CKU explained (without a camera:o()

Loved making this cover for the Ali Edwards Evolution class. Most people painted the entire cover including the lace card stock black, which of course was very chic.

That night as I was starring at this beautiful thing I decided to push it a little farther and add some glorious Glimmer Mist and if you knew how proud I was of it before i took this daring step you could not believe that I love it more now, but I do.

I plan to coat the cover with modge podge to keep the lace cs from peeling up and ripping. We used some extremely sticky spray glue that worked wonderfully to hold it down for most people but I went lightly and carefully with it since some people including my room mate Kathryn had extremely sticky spray glue on their hands and even arms that, being extremely sticky spray glue, would not come off!

This is the -in Ali's words- 'Hello, I am making an album' page the Heidi S. transparency is it's own page so when you turn it the picture below has nothing on it. So freakin' cool!!!

There are many pages made from transparencies in this album, little 6x8 pages with just pictures of the same size on each side, such a neat element. Another little page she had us do was with pictures we had that did not necessarily fit into her specific guideline, was to take two pictures of the same size put them back to back, punch holes in them and voila you have cute little page! This book is so fun with all the different size pages and elements. Another favorite page in this album is on the back of three full size chipboard pages we added these page protector thingies for the journaling - New To Me! Love it!!

I did go to about 20 other classes too. We all made slide books with Piggie Tales ( their new line looks so fantastic including these super cute springs for page elements), we made a mini book for CKU memories with a page by each of the designers that were each fun in their own way, Lisa B's page was so her and she used the cutest brads that I still don't know the manufacturer of :( the making memories page turned out really cute as well. We also all made a full sized 2 page lo with Scenic Route using my new favorite thing Glossy Accents which is so fun to use. We used it in the Tim Holtz class as well but we used it as a glue on the back of some 'fragments' (clear acrylic shapes) that we put on patterned paper and then cut out to use as elements on our mirrors.

I was originally thinking 'I don't want to make a mirror' I am so glad I did! Not that I totally love the mirror itself but the techniques we used were jaw dropping cool, for me. Crackle paint is so much easier to use than I thought it would be! if you haven't tried it, try it! We used ink in ways I would never have thought of! AmaZing! And holy cow did you know you can run grunge board thru your die cut machine using an embossing folder and change the pattern on it as many times as you want? WOW definitely on my want list.

I took classes using the quick cuts revolution and a rusty pickle class that I made this fun album with tons of flips, folds and funky pockets! Lance is a blast, he was constantly saying 'okay this is how you do it NOW, GO'! LOL!

What an incredible experience! a 5 day party with 500 scrap'n freaks like me from all over the world, inspiration by the truck load from all the people I have been admiring from a distance all these years who are so down to earth and friendly, even Lisa B. who had her picture taken with practically every woman and one guy there was much more charming than I could ever have been. All this AND yea AND!! I took five bags full of give-a-ways home! Seriously, and I was one who bought hardly nothing and only won a few drawings for small items. People were winning literally buckets, arm loads and handy shoulder bags full of scrap goodness! by Saturday night people were hoping they would NOT get anything else! sound impossible? believe me, I was there and although I did not take notes as suggested, I did hear this repeated often enough to remember it! CKU if you have not gone, GO! If you have been you know what I am talking about!