Month

July 2013

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Scrapbook Organization: Current Year Memorabilia for Project Life

When I sat down last weekend to scrapbook, I *thought* it was just to work on Project Life. Finally. Other than a week I skipped ahead to in June, my Project Life layouts are only done through mid-February.

By the way, it’s July. In case you were wondering.

Please don’t report me to the Project Life Police! If they ask, you have the right to remain silent and if you talk to the po-po, I’ll crop you. For reals.

I’ve been taking photos almost every day, keeping notes, and collecting memorabilia. I’m not worried about being “behind” with my Project Life. It’ll all get into an album eventually. I’m busy. What’s new? Not gonna’ beat myself up about it.

Needless to say, I was excited to finally have a few hours to devote to scrapping. But I got sidetracked. Of course.

I put the photos I was going to use into their slots. For the days I didn’t have photos, I figured I’d see if I had any memorabilia – ticket stubs, business cards, receipts, invitations, etc. Maybe a flyer to jog my memory or a Post-It with a cute quote from the kids.

And that’s where the train went off the rails.

My version of “organizing memorabilia” this year has consisted of tossing everything into a basket on my desk. It’s a very bad thing, Martha.

It was all in one place {an improvement over years past, I must say} but certainly not in order. I could’ve just plucked out the things from February but what fun would that be!?!?

I felt the call to ORGANIZE. Right then and there.

Hmmm . . . what to use? My first thought was file folders by month so I grabbed 12 from my office supply stash and started to label them. Then I remembered that I had 8.5 x 11 clear page protectors with a monthly calendar in each one that I printed for free from MISS TIINA. {Super cute, right?}

Originally I had planned to put them in my PL album as kind of dividers between the months. But when I tried it, I didn’t like it. So they were sitting in a basket on my desk just hangin’ out, loitering, cutting class, smoking, generally just being future felons. I decided to put them to work.

I filled each of the page protector/calendars up with all the loose bits of memorabilia from each month. It worked out really nicely and I feel so much better now. Phew. I can find stuff.

I was able to get that week of PL from February done, including a coffee cozy from my favorite latte’, a sticker from a dental appointment reminder card, and a funny quote from one of the kids.

I’ve tried many different methods of sorting memorabilia over the years – accordion files, manila envelopes, and stacking trays to name but a few – and never been happy. They were hard to access and see what’s inside, little bits fall to the bottom, things get dusty, etc.

But this one may be a winner. I’m thinking once I’m done pulling stuff out for the current month’s Project Life spreads, I’ll store the page protectors in 8.5 x 11 albums by year. I can access them again later for everyday, sports, school, or special events layouts. For all the bits that never get scrapped, just having those little memories of daily life could be fun to flip through in the future.

And now when I get another chance to work on my Project Life, say in May of 2014-ha, it’ll be a piece of cake. Mmmm, c-a-a-a-k-e.

Oh, um … yeah, I’m back!

How do you tame the memorabilia monster? I would love to hear about it!

Photos! Maggies Holmes Paper Pad @ Michaels

As I posted HERE, Michaels craft stores now has the name-brand Maggie Holmes for Crate Paper 12×12 tablet. I was sure that my Mike’s wouldn’t have it because they rarely have the cool stuff I hear people talking about. But they proved me wrong!

Honestly, even if I found it I wasn’t sure I was going to buy it. I’d never seen the Maggie Holmes line in person, had only seen it online. And although I liked/loved the designs, the shade of pink used in the collection was throwing me off. It looked like a very ‘cool’ shade of pink with a touch of flourescent so . . . um . . . yeah. Wasn’t sure it was going to be my thing.

And then I saw it in person.

IMG_2224

INSTA-LOVE <3 Yes, the pink is in fact a 'cool' pink. But that's okay. It actually looks great with the other colors and adds a fresh touch. Here are some photos I took. Sorry, the lighting is off and I'm not sure how well you're seeing the true colors. I took them with my iPhone first thing this morning near a window. Who knew that would produce such weird results? Anyway . . . here's a glance at all the papers: IMG_2225

IMG_2227

IMG_2226

It’s probably hard to tell from the photos, but there is VELLUM! For the following patterns:

Pink doily
Turquoise bokeh
Navy polka dots
Multi-color flowers
Handwriting
Cloudy sky

I think I found a typo on the cover. At the very bottom in tiny-tiny type, it says “6 in x 6 in”. How funny! Should that make my SCRAPBOOK TYPOS and ERRORS list even though it’s on the packaging not the product?

