Merry Christmas 2008!

I hope you all enjoy warm moments with your families over the Christmas Holiday. In 2007 we started a tradition with our neighbor, Elizabeth Cheri, who is a native of Hungary. She made a gingerbread house for Julianne and Charlie to put together and decorate and the kids and I went across the frozen tundra and had some fun. We did the same this year and I have to say it turned out even better! I can tell Julianne and Charlie have improved on their skills. Here are a few pics to enjoy...

After all the turkey...

We enjoyed a wonderful weekend filled with exactly what we are thankful for-FAMILY! First Maxwell's and then Schultz's and Waterworth's! We had lots of turkey with all the trimmings. I loved getting caught up with all the college boys in the family and the last high schooler as well. Also, we were tired out by Sarah-1 1/2 years old and all energy! Here's some photos to prove it all really happened.

Mark cooked the second turkey mom stuffed it (thanks mom). It all turned out really juicey and full of flavor.

Basic Grey Christmas 2008 Projects

"Joy" word album using Wassail by Basic Grey.

"Noel" word album also with Basic Grey.

The Wassail collection has such rich colors! The buttons matched perfectly as did the glazed brads. Using most items from the same collection gives the projecta a really cohesive look. Dah. I was feeling like I had accomplished something when these two projects were finished last weekend. What have you been working on?

Tricks or Treats?

Halloween was filled with the usual activities for us-pumpkin carving, swearing at pumpkins for being too thick, getting costumes together (puppy, Harry Potter, and a pirate for 2008), making sure we had enough candy, and eventually trick or treating. We all ended up having a pretty good time overall; but parts of it were not as fun as others. Examples of the not so fun parts would be Charlie cutting his finger with the pumpkin carving tool, both kids expecting awesome pictures carved into the sides of 3" thick pumpkins, and homemade costumes (the "puppy" kept getting mistaken for a "cow" and the Harry Potter at school had an "official Harry Potter cape and light up wand that made noise"). Charlie also complained of a sore arm from having to carry home so much candy. After a handful of advil and a nice glass of wine I started feeling better...

And the WINNER IS...

The winner for the November card kit is:

Rose Cowley


The winner for the November Project kit is:

nursela

Thanks for playing ladies-don't forget to send me your mailing address at shelly_maxwell@q.com today.

There were 53 people who left comments-thank you! Cindy and I do pay attention to any words of wisdom you leave for us-we appreciate your time to play. Our next contest will be on the Sweet Tooth blog which is new to our website. A special thank-you to Julianne and Charlie for helping me draw the lucky winners before they left for school today.

November Cards & Project Sneak Peak for Sweet Tooth!!

I posted on Willow Traders last evening promising that you would see a sneak peak at the November Card kit and project for Sweet Tooth-so here it is!! Let me know what you think. Leave a comment and your name will be entered into a drawing to receive one of the kits!!

It's Alive!!

On Sept. 15, 2008 my Sweet Tooth Scrapbooking, LLC went live on the internet. It was exciting and scary to see it in progress and wonder how it would do on the www. Sweet Tooth is co-hosting a marathon crop event with Reminisce on Oct. 24-25, 2008. It is going to be an event you won't want to miss. It is almost sold out now. Here is a link to the description of all the food, fun, and excitement if you are interested in checking it out...www.sweettoothscrapbooking.com.

In other news it is crazy hair day at Hoover Elementary School in Iowa City. I think I have more fun getting the kids ready on these days than they do. Special trips to Dollar Tree for a red wig and Sally Beauty Supply for blue and purple hair paint were on my "to do" list yesterday. Mission acomplished as you can see in the photos.

Cindy & I are busy packing our first round of kits for Sweet Tooth Scrapbooking. I am getting really excited and can't wait for people to get these items in their hands to see how quick and easy they can get the cards and layouts done.

Scrapfest 2008!!

I am packing my bags and starting to get really excited about heading up to MN to Scrapfest 2008. I will be helping Andrea Gibson out during her classes and working in the Reminisce booth for their make and take. It will be hard to be away from my little family for three and a half days. Perhaps I will sooth my aking sole with some shopping. (Tee hee) I am also looking forward to shopping at Archiver's.

