A Kiss on the Chic

I'd do it all over again....

Happy Anniversary Babe!!!  I love you more then the day I married you!!!

We had an AMAZING 20th Anniversary trip this Summer and I'm so blessed to be married to you!!  I love you ALWAYS,

Laura

Love, Tuesday...

My order is shipping today!!!! 

You ladies are going to LOVE this BRAND NEW line of Websters Pages "Postcards from Paris"!!!  I just got off the phone with them and my order is shipping today and I ordered even MORE then my original order!!  This kit is going to be PACKED with Webster's Pages Trims:

 

Webster's Pages Journaling Cards:

 

Webster's Pages Alpha Stickers in multiple colors:

Webster's Pages FABRIC LABELS (My personal FAVORITE)

 

Webster's Pages Cameo's:

And Webster's Pages "Whimsy Threads"

This last image doesn't do these justice so make sure you check out the full image on their blog or website!! 

I will let you know soon when these kits will be up for sale!  As soon as I get all the product, I'm thinking about Friday, I will ship them off to the DT and get them working on some examples and then get them all "kitted" and set the REVEAL DATE!  Just keep checking back here and I will probably give a date on this Friday when I announce the WINNER OF THE OCTOBER (MINI) KIT!!!!  If you haven't entered that contest, go to the blog post below this one and leave a comment!!

Oh, this weekend I updated the website!!  So go check out the September Gallery and my own personal gallery on there!  I've added a LOT of stuff on there, but there is still not a lot of examples for July's kits or September's kits.  SO...

I'm calling all Kit Club Ladies!!!  If any of you have made some layouts or altered items with either the July Kits or the September Kits, email me a picture and I will try to post them on the website gallery!!  July was when I was in Europe and I didn't really have the DT work on anything so I need YOUR HELP to fill the gallery!! 

I also wanted to mention again that I will NOT be having a Design Team Call this October like planned...  Because I am slowing down a little and not doing kits every month and not as many kits when I do have the kits, I don't feel the need to have such a big Design Team.  So I've talked with all the DT ladies and given them the choice to stay on or move on to another Kit Club or opportunity that may get there name "out there" better or have more work for them. 

So, Danielle Layton has moved on... to BIG things!  I don't know if you follow her blog, but she is in HIGH demand and has joined the AMERICAN CRAFTS DT and she is also on another Kit Club or two...  Congratulations Danielle!  We will MISS YOU but we know you are VERY talented and will see LOTS of you in the scrapbook world!!

 The good news is...

Melanie S., Emeline Seet and Norma Kennedy have ALL decided to STAY with A Kiss on the CHIC!!!  YEAH!!!  I am truely honored that they would want to stay with me! Even as I am downsizing things, and not going to be a HUGE Kit Club, they are blessing me by staying with me and creating WONDERFUL layouts and altered items for all of YOU to enjoy!  THANKS GIRLS!!! 

And this month, I am going to have a DEAR FRIEND play with the kits and be our October Guest Designer:

 

Heidi Sonboul!!  I'm so excited to see her take on this kit!!  (I'm even sending her some pictures of my Paris Adventures this SUMMER!!!)

So look out ladies, this October kit is going to be AMAZING!!!

I'm also going to get together some "kits" for the Kit Sale page!  I have SOOOO much "stuff" let over from kits, it's starting to PILE UP!  So I thought I would package up the goodies in little "kits" and put them up for sale like I've done in the past!  So check that out in October!  And don't forget, October is going to be PARIS month!  Everything Paris; from pictures of our trip this Summer, favorite French recipes, FAV Paris inspired websites and just everything Paris "Girly"!  So if you have a tip or link you want me to share, email me the details and I'll check it out!!

O.k. two more things before I get some work done...

The 1st is HUGE... I mean REALLY HUGE!!!  I have a SCOOP that NO-ONE ELSE HAS LADIES!!!  Thanks to that lady right above this.... Yes, my girl, Heidi!!

You HAVE to check out GCD STUDIOS blog!!!  They are giving away a HUGE amount of BRAND NEW PRODUCT BY:

 

MELODY ROSS!!! 

YES... She has teamed up with GCD Studios to design an AMAZING NEW LINE FOR THEM!!!  I had the inside scoop on it last week but it's out of the bag now so I can tell you all that it's GORGEOUS, I LOVE EVERYTHING about it AND...

A Kiss on the Chic is the FIRST KIT CLUB TO GET THIS PRODUCT!!!!!

Can you believe it??

I'm in shock...

GCD Studios is AWESOME and I can't believe I, little Kit Club owner, get to be the 1st Kit Club to get this new line by MELODY ROSS!!!  PLEASE go to GCD Studio's blog and check out this new line and see all the AMAZING embellishments she came up with!!  There prize ends tomorrow so if you want to be in that drawing, go there TODAY!!!

So, this ENTIRE LINE by Melody Ross will be in my NOVEMBER KIT!!!  And it is going to be BEAUTIFUL!!!  I can't WAIT!!!  Thanks GCD Studios!  You can also get this in Michaels stores after October 15th.  But, if you want it in a VERY SPECIAL KIT... then wait two more weeks and buy this KIT HERE, on NOVEMBER 1ST!!!!

O.k. that was cool huh?  I'm pumped just thinking about it!!!

But the other thing that is AWESOME is...

TOMORROW IS A VERY SPECIAL DAY...

TWENTY years ago, tomorrow, this is where I was... with my BRAND NEW HUBBY!!  I can't even believe we will be married 20 years tomorrow, but it's true!!  September 30, 1989 at 10:30 in the morning, I said "I Do" to this man!  Wow...

I will post more about that wonderful day tomorrow!!

Oh, I wanted to say I was SO touched yesterday when my google reader showed me a little blurb from Donna 's blog.  It made me cry, it was soooo beautiful!  Read it if you get a chance.  It also moved me to think about doing the same thing with my family, on our 25th wedding anniversary!!  I told my husband this last night at the dinner table with the girls (just read the blog 1st)...  And then at the end, after I told him about what I wanted to do, I said... real quietly...   (in Italy... ;)-  He just smiled...

Have a GREAT Tuesday ladies and HUGS to everyone,

Laura

 

 

 

October SNEAKS!!!

So I figure since it's getting close to October, you might like some SNEAKS???

October's kit will be AMAZING because I'm doing Webster's Pages "Postcards from Paris" WITH REAL VINTAGE POSTCARDS FROM PARIS!!  Yes, I will have some of the postcards I got while at the Postcards and Stamp Flea Market in Paris this Summer!!  I also have some of the other VINTAGE FINDS and other goodies from my Europe trip!  This kit is going to ROCK, (if I don't say so myself ;)- 

I've also got some GREAT Etsy finds and EVERY WEBSTER's PAGES embellishment in this new line!!  So here goes ladies.... some MAJOR SNEAKS:

Can you see what these are??  They are VINTAGE CAMEOS!!!  They are on plastic sticks and I'm not sure what they were used for??  Almost like stir sticks of cupcake picks but the sticks are pretty long.  Anyways, I found these at Paper Tales a LONG time ago and was waiting for the perfect kit to put them in!!  I only have 30 of them so there will be 30 kits with ALL the embellishments and 20 kits with mostly the papers and some of the embellishments.

