Out of Town...

but back again! :)

Y'all are never gonna guess where I've been and what I've been up to...

^That^, my friends, is the symbol of all the learning I did last weekend. You see, SLS 2009 is the Texas PTA's Summer Leadership Seminar. Somewhere along the way, I ended up on the PTA board at the kidlets school. It's been an awesome learning experience for me & I have totally loved every moment of it. This past weekend, I was lucky enough to go to the SLS and take some great classes...everything from "Scream-Free Parenting" to "Stop Bullying Now" to
classes on how diet/nutrition affects children's behavior. The other mom-friends that I went with are all super-great girls, full of spunk and laughter. Luckily, no late-night security visits were necessary but I'll admit that we were rather loud and obnoxious with our squeals of laughter...till 2am. LOL :) And the most important thing is that we all learned so much that will help our PTA be better...for our kids & teachers! :)

Before I headed out, I had to get some KI playin' done for the gallery! Had F-U-N with this one! This is the project that had my hands nasty-black for a couple of days. I accidentally got myself good with the spray paint. Then I ended up using the closest black inkpad...which happened to be Stazon, so all those stampy friends left their mark on my hands too. The epoxy word "birthday" began its life as a pretty pink, but uhm, yeah not today. Instead, I colored it with a black sharpie. But the mess is all good...just shows I'm scrappy, artsy-fartsy, crafty, or some combo thereof, right? :)

So, here's the KI funsie...

This pic has become a bit of a tradition. We've combined Lilli & Dec's family birthday party the last few years, so they have to agree on the cake (well, except for the one time they agreed on cupcakes--so I made both strawberry & chocolate ones). This year the agreement was choclate icing (Mom specialty) and lots of sprinkles (every kids dream!). The cake always ends up monstrously huge, but this one was more than a little tilted. It was so bad that I almost decided to to make it a mad-hatter cake at the last minute, but decided that was a little too crazy, even for me! LOL :) So, instead we had a plain old tilted cake...yummy! :)

So that's my update from my fun weekend away! :) Back to the scrappy, mommy, house-cleaning grind again! :)

XOXO...Stac :)

KI Lovey Dovey's... :)

Seeing all the new KI goodies totally got my inspiration all swirled up. :)

Well, that and the challenge that Celeste posted on the KI Memories blog! She's got some major digi-hybrid skills in her, so her challenge sounded like a fun way to play with the digi KI goodies (one of my newer but white-hot love affairs!). :)

But I've done a lot of printing digi papers and using them "traditional" style. So, with all my inspiration, I wanted to try something different. I mustered up some major cajones and sent fabric through my beloved printer. Believe me when I say I was *scared* to do it. And the first time, it didn't go so well. But after a few tries, I figured out that the best way for my printer and the cheapy fabric I was using...

I temp adhered the cotton fabric to heavy-weight paper with Tacky Tape (top, bottom, sides), sent it through on a high-resolution setting (slow with lots of ink), and held my breath. And a big Woo Hoooooo later, I had pretty Roxie Quilt paper (altered a bit) on FABRIC! :)

Not to mention some yummy Toby brushes (colored in before printing) and title brush (glitter Stickles'd after printing). :)

Yeah, all that to say...I had fun playing with the KI digi goodies! :)

Back with more goodies soon. I did another KI project that left me with some seriously messy hands--spray paint, ink x uh oh, baby powder everywhere. Sounds like fun, right? :) Show ya soon! :)

XOXO...Stac :)

That Man o' Mine...

I love that guy!

He totally agreed that the pillows are keepers.

Reminded 3 times to go get his laundry at the cleaners (I kept forgetting) without even an ugly tone of voice.

And when we got an opportunity to go on an unexpected date this weekend, he agreed to see Harry Potter with me!

He's such a good catch! :)

So, here's a little layout to love about my sweetie...

Riding bikes is not his hobby. It's his absolute passion...obsession! I don't get to watch his races very often, so this was a treat for me...got to watch and take pics! :)

Just taking the moment and appreciating it, my hubby, and all his hard work! :)

XOXO...Stac

Sneaky Peeks...

Who loves Sneaky Peeks of the CHA soon-to-be-released goodies?
I know I do!!!

So, head over to the KI Memories blog and check the new goodies they're rolling out!

