Since we’re officially in the shopping season (although I am in a great deal of denial about this) I thought over the next littlet bit I would share a few ideas for gifts for scrapbookers.

First up is Angie Pedersen’s Book of Me series of books. She’s offering free shipping and personalized signing of all books. I have to say that I just love the thought of doing “me” stuff around the holidays. After all, the whole season is so busy that it is a nice break to stop and think about my “ME” album. And if that means bringing a friend scrapper into the fold, then so be it.

See ya at Angie’s…

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One of my goals for ScrappinCabinet is to do more product reviews of all things related to scrapbooking. I mean, we all buy a ton of stuff to feed our hobby…right? (We may not ‘fess up to our significant others exactly how much, but we certainly do.) My plan is to share what I love and what I don’t so you can at least head into some of these purchases with your eyes open.
 
Today I found a website called ReviewMe, that just might help me do more scrapbooking reviews. This site is designed for companies and bloggers to come together to get the word out about their stuff. It works like this – bloggers agree to be approached to do reviews and companies will pay them a small stipend for doing so.

Before you start worrying that I will review something and say glowing things about it just to get this fee – forget about it. First of all, I would not do that to a fellow scrapper. You may know that my mom reads ScrappinCabinet and frequently buys stuff I recommend. (Case in point - she has her own discount code at ScrapYourTrip, which she discovered here.)

Bottom line - you can rest assured that I would only recommend something on ScrappinCabinet that I would suggest to my mom. Besides that, ReviewMe does not allow advertisers to require a positive review and each review must mention that it is a sponsorship, advertisement or paid review. I do agree that full disclosure is best. So, on that note, I am happy to say this is a sponsored review of ReviewMe, which so far, I love.

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Check this out - Scrapbooks Etc. has an online scrapbooking TV show called Scrapbook LifeStyle TM. The episodes are short and sweet and pack some great tips, techniques and info into 5-10 minute shows which are easy to watch when you have a spare few minutes.

Well worth a trip and a peek at the videos!
I’m hooked.

There’s a new kid in town. Last weekend when I was browsing around Michael’s I spotted amidst the scrapbooking magazines a new face. Scrapbook Answers has debuted. Of course I HAD to have it. I mean, really, who can resist a scrapbooking magazine? (Not me.)

It was a risky buy for a new magazine because it was wrapped in plastic. No chance to peek in to see what the articles looked like or if the layouts jumped off the pages and made me want to do them. Plus it cost $7.99. A bit steep for just one issue.

But the magazine came with a CD loaded with cool stuff. A dozen fonts. Two trial versions of scrapbooking related software. Printable kits. An idea gallery. 25 printable images. And 5 how-to videos. Geez, that’s worth $7.99 - easy.

I grabbed it up so fast my daughter did a double take - “What did you find?”

“Something really cool.”

Indeed, Scrapbook Answers is very cool. It is focused on how to create layouts, how to really accomplish the things we see in magazines and what tools to use to do it. I found the product reviews especially helpful. They don’t give everything a four-star rating. That’s great. There should be some things I am not tempted to buy.

When you see Scrapbook Answers on the shelf - splurge on it. You’ll be glad you did. Or you can subscribe like I’m going to and get 9 issues for $24.95.

Enjoy!

I saw the greatest idea in the new Top Ten 2006 issue of Creating Keepsakes this weekend. Faye Morrow Bell, who always has such great ideas, suggested creating an Idea Index to keep track of all the creative, fun and gotta-do-it ideas you come across.

She suggested creating a spreadsheet and listing the ideas in it with details as to where to find these great ideas again. Sheer brilliance!

I created a Scrapbooking Idea Index spreadsheet and thought maybe you’d like to grab mine so you don’t have to start from scratch with yours. I also created a second tab to list each source as you use it (so you don’t have to wonder if you have already cataloged something).

A final bit of advice from Faye:

Do not attempt to index five years worth of magazines and idea books in one sitting! Start with this Top 10 issue and build from there.

Thanks, Faye, for the great idea and the solid advice (as usual!).

Here’s my Scrapbooking Idea Index file. It is an Excel spreadsheet file. Feel free to share it with anyone - just don’t start selling it and please leave the credit lines to Faye and me intact. Enjoy!

Looking for more scrapbook time in the coming year? Me too. There is a great article by Rachel Thomae in the January 2006 issue of Creating Keepsakes on this exact topic. She shares strategies from six scrapbookers about how to create 52 pages this year. Sounds like the perfect mini album to me. My favorite part of the article is the list of 52 questions to get your mind flowing.

