Month

June 2011

Showing: 1 - 14 of 14 Articles

“It’s the Scrapbooks’ Fault!”

One day, I had a day off from work but DH was working, so I was responsible for getting one of our kids to a sports practice at 4:30. The kids and I got busy cleaning house that afternoon but I had been watching the clock and, meh, I still had plenty of time.

I decided to do a deep clean of the bookshelves in our living room that happen to hold my scrapbooks, along with books, photos, etc. I started at the top, took each item off the shelf, dusted it, dusted the shelf, and replaced everything. Then I cleaned the next shelf and the next until I got to the bottom row where there are about 20 scrapbooks.

At first, I was just going to do the usual dusting procedure but then I decided to look at “just one,” the album of our beach week in 2003. {Remember that awesome sunset? And the whale that got stranded on the beach?}. Which led to “just” the album with all the Christmas cards we’ve received since about 2004. {Wow, look how much their kids have changed! Wasn’t this an awesome Christmas letter?}. And then “just” the mini-album of a pumpkin patch trip, the 2009 family albums, the one I made for DH on his birthday one year, …

… then I panicked, looked at the clock … and it was 5 minutes before we were supposed to leave for practice and NO ONE was ready. EEK! So we scrambled getting ready and tripped our way out the door. Phew! Made it to practice only 1 minute late.

All I have to say is, “Hey, it wasn’t my fault. Blame it on the scrapbooks.”

A Family History Blog … {Sigh} … Someday …

LORELLE ON WORDPRESS is basically, for me, “The Goddess of All That is WordPress.” I’ve been reading her blog for ages and, as a long-time blogger-slash-computer dork who has learned relatively little in my 4 years of blogging, I “follow” her and read her words (most of which go over my ever-lovin’ head) with amazement and deference.

To sum it up, this is how I feel about Lorelle:

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-FucbvoFFy0]

Well, just like that except picture Lorelle as Alice Cooper and me as Wayne and Garth.

ANYWAAAAYS. THIS was Lorelle’s blog entry today. As if she couldn’t get any more perfect-er than being a WordPress Guru Blogger, she is also a Family History Blogger. We scrappers LUV us some family history, don’t we?

And not only is she a Family History Blogger, but she made it into her local paper … and to top it off, on her blogs she tells US how to start and run a family history blog. All the links you need are right HERE.

Do you SEE why I’m not worthy?!?!?

Honestly, until I saw this article, it had never occurred to me to start a family history blog. But what an awesome idea, right?

My maternal grandmother was a geneologist … like back in the day, where you had to travel to LIBRARIES and look at MICRO FICHE and make DITTO COPIES of things. I mean, my Gramma ROCKED it. She was hardcore. She even went to Europe to research her family. Then I have an aunt on my dad’s side who compiled a bunch of family history, documents, and photos into a large bound book. A cousin and my mom have been using ANCESTRY.COM to do geneology research in recent years.

I’ve gone on that site a few times and found copies of things like a census from when my granddad was little and that was super cool but other than that, I get totally lost and overwhelmed at all the clicks and links and documents and searches. I feel like Alice down the rabbit hole. I need to spend more time there to figure it all out, although at this point, I’d probably just be duplicating what my other family members have already found.

Anyhow, it just seems to me that a family history blog would be a cool place to bring all these disparate elements together into one place. Srsly, check out Lorelle’s articles on how to do a family history blog … it’s SO cool! You can scan documents in, tag entries by family name, have authors who are “dead or alive,” post photos, share information and stories, etc.

Honestly, it got this little scrapbooker all kindsa jacked up! {Dork}.

The good news is: I’m TOTALLY adding this to my Bucket List for Life. I so want to do a family history blog.

The bad news is: Not only is my plate full right now, but I got a stack of plates that are all full. So this won’t happen anytime soon. Maybe when I retire (gulp). Or hit the lotto. Or become so famous for blogging that I can quit my day jobs. Uh, yeahhh, right!

But the GREAT news is that when I’m ready ~ or you are ~ Lorelle has laid out the process for us so we can do this cool thing she has done. She’s just a share-y person like that.

Mad props, Lorelle, mad props.

New at Michaels: Laptop Stickers, Cellphone Bling, and Wall Stickers by MAMBI

I found these at MICHAELS the other day and snatched up a few things. But first, here’s the scoop: Me and My Big Ideas now has removable stickers that you can put on your laptop, cellphone, even your walls.

Laptop Stickers, Cell Phone Bling, and Wall Stickers

I bought the cute black letters with my 40% off coupon for my kids’ bedroom walls; also these laptop stickers. I’m gonna’ have to work the designs around the pretty apple on my laptop lid … but that’s fine :)

Here are pics of the endcap at Michaels that had the MAMBI stickers …

I’m not putting them on my computer yet … because I saw some on their website that I actually like better. I’m going to check my other Michaels and see if I can find them. If not, no big whoop … I’ll just use the ones I have.

