are you laughing yet?  if you know me, i should have known, this was NOT going to be the case.

we left IL about 830 on Wednesday morning, as soon as we dropped the kiddos off at school and the pooch off to the vets to be boarded.  we had our parents all set to go with the girls’ schedules and lists of medications and well, we were good to go.  we got about 20 miles away from town and it starts raining.  it rained the whole way to New Orleans.  Illinois to New Orleans.  for those of you keeping track, that’s 13 hours.   no joke, it rained for about 12 of those.  in fact, while we were in Mississippi, it rained so hard we had to pull off to the side of the road.  even then the wipers couldn’t keep up with how hard it was raining.  it was an amazing thing to see, but one i’d rather have watched through a window of a hotel, or a house, not from the front seat of my car.  alas, we trekked on.  we made it to Hammond, LA where we were going to spend the night (about an hour north of New Orleans) about 10 PM.  as you may have guessed, we crawled into bed and that was the end of us.  no excitement for us.

the next morning, we headed to New Orleans.  we got there about 11, and we knew that they weren’t supposed to let us board until noon, but we thought we’d give it a try.  surprisingly enough they did!  we got on the boat and started to enjoy ourselves.  we ordered drinks, we ate, we just sorta hung out, we got ourselves in our room….but we noticed, we didn’t have any luggage.  we weren’t overly concerned about it because they told us it may take a few hours and we were early, so we’d probably get ours last since everyone elses would go on top of ours.  after we’d eaten, i started feeling sick to my stomach.  it wasn’t really surprising since i’ve been having stomach issues, but still, we were on vacation.  so, i decided to lay down for a bit.  my husband decided he didn’t want to waste his vacation away napping, so he went to just hang out on the deck for awhile while i napped.  he called me about an hour after i was in the room.  now, i tried not to act annoyed, but, seriously, let me nap dude.  he told me i needed to come up on the deck because there was something he knew i’d want to see.  after my whole ‘seriously?’ schpiel, i decided to go up there and maybe then he’d leave me alone.  i get up there and see that there’s a huge oil spill on about 500 pieces of luggage.  yes.  you read that right.  500 pieces of luggage were ruined by oil.  after finding out what happened (apparently a truck driver screwed up and well, ran into a barrel of oil, punctured it and poof.  spillage everywhere), we decided to go down to our room to see if our luggage was there yet.   as we were walking off the elevator, we saw it arrive.  THANK YOU BABY JESUS!  to make an even longer story short, our departure got delayed from 4 pm, until 2 am.  yes.  2 am.  the crew of the ship had to determine whose luggage was ruined, who needed to be compensated, yadda, yada, yadda.

so, obviously, our day in cozumel was going to be pushed back too.  instead of arriving there at 8 am on saturday morning, we were going to arrive about 11 am.  we spent most of friday in limbo because no one was sure exactly what time we’d get there.   now, i’m a scheduled control freak.  this was no bueno for me.  i had a bit of a panic attack about it all and was sorta freaking out thinking we wouldn’t make it back to New Orleans in time….yes, i realize, i was a hot mess.   anyway, the rest of our trip to cozumel was fairly uneventful (for once).  we arrived about noon on Saturday  and since we arrived late, they were going to let us stay until 7 pm.  we had booked an excursion to spend a day at Playa Mia.  this is a beach that had free food, free drinks, and gorgeous scenery.  we could just lay on the beach, be bums, and drink.  perfect.   the day was awesome…no need to dwell on awesomeness, right? :p

fast forward to our sail back to New Orleans.  the day started off windy on sunday.  no biggie, we’re in the middle of an ocean, it’s bound to be windy.  i sat my butt down and proceeded to finish my 3rd book of the trip.  my husband went off to do lord knows what and he told me he’d be back in a couple hours and we could get lunch or whatever.  well, the wind picks up.  a lot.  by the time he got back, the wind was ridiculous and the temperature had dropped probably 15 degrees.  i went down to change because i was frozen and we then went up to eat.  when we were up there, the boat started rocking.  a lot.  our room was on the 4th floor and the waves were even with our windows.  i’m not one to get seasick, but this was ridiculous.  12 hours of this.  12 hours of the waves rocking the ship back and forth so much that you couldn’t walk straight.  it was horrible.

