Welcome, Little One!

I am still finding this so hard to believe but I am a Great Great Auntie!!  My Great Niece Navarina gave birth to a beautiful lil' baby girl named Keylee 2 months ago and I finally have a pic for you of the new arrival!  Isn't she absolutely gorgeous!!

Momma and baby are absolutely smitten with each other!   She is one happy little girl and has a super good mommy!  I am so proud of you Navarina!!  Love you both tons and tons!!


Thanks for stopping by!
Until next time,
Tracy

Hurricane Irene!!

Needless to say we made it through Irene with absolutely no damage to our home and only 1 week of no power!!  YAY!!  I have to tell you, it had me pretty scared and worried!  My thoughts and my prayers go out to those that were so badly affected by Irene and still are going through alot because of her!  We were extremely lucky and I am so thankful for that!!

I also in this post wanted to let you all know that I have taken on a little venture with Amuse stamps.  Those of you who know me, know I LOVE my Amuse stamps and when we got transferred out to the east coast I was seriously having some really bad withdrawals just thinking about not being able to go to Craft Fancy in Illinois to get my fix!!  It was so bad that my best buddy Kim said to me "Tracy, it will be ok!!  If I have to go to the store on a weekly basis with you on the phone with me and buy them and ship them to you I will!!"  Needless to say Kim stuck by her word and many boxes full to the brim where shipped from her to me in the first 6 months of us being out here on Long Island!!  Love you dearly Kim, I do, and not just cause you helped to feed my addiction!!  Lol!!  Then a shocking (to me!) announcement came out of Amuse headquarters out in Seattle, WA that Amuse would no longer be a wholesale company distributing to stores around the U.S.!!!??!!   What the HECK!!!?  I was traumatized beyond belief!!  NO!!  I cried and threw temper tantrums!!  I am just not happy not happy at all about this news let me tell you!!   Then a little later I got an email from Amuse stating that I was such an excellent customer that they would like to offer me this awesome ground floor opportunity....to be a consultant and sell Amuse products!?   HUH!!  What the HECK!  I am the type of person that absolutely avoids and dreads running into the home sales people types!!  I know right!!  I do not want to have to clean my house and then worry about snacks, drinks, and furry babies behaving let alone do I have enough friends to hoodwink into coming over to my house so this lady can sell them stuff!  LOL!!  I know I know I am a bad person!!  Lol!!  But it is the wave of the future everyone is constantly saying!!  Yeah I know and I get it but it is just not for me!!  Well......let's just say Tracy has had a huge change of heart because she NEEDS her AMUSE products and she needs them now!!  I have not gone over to the dark side per say but I have gone over to the other side!  Don't worry you will not be getting pushy phone calls from me trying to convince you that you need to book a party from me or anything like that, BUT...I am here for you if you should so wish to do that!  Lol!!  My hopes and dreams for this is to do a workshop out of my home every couple of months to teach others to stamp along with a multitude of techniques.....oh yeah, and supply you with all of your AMUSE NEEDS!!  I know that there are many of you out there just like me that had a huge addiction to their Amuse stamps and loved all the itsy bittyness of them wondering what the heck you were gonna do now that you can't get them anymore in stores....so if you need to feed the addiction I have a badge for them on my side bar which will take you to my store where you can place an order or browse the catalog or even learn some new techniques!!  What more could you ask for huh!?  Lol!!   Oh yeah, they also have brought some awesome new additions to the Amuse family that I am just dying to get all of.....CUTTING DIES!!!  OH YEAH!!  I am so happy about this that I can hardly contain myself!!  I ordered my first couple of sets last week and am just waiting for them to show up and then I will either take some pics of them for you or even....wait for it.....wait for it.....do a VIDEO!!  I know, I know, I have not done a video in so long that it is way over due and maybe I can show you some cool stuff to do with those uber awesome new dies!!  They have super cute little cloud dies and a 2 piece snow globe die for the holidays that is to die (pun totally intended) for!!  I want to also start sharing some pics of my creations I make or made in the past with my Amuse goodies.  I just finished a cute little card to welcome my great great niece Keylee into the world!!  That was a teaser for all my friends wondering how I managed to get a great great niece?  Hmmm.....something for you all to ponder!  Lol!!

