This is the Front Door album I made for my niece, Helen, who is recovering from surgery.  I took the Front Door Album class from Kathryn on Ustream.com. Her lessons are very clear and her work is beautiful.  You can visit her blog at  Scrapbeach@gmail.com   Helen, I hope you enjoy this book as much as I enjoyed making it.  I love you.

This is one side of the page I submitted to the Scrap Beach, Mama's Flower Garden, Swap. The gate opens and 2 butterflies pop up as if they were flying.  Another idea from a You Tube tutorial.  I looked for another half inch to put something.  :)
There is also a little ceramic dog sitting right behind the gate... I dont know why I didnt take a picture of that.

This is the "rest of the story"- the other side of the page for Mama's Flower Shop Garden Swap.  Later I will post the great pages I got in return to make a very pretty floral mini album. It was fun, but I was  AGAIN  in over my head and a little overwhelmed.

That was the first real page of scrapbooking, I will show you the album that took a couple of weeks to do. (from a 2 1/2 hour class)  And then I started watching YouTube and came across a lady named Toni who was making flowers and it appeared was being mentored by someone named Gerriann.  I watched her every time I could find it and then I saw that Gerriann had a show one night.  But I was a little confused because it seemed that several of the ladies that had shows referred to her and her expertise.  So later I found out that Gerriann Armstrong, a very talented scrapbooker and Close To My Heart representative, had some health issues and was not able to "stream" so some others were using her timespot until she came back.  By this time, I was hooked on You Tube scrapbooking. Toni had gotten my interest piqued and then it was hour after hour of watching. There was lady named Kathryn and she mentioned that she had a Ustream show, so I decided to watch it. And then there was another named Laura and I watched her and then her Ustream. Then I found Kathy Orta, The Paper Phenomenon, lady. She is very talented, so friendly and funny.  And I started watching all of these ladies and must say, They are all paper geniuses.

Anyway, I joined a mini album swap and a tag swap.  Big Mistake! I had about 6 weeks to complete 5 tags with my favorite hobby being the subject of the tag. And the mini album was supposed to be shaped and less than 4in across or vertically.  I will post pictures of the trials and errors of that next time maybe, if I can get up the nerve.

I also joined a swap on www.Lifeonthescrapbeach.com which was Kathryn's (the ustream lady) site.This subject was Mama's flower garden and had to be of a certain line of paper K& Co. I had to make 6 pages of an album and keep one for myself and send in 5.

If you are pretty new, DONT do this!  It caused me lots of stress.  Deadlines, not knowing for sure what I was doing, and realizing that I was sending my little pre kindergarten pieces to PHD's of scrapbooking... but who knew?   Anyway, hopefully next time, I can show you that finished album.

I am so glad I am doing this and am so fortunate to have made some new friends.

One more thing, I spent the day on the computer celebrating National Scrapbooking Day on May5. So when I got up at the crack of noon, I went to the first place I had signed up with and looked at all their projects, then I went to Following the Paper Trail Ustream for the project that Laura Denison was doing and at 3:00 I went to Kathryn Scraps for a make along with her type show.  At 8:00 p.m or so, I had finished the first part of my Album in a Box.  It certainly did not look like Kathryn's did but at least you can tell it is a box,  can't you?  and then it took me several days to finish the rest with the good on recording on Ustream....my method- play, pause, measure, cut, play, pause remeasure, recut, play, pause maybe repeat one more time, but if not, glue and forge on.  and in a few days, here is the finished project:

I had decided that I would try to post a new blog every week with all the exciting news in my life.  (long pause)  Ok, that about tells the story... thanks for dropping by.  Actually, I have had quite a nice time since I last posted anything, so here goes.  I got acquainted with some ladies by watching some of them who had shows on Ustream.  They are all very talented and they have made room over in the corner of their craft hideaway room for me.  Are you old enough to remember references to the "dunces corner"?  Well, they didn't have that in Odessa, Texas, when I was in school but I do remember reading about it in country schools .... anyway, that is how I feel sometimes in the presence of Jean, Robin, Vicki, Carol, Sheri, Rose, Sandi, Diane, Darcie, Joyce, Barb, Tanya, and the list goes on.  I am sure I have left some of them out, but it is just because I don't always remember everything I should all the time.  I didn't intend to slight you if you read this and don't see your name.  Anyway, one night while we were all spectators at another ustream show, Vicki and Robin were trying to help me get on Twitter and learn how to use it.  So I did and I bugged them both quite a bit at first. They were very kind and patient and now, I am tweeting alone. Anyway, to sum up what I have done in the last few months. I started scrapbooking. I jumped in with both feet ( just like I do everything else) so here a few pictures of the result..Remember I am a beginner.

I looked on the internet under scrapbooking and found oodles of sites and sights!  The first one that I came across that had the WOW factor was Swirlydoos.com. So I saw that they had the kit of the month and if I joined it for six months, they would send me everything I need to make the project of the month along with tutorials online, and sometimes written out. So I ordered it. And I got the first shipment. My goodness, it was so beautiful. The paper was from Prima Flowers and there were some flowers and little charms and I really loved it. So I looked at it and I am sure it had some magical power because it said" you cannot do this...you don't even know where to start." So I called Krissy at Swirlydoos and she very patiently explained to me that I could design my own look with the products or use their designers ideas and  learn from them. She also explained that I might consider getting a few scrapbooking tools.  Ok, I am clearing my throat.  A few?  I already had great scissors from Quilting and of course, I will not be able to quilt for a long time because I have to keep my legs up... you know, old lady circulation.  One day soon, I will show you all the tools I have accumulated. And paper, glues, ribbon, lace, tape, brads, stickers, chipboard, inkpads, inks, markers, stamps,stamp pads, heat gun, little skillet that i dont know why i need it, an electronic cutting machine. (This is a Silhouette Cameo and about the smartest thing I have ever seen. I tell it what I want and it cuts it out) It is amazing

Ok now some pictures :