So Much To Do!

I have so many open projects that I'm feeling a little overwhelmed. I think that if I can just get a few things accomplished, I'll be much better.

Picture the Holidays
I took a class in December at Big Picture Classes (check it out: www.bigpictureclasses.com) called Picture the Holidays. I think I told you about this before. I finally have all my pictures edited and printed and am ready to start working on the album. I chose to do an 8x8 for this project and am using red, silver, and cream. I have the title page done. Not much since it's February. But, I am using my new Gypsy for the titles and, man oh man, do I love that thing. The projects I have in mind for it. I will post some pictures when I actually have something to look at!

Boys Books
My always present and open project is the books that I am making for my children. Because they are twins, all of the pages for the first 6 years were the same -- some changes in color and slight layout differences but, basically the same. Now that they are getting bigger, I am getting some differences in activities and personalities. This I am struggling with. They have been so symmetrical so far that my brain is having a hard time wrapping around the fact that they don't, and shouldn't remain the same. I have about 20 pages to do in each book to "catch up". These books are chronological so it seems that just when it's all done, there is more to do. My original intent with these books was to send them off with each of them when they are responsible and living on their own. I do have to say that now the thought of not being able to have them around me is a little unnerving. I suppose I do have a while to worry about this since they are only 7! :)

Here is one of my favorite layouts from early on.


Reading
I have begun reading a book by Stacy Julian called Photo Freedom. It is absolutely fantastic! It is about her system of sorting, storing, and scrapping all those pictures. I was steered to this book when I asked some of my fellow consultants what they do with all the extra pictures. You know, the ones we print with the intention of scrapping that then don't make it on the page. Her system is fabulous and I'm still working on getting my head around all the pieces. The one thing that is very apparent to me is that, while I love scrapping my boys, I am missing so much of all the other things that are important to me. So I am now embarking on a new album of random pages that literally will just be because a picture, or groups of pictures, speak to me. I have this picture of my husband that I love and want to do something with besides just letting it sit in my scrap room. I never thought of what I could do with a random Honey page. Now, it's going in MY album that I'm making just for me.

2011 Album
Finally, my last new project is a 2011 album. I mentioned doing this before after I finished the Picture the Holidays class. I have decided that I will do this for 2011 and see how it goes. Hopefully, I can continue each year so that again, I have albums full of everything for me to hold onto. My theme for January is "New Year, New Start". I am scrapping some things I have done around the house to meet my resolution of getting organized in both my personal and business life. February's theme: "All About Love". I have the pages and pictures in my mind. I just need to collect them and the time to get them on the page.

You can see that I have lots of creative things going on and I seriously need more days in the week to balance them and my wonderful, regular life. This is the reason we MUST schedule time to create. If you don't make it happen, it never will!

Happy scrapping!!

It's Here -- Well Almost!!

MemoryWorks has released the new Simple Stories kit called Destinations! It is absolutely amazing. As you can probably guess, it is dedicated to travel and, like Life Documented and ele.ment.ary, geared to capturing all your vacation/travel memories in easy, pain-free style. Check out the pictures which are featured on the Simple Stories blog (www.mysimplestories.com) and all the cool inspiration that some of the MemoryWorks consultants have already come up with.

Destinations Collection Kit



12x12 Destination Elements (6)














Double Sided Designer Cardstock














12x12 Fundamental Stickers




12x12 Expressions Sticker Sheet



There is also a set of 4x6 Photo Transparency Overlays but those pictures are coming up right now??? BUT -- how fabulous is that kit?? I am so excited to add this collection to the already amazing Simple Stories line of products. AND .... we have added some additional stickers and cardstock to both the Life Documented and ele.ment.ary kits!! As if it couldn't get any better. Head on over the Simple Stories blog for full details.

The kits will be available to order the first of March. If you'd like to put your name on the list of firsts to order, let me know.

Happy scrappin'!!

Happy New Year!!

I try not to make New Year's resolutions because I can never manage to keep them. But, this year I am trying to get seriously organized in all aspects of my life and part of that is more frequent postings on this blog. We'll see what happens!!

Our holidays were FAB-U-LOUS!! Lonnie and I both had 12 days off and we spent almost all of it together with the boys. It was truly nice and I was not ready to go back to work. I hope that all of you had a great holiday and New Year as well!!




