The month of May has really been a month filled with many firsts for me so far. Tonight I joined my daughter at a scrapbooking night that was hosted by the very talented Angie. I spent the day preparing my project that I was going to take with me. While packing my car (yep, I have wheels again and I've named my sardine can with wheels 'Dot' because I'm like a blue dot on the map again) I commented on how much stuff she was taking with her and she assured me that what she was taking was nothing compared to what some ladies take with them for a scrapbooking night.
We arrived just before 6pm and most the ladies where already busy with their evening projects, except Angie as she was busily preparing a delicious dinner for us. After introductions I settled into my project and the easy conversations that were happening around the tables. There was so much inspiration and creativity going on around me that it was a natural buzz to be apart of it all. As the ladies created amazing scrapbooking layouts or ATC's the conversations ranged from kids, husbands, family and friends, new ideas, techniques and just about everything in between.
There was one highlight that I'd like to talk about that I think is worth sharing and that was the relationship I witnessed between two shop owners. Angie and Dalena each have a home based scrapbooking/art supply business and they are friends that are willing to share and help each other to succeed. It was a pleasure to listen to these two shop owners exchange ideas and resources without the normal fears that most competitors have for each other. I realize that we live in a dog eat dog world but it's nice to see that some people are still treating each other with respect and working together for the better good of their business. If more business would only adopt of leaf out of their handbook, the mind boggles at how much more productive we would be as a society. I've linked Angie's Shop and Dalena's Shop if you'd like to visit them.
I was surprised that more people didn't know how to get 16 Artist Trading Cards (ATC's) from a 12" x 12" card stock sheet. Just incase you didn't know either here is the diagram that will give you 16 ATC's each 3½" x 2½".
Overall it was a great night and I'm so pleased that I had the opportunity to meet new people, hear some great ideas and share some creative time with some wonderfully talented people. I'm looking forward to the next one and if you haven't joined at scrapbooking night yet do yourself a favour and organize one or find a group of like minded people and join them for a night of fun. Be prepared for a late night as it was over 3am before we got home.
That sounds so awesome. Makes me want to live on the Gold Coast so I can come along to these things. First I'd actually need to get into scrapbooking. I loved making my wedding planner scrapbook, but it was actually made out of scraps. I didn't even pay for the magazines I cut up. But anyway, I love the creative streak that runs through our family. Mum's ATC's that she showed me are so kool. The scrapbooking her and Emily do now is awesome. I cant wait to get into it as well. It's a shame I cant really organise a scrapping night. All the people I know are soldiers in the Army. Arts and crafts aren't exactly a part of their day-to-day lives. I should do a search online for some groups in Townsville outside my usual crowd. But then there's the issue of finding the motivation after work. Aaah life.. I got to see your out-house ATC in person at mum's, it's awesome. So much effort goes into them! It's amazing to me, I love it. I think I suit being a lover of art more than a maker, for now.
ReplyDeleteLOL at kirst comment, being a lover is also such a great thing, get to hear peoples feedback.
ReplyDeleteDefinately was a great night, happy you came along with me mum, now you know why I rant and rave about it for, its sooooooooooo much fun and worth going to. Makes us all build our friendships so much better. It definately is great to see how ang and D are together, they really are a great bunch of girls and just so happy to call them our friends. Thanks for posting that up mum, cos in actual fact, I really never knew the proper measurments and was always too lazy to just do it LOL. xx