Ethnic Scrapbooking

Tropical Storm Noel

I'm still in Miami, spent the evening with the owners of Berry Chic at the hotel bar watching the wind and rain from tropical storm Noel pound the hotel windows.  It's not that bad, t.v. newcasts overexaggerate as usual.  I talked to Terry and Gretchen about being Hurricane Katrina victims and life afterwards...got some first hand accounts of the cultural life in New Orleans...and Alicia (transplanted New Yorker) from MD/DC NMSDC told me the funniest story about Goody's (a popular pain relief product here in the South)...gotta check to see if my local CVS has this product.

MIAMI BEACH

Quick post from the NMSDC conference in Miami Beach...spent the evening at Jungle Island...hitting a spot for some cuban food tomorrow.  Had some excellent fried plantains...here' my attempt last month at making them.  I need some serious help.

Book Signing #3

Here's my book display that I carry around with me to book signings of Ethnic Scrapbooking.

Save $4.99 off the retail price of my book  and $5.30 in shipping if you can stop by and see me at Yorktown Elementary School (Race Track Rd) in Bowie, MD this Saturday Oct. 27th 9-2:00 pm at their Fall Craft and Gift Festival.  Come early to snatch up some great buys on pre-decorated paper bag albums my kids made.

How about that decorated frame...I bought it from a teen mom at a craft fair 7 years ago for $25.00 just because I wanted to support and encourage her entrepreneurial spirit...and she knew nothing of creative scrapbooking!

Karibu

Karibu Books is my favorite local bookstore.  I've been twice in one week and I've bought enough reading materials to last me the rest of the year.  I'll post book reviews after I read them (all non-fiction...never ever read fiction).  I've been away from reading anything that wasn't scrapbook related and I'm thrilled to be mentally-free to read other types of books now that mine is done.

What's on your nightstand now?

Club Scrappin'

This past weekend, my scrappin buddies were off scrappin elsewhere without me.  Lisa and Aunt Pat went to a very nice Club Scrap retreat in Virginia and B. went to have fun with the scrapdivas. So my kids stepped in and we had our own  Assembly Line Scrapbooking going on...for 12 hours we made 8 paper bag albums, three trick or treat bags and two gingerbread men ornaments.  We gave our scrapbooking tools quite the work out.  My favorite part was the fact that we watched National Geograpic DVDs about Africa that I borrowed from the library (which is not a free service for me...there are always late fines on my account) plus we watched the movie E.T. twice.

All of this concerted effort was to make stuff for Yorktown PTA's Fall Craft and Gift Festival coming up this weekend.  Here's the details, if you are local...please stop by, I'll be a vendor selling my book.

Download festivalflyer.pdf

Check out what we made:

Here's another shot of the Trick or Treat bag using Sizzix.

Sunday Dinner

Our neighbor just recently got her first apartment and invited us to dinner.  I had to call her and confirm that the kids were invited too! LOL  It was her family and ours and she fixed us a very nice dinner...My husband and I enjoyed the break from meal preparation and actually watched a football game this afternoon. 

Boy...it sure brought back memories of my first apartment...that was my real indoctrination into the multi-cultural world of Takoma Park, MD.  Hated some aspects of apartment life, but it defintely helped define who I am today.

My favorite season...

ahhhhh...eventually there will be a chill in the air, but until then, I'll just gaze at my indoor pumpkins.  I refuse to go to the pumpkin patch and corn maze when it's 80 degrees outside!

What are your favorite fall traditions?

Territory Wars

With a new puppy in the house, there are quite a few territorial wars going on around here these days.

Joseph has relinquished the floor to Sierra and taken up life on top of the chairs.  Sierra, at every opportunity claims our pillow, blankets and now Tavien's Elmo chair which he is extremely possessive of since the day he received it.

When he wasn't looking this week, Sierra took a nap on it.  I didn't get a photo, because I needed two hands to break it up, but right after this shot, Tavien proceeded to dump her out of the chair and they both battled over who's butt was going to sit in it!  Tavien held his own and Sierra, sniffs around it, but she doesn't sit in it anymore.

 

14 years

Yep...Jerry and I celebrated 14 years of marriage yesterday.  I was telling my boss that being married is the hardest thing I've ever done.  So is parenting, but at least there's an end in sight with that role.

So today, instead of looking at a blank white wall while I work, I dressed up my area with these lovely roses and my favorite vanilla candle.

hmmmm...I wonder where the celebrations of wedding anniversaries originated?

Faithbooking

Faithbooking is a style of scrapbooking developed by Rhonda Anderson of Creative Memories.  I was blessed to spend an afternoon with her and her husband right around the time she was just communicating this concept to her Creative Memories Consultants.

This style of scrapbooking is very similar to my Ethnic Scrapbooking.  It's about looking at your photographs and your memories with a different perspective.

View this webpage for more details.