Here are some great "Pre-Christmas" projects...

Hey there everyone I hope your Fall days are absolutely colorful and healthy!! I have some great Pre-Christmas project to share with all of you! I so love the holidays and these sweet projects got me in the mood for some holiday crafting!! My Doghouse Dive DT leader Susan Dupre created this happy little elf house (above) seriously adorable!! Nadhrah Maidin from my international design team created this fun and whimsical display using some of the cute characters from my North Pole Nights collection. I love everything about this....

Ria Mojica, another one of the international DT gals created this lovable 3-D Christmas House displaying a count down of all the important dates in her life for the month of December! I love this endearing little display of love!!





Susan and Ria both used my "Victoria's Street" chipboard house along with my "North Pole Nights" paper line to create these engaging little Christmas houses! Great job to all these ladies for these perfect ideas for the upcoming holiday season!! Happy Fall! -Nikki

Introducing North Pole Nights...

This may be my favorite collection of mine!! Or maybe it's just that I love Christmas so much? Whichever I hope that you'll enjoy these papers as much as I enjoyed creating them for you! North Pole Nights is all about what I imagined the North Pole to be when I was a little girl. Full of magical light colors and elves dancing about the light blue nights with huge Christmas ornaments hanging from the sky!! Ahhhhh.... I sure do like Christmas!! I also created this collection because I have two nieces whose birthday's fall right around Christmas so I wanted this paper line to be both for Christmas and birthday layouts or cards.
Here are some samples that two of my design team girls have created using this collection...
Created by: Kathleen Glossop

Created by Susan Dupre (I just love those boots!)

Have a great week!! And don't forget about my challenge and giveaway!! (See below) -Nikki

A Challange, a give away, and Hedi....

I've started an "All About Me" challenge with my design team diva's, because I think we don't scrapbook enough about who we are and about our childhood!! We leave behind great memories of our families but often don't tell our own stories. So I thought if I give my DT one question a month that they can answer in a layout then in one year we'll have 12 pages about who we are and why!! Well this month I decided to bring you all into the challenge also! You answer my question in a layout (any size) and email it to me at nikki@nikkisivils.com and in the subject line write: "AAM Blog Challenge!" you must use some of my products on your layout, I prefer you use my Christmas paper line "North Pole Nights" but you don't have to as long as you use some of my products on your layout. In return I'll pick one layout to win my North Pole Nights Christmas mini album kit to make this adorable mini album (see picture below), I'll put your layout on my blog and a link to your blog!
Here is the "All About Me" question: What was Christmas like for you as a kid? (If you don't celebrate Christmas, then pick a holiday you do celebrate and use that in place of Christmas!) This challenge ends November 20th, so hurry and get your layout finished and sent in to me!! I'll post the winner by the 24th of November or sooner.

Here is a picture of the completed mini album....


This is everything that comes in the kit....

I've made a new friend and her name is Heidi Sonboul, and she is so sweet, bubbly and a ROCKIN' good scrapbooker!! Check out her blog: Queen of Paper and check out her awesome layouts she created using my Henry's Brilliance paper line, My Sweet Cherry Pie and a bit of my North Pole Nights papers... I love that "flag" banner across her layout. Thanks Heidi for making my papers look so great!!




I hope you all will join in on the All About Me challenge and tell your story!
Have a great week! -Nikki

Happy November 1!!

Since it's November 1 I had to show off this very unique Fall banner!! Deanna Misner one of the Doghouse Diva DT ladies made this banner using my Henry's Brilliance and My Sweet Cherry Pie paper lines. Deanna made the pumpkins from my chipboard "tree" mini album, she just turned the trees upside down and cut part of the tree trunk off!! Very creative and cute!! I plan on making one real soon!! Thanks Deanna!!!



So I have the flu and have now for what seems like forever, which really has only been about 5 days, but I hate being "down" and this flu just wiped me out!! Due to the flu we couldn't pass out candy, and our neighborhood always has 100's of cute little ghost and goblins running around!! Dan put these notes up on our door and steps.....



Then Dan had to leave to take Henry to a Halloween party, soooooo....... I got up from the couch and put the dogs in their costumes.

Bella, Alfred and Savannah.



Then Dan came home..... and freed them!!! (And put me back on the couch.)

I hope all of you had a Happy Halloween!!
Check my blog later this week for a challenge and a great giveaway!! -Nikki

Texas, Missouri, Utah, H1N1 and Halloween....

The only thing that's in common with the title here is ME!! It has been one busy month, I've been all over the Untied States!! Florida, Texas, Utah, Missouri, and I soon will be leaving for Oklahoma and Arkansas. Unfortunately while coming home from Utah I came down with H1N1... yeah!! I've been so very ill and with my asthma I have to be really careful, I started Tamiflu within hours of getting the flu so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that my lungs will stay clear!! Here are some pictures from my adventures the last couple of weeks....

Kendra and I, at her brand new store in Buffalo, TX!! Photolicous is the name of her store, isn't that the cutest name for a scrapbook store!! Kendra's new store was awesome and her cropping room was huge with these huge big comfy chairs!!

I had such a great time with these ladies, and the scrapbooking world needs to keep their eye on this lady, Ronda Simpson!! Ronda can rock out a layout!!


My next stop in Texas was in New Braunfels at the Scrapbook Haus!!

The ladies here were fun and loved making my little Christmas Tag mini Album!!
This picture is of Susan, the store owner and I!! Susan was so sweet and I loved her great store!!

These pictures are of Liz, my sales rep and I! Liz was very sweet, welcoming me with Red Bulls and Dr Pepper, my staples in life!! (Although I can say that I've officially kicked my "Red Bull" habit, it's been 2 weeks since I've had one!!) Woo Hoo!!


This picture is of my 2 younger sisters and I in KC, MO!! We spent the weekend shopping, eating and well taking care of Emily's twins, Max and Mollie!! Kelly, in the front, is the baby, Emily is in the middle, and she is the middle child and then me, the shortest and oldest!! We had such a great time!!

Here we are eating at PF Chang's, Kelly is holding Max.

Max and Mollie, always matching!!

This is me carrying Mollie around the Plaza in KC!!


I have no pictures of Utah b/c I forgot my camera, crazy I know!! But Dan and I to do our press check for my Spring 2010 paper lines!! Wait until you all see them, they totally rock!! I did want to share with you some more Halloween treats for those last minute ideas!! My design team really rocked out some great things!!
Created by Mimi Leinbach: (I wish I was getting this little treat bag!)

Created by Julie Tucker-Wolek: (Isn't this a great treat basket, wish I would've thought of it!)

I love this little haunted house created by Ria Mojica, she used my Victoria's Street chipboard houses and mixed several of my paper lines together to create this!!

Created by Jodi Wilton: (These little tags are adorable!)

Created by Deana Boston: (Love that flag!)

Created by Julie Tucker-Wolek: (This is just sweet!)

Created by Nathalie Leonelli: (I love making cards and these 3 rock!)

This was created by Claude Campeau, and her kids are anything but scary!! I love this layout!!

I usually pass out cupcakes during the day to family and friends in "costume", then do a second costume change for the evening, but with being so sick this year and not wanting to get anyone sick I'll be staying home!!:( Maybe I'll just dress up the dogs and wear my flannel pj's and just a "slumber party girl"!! I hope everyone has a happy and safe Halloween!! -Nikki

Spooky.....

Here are some fun Halloween layouts, cards and creations that my design team girls have made to help get you in the mood for this Saturday.....

