Sunday, December 30, 2012

Why I Scrapbook

As 2012 is coming to an end, I've been reflecting on my year and my hopes and goals for the new year. I've thought about how I spend my time, what is important to me and what brings me and my loved ones joy.  This might seem silly to some, but scrapbooking is such an important part of who I am.

For as long as I can remember, I have enjoyed making little books, writing in a journal, and putting photos in an album. I love looking back at special memories and reminiscing with my family and friends.  I truly believe some of my strongest childhood memories are those that are documented with photos.  I honestly feel like it's my "job" to create scrapbooks for my boys and leave a legacy for them to pass along to their loved ones.

I love seeing my boys look through our family photo albums - seeing how they played when they were little, remembering their first trip to see Mickey, their funny Halloween costumes year after year, the first time they got stitches, baking with their great grandma......  And it's not just the photos, it's the journaling that goes along with them.  It means so much to me to remember the cute little things my kids say, their teachers' names, where they went on their field trip, their best friend in Kindergarten....  I could go on and on.

Scrapbooking can also be therapeutic.  It's not just documenting the good times but helping me get through the not-so-good times.  It's a wonderful creative outlet that just makes me happy.  It's a girls' weekend scrapbooking with friends.  And it's teaching a class where I get to share this amazing hobby with others.

My scrapbooking style has evolved over the years.  From the Hello Kitty journals when I was young, to the albums and paint pens when I was in high school, to the paper die cuts and decorative scissors, to detailed layouts and to my latest obsession of digital designs.

If you want a new hobby for 2013, obviously I will recommend scrapbooking.  I love to see others discover how much fun it can be!

Where to begin:

  1. Start small.  Don't think you have to begin scrapbooking the birth of your now-15 year old daughter.  It will completely overwhelm you!  Start with a recent vacation, your child's current school year, a Christmas album, your son's baseball season, etc.  Once you complete your first project, you'll get a better idea of how you want to scrapbook -   chronological, themes, seasons, etc.
  2. Organize your photos.  This part can be time consuming if you're like me, and have thousands of photos on your computer!  But, this is such an important step! It can save you so much time and frustration later if you do it ahead of time and then keep up with it!  My hubby bought me an expensive photo program when I got my new laptop.  But, I don't even use it - shhhhh.  My favorite program to use is Picasa.  I use this program to organize and edit my photos.  And, it's free! (Thanks to my Dad for telling me about this!)  I upload my photos by the date they were taken.  Later, I'll create folders for certain things like my boys' sports and school.  I also create a folder each year titled "Best of 2012", etc.  I will copy favorite photos throughout the year and place in that folder.  This REALLY comes in handy at the end of the year, when I'm making photo gifts - cards, photobooks and calendars.
  3. Traditional vs. Digital.  Decide if you want to try traditional (paper) scrapbooking or digital scrapbooking.  I will tell you that I've done both and love them both - but, digital is my new favorite.  I started out doing traditional.  I loved picking out coordinating papers, embellishments and "playing with paper" to put it all together. It's fun, it's creative and the layouts become a work of art.  I swore I would never do digital - it didn't seem as creative and as fun.  I didn't think I'd get the dimension that I love with traditional scrapbooking.  But, I was wrong.  The software that I use (My Digital Studio) is amazing.  I love not having to print my photos - that I can import them onto my page at whatever size I want.  I love that I can create a page with one photo or ten photos - and it still looks great!  I love that I can use a predesigned template to speed things up or that I can create my own from scratch.  I love that I can make individual sized pages, photobooks, calendars, cards, tags and cute little swatch books.  I love that when I spend time creating a photobook, I can have several copies printed (and change a few pages in a snap if needed) for gifts.  I love that I can do a page and email it to my Grandma across the country to see.  (Yes, I have a very hip, 92 yo grandma that emails!)  And, I LOVE how much I am getting done since I've gone digital.  (In the past 3 months, I've done 20 scrapbook pages, 4 photobooks and our family Christmas cards!)  Ok sorry.... Can you tell I get a little excited about this?!

Here's a scrapbook page I did last night, sitting in front of the tv, while hubby and I were getting caught up on The Voice.


This is kind of a crazy layout.  But I love the story it tells.  These are the little moments I probably wouldn't remember if it weren't for scrapbooking!!

I used My Digital Studio and several downloads to create this layout.  You can learn about this software in my Online Store Here.  You can also download a free 30-day trial of MDS here.  If you prefer traditional scrapbooking, you can check out the Stampin' Up! scrapbooking products HERE.

Click here for a detailed supply list of the above layout.

