to make something with all these elements combined!!  I'll share the outcome soon... 

So back to the "Creative Night" at my house, I'll have all different page sizes, textures and they'll all be lined up on the table for them to put together in their own way and then we'll Zutter of use the new Binderie!!! (yes, those are on the way...)  How FUN huh?!  And then we'll all bring some appetizers to snack on and just have a GREAT time!!

6. And lastly, I've been working on another Clear Scraps mini album of my 20th Wedding Anniversary trip to Europe this Summer!  I'm almost all done and thought I would share a few pictures from it!  I used the CS

OOPS... just realized I SAVED this post as I'm still working on this POST... My computer FROZE and I thought I lost the entire thing and then went to SAVE it and realized it's public, before I'm even done... oh well...  I'll keep going...

For the Trip album, I used the CS Scalloped Tag album and a bunch of stuff from my July Travel Kit.  I also used the page I played with months ago with bees wax.  Remember this:

(o.k. sorry had to stop and work with hubby and computer guy on my email accounts!  Hopefully all is working now!!  Still have the Sync Issues - 147 and counting but did receive over a hundred emails just now!!)

Ok. Remember this bees wax I was playing with:

 

Well I used this for the cover of my Travel Album:

 

I still want to play around with the bees wax stamped image and maybe but some glossy accents inside it or outline it will a glitter pen to give it a bit more dimension, but this was fun to make and relive some moments from our trip a few weeks ago!

Here's a couple other pages from the inside:

 

 

 

I also used some Making Memories papers and embellishments from their Travel line from last year that I LOVE so much!

 

Half of the pages are the CS acrylic and the other half are the CS chipboard.

 

I have to say I LOVE this picture in Paris!  I haven't shared the pictures from the France part of our trip yet...  This was taken the day we went to the Musee d' Orsay and we literally walked  around ALL OF PARIS!  I'm telling you if we mapped it all out, it had to be over 5 miles of walking after we were done with the museum!  We came to this park, the Jardin des Tuileries. and we could see the Eiffel Tower in the back ground.  So Lance took out the camera and took a TON of pictures of me on this cement fence.  I really like how the focus is blurred in the background but you can still see the Eiffel Tower!! 

I'll have to share my Journal with the same papers once I finish putting the ephemera and picures in it.  But I think it's going to be more of a journal then a scrapbook album so I'm going to only put a few of my FAV pictures in it...

So next on my list of creative projects tonight is using the other bees wax page:

 

Love, Love, LOVE the Fushia ink on this one and I know JUST what I'm going to do...  I have an idea of making a very artsy collage Marie Antionette album!!!  I think I mentioned this the other day and I can't WAIT to play with this, hopefully tonight!

Tomorrow night Lance is taking me out on a date in LA!  yeah, I LOVE LA!!  He bought tickets to see Legally Blond a LONG time ago and I totally forgot about them but we're going to go see the play and hang out in LA!  Then we get back on Sunday and have one more week before school starts!!  What's CRAZY is we always go to Palm Springs that last week but I also have Creative Escape next week!  So, (yes, I know my life is crazy) we go to PS for three days, come home and the next morning I leave for Creative Escape!  I literally won't be home ALL next week until the night before the girls start school!  So we're leaving right now to go get some school supplies, we got Victoria registered, got her books and locker this morning and just need a few shoes, backpacks, etc... and we're set!

I hope everyone has a GREAT weekend!  I will try to come on here Sunday afternoon and update on the kits, and emails, etc. before we leave for PS in the morning.  I will be taking my computer with me but not sure how much I'll be online that week since I don't know how expensive the Internet is going to cost at the timeshare in PS and the hotel in Arizona for Creative Escape.  But, the SEPTEMBER kits WILL be on sale August 31st, at 7PM, PST and I'm praying I can get everything done by then!!   I literally get home on the 30th in the afternoon and will have one day to do everything (plus get the two youngest girls to their 1st day of school!)  But, I can't complain, I'm so blessed with wonderful kids, an AWESOME hubby, GREAT parents on both sides who take care of the girls a LOT and all of you who come hear and say Hi and support my passion for preserving all of our memories!!!

