Looking forward to a great new year

Hey everyone! I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas! Our family was fighting off sickness after sickness, but we had a great holiday despite it all. It started off with sinus infections, then went to the intestinal virus that landed Zachary and myself in the hospital for a day each, then back to sinus and Robby even got Strep! In between illnesses, my parents came to visit and what a great time we had. I had been so busy with a new book, classes at the Scrapbook Pad, and all that I hadn't put up any decorations, but it was a blessing in disguise. Watching my kids and my parents put up the tree was a memory I will never forget! Then we all went to see Christmas lights and had a blast! My kids made out like bandits as usual, and Robby and I didn't do so bad ourselves. I also got to see both of my kids in Christmas performances this year and what a treat that was. Kaylee's turning out to be our little movie star, and Bubba, well, let's just say this may not be his thing - but he sure was cute anyway :)

In between all my things to do, I made time to go to a "Stocking Stuffer workshop" at Joni's house and had such a great time. I got all my teacher gifts done in one afternoon and had a blast doing it! I can't wait for the next one! I made the neatest things and made around 20 or so gifts for only $1 each in 1 afternoon! In fact, I had so much fun that I'm hosting one at my house for Valentine's Day gifts. We'll be making two different gift bags/boxes to fill with treats for your teachers, neighbors, co-workers, etc. and they'll be only $1 each. You'll also be able to look through the Stampin' Up catalogs to see what things you can't live without. It will be a lot of fun and I'd love for you all to join me. It will be at my house on Thursday evening, January 24th. It is a come and go thing from 6pm to 9pm. If you want to make several, plan on being here most of the time and we need RSVP in advance so we know how many kits to put together. If you're interested, call me, e-mail me, or comment here and I'll be sure to get with you with further info.

Well - I'm off to bed. I have a big day planned tomorrow with Amanda. We have a sitter for our kids and we're spending the day at the Scrapbook Pad. I can't wait. Amanda's website is well on its way and I've got to get my stuff ready to go. I'm so looking forward to it. It has been so long since I've been able to spend much time doing my digital stuff and I miss it.

If you have time, leave me a comment and let me know how you're doing. I love to know who's checking in! Thanks and have a very Happy and safe New Year!

~Paula

Thankful

Wow! Where to start! Things have been going at such a fast pace around here and the holidays are coming up fast.

Coming into the Thanksgiving season, I have so much to be thankful for. I have been blessed to be able to reach some of my goals that I set for myself this year. I have had my work published in 4 books that will be released in February at CHA. I am teaching classes that are starting to fill up. I am being considered for having a book published where I will be the only Designer/Author, and might get to go be a part of CHA this next year! I can't believe how things have changed since this time last year. On the personal side, my two beautiful children are healthy and doing well. My son is thoroughly enjoying preschool, which is great for both of us! :) My husband is doing well in his job, and sometimes I just feel like I need to pinch myself to see if this is all real. I truly am thankful for so much this season.

I have two classes coming up in December at The Scrapbook Pad. The first is December 8th and it is the "Believe" chipboard album by BoBunny done in traditional red, green, and white. The second is the "TagMania" class on December 9th that is for ages 7 & up and we will be making a variety of tags for our holiday gifts. I'm sure both classes will be a lot of fun and I'd love to hear that someone came to my class that heard about it here!

I hope you too have been blessed this year and have much to be thankful for. My wish for myself and for everyone this holiday season is to remember the reason for the season, and to enjoy every minute that can be spent with family and friends making memories to last a lifetime (and to scrapbook later- hehe!)

I hope to post some new photos of some of my projects soon. Keep checking back. Thanks and Happy Thanksgiving!

Paula

Much needed retreat

I just returned from a "much needed retreat" at Big Rock Ranch in Eustace, TX. It was so fun. I worked on Kaylee's 1st grade album - yes, I'm actually that far behind - shame on me!! Cindy went with me and we had our nails done, got massages, ate some great food, and actually got some pages done, too.

I'm also working on some projects for another book for Design Originals. I'm so very excited about it and can't wait to start on them. I also have been making the cards for the "All About Cards" kids class that will be in November at the Scrapbook Pad. I'm so blessed and just can't believe that I'm actually getting to "work" doing what I love - so it doesn't even seem like "work". I get so much satisfaction out of seeing a student at one of my classes when they finish their project and are proud of what they made. I can't imagine how it will feel when I see some of my projects actually printed in a published book! It just doesn't seem real. I just thank the Lord for bringing these opportunities my way and hope that I can make the best of them and do a good job.

