pretty paper. true stories. {and scrapbooking classes with cupcakes.}

And just in case visiting one’s home town wasn’t weird enough: there’s teaching one’s home crowd.

Thank you to everybody who joined in my classes at the CK Scrapbook Convention in Kansas City. Extra thanks to my fabulous assistants who helped me keep an eye on everyone, and to Tami who came along to take pictures. So if you came to class and always wanted photos of you scrapping, you might just find one here. (The photos are from the Thursday night classes + birthday party.)

I’m so glad we could bond over our love of pretty paper. And some other stuff too.

xlovesx

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So this is it: the obligatory trip home. I try to make it back about every two years. Give or take. If you don’t live in the place where you used to, you’ll share that feeling that comes whenever you go back. It just looks and feels all different.

In the case of my suburban Kansas City hometown, the difference is in the sheer amount of urban sprawl. Where I grew up was in the middle of nowhere. Outside the city limits. In between four farms. I had to get a car as soon as I was old enough (and fourteen was old enough!) because there wasn’t any other way to get to high school (about 8 miles away) or work (the dairy queen, about 5 miles in the other direction). My senior year, our high school moved into a new building that seemed huge for a little place (our graduating class had 96 students. memorable because it was 1996.) but now it is too small for the town. A town that I remember having one pizza place (Gambinos, which had a juke box with ice, ice baby and can’t touch this as well as an Elvira pinball machine) and one bbq restaurant that was actually in a converted house. There was one place to get groceries and one place to get your hair cut, but you had a choice of two places to fill up your car. One of which was referred to by the initials of the owners, something that seems to be completely normal in small town america. As in, I’ve got to stop at C&H or I’m not going to make it to Jefferson. It was not uncommon for me to (partially) fill my little red Ford Escort with two or three dollars of gas, cobbled together from change found between the couch cushions. And that would drive me back and forth to school for about two weeks. It goes without saying that I drove on very, very few paved roads as a teenager.

Of course this place is totally different now. The roads are paved. There are plenty of shops, including more grocery stores and chain restaurants like Subway and Pizza Hut, even. I don’t think there is a Starbucks in the high school cafeteria just yet, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it is there some time next year.

But somethings never change. Good people, good places. Going back always reminds me of how much I love where I live now, but it was good to have some time to see this place again. Thanks for people who helped make that happen. More trip pictures here

xlovesx

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The minibook class for the UKScrappers 5th Birthday CyberCrop is online here. Or you can have a look at the basics by starting here and clicking through the pictures.

ETA: You can also check out this challenge if you would prefer a layout to a minibook, with a sketch I threw at the Banana Frog team. Of course I love their layouts way more than mine! So it goes.

Happy sewing and sticking—and happy birthday to UKS!

xlovesx

PS: details on new online class by the time the weekend is out!!

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Should I like…blog…or something?

No seriously, busy busy and actually enjoying some time away from the computer. Today it has started to get cold and rainy in a big way, so I’ve just started to go through photos and notes over the past month, so I think I’ll finally have something worth saying again.

More pictures from the birthday bash here

xlovesx

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Click the picture to download the prep sheet for the mixed media cybercrop class.

Just don’t go thinking that Bunny and I are revealing anything just yet. You have to wait for the birthday surprises!

xlovesx

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It seems strange how quickly this has come about, but UKS is turning 5 next month. Let’s just say that is a lot less than what I am turning! I’m celebrating my little number with a bouncy castle, and UKS is celebrating with a cybercrop. The good thing being that a cybercrop can accommodate a far greater amount of party guests than the bouncy castle!

I am really excited to share a project with you during the UKS birthday party: a mixed media minibook. It’s a class you can follow with your own stash or you can put it together in a snap using a kit that goes on sale right here at 7am.

The kit includes these basics to form the book:

*6 different sheets of 12×12 patterned paper

*6 sheets of 12×12 cardstock

*2 self-adhesive patterned photo mats

*1 card and envelope set

*1 transparency

*2 book rings

as well as a selection of mixed media materials to match the techniques in the class. These include:

*fabric

*thread

*ribbon

*stationery

*metal

*buttons

Please note that this book is not acid-free and that some elements of the kit vary to make your project unique. That means the picture you see here is an indication of your kit’s contents.

You will need your own basic tool kit, including scissors, trimmer, adhesive, paper piercer, black pen and small hole punch. These are not provided with the kit.

There are a limited number of kits that will be sold on a strictly first come, first served basis. UK shipping is included in the price of the kit, and kits ordered this morning will be shipped this Friday via Royal Mail.

Later today you’ll be able to download a preparation sheet to help you choose appropriate photos for the project, whether you are using the kit or your own stash. Just check back in a little bit after the ordering time.

£15.00, including postage within the UK
Sold out! Thank you so much!!

If you have any questions, just leave me a comment! I must admit I am a little nervous as UKScrappers doesn’t seem to be live just at the moment…so here goes a shot in the dark! A picture will be up in just a minute, but it’s 7:00, so I better put this live!

Thanks so much for your enthusiasm for the cybercrop and this project!

xlovesx

PS: a few of you were just rewarded for being right on time by paying in dollars instead of pounds! Trust me to be this stupid at seven o’clock in the morning. Happy scrapping!

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So, so lovely. So much happiness. And now the boy has a new sister!

xlovesx

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Goodness, time is getting away from me. Or at least blogging time!

I really must go…as the boy’s brother is getting married on Saturday and I am up to my elbows in squares for a wedding quilt! But not before I say a huge thank you to the girls of the Moxley Massive for playing along in the album-in-a-day workshop last Saturday. They scrapped non-stop and finished a gazillion pages between them. I counted!

(Sorry Zoe, I know you will hate me for the closed eyes, but I think it’s cute!)

As soon as I have eradicated my quilt guilt, I will be back with proper stories to tell!

In the mean time, check this out. Love!

xlovesx

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