Well there you go.  There is my crazy Saturday morning musings on why I scrapbook. If I've convinced one person to try a new hobby of scrapbooking, then I'll be content.  I truly enjoy documenting a little piece of our family history with each scrapbook page I create.  And I know you will too!  If you need any help along the way or want to share your creations with me, let me know.  I'd love to hear from you!  :)

Reminders:

Signature - Tree

Saturday, December 29, 2012

Scrapbook Challenge

I love how MyDigitalStudio.net does weekly challenges.  And now, they've given us two weeks to complete them - but we still get a new one each week!  Yee haw!  The challenge that was due today was a color challenge.  I had fun creating this layout using colors I never would've thought to put together.  Here's how it turned out:


I love this picture of my little loves!  I just think they are the sweetest and cutest things around!  :)  I wanted this layout to showcase the photo - and I think it did just that.  I "found" the little frame in the Game Day Photobook Template.  I used two of the frames to make them stand out a bit more.  I like how it draws you to the photo.

I did a couple of techniques with stamps in this layout.  First, I cropped a stamp from Neon Notes to get just the word "Love".  I also used the coloring tool to change the outlined hearts from the Wedding Words download.  I'll post a video on how to do that soon!

Click HERE for a detailed supply list.

Want to try digital designing?  Check out My Digital Studio or download a free 30-day trial here!  I'd love to help you learn how to record those special moments with MDS!

Reminders:

Signature - Tree

Thursday, December 27, 2012

Photobook Gifts

Hi!

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!  I have enjoyed some wonderful time at home with my family!  :)

I wanted to share with you one of the Christmas gifts I made this year.  My Digital Studio was my best friend this holiday season!!  I spent one night working on photobooks for Christmas presents for our family.  I used the Delight in the Day Photobook Template as my starting point.  Once I had all of my photos selected (I made a separate folder titled "Best of 2012" to make it easy to import them into my project), it was pretty easy to add them and the journaling.  I made four different photobooks - some pages were the same and some were unique to each photobook.  I love being able to import pages from other projects in My Digital Studio - it really sped up the process of making multiple photobooks.

I was soooooooo excited when they arrived in the mail and I am so happy with how they turned out!



Here is one of the pages in the book:


Everyone loved their gifts!  I just love sharing memories with our family and also this wonderful hobby with others!!  I'm looking forward to the My Digital Studio Class on January 9th.  If you're local, I'd love for you to join us!  If not, I'll be setting up my You Tube Channel soon and posting videos to help you along the way!

Haven't tried My Digital Studio yet?  You can check it out in my online store HERE - download the 30-day free trial or purchase the software today!  :)

I'm counting down until the NEW Spring Catalog goes live on January 3rd AND Sale-a-Bration begins on January 22nd!  I'll be posting sneak peeks of upcoming new products so make sure and check back daily in January!!  So exciting!!  :)


Also, don't forget about the Clearance Rack BLITZ!  Fifteen new items were added to the clearance rack today!!  Shop the Clearance Rack HERE!

Thanks for visiting!

Reminders:

Signature - Tree

Thursday, December 20, 2012

#1 Fan Scrapbook Layout & New Downloads!

Hi!  The boys are out of school for Christmas break!! Yay - that means no alarm clarks and more time together!  This makes me happy!  While they're sleeping in this morning, I thought I'd share a super quick layout I did in MDS.  (My Digital Studio)


Isn't this cute?  I used the Game Day Photobook Template so it took me about 15 minutes.  All I did was insert my photo, text and added the Flag and Football stamps.  So easy!  I matched the red color in one of the boys jerseys - love that feature!

Make sure and check out My Digital Studio here.  If you haven't tried it, you can download a 30-day free trial - but be prepared to get hooked on MDS!  It's so fun and so easy - and such a great way to make a dent in those hundreds of photos stuck in your computer!!

Have you seen the new downloads that were released on Tuesday!!  (Click on the title below to view in my online store).




I'm looking forward to sharing My Digital Studio with my local friends and customers in January!  Join me for a free MDS class where we'll create a scrapbook page together.  



Don't forget to check out the Clearance Rack Blitz.  Lots of awesome deals - including stamps!!  You can shop My Online Store 24/7 and have your goodies shipped straight to your door!   :)

Thanks for visiting and happy creating!

Reminders:


Signature - Tree

Sunday, December 16, 2012

December 25th Card

Happy Sunday!  Just a quick post to share a super cute card by Stampin' Up!


Products Used:
Stamps: Joyous Celebrations
Ink:  Island Indigo
Paper:  Crumb Cake, Gumball Green, Very Vanilla, Festival of Prints DSP Stack
Accessories:  Cherry Cobbler Seam Binding, Rhinestone Jewels, Stampin' Dimensionals, 1 3/8" Circle Punch

You can check out other fun Stampin' Up! products on my demonstrator website HERE.

