Finished Photo Freedom & Started LOM!

I finally finished Photo Freedom this morning and started the Library of Memories class tonight! My first step is to complete a personal assessment. The first question asks about my scrapbooking strengths. I honestly had a hard time with this because I'm such a scraplifter! I think my greatest strength is my photography and then finding a layout to scraplift that will fit my needs. I'm growing in my journaling skills as I become more confident in telling stories that matter instead of simply recording events. The next question had me focus on my weaknesses. Again, I bring up scraplifting because I rarely design my own pages, but I don't know if this is a bad thing. I may not be the most creative or publishing-worthy individual, but I'm able to take other people's great ideas and make them my own. I love my pages and the stories I tell; plus, I didn't spend hours coming up with original ideas, so it leaves me more time to scrapbook! I love the CTMH How-To books for this very reason; they save me time and make me look creative when I'm not! It makes me happy, so I guess that's all that matters. Perhaps I should put as a weakness that I'm the world's sloooooooowest scrapbooker...LOL!

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Why Scrapbooking Matters

To stop her suffering, Neal and I made the painful decision to put Tanis down Friday evening. This has been an awful weekend. After we brought her home, I posted a photo on my personal journal/blog. Neal copied the photo onto his computer and then asked me if I had pictures from when the cats were young, because he doesn't have any. I looked at him a little funny and said, "I have scrapbooks of the cats!" He said, "Oh, I guess scrapbooking is good after all." Really? It took this moment for him to realize why scrapbooking matters?! Perhaps this will motivate him to actually look at some of my scrapbooks from time to time.

I started this page a couple weeks ago as part of the Design Your Life class at BPS. I knew the cats were getting old, and I wanted to tell their stories while they were alive so it wouldn't be so painful. I thought I could also use this project to practice my digital scrapbooking skills. I had no idea that Tanis was going to leave us so soon! Now it is more important than ever that I tell her stories before the memories fade.

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Live Out Loud!

We had such an incredible time doing this photo shoot in Seattle in July of 2006! I made poor Katie jump in front of the Space Needle over and over again until I got the perfect shot. I would have preferred if she had been slightly to the right in the photo, but I wasn't going to make her do it again. Fun times!

Again, this is a sketch from Design Your Life at BPS and I'm using You Rock papers.

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Design Your Life @ BPS

I'm taking Design Your Life with Cathy Zielske at Big Picture Scrapbooking. I wanted to take this class the first time it was offered but didn't have time. Well, I still don't have time, but I'm choosing to make the time. I am so excited to learn about design principles. Plus, she is providing PDF files for all the lessons, so I'm going to get to practice some digital scrapbooking along the way! Here is my first layout. The assignment was to use the grid pattern but to add our own touches to tell the story of why we love to scrapbook. I played around with a bunch of techniques on this one since I know I won't have time to do much playing once school starts. Once again, I'm using the You Rock WOTG kit!

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New Paper--You Rock!

I absolutely love the new paper kit, You Rock! The colors and design are fantastic. This is my version of the You Rock Workshop on the Go. This awesome LO took less than 1 1/2 sheets of B&T, so I still have a ton of paper, cardstock and embellishments to play with this weekend!

This paper is perfect for this LO about my niece, Kate. We took these photos in Seattle and at my house in 2006. Today she is gearing up to go to New York for a job interview! I’m so proud of and excited for her! I used this LO to write a letter to her. In addition to the Just Be You exclusive stamp set that comes with the Basic WOTG kit (G1006), I used Comments (D1359) for the journaling lines. Comments is a must have stamp set!

Unfortunately, this photo is a bit blurry, but I'm sure you get the idea. For my LO, I used the "Best" option and added the Rockin' Top Coats™ (Z1272) and White Hemp (Z281). I forgot to order the Bitty Sparkles (Z1263), so I'll just add them later for a little bling on the page!

The Rockin' Top Coats™ (Z1272) include 14 fun and funky, colorful overlays! They do have a plastic film covering the top so the image doesn't get scratched. Be sure to take the film off before using the Top Coats™.

Okay, I'm off to make another LO with this kit, because You Rock rocks!

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Happy New Year!

Good news! The Spring 2010 Idea Book launched today! Click the cover and browse the book. If you want a paper copy, please let me know.

