Tales of a Craft Class Junkie: Mixing LOAD213 with other classes

Time flies by me so fast I can hardly stop to breathe. Moments are fleeting, and though I hold them dear in my heart and in my scrapbooks, I wish there was more time. I am often told that I must have a lot of time on my hands. After all, I find the time to scrapbook. I know a lot of moms are busy and so am I. Knowing that I can not fit everything into my day means finding a way to both be ok with that and to maximize the time I do have.

First, you have to learn to be ok with not getting everything done. This means you need to prioritize what's most important to you. For me, it's time with family, homeschool and then scrapbooking. All in that order. Housework gets worked in here and there. My scraproom is a total wreck but the house is, while not HGTV ready, at the least clean and presentable. It does get dusted and mopped regularly, in small bouts of time here and there. I will though, choose to leave a pile of dishes in the sink if it means the chance to spend time with my husband or son. Sometimes I feel guilty about it, but lately, I have been told by both of them that they prefer me to do that.

What does this all mean in the grand scheme of your papercrafting? Well, it means that if you want to take classes, then sometimes, you need to combine a few of the class concepts or techniques together. Today, I am sharing a layout created for LOAD213 using a technique I learned during Creative Jumpstart 2013 and design principles I have been learning from Get It scrapped.

Get It Scrapped posts design tips regularly on their blog. As a DT member, I get a head's up on them and get to create some of them. Sometimes, I wish I could do them all! I always learn a lot from Debbie Hodge and my fellow DT members. Today's blog post is about using tone on tone color. I thought I might as well use it as inspiration for today's LOAD213 layout. Today's LOAD prompt has us scrapbooking something we have been meaning to do. I took the prompt multiple ways. I had photos of New Year's 2012 printed and waiting to go on a layout. I also had some supplies hanging out on my desk which were begging to be used.

You may have seen the progression of the layout on my instagram feed. I began midmorning while my son began his first live on-line homeschool class of the day. I know I have a small allotted amount of free time while he takes his live classes.The layout continued to be built at a steady pace with a brief stop for lunch. I finished it just shy of the end of my son's second on-line class.

Happy New Year! by Christy Strickler
Supplies| Cardstock: Colorbok; Stencil: Crafter's Workshop;  Ink: Clearsnap; Mist: Homemade; Gold bow, ribbon slider: JBS Mercantile; Other: Glitter, sequins, glass beads, doily, toothpick flags, stick pins

Yes...it's a lot of gold. However, gold is seemingly turning into quite the popular color lately. I felt like this layout about New Year's was the perfect way to add so much of it onto one layout.

I like the look of German foil. I occasionally get some in my JBS Mercantile kits. Gold doilies from the local party supply store are another way to get the look inexpensively.

I had a great time watching the videos from Creative Jumpstart 2013. I now have a list of new products I want to try out. Meanwhile, I learned how my ATG could help me create my own version of customized tape. Here, I merely marked a line with the ATG and added glitter.

I don't have many decorative stick pins. These gold quilter's pins can easily be customized with glass beads like I did here. I also love these little toothpick flags that I picked up at a local party supply store. I cut the tips off to keep them from being too bulky on the page.






Now you have seen the layout and all of the little details. The point of this post is about time though. Going back to that...this layout was created in a small part of free time that I found in my day and set aside. I am participating in several classes, but there is no way I can create a separate layout for each class. So whenever possible, I combine classroom concepts or newly learned techniques into the creation of one layout. Whenever I do this, I feel satisfied. I have used my time wisely, tried new things, and I have a new layout to share. Try finding that little free time in your day and prioritize what you want to fill it with.

Related articles

• Sketch It Out: February Edition for Club CK
• Sketch It Out! LOAD213 Day One
• Scrapbooking the Everyday
• Ideas for Using Doilies on Scrapbook Pages
• Tales of a Craft Class Junkie: UTEE and the Melting Pot