Just a little acrylic album for a friend with a new grandbaby. I made it very simple and left most of the pages blank so that she can add photos. I had a blast using both my Slice and my new Bind-It-All on this.





I had some scraps from that project and another layout lying on my desk and thought they looked pretty together, so I whipped this one up. I love these colors so much. (The papers are Heidi Swapp and Making Memories.)

Cruise Mini-album

This little album was actually one of the projects we created on the cruise, in Margie Romney-Aslett's class. Margie gave us general instructions about how to assemble the album (it's made with Making Memories' Passport collection) and then left us to our own devices, which was kind of a relief after several classes full of very precise cutting and pasting.

I didn't want to post individual images of each page, because it's just not that exciting, but there are a couple of envelopes containing memorabilia from the trip and extra photos, as well as a little file folder that has photos and some journaling inside. Lots of the photos in this album were actually taken by Mary Beth, from whom I stole them.

True Love Mini Album

Hmm, about the only subject I haven't documented in a mini-album is my love of mini-albums. Wouldn't it be funny to have a little book in the mini-album basket with pictures of the other mini-albums? And how many more times can I say "mini-albums"?

I really made this one just to play with the beautiful Love Letters line from My Little Yellow Bicycle. There are so many wonderful embellishments in this line and the colors are wonderful. MLYB debuted more great new lines at CHA-W--I can't wait to get my hands on some of them. I am a sucker for travel lines and they have a great one coming soon.















I listed this album on Etsy, despite my lack of luck there. Clearly I am not trying hard enough. Don't you need a little album for your Valentine?

We came, we scrapped, we shopped

Well, so much for timely posting about my classes at Scrapdoodles! Sandy and I had a fabulous time and the classes were amazing. We did not even come close to finishing our projects, but we learned some awesome new techniques including HELLO, gel medium--how did I ever live without you? I have spoken before of my altering addiction and gel medium kicks Mod Podge's butt. No wrinkles, no drying time, and it makes adhering fabric to chipboard a piece of cake.

See the mess around me, and next to it Sandy's spotless area? This is how I scrap, always amidst chaos with stuff flying through the air, and I am wholly unapologetic about it. It's how I create.


Photographic evidence of Sandy threatening me with a hammer.


Look, it's Cindy Liebel! It was so much fun to catch up with her. Cindy is a sweetheart and a super talented scrapper.


And the obligatory celeb photo...me and Sandy with Donna Downey.


I finished my blue damask album this week (except for some captions that I'm still pondering about) and it may be the most beautiful project I've ever made. I can't even take credit for it because it was designed by Donna Downey, but hey I put it together! And see that Fancy Pants tiny ball trim? Totally my idea. This little album is so full of awesomeness that it won't close...my favorite thing!






We were privileged to have dinner with Donna and some of the store staff and teachers afterward. HUGE thanks to Cheryl for working Sandy in so I didn't have to leave her standing outside the store in the pouring rain while we ate. Thanks also to Donna for creating such great projects and making the classes so much fun. I'm looking forward to taking more classes with her on the cruise in January.

Reorganization

I have been seriously procrastinating with my Key West post, and I haven't been able to figure out why. I have been bothered recently by my blog's lack of identity. Do I want it to be a family update blog, a parenting blog, a scrapbook blog? My original intention, and thus the web address of "scrapquest," was to document my attempts to become a published scrapbooker (been there, done that) and to share layouts. Immediately, though, my messy life got mixed in with the scrapping, and although this blog presents a pretty accurate snapshot of my life--some parenting crises, some travel, some scrapping, and a lot of other random stuff--it feels untidy to me. I realize that the scrapbookers who visit might not care to read about the mundane details of my life, and most of my family members, who drop by to see photos of the kids, couldn't give a rat's hind end about scrapbook-related stuff.

So. Henceforth this blog is dedicated solely to scrapbooking and crafty topics. I will continue to post layouts and mini-albums here and I hope you'll stick around. I have created another blog HERE to write about our parenting struggles, post travel photos, and ramble on at will. I have wanted to write some more serious posts here from time to time, but posting a scrapbook page afterward makes for awkward segues.

Of course you're welcome at both blogs. I love you all for reading and I especially love you for commenting.

And now that awkward segue thing: I used one of Karen Russell's awesome new easel albums to showcase some of my favorite photos from Key West. The album has 16 pages, but this is all I'm posting for now because I may do something shocking and actually submit this one to a call. I'll post the rest when it's rejected. :)

The Booya Girls are at it again

Four SUPER new articles up at Busy Bee this week...check them out. I swear my acrylic album addiction is getting bad! They are just so much fun to create. For this one I photographed some of my children's school art, printed it on photo paper, and um, archived the originals.