Katie the Scrapbook Lady

the cake that crashed

We made it through the big wedding weekend – well, at least all the people made it in one piece. The cake was not so lucky. My brother (who is a culinary student) had spent all week working on his own wedding cake only to have it crash en route to the reception. If the bottom two layers had not been made of krispy treats, it would have been complete carnage. My hubby told him that he should bring it in anyway and that it would provide a story for them to tell for the rest of their lives. He wisely stated that this was a memory and there was no need to shy away from that. Have I mentioned that I love that man? He’s pretty smart.

So the cake was re-invited to the party, even if it wasn’t dressed appropriately for such a formal occasion.

 

The catering company went to work on it with some fresh flowers.

 

It ended up looking just fine and most people didn’t even notice that anything was wrong. A great example of picking yourself up and dusting yourself off after a fall. I hope they realize how symbolic this will be in the years ahead. There are times when you just need to scoop it all up and make it work, even if it feels like a mess.

 

And after all that fuss, I forgot to even take a picture of them cutting the cake.

 

But I have a picture from earlier in the day that I will share. Now remember, this is my brother who does not like to appear on my blog. I’m just hoping that he’s busy enough on his honeymoon that he won’t check here. lol!

 

I mean check out the smile on his face! How can I not share that? Handsome guys in this photo from left to right; my brother, my son, my hubby, the groom (my youngest brother) and his new brother-in-law.

 

my parents

 

our side of the family

 

I’m very happy for my brother and his new bride. She is a very sweet person and it was so nice to get to meet all of her family. She is from Tennessee so we were not able to meet anyone from her side until the night before the wedding. They met in their culinary program here in Utah so they chose to get married here. They are still going to have receptions in both New Mexico and Tennessee so I guess they will get a couple of more shots at a wedding cake. It would be hard to top the meaningfulness of this one though.

 

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a tour of Stampin Up!

 

I had a really neat opportunity a few weeks ago to take a personalized tour of the Stampin’ Up! home office in Riverton, Utah. They reached out to me because of my blog and I was really excited since I’ve been a fan for a long time. In fact, I used to be a pretty big-time rubber stamper back in the late 1990’s. I had a group of friends in my old neighborhood that would get together once a month for a card exchange. We would each create 16 cards (all the same design) and then we would trade them with each other so we each went home with 16 different cards. We had themes for each gathering and it was a lot of fun!

I haven’t done a lot of stamping in the last 8 years (since I got into digital scrapbooking), but I’ve still gone to a few Stampin’ Up! events and even bought some stamp sets. I think I’ve established that I have a weakness for such things. lol! I have no problem saying that Stampin’ Up! stamps have always been my favorites. I love their designs and for many years I collected their yearly catalogs just for the ideas. Even though it has been a while since I’ve been involved in rubber stamping, I knew this was a tour I should not miss. I happen to love factory tours! That was always my favorite thing on Mr. Rogers – when he went to the factories. That was way better than the land of make-believe! I’m geeky like that I guess. I also knew my readers would love a behind-the-scenes look at such a cool place.

 

The facility itself is just beautiful! I would love to work in a building like this one

 

The inside is amazing as well. There is a big open atrium type of place in the middle of the main entrance. There are lunch tables nestled in between a water fall and some trees. Very soothing.

 

My tour guide Rachel Jensen was just as nice as could be and I really enjoyed spending time with her!

 

I love the philosophy behind the company

Stampin' Up!'s mission statement, called its Statement of the Heart, reads: "To love what we do and share what we love, as we help others enjoy creativity and worthwhile accomplishments . . . in this we make a difference."

 

I totally believe this!

 

They are right on trend with their colors and designs

 

 

 

Rachel was very patient with me and my camera. It was so much fun to photograph all of their amazing displays!

 

 

 

The packing and shipping areas were also incredible. I couldn’t get over how clean and organized everything was.

