My DIY Version of the Baby Crib Mobile.

My latest project. Hope you love it.

Supply list:

Teresa Collins FREESTYLE Papers

1 12x12 Green Cardstock

Sheer 1 inch ribbon in pink and orange, approximately 4-5 yards total

24 - 3/8 inch multi facated clear beads

24 Oval or cylindar shaped green glass beads

Approimately 32 inched metal strap.

20 gage wire.

Baking paper

4 Inches sheer green ribbon

2 3/4 - 12x12 peices of Memory Makers Baroque Thick Molding Strips.

Check it out on Two Peas HERE... and remember, I love comments. :) Expecially when they are nice comments!

For the How to's, Jump on over to Teresa Collins Blog!

Hope you love it.

xoxo Cam

PS. More about my FAB trip to Australia later.

AUSTRALIA

Here I am.. Sitting in my lovely room, made available to me by sweet, sweet Emi. Completely awake and ready to take on the day! I've had a good sleep, and feel great.... and oh.. yeah, it's 4:15 am. Dang it. Well at least by tonight I should be mostly adjusted... and if not, there is always Ambian.

Still can't believe I made it.

My trip started out alright. Left Boise without a problem, had a very short stop in Reno and were back on the tarmac inside 35 minutes. Just needed approval from traffic control in Los Angeles to take off.. (btw, I had no idea the receiving airport also had to approve a plane's take off.) The pilot informed us we were waiting for approval... and then informed us we were still waiting for approval.... then informed us that it appears Air Force One is at LA and flights are being held, hopefully it would not be much longer. Then after about 45 minutes on the runway we were told it was going to be at least another hour before take off. We returned to the gate and deboarded. After about 35 minutes or so the flight crew made an announcement at the gate that we had approval from LA to take off, but only had a 15 minute window to do so... so they rushed everyone back on the plane and we took off. Mind you by now it was 9:35pm pacific time.. which was when we were suppose to be landing in LA.

Landed in LA at 10:33pm... then had to wait 15 minutes for a gate to be available due to all the flight delays.. 10:45...flight to AU was still on schedule to leave at 11:35pm and I still had to deboard, get my luggage from baggage claim, get a taxi to the correct gate, check in, check my luggage, get through security and get on the flight... (yeah right).

Got my luggage, which mind you I had 4 bags totalling about 120 lbs, and somehow navigated them alone from baggage claim to a taxi, and then to the gate and Qantas counter.. the whole time on the phone back and forth with Qantas telling me, "you will not be making the flight, but head to the Qantas counter were they will rebook you." Luckily, there was a gal on my flight from Reno trying to make the same AU flight, whose husband is a Qantas pilot, and was logged into the Qantas system, and he was telling us not to listen, but to RUN.

Get to the counter and the Qantas employee is a little smug, and telling us, the plane is closed.. if only you'd been 15 minutes earlier.... We discuss that Southwest should put us up in a hotel for the night, and then he starts working with my friend to get her rebooked onto a flight tomorrow night. (Oh yeah, did I mention the next flight to AU would not leave for another 24 hours?) Then he turns to me and says, "Okay, lets see what we can do for you. Name Please."

In the meantime Southwest is arranging a hotel for me, and at 11:36pm I texted Ali to let her know I did not make the flight.

I give the Qantas agent my name... he enters it, and then says, "OH! You are already a confirmed passenger on this flight, let me see if we can get you on." I responded with, "what?? on THIS flight?? Tonight?"

The one that's suppose to be closed already?

He calls and I hear him say, "what do you think, Connie? should I send her up?"

So naturally I start yelling in the background, "YES, PLEASE Connie! Say Yes!"

And so Connie says the most beautiful word in the entire English Language. (Leaving me with a little bit of guilt for my friend and another mom with two small children who were not being allowed through.)

Once again navigating 120 pounds of luggage to the TSA luggage security screening... the security check point had just closed... so they send me to another 200 feet down. Got the luggage check made it to the escalator to get up to security screening, and the escalator was closed... Luckily, now I only had about 40 pounds carry on luggage... Back the other way to the other escalator..

Got to security, there was NO line. Amazing.

Half way through the security people asked me if I was Camille and started rushing me through.. At the other side of the metal detector a Qantas employee is waiting and asked me for my passport, then ran to go get me checked in while I collected and put all my carry on baggage back together. Ran to the gate, and was rushed onto the plane... which was completely packed with lots of passengers that did not appear all to happy to be waiting for me. I overheard a Qantas employee mumble something about holding 400 for one.

