Last Saturday's Classes and What's Coming Up

Last Saturday I was at Scraptopia giving my Happy Thanksgiving minibook class. I had such a great time. I always seem to be very blessed to meet wonderful people in my classes. Between the people that picked up their kits and the people that actually attended we sold out the class and Jackie the owner has decided to schedule a second class on November 15th and see if we get any more takers. As part of the class I created a number of cards from the scraps and gave each students three card kits to take home.


The first two cards I've uploaded with this blog entry were part of the three I added to as a class surprise and the other cards shown are prototypes. I was too lazy to go and rotate the other cards I made in photoshop, so you don't get to see them. Terrible me!

I will also be teaching a Christmas card class on November 15th and Keshia has also asked me to fly to the Bahamas and teach a Christmas card class at The Scrapbook Cottage on November 22nd. I'm looking forward to seeing Keshia and her family again. This coming weekend is my Haloween class and with a little luck, I'll be able to sew up and finish three sweaters I've been working on as Christmas gifts for Ricks family and complete, scan and print in 8x8 size the 20 pages I've completed or my family heritage scrapbook.

Breathe Baby, Breathe Tomorrow Will Come

With the world around us seemingly spinning out of control, no wonder we are all feeling slightly out of breath. There is no better time than now, to grab our cup of tea or coffee, or our glass of milk and take a moment to just chill, just like my big kitty is doing here! The more stress there is in our lives, the more we need to take those cleansing breaths most of us learn about during labor and delivery. The more important it becomes to take time out to rest and relax. We need to do these things and stay as healthy as we can because our families and friends need us to be there. It is so often our role to be the calming influence, the voice of reason, the person who keeps the channels of communication open between various family members. It is up to us to ensure that there is understanding without hate and strength without pigheadedness.

To be there for our loved ones, we need to escape somewhere where the economy and the future of the world are not the main topic. In fact with luck, these things are not even brought up. Not because what's going on in the world isn't important; it is very, very important, but because no one can live in the pressure cooker that is our current world 24/7.

So if you are lucky as I was today, you go to a scrapbook store sit and meet some new people or in my case today, teach them a whole bunch of techniques while creating something that will be enjoyed for a long time. If you are really lucky, you get to sit and enjoy the newbies growing confidence as they progress through the class and feel proud of a job well done. For a few hours, I got to escape from the rat race, the frantic world outside and was reminded of the important things, the basic things. Strangely enough, that is what scrapbooking is about. The people we love; the memories we cherish; the new things we are planning to do, document and scrapbook. Scrapbooking reminds me that these bad times will pass as have the others and that no matter how bad things can get, if we hold on to our core values, we will always come out on the other side with more great memories to preserve.

September Blog Commentator Award!

Well at least it's not mid October yet and I didn't forget and I'm going to announce the winner for September!!!! But first I just wanted to share two things in one using this picture. One, it's a digital layout made a couple of Christmases ago and two, GG and Boyd are holding one of the presents I made for them. It took me forever to get the exact color mixed backgroud that I wanted, but they did seem to like them.

As for this month's winner, she is a member of RCS, someone that I've only gotten to meet once, for a few days, but that I care about a lot. She has her own blog which is a delight to read and she is one of those precise creative people that I admire for the quality of their finished work. She is sweet and thoughtful and lives on the west coast, yup she is a California person. So Lynne, congrats on your winning and I hope that I can get your present off early next week.

For those of you who come across this blog, do leave a comment even if I don't know you! It's not only a pleasure to read but each comment also qualifies you for one entry into the blog comment contest and all entries are entered with one person picked each month. Each entry will also count for the December Christmas present Super Gift that will be sent out to the winner in time for Christmas! Come 2009, I hope to come up with something new and creative to reward you for!

3 Classes Coming up in October!

Have I mentionned that I love creating things for classes? I've got 3 classes coming up in October, 2 at Scraptopia, the closest LSS to me, and one with my Scrapbook Buddies.

