Up & running!

No, not me. I'm busy battening down the hatches waiting for Irene, and hoping my basement (aka office, scrap area, scrap storage area) doesn't flood. Again. Any fast, hard, tropical rain means at least a wet rug...and this sounds like it could lead more to Lake Ramo than a wet rug. I'll keep you posted.

In the meantime, our new Meetup group has launched! If you live on Long Island and want to meet up with a bunch of fun, somewhat crazy girls who like to scrap, stamp, make cards, laugh, and snack...we're the group for you! Here's the address:

http://www.meetup.com/Layouts-Cards-Crops-Oh-My/



Unfortunately, it's really only for people from Long Island. The goal is to actually meet people, which is difficult if you aren't local!

So, if western Suffolk isn't "way out east" or "too far west" for you, join us! There's no membership fee!

More soon on those layouts from the weekend crop.

As always, thanks for stopping by!

Layouts galore...if all goes according to plan.

"Summer vacation" always seems so long to my parent-friends. I don't know why. July flys by, before you know it a week of August is also gone, and in just a few short weeks school starts again. I can't imagine where my July went, and now I need to start thinking about finding my school notes and lessons.

But not just yet.

I'm attending a weekend crop before school starts up, so I have been kitting layouts and printing pictures the last 2 days, getting ready for my marathon. I'm going to try to make up for the layouts for classes lost in the now-infamous kitchen & basement flood we had a few months back. I'm going to start regular layout classes again in the Fall and would like to get all of the samples done before school starts. OK, maybe not all...but a really solid dent will be helpful. That's my goal.

Of course, I'm cheating. I'm recreating layouts in past CTMH Idea Books, WOTG kits (which I never actually do, I just order them for the exclusive stamp sets!), and layouts from other books my scrap-pal and enabler friend Debbie told me about. Thanks Debbie - let's hope they help us get some layouts done!

I have made a few cards in the interim after totally misunderstanding - twice - what a friend asked about. I'll get photos and post those as well.

I hope you have spent some summer hours crafting! Until next time, thanks for looking!

No one CASEs better than me!

Last year some of the girls & I decided we would do 5 Christmas cards per month and get a jump start things. We were good, too - we did it every month, and when we had to skip a month we did 2 sets of 5 the next month (2 different cards.) This year time got away from me & life got in the way - so I decided to do a Christmas in July. 5 different cards, 5 of each card. I went online to see what others had done with the holiday sets I have, and CASEd 4 of them ranging from 90% to 25%. The 5th card - that one is all mine. Well, all mine based on a sketch in a CTMH card sketch book...but still. :) The sneak peak is above - thank you to the very talented people I was led to by Google image search for the stamps sets I used. Your work is amazing!

If you're local (I'm in Suffolk COunty, Long Island) and interested in joining us, the cost is $25, and you go home with 25 cards. Daytime class is 7/14 at 10:30 am; evening class is 7/15 at 7 pm. Alternate dates and times may be available, but payment is due by 6/14 vi Paypal. Interested? Email me!

OMG...I AM a hoarder!

For roughly 2 years now, Mike has encouraged me to watch episodes of "Hoarders." I tend to watch them with "Intervention" (for the therapy part, not because I have an additiction to anything other than scrapbook supplies.) Turns out, he was on to something.

I never considered myself a Hoarder because I can throw things out (since we moved into the house, anyway.) He cannot...so he should talk. Thursday I came to the realization that I may, in fact, be a Hoarder. Forget the massive scrapbook garage sale I had last August, the amount of supplies I still have, and all of those other classic signs. Thursday I started making a scrapbook for a friend...and couldn't get started. Mike thought I ran out of Mojo or ideas. Nope. I couldn't bear to think of cutting into the paper I have. Why? What if I use it all? Much of it is CTMH and retired, and what if I NEED that exact design or color 3 years from now for a layout? Doesn't every scrapbooker have this same fear? After the obligatory "you're a crack head" response to my foolish verbal admission, a chours of "hoarDER! hoarDER!" rang through my head.

Today I am waiting for Round 2 with Sears and my new fridge. While I'm waiting, I am cutting into that paper so I can prove that I am not the hoarder in this house. Wish me luck.

Where did the time go?

The cloud of doom has started to move away...I hope. After many delays and a weeks of "one day" jobs to get the kitchen floor fixed - properly - I am happy to report that it is, indeed, finished. And I LOVE it. Onward to the floor molding and getting the kitchen back into working order. And, if Sears doesn't screw up Saturday and bring me yet another scratched refrigerator, I'll be one step closer to that. If not, I'll be on the hunt again for another fridge...and not from Sears.

There are just 7 days of classes left before finals and Regents...and I can hardly believe how the year flew. It seems like just yesterday I was writing about being the new girl in the building to which I was sent, and now here we are with no time left! Let's just say that this has been one of the most amazing years I've had, and it's due to the people I was with this year. I also walk away feeling a little (OK, a lot) vindicated. That's huge, trust me.

Things must be looking up, because for the first time since the flood I felt like making something. I actually made 5 Chirstmas cards for a workshop - and even Mike thnks they're pretty good, lol! To be fair, I CASEd all but 1 to some degree. Still, 5 cards for that plus 3 additional cards for a "just stamped cards" event we're working on...in just 2 days...a minor miracle. I heard some snide comment about that being a sign of the Rapture as I walked through the living room last night...

I will post some of my new creations soon - I'll take them with my new SLR. I guess the flood wasn't all bad, lol!

As always, thanks for stopping by!

My little corner of doom...

...is hard to pinpoint at the moment. Is it the "work corner," where teachers continue to get bashed and mistreated, with things in constant change this month? Is it the "illness corner," with this virus that keeps coming back with a vengeance? Is it the "kitchen corner," with the flood that left me laughing - not in a good way - at the supposed insurance we have been paying for just in case something like this happened? How about the "emotional corner," where we have experienced several deaths in just as many weeks? I think I have to vote for the "basement corner." Why? In the kitchen flood mentioned above the water came cascading down from under the sink and into the basement. Ceiling tiles collapsed everywhere. Water stains on lots of walls. Flooded out finished area of the basement, flooded entry into my office. That's not the bad part. The bad part is these ceiling tiles collapsed on my camera, 36 scrapbook layouts I had just done (24 of them for a class), lots of new scrapbook paper, a few stamp sets, 7 Glue Glider Pro refills, 2 trimmers, several rolls of glue dots, sponges, pouncers, ink pads., 200 sheets of oak tag, 2 boxes of ink jet trans[arencies, notebooks, looseleaf paper..and a good portion of 12 years of school prepping I have done and honed over the years. Guess what the insurance company thinks all of that is worth, including my one-step-below-an-SLR camera that is not quite 2 years old. Guess. C'mon. $501.00 They also think I can rip up and replace replace my sub & kitchen floors, plus both pantries and entry area, for $884.00. I went shopping yesterday. Yeah...not so much on the $884 replacement, not that I was surprised. So you'll forgive me if I have nothing to share just yet, again. I did, but it is currently in a soggy heap in an landfill somewhere.

St. Baldrick's Update!

Just a quick update on Nicholas' fundraising efforts. As os this post, he is just $5 shy of his $500 goal. His team has raised almost $7700 as of this post, far surpassing their original team goal of $5000.

Their young heads get shaved on Sunday. If you have not yet donated but would like to, see the blog post 2 prior to this one for all the details. If you have already donated to this worthy cause, a big thank you from Nicholas (and his proud aunt.) :)