Sherri Caramico reporting in today -  Happy Monday to you!  and....

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MAMA DOODLE!

Many of you may have heard about Stephanie's Mom - Norma - AKA - MAMA DOODLE, and if you have never been in THE DOO, or come in when she has been there, you may wonder who Mama Doodle is - or think that she is stuck in the basement, with just one itty bitty light - cutting out all of those adorable characters on her Cricut !! ( just kidding!)

WELL -  In honor of Mama Doodle's BIRTHDAY TODAY!, March 19th, I wanted to share a layout I made with a photo of her - from an ADVENTURE we took into NYC in September of 2010.  I can't believe it was so long ago - TIME SURE FLIES when you are having SCRAPPY FUN!

I was invited to accompany my good friends, Marianne, Stephanie and Mama Doodle, to a taping of the  Nate Berkus Show in NYC!  I hope you find the story below amusing - and PLEASE LEAVE a little BLOGGY LOVE and HAPPY BIRTHDAY WISHES for MAMA DOODLE in the COMMENTS -
I am sure if you DOO - you will help her Birthday to be EXTRA SPECIAL - JUST LIKE HER!!


DISCLAIMER - before reading further - even though we all live in New Jersey, and are only about 20 minutes from NYC - (with NO traffic that is - LOL!!)  - we are all not big frequenters to "THE CITY" - so this was pretty much a BIG ADVENTURE!


We got up early and headed over the bridge - THANK YOU Marianne for driving!!  It was a chilly morning, but we found parking around the corner from the studio entrance, and after reading all the "rules" for audience members on-line before we went - we decided to lock our cell phones in the glove box of the car - as they pretty much said "no cell phones or cameras allowed on the set - they WILL be confiscated."  This was confirmed as we were handed our tickets, while waiting on line, as the back of the tickets said pretty much the same thing.


We were finally allowed to enter the "holding room" where there we many other people - who had cell phones!!!  We asked a crew member - and they said - "Oh you can have them - as long as you turn them off!"  UGGH!!  - Oh well - so much for playing by the rules!!


The holding room had coffee, water, bagels, coffee cake, and a large plate of bananas -seriously - there had to be over 50+ of them ( kind of odd huh?) We were given some forms to fill out - and then waited to be brought into the studio for the show's taping.  On the way out the door - I noticed ALL OF the bananas were gone! ???? Huh????


Well once in the studio - we were "strategically placed" They told us where to sit, and moved people around frequently during the show. There was a great comedian / MC  there who was in charge of warming us up!  Her name is Dena Blizzard, and her apron read "One Funny Mother!" and she was! In the course of the filming  - she would keep us busy during the breaks.  At one point she asked - "OK - raise your hand if you have a banana in your pocket book. Come on - we know you took one - just fess up!"    You had to see all the hands that were raised - LOL!!  Then she proceeded to hand out stickers to the "offenders"  that said "I stole a banana at the Nate Berkus Show!" That is when this SCRAPBOOKER wished I had grabbed a banana as I was walking out the door - I probably would/should have if my pocket book was bigger, and there were any left - as we were hungry when the taping was over!! LOL!  Oh well, - no sticker for the "good girls!"


The show was OK - it was one of his first tapings - and there were no gifts or prizes handed out at that time, and I never even got to see it, as it aired within a week or so after taping, and they had said to watch for it in like 4-6 weeks - so I never saw my "debut" on national TV!  oh well again!! LOL!!


BUT the BEST part of the day - was spending it with good friends - and the CRAZY feeling of being "LOST" and really "DISCONNECTED" in the BIG APPLE!  


Like I said - our phones were in the glove box, in the car, in the bottom of the parking garage, down the street, and around the corner. With NO BANANAS to hold us over - we were HUNGRY! - SO....what to do?  We decided not to go back to the car and waste any of the precious time we had left before we headed home before RUSH hour - AND - (we thought..) people survived without cellphones "back in the Olden Days" - right?  We are WOMEN - and we CAN DO ANYTHING - right??


So - here we are - NYC - PHONELESS!!! I have to say - I did feel a little "naked/vulnerable/armless" all of the above??  It was really kind of strange being so disconnected - but then again - it felt kind of FREEING and like we were on an ADVENTURE!  (right?)


