My Crazy Life

{Home}

Back from Scrap Etc and really glad I am - I have to say I was really missing home....can't remember the last time I left without John with me for 5 days...didn't think that I could really get home sick especially when I had so much to keep me busy but by about Friday I was really ready to be home. 

Scrap Etc was really great - there were a few things that they could fine tune but for the most part I was really happy with the end results of all my classes and will enjoy finishing them.  Still am trying to re-coup from sleep depreviation...think one more night and I should be good.

As far as the Gaylord Opryland Hotel - I'm thinking I don't really care if I ever see that place again.

It was great to see so many of my friends from CE at SE and kinda sad that I won't get to see a lot of them at CE again this year.  The lottery thing really messed up a lot of people getting in but there still may be hope for some since I just received a Golden Ticket for the event last week so if you are waiting to lose hope yet.....

I will upload pictures of the projects as soon as I get them completed.  I made a trade today with Scrapbooks, Etc. and cancelled my Heidi class and am taking another Tim class - so I will have two more classes with Tim under my belt prior to CE....Woo Hoo!!  Maybe I will make groupie status sooner then I thought.

Headed for a D-Back game tonight.....seems like the games are really far apart this year and that there seems to be several that are during the day which just doesn't work for me....they seem to want me at work during that time....and I do like receiving a paycheck to pay for my habit.

First Day of Scrap Etc

Today was the first full day of Scrap Etc....last night we had opening ceremonies and a class with Danelle Johnson....this class made you really think about why you scrapbook....got a Creative Cafe book and a bunch of little goodies.

Our first class this morning was Jenni Bowlin....really sweet and the bingo cards are adorable...we did such fun things with them....I will download pictures later cuz I didn't take any while we were doing the project....

Next class....Heidi Swapp.....AWESOME PROJECT....funny thing about a week ago I signed up for this class at my LSS....haven't decided what I am going to do about that yet....do have a picture of this....not so great thing....the cover of this album isn't coming out until summer CHA....ugh...so that means I can't make anymore until towards the end of the year......okay picture ...don't know if you can tell but it is a mirror that has been stamped on and rub-ons used...have to admit the rub-ons didn't do so well from my pack but other people didn't have the problem.....I think I am going to stamp the title with white ink or maybe pink....

We also had a class with Gretchen McEleven...really great book - it was suppose to be your 10 most influential people....me not so much so I am going to change the title of it...haven't decided yet but love the album.  The other class was Angelia Wiggington....don't remember the exact name of this one but gonna change what I put in it as well....we used BasicGrey Pheriphy.....LOVE that paper.

The Nash Trash Tour on Thursday was hilarious...definitely find time to do this if you are coming to Nashville.....and yes we are wearing Minnie Princess Ears....  and one other thing that we have done is to make sure that our friend Sarah who couldn't make it - was at the event...so we have been taking pictures of Flat Sarah at different places...... well better get some shut eye - we have a FULL day tomorrow....

{The Beginning of Scrap Etc}

Well I made it all in one piece and so did my luggage...WooHoo first hurdle over with....

Made it to the hotel and WOW is this hotel freakin' huge....I have been here twice before to just walk around and enjoy it but to actually stay here....9 Acres under roof and from what the bell man told me it is increasing by the beginning of next year.  Don't get me wrong it is gorgeous but to walk a half a mile to get to your room.....one good thing our room is close to the convention area so that will be good to be able to bring projects back to and such.

It is 2:00 a.m. here and I am still up as you can see and not really tired...I know I will be in the morning...spent some great time this evening with Jill C., Josiane, Megan & Mel - can hardly wait for the shopping tour tomorrow after laughing with them for the last several hours....

Well going to see if I can close my peeps....shopping like crazy tomorrow

See ya

S

{forgot}

To add the best picture of all from yesterday......oh and the lime green type....Tim's favorite color....

{TIM HOLTZ}

OMG!!!!  Yesterday I had the chance to take classes from the one and only Tim Holtz...for those of you that are not in the scrapbooking world - you will just have to take my word for it that this man ROCKS! in all aspects of his craft....he has assistants that are moving the whole entire time to make sure that your experience is awesome and creative....Tim is so personable that you would think that you were standing there shooting the breeze with your next door neighbor....and funny some of the stories that he told were just ROTFL stuff.  His creativity is way out of the box and makes you look at things with a whole different eye.  Can I just say that I can see myself shopping in John's garage in the next couple of months...checking out junk stores (I know GASP!).....and even making my way into antique stores......I may even end up at some garage sales.

The first class I took was called Industrial Grungeboard...even before taking this class I was in love with grungeboard...now even more so...check out this lay-out that Tim made using it....now granted while I was inspecting it I can see that it took a lot of time but the effect for that really awesome picture that maybe you want to hang on your wall instead of sticking it in an album.....WOW.....we got to play with these pieces of grungeboard and this is what we got to use to embellish them.....yep you are seeing correctly....looks like a bucket in the garage of things that your hubby doesn't want to throw out....told ya...and this is what we created from this stuff.....these can be used as jewelry pieces or some embellishments on just about anything you can think of....ready to make more of this stuff...actually it gave me some ideas for the charm swap for Creative Escape....

okay moving on...we then spent the next 6 hours having lunch and hitting some of the other scrapbook stores in the area - and back to Mystic Paper for the second class of the day....Elements of the Creative Mind.....this is a shadow box and hopefully the picture will come out pretty good...we had our choice of a Skelton or a Bird....really is there any comparison - this was just a given...Skeltons rock especially in a purple box.....with some bling and some other really awesome things...remember those viewfinders that we had as kids...well Goldilocks and the 3 Bears are in my shadow box...now who would have thought to use those...anyway here is a picture....

I still need to add a few things....we used the dimensional paints to do the box...another thing that I just have to have...these were so fun to use...then we used stamps to decorate it some more....Tim explained about the difference between Archival Black ink and Staz-On...quite interesting....thinking I need some Archival Black as well...then it was dump out your burlap sack and go to town.....see the magnifying glass - is that not the coolest thing...we used Alcohol inks, distressing ink and this glue that makes everything and anything stick...Crafters Pick - The Ultimate...I may be the only crafter in the world that hasn't heard of this stuff but I now own my own bottle....and we got to use Tim's new scissors from Tonic....first let me start by saying I am kinda a scissor freak...don't ask me how this got started cuz I really don't know but I love buying scissors...after getting these I CAN NOT see me buying another pair of scissors...they cut everything and I mean everything...metal, paper,chicken....they are self sharpening, non-stick blades, micro serrated edges and with the handles you can squeeze and they compress....so comfortable....check them out here www.tonic-studios.com.  Well I better stop now...have to finish some swap pages and get packed for my trip to Scrap Etc. - leaving on a jet plane (hopefully) Tuesday...another two full days of creativity....