I had my DEAR friend, Angela Harris make us some more vintagy tags!!  She's made 3 this month b/c I couldn't decide which one to get so I got them ALL!!

Some Prima GOODNESS of course!!  Here are their new Say it in Pearls AND there new jewel studs.  The studs are in a beautiful coffee brown color that look so rich!!

O.k. check out this SUPER CUTE tape!  I think it's like painters tape that they printed these beautiful images on!  I don't have it in my posession yet, but I can't WAIT to see it in person!!

O.k. here's two things...  The first is the handmade paper from Italy!!  Yes, the script paper was from the day in Verona where my dear hubby saw a paper store and clued me in on it!  Thanks again babe!  I was off looking at other windows and he said, "you might want to go in this store!" Yes, I might have wanted to!!!!! hehehe...  And the other pink flowers are like a Dresden paper I think, but VERY VINTAGE and WONDERFUL!  It's another thing I've been saving for the PERFECT KIT!!

Oh, and the paper behind all these pictures is in the kit too!  It's vintage inspired maps of Paris and I bought a TON of them.  You won't be getting the whole 16x20 map, but I will be cutting it up into nice size to use in your projects!!

YES, this is the 1st time I've used TYPEWRITER KEYS IN MY KITS and I LOVE IT!!  I found these and HAD to have them!  Only the 30 heavy embellishment kits will have these but they are the perfect dark brown that goes with this kit!!! Yeah!!!

O.k. are you getting excited or what?  I'm typing as fast as my little fingers can type b/c I'm SUPER DUPER EXCITED ABOUT THIS KIT!!  This is why I've gone down to 50 kits instead of 150...  It gives me WAY more creativity in bringing REAL VINTAGE goodies to my kits!!  THAT'S what I want MY KITS to be ALL ABOUT!!!

VINTAGE TRIMS AND SEAM BINDING!!  Gotta LOVE that!!!  The brown is just gorgeous and the cream with tiny pink edging is so dainty!

And, here are some more scrapbooking embellishments from Prima, Maya Road and Jenni Bowlin!!

And here are more goodies from Europe!  The brown swirly frames are from Venice in a really cute paper store that I've stopped into both times I've been in Venice!  They have amazing paper as Italy is known for their intricate papers.  Unfortunately, you only get to have 1 frame sticker each as I didn't buy enough to go around...  But, you're also getting a VINTAGE POSTCARD FROM PARIS!!  Yes, how cool is that?  When I came home from Europe this Summer and saw this new line from Webster's Pages, I got on the phone THAT SECOND and ordered the WHOLE LINE!  Now I've had the papers for a while, but I didn't want to bring you my kit until I had their ENTIRE LINE in my hands!  It goes so perfectly with all my Europe finds so how could I resist???  Please check out Webster's Pages "Postcards from Paris" line here  and make sure you come back to my blog and check out when they will be up for sale!  I've got a call into them right now to see when everything is shipping and as soon as I get it in my hands, I will get everything together and REVEAL the kits!  This will most likely be the second week of October but I will be giving you a LOT of notice on this blog on the exact date as soon as I know!!

Oh, I also have MORE goodies in the kit, but didn't want to share EVERYTHING... There has to be a little bit of a surprise!  But as you can see, this is going to be ANOTHER PACKED KIT!! 

So let me know what you think of October kit so far??  Leave a comment on HERE and I'll being GIVING AWAY ONE (MINI) OCTOBER KIT!!  I'll give you a full week to leave a comment and announce the winner next Friday, Oct. 2!!

Have a WONDERFUL WEEKEND everyone!! 

One more thing, I just blogged on the Clear Scraps blog so check that out here and then next week I'm going to post on their blog again and show everyone how to make this:

 It's an acrylic "pumpkin" I made with one of their XL circle shapes and LOTS of Tim Holtz Alcohol Inks, Stayz On Inks, paint and the new Making Memories Fall line!!

O.k. gotta run to Isabella's class for "Apple Day".  I'm the SCRAPBOOK MOM!  Seriously... They had an announcement that they needed a scrapbook mom and Isabella was SOOOO excited!  I asked the teacher if I could be "that mom" and she said I'm Hired!!!  ;)-  Yeah!!  So I'm going to be documenting all their little parties and fun days with my camera and then doing a scrapbook album with the kids towards the end of the year!  How fun is that?!

Did I show you what Isabella did with her hair?  Oh man, I don't think I did...

Here's a quick picture and then I've gotta run...

Yup, she did.... I'll share more on that next week...

Clear Scraps at Creative Escape!

It's been a few weeks since Creative Escape in Arizona but I wanted to share the class Heather Bailey taught with Clear Scraps Chipboard!  It was an adorable circle album with a beautiful bird's nest on the cover:

I almost finished the entire project in the class, but of course had to "tweek" it a little when I got home.  Designing for Clear Scraps, I LOVE working with their acrylic products so I had to add a little acrylic to my finished album.  Can you see it on the cover??  Look closely...

On the bottom right side of the flower "nest", I took a small acrylic flower, cut it in half and with my heat embossing tool,  "curled up" the edges of the flower to give it some dimension!  Then I added some doodling with a pain pen and tucked it into the other flowers!  I then added some Ranger Pearl Paint to the other flowers to give a more uniform look.

On this page, I used the same acrylic flower, but left it whole and stamped on it "Love is for the birds" and then used another paint pen to add some fun dots around the edges.

Here you can see a tiny acrylic flower that I did the same effect on with the paint pen but also added a giant pink jewel for some more "girly" FUN!

 On the top page here, I used a left over button from one of the chip-n-clear sets and added some coordinating paper to the BACKSIDE of the acrylic shape so that the acrylic is highlighted and then laced some ribbon through it and added some Ranger Paint Dauber in Pearl.  In fact you'll see I used the paint dauber on the edges of the entire album to give it a more "shabby chic" style.

On this last page, I took one of the ATC acrylic pieces and added some more dots with the paint pen and also stamped the flourish on it with Stayz On ink.  Then I added a flower transparency on the back side (from My Minds Eye) and a flower on the front (from Prima) with a jewel in the center!

This was a FUN album to create and the colors of Heather Bailey's papers were just beautiful!  Susan and I took a picture with Heather at the end of the class and chatted with her for a little bit:

We had a GREAT time at Creative Escape and took some other great classes as well!  Here's a little re-cap of our time in Arizona:

Our wonderful helpers through the entire time, they treated us like V.I.P!  Thanks Joyce and Carol!  They worked sooo hard all weekend long!

I think we ALL know who this is!!  Heidi was so nice and had a beauitful project for her class!

And let me think...who was this guy???  lol... TIM HOLTZ!!!  His class ROCKED and he was such a great teacher!!  I have to show you his class project:

It was a mini suitcase with a mini album to go inside!! 

Here's Susan and I at the last nights events!  It was a wonderful dinner and program with a very inspirational speaker as well.

Me and Mr. Bazzill!  He really put on a great event and now I know why so many ladies want to come to Creative Escape each year!! 

Here's the giant screen with all the sponsors listed!  Check out the huge CLEAR SCRAPS logo!  And can you see all those prizes??  There was a TON of prizes they handed out that night!

So that's my little re-cap of Creative Escape!  Hope you liked the Clear Scraps project and my interpretation of it!

Next week I'll show you how to make a pumpkin with one of the XL shapes!

