Information

[Mycreativerootscrafts]

Are you a newbie to ACOT? I would love to get to know you I still feel like a newbie. This is my second year at ACOT.

[VickiR]

Yes, I would love to know more about the newbies that are here this week.  I do hope they stay with us after NSD week.

[scrapy1967]

I’m not a newbie but took a short hiatus when I realized I could paint. I have been taking lessons for a couple years now. If there’s anything you’d like to know about me ask away. 

[Karyn_Sue]

Are you a newbie to ACOT? I would love to get to know you I still feel like a newbie. This is my second year at ACOT.

me too - just today I was looking in the gallery archives for inspiration and stumbled upon layouts from 10 years ago - and recognized so many cherries - and then I REALLY felt like a newbie all over again!

[Karyn_Sue]

Yes, I would love to know more about the newbies that are here this week.  I do hope they stay with us after NSD week.

me too - I found ACOT because of Covid (guess it is nice to have SOMETHING to thank Covid for!  LOL) and I'm so glad that I did. 

[amysolovay]

Hi Flora! Nice to "meet" you.

I'm not sure whether I count as a "newbie" here or not. I'm new to the message board part of the operation. But back in scrapbooking's heyday, prior to the "Great Financial Crisis", I used to have a network of craft websites, and I promoted ACOT as an affiliate. I think I got started with that around 2007ish.

Then the Great Financial Crisis hit. My husband and I both lost our jobs at about the same time. We'd been living in Santa Barbara, which is an expensive area. We knew we couldn't stay there because our jobs were irreplaceable in the immediate area. Neither one of us wanted to leave SB, though.

We met a man who told us that it was possible to live for free in Santa Barbara if you had a boat to live aboard. That was an interesting idea to us, so we checked it out.

Pretty quickly we realized the dude wasn't technically wrong, it is possible, but it isn't anything any sane person would want to do. But we did decide that living aboard a boat sounded like something we wanted to try.

Long story short, we decided to move aboard a sailboat and go cruising. We had some crazy adventures!

I had already been dabbling with website building and freelance writing, so I ramped that up. But the paper crafts couldn't come with me aboard a rocking sailboat, so I took a long hiatus from scrapbooking. I still promote ACOT as an affiliate, but I lost a lot of momentum with paper crafts while we were out cruising. My best freelance writing gig at that time was writing about crochet for TheSpruceCrafts.com, and I spent most of my time and energy working on that.

Nowadays, I'm a "landlubber" again and working on documenting our sailing adventures in my scrapbooks. I am also working on consolidating my network of craft websites into one gigantic craft site instead of having bunches of separate sites. It is taking longer than I thought it would. I'm having to rebuild all the paper crafts sections because a lot of my old stuff went outdated and had to be taken down. Nowadays, my craft site has more crochet content than anything else, and I am having to work extra hard at ramping up the paper crafts content.

So, on one hand, I have been a fan of this business for a long time. But on the other hand, I didn't realize until recently that ACOT has an active message board; I'm definitely new to the message boards. I am glad to make the discovery!

What draws you to ACOT, Flora? Are you into scrapbooking, card-making, mixed media, planner crafts, needlework or ??????

[amysolovay]

I’m not a newbie but took a short hiatus when I realized I could paint. I have been taking lessons for a couple years now. If there’s anything you’d like to know about me ask away. 

Scrapy1967, what do you enjoy painting? Do you have a preferred media to paint with?

[amysolovay]

Yes, I would love to know more about the newbies that are here this week.  I do hope they stay with us after NSD week.

me too - I found ACOT because of Covid (guess it is nice to have SOMETHING to thank Covid for!  LOL) and I'm so glad that I did. 

Karyn Sue, I am glad Covid did have a bright side! I know a lot of people took up crafting during Covid, and even more resumed crafting after having taken a long hiatus from their craft -- definitely one good thing about an otherwise horrible set of circumstances.

