The Latest

Made this little morsel to teach at my local scrapbook store:

The album is made from clear acrylic, and the paper and embellishments are from Creative Imaginations. Wouldn't these make the cutest Christmas gifts for family and friends? Be sure to leave a comment here if you're interested in class or kit information!

That's it for now...Gonna go teach a class tonight and hang out with some cool chicks!

Take a Little Trip with Me....

A very good friend of mine that moved to Germany almost 3 years ago sent me an email saying she was flying out to Las Vegas the day before Thanksgiving. And though I couldn't very well bail out on my family for Thanksgiving Dinner (since I am the one with all the wicked cooking skills) I did decide that they could live without me for a couple of days after. The hubby and I threw a couple bags in the trunk of the Camry and took off on the four hour drive to sin city!

I ran into this guy on the way there...he was asking why no one comes to see him anymore. Nevermind the fact that he lives in the middle of the freakin desert, he whined that if you really loved him anymore you would make the drive. He's a little self conscious about his weight these days, but he swears he has a thyroid condition and it has absolutely nothing to do with the double decker cheeseburgers dripping in thousand island dressing and french fries dipped in bleu cheese he still eats every single day. I believed him and had both. With a diet coke just in case he's pulling my leg.

Make that population 14...at least for the next 10 minutes or so.

I love the Hard Rock Cafe. Every time I go back it's a different place. One thing I love that never changes though is this Price quote over the door. It makes me want to make that little *kissy* noise and dance from display to display shakin what my momma gave me. Speaking of displays, how cool is this Killers display created by matermind Tim Burton? And if you must know...I ordered a buffalo chicken sandwich and a frou-frou cocktail made with Malibu, pineapple juice and a splash of cranberry juice (cuz I'm still feelin the Thanksgiving vibe). From then on the weekend looked a little something like this:




So the weekend was awesome and fun and over before it even began. It was great to reconnect with a special friend, and make a couple new ones along the way. I just wish it could have lasted a little longer. Michelle, I miss you already, girl! (Insert *kissy* noise here).

Not Creating :(

The holidays are sneaking up on me in full force. I was at Walmart yesterday, and wow! Aisles and aisles of sparkly, twinkly, glittery stuff hypnotized me and sucked me right in before I even knew what hit me. I wandered through them in a state of semi-consciousness and lost an hour of my life just ooohing and aaahing and touching the fuzzy stockings, the flocked wreaths stuffed with pointsettas, the ceramic snowmen that light up.

When I finally came to, I found myself actually looking forward to Christmas. That magical time of year that finds us packed like sardines in mile long lines at the store counters, stuck in traffic in the mall parking lot blaring our horns, and on hold for hours when calling the customer service desk of any given company that promises to ship that must have gift of the season overnight. Aaah, yes. Looking SO forward to it.

One of my favorite things about Christmas is giving handmade gifts. On a chilly November night, I love to pour myself a cup of eggnog, turn on the Christmas carols, and sit at my craft table creating my little pretties. By now, I should be doing that, or at least have an idea what I will be making and for whom.

But I'm not. Because my house has been a complete toxic bio hazard for far too long and it's time to stop the madness. So instead of whistling jingle bells and cutting pretty paper, I have been up to my eyeballs in Simple Green, Comet, and Pine Sol. For the past 3 days I have put every work project and holiday project on hold and scrubbed my kitchen from top to bottom. Actually, scrubbed is putting it mildly. I have taken every last thing out of every last cupboard, wiped down the inside and outside, washed what belongs in there, threw out or donated what doesn't, put it back. This includes under the sink and that junk drawer that was stuffed with so much important stuff that the drawer would barely close. Every appliance, inside and out, every piece of tupperware that was missing a lid or stained by spaghetti sauce. Every dust bunny filled corner and baseboard. My pathetic 40 year old arms are sore, my hands are raw, and still, I trudge on. Spring cleaning took about 4 years to get here, and I gotta take advantage of it before the urge passes for the next 4 or 8 or 10 years.

I did take a short, well deserved break for a couple of hours last night, and headed over to Stayce's with a crop bag full of Christmas Card making supplies for a little shindig she put together for a few of us girls. I was looking forward to getting a jump on my cards at least...excited about the new Scenic Route Rockland Christmas paper and all the wonderful things I was gonna do with it. I poured myself a little (24 ounces is little, right?) cup of egg nog, added a splash (10 ounces is a splash, right?) of rum, and all bets were off. I didn't finish one single card. Had lots of good laughs, took a couple silly pictures, and annoyed pretty much everyone that was trying to get anything done. But not one card was actually completed. By me or Stayce or Laurelee. My apologies to the "productive" side of the table...

Feelin the Holiday Spirit...

