Crop Check List

It's almost time for the Robin's Scrap Next crop (Disney theme!) and I'm anxious...but not ready to go. I have a lot to get done since I'm attending as a scrapbooker and a vendor. As this event is four and half hours away, I can't just head back home to get something I forgot so I spent the morning tweaking my crop packing list before printing it out. It's easier for me to separate everything into categories as some items can be packed early, while others not until the morning I leave.

Some items might seem a given, but I have left them in the past so I added them to list. I have found nothing is easier to forget than an item I believe is "unforgettable."

Wearing:

Clothes for 4 days – Disney shirts, shorts, leggings

Costume (there's a character dress-up night)

Slippers

Sweater (venue can get cold)

            Toiletries

Book Selling Related:

            Books

            Bookcase

            Swag

            Tablecloth

            Square Reader

Devices/Non-scrappy:

Laptop

Speaker

Charging Cords

Phone

Car Charger

Devices/Scrappy:

Cricut or Cameo 

Mats

Cords

Extra Blades

Flash Drive with SVG files

Scrapbooking/Non-Crafty:

            Ott-Lite

            Extension Cord

            Power Strip

Small table

Chair Cushion

Cup Holder

            Cup with Lid

Ear Buds

  

Scrapbooking/Crafty:

Pictures (yes, have left pics at home, fortunately it was only a 12-hour crop)

Adhesive – Tape and Liquid Glue

Foam Dots

Fine Tip Scissors

Small Paper Trimmer

Corner Rounder

Kiwi Lane Templates

Title Templates

Mechanical Pencil with eraser

Disney Paper Case

Vacation Paper Case

Cardstock Paper Case

Page Protectors

Pens

Colored Pencils

Stamp Pads

Disney and Vacation Stamps

Scrap N’ Easel

Idea Books (Disney and Kiwi Lane)

Post-it Notes 

Die Cutting:

            Vinyl

            Paper Scraps

            Tweezers

            Pokey Tool

            Cricut Pens

            Chalk/Chalking Tool

White Gel Pens 

Snacks:

            Diet Coke

            Bottled Water

            Cheese and nuts snack packs

            Grapes

            Chocolate

Small Cooler

First Crop of the Year

I'm so excited! Friday is my first crop of 2018. And to make me even happier, I completed the first draft of my short story a day ahead of schedule so I have an entire day to prepare for the crop. Which is good since there is a page competition for each day of the crop, and I have to gather up photos, paper, and embellishments to participate. I found it was easier for me to complete layouts at a crop when I stuck to a theme and currently I'm working on a 25th anniversary cruise album. And none of the layouts I'd make for it would fit with the daily themes: Friday-Christmas, Saturday-Winter Fun, and Sunday-Family (might be able to pull it off as the pictures are my husband and I but I'd like something that includes more of my family members).

So, now I have to try and find pictures that would work for those pages. The paper and embellishments I'm not too worried about as those have been organized, but my photos are still either in computer folders with no rhyme or reason to the folders they are in or in photo boxes throughout the house. It's the one category I didn't touch too much when I moved my craft space upstairs. I did have one large container filled with portrait pictures which I sorted by family member but I left the candid photos in their hodgepodge organizational state. It's a good thing I have a whole day to find some pictures that will work (or enough time to get some printed at Walmart using their 1-hour service).

Where's the Tape Runner?

Usually getting ready for a weekend crop retreat brings me such joy. I'm always so excited to start packing because that means crop weekend is almost here (I "leave" on Friday, I have leave in quotations because this retreat is in my town and only about ten minutes away). Today I am filled with dread and finding all sorts of chores that need doing to avoid packing. The issue is I don't know where anything I need is currently being stored. I feel like I'm in a never ending game of hide and seek with the inanimate objects winning. We're in the process of rearranging rooms and I have scrapbooking items in the soon-to-become my craft area and office, in my current office, and also in what was once my scrapbooking room.

Figuring out where to start first is overwhelming. I know the easiest thing to do would be to bring everything into one area to sort through but then I'll be cluttering up one space. It would make the most sense to bring everything upstairs to my new office/craft space, but as we still have items in there from when we redid our bedroom, the room is already crowded and chaotic adding more items into it will not make the task any easier. (Putting items back into our bedroom is taking longer than we planned, I'm about ready to give us a deadline and whatever isn't back in the bedroom will be donated.)

