my baby album 40+ years later

my mom surprised me on my birthday big time!

she made my 'baby album'....40+ years later...

i know my mom doesn't like talking about her age, but i have to say

she is 82 years 'young!' 

she does not like to scrapbook.

but as frustrating as this was to accomplish i know she can feel proud of the finished product.

when i received it, i could easily have been reduced to a puddle of tears,

so i put up my little self-protective wall (ok, my 40-foot fortress) and

graciously accepted this priceless gift without blubbering like an idiot or going into the ugly cry.

all which would have been fine, it's my mom, afterall.

 but i dont' know...i just didn't want to 'go there.'

we have gone through so much and she has faithfully been my cheerleader through it all.

always encouraging, supportive and ready with a hug.

that's my mom.

i gave up on having a baby book years ago and i took my box of photos

so i have no idea where she came up with all of these photos. she told me 'it wasn't easy!'

what i especially loved were all the little notes and treasures she slipped in there. like this one:

"Dear Mom, Thank you for saving my life this morning. Love, Donna"

I would love to know the story behind that one!! But when you get the album 40+ years later there story is forgotten.  (It's ok, mom, I'm sure it wasn't quite as dramatic as it sounds! maybe you killed a spider?)

I was pretty sweet and innocent as a child but was exposed to a ton of stuff that was not age-appropriate....well, I should say, not really appropriate for any age.  Nobody's fault, just the product of a broken home in the 60's-70's.  So it makes me sad to think of 'what could have been' and makes me lament the turn in my heart towards anything that would numb the pain.

So...rather than go down the "what if" trail, I focus and look around and say

PRAISE THE LORD!!!

for where I am today!!!

Healed and whole!! My wounds don't gape open as quickly as they used to. Instead of bandaids that kept getting ripped off, it is more like scars - they are healed but they are there.

Here are things I wanted my mom to 'remeber':

1. Smile

2. Be Patient

3. Be Understanding

4. Pray

5. Remember me!

My children would probably write that same list.

Wouldn't we all?

My mom worked for Pepperdine University and she had access to the holy grail of Office Supplies.  Here is a memorandum I sent to her in 1977:

I would please like some forms to fill out.

If you have any me and Lisa W. would appreciate it.

If you do, please give some to me and Lisa W. to play office.

Thanks,

(signed very officially by me)

What happened to that little girl who likes to fill out forms?

You would think as a mommy of 4 that I would be in heaven with all the forms I have to fill out!

This was a good reminder that what I'm doing now is what I 'played' when I was a kid.

My 'baby album' - 40+ years later.

it touched my heart and i think another little wound just healed.

<3

40% off SALE in February!

and you thought last month's 20% off albums was a sweet deal -

just look at what Creative Memories has on sale in February

at 40% off:

Photo Album Kits

8x8 and 12x12 Quick Kits

Display Accents

Power Sort Box

Memory Manager 3.0 Software

and Paper Album Kits

40% off!! they are cleaning house!!

click here to get in on the deal - February only!

Sweet!

Last chance for 20% off albums/pages sale!!

January 31 is the last chance to enjoy 20% off ALL Creative Memories albums, Refill pages, and Page Protectors!! This is an unheard of sale - never in their history have they discounted their albums like this. You can find them here: www.mycmsite.com/dwatson

I stocked up on refill pages and coversets for this year's album projects (and beyond) :)  It was just too good a deal to pass up!  Order early Sunday or Monday early because they are on EST and when the sale is over, it's over. 

A heads-up on February - I have heard that Creative Memories is having a 40% off sale on the following in February:

8x8 and 12x12 Quick Kits

Photo Album Kits

Paper Album Kits

Display Accents

Power Sort Box

Memory Manager 3.0 Software

I love a great deal and I wanted to share this with you too. Feel free to pass the link to your friends so they can enjoy the savings too!  www.mycmsite.com/dwatson

Happy Scrappin',

DL :)





time to finish December Daily album!

For all of you who started a December Daily album how did you do?

Most of us have put away the holiday decorations and in that process it's important to take a few minutes (or an hour) to finish up our December Daily project.

This week I added the extra photos, journaling and details.

I still have it out on my counter with a pen for my kids to add some more journaling.

I like to add postage stamps to mine...yes, I still receive snail mail cards (and I love them!) maybe postage stamps will be a thing of the past by the time my kids are grown-up. If not, at least these designs will be.

Cutting out programs from plays and events we attended was a quick and fun way to cover an entire daily page.

Here is our back cover. Be sure and include the year!!

Hope you had fun. Please take some time this week to finish what ya started. It feels good!

