Scrapbooking...a Work of "Heart"

ScrapO - Scrapbooking Weekend

Always having a passion for paper, I've been fortunate enough to work in the paper-crafting industry since college. Whether working for a manufacturer or owning my own store, I have always had my hands in it and I LOVE it! Doing what I love and getting paid for it...the absolute best!

Some people ask me how do I still enjoy it once I get home from work? It's my "therapy"! The same as cooking! I am able to be creative with paper and with ingredients! Scrapbooking and card making are my favorites (and invitations, too of course!). Some people enjoy the gym! I get my “workout” from papercrafting!

Home isn't my only "venue"! My fellow Great Eight Friend, Kyle and one of our dear friends, Michelle, and I go on a scrapbooking retreat 2 times a year. And boy do we have a blast!

We have given our retreats the name "ScrapO" (our first getaway was to Sunriver, Oregon...hence the "O"!) Packing our suitcases to the brim with papers, photos and supplies, including our Sizzix eClips die cutting machine, we caught a flight to Oregon and have gone someplace twice a year since!

ScrapO-4 was the furthest we have gone! On a Scrapbooking Cruise (yes, there is such a thing, and no we weren't the only ones on it!) to Jamaica, Cozumel and Haiti!

The getaway we take closer to home (2-½ hour drive) is to Michelle's family "cabin" in Pine Mountain...Let me tell you, this is far from cabin life! All the amenities (and more) of home!

We head up the mountain with one of our vehicles packed tightly with everything we need...our own scrapbooking supplies, plus some project kits that my oh so creative friend Deena put together and some of Stephanie Barnard's card kits. We look like we're running away...we kinda are!One or two times a year we hit the road and travel to the beautiful mountain cabin! We scrap, we cook, we bake, we eat and we drink! Oh and we give each other presents! There's always a surprise waiting at our spots at the scrap table when we wake up each morning. I'm the last one downstairs and I admit it,  it I’m the one who sneaks down to deliver while those 2 are snoozing upstairs!

All 3 of us love to cook and bake and have figured out the perfect routine. Breakfast consists of yogurts, breads (from our favorite 85C bakery) and fruits. Lunch is cheeses, crackers, fruits and deli meats. We have our regular assignments of what to provide for the breakfasts and lunches, plus we each plan and bring the ingredients for one dinner. The past couple of times we have picked up a 'they make and we bake' uncooked pizza, and by the time we get to our home for the weekend, it's pizza time, with a quick salad.The winter months, since we know it’s usually snowing, we decide to each make a soup. Since Day One, I have been dubbed "bartender" and Michelle looks forward to my "drink of the day"! Kyle, being more of a wine drinker (only Michelle and I can handle the hard stuff!) will once in a while try my creations. No matter what's being poured, by 4:59 I am always reminded, "Debbie, it's almost 5:00!"

My reminder to them is "no yawning! My rule: bedtime is midnight or later!" Before we pack up to head home, the date for the next ScrapO is always on the calendar. A tradition we have before we go is to take a picture of all of our finished pages... and of all of our "trash"...We have to prove that we actually got some work done!

No matter what we’re working on, we have a blast every minute we're inking, cutting, mounting or stamping! Scrap On!