Happy Scrappy Day

I spent ten hours working on scrapbook pages at New Life Church. It was a fundraiser crop (freewill offering) for their youth group's upcoming Appalachia mission trip. Although we have a new printer/scanner/copy machine, I decided to photograph my work from that day. Much faster.

I loved getting a bunch of pictures out of storage and into an album. I still have journaling to finish, but getting the pages laid out is the biggest hurdle to leap. Journaling is easy, doesn't take much space at home, etc. I finished 25 pages. I also started two big layouts, but found that each layout was missing one big photo. I think I must have been waiting to print the enlargements with the occasional Walgreen's "Free 5 x 7" special. I'm still waiting for that special to run, and I'll remember this time that I have images to print. I also organized some photos. Some photos from 2005 -- four years ago -- got stuck on a page (finally). Yes, I am pretty late.

Another notable detail about the crop I attended was that someone had just purchased a CriCut at WalMart (under $200) and brought it along. This weekend was the first time it ever saw use. I had never seen one. It was nifty and fun, even though we couldn't use cardstock with it. You can see some of the letters I cut with it here. It seems to have a lot more to offer than a Sizzix or QuicKuts.

I'm not finished embellishing all of my pages. With a self-imposed spending freeze of all craft supplies, I will pore over my idea book that I bought back in the days of yore, and create some awesome-ness that fits my style and current stock of supplies.

I also pumped out quite a few blocks for my crazy quilt and "I" of GAIN finished her pincushion on Friday. She plans to give it to a friend tomorrow during a play date. I made a few more after this photograph was taken. I recently saw a 'project improv'-style quilt where the stitcher made the back of the quilt with large scraps of fabric. I am considering the idea, but I like using a flat sheet, then tying it. The kids can participate in the tying, which is why our quilts are tied. (I have made two or three quilts that are not tied, and they weren't for our family to use.) I haven't made any decisions on finishing this, though. I don't even keep track of how many blocks I still need to sew. I may be done, but who knows.