Back from CKC Mesa & ScrapTiffany Blog Hop Winner

The winner of my drawing from last weeks ScrapTiffany blog hop is posted below. I got back from the best CKC scrapbook convention ever Saturday night. The rest of the weekend was super busy too....

Sunday we took the boys to the Garden Railroad Train Tour and came home to have my computer crash on me, Mike had to take it to Best Buy to get it fixed for me.

I had Monday off of work, so after Nicholas got out school we went to see the Easter Bunny (Jackson would not go near him)

We dyed Easter Eggs in the afternoon...

It was a great long weekend, that ended with Nicholas waking up in the middle of the night Monday with the stomach flu, and me feeling sick too. But all in all it was a great weekend, and I think Nicholas was already feeling better this evening.

Here's a quick recap of the convention.  I will have a full review of my classes after I finish up my projects in the next couple of weeks.

This year's convention was....

Having 2 fun filled days with 2 fabulous friends (and another in spirit, who was home with her sick baby)....

Taking 8 awesome classes with 5 fabulous teachers, making 16 fun layouts, a mini book and 2 cards that I love....

Meeting 3 superstar Studio Calico girls (Lorie, Nicole H and Kelly Purkey)....

Receiving a few great giveaways....

Shopping....lots and lots of shopping....

Here is a recap of my shopping finds

Just when I thought I had all the Studio Calico goodness I could ever need....(okay I didn't really think that)....I of course did some stocking up at the SC booth.

A great deal found on a Slice cartridge, an awesome Fancy Pants book for altering, the one Distress Ink color I did not own....

Some new Basic Grey. A cute Easter altered project

And some Glitz Design goodies those brown woodgrain mini letters that I had been coveting, circle stamps I was drooling over, and my favorite Glitz line ever....

I have been going to the CKC Mesa show for years, and this was definitely the best all around show. The vendor fair was awesome, there was a good selection of shopping and a much improved selection of newer products. The classes we took had awesome teachers and great layouts that we loved.

And finally, I have drawn a winner from last week's ScrapTiffany blog hop.

True Random Number Generator

Result:

7Powered by RANDOM.ORG

 Mary Ellyn said...

Cute idea

April 13, 2011 6:38 AM

Congrats Mary Ellen!  I came home with some scrappy goodness including some Studio Calico, Basic Grey, and more. I sent you an e-mail so you can claim your goodies.

CKC Mesa Projects and Class Reviews

A little over a month ago we had what will be our only scrapbook convention in Arizona this year. For the past several years we have had one in the spring in Mesa and another in the fall in Phoenix and last year Glendale.  So me and the scrap friends were a bit dissapointed that we would only get one girls weekend this year. We considered going to the Riverside CKC but it is scheduled for Father's Day weekend, so although I will be in California for Father's Day I will be hanging out with my dad and the family and not scrapbooking.

To make the most of it we signed up for several classes, had 2 full days of shopping and stayed over at the hotel Friday night. This time we skipped the crop.  We didn't need to spend the money to walk away with a goodie bag filled with stuff that I will probably give away.  We had our hotel room, a bottle of wine and some chocolate. That was all we needed for a little scrap night.

The shopping this time around was very good. In the past few years it has felt like all the vendors just have a bunch of close out stuff at great prices. Which is great if you are looking for a bargain, but generally I want new things that have been released in the previous CHA. This year I was not disappointed, I ended up spending way more than I expected to.  I picked up lots of new Basic Grey, Fancy Pants, Pink Paislee, American Crafts including Dear Lizzy and tons more.  Plus I liked some of the new little finds like Arc Crafts wood veneer pieces. I always love the bling at Queen & Co. There were a few new close out discount places that had things I hadn't seen several times before. So all in all a good although expensive shopping weekend.

Now for the classes.  I took 8 classes over the 2 days.  I spread them out enough that it didn't get to overwhelming.  I have mostly learned who I like to take classes from and who to avoid. I broke that rule with one class, and will go back to my stick with who to avoid list in the future.  I finished up all my class layouts a few weeks ago which I am sharing below.