now, i can guarantee we will not take a cruise with carnival again, (yes, i realize that most of what happened was not their fault but things were SO unorganized on their part it was ridiculous) but we did have an AMAZING time regardless.

if you’ve made it this far, you deserve a medal LOL so, how about some pictures?  now, i didn’t bring my big ol’ awesome camera, i just brought my iphone.  i didn’t want to have the ‘need’ to take pictures and only wanted to take the ones i felt were worth it instead of just taking a ton of pictures.

one of my husband’s only requirements was that we stopped at Lambert’s Cafe for a meal.  he got it and was thrilled.

here’s a peek at the oil spill.  insanity, right?

here’s the aftermath.  they were transferring people’s clothing to new luggage.

just a cute little picture of us waiting (forever) to leave.

my 6 year old daughter was texting us on my mom’s phone.  this totally made my whole night.

Playa Mya.  gorgeousness and the weather was absolutely perfect

here’s a few more pics

and just a few awesome pics….

this was the main deck of the boat

Now, if you remember correctly, i said my blog post was going to be twofold.  i have an opportunity for you to receive an extra portfolio point!!

one of my favorite challenges of old were the spin-a-lifts so that’s what i bring to you today!

i want you to do a SAL of this layout by Arumrose titled Dreamer

here’s my take on it…

now, go run and make beautiful layouts <3

You know how most women have good and bad hair days? I have good and bad eyelash days. Seriously. I’ve given in to my crappy hair but I’m fighting the horrible lashes I was born with. They’re blonde, not particularly long and they don’t curl at all, just the opposite. In fact 90% of my hair dryer utilization is to heat my eyelash curler. So when I’m having a good eyelash day, it’s on.  A few things have made my good eyelash days much more common:

This cheap mascara (Really. My HEB has coupons on this all the time and I’m getting it for about $4 or $5 ) ROCKS. It doesn’t clump or flake and it has enough coverage, both volume and length, that I don’t need a bazillion layers. ( My one complaint, it dries out faster so I have to replace it more often. )

I tried this out a few months ago. It’s not Latisse, I’m not claiming that it actually creates  lashes but I noticed enough of a difference to replenish my tube and add it into my routine. I think  of it as a conditioner. What I’ve noticed is that I don’t lose lashes like I did before, my mascara goes on nicer and a weird gap in my lash line filled in.  My eyes can be sensitive to some products and this hasn’t bothered them at all. Shop around, I’ve seen this stuff range in price from $5 to $15.

I have no problems buying a good eyelash curler. It makes a huge difference, I won’t ever buy a cheapy one again. I’m going to need a new one soon and this one’s been hard to replace, if you’ve got a quality one you love, link me up.

The best stuff to get all the mascara off….

I go between coconut oil and baby shampoo (in the shower). Coconut oil really does a supreme job of removing every bit and not being irritating. I’ve tried so many eye-make up removers, oily, non-oily, a lot of them really bother my eyes.  Bonus, it smells really good and you can cook with it. Some people even use it as a facial moisturizer, I put it on my cuticles but my face doesn’t like it.

Speaking of coconut

I swear by Suave Coconut Conditioner as a shaving gel. My daughter thought I was just being cheap but she swears by it now too. We’re hairy so shaving’s a big deal to us.

This is my bargain primer. Don’t let the brand scare you off. It works like a charm. Plus you can use it as intended when you run your next marathon.

I’ve never found a toner that works better than good old fashioned witch hazel, effective and not too harsh. My greasy t-zone thanks me.

I love this mask. My skin feels so nice afterwards.

