Classes

National Scrapbooking Day

May 4, 2008 by Jess Leave a Comment

Yesterday was National Scrapbooking Day, and I had the great opportunity of teaching at Scrapbook Parade in Victoria. Both my classes were full, and they were so much fun. I met lots of new people and I am so thrilled to say that everyone in the classes were so nice and fun, and they all got along so well with one another. I had a blast! A big thank you to Carol for having me 🙂 Another piece of great news is that Carol has asked me to come back and teach more classes so I will be doing 2 mini book classes in July (while I am in Victoria visiting my family). The classes will be on the coaster album “Betcha Didn’t Know”

Getting ready for the class at Scrapbook Parade – I totally meant to take pictures while the class was going on and forgot!

The class I taught at Scrapbook Parade was a technique class. I created this mini book to use as examples for the class – there are over 40 different techniques featured in this little book. I’ll post more photos later – the ones I took didn’t turn out very good

The class I’ll be teaching in July 🙂

Portland Day 2

March 1, 2008 by Jess Leave a Comment

6 classes down, 2 more to go.

Today was such a busy day but fun! I am pleased to report that we only got lost ONCE today (opposed to 5 times yesterday). We started our day at the CKC show – in the vendor fair. Crazy busy! We did some shopping and left about an hour later so we could find Joann’s. (We don’t have Joann’s in Canada so this was quite the excursion for us, lol). We found it with no problems, and NO MAP!! Amazing! We were only going on directions given to us by the parking attendant at the conference center as we were driving out of the parkade. There was so much on sale at Joann’s too! I had to buy a bunch of ribbon for one of my classes today, then we went next door to Walmart to get sanding sponges for the class as well (which I forget to get yesterday). We were taking our time as I had in my mind that my first class wasn’t until 4:10. After stopping at Wild Oats (I absolutely LOVE this place!) we got back to the hotel with all our stuff, dumped it on the floor and prepared to lie around for awhile. Nicole took a look at the room and said “oh we forgot to put out the sign on the door that we needed the room cleaned, so I guess they just didn’t come at all”. I was looking at my bed which was perfectly made and said “What are you talking about?” then I saw her bed, which was a disaster! Lol!! She had left so much stuff on it, that they didn’t even touch it! We had a good laugh over that 🙂

So then while I was cutting ribbon for the class, we were watching tv and stuffing our faces with almond hershey kisses (the bags here are WAY bigger – like twice the size of the ones we normally get). We ate half the bag in about 5 minutes. Nicole suddenly asks me what time the first class starts and I was like” 4:10, we still have awhile”. We actually had 4 classes today all back to back and all in the same room – my 2 classes were first then Nicole’s 2 classes. She questions that saying that is an odd time. So I was like “yeah its 4:10 to 5:10 and then 5:30 to 6:30…. wait…. how can that be if your first class starts at 6….” We both grab the schedules at the same time to frantically look and Nicole exclaims “It’s at 3:10!!!!”. YIKES – it was 2:40 and we weren’t ready AT ALL. We hadn’t even gotten changed yet, I hadn’t finished cutting the ribbon, we thought we had plenty of time. I don’t think I’ve ever rushed around so much, but within 5 minutes, we had both changed our clothes, thrown all the kits and stuff in the bags and were down in the car heading out of the parkade. We rushed through the doors of our classroom at 2:55. Whew!

Anyway, all our 4 classes went really well and we had a lot of fun with everyone – what awesome groups of people we had! The funniest comment from someone was “so where are you from that makes you talk like that?” LOL – another reference to our “accent”. Nicole and I find this hilarious.

After the last class ended, we headed off to PF Changs for dinner – so yummy!

Our door today 🙂

evidence of the eaten hershey kisses….

our half cleaned room, hehe

shopping? ….what shopping?

