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K&Company at Tuesday Morning

I was at Tuesday Morning on Monday Morning (bwahahahaha! I crack myself up!) – and I saw these 2 things from K&Company:

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They had the Brenda Walton stack for $4.99 (retail $14.99). It’s all Valentiney and hearts. Very pretty but not something I need at this particular juncture.

And this huge kit for $8.99. I guess it’s their Wild Saffron stuff but the colors seemed brighter, and the quality didn’t look as good, i.e. the die cuts and stickers looked thinner than their usual quality. Then again, it was all hard-core, hard plastic wrapped up like a Costco Heidi Swapp kit, so it’s not like I could actually check the quality or anything.

I debated about getting it. Even if I wouldn’t scrap with the thin-looking die cuts, the stuff I would use (chipboard letters, primas, and bling) would justify the cost. And I could use the die cuts and stickers on cards. In the end, I passed on this too. The Wild Saffron line happens to be one of my favorite lines evah! and I have a bunch of it. What, really, has this economy come to when I’m forced to pass up something that I know in my heart is an excellent deal, for the mere fact that I don’t need it? They really need to fix this economy thing, and fast, don’t you think?

A scrapper shouldn’t be forced into a Sophie’s Choice like that. For real.

New at Michaels? Rewards Programs

So, were you one of the lucky Michaels shoppers to receive an offer to join a rewards program? Yeah, me neither. What up?? I heard about it HERE, and here are samples I copied from the thread of offers being sent out:

Join the Michaels Rewards Program and get…

40% off any one regular price item every time you shop
20 points for every $1 you spend at M’s; once you reach 2000 points we’ll automatically send you a $10 M’s Gift Card
60% off custom framing all year long
An exclusive membership card
One full year of membership

Here’s How it works:
Save on all the things you love – join M’s Rewards for only $24.99 a year.
Save every time you shop, use your card and get 40% off any one regular price item, earn points and save 60% on custom framing.
Stay updated and track your points online.
Get rewarded, earn 2000 points and get a $10 M’s Gift Card
Continue shopping with your card to get your discounts and earn points.

Or this….

10% off your entire regular price purchase every time you shop
An exclusive membership card
One full year of membership
FREE membership

Or this…

$9.99 to join for one year
40% off one item everytime i shop
50% off all framing
5 points for every dollar spenr
2000 points=$10 gift card

As I said, these are just summarized from the 2peas thread. Theoretically, if I had gotten an e-mail offer, I would consider joining the rewards program. Geesh, for all the free publicity I give them, shouldn’t THEY be paying ME to give me a discount and rewards points? Yeah, yeah, that’s what I thought! Maybe it all has something to do with this NEW GUY, Mr. Experienced in Craft Sales Marketing.

Seriously though….did you get an offer, what did it entail, and are you going to join the Michaels Rewards Program?

Scrapbook Organization: Alphabet Storage

I have a sweet internet friend who always points out cool online things to me, and I usually snag her ideas and blog about them. We were messaging back and forth the other night about THIS post on typos (or typo’s, as you prefer) in scrapbooking magazines. She asked if I had seen a layout over at Pink Paislee with a typo or mistake in the title, and I hadn’t so I went looking for it.

And lookee lookee what I found on the PINK PAISLEE BLOG while I was lost….a stupendous Wall of Alphas!!!

HOLY MOTHER OF GOD.


Once you get past the total Eye Candy aspect.
And then you quit hating the lucky bee-yotch that owns this yummy wall of scrap goodness.
Then – and only then – do you step back and say to yourself, “Wowee, that is one cool way to store alphas.”

Just thought I’d share.

I personally couldn’t get away with an Alphabet Wall. I’m more from the school of thought that says, “Hide and compact the stash as much as possible so husband has no clear idea how much money I have spent on said stash.” But that’s just me, LOL.

