I got a new boss today ...

Well it's finally official...I got a new boss today. This is part of a huge organization change for my entire department (~300 people impacted) and I am not at all happy about it. The change has been in discussion for several months now, but it became official today. So this really has me bummed right now.

On a much brighter note, I had a nice weekend and found some time for a little scrapping. I finished up a couple cool projects for the next issue of Craft Life & Home (The Scrapgenie Magazine) and started work on my next SBM article....where I got to have fun with felt goodies. I should have plenty of time to finish up the article work this weekend and then move on to some non-assignment work. I'm looking forward to playing with some new goodies I bought over the past few weeks.

In other good news - tomorrow is my 5 year anniversary to DH. We were together for many years before getting married but our actual anniversary is special to me. We are planning to take the day off work and go for a drive down the coast and have fun with our cameras. So I'm very excited about that....and it will give me some new scrapping material as well.

Here are a few things I did a while back but haven't shared yet:

Geez....who is supposed to update this blog!!!

Oh that's me......sorry!!! If anyone is still checking here's an update

I don't want to start off complaining too much but the past 4 weeks have just been insane for me at work. I lost one of my best engineers, got a new boss, and had several high impact project all due over the past few weeks. My working hours have been crazy and I have done virtually nothing but shop scrap wise.

This week I am finally able to come up for air....even if it's for just a few days. Over the weekend I actually got some crafting done for some DT assignments, and for the first time in what seems like forever I felt creative again. Don't you just hate it when the mojo is not flowing.

In other good news, Susanne is coming into town to visit Danea so we are all going to get together tomorrow after I get out of work. That should be fun

Here are a couple pages I did before my work insanity started....I just love the one of my nephew with the floppy hair and my niece in her tap dance uniform.

March Maddness!!!

Some of you already know that I am a die hard sports fan. I actually love a lot of sports but my all time favorite is the NCAA basketball tournament. Oh my this is absolutely the best sport ever. There is so much excitement that goes along with these games. Although there are clear favorites it really is anyones game. Every team has hope and a possibility to win. Between last Thursday and yesterday (Sunday) we went from 64 to only 16 teams. Jim and I virtually had the TV on in every room just to make sure we kept up with the action. As always there were some upsets and great surprises. Each game will be played with a greater and greater intensity until we have a single winner. Oh yes, this is the best 3 weeks of the year (sports wise anyway).

Given that I was distracted with the BB games I couldn't concentrate on much SB wise. So I decided to continue on the ultimate organization that I started a few months ago. Taking a tip from Wendy I decided take all my chipboard letters and get rid of the outside (shadows) and only keep the inside letter itself. I ended up with a quite embarrassing amount of outsides that were so heavy I needed to double bag. I also dumped all of my precious primas out of the cute little bottles and packaging into a big sterlite bucket and chucked the packaging. Just between those two tasks I freed up a ton of premium space (within arms reach of my desk). Then I conquered the task of re-organizing my paper. Over the past two years my paper stash has simply gotten out of control. So I went through the majority of paper and thinned out the older stuff that I no longer use (although doing this I came across so many wonderful older papers that I had forgotten about) and also sorted my cardstock by color again. I still have several tasks left before I am finished but have cleaned up the area enough to allow for some crafting this week.

I keep telling myself that I need to get moving on the Heidi Swapp BPS class but then I never make the time for it. I am not going to beat myself up about it....but it's still bugging me. Especially since I have the pictures printed for the 1st two layouts anyway.

Since I didn't get much done this weekend I decided to share a couple pages from last weekend:

Wireless wonders

My internet PC finally crapped out on me. He has been on the fritz for months and I was keeping him alive on life support....but made the decision this weekend to pull the plug. So now we are sporting a core two duo (for all my Intel friends) with 2G RAM more HD space than I will even need and he's running windows Vista. DH and I have several computers in the house but this one is designated for internet surfing only. I used this opportunity to get the wireless router we bought months ago up and running.....so now I can carry my laptop all over the house and surf.

