As a mother, wife and entrepreneur life is absolutely crazy.  The past 2 years have passed at turbo speed.  As every day goes by I wonder how working parents do it.  Each minute of each day is a valuable commodity that needs to be used to get laundry done, dishes washed, kids to school, kids to sports and other activites, get homework done, feed the dog, cats and fish and run my store in my free time.  I wonder how working parents do it all.  How do they find time for their families, friends and for themselves?  When my husband and I decided to open Hip 2-b Square - we did it because scrapbooking is something that I love  and something that I have a talent for. I love being able to  share my passion for creativity with others.  Over the past year - I have been caught up in the business side of the store, which is vital to making it successful.  However, I haven't  even dabbled in the parts of the business that originally sparked its creation.  In comparison to other's, my life is not so different from anyone else's.  As parents, employees, employers, spouces and friends we spend much of our time giving to others.   This is very apparent because, at least a couple of times every day someone will stop by the store and gaze at all of the beautiful papers, embellishments and inspiring layouts, only to comment that they need to "get back into IT", or that they really want to start scrapbooking "when their lives calm down" or "when their kids get older".  The thing is, life never slows down it just keeps moving.  Minutes turn into hours.  Hours turn into days.  Days turn into months.  Months turn into years.  Time just flies by.  We all need to stop and smell the flowers.  For some of us, that might mean getting a massage or a pedicure, for others it might mean doing something creative.  Regardless of what your "ME TIME" is, we all need to take some!  With this in mind, I have taken some time to do a few  pages over the past couple of weeks.  I grabbed some random photos that I love!  They were from various times in lives of my kids.  There was no "STARTING" point.  There was no getting "CAUGHT UP".  It was just about creating something with photos that I love.  This is my "ME TIME", and boy, does it feel good.  There is something therapeutic about scrapbooking.  We all spend our days getting through them.  Each day ends with a thought similar to... "I made through another crazy day."  When we scrapbook we take time to reflect on our lives and the lives of those we love.  We cherish the simple memories of our kids eating a popcicle on a hot day.  It isn't about the events in life - it is about the moments that make up our lives.  With this thought, I am giving myself the gift of taking time to smell the flowers, and take time, even if it is only an hour, to do something that makes me happy.  For me, this is creating my scrapbook pages.  I encourage you to care for yourself and take time to do something that makes you happy!

 For those of you who feel entirely overwhelmed with the idea of scrapbooking every moment and event of your family's life, take a step back and ask yourself this question.  Why do you scrapbook?  Is it to create a timeline and story of the lives of your children?  Is it give yourself a creative outlet?  Is it therapeutic for you to reflect on your life or the lives of your loved ones?  Regardless of the answer, each scrapbook journey is a personal one.  You might even find that your reason for scrapbooking might change from time to time.  When I had more time, I loved scrapping all of the moments of our lives, this is not to say that I ever got "CAUGHT UP".  Today, as life is more hectic and I have less time, I love treating myself with the time to create - and work on my photos.  I don't take less pictures, but I am more selective about those that I work with.  I find myself scrolling through hundreds of photos until I find one that speaks to me.  I use this as my inspiration for my page.  I absolutely  love the whole creative process, and I don't want to let the pressure of what others are doing to take the joy out of it.  So, for those of you who don't want to commit to scrapping every photo, but might want to play with one here and there - I say DO IT!  With this in mind, as I was going through my many photos, I came across and fell in love with this picture of my sister and my oldest daughter.  This was the inspiration for this page.  I am so happy to be able to share it with you.

This layout was created with the products that were included in our March What's Hip Club Kit.  I love this stuff!!!

As I carpool my girls to and from school, I have noticed that some of the trees have started to bloom!  Spring is right around the corner.  Before we know it the tulips, daffodils and hyacinths will be in full bloom.  I can't believe that it is already Easter weekend.  Soon, many of us will be sorting through photos of our children coloring eggs, looking for Easter baskets and hunting for Easter eggs.  The Katlin Collection from  Crate Paper is made up of fabulous patterned papers, die cuts, ribbon and other embellishments that will definitely bring out the best in your spring photographs.  As I gaze at the color palette from this collection, it reminds me of the Paz Easter Egg Dye from my childhood.  Do you remember mixing water, white vinegar with the color tablets and watching it fizz?  I remember letting my eggs soak and soak until they were saturated with these exact colors.  These are the colors bring back fond memories from my childhood.  It is amazing that something as simple as a collection of colors can trigger memories and emotions.  With those pleasant thoughts dancing around in my head, I am inspired to to showcase photos of my daughters with these wonderful products!   Hopefully their childhood memories will be as fond as mine are.

As I look around my yard, I see the tulips sprouting out of the ground, and the trees getting their buds.  With all of our sunny weather over the past week, it looks like spring is right around the corner.  I am so thrilled with the new spring products that we have put out over the past week.  It really looks like spring has sprung in the store.  The new products American Crafts are beautiful.  I really like the way the spring colors  have a little extra punch by using a splash of black.  I am ordering a bunch of pictures so that I can do some layouts specifically with the new paper and embellishments this week.  Check them out...  This is just a small sample of what we got in :) 

I am glad to be home.  Everything went pretty smoothly.  My flight was over two hours late, but it wasn't near full.  Once again there was plenty of room on the flight.  No one was sitting on my row.  This is two flights in a row - that I haven't had to share an arm rest!  My family was waiting anxiously for me.  They made sure that I grabbed "MY" bags from the baggage claim.  We got home around 9pm and ate Captain Crunch for dinner and headed off to bed.

I arrived back at the store today.  Lots to do!  Most of the items for our kit have arrived.  We are waiting on one last shipment that will be here on Monday.  The majority of our paper for our kit was backordered.  I am glad that we are only going to be delayed by a couple of days.  This is going to be the best kit ever!!!  I can't wait for all of our members to see it!!!

We have tons of paper on sale at the store.  We are making room for our new CHA stuff.  If you need to stock up on paper - make sure to stop in and check out our sale paper.  What its gone its gone.

I can't wait for our new stuff to start rolling in.  Check back often for updates.  I will be in touch soon.

Well, my bags are packed!  I am sure that the one with all of the catalogs is surely going to exceed the 50 lb. limit.  These catalogs are so valuable that I will happily fork over the $50.00 overweight fee to get them home safe and sound.

Once I get home the real work will begin.  Getting my orders organized and faxed!!!  Oh my gosh, so much great new stuff...  I hope you all are as excited about it as I am! 

I have added so many new product sneak peeks to my blog that you will have to scroll through all of the pages to see them all.  I will add more pictures when I get home.

I am off to the airport...  I will be in touch soon.