The Slice by Making Memories: Now @ Michaels

Did you know that Michaels now carries THE SLICE? Yep, I saw it there myself. No, I’m really not making it up. It was NOT some mirage I conjured up, it was really there. Uh huh. Oddly, it was not with the scrapbooking section. A whole stand alone display was kind of near the front of the store near some home dec stuff and candles. I didn’t look too closely since I’m not shopping for one, but all the accessories and cards were there, too. I don’t know how their prices compare. And, no, of course you cannot use your coupons on anything with the word “Slice” in it. If Mike’s is selling it for the same price as everywhere else and you can’t use a coupon on it, I’d just as soon buy it from an LSS or online store. Just sayin’…

There was also a mess of new patterned papers, by the sheet, although the prices were totally RIDONCULOUS. I saw Basic Grey, Making Memories, We R Memory Keepers, SEI, Creative Imaginations, and others. The Peas are talking about it HERE. The papers are on sale this week so it’s a good time to check out the new ones. Then again, even with the discount, your LSS may have it cheaper. A great place to online shop is at my friend Stacey’s store, ALL MOMENTS REMEMBERED. She’s been getting in a lot of new stuff lately and if you don’t see what you’re looking for, just ask and she will do her darndest to get it for you. She has the cutest warehouse guys, too!

Speaking of MAKING MEMORIES, read HERE for some sad news about one of their most popular designer/instructors. I know it’s another sign of the times but that doesn’t make it any less depressing, does it?

Typos in Published Scrapbooking Articles and Layouts :(

Okay, I’m gonna’ have to go off on a little rant here because this really bothers me. I’ve seen this over the years and kept my mouth shut but here we go….this mutha’ is ON now!

I’ve been reading through a special issue from SIMPLE SCRAPBOOKS called “Scrapbook Play with Photos”….

….and, not to pick on just them because I see it everywhere but this is just the most recent example. I’m not even through the entire issue yet and I’ve already found several typos in the magazine text, and typos on layouts. {Just so you know, I’m purposely not mentioning the name of the article writer or person who created the layouts, as my intention isn’t to embarrass any one person and, actually, I lay the blame at the foot of the magazine editors anyway}.

Page 11 – A soccer team layout – which is totally rockin’, by the way – with a glaring typo in the layout title, “We are the CHAMPOINS.” I read through the entire page, assuming there was some explanation for the mistake but there was none. I mean, really, how do you MISS that before the magazine goes to publication? It’s hugely noticeable from the second you look at the page.

Page 14 – A cute little boy with curly hair layout called “That Hair!” with journaling that includes, “End the end, we aren’t sure.”

Page 24 – In the text to explain how to “dress up a picture with a transparency sheet,” it says, “…it will subtle detail and design interest….”

And I’ve only read through page 44 of a 99-page issue!

Okay, I know I’m picky. When I was a program analyst for 9 years, I used to proudly say, “I put the ANAL in ANALyst.” I was an English major and I used to edit fellow students’ thesis papers and Senior Projects for fun. I’m a transcriptionist who gets tiny joy from fixing all the little errors doctors make when they dictate. Okay, yeah, yeah, I’m WAY pickier with this stuff than your average bear. I get it.

But are all these typos and mistakes acceptable? For me, when I see errors like this in a professionally published magazine, I loose truckloads of respect for all involved. I mean, if I were a scrapper lucky enough to get my work chosen for publication, you can bet your bippy I’d be proofing my title and journaling within an inch of their lives. And then I’d have every person I know proof it, too. Yet time and time again, I see published layouts that have misspellings, missing letters or words, or other mistakes in the journaling or title. I do remember a couple times – I think it was discussed on the CKMB so this must’ve happened to layouts that were published in one of their mags – that it wasn’t the scrappers fault; one time a layout was published with something turned the wrong way and another time an embellie had fallen down to the bottom of a layout during shipping and the magazine photographed it that way….much to the dismay of the scrapper, who saw her beautiful layout misrepresented to a huge audience. Okay, THAT kind of thing, I don’t blame the scrapper for. Maybe the sweet lady who made the “CHAMPOINS” layout assembled it correctly, then the letters fell off in shipping, and the magazine staff reassembled it incorrectly. Any way you slice it, the magazine is responsible for making such a huge mistake.

