Willy Wonka Himself!

Jeff is a movie nut. He loves movies. He quotes movies. He appreciates good acting and great performances. He LOVES his comedies, will cry with me through a good "chick flick", and has a special place in his heart for old, black and white movies. Then there are the movies that he watched over and over and over during his high school/college/frat days... "Animal House," "Blazing Saddles," and "Repo Man."

This week, Jeff had the opportunity to meet one of his favorite all time actors, Mr. Gene Wilder. Mr. Wilder was signing books at a local "Borders" so we just had to go down and see him in person. He is older now, but still has that wild hair and beautiful eyes. His work has spaned decades, but will always be known to kids around the world as Willy Wonka (the only Willy Wonka that I care to remember!). Jeff loved him in so many things but "Blazing Saddles" and "Young Frankenstein" are probably his favorites. It was fun to see this legend in person and certainly a "Woo Hoo" moment!

My Treasure...

Just wanted to share a new layout I completed using the Rusty Pickle Pirate Princess line. With hidden journaling tags and fabric covered chipboard, this is one of my current favorites. Thanks for looking and have a GREAT day!!!

Crop Addict Cyber Crop!

It is finally here! The 3rd anniversary of Crop Addict and a GREAT BIG PARTY to help celebrate! Crop Addict will be hosting tons of games and challenges and giving away tons of prizes so come join in the fun!!! Crop begins 9am EST March 1st and ends 9pm EST on March 2nd.

I will be hosting my challenge and game from 11AM - 1PM EST on Sunday, March 2nd (which means 8AM - 10AM my California time!) Come join me on the boards and in the crop! Can't wait to see you there!!! Click on the title above to register for Crop Addict and join the party!

WOO HOO... #1 on 2Peas...

HOLY COW! Now, I must preface these comments by admitting, wholeheartedly, that I am a dork. Scrapbooking is exciting to me. Meeting new cyber friends is exciting to me. I do the "happy dance" on a regular basis and "Woo Hoo" is a regular part of my vocabulary. So, imagine my surprise when I clicked onto 2Peas this morning and found that one of my layouts was #2 on the Top 10 list of layouts!!! What that means for those of you who don't scrapbook (Dad), is that people on 2Peas (one of the biggest scrapbooking sites out there) vote for layouts that they like and the Top 10 vote getters end up on the Top 10 list. By this afternoon, my layout had made it to the #1 spot... SERIOUSLY... WOOOOO HOOOOO!

Here is the link to my layout on 2Peas if you are interested in seeing it over there... http://twopeasinabucket.kaboose.com/pg.asp?cmd=display&layout_id=1306068

Still giggling here... have a GREAT night!

Friend Spotlight - Beckie Dreyer

It is time again to highlight one of my friends and her OH SO AMAZING WORK! I met ("cyber met since Beckie lives over the pond... in the UK... one of our incredible international team members!) Beckie when we both became finalists in the Rusty Pickle Amazing Race II this past June. The Amazing Race was Rusty Pickle's audition for their new Design Team, who they lovingly refer to as their, "Chefs." Beckie's talent is obvious the moment that you see her work... her use of layers, accents, paper and pictures all combine into some of the most amazing stuff you will ever see. I was "Lucky" (pun intended) to see this featured project in person when I worked for Rusty Pickle at CHA last week. This circular acrylic mini album is so incredibly beautiful that I drooled every time I looked at it. Beckie was nice enough to create a slide show of her project when I asked permission to post it, so here it is...

Here is a link to Beckie's blog if you would like to see more of her work.
http://beckiedreyer.blogspot.com/

Photo Shoot...

I have been working on a an acrylic home decor item that I will be teaching next month. For the project, I need individual pictures of the family, so I set up a black sheet, had the family dress in coordinated colors, and started shooting. Chris just cracks me up! I just had to share some of these cute pics I took...

CHA, Baby!!!

Wooooo Hooooo!!! I'm back from my first CHA and can hardly belive the incredible week that I just had!!! I went to CHA to work for Rusty Pickle (I am a Chef on their Design Team.) Set up, construction, decoration, sore feet, show opens, tingle in my stomach, first customers, first "ohs and ahs", flood of people, CHOCOLATE FOUNTAIN, nervous jitters turn to excitement, Australian accents, French accents, German accents, Spanish accents, visitors from around the globe, sore back, writing my first order, need more catalogs, excitement turns to pride, more chocolate for the fountain, introductions, meeting cyber friends in real life!, sick and lost voice but NOT slowing down, out of catalogs, so much support for Rusty Pickle, hard work by the entire team, orders pouring in, energy building, and building and building... 2PM on Wednesday, time to break down and go home... tired, happy, sore, proud, full of new ideas, can't wait to scrap, grateful.

I was so thrilled to meet several "cyber" friends in real life at the show. Giving hugs, hearing laughter, seeing the twinkle in your eyes... it was soooo cool to meet so many friends at the show! I met the Tally Scrapper group (owner, Christine, and DT/Communication Directors Rachael and Shirley)... you are "Creative Geniuses!" I had dinner with Debbie, the owner of Crop Addict and several members of my Crop Addict team at the Rainforest Cafe on Sunday night. Hi to Rebecca Luddens, too... great to see you again! I was thrilled to meet one of my first cyber friends, Becky Chabot, in person! You are a tiny little thing full of all the engery and fun and knowledge that I expected. Then there is Suzy Plantamura who started throwing marshmellows at me while I was writing up my very first order... anyone that knows fun-loving Suzy knows that is TOTALLY something she would do! :-) The owners of one of my LSS, "It's About Time" came to say hello... those shirts were DARLING and I will be up to buy one in black (XL)... save one for me! Thanks for the AWESOME compliments, Melody! That meant a lot to me!! I don't know how, but I missed Miss Camille Akin, friend and owner of Ever After Scrapbooks where I am on the Design Team and a new instructor, 3 times during the show! SORRY, CAMILLE!!! I will make it up to you at our next meeting!

Besides meeting all these special friends, one of my personal show highlights was having lunch with several of the CREATING KEEPSAKES editors and special contributors. I'm still wondering how I ended up at this casual little lunch with so many incredibly talented people... I was invited by Miss Jana Lillie, the wonderful CK editor that will be publishing my work twice in the next few months. Everyone was very welcoming and shared in my excitement about my upcoming publications! I know... I'm such a dork, but this was a very special memory from CHA and I am going to keep that tingle of excitement flowing through me as long as I possibly can!

I still can't believe that this hobby of mine... this creative outlet... this preservation of memories for my family has led me to so much fun, great friends, and exciting opportunities! I can hardly wait to see what is coming next!!! And, thanks, Sweetheart, for taking care of things around the house and the kids so I could go work/play. I will make that up to you, too! :-)

CHA, CHA, CHA "Rusty" Sneak Peaks...

You asked for it... here they are! The rest of the sneak peaks for the CHA Rusty Pickle line. These 2 lines are SOOOOOO COOOOOL!!! First, I think my favorite of the 4 new lines, "White Chocolate Bunnies!" This Easter line is very similar to the popular "Chocolate Bunnies" line from last Easter except this one focuses on dreamy whites and pinks... the original yummy line was chocolate brown and blue. The last of our new lines is the Pop Star line, created by Rusty Pickle Chef, Rachelle Minett from AUSTRALIA!!! She is the DOODLING QUEEN as you will see in this fun line inspired by the hit movie series, High School Musical.

What do you think? Getting scrappy ideas already? I sure am and can hardly wait to represent these lines at CHA in just a few short days! Check back tomorrow so I can post some sneak peaks of a new ACRYLIC ALBUM I have created with the new LUCKY LINE!!!

Rusty Pickle CHA Sneak Peaks!!!

3 days to go until I leave for CHA and I am SOOOO EXCITED!!! Here are 2 of the 4 new Rusty Pickle lines that will be released at CHA... Game Time is perfect for Chris and all of his sports photos and Under the Stars... a perfect excuse to plan a summer camping trip!!!

WE WON! GO OGHS!!!

Our Varsity Basketball team had a horrible year last year (0-26!). This year, we have a new coach and had a GREAT pre-season (9-5!) We have been excited about league starting and have had several newspaper articles written about the team as being the "best losing team in the league!" We are in one of the toughest leagues around and lost our first 7 league games... but most of the games we only lost by a few points (unlike last year where we lost by up to 70 points per game!... OUCH!).

Well... WE WON OUR FIRST LEAGUE GAME ON FRIDAY!!! WOOOOO HOOOOO! And Chris played in a good portion of the game!!! He made 6 points... and everytime he did, our Rowdy Crowd erupted in the cheer... "He's our FRESHMAN!!!" EVEN BETTER NEWS... this win looks like it qualified us for CIF playoffs!!! Some of the other teams in our league have better league records, but our preseason record blows them away!!! We still have 4 games to go and look forward to some great basketball!!! GO PATRIOTS!! And Go Chris!!! (Proud Mom coming out!!! )