Last night, my kids and I were sitting in the living room and I said to them, ‘I never want to live in a vegetative state, dependent on some machine and fluids from a bottle. If that ever happens, just pull the plug.’
They got up, unplugged the computer, and threw out my wine.
A fellow blogger posted this question over on the 2peas message board (thread is HERE). I thought I’d share my answer, well, on my blog! Here is what my answer was:
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I started my scrapbook blog over 3 years ago because I am truly obsessed with scrapbooking and I wanted someone to “talk to” who would understand. I have IRL friends who scrapbook but I only see them at crops every few months, and we talk about scrapbooking for hours while we scrap. But I got tired of holding all my good info for crops, LOL! DH calls it “crap-booking,” so you can see I get no support at home, lol …
So I started my blog as a place where I could write down all the thoughts I was having on the industry (which was much more hoppin’ and not quite so depressing at the time). I also wanted to share the deals I found, talk about SB events I went to, what was going on at my LSS’s (used to have 7, now have none), drool over new products, tell scrappers what TV shows and movies featured scrapping, etc.
About a year ago, I started incorporating my thoughts and experiences about being a scrapbook consultant, in the hopes that I can save others from making any mistakes I did, share what’s been successful for me, and again … drool over all the new products Also, I’m often asked questions about becoming a consultant and it’s nice to have one place I can refer people to for information.
Due to the economy, I’ve had to work a lot more hours and I don’t get to blog as much as I used to, and I REALLY REALLY miss it. I so enjoy the comments people leave … even just looking at my blog stats and seeing that people do read what I’m sharing. It makes me feel really good inside. I truly enjoy the exchanges I have there about scrapbooking and I think I’ll keep doing my blog forevah!
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So, why do YOU blog?
CHECK THIS OUT!SCRAPBOOK UPDATE did a review of Simple Stories and they’re giving away a free kit. Just leave a comment ***ON THE SCRAPBOOK UPDATE SITE*** by midnight PST on May 31, 2010. Good luck!
Basic Grey recently announced they will have some mid-releases due out in June 2010. As a big BG fan, I was excited to hear this and even more excited when I took a peek and fell in love with these two new lines … let’s start with some pretty good teasers …
And here are links to the entire OLIVER and OLIVIA lines on the Basic Grey website ~ yahoo! {To get a closer look at each item, hover over it with your pointer and the photo will enlarge}.
As you can see, each line has a TON of items in it, including some new kinds of embellishments like Cozy Posies, Decorative Clips, Gummies, and my personal favorites, CANVAS TAGS and PIECES.
I’ll admit I’m not totally crazy about the little animal guys, and would probably only use them on baby pages, but there are so many papers and embellishments that don’t contain them, I’m sure these collections will be joining my own personal collection :)
And as if Oliver and Olivia weren’t enough summer excitement, Basic Grey is also going to add elements to their BASICS line in June 2010! Talk about a hot seller! I notice that Memory Works has already sold out of some of this line (although the owner assures us the stock will be replenished soon). I also noticed on the Basic Grey website that a lot of the current Basics items show “out of stock.” Hmmm … just letting you know so when the new Basics items come out in June, don’t hesitate or you might not be able to get any right away.
To get the whole scoop, read Kelly Goree’s blog HERE. Please go and see the gorgeous layouts she’s already making with “Oliver” and “Olivia.”
Go HERE to see what the Peas have to say, and if you’re a member of Scrapbook Sisters Studio, you can see our chat about it HERE.
On the MEMORY WORKS consultant message board, I posted my excitement over all the new BG goods and the owner confirmed that we WILL be carrying all of these new Basic Grey items. Made my day, it did. So when June rolls around and you decide you need this new Basic Grey, give me a HOLLAH!
What do you think of Oliver, Olivia, and the new Basics items? Is it a “hit” or a “miss” for Basic Grey this time around?
Available May 11, 2010, there’s a new special issue by Creating Keepsakes called “Fast and Fresh Scrapbooks”.
HERE is where you can buy it online, and get a sneak peek inside. HERE is a free shipping code offer that ends MAY 16, 2010. You can also go to Lisa Bearnson’s BLOG and enter a comment to win a free copy (do this by THURSDAY, May 13, 2010). She also has a shipping code to get 20% OFF (must use by May 31, 2010)!
I took the peek inside and I spy some work by one of my favorite scrappers, ELIZABETH KARTCHNER. Did you know she’s pregnant with BEBE #3? And in other happy news, so is EMILIE! She told her family in the most FUN WAY. Congrats to both of these beautiful moms. It would be totally typical of me to say something like, “Yeah! More scrapbooking material!” so I totally won’t say that. I don’t like to be typical :)
Anyway … back to my original topic: The new CK special issue. If you get it, you MUST come back and give us a review. I’m sure I’ll be buying it as soon as I see it in the store. Yeah, I can’t seem to resist even though I have every scrapbooking magazine and idea book known to man. “Wait, you say that like it’s a BAD thing?” {I could have worse vices …}
On May 1st, I had some CONTESTS on my blog for prizes. I picked the winners Monday morning (with the gracious help of RANDOM.ORG) and notified them by e-mail. I heard back from all the winners so without further adieu, here are the lucky girlz:
Contest #1 – Scavenger Hunt
Winner: Karen!
