celebrating 5 months...

... wow what a wonderful day and way to celebrate 5 months of noah-goodness than a trip to the pumpkin patch

while he is too young to jump at the hay rides, check out his sweet affinity and awe of the pumpkins:

and a bit of pumpkin fear (notice the "new-england noah" sweater he is sporting):

and finally, tough guy noah in the patch:

have a great weekend.

ps... for the anon post about the bottlecaps, patience grasshopper, patience. i haven't forgotten about them.

would you believe:

1. that i do love street food (much like this LO says)
2. that i have never watched more than 5 mins of grey's anatomy, lost, desperate housewives or csi:ny (don't have time and really not that interested)
3. that i do watch mythbusters, the history channel, law and order re-runs and iron chef
4. that i am not a crier really that much
5. that i have a fiery streak in me (oh the stories i could tell about me - LOL)
6. that i am a super disorganized scrapbooker (my DH can vouch for me on this one)
7. that i listen to NPR 80% of the time when i am in the car
8. that i used to play the xylophones in chorus in like 5th grade (with 2 sticks in each hand - can't do that anymore)
9. that my LOs right now are just sitting in piles b/c i don't have time to organize them
10. that i love life?

yeah that is me in a nutshell.

at the age of 32. speaking of, yes, i am 32 now, so this person:

Jenn said...
Happy Birthday! I am going to guess you are 32 today.
6:25 PM

wins 32 bottlecaps! - email me Jenn at info@mayaroad.com

have a great night!

whoa, check out that hair

ahhh my parents should have given me some hair product as a child - no wonder i don't use any now - LOL. and i can see now where noah gets his chubs from!

yes, today is my birthday. and i know some people dread this day but to me it is a day to celebrate LIFE! when i hit 30, people asked me if i was depressed or if i wanted to be 29 again. the answer was a straight flat out - NO.

i can honestly say this 30s thing has been the best decade of my life so far! i still have a ways to go to finish up this 30s thing but seriously, this was when i became who i only dreamt about 10-15 years ago. the times i was unhappy about my looks, my future, my talents have long washed away. don't get me wrong, i still have lots of stuff to work on but i got rid of a lot of the toxic stuff too. things that were dragging me down. things that made me a shell of who i am.

i can't WAIT to see what this year and all the years after this brings!

so in CELEBRATION, i am giving out a special bottlecap RAK - guess how many years old i am today and for all the ppl that guess correctly, i will put your name in a draw for a gift that is for the number of bottlecaps as i am old (hope that makes sense- LOL). here is a hint. i am not 30 and i am not 39. there - your odds of getting the right again are pretty darn good.

i will wrap up this RAK party in 2 days. so good luck!

challenging myself...

to me scrapbooking is all about challenging myself to think of my papers, my pictures and my memories in different ways. each piece is different than the last (though the starting materials might be the same)

i made the 3 LOs above on friday night - in a late night frenzy, i decided to do a page about each of us - noah, david and myself) - after looking through my last series of LOs, i decided to challenge myself when doing these in the following ways:

1. using patterned paper as the background - i start 95% off the time with plain cardstock as the background b/c it is easy so this time, i told myself use patterned papers to see what you get.

2. use other shapes rather than squares, rectangles and handcut swirls (b/c i did a lot of those lately) - so you can see in the LO about me, i used a circle. the circle was made by tracing a pot lid - a new use for your pots and pans!

3. use more than 1 photo on a LO b/c a single 4" x 6" is what i typically do - you can see the noah LO uses 3 pictures - again trying to stretch my boundaries with what i do.

4. covering up flaking rubons - for the david LO, i got some rubons on there (by the "roam" which were well hard to use. they flaked and didn't want to come off of the transfer sheet so rather than fight it, i incorporated it into the design - i think it came out cool.

