CHA

So, I'm LOVING all the sneak peeks coming out! I think I saw an owl on some of the new Basic Grey! How super cute is that going to be? And here's a sneak peek for Karen's newest Tin Box Creations stamps. How cool are those clock stamps!?!

Ali Edwards stepped on my photo!!

Sunday was the BEST day! This whole weekend was amazing!

Jenn picked me up from the ferry terminal at 12:45 and we drove down to Bellingham, WA for a class with Karen Russell. She is SO sweet and creative and we got a TON of stuff in the class kit! The class projects are amazingly beautiful and I'll try to take photos that due them justice (probably on the weekend). I left the class feeling creative and excited. And we still had Ali on Sunday!

Sunday we went to Ali. We got there just a few minutes before it started and got our seats. There were some other people there that we knew so we chatted and waited anxiously for the class to start. You know all those wonderfully beautiful mini books that Ali posts on her blog and that are in the magazine (that amazingly beautiful one made out of transparencies). She had brought them for us to look at! Holding those and looking through them is an experience! They are SO amazing! She has got to be one of the most talented scrappers ever! It was so awesome to look at them all. We were in both classes so we made a mini book in the morning and one in the afternoon. The morning one was Favourite Photos and the afternoon one was Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow, Always. I'm pretty much finished the morning one, except for the journalling. The afternoon one is not quite done because I need smaller photos for it. I'm going to look throught everything tomorrow because I found some super cute baby photos of Colin today that might look cute in it.

Jenn and I were in the class and Karen was supposed to come from Princeton, but she got the stomach flu and couldn't make it and I was so disappointed that Tammy wasn't there. Luckily she had just gotten lost on her way there (that happened to me last time so I sympathized *S*) and she was just a little late (and caught up really well!!). Pretty much everyone was in both classes and Jenn, Tammy and I were the only ones who hung around at lunch. Ali decided to give away some stuff to us, so that was exciting. It was awesome to have such an intimate conversation with her. She's so real and down to earth and makes everyone feel like you're her best friend.

Ali stepped on my photo in the morning class and there was a funny joke about it (a comment about how I wouldn't be caring because it was Ali Edwards *S*), but I wasn't there to hear it (maybe Jenn can tell that story). The photo is in my book now and everytime a scrapper looks at my album I'll be pointing out the photo and saying "Ali Edwards stepped on that photo!", so whatever the whole class was laughing about it justified. *S*

I'm happy to be home now, with all the fun stuff I bought this weekend, including some brand new, being released at CHA next week, Fontwerks paper...jealous?...it's super cool, my Hambly transparencies and some fun new 7 Gypsies rub-ons. What is it with being inspired and having to buy new stuff? *S* Not that I need an excuse to buy Hambly or 7 Gypsies! We were having fun seeing what was in Ali's basket and buying that so we can copy all her projects when she makes them.

Well, off to bed. I'm hoping to be able to scrap right from when I get home from work tomorrow until bed time. Have a great week everyone! Hugs!!

Happy New Year!!

Today Heidi Swapp's class started on Big Picture Scrapbooking. The class is called A Year to Remember. When I was listening to Heidi audio message today, I was so excited for the next year. I'll try to share what I make each week. This week I just have to figure out what I want my goal to be. Something to work on throughout the year.

Colin is going to be thirteen in a couple of weeks. That's just crazy! He will officially be a teenager. Three more years until he's old enough to get his drivers licence.

Here's a few more photos from our trip. Colin was so cute and took my camera to take pictures when we drove through the tree in the Redwood Forest in California. He took eight photos, some close, some further away. Definitely my kid. *S*



Here's Colin in front of the Golden Gate bridge. I absoloutely fell in love with San Francisco! It's a gorgeous city. The traffic, leaving the city during rush hour, was crazy though!





This is the kids in the pool at our hotel in Vegas (the Luxor). They loved Vegas! We let them roam in the hotel (the second floor had a double level arcade).



This is me walking in, I think, California Adventure. The weather was gorgeous the whole time we were there!



This is me in the Hollywood hills, taking a picture of the Hollywood sign. We didn't see any celebrities, but we drove on Mullholland Drive and went to the Chinese Theater. The hill that we hiked is where all the famous celebrities get caught by cameras when they are trying to walk their dogs. No such lucky sightings for us though.



This is Colin on Venice Beach. We went to the Venice Beach boardwalk and walked around. It's the boardwalk that's famous in movies. We also went to the Santa Cruz boardwalk. The rides were closed because it was evening, but the kids played games in a huge arcade.



We got stuck in rush hour in Malibu too. I kind of wish we had pulled over and hung out on the beach for a while because it was so pretty, but we had had not much sleep that night (we thought California would be warmer for camping in December...apparently not), so we weren't really thinking clearly.