 

Because I was there later in the day, the conveyer belts were pretty empty. Almost everything was already loaded onto the trucks ready to leave. I did get to walk by several workers who were packing up brand new products, but I was not able to photograph them since those goodies had not been released yet. I felt super cool that I got to peek!

 

It’s interesting to note that the manufacturing plant is still located in Kanab, Utah and that they have chosen to leave the plant open there rather than harm the economy of that small town. I love that the founder has stayed true to her roots!

 

My favorite part was when Rachel and I got to sit down and chat for awhile. She let me look through the newest catalogs and we talked about some of the upcoming products and ideas that they are working on. I suddenly had the urge to go home and pull out stamps and stamp pads! That is not a good urge to have when your house is up for sale! She gave me a nice box of goodies to play with and also introduced me to their digital offerings. Needless to say, I’ve got some fun stuff to research and try out now! Of course, I will share my results and findings with all of you here on my blog.

What fun to get the royal treatment from such a wonderful company! Thanks to Stampin’ Up! for sharing a peek with me and my blog readers!

 

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a Scrapbook Lady Mecca

I had the most amazing opportunity to attend CHA this year with Steph from The Daily Digi. We met up with Peppermint (first time we’ve met her in real life!) and walked the show floor together and also recorded a live Digi Show with Katrina Kennedy and Kami Leonard as our guests. We also had a meet-up for a few local Digi Show listeners. Talk about an incredible weekend!

There’s no way I can summarize it all in one blog post. It’s going to take awhile to document everything and I foresee many CHA adventure scrapbook pages in my future! I at least want to blog about some highlights of the experience. I’m not even going to get into product stuff here because we talk about that on this week’s Digi Show (should be up in the next day or so) and I’ll also be blogging about a few things over at The Daily Digi.

 

Steph arrived at the airport just a little before me so she was nice enough to wait for me so we could ride to our hotel together. We were roomies and we stayed at The Paradise Pier hotel on the Disney property.

 

We went to a press event at CHA in the afternoon.

 

We met up with Chelle Ludwinski, Jennifer Svane, Kami Leonard, and Katrina Kennedy in Downtown Disney and had some fun together.  I love this picture of me and Katrina together.

 

These ladies are so much fun!

Then we went back to our room to work on a project and I decided to jump off a couch. You’re going to have to listen to The Digi Show for the story on that one! lol! Let’s just say that I have several big bruises on one of my legs as a result.

Then we went to dinner with a bunch of amazing designers. Are you ready for some name dropping? Because I am! I’m geeking out that I got to eat dinner with:

• Steph – Daily Digi
• Peppermint – One Little Bird at The Lily Pad
• Christine Newman – Listgirl
• Katrina Kennedy – Capture Your 365
• Kami Leonard – Ziggle Scraps and owner at Scrap Orchard
• Jennifer Svane – admin at Scrap Orchard
• Chelle - Chelle’s Creations at Scrap Orchard
• Liz Tamanaha – Paislee Press at The Lily Pad
• Sara Gleason at The Lily Pad
• Heather Hess Joyce at The Lily Pad and her husband Wes
• Amy Martin at The Lily Pad
• Jacque Larsen at The Lily Pad
• Karah Fredericks at The Lily Pad
• Laura McCandless owner of The Lily Pad

 

Heather, Amy, and Liz

 

Jacque and Karah

 

Laura, Sara, and Chelle

 

Peppermint, me, & Steph

 

Christine and Katrina

 

I just couldn’t believe how neat it was to sit at the table with all of this talent! I love that even though we were from different sites and stores, that we had a common passion for documenting our memories that made us instant friends.

 

The next morning was a big event for us. Steph had the idea to host a Daily Digi sponsored breakfast to bring together the designers and leaders in the industry that we have been able to work with as The Daily Digi (and also The Digi Show). Steph even shipped bottles of custom printed Jones soda bottles for favors at the breakfast.

