About Memories & More

Blogging for Scrapbookers & a little something extra

I'm taking an online class called "Blogging For Scrapbookers".  We have prompts each day of something to blog or to scrapbook...or sometimes both.  I'm already 3 days behind....so here's prompt one.  My intention for this class is to become a better blogger & a better scrapbooker.  I'd really like to be better at incorporating things that my customers want to see with things my family & friends want to see.  That may be a tough bill to fill...but that's what I'm after.

I made this page today specifically for this photo.  They are little Fuji Instax photos that I took on Halloween & I really wanted to use them.  I took a piece of white cardstock and a piece of die cut bat paper (from Creative Imaginations) and used a foam brush to sponge purple, green & black paint through the bat cut outs.  I mucked up the edges with my scissors & stapled some ribbon to the page.  The "frightful" font & the heart swishes are from Pink Paislee's Halloween line.  Then I traced some bats onto black cardstock & cut them out.  They're popped up with foam squares. 

I love this page!  You should see it in person!  If you're coming to the 30/30 Crop this Saturday (we have a few spaces left!), bring some Halloween photos & I'll show you how to make this page.  You'll need to bring:  2 sheets of 12 x 12 cardstock, one sheet of black 8 1/2 x 11 cardstock, some ribbon, a laser cut paper & an alphabet set that you love (or QuicKutz...whatever works for you!)  I'll supply the paint & together we'll make a fun page!

A little inspiration...

Here's another school photo of Kendall from the now nicely organized school photos binder!  Lovin' this page, too!  The photo is an 8x10, in case you were wondering, and it was taken in the spring of her 6th grade year.  It remains one of my favorite photos of her.

 

Her shirt says "I eat boys like you for breakfast".  The "flower" is just a strip of paper that I pleated outof my scrap paper...lately I'm inclined to use every bit of paper and not throw it in my scrap bin.  I used the Rebel line from Glitz Desins & I'm lovin' it!  Here's the flower a little closer:

 

The star brad was gold, which wouldn't do.  So I tapped it on my Versamark pad & dumped white embossing powder on it.  Heated it up & then quickly dunked it back in the white embossing powder & heated it up again...I'd recommend using pliars or long tweezers to hold the brad or you'll burn the heck out of your hand.  If your embellishments don't work as they come, then change them.  Enjoy!

 

Back to School

 

(this is the best back to school photo I can now hope to get from an almost 15 year old...sigh.)

My daughter is back in school & I've found myself a little sad...grateful, but sad.  Where did 15 years go?  I pulled out her school photos the other day, determined to make some pages.  But like you, I struggle with those school portraits & what to do with them.  I decided that my options were 1) just slide the 8x10's into an 8 1/2 x 11 sheet protector & add them to my albums (which are 12 x 12...the difference in size doesn't matter to me a bit) or 2) I could organize them in those 8 1/2 x 11 sheet protectors & then scrapbook the ones that happened to be speaking to me at the moment...knowing that all the others were tucked away in a nice orderly fashion...which until last week, they were in a pile of "I'll get to that later" stuff in the middle of my craft room floor.

 

At first I was really sad going through all those photos...wishing I'd been a better mother...wishing lots of thing, actually.  But the more I looked at the photos the more I realized that my daughter is happy.  And that, my friends, made the whole process worthwhile.  It made it worth pulling them out of their yellowing photo packets...digging through that mess on the floor...even the tears that came with realizing your baby is growing up.  And, as a result, I created this easy page that I adore.  Kendall took one look at it & said "I don't remember that at all".  Um, how do you not remember wearing a cap & gown???  6th grade was SO long ago...

And then I made 4 cute cards out of the scraps (one is above):

 

All of the paper you need to make the layout & cards is at the counter..it all only took 7 sheets of paper...really!  We even have an apple template for you to make the cute teacher cards...or use it to make a cut out for your back to school page.  See you soon! 

Valentine's Cards

I love Valentine's Day.  As a matter of fact, it's my number one holiday...well, it's tied with Halloween.  I love the hearts...the pink...the red...the sparkles...I love that it's a feel good holiday...that you're not obligated to give gifts (and since I'm not obligated, I seem to want to do something even more)...it's just a happy holiday.  Anyway, I was making cards the other day for the Valentine Card Class that's next week & just went a little crazy.  I made finished the cards for the class & started making more...and ended up with these beauties.  (I LOVE their simplicity!)

I used the new Ali Edwards stamps from Technique Tuesday (we have them in stock...LOVE them!) And Bittersweet red rub on's from Basic Grey (we have them, too, and we have them in brown...so cool!)  So simple...fast...cute!  And I only used 2 sheets of 12x12 cardstock.  A normal card is 4 1/4 x 5 1/2.  To get the most out of my paper, I made them 4 x 5 1/2.  You can't even tell they're missing a 1/4 inch.  The ink is a black Versacolor pad (my favorite ink) and I added some Making Memories flowers & buttons to a couple.  But mostly, they're stamped & a rub on added.

