Something to talk about...

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

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

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 !

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

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

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 !

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 ?!

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

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 !

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