Wednesday, November 08, 2006

Excited . . .
Motivated . . .
All Fired Up!


Not that I need another thing on my plate, but . . . I'm SO excited about an opportunity that literally just fell in my lap. I've been asked to be a Design Team member at my local scrapbook store, Scrapbook Mania! You regular bloggers--and pretty much everyone in my life--knows how obsessed I am with scrapbooking. It's my favorite hobby and I just get so excited creating pages and albums that hopefully will be treasured as the years go by. So, getting on this Design Team is just so fun and exciting to me! (If you go their website, you'll see that there is a link to Designers; I should be added in the next few days, as soon as I can bribe Gary into taking a good picture of me! lol).

One of the things that I love as much as scrapbooking is speaking and teaching, and this is why I'm really excited about this DT. I get to teach classes!! Yay!! My first class will be a class on Journaling in January (I'm a big believer in journaling in scrapbooks, and since I actually write "for a living" this is just a perfect fit for me.); I will also be teaching some mini-album classes throughout the year, hopefully doing one a month. I will be doing a "Things I Love" album class in February, and am brainstorming some other ideas too.

(Also fun is the fact that I get a store discount--yay, more stuff for me!--and I get to attend big events through the store as long as I'm on "staff" as a DT member teaching and demonstrating things. I'm really excited about that too, because I LOVE meeting new people, talking with them, and motivating them to get creative--whether it's about writing or scrapbooking!)

I also get to create displays for the store--creating page layouts and other projects with the store's new products. And I know that will be fun!

And since we're talking about scrapbooking, just thought I'd share a few of my latest layouts (I actually did all four of these last night--boy, was I on a roll!)

I don't actually try and scrapbook everything chronologically (I've tried to let go of that expectation, because otherwise I would NEVER get my pages done!), but I did want to do a few pages dedicated to McKenna's trip to D.C. with Student Leadership University this past summer, as well as some from our vacation to the beach.

So, first off is a page on McKenna's SLU trip (those who may have joined my blogging buddies since July don't know about SLU--but it's this awesome leadership group for youth that McKenna is involved in. Last summer she went to Orlando, this past summer she went to D.C., and next summer she's going to London and Paris!). These trips and her involvement in SLU have just been life-changing for her; her leadership skills are incredible!



On the trip, they saw all sorts of amazing sights and this two-page layout below shows some of them--the Lincoln Memorial, Washington Monument, Arlington Cemetery.




How many of you remember the notorious bed jumping out of Savannah, Georgia? LOL Well, here is a layout celebrating the occasion! We've always loved to bed jump in hotels, but now we've been taking pictures of it. So, I had to do a layout . . . (I just LOVE the patterned paper here!--and the journaling in white pen in and around the flowers is kinda fun!)



And then this is my FAVORITE creation of the evening! I love these pictures that Gary took of the beach at Tybee Island (one at dusk, one at dawn) and I just had a blast making this collagey-type page. It just makes me HAPPY (although--the down side--it makes me want to head back to the beach, and I can't!).



Thanks for checking those out! I tell you . . . I really am addicted to this thing!!! LOL

Now, one thing that being chosen for this DT has done for me is it has motivated me to get out there and pursue some other things that I haven't done in a while or just didn't want to pursue. It reminded me how exciting it is for me to teach and to create, so I've got a couple of things I'm going to try and set up.

* Gonna send out some class proposals to a couple of colleges here in town that offer adult classes. I taught adult classes at UAB for a while, but it's since shut that department down. So, I'm gonna send out some feelers for both some scrapbooking and writing classes.

* I sent out an essay yesterday to a really big publication on just this subject--scrapbooking and writing our memories. It's a pretty big stretch that it will get accepted, but why not try? I started writing and the words just flowed out from me... pretty cool!

* Last year I did some custom scrapbook projects for people for Christmas gifts, so I'm gonna get motivated and do a little bit of promotion for that before time gets past me. I can do mini albums, altered frames, full-blown albums, and pretty much anything else that involves photos! I really had a blast doing that last year, so I need to get into that again. (Hey, if anyone out there is interested in me doing something for you, just let me know! They make great, personalized Christmas gifts!)

