Certified and Excited

I believe that scrapbooking is all about legacy -- the stories we tell through pictures and journaling. These are the stories that we leave behind, the stories that our children and grandchildren might share in the days of the futurepast. Often, the key to good storytelling, to conveying the thoughts and emotions eddying around highpoints in our individual lives, is becoming familiar with the the tools and techniques to help us along the way. It would be pretty difficult to build a house without a hammer, wouldn't it? The same could be said about any worthwhile endeavor.

I teach scrapbooking. I integrated the teaching component into my business footprint (http://www.christianlifestyles.us/) in March 2009 when I became a Close To My Heart independent consultant (http://scrappigators.blogspot.com/ , http://ourscrappinglife.blogspot.com/ , and http://dianecook.myctmh.com/).

I stumbled across SDU almost a year ago (Oct 2009) when I started teaching classes for A.C. Moore in Dover (Delaware). I'm all about learning so the Scrapbooking, Design and You program's foundational approach to teaching others how to scrapbook along with its strong retail orientation would help me provide even better service to my client and my students. Little did I know that it would take almost a year to be enrolled and complete their training program. But now I have, and I am totally excited.

So, what's so great about SDU? It's much more far-reaching than I expected when I started researching certification programs last October. SDU is part of the EK Success brand which, in the papercrafting world includes but is not limited to:

• EK Success (Tools)
• Jolee's Boutique (Dimensional Stickers)
• Sticko (Flat Stickers)
• K&Company (Coordinated collections, paper, albums)
• Inkadinkado (stamping)
• Martha Stewart Crafts (all of the above and more)
• Licensing (Disney, Sesame, Marvel, Muppets, American Girl & Nickelodeon)

Since I completed certification and received my store assignment, I have been gathering tools. I've absolutely fallin in love with the Cutterpede paper trimmer. not to mention my Zig Writer pens, Melinnium pens, powdering tools, and more.

I'll be teaching SDU's four-session approach to entry-level scrapbooking at Micheal's in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware on Thursday mornings September 9, 16, 23 and 30 and Friday evenings September 10, 17, 24, and October 1. I'll be teaching the same course at AC Moore's in Dover on Tuesday and Thursday evenings, September 14, 16, 28 and 30.

To help promote the program, I'll be attending a Michael's Friday night crop on August 27 and conducting demos at AC Moore between 1:00 PM and 3:00 PM on Saturday, August 28th.

In the weeks and months ahead, I will be showcasing projects, product and people encountered along my SDU journey through photos, videos and more. If I don't see you at Michaels or at AC Moore, I hope to meet you online. Until then, happy scrapping!