OK, first of all, let me just say:

I’m an idiot.

No. Really. I am.

Remember my last post when I said that my friend, Laura and I have been friends for almost 20 years? Well, we haven’t. We’ve been friends for almost THIRTY years! Yes, 30. Not 20. Although sometimes I wish that I am still in my 20′s, I can actually say that I’m looking forward to my birthday this summer. 35 ain’t bad. I’ve earned 35 years, right? Two beautiful children (although I admit, I still want more from time to time), a wonderful husband, a good job, wonderful friends and family, and a scrapbooking hobby (which I happen to LOVE).

So, now that I have admitted my mista…er…typo. Haha.

Like I said before, I’m an idiot.

Moving on…

My family LOVES Big Springs! It never gets old. The fish there are big. REALLY big!

I have visited Big Springs year after year.  While growing up, my family always traveled to “The Cabin” (Crabtree family cabin) every Summer. The yearly Cabin visit is a tradition that has been passed on to my children, although, now that we live so close by, we get to visit more than once during the Summer. My kids mark the 5th generation to experience the magic of The Cabin.

If you have a couple minutes, check out this fantastic video my uncle, Michael created:

Island Park, ID – Cabin 2010 – Montage from The Crabtree’s on Vimeo.

Speaking of 35…

Michael turned 35 this year (before me, ha!).

Michael is just 4 months older than me, we grew up together…Michael is more like a brother than an uncle.

See below for the list of the supplies I used to create the Big Springs Layout. Yes, I hand-stitched the beads onto the cardstock. I’m already an idiot today, so you can call me crazy too!

Thank for stopping by today! I hope you have a wonderful day!

An old photo of me…from about 8 years ago. I really liked who I was back then; I’ve sort of lost sight of that girl. Hence the title, “Find Myself”.

I really want to…find myself again.  Back when I felt it was important to take care of myself, when I didn’t constantly put others needs before my own.

I’m working on me now.  I’m getting back to that place I was 8 years ago. Slowly but surely, I’ll get there again.

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Vegas!

We had such a good time, the four of us really needed a family get-away.

Parker and Izabelle posing in front of the “Welcome to Las Vegas” sign:

Dan, Parker and Izabelle in front of the Jellyfish at the Mandalay Bay Shark Aquarium:

Parker opening his birthday presents:

I can’t believe Parker is now 14 years old! Didn’t I jut blog about him turning 13 a couple of weeks ago?

That year flew by way too fast.

Izabelle, Parker and I in front of the giant Sphinx at the Luxor Hotel:

The Sphinx was the highlight of the trip for Parker, he’s been studying up.

Parker was telling random strangers facts about the Sphinx, I think a few people actually learned something new. Way to go Parker!

I’m glad to be home. It’s always nice to sleep in your own bed.

xoxo, Christie

We’re still in Vegas and still having fun!

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While I’m away….

Here’s a little card I created using some My Minds Eye paper from ‘the stash’. There’s a bit of Shimmerz on the card…Anchor’s Away.

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Here’s a little mini banner (it was hard to photograph). It reads:

LOVE TO CREATE

Each section of this banner is only 2 inches high. Definitely mini.

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My sweet little Nephew, Cooper turned ONE on April fools day!

Cooper with his parents:

A sweet little family…

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OK…off to explore more of Vegas!

xoxo, Christie

Happy LOVE day!

I’m traveling back to Idaho today with mixed feelings.  I’m looking forward to sleeping in my own bed again, a home-cooked meal, my sweet nephew (among other amazing family) but I sure am going to miss my friends and family here in California.  It’s always so wonderful to visit.

While I was here I attended a Valentine Crop at Paradise Scrapbook Boutique (a little bit of Heaven).

Yes, those are BLOSSOMS! Blossoms in FEBRUARY! Can you believe it? I still have six feet of snow in my front yard!

Beautiful, pink, lovely blossoms.

Look at the amazing goodies we received at the PSB Valentine Crop:

Karen always spoils us.  What an amazing woman!

I spent the whole day with good friends, a much-needed visit.  It was an added bonus to spend the day with my bloggie friend Char (who is fabulous)! We met in person for the first time at the PSB Crop. Check out Char’s Blog.  This woman is tal-en-ted!

And I got to visit with Devanie, I haven’t seen her in SO long. It was fun to catch  up.

In honor of Valentines day, I’ll share the simple Valentines I made while cropping (also shown above)…

This one is made with the candy cups:

Making Memories + K&Company =

This one has some sewn polka-dot ric-rac that I purchase while at Material Girls in Utah:

I used Pink Paislee rub-ons on this one. Quick and simple:

I hope you have a wonderful Valentines Day, as for me…I’ll be stuck in the car for 14 hours with my loved ones (hopefully we’ll still love each other when we reach our destination).

