Rub a Dub Dub ~ Faux Hawks in the Tub! Tub time with Drakie.
Rub a Dub Dub ~ Faux Hawks in the Tub
CHA: Craft & Hobby Association ROCKS!
I had the coolest experience at CHA {The Craft and Hobby Association Expo} and even though it was months ago, I just couldn’t resist telling you all about it. It’s so beautiful and there are craft supplies everywhere you look. It’s a crafters dream!
* I must apologize for my terrible pictures. I just got a new camera so I am so excited to learn how to use it and take amazing photos for you fab gals. {wink}
I flew directly from Blissdom {a blogging conference} to CHA in LA with Jen, Marie, Beckie, and Kami. It was awesome to get to know these amazing women so much better. I’m always amazed when I find other women who have the same passions and insterests that I do. {snicker}
Cindy – Jen – Kami – Heather – Marie – Me – Beckie – Amy
We weren’t the only bloggers there! We met up with so many others who also share our addiction to paper, products, and things that glitter.
CHA is an expo where stores buy their products direct from the maunfaturer and some serious business goes down. You’re talking major transactions where all of the newest inventions and products are demonstrated and purchased.
And then there was me… I had the best time taking photo ops, meeting cool and important people, and simply doing my thing.
All of the booths were seriously so impressive and beautiful!
My favorite was the DCWV booth as they made a runway of paper dresses that were to die for!
DCWV had several parties all set up and paper flowers everywhere. I just loved it.
Everywhere you looked people where getting their craft on. Seriously, you could have spent the entire weekend just making projects using the latest and greatest gadgets. {amazing!}
I learned so much about the craft industry and met business owners, PR directors, and other seriously cool people that I hope to work with in the near future. It’s an expo that I’ll attend every year for sure!
Hands down the most fun we had at CHA the Provo Craft party. They had the stars of ‘So You Think You Can Dance’ (Season 4) as the entertainment. We danced, sang, took some crazy pictures, made a flip book, and really enjoyed the night.
Kami made this fabulous recap video of the Provo Craft Party as they were celebrating their 5th year of the Cricut. It was seriously so much fun. They know how to par-tay!
Holi Powder War ~ aka Billy’s Mystery Baseball Party
{Our Before Picture}
Over the weekend Lisa {my sister} threw her man a mystery baseball birthday party. When we were brainstorming themes I quickly remembered the Holi Powder party I featured from Jordan’s blog in 2007. I’ve been dying to do it since the day I read about her outrageous party!
{We warned each guest in the invite to wear grubby clothes and old shoes.}
After discovering that we wouldn’t be able to buy the Holi Powder in bulk, we decided to use it to play baseball. This way it would last a little longer and we would all be engaged in a fun game.
Where did we get the holi powder?
Lisa purchased twenty four 7oz packages from Bombay Bazzaar in Arlington. She negotiated the price of $2 a package. In your area, Google “india store” and then call around asking if they sell “holi powder”.
It was perfect since all our men have been on the same softball team for years and the season just started.
How did we play?
Lisa pored small amounts of the holi powder in a square of fabric and then tied it together with yarn the morning of the game. During the game she grabbed a fabric pouch and then inserted it into a wiffle ball and untied the yarn, so it would explode the powder on impact.
Where did we play?
Um…. we found a flat spot in my green belt and set up the game. {my poor neighbors, HA!}
How Did We Make the Shirts?
We made ‘Team Billy’ t-shirts using iron on printable transfer paper from Michaels. {$10 for 10 sheets} It came with software instructions, so the design was easy to make.
In the middle of the bullseye is Billy’s face! {snicker} We wanted everyone in white so the pictures would be uber fab! Also, we didn’t want to ruin anyone’s clothes.
Tip: The holi powder goes through at least 3 layers of clothing. Do not wear your favorite bra! {just sayin’}
It was such an easy party to plan. Lisa hired a professional photographer to take pictures of the game so we could all sit back and just have fun. It was worth every penny! The photographer did such an amazing job and edited the pictures so beautifully. Now we’ll remember this day forever!
How To Tag People Out?
To get a player OUT at each base, the baseman had to have the wiffle ball in their hand AND tag the other team member in the bullseye with their bottle of holi powder.
We bought the clear empty ketchup bottles from Walmart. One package filled the bottle to the top. I made little fabric holsters for each base. However, it didn’t end up being necessary. It was better to have the bottle in your hand ready to go. {wink}
Instead of being graceful and a productive team member, I missed the ball and it beamed me right in the forehead. {“L” on forehead with a big red dot!} I suck.
When it was time for our giant color fight, Jason took me aside to give me some pointers. Yep, my man had my back! {he knows I need it. snicker}
Then it was on! Every man/woman for themselves.
