Fall Bloggy Giveaway!

A sweet bloggy friend of mine, Miss Talia, is doing a yummy fall give away with all sorts of fall-ish etsy goodness over at her blog, This Little Life of Mine!
It ends TODAY so head on over there an enter for yourself!
Read a few of her yummy recipes posts and drool a lil over her precious 3 princesses while you are there too!
Thanks Talia for such a fun give away!
I HOPE I WIN!!!!! :D

National Scrapbooking Weekend

The first Saturday in May has been dubbed National Scrapbook Day and my local store always hosts a weekend long cropfest. Friday from 4pm-12am, Saturday 8am - 12pm, and Sunday 10am - 6pm. It is UBER fun people! Tons and tons of presents and prizes to be won! Seriously people FUN TIMES!!! All the ladies there are SO nice and it is really fun to see everyone's different styles. Here a few pics from my weekend and also the pages that I worked on :) (They are a bit out of order because Blogger is being a hag and not letting me move them around)

These first pages were all done digitally using Microsoft Publisher 2007.

The theme was a weekend in Paris so the decor, make n takes, and food all had a paris theme. There were lots of fun vintage hats for us to try on and play with! This yellow one was made for me don't ya think?

This is a card I made...

This is what I left home on Friday afternoon LOL

These are keychains we made Friday night. They were SO fun!

A page I did of my Lacie Bug

Yes there are exactly 100 buttons on this page :)

The only 2 page layout I did all weekend hahaha

The green background paper is actually bumpy like LEGOS are. So fun!
This page is adorable but it cost me just around $10 to make due to poor decisions on my part :(

This is just one of the fabulous presents we got.

I need your help!

Ok people I need you help! I'm entering in a contest to win a weekend away at a nearby scrapbook retreat called Scrap-N-Away! I would LOVE to win this! All you have to do is go to their blog and leave a comment with my name. I will get 2 entries for each friend that leaves a comment! I will love you for-ev-er if you'd be so kind! Thanks in advance!

A Dream Come True

Last Sunday I got to live a dream. It actually started on Thursday or Friday of last week. I saw a post on my meetup message board and called my hubby right away to get permission :) My friend Erin, owns an online scrapbook store - ScrapWild and she is a member of CHA - the Craft & Hobby Association. Well ever January/February the CHA hosts a trade show in Anaheim. We're talking around 4000 exhibitors, it's at the convention center right across the street from Disneyland. I have ALWAYS wanted to go to this from the moment I heard about it. Now, most people don't even KNOW what CHA stands for let alone about the trade show. Basically it's every craft product company known to man showing off their new lines.

So Erin asked a few of us to go with her so that she could get feed back on the new lines to help her decide what to carry in her store. I JUMPED at this opportunity! Thankfully the hubby was on board :) Then I chatted up my friend Sarah, because she got to go last year. She got all jazzed and we made plans to go together once we learned that her 3month old was allowed to go to, he's nursing babe :)

So EARLY Sunday morning we hit the road (after hitting up Starbucks :) ) towards Anaheim. Walking in was really surreal. Right away I spotted signs of brands that I knew 3M, Prima, Scrapblog, Little Yellow Bicycle, CRAYOLA, and so on. Some of the booths were really decked out and it was just all so cool to see! We spent the day walking around and looking at the new product, sampling new product, taking pictures, meeting celebrities, and gathering freebies!

It was a fabulous fabulous time! Little baby Isaiah was such an angel baby the whole time. I even got to carry him in his carrier for the last little bit. It was a blast! Thank you thank you Erin for this amazing opportunity! If you need someone again next year I am SO your gal!

This is me with ANNA GRIFFIN!!!!

Those are pads of paper at the Me and My Big Ideas booth, isn't that cool? Sarah & I wanted to grab some so bad but it was not allowed :(

I have looked EVERYWHERE for Star Wars themed scrapbook supplies! So Creative Imaginations has it, now I just gotta find someone who carries it! Erin? ;)

This lady was hilarious. Her company created a cushioned seat pad with hang down pockets for crafters. She only talks in a baby voice and she sits in a giant chair with a giant version of her product. Her voice did kinda get annoying after awhile though. Don't you just love the baby's face?

This is me doing a make n take with Zutter

I spotted this zebra wall from far away and new that I'd love whatever was there.

