Cards and things, and Happy New Year

WOW, I just have to say WOW. I cannot believe the wonderful cards I received in the mail this year! {And I sit here feeling guilty, because most of mine are still unfinished on my desk :( }

I actively participate in 4 message boards - I started with three, because I needed to have 3 boards to post to for the Clear Scraps DT, then found the fourth when they were doing an awesome sketch-challenge based crop.

I "met" Stacey online after CHA-W last year, when I linked to her blog for talking about Clear Scraps. She asked me to come over to All Moments Remembered for Scrap Chat Hour, and I have been there ever since. I was lucky enough to meet Stacey IRL last summer at CHA in Chicago. Now she has expanded to have a brick and mortar store, which I so wish I could visit, but fear of flying and an {icky} work schedule prevents it. Stacey and Heather got me started into kit clubs too, by putting together some fabulous monthly kits {which they have unfortunately had to discontinue due to manufacturer shipping problems}. Our latest obsession at AMR is ATCs.. and we have swaps going all the time about anything - pets, favorite drinks, technique, holiday, etc. I have so much fun designing these little cards.

Then I found Scrap Attack Scrapbooking - which is a challenge heavy board, with flowers {or charms} that you can earn for the things you create based on the challenges. It is a very fun place to be, even if I don't have many of the charms completed yet. But if I need inspiration, I can always come here, because the challenges are up forever. Lauri is super-awesome, and has just started a new monthly kit - which makes me very happy! {And CHECK OUT that January kit! OMG - I am IN LOVE! I wanted these papers every since I saw the release from Fancy pants - And Lauri adds the most wonderful metallic prism papers.. yummy!} She is in the process of starting a 2009 goals challenge - I'm hoping it will keep me on track to getting more things done for myself, and not just for the DT. {If you were wondering, my goal is 10 pages a month (120/year), 5 cards a month (60 cards), and 1-2 mini albums a month (12-24) - seems like a lot, but if I can stay on top of it, it should be just fine!}

The third board I joined was Savvy N Sassy - they have a ribbon kit club, which appeals to me because I am a bona fide Ribbon Junkie. Some of their kits are made to match paper lines {they had a Basic Grey Sugared-inspired kit that I REALLY wanted, but it was sold out ;( }Unfortunately, they are in Canada, which is a pain for shipping sometimes, but someday I'll have some of these kits. I have done a couple of smaller atc swaps here too.

The most recent board I joined is Serendipity Scrapbooks. {Love the name.. wanted to name the Shetland flock Serendipity, but it was already taken} I found Serendipity via someone at SNS, and joined when they were doing their sketch based online crop. Fabulous! I love using sketches.. especially if I am tired and don't want to try to think up a design on my own - it is so nice to have a starting point. SS also has daily challenges {which i did really well at for about 2 weeks} and a team challenge, which gives points for every thing you have created - whether for a Serendipity challenge or not {I even got points for the Christmas tree I altered for Abby!} The first time I played it, my partner and I won.. haven't done so well since then. I have a tons of cards I'm not going to get uploaded by tonight, so I don't think we will have done well this time around.. and my partner musy have been busy, because she has not been able to post much at all. I have not decided if I'm going to continue with it or not - though my goals for SAS are high enough, I may. {incidentally, the partners change every month, so you don't always play with the same person.}

This Christmas I received cards from friends at all four boards - and I must say - the talent on these four boards is simply amazing. I will treasure them, and learn from them, and scraplift them, and keep them in my little card box. Thank you to everyone who sent me a card.

Another challenge I am going to do this year is Ali's One Little Word challenge.. after making the post to Ali's blog this morning, I have decided my word will be CHANGE. There are going to be a lot of changes going on in my life - some of them good, some of them not. Some expected, some unanticipated. Some chosen, and some unavoidable. So it seems to be the right word to choose.

The third challenge I am going to work on is the 365 (a photo a day). Today is the last day to join, as it starts tomorrow. There is a Flickr group for support and posting HERE. While I don't know that i will be able to scrap everyday, I know I will be able to take pictures every day {because I do that already!} The challenge will be in getting the photos posted every day.

I hope everyone has a Happy New Year. Good luck with changing the things you want to change, and keeping the things you want to keep. I wish you the best for creativity and life, and hope you learn something new every day.