The TOUGHEST challenge of all!

Last month marked the end (insert frown) of our Happy Scrapper classes. In addition to the homework I have shared with you in my last three posts, Happy Stamper asked us to bring a picture of ourselves for the last class. Ugh! Those of you who know me well can imagine how excited I was about that. However, my husband patiently clicked away (what did we do before digital cameras?) until I could at least live with the resulting pic. I even begrudged having the picture developed (Amy can attest to that, as I had it done on the way to class), but nonetheless arrived with my homework complete.

You all know how the first part of the class went down, as described in my original post. After the tears were dried (ok, semi dried), Happy Stamper brought out enough "kits" for each member of the group. Each kit contained coordinating cardstock & patterned paper, some type of chipboard (letter, star, flower, etc.), ribbon, and hodge-podge. We could see through the clear pockets of the kits, so there was some choice as to which colour scheme would best compliment our picture. As I always develop in black and white, I was pretty flexible.

Once everyone had decided on a kit (and there was NO swapping of items inside the kit), we were given a handout of "scrapmaps" (I love those things!), and shown a few examples of Happy Stamper's pages inspired from said scrapmaps. Happy Stamper also showed us some different ways to journal. Next, we were to choose a scrapmap to inspire us, and along with the materials of our kit and our pic, were asked to create a scrapbook page about ourselves! Love a duck!

Once the initial shock wore off, we got to work. This was made simpler due to the fact that we had full reign of Happy Stamper's haven- stamp sets, punches, cutters, tools..... yee haw! Happy Stamper's only rule was that we FINISH the page (complete with journaling by the way) before we left that evening. She might have wished to rethink that after I accidentally gummed up her printer (while journaling) for what at first seemed like permanently (she was able to fix it, but that's a whole other post!). So we worked diligently over the next couple of hours, releasing the occasional "Ooh!" and "Aww!" as we watched our fellow scrapper's pages come to life.

The evening ended on a high note, as we got to share our finished projects. It was amazing how awesome and how very different each page turned out. Each individual scrapper's unique personality and creative style came shining through. That is what I am going to miss most about this class..... the truly wonderful people, the friendships, the laughter, the tears, and the inspiring creativity. So thank you Happy Stamper, for your leadership, and for inspiring the creativity in each of us as we aspired to your level of artistry.