Until next time,
Tracy

Customer Loyalty?

I just read an article on Scrapbook Update today written by May Flaum entitled "Inspiring Customer Loyalty".  I have to say this was the best article I have read regarding this topic!!   High praise to May for telling it like it is!  Here is a link to the article:  Scrapbook Update "Inspiring Customer Loyalty"
  I  hope and pray that all the manufacturer's out there and the scrapbook celebs with their names on product listen up and take this to heart!!  I have worked in the retail world for 20+ years and let me tell you this article is spot on!  It is definitely time for a change since complacency has replaced customer service!  Tell me what you think.  Do you agree or disagree?  I am dying to hear!

Until next time!,
Tracy

Time.....

If I could save time in a bottle.....would I use it wisely?!  Time has flown by in such huge chunks from me that I can not even begin to tell you where it went!   You know the saying "time flies when your having fun!", well in this case that just isn't so!!  I have lost a whole year and I truly don't know where it went. Let me explain to the best of my rambling ability how this happened...

Last summer on August 6th, 2010 our whole world changed in the blink of an eye!  I will try to make this story short as possible because I know it could be a long one since I lived it.  On August 6th I ended up rushing my husband to the emergency room at 7am in the morning!  He was having abdominal pain of which I have never in our 28 years of life together seen him in such pain!  He is the typical type of man that my father was in which if you should accidentally break a hand saw blade while sawing and it goes through your hand it is nothing to get excited about, just pull it out and wrap a rag around it and move on!!  Tell your wife it is nothing and you just want to know if she can help you pull it out and put a bandage on it!  Lol!!  That was my Dad and that is my husband!!   So for him to be in so much pain that he was doubled over, unable to stand up straight, vomiting and I might add actually willing to go to the emergency room....scared me to death!!  After a full day and night in the emergency room with them trying to stabilize him and diagnose he was finally placed in ICU with an enlarged spleen.  He was in ICU with severe pain on huge amounts of meds while the doctors tried to figure out what to do.  They did not want to just remove the spleen because that has all sorts of complications in itself let alone all the problems that would follow by him not having a spleen.  They explained to me that yes you can live without a spleen but it is a major surgery and the spleen does do a major role in the filtering of the blood (infection, etc.).  They don't like to remove the spleen unless there is absolutely no other option.  All I could think was "I just can't lose him, please God!".  The real fear set in when they asked me if I had the power to make medical decisions for him?!  "No" I responded!  They immediately said I would need them and a social worker would be in to see me asap to get that done.  He was so out of it that they feared not being able to perform life saving surgery was needed he would not be able to consent.  Needless to say the paperwork got done asap!  After 3 days of ICU he was starting to come around and was able to eat so they decided he was out of the woods and could be moved to a regular room on the surgical floor.  Once that move took place he started to recover his strength and the pain started to go away.  The spleen was still enlarged but the pain was finally all gone 2 days later.  The hospital decided their was nothing more they could do for him except send him home and tell us to see his regular doctor soon.  Flash forward to today....he has gone through so much testing it is unbelievable an the spleen is still the size it was back in August 2010.  They have ruled out everything possible that could be causing the enlargement of the spleen.  He is unable to do some of the things he loves like playing basketball, football, racquet ball, etc., so no contact sports of any kind.  He needs to avoid any blows to the abdomen of any kind.  He just had an MRI to rule out Cirrhosis of the liver or any cancers in the abdomen.  The MRI results came back excellent meaning that they could not find anything wrong that he is extremely healthy with the exception of the enlarged spleen which they have now diagnosed as portal hypertension.  Next they will be looking at his heart to rule out any problems with the blood flow through there that might cause portal hypertension of the spleen.  They have ruled out all blood diseases that could cause this as well.  So basically we are in a holding pattern waiting and wondering what they heck happened.  The doctors and all the specialists are stumped.  He just woke up one morning in pain a little over a year ago and his whole life changed!  He is also fighting to keep his job due to this.  The Coast Guard wants to make sure he can still run his station completely and do his job all the way.   The stress has been unbelievable, but we are so blessed!  He is alive and for now he is able to all the things that his job requires!  He loves what he does and excels at it so the thought of him losing that is just devastating to him!  I pray every day that he can continue to do what he loves and that the doctors will figure out what is causing this and fix it.