Hugs,

Laura McCollough

www.akissonthechic.com
http://akissonthechic.typepad.com

Let's try this again...

So yesterday I blogged all about my Napa trip and showed the pictures and then BAM, it was deleted!  It's a major UGH.... moment and so I had to take a break from Typepad for a day! lol...

So, here's a recap (without as much details on the trip) of the Napa Album:

We went on a FUN wine tour weekend up in Napa with some friends and met up with Lance's cousins who live up there as well.

This was one of our FAVORITE picnics, EVER!  Lances cousin works for a winery and he took us to this mountain top spot, in the middle of vineyards and at the top of the hill was one lonely picnic table, overlooking the valley below!  It was AMAZING and we had smiles on our faces the ENTIRE TIME!  We ate cheese, meats and break with some great wines and had such GREAT company in the most beautiful setting!  We also walked through the vineyards and had these great photo's taken.  Thanks Mark for a beautiful day! 

  See Lance and I walking through the vineyard?  We sooo wanted to go up there next weekend with the girls to do this again and maybe take pictures for our Christmas card, but it doesn't look like we'll have time this year...

Here's a winery we fell in LOVE with AND their chardonay as well!  It's called Rambauer, and if you google it, you will NOT be disappointed!  It's beautiful!!

I don't know if you can see all the different types of pages I used and sizes, but I really mixed this one up with 4x4, 6x6 Clear Scraps acrylic, file folder pages and the Bingo pages!  I LOVE doing this a lot lately!

O.k. hubby is bugging me to go watch a movie on our new T.V he installed today!  Some scary movie I don't really want to watch, Taken, but he says it's good... we'll see??

Check back tomorrow, I have a post on the Clear Scraps blog tomorrow that I think you're going to want to see!!

AND....

I have a MAJOR scoop on BRAND NEW PRODUCT!!!

until then,

Laura

Slowing down...

I really feel there is a reason for everything and my decision to slow things down with the Kit Club really came at the right time.  My body is telling me to slow down for sure and after having a TON of blood tests yesterday and waiting for some other tests, I really am glad I don't have a lot going on this week!  I'm sure I'll be fine with some rest and keeping my feet up for a while and for those wondering... NO, I'm NOT pregnant!!!  (I had a couple people ask me that ;)-

But onto much better topics...

I've had a about 4 or 5 projects I've been working on but none of them were complete until now!  I still am not quite done with the Marie album and my Europe Journal but I wanted to share these other projects that are done!  This one I started while I was in Vegas:

Here's an album about a trip we took a couple years ago at this time of year to beautiful Napa!  I used the Bingo album (that will be IN the September Kits!!!) and some Clear Scraps acrylic and some 4x4 chipboard pages and made a real mixed-up albums with LOADS of flowers and embellies!!

Here's a close-up of the cover:

Oh man, I just lost my whole post!  darn it... I'm going to have to stop and figure this out...

Happy Monday!

Wow, what a weekend.... again!

I've had so much going on (as you all know) so let me just start with last weekends Summit Club in Vegas with my hubby's company.  I mentioned this was his first time doing this for the Sales Team and it was a BLAST!!

I drove to Vegas (so I could take all my scrapbook supplies ;)- but they all went in style to the airport:

And we had a limo in Vegas the whole time too!

So we stayed at THE HOTEL at the Mandalay Bay which was really nice with a suite hotel room that was huge!!

This was just the front room!  See that couch??  That's where I scrapbooked and watched a movie!!  FUN stuff... The team was doing this:

Driving school and racing at the Richard Petty Race Track!!  I decided to hang back at the hotel and scrapbook while they had fun there...

Then one day we had a cabana at the hotel:

at this awesome pool:

with wave pool, sand beach, concerts at the pool and a lazy river!

We also had some GREAT meals that weekend!  We ate at the TOP restaurants, not only in Vegas, but the WORLD!  Mix at the Mandalay Bay is  Alain Ducasse restaurant.  He owns a ton or restaurants, most notably, the one we ate at the Eiffel Tower in Paris!!!!  This place is Vegas has THE BEST VIEW of the strip and at night it is stunning!  You HAVE to come here, even if for just a drink, for the view!  So Steve, the manager is a girls boyfriend (hopefully fiance' soon ;)-  and he pulled some major strings for us in Paris and here at Mix!  Thanks STEVE!!!

 Here we having a cocktail before dinner. 

Some of the outstanding Sales Team that were treated to this FAB weekend!

Now check out this view!

Pretty crazy huh??  It's got an outdoor area where you can enjoy the perfect weather too.  Next time your in Vegas, make sure you stop by here!

Here we are sitting down for dinner at Mix.  We were treated to the "Chef's Table" at the restaurant!  Thanks again Steve!

They even had menus printed for us!

Here's Steve and our Sommelier,

We had a FANTASTIC meal and GREAT time together!

I had hundreds of pictures for this weekend but I want to move on to last weekend and share the FUN at:

Artistic Affaire!

I've always heard that Kim Caldwell does BEAUTIFUL events but this was my first time at one!  And WOW... she certainly does!!!

Here's a little "venete" on the stairs leading up to the studio!  How beautiful is that??

Here's a picture of my vendor table by the stairs.  I was the only one teaching a mini class so we set up downstairs by the entrance.  Thank goodness too, because the air conditioning broke and we were in the BEST place we could have been!

Here you can see my little area from the stairs.  Even the studio she used for this event looks perfect for a Fall theme!

Here's a closer look at my table.  Would you look at those stairs?  Aren't they just gorgeous!!??

And they lead up to this:

This is were the vendors were with their adorable tables!!  Can you see the flower balls hanging from the ceiling?  Candace Carpenter and Kim made those by hand!  They were BEAUTIFUL fall colors!  O.k. Candace, you can come over any time and show me how to make them!!

I forgot to take pictures of the ladies making my Marie Antionette Cake, but here's one of the last groups.  We were PACKED the whole time and everyone seemed to love it! 

I had my dear friends Cindy, Elaine and Heidi come and help me and it was so wonderful!  Heidi also brought a friend, Shamiane, who was a doll too! (sorry if I spelled you name wrong ;)-  They were all super helpful and really made it sooo much easier for me the whole night!  We also could tag team and have a little change to go upstairs and check out all the wonderful goodies for sale!

Here's Heidi and I being silly at the end of the night with the Marie Cake! 

We had a TON of fun and every lady there was a JOY to meet!  Oh, I also met Kim Hesson again!  She's the wonderful lady who always supplies me with my adorable wood pieces!  She donated ALL THE WOOD CAKES for this event and I want to say THANK YOU KIM!!!  I know all you ladies know who she is now, but make sure you stop by here blog some time and check out her new goodies!  Here's her blog:Kim Hesson . 

Well,  I hope to be back at another of Kim's events some day.  Whether it's to teach, shop or take the classes because her events are a MUST for me now!!  Thank you Kim for believing in me and wanting to include me, I appreciate it more then you know!

And thank you to my dear friends Cindy, Elaine, Heidi and now Shamaine!  You were so wonderful to come all that way and help me set up and say such nice things about me to the ladies looking at my vendor table (yes, I heard your nice comments ;)- and for helping with the class AND for lugging the stuff back to my car!  You are all VERY KIND and I am grateful beyond words.  It's so wonderful to have supportive friends!

