Happy Thanksgiving!!

I would like to wish y'all (can you tell I'm from the South) a very Happy Thanksgiving!!!!!!

Gratitude

This album is designed to hold a photographic journey of gratitude or the story of your Thanksgiving.  You get a full set of Thickers alphabets so you have lots of freedom to make it your own.  In the end, the goal is to have a visual journal to treasure for years to come.

As always with our kits, the paper is pre-cut and in order to make for easy assembly.  We used the entire line of Teresa Collins' Giving Thanks line, including her chipboard elements and frames.  And as always with our kits, there is bling.  In fact, there are 2 colors of blings in this kit - clear and golden.  You may want to purchase some Stickles or glitter glue in gold, dark cinnamon (or copper), and distressed Stickles in antique linen to bling it up even more.  There are photo and written instructions as well.

All the kits have been taken to The Scrapbook Garden for sale.  The cost is $40 which includes the tax.  And without further ado, here's some photos:

 

Happiest December - Updated

We have some of the "Happiest December" kits remaining from the boutique.  Here's a photo of the cover:

The photo really doesn't do it justice - it turned out so nice.  You can see other photos here: http://dareyousayit.blogspot.com/2010/11/national-men-make-dinner-day.html.  The cost is $40 which includes tax.  All kits have been transferred to The Scrapbook Garden, so you can purchase them there. 

Long Time No Post

Sorry I haven't posted in a while.  We (the jury) finally were given the case on Monday and reached a verdict on Wednesday.  That case really kicked my behind.  It was a civil case involving a brain injury and it was really hard to sit through all the testimony - doctors, economists, friends, family, plantiff and defendants.  Every afternoon when I came home I was exhausted.  It was all I could do to get through some of my email and then do the necessaties before crawling into bed each night.

We had a great time at the Fiskateers Christmas Boutique last Saturday.  For those of you that stopped by our table, thanks so much.  We enjoyed meeting everyone. I hope everyone that purchased a kit from us loves it.  Remember, if you have any questions, just email us and we'll be glad to answer them for you.  There was quite a crowd of shoppers and we truly enjoyed meetings the other vendors as well. And as always, it was great to see Cheryl again.  We are hoping that Timeless Treasures will make it a yearly event.

Here's a couple of photos of our table.

Here's a photo of our make and take that we prepared for everyone.

We even got busted doing some shopping before the event started. 

Then on Thursday afternoon I had my first Silpada party.  We had a great group of ladies and had a blast drinking margaritas and trying on jewelry.  If you're interested in purchasing any jewelry or hosting a party and are local in the Long Beach or surrounding area, shoot me an email.  Here's a photo of some of the jewelry set up:



Have a great weekend.  I'll be posting more soon.  We'll also be updated the store website with 2 new kits since we had some of the Halloween and the new Christmas kits left.

National Young Reader Day

Still doing my jury duty, so sorry about the late post.  Today is national young reader day.  Do something to encourage a young person to read.  I can remember growing up and loving to read.  I remember going through if not all, then most of the Nancy Drew mysteries. 

And although I am older now, I am still young at heart and still love to read.  One of the benefits of jury duty is that I'm "stuck" at the courthouse all day, so I make the most of my time and read during our breaks.  I'm currently reading The Girl That Played with Fire.  (I was going to insert a picture here, but unfortunately I'm having difficulties with blogger.  Bummer.)  I read the The Girl with the Dragon Tatto while we were traveling and loved it.  I actually started this one on our way home, but have been too busy to finish it.  I'm looking forward to finishing it this week.

What books are you reading now?

Retail Therapy

To reward myself for sitting through jury duty for a week and to do a good deed at the same time, I went to my favorite Chamilia retailer (Bungalow Bay in Long Beach) on Saturday.  They were having a special event where 10% of all Chamilia sales for the day were donated to Be the Match.    This organization helps patients afford marrow transplants and find matching donors.

Here's the special beads they designed for the Be The Match collection:

Aren't the colors gorgeous.

Back to jury duty this morning and then home to try and finish up the kitting of the Happiest December kit that we'll be selling at the Fiskateers Christmas Boutique at Timeless Treasures this Saturday.  Hope you have a great day!!

TGIF

Jury duty is kicking my behind.  It's amazing how just sitting there listening to testimony wears you out.  Guess that's because you're listening and watching so intensely to see if the person testifying is being truthful or not. 

