Scrapping has Changed Me & DT Call & Blog Party

Hello fellow lurkers, late-night scrappers, and friends. I've been thinking this scrapping stuff has certainly changed the way I live my life. Three years ago, while I still had the urge to record our family's memories and "savour" every moment I had raising my child, little did I know it would influence so much of my daily life nowadays.

I have made lots of new friends - INTERNET friends - errr, three years ago I would have thought this was a bit creepy...

I have fulfilled my goals to get "caught up", to "get published" and to "get on a design team".

It has reinforced my desire to change careers, into a graphic design field rather than keep with news journalism.

It has given me the foresight to plan & dress children according to what colour scheme I plan the next layout to be (!!)

It has even provided me & my family a new place to holiday, after I read how good the desitination was in a fellow scrapper's holiday layout.

Most of all (and there are many more reasons, but I don't want to bore you silly) it has developed a sense of self in me - that I have a mission, a purpose, an express desire to "save our lives" on paper. To record our memories, yes, but also, to live life in a way that is worth recording. It gives me a sense of calm to know that if anything ever happened to me, my children would know how much I loved them, and they would never need wonder what their first word was, or what happened on their first day of school.

It has also given me a hobby that I'm so extremely passionate about that it infiltrates every other aspect of my daily routine. It's furthered my photography skills, journalling skills, dedication skills, competitive edge, home management & organisation, home decor; all in an environment that is positive and rejuvenating and so, so rewarding.

It sounds so awfully drippy, but it has produced a "calm" in me, as Thelma would say in Thelma & Louise. I've found my place in the world.

Anyway, if you are reading this and still hesitating about whether or not to get into the craft, then ... poo to you :P

Onto more exciting things, Emily Powers has put out a DT call, to be announced January 18. Check out the details here.

Here is my entry. Good luck to all who take the plunge and give it a go!

This is made using mostly Emily Power's Funky Love Song kit at Oscraps.

Oh, before I forget, I am participating in my first ever blog party celebrating Kaisercraft's Q3 magazine release ('cause it's been under such rigorous lock-up!). I'll be on call to answer any question you may have about scrapping, journalism, stay-at-home-mothering, guinea-pig breeding or star wars:clone wars that you may be busting to talk to me about, from 8pm here. See you there.

Kaisercraft blog party promo: "Basically, the gist of the night is combining promotions for our Q3 collections with our January digital ranges – features include:

• A sneak peek at the Q3 magazine and the six new paper ranges (Made With Love, Shaken Not Stirred, La Di Da, Devonshire, Gypsey Sisters and Peachy Keen),


• Inside gossip from Kaisercraft designers about new product collections and inspiration for our Jan digital collections


• Giveaways


• A live chat with the Kaiser design team via the blog (http://www.kaisercraft.net/blog/live-chat/)


• Challenges etc "