With bags of powder in hand we just went to town throwing handfuls of powder at each other!
Lisa and the Birthday Boy
Billy got the brunt of it. {bwaahaa!}
This is my favorite picture of the day. Happy Birthday Billy!
{Our After Picture}
Party Favors ~ Big League Chew
I didn’t get a picture of the party favor. But I cut out blue paper the length of the big league chew. Then printed the “team billy” image small {from the tshirt graphic} onto white paper. Fold the blue paper in half (1/2 on front and 1/2 on back of gum) and put the “team billy” on top of the blue paper and I stapled it onto Big League chew on the black line of the graphic {under team billy}. It was so simple. Jason actually made them all.
Thanks Lisa! It was the most amazing day and one I’ll never forget. I swear I have the best sister on the planet.
Mom Casting Video Submission ~ Laurie {Tip Junkie}
Boy do I have a silly treat for you today. {{snicker}} A fabulous friend of mine {and someone who I greatly admire) guilt-tweated me into posting a Mom Casting video submission for the new blogger reality show that’s in the works. {{bwaahaa!}}
I’m only doing this for YOU my dear Ciaran. Only for you! and Yes “guilt-tweeted” is a word.
In all honesty, there’s no way that I’ll be chosen so I’m not worried about it. The blogosphere is filled to the brim with successful mormon-mommy-bloggers to be the resident LDS reality show contestant. Most of whom are way more talented than little ol’ me.
Why did I finally cave and do the video? Well… a while ago, I realized that I was sabotaging myself and not accepting offers because I was scared that I wouldn’t be able to pull it off, or that I would be so nervious I’d be a sweaty mess.
So I decided to stop that behavior immediately and just take what comes my way. You never know where it will lead. So with my new attidude, I’m considering all offers that I get no matter what. {{snicker}}
Carpe diem.
Time To Purge
More often than I’d like to admit, I get into these moods to throw things away. It stems from the attitude of “the more you have ~ the more you have to take care of”. {{giggle}}
It usually happens when I’m feeling overwhelmed or majorly stressed out. It just feels good to get rid of all the things we are no longer using in my home. This time I tackled one of the attics: The Toy Attic.
Now that my baby is no longer a baby {and refuses to play with anything that’s not Batman} I felt like the time had come to donate all the toys we don’t plan on keeping for the grandkids.
{{um yes, I’m praying for grandkids already!}}
That means that almost everything got donated to Goodwill. We had to stuff both of our cars to the ceiling in order to make it in one trip.
It was a milestone in our lives for sure; getting rid of 12 years of birthdays, christmases, and behavior chart rewards. Anyone who knows me, knows that I adore toys and am bit of a collector.
I guess you could say that we’re entering into a new era of our lives. It’s exciting and a little sad at the same time. I’m going to miss the playtime and how simple life once was when a new matchbox car would light up a face of a little boy.
Now things are much more complicated {and expensive}. It’s true what they say, time goes by so fast when they’re young.
All The Ways I Love You ~ Drake’s Reaction
As a speaker at BlissDom, you get mailed a box of fabulous swag from the sponsors. This year Hallmark sent a recordable book with a note saying that they know how hard it is to leave your little ones and so here is something to help make the time apart a little easier.
Isn’t that so thoughtful! I know, I know. The guys over at Hallmark are marketing geniuses. But it really meant a lot to me since it is really hard getting away.
Here is Drake {and the boys} reactions to the book when I gave it to him. {{giggle}} <– that’s a link to our YouTube video.
xoxo,
Laurie
Blast from the Past
I found this picture today of Drake at 19 months. {{bwaahaa!}}
I needed the laugh as I had a parent/teacher conference with Drake’s preschool teacher today. It looks like he’s not ready to advance to Kindergarten. {{huge sigh}}
The good news is that his preschool has a kindergarten program. The classes are a lot smaller and he would get the one-on-one attention he needs. So he could attend there and then if he wasn’t ready to advance to 1st grade, we’d put him in a public school Kindergarten. It might make the “hold back” a little less obvious or traumatic.
The problem isn’t that Drake’s not smart, it’s that he’s not maturing at the same pace as the other boys in his class. Yes, it’s obvious that Drake isn’t at the same stage – but I guess I just thought that he would step it up in Kindergarten. His teacher is amazing and I can tell she has his best interests at heart. So most likely we’ll put him in Kindergarten program at the church.
Davis and Dylan both had to wait an extra year for Kindergarten and they are both better for it. It’s just a bummer that we have to do this for Drake as well.
Selfishly, I’ve really been looking forward to not having pay for preschool. Now it looks like we’ll have to pay double for kindergarten.
just my luck…
Lessons from the Master Class on OWN
Honestly, I’m not one that likes change. {{gasp!}} I know, I know. You wouldn’t think so considering how often I change my hair, how often I redesign Tip Junkie, and the fact that I’m in social media {which changes weekly}.
