elsie, elsie everywhere!

i have been a bad blogger, but i've been an all around bad internet-er these days. i've only just caught up on reading everyone's blogs and i just got around to my first scrapping since cha. craziness i know! i got all my love, elsie goodies from the 3 rad ladies who were my awesome hobby lobby shoppers and it was so fun to use some of it! i used, lola, riley and some roxie on these;







i really love how the one of elsie and i and the bad news one turned out, i'm not to sure about the other one, but i love the colors for sure.

so, this month is the first month of the kit club i am doing at the store. each month is going to be, "pieces of..... something-or-other" since the store is called pieces of time. this month is "pieces of my summer" and it's pretty fun if i do say so myself. i also thought it would be cool to pick 5 products each month that coordinate with the kit, but aren't in it, that will be 20% off when you purchase the kit. almost like an add-on but set up more for a lss. we'll see how they sell. it was pretty fun to do, even though i had to pick everything from the store. it will be even more fun to do when the stuff i ordered at cha starts coming in.

speaking of kit clubs, tonight is the night! i'm not staying up for poppy ink since i can't ever afford their add-ons anyway, plus i think i might sell my august kit anyway. i can't wait for midnight for story of my life though! i have a lot of the paper in the main kit so i don't know if it's very smart for me to buy it, but i am totally in love with the heart fabric and plastic chain and charms so i'm REALLY hoping they will be in the add-on or the extras sections. i am soooooo getting whatever add-ons exist though and i can not wait for this stamp;



yeah, how rad is that!?!?!

i also started storing my kits in the closet on tiered pants hangers. so far it's working out pretty well. it would be even better if i could have them hanging flat against the wall, but we have giant bookcases and no wall space. bummer. already it's nice to not have them still in the boxes!

back in the jerz

i got back last night but i sooooooo needed some major lounging today! i spent some major time going through catalogs, free goodies and purchases from the show and windy city scrapbooking. i have no idea where it's all going my scrap area is crazy overfilled and i think it's time for a major clean out and some sort of new system for added storage. i also want to do a monster rak after i reorganize things.

here is the elsie picture i promised;



the ordering and new product and all was really awesome at cha, but a huge part of how awesome cha was has to be meeting and catching up with rad scrappers. sara berry, kristina contes, elsie flannigan, breanne, laura fiore, michelle ramirez, laura fiore, gigi kennedy, adrienne looman, big SIS and about a million otheres! so fun!

so, it's back to work tommorow and i have to pack some scrappy stuff! then i want to head to wal mart after to print some of the awesome pics from cha! can't wait to scrap them!

on the fly in chi!

hey girlies! i totally slept in today and sooooo needed it. so this will be quick so that i can go shower and head out asap to place my last few orders and try to get some free goodies!

yesterday was way fun! did some browsing by myself, some browsing with ellen and some browsing with breanne! lots of checking stuff out! i even got the meet the lovely laura fiore, so nice to meet so many people irl! i did some fun make and takes with mambi, ranger/tim holtz and get this, elsie flannigan!!!

it was way fun to scrap with the lady herself! we did a little playing card mini and i snapped together a little journaling spot that she signed for me so that i can scrap the picture of us! she was so nice and i managed to not get all super fan on her like some other people did. she was all about my birdie tattoo and she said she listend to the "rock * paper * scissors" mix that i sent her all the time! i thanked her for bringing us younger and funkier scrappers to the forefront and she gave me a big hug! yay! i'll totally post pics as soon as i get back, promise. her new lines are incredible and i'm so ordering those today!

anyway, after the show i unloaded some stuff here at the hotel and then got some chicago deepdish at giordanos with breanned and then grabbed a shuttle back here to put some orders together and then got the much needed sleep.

so, i'm off to shower and head out! i miss you ladies on the boards and blogs and everything! i can't wait to catch up on everything when i get home!

chi-town girl!

hey ladies! thanks for all your well wishes! my flight was delayed again yesterday morning, but i bought the previous harry potter book in paperback and refreshed while i waited. i finally got to my hotel here in chicago around 1 in the afternoon and dashed around freshening up and headed right over to the show. i got lots of catalogs, put in the heidi swapp order and ran in to miss sara berry at the hambly booth, of course! obviously she is so much fun!

so, i walked the show for the rest of the afternoon and grabbed catalogs like a mad woman so that i could go over them in my room last night and decide what's a must order while i'm here and what can wait. when the show closed at 5 i headed back to the room, unpacke d abit and freshened up then walked over to sara's hotel and met her and her sister so that we could head over the the SIStv reception!

it was so cool to meet some of my internet ladies and be reunited with some of my quasi-local girlies who i don't get to see much! so after we talked to big SIS herself, she actually knew who i was! how cool is that? i grabbed my two stellas before the drink tickets expired and they started callign door prizes and sara and i both won!!! as i'm dashing up there in shock to grab my kellie crowe paper pack and my voucher that's good for a signed copy of adrienne looman's new book i realize i have both beers in my hands and i hear kristi off to the side, "whoooo morgan's double fisting!" haha, too funny! so we hung with miss kristin, breanne and gigi and i got to meet the lovely michelle ramirez, which was way cool because i somehow spaced on the fact that obviously she would be there, and chatted with nisa and adrienne! it was way rad!

afterwards we ate a bit, had to soak up those one and a half stellas, and then sara's awesome sister drove and we went to the windy city scrapbooking store where, regardless of being at a trade show, i still managed to spend a little under $50 even with my 15% showg-goer discount, haha! we had a lot of fun though and they had a bunch of stuff i have never seen in a store, way cool.

so now i'm about to hop in the shower and head off for day 2! my plan is to go on over, grab the catalogs i didn't get to yesterday, come back here to drop them off and then go back the second half of the day to place some orders. then there is talkd of a hobby lobby and archivers mission after the show tonight!

i'm telling you ladies there is some way cool stuff coming out here, but i have been horrible about taking pictures so i will try to remember to do that today!

guess what!?

i'm still in good ol' newark new jersey! i was supposed to be in chicago almost 24 hours a go. the airline messed up my rebooked flight, something about an extra comfirmation number, and the flight was delayed and so i was going to miss my connection anyway so they rebooked me for a flight this morning instead. so i spent a night here at the double tree hotel, treating myself to room service and a movie and i'm trying again today.

so far my new flight is delayed from 7:37 to 10:00 this morning but somehow it only affects the arrival time in chicago by an hour. i SOOOOOO just want to get there. the show starts at 9 this morning and i'm still going to be on a plane. so, please keep me in your thought scrappy friends!

i'm trying to remind myself that i will get there, and my schedule might have to change a bit to get everything done but it will work out! it's out of my hands at this point and as long as i travel safely i shouldnt really be worried about 25 quasi-missing hours.

i bought that book, "eat pray love" that everyone has been talking about, it looks really good, but if the borders at the airport has the paperback of, "harry potter and the half-blood prince" i am so buying and re-reading my potter before the new one comes out! there was just no way i was toting the hardcover around, haha!

know this my friends, first thing that happens when i get to that convention center is a bee-line for the hambly (did you see the extra peek? out of control!) and love, elsie, although a picture with elsie herself is going to have to wait until tommorow when i'm not sporting the 3 hours of sleep look, haha!

i will update asap!

i'm off!

just a quick note to say i am off to cha! my friend rick is picking me up for the airport in 5 and a half hours and i have about an hour more of packing to do!!! eek! i'm taking my laptop and i'm going to try to update from chicago, but we'll see how that goes, haha!

can't wait to see all the goodies, meet up with some internet and non-local friends irl and explore chicago!

::edit:: well, it's now 8:31 and i am probably supposed to be sitting on the runway right now but after 3 hours of sleep before getting up at 5 a.m. and being all dressed and ready i called to check the status of my flight and it was cancelled! what???? it's not even raining here or in chicago yet. and, the only other flight they could get me on today is at 5 p.m., has a connection in charlotte and doesn't get into chicago until 9. plus there is a big red storm spot heading across the u.s. according to the weather channel! : ( i am sooooo bummed! this is totally cutting into my relax and settle in time and i was supposed to go shopping! ergh!


pray for me please that my flight is not delayed again, my connection is not missed and i get to chicago at a somewhat normal time, rather than my flight getting delayed again and possibly not ending up in chicago until tommorow! :(

googles

... that's what we call glasses in our house, i'm sure that it had something to do with the fact that my 80's glasses had purple frames and were so huge that you could see my ears through them. they have gotten much better now, thank god! anyway, here's a lo i did of my friend nicole and i lounging in jammies and glasses;



i used the june story of my life kit and scraplifted the idea of sanding the love, elsie textured cardstock from someone on some message board. i forget who, sorry!



