playful.productive.present

FIVE + ONE + a very timely email. (LONG)

It's October 1st, 2009 -- no way.
YES way.
but first ...

WOW. I am so amazed by you. Your answers to ...
"Where will you be FIVE years from today?

Are so encouraging and inspiring. Your answers are absolute evidence that people have great desires to do good things. If I could I would set up some kind of PhD project that would follow each and every one of you and find out what moves you toward or away from these goals and dreams. Wouldn't that be fascinating?

Anyway, this was very hard to do, but I've selected five responses that I loved -- and I wasn't looking for any kind of response in particular. I was (again) wowed by the variety of responses and yet at the same time the common threads of serving and helping and making a difference. I decided to also post them in a free directory.

I sincerely loved them all, but here is...

ONE (from Lisa)
I would do what I'm doing now...wife, mother, ER Nurse, child of God, scrapbooker, scattering relentless positivity. With a few more laugh lines on my face

TWO (from Nanci)
In 5 years time, I will be a children's book author making a huge difference in the lives of many children and their parents. Empowering kids in living their lives fully and that they have full self expression and happiness and joy and power in life! For them to live their dreams, and to have the people who read the stories to them be inspired by what is possible in life. That is what I would do if time and money are no issue - and I am going to take that on now!!

THREE (from Cheri)
When you take time and money out of the equation, dreams can really be BIG! Five years from now my oldest will be out of college and onto her first job, my next two will be IN college and since money is no problem, they can go to whatever college they choose. Both DH and I will have given up our corporate day jobs. He'll have found some pursuit or hobby that really fulfills him and makes him happy. I'll be splitting my free time between creative endeavors at my beachfront property in Maui (tai chi on the beach, scrapbooking, painting, reading) and traveling the world doing volunteer work wherever the spirit moves me, but still being readily available to my newly minted young adult children.

FOUR (from Michelle)
If money and time were no object, I would purchase one of the historic homes in my town and turn it into a creative arts center where all people (young, old, and in between) could have access to art materials and creating because I truly believe that everyone has the beauty of creativity living inside them.

FIVE (from Jay)
If money were no object: I would establish hundreds of nursing care, assisted living homes for people who need a HOME, not just a place to die. I would hire the most qualified, most passionate and the most caring people I could find and I would pay them highly. I would establish thousands of HOMES across the WORLD for neglected children. A place FILLED with LAUGHTER, LOVE and INSPIRATION. I would employ the most caring, loving, passionate foster parents and pay them highly. I would establish a program for our TEACHERS. It would be of a competitive nature and reward teachers for the HARD work and dedication they in turn give to our school children. Also, the pay scale for our teachers would increase 100% immediately. I would pay EVERY volunteer firefighter, police personal, etc. I would showcase their talents and dedication. I would CELEBRATE them. People in public service of this nature would get a HUGE pay increase immediately. I would honor EVERY active and retired military soldier. EVERY SINGLE ONE! Local schools and parks would be plastered with memorials of local soldiers and heros. I would purchase a fleet of vans for every faith-loving church in the WORLD to assist in every desiring person needing a way to build their spiritual faith. I would start an ad campaign that would have our society focus on EDUCATION not ENTERTAINMENT. Not too big a list for 5 years?

And finally ...

ONE WINNER: This comment was left by "M" and I think she could really use a boost. Life can be so overwelmingly challenging at times and when it seems there is NO way up or out -- think about the way AHEAD. Time really does heal and change us and anything can happen in FIVE years.

Oh Stacy thank you for this post. I am going through possibly the worst, the hardest time of my life right now. It is so hard to not think the entire rest of my life has been ruined as I stand here in the ashes. This caused me immense grief. But watching the movie here and seeing your post I was inspired to look beyond the next several days, weeks, months, or year, that will be so hard and emotionally devastating, and see that in 5 years I will hopefully have recovered and be fully situated in a new life and a new me. I keep planting seeds in the rubble and hoping they will grow but sometimes it's hard to care with all the devastation around me. If time and money were not objects in 5 years I would have my PhD and be working and teaching and writing in my field of choice. And I will have lots and lots of scrapbook pages and projects completed that document my journey in this life.

