@rt-thol-o-gie

I LOVE blogs. They're kind of like soap operas. You can get so caught up in the day to day drama....or in the case of scrapbooking....the day to day eye candy, and I LOVE eye candy.


A few weeks ago, a special friend of mine scrapped her little Cosmo Cricket heart out, hoping to be picked for one of their design teams. Every day she'd post a layout or other craft that she'd created with the CC line on her blog and in online galleries. The powers that be at Cosmo would then review each persons work in these galleries and blogs. Great advertising gimmick for Cosmo, doncha think? I won't go there right now, but using people for free advertising kind of pisses me off.

And that makes what Tracey did during her Cosmo Cricket week all the more awesome. She posted the following....

"One more thing for today... in the past few days I found another designer that is going for a spot on this awesome team. Her name is Lynn and if you love scrapbooking, paper crafting, and/or Cosmo Cricket, you have got to check out her blog. Yes, technically she is "the competition." She is also very talented and a kick in the pants... go... enjoy her site, too!!!"

..and then she linked to Lynn's blog. Cool, huh? I'm telling ya, good scrappers are good people. They love receiving praise, but I think they love giving it even more. So go check out Lynn's blog. It's a winner.

A Blog Award!

How cool is that? My cyberfriend Erika, over at Scrapbook Obsession, gave this to me because I have the same warped sense of humor that she has. (I wonder how she knew that..) Anyway, she said some really nice things about my blog, and left me a really nice message to stop by her cyberhome because she had an award for me. So I go, and what do I see?! This adorable award with 7 little strings attached to it. I want to keep the award but those strings have to go, folks. And the only way to do that is to give them away! Are you ready to play? Okay, here goes....

The Rules of the Game
1. The winner can put the logo on her blog.
2. Link the person you received your award from.
3. Nominate at least 7 other blogs.
4. Put links of those blogs on yours.
5. Leave a message on the blogs of the girls you’ve nominated.

So, here's my award which will be moved to a permanent home in my sidebar poste haste. Since I already have a link to Erika, I'll just link you to the original link because she was one of the first links I had on this blog. Link

Now I have to nominate 7 people to give this award to. Yay! And the nominees are...

1. My friend, Tracey Locher, at WhoooooHooooo , for her generous recognition of, (and link to), a major competitor in a design team contest. That was so cool, and so admirable.....she blogs with integrity!

2. Barb, aka Sawdust, a fellow boomer who never fails to stop by and leave an encouraging word. She's taken the big leap and started her own blog... Thought Connection, which I find very thought provoking. I think she planned it that way. Way to go, Barb!

3. Allsmiles, Creative Living because her blog is filled with happiness, because she's from my home town, and because her blog is just plain good! I love her pictures and her layouts, and her scrap space, her decor, her beautiful girls, her life! Yeah, I'm just a little envious....

4. Kary Lewis at Creating Chaos because she's the most down to earth person I've ever met on the internet, she's one cool lady and she creates beautifully colored layouts that make me very happy to look at! Like this one here. Unfortunately, she's lost a dear friend recently and my heart goes out to her.

5. Harley at Koala Fuzz who bakes and scrapbooks, takes fabulous pictures and makes adorable stick pins that she sells in her Etsy shop . Her photography collages are just as yummy looking as the cakes she makes. Beyond that, I just like reading her blog!

6. I am Derby because her profile reads..."Just another mom of two, thirty something year old whose life has all the excitement of a snail." I don't know, with two kids, several cats, and the myriad number of crafts she's involved in, I think she has a happy scrappy life.

7. And last but not least, this award is going right back to my fellow Journey fan, Erika, at Scrapbook Obsession, for knowing a good blog when she sees one. ;-)

That's all folks. Have fun playing..........or not! Please know that you're under no obligation to play....your name won't be deleted, I won't say bad things about you, and I won't boycott your blog. Thanks for stopping by!

Tracey Locher, Designer Extraordinaire!

Isn't this GORGEOUS?!!! My goodness, my mouth is watering and that's just the back of the book!

So, I have this thing for mini albums, y'know. I love 'em. Luv, luv, Love! The more stuff you can cram into them the better. When it comes to my own scrapbooking, I'm very conservative...but when it comes to admiring others, I'm attracted to something totally different, and this is definitely calling my name!


Tracey did it again. She designed this beautiful album and is teaching a class on it June 30th at Ever After in Carlsbad, CA. Unfortunately, I'm about two hours away from her or I'd be taking this class! (I don't know what I'd do with the book....guess I'd have to get married). I am so impressed by Tracey's talents and I want to share it with everyone! Check out her post on her blog about the class and view more pictures of this adorable book. If you're in the area, you may want to sign up!

Tracey does it again!

OMG, I didn't even recognize her layout....it's so different and so perfect for family fun! Talk about scrapping being a part of your life..... Tracey has really made it a learning experience for her young daughter! I LOVE this idea. I would use it if I had kids. I recommend it to anyone who DOES have kids! An interactive scrap page. All of these letters are movable! What a great idea is that?!

She's on page 107 of the June issue of Creating Keepsakes Magazine, and you can find out how Tracey put this together online at Tips and Tricks.

Way to go, Tracey!

Tracey's Published!

Congratulations Tracey!

Tracey is Tracey Locher. She's the Chicklet Extraordinaire in the life of a fellow co-worker, a man who just happens to be one of the nicest guys I've ever met. He was single when I first met him, but soon became engaged (what a story that is with him proposing on the beach!) then married, adopted Tracey's two kids, and had a third. What a perfect man, huh? Yep, that's what I thought...and I also thought that she was SO lucky to have HIM! Then disaster struck as Jeff was diagnosed with cancer and everyone's world fell apart. Thankfully, Jeff recovered with treatment, and life went on.


Then I discovered Tracey's habit...er...hobbie, one day as I was browsing through the gallery at CK. The gallery is where you can see all of the scrapbook layouts displayed by people like me. There are small thumbnail images that you click on to view a larger size, and I only click on the ones that catch my eye. So here's this little thumbnail layout with flowers all over it and brilliant color just gushing from my screen. I had to take a look, so I opened it up and this is what I saw....

Isn't she pretty?

Oh. My. God. I was so shocked to be looking into the face of Jeff's wife! Oh. My. God. Well, I fell in love with Tracey's layouts....I now know instantly when I see a thumbnail picture of one of her layouts. What I didn't know was what I was going to quickly learn about Tracey, (once known as Jeff's wife....now known as Tracey Locher (that wonderful woman that married Jeff and gave him so many reasons to live when it was needed most.) As I was saying...I love Tracey's work, but the woman I've come to know through her layouts is an amazing mother, a loving wife and an incredible story teller. I now know that she's not the only lucky one in that marriage...

Stop by her blog and get to know her yourself....her layouts tell the stories, and you can almost feel the love she has for her family.....

...and don't forget to look for her first published layout in Creating Keepsakes magazine....she's on page 108 of the April issue! I'm sure it won't be the last.

Tracey's Blog