Organizational VideoBlog #4

Today Alicia and I filmed #4 -Organizing Your Clip It Up and       #5 Organizing Idea Books and Magazines.  We have such a good time making these videos and aparently people are still watching cause we have almost 2,000 hits on YouTube!!!  The videos are for the Attic Blog but because they are about 10 minutes or so long they have to be uploaded to YouTube first.  At first I didn't pay attention to the number of hits we were receiving until it got to be over 1,000.  Now I check in with it almost everyday just because I am CURIOUS!!  even if you are not a scrapbooker...follow this link to my YouTube Vids, if nothing else you will be amused!!!

Crop*A*Ganza February 2010

This weekend I headed to one of my FAVORITE events...CROP*A*GANZA, hosted twice a year by the girls at the ATTIC. I always wait and wait with anticipation for the big day when I can head to Park City for a wonderful weekend of friends, scrapbooking, and relaxation. This is my {space} after getting all set up. It looks pretty clean at this point (by the end of the weekend it was a MESS!) The big TREAT this year was for the first time, mr. curtis brought my girls up to swim, hang out, and have dinner with me. I knew I would be having baby girl withdrawals (not to mention the fact that I needed to feed her!!). As soon they got there Kristy swooped her away!! Krusty is just so great to her!! she was holding her in one arm and ringing up customers with the other--she is just THAT GOOD!!!!

The girls had fun swimming and playing video games (Adler decided to forgo a few games to shop around with me in the vendor booths so that was a nice time for us to spend together.
The Hubs is going to LOVE that I put this pic of him ch-ch-cha-chillin in the hot tub on the blog. On second thought he probably won't care at all, he just doesn't get to bothered by stuff!

We ate supper in the hotel's restaurant and then the fam headed home, cause the girls were WORN out from the swimming and the action--especially the little ones. I was sooo glad they were able to come visit me and meet a lot of my cropping friends. After they left I was sad for about....30 seconds... then it was OFF to get my creative mojo pumping again! My l.fox had a bball game that night so she didn't arrive until 11pm!!! I was bummed for her and for myself not having my cropping buddy with me!

Our good friends Angie and Kelli were there to keep me entertained though and we met some great new girls: Penny, Angie L., and Kristen so that was WAY fun!!! Angie L. has sooo much cool stuff and was willing to share/demo anything so i INSTANTLY {lovedloved} her!!! After this weekend it seems like we have our CAG set up for life now!!!

As always with CAG there was plenty of FUN to be had....

I played a blindfold game where I had to guess the scrapbooking item I was handed. It was fun and I won a card making kit.

My hootie hoot bud Renee, knowing my family's affinity for fake mustaches, purchased us a couple from the toy machines in the atrium. I think we started a trend b/c I saw quite a few running around the rest of the weekend!

This HAS to be the best pic of CAG!! As I have posted before I am now blogging for the Attic. I was SUPER busy this weekend doing giveaways, videos, and scrapper spotlight interviews. In this pic l.fox was holding up the Chicks in the Attic kits we were giving away. She is doing the *sneaky* face cause one of the winners was our new friend Angie (the redhead) seated right behind us!! heehee!

I had a great time blogging (on the Attic-so go to the ScrapFunattic link on the right side of my blog to check out those posts!)...l.fox and I even put together an AWESOME videoblog of CAG. Here is the link (it is in 3 parts) if you want to watch it--pretty funny stuff!! You may want to take some Dramamine before though cause it is pretty bouncy!!! :)

I think I got about 20 pages done...not bad considering I had a lot of blogging and pumping going on!! I am planing on posting some of my layouts this weekend so check back if you are interested!

The ScrapFunattic Blog

So I have been sooo busy lately with my newest adventure...Blogging for ScrapFunattic. You all know how much of a creative addict I am and this is my new outlet for 2010. I wanted and needed to expand creatively and I am happy to have this opportunity to do something COMPLETELY new, different, and challenging!! Together with friend, Alicia Day we recently filmed our first of what we hope are MANY scrapbooking tutorials. So take the chance to run over and check it out!! You can follow this link!!!

Organization With ALICIA!!!

Here are a few pics of Alicia and the girls filming our first organizational video. It turned out really cute I thought and we have since done 2-3 more with many others planned for the future!!

Heath was at work/then the big girl's softball practice so the little girls came with me. They were REALLY good (as always!) Paisley sat in her "chair" aka carrier and Crosby watch a movie on my laptop. They each make an appearance in Video 1 along with little Paisley *talking* throughout most of it!

I am so lucky to be able to take my girls everywhere I need to go, knowing they are going to be good!

To check out our organizational vids hop on over the the ScrapFunattic Blog and click the link on the right side bar that says video.

Wonderful Weekend!

