Scrap That !

Give a Hoot..isn't it too CUTE!

2011-08-05T16:04:00.000-07:00

Hello all just got back from my vacation and had a wonderful time. Here are a few fun pics to share!

Now it is back to reality need to do a lot of summer clean up before school starts. Clean out the boys closets, rooms, etc. repaint and a lot more UGH! But I did do a fun thing since I have been home too, I made a project for the Amy Mattes DT...here is the latest.....

I love these owls from the HOOTIE Collection! They are just too cute! You too can have them if you want to get your hands on some go by the One Pink Lemon shop and pick some up. For now why don't you pay me a visit at the Amy Mattes blog and leave me a little love/comment.

(((HUGS)))
Christine

The latest...Hey Cupcake!

2011-07-03T14:03:00.000-07:00

My latest project for Amy Mattes Designs! I made this little project using a cute pic of my sweet little niece Sofie. She came to visit with the rest of my family just last week. We celebrated my older niece, Madi's b-day. I made cupcakes that had blue frosting with a lollipop sticking up in the center. Sofie enjoyed them a lot as you can tell!

If you like this project, go by the Amy Matte's blog and check out all the fun stuff there. You can find out how to make great things and where to buy some of the greatest digital downloadable goodies on the Internet.

Love to all of you and thanks for stopping by!

Christine

A new project and a bit of the past...

2011-04-27T20:32:00.000-07:00

Hi all Here is a project that I have up at Amy Mattes Designs :0) Go pay me a visit over there and leave me some love. Then go down to the post below mine and enter to win a fun giveaway! Come on what do you have to lose?! Hurry up and get on over there. Hurry go go go HERE!

Now on to a bit more serious stuff. I am a bit low these days. I lost a friend of mine to cancer just a few weeks ago. She fought her battle against cancer for 8 years. Her name is Robyn Howland and she is/was not only a beautiful person, but a person full of love that really filled my kid's days with laughter. Initially she was Nicholas' preschool teacher and then later Adam's. We became fast friends. This coming Saturday is her funeral. I was asked by the daycare director for some pictures of my boys with her from the past. Here they are....

Nicholas and Miss Robby- 2003

Adam and Miss Robby - 2005

My oldest son Nicholas who is now 11 wrote this which will be read at her funeral: How Miss Robby was a wonderful person

Miss Robby was a nice, happy, frog-loving preschool teacher. She was and is always going to be my favorite teacher I’ll ever have. She always acted silly and made things a whole lot more fun for me and everybody else. She loved frogs, the green, hopping creatures of the world. She even had a tattoo of one! She is the nicest teacher I’ve ever had. I loved how she always greeted the kids and parents when they arrived instead of dully saying: “Oh, good… You’re here.” She was actually friends with my mom (Christine Pizzo-Spina), my brother (Adam Spina), and me, Nicholas Spina. She would even come over for a pizza and movie night every once in a while. She always made it better than if she wasn’t there.

Miss Robby always made everything better, and was always funny. She even made preschool better for me. She was always happy, which made me feel the same.

Miss Robby was the funniest, nicest, happiest and best school teacher I have ever known in my 11 long years of life.

Okay my next post will be cheerier. I promise :0)

Much love,
Christine

Woohoo! Yippee and all that kind of stuff!!!!!

2011-04-13T00:27:00.000-07:00

Well first of all! Thank you tallyscrapper! You all rock! I love you big time! The Light it up blue crop was a success! Thanks to your help we raised $100 towards my walk for Autism Speaks! Thanks for your help and support. Thanks to all the Tally gals for participating and making this happen.

Secondly, I made my first post over at Amy Mattes Designs! Yay me! :0) I am so excited to be a part of her new design team. Here is the project that I posted

They are just little intial plates for my friend who just had twin baby boys! Their names are John and Charlie! How cute is that?! I am hoping to meet the little guys when I go to visit Las Vegas during spring break.

And lastly my peeps....there is a new challenge up at Scrap it Forward which you really should be checking out! We are going Green and there is a cute prize to go with it! Hurry and get on over there!

Okay I am off for now!

Much love,

Christine

This is BIG...It's almost time!!!

2011-03-29T15:00:00.000-07:00

I am so EXCITED!!!! It is almost time!! Are you ready? It is almost time to join Tallyscrapper and....
What does that mean? It means we are going to have a fundraising crop at Tallyscrapper and light it up Blue For Autism Awareness month. This is the first of my fundraisers for my walk on November 12th :0) There will be a big grand prize and a lot of games and other prizes too. You can read all about it here. Raffle tickets are only $5.45 What a deal! Want to see the grand prize? Here it is.................

and this

So what do you have to do? Well first you need to join the friendliest message board around at http://www.tallyscrapper.com/ Second you need to join in the fun. Third just come and play along. There will be other games and challenges as well. Come and support Team We CAN!1 The crop begins on April 1st! You don't want to miss it! Oh and by the way..my sweet Adam did the editing on the Video and I didn't have the heart to tell him that he made a boo boo on the Light it up blue part... He wrote "lighted". No biggie..you get the idea. The fact that he can make videos and upload them to you tube is good enough for me ;0)

Now you can watch our "award winning..show stopping video...yawn

;0) Much Love..Christine!

A great week for me!

2011-03-25T10:46:00.000-07:00

This was a good week for me. First off I received an email from Miss Amy Mattes. She is an up and coming digital designer who has asked me to be part of her new design team ;0) And of course I said. YES!! She creates many wonderful digital designs that can be downloaded onto your computer and crafty people like YOU can make fun stuff like this card that I just made last night! Isn't that fun!?? You can check out some of her great designs at these two etsy shops: http://www.etsy.com/shop/chocolatesundae and http://www.aboyslife.etsy.com/. The best part is, once you buy and download these designs you can manipulate them anyway that you want...size, color, shape..etc.

I made this card for my school staff who just happened to send me flowers since I have been out sick for awhile. I thought it was suitable for the occassion ;0)

The second most fabulous thing that happened to me this week is that I won a gigantuan spool of ribbon from May Arts this week! It isn't just a yard or two is about 30 yards of ribbon! HELLO! Cute stuff. Here it is!

Lastly, I received a big box of goodies from my Tallyscrapper sis Pam! She sent me the most awesome bunch of love. Thank you so much for all the fun. I should have taken a picture of it,but of course I already started digging into it all! Thanks!

Oh and p.s. here is my layout for a cool new challenge blog called "Hello Cutie Challenges". Go check it out..

ooh and a giveaway at PURPLE PUMPKIN here!
http://purplepumpkincrafts.blogspot.com/2011/03/its-giveaway-time.html?showComment=1301460817390#c7830020077602523835

A tally Oops and a Nerdy Girl?

2011-03-07T14:46:00.000-08:00

So I got Scrappy Last night and came up with two layuts wihich I lurve! Yes I do.
Here is my first. It was for a challenge on the Survivor Challenge on Tallyscrapper. The prompt called for us to use a GREEN DAY song in our Title ..YAY! and 2 pics...easy enough since I heart Green day. Problem is that I left out 2 other key ingredients..it had to be monocromatic and needed something plucked from nature on the layout...whoops. I remember that now..back to the drawing board. At least I got a good layout out of it!

And then there is a call for a guest Designer for the Nerdy Victorious girls on The Envious Blog...Lots of fun. I have visited their blog many times for inspiration and I like their style. THEN I SAW THE CALL and thought..why not? So here is the layout I made.

So now I must help the kids with homework and then I am off to more scrapping. A new layout for my survivor challenge. And just more scrappy fun because today I feel inspired!

2 BIG Giveaways today...lookie Lookie!

2011-03-06T00:04:00.000-08:00

Oh my, never under estimate the thoughtfulness of others! Today 2 great companies are giving away loads of goodies! First off Imaginisce is giving away a big ol' box of yummy goodies to 4 lucky winners...yes 4 and I am crossing my fingers on that one! Here is the link you should try your luck too! http://www.facebook.com/Imaginisce

And next a fantastic Kit club called We Scrap Kits is giving away...are you ready.....12 months worth of kits. Yes you read me correctly. 12 months!!!!!!!!!! And uh huh. I am going to share that link too. Can't keep all this good news to myself. So here ya go wescrapkits.blogspot.com

Now, if I were you, I would get my bootay...over to these fantastic companies and first off thank them for this amazing chance to win such a wonderful bounty of scrapbook goodness...and then I would enter and cross my fingers...avoid the cracks in the sidewalk, spread fairy dust or whatever it is you do for good luck.

(((Okay big scrappy hugs)))
Christine

Checking in :0)

2011-02-22T11:58:00.000-08:00

Hello Friends,
Well wish I could say that I feel all better but I am still under the weather ;0(.
I have made a few layouts that I can share with ya though.. so here they are.

Both of these were made for challenges on Tallyscrapper. The second one happens to be my favorite because it is of my grandparents, my mother and her brother back in 1953 in New York. I just love that picure of them on the slide. I also love the picture because it reminds me of how my grandfather was such a pleasant man. He wasn't just smiling for the picture. He was always that happy, that pleasant. I never saw a stern look on his face. Everything was always just "fine fine". What a beautiful man he was.

Lastly friends you must know that there is some great blog candy on Scrap it Forward for one lucky reader. Could it be you? Look how yummy it is!

If you want to learn how to win it. Just go on over and take a look. It is easy and worth it!

Much Love!

Christine

Just a quick little note :0)

2011-02-11T18:09:00.000-08:00

Some of you know that I have been feeling a bit under the weather lately, so I will make this quick. Wishing all you a happy upcoming Valentine's day AND....
I just wanted to let you know that there is a fun little challenge over at Scrap it Forward worth knowing about. Go Check it out because the prize is yummy and all you have to do is make a card for an unsuspecting Valentine!

Here's mine! Now go on over there and do the same!

Design Star, Goodies to share and Good peeps!

2011-02-04T21:36:00.000-08:00

Well so much... a lot lately to post these days, for me. I know..kooky huh? I am liking it! First off, Tallyscrapper has a challenge up to be the next DESIGN STAR! So I thought, what they hey, Let's give that bugger a try! So yep I did! Here are my layouts. Do you want to give it a whirl too? Go on? Give it a shot!

Also GOOD NEWS! If you haven't heard already Scrap it forward is running full speed ahead with a challenge ready to go! A prize is waiting..JUST FOR YOU! Check it out...perhaps you may win. :0)

Speaking of Challenges I decided to participate in yet another challenge on a blog that I discovered just the other day. It is called Sarah Hurley Challenge Blog . There Melly, one of the DT members, posted what she called a "wee sketch", which could be interpreted in any way, I suppose. So here is my take on it. Wish me luck ;0)

Now on to the Goodies and good Peeps. The goodies and the good peeps go together you see. At CHA we met dozens of good people and as you can see got a lot of goodies for my crop to benefit Autism Speaks which will happen in April. This is only a fraction of what we were able to get our hands on and the best part is we had great people and companies willing to send us more! People like Miss Jenni Bowlin :0) even showed interest! I have to say that the most beautiful person inside and out that I met is a woman, an artist, an inspiration, named Doveen Schecter. the founder of Dove of the East. She has lived the most extraordinary life, her artwork is amazing and her heart is of pure GOLD. Within 5 minutes of meeting me she was handing me over a beautiful scrapbook collection to giveaway during my fundraising crop. No questions asked. She just listened to my story, and had faith. Thank you Doveen. You are beautiful. Here is a pic of Doveen, Illyse and I. Please go and take a look at her site. I will also be linking her to our challenge blog!

I feel blessed to know that there are still people who can have faith in others and be willing to lend a helping hand. We all need to reach out to one another. Big or small gestures always make a difference. Much love.

Thanks to everyone who make a difference in my life

What a ball and so much to see!

2011-02-01T19:46:00.000-08:00

CHA was so much fun as it always is. As a tradition. We have to take our..we are here pic and I have to take some goofy pics because, that is how I am. So let me get those out of the way...

The gang is all here!

GCD provided this for me!

Another Cosmo please! Oh I really shouldn't ;0)

In disguise for a top secret scrappy mission!

Okay So we saw a ton of wonderful beautiful fantastic goodies at CHA. Yes we did! Here is a bit of the goods!

Here is my Sassafras

This I completely adore! I love their new Foldies. They are a lot of fun! I didn't get a pic of them because there were a lot of peeps around their booth at the time,but you can get a good glimpse on their blog at http://sassafras.typepad.com/sassafras/ . It is a cool new way to get that layered flowers look without a whole lot of effort! and let me tell you something...It looks darn good!

So I also made my way around a lot of other booths and found a few new companies and also saw a lot of friends new and old. It is so nice to see friends that you usually only see online. Hey you Julie by the way! Yes I am talking to you! I had the best time catching up on the silly stuff. ;0)

Okay back to the scrappy...there was a lot to see and too many pics to take so I will just show you a few more that really either made me smile, inspired me or made me realize that I will be going to the scrappy IOU poor house soon ;0)

Oh my, this Cosmo Cricket just about killed me the upcycle line was my favorite for sure. It was all fun but this was my fave! And of course their old time display was so much fun that I had to go an take the picture with the Cosmo glass. I did ask permission first.

okay let's see...hmm what more ooh what I found truly AMAZING was the DIE CUTS with a VIEW booth. They must have had some astounding designers at hand. The design work was beyond breath taking it was..jaw dropping. Just look at these dresses and table settings made out of paper!

And finally only because this is such a loooonnnng blog post I will put up some October Afternoon ;0)

There are so many more things to just share. People I met and the good things that happened,but I think that will have to be saved for another day. For now I think that this will do. Thanks for stopping by! Much love!

Me ;0)

Just a few days away...woohoo! I just can't wait!

2011-01-27T21:51:00.000-08:00

Hey friends Long time no blog I know,but here I am. I can't believe that CHA is here already! I am so excited to get on over to LA and see the fun new goodies that CHA has to share. I also am looking forward to connecting with online crafty friends that I only see during this time of year!

So many good things have been going on lately. Tallyscrapper is rolling full steam ahead and I love that! So much fun! They have a Design Star coming up. I just might bite! And I also have been having a lot of fun at Dixie pieces with some challenges! Here are a few of the Layouts that I have done with some of the sketches that they have posted this month :0)

I have also decided to give it a whirl and try out for Sassafras' DT. Why not? I never thought I would make it on Kiki Art's DT and She surprised me. Sassafras Lass is one of my Ultimate Faves! They are so wild and FUN! However, I just don't want to reveal my submissions as of yet. Bad luck? Superstitious? I don't know. Maybe after Feb. 1st. The deadline is the deadline, then, what is done is done! Wish me luck! BY THE WAY...Have you seen their new lines? Hello? Yummy!! Go see for yourself! http://sassafras.typepad.com/sassafras/ I can't wait to touch them and see them in person. They will probably have to remove me from their booth for loitering or touching the paper for just 'too' long ( I'm tactile that way).

Anyway life has been great. I can't complain . My father just had his 70th birthday. And.. he is healthier than ever. I love that stubborn Italian man! Here he is in front of his birhtday cake. He always brags that he will live till 100. So I took a pic of his birthday cake..take a look...

So what do you think? He believes it and I think that I do too! Well for now I am off to bed! Thanks for coming to visit me!

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY

2010-07-03T10:39:00.000-07:00

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY
There is a great challenge up at Scrap it Forward and it is an EASY ONE too. NO project involved! All you have to do is share a few links on your blog and/or facebook and you will be entered into a prize drawing for some fun scrappy goodies! It is really easy and it is all about honoring those who choose to serve our country. So go on over to SIF and take a look!

Wouldn't you like to win these goodies for only about 5 minutes of your time and effort. Too easy!

SIF Blog hop winner!!!

2010-07-01T10:00:00.000-07:00

So it is time for me to announce a winner...I know..but before I do I just have to say weren't all those canvases simply fantastic? I mean hello could they be any more diverse than they were already? Holy moly? I couldn't even have imagened them any different...amazing is what I can only come up with.

I myself went with the Rock star edge...but for me that isn't any thing more than typical I mean..I think music. I love music and I am kind of a geek about it so...there. TYPICAL....

