Just a quick post to also say that I will be attending the Scrapping Away Retreat at Camp Luther at Hatzic Lake in Mission, BC this weekend.
Now that I have finished all my title and closing pages, I will have to figure out something else to take with me!
I should be OK - I have a few days to pack!
Looking forward to spending an entire weekend away without having to cook or clean. Can stay in my nice new lounging jammies if I want!
Happy Scrapping!
Brenda
Monday, January 30, 2012
It has been a very long time....
It has been a very long time since my last post.
Life and it's many ups and downs have been getting in the way of my enjoyment of scrapping and so it has been hard to even get to scrapping, let alone this blog.
Over the last few weeks, I have been working on finishing up all the tail ends of my family albums. I am now working on my 18th album - dating from August 1990 to August 2008 (I still have more to go - just where I am at this time).
I like having interesting title/cover and closing pages on all my albums - something to give the viewer an idea of what is contained in that album. The opening pages are a single page layout (using some of the leftover photos from that album, if possible) and the closing pages are divided in two - one half similar to the title page and the other half leading the viewer on to the next album - matching the upcoming title page. Because of the way that I do this, I can not completely finish the one album, until the next album's title page is decided. And I can decide the next album's title page until I am most of the way through the album to know what is encompassed in that album and therefore what I am going to do for the title page.
As I have inadvertantly made this a fairly complicated system (that I actually like), it has meant that I have to have about three full albums with me to work on to finish each of them as I go. Therefore, it has been very difficult to carry to a crop and I have had to work on these at home. I have also had to ensure that I concentrate when I do this as it could be very easy to end up with the closing portions of the albums in the wrong albums, etc.
When I started out scrapping, I would create the title page as the first item of starting a new album. This worked quite well when I had packages and packages of printed photos. Now that everything is digital, I only print out a little bit ahead of what I am currently scrapping and therefore don't have a good feel for the album as a whole until nearer the end of the ablum.
What got me a whole lot behind on these title and closing pages was the finding of a whole box of 'missing' photos (see earlier post) and that required, as I scrapbook in chronological order, the disassembling of many of my scrapbooks to insert the missing photos. As I was not sure where each of the books would stop and start, I just left the opening and closing pages blank.
After I finished inserting all these photos, I started out about four years ago, to finish up all the missing opening/closing pages. Just as I was really getting going on this project, my family life hit a major speed bump and I found it very hard to scrap the 'happy family' pictures.
Through all of the trials and tribulations, this project has been sitting at the back of my mind, waiting to be completed. Well, I can happily say that as of today, I have finally finished this project - up until the current album that I am working on. There are no more yellow stickies on every album marked "Title" and "Closing" - I do have a few where I know that I have photos, but they are MIA at this time - so I have saved the pages until they are located. I also have a few pages that are just too painful at this time to complete - namely the memorial pages for my Mom and Dad, and I know that I will shortly hit my sister's memorial pages too. Those pages will just have to wait until I can face them.
It has taken a long time, but I am very glad to have this done - I like being able to finish things and cross them off my list. I know that this is a hobby, and I figure that as a hobby, you should enjoy all the parts of it (why else are you doing it!), but sometimes just need to be pushed a little to finish something properly.
Here is one of my all-time favourite title pages that I just completed. The colours of the paper where just perfect for my photo of our street in the snow. The touches of red just pop off of the page and even the quote (that I had in my stash) was just right for the photo.
So, I might not get to this blog all that often (but I will try to get here more), but at least I am getting some scrapping done and starting to enjoy it again!
Happy Scrapping!
Brenda
Life and it's many ups and downs have been getting in the way of my enjoyment of scrapping and so it has been hard to even get to scrapping, let alone this blog.
Over the last few weeks, I have been working on finishing up all the tail ends of my family albums. I am now working on my 18th album - dating from August 1990 to August 2008 (I still have more to go - just where I am at this time).
I like having interesting title/cover and closing pages on all my albums - something to give the viewer an idea of what is contained in that album. The opening pages are a single page layout (using some of the leftover photos from that album, if possible) and the closing pages are divided in two - one half similar to the title page and the other half leading the viewer on to the next album - matching the upcoming title page. Because of the way that I do this, I can not completely finish the one album, until the next album's title page is decided. And I can decide the next album's title page until I am most of the way through the album to know what is encompassed in that album and therefore what I am going to do for the title page.
As I have inadvertantly made this a fairly complicated system (that I actually like), it has meant that I have to have about three full albums with me to work on to finish each of them as I go. Therefore, it has been very difficult to carry to a crop and I have had to work on these at home. I have also had to ensure that I concentrate when I do this as it could be very easy to end up with the closing portions of the albums in the wrong albums, etc.
When I started out scrapping, I would create the title page as the first item of starting a new album. This worked quite well when I had packages and packages of printed photos. Now that everything is digital, I only print out a little bit ahead of what I am currently scrapping and therefore don't have a good feel for the album as a whole until nearer the end of the ablum.
What got me a whole lot behind on these title and closing pages was the finding of a whole box of 'missing' photos (see earlier post) and that required, as I scrapbook in chronological order, the disassembling of many of my scrapbooks to insert the missing photos. As I was not sure where each of the books would stop and start, I just left the opening and closing pages blank.
After I finished inserting all these photos, I started out about four years ago, to finish up all the missing opening/closing pages. Just as I was really getting going on this project, my family life hit a major speed bump and I found it very hard to scrap the 'happy family' pictures.
Through all of the trials and tribulations, this project has been sitting at the back of my mind, waiting to be completed. Well, I can happily say that as of today, I have finally finished this project - up until the current album that I am working on. There are no more yellow stickies on every album marked "Title" and "Closing" - I do have a few where I know that I have photos, but they are MIA at this time - so I have saved the pages until they are located. I also have a few pages that are just too painful at this time to complete - namely the memorial pages for my Mom and Dad, and I know that I will shortly hit my sister's memorial pages too. Those pages will just have to wait until I can face them.
It has taken a long time, but I am very glad to have this done - I like being able to finish things and cross them off my list. I know that this is a hobby, and I figure that as a hobby, you should enjoy all the parts of it (why else are you doing it!), but sometimes just need to be pushed a little to finish something properly.
Here is one of my all-time favourite title pages that I just completed. The colours of the paper where just perfect for my photo of our street in the snow. The touches of red just pop off of the page and even the quote (that I had in my stash) was just right for the photo.
So, I might not get to this blog all that often (but I will try to get here more), but at least I am getting some scrapping done and starting to enjoy it again!
Happy Scrapping!
Brenda
Saturday, February 12, 2011
Butterfly Crop - Cancer Fundraiser - March 5th, 2011
Save the date!!!
We will be hosting another fabulous all-day crop on Saturday, March 5th, to raise money for cancer research in honour of my late sister, Sandra McDougall.
We will be serving pizza and salad for dinner (that is included in your crop fee). Please bring snacks to share with everyone.
Some of the events that we will have schdeduled are:
MINI EVENT DETAILS
PAPER DOLL
One of the special contests we will be having will be a "Paper Doll" contest. Everyone will get a paper doll and they have to dress them up using either the Everyday Paper Doll or the Paper Doll Dress Up cartridges. At the end of the event, all the paper dolls created will be sent to Children's Hospital to hopefully make a child smile.
BRIGHTEN YOUR DAY CARD
Another mini event we will be doing is to make a card to send to the Cancer Agency. These cards will be blank - for the patients to use.
They can be note cards or thank you cards - something bright and cheery.
We have lined up some great vendors to come to this event:
Cost is $40.00 and includes goodie bag, door prizes and a pizza/salad dinner. Please let me know if you have special food restrictions.
If you are interested, please drop me a line and I will save you a spot for this fun event!
Happy Scapping,
Brenda
We will be serving pizza and salad for dinner (that is included in your crop fee). Please bring snacks to share with everyone.
Some of the events that we will have schdeduled are:
- 50/50 draws
- layout challenges
- make-and-takes
- and other mini events - check back for more information.
MINI EVENT DETAILS
PAPER DOLL
One of the special contests we will be having will be a "Paper Doll" contest. Everyone will get a paper doll and they have to dress them up using either the Everyday Paper Doll or the Paper Doll Dress Up cartridges. At the end of the event, all the paper dolls created will be sent to Children's Hospital to hopefully make a child smile.
BRIGHTEN YOUR DAY CARD
Another mini event we will be doing is to make a card to send to the Cancer Agency. These cards will be blank - for the patients to use.
They can be note cards or thank you cards - something bright and cheery.
We have lined up some great vendors to come to this event:
- Stampin' Up - Mary Kent
- Cherish the Thought - Jessie
- and, of course, Love that Bug - Maria and Brenda (me)
Cost is $40.00 and includes goodie bag, door prizes and a pizza/salad dinner. Please let me know if you have special food restrictions.
If you are interested, please drop me a line and I will save you a spot for this fun event!
Happy Scapping,
Brenda
Friday, February 4, 2011
Love that Bug Upcoming Events
I know that I have not posted here in a long time - life has been getting in the way of some of the things that I like to do....
Just to let you know that Love that Bug (my partner in all things Cricut) and I will be attending the following events:
Happy Scrapping!
Brenda
Just to let you know that Love that Bug (my partner in all things Cricut) and I will be attending the following events:
- Saturday, February 5th (all day) - Ranch Park School Fundraiser Crop with Ultimate Scrapbook Retreats. We will have the store there and be hosting two Cricut classes: Cricut Basics and Sweethearts - Valentine's Cards and Box
- Wednesday, February 5th (7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.) - Love that Bug Studio - Cricut Basics class
- Wednesday, February 23rd (7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.) - Love that Bug Studio - Flowers for Mom card and gift box
- Saturday, February 26th (all day) - Baker Drive School Fundraiser Crop. We will have the store there and be hosting a Cricut Basics class
- Friday, March 18th through Sunday, March 20th - Hatzic Lake Retreat with Scrapping Away. I will have the store there along with hosting two classes: Cricut Basics and Flowers for Mom.
Happy Scrapping!
Brenda
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Love that Bug and other Cricut tales
Just a quick note.
I have been giving courses on the Cricut machines - this is a Basics course that I taught previously, but now I am teaching at different venues.
I taught the class at Cherish the Thought in Port Moody last month, earlier this month, I held another class at Scrap Arts in North Vancouver.
I will be teaching the class again on November 20th at Cherish the Thought - for more information go to Cherish's website for details.
Talking about Cricuts - if you want to get a great deal on all things Cricut - check out my scrapping pal's new business: Love that Bug. She has great prices on all cartridges and accesories. I will also be holding more classes at her home (aka "The Cardmaking/Scrapbooking Factory" - see my previous post).
Maybe I will see you at one of my Cricut classes!
Happy Scrapping,
Brenda
I have been giving courses on the Cricut machines - this is a Basics course that I taught previously, but now I am teaching at different venues.
I taught the class at Cherish the Thought in Port Moody last month, earlier this month, I held another class at Scrap Arts in North Vancouver.
I will be teaching the class again on November 20th at Cherish the Thought - for more information go to Cherish's website for details.
Talking about Cricuts - if you want to get a great deal on all things Cricut - check out my scrapping pal's new business: Love that Bug. She has great prices on all cartridges and accesories. I will also be holding more classes at her home (aka "The Cardmaking/Scrapbooking Factory" - see my previous post).
Maybe I will see you at one of my Cricut classes!
Happy Scrapping,
Brenda
Life is a Roller Coaster - Hang on for the ride!
I just took a look at my blog and realized that it has been six months since my last post.
I even put aside my scrapbooking for a while - that looking at some of the pictures was just too painful to work with. I am starting to be able to work with them again. Trying to remember that at the time the photos where taken that we were in much happier situation and try to journal with that time frame in mind, rather than the current time frame.
And so for my self-imposed moratorium on scrapbooking, I ventured into the world of cardmaking. I have made cards in the past for the odd birthday, and in the last few years Christmas, but only on a very simple level.
I remember when I was at the Ultimate Scrapbook Retreat last October that I saw some women with a huge pile of markers. They seemed to spend the entire weekend doing nothing but colouring.
And so I started colouring - stamped images at first and then I expanded my search to find 'digital stamps' - otherwise known as line art and found some of the cutest images to colour. One of my faves are the images from Mo Manning at Digital Pencil Too - check it out - I just love them.
I took a couple of classes and got the idea of the Copic Method of colouring.
So what to do with all the images that I had coloured??? Along came my little scrapbooking pal, Maria - she and another friend were going to sell cards at some local craft fairs and had accidentially double booked for the same weekend - so they needed more stock. Maria had turned her basement suite into a scrapbooking/cardmaking factory. She and Lil had combined all of their cardmaking/stamping/embossing/paper supplies and had a wonderful place set up to make all the cards you could ever want.
And so I joined them with a crazy week of laughter, a little tears and a whole lotta cards!!! I managed to make 80 cards in the week before the craft shows.
And so, here are some of the cards that I made - some with Mo Manning's images....
As much as I love scrapbooking, I had a great time making the cards too. I don't think that I will ever completely stop doing scrapbooking - I will get back into it, but I have been having a lot of fun making the cards.
So in the end, life is still a roller coaster, but as much as there are ups and down, you can find joy in some of the small things and that will help you find the joy in other parts of your life.
Live life and hope that you find joy - even in the small things.
Happy Scrapping,
Brenda
My crazy roller-coaster of a life has gotten in the way of my hobbies and my joy.....
I have been going through some very challenging times lately and that has definately had a severe impact on my creative side. It has been a struggle to find the creative spark to do the things that bring joy to my life.
I even put aside my scrapbooking for a while - that looking at some of the pictures was just too painful to work with. I am starting to be able to work with them again. Trying to remember that at the time the photos where taken that we were in much happier situation and try to journal with that time frame in mind, rather than the current time frame.
I did the same with pictures of my sister - journalling as if it were the very recent past rather than years before. That way I was able to keep the happiness of the photos intact, rather than overshadowing everything with her illness and subsequent death. That is much more how I would rather remember things - her death was only one small part of her life - not her entire life.
And so for my self-imposed moratorium on scrapbooking, I ventured into the world of cardmaking. I have made cards in the past for the odd birthday, and in the last few years Christmas, but only on a very simple level.
I remember when I was at the Ultimate Scrapbook Retreat last October that I saw some women with a huge pile of markers. They seemed to spend the entire weekend doing nothing but colouring.
At the time it totally puzzled me - now, I liked colouring as well as the next kid, but I found it frustrating, I did not like that you were to only use one colour red to colour the apple - don't you know that apples are not just one colour!! And then I tripped into the world of Copic pens..... I saw a video on YouTube one sleepless night and that was it - I was totally hooked!! Now I know what the draw was for the ladies with the millions of pens (or is that just millions of dollars worth of pens!!)!
And so I started colouring - stamped images at first and then I expanded my search to find 'digital stamps' - otherwise known as line art and found some of the cutest images to colour. One of my faves are the images from Mo Manning at Digital Pencil Too - check it out - I just love them.
I took a couple of classes and got the idea of the Copic Method of colouring.
I end up with huge amount of coloured images - I was colouring at scrapbooking nights, I was colouring watching the TV - and, of course, I needed more and more colours - just having 20 to start with was far too limiting and so I had to have more. Just another three to get the yellow greens I wanted, and then another three to get the lavenders I wanted, and so on and so on. I did draw the line (temporarily at least) for a while - I do have a little of most of the colour families now - so I have some options, but I know it will only be a little longer before I feel the need to add to the collection!
And so I joined them with a crazy week of laughter, a little tears and a whole lotta cards!!! I managed to make 80 cards in the week before the craft shows.
And so, here are some of the cards that I made - some with Mo Manning's images....
So in the end, life is still a roller coaster, but as much as there are ups and down, you can find joy in some of the small things and that will help you find the joy in other parts of your life.
Live life and hope that you find joy - even in the small things.
Happy Scrapping,
Brenda
Monday, March 22, 2010
Scrapping Away at Hatzic Lake
This past weekend I had the chance to attend Scrapping Away's annual retreat at Camp Luther. This is the fourth time, out of the last five years that I have been able to attend.
Hatzic is one of my very favourite retreats. It is not at big event, only about 25 people, but Michelle Dixon who is the owner of Scrapping Away, knows how to do a great retreat! There is plenty of room to scrap and plenty of prizes and give-aways, and the rooms at Camp Luther are very good for a 'camp' type of retreat location.
Beyond all of that, it is the group of people that attends this retreat are some of the best ever. People that I met four years ago are still some of my best friends to this day. It is a wonderful group of people that attend this event.
The best part of scrapbooking for me is the people that you meet - I love the craft of scrapbooking and the maintaining of the family history - but the connections you make with fellow scrapbookers is huge bonus to the hobby.
Happy scrapping!
Brenda
Hatzic is one of my very favourite retreats. It is not at big event, only about 25 people, but Michelle Dixon who is the owner of Scrapping Away, knows how to do a great retreat! There is plenty of room to scrap and plenty of prizes and give-aways, and the rooms at Camp Luther are very good for a 'camp' type of retreat location.
Beyond all of that, it is the group of people that attends this retreat are some of the best ever. People that I met four years ago are still some of my best friends to this day. It is a wonderful group of people that attend this event.
The best part of scrapbooking for me is the people that you meet - I love the craft of scrapbooking and the maintaining of the family history - but the connections you make with fellow scrapbookers is huge bonus to the hobby.
Happy scrapping!
Brenda
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