Hugs to all of you,

Laura

Oh, P.S.  (see I can't remember EVERYTHING...;)-

I just got my box from Scrapbook Trends with my mini album that was in their latest Mini Album book and it had some FREE goodies in it for being published in this:

 

and I'm giving it all AWAY!!  So leave a comment on this blog and tell me what you like to do on the first day your kids go back to school!  (this is the first year ALL 3 will be in school full-time! and I'm going to Barnes & Noble, getting a coffee, plopping down on one of the fluffy couches and reading some magazines!! ;)-  and I'll pick a winner some time next week!

Love, Tuesday...

Here's what I'm loving today (and everyday ;)-

 

This was from our photo shoot last week when I took the girls downtown to an old brick building.  It was the first time I really did a real "photo shoot" MYSELF and I think the pictures turned out pretty good!  What's funny is we all got our haircuts today so I told them we're going to have to go do another one soon!

Here's some pictures from the photo shoot:

 

Notice my "theater girl" in front on the TICKETS sign, I thought that was pretty cute....

 

Here's Rebecca in the same box office window...

By the way, the HUGE flower inspiration came from my friend Heidi Sonboul!  She has a couple pictures on her blog with flowers in her hair and I LOVE THEM!!  So we experimented with yellow and red in all of our hair. (thus the flower in EVERY PICTURE ;)-

 

Need I say anything?  She's just a cutie all around...

 

Yes, I had to get in the action too!  Although Victoria really didn't want to take pictures of me so it was a pretty fast photo session for me...lol

 

All of these are definately future scrapbook layouts for sure!  I'll share a few more before I move on to other news...

 

 

 

 

 

There's probably 20 more great shots of the girls (with flowers in our hair) but I'll spare you.

I wanted to say AGAIN that my emails are still not transfered over to the new server since I need to update to a new outlook, so I think a LOT of my emails are not getting to people! 

I have sent emails to so many people and I fear they don't have them...

So,

Deb, I sent you some pictures... let me know if got them.

Kim, I would LOVE to be a part of your event and I emailed you a big YES!

Heidi, I LOVE ya and I need a Heidi day soon, after the kids are in school!!

Norma,  I'm sooo sad we couldn't meet up in Chicago, but we'll plan better next time!

DT, I'm sending all the September goodies out tonight!!

I'm going to bug my hubby to work on my computer tonight and get this taken care of b/c I hate not knowing if the emails I'm sending are getting received or not!

Isabella and I are almost over this Stomach Flu I think...  She's doing great with REAL food now, but I'm not quite there...  We got our haircuts today and we were starving so I went to TOGO's for some sandwhiches.  I wasn't quite ready for that... we'll just leave it at that... heheh...

Over the weekend I've had so much fun seeing what everyone LOVED at CHA this Summer and what's funny is I've already set two of the most popular ones for October and this was BEFORE I even asked the question!  I guess that's why we all think alike!!  So, there's no sense keeping it a secret, the October Kits will be Webster's Pages "Postcards from Paris" WITH MY REAL PARIS VINTAGE FINDS!!!  How cool is that going to be?  When I saw that line after I got back, I got on the phone seconds later and ordered THE ENTIRE LINE!  In fact, I already have all the papers here at the house but I wanted to wait and do the kit when ALL THE BEAUTIFUL EMBELLISHMENTS are available!  So I'm praying those will be here in time, they are pretty sure they will be and then to add to their embellishments, my PARIS FINDS and some brand new PRIMA already on it's way... oh WOW, I'm SUPER excited for that kit!  Then the other kit for October will be the PINK PAISLEE AMBER ROAD!!!  That was another FAV of mine when I checked out all the line!  I really like the different color choices they did for this Fall line!  It's typically orange for Fall but this color scheme they got going on is so pretty and I've already ordered some really cool embellishments I think will go GREAT with this kit!  So, be on the lookout for those in October!!  Which means, I'm NOT doing a Halloween themed kit for October this year!  I know I did one last year, but this year I decided not to.  There are soooo many Halloween themed lines out this year that I really am going to pass on it.  I think a lot of other kit clubs will be doing this theme and will do a GREAT job of it so check out some of those kits or grab the Halloween lines at your LSS as I know they will be stocking up on the cute lines out there!!  And a SNEAK PEAK on November, I'm going to have ONE MORE VINTAGE TRIP KIT with all the rest of my FINDS from Europe and beyond!  This will be a colorful kit with really no specific color "theme" but heavily VINTAGE and "ARTSY" in nature...  hint, hint....

Now onto the WINNERS OF THE TWO RAKS!!!

By the way, I'm going to take some time this week to check out all the wonderful blogs you ladies have!  I can't wait to see what you are all up to!

