I altered!!

I have been taking another class over at Feeling Scrappy!

If you haven't checked out their site yet, you MUST! I lalalaLOVE Feeling Scrappy classes. This class is called Year of Cheer. It was a prize I won a couple of months ago in their Sketchapalooza 2 Class. At the end of the class, I will hopefully have enough cards of cheer to give thru the year!
This class is perfect for those of us who are running around last minute to grab a card. I love receiving homemade cards, so why wouldn't I want to GIVE them!


The instructor for this class is the brilliantly talented Stacey. Check out her blog here! I have always been a fan of Stacey's work so I am so excited for what is in store for us.


One of the first things we had to do in the class was to make a place to keep the cards we are making. We learned how to alter a box to keep them in. This was the first time - other than my Mess to Success binder - I have altered! Very exciting in my world!!

Here is how my card box turned out.


Next we had to make the dividers for the box. I picked a few categories and made them to match the box. I will add more as needed.

Now that the box is ready, its time to fill it!

Stacey gave us our first sketch that we were to follow. As always with a sketch, you can fit it to your need. I made 4 thank you cards.

I can't wait to see what else is in store for us! Stay tuned!

Binder Clips!!

These clips have been causing me stress!! Some of you know that I am trying new things in the land of scrapbooking. One of them is to alter a chipboard album. I have seen them done, admired them and finally bought one that says FAMILY. I had assumed (my mistake) that the clips came with it. No, they didn't.

BUT - everyone I asked who has them gave me the same reply. "Oh, you can get them anywhere!"

Great! Where the FRIG is ANYWHERE???? It wasn't at Staples, it wasn't at Walmart, it wasn't at Michaels (don't they have everything??), it wasn't the dollar store either. I asked 2 different scrapbooking stores that SELL the albums. Nope, not there.

I don't know why or how this became a big issue for me, but it did. I mean, I wasn't working on the album yet. Haven't even taken it out of the wrap for heavens sake. But what I did know was that I NEEDED TO FIND THOSE DAMN CLIPS!!!

So I sent a RANTING email to my friend Lee. I am sure I sounded like a complete basketcase. Lee assured me that Staples has them because, and get this, they are a STAPLES OWNED BRAND!!!

I had just been at the store! They said "no, we dont carry those", "Sorry, not here" and "Hmm?"

So I had left thinking I was just not meant to make one of those albums. Dramatic, eh? But that is exactly what my hormonal self was feeling.

After Lee's assurance, I decided to give it another shot.

It took 3 friggin employees, all 3 calling it a different name - Binder rings, loose leaf clips, lock clips. WHATEVER! JUST GET ME MY CLIPS!!! I didn't say that out loud. It was banging in my head though.

They were sold out of 3 size options. The only option was an assorted pack. They only had 2 packs left. I did what any gal would do who was ready to bust a vessel in her forehead from trying to find these.....I bought both packs!!

Laughing, Scrapping and more Laughing

I spent a fabulous day in Mississauga with two freaking fantastic women - Lee and Cyn!

Cyn came up from Georgia to visit her family in Guelph so we HAD to plan a scrapbook day! We went to this store called Scrapalicious - if you haven't been there, you MUST check it out. It is a husband and wife team. We had the pleasure of scrapping on a day when the hubby was there - his name is Mike. He is wonderful! He actually did me a HUGE favour of picking up a movie for me that I had forgotten to buy, which meant I had to do it on Christmas Eve - the WORST day to shop! But he had errands to run and said it was no problem!! How sweet!

OK, back to my girls. It is so amazing to me when women can get together and talk....about ANYTHING. Nothing is ever off the table, our conversations are always so frank and we can throw out opinions with no holds barred and still laugh and smile with each other - even if we dont agree! We even talk about taboo subjects - politics, religion, money, you name it, we can discuss it! It is so refreshing.

Our intention of the day was to scrap together. But I think we gabbed and laughed more than anything! We were there 7 hours and I got one page done - LOL. Regardless, it was so much fun.

And of course, there were Christmas gifts! I love the reactions I was able to capture from them!

For Cyn, I got her the Tonic Border Punch set that she has been wanting and had on her wish list. I think she was surprised.....what do you think?

And for Lee, hers was a non-scrapping gift (perish the thought, eh?!?). A couple of months ago, Lee had a tragic event occur in her kitchen - her pampered chef food chopper passed on in an accident LOL And when we had stayed over for dinner one night, her thermometer joined the chopper. So I had been hoping neither had been replaced - luckily they hadn't! So I bought Lee the chopper, a thermometer, mini recipe book and a "Believe" ornament.