So, I've been going and going and on Saturday it finally hit me...  I was completely exhausted for being gone not stop since June and now my body is doing some strange things and I am on somewhat "bed rest" until I can get to the doctor tomorrow, so say a little prayer for me if you think about it.  Hopefully it's nothing too serious but I called the doctor on call yesterday and they never called BACK!  Ugh... I really need to change doctors but don't think about it until I NEED them!   So hopefully tomorrow, I'll see the doctor and figure out what's going on and hopefully feel better soon.  I know the decision to slow down with the Kit club though was the right thing at the right time...

Have a wonderful Monday everyone!  I'll post some SNEAKS of the October Kits this week.  I also wanted to let you know (if I didn't already??) that October is going to be PARIS month!  I used to do this a year ago or so, but I want to have a theme for each month.  I'll share all kinds of things with this Paris theme.  My favorite recipes, Paris inspired websites, restaurants, FAV places IN Paris, pictures from our trip there this Summer and LOTS MORE!!  That will be a little added fun with next month, so be sure to check back next month, even if you don't get a kit.  It will be fun to hear from you ladies AND even give you the chance to WIN some Paris inspired goodies!!!

ta-ta for now,

Laura 

Artistic Affaire L'Automne

It's tomorrow night!!!  I'm soooo excited to be a part of this event but I'm am going CRAZY getting ready for it!  Sorry I didn't post yesterday but I was cleaning up the house, getting kits together and making sure I have enough help for the event.  I am doing the ONLY make-n-take for the whole evening!!  AND, I'm having my own vendor table so I'm going to need HELP!  Lucky for me, I have 3 WONDERFUL ladies who are going to help me and I might even take Rebecca with me too.  Victoria helped last time at the Reflections event but she's not so into it and she'd MUCH rather go to the school football game and Fall Dance... Me, I'm not so sure I want her to go to her 1st DANCE, but she's going with some really great girls so I feel pretty good about her decision. (she said no thank you to a boy who asked her, b/c she wanted to go with a bunch of girls AND b/c she knows mommy & daddy arent' ready for that yet! ;)-

So do you want to see the Make-n-Take I'm teaching tomorrow night?? 

Here's my Marie Antionette Cake:

 

Here's a close-up:

 

It's so FUN!!!  I can't wait to have the ladies make this!!  (I might have a few left over afterwards if anyone is intereseted)

OH... before I forget!

I wanted to thanks EVERYONE who sent me an email or typepad comment last week when I announced the CHANGES I wanted to make in my life and this kit club!  I appreciate EVERY SINGLE COMMENT and I want to take some time to respond to each one and I haven't had a chance to do that yet.  I'm sorry about that and I WILL be emailing each person that made a comment and letting them know how much I appreciate them!!

O.k. I don't have the pictures from Las Vegas yet...  My hubby brought the camera home but has the SD card in HIS computer... So not pictures yet from our great weekend but I will try to share some next week.

I do have some pictures of my house though...  Why?  Because a couple weeks ago I changed out to my FALL decorations and I LOVE IT!  This time of year is one of my FAV and I am in LOVE with the Fall Foliage in New England and so I like to re-create that here in sunny So. Cal...  I know it's hard to imagine, I should have been born in Vermont b/c I love it there so much, but I try to bring a little of New England to my home each year at this time! 

Here's just a little sampling of the kitchen and family room:

 

That's my iron "double decker" tray that I change with the seasons and I LOVE that I thought to put that pitcher INSIDE this tray.  On the other side I have a fall ceramic bread bowl, some greenery balls, glass grapes and some fall leaves.  LOVE this thing...  I got this at the Barn Sale last year.  I need to go there next month and see what else I can find! 

 

This may be hard to see, it's see pretty light but I got out some new pillows, my fall candles and made some arrangments on the tables.  I'll share some more next week after this event. I'm borrowing some of my Fall arrangements for my tables that night!

Speaking of that, I'm doing a "mock-up" of my vendor table on my dining table right now, want to see?  It's NOT done yet and I need to play some more but I like different heights on my table so I'm playing with boxes UNDER the baskets until I figure out how I like it:

 

O.k. the basket full of plastic bags with red bows on the left are small "kits" that I put together for the last event AND whenever I get around to an Etsy shop.  Here's what I've made with these two kits:

 

This is actually started from this small kit!  Now of course I added LOTS of stuff, but this kit was the inspiration for this mini album!!

 

And this is a little distressed cardboard mini album I made with the other kit.  (the cooking utensils and ribbon is not included)  Again, this was the inspiration from the other kit.  Both kits are just pretty random goodies that you can do whatever you want with!  There just a fun inspiration starter, but they come with a LOT of goodies and their only $7.00 so there a fun little gift or make-n-take for the next crop you're at...

I have a couple other things I'm working on today and maybe I'll show you after the event...  I am going through some of my left over product and making smaller kits.  I'm sure I'll have some left over and I'll put those up in the Kit Sale page soon.  There just fun, smaller and less expensive kit that I think you'll like!

O.k. I'm in a rush to get more work done for the make-n-take so I better finish this.  Have a GREAT weekend everyone and I'll be back on Monday to share about the event and hopefully some of the other stuff going on...

Oh, October kits are going to be AWESOME!  I talked with Tim at Webster's Pages and it's getting really CLOSE to the shipment of all those embellishments that go with the Postcards from Paris line!!!  Have you seen them?  I ordered ALL OF THEM!  I went crazy b/c I saw this line right after I got back from PARIS and had to have them all!  I've had the paper for a while but didn't want to do the kit until I have EVERYTHING!!  PLUS, my own finds from PARIS are going to be in this kit, PLUS some GREAT finds on Etsy and my dear friend Angela Harris is making some beautiful tags again for us so I'm REALLY EXCITED!!  This kit may not be together on the last day of the month, but THAT'S O.K.!  I'm going to relax, not stress and when everything gets here, that's when I'll put it up for sale.  You can be SURE I'll give you fair warning of the REVEAL date, so just make sure you keep checking back here!   Check out these INCREDIBLE embellies from Webster's Pages that are going to be in this KIT!!!  PLUS, my own PARIS FINDS, INCLUDING POSTCARDS...FROM...PARIS!!!!!!      How cool is that???? 

 

Speaking of Paris, I found this picture in the wrong file today but it's of me in Paris on our first night there, in the rain, in front of the arche de triomphe at night!

 

Isn't is crazy?  I'm in the MIDDLE of the street and lance is taking a picture of me IN THE TRAFFIC, in the RAIN, at night!  Unfortunately, that was the only time we got that close to the Arche de Triomphe, even though it was walking distance from our hotel!  We just had so much we did, we never got back there and we REALLY wanted to go up to the top of it...  I'll have to get back to sharing more of our trip this Summer.  I never really finished that did I?? 

Oh, that reminds me... I didn't show you all the DT's work for this months kits either!!  I'm so behind right now... I will try to update the website gallery this weekend!  Here's a couple layouts and altered items from the team with the September kits:

 

Here's a layout from Norma with the school kit!  I just LOVE her imaginative ways!  She does things I'd NEVER think to do with the supplies!!  LOVE IT NORMA!!  Oh Norma, I'll be in Chicago in October!!!  I just found out yesterday, so we'll have to try to meet up this time!!

