ROW ROW ROW YOUR BOAT...

I'd say I was sitting here in sunny California, but it's definitely not sunny and I forgot to pack my oars so I could paddle on down to the convention center tomorrow. Oops. Hopefully it will be sunny and a little bit warmer tomorrow, or I think I might have to call this western, western Missouri. :-) Our condo does have a great view of Disneyland and we'll be able to see the fireworks from our unit. If we're looking out the window and not at our computer screens!

I did get my one clumsy move for 2010 out of the way today. Last year, my groove involved missing a step going downstairs at my house and doing a face plant at the bottom of the stairs, a week after getting my cast off my arm. At least I didn't have an audience for that performance (outside of the furry four-footed kind). This year, I waited until I arrived here in California and made my move in front of Bubba Gumps. Evidently I am not even coordinated enough to walk down the sidewalk without falling down. In the rain. Hard. Busted. Embarrassed. Sigh.

Well, it's getting late. I'm trying to keep up with photos and such on FaceBook and Twitter. Once the show (CHA) starts, I'll post pics here too. Theoretically. If I don't bust my camera by falling on it.

Keep the faith (and medical insurance if you're coming near me)!
Vicki

A WONDERFUL GIFT

One of the wonderful benefits of the Tim Holtz cruise this fall was having the opportunity to make new friends and spend time with other creative women. This cruise was also the first time I've been a part of an ATC swap. For those of you who don't know what an ATC card is, it stands for Artist Trading Card and it is based on a very simple concept. An ATC card is the size of a card from a deck of playing cards (think Hearts, Spades, Poker, Black Jack, etc.) and past that it really has no rules. It can be anything you want, using whatever types of media you feel comfortable using. The only real rule it has, is that it has to be given, not sold. So imagine 150 creative women making cards to trade with each other and with Tim, Mario, and Wendy! Not all of us made cards, but those who did were very generous and very creative. Since I signed up for the cruise about 4 weeks before departure, I didn't have time to make any cards, although I decided that I would try to make some after the cruise to share with several of my fellow cruisers. Watching everyone swap cards and show their collection of cards was a lot of fun, and one of my new friends, Kathy E., made a vest of ATC cards that she wore on the ship. Amazing! My other favorite was Mario's card... a copy of the shipping labels for all the boxes they had to send with supplies. Hysterical! It still makes me smile.

This week I received an ATC from Karen (aka KeyChain) that she made using some pretty cool techniques, and some interesting products. Rather than try to describe it, I thought I would post a picture of it so I could share it with all of you. What the picture doesn't show as well is that the right side of the card with the likeness of Mona Lisa is very textural, so I asked her what she did to create it and here is what she said:

"I spread a thin layer of Gesso on the card, made an impression using a clean stamp. Added a thin wash of paint after it had dried."

I thought it was a really nice look and worked really well with the other products she used on the card. I'm kind of an earth-tone girl, so the whole card really appealed to me. Hope you all enjoy it as much as I did. :-) She also helped me increase my ATC collection (now that I have more than four, I can call it a collection, can't I?). Thanks Karen! Can't wait to see you at the show and you can tell me what else you used on this card... [wink]

Until tomorrow everyone, keep the faith!
~Vicki

Quit laughing...

So I have to be the world's worse blogger, nothing new there! Facebook and Twitter were clamoring for attention but now it is back to basics!

Since there is no way to catch up, I'm going to use a good old church euphemism that goes like this, "Come as you are." So, other than late to the party, here I am! You can also find me on Facebook and Twitter (@conquestkpsks).

Here's a quick run down of the last couple of months, and probably the reason I am slow to post, is THE CRUISE! Yes, the cruise to Mexico with Tim Holtz and Wendy Vecchi in October and arranged by ScrapMap happens to be one of the most incredible things I have ever done! Bar NONE! All the rest of the girls have blogged their trips, so now I'll endeavor to blog my perspective, along with current news such as the impending trip to Winter CHA in LA. I do have a few more days before I leave on Thursday, so I hope I'll be able to catch up while itching with anticipation for the show!