Now, I already knew what Cyn was bringing for me, but to see it in person is much different than a webcam. LOL. Cyn made me a beautiful altered "C" and an altered notebook for my sketches and quotes!! They are beautiful! She also gifted me a sketch magazine now that I have been sketch cured! Lee also gave me a wonderful generous gift certificate to Scrapalicious, which I had NO trouble using thanks to the enabling! My sincere thanks to you both.

Here is a pick of my presents:

And here we all are! The cupcake pillow is there because that is the store logo.

I was sad to see our day together come to a close. We had so much fun and I didn't want to leave. But we were getting hit with another snow storm so we needed to head out. It took me 3 hours to get home, but it was so worth it!!

To my Cyn and Lee - thank you for a wonderful day, you are true friends and I just love ya!

Sweet Gesture = Mail Present for me!

What a pleasant surprise I had in the mail today. It has been a yucky week with me having this chest infection and feeling so drained and just plain BLAH. But today I had a great pick me up!!

In the mail was a package for me!! It was a very thoughtful and generous gift from Kari Ann, whom I had met at Feeling Scrappy. Kari Ann has been one of the very talented gals who have inspired the change in my scrapping style. She is also so very sweet and I miss the daily chat with her!

So what was inside, you ask?

THIS!

A FISKARS Leave it to Weaver Border Punch!! How great is that!!

Kari Ann knew I had wanted this punch (after she enabled me on it! LOL) and she went out and picked it up for me! I knew it was on its way because KariAnn needed to know where to send it, but it was still a nice surprise for me today.

So thank you Kari Ann! I promise to make a wonderful layout and send you a picture of it!!

MWAH!!

More of my Layouts

I'm a Freak

OK, so that statement could be taken in so many ways. We all know I am a freak. But I have a new freak title......I'm a.....SKETCHAPALOOZA FREAK!

I just finished the Sketchapalooza 2 class over at Feeling Scrappy. I am so sad this class is over. The women there are so talented, so creative and the friendliest bunch - I wish I could meet them in person! Good news is....there is a Sketchapalooza 3. Bad news is.....I have to wait until March!!! LOL. So until then, I will just keep working on it. I freaked over sketches before, not really getting them. Now, I love them. LalalaLOVE them. My scrapping style has changed so much over this past year and I give credit to Jayne and her team, my creative friends Cyndi and Lee who are always telling me to try something new and step outside the box and all of my blog friends who share their creations with me (Kari Ann, Amy, Becky, Stacey, Megan, Trudy - so many of you!)

Here are some layouts that I created in this class.

I've Been Featured!

A couple of weeks ago, I received a very sweet email from Jayne of Feeling Scrappy asking me to be the first featured scrapper on her new website!
Isn't that exciting?? I was beyond honoured!
I have come a long way in my scrapping technique and am still trying to find my confidence with it. Being asked to be the featured scrapper has boosted that confidence. The comments people have left on the post are so very sweet and greatly appreciated.
Jaynes site shows a picture of me with my hubby Sean and my sweet Jonah, an interview with me and 2 of my favorite layouts.

I am very proud!!

Here is the site if you want to check it out: http://feelingscrappyclasses.blogspot.com

Thanks again to Jayne for the honour and for introducing me to the wonderful people at Feeling Scrappy.

FS Challenge - Christian Bernard

A few blogs ago I mentioned Feeling Scrappy. They just launched their new site and also their first challenge! They are ramping up for their upcoming class, Sketchapalooza II, so it was fitting to post a sketch challenge! The sketch is by Amy Bell, who is just so talented. The challenge can be found here.

They also offered a prize that international scrappers (like me) are qualified for: Sketchapalooza Class for FREE!

Here is my layout based on the sketch. I featured the newest addition to my extended family. My very good friends Sheri and Peter welcomed their first child, a son, named Christian. He is beautiful, precious, a true blessing and thankfully, very healthy. I hope they like this layout as much as I enjoyed creating it.

New Changes at Feeling Scrappy!

My favourite scrapbooking site has undergone some great changes and I suggest you check them out!

As I have mentioned in previous posts, Feeling Scrappy offers amazing online classes with a talented design team. The next class is Sketchapalooza 2!

Check out this LINK and you can enter to win a prize! So what are you waiting for?? Get over there!

Sketchapalooza II at Feeling Scrappy!

I am once again taking my scrapbooking to a new level - or at least try to! Yesterday I registered for the Sketchapalooza 2 class with Feeling Scrappy And this morning I received my confirmation from Jayne (who is wonderful, btw)!