She won her choice of a Simple Stories LIFE DOCUMENTED KIT or a package of 25 pocket page protectors by WE R MEMORY KEEPERS; she went with the page protectors. Great choice. They are so flexible, easy to work with, and can make for some quick projects :)
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Contest #2 – Your Favorite Products
Winner: Julie!
She won up to $25 worth of scrapbooking products from my Memory Works WEBSITE! Here is what she chose:
Girls Paperie: Theme Set – On Holiday $7
Pink Paislee: Theme Set – 365 Degrees $5.50
BasicGrey: Theme Set – Basics Kraft $5.50
I have the PP “365 Degrees” theme set and the BG “Basics Kraft” theme set, and know she’s going to love them. I’ve been wanting the Girls Paperie “On Holiday,” so Julie, you’ll have to let me know how you like it when your goodies come in the mail.
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Contest #3 – Inspire Us
Winner: Gloria!
She had her choice of any scrapbooking or card sketches book from SCRAPBOOK GENERATION. Gloria chose “Sketches for Scrapbooking, Volume 5.” Good choice … you can’t go wrong with these books.
Here are the 4 entries received for the Inspire Us contest and what supplies they used that are also sold byMEMORY WORKS.
A sweet layout with some really cute kids by ERICA. She used Jenni Bowlin BUTTERFLIES.
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A gorgeous layout by JULIE (winner of game #3!), using QUEEN BEE papers from Pink Paislee and a great sketch from the MY LITTLE SKETCH BOOK blog.
I’m going to be at an all day scrapbook crop on Saturday, from 9am to midnight. Yippie Kie Yay! Just wanted to let you know in case you came here looking for NSD winners. I’ll post them Sunday or Monday and contact the winners. Busy, busy weekend and I didn’t want to leave you hanging. Thanks for understanding.
Happy Mother’s Day to all you scrappin’ muthas out there! Hope you get to do something you really enjoy :)
I hope you had a wonderful National Scrapbooking Day! I know a lot of you made a weekend of it, which is awesome. If you haven’t already, please go HERE and play my NSD games. There are 3 games with 3 nice prizes. You can enter all 3, and you have until this Friday at midnight PST! Go play now, then come back and read about Michaels. This post ain’t going anywhere :)
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In THIS POST from last week, I showed some photos that my friend had taken at HER Michaels. Well, I have since been to MY Michaels and have more photos to share. I was surprised to find that some of the changes to products and the way they’re displayed have actually reached my Mike’s.
Here are the spinny racks that I was so sure I would never see at my store. But there they were!
Personally, I don’t care for the Recollections paper line on this side ….
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… but both of these lines are very pretty. I especially love that 2nd paper on the left with the Eiffel Tower.
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So now to the whole “sorting by theme” thing. My Michaels has had two of these sections for a while now: Baby and Travel. Here is the Baby section; it’s in the same place as before but it looked like they had added some new things.
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Obviously, here is the Travel section. More on this later …
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These were new: “Fresh Glitter” and “Fresh Flocking” by STUDIO G. That’s the same company who makes the MIKE’s $1 STAMPS. These monochromatic packs are only $1 each, too. I’m not a huge glitter fan but I would like to try flock one of these days. I wonder if this stuff is good quality.
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These plastic storage items were new, at least to my store.
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As you can see, we’re still in transition, LOL! This will be the rack of new Jolee’s that I posted a pic of in that last entry I linked to.
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Now that I’ve seen them closer, I can’t say as I like them a huge lot. For instance, these are super glittery which is not my fave.
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There were also some new alphas including these puffy and glittery alphas by ATD. I really like the size, font, and colors of these letters. At $4.99, they qualify for future coupon usage, lol.
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More on themes … Sorry the photos are blurry but I noticed that all the military, police, and fire embellies had been gathered here, regardless of manufacturer.
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Same thing with Family stuff. Yes, we already had a few sections of family-related items before, but now ANYTHING that has to do with family is in one spot.
They had also divided everything else up into themes, like Christmas, Halloween, Fall, Sports, etc. I still don’t think I like it. For one thing, with all the different size and style of packages in one place, it looks messy. Also, it’s going to be hard to find when they’ve added something new and it’ll be impossible to search by manufacturer. Two of my favorite sections before were where they put all of the SOFT SPOKEN and the K&Co. embellishments. Now those will be all parceled out and displayed by theme instead. Again, how are we to tell if something new is added? That’s going to be a big ol’ PITA.
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All of these 12×12 open stock papers were new to me.
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Isn’t that white lace doily paper pretty?