[QueenBee89]

Are you a newbie to ACOT? I would love to get to know you I still feel like a newbie. This is my second year at ACOT.

me too - just today I was looking in the gallery archives for inspiration and stumbled upon layouts from 10 years ago - and recognized so many cherries - and then I REALLY felt like a newbie all over again!

Maybe we can call ourselves old newbies… or veteran newbies… lol! I definitely relate to both of you! I think my first shared layout on ACOT was around Valentines Day 2021! It was a Becky Fleck sketch I saw on Instagram - then I discovered the challenge board… which opened up a huge rabbit hole of amazing scrappy goodness haha

[Mycreativerootscrafts]

Hi Flora! Nice to "meet" you.

I'm not sure whether I count as a "newbie" here or not. I'm new to the message board part of the operation. But back in scrapbooking's heyday, prior to the "Great Financial Crisis", I used to have a network of craft websites, and I promoted ACOT as an affiliate. I think I got started with that around 2007ish.

Then the Great Financial Crisis hit. My husband and I both lost our jobs at about the same time. We'd been living in Santa Barbara, which is an expensive area. We knew we couldn't stay there because our jobs were irreplaceable in the immediate area. Neither one of us wanted to leave SB, though.

We met a man who told us that it was possible to live for free in Santa Barbara if you had a boat to live aboard. That was an interesting idea to us, so we checked it out.

Pretty quickly we realized the dude wasn't technically wrong, it is possible, but it isn't anything any sane person would want to do. But we did decide that living aboard a boat sounded like something we wanted to try.

Long story short, we decided to move aboard a sailboat and go cruising. We had some crazy adventures!

I had already been dabbling with website building and freelance writing, so I ramped that up. But the paper crafts couldn't come with me aboard a rocking sailboat, so I took a long hiatus from scrapbooking. I still promote ACOT as an affiliate, but I lost a lot of momentum with paper crafts while we were out cruising. My best freelance writing gig at that time was writing about crochet for TheSpruceCrafts.com, and I spent most of my time and energy working on that.

Nowadays, I'm a "landlubber" again and working on documenting our sailing adventures in my scrapbooks. I am also working on consolidating my network of craft websites into one gigantic craft site instead of having bunches of separate sites. It is taking longer than I thought it would. I'm having to rebuild all the paper crafts sections because a lot of my old stuff went outdated and had to be taken down. Nowadays, my craft site has more crochet content than anything else, and I am having to work extra hard at ramping up the paper crafts content.

So, on one hand, I have been a fan of this business for a long time. But on the other hand, I didn't realize until recently that ACOT has an active message board; I'm definitely new to the message boards. I am glad to make the discovery!

What draws you to ACOT, Flora? Are you into scrapbooking, card-making, mixed media, planner crafts, needlework or ??????

What an amazing adventure!! I can't wait to see more of your crafts. I love that ACOT is very diverse in every craft from paper, to painting, to card making and so on. I was drawn to ACOT through my interests in mix media. I found Jessica and Rachel through Instagram and YouTube due to my newest interests in mix media. I have been a paper crafter and digital scrapbooker for over twenty years. So I'm used to the digital boards and forums.

I stepped away for about seven years due to getting back into the work force. I recently got very ill with illness to include cancer the last few year's. So that left me home bound. With covid keeping me in most days due to my immune system weakness. I wanted to find something I could keep my spirits up and not to draining. So I'm thankful for ACOT and this beautiful welcoming community!! I have gained lots of friendship throughout my time here.

I am very active with hosting monthly challenges and a monthly card exchange. My areas of creativity is mix media and card making with a splash of scrapbooking. I'm so glad I got to hear about your journey and I look forward to getting to know you more.

[Mycreativerootscrafts]

Are you a newbie to ACOT? I would love to get to know you I still feel like a newbie. This is my second year at ACOT.

me too - just today I was looking in the gallery archives for inspiration and stumbled upon layouts from 10 years ago - and recognized so many cherries - and then I REALLY felt like a newbie all over again!