Hopefully over the weekend I can regroup - although I'll be busy kitting "Happiest December Memories".  Oh my goodness if you like bling and glitter, you will love this album.  It turned out so beautiful!!!  But then Amy's projects always do, don't they?

Enjoy your Friday.  I know I'll be counting down the minutes until 4:30 when we get out of court for the weekend.

National Men Make Dinner Day

Okay women, it's your day.  Have your significant others cook for you - or take you out for dinner.  Either one is great!!!

Here's a sneak peek that Amy posted on her blog of the new Christmas kit that we'll be selling at the Christmas Boutique I mentioned yesterday:

Happy Sandwich Day!!!



Here's a copy of the flyer that Cheryl Waters (the Fiskateer that is organizing this event) sent to me regarding the Fiskateer Christmas Boutique where Amy & I will be selling our kits.  In case you can't read the information, it is Saturday, November 13th from 10 AM - 2 PM at Timeless Treasures, 30505 Avenida de Las Flores, Rancho Santa Margarita, CA  92688. 

Here's what Timeless Treasures had on their newsletter regarding the event:

We are GRATEFUL for the love & support of CHERYL WATERS & THE FISKATEERS joining us at TT for a Fiskateers Boutique! Saturday Nov 13th 10 a.m. - 2 p.m Fiskateer Christmas Boutique & Artists Marketplace. Come experience the talents & beautiful work of Fiskateers. You'll find incredible artwork for sale such as jewelry, mini books, cards, gifts, home decor, holiday wrap & handmade one of a kind items (sewn & painted items, beaded crowns).

PLUS - Make & Takes available for a nominal fee. Refreshments Served & holiday cheer abounds *set up as Boutique - you will pay each vendor individually.

THIS JUST IN: FREE GOODIE BAGS (with great stuff!) for the first 25 "shoppers" at the Boutique! Please call TT @ 949/888-7151 to RSVP so we have plenty of yummy treats!

We'll be bringing treats as usual with us, along with a make and take.  We'll also be discounting our remaining past kits so we can clear out and make way for new kits.  It's a great bargain and you can get them in time to assemble for holiday gifts.  We look forward to seeing you there. 

(If you are unable to make it to the event, we've marked the kits down on our store website.  And for those of you that are local to Long Beach, you may email me direct if you would like to save the shipping costs.) 

Happy Cookie Monster Day

I'm just like the cookie monster - I love me some cookies!!!!  Problem is that I'm also bad about just eating the raw dough.  Anyone else out there still do that?

Well, I landed on a civil trial yesterday - can't discuss it other than to say that they told me it should last about 2 weeks.  So, my blog postings may be a little on the short side for a while.  I'll be there all day and then rushing home to try to get some kits together for the Christmas boutique that Amy & I will be participating in.  I promise to get more information on the blog about that tomorrow when I get back in from jury duty.  So until then, have yourself a big cookie today.

And whatever your preferences, VOTE TODAY!!!!  It's a privilege and a responsibility, so don't take it for granted and ignore it.

Where did October go?

Hard to believe that today is the first of November.  I'm not quite sure where the days have gone. 

I wanted to be sure and wish you a happy National Author's Day today and remind you that your journaling is very important on your layouts and albums.  How else will anyone know what was happening at that particular place and time in your life?  And if you're like me and sometimes suffer from CRS (can't remember stuff - the nice way of putting it), it will also help you to reflect back as well.

I'm doing my civic duty today and reporting for jury duty, but I'll be back later - either today or tomorrow depending on whether I'm selected for a jury - to fill you in on a boutique where Amy & I will have a table to sell our kits and do a little make & take project.

Happy Howl-o-ween

National Candy Corn Day

How appropriate is it that it's national candy corn day just 1 day away from Halloween.  Hope y'all are having a wonderful weekend.

After we left Spain on our vacation, we spent a week in Mykonos, Greece.  We went there for an amazing scrapbooking event put on by Cocoa Daisy.  In fact, this is what actually started our marathon vacation.  When I found out about the event, I contacted my sister and asked if she would want to go and did she think we could convince our significant others to join us.  Of course, she said yes to both questions and we started planning. 

There were 3 main instructors:  Ali Edwards, Jenni Bowlin, and Karen Russell.  They are 3 truly amazing people.  The event was held to a small group so we had a lot of time with the three of them so we really got to know them.