Anyway with further adieu....the winner of my little ol' blog hop is....

Kelly Massman said...

Love your project! My son's a wannabee rocker!

So Kelly go to my Profile and click email me....then you can send me your contact info. I will happily send you your little canvas where you can put a pic of your rocker son :0)

Welcome to SIF Blog Hop!!!

2010-06-22T22:21:00.000-07:00

Hey you found me over here You must have come from Cher's blog right? Well if you didn't, be sure to go back after you read this post and leave a comment on her blog as well :0)

So.... welcome to my blog. It has been awhile since I have posted. I have been a bit naughty. But now I am here with some good things to share. Scrap it forward is having a blog hop and if you made it all the way over to my blog you are at the very tail end of it! Congrats!! All of us design team members made individual canvases for all the readers at SIF. Well not each reader...let me clarify, one lucky reader from each blog post will win one of our handmade canvases! Better yet...if you leave a comment on each of our blogs and then go back to the main Scrap it Forward site and let us know, you can be entered into a drawing for a special RAK giveaway over there too! Oh my...So many chances to win! So what are you doing? Hurry up and leave your post here...and make sure to leave a little love on all the reast of the DT member's blogs if you didn't already!!! Here is a pic of the canvas that I made just for one of you....

If you need a list of each blog member I would be happy to share each one with you..because I am just nice like that ;0)

And you already got me...

so now after this go back to Scrap it Forward to leave your last post. Maybe you can be the grand prize winner! This hop ends on Wednesday, June 30th...all winners will be announced on July 1st, on each individual blog :0)

GOOD LUCK!

WINNER>>>Y LA GANADORA ES.......

2010-05-03T23:40:00.000-07:00

Y es el momento de anunciar el ganador de Kiki Art Blog Rayuela ! Gracias a todos por sus comentarios maravillosos y sus amables palabras de apoyo. Espero que ustedes siguen visitando mi blog y saben más acerca de las cosas divertidas que pasa con Kiki Art o sólo para decir hola!

Y sin más demora la ganadora es ....
MJ said...

hola, primera vez por aqui, no conocia tu blog. La casita de pajaro esta rebonita, excelente lo que escojiste "el autismo".

Felicitaciones Mj! Póngase en contacto conmigo lo antes posible voy a necesitar la información de su correo para que podamos enviarle pajarera nueva poco a la semana.

it's time to announce the winner of Kiki Rayuela Art Blog! Thank you all for your wonderful comments and kind words of support. I hope you continue to visit my blog and know more about the fun things about Kiki Art or just to say hello!

And without further ado the winner is ....

MJ said ...

hello, first time here, did not know your blog. The bird is rebonita cottage, great what you choose "autism."

Mj Congratulations! Please contact me as soon as possible with your mailing info. I can send your new birdhouse to you by the end of the week.

You made it! Welcome To Kiki Art's First "Blog HopScotch"Usted lo hizo! Bienvenido a Kiki Arte primer "Blog Rayuela"

2010-04-28T23:30:00.000-07:00

Estoy tan feliz que hayas venido a visitar mi blog. Ahora podrás jugar con el primer blog Rayuela de Kiki Art.

Esto se extendera desde hoy, Jueves 29 de abril, hasta el lunes 3 de mayo. Así que tienes un montón de cosas divertidas que hacer ahora en este Fin de Semana Nacional del Scrapbooking! Así que ven y únete a la diversión! Muchos de ustedes vinieron desde el blog de Carolyn , pero si te perdiste su blog puedes volver a el clickeando aquí.

¿Como se juega?

KIKI ART tiene diferentes blogs, UNO para cada idioma (Inglés, francés y español). Nosotras empezaremos por el blog en Español. Pero, por favor, asegúrate de visitar todos los blogs de Kiki Art para aprender mas sobre nuestro mundo y tambien aumentar las chances de ganar regalitos.

Cada miembro del equipo de diseño ha elegido una organización que se compromete a ayudar a los demás. Yo elegí la causa del autismo Autism Speaks , porque ha tocado mi vida de una manera muy personal. Soy madre de un niño autista. Tengo un hijo maravilloso y sorprendente con autismo. Por favor, toma nota de los blogs que visitas y que tema tratan cada diseñadora para luego dejar tu comentario en el blog de KIKI ART.

Kiki Art tiene 3 blogs en diferentes idiomas. Cada uno de los equipos creativos esta participando en este blog hop, puedes ir a visitarlos tambien:

Kiki Art English

Kiki Art le français

Kiki Art Español

Como obtener un Premio del blog de Kiki Arte?

Para ganar alli, tiene que dejar un comentario en el blog de kiki Art y decir cual o cuales fueron han sido tus blogs y causas favoritas (No te limites un solo uno! Puedes elegir tantos blogs como quieras )

Como obtener un Premio de Una diseñadora de Kiki Art?

Muchos miembros de nuestro equipo de diseño han decidido regalar un proyecto que se relaciona con la causa en las que ellas creen o un regalito de productos de KIKI ART.

Deja tu comentario en sus blog y ellas escojeran un ganador al azar.

El martes, 4 de mayo, de Todos los Ganadores se daran a conocer!

Aquí está mi proyecto. He hecho una casa de pajarito. El techo está cubierto con piezas de un rompecabezas. El símbolo para el "Autism Speaks" es una pieza del rompecabezas. El autismo sigue siendo un misterio en muchos sentidos. Al igual que un rompecabezas, siempre estamos buscando esa pieza que falta "

Dime que pienas y deja un comentario al respecto, podras ser la dueña de esa hermosa casita.

Vamos a Comenzar BLOG Este BLOG rayuela! ¡Anímate y Diviértete!

Nosotras hispanas, empezaremos Por El blog de KIKI luego! y seguiremos por ... (Seguir la Lista) y ya luego! Podras ver los blogs de Los Otros en Idioma Ingles y Frances.

Ahora no te olvide que debes ir al blog de DESSY ella vive en México!

(((Un mil abrazos)))
Christine

I am so happy that all of you to visit my blog. Now you can play with Kiki Art's first Blog Hopscotch. This will run from Thursday April 29th through Monday, May 3. So you now have a lot of fun things to do this National Scrapbooking Day weekend! So come and join the fun! Many of you came from Carolyn's blog, but if you missed her blog go back and check it out.

How do you play?

Kiki Has Three Different Art blogs, one each for language (English, French and Spanish) We start with the blog in Spanish. But please, make sure visitors from all blogs para Kiki Art Learn more about our world and also Increase Chances of Winning gifts.

Each team Design team has chosen An organization that commits help others. I Choose the organization, Autism Speaks, because it has touched my life in a very personal way. I am a mother of an autistic child. I have wonderful and amazing child with autism. The sure and take note of these blogs and Causes that shows each design.
How to get a Kiki Blog Award Art? For your chance to win, you must make comment on the Kiki art blog and tell us where or what were your favorite DT member blogs and causes and leaving it in a post (Do not just choose a single one! Choose as many blogs as
you would like)

How to get a Prize from a Blog/DT Member?

Many members of our team of designers have decided to offer the project that they have created that relates to the good cause that they believe in and Will have Kiki Art Products to offer!.

So....Leave a comment on their blog and they will chose will choose a winner at random. And make sure you leave one on mine too!!!!

On Tuesday, May 4, another All-Winners will be announced!

Here is my project. I made a bird house. The roof is covered with pieces of a puzzle. The symbol for the "Autism Speaks" is a piece of the puzzle. Autism remains a mystery in many ways. Like a puzzle, we are always looking for that missing piece "

Let's Start This BLOG BLOG hopscotch! Let's be Inspired and have fun!

We Hispanics, beginning KIKI Blog later! and will continue for ... (Follow the list) and you later! You will see the blogs of others in English and French Language.
Kiki Art has three different blogs in three different lenguages. Each DT is participating in the blog hop, you can go and visit them.
Kiki Art English

Kiki Art le français

Kiki Art Español

Now do not forget that you must go to DESSY visit in Mexico and see what cause she supports most.

(((A thousand hugs)))
Christine

Who Do I love?

2010-04-02T22:13:00.000-07:00

Umm Who Do I love these days? Well umm so.... many people. Of course my family..that goes without saying. But let me tell you who is on my list BIG TIME!

First of all I got a special little gift in the mail a week or so ago...well it wasn't really for me, it was for Adam. It was from my new friend Julie. Do I love her. UMM Yes big time. Why? Look at this and you tell me..do I need to explain?

I think not!

Now Let me tell you who else makes my heart soar. That would be the little one holding this beautiful frame. Want to know why? Because this year was the first time I really explained in depth to him about his autism. I explained to him that he had somehting called Asperger's Syndrome and that although it gave him certain challenges, epecially in social situations, that it also gave him his gift of amazing intelligence, his ability to problem solve, compute numbers quickly, construct things with ease etc. I told him that really he was kind of lucky,but that there were othe children with autism that really sturggled and that he had really been blessed. I told him that we would be walking again for Autism Speaks to raise $ to help find a cure and he said, "but Mom, I don't want to cure my Autism". Now if you know where we came from and the strides that we have made from then until now, that would have really melted your heart. Know what, I don't want to change my little boy either, he is so perfect the way that he is,but I do want to give him the tools that he needs to survive soicially. I am so proud of him! I love that he loves and accepts himself the way that he does...his words and this frame that Julie made, inspired this layout.

What a cool kid! I just love him oodles and I love his Autism too!

Okay now let me tell you who else I love!!! I love SCRAPPY NAN...from the ZUTTER ZIZTERS..yep I met up with her the other day and she gave me some very nice prizes to give away at my crop to benefit Autism Speaks! Yep She Rocks just a little bit. Thank you Nan for your support!

But wait there's more! I love FISKARS TOO! I had no idea they were sponsoring the crop and on Wednesday there was a rap at my door and then someone ran away, which kind of startled me, then a white van took off which starled me a bit more. What I learned is that Fiskars uses FEDEX,thus the white van. They dropped off a BIG BOX with a pretty PRICEY gift which just might have to be a grand prize.uh huh...it is top secret for now! I love you too FISKARS. Let's just say...when someone wins this prize..they may be 'tuning the rest of the croppers out" for the rest of the day. Enough said!

And Lastly, I am spreading the love to..LITTLE YELLOW BICYCLE..thank you for sending some goodies my way for the crop as well. Oh...so pretty. I love your papers and I wish that I could keep them for myself, but that would be just wrong! Ugh! Thank you so much for your generosity.

Thanks to everyone for showing their love and support, now I am all a'flutter!

IF you want to know more about the crop check out all the info here.

Official Crop announcement to benefit Autism Speaks

2010-03-14T20:41:00.000-07:00

Hi friends in blog land, as many of you know, I have a son with Autism. My son, Adam, has Asperger's syndrome, a high funcitioning form of autism. Evey year my team, We Can, and I walk for Autism Speaks. I hold many fundraisers to raise money towards my walk. My most successful fundraiser is my annual crop. This year my crop will again be held at The Scrapbook Oasis in Irvine CA. on Sat. April 17 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. The cost is only $30, which includes 8 hours of cropping, lunch, snacks, a generous goody bag for every cropper, raffle prizes and a silent auction. Thank you Karen for continuing to open your store to me!!!!

We have many sponsors including :

Little Yellow Bicycle,Thermoweb,Quick Quotes, Kiki Art, The Robin's Nest, Prima, Nikki Sivils,Bella Blvd.,The Scrappin Table, Sticky Thumb, CherryArte,Scrapbook Business Magazine, Best Creation,Scrapbook Adhesives , Zutter Zizters, Fiskars, Little Yellow Bicycle and many many more! The emails and shipments keep coming in!

Now that you have been enticed by so many scrapbook goodies...how can you say "no" to this face.... Adam wants you to come to our crop and help support our team.Here is a link to our walk page. If you can't make it,but want to join our team or sponsor us, feel free to visit this link....

http://www.walknowforautismspeaks.org/faf/donorReg/donorPledge.asp?ievent=327446&lis=1&kntae327446=2599412BEAF545D78B25D8B83199925E&supId=282386722

To sign up for this crop please contact me at scrappygal@roadrunner.com or go to the facebook event page here for more info http://www.facebook.com/#!/event.php?eid=354228469689&ref=ss

Okay tell your friends..space is limted to 25 croppers! So hurry and sign up. Not one person will leave without a prize! Thanks to all the sponsors and friends who are supporting this cause that is very near and dear to my heart. It is people like you who make all the difference in the world!

(((Big Hugs)))

Christine

So many new things going on...so little time. Short post! Tantas cosas nuevas pasando ... tan poco tiempo. Post corto!

2010-03-08T21:39:00.000-08:00

So my little Adam turned 8 last week. He shares a birthday with my brother and as I learned a lot of other new friend's sons as well. Anyway we had his birthday party at the gym where he attends gymnastics. The kids had a blast! And yes that is my 8 year old up on the rings by himself..he can lift his weight and hold it, then flip over. A little bit scary to me!

Así que mi Adam poco se convirtió 8 semana pasada. Él comparte cumpleaños con mi hermano y como he aprendido mucho de los hijos de nuevo amigo del otro también. De todas formas hemos tenido su fiesta de cumpleaños en el gimnasio donde asiste a la gimnasia. Los niños tenían una explosión! Y sí que es mi hijo de 8 años de edad, hasta en los anillos por él mismo .. puede levantar su peso y mantenerlo, y luego la vuelta. Un poco de miedo a mí!

In Other news, to celebrate National Craft Month, Scrap It Forward has a new challenge up! We are looking for two Guest Desginers for a 3 month run. The challenge is simple..make someting for someone and share your craftiness...you never know it could get you a spot as a Guest DT member! So go over to our blog and learn all about it! You could be the next desginer!

En otras noticias, para celebrar el Mes Nacional de Artesanía, Scrap It Forward tiene un nuevo reto up! Estamos buscando a dos diseñadores de huéspedes para ejecutar de 3 meses. El reto es hacer simple .. algo a alguien y compartir su talento ... nunca se sabe que podría conseguir un lugar como miembro del DT Invitado! Así que ir a nuestro blog y aprender todo acerca de ello! Usted podría ser el próximo diseñador!

Lastly my crop to benefit Autism Speaks is in planning. We already have many Sponsors, including Bella Blvd., 3l/scrapbook Adhesives, Nikki Silvils, Quick Quotes, Kiki Art, The Robin's Nest, Prima, Sticky Thumb and many many more! The emails and shipments keep coming in! You don't want to miss this event. As for now save this date... Sat. April 17! The crop will be held at the Scrapbook Oasis from 10-6. All you local Southern California girls, know where it is! More details to come. If you have any questions, please feel free to email me! Okay bloggy friends...Ciao for now!

Por último mi crop en beneficio de Autism Speaks es en la planificación. Ya tenemos muchos patrocinadores, incluyendo Bella BLVD., #L-scrapbok adhesives, Nikki Silvils, Quick Quotes, Kiki Art, the Robin's Nest, Prima, Sticky Thumb y muchos muchos más! Los correos electrónicos y los envíos siguen llegando en! Usted no querrá perderse este evento. Como por ahora salvar a esta fecha ... Sáb 17 de abril! el crop se llevará a cabo en el Scrapbook Oaisi 10-6. Todo lo que locales del Sur de California niñas, saber dónde está! Más detalles por venir. Si usted tiene alguna pregunta, no dude en enviarme un mensaje! Bueno amigas Bloggy ... Ciao por ahora!

Wow..I can't beleive it. Wow! No puedo creerlo!

