Album Progress update

 

I was so inspired getting ready for scrapbooking retreat, that later on Saturday I delved right into updating Sugar's School album. I've never been one to sit through an entire movie during family movie night (I mean how many times can one watch Kung Foo Panda? A ton of times -  apparently, for My Hero, it never gets old....Skadoosh!)  I just plopped Sugar's school album, her folder of memorabilia, photos, my trimmer and tape runner onto the family room floor and went to town on her album! 3rd grade and 4th grade, Complete! Check! 

 

A simple 4-page spread for each school year. Only one more year to go (she's currently in 5th grade...this is her last year of elementary school). Preschool through 5th grade fits perfectly into the Picfolio Album with a few pages to spare in the back for her 5th grade party/'graduation' photos.

 

Prepping for a Scrap Retreat

 

 

Lately I've been putting Post-it Notes on all the projects I want to bring with me to an upcoming Scrapbooking Retreat. It's important when you are invited to an entire weekend devoted to scrapbooking, that you come prepared. If you're not prepared with enough to scrap, you may find yourself huddled in the corner sipping Bailey's and devouring the plentiful bags of chocolates found at these retreats. Come to think of it, that doesn't sound so bad....

 

 

This morning I took a few minutes to create a master task list so I'll know what to pack:

 

Then feeling quite confident that I will finish the above list, I start to add my "Wish List" of projects that I would like to complete next:

 

 

Soon I have a huge list and start to feel overwhelmed. So I stop writing and let it go. My family truly enjoys our completed albums and so I know that for me it is worthwhile to write down these stories and get these photos into albums. Plus it's fun to hang out with my friends, eat chocolate and scrap! How about you? What's your 'plan of attack' when it comes to preparing for a Retreat? 

Free digital download Baby

Here are some cute digital freebies from Creative Memories. Baby Boy and Baby Girl Burst, Banner and Title. You can download them for free here. Enjoy!

Scrapbook Project Storage

Today was a scrappy day because several Power Sort Boxes arrived! Creative Memories no longer makes one of my Very Favorite Products so I had to search high and low and across the country. Several Consultants came through for me and now I have my wonderful black boxes in which to transform my overloaded 'to scrapbook' cupboard.

 

This is my "before" photo:

 

I purged a ton of memorabilia. Some of it was from my own childhood. Do I really need to keep the first sponge painting I ever did (age 3)...I don't think so.

 

Both my trash can and my recycling can are completely full!

 

This is my "after"...I still need a few more Power Sort Boxes. I may just have to put my feelers out for more. I like the uniformity of them and also that they safely store my photos, memorabilia, even scrapbook pages and everything I need for that album project. Easy to transport to a workshop as well!

 

Album Progress Update!

This weekend I took my piles of laid out photos (3 years worth) and mounted them into our Christmas album. I did this during family movie night.  I didn't do any journaling or decorating. Just trimmed the photos and mounted them into the album along with memorabilia. A huge bunch of it ended up in the recyling bin. 

 

 

 

Without journaling and embellishment, it looks rather plain but the important thing to me is that my photos are in the album and not in a pile somewhere. Now I am setting this album in my Workshop Tote. Next time I go to a Workshop, I will bring:
         

 this album

 pens

 embellishments (stickers, title stickers, paper for borders)

 scissors/trimmer

 adhesive 

 page protectors

It will be quick and easy to add the finishing touches. I like to save 'brainless' work for Workshops. Workshops can be distracting for me with the conversations and music. Workshops aren't a place I want to be making a lot of decisions (like...should I keep this photo? How can I get the maximum # of photos on this page? What year was this taken?). Workshops are a place where I can scribble a date and some names under the photos, add a cute sticker or border, and my favorite part - slip on the Page Protectors and call it DONE! 

How about you? How did your album progress go this week? A lot of you may have attended Celebrate! in your area (an at-large scrapbooking workshop). I try to avoid crowds during flu season...so I did not attend (I tend to avoid crowds in general). But I heard it was a ton of fun! I also heard it may be the last one. That is so sad. I can only imagine that some resourceful women will take charge and decide to continue the tradition by taking this back from CM. Hopefully so. But if not, keep scrapbooking! Don't save it just for once/year because you are going to a large event. Make it part of your monthly homemaking...being the family photo historian.
 

Creative Memories SALE Extended!

Wow! Creative Memories is extending their SALE on albums, refill pages and page protectors until 5pm CST, Jan. 22 (3pm PST, 6pm EST)!   They have been doing this the last several years in January and it is a great time to stock up on refills pages and coversets. Just wanted to pass this tidbit on to YOU!  You can find it here!  Happy Scrappin'!

Scrapbook progress update!

 

This week's update on my album progress:

Catching up on Christmas! It's time to tackle the pile monster!

This week I gathered my files of Christmas cards, photos, and memorabilia.

Then I spread out Power Layout Guides on my pool table (you can use regular pages or pieces of cardstock or cardboard if you don't have Power Layout Guides, which are sadly no longer available through Creative Memories). 

 

 

I do our Christmas album in an 8.5x11" size. I like to include our annual Christmas letter.

Side-loading sleeves work great for that and serve as a marker for me between each year (I'm doing 3 years worth of sorting today):

 

After the Christmas letter I add our family Christmas card/photo we sent that year

 

Then I start sorting the stuff in my file folders onto the appropriate pages. Usually I will group the photos together by Family, Friends, Church Friends, Neighbors/Community, etc.

 

 

At about this time I start to get overwhelmed and go hunt for some good dark chocolate...

 

It is really important to have a recycling bin nearby as more than half of the things I've "saved" end up in the recycling bin. (All part of my decluttering mission in 2013.)

 

 

At this point I don't bring out the decorative paper, stickers and embellishments. I don't even use the paper trimmer or scissors. It is just SORTING today.  Now that I have everything sorted into the order that I want to scrapbook, I pile each year up with the last "page" at the bottom, until I have all 3 years in piles of chronological order:

 

 

Finally I stack these 3 piles with the most recent year on the bottom, add Post-It labels with the year and I'm ready to store them away until Saturday when I do the next step: trimming and embellishing.

free digital download heart

It's Freebie Friday!! The day where Creative Memories gives away a free digital download! Don't you just love their generosity?  This week's download includes:

 

P.S. I Love You green paper

P.S. I Love You red paper

Heart Full of Love

Curly Border

 

 

Enjoy and Happy Scrappin'!

What can you scrap in 5 minutes?

Happy New Year!

 

Can you make album progress in 5 minutes?

Yes, you can. Just little baby steps will get you to your goal (completed albums).

 

Today I prepared a file for my 2013 Memorabilia.

I also prepared a file for my 2012 Christmas cards/photos/memorabilia that are going to go into my Christmas album, family album and/or December Daily album:

 

 

Only problem: there is no room in my two expandable file folders to put them in!!!

 

Sigh.

 

I did finally squeeze them in but it's just a reminder that I am going to keep my resolution this year to scrapbook twice/week until I get this done. And I am probably going to purge more than half of what I've saved in these files. Yes, I'm definitely going to purge more than half. So today is Wednesday and I scrapbooked for 5 minutes. Yay me. 

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