It's All In The Family! (gene-wise)

You know I must have very special news to share since it's Tuesday and I post on Monday!  Well, I do...and if you are my friend on Facebook, you already know.  Our youngest daughter, Melissa, won an all expense paid trip to Berlin, Germany! She is a store manager for MAC Cosmetics, and placed #1 in her region for a contest the company was holding.  There are 7 regions in the U.S. and she was up against L.A., San Diego, Phoenix, and all of New Mexico for this event.  Included in the trip will be master classes, sightseeing, and getting to know MAC artists from all over the world.

You should know, Melissa manages a small MAC store in the foothills area of Tucson.  There's not a lot of daily foot traffic, especially this time of year.  There were 5 components to the contest, and they included sales, customer retention, and a one-of-a-kind piece of art.  Here are some photos of what she submitted for her art:

Please meet Grete:

In the final photo, the face was the only piece of artwork the employees were given, and required to use it in their piece.  Melissa chose to collage the mannequin with b/w images of previous MAC collections. The color photos over the heart represent all Viva Glam campaigns, a heart of MAC's business.
The neck and head are decoupaged with images of underground art in Berlin, a very important current movement.

Hope you enjoyed this!
xoxo
Karen (and Melissa!)

About A Preppy Little Man...

It's all about a preppy little man this week!  With the help and support of Alex, Debbie, Kiera, Karina, Sandra, and Amanda, I was able to host a baby shower at my home for Katie Hughes (Mom) and Levi Benjamin Hughes (preppy-little-man-to-be)!  A wonderful turnout of family and friends made this event SO amazing!!  Here are the pix I'm sure you'd like to see!

a preppy little invitation

preppy little bowtie pins for favors

some dining indoors

and some more dining indoors

some dining outdoors

and more dining outdoors

sweet floral arrangments and tiny votives

table setting with special coaster favor

Mommy-to-be Katie and Me

personalized glasses for all

beverage central

preppy little cupcakes

and a preppy little banner

individual servings of homemade ice cream

Katie, Melissa, Amanda and Me

I wish I had the room to post ALL the pix we took.  This was an amazing shower and I could not have done it without all the awesome ladies (I mentioned at the beginning of the post) who were there from the git-go.  I can't take credit for the theme idea...that came from Lindsey at http://www.thepleatedpoppy.com.

However, we all put our own spin of creativity and originality on the details from the invitation to the cupcakes to the photo booth!  Awesome job, ladies...and thank you, Katie and Hoss, for giving us a reason to celebrate!!  Little Levi Benjamin is due shortly after Labor Day (no kidding...LOL).

It's been a wonderful past week catching up on all my swaps and new inventory for MMU,  after so much party planning and excitement!  I'll save the lovely details and pictures until next Monday.  So, dear hearts, for now that will just about do it.  I know most everyone is experiencing sweltering heat and humidity and it's important to "keep cool and carry on."  Grab a frosty cold drink, a fruity popsicle, or even a cold slice of sweet watermelon.  Have a blessed week and I'll see you shortly!
xoxo
Karen

Swaps, Sweets, & Retreats...does it get any better???

The past week has been exciting, exhausting, and en-vigorating ~ all at the same time.  The mailman knocked more than once, with fabulous treasures from my blog friends across the states.  I'm long overdue in posting the Enchanted Hollow Bug Swap (shame on me!)  My partner was Jennifer, who created one of my favorite bugs...a butterfly!  Here she is in all her cuteness!!

lovin' the sweet little face and all the hand details

As if this little cutie wasn't enough, I received the most beautiful handmade card from Jennifer and a fat quarter of lovely material as well!!

Here's what I sent to Jennifer, who said two of her favorite bugs are the caterpillar and the butterfly...

I was inspired by Eric Carle's The Very Hungry Caterpillar - she's made from paper clay with a pipe cleaner spine

The Postman rang again and this time it was 3 amazing ATC's from the very creative and artistic Cindy from Georgia.  We were partnered for Wendy's Blissful ATC Swap for July ~ CIRCUS!  How amazing are these little creations!

Here are the cards I sent to Cindy....hmmm....seems like Cindy and I have very similar thoughts!! Great minds and all! LOL

The highlight had to be the weekend when MMU held their annual Scrapbook Retreat at the JW Marriott Starr Pass Resort and Spa.

Katie and Hoss greeted us with a very "sweet" welcome

door prizes

a lot of "eye candy"

but real candy!!

at everyone's place (and I left out the scrap goodies we got because they're out in the Studio and it's raining!)

I managed to get a lot of things made for the store...you can tell I was still on the Circus kick! I bought these lovelies at Altered Artifacts, and my sweet friend Inka threw in some charming "freebies" too!

I call this one "Pachyderm School"

 And I found pool time with the fam...

 Lucky me....my girls stayed overnight on Sunday so we could have a mother-daughter day on Monday!

As great as the MMU Retreat ALWAYS is, and sharing this with loving hubby and dearest daughties, I have to confess...the highlight of my weekend was the culmination of MY VERY FIRST INITIATED SWAP!!!  Yes,  I put a swap together for my scrap girls, who have patiently listened to me blather on and on about these things, but not one of them had ever participated in a swap.  Our theme was "Flea Market" and the swap was an altered 250 ct. matchbox...the BIG one.  I partnered people (I have a greater respect for administrators!!), emailed, nagged, kept tabs on everyone for a month before.  On Sunday, the last day of Retreat, we swapped matchboxes.  I was blown away by the creativity and great karma these women exuded...it was a raging success!!  We will definitely be planning on many more...here are some of the pix...

choked up with tears before I even began!

from Sandra to me

from Debbie to Alex

from Karina to Geri

from Geri to Karina

from Alex to Debbie

from Karey-Ann to Sharon

from Sharon to Karey-Ann

from Laura to Kiera (Kiera was on vacation in VT)

from me to Sandra

Here are some very sweet, happy, ladies ~ I think they may have been bitten by the swap bug!

Aren't they AWESOME!!  It was a pleasure orchestrating this swap and I'm so excited to have been able to see all the wonderful responses...something we miss when we swap via mail.
Oops!!  I almost forgot to show you what Sandra gifted me....

And what I gifted to Sandra...

Are you as tired as I am right now??? LOL  That's a lot "stuff" to take in, so on that note I'll just say this:
Have a simply fabulous week, enjoy every breath you take, be sure to tell someone you love them...and come back next week to find out what BIG event happened last Wednesday evening!!!
xoxo
Karen