Scrapbooking Goal 2013

This.

 

This piled corner is my Scrapbooking Goal for 2013.

 

Tackle This.

I will Tackle this.

 

Every Wednesday and Saturday in 2013.

I Will tackle this.

 

I'm soooo excited to see the AFTER photo!!

 

How about you?

 

What are your Scrapbooking Goals for 2013?

 

I'm going to post a whole long list of not-scrapbooking-goals on my other blog:

 

www.adashfromdonnalyn.blogspot.com

 

Happy New Year's Eve!

 

 

My favorite color is Glitter

I love, love, love my new Glitter Marker by American Crafts!

 

You just draw directly on paper, over embellishments, over designs

It comes out clear and turns everything into dazzling!

It is so easy to use. And for a gal like me whose favorite color is Glitter, it's addicting.

 

It's hard to capture a photo of the results but believe me, it turns the ordinary into pretty!

Happy Scrappin',

DL

December Daily Album: Choose your Cover

If you haven't started your December Daily album yet, it's not too late! 

I am just getting mine started this week. In years past I've prepared it ahead of time so it is all ready and sitting on the kitchen counter all through the month of December. Sitting on the counter along with a cup of pens and adhesive, ready for anyone in our family to jot down their thoughts for the day or add a photo or ticket stub. 

I've used all kinds of covers and created my own albums for the last 3 years:

Now that I have a little collection, I'm not super happy about the longevity of the albums I've chosen. This year I decided to use a 8x8 Creative Memories album because they are easier to hold, look at, and I know that the photos and memorabilia will not fade and fall out over time.

So I guess that is my excuse this year, that I ordered this album and waited a bit for it to arrive. But I'm sooo super happy with it! Just look at this dazzling cover:

I purchased the Be Merry Fast to Fabulous Kit. It comes with the album cover and the pages are already pre-decorated! Which is really helpful considering I am starting this on the 12th of December!

How about you? What cover are you using for your December Daily album?  If you don't know what I'm talking about, you can get an overview and instructions from a past blog post here.

Happy Scrappin'!

Creative Memories BONUS Nov 19-26

November 19-26 is a great time to restock your Creative Memories scrapbooking supplies or pick up a few gifts for some scrappin' friends! Here's the deal they are offering:

Spend $75, get $25 in free gifts:

Exclusive Happy Holidays 6x6 Cardstock (40/pk)

Holidazzle Epoxy Stickers

Snowman Mini Pocket Punch

 

 

Spend $225, get $95 in free gifts:

Exclusive Happy Holidays 6x6 Cardstock (40/pk)

Holidazzle Epoxy Stickers

Snowman Mini Pocket Punch

Expressions of Christmas Vellum Accents

Gingerbread Border Maker Cartridge

Snowflake Mini Pocket Punch

Blossom Place ‘n’ Punch

Noel Epoxy Stickers

Paper Edger

Happy Scrappin' and have a blessed Thanksgiving!

free digital download Bus Train Plane Car

It's Freebie Friday! Did you know that every Friday Creative Memories has been offering free digital downloads? Cool! You can download these images at the Project Center. Enjoy and have a great weekend and Happy Scrappin'!

How to Recover Photos After a Disaster

Our thoughts are with everyone affected by Hurricane Sandy. If you or anyone you know has damage to pictures or albums, check out these helpful tips on disaster recovery on Creative Memories website. Follow this link and go to Care of Photographs and the article “Recover Photos After a Disaster.”

Family Photos Withstand the Effects of Sandy
As we dig into the holiday season and show off our amazing albums and photo gifts, it’s events like Hurricane Sandy that help us put our mission and declaration of beliefs into focus.

Director Cathy Miller of Pennsylvania helps us put these core beliefs into perspective with a special story from a customer who experienced Hurricane Sandy’s wrath firsthand. Cathy says, “I am sharing this story because I want to remind you that what we do is so important. Our customers don’t always have dramatic stories like this one, but I love the fact that I’m not just selling a product but am offering them a way to store special memories. Feel free to share this with your team members.”

