One of my favorite traditions...scrapbook conference

As is tradition, Mom and I attended the Great American Scrapbook Convention in Arlington this year. I didn't have as much time available to spend the whole weekend there but did spend a few days at Mom's house working on some new projects. Also spent a day at convention and did LOT of walking and shopping.

Me and a sign...yay!

Mom using a magnifying glass to catch the details of a page..made me laugh

Mom is so organized!

Mi madre

Last week

It's been quite the busy week. I'll try and update a little and hopefully I'll be back in the swing of things here soon.

First, last week my grandfather fell and hit his head. Care-flight took him to a trauma center in Utah where he remained mostly in a moderate coma and had about a 20% chance for survival. The doctor called it a 'devastating brain injury' and we all hoped for the best and prepared for the worst. A few of his kids (inlcuding my Dad) flew out to be with him and my Grandmother. After a lot of ups and downs and tests and praying he woke up on the third day. Though he is a little fuzzy on some memory details, he has since been moved from the ICU to acute care and will soon be transferred back to St. George to work on recovery. While the extent of his injury remains to be seen, we are all grateful for his recovery and survival.

Mom also came over to be my slave driver, I mean, 'help' me work on my home office/craft room. It was quite the mess. We sorted and got rid of old paperwork, added shelves, organized, and even hung curtains. Now I want to leave the door open instead of closing it off to hide the mess! (Except last time I left that door open I found that my kids had helpfully decorated paper, doors, my desk, and even my windowsills with pink highlighter.) It looks great!

I've also been losing sleep because of the Olympics! Can't. stop. watching...must stay awake...for finals. I'm loving every minute of it. Although they didn't show the triathlons in prime time, I did catch them recorded on TV earlier. My DH is obsessed with gymnastics and swimming and was complaining about the scoring of course. He said 'I can't help if I'm patriotic and want the US to win.' I couldn't contain my laughter on that one.

Rehab has been going well. My knee and leg feel consistently stronger. I still pop it out of place if I lean the wrong way on it (usually if I try a hurdler stretch on the floor bending the lower leg to the inside). So I just don't do that...ever. I like the new exercises I'm learning there and I think it will provide me some long term relief.

Well that's what's going on in my neck of the woods. How about you?

Great American Scrapbook Convention

My Mom and I always attend the GASC in Arlington. It's a fun time to get away and spend some Mommy-Daughter time. We stay at a hotel and attend the 3 day convention, take classes, and stay up late completing scrapbook pages. It's SO much fun. Plus we go swimming!

Thursday we arrived promptly at 8:45am, picked up our tickets from will call and proceeded to tour the show. I told myself I was only looking for Disney stuff and a baby book for a co-worker. And proceeded to buy Halloween stuff at the very first booth. Did I really need that? It's just so easy to walk by and find the MOST unique things. Plus, I love all the things you can actually do with Stamps by Judith. At first they look a little old-fashioned but I have seen some very neat things completed with these.

We toured the first 3 rows or so before we had to take a quick lunch break so we could make our 12:30pm class on time. We sat outside (where it was so windy I was afraid my while plate would blow away!). If you want a good seat at class you have to arrive at least 20 minutes early to get in line. See, class size can be anywhere from 30 to 100 people. And you need to be able to see the presenter so you can follow the details on your pages. There isn't enough time to finish in class so good seats are important for finishing later.

Our first class was '2008 Latest & Greatest with Basic Grey' (and who doesn't love BG paper!?) . Loved that class. We did 4 12x12 layouts. Although there was a very strange woman next to Mom (she attracts thos kind of people lol.) We took some pictures so we could scrap ourselves scrapping.

After class, back out to the show to shop until our next class. I found some cute things I wanted to make for Christmas so I bought them out. That's why you have to go early - the best items won't be around by Saturday! Our next class was at 5:30pm - '6 Techniques with Chipboard'. We were so disappointed in this class. The instructor was terrible, the paper not very pretty, and the techniques were things most people do. We did learn to make a spray for pearl-ex (which is traditionally hard to get dry) but that was the only worthwhile thing. On to dinner, swimming and then scrapping until midnight when I finally figured out how early we had to get up! Our room was right next to the door and right across from the pool - it was great to be so close.

Friday started with 8am class. The line was already long by 7:30! It was a large class in a ballroom. We made 3 2-page 12x12 layouts there. This was my favorite of the 3. It is actually much more complicated than this picture looks. I'll have to try and take a larger picture. After class it was back to shop more. By this time we had finished all rows in the show floor. It was much less crowded than Thursday. In past years Thursday was always the least crowded day, but both last year and this year - Friday has been the better day.

We enjoyed lots of great food as well. Red, Hot & Blue was yummy! We did have one really weird server at Papadeaux's. She kept wiping the table down. She delivered refills and would wipe all around our cups and plates to get the bread crumbs and things. Mom and I just looked at each other. She may have been OCD. We took some cake and pudding back to the hotel for snacks. I think dessert and scrapbooking may be two of the very best things in life. ;)

Here are some cute layouts we found (I didn't get as many pictures this year since most people got smart and put up no photos signs!

The sprinkles on this one were sparkly. Cute.

Lots of white gel pen and circles on layouts.

There is stitching on this layout that is difficult to see in the pictures.
Scalloped edges were big this year.

I stayed up late Friday to finish this board book for my friend who recently had her first grandchild. I thought it would be perfect for adding baby photos for the office. I purchased this very handy sanding tool at the convention which worked so quickly I loved it. If you've done chipboard at all you know that the best method is to glue the paper down and then sand off the edges. Well this tool cut that sanding time down tremendously. I highly recommend it!

Here is the book I created...it is very difficult to see some of the detail in the photos (like the flocking or raised glossy accents. I liked it so much I almost wanted to keep it!

I also started a small book for our Disney trip. It is going to say Disney Magic. You can see the small Disney lettering on the table in the far left side of the picture. I think Mom was about to flip out from all the sanding noise. I found so many cute Disney items there. It is big business in scrapping. I picked up all kinds of cute embellishments and laser cuts. I even found a few page kits I will be making and perhaps passing off as partially my own to those who don't ask. wink, wink. I still haven't finished this book but will post the finished product when I am done.

Mom and I use the desk in the hotel room for a scrap table usually. I had the desk on the center of this picture. And if you look closely on the right you can see Mom's uh, coffee table workspace. I didn't really think she is that short but I guess it fit ok! ;) We always have to pull over the lamps and set up our work area. This was a great trip and I look forward to it every year! Thanks Mom for being such a great scrap partner and for the fun!

See you all next year!