Blogging is Scrapbooking? Who knew??

Lain Ehmann knew!

It has been 1,767 days since my last blog post.  Thanks to Lain Ehmann, however, I have the perfect reason to shake off the dust (with a leaf blower) and post an entry

CreativeLive Reception

Two months ago, my good friend, Cindy DeRosier, asked if I would like to attend a scrapbooking workshop called, “Scrapbook Your Story with Lain Ehmann”.  The workshop would be filmed by CreativeLive and we would be audience members.  I pictured being one of 25-30 members and thought it would be fun.  It turns out that we were 1 of 6 members of a very interactive audience.  Yikes!  No flying under the radar with this workshop!  At least I was right about it being fun.

The workshop focused on storytelling and covered a wide range of topics such as barriers to scrapbooking (when did I let embellishments take the place of journaling?), design, process, photos, and, of course, telling our story.  We discussed what gets in the way of completing our pages (too many product choices, expectations from design teams, time restraints, perfectionism, etc.).  Lain is a marvelous teacher and this workshop brought me back to my roots in scrapbooking:  telling my story.  My family gives me endless stories that are worth capturing on paper.   Our history can be preserved forever on layouts (check), in photobooks (I’ll get there), mini-albums (check), pocket scrapbooks (check), smashbooks (check) and yes, even on blogs. 

Lain Ehmann and Chris Jennings

 I learned that there are services that will print blog posts in a single photobook.  Sweet!!!   Before this class I knew that I wanted to scrap my previous blog posts.  I had thought of printing them out onto cardstock, embellishing them with the latest and greatest products, and tweaking each page to perfection.   It was a big project in my endless to-do project list.  Basically, I was overthinking it.  All I had to do was upload to a service, make a few choices, whip out my credit card, and voila!  My blog posts easily become part of my scrapbook collection.  Niiiice!

Scrapbooking my blog posts were not the only things I have been overthinking.   Lain made me realize that it is OK to scrap everyday events using the products I want to use and scrapping as quickly as I want.     My paper and embellishments do NOT need to match perfectly and I do not need to come up with a new and creative design for each and every page.  Will every page be perfect?  Nope.  Will every page be cherished?  Yep.   There was a time when I could put together quick layouts that brought me joy every time.  That time was long before design teams and long before I became friends with, and cropped alongside, some of the most amazing, talented scrapbookers in the industry.   Seriously, having uber-talented and published friends is intimidating!

Bottom line….what matters is that I tell my story.    In the end my family won’t care about the techniques I used on my pages, if I chose Bo Bunny paper over Basic Grey, or what font I used for the title.  They will care about the stories, though.   While they might be mildly interested that a particular layout was published on some now-defunct online magazine, they will be more thrilled to read about that time Dad got stuck on the pool slide at Disneyland (a Nenni classic!).

Somewhere along the line I had become so used to selecting the perfect papers and embellishing my pages carefully, that I was very remiss in leaving any room for journaling.  I had managed to wander into the “Forest of Products” and fall down the “Dark Hole of Design.”  While there is nothing wrong with the “Forest of Products” or the “Dark Hole of Design,” they were no longer working for me.  Lain so graciously pulled me out of that spot and set me back onto my personal path to scrapping fun.

Now I can’t take credit for the terms, “Forest of Products” and “Dark Hole of Design.”  That credit goes to either Lain or the cohosts of the workshop.  I can’t remember who first coined those terms, but they were used often as the workshop progressed.  I can’t even take credit for knowing that it’s been 1,767 days since my last post.  That was a gem that came up for discussion during one of the workshop discussions when Cindy mentioned using Timeanddate.com as a resource for her layouts.   More credits are due for the photos in this blog.   Cameras were clicking away both days and I have included photos taken by myself, Cindy and classmates.    I apologize if I've missed a credit where credit is due.

 

Finding my roots in this workshop was only half the fun.  The filming of the workshop itself was a blast!