As my first week of school back from maternity leave drew to a close I was EXHAUSTED so say the least. But more than that I felt that I wanted to get home on Friday afternoon and stay put in my nice warm house with my girls and my hubs. The only problem to that scenario was WHAT was I going to do to occupy my time in between feedings and diapers? Cook and Clean?? Maybe a little, but I don't think that would work the whole time. NO WAY!! Not only that, I refuse to spend another minute on the couch with this view...

Since Christmas ALL the girls have done is sit RIGHT in front of the tv and play Mario Bros. (as Crosby calls it!) and Mario Cart. But HELLLOOO, am I the only one who wants to watch a show?? Crosby says she is addicted! (When her cousin Addy asked her what "addicted" meant she replied "I can't stop playing!!!") LOVELY!!

So I came up with a plan on my way home Friday night. I have a HUGE house and so far I have not been happy with my scrapbooking set up. Most recently I have tried our finished attic which is nice and has PLENTY of space but it is just too far from the main floor where all of the action is!! If I am going to seclude myself all weekend then Maple Memories or Scrapfunattic here I come!!! But I knew neither of those were in the cards for me so plan B in full effect it was!! We have a sun porch off of our kitchen that just collects junk. The problem is that it is surrounded by windows and has a door and HENCE the room is freezers!! I said brrr it's cold in here.... So I ran my idea by Mr. Curtis and he was on board. I spent ALL Friday night cleaning and organizing the room and first thing SATURDAY morning my mister was off to the lumber yard for supplies. This is the porch about halfway through the cleanup process:

And this, my friends, is the finished product.....

It is PERFECT for me for right now. We are planning on doing more to it...some carpet or tile and shelving...maybe a few more tables (heehee)... In the end and a little space heater later the room was just as warm as the rest of Casa Curtis. and I was able to play around a little for my Stitching class that I am teaching at the Attic at the end of this month.

Cute stuff...and now I am a happy momma...and as we all know that is they key to happiness for all!!

MEANWHILE...back at the ranch...what were the girls doing while we were slaving away??

They got all decked out like the Mario Brothers of course!! They actually looked really cute--they are super creative. I LOVE IT!!

here are Mario and a green YOSHI:

and then baby Bowser: (notice her sisters had darkened her eyebrows with mascara even!!)

I hope all of your weekends were as relaxing/fun/productive as you wanted them to be!! Bring on MONDAY!!!

Our Week

So my first week of maternity leave was busy. I did some cleaning (am trying to save a lot of that for next week so my house is nice and clean when I get home from the hospital) but mostly focused on checking things off of my mental to-do list. I always try to include chores and fun stuff on my list. Here are a few things accomplished:

• I did a scrapbook page for a sketch contest at the Attic
• Washed baby clothes
• Mailed thank yous
• vacuumed
• organized baby shower gifts
• played with the girls
• rested
• folded laundry...
  

Tricia (a scrapbooking friend of mine) brought by a BEAUTIFUL baby gift...
A paisley diaper bag and soft blanket with her name embroidered on them. I was soo happy to get these beautiful things from Tricia, Heather, and Dana. Thanks girls!










Crosby has been begging me forever to make
cupcakes with her in her little cupcake maker (think easy bake oven) that she got from her friend Avery for her birthday. The mix make ONE cupcake!! I thought it would make a few more than that but I guess not and of course ours looked NOTHING like the picture but we had fun doing it together and that is what it's all about!

Maple Memories

Lindsay and I went to Maple Memories this past weekend. MM is a house (similar to mine) that has been totally remodeled (unlike mine :) and is rented out to scrapbookers. How cool is that?? I have been once before last fall and let me tell ya, this is the place to go to relax and recharge. It is especially wonderful in the fall with all of the leaves changing colors. The house is in McPherson, KS which is similar in size to Winfield but Lindsay and I were amazed by all of the small town charm. The downtown is full of little shops and restaurants and seems to be hoppin at all times!! We went to a specialty baby shop and boy did they have some interesting items there!!! Including, something you wear like a bra that will support your breast pump so you can walk around pumping hands free!!! Also, a bra that has little reservoirs to catch any breast milk leakage so you can save it!! And if you are in to cloth diapers they specialize in that too!! As you can see most of the products were a little out there but i did find some headbands for her and a little vinyl bag to keep in my diaper bag to hold dirty clothes if we are out of the house...oh and it is brown and pink paisley pattern!!!! The Scrapfunattic girls bought her a huge red fluffy tutu and legwarmers from there too!! Soo cute!

This is my crop space--what a mess!!!

Lindsay and I like to work on pages together. It is one of our "things" that have sooo much fun doing. We print pics of all of the activities that we do together (which between scrapbooking, work, and stuff with our families---turns out to be a ton!!) and make layouts together! We have been doing this since Lindsay started cropping last year and just love it!!

