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It's been 5 weeks since I last posted anything. I've been sick more than not this past month. Sinus infection, cold, sinus infection, again!

A few updates...

We were Flocked last week.





It's a great fund raising idea. To raise money for the High School Senior's Senior Night Out Party families can pay $20 to have other families flocked. To get them removed we had to pay $20. Of course the day we were flocked we had 50 mile an hour winds. My darling Husband was afraid our Pink Flamingos might take flight and go through our bay window so he pulled them all out, the spoil-sport. LOL

Tim celebrated his 16th birthday. He wanted a tatoo. I convinced him it was not a good idea. I blackmailed him is more like it. I told him if he got a tatoo, I would do everything in my power to keep him from getting his driver's permit and license. He changed his mind about the tattoo idea. Instead he brought back up an issue when he was 13. He wanted to get his ears pierced. I told him at the time, " not at 13, if you still want them when you are 16, I will take you to get them done." So, he got his ears pierced. I am hoping it is just a phase and he will take them out.

I did scrap a layout about it, though.





Kelly made the High School Basketball team. That was a great accomplishment. Over 40 girls tried out for 15 spots. This means she is on 2 Basketball leagues so our evening and weekends will be spent courtside but she loves it!!





I can't take credit for this layout. It was a kit from www.outonalimbscrapbooking.com
It is a great company that puts out 2 - 3 new page kits a day!!! The price is great, too. they kits run $6 - $8 each. I paid up to $14 for kits from other companies so you should check them out.

Well, that is it for now. Time to start dinner.

Trying to find my groove

Haven't posted in a while. Started a new job back in September and it has really been burning me out. I am only working 25 hours a week, but I have been coming home exhausted every single day.
I went from working in the office of a Middle School which I absolutely loved doing!!! To this year being a Teacher's Aide in a special needs classroom. I can see myself learning to love this job, as well. I am just having a hard time adjusting to the major change in duties. There is a Teacher, 4 full time aides and 1 part time aide. We have 9 students all ranging from 3 to 5 years old and all have developmental or medical issues. So we are physically active every minute of the 25 hours we are there. All but one are still in diapers and need to get changed 3 times a day. Most need help eating snacks and lunching. All need help with their class work (coloring, cutting, glueing ect) We could have 9 adults and I think it would still be an exhaustung job. LOL

This week I finally let out my fustrations to the Assistant Principal. I love the people I work with as well as all the kids, I just have no clue what I am doing!!! I have never worked in a classroom before. She is planning some training for us but asked me to find what I do best and offer it up to the teacher. Duh? Why didn't I think of that. I love crafts!!! I can take over that part of our day. I can plan our daily craft project and run with it. Yes, maybe I did find my groove. I will see how it goes!

I already have something planned for next week. I Thanksgiving project. I will post a photo of what we make later.

Do you know how to use Copic Markers?

I have been playing with my markers today. Each time, I think I finally have the technique down then I learn something new. My WOW moment today was this.
When I color an image in I take my lightesst shade and color in little swirly circles. Then I would use the next shade and color right up to the edge of the lighter color. Next I would try to blend these two colors together with the blender pen. WRONG! I found out today that you start with the lighter color, but you color the whole area with the lighter color. Then you go over whatever part you want darker with the next shade. Then go back over the whole thing again with the lighter color. This is how the colors blend together!!!

So now I want more markers. I did find a chart to keep track of my colors. If you go onto the Copic website and search for Libary you can download a color chart then mark the colors you have. I thought I had a good start up set but after filling in this chart my collection looks pretty pathetic. LOL

My other classes

Xyron also has contacted me about teaching classes for their new Creatopia machine. My new toy arrived today and I have been playing with it a little. I plan to try it out alot more tomorrow.

What I do know so far is: This machine does the work of 5 other machines. The awesome thing about this one is, it can work on materials up to 12 1/2 inches wide!! It adds permanent or repostionable adhesive, it laminates, it has a fabric adhesive, It can add adhesive to thicker objects than the other Xyron machines can (foam, cardstock, Chipboard, cork, even thin wood) It also embosses, cuts with multiple blades, and it can replace your manual die cut machine using the dies you already own. I will get more familiar with it when I have a little more time to play with it. But I am loving it so far!

SDU Instructor

EK Success asked me to be an Instructor for them and teach SDU classes at the Micheals in Braintree. Anyone looking to learn basic Scrapbook Design skills should look into these classes. I took the class myself about 5 years ago and it was great then. Since then EK Success has updated the whole system and it is going to be Great class. Micheal's is just waiting for class supplies to arrive and we will set up the class schedule. I am guessing late August or early September these should start. The class is 4 weeks long with each class lasted 2 hours.

Have you ever read a book that was too good to finish?

