Star Trek 47th Birthday

Posted on September 8, 2013

Happy Birthday Star Trek!

Today marks the 47th anniversary of the premiere of Star Trek! On this day one year ago, Larry Nemecek and I escorted Walter Koenig and a group of his most loyal fans around the Hollywood Walk of Fame to visit the stars of those actors and directors most closely related to the Star Trek franchise. It really was an incredible experience, and I’m so glad that I got to be a part of Walter’s celebration on the 46th anniversary of Star Trek. The weekend included a fantastic lineup of Star Trek and Babylon 5 stars. We had an incredible banquet and roast in Walter’s honor. Some of Walter’s long-time friends, such as Jamie Farr from M*A*S*H, attended the banquet. It was a pleasure to sit by Mr. Farr during dinner and hear him share stories about Walter and his current acting jobs. It amazes me that I haven’t scrapbooked this weekend yet. I need to get on that!

If you weren’t lucky enough to attend Walter’s Star Ceremony, here is a video that I found on YouTube.

So, why is the 47th Anniversary so important?

If you are a Star Trek fan, then you probably already follow Larry Nemecek since he knows everything about Star Trek…plus, he is just an all-around great guy! In his TREKLAND blog post today, he lets us know why the 47th birthday is so important in Star Trek lore. Be sure to check it out!

Remembering the 40th Anniversary of Star Trek

I can’t end this post without a little trip down memory lane. Planet Xpo celebrated the 40th anniversary of Star Trek with a convention in Seattle. I curated a blog post a day for the the 40 days leading up to the event with our final blog post by Arthur C. Clarke! Be sure to check it out at http://startrek40.blogspot.com/ . I did cover the 40th Anniversary for StarTrek.com, but they pulled all my articles after a change in management. I need to find them all and post them on my own website. I’ll add this to my gigantic To Do list…LOL!

I have to tell you, I feel really blessed as a Star Trek fan to be able to do all that I’ve done as a result of winning a radio contest and appearing on an episode of Enterprise! I really enjoy working at the conventions and on special events like Star Trek: Of Gods and Men and Walter’s Star Ceremony. Yet, I have an equally fun time just being a fan like I was at the Seattle Star Trek Convention a couple weeks ago! As a fan, I’m looking forward to celebrating Star Trek well into the future. Just think, we only have a few more years until the 50th Anniversary. It will be a Thursday of the first week of school…I’m sensing that I may just have to use my personal days that week. I have priorities, you know!

May Star Trek live long and prosper! And may I live long enough to celebrate First Contact Day on April 5, 2063! 😉

To Blog Me or Not To Blog Me

Posted on July 30, 2013

in Random Thoughts

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I’ve been debating the age old question “To Blog Me or Not To Blog Me” as of late. When Studio Scrapping was over at Blogger, it made sense to keep it a scrapbooking only blog. I was using it for my Close To My Heart business, so I wanted to keep the focus on scrapbooking. Yet, once I made the decision to purchase the amyulen domain, something happened in my mind. I am so much more than a Close To My Heart Consultant. My life’s focus isn’t being a business person. I’m a teacher. Period. Honestly, that’s it. I’m a teacher! I love teaching people about the art of memory keeping. I love to show them fun stamping techniques. Yet, that’s not all. I love teaching students, teachers, and other interested adults about Shakespeare! I love incorporating technology into everything I do. I love teaching online and am developing a new course over at Curious. I love talking about young adult literature, Star Trek, scrapbooking, and Shakespeare. Oh, have I mentioned those two already? I have a scrapbook about how much I love Shakespeare! Nerd alert–I also have a scrapbook about all the Star Trek stars I’ve met and experiences I’ve had! Did you know I was on an episode of Star Trek: Enterprise?

To Blog Me

That’s my answer. I don’t have many followers, so if you come across this post, I would love to read your thoughts about it. I’m totally okay with talking to myself as this is going to be my one-stop-memory-keeping-spot, but it is far more fun when it is a conversation.