PF Changs….mmmmm

Portland Trip day 1

February 29, 2008 by Jess Leave a Comment

What an incredibly long day its been. Nicole (from www.tilanofresco.com) arrived to pick me up at 8:30 am this morning and with the car absolutely FULL of class kits (over 400 various kits), we set off on our journey to CKC Portland. From out previous road trip to CKC Seattle, we don’t have a very good track record for getting places without getting lost along the way. We stopped off at a Starbucks only minutes from the border and we got lost trying to find our way back onto the highway. I know, it sounds ridiculous! We did however make it all the way to Portland without getting lost or sidetracked along the way, the sun was out and by the time we reached Portland it was actually warm out! (20 degrees celcius). We got lost trying to find the Walmart Supercenter, so we gave up and decided to go straight to the hotel, then we got lost trying to find the hotel. Finally we made it! The Jupiter Hotel. Well…. its….different. It’s not like any hotel I’ve ever stayed in before, its totally funky and retro! But it sure seems to be a popular place – there are always people around, the bar and restaurant are constantly booming. We burst out laughing when we saw our room – green shag pillows on the bed, a mural of a babbling brook on the far wall, and the doors were painted with chalkboard paint (there was a cup of various chalks inside for us). There was also a little something on the bedside table too…. you can use your imagination for this one. 😉 Oh and when we checked in they told us quiet time starts at 2am!!! lol! There were also 2 pairs of ear plugs waiting in the room for us.

Our funky room

Handy little ear plugs, wonder if we will use them…

We thought it would be fun to write our names on our door…. then thought maybe if people knew there were two girls inside we might get some unwanted knocking on the door so for safety reasons, we changed it….

Then it was off to CKC – Nicole was teaching 2 classes around dinnertime. The classes went really well, everyone in the classes was so nice! And apparently we have Canadian accents 🙂

We didn’t leave the convention center until almost 9pm. Other stores we wanted to go to were already closed so we headed towards the Walmart Superstore. We had a map but of course we got lost again (this was the 5th time getting lost today for us). We finally pulled over at a Holiday inn and went in to ask for directions. We were told we were 135 blocks away from where we were trying to get to! How in the world we wound up there we have no idea!!

We did make it to Walmart eventually – this is a 24 hour one too – exciting for us! LOL!!! Well actually the exciting part is being in Oregon and having no sales tax!!!! We grabbed snacks, and some stuff we can’t get in Canada, and headed back to the hotel but we didn’t get back until after 11, and we still hadn’t eaten dinner. The bar at the hotel was open (and was quite busy) – so we went down to see if they were still serving food. They were serving a select menu and we were starving so we stayed, and actually the food was really good! Eating dinner at midnight is not something I usually do though. Oh and something else funny, we got ID’d a couple times tonight – I love it when this happens! Getting ID’d at 30 years old is very exciting, lol. 🙂

the lights around the outdoor lounge at the hotel

CKC Portland Classes

February 24, 2008 by Jess Leave a Comment

All weekend I have been busy putting together the kits for my classes at CKC Portland later this coming week. I’ll be teaching 2 classes for a little coaster album “Betcha Didn’t Know” and 2 classes for a Pet themed accordion album. Should be fun! I should have some extra kits left over, so I might do a couple giveaways for them next week on here 🙂

Valentine’s Day quick gift idea

February 14, 2008 by Jess Leave a Comment

I should have posted this up sooner, but to be honest, I haven’t been on the computer much lately, things are just really busy around here right now.

I did a class on these at Precious Memories last month – if you need a quick gift to give to your sweetie – try making these coupons, they are lots of fun 🙂

All you need is one 12 x 12 piece of plain cardstock – (I used black bazzill), and some patterned paper and stickers/embellishments. I used the fun new Loveland line by Scenic Route – both their patterned paper and their cardstock stickers – I just love them!

Start by cutting your cardstock in half, so you have 2 pieces measuring 6 x 12, then cut each of those pieces in 4 equal pieces – you will end up with 8 pieces measuring 6 x 3. Cover them with patterned paper leaving a small border around the edge and embellish with stickers, ribbon and doodles. Add your own coupon write ups (ie: good for one dinner out; good for one movie, etc), or if you’d like to use the ones I made, please feel free to do so. I have both the black and white version and the colored one.

