Verbally Challenged

So check this out! I rented this

a few months ago from here. And every day (or whenever I check in) I get to hear this:

- pure happiness

Life is good.

I have photos this time! We purchased a little point and shoot Nikon before this trip so that I wouldn’t have to lug around my big SLR. Normally I don’t care but with back problems…not so smart right now. So I was nervous about the photos but the little bugger did pretty darned good!!!

So there were lots of awesome things at the show and it turns out that I didn’t take enough photos – but at least I do have some.

I’ll start with Queen & Co. Loved their booth – so fun! Great people working and the display’s are pure eye candy. Something that caught my eye were these little acrylic purses containing chipboard letters. They come in different color mixes with different designs. And the font is so versatile that you can substitute letters if you need multiples – love that!!!

Next up, some papers that I instantly loved when I saw them by Deja Views. It’s the color palette that drew me in, and then the patterns. Good stuff.

Another thing that caught my eye was this jewelry by K&Company. It’s awesome! These definitely have gift giving potential, especially when combined with some really cool papers and cute kids! Love the display too!

Paper! More paper I know – it’s such a subjective thing. But for me, Gin-X never fails to impress. The bold colors, fun designs and killer names are just perfect for me. My faves at the show, Party On and Scientifically Weird. Oh, and scientifically weird has the CUTEST paper with little bugs on it – not overdone – it’s just perfect.

Back to chipboard…check out this cigar box by Cosmo Cricket. Obviously it’s not a photo that I took but it’s amazing! You can order just the box (which by the way has a cute little window on the top) and do your own thing with it. OR you can get one of these boxes filled with chipboard (something like 100 pieces) and then keep the super cool box (like you’d throw it away) and use it for an album or purse (or something else incredible). Cool right?

OK, one more – Piggy Tales. I didn’t take any photos in this booth because I was in hurry and talking with one of the gals who was SUPER nice. The papers are fab – LOVE the color palette. Definitely worth checking out.

So that’s enough for now. I need to get some sleep – it’s a long drive home tomorrow!

A MINI update from Chicago! I spent the day with my boys today and it was SO NICE! After two days of walking the show and seeing a million new things being released AND meeting so many FANTASTIC people, it was nice to mellow out – and do a little shopping. Perhaps you’ll think I’m silly but on my very SHORT list of places to go – the Container Store. We don’t have one in PA (at least not anywhere NEAR my area) and I NEEDED some things! It helps that we drove to Chicago because it all gets driven back – no suitcase issues there. So I shopped and spent some money – I loved it. We also went to the the Lincoln Park Zoo. It’s an incredible zoo that is FREE! The displays there were beautiful! I’m so happy that I went. If you’re ever in Chicago, check it out.

On a CHA note – I’m hoping to share some details later tonight. I need to dump the images off of my camera to help me remember all of the cool stuff that wowed me! I am going to get into so much trouble over the next few months – LOOK OUT VISA!!! And I was reminded at this show of how wonderful it is to be around people who get it. They get the hobby, they’re excited about the hobby and they love to SHARE that excitement! It’s such an awesome thing. I was able to reconnect with old friends AND finally put faces to new ones. It really is an amazing thing.

More from me later!

Wow, wow, wow. I saw a link to this video on
Ali Edwards’ blog and was so overcome with emotion throughout the entire thing that I just had to share it. What an amazing family – here is a link to their website as well. Just incredible. So inspiring. Check it out.

In the early AM that is. We’re heading to Chicago for a little family time then CHA over the weekend. I can’t wait to meet up with some of the gals I speak with on a daily basis – who I know better than my neighbors! Isn’t that crazy? That’s the cool thing about scrapbooking, we’re all sharing stories about our life while expressing ourselves artistically. It’s such a neat thing and if you don’t do it, you don’t get it. Ah well.

A home update: we had a super productive weekend! One of those weekends that got me so motivated that when I come home I’m ready to keep moving…EXCITED to keep moving! Our playroom is painted (I’ll post photos when I get back) thanks to my trusty sidekick (aka Nate). I got the room started and coated once and pooped out on the second. Thank GOODNESS for my awesome guy!!! Now when we get home it’s mission organization and furniture build. We also got Liam a bed over the weekend! That is huge for us considering we’ve been looking for a while. It’s done, ordered and I even found bedding. So now we wait.

More from me later!

Another summer week….GONE! Where does the time go? Man. And CHA work – FINISHED! It’s out of my hands and not to be seen until next week at the show! I have a few minor things left to do but it’s all good. Feeling caught up.

