A Planner Girl's Adventure in Scrapbookland
May 08, 2017
Planner girls and Scrapbookers are sisters in papercrafting crime. These two worlds are not so dis-similar however many differences there seem to be. We are all connected by our love of stickers and paper!
A couple of weeks ago, I met my sister-in-law, Violaine, in Parc Floral, just outside of Paris for our annual scrapy get together. I was a scrapbooker before coming over to the planner side (and I still scrapbook, just not as often as I used to) and we've been going to this event every year for about 7 years now. She's pregnant and decided to only come for one day, but I went for 2 days.
DAY ONE
Celebrate Altered Book Album
Debby Schuh always has the most amazing classes and she's the main reason we go to these events. Her classes are fun, unique with absolutely adorable projects! This first class was no exception. However, it's hard to cut and stick when your fingers are numb from the cold. The event organisers hadn't turned on the heat! My feet were also numb and I couldn't feel my bum! My chair got so cold that even sitting on my coat didn't make a difference. We took a coffee break, the warm cups, defrosting our fingers, helped a lot. We also took a bathroom break to get out of the cold room and the lukewarm water of the sink felt like it was burning my frozen hands! Neither one of use was able to finish the project. :( I will though, it will make a great little planner!
Christmas Joy Album
After a quick lunch, where I accidentally bought my preggo SIL a sandwich with jambon de parme, (Oops!) we were back with Debby and her Christmas album. I love having my Christmas album all done in advance, so that when December rolls around, I can simply add photos and memorabilia and not have to worry. Doing it in the spring means that I don't have to add in yet another project to my fall to-do list, which is always crazy full!
Eventhough they had finally turned the heat on, the room was still not warm and we were chilled through from the morning. Also being quite chatty I didn't finish this one in class either, but I did get it finished on the train ride home while watching Outlander on my phone! I felt quite spoiled being able to travel alone without all my geeklings constantly needing things from me and the younger ones climbing all over me.
We did a bit of shopping after this, but I only bought a few things. I limited myself to only 3 rolls of washi (I have so much already), some stickers and I found a mini Happy Planner! It's so cute, even if I don't have a purpose for it just yet. Most of the stands sold primarily stamps and stencils, which a I usually don't know what to do with, but that changed on Day 2.
DAY TWO
My Story Book Album
I went back alone the next day, crossing the entirety of Paris with the Metro all on my own, and started with this cute class from Debby. With no sister-in-law to chat with, I did finish this project in class, and I got a chance to chat a lot with Debby too.
Rainbows and Butterflies
When I saw that my friend, Terhi, fellow Hip Kit Club Design Team member was teaching, I made sure to sign up for one of her classes, even if I seem to be allergic to mixed media save a splash of watercolour here and there. Tehri is the queen of mixed media and she made it sooo easy! Just look at what I was able to make under her guiding hand!
She showed me some of ther pages and if you think her work looks amazing online, you should see it in real life, knocked my socks off! My most favourite part of my time with Terhi was being able to sit and chat and get to know her better! Imagine the sweetest, kindest person you know, got her? Good! Now, imagine the most talented. Mulitply each by 4 and add them together and you get Terhi! She's fantastic and I love her to bits!
After coming home, I sat down, took what she taught me and made this for my next Hip Kit Club assignment:
I think I'll be adding a little more mixed media to my planner from now on ;)
Dream a little Dream Album
My last class, I was back with Debby Schuh. She really is the reason my SIL and I go back to this event year after year. I was looking forward to this one as much as the Christmas one! It was a twist on the elastic system used in Traveller's notebooks. It's like a creative TN with super powers! I think I'm going to use this as some sort of memory planner since there are 12 pages.
This idea is unique and absolutely genius, not to mention gorgeous. I'm sure I'll be making variations of this in the near future!
The not so good stuff
No review would be honest if there weren't some cons to balance all these pros. Everything was not sunshine and roses over these 2 days. This little planner girl CANNOT overlook poor organisation in a company who's sole purpose is to ORGANISE events! Sure, a few bumps in the road can be expected, but it's been 10 years that they've been holding this event and each and every year there have been major problems. I mean come on, heat seems like a pretty basic thing when it's only about 8°C outside! I was not alone in thinking that I was just another dollar sign walking in the door and I more than likely will not be going back.
Ok, let's not dwell on the negatives, let's look at another photo of pretty things!
However I'll follow Debby where ever she holds a class in my corner of Europe and I'd love to meet up with Terhi again!
Happy Planning!