The kids are doing well in school and they both looked so cute for their school pictures! I can't wait to get the pictures back. Zachary got a "Caught BEE-ing Good" sticker Tuesday for using his manners - WOW! It's amazing, but I guess sometimes they actually do listen and learn even when we think they don't :) I was so very proud of him!

That's about all for now. Friday night some of us are getting together and doing the "Crop for a Cure" crop at the Scrapbook Pad. It's an all nighter - I wonder if I'll actually make it that long - time will tell. Thanks for checking in and I hope you are having a wonderful week!

Sincerely,
Paula

Fun Friday Nights

Hey everyone! I'm writing from The Scrapbook Pad where I'm cropping, well, actually blogging right now - hehe! We're having a great time and celebrating a belated birthday for our friend, Julie. I actually got 8 hours of sleep last night and can't believe how much better I feel! I can't wait to see how I feel after getting a whole 2 nights of good sleep.

I just turned in the information for the classes that I will be teaching at The Scrapbook Pad until the end of the year. I think they're going to be awesome and I'd love to see some of you here! In November, I'll be doing a "What I'm Thankful For" paper bag album using the fall papers from BoBunny - it will be sooo cute! Then in December, I'll be doing the "Believe" chipboard book by BoBunny with Christmas papers and decorations - I can't wait!

I'd love to hear from everyone - please post and tell me what you're doing this Friday night!

LOL,
Paula

Exhausting Week

Hey there! It truly has been an exhausting week. I finished the projects - shadow boxes- for Design Originals and I was very pleased with how they turned out. It was a lot of hard work and most nights I was up until 2AM or later and getting back up at 7AM, but when I dropped them off today and heard everyone say how cute they were - it was all worth it! I'll try to get a few photos up tomorrow night if I can.

Kaylee is still enjoying school and Zachary had his 2nd day of Pre-K today. He got upset today when I had to leave him, which was odd because he was fine on Tuesday. He seemed to calm down quickly though and was having a good time when I went to pick him up. I think he really got some great teachers! They are soooo good with the kids. They told me after the first day that his favorite words are "I not". When they would say "OK, we're going to have a story now" he would say "I not". When they said they were going to have lunch, he said "I not". It was pretty funny though, because after he would say that, they told me it didn't take much convincing to get him to do it anyway. Such a silly boy - he keeps us entertained.

Nothing much else going on here. I just have to try to tend to my neglected house and I'm going to crop at the Scrapbook Pad tomorrow night which I am very much looking forward to. Tonight I'm going to go to bed early - in fact as soon as I get done here for some much needed catch up sleep. Thanks for checking in.

Til next time,
Paula

Friday Night Crop

Well - It's Friday night and I'm having a great time cropping at Amanda's house. We've had a lot of good food (and chocolate - what's a crop without chocolate?). I had to run some errands for my upcoming projects for possible publishing before I got here. I went to Home Depot to have someone help me cut some trim for my projects and was directed to the "Cut It Yourself Area" - that was quite an experience. Thank goodness for Lori. I couldn't have done it without her!!! Now it's REALLY late and Amanda and I are the only ones left. We're watching Footloose -believe it or not, I've never seen it. I hope you are all having a great Friday night. I'd love to hear about your events and crops. Well, I'm going to go - it's at a good part of the movie.

Til next time - Keep cropping!
Paula

I'm back posting - finally !!

Hello again! Yes I'm still here and sooooo much has happened! Robby and I went to Las Vegas for our 10th anniversary - lots and lots of walking!!! But it was a lot of fun too. We saw the Phantom of the Opera while we were there - that was enough to make the whole trip worth it - but we did other fun stuff too. Then, we were back for about a week, then the kids and I went to Oklahoma to visit my Grandma Huff in Lamar, OK, then on to visit my Mema and Papa Mc (or as the kids call them, GG and Gramps) in Broken Arrow, OK. We had a lot of fun - we saw horses, went bowling and more. Then we were off to Paola, Kansas to see my parents. This was the first time we have been able to visit them since they moved there. The house was beautiful and my Mom and I made curtains and flower arrangements. We also saw my brother, Brian and his wife, Gissel. The kids and I went to a water park and a zoo/park with my Dad and we all had a good time. After a little over two weeks it was time to come home. We had a good time, but were all a little homesick.