Made by Mimi Leinbach

Made by Claude Campeau

Made by Deana Boston

Made by Jen Matott

Made by Jen Matott

Made by Deana Boston

Made by Ria Mojica

I hope you've enjoyed all of these great creations and maybe got a few ideas for your Halloween celebration too!! -Nikki

Media....

I have some great links to share with you all.....
Tracy Burgos used my products while she was showing how to use Helmar Adhesive on Creating Keepsakes Blog. Tracy had lots of great comments about her adhesive (which BTW is great adhesive) and about my little Ghost mini album and "Boo-tiful papers that she used. Thanks Tracy!!

Also one of the Doghouse Diva's from my design team, Nathalie Leonelli, was featured on the Scrapbook and Cards Today Magazine Blog, with her adorable tissue box made from using Victoria's Street paper line. I took this little box to CHA with me and everyone loved it!! Great Job Nathalie!!

Also here are some great Halloween layouts and cards from my DT!! Thanks ladies these all rock!!
Deana Misner made these great and oh so sweet layouts..... I could just take that little lion home with me!!



Design team member Mieke made this layout that just makes you want to see who that broom really belongs too!! I love Autumn!!


This layout was created by Kat Glossop using her sketch from a few weeks ago!! Kat did a great job using my Halloween papers for a non-Halloween layout!!


Doghouse Diva, Emeline Seet made this adorable wall hang using my owl chipboard with my "Boo-tiful" Halloween papers!! I love this!!



Jodi Wilton made these fun cards!! Makes me want to sit down and make a few myself!!

A new design team member & an "All About Me" challange...

Introducing our newest Design Team Member, Molly Peckham!! Molly is so very talented and I'm honored to have her on my DT!! Go check out her blog and see her great creations, click here: Molly Peckham. Welcome Molly to the Doghouse Diva's!!

I decided to start a monthly challange with my DT. We seems to always scrapbook other people and rarely ourselves. So I asked a few of my DT Divia's to help me out with this challenge. I 'm calling it the "All About Me" challange!! Every month I'll ask the DT a question and they will answer it in a creative way on a layout. It can be as funny or serious as they wanted it to be. My question to them was, Tell me one thing most people don't know about you. Here is what they came up with...
Made by Kat Glossop:

Made by Deana Boston

Made by Michele beck:

Made by Claude Campeau:

Made by Julie Tucker-Wolek:

Made by Nathalie Leonelli:

I made this one:



Have a great week! -Nikki

Teaching at the Niche', Paper Niche' that is!!!

I was back in FL last weekend at the Paper Niche' in Plantation.
I had such a great time with all the ladies at this store!! Everyone was so warm and welcomed me with open arms!! They made a "Welcome Nikki Sivils" sign using my colors from "My Sweet Cherry Pie" paper line! This is a picture of Tammy (the owner) and I in front of the store all decorated for me and Halloween, look at those adorable wreaths on the door!!

This is everyone that was in my class...







I fell in love with this cute little shopping cart that they offer to customers. (I think I need one of these myself, you know for just around the house!)

This is my super sweet sales rep Veronica!! (Everyone thought I was her daughter.)

Veronica took me out and about before my class to do some sight seeing!! We had a blast together!!

Awe..... the beach!! I wish I would've had enough time to go for the entire day!!



Veronica took me to this great Jewish Deli and I had a pastrami on rye..... yum yum!!



I left FL at 6 am so I took this picture from the plane as the sun was raising behind us. It was beautiful, and the entire plane was mostly asleep so it was peaceful too. My favorite time.

Leaving for TX on Friday morning for another weekend of teaching!! Have a great week!! -Nikki

Day three in Florida....

These Florida ladies, oh and one guy, really know how to have a good time and celebrate!! On my third day in FL I went to teach at Scrapbooking Goodies!!! It was the stories 2nd anniversary of being open and they brought me in to help celebrate, and what a great party they had!! Chinese food, a wonderful cake, make-n-takes and then I taught a class using my Christmas line North Pole Nights!
This is Teresa (the owner) and I.

This is the wonderful cake, with fresh flowers. It was as yummy as it is pretty!!

Here is a picture with Teresa, Nancy (she made the yummy cake) and I!!

And this is Kale!! I just fell in love with him, he's been scrapbooking for years and when he travels overseas he always goes to the local scrapbook store and checks out their products!! Kale had never sewn on a layout before so I got to teach him how. So fun to have a guy in class, I wish there were more guys involved with this hobby!!

A sweet lady in my class made these super cute dog bandanna's for me!! One for each of my dogs with their names embroidered on them!! Thank you so much!! I just love them!!

This was my make-n-take table, where we made some really cute cards using a steak knife!! Yep you heard me right a steak knife!!

Thanks so much to everyone at Scrapbooking Goodies for having me to your 2 year anniversary party, and for showing me such a great time!! I hope to come back and visit again!! -Nikki

Florida has been so good to me!!

I'm not sure I've ever felt more welcome anywhere like these ladies here in Florida have treated me!! I spent my weekend between two scrapbook stores, the first one Kit-n-Kaboodles, and the second was Scrapbooking Goodies!! This first set of pictures are from my first day with Kit-n-Kaboodles. These ladies were a hoot!! They kept me in stitches.


Just a sweet Palm tree outside my hotel.

Barb, Pat (my sales rep), Gerri-anne, me, and Sonya, the owners of Kit-n-Kaboodles, took me out to dinner my first night in Sarasota. I had the best seafood ever!!



This the whole gang that took my class!!

We made my Ghost mini album in class.





My sales rep, Pat, and the K-n-K cow!!

So I had one of the ladies get my camera out of my purse, and I got caught with 3 Red Bulls in my purse!! What's a girl to for energy I ask?? Thanks to all you lovely yet wild and crazy girls over at Kit-n-Kaboodles!! I had such a great day with ALL of you!!
More photos later about my second stop in FL, I've got to get some sleep so I can fly home tomorrow!! Goodnight, Nikki

Happy October 1st!!

Awe... October my favorite month of the year!! The leaves are turning beautiful colors, the windows and doors are open all day, and it's just cool enough for my favorite sweater!! I love it all the pumpkins, warm chili and candy corn!!

So to help bring in the best month of the year I have some Boo-tiful haunted houses to share with you...
I made this little haunted house.

Susan Dupre from my Design Team rocked this wicked little house out!!


This was made by Anna Maria Nilsson from Sweden. Anna is not on my DT but I was sent this email from a retail store in Sweden that carries my products and Anna is on her store DT!! This haunted house is wickedly fabulous!!


This great online magazine did the nicest write up about me and my products, even had Michelle Lanning my DT gal from CA make a statement about my product and being on my DT!! You can check it out here. It's a wonderful magazine full of great ideas, so when they told me they wanted to do an article about my company I was trilled!! Thanks to everyone over at Ready Set Create!

One more shout out to this great blog ran by a group of ladies from the UK. They are using my Victoria's Street paper line this month and asked me to be their Guest Designer!! Go check out this awesome group and if you join in on the fun challenge this month you could win a gift of Victoria's Street papers from me!! Happy October 1st!! -Nikki

Whew.... what a week!!!