 

O.k. here is another CREATIVE idea with the Fashion kit!  Remember the 1915's magazine page you got?  LOOK what Emeline did with it!!!  This is CRAZY COOL!  so in love with this idea!!!!

 

Here's another page from Melanies "back to school" album!  She did such a GREAT job with this mini album!!

 

Here's another layout from Norma!  I LOVE her use of color! 

O.k. I've gotta run and get some work done...

Have a GREAT weekend everyone!

Hugs,

Laura

Back from Vegas!

We had an AMAZING time in Vegas and once I get the camera back from Lance's office, I'll share some photos!  Lance treated his sales team to some GREAT surprises and they all had the VIP weekend, for sure!!  I think they we're all blown away by the things they got to do.  I didn't go along for all of them but instead relaxed in the room... and SCRAPBOOKED!  I had two days of enjoying some pool time and then going up to the room and watching a movie or TV while I scrapbooked and it was NIIIIIIIICE! ;)-  I'll take some pictures of some things I worked on and share that too.  I worked mostly on my Europe journal though and I have to say, it was a little teary eyed for me while I journaled a little and put the ephemera in the journal from the trip...

But I'm back now, I'll try to respond to all my emails today. I've also got some kits to mail out today and tomorrow AND get ready for the Artistic Bliss event in L.A. this weekend!  Can't WAIT to show you the picture of what I made!  I don't have the darn camera or I'd show you the finished project... Here's just a quick little tease of it that I took before it was completely finished but you'll get an idea of it...

 

I'm so excited to be a part of this event with Kim Caldwell and Kim Hesson and the all the other ladies!  So I have a LOT of work to do this week to get ready for this event on Friday!!

So this is going to be a quick post... (we're also down to only a few rolls of TP in the house and I need to go make a Costco run!)  hehehe...

Hope you all had a GREAT weekend and are getting ready for FALL!  I already changed out my home decor to Fall about a week and a half ago (yes, I change out with the seasons ;)-  so I'll have to share some of my FAV things right now in my house.  I {heart} Fall so every year right after the girls go to school I like to change the house around.  The girls LOVE it too and I know because if I don't get out the decorations, they'll ask me when we're going to decorate for Fall?  Even Scarlet gets excited when she sees me getting boxes out of the garage and all the stuff that comes out of these boxes! 

I'll blog again tomorrow with a very photo heavy post!

Hugs,

Laura

Busy getting kits ready for MAIL DAY!!

Hi ladies!

I just wanted to get on here real quick and let you know I'M HERE... Just busy working to get all the kits out in the mail tomorrow... Which technically in 3 mintues, it will be today!!!

I have a TON of orders to fill and would like to get them ALL OUT (today ;)- because I will be gone for a few days, again!  Lance's Summit Club in Las Vegas is this weekend so I'm looking forward to that.  So I've been working hard today to get all the kits packaged up, boxed up and labels printed.

By the way, if you've emailed me about a kit that was sold out, after I get back from Las Vegas, I will have a better idea of what I have left.  Hopefully you can wait that long, but right now it's just a crazy house with boxes in about three rooms!  I do know I have 2 Passion for Fashion kits left plus one almost complete kit, and 1 or 2 School kits left.  Also, the Summer Hanging Album kit, that thing is a PAIN to ship ladies.. If you've ordered that kit, it may not go out tomorrow b/c I need to find bigger boxes to ship those in! I do have more of those wood stands for those interested though and will try to get back to all my emails on all kit questions as soon as I get back from Vegas. (or maybe in Vegas since I'll be bringing my computer)

O.k. so it's the next day now... better go get some sleep for a BUSY day tomorrow!

Take care,

laura

Change is GOOD!

Yes ladies, change is good, in fact it's GREAT!  But more on that a little later...

Before I forget, I need to announce the winner of the RAK from like two weeks ago??  Sorry ladies, I went to Palm Springs, went to Creative Escape, had the Kit Reveal, sent the kids back to school and was left with a VERY MESSY HOUSE!  So instead of blogging yesterday I was cleaning up my bedroom and closet!  I thought I'd get it done in a couple hours... oh no, no no... It was an ALL DAY and part of the NIGHT event!  But, I'm really happy to say my bedroom looks like this now:

 

and this:

 

I can actually SIT on the lounge chair and read a magazine!!

And I'll have you know, it's NOT just shoved in a closet or corner...  What took me most of the time yesterday was the CLOSET!  Oh man, my mom can attest to how BAD it was!!!  So I sat on the floor and I organized sock drawers, suitcases, color coordinated the clothes from short sleave to long sleave... Went through purses that still had "stuff" in them!  Come on ladies, tell me you have this problem too...???

Well, I'm THRILLED to say our closet looks like this:

]

and this:

 

Oh and I organized all my scarfs so I can see them right as I go into the closet... I LOVE scarfs!

So I'm feeling really good about all I did in one day!  But not to make you think I've got it "all together" now... I still have this mess:

 

The jacket & shoe closets downstairs! YIKES... It's actually Rebecca's chore so she will have to tackle that when she get home from school!  But I think I might need to help her since this mess is a Summerlong disposal of throwing shoes and jackets in the closet and hoping the door will close! hehehe...

Oh and I have this job to try and tackle myself today after I blog:

 

I can't even SCRAPBOOK until I clean up this mess so this WILL GET DONE TODAY!! And let me tell you why I can't WAIT to PLAY in here:

I got a LOVELY package in the mail this morning from my dear friend Kim Hesson who makes all the wood goodies for my kits!  She is being SUPER GRACIOUS and supplying all the WOOD for my "Make-n-Take" at this event:  http://artisticbliss.typepad.com/my_weblog/artistic-affaire-market-soiree.html You HAVE to check out this wonderful event and if you live in Southern California, PLEASE COME!!  Kim Caldwell is a beautiful lady who puts on these AMAZING events and I feel so BLESSED that she would even think of ME and ask me to be a part of her event!  She does several events a year and they are all amazing!  Just scroll through her blog and see what talent is there and what GORGEOUS projects you make at her events!  So this  "Artisitc Affaire Market Soiree" is going to be on September 18th from6-9pm and then on September 19th, will be the all day event with lots of classes and FUN!  I'm not sure if the 19th is sold out but the 18th is still open to come and enjoy a GREAT time!!

So, Kim Hesson sent me this in 3 different sizes:

 

Can you see that it's a cake!!!  YES, and it stands on it's own.  I was thinking about what I wanted to make for this event and since I've been reading all about Marie Antionette, I was inspired to create something lovely and French in her honor! Kim told me about some things she had, but when she said "CAKE", I knew that was what I wanted to play with!!! So I can't WAIT to play today and I'll show you what I create very soon... By the way, I'm still working on my Marie Antionette album that is a collage of EVERYTHING MARIE!  I'm having soooo much fun making it but it's not quite done yet.

O.K. I'm going to announce the WINNER OF THE RAK so I can get on with the "changes" part...

The winner of the Scrapbook Trends RAK is:

SARAH L.

I hope you are enjoying your brand new baby!  She mentioned that when her son goes to PreK, she will enjoy some quite time with her 5 day old!  Well, congratulations and email my your address and I'll get the goodies out to you!

O.k. Back to the "changes" part of this post...

This really goes hand-in-hand with my CREATIVE ESCAPE weekend so I'm going to intertwine both things somehow...