The passengers chilled when we were delayed another 30 minutes or so before take off, due to the back up at LAX from Air Force One.

((The moral of this story is ALWAYS check in online ahead of time.))

13 hours later (I think our pilot was 'speeding' because the flight is suppose to be 14 hours) we land in Brisbane, AU at 6:30 am local time. My flight to Townsville leaves at 8:30am. And oh, guess what? According to the customs officer, once I finally got TO a customs officer, it is the busiest travel weekend in Australia all year... including Christmas. And it showed.

Luckily, due to my late arrival in LAX my baggage did not make the AU flight so I was called straight over to the Qantas baggage claim desk and given a ticket to verify my baggage had been mishandled, as well as an express ticket so I could use the flight crew security check point... it still took about 1:15 to get through customs. Then another 20 minutes to figure out how to get to the correct gate... so glad I did not have luggage to check. Got to the gate at 8:10, and the flight to Townsville had been delayed till 8:55. PHEW.

Called Ali and let her know I was not in America, but had made it to Brisbane, which she had already figured when she could not reach me.

Flight into the Townsville went without a hitch. (Thank you!!)

Everything is lovely.. Ali is lovely, her girls are lovely, and well, Matt... Matt offered to let me borrow his underwear till my luggage arrives... in about 36 hours... so Matt's lovely too.

I managed to stay awake till about 6:30 pm... I'm trying to figure out how many hours it was from when I woke up to go to work Friday morning.... Um..

Got up Friday at 5:30am, arrived at Boise Airport at 5:30pm. 12 hours

Left LAX at 12:00, which would be 1:00am Boise time. 7.5 hours

Flight to AU - 13 hours.

2.5 hours till flight to Townsville

Then the flight was about 1hour 20 min

Arrived in Townsville about 11:30 am AU time. (I think.) and stayed up till 6:30 pm. 7 hours.

43 hours 20 minutes? Granted I did get some sleep on my Au flight... I'll be optimistic and say 5 hours... off and on.

And so. Now you can see why even though I packed my camera on my carry on so I could get pictures of the trip over, my camera has not made it out of the bag.

But I am here. :) and it is now 5:30 am Monday morning. I promise to take pictures today.

Lots and lots of pictures.

But first, I need a shower.

xoxo
Cam

In Four Days

Boi to AU.

Oh my heck. So excited. I can't believe I'm finally going.

Please don't let me fall asleep on the plane and wake up on a fishing boat in Asia. Please. That would really wreak it for me.

xoxo Cam

Scarlet Lime xoxo

Check out what I made for Scarlet Lime as the guest designer for July:


I am absolutely in love with this necklace. Favorite project of all time. Go check out the inspiration page at Scarlet Lime to see the details. While you're there be sure to check out the kits.

They are amazing.

Christy has such an eye for color and pattern. If you want one, be sure to get on the waiting list as they sell out every month.

xoxo
Cam

Out for Publication....

Please excuse my lack of posts and missing pictures. I have been busy, busy, busy... My baggage is being published in Scrapbooking.com's August issue....



You can also watch for me, and my work as the guest blogger for Scarlet Lime in July.

Also, the Teresa Collins Design Team Blog is closing and our work will now appear on Teresa Collin's Blog. I'm expecting a new package full of all sorts of amazing new unreleased products very soon, and I can't wait to get stated.

Oh, did I mention I'm leaving the country in 13 days? YIKES!! ... And I'll be miss my first Brave Girls Camp? :( boo!

xoxo... thanks for still loving me.. even when I'm a bad blogger.

Cam

She Did it Anyway! YES. maybe.. no..well...I'm not sure.

Brave Girls Camp.

I did manage to get one art project done, and I am finally ready to share it.

But first, let me explain what :She did it anyway: means.

:She did it anyway: means each of us has the ability and inner strength to look at all the things in our lives that are stopping us from really living. Preconceived ideas, physical limitations, age, beauty, size,... whatever it is that might be holding you back.

For example,

They told her she wasn't qualified, but she went back to work anyway.

They told her she wasn't worth much, but she valued herself anyway.

They treated her like she had no business being at Church... she was not worthy and didn't belong anymore, but she kept going anyway.

