Tuesday, June 19, 2007

CKU

This past weekend I was lucky enough to attend my first CKU (A scrapbooking university.) I went with a friend of mine Desirae who lives in CA. It was great to spend a weekend with such a good friend.

Here I am at one of the study hall crops (the last night) finishing my homework from a class.

We arrived on Wednesday had lunch with a friend (Hi Jeanette) at a nearby mall. When we arrived at the hotel we checked in and headed to a great Local store which gave us 20% off student discount, then to the grocery store to stock up on food so we would not have to eat every meal in the hotel.

Thursday was full of make and takes from many differnt folks at the end of the day I had a 22 page 6x6 album about my favorite things. I loved the mini class by Stemma I can't wait to check out their products.

After the make and takes Dessie and I had a great meal at the hotel, I splurged on a great wine that was more a glass then I usally pay for a bottle (okay so that just means more then $10.)
After dinner we went to the tailgate party which kicked off the event. We recived a bag full of goodies and a trimmer from Purple Cow. It was so much fun and my dorm had fun dressing up like surfers.

Friday was a full day of 5 classes-
I loved my digital scrapbooking class the teacher Jessica Sprauge was awsome and explained Photo Shop Element in a way that works for me. We created two wonderful layouts in class and Epson (a co sponser) printer them all out. For homework that night we used embellishments to make our flat pages pop. It is great you can't tell where digi scrapping ends and paper scrapping begins on these layouts.

I also took a wonderful photography class with Candice Stringham (I can't wait to explore my camera.) The focus was photography through the ages but she packed it full with great ideas and a mini album to pack out notes in! Other class highlights Sketches with Becky Higgins, although I use this style of scrapping I loved meeting her in person and the 4 great layouts we created. The Main Event by Danille Donaldson was super I can't wait to combine my new photoshop skills with this class and make killer collages of a million photos on a page. I also won a great prize she created a title for me with her signature doodling talents . Dessie and I bailed out early on the evening study hall and did not finish all of our homework (drove my hubby crazy he was worried about my grades.) After a day of learning new things in every class I can't wait to play shop and extend myself in new directions, we were pooped and ready for bed.

Here I am with the great Dannille Doodling Diva!

Saturday was my favorite day I took an all day class with my personal Scrapbooking Super Star Becky Higgins and made a wondeful album titled (A Snapshot of Me.) All I have left to do is journal otherwise I finished a 24 page album with pictures in one day. I loved the relaxed energy of this class, Becky came around and visited with us and took pictures of people for their albums if they wanted. I also had a chance to show off my tech talent by hooking up my Ipod and providing music for the class it worked except I could not figure out how to shuffle though I tunes so we got some weird bits mixed into the playlist.

I received many prizes and free items over the trip but the best prize was a shoulder maassage from Becky at the end of the all day album class and 3 days of srapbooking!
Overall it was an amazing opportunity to extend my knowledge and energy for the craft I love.

Thursday, June 7, 2007

Hike on a cool day

Yesterday was unseasonally cool. I headed up to Red Rock Canyon for a rare hike in the summer. Normally it is to hot after early April. Yesterday it was only80 degrees normally100+.

I hiked into Ice Box Canyon and even wished I had my jacket a few times IN JUNE go figure!!!!
Hiking back I ran into a desert fox and possibly a coyote, to think I was worried aobut snakes. The fox was only about 10 feet away from me EEEEEK!