“Eighteen years ago my parents bought a beach house we kids all enjoyed. For years it was a place where my extended family could get together. In 2009 we had a flood that destroyed the entire main floor. We rebuilt it, and, during this whole time, I was the “keeper of history.” I took the family pictures from the house and put them in albums. And then I learned about Creative Memories and transferred my family’s photos and stories to Creative Memories albums.

“Then Hurricane Sandy hit. And it seems I have lost the house again … maybe for the final time. I have been so very sad. A family friend was able to get to the house, and I told him the ONLY things I wanted were my Creative Memories albums with the last pictures I had of my mom and dad and our beach house memories. When he got there, he found five feet of water in the house and my albums right in the middle of it. But he grabbed what he could.

“When he brought the albums to me, I cried, thinking I lost all of my family history. The covers were soaked and swollen, yet EVERY picture survived. No damage! How can that be? The Creative Memories paper and pages soaked up the seawater and kept it from harming my family history. I have no words to use to express how thankful I am to you and Creative Memories for teaching me how to keep my family stories alive. I will never forget you, and because of you, no one will forget my family. I will be forever grateful!”
– Patti from Colts Neck, New Jersey

Our thoughts are with Patti and everyone affected by Hurricane Sandy. If you or anyone you know has damage to pictures or albums, check out these helpful tips on disaster recovery on our website. Follow this link and go to Care of Photographs and the article “Recover Photos After a Disaster.”

free digital download doctor visit

It's Freebie Friday! Enjoy these free digital images compliments of Creative Memories! You can access them at their project center.   

2007 is DONE!!!

 

 

Yahoo!!! Another truly completed album on my shelf!

 

 

 

Today I finished journaling and adding memorabilia to our 2007 scrapbook!

 

Here are some of the highlights -

 

Funniest page:

that boy could eat!!

 

 

My favorite Simple Page Spread (just photos and journaling):

 

Another favorite simple page - just photos and stickers...(a little bit of journaling)

 

 

Favorite photo:

Favorite memory:

(when My Hero returned from his deployment to the Middle East)

 

Another favorite photo:

My 3 girls and a prince hung a link to a paper chain for every single day that My Hero was deployed. We wrote little messages, diary entries, etc inside of each one along with the #. By end of his deployment our downstairs entry was completely full and the paper chain was traveling all over the house! This photo shows My Hero taking it down and reading the inside of each one.

 

 

2007 was a year of survival, homecoming, the passing of our beloved grandmother Doris, and a year of firsts: our oldest got her ears pierced, started middle school, and started competitive cheerleading. Our 'Jelly-in-the-middle' bridged from Brownies to Girl Scouts. Our youngest daughter "Sugar" started Kindergarten. And our little Prince got his daddy back. (We all did).

 

Now the page protectors are on, the album is being passed around for all to enjoy, and my heart is full!

2004 is DONE!!

 

My goal is to get "current" on all my unfinished scrapbook projects so today I am celebrating an accomplishment!!

 

2004 Album is DONE!!

 

Whoo-hoo!!

 

This album was mostly completed but there were loose ends...pages that weren't journaled, photos that were missing, etc.

 

Scrapbooking can be a pain. My bio says I "love scrapbooking" which should more accurately say: I love completed albums. I love stickers. I love putting page protectors on. But mostly scrapbooking can be a pain. I was definitely procrastinating. But I finally put the album on my pool table and then the kitchen counter as a reminder, "Hey, you! Finish me!!"  That seemed to do the trick. Just 5 minutes here....15 minutes there...over several weeks  and today it's DONE!!