As I said the other day, I've been thinking about the Kit Club and wanted to take some time this Summer "off"... I didn't do any kits in August and July we spent traveling in Europe on the most AMAZING trip... I really wanted to think about the future of "A Kiss on the Chic Kit Club" and where I wanted it to go as well...

I didn't really figure that out on our trip in Europe...  I didn't really figure it out going to Palm Springs with the girls, or the LA weekend with Lance or the Michigan trip visiting baby Ella and spending time with my FAM. Oh, I've got to share a photo of my little Ella on the Sunday that we were there with her:

 

Dawn took her out in the backyard and took this photo!  She's even bigger now and still the cutest thing!!  I miss her... (and Ty and Dawn, but mostly her ;)-

O.k. back to "change"...

I had such a BUSY, but FUN Summer that I didn't really have time to even think about the Kit Club much...  Really the only thing I thought about as far as the Kit Club was YOU LADIES!  I missed our emails, your comments on the blog, your kind words or funny words or just that communication we've had since this whole crazy thing started !  I said I LOVE people and I do love you ladies!  You are a BIG part of my life now and I would NEVER want to change that!!!

But it wasn't until a couple days before I was on my way to Creative Escape that I started figuring out what the future holds for this Kit Club...

And then, I was busy getting ready for Creative Escape and the September Kit Reveal...  I was in a rush to get to AZ and I was excited to meet Susan, the new owner of Clear Scraps and excited to learn some things at CE, see how these teachers teach, take some pointers from their classes and just LEARN.

What I DIDN'T EXPECT to get out of Creative Escape was a heart wrenching, life changing, Kit Club altering CHANGE!  (o.k. now come the tears... and before you fret, I will still be doing kits! ;)-

It all started the first night at dinner...

We had free time and Susan and I went out to dinner with two wonderful ladies who are reps for Clear Scraps as well as most of the big lines out there.  They were also volunteers for CE and they treated us like VIP the whole weekend!  Well, we all 4 went out to dinner and had such a great time talking about this industry, talking about our families and jobs and just a GREAT time.  I learned some things about this industry from a different perspective from both Susan and these ladies that made me think a little deeper on my direction...

 

(my new friends, Joyce, Carol and Susan!!)

Then the next night was a CE sit down dinner and Heidi Swapp did a really short little 'power-point" on the RISK of NOT SCRAPBOOKING.  What??  Yes, it makes so much sense now to me... She showed pictures of EVERYDAY moments that she scrapbooked, not the BIG EVENTS even though those are important too.  But just pictures of her daugher and husband together walking with hands together.  And the RISK is NOT scrapbooking that and FORGETTING IT!!  The risk of NOT scrapbooking our families EVERYDAY events, the times we scrapbooked about our kids YEARS AGO and the pages may look silly to us now, but WE HAVE THEM!  They are a memory we will NEVER FORGET b/c we HAVE THEM!!  They may be those pages we think about "doing over" (come on ladies... admit it too)  But Heidi showed us her funny pages from years ago (think Creative Memories and cutting out our pictures in "beautiful" ways ;)- and a page she showed us was of her son and she wrote a pretty long journaling on that page of her son at 5.  He's 10 now and she was amazed at how much insight she had into the boy he would become, when he was just 5!  And if she DIDN'T write that, they would FORGET!  Yes... that spoke to me in HUGE ways ladies! 

 

(had to keep that chandelier in the picture ;)-

You see, I'm going from one thing to the next in SUPER SPEED and not scrapbooking my OWN FAMILY MEMORIES!  I haven't done very many albums of our family in the last few years b/c I'm always busy doing projects, or design work, or kit club work, etc. etc...  It REALLY HIT ME HARD...  I'm so busy with "busyness" that I'm missing out on those EVERYDAY MOMENTS and I'm NOT RECORDING THEM EITHER...

What Heidi said I think really spoke to my heart but it doesn't end there...

All through the classes there was this theme.  How "Once in a Lifetimes" aren't just BIG events, but everyday there are "Once in a Lifetimes" that happen and that PASS UP BY and we do run the risk of forgetting them in our busy lives. 

I DON'T WANT TO FORGET!! 

and I also don't want to be too busy anymore.

Too busy to make a good meal for my family...

Too busy to have time to just talk to my girls...

Too busy to go out with a friend or call a friend and chat...

Too busy to just CREATE for the sake of creating...

Too busy to help others...

Too busy and have to say "hold on just a minute" to my girls EVERYDAY...

Too busy to record my familes MEMORIES...

I'M DONE WITH THAT.

So, this whole concept of "change is good"... IT'S TRUE.

I know the Lord was working on me, I know things happen for a reason, and I know with all my heart, this new direction is the RIGHT direction and a GIFT from GOD!  He just needed to work on me a while before I figured it out! lol...

I STILL WILL HAVE KITS!  I just am not going to be in the "Kit Club Box" anymore.

It's that simple.

I am going back to where I started.

When I started I just thought I'd make a dozen extra kits and try to sell them online.  They were kits from classes I TAUGHT, kits from projects I LOVED and I sold them whenever I had them ready to go.  My passion is CREATING.  People ask me all the time "Where do you get your ideas?  How can you come up with so many creative projects?  Do you have more ideas all the time?  The answer is the Lord, God Almighty!  He has blessed me with a head full of ideas and there are constantly more ideas in there! ;)-  I'm serious, I have more ideas in my head of things I want to CREATE then I have time to do them!  I will also tell you that when I start a project or class, I always pray about it before I start and ask the Lord to bless it and help me to create what He wants me to create.  I haven't done that lately...  I need to do that again... I'm going to do that again!

So, I will have KITS...

BUT,

There will be LESS KITS... There will be no "Rhyme or Reason" to them, just whatever CREATIVENESS comes out of me and the Design Team.  They will NOT be dictated by "what is HOT or NEW on the market".  Because if we are truely doing this for our MEMORIES, it's NOT ABOUT THE BLING. (although we LOVE that stuff and it won't go away ;)-  I want to have the creative liscense again to CREATE and that means I may use a paper that's 5 years old or an embellishment you wouldn't THINK of using anymore... 

There will be NO SET PRICE...These kits will be at different price points, from low to high and it will change with each kit.  So for those of you who couldn't afford the $32, I plan to make kits that may be less then $10.00 and maybe kits that are$27 or $45 or $80.00??   I don't know because it will all depend on the CREATIVE journey and depend on the project/kit.   

There will be NO SPECIFIC REVEAL DATE...  I know, this one is tuff for you ladies.  I know you want to be here at a specific day and time to grab a kit but I can't say that I'm going to do a kit EVERY MONTH.  I may not.  I do know I will have a kit for October and November.  I know I'll come up with something for December, but I don't know when I'll "reveal" it.  I WILL let everyone know when I've figured the date out each time.  I WON'T spring it on you, I will talk about it on the blog and remind everyone.  I just don't do well under pressure and having to have everything up the last day of the month has been very hard from me. (and my family) 

So I hope this makes sense and you're not confused!  Here's what there WILL BE:

CREATIVENESS!

Here's the definition of Creative:

cre·a·tive  (kr-tv)

adj.

1. Having the ability or power to create: Human beings are creative animals.

2. Productive; creating.

3. Characterized by originality and expressiveness; imaginative: creative writing.

n.

One who displays productive originality: the creatives in the advertising department.