Here we are working on Bluegrass 2009 (don't you just LOVE Lindsay's concentration face!!!) :)

I got 25 pages done so I was pretty happy about that!! I think Lindsay got about 20 and made me 2 more onesies!! Soo cute...there is a "baby rock star" one and a "princess paisley" both so darn adorable that I can't decide if she will wear them or have them hanging in her room! As for the preggo girl... I kept my feet propped but my ankles still swelled to the size of my calves practically. Thankfully the swelling has gone down and my feet are pretty much back to normal. My back on the other hand is not that great. I have had a pinched nerve for the past few months that has gone from my back to the right side of my stomach. It feels like I am being stabbed in that one spot pretty much 24hrs a day. I am learning to just live with it and I keep reminding myself "2weeksleft, 2weeksleft" so that helps. Plus I know how worth it she will be!!!

Fun Saturday for Me!!!

Kara and I headed to Wichita early Saturday morning for some shopping. Our first stop was Furniture Row. We NEEDED some new living room furniture, our old stuff is just YUCKY and with this new baby on the way and lots of company I just couldn't take it anymore!! I really wanted a sectional so we would have plenty of seating. I ended up going with a smaller sectional and this animal print lounge chair!!! I am really happy with the pieces I chose and I think they will work great for our family! I think we will end up having to draw straws for to see who gets to sit on the SUPER comfy lounger though!!

After the furniture store we made several stops looking for some plates, cups, and napkins for my Winfield baby shower. We didn't have a lot of luck (until we got to Hobby Lobby and of course you can find EVERYTHING you are looking for there!!) We also went to the mall and while Kara was picking up some curtains I shopped for some maternity underwear!! FUN! NOT! I tried on a couple of bras at Penney's and they just didn't fit right and you should've seen the underwear the lady pointed out to me!! You know the HUGE silky granny panties?!?!? Well think about 2x bigger than those! I told her NO WAY that I just couldn't do it and she looked and me like I was too good for her undies!! We headed straight for Motherhood and I found EXACTLY what I was looking for and at great prices too (even though Penney's was having a huge sale ;) Heath and I always joke b/c every week in the paper Penney's is having the biggest sale of the year!!) It felt really good to have those purchases checked off of the list. Even though I have 4 weeks left there still seems like SOOO much to do and everyday is almost booked up to my delivery date!

After shopping we went to the Attic where they had a crafty shower for me. I got some ready made pages which will be NICE to be able to just put pics on! Also, Lindsay bought some little TINY white onsies that we all decorated! They turned out super cute and I even got matching hairbows! This girl is going to be STYLIN!

Here is Lindsay contemplating her next brilliant plan for the "Princess Paisley" onsie!

Karagirl and Sher-Real stitching away!

Kelli and her hand painted "Precious Paisley" onsie.

The busy bee attic girls hard at it!

The finished products! I LOVE THEM!!

A baby bath set from Kelli!

Steff's awesome pages!

An adorable Paisley layout and gorgeous zebra and hot pink hair bow w/ ruffled onsie courtesy of Kelli and Renee!

We had such a fun time and the 3 hours just FLEW!!! I was soo pooped when I got home, I went straight to bed and slept a ton Sunday. Heath worked hard and got all of the wallpaper off of the living room walls so we can get that painted by next Sunday (in time for my Winfield and AC friends to come over). I am keeping my fingers crossed SUPER hard that my new furniture will be here in time but they said it would probably be the first of next week. DARN!

Scrapbooking Class!

I am teaching a class at ScrapFunattic in Andover next Saturday (Oct. 3rd) from 2-5! I would love to have some of my scrapbooking girls there for support!! Call the Attic and get signed up today! There are only a couple of spots left so HURRY!
316-733-0029 I PROMISE it will be a fun class...we will be making 4 one page layouts using masks and stamps!! The class description is below!!!
Tech*Tastic Class!

Saturday October 3rd (see i told you the 3rd is THE day to be at the attic!) from 2:00-5:00 we'll be enjoying our first class with Danelle!! She is going to start teaching a "Tech*Tastic" class! This class will be a TUTORIAL class for you to LEARN something NEW, you'll LEARN how to use a NEW TOOL, plus you'll always leave with a project!! I say project because it won't always be a layout!! This first class you're going to design your very own patterned paper! You'll use MASKS, ink, stamps, INVISIBLES, paint pens, EMBOSSED cardstock - just to name a few!! So get signed up TODAY if you're one of the MANY croppers that is ready to learn something new, think outside the box and be creative you will LOVE Danelle!!!BRING YOUR BASIC TOOLS (ie: trimmer, adhesive, etc)Saturday October 3rd2:00-5:00Cost: $22.00

