:WINTER 2009 CHA SNEAK PEAKS: My Mind's Eye

The sneak peaks for the upcoming Winter 2009 CHA show (January 25-28) are beginning to surface.

Here is some great new stuff My Mind's Eye will be releasing soon that I can't wait to play with.

Here are just a couple of the new Penny Lane collections (there are TWENTY!) that happen to be my favorites - Tiny Dancer Plie and Free Bird Love - but honestly, they are all adorable. I especially love that MME has added the decorative edged papers to their line.



There are also four new paper and accessory kits and I love them all: Bella Bella 'Bellezo', Bella Bella 'French Flea Market', Bloom & Grow 'Bloom' and Bloom & Grow 'Grow'.

My favorite of them all has to be 'Bloom'. I love the intricate patterns and the rich colors.

What's your favorite?

:QUOTES: According to Fulghum, Angelo & Bon Jovi

ROBERT FULGHUM (b. 1937 - author, pastor):

“We could learn a lot from crayons; some are sharp, some are pretty, some are dull, while others bright, some have weird names, but they all have learned to live together in the same box.”

MAYA ANGELO:

"You can't use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have."

JON BON JOVI:

“Map out your future - but do it in pencil. The road ahead is as long as you make it. Make it worth the trip.”

:PHOTOS: A few shots downtown...

Kaitlin & I actually went out and took these in November sometime...finally got them ready for posting.

:CRAFTING: Peace & Noel Frames

I didn't make too many of my Christmas gifts this year, but I did make some framable art that I was especially happy with.

I made this one for my mom.
And I made this one for my mother-in-law.

I used last year's Basic Grey Figgy Pudding line. I LOVE this line...even if it is from last year. I actually like it much better than the Wassail line they had this year for Christmas. The frames were from Hobby Lobby and the white, textured mats are from Walmart.

I would have loved to share them with you before Christmas, but that would kind of ruined the surprise and all for the recipients. :-)

After seeing how they turned out, I totally want to make some of these for my own home next year!

:BLOG: New template...

So what do you think?

I felt like something a little different for the new year.

I'm still adding a few things and working out some bugs, so if you find anything that isn't working properly, please do let me know.

:LIFE: 26 layouts in six days...

Not too bad, huh?

I am quite certain that is the most layouts that I've ever created in that number of days. Actually, I'm pretty sure that's more than I've created in the past 6 months combined!!

I could keep going, too, but it's back to work for me tomorrow...

16 days off sounded like such a LONG time on December 19th, but it sure went fast.

I guess time flies when you're having fun!

:LIFE: Kaitlin's Christmas kitchen...

There was one Christmas gift that Kaitlin got a little early this year.

Basically because we knew they was little chance of us getting it put together ahead of time without her seeing us or finding it anyway, so we let her join in the construction fun...


She had a cheap-rummage-sale-find kitchen set not too long ago that we decided to sell at our last rummage. We got our money back on it and I told her that money (plus the money she made from any of her other books/toys/games she decided to part with) would go towards a brand new kitchen.


I scoured the net to find something NOT made of plastic and tall enough that it would still last her a few years. I found this KidKraft kitchen at Walmart.com. Isn't it adorable?


Although her $40 or so of rummage sale earnings didn't come close to covering it all, I thought she was worth it. :-)

Kaitlin got to put in the final element herself...the oven rack.

She LOVES her new kitchen and I bet you can now see why she was so excited about that little one-egg fry pan she got from Santa!