Scrapbook Addiction Christmas Expo

I had a fun time at the Christmas Expo and made 3 good projects. The teachers were all really prepared and the projects were so "stinkin" cute!! The food was good too. It was really nice that it was in the middle of November because it got me in the Christmas Spirit early.

Thanksgiving

All of our relatives from Mississippi were here this Thanksgiving. We had a great time and after Thanksgiving Dinner on Thursday we went out to Gaston's to take the annual picture.

Refinishing Hardwood Floors

We had our original hardwood floors refinished in November by Chad and Matt Hershberger. They did a wonderful job!!! They look better than they did when they were brand new! The only problem was that me, John and Seth had to live out of our bedroom for about 10 days with 2 dogs and 2 cats. Oh My! I didn't even have use of the kitchen. One night Seth said what do you do if you want a drink? I said you get in your car and you go buy you one! The last picture is of the sealer they use and how it has dried on the can after so many uses. I couldn't resist taking a picture because I thought it looked cool!

FALL IN THE OZARKS

I am still trying to learn how to use the Nikon D300 I got for Christmas last year, and I love fall, so I thought I would drive around and take some pictures of the beautiful Ozarks that we live in. It really is breath taking when you STOP and look around and take it all in. THANKFUL!

Blog Blitz

I am so far behind on my Blog that I have decided to do a Blog Blitz! Sooooo for the next several days I will update it everyday. I am starting with Halloween. Daisy went as a pumpkin and had so much fun. She loved all the visitors at the door, but she especially liked to run and JUMP right into the basket of candy. She was so tired at the end of the night. We had a big crowd of kids and we gave away 300 plus toothbrushes and lots of candy.

More Layouts

Don't panic John's tatoo is fake! We both got fake tatoo's in Branson when we went for our anniversary weekend to trick our kids. They didn't buy it at all! Oh well! These are some layouts I did from Cathy Zielski's class online at Big Picture Scrapbooking. I am learning sooo much from this class about design. She is so good and funny too. More to come!

Design Your Life

These are some of the layouts I have done for my class with Cathy Zielski from Big Picture Scrapbooking. She designs the layouts and you fill in the pictures and colors etc. I have learned so much about color and repetition and the triangle of design. The class lasts until the end of the year so I will keep posting. I hope everyone is loving this fall weather!!!!! Ahhhhhhhh!

Daisy

Let me introduce you to Daisy! About a month ago I lost my 13 year old Yorkie. He was such a sweet dog, but he had so many health problems. After dinner one night, I came into the bedroom and I always glanced over at him in his bed to make sure he was ok and this time he wasn't breathing. I guess he just went to sleep and didn't wake up. I guess it was the best way to go, but it sure made for a horrible night. My dear friend Dr. Helvey actually came over to the house at 8:00 that night and took him. He has been such a good vet to my animals. I owe him a debt of gratitude for his many years of service. Ok enough of that! :( :(

Well, I tried, really I did, but my other dog is 15 and I couldn't bear the thought of something happening to her. So we got Daisy! She is a Shih Tzu and weighs about 3 pounds. We love her! She is so playful and happy. I have already introduced her to Dr. Helvey!

The layout of Daisy is from a class I am taking online at Big Picture Scrapbooking. The class is by Cathy Zielski and called Design Your Life. It is basically a graphic design class where she designs layouts to teach you things about color, space, and general design elements. It is really fun and at the end of class you will have a scrapbook filled with layouts that represent the elements of design. I will post more layouts from the class tomorrow........Daisy needs to go out. haha

Creative Escape

We made it to Creative Escape a day early to go on the Bazzill Warehouse Bus Tour. It was so interesting to tour the warehouse and see how the paper is cut and stored in these huge sheets. Mr. Bazzill himself gave us a tour and was so nice and answered everyone's questions. The Bazzill people take care of your EVERY need! They are so nice and make sure you have everything you need throughout the entire event. After the tour we got to shop!! We could fill Pizza boxes with any paper including the fancy edges papers for $20 a box. Each pizza box could hold around 125 pieces of paper. I love their paper! Well.......I came home with...actually I shipped home 5 pizza boxes full of paper!!! They had all kinds of things for sale like albums for $1 and chipboard and brads etc. All of it was so cheap! Needless to say I stocked up and shipped it all home. After the warehouse we went to the Scrapbooks Etc. store and it was really nice. I spent some more money there and shipped that home as well. We had a great day.

On Thursday, the registration began at noon and then we went to the Technique Boutique where you have lots of make and takes and learn some techniques that you will use in the classes. There are so many freebies that you walk away with your arms full of stuff. So fun!! After that we went to the teacher's trunk show where they set up tables full of their work and they are there to answer questions and just introduce themselves. They are always so nice and willing to get their pictures made with you.

On Friday the first day of classes we had Kolette Hall's class and her project was "The Good Book" where you write good things about every day for a year. Her husband is in a wheel chair and so funny and inspirational. The second class was Kelly Goree's class and we did 4 layout's with some really cool different ideas like weaving, a clock face layout, and this cool quilt like layout with a neat border, and another one using layering. The third class was Jessica Guthrie's class and we did an acrylic book in her class. In each class when you walk in they give you the kit and you would be amazed at how much stuff is in each kit. One kit had a huge 12x12 bazzill lickety slip album. Our last class was Heidi's class and she is so relaxed and personal in her classes. She really shares her soul with you. She is so real and inspiring. We did an interactive calendar in her class with pictures and quotes and spinning wheels to change the date and the month and a quote. She is really creative! After all of these classes during the day, we actually had a huge 3 hour card making session that night and we made like 36 cards designed by previous CE teachers from the last 2 years. We were exhausted but we made it. Everything was included for all the cards and they are so cute!

On Saturday our first class was with Jenni Bowlin. She is soo cute and calm and we loved her hodge podge book. We even used glass glitter in her class. We love her style. The second class was Laurie Stamos and we did the big Bazzill Lickety Slip Scrapbook. The page protectors have different size pockets and some you put pictures in and some journaling and just what ever you want. These come together quick. She used lists for alot of her journaling and it was such a cute and quick idea for journaling. The next class was Tim Holtz!! He is a wonderful, wonderful teacher! He is very calm and says embrace the imperfection and is so funny. We made this little fabulous pin that you can wear or hang in a little frame and sit on your desk or dresser. I have never seen anything like this and it was so much fun. He definetely got us out of our lilttle boxes and had us try new things. Our last class was Janet Hopkins. Her project was this really cool book and we used a easy and fabulous technique on the cover. She is a good teacher and this book is so cool. One of the pages inside is actually a mirror. I will post all of my projects at a later date as I finish them. That night the speaker was Kolette Hall's husband Jason and he told his story and it is truly inspirational. If you ever have the chance to hear him please do! He is very upbeat and funny and you walk away feeling inspired.

We had a great time and I tried to post the pictures in order. Sorry for the long post!

Anniversary Trip to Branson

This is the last day of the blogging blitz. John and I took a little time and spent a weekend in Branson. We stayed in the new Hilton at Branson Landing. We stayed on the top floor in a really nice room. Our balcony was right under the Hilton sign! We ate out and went to a movie and had a good time. I surprised him with a new laptop and a minature Wedding Cake! The Jewel Chest gave us bottle of champagne!! It was nice to get away.

Tomorrow I am leaving for Creative Escape in Phoenix with my cousin!!! We are so excited! We are going a day early this year to go on a tour of the Bazzill warehouse and this huge Bazzill scrapbooking store. I'll tell you all about it when I get home.