There are 2 each of 24 designs, either 2 papers or a paper/vellum for each pattern. The papers are a cardstock weight . . . very nice! Even the vellum is very thick. The papers are single-sided and use both white and cream for backgrounds. When I bought this on Monday 07-08, it rang up on sale . . . $11.99 instead of $19.99, no coupon necessary.

Oh, also in the first photo, you can see I got some other things at Mike’s. They had the Iris 12×12 storage cases on sale for $3 each which is an amazing price. They’re usually about $8. I got 2 but wish I would’ve gotten more. I got clear ones but they also came in pink and light green. I’m slowly switching the storage on my scrapbook room shelves from open bins to these Iris cases. It gets very dusty here and I like how the cases protect my goods :) I also love that they’re clear so you can see what project or kit is inside, even though I usually label them anyway {anal much?}

I also got the little bottle of acrylic paint for 22 cents on Clearance. It’s my favorite color these days, sort of a deep robin’s egg blue. Pretty!

So I hope you enjoyed the Maggie Holmes paper photos. Even though they aren’t the greatest quality, I’m hoping they’ll give you a good enough idea as to what this paper pad looks like . . . and whether you can save yourself a trip to Michaels – or whether you need to run someone over to get there faster!

What’s it gonna’ be, sista?

CHA Sneak Peeks – Summer 2013

This is one of my favorite times of year: CHA Sneak Peek season! Right now in July 2013, we’re getting sneak peeks of all the new lines to be debuted at CHA-Summer 2013. It’s called “Create and Connect” and will be held in Las Vegas from July 22-25, 2013. The excitement builds, LOL!

I have a Page here on Scrapbook Obsession Blog that you may not have noticed before so I wanted to invite you to check it out: CHA SNEAK PEEKS {you can find it in the bar under the blog header}.

I just checked out the links to make sure they all work. I had to delete one – The Scrap Review – because they don’t seem to be a very active site anymore :(
ETA 07-09-13: Woot woot! The Scrap Review is back in the game! I’ve added them back to my CHA Sneak Peeks page. Thanks so much to Susan for the news!

I’ve also added some more links where you can find CHA sneak peek goodness. So please check out my CHA SNEAK PEEKS page!

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Okay, now that you’ve checked out all the peeks, what lines are you loving? Not feeling? Not sure about yet?

As of today, here are a few of my favorites:

Cosmo Cricket “Creative Girl”

Little Yellow Bicycle “Vintage Summer” {although it reminds me a lot of Simple Stories “Summer Fresh” which I own tons of, lol}

Echo Park “Photo Freedom Volume 2” which looks like a great everyday Project Life line. Love the navy blue with the bright colors.

Would love to hear your impressions of all the Summer 2013 sneaks so far :) What are your favorites? Anything *not* blowing your dress up?

Project Life: New Items by Becky Higgins for Summer 2013

You can see all the new stuff RIGHT HERE* in a .pdf catalog.
ETA 07-09-13: Well, sugar!! The link I had no longer works so I removed it. I’m hearing that the new PL stuff wasn’t supposed to be released yet. When it actually IS released, someone please remind me to come back and post it again. Becky says sneaks will be release on her blog “soon.”
ETA again 07-09-13: Thanks to the Peas, I found THIS LINK to a Google doc of the catalog. I think you need to be signed in to a Google account to see it (?). I will paste the images in below and hope they don’t disappear as well ;)

My thoughts:

Elsie and Emma “Sunshine” Core Kit: Waaaayyyy too bright and crazy for my tastes but with Elsie involved, I’m sure it will find its following.

Celeste Knight “Heritage” Core Kit: Great colors and patterns for older photos and what better way to finally get all those heritage photos scrapped!

Dear Lizzy “Polka Dot Party” Mini Kit: Usually love her stuff but not sure about this one . . . need to see more.

Amy Tangerine “Cut and Paste” Mini Kit: Great colors and looks good from what little is shown.

Maggie Holmes “Flea Market” Mini Kit: I might have to buy the kit just for that card with the layered hearts. I {heart} hearts!

The albums are all cute but I don’t “do” cloth albums.

Great variety of page protectors and pockets … more the merrier, bring ’em on!

Date stamp and corner rounder are nice additions but not sure I can justify them given I have some date stamps and a corner rounder already.

Love the lined and ledger cards as an alternative to the existing graph cards.

Want the gray arrows, alphas, and label stickers; not a fan of the beige.

They aren’t currently listed as of this writing (07-08-13) but when released, you should be able to see the entire kits in a digital version HERE on the AC Digitals site. I don’t usually buy the digital PL kits but it’s nice to be able to see all the cards to decide if you like it or not.

