These girls...

These

girls

are affectionately kown as my "beastly pointer sisters." They're not really beastly. They used to be, but they've been calming down quite a bit. Hmmm, I guess that's to be expected when they're almost 7 years old. I can't believe they're almost 7. Gabby is on the black and white one and Morgan is the brown and white. These girls are so sweet. They love unconditionally and would protect us to the death. They failed puppy school. They failed BAD! It was so bad, the instructor offered me free lessons for the life of my girls. He even offered to take them to a family that has a ranch so they could have room to run and maybe hunt. Nope, we decided to stick it out. I don't think it would've been fair to them to give up. People don't give up on their kids. So why would I give up on them?

My girls came from a shelter. It was a "no kill shelter' although, they were third chance pups. They had been born to a backyard breeder. That would account for the off colors and markings for Pointers. This backyard breeder took them to a quick kill shelter in Baldwin Park. Another shelter in Los Angeles took them in. Then they were there too long (less than a month) and the shelter was overcrowded, so the Irvine Shelter picked them up. That was their third chance. That's where we came in. I saw these two girls wagging their little tails and smiling at me at a whole 12 weeks old and couldn't resist. I dove right in a adopted them.

I believe everybody should give a shelter puppy or kitty a chance. They are wonderful. I'll be posting a photo of Molly, our shelter kitty soon.

Baby showers and a new venture

Mila and I went to a baby shower for my cousin, Ricky's wife Shay last weekend. I made her one of my button frames. I'm glad I did because she said she was hoping I would. It turned out really pretty, not baby-like, but pretty. Baby Dane's ( due May 1st) nursery is sage green and soft red with off white. So, thats what I did. So many people asked me for business cards. I wish I had some with me. This is a photo of the frame. Oh, and the card I did to match. I didn't have time to sew on the card whcich really disappointed me. But, Shay loved it anyway.


I decided to open an ETSY store. I'm working on my stuff and hope to have it uploaded and ready to go this weekend. I'll be selling button frames, cards, jewelry, binky strings, tags and a bunch of other stuff. So, my store is called RedCabooseDesigns. I've always wanted to use that name and now I get to. I'm very excited about it. :) I hope those couple of you that read my blog will check out my store at RedCabooseDesigns.etsy.com next week.

CKU

Maggie, Lisa and I spend the better part of an hour last Wednesday registering for CKU Anaheim. We hadn't really talked about going much, and just decided at the last minute (literally!) to do it. I talkd to Maggie at about 7 till 5pm on the 16th. I mentioned that registration started in less than 10 minutes. We hung up, I called and left a message for Lisa at Angels. She of course, didnt get the massage, so I called her back at about 5:15. I used both phones and the computer at the same time. It was not an easy thing for this three fingered typer. We wanted to have the same classes an album track. We actually DID get registered, and signed upt for the same classes. The only thing we were a little disappointed with was that we couldnt get into the Study Hall crop. We arent going with a "dorm" and arent planning on doing the dorm type activities. We did hear the other crop (that we did get into) was the better one anyway. Its supposed to be alot more fun.

Scrapping and journaling...

For a long time now...like several years, I've been trying to figure out my scrapping style. After alot of thought, I guess I would just have to call it ME. I like to scrap so many different styles. Usually though, my layouts are linear, and with the emphasis on the photos more than the "stuff". I've also noticed that I don't spend alot of time or effort on journaling. I've been trying to change that. I don't journal too often because I don't think I do it well. Although, the last few layouts I have journalled on ended up turning out great. The journaling brought tears to my friends eyes. (maybe thats not a good thing :P hehehe) No, in all seriousness, I think i am just so unsure of myself and my writing ability, I skip it. So, from now on, I'm going to try working on my journalling on at least 25% of my layouts.

I love seeing layouts that look good and have heartfelt journaling. I myself, dont like to have my words out there for everyone to see, for fear of being ridiculed about my poor writing abilities. Now, would anybody actually ridicule my feeble attemps to write something heartfelt? Probably not, at least not to my face. But I guess it comes down to poor self esteem issues with me. Always wondering if people are thinking "what the heck was she thinking?"

Now, if I could ust learn to type with ALL my fingers instead of just three, I would be doing so muc better. Or I suppose I could just learn to love my own handwriting. HAHA!

Why do I scrapbook?

This was asked on 2 peas in the pub today.

