Michelle ~ mother & scrapaholic!

Quick update...

Much has happened in the past couple of weeks...

As you know, we had a break-in at the store... We've decided to move The Pink House, probably toward Goose Creek... We lost our super talented friend Debbie to God's craft store in the sky... Christmas came and went, way too fast. So, Mom and I are paddling as hard as we can to keep our heads up above the rising waters, but we are fighters! All of your continued support is so appreciated.

What you may not already know...  My super gorgeous 16yr old stepdaughter moved in with us a couple of weeks ago. Michael and I met when she was only 2 yrs old. Wow how time flies! We are so happy to have her in our home again finally. She's at Hanahan High, so please have your teenagers welcome her. :)

Last week, Santa brought a big 15 foot trampoline for the kids. Mom came over for Christmas dinner and my aunt & uncle & cousins drove up from Savannah, too. A great surprise... good thing I had enough food prepared! It was a wonderful visit.

I actually had some much needed time off recently. Shere covered the store for us on Tue and Wed, we closed Thur for Christmas, and Mom ran things on Friday. So I had nearly a full week off. I got some house cleaning done (of course it's already a big fat mess again, but oh well), I made some more progress in setting up my scrapbook room at home, and I organized my garage. I spent lots of time playing games with the kids... we got Bingo & Family Feud for Christmas, too. Oh and even a few jumps on the trampoline. Whew, that sure can wear out a girl quick-like! I was able to sleep in until 7am every morning. Let me tell you, that extra hour of sleep is heaven.

Yesterday was Debbie's funeral in Beaufort. Ramon and her family gave really touching speeches reminding us all of how special Debbie was. Everyone cried of course, but overall we held up pretty well. Mom and I will continue Debbie's Legacy somehow and someway at the store and in our hearts.

This morning I met with a real estate agent in Goose Creek.  He's leasing his building on Redbank Rd, the little yellow house near the 52 intersection.  It's a lot like this one.  I'm very excited.  The price is good, the layout will work and best of all... he'll let us paint it PINK!!  Looks like we'll get to start working on it around mid January.  Grand Opening is hopeful for Feb 1st.  Let me know if you want to help.

:)

Debbie Rodriguez

Those of you that met Debbie know how much fun and interesting this fantastic lady was.  She entertained and WOWed us at The Pink House every chance she got.  She dropped in on her lunch break from work to spend a quick hour w/ me more times then not this year.  Debbie said I reminded her of her daughter.  We had a really good time.

I especially enjoyed our trip to Chicago.  Debbie went to CHA with me this summer.  She was a great source of information, quick to lift my spirits when I got tired and happily made my coffee (which is an inside joke).

At The Pink House, Debbie taught the best Cricut Classes in the SouthEast!  People came from many states away to take her classes.  She did things with those machines that even Cricut says you can't do.  Her card classes also had a following like no other.  She booked both of her monthly classes out months in advance and always rocked it like a superstar.  Her idol T!m Holtz would have been proud.

Well, most of you know that Debbie was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer back in July.  She put up a good fight, but we lost her earlier this week.  Debbie passed away at her home on Monday, Dec 22nd.  Her funeral will be in Beaufort this Monday, Dec 29th, 1:30pm at Anderson Funeral Home.  Let us know if you want to ride down together.

Memorials may be made to American Cancer Society  P.O. 6113, Hilton head, SC. 29938.

fwd: from Jody

Twas the night before Christmas, I'm glued to the tree.
I'm wondering what Santa brought just for me.
Could it be cardstock or chipboard or lace?
Or a Cricut, I said, with a smile on my face.
And that's when I heard him,
"Hi Santa, " I said
"You know....good little girls
Should be in their beds."
"I know I should Santa,
And now I've got caught.
But I was just so excited
To see what you brought."
"Well, let's take a look
In this room where you work.
He shook his head quickly,
And left with a jerk.
I heard him exclaim
As he put it in gear.
"You've got enough crap,
I'll see you next year!"

Cathy Zielske

Now I know that Cathy has been a big part of CK and a mega-scrapstar for years, but I finally decided to check out her blog this morning and I have to tell ya she is flippin' funny!  Maybe it's just my age (gen x-er), but I am totally loving all of the rap references in her latest blog titles.

Here's her freebie from yesterday's post:

• click here: Download Cathy Z's gift_tags

• Her blog: "Bits & Pieces"  www.CathyZielske.typepad.com

So The Pink House break-in drama is nearly over.  I have to get an estimate for my broken cash drawer and send photos of the damage to my insurance rep, but all in all it's no biggie.  We are officially moving however.  We gave our 6 weeks notice and wouldn't you know it... my landlord starts fixing the place up the very next day!  Can believe it?  He had let all the trees and bushes over grow the building and NOW he decides to clear it all back.  I'm kinda perturbed. 

Well, if you got my last e-mail you know that I'm trying to make light of the situation, so come on in today and take advantage of our "SMASH & GRAB SALE!"  heehee... It'll be fun.  When you come in, I'll hand you one of our cute pink baskets and you get 10 minutes to grab whatever you want.  Then you receive 25% OFF what you've grabbed. 

READY... SET... GO!!

"Movin' on up"

Well, long story short... The Pink House was broken into and Mom and I have decided to move the store.

Late Monday night/early Tuesday morning, someone(s) threw a brick through our office window.  They busted open our cash drawer and broke the door to the upstairs.  All we had in the drawer was about $50 in change, so not too big of a loss there, but thank goodness all our precious scrap supplies were unharmed!  (oh yeah - no one was there at that time of night so no one was harmed either.  hey... priorities!) 

So ladies, if you know of a great place or have any suggestions as to what part of town you'd like to see us at... then post here/e-mail me/call... just let us know.  We hope to be moved by the end of January.

Now that I'm over the initial shock (I pretty much spent yesterday in a daze), I'm kinda excited about the new possibilities!  Mom and I definitely want all of your input as we make decisions over the next couple of weeks.  Thank you so much for your support for this first year and a half.  Your continued support will be crucial to The Pink House surviving not only the move but this economy.

We'll be open during the entire move process, but our hours might change.  Also, I'm probably going to take a small vaca just after Christmas.  Will let y'all know.  Much love to each of you, and I wish you all great big blessings during the holidays!

Cash Coupon

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20% OFF entire product purchase when paying cash!

excludes sale priced items

expires Fri. 12/19/08

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more cards?

oooh, someone better take my temperature!  Maybe it's just the time of year, or maybe it's that I'm behind on a project?  ok, ok... it's both.  I've been in the mood for cards lately, but I made this set for a customer.  you like?

 

(click on the photo to see larger image)

Wish you could see the Stickles glittering up the snowflakes.  It really does make the cards.  How about my top o' line back drop?  shhhh... it's just black cardstock.  :)

Happy Holidays!

Winter Wishes

Let's start off by saying that I am NOT a "card maker".  Basically, I couldn't stamp if my life depended on it.  But I keep trying.  Here's my morning creation:

 

 

~ Recipe ~

Ingredients:  Green Mirror Card (Paper Cut), Red Ribbon (American Crafts), white cardstock, Snowy Jo stamp (Imaginisce), black ink, Candy Cane & Star Dust Stickles.

Tools: Scor-Pal, Snowflakes embossing folder (Cuttlebug), Scallop Circle Punhc (Marvy), sand paper

Steps:

1. Cut White cardstock to 8 1/2 x 5 1/2.  Score down the center at the 4 1/4 mark.  Cut green mirror card to 5 1/2 x 4 1/4.  Run through the Cuttlebug using the Snowflakes embossing folder.  Trim the edges 1/4".  Sand the embossed image until the white core shows through.

2. Cut your ribbon to about 6".  Cut another piece and use it to tie a knot around the first piece.  Trim the ends of the knot as you like 'em.  Glue your ribbons to the green mirror card.  Glue green card to the white card front.

3. Punch a 3" scalloped circle from white cardstock.  Stamp your image onto the circle.  (I cut the Snowy Jo stamp apart so I could place the words where I wanted.)  Attach to the card front using foam squares for dimension.

4. Decorate the scalloped circle with the Stickles.  Set aside to dry.

 

Have fun and Happy Holidays!

