Candid Thoughts

Would you like to win a Christmas Album?

Heading out tomorrow to Chicago...and would like to give all my blog readers a chance to win one of my Make-Takes. I know that many of you are not able to attend the show...so it is always fun to share a project here.

The Christmas album is made using the new AccuCut dies by Creative Cafe and the papers are from Danelle Johnson's new Art Warehouse Holiday collection! See more of the collection here!

I will be giving away:

1 Christmas album

1 Autumn Days album

Also...have you seen Danell's new "Trickery" collection for fall on her blog...wowza...sooo fun!

Besides the stamps (you know stamps are my first love) these rub-ons are a must have on my list...talk about eye candy!

Post here for a chance to win one of the albums...I will draw two names when I am back on Sunday!

Good luck! :)

CHA Art Warehouse Sneak Peeks

New Art Warehouse stamps:

Here are a couple of layouts I did using several of the sets. You can see I am totally diggin' that [photographs] stamp...love it!

Giveaway...

Danelle is hosting a give away on the Creative Cafe blog for a chipboard album made using the same new AccuCut dies I used for my Make and Take Christmas album...plus...see Greta Hammond's stunning album example!

Check out the Creative Cafe Blog here to enter.

Christmas album "Make-Take" for CHA

Here is the second make take I will be offering at the Hampton Art booth at the trade show. Hope you can stop by and make one! You will get an opportunity to use many of the brand new Art Warehouse stamps mixed in with a few of my older favorites!! :)

Plus....you will be the first to have an album cut from the new AccuCut Creative Cafe shape die!!

CHA Summer Chicago Trade Show 2008 ~ Make-take peek

Time is flying...it feels like we just got back from the Winter trade show and here it is time to head out next week to Chicago for the summer Craft and Hobby show!

I have been getting emails asking if I was going to be there as I mentioned in my last post. Yes, I will be at the Crafter's home event on Wednesday evening with a fun Christmas mini album project and also will be at the Hampton Art booth #1846 on Friday and Saturday.

I will be doing two different make take albums in the booth. A Fall project and the Christmas one. Here is a little sneak peek of the Fall one. I will post a peek at the Christmas one tomorrow. Hope you can stop by and play with all the exciting new stamps with me!! See you next week!!

Scrapbooking.com Magazine cover!

My guys are on the cover of this months on-line magazine for Scrapbooking.com!

My layout was designed with the brand new Art Warehouse Pride Collection along with the new Art Warehouse stamps both by Danelle Johnson.

If you are looking for some fun summer ideas, Scrapbooking.com is such a great site to be inspired! Check out Patty Hamil's fun summer beach project also!

Thank you and July 4th

I want to first extend a huge thank you to all of you that emailed me such long and informative private emails along with all the posts here on my blog about ADHD. Your wisdom, prayers and words of encouragement have helped us in so many ways!

We are very excited and encouraged to take the next step needed in Drew's health!

We had such a busy and fun July 4th holiday...we have been on the run every single moment! We took in a double header minor baseball game with the Whitecaps with them winning both games in overtime, fireworks after the game. Fireworks again on the 4th over in Muskegon. Drewie has a marshmallow and volleyball party here the next night and then on Sunday we went up north to Eldon's dads 75th Birthday party!

I am now putting the finishing touches on all the CHA Chicago trade show make takes! I have received a handful of emails from store owners asking if I will be there this go around...and if so what were my make take times....Yes! I will be there and I will get my dates and hours posted here in the next day or so....looking forward to seeing everyone and demoing all the fun new Art Warehouse  and Creative Cafe stamps at the Hampton booth!

I have tons of photos...300+ from Europe, 500+ from vacation and about 100 taken just over the 4th...dying to peek at them...but there is just no time to play...but did quickly reformat this one for web posting...Drewie loved this hat he found at Party America a few weeks back...he was so cute in it! I have a few other photos of some of the neighbor kids also wearing it...can't wait to scrap this! :)

So much more to catch up on....I need to update where I will be in Aug for workshops...with sneak peeks on class projects! Stay tuned!

Lets chat about ADHD again!

Last time I posted about ADHD, I received so many wonderful emails and posts that I thought I would throw this out here again!

Nothing better than a network of Moms who are going through the same things and or can share their experiences and wisdom!

Drewie has officially been diagnosed with ADHD...but not in all areas. We at the point this week that we need to make some decisions on Dr.'s and start talking low doses of meds and also work on diets.

Both make my head hurt when I try to read about them...nothing is cut and dried...welcome to the world of parenting...right?! lol  I keep hoping to find the Manual titles "How to raise Drew"! :)

• I have been doing a bit of reading on  Concerta. Anyone have their child on this med?
• What meds do you like or dislike?
• Which ones have you found have more side effects?

After this past week on vacation...we are to the point where we realize that Drewie does need help with this...and so do we.

I am actually very excited to take this next step...I think it will honestly make the quality of his life so much better. The more I read...kids his age are able to articulate just how much better they feel inside their own skin when on the meds they need. I am excited to see if this will help Drewie and see if it does indeed help him.

Looking forward to hearing from all sides of the fence here...so please post or email me!! :)

Getting ready to head home:

Hi all! I am so mixed up on what day it is...guess that is good when on vacation... but...alas...today is the last day. We are checking out by noon today. We actually stayed an extra night...we were going to head home yesterday....so we extended it by a day already.

Friday we went up to the Soo Locks...that was pretty cool to see. We took a boat tour and got to experience the locks first hand. Drew was not to impressed....not something we would do every year, but still fun to see.

Yesterday we went back over to the Island to play some more. While the guys skipped stones at the waters edge, I took my camera and wandered the side streets. It was nice to go in and out of the little shops off the main street...no where near as crowded and it gave me a chance to chat with the store owners and learn more about the Island. I went into a cool little photography shop and found this DVD. I bought it...it is an amazing 1 hour film!

<p>You Tube: http://youtube.com/watch?v=QqtUXiGzxEs Here is their website also: http://icebridgemovie.com/ </p>

Here is a link to their website also: http://icebridgemovie.com/

Cool huh?!! I want to come back in the winter some time...look at that photo of the bike covered with snow....so beautiful and yet forlorn if you knew just how busy the streets are right now with bikes in the summer season...

Trying hard not to think about work today...but it is sneaking into the edges of my head....I have so many projects that need to be done for the CHA trade show and also the upcoming Aug workshops I will be teaching in PA and Oklahoma !! Getting excited about those! See you back here early this week...excited to share more about our vacation when time allows.

I posted a couple of photos...sorry if the color is not good...editing from my laptop and this screen it not calibrated...so color and contrast my look bad on your screen. :(

Loved this photo of Drewie on our final boat ride back to the main land.

One quick photo....ok, maybe two....

....of the family coming back to the main land on the Ferry this evening from the island.

We had a wonderful day...the weather was beautiful! Rode bikes till I am sore, sore sore and so bone tired. I have decided you can not out play an 8 year old! lol

We are in a better room this evening...had some hotel issues...but all is good now and I also have Internet in this one...so I am happy about that also.

It is supposed to rain tomorrow...so I may be back to post more fun photos and updates...right now...I can hardly keep my eyes open...all that exercise, fresh air and sunshine has did its job..off to bed! :)

Vacation starts now!

We are heading out to Mackinac Island!

Love our annual trips there...we missed last year for the first time in a long time...so we are anxious to get back to tradition!

While I was in Europe, I missed our 17th wedding anniversary...so this will be our little getaway...but of course we are taking Drewie with us! :)

We take our bikes and transport them across on the ferry as well. There are no motor vehicles on the Island...just tons of fun shops, beautiful scenery, unlimited supply of homemade Fudge and lots of sunshine and fresh air.

Be back late Sunday! :)

Links to Creative Cafe Stamps & Art Warehouse Stamps

I have been flooded with emails asking where one can buy the new Creative Cafe stamps and Art Warehouse stamps that came out in April 2008 that I have been using in my workshops.

If you are a store owner and would like to reply to this post with your store name and or store number and email, I would love to pass on the info if you have them in stock and also if you are interested in shipping to customers!

