*RAK* winner---Carla Avila!!!

WOW, I totally loved reading all of your reasons for scrapping! The winner of the MLS rak is Carla Avila!! CONGRATULATIONS!!!

Contact me so I can get your goodies to ya! :)

hugs

Suzy West

My Little Shoebox *RAK*

Hey there gals!!! I was just chatting with my dd, Angel. We were talking about way back in the days when I found out about scrapping and how grateful I am to it.
Before scrapbooking I was doing photography and I was believe it or not, a make up artist. Since scrapbooking I have done several things...tv stuff, product design, store, teach, travel, written books. etc.
I'm so happy to have scrapbooking in my life.
I never do RAKS and would love to do one. What has scrapbooking done for you?
I will pick a number and who ever posts on that number will receive a nice set of goodies from My Little Shoebox.
Hugs
Suzy

No reason

I had a fabulous weekend!! There were a lot of us cropping on Friday. I got 7 pages done that night. I then scrapped another 5 pages on Saturday.
On Sunday my family decided to get together and bbq. I love that we don't need a reason to gtg we just do.
Christian did the bbq'ing. He loves to do the cooking!! My mom made more food and the rest of us brought a ton of stuff.
The kids played in the back and front yard. Tanner had a blast getting into everything.
It was just a wonderful weekend! Lots of fun, sun, and family! Can't get any better than that!
Have a good one!
Hugs
Suzy

Guess who's going to be a grandma again?

That would be....ME!!!
So here's a crazy story for you.

So as many of you know, Angel miscarried in February. While I was at CHA she called me because she had started bleeding. They told her what would probably happen. She was extremely depressed about it! Luckily, they didn't have to do a DNC. So for the last month she has been trying to get back to normal but she's been sick still and still "feeling pregnant". So she went to the dr's. She explained what had happened (miscarriage and all).
THe dr. took tests and it turned out...that she was STILL pregnant. She had never miscarried. She was just bleeding a lot and then stopped. The dr. didn't fully check her after. If they had done an ultrasound they would have seen that there was still a little baby there.

Soooooo...Angel and Christiane are soooo super excited!!! Tanner is going to be two soon so he's going to have fun playing with the baby. I can't wait!!

Hugs
Suzy West

always busy

Wow, it seems like my time flies by so fast!!
Friday: work and crop until after midnight.
a. Laughing like crazy
b. more laughing
c. Nichole, Erin, and I almost pee'ing our pants

Saturday: work and then out with Sierra
a. at work by 8am
b. 30 second shopping spree contest--LOTS of people
c. work more
d. Angel's class until 6pm
e. Took Sierra to get a hair cut
f. Took Sierra to the pet store.
g. went home to watch a movie together. Lots of snuggling. She's so sweet!

Sunday: birthday parties, lunch, parks, and more
a. took Jeremy to a birthday party.
b. Took Sierra to lunch and to pick out a kite.
c. Went to the park and flew kites with Angel and her family.
d. blew bubbles until we were dizzy.
e. Went home to relax and watch a movie.

Monday: I'm at work blogging
a. Store will open soon. I need to move things around.
b. Going to La Fondue with Helen and all the girls that created for the tv show tonight.

If I told you all the stuff I had going on with this week you'd think I was crazy!LOL

Have a great day!!
Hugs
Suzy West

My Little Shoebox Design Team Call!!

My Little Shoebox
Emeryville, Ca
www.mylittleshoebox.com
My Little Shoebox is looking for 5 talented, motivated, responsible designers who have time to commit to design layouts and projects each month from our products and promote our products online and at their local scrapbook store.