 

We met at Steakhouse 55 in The Disneyland Hotel which was very elegant and delicious! Everyone from dinner the night before was invited as well as

• Ali Edwards and her assistant Katie (great name!)
• Becky Higgins and her husband David
• Kari Holt
• Brandi Nielsen
• Laurie Pecotte

 

Look at all of these great people who came to breakfast!

Wes, Heather, Chelle, Jennifer, Karah, and Sara

 

Katrina, Kami, Peppermint, Liz, Christine, Amy, Jacque, Laura

 

Kari Holt, David Higgins, Becky Higgins, Steph, Ali Edwards, Katie (Ali’s assistant), and Laurie Pecotte.

I couldn’t get everyone in the shot so I’m glad I could borrow Liz’s picture that shows me and Brandi Nielsen.

I got to sit between Laurie and Brandi.

 

I’ll admit that I’m pretty excited that I got to have my picture taken with Becky Higgins and Ali Edwards. They have been favorites of mine for years and they are so incredibly sweet and genuine in real life. It felt like we were all old friends.

 

This might be one of my favorite pictures from the whole weekend. Obviously, Liz Tamanaha and Becky Higgins knew each other because Liz was on Becky’s 2012 Project Life team AND she is the designer of the Midnight Edition of Project Life that was unveiled at this CHA. But this was the first time they met in person and it was amazing to witness this genuinely touching moment!

 

We also took a big group shot after the breakfast. I feel so lucky to be pictured with all of these amazing ladies!

 

After the breakfast, it was time for a full day of CHA. Steph, Peppermint, Katrina and I walked the floor together looking for products and ideas that would be of interest to the digital community.

 

I almost had a paper relapse when I saw some of the booths. I told the ladies to help me resist and remember that I’m all digital these days! I stayed strong, but it was tempting at times. It was a long day of walking and looking, but very interesting.

 

That night, we had a Digi Show listener meet-up in Downtown Disney. We were really worried that nobody would come and we were absolutely thrilled that 3 of our loyal listeners made the trip to come and see us! Tammy, Barbara, and Angela made us smile for days. They were so sweet and told us how much they enjoy listening to the show. I told Steph that hearing what they said will keep me going for a long time!

 

It was fun that all the designers came along for the meet-up as well. These ladies were overjoyed to meet everyone and they literally squealed with delight when we introduced Katrina Kennedy!

And in case you are wondering why we are all in big coats…it was very cold!

 

On Sunday, we recorded The Digi Show live in our hotel room. My sides literally hurt from laughing so much!

 

Kami and Katrina were great fun to have on the show!

 

I’m going to have to end here, but there’s a lot that I haven’t even covered yet. Don’t worry though, I’ll be sure to share more very soon. I feel very blessed to have had such a great time with so many wonderful people. What fun!

 

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My 12 of 12 for December

I’m so happy to say that I took 12 pictures on the 12th day of each month in the year 2012! This feels like a big accomplishment! Now I’m ready to share my 12 photos from December 12th.

We decided to do something out of the ordinary on 12-12-12 so we flew to Disneyland. We spent the afternoon and evening there and part of the next day as well. It certainly made it easy to get my twelve pictures!

 

The big tree on Main Street – it was very crowded and a bit chilly and cloudy.

 

The Haunted Mansion all decorated up for Christmas with The Nightmare Before Christmas overlay. It was amazing!

 

My daughter is a big fan of The Nightmare Before Christmas movie and she felt like she completed a bucket-list item by getting to see this.

 

My favorite ride

 

Hubby bought some new hair – or as he prefers to say, he just got a new headband. lol!

 

The castle all decorated for the holidays

 

The castle at night

 

Small World all lit up for the holidays. This was just beautiful!

 

 

 

 

The Main Street tree with lights during the fireworks

 

What an epic way to spend the day on the 12th of December!

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Remember today!

Don’t forget that today is 12/12/12 and it’s a great day for making memories! Be sure to check out my ideas from yesterday’s post if you are looking to make today special.

 

Happy TWELVE DAY!

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