M,
Please email me ([email protected]) and I'll send you your book!

Now ... some personal thoughts.
Five years ago (2004), I had just barely heard of blogs and blogging. I had no idea that I would ever want one or that I would LOVE having one. I didn't know that blogging would help me connect and relate to women across the world or that more importantly it would help me connect and relate to the woman inside my head. Five years ago, I was just stepping back from my role as editor in chief at Simple Scrapbooks magazine. My book, The Big Picture and Big Picture Scrapbooking were just a *twinkle* in my eye as they say -- hard to imagine that two of the things I focus much of my time and energy on today, didn't exist five years ago.Another thing that I focus my time on (Addie) didn't exist either -- not even the idea of Addie existed and now I can't imagine NOT having her.

Five years before that (1999), I was a happy reader of Creating Keepsakes magazine -- but I was also overwhelmed and felt like "scrapbooking" had become so artistic that it demanded way MORE than I could give. I began to formulate some new ideas and approaches to making scrapbooks (smaller theme albums) and I began storing my pictures in boxes by category. Simple Scrapbooks the book and Simple Scrapbooks the magazine were just around the corner, but I had NO idea!

LAST WEEK I received a very timely email from Betsy in Ohio.  I didn't read this email until YESTERDAY:

Hello Stacy,
 
I just wanted to say hello and tell you what a big fan I am of you!!  I really miss "Simple Scrapbooks".  Your philosophy on scrapbooking has been so meaningful to me- now I don't feel guilty because I will probably never "catch up".  (4 children,  youngest with autism, and a husband - good excuses to be lagging  behind) What internet sites would be helpful that would take the place of "Simple Scrapbooks" ? (i.e intructional,  material  ideas, and crop schedules and appearances.)
 
Thank you for being an inspiration!!

This is a great question Besty and I do have some suggestions:

1. Big Picture Scrapbooking. BPS was founded on the same philosophy of Simple Scrapbooks and it has grown to become a wonderful community of expert teachers and amazingly loyal and eager students who are friends and fellow scrapbookers. There is a wonderful class by Ali Edwards starting today! A good collection of sites is also at this link directory

2. Write.Click.Scrapbook. WCS is a relatively new inspiration collective (ie, blog and community) that was founded by three of the contributing editors to Simple Scrapbooks magazine. This site is a wonderful showcase of simple ideas derived from a sustainable approach. Be sure to check out the monthly gallery. October was posted today!

3. Ella Publishing. Ella, founded by Angie Lucas (managing editor at SS) and Lain Ehmann (contributing editor at SS) is yet another site that supports and promotes the *simple* philosophy. Ella is a brand new publisher of eBooks as well as an ezine -- in fact, Lain and I co-authored a book that is due out in November, so you can watch for that!

So, Five years from now? Hmm. I wonder if what I've poured so much of my recent time and effort into will even exist?  I hope so -- but I also know that based on the past, it is unlikely to stay what it is today for very long. Time and life have a way of moving us forward and revealing new challenges and opportunities that inevitably shape and change our future.

Where will you be FIVE years from today?

It's no secret that I am enamored with Compendium books and products. My most recent favorite is a book called "5." This book has been an inspiration and a resource for the presentations I've given over the last year or so. If you haven't seen this book, PLEASE do me a favor and buy it with bllind faith in my honest efforts to NOT lead you astray.

If you're at all hestiant ... then watch this!

  

OK, super inspiring. That's all I'm going to say.

I just happen to have a copy of this book that I'd like to give away, but you're going to have to work for it. Leave me a comment and tell me if TIME or MONEY were not an object, what would you be doing FIVE years from today?

dig deep and be honest.