2010-03-02T21:51:00.000-08:00

Remember my last post? The one about choosing layouts. The one about not knowing what is the best choice and worrying about it? Well I guess I made the right choice because..... I made the Kiki Art Spanish/DT!!! Yes me, I did it..can you believe it. I learned Spanish long ago to help me with my teaching, to reach children of my community, who would have ever thought that it would also bring something like a Manufacturer DT to my door. Wow! I feel so very blessed and excited. As you may know I am always continuing to learn more about the language, to improve my speaking/writing abilities and what a fun way to do it! Thank you Arantza (Kiki) for having faith in me! I cannot wait to get started! Now I will be writing my blog entires in two languages.
Recordar mi último post? El único sobre la elección de diseños. El no saber cuál es la mejor opción y preocuparse por ella? Bueno, supongo que hice la elección correcta, porque ..... Hice el arte español Kiki / DT. Sí me lo hice . .. ¿puedes creerlo. Aprendí el español hace tiempo que me ayude con mi enseñanza, llegar a los niños de mi comunidad, que lo iba a pensar que también generaría algo así como un fabricante de DT a mi puerta. ¡Wow! Me siento muy bendecido y emocionado. Como ustedes saben yo soy siempre continuar aprendiendo más sobre el lenguaje, para mejorar mi oral y escrito habilidades y lo que es una manera divertida de hacerlo! Gracias Arantza (Kiki) por tener fe en mí! No puedo esperar para empezar! Ahora voy a escribir mis entradas de blog en dos idiomas

I have to say that this has been a great scrappy week. I also won on Sarah De Guzman's blog. So thanks to all of you who went over there and told her that I sent you! Hopefully someone that I sent over won too?! Lucky me and thanks friends!
Tengo que decir que esta ha sido una semana muy "scrap happy". También gané en el blog de Sarah De Guzmán. Así que gracias a todos ustedes que se fueron para allá y le dije que me envió! Espero que alguien me envía a través ganó también!

Lastly, you should all go over to "Sketcy Thursdays" and check out their sketch. I entered again for the whole fun of it. We will see where it goes,but regardless I love that site. It is so "sketch friendly" and inspiring. Go give it a try. Here is my layout.Por último, todos ustedes deberían ir a "Sketchy Thursdays" y echa un vistazo a su dibujo. Entré de nuevo por toda la diversión de ella. Vamos a ver a dónde va, pero adoro a ese sitio. Es tan "sketch friendly" y fuente de inspiración. Ir darle una oportunidad. Aquí está mi diseño

So for now, I am off until I have something fun to share :0) Thanks for all of you who always stick behind me! This is a great week and I am smiling from ear to ear!
Así que por ahora, me voy hasta que tenga algo divertido para compartir: 0) Gracias por todos los que siempre se mantienen detrás de mí! Esta es una gran semana y estoy sonriendo de oreja a oreja!!

How do you know which is the right choice?

2010-02-24T22:29:00.001-08:00

So I just applied to a fab scrapbooking paper company for their DT . Do you ever fret about which layouts and/or projects to send in. Ugh...I do. So I tried to show a little bit of everything,but who knows. I have been scrapping a little more than usual lately. Perhaps because I am trying to spend as much time as I can with a special friend who needs it right now. Hugs to her in this tough time.

Here are a few new layouts to share in this mini post of mine.

In other news, I was t...h...i...s close to being guest DT for Sketchy Thursdays. Last time that I checked I was in 2nd place and then I went to bed ;0) Melissa won first place and..she very much deserved it. I was so flattered and excited to find out that I was in the top five to being with! Perhaps in the next few challenges..I will take another stab at it.
For now, I want to just say, I am so thankful for my dear friends. I love them and am so glad to have them in my life. Nothing big is going on, I just felt like right now was a good time to say it..so..MUAH. You know who you people are!

Goodnight!

It has been a good scrappy week!

2010-02-23T07:19:00.000-08:00

Oh for scrappy's sake it has been a good week! First I won a RAK on Pinky's Blog. She is on the Imaginisce DT and had some fun Imaginisce goodies up for a rak and yay me, I won!
Look at these goodies~

Next, I have been fortunate enough to be chosen in the top 5 at Sketchy Thursday's which just happens to be quite the cool blog with sketch challenges. This past sketch had an 80's them and looks like this:
So, this is what I came up with:
See and all these people thought that my ridiculous undying devotion to Duran Duran has gotten me nowhere...hmmph! I showed them ;0)

So if you haven't gotten over to vote...go go go. I would appreciate it! Go here!

Oh how sweet it is!

2010-02-17T16:12:00.000-08:00

Hey friends out there had the best Valentine's day ever. It wasn't a romantic day,but it was a fun filled family day and I loved it. It started with making the kiddos Heart shapped chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast. They loved that of course! Some of the chips were candy coated so that kind of made a pink hue to the pancakes. That's okay...they were happy!

Soon after breakfast we went on a family bike ride and then took Little Leila for a walk. Adam apparently didn't get the memo on it being a leisurely ride...he took off at warp speed because he needed to be "the leader". That kid...sweet,but very competitive. All in all, still a great ride.

We then ran off to Sam's b-day party. She was dressed as the prettiest princess in Placentia. Wish I got a pic,but I be that you can find them on Illyse's blog!
Later we went out to eat with another family. We went to Teppanyaki. The boys loved it! The cook even flipped rice at them to catch in their mouths.

Here are a few pics with our friends we went to dinner with and their kiddos!

Lastly to wrap up the valentine's day hoopla, the boys and my hubby gave me roses and my little ones also wrote me poems. Lucky me. They were really sweet! Although Nicholas did title his ROSES ARE DEAD, VIOLETS ARE POOP.Boys...what more can I say....

So up the scrappy/crafty part of my life I want to mention that there is a new challenge up at Scrap it Forward! It is an easy one to commit too and will help those in need. All for free...did I mention a prize is involved? Go check it out!
Here is the layout that I did for the challnege on SIF !

And here is a layout that just makes me happy when I look at it. :0) Sweet little Adam likes to cook! So I gave my Chef's hat from CHA.

Oh and... good news! My annual crop to benefit Autism Speaks is scheduled for April 17th at the Scrapbook Oasis, so save the date. Details to come!!

Lastly want to win one cool RAK...a Gift certificate to the scrapbook store of your choice...well go see Sarah at Red Oak lines and tell her Christine/scrappygal sent you by the way! 1. All you have to do is comment to her post saying, “Sarah needs to be at 50,000!” This is open until she is at 50,000 views. Once she reaches 50,000 views, she'll draw TWO WINNERS to receive gift certificates to their choice to any scrapbook store.

2. For an additional chance to win, share this post on your blog, facebook, twitter, forum, etc.

3. …and a THIRD WINNER will be chosen. The person that can direct the most people to her blog will win a stash worth over $50 in scrapbooking products! How will she know who sent who? Well, they have to make sure they leave a comment telling her who sent them her way.

ex. Sarah needs to be at 50,000. Jane Doe sent me!

So I guess that is it for now..But I did want to give a shout out to my new Scrappy, Kodak lovin', NY girl. Small world Julie..just crazy. I have more details to share with you!.

Like a broken record...

2010-01-28T21:15:00.000-08:00

Umm yep..here I go again with the excuses. Yet again I am here trying to excuse myself for not being updated on my blog. Perhaps in 2010 I will keep up? You still love me anyway right?

Gosh so much has happened. I believe an entire season has passed. I have so many things to share..so many pics..so much of everything,but that would take forever so I will just share a bit from the last few weeks and leave it at that. ;0)

So let's start with this past week..WOOHOO CHA BABY! I had a ball. I love every moment of it and once it ends, I have a little empty spot..is it really all over?
It is so inspiring and it always revs me up to start things going. I was fortunate enough to meet so many beautiful people from all over the world..even Ecuador. I even have a new pen pal. I made a lot of contacts for our up coming crop to benefit Autism Speaks. AND I got a whole heck of a lot of fun pics! Here we go.....

Umm Hello MAKING MEMORIES...I LOVE YOU! I was a wiener yet again this year and so was Illyse. How fab is that? Thank you thank you! You are so amazingly generous!
What a way for us to end the show!

And Teresa Collin's booth..simply amazing! Always beautiful and love the new lines. Teresa is so sweet that she makes it all the more appealing!

I was able to spend the first day of the show with a good amount of my friends which makes it all the more fun! Here are a few pics of us having fun!

I also met a few new friends Like Kim and KIKI and Julie!
Kiki is the creator of Kiki Art and she is an amazing woman. Not only is she talented,but she is warm and giving. I know that we will remain friends. Love that chica. Check her out! Here is a link to giveaway to all good stuff KIKI ART. Check it out for a chance to win http://redoaklines.com/2010/01/26/kiki-art-giveaway/

Kim manages the DT at Dixie Pieces and she is the nicest gal. She spotted me on the floor the first day. Then later that day I spotted Sherry and Brenna the owners of DP. I met a whole group of great gals and I wish I had taken my pic with all of them as well! Next time I guess.

Julie is the creator of a blog called a These are a few of my favorite things. She is a fun chickadee and very creative. Her blog is fab and you must check it out!
I also met a lot of great people including the owners of The Robin's nest. They were kind enough to let us alter their CHA Badges using their products and they donated a entire bus load of papers and dew drops to our crop for Autism Speaks. They certainly ROCK!

Lastly, I believe that I have a good chance to become the next spokes model for Therm-o-web. What do you think?

In other news we have a new challenge up at Scrap It Forward with prizes of course! Here is the layout that I created for it ;0)

and here is the original photo before I er umm altered it.....judging from the bags under my eyes that day, I think that it was an improvement. Anyway please come by and check out the challenge :0) http://scrapitforward.blogspot.com

And just to leave a little bit of my latest crafty bits..here ya go!

Okay skip skip..needle is scratching..I am picking it up and starting again. No more broken record. Here I am bloggers. I updated!

We are all so very THANKFUL CHALLENGE!

2009-11-22T20:54:00.000-08:00

We are all so very THANKFUL CHALLENGE!

I blame it on Facebook..an epic tale

2009-08-12T19:14:00.000-07:00

Okay so really I just keep on saying the same thing over and over again. Oops sorry it has been so long..I will be back..etc. etc. I have realized what my problem is...FACEBOOK. I am ridiculously addicted to the up to the minute stats on my friends and have completely abandoned my blog. I may be writing this for no reason at all. I can't even imagine that I have any readers left.

So what has happened in the past four months..way too much to mention. It would take forever..so what I decided to do is put up a few pics and update a little bit here and there...so here ya go!

Autism speaks...Did I mention that my team and I raised close to $1800 for our walk back in April? Oh yes we did and look who I met at the walk... ..uh huh...lucky me..I did..move over Susan ;0)
So let's see school ended and we went to NJ to visit Joe's family and see where my DH grew up. Here is a pic at "the shore" which is what New Jersian's and I would imagine other East coasters refer to it ( translation..the beach).
We also took the train to "Philly" and visted the Liberty Bell. We also took a bus tour around the city. Can you tell how much Adam enjoyed it?

3 weeks after our trip I saw MY BOYS...DURAN DURAN. Illyse, Lisa, Dee and I were able to go! Lisa wound up having an extra ticket so my Illyse got to join us. Now I think she may be converting to a true durantard like the rest of us. I was us really close, so I was able to get a lot of great shots. Here are a few.....

A few weeks later we celebrated my b-day and here is the cake my sweeties made me! I am one lucky gal!
Next my good friend, Shauna and I celebrated our b-days, which are just one day apart.:0) We celebrated by going out to dinner and following dinner we saw Tears for Fears in concert!

And...I also had the pleasure of going to CHA Orlando with my friend Jennifer. It was a lot of fun. The show was small,but I didn't mind because we had The Magic Kingdom, Epcot and a lot of other fun things just waiting for us. We..(well I shouldn't speak for her..),I had a ball and I think that she did too. Here are just a few pics...

Now I have been home for about 2 weeks and once again I am leaving with the boys to go to the beach for a week in San Diego. Oops did I happen to mention that during my trip I am coming back home to go to Depeche Mode and then going right back to San Diego. Yep it is true. So perhaps for real..after my trip. I will have more pics to post and really write on this thing. I hope so!
Summer is almost over and school is coming! YIKES..pray for me. ;0) We will see how it goes. I do have good intentions ya know.

Anyway if you are reading this and are in the mood for some blog candy...then hop on over to Scrap it Forward. We have got a great bunch o' goodies for you there! Go check it out!

So there..I did it fellow bloggers. I hope that you let me back into your club ;0)

Umm hello anyone still out there?

2009-03-22T14:28:00.000-07:00

Okay so the same old story..I mean to be here. I have so many things to share, I let time go by. Too much happens and I am not not willing to make you all go through a multi page post by me trying to catch you all up. So I will just go within the time constraints of the last3-4 weeks. Sound good. And if you are here and reading this..well thanks for coming around and being so faithful :)

So here it goes: My little Adam is now 7! Oh no, where does the time go? My baby is not a baby. He is still so cuddly,but a bit difficult to carry (ha!) Will I ever get over that need to have a sweet cuddly little one? I just don't know.

We celebrated his birthday on Feb. 28th. Adam is into science big time. Loves it! So for his birthday we hired Mad Science to come out and do a little hands on show. He loved it and so did all the other kids. I would highly recommend it for any boy's party. Here are a few pics:

Adam anxiously awaits for his guests to arrive

Guests enjoying Professor "whatshisname" Adam destoys an alien head
What was left..complete annihilation

What more....well Scrap it forward is on it's way..doing well and we are having fun. We have a new challenge supporting Project Cuddle. Come and check it out! There are some fun prizes as well.

The big news is that we have been published. Who would have thought! ? I am so excited about it! Scrapbook Business has published an article about us in their March/April magazine. Here is a little teaser :)

Went to Disney and Claifonia Adventure with kids an my mom and we had a blast. But I do have to say that I am not so much the Roller coaster kind of gal anymore. I went on California Screamin and have realized..that was a bit much...for me. Bummer. Anyway thanks to a special friend, we went to both parks and spent all day there. We had a blast and the boys were beyond thrilled. I even let them skip school. i know being a teacher, that surprises you ..right? Well I did it anyway..sometimes I can be a rebel (LOL).

And lastly my annual crop for Autism Speaks is coming up! Karen at Scrapbook Oasis will be hosting the crop. Thanks Karen again this year for your amazing generosity. Here is the Info:

Date: Sat. April 4th

Time: 10 - 6

Cost: $25

Place_ The Scrapbook Oasis in Irvine CA.

You can call and make your reservation now. The cost includes lunch, a goody bag, raffles, snacks etc. The donations this year are BIG! I have rec ieved donations from: Piggy Tales, Making Memories, Bam Pop, Creative options, Art Bin, Down Details, American Crafts, MAMBI, Cosmo Cricket, Best Creation, Quickutz, Bo Bunny, and many more!
Come join the fun ! It is for a great cause and the day will be a blast!

Come back in a few days to see a new post about a RAK..it will be big!

So Happy feeling warm and fuzzy inside

2009-01-28T17:59:00.000-08:00

Well of course CHA was a BLAST. I always walk away with such a happy and uplifted feeling. I am so inspired in so many ways...creatively for one and for two, I am emotionally charged and inspired to move forward and focus on all the good that lies ahead.

At CHA, for those of you who haven't heard, I was Quickutz's lucky grand prize winner. I won the brand new Silhouette. This is of course is outstanding and I feel so very fortunate ! Thank you QK !!!

In other news, Jenn and I started a new blog called Scrap it Forward. It is based on "paying it forward" to our fellow man and being crafty while doing it! We of course wanted to combine 2 things that we are very passionate about..crafting and charity/community activeness. So...we found a way! You should definitely check us out! There are crafty challenges posted as well as prompts suggesting ways to "pay it forward".

CHA was so very inspiring and I am so touched that during these tough financial times, that there were still so many companies willing to sponsor us and commit to working on future projects with us. I am so thrilled and excited about it all ! Not to mention the fact that I have so many friends behind us on this. Illyse is desinging for us and we have a whole crew of followers already! Thank you so very much. This means the world to me !

Now I need to organize it all ! My house looks like some kind of "crafty bomb" went off in it! Back in awhile with more updates !

2009-01-17T19:12:00.000-08:00

WINNER! Okay ladies today is the day to announce the winner..and here she is! IVON/DIVASCRAPPER you are the winner :) Yay for you! Now email me your addy And I will end your RAK out this week! Congrats to you and thanks to all who joined in on the class !

