Library of Memories Starts Now!

2010
02.06

I am soooo excited to be taking the Library of Memories class at Big Picture Scrapbooking! We are in our first week and I am working on my first assignment.

I bought Photo Freedom (the book that this class is based on) about a year ago and retrofitted the way I store photos and layouts in this manner. I wanted to take the class to really fine tune my scrapbooking process. The first week and pre-class assignments has me excited to get back in touch with my photos and with scrapbooking in general (which I haven’t done in quite a few months).

This first week one of the exercises was to really asset my strengths and weaknesses as a scrapbooker. This is what I discovered:

Strengths: I am good at recreating memories with words and journaling. I am also good at choosing photos that best tell the story. I am not normally consumed with scrapbooking events in order and using all the photos. I am usually pretty good at letting the right photos tell the story.

Weaknesses: I don’t scrapbook consistently. I get into a groove for a few weeks then let it languish for months. Why? Because I am a slave to products. :( While I love the creative process sometimes it is almost ALL about the product being placed perfectly. I need to learn to just accomplish a layout and let it go instead of embellishing it to death. I often don’t know when to stop with the embellishing.

This first week we also went through some of our completed layouts to look at how we document the Who, What, Where, When and Why in our layouts as well as what we tend to scrapbook most. I found that I am REALLY good at scrapbooking the “Who” and I do LOTS of layouts about “Us” (my life and immediate family). My least common layout right now: The other people I love and documenting the “Where”.

I tend to scrapbook my immediate family and from my own point of view. So for this week’s first project I am going to work on a “People I Love” layout that documents the “Where”. This layout is going to be about my parents and where they came from. I will be sure and share it here.

For the rest of the weekend I am going to be working on this layout, getting my Highlight Folders together, and continuing to sort and purge my digital pictures (currently working on 2008).

Happy Saturday!

Heidi Swapp Live!

2010
02.03

Hey guys! Just thought I would pass this on to Heidi Swapp fans… She and the House of 3 is having a live webshow tonight from 7-8PM MST (8-9PM/9-10PM Central/Eastern time).

I’ve never seen her webshow, so I am excited to see it tonight… Tonight’s show: Valentine Projects!

Catch her here:
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/heidi-swapp-live

I need to get a move on my Valentine projects! :)

Blog Redesign and Update

2010
02.02

I think I have tooled around with it to my liking – what do you think?  I am finally done with the cleaning and housekeeping here – I hope to be able to contribute more to this blog in the future…

So where have I been?  What have I been up to?  Well…  We moved from Cheyenne, Wyoming to a town hear Shreveport, Louisiana last October.  We bought a house here and are all settled in.  Guess what I lost?

My SCRAPROOM!  :(

I have been so busy with getting the house in order and then the holidays came.  I hadn’t really missed the scraproom because I hadn’t been scrapping.  But BOY do I miss it now.  Take a look at Scraprooms Past:

This was the old Washington, DC Space.

This was the Cheyenne, WY Space.

So where did all that stuff go?  It’s all over the place…

Most of it is in the same white cubes I had used in the previous room, but are now located in my walk-in closet.  Thank goodness I am not a clothes horse!  Some of it is in the garage (tools, my typewriter, binding supplies) and some of it is in my foyer.  Yes.  My foyer.  I bought a pretty black armoire from a friend and put it in the foyer:

This is what it looked like at Christmastime.  It is now decorated differently, but it is pretty useful and decorative.  It would seem like an armoire would be out of place in the foyer, but it really fits in there.  It holds all my essentials; all  the stuff I use the most.  Well – used the most anyway!  I still haven’t got my mojo back…

I put my Cricut and other die cutting machines in there, my favorite papers and cardstock are in there.  My tool carousel is also in there.  The drawers hold ribbon, Sizzix and QuickCutz dies, chipboard and other much used embellishments.  It is all within reach of the living room (where I have been doing my creating lately).  It has been working out OK, but what I really miss most is being able to leave projects out to finish up later.  Having to collect everything and put it away really hinders my drive to create…  I am hoping to combat that though!

