Monday, August 23, 2010

Something New with Memory Works

Ever hear of them? If you haven't you will NOW! You see I have recently become and Independant Memory Works Scrapbooking Consultant! I am so excited to share this wonderful opportunity with all of you!


Where to start? Well, Memory Works offers all products at a reasonable price in one easy place! ME! They offer papers, chipboard, flowers, adhesives, bling, inks, and so much more! Some vendors they carry are Bo Bunny, Tim Holtz, My Mind's Eye, Fiskars, Basic Grey, Crate Paper, Cosmo Cricket, Jenni Bowlin, and so many more!

Not only can you get new products, but you can also search their clearance section and get some awesome stuff at an even more unbeleivable price! Memory Works also has a Monthly Kit Club! Yup! You heard right! A Monthly Kit Club! You can order month to month after you see what they have OR you could just get yourself a monthly subscription and be surprised when you receive your kits every month automatically! Either way, you win!

They also have an easy, fast and cost efficient way to scrap your memories. It's called Simple Stories. You can quickly get your pages put together with one of their easy to use kits.

Here's how it all works........ Visit their website, review the products available and send me an email with the products you would like to purchase. I will then send you an invoice via PayPal. Once I get confirmation of payment I will place your order for you. In 10 days or LESS your order will arrive! Right to your door! How great is that?! All the glory of new scrappy supplies without the hassle of driving all the way to your local scrap store for the newest stuff!

If you live in Des Moines, I can host a get together for you and your friends! You supply the people and the snacks (if you choose) and I will supply the door prizes, fun, products for you to see and a great giveaway! Just send me an email telling me you are intereseted and we'll go from there!

I am totally excited about this new endeavor and I know you WILL BE very happy with their products and their quick shipping.

NOTE: This is my personal website (Independent MemoryWorks Scrapbook Consultant #MW976737). MemoryWorks provided graphics, images, and content are copyrighted and cannot be copied, pasted, or duplicated in any format. General website graphics, designs, and images on this website are not representative of MemoryWorks.

Sunday, August 22, 2010

MEMORY WORKS

I think everyone has a "thang".  For some its cooking (not me).  For some its exercising (not me either). And for others its their work.  My thang is scrapbooking.

Its that thing that you devote a lot of time and focus to.  It usually comes naturally and is enjoyed to the fullest.

But I would argue that scrapbooking in particular is different than most thangs.  You don't have to be born with creativity oozing from your pores.  First of all, its a muscle that needs to be exercised to get stronger and better (and there goes my argument for not being an exerciser...). Second, there are so many products out there that do the work for you so you can have a stunning layout in no time and with no stress.

I have so many friends who feel like creativity is just not their thang, but at the same time they long to have the results...beautiful pages and albums that showcase their special memories.  If you're one of those people, I might have a solution for you.

I have recently become an Independant Sales Consultant for Memory Works...a direct sales scrapbook company, that allows scrapbookers of all levels to share their story and photos in a simple yet meaningful way.  The first kit created by Simple Stories is called Life Documented, a kit comprised of pre-designed cut apart elements in a variety of basic sizes. 

Memory Works is sending me a kit to review and I can't wait....I will post pictures and share the results when It arrives.

Friday, August 20, 2010

Quotes: Related to Scrapbooking

I love to collect quotes and use them in my scrapbooking when I'm at a loss for words or just want a little 'something' to enhance the journaling already on a page. I've even been known to use a quote as a page title before.

These are a few quotes that I've come across lately that really appealed to me in the way that they relate to scrapbooking (and photography also, really).

"The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources." Albert Einstein












 

This quote made me laugh when I first read it! Isn't this so true...people are pressured to come up with best and brightest ideas/concepts/products every day...but how many of them are 'truly' original? If scrappers are honest, I believe most would have to admit that they glean a great deal of inspiration from other scrappers...and most have done at least one scrap lift or two. In most situations, people often seem to want to hide their 'sources' and take credit for themselves. However, scrapper's tend to be a bit of a different breed in this respect. They openly share their work, their sources, and encourage others to take inspiration from it.

"Imagination and fiction make up more than three-quarters of our real life."
Simone Weil

This one is just thought provoking to me...how much of what we portray through our scrapbooking (or photography) is 'real'? For example, if you were to look through the scrapbooks I've created for my daughter, you would think that she's a perfect angel. She is, sometimes, but she's certainly had her share of 'moments'. However, as of yet, no many, if any, of those 'moments' have made it into her scrapbook. I guess that the last thing I think of doing when she's slamming doors and yelling, "FINE!" at the top of her lungs is grabbing my camera. I should work on that. After all, she deserves to be reminded of those moments when she's older, right? Like when she has a child of her own slamming doors! :-)

"We write to taste life twice, in the moment and in retrospection."
Anais Nin
To me, this one sums up the entire reason why we scrapbook...and why we take pictures in the first place. Isn't it so that we can remember the people/events/moments in our lives that shaped us? And isn't it interesting that often the thought or emotion that we had 'in the moment' can often be so different than the one we have 'in retrospection'. 

What thoughts/ideas do these quotes bring to mind for you with respect to your scrapbooking? Do you have others quotes that you have come across that have made you stop and think along these lines? Please share!


SCRAPBOOK TIP

Scraplift one of your own pages!


If the design worked for you once,


it will work for you again!


Update the colors, patterns


& design elements, leaving the


general layout intact


- it can be our little secret!!!

Saturday, August 14, 2010

Keep on Learning.......

Starting this blog has been fun... I love scrapbooking and teaching others. Scrapbooking is a hobby that continues to come out with new things and new techniques to learn. Everything is a building block to take, alter, and make your own. I have recently started reading blogs for inspiration and ideas and to learn. Tim Holtz's blog is great. Lots of ideas and inspiration. I encourage you to take a look. Not only will you learn new techniques and tools but he will be giving away prizes! You will find it at www.timholtz.typepad.com. Enjoy!

Another great place to look is your favorite company's website or blog. Bo Bunny has projects on their blog. There are also a lot of groups on Facebook too. Explore. Learn. Create.

Creative Road Blocks......and ways to get around them.....

How many of you have hit your own creative road block, or have in the past? It is frustrating, aggravating, and just plain un-inspiring! Here are some ways that you can bust through and come out loving your layout, and being excited that you were able to just finish it!!!

~Sketches: I love using sketches! What I find so great about them is that my layout never ends up looking anything like the sketch. I use them for inspiration. When you find yourself stuck, look at sketches, even if you didn't start from a sketch. My favorite places to get sketches is http://www.pagemaps.com/ Becky Fleck has some awesome sketches and an archive of them on her website.

~Quotes! Lyrics! Poems! : There are so many of these out there, and so many of them "speak to our hearts". I loving looking for inspiration from quotes, lyrics, & poems. I did a page once where I wrote out the lyrics to the Rascal Flatts song, "God Bless the Broken Road". It was my background for my layout. Journaling is very difficult for me, and looking to these help me get over that hurdle.




"Scrap-lifting" : Have you ever just seen a layout that just WOWs you? Or maybe a piece of a layout. Take inspiration from that and make it yours. Change it up a bit to make it fit your layout and colors... Look at magazines, books, the Internet.... there is so much out there from which to draw inspiration!

These are just a few things that help me... but if you really look INSPIRATION IS EVERYWHERE! Just the other day I pulled out a page from the Martha Stewart magazine... it was a picture of what you can do with dried leafs and flowers... I loved the colors, the shape of the leaves, it was just fabulous.