Time to purge | Layouts to share

Hi my friends!

I spent most of the day going through stuff in my scrap room/office (it's an all-purpose room!) and I feel like I made more of a mess than anything! LOL! I had stuff all over the place and it even went out into the hallway. It's still pretty messy, but I just felt like taking the room apart and going through all my stuff and purging. I just have this need to declutter my entire house! And so I started this week and have not even gotten to the other rooms yet... which sucks because all I want to do is finish so I can do some FUN stuff, like edit photos from SPARK and from my vacation and scrapbook!!! (Oh well, hopefully soon!)

Anyway, since I have scrapbooking on my mind, here are a few layouts I made before leaving on vacation last month. I scraplifted these from the July Jenny Bowlin gallery :)

This first one was lots of fun because I got to play with some Maya Road mist and I loved it! These pics are from Lake Tahoe in May.



This was a photo of a rainbow that my hubby shot in our neighborhood.



And these are pics that I took with my iPhone on one of our Sunday walks in Key Biscayne. It was such a lovely day!



So I am thinking I should plan a blog giveaway for October since I am purging my scrappy stuff... and it is, after all, my birthday month!!! Stay tuned!!! Hee!

P.S. I am looking for someone who can help me redesign my blog header/background so if you know of anyone, please leave me a comment! I want something that reflects my style, something with a little vintage flair. Thx :)

Peace and happy scrapping!
Vanessa

SPARK Part 3

Happy Monday :) I'm back with more SPARK goodness!!! The photo above was some doodling that Rhonna Farrer did on the side of the building where SPARK was held... so beautiful and so fun :)

One of our core classes was on photography and it was taught by the amazing Wendy Whitacre of Blue Lily Photography. I loved her personality, her patience and that she took the time to teach us a few techniques and challenged us along the way.



She set up some practice stations and we got to play a little bit while in class...





And we were asked to bring a special keepsake to photograph so I brought this pendant that I purchased at the Dear Lizzie Boutique the day before...



This is my BFF trying to figure out her camera settings...



Wendy also gave us these adorable little booklets she made (which were strung above us with clothespins). They looked so pretty!



I know that I've said this a gazillion times, but I LOVED this event! SPARK really inspired me to think creatively, to take a chance, to reach for the stars!

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SIDENOTE: Just wanted to let you know about a great giveaway on the Evalicious website.


Eve makes the most amazing art journals and other goodies so be sure to check it out! :)

Peace and happy scrapping!
Vanessa

SPARK Part 2

I had the pleasure of meeting some wonderfully talented celebrities! Here's Heidi Swapp (a surprise guest who actually popped in for Janet's class and we had fun with her) and the very sweet Janet Hopkins from House of 3. (I played a little with the digi kit that we got for Rhonna Farrer's class! That's where the border came from.)



Here we are with the awesome Margie - what a funny gal!



I'm in LOVE with her Second Sister custom necklace and I.want.one.so.bad.



Lizzie was so nice and sweet -- not to mention absolutely beautiful!!



In my first post, I mentioned how uber talented Mindy Gledhill is... well, I cannot say enough positive things about her warm personality, her uplifting spirit, her beautiful lyrics. After the concert, Ady and I asked Collin (Lizzie's funny hubby) to take our pic. And we asked Mindy to sign her sheet music for us. I've been listening to her CD since I left SPARK and I LOVE it! :)




I really loved all our classes. From left to right: 1- We got to make one of these fabric chandeliers. Mine is not yet finished, but the hard part is done. I just need to embellish it... we could have stayed in this class with Margie for a couple more hours but we had to leave! 2- We learned all about wet felting with Emily Falconbridge and I made this colorful, neck scarf (which my hubby thinks is very odd! LOL!). I finished mine in class, but I haven't taken a photo of it yet. 3- This is a beautiful flower brooch that we made in Janet's class and this one is the one I created :) Isn't it pretty? You can pin it on your clothes or clip it somewhere... How fun!

There's more projects, but I haven't taken photos yet!



Of course, no trip to the area would be complete without a shopping spree at the Dear Lizzie Boutique... we had so much fun! My BFF had to drag me out of there! Teehee!