Feel the love!

xoxo, Christie

I absolutely LOVE this new Graphic 45 line called, Curtain Call. Can you imagine how gorgeous it could be with some red accents?

The design team was asked to keep our projects within the color scheme of the line…so no red for now but just you wait!

I had a lot of fun making paper flowers and adding glitter…loads of glitter.

This photo of my grandmother is so fantastic!  I love that she looks like a movie star…so beautiful!

Another paper flower…

And more glitter on those peacock feathers.

The DT was also asked to make a paper LP with this line…this was my take:

Yes, yes. More glitter.

I’m hanging out in California this week – it’s absolutely gorgeous here!  I’m in heaven.

When we left Idaho it was 12 degrees (brrrr).  We’ve traded our measly 12 degrees for the wonderfully warm 75 degrees of Northern California.

Here’s a few shots I took of us enjoying the gorgeous weather today:

Yes, Parker is wearing flip-flops (and holstered cap-guns).  Craziness!

My gorgeous daughter (gush).

Bidwell Park.

Look!  No snow! It’s a miracle!

My adorable niece, Addie.

Holy moly she’s cute!

Izabelle goofing off with my sweet niece, Kayla (another gorgeous girl).

One can actually see the grass here.  And can you believe that my sister-in-law has already started here garden?  How am I to return to c-c-cold Idaho next Monday?

Enjoying California,

Christie xx

I’m back!  Are you excited? Me too!

Have you been wondering what I’ve been up to?

Christie, what on earth have you been up to?

If you had actually asked the above question, this would have been my reply:

Baking, birthday parties, cleaning, sewing curtains, driving to Utah, going to the circus, helping kids with homework, showing up for work on time, finishing design team projects, visiting grandparents, driving to California, helping my best friend take care of her brand new baby, cooking meals, driving, more scrapbooking projects, more driving, visiting my brother and his wife, playing with my nieces, training the new girl at the California store, farmers market, laundry, attending studio dedications, purchasing new brakes for my car, working, more cleaning, dusting – lots and lots of dusting, packing, even more driving, unpacking, eating and SCRAPBOOKING!

for the last two weeks I have averaged about 2-4 hours of sleep per night.

I just know you feel sorry for me, right?

If you don’t, you should (not really).

Paradise ScrapbookBoutique

My happy place. A place where I am surrounded by friends, love, laughter, good food and plenty of beautiful scrapbooking supplies.

With help from my handy dandy camera, I’ve photographed some of the wonderful faces, places and most of the craziness that has been my life the past few weeks. I will share some of my photos soon. For now, I’m headed to bed, straight to the sweet, comfy, warm loveliness that will sooth my tired body.

xoxo, Christie

To all my State-side friends…

I hope that you enjoy a blessed Independence Day.

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It’s been awhile

This Summer has proven to be not only busy

but really, really FUN!

Laura and her girls, Hannah and Abigale visited last week.

They braved the 14 hour trip from California to Idaho

and arrived intact and happy!

Laura, 7 months pregnant with two little ones…

She is the very definition of brave.

Amongst the trips to the Splash Park,

Yellowstone’s Bear World

and Old Faithful.

We also had a quick trip to the Emergency Room.

Yep,

The. Emergency. Room.

Laura had some early contractions, which were a little too close together.

Really scary.

But alas, after close monitoring and an exam,

all was well (mostly) and they sent Laura on her merry way (a little slower than before).

She promised to take it a little easier.

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I took hundreds of photos while Laura and her girls were here…

…you know the photos will end up in future Scrapbook Pages

but I’ll share a few more anyway.

Izabelle and Hannah feeding the ducks:

Izabelle and Parker waiting for Old Faithful

(I think they looked a bit scared that It might erupt behind them while I was taking their photo):

A lazy guy at Bear World:

Also, last Wednesday was Keith’s Birthday (he’s in the photo above w/ the Bear World Crew).

I made him this card:

I have many more photos and projects to share…

Soon. Promise.

I hope that you are all enjoying your weekend!

xoxo, Christie

Where we’ll stop nobody knows…

Warning:  This is sort of a LONG POST

I’m back (to state the obvious) from my trip to Salt Lake/Provo. I have so much to share.

First of all…

Well…

Let’s back up slightly.

Before I left town, my cute little friend, Courtney came over to get some help on a layout.