If you ever have the opportunity to do a scrapping/stamping cruise, working with ScrapMap and Jim West was a delight, considering I signed up six weeks before the cruise! Jaci Hague hustled around and got me everything I needed on time so I owe her special thanks. You ROCK Jaci! They had every detail planned and it was such a wonderful time. We did have some rough seas the first couple of days, but we all managed to deal with it as it came along. The Royal Caribbean Mariner of the Seas was a spectacular ship, our stewards and wait staff at dinner were impeccable, I don't know how else they could have spoiled us with everything they did. Just flat amazing! Because of the rough seas, we had to change our itinerary some, but Tim and his crew just rolled with it and we had an awesome time! Of course I picked up a few new slang versions about cruising, like "The Floating Raisin Ranch" or "Newly Wed or Nearly Dead" much to my amusement! They've already announced the next Tim Cruise, it will be in the fall, Sept. 30th through Oct. 9th, New England and Canada. I do have some pics posted in an album on my FaceBook page, but there are more to come (I took TWO cameras and some video).

After the cruise I threw myself into getting stuff together for our Forever Memories crop we do once a month, and OF COURSE we are all Tim peeps. It's a small group of very talented ladies and we all love vintage, distress and mutli-media projects. They really had to twist my arm to get me going to that! [grin] Now I feel like a pimp handing out Tim fixes once a month (if not more often).

As far as upcoming events and classes, we have two events this Spring. One is the Pleasant Hope Crop on March 6th that my friend Lori McCroskey puts together every year benefiting the school, and the other is the Children's Miracle Network crop April 9, which is always a big crop for a really good cause. For more information on these crops, you can contact Lori at Clear Dollar Stamps for info on how to register for that event, and for the CMN crop, you can contact The Scrapbooking Momeez for more information and registration. This year Krista Pickle, from Scrapbooks Forever in Branson will be hosting an excellent store for this event, you don't want to miss that! Mark your calendars now. I will also have a booth and teach a class and some make-n-takes, all emphasizing vintage/distress looks. I'll be carrying everything Tim in my booth, along with Zutter, 7 Gypsies, Graphic 45, Maya Road, Making Memories, and Jenni Bowlin, just to name a few. If it's vintage or distressed and available, I'll have it. Obviously we will be showcasing Tim's new products being intro'd next week at CHA, his inks, stamps, Idea-ology, and his new Sizzix dies. I'll be giving away a couple of really great products and you'll have the chance to examine and play with his new product lines.

In between those crops, we still have classes going at Hobby Lobby, our Forever Memories monthly crops and some other special events for a few local groups. If you're as excited as I am about all the new things coming out, you may need to stop reading here and go to the restroom. I'll still be here when you get back!

One of my new fascinations is Ten Seconds Studio and working with metal. I can't wait to see what those crazy ladies show us this year at the show. Seriously, you need to catch their Taco Tuesday videos. Look for links for all these on the sidebar.

Until later!

Vicki

NOVEMBER CLASS OPPORTUNITIES

As I sort through the 435 pictures I took on the cruise to start blogging about it, I thought I would post an update for November classes. We have several classes to choose from, so I'll list them with all pertinent info for those of you watching for the schedule.

This Saturday is open craft day here at the Conquest Paper Studio. I have kits for the Advent Calendar, another grunge wall hanging project, a grunge birthday book (Days to Celebrate) and a couple SpellBinder projects. There are also some monogrammed gift card tins too. It starts at 10a and runs until the last person leaves. We'll have access to my many tools and horde of products, those of you who know me well, know my stash is legendary. As usual, you'll receive discounts on products you order during the open craft days--deals so good, you can't afford to miss them! I will probably do another Open Craft day Thanksgiving weekend, so if you are interested in any of the classes, let me know, you can email or call [350-4569]. I've still got a few Tim tricks up my sleeves for several of these projects. These are all great gift projets. There are still Hobby Lobby classes, but I need to have at least 4 or 5 signed up to have the classes at the stores. Classes here at the Paper Studio go on no matter the number of people present. I'll post some more details tomorrow. Bring a friend and have some fun with us! Bring your basic class kit (wet and dry adhesive, sissors, sand paper, trimmer, ruler, pencil, black and white gel pens, dimensional foam (pop dots), brown or black ink to age with, and any Tim Holtz products you might have (like Distress Inks, ink blending tool, pads,

Keep the faith! What a wonderful time of year to be reminded about what that means!
Vicki

GOOD GOLLY WAS THAT A BLAST!?