They told lies about her, lies mixed with the truth, and a lot of people believed everything, but she looked them in the eye and respected herself anyway.

They judged her, they criticized her, they insulted her... but she followed her heart anyway.

I can tell you first hand, that it's much harder to come back than it would be to stay away.

And it's the people who make it that way.




A big part of learning to be brave is learning to embrace the :she did it anyway:. I am learning, but when it comes to change I work v e r y s l o o o o o o o o o w....



At Brave Girls Camp May 2010, I began to embrace my life. Especially the changes.

There have been a lot of changes... the majority of which are still too deeply personal to share or discuss. I am trying to be very true to myself, and not to accept people into my life who will not allow me to be true. Who see me a certain way and want me to always stay that way, even if it kills me.

But I am too tired to stay that way.

Anaïs Nin:

“And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom”

This is where I am. I cannot remain a bud forever. It is time. Some people won't like it. I've already lost a lot of friends. But I like myself so much better. I am a better wife and mother for it. I still have a lot to figure out, and it will likely take the rest of my life. But I am a turning into a full bloom...

And it is beautiful.

In my Art, I can see myself as a little child.

Young, lonely and naive.

And at peace with myself.

There is no turmoil.

Back to a time when the biggest decisions I had to make were who I was going to play with, and what kind of sandwich I wanted for lunch with my canned peaches.

In my picture, I appears I have just abandoned my heart. Discarded it.

But I really haven't.

I've just found it.

I discarded it long, long ago. It caused too much pain. It's a bad, bad thing to have inside controlling my emotions and allowing me to hurt over and over again. And so I got rid of it... long long ago.

Now, I am really, really, trying to decide if I should pick it up and take it with me. I don't know. Some days I reach down and ::almost:: touch it. Some days I want to walk away from it and cover it up so I will never have to see it again. I can't decide and I'm spending a lot of time... here... just weighing the options.

This is a way bigger decision that what color socks to wear. It's too big a decision for a little innocent child to make. Especially when the adult in me wants to scream at her to run away, that it's too dangerous!

Dear Camille: They are coming...the winds of change..they move me..to grow...to change...to fly...it is time...to become me.

The sun is shining.

She might pick it up.

Heaven help me....

So thankful to be a Brave Girl.

(Me, Kathy, Melody and Elena)

xoxo Cam

My Camera, My Suitcases, and Mud Wrestling.

My Camera.

It has arrived.

I am SOOOO excited. So are my kids.. they like it cause of the fast shutter speed. They took turns running through the house while the other snapped picture after picture, after picture, after picture. After picture.

After picture..

...

This is me. Today, right now. Getting ready to blog.

And working on installing the camera software, and setting all the preferences etc, etc.. I look sad, but I'm just contemplating. Not sad.

Noah. Trying to push his mother out of her chair.

(I won.)

My suitcases.

Alright, being that you all know I'm completely neurotic, all I have to say is that I bought non descript black suitcases for my trip to Australia.

And then I had all sorts of nightmares about someone accidentally taking my suitcase from baggage claim... or worse, ME realizing the suitcase I took was NOT full of my new cute swimsuits and presents for my Bestie,but instead had some old man's aftershave and size 40 ::underwear:: Not that I would look, mind you, but still...

Oh the drama.

Then, an Epiphany.. angels singing, light bulbs popping on all over the place.

*Personalized Luggage*

Please excuse the missing pictures.... as they are:



Check out my bags, including my finished duffle bag, in the August issue of Scrapbooking.com,

Now, there is no way anyone is accidently walking off with my luggage, and no way I'm going to have to see or smell any Old Spice... OR whatever it is old men an Austarlia wear for aftershave.

Pretty sure no one would want to walk off with my bags now...but hey, I love em, and that's really all I care about.

Maybe I should have made them matching??

Oh well. Too late now. I still have one duffle bag left to personalize.

Mud Wrestling??

Okay not really. We're moving our kid's pool. Which means landscaping and yard work.. Lots of it. I am a bit sunburned and my poor muscles are sore.

Until we get the pool up we have a lovely 16.5 ft mud wrestling ring. If anyone wants to come over and try it out...

I did have a lot of help....

Sort of.

Okay, Andy helped a TON! But seriously he was concerned about a sun burn... and I really don't want to have to explain the, um, his... sense of style.

That's all I've got.

Hope you enjoyed it.

xoxo

Cam