Discouraged....

Well...I'm a bit discouraged right now. I really, really, really, want to enter CK's Hall of Fame contest--not because I have any expectation of winning, but because I am tired of the feeling of failure I experience every year when the winners are announced and I didn't even give myself a chance because I chickened out. This year, I promised myself I'd follow through on my desire to enter and that alone would make me a winner. So I was going down the list of requirements, feeling like each was doable--until I got to the one about needing to showcase an ORIGINAL, INNOVATIVE technique. I don't feel like I have any original, innovative techniques. I am primarily a simple scrapbooker who looks for ways to put the emphasis on the photos. I rarely distress, coat anything with UTEE, use alchohol inks on foil, or anything like that. I just don't know if I have ANYTHING like that. Unless you count the streamlined sketches I created for a class I call the "Family Yearbook."

I made up a series of ten sketches that allow beginning to seasoned scrabookers to quickly assemble scrapbook pages that are well-designed and pleasing to the eye. When I teach these classes, the emphasis is on getting a whole year's worth of pictures into an album. Not necessarily every picture you take in a year, but enough pictures to give a snapshot on what your family does in a year. The people who have taken the class are thrilled with the result, and leave with a feeling of self-satisfaction as well as guilt reduction. I tried the sketches myself to see if they would work--and I got 48 pages done in about 5 hours. Another girlfriend of mine did two years--two albums of at least fourty pages--in just a couple of weekends. The albums look great and it's a fantastic feeling to have that album finished!

So my question is: is a sketch designed for simplicity and beauty count as an innovative technique? I keep thinking about a quote from Donna Downey's blog that says that simplicity can be groundbreaking. I hope that this is the attitude of those involved w/the CK contest. 'Cause that's about all I have that's innovative and original.

If any of you blog readers have thoughts, I'd love to hear them!

And that's the other side.

Feeling TOTALLY stoked!

This has been an exciting few days for me! I made myself a planner, (inspired by Donna Downey) and showed it to my friend that owns the local scrapbooking store here. She immediately wanted one, and asked me to teach a class at her store. I'd wanted to teach there for awhile, but wasn't sure how to bring it up. Super Excitement Number One!

Next (and while I realize this is tame for some...) I figured out how to post layouts to the gallery at 2 Peas and got very positive responses for my layouts. Excitement Number Two!

Lastly, I found out that you could submit your layouts using Basic Grey products to the gallery at the Basic Grey website so I submitted one just for the heck of it. I just found out that it was accepted and I am now in their gallery! You can go to the gallery and look up my name under designers. Super Excitement Number Three!

I'll post some pics of what I've been creating later. I just had to post about this. It's what I've wanted for awhile, and I'm lovin' the recognition!

And that's the other side.

Light Show

Ode to a Glowstick

What a wonderful
Crackling sparking
Sound.
Shake a little,
And for a few hours
You can hold your own
Universe.

We love glowsticks at our house, and thankfully, we can get them 6 for $1 at our local Dollar Tree. Here are some fun pics from the last time we all got into glowstick play.