Buckle Up, It's Going to be a Bumpy Post

There are so many things in this post so I hope you're ready! lol By the way, if you missed my interview with Jocelyn, you can catch up here!

*deep breath*

1. I am a bad bad Stickles mother because I still have them sitting on my bar instead of upside down like a good little crafter. So one day I notice I'm missing a couple of them and realize that they have tipped off the bar and gone right into a baby formula jar. (Don't ask me how they both ended up in there!) So I go to rescue them and instead they get caught in this jar like some sort of fingers cuffs (remember "playing" with those as a kid? I could never get out of those things!) and I ended up having to break the glass to get them out of there! So the lesson here is store your Stickles correctly or they will do it for you:

2. Thanks to LL at Paper Princess, I am now determined to save my pennies and get Toot one of these fabulous dolls! Who needs American Girl when you can get a handmade custom Bamboletta??? I guess Toot can thank "Auntie LL" for being a bad influence on Mommy's spending! lol By the way, you are missing out if you don't go scope out LL's scrappy goodness, she is awesome and is already aware of me "scrap stalking" her! lol

3. I have decided on a new blog name and I hope you all dig it! (I'm scared to post it now! *nervous nervous nervous* lol) That being said, I am not going to create a new URL as I don't want to confuse everyone and make y'all move around all over the place trying to find me. Hopefully the new name won't confuse people either!

4. Speaking of the new blog, I'm really considering having a giveaway once the new look is up, all shiny with that new blog smell. I've never had a giveaway before so I figure this is the perfect time, yes? So what shall I give away...??? Some goodies from Margarita Bloom? A box of fabulous-ness from Etsy? A kit from LPS? How about a total sweet blog makeover?! Hmmmmm.....Any of those sound interesting???

And saving the best for last:

I mention time and again how much the crafting community means to me. Whether it's the forums that are nice enough to listen to me go on and on and on about Stickles or The Bachelorette (starting Monday, May 18th on ABC! Woo hoo!) or you fabulous people that make my day by visiting my blog and leaving all of your thoughtful and lovely comments, it all boils down to the people. I scrap for my family and I craft for my own sanity but there's a big part of me that is invested in the community. I love visiting your blogs and it means so much to me to view your amazing artwork or read your life stories.

I have made friends through this medium that mean more to me than some people I've known in real life for years. lol You are all so different, so loving and so talented in your own ways and I feel so blessed to be even a small part of your lives. I remember one of the first "scrapbooking" blogs I ever read was Lynn's Pretty Paper Swirls. This blog was what opened my eyes to scrapping beyond "stickers", lol. Lynn taught me what Distess Ink was and (more importantly) what Stickles were (bless you Lynn!) and I still visit her blog to drool over her work!

I started to notice one blogger in particular that frequently commented on Lynn's blog and that was Jacque. The first time I visited her blog I thought, "Holy crap, I'll never be this good!" lol I instantly fell in love with her paper bag albums and her sweet spirit. When she started following me and commenting on my blog I about fell over! lol What an honor for me to have this talented lady reading what I wrote and looking at my work! I was intimidated at first but just kept on posting my creations, talking about my life and of course that includes a healthy heaping dose of Toot! lol

Keeping my "star struckness" in mind, you can imagine my jaw-dropping shock and amazement when this arrived in the mail for me today:

Jacque, a fellow crafter and one fabulous lady, made this fantastic layout of Toot, just for me! (Notice the use of glittery alphas, the woman knows me, hello! lol) Can you believe it?!?! Chris' jaw hit the floor when he saw it and he babbled for about 10 minutes before he could make a coherent sentence. lol I am shocked on so many levels...the fact that I get to see her amazing work up close, the fact that she took time out of her life to create this for us and the fact that she thought of us...wow...amazing!

To Jacque: From the beginning, I've thought you were one of the nicest, most talented crafters out there. Thank you for your sweet ways and thoughtfulness and thank you for sharing your art and life with us! Thank you so much for thinking of me and my Toot, this layout will be framed and put on my wall for everyone to see and so I can look at it whenever the mood strikes me! I adore it!

To everyone that visits my blog, follows my blog and those that leave comments: A special thank you for taking time out to read my ramblings and look at my work! It such a treasure to me that you come here and I hope you will for a long time! Thanks to all you thoughtful, wonderful, talented, crazy ladies that keep me smiling, laughing and sometimes crying. I only have a brother in real life and it feels good to find some sisters!

Thank you so much!

P.S.-This pic is for you Jacque! :)