the bird and bubble are cut from a tag that i bought from here this shop has some really adorable stuff and she is super quick to mail things! i love this tag set and i also bought the scalloped journaling tags, and next on my list are the bubble bird notepaper, the sarcastic to-do lists and the pirate tags, so cute!

so i'm a tiny bit stressed! working everyday since the 4th of july and up to the day before i leave while trying to get ready for cha and taking care of my mum who just had shoulder surgery friday is making me a little insane! but, i am getting there. i got a bunch of clothes yesterday, and marykate is coming over tommorow night to help me figure out what to keep and what to return. and nicole carro, super rad girl who i met at kristi's class at mlpa is coming to the store to see me tommorow, and shop of course, can't wait! i'm supposed to go see harry potter on tuesday, but somehow i don't see that happening. keep me sane ladies, it's a crazy ride right now!

i'm a scrap narccicist right now!

ever finish a lo and you are totally enamored with it? i am sooooo in love with how this turned out! i had the idea in my head and it turned out even better than my vision!!!

it's called; "love on a cellular level"



::le squee!:: totally love it! i just wanted to post this real quick. hopefully i'll have a more substantial post after my friend date. the hazards of going on friend dates with a dude who is a cop is that you get texts like this; "can we make it a late dinner? hit the fan and we found a body at the resevoir" ick ick ick!

at least i have my love for my new lo to keep me happy!

"how do you spell what owls say?"

i totally had to call my mum on that one. here's a lo i started yesterday and finished today, "hoo knew?"



i have been wanting to scrap this picture for a while. i really like it, it reminds me of really fun times at 4th of july picnic/show on a deck but my really tight friendship with this guy ended not so well, see journaling below, and so it was tough to do, but i feel good that i finally did it. the july soml kit is so fun!



anyway, on to a more awesome page topic, the kristi classes! yay!



i used a bunch of scenic route we have here at the store and a fun little chipboard bird that jessnole (->) sent me a while a go. i covered her and made her a wing and a fun sparkly eye and little eyelashes, and i'm really digging on her little stick legs that could not possibly hold her up irl. hehe.



i really loved those classes and the rad ladies i met there, i still smile when i see the pictures.

so, last night my mmy mum and i hauled bumm to the menlo park mall to get me some sjp/bitten lovliness at steve & barry's and it was so shopped that all that was left was xs and xl. i did get one cute shirt in black and also in brown, but it was really frustrating! i need clothes for cha bad!!! we did stop at target on the way home though and i got a dress, 3 skirts and a pair of black capris (because my mum insists i need them, i'm not a black pants kind of girl) and although all the stuff is fun and comfy cute i still feel like i don't have things that add up to outfits. i'm going to have to check h+m and forever 21 (as you can see cheap is key) and then maybe old navy. it's kind of crazy trying to get all this stuff done for cha when i don't have a single day off from work until the day i leave! wish me luck!

ooh! ooh! ooh! i didn't tell y'all about transformers yet!!! soooooooo good! i didn't know that it was 2 1/2 hours long until we were talking about it on the way there, but it sooooo did not seem like it was 2+ hours long! it was really funny and then when it's time to get down to business they get down to business! the affects were jaw dropping and i totally want to go see it again like now! oh, and also, they somehow managed to make the "even stevens" dude crushable!!!what the heck?

alright, i'm off to catch up on my blog reading before grabbing coffee with mk.

supreme cheese!

so when you are overtired and punchy silly at work by yourself and you go over into the hambly corner and realize that it is a crazy wind tunnel due to the air conditioning and you have your camera with you... this is what happens;



hahahahahahahaha! yeah it's like a scrapper calendar shot ! "look at alllllll that hambly, okay now pout in to the camera", haha. oh lord, at least i make myself laugh.

anyway, here is that lo i was talking about the other day;



i think i'm getting used to the love, elsie.

speaking of which there is going to be a love, elsie booth at cha. first off, hopefully elsie will be there and, second, i wonder if she is releasing new lines, just adding a couple pieces to her current lines or just continuing to promote her current lines. either way i am soooooo scoring some for the store. after i bee line for the hambly booth first thing that is! i can't wait to see what their new release is! i'm in the process of making a little book for all my notes on all the manufacturers and i've already started myself a. "don't forget to pack this" list. and i just got my new business cards the other day and they are really cute. i'll try to post a pic sometime soon. also, i want to be business casual, but with really comfy shoes on while i'm at cha so my mum and i are headed to menlo park mall tommorow after work to check out the sara jessica parker clothing line, bitten, at steve & barry's. apparently it's 500 pieces (tops, dresses, skirts, jeans, shoes, bags & accesories) all under $20 a piece. super psyched on that. plus i want to find something cute to wear to the scrap in style reception!