Coming Soon To a Blog Near You

I’m going to start a list of the things I want to update/change/add:

Add more categories to the blog to better represent my interests.
Blog more frequently about topics that interest me.
Update the My Story section to add information about me as a teacher, Shakespeare enthusiast, and Star Trek geek.
Convert Shakespeare High to a WordPress and add it to this site (I’ll still keep the Shakespeare High domain name!).
I’m sure I’ll think of more later, but this is plenty to get me started. I only have a few weeks of summer left, so I better not waste time!

Gearing Up for Emerald City Comicon 2012

Posted on March 3, 2012

in Cricut

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I’m the first to admit that I’m a big geek and one of my passions is Star Trek. I attend as many conventions as possible and am determined to get my photo taken with all my favorite actors. As you may imagine, I have a LOT of scrapbook pages devoted to Star Trek; so much so that my friends call me a techno-scrapper!

I was inspired to create this layout because the 2012 Emerald City Comicon is one month from today, and, yes, I already have my ticket. I took these photos of Jonathan Frakes & Brent Spiner at last year’s ECCC. The Superhero paper is a perfect fit for Comicon, and I matted all my photos with white daisy cardstock to mimic the look of comic frames. I used the Showtime pattern from Magic and swapped the pages to create the EC*Comicon 2011 title.

It has been awhile since I embossed anything, so I pulled out the craft heater, black embossing powder, and the Hero Alphabet to create my title. I also used the Art Philosophy cartridge and Dimensional Elements Numbers to create the date. I really appreciate that CTMH prints the size to set the Cricut directly on the packaging for the dimensional elements (and stamp sets). It makes it so easy to cut the perfect size every time!

I popped up the photos and journaling block and wrapped our new Baker’s Twine around them…I love this stuff! I had fun finishing off the look with a couple of the Comic Badge Buttons.

I’m applying to teach at Convention this year, and I almost didn’t want to send this layout because I wanted to keep looking at it. I will get it back, but, if I don’t get selected, I won’t see it again until July! I wish these photos were better. Oh well.

Here is my journaling:

“Every time I look at this photo from the 2011 Emerald City Comicon, I’m struck by the similarities in our features. This could be a photo of us posing with our favorite uncles. Yet, here we are with Jonathan Frakes & Brent Spiner. I’ve met them both at previous cons, but this was the first time I paid for a photo…it was totally worth it. After the picture was shot, I turned to Brent and said, “The first time we met, you shook my hand; may I have a hug this time?” He responded, “I thought that’s what we just did.” I grinned and said I wanted a real one and moved in for a full frontal hug. He looked at Neal over my shoulder and said, “She gets what she wants, doesn’t she?” Yes, I do!“

Seriously, doesn’t it look like they could be our uncles?!

Why I’m Thankful for Studio J #29–Warning Symbols

Posted on November 29, 2011

in Uncategorized

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I’m thankful that Studio J gives me warning symbols when I’m using low quality photos. When I try to resize a photo that doesn’t have a high resolution, Studio J pops up the yellow warning sign. I’m even more thankful for the fact that I can simply ignore the warnings and that they won’t print on my final layout. Sometimes I don’t mind having a blurry photo on my page because it tells a story. In this example, the images on the right were a screen capture from a TV station aired over the Internet…it’s not surprising that the quality is low. Yet, I’m still going to use the photos, because it is a record of my brief experience on Star Trek: Enterprise!

Don’t forget to leave a comment on the giveaway blog post to have a chance at winning a FREE Studio J 5-Pack (includes 5 layouts, page protectors, and shipping). With only 1 day left, your chances are really good as there are only 19 comments on that post, so hurry up and click on over there!

Ready for Some Craft Time

Posted on July 26, 2011

in CTMH, Scrapbooking, Studio J

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If you haven’t checked out my new blog yet, be sure to read my “A Big Thank You & Celebration” post! You’ll also get a look at the new CTMH Art Philosophy Cricut Collection. Mine will be here soon; I can’t wait!

