Autumn Leaves: Manhattan

This month one of my DT Spotlight sponsors at A Million Memories was Autumn Leaves. They sent the new Manhattan line. I really liked working with this line and the colors in it. I had just come home from Winter in Indiana and the colors really reminded me of the National Lakeshore and the Dunes.


OMG is she getting huge or what?


Then i was totally inspired by the stamps I bought from AMM a few weeks ago from Autumn Leaves by Rhonna Farrer. I was planning on holding onto them for another project, but when I looked around my scrap table and saw all these little bits I couldn't help but make this little set.


I love these stamps so much and it's so easy to make really simple but amazing looking tags from them...


Cards that can go with a gift or even a homemade flower arrangement...


Or even really cute labels!


These labels were so easy to make. I had a few left over square scraps from the Manhattan line and just scanned them into my computer. Using photoshop I cropped the patterned paper into the exact size of the labels. I used Avery 8163 which are 2x4". I saved them as jpegs and inserted the patterned paper graphics into the label Word document just like they were any other graphic. I printed out the sheet and then stamped the image by Rhonna Farrer on each one with Staz-On! Done!

You can see all the amazing work the DT did with this line here!

Now it's time for me to get to work with AMM's Feb Kit! It's really such a cool kit this month with a TON of goodies packed inside. The colors are really cool and once again all the papers are double-sided so there are so many possibilities! Whew!


Think.... A2Z, Autumn Leaves, Scenic Route, American Crafts, Fancy Pants, Maya Road, Basic Grey, Prima... YUMMY!

Michelle is going to have the whole kit up on the site very soon as well as the cardstock add-ons, so don't miss it!

Last Week. In Pictures.

So here's a quick overview of what happened last week. I just started the process of going through all of my pictures and have barely started working with them and looking through them all.

Last Wednesday we attended a Rudy Giuliani rally. It wasn't really that we supported The Mayor, just that he had called and was kind enough to invite us several times. So we figured it wouldn't hurt to grab a beer at McCabes.

There was a nice crowd and we were able to meet up with a very good friend of ours. I mostly used the opportunity to pretend I was "photo-journalist-Meredith" and sneak as close as I could for some shots. It was actually a lot of fun and a good experience I think. I did catch a few shots of a local anchor who was not too happy that the Japanese TV Crew got in closer for a better shot than her station's cameraman did, it was pretty funny!


I really enjoyed the Giuliani rally. It was interesting to see him in public and I liked that I didn't hear anything about any of the other candidates (well besides Hillary).

Then on Friday we took the dogs to "camp" and headed to Tampa for a weekend with the Taylor Family. We stayed with Joe's cousin Nancy. Friday night was a party for Chad (Nancy's boyfriend) for his birthday. And then Saturday was Joseph's Birthday and GASPARILLA!

It was my first Gasparilla ever and Joe hadn't been since he was a page as a young man. It was pretty crazy. The longest parade I've ever been to. This is my fav photo so far...


The pirate costumes were pretty awesome and most were pretty elaborate too. We didn't get to see The Invasion but I'm hoping we'll be able to next year or go next time and take photos of the ship. All in all it was a really good time...



(It was pretty evident when we got there that I wasn't going to need the hat and glasses - sunny it wasn't!)

After the parade we went to The MerryMakers Club. It was pretty cool to see the place since I'd heard about it so much (a lot of Taylor History there). It was fun but I could in no way keep up with the pirates - thank god! We got home pretty early and the whole Krewe of Taylor crashed for the night! lol.

Sunday we went over to our Aunt Michael's house for dinner. Some of the family came over and dinner was amazing (as usual). Then came this....


for Joe's Birthday.

Don't ask, because I have no clue!

Nora & Helen. What can I say?

Joe was a good sport about it and the cake was pretty yummy - so it was a good time.

We stayed the night there and picked up the dogs on our way back Monday Morning!

So there we go. It was a pretty great weekend and really good to see the Tampa family again.

I hope that everyone had a great weekend. I am really looking forward to catching up on some of my favorite blogs, (which I've also been way too far behind on!) I can't wait to hear what everyone's plans are for the Super Bowl. We don't know what we are doing yet but I'm hoping we'll get together with some friends and re-connect to Naples a bit. We'll see!

