its been a while

OK OK I KNOW!!!! its been way too long, let the stone throwing commence.

i am so sorry, truly, for i had no idea my life would be this consumed by this time of year. we just saw my aunty off on her plane back to oklahoma last night and poor Mama has a head cold. but hey, you know what? I'M BACK!!!!!! MUAHAHAHAHA

so whats new? whats going on? well...i havent gotten a chance to do any of that online class stuff, so my work has been piling up one me. ugh...i do not look forward to the stress of catch-up. but hey, the work that needs to be done is not near being laborious!

the new year is approaching quickly, and with that...new stuff! i know we all itch for new pretty things, heck i know i do! we plan to carry a few new lines, they are all quite promising. i am not sure off hand which lines they are right now, but as soon as i figure out which lines we are getting, i'll be sure to let you know! so far, i've seen lots of catalogs for all kinds of companies, and they are pretty much all premiering their 2009 valentine's stuff. so i've seen lots of reds, lots of hearts and TONS of pink! pretty much all of it is really adorable.

now, i'm not sure how many of you remember, but about 2 years ago, around when we first opened, we had a teacher for about 3 months and she taught distressing classes? Lets just call her Madame Distress. Yes, well, she is back! I swear this woman is a miracle worker and a half! she recently gave birth to her 3rd son, and right before she did, she made a comment about how she's always wanted to be surrounded by beautiful men, boy was she right! any hoo, she is coming back to teach with us for the month of January, so be on the look out for that notice. i swear, whatever this woman touches, turns to GOLD! she makes the most beautiful things and je suis tres jalouse! she is working on the class sample, so i'll post pics on here when its done.

remember how i told you that i was cleaning out a craft room for mom and me? well, i got a lot of work done this weekend! while i was working, i discovered that i have a lot of christmas paper and embellishments and as much halloween stuff to rival the christmas collection! they are my two favorite holidays, but i never take enough pictures to merit a proper layout.

this year, i've tried to use some papers to decorate my house for the holiday season, but i havent used a lot. after looking closely at some of the holliday themed papers, i came to see that they could be used for much more than a holiday card or layout! for that online class, i decided to put together a book of the things that meant the most to me and there was one particular layout that just had to be perfection. the subject is of my very best friend (let's call him Texas Toast) and the photos were taken on the beach on his last day here with me. the pictures feature the beautiful blue of the ocean with the perfect shade of creamy sand to compliment it. i had a very hard time finding the perfect paper to go with these pictures because the colors were really quite unique and i didnt want a harsh pattern to over power it. on the night that i was trying to accomplish this layout, it dawned on me in the middle of the night: use a christmas paper! i know it sounds really bizarre, christmas? isnt that greens and reds? well....you forget about the snowy paper! the paper that i ended up using was about 2 years old, but the fabulousness of the design was supremely fresh. it was a combination of blue, that creamy sandy color and distressed with brown. the colors matched perfectly, with Texas Toast and me being the shades of brown in the photos. soon after, i discovered an even older journaling tag with a quote about the beach with the exact shades of blue and cream. i added a little bit of brown ink and adhered it down in place and i achieved a truly gorgeous layout!

my point was that one should not only look to their regular stash of papers to achieve that perfect look, but to look a bit deeper into the depths of a holiday stash or even look towards your really old stuff (if you have any) because what you have may just surprise you!

i have to get going for now, so have a nice day! i'll talk to you later!