A Year of Memory Keeping

Soooo, I have this love of scrapbooking, but unfortunately at this point I'm about 3+ years behind and have thousands of pictures still on my computer that need to be scrapped. But the problem I have is that my memory just doesn't work the way it used to and when I do get around to scrapping different events, I've LONG ago forgotten the fun things we did or comments that were said, etc. For that reason, I never really save things like concert tickets because by the time I would catch up to scrapping that event I would have lost the concert ticket a looooong time ago.

But just this past weekend my hubby and I went to a fun concert and as I went to throw out my ticket I hesitated ... I thought it would still be fun to hang on to those sort of things and make them into a memory but not necessarily a scrapbook.

I also saw these cool 'Smash' books at AC Moore a couple weeks ago and suddenly my idea was born!

I'm going to make a memory book for the year and just throw simple, easy things in it at random. Like if we take the kids to the zoo we'll stick our admission tickets in there, or a park map, or movie tickets, or concert tickets ... or any silly memories or thoughts that come to mind, OR for those events that I forget to take photos of - I could simply jot a quick page down about what a fun day it was ... or, put our race numbers from the 5k races we're planning to run this year ... just a whole big, mix-mash of items and memories, thrown quickly and simply into a book. No fancy scrapbook papers or tools needed, no extensive planning - I just add things as we go through the year ...

So here is the Smash book, I was thinking about getting one but then I remembered a web page that I saved MANY months ago with these super cool, super cute journals so I found the link again and went to check them out.





Here is the website if you'd like to check them out ...
Aren't they fun?! I have sold a couple items on my etsy shop and had a little bit of money in my paypal account, so I bought this journal and only had to pay a couple bucks out of pocket for the shipping.

They have several designs but I decided on this one because it's all about me and my life. I also like the one about 'where we live' and might consider buying that one in the future.

When you buy the journal it comes with ALL of these cool papers ... some lined, some patterned, some little envelopes for tucking in little treasures ... just a whole bunch of FUN, FUN stuff!

I really can't wait until it comes in the mail! I can't wait to get started on this and hope that since January just ended I can easily catch up and remember the fun things we did in January before I get too far behind!

How do you keep track of fun, family memories?

CKC!

A couple weekends ago I went to my first Creating Keepsakes Convention. It was so much fun! I can't wait to go again! We took classes about different scrapbooking techniques, shopped to our hearts galore, had LOTS of yummy Starbucks lattes, stayed in the gorgeous Marriott hotel, went out for awesome Mexican food one night and just had a really great time!

I went with two alumni from the Bible college I attended. One was Carol (aka Mrs. Potato Head or MPH) and the other was Susie (aka Shoesie). I had met Carol last summer, but it was my first time meeting Susie, she came all the way from Washington state to go to CKC with us! Wow!

Here are some photos of our fun weekend ....

Vendor fair ... a scrapbookers paradise!!!!!
This was my favorite!!! I texted the photo to Bob but I don't think he thought it was all that funny! (I was a good little girl and stuck to my budget!)
Marriott Hotel (we were on the 12th floor)

Can you tell how giddy with excitement I am? This was just as we sat down at our first class ...

um hum, I love me some pumpkin spice lattes ...
Back at my house ... the girls stayed overnight, then attended church with us the next morning before heading for home ... we are each holding up our nicknames (Shoesie, KitKat and Mrs. Potato Head)
What a blessing to share this experience with these wonderful sisters in Christ!

Story Teller's Club

OK, by now you've had the chance to check out my recent scrapbook layouts on the previous post. Well all except the first one were made by products from a company called Story Teller's club. Now, before I go any further I just want to say that this is going to start to sound like an infomercial, and for that I apologize ... but I get nothing for telling you about this company - I'm just really super excited about it and want to share the news!

So I saw the ST booth at the CKC (Creating Keepsakes Convention) that I went to this weekend in Hartford. I loved their layouts and the colors they use ... in fact my friend Carol said "that looks like a total Kathy layout!" BUT I found out that they were a monthly club and said no way, I'm not joining a club!

THEN I took a class that was put together by the ST company. The class was AMAZING! I loved it, I loved the products and I was totally hooked. The class was called "Who says Easy needs to look Easy?" That totally embraces what they're all about ... their layouts are gorgeous and everything matches and co-ordinates, and it's SO easy and simple but the finished pages look so gorgeous that people think you've spent hours working on them! (Those 4 I showed below took less than an hour.)

After the class (and asking TONS of questions about the details) I did end up signing up for the club. What happens is every month they send you a new kit which includes papers and beautiful punch outs (like stickers but without the adhesive) that will help you complete 4 layouts ... actually being the cheapskate that I am I KNOW I can stretch those products to make TWICE as many layouts!

This company also impressed me because you're completely in control of your shipments ... example: if you get behind or just don't think you need a shipment this month - you can put your account on HOLD for up to 3 months! Still behind after the 3 months is up? Put in on hold again! You can also cancel the club at any time - there is no minimum and you have no commitment to them.