There are many reasons I scrap. I I scrap because I always have. Since I was about 5, Ive been collecting memories and putting them in albums. My grandpa did this and I loved how i could get lost in time looking through his albums. They were even full of ephemra, not just photos. So much stuff from SO long ago. Some of it over 100 years old when I was a kid.

I scrap because I love to spend time with my friends. We get together at least once or twice a week to crop, talk and laugh. I made these friends through scrapping and I would never give them up. I scrap to spend quality alone time. (on the rare occaision I get to be alone) I cant think of anything I would rather do than work on layouts with the TV in the next room and nobody to bother me.

I scrap to spend time with my 9yo son. He loves to scrapbook too. He does amazing layouts that are pub worthy. He's also particularly good at rememebring what supplies i have and dont have. I loev taking him shopping with me. he can tell me I already have something so i dont buy it again. He also knows which ribboons I have, he will walk into my favorite LSS, pull the ribbon spools I dont have, then go to the counter and ask for 2 yards of each. I love that!

I scrap because I love to see how my pages have evolved. I dont hate my early stuff. I love to look through my albums and remeber all the little things. I dont just scrap the big stuff, I love to scrap the little, everyday things. The things that make life real. I LOVE to hear my kids say; "Mom, these are the best pages you ever did" And, "I love looking at these scrapbooks!"

I scrap because my husband has never supported me more in a "hobby" than he does now. I can spend whatever I want on "stuff" and he NEVER says anything at all. He RAWKS! He loves that I've made really good friends and have a creative outlet.

I scrap because I LOVE the stuff. Especially the pretty paper, the ribbon, the buttons, the jars I store my stuff in. I am a collector, always have been and always will be. I have more stuff than I will ever use and it doesnt bother me one bit. I look at it like this: One day, many, many years from now, my great grandkids will find all my stuff and think, WOW! Nennie had some great stuff! Then they'll use it in their albums. I wish I had all the old papers and ephemra that was around along time ago.

I scrap because...I can.

He didnt follow through...

So, I made a deal with Phillipe; the owner of the Zutter company that makes the Bind-it-all a couple of weeks before CHA this year. The deal was...if I promoted the Bind-it-all and Dream Kuts and people bought it because I promoted it on websites etc, I would get the machines for free. THEN...I was told if I did demos at the crops I go to at his families LSS; and anybody bought them I would get mine. I did what I was asked to do, on 2 peas and several other sites. Hmmm, I know alot of people bought them at CHA after I talked about it. Alot of people also oredered them after CHA from the company and even mentioned my name and that they saw the posts on 2peas and the other sites. AND, 4 people one night I demoed bought them and at another crop, at least one did. Now, they made alot of money off of me. I have been trying to connect with him for a while now and have been getting avoided. It wasn't just obvious to me, but to my friends as well. I finally caught him as he was running out the door; no doubt because my friend Lisa; the manager of the LSS his family owns, told him I wanted to see him. He tellm me I can choose...the Bind-it-all OR the Dream Kuts. What!!!! I did my part and he failed to follow through on what he said he would do. I am mad! I did take home aBind-it-all that night but, I won't promote his products anymore. I won't promote their store anymore either. It's NOT my favorite store...never was and never will be. I only go there because Lisa's the manager and she works the crops. I almost never even step in the door if she's not there. Oh, by the way...Scrapbook Oasis, is, always has been and always will be my favorite LSS...that is unless I start my own. In which case mine will be the best! hehehehe :)

BUT...this is good! Yesterday was Angels (their LSS) 4th anniversary sale. They had a raffle for a big ole suitcase with a Bind-it-all in it and a bunch of the wire binding, covers, and inside pages, and a bunch of other stuff. I made sure I put my raffle tickets in the box, which incidentally; had hardly any tickets in it. I knew I would win...knew it deep down. I had no doubt. Well, Lisa called me last night while we had Gracie and Mikey at the park. She said Terri (the owner) had called her and asked her if she wanted to call me to tell me I had won! Yep! Now I have TWO Bind-it-alls!!!!!! Still no Dream Kuts, but...whatever!

I'll be posting a photo of my winnings later today :) Lisa's working so I'm going over to pick it up.

blog troubles

Holy cow! Ive spent the last 2 hours trying to log into my blog! What the heck? I put the wrong user name. Then I put the right passowrd for the wrong username. Then I told blogger to remember me. Now it doesnt wasnt to forget me! Sheesh. I finally had to set up ANOTHER blog so I could access my dahsboard and get into my blog! I feel like such bean brain!