My Clarisonic Mia, I adore. Christmas before last I came across a great internet deal and hit submit before I could back down. I’m so glad because I can’t recommend it enough. In the last few years especially (Hello middle age!) my skin texture has changed. I didn’t even realize how much until after I started using this baby.  My daughter has the Olay knock-off and my Mom tried something similar from Overstock, they aren’t anywhere near the same.

Another thing I swear by is good make-up brushes. .

Everyday Minerals has really nice, quality brushes. They run sales fairly often too. My favorites are the Eye Kabuki above, the long handled Kabuki,  and the eye blending brush.

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I almost always have my toe nails polished, spring, summer, winter and fall. I do my fingers now and then too. I love China Glaze polish, I think it goes on and wears the best. I’ll use some other brands as well but I always seem to notice how much better  China Glaze wears. I’ll spend a little on nail polish because I there’s a big difference in application and wear. I like Orly a lot too. OPI and Essie aren’t bad and while I’ve drooled over some Butter colors, $14 a bottle is too spendy for me.

Holy Top Coat Batman! Sech Vite Fast Dry is a miracle in a bottle. Put this on when your last coat is still wet and your nails will be dry and glossy in mere minutes.  Five minutes and you can fold towels kind of dry.

And last but not least….let me pucker up and say that Revlon’s new Lip Butter…is fabulous. I have abnormally dry lips, even with constant moisturizing they are dry, so I tend not to wear a lot of actual lipstick. I like stains but I haven’t been very happy with the drugstore versions. I actually love  gloss but you have to apply it like ever ten seconds. I’ve been pretty much stuck on Burt’s Bee’s Raisin Lip Shimmer ( I still think it’s great stuff but I like variety)

These are my newest finds. They’re a moisturizing cross between a lipstick and gloss, not too much of either. I’m mixing it up again, whoo hoo.  My favorite colors are Berrie Smoothie and Peach Parfait.

That’s a peek into my beauty bag. Thanks for humoring me, I’ll be watching out for the next make-up/ beauty thread that pops up in the forum.

Until next time, Happy Scrapping.

This is what I mean when I say a drawer card, it’s a pull out drawer with the card on top. I put a small present in my drawer and my Mum popped a gift card in to her drawer when she gave it to her sister last night.

I’m going to share how to make the basic structure of the box, drawer and card. Don’t worry, it looks complicated and there are quite a few photographs but really it’s very simple and straightforward. Also I should apologise for the colours in the photographs, taken at night under dodgy lighting they all had a horrible yellow tinge so I’ve changed them all to black and white to save your poor eyes

Making the box:

Cut 2 pieces of cardstock 9 7/8″ x 9 7/8″ which will make the drawer and 11″ x 5″ which will make the box framework

Score the large square at 1, 2 and 3 inches from each side and the rectangle piece of cardstock at 1, 5, 6, and 10 inches starting from the left side then turn it around and score all the way along the long edge at 1 inch

Your card pieces should look like this (I’ve marked the scores with a black pen so you can easily see them)

Making the box first, fold along all the score lines you just made then cut as in this photograph to create the flaps and then add glue to the flaps where I’ve added the squiggles

Fold over the flaps to make the box

Taking the square piece of card that you have already scored you need to cut away all the sections that I’ve squiggled on in the photograph to make the drawer, you can see the main shape of the drawer with the 4 sides and flaps to tuck in

Fold on the score lines for each side. From the centre fold in on the first score line …

From the centre fold in on the second score line …

From the centre fold out on the third score line, repeat this for all four sides of the drawer

Construct the drawer by folding in the tabs …

Folding over the side …

… and pushing down into the drawer. As you have already scored and folded each line your drawer will basically come together by itself with just a little pushing and pulling

Slot the drawer into the box

To make the card that is attached to the top of the drawer take a piece of card that is 8″ x 4″ and score at 4 and 6 inches from the left side

Fold over to make a little easel shape (without the drawer this type of card is called an easel card as the front stands up as if on an artists easel) apply glue to the bottom and attach to the top of your box

Cut a second piece of card that is 4 inches square which will become the decorated front of the card, glue it to the easel on the bottom 2 inches only which keeps the back of the card nice and neat. This will simply fold down when you want to give the card to the recipient.

