Mr. Muscle has been very generous with his time and worked our big crop last February and the current crop in January.  He is also picking up the scrapbooking lingo and he is a part of Younique as much as the rest of us.  So I was excited for him (I guess LOL) when he got his deer and I got the pictures to scrapbook for him.

It’s always nice to scrapbook layouts when they are appreciated and I know Mr. Muscle has patiently been waiting to see these.  So here they are

I was really pleased with the whole layout and it had that “manly” feel to it which is ultimately what I wanted.

This one also had the “feel” I wanted to achieve and liked adding the burlap to it. But the best part was the little verse I added on a tag

 I know he will like this.

I’ll add some more tomorrow.  I’m having issues with the size of my posts and am losing alot of my content if I make it too big so I’m going to cut it off here.

Ta

H

I have already completed his card and so Mr. Clean you can’t look any further than this.  The House Mouse Challenge blog

http://housemouse-challenge.blogspot.com for this weeks challenge is looking for cards created with Hearts – more than one and so this is my rendition.

I am enjoying the new Basic Grey Kissing Booth line of paper.  After completing the Page of the Month for February I have lots left to play with so I have a couple of cards I’m going to create.

H

I made a drastic decision for change in my life.  I have decided that I no longer want to dye my hair.  Those of you that know me, know me as a red head.  I like to compare myself to Lucille Ball, I’m silly like she was, I like to have fun and more importantly I don’t want to grow old or have people guessing how old I am so I have hidden behind the red hair for a very long time.  I have been a red head for so long that I don’t even see the red when I look in the mirror.  One time a man referred to me as a red head and I just looked at him and then kind of went “Oh yeah” he is referring to me.  Silly isn’t it.

So today I spent almost 4 hours at the hairdresser as they stripped my hair of all it’s red color and then for a temporary appearance they then had to hide the orange that was left with an Ash Brown color – do you see where I’m going with this?????  Over the next 4 months that color will be removed and all that will be left is -ta da – grey or white hair.  I’m so scared but I don’t want to be doing this to my hair for the rest of my life.  I will see what I look like after the whole process and if I’m really not good with the change – then we will cross that bridge when I get to it.

So my hair has changed – BIG TIME and I’m going to embrace the new me ….I’ll try really hard

We have some changes with some of our suppliers at Younique.  We have some great kits that we want to incorporate into the online shop.  Kits designed by Virginia Nebel (formerly of Scrapalicious) ,kits from Quick Quotes and Kits by Basic Grey.  We have had these kits in our store but not in the online store and we want to be able to offer them to everyone.  They are all gorgeous and our prices are just right (our in store shoppers already know that)

Over the next 2 weeks all of Virginia’s kits will be in the store as well we will be rollign out the new Basic Grey Page of the month (this runs from March 1 to February 28 2013) – one kit per month.  Basic Grey is introducing a Kit of the month as well and Younique will be participating in that program as well

If you have not see a BG page of the month here is one of the current kits…..

………..

……

We are in the planning stages already for the November 10th crop and also what we will be featuring at Scrapfest this year and I hope you can make it out to both events.  I will be officially announcing today that registration for our November crop will open up on Valentine’s Day and again the first 50 will be our VIP’s.

Here are some more photos of our Victorian crop

It was so much fun and I hope you can make it out to the next one in November.

H

Doing an event like this is much like giving birth – you feel the pain while going through the process but you quickly forget it and are ready to go again.  We have picked the date of November 11 2012 and someone (Lori) pointed out to me that it is “10,11,12″ – get it.

Here are some photos of the events and I do wish someone would have told me that I looked like a drag queen LOL – I would have taken the costume off sooner.  Mr. Clean did a great job taking all the photos and my sistahs and brother in law were the best – as always.  This is really turning into a family event.

And I’ll share more tomorrow.

H

I have been sitting in the studio working away at prepping all the items for our large Day crop.  All I can say is I’m actually glad that I’m not going to CHA in California this year because I would probably be going out of my mind with adding that to the list of items to take care of.

I can actually check out all my suppliers on line and see who has what to offer as far as specials and new products are concerned.  It’s just really nice to be able to play touchy feely if you know what I mean.  If only I could clone myself then I could take care of everything.  Imagine 2 of me roaming around out there YIKES

I have had my head to the grindstone prepping 175 of everything possible for this crop of ours and I finally completed the fans that will be on the tables.  I will give you a glimpse of the fan so you can see what I have been doing and why I have been hiding

Our theme is Victorian and in Victorian days fans were very popular.  Feathers were also popular and therefore that is how I came up with this idea – this really was a no brainer.

The process for this fan has been unbelievable.  First we cut the fan using the Sizzix die and glued to cardstock pieces together then cut out the paper and glued that to the front and back.  Then we inked the edges of the fans.  I misted with Glimmer Mists,  a piece of doily (that I cut) and glued that on.  I printed off the photo of Queen Victorian and ran that through the Spellbinder (one at a time) then added a few pearls and a couple of ribbons – whew

So now I’m on to the next project and I still have alot of work to do.  Maybe I’ll tease you with that one too

Ta

I like to look at it as making goals for the year as opposed to a resolution (is there really a difference) and that way I can break it down into small steps.  Goals are more achievable when we break them down into smaller steps.  It makes us feel better when we can reach to the next rung on the ladder and then actually make it to the rung and start to reach for the next one.

I’m finding that the busier I get with Younique business and with my personal life the more I start to hyperventilate when I think of everything I have to do and how in the world am I ever going to get everything done.  All of you out there that are juggling jobs, home life, kids and kids activities know exactly what I’m talking about.  So…..deep breath and one step at a time – complete one small task and try not to look at the big picture – just look at one piece of the puzzle at a time.  It really does make a difference and if we have to remind ourselves of that every hour, then we remind ourselves of it every hour.