Reminders:

Signature - Tree

Saturday, December 15, 2012

Showing our Support


The tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School yesterday left me feeling hopeless, sad and frightened.  I've worked in a Kindergarten classroom and I have two children of my own.  I cannot imagine what the victims went through yesterday and how the survivors and loved ones will endure the days ahead.  My heart goes out to them.  I know it's not much, but my family will be making handmade cards to send to the school.  I wanted to share this with my readers in case you want to do the same.  Feel free to share the image above on your blogs, Facebook pages, etc.

Hugging my loved ones tight,

Signature - Tree

Vintage Christmas Tags

I wanted to join Stampin' Celebration with a little mid-monthspiration for December's challenge.  I made a few gift tags for Christmas.


I love the vintage feel of this first tag.  It's kind of hard to tell in the photo, but I used the Vanilla Shimmer Smooch Spritz on the bird to give it some sparkle like the one in the inspiration photo.


And I love playing with the Seam Binding ribbon.  Here, I pulled a single strand down the middle of the ribbon to give it a gathered, "crinkly" look.


Products Used:
Paper:  Very Vanilla, Crumb Cake, First Edition DSP
Stamps:  Petite Pairs
Ink:  Crumb Cake
Embellishments:  Vintage Faceted Designer Buttons, Twine, Very Vanilla Seam Binding, Crumb Cake Seam Binding, Crochet Trim, Vanilla Shimmer Smooch Spritz
Tools:  Big Shot, Two Tags Die, Adorning Accents Edgelits, Bird Builder Punch

My next two tags were pretty simple using the Stocking Die.  I love how you can cut two sheets of paper at once and have coordinating pieces for the trim on the stocking! Too cute!


I embossed the stockings and added snowflake stamps using the Illuminate Glimmer Watermark Stamp Pad (#126857) from the Holiday Mini.  This ink pad will be carrying over into the Spring Catalog!  Yay!



Products Used:
Paper:  Very Vanilla, Crumb Cake, Old Olive
Stamps:  Jolly Bingo Bits, Dear Santa (retired)
Ink:  Crumb Cake, Illuminate Glimmer Watermark Stamp Pad
Embellishments:  Crumb Cake Seam Binding, Crochet Trim, Vanilla Shimmer Smooch Spritz
Tools:  Big Shot, Stocking Die, Bird Builder Punch, Vintage Wallpaper Embossing Folder, Houndstooth Embossing Folder

Here is the inspiration photo for this month's challenge.  


You have until the 25th to play along and link up your project on the Stampin' Celebration Blog.  Come join us!!

Don't forget that tomorrow is the very last day to take advantage of the Ink-redible Promotion.  Receive a FREE set of ink pads with a qualifying order/workshop OR when you join Stampin' Up! and purchase the Starter Kit.

Thanks for visiting!  Have a wonderful weekend!

Reminders:

Signature - Tree

Friday, December 14, 2012

Stampin' Up! Clearance Rack Blitz!


The Clearance Rack Blitz begins TODAY!  Stampin' Up! added nearly 300 products to the Clearance Rack in the Online Store - with some products discounted up to 80%! And, for the first time ever, STAMPS are included up to 40% off!  Hurry - only available while supplies last!!

You can shop 24/7 in my Online Store.  Check out my demonstrator website at www.createwithcori.com or click HERE to go straight to the Clearance Rack!

Reminders:

Signature - Tree

Thursday, December 13, 2012

My little Brain-iac

I will say it again... I love My Digital Studio!  Tonight my son had tennis drills.  I brought my laptop and completed this double page layout while he was practicing!  Yay me!  (lol) I love how I can scrapbook anywhere this way!!  :)



I'm doing a school scrapbook for each of my boys.  I knew this would be a fun day for my son to remember!  :)

Products Used:
Software:  My Digital Studio (get your free trial here)
Downloads:  Back to School, File it Fun, Pinwheels on Parade, Staples & Stitching
Fonts:  Chalkduster, Noteworthy

Don't forget there are only a few more days to take advantage of the Ink-redible Promotion!  Earn a FREE set of ink pads when you join Stampin' Up! or with a $450 party or individual order!  Offer ends December 16th!

Reminders:

Signature - Tree

Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Holiday Cheer Scrapbook Page

I am back with another scrapbook page!  I think I'm starting to panic that I don't have all of last year's Christmas photos scrapped yet and it's almost here again!  So, I'm determined to get them finished this week!  :)  Here is a quick layout from Christmas morning:


Products Used:
Software: My Digital Studio (get your free trial here)
Downloads: Downtown Grunge, Game Day

I love how this turned out!  There are so many fun elements in the Game Day Template Download.  I just love the dots and stitching from it!  This download isn't just for sports!!  It is so versatile!!  ;)
Thanks for visiting!  I'd love your feedback!

Don't forget there are only a few more days to take advantage of the Ink-redible Promotion!  Earn a FREE set of ink pads when you join Stampin' Up! or with a $450 party or individual order!  Offer ends December 16th!

Reminders:
Signature - Tree