EYE CANDY!!

The Botanical Garden and Conservatory

at the

Bellagio Hotel and Casino.

This was one my most favorite places we went.
It was just so beautiful. It moved me to tears.
The entire place was filled with fragrance.
In fact, it was almost unbelievable that it could smell that good.

This lady bug is completely made of carnations and the giant leaf is covered with leaves. And there was water running down the leaf, dripping on the moss below. The snail was made of roses. Click on the picture and look at it enlarged.
It is completely breathtaking!

Had to get a picture of me in the garden, since I loved it so much...

This is the ceiling just outside the garden. Isn't it beautiful? The hand painting and
the chandeliers. It was really breathtaking.

I was trying to get a picture of this giant glass flower. And I was trying out the
settings on my camera. I wasn't sure what I was doing, but this picture is totally wicked, even if it was a complete and total accident!!

Well, when I first saw these...they made me think of my step-mom. You see, she
likes to garden. And I suck at it. It's one thing I have always admired about her...
the gift she has for growing beautiful things. You should see her yard. It's gorgeous.

These giant hand painted paper umbrellas hung from the ceiling. They were 5 foot and 7 foot in diameter. They were really pretty. Along with the giant transparent glass
flowers reaching up into the sky. Really beautiful. Then, in the center was the butterfly conservatory. There were all different types of butterflies in there. It was so hard to get pictures of them because they were behind glass and those suckers can move fast!! Enjoy a few of them that I caught!

Have you ever been so exhausted......

...you can't even type?!

Well, that's me. I am completely ker-pooped!!!

I was gone 8 days.
I was 2 time zones over.
I played late into the night with Big Daddy in Vegas.
I worked my butt off at CKC-Mesa.
I got home at 2:15am and I'm still trying to recover.

I promise a BIG update very soon!
(maybe...tomorrow????)

Missed ya!
xoxo
~~rox

(ps....I didn't have internet connection the whole time I was gone. They wanted like $12 a day and I just flat refused to pay it. It sucked. I was not happy.
Sorry I fell off the face of the Earth!)

Who wants a great deal?!?!?!

THE *ROXY* SPECIAL!!


So...as most of you know....I work for a fantastic lady, who owns an online store and travels w/ her store to the Creating Keepsakes Conventions, Scrapbook Expos and Great American Scrapbooking Conventions.
She is based in Ft. Myers, Florida and has some great products.

One of these products is the Zutter Bind-It-All!! I've posted about it before and how much I love it!!

So.....we were discussing the Bind-It-All on my WorldWin DT yahoo group and there was interest in buying one. So, I email Kim and asked her if she could make us a deal....so she did!!! ('cause she rocks!)

And then, I asked her if I could offer it to my friends...and she said yes!!!

So....here you go.......


GO TO scrapbooksnstickers.com

If you buy the Bind-It-All for $59.99

You'll get a set of 5 packages of O-Wire Binds for FREE!!!!
(these are a 3/4" bind...a middle-size bind, perfect for most projects)

These packages each have 2- 12" binds, for a total of 10 binds
and the package includes one of each of these colors:
chocolate brown, red, black, white and silver!!!!

AND THAT'S NOT ALL!!!!!

If you want any of the Bind-It-All Accessories....such as the
carry bag, the tool kit, the wire cutters, the idea book, etc......

by entering the code:

ROXY

...you will get 25% off all the accessories you need!!


Isn't she awesome to offer this deal?!?!!!!!!


Keep in mind...we have free shipping over $50, so the purchase of the Bind-It-All comes with FREE SHIPPING!!!! So, check out the other great products Kim has. She carries Fancy Pants, Prima, KaiserCraft, 7 Gypsies, Teresa Collins, Tim Holtz Grungeboard and much, much more!!!

Go here Scrapbooks'nStickers.com to get this great deal!

(offer good for 1 month from 4-08-08)

Guess WHERE I am going?!?!?!

LAS VEGAS, BABY!!!!!!!

So....Big Daddy has a business trip. He leaves Saturday and comes home Thursday. And I leave for CKC-Mesa on Wednesday, the day before he comes home. So...grandparents are coming to fill in.....

Well, when I told my boss that Ike was going to Vegas....she thought I should get to go.
SO.....she bought me a ticket to go from Kansas to Vegas.....and Vegas to Mesa!!!

ISN'T SHE JUST PLAIN AWESOME!?!?!?!!?

So, now I go to Vegas on Sunday and fly to Mesa on Thursday morning!

I can't wait!!!!!! WOO HOO!!!!

So....watch out Vegas.......here we come!!!!

This is gonna be a LONG ONE........

...so get a cup of coffee and get ready for the story!!

First of all, in my last post...I said I was "no fool." Turns out I was wrong.
Ha! Ha! Ha! The husband of my best friend played one heck of an April Fools Joke on me and I bought it "hook, line and sinker!" That big turd!!!!
(and mind you, he played the joke on me not 30 minutes after
I made that post!!)


The next day was Wednesday, April 2nd. And I caught a plane to St. Louis, MO for CKC-St.Louis. My connecting flight went thru Atlanta and so did Amber, so we were able to share the second leg of our flight into St. Louis. We had a great time on the plane...laughing and sharing stories!
And of course, we had to get a picture!! Although, it was called CKC-St. Louis, the convention center is actually in Collinsville, Illinois. It's a small area with basically 8 restaurants, a few hotels and the convention center. I thought the convention center was nice, but my bed at the hotel, well, it was the worst I've slept in yet. So, I started work with an aching back. Thank goodness for Advil!!!! :)


One of the nights in the hotel, I made this little KaiserCraft mini-book! (KaiserCraft is an Australian company that has a large line of wood products, in addition to their fabulous papers, felts and their well-priced bling I love!
I used the new Fancy Pants Celebrate line! These papers are really cute!!
The ribbons are all Fancy Pants, too! The little shapes are little die-cuts that come on a 12x12 sheet. Really makes it easy to make your own embellies. And each line has these "Titles & Tags" and rub-ons to match, as well.

The felt, I cut from a large KaiserCraft felt. And I've added bling, as well.The brads I used on the left side page here are left-over KaiserCraft brads. They are really nice quality and match so many different things! Aren't these the funnest papers?!?!
That was using the half of the Fancy Pants Celebration that is girly, the remaining papers are more boyish...so I decided to throw something together for that, as well. And here it is.....a tag with my sweet Griffin.
(and a super old picture from when he was 2 years old.....) Love that BLING! And the back has those lovely KaiserCraft brads.... I have another yummy layout I did, but I haven't gotten pictures of it, yet.
I promise to try to get that done...and show you soon.


Here we are getting ready to go down and finish up the conference on Saturday. It's Amber, Amber's baby boy, me and my boss, Kim. We really have a great time together and we work as a very good team. And this trip, Kim brought her cutie-pie daughter! This little girl is a really good scrapbooker! She is obviously her mothers' daughter!! One of the best parts of my trip was getting to see my Uncle Richard and Aunt Penny, who live just outside of St. Louis. They came the 45 minutes to come see me and have dinner with myself and Amber. We had a nice time, we laughed and talked about old times. And I got to see them. Which was really important to me. I love them both so much. I only wished we lived closer, so we could see each other more often! Maybe again someday....

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


When I got back to Tulsa, my Step-Mom suggested that I stay an extra day so we could hang out. So, I did. It was fun. We went to 2 scrapbook stores in Tulsa and checked things out. It was really fun! (can you believe I got off a plane from that convention and I was back in a scrapbook store within 3 hours?!?! Hilarious! It's an addiction, I'll tell ya!!!)

So, we did that....then we went to Chili's for dinner with my dad and shared a big plate of Fajita's, which were delicious! After we got home, we watched a "chick flick" we had rented....and that was a really nice change for me!

Then, I went to bed at 10:15pm and slept like a rock! I was T-I-R-E-D!!!
And I was so sleepy, it was good I stayed instead of driving home tired!

Then, the next morning we were just getting ready to watch our 2nd "chick flick" we rented......and we hear this huge POP. And all the electricity goes out! A squirrel had stepped on the transformer and fried himself!!!!
So...we sat in the dark for the next 3 hours. So, I finally just threw on some clothes and got on the road home. I got back to Topeka on Monday night at about 5:30pm. So, I'm running a day behind this week!!!!



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So, the thing is, I had found out the day before I left for California (about 3 weeks ago) that the diabetes is back with a vengence! I lost some weight, I've maintained the loss and I am still having blood sugar issues. It's not really surprising, considering there are so many people in my family who have been diabetics. (my mother, 2 of her brothers, both maternal grandparents and my paternal great-grandmother.) But, I guess why it surprised me so much was that in October, my numbers were back to normal. And now, they have jumped. It's scary. It's annoying. It makes me mad.
But, now I am gonna fight this thing like hell.

It really stinks because now, me...the girl who hates needles...I have to check my blood sugar levels (meaning use a lancet to poke myself) 8 times a day. I hate it! Every single time I sit there with the machine loaded with the lancet and I have to really work up the courage to do it, each and every time.

So, there it is. The bad news.
I had to kinda soak it in a bit before I was ready to share it.

So, keep me in your thoughts and prayers.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It's April, but I'm no fool!

Ok...I know that's debatable!! Ha ha!!

Seriously, can you believe it's April!?!?!? I CAN NOT!!

And it's like 40 degrees today w/ a cold North wind here in Kansas. Brrrr!!!


Well, I'm on my way out of town again. This time I'm off to the Creating Keepsakes Convention in St. Louis, Mo., by way of dropping M and G off at Gramma and Grampa's in Tulsa.
(serious detour!)
So, I'm off to drive the 4 hours to Tulsa. Then, tomorrow morning I head to the airport.

Trying to wrap up all that last minute stuff. Why is leaving so stressful?

Lots of stuff going on here.
Really a lot to tell.
But, I don't have the time to dedicate to it right now.


So....everyone have a nice week and I'll try to check in while gone!
Maybe even post to the blog if I have time!!

xoxo

Roxann

My 1st NATIONAL Scrapbooking Classes!!!

Without further delay, I want to tell you all about my first 2 "national" scrapbooking classes! THEY WERE FANTASTIC!!!!! And I loved every single minute of it!!


I thought my biggest challenge was going to be stage-fright. I mean, a room full of 50 women, who are supposed to be intermediate to upper-level scrapbookers..... well, they are going to expect a lot from you. And well, 50 women. Well, that's a lot.
The most I had ever taught in a class before was like 14 or 15.

So, I was scared.
But, I figured I'd be fine.

Next challenge was that I had only gotten the 3rd layout on the day before the class. And I was writing the "directions" in the car on the way to teach the class!
And it's realllllllllly hard to discect a layout that you didn't yourself design.
(since many times the layers need to be done in order not to mess up....and
it's my job to make sure that I teach the women the correct order.)
So, this was stressing me out.

Then, just as we were driving the 5 miles from the hotel to the Conference site....
I was filled with panic.....
...because............
I LEFT THE DIRECTIONS FOR THE OTHER 2 LAYOUTS AT THE HOTEL!!!!

STUPID! STUPID! STUPID!

And we had rescued some other vendor's whose van broke down and let them ride with us, so there was absolutely no way we had time to go back and get them!

I WAS PANICKED!!

But, what could I do?!?!

I did what any other professional would do, I sucked it up...
...because this show was going on regardless.

THANK GOODNESS I had actually done the other 2 layouts!!!
SO, I actually KNEW them.

And I did a great big "wing it" job!
And nobody knew.

I was scared to death.
And nobody knew.

I rocked it out big time.
And I was relieved. And HAPPY!!!!!!

So...here are 2 of the layouts. The 3rd one, I never even took pictures of, because I was just too, too busy! So...bummers.

Here is my version.......and the original layout is below.
I only had a small picture to go on and I did take some creative liberties.A simple day at the park....

I did take some creative liberties with my layout.

For instance, as you can see.....my layout is in complete reverse of the original.
That's because my pictures that I wanted to use were facing the completely opposite way of the original version of the layout. No biggie! I made it work!!!!
(and I LOVE how it turned out!!!)

I also added Stickles (my favorite thing) to the centers of the flowers.

And, I added ribbons to the tags that I liked that matched.
And the little tag that hung from the picture....well, mine said something dumb.
So, I flipped it over, used some rub-ons and made my own sentiment.


The original layout:(Oh, and in this layout, the circle pics are printed onto transparencies.
Cool look, but I had already had mine printed at Walgreens before I ever knew.)



The second layout was called "Precious Time"
I really like it a lot, but even with this one, I put some of my own spin on it. For instance, I added Stickles to many of the places on my layouts.
I hope you can tell in the pictures.


And my favorite thing I added to the layout, is the large journaling flower that goes
into a little pocket in the strips on the left bottom corner of the left page.
I really like it a lot!

And the original layout:

By the second day when I taught the class the second time...
I was so afraid something terrible was going to happen.
After all, I had pulled it off on day 1, despite the mounting odds against me.

But it didn't and....

IT WAS PHENOMINAL!!!!!

I wasn't near as scared.
And I had my notes.
But, I didn't use them...AT ALL!!

Winging it the day before had prepared me for Day 2.

And my "teacher's pet" even read me a few things off of the REVIEWS each
student had the opportunity to fill out......

AND THE REVIEWS WERE GOOD!!!!!

YAY FOR ME!!!!!!!!!!!!

One said, "Roxy Rocks!"

Another said, "My favorite class I took! So fun!"


And since I came home I was overjoyed when I found these 2 reviews online:

"I loved the Taste of Scraptique class! The layouts were wonderful! Scraptique was very generous when it came to the products in the kits. We received 3 kits for 3 double-page layouts. The teacher was wonderful, too!"

(hey...the teacher....that was ME!!!)

And a comment left on the Scrapbooks 'n Stickers Blog:

"Hi Roxann! I took your class at the Bay Area Expo and I just wanted to say how fun it was to be in your class! You are a wonderful teacher! I was the one at the end of the Saturday class who said you were very easy to understand. It was nice meeting you and again, you are a great, FUN, happy teacher" ~Evelyn

busy week.....

I'm so busy.
Lots of deadlines.
Been scrappin', creatin' and paintin'.

I have pics to upload later tonight.

Best week ever!!!

I just want to give Big Daddy a shout out!

What a great, great week!
I love you so very much.
You know you rock.

This one's for you....

Some Easter Funnies!! HAPPY EASTER!!!!

Peep Show!

So wrong....but, so funny!


An oldie but a goodie from last year.....

I laughed out loud! What a ho! Right, Amber?!?

Happy Easter!!!!