Sherri's (Never A Dull Moment) World

Moving In Together...

Natasha has had a new man in her life lately.... his name is Jesse:

She brought him home for an official "Meet The Parents" weekend around Mother's Day (yet another blog post in progress).

They decided to move in together last month .

So I thought I would make them a "housewarming" present. I learned a brand new technique  recently involving glass etching paste:

You start out with a pair of glass coffee mugs, wine glasses or even beer glasses. You rack your brain for something clever to put on them (names, monograms, cute saying, clip art, etc.). You cut out the REVERSE of your idea on craft vinyl using a die-cutting machine like a Silhouette or a Cricut. You stick the vinyl onto your glass(es). You dab on glass etching medium and let it sit for 15 minutes. Then you rinse your glass(es) with water and remove the vinyl outlines. TA DAAAAAA! You have etched glass!

 
I decided to make a pair of "his & hers" mugs. Natasha's mug says "mmmmmm.... delicious!" and Jesse's mug says "soooooo good".

I added some Starbucks "VIA" instant coffee and a cute card and popped them in the mail.

Natasha said it was the BEST housewarming gift ever! I love that. And I adore her. :)

About Last Weekend...

I was away last weekend... it was time for another scrapbooking retreat!

So I headed east to the sleepy town of Goldbar:
 
Back to the Wallace Falls Lodge:

 
There were 19 lovely ladies there, with good intentions to scrapbook all weekend:

 
My scrapbooking partner-in-crime, Kris, was with me:

 
As usual, the snack table was overflowing with fruit, veggies, chocolate and junk food:

 
Saturday was so sunny that it was difficult to stay focused, so I slipped outside for some vitamin D:

 
And I read another chapter in my book:

 
One of the gals brought some bubble wands to play with. I couldn't resist:

 
What fun!

 

Most of us participated in a "Secret Sister" activity throughout the weekend. We were to leave a few fun gifts for our assigned SS and then reveal ourselves on Saturday night. I received some wonderful things:

 
and

 
They were soooooo ME!

Turns out that Chrissy was my sweet Secret Sister:

 
While I was sneaking around, leaving gifts for cute Brenda:

 

There was some talk about the "Super Moon" that occurred Saturday night:

 
Bill was worried that people would go a little crazy (he packed a survival kit in my car just in case I needed to fend for myself in Goldbar)...

Instead, a different kind of crazy happened that night:

 
Around 10:00 p.m., a trio of Blue Women entered the Cabana House (where all the scrapbooking takes place). The music switched to "I Think I Want You" by PitBull. And The Blue Women started to dance: 

 

and

 
It was sexy! It was cool! They had a message for us when the routine ended: 
I asked if I could take their pictures before they disappeared. I was hugged with enthusiasm:

 
I started a line-up of women waiting to be photographed with The Blue Women group (a.k.a. Lori, Bridget & Brenda):

 

And *poof* they were gone!

Most of us went back to scrapbooking, some ladies went hot-tubbing, others had a few cocktails:

 
As a matter of fact, the snack table added a few new "ingredients":

 
(I only had 1/2 glass, seriously.)

There was a lot to laugh about throughout the weekend!

There were different name tags, sashes, and items like this one floating around the room to be "inherited" when you least expected OR really deserved it:

 
Cheryl ended up wearing the new "Shut The H--- Up!" mask.

This one was worn by both Bridget and Bernie (after Saturday night):

 

There were other "labels" floating throughout the room-- like "Mean Girl", "Tattle Tale", "Best Prankster", "Just Talk To The Hand", "Up All Night" or "Loser". My goal: not to wear ANY of them. [check]

I laughed alot. I finished ~20 scrapbook pages. It was a REALLY fun weekend, thanks to my good friend, Linda:

 
She is the PERFECT hostess! :)

 

 

 

I Think I Like It...

Do you ever get a song stuck in your head??? Most of you will nod "yes"...