Day 1: 

Day 1 began with the 2 hour drive to the CreativeLive studios in San Francisco.  We needed to allow for a 90 minute trip in order to arrive in time for our pre-production setup.  No, my math isn’t wrong.  Ninety minutes was plenty of time, but there was something wrong on the Bay Bridge and it took us over 2 hours to arrive at the studios!  I was very calm, cool and collected, although I was concerned that Cindy would freak out at any moment, jump out of the car and run ahead of me.  It was viable option.  Seriously! I suppose I can attribute my calmness to 10+ years commuting to San Francisco from the East Bay, or perhaps I just need to dial back my anti-anxiety meds a notch.  I suspect the latter.  

 


A quick selfie of Cindy and me, right before our first segment.
 



 So….we arrived late and missed the pre-production meeting.   Vanessa, our line producer, gave us a quick mini-tour as she quickly recapped the instructions we missed.  We had to be set up with mics by the audio guy, who was later dubbed as the “audio violator.”  He got very up close and personal with those mics!!  Fortunately he is very professional and felt as awkward as we did, or at least had the sense to pretend he felt that way.

Our late arrival caused us to miss a spectacular cooked-to-order breakfast of crepes, and we scarcely had time to freshen up before we had to take our seats.   The hustle and bustle, combined with the fact that I really had little clue as to what to expect, was a bit overwhelming to say the least.  The cohosts, Chris Jennings and Sally Dominguez, were enthusiastic, energetic, and very relaxed in front of the camera.  They had us introduce ourselves one by one and then they introduced Lain.  It was all so wonderful but almost too much for me.  I was ready for a break just 15 minutes into filming!  However, Lain is so wonderful that I was eventually sad to see the first 90-minute segment end so quickly.  I got over it, though, when I saw delicious goodies prepared for us by CreativeLive.  We were a bit spoiled!

Day one included food.  Lots of food.  In addition to what looked like an amazing breakfast, we had an incredible lunch of sandwiches, salads and homemade chips.  They fed us snacks and led us to a refrigerator fully stocked with juices, coconut waters, and sodas.  Sally mentioned more than once that CreativeLive will teach us, feed us and play with us.  Yep!!  They certainly did.

Lain’s guest speaker for our first day was Katrina Kennedy.  Katrina is the creator of “Capture Your 365” and has taken a photo a day since February of 2008.   She is witty, talented, and is an absolute master at capturing everyday moments on camera.   Katrina reminded me that I used to take pictures every day and I am once again enjoying documenting everyday moments with my camera.

To compliment my renewed enthusiasm of taking photos, I now use Groovebook.  Groovebook was one of the workshop sponsors.  It is a handy smartphone app that provides a monthly, inexpensive photo printing service.  After uploading 40-100 photos on the app, they are mailed directly to my home in a really nifty book.  The location and dates of the photos appear in the margin of the book (so clever!).  We were asked to bring our Groovebooks to the class.  While Cindy and I ordered ours with plenty of lead time, they did not arrive until AFTER our workshop.  Oy!   After that experience I was ready to dismiss Groovebook altogether…..until I actually received my first Groovebook.  I. Love. It.  I can easily get the photos off of my phone, easily order duplicates, and always have a supply of scrapable (yeah….that’s a word, in Jenland, ha!) photos on hand for layouts or just to reminisce with.  If I want to scrap a photo, I simply remove it at the perforation.  I now click away with glee, snapping photos of all sorts of stuff, knowing that they will arrive in my Groovebook sometime in the next month.  Awesome.

The first day of the workshop flew by so fast and I couldn’t wait for day 2 to begin!

Denise and I, with Lain and crew in the background.
Photo by Cindy DeRosier
 

 

Day 2:

Our second day had a much smoother start.  Cindy and I left my house at the same time as we did on Monday.  Vanessa had assured us that Monday’s commute was unusual, and she was right.  We arrived nearly 1 hour before our call time.  That left plenty of time to have a tasty breakfast in the CreativeLive kitchen and to visit with our cast mates and crew. 

Chris Jennings and Sally Dominquez. 
Photo by Cindy DeRosier.

