Finally... photos of my craft room!

OK, I've been promising photos for a while now and I finally took a few today. I had my first greeting card workshop downstairs in my "new" craft room and it worked out great!! I can seat 12 people comfortably and this afternoon I tested it with 10 fabulous ladies. I think it worked out very well and it was so nice to have all my "stuff" right there and not have to lug it upstairs to the dining room table.

So, without further ado....

Looking down the hallway into the room. (Lack of wall art at the moment - noted.)

The view once you get into the room.


Pretty cute huh? You can click on any of the photos to see a little better. I love how the light yellow color turned out. I already owned a lot of red items and some of the light colored wood furniture pieces, so I went with that color scheme. I got some great deals off of craigslist for some of my furniture pieces. Love Craigslist!!

If I had been able to design a room from scratch I would have had all white furniture and lots of pink in the room, but I like how this turned out too. Here are a few more photos. These were taken right before my workshop this afternoon, so that's why the tables are all set the way they are. I wanted to get a couple photos with my attendees in them, but I got too busy and forgot. :(





I had a little embossing station over there in the corner on top of my metal top table and Chico added the portable fridge too, so that came in handy for my guests today.


This wall houses all of my Close to My Heart Stamp sets. The wire baskets are hanging off of picture hooks, so I can just pull them down and dig through them as needed.




Well, that's it in a nutshell. I'll have to post more photos once I do a little more detail work (labeling, etc..). Do you want to come over and craft with me? Thanks for looking!

Chico's Birthday - Part Deux

OK, so it's been over a week since Chico's birthday, but I never posted these photos, so I guess better late than never.

On Chico's birthday we went out to eat with Rose, my parents and the boys, of course. Here we were eating at the Outback.








Dinner was pretty tasty, but Chico and I were still a little full from our lunch at The Cheesecake Factory. Two BIG meals in one day isn't the best idea.

Rose was itchin' for a little Birthday ice cream, so she told the server that it was Chico's birthday. Well, Rose was disappointed to see that they didn't bring any ice cream, they brought cheesecake instead. Chico thought it was pretty funny that his mom's little plan didn't work.





The cheesecake wasn't bad. :)

Here's a photo of Rose and the boys in the back of the "bus" after we dropped Nona & Papa off.



The next night (yes, Chico's birthday is like a marathon event) Rose made Enchiladas for Chico at her house. Uncle Philip, Uncle Lee & Aunt Lena were there to celebrate with him and he even shared some of his favorite Almond Roca cake from Beaverton Bakery.






















I hope you had a great birthday Chico. We all enjoyed celebrating with you!!

Happy Birthday Chico!

It's my old man's birthday today, lol (I don't think I've ever used that term before). Chico turns the big 3-8 today - woo hoo! We're going out shopping for his birthday present, a motorcycle jacket, so he feels better about riding on the streets on his new bike. Then out to dinner with his mom and my parents tonight. It's going to be a great day!

Happy Birthday Piggy!!

Back to School Time Again

Yesterday was back to school for Mateo & Jaxon. Mateo's a big 4th grader this year and Jaxon's a 1st grader (his first year of full day school). Of course I had to make them stand and pose for me several times. I'm sure they just love this each year, but I'm determined to do it even when they're in high school. I just love seeing them all cute in their new school clothes and newer haircuts!

We do photos in the house first.





And then outside...
























I asked the boys to look over at me before they got on the school bus, but Jaxon must have forgotten in all the excitement, but surprisingly Mateo actually looked AND SMILED!!



Sadly this is the last year the boys will be at the same school until Mateo's a Senior in High School and Jaxon's a Freshman. The schools are set up a little strange in this town. Elementary schools are K-4th, Upper Elementary is 5th-6th, Middle School is 7th-8th, then High School 9th-12th. Since the boys are 3 years apart, they won't overlap again for many years.

We'll they boys had a great first day. Let's hope the rest of the school year goes just as well!

Fall / Winter 2009 Idea Book Swap

It's that time again, another swap. As in the past, with the release of our new Idea Book I decided (last minute) to participate in another swap. I wasn't going to do it this time around, but when the swap organizer still had some spots open pretty late in the game, I felt like I should step in. Who am I kidding? I love getting all those goodies back, but it is a lot of work.

As I've mentioned before, we are assigned a certain size card or layout, a certain new paper pack to use and a featured new accessory. Every item has to be from our new Idea Book being released at that time. This time around, of course is the Fall/Winter issue. So my assigned project was: 3 1/2 x 8" Vertical Greeting Card using Jingle Paper (our new Holiday paper this year) and I had to use "Juniper" Waxy Flax. So this is what I came up with for my 44 items.




















This isn't all 44, but you get the jist. Isn't that paper cute? I love it!! I'm definately going to be using "Jingle" a lot!

OK, back on track, here's a close up of one of the cards. They're pretty simple looking, but they did take some time with stamping the backgrounds, cutting out pieces and poking all those holes. That was a lot of holes!!







Well, there you have it. My cards were shipped to the swap organizer up in Seattle area last Friday and now I should be getting my box of goodies any day now. Can't wait, it's always like Christmas opening up the box!

All items are CTMH:
Stamps - Holiday Commentary, Ornate Ornaments, Spot On Backgrounds
Paper - Jingle Level 2 Paper Pack
Ink - Juniper, Tulip & Baby Pink
Accessories - Juniper & Blush Waxy Flax

The new Fall/Winter Idea Book is here!!

The new Fall/Winter Close to My Heart Idea book is live today! You can click on this photo or the one on my side bar to view the Idea Book on line or let me know if you'd like a hard copy. I've got lots to share!! Contact me at kandi@myctmh.com.



If you just can't wait, you can always hop over to my website and order away. There's some pretty cute stuff in there that I can't wait to get my hands on! Let me know if you have any questions. Enjoy!