Have these made it to your Michaels yet? Do you like them? Get some?

Memory Works: Can U Say CLEARANCE SALE?!?!

At least two times a year when all the new things from CHA are coming in, we get TONS of things moved into the Memory Works clearance section. CHECK IT OUT!

Pink Paislee
My Little Shoebox
American Crafts
Fancy Pants
Echo Park
Basic Grey
Fiskars punches
My Minds Eye
Cosmo Cricket
Bo Bunny
Creative Imaginations (including Star Wars stuff)
Petaloo
GCD
Xyron
WRMK
Ranger
7 Gypsies

We even have some of the GIRLS PAPERIE stuff that will no longer be made … once it’s gone, it’s gone.

If you want, you could save that link in your Favorites and check back all the time. Always some great deals to be had. Please let me know if you have any questions … leave a Comment below or e-mail me: scrapbookobsession(at)gmail(dot)com.

Big Lots: Soft Spoken, Acrylic Stamps, and More …

Here are the things that were new to my Big Lots store last week:

Believe it or not, these are the only items that left the store with me :) … Soft Spoken stickers by MAMBI. I think these are SO pretty and I love the color combination. Only $1.50 each, too.

This one’s my favorite because of that gorgeous red butterfly.

It was really hard to pass up all those amazing acrylic stamps but, as I’ve confessed before, I have a bit of an addiction to stamps … so I had to pass on those. I can’t stop thinking about those damask ones, though. (Yeah, it’s a sickness).

What scrapbooking stuff have you found at Big Lots lately?

Storage for Cricut Cartridges and Tools

Do you need some cool storage for your Cricut cartridges?

It’s official name is “Art Bin Super Satchel Electronic Cartridge Storage” … but we’re going to call it “Art Bin Cricut Storage” for short, LOL. It retails for $19.99 and the dimensions are 9.825 X 11 X 2.25″. It holds up to 16 cartridges along with booklets and tools.

On the ART BIN website, THIS ITEM shows as “temporarily out of stock.” However, it has been spotted recently at stores like AC MOORE, JOANN’s, BEVERLY’s, and various online sources.

If you have a ton of cartidges, you could get a bunch of these satchels and stack them in SUPER SATCHEL CUBE?

I first came across this awesome Cricut storage at a Beverly’s craft store a couple weeks ago. Right when I saw it, I knew I had to have it! I’ve never really had a good storage option for my Cricut stuff and, though I don’t have much by some standards, it still would be nice to have it all in one place. Beverly’s had it for $19.99 and I used a 40% off coupon … can’t complain about that price.

Here’s a look at my very own Art Bin Cricut Storage:

I like that it’s so easy to take to crops. I only have 9 cartridges but now I have an excuse for my collection to grow, LOL! The books I have fit nicely although I do still need to tear out the non-English pages to save some room … and make room for more booklets. The satchel is very good quality, as Art Bin products are known for, and I’m very happy with it.

What do you think?

Copic Markers Now at Michaels

Pssst! Word on the street (and by that I mean “scrapbook message boards”) is that MICHAELS now carries the ever-so-popular COPIC markers!

While you can apparently get them for a cheaper price at some online stores, at Michaels you can (at least at this point) use a 40% coupon not to mention the instant gratification. Plus you don’t have that pesky shipping charge. {I notice they have some Copic tips on their website HERE}.

I don’t know nuthin’ about Copics myself. I’m not a cardmaker (oh, the cards I’ve attempted are just dreadful … you should see them … a crime against humanity, I tell ya’).

I’m just a scrapper. Who tries to avoid getting hooked on new things like Copics which anyone can plainly see are a slippery slope of wanting more and more in every color then needing a place to store them and a book to record all your colors and … PHEW! Before you know it, they’ve taken over your life and Copics are all you can think about. Mmmmm … pretty colors …

“Not that there’s anything wrong with that.”

It’s just something I’ve purposely tried to avoid. See, the thing is, okay, well, erm … confession time:

My name is Erika and I’ve been addicted to Stickles.
My name is Erika and I’ve been addicted to acrylic stamps.
My name is Erika and I’ve been addicted to paper stacks.

My name is Erika and I *AM* addicted to Basic Grey …
… and October Afternoon
… and Simple Stories
… and THICKERS {Lordy, lordy, Thickers, why can’t I QUIT ya’???}

So. I am trying to be older and wiser here with the Copics. I’m trying to be all Maya Angelou and say, “When you know better, you do better.” Well, I know I have Scrap-Addictive Personality Disorder so the last thing I need to do is latch on to another new thang like these here Copics.

But for the rest of ya’alls?? Pssst … word on the street is that Michaels now sells Copics … ;)

Does Your Scrapbook Space … Have to Share Space?

