Annual Scrapbooking Weekend

For the past three years, my girlfriends and I pack up our cars with every scrapbooking tool, accessory and piece of patterned paper in our possession and head upstate into the Catskill mountains for a weekend of creativity, relaxation and fun!

This year was an extra special weekend for us, as we celebrated with our friends Tracey & Karina, as they hosted their first weekend crop! All their hard work paid off, it was an incredible weekend. I hope some more of you will join us next year.

We spent the weekend at Soyuzivka, a year round Ukranian resort nestled in the Catskill mountains in Kerhonkson, NY.
Tracey & Karina were gracious enough to allow me to set up shop at the crop. I was thrilled to spread the word about Memory Works and share all of my newfound favorite products. Here are a few photos of my first ever vending display:







During the crop, I held a raffle where Danielle won $106 in Memory Works products. And I was delighted to see Tracey's mom walk away with my Door Prize Gift Basket filled with a scrapbook, cardstock, paper theme set & other Memory Works accessories and tools!



In between scrapping, we had the most delcious family style meals. It was heaven having 20+ moms in the room and not one of us had to slave away in the kitchen or wash a dirty dish! We loved having our own bartender, which I am fairly confident, helped fuel our midnight dance party. :0) We love you Ga Ga!

CROPPERS BY DAY:

Here is the reason why Michaels stays in business!

Our Scrapbooking Diva, dodging the Paparazzi!

I have always felt completely at ease in the mountains... I am sure it stems from the years spent at our family's cabin(that my father built with his own hands) just before I was born. I always loved walking in the woods... the gurgling streams, the padded paths of fallen leaves, majestc trees that protected a vast, tranquil playground. It didn't take me long before I decided to take a hike on the grounds. I grabbed Allison and Michele and off we went. Here is what we found:











CROPPERS BY NIGHT


Me & the girls finding our inspiration... at the BAR! ;0)


You haven't lived until you've tried a Thin Mint S'more (and spent a weekend with Stefano!)


Uh, get your Cricut on! LMAO

And yes, just in case you were wondering...I did manage to get a little scrapbooking done! Here are some of my favorite layouts:









I'm counting down until next year!!!!

Click on the following links to stay up to date with Tracey & Karina's classes & crops. I'll see you there!

An afternoon with the Girl Scouts

I don't remember wearing the classic green Girl Scout uniform, but I do vividly remember being a Brownie. My mom was one of the troop leaders and I really enjoyed spending time with my friends and working together. I vividly remember those little brown beanies, earning patches for my sash, Girl Scout cookies piled high in my orange living room and oh, that song! That infamous song. I wonder if they still sing it?

Make new friends
But Keep the Old
One is silver
And the other's Gold

I was flooded with these memories after recently being asked to teach a local Girl Scout Troop how to scrapbook. I opted to design a Brown Paper Bag Scrapbook for them. I chose this design to help them understand the basics of scrapbooking and walk away with a complete book of their own. Ahead of time, they decided on a Dog & Friendship combination theme. Can it get any better than that??? :0)

It was really fun designing a girly scrapbook with lots of little unique accents... like dogbone shaped journaling tags and best friend paper charms, inspired by a best friend necklace I once wore when I was close to their age. The girls learned about matting, stamping, journaling, embellishing and paper piecing... and they were pros! I was genuinely impressed with their level of creativity and willingness to try something new. When they were worried about "messing up" or something didn't quite turn out they way they thought, I asked them to see this as a "happy accident." (An idea someone once shared with me). I showed them one of my own layouts, where I accidentally ripped my cardstock and explained how this one tear wound up inspiring a complete distressed transformation to my original layout idea. To this day, it is one of my favorite layouts!

So here is a photo of their finsihed projects:

My sample is in the center, with the Poodle on the cover. Take a look at how the girls made thier books their own! Not one of them copied my design entirely... I was pleasantly surprised. I remember being ten and how important it felt to fit in. Yet these girls were confident enough to be different from each other, and from me! It made my heart full.

I am lucky to be part of an amazing circle of friends who share scrapbooking as a hobby. Scrapbooking has been a way for us to break away for our busy lives and reconnect with each other and reflect on all of our special moments in between carpools and cooking dinner. And while these young girls were scrapbooking, I was transported back in time for a moment. I could see myself sitting around with my girlfriends. And while I didn't know any of them at age ten, I could easily envision us gathered around a table just like theirs...talking about things just like them. I was struck by how, even at the age of ten, this process of gathering and being creative together seemed to provide a forum for them to talk about things that were on their minds... a recent Health test, family life, someone who bothered them at school, and who they hoped would win American Idol.

My afternoon spent with the Girl Scouts was wonderful, and an experience that I will never forget...scout's honor! :0)

If you, or someone you know, is interested in having me lead a scrapbooking group event or birthday party, please feel free to contact me at jennifer@creativecornerdesigns.com or 718-614-4864.

Memory Works Spring/Summer Catalog is HERE!

I cannot even explain how excited I am about the release of the new Spring/Summer Memory Works catalog! Seriously, everything is GORGEOUS! Take a sneak peek by clicking on the links below:

Simple Stories

Collection Essentials 1

Collection Essentials 2

Basic Essentials

If you would like a printed copy of the catalog, just let me know. They are $5.00 each or you can have yours FREE if you place an order of $30 or more (offer good until April 15th).

More and more new merchandise is arriving daily at MW Headquarters!
Click here to see what products have arrived and are already available for purchase!

I am currently accepting orders, so feel free to email me at jennifer@creativecornerdesigns.com if you want to grab your goodies now. Share this news with friends and place an order together to save on shipping.

And, don't forget that you can score some really great deals on our Fall/Winter Catalog...almost every line is discounted 10 -- 20% off! Click here to shop by collection. Gotta love a bargain!

Happy Shopping!!!