My Inspired Journey

I spent the last weekend in Los Angeles on an Inspired Journey, organized by the wonderful Ginger Nelson and Teresa Collins. I had been to their other big event - Inspiration Unlimited (IU) back in 2010 and now there's a huge wait list to get in again, but to help accommodate some of those poor wait list souls they introduced a brand new event - Inspired Journey. It was a third of the size of IU and held in Manhattan Beach, CA. We had 4 great classes - 2 by Teresa Collins, one by Sande Krieger and 7 Gypsies and finally one from Rebecca Cross of Pink Paislee. They were all so wonderful and different it would be hard to pick a favourite!

It's always difficult to explain to my family and non-scrapbooking friends what 'the point' of these events is. This event we took 4 classes. The teacher creates a complete project with instructions, we get given a class kit with all the supplies (papers, embellishments, stickers, ribbons etc) and we follow along in class. Sometimes you learn a new technique, more often it's playing with a new style - frequently I've created something totally out of my regular style and comfort zone and ended up loving it and using the concept again and again! What's so nice is that you come home with completed projects (well, in theory you do. There's often so much to put together we don't finish in class. Or you want to add photos later so you don't stick down all the embellishments until the photos are done!) One particularly great thing is getting to see and play with some of the latest releases from the manufacturers (many companies will bring out new lines twice a year) and of course the opportunity to shop at the on-site store!!. But the biggest 'point' of these events is the people. This is my fourth big scrapbooking event - I've been to Houston, Phoenix, Vegas and now LA over the last 5 years and by far the biggest and most important reason to keep going back is the friends I've met. I've met some wonderful, creative people who I stay connected with via the internet throughout the year, but there's nothing like catching up face-to-face. This year I realized that Anita and Paula who we sat with in class this year were actually at the event in Phoenix in 2009 and we'd participated together in some of the same swaps and corresponded on the event message board - this year we actually met in person!!

None of my projects are completely finished but I have plans and ideas brewing!!

This was the the class sample of the home decor piece that we created in Teresa's first class.

We had the blocks of wood and stuck them together, painted and decorated however we wanted (there was a full rainbow of paint colours, glitters and patterned papers so they all ended up different!). Then the original concept was to be a calendar display, so we also had the calendar pages and embellishments to decorate exactly as per the class sample. Once I saw the project I quickly decided I would want to use it as a mini chalk message board either on our kitchen counter or entryway table. So I painted mine black.I plan to distress it up a bit then paint one side with chalkboard paint. The other side I stuck pretty much to the class plan and cut out the calendar pages which then clip to the top. I've yet to embellish, and I might also use it to display a favourite photo or quote. But you get the idea. I loved wandering the room to see the variations on the theme - with the same 4 blocks of wood it's amazing just how different each one was turning out! It could seem easy to offend the teacher to want to do something different to the class sample but Teresa is so fantastic; she wanders the class gushing over all the variations and encourages everyone to 'make the project their own' - this one we had so much scope. Mine seems pretty boring really!!

The next project was by Sande Krieger using 7 Gypsies products. I've always loved their products - it's all vintage, steampunky style, but on my own I never know what to do with it all! Left to my own devices I'm a pretty clean and simple girl so layers, vintage, and messy inky edges just don't sit well with my OCD tendencies. However, here is someone that will lead me through making a completely gorgeous cute mini book perfect for a travel trip (uh, hello China trip?!) I LOVE it. The class was crazy fast but I hung on by the skin of my teeth, and finished off the hole punching in my room later that evening. Seriously this baby is ready to go...Now I have no excuse not to create a complete little mini book on our China vacation (and to think I was just about ready to not bother this year!) Just print the photos and stick on in...(Here is the link to the completed book that Sande did - it's so awesome!!)

On day 2 we had our second class with Teresa. It was a 7x9" binder with lots of decorated pages. Her favourite 'pink' made it's appearance.; truthfully it's not my style (can you imagine Chris and his bike on a nice pink page?!) But, again with a little playing around I picked out the blues and yellows, played down the pinks and ended up with yet another super cute mini book. (Oh, and the fact I'm going to be a furry parent to a beautiful little girl puppy dog in six weeks time will make the pink pill easier to swallow from here on in!!) So Meli's 'baby' book is waiting for her - all I need are the photos (well the puppy first I guess!!)

The inside pages;

Finally was a class project by Rebecca Cross from Pink Paislee. I followed this project to the tee. It was so different to anything else I've made. We used a file folder as our base then added in extra file folders cut into pieces to make extra flaps and pages. Difficult to describe and the photos don't do it justice - it's one of those great projects that you have to have in your hands to explore all the 'nooks and cranny's and textures! Again - finished except for the photos, and in our project kits a bunch of extra embellishments to bring home to add on when the photos go in for that finishing touch!

Finally, like I mentioned above. These events are about the people and the friends I've met. I'm amazingly bad at taking photos at these events so this is the only shot I've got. At the end of the evening, on our last night, after a few cocktails on the Hermosa Beach pier - Good times!!

Paula, Anita, Me, Florence & Melannie