As for all the typos in articles, features, and such, I just don’t get it. I see them all the time in the scrapbooking magazines, and I’m not just talking about in recent months when magazines are cutting staff or their hours due to economic hard times. This has all been happening since the “rich heyday” when they all had full staffs. Honestly, I don’t pretend to know how FUH-REAKIN’ hard it must be to put out a monthly magazine. I know there are so many details upon details to be completed perfectly. I can see how a “their” that shoulda’ been a “there” could be missed on occasion. However, I’ve always been really stumped by the fact that SO many little errors, typos, and imperfections find their way into scrapbook magazines. I also read “People” and “Us” on a regular basis and very rarely catch typos or mistakes in those magazines. Funnily enough, they often print their own “corrections” in the next issue and I’ll scratch my head, going, “Hmmm, I missed that.” Guess I don’t know the names of all the celebrities’ kids as well as I thought, huh? It’s not really the same thing anyway, because it’s not typos they’re usually correcting, just incorrect information like saying it was Goldie Hawn in a photo caption when it was really Kate Hudson, LOL.

On a side note, don’t even THINK of pointing all all the typos and mistakes in this blog, for the following reasons: 1. I am not read by millions, 2. I am a staff of one, 3. I’m usually working on 3 hours of sleep and no coffee, 4. Sometimes I put them in just for fun and to see if you’re paying attention, and most importantly, 5. I am not paid. At the jobs where I’m actually paid, I work my tail off to make sure there are never typos. But here on the blog, see, it’s a whole different ball a’ wax…

So, what do you think? Do you notice all the mistakes in the scrapbooking magazines? Does it bug you? Why do you think it happens? I’d be really interested to know your thoughts.

Target Scrapbook Aisle

I was a Target today for Landry food, picked up the most recent Scrapbooks Etc. (yeah!), and of course stopped by the Scrapbooking aisle. Behold! It was full of employees diligently working. They were unpacking boxes, which I took as a sure sign of new goodies.

Um. WRONG.

They were rearranging the whole aisle but I didn’t see anything new. Shizzle. They put all the stamps and inks together and had the tools better organized. They had all the Making Memories stuff together, instead of scattered everywhere and that looked really nice. Woulda’ been nicer to see some new MM items, but no….The 12×12 accordian paper holders with the stripes were on the clearance and there was a new version in the SB aisle. But that is literally the only new thing I saw in there. My hope is that they were reorganizing the “old” stuff before they started unpacking oodles and oodles of new stuff.

Yeah, a girl can dream, can’t she?

Anything going on at your Target? New stuff or same old, same old?

Sassafrass Lass, Studio G, and a Sweet Story

Just a quick post….nothing much going on here. I’m waiting for the Mike’s ad tomorrow (Sunday), hoping there’s a 40% coupon and that scrapbook stacks are NOT on sale so I can go and use a coupon on one – okay, maybe two – of those Sass Lass stacks from my last post.

I’m also on the lookout for this $1 Studio G stamp for MISS KELLI, who is LOOKING. Wish me luck in the hunt for both!

To close, here is a short and sweet ARTICLE about finding an old friend through scrapbooking.

New Paper Stacks at Michaels

If you haven’t already heard the news, ‘the stacks have landed’ at Mike’s. Here are some lame-ish photos I took there this week. As you can see, this plethora of new scrapbook paper stacks are on their own display rack in the middle of the aisle. At mine, they were in the back part of the store, a place where scrappy supplies are not usually found. Oh, and all stacks are 25% off this week!

Here’s the view from one side of the stack rack. You will see a variety of manufacturers…

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My eyes zoomed right to these lovelies. I’m from Podunk, USA and have never even seen Sassafrass Lass supplies in person! One would assume that I grabbed me some Sass Lass like it was a warm sugar cookie! They had the ‘Whale of a Tale’ and ‘Hog Heaven’ lines. I flipped through them and fell in immediate crushing love with both. Then I saw the price….$24.99. Even at 25% off, I figured I’d better wait until they go off sale and I can use a 40% off coupon. Then at least I’m paying $15 instead of $18.75. {Please tell me I did that math right! Or wait, no, tell me I did it wrong so I can go back and buy my Sass Lass NOW!}.

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This is some We R Memory Keepers, gcd, SEI, and Die Cuts with a View. After the Sass Lass, the DCWV Nanna’s Kitchen is next on my shopping list.

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Here you can see the American Crafts patterned paper and cardstock varieties, and ‘Garden Party.’

