staring at the face of success...

... so while at the w/h today, i looked at the 40 foot container staring me in the face. yeah a 40 foot container- FULL of maya road stuff. to help you all visualize what size that is - think about those big semi trucks you see on the road. the bigger ones - that is about the size of the container full of our stuff. as i saw them unload the container, i felt both excited and overwhelmed at the same time.

why?

b/c we have grown so much (as this was the 4th or 5th container we have unloaded this month) but at the same time every single box of stuff in there represents the challenge of any manufacturer - INVENTORY. and inventory = money. as a manufacturer/wholesaler any box of stuff you have in the warehouse is a box of your money sitting there. so to effectively manage your cash flow and growth, you have to move stuff in and move it out ASAP. if you have "dead" inventory that sits there - it is like having a bag of money just sitting there - your money and you can't move it.

if you can't move it that is less cash that you have to invest to develop new stuff. unless you get someone to pump cash into your business. or you take out a loan. or you don't develop new stuff. your choice.

that is why we are very careful about how we conduct business (after all you don't have 3 engineers (1 with a MBA from stanford) and a lawyer as partners for nothing)... which brings me back to looking at the 40 foot container. wow. i said a little prayer of thanks right then for the growth we have been given.

i am humbled by what we as a company have been blessed with. i am thankful that we can share with others with RAKs and things. nothing means more to me than to get a thank you note for someone who tells us they respect us for being nice people. you know what? nice people don't finish last. we are living proof of that...

the one thing that is hard about owning your own SBing company is that there is NO TIME TO SCRAP. but i did sneak some time away this past THANKSGIVING weekend to create this coffee break book that i have been looking at over a year. yes, i know these puppies are hard to find so don't worry i didn't take them from inventory - this was a sample i had. i created this noah book out of some pictures that my friend melissa took. sigh, she is so awesome. i wish i had the "eye" for photos like her...

need ideas?

i wanted to share this quick link with you:
http://www.mayaroaddesignteam.blogspot.com/

this is the MR design team blog - they plan on updating it with lots of inspiration on things to do with Maya Road products! there will also be challenges and RAKS on there so make sure you check it out.

i know all of them have been busy creating some HOLIDAY accents and such with MR goodies and they plan on posting them this weekend so make sure you bookmark it!

and to encourage you to check it out, i am giving out a RAK!

some ribbon slides, stamps, ribbons and bottlecaps - all you have to do is to post on the MR DT blog (don't do it anon) between now and FRIDAY, and i will pick a winner for the RAK!

i will take a pic of the RAK later today.

good luck - again post your comments here: http://www.mayaroaddesignteam.blogspot.com/
for your chance to win!

santa, baby...

in past years, i will have to admit that we were slackers in the christmas card department. i would venture to say that we were one of those "retalitory card people" - if we got a card, we retaliated with a card kind of thing.

not this year. we are getting into the spirit of the season by doing our own photo shoot and making our own cards this year. of course we had a willing model to help us out - baby noah. so we got some good shots of noah in his new santa hat. and i know i am biased but who can resist this cutie pie:

when i see this picture, baby noah doesn't look so much like a baby anymore. he looks almost toddler-ish and he is full of spirit and personality. this isn't the one that ended up as the final cut for the christmas cards but who can resist this face?

so the cards are done and off to the printers and this time i will be ahead of the game! i will be receiving retalitory cards!

i apologize for the bad blogger i have been lately. i am stuck under a pile of invoices trying to dig my way out! but you will hear more from me very soon. including some COOL RAKS (one is a project i made).

happy thanksgiving...

so many things to be thankful for this year. my health. my DH. my baby noah. maya road... i celebrated the start of the day not with a plate of turkey and pumpkin pie but getting back to an activity i love. running...

i ran a "turkey trot" today. no, i didn't have to dress up like a turkey (although the man in the maroon speedo with feathers glued to the back of his speedo carrying an american flag for 8 miles was as close to someone dressing up as a turkey as i saw). but this was something i needed to do. to clear my mind and get my feet back on the ground. this was an 8 mile race here in dallas.

let's just say after not running that distance for almost 1.5 years and having baby noah, i wasn't really fast. a small weiner dog passed me a couple of times (and beat me in the end) but i did it. and i feel really good about it. my butt and abs and legs are going to hurt tomorrow but no matter. in that 1 hour and 20 mins, i was able to think about a lot of things. to sort through a lot of things and to begin new again.

it is so easy to get in a rut sometimes, to accept status quo and just keep running that hamster wheel with no end in sight but i am free again. and no, i didn't get any pictures but i do plan on doing a LO about it. i have my race number and all the journaling done in my mind so everything is ready to go.

have a great thanksgiving!

gotcha...

all i have time for today is a quick noah update. this boy is getting crazy!

guess what i found noah getting into today?

of course who wouldn't want to touch our MR velvet rick rack? LOL! i am going to be watching this dude like a HAWK when he starts crawling!