Now that you have made your basic structure simply print papers and cut to size, gluing them to all the sides of the box, the front of the drawer and the card. It’s nice to cover the inside of the drawer too and remember to tie on a button to the drawer front so it can be pulled open

Supplies:

Papers – Happy and Healthy for Life by Jenn Barrette at Sweet Shoppe Designs

Haberdashery dies – My Favorite Things

Tag die and sentiment stamp – Papertrey Ink

Ribbon, twine, button, lace, pins and charm – Ribbon Girl

There is so much gorgeous stuff in the shoppe this week, and to top it off yesterday, we put a brand new designer in the spotlight! That means now through February 29th, you’ll be able to get to know lots more about Penny in her special feature, and you’ll snag her gorgeous kit, Simply, FREE with any $10 purchase in the shoppe. Take a peek…

Now, it’s time for me to share our HUGE news! We get inquiries from designers all the time wanting to know if there is room on our team for their gorgeous designs, and while I’d often love to say yes, it’s a pretty rare occasion that we add new designers to our team. But… the time is here, and I am soo very pleased to announce that we’re looking for an incredible artist or two to join the Sweet Shoppe family! Here are some of the details…

Now the application is pretty intense, so please be sure you click the ad above to read all of the details so you don’t miss anything. We also know that considering moving stores is a big decision, so if you have any questions you’d like to discuss confidentially before you apply, please feel free to write me at admin@sweetshoppedesigns.com – I’d be glad to try and answer any questions you might have! The deadline to get applications submitted is February 29th, so get ‘em in right away and best of luck to all who apply!

Finally, I also have another call to share with you. Julie is looking to expand her creative team, and you just might be the scrapper she’s looking for. Check out her call below and get those applications in for your chance to join her fabulous team…

On that note, I’m off for the week, but we’ll see you here in your inbox to finish up our 6th anniversary celebration with another amazing promotion! Until then, keep making memories and scrap MORE!

Sweet Shoppers it’s February 16th, and do you know what that means? It means we’re putting another amazing designer into the spotlight, and this time it’s Penny who is looking awfully pretty up there in her picture don’t you think? As usual, we’ve put Penny through the ringer in our interview below, and I think you’re going to enjoy reading through it to get to know her and her designs a bit better. As a special bonus you’ll also receive her scrumptious featured designer kit, Simply, FREE with your $10 purchase in the shoppe now through the 29th, so get shopping so you don’t miss it!

Just The Basics

Do you have a nickname?

Yes! My “real” name is Penelope, but my family and friends have always called me Penny or Nel.

Do you have any pets?

Yes, we have a wonderful brindled dog named Gary. She (yes, she) was named by the boys after Sponge Bob’s Snail. We got her two years ago at the local animal shelter, and she is smart, loving, and loyal.

Describe your perfect pizza toppings.

I’m a veggie lover so my perfect pizza must have tons of veggies. My favorites are tomatoes, black olives, green peppers, mushrooms, and banana peppers.

What’s the weather like right now?

Freezing! We’ve had an unusually mild winter like most of the US, but today winter has decided to visit us. The high today is 25!

Coke or Pepsi?

Coke Zero!

What’s your favorite food?

Chicken fajitas made at home.

What’s your favorite guilty pleasure?

Homemade ice cream.

Do you wear glasses or contacts?

Contacts. I would wear my glasses, but they are 7 years old and ugly!

CDs or MP3s?

MP3s all the way! We started putting our CDs on our computer way before you could purchase MP3s online. I enjoy creating playlists and taking my tunes with me wherever I go. All of our CDs are in a huge Rubbermaid container in the guest bedroom closet. I can’t remember the last physical CD I purchased. It has to be over 10 years ago!

