Chaos and a sneak

CKC Seattle was a success!  I had a lot of fun in my classes and had a blast with my sweet friend Joy.  We don't have Container Stores and Paper Source in my neck of the woods, so she took me on the Bellevue tour while my sister finished up a couple of classes she was taking, and then we gorged ourselves at Chipotle and didn't complain one bit.  LOVE YOU JOY.

I was worried about the pass, but the snow came and went just for my trip. 

Being worried about traveling alone and getting bored, I got an audiobook and I have to say....  I'm a weeeee bit obsessed with it.  I may or may not be plugged in to an Ipod with it streaming in my ear right now. 

 The Hunger Games Trilogy: The Hunger Games, Catching Fire, and Mockingjay


These aren't books I would normally search out, but they are so well written I can't stop listening.  Normally I don't do audiobooks at all, but in addition to the compelling story, it also sounds like Mrs Wilber, Payton's preschool teacher, is reading them to me, and that just makes me all warm and fuzzy.

If you are looking for a gift for a teen, and they haven't already devoured these, I highly highly recommend them.  Get all three though.  They keep ending in a cliffhanger so I can't stop until the end, and I'm just crossing my fingers that the story wraps up at that point or I don't know what I'll do with myself, lol.

As far as crafting goes, I've been having some major printer issues, the quality has NOT been good, but when I contacted Epson about my Photo 1400 they indicated it needed to go in for service.  The two qualified to do so are in Portland, though, and that's 3 hours away.  SO I've been franctically sending my odd sized photos to various 1 hour developers, and haven't been happy with a thing yet.  I tried Walgreens, Fred Meyer, and the best so far has been Costco but I'm still not happy with them.  I don't have time to wait for Scrapbookpictures.com or one of those sites, so I have been pulling my hair out.  We bought my MIL a portable HP printer for Christmas a couple of years ago (she LOVES it, another gift idea for mom and dad) and she brought it over yesterday, but it's printing everything pink.  So.....  in a bit I'm going to spend $30 on a new ink cartridge and see if I can make it work.

It's putting a big hitch in my Studio Calico and Project 12 AND scrapbooking in general, for pete's sake.  It's like losing an appendage!

I did get something done when my kit first arrived but it must not have been slideshow worthy.  I Love love the layout, though, and wanted to share a sneak today:

This was made entirely from the Busy Sidewalks add-on.  Check back on reveal day to see the whole enchilada.  And in case you are wondering, I got three of four add-ons this month.  The only one I didn't pick up was Holiday lights.  I don't normally take a lot of Christmas photos and figured I could make the other products work for Christmas themed layouts if I wanted to do so.  That said, this add-on does come with what will be a coveted stamp (you do have this punch, right?)!

I'm hoping to be back soon with a sneak or at least my Project 12 layout, but my family is trudging back over the hill on Saturday for my annual family gathering.  Because our kids are getting older and we have to take their school schedules into consideration, our Christmas gathering has been moved back to just before Thanksgiving.  We leave on Saturday and will be home from Wednesday.

Take care!  Davinie