Altered Paint Stick Swap

     A few weeks ago I entered Lowe's Hardware Store with no intention of buying anything. I snuck up to the paint counter and was elated that no one was there! I reached  into the can there and removed two....or three...or six of the wooden paint stirrers, turned around, and walked a bit guiltily out of the store.
     What the heck was I doing? Getting enough paint sticks to paint each room of my house? No chance of that happening.  Gathering light wood for kindling a fire? Too warm for that now. Hmmmm......out of guesses? I was preparing for an altered paint stick swap over at The Altered Page found at thealteredpage.ning.com, a great site run by Angie Holt.
     I had never done one of these before, but studied a few trusty Youtube videos enough to know that I wanted to give them a try. It was run by dolphingirl76 and the rules were to use scrapbook supplies to decorate  two sticks for our group of three people in a Shabby Chic style. I was excited to use up my stash, so no two of mine were exactly alike, though they were similar. Since dolphingirl76 was the hostess, she got to see all of the sticks and has posted them on her blog at hunnebcreations.blogspot.com. The ones I received in my group are shown below. There are two pictures, of the fronts and backs. I made the two on the ends.

     I was pleased with how mine came out, especially since I was able to use up some of my stash. For a while I was covered in Mod Podge, but it all worked out! I loved all of the ones I received and plan to display them in a vase. I would do this swap again in a heartbeat. Of course, I will have to deal with the wrath of Bill telling me it is not good to go into a store and 'steal' things, hahaha! I can deal with that!

 

Happy Easter

     Happy Easter to all who celebrate. Hope it was a good day for everyone. Bill and I had a yummy dinner at Bill's parents' house with them, Mom, Candy, Mike, Bella, Bella's friend, and Paul.
     Here is a layout I made of Lisa, Robin's and my visit to Williamsburg where we had our own retreat. At a formal retreat like Scrapper's Dream Vacation, there are always nametags to wear, so Lisa made us our own just like the official ones. I thought that was great and deserving of a page, so off I went! I like how it turned out!
     I used some Queen and Company (old but loved) self-adhesive felt borders, cut to fit, and some equally old Magic Mesh. You will find that I don't care how old or outdated a supply is; if I love it, I use it. The letters are Pink Paislee and the small flowers and hearts are Doodlebug. The Skittles were hand dyed using alcohol inks. I included the actual tag Lisa made, as well as some cropping stickers and flowers I had. I filled in with assorted Basic Grey bling. The result is a memory I will treasure.
     I hope everyone has a good week. It was 88 degrees here today, so it seems to have jumped from winter to summer, but as my dad used to say,"What can you do?" Have a great week everyone.

    

True Scrap Event

     What do you need to do to be able to scrap, attend classes, see great presentations, chat with people from all over the world, and laugh like you've never laughed before? Why, attend a True Scrap event, of course! This was set up by the talented Lain Ehmann and included such great scrapping names as Noell Hyman, Ali Edwards, Kelli Crowe, Jenni Bowlin, Aby Garvey, Tami Morrison, Jennifer McGuire and more! Plus, you don't need to leave the house: this was all online.
     From Thursday to Sat. Lain was at the helm bringing live scrapping goodness every step of the way. She had previously provided us with note taking sheets and I filled mine up for every class. I have been scrapping for a very long time and I still found things in each class that I had not thought of or had not yet tried. The demos/presentations were fabulous, followed up by live Q & A from the instructors. It was all very personal and full of fun. I logged off on Sat. evening feeling like I had just made many new friends and filled with inspiration to scrap, scrap, scrap! I made the Jenni Bowlin mini-book in one sitting and made myself cut up paper to use via the "Shimelle way". Such great ideas!
     The reason behind this successful enterprise was Lain. She never left for even a minute and when things got tough in server land, she did not give up. I watched her face and it was so evident that she wanted this to be a perfect event for everyone and when there were some glitches way beyond her control (gotta love and hate the internet) she stuck with it, determined to make this event a success. It worked. This was better than any of the  live classes I have ever taken. Her hard work and determination ruled throughout.
     I am hoping for True Scrap 2 and I will be in front of my computer for it! I am off to try some more things now...hmmm, should it be those settings on my camera I finally learned about or that stash diving lesson? Those cool paper piecing ideas or the mini-book? The inventive new journaling choices or the design lessons on focal points? Whatever I choose, it will be fun and it's all thanks to True Scrap.

The First Annual Scrapalicious Weekend

     I had a great time from Thursday to Sunday with my friends Lisa and Robin. We stayed at a timeshare in Williamsburg (thanks for setting that up and inviting me, Robin!)  and set all our stuff out on the table for the weekend so that we could scrap the hours away!
     When you spend so many hours with people,  you get affirmation that you really like (or don't like!) being with them. Luckily, we still like each other! We got along great, sharing the common love of scrapbooking and enjoying easy friendship. It was an awesome feeling!  It is even more amazing to me, since we all met 'online' through a Scrapbooking Yahoo group a few years ago and became fast friends!
     We took a field trip to the scrapbook store in town and went out to eat each evening. We laughed at inside jokes about "Matt" and "Brad" and teased about keeping a list of Lisa's 'hates'. We shared stories and giggles and made lots and lots of pages!