PLUS, this is a biggie ... if they send you a piece of paper that you don't like - say for October they send something spooky and Halloweenish and you just know there is NO way you will ever use it ... you SEND IT BACK and they will let you choose something else to replace it! This applies to everything they send you ... and you don't have to send the whole kit back, just whatever you don't like! You are in total control.

Now, this is the part I love the most. I love cute little fancy embellishments ... ribbons, brads, metals, etc ... but they are expensive and they are so time consuming!! So here I have zoomed in on a couple of the pages from below ... notice that these pages APPEAR to have all sorts of fancy extras like ribbon, string, flowers, brads, buttons, multiple layers of papers .... well guess what? They don't! That is the way the punch outs are printed! They look all fancy and all you have to do is punch them out, add adhesive to the back and stick it on the paper! I love it!


So yes I did sign up for the club ... and because I did that I'm going to be a good little girl and try to not buy other scrapbook supplies because I know I'll have a shipment coming each month from ST club ... and really, it's not very expensive. It's very reasonable. And I won't post the details here simply because I don't like to talk finances unless I need to ... but if you really have a serious interest in it let me know and I'd be glad to tell you more - like I said before, there's nothing in it for me - I'm just in love with the products!

My thought is that this could help me get caught up! I'm still 2 years behind with my scrap booking and would someday like to get caught up - so with these quick and simple layouts I'm hoping I can do that. AND for signing up I got 7 FREE page kits ... plus I got 4 page kits in class and 2 in a giveaway ... so I came home with 13 page kits just to get me started!! (without spending a dime yet!)

Anyway, enough of my rambling, enough of my cheesy infomercial voice ... the next post you see from me will be plain ol' Kathy again ... =D

Look what I've been up to!

Scrapbooking! Yay ... one of my favorite addictions! Last weekend I went to the Creating Keepsakes Convention here in my area with two very special ladies. We had so much fun going to classes and SHOPPING for lots of amazing scrapbook stuff. I will post those pictures soon, as well as talk about my new favorite scrappin' company in another post ... but for now enjoy some pages that I've been working on.

Scrapbook pages

A few people have asked to see what I've been working on lately. Well, I can't say I've done much lately, but I am trying to work on my Florida album from our trip back in March. And NO, I'm not that caught up, just felt like skipping ahead to something that was fresh in my mind!

I have been trying to finish the pictures from this trip for over a month now ... and still have a ways to go ... but here are a few pages to start with.




When Stacey took these photos at Sea World she said "I bet these will be some of our favorite pictures" ... and I agree! I love the way the pages turned out and the way the kids are all mesmerized by watching the Shamu show!
I just wanted to add this last page to make a quick illustration. So many times I hear people say they aren't creative, or can't scrapbook as well as someone else. Well I think that's just crazy talk! This page is SO simple ... it's 4 pictures (not even cropped!) stuck on a piece of patterned paper, with a few small dots stuck on at the end. But it still looks good, right?

There have been times when I have browsed the Scrapbook magazines and thought "wow, I really have to go all out with the embellishments in order to make my pages look THAT good!" I have often thought that mine pages didn't look as great as the ones in the magazines because they weren't as elaborate. You know the ones, the pages that have only ONE picture on them, but a thousand other details all around the picture?? Well guess what ... I have WAY too many pictures and FAR too little time to bother with all of that! Sometimes I do try to fancy the pages up a little. And yes I still love those embellishments. But I am on a mission this year to get caught up ... so you will be seeing LOTS more of my simple pages in the future.

"It doesn't have to be perfect to be beautiful." ~~The Nester

Do ya think I like to Scrap?

I just realized that I rarely ever post about scrapbooking, even though it is truly one of my passions in life. And no I don't have any fancy pages to show you today ... rather a small picture of my addiction!

Recently we removed the carpet from our living room, so in the process I had to move the bookshelf, and everything on it. I stacked all my scrapbooks in my room and realized that all together they were almost as tall as me!
Next on my addiction tour is this awesome little find, straight outta the 70's! I'm sure many of our Moms had one of these when we were growing up! It's an olive green, plastic, double decker lazy susan. wow that was a mouthful! I found it at the Goodwill for under 2 bucks and I think all my little embellishments just look adorable on it! don't you?
And finally, just to show that although I love memories and preserving them I refuse to be called a pack rat -- here is a stack of 3 years worth of scrapbook magazines -- that I just got rid of! For some odd reason I always thought I should keep them, just in case I ever needed a new idea. But I finally got smart and decided to pass them on to some friends. (I did however tear out a few pages that I thought I'd like to use in the future.)


Speaking of scrapbooking, I think I'll do some tonight! It's rainy and cold, Bob is at work, the girls would love to watch a movie tonight - it's perfect!! See ya later!