If so, you might find the latest episode at PAPERCLIPPING.COM interesting.

It’s called, “Non-Crappy Shared Scrap Spaces” and the panel members are Lisa Dickinson, CD Muckosky, Nancy Nally, and Noell Hyman. I haven’t had a chance to listen yet but will soon. I’d love to hear what you think of it.

My scrapbook area shares space with my home office and a kids’ craft/homework area. It is a challenge to make it all work. Sometimes I get so frustrated that I have to “share” (hmmph!) but most of the time I just feel blessed that I have a dedicated scrapbook space … because I know that many scrappers don’t.

Anyhow, give it a listen and tell me what you think. Did you glean anything helpful from the discussion?

Making Memories Grab Bag at Michaels

I was at Mike’s today with my 40% off coupon in hand, roaming the aisles for something I really “needed” to spend it on. I finally settled on a 12×12 pre-done scrapbook page and frame. It had the perfect colors for my scrap room, soft blues and greens, a touch of pink. I could slip a family photo in the blank spot, add a bit of journaling, and have a nice little addition to my wall. The frames are by Recollections and go for $19.99.

I also grabbed some of the 8.5×11 white cardstock because I’m almost out; it’s on sale at Mike’s this week 4 for $10 (it’s normally $4 per pack). They had other colors and also combinations of colors, but I just need white :)

Anyhow, right in front of the registers was a bin with MAKING MEMORIES “grab bags” … HOLLAH! Well, wait, here was my actual reaction to seeing these:

Hollah!

I love Making Memories!

Wow, great deal.

Oh. Wait. I need more MM like I need more patterned paper. {Which is to say … I don’t}.

Crap on a stick.

But but but … how does one pass up a dealio like this?

Srsly?

Set. The Making Memories pack. Down. Okay, good. Now walk away.

But but but!!

(Sigh).

Alright, go ahead and get the stupid MM then. You know it’s an amazing deal. You really have no choice. Enjoy.

So I did. What exactly was in the packs did vary so I took a few minutes to see which one had the most items I would use. And items that I didn’t already have, hee :) I found a good one, put the Recollections frame back where it came from, and bought the MM pack with the 40% off coupon.

Not only did I get $50 worth of product for $19.99 (as the front of the package says), I got $50 worth of stuff for about $12. I’ll add some photos as soon as my computer cooperates, but in the meantime here are the items I got for 12 buckaroons:

{All images are from the Making Memories website ~ THANKS MM!}

These letters but in light blue …

Both of these are chipboard 12″ border strips, super cute …

Similar to these mini letters but in red glitter ….

There were also 13 chipboard clocks but I can’t find them online anywhere so no photo … :(

I found the GLITTER BLING STICKERS on their site, but not the three shapes I got: black fleur de lis, smiley face, and lightening bolt. I also got a pack of old-school Wire Words that are not on their site at all.

14 items for 12 bucks … swoon!

And as if I didn’t already feel pretty damn good about myself, now I’m doing the right thing and telling YOU about it.

I mean, c’mon, people, it just doesn’t get much better than that … am I right? You KNOW I’m right.

My advice to you is this: If you want to feel really good about yourself right now, you’ll march down to MICHAELS with your coupon and get one of these Making Memories grab bags … and then tell a friend. You will SO be doing the right thing ;-)

“Creative Spaces with Megan Hoppener” ~ Creating Keepsakes Special Issue

This came out recently but I haven’t been able to find it on my local newstands :( Have you seen it anywhere? I only have Walmart, Target, and Michaels. I ended up ordering it from THE CK WEBSITE. I had a free shipping code but it’s since expired … maybe search and see if you can find another one?

The Peas are talking about “Creative Spaces” HERE (including a Pea whose room is IN the magazine!).

I happen to really disagree with the negative opinions of it posted HERE. I’m finding it to be very inspirational and, as MARTHA STEWART would say, “aspirational.” I’m different from some of the posters in that thread because I *don’t* want to see scrapbook spaces of “everyday” scrappers that are a hodge podge of furniture and organizational bins. I can look in my own non-designer space if I want to see that, LOL!

When I plunk down $15 for a glossy magazine, I want to see all the fancy schmancy scrap digs I’ll never be able to afford. Kinda the same theory of Architectural Digest showing amazing homes you’ll nevah, evah be able to afford, or Vogue with its clothes you can’t afford worn by women (um, teenagers?) who weigh as much as your pinky finger. It’s all about the eye candy, baby! And, yeah, maybe you’ll pick up tips here and there that you can incorporate into your own life.

As it happens, I am finding MANY scrapbook organization ideas in this magazine that I can incorporate into my space. Whenever I get a few minutes of quiet time, I sit down with this amazing issue and take my time with the articles and photos. I think it’s very well organized with great pictures and ideas.

Have you seen this issue? If so, what did you think of it? As always, diverse opinions are welcomed :)

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