OK, I'm kind of lame. Look down at the ground and kick the rocks lame. A pictureless posting shamer. That's me!

HOWEVER, I'm gonna work on it. Who goes on a Mexican Riviera Cruise WITH TIM HOLTZ and doesn't write or post anything? Well, that's about to be over. I was kind of waiting to let all the other Timites get there stuff up before I put up mine. It's a concerted effort to wait, but we're trying to stretch out the joy as long as we can! We're a merciless lot! Suffice it to say, THAT CRUISE WAS ALL THAT AND A BAG OF CHIPS! I met some new, wonderful friends, got my picture taken with Whoopie Goldberg and it doesn't stop there! Even high seas and a tropical depression didn't stop us! The projects were bumbalicious and Tim, Mario, Wendy, Rick and the whole gang at ScrapMap made this trip a cherished memory! Table 302 was the best IMO but Club 300 had it going on too! So many details and I'll try to get to everything. I even shot some video! Ooo-la-la what a trip! Tomorrow I will start at the beginning, and try to get it all in. However, I do have a few other things on my plate at the moment. Like visiting inlaws, class prep, CHA show prep among other tings...

Cliff's parents are in this week from Canada for a ten day stay. We love to have them here because who couldn't sit and listen to a British accent and not feel well traveled? All of my husbands family has it's roots in the UK, but also have folks scattered about. We're having some beautiful weather, at least for the next several days, a goood Indian Summer. So on that note, I'm going to vacate my post (ha ha) and get all kinds of busy. Classes are coming up and I've been keeping Tim Holtz products stocked and there's so much to get done.

Before I stop for the night, I definitely have to get a shout out to my husband. I am SO BLESSED that Cliff is a part of my life. When I got home from the cruise, he had flowers, a box of Milkduds and clean house to meet me. He even rearranged the furniture in the bedroom, something I've been wanting to do for a long time, and he even wrapped some fall leave garlands around the four posters on the bed. WOW. What a guy! Honey, I love you with all my heart!With that,

Keep the faith!
Vicki

SHIP AHOY! CLASSES, OH BOY!

I've been busy, busy, busy trying to get everything I need to do done before embarking on my Artful Cruise to Mexico with Tim Holtz and Wendy Vecchi! (Yes, I feel compelled to use the proper name for the cruise from ScrapMap) Oh my golly, am I EXCITED! Maybe a little TOO excited if you ask Cliff. Anywho, I've been busy ordering supplies and putting together kits for the classes which start the week I return from Mexico. Seriously, I think Tim and Wendy bought every spec of Idea-ology out there, not to mention Ranger products! Boy, are we gonna have some fun with all things inky! Tim has our Yahoo Group for the trip whipped almost to a frenzy with excitement as he and Wendy both tease us about what they have in store for us and our workshops. And shopping? Oh my YES! All the latest from Idea-ology, Ranger, Stamper's Anonymous, 7 Gypsies, Graphic 45 and Maya Road! Do you think I am going to come back with some Timmy and Wendy classes for you? You betcha! In fact, some are already scheduled... but you'll have to wait for the details!

Speaking of workshops, you can now pick up the class schedule for October (since we're IN October) for the two local Hobby Lobby stores. I'm offering a Spellbinder Pendant class and the Countdown to Christmas 16 x 20 calendar this month. Here are some brief descriptions of two of the classes. A version of the Calendar is on display now at the South Side store, fliers will be available soon.

(You all can't see this, but my big lilac point Himalayan just crawled up on my lap between me and my laptop (no grace needed here), laid down and curled up into a ball, stuck his face into the crook of my arm and is purring away as he takes a nap. How cute is that? Aside from the fact that I can't breath as he's mostly on my chest, and I can't move except to type and he lays his ears back—the Ears of Irritation—when I do that. Pewter wants complete compliance with his cutefulness. Oh, and I have a face full of long white cat hair to boot.) OK, back to class descriptions...

