It seems like just yesterday that I started this blog to write about my Scrapbook Obsession…
Well, actually, it was back in January 2007. I’m happy to say that I just wrote my 100th post, and received my 20,000th hit! And I just rolled over 1,000 posts on the CKMB. So…..I feel a RAK coming on! Stay tuned, I have to decide how to do the RAK. I have an entire set of the Mike’s stamps #3 that I bought just for the occasion. Is that a good prize or do most of you already have them??? Please give me input – I want to give a good RAK.
Here is a pic of the Mikes #3 stamps, and see THIS POST for some more info on the stamps:
Anyway, this blog has been just amazing and so fun. I love writing this and mostly hearing your comments and input, so keep ’em coming!
Lovely blog readers, I would like to introduce you to the new online scrapbook store of a fellow CKMB member. Ladies, meet ALL MOMENTS REMEMBERED. AMR, meet the ladies. I’m asking that you please go check out this store, keep an eye on it as it grows, and support it as much as you can. Tell your scrapper friends. Put it in your Favorites. In other words, buy something! She has stinkin’ cute stuff…
Okay, here’s the story. I ‘met’ the owner of AMR on the CK MESSAGE BOARD. She was on the first or second day of opening her online store and was posting messages to get the opinions of the dedicated shoppers…er, I mean…scrappers over there. Her name is Stacey aka ‘Scraphappy1yahoo’ (the link to her BLOG is down there on the bottom right). I could just sense the excitement and enthusiasm from this girl. She was super-receptive to our ideas and thoughts on products. We started ‘talking’ via IM, CKMB posts, and our blogs. I’ve been very impressed with her drive to make her store successful, especially how she has gone from computer newbie to developing her own shopping website in a matter of days or weeks. Like me, she is a stay at home mom who is just trying to cherish the time with her kids…and get a little scrapping in too. Just the other day, her Daddy had a heart attack and she has been very open in sharing her feelings with the message board and her blog readers. Stacey has been flooded with well wishes for her dad, I think because she is so genuine that you can’t help but love her. So my goal here is just to share her online store with you, hoping that you will support this hard-working lady with her store as it grows. She has virtually no advertising budget, so it’s got to be word of mouth. And check out her blog, it’s a good read.
The best part is that Stacey has a SPECIAL OFFER for CKMB’ers. I asked her to write something to introduce herself and explain the special. So, heeeeeerrrrrreeesss Stacey!
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I am a sahm and my hubby is a teacher. I have four kids, two teens and two little ones. I live in a very small town with NO LSS and only a dollar store for supplies. I have always loved scrapbooking and love heritage stuff. I have done up our guest room with all antiques and old black and white photos. So, after being tired of not having scrapbook items, I decided to open my own online store. I visited Lasting Memories in WA this summer and saw scrapbook items I only dreamed of. I was in shock how much wonderful stuff is out there. I think everyone, even small-towners, should have wonderful scrapbook products. So here I am…. It is starting out slow. I do not have a large amount of money sitting around waiting to be spent on supplies. So I have had to use little funds to get the store up and going. I do classes and with those and selling product from home I have been able to keep adding lines to my store front. I read the story about Kay from K & Company, how she started in her house and 7 years later is HUGE as we know her now. I want to be there. I want to make sure everyone has a chance to scrapbook with quality, fun supplies. I hope every week I am able to order products from a new line and fill my store up. As for advertising, I rely on friends and family to spread the word. I have been found in the search engines finally too! They told me it could take 6 months to a year before search engines found me and I did it in 3 weeks. Yahoooo. This is all from a girl who has only known how to e-mail on the computer until now. I have spent many late nights building my site all on my own and pulling my hair out figuring it out. I have to say I do feel proud of myself. I have been a full-time MOM for 18 years now and not done things for myself and this is a first. I am very excited about my new adventure.
CKMBers discount………. 35% off entire order…… When you check out, put in the message box CKMB and I will take the 35% off. I appreciate any business and really would appreciate others passing my site name off to others they know.