---

cre·ative·ly adv.

crea·tivi·ty (--t), cre·ative·ness n.

And that just can't be put in a "Kit Club Box" for me anymore. I want more time with my FAMILY, more time to record my own MEMORIES, more time to cook, YES COOK! (I love to cook and bake) More time to be a FRIEND to YOU ladies and girlsfriends I've had for years (and haven't done much with this past year or so because I'm "too busy") more time to TEACH because I LOVE teaching, and more time to CREATE.
 

Now I want ALL OF YOU to do me a favor.  I was talking about this with Dawn yesterday and she told me about a blog post on Melody Ross' blog from May 2.  I read it and cried and read it some more.  What she said, It's SO IMPORTANT! I'm making my husband, Victoria and Rebecca and anyone else I know READ IT!  It's NOT the things in this world that are important ladies, it's PEOPLE.  Please go here: http://www.melodyross.typepad.com/ and scroll down to May 2 and READ!  and cry and read it again... Then tell me what you think... 

I'd LOVE to hear from you...  about these Kit Club "changes", about Melody's post, about life, memories, WHATEVER, I want to be here for YOU.  I said I missed YOU ladies while I was traveling all over this Summer and I wouldn't want to miss that part of this Kit Club!  That's what life is about.  Sharing life with others, hopefully sharing creativity together,  and joy and sorrow and just LIFE...

So here's just a little bit more of my "life" from Creative Escape last week:

 

I got to take a class with Marah Johnson.  She is such a wonderful lady, so talented and really creative in the "altered art" area!  We made a "treasure box" in her class:

 

I LOVE it!  It's so ME...  The crown, the heart, the WINGS... And inside it a set of board books we decorated too.  I may take them out and use this for a treasure box instead though... But it was fun to take this class and I'm actually going to show you something YOU can do with the paper in the Passion for Fashion kit from Marah's class!

 

Here's Susan and I with Heather Bailey.  She actually taught the class with the Clear Scraps album!  I'm not finished with it because it was quite intense, but I'll share the project when I'm done.  It was nice to meet her though and I even was one of the WINNERS of her giveaway!  So I got some "trash ties" that she sells and a couple patterns from her line of sewing projects!  They're really cute and I can't wait to play with them and Victoria's sewing machine...

 

Now here is my FAV picture... (yes, better then the one I'm about to show you with TIM)  It's my FAV because this is a DEAR Kit Club lady!  Yes, I was so lucky enough to get to me one of YOU wonderful ladies!  Kathleen, I'm SOOOO glad you tracked me down and found me!  I was looking for her everyday and couldn't find her and on the last day, in the last class, she came in and FOUND ME!  I'm so glad you did, even though we didn't have much time to chat.  It was so nice to meet you and quick take this picture!  Btw, I saw your picture up on the screen the last night Kathleen and you looked so GREAT with that yellow flower in your hair!!

That was fun...

 
O.k. here's Tim.  I'll tell you what I think of Tim.  But it may make my Aunt Irma cry... so for that, I'm sorry if you read my blog Aunt Irma...

Tim is a DOLL.  He is truely a gifted person.  Not in just the CREATIVE way that we all see.  He's a gifted person in being a "people person".  Now I know why all you ladies go CRAZY for this man and want to take his classes whenever and wherever you can!  He is not only talented, he has a PASSION for this art form, (have you heard me say that before about someone else? :)-  he LOVES teaching and it shows, he has a way of making you feel at ease, he tells you YOUR GOING TO FINISH HIS CLASS PROJECT... IN THE CLASS!  Yes ladies, this was HUGE.  As someone who teaches and wants you to walk away with a FINISHED PROJECT,  I appreciated this calm man telling me this at the beginning of the class!  This was the funnest class I took the whole weekend.  And now I know why.  It isn't that Tim's classes ROCK. (they do though), it wasn't that Tim's a CELEBRITY (he is, but that doesn't matter), and it wasn't that you will finish Tim's class, in the classs (eveyone did).  It's because Tim is just Tim Holtz, and all that encompases that man, is like a little GIFT, a GEM and a true JOY!

Now here's the part that will make my Aunt cry (and me too...)  He reminds me of someone so dear to me, who is no longer on this earth.  My cousin Mike.  I truely never put the two of these men together in my mind until this weekend when I had a chance to (very briefly) talk to Tim by ourselves down the hallway.  That's when I looked at him and saw Mike.  Then I took his class a few hours later and saw Mike in him again. He looks somewhat like Mike.  And Mike was an artist, like Tim.  Mike was one of my FAV cousins and even though he struggled with a lot in his life, he had such LIFE in him!  He was so talented and he could draw the most amazing things, paint the most wonderful paintings.  Mostly of Montana where he grew up, of beautiful scenery that I love too.  But like Tim, Mike CREATE things.  Mike was also an Archaeologist who dug for bones all over the world!  He worked at the Smithsonian Institute in D.C.  He LOVED to travel the world. He LOVED searching for things and he was a true JOY! 

So for that reminder of Mike, Thanks Tim.

Here's what we made in Tim's Class..

 

It's a SUITCASE!  With a little album in it.  "Moments from the Journey"...  Mike liked to travel the world.  I think I know what I'm going to do with this little suitcase...

And Irene, I said HI from you to Tim!  He told me you just sent him an email with more creative stuff you've been working on for him.  I can't WAIT to see what you've been up to girlie!

O.k. This post has taken me ALL DAY to write... I'm so sorry it's a BOOK instead of a blog post!  I have more pictures of Creative Escape but I think I'll save those for the Clear Scraps blog post I need to do.   Don't forget to check out their blog.  We have some AMAZING talent on the DT and it's such an inspiration to see!  You can find there blog HERE They are in the process of moving everything to Colorado this week so I know they would appreciate any prayer and well wishes in this new chapter of Clear Scraps!  

I would appreciate any prayer and well wishes in this new direction I'm headed.  I truely feel blessed beyond words that so many people have found my blog and stayed to share with me in CREATIVITY and LIFE.  

Hugs to all,

Laura 

The day after...

The day after my birthday...

The day after the 1st day of school...

The day after the day after my kit reveal...

Life is GOOD! ;)-

I'm sitting in my office doing some paperwork and stuff but I just realized I have this feeling of "everything is going to be ok".  Do you get that way?  I've been rush, rush, rush ALL SUMMER LONG and now, in the quite of my house (even though it's a disaster) I feel like I can breathe...  I know I've been blessed to go on soooo many UNBELIEVABLE trips this Summer!  I'm so grateful to have had that time with  my hubby on our 20th Wedding Anniv. trip, my girls in Michigan seeing little Ella and Ty and Dawn, some local trips here to Palm Springs and L.A. and to Creative Escape last weekend in AZ.  It has been one of the most amazing Summers of my life!  I sooo wish I could share with everyone how I'm feeling about this amazing Summer!  I can't really put it into words b/c I've learned sooo much about my life and my family and what's important to me...

What's important to me is PEOPLE.  My Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, my AWESOME little family unit, my great BIG family, my DEAR friends, my WONDERFUL kit club ladies who ARE my friends, and even people I don't know but meet in my daily life!  This is what is truely important and what I really want to focus more on...

I don't have life figured out, I don't have the "perfect" home with the white picket fence (although I'd like too ;)-, I don't know how to balance everything, I don't have time to do everything I need to in the day...

