K.I.S.S. especially when it comes to the holidays!

Christmas is literally right around the corner. It's a good time of year to follow the "Keep It Simple (Stupid)" principle. I find it's about this time when I start to wrap gifts and realize my gifts are missing a label. I like to make sure the right person gets the right gift from under the tree but for some reason I always forget about this small detail until the last minute. My solution? Gift tags! Simple, right?

Christmas tags for your gifts are so easy to make and I highly recommend that if your'e short on time and won't be able to get/make a Christmas card a gift tag is a great substitute. Being a perfectionist sometimes I have to remind myself that it's okay! The recipient of my gift will not miss the card if I put as much care and attention into the gift and the tag. And I can write the same sentiments as I would int he card. Plus, it takes me less time to design a gift tag and I get more bang for my buck because it's so affordable. Gift tags don't use much paper or supplies at all!

I was going to post some pictures of gift tags I'm using this year and then I saw some gift tags on Jeanette Lynton's (the founder of Close To My Heart) blog. Her talents far exceed mine so I'll show you some of hers. Aren't they great?!

Now that I think about it, next year I might even offer a class on gift tags. Why not?

Grace & Elegance Scrapbook Class

This weekend I offered a scrapbook workshop with the Close To My Heart paper pack called Grace and Elegance. The workshops are such a great way to finish a two page layout in about two hours. Plus the guide that comes with the kit includes instructions on how to do two additional pages and three cards with all the leftover supplies! If you're looking for a way to save money on scrapbooking, this kit for the scrapbook workshop is a great deal. Here is the layout we finished by the end of the class. I can't wait to add this to my scrapbook album.


It's an affordable way to scrapbook because you can decide how much you want to spend. For this workshop you can buy the "basic" workshop kit for $37.50 (plus taxes and shipping) and you get:
Grace Level 2 Paper Packet ($15.95)
My Acrylix® Beautiful Flourish ($17.50)
Rustic Edge Anchors™ ($7.50)
Workshop Guide ($1.25)

Plus you can add extra accessories to complete the layout and you'll have lots of leftovers for other projects. Close To My Heart calls this the "best" option which adds on to the "basic" option. For the Grace & Elegance workshop the "best" items were:

Z1247 Crystal Blue Waxy Flax ($4.95)
Z1206 Basic Craft Buttons ($9.95)

I can't wait to do more of these workshops with more people. It's such a fast way to get scrapbooking layouts done!

Back to School
This weekend I went back to school with the Vancouver School Board. I taught a Scrapbooking 101 class at Eric Hamber Secondary on Saturday from 10am to 3pm.

There were 6 students in the class and they were all great. So keen and full of questions. I had a great time with them.

I was a little nervous about what I should put in the class and how long it would take to complete the class. It's so hard to predict how much time people will need to finish the tasks but I wanted to balance that with giving them as much of the basics as I could.

The goal of the class was to learn as many scrapbooking techniques as possible and walk away with a small scrapbook that could document the learnings of the class. Here are a few pictures of what we completed, all in a day!


The scallop effect on the purple piece was a breeze for this class. I was so proud of them! It's such a great trick to make a double use out of the corner rounder. The key when putting this page together is adhere all the pieces first and apply the black ribbon last.

This page is a little more "girly" for those who like pink. The left page base cardstock is black and the right page is white. There are a few neat stamping techniques on this page. The top left corner of the left page is a "rock and roll" technique. The little green flowers are two shades of green. It looks so great! The bottom left corner of the left page and the top right banner is three different inks that makes the flowers pop. I love the colours together. It's hard to see in this picture but the bottom right pink of the left page has a "second generation" effect with stamping. I put the four black boxes on the right page to show where the pictures would go. It was perfect to fit six spots for six students in the class!


The animals on this page were such a hit! It was a great way to learn how you can add colour to your stamps by colouring them in with watercolour pencils and a watercolour brush. I had to include a picture of them up close. They are such cute animals!




The left side of this two page spread is a simple one to put together with the red piece on the white base first then the blue, then the white photo mat and the dark blue with red ribbon on last. The right side is a little more complex only because of the three white pieces at the bottom that get fed through the blue hemp. You'll want to take the hemp, feed the white pieces through and then tie the hemp around the dark blue banner at the bottom. After you've tied the hemp, you can use adhesive to attach the white pieces to the blue banner. Then you can attach the banner to the red cardstock and continue attaching the remaining pieces.