Crop A Ganza August 2009

Okay so EVERY pic I got off of Lindsay's camera is in this post so it is FULL of fun shots...BE READY!!! This past weekend Lindsay and I met up with a couple of our other croppin buddies (Angie George and Kelli Chobad) for an AWESOME and relaxing weekend of scrapbooking and hanging out!! My FAVORITE store on earth, ScrapFunattic, hosts this shin dig twice a year at the Best Western in Park City. These girls are soo organized and just put on a great weekend so we had all been looking forward to this for quite a while and with school starting... we were READY for a little FUN!! The theme of this crop was MARGARITAVILLE so the place was all decked out in the beach-y theme complete with 2 margarita machines!! OH WELL!!! The highlights of the weekend HAD to be L.Fox winning some GREAT prizes! It all started off when both of our names were called to come pop a balloon to see what was written on the piece of paper inside. I was pumped cause the prizes were awesome, a massage, a CUTE purse, a ring, and OH YEAH a FREE seat at Crop A Ganza in Feburary. So when my name was called to pop one of the 10 or so balloons (out of about 200 people) I was PUMPED!! I ended up winning a bead organizer. A few minutes later L.Fox gets called up (what are the odds of that???) and wins the free weekend to Feb. CAG!!!!

She was JUMPING up and down---soooo happy!!!

With the winning ticket!!!

Here we are posing with our friend Kelli with a prize pack we won playing a game that we had to use the Cricut to cut out letters. Good times!!!

We wanted to get a couple of shots...little did I know Steff was lurking in the background!!!

This is the point I realized what she was up too!!!!

The hula hotties!!!

Empty margarita glasses for effect :)

Krazy Kate the weekend's MC. She is a teacher too and always sooo much fun!!!

Our good buddy Sheryl aka Sher-REAL getting ready to play a game...balancing a cat's eye ink in a spoon!

Kate made them PRANCE while balancing their ink. FUNNY!! SherREAL can do a MEAN prance!!!!

A layout I made of the weekend.

Hard to see, but a couple of girls did an encore performance of the Beyonce Single Ladies dance.

I had entered my layout in a contest but didn't win :( Not only that, I had to stand up in this group with everyone to find out that I didn't win. SWEET!!! NOT!!!!

This is L.Fox winning her THIRD prize!!! She can't believe it!!!

Accepting the award from Kate.

and of course there is a STORY behind this prize. Each Ganza the store donates some GREAT items that they raffle off and all proceeds go to a great charity. Awesome huh!?!? Well, one of the items was a giraffe print purse that I have been eye-ing for MONTHS!!! I wanted to wait a little closer to baby time to get it and use it for a diaper bag. Well, late Saturday night they had a 20% off sale in the Attic's booth so I thought "what a perfect time to buy the bag!!!" When I got to the booth someone was in line holding the only bag for sale. RATS!!! I decided that I would just buy it next time I was in the store cause I LOVE THAT BAG!!! Well, when I saw it was up for raffle I put 10 of my 13 tickets in the basket for that drawing. So when they were reading the ticket numbers for the winner of the BEAUTIFUL giraffe bag, Lindsay grabbed my arm and so I thought... "What, do I have that the winning ticket?!?!" I started getting flustered looking at my tickets as she jumped up!!! She had won my coveted giraffe bag!!! OMG!!! We were all in shock!!! I decided right then and there that I was not meant to be a lucky person so I gave up that dream and AGAIN was happy for my friend!!! LUCKY DUCK!!!!

She came back to the table with her new purse and after a few minutes, handed it to me!!! She wanted me to have it!! Of course I started BAWLING and tried to give it back but she wasn't having it!!! I couldn't believe her!! My friends have just been sooo wonderful to me throughout my pregnancy!! I just can't get over the fact that she would give the bag to me!! Who does that??!?!?!?!? So now Paisley and I are the proud new owners of the COOLEST diaper bag in town!!!! And as much as it kills me I am saving it and packing it up with all of her baby goodies to take with us to the hospital. Thanks linds--love ya!

With my FAH-BU-LOUS bead organizer!!!!

After popping my balloon... running up to see what my prize was!!!

I picked the only blue balloon hoping it was LUCKY!!!

And NO there is not a balloon under my shirt----funny!! Aren't the Margaritaville shirts cute??? My FAVE color for sure!!!

Lindsay having some SERIOUS adhesive issues!!! But she stuck it out til the very end!!!

Whew, so you can see it was such a fun filled weekend...except for the point late Saturday night when Heath called and said that Crosby (who was staying the night with TJ and Kelli) was missing us. I got pretty upset because I didn't know what I could do about it and I HATE feeling guilty for being away on these girls weekends!!! We have since ironed it all out... and you know what??? Crosby SURVIVED one night away from us!!!