happy birthday to my bloggy friend kristi

today is my first ever bloggy friend kristi's birthday. alas, i can't remember how old she is, but i DO know that she's an entire pre-teen younger than me, which makes her 30-something.

kristi and i 'met' when i submitted a layout to the one little word challenge blog, then made a complete dork of myself by commenting that they didn't include my layout in their slide show. if i'd bothered to read properly, i would have seen that the slide was just of their favourites!

kristi, ever the sweetie, left ME a comment saying she'd done exactly the same thing. who knows if that's true or not - it was a sweet thing to say, and we were fast and firm virtual friends from that day on (mid-2007 i'm thinking).

i finally relented to her nagging in feb 08 and started a blog, and in october 08 i was lucky enough to meet her in person. she even put me up for 2 nights before our KC weekend. not many people would welcome a total stranger from the other side of the world into their home, but she did!

kristi has a wicked sense of humour, as can be seen in this birthday post to her friend kendra.

all i can say now, kristi, as it's YOUR birthday (and you had to know this was coming).....

PAYBACK'S A BITCH!!!!!

(just as well you're extremely photogenic, is all i can say!)

kristi is fun and not at all afraid to look a little dorky from time to time

did i say a little???

like me, she loves to play dress-up

and she's not at all creepy
HEY! where's MY pic???

after emailing and blogging for over a year and half, we finally met!
i soon learned that kristi is a 'hands-on' friend
she's in complete control of her superfast car, and has excellent parking skillsand her table manners are second-to-none
she CAN be shy...

well, SOMEtimes...

she also welcomed me into her home like an old friend and i have such great memories of my time with her and ALL my KC gals.

i look forward to seeing you again soon
happy birthday my friend!

this is the album i made kristi for her birthday, which she's received and loves! (glad ya like it!)

Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

global scrap challenge

i've forgotten how this started, because i haven't managed to keep up very well, but one of my KC Peeps, Candice started a scrap challenge. a theme was decided on, layouts were done and posted, then a name drawn out of the hat to post the next challenge.

debbie decided to mix things up a bit with a SWAP! lots of scrapping supplies (both virtual and actual) have gone cross country AND globally, and today's the big reveal.

i got sent this cute digital tags by annette and although i didn't really have a clue about what i was doing, i gave it a go!

i'm so proud of those cupcakes i made! i sent some scrapping goodies over the ditch to lynette, and i can't wait to see what they did with them! you can go see debbie for the rest of the links to the layouts.

ultimate blog party winner!

well, the party's over; the floor's a mess, the alcohol cabinet is bare, but i'm still left with a tonne of nuts....
i didn't quite make it to 125 followers. i netted 60 new followers in ONE day with SITS and 13 new followers in a week with the UBP. i guess the sheer size of the UBP accounts for that.

STILL! - a warm welcome to all my new followers. you should know by now that i have giveaways all the time and there's plenty of goodies to be had.

i'll probably give away the 2nd kiwana package for my 15,000th visitor (i'm at 13920 now) - so not long to wait!!!

so...without further ado...the winner of thisis.........

"Kristi Smith said... 6

Please, please, please pour me a drink!!! yum.

Fun post.

You look smashing next to your dashing husband!!!"

Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers:

6 

Timestamp: 2009-03-31 04:54:42 UTC.....

MY KC PEEP KRISTI!!!

(as you can see, we've met before...)

that's a wrap: mamarazzi's favourite things swap

Because i can't seem to upload my photos in the correct order, i'm going to start backwards - with the RECEIVING of my fabby favourite things swap!

my swap buddy is ann from annOnandOn. she splits her time between the freezing midwest and the even freezinger quebec - hehe, so this package came all the way from quebec - and in just over a week!

there were several packages within the package, each with a lovely tag. ann somehow figured out how to tie the ribbon perfectly; something i've yet to master

everyone i've ever met from north american has this lovely 'scribe'
- being a lefty, i'm quite envious!

i can't wait to try that lipgloss. a girl can never REALLY have enough lipgloss. really.

oh yes - the disco cardio! never heard of anything quite like it in my life, but i have an exercycle parked in front of the tv, so watch this space!!!

