Disneyland!

Where have I been this past week? I've been spending my evenings watching the Olympics instead of editing photos. I've found myself baking cupcakes, making Jello, and pancakes in the kitchen lately too. Weird things are going on! ;)

I'm ready to share my trip to Disneyland from 4 weeks ago. And boy did I have fun!

I got the sweetest call from Nathalie when I arrived in Anaheim. We had plans to get a drink but we were both totally starving. We walked to Downtown Disney and had dinner in a fun restaurant, Ralph Brannan's Jazz Kitchen. I laughed so hard and really enjoyed her company. I was completely surprised that she wasn't falling asleep at the table with jet lag. We did take a few photos while walking to and from dinner. To learn how to take night photos, check out my post here.
Saturday night, after Dan & Zena arrived, we headed out to Downtown Disney. This is definitely a great place that is within walking distance to find night life and a decent meal. I think Zena was most impressed with the Lego Store and its crazy cool designs.

One of the girls at the convention told me to check out the Storyteller's Cafe, so that's just what we did! It was really cute and we got some tasty drinks. Zena got a changing LED acrylic ice cube in her drink and she was thrilled!

I loved the silhouettes all over the place and couldn't help but think of how much my mom would love all of the copper!
I took lots more photos of the lit up trees on our way back to the hotel. I love this one because of the shadows on the sidewalk.
We woke up pretty early on Sunday morning due to Disneyland excitement. Zena hadn't been since 1971-ish. We scarfed down some mediocre hotel breakfast before walking around the corner and down the street to the happiest place on earth!

We started out in Tommorrowland to grab fast passes at Space Mountain, then head over to Star Tours. I was dying to take Zena on Indiana Jones so we went there next. I love to scream on that ride. Or laugh really hard depending on my mood. :)

For a change in pace, we went on the Jungle Cruise. I love riding it with Jenna because we laugh so hard at the corniest parts ever. We did manage to get one of the really good guy who ad libs and surprised us with some extra fun stuff. Instead of making shooting arrow sounds as we passed by the natives, he made automatic machinery noises! The little things in life make me silliest. Speaking of silly, we loved the Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters ride! It was easy to convince Zena that she had to go on it. Both she and Dan were hooked. It was my goal to get a photo with Pocahontas and I was thrilled to walk right by her in Frontierland. I was definitely the tallest person taking a photo with her. She had a rehearsed monologue about "being honored to take a photograph with a princess with such a beautiful smile." And yes, she posed me for the photo! Photo by Dan Corcoran.
Dan snapped a photo of me in Toon Town. My sister and I have a photo of us doing a similar pose from way back in the day!I could help taking a photo of the sign in front of the camera shop!
Sunday was definitely Disneyland boot camp. I ran us all over the theme park for nearly twelve hours! We stayed for the firework show and enjoyed ice cream too. Isn't Main Street beautiful? Monday night we revisited Downtown Disney and chose to have dinner at the Italian restaurant Naples. I was thoroughly exhausted from CHA that day, so the mood lighting and comfy booth had me oh so close to napping right there in the restaurant. The talented balloon girl kept us entertained while designing (for kids) surfing penguins and monkey's holding onto bananas. My favorite part was my lemoncello martini. Have I mentioned how much I love sugar? YUM!

We hopped on a plane on Tuesday and were back to the San Francisco Bay area. Dan's already asking when we are going again. I certainly wouldn't mind visiting again!

Check my flickr account for more photos from my trip to Disneyland!

Top Ten Favorites: New Releases for Winter CHA

Hope everyone had a great Valentine's Day! I worked most of it, but I celebrated all weekend long! I've put together a list of my top ten favorite company releases for Winter CHA. I snatched the photos from the company websites, blogs, or The Scrap Review. What are your favorites?

