Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Scrapbook Conventions - Yes or No

So I would label myself a pretty avid scrapbooker. After all I have a blog about scrapbooking. I have a lot of scrapbooking stuff, and I even scrapbook from time to time. So I think maybe it's time for me to go to a scrapbook convention. There are several in my area that I've had my eye on for the last couple of years, but to be honest I'm not sure I'm a convention type of scrapper. All the matching outfits, funny hats, and pink gives me a sorority girl vibe that starts to make the college radical in me a little uncomfortable.

But it sure looks like fun. So these are the conventions I'm thinking about:

The Great American Scrapbook Convention being held in Chantilly, VA - This convention is more or less being held in my backyard, so I definitely think this would be a fun one to attend. This convention offers a lot of workshops, but there also appear to be a lot of make and takes that are included in the registration fee. So I wonder which would give me more bang for the buck. I love to learn new techniques and make things, but I'm sure I'm going to want to shop and find out about new products. Decisions, decisions

Creating Keepsakes Convention in Valley Forge, PA - This is another pretty local convention for me. I've considered going to this one for the last couple of years, but work and other commitments have made it impossible. This year might work. Again, I wonder if the classes are important, or would the convention be enough.

Creative Escape 2009 - This sounds really nice, but it's in Arizona - not exactly around the corner and it's the most expensive of the conventions I'm considering. But it does sound really, really nice. I might think about this one next year, depending on how I like one of the more local ones I'm considering for this year.

So what do you think? Have you ever been to a convention? Have you ever been to one of these conventions? Let me know. I'd love to hear some opinions from my fellow scrapbookers.

Monday, April 27, 2009

Gone - But Not Forgetting the Memories

So it looks like April is about to end without much commentary from me about scrapbooking. While I have not been blogging much this month about scrapbooking, I have busy creating a few layouts and working on finishing a few projects. I thought I would share a few things before the end of this month.

So I begin with a twofer. This layout is a 2 pager about our visit to the Cherry Blossom Festival in Washington, D.C. and also uses embellishments I received in my April 2009 SweetPea Scraps kit. This layout uses paper from Sassafrass Lass, and various embellishments from the April 2009 SweetPea Scraps kit. I highly recommend scrapbooking clubs, and SweetPea Scraps is my new favorite (I've been in 3 different ones over the last few years). Also, the layout design is "scraplifted" from PageMaps. This is a great website with nothing but layout and card sketches. I frequently use it for layout ideas. Her sketches are a great timesaver.

Next up - a cute layout featuring my nephew Tyler. His father calls him Mr. T. This layout uses pattern paper and cardstock from the SweetPeas kit. I also used my Cricut to create the title and the embellishments. I used the Cuttin' Up and New Arrival cartridges. I'm a huge fan of my Cricut and I use it on almost all of my layouts. In the first layout I used it to cut out the circle.

And another layout featuring my sister-in-law. This layout uses pattern paper from October Afternoon and We-R-Memory Keepers and I also got these papers through scrapbooking kit clubs. The cardstock is from Die Cuts with a View and Bazzill. I used my Cricut to cut out the title and the house. I used the Home Accents, Going Places and Plantin Schoolbook cartridges. The embellishments are from various manufacturers including K&Company (journaling cards), K.I. Memories (rubber accents) and Making Memories (epoxy tags).



So that's a few of the layouts I worked on for the month of April. I hope to get one or two more posts in before the end of the month featuring so other stuff I'm doing. But we'll see.

Friday, April 3, 2009

I've Been Tagged!

I happen to be checking out one of my favorite blogs ScrapHappy, and Lain had just posted a picture in response to being tagged by another blogger, and at the end of the post I realized she had just tagged 7 more people and one of the people was me?! Gotta love this blogoshere thing. So this is the challenge/tag:

The tag how-to...

  • Go to the photos folder on your computer.
  • Go to the seventh folder of photos.
  • Go to the seventh photo.
  • Put the seventh photo on your blog along with a description.
  • Invite

seven friends to join.

Here is my photo:

So this was the seventh photo in the seventh folder on my computer. This is a photo of my oldest son at a birthday party at a local firehouse last year. I took a lot of pictures at that party, but this one was definitely my favorite. Finding this photo reminded me of the fact that I need to organize some of the random photo folders in my iPhoto program - for instance this folder is called "Preschool Birthdays" - but I only have photos from this one party, so it should probably just go in my 2008 folder.

Next up, I tag:

Ife

Thomisia

Lisa

Akiba

Tiare

Cynta

Chela

Caryn

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Waiting for Stampin' Up!

So maybe you've heard, another giant of the scrapbooking industry is having a tough time riding out this economy. This time it's Stampin' Up! According to this news article that appeared in Deseret News on March 20, 2009, Stampin' Up! has experienced a 10% reduction in sales over the last two years and is now anticipating having to lay off some portion of their 500 person workforce - this does not include their 40,000 independent demonstrators.

Now some might say they are just another casualty of this difficult economy, but I say that Stampin' Up! along with it's scrapbooking cousin Creative Memories is suffering from more than a downturn in the economy. They are suffering from an obsolete business model that is finally showing its age. You say, why so grumpy - Stampin' Up! makes great stamps. And you're right they do make great stamps, but they make those stamps way too hard to get. I happen to be waiting right now for a Stampin' Up! order. A month ago, my mom and I went to a Stampin' Up! party mainly to support a good friend and hang out with a few former co-workers. It was their "Sell-a-bration" event and I ordered enough stuff to get a free stamp set. To be honest with you I don't even remember what I ordered, but my Discover card does remember what I paid for it. Meanwhile, our very sweet consultant promised to put the order in right away and said that this time she would not have to deliver it to us (good because she lives in Western Maryland and I live in Northern Virginia - quite a hike), and that the order would be sent directly to my house. That was a month ago. I haven't gotten my order yet, but I'm sure I'll get it soon. Just not when I wanted it. That's the problem with Stampin' Up! and Creative Memories. Your consultant never has what you want on hand and must order your products. And your products can usually never just come to your house, they must go to her first and then you must play phone tag for an extra week until she finally meets you and drops off your order. Meanwhile, you could have gone to your local big box store and bought a scrapbook, paper and supplies and created a scrapbook album in the time it takes to get one overpriced stamp set from Stampin' Up! Scrapbooking has changed, and unfortunately Stampin' Up! and Creative Memories have not changed with it. Today through the internet you can meet and gain inspiration from scrapbookers from all over the world. Stampin' Up! and Creative Memories, despite many changes they have made, seem to be stuck in an alternative universe where all scrapbookers live in the same cul-de-sac and scrapbooking supplies are strange items that can only be obtained from your consultant or demonstrator. I hope they wake up and figure out ways to compete in this market. In the meantime, I'm still waiting for my Stampin' Up! order.