So, the winner of the Blog Contest is:

LORETTA!! 

Thanks Loretta for putting up a link to my blog! Send me your information and I'll be sending out a GREAT prize package in the mail!!!

now for the winner of the other RAK...  This one goes to:

CHRISTINE!!!

Congratuations!!  You won a GREAT Clear Scraps Prize Package!!  Send me your information as well and I'll get that out to you!

Speaking of Clear Scraps, I've been working on two CS projects this week and I can't WAIT to show you!  One is an album of our trip to Europe and the other is an album on Marie Antionette!!  This last one is VERY ARTSY and it's a style I've been playing around with hear and there and I really want to explore more in my creative time!  I've VERY excited and a little nervous to share that one with you, but I really want to work more in this area of collage and "technique" altered art!  there are NO pictures of me, my family or any recent people so it's a little different for me, but since I've had this love of everything Marie for the last year or so, I thought it fitting to do this mini album of her as I'm also finishing up this book on her life

It's a great look at her life and what was really cool was I was reading this as I was in France and seeing some of the sights where she lived... and died.  A weird story about that... As we were on our Fat Tire Bike Tour in Paris we came to a goverment building that was pretty with a HUGE gate and we had to stop there for the light to change so we could cross the street.  I asked our tour guide what this building was:

She proceeded to tell me that the building to the right was where they held Marie until they executed her!!  Wow, that was a surprise.  We weren't even talking about her on this bike tour and then to have her mention one of my FAV French ladies AND that I was reading about her life right back at our hotel, wow, again!  I asked her a little more and she said that the night before she was killed, there was a plot to save her by some of the guards but one of the guards "fessed up" and in the end, Marie was still executed.  And guess who else was... Yes, ALL the guards were too!  The guide also mentioned that in their Fat Tire Bike Tour offices, they have a little Maire Antionette "bobble head" doll...  Well, I guess it's a joke to them  (and the one who invented this) but it's a toy they play with b/c her head "falls" off...    Weird story all together, especially as I was enjoying the beautiful sites of Paris that night!  And this was our next stop on the bike tour:

Yes, the Louvre!  I'll have to share more of my trip on here this week.  I was looking on the blog posts and it looks like I left off last at the Andrea Bocelli concert so I have much more to share!!  I still think about the trip on a daily basis and was just brought to tears the other day when looking through my scrapbook kit I brought with me and found a vintage decal of a hotel in Bellagio, Italy!  I miss that place something fearce!  Oh, I'll have to share my JOURNAL and ALBUM together when I'm done!  You remember the journal I made with the July Travel Kit?  Well, I took it with me and journaled in it and now I'm going to add the little ephemera and some pictures!!  So when I'm done with that and the album I'm working on, I'll share both of those too!

Alright, we'll I'm going to see if I can sneak into my scrapbook room and PLAY a little before dinner. ( I have to sneak b/c if Isabella see's me, she'll want to come and PLAY too! ;)-  hehehe...

Oh, last thing... I'm going to Creative Escape as I mentioned a couple months ago and I've NEVER BEEN!  In fact, I've NEVER been to anything like this, not a convention, cruise, CKU, NOTHING.  So anyone out there going?  Anyone with any advice on what to bring??  I'm sooo excited and need to book some tickets since it's next week and I thought I was going to drive but hubby and mom won't let me drive alone...

O.k. Isabella's in here now, don't think I can sneak off now... ;)-

Take care everyone!

Laura

Quick Saturday post...

I wanted to just let everyone know that my outlook has to be transfered to a new server with my hubby's company and it's not working properly until I install the newest version of Outlook. (actually my hubby will be installing, I have no idea when it comes to that kind of stuff...)

So if you've emailed me in the last few days or I've emailed LOTS of you in the past few days, they may have not gone through.  I know I've been wondering why people haven't responded to my emails but now I know why...  Hopefully we can get this taken care of over the weekend, but please be patient with me if you've sent me an email or need something from me...

I am going to teach at Paper Tales today and pray that Isabella is o.k. at home with the girls and I'm o.k. teaching.  My dear friend Cindy has been kind enough to offer to help me teach if I'm not up to it so I'm grateful for that!

I put the class project on Twopeas last night so if you wanted to see more pictures, it's on there.  Here's the link: http://www.twopeasinabucket.com/pg.asp?cmd=display&layout_id=1522319 

I also wanted to also share real quickly a few projects I made while enjoying our Michigan vacation.  I stayed up pretty late each night and scrapbooked while the girls slept and it was a nice relaxing time by myself!

Here's a quick look at some simple layouts I made:

 

Yes, my hubby's eyes are that blue!  This was taken at my Uncles wedding last year and I just LOVE these pictures of them together and Rebecca outside.

 

This was such a cute picture we took of Isabella last year.  She had the funniest look on her face when we gave her the "sandwich" kiss! 

Oh, btw... on the LO of Lance & Rebecca, I used the chipboard from a JB chipboard centers package and covered it with the yellow paper, leaving the edges showing...

 

These pictures go back to 2006, but I just DON'T have time to scrapbook anymore! (pretty funny huh!)  This was our California Road Trip we took and we had a BLAST riding horses on the beach!!

 

This last LO is one of my FAV layouts and I have to say I scraplifted it!  I brought along my latest Creating Keepsakes magazine (July's issue) on page 101.   Go check it out and see what Jen Jockisch created and my take on it!

Then I made something that I think I played with every day in the cottage and I'm still not done playing!  I don't know if I mentioned I'm going to start a REAL Etsy Shop??  Well, I've had some things bagged up for a while and just havent had time to list them and show them...  One of the things was a "mini album" with a lot of vintage goodies.  I decided to take one bag with me and play with it.  Now I added stuff to it of my own and I also bound it with the Zutter, but this is what I came up with...

 

I still have some pictures to add and I think I want to submit this to a magazine so I'll only show you a couple inside pages...

 

I thought I'd do this album about how "lucky" I am. Now I prefer BLESSED but the JB Bingo cards don't come in Blessed (Yet, hello Jenni?? ;)-  So it's all about my family, friends, and my life in general so it's a pretty random album spanning many years, but I really wanted it to show my "life"...

 

Now there's lots of different sized pages, 4x4, 5x7, circles, 6x6 and acrylic pages as well.  In fact, the front cover I cut the label shape out of chipboard and then add some Clear Scraps acrylic behind it before I add the picture to give it a "picture frame" look.  The Zutter gives you sooo many options when placing your different sizes in your album!  Let me see if this will show more of that:

 

Like I said, I'm not done with this yet, I need a few more b&w pictures and some journaling... But I wanted to share something that I plan to put in my Etsy Shop when I have some time... (hopefully when the girls are in school...)

And here's another thing I though would be cute to have in my Etsy Shop:

 

It's the tags from K&Co. and I just double backed them and added some of their little embellishments and turned it into a mini tag album!  I don't know if you can see the yellow FABRIC in the middle of the cover page but I tried to make it like a cafe canopy... 

 

The edge is cut with a decorative scissors, then I stuffed a tiny amount of paper underneath to make it pop out a little.  Then I used an exacto knife to cut out some of the flowers and slipped this fabric underneath to have some of the flowers hanging over it.  I LOVE with I have time to PLAY!!

Well, I beter get ready for my class...  I didn't have time to add these to twopeas last night so that's why I thought I'd share them now.  You can check out the class project with the link above.

Don't forget to look at the past two POSTS for the 2 RAKS! You have until Tuesday afternoon to join in the contests!

Have a GREAT weekend!

Oh, I forgot to tell you I had a photoshoot the other day with the girls and I'll share some of those pictures soon but here's one of my 15 year old, growing up WAY TO FAST...

 

I took the girls downtown to this old brick building and I had soooooo much fun taking pictures of my girls!  Victoria took a few of me too but I'll share all of them later...  I wanted to mention that my inspiration came from my dear friend Heidi Sonboul!  I just LOVE her profile picture with the giant flower in her hair!!  And I noticed that she had a more recent one up on her blog and I thought it was just BEAUTIFUL of her!  So it gave me the inspiration to take some photo's of all of us with giant flowers in our hair!!  Some were hilarious b/c we couldn't get the flower to stay in our hair!!

I'm sooo bad at finishing my posts... there's always something else I want to say!

Laura

SNEAK #2...

Hi again!

I'm on a roll with blog posts this week since I've been back! 

It's funny, throughout my day I've been thinking... "oh, I have to tell them this" or "Oh Laura, don't forget to mention this..."  Well, when I come here to post, I forget all of it!  I need to start making lists as my mom tells me!