Paper or Plastic?

Neither. I bring my own bags!

Inside The Artist’s Studio

When and how did you get started as a digital designer?

I began digital scrapbooking in 2003 after my eldest son was born. From the beginning I made a lot of my own papers and elements, but I swore I would NEVER become a designer. Well, obviously that didn’t last and I began selling my designs in the summer of 2006. I bounced around at a few stores before landing here in November of 2007.

Is there a website that you can always count on to inspire you in some way?

I can lose myself for hours in Pintrest. It’s such a fabulous spot for inspiration. My problem is that something totally unrelated to work will catch my eye, like recipes, and before I know it 30 minutes will have flown by and I can’t remember why I went to Pinterest in the first place!

What is your “home office” or work environment like? Describe it or share a picture.

My work area is in the loft above the hearth room.  We have a built-in computer counter and cabinets with space for two work stations. My husband takes up the left space and I’m on the right.  My husband just built me a new computer last week. It has an Intel 3.4 GHz processor, 16 GB of RAM, and two monitors. The dual monitor set-up is fabulous!

Do you have a design checklist of things you feel must be included in a kit or accomplished before you think it’s done?

Each kit is different, but yes, I do create a list for each one. I find writing a list helps me keep focused. If I don’t have a list, I tend to waste a lot of time.

What’s your favorite thing about being a digital scrapbook designer?

It’s is definitely all of the wonderful people I’ve met. Digi Scrappers rock!

Food For Thought

What can you do today that you were not capable of a year ago?

This past weekend I ran 10 miles. Granted it was a slow ten miles, but I would NEVER have thought I could run this far a year ago.

How do you define success?

This quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson sums up how I feel, “To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest critics and to endure the betrayal of false friends. To appreciate beauty; to find the best in others; to leave the world a bit better whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition; to know that even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded.”

What made you smile this week?

This card was given to my son by a girl in his class. It’s just too cute.

What is your favorite smell?

Rain on pavement and fresh cut grass

What lifts your spirits when life gets you down?

There are a few things I do to raise my spirits when I feel down: I crank up the tunes and sing along, I get moving, or I go hang with my kiddos.
_______________

Now that you’ve gotten to know Penny a bit better, take a peek at some of her favorite products, and don’t forget you can pick up her incredible and exclusive limited edition kit, Simply, FREE with ANY $10 purchase made in the shoppe between now and February 29th!

Now 31 is here and I have only managed to do at least 1/3 of that list. I haven’t even accomplished the most important three on top. But hey, I’m 31. I can make another 31 on 31 list right? I might be so behind on catching up with scrapping but I always make it a point to document ME on my BIRTHDAY. I get one day out of the 365 days to scrap about myself, even take the time to take GOOD pictures – I deserve it right?

And you know what? You deserve it too. Years from now, when we are old and grey, they will love to see us when we were young and we should give in to their wish, we are scrappers after all.

You bet one of the things I will be doing tomorrow is take time to find some natural light, and hand the camera over to my husband. Im unhappy with how I look right now but it wont matter years from now.

This is a really quick and easy craft to do with kids that uses just a few items you can find at your local craft store or Target. Below is what you need to create your slime:

- borax (from laundry aisle of a grocery store)
- Elmer’s™ non-toxic blue glue gel (sold with office or school supplies)
- Glow-Away™ washable paint (sold near tempera paint at Michael’s craft store)
- water
- bowls or cups
- spoons

Instructions for Making Glowing Slime
1. In one bowl, mix 1/3 cup glue with 1 cup water. I used a whisk, since stirring with a spoon was slow.
2. Stir or whisk in about half a tube of the paint.
3. Pour about half a cup of hot water into a cup or second bowl.
4. Stir in borax until it stops dissolving (starts to leave some at the bottom). This makes a saturated solution without any measuring at all.
5. Measure and mix 1/3 cup of the borax solution (the clear part, not the undissolved stuff at the bottom) with 1 cup of the glue/glow mixture. You can try to whisk this, but it’s easier to use your hands.

