Well our Memorial weekend was fun! We had a BBQ with Mike's family and it was such a nice day to sit outside. The men played horse shoes, the women gossiped and Drew drank everyone's soda when they weren't looking. If you left a cup unattended for even a second he was gulping it down.



I got some great pictures of Stacey, who USED to be oh so coordinated, doing cartwheels. Lets just say she's not as graceful as she used to be. I would post them but I'm pretty sure she'd kill me. Maybe I'll just put them in my revenge pile just in case she makes me mad sometime soon.

I got an email from Creating Keepsakes the other day approving my assignment layout for the October issue!! I was so nervous I actually sent them two layouts! I'm such a geek! Here's the one they didn't pick.

*Guess they liked it after all!*

I loved this layout but it was a pain in the ass! I do a lot of stitching on my pages but this was the most painful. My hands actually hurt after I was done. I had to stitch through cardstock, pictures, and one or two pieces of patterned paper. It was work! I'm kind of sad they didn't pick this one simply because I put so much time into it. Oh well, I love it and that's all that matters.

I'm so surprised that I'm actually even blogging this close to the beginning of the next month. Believe it or not I actually got a somewhat early start on my card kit club. Surprise, surprise!! I feel like a whole new woman. This is just so out of character for me. If I start eating healthier or doing laundry regularly, call a doctor quick!
I really like the cards I did this month. I think I'm starting to get the hang of card making...and maybe even enjoying it a little. I'm really surprised at how great the kit is doing. We signed up a lot of new people over the month of May. Well, I should probably get back to work on them!!

Hope you have a great week!

There are now three of my layouts in the BasicGrey Gallery. The big news is that they have picked one of my layouts to appear in their June Retailer's Kit. It will also include my instructions on how to put the layout together. As far as which layout, I can't tell you. Sorry!

Okay, now it's time for a pet peeve rant.
Why, oh why do they ask you in the drive-thru if you want ketchup, Arby's sauce, bbq sauce, etc with your order. I always say yes I need it, and then it never ends up in the bag. Or you ask for a lot of (fill in the blank) and you get two teeny packets. I love Arby's sauce and pretty much drown my food in it. I always ask for a bunch of it and half the time I don't get any. How hard is it?
So that was a pretty stupid rant but seriously...

Mom told me we got the new Love, Elsie line at Scrapbook Generation. I've been waiting for this stuff and can't wait to get my hands on it. I'm sure it's going to go quick!

Have a great Memorial Day weekend and be safe!!!

Okay, you asked for it! Here is my playground. I love this room! It makes me smile every time I walk into it. The only thing I think it needs is a mini fridge. That would be awesome! I haven't really gotten into decorating it just yet. I've got a few things to hang up but I just haven't gotten around to it.


All the wonderful product I've been getting in the mail lately. So far the companies that have sent all of this wonderful stuff is: Heidi Swapp, Imaginisce, Me & My Big Ideas, Making Memories, and Carolee's Creations. I know that Bo Bunny is on it's way and I just got an email from Fancy Pants asking if they could send me some stuff, including their awesome clear stamps! I also got an email from BasicGrey with some pretty cool news, ( I haven't gotten a response at this time on if I can tell yet so...), and some product from them is on the way!


My mini store! This is where I pretty much store everything. I love having all this stuff in sight so I don't forget about it! Almost exactly a year ago I started out with one book shelf and very, very, little product. Apparently I feel the need to own everything in scrapland!


This is my new favorite toy. The Mac Daddy! I haven't had a computer at home in soooo long. I could have gotten one a long time ago but I was holding out until I could afford the one I wanted. It's great to be able to do all my work at home and not having to run to SG to send an email.
To the left of my computer is where I store all of my embellishments, alphabets, stickers, etc.

Some day I'll show a picture of what this room looks like after I've had a week of working! I pretty sure I would win scrap slob queen!

Just a quick note:
Be sure to check out BasicGrey's Gallery to get a look at one of my layouts. They added it earlier today!

This layout was for a really cool challenge at my new favorite place to hang out, SIStv! The challenge was to create an Andy Warhol inspired layout. It was so fun and so out of the "box" for me!! The picture turned out a little slanted because I was in a major rush to get it taken. Stacey had to distract Drew so he wouldn't see me go outside, it was about to start raining, and the camera batteries were about to die!

Nothing too exciting happening right now. It's about to hit that crazy time of the month for me. Classes and kits...oh my! I think I'm actually going to start a little earlier than usual! Surprise, surprise!!

Hope everyone is having a great week!!

Here's my latest page. I had so much fun working with American Crafts for the Creating Keepsakes HOF challenge that I decided to do another one! I've had this page in my sketch book for a long time so it was nice to finally get it on a layout!

Last night Drew and I went to Relay for Life at Hillcrest HS. He actually made three laps around the track! I had a great time chatting w/ Scrapbook Generation's DT girls, Jennifer and Laura! Seriously girls we need to have a DT crop so we can all get together and visit! Oh yeah, Jennifer, Drew wouldn't let go of his balloon!

Tonight we are taking Drew to the races here in Springfield! I can't wait! We really haven't been going to many races since Dad died. It's a little weird. I find myself sitting there waiting for him to pull out on the track and it sucks when it registers in my head that he's not going to. It really bothers me that Drew will never get to see him race!

Well we off to Sucker Day in Nixa w/ Stacey and Jeremy! Hope everyone has a great weekend!

