I really want to do this!

Please help me spread the word.  Twice a year I get to LIVE Stream from the CHA tradeshows and I looooove it!!  This is a video from our first LIVE Stream of Marisa Pawelko and I. She cracks me up!

This year we even got to organize a flash mob for charity!

So for our 4th installment we are taking all the things we learned and making it amazing!!

BUT I NEED SUPPORT SO I CAN KEEP DOING THIS

WILL YOU PLEASE HELP ME?

We have changed the event a bit and made it free if you buy a raffle ticket to support:

They are an awesome no kill shelter run by my friend Bernie Berlin. I love being able to support grassroots charities that directly affect the greater good.  It feel so good to give.

SO THE DILEMMA IS... the sign ups are pretty slow so far and catch 22... I need sign ups to get sponsor's excited about supporting and people don't always want to sign up till they know who is sponsoring.  :) Plus it's not for a few months so people think they have plenty of time to sign up.

Such are the challenges of an Event Planner.

So.... I am asking my friends and supporters (that's you because you are reading my blog (smile)) to please help me spread the word.

We have an awesome blinkie:

Grab Blinkie Code:

<a href="http://www.charitywings.org" mce_href="https://www.scrapbookroyalty.org/cms/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=117&Itemid=100044" target="_blank" title="Live from CHA 2012"><img src="http://www.scrapbookroyalty.com/cw-blinkie-final3.gif" mce_src="http://www.scrapbookroyalty.com/cw-blinkie-final3.gif" border="0" width="225" height="225" alt="Live from CHA 2012" /></a>

I would really appreciate if you could add this to your blog, website, etc. and help spread the word about this super fun event!

The raffle ticket gets you 45 chances to win.  Each prize has a minimum value of $100!!

Thanks awesome friends and family for your support!

Doing the Happy People Dance!

My two AWESOME clubs in So Cal.

I have been leading 2 groups of women for a few years now. Well, one group has been going for about 7 years or something like that and we just have a ball!

I think I always forget to talk about it because I have been doing them for so long and they are just a part of my life.  But being a part of my life, I want to make sure that I get it on my blog more often!

The first group is called Outside the Book Club. Its held 6:30-8:30 pm the first Thursday of the month at Gee Gee's Stamps n Stuff in Carlsbad, California.  This club started at Pink Pineapple Scrapbooks after I came back from Taiwan the 2nd time.  I think that was 2005 or something like that.  I seriously am the worst with dates!  When Pink Pineapple closed we were gypsies for a little while looking for a place to settle and then we landed nicely at Gee Gees and its been wonderful! Gayle is an awesome artist and proprietor and she welcomed us warmly.



The second club is Cool Scrapbook Club and is held 6:30-8:30 pm on the third Weds of the month at Cool Scrapbook Stuff in Poway, California.  Don't let the name fool you. This is also a mixed media group. I had originally planned on this being geared more towards Scrapbooking but I guess with me being more of a mixed media artist, the group kind of ended up evolving that way.  And it has worked out amazing.

We have a make and take each time.   I try to come up with interesting techniques and sometimes the members offer to do a make and take which I love!

teaching the girls how to make tshirt yarn.

the leftovers from making tshirt yarn.  helllloooo 80s!

Of course I have so much time on my hands NOT! , so my dear friend Kat took over the admin side of book club for me so that I could keep doing this while trying to grown Charity Wings to the point that it can sustain itself as well as hire employees.  Having Kat's help has made a huge huge difference. She agreed to do all the communications for me, and the blog and over the months has taken on organizing different parties etc.  It has made a world of difference for me and Kat loves it and the girls love and appreciate her.  Such a win-win situation.

We have at least one guest each cycle. Either the author of the book, or another industry leader.  Here are some of the awesome guests we have had recently:

Christen Olivarez and Jana Holstein

The amazing Jenny Doh.

Jen Cushman and Liz Hicks

Lisa Fulmer and Andrea Currie

Tracy Weinzapfel

We do have room for new members. The first club is pretty full but 1 or 2 more would be ok. and the second club has room to grow.  You can see the fun we have on the blog that Kat updates for us after each meeting.

If you want to make new friends, do art, expand your creativity and be inspired, join us!

If you get it, you get it. If you dont....

Well, if you don't get it, you probably never will. Its amazing how we are just who we are. Crazy parts included. But some people get you.  Some never will.

I spent tonight with my friend G chatting and sharing a bottle of wine. She gets it and I get her and whether we stay friends for life, or just friends for right now, her insight is what I need.  Her nodding her head and saying supportive

I love my mom

I can't imagine what it must have been like to be 24 and pregnant with your first child so full of hope and love for her. I think that my mom loved me since the moment she knew I was coming. It has not always been easy. I was a handful.... ha ha ha!  huge huge handful as a teenager. I can't ever make up for the heartache I cause this amazing women. But I try every day to make her happy to make her proud and to let her know that she did not waste one drop of hope and love on me.

I am a happy people. I have hope and I am loved.

Thank you Mom. All I am, I owe to you.

Snow?

When you think of Palm Springs California what do you think of?

This?

or this?

It was such a fun day.  I really love doing things like this with kids. Those bright smiles and excited noises.  I totally recommend going to  Palm Springs and take the Aerial Tram Ride and visit the snow!

Before it gone! 

What a sweet surprise!

This is a text from yesterday:

Matt: "I'm taking you out tonight and buying you shoes and a    dress"

          "Is that ok?"

Elena: "Really?"

          "Just because?"

Matt: "I want to is that ok?"

      

I'll spare you the rest of the messages :)

But he took me out and we went to my favorite store Anthropology for this pretty dress, and then got some shoes to match.

Then he took me to Marine Room off Princess Street :)

http://www.marineroom.com/ 

Where we had a really awesome dinner and some very yummy wine.  It was so sweet and such a nice surprise. 

I don't think I have even been in a relationship where I knew we were actually meant to be together forever. I don't see an end in sight. I don't feel like we might not make it. There are obstacles but they are not the kind that make you think,"is this person right for me" It's such a different feeling and so great and I can't believe we found each other.

My dad used to take me to Marine Room when I was a little girl.  He was working at Scripps as a researcher. It made me think of him and that is a good thing. It reminded me that he used to live close and I was his little princess :)

That wise old Lorax...

Go see the movie!

The movie taught such great lessons!  I just loved it!

I'm a Happy Happy People!

Some people are just in your life to make things better.  I have to spotlight one of these people right now.

She is my friend Debby and I just love her.

It's not just that she supports Charity Wings. It's that she supports me.  I have known Debby for I think 6 or 7 years?!?!  something like that.  She has one of the biggest most generous hearts and I am so lucky to have a friendship with her that has grown over the years.  We don't see eachother that often, she has been in my book club forever, but it's one of those friends that make my life better just cause she is in it.

Thank you Debby for doing what you did yesterday. For helping me cross the finish line and for everything you have in your heart that compels you to have the same ideas about charity and giving as I do.

Love you!

For the 17 million Americans affected.

This is what it looks like when I tornado rips through 10 states.  I am trying to raise $1000 for the tornado victims for the deadliest tornado outbreak in the midwest in 50 years.  I hope this inspires you to do something to help these families and survivors.  I have $65 left to reach my goal.  

If you would like to help- CLICK HERE.

Thank you so much for your support. <3

I needed this...

 I got to spend a day at Disneyland with Matt and his boys and it was awesome!  Jake is 2 and not terrible at all!   He is hilarious and can entertain himself all day no problem!  He laughs and smiles and makes everyone around him feel happy and loved.  It was his first trip and dang was he cute!

Matthew is an expert driver already!

  Matthew is sensitive and smart and a huge Star Wars fan and we were determined to get him into the Jedi Training Academy.  What an awesome surprise when he got picked! I filmed it so he can watch it again and again.

 Every kid needs a picture escaping from the Dog Pound!

 It was so cute when we got there Matthew said he wanted a picture of all of us with him on Matt's shoulders, and Jake in the stroller with me pushing it. So that is what we did!

I really am the luckiest girl in the world.  I have an amazing boyfriend. Well, let's just say he is perfect for me.  He needs me and I need him and I am so lucky we found each other.  And he let's me order in restaurants and is willing to share plates with me. I love that!

Never forget

I almost forgot.  I feel sheepish and small and a little ashamed. Gosh I can get so wrapped up in things that just don't matter.  darn you insecurities!!! I just read my friend Amy's blog about her husband's chemo journey and It was like being splashed with cold water which I needed because I had tears in my eyes at the end of it. Thank you Amy, I needed that.

Whatever pain you are in there is someone out there less fortunate than you.  I know this for a fact because you are reading this post.  That means you can read, and you have internet access.  Trust me, you are doing good :)


Focus focus focus on what you CAN do.

I tell people at events all the time, "If the economy has hit you hard. If you are struggling to keep your finances in order, think of the people who were struggling before this economic crisis.  They are even more in need.  Now is the time to think more, give more, and dig deeper. I am here to give you an opportunity to give in a small way or a large way. Its up to you- I'm just presenting an opportunity"

This resonates with some people. Some people understand that what I am doing may be small in the grand scheme of things but I am doing something.

If you join me, we can do something together.

Its Feb 29th.  You got an extra day. Make it count.

taking a leap

into March as a Happy People!

blah, poop, ugh, eeek!!!

ok. Trying to remember I am a happy people.  Feeling so whiny lately and I really really have such an awesome life. 

It's like this.  I have a million things I want to do.  + a million things I have to do + a million things people want me to do.  = not enough time. 

I so wish the days didn't fly by so fast.   It's not even that there aren't enough hours. There are but there is just so much I want/need to do!!  Yes, I need it!  :)

So I stopped to smell the roses and spend some time with girlfriends and I made this.

Her name is Hope.  She has on little boots that I used my 5 year old drawing skills to come up with -while looking at a boot :)  and she is holding an umbrella behind her back and enjoying a little downpour of paint and smooch spritz!  and thanks to Cynthia, she has on real blush.

And she has no eyes because she is asian and smiling :)  hee hee.

I can say that!

Oh! and she is a Happy People!

Life is good for a happy people

do you ever get an idea and it is so exciting you just want to scream it to the world? I have an idea :)

but you have to wait.

just think

beans...

and

chopsticks....

:)  hee hee