June 14 – Creativity Every Day and Rusty Pickle

14Jun/085

June 14 – Creativity Every Day and Rusty Pickle

Okay, so I finished the Rusty Pickle album from CKU. First of all, this was an ala carte class on the first day of CKU. We paid extra for this. I do love the album now that it is done, but the instructions were terrible, the kits were a mess with most of the paper pre-cut WRONG, and the teacher was a bit flustered and disorganized, presumably because of the kits. This was a very BAD way to start CKU and had a bunch of people upset. I, however, just laughed it off... okay, not really. I was as upset as everyone else but really, folks, whatcha gonna do? So each night at the crops, I would do a little more, and get a little more upset, but I finally finished the pages at about 11:30pm on Saturday night. So for the past several days, I have been printing photos, adding journaling, etc. and I am DONE. So very DONE. I must say, despite the fact that I really really love this album, I will never voluntarily pay to take a Rusty Pickle class ever again. Throw it in for free and I'm there, but not for extra bucks. Sorry Kristen, but this was a mess.

So here's the album now that I have it finished...

This is the cover. It is supposed to have a giant E cutout on the front. Why an E you might ask? Well so did we. E is short for mE. Now come on people. Do you really think we're that stupid? Just tell us you had overruns on the letter E and had to get rid of them. Or tell us it is E for Embrace Life and change the name of the class. Anything. But do NOT try to tell me E is short for mE. I'm just not that dumb.

So I covered it with extra paper (thank god they gave us extra) and used an S from my Tim Holtz grungeboard. Why an S? Well because my husband's name is Scott. Now does that make more sense? Yes, of course it does.

This is what you see when you lift the S (or the E if you followed the Rusty Pickle guidelines, sheesh)... these flowers took forever. Seriously people. Cover the wooden tag with cardstock. Turn it over. Trim it with your craft knife. Ink the edges. Ink the chipboard circle. Attach all of it with a brad to the flower. Tie the tiniest piece of twine you can find around the brad so that your fingers cramp. Repeat 5 times. I'm telling you, never again. I'm just not this detail oriented. I need instant gratification people.

The backs of the pages were all left blank. No explanations, no suggestions, just blank. I decided to print enlargements of favorite photos and use those. THEN I decided I should have printed the quotes at the same time but it was too late so I printed them on vellum and fake attached them with brads. It will just have to do.

Oh, and... none of the papers were big enough to cover the whole album so its not really my fault that the papers don't go all the way up to the binding. Really. Not the best kit.

So that's it... I'm really happy with it now... but man, this was way too much work!

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Cheri
June 14th, 2008 - 16:41

I took the class too and was very excited as I was doing the album for my son — I got frustrated half way through with the directions (or lack of directions) and the totally disorganized kit –I just figured that I would add it to my pile of unfinished projects BUT now that I see yours I am going to pull it out and finish it.

LOVE the idea of printing pictures for the blank pages.

Thanks for sharing,
Cheri

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lorishrout
June 14th, 2008 - 19:11

Really enjoyed reading your reviews of CKU Houston. I am going to Provo in August and was a little bummed that this a la carte class was sold out — now I think I’m ok with it. Got me a little nervous though – I’m taking the Rusty Pickle album track – sure hope that is better organized !

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Kristan Paolacci
June 15th, 2008 - 11:52

Carol – I am glad you completed your album. I too have pictures of mine up on my blog. Beleive me I was as frustrated as you were. But when given lemons all you can do is make lemonade and I am glad you did. I can promise the entire kit will be revised before PROVO. Due to an accidient my daughter had I was unable to go to Chicago so I did not have a heads up as to what this class was going to be like. We all learn from our mistakes and we fix them and grow. Your album is beautiful and I am so glad you finished.

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HappyHappyJoyJoy
June 16th, 2008 - 19:20

This turned out great also – it sounds like a very frustrating experience, though! But your final product is fantastic! Your husband must have been thrilled with it!

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Elizabeth
November 11th, 2008 - 02:39

Thank you so much for blogging this and showing clear pictures/instructions. I didn’t take the class; I just bought the kit at CKU. I have been SO confused trying to get it together. I’ve tried to work on it several times and just put it down due to pure frustration. I’m searching the internet for an explanation of this dang kit and (thankfully) ran across your blog. Ugh – it’s a mess. But I do love the final product, so I will forge ahead! Thanks again.

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