Now for the best part. We also got a new copier/scanner/printer all-in-one thingy when we got the PC. Since it was bluetooth ready we got that bad boy hooked up wireless as well. It works out perfect to put the pinter across the room (so that it doesn't hog up my desk) without any wires. It's totally like magic.


Technology is great.....for this gadget girl!!!

I thought I would share a layout of my nephew daring me to get his picture without the cup in the way. That little stinker can be so funny sometimes. I really wish I could see him more often.

A productive Weekend

Happy Monday everyone!!

Wow, DH and I had quite a productive weekend. After a couple month hiatus we are finally back on the house remodel kick. This weekend we bought new patio furniture and some wicker furniture for the sunroom....it will be great to finally put something in this room other than our exercise equipment. In addition we meet with the handyman who is going to start work later this week on the living room and dining room areas. We are so excited to start seeing progress again on bringing our house fashion back into the 21st century.

In addition to the house progress I also got a lot done on the scrapbooking front. This weekend I cranked out 7 new layouts. A few of them were very simple pages but I still got 7 done. Woo Hoo.

Last Thursday I got a great surprise by finding out that one of my layouts made the cover of the current issue of Scrapbook Magazine I was really excited about that since I had no idea about the cover. Here is the layout:

Thanks so much for checking in. I'll be back soon with more pages to share.

I'm BACK!!!!

Whew, for the 2nd weekend in a row I had a good scrap mojo flowing. This weekend I scrapped just for me. No assignments or worries about insturctions and materials lists. I ended up making 7 layouts. That is a good pace for me. I tried to scrap some everyday photos - what's funny is that some of the best memories I have are captured in everyday candid shots. My goal this weekend was to work on my Heidi Swapp BPS layouts. I ended up getting distracted with other pages but did get sketches done and printed my pictures....so I hope to finish those during the week.

Here are two of my favorite layouts.....I will share the others over the next couple days.

This is my DH playing the guitar. I took these shots weeks ago for my HS BPS goal page (so you will see them again), but ended up getting side tracked and made this page instead. Please don't tell him I used crate paper Cowgirl collection on him....ooooohhh.

This page is me playing a game with my niece and nephew at Christmas time. Poor Aunt Missy had to remind both of them (but especially my 3 year old niece) not to cheat. Oh my their parents have some work to do....but I couldn't help but laugh. They were so cute. This layout made me so happy to remember that day.

Email Woes

With the amount of junk email that I get I should have known something was wrong earlier when I wasn't getting any emails. When I logged on this morning to find not a single email in my inbox I knew something was wrong. uuugghhh that is so annoying. I was able to get the problem fixed but will not be able to recover any undelivered emails....now I probably didn't get anything important....but I'm sort of obsessing over what I might have missed.

On a brighter front, Jim and I had a really great 3 day weekend. Saturday was errand day and lawn care day. We got so much done and we were both really happy with our progress. Sunday and Monday were a bit lazy. I did manage to get some good scrapping time in and for the first time since Christmas actually felt creative. I made 3 new layouts and 4 cards.....whew, it felt so good to be productive again.

This is not a layout I did this weekend, but it is one of my favorites that I haven't shared. It was part of an article on chipboard.

Happy Valentines Day!!!

One year ago today Jim and I had been in our house less than a week and were living on the dining room floor as our bedroom was being remodeled. For valentines day we had TV dinners and opened a bottle of wine. We were having trouble with our cable reception, his guitars were still packed, and my scrap stuff would still be boxed up for weeks, so we just sat together enjoyed each others company all night.

With the exception of sleeping on the dining room floor I think we are going to do the same thing this year. No TV, no scrapping, and no guitar....just good ole fashion quality time.

We have never really done much on Valentines day. Jim's birthday was just a few days ago and we went out to a very nice dinner last weekend. So this year we are exchanging cards and kisses....and knowing Jim I'll probably get a little Godiva (because he can't help himself).

So I hope everyone has a wonderful night!!!!

