Monday, August 31, 2009

First round of pictures...

Today I will post some fun pictures of CE... I have a bit more work to do on a couple of my projects before "showcasing" my finished projects!! {But I will say, I have maybe 10 more mins per project... they work ya really hard and fast, but it is so nice to come home with finished and nearly finished projects!}

In Creative Escape tradition... (and because I uploaded my pic in reverse order...) Let's start with dessert!!
Sprinkles cupcakes with CE colors!! I love my red velvet!!
The suppers were delicious, I even had vegetables I had never even heard of :)

As Heidi says, "Desserts and fruits don't belong together" So after our fruity first night she made sure we had this yummy snicker cheesecake/mousse ball of yummy goodness!!! :) {I'm sure it was only 1 point in Weight Watchers, right??}
But even the fruit felt like dessert!!

Keep your eyes out... you never know what you will find :) hehehehe
These are the amazing ladies in my classes and at meals that kept us laughing, smiling, talking (a lot), and became our new friends! Can't wait to see them all next year!!
Vickie and Ashley... too cute!!
Miss Robyn working hard!!

Are you ready to see what all of the buzz was about??? Here is Heidi's lamp... bringing in $8200 for charity... {I LOVE IT!!! When the lamp is off you don't see the writing, but when it is on it glows a really neat quote. Also, the broach is from her personal jewelry box!!}

... and here is Tim's that brought in $29,500!!! {again, all vintage goodies from his studio}


I love this pin!! It reminded me of friends back home!! :)
"She knew with the right amount of junk she could create a masterpiece!"

And I LOVE this quote from Tim Holtz stamp set... Yes, this will be a vinyl quote in my living room, very soon!


Here is a little piece of Heaven... they call it Mystic Paper!! :) It was all vintage!! It was all of the junk store finds you can find in like 100 junk store trips all in one place! I can't wait to go back!!

... and then there was this store... I refer to as "the ribbon store" It was wall to wall ribbons!! Not to mention they had some of the COOLEST displays and ideas!! I am excited to make a few of them!!


Back at CE we were sent out on a safari treasure hunt. At each station we had to take silly pics :) It was lots of fun!! Here are just a two stops on our hunt!


This Robyn, my friend that came along to be my roomie :) I didn't really know her when we started off on the trip... we were from the same hometown, and had mutual friends, but didn't really "know" her... after spending 5 days with her... she is a strong woman with a good heart, and I am glad to now call her my friend.



I will post pics of all of my teachers later today... now I am off to take my mom back to the airport. Thank you sooooo much, Mom, for the amazing, life changing experience of Creative Escape, and for spending the time with my family while I was gone. Love you!!

Sunday, August 30, 2009

A-MAZE-ING!!!

Wow!!! What an amazing trip! Creative Escape was everything I thought it would be times a hundred!!! I met some great ladies that will forever be my friends, and got to know a friend better and closer. The talent of the teachers is remarkable! The projects are like no other... I am so excited to share with you the ideas and techniques I learned.

"Once in a lifetime" was the theme of Heidi's class... It made you look at everything in your daily life and with your family and realize those are all once in a lifetime moments.

"Unwritten"... That was the theme if the event. Heidi Swapp spoke on Friday about this. As we were all in tears from her presentation she made us realize that we NEED to scrapbook!! These are our memories, our kids memories, our family and friends' memories. Without scrapbooking (and journaling, no matter how much or how little it may be) we need to get our story written down. Not just for us... But for everyone we share our story with.

Creative Escape is beyond words. It was a creative shot in the arm, it was a sisterhood of women, it was royal treatment (yes, we really eat dessert first... And it was yummy!!!). I can't wait to share my projects with you all... And it will be very soon, but I had to ship my toolbag and two other boxes back of new stuff!!!

Have a great week! And be creative, The rest is still unwritten...




-- Post From My iPhone

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Time for bed

Once again I find myself up at 1:12am getting in a quick blog before going to bed... this time however, I have to be up at 4:15!!! I am leaving for Arizona!! I am so excited :) I am going for a scrapbook weekend!! I am thrilled to be taking classes from top instructors... including HEIDI SWAPP and TIM HOLTZ!!! I can't wait for those two!! :) Also, last minute I signed up for a digital SLR class from a fabulous photographer!! I am excited to finally learn more about my camera and all its capabilities! Okay, I am off... I will try to do a couple mobile upload entries while I am gone. Thank you mom for coming to stay with my girls... and for my once in a lifetime birthday presents :)



{I can't post with out a picture} so here are Hallie and Reese being "helping hands" at the fair! I will tell you more about this when I get back! It is a really neat program at the state fair!! Good night!

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Birthday Girl Reese

Okay, you may notice by the date stamp that I am blogging at 1:36AM.... I am just finishing up lots of vinyl orders and trying to get everything in line to go to Creative Escape!! :) I leave Wednesday!! I am soooooo excited!! {for you non scrappers... it is a 5 day scrapping heaven!! with of course, Heidi Swapp} I gotta tell ya, I'm not looking forward to the weather!! The closer it gets the hotter AZ keeps getting!!! But it is all worth it!!

Anyway, I just wanted to post quick about Reese's 3rd birthday... she had a great day! We hung around the house with Ryan's parents for most of the day. For supper she picked America's Incredible Pizza (of course) When we got back home we had cake... Grandma Tricia made it. It turned out GREAT!! She loved it! We played her new game "Animal Scramble"... which we would give 2 thumbs up!!
Sunday we hit up the Iowa State Fain one last time... I will post those pics another time... Okay, so I have to tell you all a quick thing... I am sitting here typing and a spider just dropped down and run into my keyboard... so every button I hit I am terrified he is going to crawl out!!!!!!!!!! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH...
Here are a few Reesey pics...

That's all for now!! Next post will probably be from Arizona!!

Thursday, August 20, 2009

Sleepover fun

We love to have Janey come over and play... this week the girls really wanted a sleepover. The pics say it all!!!

My little Reesey

I had forgotten what it was like to have just 2 girls... with Hallie at school Reese is now the "big helper" and gets to make most of the calls :) We have been having lots of fun & of course staying very busy!!

We went to the state fair last week. We hit up some of the animals, a couple free stage shows, a horse race {those were fast ponies, as Reese would say}, and a few stops in the Varied Industry Building. She got a hat "like Becky", a tattoo "like Jessie", and had her pic with a friend, Clifford!


We have been taking a morning walk, that ends at the park. Her some pictures I took the other day, the many moods of Reese :)


It is so hard to believe she is going to be 3 on Saturday!! She has such a personality... I love it :)