Big things are happening in the world of scrapbooking this summer. Conventions, events, contests, and world record attempts are heating up the season.

The Summer Craft and Hobby Association Trade Show – Summer CHA will take place in Orlando, Florida this year. Twice a year, manufacturers wow your local scrapbook and craft store purchasers with the newest products available for scrapbookers and crafters. This summer’s show will be from July 28-30. I will once again be attending the show, and I can’t wait to tell you all about my favorite finds. A new twist this year is that Summer CHA will be followed by a consumer oriented show called the Craft SuperShow. The SuperShow will feature shopping and classes by several celebrity crafters. Part of the SuperShow will be a world record crop attempt. The Craft SuperShow will host the World’s Largest Crop attempt on July 31st, 5:00-11:00pm at the Orange County Convention Center. Visit the Craft SuperShow web site for all the details and to find out how to register. I will be there and would love to meet you and see what scrapbook pages you are working on at the crop!

Win a Trip on the Cricut Craft Cruise - Now through August 15th whenever you purchase one of four Cricut design cartridges you will have a chance to win one of twenty trips for two on a 7-day “Craft Cruise” to the Eastern Caribbean. You can also enter the Contest without purchasing a Cricut Cartridge. To do so you may enter once a week during the Contest Period by sending a self-addressed, stamped envelope to: Provo Craft Cricut Ticket Contest Entry, Provo Craft & Novelty, Inc., 151 East 3450 North, Spanish Fork, Utah 84660. For all the details and rules visit the Provo Craft web site.

Creative Memories Premier Event – On August 1, 2009, Creative Memories will be hosting a three hour event for scrapbookers in six cities across the U.S. (Two cities in Canada will follow later in August.) The event will feature free goodies for all attendees, a showcase of new products, and more. Check out all the details and register on the Creative Memories web site.

Find a convention or a crop weekend near you in my Scrapbook Getaways listing. You can locate everything from a scrapbook cruise to a weekend retreat and spend some time enjoying the scrapbook good life this summer.

The SOTM for July 2009 is Karen Ladd. She has been a long time member of the forum and is sure to be one of the first welcome newcomers to the group. We asked her to tell us a little about herself and answer a few questions about her love of scrapbooking. You can read all about how she got started and what inspires her in the July 09 SOTM Interview.

Recently I have been receiving email asking, "How do I become the Scrapbooker of the Month?" Becoming "Scrapbooker of the Month" all starts by joining the About.com Scrapbooking Forum. Read all about what you need to know to be a featured scrapbooker on About.com Scrapbooking in this quick answer article.

Another school year has come to an end and now that you are all done attending graduation open houses, it's time to get some school scrapbook pages done. The end of the year is a great time to get the kids involved in making pages that will help them remember another year that has gone by. This week I have added three brand new patterns to the School Paper Piecing Gallery making it a gallery filled with a perfect ten patterns. The new ones include a graduation cap, a wise owl, and a school text book.