Lain continued to impress us with her ability to motivate and teach.  The cohosts and crew continued to shine.  The audio violator did his thing.  Food and snacks continued to flow.  As with Day 1, we continued to share our stories and interact with Lain and our cohosts.  One of the best interactive features of the workshop came from the chat rooms.  Chris and Sally would interject comments and questions from the chat room.  Interaction from the viewing audience was a fantastic experience.   

The day began with goodies from the sponsors.  Gossamer Blue provided one of their monthly kits and Simple Stories provided a beautiful album and letter stickers.   Unlike the usual “Forest of Products,” these items were already coordinated for us, taking away the frustration of scrambling to find the perfect products to use. 

My stab at Scrapbook Improv

In one segment, Lain introduced us to something she calls Scrapbook Improv.  She calls it one part stand-up comedy, one part scrapbooking, and all parts fun.   It was definitely fun!   Using a handmade spinner and some audience input, she selected what title to use for our layouts (“Say What?”), what paper to mount the photo on (plain cardstock), what type of embellishments to use (wood veneers from our kit), what journaling method (song lyrics), and a chosen technique (doodling).  A timer was set for 30 minutes, and off we went.  We each did our own page in 30 minutes!!  It was a blast.   I didn’t have time to overthink anything.  I had to quickly choose my photo from a stack I brought with me, quickly grab a piece of cardstock, some patterned paper, and select my embellishments.   I was very pleased with the result.  I actually improv’d the improv.  I couldn’t think of song lyrics for my photo, so I wrote a few sentences instead.  I’m such a rebel.  I furthered that rebellion when I went back later and added a song lyric.  What can I say?  I had a shower revelation a few days later and the perfect lyric popped into my head!

The guest speaker for Day 2 was Jen (such a cool name) Gallacher.  She was brought into the studio via Skype.  She talked about how to scrap difficult subjects and she spoke about the loss of her son.   While I have scrapped the death of my friend, Beth, it was very helpful to hear Jennifer’s approach to scrapping such a sensitive topic.  Scrapping a loss or a difficult period in one’s life can be very therapeutic, but often difficult.    As with Katrina, Lain was spot on in including Jen in this workshop.

It’s a Wrap:

The best part of ending any filming?  The wrap party!  I was excited at the prospect of an actual wrap party with the cast and crew, and I was completely thrilled to learn that it would be on the rooftop!!  Having spent many, many afternoons on sunny San Francisco rooftops, I couldn’t be happier.  Beer, food, new friends, beautiful city views and sunshine on top of a San Francisco roof.  How awesome is that??!!!

Cindy, Angela and me. 
Photo by Denise Lachowsky.

I learned so much from this workshop.  Some of the listed items are things I already knew, but had drifted away from over the years.   In a nutshell:

·       Follow my mission statement (Lain provided the format and I filled in the blanks):  To me, scrapbooking means preserving memories.  I scrapbook for my family so that they will remember our family life together.  I scrapbook so that future generations will see what life was life for their parents and grandparents

·         Get the story down.

·         It’s OK to scrap quickly.  Yay!

·         Embrace imperfection.

·         Give myself permission to scrap what I want, when I want.

·         Limit my product options.  Too many choices can be overwhelming.

·         Keep a list of ideas for times when an extra 30-minutes of scrapping time pops up.

·         Have a stash of go-to designs; it’s OK to repeat designs.

·         Cardstock color/choice doesn’t have to be a perfect match for the photo/story.

·         Get photos off the camera.

·         Use screen shots from texts, Facebook, Twitter, etc. in my layouts.

·         Use online Photobooks for those times when I want to quickly scrap several themed photos.

·         Upload blog posts to create a photobook.

·         Ask myself, “Will *this* embellishment add value to or detract from my layout?”

 

 

My takeaway from this experience:  

This is MY story.  My layouts, my blog, my projects, and my mini-albums (or as Lain’s daughter calls them, “minial-bums” ha ha), are MY story to tell.    The bottom line is to scrap what makes me happy and scrap in a manner that makes me happy.   The rest will follow, and in the end, what gets put down is what matters most to me and hopefully to my family. 