I feel like I haven't done a blog entry in like month!! It's really only been 1 week!! I've had to get all my "kits" for teaching put together, instructions written out and shipped to the retail stores I'm teaching at. I had no idea all the work that went into this process, don't get me wrong I can't wait to go to these stores and teach, I just had no clue what went into everything!! Which shouldn't surprise me everything to date has been more work than I ever thought imaginable!! But I love every single thing I do!! I can't imagine a better job than what I'm doing right now, well unless I could be a back-up singer for Tina Turner!!LOL!! -Yes that would be a dream come true!!

Sometimes I work from my living room mainly because I can spread out all over the coffee table, couch and floor. Here is a picture of my little Yorkie, Bella, helping me out on my Mac... well she was helping right before her little nap. (Alfred slept the entire day.)




Henry's 14th birthday was Tuesday so he had his birthday party Friday night. Five of his closest friends came over for pizza, a movie and a sleepover! I had a great time with them, well when they let me take pictures and drive them to the movies, other than that I wasn't allowed to be around them!! (Henry's in the middle holding the pumpkin.)




Here are a couple more layouts using Kat's sketch from a couple of weeks ago.
Michelle Lanning my DT gal from CA takes her daughter to Disney Land every Halloween!! Who wouldn't love that!! My husband, Dan is so jealous he loves Disney!! Such pictures and layout!!


This adorable layout is by my super talented DT gal from my home state of Missouri, Deana B. I love everything about this layout!! Those punched circles are great!

I hope everyone has a great week! Talk to ya soon. -Nikki

More Boo......

I wanted to give a huge shout out to Kat G. from my DT for creating this awesome sketch!! I personally love it! (And can't wait to use it.)

This great layout was created by the one and only Jana Eubank!! What a perfect way to use my ghost mini chipboard!!


Emeline Seet made this awesome layout, it's so sweet!! Love that bright blue alpha on her layout!

Kat also made this way cool door hang (I need to make one for my Henry's room)!! Kat doesn't celebrate Halloween in Australia so I was very interested in what she would be doing with it!! She did great...

Jodi Wilton one of my DT ladies made this layout with Kat's sketch using my Henry's Brilliance paper line.... that sun she made is freakin' awesome!! Great layout!!

Another one of my DT ladies, Laura used Henry's Brilliance for the sketch! Good Job Laura!

Nadhrah my DT gal from Malaysia made this cute layout using the My Sweet Cherry Pie paper line. Let's all give her a big CONGRATS... she just had a baby girl!!

I'll be back next week with some more fun Boo-tiful layouts!!
Also I'll be teaching in Florida the first and second weekend in October!! I can't wait!! Here are the locations I'll be at, the dates, and also I'll link the retail stores, so I hope if you are in the area you'll sign up for my classes or just drop by and say hi!!
Saturday October the 3rd I'll be teaching for Kit-n-Kaboodles, (This is an online kit club, that rented some space for a day of scrapbook goodness.)
Sunday October the 4th I'll be teaching at Scrapbooking Goodies.
Saturday October the 10th I'll be teaching at The Paper Niche.
And Sunday October the 11th I'll be teaching at Cherry Blossom.

Sometimes

Sometimes I'm amazed with so much talent out there. People who can make you breathless with their creations. I love that! I'm inspired by talented people. And I hope you will be with all these talented girls who created so many gorgeous things.

Have a great day! ( better then I had yesterday since I was involved in a carcrash! My daughter and I are ok, but my car isn't ;-) )

Nathalie Leonelli


Deanna Misner


Ria Mojica


Charity Hassel


bye bye
Hilde Janbroers

Boo-tiful

Most of the DT girls used the new Boo-tiful collection with the sketch. It's so great to see all the different styles and ways to use this collection.
Here are some more wonderful creations.

Anne Jo Lexander created this layout with the Boo-tiful collection


When I saw this layout made by Jodi Wilton I fell in love! Not only with the layout but also with that gorgeous photo! Such a cute little girl.


And I ofcourse also created a layout for this sketch. Since we don't really celebrate Halloween over here I first thought it would be hard to create something with an Halloween collection. But I was so wrong! These papers have some amazing colors and patterns you can use with every photo you would like to scrap. As you can see on the board the entire week. ;-)


I will be back soon with lots more of amazing work!
Have a great day,
Hilde

More beautiful work

First I need to give some credit to Kathleen, our DT member who created the sketch. I totally forgot, but luckily we have an amazing DT so someone reminded me...;-)
Today we have some more gorgeous layouts. You should be surprised how they all turned out, just stunning!

Look at this wonderful layout Susan Dupré created! So soft and beautiful. She used Henri's Brilliance papers.



Mimi Leinbach created a really fun layout. You should take a good look at the photos, they are so funny!
Mimi used the Boo-tiful collection. Great to see a non Halloween layout with these gorgeous papers.



Deana Boston also used misting on her layout. Isn't it gorgeous?!
Another non Halloween layout using the Boo-tiful collection. You can see that you can use them for non Halloween photos if you want.



Hi all, I hope you're enjoying all these great layouts!! I'm loving them!! I wanted to add just a couple of things to Hilde's post.
First of all I want to give Hilde a great big Congrats, she made the Tattered Angels Design Team!!! Way to go Hilde!!! Secondly,
I'm doing a Guest spot over at

Ally Scraps

on Thursday, I'll be answering some questions and showing some of the projects I've
created using my Boo-tiful paper line!! So come on by and visit me and the great ladies at

Ally Scraps

!! Have a great day! -Nikki

We have some gorgeous work to show!!

The next few days you are going to be amazed with all the gorgeous layouts the design team created.
We had a wonderful sketch to work with and ofcourse the greatest papers!! Here are the first 2 layouts created with the sketch. Enjoy!!



Jennifer Matott created this gorgeous layout with the new collection Boo-tiful. She used some misting to create a cute spiderweb. Amazing huh?



Mette kallander also created a stunning layout using the new papers. A totally other look then Jennifer created. This shows how much diversity you can have with the papers.


Don't forget to look at the blog everyday for more amazing work!!
Hilde Janbroers
DT member

Scrap-a-Palooza was a blast.....

I had so much fun Saturday at Scrap-a-palooza!! Scrapbook Generation, my LSS, was the on site store carrying my papers and products!! This time, I got to watch people purchase my products, which was so much fun! (I even took a picture of a girl in line holding my papers to purchase... so much fun for me!!!) Debbie one of the owners of Scrapbook Generation let give away 2 door prizes and the picture below is of one of the first girls that won, Angela. Angela has been following my blog since I put Mette Kallander on my DT, she has followed Mette's blog for sometime now, so that was fun hear.



As you can see I get as excited about giving out the door prizes as the person that wins!!

Here is another winner, but I didn't get her name.

This is Debbie of Scrapbook Generation and I holding an absolutely adorable make-n-take she did with my papers for the ladies that attended.

Here it is again, isn't it so cute!! I'm going to do this make-n-take for some of the stores I'm teaching at in October!! Thanks Debbie for such a great idea!!
(BTW I didn't do an outfit change, my ever so super sweet hubby brought me clothes to change into b/c I happen to pick the one spot in the entire building that had the air-conditioning unit blowing on me!! Yes, I have two jackets on, a long sleeve shirt, and sweat pants.... burrrrr)

Here is the picture I told you about, of a lady in line buying my Christmas papers, "North Pole Nights"!! heehee!!