I did it again

Once again I have neglected my blog. Sometimes I really wonder where the time goes.

It has been over a week since I got back from CHA and I am still digesting all that I saw and going through the mountain of catalogs that I picked up. It's amazing how much stuff I missed. Overall I was impressed by the new releases and the show seemed to have a nice buzz but it wasn't crazy. There was a lot of talk about the fate of Memory Trends so it will be real interesting who decides to pull out.

Since I haven't been up to much the past few weeks I thought I would share the layouts I did for Technique Tuesday's booth. I had so much fun playing with these stamps....

On a side note my nephew turned 5 on monday. Oh my, I just can't believe he is alreayd 5. I called him and had a full on conversation with him about his birthday party. It literally seems like yesterday when I got the call telling me I was an Aunt....now he is 5!!!

Oh my I am so sorry

....for not blogging since before Christmas. I honestly don't know where the time went. Jim and I spent a wonderful week in New York doing everything we planned plus a little extra. Then we were able to spend New Years week at home. We both minimized our internet time and focused on getting stuff done around the house. That was a great week and we got a bunch of stuff done that had been lingering on our to-do list for months.

Scrapwise I have been focused on a magazine assignment and some CHA work. I was overly excited to get an opportunity to make 2 layouts for the Technique Tuesday CHA booth. Now that I have a little break before my next assignment is due I am hoping to get caught up on the Heidi Swapp BPS class as well as on my mission to make Christmas ornaments and decorations for myself (LOL...yes, I am really going to start this early so I have a chance of finishing by December). My goal is to hand make all the ornaments on my main tree. So wish me luck on those tasks.

I will be heading down to Anaheim in 2 weeks for CHA. I am very excited to see the new products and companies. Not to mention I will get to see several of my SoCal friends at the show. I also get to see Becks (from the UK) again so that is cool.

Well I am still trying to catch up after being off work for over two weeks. So I am going to sign off for now, but hope to be back soon with some new pictures.

Happy Holidays

WOW I can't believe that Christmas is almost here. The past two weeks have been crafting crazy for me. Finishing up assignments, cards, and gifts...I'm sure most of you can relate. So I don't have anything new to share right now....but I will after the holidays.

Jim and I are getting ready to leave for New York on Friday. I am so excited about the trip. Of course the highlight of the trip will be seeing my nieces and nephew, but we also have a day planned in New York City. First the Radio City Music Hall show, then an NBC studio tour, a view from top-of-the-rock, and then if we have time a stop by the Morgan Museum to see a Bob Dylan Exhibit. Since none of us are brave enough to drive in the city we will take the train down and back. It's going to be a great day. To top all of that off, I am going to get real NY pizza and Italian food....something we just can't get here in CA. No matter how many people from "NY" that own resturants here in CA, there is nothing like real pizza from NY. Seriously, I think there is something in the water that make the crust taste so good.

I hope all of you have a happy holiday!!!!

Crazy for Canvas

I finally tried my hand at canvas creations. They are really very quick and fun to make. Both of these will be Christmas gifts this year. I have always sturggled with how to display handmade creations outside of my scraproom....so I love that these stand up by themselves. I am planning to make one or two for myself to put up on my mantle.

Jumbo Embellies!!!

I'm finally able to share a few layouts I did on super-sized embellishments. I know Wendy is going to love the picture in the 2nd page.....wozers look at that red hair on my niece.

Holy international blog batman!!!

OK, it really is the silly things that bring this girl joy. With the link from Pencil Lines my blog has been getting a lot of views since Sunday. In the past 24 hours I have had 50 visits to my blog (way more than usual) with a very interesting distribution that I got from my blog counter (and I love statistics):

• Over 50% of the visits came from outside the USA.
• People from 9 different contries came to visit. A big huge hello to my UK friends, but I also had visitors from Canada, Australia, South Africa, Singapore, Sweden, Netherlands, and Spain.... that's quite a list!
• 16 people linked to me from the pencil lines blog
• 3 people found me using google search for either "Missy's Muses" or "Missy Neal" - on a side note have you ever googled your own name - it's funny what comes up.
• 8 people leaving the blog clicked out to the Pencil Lines blog

Man, I really wish I knew who was stopping by to take a look. I would love to think about having friends in all these great locations.