My top three are:

3. If you could have a free plane ticket to anywhere in the world, where would you go?
8. What’s your favorite color and what does it say about you?
49. If you could write your own fortune-cookie fortune, what would it say?

Not that was hard to pick a top three. If you read Rachel’s article what are your favorite three questions?

When my January issue of Creating Keepsakes arrived last week an ad caught my eye (well, lots of them did actually - it was a GREAT issue!). At Jo-Ann when you buy a 2006 Creating Keepsakes Calendar Kit you get a certificate for a 13 month subscription to Creating Keepsakes.

Thinking I could avoid the post-Thanksgiving shopping crowds I went to Joann.com to see if I could get the Calendar Kit there. No dice. It is sold out online.

So yesterday I went to my Jo-Ann store and grabbed up the Calendar Kit. Due to an eager store worker who had put out Sunday’s sale signs early - I even got mine at 40% off. That means for $17.99 I got a really cool calendar kit AND a 13 month subscription to CK! Yippee. How fun is that?!? The 40% off sale starts on November 27th!

Here’s what you’re looking for:

P.S. If there is anybody reading this who uses Word Press and knows how to make text wrap around the images I would LOVE to know. There has to be a way and I just can’t figure it out. Please comment or email me (address in the sidebar) if you know how.

by Vera Raposo

If you are creating a photo album for your baby for the first time, or are unsure where to begin in creating a scrapbook of your baby’s first year, here are some tips to make it quick and easy to preserve your photos and memories:

Rather than including every photo you take of your baby, organize your pictures according to the month they were taken and chose a few of your favorites from each month.

You can make single page or several pages from each particular month and stage of development without having to spend a large amount of time gluing every single photo into your scrapbook.

Be sure and include birth announcements and baby shower invitations as a special touch.

Keep a notebook or calendar within easy reach to record milestones in your child’s development. You can then coordinate the events on your calendar with the month-by-month photos.

It is always a good idea to keep an ongoing journal of special times in your baby’s life so that you can include those moments in your scrapbook. It does not have to be elaborate or detailed, just a few special dates and events that you can include as text next to your pictures.

Include a special folder or sleeve behind each page of your scrapbook to place the unused photos and mementos. This way you can keep them within easy reach and add pages to your scrapbook easily at a later time. Make sure you write the date and place the photos were taken on the back of the picture or on the folder.

When creating each page of your scrapbook, remember that you can add extra pages containing amusing notes or special occasions as you see fit. There is no right or wrong way to make a scrapbook of your baby’s first year.

Include the photos and events that are the most special to you and keep extras handy in the event you want to add to your scrapbook later.

Vera Raposo has been scrapbooking since her oldest child was 5. With tons of scrapbooking tips and ideas, Vera is now sharing some of her best scrapbooking ideas for your new baby in her newsletter www.baby-scrapbooking.com

Article Source: www.ladypens.com

I am still struggling with organizing our almost 900 digital photos from our Alaska vacation. S far, we have gotten them off of my husband’s laptop and onto our computer hard drive and backed up onto CD. They are even sorted into the days of the vacation. But that is it. I am now stuck. How on Earth am I going to figure out which of this equivalent to 37 rolls of film should be printed? I may just stay stuck for a while. I’m not ready to scrapbook it yet anyway…

I did find a great article about this topic at ScrapsAhoy. It is by Jess Atkinson.

Tips - Organizing Vacation Photos

Picture the scene. You’ve returned from vacation. You’ve unloaded the car, unpacked a little, maybe thrown the laundry down by the washer, and found the most important souvenirs of your trip-the ten rolls of film you’ve managed to shoot over your five day vacation (a reality for many of us, I’m sure!).

This is my typical after the vacation routine. Read on to find out how I deal with organizing the tons of photos I inevitably end up with.

Read all her tips here.

I love my paper! In fact, if I could only use one thing on a scrapbook page besides my photos, it would be PAPER. (Wonder why I buy all those stickers then?) Anyway, I really want to get it organized so my scrapping goes faster and easier.

Found a great article about organizing your 12 x 12 paper by Rebecca Ludens at About.com. My favorite is this one:

It looks great for at-home storage and also portable. Since I sometimes crop here and often at my mom’s, the portability factor is huge for me.

I highly suggest checking out the whole article as Rebecca shares some really great ideas for organizing your paper. Lots of other pictures and practical suggestions.