OMG!!!!!!!! Have you ever seen anything more beautiful in your life? They'll be ready for sale right before Mother's day! Hint Hint :) There is also a matching Point & Shoot camera clutch or a large DSLR case and they are all lined with HOT PINK! Swoon!

Me and Sarah-kins! My partner in crime! Don't know what I would have done without her! We had the BEST time!

LOVED these spinning embelishments from Cosmo Cricket

This was probably THE coolest thing at the show. It's a Baby Tooth album full of places to document when teeth come in and when they fall out. Even a little storage case for them! Seriously how cute is that?

This is me and the fabulous Jenni Bowlin! Love her and her BINGO cards!!!

Me in front of the CK Media booth. Unfortunately none of the girls were there - Lisa Bearnson, Ali Edwards, or Becky Higgins :(

EEEEP! That's Heidi Swapp!!!!! She was the sweetest! Her new product looks like LOTS of fun!

The Little Yellow Bicycle display was super cute and I loved all their new stuff! Especially the pads that coordinate with the chipboard albums but the paper is already cut to fit the pages perfectly!

Here are my kids and the goodies that mommy brought home for them. Colby got some Star Wars color pages & Crayola Color Surge markers. Lacie got some piggie tail headbands and glitter pens. And they both got foam SLICEs from Making Memories.

And this is MY loot! Check it out :)

Scrapbooking Buds

I have FINALLY found a group of the sweetest girls and they all love to scrapbook just as much as I do! A few of them came over to my place a couple weeks ago to exchange cookies, recipes, chitchat, and scrapbook! It was a blast! I always have a good time when I meet up with these ladies. Seriously, if you are local and enjoy scrapbooking, join us! We'd love to have you!

We also put together a few things for a local family that is losing their young daughter to cancer. A local reporter is a member of our group and the mother's request for scrapbooking supplies tugged at ALL of our heartstrings! You can find the article here.

Super Fun Game on the brain

A couple months ago we went to dinner at my dear friend Sarah's house and after dinner she convinced us to try and play a new game with them. We are BIG game people, and quite competitive I might add, so we were totally down! The game was called Pop 5. It was created by the fabu people at Cranium and it was ALOT of fun. Here's the gyst of the game from the publisher:
Hilarious pop culture fun gets a Cranium spin! From Madonna and mullets to moonwalks and Monday Night Football, this party game isn't about what you know, but how you show it.
Here's how it works: Each turn, the opposing team draws a clue card and assigns points to each of the five activity choices, according to how hard they think each one will be. If they pull the "Red Bull" card, they may think drawing it is easy, so they'd give it one point. But acting? Hard. Five points! Now it's up to you to decide: Will you go for the easy points and draw, or go for the big points (and glory) by acting it out?
Each turn you get to choose to act, draw, hum, sculpt, or use letter cubes to get your team to guess the clue. With songs, celebrities, fads, fashions, TV shows, movies, and more, Pop 5 cards include all kinds of fun pop culture clues that span the decades -- and every turn, you get to choose how to get your team to guess!
* Would you act out Iron Chef or draw it?

* Would you rather hum a Spice Girls song or roll the letter cubes to give clues that start with the letters that come up?

* Would you choose to sculpt a Chia Pet out of clay or hum the jingle?

After leaving Sarah's I knew we HAD to get that game! So I went on a hunt but couldn't find it at Target OR Walmart. I needed to go to Toys R Us to pick up a few Christmas gifts that were on sale and decided I'd look around. At first I couldn't find it but then I saw it. It was on an endcap with a bunch of other clearanced games. I started getting excited. You know that feeling when you find a bargain? But I couldn't find a price tag anywhere so I go and do one of those scanny thingys. Guess how much it was?

Only $3!!!!!

haha I was SO stoked and snatched that puppy right up! Only we haven't played it yet :( I REALLY want to! I think about it all the time cause it is just SO fun and after cleaning out the game closet this weekend it's on my mind again. I think this would be the perfect after Thanksgiving dinner game :) Hopefully I can convince the rest of my family of that!

If anyone is interested I was able to find it online from Target for $14.99 - not as good a deal as mine of course but still a great price for a great game!

It came & went

This is the only picture I have of the night, taken in our dirveway before we left. BUT the fabulous Ashley should have a picture up soon of us (taken by her fabulous hubby), so I'll add that one when I can :)

So the big night was on Friday. The girls' work was AMAZING! I was really impressed! I knew they were amazing but they did such a great job with the pictures for the show. I was definitely proud of them!

As you know I was really excited about seeing Colleen again and meeting Ashley. I also got to meet their hubbies! :) They are SUCH nice people! I was a lil nervous seeing them because it'd been so long with Colleen and obviously having never met Ashley before and you know what they say about those internet people ;) But they were all just SO great! Ashley was so sweet and it just felt like we had known eachother for awhile! It's not very often that I meet someone so genuine and classy and I know that that is exactly who Colleen and Ashley are - what you see is what you get! I love that. This world could definitely use alot less shadiness, don't you agree?

My fave part of the night (other than seeing the girls) was when Colleen was introducing me to her husband, Kyle, and he said "oh I know I've read her blog". haha that was just so cool to me!

My least favorite part of the night was leaving before I got to meet some of the other bloggers that showed up that night. :( Especially these three girls. I am shamelessy addicted to reading all 3 of their blogs and from those I know that they share those same great qualities that Colleen & Ashley have!

But we WERE on a date night and my hubby had been so sweet in agreeing to accompany me so I knew that I needed to follow through with my end of the bargain - get your mind out of the gutter people I'm talking about dinner & Best Buy! ;)

Anyway it really was a great event and I was so happy to have been able to show my support!

Great job girls!!!!

Baby McClane is almost here!

Julie and I have been friends since the first grade (side note - I wonder if my Lacie has a friend now that she will still be friends with 22 years from now? hmmm), we (and another gal - Kendra) were best friends from junior high through highschool.

Sorry girls I couldn't resist! hahaha

We always said I would be the first to get married and have kids cause it's all I ever wanted! :) I was married in 2000 and done having kids by 2003 LOL Then it was Kendra's turned - she was married to Skyler in 2005 and has a one year old lil girl named Ruby. Julie got married to Grant in 2006 and is now due with a lil boy, McClane, on Thanksgiving Day.

They are doing a jungle themed nursery and I lucked upon some REALLY cute monkey kitchen accessories on clearance at Target awhile back - gotta love those lil red stickers. I just knew I could come up with something to use em for!I ended up making her, well the baby, a blanket, a dipee & wipee case, and a taggie.

Here are pictures from her shower and of the gifts I made:

Kendra & I

Kendra's daughter - Miss Ruby Tuesday The Mommy to be and I

Showing off the taggie I made

Here's the quilt - the middle applique is actually half of a tea towel found at Target!

And here's the matching taggie

And her's the dipee & wipee case - the monkey face is actually a potholder from target :)

I also gave her 2 terry cloth hand towels from Target that had the lil monkey on them. I figured she could use them as changing pads or burp cloths! Oh and inside the dipee & wipee case was a lil travel wipee box that I put McClane's name on. Cursing myself for not getting a piture of it! It was simple but really cute :)

Beach trip Day #1 - Morro Bay

We left on a Friday mid morning. It seemed like it took FOREVER to get out of town! We had to do some cleaning first because my brother and his family were coming to house sit. Then we had to load a week's worth of clothes, food, kitchen utensils, toys, books, beach towels, bath towels, etc. for a family of four into the back of our van. IT WAS FULL!!!! Then we had to go by the bank, get gas, and drop off our car payment before we could FINALLY drive out of Bakersfield!
We are lucky enough to have "inherited" a beach house. My mom married a really amazing dude about 6 years ago, Poppie, and his family co-owns a beach house in Los Osos. It's about 10-15 minutes away from Morro Rock if you're familiar with the area.

After our long drive we had to be the "mean parents" and make the kids take a nap, cause WE needed one! LOL When everyone woke up we headed to the beach by the rock to meet up with some friends that happened to be in town also. It was shortlived but alot of fun at the same time. We got our first taste of sand and the COLD water and got some cute pics as well.

Seriously ready for the beach already!!!

YAY Sand!!!!

My baby & Morro Rock

I just love this one!

He said he was making a SPINOSAURUS

She said she was making Morro Rock

Yay our friends are here!!!

Me and MY friend :) The boys digging
The girls found a hole and jumped in
4 Bako Kiddos at the beach!

After we said goodbye to our friends we headed back to the house for another fave beach pastime of ours - Round Table Pizza MMMMMMMM The kids don't care for it too much cause it's spicy but it sure is tasty as long as you have a big drink close by :) It's something that David and I look forward to with every trip. We also watched some videos and played with the special Beach House Toys and then we all hit the hay in our most comfortable beach house beds!