Stacey www.allmomentsremembered.com
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Scrap Happy :)
Thanks to a wonderful scrapper on the CKMB ~ Andrea aka briefus ~ I have photos of each set of the ever popular “Mike’s stamps”. For the uninitiated, these are acrylic stamps found in the $1 bin at Michaels Craft Store. They release one set at a time and seem to sell out pretty fast. I have all but the Jo-ann/AC Moore set because I don’t have those stores here. But that’s ok ~ I love the other 3 sets and have used them on cards and layouts. They even have little acrylic blocks for $1. But, be careful, the blocks scratch easily! I hope you are enjoying your Mike’s stamps and that this will be helpful in figuring out if you have a complete set. My Mike’s still has some of set #2 so if you are in the US and would like me to see if I can get the ones your missing, please Comment. I will RAK them to you!!!
A young lady from the CKMB is on the design team (DT) for a new challenge blog set to start up 9-1-07. On the challenge blog – CATEGORY STORIES – they are giving teasers…SO intriguing! And on Deanna/CKMB Deannamt’s personal BLOG, she is having a RAK if you leave a comment. Go check ’em out!
I don’t think I even need to say anything. Look, and you shall be amazed…
FP From the Garden 12×12 acrylic stamps
FP In My Words 12×12 acrylic stamps
FP Natural & Devoted 12×12 True paper
FP 8×8 True rub ons
FP Bloom 12×12 Overlay
On the one hand, there is not much that strikingly different from their last line. But because that was one of my favorite scrapbooking lines ever, I’m lovin’ this too. Overlays: Nice for us non-digi scrappers to get that pretty look of flowers and vines kind of outlining our photos. Paper: Such rich colors and subtle designs that still draw the eye. Rub ons: Don’t know if I’ll use the frog, but the flowers, hearts and sun will be fun to play with. The picture/journaling frame rub on is unique. And I’ve always loved that Dr. Seuss quote. My favorite items are the 12×12 stamps, especially the In My Words. The $40 price tag continues to be a bit of an investment, but completely worth it considering how much use you could get out of that. I love the date/time swirl in the upper right corner, and journaling on a butterfly wing. What are your thoughts on the new Fancy Pants? Am I the only FP Fan Club member?
While I was checking out ALL the new stuff on their beautiful WEBSITE, I found some more stuff – hey, these are different:
FP Fashion Sense Splash pins
FP Fashion Sense Splash Felt Shapes
Yeah, check out their website. You can easily see larger images of all their stuff by just holding your cursor over each item. And on their BLOG, they have a contest going through 8-31-07 where you can win some free product, just for submitting a layout or project. There will be 5 winners. Go for it!
…by Leslie at ORANGINADREAMS…check her out, a very talented scrapper.
What were you doing 10 years ago? I was a “young married”, just got a big promotion, learning a whole new line of work.
What were you doing 1 year ago? Dreaming of quitting a full time job so I could be with my kids more (it became a reality 8 months ago…)
Five snacks you enjoy: French Onion Sun Chips, Pirate’s Booty, string cheese, celery and PB, Ritz Bits
Five songs you know all the lyrics to: Dave Matthews Band “Crash” (I’m stealing Leslie’s), Rascal Flatts “My Wish For You”, Journey “(every single song)”, Aretha Franklin “Respect”, Olivia Newton-John “Have You Never Been Mellow”
5 Things you would do if you were a milionaire: Build a scrapbook studio and all the goodies I want without guilt, pay off our house, spend a summer in Italy, buy my kids something cool they have always wanted, fly to Chicago and watch a taping of the Oprah show
5 Bad Habits: Lying, cheating, swearing, stealing, procrastination (only the last one is real)
5 Things You Like To Do: Scrapbook (duh), read novels, watch reality shows, play Uno with my kids, e-mail friends
5 Things You Will Never Wear Again: Mary Janes, hoop earrings, Dittos, leggings (wait, let me think about that one, they WERE comfy), green eyeliner
5 Favorite Toys: MacBook Pro laptop, Cricut, digital camera, my dog’s frisbee, Starbucks coffee press
Where will you be in 10 years: Right here, same place…why leave? I got it good.