And finally the last page that is very simple with a fun corner turned on the top left of the orange piece.

It was a full day but I think it's safe to say that it was fun for all!

Help! I need to organize my photos!

A friend of mine recently asked me for help. She really wants to organize her photos but feels overwhelmed. I have felt the same thing and at times still do. I thought I would share my response to her with you.

I think the key question is how do you want to organize your photos and why? How do you organize them on Flickr? By albums? Have you dated those albums? I completely understand your feeling of being overwhelmed. If it helps, what I have done is put all my electronic photos into folders by date followed by event. For example, "2009_08_28 Golden Ears Camping". So when I look at my folders of photos, I see them chronologically and I can also see the event so if I don't remember the exact date, I can still find it by what it was. Also, don’t forget to back up your photos. I have them on an external hard drive and on CDs.

My hard copy photos are half organized. From the moment I started printing photos (since I was about 18 years old) I put them chronologically in photo albums (not scrapbooked). However, I would also like to start going back to my childhood and organizing my photos because they are all over the place. It's a daunting task. Don't be discouraged! I've read several tips and such on how to go through it. The best is probably from Stacy Julian. She has a book called Photo Freedom and it's written for scrapbookers but there are lots of great tips of how to organize your photos. [I’ve talked about her on my blog before.]

If you’re thinking about how to organize your photos to scrapbook them, I highly recommend you buy the book because I couldn’t do it justice. I'll summarize the part on what to do with hard copy photos for you here.

First of all, take a deep breath before digging in.

Step 1: Gather all your photos and put them in one space.

Step 2: Sort your boxes, envelopes, bags, etc by decade. Just work with your photos as a group, not individually (not yet anyway).

Step 3: Start with one decade and sort by year. Move the boxes and envelopes around to organize by year.

You’re doing great! Keep it up!

Step 4: Focus on one year and start looking at individual prints. To make it easier, just sort them into four seasons, don’t worry too much about being exact.

Step 5: Put your photos into some type of storage. Stacey Julian uses storage binders and will put multiple photos in a photo pocket. Just remember don’t use the magnetic albums, those are so bad for your photos!

Let me know how you do!

Thank you

Here's another little something for your viewing pleasure. I'm creating thank you cards. I scraplifted this design from Hero Arts sketch. I have tried sketches for my scrapbook layouts, but I haven't followed it with the same gusto for my cards. I find it harder to picture what the card could look like from a sketch, but for some reason, I can do it with a scrapbook page. Call me strange.

Here is the sketch from Hero Arts.

It wasn't until I saw this example card below that I was able to visualize how to do the card myself.

I have a stack of paper that I got a super good deal on, something like 200 sheets for $20. Some of the paper is really pretty but it's not a strong card stock so I don't use it as a background for my scrapbook pages. It's best suited, imo, for cards and accents like matting. The pattern on the top part of the Hero Arts card reminded me of this stack of paper I have just waiting to be used. Plus, I got a stamp set this year with that cute little design around the "holiday cheer" stamp. I could visualize this card, no problem! So I dug up my supplies, and....

This is what I came up with! What do you think?

It always feels good to use up some materials you already have. A friend recently asked me how I can afford to scrapbook because everything is so expensive, but it's really dependent on you and how you scrapbook. Using up this stack of paper I got over a year ago for such a good price is a great way to save some dough. I figure it fits my needs for what I'm making and it's better than going out and buying new paper.

See my archive blog post on November 5, 2008 about determining what type of scrapbooker you are. It can make a huge difference on how much you spend.

Hello old friend

Long time no see! Life has been totally crazy lately to say the least. After all this time you deserve to see something from me!

Here's a birthday card I did recently with one of my favourite paper packs from Close To My Heart. It's the Magic Moments series. Love it!

Cut, Cut, Cut...Are You Cutting Back?

It's so sad to see so many stores around us closing! Clipper Street in Richmond has closed, Clipper Street in Coquitlam is closing and now Making Memories in Vancouver is closing! (Clipper Street will still be open in Langley, and Making Memories in Burnaby is staying open).
 