Tool Time - A Paper Crafts class taught by Kim Kesti.  In addition to the layout we made the pieces to a card and tag (that I used on a card).  We used the Epic Die Cut/Embossing machine. A simple layout kicked up with some embossing.  I need to pull out the old Cuttlebug a big more often, it does add something.  The card and tag were cute with the same colors (I didn't take pictures of them).

Always a favorite class, Embellish It's Latest and Greatest with Shelby Dredge.  We always get to play with the new Basic Grey and Fancy Pants lines.  And we always end up with 4 layouts that we like and will use. And we always pick up the 2nd page kit you can buy at the booth for $12.  They make for good pages that you can get a lot of pictures on.

This layout uses Basic Grey Green at Heart

This layout uses Basic Grey Kioshi

This layout uses Fancy Pants My Family

This one using Basic Grey's Origins ended up being my favorite layout.  Mike has become quite the chef and I am glad I finally scrapped about it.

Clearly Creative Acrylic by Story Tellers Club -  The sample mini album picture looked cute, so against my better judgement I signed up. I was pretty sure from my past shopping that their kits weren't really something I liked.  We got to the class and the project was different than the sample, but still along the same lines. But we didn't think the colors matched well, the class moved too slow, working ahead was a bit tough because the instructions were missing some things.  So we just winged it.  I wasn't really thrilled with the finished product, and although I finished it I didn't put any pictures in it, so I didn't photograph it.  If you don't mind the "it looks like ribbon but it is just a photo copy of ribbon die cut look (but not really you have to cut them out yourself) than maybe you won't mind this class.

Ribbon Girl taught by Queen & Company

I wasn't sure what I was going to do with this layout based on the sample, but I liked that we would get some ideas for ribbon, and my friends wanted to take it so I signed up too.  I LOVED this class! The teacher was entertaining, we had plenty of time to work on our layouts, they had giveaways where it seemed like just about everyone won something. And we made these cute ribbon flowers on our pages too.  Of course although I am a mama of boys, I do have 6 nieces.  So I just had to dig out some pictures of some of them to finish this layout.  I have to say it worked perfeclty for these pictures from Christmas morning.  Mike's brother and his family spent Christmas with us last year and their 4 girls were all in their pink PJ's Christmas morning.  So they were perfect for this layout.

Live In the Moment Designed by Ali Edwards taught by Technique Tuesday - This is the 2nd Technique Tuesday class I have taken and I am always so inspired to stamp on my pages more after taking the class. The class kit is pretty generous with product with a few leftover pieces and a stamp set you get to keep.  We made the left side of the layout (which is a shaped layout not on a background) in class and I finished the second one at home.  I also ended up getting lots of TT goodies back at their booth.

I Dare You taught by Kim Kesti for Creating Keepsakes - I liked this class based on Elizabeth Kartchners book 52 More Scrapbooking Challenges. The layouts were cute, quick and easily adaptable.  The misting got a bit messy, with the first layout if you were one of the last to go up. The bottles were a bit clogged and the boxes to mist in were a bit saturated.  We had to cut lots of circles so sharing the Coluzzle took a bit of time, but other than that we mostly finished up these 1st two layouts in class. The 3rd layout was quick to put together later.  More memories quickly scrapped.

All In the Family taught by Tattered Angels - I was excited to take this class, because I wanted some more misting ideas.  Although between the time of signing up in January and the class in April I have decided I like Maya Mists a little more that the Tattered Angels mists.  The Maya mists are darker and give a more painted look, where the Tattered Angels Glimmer Mists are lighter. We used Glimmer Masks, TA chipboard and TA stamps in the class and got quite messy.

Fabulous Flower Techniques taught by Maggie Holmes for Creating Keepsakes - Upfront I am going to say I loved the idea of this class, but I don't think the class works well and I think now that it has been taught a few times CK has to know it.