Went to WAL*MART to find those cute chipboard letters I talked about in THIS POST. My WM is always behind the times, so I wasn’t too surprised to NOT find them. But I did find some other things to buy, because they were having a big sale in the scrapbook aisle:
Foofala “Hall Pass” pack, which is school papers, stickers, punch outs and 3 twills for $5 (was $7)
Colorbok “Neutral” Scrap Pack with papers, punch outs and alphabets in a distressed wood type of theme – very cute – for $3.50 (was $5)
Autumn Leaves/Rhonna Farrer “Designer” pack of 120 sheets, 4 each of 20 patterns and 10 reversible solids for $8 (was $11). This paper is very pretty and, for 8 cents/sheet, totally worth it. It’s the same line that Target sells, but I’ve only seen the mattes stack and 8×8 stack at Target. This pack is 12×12.
Speaking of Autumn Leaves, the Modwink pack (pinks/oranges) was on sale for $5 (from $7).
In fact, I think ALL of their paper packs were on sale including the textured cardstock packs by Colorbok.
If you’re in need of post albums, it appeared that most were on sale including 8×8 and 12×12. On 12×12’s, the ones in the $16-20 range were going for $11-13, including that black Pioneer album with the white embroidered flower design. For back to school, Walmart had a bunch of pencil boxes out for 98 cents.The cool thing was they had the average size that you would put pencils in, then a larger size (paper tearing rulers, longer scrapbook tools?) and a smaller size (embellies, small punches?). They were clear on the bottom with a blue, pink or green lid. Very cute and a cheap idea for storage. Anyway, I hope all these sale items mean they’re getting ready to put out some new items….like cute chipboard letters, perhaps? If you find anything good at Wally World, let us know!
Just something different, for fun :) I saw this over on Baldwin’s Girl’s BLOG. Btw, check out her post today about muffins. A great recipe and funny story to got with them. She is also a talented photographer (see, that’s kinda SBR)…
You go to the COLORGENICS WEBSITE, do a quick exercise picking out colors, and they give you a diagnosis. Here is mine; I added my commentary in ITALICS.
“You are a very sensitive person and you try hard (perhaps a little too hard) to make favourable impressions and to be recognised by your peers. But you have that inherent need to feel appreciated and admired and you are easily hurt if all of your endeavours go by unappreciated or not acknowledged. Stop trying so hard. Unfortunately, all of this is true. I am too senstive and easily get my feelings hurt, especially when I feel a strong loyalty to someone and they don’t return that. You wouldn’t know it though, because I hold my true emotions very close. I don’t believe in hurting someone’s feelings just because they have hurt me. I DO have a need to feel appreciated and admired; don’t we all? One great thing about this blog is that I get such positive feedback and it really truly makes me feel good. I love the feeling that people I don’t even know IRL are reading my words. Just a frustrated unpublished writer, I guess. (But Thank You from the bottom of my heart). And the converse of that is that it makes me feel good to read other blogs and leave positive comments, hopefully making that person feel good as well.
You are a true extrovert, frivolous and outgoing. You need to feel in control of any situation. If matters are not proceeding according to plan you tend to get extremely irritable and perhaps become difficult to live with. The only statement here I don’t agree with is that I’m a true extrovert, frivolous and outgoing. I’m quite the opposite, very shy until I get to know you well (then you can’t shut me up!). I’m very planned out and a worrier, so “frivolous” couldn’t be more wrong. I could be considered frivolous with the amount of money I spend on scrapbook supplies, but I don’t think that’s what Colorgenics meant, LOL. I will admit to controlling and being irritable when things don’t go to plan. Hey, I’m a work in progress. “God’s not done with me yet.”
Loneliness is soul destroying and at this time you feel lost and lonely, perhaps it is because you feel so frustrated that you are prepared to go out of your way to become emotionally involved with someone who could accept you for what you are. You are egocentric, antagonistic and quick to take offence, although it must be said, you can control your pent-up up emotion and thus avoid open conflict. The lost/lonely/frustrated at lack of connection part does hit a personal note right now. I hope I’m not egocentric and antagonistic (!), but the rest is correct unfortunately. I do detest conflict and avoid it at all cost.
