My Blog has Suffered!

I've been so busy with the new Scrapbook Store, that my blogging has really taken a backseat. We've been working so hard to get the Store up and running by October 16th, but the days are going by a little too quickly! We'll see. We do have a blog set up for your viewing of our progress. It's very new and under construction, but you can view a few pics. We are trying to allow people to share the journey with us! Check it out here! You can also follow us on facebook here!

I'm working on a few layouts for the new store and will post them as soon as they are done.

I'm off to catch-up on my blog reading for awhile...it's been way too long!

Check it Out!!!

Check out the layout I did of Jose for Bella Blvd using the new Mid Term line!!!! It's right here!

Exciting things are Happening!!

So...we did it!! Angie and I are the proud owners of The Scrapbook Store, in Greenfield, WI. For those of you that may not know, The Scrapbook Store has been in business since 1996 and has had one owner and 3 different locations (4, if you include the 2nd store in Germantown, WI). Lee Friske, the owner, at least the owner up until last Friday, is retiring. Angie and I just couldn't bear to see the store close, so it will be re-opening by the end of October at a new location, 4466 South 108th Street, Greenfield, WI! We are so excited about this move and change! We will be re-vamping the store (so-to-speak), focusing on krops and special events, while carrying the latest and greatest product. We even have a few new ideas up our sleeves. I will soon be posting a link to our new blog, so you can track the progress along with us!! Stay tuned for more info!!!

On A different note, my friend, Dawn, opened an Etsy shop. She makes beautiful handmade jewelry...check it out... http://www.katzworld.etsy.com/

Hello Again!!

I was recently told that my blog was "boring" because I've been AWOL lately. That is from the blogging world anyway! I've been super-busy with a few projects which has allowed little to no blogging time. One project I can't officially mention yet. I've never been a superstitious person before, but for some reason, I feel the need to wait a bit longer before mentioning it. Some of you that know me, know what I am referring to, and I'm really hoping to announce the big news this week sometime.

The other little project keeping me extremely busy lately has to do with my daycare. Kids come into the daycare and before you know it four or five years pass by and they are off to school. This is a little sad for me, to think that all their little friendships they have made can come to an end after spending more waking hours with each other even over their parents in most cases. So...way back when, I decided to get these cuties back together with their friends at least once a year during our "Backyard Campouts".

Each year the groups that grew up together (usually 6 or 7 in a group), get together at my home and we have tons of games, always different, with a few traditional things thrown in such as water balloon fights, silly string fights, and scavenger hunts. The kids really enjoy this, and I have to say, I love listening to them all reminisce about the past years they've spent together.

I leave it up to the oldest in each group to end the campouts, which go well into their high school years. This year I have one coming to an end and I have to say, it is very bitter-sweet. I know we'll keep in touch in other ways, but the campouts are such a huge part of keeping in touch. This particular group happens to be the only group that is all boys. That's right, 6 guys and 2 girls in one tent (Me and Carole), eating beef jerky and telling spooky stories (my personal favorite is Brett's Bloody Fingers which he tells every year)! The tent has gotten smaller and smaller through the years and maybe even a little smellier as the years past, but I still love it!!!

Here's a picture of the little guys taken 10 years ago:

Here is Brett, Joe, Alec, Nicholas, Brandyn, and Ethan

And here are the big guys now at our "Survivor" campout this past weekend:

Jordan (he joined us about 6 years ago), Brett (he's about 6' and 230 lbs), Alec, Ethan, Joe and Brandyn

The end of an era...tear tear...love all you guys!!

Final layouts for CHA

Here are my final layouts that I did for Bella at CHA. The first layout is of Nicholas and Gracie. She adores him, and he usually returns the affection even though it may not look that way in this picture. I used the new Lovey Dovey line...so stinkin' cute! (sorry for the glares)
This next line is completed using the Hello Beautiful line. I thought I was going to have the most difficulties using this line, but to my surprise, it turns out to be one of my favorites! This is a layout of my nephew, Ean and his buddy, Parker. They are like two peas in a pod. Stop back tomorrow for a couple altered projects.

CHA Layouts - day 2

The second day of CHA came to an end. I can't tell you all the fun inspiration I saw at the show and I have over 600 pictures to proove it. I just love looking at all the new product and can't wait to get my hands on it all!!

Below are two more layouts I did for Bella Blvd. The first layout is of my niece, Taylor, using Socialite. The colors in this line are amazing and so classy...love it!