Maggie was teaching the class but Kim Kesti was also helping and they had several classroom assistants. I know that the teachers didn't design the class and I felt sorry for them for having to teach what was probably 60 plus people to use a tool that has a bit of steep learning curve. I think under the circumstances Maggie and the others did a great job. They should have been paid double to teach this class, because they had to put up with a lot of annoyed women,

We were supposed to make either 3 or 4 brads using the Imaginisce I-Top tool.  We should have made one brad with the tool and then we should have made a few more of the cute flowers that they showed in class or were included in the class handout.  At our table 2 of the 3 I Top tools were broken on one of the 2 sides.  We had to share about 3 people to a tool.  Getting the hang of the I Top tool was not easy, I have one at home that I had not used, so I didn't even really try to do it in class.

There are so many cute ideas with flowers that are inexpensive to make and easy to do that would have kept the layout cute and kept a lot more people happy.  I did like the flower we made out of the dictionary paper. And the layout did come out cute.

So that's it.  All in all a good CKC again.  Can't wait until next year and I hope we get 2 again.

Freedom...and other things I have discovered this month (long and photo heavy)

As February comes to a close I am still pondering the future, if any, for Color Me Daisy.  If you missed it, we announced with the release of our February kit that we were no longer going to offer monthly kits (the official announcement can be found here) with the original thought that we would do periodic kits 4-6 times a year. Life has changed dramatically in the past 2 years, we have an active 1 and 3 year old. My job is incredibly non-stop busy and I am working a lot more than I was a year ago. I don't want to miss anything with my two little guys and I want to enjoy life a bit more. I turn the big 4-0 at the end of the year and it is making me take stock of where I want to end up come the end of 2010.

I decided before I think about any future direction for CMD I need a break from kit planning and the business side of scrapbooking.  I got to a point where my heart wasn't in it, I wasn't scrapping and when I did, I was just slapping it on the page.  While life is still busy, I have had a lot more fun this past month with my family and my scrapping.

One of the things I did at the beginning of the year was a major scrap room overhaul.  I came across several class kits I never completed from past CKC's.  So one Friday night a week or two ago I grabbed this one and finished up these 2 class layouts...

These two were based on a  CK Sponsored class, but I don't remember which one and I am guessing it was a couple of years ago at least based on the products used.  But I think they are pretty timeless pages and I love them.

When I finished up these I had a sheet of Kraft cardstock still and lots of scraps, so I used them to make my least common layout for my Library of Memories class at Big Picture Scrapbooking that I am repeating as an Alumni this year.  My least common layout was People We Love and Why, this is about my nephew Andrew who is a big brother to two and helps his Dad (my brother), who is a single dad, a lot. I am proud of the young man he is becoming and the good example he is.

I have never been adept at creating a layout from a magazine ad, I usually look at them and can't see an actual layout. But after I finished my last issue of Real Simple this past month I did a quick flip through and landed on this ad (sorry for the pens in the corner, but they paper was lifting when I was taking the picture):

From this ad, I created this layout from our trip to California last July for my Grandfather's funeral.

One morning, when we didn't have to be anywhere early we drove down to Laguna Beach, grabbed Starbucks and had breakfast on the beach. It was Jackson's first trip to the beach. But the journaling is about how attached Jackson is to Mike. Everything is all about Daddy for Jackson right now. Most of the supplies used for this was from a mystery box I picked up from Scrap Attack Scrapbooking. I think for less than $50 with shipping I got a huge box of goodies with a original value of about $150.  I sorted through it, kept what I wanted and anything I didn't think I would use went into the yard sale pile for the LSS.  I figure I didn't take much of a loss and ended up with some cute things.  The Thickers and small letters were not from the mystery box.

I made this card for Mike for Valentine's Day. We had a crop over at Color Me Daisy this past month and one of the challenges was to make something with only what was within reach. It worked out for this card, ribbon, cardstock, a punch, patterned paper, foam dots and stickers were spread out on the desk and this came together pretty fast.