In the month of December, I took a class through Big Picture Classes called Picture the Holidays. It was a great class. Each day, we were given a topic of inspiration and were then assigned to find something that spoke to us about said topic. It forced me each day to take few minuted to reflect on what we were looking for. Some days, I didn't take those moments to actually snap any pictures but, I was at least taking the time to think about the topic and what parts of my life fit into the day's theme. I did take a picture for each day by the end of the month. I am now going to take those pictures and create a December album which focuses on the topics and pictures I captured. I'll post pictures as I get the pages done.

After completing the class, it got me thinking about how I could do this same thing each month of the year. Not necessarily to take a picture everyday (though one could totally do that) but, perhaps a theme per month. We could chose a topic and take any number of pictures during the month that represents that subject to us. At the end of the year, we'd have a full album of a year of our life. This could then all be captured in an album and easily put together with the Simple Stories Life Documents kit.



Speaking of Simple Stories, be sure to check out the Simple Stories web site each day from 1/4 - 1/24 for 20 days of inspiration. Each day, a new layout or project is being featured. They will also be doing give aways and sneak peeks for additions to the Life Documented kit and a NEW Simple Stories soon to be released. Check it out at: www.mysimplestories.com

Winter CHA is just around the corner (doesn't it seem like summer CHA was last week?) and that means that all the manufacturers will be releasing NEW products and lines soon. With this comes catalog transition and products being discontinued. Be sure to check out my website soon and order any Halloween or Christmas products you may need to work on pages and albums for all those wonderful pictures you took during the holidays.

Happy New Year and Happy Scrappin'!

Overwhelmed?

During my crop, I was having a conversation with one of the attendees who is fairly new to scrapbooking and feeling quite overwhelmed by all that she has in the way of pictures.

There are several things that you should remember when you begin to think about all that you have to do.

1. Don't think about all that you have. There is no way that you can always be caught up, especially if you are planning to scrap for children who are already here. Just when you are caught up, more things happen and there will always be more things to create.
2. Block off time. You won't be able to get anything accomplished unless you make the effort to block out time to do it. We all love to scrap but, realistically that is not on the top of the list of must do's unless that is what you are getting paid to do. Just like ball games and working out, you need to set aside time to do what you want.
3. Think about how you want to organize your books. I am making large chronological books for my boys. They each have 1 book than spans birth to their 6th birthday. Major events and everyday pages are in them. If the thought of one large book is too much, think mini albums. I know lots of scrappers who do events -- a vacation, a holiday theme, etc. This will allow you to take a small stack of pictures and do one thing at a time.
4. Take your stacks of pictures and think one page at a time. We all know that you have endless memories that you have captured in photos and you'd love to get them all scrapped. The thought of looking at hundreds of pictures makes you want to put them all back in the closet and shut the door. So consider making a Christmas 2009 layout. Don't think about the 14 years of Christmas pictures you have, just one year at a time.
5. Ask for help. Talk to someone you know who has experience. Take a class at a local store. Call me. I'll be happy to help you get started.

The new ele.ment.ary and Life Documented kits, exclusive to MemoryWorks, are perfect examples of easy ways to get started on scrapbooks. These kits are designed to be easy, stress free, and are beautiful. I used the LD kit to create a cruise album for my husband and me. The 20 page album took me less than 7 hours to create. (You can see pictures of the pages at my website under the idea gallery http://cindysmith.memory-works.com)). I just received my ele.ment.ary kits and haven't yet created with them but, the ideas are endless. Check out the Simple Stories blog for other MW consultant ideas and what to do with the kit (http://www.mysimplestories.com)

I'm So Excited .....

....and I just can't hide it!! (ok a little cheezy, I admit it). Summer CHA (I actually called it winter in my last post but, it is indeed summer - it is July Cindy!), is literally just around the corner. All the major scrapbook manufacturers are rolling out their sneak peeks to get everyone geared up for the show and boy are there some really great things out there.

I was just looking at a couple of other blogs (http://timholtz.typepad.com/my_weblog/ and http://papercrafterscorner.typepad.com/papercrafters-corner/ look under sneak peeks) and they have some really great things rolling out. We will carry some of these at MemoryWorks I'm sure but, we'll have to wait until the new catty comes out to see exactly what that is.