I am guessing the recession has something to do with it. I certainly have seen an impact on my Close To My Heart sales in 2009. I attributed it to the economy. I know others have felt the same pinch as well. 
 
What about you? Have your scrapbooking habits changed in 2009? Are you scrapbooking more or less? Are you buying more or less supplies?

Top 10 Activities for National Scrapbooking Day

Today is National Scrapbooking Day. Here are a few ideas of things you could do to celebrate:

1. Attend a crop or have a scrapbooking party with your friends! Make it a theme day/night. Here are some examples to get your ideas going: Chocolate party, Girl’s night out, Poker Night, Sports Night, Sleepover.

Then everything you do should be centered around the theme. For the chocolate theme, you could wear brown, serve chocolate covered strawberries and even give little prizes (from the dollar store) to anyone who uses the chocolate colour in their project!

2. Try something new. Is there something you have wanted to try but never got around to it? Now is the perfect opportunity!

Here's a list of things, that seem simple or everyday to some, but others have never tried: buttons, ribbon, brads, embossing, stamping, distressing, chipboard, liquid applique, stitching/sewing, colouring/doodling, cutting pictures, gems/jewels, journaling, painting.

3. Scrap on your own. Printing photos, collecting memorabilia counts too. If you’re not sure where to start, write the possibilities on a piece of paper and pull one out of a hat and start with whatever it says. This is a variation of Stacy Jillian’s popsicle stick idea.

4. Get organized. Usually we feel our most productive and creative when we have an organized space to work in. Spend a little time organizing your space so you can be inspired – even if that means cleaning off the kitchen table!

For some inspiration, unclutterer blog is a great place to look for some organization ideas. Ali Edward’s craft space was posted on the unclutterer.

5. Learn a new technique. Take a class with your local scrapbook consultant or at your local store. If you don’t want to attend a class, you can surf online and find blogs or scrapbooking sites to pick up a thing or two.

6. Submit your best layouts or cards to magazines.

7. Sign up for a new email newsletter list. This will be the gift that keeps on giving. You’ll get regular updates to inspire you.

8. Scraplift! Find some layouts or cards that inspire you either from websites or books or magazines.

9. Go shopping! Treat yourself to a new product or new tools you’ve been holding off getting.

10. Find a newbie. Do you have a non-scrapping friend? Why not introduce them to this fabulous hobby. Let them try out your supplies. They will probably say they don’t think they are creative enough or they don’t have the time, but just remind them they can make this whatever they want it to be. They can try it once and never do it again, or they can make this a small or large part of their life. They have complete freedom to choose.

The Top 10 Activities were inspired by Teila King Turko. Thanks Teila!

Happy Nation Scrapbooking Day to you all!

Close To My Heart Calgary Regional Convention 2009

Today was such a full day! This morning we had a great opening from Jeanette Lynton, the founder of Close To My Heart. Her passion for this business just radiates from her. Plus she’s so approachable! She said she didn’t want anyone coming up and introducing themselves by wanting to shake their hand with her. She wants a big ol’ hug! Too cute!

Anyhoo, after Jeanette we got a lot of great business advice from various members of the staff and there were different sessions available based on what we signed up for. The afternoon arrived and that meant play time for us! WOO HOO!

We made a card and 2-two page layouts. Here I am working away with a few other BC consultants.

One of the really cool tricks I learned by doing this layout is called masking. It’s amazing. You’re going to love this. Masking is when you want to only use part of a stamp. What you do is stamp the full image on a post-it note then cut out the part you want. Got that? I’ll say it again, cut out the part you want.

In this example below I want “fishing” from the stamp “hooked on fishing” from the Campin’ Fever Stamp Set (D1353 for $28.50 CDN). Using my micro-scissors I cut out fishing. Next, I put the post-it note on my page, lining up the space for “fishing” where I want it to be. With my acrylix stamps from Close To My Heart, it’s so easy to then stamp again over the image because I can line up the “hooked on” part so that with the hole I cut out only the “fishing” shows up exactly where I want it. Isn’t that neat-o??