Presently, you are experiencing stress because of restriction on your independence. You need and seek respect from other people and it is essential that they appreciate you for yourself and not for what they would like you to be. You have your own beliefs and convictions and you would like to be respected for them. You are anxious to avail yourself of every opportunity that may come your way but nevertheless, come what may, you have the need to control your own destiny without imposed limitations or restrictions. I’m not identifying with this right now. Not feeling restricted or unappreciated. I AM anxious to avail myself of every part time, work from home business opportunity that comes my way!
You are trying to build up your own position and you resist all external influences. You insist that you are your own person and you will not tolerate any outside interference. Decisive and proud, you are true managerial material. Ouch, managerial material?? Is that a compliment or an insult? Just kidding, I’ve had many great managers in my career, just never wanted to be one. Don’t like telling others what to do, and never wanted to be the one where everyone quits talking when I walk into the break room. I AM decisive and proud – yeah baby!”
Well, that was a bit like going to a fortune teller or reading a long and insulting horoscope, wasn’t it? But I recommend you do it. Maybe you will learn something about yourself, or at least have a good chuckle. Comment below if you do a Colorgenics on yourself, k? I’d love to hear if you agreed with your results.
As you will see from this PREVIOUS POST, I love and adore KI Memories products. Their lines are so cheerful, colorful, and fun. If I could pick one word to describe KI, it would be “happy”. Don’t you agree? I do a lot of kid pages and I often find myself reaching for KI products. I think they have also been innovative in coming out with new things, especially their use of acrylic – before everyone else was doing it – with things like Icicles and the alphabet soup letters. I also love their albums: adorable and well made. Well, I’ve found a kindred spirit named Janine (CKMB shout out!) who calls herself a “serious KI Memories junkie” and when you read her BLOG POST, you will see how devoted she is to the cause. And if you have a Big Lots near you, please know that I am severely jealous…but if you go there and find any KI, feel free to brag about it in Comments or post a link to your blog!
Thanks to Chris/Chrispea over at CKMB for sharing her great find! HERE is the thread. She says the brand name is Kurio and they only cost $3.88. Sweet deal.
I think we’ve all been loving ribbon and collecting it for long enough now, that we’re all in search of innovative ways to store it. So anytime I see a cool idea, I will try to pass it along.
She said it’s a strainer she got on sale & she has each ribbon kind of rolled up close to the hole it’s coming out of. I don’t have quite that much ribbon yet, but I will keep this in mind for the future. I do love to buy ribbon so you never know. There seems to be two kinds of ribbon storage – the super neat, untangled but time-consuming to put away kind and the messy, sometimes tangled but never crimped, easy to put away kind. I’m always in a rush so I vote for the first kind, but I can see how something “messy” like this would drive some of you crazy. And if you have a cat………forget it.
Word on the street is that it will retail for about $80 (just for The Slice, “extras” are extra :). Also that it will be released late 2007/early 2008. I’m diggin this thing. Looks like it will do diecutting like my Cricut, but much easier to take to crops. And being able to utilize the computer with it, including my beloved Mac! Bring it on, baby… What are your thoughts?
Edited 8-21-07 to add:
I e-mailed from The Slice website asking for more information, and here is the response I received…
“Thank you for your recent inquiry concerning the revolutionary new handheld personal digital shape cutter, the Slice™. Pricing for the Slice™ has yet to be determined but it is the Tinnus goal to keep the cutter and accessories within the budget of the average scrapbooker. We are presently addressing the manufacturing details with the Slice™ being available for retail in the near future. Please continue to check our website www.tinnus.com for the product release date.
