A little eye candy for you

This Mom can hardly hold her excitement in because as you can see FOOTBALL is right around the corner. Tackle football no less! I have been waiting for this year since, oh I don't know, we found out Jaxon was going to be a boy! You think I'm kidding...I AM NOT! Football is my very favorite sport to watch. Something about kicking somebody's butt on the field and not getting in trouble just appeals to me. I know I know I probably need some serious counseling, I already knew that. It really isn't just the actual playing of the sport. It is the whole kit and kaboodle. The band coming out on the field, the drumline, the National Anthem, the cheerleaders getting the crowd revved up for their team, the fans, even the stinkin announcers! I love the energy about the whole game! If you ask me nothing better. Now I get to cheer my boy on to get in there and kick some booty! Oh my goodness I just can't wait. We will be in football mode for weeks months even. I am getting butterflies in my belly just thinking about it.
I love pictures of teams with their backs to us and names on jerseys.

Walking into the first practice. He wasn't even nervous just excited! I was too. Ed and I stayed to watch for about a half hour. I told Ed what is there to watch at this point?? But before we knew it a half hour had passed and we really didn't want to leave but we had things to do other than staying there for 3 hours! Love it!

On to the eye candy!

Here are some pictures of some of the projects I have done in the last couple of months. The layout above is for our calendar kit that will be coming out soon. It happens to have one of my favorite pics of my kids from last summer. It is a great calendar kit. Pick one up at Michaels.

These next next few pics are from the box kit that I did for the make and take at CHA consumer show this past week. A 10 minute project start to finish. Everything I used came in the kit except for one soft spoken sheet. I did not ink, distress, or add ribbons. Very easy to do for the beginner scrapbooker. Some of the gals at my table were saying speed scrapbooking at it's best!

This is the front cover. Again no inking or any added elements. Just strictly what came in the kit and the added soft spoken. Oh and some cardstock.

I did decorative punch one page to give them an idea of what they could do with it once they got home.

What I really like about this box kit is that you can make a mini album and put it back into its' original box and wrap it up for a gift. We have them at Michael's of course. You could also check with your LSS to see if they carry them as well. There a few different kinds. Love, baby boy, baby girl and of course "A Kid Like Me". Not sure if any of you know or have seen that we brought back our original stick kids in honor of Mambi's 10 year anniversary! Can't believe that it has been 10 years!

Gotta jet

Ciao Bellas~

to blog or not to blog...

that is the stinkin question I have been asking myself for months. I really enjoy reading other blogs...A LOT! Maybe too much sometimes. :) I wish it was easier to upload pictures. for some reason that is a complete chore to me. My friend Shelly gave me a few tips so I will try that. I also feel like I don't have a lot to talk about and sometimes get redundant on my kids activities. I have heard from a few of you and you all say otherwise so I am going to continue on with the blog for now and see how it goes. Here is a card that I made for Renee's wedding shower. I used our black and white wedding paper pad. I love that paper pad. It is how can I say... glorious! It has a couple of transparent papers in the collection as well. I made a little pocket for the gift card inside. Simple and pretty darn easy. I love the look of the satin ribbon. It says "wedding" all over it!

At the office we were at the CHA-summer show last week. It was held in Florida. I had no idea it rained SO much in Orlando. YUCK! We stayed at the Peabody hotel. They are known for their cute little ducks. They hang out at this fountain all day and then they have this Duckmaster and I might add he is a little creepy looking that takes them back to their "Duck Palace" for the night. Interesting. People go gaga over these ducks.

When we are at trade shows we do get to have some lovely dinners. So I took a picture of our desserts. They were fabulous! I wish I would have taken a picture of our "patronitas" at our first dinner. It was just girls for this show and we were treated to a dinner at the Capital Grille. If you have never heard of it check it out. It was quite the dining experience. Our patronitas were to die for. I love me my margarita. This one did not disappoint! Had to have two! Needless to say we girls had a great time!