What are your thoughts on the new Summer 2013 Project Life items by Becky Higgins?

Michaels has Crate Paper/Maggie Holmes Paper Pad

Here’s an image provided by an awesome Pea, ALISON:

Usually it seems that brand name paper pads that show up at Mike’s are rebranded as “Recollections.” But not this time! It actually has the brand name shown. There is also VELLUM included in this paper pad.

I haven’t seen it myself but I believe it’s the same as (or similar to) THIS paper pad on the Crate Paper site, where I can’t find the vellum that’s supposed to be in this pad. {HERE is the entire Maggie Holmes line}.

Sightings have been at different spots around the store: bottom shelf with the paper pads, end cap with some Thickers, in a paper display near the flowers, etc. So if you REALLY want this, make sure you look high and low for it!

Need inspiration to use up this line? CHECK IT OUT. Now grab your coupon and get over there!

Scrapbook Message Board: Club CK {Creating Keepsakes} Closes Effective 06-15-13 :(

One of the things I try to do with this blog is make note of milestones that happen in our industry … and I missed a big one. So I’m going to post about it now, a few weeks late (sorry).

On 05-17-13, the many loyal members of Club CK were treated to this message from Creating Keepsakes:

Club CK Forum Participants,

We at Creating Keepsakes are grateful for the readers that are part of Club CK; for the creativity you share, the enthusiasm you have for the hobby, and your dedication to preserving your memories and improving the craft. As we move our focus towards online initiatives, we are evaluating all aspects of our business.

In looking at Club CK and the areas it offers our readers we feel the focus should be on creativity and idea sharing, which is evident by the number of layouts shared daily in the galleries. To make better use of our resources and provide the best online and print offerings we can, we are opting to discontinue the forum portion of Club CK as of June 15, 2013.

In this digital age, the internet is full of forums, many have existed for years and have fully developed communities and we hope that you will find one that meets your needs. Below are a few that we think would be a great place to start your search for an online forum:

Two Peas in a Bucket
Splitcoaststampers.com
Scrapbook.com
ScrapJazz

We are excited about the future and the media options we are planning for you, our readers. We look forward to seeing you around the Creating Keepsakes community.

Stacy Croninger

Digital Managing Editor

This post generated (to date) a heartbreaking 17-page thread of disbelief, confusion, gratitude, suggestions, and most of all sadness :( For as long as the link works, HERE is where you can see it.

I’m writing this post on 07-07-13 and the board is still online. There are occasional posts but it seems most members have moved on to other scrapbook message boards. There’s a board called “scrappin-peeps” that was created and will be hosted by former Club CK members. You can join HERE.

Club CK was not the first message board from Creating Keepsakes. The original board, which I joined back in the early 2000’s, was called CKMB (guess what that stood for? lol). I was very active on there, met a lot of wonderful online friends, and have such good memories. I’m still in touch with several of the ladies I met there.

Then there was another CK board called Scrap and Paper-something (?) but I’m not going to find it or link it because people have had problems there (being able to see other members’accounts, I think). But it also ‘closed’ and apparently only the gallery remains.

Then Club CK came along. If I remember right, it was part of the plan for scrapbookers to pay a monthly fee to be part of the Club, have access to a special board, and exclusive content. (Am I remembering that right? Someone correct me if I’m not). I never paid for anything but continued to post at Club CK although the magic was kinda’ gone for me after being put through 2 board switches. And by that time I’d become much more active on Two Peas as well.

So as we shut the door on Club CK, here were my stats: Joined 02-04-10 and had 112 posts.

Forum Statistics
61,706 users have contributed to 367,089 threads and 716,398 posts (as of 07-07-13 at 5pm PST).

All this sadness may seems strange but unless you’ve been an active member of a scrapbooking board for a long time, maybe it’s hard to understand. I think many avid scrapbookers don’t have people IRL who will put up with us talking about it 24/7, look at pages with praise, share shopping deals, celebrate our victories in life and hug us through the sad times, discuss books, current events, or whatever – all with a happy, positive attitude and genuine care. That’s what CKMB and Club CK were to me and I hope you were able to be part of that, too.

We’ll miss you, Club CK …

PS: I would love to hear from you about your experience at CKMB and Club CK. Feel free to mourn, celebrate, complain about the closure … whatever is in your heart. Please know that I get it and totally sympathize :(

Online Scrapbook Class: Ali Edwards “Hello Story” Starting 07-08-13!

