All the projects for my first book deadline are on the way to F&W Publications. And gosh does it feel good to have them out of the house. I will tweak and tweak and tweak until I make myself nuts! This Saturday, I will be teaching at The Crafty Scrapper. I cannot wait to shop either. Carolyn has her store packed. I have to make at least two trips around the store before I can focus enough to think about purchasing items. I tell ya if you have never been to her store because you worry about the drive. Let me just tell you it is so worth every mile.

Since my sister and her family are still having to stay with us due to hurricane Ike. Madelyn and I had a little photo shot yesterday. I got this one photo that I really love and just in the nick of time I might add. As soon as I took this one a mosquito bit her on the little toe and she was done. In the house she went. But she did politely say, I could take some more tomorrow.

I thought I would share a little sneak peek to a class I am teaching Jan. 15th – 18th at Split Rock Retreat for Scrappin’ Away Vacations. This Maya Road Townhouse and Mini Album kit is loaded with lots of Maya Road product, vintage items and gorgeous Webster’s Pages.

While there I’m also teaching a Triangle Banner, 6″ Circle and 4″ Binder class. So if you are near the area and want to come and play I would love to meet you and teach you some neat techniques. Registration opens today and Rollie is taking the first 175 people. So sign up now if you want to attend. You do not want to miss out on all the weekends events.

Gosh, I so stink at this blogging. I am trying but right now I have too many pots boiling over at once. I was doing great until hurrican Gustav decided to give the gulf coast a little visit. Labor day weekend I had my mom, dad and their bird, sister, BIL their 4 kids & dog, my MIL, FIL and their dog staying at our house. So throw in our family and our 3 dogs it was a bit tight. It was quite a visit. Mind you we live in a one story, 4 bedroom 2 bath house and one bedroom is DH’s office and one bedroom is my scraproom. So we had air beds all over and coolers lined up in the kitchen. It was crazy. Everyone left Tuesday and now are watching hurricane Ike. So Tuesday I washed and cleaned and Wednesday I was dragging and did absolutely nothing.

So this brings me to Thursday and Friday… well I am happy to say I will be teaching classes at one of Rollie Stillings events “Scrappin Away Vacations“  January 15-19. This will be her 5th anniversary and man does she have some fun things planned… make-n-takes, art auction for a charity, raffles and so much more. The event opens for registration Sept. 15th. She is only taking the first 175 reservations and then it is sold out. Rollie will post the classes Oct. 1st, which brings me back to Thursday and Friday… I have been working on creating a super cute class project for this event.

And how ironic… I got this award from Wendy Vecchi last week and then a few days ago from Celeste Smith. I guess they like my blog even though I am a bad blogger.

So here are the rules:

1. The winner puts the logo on their blog.
2. Then link the person you received the “I Love Your Blog” award from.
3. Nominate at 6 other blogs.
4. Then put links to those blogs on your blog.
5. Then leave a message on the blogs of the people you nominated.

So here are my nominations in no particular order.

Santa Claus: Because I still believe.

Sande Krieger: I love her style, she makes me want to try digi so badly and her photography is out of this world.

Linda Albrecht: Her attention to detail is incredible and her altered projects are too cute for words.

My Crafty Life: Neat tutorials and templates

Jenny at Everyday is a Holiday: Love her paintings and seeing all her vintage finds.

Caroline Lau: Always discovers some neat technique for sheers or chipboard.

Now I am off to finish up my class project and work on some tutorials for next week. Wishing you all a wonderful weekend.

Sept. 20th? The Crafty Scrapper in Waxahachie, Texas!!! I will be teaching a mini workshop. Three mini album classes and 2 layout classes. I am so excited to be going back. This store is incredible and it will be great seeing everyone again.

I got to see Carolyn, Sherri and Heidi at GASC in Arlington in June. They had one hopping booth and were running around like crazy. That booth was filled with loads of Maya Road products and lots of other great scrapbooking supplies. If you have never been to The Crafty Scrapper you need to check it out. It is so worth the drive.

Taking a solo flight.

I have been watching momma and daddy bird care for their two babies over the past month. Let me just say… birdie parents are BUSY… I had no idea how much work it was to care for baby birds. This bird house (which by the way was made by my dad and is my favorite) is hung just outside my kitchen window so all day long I get to sneak some peeks of them in action. I’m sad knowing the babies are gone but something tells me I will be busy enough these next several months that bird watching will be slim to none.

I have decided to go ahead and teach the free “Our Home” layout class and have set up a private Ning forum. If you want to participate please either email me or post a comment here and I will send you an invite. I am trying to work out the kinks before NSD so please all I ask is that you be patient and understanding. I am a techniques girl not a techy girl. I think it will be a fun couple of hours so come join me. I just might even have a few surprises up my sleeve too.

Since I have had an overwhelming response I will need to close my online class registration Saturday May 3rd at 1:00 p.m. CST. Thank you for your understanding.

I have been trying to think of something I can do on NSD that is fun and free for all of you that visit my blog. I am wondering if you would be interested in a free online class? If you are, email me or post a comment to this thread. If I get enough people I can set up a private Ning forum for the online class and rework my “Our Home” layout so you can download the free templates, instructions and type of supplies and tools needed to create the layout shown below.

So let me know what you think…

I had such a blast teaching this past weekend at Lasting Memories retreat in Danbury, CT. Julie and Barb are the best hosts. They go above and beyond for their customers… loads of laughs and creating were had by all.

I have a few kits left over. If you are interested in purchasing one let me know. They are the Time Flies and Stories Told mini album kits and Happiness is you/Two Sisters (you will create 2 – (1-12 x 12 layouts) Layout Kit, and the Our House 1-12 x 12 layout kit. You will have lots of leftovers from each kit to use on future projects or layouts.

