Maya Road and Me

one more for the road...

i really need to share this awesome photography my friend Melissa took. she is a wonderful photographer and someone i am blessed to be able to call a friend (even if i had to run around the barry manilow sign alone in vegas - LOL) - but she did a session for noah, david and i in chicago which i truly love - you can check out her work here:

http://melissadiekemaphotography.com/

ok, off we go!

i haven't forgotten about you all...

... oy, of all times that noah gets a little cold it is now. LOL. just as he and i are about to do some traveling but oh well! he is quite a trooper - even with a cold, he was smiling, laughing etc. i am just worried about his first plane ride.

but along with that, i finished packing my 200+ lbs of class kits for scrapfest in edmonton last month! i didn't know all my classes would weigh so much! oh yeah did i mention my like 100s of orders that are going out this week?

BUT i haven't forgotten about the RAK! i just need to get to my destination and then i will pick someone! so look out of it tomorrow.

i am also secretly hoping to SB - so i have issued myself a challenge, i brought MINIMAL supplies (couple of rubons sheets, some scrap pp i had laying on my table, a few pieces of ribbon, some cardstock, photos, 1 set of clear stamps, 3 mini ink pads and some adhesive and pens) -which all fit in an 8" x 11"x 4" box (yes, DH, i did sneak scrap supplies in my suitcase- i know you are reading this) - but i hope to make 5 pages this weekend. it will be a fun challenge for myself to show that i still have the mojo and that simplification of my scrap supplies might not be a bad thing.

what a day...

...well today didn't turn out like i expected to. i was coming back from a run this morning and my DH greets me with a "you need to pick our friend up from the hospital, she had her baby". this is one of my friends who had wanted to have her baby at home. well through a series of events, her baby decided she was not going to wait for the doula (midwife) and she was ready to come right on out. i am sure the ambulance ride was quite exciting for her and her mom eh. anyhow, her DH is really sick with the flu and so b/c of that they hadn't even put in a car seat in the car so luckily we had my car and noah's car seat ready! my friend also needed some clothes and a diaper bag too. so i spent the day getting her home, taking some pics of the baby and buying some food for her (and some soup for her DH)... i am sure this one will be for the scrapbooks.

but as days go, i am alway joyful to come back to this sweet baby.

he is turning into quite a character but most importantly he really chills and enjoys life - this pic represents how he is most of the time. we are so lucky and blessed to have noah here with us. when i was pregnant, i really honestly wanted a girl. i was used to being around girls. it was always deb and i. i didn't think i would be ready for a boy. but boy oh boy, there is not another baby in the world i could love more and i am so glad that God tested me and gave me noah. b/c i wouldn't have it any other way.

and as promised, here is a pic of my next *sweet* rak:

you need to post here if you want to win this - a sheet of rubons with some sheer flowers and some matching ribbons! my requirements are the following:

1. post here but non-anon between now and monday - tell me you need this stuff (LOL)

2. and if you win, you will send me a pic of the LO so i can post it on my blog. so there is a twist to this one, i want to see you use it. i know, i know, it is so pretty that you want to hoard it as do i but i want to see you extend your creativity and use our stuff and show me what you can do. and if you win, you have to allow me to post the LO on my blog. and if i find that you won and you don't, i will come and squeeze a LO out of you (totally kidding).

3. um that's it, everyone can play in this RAK - you will only be like the 4th person in the whole world to fondle our rub-ons.

have a great weekend!

ahhh rubons...

when did the obsession begin... i can remember my very first set. we grew up in a thrifty family and in my stocking one year, i got a half sheet of SMURFS rubons from santa (which i knew all along was my mom). my sister got the other half a sheet. that was over like 22 years ago i think! i think in my pile of stuff at my parents house, i still have that sheet of rubons (along with my shirt tales cartoon ones)! ah, a hoarder even at a young age...

so what am i going to do when the almost 1000 lbs of rubons arrives in the warehouse. LOL. but my parents along with teaching us to be thrifty taught us the goodness of sharing so be ready for a small win-it-before- you-can-buy-it RAK tomorrow (might only be a sheet of rubons and matching ribbons but hopefully, all you MR fans will love it nonetheless).

