Digi-scrapping

I've been dabbling with digital scrapbooking for a couple of years now ever since Creative Memories came out with their Storybook Creator software. I find it more user-friendly than Photoshop Elements. There isn't the same tactile satisfaction of playing with paper and glue that you get with traditional scrapbooking, but I like having an alternative.

I was struggling with how to do our family album for 2008. I haven't kept up with my scrapbooking the way I used to and we also don't have as many pictures as we used to now that we are empty-nesters. So, I created a "year in review" photo book using the information from my daily planner as an integral part of the layouts. These are the pages from February and September:

Early next year, Close to My Heart will introduce their free online design software called Studio J™. There is no software to purchase and install; instead, you'll simply log in to Studio J from my CTMH website and start designing your layouts! All Studio J patterns are two-page layouts, chosen from Cherish™ and Imagine™, with additional combinations forthcoming from Reflections®. The initial launch of Studio J will include 25 layout patterns that can be swapped and rotated for even more variety. The paper and embellishments will be digital versions of the CTMH products we all love! I'm looking forward to trying it out!

September's Stamp of the Month Blog Hop

I think these are so much fun and a great way to find creative ideas for the current stamp of the month from Close to My Heart. There are almost 70 consultants participating this month which features September's stamp called "Treasures." Feel free to hop on and off the trail as time allows. Here's where you start: September Blog Hop.

New Card Workshop

We're back from our cruise of Russia and the Baltic and mostly recovered from the jet lag, so it's time to get back to making some cards and scrapbook pages. I can't wait to play with the products in the new Idea Book, but first I needed to prepare for a card workshop at the end of the month. Here are the cards we'll be making:

Thank U and Happy birthday card are based on sketches in Wishes. These use the "solo" alphabet stamps.

These two use the August Stamp of the Month and were "cased" from consultants on the blog hop I told you about earlier this month. I love this stamp!

Here's another one from Wishes. It's definitely a must-have book.

Now that these are done, I can play with "Twitterpated." What's that, you say? You'll have to wait until September 1 to find out!!

We're here!

Blog Hop!

There are 64 Close to My Heart consultants participating in the August Stamp of the Month blog hop! This month's stamp is called "It's Your Day" (D1352). It's full of fun party images: cakes, candles and gifts plus a few festive sentiments. This set is perfect to have on hand for all your birthday needs! It is only available August 1-31st so get it before it's gone. Contact me right away to get your set at a discount or even for FREE during the month of August.

To start at the beginning of the hop,visit Jena's blog first. Then just click on the link at the end of each blog post to go to the next stop. It's a great way to see some creative artwork and get some new ideas for your cardmaking.

Let me know if you participate. Maybe I'll join in next time.

Hunting at the Flea Market

I'm taking an online class with Jenni Bowlin at Big Picture Scrapbooking called "Re-purpose, Re-invent, Re-think." This week's assignment was to visit a flea market to discover the objects that inspire us creatively. Jenni says that because our "Creative DNA" makes us all receive inspiration in different ways it's important for us to identify the triggers so that we can begin to surround ourselves with those things. She had us compile a list of the top ten things that we are most drawn to and then sent us off to the flea market with our list as a guide.

Here is my list:

1. Old postcards -- especially greeting cards
2. Old photos -- portraits
3. Old letters and ledgers -- almost anything with handwriting
4. Quotations
5. Birds/owls
6. Halloween -- black cats/witches/crows
7. Old Christmas ornaments
8. Buttons/sewing notions
9. Brown & white china
10. Skeleton keys

The photo at the top is my flea market haul from yesterday. My favorite is the small notebook with mostly empty pages. I'll probably tear them out to use on cards or layouts. I also love the portraits of the girls wearing glasses! Richard said the one with the round glasses looks like me!

I had never paid any attention the elaborate designs on the back of portraits before. It's one of the things that Jenni Bowlin loves and it did influence which photos I chose out of the hundreds that were there. After about two hours, I was on sensory overload and went home. I'm still thinking about two things I didn't buy -- a big, old ledger and a circular metal plate with numbers on it that I think was part of an old gas pump. Next time!

10Thirteen was really Lucky!

I was at the Atlanta Scrapbook Expo crop Friday night and they were doing a bunch of giveaways based on your birthdate. I couldn't believe it when they called out October 13!! And, then I was amazed to see five people run up! The nice Expo people decided to give each of us a prize. Like Let's Make a Deal, I got to choose between the box, the bag or a surprise behind the curtain. I chose the curtain and went home with a brand new Cuttlebug machine. I don't think I've ever won anything before so this was pretty exciting. Earlier in the evening I actually won another drawing and got to pick out a little gift -- some cute ribbons to match the paper in the gift bag we received at the crop.

What a fun day! I took a Basic Grey card class where we made a set of magnetic cards with a matching portfolio to hold them. After that I headed out to Chick-Fil-A for lunch with my friends Marta and Adele. Gretchen joined us when we got back to the Expo and we shopped until we dropped! My favorites were the felt borders at Queen & Co and the glittered chipboard at Melissa Frances. I also bought a ton of Basic Grey. Dinner out revived us enough to do some cropping and we stayed until the bitter end.

Adele & Gretchen at the Queen & Co. booth

The four of us at CTMH.

Gretchen, Marta & me cropping

I was exhausted and went to bed Friday night with visions of embellishments dancing in my head. Yesterday Gretchen convinced me (she didn't really have to twist my arm too hard) to head back over there to take a class from Melissa Frances. It was great to meet her and make five cute cards using her chipboard pieces. Can't wait for next year!