Heather, my friend and graphic designer came with me to scrap!! I made some sample albums for the stores I'm teaching at in October!! Heather scrapped her very first mini album!! (We should have held that up instead.... it at least had pictures on it.) Thanks for all the fun Scrapbook Generation, 9 am - 10pm of great scrapbooking, make-n-takes, and Ali Davis teaching classes!!
Oh and I almost forgot Ali's sister, Stacey, has a new sketch book out of her cards, and let me tell you her cards ROCK!! (I bought one and can't wait to use it, you might want to check it out too!)

Here are some more layouts and projects using Henry's Brilliance....

This layout is made by one of my international DT ladies, Mette K.!! Mette has this way of making her paper edges naturally look sanded and torn!! I love her style!!

This little pencil holder was made by another one of my DT ladies, Jodi Wilton!! Jodi gave this to one of her kids teachers, lucky teacher!! Adorable!!

This sweet wall hang was made by Michelle Lanning one of my DT girls that lives in CA. Michelle is a teacher and made this for her classroom. I can't think of a better way to walk into my classroom and see this everyday!! Great Job Michelle!!!!

Monday, Hilde, my International DT Leader will be taking over my blog for a week of Boo-tiful layouts!! Here are just a couple of things my DT girls have made with this paper line already...

Jana Eubank made this fun layout about Halloween night at her house!!

Susan Dupre made this little Jester's hat from my Boo-tiful ghost chipboard album!! How cute its this!!

And last but not least, here are my two sweet dogs so happy I'm home today and working from the couch.... both of their heads are on my knee!! This is what I love most about cloudy Sunday's on the couch!! Have a great week and I'll be back next week, so have fun with Hilde and my DT girls!!!!!! -Nikki

The Dog Day's of Summer are almost gone....

so I thought I'd share some fun "summer layouts" using My Sweet Cherry Pie paper line!! It was my first release so it's like my first child.... I adore it!! The picture above is of Savannah my sweet rescued lab-mix and Miss Bella Blue our over so spoiled Yorkie!! They love to lounge together in the sun in this lounge chair in our backyard or under a shade tree!! I love looking out the back door and see them together such opposites but such great friends!! They've been together since they were puppies and really do spend every waking hour together!!




The two layouts above were made by one of my super talented DT ladies, Ria Mojica!! I love the layout with the shoes in the sand, it's a perfect summer layout!! And.... well cupcakes.... what can I say, that's my favorite treat!! I'd love to have all that sweetness for my birthday!! Great layouts Ria!!

In case you couldn't tell this was made by Hilde, another DT gal!! Love the flower and Glimmer Mist with the cherry and horseshoe paper!! Thanks Hilde!!

And this super sweet card was made by one of my sales reps, Debbie Gunion!! Debbie used the Hero Art stamp set with my Cherry Pie papers!! I just love it!! Thanks for sharing this with me Debbie!! (and thanks for all your hard work for my company) -Nikki

A little bit more of Henry's Brilliance...

I just can't believe what my DT and other scrapbookers are creating with my Henry's Brilliance papers!! The four layouts that I chose to share with everyone tonight are not "back to school" layouts or have anything to do with school, that's why I liked them so much!! They used my Henry's Brilliance papers in very original ways....

My DT member Kathleen Glossop created this beautiful layout!! I love how she curls my Craft Flags on her layouts!!

My DT Leader for the International ladies, Hilde created this crazy beautiful layout!! I can't stop looking at it!! I see something new on it every time I look at it!!


These two layouts are created by Sarah de Guzman who is so very talented!! Funny story... two of my DT girls, Julie and Susan both emailed me that I had to check out these layouts!! So when I went to Sarah's blog and looked around I was blown away!! I love these two layouts and of course I'm always fond of any dog layout especially one made with my papers!! LOL!! Thanks Sarah for letting me share these on my blog!!
Have a great and safe Holiday weekend!!! -Nikki

Henry's Brilliance....

is exploding.... Look at these over the top, great layouts made by my ROCKIN' DT girls...

This one was created by Kathleen Gloosop from Australia. What is there not to love about this layout!! Seriously, look at that Breadless Tab!!

Deana Boston from my home state of Missouri and my oh so talented DT girlie made this layout about her daughter starting school this year!! Look at that flag with the apple stamp!! Love it!!

Julie Tucker-Wolek, my friend and DT sweetheart made this layout and again love those flags!! Great way to document school pictures through the years!!




And these two beautiful layouts were created by Tara Orr! Tara is not on my DT, but sent me an email with these two layouts and my jaw dropped!! I had to share them with everyone!! Tara is super talented and I love what she did with my papers and products!! Thanks Tara!!

I had Jill Montag do a review of my papers and products, and you wouldn't believe the wonderful review she gave me!! Check it out here: Qwowi.com Thanks Jill!!

Sadly the Great American Scrapbook Convention canceled their convention for TN this month!! Thanks to everyone who registered for my classes, hopefully you can catch me at one of the retail stores I'm going to be teaching at in October and November. I know for sure that the first two weekends in October I'll be in Florida, I'll let you know when and where at little closer to that time!! The third weekend in October I'll be in TX, and again I'll post when and where closer to that time!! More later.... must get some sleep!! Goodnight -Nikki

Henry's Brilliance...

I have the most talented DT girls EVER!! This is a layout that Jodi Wilton did about first day "Jitters" I fell in love with it.... love that ribbon and how Jodi used it on this layout!! Great Job Jodi!!

This layout was created by Deanna Misner and love it too!! I love how Deanna slipped in that cute green Breadless Tab!! Perfect!! This is such a nice and clean layout perfect for those sometimes hard to scrapbook "school pictures"!!

Now back to the American Idol concert, this is Danny Gookey performing, "What hurts the most"!! It was wonderful!!

This picture was with Michael who was the first one of the top 10 to be voted off!! He was a real sweetheart and happy to pose for pictures and sign autographs!!

Heather (the graphic bee) got her picture with Allison but I wasn't able to get one!!:( She is twice as cute and tiny in person, and she signed every single persons autograph!! Allison was fantastic on stage and sooooo rocked it out!! So did Adam, he played and sang like a Rock Star!!

Anoop!! Signed autographs after the show!! He too was wonderful on stage!! Everyone performed I think twice as good as on the show, I'm sure b/c they weren't being judged!!

My American Idol t-shirt!! Well that pretty much ends this American Idol concert blog!! If you have a chance to go and see these guys in concert it really is a great show!! -Nikki

Business first then pleasure....

Business first.... is this not the cutest little money tin!! My oh so very talented design team diva, Mimi Leinbach made this for her sons lunch money!! When I saw it I fell in love with it!! Who doesn't need one of these for school!!

Victoria's mom had to work on Saturday so she came to Aunt Nikki and Uncle Danny's house for the morning...... and boy oh boy did we have fun.... playing with the dogs,

playing cards with Uncle Danny,


sitting in the grass with Uncle Danny,

playing with sticks with Uncle Danny!!! Do you see the running theme in these pictures, that's right, all Victoria wanted was her Uncle Danny!!! I was chopped liver!!! (But I still love her to death!!)

Then on Sunday, Heather and I went to the American Idol concert in KC!! WooHoo!!

And I got to meet and get my picture taken with my "TV" boyfriend, DANNY GOKEY!!!!

and with Kris, the winner of American Idol!! But did you see the picture above this one with Danny Gokey.......... Ahhhhhhh I was one happy girl!! More on this later!! Oh and more pics later too!! I'm soooooo very tired and need to go to bed!!!! Goodnight!! -Nikki

My New Sign!!!

I'm so happy my new signs are here!! I picked them up today and I love them!!
Retail stores that carry my products can hang them in their store window!!