The show was busier than we thought, which was good. The best part was the Scrapbook Royalty event and the CHA consumer event. Both were pretty packed. I ran a make and take at the consumer show and ran out of my 130 kits! At the Scrapbook Royalty event I was reacquainted with two women that recognized me from taking a class of mine 9 years ago at an event in Orlando! How funny is that! Too bad they didn't say man you have lost some weight...LOL! That was fun to meet them again. Scrapbooking is so funny that way. You really get to know people on a more deeper level and you just take off right where you left off. I really am in a wonderful industry and I hope it continues to bring people happiness!

I am now ready to tackle getting ready for the next event...Scrapfest! And guess what Jaxon is getting involved in tackle football and this Mom cannot be anymore excited about that! So for sure you will be hearing about that! As for Makenna she is starting her online driving today, the excitement for that is not so much. That just freaks me out. One that she is old enough to be driving and two, she is DRIVING! Ahhhhhhhhh!!!

Gotta jet my friends. If you have continued to check for blog updates, I thank you and if you are new to my blog...Welcome!

Ciao Bellas~

Where does friendship end...

Did i peak your interest?? Friendship end? Your thought might be what did Suezi say to have a friendship end? Nope I did nothing but...BAKE!Not sure if you can tell what that lovely picture is. It is two starters of Amish Friendship Bread(that's right 2), the recipe that you send with your starters to your friends, and a finished Amish Friendship Bread. It makes me laugh almost out loud that it has the word Friendship in it's description. I am on my 3rd batch of this stuff which means I have given out 9 starters to my friends. Now you may think not so hard. Well, i am here to tell you it is HARD! I for one don't have that many friends that want to take on the 10 day process, let alone bake. Plus it takes on a pretty fermenting smell which grosses some light weights out! I am almost ready to start a stand in front of the grocery store!
My friends see me and start to run. Family members turn their backs!
I have two starters going right now which means in a few more days I will have 8 more friends that I need to find to give these starters to! Needless to say I am RUNNING out of friends people!
I am not going to keep any starters for myself. I am done and don't want to see another Amish FRIENDSHIP Bread for a couple of years. Which brings to mind this little thought...the Amish. Aren't they a small community? Don't they run out of friends? Seriously, how do they keep this going? Don't they get tired of eating this stuff? Let alone the calories that are in one loaf of bread!
I am now resorting to my blog friends. Any of you interested? Live in southern Orange County? Heck I would drive anywhere in Orange County to get rid of the stuff. Let me know. Please don't turn your backs when you see me comin!
Off to cut a slice of friendship bread and remember when I did have friends! LOL!

Monday Monday

I do believe I have a hate/love relationship with Mondays! I hate Mondays after a very long and busy weekend...like today! I am dragging. But on the other hand Mondays are a fresh start, a new beginning, new week. A time to regroup and start all over. Love that just not this Monday.

What about you out there?? How do you feel about Mondays?

I have so much to do this Monday and I am just not feeling it. Gotta get my project finished for Scrapfest. I love it! I will post a sneak peel when it is done. Love the paper, and the project in general. Good stuff!

Also, need to get a couple of layouts done. Luckily I got some great pics to get those done.

I will say this though... I really want a good camera! I am tired of just okay pictures. I am going to start saving for one. I get picture envy every time I go to Maggie Holmes or Karen Russell's blogs. Don't even get me started on Tara Whitney. If only!!!!

Here are a couple of pictures from our weekend.

We had a family baseball bbq yesterday! We obviously don't get our fill of baseball!! This is my niece Chloe getting to hit off the tee for the first time! A softball player in the making! Love It! It was a great day! But I will say this I am getting way too old to be chasing baseballs!

This is Jaxon eating his oh I don't know 10th smore??!!! Or maybe it was his grilled cheeses sandwich he grilled over the fire pit! Jaxon's team had a bbq pool party this weekend. It was a great time and the boys were in and out of the pool for 8 hours! Not sure how they do that?? We parents all get along famously and the boys do too. Very lucky this year to be spending so much time with friends you want to be around other than on the baseball diamond. Good times!


On another note, I want to post a challenge on my blog so keep posted. As soon as I figure out what I want to do I will post it here. Sounds like fun... don't ya think?