Can I just say yummmmmm! :)
I think my fave overall is the Heirloom line b/c it looks like it will match my house (& we all know that I'm in house mode). I predict some home decor projects with those babies! :)

But there's lots of goodies that I'm already excited about and can't wait to get my scrappy hands on! Did you see the RAINBOW! And the SKELETON! And the GUITAR! So many cute fun embellishments and love the polka dotties and stripey papers as always! Come to Mama, my little pretties! ;)

XOXO...Stac :)

Back to Normal-ish...

The Floors Are Finished!

The Floors Are Finished!

The Floors Are Finished!

:)

I have the biggest perma-grin ever. This is something Bob & I have wanted since we bought this house...8 years ago! Now, they're finally here and I looooooooove them so very much. It's actually quite obscene! I totally laid down on the nasty floor, but did manage to refrain from kissing them. A girl's gotta have her limits, right? ;)

I've got most of the big furniture pieces back in the house, just a cabinet or two still hanging out in the garage. Along with *lots* of decorative bits and baubles that need to find new homes. {{Happy Dance!}} Re-decorating makes me happy, especially when its my stuff...it just needs a little mixin' and stirrin' to be fresh again! :)

So, here's some furniture'd but not knick-knack'd pics...

Living Room:

One of the first orders of business in here is new couch cuties...aka pillows. I bought a couple today at World Market, but the jury (ie Bob) is out for the evening, so the tags are still peek-a-booing on them. I love how the fancy silk & pleating on the big puff one looks with the handmade granny crochet throw! Contrasty goodness, baby! :) What do y'all think? Are they keepers?

You can barely see into my scraproom in the first living room pics, so here's a better view. This is a major desk overhaul for me. My old desk was mounted to the wall and super-long. I wanted to move out into the room more & love the new footprint in here. But I need to reorganize and figure out new storage solutions. Another trip into town (IKEA & Container Store) is in order! But here it is for now...

For the kids, they're not so sure about the new floors. It has changed their play habits a bit...no more scooters/skateboards in the house, no more tackling & wrestling, etc. In super quick order, I need to find a rug to live in the middle of the room for some cushion--for tushies at play and the echo-y sound! LOL :) But the overall effect is soooo cool I think! :)

My first option is a total novelty rug that just makes me laugh b/c it's so perfect for a kid's room. Not sure yet b/c I just started looking but doesn't this just say "Kid Friendly!"...

For all of you scrappy folks, who really couldn't care less about my paint and floor re-do...Thanks for sticking with me! :) I recently discovered how to do blog stats and was surprised that I'm not actually talking to myself! LOL :) But no fear, I'm totally still a scrappy girl...just sidetracked! :)

I did manage to finish up a layout that I started before I destroyed my scraproom though. Here's my cutie pie Tayvan... :)

I've been scrapping some in the mess too. Can't keep a good girl down! LOL :) But it's not quite show-able stuffs yet. I finished up my DT app for American Crafts and had a lot of fun with the projects! I hope they love them too! ((Fingers Crossed!))

Whew! What a whirlwind couple of weeks of mess, re-doing, scrappy fun, crazy kids, summer camps, and more! :) Can't wait to see what next week holds! :)

XOXO...Stac :)

Mid-Way there...

We're getting close! :)

The paint is all done and I'm peeking out the window as I type for the floor guys to arrive.

By the end of the day, I'll have new walls and new floors! WOO HOOOOOOO! :)

As promised, I took some midway pics to show the progress.

Check it out...

This is the toy room side of the house (peeking from my red kitchen--yes, that is a bright green picnic table doubling as my new kitchen table). The turquoise wall is my accent pop...times 3! Since my downstairs is a big square design, I have the two outside walls painted turquoise (bookends) and then the middle wall (foyer to kitchen hall) also painted turquoise. The bulk of the rest of the house is the yellow color. The yellow ended up a bit brighter than intended...its a little more *YELLOW* than yellow. LOL But we're hoping that once we have the dark floors in and all the furniture and decor (esp on the walls), it'll all tie together nicely. In my head it does, so we'll see. :) Oh, and that couch is one of my infamous craigslist finds--total vintage citron green crushed velvet mid century looooong sofa. *LOVE* :)

On the other side of the downstairs square, we have the living room and dining room-turned-scrap room set-up. The same turquoise bookend on the outside wall, bright yellow walls, and my beloved red couches. The yellow/red combo in my scraproom is a bit overkill to me. Sigh. I joked about it being a bit McDonald's before we did it, but Bob walked in goes "I'm Lovin' It...do do do do dooooo" LOL I love that he can laugh at my misfortune and make me laugh at it too. :) It's going to need some help...big help. But never fear, I've already got second draft plans...just gotta find the fabric bits to re-do a bit. :) I did get a new scrappy desk to do some re-arranging though, so I'm super stoked about that.