Since I am cutting back at Color Me Daisy I had to fill the void. I am still a huge fan of kits and always will be. I love to scrap with a coordinated kit, it helps me focus, I didn't have to spend the time to get the "ingredients" together. It simplifies the options in the room that I scrap, i.e., the mini store.  LOL!

Anyway, long before CMD was a thought in my mind I subscribed to Mosh Posh and still do. I never cancelled my sub even after I started CMD, I thought that for the most part the kits from Mosh Posh were very similar to my style and several kits overlapped what I did at CMD so they rounded out each other pretty well. So in February I got their kit featuring October Afternoon, Farm Fresh. Not really a line I would have picked, but I also saw a sketch on their blog that I liked and wanted to use.

So I ended up with this...

We were walking in the barnyard section of the zoo and Nicholas ran over to the turkeys and did this, and I actually got it on camera. The month before we fed the turkeys and chickens in a Zoo Animal Program and he had a ball. We went in the cages with the guides and he was able to pet the chickens and feed them. He wanted to pet the turkeys too, but they wouldn't let us near them. We just threw their food and stood back.  I guess they are aggressive with little kids. But when we were back on this day, he ran over and started talking to this turkey. And this paper that I never in a million years would have thought I could use, ended up featured on a page.

Another kit club I have joined to fill my CMD void is Studio Calico. I had heard of them, I don't live under a rock :)-, and checked them out several months ago. When we decided we were going to cut back on the CMD kits I was looking for another kit club so I could get a monthly fix. I like that their kits are so different from what I would put together; but, I love all the products that are in them. I knew their kits would stretch my scrapping style.  It took me a couple of months to get around to using one though.

They have challenges on their blog each week, the perfect thing to get my scrapping. This challenge was to use baby colors on a layout. The layout didn't need to be baby themed and since right now I am over those pages, I did this one instead.  The DT over there mists a lot, and it is inspiring me to give it a try.  I was looking at one of the SC exclusive papers in the kit and noticed that the circles on the paper created a perfect frame on the edges. So I cut out the circles, misted my cardstock using a chipboard piece from a Maya Road Mini Book and placed the semi-circles around the page.  This is to tell the story about Nicholas and books right now, he loves to read and I love it when he comes over and says "Read to Me".

They also have a weekly sketch challenge on the blog at SC and this was from this past week. I love these pictures of Nicholas on my laptop. He loves to watch YouTube videos of the Wiggles, Barney and Blues Clues on my computer and one afternoon last summer I caught these pictures of him.  I also got to try out my new Martha Stewart Butterfly border punch. Love it!

Rounding out my recent scrap adventures....I got a box in the mail a few days ago with all this new Jenni Bowlin goodness. I can't wait to get these on a project!

And lastly, I recently received this in the mail. Assuming there really is a next Color Me Daisy kit I am quite certain something from this catalog will be in it....

If you are still here...have a great Sunday!

CKC Glendale Classes Pt 2

Class 3 Dimensional Pages - Creating Keepsakes Kelly Purkey This was a busy class. We had to stamp, heat emboss, die cut and emboss, use stickles and (when we got home use glossy accents). We made one 2 page layout, but because of all the different techniques we used I didn't completely get this put together in class. I won another idea book in this class, I don’t think I have this one.

Here is a detail of the glossy accents on the paper flower center. I like how it is raised. I have used it to give a glossy finish to something but now like this.

Class 4 Life’s Lyrics - Creating Keepsakes Kelly Purkey

My last class of the first day was a mini album called Life’s Lyrics. We used Basic Grey Junebug for the mini. Before class we were to pick out several song’s to use in our book. Since I didn’t know exactly what we would need, I just brought copies of the lyrics and kraft cardstock to write them out on. It turned out we didn’t finish in class so I just did it at home. You didn’t have room for all the lyrics, so it worked better to know what it looked like and then pick out the lyrics of a song that had meaning to you. I also won a giveaway in this class, which was a Card Idea book that I am pretty sure I already have, so it will go in the crop night prize box.