Speaking of sneak peeks and MW -- did you all see the way super cool Simple Stories ele.ment.ary line released this week by MW? I am so loving this line. I can't wait to get several kits and get started. I have visions of books for my boys of course but also my mom and my mother in law (though she's got other scrapbook projects in mind for me right now). Check out the Simple Stories website (http://www.mysimplestories.com/) but, here are some of the cool things that you can get with this package.

We aren't yet aware of the exact launch date but, it will be sometime in mid-August. The kit is 180 pieces (like the Life Documented kit) and the picture of what is available in the basic kit is the top group. The rest of the pictures are add-on elements that can be purchased separately. You will also be able to order additional paper packs of the 12 x 12 sheets that are included in the basic kit. I don't know pricing on all of these treats but, the original SS kit, Life Documented, is only $16.99 (plus tax and shipping). How cool is this pack???

Some other sites that I have recently come across in my never ending search of all things scrapbooking:

1. http://www.scrapbookpitures.com/: one of my fellow MW consultants turned my on to this site. They are another picture printing company, with reasonable prices, but, you can order all different kinds of sizes from 2" x 2" to poster size. I haven't ordered anything from them and she hadn't yet received her pictures but is looks cool for those cases where you are needing something smaller (or bigger) or making a mini album.

2. http://www.bigpicturescrapbooking.com/: This site is sort of a social media type site. They have a blogs and a gallery but, they also have online scrapbooking classes. A couple of folks I've talked to have taken some and really liked them. Some are for a fee and some are free but, it looked interesting to me when I was on there yesterday.

3. http://www.pagemaps.com/: Stuck in rut or need a layout idea? This site offers free layout ideas for your books.

I have a crop coming up at the end of August. sign-up at the right or send me an e-mail. It should be a nice relaxing Sunday afternoon at the coffee shop.

As always, happy scrapping and let me know if there is anything you need from me!

Where does the time go?

I can't believe that 2010 is already half over. Where does the time go? It feels like just yesterday was the last day of school and my boys go back for first grade 6 weeks from today! I was just looking at my calendar and it seems like we have something planned each weekend until then. Summer is almost over and soon it will be time to pull out the sweaters and snow shoes and hang the Christmas decorations. Geez.

I hope you are all busy taking lots of pictures to complete your summer pages. We spent yesterday at Old Man's Cave hiking and then went swimming at the lodge. It was such a nice day and I did have the opportunity to take some nice scenic shots and pictures of my guys -- from behind or in action at the pool since they REFUSE to have their picture taken by me. My list of uncompleted pages continues to grow.

With the changing of the seasons also comes the CHA (Craft and Hobby Association) winter show. It is just around the corner. This is the time when all the scrapbook manufacturers roll out their winter lines and begin the steps to discontinuing their summer lines. It's an exciting time for us at MemoryWorks because it means that a new catalog is also coming soon. While we haven't yet received an announcement on the new catalog launch date, it is typically around the end of August/first of September. If you need supplies for your summer pages, I recommend looking at my website or your catalog now before the items are marked for discontinuation and inventory is no longer available. I know I've run into problems getting that perfect paper because I waited too long.

I'm also excited to announce that MemoryWorks is also planning an August launch of a brand new Simple Stories line! Simple Stories is a MW exclusive line that was released this past fall. (http://mysimplestories.com) The first kit is titled Life Documented and was made for making scrapbooks that are fun and easy and guilt free. The line is great and I used it to make an album for my cruise with my husband for our 10 year anniversary. It turned out wonderful and I was able to complete a 22 page album in about 6 hours! Of course, you can tailor the kit to use whatever way you like best. You can see pictures on my MW website under the My Gallery section (http://cindysmith.memory-works.com). I have no idea what the theme of the NEW SS line is but, it sure is exciting to us and I'll certainly pass along the information to all of you as it becomes available.

I have previously passed out introductory information about the MW retreat in June of 2011. It will be held June 23-24 in Utah. I'm saving my pennies to get there. It is open to the public and I would certainly like to have some company. I don't have many other details on the trip but, if you're interested in more information, please let me know and I can keep in contact with you.

I hope you are all staying cool in this heat wave. It certainly was warm at the cave yesterday but the pool water sure was nice. Keep taking pictures and making memories!

Summer Layout Ideas

I received a e-mail from Archiver's last week with these summer layout ideas. The products used in these layouts is from Bo Bunny, a featured vendor of MemoryWorks. You can use the ideas in these layouts for all occasions by flipping images or changing paper. I thought these were great and wanted to share.