American Crafts: Dear Lizzy is awesome! Her ribbon is so gorgeous. And of course those thickers too! Nikki Rikki font, and flair are sweet, as well as the Botanique felt flowers are lovely. Lots of people at this booth!
Crate Paper: I like their new stuff and think anyone could make their product look good. Brook, Pink Plum and Bliss all excite me. I think their chipboard accents are fun.
The Girls Paperie (by Advantus) Didn't see in person but these photos look great.
Hambly: I'm digging all their doilies (rub ons, stickers, transparencies, and paper). Cupcakes are hot and the hearts are sweet. I saw some cool stuff done with the peacock feathers.

I haven't heard of Lily Bee even though they've been around for a year. I love the brights in this sneak.
Maya Road: Has tons of cute stuff! Must haves: Kraft tags, envelopes; Mini scalloped triangle chipboard set, ruffled edge trim, medallion flowers, Maya Resist ( great for glimmer mist techniques), canvas banner, wavy layer album, felt badges, banner stamps, and coaster album.
Pebbles: Pleasantly surprised by their new stuff (thanks to American Crafts). Treehouse & Twitterpatted both look super fab! Rub ons and stickers are very cute!
Sassafrass: WOW. Love all the lines! Cherry Delicious is my favorite and then Nerdy Bird next. The border stickers & alphas are great.

I gotta get some Studio Calico Anthology paper too!
Tattered Angels: Chalkboard Glimmer Mist is the new & exciting thing! I can't wait to get my hands on this stuff! Glaze is thicker than Glam. Glam is closer to the consistency of the mist. Heidi's texture stamps look fun. I loved her examples that she did at CHA using the Rockin Renaissance Crepe Ribbon. Their Chip Tiles look like fun as well.

Everything Scrapp'n February Blog hop

I can't believe how fast this year is flying by! It's time for our February Blog hop with the Everything Scrapp'n design team. Start here! I used the Pink Paislee Cupid line!

I decided to make Artist Trading Card sized valentine's this year. They really get my mojo following and allow me to experiment before I create a scrapbook page. Products used: Pink Paislee Cupid love potion pp, Cupid Impression Stamps, Cupid Press Ons, My Little Shoebox mini alpha stickers-black, American Crafts Brown embossing powder, Staz On Ink-Jet Black.

Close up of embossing:
I love how cool Hambly rub ons look with glimmer mist!Products used: Pink Paislee Cupid Hearts Bloom pp, Cupid Press Ons, Hambly Elegant label rub ons-white, Cupid Impression Stamps, Cupid brads, Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist-red passion, Staz On Ink-Jet Black.

I love the layered rub on look:
I recently printed some of my most favorite photos from this year. I think I'll have to scrap more photos from this night since there are so many great ones! I was watching Juno when I was working on this, which is where my title came from. Photos on the left side are taken by Kristi Lewis.Products used: Pink Paislee Cupid love potion pp, Cupid Hearts Bloom pp, Cupid Bullseye pp, Cupid Impression stamps, Cupid Postcards pp, Cupid Borderline Sticker, Expressions Alphabet sticker-chocolate, American Crafts Fabric Thickers Patchwork-ladybug, Hambly lace border rub ons, American Crafts clear embossing powder, Maya Road chipboard mini cupcake, Jenni Bowlin Apothecary stickers-brown, Fiskars Border Apron lace punch, Martha Stewart scallop dot punch, Staz On Ink-timber brown.

I had fun embossing xoxo across the maya road chipboard cupcake. Then I painted over it and when that was dry I added some distress stickles. The bottom part has some glimmer mist on it too!Please head over to Theresa's blog next and don't forgot to leave comments at each for a chance to win a grab bag of 5 yards of ribbon! We're having a great sale this weekend too... February 13th - 15th, Happy Valentine's Day! 45% off your entire order, Code: Valentines

Winter CHA 2010

I've got photos to share from my time spent at the Craft & Hobby Association Convention! Suzy West of My Little Shoebox was so kind to have me join in the fun. A big thanks to Helen, Suzy, and the talented Design Team!

Day One: The Setup

I was expecting an early morning wake up, followed by lots of hard labor. I was very lucky to start at 10am. With eight women, we were able to set up in just a few hours of work, with lots of goofiness thrown in for good measure. Pattie & I were given curtain duty due to our height. I now boast curtain hanging capabilities in my resume. ;) I have not been to CHA from the Exhibitor side and it was a different experience.