One thing I do remember is that I wanted to all of you that when I reveal the September kits, I will also be putting back up the past kit pages as well as the SALE page!  AND...  I'm ADDING A TON OF STUFF AT 50% OFF!!  So be sure to check out the SALE PAGE on the blog on REVEAL night, August 31st at 7pm PST.

So, I know you came back today to see some SNEAKS...

And I hope you like what you see, this next kit has been a LONG time coming but I think you'll really like it!  It's my "Passion for Fashion" Kit and it really is special because of all the PARIS goodies I found while in Europe!! 

Let me refresh your memory:

 

This is VINTAGE FRENCH TRIM and it's FABULOUS!!!  I paid a pretty penny for this and tried to get the lady to give it to me for a "deal" but no luck...

 

Yes, this paper will be split up between the kits and definately makes this kit "UNIQUELY CHIC"...

And there's pages from these 1914 & 1915 Paris Fashion Magazines:

 

oops, 1915 & 1916...  But still, they are GREAT black & white pages with dress patterns and ladies and girls in their new FASHIONS!!!

So here's a SNEAK at the kit:

 

This is going to be an EXTRA SPECIAL KIT with LOADS of products from the scrapbook industry like Creative Imaginations and Prima as well as great VINTAGE finds from FRANCE and will be priced higher then the $32 Main Kit Price.  It will also come with the DRESS FORM that I will be giving ideas and examples to you on how to make your very own!!

In fact, Debra Famularo is no longer with the Design Team but she was working on making one for this month and I thought I would share her's with you now!  She has graciously let me use her dress form as an example for this months kit and is even willing to share her tips on making it!

 

Isn't this beautiful??  We're all going to get a chance to make our very own dress form with this kit!!  There's only 24 of these kits, so they will sell out in the first night for sure... I'll be working on mine next week to share with you on REVEAL night!!

O.k.... just got off the phone with a friend and she's coming over in 30 minutes to pick up some SALE items for the trunk show at Paper Tales tomorrow before my class so I have to go quick get that together...

But, before I do...

Today's RAK is going to be a CLEAR SCRAPS PRIZE PACKAGE!!!

This one you don't have to have a BLOG to enter but be sure to check out yesterdays blog GIVEAWAY because it's going to be a GREAT PRIZE TOO!!

FOR TODAYS RAK all you have to do is leave a comment on this post and tell me what you FAV new product from CHA SUMMER is!  I'll let BOTH RAKS go through the weekend and announce BOTH winners on my Love, Tuesday post!!

Have a GREAT weekend everyone!  I'll hopefully share some pictures from my class tomorrow at Paper Tales.  Isabella and I have the stomach flu and I'm trying to pump us with fluids so I'll be o.k. tomorrow to teach!!  I know TMI....

Take care,

Laura

Oh, see I always remember AFTER I post...

Go check out www.twopeasinabucket.com and see some new things I posted there!  You can look directly on my "page" if you type in akissonthechic and vote for me... ;)-  I'll be posting some new layouts I did while in Michigan on there later today as well!

How did September creep up so fast???

Is it just me or is it CRAZY that September is almost here and "Back to School" is already happening!  Being gone all Summer makes it really hard to adjust back to normal life and getting ready for school is just not on the agenda yet...

I have been busy while away though and the September kits are almost all done!  That makes me feel good for sure!  I'm awaiting a few VERY SPECIAL things for the kits, but the bulk of the kits is here and I thought I'd show you some SNEAKS!!

I don't know if you remember that I found a lovely lady in South Africa that makes handmade felt items that are REALLY SPECIAL!  She is truely a gifted artist and I really wanted one of her items for my "Born to Craft" album a few months back but the time for her to make each one and then ship them from South Africa didn't allow for it.  So back then we started talking about what we could do together and we decided on a "Back to School" theme.  She sent me a picture of a few things she came up with and OF COURSE I picked the most intricate, the most expensive but definately the CUTEST one!  Want to see???

Of COURSE YOU DO...

 

These are HANDMADE ladies!  Is this a LOT of work or what?  She actually DYES the felt, cuts EACH little piece, sews then together and they are sooooo CUTE aren't they??  So do you know which one I picked??  Yup, the SCHOOLHOUSE SCENE W/TREE!  Come on, is that not a little piece of art or what???  I ordered one for EACH kit even though they were a BIG chunk of the kit price...  I wanted ALL OF US to have one so this "Back to School" kit is going to be REALLY SPECIAL!  AND THAT'S not ALL...

Remember the little labels I found with children playing on them in Paris?

