Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope you all have a Happy Thanksgiving! We'll be going to Galt for Thanksgiving this year, it's been awhile since we've spent it with my family and it'll be nice for a change. Am thankful everyone is healthy and happy!! Neither of the kids will be joining us though, but they're off doing what makes them happy I guess!! lol

Lots going on this time of year and have been so busy trying to get things done. I'm behind as usual, but will play catch up this weekend hopefully. I did make it through the second round at WeScrap and so did Amanda and that makes me very happy. I'll post my layout at the end if you want to check it out. This weeks challenge is a Make-Up Challenge and haven't even started it yet!! It's due tomorrow by midnight, so you know what I'll be doing tonight and tomorrow!!

WeScrap is also having a membership special for only $5 for a year and business membership for $12 for a year. So if you're interested you can go check it out, they're a great group and lots of fun.

Here is my layout for Week 2 at WeScrap and it was a Close-Up Challenge.



Wishing you all a Happy Thanksgiving and talk to you soon!

Happy Hump Day!

I can't believe it's Wednesday already, this week is just flying by way to fast. First off, my mom is doing really well and thank you all for your well wishes and prayers, they were appreciated!

As for the Challenge on WeScrap.com, I did make it to the second round, which makes me really happy. Everyone actually got to move on to the second round though, but hey, I'll take it!! A few people had dropped out, so we all got to go one! Am trying to find some time to do the second round challenge, it has to be in the gallery by midnight Friday night and will probably be doing it Friday unless I find some time before then. I do have my picture picked out, but need to resize it and pick out everything to go with it. Have been giving it a lot of thought, but haven't come up with any good ideas yet and it's going to drive me crazy. I'm sure I'll come up with something, but it has to be something good if I want to make it to the next round! Keep your fingers crossed for me, I'm going to need it.

Been trying to get things ready for my Etsy Store, but coming along slow! A friend of mine named Teresa made my banner for me since I'm so computer challenged and couldn't do it myself after a month of trying. I did get the right program now I think, but will use the one Teresa made me until I have time to play around with it again.

My very good friend Amanda does have an awesome Etsy Store and if you scrapbook or make cards you should check it out. She has some great kits and the prices are excellent. The link to her store is here, so you should go check it out.

Here are a few of the current items that she has in there right now, so go and check them out along with the other stuff she has, she's a real sweetie!!








That's about it for today, but I'm sure I'll be back really soon. Lots going on this week and probably next week to with Thanksgiving coming up way too soon!!

Talk to you soon and don't forget to stop by Amanda's Etsy Store!!

Happy Friday!!

I'm so glad it's Friday, it's been a long week!

Today my mom is going in for surgery, the gastric bypass, so please send your prayers and wishes. She's had some issues and hope this helps her get back to her old self. She's had trouble getting around and getting out of breath when she tries to do anything. It's been kind of keeping her at home a lot and she's a goer and has been getting really depressed. I don't blame her and pray it all works out for her. It's going to be hard going, but hope it's worth it in the end!!

I finally finished my first layout for the WeScrap Fresh Face Challenge! I totally screwed up my first one and had to redo it, but still pretty happy with it. It was basically a scraplift challenge where you pick someones layout and make it your own. This was a pretty easy and have a feeling they're going to get a little harder as the challenges go on. I hope I at least make it through the first cut, but it's okay if I don't. I know I'll be disappointed, but will live with it!! lol My Plurk friend Amanda is also doing it, she actually talked me into it. Her layout is pretty awesome, so keep your fingers crossed for her also.

So here is my first Layout for the Challenge and keep your fingers crossed for me.



Thanks for stopping by and talk to you again soon!!

I'm A Bad Blogger!!

I can't believe I did it again, it's been to long between posts!! I keep trying to get better, but life keeps getting in the way.

Been pretty busy and trying to de-clutter the house! Been going through everything and trying to get rid of stuff and hopefully get enough stuff together for a garage sale or sale items on Craig's List or somewhere.

I've also been trying to get stuff ready for my Etsy store, but it's going so slow. I have some things together, but have been trying to make a banner. Yeah, right. I still think it's my Photoshop program, but tried Illustrator too and it didn't work out!! It's horrible being computer challenged, but haven't given up yet. If I don't figure it out by Friday I'm just going to open my store without a banner and hope people will still check it out and hopefully buy lots of stuff!! lol

If you didn't know, I started selling Avon a while back and just loving it. I've done better with Avon than I ever did selling scrapbooking stuff. Go figure. Everyone knows Avon and they've already got the awesome reputation and I don't have to sell the name. Avon isn't just for your mother anymore, they have stuff for everyone!! Avon Calling!! lol

The WeScrap Challenge started this week and am working on the first Mini-Challenge and should have it up tomorrow. That's what I'm doing tonight! I'm still nervous and hope to at least make it through the first round. So keep your fingers crossed for me, I think I'll need it. I've seen some of the layouts of the gals that I'm up against and they're so awesome, so you may need to cross more than your fingers for me!!

So hopefully I'll be posting again this week. I haven't been working, but that's good for right now. I'm enjoying my time off and making good use of it!!