I saw this cute little video clip for a new scrapbook product that will be in stores this spring-- they are fun little books, called "SMASH" journals, and you can add ANYTHING to them:

 

So the first song I thought of after watching that video was Enrique Iglesias' hit "I Like It":

 

And now I can't get it out of my head..... I want a SMASH journal and Baby, I LIKE IT!

Let's Get Crafty!

I was away for the weekend, fulfilling one of my New Year's resolutions for 2011. I vowed that I would be more "artsy" this year-- it makes me happy and I did not create much in 2010.

It was raining hard when I left Friday morning:

 
My destination: The Firs at Bellingham, Washington:

 
It was a scrapbooking retreat weekend! Woo Hoo! Almost 100 scrapbookers were ready to spend 3 days/2 nights doing what they loved best. We were divided into three large groups, assigned to 1 of 3 buildings. I scrapbooked at the Alpine Lodge:

 
The theme for the weekend was "Fun in the Sun" and we all had goody bags waiting for us at our tables. Inside were flipflops, a lei with nametag, beach paper & embellishments, and toenail polish:

This weekend package included 3 meals a day, massages, pedicures, a scrap swap meet, door prizes and midnight "refreshers":

 
I scrapbooked with my favorite friends--a.k.a. The Fabulous Four-- Kris, Danelle & Jennifer:

 
It was Jennifer's birthday on Saturday:

 
The food was delicious and plentiful:

 
I think this was my favorite meal-- broccoli & cheese soup, turkey melt hoagie and sweet potato fries (YUM!):

 
This was my favorite dessert-- fresh fruit "pizza" with a cookie crust (YUM!):

 
One of our funniest conversations had to do with designing apparel for scrapbookers. [Note: we talk about this often.] We are continuously coming up with T-shirt slogans, sweatpant designs (with the words printed on the butt), and of course, matching accessories. This time, Kris was brainstorming a new T-shirt design as a play on words from the movie, "Meet The Fockers". She suggested we wear matching T-shirts that say "FLOCKER"...Our husbands could wear matching T-shirts that say "The Other Flocker"... We were all giggling and Kris was laughing so hard that she was crying:

 
Let me guess... you don't GET IT. That's okay. It is a scrapbooking term. What she/I am referring to is this fluffy powder you can buy to "flock" alphabet letters or other objects on your page so they look soft & fuzzy. One of us bought a new cool color of "flocking" and we were all oohing & aahing over it:

 

I went to that Scrap Swap Meet and got all of this for $5!

One of the midnight surprises was this:

 
What?? They served steaming hot washclothes infused with peppermint oil. Sound weird? It TOTALLY clears your sinuses and wakes you up with the fresh, minty smell!

And it isn't a scrapbook retreat weekend without one or more of us winding up underneath the tables...

It is a hobby-hazard. One of us inevitably drops an alphabet letter, gemstone, brad, eyelets, etc. on the floor and we go looking for it! As the saying goes-- four eyes are better than two! I didn't get a picture of it, but often we often "lose" other objects if they are sticky. Both Jennifer and I spent over 10 minutes searching our table space for some sticker or embellishment that had disappeared. We did look underneath the table (duh!). In our cases, we both found our sticker/embellishment stuck to our shirt sleeves by our elbows! @#$@##!! Silly stickers!

What was I working on? I almost finished this cute project called a "December Daily" (will show it later). And I did some scrapbook pages from our trip to Las Vegas last summer. I had a really fun time and it was a great way to re-energize! Will I do it again? ABSOLUTELY. :)

 

CKC 2010

I secretly look forward to November each year because that is when the Creating Keepsakes Convention (CKC) is scheduled for our area:

 
What is CKC? It is a scrapbooking convention sponsored by a major scrapbooking magazine (Creating Keepsakes) where they offer a vender faire (=shopping), classes, and sometimes scrapbooking celebrities are there to give lectures or meet-n-greet opportunities. This convention hits a dozen major cities across the nation throughout the year; it usually winds up in Bellevue each November. So we head to the big city for the day:

 
I always go with my favorite scrap partner-in-crime, Kris:

 
We pay an admission fee to get into the vender faire, which means walking up and down rows and rows of booths to shop for the latest scrapbooking goods:

 
Sometimes there are demonstrations of cool products and new techniques:

 
It usually takes 3-4 hours to see everything (which includes a lunch snack). Here are some of my favorite things that I purchased this year-- I just HAD to have this T-shirt (remember, I am raising chickens):

 
I could not pass up this cute snowmen die set (you run it through a machine with colored paper and the images are cut out for you):

 
The Tattered Angels booth was back! (I spent some serious dough there in 2008.) They had some gorgeous new products and lovely new Glimmer Mist sprays. I bought myself some new colors, like Peacock, Angel Mist and Black Gold:

 
Technique Tuesday was there as well-- they make clear rubber stamps and are one of my favorite brands. I bought this dreamy lowercase alphabet (which matches the capital letter alphabet I had at home):

 
We looked at EVERYTHING and left before my car turned into a pumpkin at a nearby paid parking lot. We window-shopped at Bellevue Square. Then we had a lovely dinner here:

 
We always compare notes over dinner, recapping what our favorite booth, favorite product(s) were and did we find what we were ultimately looking for? We had the best time!  For us, it will be same time, next year.... until the 2011 CKC.

About Last Weekend...

Last weekend, I went to Goldbar for a scrapbooking retreat. It was hosted by my lovely friend, Linda, who spoils us with goodie bags at our scrap tables and treats in our lodge bedrooms... ( I love that)

We stayed at the rustic Wallace Falls Lodge, which has been a wonderful location for these twice-a-year weekend getaways:

 
My favorite scrapbooking friends were there.... Melanie, Jennifer & Kris:

 
All of the ACTION took place in this building, called "The Cabana House":

 
Amidst the jokes, the music, the story-telling-- we all worked on a variety of crafty projects. Jennifer made this cool page where she used beads to represent bird seeds:

Kris was scrapbooking photos from their first visit to Boston, where Darin ran the legendary Boston Marathon:

 Melanie was making a mini-album to feature events from 2009 (which turned out awesome!):

 
I packed several scrapbooking projects to work on during the weekend to 1) keep from getting bored and 2) match my energy level to the craft project. I made a couple dozen homemade Halloween cards, some with a Peanuts theme:

 
And others that were spooky or cute:

 
I made a bunch of new magnets for my metal magnetic calendar. Here is my new look for October:

And then I switched to scrapbooking pages from either our Las Vegas trip or pages for Natasha's album. Here are pages from visiting "The Bodies" exhibit at the Luxor Hotel:

 
Here is part of my spread on the C.S.I. Experience from the MGM Grand Hotel (if you look closely, you can see my fingerprints using green ink):

 
I added extra bling to my pages from the "KA" Cirque Del Soleil show:

 

I had fun with my girlfriends and I felt really productive! By the time I packed up to go home on Sunday afternoon, I had finished almost 20 scrapbook pages. Hooray!

Long story short: I'm already looking forward to the next scrap weekend in March 2011. :)

Heading Out...

I am heading out of town to scrapbook with friends for the weekend. Woo Hooo! ?

This week has been so busy, all I can do is keep track of my mental list of things to do:

1) Get ready to teach Biology 100 again (check!)

2) Teach Mon, Tues,Wed & Thurs (check!)

3) Order prints from Costco Photo Lab, pick them up (check!)

4) Then order enlargements from Costco Photo Lab, pick them up (check!)

5) Have lunch with my mom (check!)

6) Go see Jeremiah, Angela & see if Elijah will walk for me (he wasn't in the mood) (check!)

7) Make goody boxes for scrapbook friends (check!)

8) Gas up car (check!)

9) Pack overnight bag and snacks for weekend (check!)

