Lauren Ferguson | There are no mistakes in art, just opportunites to embellish. (tm)

What a difference 3 days can make

I love going away to teach.

I love being able to see old and new friends.

It is great to meet new people and make new friends.

But I have to admit that on that third day I am ready to come home.

By Sunday I am spent and ready to see my kids.

I landed this morning at 7.55 and my youngest son wanted to come to the airport to pick me up.

It was wonderful to see him. He is getting so big. It cracks me up to come home and see them in a new light.

I am amazed at what a difference three days can make.

So tomorrow, I hit the ground running being a mama. I need to purchase a new washer.

Oh, I forgot to tell you this story.

I called Sears last week to come out and see why my washer was not running the rinse cycle.

At first I thought that there was a sock stuck in the pump.

I make the appointment for Monday. It of course is an all day appointment. They do not give you a specific time it is anytime between 8.30 am and 5.00pm.

Well Monday comes, kids are off to school, Eji is out the door early. I am home waiting for the Sears repair man.

At 8.15 the phone rings and I am the first appointment of the day! Woo-Hoo it is going to be a great day...

NOT!!

Apparently Paul got the call. Paul is 6.7 and at least 400 lbs.

He comes into my basement sees my small laundry room and says that he cannot work on it because he is too big to fit in the room.

I say to him well if you move the dryer you will fit.

He looks at me and says, "I would have to move the dryer and the washer to fit in that room."

Yes, he refused. I actually had to call Sears and tell them that he refused to fix it because he was too big.

Do you know that the supervisor said "I will send another technician out on Wednesday."

I have never been so livid.

So this is how I wound up in the laundromat with 9 loads of laundry.

Well, Dave came out and told me that the actual bucket is broken and it will cost 700.00 to fix.

I politely kick Dave out of my house and decided that I will be buying a new washer tomorrow.

Oppss, sorry I digressed...

Where was I... Yeah being a mama.

I missed the kids and they missed me. Oh I know that this may not last forever, but for now it really is a nice place to be.

until we meet again,

Glitter is the New Black!!

Oh my what a fun day. I have had nothing but a blast.

Woke up this morning to a Venti Carmel Macchiato with three additional shots of espresso, three equals stirred, extra extra carmel.

From the moment the doors opened at 9.00am until the doors closed at 5.00pm, there has been nothing but a cloud of the most beautiful sparkly stuff floating around my head.

I have stamped, glittered, embossed and stamped some more until I could not stamp anymore.

I had the best giggle today.

A woman stopped me on the way out of the ladies room and the conversation went something like this...

Excuse me, but do you know that you are sparkly?
Sparkly??
Yes, every time you take a step, you leave this wonderful little "poof" of glitter in your wake.

It was not until I looked down and saw my foot prints on the bathroom floor that I realized what she was saying.

Literally, I was leaving a tornado of glitter.

After the show we went back to Luigi's for dinner. Oh my, I ate like a pig and slopped up all of the red gravy with a large piece of Italian bread.

Then for the best treat of the night...

I got to go hang out at the Gary M. Burlin's Warehouse in Cleveland, Ohio. Do you see this room. This room is so perfectly over the top! The ceiling is just to die for. Any Who...

Oh my, I have never seen so much craft candy in all my life. Re-inkers to every single ink that has been invented by any company you can imagine.

There were products that I had never seen and things that I thought just did not exist anymore. Well, I know where they are, they are in his warehouse. Oh, I would never get a paycheck because I would just go home with boxes and boxes of product. Talk about leaving the wolf in charge of the hen house.

It was a great day and I would not change a thing.

until we meet again,

O-HI-O??

Sparkle n Sprinkle asked me to go on the road with them to a few stamping shows.

My first show is the Adventures in Stamping in Akron Ohio.

I have never been to a stamp focused show before. I am so fired up.

I am going to be surrounded by red and grey rubber for two full days.

I am going to be covered in glitter the whole time.

I have never been to Ohio. I am not even sure what their claim to fame is.

I am going to do a few of my favorite demos with glitter.

If glitter had a nutritional value, I would eat it.

I have a bunch of projects to finish while I am away. 

My flight leaves at 7.35 am so my dad is going to drive me to the airport. Apparently he would rather wake up early and take me to the airport than get his three darling grandchildren ready to go to school in the morning.

Does anyone else use the airplane time to create and get stuff done?

I have put my friends on the plane to work for me. I have changed people seats to CHA so that we can sit next to one another so they can help me.

I guess that puts me in the Mile High Crafters Club.

until we meet again,

I'm on my very own PINK cloud!!

Can you believe it?  I sold my first book.

Yes, it is finally official. My art is in someone's private collection.

I am so glad that one of my copper etched books found a home.

It just makes me have goose bumps all over.

I have to say that I like being validated from the outside in.

Yes, I do like it when people say damn that is so good, I must have it how much does it cost.

This is one of the best feelings in the world.

Let me say this,

WOOOOOO HOOOOOO!!!

I feel good and there is nothing not nowhere not no how that will bring me down!

Yep, I am on my very own pink cloud.

until we meet again,

Better late than Never

Tag, I'm It!

I am in a Blog Relay for Tattered Angels. So this means that I am suppose to post some really meaningful piece of art on my blog.

Of course, my life got bigger than me and I forgot.

So reaching into my treasure chest of past projects, I pulled this little diddy out of my trunk. 

A few months back, I made this layout for my parents when they took my daughter on a cruise for the summer.

I went back through my blog and realized that I never showed the full photo of the layout. Lucky for me.