 

I found it interesting the two biggest journal pieces that were missing:

 

1. The week we experienced a severe snow/ice storm. Our furnace went out; the roads were unaccessible to repairmen; the airports were also closed and believe it or not my parents were supposed to be flying in to watch my 3 girls while I was scheduled to fly out to for the weekend to visit my husband who was supposed to be at a Navy Conference in Hawaii!! All flights were cancelled. The airport literally shut down. And we had no heat for a week. 

 

2. The passing of our beloved Uncle David (58 years old) from complications from a bone marrow transplant. It was devastating. We will always feel his loss in our family. So that was a hard one but I managed to write a little bit about it and put a page protector on that heartache today.

 

There were a few photos missing from various page spreads which I mananged to locate in my Giant Box of Photos. Got those mounted and page protectors on!

 

One funny memory (not funny at the time, but funny now) was found on this page spread:

It was the time my oldest was supposed to be watching my youngest but when I found my youngest she was alone in my office and covered from head to toe with White-Out!  That stuff apparently does NOT come out very easily because we have photos from a week later and she is still covered in the stuff! Every little toenail was painted...all up her legs, her hands, on her nose and cheeks. The paper memorabilia on the right of this page spread is the note I made the "babysitter" write:

 

What I will do next time I babysit:

 

1. I will not let her off my sight.

 

2. I will make shure that she's close by.

 

3. I will not put my nose in a book.

 

4. I will tell mom when I am done.

 

 

2004 was my last year of being a mommy to 3 girls (the Prince will arrive in 2005).

2004 was the year I fell in love with a hotel (The Broadmoor in Colorado Springs).

2004 was the year we took a road trip to California and took the girls to Disneyland.

2004 highlights are now in a scrapbook for us to enjoy.

 

What unfinished album are you procrastinating?

Want to get it out and do the next thing?  5 minute here...15 minutes there....

I'm cheering for you!

 

Happy Scrappin'



 

  

journaling a favorite moment

Going back in time completing my scrapbooks...I ran across this photo and journaling in my 2006 album. Not the best journaling ("my life felt completely full and complete") but it was off the cuff....completely complete!  Anyway, it's a great memory and I had forgotten all about it until I came across it the other day. That's one reason to scrapbook. We think we are going to remember these moments but often they fade away in the busy-ness of life.

A blog is a great way to record these moments. A scrapbook is also a great way. It doesn't have to be in chronological order...just a photo and some words capturing the moment.

What is your favorite moment? When did you have a revelation that you had "arrived" at some dream of yours?

I remember back when I had just the 3 girls....I was always head counting and felt like someone was missing. At the time we weren't sure about having any more children but my heart knew...there was one more. And it wasn't until a couple years later driving in my minivan and looking in my rear-view mirror that it hit me - I have FOUR kids!

And that was it. We were done.

Completely complete.

free digital download: mommy-to-be

Freebie Friday!! Creative Memories is giving away this free digital download. You can find it here. Enjoy and TGIF!

Sorting Memorabilia

This past week I tackled the piles of memorabilia and got them back into my two expanding file folders. Which are expanding to about the maximum capacity!  Some of these files are for albums that I already have the photos in, I just haven't finished the journaling/memorabilia portion.

My goal this past week was to just grab the first folder (2003) and tackle whatever was in there. If it's not going in my scrapbook, it gets tossed or recycled.  Make sure that album is completed with journaling, add the page protectors and call it DONE!

On to the next file folder....

free digital download: moving day

These digital images can be downloaded for free at Creative Memories with this link. Enjoy!

Why I Scrapbook

Ugh! I did it again. Set all these lofty goals for myself that I would be caught up on my scrapbooks this year (or was it last year?). And here I dash through life at 100 mph not even taking time to file memorabilia anymore...just piling it on top of my accordian files. Not taking time to print my photos...just uploading them into chronological order by the thousands on my computer.

I am convinced that album fairies do not exist and the only way to make any progress is to be intentional about it.