5. using die cuts- i typically do not use die cut tags, etc on LOs but i had this fab sheet of diecuts from cosmo cricket and i used them in the noah and david LOs - i turned the borders into elements that draw your eye to the photos. i also used the die cut tags for journaling and i turned the tags OUTWARDS rather than inwards - for a twist.

and i am rather pleased at what 1 hour plus 5 pictures and these 5 challenges caused me to do. so i can see my sbing evolving again and it is all for the better.

oh yeah, check back tomorrow for a special RAK - i haven't forgotten my other RAK, want to just get tomorrow's done so i can announce the winners all together.

motion

i love this moment i captured of noah - he has learned to flip over this last week from his tummy to his back! and he is pretty proud of himself when he does it. it is so cool to see him in motion. i know that we have a lot of baby proofing to do soon b/c he is going to be trouble if he starts crawling!

it is amazing to me to see him develop from this tiny little creature into the vivacious human being he is. i do not know WHERE he went to charm school b/c his dad and mom don't have it in them but he is such a people person. where oh where did he get that from?

it is hard at times yet also exciting to see noah grow up - change - it isn't an easy thing. but you know what, it happens. life is all about motion. if you stress out about change, you really are missing the journey.

speaking of change, we are proud to announce that we are looking for 6 (yes 6) new DT members! in addition to adding some more to our current DT, we have had some move on to bigger and better things. and it was time to changes things up a bit as we aren't the same company we were 2 years ago.

so if you are interested in applying, check it out here:

http://www.mayaroad.com/2006MRDesignTeam.htm

about our DT call, this is a bit different than others i have seen out there. our biggest criteria for selection will be a fit for the designers we pick and for maya road. that is of the utter most importance. i honestly don't care if you are the biggest name out there, if the fit isn't there, then we really end up with 2 unhappy parties. that is why we want to have an interview process.

we haven't finalized the details of the interviewing process yet but i can promise you it won't be like some of the ones i have seen in the chemical industry. there is this one company out there that takes like 16 chemical engineers all applying for the same position and during the interview process, you are there with your peers and a panel from the company. the panel will ask you things like "explain to us and the 15 other engineers here why you failed calculus I in college".

no it won't be like that but again, what we are looking for is professionalism, fit with MR and our philosophy and also how you present yourself to us. don't get me wrong, we are all about having fun and we have a pretty laid back environment to our company but the interview tells a lot about someone and tells a lot to that someone about us.

but if you love our stuff and are up to the task - like that cheerleading movie - BRING IT ON - and make sure you enter. b/c you can't be on the DT if you don't enter.

we didn't mention this on the official site but each person that enters will get a small gift from MR to thank you for taking the time to do this.

good luck!

bottlecaps

when i had asked a couple of months ago what was the one MR product you wanted to learn more about, i was suprised to hear you all say (or 70% of you) our bottlecaps! these are our mega bottlecaps - (texas sized) - as they are close to 2" in diameter.

now of course if you want to put them on a LO, you have to flatten them but one of the reasons we made them is to appeal to all the altered artists out there. there is SO MUCH you can do with these caps.

here is a short list:

• fridge magnets
• ornaments
• advent calendar (be sure to sign up for our consumer newsletter b/c our next issue will feature a knock your socks off advent calendar using our empty tins and bottlecaps)
• keychains (drill a hole up top)
• luggage ID (i have one on mine)

ali edwards did some amazing things with them on her blog and i know people are having a hard time finding them so in the spirit of giving, i am going to RAK 2 sets away (not in the tins).

all you have to do is post here that you want them. that's all. begging helps. pleading helps too (LOL).

and for some inspiration, here are some things i did for my fridge with them:

so win yourself a set - just post in the next 48 hours for your chance!

good luck!

today is a special day...

