Great American Scrapbook Convention

I'm back from this weekend's Great American Scrapbook Convention in Arlington!  Wow!  It was pretty unbelievable.  The shopping was amazing, my classes were amazing and the time was amazing. 

I drove up on Thursday evening to prepare myself for the convention on Friday.  I enrolled in 3 different classes for Friday...we'll get to those in a minute. The shopping opened at 9:00, so I wanted to be there just in time for the doors to open.  Since my first class was at 9:30, I wanted to take a loop around to see what was out there and start making my list.  After a few minutes, it was a little overwhelming.  There was a lot of paper...a lot.  A lot of kits, a lot of ribbon, twine, card stock, dies.  I started my list and had to be on my way to class.

My first class was a little disappointing.  I did learn a little bit about misting, which I have never done before, but the layout that was created was a little blah for me.  Misting, however, was fun, and several other classes used the mists, so I'm wondering if  I need to bite the bullet and buy some.  That was one thing I resisted at the trade show portion.

After the first class I was able to take a little more time shopping and really looking at some supplies.  I recognized a company called Jenni Bowlin and browsed through it for a little bit, but couldn't figure out how I knew that name.  After leaving, I stopped at some other booth to look at ink and then it hit me - INK!!  Jenni Bowlin has ink that I want.  So, I rushed back to her booth and bought some ink:

The Vivid ink and two chalk inks are from different companies, and I'll get to that in a minute.  The Jenni Bowlin inks have been on my list and in my Amazon cart for a couple of months, but I didn't want to pay shipping.  I can't wait to try out the Malted Milk and Brown Sugar.  I heard they were supposed to be close to Kraft color, so I'm excited about that.

My second class was sponsored by an online company called The Whole Kit and Kaboodle.  Andrea Deer, the owner, was the class instructor and wow, her kits are awesome!  She uses her die-cutting system to cut everything you need for a 1 or 2 page layout.  All you have to do is put it all together.  We created 3 pages in the class, and there was an option to buy the companion pages - which I did.

I don't want to mess with copyright stuff, so I'm sending you to the links of the kits we used.
-The first one was titled "The Heat Is On".  In the class we created the left page, and I purchased the right.
-The second was titled "Just Beachy."  Again, we created the left page, and I bought the right.
-The last layout was titled "Summer...A Whale of a Good Time." We built the right page this time, and I bought the left.

Again - misting was a big thing in this class, and that whale is super cute!!  If you are going to the beach or expecting to spend a lot of time outside this summer, these kits will make for some quick and cute layouts! Also, remember those chalk inks in the first picture.  It's Andrea's fault that I bought those.  She chalks everything, and I love the look, but often forget to chalk my edges until the paper is already adhered.  These inks are great for that!  Love the colors too!  That blue is beautiful and the brown is a deep, earthy color.  I had to buy the brown because the pad on the brown ink pad I had fell off in the middle of a class. 

I had a few minutes to run through the trade show portion again and passed by a ribbon booth.  One of the racks at this booth was selling a baker's dozen of ribbon for $5.00.  So, I picked this:

I know...who needs more ribbon?  Everyone needs more ribbon!!!  Are you counting the pieces?  There are more than 13 there.  I bought the front ruler ribbon because I just loved it and the texture reminded me of my grandma's measuring tape in her sewing box.  It was cloth, not vinyl.  Loved it. 

I happened by a booth selling clear stamps.  Everyone needs more of those too.  And this girl's style is so up my alley.  The set that drew me in was a set of Easter eggs with different designs.  I don't really have an Easter set, so I loved this one.  As I went through the booth, I began writing down so many sets that I loved.  I knew I couldn't buy any of them until I really thought about which ones I really loved. So, I had to go to my next class and think about the stamps, and then go back after class was over. 

My third class was sponsored by SEI, and the class kit was HUGE and beautiful!  The paper was flowery, glittery and just beautiful and some of the techniques in this class were so different.  The two (out of six) layouts that we actually finished had elements of the layout on the outside of the page protector, which is so hard for me to wrap my brain around.  Aren't page protectors...used...to...protect...the...page?  So, between that and the fast pace of the class, I was a little exhausted when it was over. 

I left.  I didn't go back and buy stamps. :(

My second day began again with a stroll around the show floor.  I hadn't seen any twine on the day before, even though I was looking for it.  Finally, I saw some at the very top of a booth.  They were selling 8 packages of twine for $20.00.  So, after much deliberation, I bought this:

My Mind's Eye has some wonderful color choice, and 5-yards more in the package, so I tried to get as many as I could of theirs, but the three colors from The Twinery were too pretty to not get.  So, I did.  I also bought this paper pad, because I needed more patterned paper (like a hole in my head.)

I went back to the stamp booth I was at yesterday, and did another round of writing down and making decisions.  Still needed to think about things. 

My first class on Saturday was sponsored by Quick Quotes, which is also a company that has kits.  The line of paper that we used is called "My Michelle," and is awesome.  We created six pages with the line, and these are some of my favorite projects from the convention.  The picture below is from the GASC website and isn't my layout, but it just shows how awesome the projects can be.

I learned some tricks that I'm excited about for adhering vellum.  Again, the kits had everything already cut and I'm super excited about the layouts. 

My third class was sponsored by The Whole Kit and Kaboodle again.  I was excited when I realized that when I walked in.  I didn't even do that on purpose.  This was a card class.  I signed up for this one to give myself a change of pace, and I'm so glad I did.  The kits were all ready, everything cut, and all I had to do was adhere things down as Andrea was instructing.  The problem was that I ran out of adhesive runner in the middle of the second card and had to finish the 2nd, 3rd and 4th card with Scor-tape and glue dots.  I didn't even start the 5th card.  Not having adhesive is a burden.

Here are the cards we created.  The thing about Andrea's cards is that the pictures don't really show how cute they are.  Many of them have unexpected folds and don't use the traditional A2 fold.  Love that!

CUTE!  And again - misting was involved.

After class, I went and bought this:

They were on sale.  I bought a 5th one, but it's already in use.  The bummer part is I walked down a differnt aisle and found them $1 cheaper.  Grrrrrr...

I finally had time to sit at the stamp booth I had been stalking and made the Make and Take.  The prize for finishing their card was this cute thing:

The stamp company is called The Stamps of Life.  Apparently, I missed the announcement when this company started up 18 months ago.   The owner, Stephanie, is full of energy and has great ideas.  Her designs are beautiful, whimsy, fun and creative.  Some of the sets are images that I haven't seen on a stamp, and love how easy they look to cut out and paper piece - my favorite technique.  Stephanie was at the booth all day and talked to me every time I was there.  Here's her blog.  Lots of inspiration - lots of videos. 

Go...go now! 

No wait!  See what I bought first.

I finally made some decisions on the stamps and bought these:

banners4all

Been looking for a banner set I couldn't live without.  Love the different holidays in this one.

bunny4Easter:

Yeah, I didn't get the egg one; loved it, but thought this one would be more versatile.

cars2drive

 I have a boy.  No explanation needed.

dictionary4me

 Again, I've been looking for something like this.  This set has a lot of options!

scream4icecream

This one has a companion set I really want, but I resisted.  It was between this one and her cupcake set, but if you remember, I have several cupcake stamps already and had to go with something different. 

stamped4you

Wow!  I really liked this one and don't have anything like it.  Had to get it. 

I bought six sets.  I know.  I splurged.  I'm OK with that.  Because I bought 6 sets, I received 2 free ink pads from the booth.  That's the other ink you see in the first picture.  They love this ink at this booth, and I have to admit the two colors I chose are pretty "vivid!"  I guess that's why they named the ink what they did. 

I had one more class to attend.  I was not crazy about it - at - all, even though it involved misting, which apparently everyone is doing.  So, I'm going to go ahead and finish up this post.  It's a long one.

I loved the convention!  If there is a convention near you, I would try to make it.  So much to see, so much to do.   It was nice to be around thousands of people that share the same addiction as I do.  And scrapbookers are nice people.  That's for sure.

I'm still not buying mist. 

Thanks for visiting My Happy Place!

Out of This World

My blog group, the Paper Dolls, has some pretty awesome challenges going on right now.  I'm a bit behind and hoping to play catch up in the next few days before I leave for my  

FIRST SCRAPBOOKING CONVENTION!! 

I have friends that don't scrapbook, giggling at me, wondering why I need to take classes to learn how to cut paper.  I just let them giggle.  I can't wait!!

I digress.

This card is for Suzanne's challenge which is to use patterned paper for everything but the base.  You can read all about it and share your cards if you click here.  Suzanne is the queen of patterned paper.  If we all used it the way she does, there would not be a world-wide epidemic of paper hoarding.  

Here's my submission to Suzanne's challenge. 

All the patterned paper is from Fancy Pants To the Moon collection.  ("One of these days, Alice...")  Name that program.

I die cut and paper-pieced the rocket from PTI's Out of This World set and heat embossed the sentiment in the corner with silver Zing.  It shows up better in real life.  

I have one more Dolls challenge to catch up.  You should come join us.  It's totally free of charge and free of stress.  Our challenges are open to anyone and open ended! 

Thanks for stopping by My Happy Place! 

Casual Friday Challenge #4

I missed last week's CAS-ual Friday's challenge of using bling, so I was really looking forward to what the girls had to throw at us this week.  Boy, was I excited to see the theme.  I need a graduation card for a friend's daughter, and now, I have the motivation to make one!  You can get all the details and submit your own project here.

Here's my card, and I tried to keep it as CAS as possible.

The stickers and the cap are from my stash.  Everything else is from Papertrey Ink. 

Here's the inside:

What's funny, is that I could have sworn I had a graduation cap stamp.  I just knew I did.  I searched high and low, left and right, up and down for the stamp and couldn't find it.  Then it dawned on me...it's in Missouri...sitting in a brown box...on its way to my house.  Ugh, I'm getting old.  

Thanks for visiting My Happy Place...crazy as it may be!

May Papertrey Pages Challenge

This month Beth challenged the forum members to use something released from PTI during March or April.  So many wonderful stamps and dies were released in those two months, that I imagine it would have been difficult to decide had I not already had some pictures on my table to scrap.  But, of course, here I am waiting until the last of the month to work on the layout.  That's probably why I don't like my layouts too much lately - I'm in a hurry to finish them.

I'm still working on finishing my son's Pre-Kindergarten scrapbook. Do all children get obsessed about certain things during their childhood?  My son is-was-and-always-will-be obsessed with dinosaurs.  It has been a fascination of his for years.  During his Pre-Kindergarten year, he became obsessed with space and planets and learned more about them than my 6th graders know.  He still loves to study and learn about them.  At the time these photos were taken, he was truly obsessed.

Here's my layout:

To follow Beth's challenge to use recently released products, I used the Out of this World die and stamp and the Simple Circles set from the "Boy Basics" line that PTI came out with in April.  The circles were punched out and then stamped to resemble planets.  Isn't my son's spelling wonderful?

Here's a closeup: 

I purchased that glittered black cardstock just for this layout so it would twinkle a little in the light and look like outer space. 

That's all from me today!  I need to get some other pictures printed so I'm ready for the next challenge and hopefully will get busy before the end of the month.

Thanks for visiting My Happy Place!

Heartfelt Sympathy

If I can make it through this post without crying, it'll be a minor miracle.  So before we get to all of the mushy stuff, I'll let you know the challenges this card is for.  

Jenny has a great challenge this week at wee Memories.  She wants us to go and find some inspiration at Pinterest or Etsy and use it to create a card.  The only challenge there is to pick only ONE thing that is inspiring.  Beautiful photos are everywhere.  Here's the photo I picked for inspiration:

You can check out Jenny's challenge if you click here 

 

This is my second card for this week's challenge for Make It Monday.  The focus is on sympathy cards with a bit of color to them.  You can see the video, challenge and all the submissions for this week by clicking here.

As I was making this card, I was remembering all of the beautiful sympathy cards my PTI Forum friends sent me two months ago, when my husband suddenly died.  The outpouring of prayers, care, and thoughtfulness from people who only know me as a blogging friend was quite amazing.  Each day I would walk to our mailbox and there would be one, two, or more cards from my friends.  The cards were beautiful, colorful, and I could tell that each person put so much love for me into their cards.  It was quite amazing, and seeing the beautiful creations brightened my day for just a moment.  Not only were cards sent to me, but several forum friends with kids of their own shared sympathy cards made for my 5-year old son by their children.  Again, I want to thank my forum friends for their kindness and prayers.  You may think that someone who is grieving may not need a bright, cheerful looking card, but please think again.  It makes all the difference.  Believe me; I know.

Here's a picture of their beautiful creations:

I still look at them from time to time and read what you all wrote.  Thank you, thank you.  From the bottom of my heart - thank you!

Here's my newest creation for these two challenges:

and the  inside:

Die-cuts make life easier, don't you think?  I loved the colors in the picture of the dress I found on Pinterest.  Gray with orange and cream was a bit odd, but now that I've seen it together, I think it is a beautiful color combo.

Thanks for visiting My Happy Place and enduring a bit of mushiness!

 

Papertrey May Blog Hop Challenge

Spring has sprung - and as a Middle School teacher - no one knows that better than I do.  Nichole's challenge is not about the angst of the tween in Spring, however, it's all about flowers.  You can see the details and all the submissions if you click here.  Here's what she had to say:

May is the month when many flowers finally go into full bloom after a long winter's sleep.  For the blog hop this month we want to see your favorite take on flowers.  You can stamp backgrounds, create custom floral embellishments, showcase unique flower center additions (buttons, rhinestones, beads, etc...), flowers die-cut from different materials (like fabric, felt, vellum, etc...) or anything else you can dream up!  We are looking forward to seeing all of your amazing creations!

I'm not so sure my contribution will be "amazing," but I tried.  This is the last week of school., so the only amazing thing about me right now is the fact that I made it to the last week of school  To be even more accurate, after today, there are only 1.5 days left.  Yes, the .5 really is important.  So, "amazing" may not be possible at the moment, but here's what I came up with.  

Ahhh, Melissa Bickford, how I love you!  Thanks for designing some of my favorite sets and dies.  I can't wait for more.  My package with new stuff, including Floral Fusion 3 and 4, and Fruit Fusion, is on its way.  I will be very happy come Friday - the last day of school - and the day I should receive my PTI package.

I'm not sure which I am most excited about!

Enjoy the hop and thanks for visiting My Happy Place - which should be even happier after Friday!

MIM-Sympathy

This week's Make It Monday challenge is brought to us by Dawn, who encourages us not to always use neutral colors when creating a sympathy card.  Beautiful colors can be healing and meaningful.  You can see Dawn's beautiful card, wonderful video and inspiring cards submitted already by clicking here.  Having been on the receiving end of many PTI forum member's beautiful sympathy cards, I know the submissions this week will be amazing. 

Here's mine:

I wanted to keep the background simple, so I stamped it several times with one of my favorite branches from Turning a New Leaf.  The quote is special to me as it is on my parents' headstone.  My mother was an artist and mostly painted flowers, birds and butterflies.  Her love of butterflies (and tulips!) was passed on to me.  When my father suggested this quote after my mother passed, my sisters and I thought it was perfect.  I think it goes along perfectly with PTI's Butterfly Dreams set.  I ran the butterfly through my Xyron and sprinkled some prisma glitter on it for sparkle.  The body was created using black rhinestones. 

Here's the inside:

Honestly, I hope I don't need this anytime soon.   We've had a rough year at my school with many of us losing fathers, sisters, mothers, and husbands.  We need a break.  So, I'll file this one away to use much, much later.

Thanks for visiting My Happy Place!

Hoppy Day!

Today's card is a very special card.  It's my son's birthday card.  He turns 6 tomorrow - Wednesday, May 18th.  He was born on a Wednesday at 5:55 p.m. after I was in labor for 20 hours.  I had an epidural at 5:55 a.m.  (or thereabouts).  

I went into labor on Tuesday night about 10:00, the day before I was going to be induced, so we were getting ready for the family to descend on us arrive. I was dusting the furniture upstairs when I stood up and my water broke.  I thought I had peed my pants, and was mad I had one more thing to deal with before bedtime.  After I realized that I hadn't, I was relieved, and called to my husband to get the phone and call the doctor.  My husband was as cool as a cucumber throughout the entire experience.  That was his Method of Operation.  He hardly ever got frazzled at anything.  He was an engineer, logical thinker, analytical.  

We arrived at the hospital, checked in and got settled.  I tried to go as long as I could with natural labor, but I knew from the beginning that I'd get an epidural.  After being up 7 hours in labor, we were both exhausted, and there wasn't an end in sight.  The doctor did the epidural in the dark.  That's how good he was.  We got some sleep and began calling friends and family later that morning.  They were all coming anyway, they just had to speed things up a bit.  I was upset that I hadn't gotten the pedicure I had planned to get.

I ended up having to have a C-section early in the evening.  The boy just wasn't going to go down any further than he already was, and my doctor was getting nervous about time.  My water had been broken too long and she wanted to go and get him.  He wasn't in distress or anything; he just needed another way out.

I will spare you the details of the surgery.  I'll just say that there were a couple of things that I wished someone had told me before I went in.  Now, anytime someone I know is pregnant, I tell them what I wish I had known, just in case they end up having a C-section.  

The first thing that my doctor said when she saw my son was, "Oh, Lee Anne, he has strawberry-blond hair!"  I said, "I know!!"  Even though I hadn't seen him yet.  I had dreamed two or three times that my little boy was a blondy.  Mother's know.  (It turns out that the cord was wrapped around the neck two times, which is why he didn't get any further.  Thank God I had a C-section!)

My grandmother used to say that when she was pregnant with my dad, she used to tell everyone, "I just want a son that looks just like his Daddy."  So, I continued that tradition and said it to everyone all the time.  My husband was handsome, so this would be a winning situation.  

The first thing my husband said to me after seeing our son was, "You got your wish.  He looks just like me."  Oh, I was thrilled.  And he did.  My husband's hospital picture and my son's hospital picture are almost identical.  It is frightening. 

Fast forward six years.  Here we are.  For those of you who have been around for the last few months, you can imagine that tomorrow is not going to be as happy as it should for me, but I will try to make the best of it.  It starts with a card in the morning, a present in the bathroom, one at the kitchen table, one in his carseat and so forth.  He'll be happy with the presents, but he's a pretty smart dude.  He knows something is missing.  He'll say something, no doubt.  But tomorrow is about being happy, not sad, right?

So, here's my son's card:

Inside:

If you've made it this far in the post, you probably don't want to know all the steps to make the card.  Suffice it to say that dies, impression plates, and punches were all involved in the process.  None were hurt in the making of this card, however.

I'm submitting this card to two challenges:  This week's challenge at Off the Wall Craftiness (again!) and this week's challenge at CAS-ual Friday(again!).  You should join in on the fun at both challenges!  I'm thankful for these challenges because they provided me with ideas and a starting place for this special card. 

Here's their inspiration:

 

Thanks so much for visiting My Happy Place!

Peas, Love, Happiness

This card is for two challenges - both of which are near and dear to my heart.  I've loved Off the Wall Craftiness since I found it.  Kim's color combos are amazing, and some put me out of my comfort zone.  Love that.   Here is her inspiration again for this week's challenge, in case you forgot it since yesterday:

By the way, as I was tucking in my son tonight, I realized why I like this combo so much.  It's the one that he has on his bedspread.  Funny!

The other challenge that I love is the new one, CAS-ual Friday.  I love being able to be comfortable completing a CAS card.  I usually only have about 20 minutes to work in the evening since I do so while my son is bathing.  It's always a good thing when he wants to splash around a little bit longer.  Here's this week's challenge at CAS-ual Friday:

 

Buttons and twine...I can get into that!  

Here's my card:

I used some of my new stamps from Paper Smooches - Vegtastic - for this card.  The peas and sentiment came from them.  I paperpieced the peas from the Bitty Dot Basics in Simply Chartreuse (Papertrey Ink) and then cut the peas out from a solid piece and popped them up to give them some dimension.  The circle stamp is from Wilson Designs - Everything's Owlright - I heat embossed it to give it a little shine.  

After securing down all of the paper, I threaded all the buttons with Rustic White twine.  

By then, bath time was over, and I had to be done.  So this is what I accomplished.  I should rename my blog, "What I accomplish during bathtime!"

Thanks for visiting My Happy Place!

 

OTWC #53

This week's color combo at Off the Wall Craftiness is one of my favorites! Here is Kim's inspiration she found for us:

Kraft - with anything - you can't really go wrong.  Add in the green and blue and it is perfect for summer.  Beautiful green grass - beautiful blue skies.

Here's my card using Kim's set Everything's Owlright.

I have 3 friends at school with birthdays this week.  This will go to one of them!

I used Aqua Mist and Simply Chartreuse from Papertrey Ink for the color combo.  The grass is a piece of patterned paper from Jillibean Soup.  I paperpieced Kim's cute owl using Kraft paper and for the belly, I stamped and cut it from Aqua Mist again.  The little tag and leaves are from PTI, and the flowers were part of a Mother's Day gift from my blogging friend, Renee! Thanks, Renee! (You should go and visit her blog.  I've been on the receiving end of some of her creations.  Not only is she amazingly talented, but she can write a story that will have you laughing out loud.)  Go...go now!

Thanks for visiting My Happy Place!