Interestingly, this concept has overflowed a bit into my non-scrapbooking life.  I find myself paying attention to the things that matter most, no matter how big or how small.   If I’m having a bad-hair day, my eyes are puffy, and my double chin is showing, who cares?  It will pass (well, except for that blasted chin thing).  Tomorrow is another day and life is too short to fuss over the small stuff.

 I’ve always known many of the things that I have learned in this workshop, and Lain’s motivation and reminders have been priceless.

Thank you Lain, CreativeLive, Chris, Sally, the amazing crew (yes, even audio violator guy), and thank you to my wonderful, lovely and talented classmates: Cindy DeRosier, Jane Erickson, Angela Gordillo, Denise Lachowsky, and THE Traci Reed.

Cast and Crew

 

 

Lain, with Chris and Sally showing off their Scrapbook Improv Layout.

Links to the fun stuff:

http://lainehmann.com/

http://www.youtube.com/user/ScrapHappyLain

http://www.layoutaday.com/

https://www.creativelive.com/

Lain and me. 
Photo by Cindy DeRosier.

https://www.creativelive.com/courses/scrapbook-your-story-lain-ehmann

http://www.sallydominguez.com/

http://captureyour365.com/about/katrina-kennedy/

http://jengallacher.blogspot.com/

http://groovebook.com/

http://www.gossamerblue.com/

http://simplestories.com/

http://www.cindyderosier.com/

http://tracireed.com/news/

http://www.timeanddate.com/

CARDS CARDS CARDS

I have had so much fun with my July CupCards {to go} kit. I ended up making 14 cards all together, eeking out every last scrap that I could because it was all so wonderful. Many I created on my own, and many I created through inspiration from the CCTG design team. I think this one is my favorite:

I can't even begin to describe how much fun this kit was. It came in this darling box and everything about it was "card sized". All I needed was to add the adhesive and creativity (ok....and some Stickles, but that's a given).

My last post shows the "before" picture, and here are some more "afters":

(((hugs))) to Sonda, Baylee and Duane.

CupCards {to go}

I can't think of a better way to dust off this blog (eh.....I'm a slow blogger, what can I say?), than to share my latest discovery: CupCards {to go} http://www.cupcardstogo.typepad.com/ .

Ok ok.....I discovered this several months ago, but I got a little busy with life. This site is owned by Cassonda Tadlock http://sondat.typepad.com/ , who is a wickedly talented scrapper, designer, artist, paper-crafter.....well, you get the idea (plus she's really friendly and sweet, too!). Sonda puts together monthly card kits with lots of scrappy goodness. I received the July 2009 kit, my first, in today's mail. It is so scrumptious!

Check out these goodies:

And check out the detail. I love the embossed cardstock, the lacy trim, and those pins and buttons.....so cute!

Now I must say that one item pictured here was not included in the kit. I won the darling Studio G stamp set by participating in the July sneak peek CupCards {to go} blog hop. I had a lot of fun hopping from one design team member's blog to the next.

Now comes the fun part.....deciding how to put my cards together. I can lift some ideas from the designers, or create my own. Hmmmm, probably a little from column A, and a little from column B.

Going Green

Being the slow scrapper that I am, I FINALLY scrapped my memorial page for Cali, our little kitty who passed a year ago.





I've had this layout planned in my head for a year. I went green with this one, and not just with the background cardstock. I am on a "keep it simple" and "keep it cheap" kick these days. I wanted to dry emboss the green cardstock on each side of the layout, but I didn't have any heart stencils or templates to emboss with. And, well, my heart was set on hearts. So.......I used my Fiskars USX with a rectangle template, and cut a piece of green cardstock right out of the middle of my background page.







This, of course, was later covered with blue cardstock. From my cut piece of green cardstock, I punched out hearts and placed them against the green cardstock. Instant faux embossing!