Once floors go in, I'll be bringing all my furniture back in from the garage and out of the kitchen (can you say "eating out?") and getting it all set back up. I. Can't. Wait! :)

One other quick pic to share...for laughs.

Note to self...wallpaper is used for a reason. Do not Mod Podge stuff to the walls. Why and how do I know this you might ask? Well, once upon a time, I decided to "faux leather" the walls of my l;aundry room. It looked great for years...loved it and it fit with the house. :) But in my massive re-do, I decided that it needed to come down. So we started peeling bits of paper off...as we passed by, with every load of laundry, whenever we have a minute. But its taking forever and now it looks like a brown/white cow exploded in there. LOL Well, at least this is Texas cattle country. ;)

Isn't that a riot? :) Never fear, I've got plans for in there too...after I get the paper off! Bad news is, its damaged the sheetrock a little bit, so my plans are limited. I think I'm actually just going to do a similar treatment again...using book pages and wallpaper paste this time! I learned my lesson--wallpaper paste exists for a reason! :)

I've been doing some scrappy stuffs lately, but can't post quite yet. Working on a couple of mag calls and even gulp...a design team app! I'm so excited...back to the days of "will they like me?" LOL It's exciting and hope-filled and fun! So cross your fingers for me, 'kay? :) Layouts coming soon to a screen near you though! ;)

XOXO...Stac :)

Disappearing Act...

AKA Where in the world I've been since this weekend...

LOL :)

Well, first a fave pic from our annual 4th of July trip to my dad's (aka Poppy)...

It was whirlwind evening of fun by all -- from swimming, hot dogs, fireworks, face painting, and the above photo'd hay ride in Poppy's tractor. :) The kids will remember this forever! Truly awesome night. Of course, I crashed on the way home, only to wake up every 2.1 seconds to say "Are you okay to drive?" to Bob. Apparently, that's annoying. ;) But we made it home safely so I guess it worked. :)

After that, we spent days...days...hours upon hours...

emptying out our house!

WHY? you might ask. :)

Because the painters came today!!!

WOO HOO! This is sooooo freakin' exciting to me. You have to understand my obsession with paint. We actually have paint rules that I'm only allowed to repaint to a room every 5ish years. Otherwise, I'd be painting and repainting every room all.the.time. Well, to be totally honest, Bob would be painting and repainting. ;) LOL

But it's the running joke that if Bob is on vacation...what are you painting? LOL :) This time, I decided I *needed* the whole downstairs painted. Bob pretty much said "yeah, nooooo" so I had to figure something out. Like...Painters! The bestest folks evah!

But with their impending arrival this morning, we had to empty everything and scoot furniture into the middle of the rooms and clean and and and... :) Want proof positive? Check it out...

This is my living room and a peek into my scrap room sans furniture arrangement. The turquoise is our last paint adventure and plays into the new design. The taupe that peeking out in my room is what's leaving...all to be covered by yellow. Lots and lots of yellow. :)

Up next...

This is the kids toy room. You can peekaboo the new yellow color in the back corner of the room. Look how sunny and bright it is! Happy Dance!! :)

The kids were total troopers today b/c we were stuck in an upstairs bedroom alllllll day long, but a new movie this afternoon and a dinner out reward seemed to do the trick. I hope it works again next week b/c...

the floor guys are coming on Tuesday! :) WOO HOOOOOO!

All that nasty, filthy, stained, old taupe carpet is leaving too. Soon to be replaced with yummy dark wood laminate. YEAH!!! :)

No worries...I know Photo Rule 101...

Pics required of everything! :)

I'll get semi-after pics of the yellow/turquoise/red combo that's happening downstairs now when we get some better light (too late today and supposed to storm tomorrow).

And then I'll be showcasing my new homestead after the floors go in and I get to redecorate. I can't wait to pull everything from the garage back into the house and find everything new homes! :)

Woo Hoo! If there's one thing full of crafty goodness that can pull me away from scrapbooking, it's home decor!!!! And now I have a whole downstairs to do! :) Oh, and its totally scrap-related b/c I get to rearrange and decorate my scrap space a bit too! ;) And then scrap the pics and make some new wall doodads and on and on. :)

Off to read my new DIY Makeover mag! :)

XOXO...Stac :)

Double Up...

posting today! LOL :)

I realized that I hadn't done shown some updated posting on my blog of my Memory Makers' column projects. So, update I am...