The first is the 22 page 12x6 Family Time book that is scheduled from 10am till 1pm at Scraptopia. The cover is made using a prima embossed 12x12 chipboard cut in half and then covered with 4 different layers of paints, glimmer mist and modge podge. The inside pages are from My Little Yellow Bicycle, Sandylion, with Bazill cardstock and MLYB embelishments. I just found that line so yummy, I had to do something with it. I used glitter mist, paint, ink, a stencil, stickle and acrylic. This 3 hour class is $49.00 and I intend to give mine as a Christmas gift to someone.

The 2nd is "Happy Thanksgiving, a class starting the same day at Scraptipia at 2pm. I used a Bo Bunny Happy word bloom book, Creative Imagination and K&Co papers and embellishments. As it happens I love those beautiful gliter and metalic papers so this 3 hour class is $39.50. It really does look great in person!

I'm also doing a Haloween book for my Scrapbook Buddies at my house. I've used Zutter acrylic and chiboard covers, Teresa Collin papers and K&Co embelishments. I'm working out the scheduling of this one right now as the Thanksgiving one might be pushed back to the 18th, which would mean that this one would have to be the 25th. I'll let you know as soon as I do!

Well It's that time of the month...

There was a time when that didn't mean time to upload my Christmas cards for the month. But frankly I love that this post is about Christmas cards! Given the last two posts you would think that I'm a little wacco about Christmas and you'd be half right. The Christmas cards are part of a challenge on Rec.Crafts.Scrapbooks a newgroup I've belonged to almost since I first started scrapbooking. I've really waited for the last day of the month to get them done this time!

Hope you enjoy them!

Scrapook Buddies go Crop for Charity

Isn't Santa looking great? Last weekend, (from right to left) Carol, Sharron, Britten and I went to a crop organized by fellow Scrapbook Buddy, Becky. The Santa in September Crop is held to raise funds to help out children with things like school supplies, shoes, and a Christmas gift. Becky and her elves did a great job organizing and having Santa there was wonderful!

Everyone had a great time and I am sure that we will all want to attend again next year, though at this rate, Becky will have to get a bigger hall! Congrats Becky on a job well done!

The Scrapbook Buddies is the Meetup group that I organized in the Tampa Bay area, specifically in the Brandon/Riverview area of Florida. I try to set up at least one Friday night and one Saturday meeting, plus a class of some sort every month. I also let everyone know when I'll be going/working at a crop so that we can get together!

Things I've done Recently

I think it's about time I went to Disney again. Would you believe I live this close to Disney World and I haven't been since 1998? That really is silly! I went to Disney more often when I lived in Montreal!

Anyhow the picture shows the front of a mini album that I designed from scratch, cutting the chipboard and painting it and glittering it and coating it and zuttering it and adding ribbons. We are hoping to get it done a little later this year or early in 2009. If you would like, you can click on it to see a much larger version.

Back on the subject of scrapbooks, I've also changed the look of my in home scrapbook display for when people come over to crop. I've refurbished 5 bookshelves using pegboard that I bought and had cut to size at Lowes. I attached the pegboard which is much more solid than the original backboards used to the backs of the bookshelsves. I then used 2nd hand 12x12 trays that I got from a friend and put as many as I could bellow the fixed bookshelf. The most I was able to put in is 28. If you want some trays please just get in touch with me.

Another Class and Ramblings

Usually I start by writing in my blog and then I choose the pictures. For the fun of it today, I decided to start with pictures and then write about them and then pick a title. The pictures are of a 6"x12" 22 page book that I am doing as a class at Scraptopia on the 27th. The covers are made of raw Prima embossed chipboard that I cut in half and then painted with different layers and types of paint amontst other things. This picture was taken before I added the ribbons and handed the project over to be displayed in the store.