Spellbinder Ornament—make a beautiful snowflake ornament with pearl and ribbon accents using the new Spellbinder Pendant dies on your Cuttlebug! All the supplies are included but bring your standard scrapbooking kit (see description to the left). If you've ever wondered what Spellbinder Dies can do and how you might use them in your Cuttlebug, this is the class for you! You'll also see a demo of the Scor-Pal scoring tool. A must have for any card maker!
Cost is $8
Oct. 22 from 1-3p at the North Side store
Oct. 23 from 1p –3p at the South Side store
Nov. 23 from 6p–7:30p at the CK Home Studio
Nov. 24 from 6p –7:30p North Side store

Countdown to Christmas Calendar—A 16 x 20 Christmas calendar with removable boxes for goodies for the kids (or yourself)! A fun way to count down the days to Christmas. Uses DCWV Christmas Glitter pad, Cosmo Cricket Christmas paper or bring papers of your choice. This is a GORGEOUS project worth every penny and more, don't miss it! This project involves a little homework for the North Side store, but nothing too strenuous. EVERYTHING is supplied! Can be done in colors to match your decor, uses Christmas picks or Kaiser wood embellishments. Bring your standard scrapbook kit.
Cost is $30
Oct. 26 or Nov. 9 from 6p – 10p at the CK Home Studio
Oct. 27 or Nov. 10 from 5:30p – 7:30p North Side store
Oct. 29 or Nov. 12 from 1p – 3p North Side store
Oct. 30 or Nov. 13 from 1p – 5p South Side store

So, what about those Timmy classes? Let's just say in November and December we're going to do a little Decor Grunge! We'll be using all the new Tim Holtz products as well as his current products. We're going to sponge, smear, blend, stamp, staple, paint, glaze, sand, glitz, mist, heat, canvas, crackle, distress, ink and grunge our way to better art! A technique extravaganza that is going to knock your socks off! In case you haven't noticed, Hobby Lobby carries not only the Distress, Adirondack and Alcohol inks, but they now carry the Paint Dabbers, Sander, Stickles, Grungeboard, Tiny Attacher (better buy one now, you just might need it...), and other Ranger and Idea-ology products. With a coupon, what could be better? Or cheaper...

Just a reminder, don't forget to bring your scrapbook kit to class as we don't supply tools or adhesives unless specifically noted. These classes are always available for scheduling for private groups or events, and they may be offered at other times outside of Hobby Lobby store hours.

Keep the faith! ~Vicki

AND THE LIST GOES ON...

Tam and I worked on the class list today. So many good ideas and so little time to make them. But for those of you wondering what we have up our sleeves, I list out the names of a few of the classes just to whet your appetite. We'll be doing some perennial favorites as well as some new, cool stuff. Read on!

Additionally, we're going to be doing some product demos at Hobby Lobby North Side. If you've ever wondered what some of the best tools are, come to a Demo Day where we will be showing the Cricut Expressions, Cuttlebug, Electric Big Shot, iTop, Crop-a-dile, embossing folders and how they work in the various machines, SpellBinder Dies, Tim Holtz products, and any other tools we think are smokin' (not literally!). We'll be having some make-n-takes at these events, so mark the dates down when we announce them. If you want your hubby to buy it for you, we'll even help him shop! With the Cricut demo, we'll show you how to use the pens, the JukeBox, Design Studio Software, Vinyl, the new stamp and embossing products (to create stamps or your own embossing folders) along with the cartridges, and we'll talk about the Gypsy for the Cricut.

Since you all know I am going on the Artful Voyage in Mexico with Tim Holtz and Wendy Vecchi, it's a safe bet that we are going to be having classes on how to use both the Tim Holtz products, but also stamps by Wendy Vecchi and products from Ranger (think Rock Candy Stickles and Crackle paint, alcohol inks, paint resist, blending, using Grunge paper and Grunge board, stamps, Glossy Accents and lots of techniques).

