day 5 - socal shophop '09

So...  on to the memories of Day 5 of ShopHop. For our little group this was Saturday, August 15th. We didn't have as many stores to get to as we'd had on other days (only 7), but we did have a lot of ground to cover geographically.

Our first stop was Pages From the Heart in Monrovia. There was a class in progress at this store (I think it was a Pinecone Press class being taught by Lorene Yost, but not sure -- in any case it looked like a fun one).

 

Next, we went to Karen's Hallmark in Alta Dena. Great photo opp with Mr. Elephant here.

A few goodies for the road...

From there, we headed out to points west, stopping at Once Upon a Page in Burbank, the deceptively small-looking store, but wow when you get inside it goes on and on. Evidently, this is the store where I had the brilliant idea to start picking up some animal print papers to scrap the ShopHop photos with.


Here's me:

Here's my stuff:

Then on to Sandpaper Kisses in Tujunga. The girl at the register had made herself a really cute safari hat* just for ShopHop. (*Pith helmut, is that they're called evidently. Learned that from my mom ... thanks, Mom!)

From there it was Treasured Memories in Oak Park, where we ran into Lead Fiskateer Cheryl Waters again. She is such a sweetie!

What I got:

By now we were starting to fall off our time schedule, tho and so we clambered back into the van and raced out to Stamping From the Heart in Los Angeles. We made it before closing and the owner was kind enough to keep the door open a bit past closing so we could finish up our shopping.

Mom was so done with this store:

Here are my goodies:

 

The last stop for the day was Sonja's Scrap Spot in Los Angeles, and it was a great spot to end the day.

Here's my "take":

All in all another great day of Shop Hopping adventure never mind that my safari tour abandoned me at the elevator! Good-bye, peeps, but don't forget who has the car keys -lol!

The elevator door closes as I snap a pic...

But they didn't get far since no one pushed any buttons. I could hear them laughing inside the elevator car until the door re-opened.

Mom is cracking up here. A funny end to a great day.

PS. Only one more Shop Hopping day to share after this.

day 4 - socal shophop '09

*ETA: yes, this is *old* news. You can read this post for the whiney, excuse-making post, if you like.

Our 4th day on the Shop Hop started at Collective Journey in Redlands. They always have such cute displays!

What I got:


From there we headed a little south and a little west to Corona where we stopped at Scrapper's Cafe. Sadly, I recently heard that this is another sb store that is closing its doors.

Next, we went to Chino Hills destination "This N That Scrapbooking". Turns out that the "this-n-that" is because this is a multi-purpose store. Not only are there lots of SB supplies, there is also a dry cleaner on site along with a variety of other services.

Here are my findings:

Somewhere in the mess of Corona/Chino freeways we had a near accident when a young female driver in front of us decided to come to a full stop on the freeway (yes, you read that right). Evidently, she had missed her offramp, so she just came to a stop and waited for traffic to clear then swept two lanes to get to the offramp. Crazy!

Our last store for the day was Scraparazzi in Whittier. They were getting ready for move to a new (adjacent) location, so I'd like to go back sometime soon and check out their new digs.

What I left with:

After our ShopHopping, we had a nice relaxing lunch at Penn Park in Whittier. It's a gorgeous place.




End of Day 4, 22 stores down, 17 stores to go!

blog interrupted

Once again, there was a little bit of that stuff known as life getting in the way of my blogging. It wasn't so much that I was incredibly busy (tho I was *very* busy), but it was more of me being detached from the computer. Hey, what can I say? It happens.

So, where was I....? Oh, yes! I was posting my Shop Hop adventures. And in painstaking detail which is why I wasn't done. You'll have to indulge me because I have the need to finish what I started.

And speaking of Shop Hop, there was some late-breaking prize news in the Scrapbooking Roads newsletter last Friday. Was I ever surprised to find out that I'd won a prize in the Make-n-take contest. Woo hoo! I love prizes - especially scrappy ones.

day 3 - socal shophop '09

My third day out hopping was Sunday 8/16 - it was a very short little jaunt, just two local stores.

First we headed out to Stamp Your Heart Out in Claremont. The store was jam-packed with customers. Forgot to take any photos, and didn't do much shopping, but I did pick up their cute mk-n-tk and some flair for a "d-i-y" lanyard I was planning to make for my daughter (our official Shop Hop journaler).