Happy Scrappin',

DL :)

Wall Print Posters!

I made these posters on-line and I love how they turned out!  There are tons of designs to choose from.

You just drag and drop your photos into the pre-designed templates, add any titles or journaling you like, and you're done! 

They arrived rolled up in a tube. They are printed on heavy-duty, matte photo paper (not cheap poster paper) so they will last a very long time. The pictures are very bright and vibrant. I brought the posters to my local Kinkos and had them mounted onto Foam Board for extra stability. 

The posters feature two plays that my daughters were in. I scanned the program and uploaded it like a photo to be included in the poster collage.  I am going to hang these in our office. When my girls saw the finished posters they felt 'famous!'  It's such a fun way to remember and celebrate an event! 

Biggest Album Sale Ever!

Great news scrapbookers!! Creative Memories, for the first time ever, is taking 20% off ALL album covers, refill pages, page protectors, pocket page albums (Picfolios), and Storybooks (digital albums)!!  January only!!  You can check it out here. Enjoy the SALE and tell all your friends!!  The original 12x12 sizes and the True 12x12 sizes plus 8x8 and 12x15 - ALL on SALE! 

thanks for the memories...

Thank you to everyone who stopped by my annual Creative Memories Open House/Customer Appreciation Event!  Over $2,000 of albums and supplies were sold and my shelves are empty! After 16 years in this business I am thankful for all of you who support my business and who visit my website.

For those of you who weren't able to stop by in person, I wanted to share with you a few of the highlights. Of course, there were cookies...but there was also Albums on Parade:

In years past I have had my customers bring their albums for display. But this year, I put out all of my Creative Memories Career albums for a special celebration of the past 16 years! Nine career albums completed!  And probably enough recent pictures and memorabilia to do about three more!

When I first started my Creative Memories business in 1994, I was living in a little 500-square-foot apartment. I kept my inventory in two cardboard boxes in my closet. I only had room for 2 scrapbookers at a time so I thought it would be easy to fill up my workshops! I scheduled workshops all summer long and no-one came. I never cancelled though and instead I worked on my own albums. Then I would send out newsletters saying, "It was so exciting at last month's workshop, 26 pages were completed!"  No-one knew it was only my 26 pages! Eventually people started coming to find out who was getting so many pages done. That was the beginning of a very exciting, challenging, and rewarding career.

Soon I had a team of Consultants joining me in this business and I was promoted to Unit Leader. My husband and I bought a condo and had a little more room. I started holding monthly meetings for my team. My workshops were growing and we started having at-large events at local colleges and athletic clubs. My meetings were soon filled-to-capacity and people were sitting on our stairs just to fit. We had to move our meetings to a local hotel ballroom.  It was a highlight when doing what I loved (scrapbooking, writing, taking photos) turned into a rewarding career. The company sent me on several all-expense-paid Incentive Trips as well as on-stage recognition and exclusive Leadership events.

In 2001 I reached my dream of promoting to Director. I had a team of leaders and over 200 Consultants on my team with over a million dollars in sales! I was living the American Dream. A highlight that year was picking up all of my leaders in a stretch limousine and taking them to our annual Christmas Tea in a limo - all paid for by 'my little home business.'

The biggest highlight though is personal growth and the friends I have made along the way. I was so shy when I first started this business! Oh my. I couldn't even stand in front of a small group of people so I would sit alongside them and teach how to scrapbook. Never would I have imagined that years later I would speak at National Convention in front of 4,000 women and feel completely comfortable and excited doing it!  My customers and my team are some of the most amazing women you will ever meet. Many of my team members have gone on to other direct sales companies and have reached the highest levels of leadership through what they learned with Creative Memories. I have stacks of cards and letters from customers and clients who have shared what an impact their scrapbooks have made on their family and their relationships. 

I have enjoyed the flexibility of owning my own business. Thanks to you, I was able to add four babies to our family while still ordering $1,000+ per month during my four 'maternity leaves'. Thanks to you I was also able to maintain my business while my husband was deployed with the military for 9 months. Thanks to you, I have had an amazing career with Creative Memories. We still have the very best scrapbook albums and refill pages, made in the U.S.A. We still have an important mission: preserving the past, enriching the present, and inspiring hope for the future.

I hope you have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!

Thanks for the Memories...

December Daily update

I've been having so much fun with our December Daily album! It sits on our kitchen counter and the basket of supplies is within easy reach for a quick update. Yesterday I enjoyed lunch with my very creative and talented friend Jennifer C.  Jennifer showed me her December Daily album and I was so inspired I came home and gave mine a makeover!  Just added a strip of paper on the top of my title page, then a strip of silver ribbon really jazzed it up! I wish the photo could show you all the glitter. I'm a big fan of glittery paper!

