This is by far my favourite time of the year...how about you?

January means more than the beginning of a New Year...although last year sucked so I'm totally looking forward to happier times in 2014, it also means re-organization, de-cluttering and perhaps for some of us, resolutions! Yeah, I'm sure I'm not alone with resolution incompletion...you? 

This year I will strive to be more organized, more health conscience and more active...but my 'word' for the year is going to be FOCUS...not sure if you are on the 'word-train' like so many other people seem to be these days but my goal of 2014 is to try to gain and maintain more FOCUS in my life...we can assume I feel the need to improve on this in all aspects of my life, personal, work and creative. So here I go!!! 

Wish me luck and good luck to you as well...we can all use it :)

So where have I been, what have I been doing...? 

Well not scrapbooking a lot I'll tell you that!

I am trying to focus right now on catching up on my 2013 Project Life album and at the same time trying to stay more current on the 2014 Project Life Album...so that means working on my computer, calendar and sending off photos to print...I don't print from home which maybe I should be considering once again but for now I send them to Costco, not expensive and fast.

Not that you can tell from this photo, but do you ever have those moments when you are super organized, have your scrappy stuff all sorted by colour or item etc.? Well this CTMH box, which is AWESOME to sort your PL card and photos by the way, happened to run into my leg!!! Ok,so maybe I ran into it...end result is that! I was so frustrated that I left it like that for two days...yeah I'm stubborn...luckily last night when I finally decided to pick it up it wasn't to mixed up, I was able to put the coloured cards together again without too much stress and effort :) 

So this morning I needed to make a list! Don't you love lists? I do, it really helps my focus and gives me a great feeling of accomplishment when I can cross items off! 

Today I worked on the laundry, vacuumed (one floor anyways), general tidy and dusting the Great Room and finally got the knick knacks moved around so it looks nice...tomorrow I'll add to that list and probably cross more items off...it's all good! 

So nice to be getting my poop in a group!

Thanks for stopping in!

 

Classes, Retreats and Specials...Oh My!!!

So I have a feeling that I might be back! Grab your favourite beverage because this post is a little wordy! Only because I'm so supercalifragilistically EXCITED to share a couple Campaigns running with Close To My Heart right now!

The first is our Holiday from the Heart Gift Guide!

This mini-catalog is featuring some Exclusive, limited time product which is available right now until December 31st. There are several items in the catalog that have a 'star' and you can earn for FREE with each $100 in your order! I am currently playing with several of the goodies from this little catalog and let me tell you it's packed with goodness!!! I only 'earned' one free item and purchased the rest at regular price but as usual CTMH has some great value packed into this little guide! Contact me for your own copy or follow this LINK to see it for yourself right now online :)

The next exciting Campaign is for any of you that are thinking you'd like to Join My Team! Right now we are working on launching our next catalog (live to customers in February) but we are getting some inside information about what new products are in store! For those of you that have read a post or two of mine, you will know that I have embraced the Project Life philosophy for almost a year now. Both in the Becky Higgins style of recording a week in our life over a two page multi-pocket format AND in integrating my multi-pocket pages in amongst my regular/traditional scrapbooking pages. I have found that I am experiencing a great 'relief' in getting WAY MORE DONE and a fantastic feeling of satisfaction because more of my photos are in my albums!

So that being said, you can only imagine that I was out of my mind with excitement (cause scrappy things do that to me!!!) when I saw our newest promo highlighting our newest product release called 'Picture My Life™'. As you can see from the image above, we are going to be releasing 8 new Picture My Life™ scrapbooking programs. They will be featuring themes based on some of our most popular paper packets, plus two brand new paper packets. Each individual program features 122 double-sided, designed cards plus 10 unique Memory Protectors™ to hold creative combinations of these cards and your own photos. You get 44 – 4" × 6" cards (2 each of 22 designs) which come in 14 vertical and 8 horizontal designs. You also get 78 – 3" × 4" cards (3 each of 26 designs) which come in 10 vertical designs and 16 horizontal designs.

