First Haircut

When Grace was four she wanted her hair cut in the worst way. I was so not sure about it, but her mom said ok and Grace was insistent. I had to work up to it, and eventually I gave in, but I still didn't want to do it! Look at that beautiful hair! I still have her ponytail.

QuicKutz fans.....

I've been so busy working with the Holiday Gift Set release -- I wish I could post but that will have to wait till the official release date, November 3. Watch my blog at midnight Eastern (9 p.m. November 2, for us west coasters!!!) for pics. I finished SIX projects yesterday and I have to say this is probably the most fun I've had with any release in a while. It helps that I was lucky enough to receive the ENTIRE RELEASE FREE at the retreat in Utah this month. I'd be sooo jealous of me if I wasn't already me. LOL! ;)

If you are a papercrafter particularly, this is one set you simply cannot pass up. Save anything you have left in your scrappy budget for this one. And if you can swing it, the entire release is a must have, IMO. Merry Christmas to you. Just sayin'

Fish on!

What fun these dolls are to play, er I mean, work with. For this fisherman, I used parts from the girl outfits, hair and shoes and I think it worked very well! I didn't have any camo pattern paper to match Randy's hat so I used camo ribbon instead. Voila!


Quickutz used:
paperdoll die, of course
hair - Rev0277-2-2
shirt - KS0688 (neckline altered)
pants - Rev0283-2-2
fishing vest - Rev0283-1-2 (tank top cut in half and neckline altered) & KS0688 (pocket)
boots - Rev0278
hat - Rev0078 (pirate bandana, altered)
fishing pole - KS0371

No peeking!

I love how versatile the QK paperdolls are and with the clothes and hair you can match them to anyone you want to 'copy'. This is Gracie's first bath after her very first haircut -- she loved it as you can see. Her hair had been so long she was thrilled not to have to mess with it in the tub. Look at that grin. :)

For this little bath girl, I used the skirt, belt and tank top (cut off the straps) for her towel wrap. I love the hair -- it's the perfect match to Gracie's new haircut in the photo. To make the bubble bath, I used the top of a tree cut in pink and for the bubbles this little bling was perfect. The "rug" is the sand from the Relax gift set.

Fun weekend with Miss Grace

Grace came over with her dad so we could play while the guys were out for their annual hunting weekend. We always cram so much fun into our brief October weekend and stay up way too late, but we get a lot done and have a blast doing it.

I didn't get pics of the cupcakes we made, but I did get this picture of Grace after tasting the black frosting. LOL!!!!

We've decided that vinyl is the very best for decorating our pumpkins. I hate cutting open the pumpkins for carving, and Grace told me she doesn't like messing with the guts (LOL) so it worked out for both of us. I love our front porch display and the larger Halloween designs from QuicKutz are so cool. Didn't these turn out great.

And if I do say so myself our centerpiece turned out just so darn cute!

More from the fabulous QuicKutz retreat

Part of the opening ceremonies of the retreat was a skit acted out by the QK sales reps (keep in mind there are no women sales reps!) dressed as the latest release - paper dolls! Gia caught part of it on video. Check it out - it was hilarious! The guys were great, particularly when you consider they had no clue whatsoever what they would be doing until the story unfolded. It was priceless. This is the best pic I got, unfortunately; the end of the skit when they were dancing to YMCA. Oh my gosh, we all laughed and laughed.

And this is Theron, Scrapbuggy's sales rep, dressed as the police officer paper doll.

Here Andrea shows us how to use the Letterpress with the Epic6 at one of the crops.

The results of the Letterpress are really lovely. Here are some samples.

Mandy Douglass of American Crafts took this picture for us at her class.

And here we are with Mandy after we finished the class. She's so sweet, and might I add, she had her adorable with a capital A, baby, Chad, with her and he loves me! :)

Taylor Hayes Ericson

born Oct. 11, 2009

8:44 p.m.

8 lb. 4 oz.

19 1/2 inches

Congrats to my niece, Whitney and hubby Eric on the birth of their first baby, daughter Taylor.

Still floating

First things first -- thank you, thank you, thank you to Gia for the opportunity to attend the QuicKutz Retailers Retreat!!! I never imagined I would ever get the chance, much less get to go, to such a fun scrapbooking event, and a QuicKutz event no less, with my favorite boss ever! I'm telling you, it was simply awesome and I don't think I've touched ground yet. LOL

Most of you know that Gia and I have been working together for a little over a year now but had never met in person. Well, this event made that happen and we couldn't wait to finally laugh and share IN PERSON! I looked and looked but she was hiding (LOL just kidding) so she saw me first, then we just squealed and hugged and hugged!!! And then the giggling started. ;)

When we arrived at the hotel to drop off our bags and register for the retreat, we were given a heavy tote bag filled with wonderful goodies from QK, American Crafts, and other sponsors as well. There were lots of dies, both 4x4 and 2x2, a couple of alphabets, a cute cute apron, even water and snacks, and more. And believe it or not, neither Gia nor I had any of the dies that were included in our welcome bag. Oh, I take that back, there was one that I already have. One!Amazing when you consider first, how many dies I own (and no, I will not be ashamed) and second, the number of dies they gave us! Holy cow!

My name badge


Just a few of the freebies in our goodie bags!



Our days were filled with fun classes and great speakers, fun-to-make projects, and really good food. We met some very nice people, most with brick & mortar stores, some with online stores, and some we even knew or had been to their websites. And everyone was very complimentary of Scrapbuggy and particularly Gia's wonderful customer service. Which, of course, goes without saying. Retailers came from all over the country, and the world--as far as Germany and Singapore.

This cute door hanger is one of the projects we made in the American Crafts class.




Look at these cute new fabric covered thickers from American Crafts.




The morning we left, we took a quick tour of the QuicKutz offices and warehouse. I was awe-struck with the floor to ceiling rows and rows of QuicKutz boxes, and the loooooong rows of shelves and shelves of dies. Brian kept insisting it was nothing special, but we insisted right back that, HELLO!, it was VERY special to us! It's not the same when you work there every day as it is when you are a fan who loves using the product every day. It was fun to see the operation and the office of the best sales reps around. Gia had been there once before, but still we both enjoyed it very much.

Here I am in front of the gates of die cutting heaven. LOL


Looking down into the warehouse from the landing at the door of the QK offices. Isn't it cool?!

So there you have the trip in a nut shell. Is that awesome, or what? Maybe it won't come across quite as awesome when you read it as it felt when it was happening, but trust me. It was awesome. I'll be posting pictures and projects over the next few days so keep checking back.

to quote Spongebob, "I'm ready! I'm ready!"

....for Utah that is! :) Packed except for what I'll need in the morning before we leave for the airport. My day-long headache has subsided and it's down to the last minute stuff now - still haven't decided which purse to carry, gotta do my nails, and grab my jacket. Yeehaw! :)

Utah is a mere three days away!

Who knew I'd be so freaked about all this. --ok I did. -- The older I get, the more phobic I become. What's up with that!? I keep telling myself I'm being silly and ridiculous. And I know I'm going to have a blast!! Still......I'm anxious. I'm feeling a little overwhelmed. I'm excited and happy. Laundry is going, I'm gathering scrappy toys and tools to pack in my pretty pink tote and checking my list over and over again to be sure I don't forget stuff. Like my camera..........and medication. :{

Things yet to do:
shave my legs
decide which purse to carry
remember the charger for the cell phone
breathe