I have not really been able to do what I love as much because the stress has made my blood pressure go all out of whack along with a problem of not being able to sleep.  Creativity and mojo have definitely taken a back burner in my life.  I desperately need to get back to some sense of normalcy and start to get us back on track so that our life can become less stressed.  I know that what caused it to spin out of control will still be there but I truly believe that how we respond to stresses is more than half the problem.  I need to start getting myself back on track so that I can create which in turn de-stresses me and helps me to be happy, lowers my blood pressure, helps me sleep at night, and point blank makes life better!  In turn hubby will start to feel less stress because everything at home is good again!!   (Note to self:  DO IT NOW!)

I guess just getting this all down in writing is what I needed to do and I knew I could not do that until I was ready to.  I guess you could say I was ready!   Now you know what has been going on in our lives for the last year.   I want to thank family and friends who have been here whether it was in person (meals, holding my hand, visiting Terry, fixing things when Terry couldn't etc.) or in thought (cards, emails, phone calls, etc.)  from the bottom of my heart for being there for us through all of this!  I truly believe that without you all we never would have made it thru this as unscathed as we have!    Thank you can not even begin to express how much it all means to us!!

So if I could save time in a bottle would I use it wisely?  I guess the answer to that is still under much debate and still weighs on my mind heavily.  I just know that the passing of time does make us older and (hopefully) wiser from all the experiences we go through while said time is passing.  Hmm...on that note I will leave you
until next time,
Tracy

Up Coming "Scrappin' on the Edge Classes"

I will be teaching 2 classes this week. The first one is a mini-album class of a mini that I did for the store using the Mamarazzi line of papers from BoBunny along with their shaped album from the same line.

This class will be held on Wednesday the 23rd starting at 2:30pm - 8:30pm at Not Just Scrap in Centereach, NY. If you are interested in taking this class call Diana at the store (631-580-1118) to reserve your spot. We are filling up fast so if interested don't wait.

This next class is part of my "Scrappin' on the Edge" series of classes that I have reserechted from the dust from way back when I used to teach in Illinois.  This class is titled "Near The Sea" and will hold 12 photos of your beach memories or any photos that have to do with the water.  This class is very technique heavy.  Don't be afraid to take the class if you have missed out on the first 2 in the series, you will be able to pick it all up with ease!  I am a very simple and straight to the point teacher that will ensure you success in making a gorgeous piece of art that will look like it took you days to do!  This class is scheduled for this coming Sunday the 27th at 12:30pm - 5:00pm. If you are interested, call Diana at Not Just Scrap in Centereach, NY and sign up fast as we only have a few seats left!  Again the number for the store is 631-580-1118.

Hope to see you there!!
Happily Scrappin',
Tracy

Good Morning Bloggers!

Boy oh boy, do we still have a ton of snow here on Long Island!! But, regardless of all that snow it is a gorgeous morning out there! Today I thought I would share with you some more of the layouts I have done in the last year for "Not Just Scrap" to catch you up with what I have been up to. This first layout is one I did of my girlfriend's son's wedding using Glimmer Mists, Prima trims, Prima bling, and Bazzill's Glazed Cardstock. Love that cardstock!! The journaling for this layout is on the tag that is hidden behind the photo that you can just see poking out.

This next layout is of my God-Daughter's feet on the day of her baptism. I used a very simple design for this one with white space which for me is very unusual!! Lol!! But, for some reason those little toes just needed simplicity! I used Bazzill Kraft along with some of the gorgeous papers from the MME Lush line! Embellishment wise I used one of the crocheted embellies that Diana sells at her store that her Aunt makes along with some bling (of course), QuickKutz 12" Border Die in Damask (love love this die!!) and some yummy trim!! You know me I gotta have some bling, flowers, and trim on every layout!!

This last layout for today is one that I did of my God-Son's first day of life on this earth! I used some more of that awesome Bazzill Glazed Cardstock, Glimmer Mist, Prima Bling, Prima Flowers, Prima Butterfly, Rain Drops, Ranger Paint Dabber, Tiny Type from Cosmo Cricket, American Craft Thickers,Technique Tuesdays Technique Tiles, and some yummy trim!