1. Pick a time 

2. Pick a place

3. Choose a project

4. Gather supplies

5. Select best photos

6. Print photos one batch or project at a time

7. Be consistent

Why? I suffer from (undiagnosed) hypochondria. One of the things that comfort me when I'm playing out my funeral for the hundredth time is leaving something for my children that is lasting. A legacy if you will. One of the ways that I do that is through the journaling in our scrapbooks. So it's very important to me.

Another reason is that often I catch one of my children and even my husband with an album on their lap, thumbing through the pages and the memories. That warms my heart. I know that they enjoy reliving our family memories, vacations, and milestones.

Lastly, my mom had four kids and I was the baby of the family. I always lamented the fact that she kept her photos in big boxes buried deep in the linen closet. Not in albums. Just loose photos. In no particular order. I always said that "when I'm a mom"...well, you can guess what I was going to do. Now I'm a mom of four and eating my words on a big plate heaped with mercy.

My little guy does not have a completed baby album. He has a start of a baby album which is an improvement from the previous generation of last-born...but not good enough for this momma who wants to communicate through words and photos how very precious he is.

So...who's with me? Want to get back into scrapbooking? (Again) and maybe Again and Again. Let's forget the past and press on to the future. Today is a great day to set an intention.

(And by the way, my mom did finally finish that baby album for me when she was 82 years young!)

Happy Scrappin'

freebie friday!

Owls are everywhere! Now you can add these images to your digital scrapbooking for free! Head on over to Creative Memories Project Center to download this freebie! Happy Friday!

Creative Memories SALE!!

Creative Memories just keeps on celebrating their 25th Anniversary in a big way! They are discounting a huge amount of product (nearly everything) Album Coversets, Refills and Page Protectors are 40% off!!! This is unreal! You can see for yourself here.   www.mycmsite.com/dwatson

So how do you assess what you need?  I am going to go through my older albums and count the number of pages that don't have Page Protectors. 

I am going to order a few Coversets for my upcoming family albums that I anticipate completing (one album per year). Plus the pages (2-3 packs per coverset) and Page Protectors per album.

Probably a good time to stock up on Adhesive as well...

Now before I order, I am going to make a commitment to myself that I WILL scrapbook!! No more excuses!  Just pick one afternoon per week where I will do SOMETHING scrapbook related.  Then one scrapbook power session per month with my friends. 

Who's in? Who needs to recommit to scrapbooking this Fall?

Creative Memories Sale

Creative Memories continues to celebrate its 25th Anniversary with some terrific savings! I just stocked up on 12x12 Page Protectors (new "True 12x12" size). I got them for just $6.32 per pack!

White Refill Pages are on sale - normally they are $17 but in July you can get them for just $12.75/pack.

The only 12x12 Coverset that I found on sale was the Moss coverset (a very pretty sage green) for $18.75 (regularly $25). Hop on over to my Creative Memories Consultant website and check it out for yourself!

Happy Scrappin'

We just can’t wait to celebrate! Patience is overrated! So we’re not waiting until July to kick off our 25th birthday festivities. Instead, we’re celebrating early with a Just Can’t Wait Sale. Yes, that’s right…we can’t wait another minute to share the gift of savings with you, so from June 12 – 25, you will be able to enjoy 25 percent off:
• Albums
• Quick Albums
• PicFolio® Albums
• Hardcover StoryBooks
• Hardcover Personalized StoryBooks and product credits
• You Create It Custom Albums and product credits
• StoryBook options for additional pages and lay-flat pages

I just found out about this "Just Can't Wait Sale" you can hop on over to my website to check it out.

free father's day digital download

You can download these free digital images for Father's Day through Creative Memories project center. Enjoy!

31 things by Ali Edwards

If you are looking for a fun idea for a scrapbook or just looking for some writing prompts, hop on over to Ali Edwards Big Picture Classes to sign up for her 31 Things class.  Currently I have a ton of unfinished album projects so instead of scrapbooking the 31 Things, I will be blogging them. Ali is all about doing what works for you so if you want to join me, register! We have until May 23. I'll be posting Day 1 over on my adashfromdonnalyn blog either later tonight or tomorrow.

freebie friday!