Their good friend Nancy celebrated her 50th birthday yesterday and all weekend someone was surprising her with some kind of birthday wish. Nancy took it all in stride even though I think she wanted to go and hide a few times. They surprised her with a birthday cake which is the best cake I have ever had in my life. It was insanely incredible and I am so glad there are 1000′s of miles between me and that bakery. Nancy also has me on a mission to get a cricut expression. She was showing me all the great things this machine can do and now I have GOT to have one. Sue tried to convince me I need the Pazzle but I am just too computer challenged. What she did show me was great. It is super cool too and has loads of neat features but I just cannot grasp all of it and fear frustration would be my main state of mind. That is unless Sue moves down here and does it for me all the time.

During one of my classes Ruth gave me the tip of the day… I tell ya I should be so embarrassed to tell you all this but I just have to let you know as I am sure there are others out there like me. Did you know the plastic part of the emery board file in the BasicGrey Precision File Set comes off? I NEVER knew this and I am so glad I didn’t throw mine away. I tell ya that was such a DUH moment for me. So THANK YOU RUTH for sharing this little tad bit of info with me.

I also want to thank all of you that came to my classes and left telling me you were so glad you came and you learned a lot. I was happy to hear you say you were going to apply some of the techniques you tried in each class in future layouts and projects. I know I put you all through the ringer with the craft knife but in the end I do believe you were all happy and will agree it is the quickest method for covering chipboard pages.

I must say there is one person in particular who I got to speak with for a bit before leaving to catch my flight who truly touched my heart. Livia pulled me aside to thank me for helping her in class as they were the first classes she had ever taken. She showed me the layouts she had been working on during the retreat and each one she added some of the tecniques she learned in class and told me where she planned on adding other techniques to other pages. Then the kicker was when she said, “You made me feel like I really can do this.” Yep, I can hardly type or think of this without having tears. I love teaching and that one comment is why.

Everyone really can do this!

I will be teaching 5 classes at Lasting Memories April 4th – 6th and thought I would share a little sneak peek of my “Time Flies” class. If you are in the area check out the fun retreat Barb and Julie have planned. I hope to see you there.

I will post my second class shortly. I’m just about finished. Oh what a fun weekend this is gonna be.

This past weekend I had the pleasure of going to San Antonio to attend a Fiskars Fisk-a-teers Crafting Ambassadors event. I have never attended such a well organized, fun filled, action packed training session. Brains on Fire organized a weekend I will never forget. I got to take classes given by lead Fisk-a-teers Holly, Stephenie and Cheryl as well as Heidi Grace of Heidi Grace Designs (totally adorable and the funniest storyteller ever one minute she had us laughing the next she had us grabbing Kleenex) and Nancy with Cloud 9 Design taught an adorable calendar class using many of her great paper lines . Each class was filled with loads of incredible Fiskars products. We were taught how to use each one and then got to keep everything after we finished the adorable project they had for us to create .

My roommate was Patti Church Fiskateer #377. Talk about a perfect match. I was really worried about not knowing who my roommate was going to be, because I am pretty shy in settings like that but Patti was perfect. We clicked the second we met and laughed so much by the end of each day my face hurt. She is so FUNNY and will always be a great friend. We were lucky enough to get to attend every class together and thank goodness I had her to keep me on track. With so much going on it was extremely hard for me to stay focused. I have never cut so many pieces of paper wrong in my life or gotten lost in the directions that were explained so easily a kindergarten student could have figured it out. Thankfully I had “Perfect Patti” as my keeper. She was the best and I wish she lived closer because I really miss her.

I got to FINALLY meet Jane Hasty Fiskateer #329. I have so wanted to meet her and each time the possibility came up something happened. Jane is an incredible photographer. You really need to check out her blog. It was so fun to get to know her roommate Kimberly Brock Fiskateer #1044. Talk about always looking like a “Rodeo Queen” she always looked so dang cute wearing her Fiskateer hat. Gretchen Schmidt Fiskateer #51 also sat at our table. I have chatted back and forth with her for so long and it was great to finally get to meet her. Gosh the list of people I met could go on and on. It is great to be a part of the so called “Fabulous Fifty”. Bonds were formed this weekend that I know will last a lifetime. It overwhelms me when I think about being a part of this group.

Now my next task is to train 20 people that want to become Fiskars Demonstrators in the DFW area. If you are interested in teaching and want to become a Fiskateer Ambassador look for one of the “Fabulous Fifty” in your area. If you made it this far in my post I feel it only right to offer a RAK. Just leave a comment about your favorite Fiskars product and I will place your name into a drawing for a Stamp Press.

I have been invited to attend a Fiskateer Roundup in San Antonio, Texas November 2nd – 4th! This is an all expense paid trip where I will be taught how to use all the wonderful Fiskars products. Then I can teach others in my area how to use them too.

It is going to be fun getting to talk to Stephenie, Cheryl and Holly (hopefully May but not sure since she has a pretty new baby girl to care for at home) for more than just a few minutes. I get to see them at CHA but it is always so quick as we are so busy in our booths or are stopping by in between a quick lunch break. We get to meet Heidi Grace of Heidi Grace Designs, Nancy Martinez of Cloud 9 Designs, Julie McGuffee of PBS, Suzanne Walker of Fiskars TV, Michele Dougherty Dean of AC Moore College of Crafting and Rachel Wright the Director of Education from JoAnn’s.

If you would like to become a Fiskars Fisk-A-Teer just visit this link and you will be one step closer to becoming a Fisk-A-Teer Crafting Ambassador.