A little inspiration

Here's the page the all day croppers made this weekend...so easy...so sweet!

We used Cosmo Cricket Jacks World paper & journaling cards...and I love the layout...any of the paper blocks could be photos.  And while it's not quite the "He's just not into you" movie poster, it was certainly inspired by it. 

Fun layout inspiration

Don't you think this would be a fun layout to do?  8 1/2 x11...12x12...doesn't matter.  So cool!  The linear girl in me LOVES it.  It all lines up perfectly.  All you need is one piece of cardstock & one little embellishment (the heart).  Here's what you do:  type your text into a word document & set up as you'd like in a text box.  Highlight everything & change the background color to black.  Keep it highlighted & change the text to white (or whatever color), print out & attach your photos.  Very easy.  Very cute.  Maybe I'll make one today...we'll see. 

Oh, and it's Make-N-Take Thursday...all day we're making a cute card for just $1.  Will post it shortly. Adios!

Edited to add the photo of todays make-n-take:

 

Each card will be a little different...but very cool, none the less.

History in the making

 
No matter how you feel about our new President, today is a historical day.  Why not put your feelings down on paper?  This is a perfect opportunity to scrapbook something that's happening right now.  You can download a photo of President Obama from the internet (took me 5 seconds to find one I liked), print it out & journal your feelings.  This is something our children will want to know.  How YOU feel won't be in the history books...it'll be some skewed account by the press.  Take a few minutes today to jot down your feelings...good, bad, indifferent.  You'll be creating a lasting impression of yourself & your views for your family.  Isn't that what scrapbooking is all about?

Just around the bend

School is just about here...just 2 more days!  Many of you will find yourself with more time on your hands...and if not more time, maybe a chance to breathe...As much as we love our families, their energy & demands can cut into the things we want to do.  So after you sit back, have a cup of coffee, and relax a bit, give some thought to what you'd like to accomplish while the kids are in school.  Are you ready to tackle your scrapbook again?  Maybe work on those Disney photos that you didn't get around to?  Or maybe even just getting your photos developed is enough.  Whatever you decide, make a date with yourself & keep it.  Don't stand yourself up.  Why not come to the store after you drop the kids off for an hour or two to work on that project?  It's free.  We'll help you if you want, and won't if you don't want us to.  And it's pretty peaceful in here in the morning.  Oh, and there's a sweet little coffee shop down the way from us that makes a killer cinnamon roll....

We'd love to be your partner in helping you accomplish those projects you haven't gotten around to, well, because life just keeps on happening.  We have easy suggestions for getting the photos in albums, because truly, you don't have to scrapbook every last photo.  I promise.  Getting them out of the box & out of the computer are what's important.  And maybe you don't have to go back 30 years.  Maybe you could start with the photos you took last weekend & just move forward.  No looking back.  Keeping current & in the moment.  I am very guilty of an all or nothing mentality.  And in the past year, I've had to take a good hard look at what really matters.  For me, I want to have my photos in albums.  I want to scrapbook the good photos...not the 150 I took at Kendall's sleepover...just 2 or 3 of them.  The others?  Well, I want them right there in the book, too, but photo pages are perfectly fine.  Actually, they're amazing & have turned my scrapbooking around.  Truly.  But I'm sure you all know that.

Just know that we are a resouce...someone here to help you accomplish your goals...or even help you set them. 

And to all you homeschoolers, I realize that school being in means you have even less time.  Maybe it would be fun to let your kids help you scrapbook...incorporate it into a lesson plan.  Honestly, kids are amazing scrapbookers...boys & girls alike.  You could even schedule a field trip to the store...we can walk them around, talk about scrapbooking, make a small little project...just an idea....

This concludes our regularly scheduled public service announcement (giggle....giggle...)Have a fantastic day!

Challenges

I thought today I'd take a little time to respond to some of the comments about your biggest scrapbooking challenges.  These are just my opinions.  Please feel free to add additional comments...you just never know who they'll help.

Here are the biggest issues:

1.  Time  It's an issue for me.  It's an issue for you.  I know that many people think that I have the best job in the world because I get to scrapbook all day.  While I do have the best job in the world I promise you I do not scrapbook all day.  If I could give you more time, I would.  That's why I schedule All Day Crops.  Midnight Madness's.  Saturday Crops.  Mom & Me Crops.  Classes.  It boils down to making the time to do the things you want to do.  I know.  I'm crazy.  How could I say that?  But it's true.  Make an appointment with yourself to scrapbook, even if it's only once a month.  And keep it.  It'll be hard to do the first time.   It will get easier, promise!  And it's fun!