 

Those will be in the kits as well!  They were in the cutest little childrens shop on the St. Germain Blvd. in Paris!  I found some other things in that store that I'll share with you later, but unfortunately won't be in any kits...

Then, I have looked for the past few months for vintage childrens books for this kit and I found some really GREAT ones!  I forgot to take pictures of the books and maybe I'll do that later but I found 5 all together so we're each going to get 4-5 pages from these books!!!  I also found a lady who has the most WONDERFUL vintage images that are digital and I found some Victorian style number flashcards that will be in the kits!! (pictures to come as well...)

So here's a SNEAK at just a little of the "Back to School" kit:

 

THIS IS JUST A LITTLE BIT OF THE KIT!!!  There's a LOT more and I can't WAIT to reveal everything on AUGUST 31st at 7PM PST!!

Oh, one more thing about the Back to School kit...  I've asked our dear Melanie to do a project kit WITH this kit and:

 

THIS ALBUM!!!!! 

Are these not the CUTEST albums ever???  Oh man, I saw these at CHA Winter and HAD TO HAVE THEM!  They just came out and I got this denim one and the cream colored canvas one as well!  I also still have some stands left over and the wood album as well, so you will have your choice of album and if you want a stand to go with it!!!  I kind of thought the denim would be for a boy and the canvas for a girl, but it's certainly up to you to decide what fits your kid best!!  (or NO KID AT ALL :)-

So that's the start of the Back to School kit!  I hope you're excited for A Kiss on the Chic kits to come back with a BANG!  I know I've missed designing the kits last month and even though I was having a BLAST traveling all over, I missed all of YOU and the connection I've made with sooo many wondeful ladies! 

Before I go clean my house, and it needs it desperately, I wanted to share a few more "finds" that I got in Europe and you'll be seeing in future kits!!

 

Here's some beautiful French trim that I found!!  I wish I could have bough a TON of it but it was 6 Euro's a meter!!  I'm not sure how to split this up yet??  I may make a kit for October that is a VERY SPECIAL VINTAGE KIT and only do 12 or 24 kits...

 

I don't know how close you can see these but they are from England and they guy said they were old military buttons!  They were from an old factory in London and they have a really COOL crest on them!!  LOVE IT!! (there's only 24 of them...)

 

Does this not SCREAM Italy or what?  This paper was another paper I got in a little town with a castle on the shores of Lake Garda, Italy.  A beautiful paper store that had rows and rows of lovely paper goods!  In fact, I missed this store all together as we were walking around and Lance {heart you baby} saw it and said I should take a look in this store!!  I've really come to realize that the Europeans have a way of  making everything look pretty!  Seriously, they are BIG into making their gifts look beautiful.  They wrap everything in beautiful wrapping paper or fancy bows and boxes that are decorated with gorgeous designs!  It's everywhere you look in the windows and shops and hotels and it's an artists delight to see!  I took so many pictures of WINDOW DISPLAYS on my trip for inspiration.

 

Here is another GREAT paper that is all about this brand of VESPAS!!  We didn't get a chance to rent one but we certainly saw them everywhere in Italy and plan to go back to Tuscany and ride on one some day.  But I bought this paper to cut up and use as labels for a kit!  Aren't the so "vintage cool"??

 

Here's another paper of different fonts!  How wonderful is this for scrapbooking?  It's much more beautiful in person and I plan to use this somehow, some way in a future kit or altered art project!

Well, that's pretty much the last of the European finds!  I showed LOTS more about two weeks ago on here so if you wanted to see the rest of them, check out the posts from the end of July for those pictures.

Oh, before I forget!

I'm teaching a class this Satureday at Paper Tales in San Diego!

Remember this darling place?

 

 

Yes, I feel so honored to be asked to teach at Michelle's store and I can't WAIT until Saturday!  I mean, Jenni Bowlin just taught here and  I know other BIG NAME scrapbooking ladies have taught here so I'm feel so blessed to be able to teach at such wonderful stores!  Thanks Michelle!!

I'm teaching this:

 

"In the good old Summertime" hanging album!  In fact my hubby was nice enough to go down to my moms in Seal Beach yesterday and pick up all the wood for me!  AND, my MOM was the biggest SWEATHEART of ALL... She painted EACH AND EVERY ONE OF THESE FOR ME!   I know it took forever because the guy that made these for me used not the greatest wood and my mom ended up priming these, sanding them, painting them, sanding them, painting them, sanding them and them painting them again!  Oh, and patching any little holes too!  SO BIG THANKS TO YOU MOM, I LOVE YOU!!  She's actually very sick right now and had to go in to get a test today at the hospital and would love any prayers sent her way today!!