She So Gets It!!! (and finally, a Q&A)

You have GOT to read this post by Michelle, who so totally understands the "big picture" behind the Library of Memories (LOM) system.
Thank YOU Michelle for sharing your post with me!

and now, finally ... an answer to a really good question.
Q: I'm behind the times and just got a copy of Photo Freedom. I love it like I knew I would. I'm so ready to dive in. One easy question, I noticed in the book that you have albums in iPhoto w/ your 4 main categories. How exactly does that work? Do you organize pictures there directly after uploading them? Or are they triaged similar to the way you triage physical photos?

A: First of all, there is no such thing as "behind the times." I'm tickled you have a copy of Photo Freedom and that you are interested in my system. Here's how I use my photo software to support my Library of Memories storage binders (chronological storage) and category drawers (triaged photos) ...

Since I use and love all things Apple, my computer is a Mac and my photo software is iphoto, which is very user friendly and customizable. Regardless of which photo organizing software you use, you'll want to set up the following albums or folders so that you can tag or copy images from your main dumping ground (I'm mean uploaded collection) into more manageable groups:

1. Seasonal highlight folders. At the end of each season or quarter I set aside some time to review and copy/move my most scrappable images into pared down seasonal folders. As I noted in the book, I might have 700 to 1000 (or more) images from July/August/September (summer) and will end up moving half or less to a highlight folder, that I label 2008 Summer I can always go back to my BIG collection and search by date and see everything I decided not to delete, but for me it's critical to pare this collection down to just those images that I will upload and archive at Shutterfly for potential printing. I generally end up with somewhere between 300 and 700 photos in each seasonal highlight folder.

NOTE: I upload photos to my computer often (once or twice a week, or more.) After images are uploaded, I quickly review and delete the obviously BAD ones. At this point, I pretty much ignore them until it's time to create a seasonal highlight folder. I do occasionally print (at home) a pic here or there before printing an entire folder, but for the most part, when it's time to scrapbook, I go to my collection of printed photos. In other words, I do NOT spend time looking for images on my computer.

2. Triage folders. Once I have seasonal highlight folders created, I generally view them if I need to find a particular image. As I spend time with images in these folders, I may do some virtual triaging into my four main categories of All About Us (folders for each person in my family), People We Love, Places We Go, and Things We Do. I do NOT spend time duplicating my physical triage sub-categories on my computer, because I have found that I do NOT generally reference them. The only triaging I do consistantly is into the All About Us folders that I have for each person in my family. I DO use these folders, as I often want to reprint an image for a layout or a school project, etc.. For example: Just this morning Taft needed a photo of himself for school. I wanted a very current photo so I went to my Taft album inside my All About Us folder in iphoto to find a photo taken on the first day of school. These pictures are NOT yet printed, so this particular photo would not yet be filed in a storage binder or triaged from there into the All About Us category drawer.

As for the other three main categories, I don't really have many sub-albums on my computer. If I triage an image, it just goes into the main category. I do create a separate sub-album for all of my travel locations and I also have sub-albums for Everyday Life and Color in my iphoto Things We Do folder -- again, because I find I need and use them the most.

I hope this helps. Sometimes I write these answers and wonder if I've confused more than clarified.

BIG Tip: Keep in mind that if you are doing more digital scrapbooking these days, you will WANT to spend more time than I do setting up triage sub-albums on your computer. Your use of computer software to organize photos should reflect your approach to scrapbooking. Be careful NOT to invest time in processes that won't pay you back in increased efficiency. You will find the right balance between computer and  physical files as you start scrapbooking with your Library of Memories system. So PLEASE, PLEASE do allow yourself to start using your system before it is entirely "set up." (which, btw ... takes a long, long time to set up and fine tune and learn to use and love, and the longer you allow it to take, the better it will "stick" or work for you. Remember this OK?)

