Thursday, July 31, 2008

Gurzi Look-alike Meter and an Award


MyHeritage: Family tree - Genealogy - Celebrity - Collage - Morph

Susan had this on her blog a week or so ago. Kinda cool. Don't know how realistic it is though. Makenna is a look a like of me. Always has been. This will make her Dad happy since his kids really don't look anything like him. It is definitely the mexican in us. Very strong genes those mexican genes. Although i will say this..Jaxon is Ed. mannerisms, laid back and easy going. (scroll down for Jaxon's look a like meter)

So do i get to give a speech or anything?? I want to thank God and my family for always supporting me. My husband Ed for always being there for me, loving me for who i am.
hahahahahahahahahaha!!!
What in the world am I thinking??? Can you imagine having to get up in front of millions and giving a thank you speech and making sure you are politically correct in thanking the right people. if you don't thank you husband/wife you must be getting a divorce. What if on the way there your hubby irritated you and you just didn't feel like thanking him at that moment. You know they can irritate you at just the right moment. So funny to think about...or is it just me that thinks about this stuff and can go on and on about it on their blog??? Funny!
Now what I need to do is nominate 7 other blogs and let them know.
Here are the rules:
1. paste the logo award on your blog
2. Link your nominees on your blog
3. Let your nominees know by leaving them a comment on their blog.
so here are my nominees-

There are my 7 oops 8! 4 of them i work with and have got to say that they have great blogs. Christy is a blog reader of mine and she cracks me up and that girl can find a deal anywhere! gives great tips on coupon saving etc.!

Lain is a new friend from the show! And Stephanie A. needs no introduction. Most of you visit me through her! A great blog! One of the best in my opinion!

Okay now I am off to let them all know! Congratulations my friends!

Ciao

Gurzi Look-alike Meter

MyHeritage: Family tree - Genealogy - Celebrity - Collage - Morph

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

took a break

Hello there!!!

For some reason I just needed to chill out and stay away from blogging for awhile. Not that I did not think of all of you blogging friends everyday. I always get bummed when my favorite bloggers don't post for a few days. I look forward to catching up. so I apologize for my break. I am in a much better mood and ready to tackle whatever I need to tackle!
Last week I left you with a rundown of CHA. I did meet some great new friends. Was able to go to dinner with a couple of them. Great women! Creative and stinkin funny!

Donna and Lain were just a hoot! Go check their blogs out. Very talented gals! Of course that is Stephanie and her sister Jen. Love them! Steph, Jen and I hung out in the city for a few hours. Had so much fun. Went to the American Girl store. If you have not been..GO! It is quite the treat. The little girls are everywhere and just a crack up to listen to. 3 year olds saying...oh snap! Definitely had a grin on my face for awhile.

These mannequins were up and down the streets of Chicago. All made out of recycled material! Very cool! The key one is my favorite. I will say this Chicago has got to be one of the cleanest cities around. Their curbs are trash free! Crazy. Certainly wouldn't see that in downtown LA.
Since it is kinda quiet around the office it has given me time to do some layouts.
This layout is the first layout that I have ever done of myself. I went out of the box on this one. I am a clean line kinda of gal. Wasn't sure how i felt about it. It has grown on me.
We spent sometime down in Newport this past weekend with our neighbors. Had a great time. The boys just kept us in stitches. Love the colors. Of course I would, it is from my very favorite line "Coastal Culture".

This is a card I made for another neighbor who just lost her beloved Grandmother. I like the binding i made. Been sewing alot on my layouts. Following her, her, and her. Like where it has taken me.
Hoping to squeeze a couple more out before we start getting ready for Scrapfest in Minneapolis in September. I have never been so I am looking forward to it. Plus, the largest Mall in America can't be too bad. The shoes that one will be able to get!! Ooooooohhhhhhhh, my feet are starting to do the happy dance already!
Well I think I have rambled enough. Have to get Makenna to color guard practice.
Ciao~

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

First recount of CHA

First off, it was a fun show and always fun to see the new lines. If you are a crafter of any kind this would be the place that you want to be. So I consider myself very lucky to get to see the new stuff first hand.I will start by showing you all the graphics and our "Sunshine" area in our booth.

