Friday 28 November 2008

Journal Your Christmas Online Class

For those of you who follow my blog, you will know that I won a place in Shimelle Laine's Online class..."Journal Your Christmas" last weekend. I spent a couple of hours this afternoon registering on her forum, with a password SHE SENT ME (!!!) That's right people...Shimelle Laine HERSELF...she exists IN REAL LIFE!!! This was no computer-generated thingy...this was HER...my Scrapbooking Heroine...one of my favourite Scrappers in the WHOLE WORLD e mailing ME in person!!! I'm saving that e mail FOREVER!!! In fact I'm printing it out & adding it to my 37 page "Journalling my Christmas" album! Okay, so she probably only sent me a personal e mail because I e mailed her first to say THANK-YOU for my wonderful gift (after all, I think the class has hundreds of participants so I would never expect her to e mail every single one of us individually all the time), but, nonetheless, she had the good grace to do so!

So the ball is now rolling...I have registered & downloaded her "Getting Ready" pdf. Obviously it's unethical to copy & paste everything onto my blog & I would never do that anyway... everybody's got to make a living...but I have got my weekend work cut out for me as I've been instructed to GET PREPARED! I need to gather my supplies together into a dedicated space & prepare my album. I can choose any format I like so I think I'll stick with a 12x12" album as mini-albums are difficult to find here & I have left it too late to order an online one by Monday. I'm gonna buy an album tomorrow, put in all the plastic sleeves & expanders & extenders so I am ready-to-roll with my first page on Monday.

I went to Scrap4Africa today (I heard they had some lovely new Christmas stock in) to buy some bits & pieces, & will go to Reminisce/Imagine That tomorrow to finish off. Well, I paid nearly R15 per sheet SINGLE SIDED My Mind's Eye printed paper & R16 per sheet for DOUBLE SIDED Little Yellow Bicycle printed paper, from the Sharon Ann Christmas Magic Collection. ( R10 - 1 US$) or (R15 - I UK pound) & (R7 - Aus$) to give you an idea of pricing. With the Rand devaluing almost 50% during the course of the year Scrapbooking has now become more of a luxury here in South Africa than the luxury it surely already is anywhere in the world!

My next instruction from Shimelle is to tell someone...so "check" to that one now! Lastly, I'm meant to "have fun" doing this & I fully intend to! I can't wait to go off & do the balance of my stash shopping tomorrow, although it's going to be a tight squeeze as I have to sneak out of a very important cricket match (Jack's last match for his school as he's off to High School next year) & sneak back in unnoticed, as Reminisce closes at 1p.m I think. I have to say (although I'm sure you've already guessed!) I am totally flipped about winning this class!!!

Just the other day I was thinking over what I had achieved this year. I was prompted to do this after reading Beryldene's Blog where she wrote an excellent post this week, about how we're all ever-so-quick to make endless "To Do" lists but how many of us ever stop to write an "I've Done" List? Well, not me! Don't think I've ever done it...so I thought...about what I had on my "To Do" List this year & whether I had achieved everything I set out to do. I made (another!) list...

1. Early on in the year I wanted to convert our storeroom into my Scrap Space so I had a dedicated work zone. Check!
2. I wanted to acheive a certain amount of "catch-up" pages. Check!
3. I wanted to learn how to store & edit my photos within my pc & print my own photos. Check!
4. I wanted to learn how to shop online for scrap stash & find EVERY online Scrapbooking Store in SA & check out their sites. Check!
5. I wanted to enter (& win) our SA Talent Search in September. I came 2nd. So I'm gonna accept that I did the best I could & give it a Check!
6. After receiving ABSOLUTELY NO RECOGNITION FOR MY EFFORTS (L.O.N.G. story & worthy of it's own post...) I decided I needed a new strategy & that setting up my own Blog would be a good starting point. Check!
7. The last thing I wanted to achieve in relation to my Scrapbooking life was to do an Online Class. I was umming & aahing over the cost when BANG! I won a seat in Shimelle's Class. Check!

Which means I'm off the hook guys...I've achieved everything I've set out to do in 2008...so if I do no other layouts this year (bar Shimelle's Class, which requires A PAGE A DAY) then I'm on schedule & I AM ENOUGH. That's a huge relief for me & something that I wasn't even consciously aware of, so Thank You Beryldene for making me aware! Thanks too to Wilna who inspires me daily with her outstanding work & infectious enthusiasm. The day I received my prize her scripture for the day was Psalm 36: 5-6

"God's love is meteoric, his loyalty astronomic, His purpose titanic, his verdicts oceanic. Yet in his largeness nothing gets lost; Not a man, not a mouse, slips through the cracks."

Well I certainly didn't...thanks to His good grace I have somehow managed to achieve it all...Wow!!! I gotta go get me an Amplified Bible...nothing says it quite like it!

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Awww, this is beautiful. I am so happy!!
and YES! get that "loud speaker" bible!
Love
w

Vicki said...

Whoo hoo for you being able to tick the things off your list - that an achievement to be proud of. I can tell you are just a tad excited about your class. I did a couple of classes today with one of my favourites too and just love what we did. Will share on my blog at some point.