As a big fan of online scrapbooking classes {hey, I don’t even have to get out of my pajamas!} …


*Image from weheartit.com

… I wanted to make sure that you know about a very exciting class that’s about to start at Big Picture Classes. It’s part of the “4 Experts” series at BPC in 2013.

This one is by mega-popular scrapbooker and Project Life guru Ali Edwards. It goes from July 8 – September 29, 2013 {3 months!}:

In her new 12-week workshop, “Hello Story”, Ali Edwards will introduce you to 12 storytelling techniques—never-before-seen in her prior journaling workshops—that will bring creativity and clarity to both your writing and your page designs. Every week, you get to sit over Ali’s shoulder and watch her transform her story ideas into timeless, authentic, story-rich scrapbook pages.

Through dozens of in-depth videos that cover storytelling and design ideas as well as 36+ exclusive layout examples from Ali (12″ x 12″ and 8 1/2″ x 11″ layouts, plus Project Life inserts), Hello Story will inspire you to take action and give you the tools you need to tell your own stories with confidence.

Hello Story includes:

– Inspiring weekly videos from Ali
– Colorful instructional handouts with step-by-step instructions for each lesson/project
– Printable digital elements in PNG and PDF formats that relate to the weekly storytelling technique
– Freebies valued at $19.49! Immediately upon registering, you’ll receive instant access to Ali’s Storyology downloadable class – 50 printable journaling cards (great for traditional, digital, and Project Life scrapbooking). Details below.
– Supply list with live links to product resources—each weekly handout will include a list of supplies used on the example pages
– Welcome notes from Ali in the classroom
– Class syllabus and pre-class welcome video
– Reminder emails when the classroom is updated with new materials
– Message board to share your thoughts with your classmates
– Private posting gallery to share your work and view the work of your classmates
– An interactive video chat with Ali
– Email access to Ali

Hello Story with Ali Edwards
12 weeks of creative storytelling techniques with Ali Edwards
Class dates: 7/8/2013-9/29/2013
Class price: $99

WOW.

Sounds like a blast, right? And I think the $99 price tag sounds totally worth it. If you break it down, that’s only $8/week. And if you subtract out the almost $20 value of the freebies and journaling cards, it’s even less per week.

Class is about to start so get on over to BPC and get signed up, sista’! Class starts on Monday, July 8, 2013.

If you’d like to sign up or just want some more information {including videos by Ali Edwards and Stacy Julian themselves}, just click on this ->
Hello Story link :)

Man. Watching Ali talk about the class was one thing. Then to hear Stacy and have her show some teaser clips – don’t watch if you don’t want to get sucked into taking this class, LOL! Check out the layout she does with the stars. Super lovely!

500 sq

What do you think of Ali’s class? Sound like a good one? Too expensive or is the price justified? Have you taken BPC classes before? I’d love to hear your thoughts and whether you are signing up for Hello Story with Ali Edwards.

Blog Reader: How to Follow “Scrapbook Obsession Blog”

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Now that Google Reader is gone (effective 07-01-13), I’m getting new followers through Bloglovin’ and I’m blog-lovin’ it! As I visited there today to follow some new blogs myself, I realized that I joined Bloglovin’ back when my web address was:

https://scrapbookobsession.wordpress.com

I’ve since migrated over to my own self-hosted WordPress blog at:

www.scrapbookobsessionblog.com

So if you’re following me at the first address, I would love you to “un-follow” that address and follow the new one {just click the link in the first line of this entry}. Then I can delete my OLD address from Bloglovin’ and be all current-like with just the NEW one.

Mmm, kay? Thanks Blogluvahs!

PS: If you don’t want to mess with a blog reader like Bloglovin’, instead you get an e-mail in your in-box every time I make a post. Just enter your e-mail address to subscribe to e-mails in the right sidebar ->

Guest Post: I’m on the “Scrapbook Q&A” Blog Today!

Last month, I was contacted by a very nice blogger named Mary.

{Check out her ABOUT page; she and I are kindred spirits fo’ sho’}

She was starting a new series on her blog – SCRAPBOOK Q&A – called “Blogger Q&A”. Well, I’m a blogger and I like my Q’s and A’s so I was a natural for this, lol.

So ‘my’ post is up today. I hope you’ll go check it out RIGHT HERE!

And while you’re there, give the whole blog a stroll through. Mary is doing a great job posting scrapbook-related questions, sharing her own thoughts, and inviting your answers for some interesting discussions. She accompanies her posts with great photos and layouts. I think you’ll really enjoy “Scrapbook Q&A”.

And please leave Comments on the Scrapbook Obsession post, would ya’? I want her to think I’m really popular ;)

Peace out.

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