...and CUPCAKES galore!!! These are from SPARK and Dear Lizzie Bistro!



And did I mention how amazing the decor was??? WOW. It was surreal.



These ladies outdid themselves. SPARK was magical!



One more post to go! Hope you don't get tired of all my SPARK pics :)

Peace and happy scrapping!
Vanessa

I'm SPARKED!!!

This past weekend, I was blessed with the opportunity to spend a couple of days with some lovely women from all over the country — and beyond! They sure did SPARK my creativity!!! I laughed, I cried and I had a blast!




I was so concerned about leaving town because my hubby has a kidney stone and he was in pain. I hated leaving him, but thankfully he felt fine during the time I was away...





SPARK No. 2 was such a magical and special event, unlike any other creative event that I've been to. Elizabeth Kartchner, Rhonna Farrer and Margie Romney-Aslett are the creative souls behind SPARK, with the help of some very special friends and family. They are all three tremendously talented and so inspiring. In fact, I found myself teary-eyed just by watching the welcome video they played. It touched me! (I can't wait to get my completed SPARK video in the mail!!! Of course, I pre-ordered it! Teehee!!)




This event lifted my spirits, taught me so many creative techniques and inspired me to want to create something (too bad I haven't found the time yet! LOL!)

The decor was breathtaking! There were so many gorgeous details outside, in every room, on the walls and ceilings, on the tables, around every corner. It was definitely a sight to behold when you entered the main hall. All I can say is WOW.




We even had our picture inside a mason jar so we would know where to sit -- they moved us around so we could make new friends...



If I had to sum it up, I would say that SPARK was pure magic and I am so happy to have had this experience with my favorite SPARK sister, my partner in crime, my BFF, my conscience (when I'm spending too much! Teehee!) — Ady. That made this even more special for me.

We also met some lovely ladies, including Kris and Kim, identical twins who host a cool crafty website called The DIY Dish; Nancy, a fun and friendly lady who offered to take a photo of us when we didn't have our camera handy; Janelle, who runs a scrappy kit club in Indiana called Midnight Rooster; April Meeker from Second Sister, an amazing artist and jewelry designer; Jasmine, a friendly gal who we loved chatting with; and many more!!!

It was definitely a memorable experience that I will cherish. I told my hubby that it was much more than just a creative retreat — SPARK was all-around amazing. The ambience, the food, shopping at the Dear Lizzie Boutique, the teachers, the classes... loved it!!! We did very little scrapbooking, which is what I do mostly, and I liked that. Instead, I learned about digital techniques, photography, wet felting, canvas art and more. When we did scrapbook, I learned new stuff, like how to make some adorable paper and fabric flowers with Lizzy.



Oh!!!! And did I happen to mention that we were treated to an incredible concert outdoor in the garden??? The sweet, uber-talented, beautiful Mindy Gledhill sang some songs for us from her latest CD, Anchor. If you are not familiar with Mindy's music, you don't know what you're missing! Go check out her website and listen to her music and download it from iTunes :) She was awesome!!! More on this in my next post...

Peace and happy scrapping!
Vanessa

Back from vacation...

Hello my friends!

In case you've been wondering, I returned last week from an amazing, fun-filled, action-packed, adventurous vacation. Yep, no rest for us! We were gone for a while and we came back exhausted and jet lagged. But boy was it worth it! It's been a crazy busy week unpacking, cleaning, editing photos, working, visiting family, etc... so that's why I haven't blogged. I haven't had a chance to go through all our photos yet, but here's just a little taste of one of our favorite parts of the trip: Rafting in the Colorado River at the base of the Grand Canyon. :)




Yes, that was just one gush of nice, muddy river water coming right at us. LOL! I'll share more photos in the weeks ahead.



I'm off traveling again this week. This time with my BFF. We're heading to Utah for SPARK, where we'll see Elizabeth Kartchner, Margie Romney-Aslett, Emily Falconbridge and more... it will be a fun girls getaway... hee! Photos to come...

Peace and happy scrapping!
Vanessa