This picture is of our black and white papers and our "modern milan" line. The graphics are fabulous. They look awesome so big! One of my favorite parts of our booth.

This is area was dedicated to our black and white paper pad. Probably is my favorite line right now. But as you know that can change daily.It really is an awesome paper pad. If you don't have one go and get yourself one! Go here!


This is all of our new "soft spoken" and "sunshine". The sunshine picture is upside down and I am being lazy and not going to go back and fix it. You get the picture though.
These next two pics are by far my very favorite part of the booth. Although it is taking up the space where I used to do make and takes...which I love to do.

Don't you love the look and feel of it. All projects were created from our "sunshine" line. Love Love Love the hanging flowers and lanterns. The pinwheels have a little story behind them. The beach pail they were in had a ton of sand and flower forms in them. I did not want to ship them with the booth because I was afraid they would get squished. so I empty the sand put it in a ziploc bag put it in my suitcase. Wrapped up the green flower forms which had sand in them, put that in my suitcase. I thought which is a bad thing...thinking, I had wrapped everything real good. Well, when I got to my hotel room and opened my suitcase...I am sure you have figured it out...SAND EVERYWHERE! Piles and piles. I still have sand coming out of the suitcase. But low and behold pinwheels arrived safe and sound and not squished! Moral of story,even if you feel very confident in your wrapping skills the sand will always win in that situation!
Here are some of my class participants.

These ladies are from Brazil. I am sorry that I never got their names. They were so very appreciative of all the goodies that we gave them in their kits and very good listeners in the class.

Here are some of my class repeaters. They have been to my classes before at the show. I love that they continue to come back. Teaching is near and dear to my heart! I love how class participants come in all excited and then watching them create what we have created for them. Everyone always puts their touches on their projects which I like to see what they do. Scrapbooking is an art so everyone is different and sees things differently so no two are ever the same when we are done at the end of a class. Love it! Plus,. for those of you that don't know me well...I absolutely LOVE a microphone! If I could be famous I would be a singer! Gwen Stefani it would be!

This is Nancy owner of my LSS-Timeless Treasures. She was a lifesaver! She helped pass out the extra supplies before the class. She was waiting in line to get in and it was a long one and she just knew I needed help. so low and behold she stepped right in! She is one awesome lady! I owe her big time!

Last but not least the shows first day! Let the games begin!


It was a great first day and I have more pictures to show you! The saga continues tomorrow...

Monday, July 21, 2008

i'mmmmmm baaaaacccckkkk!!!!

What a fabulous last week I had! So much to tell you about and pictures to post. I am in the midst of getting the family situated (code for overflowing laundry baskets,fingerprints on every possible appliance, and crumbs everywhere) and of course spending time with my kids before i start my work week. So glad that I took this extra day off today. I will be back with all kinds of eye candy! I just have to tell you that the one thing that was the most exciting was learning about the corner rounder from Zutter. I know not a new product but NEW to me, Linda and Renee. It is AWESOME!
Go here to see some highlights until you come back to visit me tomorrow. I will say this I need a Flip to video everything. That way it would feel like you were right there with me! Maybe next year!
See you tomorrow~
Ciao~

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

much ado about nothing and oh yeah..A Winner!

Sorry about the delay. I came home from work and things are just hectic over here. Totally went to bed without picking a winner.

So without further ado our Mambi Monday winner is...

A. R. said...
My dog was lost, I was really sad. But on Friday a nice person found it and saw the flyers that me and my son made, so I'm grateful for that. The layouts are really beautiful!
July 13, 2008 5:19 PM
A.R. if you could email(suezig@meandmybigideas.com) me your snail mail address I will get your goodies in the mail on Monday of next week. I will be in Chicago the rest of this week so I can't get you your goods until then. So sorry but I promise you it will be worth it.