I had planned on starting a new album at the crop but I might just finish up the last few pages of the Disney album I've been working on and then work on die cuts for our anniversary cruise album. It would be easier to do prep work for the November retreats coming up then trying to dig everything out. I know by November, we'll have the rooms in some semblance of order.

Cropping With Friends

The weekend (a long one for me) was fabulous. Scrapbooking. Chatting. Catching up with friends. Making new ones. Every time I attend a retreat, I remember how much I love them and then start scouting for another one. I was going to say I didn't know what I loved most about crops, the dedicated scrapbooking time or hanging out with crafty friends, but I know the answer: spending time crafting with my friends. In talking with one my friends, we realized we hadn't spent time together since I dropped by at the last crop...at the end of September. Life sometimes gets so busy with to do list items (some important some not so much) that time is spent doing items rather than being with people. Or has been for me over the last year.

Time with friends is one of the reasons I love crop retreats so much. It's time dedicated to being with them and also for telling my family's story. This year, I made a vow to get more crafting time in so I can work on my scrapbooking albums and other craft projects. I love crafting and for some reason it always goes on the bottom of my list. It's a toss up if I get more pages done at home or at crops. At home, there are so many to do list items calling out for my attention: laundry, current WIP, dishes, cooking. It's hard to complete a lot of layouts as I feel guilty working on pages (doing something fun) when there is so much work needing done.

At retreats, I work on more labor intensive layouts (the Epcot page took almost 5 hours to complete), so I don't finish as many layouts as I'd like. But, I must say I usually love all the layouts I create at crop retreats. The time dedicated to scrapbooking allows me to create guilt free and I also am surrounded by many scrapping cheerleaders who tell me the time I'm taking for the double page spread will be so worth it in the end. They were right. I spent all of Saturday working on my Epcot and Rapunzel pages and I have to say I'm so glad I did. They are some of my favorites in our Disney vacation album.

I'm looking forward to the next retreat I'll be attending from April 6-9 at Alpine Lakes in Terra Alta, West Virginia. I have another one on my schedule for mid-April, and I'm on the lookout for one or two to crop at this summer.

Recipes for a Crop

There are so many things I like about scrapbooking—but one of the coolest is that it can be such a social hobby. I confess that I’m kind of jealous, though, over the knitters and crocheters and their ability to take projects along with them to almost any event. With scrapping, it’s not quite that easy. But we do have social gatherings called “crops” and scrapbookers use groovy little cases with organizing systems to transport their stuff.
We also need tables to spread our photos, paper, glue, and embellishments out to consider and use. So space is often an issue at a crop. Often the public gatherings are held in churches, schools, and fire halls. When friends get together to crop, it’s a different matter.
The croppers in my book love to eat when they scrapbook. As you can imagine, that can be messy so the Cumberland Creek Scrapbook Club usually keep their food off on a side table. They wander over, fill up a plate and take it back to their seats, very carefully. In my second book, SCRAPBOOK OF SHADOWS, a character actually spills wine on a scrapbook. Stuff happens. So be prepared.
Deciding what to serve at a crop can be tricky. But it’s always best to stick with “finger-food” and have plenty of napkins and paper towels on hand because you don’t want your fingers touching a valuable picture after you’ve just used your fingers to indulge in a chocolate cupcake.
I have a new section on my blog here, which is a recipe section that gives recipes for some of the food in Secrets. But I thought I’d share a few here today—along with a little information about my characters.

Hummus
When Annie brought hummus to share with the scrapbook club, most of them had never had it before and, at first, they were put-off by the way it looked. But, to be polite, they each took a bite and were surprised to find that it was delicious. They all asked Annie for the recipe.
4 garlic cloves
1 teaspoon salt
2 1-pound 3-ounce cans chick-peas, drained and rinsed
2/3 cup well stirred sesame tahini
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice, or to taste
1/2 cup olive oil, or to taste

Mince and mash the garlic to a paste with the salt. Purée the chick-peas with the garlic paste, the tahini, the lemon juice, the oil, and 1/2 cup water, scraping down the sides, until the hummus is smooth and add salt to taste. Add water, if necessary, to thin the hummus to the desired consistency and transfer the hummus to a bowl. The hummus can be made 3 days in advance and kept covered and chilled. Divide the hummus between shallow serving dishes and smooth the tops. Serve the hummus with pita bread, raw vegetables, or both.