Now - where to go for lunch?  Like I said - we are not NYC "savvy" so I asked one of the people from the studio - and they said "If you like Italian food - go to Carmine's" - OK - I've heard of Carmine's and I'm from JOISEY - so we just need to get in a cab - tell the cabby, and he'll take us there  - right?  WRONG!!!  The cabby didn't speak English ( what were we thinking) and told us to call for the address - we then told him we had NO CELL PHONES - so he handed us a map and wanted us to "point" where we wanted to go - like we knew!!  He even gave us his cell phone to use - nice guy - but it didn't work!!  Marianne had an idea where it was, so we just had him drop us off somewhere near where we thought we needed to go. (right!)


We walked around a little - and tried to find a pay phone to call for an address to give a new cabby - did you know it is very hard to find pay phones in NYC!!!  That is when I saw a VERIZON store - and went in - told them our story, -- Nate Berkus, No Cell Phones, blah, blah, blah  ( they really couldn't have cared less) and could they please look on their computers for the address for Carmine's - which they nicely and promptly did!!  (Thanks Verizon guys!)  We hopped in a new cab - with an address - and were there about 20 blocks later!


After enjoying a delicious lunch - we had to figure out the tip on our own - as when we reached for our phones/tip calculators - we again felt the separation - I mean "freedom!"


Next - what do scrapbook buddies do when they visit a "new" place? - why, they visit a scrapbook store - what else!  We had the name of a store we wanted to see and address - and can you believe it - it was only about 2 blocks away from Carmine's! -- WHAT LUCK! ( See - who needs a cell phone!)  So a little stroll down the street and we ended up at Portrait Bug Studios.  It is a small little scrapbook store -concentrating more on photography. (Cute - but it has NOTHING ON THE DOO!) We were able to find a few little scrap goodies (surprise, surprise as my husband would say) - and they offered us a FREE sitting with a FREE 4 x 6 photo - so of course we said YES!  


Remember - we are Scrapbookers - in NYC - with No Phones - and No Cameras - we needed a record of our ADVENTURE - and they were offering us one - and for FREE! 


So - here is the layout I made with the picture - I am sorry - but I can't find the paper where I wrote down all of the in products I used - I'll note the ones I remember - but if you have any questions about anything - ask away and I'll try to find out! 


If you've stuck with me for this long - FINALLY - here is the Layout!  I hope you like it!


Stephanie, Me, Marianne(back) & Mama Doodle in the front right. I just LOVE the colors - and the picture came out very nicely too!  Don't 'cha think!?

WOMANITY - this is a fragrance I received for Christmas - by Thierry Mugler - I LOVE the scent and I LOVED the box, and all of the great messages inside of it - so I cut it apart and used it as different embellishments for this layout.  FROZEN LAKE and COSMOS PINK and PASHMINA GLIMMER MIST by Tattered Angels - were painted around the edges of pretty much everything, the LACE is from Gauche Alchemy - I think the BLING is PRIMA

I LOVE painting with Glimmer Mist - around the ticket, on the edges of the scalloped teal paper that I journaled on, on the Bazzill circle that used to be white! Can you read the WOMANITY card?  It says: A SYMBOL of recognition that unites all women. A quest to CREATE a different world. A CONVICTION that anything and everything is possible A DESIRE to reinvent yourself each and everyday. Can you recognize yourself in WOMANITY...?

I used the tissue paper that came in the box behind the photo and circle, some more bling, and I LOVE this little message too: Womanity is the new face of femininity. It is the portrait of women who are different, remarkable, unique and diverse. From this connection between women, emerges an exciting fusion, a moving force and vital energy that brings constructive changes.

The flowers were hand crocheted by my friend Debbie - THANKS Debbie! Their centers are off of some bling that I've had for years. The butterfly was plain - and I "JAZZED" it up with some GLIMMER GLAM and GLIMMER GLAZE by Tattered Angels too!  I hope that this gives you some inspiration!! Don't FORGET TO LEAVE Mama Doodle some BIRTHDAY LOVE! ((hugs)) ~Sherri