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BACK IN THE GROOVE

I came back yesterday from S.A.V.E. Scrappin Away Vacation Events and it was very productive by my standards. Now there are some very organized women who got 100 pages completed. I am not worthy but I did manage to scrap Lynn's baby shower, although I must admit that Michael is 5 years old. I also created a first day of school chipboard book to place all Gabrielle's photos. I took two classes and created 2 two page layouts and I even had photos for the one so I have it completed.

As always I try to reflect on what I learned from my experiences. There were some good times and some challenging times this weekend. So here we go...

"Keep your friends close and your enemies closer" only works in the Godfather movies. This is a 24-7 event, meaning that you are going to be sitting with a group of friends, eating with them and sharing a room with them. You really have to know yourself and know your friends. This weekend we had a roommate that we did not know very well and she treated my one friend who invited her very badly. She was politely told that next year she should get a group of her friends together to come up with. So I am actively recruiting for next year.

Pack Smart. Dena and Trish passed on a tip from the very organized women I mentioned from before. They put together their cardstock pattern paper and photos in these 12X12 clear plastic bags so that there have all their layouts ready to go and the weekend goes very smoothly. So Trish gave me some bags and I pulled together some paper and embellishments for the Christmas craft that I will be working on next. I will have this ready for my mini crop this Friday at Calvary Church of Souderton.

Price low at the yard sale. The purpose of the yard sale is to get rid of the stuff. If it is collectible then sell it on ebay or Splitcoast stampers where the collectors shop.

Back up adhesives are a must at a class. My ATG gun pooped out during a class and I did not have time to reload. So it is a good idea to have a back up ready to go. This is also an idea that I gleaned from Swamp People on the History Channel. Alligators on the hook are not going to wait for you to reload your gun.

Comfort is king or queen in this case. I brought a pillow to sit on and one of those As Seen on TV back pillows. Next year I am going to bring a slip cover to keep them in place. A scrappin queen needs a throne anyway so I will take the time to sew up a really cool one.

Vanity thy name is ... There is nothing worse than a bathroom hog. Please don't bring bathroom hogs with you to these events and if you are a bathroom hog then be willing to allow a roommate to pee. It is really annoying to have to wait around for breakfast when you were the first one up and ready to go or the one who has to wait to pee. Also I have sensitive eyes and the hotel dry air really irritates my eyes so no eyeliner or mascara for me next year. Also I should remember to bring saline and water to keep me and my eyes hydrated. Also this is one trip that I truely can pack lightly regarding clothes, I dress for comfort not fashion for this weekend. The rule is that you should have more bags of scrapbookin than of clothing or you are packing wrong.

Don't believe Gordon Gecko; Greed is not good. It is very tempting to spend lots of money. Seriously, get a budget in place, and only pay with cash. Rollie has great stuff and was running insane sales but I promised Bob that I would only spend the cash we agreed upon prior to my departure.

Make sure that the keys get turned in. There is a $100 key charge. Enough said on that one.

Corey's scrapbook pages

Here's some of the pages I have completed for Corey I used the Simply Scrappin baby boy kit from two catalogs ago, yeah that would be wasabi green and soft sky. Oh well I need to use them up because I am running out of paper. Anyway all she will have to do is take photos of her baby boy who is due to arrive any day now. The other ones looked right when I uploaded them but it is now coming up sideways.

scrapbook pages

I have some scrapbook pages done and the Splitcoast Stampers VSN flirtation challenge. Head on over at noon to play along with the Crush Challenge. It really helps to get back into the groove when you don't have inspiration.

The challenge was "Castaway Love" and you had to use "scraplings". I used some leftover going gray cardstock, afternoon tea DP, some very old diecuts from a 2006 winter mini. And I finally used my owl set. Oh and wiggly eyes. I was so bummed when Unfrogettable and Crab and Co. were discontinued because I loved using them with wiggly eyes for kid cards. (Of course I still have those sets and won't be parting with them anytime soon.) So I was pleased to see that the owls take to the wiggly eye treatment.

The scrap pages are what I worked on at Mel's house. I have a few more to finish so that this will finally be a stamping blog. I am scrapping Gabrielle these days. I am going to start to incorporate pictures of Bob and I when we were kids. I have first pet pictures, first day of school, favorite stuffed animal, bathtime. I hope to have enough to make it cohesive.