So, if you're in the San Diego area on Saturday and want to take this class, call Paper Tales and sign up!  I think there are 1 or 2 more spots left!  And, if you DON'T live in San Diego and want the kit for this, I will be selling some extra ones I had made when I put the September Kits up for sale on the blog!  Yeah!!

I will also be having another kit for September that's the "Passion for Fashion" kit!  I will share more of this kit tomorrow with some SNEAKS as well!

But for now, I wanted to start the GIVEAWAY!!

I'm going to do something I've never done before in a RAK... I wanted to have some FUN and see how many people I could get to add me to their sidebar on their blog!!!

So, what I want you to do is leave a comment on here that you've added "A Kiss on the Chic" on your blog's sidebar AND leave your blog address so I can go see your blog, then you will be added into the drawing for a GREAT PRIZE!! (maybe something from Europe in this prize?? just saying.... ;)-

SO ADD MY BLOG TO YOUR BLOG AND YOU MIGHT WIN!!

Now if you don't have a blog, not to worry, I will be doing ANOTHER RAK tomorrow when I reveal some SNEAKS of the Fashion kit and that won't require you to have a blog!!

Ta-ta for now,

Laura

It's good to be HOME!

Hello and welcome back to my blog if you've been gone too!  I'm just back from Michigan and had a GREAT time there, but being gone all Summer has worn me out and I'm so ready to be home for a while!

I still have sooo many pictures to share from Europe and now I have a TON of pictures from Michigan to show you too!

I also have some SEPTEMBER SNEAKS TO SHOW YOU TOO!

I hope that gets you excited!  I'm soooo happy to be back in "A Kiss on the Chic" mode and I can't WAIT to get these kits in the DT hands and get ready for the KIT REVEAL ON AUGUST 31st!!

So, I think I'll show you LOTS of pictures from Michigan and then tomorrow I'll share more EUROPE FINDS and SEPT. SNEAKS!  Sound good?....

Well, I'll start by saying Victoria had an AWESOME time at SERVE with my brothers youth group and it really is a GREAT time for all the kids to get in the community and help others and learn more about SERVING!  It was so neat for Rebecca to also be at SERVE this year and get to hang out with my brother a couple days as well as the speaker, Joleen, and the Barnabus girls who go around to all the work sites and bring treats and motivation!  I can't wait for Rebecca to be old enough to do the SERVE project, I know she'll love it as much as Victoria has!  Now Victoria is going to want to tag along when it's Rebecca's turn!  lol...

So while they worked all week, Dawn and I and Ella and Isabella had some FUN!

 

Here's a picture Isabella took with my iPhone in the airplane to Michigan... I love it!

 

She was a little scared of this flight for some reason but as soon as we started taking pictures, she was having a GREAT time! (a photographer in our future???)

 

First things first, we had to go check out the beach by our cottage and it did NOT dissapoint!

 

 

They LOVED the beach and we went just about everyday!~

 

I have sooo many GREAT pictures but I'll try to keep this post from being a photo album!

 

This was our "peekaboo" view from our cottage and believe me, I looked at it MANY times!  I am a lover of water and I need to be by it as much as I can.  I can't explain it to my husband but there is something in my soul that is touched when I am near the water.

 

Dawn and Ella came over to the cottage one day to SCRAPBOOK, what else?? hehehe... This is a picture Isabella took of us without us knowing she had my camera!  Thus the look of surprise on my face... 

 

We're trying to get Ella into scrapbooking at an early age! lol...

 

I mean she's already very well advanced in other areas!  ;)- Holding a bottle HERSELF at 3 months??  Why not scrapbooking at 4 months??

 

Isabella had to get in the action too and wanted to hold Ella.  She LOVES Ella and wanted to get REALLY close to Ella ALL THE TIME! It was a little much for Ella, Dawn and myself but she's 4 and just so happy to have a little baby to "play" with...

 

We decided to take a walk down to the beach with Ella and Auntie Dawn...

 

but it was a little to windy for the baby.

The next day we went to the Farmers Market in the downtown and picked up some fruit and veggies and flowers...

 

oh, and a cookie!

 

But all Ella wanted to do was nap!

 

But Isabella picked out some pretty flowers for our cottage...