Memory Makers March / April -- What We're Lovin' trend "forest friends and woodgrain"
Loved the super cute Sassafras critters, especially the mix with the dark Collage Press paper. :)
And the October Afternoon is always one of those fall-in-love faves that you can't find forever...so when I found it, I was soooo excited! :) Love the deer guys! :)





Memory Makers May / June -- What We're Lovin' trend "vintage"
Go Staci, go Staci...I was sooooo excited that I got to do some hybrid work for this one! :) Rhonna's goodies are the coolest to work with, so I was glad that her Urban Junque line was perfect! :)
And who does vintage like Jenni Bowlin? Uhm, nobody! She's the bomb-diggity of vintage, so lots of JB goodies on the 2nd one. :)





Memory Makers July / August -- What We're Lovin' trend feature article "peace" & " kraft + color pop"
I can't begin to describe how over-joyed excited I was to have the opportunity to do a full-length feature article! This was my first time to make assignments for other designers, which was fun b/c I had to figure out trends AT CHA, get the products from the manufacturers, track down the designers at the show (hard!!!), and they had less than a week to get projects in for approval! WHEW! :) But it was *fun!* :)
I got to pick which trends I wanted to do, of course. So I played with the "peace" one with lots of American Crafts goodies. Then I jumped into the "kraft + color pop" trend with the awesome Fancy Pants and Hambly goodies. :) Total LOVE! :)

I've got one more column coming out in the Sept/Oct issue. It's a near/dear to my heart b/c it's a bit dark and twisty with a side of sarcastic funny like me! LOL :) Any guesses on the trend? (Marla, you can't guess b/c you saw the projects!)

Back soon with more goodies! :)

Happy almost-4th!

XOXO...Stac :)

Something New & Something Old...

all at once! LOL :)

I got a little chance to play last night! Love love love when you get a little burst of magic and it not only works, but works fast. You see, I'm a totally slow scrapper. But last night, Bob claimed the tv & the computer (so no shows or music) & he was doing laundry too! WOO HOO! So I got a super quickie project done...under 30 minutes! :)

I'm cleaning out my "random bits & baubles" bins b/c they're overfull, so I used this big alien monster dude. He started life as a hangtag on Declan's shorts. :)

As for the something old, this one's a little harder. Some folks know, but most don't, that I was working on a book project a while back. It was still very early-stage, but I'd spent countless hours doing write-ups, projects, planning, etc. Unfortunately, it was in final approval stage when the economy tanked and I was one of the unlucky cuts. The whole she-bang is still living in the work-in-progress binder that I was using, just kinda ignored.

One day, I will write a book. It's still a huge goal for me and a dream that I want to achieve. In the meantime, I'm going to start slowly posting some of the layouts that I created for my first book project. Here's the first one that I can let go of...it was a stamping focused example...

As for the e*crew, we're chillin' out today...totally veggin'. Tomorrow, I'm shiggling in the am & then we head to Poppy's house for our 4th of July Extravaganza! :) He lives in the country, so we can do whatever we want for the most part. Usually, that involves hand-feeding the koi fishies in his pond, swimming for hours, cooking hot dogs & smores on the firepit, and lots and lots of fireworks! :) Should be a blast...literally! LOL ;)

Happy (early) 4th to everyone! Stare deeply into a sparkler and ponder your life...it's a 4th of July tradition! :)

XOXO...Stac :)

DUDE!!!

Really!!! Yes, I'm screaming b/c...

DUDE! Check this out...

My layout is Layout of the Day on 2Peas! How cool is that? I'm a little super-uber-overexcited about this but I can't help it...that ROCKS! :)

Here's the full shot of the layout...

Lots of Cosmo Cricket lovin', my new beloved Tim Holtz stamp, some hot Creative Imagination rhinestone brads, and always present Thickers. :)

Oh, paper trick must-do: Cosmo Cricket has great distressed edges, but since I'm an 8.5x11 girl, I have to chop a couple of those pretties off. :( So I sliced them down, patched them back onto my background and covered the seam with a pretty ribbon border frame. Functional and decorative! :)

Also, the orange frame thing in the title started life as a sticker tag. After a little exacto knife surgery, the insides are saved for another layout and the outside orange frame found life on this layout over some grey cardstock. Double bonus! :)

Off to cartwheel or eat chocolate or both! :)

XOXO...Staci :)