And because I had 3 sweet people leave me 3 sweet comments, I feel like sending you all a little goodie in the mail! Thanks Carla, Yvie and Tracy for showing my little blog some love, and if you email me your addresses at NicoleinHB@yahoo.com, I will return the favor. Gettin in the holiday spirit early this year!

Gonna start my Christmas Cards this weekend at a little get together at my friend Stayce's house...gonna gather up some girls, sip some brandy and egg nog, turn on the Christmas carols and crank 'em out! Gonna be a good time, seriously looking forward...

AND, if any one is interested in anything from Close to my Heart, I will be having a party this Saturday, and I will leave it open for catalog orders for a couple days after that. Send me an email and I'd be happy to order whatever you "need"!

I'll leave you with a cute little declaration I read on a message board today...I think I gotta print this out in a cute font and maybe decorate a title and hang it on my scraproom wall:


The Scrapbooker's Bill of Rights

A Scrapbooker is entrusted with documenting and safely preserving family photos in an album to be treasured by future generations. Creating a Scrapbook is an honorable and important task. As a Scrapbooker, you are entitled (but not limited) to the following rights:

1. You have the right to take as long as you want to complete one album page. This may be five minutes or two weeks.

2. You have the right to purchase a certain scrapbook item for other reason than because
a) you like it;
b) you think it's cute;
c) you'll never find it again, or;
d) you know you'll use it someday.

3. You have the right to a workspace of your own. This may be the basement, your college student's old bedroom, or the kitchen table.

4. You have the right to scrapbook when inspiration strikes--whether the dishes are done or not.

5. You have the right to request peaceful, kid-free, stress-less scrap time--guilt-free.

6. You have the right to create pages that reflect and celebrate the spirit of the one person who is usually NOT in the photograph: You.

7. You have the right to put whatever you want on your album page—whether or not it's the latest trend.

8. You have the right to do nothing more than snack and socialize at a 6-hour cropping party.

9. You have the right to value your personal scrapbooking style to be as important as your photographs. You are creating a treasure—and part of that treasure is you.

10. You have the right to create your own legacy, one page at a time.

Random Layout, New Class Kit and a RAK

Made this little morsel last night in an attempt to use up some of my paper scraps. The paper is Salsa Celebration by Junkitz, and looks so stinkin cute on either black or white cardstock, I just wanna eat it up! I was inspired to pull out my needle and embroidery thread after seeing a layout that Stayce did for a challenge...and I'm glad I did! I really love the way it came out, but I think I'm over hand stitching for a bit.

And this is the mini book I was working on the other day. Isn't it so bright and cheerful? I think when the sky turns grey and it gets colder outside, I start reaching for bright, happy paper to lift my spirits a bit. Just looking at it makes me smile...and isn't that the whole point?

And a couple of the inside pages:

The book is for a class kit I will be selling at a brand new site called http://www.thescrappycafe.com%20the/ where we'll be offering class kits, online classes, and have a brand new message board and gallery. I am so excited to be a part of the fun stuff going on there, and hope you'll pop on over and check it out when you have a minute.

And lastly, if you've made it this far I'd like to say "thanks" by having a little RAK drawing. Just post a comment here, and on Monday morning I will have dh pick a number at random. The corresponding comment will win the goodies above!

Sneaky Peekie...

Shhhh...working on something fun for a class coming to a website near you very soon!

Halloween Was A Bust

No kidlets running around at home = a pretty uneventful Halloween. But in my book, uneventful is good, I like uneventful. I spent a pretty relaxing Hallo's Eve at my brother and sister-in-law's house, munching on cheese and crackers, passing out candy to the gouls and goblins, and watching a not-so-scary movie on the couch. Although I must admit I was forced to wear mouse ears the entire evening or endure the wrath of Christa, head of the costume police. In case the suspense is killing you, don't hold your breath waiting to see a picture. I won't be posting one.

Grama left yesterday morning...and I shot straight up to my scraproom before the door was even closed behind her. Don't get me wrong, love my grams, but her visit sent me into a serious scrap withdrawl. Since then, I've been playing with the new fall paper from Imaginisce...so cute! Making this little book for my other grandparents that I don't see nearly enough. The little book is from Maya Road, and is it not the cutest stinkin little thing? the book is only 3"x 9" at it longest point, so it's been really easy to put together pretty quickly.

In other exciting news, I entered my Halloween Door Hanger (posted below) into a home decor contest over at http://www.scrappyarts.net/ and I found out this morning that it actually won! I told my hubby that I won the contest, to which he replied "what did you win?" He's obviously missing the point...sheesh!

Favorite Izzy Quote from last night's Greys

Izzy to George: "Hot perfect sex requires shaved legs."