October Crop Event!!

The Marathon Crop is BACK!!!

Mark your calendars, and get ready for the crop of the year, the marathon crop is back October 24-25, 2008! You read it right, we’re having a PARTY! Andria Gibson from Reminisce, has teamed up with Cindy Noesen and Shelly Maxwell (that's me) , to bring you an unforgettable crop event you won’t want to miss! Cindy, Andria and I are excited to have this opportunity to bring everyone back together again for a fantastic weekend! It has been a long time (too long) since the three of us, and all of you have been cropping together, so we have decided to bring the original Reminisce Marathon Crop back for at least one more year! In other BIG news, Cindy and Shelly be introducing their brand new scrapbook kit company, Sweet Tooth at the Marathon Event!

Crop Details;

The Marathon Crop, sponsored by Reminisce and Sweet Tooth, will begin at 7pm, Friday, October 24 and run until Midnight, Saturday, October 25 (that is 29 hours of straight cropping!) The event will be held at The Education Station in North Liberty (they are located less than 1 mile off of exit 4 on I-380, 1780 Lininger Ln, North Liberty).
Registration for the event will begin on Monday, September 15 at 7pm. There will be a link on www.designsbyreminisce.com directing you to the site of registration.

The cost for the crop is $79 and includes;

-Reminisce goodie bag, including some of our newest products ($25+)
-Sweet Tooth Special Edition Kit, includes products to create a two-page layout and a card. ($15+)
-Marathon T-shirt
-Friday night dessert bar
-Saturday breakfast, lunch and pizza dinner
- Snacks, soda, and water throughout the crop
-and LOTS of door prizes.

Plus for every hour you scrapbook your name will be entered into the GRAND PRIZE DRAWING which will occur at 9:12pm on Saturday night after 26.2 hours of cropping. The GRAND PRIZE WINNER will receive a set of EVERY Reminisce paper and sticker* that has been released since May 2008! This includes the Reminisce Signature Series (84 papers, and 84 stickers), Making the Grade (14 Paper, and 19stickers), Est. 1776 (6 papers, and 3 stickers), The Freedom Collection (6 Glitter papers, and 3 Glitter Stickers), Enchanted Autumn (12 Holoshimmer papers, and 5 stickers – including 3 glitter stickers), Scare Tactics (6 papers, and 4 stickers), Frosted (3 Shimmer papers, 6 Glitter papers, and 4 Glitter stickers), and there will be additional products, yet to be announced, that will be printed before October 24th. (minimum value $400 retail!)

You want more? How about a chance to shop at our on-site store, and have access to all your favorite Reminisce products at a SIGNIFICANT savings? Plus, you will be FIRST to check out the exhilarating brand new scrapbooking kits from Sweet Tooth Scrapbooking, and become one of their CHARTER members, at an INCREDIBLE price! In addition to Reminisce products, and Sweet Tooth Scrapbooking kits, we will have all your staple items (cardstock, adhesive, basic tools, etc) available for purchase, plus a few surprise NEW PRODUCTS from other companies as well.


Registration begins online Monday, September 15th , at 7pm. A link to the online registration, will be available at www.designsbyreminisce.com on the 15th, shortly before we go live.

The Sleep Inn hotel is located across the street from the Education Station and has a few rooms available if you would like a nearby place to sleep on Friday night.

If you have any questions please feel free to email any of us. Andria Gibson (reminisceiowa@aol.com) Cindy Noesen (scrapper959@hotmail.com) or Shelly Maxwell at (shelly_maxwell@q.com).

Reminisce and Sweet Tooth look forward to bringing our scrapbook community back together again with the Marathon Crop! S pace is limited so register earlier to guarantee your space! We look forward to seeing everyone there!


*Three dimensional stickers are not included.

