man, i am so luckY!
it's moday...
my house is clean, 24 is on tonight and SO IS THE APPRENTICE!!!!!!!!!!!!!
so excited...
i had a crazy day today, getting all back to normal from being down in Florida for the weekend and getting ready to leave again this weekend for the ck CRUISE! um... i will admit it right now... i am STRESSED OUT! so much to do... and very little time to get it all done!
so em and i went to Ruban Rouge and had a wonderful time.. it made me remember how much i love doing that... teaching... hanging out at midnight crops... meeting new people and showing them how to do stuff they had never tried!
i am really bummed, cause i took a whole bunch of cute cute photos...and i am not sure what happened, but i lost them all from my memory card.. i don't know what happened... seriously- sat night, we were sitting and looking through all the photos... and they were there, and sunday morning when i got home, and put the card in the reader, they were not... man, it makes me mad... i did ask lisa, the store owner to send me the photos that she was snapping all weekend... and we have twin cameras, so i am sure they are good!!
you should see that store... serioulsy, i have NEVER seen more heidi swapp product in one place ever before... they had SO MUCH STUFF... i mean, they had every item, and like tons of it! so if you need something you can't find... call them and i am sure they will send it to you! not that they really have time to be packing up orders...as the store is constantly crowded... it's not just heidi stuff that was stocked...everything! it's a killer store. and it really was so fun for me to walk in and see their WALLS of my product... i thought it looked great! the pink cupcakes and balloons were a great compliment to the polk-a-dot packaging!
so Friday night during the crop, i really got put to the test.. after i had a chance to talk to everyone and see what they were working on etc... Lisa, drew a name for someone to win a scrapbook page made by me with that person's pictures... she asked me if i was up to this little challenge and i was game! sounded fun... the girl who won, Suzanne Quillen, had driven in from Georgia, and it was like the first time she had ever left her daughter overnight... she was so cute... she owns a bakery and made these beautiful cookies for everyone that said "HS" and were delicious! (i'd put up a photo if i had one!!!!!!! grrrrrrr!) anyway... she gave me a photo, and i went down and picked some stuff to play with... it was about 11:30 by this time, and a lot of folks had left, so we were down to about 25-30 people there... and as i sat down, everyone gathered around to WATCH me scrapbook... ok... i am a scrapbooker, and i scrapbook a lot... right?? but never with that kind of audience. i will tell you... i was a little nervous! it came out really cute, and Lisa (store owner) gave all the left-overs (and it was a lot) to Suzanne. the whole thing was so cool! i mean, i was a little freaked, but it gave me this opportunity to demo products and show everyone how to use stuff!! i think that even though most everyone had already checked out, they were adding some additional items to their purchases!! 
on this page, i showed how to double up large and small photo corners, fuzzy rub-ons, regular rub-ons (all of your favorites), colored pencils, journaling spots, edge distressor etc. etc.... it was really a fun challenge for me!
the next day we taught 2 classes, back to back... same class twice. it was an intense, high energy, technique driven class... everyone did great and seemed to like it! we did 3 scrapbook pages and i wanted to embellish an album, but that kindof got nixed! we played with the decorative tape, ghost frames, fuzzy rub-ons, silhouettes, mask, modeling paste, chipboard letters and fuzzy rub-ons...
it was so much fuN!
it was so great to meet all of you who were there! thanks for coming!!
thanks to all the Ruban Rouge girls!! they worked so hard, and it was fabulous! they really knew how to take care of me! i mean, check out this attention to detail: i got to drive Lisa's little convertible lexus... and when we got in and turned on the key...and guess what was playing in the CD player??? you got it: GWEN!!! emiliy and i were laughing... as we arrived at the store's crowed parking lot... there was a spot RIGHT in front of the door... and as i pulled in, there was a BIG sign that said... "reserved for heidi swapp" you know i was loving that!!! and the other really cool impressive detail... for lunch, Lisa got a local thai restaurant to open up special for lunch (normally they don't do saturday lunch) and we had the restaurant to ourselves... and since emily HATES thai food, they brought in a delicious looking cheeseburger just for her!!
as you can tell...we had a blast!!
thanks again...
now... i gotta scrounge something together for dinner... time to get creative! (or in the car!)
i will post photos as soon as lisa emails a few to me!!
really feeling thankful for TIVO tonight!