The secong picture actually whose 4 usable pages, since there is an acrylic sheet in there embelished with stickles. I really had a lot of fun making this and I do hope that I get a few more people in my class. I'm supposed to go to Nassau from the 17th till the 21st, but I haven't heard from Keshia since the hurricanes went through there and I am more than a little worried about her. I hope that all is well at her end!


A few weeks ago I had a sleep study done and being a very light sleeper I was sure that I would never be able to sleep with all the electrodes and tape and other bothersome things that they hook up on you. Surprisingly I fell asleep almost right away and had a typical night. Meaning that I woke up about 15 minuts after falling asleep and roughly another 4 or 5 times after that that I was aware of. I think that the reason I was able to falla sleep is that the room was big and airy and I had a nice comfy queen size bed to speel on as you can see in the picture and that there is so much stuff hooked up to you that you are on sensory overload and your mind just wants to shut it all out! I was told that there were anomalies, but seeing as I was going on a crusie, tomorrow is when I will finally get the results of both the CAT scan and the sleep study! I would give a lot for blissful, uninterupted and refreshing sleep, so here is hoping that they can/will do something to help with that!

The Winning August Commentator is...

As the sun was setting it dawned on me! Oh my gosh I forgot to post the August winner!!!! So here it is the winner is.... drum roll please....

Kenda!!!!! You have won!!! What you have won is a surprise so you'll just have to wait till you get it. I have appointments for the next 3 days, but I hope that I can put something in the mail to you sometime this week! I'll let you tell the nice people who visit this blog what you've won when you get it! Congrats!

For the record, I will be changing the nature of how people become eligible to "win a prize" starting in January. But meanwhile, keep your comments coming. It only takes one comment to win, but the more comments you put in the more likely you are to win and your name will be entered to win the grand commentator prize as many times as you have commented since the blog began. The prize will be a wonderful present and sent out to the grand prize winner just in time for Christmas!!! Won't that be fun!!!

Cruising with Gustav

We had a great cruise! The weather from our departure from Tampa until the following Saturday was hot and sunny! Rick unfortunately had to work for the first few days, but I met people, went ashore, took pictures, scrapbooked my favorites, and journalled my experience.

As you can see above, we did encounter the bands from Gustav on our return trip. In fact as soon as the ship left Cozumel the Friday around 5:30 pm, the engines went up to 18 and then 23 knots. That is awfully fast especially during the dinner hour. It was obvious that we were speeding to outrun Hurricane Gustav. The pictures above were taken on Saturday evening. The seas were choppy and there were some significant wind gusts.

Obviously, I enjoyed them, though I must tell you that I was unaware that Rick was taking continuous pictures. I was waiting for him to take a picture and wondering why he was taking so long. I hope that the people that are cruising this week are kept as safe as we were by our Captain.

Oh and since I said I would share, here are some pictures of Cozumel.

Awww... My 1st Blog Award

My blog was given the "I Love Your Blog Award" by Teresa, that wonderfully talented lady who makes those awesome purses! Thanks sweetie, it's my very first blog award and that makes it very special!

The rules...

1. The winner can put the "I :heart: your blog" logo on their blog. Isn't it cute! :))


2. Link the person you received your award from.


3. Nominate other blogs.


4. Put links of those blogs on yours.


5. Leave a message on the blogs of the girls or boys you’ve nominated.

Here are the blogs I would like to nominate:

• Savannah's Journal by her Super Mami and Papi. An inspiration to all and the biggest reason I got into supporting charity crops
• Lynne's Blog - Lots of fun, recipe's and crafting info.
• The Scrapbook Cottage in Nassau
  

A Proud Mama

I'm not sure where to start. Perhaps with the picture I got minutes ago from Mexico. Not everyone knows that my son, Shaun, was born with a cleft lip and palate. It is not something that defines him, but rather something that has been part of making him the person he is. And I am so very proud of the adult he has become!

Shaun, who is the Creative Director at Royall Media, went down to Oaxaca, Mexico with the owner, Will. Will decided that it was time for his growing advertising company to give back and chose Share. With camera in hand, they went with the Share medical team to work on children needing cleft lip and palate repairs.

