It's that time......

of year again!

That's right it's SHOW SEASON! Who is ready for some nonstop shoppin' and croppin'?!

I know we are! CKC Houston (brand new to the CK circuit) starts January 18th. That's one week from today! Don't worry though, tickets are still available. But you better hurry, because classes are filling up fast! Click on the photo to see exactly what all is going on!

Do you need some extra cash, or some new product for your supply stash? Well you are in luck...send us an email with "weekend-booth-girls" in the subject line, and you just might find yourself a temporary member of the awesome Scrap-Mart Team!

Also (this is mainly for our Houston readers) if you know of any great places to grab some delicious, non-national-chain food, we'd be interested in that too! LOL! Drop us an email with your suggestions! THANKS!

And finally ladies, be sure to check out our Bosskut sale which ends on Monday (Monday just so happens to be Laura's birthday, so be sure to wish her a happy...um...twenty-ninth!) Hurry and make those final selections - because the orders are flying out of the warehouse!!!

Justin

OH LOOKIE HERE...

Justin lives, breathes, blogs AND offers sales!

See - he lives up to his name - Sweet Justin. He does have other nicknames - but mentioning "Stud Muffin" and "Scrap-Baby J" probably would get me in trouble.

And really, I do prefer to stay out of trouble!

Now ladies, let's talk about this sale that he mentioned. BossKut dies rock my "stay-at-home-scrapper" world! I cut some of their shapes out last year for the first time - and when I was done, the heavens opened up and I heard a chorus of angels singing my name!

(Actually, the sound was similar to a warning siren - as in "ohhhhh Essie, do you need more dies??....." - but it was definitely a song. And definitely from above. Although, come to think of it, the Mister is considerably taller than me....hmmmm....)

But I digress!

Personally, I run my BossKut dies through my Revolution machine. Works great, spit-spat, just like that! And now, with this sale - I may be in trouble! A lot of these dies are large. A lot of them have two-dies to assemble into the final shape. Some that I was most excited, and most in love with include...

the Dog House It is much bigger than I pictured. And oh-so-cute when accented with a few black pen lines!

the Curious Dog is simply adorable - and is again bigger than I first thought. He looks perfectly appropriate sitting next to the dog house...especially if you poke a tiny silver brad through his collar to look like his license tag!

and the Haunted House was one of the most popular Halloween shapes last year! It is very big, is a two-die shape, and looks amazing with black Stickles all along the roof lines! And the sale price is only $9.75. If you are going to try ONE DIE to see the quality of BossKut dies - get this one! I wouldn't lie to you! You'll love it!

and finally, my most recent acquisition is the Pirate Flag. Anyone who loves Pirates of the Caribbean, has been to Disney or has a child that is always on some kind of a treasure hunt - this is the die for you. It's cute and versatile...the two things I always check for when making new purchases! AND IT'S HALF OFF!

So go check them out - they really are all great. Those are just my personal recommends. If you were asking.

And you were - weren't you?

See, I thought so!

So thanks Sweet Justin for mentioning the sale. This sale ends next Monday, when we'll be celebrating Miss Laura's (store owner, married to Mr. Doss) birthday. I'm making my famous Double Chocolate Texas Sheet Cake for the party.

"Scrap-baby J" you're in charge of filling the punch bowl!

Have a wonderful afternoon everyone.

Behave yourselves!

Are You Ready......

for another SALE?!?!?!? Just when you thought it was finally time to wind down, prop your little tired feet up, and enjoy yourself, we bust out with another sale!

BOSSKUTS are now 50% off!!! Some of the fonts are on sale for 60% off!!!!

Not familiar with the Bosskut familia? Here is a little insight into these great looking dies!!!!

You Can use All of the BOSSKUTS in your Sizzix, Accu-Kut, Big Shot and the small machines like the ZAZ and SideKick are limited to Dies that aren't larger than 2 1/2 inches.

Quickutz dies will cut superbly in our machine, along with any other company that makes a similar die. Sizzlets will need an adaptor pad that will be sold separately to work with the Boss Kut.

So jump on over and feast on the great savings!!!!

Justin

HEY SWEETIE...

yes you!

Yes Justin...YOU!!

Don't you realize that when I'm too busy to post YOU are supposed to jump in here with an educational video, a great instructional PDF or some witty twenty-something observations?

Didn't you read the memo dear?

I'm really, really busy today. I'm scouring the internet looking for CHA sneaky-peeks.

And I'm doing 27 loads of laundry.
And I need to refill my adhesive roller.
And my ribbons need to be rolled and color-coded.
And I promised the Mister that the Christmas decorations would be put away by Wednesday.

You know that. Right?

The 2-page challenge ends tomorrow - - - should we make bets on whether Sweet Justin makes a page or not?? I know he's got a new fancy-schmancy camera.

But then, maybe the dear doesn't know how to match cardstock to DaisyD paper OR use a Revolution.

Yes-siree - that's most likely it. I think that means we have our work cut out of us ladies! We must take the opportunity to educate and encourage the young males of this great country...TO SCRAPBOOK.

Just think what a great catch a single-cutie-patootie-scrapbookin' guy would be!

(insert twinkling eye roll and muffled giggle here!)

Behave yourselves!

I KNOW IT'S MY CIVIC DUTY...

but one shouldn't have to report to jury duty EIGHTY THREE MILES away from home!

It just shouldn't have to be that way.

So I admit, openly, that I went in with a poor attitude! And my actions, once I arrived, may have been just a bit over the top. Just a wee bit. But remember, exaggeration is my middle name! It has a lovely ring to it - don't you all think - Essie Exaggeration!!

But here are the steps I went through - and I'm not saying that anything I specifically DID got me excused. But I'm not going to say it didn't (wink, wink).