All of our classes make EXCELLENT Christmas gifts, so don't miss out. Classes include:
Countdown to Christmas Calendar (16 x 20 Advent calendar using canvas board, trims and other secret ingredients—this class sells out every time we do it, so sign up early!)
Days to Celebrate (birthday book using the Zutter binder) or Prayer Journal
Bill Minder with Calendar (this makes an excellent Christmas gift, don't miss it!)
Grunge and other wall hangings (lot of Timmy and Wendy here, in Christmas and home decorating options, we're teaching some new techniques that will knock your socks off!)
Christmas Card Tin (need a place to store your cards? This is it!)
Note Card Tin (Your own personalized stationary and a beautiful place to store it, or do it for a friend!)
Spellbinder Ornaments (Uses the NEW Pendant dies with the Cuttlebug and Big Shot)
Planner (a beautiful renewable planner that you might just keep for yourself)
Recipe Book (they gotta go somewhere, eh?)
12 Tags of Christmas (Straight from the Tim man himself, a multi-part technique class)
Ideology Jewelry (More Timmy in a way you can't imagine)
Joy of Christmas Wall Art (Capitalize on the letter craze and choose your own colors!)
Christmas Card stamping and embossing class (need something to fill that decorative tin, right?)
and the Fantasy Box makes a return!

Another highlight this season are some one hour classes to make small gifts, technique classes that you can apply to many projects, and prizes given away in EVERY class!

Our class sizes are kept smaller so you can finish your project in the class, no taking it home and wondering, what do I do now?

Lastly, soon we are adding an Adobe Photoshop Elements for Scrapbookers class. Come learn all about digital scrapbooking and also how to fix your pictures to make them look their best for your album.

To inquire about all the classes and demo's listed above, you can email me at vconquest@conquestkeepsakes.com. Remember, we do private parties as well, so if you want to plan a class just for you and your friends, or as an event for a group in your office or church, drop me a line and we'll set you up!

Keep the faith!
Vicki

CRUISIN' RIGHT ALONG...

Take a hint from the title, I'm goin' on a cruise! Yeppers, in October I am going on the Artful Cruise in Mexico with Tim Holtz and guest teacher Wendy Vecchi! This cruise is sponsored by ScrapMap and I am BEYOND excited, I had a blast in Tim's class at CHA in July so I thought a whole week of Tim would be even better. I've been hinting at the hubby for the last three or four months about the cruise. He did a really good job of ignoring me. Finally, he was nice enough to give me the green light to go, after I pestered him to death. How else does a woman get what she wants? Does that count as a green light? It's just icing on the cake that Wendy is going to be teaching too. I am an absolutely HUGE fan of her grunge flowers. EVEN CLIFF admired her grunge roses while we were touring the Ideology booth at the show. Cliff wasn't going to let me go by myself, however, so I convinced my friend Tammy to go with me. Luckily, I only had to ask once, right Tammy? Yes, I can hear your head shaking from here. A whole week without cat hair, what will I do with that extra hour every day that I'll gain from not having to roll my clothes with a lint roller? Sleep or stamp? Now that I've spilled the cat kibble, on to other news...

I AM working on my list of classes for the holiday season. You all know how much I LOVE Christmas—Christmas papers, Christmas stamps, Christmas cookies, Christmas parties and Christmas cards. Oh and Christmas Kitties! So I am making my list, probably making it twice, gonna find out who's... oh, did I mention Christmas music? LOVE Christmas music. I think I have more Christmas CDs than regular music CDs, or maybe I should say more Christmas DOWNLOADS with the advent of iTunes (see how I worked in the word "advent"? uh-huh, it almost slipped by you). Glad you all were paying attention. :-) OK, yeah, I was saying something about a list... hmm... uh... yeah, a list of classes! That's it! (It's really hard getting old, hear what I'm telling ya?) So classes are in the works. I'll have the October schedule here shortly, with a big hole in the middle because I am...going on a CRUISE! Oh yeah, I told you that already. :-)

We'll be having classes in several locations again this year. First off, as usual, classes at the north side Hobby Lobby on Tuesday nights and Thursday days, and at the south side Hobby Lobby on Friday days; classes here at the Conquest Keepsakes Paper Studio, Craft Night at Northbridge Baptist Church and some additional classes scattered around Springfield (details as they develop). As an aside, my husband informed me that there was a CK—S and a CK—N, Conquest Keepsakes South (my craft room downstairs, which is at the south end of the house) and Conquest Keepsakes North (the breakfast area upstairs, which is on the north side of the house), so now I am telling all of you that all the classes at CK will be held in the M location, the room midway between my craft room downstairs and my breakfast area upstairs, which is the living area downstairs. Are we all clear now? Hmm, maybe I'll draw a map. Coming soon to a location near you...