Flair and a cute mk-n-tk found at Stampin' From the Heart

After ran to the market with my dad (a new Sunday ritual). And then on to Scrapbook Cafe in La Puente. This store is open afternoons & evenings during the week because the owner holds down a full time job earlier in the day. Not an extremely huge store, but lots of cute stuff (and cute samples, too!)

My goodies from Scrapbook Cafe

Short, but sweet!

this just in

I'm interrupting my Shop Hop playback to share a layout I did using some of the stuff I got while hopping (click for enlarged view). Used the "Abbey Road" line by My Mind's Eye for this page about my son & nephew back in 1994 when they first met. Oh those cute boys --so sweet and soft and adorable. That was then, but my oh my how times have changed - now they are both big, tall, hairy MEN! Ah well, there is no stopping the passing of time. (And they are both still adorable.)

day 2 - socal shophop '09

I had hoped to post my shop hopping adventures before now, but this is my first chance to sit down and compose. I wasn't sure how many days it would take to get to all the stores, but in the end I did my stops over the course of 6 days of varying lengths.

Our first "big" day was on Saturday, August 8 - we did 13 stores that day (applause, please!)

First was Scrapbooking Heaven in Westminster. The mk-n-take was ocean/beach themed (using the same paper line I used in my By the Sea class - cool!) Also grabbed a sheet of some distressed grid Hambly transparency and blk & beige flocked paper. The store was offering a 6x6 calendar for ShopHoppers to incorporate some of the S.H. make-n-takes into - great idea!



Next we headed for A to Z Scrapbooking in Torrance. It looked so different from the last time I was there - they'd done some painting and re-done the floor too.

My findings (above) and me hamming it up again (below)

After that we were back in Huntington Beach for three stores...

At The Scrapbook Garden I found some lovely Rouge de Garance papers (not carried too many places, so this made me happy). I also picked up my very first bottle of Maya Rd. Mist and a big ole refill bottle of Un-du. I don't really go thru Un-du that often, but I'm a big old refill bottle kind of gal so there ya go. (We had an Elvis sighting outside the store, too --my second one of the summer 'cause you just *know* I saw him in Vegas.)

Goodies from the Scrapbook Garden (above) and me outside the store (below)

At Perfect Day Scrapbooking, I found some Elvis paper (now how convenient was that?). I also picked up a little metal notepad/pen holder so that I will *always* have paper in my bag on which to jot whatever. Found some "Paris" themed paper by g.c.d. studios --perfect for a class I have in mind.

Outside of Perfect Day Scrapbooking (above) and my purchases (below)

Our last Huntington Beach Store was Once Upon a Memory (where we ran into a trio of SGT gals - Sharon W, Irene B, and Stephanie Z). This was a big store - easy to lose track of time in the larger stores, let me tell you.

Mind you, I was trying to stay away from paper at all the stores
but so many of them had lovely specialty papers like the transparencies
and flocked paper I found here (grabbed some G45 cherries, too).

Next we were off to Oh Scrap in Costa Mesa, a very cute store. Here I am with my mom and my friend Allison:

It's funny how I almost always seem to end up with color coordinated
purchases - it's not planned (must be subliminal)

From there it was Timeless Treasures in Rancho Santa Margarita. It's quite a trek out to this store, but the highway (a toll road) was wide open which is a nice change from the freeway traffic I'm used to. Found me some cute stuff:

Headed back west to Scrappin' in the Hills in Anaheim Hills. They get bonus points for giving us cupcakes!

Goodies above and below!

We were way off schedule by the time we were ready to head up to The Scrappin' Table in Placentia. We had about 30 minutes until closing and called ready to beg Michelle to wait for us, but she's a sweetie and we didn't have to grovel or anything. She had the new G45 in so I was able to stock up on all the gorgeous new papers.

Our expedition team (minus my daughter who is taking the pic)

Look at all that yummy cardstock! And my new G45 below...

We made a quick stop at the Metropolitan Scrapbook Co. in Chino. Some VERY cool Prima product here --not too surprising since MSC and Prima are practically neighbors! The clerk got swarmed with ShopHoppers while we were there, but was a sweetie despite being there by herself and having a bunch of crazy scrappers to wait on.