National Day of Service and Remembrance & Hannah's Tins

've set these words to post at 8:36 am (Eastern Time) in conjunction with a request from our President to observe a moment of silence.

From a statement by President Obama ...

In April, I was proud to sign the bipartisan Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act, which recognizes September 11 as a National Day of Service and Remembrance. Originated by the family members of those who lost loved ones on 9/11, the National Day of Service and Remembrance is an opportunity to salute the heroes of 9/11, recapture the spirit of unity and compassion that inspired our Nation following the attacks, and rededicate ourselves to sustained service to our communities.

I call upon all departments, agencies, and instrumentalities of the United States to display the flag of the United States at half-staff on Patriot Day and National Day of Service and Remembrance in honor of the individuals who lost their lives as a result of the terrorist attacks against the United States that occurred on September 11, 2001.

In honor of Patriot Day I want you to meet Hannah.

Hannah emailed me way back in May and I've been waiting for the perfect time to share her efforts to support and sustain our troops.

Here is a portion of Hannah's email: I thought you would be interested in knowing what your little free class inspired. You gave a class online to make a little "All About Me" accordion album in an Altoids tin. While I was doing it, I thought that it would be a nice kind of album to send to the soldiers that I send cards to in Iraq. I redesigned the interior of the album, putting pictures of Americana on alternate panels and a place to attach pictures of their loved ones on the other panels, using one of the panels to write an encouraging note.

The problem was to get enough tins. To acquire tins, I ate as many Altoids as I could – and yes, they are “Curiously Strong!” I begged empty tins from friends and that first Christmas I managed to make 10 albums to send to the troops. I e-mailed Altoids, now Wrigley Co, to ask if they would donate some empty tins for my project. They sent me 6 empty tins and said that it was an unusual request and not to ask again.

Later, as I was leaving the grocery store, right by our car on the ground I saw an empty tin that looked like the Altoid tin, only it said Cacao Reserve Truffles, by Hershey! It was like a gift from God! Tins that held, not mouth destroying mints but chocolate truffles! I immediately started looking in the stores for the tins of truffles and bought some and urged my family to help me eat the chocolate. It was their “patriotic duty!” I said. They happily complied.

I wondered if Hershey would send me some empty tins as Wrigley had done, so I sent a similar e-mail to Hershey explaining my project and asking for any surplus empty tins. I received an e-mail back saying that they would be happy to send me a couple cases of filled tins – both in light and dark chocolate! One hundred and forty four tins, filled with mouth watering chocolate! I couldn’t believe it! When I wrote back to thank them, they replied with a little note saying that it was the least that they could do!

I sent about 115 albums to the soldiers at Christmas time that they received on Christmas Eve. Unfortunately, Hershey stopped making the chocolates in tins so I am going to have to find my tins somewhere else so I can continue the project for this Christmas, but the whole idea was all due to your little online class. Thank you, Stacy.

Fondly,
Hannah

Pretty COOL story, huh? No wonder I love BPS and the community that has grown up around it.

• To take the free class that Hannah speaks of, click HERE.
• To contact Hershey and tell them they ROCK, click HERE.
• To purchase hinged tins online, click HERE.

Thank YOU Hannah!
p.s. If you have any ideas for something service-oriented to do with kids after school, let me know!

Ahh, September ...

I LOVE September. 

I LOVE the cooler, darker mornings (really.)

I LOVE that I need to light my candle in the morning (see above.)

I LOVE the smell in the air.

I LOVE the mums on my porch.

I LOVE the urge to clean and organize and make projects I've been wanting to make. NOTE: please don't assume I am cleaning, organizing and projecting. My kids just went back to school and for now I'm just loving the urge to do those things. I am making soup tonight and that is a step in the direction of fall!

I am especially LOVING the chance to look back on last year. Last September, my Have More FUN students and I made something lovely. We made a big, FAT 12x12 album appropriately titled, 30 Days Hath September. This is my second month-long, totally intense daily scrapbook. I did a May Everyday album in 2005. I have to say that I LOVE looking back through albums like these ...