Treasure Hunt

While most of the town tuned in or attended the Hawkeye Game, Angie Ward and I took a little trip down the road to a local antique store named Sisters and another named Blooms and a third named the Rug Cottage. We had a great day discovering all sorts of treasures. Here's one: Cavallini is a company that is none for its calendars. They also make great wrapping paper, cards, tags, stickers, etc. I fell in love with their products yesterday. I am hoping to get some more tags and stickers to use in kits for the November release by Sweet Tooth!! Ironically, when I got home I realized I already had some of their home decor items. I took this as a sign... I know you will love them as much as I do. Sisters and Blooms also had a ton of handmade soaps. I think my favorite was Milk and Honey. I purchased some awesome egg shaped soaps for my mom. I think they are really fun.

Getting back into a routine:

I feel like our family is finally getting back into a routine. Julianne and Charlie are already complaining about homework. It is Wednesday and I can almost see the weekend from here. I am excited to announce that Mark is going to begin painting the front of the house this weekend and we have ordered a new front door for the house as well. These are BOTH things that should have been done when we moved into the house in August 2000. Of course, that is just my opinion.



That brings me to another thought-the fact that we have lived in our house for eight years already. It still seems like we just moved in because there is so much that I want to do to the house yet.



I am also getting really excited for Cindy Noesen's and my new company (Sweet Tooth) to launch in a few weeks. You can check out the logo at http://www.sweettoothscrapbooking.com/. I can't wait to show you what I have been working on. Here's a hint: witch's hat, Imaginisce. That's all you're getting.

Wednesday Aug. 6, 2008

Today is my brother's birthday. Happy Birthday Jim! I hope your day is swell.

Over the past weekend we took the kids to Riverview Park and Waterworld in Wis. Dells. Grandma scored us some excellent tickets due to the fact that is a Sauk Co. Resident. We had a blast! The go carts were a HUGE hit with Charlie (7) pictured above. He tried to race a little girl about his age. Her mom and Mark and I were just cracking up watching the two of them try to "win" the race. She took her half out of the middle, Charlie did manage to pass her in the end. We also enjoyed tons of fun on the waterslides and the wave pool.

Tuesday

Yesterday began the fall canning season for me. I love the sound of the "POP" a canning lid makes when it seals onto a jar. I used my grandmas sweet pickle recipe to make several jars of her "Icicle Pickles". They were my favorite when I was a little girl. My mom would always serve them next to my lunch time sandwich. Mmm. Let me know if you would like the recipe. They are fun to make (and pretty simple too).

Well, it is official today. I am the proud co-owner of Sweet Tooth Scrapbooking, LLC. Cindy Noesen a previous co-worker and I decided to start an on-line scrapbooking and card making kit club. We received the paperwork today. Yippee!! Our company will go "live" towards the beginning of Sept. if all goes well. Our first kits will ship in Oct. and we will be hosting a huge Marathon Crop in the Iowa City are towards the end of October. It is going to be fun. I that if you are a scrapbooker you can put it in your Oct. schedule.

Welcome to Monday...

I am trying to get myself organized for another week of "work". I am happy to announce that swimming lessons are over for the summer and both Julianne and Charlie passed-yippee!! I don't know why but it seems the two weeks that they are in swim lessons each summer just drags along. They seem to love it-especially buying a treat from the candy machine after each lesson. I am still job searching for something part-time at a nearby employer. Wish me luck. Also, Cindy Noesen (check out her blog at left) and I are still busy trying to get our new on-line business up and running. It is called "Sweet Tooth Scrapbooking" and should be on-line by Sept. 1, 2008 or so. We have discovered that there are a lot of little details we need to take care of in order to do this "thing" correctly.

Look for a sneak peak at our poducts we will offer coming soon...

OK, I am back...

It has been a long time since I first started my blog-sorry for the long delay in updates. Since then a lot has happened-like a flood, a bunch of traveling around Indiana, Illinois, and Wisconsin (also into a flood zone), gardening, going to the pool and of course SCRAPBOOKING!! OK, so I have been working on some new layouts using Reminisce's new line of Signature Paper-available in a zillion different topics (so fun!!) So here are three layouts and also a fun fall birthday card using their new paper...

Day One

I was encouraged to start blogging by my friends and co-workers. So here it is. No photos yet...maybe tomorrow. I am excited to start something new. I have some links to a few cool blog spots that I like to go to get inspired. I hope you will too. Thanks for checking out the blog! Come back soon...