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Here’s some more SEI, a pack of chipboard sheets, and some new Bazzill packs. What I ended up buying on this trip was the Bazzill ‘Swiss Dot’ pack. It has 24 sheets, 2 each of 12 colors. If you need the price, let me know and I’ll find my receipt. But I can tell you, the Swiss Dot is GORE-JUS and a must have for any true scrapper’s collection.

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Here’s the other side of the stack rack. Mostly gcd which wasn’t blowing my dress up really…

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Except I really liked the ‘Chic Bebe’ line. It’s a fun twist on baby album goodness, with cool colors and patterns that aren’t the norm, sissy la la baby stuff.

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I pulled out the K & Company ‘Cut ‘N Paste’ because I’d heard so many raves about it. It’s very cute/cool vintage stuff but I guess that’s just not my style because I only really loved a few of the sheets. But if vintage is your thang, check it out fo’ sho.

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So, not the best pictures. I saw on someone’s blog recently where they took each item off the rack, laid it out all nice a pretty, and got a full frontal shot of each thing. Wow. I mean, I love you guys but I’m usually doing a power shop during my lunch hour, ya know? This is the best I can do, LOL. Hope it’s enough of a sneak peek to make you happy. ‘Cuz I need your constant approval and reassurance….

Whaddya’ think? See any stack you gotta have?

Scrapbooker Blahs

I’ve got ’em and it’s not just me. I’ve noticed the following in the last week or so:
– The scrapbook message boards are slow. Like watching pain dry. This pains me.
– The CK Media “reorganization” news is harshing everyone’s mellow.
– Either the new CHA products do not excite, or if they do, no one can afford to buy them. Manufacturers are desperately calling/e-mailing retailers, who can’t afford to buy much.
– Erin Lincoln says she’s not been paid in awhile….where does that leave CKMB?
– 2peas boards have been down all night

For me personally, there’s this kinda stuff:
– I posted a restaurant rant on 2peas, expecting about 90% support, and got much less than that. Didn’t ‘splain myself well enough, for one thing. And beyond that, it’s just cranky time, I guess.
– Landry was overnight at the vet hospital getting his manly bits removed. It was practically unbearable how much I missed him.
– DH and I got our first paychecks today since pay cuts….major ouch. How do you cut hundreds more dollars from a budget that is already bare bones? {Yes, I would get rid of my internet but I need it for work, natch}.
– Lastnight to cheer myself up, I decided to cash in a $15 product credit I’ve had for 6+ months at MEMORY WORKS (it was a consultant referral reward). Got all twitterpated over the Jenni Bowlin “Farmer’s Wife” and die cut calendar cards I had in my cart. Went to cash out and it declined my card. Found out today from the bank… they closed my scrapbook spendy account back in December…due to lack of activity. What in the HAY-ELL is that about??
– Just plain tired and feeling the blues…

As for my scrapping, I’m actually kinda’ re-energized after my crop last weekend, yet there has been no TIME or ENERGY to get to it.

How can we turn this around, ladies?
– Stacey at AMR had the right idea. She started a HAPPY THREAD with a little prize. That cheered me a bit :)
SASSAFRASS LASS and new BAZZILL cardstock packs at Mike’s!!!!! And a coupon this week!!!!!
– Would a couple Landry photos help? Well, here ya go…Could he BE any cuter?!?!

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Are you having the Scrapbooker Blahs? Lie right down on my couch and tell me all about it…..

JUMBO RIbbon Ring ON SALE!

I got this e-mail from Melissa the other day and she said I could post it to the blog:
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Goooooood afternoon!!

I wanted to let you know that my new JUMBO Ribbon Ring tags have arrived! They accommodate ribbon up to 2” wide and right now they are ON SALE! If you don’t have a lot of wide ribbon, you can hang four or fivepieces of 3/8” ribbon side by side on these new tags. How cool is that?

To celebrate this new product launch, our Ribbon Ring Starter Set and Ribbon Ring bundle of 90 are ON SALE too. Today is a good day to organize ribbon.

Go to www.ribbonring.com to take advantage of these awesome deals!

Melissa Bickle
President, Chicory Chic Inc.
3550 Broken Tee Drive
Hood River, Oregon 97031
541.387.2442
www.ribbonring.com
tame your ribbon.