They are so FULL of little details that you simply cannot remember. If you took Have More FUN with me, don't forget to pull out your September album and browse through it -- even if it's NOT all the way done!

Today is 9.09.09 and it's a wonderful September day for Amy Krouse Rosenthal and a 200 person team she has invited to help her create a feature film, called the Beckoning of Lovely. If you've not heard of this entirely delightful project, I encourage you to visit the beckoningoflovely.com -- it's quirky, but it makes you think about the collective good people can do. It also makes you appreciate the creative risks that people (like Amy and her friends) take to more fully engage with life.

If you invited perfect strangers to a park near your home and you promised to carry a yellow umbrella, what would you do when people showed up?

miscellaneous stuff.

OK Wow. My Internet does not like my blog. I can pull up any website in lightning speed - even an entire business directory -  as long as it doesn't end in .typepad.com -- so wierd. According to my Internet guy this is something Comcast needs to fix. Hopefully, this will happen tomorrow. Since I'm enjoying an intermittent moment of connection I'm going to catch up with a bunch of miscellaneous stuff.

I finished up my school shopping days with the boys last week. I took Taft on Thursday and Trey on Friday. I'm sure I've said this before, but children are different people one on one. I generally feel like I have a harder time syncing up with Taft. He has a rather complex personality and his whole demeanor can change in an instant. I feel the need to be very careful around  him and I'm never quite sure how he will respond. He is very loving, but also very guarded and private with his emotions. But after 20 minutes of him being my singular focus at Subway, the insecurity started to melt away and I was privy to some very interesting opinions and observations.

My total investment was 5 hours and roughly $350 dollars, broken down as follows:

Subway $ 9.72
Kohls $ 108.45 (I need to return the $5.99 lava lamp with a burned out bulb)
Children's Place $ 101.89
Build-a-Bear $ 12.65
Krispy Kreme Donut $ 1.09
Target $ 88.06
Payless Shoes $43.27 (bought 1/2 price boots for Addie too!)

As we drove home, I asked Taft to rate his day on a scale from 1 to 10. His answer? Googol (as in googolplex)

That's a pretty decent ROI. I ran some errands after school today and took just Taft into Barnes and Noble. I told him I had so much fun with him shopping that I think we should start having a little date together once a week. He said rather nonchalantly, "Ok. that would be fine" and then he reached out and took my hand.

If you haven't heard about the Cards for Kate campaign, I'd like to make you aware. Kate is a little girl fighting a brain tumor. She and her family could really use your prayers and your encouragement in the form of cards. You can read more about her story, by clicking here.

Kristina Proffitt, Jennifer McGuire and Jana Millen have organized this effort and I'd love to see the online scrapbooking community get involved. Pull out some paper and stickers and have a little card making session with your kids. When you're done, send them here:

Jennifer McGuire
Card Drive for Kate
PO Box 428612
Cincinnati, Ohio 45242

Speaking of good causes, I've enjoyed Cathy's blog posts about charity: water.  I'm on board! I learned about the far-reaching need for clean water almost a year ago when our friends, the DeMars, returned from a mission to Kenya.

I decided then that this would be one of my life-long "causes." I love water -- the sound of it, the smell of it and the taste of it. I can't imagine not being able to get it. I support the Clean Water initiative through LDS Humanitarian Services and recommend any effort that helps people help themselves in this way. Kuddos to Cathy and everyone that has supported her in raising nearly $5,000 (cool.)

I received an email from Kristen a week or so ago asking about the colors in my kitchen. I have used two colors of green and they come from the same Behr swatch (#400D)
The lighter green is Grass Cloth and the darker green is Grape Leaves. I keep thinking I'll wake up and decide not to like my green kitchen, but it hasn't happened yet and it continually gets a good response from visitors and friends. If you're thinking of adding more color to your home you've got my vote. If you want MORE inspiration in this department, check out this book, by Susan Sargent. It is my favorite.