Ali's project was a travel journal.  Her class was so much fun.  We built the album and then proceeded to gather all types of materials to put in it throughout our stay in Mykonos.  Jenni's project was a canvas using her new paints and inks - something totally out of my element and I loved it.  And then Karen's class was actually a couple of days of photography classes.  She actually has me out of the auto mode on my Rebel Xsi.  Barry even sat in on her classes and loved it as well.  Then we actually put the training into practice going on several outings with everyone.  It was one amazing trip.  I'll post some photos of the classes next week.

On top of those classes, they had several nights of make and takes and then mini classes.  The mini classes were led by Lisa Pace, Ronda Palazzari and Christine Drumheller.  All 3 did cute mini albums - each different in their own style.  Again, I'll post some photos of those next week when I can get some good photos of each.

I'll leave you tonight with some photos.  The first are the hotel where we all stayed:

These next 2 photos are of Mykonos:

Now I just have to sit down and get the all put into my travel journal.  LOL    

Internet Day

I happened to step out of my office (where I had been surfing the net) and saw what a gorgeous sky we had this afternoon.  I hope everyone's day ended this nicely.

National Chocolates Day

So I've been having the hardest time not opening the packages of Halloween candy sitting on my kitchen counter.  I know what would happen if I did.  The candy would just keep calling my name and I would get a piece each time I walked by (or even make a special trip to get a piece) until the bag was empty.  So..... instead of doing that, while I was out yesterday I found a small bag of mini chocolates (okay, it was 2 bags - 1 of mini PayDays and 1 of mini 100 Grand bars) just for me.  LOL  But after all, it is National Chocolates Days, so indulge.

Howl!!!!

Today is Worldwide Howl at the Moon night, so let's all get out tonight and howl!!!!  Just in time for Halloween.  I hate to admit that I haven't even put up any decorations for Halloween and it's really one of my favorite holidays.  I love it when the kids come by all dressed up in their costumes and we can spoil them with some candy.  They are so cute!!!!  I'll get up my outside decorations in time for them, but I'll be skipping my inside decorations.  I just couldn't get to them since I'm still trying to catch up from being on vacation. 

We taught our Halloween class last weekend.  I think the weather here (it was raining all last week) kept people in because of the people signed up, only 2 actually made it to the store for the class.  But we had fun and ate some delicious cinnamon bites that Amy brought in.  And hopefully everyone has made it by the store to pick up their kit so they can get it put together.

We have kits remaining in both the Halloween and calendar class, so if you are interested in purchasing a kit, just shoot me an email if you're local or if you are out of town you can purchase from our Dare You Say It website.  The Halloween kit is not on our website yet as my web guy (Barry) is out of town on a hunting trip.  If you're interested in that one and you're out of town, just shoot me an email and we'll work it out.

So on another entirely different note - I love my pedicures.  Anyone that knows me knows that I'm usually just a one color gal, with an occasional "you want flower" (you know what I mean) selection; but these are the absolute cutest things:



There's a site called GroopDealz that has these as the "today'z deal".  You get a sheet of these for half price today only - $7.50 for a sheet of these and there is supposed to be enough per sheet for 2-3 sets of toes or fingernails.  There are over 60 designs to choose from.  There's a video on their website that explains how to appy them.  Here's the link if you're interested:  http://www.groopdealz.com/index/index/deal/44/ref/9469

Have yourself a great day!!!! 

LITTLE THINGS MAKE ME HAPPY

Okay, so before you think I'm yelling at you (since my title is in all caps), I'm only doing that to celebrate Caps Lock Day.

Today I was out running errands and stopped in at the newest scrapbooking store in my neck of the woods - Scrapbook Daisies.  They opened up while I was out of the country.  I'm so excited that we have a scrapbook store in Long Beach again.  (Martha has an online store and has decided to add a brick and mortar as well.)  Anyway, I ran into 2 friends that I haven't seen in quite a while - it was so great to re-connect.  They told me that since they've started cropping there, they've seen people they haven't seen in ages as well.  That's one of the things I truly love about scrapbooking.  You meet so many wonderful people to share this wonderful addiction (er, I mean hobby) with and even though you may not see them all the time, you still remain friends.

So speaking of being out of the country, our first stop was Barcelona.  That place is amazing.  When we travel to Europe, it reminds me how young our country is compared to the European ones.  The buildings are amazing there. 