After my almost 39 years this song says it perfectly…

My first song was Real Live Woman ` Trisha Yearwood

I no longer justify Reasons for the way that I behave I offer no apologies For the things that I believe And say And I like it that way

This song reminds me of when we left California for me to take a my job out here in Arizona. It was a huge change for us a big promotion for me and a huge opportunity for us. I remember listening to this CD on the drive out here that night. We were closing on our first house the next day and I had just started my new position 2 days before. And Arizona seemed like a whole different world from where we had always known.

Wide Open Spaces – Dixie Chicks

She needs wide open spaces Room to make her big mistakes If these are life lessons, she’ll take this test

This song has been one I sang to both my babies when they would fall asleep when I was holding them. I am sure most parents can relate to this.

Aerosmith “I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing”

I don’t want to miss one smile I don’t want to miss one kiss Don’t want to close my eyes Cause I’d miss you baby And I don’t want to miss a thing

Another one for my boys, as a parent you want the best for your kids and you want them to take all that life gives them and not take it for granted.

I Hope You Dance, LeAnn Womack

I hope you never lose your sense of wonder May you never take one single breath for granted Whenever one door closes, I hope one more opens And when you get the chance to sit out or dance I hope you dance

One more for my boys who have their whole lives ahead of them

“Unwritten” Natasha Bedingfield

Drench yourself in words unspoken Live your life with arms wide open Today is where your book begins The rest is still unwritten

One of my favorite songs is Upside Down by Jack Jackson. I remember one of the first times I really heard it was at Creative Escape in 2006. Stacy Julian was the keynote speaker the last night and I was at a crossroad in my life. I was pregnant with our first child, frustrated with my job and just not really sure where I wanted things to go. There were some things Stacy said that night that I will never forget. The first was “What would you do if perceived impossibilities and insecurities didn’t stop you.” I felt trapped by the financial security we had from my job. It made me feel I couldn’t do anything else. I was working a ton of hours and 6 months pregnant.

The theme of Stacy’s whole presentation that night resonated from a lyric from this song “Is this how it’s supposed to be”. Since that night, I have often questioned that very thing. I can say now I have moved past that place of how I felt about my job, I am sure some of it was pregnancy emotions. But what I won’t forget from that night was the check that those words can give me when something doesn’t feel right, “Is this how it’s supposed to be?” And if the answer is no, then change it.

I thought it was impossible for me to find a “place” in the scrapbooking world. I was wrong; I am doing something I am passionate about. I work more now and sleep less but I love what I am doing. I am realistic that this will probably never allow me to leave my day job, but right now I am okay with that, and that is what is important.

‘Upside Down” Jack Johnson Is this how it’s supposed to be? I want to turn the whole thing upside down Who’s to say what’s impossible and can’t be found? I don’t want this feeling to go away

So that is it for my first day of classes. I was beat after having classes from 8:30 am to 8:00 pm with lots of shopping in between. I was wishing that I had a hotel room by the end of the day.

Next up Day 2 Classes

On the second day I was able to be with my friends, Jen, Renee and Chaery. We shopped took classes and stayed for the evening crop that night.

Latest & Greatest with Shelby Dredge

This was our first class on Saturday and the one we take every time . Always lots of Basic Grey with a bit of Crate Paper and Fancy Pants Designs. In the class you do 4 single page kits and you can buy the matching page kit for a double layout for about $12. Even though I am usually a single page gal, I do get this. Shelby always designs pages that you can use lots of pictures on, so another great class for just getting some of those random pictures scrapped that are sitting in the binder ready to go.

Here are the pages we made:

Here is my little busybody, Jackson

This one was perfect for some leftover pictures from Nicholas’s first Christmas

Since we are a no girl zone, this girly page was perfect for the puppy girlies.

