Busy week

Wow, it's been a busy week. After returning home from CHA, I worked two nights. Busy at work with a few crazy people. But now I'm off for a week, so I have a chance to recover.
My three eldest kids are going to spend a few weeks in Ohio with my in-laws, so I've been trying to get them packed and settled. Not a lot of time to scrap, which makes me crabby.
Seriously, I start to get irritable if I don't get to cut paper and play with flowers and ribbon!

I wanted to share this mini I made for my guest DT challenge over at Scrap for a Cure. They had their anniversary crop this past weekend. I missed it, boo-hoo, since I was in Chicago. I used their July project kit to create this mini that features some of my favorite pictures from this summer so far. I absolutely adore the colors of the Hello Sunshine line. Since I had to be sure to include all my kiddos, I added a few extra pages using some Hambly.

Hope you're all having a wonderful weekend!

More CHA goodness

I promised more pictures:
Loved the American Crafts stuff!

Puffy thickers:



Chipboard thickers:


Thicker symbols & rub ons:



Textured cardstock:




Valentine line:





Flair embellishments:

Oh Prima, wonderful Prima. I was in awe!
Here is some goodness:

CHA, baby!

I was lucky enough to go to CHA this time. Let me tell you, it was an amazing experience. There is just booth upon booth of eye candy. I thought I'd take the next couple of days to tell you about some of my favorites from CHA and post some pics!

So where do I start?
Well, how about we start with Chatterbox? Amazing, decadent, gorgeousness. I want it ALL. I'm sorry to say I don't know who to credit with creating these lovelies:

Next, Jenni Bowlin.
Check out this amazing crepe paper ribbon and look how Jenni used it to create a layered border - simply stunning...

And I'll wrap up this post with this picture of me with one of my scrap heroines - Ali Edwards.
Of course, you can't know a person from a five minute conversation, but I really enjoyed meeting her. She seemed very real and down to earth. How cool was this?

My brain and body are very tired so I'll share more tomorrow.

Birthdays & other fun stuff

Seems like a lot of birthday celebrations this week. First of all, to my dear friend, Dolores, Happy Birthday to you. I can't wait to party in Chicago!

Natalia, the owner of Couture Scrapbooking is celebrating her 30th birthday at the end of the month. She is just one of the sweetest people EVAH. So sweet, in fact, that she is having a 30% sale to share the fun. Pop over and check it out- she always has the BEST items.

Scrap for a Cure celebrated it's first birthday this month too. They have the greatest kits and a really friendly message board.

So in honor of all the birthdays, I thought I'd share some birthday items I made recently using Basic Grey's Cupcake line:






Speaking of SFC, I had the pleasure of being the guest designer there this month.
Here are my projects:





Hope you all are having a great week!

We're home

Let me tell you, Brant Lake, NY, is a little slice of heaven. It's located about 30 minutes north of Lake George, in the Adirondack Mountains. We packed up the kids and met my parents and sister's family for a vacation. My week was filled with sun, water, fishing and family fun. No computer, no phone (no signal with my cellular) and nowhere to run to. We stay in a "cabin" which was once a church. It's located on a cove which is filled with lily pads and the sounds of bullfrogs lull you to sleep at night. On the other edge of the property is a small "beach" where there is sand and the kids swam. We did an overnight trip at the nearby Six Flags, which had rides and a water park.

I still have hundreds of pictures to sort through, but here are some of my favorite shots from the week:

Ryan on a water slide:

Jimmy celebrating the 4th with spiky hair:

Miss B with her pink fishing pole:

Colin & Tommy before the big water gun fight:

Bren with Uncle Joe & little Mallory:

My littlest fisherman -he reeled in some good sized bass with that little "Cars" pole!

I do have some scrappy stuff to share, but this is getting long, so I'll leave you with this picture of the July kit from Scrap for a Cure

This kit is beautiful. I had so much fun designing with it!
Hope you all had a safe and wonderful holiday!