Dan snapped this picture of me smiling at my new sign, it's a little out of focus, but it says exactly how I was feeling!! A little disbelief, and a lot HAPPY!!
Oh and see that sweet necklace around my neck, my new friend Beth Perry made it for me and I got it in the mail today...... and I love it!! (Beth sent me two of them and I can't wait to wear the other one tomorrow.) Thanks Beth!!

Henry's first day of 8th grade was Tuesday!! So our schedules have changed, up at 6am, it's still dark out as you can see!! Isn't he all cute and ready for his day...

Henry has to hold a sign every year that says what grade he's in, his age, what school he's going too, along with everyone else in the family (even the furry ones)!! I don't think he was overly happy to do this on his first day back, but it's better than me following him to school and taking pictures of him walking in his school!!


One last picture.... this is of Dan who got together a huge order today for a distributor in Canada! (We have a new lady working for us now that Caitlin is back to college, Lanie is her name and we love her.) Anyway, I needed Lanie to be helping me out today with some projects so that left Dan alone in the "Shipping" department.... and look at all that trash on my floor!! He was like a little tornado going through our home/business!! Then I caught them just looking at the floor, like he didn't really want to pick up all the mess he had created, but he knew he had to anyway!! That's when I snapped the picture of him!! Love it!! Have a goodnight!! -Nikki

I'm Back...

I've had such a great week, very productive!!

Four of my six paper lines are completed!! Woo Hoo!! That's not to say that I won't change my mind a thousand times before we go to press... (right Heather)!!!
I spent some time with this little thing yesterday; Victoria and I played "house" with her little playhouse!! She is getting so big and very VOCAL!!!

Yes, I got in her little play house too...

I think Victoria might be getting tired of me taking her picture all the time. Look at her face, it's like "hey, get that camera out of my face aunt Nikki"!!! I love her!!

I had to join in on the card making fun too... These cards
are from my Henry's Brilliance paper line and I used my "Cutie Cut-Ups" project cards to make these and of course added a little embellishing to them. Hilde and the DT girls did a great job on all their cards and Hilde will be back to do another challenge next month!! Thanks Hilde you did great on my blog!!

This picture of Henry was taken in the 3rd grade, he starts 8th grade tomorrow!!! HOLY COW.... 8TH GRADE!!!! (We start 6am wake-up calls tomorrow morning, Tuesday. Where did our summer go.)

I had to share these two projects with you all. The one above was created by Nathalie Leonelli on my DT and the one below was created by Susan Dupre, who is also on my DT!! I loved them both so much!! Love the 6x12 layout about Nathalie's son taking the couch apart, and who wouldn't want this platter in their home!! Seriously cute!!! Love the horseshoe above the door, I have one above my door, so it will bring me good luck all year!!

I have a lot going on the next few months, I'm going to be teaching in five different states, one of which I'm going to be in twice!! I'm also going to be teaching in my home state in Kansas City, MO on October 24th and that will be a ton of fun! I'll have more on those other places & dates as they all get closer. Well I think that's it for now, off to make a card for my great aunts b-day and then to bed because...... I have to be up at the crack of dawn!! Goodnight! -Nikki

final day

Today I have 3 cards left to show you. We as a design team had so much fun showing you all the cards we created with the amazing Nikki Sivils products.
I promised to show a card on the blog created by you, so you still can leave a comment including a link to your card. Show us!!

Nadhrah Maidin
Henry's Brilliance collection




Kathleen Glossop
My Sweet Cherry Pie collection


DT member Hilde Janbroers

Victoria's Street it is!

The papers and stamps from the Victoria's Street collection are really great to use for cards. What is someone have bought a new home? Or two people are going to live together? Or even to create an invitation to a housewarming party?
Here are some cards made by the dt, don't they look awesome?

Laura Achilles
Victoria's Street Collection and Stamps


Kathleen Glossop
Victoria's Street collection and stamps


Susan Dupré
Victoria's Street collection and stamps


Ria Mojica
Victoria's Street Collection and Stamps
My Sweet Cherry Pie collection




DT member
Hilde Janbroers

it's hot over here....

So here are some cool cards for you!

Hilde Janbroers
My Sweet Cherry Pie collection


Mette Kallander
Henry's Brilliance collection


Claude Campeau
Henry's Brilliance collection


Emeline Seet
Henry's Brilliance collection


Julie Tucker
Henry's Brilliance collection



Michelle Lanning
Henry's Brilliance collection


DT member Hilde Janbroers

A lot of cards

Today I will show you some amazing cherry cards. The collection My Sweet Cherry Pie is just so bright and happy, great to use for cards. As you can see underneath.
Have a great day!!

Nadhrah Maidin created these 2 cards using My Sweet Cherry Pie.




Anne Jo used the cherry stamp and embossing


Mimi Leinbach created this super cute card.


Deanna Misner created these two cards. Aren't they fantastic?!
The first is "Lucky Me" using:
"Cherry strips 4U" from My sweet cherry pie
"Victoria Lane" from "Victoria's Street"
red ric rac
My Sweet Cherry Pie stamps


2nd up is an ice cream cone shaped card/invitation called "Party"
For it she used:
"Cherry Brownie" and "Cherry Blast" from My Sweet Cherry Pie
"Victoria's HOuse" from "Victoria Street"
cream twill ribbon
red corduroy brad
My Sweet Cherry Pie stamps (on front and in the inside)




Hilde Janbroers

whoooo loves owls?

If you do you definately should get your hands on the Henry's Brilliance clear stampies! The owl is so cute. You can use it on layouts, giftwrapping and it's great on cards.
The DT used the cute owl as well. Take a look at these great cards.

Nose to the grindstone
Charity Hassel
papers; Henry's Brilliance
stamps; Henry's Brilliance


Smarty Pants
Abbie Torroll
papers; Henry's Brilliance
stamps; Henry's Brilliance


Whoo's 2?
Deana Boston
papers; My Sweet Cherry Pie & Henry's Brilliance
stamps; Henry's Brilliance


Hilde Janbroers
DT member

It's all about cards!

This week the blog will be filled with cards. Amazing cards I can tell you that! I asked the Design Team girls to create a card using at least 1 Nikki Sivils stamp on it. I received so many beautiful cards, you will be amazed!

If you have some Nikki Sivils papers at home, don't be shy and create a card. Post it on your blog and leave a message including the link to your gallery. At the end of the week I will post some of your cards on the blog as well!

Here are the first cards I can show you, enjoy!!

Fall is here
Nathalie Leonelli
papers: Henry's Brilliance
stamps: My sweet cherry pie and Henry's Brilliance

Fall Days
Jana Eubank
papers: My sweet cherry Pie and Henry's Brilliance
stamps: My sweet cherry Pie

Wow... what a week!!!

Another crazy week!! I keep thinking it will slow down but it hasn't (which is a good thing)!!! I did a radio interview with the Craft Diva Lounge, that was a blast!! I was so nerves but it went great!! I've had a ton of emails from friends and family telling me they've seen my picture or one of my DT girls layouts from my booth at CHA, this is so very exciting for us!! Here are just a couple of the fun links that have been sent to us:
Creating Keepsakes Magazines Blog I'm listed under "CHA Wrap Up Day 6".
Julie Mcguffee's blog Dan and I along with Julie have a picture on her blog along with a very sweet message about my company. (Scroll down to "CHA - Craft & Hobby Show in Orlando")
Thanks to everyone who has sent me a link or message about a "sighting" it's so fun to see!!