Talk to you soon!!

Getting Brave These Days!!

No, I'm not a brave person and I can't believe that I'm actually going to do it and go out for a design team. So this post is mainly to put some of my layouts on so that WeScrap.com can check them out. So cross your fingers!!

Here are a few layouts that I've done. The pictures aren't that great, but haven't figured out how to take good pictures of layouts, so this is the best I've got for now!! lol I should try using my scanner again, but I love lumpy layouts and lumpy doesn't scan very well at all for me.

Come Join Us On Saturday!!!!

Oh My!! Been A Bad Blogger!

I can't believe it's been 2 weeks since I've posted. I keep thinking about doing it, but for reason haven't taken the time. I've been playing with my camera again, but I'm still not happy with my pictures. Think I need to save up for a nicer camera and hope it helps and doesn't turn out to be me!! lol

Been busy working the last few weeks, which is good because I never know when I'm actually getting work, so I'll take it when I can. Now getting paid is another thing, still haven't gotten paid for work in August, but hopefully on the 20th. Keep your fingers crossed!! I've also been working on selling Avon, but coming along kind of slow. I'm not as aggressive as I need to be, but need to work on it. I've got a few customers, but would like more of course!!

Haven't been doing much of anything lately. Have gotten a few new things for the yard for our Halloween scene. I'll try to remember to take pictures again this weekend and post them. I still haven't been out to take pictures of the 4 new headstones either, but I'll make sure I do it his weekend for sure. I have other pictures I need to take to, so I'll do them all at the same time.

Been thinking about trying out for a design team too, but still thinking about it. I don't know why I'm struggling with the thought of it, probably the total rejection of it all. The one I'm thinking about is going to be a Project Runway type competition, rather than just anonymous people choosing people and then just posting the winner. So my projects will be voted on weekly for I believe 4 weeks and each week people will be getting kicked off. I've only watched Project Runway one time and it's a lot of pressure!! lol I should just suck it up and go for it. I'm one of those that is my own worst critic and never happy with what I've done and not just in scrapbooking, in all aspects of my life!! Yes, I'm one of those. But I'll decide by this weekend and probably end up doing it in the end unless I talk myself out of it by then. Those are the other pictures I'm supposed to take this weekend, my scrapbooking pages and projects I've done to see if I even qualify for design team!! Will keep you up to date on what I decide. If you come back and there's a bunch of pictures posted, that could mean I decided to do it!! Cross your fingers just in case!!

This Saturday Sara is coming to spend the day with us, her boyfriend is away on business and it's a good weekend for her to spend quality time with her dad!! We talked about going to Apple Hill and see if it works out. I've only been there once and it was 14 years or so years ago. If nothing else it'll be a good day out and hopefully fun.

I've gotten a few of the inside Halloween decorations out, but only a few. I've made some of them and I did take some pictures today, but they're not that good, but I will post them anyway though.

This is the lid of a paint can I painted about 5 years ago. The candy is actually white, don't know why it's showing up pink, must be my mastery with the camera! lol



This is a shot of one of the sides, couldn't get a good picture of the whole thing for some reason. The flash kept glaring off of it and when I went to a less lite area or used no flash then it was too dark, so this is the best picture I got.



These were some coasters I made out of terra cotta pot bottoms. I made a bunch of these for gifts, but mine are the only Halloween ones. The ones I made as gifts I were unique to each person that I gave them to. Of course I didn't take any pictures of any of the other ones that I made.



That's all I've got for now, but will be back this weekend!!

Talk to you later!

Save The Tatas Charity Kit!!

This is an awesome kit and for a Great cause; the price is even more awesome for what is included in this kit. It's a digital scrapbooking kit, so if you haven't had the chance to venture into digital scrapbooking this is the time to take the leap! If you're already a digital scrapbooker this is a must have kit!

Everyone should pass this along to their friends and family!!!!

Special collaboration kit featuring designs from Holly McCaig, Andie Smith, Mikkel Paige, Scrappy Pony, Carrie Bombria, Audra Little and Tara Sroka. For every kit purchased at Tara's Store (click on Tara's Store for link) all the proceeds will go to the Making Strides Against Breast Cancer charity. Hope starts here and hopefully we can end this deadly disease.

It's Almost That Time of Year!!

This is one of our favorite times of the year, Halloween!! Richard is like a little kid at Halloween and always goes all out. He's been decorating the yard for quite a few years and now he tries to add something new every year. This year it's the skeleton coming out of the grave and I really like how it turned out. Last year he made the headstones and I painted them. I think he's got plans to make a few more this year, because he told me to think up a few more ideas to put on them. Here are the progress pictures and the end result. I'll be taking a picture with one of them when I can get Richard to take it and I'll post that one here also.

So here are the pictures and I was practicing with different settings on my camera and I think they turned out okay. lol I'm no photographer though, not even close!!























That's just of few of the 70 plus pictures I took!! Like I said, I was messing with the settings on my camera and a lot of them didn't come out very good. It was a really hot day and so we worked on it in the morning and then in the evening. Now the dogs are going to be looking out the window and thinking that there are people in the yard and bark at them!! Oh fun!! lol

Talk to you soon!