This weekend our family enjoyed a Holiday Concert by a local community band. When we got home I cut up the program and added bits to our December Daily album.  This seriously takes about 5 minutes...anyone can do this! I will use the journal box to write about the concert...we learned that Sleigh Ride was written by Leroy Anderson in 1948 and it consistently ranks among the top 10 most performed songs during the Christmas season. It happens to be one of my all-time favorites.

This weekend was also Family Day for the Navy and I enjoyed spending the day with My Hero learning about how to make our military family unit stronger. I glued a bright red felt ribbon down the side and used pre-lined paper to decorate this page. I'll be journaling the highlights of the day as well as my thoughts on being a military wife. I'm so thankful My Hero is home for Christmas this year as I know so many who are serving overseas. We are grateful.

Have you started a December Daily??  Wanna share your thoughts? Post a comment or link to your blog! Would love to see how you are recording this most busy time of year!

December Daily 2010

Some of you may remember my December Daily album from last year.

It's a small album you leave out on your kitchen counter - each page is numbered and you add photos, journal thoughts, add ticket stubs, etc... all throughout the December holiday season.

I just put our 2009 December Daily album out the other day - it's a treasure...I'll share some of my favorite pages soon.

For now, it's time to prepare and fill up December Daily 2010!  I spent some time this week putting it together:

Trim card stock any size (I chose 6.25" x 6.25")

You can use other materials too like chip board or acrylic. I used chip board as my pattern and then used a hole puncher on my card stock:

the acrylic sheets are something new I am trying this year. you can find them precut and punched for convenience. I used an acrylic sheet for my cover - title stickers show up nicely on them:

Some people just make pages for December 1-25....but last year I included the entire month and I also added some extra pages in the back for miscellaneous photos and notes (like the kids wish lists).  After you put all your pages together, use rings to secure, then for a finished look I tied the rings with some festive ribbon:

Next I fill a basket with supplies we can use to complete the album:

the basket includes:

journaling boxes/prompts

pen

tape runner (adhesive)

holiday paper scraps

title stickers

123 stickers (for labeling the date)

Have fun!!  Enjoy!!  Happy Scrappin',

:DL

Black Friday $1.99 Shipping!!

Check out these fabulous deals that start on Black Friday, November 26 (12am CST) through Monday, December 6 (11:50pm CST):

- Online orders ship for just $1.99! Place a minimum order of $25 on my personal website and pay just $1.99 for standard shipping!! Enjoy the convenience of having your order sent directly to your home!

- Fill your cart and get rewarded! Spend $225 online and get 5 free products, $93 value! Includes an exclusive 12x12 Winter Album!

- Photo Panels make fabulous gifts and they are 20% off through Monday, Dec. 6th! Many more digital photo gifts to choose from (mugs, wall prints, mouse pads, t-shirts and photo panels all 20% off!

- Storybooks ship for just $1.99!  Order photo books for all your friends and family from the Creative Memories digital center. Each book ships for just $1.99!

- Facebook deals - visit us on Facebook and discover special deals. Hurry all offers are while supplies last!

Thank you for your business and have a wonderful, memory-making Thanksgiving!!

Grateful for you,

:DL

REMEMBER THE $1.99 SHIPPING DEAL IS NOV 26-DEC 6 ONLY!!

scrapbooking school albums

This week's project was getting Jelly's School Album caught up. And I did! It feels so good!

Everytime I felt myself getting overwhelmed, I just kept telling myself that 'a few photos and a few words for each year is sufficient.'  It's more than most kids get and it will be meaningful to her.

I start with a border down the side of the page (these pages happen to come pre-decorated, saving me this step).  Then I add a Title (i.e. "Seventh Grade") and a journal box:

In the journal box I write:

School year _______

My School _________

My teachers ___________

My friends _____________

I enjoy ____________________ 

I add a photo from the first day of school and the last day of school.

I add a 5x7 school portrait and misc. photos throughout the school year.

Each year gets about 4-6 pages. I include clear pocket pages for brochures and memorabilia or artwork.  I keep a file folder handy for each child and during the school year will toss things into their file that I want to include in their School Album.  I'm really excited to be caught up on this because it's much easier to keep up on these once/year than it is to go back over several years (or decades).

Next project: Blondie's school album...I'm the furthest behind on hers but I am determined to get hers caught up this year. What are you up to??

Happy Scrappin',

:DL