For me this means a couple things...I not only get to conitine to work in this multi-pocket, multi-photo format that I've grown to love and appreciate but I also get to offer it to my customers. My customers now have even more options and more benefits with CTMH and the quality of our products and compatibility of it all has just increased exponentially!

The papers in the Picture My Life™ scrapbooking program kits co-ordinate with our current paper packs AND stamps and embellishments. We will have the multi-pocket pages available to order separately in various styles and at competitive prices AND the best thing is they will be in the same awesome heavy duty quality that all of our current page protectors are made from!

Not only are we offering these new page protector styles, but we have also added protectors to work with the current Creative Memories pages and albums! We are aware of the turmoil and changes in the CM Company and with their current customers. We want to be able to offer some compatible products to those of you that LOVE the CM album system :)

This is what our future page protectors selection, available in our next catalog, is going to look like:

• Top Load (10 protectors with a 12" x 12" pocket and a gutter seam, $9.95)
• Top Load Value Pack (25 protectors with a 12" x 12" pocket and a gutter seam, $19.95)
• Side Load (10 protectors with a 12" x 12" pocket and a gutter seam, $9.95)
• Side Load Value Pack (25 protectors with a 12" x 12" pocket and a gutter seam, $19.95)
• Strap Side Load (25 protectors with a 12" x 12" pocket for strap binding, no gutter seam, $19.95)
• Design 1 (10 protectors – 6 vertical 6" × 4" pockets each, $9.95)
• Design 2 (10 protectors – 6 horizontal 4" × 6" pockets each, $9.95)
• Design 3 (10 protectors – 4 vertical 6" × 4" pockets & 4 horizontal 3" x 4" pockets each, $9.95)
• Design 4 (10 protectors – 4 horizontal 4" × 6" pockets & 4 vertical 4" × 3" pockets each, $9.95)
• Design 5 (10 protectors – 3 vertical 6" × 4" pockets & 6 horizontal 3" × 4" pockets each, $9.95)

So as you can see, in a couple months we will be able to help those of you that might not be scrapbookers but do have a shoe box or computer full of photos! You will be able to simple organize and jazz up those photos in a very simple format AND you will have those special moments into an album you can sit down and enjoy! For those of you that enjoy playing with paper and glue, this new program will extend your creativity and ability to get more done in less time AND it will add some more interest into your albums while at the same time allowing you to get more photos and moments recorded and stored for future reference! It's all Goodness on the horizon ;)

Moving onto current events ;) I am working on some layouts for a couple classes at the Ultimate Scrapbook Retreat this November 22-24th...I always look sooooo forward to getting away and getting creative but this month I wanted to offer a class or two with some of CTMH's new Christmas and Winter collections!

I am totally enjoying the new products and our new Artbooking Cricut cartridge...have you seen it in action? Do you have yours yet? Let me know if you want it added to your Christmas Wish List or have your husband/family message me and I can hook you up for the Holidays ;) Remember that with the purchase of your Artbooking Cricut cartridge, you've just earned one FREE 'star' item out of the Holiday from the Heart Gift Guide!!!

Here's a couple sneaks of my upcoming classes...

Thanks so much for hanging out here today, I love hearing from you so leave me a note in the comments below if you'd like :)

Everything's Good!

Oh yeah..I'm safe and sound...just MIA!

I'm not sure what's happened there? I seem to go through phases every year where I'm super busy with DT stuff and Close To My Heart stuff and Project Life stuff and I'm so 'on top' of my Blog!