Then the next day Rebecca, Isabella and myself decided to rent bikes and have ride down by the lake and also through all the bike paths on Lakeshore Drive that are sooo beautiful!  This day was just PERFECT!

 

just LOVE the Burley, which holds all my STUFF and a kid too!  I think Ineed one of these, I just don't know how much longer Isabella can be in one???

 

We biked down to the "General Store", a GREAT little place for ice-cream

 

and Pronto Pups for corn-dogs and a "boat ride"

 

 

 

What FUN.  I think I'm hooked on bike riding now that I've done this 3 times this Summer!

Then at night we went into town with the SERVE team and enjoyed the downtown "Street Performers" and sidewalk sale! 

 

 

A very RARE occurance that they actually HUG eachother!  (this one was staged, after I saw the REAL hug happen, had to get THAT on camera for sure ;)-

 

So many GREAT pictures to share... we had such a GREAT time and know that we will be back again!  Here's just a few more from our wonderful time in Holland!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Had to go to the Dutch store for sure!

 

 

Watching the Sunset lots of nights was so nice!  We went out to the state beach a couple times to and have those pictures on a file from Ty I'll show another time...

And lastly, we took some pictures of all of "grandma's girls" for her Christmas card and here's one of my FAV's of the girls looking at baby ella:

 

It was a GREAT trip and the only thing better would have been for Daddy to be with us!  He couldn't miss more work after being going for 3 weeks in Europe but next time, he'll come for sure!

I thank all of you for praying for safetly for us and for letting me take off the whole Summer!  We had such a GREAT time this Summer and it really gave me a chance to spend it with my family and enjoy some really special memories we'll have FOREVER!

I'm excited to get back to "work" though and I can't WAIT to share more about the September Kits with you!

I will show you some SNEAKS tomorrow and start a fun RAK too!

Here's just a little tidbit of the 2nd box I got back from Europe and the other "finds" on my travels:

 

This is the "Fashion" paper that opens up to a pretty large piece.  I bought several different kinds of this paper as well...

 

O.k. ladies, this is VINTAGE FRENCH LACE!!  It was REALLY special and REALLY expensive BUT, I HAD TO HAVE IT FOR YOU!  It's very old and very intricate and you'll be seeing this in a kit VERY SOON!
 

And here's some fancy labels that I picked up in Venice, Italy for the kits!  Mostly the ones to the right as they are a beautiful scrolled label that I know will work PERFECT in a future kit!

There's MORE to show, but I'll save that for tomorrow as I'm affraid I have WAY too many pictures on this post!

Have a GREAT night and be sure to come back tomorrow to see some SNEAKS!

Hugs to all,

Laura

A quick "Hello" from the Michigan Shores...

HI!!

I'm sooo enjoying this week at the cottage with the girls!  It has been beautiful weather here and being by the lake is just GREAT! 

We went to the beach today and it really does look like the ocean since Lake Michigan is so huge, you can't see across the lake.  The girls and I went to the Farmers Market with Dawn and Ella today, then walked around the town to shop.  Then the girls and I went back to our cottage and got our bathing suits on and went to the lake to play in the sand and lake.  Isabella isn't quite "sand" savvy if you know what I mean...  But we had a GREAT  time and we're going to go watch the sunset and make some roasted marshmellows now!

But, I wanted to check in and let you know that I'm not at home until the 12th.  Some emails I've gotten I think are thinking I'm home but I'm actually on another vacation...  Oh, Victoria is working HARD with SERVE through Ty's church as we enjoy spending time with Ella and Auntie Dawn!  We see them every night at church when we meet up with them for dinner and Rebecca's been tagging along with Ty when he goes around to all the work sites during the day!  It's such a great thing to see teenagers working hard and making a difference in peoples lives!!

Well, I dont'  have pictures to show yet but I will when I get home!

Hope all of you are having a GREAT week!  I'm just about done ordering for September and I'm getting ready for my class at Paper Tales next week on the15th! 

Oh, I also JUST got an email from the lady in SOUTH AFRICA that is making something AWESOME and HANDMADE for the School Themed September kit!! You are going to WANT ONE OF THESE!!!

I don't have Internet out at the cottage and my phone doesn't get reception either so if you need to get a hold of me, I will try to check my messages every day when I'm in town through my iPhone and get back online one more time over the weekend...

Take care and enjoy this last bit of Summer Vacation!!

Hugs,

Laura