*Edit* Okay blogger is really weird! It still won't let me post pictures on a new post, but I can go back and add them to the previous post. Strange.

Well I was going to post some new pictures of Drew but blogger is saying "nope, not today." I love new pictures, I can't wait to scrap them!! I taught Drew how to smile, or show your teeth as I say to him, and it's so cute. It looks a little fake but still totally adorable.

Be sure to check out Creating Keepsakes web site, ( I would be all high tech and have a link right here but for some reason blogger doesn't like Mac computers so I don't have that option. I don't even have spell check.... aaaakkkkk. ), Drum roll please...okay I'm going to stop right here because I'm being a super dork! Get to the point Allison! Now I've made this big deal out of something not too big. Sorry. Back to the subject. When CK's home page comes up you will see my page as a featured layout. I posted it in the gallery this morning and then my internet service crashed so I had no clue about it until Stacey called and asked me if I noticed it. I just thought it was pretty cool. I don't know how long it will be up so hurry, go look!!

I've got challenge ideas brewing in my head so look out!!! I can't wait to get a start on it, I really think it's going to be a cool thing! I've come to love challenges. They always make me stretch my creativity. Hope lots join in!!!

(Okay, Tracey you stole these picture from Jamie and now I'm stealing them from you!)
Isn't this crazy! I got a box from Me & My Big Ideas yesterday and it was filled to the brim with all of this great product. Today I got one from Heidi Swapp. (The top two pictures are MAMBI and the bottom on is HS) This is just too fun! I can't believe how generous these companies are. From what I hear it's only going to keep coming. I know of a few others that are on there way! Can you imagine what movie/tv celebrities get delivered to their doors. (Before anyone says anything I AM NOT considering myself a scrapbook celebrity! Not even close!)

We've had a great response to the HOF Prize Package Challenge. Lots of great stuff! I had so much fun working with the AC product that I'm already working on another! I already can't wait for the next challenge!

I need to get my butt to Scrapbook Generation. I haven't been all week and I've missed that place. My home away from home! Drew's been sick so I haven't been getting out. I hate it when he's sick!

Anyway, I've been doing some thinking on the whole challenge on my blog thing and I've got to get a few details lined out and then we'll be ready to get started. I don't really have a time frame of when but I am working on it! I would love to hear some thoughts on what people would like, what they would participate in, what kind of prize they would like, etc.

Creating Keepsakes has decided to have the HOF winners take part in a monthly challenge. Each month we will pick a manufacturer that sent us all that fun product in our prize package. We will create a layout and challenge everyone else to do the same. It's a great way to see so many different takes on one manufacturer. This month we are using American Crafts product, which I love by the way. The always have such fun and colorful product. I also love how they have the cordinating colors on the back of each patterned paper so you don't have to spend time finding the perfect cardstock color. Be sure to go check it out and if you've got some American Crafts product, get to work and show us what you can do! (FYI: Scrapbook Generation has quite a bit of American Crafts papers right now.) Just go to the Creating Keepsakes Gallery and look under Hall of Fame Prize Box Challenge to see all of our layouts.

I've been in major cleaning mode and have locked myself in my scrapbook room for the last week. The first day I went into my room I thought there is no way in hell I'm going to get this done in less than a month. It looked like a scrapbook store had sneezed all over my room. You couldn't even see the floor! It was one of those overwhelming moments where you just stand there and try to figure out where to start. About five minutes later my doorbell rang. The UPS guy was delivering my third prize box. It was my lucky day! It was full of Cropper Hopper organization stuff. Talk about fabulous timing! After many, many hours my room is finally suitable to work in! When I finished putting the last piece of stray chipboard in it's proper place I sat in the floor and admired my clean, scrap ready room. I'm so unbelievably glad that it's done. I promised myself, then and there, that from now on I will clean my space after each project. (We'll see how long that actually lasts!) Here's what I learned about myself and scrapbooking from the last week:

I have never met a piece of chipboard I didn't like.

I have paint, ribbon, and ink in every possible color.

It is true that patterned paper is addictive

I will never have a scrapbook room big enough. (Don't look in my closet! I said nothing about having a clean closet!)

Fancy Pants should just send everything they ever produce directly to my front door.

Stamps should be self cleaning because I aparently never clean them.

Rubons WILL stick to carpet, glass table tops, my elbow...etc

I have got to find something to do with all 8 monsterous bags of scrap paper. ( Is there a charity in need of cardstock?)

I'm a scrap-slob.

Next time, I'm hiring a cleaning crew to come in and take of this!

On a different subject, I'm sending a huge congrats to Scrapbook Generation's DT member Amy Estes. She just found out that she is having a layout picked up for publication in Layout Blueprints 2. Amy, my are-we-ever-going-to-get-pubbed pal, is an amazing scrapbooker and her accomplishment is well deserved. Be sure to check out her blog (I've got a link on the right side.) and give her a congrats!

My latest. This is a remake of one of my (horrible) Hall of Fame entries from last year. I loved the journaling but couldn't hardly stand to look at the page!

I don't really have much else going on right now. Battlefield is having their city wide garage sale that I need to get the rest of my stuff together for. I hate garage sales!!! I'm such a last minute person that I usually end up staying up all night the night before to get everything priced and set out. I seem to be pretty last minute on everything!

I also need to get in my scrapbook room and get to cleaning!! It's a disaster area. You can't even see the floor. I would start cleaning and then something would come up that I needed to work on. It's at the point now that I CAN'T do anything else until I clean!

Hope everyone had a great National Scrapbook Day!!!