This was a good layout for Nicholas’s first trip to the pumpkin patch that I never got around to scrapping.

As always this class is great, you always get a few tricks even when you have taken Shelby’s class 2x a year for several years. Things come pre cut for the most part so the pages are pretty quick to put together.

Masking & Misting Techniques taught by Maggie Holmes

This class turned to be sponsored by a kit club (sorry I won’t give them advertising here but not hard to figure out if you want to). It was a nice class kit, with full packages of things to use and plenty of leftovers. We did some masking and misting techniques. I have tons of Glimmer and Maya Road mists, but have never used them on a layout, so it was fun to try it out.

I actually won a giveaway in this class too. It was my lucky weekend. (I also won a door prize in the vendor fair).

Here are the two pages we did:

Technique Tuesday Ali Edwards Class taught by Darcy

This class was inspired by Ali Edwards. We did a layout in class using different stamping techniques and then had a take home card. The instructor Darcy was fantastic. The best information I got from the class was when she talked about the different types of inks and what they were best used for. She also talked about glaze pens, which sent us all in search of them after class. We got a great demo at the Technique Tuesday booth and we were sold on them.

Here are the layouts we did, the weren’t elaborate in style, but more focused on different stamping techniques.

The last thing we did was the Saturday night crop. We had dinner over at the Yardhouse after a day of shopping then settled in for a night of scrapping at the Saturday Sendoff Crop.

We received a goodie bag and then they gave away door prizes throughout the night. I think 3 of us won a door prize. Both the goodie bag and door prize bag contained tons of things I already had (older idea books, current issue of CK, font software from a few years ago, and also some older embellies) It did come with a pack of cardstock which is always nice. Since I had most of the stuff I put it in the prize box for crop nights at my house, I will probably donate some to someplace too, since 3 of my crop night attendees were with me at the CKC crop night and received some of the same things.

Overall I loved CKC Glendale. The location was fantastic. The shopping this time was really good, a real great mix of newer product, great deals and different vendors. Although the vendor that carries the Bind It All wasn’t there even though they were on the map, and that is something I planned to buy. I really enjoyed my classes and instructors. So all in all a good experience that I am ready to repeat soon. Unfortunately it looks like next year will not be at Glendale again, based on the recent dates released. But we still have Mesa and that is only 6 months away!

CKC Glendale Thoughts & Classes Pt. 1

A few weeks ago I attended the Creating Keepakes Convention in Glendale (CKC) and had a lot of fun. Even though I had to drive 45 minutes to get to the venue I loved the location. Sadly it looks like we will only have CKC Mesa in Arizona next year. I guess we were spoiled having 2 different ones each year. But I loved the Glendale location even though it was far. The shopping this time was pretty darn good. Owning a scrapbook kit club, I don't find a need to buy a ton of stuff from my LSS so I wasn't expecting to spend nearly what I did this time. I picked up quite a few things that I thought would be fun to experiment with. And of course I bought Thickers, 15 packs to be exact to add to my ever growing collection. I can't resist all the different colors and fonts and when they are selling them at slightly more than wholesale (new ones too) I couldn't resist. Especially if I knew I wasn't going to use them in a kit or add on anytime soon.

I took 7 classes this time and spread them out over the 2 days so I never felt overwhelmed by them. Overall I liked the class pace. I finished a lot of the layouts or projects in class this time. And as of this past weekend every single layout, card and mini book is complete with pictures (which I will share over the next 3 posts).

Day 1 Classes

Joy of Cards - PaperCrafts - Kim Kesti

The class was taught by Kim Kesti from PaperCrafts. We made 4 really cute cards, Kim was great and I pretty much finished my cards up in class. And to top it off I won an idea book. I already had it, but still nice to win. It's now in the prize box for crop nights for someone else to benefit from.