So when Oprah announced that she was starting her OWN network {{bwaahaa on the pun}} I was happy for her but bummed for change.
Yes, I am a HUGE Oprah fan! Why? Well, there are many reasons but the biggest is that she empowers women. I was a new mommy when she was doing her “self-help” series of shows and I really needed it during that time in my life. Quite frankly, she was the only one there day in and day out – telling me that I can be my best self! I just adore her for that.
She has many new shows but the one that I’m really excited about is “Master Class“. It’s a biography series that shares hard-won insight from extraordinary achievers whose paths have inspired Oprah—and countless others.
This week it was Simon Cowell from American Idol {to name 1 of his accomplishments}. It was so empowering! I absolutely loved it. You’ll have to DVR it, but in a nutshell here are his lessons that he shared:
- Talk 10% of the time and listen 90%.
- Learn from people smarter than you.
- Don’t be afraid to have an opinion.
- Learn to trust your instincts.
- Be open to discovery.
- Remember you know the truth when you hear it.
- Have some fun along the way.
Yes, I’m a bit of a dude when it comes to my love of business and earning money. I’m not great at it. {{I’m not the sharpest tool in the shed}} But it’s a lot of fun for me, as I play it as a game. The past 6 months I finally “figured some things out” and I’m slated to hit 1 million page views on TipJunkie.com this month. {{that’s huge!}}
Considering that in July I was at 250,000 page views ~ this new number is quite impressive. I’m so excited to see what happens in the next few months when I launch some other fun things that I’ve been working on.
The Master Class is exactly what I need in my life right now. Seeing how others have risen against trial and what they’ve learned along the way is my kind of show. As an “entrepreneur wanna be” I found it completely inspiring. I’m paying close attention to warning signs and what “not to do” as the last thing I want is to screw this whole thing up. {{giggle}}
Broken Jewlery Crafting
You may remember a while back when I made a few broken jewelry projects for Charming Charlie. Well now that things have settled down, I wanted to use the rest of the jewelry they sent me to make a jeweled wood letter for one of my readers!
On a whim, I uploaded a giveaway onto Tip Junkie a week later, I picked a random winner. Of course, her letter was “E” one of the biggest letters in the alphabet. {{giggle}} That thing used SO much jewelry and was HEAVY! Poor thing – I don’t envy her trying to mount that bad boy on a frame. {{snicker}}
I think it turned out gorgeous! It took me 6 hours to make as my jewelry supply was quickly diminishing and I was having to make cute pieces out of random pieces by hot gluing them together. It was quite the project – but a stunning end result. The picture doesn’t do it justice – it’s breathtaking.
Afterwards, I was so bummed that I didn’t make one for ME! {{d’oh!}} Dude, I’m a looser. But I’m so glad that I was able to make one for a deserving reader.
My index finger on my left hand got in the way at one point and now I have the grodiest hot glue gun burn on it. Drake was so grossed out he wouldn’t let me touch him for 2 days after seeing it! Now I have to promise that it’s almost healed before he’ll kiss me.
{{yeah – it’s that gross}} So I’ll spare you the shock and won’t upload a photo.
This is the “C” that I made for Chanda. She’s been working for me on Tip Junkie and I cannot tell you how much her help has meant to me. To say that she’s been a lifesaver is an understatement. I wanted to do something for her to let her know how much I appreciate all her hard work! This is how it turned out!
What do you think?
Reliving Christmas Memories {cuz I’m finally uploading them – HA!}
{Visiting Nana}
Ahhh, Christmas memories… This year December was a complete blur as I overcommitted myself with work. It was a good kind of work which brought once-in-a-lifetime opportunities and made this Christmas extra special for our family.
I worked with TJ Maxx/Marshalls and GameStop which was a lot of fun and once again made me get out of my comfort zone and learn something new.
I also launched 4 new sites, which took me 2 months just to design on paper {{giggle}}:
Tip Junkie Homemade Gift Ideas and Patterns
I adore these new sites! Not only are the Tip Junkie girls all dressed up cute, but these new blogs feature “the best of the best” within their niche. They are perfect for quick browsing with powerful search functionality. {{love it!}}
They have exceeded my expectations and I believe are the next generation of “content aggregation” blogs. Believe it or not, they are only in phase 1 – as I have big plans for these new Tip Junkie girls. {{evil laugh}}
{Drake w/ Barry’s Kids}
I was teaching them to tilt their head for the photo. HA!
I was teaching them to tilt their head for the photo. HA!