Allison and I get our "passport-and-sign" pic just as the sun sets above and my goodies below

Followed by another stop, this time at The Scrapping Lounge in Montclair. There was a celebration going on at the Lounge - it's the store's anniversary and they were having a safari crop. We were surprised & delighted to find lead Fiskateer Cheryl Waters there, We knew the Lounge was on her schedule of the 15th, but because we were so off our schedule we thought we'd missed her. So nice to finally meet her. I also met another of my FB scrapping friends that I hadn't met in person, Toni Burks-Grijalva. We "monkeyed" around for a bit but then had to move on.

Rina, me and Debbie

Love the safari spread that Debbie laid out for her croppers

The goods

Our last stop of the day (night) was Scrap n Yap in Monrovia. We were pretty tired by this time (see it in my face?) but being inside the store perked us right up. Lots of cool vintagey & retro delights such as 7 Gypsies, Jenni Bowlin and Melissa Frances. Yum!

A worn-out tour tour bus driver

Allison & Lisa

My findings (store owner Elizabeth told us the white Primas
are so popular they just cannot keep them in stock)

Whew! Long, tiring but super FUN day!

day 1 - socal shophop '09

Photo Opp Stop at Scrappin' Good Times

**ETA: I just posted at the SGT blog inviting other Shop-Hoppers to share their S.H. stories - and I'll be doing a prize drawing from the posts once the ShopHop is over!

Even though I got my first stamp on Friday 8/7, I it didn't quite feel like a *real* day of ShopHopping because I did not "hop" to any other stores. No, in fact, I was already going to be at my home store, Scrappin' Good Times because it was time for our bi-monthly Class Kickoff.

It was, however, the night before our first and longest hopping day so there was that anticipation building up and seeing all my fellow 'hoppers' coming through the store was lots of fun. Here are some pics from the night.

The SGT make-n-take "Wild Things" designed by Lizett - isn't it adorable?

One of my classes "What a Zoo" (October 10th)

My purchases for the night - new Abbey Road by MME!

mk-n-tks

doing the shop hop-hop-hop

I've been hopping for a week now and boy are my legs sore!

(If you're not familiar with what I'm talking about, you can read up on the SoCal Shop Hop here.)

The first SoCal Shop Hop was two years ago and I had so much fun touring the SoCal landscape visiting lots of scrapbooking and craft stores I'd never been to before. It was a challenge to cover lots of ground while staying within the confines of the varying store hours. It was also challenging for this native Californian to navigate the many unfamiliar terrains that fell outside my regular stomping grounds. But the excitement of racing around the countryside was pretty thrilling - it reminded me of that tv show "The Amazing Race" but without having to eat weird stuff or go bungee jumping or slog through mud or whatever. (Click here to see all my Shop Hop posts - you'll need to scroll down past the new posts to see original 2007 Shop Hop posts.)

This year, I'm older, wiser and more experienced. So what does that mean? Simply that we are getting lost less, covering more ground (& more quickly) and having a rocking time!

30 stores down! Only seven more to catch on our San Diego run this coming week. I can't wait to start on my store-by-store blog posts (including pics of the good stuff I've found!) So, stay tuned!

fantastic friday: class kickoff AND shophop!

I'm pretty excited to get back home on Friday because not only will we be hosting another mah-velous Class Kickoff at Scrappin' Good Times, but it is ALSO the kickoff day for SoCal ShopHop. I expect things will be pretty hoppin' at the store (word to the wise: if you're thinking of signing up for a class and can make it to kickoff - DO!)

Pics for the SGT classes are starting to pop up on the website, but here are some "extra" sneaky peeks of my classes:

This is the Intro to Scrapbooking class layout

And a close-up of the title

Here is the cover of "You Are My Sunshine

And a sort of interior view (a tease, if you will!)

A cute little birdie

"What a Zoo!" chipboard mini book

...and a close up

A couple of interior pages...

One of two "Fast & Fab" layouts entitled "Fall"

...and some close-ups

The second "Fast & Fab" layout: "Wish Upon a Star"

So, I hope I'll see you on Friday for the Big Night! Be sure and tell me hi if you do stop by. Until then!

viva las vegas

The landscape is always changing here in Vegas

Here we are again having another Vegas vacation. See, the thing is DH has to come anyway since this is part of his sales territory. He's usually here for 2-3 days every month. And well... we just can't resist tagging along during summer. Something we just can't resist about a stay in a nice hotel with maid service, a/c, cable, a spectacular pool, etc. etc.