We glittered the butterfly on this one with a Sakura Quickie Glue Pen and it worked really well. I liked all the little touches that we did on these cards like poking holes for the butterfly trail on this one.

This is a great way to use up all that pom pom trim I have. Use it as a border.

Another poking holes around the star. I've seen it before, but never done it and I thought it added a fun touch to this card.

And this was a fun cute card made with American Crafts papers.

Class 2 Scrap Strips Creating Keepsakes - Marnie Flores

This class was taught by Marnie Flores who I recognized from Write Click Scrapbook which is one of the places we advertise Color Me Daisy. We worked with Marnie when we did a giveaway with them, so it was fun to meet her in real life. She is very sweet and funny.

I like to take a lot of layout classes at the conventions, because it usually helps me just get some random pictures scrapped that I have in my binders to scrap but have never found the right page for.

We did 1 double page and 2 single page layouts. The idea of the class was to use up your scraps. These are the cute pages we made in the class:

This one is the double page layout. We received a transparency with the title on this one, so I used it to scrap some random leftover pictures of the day Jackson was born that was from right before we left to the hospital, in the delivery room, with his nana for the first time and daddy holding him. We used a lot of punches in this class for borders and accents, which I do a lot of. It is a great way to stretch supplies.

This is the 1st of the 2 single page layouts. I used a picture from the day we went to Laguna Beach for breakfast when we were in California this past summer for my grandfather's funeral. It was Jackson's first visit to the beach. We didn't have time to stay long and while the trip itself was sad and kind of stressful, this was a nice morning we had as a family away from it all.

This last one I added some stickers from my stash for the title. We made the borders from border punches. Just some pics of my little guy chillin' in the pool.

I guess Blogger doesn't want me to post any more pictures in this post. So I will start part 2 soon.

Sneak Peeks & Some Layouts

I got to play with the Color Me Daisy February Kit a couple of nights ago. Here are a couple of sneak peeks from my layouts:

I had some time to work on some other layouts as well. This one is from the Color Me Daisy December kit.

Here is a close up of the trees, I staggered them using pop dots with varying thickness to give it some dimension.

I finally got a page done of Jackson's birth. Took me long enough, LOL! Used Making Memories Animal Crackers line, plus My Minds Eye and Heidi Swapp tags.

I also have finished up several layouts from classes I took at the CK conventions in 2008. Most of them were mostly finished or just needed pictures. It was good to get some pictures on the pages and call them done, even if some of them weren't my favorites.

These are from the September CKC in Phoenix Latest & Greatest class. We used Imaginisce and Basic Grey papers for one page layouts. The store Embellish sells a matching page, which I bought even though I usually don't like to do 2 page layouts. And when I was finishing these I rememberd why. I usually don't like to have to work with so many pictures of the same event.

Journaling on the left says: Nicholas, Clark Kent has nothing on you!"

These were using the Basic Grey lines from last year.

This Layout "Why I Scrapbook" was done at the Backstage with Cathy Zielske class. She's one cool ladyand this was the second time I took a class from her. While I don't think my style is quite as "clean and simple" it is definitely more on the "simple" side so I appreciate a lot of what she has to say and she has a funny blog too.

These were from a Quick Quotes class I took in April at the CKC Mesa Convention. I like their classes but they are not relaxing at all. Very fast paced.

The next ones are probably my least favorite layouts. I took two classes from CK. Usually you get really nice products in the class for your projects, but instead this year they gave you the CK scrapbook in a kit's like they sell at JoAnn's. The cardstock and patterned papers in it were thin and the embellishments not all that exciting. But the pages were done, so I may as well use them for some pictures and not worry about it!

These were from a class called Flocked and Fabulous. I didn't really learn anything new. Here we flocked some foam squares.

On this one we flocked some glue pop dots and Doodlebug flocking stickers. The leaves and green border was flocked paper.

This was another CK class - What Matters Most. The papers and embellishments were a bit girly, so for the first one so I made some changes to minimize it since the page was for Nicholas.