7 years ago today, i said yes to something that has literally changed my life. david and i were off in boston visiting some of my friends from my childhood and we had spent an awesome weekend picking apples, picking up cool finds at garage sales (i still have my super large pepper grinder that we got for $1) and sightseeing around boston. an awesome weekend!

it was our last day in boston, our bags were packed and we were ready to head home. i had spotted that burger king had some pokemon toys in their kid's meals and i urged david to go and get me one from down the street (i loved pokemon - ok so i am a geek). my friends had already left their cambridge apt for work and school and we needed a quick bite before we headed to the airport.

david came back with the burger king meal and he said "well they didn't have any of the pokemon toys yet"- i was sad but then he said "they did have this" and he pulled out a ring from the burger king bag. david started to cry and got down on 1 knee and asked me to marry him.

i don't remember much after that except that i said "yes". and wow, what a crazy 7 years it has been!

i don't have a picture right now handy from that time but i do have this LO i did about 3-4 years ago that talks about us - actually now that i think about it, this is from the wedding of our boston friends when we went to see them get married from 4 years ago!

so here is to saying yes. and 61 pearl st (the apt we got engaged in). and to pokemon. and to us.

can't wait to see what the next 7 x 7 years bring!

oh before i forget, i will post about bottlecaps later today!

MT and other thoughts...

ok, as promised, here are some MT pictures. but you know what i really suck as a scrapbooker b/c i didn't take any of these pictures - i have to confess i borrowed them from deb (LOL) but that is ok b/c she takes better photos than me. so this was our booth. i must say MT was quieter this year than last. i mean sales were excellent but the only way i could do an easy and fair judgement was that we passed out fewer catalogs than usual and we did a lot more visiting with the other trade show ppl we know. during many shows, deb and i hardly get to get out of the booth. but at least this time, i got to stop by and say hello to some people that we get to see at all the trade shows and that was cool.

will we do 3 shows next year? maybe. we are contemplating it. but we are also contemplating some other things too - like the fact that i need a vacation. IF we don't do 3 shows, though, we already have something VERY COOL planned that would coincide with our releases.

the best part of the MT trip was having all of our family there (all 3 sets of grandparents were there!) they were so kind to bring us lunch and drop us off at the show each day and of course spoil the boys. so we paid them back by giving the grandparents a night off to have dinner and see mystere as a treat on us. i think they enjoyed it.

i also loved to see noah and jonathan interacting. they both cracked me up even being as young as they are. i can tell that jonathan is a bit quieter than noah (especially since noah now loves to SCREAM at the top of his lungs in joy) and noah has already instigated some things that jonathan didn't like. here is one of them:

during a photo shoot, the boys started to sway to the right and soon, jonathan was smelling noah's arm pits and you can see he was not happy - LOL - poor kid. we also got pictures of N and J where they were holding hands with each other happily. but it was nice meeting J and getting to hold him a bit. he has TOTALLY crazy hair that will not sit flat on his head (a faux-hawk!) and he is funny too! it will be interesting to see how they boys do when we go to hong kong/china at the end of the year. they will probably be at the crawling stage by then and that should be interesting!

speaking of interesting things, be sure to keep your eyes and ears peeled for a special announcement coming soon from us! we are trying to finalize the details now. that is all i can say for now.

and finally my RAK - david and noah picked the winners and i know that no cheeseburgers or milk was sent to them in the last day so the winner was picked randomly and they were not bribed! Heather B. you are the winner! email me so we can get your prize out!

have a great tuesday!

PS - word on the street is that ppl are madly looking for some of our mega bottlecaps after seeing what you can do with them on ali's blog - be sure to check back tomorrow, i might just have another RAK to give away!

being different.

i can remember back in HS when it was so important to fit in and not be different. it was tough back then. being the nerdy kid who had awful fashion sense was just asking for people to laugh at you (and me having the ronald mcdonald hairfro did not help either but that is a story for another day)... anyhow though, i really am so happy that i was different then b/c i don't mind being different now...