10) Make sure everything is caught up at Hallmarkland (check!)

And now I am stuck on #11... trying to pack up my scrapbook supplies to keep busy all weekend... ARGH! This is ALWAYS the hardest part!!!  I hope I can pull myself together to leave within the hour...

T.G.I.F.!!

Using My Scrapbook Stash...

Two weeks ago, I signed up for an online class from a U.K. scrapbooker named Shimelle:

For only $15, Shimelle sends wonderful ideas 3x each week to my email inbox on how to use my scrapbooking STASH.  Hence the class title, "Something From Almost Nothing".  She has an ongoing project that you can make now or later (for me, that is LATER as I have a bit going on right now). For the other classmates, she has a forum for posting comments, chatting about your stash or posting things you have made with your personal stash. She is still adding people to the class if you are interested...

Shimelle also has a great blog-- if you are into crafting, you will love it!

I made one item recently that incorporated the concept of only using my STASH: (insert horns blowing here... ) TA DAAAAAAA!

 

It is a magnetic calendar. You start out with a aluminum 12" x 12" sheet that is printed with a generic monthly grid.  You make a monthly title and then you create a bunch of magnets to become the days of the month.  Some are numbered, some are not. It is another project where anything goes!! 

The best part of all was that I didn't have to buy anything to make it (almost, I did run out of magnets). I glued large magnets onto the back of the metal sheet and now it is hanging on the freezer that is in my sewing room (in progress).   Sometimes we all need a little kick in the pants to use what we already have and this was JUST the kick that I needed... :)

Jelly Bellies

Yesterday, the four Scrap Queens were reunited as we spent the day with our favorite hobby :

Often we bring snacks, some healthy and others..... not healthy. More often than not, this is what shows up between the four of us:

Can you guess what is in the bag?? Jelly Belly jelly beans, of course! Who can resist choosing from so many colors:

AND so many flavors:

We can't. I know I am always on the hunt for coconut, bubble gum and cinnamon jelly beans:

Danelle's favorite flavor is berry blue:

And Jennifer picks out either orange or tangerine:

We usually don't have the flavor chart with us, so we sample random colors and remind each other of the flavors. Jennifer and I gag over Buttered Popcorn and we give the Mocha ones to Danelle. We usually give Jennifer a hard time about eating so many that she gets sick to her stomache.  Strangely, Kris is not a fan of Jelly Bellies. She succumbed to scrap peer pressure though, and picked out this one:

Instead of chewing it & finding out what flavor she had, she sucked on it. And this is what happened:

Niiiiiiiiiiiice! For the record, we tell ourselves that Jelly Bellies have zero calories. How can something so small and innocent make you fat??? ha What is YOUR favorite flavor?

14 Days of Love

Natasha was really homesick when she returned to WSU. We talked to her almost every day after she left. She said she missed us, she missed Shadow, she missed the chickens. She said, "Mom, remember Grandma's '25 Days of Christmas Cheer'?""Would you send ME a whole month of 'cheer'???"

I thought about it. I did a little crafting. And on February 1st, out went Natasha's first installment in "14 Days of Love".

What is this? I made 14 homemade Valentines especially for Natasha. I didn't want to leak this too soon-- because Natasha is still homesick and visits my blog regularly (ha). But she has figured it out and is now checking her mailbox pretty regularly for these:

Shhhh! I have been saving this one!

I just want her to know that no matter how far away she is... she is always loved. [I love you, Sissy!]

Long-Distance Love

This is me & my mom.  Each year, she gets a little sad about the holidays because she lives so far away from each of her kids.  There is a mountain pass between my house and hers and she rarely wants to cross it to spend Christmas with us.

Last year I ran across an email from a woman describing how her parents felt the same way about the holidays. She decided to send them a card or note on each day leading up to Christmas to let them know how special they were to her. I decided to do that for my mom-- I called my project "24 Days of Christmas Cheer".

