Happy National Scrapbook Day and LOAD Day 5

It seems there's a holiday or special day for everything.  National Scrapbook Day.  Who knew?  This particular incidental holiday gets me excited, though.  Scrapbooking has become an important part of my daily life.  There was a time I only scrapbooked when I could get to an all-day or weekend crop and as you can imagine with 2 kids, that didn't happen very often.  Then I discovered Layout A Day (LOAD), a month long scrapbooking challenge and things improved.  I scrapped hot and heavy during these months (typically February, May and October), but as soon as the month ended, I fell back into my usual rut of non-creating.  With the encouragement of my scrapper pal Leslie (you can check out her newly started blog at www.lcsmithsaved-outofthemire.blogspot.com) and a few added challenge blogs (counterfeitkitchallenge.blogspot.com and whimsicalmusingschallenge.blogspot.com), I am happy to report that I have been consistently scrapbooking since the end of LOAD February 2012.  A monumental first for me.  Scrapping just to scrap!  So, while today is National Scrapbook Day and I am thrilled that someone declared a special day for the hobby I love, lately everyday has been Scrapbook Day for me and that's just the way I like it!

In honor of the holiday,  I visited my local scrapbook store that I recently discovered - Paper Anthology in Kenvil, New Jersey.  Elisabeth, the owner, had several adorable and FREE make & takes and some special sale promotions in which I HAD to take advantage.  Hey...local scrapbook stores are an endangered species!  We all have to do our part ;-)  Here are my creations, plus my layout for LOAD Day 5.

An embossed and distressed tag, a stamped card, and a nifty little camera mini book were fun little make & takes at Paper Anthology.

And here's my layout for LOAD Day 5 - Using an ebay search as inspiration.