from 2 peas:
Do you let what others think about scrapbooking/card making products influence your buying/creating?

When it comes to some tools, yes. When I read about bad experiences and tools that simply do not work, I do avoid them.

When it comes to stores, yes. I will stay away from the stores with reports of horrible customer service.

But product/embellies, no. I just use what I want, whether or not its popular.


I work today. Oh, well. I traveled so much in the month of December, I am so far behind. Christmas was good, dh's family was here and it was nice. The one brother's drinking was monitored, so no 'fight' this year. but I have to admit one of the highlights was trying to weigh the Christmas ham with my mil. She took it out of the box so it would fit in the fridge, we ended up weighing her and then weighing her with the ham...it was goofy.

Had fun spoiling dh and dil...we will celebrate with dd and her sweetie at the end of the month. So I plan to leave the tree up.

2008 is promising to be interesting. We have 3 graduations in the family, dd and neice from college in May, ds from the police acadamy in June and sister's wedding reception in March...and dare I say it, a potential wedding this fall. Nothing official, just talking and planning...a little.

Oh, and my mom wants to move back. With sister marrying, she wants to come here...should be ineresting. So as ds and dil move out of the suite, I am moving her stuff back in. (its been stored here since last December)

and I'm still working on my Christmas journal...hopefully tomorrow there will be concentrated time to type up my journaling.

Take care and have a great pre-New Year weekend. If I remember correctly, the Japanese 'tradition' is that what you do on New Year's day is what you will be doing the rest of the year. So don't shop or do major cleaning that day..good day to scrap, huh. Oh, and there is the Japanese tradition of giving money. I changed it to giving a Christian book to each of the family members, something that 'fits' with what they are going thru.

Christmas Eve

from 2 peas: What are your plans for Christmas Eve?

Well, gonna finish a couple of pages for dd's book, we are doing it together.
The top page is her very first one, I like how she used the journaling stips as photo matting. The 2nd page is my fave of the ones I did. But I think its the sequence of pics that I like about it.

and the 3rd pic is the top of our finally finished Christmas tree!!
I'll get a better non-lit pic of it and post it tommorrow, its gold, white and purple and looks very nice.

Oh, back to plans...cuz dd is leaving for So Cal tonight, we will probably exchange her gifts with the grandparents this afternoon. Then I'll take her to the airport for an evening flight.

Tomorrow is the big family day....

Ya'll have a great Christmas Eve.

winter season and busyness

from 2 Peas:
What are three things that you enjoy most about the winter season? What three things do you dislike?

I hate winter! its cold and rainy and dark way too soon.
the only redeeming feature about winter is Christmas.
Christmas is great...though a busy time.

Been sooooo busy, so behind on all fronts. Work, home...good thing about Christmas on Tuesday is we also get Monday off. so that makes 4 days in a row without work. Still need finishing touches on decorating and the scrapbook for the in-laws.

Oh!! great news (only a fellow scrapper can understand)
DD wants to make her boyfriend a book!! So last night we pulled some papers, I told her start with her pics, choose paper and coordinating cardstock..get them down and we'll worry about embellishing later. Its a Start! But seeing the room with her eyes, I can see how intimedating it would be for someone 'new' to the scrappin world.

Have a great Friday!!

holiday memory from school.

from 2 peas:
Share a memory you have from a holiday celebration you had in school.
Can be a holiday sing, gift exchange, etc

uhhmmm, nope, can't recall a thing, only that I've pretty much blocked my school years. Not good memories at all...but I do remember my son's kindergarten program, he was the back end of a camel...it was a one-dimensional camel with cut outs for 2 kids to hold it. He is also the one who had 'lines'..it was all very cute.


I've been taking part in Shimelle's journal your Christmas...it has been fun to use the prompts to journal. Right now the journaling are in a notebook, waiting to be typed...and I have a few pages ready for the journaling and pics. I went with a landscape 8 1/2 x 11 sketch book that I will add my scrappin' to. I don't participate in the board, except to lurk a little...just no time to sit and type.

Actually my board 'participation' is down to checking out the blog thread here on 2 peas, and the swap thread...just not responding very much these days. Hopefully, I'll get a little computer time soon. But I used to be fairly active on a couple others, but I can see that they have slowed down quite a bit, guess we are all so busy.

OH, since dil and ds have moved out, I have now taken over the other half of the scrap room...so each day, I spread my stuff out to the other side just a little more.
I have one cabinet left...(I'm packing for her)...

yeah, as I organize my space...I DO HAVE ALOT of PAPER!!!

so, gotta plan my organizing strategy.
Have a great Weds ya'll!!

I'm so happy, I got a new printer!

Yay!! DH had a little luck on the tables in Reno, so he let me buy myself a new printer, I'm so unhappy with Kodak and their warrenty sitution (replacing my printer with a different model, that I cannot use)...so I got an HP and the store (Best Buy) 2 year warrenty. Hope I have better luck this time! Cool thing about the HP, I can print 5x7 AND add borders and stuff, but I admit I've been using my Kodak program to select them from the computer, I like that I can have wallet size
or 2- 3x4's thru the Kodak.

from 2 peas:
What is one thing you look forward to during these last few days before Christmas?

Being done and resting. Wrapping and sending those gifts.
Visiting with friends and family...in fact today, Monday, is an annual luncheon with 'the girls'...our kids grew up together and though they've 'moved' on us moms meet twice a year to get together and catch up. We get together in May, cuz 4 of us have May birthdays, then in Dec...for the lone birthday girl...too much fun!