This is Courtney:

Told you she’s cute!

Courtney really likes the new Graphic 45 “A Proper Gentleman” paper, so that’s the paper we used for her layout.

Here’s a peek at her finished project:

The cute men in the overalls are Courtney’s husband, Travis and his Grandfather Orville.

Here’s one of the little details that I helped her with:

Courtney is such a talented little thing.  She offered to help me sew a purse (I’m not that great a sewing).  If you want to see some of Courtney’s many, many creations – here’s a link to Courtney’s Blog.

OK.

Now, back to my Utah trip.

During the drive there, I took a few photos from the car window:

I’ve always wanted to take photos while driving in the car. This time I actually had my camera handy.

Before you get the wrong idea, I wasn’t actually behind the wheel while taking the above photos. Silly you for thinking that.  I was in the passenger seat while my mom was driving about 80 miles per hour (while many, many people passed us going goodness knows how fast).

Eh hem. Anyhoo…

Saturday I spent 9 hours in a line in front of this building:

But that’s another story for another time.

On Saturday night my Grandparents took my mom and I to see Shakespeare’s “As You Like It” at BYU in Provo. I really enjoyed it!  Oh boy those kids can act!

My Mom and I spent all day Sunday with my Grandparents.  It was so fun to be able to spend some quality time visiting with them. I always feel like I learn so much from Grandma and Grandpa every time we’re together.

…And it’s just an “added plus” that my Grandmother is a fabulous cook!

My Mom and I did sneak out for a minute on Sunday to take some photos of her old stomping grounds (from College days).  I think Mom had fun:

She looks pretty happy, right?

On our way home to Idaho, Mom and I made a couple stops before I had to get back to work (thanks for letting me be a little late for work Dad).

We found A fabulous Boutique and Bistro with treasures galore called, My Dear Lizzie in Highland, Utah. I’ll share some of my finds later but for now, you should definitely click on THIS LINK.

We also stopped HERE, which is a blast and a half – a “must visit” if you’re ever in Clearfield, Utah!

Sigh.

I’m home now and all is well and crazy-busy as usual.

A couple of shameless plugs:

THIS project of mine is now for sale at Scrappy Gourmet:

I’m also finished creating the Graphic 45 “Beach” Layout Class that I’ll be teaching at Paradise Scrapbook Boutique in California next month.  Can’t wait!  Can’t wait! I’ll share a peek or two of the project after I snap some photos tomorrow.

I seriously can’t wait.  PSB is my favorite place on earth!

So, now that you have tons of little links to check out…go, run wild (click wild?) and be free!

Overwhelmed with beauty…today was another super-fun-can’t-get-enough-must-see-more day!  CHA is a total sensory overload (in a good way).  My head is spinning and my creativity tank is reading “FULL” again.

There is just SO much to share…but here a few of my favorite photos from today:

7 Gypsies:

Vintaj:

Teresa Collins:

G.C.D. Studios:

The Girls’ Paperie:

Tim Holtz:

…just a hint of the inspiration that I felt today.

xoxo, Christie

I didn’t get a lot of sleep last weekend but I sure got a lot done!

I spent the weekend pigging out on more than just food, I had my fair share of paper too!

Last weekend was Paradise Scrapbook Boutique’s 3rd Anniversary crop!  I had a blast spending time with all my scrapbooking pals in California!  It was worth the 13 hour drive to get there.

Karen, the store owner had set up beautiful product displays…check out her fantastic Halloween display:

Karen even hung purple lights wrapped around black branches from the ceiling.  Brilliant!

I know, it totally makes you want to create right?

Karen purchased  some of the new Graphic 45 Domestic Goddess paper to display in her refrigerator. My little G45 book is on the top shelf (I know, I know…it’s a shameless plug).

There was a whole Kitchen/Cooking theme for the crop. They gave away wonderful Cooking Themed goodies and product all weekend! We were so spoiled. I even won the grand prize on Friday night!  A brand new White Ribbon Box by Making Memories!  Thanks Karen!

(I tried to find a photo of the Ribbon Box online, here’s a link: Ribbon Storage).

Karen gave everyone a naked recipe box and the new Haute Cuisine Paper by, Teresa Collins as a free gift (along with other goodies) at the Saturday Crop.  Karen asked me to make a sample using the recipe box and TC paper for her display.

Me?  Play with paper?

Gosh, twist my arm.

I totally obliged.

Here’s a couple shots of the recipe box on display with the Teresa Collins paper:

I had tons of fun at the two-day crop and laughed until my side hurt all weekend!

…totally worth the 13 hour drive back home again.