We visited a lot of family before Christmas. Scott {my 3rd brother} game up from College Station for a quick visit. It was great to see him and the boys LOVED rough-housing with him. He reminded me so much of the time when Jason was in college and I was working. Man, that was such a stressful time in our lives. Being broke and not knowing what the future holds – just sucks! {{poor Scott}}
Then we headed over to Houston and saw my Mom and Barry’s family {my 2nd brother}. My mother flew in from California for Christmas. Sadly, I only took one picture while we were visiting. I was having so much fun – I completely forgot to capture the moments on film. {{“L” on forehead}}
Lastly, we spent a couple days with Jason’s family. Betty {Jason’s mom} and Gary live on the river. So the boys had so much fun fishing, shooting, and all things outdoors.
After several attempts, Drakie finally successfully fed the cat 1/2 a fish. Yep, we had just caught it from the river and Gramma chopped it up for Drake to feed it to the cat. {{grodie}} Not your everyday occurrence in the burbs where we live. {{snicker}}
As the sun was setting I took a quick picture of Jason and I on the dock. {{awe!}}
It just goes to show that “environment” has a LOT to do with your upbringing. Who would have known that three little computer nerds would love being outdoors so much! I can’t pay them to play in the back yard at home. I guess I need a … lake… dead fish … tractor… ?
{sigh} Ok. So I married a native Texan. Yes, when I met Jason he was a wrangler wearing cowboy who ironed his jeans. {no kidding} I’ve done a great job at prepping him up – but a girl can only do so much.
Jason fondly remembers getting his first gun when he was 10. Therefore, he’s been wanting to get the boys a gun for quite a while now. Living in the burbs – I’ve been able to successfully dodge this issue for quite some time now. Well, no longer…
As of this Christmas, my boys are now the proud owners of their own air pellet gun. {{what?!?}} I know, I know. I assure you it was beyond my control.
We let them open it up early since we were in the country at Gramma’s & Grandpas. They have their own little shooting range all set up and ready to go. So Jason and the older boys spent days shooting guns.
Seeing how strict Jason and Grandpa were with them, and how particular they were with the rules, I have to say that I’m no longer freaked out. I was seriously impressed at how careful the boys were and how much they respected the rules and understood the seriousness of holding a rifle. They spent hours just learning about guns, safety, and proper technique. I would have thought they would have gotten majorly bored – but they didn’t.
It’s so weird seeing my little boys grow up right before my eyes!
Christmas Morning
So the ONLY thing Drake wanted for Christmas was the Trio Batcave. Santa did not disappoint. Drake could not have been happier Christmas morning. Although, to this day – he has yet to play with it alone. {{pulling hair out!}} He’ll only play with it if I make on of the boys play with him. Dude – I don’t get this kid. He spent 2 months asking for it. {{scratching head}}
For the older boys, I set up a 3 clue scavenger hunt for them to find their big gift from Jason and me. Sorry Santa – you don’t get credit for this one. It’s all mine! {{evil laugh}}
After running up and down and around the house, the boys arrived into the study where their new computers where waiting for them! They were blown away and completely shocked. It was a cool moment as a parent.
Jason’s work has this program where they earn “reward points”. Over the year, he had earned enough points for 2 free computer monitors. {{squeal}} Shhhh… don’t tell the boys but their gifts were not as expensive as they appear. Jason built the CPU’s. Now Jason, Davis, and Dylan can all play their game against each other at the same time! They’re loving it.
It’s not very often that you get to look like a rockstar in your child’s eyes. Jason and I thoroughly enjoyed this moment. {{boy do we have them fooled}}
I have a philosophy for Christmas morning fun for everyone. Therefore, I try to get the boys:
Something to build
A video game to play
A toy for their imagination (usually the toy to build)
Something to play with outside
A board game
A big gift from Santa
Pre-Christmas work is mine, but Christmas Day work is a Jason! He’s the one that gets to put batteries in everything, put things together, and do all the dude stuff. He’s great at it.
Like last year, most of the kiddos gifts came from the companies I worked with. GameStop sent Drake a new DSi and some games. {{thank heaven}} He loves it.
Jason got a smoker and a gaming mouse for WOW. My gifts came from TJ Maxx & Marshalls. I was boring and very practical: new plates, pot, towels, and bathroom decor for Dylan’s bathroom. I know, I’m so boring. I can’t help it.
{Davis is always good at being overly grateful}}
Christmas morning was a wonderful memory that we’ll all cherish for years to come. Looking back, I’m just so flippin’ grateful for the opportunities that Tip Junkie has given us.
Even the boys have expressed their gratitude for “my store”. That’s what I started calling it years ago when they were too young to understand what a blog was. Our lives have most certainly been enriched. I’ll always be most grateful for this ride and this special opportunity of doing what I love. It’s so rare.