and well noah had his first taste of veggies today - some nice green peas. i think he isn't too thrilled with them right now - check out his expressions:

as with all habits good and bad, we are going to continue to try out this green pea stuff for him. i am sure he will LOVE them one day!

have a great monday!

elements of design

i wanted to just post something for you all on this beautiful sunday. it was a good day today. we finished up our operation christmas child shoe boxes (17 of them, not the 30 i wanted to do but still a good amount) and was able to deliver them to a drop off center. it has always been important for us to give back to others but even more so this year with noah in our lives. we have so many blessings in our lives.

as i was packing the shoe boxes, i remembered what i was reading about all these shoe boxes and the intended recipents. from what i understand, the organization makes sure they put some hard candies in each box (lollipops, etc) b/c for some kids, this will be the only sweets they get the whole year. wow. reading that statistic took my breath away. i mean, i can buy candy whenever i want and eat it whenever i want and these kids are probably joyous from the ones they get in these shoeboxes...so this year, we made sure to buy a 5 lb bag of jolly ranchers and each of the boxes got a big bag full.

and thanks again to everyone who purchased my bottlecaps kits, we will be making a $200 donation b/c of your generosity.

now back to design. whenever i work on projects using MR stuff, i know that it is hard b/c we don't make everything. often times, i will find that our products fit into the overall layout or project as an element of design. so to capture all the small elements. i took some photos of some of the LOs i have done in the last week or so to show you what you can do with our ribbons and chipboards and sheers, etc.

you can take bits of MR stuff and make a BIG impact on your projects and pages. the important thing is to play. to me scrapbooking is not about rules you need to follow. it is important to play b/c that is what expands your creativity and your horizons to take you to different levels. and yeah not all my projects and LOs come out perfect. does that matter?

not at all! b/c experimentation makes you see things with different eyes. for example, i sometimes leave chipboard pieces unpainted. it has that raw look i like (and it is quick and easy). or i will cut bits and pieces of ribbons to form frames for my pictures. there is no right or wrong way to do things.

so with that, enjoy these bits and pieces of my LOs.

i am here...

but busy out of my mind! trying to get some orders shipped out. it is amazing to me that we have done more biz in this month alone than our first year in biz. that means good things and bad - the good - is we are growing like a weed. the bad is that we are growing like a weed - LOL. and we are not perfect. we are doing what we can and at the end of the day, i am happy with where we are. i am happy with what we do, what we stand for and what we believe in. i am happy to see where our company is going and what we are doing now to get us there.

and if you would like to see another version of what you can do with our tin. check this one out! look how different it can look with just a couple of different stickers and embellishments! i used crate paper and 7 gypsies stickers here.

i can tell you noah's grandparents love that i love this hobby b/c they end up with all these mini brag books to show off their grandbaby.

i am taking a day off of working on work to relax a bit with DH and noah. so good night everyone!

inspiration

ok so people have been asking what you can do with the lovely MR tins once you are done with them. i have a zillion ideas running through my head but i thought the best thing to do is to SHOW you! you know i love my baby noah madly but i just realized that i didn't have any photos of him in my bag (shame on me!) so i decided to take one of our MR tins and create a mini album with it!

you know those 1.75" square journey tins that hold our lovely photo corners, ribbon slides, etc? well you can turn that into a mini album SO EASILY!!! here is the one i made:

all i did was to measure a strip of cardstock (about 6" long and slightly smaller in width than the tin) - then i scored them to form squares and i added some contact photo sheets i have had forever. a couple of MR rubons, some journaling and i was done in like 10 minutes. how easy and cool is that?

seriously, think of all those mini albums you can make with those tiny MR tins! drill some holes and add a key ring and you have a key chain! add a magnet and you have something for the fridge! add a pin and you have a walking mini album you can wear!

so i want to see you try something like this! show me what you do with our journey tins!

RAK winner and more!

so for the winner of my last RAK (pen and more) - anam - email me! please note that the pen that was in the picture, i left in regina but no fear, i have another one i made just for you! so email me at info@mayaroad.com

i have been in a LO frenzy these last 2 weeks. some of it has been the inspiration from ALL of the entries we had for our DT search. we will be calling the new members tomorrow. every single entry was a true work of art. and with that i was and still am inspired. so THANK YOU all who entered.

and know what limited time i have, i have been carving out 15 mins of time to create something once in a while. here are 3 LOs i did:

and i can't wait til thanksgiving - to have some more time to create again!

