paper: Coast to Coast | pretty paper. true stories. {and scrapbooking classes with cupcakes.}

If January has been my calm, February may be a bit of a storm. But hopefully that good kind of storm…the kind where there’s nothing really to worry about, but it’s lovely to watch, curled up with a blanket and a good book next to a window. That kind of storm.

Everything’s starting on the west coast. And I figured if you’re gonna be in California, you might as well make a statement, right? So when the girls at The Scrapbook Oasis asked me to teach in their tiki hut, I asked if I could share a little book I call Kill your Television. It’s one of those books where making it is just half the fun. In class, we’ll make a mini with half the photos already included, then you finish the book with your own photos…the idea being that you try to switch of the TV in the evenings for just a week and see what you get up to. I haven’t had a television for about five years now and I love the stumped look that people have when they learn that. It wasn’t a purposeful thing, just happened by chance and I haven’t regretted it for a second, but I also know it is a bit extreme for some. But one week of TV-free evenings isn’t extreme or troubling, and if you pick a week with nice weather, you can (re)discover some things that are probably free and nearby, even if it’s just going for a walk. So if you’re within a do-able distance to Irvine, join us for a night of crafty fun (the kits are starting to look so cool for this…it’s like chipboard heaven here at the moment!) and I will dish the truth on how and why I ended up ditching TV. Kill your Television is Sunday night, the 10th of February—following the first day of CHA—and you can find all the details here.

After CHA (which still has some surprise news to come, let me tell ya), I’m heading out to the East Coast for ScrapBowl, and my goodness does it look like these girls know how to party. So many croppers! The weekend crop experience places are all filled but they let you sign up for workshops without coming for the whole weekend, so if you’re in the DC area, you can still make your own scrap weekend with classes from crazyfamous scrapbook people. And me. Seriously, my mind is still boggling with this one. But so cool. You can see all the classes here. I’m teaching four: a 9×9 album workshop with lots of pink and Japanese stationery, a minibook workshop to record a weekend in your life, an artsy paper-quilting class that you can frame and a class with four layouts that includes my top ten tips for never falling out of love with scrapbooking.

But you know with a storm, there is always the good and the bad, right? (Growing up in Kansas, I remember the good being we need the rain and the bad being a tree just fell on the car...or something like that.) In this case, all that stuff and a few other things…very good. The bad: I am missing both Valentine’s Day and (more importantly) The Boy’s birthday.

Ouch. Yes dear, I know I am rubbish. I know, I know, I know. I’m sorry that I have done this two years in a row. Rubbish, I say!

(Sadly, I don’t think he’ll be quite as excited with pictures of all the new product lines from CHA. There’s just no pleasing some people, you know.)

And then you know what? I think after that I will come home and sit on the sofa for a little bit. I am not above grovelling to get someone to sit next to me. But I promise, it’s just a little temporary storm. That’s the plan.

(On a silly side note, we’ve had a really lovely weekend here. I hope yours was just as fabulous!)

xlovesx

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27 January 2008

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