HERE you go…

As you animal lovers know, having a dog is sometimes pretty close to having a child. Well, I lost my beloved dog, Dallas, this morning. He was killed by 2 dogs that live next door, aggressive ones that we’ve complained about to Animal Control since the family moved in last summer. I’m beyond devastated. We called Dallie “our firstborn” because he was our spoiled rotten baby before we had kids. He was just a love, sweet and smart and fun. Well, I’ll be signing off for a bit, don’t know when I’ll feel like writing again. Here’s a layout I posted before…about Dallas. Please say a prayer for my baby.

Just thought I’d share a Challenge I posted over on the All Moments Remembered MESSAGE BOARD. If you’re not already a member over there, you should come join us…I’m dangling a little RAK and maybe a SPECIAL RAK in front of you. Here, scrapper, scrapper….come to mama! Seriously though, we have a blast over there. Everyone is so nice, so supportive, so helpful and not a snarky tone ever to be heard. It’s refreshing and I know you would like it.

{Note: For all the AMR pimping I do, you’d think I was a paid sponsor or something. But really, truly I’m not. I just believe in sharing good things with you…that’s my only motivation. I pinky swear…}

Okay, here’s a short version of the challenge….to see the whole thing, go HERE.

Let’s get rid of all the scrap stuff that, while still in excellent shape, we’ll never use. It’s just taking up space and clogging our creativity. Don’t you feel the Urge to Purge?!?

Thanks for playing I can’t wait to hear about what you sell, and what you get to buy at All Moments Remembered!!

Then I posted some tips for selling your scrap stuff on CRAIGSLIST. My bud Jingle (Jennifer aka Queen of Chat) posted some wonderful E-BAY tips. Hope you come join our challenge!

Thanks to a post by VERONICA/Miss Onigur at CKMB, I found this cool new storage line that is at or will be coming soon to a Target near you…and it looks perfect for scrapbooking storage. Can I hear a WHOO HOO?!?

It’s called ITSO and here’s a pic of the storage cube, which measures 14.75 x 14.75 x 14.75″ and costs $26 for a set of 2.

Here’s a LINK to what they called Craft Room and there are 5 items there, including these Storage Drawers (2) which cost $50 for both.

It says it’s made of “sturdy plastic” so I’m wondering if this system can hold up to all the heavy papers, punches and other scrap crap we tend to load it up with. Oh darn, guess I’ll have to buy a cube to find out, LOL!

If you want to take a look at the entire ITSO line at Target, HERE is the link. After cruising around their offerings a bit, here are a couple more of my favorite items…not just for scrapbooking storage, but for anywhere in the home.

Small Fabric Bin, $12 for a 2-pack

Cube with 2 Drawers, Maple for $40

What do you think of ITSO??

EMILIE AHERN {one of my fave bloggers and I adore her blog music} posted a review of the new CRICUT SOLUTIONS SHAPE STORAGE BINDER over HERE on the Craft Critique blog.

I really appreciate that she did, as I’m now convinced I DON’T need to spend my money on one. What do you think? Will you or have you? Love to hear some more reviews…

While you’re over at CRAFT CRITIQUE, I hope you’ll look around. It’s a wonderful blog if you need to find a review of a craft product. For instance, I enjoyed reading the review of one of my latest obsessions, STICKLES (which I buy, of course, at ALL MOMENTS REMEMBERED). Also, I found THIS review of the new flocking system by Doodlebug Designs. The company I’m a consultant for, MEMORY WORKS, recently started to carry this product and I can’t wait to get my hands on it! The review at Craft Critique just got me more excited :) So go take a browser over there at CC…good stuff.

Speaking of AMR, Stacey is adding a lot of new products recently. All that overdue CHA stuff must finally be hitting her doorstep, LOL! Check out these cool JOURNALING TICKETS by her boyfriend Timmy (aka TIM HOLTZ). I just love ‘em, and lots of other new stuff at AMR so go check out the store! Stacey BLOGS about the new stuff as she adds it, and you just aren’t going to find better or sweeter customer service anywhere. If you order from Stacey, you’re a forever friend and will be treated like gold…

HERE is the latest Mike’s coupon, good for 40% off any item (except Cricut) through June 28, 2008.

And speaking of Michaels, I wandered through there the other day and took some photos with my iPhone. Come on a tour with me, won’t you?

Ladies, it is a momentous day in scrapbooking history. My Mike’s got their first ever sets of acrylic stamps. Well, I mean large sets, not just the little dollar sets. These are pretty rockin’. I’ve heard others talking about them on CKMB and such but never thought I’d see them in my lifetime, but there they were. And $4.99 seems like a good price…

These are on my list…oh, the journaling possibilities!

And these too…wouldn’t they be fun to stamp in any different color, and then use Stickles in the dots??

One of my favorite words ever is in this pack…can you guess what it is?

These epoxy alphas with some bling were new; they come in black or silver. There were other sets that were patterned and brighter colors too. I’d never seen this brand at Mike’s before…wow, they’re living dangerously over there, aren’t they?

Next was a row and a half of new bling. Oh, what to choose, what to choose??

The border punches are multiplying but, nope, not a one of the ever popular FISKARS THREADING WATER PUNCH.

All kindza new Prima flower goodness…

I saw this bottle and immediately thought….”beach layouts”. The colors are so soft and ocean-y. I’ll be back with a coupon for these, oh yeah.

Still not a big Martha Stewart fan, but I thought these gift tags would make cool journaling spots.

My Mike’s still had plenty of Skittles, and on Clearance no less! They were in two different sections of the store so if you’re looking for some in your Mike’s, you might need to make the rounds of the entire store.

I went looking for “uh” foam sheet or three {cuz I’ve heard several places lately ~ including HERE ~ it makes your stamping sharper if you put some under your work}. but didn’t want to shell out 8 bucks when I only needed a few. Hmmmm…maybe I could sell them on E-Bay for a dollar a sheet, LOL. Nah….

Well, about the time I took my second photo of Skittles, store employees started giving me the stink eye. Did they think I was some kind of Skittle Spy? I dunno but the iPhone went back in my purse. I checked the mags and the dollar bins, with nothing new. You probably won’t believe me but I left the store empty-handed. Yes, I really really did! Um, no cash, no coupon, no want hubby to see another Mike’s charge on the debit card. Like any good member of the Scrapbook Obsessed, I took photos and made mental notes, all in preparation for future trips to Michaels.

Our tour is now over. You may return your seats to the upright position and please exit to the left over the wing. Thank you for flying Scrapbook Obsession…

My Best Scrap Pal in the World” Gay sent to them to me for a belated birthday prezzie! I’m SO excited!! I’ve been wanting these MONTH stamps but my stupid Mike’s hasn’t carried them so far. Maybe we’ll get them in 2011 but I don’t want to wait that long, so thanks Gay! You totally rawk, girlie!

Oh, in case you were wonderin’ (yeah, I KNOW you were….), there are 4 more sets in this series: 3 sets of alphas and a random flowery one. Personally, I didn’t want those 4 other sets; don’t think I would use the alphas and I’ve heard they’re so small, they don’t stick to the acrylic block uh-TALL. And I have enough random flowery Studio G stamps already. I mean, if someone were standing on the street corner handing them out with a free Starbucks and a free large fries from McDonalds, I’d TAKE them, but here’s a pic of the complete Series 12 for those who would like to collect them all:

Okay, here’s the rest of my goodies from my Best Scrap Pal Ever…

She gots me sum MAMBI rub-ons and Soft Spoken with a Family/Faith theme, as we have vowed to both work on our Faithbooks. Along that line, Gay shared with me her favorite Bible study author, Beth Moore. Then some yummy brown Stickles, clear skittles, and a beautiful handmade card. I SO don’t have cardmaking talent, so I really appreciate it in those who do. It’s just so, so pretty.

THANK YOU SCRAP PAL!! Luv ya!! Mwuh, mwuh!! Watchie your mail for a lil thank ya…

AARON JOHNSON, the artist at WHAT THE DUCK, wrote to let me know he posted this funny that scrappers would enjoy.

I’m glad he did, because I really enjoyed looking around his site. I found these cool tees:

This funny…

…and tons of other photography-related strips. It’s just a fun site, so go check it out whenever you need a chuckle. Thanks Aaron!!

A HUGE “thank you” to grammy-b/Bren on the AMR MESSAGE BOARD for hosting the FATHER’s DAY CHALLENGE. I was very scared to scrap about my dad, who died almost 15 years ago. Thanks to the challenge, and encouragement I received from my AMR friends {who truly ARE my friends!}, I did it.

WARNING: If extremely personal journaling makes you uncomfortable, don’t read this, LOL!

ETA: I see that when I enlarged the photo, it made it too blurry to read so here’s the journaling:

Daddy,

And I wish you were here.

At first, I thought I’d just post it over at AMR because those girls make me feel so secure. I know they won’t take it lightly, won’t criticize or see the imperfections. But then I figured, what the hey, let’s post it to the blog too. Scrappers are nice people and it’s OKAY to share parts of yourself, right? So thanks for looking and maybe I can Pay It Forward by inspiring YOU to scrap about something you’ve been avoiding because it’s too painful…

…the Lifetime program with the “scrapbooker murderer” that I talked about HERE, will air again on Sunday, June 22nd at 5pm. That’s PST, so adjust for your local time zone. It was a very interesting show…I hope you catch it :)