Katie the Scrapbook Lady

Thought-provoking

 

I’ve found some interesting posts, videos, and articles lately that have my thinking wheels turning in new directions. I love finding new perspectives and/or being reminded of things I already know and believe! Here are some things worth thinking about:

• Real beauty sketches (Dove)
• 28 ways to stop complicating your life
• Can we bring the holidays down a notch?
• I am the mom on the iPhone
• Everybody could learn from this (a neat basketball moment)

 

And to finish things off, here’s an excerpt from an email that one of my Dad’s dear friends sent to him after the Boston Marathon bombing. I really appreciated hearing his words of appreciation for the good people of Boston.

My wife and I were just three-quarters of a mile from the Finish Line when the race was stopped by the bombings.  The race started out with perfect running temperatures but was colder after Mile 18 because of a cold wind.  Many runners were not prepared for that change; you stop a few thousand wet runners in a cold wind and you can have a problem.  But instantly there were residents all around taking care of the runners.  It was a wonderful and amazing thing to be a part of.
We did not appreciate the extent of the bombings until we got back to our hotel --- about 7 PM because of the delay in getting our clothing and the subways not operating until 6:30. 
All in our group were okay; runners were not targets.  By contrast with the evil of the bombings themselves, we saw instant and pervasive kindness all around us.  The people of Boston have always been noisily kind and we sure saw that.  The Police were patient, kind, helpful and instantly super-well organized.  We never saw anyone impatient or adding to the problems.  Neighbors in the area we were stopped in were quickly out of their houses offering water and clothing and food to the cold runners.  We will have nothing but wonderful images and memories of the goodness of people.  A grateful, memorable contrast!

 

Good stuff!

…

a tour of Stampin Up!

 

I had a really neat opportunity a few weeks ago to take a personalized tour of the Stampin’ Up! home office in Riverton, Utah. They reached out to me because of my blog and I was really excited since I’ve been a fan for a long time. In fact, I used to be a pretty big-time rubber stamper back in the late 1990’s. I had a group of friends in my old neighborhood that would get together once a month for a card exchange. We would each create 16 cards (all the same design) and then we would trade them with each other so we each went home with 16 different cards. We had themes for each gathering and it was a lot of fun!

I haven’t done a lot of stamping in the last 8 years (since I got into digital scrapbooking), but I’ve still gone to a few Stampin’ Up! events and even bought some stamp sets. I think I’ve established that I have a weakness for such things. lol! I have no problem saying that Stampin’ Up! stamps have always been my favorites. I love their designs and for many years I collected their yearly catalogs just for the ideas. Even though it has been a while since I’ve been involved in rubber stamping, I knew this was a tour I should not miss. I happen to love factory tours! That was always my favorite thing on Mr. Rogers – when he went to the factories. That was way better than the land of make-believe! I’m geeky like that I guess. I also knew my readers would love a behind-the-scenes look at such a cool place.

 

The facility itself is just beautiful! I would love to work in a building like this one

 

The inside is amazing as well. There is a big open atrium type of place in the middle of the main entrance. There are lunch tables nestled in between a water fall and some trees. Very soothing.

 

My tour guide Rachel Jensen was just as nice as could be and I really enjoyed spending time with her!

 

I love the philosophy behind the company

Stampin' Up!'s mission statement, called its Statement of the Heart, reads: "To love what we do and share what we love, as we help others enjoy creativity and worthwhile accomplishments . . . in this we make a difference."

 

I totally believe this!

 

They are right on trend with their colors and designs

 

 

 

Rachel was very patient with me and my camera. It was so much fun to photograph all of their amazing displays!

 

 

 

The packing and shipping areas were also incredible. I couldn’t get over how clean and organized everything was.

 

Because I was there later in the day, the conveyer belts were pretty empty. Almost everything was already loaded onto the trucks ready to leave. I did get to walk by several workers who were packing up brand new products, but I was not able to photograph them since those goodies had not been released yet. I felt super cool that I got to peek!

 

It’s interesting to note that the manufacturing plant is still located in Kanab, Utah and that they have chosen to leave the plant open there rather than harm the economy of that small town. I love that the founder has stayed true to her roots!

 

My favorite part was when Rachel and I got to sit down and chat for awhile. She let me look through the newest catalogs and we talked about some of the upcoming products and ideas that they are working on. I suddenly had the urge to go home and pull out stamps and stamp pads! That is not a good urge to have when your house is up for sale! She gave me a nice box of goodies to play with and also introduced me to their digital offerings. Needless to say, I’ve got some fun stuff to research and try out now! Of course, I will share my results and findings with all of you here on my blog.

What fun to get the royal treatment from such a wonderful company! Thanks to Stampin’ Up! for sharing a peek with me and my blog readers!

 

…

what’s on your… a borrowed prompt

I found this prompt on Ali Edwards’ blog and thought it was a good one to capture a slice of my everyday life right now.

 

Here’s what’s on my…

VANITY | I guess my bathroom counter is my vanity and it’s almost empty right now. When you have your house up for sale (even if it’s under contract) you really can’t keep your personal belongings out in the open. Just a nice chrome lotion dispenser and my favorite automatic soap dispenser.

PERENNIAL TO DO LIST | Plan garden boxes (this time for a new yard). Sort through everyone’s clothing – donate old items, decide what new items need to be purchased, mend pieces that need repairs. Work on new releases for National Scrapbook Day sale (starts on May 1st). Prepare list of summer activities to do with kids.