...i was thinking about scrapbooking and the numerous styles of scrapbooking i saw at MT - beautiful projects and LOs - all different but that is how it should be - scrapbooking would be SO BORING if everyone scrapbooked the same. if everyone did the same size LOs. if everyone did the same thing. don't get me wrong, i LOVE LOVE LOVE to be inspired by the creativity of others, but the beauty of this hobby is that you can take an element you are inspired by and make it your own! the trick to is all is to be bold, and don't be afraid. make mistakes. that is the only way you can grow as a scrapbooker.

for example, i was so rearing to go on this layout i did below tonight:

... that i make the following "cool mistakes"

1. i had stamped "NOAH" on the cardstock directly but the imprint wasn't what i expected - so i just slapped the lined paper over it and stamped noah's name on that. that was cool b/c it created the impact i wanted.
2. i also did the journaling for this LO before i had put the LO together. when i tried to assemble everything, it didn't seem to fit so i put the journaling sheet on the BACK of the layout. why not? this is something i want noah to read one day and not everyone has to see it - i just summarized what i said on the back in some small journaling up front.

so it all worked out - scrapbooking like life is a journey. there might be a set plan but to be succesful, make it your own and don't be afraid to take a detour. you might discover something cool you might have missed out on if you didn't go down that path...

i will be posting tomorrow about MT and the RAK winner.

it is time again...

well the bags are 95% packed and noah is sound asleep and i have plans to get up EARLY tomorrow to run and i wanted to share a couple of things...

first off this new album i made for a class i will be teaching. it is a things i love album (ironic b/c i just saw deb's blog and she was talking about things she loves) - this reminds me to not sweat the small stuff and remember how blessed i am to have things i love (like my family, traveling, target - LOL). i have been hoarding my ticket stubs and used target gift cards too long so it was time to put them into something meaningful!

and with that i am reflecting upon MT with a calmness i haven't had before. to be honest i am nervous - it is one of those things - you pour your heart into something that you in your heart and mind think is awesome but what will people think? will they think "um what in the world were you thinking" or will they embrace your ideas and see things your way?

a friend asked me why we were doing paper in our journey kit (see the sneak peek link below for a photo of the kit) - and that is a good question. we have thought about papers for a LONG time but decided against it until we could do it the MAYA ROAD way and that way is this:

we know we have the basics covered with our chipboards and all the other embellishments, albums, etc. and for people that are used to knowing what to do with our stuff, the ideas come rushing out of their heads! but what our weakness is (and yes we can admit our weakness) - is that we keep our packaging simple for books, etc. we don't spend the money on beautiful colored ideas, etc on our packaging so we can bring you more value (aka more products at less cost). that is great for people who are used to coming up with amazing things but we WANT the beginner scrappers to know our name too and to get hooked on our stuff!

so that is why we decided to create an 8" chipboard binder journey kit - it has our OWN textured cardstock, our OWN patterned papers (double sided patterns on each side), our own stickers, our own chipboards, our own 8" album, our own ribbons and our own page protectors. so all you need to add is a paper trimmer, scissors and glue and you are GOOD TO GO! we want people to see that you can take a plain chipboard binder album and now you have all the elements to create something awesome. and yes, we did paper but it is only in this kit - these are not papers you will see us selling in sheets. we just wanted to see if we can reach out in our journey to all types of scrappers. and of course, this kit will be an amazing value too!

and with that i want to present my RAK - i didn't get to photograph it but those who know me, know my RAKs are good - ribbons, chipboards and sheers (oh my!) - so all i need you to do is to post here for a chance! you can post between now and next friday for a chance to win this tin of MR goodies sitting on my table (i will throw in some new ribbons too)!

so enjoy and thanks again for joining deb and i on this journey - all i can say is that it has been AWESOME!

a sneak...

as promised here is my chipboard heart binder! i only had a chance to decorate the outside today between getting things ready for the show and also watching noah and getting some orders out. it is a beauty! i love love love it - for this one, i am going to fill it with lined papers and use it as a journal of things that i love! this does come with 8 chipboard binder pages for more decorating! the cover is also decorated with our swirls chipboard (covers in kick butt ranger dabber paint) and also a sheer flower (also with dabber paint!)

