More from the Crop

You all didn't seriously think I went to a weekend crop and only came away with 12 cards now did you????

First let me start by saying, I had a lot of comments about the amount of "stuff" I took to the crop.  So I thought I'd share with you the "anatomy" of packing for a crop.  And in case I didn't make it clear, this particular crop was a full weekend getaway - starting at noon on Friday and running until 5 p.m. on Sunday (although we left by 2:30 on Sunday - my ride had a dinner to attend!)

This is what I took:

Bag #1. The Xyron 900 on the top of Bag #1 was something I took to sell in the yard sale. I haven't used it in years - it was great back in the days of school projects, but has sat in a closet since. I'm happy to say, it went home with a new owner.  

In the bag itself is my baker's racks for holding tools and such, my cup holder/trash can that attaches to the table, my Epson PictureMate 4x6 portable photo printer, my Xyron 250, a blanket for when the ballroom gets cold (it does!), a plastic cloth for covering my work when I leave at night - basically all the odd bulky things that don't fit in with scrapping supplies.

Bag #2 is a small tote filled with mixed media supplies - inks, stamps, brushes, mod podge, etc.

Bag # 3 is FOOD! 8 bottles of water, apples, peanut butter, clementines, almonds, dried mango, oatmeal.  (and my "Twelve" egg crate of embellies sitting on top of the water bottles).  Some of our meals were included in the weekend, some not.  And since I'm trying to eat healthy, I needed snacks that would keep me going.

Crate #4 - believe it or not, almost everything in that crate was for a single project... Rachel and Becca's "School of Life" albums for grades K-6. I figured since they are graduating high school this year, it's high time I got this project underway.  In the crate - two unopened 12x12 dark green Dalee albums, a few pouches filled with school themed scrapbooking stickers and diecuts, two 12x12 clear expandable envelopes filled with all of the layouts I've already made that belong in these albums, and then all that stuff turned sideways... is 8.5 x 11" envelopes filled by grade with all their memorabilia (school photos, report cards, awards, papers, etc.).

Bag #5 - several 12x12 paper "stacks", a couple of magazines, idea books, my "Twelve" binder, etc.  Oh - and squished there between bag #2 and bag #5, my pink "Tote-ally Cool" tool tote which holds my trimmer, ATG gun, scissors, pens, other adhesives, cropadile, corner rounder, tiny attacher... you know, all those things you just can't scrap without!

Bin #6 - large punches

Bag #7 (inside crate #8) - all this is a bunch of miscellaneous papers, stickers, and embellies for the yard sale.  And everything in there that I didn't sell was donated to charity at the end of the crop - that bag came home EMPTY!

Crate #8 - other than the bag above, the rest of this crate is filled with page and project kits - basically everything I hoped to work on and accomplish during the crop.

Bag #9 - clothes! Jammies and slippers for at night and two days worth of clothing changes and toiletries all in a relatively small duffle bag - obviously my wardrobe was much less important than my "stuff"!

#10 - the only item not pictured - my computer!  Laptop goes with me to crops too! And that bag also carries my p&s camera, cell phone charger, external hard drive, power strip, journal...

So you see... not really so much stuff when you see how critical it all is to being able to crop the weekend away...

And without further ado... what I did...

1. Twelve Cards!

2. the 2011 layout for Jay's birthday album.

3. A two page layout of all my blog friends! (Okay, not all of them... the ones who visit and comment the most...)

I swiped everyone's photos from their blogs and then where I had them, I used those cute little colored faces from Mel's coloring exchange.

Hey, Kai - when you do yours, can you send me one???

There were a few more people I would have liked to add, but for whom I had neither blog photo nor colored face... see, there is a reason to put your photo on your blog!

4. A quick layout about my disappointing round of jury duty.

5. I added some things to my "Junque Journal".  It seems to be filling up a lot faster since blog friends started sending me wonderful things in the mail...

All that crafty goodness...

6. A complete and total scraplift from Melissa - this tracker layout for my "Twelve" class (the chart was created by a fellow class member and I just printed it out and trimmed it down to fit).  I can mark off as I create the layouts... how many of those little circles do you think I'll have filled in by the end of the year???

And on the back I can write the title of each layout, so I'll always know which layouts in my albums were created during this class!