About 5 years ago, I guess, I discovered that you could buy scrapbook stuff from QVC. This was not long after I became Scrapbook Obsessed, so I was new to the sport and didn’t have a bunch of stuff. QVC was a Godsend! Their prices are so good and they often package things in a bundle so you get a very good Value (that puts the V in QVC!). Over the years, I’ve ordered many scrapbook items from QVC: rolls of WackyTac, album kits, paper packs, embellishment kits, you name it. Lisa Bearnson from CK, one of my favorite scrap celebrities, often hosts segments of the show. She is a treat to watch, especially when her cohost is David Venable. They also have other great hosts from the scrapbooking world, like Donna Downey, Heidi Swapp, Melody Ross (Chatterbox), Nancy Hill (DCWV), etc. Well, since I’ve been pretty stocked up with supplies for some time now, I haven’t ordered anything from QVC in quite a while. But I still tivo and watch the shows every time they’re on. I enjoy seeing the products – even if I don’t get to call them my own – and see how products I may already have are used on pages. I also like to watch them demonstrate new tools. I’ve seen everything from the Basic Grey notch tool to the Karen Foster Clickit to the Basic Grey file set demo’d on QVC. In fact, I didn’t think I wanted a Cricut but once I saw Lisa B. demonstrate it on QVC, I bought one! So, earlier this week, QVC had a full 24 hours of craft and scrapbooking shows called a Craft Fair. They said it would be the last one for this year. I gotta’ tell ya, the message boards were hoppin’ over this event. Part of the excitement was that the TSV (Today’s Special Value) was a Silhouette electronic die cutting machine. HERE is where Lisa wrote about it on her blog. The Silhouette sold out, as did many of the other items presented. I couldn’t justify purchasing it, as I have a Cricut already. But it’s been fun to hear the excitement on CKMB from those who purchased one – an awesome new toy to play with! One thing that was cool was Lisa B. used it to cut out some wall art (“Bearnson est. 1989”) from thin vinyl, and it works like a vinyl cling on the wall. I could see myself having some fun with that, when I think about having access to ANY font on my computer with the Silhouette! (Go see THE WALL CLING and some of her other Silhouette creations). Well, I couldn’t resist this time and I did make two smaller purchases. One was a set of Basic Grey papers which is a mixture of various lines, some current, some retired.
“Includes Blush, Color Me Silly, Dasher, Fusion, Hang 10, Lilykate, Oh Baby Boy, Oh Baby Girl, Perhaps, Phoebe, Aged & Confused, Romani, Gypsy, Scarlet’s Letter, Skate Shoppe, Stella Ruby, and Urban Couture designs.”
The other was a pack of 160 sheets of Bazzill cardstock, which was a screamin’ deal, even when you include shipping.
“Includes four seasonal palette collections. Each collection includes four sheets each of 10 colors. Total of 40 colors and 160 sheets.”
Note: For a complete explanation of my QVC purchase, please see this OLD POST.
I can’t wait to get these so I can fondle my new supplies. (Don’t look at me funny, you do it too!). All in all, the QVC craft fair was a fun event this time. It seemed there was a certain excitement in the air, more so than other times, and everyone was watching and talking about it…they still are talking about it. I hope you were able to catch some or all of the shows, either on tv or on QVC ONLINE (click on Watch QVC-TV LIVE). if you did watch QVC, what did you think? Did you buy anything? Confess here…
I love getting the awards issue every year. It’s cool to see what your peers think about all the scrapbook items out there. This year I’m actually going to vote, and I hope you do too! Here is THE LINK to do so. The deadline is October 15, 2007 and they are giving away 10 copies of the CK Scrapbook Hall of Fame, Volume 9. Sounds like a winner…
Do you ever feel like the unpopular kid in the schoolyard? I read lots of scrapper blogs and people are being tagged all over the place, but no one tags me :( Usually I just hijack other people’s tags, but this time I actually got tagged – by Miss Rachel over at ONE LIFE ONE CHANCE. Thanks Rachel!
Edited 8-22-07 to add: Okay, I mispoke and when I tell a lie, I try to fix it. I HAVE been tagged before, by Miss Karen/Karooch at Scraps of Mind. Sometimes I write these posts at 2am and I’m not always thinking straight. My apologies & please go say hi to Karen – she has an awesome BLOG.
Here are the rules:
1. You have to post these rules before you give the facts.
2. Players, you must list one fact that is somehow relevant to your life for each letter of their middle name. If you don’t have a middle name, use the middle name you would have liked to have had.