We are looking for:
1. Creative individuals that is able to do 2 different types of projects each month such as layouts, cards, and projects with our products.
2. You must post your work on 2 different galleries plus the MLS galleries
3. You must be available to commit to a 12 months term, which begin July 2008.
4. You must be a resident of the United States or Canada and at least 18 years of age or older.
5. Help judge any contests during your term (as needed.)
6. There are additional opportunities available to use our products to teach at your local scrapbook store.
7. You agree to release the rights of your designs to My Little Shoebox for display on the company website and in the company publications.
8. If needed your designs may also need to show at trade show.
9. In addition, as a design team member, you will be contributing twice per term to our company newsletter. You can post this on your personal blog.
In return you will receive:

1. A monthly package of our wonderful products.
2. Your choice of MLS products.
3. Your picture and bio on the My Little Shoebox website
4. Your own personal gallery on My Little Shoebox website

To apply please send an e-mail to info@mylittleshoebox.com including:

1. Full name, address, phone number, email address.
2. 3 layouts, 1 card, and 1 projects representing your best design work (jpg files or pdf file no larger than 500kb)
3. Link to an online gallery where we can see your current work.
4. Personal website or blog if you have one.
5. List your prior experience.
6. Design teams you are currently affiliated with.
7. Describe your style.
8. What makes you a unique addition to our team?
9. Have you been published, if so where and when.
10. Do you have teaching experience?
11. Tell us about yourself, please acknowledge how much time you are comfortable with to devote to My Little Shoebox each month.



Submission deadline is May 30th, 2008.Our design team members will be announced on June 15th, 2008.
We thank you in advance for all your work and appreciate each entry! Questions may be directed to our lead designer Suzy West psajfamily@aol.com

Our little adventure

I'm back from my awesome trip to Massachussetts AND New York! Pattie and I got to Mass. on Saturday morning and it was FREEZING! We went to Plimoth to see "the rock" and check out the sites. It was so beautiful but so super cold! We checked into our awesome hotel(that looks like a castle) and did our make n' takes. The next day we sold and were with a ton of companies such as Fiskars, Ranger, Autumn Leaves, Daisy Bucket, and more. (we were there for a rep show, representing My Little Shoebox) We left around 6pm and headed to my friend Amy Goldsteins in the country of upstate New York. She lives in this amazing 200 year old house! She is this AWESOME designer who has done books with Memory Makers and was the owner of Pink Martini. Also staying with us was Carolyn Peeler, designer for Melissa Frances. We went to a ton of places and stood in front of the awesome Hudson River. It was just breath taking. This is where it gets crazy. We left (plenty of time) to to the airport and all of a sudden...blizard! OMG it was the craziest car ride and started to freak out because we weren't sure if we could make our flight or not. I was driving 80 miles an hour super close to the steering wheel! So we missed our flight by less than 10 minutes!! wah! We made new flight plans and stayed across the street at a beautiful hotel. Got on our flight and then had to transfer...well we barely made that flight too because we had landed so close to the other flight. We BOOKED it to the gate! We got here around 2pm today. So that's my crazy but fun story! LOL

Here are some fun photos of our trip. Unfortunately, in no order. LOL

Pattie and I at Plimoth.

I was FREEZING!!!

Pattie on the road in front of Amy's house.

Pattie in front of Amy's house.

Amy and I in front of the Hudson River

LOVE this shot of Pattie and I

Another Pattie and I pic

THANKS FOR LOOKING!!!! The trip was a huge success for My Little Shoebox. I am really excited for the company. Our next trip for them is FLORIDA in October.

Hugs

Suzy West

Love these pictures!!

My niece Ashleigh is so stinkin' beautiful! I love these pictures of her that I took last week.

I love that she is so silly! I tell her I want to take a picture of her and she starts being super silly.

Sierra West Photography

Sierra is becoming quite the photographer. She has decided that this is what she wants to be when she grows up and truthfully, she could be. She has a great eye, centers everyone, and zooms in perfectly. These are a few pictures that she took of Paul and I on Easter.

To book your photo session call Sierra directly. LOL

Have a great day! Suzy

The younger ones...

Last week I brought the kids to work with me. It was fun hanging out with them, because I don't see them very much during the day. I get to hang out with Angel since she works with me but the two younger ones go to my parents house. Jeremy and Sierra said they wanted to take pictures with my camera. We got these really cute and funny shots.

My kiddos being slightly silly!

She's so stinkin' cute!

My little man who is a lot taller than me now. He's such a great kid!!

