So remember the summer album I started to have a place to record moments from our summer vacation?  (here and here)  I have finished Magnus' cover.

Here is the front.

And here is the back.

The yellow circle is chipboard covered in paper so it gives it a bit of lift.  I just randomly wrote his name all over it to give it a fun design.

I have a few more pages filled in for their albums but I need to finalize them and then I will post photos.

And now I thought I would share some more photos from the GASC - Grand Rapids.  (Chattanooga registration is open if you want to join the fun next time.)

This was my schedule for Saturday.

And some class action shots.

And I had a book signing on Saturday (always makes me feel glamourous lady!! LOL) and look who was in the MM booth while I was there.

That is Beth Williams on the left and Corrie Schaffeld on the right.  Beth is the Executive Editor for Memory Makers magazine and Corrie is a designer for Memory Makers books.  Both are awesome people who I am happy to get to work with.

And you want to know what the best part of my trip to Grand Rapids?  After a long day of teaching I got to come "home" to this...

My kidlets.   All clean and ready for bed thanks to Grandma and Auntie.  Loved getting to kiss them goodnight and relive the experiences of the day as they recited their adventures in the hotel and surrounding area.  The best!

Today is just a quick post to let you know I have a new article up here.  It is about the color choices we make for our scrapbook pages.

More scrappy stuff coming soon but life has sort of taken over right now and I am trying to balance it all.  So if I seem slow to respond to emails or message boards then know I am just juggling some things right now and will be back full force asap.

It was love at first sight.

While in Grand Rapids I went to see a store called Pages In Time.  I have to admit to dragging my feet a bit about going to a scrapbook store while at a scrapbook convention but almost had a heart attack when I walked in.  I mean, seriously.  I have never, ever, ever in my life seen a store this big with so much scrappy goodness crammed in there.  I never even knew stores this big existed!  The above photo is just one - yes one! - aisle of paper.  There were about 5 more like this not to mention all the embellishments, albums and other yummy scrappy goodness.

Now you have to keep in mind that my local store is small.  I love them but their total paper including cardstock isn't even this much as seen above.  So as you can imagine I was not prepared.

But the story gets better.  I went with Staci Etheridge who was there teaching at the GASC also.  Want to see her reaction????

There "might" have been some skipping up and down the aisles.  You see, she was not prepared either.  I am not sure anyone really could be.  They should probably hang a warning sign outside the store for out-of-towners!

So there was Staci and I acting like total idiots running all over and shouting back and forth to each other about the yumminess we were both finding. 

Seriously.  Total idiots.

Want to know the ridiculous part of the whole story?  We only had 15 minutes.  We were due back at the hotel for dinner and people were waiting on us. 

15 minutes!!!!!

I am pretty sure I could have spent a week there. 

The locals and the staff just giggled at us and hopefully enjoyed the show we were putting on.  They were seriously friendly in there so I am sure they laughed and later that night repeated the story of the two crazies who were in the store earlier that day.

Want to know something even more ridiculous?  Apparently we went to the "small" store!  There are two of these stores and we went to the SMALL one.  I am pretty sure my heart couldn't have taken it if we had gone to the big one.

Both Staci and I left with head aches from the sheer joy of it and we were only about 15 minutes late for dinner!

Wow!  Did I ever have a blast this past weekend in Grand Rapids for the GASC.  I cannot get over how stunning the city of GR is!  The convention center was right downtown and there was so much to do with the kidlets, all within a few blocks.  I took a lot of photos while there so be prepared for lots of images today. :)

Here is the convention center... it was so gorgeous!

Look at that roof!

This is what I did all day. :)

I was teaching and scrapping with some really wonderful woman (and a few men).  Have I ever mentioned how much I love meeting fellow scrappers?

And want to see who attended a class? 

My mom and Harper both attended my clock class.  Look at how hard they are working!  My mom is not a scrapper and I love that she just dove right in and started playing.  Must be where I get it from!

And this lovely woman totally made Harper's day by asking for her autograph.  She is still talking about it! (thanks!) 

And my sister also took one my classes as well as a Mom-to-be class with another instructor.  She also is not a scrapper so I really admire the fact that she got into the spirit of things!

And some more random scrappiness. (scrap + happiness = scrappiness - hee hee, is that a word??)

In the above photo that is Harper being my helper.  She was a great teacher's assistant!

And I realized that there is someone who I consistently forget to photograph - my volunteers!  These woman who I affectionately dub my "Vanna's" help me in class and are amazing, beautiful woman who give up some of their scrappy time to help me.  I want them to know that I really appreciate their helping hands even if I do forget to photograph them!  Thanks ladies!!

I have tons of fun stories from the show but they will have to wait as I hear the hammock calling me.  It is saying I need a nap! :) 

More later.

(If you see a photo of yourself here on the blog feel free to email me for a copy.  I know hardly any of us scrappers have action shots of us at work and I happily will share them.  Just let me know which photo you are in and I will email you a full version that you can print.)

From the internet that is.  You see, it has been incredibly stormy around here the past few days and with thunder, lightening and wind - things happen!   And that thing was my internet connection!

Talk about withdrawal.  I mean, I live in the middle of no where - aka the country-side and I depend in the internet.  OK. I will admit to having a major city a short jaunt away but in reality I live with dirt roads and sometimes spotty connection to the wide world via the internet.

I have sort of been lulled lately with really good internet connections (minus the email drama of last week!) and was shocked when I clicked and nothing happened!

I resorted to the tiny screen of my husband's blueberry (affectionate name given to his blackberry - but that is another story) but seriously I hated it!  The screen and the none normal keypad are enough to make this full laptop lovin' woman crazy!!! 

So basically I was down to the essentials - just checking in to make sure I wasn't being fired from any major projects and no patience to post anything to my beloved blog via tiny screen and weird keyboard.  Sorry for that but I am sure you understand. ;)

But I do have some new stuff to share with you.  I got scrappy last weekend.

I love this page.  It looks so much better in real life.  I cut out patterned paper from American Crafts and mounted it on foam squares. Love how this looks.

And here is another page.

Love the tone on tone color of this page.  I repeated the photo on this page since it is a recent fave.

So.  That is it for now.  I leave in approx 8 hours for Grand Rapids with family in tow.  It is the middle of the night as I post this (total insomnia, possibly due to caffenine or maybe excitement, who knows?  LOL) and I really should be in bed but I couldn't resist a post here.  Plus I am waiting on the laundry....gee where is the magic laundry fairy when I need him?

I hopefully will be posting from the show.  Beth Williams will be there (whom I love) + Staci Etheridge (so funny and full of life) and hopefully I will get post some funnies of us at the show.  But you know how it is...best laid plans and all.

:)

Next week I will be back to more budget scrapping tips (after I sleep off the GASC of course!)