Hey Bloggy and crafty friends. Would you like to learn how to make a bouquet of posh paper petals like these? If the answer is yes, then go over to Making Memories For you where I will be teaching this class on Wed. January 21st. The class is FREE ! All you have to do is join the Making Memories For You Mesage board and VOILA....you can learn how to make this fun and easy bouquet yourself. Follow this link......

http://www.makingmemoriesforyou.org/viewtopic.php?f=143&t=9768 There you will find a needed supply list and other details :)

As an added bonus, I will be offering a RAK to one random winner who links this their blog and If you join the message board PM me and I will enter you twice! Please make sure to let me know that you have linked my in your comment! Winner will be announced on Thurs. Jan 22nd !

Ooh and lastly a blog candy..just for you..go check it out http://threecloversdesigns.blogspot.com/2009/01/blogoversary-blog-yummies.html

Bye for now friends :)

(((HUGS)))

Christine

A new challenge come and see !

2009-01-09T10:59:00.000-08:00

Alrighty here I am! I came back in a few days..just like I said that I would. Shocker eh ? Well I am here with a challenge from Scrapbook Supplies Direct. I found these cute little ol' birdhouses at the Dollar Tree. Cute eh? Well I bet that you would like one to alter of your own, no?

If the answer is yes..then come on over to Scrapbook Supplies Direct and see my challenge. The winner will get a birdhouse, paper, embellies and a cute little birdie to put on the birdhouse. The challenge lasts until Friday Jan. 23rd. Hurry up and come over and see us at SSD !

Blog Candy alert !

2009-01-08T13:00:00.000-08:00

Hey Everything Paper Crafts is giving away a sizely RAK that you should go check out! Hurry, It ends tomorrow ! Go here

Some new things to share :)

2009-01-05T16:36:00.000-08:00

Hi all in blogland. Well how was your holiday, your New Year? We took it really easy and had a family night on New Years eve. It was good and well needed. It seems that we spent so much time rushing around before and after Christmas, that it was a well needed break.

We took our annual Vegas trip to visit family which was so very nice. Here is a pic of me with my little niece. She is just the cutest thing and full of tons of personality. She reminds me so much of my brother as a kid.

Well in the scrappy part of my life a few things are going on. My run at Tally scrapper DT has come to an end. Love those gals so much and it is still a special place to me. I will forever be a part of the board. The new DT is already doing a fantastic job :) In other news I have had the pleasure and honor of being published in this months Making Memories for you ezine. Yay ! check out this link. Everyone has been quite warm and welcoming on their board. Go and pay them a visit. There is also a call for the FEB. ezine too !

LASTLY are you in the mood for a sale..a great sale?! Well if the answer is YES...go visit Scrapbook supplies direct. They have a store wide sale going on. Here is the info:

Store-wide Clearance SALE!! - SALE!! - SALE!! Take 40% OFF ALL PAPER & CARDSTOCK*

Take 40% OFF ALL DISCONTINUED SIZZIX DIES

Take 20% OFF ALL CRICUT DIE CUTTER MACHINE & ACCESSORIES

Take 20% OFF ALL PHOTOBOOK MAKER SUPPLIES
*PLUS, We still have our "Buy 10 (sheets) Get 1 Free", which equals [another] 10% OFF of every ten sheets purchased!

OH gosh the countdown for CHA is drawing near. Is it killing you? I just can't wait! It will be so fabulous to sale all the new product that comes out of it. Any special faves this year for you ? I can't decide myself. Too much to choose from. Patience..I know I know !

Well,I am off for now..but I will be back in a few days to post a new challenge for SSD !

((Big hugs)))

Christine

Happy Holidays to all my family and Friends

2008-12-25T21:24:00.000-08:00

Happy Holidays to all of you, friends and family that I am so blessed to have in my life. A Friend sent me this poem. It is perfectly befitting to all of you who I love and care for so dearly, so I thought that I would share it with you:

My Friends, My Angels

I believe in angels

Those helpers who are near

Exactly when they're needed most,

Then seem to disappear.

I know them when I see them

Whatever their disguise

They're patient and encouraging

Resourceful, kind, and wise

Yes, I believe in angels

The kind that heaven sends

And I'm surrounded every day

By angels I call friends.

God gave me someone special

When He gave me

A special friend like you

Have a Blessed Christmas (and Hanukkah too)
and happiness the whole year through!

~Author- Unknown~

If you are reading this and want to "lift" this poem for someone else...please do.

I had a wonderful Christmas day with my family. I hope that your holiday season is filled with many blessings.

*P.S. If you are looking for some scrappy fun. Go to tally scrapper now! Everyday until new years I will be giving out some Tally love (prizes). So come on by and join the fun! Look for the thread called "going out with a Bang !"

**P.S.S - If you are acquainted with "ms. Cheryl" who won the RAK on my blog this last week..please send her my way. She won the RAK, her link doesn't work and I would love to send her goodies. Thanks !

With much love,

Christine

For those last minute gals at heart

2008-12-18T22:16:00.000-08:00

EDIT: WE HAVE A WINNER ! THE LUCKY GAL IS MS. CHERYL!! PLEASE CONTACT ME WITH YOUR MAILING INFO; Thanks to all who played. I am going to add just a little bit more of a bonus in the RAK. Cheryl I am waiting for you :) Iam really touched by all the sweet comments :) Thanks for all participating !

So I have been meaning to do this..it is a small little thank you/Happy Holidays Rak for my bloggy friends and/or readers. Tell me what you want fo Christmas and I will randomly select a winner on Sunday evening. It surely won't get there by Christmas,but defintely in time for you to scrap some Christmas goodness shortly after !

If you link this giveaway to your blog, let me know and I will enter you twice ! :)

And..Happy Birthday to my Friend's Illyse and Susan ! Today is your special day..you rock !

Love you all !

(((HUGS)))

Christine

December fun..December...RUSH

2008-12-14T20:47:00.000-08:00

Gosh again guilty as charged. I am so behind on things. This past moth I have been sick on and off and it has really taken a toll. I am behind. Hopefully my excuse for next month won't be the same ! So much has happened and there is not enough time to share it all.

Let me start off by saying thank you to Jeanne at Scrapbook Supplies Direct for submitting out work to Cosmo Cricket ...and Thank you Cosmo Cricket for sending us so many goodies. I just got mine in the mail on Sat. and I can't wait to play with it ! Also I need to say thanks to Quickutz... May I just say it...YOU ROCK ! I have had some trouble with my Silhouette. I met up with a wonderful rep from QK and talked to him about it and guess what..VOILA...they are sending me a new one! Just like that ! So thank you...just in time for Christmas. Gotta love you guys !

In other news, since Thanksgiving...we have started singing... All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth...in regards to Adam that is. So cute...he is missing booth his front teeth and he thinks that it is cool. Like he is some kind of big kid now.

Adam was a Sheppard in The Christmas play in religious ed. He was the first kiddo to start the play...he maintained an very serious exterior..but was very excited about it all.

Nicholas participated in a jeopardy like program called "a walk through California" in school last week. His teem won..so that made his day :) Here he is on the "expert seat".

Last night we took the kiddos to see the Christmas Lights in nearby Brea. It was a lot of fun. They enjoyed themselves as well as we did ! We took a bunch of pics..but most came out kind of blurry. However this one..which was kind of a mistake..is my favorite because it shows them in their true colors......

I am feverishly trying to get a few Christmas presents made and the rest shopped for. I am a little more than half way there. Also got to get those Christmas cards out. Watch your mail !

AND...there is some Scrappy goodness...here: There is a fabulous Christmas giveaway @ papermonkey. Follow this link ! http://blog.papermonkey.org/index/2008/12/happy-hauladays-my-biggest-giveaway-ever-.html

Lastly, my dear goofy friend, Illyse is turning 40 on the 18th ! Can you believe it... If you love her like I do, why don't you go on over to her blog and wish her well :)

Be back in a few days with some more things to share....REALLY I MEAN IT !

(((BIG HUGS)))

Christine

Time to catch up and share some goodies :)

2008-11-15T09:54:00.000-08:00

HI all my friends out there who are s very faithful. It has been awhile since my last post so I will get to it right now !

First of all to do something that I haven't had the chance to get to..til now. I've been tagged by my friend Susan from Scrappydoo2u. Here's how it works:

Link to your tagger and list these rules on your blog.
Answer the five sets of five (this is the easy part)
Tag 5 people in the last section by leaving their names as well as links to their blog.
Let them know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog. Now for my answers..the truth shall be revealed !

Things I love
Scrapbooking & Papercrafting
My very boyish boys
My husband and family.
All my dear friends

80's music

Things I don't love
Narrow minded people

The horrific financial cuts from education

The war "that isn't over..but we did win it ya know"
Prop 8

Cleaning the bathroom

Songs on your iPod/Playlist
Duran Duran - New Religion

Franz Ferdinand- take me out

English Beat- Mirror in the Bathroom

Ok Go !- Here it goes again

U2- Pride

Favorite Foods/Drinks
Diet Pepsi with lime
Starbucks Passion Fruit Iced tea/no Sweetner
Pizza

Pasta

Salad

People I am tagging...
Yenny of Papel y tijeras
Alicia of Alicia Delano designs

Nancy of Life as a scrappin' engineer mom

Shirley of Standing on the edge

Tina K of A Handmade Tale

And in other news the new kit at Tally Scrapper is available TODAY ! It always sells out..so check it out and get on there! HURRY..you won't be sorry !

Here are a few things that I made with the kit.

If you go on the site you can see what the other talented design team members have created !

Family news: Nicholas and Adam got their report cards yesterday and did FANTASTIC. I have been saving them a special and little bit bigger of a treat than usual for a special occasion. Well this was the occasion..all A's and B's. They both seem to really enjoy reading and are reading above grade level. Good boys! I am so proud of them. SO.... I gave them Wii Fit. We all have been playing it since last night. Now I am going to see if I can use it a lose a bit of weight and build some strength myself. :)

Umm let's see what else....

*my mom just left today from a little visit. We had a very nice time. The boys are already missing her. :(

*Joe is biking as always...but today the winds are very strong about 30 mph at times...he is going to be wrecked !

*Today is Adam's last soccer game....woohoo. (oops did I say that out loud?) It happens.

* Last weekend Nicholas went to a birthday party...the boys were taken in an SUV-LIMO. Livin' large eh? They went out for Pizza and video games and then dessert at The Melting Pot, a fondue place. Anybody ever what happened to the birthday parties with ice cream and cake, and pin the tail on the donkey ?

* I am enjoying my term on both my design teams. I find it rewarding and a lot of fun. Okay that is it for now !

(((Big Hugs)))

Christine

A bunch of Ghoulish goodies AT Scrapbook Supplies Direct

2008-10-24T21:26:00.000-07:00

HI all , time for my post to show you what I have been up to on Scrapbook Supplies Direct. Well the new kit has been released and it is ready to go. It has so much in it and so many creative projects to make. The entire kit will come with everything you need including tutorial sheets with photos to show you how to make each and every creation. This will be a great way to pump out those Halloween photos right after the holiday. Here are a few projects that I made just for that kit.

Now these are only my creations, but there are so much more to see, to do , to make. Leslie our guest Designer for October has made a wonderful selection of goodies for you as well. AND of course our fabulous Susan has also shared her expertise. This kit will have you working your fingers to the bone..which seems highly appropriate for an October Halloween themed kit. Don't you think :)

Also our Halloween Hoopla will be coming soon ! There will be games and prizes..and a lot of fun. You won't want to miss it. Halloween weekend we'll have lots of
games (riddles, bingo, scavenger hunts, and more),
challenges, swaps, and of course give-a-ways!
This year our grand prize will be a
PhotoBook Maker (valued at $100.00)!

It's a yummy treat for anyone who loves to create their
own books. Best of all it only takes ONE ticket to win!
(Tickets are issued to the winner of contests & challenges)
Many prizes!!!!
The mailing for details will be going out soon, if you'd
like to be in on the HOOPLA .... sign up for the newsletter now!

New kit @ Tallyscrapper, a challenge and everyday life !

2008-10-19T11:38:00.000-07:00

Well I just need to get with it and post now don't I ? So here I am sharing some of the things that I made from the Tallyscrapper kit this month. It is a fabulous kit and sold out immediately (as usual) Their kits are HOT !

I am also hosting a challenge at Tallyscrapper called "Skeletons in the Closet" It is an altered item challenge. And there are great prizes ! Here is my sample journal for the challenge.

Go check it out !

In other news, something amazingly touching..beautiful happened to me on Friday. I am still in disbelief about it all. To make a very long story short.... When I was a kid I was very good friends with a boy who lived down the street from us. He was a lot of fun and completely geeky with me. We were friends from grade school - high school. After high school we both went to college in separate directions. We saw each other once after our first year of school and that was that..sort of lost touch. Then few years later someone that we knew in common had told me that my friend had tragically died. I felt a huge loss and was so saddened by it all. I became a bit upset with myself for not keeping better contact with him and by then it was too late. BUT THEN FRIDAY HAPPENED .......

On Friday an old friend of mine contacted me via email and told me that our long lost friend was actually alive and well. Someone..who I can't remember told me an awful rumor. I swear if I knew who that person was..."we would have a talk". Anyway regardless of that all, I found out someone that I thought had left us,maybe 15 years ago, is here. I contacted him by email and we have been talking now for the past 3 days. I cannot even begin to tell you how blessed that I feel. I feel like now I have another chance with someone that I "lost".

As kids we were really great friends and complete dorks...here is a pic of us trying to "recreate" a Calvin Klein, Obsession" add.

NEED I SAY MORE ? I think that were were like 15 here ? And no we were never boyfriend/girlfriend..more like brother/ sister. So anyway for the past 3 days we have been catching up and I am so tickled by the whole thing. Who knows the reason things happened like they did..but I do believe that we were brought back together for a reason and I am grateful.

And last famous pic of Mr. Adam and his missing front tooth !
And can't forget Nicholas up on the Rock wall...woohoo. He made it to the top !
Bye for now !

(((HUGS)))

Christine

So much fun..I am INSPIRED

2008-10-06T21:33:00.000-07:00

Oh my goodness..just got back from Inspiration Unlimited yesterday. It was so amazing. Classes were taught by Layle Koncar, Teresa Collins and Janna Wilson. Their individual styles differed so greatly,yet each andevery singlie one of them inspired me in one way or another. Aside from all of that, they were all so personable, nice ladies and Layle is a riot. Love her sarcasm..a girl after my own heart. Teresa will talk to anyone and is genuine with all, and Janna she impressed me with her charm. She is so pleasant and just about the happiest/fun person that I have encountered in awhile. How refreshing to meet a bunch woman who are not full of themselves. They are all so successful in their own rites..but no one of them has let it get to their heads. I would defintely take a class or go to Inspiration Unlimited again.without a doubt. AND KUDOS TO GINGER, this was her dreamchild..it was a fantastic event and I can't thank her enough. Well done Ginger....you ROCK !

I had so much fun with my girlfriends. Illyse, Jenn and Donna were all there too which made it all the more fun. Here is a pic of us with Teresa. Donna was with her mom some of the time so she is not in the shot..that really would have completed it.

We all had a bit of a lucky streak and won some prizes as well. My biggest win was this.....

It was fun, and well worth it..can't wait til next year..I am SO THERE !

And in other news...this is big...well at least big to me....... I made the Design Team on my Beloved Tallyscrapper. I have been there since it opened and I am so excited to be a part of it. My kit is on it's way and I will have a tutorial coming out on the blog soon. I am so darn excited, that I just can't get over it. So those of you Tallysisters that voted for me...thank you so very much. I heart you for so many reasons and you just made my day a little brighter.

Family stuff...Adam lost his first front tooth. Oh my gosh too cute. He looks so funny and cute at the same time. I will post pics later. He is waiting for the tooth fairy to come tonight. Maybe pics tomorrow.

and Lastly... please visit this blog for an amazing Blog Candy that you don't want to miss. Don't be intimidated by the German, it is translated below in English for you to read. These are very generous ! Check them out here.

A Ghoulish RAK and a goody box for me !!!

2008-09-25T22:39:00.000-07:00

Today I got the box from Best Creations to make them some goodies. Oh my gosh they are so very generous ! Look what they sent me !

I can't wait to start scrappin ! Look at those new papers...ooh some are flocked, they also have overlays...eegad. I can't stand it ! I love their new stuff and I am honored that they put trust in me to make some goodies to display for them at shows and their website. Tee hee. I will even have some goodies left dfor me when I am done. I am one lucky gal !

AND NOW TRY YOUR LUCK...go HERE..to win some ghoulish Blog Candy at scrapznstuff. A nice treat..no tricks ! :)

Okay good night I am so tired.

Oh my ! Can't believe it !

2008-09-24T21:39:00.000-07:00

Well the past week has had its ups and downs for sure. But I will only talk about the good stuff..because it feels good. And i am focusing on the good. Anyway on Friday, I was contacted by Best Creations paper co. to design/ make some samples for them to use in some trade shows and other things. Wow..can you believe it ? That really felt good. I am so flattered by that. Screamin' Susie's..who I still really miss (side note) had an account with them and a fond relationship with the company. Anyway, way back when they saw some of my layouts/projects and asked to bring them back to the owner and well months later..voila..they have asked me to make a few things for them. Yippee ! I am thrilled.

So... I am on cloud 9 feeling kind of good and 2 days later I find out that I was chosen for the DT on a new website called Scrapbook Supplies Direct. They are a new online store and message board trying to get out there and noticed. So I am now here to shamelessly promote. Join the board and grow with us...... :) There is even a little RAK giveaway on there that I am hosting..go check it out :) The girls there are great. Susan the DT coordinator is a great gal and FUNNY. Jeanne,the owner, is selfless...... she even put aside time to talk to me on the phone the day the Hurricane was expected to hit her area. WOW ! And just to help me with some techie problems that I was having with my computer...IMAGINE THAT !

Umm well Nicholas is now officially 9. He got his coveted Nintendo DS from my parents, and some games from his lil' bro. and Granny. We got him ROCKBAND for the Wii. He and my Dad played it together and here is a pic of that....certainly a site to see.

Now that Nicholas is choosing BIG EXPENSIVE GIFTS..we don't do the big million friends party thing anymore. So on Friday we will be taking 3 of his friends with us to ROCK CITY, an indoor rock climbing place, and then $5 Pizza from Little Caesars..maybe getting him expensive gifts is the way to go...no gigantic party planning really takes a load off.

Well I am off for now...too tired...had a headache just about ALL DAY. Not fun. But then again..focus on the good..focus on the good :)

(((HUGS)))

Christine

Shame on me !

2008-09-18T10:36:00.000-07:00

NO I haven't fallen off the face of the earth. No I am not giving up blogging. I am just a slacker. I have been overwhelmed with school starting up, getting my classroom ready and life in general. So yep..I neglected my blog. So much has happened, so many pics to be shared and now they are yesterday's news. Whoops. So here goes nothing.

School stared and I think Adam is thrilled, Nicholas..not really. But he will live. Here are a few pics from the first day of school.
School started for me too. My class is pretty decent, sweet, just a bit chatty. Tonight is back to school night. Gotta get everything into gear. EEK !

I of course, have been scrapbooking. Sent some time at The Scrappin' Table. Had fun visiting with my friend Michelle and cropping with some other girls. There is a lot of great new product in there. AND kudos to my friend Michelle, the owner of The Scrappin' Table, who donated to Adam's soccer fundraiser basket. All the moms were thrilled with it ! I would have put my name in the raffle,but it would look kind of peculiar if I won...don't ya think? Thanks Michelle it made a great raffle item !
Here is a goofy layout,that I just love...just cause it is a bit out of the box for me...but now I am on a doodling kick...

Well this weekend my parents are coming in town tomorrow to celebrate Nicholas' b-day. He will be turning 9. Oh dear...where does the time go ? Then on Sunday I am having a Stampin' Up party. It should be a lot of fun and chaotic. Did I mention my best childhood friend is coming in town to stay with me on Sunday..so out will walk my parents, in will walk April and then the party (Stampin Up) will get started..oh my !

Well for now this is my update...goodbye for now my friends and hugs to all of you !

Teeny Tiny update

2008-08-19T14:13:00.000-07:00

Well last night was my very last class at Screamin Susie's which of course was bittersweet. It was hard going in there knowing that it would be my last one,but uplifting knowing how much I have been appreciated. Brent and Susie have been so good to me, so generous and I know that I can confidently call them my friends. The attendees of my classes have been so complimentary and so easy going. I can honestly say that they have made it a lot of fun for me as well, so I thank you. Those of you who have been faithfully coming to my classes, you know how to contact me and please do not hesitate to do so. I would love to hear from you and I will definitely keep you in the loop :)

Sorry for such a quick little post..but I will be back with more news...soon !

Thanks to all my friends old and new :)

Christine

Wanna RAK ?

2008-08-03T08:05:00.000-07:00

Go here to see one hot chick and a giveaway too !
http://scrappydoo2u.blogspot.com/

What's New ?

2008-07-28T22:07:00.000-07:00

I've have been really lazy about updating my blog and I can see that some of my faithful friends in blogland have been checking up on me. We have..I have, been busy, taking on projects at home, going here and there and basically I just haven't gotten myself in gear. So here I am !

I just finished reading this book.

And I would have to say that not only is it a good read, but it is very eye opening. As a mother of a child with Asperger's I found this book something that I could really relate to in many ways. The "Aspie" mind is really complex and amazing at the same time. John Elder Robison, The author, is a highly gifted individual and right now I think that I may be his #1 fan. He is humorous in his aspergian way,which I have learned to appreciate. I think that anyone who is curious and wants to know more about how the AS child or even adult for that matter, works and thinks, should read this book. It helps the reader to understand how an Asperger's individual thinks, relates to social issues and struggles for things that we all take for granted on a daily basis. The book has a lot of up and down moments, but then has you laughing 5 minutes later. J. E. R. is the older brother of Augusten Burroughs, the author of ,Running with Scissors. Read the book...you will be enlightened.

Speaking of the Asperger's Child..hmm. Well my son, Adam, quirky, intelligent and secretive has decided to let me in on a little secret.....umm HE CAN READ ! I don't mean sight words I mean books, pages, short paragraphs. He apparently has decided that it was time to reveal that he could read the other day. If you know Adam, then you know that he does not allow himself to make mistakes and does not take risks in front of others. He must be infallible (according to him). So being that he just finished Kindergarten, I would expect him to be an emergent reader. When school ended he was reading short word lists. And perhaps sentences like "The dog sat". But the other day he decided to suddenly reveal to us that he could in fact read more...a lot more. He read 9 pages of a Curious George book. He read the word suddenly, heard (which you can't sound out) etc. That little stinker ! I guess he had to reveal himself once he knew that he was "ready".

Took the boys to Legoland the other day and had a blast. It was perfect because we went in the middle of the week and got there as soon as it opened. We spent from open til just about close there and got to do EVERYTHING that we wanted to. The boys enjoyed themselves, lines were never too long and the Roller Coasters there are quite doable for me. I just can't hack the big stuff anymore.

Been scrappin' here and there. And I have been having fun doing so. Celebrated my b-day and Jennifer's scrapbooking with the girls. Janet, Illyse, Jennifer and I had a great time and Susie's. Here are a few layouts that make me happy.

My sweet niece, Sofie

Nicholas at art camp

My 38th birthday

And Lastly... I will be teaching a few classes in August. So come and see me at Screamin' Susie's.

Just Tinkering/Girl Time
Mon. Aug. 11th
7-9 p.m.

You're all wet !
Thurs. Aug. 14th
7-9 p.m.

'Love to you' Botanical gift card set
Mon. August 18th
7-9 p.m.

So I guess that I am off for now. Drop in and leave me a comment..I see you there, so come and say hello :)

(((Big hugs)))

Christine

Happy Birthday to me

2008-07-17T19:41:00.000-07:00

AND THE WINNERS ARE...

Nancy Scraps, Jenna Lee and Mama in Pajamas :) Sorry for the late post girls and thanks for playing ! Please email me your snail mail info !

July is a good month, it is my birthday month,

we celebrate Independence day, we are well into summer vacation, new products are released at CHA , I love the sunshine, going to the beach and I just generally feel good. To make the month even better I have had a bit of a lucky streak too ! I was published in scrapnart (yippee..they rock). I got a surprise b-day gift in the mail from my sweet Alicia, my twin sister separated at birth, (Dilly as some of you know her). I won a RAK..cute little clay buttons..yay ! From Inkster :) Not to mention that two sweeties I know, Dawn and Jenn gave me a blog brillante premio award....AND BOY DOES IT FEEL GREAT !

So first let me nominate a few new bloggy brillante premio friends....

1. JennaLee for always having a gentle disposition, being incredibly artful and creative (yes I made up the word artful).

2. Michelle for always being honest with me, for always being a lot of fun, for always being a sensitive and caring gal and for having the courage to take on new challenges and diving in headfirst ! YOU GO GIRL !

3. For Ms Tina K. for being a giving and caring person. For being extremely talented and supportive.

4. Stephanie for being a sweet girl that has got the whole world ahead of her and for always greeting me with a smile.

5. Leah C. because she is creative, talented, giving and sure of herself and I like that !

AND LAST BUT NOT LEAST.....

Illyse and Jennifer who of course have already been nominated because the are so ever worthy of this award. I cannot go without mentioning my girls! You rock and you know it chicas ! No need to tag me back ladies...you don't need to go through the moitons.l.just know that you are loved !
Now here are the rules to follow if you have been nominated: 1) Put the logo on your blog
2) Add a link to the person who awarded you -Click on Jennifer and/or Dawn's name.
3) Nominate at least 7 other blogs
4) Add links to those blogs on yours
5) Leave a message for your nominees on their blogs

So now that I am completely a wind bag (tee hee) I wanted to say, since I have been doing all the receiving...it is time for me to do a bit of giving..PAY It Forward...know what I mean? So here's a little RAK . Please leave a post on my Blog and 3 lucky winners will receive a set of Basic Grey Romani Monograms. Not bad eh ? I will draw on Monday July 21st :)...so check back !

Thanks you to all those friends who have made the last few weeks grand. Sometimes we all need a little lift.

I will be posting a few new classes in the next few days, so check back !

Lastly ALOHA to my friend in Hawaii ;0) Who knew that I would get a visit from there. Ain't sitemeter grand !? It is so much fun to see where all my visits come from !

Take care all !

(((HUGS)))

Christine

Having Fun...just Happy

2008-07-02T09:24:00.001-07:00

Have you ever thought that things just happen for a reason..that maybe they were just meant to be ? Well I do ! I have to say that going to Screamin' Susie's was a wonderful change for me. I feel like a part of the team and a lot of good has been coming out of it and that just makes me happy. The other night by chance while I was there a woman came in to speak to the owner . It turned out that she was a special ed. teacher that teaches high functioning autistic kids (need I say more?) She was looking for a field trip/project to be made for her students. She wanted to get them out into the community for socialization and have them do something fun at the same time. Well being that this is an issue really close to my heart, I was happy to be a part of it. Lucky me, I got to teach the class. Like I said, things happen for a reason. Here is a quick little snapshot of the kiddos after the class with their pencil boxes that they made. I had a great time with them . They were so cute and a few of them reminded me of someone I know very well ;0)

Monday night I had my pocket card class. It was a lot of fun and the ladies that signed up even made it better. They were all so happy to be there, made me laugh and really made me feel good ! For any of you who visited me on Monday...thank you for being so complimentary and for making it all the more fun. Seems like there was a lot of last minute interest in the class as well. So those of you who came by and for those of you who missed it, I will be teaching another class that is similar,but fall themed, in Sept.

My Look how you have Blossomed layout class is on Wed. July 9th. If any of you are still interested, there are 4 spots left. Come in and see me and join in on the fun..goodies and a raffle will be included. Here is what the layout looks like :

And here are some upcoming classes:

Marvelous Monogram Clipboard

Thursday, July 17

7-9 pm

Bloomin' Ribbon Box

Monday, July 28th

7-9 p.m.

And the best fort last..this summer my Adam is going to Gymnastics's camp. Last week the school put on a little show for the parents to show what the kids have learned. Adam is the second boy in this routine...watch carefully right int he beginning...he shocked the beegeebers out of me ! He is just 6 and only learned how to do this the day before...WATCH...

Fun in LV and some ramblin in the O.C.

2008-06-19T21:53:00.000-07:00

Well we just got back from Las vegas last night and lots of good things have been going on. Here is a pic that I thought I would share of my kiddos with their cousin at Kung Fu Panda. The boys had a very nice time with their cousins. This time I really didn't get a pic of my sweet little niece Sofie (who is now almost 2) Shame on me !

Got to see my most favorite pal April while in LV. We have been friends since we were 11, and no didn't take a pic of us together either. We did go to dinner at Fado and had a few ciders with our meal..all yummy and well earned. Did I mention that school is out. Thank you oh thank you God. It was really time for a mental break.

On my way home I 'accidently' stopped at a scrapbook store that I have been itching to go to and check out for a few years now, Scrapbook Blvd., in Victorville. Have I mentioned how it is conveinently located directly off the freeway? I met Cheryl there and she was a sweetie. So my words to fellow scrappy friends are... go and give yourself a treat right before you lose all your $ in Vegas and stop by the store. It really has an fantastic selection and fresh baked cookies too. Could a girl ask for more ?

I am teaching a few more classes in the next couple of weeks at Screamin Susie's . Here they are..come take a peek or pay me a visit :)

What's in your Pocket ?
Mon. June 30th 7-9 p.m.

Look How you have Blossomed
Wed. July 9th 7-9 p.m.

We will also be having a Christmas in July theme next month:

Dear Santa
Thurs. July 10th
7-9 p.m.

Christmas is just around the block

Tues. July 15th

7-9 p.m.

In more news, my friend Tina K. will be teaching all around The O.C. and the inland Empire. She is a Designer for Best Creations and Cosmo Cricket. Tina is a wonderfully talented girl with a great big heart. Go take a class from her..you will not be disappointed.

Follow this link: http://www.tinakeyner.typepad.com/

Did ya hear about Inspiration Unlimited? If not, oh boy hop on the bus with us and let's go ! Illyse, Yenny and I are going to take classes with Layle Koncar, Teresa Collins and Janna Wilson in Oct. In my fabulous hometown of LV. I can't wait October cannot come soon enough..but for now I will just enjoy the summer :)

Last but not least I got my Canon photo printer delivered yesterday..oh goodie..so thrilled ! I just am so excited about it. Tomorrow is my day to play with it ! Thanks Lil' Miss Annie for enlightening me !

Ooh fun...other stuff and OUCH !

2008-06-10T21:24:00.000-07:00

So we are completely packing up our classroom and as of right now my partner and I have packed 40 boxes and from doing so, my back hurts. :0( They are darn heavy ! Anyway despite all of that I am in a really good mood. :)

Last weekend I went to the Freckle Friends/MAMBI crop for autism speaks. It was incredible. Those ladies really know how to put on a fundraiser. I heart those gals ! They did a fantastic job and never missed a thing. We were greeted by Susan who showed us to our spots to crop and there waiting for us was a nice...very nice bag full of scrappy treats, we had yummy treats on the table to eat all day, there were 4 beautiful make and takes, a delicious lunch and an fantastico Italian dinner. Oh and did I mention the raffles. Raffles...rock. Everyone won something ! The grand prizes were a Cannon photo printer and a Tammy I trunk. VERY COOL !
There were also a bunch of wonderful auction items as well. We were spoiled all day. And you know what..I will ALWAYS attend their crops if my schedule allows. I can honestly say that if they have a crop...YOU NEED TO GO. You will not be disappointed !