{hugs}

back home & starting over...

2008 has already seemed to start slipping away from me. There are so many things I have planned for this year - so many leaves I hope to turn over... but January is come and almost gone and I've made little if any headway. So, this is a new start for me. A new commitment to be better about blogging, about creating the art that I love, about having faith in myself and not being afraid to mess up.

Joey and I just got home this morning from Gasparilla weekend in Tampa. It was a lot of fun (and a tiny bit not fun...lol!), crazy pirates all over the place, beads, coins, and advertising paraphernalia flying at our heads (or hitting me in the eye), beer, good friends & family, and amazing food (as always).

I have pictures from that, the Giuliani rally we went to at McCabbs last week, and some fun pics of my hubby's birthday cake.... all on the way. But for now I have a bit of work to do and will catch up on all my photos tonight!

Until then....

{hugs!}

been busy today...

getting my travel plans, hotel, and workshops all planned for CHA in February.  I'm so excited!  It's going to be an awesome show and I'm so excited for the workshops I'm taking this year.  I'm going to be taking a class by Prima called "Exquisite 6x6 Embossed Valentines Album" on Saturday morning and I'm totally stoked that there was still room for me to sign up!  

Speaking of Prima...

Becky Heisler told us over at AMM that Prima had some awesome hybrid news!  I can't wait to see this when it goes up.  I haven't really gotten as into hybrid work as I would like to but I love that Prima is coming out with their own take.  Prima products are so gorgeous and I know I'm going to want to grab up all of these products when they come out!

On a side note... I applied for the Prima DT when I was back home and on their blog yesterday they said they were still choosing their team.  I can't even begin to imagine how many entries they had since their short list is not at 100!  The SHORT list!  WOW!  I still have my fingers crossed.

My other CHA workshop that I've signed up for is on Sunday afternoon and is being taught by Kristina Contes and Nisa Fiin.  I'm really excited to *hopefully* meet them!  Regardless a little birdie told me that they are going to be using some really hot products in this workshop which is based on the Dares book so I'm totally excited!

Like I said today was a pretty busy day.  I've been working with my Autumn Leaves Manufacturer Kit and I hope to have it finished up tomorrow to share.  This is a really different color combo for me so I hope I can do this really cool line justice!

I promised a picture of my Roxy.  I tried to get a few mid-playtime yesterday but it didn't work out too well.  I did manage to grab a little snapshot as she rushed to tackle me...

Joey promised the three of us a trip to the dog park tomorrow so I'm sure I'll have some more to share!  

For now I'm off to bed!

{hugs}

Hello 2008.

I can't BELIEVE we are already 9 days into 2008!

I'm finally back and getting into the swing of life again. It was so nice to disappear from everything and be with my family for awhile. Of course I have some regrets - not enough pics taken, not enough work done... but really relaxing and sharing time with my family is what our trip was all about so I feel good.

We got back into town late late late on Saturday and spent all of Sunday playing with our pooches. Roxy is a monster now! She's so big. But she's a sweetie and it is so nice to have my pups home with me again. I missed my little {read: big} babies!

So now I'm focusing on getting things back in order and getting some work done.

While I was home I did work with the gorgeous MAMBI Sanctuary line. They were so generous to sponsor us at A Million Memories this month. I LOVE this line...


You can see all of the amazing work by the AMM DT Members with MAMBI here.

Speaking of the hotties over at A Million Memories... WE ARE CURRENTLY #2!! We leaped up on the Top 50 Kit Club Site and are sitting at #2 today! YAY! I'm so excited to Ali & Michelle. they work so hard and we watch the numbers each and every day. If you haven't already checked us out please please please do. Michelle's kits are gorgeous and AMM has the best customer service evah!

Also... you can check out some awesome CHA Winter Sneak Peeks...

Cherry Arte
Scenic Route
Tattered Angels

and a ton more here....

I just finished another project for C&T Publishing AND they decided to use my wedding 12x12 album for their COVER ART! You can see the product here which releases in February!

So that's it for now. I have some fun things coming soon and my fingers are aching to take a ton of pictures!

{hugs}