Maybe we can call ourselves old newbies… or veteran newbies… lol! I definitely relate to both of you! I think my first shared layout on ACOT was around Valentines Day 2021! It was a Becky Fleck sketch I saw on Instagram - then I discovered the challenge board… which opened up a huge rabbit hole of amazing scrappy goodness haha

I love it old newbies we are ❤

[Mycreativerootscrafts]

Yes, I would love to know more about the newbies that are here this week.  I do hope they stay with us after NSD week.

I hope they stay around as well. Its been nice to seeing all the new faces and projects!

[Mycreativerootscrafts]

I’m not a newbie but took a short hiatus when I realized I could paint. I have been taking lessons for a couple years now. If there’s anything you’d like to know about me ask away. 

Oooh I love painting as well!! Glad you found a new passion. Its always so much fun!

[Karyn_Sue]

me too - just today I was looking in the gallery archives for inspiration and stumbled upon layouts from 10 years ago - and recognized so many cherries - and then I REALLY felt like a newbie all over again!

Maybe we can call ourselves old newbies… or veteran newbies… lol! I definitely relate to both of you! I think my first shared layout on ACOT was around Valentines Day 2021! It was a Becky Fleck sketch I saw on Instagram - then I discovered the challenge board… which opened up a huge rabbit hole of amazing scrappy goodness haha 

I love it old newbies we are ❤ 

that's us!  The Three "old Newbie" Cherries!  Kinda like the 3 Muskateers - only craftier!
 

[Mycreativerootscrafts]

Maybe we can call ourselves old newbies… or veteran newbies… lol! I definitely relate to both of you! I think my first shared layout on ACOT was around Valentines Day 2021! It was a Becky Fleck sketch I saw on Instagram - then I discovered the challenge board… which opened up a huge rabbit hole of amazing scrappy goodness haha 

I love it old newbies we are ❤ 

that's us!  The Three "old Newbie" Cherries!  Kinda like the 3 Muskateers - only craftier!
 

Love it!!

[amysolovay]

 

What an amazing adventure!! I can't wait to see more of your crafts. I love that ACOT is very diverse in every craft from paper, to painting, to card making and so on. I was drawn to ACOT through my interests in mix media. I found Jessica and Rachel through Instagram and YouTube due to my newest interests in mix media. I have been a paper crafter and digital scrapbooker for over twenty years. So I'm used to the digital boards and forums.

I stepped away for about seven years due to getting back into the work force. I recently got very ill with illness to include cancer the last few year's. So that left me home bound. With covid keeping me in most days due to my immune system weakness. I wanted to find something I could keep my spirits up and not to draining. So I'm thankful for ACOT and this beautiful welcoming community!! I have gained lots of friendship throughout my time here.

I am very active with hosting monthly challenges and a monthly card exchange. My areas of creativity is mix media and card making with a splash of scrapbooking. I'm so glad I got to hear about your journey and I look forward to getting to know you more. 

Flora, I'm so glad we "met" online! We have bunches in common. I'm really into mixed media, too. I just recently decided to give digital scrapbooking a try, so I have done some messing around with that as well. I do not claim to be good at it, but I enjoy it. I had the idea of trying to do my journaling digitally, which in theory is a great idea but in practice is not turning out like I'd hoped. 

I will have to check out your monthly challenges. I really enjoy doing challenges because it keeps my crafts from getting stagnant and repetitive. I do challenges whenever time permits and really enjoy the growth and camaraderie that they bring. 

I am so sad to learn about your illness and cancer. How very awful! But if there is a bright side, I am really glad you were able to find a creative outlet for keeping your spirits up. 

[amysolovay]

Maybe we can call ourselves old newbies… or veteran newbies… lol! I definitely relate to both of you! I think my first shared layout on ACOT was around Valentines Day 2021! It was a Becky Fleck sketch I saw on Instagram - then I discovered the challenge board… which opened up a huge rabbit hole of amazing scrappy goodness haha 

I love it old newbies we are ❤  

that's us!  The Three "old Newbie" Cherries!  Kinda like the 3 Muskateers - only craftier!
  

LOVE this soooo much! Y'all made me smile! 
 