This next line was done using One Fall Day. This is of my daughter, Alyssa, and her friend, Brittney at the pumpkin farm. There are so many patterns to choose from. I had a difficult time deciding what papers to use. It's a little busy, but I like it. See you tomorrow for a couple more layouts!

New Bella Layouts!

This is a super late post, but as promised, here are the first two layouts I did using the new Bella Blvd lines. The first is made using Sunny Happy Skies. I'm loving the bright colors in this line. I created a couple other fun things that I will be showing the end of the week using the same line! These are four of my goofy daycare kids hammin' it up! That's Nicholas, Logan, Abby and Alexis having a good ole' time sunbathing.I love this next line. In fact, I've never seen a school collection that I've liked so much. I'm especially excited about this paper because I got to see this paper during the printing process. Get a load of all that paper (sorry about the picture quality, it was taken with my phone)!! I was absolutely amazed at the presses and the entire process. I even got a few freebies...thanks, Stephanie! The layout I made using the new Midterm paper line is of my future son-in law, Jose (that sounds so weird). This paper is perfect for grade school and right up through college. Don't forget to stop on by tomorrow for more layouts.

Sneaky Peaks!!!

CHA is Here!!!!! So, yesterday I was at CHA helping Stephanie set up the Bella booth. What a process! I've always been on the receiving end, shopping for product for the Scrapbook Store. So, this was a blast, getting to see all the "behind the scenes" stuff. I'm amazed as to how everything comes together. Stephanie and Robin are incredible...brilliant! Gail and I were pretty-much "Gofers", but it was so worth it! I can't wait to see how it all looks tomorrow. If you are lucky enough to attend, stop by the Bella Booth (you'll know it cuz it's the cutest booth there) booth number 621.

I created a bunch of projects for the booth, so this week I will be showing them all off, so don't forget to stop back each day this week for a new reveal! Here's a few sneaks. Stay tuned for full reveal beginning tomorrow.

NEW STUFF IS JUST AROUND THE CORNER!!

WOW!!! If you havn't gone on the Bella Blvd. blog in a while, hop on over and check out all the sneek peeks of the new releases!!!! They are fantastic, and I can't wait to show you what I've created with them! Here's just a smidge of what Bella has in store. To see more go here!!!

"Read All About It"!!!!

We want to expand our Bella family!!!! Please go to the Bella Studio Blog for details on how you can become the next Bella Artista!!!!

Boom Boom Pow!!!

We had a fabulous 4th of July, as usual...and we managed to somehow keep the neighbors quiet this year. We usually have at least one neighbor complain about our fireworks display, not because of the display itself, but because of the noise. Most of my neighbors have dogs that I guess go apes**t when they hear the bangs and booms. Well, my friend Penny said it best when she said that we have to listen to their dogs bark at all hours 365 days of the year, so they can put up with us one day of the year!

This year, along with Bob and Carole, Jose's Mom and Dad joined us. We had yummy shiskabobs on the grill, a little pool fun, fire pit, and a pretty nice fireworks display, despite the few raindrops and big winds at times.

Here's a few of the explosives Alyssa and I bought...they had a sale :) - I am unable to upload the video to blogger and I'm so bummed about that! Since I was taking video, I didn't get any stills of the fireworks so, you'll have to take my word that the fireworks were awesome!!! I can't wait for next year!

The Winner is...

...Toodie!

Toodie Said;
Congrats on your new shop. And such a cute name. I love the kits you offer! ...

Congratulations, Toodie! Please email me any questions and your mailing address at thefuzzycaterpillar@gmail.com I will get your kits out to you as soon as you visit my shop and let me know the kit numbers (2) you'd like!

Thanks everyone else for the kind words and well-wishes!

My Big News!

So, I've been saying that I have something I've been working on for a while. Well, I finally got everything in order and up and running with a LOT of help from my friend, Stephanie, who designed my new look! She is amazing... Thanks so much, Stephanie!

Some of you, my readers, may already know that I used to design page kits for the Scrapbook Store. Well as of recently, I decided to give that up, and dum-da-da-dum.....

Introducing, The Fuzzy Caterpillar, my new ETSY shop! Featuring 12x12 page kits!!! I'm so excited about this and hope to keep expanding!!!

So, be sure to check it out as soon as you can and spread the word! Here are a couple of peaks:

Oh, and to honor the opening of the Fuzzy Caterpillar, if you leave a comment below, I will be announcing a random winner on Friday Morning, giving away 2 kits of your choice from my shop!

Under construction!

