Top 10 Memories

I just finished this first layout of my trip to Vegas for the Scrapbooker of the Year finalists! I may make some changes to it, I'm not sure if I'm completely satisfied with it yet... I had such a great time, I wanted to get a few of the memories down on paper! Now off to spend some time with my hubby on the last few minutes of his birthday!

Supplies: Patterned paper (blue & brown), flourishes: Thao Cosgrove, Affection Kit, scrapgirls.com; white patterned paper: Erica Hite, Nessa Kit, scrapgirls.com; small flourishes: Mary Ann Wise, A la Mode Brushes, designerdigitals.com; inking brush: Nancy Rowe Janitz, Distressing Brushes, scrapartist.com, wordart: Katie Pertiet, 2^nd Hand Titles Kit, designerdigitals.com

Back from Vegas!

Creating Keepsakes Magazines
Scrapbooker of the Year Finalists

What an amazing experience all around! All of the girls were so fun! We had a blast! It's taken me a bit to post, I have spent the last two days hanging out with my girls and husband! It's good to be home! I had the experience of a lifetime!!!

For those who haven't heard... Elizabeth Kartchner is the new Creating Keepsakes Scrapbooker of the Year!!! I am so excited for her! I know I am going to enjoy seeing her work in CK in the future! Check out her blog here. She is an amazing person as well as an amazing scrapbooker, and I am glad to call her a friend!

I am hoping to get a link set up with more pictures from Vegas soon. CK treated us all like queens!!! Anyone thinking of entering SOY next year... GO FOR IT!!! It was great that Stan was able to come. He was such a good sport! He walked all around the trade show for three days being nothing short of amazing! (Elizabeth took the first picture of Stan & me. The second picture my friend, Leslie, took of "the guys" - Elizabeth's husband, Ingunn's husband, and Stan.)

I even walked away from Memory Trends with a complete mini album. All of the SOY finalists made ten copies of two 6x6 pages. I love this little album! Everyone is so talented and has her own distinct style. It's great to have a piece of each person to bring home.

I'll post a layout about the trip as soon as I can. (Of course, I need to start on one first!)

Making Headlines &
The Last Days of Summer

So as the final days of summer (ok, if you want to know the truth I'd say now really is the fall) are passing quickly, I thought I'd share a pic of a nice walk to had with my girls this afternoon. It was a beautiful day here in Washington, and you couldn't ask for a better time!!!

To add to the excitement of my day, the Everett Herald ran an article about my journey with Creating Keepsake's Scrapbooker of the Year contest! It was a full page article in the Travel & Leisure section. You can see a copy of the article here: http://www.heraldnet.com/article/20070909/LIVING05/109090025
A wonderful girl from the CK Message Board tipped off the paper, thanks again HockeyGal (Kristi)!!!

Photo Challenge:
For the waning days of summer... grab your camera and get a few more shots of the last of summer activities... some of my favorites from today... Torrey jumping and splashing in a puddle of water in the grass, taking a walk with the family, playing on the swing set, lounging on lawn chairs and swimming.

Inspiration

Where do you find inspiration? Have you ever wandered the isles of Target, distracted from your shopping because everywhere you turn there is s0mething that inspires you? Or maybe you're having the opposite problem... you are sitting at your table, ready to scrap and........... nothing.

At times like these, I open up a new window in Firefox, and start browsing my list of bookmarked sites, filed neatly under "scrapbook inspiration" and start browsing. And in the times of plenty (of mojo) I will bookmark a site that struck me as I was browsing around.

For this layout of my brother and I, I wanted a classy, trendy, sassy and couture feel to my page to match my brother's personality. So I did some searching around my inspiration list and settled on Juicy Couture's site. www.juicycouture.com


I didn't have digital elements that matched the funky shapes in the corners, so I went searching. I found these elements in PSE under Artwork & Effects > Artwork > Shapes > Ornaments (and the letter "y" is from the font lombardic). I turned, cropped, erased, and resized the shapes to get the look I was going for.


Feast or famine (in the inspiration department) I have a challenge for you...

Feast: Bookmark a list of websites, tear out magazine ads, write down color combinations of things that are currently inspiring. So when the famine comes you'll be armed and ready!

Famine: Open up Google and start searching. I've used favorite clothing brands or magazines to start. I also frequently search under graphic design and graphic design portfolios. Martha Stewart, O Magazine & Real Simple magazines all have fantasic ads, and are a great resource if you're looking to tear out some pages and start a notebook. The other great source is catalogs. My personal favorites are the Pottery Barn Catalogs, Crate and Barrell, West Elm, and Storehouse. I'm sure there are more favorites, but since it's now 2 am and I have to take my girls to school in the morning, I'm going to call it a wrap!

Have an INSPIRED day!