Scrapbooking Your Vacation

Good Afternoon Ladies!
As I get the family packed for a trip to the beach for the Fourth of July, I wanted to take a moment to share with you some of my favorite tips for scrapbooking your vacation memories. If we take a trip for five days or more, I will make a travel album just for that trip, but all of the following ideas can be applied to any vacation, whether it is just an overnight or a month long holiday.

1. Keep a small journal, and take five minutes to jot down what happened on that day. I have done this with every trip I have been on since I started scrapbooking, and it is extremely helpful if you plan to scrapbook the trip well after you have been home.

2. Bring your camera- everywhere you go. I always pack a plastic bag to store my camera so it can be protected from the elements, along with an extra battery and picture card.

3. Add "local color" to your journaling. For our trip to Maui, I included several Hawaiian phrases into my journaling. This helps anyone looking through your scrapbooks to feel like they have gone on vacation with you.

4. Focus on the photos. Try to vary your shots between close-up and wide angle photographs. Don't forget to put your family in front of those special places like Cinderella's castle or historic monuments.

5. Choose papers and embellishments that have a timeless look. Because you want the focus of the album to be on the vacation memories themselves, choose supplies that will not overwhelm your photos and journaling. I tend to pick a company that has coordinating papers and embellishments for each of my vacation albums and use the products on every layout.

Don't forget the sunscreen!
Jody

AMERICAN CRAFT GIVEAWAY

Hey Girls,
Don't forget to come in and take advantage of this great giveaway by American Craft while supplies last(ribbons, buttons, pen, rubons) . Receive your goody bag when you purchase their supplies-details are listed by the products as the store. I love that the manufacturers are rewarding you for purchasing their product.

Using Your Masters Kits

I just finished a scrapbook of my daughter's senior trip last summer. I like to tell a story in my books (like a real "storybook") so I always include a title page and a closing page.

My closing page usually ends with a note from me saying how much I enjoyed working on the book along with a few thoughts on the events depicted in the book. Sometimes I put a photo on the title/closing pages, but I didn't do that for this book, I put a pocket page instead. Then I ALWAYS sign and date it. For the title/closing pages in "Maddie's Senior Trip" book, I used leftover paper from one of my Master's Kits.

AWESOME **NEW**ORGANIZATION BAGS

WOW, you really have to come see these awesome new bags by Creative Options. They are so cool and stylish. Stop in soon, Christy is showing off her new birthday present.

MEMORY MANIA IDEA BOOK

WOW, we almost have all of the photography finished for the idea book. It's amazing how long it takes to get the lighting, etc set up for this shoot. But the cool part was looking at the incredible layouts in person, they are SOO MUCH more impressive in person than in the emails, and I thought I loved them through email. Thanks so much to everyone that used the 2 gallon bags, these made our job so much easier. Its been an incredible journey with the idea book, but there are a few weeks left of 24/7 computer work, so wish me luck.

BLOG CHALLENGE

THe challenge for the next 2 weeks is to create different projects with the SCRAP O DEX! This little product is GREAT, I'm dying to take a few minutes and put my favorite photos in it and decorate it as my album for my coffee table. Another awesome idea is for someone for their office desk, recipes, WOW me, what can you do with it!!!

Have a Merry Monday!!!!!

Tip/Technique Thursday...a day late!!!

Hey guys! Okay, so I'm a day late with my tip...sorry! Hope you can get some ideas from my latest layout - I had trouble coming with just one, so here are a few tips that I used in this layout:

1. Don't be limited by printed titles - this cute printed paper from Karen Foster had words about MOVING, and I loved it! But when I put it on the page, I thought...this isn't her HOME really, so I scratched out HOME, ran it through my printer to change the words, and now it reads "Apartment Sweet Apartment"!!


2. Use that new Flex Ruler from Bo Bunny! See how awesome my curves are?


3. Use a sketch!! I hardly ever scrap from scratch anymore - WHY should I when it's so easy with a sketch to guide me?? I can't WAIT till that new Memory Mania Idea book comes out - it's got over 50 sketches!!

Have a Happy Father's Day with your families!

Allison

BLUE LIGHT SPECIAL

Hey Scrappers,
Don't miss out on these awesome items that are 25% off for our Father's Day Sale June 14-30; Select items are scattered throughout the store are 25% off, including some brand new items. There are little signs on the items so it will be easy to see. Stop in soon.

BLOG CHALLENGE

Ok, let's get scrappin'. Seeing all of these awesome layouts in my inbox everyday for submissions for the idea book has me chomping at the bit to scrapbook, if I could just finish this book, I'm so ready to use it to scrap. So to inspire you too is our BLOG challenge for the week -- AMERICAN CRAFT, not only is there an awesome little free gift when you buy American Craft products this week at Memory Mania, but those same products are the BLOG challenge: USE 3 or more American Craft papers, rub-ons & embellishments. GOOD LUCK!!!!!!!

Hey Scrappers,
Check out Darlene's challenge with the flex ruler & Tinkering ink;
http://dev1.boomersdomain.com/gallery_memorymaniac/displayimage.php?pos=-246 and Michelle's post http://dev1.boomersdomain.com/gallery_memorymaniac/displayimage.php?album=lastup&cat=0&pos=0; Michelle used the flex ruler to spell SWEET; Awesome job girls.

KUDOS , Michelle is the winning of the BLOG drawing this week.

Tammy

Memory Mania Masters Kit Club

Have you seen the new link on the website for Masters Kit Club. Michelle Sanders has created an awesome blog just for the masters Kit club. She has invited some awesome guest designers, in addition to our awesome design team member layouts posted on the gallery. Tania Allen hosted the masters free crop this week and it was a huge hit. They have scheduled the next crop for Monday, July 2nd 6-9pm. Hope you can come.

MASTERPIECES

Sorry that you haven't heard from me lately, I'm buried under all of these layout submissions. WOW-they are awesome, I'm getting about 10 per day and still hoping to see more from my southern friends, this is your big chance to showcase your family in a magazine that will be distributed across the U.S., I hope you'll give it a try.

Update on the idea book. Studio S (Shannon LeBlanc) was AWESOME and offered her studio for us to photograph all of the wonderful layouts. Jill did an awesome job photographing the 100 layout pages that have already been chosen for the book through first set of sketches. Jill and I were calling the store every few hours to order scrapbook goodies after seeing them used on these awesome pages. I can't wait until its complete, you're going to just love seeing so many double-page spreads. Have a great day, next on the agenda today is Allison & I will be creating summer camp layouts (10 of them today) wish us luck.

tammy

NEW ARRIVALS!!!!!!!!

OKAY Ladies, You must come by the store and check out the awesome new clear stamp storage system that just arrived by Crop In Style. You can store them, hang them, add to them, and put them into the tote for travel. They are just great. And if you are a clear stamp "Collector" like I am them you will definitely want these. This system had Jessica screeching with excitement when we opened the boxes. Stop by today before they are all gone!!!!

CHALLENGE

Don't forget Christy's awesome challenge this week- Tinkering Ink & Flex Ruler.

BLUE LIGHT SPECIAL

Blue Light Special this week is Technique Tuesday Stamps 30% off with this coupon-expires 6/12/07.