and for other peeks, check out these new things here:
http://www.mayaroad.com/newsletter/2006MTCatalog.htm

and here is another project that i am going to be teaching in november. this is one of my personal favorites b/c david did the journaling on this one for noah on some cool tags we turned into journaling cards. the sweetest between noah and david is almost too much for me to take. i am not a big crier and i almost did when i saw the journaling.

and one last note, they say you can't please everyone all the time, i have a story for you. there was a customer we called as a courtesy call and asked them to tell us within 24 hours if they wanted to order them a product b/c we knew we would be out soon. we don't do this often with the number of customers we have but when there is a specific need, we do try to address it. they said they needed to think about it. we don't hear from them for a couple of days and now they want it. 24 hours does not mean a couple of days. since we didn't hear from them, we sold everything out til november. and they come back to say "why didn't you tell me that you were going to be out?".

when it comes to this, all i can say is we tried. in the past i would take things like this personally but i can't or it would drive me crazy! i am so past that. we all need to roll with the punches b/c that is the only way you can get by in life happy. things change. life changes. things get sold out. if you show that you can get beyond something, it will make you stronger.

have a great thursday!

how far we have come...

first i wanted to share this LO made by heather who had won one of my RAKs in late august- what an adorable LO of her pup! (notice the rubons and ribbon and the sheer (used as a template).

as we sit at the cusp of another tradeshow, i am thinking back to 3 years ago when this who crazy adventure called maya road started. and it takes my breath away. i am both humbled and amazed at how far we have come. when we first started, we had like 24 sets of fibers and about 15 embellishments at our first trade show. we had a pegboard that my friend bryan and my DH had built over 2 weekends at a table. when deb started talking about these big goals for 5 years down the road, i didn't think we could do it but we have in 3 years.

i can remember that first show distinctly (CHA - dallas) b/c i remember a LARGE company coming by the new vendor tables, taking a look at our stuff (and my 6 layouts - LOL) and in passing said to the lady with her "fibers are so OUT OF STYLE". . i don't think she meant for us to hear that but we did and well it didn't matter. look at us now - EVERYONE starts from small beginnings.

things have changed but in reality there is a lot that is still the same. deb and i still head the show. we have 100% control of our company. jessica is so kind to help us out with our customer service starting this year. some ppl think we have like 20 people here working for us but we don't.

and well did we mention that deb is a director at a firm in silicon valley during the day? i don't know how many of you know that but that is the REALITY. i only quit my job 1.75 years ago to do this full time. our hubbies accompany us to every show - how many men do you know that know what to do with a ribbon slide? LOL!

but i was thinking about how our company is and who we are and i think we can be the ones that create a paradigm shift. we say no to stuff - even big "opportunities". we RAK b/c we want to. we chat on messages boards b/c we like the ppl there. and frankly i really enjoy scrapbooking. and there are a lot of business things we do differently (which i can't spill or risk getting shot) but it has a lot to do with both of us being engineers - we are careful in a lot of things, cash flow, deals, etc. .

heck, we even had a supplier scream in joy b/c we have some of our order forms in excel so you enter what you want and it calculates for you the total.

but again, i am humbled and overwhelmed by the support we have been given by all of you. without you, we would be nothing. yes, we have our struggles. yes, we are out of stock of things sometimes but that is all part of growing - in the past, we might have gotten 1 phone call every 2 days about our stuff (not any more) - in the past, we might have produced something and ordered 1000s of them and it lasted us a year (not any more) and we are learning to grow and change with that. it is not easy but you know what, we enjoy it - deb, jess and i. i think even secretly our DH's enjoy it too!

so with that it is onward and upward. - come see us at booth 221. meet the maya road family.

random musings from someone lacking sleep.

ok, so it is 1 week before MT and things are crazy. i am tired but also calm in a strange way and well to calm me down, here are some random thoughts i had today - in no particular order.