Seeing as I'm taking a break from my two previous Design Team's I seem to have fallen off the proverbial 'Bloggin' Wagon'...I apologize to those of you that like to see my artwork or for those of you that enjoy my banter ;)

Sooooo, what have I been up to you ask? Well since my last post the kids have returned to school of course which means I have been working more at my new job at my local Scrapbook Shoppe and re-organizing spaces in the house! Right? cause those two automatically go together. LOL

I have lots of updates to share this month but I thought I'd talk a little bit about my Project Life journey to date :)

I've been playing with my Project Life album, working on it means that I am constantly chipping away at organizing my photos, figuring out what I want to print and then ordering them...then once I've got them into their sleeves for the week I like to add my cards and journalling and embellies of course ;)

As you can see, I am working on several weeks...print some photos...add some cards and journalling...it's like a work in progress all the time but I'm OK with that...I'm currently printing photos for Weeks 31-44...I'm only 13 weeks behind!!! HaHaHa

You know the funny thing is that once I finish organizing 'what' photos I want to print and where they are going to go in my Project Life page spread...then send them off to print...It will only take me a few hours to corner round them and then put them into their proper spots in my page sleeves...I'll take several more hours to choose cards and embellish and journal on each weeks' spread...but I will have that many weeks worth of memories into an album...so it's all good!

One of the things that I've discovered works for me is I record each of my weeks activities into a calendar...sometimes I need to refer to my iPhoto Library to refresh my memory on dates and when I do I like to flag my photos so that they will be easy to find for future printing. The other resource I've found on the World Wide Web is Project Life planning sheets. I print them out to plan my pages, especially seeing as I'm so many weeks behind. This way I can plan my week spread, figure out photos and photo placement and I record it so that I know where to slide everything in once I have all my photos printed! Makes everything so much easier to sit and work through all those details first so that once I've got my photos in the sleeves I can start the creative part of recording our memories.

I like the planner pages I've found on these sites:
marcypenner.com
zoepearndesigns.com

The more you look around online, the more help AND inspiration AND motivation you find :)

Spring Cleaning anyone?

Good Morning!

I always feel a little excited when I start cleaning up after Christmas, packing away those pretty treasures and cleaning the house after the tree mess and dust is uncovered on the furniture! 

Perhaps I'll re-arrange the odd Chatchki {nick-nack} and give it a new home around the house, I may even make a visit to HomeSense for a new toss cushion...If you know me at all, you'd know that there are at least 3 toss cushions in every space in my home! Maybe one day I'll post a photo to show you how crazy obsessed I am with toss cushions :) I feel a layout coming on...

In my need to organize every January, it also means it's time to re-cycle, donate or just plain 'ole throw out some stuff! 

So that being said, I'm taking photos of and listing LOTS of my Scrapbooking and Stamping goodness on my Blog here...Make sure you head on over to my STAMP SALE page...you see that tab above this post...yeah, well that's where you will find 37 used stamp images and 13 new ones...I will be adding at least 25 more later tomorrow even! It is a time consuming process to photograph and tag each one, but hopefully those stamps that were well loved with me can be well loved at their new homes too!

I will be creating kits of products and offering them up on the Products for Sale tab above, so check back often to see what's newly posted...I will give discounts for multiple purchases of stamps and product as well as FREE shipping for purchases over $75.00

Thanks for stopping by today and if you have big Spring Cleaning plans yourself, please let me know by leaving me a comment !

Can of Worms!!!

Well I know you have all heard the expression, 'Opening up a can of worms'! Today, I have done exactly that :) I am in the final hours of preparations for the 'Use Your Stash' class tomorrow 10AM sharp! Where we will be getting instruction from the talented Jennifer Edwardson in her 20 layouts workshop! Yes, you heard right, 20 BIG ones...and this time she has even promised a double-pager or two...actually I've heard it will be '5' double-layouts...phew! I'm freakin' out already!!!

Now in preparation for her classes we need to pack kits...20 of them usually, but in this case, 21 for tomorrow...what time is it now, OH, it's 4:24PM and I have officially packed 'ZERO' !!! Yes, because I was in the search for my kit instructions, which I only just found a couple hours ago! Off to pick kids up from school, get one kids' hair cut for the big grade 7 & 8's final Rec Centre dance tonight and tending to another kid who's been sick with the flu for four days now!!!