I am finally taking Library of Memories at Big Picture Scrapbooking.  I have the Photo Freedom book (that this class is based on) and have wanted to take this class for a while.  I finally have the time (and some birthday money) and am all registered.  Class starts on February 4th.  I am really excited and will post updates on my journey.

Name Change and More…

2010
01.21

Hey guys!  I have been working on updating and freshening up this blog…  It should be done in a few days.

Stay tuned…

Merry Christmas

2009
12.24
Hi guys!  I know I have been shamefully absent from this blog.  We have finally moved and settled in our new home in Louisiana.  We are headed to my parents for Christmas and will be back this weekend.  After the holidays I hope to be back full force with all kinds of creative projects to post here.  ;)
I would like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas!  I hope you all have a blessed holiday season and an even more blessed new year!  :)
(((HUGS)))

Elena

New Seasonal Cricut Cartridges

2009
09.30

Man – I am always a sucker for limited edition items and these are going to be no exception I am afraid! :) I already pre-ordered these for my Birthday at a great bundle price from Memory Making Crafts, but I thought I would share them with you – they are so adorable! I can’t wait to see the next Seasonal release (they are going to be released every quarter)!

Photobucket
Snow Friends

Photobucket
Cold Outside

Photobucket
Very Merry Tags

I hope to get them
soon enough to start my Christmas cards/projects. They are supposed to be released in mid/late November… I hope it is more towards Mid than Late. :)

Get em while their hot though – once they’re gone, they’re gone…

Cards for Kate – Card Drive

2009
09.01

Hey all you cardmakers out there…

I thought I would share this card drive going on right now at Jennifer McGuire’s Blog.

I know that when I am in a funk, creating cards gets my creativity flowing again. And what better reason to start creating cards than for this worthy cause.

So if you have a minute and want to create some cards for this family, please click here for all the details.

I know I am going to get some done! :)

Busy Summer

2009
08.10

I have been on hiatus for a while… We had a busy Summer (visited family, were in a wedding, did some traveling…) and now we are planning a move. The USAF is moving us back south in less than two months. I am going to miss my scraproom, but am going to enjoy setting it back up. Again.

Unfortunately this Summer has also brought some bad news. We lost our dear friend Chewy to cancer. He was a loyal canine companion for the last 10 years. We’re missing him dearly:

Photobucket

My apologies for the long hiatus. I hope to be back and blogging (and scrapping!) on a regular basis soon…

Thanks!

Cricut Specials and News

2009
04.18

Hey guys!

I got this news over at one of my fave blogs: Just a Scrappin

First up: Cricut Cartridges are going on sale for $39.99 at Michael’s next week – INCLUDING Lyrical Letters and Life’s a Beach at some locations. Read about it here.

Also, Provocraft is offering an AWESOME special! You can preorder the ever elusive Home Decor and a new one named Jubilee Art for $99.

But wait! There’s more! :)

You can pay in 3 easy payments of $33 and get a free set of Cricut Markers, BUT if you pay in full, you get a FREE Jukebox and markers.

You can see the details and the cartridges here. This is a great deal! I ordered mine today… :)

Peachy Cheap and the rise of the Quick Deal Sites

2009
04.15

I love this new concept in shopping. It reads like a blog, but instead of a daily blog post these sites have one product for sale. Really cheap. Every day. I have been checking in every day at Peachy Cheap to see what the deal of the day is. I just place my 2nd order today because I couldn’t resist these:

Photobucket

Aren’t they adorable?? I love this idea. I got these for .99 plus $4.99 in shipping. I know the shipping sounds intense. But the book itself retails at $10. So I still got myself a good deal. And that’s what these sites are all about. :) Here are a few more. I haven’t ordered from them (yet) but I have them on my “Check Daily” list.

Flowers to Flourishes

Crop Chocolate

Happy Shopping! :)