And in other news... I had my first class at Screamin Susie's last night ! How fab is that? All the ladies who signed up were so gracious...they thanked me. Isn't that nice? They really made me feel good and I appreciated that. I was hoping that it would all go well. I brought some brownies to sweeten things up ;0) , we made our birthday in a box tin and card and then we topped it off with a teeny little raffle. They were great and made it all the more fun. I have to say that I do feel good, just because it was my first class and I am the newbie at the store. It was nice to get that little pat on the back.

I have a few more classes this month and I believe 3 more next month..so check the June and July class calendar out at Screamin Susie's if you are interested in paying me a visit. I would love to see any of you..old friends and new :)

Lastly.... 3 MORE DAYS OF SCHOOL FOR ME. YAY! I cannot wait to be home for the summer. I need a break and I am definitely looking forward to it !!! More updates as soon as my summer officially starts !

(((BIG HUGS)))

Christine

Ellie Willaert

2008-06-01T20:53:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I think things are meant to happen for a reason. The other night I was just goofing around and perusing on Etsy when I stumbled upon someone's shop. I was admiring her scrappy work and then noticed a message posted to all buyers. The shop owner had stated that she was closing her shop indefinitely. The reason being is that her Daughter,Ellie, had just been diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor the month before. This of course made my mind go in a different direction. So I followed a link to her website to learn more about her situation, and this is what I read:

On April 29th Ellie joined a very small group of children in the U.S., in the world even. A few weeks before then Ellie began having vision and balance problems. She tilted her head to the side as if she were having trouble seeing. She took baby steps in unfamiliar places. She was reluctant to walk down steps she didn’t know. Her pediatrician recommended an MRI, which was quickly scheduled. On April 29th, Ellie’s results were in: she has a diffusely intrinsic brainstem glioma, a tumor in her brainstem. It is malignant, it is aggressive, and it is inoperable. The prognosis is serious, and the numbers are grim. The survival rate of this type of tumor is very low - between 5 and 10%. The average life expectancy post-diagnosis is between eight and ten months. This disease follows no hereditary or environmental patterns. It strikes like lightning for no reason the oncologists could give us.

You can read more about it here http://amiracleforellie.org/wp/ and here http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/elliewillaert. On the first website listed there is a a link to the right where you can donate to the Willaert family.

This family are complete strangers to me,but I believe that God brought me to their site for a reason. Every little bit helps. I can't even begin to fathom what they are going trough. Ellie's mom just had a baby boy last week. They are surely are experiencing lot of ups and downs in their lives right now. Perhaps reaching out to her family will make everyday just a bit brighter and give them some hope. Please include them in your prayers...AND feel free to REPOST this ON YOUR BLOG.

Thanks for reading.

(((BIG HUGS)))

Christine

Something to talk about...

2008-05-18T15:04:00.001-07:00

Well things have been great. Can't really complain much about everything. School is out really really soon, which is great. Good scrappy things are happening. Soon I will be published again in scrap-n-art. Which I am highly honored to be included in. And the BIG NEWS...well I am now on the Design Team at a Store called Screamin' Susie's. Brent and Susie, the owners, have been nothing but sweet to me. Their generosity is amazing and they just happen to be a bunch of fun people over there. I am having a ball. I will be teaching a few classes there starting in June. Come by and see me if you'd like :)

Call to reserve your spot today :) (562) 943-9704

Birthday in a Box: Mon. June 9th 7-9 pm

Tiny Treasures: Sat. June 21, 3-5 pm

I will also be teaching a card class on June 30th. details to come !

So much more to talk about,but I am on my way out the door to see the Raconteurs with my life-long childhood friend April. More updates later.

(((Big Hugs)))

Christine

Happiness in Geek land

2008-05-07T20:52:00.000-07:00

Yes, I will be the first to admit that I am a total GEEK when it comes to Duran Duran. I have never really ended my love affair with them and this past Sunday night was just DREAMY. What made it the most fun is that I spent the evening with 2 very good friends of mine, Lisa and Illyse. Lisa...a durantard, like me, and Illyse a Duran Duran virgin. First we picked up Lisa, who just happens to live in Hollywood and then we went to dinner at a swanky Italian restaurant on Melrose. Here is Illyse actually volunteering to drink 1/3 glass of wine at dinner! And..yes those of you who know Illyse, YES she did turn red in the face and get a bit happy feeling.

Then off we went to the Nokia Theatre in LA to see "the boys". Here we are right before the show. Darn wind blew my hair swoop in the wrong direction. Otherwise I think it is a fun pic of the three of us.

The concert was of course fabulous, I did regress and turn back into my 12 year old self. Good to escape I guess. I hated to see it end,but I had a blast. Our seats were in row G so they were really close..got a few good pics. Or at least good enough to satisfy me.
All in all a "funtastic" night. I think Illyse may now be a convert...she is no longer a naive little girl and she may just join the hysteria with us once again. :0) BTW Illyse, thanks for the yummy dinner and for joining me in my "world". Back to reality....sigh

A big day in the Spina world

2008-04-28T18:57:00.000-07:00

Well this past weekend was big...we had a lot going on. Saturday was an eventful day. Not only did we have our long awaited Walk for Autism Speaks,but we also had the annual kindergarten Fairy Tale Ball. It was my turn to go with my son, Adam, and it was really a nice time.

The walk day...was HOT, In the 90's. We had a lot of fun at the booths with the kids. They got to play the drums, make sand necklaces, have ice cream, decorate cookies, and get a bunch silly little toys. They loved it. Once the boys had a good enough fill of the booths we started our walk. We had promised the boys that after the walk they could go to the rock wall and the jumpy house and that satisfied them. Anyway to make a long story short, there is a long walk 3 miles and a short walk, 1 mile. Being that we had the kids, Illyse (my best friend) and I decided to do the "short" walk. We started our walk and when we came to the option of turning to the right or turning to the left...we asked which was the short walk. We were kindly directed that way. After walking for hmm...maybe 45 minutes we came to the conclusion...yep we took the long walk. Well turning back would have done no good because we were 1/2 way through,so we kept up our walk. No choice. We survived it, but at the end of the walk the boys asked "permission" to just go home and skip the jumpy house and rock wall. There was no arm twisting there..."okay let's go", I said. BUT all in all a good day :)

Once we got home, we ate lunch together, Illyse went home and I took a 2 hour nap. I needed my beauty sleep for the fairy tale ball. Adam was so sweet and looked adorable. We danced ... a lot ! The chicken dance, YMCA, the electric slide, Tooty ta (or whatever that is), bop til you drop, the hokey pokey and a slow song that Adam had no interest in dancing to...but he humored me anyway.

Here are a few pics of the day :) A great one ! THE WALK

~The dance~

Again thanks to all of you for the support of such a great cause and a great day ! Our team raised over $1500 !

This weeekend's crop was a huge success !

2008-04-21T08:45:00.000-07:00

I am not sure even where to begin,but let me start by saying thank you to everyone for coming, for making it fun, and giving so much of yourselves ! The crop was a great success. Manufacturers and friends were so generous ahead of time, and because of that I was able to give everyone a great goody bag and no one left without receiving a prize ! That made me feel good :0). Here are a few pics of some of the prizes and the friends that won them !

Congrats to Heather La Pierre who won the grand prize, a chest from Tammy I filled with goodies ! I was happy to see her win it. She was very sweet and so excited about it. A good day for sure !

Some of the fun and friends...pics continued !

We raised just a bit shy of $500 which of course is fantastic. I wanted to say that none of this could have happened without all the help of friends old and new and the many manufacturers that donated and KAREN from Oasis for opening her doors to me. It really was touching to see so many people come out to support my cause and to have so many kind words. It kind of floored me that people thanked me for organizing the crop. I couldn't have done it without them. In my eyes the thanks belong to all of you that helped me make this such a success. Blessings to all of you and huge hugs too !

:) Christine

A busy scrappy weekend

2008-04-18T20:54:00.000-07:00

WINNERS ! Congrats to: Dommie's mommie, Sandie, and Erin. Please email me your full name and mailing addy. Click view my complete profile and you can eamil me from there. :) Thanks everyone. I will update my blog tomorrow with pics from the crop :)
Wow this is it..The Autsim Speaks fundraising crop is tomorrow. I just can't wait. Everyone has been so supportive. Good friends, store owners, other croppers and even conplete strangers sending me donations, just cause they can't make it ! So nice. Well I have a little bit of extra goodies left over from my Goody bags for tomorrow and I thought that someone should benefit from it. So if you are one of those friends, old or new, who just couldn't make it tomorrow, then leave a comment on this post. Three lucky winners will get this little pack of Making Memory Stickers sent their way. :)

Well I mentioned that things are busy...Saturday is the crop and Sunday is the Scrapbook Garage sale at my friend's store The scrappin table. So I guess I will be a bit MIA from home this weekend. Bad timing since everyone has been sick. My mother-in-law and I might just go in shifts to watch over our stuff at the sale.

Well friends, wish me luck! Hope to raise a good amount towards my walk tomorrow. Make sure to leave a comment. Have a great weekend !

(((HUGS)))

Christine

The crop is coming up..come look and see what's inside

2008-04-14T08:46:00.000-07:00

OH my! My house is getting a bit cluttered with all the fabulous donations that have been made towards the Autism crop. If you haven't signed up yet, there's still time ! You can call scrapbook Oasis at (949)-756-2729 to reserve your spot. The crop is on Sat. April 19th (that's only a few days away!) from 10 -6 pm. The cost is only $20! It includes lunch, snacks and a neat scrappy goody bag ! You won't be disappointed. Here is a sample of some of the things that may show up in that bag! ;0) Did you see that paper from Best Creations and Paper Trunk ? What about the Cherry Arte die cuts, the glue dots or that cute little tool bag from Tammy I ? Did you know these were all donated just for you ? So sign up and get your hands on this cute stuff !

But that is not all, it is just the beginning ! There will be raffle prizes all day long. Look what from all these companies just to give away !

Making Memories

Best Creations

Cherry Arte & Paper Trunk

Freckle Friends

extra goodies from friends

And last but not least..... How would you like to win the grand prize....one of these embellishment trunks from Tammy I ? Wouldn't you like to see what's inside ? You may just have to wait and see. I will be putting some goodies in there too! This is a perfect trunk for embellishments ! It has a tray inside to organize those embellies and magnetic container on the inside of the lid for more goodies :) OOH AHH. This could be yours...come on down and be a part of the fun !
Tammy I

Thanks to all my friends, Illyse, Jennifer, Janet my Mother-in-law and friend, Tina Keyner from Best creations, Susan Lyons from Freckle Friends and all other companies for making this happen. Lastly Karen from the Scrapbook Oasis. YOU ROCK ! Thanks for sharing your store with us and being so supportive. I can't wait for this special day !

(((HUGS)))

Christine

Oh YAH BAY-BEE....we have a winner !

2008-04-01T18:26:00.000-07:00

Oh thank you all so much for your donations. I really appreciate your support and friendship. It is so nice to know that I have so many old friends and new that are so willing to support me. Thanks, it means SO MUCH !

Well on to what you are all waiting for...

The Basket

The Drawing

The WINNER

Thank you friends...congrats to you ALICIA...you all are super fantabulous ! You make each day a little brighter. BIG BIG HUGS ! Alicia mail me with your Address and I will send this out on Friday :)

Christine

So many good things...where do I start ?!

2008-03-17T21:57:00.000-07:00

Well hello all my friends in blog land. Let me start by saying wow what a few weeks that I have had. :) I am bursting with excitement because....you'll never guess....nope you won't. Okay I will just spill the beans. I, me, Christine, have been published ! I have been published in Ready Set Create and will be published next month in Scrap-n-art. I submit things often and think "well what the heck, might as well go for it"..but someone actually contacting me and wanting to feature some of my work...never thought it would happen. So for all you hopeless romantic scrappers...keep trying or start trying. And you girls who have already been there..done that...just smile and put up with my giddiness...it will wear off soon.

My featured work in RSC

This next layout will be featured in Scrap-in-Art. This was quite out of the box for me. I was having a hard time with something and really felt like getting my feelings out and done with...Funny it was quite therapeutic and paid off as well. :)

Now for the rest of the goodies :)

Umm well I would like to thank Laura Bloom for her generous RAK to me. She had a contest to give a name to her hand made doll and she chose the name that I suggested. The RAK was for a cute little stamp and guess what...she must have forgotten that because she sent me an entire box FULL of goodies. So much beautiful new paper and embellies. Thanks you are such a sweetie !

AND THE BEST FOR LAST Well it is that time to have my annual fundraising crop for Autism Speaks at The scrapbook Oasis. Karen the most fabulous owner has agreed to host it. Thank you Karen. How did I ever get that lucky? Here are the details: The crop is Sat. April 19th from 10 am - 6 pm. The cost is only $20 and it includes lunch, a small scrap goody bag, and snacks. I want to thank Freckle Friends, Making Memories, Glue Dots and Cherry Arte who have donated prizes for raffles. My dear friend, Jennifer will also be donating a gift certificate to Stampin' up. And...Lastly,my new friend ,Tina Keyner is also working on getting a bunch more goodies for you from some fantastic manufacturers ! It should be a great day, a lot of fun ! More details to come. Call Oasis at (949)-756-2729.

The Scrapbook Oasis is located at: 17895 Sky Park Cir #H Irvine,CA 92614

more more more

2008-03-13T10:10:00.000-07:00

Okay scrappy friends, I have added more to my RAK. Christine from Tallyscrapper has graciously donated a few fabulous items to add to my giveaway. She's definitely a keeper ! It is people like her that really keep the goodness flowing. THANK YOU ! Did you see the AMM fancy smancy camera bag or how about the glimmer mist ? I added a few things too, some QK dies, acryllic stamps, American crafts alphas and some Queen & Co. felt fusion.

Remember it is for such a great cause. Yes you are helping me raise $ for my team,but you really are doing so much more.

And don't get discouraged with that $20 minimum online donation amount on the Autism Speaks webpage. You can donate and combine it with a friend. Just put both (or all) your names in the post and you all will be included in the drawing !

Again...here is the link to my personal walk page :) http://www.walknowforautism.org/losangeles/personal/cpscan

Thanks and good luck to all of you. Once donations reach $400 I will add more goodies :)

(((HUGS)))

Christine

It is officially TIME !

2008-03-09T17:01:00.000-07:00

Those of you who know me are well aware that I do a walk to benefit Autism Research every year. My son, Adam, (who you can see on the previous post) has Asperger's Syndrome. As a toddler, he struggled very much trying to be in the outside world. Fortunately that has all changed for him. He is doing so incredibly well. However that is not the story of most families with autistic children. It is a struggle daily. Some children do not have the ability to speak yet have completely lucid thoughts, some children cannot smile and/or emotionally connect with others (including their own parents). It is so incredibly heart breaking to me to see families and children suffer the effects of Autism. Unfortunately the rate of Autism continues to grow. Autism affects 1 out of every 150 children. I know how we have struggled and how other families will continue to do the same.

Therefore I will continue to walk. I am asking you and/or anyone else that you know to help with the fight against autism. On my blog, I have this RAK that I am going to raffle off on April 1st. For every $5 dollars that you donate your name will go into a drawing. On April 1st I will reveal the winner. Please make sure to include your first name and last initial within your post, so I know who has donated. Once donations reach $100 I will begin to add more product. This RAK could definitely grow ! Please help me out by sending people over to my blog to check it out and see if they want to take part. Here is the link to my personal walk page http://www.walknowforautism.org/losangeles/personal/cpscan

Included in this RAK are products from Making Memories, Sandylion, KI, Autumn Leaves and American Crafts. Keep watching for updates as this RAK continues to grow ! I thank all of you ahead of time. Even if you are not able to donate, passing this on might just help make the the difference.

*** Notice...It has come to my attention that Autism speaks only will take a minimum of $20 as an online donation. Don't let this prevent you from making a donation. You can click "make an offline donation" and donate whatever amount that you desire. This can be mailed in. They will notify me. Also if you choose to donate this way please leave a post on my blog so that I can include you in the drawing ! Thanks :0)

(((HUGS)))

Christine

Hmm.. overall a sad day......

2008-03-05T10:05:00.000-08:00

Well today after I dropped the kids off to school we took Sammy, our dog of 14 years, to the vet. He has been not well for a long while, having trouble with his hips and poor eyesight (hearing too). We have been telling the kids that his time was coming and that he would be going to Heaven soon. Well the other day our other dog ran into him and knocked him over. Poor Sammy couldn't get up for hours. We realized that holding onto him was probably selfish because it was obvious he was suffering. So today we took him to the vet and she too thought it would be best to put him to sleep. :( It was so hard to actually say the words and tell her to do it, but I know it was the right thing to do. He went quickly and actually started to snore. It was only maybe 1-2 minutes before he completely laid to rest. Poor sweetie. He was such a docile pooch for such a big dog.

Although we talked the kids last night about the possiblilty of their dog going to heaven and that we didn't think that the Dr. could help him much anymore, I know that deep down inside there was a lot of hope and wishing for miracles. I dread actually telling them that poor Sammy is gone. I know that it is going to be a hard day. Adam will be upset,but will most likely internalize it all, Nicholas...he will be extremely emotional. It is hard to see them like that. But I guess that these are all growing pains. Wish me strength and a lot of luck.

Lastly here are a few pics from Adam's birthday party that I promised. It was just like I said it would be...a wild...bouncing time ! But it also was a complete success. He was on cloud 9. It was great !

Thanks to all my friends for putting up with jumping mania and screaming kids ! Friends make things all the more fun !

(((HUGS)))

Happy Birthday My Sweet Boy !

2008-02-28T22:46:00.000-08:00

I know that I am going to sound like every other mom in the universe..but OMG! ....where did the time go? What happened to my baby? He is gone, but now evolving ,is this beautiful, stubborn, highly intelligent little man. I love him so dearly. He makes me look at the world in a different way and that, I consider an enormous gift. He has opened my eyes to so much more than I would have ever expected. If you know me and you know Adam, you know what I am talking about.

Here Adam is at dinner. This was one of his most desired gifts, so I gave it to him today. His party is tomorrow at an every parents nightmare kind of a place. He specifically requested this place, so we will jump and jump and jump until complete exhaustion or someone throws up. A bouncy house wonderland...whee !
This is all for now...I know that I will have great pics to share later :)

Something that I thought needed to be shared

2008-02-28T11:46:00.001-08:00

A friend of mine posted this somewhere else and I had to "borrow" it and place it here. I think that so many people could benefit from reading this. Life is full of so many questions and so many surprises...need to stop and take a look and reevaluate......

M A Y B E Maybe . . .we were supposed to meet the wrong people before meeting the right one, so that when we finally meet the right person, we will know how to be grateful for that gift. Maybe . .When the door of happiness closes, another opens; but, often times, we look so long at the closed door that we don't even see the new one which has been opened for us. Maybe . . . It is true that we don't know what we have until we lose it,but it is also true that we don't know what we have been missing untilit arrives. Maybe . . . The happiest of people don't necessarily have the best of everything; they just make the most of everything that comes along their way. Maybe . . . The brightest future will always be based on a forgotten past; after all, you can't go on successfully in life until you let go of your past mistakes, failures and heartaches. Maybe . . . You should dream what you want to dream; go where you want to go, be what you want to be, because you have only one life and one chance to do all the things you dream of, and want to do. Maybe . . There are moments in life when you miss someone -- a parent,a spouse, a love, a friend, a child -- so much that you just want to pick them from your dreams and hug them for real, so that once they are around you appreciate them more. Maybe . . . The best kind of friend is the kind you can sit on a porch and swing with, never say a word, and then walk away feeling like it wasthe best conversation you've ever had. Maybe . . You should always try to put yourself in others' shoes. If you feel that something could hurt you, it probably will hurt the other person, too. Maybe . . you should do something nice for someone every single day,even if it is simply to leave them alone. Maybe . . .giving someone all your love is never an assurance that theywill love you back. Don't expect love in return; just wait for it togrow in their heart; but, if it doesn't, be content that it grew in yours. Maybe .. Happiness waits for all those who cry, all those who hurt,all those who have searched, and all those who have tried, for only theycan appreciate the importance of all the people who have touched their lives. Maybe . . . You shouldn't go for looks; they can deceive; don't go for wealth; even that fades away. Go for someone who makes you smile,because it takes only a smile to make a dark day seem bright. Find theone that makes your heart smile. Maybe . . You should hope for enough happiness to make you sweet, enough trials to make you strong, enough sorrow to keep you human, and enough hope to make you happy Maybe. . You should try to live your life to the fullest because when you were born, you were crying and everyone around you was smiling butwhen you die, you can be the one who is smiling and everyone around you crying. Maybe. . . You could send this message to those people who mean something to you, to those who have touched your life, to those who can and do make you smile when you really need it, to those who make you seethe brighter side of things when you are really down, and to all those whom you want to know that you appreciate them and their friendship. Maybe you had the opportunity to perhaps brighten someone's day.

I will be posting later today. Today is Adam's birthday. He is 6 ! Oh my gosh..what happened ? More to come.....

Seven little known facts about me

2008-02-18T19:59:00.000-08:00

Well I was tagged by my friend Jennifer a long while back and I didn't know it. So....here I go.

1. I celebrated my 21st birthday in Spain and since the drinking age was 18 there, it wasn't any big deal. I was there for a summer semester studying Spanish.

2. I too am afraid of clowns..they freak me out because you can't see who is under that white make up ...yuck.

3. I wanted to be an actress, not a teacher. Then I got grounded and gave in to what would be a definite thing.

4. I was born in New York and have a HUGE family. I only lived there until I was 7 and then moved to LV. I was always surrounded by very Ethnic Italians (I'm Italian too). I swore that I never would marry one and wouldn't ya know it...I did.

5. MY fantasy is to quit teaching and be involved in the scrapbook crafting world. Owning my own business (after I win the lotto) or working as a designer. Yes I know..it is a fantasy.

6. I would love to be pregnant again,but I have so much fear in me because my last pregnancy was very problematic. My son was born 2 months early and was born with Autism. Although he is very high functioning, I fear that I could have another autistic baby who is severe. I don't know if I could handle that.

7. The carpet in my house is polka-dotted. However, it didn't start out that way. I wish that I had new carpet in every room !

Now I tag: Christine (top tally), Alicia (Dillydally) Rachel (Ho) and Shirley.

CHA, so many surprises and other things too !

2008-02-14T21:36:00.000-08:00

Tally girls here, tally girls there, tally girls EVERYWHERE ! Here we are at Dinner the night before CHA. This was a fun night and a great celebration. We got to all meet up (some of us for the first time)and most importantly celebrate Ms. Shirley's Birthday. The next morning Jenn and I bumped into Rachel (Ho), Christine (Top Tally) and Shirley getting our badges at CHA. It was kind of disappointing because Illyse only got to see them momentarily. So come on back to Cali soon !

CHA was fabulous, there was so much to see. It is overwhelming and exciting. I love making things, learning new techiniques for product and meeting a lot of new people. During CHA I had the surprise of my scrapbooking "career" (I use that term loosely) when I was stopped by the making memories people and told that I won the grand prize. Here I am winning and looking like a big nerdo. I would put the video on here to view,but I am just not that techy. So follow the link!

Some major changes are occuring in my life right now. I have realized in a not so pleasant way that not everyone can be happy for you in some of your greatest moments. I am so saddened by the entire thing...but it is time for me to re-evaluate things. I have to remember to look at the big picture in life and not sweat the small stuff. Your true friends will always shine and lift you at times like these. Friends old and new thank you...I love you for that!

In other news I am also leaving the Red Bee DT. I have had a great experience there,but it is time to move on and try out new things...explore a bit. I will miss my special people there..but we will always be in touch. For any of you who have possibly signed up for my class....PLEASE TAKE NOTE.... I HAVE CANCELLED IT. So sorry for anyone who wanted to take it. An unexpected event has interfered with it, so it is better to reschedule at another time.

Big Hugs to all of you :)

Christine

So much to be happy about

2008-01-22T22:53:00.000-08:00

Well I have been a blubbering idiot in the last few days. No reason..every reason. Who knows? But two really good things happened to me today and yesterday. First I won a contest on tallyscrapper called winner takes all. Now that sure rocked! I should be receiving about 6 different packages of misc. buttons for scrappy stuff! Tee hee...funny that a small things like buttons would make me smile. However I got a huge surprise today. I got a card in the mail from my chemo pal's mom. She thanked me for all the cards and treats that I have sent her son. She sent a picture of their family to me and told me the best news of all. He is in REMISSION ! Oh did I cry about that. I am so touched about this. Typically patients and/or their families are not likely to contact their Angels. It is understood that it is just done on faith. Wow I am so happy!

Other things going on... I am teaching a Pocket Card class at the Red Bee on Feb 20th. You can see the link and info here http://theredbee.com/classes.aspx . I have included the photos because the ones on the website are a bit unclear. The class cost is $18, kit included in the class fee. It will be a fun and easy project. Hope to see you there!

2008....what's to come ?

2008-01-03T20:01:00.000-08:00

Well another year has passed and yet I am just a bit wiser ;0). I have made resolutions just like everyone else this year,but this time it isn't about losing weight, it is about staying grounded, trying to take the higher road and learn the art of patience. Life can be a bit challenging at times..we all have our own battles. I read this on a post on tallyscrapper today and I decided to post it here.

Someone will always be prettier.Someone will always be skinnier.Someone will always be smarter.Some of their houses will be bigger.Some will drive a bigger car.Their children will do better in school.And their husbands will fix more things around the house.So let it go, and love you and your circumstances.Think about it.. .The prettiest woman in the world can have hell in their heart, and the most highly favored Woman on your job may be unable to have children.Ands the richest woman you know;She got the car, the house, the clothes might be lonely. And the word says, "If I have not love, I have nothing."So again, love you, Love who you are. Look in the mirror smile and say,"I am blessed to be stressed and too anoited, to be dissappointed!"Winners make things happen. Losers let things happen..

Such simple words that can make a person really reflect upon what is really important...so this is it for today...feeling philosophical.

So dearest friends of mine and those new ones too, my message to you is
FOCUS GIRLS FOCUS ! Focus on what really matters to you. Ya know the important stuff :)

With much love :) ME

Breaking the rules...

2007-12-19T20:35:00.000-08:00

Okay so I am not supposed to do more than one post per month and all,but for my few friends who read this, I thought why the heck not ? So I have been quite busy being a "creative genious" lately. Ha ha. And well, I have either been Christmas shopping, wrapping presents or crafting. Here are a few things that I I have made in the last 2 weeks. Here are some Christmas cards that I made. Got them sent out for the most part.

A Layout of Adam holding a turtle at a pet store. He is a big animal lover and has explained to me that the animals "understand" him. This is a pic of my niece. She is just so cute. Anyway I tried out some Prima paintables on this one. I painted and inked it. Then I embellished it a bit with stickles.

This is a little door hanging Noel sign that I made out of coasters. Got the coasters from Jenn a long while back. Love that girl !
Lastly, we took the kids the other night to a neigborhod in Brea that has a amazing Keeping up with the Jones' light display. The lighted homes go on for blocks. Beautiful and amazing the kids loved it.

Okay, that is it for now. I am tired and I feel like scrapbooking !

Oh I am horrible..I know

2007-12-12T18:53:00.001-08:00

Hello all if there are any of you left that read my blog. I have been just bad, terrible, an awful blogger! No good I know. And so much has happened since I last posted (yes 2 months ago). So lets's just say as of right now, all is good. I am trying to get my Christmas shopping done. I am hoping that tomorrow I can at least accomplish the rest of the kids gifts.

I have been spending a lot of time on Tallyscrapper. I am addicted and having a good time making/creating etc.

Also in other news which no one else cares about but me... Duran Duran have released their new cd. I am mixed about it. Some songs I like others..no. They collaborated with Timbaland; a completely different sound then their norm. Here is Falling Down. This one I like,but the video well, it is not for the kiddos. It is kind of harsh..but the song...I like the song.

This Friday is my DT dinner with the Red Bee team. I am looking forward to that.

Happy Birthday to Echo. One more birthday coming up...Illyse on the 18th. If you are reading this..I can't wait to give you your presents.

Here is a little craft/ornament I made with puzzle pieces. I think that I will make another and put the boys pic in each one as a teeny present to my MIL .
Okay I am off...now you guys get off my back..tee hee kidding. :)

A month at a time !

2007-10-09T21:49:00.000-07:00

So I guess that it is going to take me a month or so before I get back to my blog. Oh I am so bad..I know! So much has happened in such a short time. The biggest event in the last month would be Nicholas' illness. He got really really sick, the Dr. thought it was a virus and then less than a week later he had a fever of 105.3 ! It has been awful. He is slowly getting better, no more vomiting or fevers,but he still is kind of sluggish. He even had bloodwork done and his white cell count was 27,000 ! What was determined was that he had a bacterial infection. He is returning to school tomorrow,but cannot participate in PE or sports until the 20th of this month.

In other news, of course I have been scrapbooking. I think that I have been in a silly mood and it is reflecting on my pages. Here are two examples:

Lastly and most importantly I have signed up to be a Chemo Angel. This is an organization that assigns a person to a cancer patient to send weekly cards to. I signed up on Monday and TODAY, I was contacted . I have been assigned a little boy with neuroblastoma, he is 4 years old. I already made him a card and a treat. I will send it out tomorrow. Tough thing,but I think it can really make a difference in the day of a cancer patient. If you are interested and want to check it out...here is the link http://www.chemoangels.net/Chemo%20Angels%20sub%20content/chemo_angel_qualifier02.htm .

Enough for now..hope all is well with all of you. Big hugs :) Christine

It's about time !

2007-09-09T07:43:00.000-07:00

Oh gosh I am so bad at keeping this up,yet I have had so much going on. I get caught up in things and lose track of time! Anyway I digress, First let me say school has started for both the kids and myself. I think the kids might like school a bit better than me at this moment. ;-) This year was a bit hard only because Adam is no longer in preschool. He just started kindergarten and Nicholas is in 3rd grade. Wherever does the time go? Here are a few pics from the first day of school. As much as I am completely sentimental about it, I know it is so good in so many ways to have them both at the same school. Nicholas has someone to watch over and Adam feels like he is a big kid now...going to the same school as his brother. Good for both their self esteem.

So mom has to let go and just get used to it. No more babies, no more preschoolers !

On to other news I have had a lot of great scrappy stuff happening to me. I recently placed 2nd in two different contests on Tallyscrapper . Which made my day! Here are the 2 layouts that won. Mission ME Challenge :

Show us your wild side:
So today today I must wait for a plumber to come and clean out the drains and then we are off to a birthday party. Hoping to squeeze some scrapping time in there! Have a great day!

Oh Happy Day !

2007-08-20T20:45:00.000-07:00

Okay so today started off as a bit stressful. Had to clear my floors, vaccuum and prepare for the exterminator to come. Once I did that I had to leave the keys for him and not return until the end of the day. Yuck. I felt rushed and I still havent returned anyone's phone calls.

Then I went to school, bravely brought the boys with me and started organizing my classroom for the school year. The kids behaved wonderfully, I can't really complain,but getting my class room ready really put me in a funk. I can't believe that next Monday is the dreaded day. Sigh that bums me out. Anyway, then we went to Big Lots to buy some organizing tubs for my classroom. Cheap there and good brands. The boys were good too, except that they insisted on taking turns pushing the cart as the other directed the "driver' through traffic with hand signals and all. Too bad that didn't really help out since they kept on crashing into displays and other things. So that got me a bit worked up too. When I got into the car I felt like crying. Dumb..just stress. I luckily did not give into that stressor and just drove home feeling sorry for myself. I pulled into the driveway, parked, got the kids out and lo' and behold there were not one,but two packages in my mailbox...just for ME. Yippee...I suddenly got out of the funk...(however this is just temporary people) and brought those packages in. One of the packages was from a RAK that I won from Karen Wilson (from the unforgetables foundation) and the other was a set of Art warehouse stamps that I won off ebay on JULY 29th. I thought that they were for sure lost! Gosh I think those things came just in time...funny how things seems to come just at the right time!