Tattered Angels:

• Swirl Glimmer Chip
• Glimmer Mist: Bubblegum, Daffodil, Honey Dew, Coffee Shop and Lemon Zest

Prima Marketing, Inc:

• White Blossoms
• Patterned Paper

Here are the other ladies that are in the blog relay today.

Lauren Ferguson (TA), Michelle Van Etten (TA), Caroline Ikeji (Prima) and Cari Fennell (Prima)

until we meet again,

Bits and Pieces...

Mr. Du lost another tooth!

You guessed it, my little man has lost his second tooth.

It is amazing how it only takes him one time to realize that if he keeps throwing his teeth away, he may never see the tooth fairy.

He told his teacher at school "Don't lose it, because it turns into money! POOOFFF!"

Oh how they make me laugh. Kids are so resilient. And just when you think that you have them all figured out, BAAMMM they go ahead and start growing up again.

I love the spring! I hate the pollen! But I love the Spring!

Today was just beautiful, sunny and my kinda day.

I am working hard on staying true and steady.

Yes, the cleaning up and purging is kicking my butt. As soon as I think that I am almost done with a box or a bin, another set of stuff just pops up.

My paper is multiplying like roaches right in front of me. I just do not know where it is all coming from.

So off to clean some more and make some art.

until we meet again,

Matter is neither created nor destroyed...

It is just redistributed. This is true for fat cells and crafting supplies.

Then I think of my new motto...

To clean or not to clean? That has never been the question.

The real question is do i think that I may use that in the future. The answer has generally been yes, hold on to it.

And that ladies and gentlemen is how I have found myself in my present state of "too much shit".

Hence, the cleaning of my craft room. Yes, I am really letting go of some old Basic Grey, Periphery and Oh Baby!.

It kills me, but I must.

What ever is not sold, I am donating to the local children's hospital and senior center.

So below is the information for where you can get fat and buy all my stuff.

==================================================
May Paper Crafting Consignment Sale

Sale Days
    Friday, May 8th....................9:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.
Saturday, May 9th....................9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.

Half Price Sale
    Saturday, May 9th     12:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.

Who/Where
Marty McGee @ Pat’s home:  3998 North Puckett Road, Buford, GA 30519
Pat’s home is at the corner of North Puckett Road and Thompson Mill Road

Contact: martyz@bellsouth.net

CASH ONLY.  ALL SALES ARE FINAL.
==================================================

until we meet again,

The world is smaller than you think

I have started to finally realize that it is not always the immediate connection that you make with people. It can be months later that a person saw you somewhere or heard your name that a 6 degree of separation thing happens.

Well, anyway, I was asked to do be a Guest Designer for Scraptivity, a kit club in Canada. Barb and her husband are also the owners of the BizzyB Stamps and Scrap.

She has a great store with the kinda artsy scrapbook stuff that I like when I want to put a picture on my paper.

I have to admit that it has been months since I scrapbooked. So instead of trying to do a layout, I reached for what I know. I made a mini album with less than a 12 by 12 sheet of paper.

There was glimmer mist in the box, which made me happy.

Since I have been cleaning up my space, I reached for my personal die cut system and had a blast.

I must admit that there is a soft place in my heart for scrapbooking.

until we meet again,

Spring has Sprung!!

Oh my what a wonderful set of days back to back.

Spring is always a time of transition. I am a sunny hot gotta have the heat kinda girl.

I do not mind it at all. I actually look forward to it.

I am by no means a beach bunny, but oh how I love a good sunny day in the South.

It is just HOT hence the name HOT-lanta.

I have been cleaning my house, my craft room and enjoying it.

Speaking of cleaning, I had cleaned out the garage a few months back and found the plastic Easter eggs that needed to be filled with candy and money.

I brought the bag into the house and found out that the kids had never opened them from last year.

Yep, I apparently denied my kids.

Once I got over that need to laugh, I realized that it worked really well and that I would do it again this year.

So once again, the plastic eggs are safely back in the garage waiting for next Easter.

I am finally out of the cold winter blues!!

SPRING HAS SPRUNG!!!

until we meet again,

Cleaning and Crafting vs. Crafting and Cleaning

Oh my what a glorious few days. I have been cleaning out my craft room. Yes, I have finally put my foot down and decided that my next big thing is going to require that I know where my stuff is.

I cannot count the number to times that I have purchased or pick up or gotten for free the perfect "thing" that I must have so that I can use it in something... What I am never quite sure.  But I must have it.

Well, I have decided no more.  I am good for getting something and using it right away, but most of the time... NOT.

This purge-a-thon has really shown me how much I have changed in my style and choices since I first started crafting.

Now, don't get me wrong, there is no way that I am going to give up things like my Basic Grey Periphery. And I am not giving up the embossed papers of Motifica.

But there is a bunch of stuff that I just have not touched in over three years and truly forgot that I had it.

So rather than crafting and cleaning, I am cleaning and crafting.

I am getting rid of things that no matter what I try to tell myself, I am never going to use.

I am feeling invigorated. I have finished all of the undercover projects for publication and now I am going to Clean and Create. I am going to get a few promised fun projects that I can blog about finished.

Why? Because I can find the stuff!

A good purging is needed at least once a year. I am way overdue for one. How about 3 years overdue.

I have three more weeks to get it done and at the rate that I am going now, I should have my space clean and relabeled in no time.

No you stop laughing at me... let a girl have her fantasy...

I think I can, I think I can, I think I can....

until we meet again,