Everything but the kitchen sink...

This post has the potential to be very long. I'm just warning you now, so you can either go grab a snack or prepare to read it in installments. There's been a lot going on over the past weekend, a whole lot of stuff to share. So we'll just start at the beginning of the weekend.

On Friday Telah and I attended the SSSC. We had a really good time, and enjoyed the classes we took. It was the first time for both of us to take classes and we felt a little out of sorts at first. It kinda felt like we were back in school and you had to make sure you followed the directions to a T. But that wasn't the case. This is a craft, there are no hard fast instructions when it comes to design. Our projects didn't have to come out looking just like the instructor's. We both knew that, but had kind of a "well duh" moment and got a good laugh over it. We made a cute little accordion album in Angela Wigginton's class. Angela got us both hooked on 7 gypsies circle stamps. I ordered us some from 2peas and I'm anxiously awaiting their arrival! In our other class taught by Michelle Cochran-Wells, we made a transparency album. We learned some really cool techniques for transparencies in Michelle's class. The time alloted for class wasn't quite long enough to get the mini-albums completed, but once I do, I'll be sure to share. They're both really cute! That's Angela with us in the first pic, and Michelle in the second.

Once we finished up at the convention, I had to make a mad dash home to get started on Natalie's birthday cake. I got it baked and cooling before I left for our monthly girls craft night. We'll come back to the cake in just a minute. Once I got that done, I packed up some scrap supplies and headed out. Since this was our October get together. Amy had come up with the idea for us all to wear silly hats. You can see our group picture over at Telah's blog. Amy and I both have new Canon Rebels, and we got a little carried away taking self portraits. <-----This one is so blurry, but I love it. It really captures the silliness of the moment. We laughed so hard taking these pictures we were almost crying. And speaking of silly, this is the one and only layout I got done the whole night. I was having too much fun I just didn't get much done. This layout was for the UnPubbed challenge. My blog buddy Cheryl was the featured guest this go around.
So now back to the cake. Saturday morning, I prepared myself for decorating Natalie's cake. I had no idea how it was going to turn out, because I had never done this before. I have to say I was really proud of myself. Here is the finished product. I spent most of the day preparing for her party. Straightening up the house, a last minute run to the store, getting balloons, and preparing food. This is the part where I stop typing so much and just share a ton of pictures. The little girl didn't know what to think. She really was overwhelmed with all the toys, the cake, and the attention!









We took over 200 pictures, and that was just with my camera. Throw in all the grandparents pics and there is no telling how many pictures we have of this occasion! I just can't believe she's one!! I'm still experimenting and playing with the modes of my camera. I don't like using the flash but when I don't the result is usually extreme blurriness. Hopefully I'll get it figured out.

And one last thing... I have something to share.. but I can't until Friday. So stay tuned and make sure you come back to visit on the 12th! (No, I'm not pregnant, it's scrappy related!)