Every night before falling asleep I look forward to reading just a page or two of my latest book. I don't want rush it. I want to savor every paragraph, every line, every word... I have been reading this series since the first one came out 18 years ago. the year I got married. Outlander by Diane Gabaldon. The love story of Claire and Jamie Fraser. There was a new book a year for the first 3, This was great. I was newly married, no children yet. these boosk were wonderful! Then the next books started getting more spread out over time. The 4th book Drums of Autumn didn't come out until my 2nd child was a year old. Book 5, "The Fiery Cross" when my oldest was in first grade. It took 4 years before Breath of Snow ans Ashes came out. Now this, Book # 7 is here. Echo in the Bone It was on sale in late September, if I remember correctly. I was probably one of the first to hold it in my hands. Who knows when the next will come out, if there even is a next book. 18 years to find out how the love story ends. I don't want it to end. Maybe it wont but in the meantime I am enjoying the story. This isn't even one of Ms Gabaldon's better told stories. It is cluttered with the lives of everyone else they know but there are glimpes of Jamie and Claire. Enough of them to keep the curiosity going. I had to buy this book twice just so I could keep it with me everywhere I go. I have the big heavy hardcopy and I bought the Kindle version so I can read it even in the 5 minutes I have to spare at my kids' events. I may only be halfway though and already feel sad that this book will end. I hope everyone finds a story that is just so good they never want it to end.

More Scraproom Cleaning

I can not believe how much stuff I have in this room. No wonder I can't fit any more. Last night I went through all my tool drawers. I did find some things I didn't know I had like a Stampamajig. It was still sealed in its original package. Yikes! I am going to have to start using this little tool. I also had three, yes THREE positioning rulers. These are different versions of the stampamajig. One had the D.O.T.S logo on it. Close to My Heart has not used that logo in about 10 years or so, I think. I decided to post more things on E-Bay. I hope to do better this time. The first time around (last week) I had no clue what I was doing and practically gave every thing away. I even had to pay more than I won in the auction to ship some things. So I have learned a few lessons. I will keep my fingers crossed that things sell better this time around. Of coarse I already got rid on my best items. This time I have tools like the stamp positioners, two (2) Scor-it boards, templates, mini scrapbook kits, etc.

I am going to continue to pick through my stuff. I still have tons of scrapbook kits to go through like Leaving Prints, Magic Scraps, Club Scrap, etc, and then there are all the stamp sets I have. I am sure there is more I can clean out and get down to the basic stuff I actually do want to scrap with.
If anyone wants to look at my auctions look for the seller SHARONTUP and my stuff should come up. This round of actions are ending on Saturday March 6th. Thanks for looking.

Cleaning out more Stuff

I am posting more things on Ebay today. I starting taking photos at 8 this morning and still have not finished posting everything. Hopefully you will find something you can use. I am listed at SharonTup on E-bay. Lots of Idea Books, Sizzix alphabets, Close To My Heart stamp sets and what every else I can find to take a phots of. My DH told me I should just post photos of my whole scraproom and let people make offers. I was very insulted! I am very attached to 90% of my toys, I mean Tools! :o)

Scrap Cleaning

This is school vacation week this week, so my DH decided it was time to clean the back (scary) side of the basement. You know that part that has very little light and you simply rush in, dump stuff you don't need and rush back out. Well, I can tell you , I never realized just how much scrapping supplies I had that I have not used in years. I was so proud that my workshop was actually cleaned up to the point I could work on projects. Now EVERYTHING from the darkside that belonged to me is dumped back in my scraproom. My mess will hopefully be other scrapper's gain. I decided to try selling some stuff on E-bay. I have not done this in years and forgot just how long it takes to take photos, estimate shipping, write up descriptions for everything, etc I think I spent at least 5 hours posting stuff. I still have lots more but am going to wait and see how these things do. So if anyone is interested, go to ebay, I am listed as SharonTup. Here is a photo of the Sizzlit alphabet dies I posted.

Along with that I am trying to sell lots of Idea books: Lisa Bearnson, Close to My Heart, Creating Keepsakes, Tracy White, etc. Take a look, maybe you will find a bargain.

Other than that I have not done much. The stomach bug passed through our house. Not pleasant at all. My daughter had a very mild version, she stayed home from school for 2 days but never got sick just felt aweful. I was unfortunate enough to get the violent version of it and even a week later, my ribs and the muscles around my middle are still sore. I would not wish this bug on anyone!!

Been doing a little shopping lately. I love the new clear-mounted stamps by Stampin Up! I am hoping they give the option of ALL their stamp sets being offered with wood OR clear mount.