Also, you can now purchase them on line if at Just need it.

here is the link to the stamp page to all the new stamps in Art Warehouse (there are 4 pages so be sure and click through all of them):

http://qbaroo.com/justneedit/main.cfm?categoryoid=8&productoid=63&page=4

Creative Cafe (there are 4 pages so be sure and click through all of them): :

http://qbaroo.com/justneedit/main.cfm?categoryoid=10&productoid=130&page=2

Out of all the stamps...and let me tell you...I love them all...this has to be my favorite new set...I call it the sleeper set... *wink*....it looks so simple and you may only think birthday when you first look at it...but I have used it for Beach, Summer, Journals, Everyday...the list goes on...it is such a versatile set...don't forget to add this one to your order!! :)

Updated with Birthday pics :)

Saturday was according to Drew...the best birthday party ever! Go Karts, Mini Golf, Batting cages, cake, pizza, bumper boats...the list goes on. We ended the night roasting marshmallows in the back yard and letting Drewie stay up till 10:30pm....see why he thought it was the best birthday ever? lol....he is a good kid, he is...love this little face so much!

Here are a few pics and more in this album, click here.

Celebrating Drew today!

Just a quick note today. Since I was gone over Drewie's birthday, we are celebrating it today!

We have 10 little ones attending....should be fun!

This year we chose a Go Kart / mini golf place close to our home to have his birthday party. They also have batting cages, bumper boats and an arcade...they boys will not lack for entertainment that is for sure.

Pizza and pops for lunch with a Sponge Bob cake for dessert...what more could ten little boys that are 8 years old wish for?! *wink*

Daddy and Drew just went to pick up the cake...and we are heading out soon.

I will post photos later tonight! :)

A special THANK YOU to Claudia, Roelien, Debbie, Mary and so many other Ladies in The Netherlands and England that showered Drewie with wrapped birthday gifts and boxes of Candy...he was so excited to open the gifts and loved all of them!!!! Thank you all so much...you guys kept making me cry...Claudia...he loves the little soccer key chain also and put it on his backpack with in minutes after opening the package! :)

P.S. Good luck to The Netherlands Soccer team on the game tonight...make it 4-0!!!!!!!!! :)

Home safe and sound and Stamp list.

Waving Hi to all!

I made it home safe and sound late Tuesday...walked around like a Zombie yesterday...so exhausted...but today I am feeling like I have some energy to tackle all the emails and day to day duties! :)

I had a wonderful trip visiting so many fun cities in The Netherlands. From Manita's adorable shop "Special Memories", to Yvonne's "Scrapbook Nederlands" and Carla's store way up at the tippy top of the Netherlands "Simple Scrapping"!!

The Scrap-a-ganza in Holland & England was a lot of classes packed into just a few days and I meet so many new students and also was thrilled to see so many familiar faces in the class, a huge thanks to all who took my classes, you guys are so fun and I had a blast!

I want to post pictures from all the classes, tours etc of all the classes and sights...but it is going to take me a few days to open photos etc.

I have hundreds of emails to get through...but many of you have been emailing about the stamps used in the classes. I have typed up a list here of all the stamps...of course all of these were not used in each class...but over the 5 or so classes I taught...here is the list that you may have used on some of the projects.

Many of the Holland stores carry the stamps...I know for sure the 3 I posted above have them in...so call your LSS or email me if you can not find them and I will help you locate them in your neck of the woods or a link to where you can buy them in the States if they are out.

The stamps used were all the new Creative Cafe sets:

CS6170 Family Time

CS6171 True Boy

CS6174 Spring & Summer fling

CS6177 This Photo

CS6175 Happy Days

CS6172 Girl Fun

CS6176 Everyday Life

CS6173 Travels

The new Art Warehouse:

LE7830 Celebrate Ribbons

LE7838 Good Life Journaling

LE7840 Summer Interactive Circles

LE7837 My Story Backgrounds

Also from some of the older sets by Creative Cafe and Art Warehouse:

CS6148 My Thoughts

CS6149 My World

LE7793 Journaling background set

LE7739 Best of times Memories Interactive Circles

Ok...off to catch up on emails...if you are waiting for an email...bear with me...I hope to get through all of them in the next few days!

Mellie :)