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Finally, just wanted to share these new Recollections for Kids stickers. I’m sure kids will love them. They are bright, colorful, and fun!
Love the pear, the lollipop, and the gum ball machine.
Don’t forget … go play my NSD games! Now, before you forget, LOL :)
I’m so glad we have a special day just for us, aren’t you? LOL I hope you’re turning this into National Scrapbook WEEKEND and having a blast gettin’ your craft on!
Thank you for stopping by. In celebration of this wonderful day, I’d like to invite you to play 2 games and enter a contest for some pretty nice prizes.
Now, I’ll admit that a set of 3 “somethings” that a vendor was going to send me ~ and I was going to RAK to you as prizes today ~ did not arrive as yet. But I’ve happily supplied some other prizes and we’ll just have to have another special giveaway day later, won’t we??? It’s a win/win for you, my sweet scrap buddy :)
So here we go … And please note these are open to US players only (rules at very bottom) …
GAME #1: SCAVENGER HUNT
1. Go to the SIMPLE STORIES ONLINE CATALOG (this is a .pdf that may take a bit to load).
a. Page 1 (after the title page) – If your party has $250-299 in total sales, how much does the Hostess get in free product?
b. Page 9 – How much do the We R Memory Keepers 12×12 D-Ring Linen Albums cost?
2. Go to the Memory Works SPRING 2010 CATALOG, Basic Essentials (again, it’s a .pdf file) and answer these questions:
a. What is the first product you see?
b. Page 46 – What is your favorite color of Stickles on this page? (There is no wrong answer, as long as the color you like is shown on this page)
c. Page 50 – How much does a Glue Glider Pro cost?
3. Go to MY MEMORY WORKS WEBSITE, and click on Shop Our Products:
a. Click Clearance Sale, then American Crafts. Two types of AC items are on Clearance … Thickers and ___________?
b. Click on New Art Tools and Metal Stamps. What is the brand name sold in this section?
c. Click on Fancy Pants. What color is the “My Family” alphabet?
d. Click on New Cardstock. Memory Works used to carry Prism cardstock. They now carry which brand?
E-mail your answers to scrapbookobsession(at)gmail(dot)com by the deadline down below. Each entry that is 100% correct will be entered to win …. (drumroll please!) …
Your choice of a Simple Stories “LIFE DOCUMENTED” KIT ($16.99 value) or We R Memory Keepers PAGE PROTECTORS, 25-pack of 4×6 horizontal ($11.50 value)!!!
GAME #2: YOUR FAVORITE PRODUCTS
This game is SOOOOOO easy … and fun! Just go browse around MY MEMORY WORKS WEBSITE. Click on Shop Our Products and then click on each brand or category as you wish. Then come back and tell me in Comments (by the deadline below) what you would buy if you had $25 to spend @ Memory Works. The retail value MUST be $25.00 or less total. You know why? Because the prize for the lucky winner is … $25 worth* of Memory Works products! And I want you to receive exactly what you want. Just think of me as The Scrapbook Fairy … I want nothing but scrap happiness for you :)
*Retail value, not counting tax or shipping and handling (total prize worth upwards of $35!)
Please choose items that are in stock right now. If the item(s) you’ve chosen become unavailable by the time I place the order, I’ll contact the winner to negotiate another selection they are happy with :)
“INSPIRE US” CONTEST
Make a layout or card using ANY product shown on my MEMORY WORKS WEBSITE. Seriously, anything. There are tons and tons of products shown. Find a sheet of paper, a flower, a Stickles color, or use a tool that Memory Works currently sells and you happen to have in your stash. If you don’t have any products in your stash that qualify, use a product that’s similar and explain what you did (“I used black Thickers that are similar to the puffy ones that Memory Works carries.”)
Post your layout or card on your blog, to your Flicker, your Facebook, whatever. Then come here and leave a link in Comments. If you have nowhere to post it, e-mail it to me and I’ll post it on my blog; my e-mail: scrapbookobsession(at)gmail(dot)com. All entries posted by the deadline below will be placed in a drawing for the prize of … a SKETCHES FOR SCRAPBOOKING or CARDMAKING book by SCRAPBOOK GENERATION ~ your choice! That’s a $12.99 value, my friend … {If for some crazy reason, you don’t want one of these fabulous sketch books, we can chat and I’ll send you something of equal value from Memory Works, K?}
I reserve the right to show off ALL entries on my blog. I hope you will inspire us!
PLEASE NOTE: For all games and contests, the deadline to enter is ****Friday, May 7 at 12 midnight PST****. One entry PER GAME per person (you can enter all 3). Open to scrappers with a United States mailing address only. If you win, you’ll need to provide a mailing address to me via e-mail. If you don’t leave a way to contact you, I will not enter you in the drawing(s).
When you leave entries via Comments, make sure it links back to you or I won’t be able to contact you if you win! If you don’t have a blog or website to link, e-mail me, K?