So I am still muddling through :).  I just wanted to say thanks for all the warm hearted wishes of the past few days.  I really appreciate every one of you.  Each message has made me smile and helped me remember that this world is filled with many, many kind people.  I promise to share more when things start to settle.  It is just too long of a story for right now.  I want to be able share it when there is a happy ending.  I know my happy ending is out there - I'm just waiting for it to show up!!!  *waving* Hello, I'm over here....

I have been scrapbooking.  Mainly assignments but it is comforting to be at my table with my supplies and to be cutting and gluing.  I am much better at dealing with things if  I am busy and having assignments (which technically is work but never feels that way!!) gets me scrapping when I am not sure I would otherwise make time for it right now.

But that means I cannot show you what I am working on (and it is turning out really well so it is killing me not to share).  So today will have to be a linky-loo day.

First linky-loo - remember my Kindness layout last week?  Look what Eve made.  She made my day when she emailed and showed how she used the idea of my page and created a double pager for herself.  Love, love, love it.  Thanks for sharing Eve.

Second linky-loo - want to read how a 20-something-man who had never been to a scrapbook convention saw the GASC in Grand Rapids a few weeks ago?  Poor guy was totally out of his league.  He was super sweet and sat in one of my classes and made a valiant effort to participate in the class but quickly realized that me shouting cut this and cut that was not as easy as it seemed.  The ladies all around him tried to help but he eventually just laughed and gave up.  It is funny to see scrapbooking through the eyes of a complete newbie - I think he might have been just a wee bit shocked over all the scrapbooking gear we tote to these shows! lol  Doesn't he know we might need it????

And that is it for today.  Hope everyone is having a great day! :) :) :)  Love ya all!

Do you ever engage in paper therapy?  You know, time spent with paper, glue and scissors?  Where you can be relaxing and creating and doing something you love while your mind is free to sort out some problems?

This was me this past weekend.  And boy did I need some paper therapy! :)

I haven't mentioned it here on my blog but life has thrown up on me.  Not a very nice picture I know but I can't pretty it up.  First, let me mention that my family (and extended family) is fine.  But in the last week everything else in our lives is different and not so great right now.  Now, I am not quite ready to share all the details but to say I have been distracted is an understatement. 

I am not posting this 'cause I want to engage in a pity party.  Actually, I am pretty positive.  As you can see in the above page I made a layout reciting my mantra - life CANNOT get me down!  This is the page I started my paper therapy with.  Though I am not quite ready to record the events that have changed our lives so drastically I was ready for a paper pep talk. And you know what?  It worked.  Just getting some of my feelings onto paper made me feel better.  Scrapbooking is my comfort and it made sense to me to turn to the familiar.

One of the most important things I have taken from scrapbooking is an appreciation of the small things.  Scrapbooking has caused me to look at my life with new eyes to capture all the details of us.  And with that new sense of observation came a new sense of appreciation.  Appreciation of what makes us unique and what makes me happy.  I love that I can look through my pages right now when times are tough for us and smile at everything that makes up our life.  I cannot tell you how much I appreciate all the little details that I have recorded.  If my pages do not last to reach another generation (and that has never been my intention) all the time and effort I have put into my pages will not have been wasted 'cause I am not sure I could appreciate them more than I do now.

So.  I know that it is sometimes hard to read a tone of voice when reading but know that it is all written with a smile on my face.  There are a lot of you who read this blog who I consider friends and I do not want you to worry.  I can take anything life decides to throw at me and I am ready for the next thing.  I know it is bound to be good!! :)  I am looking forward to discovering what it will be.

Back to regular posting tomorrow.  I just wanted to take time out today to share how much I appreciate this hobby and everyone out there who reads this blog. :)

OH and I am almost caught up with emails from Grand Rapids.  I promise to get to you all in the next day or so. :)

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!