* I have what I think is a GREAT idea for a book on scrapbooking and I'm going to work on putting a proposal together for it. It's a unique book that hasn't really been done yet, so I know there's a market for it. Just gotta get all of my ideas together on it and get it sent out.

Isn't it great when you just feel rejuvenated and excited about things??? You know what I mean . . . when something new and creative just makes you feel more interested in getting up every morning! That's how I feel right now . . .and what a good thing that is!!

Hope all of you have a wonderful day!!

20 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi, Cheryl!
Thanks for stoppin by and leading me to yet another blog celebrating scrapaddiction...LOL! Soon this disease will be listed in the New England Journal of Medicine and there will be treatment available for us, till then...T hanks for leading me to more great layouts!!

Anonymous said...

Hope you are having a good day. I know you are “up"!! You are excited and have a lot of ideas going. I’m excited about your joining the design team. Maybe it will also lead you to doing some scrapbooks for people.
As for teaching, David says you should contact Samford to teach part-time. Also, you could contact B. Southern.

Anonymous said...

congrats on the dt gig!

Jenn said...

Congrats on your new position on the team. Looks like they are lucky to have you...your layouts are beautiful. I totally agree with not trying to go in chronological order. It was so hard for me and I got discouraged. I do what I can now and just enjoy it!!

Anonymous said...

CONGRATS TO YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Anonymous said...

Cheryl, SOOOOO super happy for you! Doing the happy dance for you! Wow. This is BIG. Teaching is amazing! Specially when you teach something you are so passionate about. So very happy for you! :)
And thanks so much for your super nice comment today! I promise to update soon (work has been insanely busy lately) :)

~Telah said...

Your excitement has motivated me! I am ready to do some creating myself. Congrats on the DT offer. I wish I was close enough to come take a class!

Unknown said...

Hey C, I was here!!! Come by my blog and see the pics of you guys!!!

Mz.Elle said...

Your pages are beautiful!
What a wonderful oppotunity at the store. How cool is that? So cool!

Cheryl Wray said...

Hey!! Ya'll are all so sweet with your congrats. And Regina and Jenn--I think you're First Time visitors!! Yay!
I'm so excited--since I blogged this, Gary took some pics of me to use for my profile on the scrapbook store's site. You can see them at www.garykwray.blogspot.com. Fun!

Anonymous said...

Thats great news! And I love your pages!

Marg

Unknown said...

Awesome!! I visited all of those sites when I was in DC too. They were really amazing and I can totally see why your daughter was fired up after seeing them :)

Anonymous said...

Good job, Cheryl. I love all of your layouts, especially that last one from the beach. And I know that your daughter must be excited that you've done those pages for her.

Greta Adams said...

so happy for you....that bed jumpin one just cracks me up...that is so funny of them

Melissa said...

super congrats, so excited for you :)

Unknown said...

I'm thrilled for you, and not a bit surprised. Your work is great and I am sure you will enjoy success with it. Good luck with all the other projects. It is astonishing how much we can do when we bother to keep ourselves motivated.

Anonymous said...

Love the DC layouts, i might have to scraplift some for our DC trip!!!

Anonymous said...

Cheryl,
Wow this is fun to read about your life! You are just as energetic as I remember you to be in elementary school. Good luck on your new job and congrats.

Kelly

Cheryl Wray said...

I leave for a few hours and come back with some awesome comments!
Gareth--You're my new best friend! (blush, blush . .. I just read G's comments. LOL)
Ronalyn--THANKS!!! You're so inspiring!!
Nancy, Greta, Melissa, Dawn--Thanks gals!!!!
Jane--I'd love to see your layouts of our DC trip. Scraplift away!
Kelly--HEY!!! So cool to see your comments!

CyndiAKADisneyqueen said...

Congratulations. Can't wait to see some of your work.