Gotta jet for now...

A sale and a Loss!

First the good news if you haven't already heard...MAMBI WAREHOUSE SALE!

When you ask?? May 15-16

Where? Mambi Headquarters

Time? 9-5 Friday 9-3 Saturday

There are going to be some GREAT prices and AWESOME products! Don't miss out!

Added Bonus... you will get to meet the wonderful people I get to work with.

Last time we had the warehouse sale we had a blast and tons of laughs. Should make for some great blog stories!

Now onto the loss story.

If you are not into baseball you can skip it. But really I am here to tell you I am one sick fan! Jaxon's team played great last night. We were down 2 and then up 3. Bottom of the 6th inning(that is all Little League plays) 2 outs. We got this right? WRONG! We walk the 11th, 12th, 1st batters in their lineup. That means bases loaded. Say it isn't so. We get the 2nd and 3rd batters out. Clean up hitter is up. We still need just one more out. My thought as my hands are sweating and I am pacing like a caged animal, what are the odds that he hits a grand slam?? Well we got to find out. Our pitcher fires one right down the pipe...SMACK! You just knew it was going out. It went to the other stinkin field! They win 6-5!

UUUGGGHHHHHHH!

All you can do is applaud the other team and congratulate that young man for his hit! He will tell that story probably to his grand kids. I can just hear it, I was 12 years old playing for the Dodgers...

Whatever, it is only little league ball right?

You will not believe that it kept me up tossing and turning. Really! I really need to get a life! I still can't believe it! Our sad little boys were so bummed. I am pretty positive that they didn't lose sleep.

Tomorrow is another day and another game!

Tomorrow is also the big day.

Reflections is tomorrow

If you live in the OC area or close to, I believe that there are still a couple of spots open. Should be a great weekend. Plenty of fun classes and great make and takes.

One always need time away and what better way to spend your time away from your family is with other scrapbookers and awesome teachers!

I am off for another day in the office. Things are a bustling around here.

Ciao Bellas~

A little chuckle in everyday life

This is just a random post for today.

I was driving home the other day and this man cut me off and then gave me "the bird" if you know what I mean. It really just made me laugh. Why do people get so angry on the road?? Was I driving too slow?? I am going to go out on a limb and say highly unlikely. Was I just in his way? Was he late picking up kids? I don't know what the reason was but really PEOPLE life is way too short and complicated to add getting angry on the road! Phew! got that off my chest!

My friend Stephanie posted about your life wishes, dreams etc. It's a great post. Go read it after you've read mine, of course.

It got me thinkin what is my wish, dream?? I am not really sure I have one. I have the usuals. Kids grow up to be great humans with strong morals. Happy marriage. Do you all have a life wish? It can be anything. Trivial or over the top! I am going to start really thinking about this and see what I come up with. Off the top of my head would be to meet Paula Deen! She cracks me up and has made a life for herself and family from just cooking! Cooking really good and fattening food, but it has to be something else that got her where she is today and I would love to know the trials and triumphs first hand. That would be one wish.

Here is what else is on my mind...other peoples blogs. I blog hop almost everyday! That is right EVERYDAY! Part of it is for my job. To get inspiration, to see what is out there, but really it is because I have gotten to know these blog people and I am very interested in knowing what is going on in their lives. This blog in particular I love. Her name is Stephanie Howell and her blog name is "just me and my two chicks" She is a young mother of 2 little girls with a husband in Iraq. She's a very talented scrapbook artist and a witty writer. What gets me coming back almost everyday is their families journey in the military. She is one strong woman! I am not really sure I could be as strong as her. She has brought a tear to my eye more than once. Her journey makes me stop in my tracks and pray for all those brave men and women over there and everywhere else we have our military. Go check her blog out. If you do please let her know that you are praying for her and her family. This blog world is something else. It really brings this big world closer together. It also makes me realize we are all the same out there. Lovin our families, trying to be the best we can be and maybe a little scrapbooking too!

That's all I got for right now. I will leave you with another baseball pic. Why you ask?? Because like I said it is what is consuming us right now and we LOVE it!

