Well...Hello

We are back from camping and nowhere finished unpacking and doing laundry. That is the only thing I hate about camping. It is so much work. We had a good time. We found the canyon we used to go cliff jumping at when we were in high school. (It is hard to find since the lake has dropped about 30 feet). We went way back into the canyon...had to manuveur the boat around rocks. Well, apparently cliff jumping in that spot was not such a good idea. There were quite a few rocks under the water!!! But I guess the good news is that we all survived. The top picture shows where we landed in the water. The second shows the top of the cliff and where we landed in the water. (If you enlarge the image, you can see the cable stretched across the canyon. Erik used to swing from it and drop into the water.)

Haven't really scrapped too much lately. I've been busy cleaning up and doing other household chores. Just wanted to remind you about the crop at my house on July 11. It's from 10:00 to 3:00. Let me know if you are coming.

Well, I'll see you all later. By the way, I added a few new links to my Links section. Also, there is a ton of stuff on my website. So check out the Online Boutique Section, the Red Hot Retreat Deals, and the Retreat Class Kits. All that stuff is new and once it's gone, it's gone.

Exciting Announcements!!!!!

I have several things to announce in this post.

*I will be holding a crop at my house on Saturday, July 11, 2009. It will be from 10:00-3:00. All you need to bring is something to eat-it'll be a potluck. And all of your pictures you want to scrap. If you want to place an order beforehand so your stuff will be here great. Just visit my website and choose what you want...then email me your order. If we order at the crop and the total amount for all the orders is $200 or more, I will hold a drawing and you will have a chance to win $20 of free products of your choice. Let me know if you are coming.

*There have been new products added to the MW Online Boutique. Great "New Releases" from Basic Grey and other great stuff. Go and check it out. http://livetoscrap.memory-works.com

*The Memory Works Red Hot Retreat Sale is still going on. If you see something you want, make sure to order it because it is only while supplies last.

As a side note. I made the above layout with red and white embossing powder and Ranger Distress Ink (I just can't get enough of that stuff). If there is anything you all want to know about or if you have questions just leave a comment. I will get back to you. Also I will post again on Sunday or Monday. I'm camping for the rest of the week. Enjoy your weekend.

Organizing Photos for Printing and Layouts

I hope today finds all of you well. First, a few announcements. I have updated some of the websites and blogs I visit. They have been added to my links list. Second, Jessica Sprague will be offering a free digital editing class on her website http://www.jessicasprague.com/ You need to visit her website, register for an account, and add the class. There are free digital downloads on there as well. Third, Memory Works will be offering some class kits from the weekend retreat on my website: http://livetoscrap.memory-works/ It is under the category "RED HOT Retreat Deals" Next year I am planning on going to the retreat. It is really great and anyone can go, even if you're not a consultant. So start saving now, and I'll be adding information during the year.

Okay, now on to how I get ready to print pictures for my layouts. Yesterday, I talked about how I organize the photos on my computer. When I am ready to print, I like to browse through my photos and see what topics are in the folder. For example, right now I am working on last Christmas. So I went through my folders and made a list like this:

• Santa Pictures
• Christmas Eve
• Christmas Day
• Bubble Boys
• Short Sleeves in January
• Legos-Wolfie

Each of the bullets will be a scrapbook layout with their possible titles. Next, I went through the folder and looked at all of the pictures from Christmas Eve (I skipped Santa because that was on a CD). The ones that I liked, I jotted down. I wrote down the image numbers: 4790, 4800, 4805, 4807, etc. Next I count how many photos I have selected. Based on that number I find a layout that will fit that amount of pictures. So for Christmas Eve I selected 12 photos for printing. To find a layout, I might sketch it out myself, visit one of my favorite sites to get ideas for a layout, or look in my magazines. When I have either selected a sketch or drawn one, then I print my pictures out. From the sketch I have selected what sizes of pictures I will need as well. That way, if I need a 5x7 I will have my picture printed in that size.

Writing down the image numbers is very helpful. I know that if you upload to print your pictures on Shutterfly that you can select them according to image number. This will save you time because you will know exactly which pictures you want. I like it this way too because then I have exactly the right amount of pictures I want for a layout and no extras. I don't like having random photos everywhere because I don't know where to put them and I can't stand to throw pictures away. So it works for me. I hope this was helpful. Again if you have any questions, let me know and I will be happy to answer them.