The second great find from this workshop was the Dimensional Elements In Color – Adventure (Z1158 for only $5.50 CDN). It is a steal of a deal! Seriously, don’t tell Close To My Heart what a deal it is, I’m sure the price is a misprint. You get 11 items of chipboard with outdoor related sayings. It’s great for camping or fishing or adventure embellishments on your layouts. The wheels say things all sorts of different things. One says the months of the year and you can spin the dial to show one month. Another says: treasure, search, explore, learn, discover, celebrate.

Here’s the layout we did with the Dimensional Elements In Color – Adventure. It’s a little hard to see in this picture. I took a close up of the piece we used and the rest of the pack is below.

Okay, now enough talking and on to more pictures. Here are some of the samples they showed us. I love some of these items!

Timberline Ranch

This past weekend I went to Timberline Ranch for a scrapbooking weekend put on by Get Creative Scrapbooking. Diane always does an amazing job. She is so organized and such a creative individual. She was working on her trip to Disneyland and needed to fit A LOT of photos from the parade but she didn’t know how to get them all in one layout until she remembered the Close To My Heart Folios.

The folio is a 12” by 12” file folder that fits in memory protectors. You can slip memorabilia inside or use it as a flip page for more scrapbooking space – like Diane did. She put the folded side of the folder along the top of her album and slipped one side of the folder in her page protector then when she flips it up, she has another 2 sides of 12" by 12" space to work with. This is definitely a great way to fit many more pictures is one layout. Good job Diane!

As for myself…what did I get done? I was pretty surprised actually. I didn’t have as much preparation time to organize my photos and supplies to pack for the retreat but I brought what I had and got so much done! I was able to finish some layouts I had created some time ago, and I started some pages from scratch and finished them. I tried to take some photos of what I did but it didn’t come out too well. The lighting at this hour isn’t great! I’ll try again and post some other time. Come back soon!

One of the projects I didn’t finish (or start) is my last trip to San Francisco. I’m not sure how I want to scrapbook that. It was the batch of photos I pulled out a few times over the weekend and would look at for a while, then put them away because I just wasn’t sure what to do. I’d work on something else, come back to it and put it away again. I’ll get around to it eventually! In the meantime, there are many other things I can work on!

Yee-Haw! Calgary Here I Come!

It’s official, next month I’m heading out to Calgary, Alberta to attend the Close To My Heart regional celebrations. What does that mean for you? Probably more exciting ideas about scrapbooking after I return!

I’ll be there with Jeanette Lynton, the founder of Close To My Heart. I’m looking forward to hearing her speak.

All participants of the regional celebrations will be doing create and take projects, business classes and get a chance to meet other consultants. I’m really looking forward to seeing a sneak peek of the upcoming designs as well as learning more about what I can offer my customers.

I’ve seen some photos of past regional celebrations and have always wanted to go but it’s always been too far for me to go. Now that it’s in Calgary, that’s only a hop-skip-and-jump away from Vancouver so I couldn’t miss it!

Stay tuned to my blog and I’ll be sure to post photos once I return!!

Hip-Hip-Hooray For Hatzic!

What's all the fuss about? I'm so excited to be returning to the Scrapping Away Crop at Hatzic from March 27-29th. I went last year, met lots of great women and had a blast teaching some fun make and takes with Close To My Heart products. I did a special card with a glitter flower which the ladies seem to really like. 

I'm working on some exciting new projects for this year. I'll be sure to post a sample of what we're going to make together a little later. In the meantime, check out some of the great products I'll be selling at the crop. I'll be bringing paper packs of the Close To My Heart white core paper in a variety of colours as well as an assortment of level 2 paper packs (10 cardstock sheets and 12 background and textured paper). 

Also, I'll have the Magic Moments Kit available for sale. It's one of my favourite products. It has everything you need to create a complete album - one two-page layout for every month of the year! It also comes with images of layout options to make it super fast and easy for you to put your layouts together in no time! 

The kit includes: 

24 - 12" X 12" preprinted layout pages

2 - 12" X 12" Colonial White cardstock sheets

8 - 6" X 12" My Stickease adhesive sheets

12 - 12" X 12" Memory Protectores

24" - 3/8" Cocoa grosgrain ribbon

50 Cocoa brads

I'm sure the ladies at Hatzic will be excited about this kit! 