We're at the MGM Signature Suites again and would you believe we are in the same exact room as last year? This place is a trio of towers each with over 30 floors and who knows how many rooms on each floor so what are the odds we'd end up in the exact room we occupied last August? (I'm inclined to believe they put us here intentionally.) Anyway, it has made us feel quite "at home".

DH is working today, so the kids and I are kicking back until it gets cool enough to go down to the pool. Might go see a movie today too if there is anything appealing. Yesterday we made our obligatory trek to the Peppermill Restaurant (it's a must-stop for us --we might even have to go again once more before we leave). We kicked around town for awhile before coming back to float around the MGM's lazy river.

Summertime and the living is easy!

not gonna do it

I'm not very good at taking self-portraits

I was debating about whether I should do one of those long rambly "catch-up" posts that seem to be my m.o. lately, but decided against it. Instead, I'll just post a bunch of photos and give you this short & sweet "readers digest" condensed edition of the past month. One unplanned thing that happened is that our family got hit pretty hard by a flu bug. My daughter missed the whole last week of school and had to be picked up early from her Knott's Berry Farm field trip. How sad was that? Missing all the fun stuff that you wait for all school year!

Being sick also meant that we missed two days of our annual district convention. This was especially disappointing because it was an international convention with delegates coming in from other countries. But, thankfully we were able to make it for Friday & Saturday of the program.

So on to the month in photos (I got a new camera right after our day at Knott's so I've been having fun trying to learn to use it)...

My nephew's promotion ceremony - he's a middle schooler now!

Knotts Berry Farm

My sweetie was so sick - had to leave Knott's early

Me and my sis

Our boys

The Long Beach Arena - get a look at that beautiful blue sky!

Love having the big screen for a better view

My little sweetie feeling much better

A great crowd

Banners in the lobby for each language group

A pair of lovelies

During the lunch break

Me still sick w/bronchitis, but it doesn't show in the pics

A couple of little Korean cuties

The stage in the Japanese convention hall

Loved seeing all the beautiful kimonos

Love the contrast of the beautiful Korean dresses in the middle of this shot

Breakfast at Millie's

Me & Tiffany at the Table

Our squaky new lorakeet neighbors

A bubbies fish

They tried to hide, but there is no escaping my camera!

Surprise!

Grillmeister Steve

Uncle T

Max

Cath

Cari

John

He's not driving yet, but it's looming on the horizon for sure

Group pic

Max & Tim

Totem pole at the San Dimas Nature Center

Woodpecker hanging around San Dimas Canyon Park

Finished this embarrassingly late, but here's my Friendship Soup sample

Lunch with Kris (she's moving to CO - sniff)

Some of my fave pics from the VVDC dress rehearsal on 7/9 (more pics here)
this is Celina warming up for "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friends"

Another shot from Diamonds

Love this pic of the boys - album cover style

Another fun pic from the boys' performance

... and one more - they make me think of ska bands of the 80s here

Well, that's all for now. Just a bunch of pics to remind me what I did over my summer vacation -lol.

two year blog-iversary

I can hardly believe that my blog hit its two year anniversary milestone this week. That's 24 months, 104 weeks, 730 days of blabba. Okay, so I'm exaggerating a bit there since I've never been one to update daily. But still.... thatsa lotta blabba!

kickoff this week ... here's a sneak peek

It's that time again! Class Kick-off is on Friday, June 5th 5pm-7pm. I haven't seen all the samples yet, but I *do* get an early preview of the class titles/descriptions from all the teachers and there are some great summer classes on the July and August roster. I get as excited as anyone about seeing the actual samples the night of kickoff.

I'll have two classes on the July-August schedule - one is a family themed chipboard mini album (that's the one in the pic above) using Graphic 45 papers and the other one is a paper bag album using K & Company papers.

Hope to see you at kickoff!

forgot one

Just realized I didn't include a pic of me and the hubster from Saturday night. This was taken by my cousin Jess and I'm so grateful to him for getting a good one (you know I'll be searching him out at family functions from now on -lol!)