we have been working our BUTTS off in the last 2 weeks. getting images on our site, getting hundreds of orders shipped, getting ready for the next trade show and other details we can't reveal yet! and we want to express our gratitude for those retailers / customers that try to be patient with us. thank you. it means so much to us. we are also trying to streamline processes so we can spend more time with our babies.

sometimes deb and i think "wow, our company has outgrown us!" but that is a better place to be than "wow, we have outgrown our company". and with every road block we hit, we come up with a solution to make things better. that is the cool thing about owning your own company, there isn't the red tape to get approval to get things done from management. WE ARE THE MANAGEMENT. if we want to change it up, all we have to do is agree (deb and i) and we are done! and if we say no to something, we are fluid enough to have an answer once we agree on it. how totally cool is that?

so thank you for all of you who have been patient with us! we think our products are worth the wait and we hope you do too! i am hoping one of these days to actually get to scrap again and use my new rubons (which seems sort of ironic since we own our own SBing company).

check back tomorrow for a RAK of some of our new rubons!

family...(and RAK winner)

i love this picture of us. so does noah look like me or david? LOL. our neighbors were visiting with us and took this pic for us. noah has become quite the charmer with his easy going personality and no fear attitude of anyone. and these two boys are the reason i do what i do. i know they both support MR a lot and they are my blessings.

and for the RAK winner, - Kimmie you won! email me at [email protected]

i love the smell of popcorn in the mornings ;)

ahhh what a day, a monday but my office was filled with the scent of new rubons! our samples are here! YAY! i know some of you all rak-participants from the last post were asking about rub-ons. um, didn't we tell you we made some? and i have them in my hot little hands!

here is one set of them. and i know that some people might think "whoa $14.50 MSRP is a lot to pay for some rub-ons" but let me make sure you know what you are getting. you are getting 9 (count them NINE) sheets of rub-ons that match our full new ribbon line in styles (plus some alphabets and numbers too) in FULL color. this is nine sheets. and this is all in a signature flat maya road tin! think about it, these are the rub-on sheets that you might see for $2.99 - $3.99 a sheet. take that and multiply by 9 sheets - then you will see the $14.50 is a great deal! there are over 1000 images in each set with 6 collectible sets in all!

now, i know some of you are rub-on shy (as i would be) b/c to speak honestly, there are good rub-ons out there and then there are bad rub-ons out there. i can say that these will be among the best out there (and for those who read my title to this post, you will know what i mean). they rub-on like BUTTA!

hope you all are doing well, i will pick a RAK winner tomorrow for the prior post.

a RAK and noah's typical day with the MR family...

so i posted a couple of days ago about what i have to do for MR daily. here is what baby noah's schedule looks like:

get up, eat, get air in the tummy, cry, burp, poop, diaper change, play, laugh, look cute, nap. repeat 7x a day. charm everyone with your giggles and laughter. add in a bath and a bit of grumpiness before bedtime. you are done. LOL.

now for the RAK, see below:

i decided to kick it old skool this time with some things that i LOVE from our original lines and lines up til the MT show from last year. these are classics that i use a lot of - including this most coveted coffee break album - that ali edwards used in the sept CK. i saw that article while enjoying a date with my DH over my starbucks. i screamed a bit when i saw the article. LOL. but ali did something amazing with our coffee break book and now, here is a blank one for you to create with...

all you need to do to enter is post here between now and sunday and just tell me what you want to see MR come up with next - what would be your dream MR product? different ribbons? more chippies? would you ever want to see us venture into papers? deb and i want to know. we do listen to our customers! just don't post anon so i can find ya!

have a great weekend!

the art of importing...