I made one more layout this morning before I started packing and putting all my stuff together for my trip. I really like how this one turned out. Love red white and blue together. Plus these pictures just make me smile. This was this year at June Lake. We have been many times during 4th of July and have never seen a parade in the campground before. This was a hoot. All the "old timers" who stay there for weeks on end put this together. They decorate their golf carts, and off they go. This year they recruited the fire department and some other locals from the June Lake. The kids loved it. Plus they throw candy at you.
I better get off blogger and get my stuff done. Still need to do some laundry and put together some dinners for the family while I am gone. If I don't do that Ed will have them eating out breakfast, lunch and dinner!
Ciao~

Monday, July 14, 2008

A new home

The sea glass story continues...

I went out on Saturday to find the perfect glass container for my new found beauties. I searched at Target, Kohl's, and then I found it at ZGallerie. A perfect little glass container that wasn't so big that the sea glass would get lost and when I collected more it would seem like I have been collecting for years.
Check it out~Snuggled right there on our book shelves, a new home for my new little pretties. I can look at it every time I come down from upstairs. It is the first place I look every morning. Here is a close up excuse the dust.(didn't realize it had been that long since I've dusted :(One fun little tidbit. The votive candle in the container is not really a votive candle it is battery operated. Have you seen them?? they even flicker! This made me giggle!
So there it is the sea glass story. With a little happy ending. I just can't wait until I can collect more!
So I am off this week to Chicago and I need to tie up all the loose ends that go with that and of course pack! I always get a little bit sad right before I leave. I don't really like to fly and I don't like leaving my family! Especially during the summer. I get a little bit of guilty Mom issues floating around. They will be fine and they won't even notice that I am gone for 4 days. But you know as Moms how it goes! I hate that! And really once I am there it is always fun and seeing people you only get to see at the show twice a year is a blast and I am spending a day in Chicago and I am going to dinner with Jodi and Matthew. Love those two. I should say three. They adopted a little baby boy last December so I finally get to meet Carson and snuggle him to pieces!! Can't beat that!
What kids??? HeeHee!
FYI~
Stephanie's magazine Heart to Home is now going to be called Holiday Home for it's last issue. Should be arriving in stores sometime in August I will keep you posted. I hear it is a beautiful issue. I can't wait to see it! It is such a bummer that the magazine is no longer after this last issue. It is a beautiful magazine, a magazine that you would keep for inspiration and wonderful ideas! Stephanie has some sneak peeks on her blog make sure you check it out!
Off to start my day at the office~
I bet you thought I forgot that it is Mambi Monday...I did not. I will pick a winner at the end of the day and post them tonight. That means you have a few more hours to comment on what you are grateful for. Make sure you leave your comment on the mojo returns post so that you are included in the giveaway.
Ciao Bellas~

Friday, July 11, 2008

I see the light!

So this is how this story had transpired. Stephanie, Terri and Lauren are avid sea glass collectors. They collect together and separately. When Stephanie and myself were in South Africa she went crazy at a beach in Cape Town. Apparently it was sea glass heaven! I just didn't get it. They have these little jars filled with their treasures from years of collecting and I will say this they are not overflowing by any means.
There are tons of sea glass collectors out there. They obsess over this hobby! Terri says that it is addicting and I said I have ADD and wouldn't stick to it


Well...I have seen the LIGHT!


We were at the beach today. Calafia in San Clemente. We go there all the time. This time there were lots of rocks and pebbles at the shore line. I have never seen so many rocks and pebbles. So I told Makenna lets go down there and see if we find anything!
The first piece I found was a cobalt blue and if I can recall the cobalt blue pieces are a rare find. Now mind you, it is the size of a grain of rice. Check it out!

See it right in the middle???
The other pieces are just a small portion of what we collected. Here is the stash..
So let me tell you this hobby is addicting. You don't want to stop. I can't believe how excited we got when we found the larger pieces. Crazy! I can't wait to get back there. When I text Steph with our finds she was dying to know where we found it all and I have to be honest I didn't want to tell her where. It was going to be my little secret. But I did let her in on the whereabouts and I will bet you she will be there tomorrow!
Seriously I am going to Pier 1 tomorrow to find me a little decorative jar to put my beautiful sea glass in. I also am very bummed that I didn't listen to my friend and start collecting with her in South Africa.

