Pictures from my trip...

Last week I was flying the friendly skies from Orlando to Chantilly, Virginia. I was working for Scrap-Mart at the Great American Scrapbook Convention. It was a great show, but I have no pictures of the booth or of me and my crew. :-(

But after the show we had some time to kill before our flights out of Baltimore, so we ventured to Washington, D.C. and Georgetown University. What a cool town! Check out these pictures.

The campus can be seen in the distance across the bridge.

The Univeristy Seal. This looks so cool with all the dimensional detail!!Don't ask me what a Hoya has to do with the Bulldog mascot...I don't know! But I love this picture of the cascading flags!

What gorgeous old buildings on campus! There's a clock tower, too, that chimes throughout the day. The town has such character...cute little shops and restaraunts. The brownstones have got to cost a fortune!! We were there on a Sunday and apparently that's the only day you can park on the street. So during the week where does everyone park??? Yep, that sign below says Pennsylvania Avenue. We didn't have enough time to stop in and say hi to George W. But I did see the White House from a distance. What a gorgeous view! A personal note about this whole journey into D.C., is that I grew up about 5 miles from here in Hyattsville, Maryland. My dad was a firefighter in D.C. in the late 50's and early 60's. As we were driving through the city I decided to give him a call to see if he could guess where I was...yeah right! He told me that his fire station was right outside of Georgetown! Oh how I wish I would have called him earlier and gotten a photo of his station!! He got a chuckle, though, as I told him the streets we were passing. He loved living there and working there. Great memories. Now to scrapbook these really cool photos!! :-)

Livin' life in a new way!

Hi, I’m Shirley Pando…Wednesday’s blogger here on the S4I blog. I want to introduce myself a bit before I start chatting up a storm!! :D

• I am a wife of 20+ years to my husband, Howard; mom to three teen boys(!); and “mom” to an aging black lab. We live in beautiful Longwood (Orlando), Florida just minutes from Mickey Mouse and Disney World!
• I have my own at-home scrapbooking business as an Independent Scrapbook Instructor with I Remember When. I host monthly crops, vend at events, and have a website called Scrapbook and Paper where I sell products, kits and premade items.
• I have been a product demonstrator for Xyron, Inc. and have created projects for the Xyron website and product packaging.
• I have traveled the U.S. working the consumer scrapbook shows with Advantus, Corp. and Scrap-Mart.com.
• I am a Creative Arts Instructor with My Creative Classroom.

OK, on with the chatting…

So, guess how much it cost me to fill up my (gas guzzling) SUV last week??? NO, not $50, not $75, but $96!!!! Can you believe it? And that was for regular unleaded! As soon as my long and lanky teens move out, I'm getting me a hybrid!!

I also was recently on a plane flight for a business trip. I had to pay an extra $25 (each way!) for my second piece of luggage, which houses my very important makeup, beauty items, and shoes. Can't live without that, right?? But do I really need to pay the airline to let me bring my luggage with me???

I cannot believe how fast the price of things has sky-rocketed! Pretty soon we’ll all just stay home and get to know our neighbors…hmm, interesting thought, huh?

So what does all this have to do with scrapbooking? Well, a lot, I think. With all of these rising costs, we’ve got to do something to save money in other areas. But where?? Well here’s a suggestion…how about taking online crafting classes! Save that precious gas in your car and stay in those P.J.’s! There’s no need to go anywhere to learn new techniques or make a great project…learn in the comfort of your own home.

Say hello to My Creative Classroom! MCC is a virtual learning center, where the pursuit of creativity takes many forms. Our courses are highly interactive and facilitated by talented teachers ready to assist you on your creative journey. My Creative Classroom focuses on Art and Craft classes; from altered art to scrapbooking to card making to stamping to candle making to art journals to sewing and everything in between. It is our mission to provide our students with an outstanding learning experience.

I am so proud to be a Creative Arts Instructor at My Creative Classroom. The classes I teach focus on altered arts, scrapbooking, paper arts...and a little mixed media thrown in for fun! We have a fantastic teaching staff full of people who are as passionate about crafting as you are! And because of the fact that we have students and Instructors from all over the world, I get to share my passion for crafting with people I would otherwise never get to meet.

Check out just two of the classes I am teaching now at My Creative Classroom:

"Our Family" 12 x 6 Handmade Album class begins June 10th. CLICK HERE for more info and to sign up.

Enjoy the Journey/Travel Workshop begins June 16th and a second session starts July 17th. You can choose which one works best for you. CLICK HERE for more info and to sign up.

"See" ya next week! :D