... well i hope that you all find my blog interesting b/c i like to mix things up with MR and also talking about my family. today it is all about business and i want people to understand what extreme amounts of coordination it takes to get stuff here to the US.

deb works on all the fine details of scheduling containers to arrive here - and we are moving on up as some of our containers are now 40 ' LONG (rather than 20 ' LONG). that is a lot of stuff. and here is the trick about containers, if you book a whole one, it doesn't matter if you have 1 roll of ribbon in it or 10,000 rolls of ribbon in it - so it is in our best interest (and our customers) to try to coordinate getting our container filled to the limit ( and there is a US weight limit so that is another story). and the reason we do this is so that we can keep our prices fair and low. it doesn't make sense for us to ship 4 containers only 25% full of stuff each time when we can get it all in one bang shot.

but then along with this comes the coordination of getting all of our factories to deliver all the products at the same time to the container loading date. if one misses, then you have to reschedule the container or that stuff gets left off.

and now that it is on the boat, the sailing time is about 3 weeks but if there is bad weather or traffic, that can take even MORE time.

so now the MR container is at port. cross your fingers that it doesn't get held up at customs. also these are huge container ships. if we were the first containers loaded, it could mean we are the last unloaded - luck of the draw again. also all of the paper work has to be right or the container won't be released and then we end up paying for storage the port.

after the MR container is released, then it is railed over to the hub and then it is trucked to the warehouse. and the warehouse is spending the day inventorying and sorting everything before it is ready to go.

so we are looking at from the time it is made, packed, put into a container, shipped, arrived, inventoried and shipped a period of anywhere from 6-12 weeks.

so when customers and retailers ask me things like "why can't you tell me when your container will get here?" or " if you can't give me a more reliable supply, we will go elsewhere", i just want them to understand the logistics behind it all. although MR is small, we are not the only company that has to tackle this issue. i know other companies (big and small) have to tackle the same issue. that is also why we try our darnest to adhere to the first come first serve order policy. it is only fair. but when you arrive late, i am truly sorry that something is out of stock. we are working on improving what we can...

... and deb and i were talking about how complicated the scheduling is b/c she does most of it now, and she asked me "didn't you do all of this before in your old life as a supply chain planner" - yeah i did - but i had an "easy button" -like staples - and i just planned and directed and people got it done for me (LOL)!

have a great THURSDAY!

oh yeah, check back tomorrow as i will be giving away a RAK of stuff (including that cute MR book Ali Edwards used in the Sept CK article!)

here is a typical day in my life at MR...

so you want to start your own scrapbooking biz? are you ready for the hours?

let me just quickly run through my day with you...

8:00 - 9:00 am get up, spend some quality time with noah, check the 40 emails i got overnight

9:00 - 10:00 am get ready and do some quick laundry, get noah ready to go to my friend's house (diapers? check. milk? check. change of clothes? check. pacifier? check. blanket? check), start responding to emails, check in with J about things to follow up on today.

10:00 am - 12 noon emails, invoices, work on items for next show, talk to the w/h, check voicemail messages, pay bills, fulfill some donation requests, IM with deb

12 noon - 12:15 pm wolf down lunch while checking on order status, answer the phones or out checking on arrivals at the warehouse

12:15 - 3 pm continue to work on orders, pay bills (electricity, storage, w/h, phone, printer ink, etc), check on arrival of merchandise and return calls.

3 pm - 4 pm get orders ready for the next day, respond to the other 50 emails we have. work on newsletter, drop off pkgs /letters at the post office (oh yeah wait in line for that too).

4 pm - 6 pm pick noah up from friend's house, play with him, feed him, burp him, change him. have him sit with me at my home office (and in the fall, we will sneak out for walks when it isn't HOT) - think about what is for dinner. start dinner or beg to go out to eat... might also get a nap if we stayed up late like this:

6 pm - 7 pm - eat and chill time

7 pm - 9 pm - family time with david and noah along with IMing deb on issues or get a quick run in

9 pm - 11 pm - hang out with noah and david. convince noah he needs an earlier bedtime

11 pm - 1 am - work on invoices, orders, issues, etc. try to blog before going to bed. chat with customers / distributors in different time zones. think if i forgot to shower or not (lol).

then there is sleep!

and that is the glamourous life of MR! LOL! but you know what, i wouldn't trade it for anything! i enjoy it. and on those rare occasions i can sneak away, i love to use what we make to create something. like this:

and the winner of my latest rak is...

Abby the "supermom" of 5 (6 if you count DH) ! congrats! email me at [email protected]

be sure to check back as there will be more goodies to share in the coming weeks!