Happy Halloween

My kids are too old to go Trick-or Treating so I don't get the same photo opportunites I used to. (So sad...) So this year, I dressed up instead. Actually, My mom, my daughter and I went to Salem, Ma last weekend and had some fun photos taken at Salem Vintage Photography. It was insane. The lines were out the door and down the hallway of the mall. It was very hot in those costumes too! The photos came out fun though. As usual when you get a group of people together it's hard to get everyone looking good in the same photo so I did a little photoshop magic and came up with this:

Here's a couple of the originals:

Yes, I'm sure the men in my family find these costumes appropriate.

On a different note-

Many of you know that Terry's cousin, Scott, is a missionary in Malawi, Africa. He and his wife Maria recently had a beautiful baby girl named Mayamiko. Scott is a die-hard Red Sox fan and he told Terry that He and Mayamiko stayed up all night to see the Sox win the World Series. Yeah Red Sox!

It's Here!

Figgy Pudding by Basic Grey!

The New Ranger Crackle Paints, too!

Proud Mom moment:

Those of you who know me know that I have two teenage boys who struggle through life due to emotional issues. If you have ever loved someone diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder you know how difficult life is for them; and because it is an "invisible" disability it is even harder for people to understand. The challenges my boys face on a daily basis break my heart. But this day was an exception.

My youngest son (my baby!) Adam began taking Tae Kwon Do in July at Healthkick in Stafford. At first he really struggled because he is so heavy and it is physically demanding. I had to fight with him almost every Tuesday & Thursday to get him off the computer and into uniform for class. After the first month, he wanted to quit. His instructor, Mrs. Baxter, took a special interest in him and convinced him to stay on for another month. By the end of the second month she allowed him to start sparring in class - something white belt's never do! Suddenly, he was no longer fighting me to go to class; he was attentive in class and quite helpful working with the younger students. Mrs. Baxter awarded him a patch for leadership - something he has never been recognized for. He was very proud. I am very proud.

On October 6th, Adam tested for two belts - yellow and gold. He did very well and was even able to break through two boards at one time by doing a front snap kick. The pictures I have posted here are from that day. A very proud day for Adam - a very proud day for Mom.

I must be crazy...

Oh Yeah, I am. Not only an I totally overwhelmed trying to prepare for the Five Store Bus Tour that is happening this Sunday, but I am also buried in new product. So what do I do instead of digging myself out from under... I decided I need to totally re-do the store website!

OK, so that was not my plan.

All I really wanted to do was change the template for the pages on the site so it was a little cleaner and more up-to-date looking.

Unfortunately, my website program has this very bad feature... If you change the template of your pages- You destroy all of your pages!!! You have to start from scratch. The good news is, I did have the forethought to download & save all of the information before I made the change. (Thank Goodness!) The bad news is, now I have to recreate the whole darn site.

So now, 10 hours later, I at least have something back up. Check it out .

Please let me know what you think. I still need to get all of the samples back up in the gallery and add more to the class descriptions but at least it is coming along.

This just in...

• Queen & Co products including the new felt borders.


• Daisy D's Christmas Line


• Junkitz Halloween


• NEW Prima Flowers including the cute little Christmas ornaments


• Flair Designs Thanksgiving & Christmas papers


• Heidi Grace Designs - Frost Blvd.


• Fiskars New Squeeze Punches

More great new stuff arrived today!

Those cute little $1 clear stamps for the holidays arrived... They'll be gone quick- Donna had planned to use them in an upcoming class but I don't think they'll last that long! Unfortunately we cannot get more; the entire run from the company is sold out. They will be offering a new set in November but they will be all-occasion, not holiday so get them while you can!

We also received a beautiful new line from K & Company called " Wild Saffron" - The colors are warm and work beautifully for fall. There were also some of the pieces from their new Ancestry Line including rub-ons and 2 classy albums. If you are looking for a great holiday gift for a scrapbooking friend, check out the new album kit with Paper storage, the Paper Holder with 200 designer papers or the Pretty in Pink Album and tool caddy set.

Terry & I are headed up to Sturbridge, MA this weekend to set up a mini store at the Croptopia Getaway weekend retreat. This is their Scrap Pink weekend so we are looking forward to making a lot of new friends.

A how to video for the men...

I came across this on You Tube...
Get your husbands and boyfriends in to watch this one.

http://www.livevideo.com/video/537FF9DA20B44560845DEE157D1F9DD6/man-made-card.aspx

Thank You, Thank You, Thank You!

Our first-ever Scrap Pink event was a success and we raised over $600 for Susan G Komen for the Cure.

Of course the event didn't happen without a bit of drama...

Here's the scoop:
On Friday, we were told by the Fire Department that we would be unable to use the hall as planned... Unfortunately, the former Fire Chief (McQuaid) passed away and they would need the hall for the funeral reception. This did not look good for our event. We had a choice to move out to the Apparatus Bay (garage) or cancel the event. Since it was for charity, I certianly did not want to cancel, so we went into crisis mode and did the best we could. The fire dept brought in tables and chairs from another fire house, moved out all of the trucks and washed down the floor. We went crazy washing chairs and covering tables and got the place looking pretty good.
When our guests arrived they were quite happy with the accomodations and were thrilled with the space they had.

The assistant fire chief came in at 2:00 and said his men would move us into the hall as soon as the funeral was over. Of course by that time, the ladies were happily cropping away and didn't really want to move. So we asked the men to come back at dinner time. They did and we got everyone into the hall and the firemen tore down all of the tables and brought the trucks back in.

I have to say that we were not at all happy on Friday, but things worked out and everyone had a good time. So no harm done. Our croppers had a great day and the family of the fallen fire chief was able to say goodbye in his fire house- so all is well.

So thank you to everyone who made the day a success; including the firemen who had to move all those tables and chairs in and out of the garage!