Homegrown Hospitality

Big Day...LONG Night..and TWO Giveaways!

Today is the BIG DAY (in paper talk) that Teresa reveals the NEW LINE called Travel Ledger....and seriously, I was like a five year old waiting and staring out the window to wait for the UPS man to deliver the box....5 minutes after the delivery I was creating away and seriously, you are gonna love it....but I have to wait until tomorrow to show you my project, although....

I can show you it in pieces

I am gonna dork out on you right now but I just LOVE paper...and there is something BRAND NEW about this paper...it is heavier in weight and has texture..gasp!..I spent many hours yesterday playing....and there is still lots to do..and I was up waayyyyyy to late...

why? you ask...

well, because son #1 was in the ER until 11:35 pm....yes, we have another broken bone in our family..and a new pair of crutches, because we don't already have two pairs...

  Jack broke his OTHER ankle last night.....but it is too swollen to cast therefore the hard cast will come right as we leave for a warm. swimming, golfing scrapping spring break in Arizona....oh, how it must feel to be a 14 1/2 year old with a cast...on spring break.

life with boys...

life as a mom...

Never a dull moment..

at least I have new paper to play with...

oh..and there are TWO giveaways today...

One is a giveaway over on Teresa's blog..so go check it out...

and then I have one....

Today is the Valentine's Birthday and he seems to have alot of friends on FB that are sending him wishes but he said that I would get wayyyy more on my birthday....(I am ALWAYS giving him HECK about Facebook) so as a gift..why don't you friend him...

Although I am not sure how you can do that, except for that you can go to my page, look under my friends, find him (John Ackerman, duh!) and friend him....

for all of you who friend him and then come back and leave a comment.....I will pick ONE winner & send you ONE of each New Paper....(that would be 9 papers, two transparency's & tags...)

HE WILL LOVE IT.....and YOU will love the paper....

hurry go....

he is home today (again...)

Did You Know...

Just a few random things that you might not know...

Did you know that tomorrow is the day that Teresa Collins reveals a BRAND NEW LINE???? yes it is, and I have a HUGE pile of photos ready and I am impatiently waiting for the dang UPS man to deliver the goods so that I have something to show you tomorrow which tells me that it is going to be a LONG CREATIVE day and night...

Did you know that if you SLAM a head of iceberg lettuce with the core down on the counter, it will pull right out? 

Did you know that I LOVE to create things about this boyand tomorrow is his 41st birthday? This is the two weeks that HE is older than me.... 

(this is us trying to be romantic and sultry for the photographer..yeah, that is SO ME!)

Did you know that I am still pouting about Jesse James and Sandra Bullock...and YES, I did know that he was married to a porn star..Janine & I graduated from the same school in 1987 (do I admit that?)

Did you know that I am heading to WARM Arizona next week with the boys for Spring Break and will be teaching atThe Paper Vineyard on Friday Night (5 spots left...) and then headed to Tucson on Saturday to teach two classes at"Making Memories Unforgettable".  I hope to meet you there..

and lastly,

Did you know that I am returning to my third favorite place on EARTH (first being home, second being Maui) in October ALL BY MYSELF (which means that YOU need to start prayin for me NOW and DO NOT STOP until Oct!!!!...

Watch out South Africa..the American Girl with the same initials is coming back!

On this Day....

Today come visit me at theTeresa Collins Blog for some Inspiration, Love, Layouts and Lollies!

Just things...

Hello and happy Sunday...I have been a bit under the weather for the past few days and have not tended to the ol' blog so here are a few things to wrap up the week...

the same rose "process" on the PDF can be used to make FELT roses, but instead of glue I used a thread and needle...

the papers used for this paper "things" (what are they called??) Teresa Collins Mr & Mrs. line are the reverse side of Damask (hounds-tooth) andthe reverse of the TAGS paper

in fact, I have been playing around with these "paper things" (PLEASE, someone tell me what they are called!) and you will see more on tomorrows post at theTeresa Collins Blog (hint hint)

now, getting back to the roses, the paper kind...

I feel like a proud mother bird as readers have been sending me photos of their work...
This was created by Tracy and you can see more at her blog,  

and these were created by reader CDB (I do not have her name..) and she added some extra bling to them...

 
and these lovely's created by Patty Mowrey

and these pretty petals created by Julie Williams

I LOVE how every flower is different and just as beautiful as the next...and to keep up with the rose theme...there are TWO more paper florists in the world

so proud!

and lastly, just putting this "out there"..if anyone has FOUR tickets to the Saddleback Easter service at Angel Stadium that I could have, we missed out on distribution last week due to a sad family emergency and who would thunk that all trillion would have gotten gobbled up...(insert pouty frown)...hmmm..maybe because the Jonas Bros. are going to be there??? well, honestly, that is NOT why we want to go to that service, but because I am having EASTER here at Home Sweet Home on SATURDAY so that we can go on Sunday...that is..IF we get tickets.....(insert "hopeful" pouty froWN?) yippeee.....got em!....

Have a splendid day...

oh, p.s. you wanna make the roses, too???  go here and SCROLL DOWN for the info 

This is why we should...

SCRAPBOOK!!!! (keep reading)

okay, so I have been counting, sorting, kitting, counting, trimming, cutting, wrapping, punching, spraying, and so many other things that end in "ing" except for blogging..but never fear...

I have a class at Once Upon a Memory in Huntington Beach on Saturday that I am about 99% 50%ready for (it has changed because I have decided to do a little creative enabling for you!) and I would LOVE to see you (that is my way of telling you that there are still spots open) so hopefully you have a little time to come play...come on..it will be fun! Here is a peek at what we will be making...

