{pretty papers}

Let me first start off by saying I don't scrapbook - I take too many digital photos and use my blogs and flickr as my album so I don't really see a need to scrap. Maybe someday if my family grows but honestly, I tried it back in 04/05 and it really wasn't my thing. I started one for my wedding and another for our honeymoon and didn't complete them -- a sign that it wasn't a hobby I enjoyed. But I do love making things, little paintings, collages, mixed media gift tags and small art work with found items... painting furniture, stenciling walls, and I really love doing crafty things with paper. Do you scrap? There's nothing wrong with it, I just can't seem to take to it personally. Same goes with knitting.

My point of all of this is to say that me, the non-scraper, attended a scrapbook fair sponsored by Creating Keepsakes magazine last Friday (I was curious) in Manchester, New Hampshire and I had a great time! Okay, I felt completely odd (lots of women in 'scrapin' queen t-shirts) and out of place (I didn't know what half of the tools were for), but I was in print and pattern heaven. Here are some photos of my loot. I highly suggest hitting one of these if they ever visit your nearby city, you can find lots of gorgeous crafty stuff.

These stencils are for scrapbook pages (so the vendor told me) but I want to use them on a piece of furniture I think. She thought my idea was interesting but sort of brushed it off as a bit dumb.

I found tons of gorgeous paper that I will end up using for my arts & crafts sessions with my girlfriends, and I scooped up some pretty little gifts for my friends that they'll no doubt love. I really liked looking at all of the prints and patterns, it was exciting and I only wish they did something like this for design and stationery but they don't -- trade shows like the stationery show in New York are not cash and carry. In a few months when I have some time to play (I'm thinking late August as I don't craft much in the summer) I will show you what I've made from some of these things. Sound good? Oh and I have to add a fun little something that I discovered in the show guide that was handed out at the door upon entering... Inside the booklet it talked about how some of the contributing editors of a few scrapbook magazines would be available to meet and, get this, the book had a little page that said "autographs" so you could have your favorite editors sign your book. I couldn't believe it. Is that odd or normal? I thought it was really, really different. I mean... I could never imagine someone coming up to me wanting an autograph because I write for a magazine or something. (images: holly becker for haus maus)