My Little Shoebox

I am such a lucky girl! Yesterday I attended a crop at Picture Me Perfect in Fremont, CA. The crop was a fundraiser for the American Heart Association in memory of Marshall Tornay (some of you may know scrapbooker Michelle Tornay). We shared laughs, tears, stories. It was a wonderful day, full of support for Michelle. So far, $2,000 has been raised with this event.
I was one of the lucky ones who won a raffle prize. Check out this wonderful assortment of My Little Shoebox goodies:


I won one each of the new lines: Flawless, Who's There, Wonderful, My Neighborhood, Turtles and Trees, and Enjoy Life. I just love MLS. Next to Basic Grey and Cosmo Cricket, it's my favorite line. You can check them out at http://www.mylittleshoebox.com/.

Caution: Funny Sign Ahead

Last November, the kids and I picked up Road Trip America's newest addition of, "Caution Funny Signs Ahead". A month later, we stumbled onto our own funny sign and couldn't resist sending it into RTA. The picture is up on RTA's blog this week:

http://www.roadtripamerica.com/signs/ill.htm

Sock It To Poverty

I have the pleasure of being on the Charity Fiskatmittee (another Fiska-word for the Fiska-dictionary) over at the Fiskateer website. This month, our focus is on Poverty Awareness Month, which is reconized in January. We are going to ‘Sock It To Poverty’ and do a Sock Drive for January.

Here are a few Sock facts:

Socks are vital to overall health of those living on the streets.

Socks are often not donated enough and are greatly appreciated by the recipient.

Most homeless and impovershed people do not own shoes that fit properly or
are not in good condition. This increases the importance of socks.

Many people suffer from diabetes and other ailments and they could benefit
from socks with extra support.

Not all shelters accept clean used socks so it’s important when collecting that we collect new socks.

Socks are relatively inexpensive to donate.

There are men, women and children that
live on the streests and all could benefit with a new pair of socks.

More people are becoming homeless due to the downward spiral of the economy
as well as natural disasters.

Here are some things you can do to sock it to
poverty:

Come join us at the Fiskatateer site and learn where you can send socks.

Deliver socks to a local shelter.

Craft a ’sock box’ to collect socks and create a sign to share where the donations are going and why.

Spread the word at your local scrapbook store and set a date to collect them at
a crop.

How about a “Sock Hop Crop”. Maybe your local scrapbook
store would go for a crop in honor of collecting socks for those in need.

How about spreading the word at ladies groups, church, your local rotary
club.

More Cards

Here are two more cards for the Card Sketch a Day blog. Same sketch, two versions. Once again, most of the supplies came from my stash. The paper on card #2 is from a new, fun and upcoming line, My Little Shoebox. I love their stuff!

I am Losing my Mind

So today I'm killing time, browsing through my favorite scrappy websites and blogs, and I pop over to Card-Sketch-a-Day. That's when I realize that one of my 2 January sketch-cards are up on the website. Now....here is the scary part....I was getting ready to make a card for one of my son's teachers. But.....duh.....I didn't need to, I already did (his birthday is Jan 13th). What a dope. But, there's more. While I'm browsing the pictures on my laptop to upload, I come across a baby card that I put together a few months ago, also for the CSAD site. Tomorrow I was going to make a tag or a card to go with a gift, forgetting that this card was intended to accompany said gift. Oh good grief. I am loosing my mind!

These cards are created from the same sketch, just two versions. In keeping suit with most of my other cards, I put these ones together using scraps from my stash. I primarily used prima flowers and Bazzill bling cardstock. I punched each of the little date squares, handwriting the date in each one with my Sakura gel pen (love those pens).

A Simple Christmas

This year we opted for a simple Christmas. After years of spending days putting up lights, decking the halls, and all other things holiday-related, we came up with a "keep it simple" plan. This tree is our newest addition. A small WalMart tree with packaged WalMart decorations. I love how it matches. Nothing in my house matches, so this was quite a treat for me. We still hauled in our 7-foot tree and decorated it with our usual eclectic assortment of decorations, and we hung 2 larger decorations on our wall. But that was it. I thought that we, or the kids, would be disappointed with the lack of elaborate decorations, but it was actually quite nice and freeing. The best part was that we were able to put it all way in about 30 minutes! Woo Hoo!