     This was my second weekend in a row of scrap-happy fun and I came home exhausted, but very happy. I missed Bill and my pups and it's always good to come home, but I sure did have a nice time with my scrapping pals. As per the name Robin gave it, and commemorated by Lisa with our own name tags, it was indeed Scrapalicious!

Scrapping Weekend

     This past weekend I went up to northern Va. to the Dulles Expo Center for a Get Croppin' scrapbooking weekend with two really good friends. There were two other events at the Center: a Memorabilia Show and a Super Pet Expo. Needless to say, the parking lots were packed and after the twentieth dog got walked into the Pavilion they had to put signs on the door pointing out where each activity was being held!
     My friends and I sat together, scrapping and laughing as per our usual agenda. On Saturday people started running down the hallway towards the bathrooms, so I grabbed my camera and ran, too! Turns out the people from the Memorabilia Show were 'sneaking' Peyton Manning out the back door of their show, which happened to be our hall! He was headed out and I was taking pictures of the back of his head and everyone else with their cameras, thinking it would be the best shots I'd get. Then I yelled,"Please turn around!" and you could see his step hesitate.......but then he stopped and turned around and waved, smiling at a horde of women with cameras! He was a great sport! I got some super pictures and went screaming down the hall after he left because I was so happy!
     It was an unexpected bonus to an already awesome weekend! It totally made me smile the whole rest of the time. Of course, we teased our one friend who had still been asleep back at the hotel and missed the whole thing. We embellished the story right along with our pages, just for her benefit! Thanks for keeping it real, Peyton!

Art Journaling

     This week I took a break from my manic creating of page kits for the next two weekend crops. I am up to 180 page kits and needed a break! I have always admired the Art Journals that others showcase; spaces to just play and create in  for no reason other than doing so.
     So I found a spiral bound book I'd bought at one time that had a Scrabble game board cut out for the front and back covers (love that game) and plain pages inside. First I used Modge Podge to cover each page to make it glossy looking (and my fingers gluey). Then I added some color to the first page using a purple ink pad re-inker and some Copic markers. Next I scrounged among my assorted bits and pieces and just jumped right in. I have to say, I really enjoyed the no pressure process and spent more time on it than I thought  I would.
     People say there are no mistakes in scrapbooking, just opportunities to be creative. Well, I did the first 3 pages (one back to back) before discovering I had begun working in the book backwards, so the covers were upside down. Probably not a big deal, but it bugged me, so I started problem-solving. After all, there are no mistakes, right? I cut the pages out and was going to glue them into the front of the book the correct way....but there was the problem of the back to back page. Well, I finally decided to make the right edge of the book hang out from the cover and used decorative tape to attach it to the first page on only one side, flipped it, and attached the tape to that side as well. I know that is clear as mud, so I am providing pictures!
     I actually like it better this way and I never would have come up with it had I not made a boo-boo. I guess the 'people' are right! See you next time!

                                                          

Taking Online Classes

     I am so happy to have more time to devote to online classes. No, I am not talking about the ones my school system offered, I am talking scrapbooking! There is a great site called bigpictureclasses.com (formerly known as bigpicturescrapbooking.com) and I have taken many classes and never been disappointed. Right now I am taking two of Ali Edwards' classes, Yesterday and Today and One Little Word. Today I want to talk about a recent assignment in The Y and T class.
     Ali's quote by Albert Einstein begins this class. It is:  "It is better to believe than to disbelieve; in so doing you bring everything to the realm of possibility." I love that! So our assignment this week was to choose to either do a non-picture page of discourse about what we believe or what we have learned. I chose to work on the latter and here is my rough draft:

     I have learned that:  *life isn't always 'fair'. *God had plans for me that didn't always coincide with my own supposed best laid ones. *creativity has opened up so many doors for me and fed my soul in so many ways. *I can't change others, no matter how hard I try. *keeping a good attitude and surrounding myself with positive people makes a huge difference in my life. *teaching enriched my life, allowing me to excel and to meet countless great people. *my nieces and nephews have brought me immeasurable joy. *my husband is the most selfless, strong, giving person I have ever met and I almost didn't find that out. *Chow Chows are the most beautiful canine children I could ever have wished for. *"This, too, shall pass." *eating anything other than a pitifully small amount of food leads to my weight gain. Sucky, but true. *loving to read has assured that I will always have a friend. *being true to myself is essential. *talking about others is never fruitful and inevitably bites me in the a$$. *taking pictures has opened my eyes to views I would otherwise have missed. *worthy friendships can form with people you've never met in person. *the internet can be a wonderful and horrible thing at the same time. *technology never stays the same. *humor saves many situations. *exercise is essential and I mostly hate it. *not everyone thinks like I do and that could be a very good thing.

     Not quite done, but a start. The thing I love about these classes is that they really make you think and examine your life. It has opened up my eyes to things I may have missed along the way and the journey has been too memorable to allow that. As always, I am blessed.