Friday, June 27, 2008

And ... I'm out!

After a great deal of soul searching (aka reality checking) I have decided to not enter the Memory Maker Masters contest after all. With a baby due and two others settling back into their fall rotation of after school classes and practices right about the time that the MMM winners will be announced, how much sense does it make to be in the running? On the off chance that I was a winner, I don't think it would be fair to anyone for me to be so over-busy. I can handle busy, but over-busy is too much.

So, I'm back to scrapping for the pure joy of it for now. I'll still enter the occasional page calls (I have to catch someone's eye sooner or later), and I'm most certainly open to any design team opportunities, but no more big contests for me until the kids are all walking (and maybe even potty trained).

I offer my support and appreciation to all those who are still entering. MM is still on the top of my list of publications, so what an honor the winners will have IMHO.

Good luck remaining entrants (now, quit reading and get back to work)!

Friday, June 20, 2008

Red, Orange or Yellow Challenge

Today's challenge for the scrapbook.com blog challenge is to post a photo of something red, orange or yellow. I chose a photo of the van from the National Tour of Annie that carries the lovable pooch, Sandy (who answers to "Mickey" when not on stage), from city to city for the tour. I also added a photo of my girls with some of the cast. I figure Annie's (Amanda Balon) red hair counts!

Saturday, June 14, 2008

Avast Ye! Me's got the Treasure! Plus Blog Challenge


Ok, I'm really milking this pirate thing, but I found the papers at my LSS in Swartz Creek, Michigan, Capture-A-Memory! I was able to order most of the embellies online between scrapbook.com and scrapbookpal.com too! What you see above are the chipboard pieces that I nabbed. I can't wait to show you all what I make of all this stuff!

Blog Challenge Update - We're supposed to visit three blogs today and leave some love. I've been trying to visit at least five each day, so this should be easy!

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Ahoy! I gotta get me hands on this loot!

The big dance recital is coming up. Callie is in 4 dances, Audrey is in 3. They're in one number together - tumble to a pirate song! I have to get my hands on the Pirate Princess colletion from Rusty Pickle! Take a look:




These are just a few of the products in the line. I want them all! I'm on the verge of eating my own words and actually referring to this line as "yummy." Maybe not just yet though.
Ahoy and Arrg!

Monday, June 9, 2008

Monday Blog Challenge: Water Photo - From October in Michigan!


This was truly a once in a lifetime photo op. In Michigan, we're in sweaters and fleece jackets in October, but last fall we had a very unusual few days were it shot up to the 80s. My daughter got home from school and made us dig her pool out of the garage so she could swim! Nope, I still have not scrapped the event. The next day, she and my younger daughter had a picnic outside. Haven't scrapped that one yet either!

Sunday, June 8, 2008

Sunday Blog Challenge - Greatest Summer Memory

So ... my greatest summer memory. My greatest memory is just the freedom and excitement of it being summer as a kid. You had no worries. You woke up, maybe had some cereal, played, at lunch, played, came in for dinner, played, took a bath, went to bed, and repeated everything the next day. I remember looking at the sky a lot back then. I was in deep wonder about how big of a world we lived in, but still felt so secure about my little part in which I lived.

Want to hear something weird? I love the smell of skunk. Want to know why? It's because it immediately reminds me of summers when I was a kid. When I was young, our house was surrounded by fields. Yep, there were a lot of skunks out there. Our little dog even got sprayed a couple of times. To the rest of the world, it is a horrible smell, but to me, it takes me back to a much simpler time.

Now, how does one scrap the smell of skunks?

Saturday, June 7, 2008

Target Customer Service Sucks!

I try to always keep this blog scrap-related, but tonight I'm going off topic a bit. I do know that a lot of you do get a lot of your scrapping supplies at Target though, so it's kind of related. Anyway, here goes:

Ok, so I've always know that Target is not user friendly when it comes to returns, but the "service" that we received at our target in Flint, Michigan tonight was beyond horrible.

My Mother stops in at this store at least once a week and buys outfits for each of my girls. She's just that kind of Grandma (and customer). Anyway, the shorts for my oldest that were purchased earlier today were the wrong size. We took them back to the store just to do an even exchange (the wrong size for the right size). Seems simple enough right? So wrong!

The fault on our part was not checking to make sure the receipt was in the bag. My girls had been so excited to see shopping bags at Grandmas, that they tore through the bags not knowing that some things had to go back. So, it was our bad that we did not have the receipt when we walked in the door.

However, apparently it is Target's policy to not allow even exchanges without a receipt. Keep in mind that we were not trying to return them for cash or credit, we just wanted to switch the size. What they could do is let us return the wrong size at the penalty of the sale price and then go through the line and purchase the right size at the full price. That, or we could drive home, get the receipt and go back, but with gas $4+/gallon, who wants to do that?

Top that with the way they handled it. Now, when I started in retail 20 years ago, I was taught to apologize, apologize, apologize any time a customer was upset. Had we heard at any time, something such as, "I'm really sorry about this, but the store policy has our hands tied," we probably would not have gotten so mad. However, nothing even remotely close was even said. Instead, they were rude and even had the nerve to talk down to us (as though working at Target makes them far superior to those of us customers to whom they depend on for their jobs). The "clerk," actually said, "Do you understand that you don't have your receipt?" Can you believe that? When I said, "So at Target, policy comes before service?" she answered, "Yes it does."

So, long rant short, we are lucky to live in an area where we have many choices of where to shop. Sorry Target, you fail in customer service, you fail to get our business any longer.

Great LO Idea - Favorite Summer Eats

So, today's blog topic challenge is your favorite summer meal. Just one? I'm pregnant! So many things come to mind from the light meals you make that do not require any cooking on those unbearably hot days, to fair foods (especially if it comes on a stick), to meals for the grill, to snacks, to all those yummy summer fruits!

I'm going to make it a summer goal to photography all my favorites this summer and do a LO about them. My LSS (shout out to Nancy, Pat, Mickey, Anne, and the rest of the crew at Capture A Memory in Swartz Creek)has some great papers and embellies to go with them for this, but here are some things I found online to help get everyone's juices (punny) flowing. Note that I haven't purchased any of these, so please don't expect me to post LOs using these items just yet! Ok, here's just a few things that caught my eye while surfing this morning:












Friday, June 6, 2008

My Dream Vacation

The scrapbook.com blog assignment for today is to blog about vacations, so I'm going for the gold: my dream vacation!

I would be the happiest girl in the whole wide world if I could take the Las Vegas strip (or just build a whole new strip) and place it right in the middle of Hawaii. I'm not particular on which island of Hawaii, but I'd prefer Oahu so I could take a break from the tables and go walk Waikiki Beach for a bit.

The question is, how would I scrap this? Suggestions ... comments ... sketches? Someones got to have an idea!

Thursday, June 5, 2008

Better late than never!

Ok, we just bridged our Daisy troop up to Brownies, but I'm just now getting our investiture (when the became Daisies last fall) ceremony scrapped. My Daisy is the shorty in all of the photos wearing the headband. That's me in the top left corner of the group photo(I'm the leader).

The focus is way off on the photo of the LO. I have to check that, so please pardon the blurriness. The bummer is that you can't see the machine stitching down the side of page one. That's the absolute straightest line of my life!

Wednesday, June 4, 2008

Meet Ally

The blog challenge today is to link to something or someone that we love. It did not take long for me to decide to link to Ally's Allies a site started by dear friend of mine to honor her daughter, Allison, who was born with cystic fibrosis. Paula, my friend, has worked tirelessly since Ally's birth to raise money and awareness to find a cure for cystic fibrosis. In fact, the entire family, including Paula, Ally, big sister Kira (not afflicted) and husband Rob, has inspired me from day one. I do hope everyone who visits my blog will take a moment to stop by and check out Ally's site and see what a precious little fighter she is!

Being a military family, we have a lot of photos of "tough guy," soldiers, but let me tell you, the photo of Ally above is a photo of a true fighter!

Tuesday, June 3, 2008

That's Refreshing

Today's assignment for the scrapbook.com blog
challenge to is post a photo of something "refreshing."

Here's two photos of my oldest daugther taken a few years apart. The ice cream photo was taken at a local ice
cream shop when she was about 1.5 years. The photo with the man-made springs was taken at Downtown Disney two years later (that's Grandma looking over her). Both were hot, hot, hot July days!

I haven't scrapped either photo ... yet.

Monday, June 2, 2008

It's Hot!

Scrapbook.com has a challenge for members to blog each day. There is a specific topic for each day, and today's is to blog about something hot. Well, for once, it's the weather. Temps have been below normal here in Michigan, but today it will reach 80 degrees. Here's a LO I did from an even hotter day last summer.




The photos were taken at a an outdoor splash park. It's a ton of fun for kids, and nice for parents because we can sit in the residual spray!

The title of the LO is "Perpetual Fun." The circles and the lines (the orange specialty paper that goes across both pages and the line of circular sun stamps along the bottom) are meant to enhance the perpetual theme.

Sunday, June 1, 2008

Father's Day Is Almost Here


Here's a LO about my husband as a Father/Soldier. I still want to do one about my own father as a Grandfather.

Who is else working on LOs or other projects for Father's Day?