I love this shot! I love my kiddos so much!! I'm a lucky mom!

OHIO...My little Shoebox...Scrapbook Memories...24 hours....

So I just had one of the most fun experiences with my good friend Helen. Helen is the owner of My Little Shoebox. Her products are FABULOUS and we can't keep them in stock.

She was asked to do a filming for the show, Scrapbook Memories in Ohio, so we practiced filming and getting her prepared for this awesome show for about two weeks prior to going. I asked some of my design team members to create projects for them to be seen on tv and they did an amazing job!

We will be putting together a design team, so if you are interested please link me to your gallery, We would love to see your work. The official call will go out in the next month but we would like to see some of your work now. (hope that makes sense,LOL)

Here are some of my favorite pictures from our 24 hour trip....took off at 2pm here Sunday and arrived at 1am at our hotel. It was funny telling him we were checking out in less than 7 hours. We got up and started filming at noon. We were out of there by 2pm and got home at 11pm last night. CRAZY!!! LOL

This is me in front of the set of Scrapbook Memories.

Helen, Julie McGuffie, and I in front of the set.

It was so blazing cold in Ohio but a lot of fun!

I took pictures of Helen on the screen . I got to watch her film live. She did such a great job!

Stacy from Paper Crafts Magazine was there.

My good friend Wendy from Simple Scrapbooks was there too. It was so much fun hanging out with her. We had been meaning to pow wow but both of us have been so busy we didn't get to do any of that until we were in Ohio. It is so great to see where the magazine is going, they are working really hard to listen to their readers and put out a magazine that will inspire and teach. You will be seeing some amazing new ideas in their magazine so get your subscription!

Huge thanks to my girls Nichole King, Pattie Beltran, Michelle Tornay, Erin Yamabe, Krista Lund, and Rocio Duran for creating such beautifuly projects in such a short period of time!

Hugs, Suzy West

***sorry about the posting problem. Just fixed it and tested it myself, so it's working. Thanks for the scoop!***

Happy 60th birthday daddy!

SURPRISE!!!! We told my dad we were going to take him out to dinner for his birthday...yeah so not! We planned a surprise party for him. He was so thrilled...and surprised!LOL

We had ordered a ton of food.

We bought a pinata!!

We sang and got just a little excited over him blowing out the candles. LOL
A picture of my daddy and I.
I love you daddy!

I've been tagged...by ERIN!!

So I was tagged by my partner in crime...ERIN YAMABE

here’s the info:

Here are the rules…

Link to your tagger and post these 3 rules on your blog.

Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.
Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.
Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

random pieces of me-

1. Everytime I order a burger I always ask for NO Pickles because I don't like them and yet I'm allergic to tomatos and take them off MYSELF when I get it.

2. When I sleep I put a blanket over my body but must have one leg out. WIERD!

3. I get nausious for EVERTHING! My friends laugh at me because it's for stupid things!

4. I hardly where make-up (use to be a make up artist), but when I do I use everything including liners, bases, eyelash curlers, etc.

5. I can't go to bed with out watching re-runs of Will and Grace every night. I have a ton recorded for the weekends.

6. I've been on TV many times!! Including...talk show, reality show, news, shopping shows, etc.

7. I'm going to Alicia Keys and Jordin Sparks with Erin and Kristin!! Yippee!

Okay so I'm going to tag the following people....
Nikki,
Diane,
Sasha,
Celine,
Shell,
Dayami,
and Allison.

Hugs
Suzy West

Loving American Idol!!

OMG I am so loving American Idol this year!!! Normally I like the girls the most but this year, it's all about the guys!! I especially love David Archuleta!

He's is AMAZING!! If you haven't heard him sing, check him out here!!

First Week-Shop Around

Second week--Imagine

So lucky to have parents like you

I was uploading some photos to the computer and stopped when I saw these three pictures. I couldn't help but stare at them for quite some time, and honestly I was filled with such love for my parents that I began to get teary eyed.

You can see the love that my parents have for my grandson. They are like this with all the kids! These two have so much love in them that it literally bursts when we are all together.