My blog is getting ready to be taken over for about a week or so by Hilde Janbroers, she is my Design Team Leader for my International girls, and she rocks!! (Hilde did the layout above this post!!) Here is a link to her blog!! Hilde and the DT girls are going to start a new challenge on my blog. I'll let her tell you all about it, it will be so much fun!! Don't forget that Hilde is from the Netherlands and her English is good, but not perfect, so don't give her too much trouble!! She's so fun and I think everyone will enjoy her work and blog updates over here!!
Someone sent me this picture and I don't know who it was, and when I tried to "reply" to their email it came back as a "failure"!! So I just wanted to say thank you to who ever it was!! Thanks!!
So while Hilde is taking over this next week, I will be working on my spring lines and will be doing some much needed scrapbooking!! Have a great weekend, and week!! -Nikki

Layouts, radio interviews, classes and of course SHIPPING...

I had to share this layout with everyone, Kat Glossop, one of my International design team girls made it using my Henry Brilliance paper line!! (I love seeing what everyone does with these lines, she totally made this "dog" layout using my "back to school" papers!!) I love that!! Great Job Kat!! As you know I'm a huge fan of DOGS!!
This was created by Deana Boston another one of DT girls (a local MO girl to me) and it was featured on the "catwalk" over at Scrap in Style!! You just rocked it out Deana!! I just love that tree, and bird, and flag and and and.... all of it!!!!!

Today, Wednesday, I'm going to be featured on the Diva Craft Lounge!! For those of you that don't know it's a great radio show that's broadcast's in 107 countries. Danielle and Rayme are the host and are so fun to listen too!! I met Dainelle at my booth at CHA and I knew who she was immediately!! Once we got back home she asked if I'd come on her show and soooo tomorrow at 2pm central time I'll be on!!!!! EEK!!!!! Wish me luck, I've never done anything like this before!!!

Next a sweet lady by the name of Michelle Vocke, that met my dh at CHA, wrote a very nice article about me teaching at the GASC in TN!! You can read about it here: Examiner. This was a big surprise, I had know idea anyone even knew I was going to be teaching at that convention!!

Last but not least...... we are shipping fools around here!! We are working day and night getting shipments out after CHA and trying to keep up with the new orders that are coming in everyday!! We worked all weekend and all day everyday until late in the night trying to keep up!!
(The open boxes are the shipments that have to be double checked and closed up, the stacked closed boxes are waiting for Fed Ex to arrive and be picked up!!)
This was today's 2nd round of boxes, we shipped 34 boxes just today!! So please understand we are doing our very best to get all our products out and shipped to the retail stores as soon as possible!! Until next time... goodnight!! -Nikki

Sorry I've been MIA, but....

I needed to spend some time with my two families and Dan & I needed to spend some down time together away from the business. So Wednesday night we went to the FAIR!!! The Ozark Empire Fair comes to town every summer and we always eat too much, but we have so much fun!! We found these "Fried Oreo's", that's right Fried Oreo's!!! And let me tell you they were great!! Each Oreo was dipped in funnel cake batter and sprinkled with powdered sugar... ummmm so yummy!!
Here they are along with Dan's corn dog!! Dan and I went and had dinner at Rudy's, it's this great BBQ stand at the fair that comes every year and it's run by Rudy his wife, kids and grand- kids. Their food so good and I get a "slaw-dog" it's a chili dog with homemade cold slaw on it!! Sorry no pic of it, it went straight to my tummy!! Here is a picture of my mom, Trish, and step-dad, Denny, they met up with us later in the evening at the fair.

Me kissing a huge frog at the fair!!!
Dan just being silly!! (Isn't that what you're suppose to do at the fair.... be silly!?!)
Okay this is great, my girlfriend, Marla, told me that her 9 year old daughter won the first place ribbon in her age group for drawing, and she won the "grand champion" ribbon for all of the drawing entries!! She drew this picture of her grandma, again she is only 9 years old, and a very talented artist!!
The last picture was taken as we where leaving the fair!!

Thursday night was my sister-in-law Tessa's birthday, she turned 27!! Awe... to be 27 again, I can't believe I'm 10 years older than her!! Anyway we all had a great time visiting and catching up!!
(Tessa and my brother,Ryan)
Then Saturday night was my step-mom, Donna's birthday and we all went to this really old historic restaurant in Ozark, called Riverside. (They have the best fried chicken ever!!) So I got to spend last night with my other family, my sisters and their kiddo's.... This pic is of Donna and some of the kids singing Happy Birthday to her. The next picture is of my dad, Ron.

My nephew Cade.
Miss Ellie and I!!
I had to show you all this picture b/c I caught Ellie going around the table and drinking the rest of everyones melted ice cream!! This girl loves ice cream more than anyone I know!! Seriously!!

And this is little Max, one of my sister Emily's twins. Max is getting so big!! I wasn't able to get a good picture of Molly b/c the twins are teething and she was a little fussy and not really up to getting her picture taken. The twins will be 6 months old the end of this month!! My sister is doing such a great job with them and her other two kids, Cade and Ellie.... she's a great mom and I don't know how she does it all!! Well, I guess that's it for now, have a great rest of the weekend!! -Nikki

My "Henry's Brilliance" paper line and another cute kit of the month...

Well I don't know about all of you but our public schools start up in two weeks!! Where did our summer go... it seems that school was just out for the summer yesterday! Henry my step-son feels the same way!! I designed my back to school line for those of us that want a school paper line to fit both our little ones and our older ones too!! Henry will be 14 next month... I remember when he use to crawl up on my lap to snuggle! Now I can hardly get him to give me a "real" hug!! For CHA I had to get my owl mini album sampled so I decided to do an album about Henry's 7th grade year. (A kind of quick look back of the school year.) I wanted to share it with all of you. Also I wanted to share this great card, up above, that one of my Design Team ladies sent me. Thanks Mimi Leinbach!!




Guess what!?! My papers are in a kit along with Jenni Bowlin's embellishments! Of course I had to blog about that!! (We all know how much I like Jenni and her designs!!)
So to have our products in one kit together... WOW, very exciting for me!! You can see it here: http://www.scrapattackscrapbooking.com/
Goodnight!! -Nikki'

On the road again....

Hello from the road. We are driving home from CHA, we stayed and did the CHA Consumer Super Show! We had two stores carrying our products at the consumer show, so we were able to direct people to those retailers that wanted to buy my products!!! Each of the two stores sold out of several of the papers from the three released lines, and sold out of all the "Victoria's Street" house chipboard mini albums and Mini Paddies! (That was nice to hear.) Both retail stores also reordered products!!
As you can see from the picture above I've set up an "office" in the car... my cell phone, inhaler (b/c my asthma has been a little more active), chap-stick (a must have for me), a pen, and credit cards (b/c I had to reorder more products this morning due to the amount of orders we got at CHA). When the roads are good I work, when the roads are bad I'm sick to my stomach!! FUN FUN!!
Dan driving and listening to his I-Pod. The weather yesterday through FL and GA was awful!! The rain came down so hard you couldn't talk or hear each other!! And we had to drive sooooo very slow...
Me in the car yesterday, resting after such a long and exciting week!!
I had to share this picture with all of you, this man and his son came by one of the retail stores that where selling my products at the Super Show and they did my make-n-take, a little owl book mark!! They were so sweet and isn't that little boy just aadorable!!!