1. Arrive at courthouse EIGHTY THREE MILES away from home toting an unusually large picnic basket full of snacks, goodies and required sustenance AND a meeting hall-sized thermos of hot coffee.

2. Carry in an arm load of scrapbooking magazine - dating back at least 4 months.

3. Upon flipping through said magazines, moan quietly while clutching magazine to your bosom - rolling eyes and muttering "OH, now that is yummy!" and "Oh...looks like that ol' pickle is getting bigger and better!"

4. Wildly attach Post-It Notes to almost every single page...saying "Oh, I would KILL FOR THESE...!"

5. And finally, when you read an article by the one-and-only Stacy Julian, in the February issue of Simple Scrapbooks...mentioning one of your fellow Scrap-Mart.com employees


- SCREAM LIKE A BANCHEE on a caffeine induced buzz!

Seriously, I was undignified, unrefined and definitely unladylike!

And five minutes later they told me I was excused for the next two years!

Coincidence? Probably!
Satisfied? Yes indeedy!
Anxious for a summons closer to home? Um-hmmm! Seriously I am!

So with Miss Essie off the hook for civic duty - we'll continue the two-page challenge for another day or two.  WE NEED SOME MORE ENTRIES! Dear Deb did a sweet two page spread, but she's already won one of the challenges. So let's spread the wealth! I'll get mine finished up here in a little while. But I think I need to settle down a bit first. A tad too much coffee flowing through my veins right now!

In other scrappy news - I've heard from Mr. Doss that the January QK releases are en route to the warehouse. They are adorable. Hearts, hearts, hearts and LIPS! Fun lovey-dovey things for the upcoming month! I personally can't wait!

Mr. Doss and I also discussed Scrap-Mart.com's upcoming trip to Orange County in February. He mentioned that he is looking for a few able-bodied scrappers to help staff the company booth...February 15, 16 and 17. If you are local in California, and interested, please email either me (miss.essie@yahoo.com) or the store (admin@scrap-mart.com). Title your email "Orange County Workers" and someone will get in touch with you soon! The folks in the booth work hard, but they sure do have a good time doing it. And what could be more fun than standing around chatting scrapbook supplies all day long?

Finish up your challenges - and post a link to your pages in the comments section here.  It's so much fun when a lot of people play along!

Behave yourselves!

BELIEVE IT OR NOT...

I've been in the scrappin' groove for over 24 hours!

Pages, projects, cards, mini albums and photo editing - - - WHEW! I'm exhausted! But what happened to my day! Sorry I'm a bit tardy here - guess I just got so carried away I wasn't paying attention to my own challenge deadlines!

But have no fear. The monochromatic challenge is now closed!

First, I'll show you my color selection for this challenge...


Orange is a color I really struggle with. But interestingly, my orange drawer is rather full. So I took my challenge to heart - and dug into the oranges. Black and white was the way I chose to pair a photograph with the color - that makes it easy I always say. Then I just went to town - Scenic Route paper, and another one of those awesome arrows, some miscellaneous doo-dads and then, the ever-so-lovely Magnolia QK font. OH how I love this font, it is so versatile, so formal and so easy to cut. If you haven't ever tried it - you simply must!

So - we have a couple of entries in the challenge...THANK YOU to all that commented or entered a monochrome page. Good job to all of you. Look at how much we are getting done, and it's only January 5th.

But after going through the entires - I'd like to announce that KATHY IS OUR WINNER! Way to go sweetie! You can see her monochromatic blue page here. I just couldn't resist that cute little face - and I love that she used a paint chip on her page. I haven't done that for ages and I love the look! Might have to make a brief stop at Home Depot tomorrow morning! Lovely page dear - simply lovely! Send me an email at miss.essie@yahoo.com and I'll get your goodies out to you!

Our last challenge for this first week of the New Year is going to be a bit of a stretch. I would like to see a double page layout - with at least six photographs. Size of the pages does not matter, nor does page of the photographs - but two pages, six photographs. I also want to see some journaling ladies! Personally, I don't think there is anything quite like handwritten journaling, but I do understand some people's hangup with this. So journal however you feel most comfortable - but brownie points for using your own handwriting!

This challenge will be good through Monday afternoon - Miss Essie has been called for jury duty and I must report Monday morning. Perish the thought of me serving on a jury. Wait until they find out how opinionated I am...I'm sure I won't get selected. Do you think they'll let me take pictures of the process? It sure would make an intersting, one-of-a-kind scrapbook page...don't you think? So think of me Monday morning, sitting at the courthouse waiting for them to call my name. I wonder if the courthouse has wireless internet...I could take my computer...hmmmmmm!

Well, I wish everyone a simply delightful finish to the weekend. The Mister came home this evening after being gone for several days...and you know what that means!

Yep - laundry! Tsk, tsk, tsk - - - what did you think I was referring to?

Behave yourselves!

TAKING A SHORT BREAK...

to check in.

And to issue a few reminders...and one update.

First - the reminders:

1. The monochrome challenge is good until tomorrow - when I post the next challenge. So get busy, spread the word, and let's get some more entries!

2. The awesome sale going on at our retail site ends TOMORROW. If you haven't checked out the retired dies that are on a mighty-fine sale, or the BossKut Alphas that are an equally fine price - then go and do so right now. The BossKut dies work oh-so-wonderfully through your Revolution or your Cuttlebug. And with prices like these - who can resist?

3. And finally...tomorrow, January 5th, the nation will celebrate "http://www.brownielocks.com/january.htm" - so if you still have a few scraps of precious cake sitting around - get ready to toss them out tomorrow!

Second - the update:

The pooch appears to be just fine. Plastic and chocolate didn't seem to phase her one little bit. Thanks for all of your concern!

And now - back to your regularly schedule Friday afternoon scrappin'!

Behave yourselves!