Another time saver is to "scrap lift".  It's when you copy pages that other people have made from idea books, magazines, your neighbor.  And there's a fantastic new book at the store to help you do just that.  It actually breaks it down for you so you can convert someone else's layout into your own.

It's only $20.  And the author is coming to do a book signing the last weekend in October. 

2.  Perfectionism This is hard for me.  I'm Type A.  Everything needs to be perfect.  But sometime in the past year I've let that go a bit (with the help of Ali Edwards Life Artist book....phenomenal, truly).   I let myself create. I let go of the perfectionism in my pages, because honestly, I'd never get anything done.  And I NEVER re-do pages.  What's done is done.  And I have done some seriously bad pages.  But the next ones will be better. 

3.  Journaling  The number one complaint I hear everyday.  That & "I hate my handwriting".  Here's the deal.  We scrapbook to tell our stories.  I tell people to write like the person reading it doesn't know them.  Not just "Kirsten & Don on July 4th".  Try to describe an event.  A feeling.  How you felt.  It's hard, I know.  It can be brief.  It can be long.  Doesn't matter.  What's important is to tell your story.  And to write like you talk.  Don't worry about grammar.  Just write what you feel & move on.  And on the handwriting front....do you ever look at old family scrapbooks & go "look how bad her writing was!"  No, you don't.  You look at it as a cherished element of that scrapbook.  So look at yours that way.  Your handwriting is just as much a part of you as the color of your eyes. 

4.  Patience  My family would tell you that I did not inherit a patience gene.  I want it done & I want it done now.  I think that's why I LOVE mini books so much.  I can get my photos in & done in just a few hours & move on to the next project.  I think it helps, too, to break it down into manageable chunks.  And  it helps to define your goals.  Are you trying to scrapbook chronologically? Then that is an ongoing project.  Are you going to scrapbook your trip to Hawaii?  Then make a smaller, 8x8 album & keep the paper & embellishments simple.  This is something we can definately help you with. 

5.  Overwhelmed with Photos  When I started my scrapbook project  last year I decided I was just going to get my pictures in albums.  30 + photo boxes later, all of my photos are in albums.  It took a year.  I'm not kidding.  But I only worked on it here there.  But here's what it did for me:  with all my photos in albums, I now can scrapbook the photos I love.  I got rid of the silly notion that I had to scrapbook every photo I take (if you read this blog you know I can take 100 photos in a day).  So I scrapbook the photos I love, slide them into page protectors & slip them into my 3 ring binder albums next to the other photos that's I've slid into photo sleeves.  So instead of having 20 photos of Kendall's last day of school to scrapbook, I scrapbooked 2 of my favorites and the other 18 are right there next to it.  I no longer feel the least bit of guilt that I keep tons of photos.  I just can't part with them.  Even the bad ones...but that's for another day.  One of my scrapbooks is at the store if you'd like to see it & here's another link to the follow up post about the project.

6.  Getting Started  A class or a crop is a great way to get started!  Sometimes I find inspiration just walking around looking at other peoples pages.  Here's what I do:  I pull out 3-6 photos I know I want to scrapbook.  I grab 2 or 3 printed papers & 2 pieces of cardstock.  Lately I've been doing single page 12x12 layouts...much easier for me right now.  I layout my photos how I think they want to be, trim them & use chunks of the printed papers to figure out a layout.  Once I'm happy, I glue it all down, journal & move on.  When you get stuck, idea books are your friend.  And we're a great resource as well.  Why?  Because it's harder to scrapbook your own photos than someone else's.  We don't have any attachment to them & can look at them from a different perspective.  Grab a pack of photos & bring them in.  We're here to help.

7.  Unfinished Pages Someone posted that they have a pile of unfinished pages waiting for that perfect element.  My thought is that you should set aside some time & finish those pages & put them in your albums & move on.  Use the die cut machine or punches at the store to punch out a shape or title.  Paper is cheap.  My tools are free to use.  Use an extra photo cut creatively, download an image from the internet, but get them done.  You'll feel so much better!  Embellishments are good, don't get me wrong, but you can make perfectly spectacular pages without them. 

Wow!  That went on a long time, sorry for that!  I am passionate about scrapbooking.  I am here to help you with your questions, concerns & page dilemmas.  So is my staff.  Between one of us we can help you solve your issues (scrapbook, issues that is).  Don't ever feel that you can't ask.  I encourage you to bring your photos with you to match paper & embellishments, that way you won't have tons of excess supplies.  And please, ask for help if you're stuck.  Don't give up!

With all that said, I'm off to buy more stuff for the store...here's a happy photo to leave you with...have a great day!

That's my brother, Dave, & AJ.