If you missed Freebie Friday yesterday, you can still download these for free via Creative Memories project center here! Just 18 days left of school for us....time to get those Teacher Gifts ready!

Creative Memories Stamper System

Creative Memories new stamper system will be available May 1st. This looks like something I might actually want to purchase. I love self-inking stamps and it would be fun to quickly stamp a card or tag. Hmmm.....It said for more ideas check out the project center.  I think that might be on May 1st as well. I wasn't able to find stamping ideas on the project center yet. Will keep you updated!

It's Freebie Friday!

Happy Spring! It's Friday and you know what that means...free digital downloads from Creative Memories! Digital Scrapbookers, you can get your free digital download from Creative Memories here.

Creative Memories Discontinuation Alert!!

Hey Memory Makers! I was afraid this day would come....I'm very sorry to announce that Creative Memories has just announced the discontinuation of the following products (available while supplies last):

Original 12x12 refill pages (white, black, spargo, natural)
Original 12x12 page protectors

(Note: they have a NEW True 12x12 Size that is standard in the industry - they made this switch a couple of years ago. Only the Original 12x12 pages are being discontinued not the new "True" 12x12 size which are about 1/4" longer.)

Also being discontinued: (while supplies last starting April 1)

12x15 albums (black, ruby, cobalt)
12x15 refill pages (white)
12x15 page protectors

8.5x11 refill pages (white)
8.5x11 page protectors
8.5x11 side-loading sleeves

7x7 refill pages (white, black, spargo, natural)
7x7 page protectors

PLEASE if you need any of the above to complete your collections, please order ASAP before they run out. I understand the financial strain this may put on some of you and I apologize for only having a 2 week notice. I am in the same boat as you as I am having to stock up for my own personal stash as well.

Hopefully this will make the company stronger and they can keep going on their new True 12x12 size and other products that they have been introducing.

You can see the prices and more info on the website www.mycmsite.com/dwatson

This info probably won't be posted until April 1st but I wanted to give my loyals readers a heads-up!!!

Scrapbook Plan 2012

The Power Palette I ordered from Creative Memories just arrived and I am excited to say that I really, really like it!! In fact, I love it! I love it so much that it has inspired me to use it as the basis for my entire 2012 family album!  All of the Power Palettes are on sale this month (March 1-31) at 30% off so this is a great time to get in on the savings and order an entire set. All of the components are available to purchase seperately but it is cheaper when you order the bundle. The bundles includes

1 pack of double-sided 12x12 paper

1 pack of single-sided embossed 12x12 paper

1 pack of assorted paper ribbon

1 pack of sparkly epoxy stickers

3 sheets of Title stickers

96 pieces of Journaling Boxes/embellishing precut papers

2 sheets of ABC stickers

64 coordinating paper flowers

I love these journal boxes!! I love the black embellishments added!

I think this journaling box and coordinating paper will work perfect on my daughter's Sweet 16  page! 

The paper has a clear embossed look on the artwork - you may be able to see the reflection of light off this photo...that is the clear scrolling added - it's just beautiful!

Lots of patterned paper that I can cut in 4"x12" strips along my page layouts

I can see this Enchanted set working for January through December photos. I see the whites and blacks for Jan-March, the greens and blues April-June, the Reds and Grays July-December. Of course, I can (and may have to) add other Additions for special holidays and occasions but this is going to be my 2012 Scrapbook Plan for my family album. I can't wait to get started!

I'm off to go scrapbooking today more motivated than ever to complete 2011. I want to get started on this new Palette!!

Happy Scrappin',

dl <3

free digital downloads - family tree!

Creative Memories is giving away free Family Tree digital images - you can get them here!