Story Camp - Here I Come!

I made it! I made it! I made it!

That’s right there is me doing a happy dance!

A few weeks ago, Ali Edwards announced that she would be hosting Story Camp in October. I have long admired her work and her ability to tell great stories in her scrapbook pages, so I knew I wanted to try and get in. Tickets went on sale at 10 a.m. on June 27th and I knew they went in less then a minute for her first story camp earlier in the year and that there were only 35 tickets available, so the chances were slim to none. I was so excited leading up the 10 a.m. launch, I was shaking! But somehow I managed to snag two tickets before they sold out in a matter of seconds. So my friend Brenda and I will be headed to Eugene, Oregon in late October to attend Story Camp!

I am SOOOOOOO excited about this opportunity, I can’t even begin to express it. Thankfully, the other people attending have been posting the same sentiments about feeling like they won the lotto, so at lest I know I am not alone in my fan craze of all things Ali.

Part of that excitement has made me go back and revisit some of the online classes I have taken with her and even in a couple of weeks, I feel like it has really revolutionized my documenting process. I want to tell those stories! So at a crop yesterday, I actually got four layouts down with some pretty awesome stories. I decided to switch my micro-stories process up to 6x8 size and the process seems much more manageable. Simplifying the process and reducing my product choices to just Ali Edwards , Felicity Jane, and handful of letter stickers, helped me crank these four stories out yesterday and into an album.

My friend that attended the crop with me complimented the amount of journaling I had on my layouts and said she realized that she doesn’t do that enough. I told her I really want to make a mission of telling stories more. Don’t get me wrong, I love the pretty papers and getting photos and events into albums. I still love Project Life and getting the quotes and current favorites into albums too. But then I told her when I think about what I would like to see in an album if my mom or my grandma had ever scrapbooked, I know what I would want most is to hear their stories. To hear their voice in the narrative. To know what they thought and felt and what life was like for them. To know who they were, not just by images in the photos but by their words. I think about that often and feel a great sense of accomplishment when I do scrapbook a layout that is story centric. These are the layouts I pause on when I flip back through my albums and feel the most proud and excited about. So I am trying to keep that in mind sign forward. 

I am using Evernote to keep track of the stories I want to tell. I have it on my computer and my phone so it[s easily accessible and I can jump right into it if I have a moment to scrap. I am sure I will change up the size often, but for right now, 6x8 is working really well for me. 

So with a  smile still on my face for what I accomplished at the crop yesterday, here is what I was abel to finish

Brave - Using Ali Edwards acrylic word from the Brave Story Kit and word stickers and Felicity Jane Papers

This one is also Ali Edwards  and Felicity Jane. I wanted to capture a glimpse of my son right now and all of his favorites and the cute things he says. I just want to add a date at some point, maybe with a stamp. 

The You word and Life is Good element are Ali's. The paper and other elements are Felicity Jane. I cut the You Say, You Play, etc on my Silhouette Machine.

This one if a story from my youth. I had gone through some photos from my childhood and flagged a few that I wanted to journal about at some point, using the photo as a story spark! This one was the first photo I had written anything about.

This one is also Felicity Jane and the Good Times sticker is Simple Stories.I was given the acrylic word and heart in a grab bag so I am not sure where these originated from but I thought they worked really well in the "white space" provided on the photo.

And last but not least, The Many Faces of David. I knew I wanted to document what a character he is! These photos turned out to be the perfect opportunity! This one is all Felicity Jane papers and elements. The template was a resized Cathy Zielske Template No. 161

Now I off to create more!