M.I.A. and a sneaky peeky

Have I been "missing in action?" Only here, every other part of life, definitely not. I've been in a little bit of a "funk" lately, in large part due to my lost camera. But I've now fixed that!! Life is getting back on track. I've rounded the corner and have SO much to share. Lots of good things happening, the first is THIS:

YAY!! Meet the Sony Cybershot DSC-T300, my new best friend. I toiled over whether to get another point & shoot or an SLR, but with my lifestyle this works much better. And thus far I've been very impressed with the features and options. The back is a 3.5" touchscreen display. You can edit onscreen before you ever download the photos to your computer and even review your shots in a slideshow with music! The best features I've discovered are the Smile Shutter and the Child vs. Adult Priority settings. The Smile Shutter recognizes facial movement, as when someone laughs or smiles and it takes the shot (instead of waiting for my easily distracted, slow hand to press the shutter). The Priority settings use scene recognition to focus more on children's (or adult) faces in the scene.

So, were back in business in the camera department! And I have much to catch up on. I have completed all three (3!) acrylic albums for my classes at Heartfelt Creations and will post them here very soon. I have opened a little shop on ETSY and have sold everything that I've put up! I will be making more goodies to post onto the ETSY.com store and will preview it here first, so keep your eyes open for that along with a link.

Lastly, I have a little "sneaky peeky" at my (and Lauren's) new venture!

Any ideas? This calls for a give away!!! If you think you know, post a comment and the first one to get it right will get some goodies to enjoy.

It's GOOD to be BACK!

The missing piece of me

While I will admit the posts have been sparse lately, there is good reason. Between the 3 albums I have to make for the scrapbook classes and being elected to the Booster Club Board for Lauren's gym and trips to the emergency room with Nolan and the other daily events of life, I'm barely keeping my head above water. And this is difficult with a major piece of me missing...

When one has a small child it's extremely important to have those little safety latches on the cabinets. And I do. However, they're incredibly cheap and break WAY too easy. At one time I had plenty of extras but as each member of the house has broken one here or there they've all been used up. After many trips to the normal places (Target, Walmart, Babies R Us) I can't find the same ones I previously bought. The advantage to using the same ones is that I only have to replace the latch, not the piece that screws into the cabinet door. If I can't find the same ones, then I will have to go around the house and replace with whichever new ones I buy. Yes, this does relate to the title of this blog!! Bear with me.

So, in having some latches broken, Nolan has figured out there's so much more to get into. The medicine drawer in the master bath, the kitchen garbage....ahhh, here we are, the gist of the story. Nolan is such a wonderful helper. When he's done with something he loves to throw away the paper or package in the kitchen trash. Then he will return and smile & clap his hands and we'll exclaim "YAYYY Nolan" in encouragement. Well, as the latch has been broken for a week or so I've discovered things missing. When he finished his juice, guess where the sippy cup goes? Yep, in the trash! Silverware, yep! Toys and books, yep! I find myself going through the trash a couple times a day (YUCK).

One last scenario, hang in there. So, last Monday Lauren took my camera into gym. We had this cute chipboard album made for the Owner of her gym (she's also Lauren's coach) which spells out the name of the gym. Lauren was going to take photos of the girls and other coaches so we could put the album together. Anyway, she returns the camera to me that night. Then the next afternoon, Travis cleaned out my car (more like pimped out my car) as he needed to use it to take his boss and some visitors around his territory the next morning. Everything came out, even the car seat ( and toys & cheerios & school papers...you know how it can get).

I can't wait any longer.......MY CAMERA IS MISSING!!!!! I went to get it out of the car (where I left it last Monday) and NOT SO MUCH. Travis insists it wasn't there Tuesday when he mucked out the car. So after much deliberation I have come to the conclusion that (as he LOVES anything electronic looking) I think Nolan has thrown it away :( Ipods, cell phones and the like are fair game for Nolan if you leave it within little hands reach. He'll push buttons, reset defaults and place random calls, he's even sent a (blank) email from my blackberry!