What else, I have expanded on my collection of Copics. I went from 6 lonely little Ciao markers and now have another 26 colors in the sketch markers. At first, I didn't know what the big hype about these were. People were raving about how well they blend. Mine came out streaky and looked awful. Until someone told me not to color in lines but swirl the marker around in little circles. DUH!! They should print this right on the markers for us idiots. Now I am liking these markers so much better.

I am thinking I will post some new photos of my scraproom once I clear out my E-bay stuff. I have been cleaning out the little nitty gritty stuff. Like I organized all my ribbon scraps by color. I put them into ziplock bags and clipped on a big ring. Now when I go to crops I can clip the ring on my cup holder and have easy access to all my scraps. Another thing that was time consumer but well worth it: I had tons of buttons that I just threw in jars, well I sorted all these by color, as well. Now all the buttons, brads, beads, eyelets, buckles, clips, etc are color coded as well. Unfortunately these will not travel well, though. They are all in glass jars on my shelf.

Well I am going to end for now. It's been at least 20 minutes, time to go check my auctions. I will take some photos and add more later.

This weekends Crop.

This weekend I was back at the same hotel for a scrapping weekend hosted by a local scrapping store. My goal was to get my son's football album up to date. I had his album, all my embellishments, a new football stamp set I got just for this book along with all the football paper I could find. What I didn't have was the football photos!!! Duh! Luckily my darling husband was willing to make the drive out to the hotel and bring me not only the photos, but everything else I managed to forget to pack, like adhesive, my purse, my cutting mat, etc. I don't know what I was thinking when I packed my gear.

I only got about 7 pages done in his album then changed gears to work on a family calendar. I must have been tired of looking at photos of my son. After finishing the calendar and bringing it home, I was showing it to my daughter and realized I used all photos of her and only 2 photos with my son in them. Oops. I guess this calendar will go to work and I will have to make another one for home.

I can't believe the weekend is over already. Work tomorrow. A new secretary is starting tomorrow. Anxious to get the meet,great, and transistion part over and get back into a routine.

Another weekend of scrapping. Love it!!

Last weekend for my sister's birthday, I booked a hotel suite for a night and we stayed up all night long scrapbooking. It was so much fun. My sister had me laughing hysterically at her "snowtubing" stories. The room was great. We had a full kitchen, two tables to scrap on, plenty of space.

This is what kept us going...Mountain Dew Throwback and peanut butter. We scrapped from 4 pm on Saturday until 4:30 am Sunday morning. Needless to say I was USELESS when I got home on Sunday but I loved the pages I finished.

I took a little break, but I'm back

IT's been a week since I have written anything. My granddaughter was visiting from Florida so I was enjoying my time with her. This photo is her at my daughter's volleyball game. She was not very interested in the game. She was having too much fun dumping my purse then putting everything back in, then dumping it again.

It was great to spend time with her but she left last night and I miss her already.



We went to the Patriots game this weekend. Yes, I know it was the worse game in Patriot History but I had not been to a game in 2 years, our seats were great!! and it was Matthew and Sarah's first time at Gillette Stadium so we had fun.

Cleaning day. Oh Joy!

Well, This is my last day off. School re-opens tomorrow. 11 days off and it feels like it flew by. I had so much I planned to get done but didn't. I have a ton of thank you cards I have not even started. the laundry pile is taller then the washing machine. I did get the Christmas decorations down so at least one thing got accomplished. Now I need to get the tree out of the living room. How do you take your tree out. I almost just tipped the whole thing over to drag it out when I realized there is probably still water in the base...there is. I tried to unscrew the bolts holding the tree into the stand but my darling DH has them so tight I can't even turn them. I was really hoping to get my living room back to normal today.

My DH surprised me this morning with his question...
"When are you going away on another one of your scrapbooking conventions or crops or whatever you call them?" I immediately ask "WHY?" You won't believe his answer...
"Because you always come home in such a good mood and I get the benefits out if it." Can you believe that? I would be worried if it was something where he told me to take the kids and leave him home alone, but no, he is willing to watch the kids and let me go scrap for a whole weekend! Isn't he the best husband EVER!!! You know I have already gone online to search anywhere I can go scrapping. LOL There are actually 3 or 4 events coming up within about a 100 mile radius. So I just might be planning a little get away soon.

Kelly is on her way home from her Church retreat. Other than a few little annoying things she had a great time. (2 of the 6 girls sharing a room would not stop talking so none of the girls got to sleep the 1st night, Her lipped got terribly chapped without and chapstick with her, her phone gotten taken away by one of the group leader this was fine by me, but she wasn't happy about it, though)

I was looking at Yahoo Groups and saw one that dedicates each month to a Cricut Cartridge. I asked to join, Still waiting to hear, but in the meantime I thought I could do this on my own as well. What better way to learn more about the cartridges I have. If anyone reading this blog is interested in hearing more about this let me know.

Blinged my Cricut

It is snowing outside so I am content playing in my workshop today. I decided to play with some new software I ordered. It's call "Make The Cut" and it will cut any font I have on my computer with my Cricut diecut machine. So I played with it a little and was surprised at how easy it was to figure out. Now mind you I already own the Design Studio for Cricut and the Gypsy for Cricut and have not had much success figuring these 2 programs out, but I've had the Make The Cut for all of 30 minutes and already was able to Weld the letters in my name together and cut it out. Then I cut out a cute little cricket and added some glitter.

While waiting for the phone to ring

Kelly was supposed to call when they arrived. I don't know why I would think she would actually remember to do this. So while I was waiting for her call I took some more photos of my organization in my scrap room.



This is where I keep most of my punches. The ones I go to the most, anyway. I really don't use my smaller ones anymore so I brought them to school for my afterschool clubs to use.

These are most of my little embellishements (brads, buttons, flowers, etc) and then below that are my markers and the whole line of Close to My Heart ink pads.

These are my Making Memories paints. I just noticed one was missing. I used purple on the lids of my glass jars. Need to put that back. Above are some of my ribbons. I have a lot more ribbon, these shelves are just the overflow that didn't fit in my ribbon storage. To the right you can see my small collection of Copic markers. I only have about 6 or 7 so far.

I love these shelves. My DH built them right into the walls of my scrap room. Originally they were for all my Stampin Up stamps sets but I have since gone unmounted so found a better use for these shelves.

Well, on a brighter note. Kelly did finally call. She and her friends had to check in, then get settled in the bunk room, THEN they had to go out and catch snowflakes in their mouths so that is why she forgot to call. I can go to sleep now. Good night everyone.

My scraproom

Thought I would share some photos of my organization solutions. Isn't that always a New Years Resolution? To get organized. Well I spent a good part of yesterday taking all of my cricut cartridges out of their old storage system. I had the Cricut storage boxes that come in Peach for fonts and Blue for shapes and each box held 8 cartridges. Well, This system just wasn't working anymore.
I finally realized there is a lot to learn from reading the books that come with the cartridges. I never read them. I would toss them aside whenever I got a new cartridge. I never threw them away (TG) but I never looked at them either. Now I know to read the books so I like to keep them with the cartridges and overlays. So a new system was needed. After searching many YouTube videos and other search engine for storage solutions I found this one on E-Bay. Now mind you I have only had it for 1 day now but I already love that everything is together.


This is the system. I like that I have space right next to my Cricut to store it. I had to add onto the one I bought for it to work better for me. The original came with 1 thin tray for cartridges, Another thin one for tools or overlays, then 2 larger trays for books. I needed a third tray for books so I ran to Joanne's Fabrics earlier today and picked up a Christmas storage box on clearance and added it to this.



Here are my cartridges. Though I only have one empty slot left so there really isn't room for growth with this.

I now have three of these trays with my books and overlays in then. I made the index cards with labels to make it easier to find the books I need.

Kelly is on her way

two vans for the kids and group leaders. The first van is all the luggage, sleeping bags, pillows, etc

Group shot. Three church groups are going together.

Kelly and her friends.

Well, She is on her way. I could tell she was excited but aprehensive at the same time. I asked if if she wanted me to go and she asked me to wait until they left. I hope she has fun.

Another project I started

Alright, I know it doesn't look like much now, but hopefully these will look good when I am finished. It was time to clean out the refrigerator. It gets a weekly clean out of the leftovers, but after Christmas it get the major cleanout. Condiments that have been there all year get dumped. I forget what was in these 2 jars but I don't like throwing good glass jars away so decided to clean these up and use them for something. I will let you know what the finished project ends up being.

Happy New Year!

Thank goodness 2009 is finally over. This has to be a better year than last year was. I am going to try to post a photo and info each day. This 1st photo is Kelly looking out our back window. Kelly is leaving for 3 days for a Church retreat. This will be her first one. She is very excited, though I am totally expecting a call around midnight tonight. She gets terribly homesick at night. I think the problem is that she in my Night Owl. She can easily stay up unitl at least 1:00 AM every night. When she goes away and everyone falls asleep earlier she doesn't know what to do with herself so starts feeling lonely and wants to come home.
Anyway, I plan to take a photo of her as she is leaving. There is a snow storm coming, which is good and bad. I will be a nervous wreck about the bus driving home on Sunday night. but I also know the kids will have a blast playing in the snow.


This is a project I was working on last night waiting for the ball to drop. They will be Get Well cards once I add a sentiment to the inside. I love the little House Mouse stamp.

Oh, It is time to go drop off Kelly. I will add more later.