Here's My First Freebie - YEA

Hey everyone - I'm accomplishing one of my goals - I've officially learned to post a freebie on my blog. This is a sample of my larger kits, Harlequin Paper Pack and Harlequin Elements Kit, currently available for sale at PurplePaperFlowers.com. I hope you enjoy it and I'd love to hear any comments you have about it. This is my way of saying thanks to everyone who checks out my blog and to my customers. I hope to change them out regularly, so be sure to check back. DOWNLOAD FREEBIE HERE

Special thanks to Amanda for showing me something new and helping me accomplish this goal - You Rock!

Enjoy!

Paula

Let it Snow!

It is snowing like crazy here in Saginaw, Texas. I don't think I've seen this much snow at one time in the 15 or so years that I've lived here. I'm guessing we have about 3 inches of snow with a layer of sleet and ice underneath. My guess is that we'll all be home tomorrow. I feel a snow day coming on :) The kids went out and played in it for a while. It's just so wet that you can't do much with it. If we all get to stay home tomorrow, that will just give me more time to work on stuff for the Grand Opening Celebration at PPF, yea!

I'm so excited about the Grand Opening Celebration at Purple Paper Flowers this weekend. It starts Friday night and goes through Sunday. There's all sorts of contests, prizes, and lots of fun. I hope you all will check it out! I'm getting ready to work on something to go in the grab bag that will be given away. That grab bag is going to be awesome and you will all want to get it - I can assure you!

If you go to the Grand Opening this weekend, post me a note and tell me what you think. I'd also love to hear what you think of my new kit, Harlequin. There's one Paper Pack and an Element Kit. Happy shopping and everyone try to stay warm.

~til next time,
Paula

February - sick month

Yes - that's right - February has now been labeled "sick month" at the Phillips' house. While in California at CHA I got sick. I was so bummed on top of not feeling well. I had so looked forward to CHA and I felt so bad that I didn't even get to go look around. As it ended up - I had the flu and then got acute Bronchitis on top of it. Then just when I started to think I was getting better, my cough got worse and I then ended up in the ER clinic only to find out that I had developed Pluresy (sp ?) in my right lung. All this took about 3 weeks, and I'm just now starting to feel back to myself. Luckily, my husband was great and locked me in my room and kept himself and the kids away from me - so they managed not to get the flu from me - thank goodness! My son did however get an infection in the bottom of his lung, a sinus infection, and ear infection. He's doing much better now. I'll just be so happy if we can go a couple of weeks without anyone being sick! I know I've had a lot of people praying for me and thank you so much for that.

I haven't been able to do much since I've been sick, so I don't have anything new to report for myself. My daughter, however, has given us a lot to be proud of lately. She did a fabulous job at the tryouts for the talent show. She's singing "Somewhere Over The Rainbow". She also was chosen to compete in the UIL Writing competition for her school. Only about 30 students out of 800+ were chosen to compete. We are so proud of her. Now we are working on her 3rd grade project - a solar system replica. I was overwhelmed when she told me - but she has just taken it on and is doing a great job. I'll have to post a photo when she's done. She painted 4 planets last night and shocked me with the details she added. I guess you could say I'm one proud Mama!

Hopefully I'll have some new stuff for you soon since I'm finally starting to feel better. I hope you all have been well, and I'll try not to get sick and not post for 3 weeks again - hehe.

~Til nex time,
Paula

Busy Fun Week

This last week has been very busy, but a lot of fun. I made my way to Design Originals to hook up my laptop to make sure it worked with everything in the booth for CHA and everything looks good - YEA! The booth is sooo big - I had no idea. I'm very excited!! Then on Thursday evening, I had a Stampin' Up workshop at my house with Joni and we had a blast! Thanks to everyone who came and especially to Joni and Sharon for all the prep work they did. If you would like to order, I'm not closing the party until Feb 1st, so shoot me an e-mail at paperflowers_paula@yahoo.com if you want to order and we'll take care of it. I think I'm going to make it an annual thing to have a Valentine workshop - it's just too fun and I love getting my teacher's gifts all taken care of. So if you didn't make it this year, hopefully I'll see you at next year's workshop :) Then Saturday night we had a birthday crop for one of my BFF's Cindy. We had dinner at Cheddar's (very yummy) and then spent the rest of the evening celebrating at the Scrapbook Pad. We had a beautiful cake and balloons and had a great time. It was so nice - when we started singing Happy Birthday to Cindy, the other scrappers there joined in. Several people who didn't really even know Cindy stopped to wish her a Happy Birthday. I just love the scrapbooking community - everyone is so supportive of each other and so friendly. I think that's a big part of what attracted me to scrapbooking! Anyway- that was just very touching to me. I've also been working on projects for my next craft book every chance I get. I can't wait, and that brings me to today. I need to get several projects done today, so I'd better get to it. I hope you all have a wonderful day!

'Til next time,
Paula

The PPF Site is up and running!

It's official! The Purple Paper Flowers website is up and running. It is doing well for it's first few days. I'm really excited and I just finished two more "Digital Embellishment Kits" for the site that will go up on Sunday, which is when our new products for the week are introduced. I can't wait to get MY first order. Who will it be? What will they order? It's all so exciting!!!!

I finished my classes this weekend at the Scrapbook Pad and they went well. Thanks to everyone who took my classes. I really enjoyed them. I'll be taking February off to go to CHA, but then I have some exciting classes on the schedule for March - be watching!