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Here’s a photo of the new JUMBO (yes, I must put that in caps every.single.time) Ribbon Ring. You likee?

CK Media: We knew it was coming, but that doesn’t mean we want to hear it…

THIS is not looking good, ladies….

THIS, THIS, or THIS neither….

I think a lot of you, if you still subscribe, were getting those great cheap deals on subscriptions (I hope). I’ve been buying newstand for quite awhile, just because I’m impatient, but I’m glad I’m not out any money. I think we all knew even the main, longstanding scrapbook mags wouldn’t be around for much longer. But it’s hard to see this precursor to complete failure in black and white (or whatever color a blog is, LOL).

Make sure to read the comments on that first article. Someone makes a great point about CK’s supremely sucky customer service of the last couple years. I’ve heard endless stories of customers charged double for monthly kits, items not sent, subscriptions not fulfilled, prizes not sent…not to mention CK’s message board transition that most of us “old timers” hated and caused many of us to leave.

More sad times in Scrappy World….Your thoughts?

I’m Goin’ A-Croppin’ Tomorrow

Yay, yippee, woot woot!! It’s been quite awhile since I’ve either held a crop or been to one. Actually, this weekend was APPOSED ta be an annual scrap retreat with my mom and 4 friends. But the dear friend who usually organizes it is going through some personal stuff and couldn’t handle the planning this year. I offered to take over the reins but the other girls were gone on a SCRAPPING CRUISE so I couldn’t reach them in time to reserve the lake cabin for the retreat. But since my mom was coming down anyway, I called one of the retreat girlies this week and said, HAY-AYYYYY! Why don’t we just have a croppy Saturday at your clubhouse? And she was all for it. Thus….I’m goin’ a-croppin’ tomorrow. And I couldn’t be happier. Well, okay, technically I COULD be happier. I could already be at a crop RETREAT but let’s not split hairs, shall we?

So it’s about 8:45 on Friday night and I just finished packing for my croppy Saturday. I’m getting pretty good at packing for crops. I’ve learned that it does not pay to take every thing I own. Rather, I figure out 1 big project I want to work on {this time it’s finishing up the Santa Cruz part of my San Francisco/Santa Cruz trip album}, and all the things I need to work on that project. In this case, it’s the 12×12 album with enough empty page protectors to hold the pages I’m going to complete, and an Iris clamshell case with all the papers, embellies, and Thickers I’m using for this album. Then I usually bring maybe 4 or 5 other sets of photos that are of similar theme, colors, etc. and then a paper stack and chunk of embellies/letters that I can pull from for these layouts. For tomorrow, I have photos of a birthday, a bike race (Lance Armstrong’s race came through our area yesterday!), the kids playing with the puppy, and a Superbowl party. Do you see what these event photos might all have in common? Yep, bright mostly primary colors. So I’m taking the American Crafts “Celebration” paper stack that I just got (talked about it HERE), a “kid’s life” stack, several kinds of primary and black or white letter stickers, and a handful of colorful embellies.

The one place I guess I overpack is with cardstock ~ I always pack all 3 Cropper Hopper vertical files full of Bazzill ~ because I cannot STAND being at a crop and not being to find the exact right shade of background cardstock I need. Usually, I take my Baby Bug (little Cricut) and cartridges but decided not to this time. Maybe someone else will bring theirs and if they don’t, I can get by with the Thickers and such that I’m bringing. Finally, and most importantly, I always take my Cropper Hopper Flat Pack and a mini Tote-ally Cool Tote with my often used tools, adhesives, scissors, etc., my 2 Basic Grey Magnetic Mats, and my Ott Lite. This time, I also threw in a few border punches, and my “baby X” Xyron adhesive machine. So, miracle of miracles, I got all my stuff into my XXL, Crop In Style shoulder tote, and a small rolling tote. Wish me luck that I didn’t forget anything crucial! Although the great thing is that, at crops, everyone is more than willing to share anything you might need.

I’m really looking forward to tomorrow. Not just for the creative opportunity to make some fun layouts, and the accomplishment I’m going to feel when I finish my travel album, but the time I’ll get to spend with my mom and my friends, just gossiping the day away, laughing, listening to music, having a nice dinner, and coming home feeling de-stressed, refreshed, and gung-ho to keep cropping in the coming weeks. Going to crops always gets me motivated in my scrapping again and I’m really needing that right now.