Keep the faith!

Day One on the Trade Show Floor at CHA Summer 2009

Today was a wild and crazy day! This show isn't nearly as large as the Anaheim show, but it is still an interesting place to be today! I'm working in the Nikki Sivils, Scrapbooker booth with Nikki, Dan, Chastity Hassel and Susan Dupre. It was a very busy day for us, lots of traffic in our booth, we were quite busy the whole day right up to the close of the show floor. Chastity and Susan were making paper cupcakes for the make-n-take and they were busy from beginning to end! We had video cameras in our booth several times today (the ones run by professionals, not us wanna-be's with hand-held cameras!) and we had all kinds of compliments from everyone! Nikki has worked hard for this show and it "showed" in how well-organized she was and how professionally she handled herself with everyone. A more gracious person you could never meet! We took more orders than I could count, and we had a lot of fun passing out the Willie-B lapel pins and catalogs. All of the samples done by the girls were phenomenal and we had many, many wonderful compliments on their work. Their art was wonderful and the displays looked so good! My husband also came down with us and today he was making the rounds scouting out all the booths. He even did a Make-N-Take over at the Spellbinders booth! Now THAT is a miracle! I can't even get him to cut paper for me at home, and there he was with a table of girls making a paper box. Ladies, as my friend Katie says, "He's a keeper!"

I'll try to get some pictures posted up from today, and from my class with Tim Holtz yesterday! You betcha, THAT was the best class I have EVER taken! I had an extra ticket, so Susan went with me and we had a blast! I have pictures from the class, and he signed my book to boot. How great is that? More later, need to stop to eat (tired of paying $5 for a cinnamon roll...). Tomorrow, I'm sending Cliff out with a camera. Be prepared for beheaded projects...

I GOT TO SCRAP!!

I know this sounds a little odd coming from someone who is SUPPOSED to be scrapping, but believe it or not, I don't have too much time to scrap lately. But I did get to go to a crop, Scrapbook Generation's Scrap-A-Palooza over the weekend, and it was a BLAST! Nikki and I went together as we saw an opportunity to get some samples done for the upcoming CHA show in Orlando. [roll eyes] Ahem, well, Nikki managed to get most of her haunted house made from her Halloween papers, Boo-tiful (was that not the cutest thing you ever laid eyes on? Oh yeah, you've not seen it, but trust me...), while I worked on a Christmas Advent calender made from her Christmas papers (you are going to LOVE, LoVe, lOvE those papers!). I got all wiggly with the Glimmer Mists on my canvas, so we'll see if that was a product of clear thinking, or of chocolate overload from the awesome chocolate fountains they had going at the crop. If there was any more justification going on regarding my chocolate intake, I would have had to right and left aligned the tables! All the food was flat stick! (that is your new Australian slang word of the week, someone in Australia told Nikki her papers were "flat stick" and we're hoping that was a complement...) Those ladies at Scrapbook Generation know how to do a crop! Well, aside from the part where a spider chased me in the parking lot trying to hitch a ride on my foot. There was some small amount of screaming that happened. Technically, it was after the crop was over, so I'll let the spider slide. :-| I saw a lot of old friends and made some new ones, and that is why I like a good crop. Of course I do have to say it was a privilege to see Nikki all excited about people buying her papers. Scrapbook Generation is carrying both her My Sweet Cherry Pie and Victoria's Street papers and embellies, along with their usual broad range of everything scrapbooking.

This week has been a real whirlwind of orders from all over the world. We were billing, packing and shipping all day today, which is a minor miracle because we're still inputing financials into the system and realized we couldn't officially generate invoices until we officially received the products into the system! Details, details. But, as they say, we got'er done.

