Daisy Bucket + other cool stuff.

Things I loved about my weekend in Eastern Oregon:

1. Mom and Simon came along on this adventure with me. To get Simon ready for the trip, Mom and I talked a bunch about "going on an adventure" and all the things we would see along the drive through the Columbia River Gorge: river, mountains, bridges, etc. He was all over that.

2. No potty accidents the entire trip. One funny story about "peeing in the bushes" during one of the workshops - whatcha going do when the bathroom is occupied? If you are a little dude you get taken outside by your mama and told to "pee on the bushes." And then the next time you need to go to the bathroom what do you do? You try to go and pee on the bushes again.

3. Hanging out at the Daisy Bucket. Relaxed. Great space. Very cool merchandising - you can imagine there are buckets all over the place. This is the kind of place I dream about having here in my own town - a place for gathering and friendship and creativity. Great for scrappin and great for little four year old boys to run around, watch videos, and play not too far from the class (love you guys). And great people that were really cool about Simon hanging out :). Gotta love ducks and trains.

4. Cassandra (one of the owners) having the brilliant idea to have a raffle for a new book and a class kit & then donate the proceeds to the Autism Society of America. This awesome store even matched the amount raised by the crop attendees. AWESOME. Thank you - just the coolest thing.

5. Seeing people I have had the pleasure of meeting before - and making new friends. And realizing once again how cool scrapbookers are - how no matter where I go I get to meet people who love the same thing I do.

6. Meeting people who "get" the life artist concept and proudly wear their shirts (and seeing how Carrie made up her own original version).

7. Laughing. Always so much laughing. And having mom there. Love that.

8. Me giving a little math lesson - the chalk board was right there - I had to take advantage of the opportunity! In one class it made sense and in the other it was more of a bomb (that would be me making it more complicated than it needed to be).

9. Being able to drive over there and bring more samples of my work. Nothing better than seeing stuff in real life.

10. Getting introduced to the Crop-A-Dile. Have you guys seen this? I am not much of a tool girl, but this is really cool and punches through all sorts of crafty stuff (metal, plastic, wood, etc). Had to have one. Also had to have some of the Daisy Bucket's own new paper line - it has a very cool texture. Can't wait to play.

11. Getting to head to "the ranch" after classes were all over to visit my aunt & uncle. I have so many memories of being there as a kid. It is a big old beautiful ranch that was originally the homestead of my great-great grandparents (I think that is right). They cooked a fabulous dinner for us and invited my college roomate Alecia (love you) & her husband and my grandmother's sister and her husband. It was so nice. And I got to see this amazing art project that my aunt is working on - a bunch of canvases with a variety of techniques and images and letters. You know I was all over that. Thanks guys.

OTHER COOL STUFF for TODAY:

• Want to check out my process for making this layout? Erin Lincoln asked me to create a layout & photograph my steps & write a commentary about how I create. It was such a cool little excerise. You can read about it on the Creating Keepsakes Message Board here.

And again, on the emails, thanks for your patience. I have a big old box full of kindness and questions.