Heidi (and everyone), Suzanne posted a pix of her cookies & HKS goodies on 2Ps... so a search for her name "squillen" and look for the "HEIDI SWAPP MANIA" thread. SO cool. WTG, Heidi & Emily!! :)
Posted by: mel | February 27, 2006 at 06:47 PM
The class was awesome, It was an eye opener with showing how to use the product.. The stuff we got was just way incredible like I never have received that much stuff included with a class. I want you to come back....
Posted by: Sharon Kile | February 27, 2006 at 07:00 PM
Man, I really wanted to come, but my DDs birthday was the 25th. Ruban Rouge is an awesome store. I am lucky to have it as my LSS. I hope you come back again Heidi! (Just not exactly one year from now LOL!) It sounds like all you lucky girls had a great time!!
Posted by: Bianca Hall | February 27, 2006 at 07:04 PM
Heidi-
I am sooooo happy that Suzanne got to meet you, give you her awesome cookies AND have you make a layout of her DD. She was just as thrilled!
I know you made her weekend, for sure!
Next time...I'm coming with her!!!!
hugs-
Peg
Posted by: Peg Graham | February 27, 2006 at 07:33 PM
Sounds like a wonderful time! I love the page that you did, and I envy you being able to sample Suzanne's scrumptious cookies! ((although she will ship them, so I'm not totally left cookie-less!)) Welcome home!
Posted by: Linda A. (elendae) | February 27, 2006 at 07:53 PM
Suzanne is going to be so excited you mentioned her and her cookies....(we saw a picture on twopeas)....
Do you think the airport security thing (if you flew) erased your pictures?
Have a great night and see you in Chicago!
Posted by: Mary Rogers | February 27, 2006 at 07:57 PM
Oh, how I envy Suzanne!! I love the page ~ imagine having THE Heidi make a page for you book! Too cool!
It was a stroke of pure luck that I was able to attend! I was #18 on the waiting list. Imagine my absolute shock when the phone rang late Thursday afternoon, and Ruban Rogue was on my caller ID! Woohoo! Girl, I hung up the phone yipping & dancing around (needless to say, my husband didn't quite understand the excitement)! I absolutely loved your class, and the giveaways! Wow! Then, to top it off, I won a prize!! It was like icing on the cake ~ what an absolute cool day...Can't wait until you come our way again! It was awesome!
And girls, you should see Heidi! Here she is pregnant, and she looks absolutely fantastic!
Hope you enjoy your few days at home. Try to de-stress (easier said than done), and totally enjoy your cruise, and again, don't stress it ~ the girls will absolutely LOVE your classes!
Posted by: Nita | February 27, 2006 at 08:05 PM
:oO OH MY GOSH!!!!! I can't believe MY NAME is on Heidi Swapp's blog! ACK! *faint*
It was such an awesome opportunity getting to meet you and Emily at Ruban Rouge this past weekend. (Emily you stinker saying you didn't scrap! I know who you are now and I feel like a total dote for not knowing sooner!)
I love your stuff so much and so you can imagine what a thrill it was having you create something using Paige's photo. Seriously. So now that we are best friends, I will send you cookies periodically in the mail (I'll need your mailing address ;)) and again.. seriously. If you are ever looking for a designer... remember me. :D
Posted by: Suzanne Quillen | February 27, 2006 at 08:07 PM
All I can say is WOW, what an amazing weekend! It was so wonderful to meet you and Emily and how lucky I was to get the opportunity to watch you in action! Great crop, great class, great goodies to take home...FAB weekend! THANK YOU!
Posted by: Cami Bauman | February 27, 2006 at 08:18 PM
Heidi, I loooooove that page you did! So beautiful! I am getting so excited to meet you at CKU-A Chicago!!
Talia:)
Posted by: Talia | February 27, 2006 at 08:59 PM
Aside from the wonderful time you had, this is in response to your memory card. Some camera shops are able to retrieve erased photos from the card, depending on the memory card. Don't do anything to the card, call around to your local shops and see if any of them can retrive for you. I had a friend who was able to get some precious photos back doing this!
Good luck, I'm glad you had fun!
Posted by: Kristy | February 27, 2006 at 09:28 PM
What a wonderful time! So, are ya planning a trip down under anytime soon? ::smiles::
Posted by: glo-girl | February 27, 2006 at 09:37 PM
HOW EXCITING AND FUN!! I COULD ONLY IMAGINE THE PRESSURE ONE WOULD FEEL WHEN ALL EYES ARE WATCHING YOUR EVERY MOVE! BUT THE PAGE TURNED OUT SOOOOO BEAUTIFULLY, AND SUZANNE'S DAUGHTER IS GORGEOUS!! HURRAY FOR SUZANNE, SHE IS SUCH A FUN GAL, I KNOW HER FROM 2PEAS, AND SHE IS EXTREMELY TALENTED!!! =)
Posted by: Rachel C | February 27, 2006 at 09:59 PM
Heidi, I second Kristy's post re: lost images on your memory card. Those images are never lost. They can be retrieved -- by a "top secret machiney thing" at a camera store.