You'll have to bear with me for a couple days while my blog gets a new look, and also a new addition that I will be introducing in a day or two (soooo excited). My friend, Stephanie, has been helping me with a little project that's gonna be an added little adventure. Be sure to check back in a few days to see what's new!!

A little Inspiration!

The weekend before last I went to Watertown once again for a scrapbook weekend. I mainly worked on pages for an upcoming class I will be teaching at the Scrapbook Store. I would give you a peak, but I can't because I am using a new line from Bella Blvd that will not be revealed until CHA Summer in late July. However, if you'd like to get a peak, the Scrapbook Store is having it's 3rd quarter class kickoff this Thursday (the 24th) from 6-7:30pm. The class will be out for viewing then and only then and will have to be put away after until August 4th when the class will take place. If you sign up for any classes that night, you will receive a 10% discount! The new Bella lines are Fantastic, as usual!

Anywho, here are a couple other layouts I can share with you...

This first layout is of little Cecilia in front of our (Paul's) rose bushes. I used the Delovely line for this layout...love it!

For this layout I used the new Echo Park line. I bought the whole kit and some extras because I just loved all the colors! This is a pic of two of my little daycare girls, Samantha and Hailey. They love picking the flowers!

Buzzzzzzzzzz

Check out the "Bella Buzz" newsletter today. One of my layouts is featured. If you do not receive Bella's online newsletter, go here to sign up! Click on the image for a close-up.

OMG...OMG...OMG!!!

I feel like I'm getting soooo old.

My baby girl just got engaged this morning!! I can't believe how the time flies by. It seems like just yesterday that she was flying into the house yelling "I'm going to prom with him!!" That was 4 years ago already. I can only imagine how fast the next two years are going to go. They're planning on Spring/Summer 2012.

Congratulations Jose and Alyssa. We couldn't be any happier!!!!

The happy couple:

The beautiful ring!
On a different note, I'm going to Watertown this weekend to scrapbook with the girls, so check back next week to view my accomplishments...I'm planning on getting a lot done. But, then again, that's always the plan, isn't it???

A Sneak Peek!!!

So, Stephanie and Gail are going to be doing a workshop (layouts and cards) at summer CHA in Chicago and it's going to be fantastic! The new lines are simply amazing, and I just know everyone is going to agree! Just look at that border peek. You can sign up today at the CHA show website. Here are more details about the class. It's gonna be great!!!!

New Stuff...Can't Wait!!!!!

Ok, so last night Stephanie (from Bella Blvd) called me because she had a TON of work to get done and didn't want to be alone at the studio. Since I had no scrapbooking projects prepared, I agreed to come and keep her company and work on a few things I needed to get done on the computer while she plugged away on the new collections for the CHA summer release. So, I decided to take a break from trying to write a tutorial for a very cool project for the Bella blog. Yeah, that didn't happen...for the life of me I just couldn't figure it out. So, no tutorial...oh well! Anyway, I'm sure after the first hour of my being at Bella, she was regretting my being there. I was a little chatty and a little needy, and a little (a lot) amazed at all the new collections!!!! If it's at all possible, these are some of the BEST collections yet!!!!! Stephanie just never disappoints, in fact, I don't think she's capable of disappointing. Just look at the little busy bee...hard at work! While I was taking a few pictures of the tutorial-not-to be, I decided to to snap a few pics of one of my favorite people.......


Oh hey, if you get a chance, pop on over to the Creative Charms site. My friend, Gail, is featured there today!!!! She rocks the cards!! Be sure and leave her some love!! Thanks for stopping by!

Ahhhhh...Summer is finally here!!!!

Enjoying all the nice weather hasn't allowed too much time for blogging, but I did get some awesome pictures that you will be seeing a little later on, on a layout!!!

I also have some exciting news to announce sometime in the very near future (sooooo excited)... Until then, here's a couple pics of Dylan, Grace and Nicholas enjoying the 94 degree weather!

28 years ago today...

a baby girl was born! Weighing 7lbs. 7oz., 22" long, and perfect in every way! After 22 looooong hours of labor with NO pain medication, she was finally born after having to use forcepts because her little arms were outstretched making it impossible for me to push her out. Worth every minute of the pain, Kelly Michele came out kicking and screaming and cute as a button!! I can't believe it's been 28 years...where does the time go??

Happy Birthday, Kel...we love you tons!!!

The Family Tree

This week, Bella Blvd. teamed up with Helmar adhesives and all the Artista's have been working on little projects using all Helmar adhesives. Check out the Bella blog to see my mini book entitled The Family Tree. I used the Estate Sale line. Thanks for stopping by!