I have also been trimming ribbon

sorting buttons

 nitching

and playing with the Mr. & Mrs. paper, glossy accents and these RAD charms that I found

and then I just have to share this AWESOME story about a small world, Facebook and why we should ALL MAKE SCRAPBOOKS, for heaven's sake!.

I have a blog reader who found me through Teresa and her name reminded me of a family that my family knew when I was three!  She, Sandy, the reader, had left a comment the other day so I thought that I would just ask if she was related to this family that I knew long long ago...long story short, it is the same family and when I called and woke up my mom this morning to tell her, besides being so happy, mom reminded me that I had even spent the night with this family the night my sister was born and had made this cute happy face "thing" for my third birthday..which of course I have the photo from because my mom made me scrapbooks growing up...hello!

this is EXACTLY WHY we all should make scrapbooks...(check out the wallpaper, it had texture..and look at the phone cord!) 
  

Oh Happy Day!

Today is Ben's 11th Birthday....and I had to be a little creative (how weird, i know) with the wrapping paper..because we only had Christmas paper, so I reversed it and used the white side and a bunch of random OLD stickers...utilizing the letter X....

hmm...I wonder what he got???

and our family tradition of "toilet papering" the bedroom and taking a picture together..and I must say, I am FILLED with LOVE and HAPPINESS because when I woke big brother to get up, he did....without a fuss...to celebrate!!!!

Happy Birthday Benjamin!

  

Happiness Is...

things all over the place blooming in wonderful shades of green..ut um..even on the driveway

and spring color sprinkles

 
Happy Spring!

 
  

 

Green Creating with Pink (not the singer)

Reading Deena's blog the other day about "living" with an artist reminded me of someone..and in my defense, it is NOT a sickness, it is a skill..

you see, I have a skill (not a hording problem) with scraps and I see the potential of things, but I may have just fallen off of my rocker...or maybe not..I like to call it "Green Creating" ( I feel like Junie B. Jones saying that with my head held high, my arms crossed and toe tapping.)

It all started with this cute paper, a Bind-it-All and my "creative enabling" which caused all of this waste

and what this is (for my non-scrappy's) is the leftover from punching ALOT of paper with the Bind-it-all (like the little tiny dots from the hole puncher) and as I was wiping it all off of the table aiming right for the trash can that I had pulled over to carch all of this... 

I saw the hint of a shape....and that darned light bulb flickered.

The next thing I knew, I had molded and shaped the pile into a heart (of course I did!) and then I ran out to the shead-teau to get a canvas and some Modge Podge and an empty glue bottle to put the Modge Podge in (because I have things like those??)

yes, I do (and Christmas trees!)

and so I drizzled Modge Podge all over it like glaze on a cinnamon roll from the empty glue bottle that I filled with Modge Podge

and set it aside for a day or two... and kinda forgot about it...

and now, I have this

and what am I going to do with it.

nothing.

just look at it...

and smile...

because it is things like this that remind me that know that no matter what, GOD gave me a skill and a purpose and I will just keep on makin things to inspire the world to make something out of almost nothing.

 

Already Thursday??

Here I am...so sorry for those who check my blog each day just to realize that I have been away for a day or two..it is because I have been kitting...and playing...and creating...and oh my gosh, If I could share this DANG CUTE CHRISTMAS TREE (from the other day's post) I would, but I can't because I want to save it for closer to..you know, Christmas...well, at least September...

can I just say that "IT IS GOING TO BE THE MOST FUN, BEST CLASS EVERRRRRRR!" (trying  to figure out the "logistics" (that sounds soooo, "smart like"!)

did I mention how stinkin cute it is?

it is.

so, anyways....who is up for some old school scrapbooking? (that thing I "used" to do) If you didn't get a chance to read my"Heart Of The Matter" blog post yesterday at the Teresa Collins Designs Blog..go on over and read it AFTER you finish this.

gosh I wish you could see this tree...it is really cute.

just sayin.

Oh, and just wanted to share this little random project that I created for the Scrapbook.com website based on DISNEY...and well, you kinda know us...we are not much of a DISNEY family although we did go in December (18 of us!) and had the "funnest" WONDERFUL day ( I know, funnest" is not a word, but it should be)

I created a cute little album using "Welcome Home" and the  "Mr. & Mrs." lines and I have to say, it came out pretty nice...

here is a peek, and you can go here to see the rest...

 
and OH MY GOSH......speaking of "scrapbooking" and Disney, here is a look at the page from the book that I am teaching at"Once Upon a Memory" in Huntington Beach next Saturday (and there is a few spots left..just for you!)....

what a co-inky-dink!!!

Have a great CREATIVE day!

Would You...

CHOKE if I told you I was working on CHRISTMAS stuff right now?

well, then swallow your coffee, put down your Big Gulp and then let me say it...

 
I am working on Christmas stuff right now (and you may be wondering, "who the heck has a CHRISTMAS tree" just sitting around just, you know, waiting to be played with"?)

um...that would be me.

and do you want to know what?

I emailed Teresa to ask Ty if there was such thing as "Creative Adrenaline" because I am positive CREATIVE CHRISTMAS ADRENALINE (CCA) is running through my veins RIGHT NOW (even though it is windy and almost 75 degrees at 8:57am) Hey, it is NEVER too early to be prepared...for the holidays...and for earthquakes...which we had this morning at 4:04am.

did I feel it? no, and I thank GOD for that because he, GOD, knew that had I felt it, I would have been TOTALLY FREAKED out and unable to focus on CHRISTMAS...

I just LOVE the way HE, GOD, works....

and just because I remind you of things you usually already know..just that you forget to remember...

there are 283 days till Christmas..just sayin.