I am plotting out my layouts...now I'm looking at my pictures and saying to myself, 'Geez, these pics look familiar...have I already scrapbooked this?'...Have you asked yourself this question, or are you really organized and put all your finished layouts right into their proper places right after completing them...??? NOT ME ;)

So then I get this:

Spread them all out into piles...one kid, the other kid etc...

One holiday, the other holiday, Thanksgiving dinner, Christmas etc....

Everyday family stuff, my nieces (cause they get their own albums)...

You got it...about a hundred, at least, finished layouts that need to be filed into their proper albums, or start a new album...more like it! Tomorrow when I'm at the class, Sandra from The Memory Workshop, will have her store set up and I can buy some much needed albums!!!...anyways...you get the idea of the 'Can Of Worms' I've opened!

Off to pack those 20+ kits now! Check back later for some pics of some of the finished layouts from tomorrow's class...thanks for stopping by :)

I'm Organized and I'm Outta Here!!!

Well I'm packed for my weekend at the Ultimate! Record time and organization considering we just returned from the Maya Riviera in Mexico on Sunday...

I thought I'd touch base on my preparations 'to go' with you in the event you get to have a night or weekend of scrapbooking from time to time. You can also take these steps to organize layout kits ahead of time so when you have limited time, you are already to go!

I have learned from my years of retreats what works for me. Back in the day I would literally pack it all! Now I go with a plan...that is to literally plan each page :) It takes some time, I'll admit...but when you arrive and are ready to go...you do!

I'd love to tell you that I'm creatively designing original layouts when I am away on these weekends, but that is not so...I am the slowest scrapbooker I know when I'm busy dreaming up my own layouts...spending far too much time on the exact placement of brads and papers and photos ;( 

My solution to this is to come prepared with sketches!!! Now you've seen many layouts here and elsewhere featuring Close To My Heart, Let's Scrap, Page Maps, Scrapbook Challenges, Mojo Mondays, Scrapbooks Etc., Canadian Scrapbooker...you get the idea. There are so many FREE resources out there as well as books you can purchase that help get your ideas flowing. 

Close To My Heart sketch books

Sketches are fantastic when you're sitting with 7 photos in your hand that you really want to use and you don't know where to start! At a retreat or evening crop, your time is valuable and you'd like to get as much done there as possible because you have an opportunity to work uninterrupted!

Page Maps PDF's printed off website

I've printed off sketches, slipped them into page protectors and put them in order into a 3 ring binder, I have many Page Maps PDF's so it has it's own binder!

Scrapbooks Etc. sketches printed off website

Let Scrap Sketch site, printed off website gallery

• I start by looking at my photos on my computer
• I 'flag' only those photos I would like to use, this way I can refer to only the flagged photos when I'm looking at sketches...it's less overwhelming if I have oodles of photos on one event:)
• I'm usually thinking of layouts when I flip through my photos.
• Before I order photos to print, I look through my sketch binders/books and record the sketch name/number and which photos/layout I am using for them into a notebook which I will take with me.
• I only print out the photos I want to use for my layouts. If the sketch has a size other than the normal 4x6 I print out, I'll make a note of which photo I want to use in that spot and make sure to order only that photo for another size.
• When I'm planning one layout, I'll usually write in my notebook which photos I was thinking of putting where...this will save me time remembering what I was planning when I get to this layout.
•  I will also record some potential titles or info into my notebook so I can refer back to them while I'm working on the layout...sometimes I can think of several fun titles when I'm sorting through photos and I know I'll forget by the time I'm at my retreat ready to work :)
• Lastly, once I know my photos and hopefully my sketch too...I'll start looking at my papers and embellishments and try to pack up only items that are going to work with my photos and sketches

I have found that if I take the time to prepare for my weekends, not only do I exceed my own expectations of my productivity, but I also am not printing out photos that I won't use! I have wasted a lot of $$$ over the years with printing off way more than I ever use, and I don't know about you...but I have a very difficult time throwing them out...don't know why...I'm just freaky that way :)