So enough of the pep talk.  Mr. Clean just completed 2 days of a cleanse program and is now entering into 2 weeks of the South Beach Diet Phase 2.  If you aren’t familiar with the South Beach Diet it means 2 weeks of no carbs, no fruits just lots of veggies and protein.  I’m a Weight Watchers girl through and through (having lectured for them for 7 years) but I do like the South Beach as a good start to losing weight, it’s a good way to clean out your body and really helps you get rid of cravings for sweets and sugars.

Next week I’m back on program with Weight Watchers but I’m starting to watch what I’m eating this week (watch as I eat the cake and the muffins, etc LOL) and I’ll cut back big time in prep for next week and the reality check on the scale.

For dinner tonight I did a really nice shrimp stir fry for us with lots of veggies.

Cleaned the shrimp

Chopped up some veggies – celery, broccolli and onions

chop and add some carrots

What’s a stir fry without some garlic

Start with some olive oil and I also used some Epicure Asian stir fry seasoning

What are your New Year’s resolutions?  This year is going to be my year to get organized.  I’m talking major storage containers and my label maker will be put to good use and I’m going to know where to find everything – well that’s my plan anyway.

As I’m doing this post I’m sitting at my sister’s house watching and smelling her baking that she is prepping for the crop in January.  We are also eating everything in site – M & M’s, muffins, candy, chocolate.  This is the last big Hurrah.  I’m also sipping water while I’m here (another goal for the year).  We are heading over to Mandarin for dinner tonight as well and I’m wearing my “buffet” pants (you know the ones that have alot of stretch) so I can eat well tonight.

Tomorrow is reality check and the official end of my mini break – Younique is back up and running full steam ahead.  We are booked up for 2012 with very little spots available and in the next month we will be opening up 2013 so we can start booking up – hard to believe we are booking that far in advance.

We are 21 days away from the big crop and I’m no where near ready YIKES – so much to do in the next 3 weeks and we have 150 people so far – kits to do, goodie bags, table toppers, arrangements and so much more.  I’ll post some photos as I complete each product.

Jeff and I will be meeting on Tuesday to start the new year and meal planning for our January 6th weekend.  I’ll share a photo of his wonderful Beef and Beer stew and the recipe is on the web site.

Can you smell it?

Here’s another photo of one of our dinner’s in December

So good and yummy and love Jeff’s presentation.  We think you deserve it

H

As I usally do, I created a couple of layouts for my sisters.  Here are 2 that I did for Betty

Hard to believe but it’s over isn’t it?  How was your 2011?  Are you glad it’s over?

It was an “interesting” year for us.  Lots of changes at Younique in the last year including bringing Jeff on board full time to cook for us.  I have to say that makes Mr. Clean and I very happy that we can spend as much time as we do with our son, our only son and watch him grow in his Culinary skills and how he enjoys interacting with our customers.

It has been an “interesting” year for Mr. Clean and I as we have studied, reviewed, planned and tweaked what our 2012 will bring for us.  We are hoping for a very successful year in more ways than one – business wise we want to have the continued growth we have seen in 2011 and personal wise we want to continue to have the time together that we have had in the past year.  Mostly we want good health for all of us.  2012 will be the year to take care of us.

It’s so difficult, as I’m sure you all agree, to take the plunge and actually take some time for ourselves.  If we want to continue to be creative in our work and in our play we must MUST take time for us.  I think one of the reasons we sell out every year is because we offer a place to just be YOU – not mom, not wife, not coworker – but just you.  I hope you have signed up to spend a weekend at Younique in 2012.  Let us take care of you and I will work on taking care of myself.

So tonight I will think about my New Years resolution.  I don’t really believe in making a plan for myself only once a year because as things change – so do our ideas of what we would like to do but I like to start the year of fresh with a game plan and see where it takes me.

Have a good and peaceful night.

As I always say “onward and upward” that is my motto and something we have always tried to incorporate into our business plan.  2012 will bring us into our 5th year of operating the retreat and we have “tweaked” many things over the years and we will continue to do our “tweaking” in 2012 to make Younique your ultimate scrapbooking retreat.

We have recently added a new product to the store and I’m loving playing around with it.  It is the Ribbon maker from W R Memory Makers

The Sew ribbon is a great tool that allows you to add patterned borders with ribbon.  You can also add this pattern into the center of your page if you prefer

There are 3 pieces to the punch.  A top, bottom and the cutter section.  The actual cutter sits in the hole on the side of the punch when not in use and holds all 3 pieces together.  Great for storage.  You also have ribbon threaders (needles) with the punch

Opening up the 2 main pieces of the punch you can see little magnets on each piece.  You sandwich your paper in between the 2 parts of the punch and the magnets will hold your paper aligned and together

Here you can see how the edges are aligned.  I have used the leaf punch for this demo

Then using the cutting portion you insert the cutter into each section on the stencil and punch through your paper

After all the areas are punched you remove the stencil and are now ready to thread your ribbon through the punch.  This is a threader/needle that you use to hold your ribbon as you guide it through the holes.  It is a sticky piece of acrylic.  You remove the backing off the threader and attach it to your ribbon

Once your ribbon is attached to the threader it is so easy to pull it through the punched holes

And there you have it.  This is the leaf pattern.  I love all the patterns available and I’m sure we will see lots more coming out in 2012

Here is a layout I created and used one of the punches to create a section through the center portion of the layout.  I acutally punched out a separate piece of paper and attached it to the base of my layout.

We have the punches in stock and can be ordered online or you can visit the store and pick up one for yourself.

H