From the He{art}

Those that know me, know that I am a great procrastinator. I think about creating things (like this blog) and in my mind they become masterpiece - but sadly most my project never make the leap from brain to the real world. My scrapbooking is the running joke amongst the members of my local scrapbooking meetup group, it's not my level of skill, my style, or my design abilities - it's the fact that I own more scrapbooking supplies than most of the members combined ad I rarely complete a page during the course of a 15 hour crop. I am perfectly happy to drag 50 lbs and 3 bags of stuff with me and spend the entire time just chatting it up with the girls - then - somewhere around 4 am a burst of inspiration hits, I spend the next 3 hours pushing paper and embellishments around a 12x12 page until I finally leave with a page that is three-quarters of the way finished and a claim that I'll just put the finishing touches on it at home.



This blog has mostly suffered the same fate, first I thought about starting it for about year, then I spent another year taking about starting it, next came changing the blog's name and design countless times followed by several posts that were started but never completed or published. So why now? What has motivated me to finally get it together and dedicate myself to this blog? Well, several things:



1. I have always had things to be thankful for, but through a series of events earlier this year, I was remind of how much I really do have and how thankful I should be. So what better day to start this blog than on Thanksgiving. With a renewed commitment to giving, creating, and sharing - and hopefully a bit less of the procrastination - I've decided to take the plunge and become part of the blogging community.


2. I have been the recipient of some incredible generosity that I felt I needed to share. I have been planning a Holiday Party for our local scrapbooking group where I'll have numerous games, contests, and giveaways - everyone who comes will leave with at least one scrapbook related gift - and some will leave with an awesome scrapbook related gift (more about this in a later post - I don't want to spoil the surprises for those that are coming).

That being said, I do have to tell you about some of the things that will be given away. In trying to come up with the prizes for one of the LO contests I planned, I decided that a gift subscription to Studio Calico would be a great gift. I already subscribe and love their kits and aside from being an awesome prize, I thought this would be a perfect way to introduce some of our newer members (and some of the veterans) to the world of kit clubs and to the different scrapbook products that are out there. When I contacted Scarlet at Studio Calico about purchasing a gift certificate as a prize she immediately responded that she and April would like to donate a few Add-On kits that I can use as giveaways. I have to say that I was floored. I could not thank them enough. Neither one of them know me, the members of our group, or had even had any communication with me before this. I was so overwhelmed by their offer and wanted everyone to know how generous they were. How generous? Well I would have been happy had they sent me one Add-On kit, but Tuesday night I came home to an incredible package with eight kits to give away. Amazing! I just thank these two ladies enough.

If that wasn't enough, I have to add Kim from the Portrait Bug to my list of generous donors. Here in NYC we have been long deprived of a LSS, that was until just yesterday when the door to the Portrait Bug (scrapbooking boutique and photo studio) opened its doors. I paid a visit to Kim last night to see the completion of the long awaited store (she has suffered numerous construction set backs) and to pick up a few last minute items to give away at our holiday party. Kim generously offered to donate five classes for me to give away. Thanks Kim!


3. I "plan" to participate in Julie's 52 Week Project. I am hoping that this blog with force me to continue my commitment to the project. I was a late comer to Project 365 (I am basing my year of photos on the school calendar - September to August - since I didn't start this project in January), and I have found it difficult to keep up with. Just for the record, I haven't given up on the photo-a-day thing yet, but I am thinking that Julie's idea of creating something once a week will be much more manageable, and feel like less of a chore and more like fun.

4. I recently took an amazing (free) class with Jessica Sprague called "Stories in Hand." In this class Jessica shared her methods for capturing experiences, memories, and moments so that we could use them later to tell our stories. I plan to use what I learned in her class to increase the amount of my journaling in scrapbooking and to post regularly on this blog. Jessica has provided me with some much needed inspiration and a wonderful system for turning my thoughts into the written word. Thanks Jessica!

5. With all of this energy just bursting inside and my creative mojo rearing to go, I am still in need of frequent inspiration, and that has been the ultimate motivation for this blog. I have met some wonderful and creative people through my interests in scrapbooking, rubber stamping and mixed media arts. I am hoping that my real life experience will extend to the Internet. I look forward to the ideas, creativity, motivation, and friendship that can be shared through blogging. I think this blog will change and grow as my journey through sharing on the Internet helps me change and grow. I feel as if I am finally embarking on a long awaited adventure, and I couldn't be more excited.

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you'll stick around and come along with me for what I hope will be the ride of a lifetime!

Happy Thanksgiving,
Ellie