Creative Escape

I am back from attending Creative Escape. It was a fantastic weekend as well as exhausting. I felt like I never stopped from the moment Nikki and I left my house to drive to Phoenix till I got back home. The classes at Creative Escape were great. The logistics of Creative Escape were not so great. I will let Heidi Swapp and Doug Jones (Mr. Bazzill) have a learning curve on this one. We were the guinea pigs for the first ever Creative Escape and I am glad to be a guinea pig. I am so glad that I was able to attend Creative Escape 2006.

I have been home over a day now from Phoenix and I am still completely exhausted. I think the swelling of my ankles (I am assuming from the driving) is almost back to norm (so that just means my ankles are regular fat).

I would have to say that the trunk show at Creative Escape was one of the highlights. I got to see actual paper crafted items by all the artists/instructors of Creative Escape. They were scraptacular projects. It was more than just seeing what they created for a class and I copied. These were actual personal items produced by the instructors.

I can't say that I will attend next year's Creative Escape but am glad to say that I was at the first Creative Escape!! Thank you to Heidi Swapp, Doug Jones, instructors, volunteers, sponsors, and especially my fellow students. I loved meeting all the ladies that I was able to meet. Thanks to all of you for making me and my sister's weekend in Phoenix and true joy!!!

P.S. This picture is from the Epson team that were on-site at Creative Escape. Nikki is on the left and I am on the right in our "Fat & Scrappy" tees that we made especially for Creative Escape!!!

Unloading Scrap Crap...

This past weekend I participated in a scrap supplies garage sale at one of my favorite scrapbook stores, The Scrapbook Junkie in Kemah, Texas. The basics are you sign up for a spot at the garage sale, gather up all your unwanted/unneeded scrap crap, and sell! We got store credit from our sales. I unloaded almost $200 of stuff (and still took home about 1/3 of the stuff I brought). I was so delighted that I unloaded that much junk and got a bunch of new junk to replace it. I bought new papers from Foofala and Heidi Grace. Loaded up on a bunch of new Heidi Swapp (gotta support my girl especially since I am attending Creative Escape in a couple of weeks). Got some new bling (rhinestones). Another bottle of KI Gloo since I go through this stuff like toilet paper (meaning I REALLY go through it!) Bought an aluminum album from Pine Cone Press. There is so much more that I can't even think. It was really hard to pick out $200 worth of scrap supplies at one sitting. But I did and loved every minute of it!!

The only thing that I didn't (or shall I say couldn't) buy was the new Cosmo Cricket papers. I am so in love with this line of papers. The Scrapbook Junkie doesnt' have this paper yet. I don't know if I can wait--might have to order online SOON!!!

Scary Weather

As I was sitting around the house after getting off from work, a horrible storm came through out of nowhere. There was thunder, lightning, hail, and horizontal rain. After the power went out (of course it went out--I live out in the middle of nowhere in the country), we decided to take a drive to see what kind of damage the storm did. There were trees/limbs down all over. The neighbors haybarn lost its roof. And it wasn't any kind of light, cheesy roof. It was a sturdy roof that was ripped to shreds all over his farm. The power came on about 10 minutes ago, a couple minutes after we got back from our storm tour. I like living in the country but hate it when bad weather comes through. You just never know what is going to happen with the infrastructure. The electricity could be out for a couple of minutes or a couple of days. We lucked out this time...

It's Been Awhile...

since I have posted anything. Not that I am talking to anyone specific just writing a few thoughts down. But since outing myself as a blogger on the Creative Escape 2006 Yahoo! group, I thought I would update my blog.

Last weekend was my beach weekend scrap retreat near Galveston. I arrived way later than planned because I picked up my new car from the dealer in San Antonio (like 3 hours away from where I live). So by the time I drove to San Antonio, drove back home to pick up my crap, and drove to the beach house--I arrived about 10pm (12 hours from the start of my travels). I was pretty exhausted. Basically I took a shower because I felt grungy, did the requisite snacking, and went to bed. The entire weekend I got exactly two journals made and one 12x12 layout. This is by far the least amount of papercrafting I have ever accomplished--and this was a 48 hour plus weekend retreat. I have accomplished more in a six hour retreat than this whole weekend. Anywho... I had a great time. Good friends (some new, some old), great food, and lots of laughs. I got to play with my friend Dona's new Pazzle. There were some bugs to work out but Dona being a demonstrator with them, she was going to call them first thing on Monday to see what the problems were. We did cut out multiple die cuts that I need for my Rolodex swap for Creative Escape. I also met Nancy during this weekend. I have been hating on Nancy for quite awhile now. Let me explain... Nancy is this fantastic papercrafter that is on the Design Team at Novel Approach (in Friendswood, I believe). Hopefully Nancy knew I was kidding when I told her I hated her and her mother (well actually the cake her mother made). Not only did Nancy product some great stuff this weekend but she also brought a cake her mother made. It was a German chocolate cake with a layer of what I am guessing is cream cheese in the middle. You will not only want to eat this whole cake (and make yourself very very sick in the process) but you will want to kill anyone that dares come near this cake let alone with a fork. The cake (and Nancy's papercrafts) is to die for!!!

My goal this week is to get my (s)crap together for a scrapbook garage sale at The Scrapbook Junkie (in Kemah) next weekend. I have too much junk that I don't use to just be sitting around in the resource center. And what a better way to get rid of it (versus just throwing it away) is to sell it and get store credit. Store credit means that much more (s)crap to put in my resource center--only this (s)crap will be all the newest stuff from CHA!!!

Johnny Depplicious

My sister and I went to see Pirates of the Carribean 2 this evening. While it did seem like the extra long movie that it was, it only gave me that much more time with my second and third husbands, respectively, Johnny Depp and Orlando Bloom. Too hotties that I cannot get enough of. Besides my soon-to-be-husbands, the movie was Depplicious. I really enjoyed it. My heart no so much--got quite a scare in a couple of parts where I felt my heart in my throat. But despite the reviews, I would recommend this movie to anyone!!!

Waiting for dinner

I am sitting here waiting for dinner to get done (Paula Deen recipe for meatloaf and mashed potatoes). I have been reading e-mails all day from the crazy girls in the Yahoo! group for Creative Escape AZ. Reading all the e-mails helps me make it through the day waiting for Creative Escape to actually get here. I cannot believe how anxious I am waiting for this event!!!

I am doing a little cleaning on the scrap room today. Probably won't get that much done especially since I am actually preparing dinner. Preparing dinner is a rarity these days. Not that I can't cook, it's that I don't want to cook. But considering it takes an hour round trip to go to town to go out to eat and that we eat out all the time, I am tired of eating out. I think I am going to start cooking a little more often (at least make an effort anyways!)

Beach Bound in August

I am going to a weekend crop near Galveston next month (August) with a group of friends from The Scrapbook Junkie in Keman, TX. I cannot wait. I am currently working at cleaning the ol' scrap room... Okay so I have working at cleaning the ol' scrap room for several months now. But I am getting down to the nitty gritty (as Nacho Libre would say) and cleaning it! It will be cleaned by the beach trip. I have also been putting projects to the side that I plan to scrap at the crop. I cannot wait to go!!!!!

First Entry: CREATIVE ESCAPE AZ

I have been debating about what the write about in my first entry. I wanted to wait until I could post some pictures but since I am waiting for a new battery for my digital... it could be a while for pictures. So my first entry is...

I cannot be quiet about going to Creative Escape in Phoenix, Arizona. My sister (Nikki) and I registered this past week as a gift from our mom. We just realized this even was happening and being the scrapbooking fiends that we are... we jumped at a chance to attend. Well my sister jumped at it, I kind of skipped around it for a couple of days. But now I am on board and we are Arizona bound in September. I cannot wait to meet the scrap "celebrities" that will be in attendance. I already told my sister that I will have plenty of pictures of me with Heidi Swapp!!!