Just A Quickie!!

Since I promised to post pictures and didn't do it, thought I'd better do a quickie update and post a picture of the birthday girl from Saturday's birthday party.



It's been a busy week and just downloaded the pictures from my camera last night. Thought I would get more good ones, but of course I take horrible pictures. I need to play with Photoshop and fix all the red eyes before I post any more of them. I will work on it his weekend, don't think I'll be getting work.

We are going to decorate for Halloween this weekend though!! Richard loves Halloween and has been planning the yard for at least a month. Going to his brother Larry's house on Saturday to pick up some dirt. I will take pictures when it's done and hope it works out like he's hoping it will. Still need to find some more clothes for some more people, but it may be to late for that now. Oh well, next year!! lol

I've been busy working most of the week and decided to sell Avon. I know, I said I wasn't going to sell anything anymore, but I couldn't resist!! If you're interested in anything you can always go to my website at www.yourAvon.com/susiegerdes and check it out. You can order online and have it delivered to your home. If you do decide to place an order just let me know and I'll send you a free delivery code!!

So hopefully I'll be posting more pictures this weekend, the birthday party and the yard decorating!! I love this time of the year, the weather's great and lots of festivities going on! Who knows, we might have another Halloween Party this year, it was fun last year!

Talk to you soon!!

I Can't Believe The Weekend Is Already Over!

It's already Sunday night, where did the weekend go?? Time seems to just slip by me anymore and seems to be going faster and faster!

We had Triva's surprise party yesterday and it was such a good time! There were lots of friends, family and a ton of great food, not mention the beer and wine!! lol And yes, the Captain showed up, but I didn't have any. Everyone seemed to be having a fun time. My mom's cousin Antoinette and her husband Jack even came from Novato and it was so good to see them both. Auntie Olga and Uncle Jim were also there and it was a nice surprise, it's been a while since I've seen them also. They live in Morgan Hill, about 2 hours away from Galt where the party was. Auntie Emma is always so nice to let us have all the parties at her house too!! Thanks Auntie Emma!!

The circle album I made for Triva she seemed to really like, she even cried when she opened it, which made me feel good but then sad at the same time. It was an album with her and her grandson Jaydin who recently moved out of state and when I started making the album I didn't know that. So when she saw it and all the pictures of Jaydin she started crying and I felt horrible. She did tell me that she loved and that I shouldn't be sorry I made her cry. I did feel better after that!!

Here are the really bad pictures of took really fast Friday night when I actually finished it. Sorry for the poor quality, but the lighting is really bad in my craft room!!



















Tomorrow I'll post the actual party pictures, but they're still in my camera!! lol

Talk to you soon!!

After Pictures, My Craft Room Is Finally Done!!

Well, almost done anyways. There are still some things I need to work on, but at least now I can go in and work on some projects and get some things done for my Etsy Store that I've been trying to get open. The 2 blue cubes on the table came out of the wall, well one did anyway and made 2 huge holes in the wall, but the pizza boxes are covering the worst part. You can see where they were on the wall though, now I'm going to need to paint and hope I still have some of that yellow paint left somewhere!!
There's a case of water, 2 floor lamps, a bag of dog food and the boxes under the table that is for our garage sale. Since my craft room was the garage, we have no other place to store the boxes, so they're under the tables. Oh well, someday they'll be gone. When I have people over I just hide them in the laundry room!! lol

So here are the pictures!!! Yippee!!

This is my table where I actually scrapbook!



This is the other end of the table where I just have other supplies and everything is pretty much under this table for the garage sale.



This is the counter that is holding my ribbon, some paper in the drawers and of course the Clip-It-Up with some of my goodies that I use on it!! One day I'll find a piece of counter-top for it.



To the left are all my boxes of stuff from different direct sales companies that I've been with. To the right is the cabinet with all my goodies like buttons, brads and everything I love!! lol



This is another cabinet that has all my magazines and all my Sizzix dies and some storage under it. The shelf above has all kinds of stuff, the 2 red boxes have seaonal stamp sets, the other boxes just have misc. stuff for all types of crafts.



This is the peg board wall full of stuff that I used to sell and of course more pizza boxes!! lol The 3 red cubes on the wall were right next to the 2 bigger blue ones that came off. They zip up and are on a metal bracket and can be taken to go!! I got the red and blue cubes from IKEA!



Pretty much the same as above, just a further away shot.



My scrap table closer up, notice my ITouch in it's radio!! Pretty cool huh?? lol That's the Jingle book I've been working on and need to put pictures in it!



I love all my jars and they're all full!! Those are spice racks that turn around and there are jars on both sides of each of those. Jars are full of buttons, brads, and all things small!



This is just above my where I scrap and I can reach up and grab what I need. This is the left side of the cabinet and there are stamps in most of those containers.



This is the other side of the above cabinet! More stamps and inking stuff. Yes, I have tons of stamps!



That's it for now!! Maybe some one can come and scrap with me sometime!! lol

Talk to you soon!!