That is Shaun on the left! They were allowed to scrub in and help out. Amazing! I'd give a lot right this minute to find out exactly how Shaun felt when this picture was taken. What an experience for both these young men who first met when they were part of Stetson University's Digital Arts program!

Obviously what they are doing is close to my heart as well. It is never easy to find out that your baby is going to need multiple surgeries. When you first hear about what your baby is going to have to face, your heart drops, your eyes fill and you wish that you could go back in time and change... what? You don't know what you did, what you could have done differently. The doctors still don't know why this craniofacial deformity occurs so they really can't tell you what you could have done differently.

All you know is that it is, what it is. You need to make the best of it. You have to make the best of it. You need to be strong for the little one that you have just seen rushed to the NICU. You need to be strong every time that you have to place your infant, toddler, child, teenager in the hands of the surgeons and their medical team. You need to smile as they are taken away and hold your sobs until your baby is out of sight and can no longer hear your heart breaking as you wait the inteminable hours and minutes until he or she is placed in your arms again. And so my heart is full of many things tonight. Pride for what my son and his friend are doing in Mexico and incredible empathy for the mothers and fathers that are placing their children in the hands of the surgical team that is helping change their children's lives for the better.

Stop and live the moment!

Before I go off on another subject, I thought that I would share my cards for this month's RCS Christmas Card Challenge (CCC). I need to post this and make sure that my friends on RCS get to see them so that they can count for August!

I'm not sure who said this, I picked this up somewhere as the quote of the day and was going to copy and paste but I'm on the MAC and did it wrong then closed the website, so I'm probably mangling it, but here goes!

Rather than always pursuing happiness, from time to time take a moment and live your happiness!

So often I get all caught up in attaining something and forget to stop to appreciate the steps I've taken, the things I've learned, the people that I've met along the way! It's far to easy to forget what is really important.

I've done a lot of stuff this week. I put in for the Scrapbook Circle Design team, worked on the March 2009 scrapbook cruise that I'm organizing, put together some scrapbook supplies to take with me on a crusie I'm going on shortly, had a couple of fun days hanging with Janie. We had a great time going to see Mma Mia. It really is quite good! I've knit the back and am finishing off the front of a sweater Im making as a Christmas present. All my Christmas presents need to come from my existing stash of craft items, so I have to get started right now!

I have a Saturday crop organized at my house scheduled for September 6th. I found out that there were anomalies in my sleep study, but I won't know exactly what the problem is until September 10th when I go back to see the doctor. I finally got Crystal's prize out to her and Janie picked hers up on Thursday. I'm so glad that you both enjoyed your winnings!

It has been a pretty good week and I'm thankful!

I'm so far Behind!

It has been a rather strange and difficult month of August. DH is home and I've had a number of tests and proceedures. The whole thing has had me scraping some, but not posting as I should have. LOL that is a constant in my life these days being behind in my plog posts.

So first, let me announce the winner for July, which is none other than my buddy Janie! Congrats Janie, you can come and pick up your winnings next week as soon as you get the chance!

Also I still need to send off Crystal's package and I will do that on Monday. I'm behind on that too! I've completed my Christmas cards for August, completed two class projects for the scrapbook store the cover of my 12x6 album is shown above, completed a 20 page 8x8 album to give to a friend for her birthday tomorrow so I haven't been completely inactive. I've also redone the mini-shop in my living room, which took me a lot of time.

I'm waiting on the results of the sleep study that I did on Monday. I guess given that the technician rushed into the room thinking that my nose sensor was off when it wasn't isn't a good sign. I'm also waiting for the result of a biopsy taken during the colonoscopy I endured on Thursday, but I was told not to worry about it that it didn't look like anything serious. So I hope you'll forgive me, I've had a little on my mind!

So as you can see, I owe you guys a lot of pictures.