BooKitty's 24 Hours of Fame

My precious Boo-Kitty is about to have her long awaited 24-hours of fame! She is the kitty for the December 4 Cat Fancy's Page-A-Day calendar. We are very happy for her, but are concerned that her head might get a bit big .

The random caption on her calendar page cracks me up. It reads, "Punishment in the form of screaming, chasing, striking, or squirting water at a misbehaving cat will only serve to increase the cat's stress, not solve the problem". There couldn't possible be a better caption for BooKitty, as evidenced by the this layout:

By the way............I hope that everyone had a great Thanksgiving week. We drove down to Southern California to visit our son who couldn't make it home for the holiday. We had a wonderful time, but I'm still trying to catch up!

Only In Virginia City

This weekend was quite the event. It was the Fisk-a-Friendzy Regional Crop in Virginia City. It was a busy day full of adventures, and our field trip to the train station was definitely a highlight. But, behind every story is another story, and here it is:

Scene 1 – The Three Stooges Act: This story starts in the parking lot of the Virginia City Ramada. Angela gathered Amy, Hisaho and myself up so that we can go spread some Fisk-a-Magic at the train station. Her instructions were simple, “Find Tom and spread the Fisk-a-Magic”. OK….so those weren’t her exact words, but I can’t give away all the details, he he. We first haul all of the boxes out of Angela’s car to place them in Amy’s car. Here is where we encounter problem #1. There are just too many boxes of goodies (darn, right? LOL). “Yeah, uh, this isn’t going to happen,” says Angela. So, we haul them back to Angela’s car and decide to drive it, much to Angela’s horror, to the train station. At first I thought she horrified at the thought of one of us driving her van, but it turns out that she just didn’t want us to see the inside of her “messy mom van”. Not a problem, Angela! Except for the smattering of rain dots all over the floor, your van looks a lot like the inside of my car. If anything, it’s a bit cleaner!! This is when we ask Angela where the train station is. She says, “Um, I was hoping that you guys knew”. Crickets chirping, as we all look at each other without a clue as to where we are driving off to. But, that doesn’t scare the Nifty Fifties. So, we pile into the van and attempt to drive off into the sunset. But, we hear this constant chiming. Angela to the rescue…..we have a door slightly ajar and she explains to Amy that the car has to be in “park” before the door will reopen and then close fully. No problem. Door closed and we drive off into the sunset, again. Nope……we only get a few feet and the chiming continues. Sigh. It turns out that I left another door open. As Amy attempts to put the van in “park” and press the “door open” button, she instead hits the wiper button and the window washer button, haha! Finally we pull ourselves, and the van, together, and drive off into the sunset, again. Well, except, it’s really not sunset. It’s 11am, but more on that later.

Scene 2 - What a Crazy Little Town: So we head out on E street. We know it’s E street because the Ramada is on E street. But, that is our only clue. Apparently street signs didn’t exist back when Virginia City was founded, and it hasn’t occurred to the residents to erect any. This, in turn, confuses the Yahoo Maps, Google Maps, and Mapquest people. Just ask any Fiskateer who tried to find the Ramada using written instructions! And forget using a GPS system up in the mountains. So, we were on our own, winding our way through this tiny town. Hisaho and I had come across a “train this way” sign the night before, and that memory got us going in the right direction. Unfortunately, E street comes to a premature dead end. As we approach the end, we see a road sign that isn’t in any DMV book I’ve ever seen. We drive toward it, leaning forward, squinting, and it is a sign with a crooked arrow that says, “Keep Going”. Hahahahaha!!! Eventually we arrive at the train station, which we almost passed because it’s pretty small. In a “do as I say, not as I do” moment, I get out of the van and run across the railroad tracks. I could see a parent, sitting next to his child, just shaking his head and no doubt thinking, “What a stupid lady”. I approach an old train car turned ticket booth turned gift and candy shop, and a very “Virginia City” looking man, dressed in complete western wear, steps out. At this point I begin the first of many charming, but incredibly awkward, conversations with “Western Guy” (yeah, I never got his name). I ask, “Are you Tom?”. In complete character he tells me, “Tom? No Tom here. I expect he’ll be here ’round about 11:30, maybe noon”. It’s now about 10 minutes after 11, and the Fiskateers are due at the train station at 11:30 and I’m starting to panic just a wee bit. I explain that I’m with Fiskars and he says, “Oh, yeah, the ‘orange’ train. Well, ma’am, I reckon that the train will be pulling in about 11:30”. Yes…..the train WE are supposed to spread Fisk-a-magic on. Now I’m really starting to panic. So Western Guy asks, “Are you Angela?” nope, not Angela. “Are you Julie?” I say, “No”, but then start to panic more. Were we supposed to bring Julie with us? Did we forget Julie? Where is Julie?!!!?!! Now I’m really confused. Western Guy acts like he has no clue, but he knows of Angela, and somehow knows about Julie. He asks who I am, and then points to the van and wants to know Amy and Hisahos' names (I thought I was going to lose him Hishaso’s name, lol). He tells me, “Well, ma’am, if you’re not Angela and you’re not Julie, then I don’t reckon I can help you.” This is when I remember that there isn’t much cell reception way up here, so the little bit of panic I’m feeling turns into full blown panic. As it slowly dawns on me that this guy really isn’t “in character”, that this is his true persona, things start to get even more interesting.


