Save the Date (Trail Makers Blog Hop)

You are cordially invited to join us here on December 1st at midnight EST to debut the December Paper Trails Kit. Believe me it is full of absolute GORGEOUSNESS!!!! Each of the Design Team Members will have a DEBUT project to share with you using the kit and a little birdie told me that there will be RAK's too! Then you will want to race to the Paper Trails store to purchase the December Kit because they will be gone quick as a wink. Karen truly outdid herself this time!!! The blog hop will last until December 4th at 11pm EST and then RAK's will be pulled on December 5th and announced!!! Are you ready to get your hop on?

To hold you over until then, here is another layout that I made using the November kit. Check out the full kit here:

http://leaveapapertrail.com/zencart

A Page in Time Scrapbook Kits

I am this month's guest designer at A Page in Time Scrapbook Kits and was fortunate enough to design with their Making Memories Reverie kit, which was perfect for these pictures from Karl's wedding:

Check out the guest design team announcement and the kits here: http://apageintimescrapbookkits.blogspot.com/

Mouthwatering

Right now the (paper) trail makers challenge blog (http://www.trailmakers.blogspot.com/) is having another challenge -- to create a layout that has something to do with food -- and they are giving away beautiful embellishments from the Parisian Anthology line if there are at least 10 participants! You have until next Saturday (the 27th) to enter. Here is what I came up with for the challenge:

I will admit it -- I am not very good in the kitchen. Which is why I surprised myself when I made a delicious pie for Jesse's 30th birthday. This is the recipe that I used for the crust, which was flakey and delicious!

I love how the Jenni Bowlin papers really added to the home-y feel of this layout. I also used a Jenni Bowlin vintage button and a black button from Basic Grey's Cappella collection.

October Layouts

Despite being super-busy this past month, I managed to get some layouts done (mainly in the first part of the month). This first layout is of Karl and Emily's wedding reception and I used MME's Lush collection in pink (you can't tell very well but the paper is flocked).

I conquered my fears of mists in this next layout. I misted the Fancy Pants background paper with some of my brand new Smooch Spritz.

And I made another zipper flower for this layout, which was pretty fun too.

In this clean and simple layout, I layered some of Teresa Collins's Giving Thanks papers, which are so pretty, and just added Making Memories alphabet sickers.

And last but not least, I finished another sparkly Christmas layout with specialty paper from The Paper Studio and Doodlebug, Making Memories glitter alphas, and a Kaisercraft wood star and a nativity cut-out that I painted with Ranger metallic paint dabbers.



I can't believe that Thanksgiving (and Christmas) are almost here again!

New Mexico Employment Law Desk Reference

You may or may not know that the Labor and Employment Group of my law firm (of which I am a part) has been working for over 2 years to publish a book: The New Mexico Employment Law Desk Reference. It is done, published, and we have even sold some to our clients (New Mexico employers).

Today we had a book signing party (all of us wrote chapters and/or assisted with editing the book).

And here we are -- all proud and liquored up:

Postcards from Paris

Right now Jesse and I are super-busy for work. I am just randomly busy and Jesse is preparing for a conference. If you are asking "didn't he just get back from a conference?" you would be correct! Despite the title of this post, Jesse's last conference was in Luxembourg, which is apparently really pretty and affluent. After his week-long conference came to an end, Jesse took a little detour to Paris, where he spent some time with his thesis advisor who is now a professor there.

This is Jesse eating a hamburger in Luxembourg (he has one in every new place he visits):



And this is a really cool war memorial for the Battle of the Bulge:
Luxembourg looks like a really nice place!

They certainly have more greenery than we do here in the desert!

And castles!

This is Jesse with some college friends.

Not surprisingly, the best resturant Jesse has ever been to is in Paris (this isn't it though).

The timing was perfect for Jesse -- he was in Paris for the Paris auto show.

Much better than the Albuquerque auto show!

Most importantly (to me) is that Jesse went to a chocolatier and picked up some chocolates to bring home to me (they are so good!)

He also had time to take in the more traditional sights, which are even prettier at night.

Amazing, huh?

Not Halloween

The challenge that is currently running on The (paper) Trail Makers Challenge Blog is to use Halloween papers on a non-Halloween layout. I decided not only to use Halloween papers on a non-Halloween layout, but I used them on a summer layout! I accomplished this feat by using the papers very creatively. The bright green strips on the top and bottom of the page are Scribble Scrabble's Jeepers Creepers Cats Bats and Hats. and the orange photo mat and flower are made from Scribble Scrabble's Jeepers Creepers Halloween Sampler. I also used Scribble Scrabble's Jeepers Creepers Scribbled Sentiments Die Cuts for the frame around my subtitle. One fun technique that I used in this layout was to create a zipper flower!

You can enter your own layout for the challenge here: http://www.trailmakers.blogspot.com/

Now a Kit Club!

Big news! The store connected with The (paper) Trail Challenge Blog is now a kit club! This month is the debut kit month and let me just tell you, the kit is stunning! It is packed full of Parisian Anthology and Portebello Road papers and lovely lace and ribbon and pearls!

Check out the kit here http://leaveapapertrail.com/zencart and take a peek at other layouts showcasing the kit here: http://trailmakers.blogspot.com/2010/11/this-is-it-our-big-announcement.html