Crazy!

I also did get to finish a couple more things yesterday at the office. One layout and one shadow box frame.
This frame is from Michaels and I covered it with our black and white paper from the black and white paper pad and then added the silver glitter letters and the Happy soft spoken. Easy peezy. I think it still needs a little something else but for now it works. sometimes I need to walk away from a project and go back to it later.

I am into printing wallet size prints right now. All paper and embellishments are from our "Sunshine" line. I cut out 8 different prints all the same size. Then added pictures and embellishments. Again super easy! I think I inked all edges. Love this layout.
Don't forget to leave a comment on what you are thankful for in the last post. Mambi Monday will be here before you know it!



Thursday, July 10, 2008

the mojo has returned!

I finally have gotten down and dirty at the craft table and focused on creating just for me! I don't get to do that too often. I am always creating for work. Don't take that the wrong way...I love it. It is just that I don't always get to post what I have created because it is either for an ad or a magazine or something that is top secret for awhile. Since I have gotten all the kits shipped off to Chicago and everything pretty wrapped up here at the office I rewarded myself to let the mojo go wild and bang out some layouts! I used some new product that we are releasing at CHA next week. The golf page is new soft spoken. I love the page of Ed with our nephew Waylon. All the paper is from the "super cool" paper pad. Finally the page of Makenna is paper from "Reese" my favorite soft spoken butterflies and our notebook paper that is new. This page I did from the Summer Challenge on Stacy Julian's blog. I love this picture of Makenna and thought this would work perfect. This page literally took me 15 minutes. I did exactly what she said pick the picture and then journaled away. Super easy!

I am hoping I can get a couple more done before the end of the day. I do tend to have a little bit of ADD like my friend Stephanie and get easily distracted so you never know. I swear it gets worse as I have gotten older.
Getting excited for the Big Show next week. I am teaching and then walking the show to see what is new out there and then I am hanging with Steph and whomever else we pick up along the way. I will get to meet her friend Lain. From her blog she sounds like a hoot. Fun stuff! Good times, good times! Again, I can say that I am truly blessed. Not many get to do what they love, work and meet awesome and creative people and call them friends! Truly grateful for the path that God has carved out for little ol' me!
I think we might need a little giveaway and this is how it will work. Leave me a comment on what you are grateful for in your life. I will pick a winner this next Mambi Monday. Some new soft spoken, a new paper pad and a fun kit or two!
Can't wait to read your comments!
Ciao!

Monday, July 7, 2008

I'm Back and trying to recoup!

What is it about a vacation and needing a vacation from your vacation??? We had a fabo time! Perfect weather and an all around great time!

To sum it up...
roasted marshmallows- 100
pebbles in shoes from hikes- 100's
corona beers drank- 24
mojitos and margaritas enjoyed daily- lots
frogs in shower- 3
fish caught at numerous lakes- 40
games of double solitaire- 100
happy, laughing kids-priceless!

We did so many new things up in the Sierras. Lots of hikes. The views are spectacular! Even if we had to hike vertically to get there...nice family hike my butt!
I will leave you with some pictures of the week! The waterfall pictures are from the vertical hike and oh yeah Ed and our dog Lola almost went down it. Ed says he was in control the whole time but from our view he was not! A very scary few moments!

I have to finish up kitting for the show in Chicago so I will post this week with some sneak peeks of some fabulous layouts of our new lines. Can't wait to show you there are FABULOUS!

The hike to Fern Lake. did I mention vertical?? This is only halfway up!

Our hike to Parker Lake! Absolutely gorgeous!


The infamous waterfall that Ed and Lola almost took a ride on!

One of many fish caught this week. I just don't get the fishing thing??? You catch and then release them and you do this over and over!!! Hmmm...
jaxon finally face planted after a week of fun! I will post more pictures throughout the week. Some of them are just too beautiful not to let you all see the majestic scenery we tend to take for granted when we are going about our daily lives. It really makes you stop and give thanks to God for creating such beauty for us to enjoy!