anyway, work til 5 today, i've been rearranging the whole store again, and then i'm going home to freshen up then heading out to wal mart for cheap giant candy and then going to see transformers at the rave theater with rick, ian and one of rick's friends. i am soooooooo psyched on this. we always have fun movie outings and i never manage to take pictures, i will def try tonight. we go see all the big movies together, 300 in imax, pirates and all that business. can't wait for this movie though, even the indie movie snobs and 80's elitist friends are digging it hardcore! i'll let you know what i think!

scrapjack-a-lacked.

here's my alison flynn scrapjack;



i really like that the jack target made it so easy to create a really eye catching, simple lo that i totally love! i actually finished this one yesterday too, but the natural light was gone so it had to wait until today.

used my june soml kit today on a lo introducing my new little fur-niece to the world, i love it so far but i envision the use of one of my "hello my name is" nametag stickers and they are at home so it will have to wait until i get home from work.

it was really busy here today which made my day go by super quick, which is good since i am working the next 13 days straight and then leaving for cha.

speaking of which, every sneak peakie i see from the manufacturers is making me more and more excited about going! not to mention meeting some of my rad online scrappy friends irl!!!

alright, off i go to close up the store.

this simple little pretty...

...happened today. i was actually kind of frustrated with my lack of creative ability so i walked away from it for a bit, but then when i came back i loved it for it's simplicity. i'm really lovin' on the layered tulle and bazzill bling blossom flower.

i don't ever ever work with yellow because it's just not one of my colors but i really liked it!

can't sleep.

well, it's about 330 and i'm back out of bed downloading free digi kits that i can't even use because i have no software for them, in hopes of one day having said software. ugh! i think that one of the worst feelings ever for me is not being able to sleep! i hate jsut laying there knowing i need to be sleeping but instead having a million trillion thoughts running through my head. it's not like i have to be up tommorow but i hate how every possible nervewracking thought come sup at bedtime. : (

a little scrapping and a moderate amount of shopping.

just a teeny bit got done. i finished my entry for jessnole's circle journal. her theme was inspiration and here's my entry, front and back;





i like it. it's all packaged up and ready to ship off to laurie, hopefully with a better outcome than my first cj. : ( i wonder if that will get returned to me in the mail or something someday. well, i made another one to replace it, complete with making the same sill mistake on the cover, and this one has a pocket in the back for the photos of all the lo's i do for other people's and a page for a wrap up of my experience. so it's new and improved. hopefully it doesn't throw anyone off too much! stupid mail!

and i was sooooooo well behaved this month with my kit purchases! i already had most of the paper in the main kit and add-on over at soml, so tempting to buy it all over again because it's so beautiful, so i just put together my own little add-on by ordering extras of things, the avacado paint, pink & orange petaloo flowers, the amazing hedgie stamp and the doodlebug paper frills in orange (half are yours aimee!) totally can't wait to get these and put them with my paper!

then the next morning i went over to zingboom. she is skipping a kit this month and she had a little shop of extras up so i got the maryink custom cardstocky mystery pack, the embellishment boom box and the ribbon mystery pack. i am hoping with just about every little cell in my body that the adorable brown ribbon with the pink owls is in there, i want it sooooo bad!

and, poppy ink is releasing on the 7th instead of the first so i might have the money to buy the card making add-on if it's reasonably priced, we'll see! it looks like there is a cute "hello my name is" badge stamp in there which would probably be really fun.

anyway, marykate is finally back from north carolina and the shore and i'm headed over there after my little added half day of work today to have a nice little backyard barbeque and visit with my furniece who i'm sure has gotten much bigger in a week and a half! and the weather here is amazing! i'm sure by dinner time it will be shorts and sweatshirt weather, which is my favorite kind!

i accidentily left my camera chord at home so i will try to post some pictures of the improvements to the circle journal tommorow!

oooh, also, there is a rak in the works for when i hit 5,000 views. i'm trying to thing up a fun little contest and rak package. can't wait for the 4 ladies i sent packages to on saturday to get their little lovelies!