I rec'd a new digital camera (my first digital) for Christmas, took tons of photos of our children, etc (and...it was our baby's first Christmas) and...long story short, someone hit the Format button by mistake when trying to play around w/ the menu and...all of the pictures were GONE.
Fast forward to the next day...the guy who was playing around w/ my camera drove almost 2 hours to the store where the camera was bought & they said "Oh, this happens all the time. You can't retrieve the pics yourself, but we have the software to do it."
Lickety-split, there they were. The store was nice enough to burn all 200+ images onto a CD (free of charge!) & I had my precious pics back.
Good luck -- hope you can get them back. Hope to be able to take one of your classes someday.
Posted by: Jenny | February 27, 2006 at 10:09 PM
Simply love the layout....off to order me some more Heidi Swapp!!!!
Best of luck getting your images back...URGH!!
Posted by: Anne | February 28, 2006 at 12:12 AM
It was a fun class and thanks for taking the time to get the photo with us Cabana Crew!! We sure all enjoyed it Heidi! Did you ever get to see the alligator???
Kip (all 6 of them, lol!)
Posted by: Kip | February 28, 2006 at 03:04 AM
Heidi,
I just want to thank you for a wonderful time this past weekend at Ruban Rouge. It was great to meet you and Emily. It was great to hang at the crop and the class was great, I learned a lot and I am lovin' using all of your products I purchased. on my blog I have photos up from this weekend and I have some great ones of you making the page for Suzanne. If you would like me to e-mail any to you let me know. Thanks again.
Kim Bolyard
Posted by: Kim Bolyard | February 28, 2006 at 05:58 AM
OK, I have already told Suzanne how jealous I am...LOL! I am so stealing the double photo corners idea. Speaking of that, the second batch of Heidi layouts go up at Croppers Cottage tomorrow so be sure to come see if you have a chance!!! I am loving working with your stuff! (yes, I'm sucking up, LOL)
Posted by: Janet Ohlson | February 28, 2006 at 06:48 AM
I'm still in cloud 9. Did it really happen? Oh yes it did...thank you Heidi for the wonderful class and the wonderful weekend.Thank you so much.
Posted by: Mou Saha | February 28, 2006 at 08:46 AM
Oh! That page is just YUMMY! I can't wait til my LSS gets those fuzzy rubons!
Posted by: Amy Elkins | February 28, 2006 at 09:17 AM
How fun! I just love Ruban Rouge, I have been there both times I have been to Tampa on Vacation and it's my very favorite LSS EVER!!! Your page rocks and Suzanne is very lucky! Sounds like a very fun time!
Posted by: Pam | February 28, 2006 at 09:23 AM
i found out that if you turn your camera on/off while in the "PLAY" mode i.e. you are viewing the photos on the camera, the images can be erased. Make sure you turn the camera to "picture taking" mode before you turn it on/off.
Learn something new everyday!
Posted by: Karen | February 28, 2006 at 12:13 PM
I swear Heidi! You are the coolest person! I would soooo love it if you would come to Nashville and teach a class or two at Scrap It! I promise we would be just as nice to you!!! And how sweet of you to do that page for Suzanne (LUCKY GIRL) but I can imagine how even the best of scrappers would be nervous with an audience with high expectations. Still looking forward to your classes in Alabama in April!
Posted by: Sherrivonl | February 28, 2006 at 02:33 PM
The class was awesome, Heidi was awesome, the kit was awsome - so when are you coming back????
Everything was great, I bought your book and have been practicing. I forgot my camera - how sad - I was not able to get a picture with you - so you really need to come back so that I can get your picture so that I can do a page in my album.
Posted by: Maria | February 28, 2006 at 03:33 PM
Looks like a fabulous time in Tampa and that store is just to die for.....I haven't seen that much Heidi stuff all in one place since CHA! Oh my, I would be bankrupt or in divorce court for sure so maybe it's a good thing I don't have access to that store!!!!! ;-)
Posted by: Jana | February 28, 2006 at 08:28 PM