PST: almost all of our MT things arrive to the W/H this week so look for it SOON!

noah...

well you all asked for it, so today is a small noah update - we are in trouble, the little dude has picked up rolling this week! he rolls from one side of the living room to the other and then back again! what are we going to do with him?

i have a lot more to share this week but for my enjoyment and yours - here are 2 pics of our baby noah.

in his fave sleeping position:

and the way i love to see him - full of JOY :

(yes, i put a rag on his head - he looks quite stylish - no?)

more this week including some ideas on what to do with ALL your empty MR tins, thoughts on the biggies in the industry versus us smaller fish and more RAKs!

i will choose a RAK winner tomorrow.

not much to say tonight...

b/c i am saving my voice for tomorrow! one of my friends i have met online is coming to texas and i am off to show her the sights tomorrow night! yay! so i need to save my voice.

and THANK YOU for everyone who entered our DT search. we were OVERWHELMED with the number of entries (far more than we expected) and we spent hours today looking through all of them. and yes, we will be calling the top 13 finalists tomorrow (we couldn't get it down to 12). i have to save my voice for that. after that there is the interview process for all 13 finalists.

i was so inspired by EVERYONE's entry. truly works of art. so much so that i had to go do 2 LOs tonight. i was that inspired to scrap. so thank you for that. i am amazed at how much time and effort AND creativity everyone put into their projects. and i wish we could work with ALL of you but know that you all mean the world to us. each and every one of you. and in the next month or so, expect to see a small thank you prize in the mail from the MR family.

good night!

life sure is interesting...

so deb IMed me tonight to look at something and as i was looking at her links, it took me to another link that was a manufacturer's DT call - no biggie - i like to read about different DT calls but this one sounded oddly familiar in fact, one would say that it was copied almost exactly from our DT call - like literally word for word except they changed Maya Road to "insert company name here" and a couple of extra flourishes to personalize it.

right now, deb and i can laugh about it but it really BUGS me when people cannot do their own thing. dude, coming up with a DT call is not exactly rocket science.

out of respect for the industry, i won't post who the offending party is. i will say, read our DT call here:

http://www.mayaroad.com/2006MRDesignTeam.htm (which was published like 3 weeks ago)

and if you see something floating around that sounds almost EXACTLY the same - just remember where it came from.

ok, enough negativity, thank you for all the people who entered. we are overwhelmed by all the people who thought enough of us to enter our call!

and you think *i* am insane...

well let me share with you this blog:

http://enduranceis.typepad.com/

this is the blog of dean karnazes - a dude who ran 50 marathons in 50 days - yes 50 marathons of 26.2 miles in 50 states in 50 days. he finished up with the NY marathon in *just* over 3 hours. he came in like less than a minute behind lance armstrong but you have to remember he just ran 49 other marathons the 49 days before that. so to run a full marathon in under 3 hours and 1 minute - how AMAZING is that? (just for reference, that is REALLY FAST)

and here i am slacking off. ok. as soon as i feel better (my voice is gone, there is fluid in my ear and i am stuffy) i am going to run. i might not be able to run even 1 marathon but it doesn't matter. it all begins again with a single step!

thanks for everyone who posted on my last entry about what you would like me to write about. i will cover what i can in the next couple of weeks!

sharing the love...

well my bags are packed and this time they are BOTH under 50 lbs (yay!) but before i leave for the weekend, a couple of things to share with you!

did you ever wonder what you can do with the extra chipboard pages inside our chipboard binder albums? turn them into some cool photo layouts like this:

add some papers, photos, stickers and ribbons (MR ribbons) tied in the holes and look what you can create! i tend not to use all 8 of the pages in the binder album so these leftover goodies make great gifts!

oh yeah and peeps, don't forget about our DT contest. i do expect ALL of you blog readers to enter - remember if you don't enter, you can't win.

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

i do expect that we will be personally talking to some of you on the phone. be ready for my hard nose, in depth questions - totally kidding! i left that all behind in my old job. so no need to show us your transcripts in this interview!

and finally, one more give away for this weekend while i am gone! i made this as a class sample:

it along with some fabbie MR stuff can be yours. i really hate to throw things away. in fact, this fabbie pen along with a manila envie of MR stuff can be yours if you win !

to win, please post here (non anon) and tell me the following:

what topics would you love for me to cover in this blog? i could talk about noah all day (as you know) and various and sundry parts of MR too - but what is it that you want to know about? as you all know, deb and i are pretty open and honest about a lot of things. but i would love to hear what you want to know about us or MR or whatever. so speak to me, people.

and you can post here til sunday when i get back to town.

have fun!

i am off to wear my toque (hat i believe) and long johns in regina, canada! i also need to get me some tim horton's coffee (or so i hear)

bottlecap winners

forgive me for my non-blogging-ness this week. it has been crazy. noah was sick. david was sick. i was sick. invoices to be done. products to design. soccer games to be played (with nasty grass blood burns too - LOVE IT). and well i am off to canada on friday to visit regina and hang out with lana and her crew! i can't wait!

but before i go, here are the bottlecap winners:

Leslie McF.

and

Andrea

email me!

but before i go, i wanted to share these LOs with you (Sorry for the super crapppy scans) - i did these under fits of stress to get some relaxation in. to remind myself that noah makes me a different person. tough but now a bit softer too (even my body is softer - LOL!) - these were layouts i did in 30 mins time - again they don't have to be perfect - just things which noah can look at later in life that i don't want him to forget.