Now we're back and getting back into the grind of the new school year. Kaylee started school yesterday - my big 3rd grader! She loves it and hopefully it will stay that way. Next week Zachary starts Pre-K on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I can't wait - 2 whole days to myself!!! Wow!!! I can't even imagine it yet.

We visited a new church last Sunday, First Baptist Church Saginaw. It was very nice and the kids seem to really like it. (This is where Zach will be going to Pre-K). We just wanted to check it out since it has been taking so long to get to our church. We'll see how it goes. We did sign Kaylee up for some kid activities and she's really excited about that!

I do have some really good news to share! I just turned in some scrapbook pages that will be published in a book being put out by Design Originals. I can't wait to see them in the book. I'll give you more info on it once I know that it's ok to share that info. Also - I'll be sure to let you know when it's available for purchase. I can't wait. I'm also working on some additional projects for Design Originals that will hopefully be published in upcoming books. I'm very excited about this new chapter in my life and hope that someday soon I'll get to do my own book.

My classes at The Scrapbook Pad have been doing well. The kids classes seem to really be taking off. Last week we had 8 kids at the class. It was a lot of fun and the children all did so well on their school mini albums! It made me so proud. September 30th, we'll be making a decorated monogram letter for the kids to put on their door or in their room. They will really get to be creative on this one and I'd love to have a full class. It's only $15 - so sign up your little ones (7 & up) - they'll have a lot of fun! Also - in November, I'm starting my adult classes back up and this one will be a great one! I'll be teaching a Thankful paper bag album with papers from Bo Bunny - they are gorgeous! I'll give more info on this one a little later.

Well - that pretty much catches you up on where I'm at. I'll try to update a little more often. Thanks for checking in with me and I'd love to hear your comments about the new pages and photos - (notice the new hair do :) Have a great day!

Paula

Excited and Tired

Tonight (or should I say this morning) I am working on kits for the Purple Paper Flowers website that is to go live July 1st - be on the lookout :) The kit I'm working on now will be a 4th of July kit. I just finished "The Frog Prince" kit that you can see on the right. I can't wait to see how it does on the website. I had a lot of fun using my paper piecing skills digitally. I thought they turned out pretty cute. Let me know what you think and if there's a theme of kit you'd like to see. I'd love to hear your ideas and input.

I survived last week. I think that's becoming my theme - just survive. Last Monday we started VBS at our church, and even though I wasn't working it this year, I still carpooled some children and mine over there - and that meant 2 to 3 hours in the car each day. The kids seemed to have a lot of fun though, so it was all worth it. Then after VBS on Monday, Zachary ran into a table corner and off to the ER we went again. This time it was the front of his head - between the eyebrows (thank the Lord it wasn't his eye!) and we(he) got 5 stitches. They had to strap him down and he was yelling "Mommy help me!" and all I could do was stroke his cheeks and talk to him so he knew I was there (they even had to cover his face and eyes). I had nightmares about it all that night and got no sleep! I think it traumatized me as much, if not more than him. At least for him, after it was done, he seemed to be over it - NOT MOM!!! I don't ever think I'll forget that helpless feeling! Tuesday was Kaylee's 8th birthday - so I did everything I could to make it special. We had a dinner of her choice (tortellini) and then I took her and her friend to Applebee's for dessert. She also got to open all of her presents from us and our families (mainly American Girl Doll stuff). She was very excited. The rest of the week was pretty uneventful - thank goodness. Saturday night I cropped with Amanda and a new cropper, Catherine. We had fun as always!

Tomorrow I'm having Kaylee's birthday party with her friends. We're having a tea party with her girlfriend and their American Girl Dolls, pedicures, and then we're going to the mall to play in the playplace with Samantha and Amanda's boys. I think it will be a lot of fun. Then, Wednesday, it's back to the ER to have the stitches taken out - yea fun - NOT :)

That's about all the excitement I can think of for now. I hope you are all well. Don't forget to leave a comment and let me know what you think of the new kit. I'll try to post the 4th of July kit once it's done. Take care!

'Til next time,
Paula

Wonderful Weekend

I had a good week (lots of walking and jogging) - trying to loose weight - LOL :)

I had a wonderful weekend! I spent most of the weekend at The Scrapbook Pad. I cropped Friday night with Julie, Amanda, and Cindy. Then I cropped Saturday night with Amanda and Lori. We laughed, learned, and even got some things done. I learned to make digital stitches and finished my next kit for the upcoming website. The new kit will be called "The Frog Prince". I did some digital paper pieced frogs and a caterpillar and the colors and blue, green, and yellow. I was really pleased with it, and I hope everyone will love it!

I'm so excited about the Purple Paper Flowers website!!! I have so many ideas that I want to make for kits - there's just not enough time. I can tell you that the stuff I have seen that will be available on the website is looking fabulous and you'll all want to check it out - I think it's going to be great!

For those of you with kids ages 7 and up, don't forget that two weeks from today I will be teaching a kids class at The Scrapbook Pad. This one is a door knob hanger for the kids to put on the door to their room. There is a pink and purple one for girls, and a blue and green one for boys. It is only a $15 class, and I think the kids will really enjoy it - so don't forget to get signed up.

We have VBS at our church this next week, so that will be exciting for the kids. Also, Kaylee's birthday is Tuesday, so this promises to be a busy week, but hopefully a good one. I hope you are all well and I'd love to hear from you. Take care!

'Til next time,
Paula

Catching up

Hello everyone! Sorry I have been so bad about updating my blog. So much has been going on! I have been totally consumed with getting our Vacation Bible School craft stuff done for our church, as well as re-writing policies for one of our committees, filling in for our pianist for 2 weeks, and having this as my month for the counting committee - whew - I'm surprised I survived it all! At least I'm on the downhill side of it now - and that was all just stuff for my church. I also have been planning my daughter's birthday party, attempting to keep my house clean, getting Kaylee through the end of the school year (awards ceremonies, parties, etc.), planning our 10th anniversary trip to Las Vegas (I can't wait), teaching classes at The Scrapbook Pad and preparing new classes, teaching a class for my neighbor's ladies group, and trying to find time to get my kits made for the website that goes live July 1st!!!! It's all very exciting - just a lot to handle all at once, but isn't that the way it always happens :) It keeps me on my toes - that's for sure!

I have to say a HUGE thanks to everyone who made my birthday so special! I had one of the best birthdays ever!!!! Amanda and Cindy took me to Olive Garden for dinner, then we went to The Scrapbook Pad, and Amanda and Cindy had decorated the table, ordered the most adorable cake in my favorite colors (with flowers :), and even sang to me!! I had some very precious people stop by to see me - thanks Heather, Joni, and Bobbie - it was soooo sweet of you to take time out of your schedules to come by - it meant a lot to me!! And thank you to everyone for the great gifts!!! It was all so unexpected and very much appreciated!! I just can't tell you how much that day meant!! I also have to say thanks to my dear friend, Lori. She was going to be out of town on the day we celebrated, so she took me out for a wonderful lunch earlier in the week. I so enjoyed her company (as usual) and loved the "birthday survival kit" (for those of you who aren't up on what that contains - it's coca cola, chocolate, chocolate, and more chocolate!)I will never forget when I turned 35!!!

Well, I'm off to bed now - it's 12:30 in the morning here and I'm getting pretty tired. I'll try to do better with keeping up with my blog. I'll try to post some new photos in the very near future.

Take care and LOL,
Paula

Fun Times Ahead

Yesterday and today have been still busy, but pretty uneventful. I have been trying to get the craft projects together for VBS at my church, get my class samples done for my June classes, do laundry, and get the project stuff together for the make and take I'll be doing on National Scrapbook Day (Saturday) at the Scrapbook Pad. On that last note, we're making a really cute little gift box/bag that would be great for Mother's Day to put a gift card into or even some candy. It will be from 11:00 to 12:00 - so stop by and see me :)

Today I got to keep Ben for a while for Amanda. He is just so adorable. He is Zachary's best buddy. We watched "Cars" - big surprise there :) and ate spaghetti-o's. Then tonight Robby and I went to Cabela's and got there during the bad weather, but all was ok. The kids love, LOVE looking at all the animals there. This was really the first time that Zachary was just enamored with the animals. First he saw the birds, and we almost couldn't get him out of the entry way. If you have kids, and they haven't been there - it's worth it. It's like a zoo where the animals are always out - and it's air conditioned ! :) ! As an added bonus - they have a fudge shop upstairs - so of course we had to go there too. YUMMY!

I'm really excited about this weekend. We are having a kind of mini-retreat and we're cropping Saturday, staying at a hotel Sat. night, then cropping Sunday. It will be a well needed get away - and I'm going to try to work on kits for Amanda's upcoming website, and hopefully actually get some pages done for my own books.

I'm also looking forward to tomorrow. Amanda is saving the day for me and watching Zachary so that I can go get my hair and nails done. (Amanda - love ya gal !!! :) Then we're going to work on our projects together for a while and the kids will get to play.

Well - I'm going to get some rest so that I can be fully awake to enjoy my day tomorrow. I hope you are all well!

'Til next time,
Paula

Busy, Busy

Hey everyone! Sorry it's been so long since my last post. I've had a busy last few days. Saturday, Kaylee and I went to the garage sale/book signing for Amanda at the Scrapbook Pad. I had not intended to buy anything at the garage sale, but there were some great things there for a very good price, so I made some purchases. Then I had Amanda sign my book for me - YEA! She looked so pretty and Julie was so sweet to come and take photos. It was a great time. Kaylee got to do the make and take at the store, and she always loves that, plus they had cookies and punch - she was in heaven. Then I took her to the toy store (she had some money from Easter that was burning a hole in her pocket - actually her purse - you know how these pre-teen girls are) and as expected, we spent over an hour in the stuffed animal isle for her to purchase two animals. Then we picked up a soccer set for Zachary and were on our way home. I then got my scrapbooking stuff and went off to the crop with the girls. We went and ate at TGI Fridays then croppped and had a blast!

Sunday I had my kids journal class and it was a lot of fun. I think all the kids had a good time and I was so proud when Cindy looked at the journals her sons made and said she couldn't believe that they were made by kids. They looked great!

Today I took both of my poodles to the vet for their shots - when did dogs become so expensive? They even told me that the dogs needed their teeth cleaned and that it would cost me between $650 and $1000 dollars for them both - I about fainted!!! Needless to say, I called my vet from North Richland Hills and they will do it much, MUCH cheaper -so we'll be going back there. It's well worth the drive. After that I pretty much worked on some projects for Kaylee's school teacher, started thinking of some possible kids class ideas for my July class, cooked dinner, and then balanced the checkbook (oh yea - NOT - hehe).

Well, now it's almost 1AM, and I'm getting quite tired, so I'm going to get some sleep. I hope all is well with everyone and I'd love to hear from you - feel free to leave comments :)

LOL,
Paula

Great Party

We had a great time at my Pampered Chef show last night. They have some neat new products and even more great new "pink" stuff coming in May! I can't wait for the "pink" stuff. If anyone want to order, you can go to pamperedchef.com and look at what they have, then call me and I can add the order to my party. I'll need all orders by Friday night.

I really enjoyed the time with my good friends, Amanda, Cindy, and Lori. I was also thrilled that one of my neighbors that I've been wanting to get to know, Candice, came. She is so sweet and her daughter happens to be one of my daughter's best buds - YEA!

I'm looking forward to a good day today. Amanda is coming over this afternoon, and she's going to help me develop my digital paper making skills. I'm so excited!!! Now, hopefully, I'll be able to make my own kits - I can't wait!!! The weather is beautiful - a little cool right now, but I'm sure it will be wonderful later in the day.

This weekend I'm planning to go to Amanda's book signing and then crop Saturday night at the Scrapbook Pad. Then Sunday is the "My Journal" class that I'm teaching from 2-4. There's still time to sign up - hint hint :)

Gotta run for now - have a great day and check back soon !

LOL,
Paula

Stormy Tuesday

Good aftenoon everyone. I hope you are all staying dry. We are getting rain, rain, and more rain here in Saginaw, TX.

Today I have been getting ready for my Pampered Chef show, but because of the weather, we have decided to move it to tomorrow night. So at least now my house is clean. I just hope I can keep it that way until tomorrow night :) LOL.

Last night Kaylee and I went to see our neighbor in a play in Fort Worth. It was a "dessert theatre". The play was great and the cheesecake was fabulous! We had a great time.

That's about all that's going on here. Don't forget that anyone interested in taking my "Journal Class", the sign up deadline is Friday. Stay dry!

~Paula

My weekend

Today has been a lazy and yet productive day. I still have not been feeling well, and Robby let me sleep in this morning, which I desperately needed. When I did wake up, it was almost lunchtime.

Last night we went to Robby's boss' daughter's wedding. It was a very nice wedding with lots of good food. Even though I didn't feel the greatest, we had a nice time. We actually got to get out by ourselves - almost like a date - ooooh :)

Friday night, Cindy, Amanda, and I got to crop at The Scrapbook Pad and we had a blast - as we always do. We even got to leave home a little early, and had a nice dinner at Olive Garden before our crop. It was a real nice girls nite!!

Back to today - my dear sweet Husband gave me my Mother's Day/Birthday presents early. He went and picked up the outdoor furniture and swing that I had been wanting, and he even put them together for me. I was so excited, that I had to go sit in every chair and sat in the swing for quite a while with both kids and both dogs. It is so nice and we will enjoy this all summer long (and hopefully they will last for a least a few summers after this one:). While he was doing all of this, I actually got 3 loads of laundry done, but it doesn't even look like I made a dent in it. That's so frustrating!

Well, at this point, the last load of the day is ready for me to fold and put away and everyone else is in bed, so I'd better get the laundry done, and get to bed myself. I hope you all had a good weekend also. Feel free to leave me a comment letting me know about what you did.

'Til next time,
Paula

Life's ups and downs

Unfortunately, I have to share some sad news today about my friend, Amanda. In my last post, I had told you that she had received a guest designer spot on Plain Digital Wrapper, but they have decided to withdraw her spot for reasons that I do not understand. She had done some brushes that were inspired by some Paper Salon stamps, and had gone through the proper channels to get the required autorization to use them for inspiration, had made the required changes to them, and even had all of this in writing. However, Plain Digital Wrapper said someone wrote them stating the images looked like Paper Salon images, and even with all of her documentation showing that she had permission, they still could not have her as a guest designer on their site, even if she pulled the kits that pertained the images in question. To make matters even worse, Paper Salon is now pulling their authorization that they previously gave to her in writing because even though they own the images, the original artist complained. (To me this makes no sense. If the artist sold the images, that artist should no longer have any say in anything that pertains to them.) To make a long story short, Amanda is just trying to put all of this behind her and look forward to her own site being out there. She is handling it better than I think I could. I feel that both Plain Digital Wrapper and Paper Salon are totally wrong in what they are doing, but Amanda doesn't want to make a huge issue of this, and I respect her for that. If you guys have a chance, please go to Amanda's blog and write her a little note of support. The link is on my blog.

In other news and on a brighter note, Cindy got her computer up and running and didn't loose her photos and pages- thank goodness!! In fact, when they got everything fixed, she even has more hard drive space than she had before it crashed. Our prayers were answered!!

All three of us are cropping tonight and we all need the time out. There will probably be a lot of venting going on at our table tonight -hehe!! Just kidding - we're going to have a great time and keep everything very positive. This is all part of life's up and downs, and I'm just glad that we have such a great circle of friends to support us when we're down and cheer for us when we're up. With that, I'm going to go make myself presentable to the world for the crop tonight.

'Til next time,
Paula

Lots of news

Well, yesterday I did get some antibiotics from the doctor and we got Zachary's staples out - YEA! I'm feeling a little better today and I should be ok by tomorrow so I can crop.

I got bad news yesterday from my friend, Cindy. Her computer crashed. It was not only her work computer but also her digital scrapbooking computer. I just pray that she'll be able to recover everything. We're hoping for the best for you girl:)

Then, this morning I got some great news from my friend, Amanda. She was chosen to be a guest designer for Plain Digital Wrapper! I am so excited for her, and for all you digital croppers, you can now purchase her kits on www.plaindigitalwrapper.com . You can look on the left side of the home page under designers and then click on her name, Amanda Dykan. She has some cute ones out there and more to come. (I've seen the starts of the next kit and I have to tell you that you will all want to have it.) I'll let you in on a little secret (not that it's really a secret...but) - the doodl-isious kit is one that I drew the artwork for ;) It was so cool to see it out there in a kit for sale. Her kits will be on sale at their website for the rest of April and through May. Then her very own website will be going live by July 1st. I will be a designer on her new website, so I have to get to work on getting some of my own kits together.

Also, for any of you in the Colleyville area, I will be teaching a Journal class on Sunday afternoon, April 29th from 2-4PM. It is for kids ages 7 & up as well as adults. It is a spiral notebook totally redesigned with Bo Bunny products. You will be able to choose from the titles: My Journal, My Stuff, or My Diary. I think it's really cute and would love to see some of you at the class. Just call The Scrapbook Pad at 817-656-4905 and tell them you'd like to sign up for my class. You can see a photo of the sample I made for the class by going to the Scrapbook Pad website. The link is listed on the right side of my blog.