Unfortunately I didn't read the email from another Kristan until it was too late today. I was headed out to meet boys after school and run errands and she was looking for a photo that I posted to my blog months and maybe a year or more ago. I had zero desire to look something like this up, so I just took a new photo. Here, for Kristan and anyone else who is making MORE sandwiches these days, is my sandwich-making drawer and cupboard.

As much as possible, I like to keep stuff you use together, together. So the lunch sacks are next to the PB & J, in the cupboard just above the drawer. The baggies and napkins and little Compendium window cards and pens are in the drawer. I bought a whole box of little baby spoons (like you find at Baskin & Robbins) a year or so ago and I keep several in this drawer too. They are perfect for little pudding and fruit cups. I thought this morning that I need to get my kids to wrap up loose change in tin-foil for milk money -- that's a HUGE time-saver too!

OK, see? That's all pretty random.

Time Tested Beauty Tips

For attractive lips,
Speak words of kindness.

For lovely eyes,
Seek out the good in people.

For a slim figure,
Share your food with the hungry.

For beautiful hair,
Let a child run his or her fingers through it once a day.

For poise,
Walk with the knowledge that you'll never walk alone.

People, even more than things, have to be restored, renewed,
revived, reclaimed and redeemed,
Never throw out anybody.

Remember, if you ever need a helping hand,
You'll find one at the end of your arm.

As you grow older you will discover that you have two hands;
One for helping yourself,
The other for helping others.

***
Sam Levenson

NOTE: This poem was one of Audrey Hepburn's favorites and has been erroneously attributed to her. It was read by Miss Hepburn to her sons, Sean and Luca on Christmas Eve, 1992 and also on occasion when she was asked for beauty tips.

I've been invited to help present an evening of Inner Beauty to a group of Young Women (girls 12 to 18) in a neighboring ward (LDS congregation.) I have 5 minutes to shed some light on the second line about lovely eyes. I take these things very seriously and always get so nervous. I finished my preparations early this morning and thought I'd share this poem with you because thinking about it and the theme of inner beauty has caused me to think about our children and especially our teenagers. As they head back to school and face the peer pressure and popularity contest that is an ever present thing in their classrooms and hallways, I think we should remind them that it is what is on the inside that matters and that what is on the inside will be seen in their eyes!

I absolutely believe that our eyes are our most important feature. Beautiful lips, shiny hair, a svelte body and all the poise in the world cannot make up for empty, sad or shifty eyes. Eyes are the windows to the soul.

My message (in short) will be that there is a difference between seeing and seeking and that they very best way to seek the best in others is to seek the light of Christ in our lives.

I love this quote that I found:

"A sacred light comes to our eyes and countenances when we have
a personal bond with our loving Heavenly Father and His Son."

James E. Faust

Take August Off + Chase Jarvis

So, I'm here with friendly reminder that August is already half over and you need to spend a few minutes exploring the FREE Summer classroom at Big Picture Scrapbooking. This is a promotion that we do every year and this year Lisa Damrosch, one of our featured teachers shares a source of personal inspiration in the work of photographer Chase Jarvis. Lisa introduced me to Chase several months ago and I've really enjoyed popping onto his blog and following along from time to time, so I thought I'd give you a few additional chances to get to know his work better.

First up is a teaser video that posted on YouTube to promote a talk Chase gave this past June in Denver, CO.

Careful: It has a surprise ending!

 

I was recently interested in the viability of some projects such as a sports directory. And because I love to run (at least on most days) I am very fond of this video that Chase produced for Laura.  Laura (who I do not know) lives and runs in Seattle. Some of the footage is shot at Gas Works Park, which sits directly across Lake Union from the city. The kids and I were just there a week ago (with the Lambsons) In fact, I finished a scrapbook page Wednesday morning with pictures that Taft took at Gas Works. I dropped my layouts off with Angie Lucas yesterday and she and Ella are going to do something very FUN with them, but I digress ... back to Laura.