7. Our annual Christmas Greetings pages - this one shows what we sent out this year

A collage of photos/cards we received this year - so yes, I did need my square punch - in fact between this layout and the cards, I used all three sizes!

And the cards that were just too beautiful or cute or sweet to be cut up... all from my very crafty bloggy friends!

8.  Got the foundation done for two School of Life albums and a few interior pages... but I haven't taken any photos yet, so that will be fodder for another post!

And finally, 9. I finished the canvas I was making for Kai!  I had most of the background done - I added the She Art Girl and the saying at the crop, as well as some finer details. The canvas is in an envelope now and ready to go postal tomorrow!  I sure hope she likes it!

Another She Art Canvas

Made this one for my mother's birthday.  Now that she's seen it, I can post here!

 That's a real bird feather peeking out of her hat! Found in the front yard and sprayed with purple mist.

I had two inspiration pieces that I used in creating this one.  My inspiration for the tree can be found here with many thanks to Junelle, and my inspiration for the dress can be found here with many thanks to Eniko since I completely lifted the jacket design from her! 

Meet My Best Girls - Chapter Three

Last, but by no means least, Deanna:

My sister, my best friend.  Younger by four years, yet I don't remember my life without Deanna in it.  Not to say we didn't have our share of sibling rivalry... and sharing a room our entire childhood was challenging... but I love this girl... and we survived, together, through a lot of ugliness.

As we were raised - in a Brady Bunch style his, mine, ours, and a few others household - I clearly held the role of eldest and Deanna fell into the role of middle child early on.  She is the peace keeper. She has a gentle soul.  She hates conflict. She loves horses, the ocean, and her family.

Deanna dabbled in scrapbooking and the "biz" with Krystal and I, but her heart is at the barn.

This is the canvas I made for Deanna:

Meet My Best Girls - Chapter Two

Next up, Rachel:

I met Rachel in 1983.  I had just graduated from college.  She was still in high school.  We were hired by Sears to work in the catalog order department at the same time.

Rachel has been there for me through moves (yes, lugging boxes!), my wedding, pregnancies and births, taking care of my toddler twins when I needed to go out of town, and helping out in emergencies (like when I ended up in the hospital with kidney stones).  Even though we live in the same town, we can go weeks or months without seeing or talking to each other, but I always know I can count on her if I need to.

Somewhere in there she got married, had kids of her own, and got busy with her family life. And I like to think I was there for her too.  We share some of the best and some of the worst times. My Mom and her Dad both died from cancer within two weeks of each other.

Shortly after her 40th birthday, Rachel was diagnosed with an aggressive form of breast cancer.  It was in her honor that I walked in the Philadelphia Breast Cancer 3 Day (60 miles) in 2008 and it was with that event that I launched this blog!  Rachel is now three years cancer free!

This is the canvas I made for Rachel:

Meet My Best Girls - Chapter One

So how do I begin to encapsulate and share my girls' weekend away?  I'm thinking first off, you need to meet my girls!  So for the next three days, I'll introduce them one by one.  But don't run away too quickly... there is She Art involved!

First Up, meet Krystal:

I met Krystal in 2001. She is the youngest of the group, having not yet crossed over the "40" mark.

Krystal is a portrait photographer, but when I first met her, she was a rep for an upstart direct sales scrapbooking company, and my upline. I was immediately drawn to her personality, her cute southern charm, her feisty spirit, and the way she was able to analyze and maximize profit from any downline structure.  She definitely had a way with that puzzle! And a knack for getting people to do whatever she wanted.

We joined the "scrapbook biz" together and stuck it out for eight years, through two different companies. Along the way, we got to enjoy numerous retreats, conventions, shows... all "girl trips" even though work was involved.

We share the role of eldest child, a strong education, and a love of the written word. Oh, and scrapbooking!

After the second company went belly up, I gave up the biz and settled into scrapbooking as just a hobby (and learned my way around Photoshop!).

Krystal became a portrait photographer.  Alas, I have yet to get her to shoot my family.  I have the airlines to thank this time - her flight was delayed so many times that instead of getting here at 3:30 (with plenty of time to do a sunset shoot), we finally got her back to my house at nearly 9 p.m. - and couldn't even do an indoor shoot because the girls had already showered and changed into pjs!

Knowing my best girls were all coming to celebrate my big 5-0, I used the She Art Class as an opportunity for gift-giving.  This is the canvas I made for Krystal: