A Class Act

I’m not much for taking scrapbooking classes. When I started scrapbooking, there were no nearby dedicated stores, no places to take lessons.

Besides, I just didn’t have the time to find a nearby crop. And I wound up cropping at odd hours. Also, dragging all my supplies around was not my idea of fun.

Okay, and there’s an ego-thing. See, eventually I did “invent” all sorts of things that are now standard in scrapbooking: using silk flowers (I remember the look on the faces of the people at Creating Keepsakes Magazine when they viewed my page with silk flowers—SHOCK!), inking the edges of your paper (I’d run out of paper to use as mattes and decided to drag the image across my ink pad), adding fabric to a page (I used felt), and three-D items (tiny Christmas wreaths), dried flowers, tinsel, beads, and I forget what else. (Oh, I’m also the originator of the phrase, “There are no scrapbook police.” I know another prominent scrapbooker has since picked it up, but I said it “first.” And I wrote the seminal article on scrapbooking your faith and scrapbook pages featuring yourself. I can prove that, too, because there were in magazine articles.) So I guess you could say I’ve had an inflated view of my own creativity. That’s good and bad, perhaps.

Last month I signed up for a class at Archivers in “see through” albums. (These are albums with pages made either of sheets of acetate--like overhead projector cells--or pages laminated so that portions are see-through.) Man, I had soooo much fun. I got to use new tools, try new products, try new techniques and I sat at a table with three other cool young ladies (much younger than I—their names were Amy, Emma, and Katie, so you can guess their ages!) who shared their knowledge and supplies.

I came away totally inspired. So much so that I dove into making an album for my son to take to college. (Okay, that’s not likely. My husband sweetly suggested that we scan the pages and put it on Michael’s I-Pod instead. “Honey,” said my husband, “you have to remember that kids access information differently than we do.” He’s right. Besides, I’ve put so much work into that album, I hate to let it loose in the uncontrolled dorm environment! And Michael really liked what I did, so I want it to be convenient for him to see.)

Here’s my suggestion to you: Get thee hither to a class. I paid next to nothing for the Archiver’s class. Surely it didn’t cover the cost of the materials. I came away with a cool, cool album. (I’m adding more pages to it before I bind it, so it’s not only way-cool, but also very useful.) And I’m feeling totally inspired.

Summer is a great time to learn more about the hobby you love. Kick it into high gear!