One last thing is that I'm having a Pamered Chef Party at my house on Tuesday, April 24th starting at 7:00 PM. If you would like to come or if you would like to place an order, please e-mail me at paperflowers_paula@yahoo.com.

I'm going to grab some lunch and probably lay down while Zachary is napping. It seems that at this point, the more sleep I get, the better I feel, and I'm determined to be back to 100% by Friday night crop- hehe! Hope to hear from you all or see you soon.

Take care,
Paula

Under the weather

I had a great day yesterday with one of my best buds, Lori. We had a wonderful lunch at Zio's, which just happens to be one of my favorite restaurants. Zachary even behaved well - put it down in the record books. Then we went to Wal-Mart to look at the patio furniture. They have a very nice set that is pretty affordable. After that, we came back to my house and watched a movie - Just Like Heaven with Reese Witherspoon. It was awesome! If you haven't seen that movie, I would highly recommend it, but you might want to have a few tissues handy. It's not a full tissue box movie, just a 2-3 tissue movie. Then I cooked dinner, cleaned up, and went to bed.

I was feeling a little under the weather last night, then when I got up this morning, I feel awful! I think my allergies have turned into infection - AGAIN! I had already planned to take Zachary to CareNow to have his staples removed from his head, so now I get to be seen also. Hopefully they'll give me something to make me better quick! I am signed up to crop Friday night at the Scrapbook Pad, and as we all know - NOTHING can interfere with crop nights :) I was also disappointed that I woke up sick because Amanda was supposed to come over, and I had to cancel because I definitely wouldn't want her or Ben to get this. Oh well - it's just a temporary set back and I know I will be better soon.

I hope everything is well with all of you. I'm going to go back and lay down until they call us to go in to see the doctor. Take care.

~Paula

Laid back Sunday

I had a great weekend. A lot of scrapping, which is always fun. Today was pretty laid back. Zachary and I stayed home while Robby and Kaylee went fishing. They didn't catch anything, but had a good time. Zach and I watched the "Cars" movie over and over and over - you get the point. I love the movie, but at this point I have it and "Curious George" almost memorized.

I'm learning to make brushes and use my Wacom tablet. It's going pretty good and I hope to have some kits available for sale someday. That's one of my goals for this year. The other biggie is that I want to have a page published this year. I'm trying really hard and hopefully it will pay off. I know I have to be patient, but anyone who knows me knows that patience is not one of my best virtues. I just keep praying for the Lord to help me with that one.

I have to take Zachary back to the emergency room in the next couple of days to get the staples out of his head. Of course our pediatrician doesn't take staples out -just my luck. I'm really dreading having to do that.

Nothing much else to report. I hope everyone who reads this is having a fabulous evening.

~Til next time,
Paula

Stormy night

Well here in North Texas we had a lot of severe storms tonight. I was at Julie Staley's house in Haslet with Amanda cropping when the winds picked up and then it started hailing. We had about marble sized hail here. However, once I was able to get through to my husband at home in Saginaw, I found out that they had to take shelter because a tornado formed right over where we lived and we had larger than baseball size hail. He's unsure of the damages right now because he's busy calming he kids down and can't go outside, but thankfully everyone is ok and it doesn't appear that we have any leaks and none of the windows were broken. He doesn't think we have any significant damage to the house - hopefully my Jeep isn't crushed.

We have been having a great time cropping since the storms passed. We had some great food and are enjoying our SSweeeet Tea from Chick-fil-a. Tomorrow I am teaching a class at The Scrapbook Pad and then I will be cropping for the rest of the day - YEA! Then on Sunday Robby gets his turn and he will be fishing all day.

I was just introduced to a new digital magazine that I just have to tell you is FABULOUS!! It is "Digital Scrapbooking" by Simple Scrapbooks. You can check out their website at www.digitalscrapbooking.com and they have a special to subscribe and tutorials on the website. Just thought you might like to know :)

I hope you enjoy the new photos on the blog - I learned something new - YEA! Not the greatest photos, but I actually got photos onto my blog - I'm so happy.