 

I'm just exceptionally grateful for inspiring people and for the Internet that allows me free access to their inspiration.

Geoff and I are in Utah this weekend, with his best friend (collage roommate) Nolan and his wife. This will be our third year, meeting up with them at BYU for Education Week. I'll be soaking up inspiration ALL Day.

back in the saddle ...

only I'm really glad it's not a saddle.

We got home on Saturday at 9:30 pm and I got up early Sunday to finish preparing my Relief Society lesson. Needless to say, I to took full advantage of Sabbath restfulness after church (nice long nap) and then hung out with my little ones.

The very dirty laundry is almost done. Groceries are purchased and put away, dinner is prepped and I'm now in my studio trying to remember what it is I do. NOTE: I haven't yet mustered the courage to open my email. There is no doubt that the hardest part of unplugging is plugging back in. I've got a day and a half before Geoff and I leave again and much to do, so I'm thinking I will be far more productive if my space is tidied up. 

Quickie Q&A

I had a recent email question about my favorite square punch.

Here it is. It is an EK Success Paper Shaper 2" square and I LOVE it. I also have the 1 3/8" square and find the combination of both just about perfect for "loving" older photos and photos that I've relegated to cold storage and would like to reintroduce into my Library of Memories system via my Square-punch Picture Drawers (extra no.9 in the book Photo Freedom)

Dinner btw, is my first attempt Crock-Pot ribs. Trey loves ribs and has been asking me to learn how to make them at home. After witnessing firsthand my 19 year-old crock pot, several friends got together and purchased me a brand new one and I'm rather excited. Good smells are beginning to waft downstairs. Click on the word "Crock-Pot" to visit the site where I got the recipe (love the Internet.)

Hope you're having a good Monday.

Q + A: Where do I start?

Hello Stacy.

I’m not sure why I’m writing but I’ve finally gotten on to your website and blog after watching your part on Scrapbooking Memories. First, I want to tell you that I just love to watch your part on this show. I love how down-to-earth you are and how you are so encouraging for those of us who are “stuck”.

I’m a mom of two-step boys (24 & 19) and two smaller kids girl-10 and boy-8 and I have a great husband (fireman) and two sweet doggies and one very independent cat.  So needless to say I have tons of stuff to scrapbook about.  At least you would think so!  I watched you the other day and you were talking about how it is so easy to get too much stuff to scrapbook with and then not be able to do anything….that would be me!  I have enough stuff to open my own scrapbooking store and unfortunately most of it has never been used!  I could be the poster child for Scrapbooking…Where Do I Start?

I hope to look through the website and read your blog and hopefully get some ideas.  In the meantime, I’ll keep watching you make it look so easy!

Shauna in Wyoming

Dear Shauna,

We all have a life that we appreciate enough to want to scrapbook and in an effort to "get started" we generally start buying and eventually collecting stuff. You are NOT alone!

Here's the deal. It doesn't matter where you start. Just start. Start with two photos or 10 photos and put them on a big 'ole piece of cardstock surrounded by your thoughts and feelings and some pretty paper and then do it again and again. Each time you do it, you'll learn something and each time you do it, you get better at doing it.

Now, I realize this is NOT very specific, so here are three additional assignments for you:

1. Register at Big Picture Scrapbooking.

2. Sign up for my FREE class, called Start Here, with Stacy

3. Join in our annual August Promotion. It is very fun and also FREE.

I feel confident that after you have taken advantage of these resources, you'll have a much better idea of where to start.

Thanks for the email!

Stacy

Anyone relate? Grab your timer, set it for 15 minutes and come check it out. Then come back often throughout  August. There are so many wonderful ideas to soak in and try. We have AMAZING teachers who are dedicated to your scrapbooking success and they've generously donated their time and talents this month, so you can get to know them better.