Scrap Etc...wow...

I've been looking forward to attending Scrap Etc. for over 8 months and it was wonderful! Drove to Nashville Thursday (and listened to Brook Shield's book "Down Came the Rain" on CD), a 7.5 hour drive which went very smoothly (as did the ride home when I listened to "Let's Roll" by Lisa Beamer... lots of tears with that one).

Scrap Etc. was a packed 2-day scrapbooking event which inspired us to "tell our story" in many different ways. We had 8 classes with gifted instructors Vanessa Hudson, Monique McLean (also event planner/dreamer), Wilna Furstenberg, Heidi Swapp, Jenni Bowlin, Angelia Wigginton, Gretchen McElveen, Danelle Johnson and Kristi Sakori Blakenship. We came home with meaningful projects (and cute ones at that!) and tons of ideas about ways we can tell our stories, as well as ideas about different stories to tell. There were 600 scrapbooking women at the Gaylord Opryland Hotel and the friendliness was overflowing! I had a free room at the nearby Sheraton Music City, so stayed there (briefly) at night - even felt the earthquake in the early morning hours on Friday (was a 5.2 that originated in Illinois).

I met friends from Willow Traders: Christina, Naomi, Ruth, Andi, Rachel, Sandy, Lisa, Staci, Renee (& friend Janet), Theresa, Linda, Tali, Dana, and Shirley (& friend Wanda). Christy and Heather met us for dinner on Saturday. We were all together in "Group D" of about 80 women, a smaller group, and our group leader was Janna (so fun, organized and energetic). We also met Heather and Heidi from Twelve Fridays. Meeting these "online friends" in real life was incredible. We had so much fun together... too many stories to tell here, so I'll let some pictures help tell part of the story...

Willows in "Group D"

Ruth working on Angelia's project:

Saturday Night dinner:

Heidi Swapp's Mirror album project that almost sent 2 willows "over the edge" :-)

With Heather & Heidi from Twelve Fridays:
With Monique, master planner and dreamer (& I was so touched when she recognized me and called me by name at the registration table Thursday - she and her team worked incredibly hard and gave us all a fabulous experience)!

Friendships were forged, hearts were touched, minds were inspired, and projects were made. It was a wonderful experience, one that I know will impact my life for the better. I am so thankful that Kent worked it out so I could attend, that Mildred came to stay with Seth & Tessa while I was gone, and that so many people worked so hard to put together a truly meaningful event! What a blessing!

Happy Birthday, Seth!

Wow, you are 9 today! It's hard for me to believe... so it's true that often the days are long but the years are short! Seth, I am blessed to be your mom! And, here you are before your first rock concert (which you chose to do this year instead of a party). So glad you and Dad got to do this together and that you enjoyed Styx/REO Speedwagon/Def Leppard!

I recently completed a layout for a challenge by Work In Progress and for Debbie Hodge's "Scrap Yourself" class. It shows me holding you shortly after you were born and I became a mom. I will include it here today as well. My life changed so much the day you were born, and while it took me a while to adjust to being a mom (and I'm still not always great at it), I am so grateful for you, my son.

Happy Birthday, buddy! Love you!

A couple of layouts...

Created this layout for Debbie Hodge's "Scrap Yourself" class over at NYC Scraps. It's going to be a super class - a chance to use up some favorite supplies and kits, and to give some real thought to my past, present and future. Used The Scrap-room's March "noteworthy" kit.

This layout I created for Kim's colorstory challenge. Color scheme was orange/green with accents of red and blue. Really fun pulling out some older stash and capturing these silly nicknames we have for Tessa and Seth.

A fun day under the Willow tree...

Willow Traders is celebrating their 3rd anniversary this month with a different kit club "hosting the fun" every day. Yesterday "twelvefridays" was in charge and it was a GREAT day of inspiration and challenges. I created these projects after being inspired by their Design Team. LOTS of fun and I won a prize, too! I also signed up for a sub to get their exclusive patterned papers each month :-)

Lucky Leap!

Okay, so officially I won this prize yesterday, but it made for a great title:
//http://christytomlinson.typepad.com/the_scarlet_lime/2008/02/newsletter-winn.html
I'm so excited that I will be getting a 3 month sub to The Scarlet Lime kit club! "Yay me", as London Tipton on The Suite Life of Zack & Cody would say (yes, we watch too much Disney channel at our house).

But I am "lucky" (or blessed) for many other reasons. Looked up "Leap Year" the other day as I was trying to think of a clever way to scrap this day (never did think of one, btw). But did discover that in our little family of 4, I am the only one born in a Leap Year, 1964. I didn't find a lot of "cool facts" about Leap Year, but it is sort of interesting that this is the "year of the frog". So, Happy "Leap Day"!

A Valentine's Day Surprise

Here is what we woke up to find on Valentine's Day morning:

And I have been doing some scrapping in Feb. Here's one layout I did for Shirley's DT challenge at The Scrap-room (to use a song for inspiration) and I also used Susan's Feb. sketch:

It's February!

Wow, can't believe it is already February! Since it is the "love month", thought I'd post a few layouts that I did for Scrapbook Sussies that are appropriate. For years, I was a "Valentine's Day Grump", decorating with black hearts and generally doing all I could to make fun of the holiday. These were the "single years" from about 1984-1993. Then after Kent & I started dating in 1993, and I had a "real" Valentine's Day in 1994, my view of the holiday changed rather dramatically!

And here are a couple of others from the Feb. kit, which was so much fun to work with:

I am keeping Scrabook Sussies kit owner Lara in my prayers as her family recently experienced the tragic loss of 2 loved ones. Words cannot express how sad I am for them. I hope God is giving them much strength, courage and, in time, peace.