Most of you who know me know that I am a pink finatic! So I just have to tell you how excited I am about getting a pink mouse and a pink external hard drive! I even splurged and got myself a pink case for my laptop! I'll be "pretty in pink" for CHA and I can't wait!!

On a sadder note, this weekend, my Grandmother had to be rushed to the hospital to have a pacemaker installed. Thanks to all of you who prayed for her and helped me through that rough time. It was very scary, but the Lord took care of her. She was able to get to a great hospital and the surgeon just happened to be there, and the surgery that was supposed to take between 1 and 3 hours only took 45 minutes and was a huge success! She's already back home recovering nicely. What an answer to prayer!!!

That's about all for now. I hope you are all well and having success at everything you do.

'Til next time,
Paula

Thoughts of Things to Come

I am so excited right now about the PurplePaperFlowers website. It will be up and running very soon - like within the next couple of weeks - maybe even sooner. It is looking so good and there are many, MANY talented designers on the site. I am so flattered to be a part of it.

I'm really hoping to try to start some cool stuff here on my blog too. If I can figure out how - I'm thinking of trying to have some digital kits to give away to my faithful bloggers every now and then - and maybe you could even e-mail me the pages you do with my kits - better yet - you could post them in the gallery at the PurplePaperFlowers website! That would be too cool!

I'm also looking forward to the next book I'm doing, and when I get the projects done, maybe I can post some photos here for you. I'm really excited about this one and the wreath book!

CHA is coming closer and I'm excited and nervous. Not sure what to expect since this is my first time to go. If you are a lucky person going too - come see me at the Design Originals booth. We're going to have some GREAT - did I mention GREAT promotions!! Come and see.

On the home front - everyone seems to be getting healthy again - thank goodness! The kids are back to their adorable rambunctious selves, and I'm back to my hectic schedule. I'm telling you - no one can multi task like a Mom. We're taxi/bus drivers, maids, cooks, secretaries, book-keepers, and then there's our jobs - hehe! I don't know about you - but it really exhausts me sometimes. Don't get me wrong - I love my life and wouldn't change a thing - other than to add more hours into a day.

Speaking of hours in a day - this day is almost gone and I have to get some sleep - so good night to everyone and I hope you have a wonderful day!!

Yours truly,
Paula

Lots of Good Things Coming Soon

I am so excited about several upcoming things. My wreath book should be well on it's way. I'm so happy about being an Author of my own book. I also have another book on it's way, but I'll keep it a secret for now. I am excited about seeing the completed books that I contributed to. One is on Iris Folding and I made the scrapbook pages that are in the book. I also made a layout for an Altered Surfaces book. Then I was co-author of a Glass painting and more book. I have the Shadowbox book that I made 3 small and 4 large Shadowboxes for. If anyone is interested in purchasing one, e-mail me at paperflowers_paula@yahoo.com. Being published has long been a dream of mine, and I still can't believe it's really happening! I'm so appreciative of Design Originals giving me the opportunity.

Then there's the PurplePaperFlowers.com website that will be opening very soon. It is looking soooo good and I can't wait for it to be unveiled to the world. I have several kits and templates for sale in the shoppe. Be sure to check them out and tell me what you think. Also, if you'd like to see a kit with certain colors or themes, I'd love to hear about it.

I'm also so blessed that my classes at The Scrapbook Pad are taking off. I had full classes last month. I love teaching and seeing the satisfaction when others complete their projects and their excitement about them. In January, my classes are an Envelope Yearbook class that is a $30 class on Sat. Jan 19th from 10AM to 1PM. It is a great bound book that is made from decorated 9 x 12 envelopes so that you can store larger artwork or just stuff to scrapbook later. It has a page for each month and has a lot of paper piecing patterns. I already have 1/3 of the class full, so if you're interested, call the "Pad". You can check out their website for a photo of the project. Then I'm also doing a Valentine Keeper for kids (and adults are welcome too). It's made from 2 paper bags and has a small coin envelope to hold suckers or small items, a place for a photo, and a pocket to keep those precious valentines. It closes with a flap that has velcro on it. The Valentine Keeper class is $20 and is Sunday, Jan 20th from 2-4PM. I'd love to see you there.

And finally - I'm sooo glad that it appears that our family is getting over all the illnesses that have plagued us for the past month. In addition to the previous illnesses, this past week, Zachary got pneumonia, and I got bronchitis! We now all seem to be getting better and hopefully this will be the end of it. I sure hope so.

Lastly - I have to share a funny thing Zachary did yesterday. I was in the bathroom blowdrying my hair and Zach was watching TV in my bedroom. He came into the bathroom and told me he was watching Little Einsteins. I said ok - go back and watch it. He told me again and I told him I was blowdrying my hair. He said "No blowdry hair!" Then it occurred to me that he couldn't hear the show over the blowdryer, so I said, "do you want me to close the door?". He said yes. But, not wanting to have him out of my sight, I left the door cracked. He then proceeded to come back and tell me "No Mom! You close a door like this" and then he pulled the door completely closed. Too funny! I just had to laugh.

Well, I just wrote a book for you to read and thank you for taking the time to do so. I'm just so thankful for all that is happening right now (except the sickness) and am so blessed to have wonderful friends and family to share it all with. I truly appreciate you all!

'Til next time,
Paula