Okay this is so cool, I just got this email about this adorable kit that is being sold here: http://scrapinkits.blogspot.com/ using my papers along with other great products!! It is such a sweet little kit with such fun things in it, I had to share it with everyone!!!
We should be home in a few hours and we can't wait to see Henry and our fur-babies!! -Nikki

Instructions for the Paper Cupcakes...

CUPCAKE INSTRUCTIONS...
My make-n-take the little "paper cupcake" was a huge success!!! Many people wanted the instructions, so here is the link to the video I used to make them!! I've never met Leah Fung with Scrapbook Etc Magazine, but her VBlog is wonderful and filled with many great ideas!! Here is the link to Leah Fung's VBlog: PAPER CUPCAKES
Enjoy! -Nikki

CHA is over...

I'm talking with someone just outside my booth when my husband taps my shoulder and says "Um... Nik, Jenni Bowlin just walked in our booth" I turn around and see this adorable petite lady, OMG JENNI BOWLIN IS IN MY BOOTH!!! OMG SHE IS LOOKING AT PRODUCTS!!! So I calmly (NOT) walk over to her and introduce myself and then start crying!!! Yes, that's right I started crying, WOW I have this lady who has been such an inspiration to me for so long here in my booth, it is amazing to me!! In that moment I realized just how far I had come in pursuing my dream!! Jenni Bowlin had always been a designer I admired (still do) and I was thrilled to meet her. (She is soooooo sweet too!!) Jenni told me that she had heard my name more than once and wanted to check it out her self. (She placed an order too, so keep an eye out on website, www.jennibowlin.com) Thanks Jenni!!
Here is another GREAT lady, Jill, from Jillibean Soup!! Jill is as sweet as her papers are! She had three ladies working in her booth with her that were wonderful to me, they fed me and gave me water too. Jill also gave me some of her paper!!! Thanks so much Jill, and thanks everyone who worked in her booth!! You all rock!!
Nancy Nally from Scrapbook Update came by to get all the info on why we started this business and about all my products. My husband thanked her because he has been reading her Scrapbook Updates to learn as much as he can about the scrapbook world. We had a great time chatting about everything CHA!!
Julie McGuffee was recording a segment near our booth then stopped by to say Hi and again I was so honored that she stopped by my booth!! I love her and Beth Madlands show on PBS called Scrapbook Memories!!
This pic is with Susan Dupre, Chartiy Hassel (two of my DT ladies), Jenni Bowlin and me!! CHA has been great for all of us at Nikki Sivils, Scarpbooker LLC, we've had soooo many orders and the feedback was crazy good!! Dan and I are very happy with debuting at CHA and can't wait for the Winter CHA in January 2010!!!

CUPCAKE INSTRUCTIONS...
One more thing my make-n-take the little "paper cupcake" was a huge success!!! Many people wanted the instruction so here is the link to the video I used to make them!! I've never met Leah Fung with Scrapbook Etc Magazine, but her VBlog is wonderful and filled with many great ideas!! Here is the link to Leah Fung's VBlog: PAPER CUPCAKES

WOW... CHA ROCKS!!!!!!!!!!!

So here it is, our booth!! (This pic it from Monday night the last night to set up before the show started, on Tuesday.) I was so tired last night I couldn't even do a post here. I'm as tired tonight, but still a little pumped from all the momentum of the day!! We had a steady stream of buyers in our booth literaly all say long!! YAY!! We took many orders today and talked with many people and gave out a ton of catalogs. The feedback was fabulous!! I meet some great people, and 'The Scrap Review" ladies came by and were so very nice and funny too, they took many pictures and even made a little video in my booth!! (Emilie, don't forget to edit that video!!LOL) Thanks Scrap Review!!!

This is the make-n-take that was going on all day at my booth. Two of my design team girls, Susan Dupre & Charity Hassel took turns all day demonstrating the make-n-take!! They rocked it!!! Dan and I heard ladies, and even a couple of men too, laughing and having a great time with them!! Thanks Charity and Susan, you both were great!!!
I GOT TO MEET DONNA DOWNEY!!! So I turn around and who is checking out my paper line, "My Sweet Cherry Pie", no other than Donna Downey!! I ran up to her and introduced myself and she said my papers were cute!! What a great compliment and honor!!! Thanks Donna!!
One of my orders today came from Sheri, the owner of The Scrap Nook in my hometown!!YAY!! We only have two scrapbook stores in Springfield so it's so nice to be in both!! Sheri was a sweetheart and loved my papers, and it was soooo nice to see a local person in such a sea of strangers!! Thanks, Sheri!!! Well that pretty much sums up my day... wild and crazy!! It's so great to get such awesome feedback and orders too of course!! Until next time... -Nikki

CHA... setting up our booth...

Dan and I got up at 7am to check on the construction of our booth, and to our surprise it was up and ready for us to start displaying our products!!!
Okay so we learn a few things today, like what a "Marshall Yard" is, and all it takes to getting a lot of product from point A to point B!!
Here is the fun part, putting it all together!!
Dan took my picture while he was "grounded" to the make-n-take table because, bless his heart, no matter what he did today it was a disaster!! Seriously, once I went up to him to check on the filling candy in boxes, when I saw what appeared to be ribbon under his shoes, then I took a closer look and I saw a piece of my "cherry" paper under his shoes, so I said "Dan, what's under your shoe" and he looked down then looked at me with this sweet "little boy" look and shrugged his shoulders!! It was my homemade candy box!! (No worries though I fixed it.) Then he hit himself in the nose with his laptop and cut open his nose and we thought he may have broke it!! Then he trips in the booth and catches himself on the paper trays, and BTW they are plastic and barely fit on the slat wall!! I've never laughed so hard in one day during our entire marriage, I think maybe a little bit of "Goofy" for Disney has got a hold of him!! LOL!! What a day!!

This picture is just a very small part of the HUGE convention center!!! I'll have more for you all tomorrow, pictures of the booth completed!! Also I met the owner of Jillibean Soup, Jill, she is super sweet, and her booth is adorable!! I can't wait to meet more people tomorrow!! Have a great night!! -Nikki

The Husband is back

My wife travels in a luxury box. While driving I noticed she was gathering pillows and blankets from the back and intensely organizing them around her. She then put her water bottle and Coke in the two cup holders. That left me with no place for my water bottle, but who notices such things? Anyway after she was done she was literally surrounded by pillows and had her legs up on the dash covered in a blanket. She then promptly fell asleep in her little luxury box. Later after she was rested she drove and I thought I might shut my eyes for a bit. But that never really worked because my wife was listening to her Ipod and every five minutes or so she would loudly sing a sentence from a song. Then silence for a few minutes then she'd sing another half sentence. Then silence for a few minutes then a full sentence. And so on. She dances while she drives too; which thankfully only occasionlly beomes a safety hazzard to us and the vehicles around us. As I have said before, never a dull momment. We are her in Orlando and ready to go watch our booth be set up tomorrow; then we will begin setting up everything else! Goodnight! -Dan

Day 2 done and one to go...