[FoxyStamping]

Good morning!  Some great reading here this morning.  I will introduce myself.  I originally was invited by a friend in 2019.  I came and posted a few scrap layouts, but the site was just too difficult to navigate.  Truthfully, it still is.  But I am trying.  The same friend invited me again for NSD.  These challenges got me to scrapping again.  I have so much stuff I need to use up.  I am old,  and will never use it up before I leave! LOL. I also make cards, mixed media and do junk journals.  I am active on another website and have been for over 20 years, doing their challenges.  I follow you tubers and do their challenges, and I have a very low key. blog.

I hope to get to know people here, as there seems to be a lot going on.  I am trying just to finish up a few more challenges for NSD.  I find a challenge, do it, then have a difficult time finding that challenge again! LOL

This morning , I saw this about newbies.  I am definitely a Newbie!  As for living on a sailboat, my dream!  Wow!
we have been on about 12 cruises, all scrapped, all before the pandemic.  Miss cruising!  I am so glad we had done our traveling and we’re retired when all of that started. 
well, I talk too much.  I just wanted to say hi, and introduce myself.  I look forward to getting to know you on here and to finding my way around on here.

[Mommyof5]

Good Morning!  
Nice meeting everyone!! 
I guess I can't really consider myself a NEWBIE here, even though I have few posts. I joined in 2020 with NSD.
And. like many of you, I was quite active in the industry way back when it was popular.  
 However, I began scrapbooking in 1997 when I had my first child.  I started out with Creative Memories and I loved it so much that I became a consultant.  I had quite a large client base, I taught classes, held regular crops, annual retreats, etc.  That eventually evolved into my designing for kit clubs, then smaller Manufacturers, then the big ones.  By 2012, I had built quite a following, had designed or guest designed for all of the popular ones, as well as many others, and I was living the live of a scrapbooking-stay at home Mom.  I did this for almost 2 decades, raising 5 kids, owning my own Specialty cake shop (yes, like Duff) and I was happy.  Then, in 2012 my husband (at the time) was laid off from work and we struggled a bit.  I started working part time at a Tax service, then in June 2013, I was offered a position with my county.  The day after I accepted the job, my husband left the house for work (it was a Friday) and called me within 20 minutes,,,still driving in to work.  He said he was he was glad that I had gotten that Job, because he was leaving me and I needed to get a few thing in order and put into my name. It was a blow, but I was able to get through it.That weekend was his birthday, and he left. I literally became a Single Mom raising 5 kids OVER NIGHT.  I was determined to shield my kids from that impact as much as I could, so I maintained as much normalcy in the house as possible...including my scrapbooking and design teams. June of 2014 our divorce was final.
July of 2015, i was laid off from the job I had, and I was terrified... I was still a single Mom raising 5 kids, with very little help from their Dad. I was not scrapbooking as much, but still did on occasion...when we went to the park on a picnic etc.  I was determined not to let the kids to feel the impact of my struggles.  
On January 9th, 2016, my whole world shattered.  My oldest son was killed in a hit and run accident on his way to work. Five days later, on January 14th, I buried him on what should have been his 19th birthday.  I was devastated and a complete mess.  I was down on my knees begging God to stop throwing these boulders at me...as I literally could not take it anymore.  He had taken EVERYTHING from me, and my life as I knew it no longer existed. 
All I had left were my 4 kids, and I had to figure out how to get us through this. I was a single Mom, raising 4 kids who had just lost their family in a divorce, then their brother himself shortly after. I was literally ALONE, and I needed to figure out what life was going to look like for us going forward. At some point that year, my scrapbook supplies went up into the attic and were forgotten.  We lived in a hazy fog for many many months. As if loosing their brother wasn't enough, their Dad bailed, too.  He moved in with his girlfriend and didn't have anything to do with our kids until November of 2019.  God had put me in a place that there was no way but up.  I was down on my knees, begging Him for mercy, praying for guidance, and HOPING TO GOD that the choices I was making were good.  I was all my kids had left, and EVERYTHING was on my shoulders.  Literally.  I did not go out with friends, I did not go "party" like many "free and single Moms" would do. If I wasn't at work, I was spending every moment focusing on my kids and their well being.  My youngest daughter once told me that they didn't just loose their brother, they lost their dad too.  And my heart broke for my kids.  I was determined to absorb as much of the pain and impact of these life changes for them as I could.  I shielded them as much as possible and maintained as much normalcy as I could.  We continued having dinner at the table, we did everything together, and every moment of my life revolved around my kids.  
Despite all of the boulders that God threw at me, I did not turn to drugs or alcohol, and I did not give up on myself or my kids. I also did nothing at all for myself...it was truly all for them.  I guess I did something right, because all 5 of my kids graduated in the top 15% of their classes...my youngest graduates in 2 weeks.
Not one of my kids dropped out, not one turned to drugs, alcohol, or any other means of suppressing the pain.  We all healed together.  The 5 of us...I was Mom, I was Dad, I was the money maker and bill payer, I was grief Counselor and teacher, I was the rule maker and enforcer, I was the friend and confidant, I was the  the villian, and, somehow, I was also the Hero.
In 2019, we had all finally found some peace, two of my kids had graduated and 2 left to go...and I was able to finally relax and start doing something for myself. I met an amazing man that asked me to be his wife, and in August of 2021 , I did just that.  In 2020, I took my scrapbooking supplies out of my attic, and I joined this site, and participated in NSD for the first time in 7 years. I struggled at first, as EVERY single layout took forever for me to complete, because I cried and cried and cried ...and I was trying to work...but I couldn't see through the tears. I pushed through and didn't give up.  I finised maybe 5 projects that year??  i can't remember.  But THIS SITE, and THESE LADIES, and THESE challenges are what brought back my mojo and love for scrapbooking.  They helped when they didn't even know they were helping.  I didn't comment much, but I read.  I read a lot and learned alot obout all the beautiful people here.  I joined in occasionally when I could, but I ALWAYS snuck in and read, and did the challenges, even if I didn't put them into the gallery.  that first year was a struggle...but this site helped me.  Then, in 2022, I spent the week of my son's death at a beach house...doing nothing but scrapbooking. That is when I let the healing process really work, and that is when I got back into the industry...that is when I decided I had found this part of my life again. THIS SITE helped me more than any one of these ladies will ever know. 
VERY long winded hello...

But Hello, My name is Misty and I am addicted to scrapbooking. (AGAIN) 

[Karyn_Sue]

Good morning!  Some great reading here this morning.  I will introduce myself.  I originally was invited by a friend in 2019.  I came and posted a few scrap layouts, but the site was just too difficult to navigate.  Truthfully, it still is.  But I am trying.  The same friend invited me again for NSD.  These challenges got me to scrapping again.  I have so much stuff I need to use up.  I am old,  and will never use it up before I leave! LOL. I also make cards, mixed media and do junk journals.  I am active on another website and have been for over 20 years, doing their challenges.  I follow you tubers and do their challenges, and I have a very low key. blog.

I hope to get to know people here, as there seems to be a lot going on.  I am trying just to finish up a few more challenges for NSD.  I find a challenge, do it, then have a difficult time finding that challenge again! LOL

This morning , I saw this about newbies.  I am definitely a Newbie!  As for living on a sailboat, my dream!  Wow!
we have been on about 12 cruises, all scrapped, all before the pandemic.  Miss cruising!  I am so glad we had done our traveling and we’re retired when all of that started. 
well, I talk too much.  I just wanted to say hi, and introduce myself.  I look forward to getting to know you on here and to finding my way around on here.

hi Foxy!

I've helped some others navigate - and for my semi-retirement job I orient technically challenged retirees to using MUCH more difficult to navigate systems than this!  I'd be happy to offer some help - send me a PM. To do that, click on my user name underneath my avatar (*picture). That takes you to an "about me" page. Under my blurb, once again look below my avatar and click where it says "send PM". I'll try to give you some straight forward directions - like these - about any issues you've been having.