Cheese Biscuits
Paige missed these biscuits at the crop because she was spending the weekend with her son, Randy. But never fear, DeeAnn whipped her up a batch and had them waiting for her on her return.

2 cups self-rising flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon sugar
1/3 cup shortening
3/4 cup grated sharp Cheddar
1 cup buttermilk
Salt
1/4 stick butter, melted
Preheat oven to 350°F.
In a medium bowl, mix flour, baking powder, salt, to taste, and sugar together using a fork; cut in shortening until it resembles cornmeal. Add cheese. Stir in buttermilk all at one time just until blended. Do not over stir.
Drop by tablespoonfuls, or use an ice cream scoop, onto a well-greased baking sheet. Brush dough with melted butter. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes.

Catching Up--and Why You Should NEVER Buy a Red Bic Lighter

We had a blast at my online Halloween party. If you didn't get the chance to join us, don't despair! It was such a success that I think I'll have another next year. My author friends showed up, donated books, and answered questions. So a big round of applause for: Angie Fox, Laura DiSilverio, Mollie Cox Bryan, Sparkle Abbey, Monica Ferris, Linda O. Johnston, Deb Sharp, Alan Orloff, Vicki Doudera, Julie Compton, Sharon Hopkins, Penny Warner, Casey Daniels, Camille Minichino, Terri Thayer, Betty Hechtman, Emilie Richards, and Ellen Byrrum. (The last two were an extra-special unplanned treat!)

My friend Linda Hengerer and me at the CROPtacular.

I lucked out. We managed to finish the party hearty, and then my Internet server crashed. My husband hooked my computer up to a "hot spot," and I had intermittant service, but gee...once you've known the wonder of fast Internet, you are HOOKED.

On Saturday, I spent most of the day in Vero Beach at the Vero Beach Scrapbook Store's Third Annual Christmas CROPtacular. A lot of people have asked me, "What is a crop?" It's a term derived from the journalism verb as in to "crop" a photo, or to trim off the edges. But for scrappers it's a party! And this one started at 9 a.m. and went until 11 p.m. My dear friend Linda Hengerer came and helped me set up and meet readers. Linda is the Queen of all things football. Check out her football book--and you'll never be "lost" at a football game again!

Her dear pal--Suzanne Fox--stopped by and dropped off treats in case we got hungry. Suzanne was in and out quickly, or I would have shown her the 8th Wonder of the World...THE KITCHEN, aka Heaven. I mean, most of the scrapbookers brought sweets to share. Oh, golly. There were cakes, cupcakes, cookies, fudge, and brownies. I mean, everytime I walked through on the way to the bathroom I nearly swooned with delight.

So today is Sunday (since I usually try to get my Monday posts up early so they'll be waiting for those of you who might read them at work), and after a lot of chores around the house, I decided to take my usual walk on the beach. Oh, my! The ocean is roiling like a pot on a hot burner! I was hit by a rogue wave and the water came nearly to my waist. The beach is covered with foam and as always, lots of plastic. I've been reading Plastic Ocean: How a Sea Captain's Chance Discovery Launched a Determined Quest to Save the Oceans. 

Want to get scared? Really scared? Read that book. See, for years, we've thought that plastics were inert and could not be broken down. WRONG. Bits of them cover a section of the Pacific so big its SURFACE is twice the size of Texas. And we don't know how deep those pieces go. Furthermore, plankton is feeding on the plastic. That means that plastic is invading our food chain.

This is why sea oats are so important. The waves came up to their roots. An aggressive ocean!

What can we do? I'll try to share my ideas as I get them, but to start...Never, EVER, buy a RED Bic plastic lighter. Why? That particular color is very attractive to a type of albatross that thinks the lighters are squid and feeds them to its babies. Evidently, the Bic lighters float, unlike lighters before them, and that makes them especially easy for the birds to grab.

Okay, the lights have flickered. The ocean gods are angry! Will say, "Goodnight," for now.