I’m really ready to start scrapbooking my Hawaii photos and to finish some pages I’m donating to a friend who recently started chemo for bone cancer. Her son asked her to create a scrapbook for him, so my goal is to help her make his wish come true. Sharing our stories with the ones we love is so important! I don’t have kids, so I think I lose sight of that sometimes. Yet, I’m the only one who is qualified to tell my story! I’ll share the layouts that I make for her here. I’m working on the Technique Tuesday “Live in the Moment” kit by Ali Edwards right now. The inks that came with the kit are so nice; they are so chalky and smooth and look absolutely beautiful.

A Big Thank You & Celebration

Posted on July 26, 2011

in Cricut

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I haven’t posted for a couple weeks, but now I’m back with a huge thank you to all of you who voted for my Super Stars layout. I won 2nd place in Close To My Heart’s Studio J Free-for-All contest! You know what that means? I’m passing my winnings on to you! Visit my blog and Facebook page often as you never know when I may have a 5-pack or two to give away.

Although I was disappointed in missing convention this year, there is so much to celebrate. I had an amazing time in Hawaii and am counting down the days until the new kits are released on Studio J so that I can scrapbook my photos. While at convention, CTMH consultants were able to celebrate the announcement that CTMH now has a Cricut cartridge! Well, as I had not spent all that extra money at convention, I figured this was the perfect time for me to get a Cricut, too! So, all’s well that ends well. Here is a little video to whet your appetite. If you would like more information about our Cricut package, please free to contact me.

My Free JPG Image

Posted on June 13, 2011

in Uncategorized

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I’m so excited about this layout! I can’t wait to get the actual prints, because I’m going to add lots of Bitty Sparkles to add texture and continue the space theme. These photos were taken at the Star Trek 40th Anniversary Convention in Seattle. (Kit: Stardust ~ Pattern: Front & Center ~ Kit Mix 3 ~ Techniques: rotated right page, changed color of patterned paper to black, converted photo well to journaling area & title area to photo well, modified title & focal photo in Photoshop, added text boxes filled with pattern paper & cardstock to create Star Trek design, minimal embellishments since I plan to add bling later!)

Don’t forget that you can get your own FREE JPG today! I hope you’ll enter it into my contest, too.

LOAD #28

Posted on May 28, 2009

in Scrapbooking

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I can’t believe that I’ve finally finished this mini-album! I still want to do a page to sum up the entire month and experience, but that will be primarily text. As tragic of a month as this was in my life, I’m so glad I’m ending on this high note. This was they day that I hung out with some of the crew members of Star Trek: Of Gods and Men at Universal Studios. We were a bunch of goof balls; it was so fun. That evening was amazing, though! I met Lana Lane and Erik Norlander at a restaraunt in LA. They are progressive rock artists and I love their music. When I found out that I was going to be in LA, I took a chance and contacted them through MySpace. They agreed to meet me to discuss the posibility of using their song “Romeo and Juliet” when I directed the play. As much of a Shakespeare fanatic as I am, I didn’t like R&J until I heard that song. It was what made me want to direct the play and inspired my entire concept for the production. The song was essential! I couldn’t afford to pay royalties, so I was overjoyed when they granted me the rights to use the song and film it for a DVD release! They were so friendly, gracious and generous. I could definitely see being friends with them if we lived closer.

LOAD #12

Posted on May 12, 2009

in Scrapbooking

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This would look a lot better had I printed the picture on photo paper, but I didn’t have time to bother with that tonight. I’m going to upload this LO and go exercise for an hour and a half while I watch the Biggest Loser finale! I hope Tara wins!

I used a photo from my day on Enterprise because September 2006 began and ended with amazing Star Trek experiences. I’ll write more about that on my final reflection LO. It feels good to finally be finishing this album!

LOAD #11

Posted on May 11, 2009

in Scrapbooking

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I saw Star Trek again today at the IMAX theatre, so it is only fitting that I do another Star Trek LO from my Learn Something New Every Day project. September 2006 was a major month for me as a Star Trek fan!