I had my share of free time this week with Liam in Art Camp. Man did he LOVE IT! I have a creative little dude on my hands! The concept was really cool and the entire theme devoted to making a mess – perfect for a three year old! Yesterday was his last day and he keeps asking if his teacher “Miss Becca” can come over for lunch. How cute is that!!! I’m debating signing him up for another camp in August about animals. It’s another week long thing for three hours a day. He’s starting preschool in September and to be honest – I want my boy around as much as possible before then! So I totally torn between doing that camp that I know he’ll love or hanging with him at the zoo, pool and whatever else we may do in that weeks time. A parental dilemma I guess.

Here are a few photos that I took yesterday at the “art exhibition” – too cute!!!

Yesterday was imagination day and I arrived at the school to find this cute little cat!

And some of the fun projects.

And now that my deadlines have been met I’m turning my attention to the house. Wait…that sounded bad. We’re looking for new furniture for Liam’s room – stuff that will last him quite a while. Just when we thought that we had exhausted all of our options (because we’re picky and want something simple yet unique) we found a store carrying this type of furniture. It’s completely functional with storage everywhere and he can really grow into in. The bed we’re looking at isn’t on this site because it’s new (and on sale – GO US). But there are little steps on the side leading up to it and tons of storage below. It’s not a bunk bed though – hard to explain. Who knew that I could get so excited over a bed! And then I’ve been hunting for really cute bedding also. Finally found a company called Freckleswith super cute stuff. Again, the set we’re looking at is new and not on the site yet but it’s awesome in the store and we got a catalog. LOVE IT!!!

Also, our playroom is getting a makeover. We finally committed to long term storage that doesn’t consist of mix-matched bins. I’m tired of them! We’re getting coordinated but I first have to paint – may tackle that tonight. I’ll post before photos at some point…still need to take them!

That’s all for now! Have a good day!

Picnics, entertaining, deadlines and me time – basically in that order. That’s what I’ve been dealing with over the past few weeks. I won’t mention the discomfort that I have had from a couple of pinched nerves – with a three year old and guests you need to basically push through that type of thing! So now I’m playing catch-up and getting around to an update here! It helps that Liam has art camp every morning this week (even though I miss him terribly).

So vacation in Arizona was awesome. I should just sum that up right now. It went way to fast and had two too many hiccups that I won’t go into but maybe next year we can get through the two weeks free and clear. I got to meet up with my good pal Beckyand have some lunch. Here we are outside of the restaurant because I HAD to have my camera with me.

And then she was so kind to turn the camera onto us so that we’d have a family photo while on vacation – you know these shots are rare on a vacation since one person (usually me) is always behind the camera!

And Liam enjoyed being a fish in the water with the $2.00 floatie that we purchased for him. The dude was basically fearless by the end, jumping off the side of the pool. We’d keep telling him to keep his mouth shut but he smiles so darn much he’d get water in it! Ah well. Here is a layout that I did with one of our pool photos from vacation. It features some of the super cool new doodle stamps by Sassafras Lass and some of their paper.

So after vacation came our huge Fourth of July picnic that I didn’t take enough photos of. I took some of the yummy food and desserts but not so much the people. The weather was perfect and it was an all around good time – but so tiring!!!

Post picnic came entertaining two of our good friends from Philadelphia – Dean and Mary. We finally got to meet their super cute little girl Libby who is 4 months old – she’s an absolute doll!!! I was able to sneak a few photos but most were either blurry or had the dang flash on since the morning was beyond rainy. Grrrrrr. This one is my fave since it didn’t use the flash:

And then I have these ones that are cute but a little blown out. I didn’t have my whole backdrop and things set-up or I would have gone photo crazy!

And since our visitors I’ve been working on deadlines for CHA Chicago – I’m going to this one! Yay!!!!!!! Nate, Liam and I are driving down early to spend some time together and leaving a little later for more family time. I’ll be MIA for only two of those days so Nate and Liam will have a little bonding time. I’m super excited for the family time AND the friend time. I am hoping to meet lots of new people! So for CHA projects, I’m not sure that I can share them yet. I’ll have to wait until I get the final go. In the meantime I’ll leave you with a few Liam photos because…well…that’s what I know!

Oh, this is the playground that we had built for Liam after we got back from vacation. We put it off into the woods so that it wouldn’t take up all of our grassy space…and ruin our view!!! Needless to say, it keeps him busy and happy!

And finally, my new favorite photo of Liam. Something about the expression captures me….strange huh?

More from me later! Have a great day!

Just to let you all know that I’m still alive! We’re back from vacation – I’m dealing with a pinched nerve in my back, a jet-lagged three year old and a ton of deadlines (that I’ve almost met). PLUS we had our annual fourth of July bash yesterday (a bit early so that I can recover over the long holiday weekend) so now I’m REALLY trying to catch up.

More from me later!