Scrapbooking 101

I am proud to announce that the Vancouver School Board is offering a scrapbooking 101 class, taught by yours truly :)

Here's the class description:

Walk through the many stages of scrapbooking, from cutting & matting to adhering & arranging. Learn the creative process (including photo choice, layout, colour selection & storytelling). Techniques: sanding, tearing, stamping, creative use of ribbons, brads & eyelets will be explored. You will complete a scrapbook. Bring your camera to class, along with $25 for all supplies and a few basic tools you can take home. Registration deadline April 24.

Here are the details:

Date: Saturday, May 9, 2009
Time: 10am to 3pm
Course ID: HA05495
Cost: $69.00 + supplies

Register through Vancouver School Board
Call: (604) 713-4550
To register online, scroll to "Scrapbooking 101" (last entry) from here.

I'm really excited about the class. I enjoy teaching and I love meeting new people. Sometimes I think people who don't have much experience with scrapbooking build it up to be a big complicated process. Really, it goes back to something I've talked about before which is the hobby can be as little or as much as you want it to be. If you want to spend a lot of time scrapbooking, you can. If you don't, then don't. The point is to enjoy the hobby not to make it stressful!

My goal for the Scrapbooking 101 class is to make "newbies" feel comfortable enough with the craft that they can make it a simple hobby or an all-encompassing one, whatever suits their needs. Each student will walk away with a scrapbook that includes a page for each of the techniques covered in class. I figured this would be a good keepsake as a reminder of what the techniques are. It took me a while to find the right topics to cover in class because there's just so much I want to teach and there's just so little time! Now that I've got it figured out, I can't wait to get in the class room!

How the Economy is Affecting Scrapbooking

Normally I like to blog about things that are upbeat and inspiring but this post is a bit more somber. Simple Scrapbooks magazine is going out of business. The May/June issue will be their last one. Here's Angie Lucas, Managing Editor, with the last edition that goes on sale in March.

It's clear advertisers are cutting back and the magazine just couldn't keep going. But they will be folded into their other magazine Creating Keepsakes. I guess it's tough times for the magazine industry. 

It makes me wonder how the rest of the scrapbooking industry is being impacted by the economy. I have noticed a significant decline in sales from my Close To My Heart customers so I wonder if they are either:

a) not thinking about scrapbooking right now or 

b) not spending money on scrapbooking

It definitely creates an air of uncertainty for consumers and suppliers alike. But at the end of the day, I still believe it's important to scrapbook and treasure those memories we are creating. It wouldn't surprise me as people scale back their expenses they start to see what's really important in life. And it's those precious moments that should be captured in a scrapbook. 

TAG!
I've been tagged. Go to your folder of photos, pick the 6th folder and the 6th picture in that folder and post it. Tell the story of the photo.

This is my "almost AFTER" craft space photo. Take a look at my "BEFORE" photo below.

Can you believe I used to fit all my craft stuff in that one traveling bag? It was great because I didn't have to worry to much when packing for a crop. Now, things are a little different. I've got a whole bookshelf to store my craft supplies and I'm sure I'll fill it in no time. 

Your turn. Go to the 6th folder and the 6th photo and tell the story.

Want a $20 Shopping Spree?

Two Peas In a Bucket is doing something pretty neat. If you upload 20 projects to the member gallery, they will give you $20 to spend in their store.

If you haven't heard of Two Peas In a Bucket, they were founded in 1999, and are a very well respected community for scrapbooking enthusiasts around the world. They were named top internet retailer by Creating Keepsakes Readers' Choice Awards and they are number one in site traffic by the Scrapbooking Top 50. They've been around so long that they have Ali Edwards' first posts of her layouts. Click here to see her first post to Two Peas In a Bucket in 2002. How cool is that?

There are a few conditions like you have to put tags on your uploaded projects and include a descriptive paragraph among a few other details...if you ask me that's not a lot of work to earn a $20 shopping spree.

Make sure you upload 20 projects to the gallery by Saturday, January 31st, 2009 to receive your coupon.

If you're interested in more details click here to visit the Two Peas In a Bucket website.