inspired
- Two weekends ago I had the chance to go to the CK Scrapbook Convention, do some shopping, and take an awesomely inspiring class from my favorite scrapbooker - Ali Edwards. The class was called Ali's Top Ten and in addition to the creative, technique, and product ideas (and being able to peruse through her personal albums & mini-books) she supplied us with a goodie bag filled with her top 10 favorite products. Can't wait to play with some of that stuff! I also made sure to pick up her Life Artist book while I was there.
- My favorite booth in the convention was a company called Cocoa Daisy. They do monthly scrapbooking kits and I just loved their style. I picked up a few kits and would like to subscribe to their club in the future. But I'm making myself promise to scrapbook with the stuff I already have before I can buy anything new. I know myself too well. Because there isn't a local scrapbook store around anymore, and I don't like going into town to shop, and I hate shipping costs from online stores (and not being able to see/touch the product) . . . .I think a kit club like this might suit me really well. Then they can save me the work of looking all over the place for the newest & cutest stuff and trying to match it all together. Like I said, I really liked their style -- and Ali has raved
about them on her blog too. - This butterfly mobile. Isn't it just the cutest thing? I totally want to do this with little birdies for Anna's room.
- A couple weeks ago I started a class at Big Picture Scrapbooking -- it's Stacy Julian's Library of Memories. I'm loving it. It's all about organizing and streamlining the scrapbooking process. Right now we have assignments to organize our photos -- all of our photos (in print and on the computer). I'm about to order almost 800 digital prints online with much more to come once my budget takes a breather. My goal for the end of these 16 weeks is to emerge a more organized, efficient memory keeper; keeping my focus on the stories I really want to tell and letting go of everything else!
creating
- a guest journal.
For years my mom has had a guest book in her house. A place for guests to sign their name, date, and write a few sentences about their stay (reason for their visit, what they did while there, compliments on her cooking . . . ). I tried to do something similar when we got married, but it wasn't very cute and I always forgot about it. I found these cute papers the last time I was at the mega-scrapbook store in Twin Falls (seriously, the biggest, craziest scrapbook store I have EVER seen), and last week I put it all together. 
I love it! I pulled out my sewing machine to do all the zig-zag sticking (click on photo for a larger view). After the guests leave all I have to do is print up a photo (in this case a photo collage) and stick it in the book. I'm excited to fill this album up! - okay, this next one almost became a blog post all it's own. I was thoroughly, totally, ecstatically impressed with myself. Last month I bought a bunch of fabric from IKEA to play with in the guest room. Saturday, I was sitting at my desk staring at my vinyl machine. I love that there is a perfect little spot for it in the scrap/guest room. But I hate that it's not so attractive. So my wheels started turning and 1 1/2 hours later I had created this:
It's a frickin' custom-fitted cover, people!! I mean, hello? This required some skills. You should see it from the side because it is all perfectly cut to fit the angles of the vinyl machine. I'm not sure where in my brain I pulled this one from - I didn't know I had it in me. Okay, so I don't usually brag about myself but I have to say that I am pretty darn impressed with shannon brown. - On that note, I'll leave you with this and a promise of pictures to come later:
