Yesterday and Today

After much mulling, over whether I have the time and spare money for online scrapbooking classes, I took the plunge. Here is to Yesterday and Today by Ali Edwards, one of my favorite scrapbooker and blogger.

Today is the beginning to what I hope is a full learning experience, and I am loving this quote from the class note,

The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill...

We cannot change our past...we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude...I am convinced that life is 10 percent what happens to me and 90 percent how I react to it. And so it is with you...we are in charge of our attitudes.

Charles Swindoll

Be not afraid

The thing you see in these pictures is that I was not afraid to fall in love with these people.

Annie Leibovitz

I am taking a photography class to improve on my composition. I just finished listening to this week's lesson and am feeling overwhelmed at my revelation. Photograph that shines is more than surface beauty. It is more than getting the the techniques right. The photographer is involved emotionally. Because the story is being told through that lens, controlled by that photographer.

I think this hits the nail on the head. I have the same stumbling block with scrapbooking. The real meat is telling the stories, which I have a hard time with. It takes extra effort, extra courage to not be afraid of being vulnerable, to bare oneself to the world to see. That's the soul of art I suppose. But in order to connect emotionally with your audience, I have to first be connected emotionally to myself.

I want to break that plateau. Participate instead of observe. Break out of that safety zone. Be not afraid.

For a wedding

Made a simple card this weekend...

Sewing so simple

So I finally learned how to trim the beginning and the ending of a sewing stitch on paper. Curtesy to Scrap-a-faire, the stitching class by Jen Lessinger.

For the longest time I could not figure out how people get the perfect start, the perfect corner, and the perfect end on a stitching. And now, armed with the knowledge, it is so simple I can not believe it. Arghhhh....I wish I knew this two years ago when I sewed my little heart out for my wedding invitation. Would've made it so easy! Argh!

Scrap-a-faire

A "online faire" sponsored by Scrapbooks Etc/BHG magazine. I was skeptical because the overall looks and feel/navigation of the website SUCKS. But the classes were actually really good, and this opinion is not influenced by the low expectation factor :D