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Celebrating Christmas

I hope you had a wonderful and relaxing holiday! I certainly did. Neal and I had a leisurely day at home with our little old fur babies. Thanks to our moms, we did have gifts to unwrap, so that was nice! My gift to Neal is doing the litter all week and cleaning up after the cats…not a pleasant job, but it’s better than the alternative of putting them down. Anyway, I’ve been using my holiday from school to catch up on photographing my club projects and uploading them to my CTMH art page. I’ll share a few of the projects here over the next couple of days. Be sure to check back on the 1st for a special announcement!

Christmas 2008 in Boise—Neal and I were snowed in at home and weren’t able to make it down for this celebration. I was so disappointed. Christmas didn’t feel like Christmas last year.


I absolutely love this photo of my mom and sister! They are looking at photos from the Disney cruise we took that summer.


Photos of the whole family…minus me and Neal. :-(


Here are a few detail shots. I used textured cardstock so the ink coverage on the stamped packages isn’t as clear as the one below. I love the look of the textured cardstock and try to use it as often as possible.


These Twinkle Brads make me so happy…I have 3 packages of them! LOL! The other thing that I really like about this LO is the use of the Dimensional Elements On Target. The large scalloped circle is fantastic! My crop buddies make fun of me because I’m so particular about filing off the "nubbies" on the chipboard before inking. When inking, I used the back of the large gift stamp to get lots of ink on the chipboard. I let it dry and then when back with a sponge dauber to even out the ink coverage. It’s a fairly time consuming process, but I love deep, vivid color it produces. I also like that the chipboard is easy to cut so I’m able to use partial circles or make my circles cover two pages.


The WOTG directions say to stamp the title onto white cardstock and then sponge ink onto the letters. It also suggests stamping each letter with the zigzag stamp. I chose to stamp my letters onto B&T paper and adhered them using foam tape. I love this paper!

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Studio J Sneak Peek

Close To My Heart’s Studio J will launch in a few months, and I can't wait to share it with everyone I know! Since I attended Leadership, I was given early access to Studio J but have only now had a chance to play with it. I placed my first order a few minutes ago and thought I would share my LOs here.

So, what the heck is Studio J?! It is a FREE online scrapbooking studio. It's like digital scrapbooking, but not nearly as time consuming, expensive, or difficult to use. You’ll be able to try the full, web-based program through my CTMH website when Studio J launches in March. Until then, enjoy this little sneak peek!


Good news--if you are a digi-scrapper, you can import PNG files to drop in the photo wells like I did here with Katie Pertiet's Postage Frame Clusters!

If you know nothing about digital scrapbooking, never fear...Studio J was designed just for you! The following LOs were designed in a flash; choosing my photos and writing my journaling was the longest part of the process.

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Creativity Challenge Update

Wow! It's a little embarrassing that I haven't updated my Weekly Creativity Challenge for 3 months! It’s not that I haven’t been creative; it simply is that my blog took a backseat to school, my online classes, my CTMH club, and my sick kitties. I’m on winter break now, so I’m going to get back into the swing of posting.

9/20-26 ~ Complete the Telling Stories Deeply and the Learn Something New Every Day class prompts. Create digi LOs for Learn Something New.
Although I didn’t do any of the Telling Stories lessons, I did manage 10 digi LOs for Learn Something New. I also went on a bit of a digi shopping spree. I’m technically not a digital scrapbooker, but I have purchased a ton of digi elements, papers, PDF files, Etc. over the past few months. Not really sure what that is all about other than the fact that most of the items are $.25 at Designer Digitals…LOL!

Blog ~ Post digi LOs. Blog “The Great Escape” story!
How is it possible that I STILL haven’t written about “The Great Escape”? Seriously!

CTMH ~ Finish card kit and Twitterpated WOTG.
I finished ½ the card kit and both Twitterpated LOs. I am absolutely in LOVE with those LOs and will post them during break!

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The Passing of Jim Rohn

My sister called me today to let me know that Jim Rohn passed away. We met him several times at Herbalife conventions in the early 90s. I was always so inspired after listening to Rohn speak. During Shimelle's Learn Something New Every Day 2006 workshop, I created this page as a reminder to myself to make healthy choices. "We must all suffer from one of two pains; the pain of discipline or the pain of regret. The difference is discipline weighs ounces while regret weighs tons." His words of wisdom helped me get back into exercising; I eventually lost 45 pounds! I feel very fortunate to have met him in person and send my heartfelt condolences to his family and friends.

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