Well thanks to everyone who stopped by....you really made my day.

Check out this weeks Pencil Lines guest member

Woo Hoo....a little tooty toot for me. I am so proud to be this weeks guest designer for the UK's smashing hit sketch challenge website: Pencil Lines. Each week this amazinly talented group of scrappers put up a sketch challenge. This week I was the lucky designer of the sketch and also made the following layout for the challenge:

Totally in LOVE with 8x8

Gosh, I feel so guilty for neglecting my blog the past two weeks, but it's been a little crazy. My dear MIL was in for a visit this week and we had a lovely time. We even ventured to the shopping mecca of Union Square San Francisco for a little black friday shopping. The good news is that I am now 90% done with my Christmas shopping.
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Scrap wise I have been working on a 8x8 album for my MIL and found out that I LOVE this size. It's just perfect for a 4x6 picture. I also went on a mission to use up some of my older embellies.....just look at these pages and you are sure to find some blast from the past items.

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About a year ago I did CKU masters where had a circuit of these 8x8 pages. I was not impressed with this portion of the CKU and thought I would never do this size again. That was until I found a super cute album that was just too perfect to pass up. So I decided to make my MIL a little album for her birthday. Oh my it was like heaven. The pages were fun and went together so quick and easy. I will for sure be doing another one of these. In the meantime check out some of the super fast cuties that went into my MIL's album:

Sharing my Bling

I haven't been scrapping much lately and what I have been doing can't be shared just yet, so I decided to share 2 of my favorite layouts from the current issue of the Scrapbook Magazine in the article on Bling.

The first is a layout of my Grandparents who were married for 57 years. My grandpa passed away earlier this year so it's really a tribute page to him. The 2nd page is my niece playing in the flowers at my moms house. I have scrapped this picture before but I just loved the way the colors in this page looked.

Thanks so much for looking.

It's time to vote...

For everyone in the US today is an important day. Remember to get out and vote...it's important and your civic duty.

Since DH and I moved since last election we had a new polling location. I was surprised when I got to the polls at 7:00am today and there were already 15 people ahead of us in line. It took almost 45 minutes to get our votes cast, but it was well worth it. A lot of my friends are voting absentee, but for me there is something that just feels good about standing in line to cast my vote. I am wearing my sticker today and hope you all do the same.

Inspired by...

Here is my Sweet and Sassy layout inspired by Carole and Joanne. I was a pop dot fool on this layout. Each flower is pop dot and the petals are bent upward. I wish the scan showed the dimention better. It was really fun to give this look a try....but I have a lot to learn.

Warning...

The following links may contain unbelievably inspiring work that may compel scrappers to immediately drop what they are doing and scrap.

Whoa, you know with the number of blogs and online galleries out there, it's easy to get used to seeing phenomenal work out there. However there are still times when my heart stops and I am just in total awe. That happened to me today....not once, but twice.

While I was doing my morning blog surfingI noticed on the ScrapGenie blog that Becks added Carole Janson as a DT member. So I just clicked on her blog link and WOWZERS. Then a few hours later I got a comment on my blog from Joanne Bain- so I followed her link back to her blog and was blown away again for the 2nd time today.

Seriously, I am just amazed by the work of these two ladies. Both are from Australia and have left me itching to get into my scraproom and try to create a 3-D layout. Check out the amazingly cool dimension they add to their art by pop dotting and folding the paper. They look so cool on-line I can't even imagine how good they look IRL.

So without further ado, I urge you to go check out the work of these two amazing artist:

Carole Janson

Joanne Bain

I have guests in town this weekend but I sure hope that my next post will be a 3-D layout inspired by these ladies.