3. When you are tagged you need to write your own blog-post containing your own middle name game facts.
4. At the end of your blog-post, you need to choose one person for each letter of your middle name to tag.
5. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.
Here is mine: LYNN
L: Lazy. At my core, I’m a lazy person. I truly enjoy just laying around accomplishing nothing – reading a novel, looking through scrap mags or watching reality tv. I have to force myself daily to get out of bed and be a productive citizen.
Y: Young at Heart. With every birthday, I can’t believe I’m that age. I still feel like a teenager or twenty-something inside. My laugh lines betray me, but I will always be young inside.
N: No Smoking. Sorry to any smokers out there, but I will never be among you. I really dislike the smell of cigarettes, especially how it hangs around afterwards in your clothes, etc. Luckily no one in either of my extended families smokes. Sweet…
N: Nervous Nelly. I’m nervous about a lot of the things my kids and DH do. I always worry something bad will happen. I ‘Need’ to work on this ASAP.
Okay, now I get to tag 4 people. I know this Tag has made the rounds for awhile – hope I’m getting some who haven’t done it!
Please read this INTERESTING ARTICLE. It’s addresses the question: Which comes first, our enjoyment of everyday moments or our scrapbooking? This is something I think about once in a while, something that bothers me, actually. I’ve always been a picture taker, ever since elementary school. But since I’ve started scrapbooking, I’ve noticed a feeling that I ‘must’ capture each designated moment on film. Sometimes I find myself not enjoying a family get together or vacation trip as much as I could because I’m so focused on getting good photos (to scrapbook, of course). And yet I still feel a compulsion to do this; it’s almost like, if I don’t scrap it, it didn’t happen. I remember a few years ago on the 4th of July, after I spent 2/3 of the fireworks show trying to figure out how to photograph them with my new camera, my exasperated husband turned to me and said, “Could you just put the camera down and enjoy the fireworks with your kids?” Ouch. And it hurt because he was right. Anyway, I just thought this was an article many of us could relate to. My favorite quote: “Are my experiences a reflection of scrapbooking instead of the other way around? Has my memory card usurped my memory?” How about you? Is your hobby driving your experiences, or have you found some kind of balance?
Well, technically, this isn’t scrapbook related…except that I originally found this talented writer on CATHY Z’s BLOG…but…
One of my all time favorite blogs is Dooce, which is written by Heather Armstrong. Look, she’s down there in my Blog Roll. Her humor is not for the faint hearted, which means she’s right up my alley. And her photography is amazing. Well, check out this ENTRY ON HER BLOG! She just had something published in a special issue of Real Simple magazine called Family. Coincidentally, I recently subscribed to Real Simple and this issue just arrived yesterday. So I’m off to check it out – CONGRATS HEATHER!
I took my 40% coupon to Michaels today, intent on picking up the new idea book, Super Fast Pages with 4×6 Photos…
I’ve been wanting to get this because I love to use uncropped 4×6 photos on my layouts whenever I can.
But then I saw this:
Prominently displayed on an end cap, was the new DCWV collection, Rock Star! I had heard mention of it over on the CKMB, but wasn’t that intrigued. But when I saw the gorgeous flocked papers with such cool designs, the light bulb went on above my head: “Duh, you just went to two concerts, Americanmom!” Then there was the chipboard accents – I was sold. The idea book – which I already had in my hot little hands – went back in the rack. I got 3 sheets of the paper, and used my coupon on the chipboard set. All this Rock Star stuff will be perfect for my concert layouts of Aerosmith and Rascal Flatts. Don’t you love it when something just comes together like that?
Starting on Thanksgiving Day, DIY will start running a Martha Stewart show that includes scrapbooking. See the article HERE. According to the article, “The initial 39 episodes will feature segments culled from more than a decade of content from MSLO’s lifestyle TV series ‘Martha Stewart Living.'”
I might watch the first few episodes to try and catch some scrapbooking. I’m still curious as to what her “scrapbooking style” is. But doubt I’ll be tuning in for all 39 episodes. You gonna watch?