Have a wonderful weekend, dearies!

American Crafts at Tuesday Morning and More

Isn’t this a fun paper pack?? I picked it up at Tuesday Morning….retails for $19.99, I paid $5.99.

“CELEBRATION” by American Crafts

Then I used last week’s 40% Michaels coupon on this:

“URBAN PRAIRIE” by BASIC GREY

And I got the D-RING ALBUM on the far right in 12×12 navy leather from Beverly’s Craft Store with a 40% off coupon….

I needed it for a School Days album. I was pretty pleased with myself…got $65 worth of schwag for about $38, I don’t usually spend this much in one day on such big items. It’s usually more like 40% off a $3.99 embellie pack but hey. So, do you think the employees of these stores see me coming? Miss Won’t Shop Without a Coupon, Sale, or Discounted Price? I wonder if I’m their worst nightmare or their sweetest dream? Do you shop {stingy} like me? Ha! I’m laughing all the way to the Scrap Bank.

Oh My Heck! EK Success Border Punches at Michaels

I was at Mike’s tonight after work, looking for something to use my 40% off coupon on. Didn’t take long to find sumthin’. On an endcap in the scrapbooking section was a whole rack of new punches and border punches by EK Success. I’m told no photos are available online yet, but if I find any I’ll post them. For now, I’ll do my best to describe what I remember of them. The shape punches were $9.99 and included: skull & crossbones, high heel, small scalloped circle, regular photo corner shapes and a frilly one, etc. The border punches were $14.99 and included a variety of scallops, waves, etc. I grabbed two border punches that I immediately wanted – one was like the Fiskars Threading Water punch but smaller (scallop with eyelet holes) and the other was the kind of border punch that makes it look like torn out notebook paper. Just to give you an idea, here is a pic I found of the Stampin Up! punch that does kind of the same thing, only different (ha). The EK Success punch does 5 at a time; this one appears to do 2?:

I believe they are called Slimline Punches and I also saw the ones that make these designs; also saw that pretty flutterby in the Prima section (these cards are from Michaels.com, and are the only pics related to the new punches that I could find there):

I ended up putting the baby scallop punch back since I only had one coupon. There was another border punch that makes a gentle wave with little tiny dots along the edge. I hope they don’t sell out right away so I can go back and get more. I know, I know, I need border punches like I need more patterned paper. Hush now!

Okay, here’s a pic of one of the new EK Success border punches at Mike’s….a cutie pie scalloped punch posted at 2peas by Julie aka scrapping4twins. It’s fittingly called “Scalloped Scallop”:

On another rack were some new items by Prima. There was all kinds of little bling and small assortments of flowers. I thought it was all overpriced so I didn’t get any. I think everything was $3.99 and the flowers, for instance, were only 24 to a package. It was all very pretty though, so if money is no object for ya, or if you have a coupon (!), I would def. check those out.

Word on the street is that other Mike’s shoppers have seen new K&Co. embellies and paper packs (possibly Daydreams and Wildberry?), and new Sassafrass Lass stuff. I dunno about the Sass Lass stuff….I’m wondering if they think the Friendly Forest line by Colorbok is Sass Lass?? It fooled me at first because it sure looks like their style. Well, remains to be seen. If I actually DO see any Sass Lass at Mike’s, you’ll be the first to know!

Scrapbook Message Board Withdrawals

I’m starting to shake….I’ve got the DT’s….I’ve been off AMR all stinkin’ day! It’s not their fault, it’s mine. I was messing with my e-mail address in my profile and inadvertently booted myself out. Sheesh. I finally re-registered under a new but similar name and am sending vibes to Oregon for Stacey (owner of AllMomentsRemembered.com) to PLEEZ PLEEZ PLEEZ let me back in! I miss my girlie friends!

Ack.

ETA 2/16/09 in the pm: I’m back in bidness. Stacey got me back on and I didn’t even lose my post count that I’ve worked so hard for, LOL! Thanks Stacey and Gay, my Scrap Pal who communicated with Stacey for me :)

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