As many of my scrapbooking friends know, sketches freak me out. I have no idea why, but they do. I did my first sketch at my friend Lee's house. Took me a while to get the hang of it, but once I did, I LalalaLOVED how it turned out.

Here is the sketch I got from Lee:And here is how mine turned out: (sorry for the glare). You can't see in the pick, but there is a circle charm hanging on the bottom picture like in the sketch.
This will be my 3rd class with Feeling Scrappy. I love them and learn so much! The ladies there are fantastic and so creative! And they are all so very helpful.
If you haven't checked them out, I highly recommend you do!
Class starts on October 27th - sign up soon!

Wish me luck!

Scrapbooking

This past weekend I was at my scrapbook retreat - and although I wasn't excited about it at first, it turned out to be fun. Was it the same as usual, not even close. But I wasn't going to let anything ruin my weekend. I did not pressure myself to get pages done. I took the time to funnel thru some things that had been on my mind and bothering me. I was very tired and not feeling well so I took a couple of naps and I even watched a few movies! But I did get 23 pages done and I am very happy with that result.

Another result I am happy with is how the pages turned out! I have been a standard scrapbooker for so long - meaning I didn't step outside of the box very often. But a few months ago, I took an online scrapbooking technique class thru http://www.feelingscrappy.com/ called Embellish It! This class took me WAY outside the box. I was learning new techniques and using things I haven't used before - buttons, chipboard, metal, paint, stickles. I love it! And the women there are fantastic! Very creative, talented, warm, supportive and friendly - yes, friendly. There are many scrapbook boards out there but you will always find "attitude" - not at FeelingScrappy. So if you have not checked it out yet - do it!!

So I thought I would post some of the pages I did at the retreat or thru the class. I hope you like them!

This is using a tearing technique, metal and flowers:

This is using ribbon, metal and leaves:

This is my new fave - chipboard covered in stickles!

This technique was using paint. The idea of the reflection was from a member of the design team on feeling scrappy. It also has chipboard.

This is following a sketch. This was from a sketch that Jayne posted on her challenges board. This was my second sketch. They always scared me. It is following a predesigned layout, but the layout only shows the lines and where the title or embellishment will go. I find them hard but now that I have 2 under my belt, I am really liking them! And I am sure I will like them more once I take the Sketchapalooza class on FeelingScrappy!

Enjoy your day!

One More Sleep....where's my excitement??

A couple of weekends a year, I go away with a bunch of ladies for a scrapbooking retreat. It is held at a Bed & Breakfast in Norwood just outside Peterborough. A few of us are regulars, some are sporadic. But it is always a fun time.

I always get very excited to scrapbook - especially when it is for a full weekend with no chores, no work, no phone! But this time, I am not as excited.....I still can't wait, but it is not my normal excitement. Usually I am sending the ladies emails with sleep countdowns.....34 sleeps to go! 26 sleeps to go! 13 sleeps to go! I am sure it drives them nuts. But this time......nope. It is one more sleep, and I still haven't sent a countdown email. I haven't even packed. Last night I was scrambling to get photos developed. I am just not prepared.

Could be that this retreat is different in that I am going up alone. Traditionally, I ride with another scrapper, we stop at stores, get some food, catch up on life. But this time, they are unable to go up on the friday morning. None of the other ladies can get up there early either. So I am going up, by myself and will be alone until about 7pm.

I know a lot of people would say "Enjoy it!", but I know that I am going to be dealing with a lot of thoughts that have been swirling in my head - and I have no one to bounce it off of. I know I can distract myself by getting a lot done or I can head into Peterborough to wander around. I used to live in Peterborough and I love it there!

I also think that with some of the things that have been going on, it has just sucked up my excitement like a Hoover. I don't feel the excitement from the other gals either. They have a lot going on as well, so I am sure that doesnt help.

So hopefully, by end of today, I will be able to shake these blahs and find that scrapbook excitement! I hopped over to a scrap board I frequent - www.feelingscrappy.com - and I looked at this months challenges. It has certainly helped move out some of those blahs. If you are a scrapper and haven't checked out this board, you must! These ladies here are wonderful and very talented. They always brighten my day.

Shake, Shake, Shake........ok, I am shaking it off.....I am going to have a great time (I always do!), My wonderful hubby made me a great cd for the drive (he rocks!), I will figure out these thoughts in my head (I know the girls will be supportive), and I will get some wonderful pages done (thanks to learning new techniques from FeelingScrappy). It will be fantastic!

ONE MORE SLEEP!!!! HUGE W00TAGE!!!!