Ok, that is enough for today!! My furry baby Gizmo is wanting some mommy time before I start working on my Class for February. He knows that if he doesn't get mommy's attention now it will be awhile before he gets it again when mommy is working!! He is just so stinkin' smart that one!! Hope your day is awesome!!

Enjoy!,
Tracy

Loooongg time no POST!!

Wow!! Where does the time go!!? Seriously!! I have been on LI now for 2 years in June 2011 and I just can not believe it!! So much has happened and so many things have changed that there is no way I can even begin to update you!! So, from this point forward will be what is happened recently and that will be that! Lol!! I will start by sharing some of the things that I have been creating lately for "Not Just Scrap". I have also started teaching again which surprisingly feels good to be doing again!! I guess I truly missed that part of myself more then I realized! Teaching my love of this craft/art has always been a big part of who I am which many of my long time friends know about me. As they say "it feels good to be back in the saddle again!". Here is a mini I did for the store using the BoBunny "Mamarazzi" line of papers and mini album.

This was a really fun line to work with!! If you have any questions on techniques used or product, etc., please don't hesitate to ask.

On a side note what is up with Blogger and not posting your pics in the order that we put them!! UGH!! Fustrating!!


Enjoy!!
Tracy

Some Excitement!!

The store, "Not Just Scrap", that I design for was asked to sponsor a really awesome exhibit at the Northport Historical Society Museum!! Diana called awhile back and asked if it would be okay to use my layout of Terry's Mom and Dad with the Prima stuff for the exhibit!! Needless to say I was on cloud 9 and said yes!! I am so happy for Diana that her store was asked to sponsor this awesome exhibit!! I mean, seriously, how cool is that!!?!! I hope to get the chance to go and see it sometime this summer! If you live on Long Island and are a scrapbooker you should definitely check it out! What an awesome opportunity to see how others throughout history have documented their memories!! The exhibit will run from now till the end of August. Here is the flyer: To see a layout of mine on exhibit is just mind blowing to me and such an honor too! Thank you Diana!! As always thank you for stopping by my little home on the web!! Tracy

Something I Feel Strongly About!

Hi everyone!! Today I am stopping in to bring some awareness to a person and cause that I truly believe in and feel very strongly about! It is Bernie Berlin and the unbelievable awesome work that this girl and her "A Place To Bark" do! If you know me you know how much I love all the wonderful furry, scaly, slippery, soft, cuddly, etc. creatures that exist on our planet and how they all deserve the right to a life of quality where they can exist in a safe and loving planet earth! Well, Bernie is a person with very similar beliefs and dreams!! Love that about her so much!! She has been able to make a dream of hers (& one that I share and have always wanted to be able to do) come true for her doing what she loves and also what needs to be done! So, please take a moment and check out her site at www.aplacetobark.com and her blog http://aplacetobark.blogspot.com and help her out in anyway that you can even if it is just spreading the word about her work! I have also included a badge on the right side of this page to help spread the word. Okay, I am down off my soapbox for now and thought I would finally share the finished layout that I have done for "Not Just Scrap". Here it is: Ok I am sitting her looking at this photo of this layout and am not too happy with it so I will try to take another pic soon and post it because this one does not do it justice! Sorry!! Thanks for stopping by and sharing a moment with me in my world!! {{{{HUGS}}}} Tracy

I am a Great Auntie again!!!

I am just so stinkin' excited!!! My Niece Shelbie and her hubby Chad welcomed a bran new baby girl into the world last night!! She was born at 10:43pm weighing 7lbs 2.5oz and is 19.5" long!! They have named her Tava Louise!! She is just gorgeous and I am not just saying that cause I'm the Auntie!! Lol!! Here is a quick pic of her that Chad took with his cell phone last night so that I could see her so sorry it is dark and blurry a little but you can still see her gorgeousness!! Hubby and I are also her God-Parents!! Welcome to the great big wonderful world my sweet little angel!! I can't wait to hold you in my arms!! Congrats little Domenic, you are now a big brother!! And you will be an awesome big brother my little man!! Love you!! Thanks for stoppin' by!!, Tracy