Photo Organization

I am in a scrapping slump today. I don't feel like doing layouts so I just messed around a little with a few tags. This one I made with Ranger Distress Inks. I have no idea what I'll do with it, but I'm sure it will be useful one day.

So this week, I'll be focusing on how I scrapbook. I know when I first started scrapbooking I was clueless about where to begin and how to do it. Today, I'll talk about how I organize my photos.

I have a digital camera. It is the best investment I have ever made. It takes great pictures, and since they are digital I store them on my computer. This means I don't have hundreds of pictures lying around all over the place. I organize my photos in the "My Pictures" folder of my PC. There are tons of software programs out there that can help you to organize your photos like Adobe Photoshop, Shutterfly, etc. I have used several and I like the way I do it better. It works for me. Which you should do whatever works for you.

I periodically download the photos to my computer. They are usually in folders from my camera like "156 Canon" or "157 Canon". I copy and paste them into "My Pictures." Then I make a "New Folder" and rename it with the dates of the first picture in the folder and the last picture in the folder. For example, May 8, 09 to June 8, 2009. Next, I drag the files "156 Canon" and "157 Canon" into the folder.

"My Pictures" folder on my computer has three main folders in it. "Backed Up Photos" for the ones I have already copied onto a disk. "2008" for all of the pictures I took in 2008. "2009" for all of the photos I will take this year. I like it this way because I don't like to see a bunch of folders in "My Pictures" file. I scrapbook chronologically so it works for me. I can see where I left off in my scrapbooks and go to the next folder saved in "My Pictures." I like it, too, because I can view the photos in full size and see which ones I want to print. This way, I'm not printing random photos that I won't use.

Well, I hope this was somewhat helpful. I hope it made sense. If you have any questions just let me know and I will be happy to answer them. Tomorrow, I'll talk about how I choose photos for printing and put them in layouts.

Happy Father's Day

I hope everyone is enjoying their Father's Day. We had a barbeque for my dad.

Just wanted to drop in and say hi. I've been really busy. We went fishing on Friday. We caught three but let them go because who wants to clean only three fish? It's not even enough for a meal.

I don't know if any of you are watching the "Thinking Inking" videos by Jennifer McGuire. They are really great. I love the distress inks. I will put up a few projects once I get the chance. If you are interested, it's not too late to join. Just go to Jennifer McGuire's blog and she has links for the classes. They are free. This week I'll try to be better at posting. I plan on talking about how I scrapbook and organize my photos. Well, I guess that's all for now. I will see you tomorrow.

Random Stuff

Just wanted to touch base. This is a layout I did yesterday using a layout from Page Maps. This is the first one I have done using Page Maps. I think it turned out okay. We got a new computer so transferring stuff over now is no fun. I will never buy a new computer if I can help it. Most of my pictures are still on the old computer so if I want to work with them I have to use my flash stick to get them. A process that takes at least 10 minutes. I really hope everyone is enjoying their summer. I'll try to get some more stuff up on here for you. When I get a chance, I'll update my links for you.

I am really enjoying the "Thinking Inking" class by Jennifer McGuire. If you visit her blog, you can get the link to take you to the class. Ranger Inks are awesome and are one of my new favorite things. I used them on the page above...around the edges of the brown cardstock. Well, I'm off to see how much more I can get done. Now I'm only 9 months behind!!! Oh, no! I hear crying.

Favorite Photos...In layouts

Here are two layouts I did for my new album about my favorite photos. For the second layout "Little Boy...Big Tractor" I used Ranger Distress Ink around all of the edges. Then I added water to make the ink a little more distressed. The inks are versatile. You can do a lot of really neat stuff with them. You can use water on them and they will still keep their color. I learned about them in Jennifer McGuire's new inking class. You can buy the Ranger Inks on my website http://livetoscrap.memory-works.com

There is a great selection of colors. I will be saving up money so I can add more inks to my collection.

Favorite Photographs

These are just two of my favorite photographs. I have many others of my children as they grow. I wanted to share them with you because yesterday I visited a website called Big Picture Scrapbooking. I registered and took a free online class. During one of the snippets it was suggested that you make an album of your favorite photographs. I thought this was a great idea. Currently, I work on three albums...one for each boy. I have always wanted to do my own family album, but talk about a lot of work. Well, after hearing that, I decided that my family album will be filled with my favorite photographs. I am planning on making the pictures large with one or two photos per page and journaling about the photo or photos. That should keep things simple...yeah right.

