News from the self-proclaimed Queen of Journaling :-)

Greetings to our wonderful followers! This is Gina A. and I'm ashamed to say that I, the "Queen of Journaling", the teacher of Journaling 101 & 102, the person who nags everyone to JOURNAL, JOURNAL, JOURNAL ... that's right, ME!- I have not written on this site for a long time! However, I HAVE been scrapping LOTS (and journaling on those pages, I promise!) I celebrated my birthday in January with a 6-day crop (!) I completed 69 12x 12 layouts and 2 mini books! One of the mini books is on display in the Christmas section of the store. This chipboard "car" album has a pine tree on the top and was a perfect venue for my "cut-your-own Christmas tree" pictures. Check it out - there are kits still available for this adorable "Christmas Woody Album"! It went together so easily and I love the results. The base of the second mini-album is a FarmHouse chipboard book. I loved the pockets and fold-out pages and I used washi tape, glitter mist and stencils to decorate the cover and some of the chipboard interior pages. I'll be showing this album, along with many of my other mini albums and SMASH and SNAP books at our next SMASH crop (Scheduled for April 26th - please plan to join me!) Lastly, I wanted to share this two-page spread celebrating my in-laws long marriage. You could easily re-create this layout idea using any of the beautiful papers in our Heritage/Wedding sections or even the lovely "Secret Garden" Graphic 45 papers. I was inspired by Alice's HEART layout (on display behind the register - it's STUNNING!) I distressed some papers, and added beads, film strip "ribbon", stickers, mica and ink to embellish the papers. The finished product perfectly highlighted the sepia toned photos. Hope all of these ideas give you some creative jump-starts... remember, "Scraplifting" is legal so have some fun stealing these ideas or others from the many samples we feature at the store and on this blog. Happy Scrappin'! Gina A.