One of my favorite stops was at the Sagrada Familia.  It takes your breath away to see what they have done and what they are still doing. The official date that it was started was March 19th, 1882.  Gaudi officially became the temple's architect on November 3rd, 1883.  If you ever go to Barcelona,this is a "must see" in my opinion.  I would love to see it again years from now to see how much more they have completed.

We took some photos, but here's a copy of a postcard so you see the magnitude of the whole thing.

Above the entrance of one of the doors

Ceiling inside

Close up of just one of the many outside sculptures on the outside of the building

Above another entrance

Hope you enjoy the photos.  Gotta run, Nickers is nudging me for her dinner.

Get Smart About Credit Day

Today is "Get Smart About Credit Day".

The surest way to establish your credit is to work yourself into the position of not needing any.

Author: Maurice Switzer

Credit is like a looking-glass, which when once sullied by a breath, may be wiped clear again; but if once cracked can never be repaired.

Author: Walter Scott

Medical Assistants Recognition Day

Today we celebrate Medical Assistants Recognition Day.  So please let them know how much they are appreciated.  We're always quick to complain, but let's be as quick (if not quicker) to show appreciation for people.

Bloglines

Just before we left for our vacation, I found out that bloglines will be closing.  I nearly died.  That site is fantastic and I'm really going to miss them.  It sure makes it easier to keep up with all the blogs you follow.  At least they made it easy to transfer your list over to Google Reader. 

If you haven't been using anything like bloglines and you follow a lot of blogs, you really should check out something like Google Reader (now that bloglines will be closing November 1st) - http://www.google.com/reader.  I follow way too many blogs, but you can get so many ideas that it is worth spending time in front of your computer to do so.  What it does is allow you to list all the blogs you follow.  Then it "bolds" any blogs that has new posts.  From there you simply click on that blog and voila, there's the new post.  You can also "star" any posts that you want to remember to go back to for reference.  One thing that bloglines did that google reader doesn't do, is display only the new posts and the ones you had saved.  I'm hoping that since more people are transferring over to google reader that they will modify their program to do this.  It sure is a nice feature.

So give Google Reader a try and please add my blog and Amy's blog (http://www.amysoto.blogspot.com/) to your list so you can see when we update - which we are both hoping to do more often.

Thanks.

Calendar Class at The Scrapbook Garden

Our second class for the day on Saturday, October 23rd from 2:00 PM - 5:00 PM at The Scrapbook Garden is a calendar class.  The cost is $35.

You will create a fat and chunky "family" calendar that you can scan and print for all your family members in time for Christmas or just keep for yourself. I choose to merge my family with my husband's family. I include a photo of each family member for their birthday month and then for their anniversary as well. I then use colored pencils (which is included in this kit) to highlight the date of their birthday / anniversary. This way my family keeps up with my husband's family (and vice versa) each year. This has become a family tradition each year and when we are together during the year, you hear comments like "this photo would be great for the calendar" or "I'd better not see that photo in the calendar". So start your own tradition and come create a calendar that you can save as a scrapbook after the year is over. You'll have 12 great layouts to put into an album at the end of the year. And as always, Amy & I will have plenty of sugar to keep you going while creating.

Although the sample shows 2009, the numbers are cut for 2011.
In addition to your normal tool box, you'll need:
Pop dots
Glue dots
12" ruler
Dark brown ink - I used Colorbox Chalk Dark Brown
Brown ink - I used Colorbox Chalk Chestnut Roan
Red ink - I used Colorbox Chalk Warm Red
Blue ink - I used Colorbox Pigment Royal Blue
Black ink - I used Colorbox Pigment Charcoal
White pen - I used Ranger Inkssentials
Brown pen - I used American Crafts precision pen #05 in brown
Black journaling pen - I used American Crafts precision pen #03 in black
Adhesive
Paper Trimmer

Here are a few photos of the contents of the kit:



Hope to see you there.

Evaluate Your Life Day

Today is "Evaluate Your Life Day" so take a moment to reflect.

HAPPY NATIONAL CHOCOLATE CUPCAKE DAY

Today is national chocolate cupcake day, so go celebrate and have a chocolate cupcake!!!

October 31st

Here's some photos of the contents of the Halloween kit that we'll be teaching:

Front cover - using our exclusive album that has been laser cut.

Contents of the kit:

The flowers in this photo are made using the Cuttlebug quilling die, so we'll be showing you how to make these in class.