A Long Overdue Update!

It has been forever since I've posted on my blog. There have been more than a few reasons why. The biggest reason has been my computer being "out of order." I hope to have it back tomorrow, and with a new hard drive it should work like new -- I'm hoping! Right now my brother is graciously letting me borrow his computer to check on my email.

What have I been working on lately? I started to make a few Artist Trading Cards (ATC) and came up with a theme for them. When I have my computer back, I need to work on scanning some of my clip art that I plan on using for my ATCs. I also found a book that I'll be ordering from amazon on Artist Trading Cards.

I've also bought more Creative Memories products to start my "Christmas present surprise" for my mom. All I can say is that it will be super cool! I promise to post it when I'm done for all to see. One of my next major projects will be to scan our family pictures. So much to do! So much to do! :)

Hope everyone has been having a great summer! Hard to believe it is almost over! But you won't find me arguing too much. I love fall and fall weather. The best time of the year, in my opinion!

Just thought I'd post a quick update to let everyone know that yes, I'm still alive and I will be back to blogging and catching up on reading all my favorite blogs shortly! :) I've missed you all!

A Day of Scrapping

Yesterday I attended a Creative Memories Scrapbooking Workshop. A few consultants in the area host this get together every month. For a reasonable fee, you can bring your scrapbooking projects to this all-day workshop and use the tools that the consultants bring. This way you get to play with new tools and decide what you want to spend your money on next! And oh I found lots of really cool tools that I want to purchase eventually.

I arrived at 11AM. One of the last times I remember looking at a clock, it was 6PM. Suddenly after that it was 8PM! The day simply flew by! But it was a very productive one for me.

Here are the items I purchased: A Power Sort Mini Box, a PicFolio Minutes Album, A Storybox set of papers, and a Tape Runner. Also not shown, I bought three packs of stickers to use. The tiny little pictures scattered around in the picture below are very small pictures I printed off.

The blue and green box with polka-dots is a Power Sort Mini Box and holds up to 600 photos for storage. It is so nifty! here are a couple close up shots. Each side has a closure as shown in the second picture. And if you tip your box upside down your pictures will stay in place and will not move around. They also sell bigger Power Sort boxes that hold many many more photos. The larger box will be one of my next purchases, but I plan to use this small one to hold current projects and the smaller Storybox papers that I used for my PicFolio Minutes Album.

For my first project I wanted to start out small and do something fun that I could display. My friend introduced me to the PicFolio Minutes Albums. I immediately thought this would be a good thing to work on and take to work to display on my desk! It is always fun to have pictures to look at while at work. Especially if you are having one of those days and you just need to remember where you came from.

Here's a picture of what the album looks like all closed up. It is magnetic and you can unwrap the beige closures and open up the album like an easel. Then you can display your pictures and flip them around to whichever picture you want. I have ideas to make a few of these for gifts. They are easy and fun.

Here's one of my favorite pictures that I put inside my album. This was taken at my friend's Bachelorette Party. (She's the one in the middle. My Creative Memories consultant friend is the one on the left, and I'm the one on the right.)

Both of these friends were at the Scrapbooking Workshop and we had a blast working on our individual projects, talking, and joking around and being silly. I look forward to attending these get-togethers and maybe even a Scrapbook Convention out of town for a couple days. I'll start saving my pennies for that now.

I'm not quite done with this first project. I made 10 of the 24 pages for this album. The pictures inside are of family and friends. So I'll continue to work on this and decide how I want to begin my travel album for my France pictures. I think I will also make an album for my baby pictures.

What did I learn this weekend? Scrapbooking is a lot of fun! I'm excited to keep working on my projects with my friends because that makes it even more fun -- to create something that is meaningful while surrounded by good company -- that's special.

"Remember, the greatest gift is not found in a store nor under a tree, but in the hearts of true friends."
~ Cindy Lew

Being Introduced to Scrapbooking...

I'm excited because today because I'm going to be introduced to a new creative outlet. I have a friend who is very creative and we have a lot in common. We both love to read, write, and she's a consultant for Creative Memories, which is a scrapbooking company. So I'm heading over to her house to see her scrapbooks and what she's got to sell. She's also having a scrap day next Saturday where you can bring your stuff and work on it, and of course you can buy new scrapbooking supplies to use. But from what I understand many tools will be provided to use at this Scrapfest. So I'm gearing up to get my scrap on! Now that I have a new camera, lots of new pictures, lots of old pictures, and a photo printer, I can really dig in and start my own scrapbooks!

A couple of possible projects come to mind. One in particular is to scrapbook my trip to France. I have lots of pictures in an album that I don't really care for. So why not make a new travel scrapbook? This may inspire me to get out of the country again and take another wonderful trip!

More to come on what I discover and what I decide to take on as a project! :)

Here's a picture I took of the Eiffel Tower from ontop of the Arc de Triomphe, a beautiful site!

Happy Scrapping!