Helen had our lunch brought to us and it was delish! The spread included several types of salads, chicken, beef, and pizza. I assumed we would have to fend for ourselves and consume the grotesque convention food. We were happy to avoid it on Saturday.

The ladies working on the displays:

Pattie Beltrain, Erin Yamabe, and I at the finished booth (Photo by Suzy West):Erin & Helen (owner& designer of MLS) at the end of a very productive day:

We did roam around on our lunch break to see what the other creative companies were doing. It was really different to see everyone setting up before hand.

Once we finished up, I rushed over to the CHA Craft SuperShow. Dan & Zena had arrived at this point so I walked quickly through the 6 rows of products. I did get a few glimpses of the new American Crafts stuff at one booth. I was completely shocked to see they already had it for sale. I picked up my very first Maya Mist-sunflower yellow and my very coveted Fiskars Apron lace border punch. I have been looking for that one for months!

Day Two: CHA!
I met Kelly and some of the talented ladies from Scrap Gal on Monday morning. It was so great to see Chez. Unfortunately, I didn't spent much time hanging out with them. Kelly & I broke off from the group to do the make & take rounds.

Kelly is so awesome, she knew that Hambly's make n take was #1 on my list. Allison had a big group of people around her making beautiful altered bangles. I layered the white & then the turquoise Doily rub ons. To seal it, they supplied Diamond Glaze from Judi Kins. While they were drying, we looked around their beautiful booth.

I'm in love with their new releases and can't wait to get them!
Layouts by Dina Wakley:
Don't you just adore all of the doilies? Some great examples using their product:
One of my highlights of the day was when Rose & the rest of Hambly realized that I almost didn't get to come, they asked why I didn't call them! The Hambly family is the sweetest. I adore the calendar I got:
We waited in line for kits at Teresa Collins & My Little Bicycle as well. After that, we stopped by the myStamp Box booth to visit Nathalie and see the new designs. Photo by Kelly Feldman.Nathalie showing some beautiful artwork she created:
I met the owner Bettina and she has started this sweet idea called The Creative Sisterhood of the Traveling Stamp Box. The idea is to pass along the stamps to another person once you have used them on a project of your own. Nathalie gave me the cute No Place Like Home stamp set for me to pass along. Keep your eyes open for that in the coming month or so!We ran into Suzy as we were walking a round and she told us that we had to check out this new company, Punky Sprouts. Their stuff seems pretty cool. They do mixed albums with acrylic, chipboard, and canvas pages. I hope they do well since its such a fun idea!

One of the lines I was most excited about to see this release was Dear Lizzy that Elizabeth Kartchner designed for American Crafts. Although I don't have a kid, I think this product line can be rocked in many other ways. I was super excited to meet Amy Tan(gerine). Photo by Kelly Feldman.
They even had a pink bike at the booth (propped up against the wall behind them).
I worked at the My Little Shoebox booth in the afternoon with so many great people.We took a lot of photo and had great quick convos between customers. Robyn Weatherspoon is such a ray of sunshine. She made me giggle constantly. Photo by Heather Brown.
I felt like I had known Heather Brown for years after just meeting her for a few hours. She is the sweetest and has the cutest kids to scrapbook! Photo by Robyn Weatherspoon.

And the end of a long, but wonderful day (photo by Norma):

I ran around the last 15 minutes of the show to see Cosmo Cricket, Maya Road, and Tattered Angels. Nathalie told me she would be teaching but I was disappointed to find that she wasn't, that Heidi Swapp was there. I was about to keep looking for Nat when I saw her sitting next to Heidi. I spent my remaining time watching Nathalie demo and have a great understanding of more cool things that you can go with the Glimmer Mist line. I'm super excited about their chalkboard release!

Since I was there with an exhibitor and I was traveling light, I didn't pick up a whole lot of free stuff. Here is a picture of the stuff I did grab while at the show:Kristi has some great photos from when she went to the show on Sunday. Be sure to check out many more details and examples here. I'll be back later this week with my top faves and pictures from Disneyland!