There’s a scrappy tag going around, and I was tagged by Kelly Oblak (https://youtu.be/53M7A8qUIzg) and Becky Bitting (https://youtu.be/ogNJTUIzU-A). You can see my response below.
I forgot to tag anyone. If you want to join in, consider yourself tagged. I’d love to hear your responses!
A year ago I signed up to attend my first-ever scrapbooking retreat: the Victoria Marie Scrapbook Retreat. I was so, so sick and needed something to look forward to. I hoped I would be able to figure out my asthma/allergy problems in a year.
The month of the retreat arrived, and my lungs had been doing much better. I was excited but nervous, and my anxiety grew as the event drew near. I have social anxiety, and I was anxious about whether I would enjoy being around so many people, whether I would have everything I needed to create pages, and what it would be like to travel with so much medical equipment.
I’m so pleased to say I had so much fun! Victoria greeted me when I arrived, and the other scrappers were so warm and gracious. I enjoyed the venue as well–it had a nice, large room for scrapbooking, the bedrooms were comfortable, and the food was just lovely! My fave was a dessert (of course), a tasty spice cake. And the crop room even had Diet Pepsi. Do you know how rare and amazing that is? LOL.
Aside from a trip to Tuesday Morning (I hitched a ride with Angie) and a group lunch, I stayed at the venue and scrapbooked. There was a comfortable, friendly atmosphere with chit chat and jokes. One table was set aside as a spot for people to leave products they no longer wanted. I have to admit I took a few items from that table (OK, maybe more than a few), but I used some of them on pages I worked on at the retreat, so I figure it’s justified. I also used some of my Tuesday Morning purchases as well.
I left feeling like all these women are my friends, and that friendship continues through Facebook connections. I had a wonderful time. This retreat was a true getaway, and such a treat! I loved waking up and just being able to sit down and scrapbook. And I stayed up late to scrap as well.
I managed to put together 21 page kits to take with me. I finished 14 pages and had 3 more that are about halfway done. I’m happy with that. You can see the pages I made in the layout share below.
I’m signed up to go again next year. Can’t wait to see these crazy, wonderful women again!
You might remember that I took on a June challenge from Modern{Whit}. That challenge was to pick an unfinished project and finish it up in June. My goal was to complete these four pages.
It’s the last day of June, so it’s time to report on my results. I finished two of the four pages.
And here’s the second.
I will have process videos for both of these, but I still need to do the video editing. I am quite pleased with how these turned out. It’s funny that they both use that sunburst template, but they look quite different.
I’ve decided to keep the challenge going: I will complete the next two pages in July. 🙂
I watched several YouTube videos this morning when I came across a June challenge from Modern{Whit}. You can watch the complete video below, but the point of the challenge is to choose a project and finish it by the end of the month.
I don’t do complex projects like make mini albums or work on Project Life. And just creating one page didn’t feel like enough. So I’ve decided to complete some of the pages I’ve had sitting around in various stages of progress. Here they are.
The top left and bottom right are nearly finished–I just need to add the embellishments and a photo or title. I plan to keep the products I chose for the one on the top right, but I’m not happy with the design. The page on the bottom left is one I may scrap (ha ha) and start over. But we’ll see.
So that’s my June project! And I have lots of time left in the month to do it, which is good because I’m feeling a bit embellishment challenged. I have so many I don’t always know where to start. Got any embellishing tips for me? If so, share them in the comments. 🙂 And look for an update post around the end of the month.
Sometimes I just have to walk away. Not from scrapbooking altogether. Never that. Just from my current project. You can see the project in question here.
I’ve got the basics down, but now that it’s time to embellish, I’m stuck. I thought about adding some circles, but they started to take over the page. I want some places to layer and cluster, but I’m not sure where to do it. I will figure this out, but for now it’s time to walk away.
What do you do when you feel stuck on a project?
This year I’ve been telling myself that I will think about every scrappy purchase before I make it–and it had still better be on sale. So I’ve been quite proud of myself for my restraint. Except I’m not too sure it’s working. Sure, I’m holding off on (most) full-price purchases. But I’ve been bringing home several bags of stuff. Great stuff, absolutely. And it’s on sale. But it’s still more stuff! Do I really need more stuff? The answer is no, I don’t.
But the truth is, if the National Scrapbook Day sales this weekend are good enough, I am still going to buy. I’ve started my NSD shopping already with some random embellishments and stamps. Um, oops? Don’t know what else to say. I’m also hoping to see Ali Edwards put some of her kits on sale. And I’ll probably be tempted by something else that comes along . . .
But after this weekend I’m not just going to think about each purchase–I’m going to rethink it and rethink some more. After all, it would be nice if scrapbooking could go back to filling my days without filling other areas of the house. Unless it’s with completed scrapbook pages. 🙂
I subscribe to the Felicity Jane monthly kit. And I love it.
The papers and embellishments are just my style, and each kit includes a super versatile stamp set as well. And the products coordinate quite well from month to month as well. In short, there are many great things about subscribing to a kit, and I have no plans to stop soon.
But.
Let’s face it: kit products build up. I try to use them up, and every few months I make a focused effort to make a dent in my supplies, and I do just that. But then I remember that I have loads of other worthy products that also need to be used. Plus I love variety, so I can only scrapbook using a smaller pool of items for so long before I start feeling twitchy. And they pile up again . . .
I put all of my FJ kit products in a 12 x 12 Iris container. I’ve been a subscriber for a year; my container is getting quite, quite full.
Here’s my question to other kit subscribers: how do you store your kits? And what do you do to use up your kit supplies?
I’m secretly hoping to get someone to give me a scrapbooking stipend I can live on so I don’t have to work. I know I could do so much more scrapbooking this way. 🙂
I read Amy Jo’s post about products that got away, and it prompted me to think about my out out-of-reach item: this doggy-themed stamp set from Cocoa Daisy.
I have other dog stamps, but I love the cute whimsical quality of this one. It was available with their March planner kits; I thought it would be available with the scrapbook kit too. Whoops! Not so much. So I missed out. I’ve added it to my wish list, but I don’t expect it to become available again.
Do you have a lost product that got away?
I accepted a blogging challenge to post on my blog 21 times this month. After a strong start, I am brainstorming new topics. This blog entry about scrappy retreats got me thinking about something new I am doing this year: attending a scrapbooking retreat!
It’s not until this fall, but I am excited about it. Here’s the place I’m going, which looks beautiful to me. 🙂
I’ll be here with a group of 20 or so scrappers I know from a scrapbooking Facebook group. Meeting them all for the first time, so I’m a little nervous, too. But I’m also excited! I’ve got many months left to prepare, but I need to start putting together page kits. I’ll be there a little more than three days, and I want to get some pages done.
Anyone have any tips about scrappy retreats? I’d love to hear from you in the comments.
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