Well, I'm going to get back to scrapping -

LOL,
Paula

Eventful weekend

Hello again! We had a great Easter and I hope you all did too. The kids got lots of candy, or as Zachary (aka Bubba) calls it "Chockie". He just kept opening one after the other and eating them as if there would be no chockie tomorrow. On Saturday, I decided to go get Kaylee's ears pierced. She had been asking for a couple of months, and we felt she was ready. This way when her birthday came, she would be able to change her earrings out. Amanda went with us and I was so glad she did. We went to Claire's in Ridgemar Mall, and they had two people do it so they could do both ears at once. That would have been great except that they got one ear very crooked, so they had to redo that ear. The Manager re-did it and did a great job. Kaylee was such a tropper and I was so proud of her! She looks so pretty with her new earrings.

All was well until Monday morning. I was dragging as I usually do in the mornings, when all of he sudden I heard a crash and looked over and saw Zachary falling out of the dining room chair under the table. Of course, I was just far enough away to be unable to catch him. He was screaming and I was trying to find the boo boo, when I found the gash in the back of his head. I panicked as any good Mother would do (at least I hope it was normal) and called my husband because I had no idea what hospital to take him to. We went to North Hills Hospital and were treated very well. Two staples and 3 hours later, we were able to come home. The funny side of it was that about 5 minutes after the accident happened, Zachary was trying to go play as if nothing happened - despite the bleeding from the back of his head. Then when we got to the hospital, I think they thought I was the patient because my blood pressure was through the roof and my face was completely flush, I had been crying, and I was shaking. When they realized Zachary was the patient and were looking for him (he was with his Daddy), they saw him playing in the automatic door that comes into the Emergency room. He had just realized that when he moved in front of the door, it would open all by itself and this was most fascinating to him. He was laughing and playing - no worse for the wear - unlike his Mom. Then when Kaylee came home, Robby told her what had happened. (Zachary and I were taking a well needed nap.) Kaylee then came running into my room crying asking if Zachary was ok. I was so proud that I was able to think fast - I responded that Zachary was just jealous of her getting her ears pierced and so he got his head pierced. That made her laugh and calm down - yea Mommy!

Everything has been pretty uneventful since then - thank goodness. We've had enough excitement to last a while:) Today Amanda and Ben have come over and we are playing on our computers while the boys are playing in the backyard (enjoying our new deck and plants) and watching the "Cars" movie. Well - I'm going to work on some new pages.

"Til next time,
Paula

Looking forward to Easter

Today is Kaylee's Spring (Easter) party at school. Kaylee asked me this morning if I was going to come to her party because she HAD to have photos of the party so that I could put them in her scrapbook. It's good to know that she really cares that I do this for her. That made me feel good :)
Tomorrow is my big day - I get INTERNET!!! Yea! I also get to go crop at the Scrapbook Pad. If anyone wants to join us - give them a call and sign up. We'd love to see you there! Also, I will be teaching a really great class called "Nifty Notepads" in mid-April. We'll be making a set of 3 notpads and they're really cute. All you have to do is call and sign up - hint hint - hehe!
I'm getting ready to post a new page onto the Scrap Artist website for their weekly contest - wish me luck. Really it's just fun to have the challenge and feel the sense of accomplishment when it's done - but if I win - that would be really great!
Hopefully next time I post to my blog- it will be using my own internet - until then, happy scrapping!
~Paula

21st Century Woman

Good afternoon! I know it's been a while since my first posting, but unfortunately since some of you may not know, I'm still living in the dark ages with no internet. The only way that I am able to post, is by going somewhere that has wireless internet - i.e. Amanda's house:) But good news - that's all about to end! Friday, I should be getting internet set up at my house and I can not tell you now happy that makes me - and Amanda too - he he!

I have been doing some scrapbooking and have posted pages on Creating Keepsakes website and ScrapArtist website - be sure to check them out and let me know what you think. I would love to hear feedback.

My husband, Robby and I have also been working on finishing out deck in our backyard. Today I went shopping for bushes and flowers for it with my great friend, Lori. She's my go to person for advice on plants - she's awesome! Hopefully I can get the plants planted before they die - I'll keep you posted on that progress - or lack thereof. Well, I better go for now. I have to pick up Kaylee from play practice. Thanks for checking in with me!

LOL,

Paula

My First Blog

Thanks for checking out my very first blog! Today has been a very rainy day here, but great weather for scrapbooking. I sat at my dining room table most of the afternoon watching the rain and working on a new digital page layout. I'm most excited about finishing it and will get it posted on the blog soon. Be sure to check back to see it. Tonight I'm at my super duper friend, Amanda's house cropping and learning to use this blog - hope you like it.

~Paula