My mom is so beautiful!! She's extremely humble and shy(I so didn't get that from her. LOL). She has spent the last forty years being an amazing mom to me and my two brothers!

My dad is literally the nicest person I know! He spews niceness and it's all real! He's totally funny too!! If he thinks there is a problem he's famous for calling family meetings!LOL
I love them so much and am blessed to call them my parents!!

Hugs, Suzy West

You know you're losing it when...

you start looking for a set of keys...
have everyone helping you find them....
hours have passed...
you sit down...
something is bugging you in your pant pocket...
and realize...
it's your keys!!! LOL
Yeah, I'm so losing it!! LOL

Here are a couple of layouts I did today. I love playing with Love Elsie products!!!

Have a great day!
Suzy West

Turning 21 again! N-O-T!!

My birthday was yesterday and it was so much fun!!!!

Christiane and Pattie bought a fondue pot and had tons of yummy goodies!

I received a lot of fun gifts

Christiane and Erin doing the bump!LOL

I was cracking up with Erin!!

Erin was cracking all night long!!
Maria and I!!
Pattie, Christiane, and I! I love these girls!!
Rocio, Erin, and I--it took 5 times of trying to get this shot! LOL
Thank you to everyone that made my birthday so much fun!!! It was such a nice surprise!

Hugs, Suzy West

Lots of emotions...

CHA was an amazing experience!! I've been to many of these events and I gotta say this one was one of my most favorite!! It was filled with laughter, amazement, creativity, and more!
As much as I loved seeing everything and ordering tons for the store, it was the girls that I was with that made the experience so wonderful! Erin was so funny! She had us cracking up the entire time with some of the things that came out of her mouth...literally!LOL
OMG Kristin was ROCKING!! She did an amazing job at making sure we got everything for the store and marking all the books. It so came in handy last night when we started doing pre-orders.
Oh and then there was the one and only Jenny Deal!!! Dude, you had me at Hello!! I've never, EVER, EVER seen someone so organized in my freaking life!! We called her the FINISHER. She completed the orders. The girl made phone calls, had us on time frames, made sure we made our appointments, and more!!! Man, everyone needs a Jenny in their lives!!!
We got to hang out with "MAINE!!!" It was so much fun seeing my good friend Jenn from Maine. She's one of the funniest gals I have ever met. She had us cracking up the entire time.

So the bad thing...
Angel found out that she miscarried while I was away. We tried to get an earlier flight but couldn't. She's being a trooper about it. I have tried to be really strong for her but gotta admit when the words, "I'm really sad and I need to cry but I know that Heavenly Father has a plan for me" came out of her mouth it made my heart drop.
Thanks to everyone who has called and emailed me. I really appreciate it. We all do.

So what's new?
I came home to a list of things to do a mile long. We have classes, crops, events, and tons more coming up. I so enjoy seeing everyone everday!!! Next week is my birthday. I can't believe I'm going to be 27...Oh wait...37! EEEK!! I'm going to celebrate with my girls on Friday night and go out with the family on Saturday! I can't wait!

I'm going to try to post some CHA pictures next week.
Big hugs,
Suzy West

The family is growing...

Guess who is going to be a big brother?

Angel and Christian are so excited!! They are expecting their second little one, of whom I think will be a GIRL!!! She is about 7 weeks pregnant.

Hugs, Suzy West

This past weekend...this upcoming weekend...

This past weekend was so much fun but as busy as it could get!!!

Friday we cropped. Saturday I went shopping with Erin. We got our eyebrows waxed, ate sushi, and went clothes shopping. I think went to work.
Sunday we had our annual garage sale and it was so CRAZY!!! People everywhere. We then had a cookie lee party. I went home to spend time with the kiddos and then went to bed.

This week we have classes, crops, and a trip to Anaheim! It's the CHA show. We are so excited! Kristin, Jenn, Erin, and I our headed up there on Saturday. I'm going to work the store for a few hours and then I'm outie!

Have a fabulous week!
Hugs
Suzy