:) Michelle

Cookie Swap

We had a good time Sunday at The Pink House.  The cookies were sweet and the Mimosas were even sweeter!  Debbie originated the idea but couldn't make it.  (She's still in the hospital this week.  Please continue yours prayers for her recovery.)  We missed Debbie terribly, but Shere stepped up and designed a super cute recipe book for us to put our newly swapped cookie recipes into.   

I'd love to show you a picture right here... but I didn't take one!  I'll have to snag a photo and upload it later.  promise :)

Some of you may know that I'm not exactly Rachel Ray in the kitchen.  So, I didn't really bake cookies... what I made probably falls into the candy category... but I used the oven so it definitely qualifies as baking.  :)  Basically I took big pretzel rods, dipped 'em in chocolate, sprinkled 'em w/ toffee bits and then baked 'em in the oven at 350 for 5 minutes.  Ideally, this treat will take you only about 15 minutes to complete, BUT it took me nearly 2 hours to figure out that chocolates don't melt well in the oven... they TOAST!!  So after many burnt tries, I finally figured out that Hershey Kisses melt in the microwave!!

 

 

During my experiment, I tried using Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, Hershey's Cookies&Creme Kisses, and even marshmallows.  After I turned on the overhead fan to suck out all the smoke, I decided to try the microwave to melt the milk chocolate kisses... 1 Minute Later... I had a beautiful chocolate sauce begging to be called Fondue.  yummm!

Well, I'm not going to win any baking contests anytime soon, but the recipe is 100% mine and the kids said we should do this every year!  (Guess they don't want to take the chance of burning down the house more often. heehee)

Bella's 1st Pony ride!

My youngest daughter has been in love with ponies since she was two years old.  Mom had given the kids a series of cartoon dvd's that included a version of Black Beauty.  More than any of my other girls, Bella fell in love with horses and has asked for a pony for every Christmas or birthday since.  We always try togive her some sort of fancy stuffed animals or other horse oriented gifts, but we've never taken her to actually ride real horses... until this weekend!

The North Charleston Christmas Festival was this past Saturday at Park Circle.  There were jumpy castles, train rides, a merry-go-round, a petting zoo, & more.  But the very first thing we did was RIDE THE PONIES!  

 

   

My middle daughters were at a sleepover, so they missed out on the fun.  But Zoe, Bella, Zane and his friend James had a blast at the festival.

 

         

Mom met us down there for a little while, even brought her dog Casey.

     

We even got to meet Santa.  Here's Bella telling all about her wishlist.

After we watched the parade, rode the rides, talked to Santa, and ate the food, the kids played in the bubbles forever it seemed.  They were running around jumping up and down and wearing themselves out.  Whoohoo! That usually means a quick bedtime.  :)

On the way home we stopped at Mom's to see her train sets.  My Grandpa had a barn full of these amazing mini trains, complete with the scenery and even little people.  Well, Mom inherited them, and she sets them up each Christmas.  The kids had the best time.  When I brought up what a good day this was, they said "Yeah, especially at Grandma's!"  Just makes my heart warm.  I'm so glad we're here and able to spend this kind of time with my mom.

     

Merry Christmas!

So much going on in my mind

My drive to work this morning was noisy.  Not because there was anyone else in the car or even the radio up loud, but because my mind was going like a million miles a minute.  I was thinking about how I need to be more efficient everyday (a thought I've been having a lot lately).  I was thinking about how I'd like to go back to school and finish my degree, maybe not Aerospace Engineering this time, but probably just Physics so I can teach at the university level.  I was thinking about all the different ideas I have for The Pink House: home decor projects, gift baskets, new layouts, online store, & more.  Do I really want a 10,000sqft facility or would I prefer a chain of smaller stores?

With all that and even more flying through my brain, I ended up grabbing a dry erase marker and writing as much down as I could on our white signboard.  It looks like a mess, but at least it's off my mind and on the board.  Gessh, now I can try to get some things done today.  weird!!!

Maybe I shouldn't have been reading Stephen King's newest book w/ my coffee this morning?  Guess it caused me to reflect a bit too much.  Or maybe it was the 5 cups of coffee?  Well, if you come in this afternoon and see the chicken scratch, don't worry...  I'm feeling much better now.  :)