After completing a page, I also want to display it for a while in my house. So I'm trying to figure out a good way to do that. When I do, I will certainly share it with you. So now, I guess I will be working on a total of 5 albums (2 not started). One more for Wolfie's school album, and also my favorite photo album. I actually can't wait to get started on the favorite album. So if later today I get a layout done I will post it for all to see. Also at some point I will post the link for Big Picture Scrapbooking-it's a bunch of online classes you can take.

As a side note if any of you have a layout or anything you want to share just email it to me, and I will post it here.

June Memory Works Express Kit

I just recieved my June Memory Works Express kit. It is so great!!!!!!!!! I didn't think I would be getting one because the subscriptions were sold out. But, lucky me, I did get one. The kit is $29.95 plus shipping and handling per month. It is so worth it. The papers you get (roughly 10-12) are great. Plus I got ribbon, letter stickers, chipboard, flowers, some cute journaling tags, and canvas tags. You get 5 mathching cards and envelopes. They are all coordinated. I really like the kit. I can't wait to show you some of the layouts I come up with. I can't decide if I want to use it for a mini-album or layouts.

I wasn't sure about subscibing to the monthly kit but I decided to because I thought there would be leftovers of the ones I liked. Unfortunately not. Also, I was afraid they would be too girly. They're not. It's pretty neutral. I'm very excited and hopefully I can get some pictures up soon. Let me know if you're interested in subscribing. You can visit my website to view the kit.

P.S. I'm waiting on a border punch. So if I get it today, I will try to get a few projects out for tomorrow. Happy Scrapping.

Summer Scrapping and New Links

Here are a few summer layouts...from last summer. I am a year behind. But that is better than before because at one point I was three years behind. I will continue to submit more layouts as I get them done.

On another note, I wanted to let you know...if you are intested in learning inking techniques, Jennifer McGuire will be doing a 9 week long class online. It is 27 videos of inking techniques. You can go to her blog (it's posted in my links) and find out more information. There are also tons of ideas for scrapbooking and stamping on her blog. I am also adding more links to the websites I visit. Jessica Sprauge is really good if you are interested in digital scrapbooking or hybrid scrapbooking (traditional and digital). Ali Edwards also has tons of stuff on hers. Check them out.

Summer Scrapping Ideas

I hope you are all enjoying your summer. I know that I am. Nothing says summer to me more than hanging out in the backyard or camping at the lake. Here are some ideas of things to photograph this summer. Then, add these photos to a layout. As time progresses, I will try to upload some of my pages. P.S. I got these ideas from the Memory Works Challenge message board.

Items to photograph:
*bird *flag *something hot
*water element *something in a garden *something that grows
*something cool *a flower *a child
*pool item *something on your porch *food item
*summer shoes *favorite summer activity

I know that a lot of these things represent summer to me. (example: the hummingbirds drinking nectar from the morning glories in my yard, food on the barbeque, etc.). Have fun and enjoy your summer.

Fathers' Day Gift Idea-The Explosion Box

This is a cute little gift idea. I'm making it for my husband for Fathers' Day. I'm going to fill each section of the box with pictures of my husband and each child we have. Convenient there are three layers and I have three boys. I will show you the finished product when I complete it. I just wanted to get this post out so if you wanted you would have time to start working on it. I got this idea from a Cricut infomercial (yes, dorky...but I didn't buy anything). After many hours of searching for instructions, I finally found them on Youtube. This is what you will need:

• 4 sheets of cardstock: 1 at 12x12, 1 cut at 11 5/8x11 5/8, 1 cut at 11 1/4x11 1/4, and 1 at 8x8
• adhesive-I used Elemers Glue
• A paper trimmer with a scoring blade and a cutting blade
• A corner rounder (there is a great one on my website)
• instructions found at this link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQxJdHjR-Lo

Have fun!

Hi Everyone

I know that I already had another blog, but the name just didn't work out since some other lady had a very similar name. So here is my new blog. Tah-dah. I'm here to share my scrapbook layouts, techniques I've picked up along the way, and just to be helpful in any way that I can to anyone who is interested in scrapbooking. I am a Memory Works consultant. This company offers great products!!! Trust me, I've purchased quite a few of them. You can visit my website at: http://livetoscrap.memory-works.com Products can be shipped anywhere and ordered directly off of my website. Hopefully, I will be able to keep up with this since it is summer and I have more time on my hands to get things done. I hope that you will find this useful or at least entertaining in some way.