love this movie - ben stiller is such a goof

and how did ann know that brown is one of my base colours?
gorgeous jewellery don't you think?

thanks so much ann! i must go email you to let you know it arrived - DOH!!!

and now to MY package to ANN (which hopefully will arrive any day now!)

i had SO much fun putting it together too. on my first day at work i found leftover business cards from my predecessor's predecessor and immediately grabbed them for scrapping supplies.

i covered one side, rounded the corners and i instantly had home-made gift tags!!! yay me!

now that the company's rebranding, i may never have to buy another gift tag again...these photos make it all look quite delish don't you think? maybe i should have sent it to myself!!!

are you wondering why i've photgraphed the box? first of all, i LOVE to wrap square packages, and nothing is squarer than a shoe box. this one is all golden and shiny and it has a story too

recognise it melinda? the lovely melinda (whom i met last october) and her wonderful husband charlie managed to get TWO boxes of shoes from the factory to their house so melinda could drive then across state to KC so i could then carry them home the 10,000 miles!!!

PHEW!!!

totally worth it.

LMK if you want to see the other pair. they're EQUALLY as cool.

but i digress...

many heartfelt thanks again, to mamarazzi for the gargantuan task she took on organising this amazing swap. i'm so glad to be a part of it

more show and tell

i planned this layout over a year ago and even printed out my 10 goals. i was very happy to discover (a year later) that i had already completed #1 on the list! the pic was taken at my old primry school in christchurch the weekend i took miss 19 to the snow patrol concert
- which rocked btw!!!

this is for creative scrappers. they run weekly sketch challenges. i've said it before and i'll say it again - i LUUUURVE sketches!!!

this is for sketchbook's fortnightly sketch challenge. these photos were taken at one of favourite local restaurants. you really can't take us anywhere!

and this for the 'how much is too much' blog challenge #100 to use a single photo and 100 words (journalling). kristi took this pic, and i LOVE it.

hubs took these pics when he was in san fran last year. in sept/oct, we had a revolving door to the airport at our place!

this layout is for inspired blueprints. these photos were taken back in 2006 when the hubs went to the UK and Europe on business. of course he had time for a whistle-stop tour of london, care of my sister! the thought that I'LL be riding that eye later in the year is VERY exciting!

there's the lovely kristi and that famous letterbox again. this layout is for scrapboxnz's monthly sketch challenge.

i miss kristi *sigh*...

and of course my new york 'peeps'! (*sigh* - i miss them too)
this layout was for forever and always

this is another layout i did from our time in hong kong at the rugby 7s.
i have no idea who the woman on the left is, but she supported pretty much EVERY pacific island rugby team, and she was SO DAMN enthusiastic about it! (maybe the glass in her hand might have had something to do with that?)

here endeth the show and tell

photostory friday - she's not still on about that damn trip, is she?

"HELL YES!

i took over 800 photos, and you guys have only seen like - 23 of them!!!

this week's instalment is brought to you by hobby lobby and archivers - and let's not forget, the louisburg cider mill and pumpkin patch too!

so, after a week on my own in new york, 2 days in princeton and 2 days in poh dunk usa (that's a whole other story), kristi and i drove across missouri to meet up with 8 other blogging scrapbookers (and now that sherryn has a blog - that statement is totally true!)

here's kendra, our nominated bag lady for the hobby lobby visit. we fanned out fast and couldn't be weighed down by such impediments as handbags...

christmas trees!!!! in october??????

all hail donna! the designer of these very cool sticker lines!!!
(that's debbie on her knees)

we all heart archivers...

ME TOO!!!

a quick snack at the cheesecake factory (i shared this)....actually...

then it was across the border to the louisburg cider mill

and pumpkin patch

who called the paparazzi?

stop taking our picture! can't you see we love it?

love ya kristi!!!

against my better judgement, i went in the corn maze

'twas rather pretty with the late afternoon sun

and i made it out alive

to tell the story

it was a total blast to meet you - my kansas city bloggers, and thanks again to donna aka camp mother/cruise director for organising it all!

Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek