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Saturday, May 05, 2007
Happy National Scrapbook Day!!!
Yes, it's cinco de mayo, and despite the fact that we'll all "make a run for the border" and hit up Taco Bell from time to time, the real holiday we're celebrating here, people, is National Scrapbook Day. Enough people apparently love it so much they've made it a national holiday. Special sales are held in its honor. Women of all ages, shapes, and sizes get together to create pages and try out the latest gadgets and gizmos.

So for all of you who scrapbook, for all who used to scrapbook and aren't currently (for some odd reason), for all who someday want to try to scrapbook, for those who have made it in my scrapbooks, for those of you who haven't, for all of you who have benefited from my hobby and have an album of your very own gracing your shelf at home, even for that one special person who thinks scrapbooking is all a fad. . .this blog is for you.

I wish you the best pages ever. I wish you matching cardstock and printed paper all the rest of your days. I wish you cool brads and pretty ribbon. I wish you tags galore. I wish you ideas that even Martha Stewart herself would envy. I wish you unwarped mats and quieter hammers. (Actually Nat, I bought a new tool today for inserting eyelets - at 40% off of course - that takes the place of the annoying ching, ching, ching! I thought of you as I was trying it out.)
In case you're wondering, I did complete 8 pages today. (OK, the journaling's not done, but it's still a lot accomplished.)

And. . .I won the first door prize. Again!!! At the last crop I went to, I won the first door prize too. In fact, I have a thing for winning door prizes. I once won 4 in one day at a bridal fair. And I am hoping to win it big on simplescrapbooksmag.com's website - a lovely $300 worth of supplies grand prize that I registered for, and good ol' Craft Warehouse - a $100 shopping spree. It's mine. All mine.

I'll let you know if I win.

OK, enough for now. Come visit. I'll share my scrapbooks with you. Maybe I'll even take your picture. . .for future scrapbook pages!

Monday, February 26, 2007
to do. . .

For a long time I've been a creator of lists. Lists of things to do, lists of people to write, lists of tasks that seem to never get finished. Making lists helps keep me focused. If I seem to be losing track of what I need to do, I just take a peek at my list. I'm told all the time by parents and people at school that I'm "so organized." They say it with great gusto. I tell them I owe it all to my lists. For me there's no greater sense of accomplishment than crossing off that last item on my list of things on a piece of paper or neon sticky note that's completely filled and knowing that it's time to start a brand new list. It's crazy, I know, but I've been this way for as long as I can remember.

Maybe it's because in elementary and junior high we were required to keep assignment notebooks. Every day we'd have to write our homework down, get it initialed by the teacher, and signed that night by mom or dad; although it was usually mom who signed mine. Dad always said no one would ever be able to read his handwriting.

A really interesting thing I do is that I sometimes forget to add something to the list. Then later, when I'm looking at my list, I realize, "Hey, I just finished that, so let's add that on here and cross it off." Ahhh. . .that makes me feel good. Crossing things off. Accomplishment.

For some reason I'm just consumed by making lists. Right now I bet I could look around and find at least 5 incomplete lists. Lists that were started some time ago and put out of view - songs I want to learn how to play better on the piano, DVDs I want to order for school, thank you notes I need to write, bills that need to be paid, recipes to try, the to do list for my wedding (tucked somewhere in my Martha Stewart Keepsake Wedding Planner ), and the list goes on and on. Well, when it's out of sight, it's out of mind, they say. I feel guilty when I come across them because they always end up listing things I've failed to complete. Or perhaps that nasty little job from one list gets carried over to the next list simply because I just don't want to do it. (That all goes back to my tendencies toward procrastination which is a whole other blog all in itself. My sister is laughing out loud as she reads this, I'm sure!)

Well, today I stumbled across a website a former co-worker posted on her blog called Upper Room Daily Reflections. It's an online daily devotional that usually starts with interesting and sometimes gripping quotes. I kept browsing back at weeks gone by and came across this one. It feels so fitting for me today knowing that there are a gazillion things on my list of things to do. It started out with this prayer. . .

DEAR JESUS, during this day help me quiet all the thoughts that fill my head — where I must go, whom I must see, and what I must do. In their place, give me a sense of your order, your peace, and your time. . .I give all my tasks to you and trust you to bring order to them. In these moments, dear Jesus, come to me, be with me, and free me from the tyranny of "to do." (~Patricia F. Wilson, Quiet Spaces)

Isn't that so fitting? I think it's relative to all of us, whether we're actually list makers or not. No matter how consumed we may be by what's on our agendas for today or how insanely crazy we may feel because of the load we're carrying, Jesus is the only One who can bring true order to them anyway. All we have to do when we feel weighed down by all that nonsense is remember that He said "His yoke is easy and His burden is light." That's something I needed to be reminded of, and I'm taking it for granted that all of you out there do too.

Saturday, February 03, 2007
1,600 of us
Before I begin, I'd like to dedicate this blog to two special men in my life - my dad and my husband. Dad, you've been there along side me in this scrapbooking adventure since the very beginning. Without your support, I don't know where I'd be. You look at each of my albums with utmost enthusiasm and excitement. You listen to my stories about the latest gadgets and gizmos with care. You are my biggest cheerleader! (You should definitely be detecting hints of sarcasm right now!) And Phil, even though you think scrapbooking is just a fad (which we all know it's not), you are the only guy I know who will actually go into a scrapbooking store with his wife AND locate the 12X12 paper I'm in need of before I do. And you really do look at my albums. Even when I'm not just showing you the latest finished page. I love you for that. I really should get to know the floor plan of the Home Depot store better.

OK, now with all that said and done, I have to write about my experience last Saturday. I went to this mega-crop at the Portland Expo Center. It was organized by a ton of local Creative Memories consultants. I knew it was going to be big. But nothing prepares you for the "oh my gosh" feeling that you experience when you walk in the doors. 1,600 of us - all scrapbookers, all semi-crafty people, all into acid-free/lignon-free products, all there for the whole day of non-stop scrapbooking. 9 am - 8 pm. I've been to lots of crops before, but nothing quite like that.

Now, I thought I had a lot of stuff. My husband should be thankful that it's really not all that much. I narrowed down what I took to my two CM bags and one other little bag for my pictures. There was one woman who was pulling a cart (much bigger than a hotel luggage cart, mind you) stacked probably 4 1/2 feet high. Boxes on top of boxes on top of boxes. It was insane. She obviously didn't prepare the night before. And I don't have any idea how much she possibly could've done since it probably took her a good 5 hours just to unload the thing and get ready. We only had 4 feet of table space. I would've hated sitting next to her - table hog!

For the first hour, all I could pretty much do was sit there and soak it in. So many people, all there for the same thing - to capture the memories of the present so the people in future generations can have a feel for our lives and experiences. I remember years ago, both my grandmothers showing me boxes of old black and white photos. Sometimes they knew right away who was in the picture, sometimes a name was scrawled on the back, sometimes, they didn't have a clue. I like that aspect of scrapbooking. Someday years from now, when people are looking at my pictures, they're going to feel like they knew me personally.

But I had a moment of sadness there, in the midst of all that fun. Before I moved out here, I had the best scrapbooking partners ever: Nat, Gig & Kerri Rae. We were the ones who always grabbed those last two round tables at the Holiday Inn crops in Ashland. The ones who laughed really loud about stupid stuff the whole night, irritating everyone else who was there. The ones who'd themselves get irritated when those little metal hammers came out and made all that annoying noise - ching, ching, ching. (Nat, no noisy hammers at the Expo! They were outlawed!!!) The ones you could find afterwards at Denny's til 2am eating "Two Moons Over Mi-Hammy" or "Larry Bird" sandwiches.

And as I was working on my bridal shower pages (yes, I know, it's been almost 3 years and I'm still not finished with my wedding), there was the picture of all of us, and one of me, opening my gift from all of them - my wedding album. It made me a bit homesick for all of them. And then it made me a little mad, because since I moved out here, none of them have scrapbooked. I'm not sure what that's all about. They say they're busy being moms (ya, I was with all 3 of them - all pregnant at the exact same time - and my sister was pregnant too - Lord, help me!), but I know they all have husbands perfectly capable of baby-sitting their girls while they get away for a couple of hours and (maybe) get a page or two done. So girls, get your stuff out and get going. You are so behind right now it's not even funny. But you know what they say, don't try to start and catch up, just begin right now - with that last set of pictures you had developed!!!

So, even though I didn't win any door prizes this time (usually I do), I went home with a feeling of accomplishment (12X12 double page spreads finished & journaled) and a sense of pride (that I'm a scrapbooker!). Oh, and don't forget about all those pictures I took of the 400 page ideas hanging up all over the place. Those will come in handy too!
And if anyone wants to come and look at my new pages, we do have that guest room available. Hint. Hint. Hint.