Lastly I would like to leave you with this quote: "Mom did you know that the word for hello and goodbye is the same word in Hawaii...it is called "HELLO-HA". My teacher told me that today"

Adam Spina

I actually scrapbooked a page about me !

2007-08-15T18:35:00.000-07:00

Well, so I actually just scrapbooked a page just about me,which I never ever do. I always focus on the kids, family and sometimes group shots of friends,but a single pic of myself...not really. I don't even have a good reason why, I guess I just feel full of myself by doing it? Although I never really think that of others when they do it. Anyway, it was good, it got me thinking and I am glad I did it. Here is my lovely page of "just me". The most fabulous part is that I got to use my brand spankin' new Daisy D's paper and embellishments. When I bought it, I wasn't sure what I would do with it,but then I was inspired by a contest on www.tallyscrapper.com .It just asked members to do a layout about themselves and so I went to it.

In other news The Red Bee just got the ROCKSTAR line in by DCWV. A special friend of mine loves me so much that she wants to buy it for me...is that love or what? I am so excited, I just can't wait to get my hands on it and use it. I know I will be able to get good use of it since I am a ROCKSTAR and my son Nicholas is in the making. ;)

I have been working on other projects lately as well, I also just hung up a Heritage project at the Red Bee of my gradparents. I am quite pleased with it. I miss them and the photo in it always makes me happy.
I am also working on a project with a new Frances Meyer kit to bring into the store on Friday. I will post it when it is completed.

Well enough for now...will be at the Red Bee Friday night for a DT meeting and then a scrap-a-thon. Well okay just some scrappin'but it will be fun. Got to spend the rest of my credit from the RB garage sale. Tee hee, can never have enough scrapbook supplies...RIGHT ILLYSE?

A day of MOURNING!

2007-08-01T20:26:00.000-07:00

Oh no, I just posted to whine a bit. I know that some of you reading this will just want to slap me, but I just can't believe that there is only 1 month of summer left! Today is August 1st and Illyse and I have named it the National Day of Mourning. Well at least it is in our world. Really it is less than a month before I have to go back to my classroom to get ready for the school year. I have been really liking the stay home mom thing thoroughly...oh goodness! Oh well I guess I better start making this last month spectacular. I did actually have a fantabulous time the other night with my dear friend Lisa and some new friends too. We went to dinner and then a Tears for Fears concert....Yipeee. Can't let go of the 80's...too much fun. Here is a pic at dinner with Lisa and the girls.

Anyway for now I just have to make it last...stretch it out...and try to deal. Well at least this Sat. I will be going to The Red Bee to scrapbook. That will be FUN..
Okay enough for now......by the way how ya like my blog's new look?

A busy girl !

2007-07-25T21:47:00.000-07:00

Okay so again, I am quite tardy on the updating of my blog, but I must admit the month of July has just passed me by in a whirlwind. In the first week of July we went on our yearly San Diego Trip. We stay at a beach house and do all the San Diego "Stuff" that a tourist does in SD. We had a lot of fun. Of course my favorite part would be the beach. Notice though that there aren't any pics of me on it. I have my reasons!

A few days after our family vacation, it was my birthday. 37! wow that hurt just a bit. Am I really that old? I realize that in the grand scheme of things it is really still quite young,but how did that happen? Am I really that old? Am I going to start being the old lady at the concerts/live shows that I go to? Oh my. Anyway I digress, my birthday was fun and my kids/family really made it special. We went out for Mexican food and then returned home for cake and presents. The boys actually made my cake and decorated it. They were so proud!

Just 3 days after my b-day Illyse, Jenn and I decided to join Karen and Echo at CHA. Every summer Illyse and I plan a girl's trip. This time Jenn joined us. Since it was Jenn's b-day and mine we celebrated them in Chicago. Karen treated us to dinner downtown. We had traditional Chicago style pizza..YUM

CHA was fantabulous if I may add. Being the Rockstar that I am, I have to say that I was really excited to see the Rockstar themed paper in more than a few booths. Karen ordered the DCWV Rockstar line and I cannot wait for that to come in! We made a lot of make and takes and hopefully will be able to bring some new ideas to The Red Bee.

So yes now July is almost over and August will perch its ugly head around the bend and school will be back in session before you know it. Talk to Illyse and she will tell you...August 1st is a day of mourning for us. The countdown starts until we must go back and set up our classrooms. Eek! I like staying home. Gosh we are spoiled.

Tag..I'm it!

2007-06-21T13:00:00.000-07:00

Well Echo decided to tag me...I know that this is her way of forcing me to keep my blog current. So I will play along! Here are my answers to the questions below.

My roommate and I once: got lost in Barcelona and walked we up and down the streets trying to find our host families house until about 4am

Never in my life have I: Been Parasailing(and I never will!)

High school was: fun and torturous at the same time.

When I'm nervous: I stumble over my words and reverse things

My hair: is a big curly mess most of the time.

When I was 5: One of the kids in the neigborhood had a friend over and they STOLE MY BIG WHEEL.

When I turn my head left:Is this a trick question?

I should be: cleaning my house and doing laundry,but I can't because the delivery man who was suppose to deliver my washer hasn't showed up yet. He is late late late!

By this time next year: I hope to be a re-doing my pool deck

My favorite aunt is: Barbara

I have a hard time understanding: prejuduce

You know I like you if: I cook for you

My ideal breakfast is: Fresh fruit, berries and melons, maybe some yoghurt

If you visit my home town: What you do there....stays there

If you spend the night at my house: You will be woken up by around 6:30 am whether you like it or not! I have 2 alarms that make sure of it!

My favorite blonde is: generally, I don't like them..just kidding. Never really thought about it.

My favorite brunette is: JT

The animal I would like to see flying besides birds:Elephants...if they could accomplish such a feat, it would encourage me to try new things that had previously seemed impossible.

I shouldn't have been: a chocolate lover...it shows where it shouldn't

Last night I: went to bed at about 8 pm

A better name for me would be: Guida

I've been told I look like:Elizabeth Taylor as a young girl in National Velvet...at least that is what Redd Foxx (Fred Sanford)told me when I was about 14. Maybe he was drunk.

If I could have any car, it would be : Some kind of sleek girlie convertible car,just for when I want to escape!

All right....Jana, Donna and Marra... I tag you!

Okay Finally I did it! I am updated :)

2007-06-03T18:22:00.000-07:00

Okay Okay I am updating my blog! I am so behind,but I have been threatened to be taken off my friend's list if I don't update soon. I know bad bad! Anyway all is good here. I am counting the days until school ends. I can't wait! I want my summer! My last Day is June 15th!

SO yes, I am way behind here but I want to tell all of you that Team Adam raised over $2300! I am so thrilled about that and grateful as well. I have other friends who might join my team next year...maybe we can reach $3,000! Time will tell. Wait for next spring. Here are a few pics from the Walk. It was a lot of fun.

Once again I am filling a spot on the Red Bee Design team and I am really happy to be a part of the team. Not only is it a great experience,but I am learning so much from others on the team...not to mention I have a few new friends :).

Here are two of my latest layouts that I am really happy with!

Help the fight against Autism...and win a prize!

2007-04-07T08:29:00.000-07:00

Dear Friends old and new... as you know my son, Adam, has Asperger's syndrome (high functioning autism). For the second year year in a row, I will be participating in a walk to raise funds for Autism Research. I will be walking with C.A.N (cure autism now) on Sat. April 28th. To help raise funds for my walk I thought that I could have a giveaway...here are the details:

For every $5 donation made to Team Adam walks,I will include your name in a drawing for a package filled with brand new scrapbook items. After making your donation, post a comment here to let me know your name, email address and donation amount.This package will include, Lil' Davis designs, 3M, EK success and Colobok products. A winner will be drawn at the end of April. Here is the donation link:

http://www.walknow.org/07losangeles/teamadamwalks

Take a peek!

All items have been generously donated by Lil' Davis and 3M (there might be a little bit in there from me too)! Remember every little bit counts! With your help you can help find a cure for autism!

(((HUGS)))

Christine

too long!

2007-04-05T21:12:00.000-07:00

Well it has been too long since I have posted last. I am just so burned out lately. In the last week I have had more than my share of bad things going on. I had a friend die and another friend diagnosed with breast cancer. A lot of other yucky stuff too,but let's not get into that.

So I was perusing a few message boards and I found a cool blog that post sketches for scrapbooking layouts. Lately I need some inspiration, so I thought that these might help me out :0)

Lastly, I am really excited about my fundraising crop that is coming up. I have had a good response and also a good handful of SB companies have sent me donations for raffle prizes. I am really excited about that! So far Lil' Davis, Junkitz, DCWV, 3M, Heidi grace, Cloud 9 and Tallyscrapper.com have donated. It should be a blast and I think all the croppers will be thrilled.

Well I am tired now...I am off. Gotta go to bed :)

Lots of stuff

2007-03-11T20:46:00.000-07:00

First and foremost what is on my mind right now is my walk for Autism research. On Saturday, April 28th I will be participating in the Cure Autism Now walk in Pasadena, CA. I think that most of you know that my son Adam has Asperger's syndrome which is a high functioning form of autism. As a baby I knew that he was different and by the age of 2, I was convinced that he was autistic. We had the worst time getting a diagnosis for him. It literally took me 2 years to convince others that it was true. On the grand scheme of things I know that I am very fortunate to have a son that is so high functioning. We have our challenges,but we have definitely come a long way. However, there are children who suffer from autism and do not have speech, cannot smile, have repetitive quirks/behaviors and have severe issues coping outside of their homes. This summer I had an experience that was completely heart wrenching to me. While in my son's therapy office,I overheard a mother talking to her son's therapist balling. She proceeded to say "thank you, thank you so much. This is the first time that I have ever seen him smile...oh my gosh I just cannot thank you enough". Her son was 2 1/2. Can you imagine not ever seeing your child smile? I will never ever forget that.

Autism has definitely affected my family and affects many others. In fact,Autism affects every 1 out 166 children and many kids go undiagnosed. If autism has touched your life in some way or if you are interested in donating to my team please follow this link. http://www.walknow.org/07losangeles/teamadamwalks

OTHER STUFF

As you know I work on the design team for the Red Bee in Tustin. Well, it just so happens that we are having a crafter's/scrapper's garage sale on March 25th. It is from 12-5 pm. Sellers will receive a gift certificate to the store for items sold. If you would like more info on the sale please visit www.Theredbee.com

Lastly I know that my links are only web addresses,but the link thing-ma-jig won't work on blogger. So please just select and paste. Thank you my friends :)

(((HUGS)))

Christine

Right down the toilet !

2007-03-08T13:55:00.000-08:00

So the other day, Sunday to be exact, I went to the potty, flushed the toilet, pulled up my pants and pop...out it came and my phone fell right into the swirly abyss. Nice...I had to retrieve it. Needless to say...no it doesn't work.

But on a lighter side a new scrappy acquaintance wrote me a little poem :

Oh, dear, my phone
in the potty wet
it splashed, bad zone,
the saddest fate it met.

Written by Stacey Kingman

Why thank you.... haven't had poetry written for me in so long...I am quite touched.

So FYI: any of you who read this...I have lost all my phone numbers. Can you ever so kindly send me your numbers to store in my new phone ? Thank you :)

I WON I WON !

2007-03-01T16:08:00.000-08:00

NO I didn't win anything scrapbook related, but I just did win tickets to see OK GO ! tomorrow night. Not only will I be seeing my treadmill boys, but also the Snow Patrol! How cool is that?! I am so excited. Me, I never win. I am always caller #19 out of 20 etc. And whee..look at this! I am so thrilled! Yippee! Tell you all about it later!

Christine

Just plain silly

2007-02-22T11:26:00.000-08:00

Well It goes like this.... I have all this new Tinkering Ink waiting for me to play with it and it has just been sitting there. Then...I come along a post on Pubcalls saying that there is a relatively new Kit club looking for DT members. I decided to pull out that BEAUTIFUL Tinkering Ink and give it a whirl. And this is now my submission. I also doodled more than a bit...I wore out my white pen. I guess I need a new one.

These two 3 Bugs in a Rug layouts were inspired by two fantastic ladies. One day, the fabuluosly wonderful, Illyse surprised me with the chipboard tags. A few days later the lovely Echo brought me by the paper (another surprise). I guess my girlfriends know me too well. By the time I got my rear in gear to pick it up, it would already be yesterday's news. I must get better about that! What good friends! Will one of you buy me a new pen?

Tag? I've been tagged!

2007-02-16T11:22:00.000-08:00

Well it seeems that this is an epidemic right now. I have been tagged by my friend Donna and apparently I'm it. So now I have to tell the truth...that I am not even close to perfect. Darn. I thought that I had you all fooled.

SO now I have to name 6 quirky things about myself. So here it goes.

1. Umm I am really freaked out by clowns. Yuck they are creepy. I have never, I mean never liked them. I don't like that you can't see who is under there. That is just wrong. Unfortuneately I feel that way about amusement park characters too (just not as strongly). As a kid I never wanted to take my picture with them.

2. I can't talk without my hands very well. I need them to express myself and when I don't, I get all tripped up. What can I say..now that's Italian!

3. When I can't sleep at night I come up with scrapbook layouts in my brain. Then somehow I can hold it there and remember how to create it days later.

4. When I cook I don't measure...I just do a pinch here, a sprinkle there. Then when my friends ask how I make things, I can't really give them exact recipes. I think they think that I am holding back on them.

5. This is really Geeky,but I am okay with it. Deep breath. I can't let go of Duran Duran. I thought I had long ago,but when they reunited and I saw them in '03, it was like I was 12 again.
I still love them and jump up and down and scream when I see them...in a cool and calm collected way of course.

6. I am convinced that people are actually reading my blog and find it interesting,but I actually may only be talking to myself...which I do often.

So actually I could go on and on and on,but I won't. I have to have some secrets.

Who will I tag. Oh Gosh who knows. Echo you are already taged. Most of my girlfriends don't have blogs. Hmm... this is a tough one. I will have to get back to everyone on this.

Signing off...Christine

A day for HUGS

2007-02-14T22:16:00.000-08:00

Well a very Late Happy V-day to you ! This now has to be my very very very most favorite pic of my boys. Just took this pic of the kiddos this a.m. The way they hugged without any fuss was astounding. They don't hug they wrestle, they hit they cry..they are all boy ..snips and snails...you know how it goes! You would have thought that the world was coming to an end! So of course I had to do something with this photo! I made this on 5x7 canvas inked it and just put it all together...pretty quick. This became a Valentine's day gift for my Mother-in-law. Now I have to do something fabulous with one for me! However in retrospect....this pic is probably the best Valentine's present ever. My boys...yes my boys HUGGING. That is a wow for sure.

Sweet Treats for "the teach"

2007-02-12T11:50:00.000-08:00

So I have been a busy little bee making altered paint cans for my kiddos teachers for the big "V" day. Here is a sample of one that I made. It was a lot easier to make than I thought it would be. Now I just have to stop eating the chocolate that I am using to fill the cans. Wish me luck!

CHA

2007-02-10T22:47:00.000-08:00

So I recently went to CHA. Had a blast :) This is something that I hope that I will always be able to attend. I met a lot of great people and Scrapbook celebrities as well. Tee hee. Seeing the new product everywhere was overwhelming and exciting at the same time. It was great to be able to give some input as well. What a great opportunity I had. Here is a layout I did for The RED BEE. Some of my humor in it...as well. I make myself laugh,but I am not sure about anyone else :)

I don't know what I'm doing...what else is new?

2007-02-10T16:19:00.000-08:00

So hello all. I have decided to join the rest of the world and create my own Blog. Hmm...that should be simple..well unless you are a bit on the technologically challenged side...like myself. So, here I am, don't know how to do this. I need help, a clue. Be patient with me...I'll get there soon somehow. I want to post pics and clever little things..but that may take awhile. So bear with me :)

Signing off, need a nap,

Christine