So I made 24 little Christmas cards from scratch. I numbered each envelope (so she would see that there was a pattern) and mailed one each day (sometimes 2 on Saturdays).  Some days I tucked in something extra... like a mini Kleenex pack, flavored tea bags, her favorite gum.  It took her awhile to figure it out-- during one of our weekend phone calls she commented on how early I was getting my Christmas cards out and did I know that I sent her two?

She finally caught on. She called me the next weekend to ask where #9 was... I laughed because #9 was returned for extra postage (I had sent Chiclets gum that day). @#!$!#@!

My "24 Days of Christmas Cheer" was a huge success! She saved every card and looked at them over and over again. She showed all the ladies in her bible study group, she talked about it with her bank tellers. She said it made her excited to go to the mailbox each day.

So.... I am doing it again. Here are some of my handmade cards for 2009's "24 Days of Christmas Cheer":

Once again, I am numbering each envelope (so she can keep track) and I am tucking in some surprises...

She called me tonight to say she just received #1... and then she giggled. All I want is for her to be happy. And to know that she is loved. :)

My October Distraction

Last year I created a photobook on Shutterfly as a unique Christmas gift. I ordered 6 copies-- one for each of our kids, one for us and one for each set of grandparents. Shutterfly photobooks come in two sizes: the 8" x 8" (my favorite) and the 12" x 12". I chose a theme, "A Year in Review" , and then uploaded a bunch of photos to fill in the designated spaces. What I loved about it was that I could choose and rearrange different page layouts, add my own text and document some of our travel and adventures from 2008. I could hardly wait to see the final product...

I was THRILLED when my order arrived! Here is what the front cover looked like:

 

Here is a peak at some of the inner pages...

And the back cover looked like this:

 

While I was working on my Shutterfly photobook, I received a coupon to try out a competitor's photobook. So I went to Snapfish, uploaded a bunch of our photos from our trip to Paris last summer, and built an 8"x 11" photobook. I appreciated the free photobook offer, but I was disappointed with the simple pages and the lack of options. It WAS a photobook, but it did not really tell a story.

So, long story short, I wanted to give my business to Shutterfly again this year. They were offering some awesome photobook specials last month (and free shipping!) so I decided to build a sequel for 2009 Christmas presents. I spent a couple of weekends collecting photos for my new theme and uploaded them into my Shutterfly account. I chose a different theme and customized the pages. The early bird specials actually expired last week on my surgery day-- so I stayed up until midnight the night before adding the finishing touches to my new photobook and placing the order. [Note: it was a great way to reduce pre-surgery anxiety!] I can HARDLY wait for them to arrive...

If you take lots of pictures--I URGE you to try this someday for yourself! I prefer Shutterfly, but you can create photobooks at Snapfish.com, Costco.com, scrapbooks etc.com and other services. Shop for the style and size that you want. There will be many pre-Christmas promotions for weeks to come... My experiences with both Shutterfly and Snapfish were both reasonable with delivery in less than 2 weeks. And you can build your photobooks at your own pace, you just save them to your account and place your order when you feel like it!

Sherri's bottom line:  I LOVE photobooks. :)

Scrapbook R & R

My dear friend, Linda, organizes scrapbook retreat weekends twice a year. She spoils anyone who attends with a beautiful goody bag, fun activities, and oodles of kindness.

Her location of choice is the Wallace Falls Lodge in Goldbar, Washington. She makes a group reservation for us to eat, sleep, & scrapbook the whole weekend long.

 

We can stay in a single room or share a room with a scrapbook friend. Several home-cooked meals are provided throughout the weekend. And there is a hot tub, too.
 

Just steps away from the lodge is an outbuilding known as "The Cabana". This is set up for scrapbooking until the wee hours of the morning....

My friend, Kris & I have been regulars at this retreat for a couple of years now...