Scene 3 – You Want us to do What?: As Western Guy continues to give me a bad time, another man steps out in an attempt to rescue me. I explain the situation to him, and then Western Guy translates what I said into his own Wild West lingo. They both take note that they can see Tom’s car “down yonder”, and proceed to point it out to me, asking me if I can see Tom’s car. Um, no…..I’ve never seen Tom’s car in my life, so, no, I don’t see it. The two then argue about whether or not they should send us over to Tom, because, as they so chillingly point out, “You’ll never find it on your own”. So Western Guy chuckles at the thought of us heading out into the unknown and proceeds to enlighten me with directions. “Well, Ma’am, you need to head out down this here road. Now you head over the railroad tracks just down over there. You see those tracks?” Um….we’re at a railroad station…..there are tracks everywhere!! “So you go over the railroad tracks, then take the road a ways and you’re gonna go ‘round the “S” bend in the road. So you take that “S” and then keep driving a while. Now you’re gonna come to these two old buildings, and when ya’ do, turn left and go down that there dirt road.” And famous last words, “You’ll know you’re there when you’re there”. And if I’m not??? Oy!



Scene 4 – Off-Roading in Angela’s Mom Van, Yee Haw!!: So as I run back over the railroad tracks, I’m thinking, “Huh?”. I jump into the van and repeat what I can remember and off we go, trying to figure out these directions. It was easier than I thought it would be, but one wrong turn would have resulted in a search party being formed instead of a train ride! So we hit the dirt road and the off-roading fun begins. Poor Angela……her poor car, nearly bottoming out. Oh well, the show must go on and sacrifices must be made! We eventually arrive at a sign that says, “No Trespassing”. So, of course, we trespassed. We were on a Fisk-a-mission, after all! Amy later wrote that she felt like a rebel. I think, deep down, all 3 of us did, hahaha! We arrive at our final destination within the train yard and pull up to a wreck of a train. Amy’s turn to panic….she says, “Is THAT our train?” hahahahaha…thankfully, no, it wasn’t. The actual train was still a bit further. We get out and head over to a train with orange lights on it (of course). I feel like we’ve reached the promised land! We find Tom on our first try. Thank goodness!! Not only was Tom nice, but he was sane. A plus in my book any day.


Scene 5 – The Fisk-a-Magic begins: What??? I can’t tell you this part!! This is where the Fisk-a-Magic happens, so I’ll leave this part up to your Fisk-a-magination.


Scene 6 – The Fisk-a-Bug: As we head back to the railroad station, mission accomplished, we pass a green and orange bug. We screech to a stop (Angela, your van has great brakes, he he he). Of course, we did what any good Fiskateer would do, despite a pressing timeline, and we jump out and take pictures. I realize later that the Fisk-a-Bug is probably older than young Amy. I realize even later, that it’s probably older than all 3 of us. Ha!





Scene 7 – Mission Accomplished: As we cross back over the railroad tracks, we are met with a sea of orange people. Our people. We sneak the van into the lot and go over to show Angela a picture of the “train”. Of course, we show her a broken down train. The look on her face was priceless! What an adventure (and, yes, I took pictures of the Fisk-a-magic, he he).

And, THAT, is the rest of the story:

A Prima Surprise!

What a nice surprise for me! About 1 month ago, Prima Marketing offered free flowers for the first 250 people to respond to their Breast Cancer Awareness blog. Thanks to my Fiskateer friends who pointed me to the blog, I was one of the first 250. In return for the free goodies, we were asked to make something (card, layout, project) and submit to Prima. I did, and it appears in their October 31st blog.

http://prima.typepad.com/prima/2008/10/breast-cancer-a.html?cid=137286137#comment-137286137

What a fun way to participate in something that means so much to me (Breast Cancer Awareness....the flowers are just a plus, he he he).

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween! Here's hoping for a dry one for all the little ghouls and goblins.

>>>>>>>>

My new cards for http://cardsketchaday.blogspot.com/

Card Sketch A Day Blog

~~~~ I am having great fun this year participating in Susan Costanza's Card Sketch A Day Blog. These 2 cards have already been shown on the blog......and there is more to come :-) !

http://cardsketchaday.blogspot.com/

I Think I Blinked!

Oh My! Where did the summer go? It seemed like it was just a few weeks ago that summer vacation started, and now DS has been back in school for 3 weeks already. And what a summer it has been......wisdom teeth have been pulled (thankfully not mine), hairs have turned grey (sadly, mine because DS is learning to drive), my oldest has started law school, and...well....to get caught up, just check out my Scrapbook.com blog:

http://www.scrapbook.com/places/Luvmyfam

Some of my blog entries will make you chuckle, and some will cure your insomnia, hahahaha!

I have added lots of stuff to my gallery over there, but I think my favorite is "Oh Baby". I used the Basic Grey Oh Baby papers, and Bo Bunny Baby word book.

Hangin' with Becky Fleck

Saturday was a super fun day for me! I spent the day at Suzy West's store, Picture Me Perfect, in Fremont with Suzy, her staff, lots of friends and fellow scrappers...........and Becky Fleck!!

That's me on the left, and Becky in the middle. On the right is classmate, Sonda Tadlock.

Becky is the author of PageMaps, which is this awesome book that has many, many sketches, and includes pop-out cards for cropping on-the-go. She also has PageMaps on line, and I've had 1 layout and 1 card appear on that site. Becky is very sweet, friendly, funny, and is a great teacher who works hard to create a stress-free class.

Becky taught 2 classes on Saturday using Basic Grey products. Did you know that she is a designer for BG? It was fun having her show us which of the papers she personally designed from the Suagared and Euphoria collections. We had fun with paint, made a huge mess with glitter (sorry, Suzy!!), played with rub-ons, stickers, and I'm sure other things that I can't think of right now.

We created 2 albums using BG chipboard albums. One had a unique design to each page, so there was lots (and lots and lotsand lots and lots) of trimming and cutting.
I sure wish that I had pictures of the completed projects to show you, but..............in class number 2, I cut into my finger with my microtip scissors. OUCH! . Not good. It took a while to stop the bleeding, and Suzy had to bandage me up (sorry once again!). I've learned that everyclass seems to have someone with a scrap injury. I guess it was just my time. I had to stop scrapping and deal with my dumb, injured finger. Sigh.

Afterwards, we all hung out at the store and dinner was brought in from the Market Broiler (ymmmmm). It was relaxing and fun and I couldn't ask for a nicer scrap-day.

Page Maps - Again!

YAY! I have another PageMaps submission . I submitted a card for Becky Fleck's June PageMaps. What's more exciting is that I get to meet Becky at the end of this month. She is teaching classes at an LSS (about an hour away from me) at the end of June. I was surprised to learn that Becky is a designer for Basic Grey! One class will be showcasing BG's new Sugared collection. I can't wait!!

http://www.pagemaps.com/