I'm baaaaack from the wilds of Nevada...and it was COLD!! temps in the 20's...Yucky!!! Def not a gal for cold weather.

from 2 peas: What is the latest product out on the market that you couldn't live without these days?
I soooooo miss my photo printer, it broke last Oct so I sent it to the warrenty center to be fixed. A couple of weeks ago I rec'd a replacement, but a different model that I cannot use!!! it is the model with the docking station, and I use a Canon not a Kodak! and this thing did not come with a usb cord and the ones I have do not fit!! even ordered another one, still does not work. I miss my printer!!

Well, no decorated tree yet. Cierra left for SoCal on Thursday...but she returns Tues. so, hopefully she will take care of it then. I've done some of the smaller areas of the house...so I'll just leave her the tree!!

Okay,
got a hair appt and a crop today!! should be fun!!

a Christmas memory

from 2 peas:
A Christmas memory...hmmm, as a child I remember when my dad got my mom a gift, a jewelry box..after we had opened our gifts, he went to the car and got it for her. It was memorable, because I don't remember my dad giving my mom any other gift.

Another one was when our family rented a house in Long Barn, CA..so we could have a white Christmas...well, it was a shack..the entire building was not even level, the electricity was a series of extension cords, and the bunk beds broke when my son jumped into the top one..(thank God dd was not in the bottom one) BUT it was a great Christmas, kept simple, we just gave each other homemade notes in stockings and went to the local restaurant for dinner. It was great!!

so, those are my memories.

Christmas is coming on too fast for me. BUT we got the tree up tonight, DD is helping a friend plan a wedding and looking into the possibility of a career as an event planner, so I told her decorating the tree and home would be perfect practice!!
Don't you agree? Soooo...she is going to decorate for me tomorrow...yay!!!

I still haven't sent Christmas cards and I am starting to panic!!
so I better get off the computer and get started!!

trip to AZ

I'm baaaaack!! from the wilds of Arizona.

it was quite nice, it rained pretty much the whole time we were there, BUT the hard rain was at night, soft during day. So, I can liken it to being in Hawaii, yes it rained but it was kind of nice.

OH!! Scrapbooks Etc in AZ!! whoo-wee!! whatta stop! We also ate at the little restaraunt across the street, the name escapes my but there is a pic of a girl eating a gyros...it was sooooo good! run by a Greek couple, but don't think its just Greek food, I had clam chowder and a southwest chicken sandwich, and the homemade potato salad..all were soooooo goooood!!

anyways, I digress...lets just say I managed to spend over $100.00 at Scrapbooks Etc
and only got 2 packs of cardstock, the rest was in embellies and stamps. At their 50%off table were Autumn Leaves clear stamps..had to get a couple...I did get a gift for my sis Brenda, laser cut ribbon adhesives, so I wasn't totally selfish!!


then we spent the night at our friend's houseboat on Roosevelt Lake, though it was storming outside and you heard rain all night, we were securely tied to the dock, so there was no rocking. I did tell DH that if the boat starts to sink, he had to save my Scrapbooks Etc bag, first. Hey, we gotta have our priorities, right?

the rest of the weekend was spent at their home in Safford, but on the way there we stopped for some antiqueing in Miami...that's Miami, AZ...a bit of a ghost town, but the antique stores there were fabulous. Lets just say, my friends UPS'd me 2 boxes, cuz I did not have room in my luggage. I even bought a backpack to use as carryon...

Yup, eating great, lots of shopping, good friends, all equal a great weekend.

now,I'm back to work, but only for 2 days,
next up is a trip to the wilds of Nevada...Reno, that is....

2008 scrap goals

from 2 peas: scrappin' and card making goals for 2008...


Organize my scrap room and just start accomplishing more.
actually, for 2008, I'd like to finish a 'mother/daughter' journal I started years ago, but recently found. Start a book journal, re: 2 Peas Book club, also saw an idea on someone's blog about an art techniqe journal...thought I'd use it for different stamp/ink techniques..so, its gonna be a 'journal' 2008


I'll be out of town for the weekend. DH and I are going to Arizona, to visit friends of his. I was promised a stop at Scrapbook Etc in Mesa, (that was the carrot he used)..soooooo I can't wait!! We then meet his friends at their houseboat then go their home. He's been friends w/ Mike since 3rd grade, so this could be cool.

I feel so overwhelmed, not much is done for Christmas, so I thought I'd bring my address book and Christmas Card envelopes and at least address them on the plane ride.

Ya'll have a great weekend, and if I can't get to a computer see ya Monday night, or Tues morn!!

My swap stash

Here's my 2 peas Ornament/Secret Sister Exchange gifts!!
so much fun, love the papers and ribbon and vintage buttons, bling, a couple of transparancies, Prima hydrangea petals, KItatoo rubons, MME Bohemia rub ons, even glue dots and a handmade fold out album in pink and green( very cool)...but no name, so I don't know who to thank.

but Thank You!! I love it all, and will use it!

from 2 peas:
Do you prefer to attend crops online or in person? Explain why you like one over the other

In Person!! I know its harder to pack...but I do prefer being with the gals.

I'm going to stamp camp this morning, so I don't have much time to blog.

Yesterday was a good day, well, the work part was okay. But after work, we went to our friend's house for a tree trimming and Cioppino...yummmmmm

They are so smart, the don't like to trim the tree, so they invite friends over...they cook a great meal and we trim their tree. It works!!

after stamp camp, I hope to scrap...I may work tomorrow, as I have 3 days off and it is month end. (for accounting, it is my busiest time, getting those books closed)

maybe I'll have some pics of projects to share tomorrow..or Monday..
have a great weekend, ya'll