Take a look at this. This is how my house looks RIGHT NOW: (sorry mom, I know you wouldn't EVER show this to people)

This is the mess from Creative Escape weekend next to my bed...

This is the mess next to Lance's side of the bed (he's going to kill me, but it's not HIS mess, I promise)  This is the mess from the LA weekend... the Palm Springs trip AND clean clothes not put away yet...

 

And this is the mess in my office on REVEAL night and me, not looking so happy...

And here I am opening my presents for my birthday on REVEAL night and B-day party night, going back and forth from the family room to the office, with NO make-up on, no cute clothes on, and a little frustrated...

 

I guess while I was at Creative Escape, Lance took the girls shopping and when I came back, there was a HUGE stack of gifts for me!  He had gone to Anthropologie with the girls and picked out some tops and remembered from our LA weekend that I fell in LOVE with these ceramic bird measuring cups and they bought them for me!

 

A birthday card from my hubby that was REALLY, REALLY funny!  I mean belly ache funny!  I can't really share all of it, but lets just say, Victoria thought it was stupid! lol...  It was a musical card too... oh man... WAY funny!  (see that HUGE box next to the chair??  Well, that's a NEW CONVECTION OVEN!!  We have an old toaster oven I use just about every day for toast, heating up little things, etc... and it's about to cause a fire I'm sure!  So he went to Sur La Tab, my FAV cooking store and they ladies in there told him this was the way to go!  It's HUGE but it can toast, bake, broil, and clean the dishes too! hehehe... just kidding on the dishes but it can do just about anything and I LOVE IT!  Thanks babe!! (I'm a closet foodie...)

Did you know I once wanted to write a cookbook?  Yup, another one of my talents..lol... Just don't have much time for it... I even made a video to try out for "The Next Food Network Star"!!!  LOL... Seriously, I did but I didn't turn it in b/c Isabella was 1 at the time and I didn't want to be gone from her if I made it in...  Plus now these people are SERIOUS chefs, not just your average mom who loves to cook and bake!

O.k. getting back to LOVING people and my BUSY, BUSY life...

I told everyone back in I think June that I was going to be thinking about the direction of my Kit Club while I was on vacation this Summer.  I said I needed to figure out what I wanted to do, go BIG with the Kit Club, stay smallISH, change it up, or what??? 

I have to tell you I wasn't sure of EXACTLY what I wanted to do and Summer was almost over!  I had an IDEA of what I wanted to do, and I had an idea of how to get there. But not until this past weekend at CREATIVE ESCAPE did I finally feel the Lord SHOWING me what to do!

I went to Creative Escape b/c the Clear Scraps owners donated a TON of albums and got to go because of that and take one person.  That person was lucky enough to be me!  I thought I would go to learn some new techniques, see how these "celebrity" teachers teach, make some cool projects and have FUN!  Little did I know that I would LEARN ABOUT ME in the process!

I think I'm going to save that all for another post, but I do want to say I'm VERY excited about this direction and I think you will be too!

O.k. I need to go be CREATIVE before the girls get out of school but I'll share a couple more things...

1. The OCTOBER AFTERNOON RUBBER CHARMS!!  I have sent REFUNDS in the form of PayPal Money to all of you who ordered these from me.  After many, many emails and phone calls to OA, I have decided to just call it a loss and refund everyone there money.  So if you ordered those from me a few months back, you should have $5.50 refunded back to your Paypal account earlier today!

2. In the busy life I lead, I forgot to announce the winner of the RAK from last week!  I will do this tomorrow after I jot all the names down and put then in a hat!

3. I mentioned that the night I got home from Creative Escape, by hubby surprised me and took me out on a DATE NIGHT!  I had NO IDEA where we were going and even as we were driving there he didn't tell me a thing!  I was guesssing and guessing and the freeway we were on gave me NO CLUE but we finally ended up here:

 

A drive-in movie theater!!!!  Oh man, he was soooo excited to plan this!  He told me a few weeks ago he had a GREAT date night he wanted to take me on.  And then that night I got home, he said the next night we'd go on this date but then he checked on-line and said we had to do it that night!  I was quite tired but up for it so he gathered some things before we left and told me not to peek...  Then we sat on the couch and had Victoria take some pictures of us (come on ladies, I HAD to document this!!!)

 

I asked him if I needed to change, bring a bathing suit (thought the beach), he said no so I went just as I had come home from CE...

 

Hole in jeans and all... (these are not the expensive jeans where they make the holes, this is a hard earned hole in the jeans by me wearing them WAY TOO MUCH!) lol..

 

Isabella wanted to come along but that was NOT happening...

So back to the drive-in...

You HAVE to check out this link:

http://www.rubidouxdrivein.com/#/events/

If you live in So. Cal... You have to try this next Summer!  We had to go on Sunday night b/c it was the last night of their Summer Turner Classis Movies for $1.00!  Yes, one dollar got the whole carload in!  And we saw the best movie we could possibly see on a "Retro" Date night:

VIVA LAS VEGAS with Elvis Presley!!!

Oh man, I don't know if I've told you how much my husband loves Elvis... He was truely awestruck as a boy of about 11 or 12 when he actually SAW ELVIS LIVE IN CONCERT IN LAS VEGAS!!  So it has stayed with him his whole life and no-one else in the music industry is better then Elvis. 

So we parked our new MINI COUPER... Yes, that was a surprise when we got back from Michigan that I didn't really tell you all about... My hubby's car we bought used after we got back from our trip around the world in 2003.  Anyways, this old car was needing some work done and this "cash for clunkers" thing was going on AND our daughter is turning 16 next year (yikes!!) so Lance decided to get a FUN "bridge" car he calls it.  Meaning HIS car until he gets the car he wants and he'll give this one to Victoria IF she is responsible and IF she keeps her grades up and IF we can handle dropping the keys in her hands!!! oh man... not even wanting to THINK about that!  But, it was a HUGE surprise when we got home and that's a whole other story...

Back to the pictures of Date Night:

 

So we park the car... (is that not CUTE or what???)

 

Go get hotdogs, popcorn, candy and soda (and eat it VERY carefully in the new car ;)-

and stuff our mouths with all of it:

Oh and if you follow the link above, you'll see this retro poster of their Summer TCM program... Well, we asked if they had one and they gave me their mini version of it and it was their last one!  So I told them I would blog about them and thank them for giving it to me!  So thanks!!!!

 

Would you look at that Sunset??  Come on, was this not one of the BEST IDEAS for a date night??  I love you babe and I love that you still love doing these kinds of things!!  And you couldn't have picked a better "retro" movie to watch at a "retro" type of date night!  Viva Las Vegas Baby!!! 

We'll actually be there next week for Lance's "Summit club" and I can't WAIT!

So here's the last picture before the movie started:

 

Then lance didn't want me to take anymore pictures...  Thanks babe for a GREAT DATE NIGHT!  The next one I'll have to come up with!  Any suggestions ladies??

Well, talking to my hubby as we speak.  He's sitting in a park in Boston and sending me a picture of it so I'm going to go take a look at it.  He has to speak there in a little while and then he'll be back home.

Check back here tomorrow for the Winner of the RAK, some more info on the changes I've been thinking about and pictures and thoughts from Creative Escape!

Hugs to all,

laura