One Scrapper's treasure

As usual, next month, I{m going away for a long weekend of scrapbooking and girly company. I know it's mostly referred to as a 'retreat', but I hesitate to use that word-  I live a life from which I don't actually need to retreat, these weekends away in the company of friends is more of an 'indulgence'!  Anyway, in getting ready for a weekend of scrapbooking - and I am, in a slow, back of my mind way, - I think it's inevitable that a little bit of a sort out takes place. Instead of scratching the surface and throwing supplies in a bag and winging it for a few hours, this is packing for a sustained effort! 

We've fallen into the habit of sharing the unwanted stash before it's donated. That way, we get to cherry pick each other's cast offs. And there's nothing like a bit of something 'new' to play with if you're inspiration needs a kick start. And little pieces that you don't own and didn't know you wanted are doubly so, it's nice when you can use them straight away, if for no other reason that they don't become part of your own stash for an unspecified time!

This might be just me, but there's also a small element of challenge involved in all this cherry picking. After all, being able to effectively include a piece of ephemera or paper that someone else has passed over is satisfying; even more so when its admired as though you planned it! One of the things I really like about it though, is that your old stuff, in other peoples hands most always turned back into a really effective treasure. I look at pages made with some of my of cast off pieces and wonder how on earth I didn't think to use them in such a way. I think it may actually be because we all have so much that we overlook and stop really seeing what we've got. But that's a deep and scary theory that touches on the hoarder element of this hobby, and I don't want to discuss that!