Because Willie-B is our mascot, we have this "Bee" thing going, so now we have the Graphic Bee, and today I was told I was the Wiki Bee. Everyone keeps asking me what I do for Nikki and I never know how to answer that, as it encompasses so many things. Like graphic and prepress work (nothing like 20 years of experience in the printing and graphic arts industries to come in handy for a company that designs paper for a product), technical support for our Macs, PC's and network, marketing and advertising, implementing our business processes, event management, packaging, sourcing, and general moral support as needed. (lol) So today, when Nikki was trying to explain what I do for NSS to Lexy, she referred to me as the Wiki Bee, which really kind of fits. I know a lot of occasionally useful information, as over the last 20+ years (put away your calculator, that's not nice...) I've worked in print, publishing, graphic arts, web, instructional design, training, tech support and business management areas primarily in the graphic arts industries and software/hardware training industries. I currently own and run a consulting and training business, and in the past I've started up several new businesses and then sold them. I'm almost dangerous in accounting, but I try to stay out of that and let the DH handle it since that is his profession. Heaven forbid if he would try to design a brochure, that would be like me trying to reconcile a balance sheet! :-) Actually, the hubby is adept at using Photoshop and Illustrator and I feel like a proud momma about that! At least the DH has the books covered for Nikki.

So another day is done and we're looking forward to what kind of challenges tomorrow will bring us. Keep the faith! God knows what we need before we even know that we need it! ~Vicki

Nikki Anounced Her Design Team!

Nikki announced her Design Team today for Nikki Sivils, Scrapbooker LLC and what a wonderful group of designers she has chosen! We are so excited to have this team and it was really hard for her to narrow down her choices, all the submissions were excellent and making a choice almost seemed like a crime!

All the pieces for the Summer CHA show are coming together nicely, we have product and it is beautiful. There's nothing like seeing a plan come together! So many details go into it and seeing the finished product is mind-blowing! I feel lucky, honored, humbled and excited to be able to have a part in helping her get her new business off the ground. Talk about living vicariously!

Switching gears for a moment, I want to move on to stamping. I've been designing a set of stamps for Clear Dollar Stamps called the Flowers of the Month in the Timeless Treasures series. We've been introducing them two at a time each month and every set has a picture of the flower, a nice paragraph about the flower and what it means, as well as stamps for the name, scientific name, birthstone and month to go with it. While doing research for these stamps, I have learned more interesting facts about the flowers than what you see in the set, so I will start sharing with you some of the extra-interesting tidbits and stories about these flowers that we can't put into the sets. You will be amazed at some of the legends and myths surrounding these flowers, as well as learning some more practical applications that these flowers have to our daily lives. I guar-an-tee you will learn something new that you can bore your friends with at the next PTO meeting! We will have them all out and available before Christmas in time for you to create calendars, planners and birthday books and gifts using these series of stamps.

You can also start watching for some sneak peeks of Nikki's second paper line Victoria's Street! I wish I could say it was named after me, but Nikki's niece Victoria actually gets the honor for this line. She is just as sweet as the Victoria's Street papers!

That's all for today! Keep the faith! ~Vicki~

FINALLY, A GOOD SUMMER MOVIE!

This has nothing to do with scrapbooking or crafting, but I have to talk about it anyway! As a Trekkie from years gone by, I have to say how much I LOVED the new Star Trek movie! The special effects and even the acting by a relative group of unknowns was superb! I think they managed to do an excellent job of catching the flair and feel of the original show with all the show- stopping, jaw-dropping action and effects available in modern movie-making. The characters of Kirk, Spock, Bones, Sulu and Scotty were pretty good, my only disconnect was with Checkov, and to some extent, Uhura. But hey, Uhura and Spock? Hmmm, fodder for thought! By far the best movie I've seen since the Lord of the Rings and The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe (my PERSONAL favorites for their overtly Christian themes). IMHO. :-) Back to your Memorial Day weekend... and don't forget to pray for our troops as they lay down thier lives for ours in defending freedom, and for all the ones who have already died defending our right to live free!

Keep the faith!