You can store your slime in a regular baggie for what seems to be indefinitely. To make it glow, just put it under a bright light and then let the kids take it to a dark area in your home and when you hear the screams of excitement – you will know that it is glowing!

As part of a girl scout badge to learn about flowers, I decided to have the girls make a something using potpourri. My first idea was to have them take a foam circle ball and cover it with the potpourri but sadly I did not have much luck keeping the pieces on! Since Valentine’s was coming up, I decided to change things up a bit and proceeded to cut out hearts out of heavy cardstock instead. Here is a sample of what the little sweet smelling heart looked like.

To make these hearts, you will need the following:

- bag of potpourri, preferably a kind that has different pieces of flowers
- white cardstock
- heart shape template
- ribbon to hang the heart somewhere
- hole puncher for ribbon
- tacky white glue
- foam brushes
- bowls for the glue and potpourri
- paper towels to keep the mess to a minimum

There is really no instructions here because you want to encourage your kids to make any kind of design they want. I had 11 girls with me and each girl took their time designing their very own heart. The whole room smelled so wonderful and heavenly after we were done!

Besides Pinterest, the Disney Family Fun site has many ideas that you can do with your kids. A couple more of my favorite sites are: Enchanted Learning, Crafts.Kaboose and Martha Stewart’s site. I would add a word of caution – often you can have the best intentions about a particular craft but it is always inevitable that things may go awry and when they do – just laugh and let your kids come up with a creative alternative to the one you had planned to do originally! With that, I will let you get back to your Valentine’s plans and hope that today you let someone know how much you love them! Happy Scrapping!

It seems that the days are just flying by and tomorrow is Valentine’s Day. It isn’t a big holiday in our house… but I do like to do something special for two of my favorite guys… hubby and kiddo.  The kid is pretty easy… he is getting this learning game that has words on the hearts and he can put together sentences…. and a heart shaped pizza, which he will be helping me make tonight for supper.

But for my hubby, I wanted to do something a little special.  I really didn’t want to buy anything big for him… so I decided to  breakout the printer and glue to make him a little gift from the heart…

I used Heather Roselli’s DYI Take-Out Box template and her super cute Love Monkey Kit.

It was really easy to put together, just followed the instructions that are included with the template. I put coupons in the fortune coupons for him to cash in for some time together. I also made seven paper strip hearts, one for each year we have been married, and wrote on the back reasons as to why I love him.

You just take a strip of paper, write your message on the back and folded the two color ends, attaching the two color ends facing each other… then played with it to make a heart shape.  Another idea would be to make these larger and have a chain of them all around the room… how awesome would that be?

All my fortune cookies and hearts fit nicely in the box and now I just need to get a bag of Peanut M&Ms and I am set for hubby… well, I also need to make him a steak dinner, his favorite.

What are your plans for Valentine’s Day? Anyone making anything crafty for the ones they love?

Until next time!

{{hugs}}

Rebecca aka Mamabee

Here is one of my favorite pages that I scrapped about my Grandma! ♥

That is some yummy YUMMY stuff, and don’t forget, there’s just a couple of days left to snag Janet’s amazing featured designer template pack FREE with your $10 purchase! We’ll be putting a new designer into the spotlight on the 16th, so check back then for that exclusive offer too.

Finally, if you’ve always dreamed of joining the Sweet Shoppe team, you’ll want to keep your eyes open next weekend because we’ll be releasing all of the information on a very special call! It’s going to be an incredible opportunity that doesn’t happen too often around here, so be sure to check your inbox on Friday night. And speaking of your inboxes…

…I’ll be in them next weekend, and hopefully only once! Until then, keep making memories and scrap MORE!