Okay I must laugh(really hard) because I went back to look at past posts and this picture is the SAME picture I posted last time! LOL! I have to get to work and have no time to adjust and replace so just pretend it is a dfferent pic! Some of you that know me will say typical Suezi! Just go with it my friends!

UNCLE UNCLE!!!

I Give In!

I guess I should update my blog since I have many of you asking why I haven't and when do I plan on doing it! Truth be told I wasn't feeling that inspired and was feeling a bit blue these past couple of months! It has been a bumpy road for my little family and didn't feel like putting on a happy face. I think the fog has lifted and there is light out there! I apologize for not updating and will try to get back to regular schedule programming.

What has been keeping me busy is just life. You know how it is when you are a Mom, Wife, etc.

There has been this...Color Guard. Little did we know that it would almost consume our lives! Mak's season just finished. They placed 2nd in the State finals and 9th in the World Finals. Needless to say They rock! Was is worth it??? That's a loaded question! We are so proud of her but we will be glad to have her back home more often and she will definitely be glad to have a life other than guard!

There is also this...
Baseball...Dirt Bag Baseball! This consumes us every spring and although we would not have it any other way it can be a bit exhausting! I think I know why it is exhausting. Trying to find quick dinners to make during this season. How stinkin ridiculous is that...worrying about making dinner! LOL!

We had this...Jaxon's 12th Birthday. 12 boys plus to Dad boys at Laser Quest. Loud and funny to watch. If you have a Laser Quest near you I highly suggest hosting a party there. Easy, somewhat economical and the boys, Big and little had a great time! Nothing better than blowing your candles out while you are sucking down pixie sticks! Oh My!

We celebrated Easter with my side of the family. These three adorable little ones are my nieces and nephews. The only ones that participated in an Easter Egg Hunt. My punky kids didn't even want to color eggs. So sad that they are getting so old!

I have been working and these two layouts are some of the stuff I can show you. The rockstar one is from the paper pad Urban Youth and embellishments are from A Kid Like Me line. The Urban Youth pad is perfect for your teen. It's kinda edgy and not a cutesy look at all. I LOVE it! I can see some great projects for Jaxon's room out of this paper. A Kid Like Me line is all the stick kids that Mambi is known for. Believe it or not we are celebrating our 10th Anniversary this year! I can hardly believe it! It has gone by so fast. Mambi has evolved into such an unreal company. The products that keep coming out of our design teams are UNREAL! We keep getting better and better! Just make sure you keep your eye out for our stuff! You will not be disappointed!

I've also been really into flowers! I made this flower chain from the Making Memories Slice . I cut out all different sizes of flowers from our Fashion District line glued them back to back, punched a hole with a crop a dile and then cut out a long skinny triangle rolled it up, glued the ends and put one between each flower. Put them all on a coordinating piece of yarn. Super easy and super cute! I got the idea from Rachel.

The second flower is hand drawn in 6 different sizes. Distressed the edges, ink the edges and and crunched. When you think you've crunched enough...crunch some more. Then you just layer all the flowers. I use glue dots between each layer. Add rhinestones, buttons, prima flowers in the middle and Voila! A beautiful flower to add to a layout, card, whatever! I want to make one with fabric and put on a headband. Darling!

I want to give a shout out to an event that is taking place May 1-3.

Reflections

It is being held at the Newport Regency. It is being put on by Susan Lyons and Scrapbook Oasis. I believe that there a few more spots open. Friday night there are hosting a Isle Carnival. There will be make and takes, Vendor Faire, and a yummy dessert bar. You can attend this event for 25.00 bucks. I will be there with a make and take. Come for a visit. It is going to be a wonderful weekend. Stephanie Ackerman, Maggie Holmes, Shannon Tidwell, and Jamie Waters are just a few of the awesome teachers that will be teaching at this event.

Suzy Plantamura will also be doing a make and take. Go check it out! I know Susan and she is one of the best entertainers I know. Not a detail will be overlooked!

I gotta jet. Scrapfest projects are a callin' my name!

So glad to be a bloggin'!

Ciao Bellas~