Download the black and white here

Download the color here

Lots going on

December 2, 2007 by Jess Leave a Comment

24 days left until Christmas – oh my goodness!!!!! It’s going to be here before we know it!! So much for my brilliant plan of getting the Christmas shopping done EARLY this year. Still not done, don’t see it happening anytime soon either. I will be one of those shoppers battling the parking lot for a spot the week before Christmas. Then all the long lines, the crazy rush and the jam packed stores. What joy, I can’t wait….

I have been getting quite a bit of scrapping done lately though. Had to prepare for a couple new classes for January for Precious Memories, also prepared for 4 classes for CKC Portland – woohoo!!! I’ll be going down with Nicole (from Tilano) as we’re each teaching 4 classes there – can’t wait -we’ll have a blast (and we’ll make sure we put gas in the car this time – lol!!)

Chocolate Kisses Class @ Precious Memories

I also just finished up a few Christmas gifts – I made my Grandma and my Aunt each a mini book. I had to send them off today as my Grandma leaves next week – she is going to Africa (Nairobi) with my Aunt and Uncle for Christmas. I’m so envious, how much fun would that be?? My Uncle is working and living in Nairobi right now and Brent and I are dying to go visit. We will one day.

I also made a flip style advent calendar for my other Grandma. She lives in a care home now (this is her first Christmas away from the house she lived in for 52 years). Everyday she will be able to flip the page to a new one and some have pockets on them, which I placed a little note for her in. I also have a bunch of little gifts for her which will correspond with the dates on the calendar so she has something little to open each day. I don’t see her very often anymore cause I’m not living in the same city, so I wanted her to know I am still thinking about her everyday. It makes me sad to see how things change so quickly. Just a few years ago my Grandma was living in her own house still, managing pretty well on her own with a little bit of outside help, and I worked only a few minutes away (by car). She used to look after Angus everyday while I was at work when he was a puppy, so I was at her house 3 times a day. I would go over there on my lunch break and have lunch with her. I miss those days.

A couple other projects I finished up last week: a Merry Christmas banner and some Christmas tags.

Now onto a non scrapping subject:

Who else is addicted to LOST??? I never thought I would be, but since my mum lent me the first 2 seasons of the show on DVD, I have been watching them while I’ve been scrapping, and I’m done both now. Perfect timing though as Season 3 is going to be released on December 11!!! Woohoo!!!! I am SO addicted to it now – I find myself thinking about it all the time! LOL!!!

Another thing I am looking forward to – seeing that new Will Smith movie “I am Legend” – it looks really good from the previews. The next movie outing will for sure be to that one. I don’t even remember when the last movie outing was, its been so long…..

Last thing for tonight…. it snowed again today!!! It actually snowed about 4 days ago. Brent LOVES the snow (I hate it, well I hate driving in it), so he got real excited when it started snowing and he dragged me to Canadian Tire to buy a snow shovel. Yeah us and about 30 other people – the snow shovels were flying off the shelves! We even bought an ergonomically correct one – didn’t even know such a thing existed! We also bought one of those plastic dish things that you sit in and tobaggon down the hills. That got me a little excited about the snow. So we get home, wait for some more snow to settle on the ground, then we got all bundled up, got the dogs ready, found some rope and attached it to the sled thingy and ventured out into the…. wet sloppy slush. ugh. It was melting already and was just gray mushy slop. We turned around and went home. The next morning when we got up (to my delight!) there was no trace of any snow on the ground! So there our brand new fancy snow shovel sits, unused. But it looks like it will get used tomorrow. It snowed quite a bit today and so far it has stuck around. We took the dogs out in it tonight and they had a blast!! It’s a very dry powdery snow, which we don’t normally get here. We took the sled out and took the dogs to their favorite fenced in park (well its a baseball field actually) and they ran and played – they were so hyper!! Angus and I got into the sled on the way home and Brent pulled us all the way home! There’s not too much point in taking a sled out around here, this is the flattest area – no hills anywhere! We found a small hill on the walk home – yeah small, like 3 feet high maybe. So not really a hill, more like a mound. We forgot to take the camera with us tonight, but if the snow is still around tomorrow, I’m taking some photos of my crazy snow dogs. 🙂