Thursday 8 October 2009

Kaisercraft Class in SA - BE YOURSELF

Well I am still going through all my photos and realised that we took waaayyyyy too many photos between us. Between the 8 of us there was a camera snapping almost all the time. Its going to take a few days to sort through all of these but until i manage to share more of them with you i have just realised that i can now finally share with you what the projects were that i did with the girls in Johannesburg and Cape Town.

I used the Pennyroyale Collection - Q1 release from Kaisercraft. There are so many elements in this paper range that you can cut out. Although I absolutely love all the pretty flowers etc (OMGosh and Prima were there and did a class too) - i found with this range there are so many bits and pieces that you can cut out and use instead. Now saying all that we still used bits from other products in the collection as we wanted to spoil the delegates and give them as much as possible. Enough to wet their appetite for the Kaiser product. Kaisercraft in the past hasn't been readily available in South Africa so for many of the attendees it was the first time they have used the products. The response was fantastic and from comments received they loved the class.

As there was so much product in the kits we thought it may be nice to show them how to use one of our wooden products and make the following Hanging Keepsake.One of the requirements for this was to bring photos of THEMSELVES as i really wanted to get them to create something to remind themselves that they were special. YOU are you for a reason. There is no one quite like you – thankfully some may say.
We spend so much of our lives trying to please others and gain acceptance from them and quite often forget each one of us has so much to offer others.
We need to get back to just being ourselves and quit trying to live up to what other people expect of us otherwise we can actually go through life not really knowing who we are.

Funnily enough I have discovered in the scrapbooking industry its the same. People spend so much time and effort trying to impress others, feel like failures if they aren't published or on DT's and always comparing themselves and their work to others.

I know and admit that before this convention when i was asked to do it i did the same thing and wondered if I was the right person for the job - although i wanted to jump at the chance - that old self doubt stepped in for awhile. For some reason here in Oz if you tend to make something of yourself and actually achieve something people are always ready to knock you back down to earth and after a few other situations such as that this year I really didn't want to have to deal with it again. Thankfully I have some wonderful friends who are extremely encouraging and kept telling me that I could do it. I thought yikes! help - Im not a Heidi Swapp or a Donna Downey or any BIG "name" just me MEL. But Im learning along the way too and have discovered that people can relate to my imperfections and after all - all I can be is myself.

Who really defines who we are anyway. At the end of the day the only person I am going to have to answer to is God and explain to him what i have done with my life.
I love this quote.
When I stand before God at the end of my LIFE, i would hope that i would not have a single bit of talent left, and can say " I USED EVERYTHING you gave me"
I encourage you all to do the same and use what you have got and to be yourself.

Who I AM? Its got nothing to do with what I have done but who I am.
Once we get a hold of that fact its like a huge weight is lifted of us.
We are special just as we are. We are all different and we all have differet talents and even on this trip I learnt sooooo much from others. We all have so much to learn but in doing so lets not try to be someone else.
So there you go - this is me, some people like it and others as i have discovered don't but that is something not in our control and we don't have to go through life trying to impress others.

BE YOURSELF and have loads of FUN along the way.
I certainly am.
Here is a couple of other pics from one of the classes.



5 comments:

Bridget said...

Hear hear, Mel. What a perfect message and all too true.

Chat soon
Bridget
PS Get the Cape Town photos up soon!

CathQuillScrap said...

It was sooooooo great meeting you and all the other teachers...thanks too for the great advice "be yourself"... I really really try and do that all the time and it's encouraging to know that there are others who feel the same.

Al Hannah said...

Glad you are home safely. Love your post - you must have been a true inspiration to the peeps in SA! :)

Tracie H said...

It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are.....and you are one courageous lady - which is why I love you soooo much.
T.x.x

Anissa said...

I have never met you Mel but I have been a follower of your blog from Kaisercraft and I think you are a very inspirational lady. Reading your post almost bought tears to my eyes as you hit the nail on the head! Once upon a time I would care what people thought and would try to be someone they wanted me to be but no more. We are who we are as individuals and unique. God made us all this way with special talents to be used in some many different ways.Believe in who you are! You are using your gifts God has given you! Keep smiling Mel. I am sure God is smiling down on you right now!