This is me waving goodbye to Tennessee, our first over night stay.  We drove from Missouri to Tennessee on day one.   Tonight we are in Georgia and will drive into Orlando tomorrow afternoon.  Okay, so I thought three days on the road and I would be able to "organize" my Mac, maybe work on some ideas for next springs paper lines, polish my nails, catch up on my back issues of my scrapbook magazines, and start my new book "The Kite Runner", well we weren't on the road for 20 minutes and I started getting sick to my stomach!! What the heck... I've never been car sick ever!!  So Dan let me drive for awhile to see if that would help, and it did.... however, Dan then started to get an upset belly!  What was going on??? He has never been car sick in his life either!!  Then we finally figured it out, the trailer we are pulling for the trade show is wobbly and it's making the car bounce just enough that our equilibrium is off!! We are getting more use to it, but I can only do things for very short periods of time.  Now Dan and I are doing a coin toss to see who gets to drive, because that's the only time we aren't sick!!   Have a goodnight  -Nikki 

www.nikkisivils.com is now LIVE!!!

My website went live today!! Woo Hoo!! Please go check it out...

www.nikkisivils.com 

Let me know what you think!! Oh and the gallery should be up and going very soon!!

Have a great Friday!! -Nikki

Another CHA Summer 2009 Sneak Peek....

This is my little 6x6 mini chipboard album that goes with "Victoria's Street"!! I made this over the weekend for CHA and my little 6x6 mini pad of papers works perfect with it!! I had so much fun making this!! I can't wait to get it in the hands of my DT ladies, I can't even imagine what they will do with it!! Okay now for my little seak a peek at my Halloween line.... Boo-tiful!!
This is my mom and I a couple of years ago!! Yes, I'm a cat and my mom is rabbit!!
I made this little haunted house out of my Halloween "Boo-tiful" paper line!! It was so much fun to make, but it took like 11 hours..... EEK!! Hope you enjoyed the little peek at Boo-tiful!!
Oh and this really cool online kit of the month club bought my papers for their August kit and they too are giving a little sneak peek so you might want to go and check it out also!! Here is the link Scrapinkits blog Have a great day!! -Nikki

CHIPBOARD, CHIPBOARD, AND MORE CHIPBOARD...

This picture has nothing to do with chipboard, but it does have something to do with the make-n-takes for CHA!!! I cut so many squares that I actually blew up the electric carving knife!!
The chipboard is here!!! Three pallets of chipboard!! YAY!!! We had to have a packaging party to get all the chipboard albums packaged!! So Dan and I invited our friends and family over to help us. We had, pizza, soda, and cupcakes. We packaged for 2 hours and a got 1200 mini albums packaged!!
Vicki packaging the tree for the "My Sweet Cherry Pie" paper line.
My scalloped albums.
Henry and his mom even helped us out!! Thanks Hen-pen and Heather!!
This is my friend Brooke and she didn't package, she made an owl door hang for her room out of the "My Sweet Cherry Pie" papers and the owl chipboard goes with the "Henry's Brilliance" paper line. Very cute Brooke!!
Dan and I at our chipboard party.
My sweet grandma even came over to help us out!! Thanks, Nan!!
This is my friend Katrina, in the white shirt, and my new friend Lindsey; they were packing like crazy!!
This is Heather, our "Graphic Bee" and her Godmother, Charlotte!! Thanks ladies!! We also had my brother DJ and his wife Tonya, and my youngest brother Barron!! Thanks to all of you, we couldn't have done it with out you all!! Now we only have like 6,000 more mini albums to package.... -Nikki and Dan

Calling All Florida Retailers......

We are not only attending the CHA Trade show this month, but we are going to exhibit at the CHA Super Show too!! However WE ARE NOT SELLING TO CONSUMERS, JUST TO RETAILERS!!! We thought since we are a brand new company that even if we are not selling at the Super Show we can at least do make-n-takes and introduce ourselves to the consumers!! So we'd like to have several retailers that are attending the Super Show carry our products. When I am asked about where they can purchased my products, I can say booth #??? and #??? are carrying my products and you can purchase them there!! So if you know of a retail store that's going to CHA, or you are a retail store going to CHA please email me at nikki@nikkisivils.com !! Thanks for all your support and comments about my products!! I get emails everyday from ladies wanting to know how they can get my papers, so Thank you!! -Nikki

I'm Back!! Sorry Dan...

This is the project I was making for CHA that I got pulled away from making Friday night by my DH!! (But, aren't they soooo super cute!) These little paper cupcakes are made from my Christmas paper line called "North Pole Nights"!! So I guess this is also just a little sneak peek at this paper line too.
(I got the idea from Leah Fung's Scrapbook VBlog. I love her layouts and her VBlog is great too!!) I'm making two paper cupcakes per paper line, 12 total. Ok now for Dan's little "take over"..... very funny, and those pictures.... WOW, not my first choice of pictures to post, but he is a funny guy and a real sweetheart too!! (I was very sick and unable to hardly lift my head off the pillow!!) Thanks for all your comments and "get well soon" posts and emails!! I'm feeling much better today, I did do a little online play yesterday and got caught by Julie... (one of my DT ladies) thanks Julie!! I'm not working much today, dh said I still need to rest....... so tired of resting, and I have to say I'm not good at it either!!!! I can't think of a time I've been this sick, it's been crazy! Strep throat is a killer!!!

Now on to more exciting things, Allison Davis is using my paper line "My Sweet Cherry Pie" for her July Hall Of Fame Kit. Here is a picture of the layout she made for the kit:
You can go to Scrapbook Generations Blog for more details, I think you can purchase this kit this Wednesday, July 8th on their website. Also Allison's sister, Stacey, is a great card maker and she too has her own monthly card kit. Stacey also used my papers on one of her cards for her monthly kit. Aren't these cards just too cute!! I of course love the card she made with my papers, but isn't that "watermelon" card adorable!!!!!
Now for my last blog entry, I went to into my LSS story (Scrapbook Generations) and above my products they are selling they had this l/o Allison had made of her boys using my papers and I just had to share it. I'm not so good at doing two page layouts, I'm a one page layout girl, so when I saw this two pager using my paper "Cherry Blast" I thought it was so creative!

I guess that's all for today!! Have a great rest of the weekend!! -Nikki

This is Nikki's Husband-I have taken control!

These two photos explain a lot about my life, about which I will explain later. Nikki is sick with Strep throat, but I bet you knew that; what you may not know is that she despises being sick and refuses to admit or accept that she is until she is near collapse (once before we were married she slept for 17 straight hours after a week of claiming she was "not going to be sick!"). That is where I come in. I took away her computer and sent her to bed after I found her pale, shaky and with a fever on our family room floor making "cupcakes" out of her paper for CHA. I send a plea to all of you out there, if you catch her blogging or uploading in the next 24 hours tell her to go lay down and rest!!! Now the photos and how they explain my life. I find myself frequenlty looking at Nikki wondering just what she is doing and what I am to do (1st pic). But then I always accept her and love her exactly the way she is (2nd pic). This might have been Easter, but honestly she will put on a costume for almost any reason. Never, never a dull momment. Good night. -Dan

Another CHA Summer 2009 Sneak Peek....

INTRODUCING.......
HENRY'S BRILLIANCE
This is my "back to school" paper line I created for my step-son Henry!! Henry is 13 soon to be 14 and the older he gets the harder it is to "scrap" those cute school snapshots! At the age of 13 there are no more pictures with your teacher, sitting at your school desk, or at school with friends. So I wanted papers that could be used for both, little ones just starting school and the bigger ones going in to 8th grade!!! WOW.... time flies by really fast!! So I hope all of you will enjoy "Henry's Brilliance" no matter your age!! (I even used it on one of my older college photo's taken of me at my college graduation!) Enjoy! -Nikki
(We are shipping it this month (July) so it can be in retail stores for all the back to school photos!)