This retreat we did something new-- we signed up to be "Secret Sisters". We filled out questionnaires and were told to leave at least 3 surprises for our "Sister" during the weekend. This was my gift on Saturday morning...:)

My Secret Sister left me another gift Saturday afternoon.  Hmmmm.... she thinks I am a "Rock Star"! (You know what they say.... "what happens at the retreat, stays at the retreat".)

 

We revealed ourselves near the end of the weekend. I found out that my Secret Sister was Lori!

But, that's not all. There was the entertainment factor... At one point on Saturday night, the stereo changed songs and played, "She's a Barbie Girl, in a Barbie World". In bounced three wild women (a.k.a. Brenda, Bridget & Lori) wearing CRAZY costumes. They started doing a choreographed aerobic routine... it was a weird combination of disco, P.E. moves, and bumping & grinding!

 

Bridget (in the middle) was dressed as Richard Simmons (check out her glued on armpit, chest & back hair patches)-- the other two were his/her back-up dancers!

 

We laughed so hard that some of us almost pee'ed our pants (seriously). "Richard Simmons" had many of us dancing and trying to copy some of their weight-loss moves. They posed for pictures at the end. And gave us fashion tips from Value Village. Come to think of it-- these three ladies ALWAYS have something up their sleeves during each retreat weekend.

I did get a lot of scrapbooking done. I did stay up way too late several nights in a row. I really missed Bill, Natasha and my chickens. But... I also had a really FUN time! Thanks, Linda!!

Harold and the Purple Crayon

I have always been a bookworm. When I was a little girl, I rode my bike to our local public library and checked out as many books as possible so I could entertain myself at home. [Obviously, this was in the ancient days before computers, DVR, IPods & cell phones.] The librarians got to know me so well that they let me exceed the checkout limit of 6 books per visit.

Last summer, I made this cute mini-album entitled "Love To Read".I was on another reading streak with the "Twilight" series (!) and thought I would document some of my favorite books from past to present.

I scanned a lot of book covers from favorites that are in my collection and wrote mini book reviews using little library cards in little pockets.

This book showed up in my mini-album: "The Adventures of Harold and the Purple Crayon" by Crockett Johnson.

This was one of my earliest favorites from my childhood. Not only do I love that Harold chose a purple crayon to draw with-- but he draws himself into an adventure with places to go...

and situations to get out of...

He finally gets back "home" and tucks himself in bed, where he feels safe.

 

We all have a lot in common with Harold. Life often presents us with opportunities and we must "draw" which path we take. We may find ourselves in uncomfortable situations and are forced to "draw" ourselves out of them. And at the end of the day, I think we all find peace and comfort in "drawing" ourselves into bed. So, which color crayon do you choose?  Like Harold, I choose purple.

My April Distraction

In the scrapbooking world, there has been some buzz about a new kind of project.  It is often referred to as a "Project 365" and tends to focus more on photography rather than scrapbooking/designing pages.  Why the "365"? This project means making a commitment to carrying a camera around with you and to document your daily life, that is  365 days of a year, with a photograph a day.  I thought about it last year and put it aside. Many scrapbookers began their own projects on New Years Day, to document the beginning and continue throughout 2009. I decided to try it this year-- but to begin it on my birthday and document an actual year in my life. I won't say how old I am -- but my birthday is in April and it is the perfect distraction material! 

Many scrapbookers are storing the results of their daily work in different manners. I chose to use a leather 12" x12" binder with plastic pocket pages.

Each 2-page spread will represent a full week with a title card in one pocket, seven pockets holding 4" x6" photos (for each day of the week"), and the lower four pockets hold journaling cards (same size as index cards) so that a little paragraph can be written to correspond with each day (describing what is in the photo). I am also using my own handwriting on each journaling card-- that makes it even more "my own".

What I love most about this project is the freedom to choose what to use for my daily material. I thought it would be cumbersome to carry around a camera ALL THE TIME-- but it really isn't. I can photograph things I love, my family activities, or use the camera for artistic shots. Anything goes! This is my life -- and my distraction.