1. why is it when we need our product the most, the freakin' container gets stuck in customs (yes, this means all of our inspiration ribbons and sheers are there just waiting to be released now for oh 2+ weeks).

2. why do some people not realize that WHEN YOU WRITE EMAILS IN ALL CAPS ALL THE TIME THAT IS SCREAMING AND QUITE FRANKLY ANNOYING (so being the bugger i am, i write back in all caps).

3. why do i own a scrapbooking company yet barely have time to scrapbook (life is ironic, isn't it?)

4. why is it that after you have a baby, you can't be rewarded with bouncing back into the shape you once were before you had the baby (i am in a bit of pain after 1 hour and 45 mins of a soccer game).

5. is the world getting warmer b/c this 90F weather in dallas in october is killing me!

6. why is it that some people do not know how to be thankful to save their life?

7. how can i not spoil a little baby noah who looks like this:

we bought him a bouncer this weekend on the advice of his doctor - and he is up in the air about it but at least he can bounce himself to sleep sometimes!

8. why did i see some chick wear a shirt yesterday that said "keep dallas pretenious" - um ok, whatever.

9. is the next trade show really next week?

speaking of, deb has a lot of sneaks on her blog! so check it out here:

http://putintoperspective.blogspot.com/

i will only speak of one of my sneaks b/c i am decorating it now - remember a couple of months ago, i talked about running and this crazy idea came to me? well we MADE IT! it is a chipboard binder album but heart shaped! so instead of a standard 4" x 4" or 5" x 7" - it is literally a heart one that is 6" wide! i love love love how it came out! i haven't finished decorating it yet but will post as soon as i do! funny how the great ideas come at the most random times!

ok, it is back to the grindstone for me! look for a RAK by the end of the week on this blog!

the art of creation...

... did you know "maya" means "the ART OF CREATION" - yeah that is a pretty cool beans meaning for our company - we weren't sure when we came up with the name what it meant but when we looked it up, that is what we came up with.

so, um yeah memory trends is in about oh a week. and well we are getting ready. or as ready as a little company like ours can be. we are excited about this one b/c we are FINALLY having a truck deliver our stinkin' booth on a couple of pallets. that is a big deal for us! that means no dragging 60 boxes to fedex to ship and then having them end up in no man's land. we haven't graduated to a crate yet but we are thinking and dreaming about it. soon, we tell ourselves, soon!

i think one of the BEST part of this trip will be the fact that ALL of the grandparents will be going to las vegas to chill with noah and jonathan - my parents, david's parents and deb's david's parents. and noah and jonathan will get to meet and play while the parents work. LOL.

i was just telling david what an awesome reality show it would be to follow the grandparents around b/c well let's just say that all 3 sets cover the SPECTRUM of personalities and likes and dislikes. for example, my david's parents are not really fond of chinese food. and deb's david's parents must have chinese food for almost every meal. then add in a splash of my crazy dad, BONG (yes, that is his name and no he is not named for the smoking pipe) and my mom and you have a CRAZY reality show. we could sell this to MTV and be done with maya road - LOL!

i am also prepping for my classes in regina, canada in early nov (4-6th) ; here is a peek at one of my projects:

i am going to be teaching at an event put on by lana at the LET's GET SCRAPPIN' store there. what a sweetie lana is - i can't wait to meet her in person. i have 3 classes i will be teaching and i think those that have been in my class will say they have learned lots of different techniques and i am NOT afraid to pull out the glue guns - LOL! if you are interested in going to the class and want to reserve a spot, email me at info@mayaroad.com - my other two classes will be on a "my road to love" coaster album and a " things i love" album. both have come out really cool and i am really happy with them. i think all my students will be too.

ok, it is late, i am off to bed. for those who have requested to purchase one of my kits i mentioned 2 posts down, you will all hear from me by tomorrow! i just went to the PO today to get some boxes so let me get them packed and i will email ya'll!