A Bit of Vintage: The Times of My Life

Fashion may call it "vintage", but I call it my history. Last week I completed a two-page layout using Graphic 45 Communique and Romantique papers which revisits our most unusual wedding day. At the time, I was more focused on the marriage than the wedding. I prepared this page from an historical perspective (36 years after the event). My title is a "Memories" stamp from Heartfelt Creations that I received as part of class I took at CKC Valley Forge in August. I colored the flowers in the stamp with Copic markers. This layout is one of about 12 in a scrapbook I'm building titled The Times of My Life.

CKC Valley Forge and Charoloote

I’m totally excited about teaching at CKC Valley Forge and CKC Charlotte this summer. My class is Picture Perfect Convention Pages. It’s a technique-driven workshop that uses a pocket-filled layout with inventive ways to use 15 4”x6” pictures or more. The best part is that all you’ll need to do is add the photos when you get home. People who take my classes will have a choice between an inchies or collage punch-around-the-age project as well as an accordion mini-book, tags, folders masking, stamping and more. All these are wrapped into two compact 12”x12” pages! I hope to see you at the convention. Be sure to visit my website (www.scrappigators.com) for more information.

Two Challenges: Triple the Scraps & Heart2Heart Color Challenge

I struggled with what projects to take with me to work on at the Friday Night Crop at the CKC Convention in Valley Forge, PA. It hit me Thursday morning (we left Thursday evening) that this would be a WONDERFUL opportunity to catch up on ALL of my missed challenges! I was five behind on my Triple the Scraps scripture challenge and I wanted to do this week’s Close to My Heart Color Challenge.


So, I frantically looked for scriptures and art for three out of the five challenges, added a few last minute projects, and was confident that I would have plenty to do while making huge strides to finish overdue projects during our four-hour cropping window. I failed to factor one element into my best-laid plans: EXHAUSTION! After a grueling, 10,000-step, six-class day, my world took on Alice-in-Wonderland angles and shapes. My inability to cut a straight line with a ruler/trimmer magnified itself to the power 10. Scallops were lost and edges skewered. But how like our heavenly Father is it to accept us as we are, odd angles and all? Rather than redo the project, I decided to let the imperfections remain because we are flawed creatures who can rest in our Father’s perfections.

“You should have seen her!” my roommate Melissa shared with our two other cropping partners – Tina and Erica. “By 10:00 she was nodding off at the table with pop dots in her hand.” The next day, after another five classes and almost 6,000 steps, I added the final touch to the project -- “stitching” – while sitting in my minivan waiting for my three traveling companions to finish their last class. I used three-general stamping on my little birds and created my scallops with an EK Success corner rounder.

I used the following products to complete this project.

 Vineyard Berry cardstock (1248)

 Vineyard Berry Exclusive Ink (Z2257)

 Blush Cardstock (Z2257)

 Crème Brulee cardstock (X5754)

 Black Exclusive Inks (Z2305)

 Classic Cap Alphabet stamp set (D1110)

 Love Birds stamp set (C1396)