So, while I haven't been posting lately, rest assured I have been looking under furniture, between cushions, in drawers, EVERYWHERE for my precious camera. I am LOST without it. It truly is a "piece of me." I have come to carry it everywhere like my trusty sidekick. I am absolutely beside myself. One upside, I hadn't taken any pictures that hadn't been downloaded. But still, the thought of having to go buy another camera just puts a knot in my stomach. If anyone has any suggestions as to a good camera to consider, I'm open!

Still Here...

Yes, I'm still here. So much going on with Mother's Day and an impromptu trip to Napa, California last weekend. The weather was PERFECT, especially for laying out by the pool.
Now that I'm refreshed (sort of) I am getting ready for my next three classes that will be taught at Heartfelt Creations in Sandy, Ut. There will be an album class for July, August & September. All the information (for all 3 classes) will be posted in their newsletter which comes out July 1. To sign up for their newsletter, please visit: http://www.heartfeltpages.com/ . I will also be posting photos of each album as I complete them between now & the middle of June.

**Also, don't forget about the Making Memories Baby Love book give away.** Customize your MM Desktop Organizer and get your photos to me by May 25th! The winner will get a copy of the NEW book! If you can't find one locally, please contact me & I can help you get / find one. libby@scraphappystore.com

Create Joy

Happy National Scrapbook Day to all!! Hopefully you are all busy creating your Making Memories Desktop Organizer for the "BABY LOVE" book give away. It truly is an adorable book! Here's a link to check it out: www.makingmemories.com/Products/detail/baby-love

I, too have been busy, creating joy of my own. An 8" x 8" acrylic album by Rusty Pickle decorated with Basic Grey papers & ribbons. There is a slide show to the right that shows all the pages. This was a very fun project and I enjoyed the challenge of having to think ahead to the next page or two because what is on the backside will show through to the front! Inking the edges & stamping with StazOn and using rub-ons made it easy and super cute. Please leave your comments, I'd love to hear your thoughts :)

Sassiness is Happiness

There are so many great scrapbooking products out there! The manufacturers and designers do an incredible job anticipating what we want and making sure it's available and user friendly. ( I feel a rambling coming on) With that said, I've never felt I was overly creative. Nor am I a perfectionist (that's why I gave up GOLF)..that's the great thing about scrapbooking! You don't have to be either one. It's so forgiving. Especially for altered projects. If you make a mistake, ink the edge or cover it with ribbon or an embellishment. For those of you ARE creative, this is a perfect platform to use to take scrapbooking to a new level. So, back to the point of this post...the Making Memories Desktop Organizer. After the Good Things Utah episode, I had to try it. And it's really not that tough. So, here's a challenge. Give it a try and send in your pictures! Let's see how creative you can get with it. You have until May 25th to send in your pics. Then we will pick a winner who will receive a copy of Making Memories new book, "Baby Love." It's an adorable publication that gives you amazing ideas on crafts for all things baby, i.e., baby showers & invites, gifts, home decor, scrapbooking, altered projects and clothing. One stipulation...I would like to receive at least 5-10 submissions. I will post them as they come in and if we meet the minimum, the someone will be receiving the Baby Love book.

Love Letters

Lauren has officially named me "Last Minute Larry" because I have just finished the LOVE LETTERS album for my class tomorrow night. It's not that I didn't begin early enough, but with the kitchen remodel going on (pictures to follow on subsequent post), amongst everything else, it's been difficult to dedicate enough time each day. Below are some photos. As with recipes and directions in general, I didn't follow them exactly. The purpose of the Love Letters book is to have each page for a different person and attach a note to them on each page. I decided to dedicate the book to my children and use each page for something I wish for them in life.

March Prize

As promised, here are a couple of quick photos for Linda. It's on the way!