REFRIGERATOR SHELVES | Chobani Greek yogurt, Sambozan superfood smoothies and juices, leftover veggie farfalle, a lot of condiments and not much else.

ITINERARY | Planning to travel to New Mexico in the summer. We will be spending a week at Bear Lake with my husband’s family. We will also make our yearly visit to the Utah Shakespeare Festival.

FANTASY ITINERARY | a warm beach somewhere – all of our beach vacations in the last decade have been to colder Oregon beaches (still beautiful) or to San Diego during a rare cold spell. I would really like to just sit on a warm and sunny beach for awhile.   

PLAYLIST | Mumford & Sons – I will wait, The Lumineers – Ho Hey, Natasha Bedingfield – Unwritten, One Direction – You’re Beautiful (don’t judge), lots of 80’s music.

NIGHTSTAND | only a lamp (staged house right now)

WORKOUT PLAN | I think about working out. I wish that burned calories.

IPHONE | Instagram, facebook, Daily Digi, and probably close to 100 other apps sorted into folders (I will blog about these)

TOP 5 LIST | Hanging out with my hubby & kids, sunny days, making memories, taking photos, and digital scrapbooking

BUCKET LIST | a train trip all the way up the west coast, foreign travel with my kids, getting both of my kids through college, lose the extra weight I’ve been carrying around, get “caught up” on my kids scrapbooks, find time to relax and enjoy life.

MIND | Lots of scrapbooking and design projects. I have way more ideas than time! New house planning, old house selling. Garden and landscape dreams.

BLOGROLL | my parents blogs, The Daily Digi, The Digi Show (comments), Capturing Magic, One Little Bird, Listgirl, Capture Your 365, Ali Edwards, Becky Higgins, How About Orange, and a few hundred more. I follow a lot of designers and digi store blogs.

WALLS OF YOUR FAVORITE ROOM IN YOUR HOUSE | Since I’m busy dreaming of my new house, I’m going to list my favorite paint choices there. We painted the dining room with Sherwin Williams Rocky River and I absolutely love it!

LIQUOR SHELF | I don’t drink

LAST CREDIT CARD STATEMENT | We have no credit card debt and we don’t use them. Very happy about this!

SCREENSAVER | This one I found via Free People. It’s happy and cheerful.

TV EVERY NIGHT | We don’t watch tv every night, we mostly catch up on our shows over the weekend (Survivor, Top Gear, Mythbusters, Once Upon a Time, some Big Bang Theory). I usually watch an animated movie on my iPad as I go to sleep. I’m a kid at heart and I love Disney and Pixar classics.

 

Thanks to Ali (and her sister) for the inspiration!

 

…

Memory Monday: Stuff you think you can live without

Back in the beginning of February, I packed up a lot of our non-essential items and put them into storage so I could get our house ready to sell. This was a great exercise to do because as I went to put things in boxes, I had to really evaluate if they were worth packing, storing, and unpacking. I ended up donating several carloads of stuff to a local charity, but I also kept a great deal of our belongings as well. I thought about what we could live without for the next 4 months and I felt like I did a pretty good job of figuring that out.

Of course, I was wrong on a lot of counts. In all fairness though, I never would have anticipated that we would end up needing the following things:

• Bundt cake pan – I can’t remember the last time I made a bundt cake and I thought I would be fine to live a few months without the pan. I didn’t want to get rid of it entirely because it’s a nice stoneware pan from Pampered Chef and it makes beautiful cakes. Wouldn’t you know that just a few weeks after I packed it, my neighbor called to ask if she could borrow it?
• Patriotic hat – Seriously! I thought I was safe putting this one in storage from February-May because who dresses up for the 4th of July during that time? I had no idea that my daughter would start attending a school that would have a “spirit week” event where one of the days the theme was red, white, and blue, and they were supposed to wear hats!
• 2002 Olympic berets – Again, saw no need for these but the above event was the catalyst for my daughter asking where they were once I told her the patriotic hat was packed.
• National Parks passport book – As we were not planning any trips to national parks for the next few months, I thought I was fine to pack this. Naturally, my husband has wanted to show 2 people the book since it’s been in storage.
• Lightbox – this one is my bad. I didn’t realize that my daughter was still using it. I thought no one had used it in years. Also, she’s taking a drawing class at school and has needed it a few times.
• Tie-dye sprays. Surely, we wouldn’t be making any tie-dye shirts in the near future? I ended up buying another set of these so my daughter could use them on an art class project.
• Lego minifigures – ok, I should be able to live without these guys for a few months, but I’ve really missed them! I only kept 4 of them out and I wish I had just a few more for some photo opps I’ve thought of.

 

The good news is that we will probably appreciate all of these items a lot more now that they have been on a storage vacation! I keep telling hubby and the kids that it will feel like Christmas when we unpack our POD storage unit. Have you ever put any of your items in storage? Did you miss them? Do you have boxes that you have never unpacked? (looking at you Mom) What do you think you could live without?

All interesting things to think about on a Memory Monday!

 

…

faster internet means more giggles per minute

So we finally got a new router hooked up last night and I can’t believe the difference! We are humming along at high speed now, so that means I have more time to find grumpy cat pictures and silly stuff on Pinterest. Yes, I should have been working once the internet was back in business, but sometimes you just need to kick back and have some giggles.

Here are some of the things that have made me laugh lately (all images are linked to pins)

 

Sea is for cookie

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for indulging my silly side!

…