In honor of Mother’s Day my friend Susie Cortright of Momscape.com created a list of Top 50 Mom Quotations (50 inspiring and truthful quotations about your mother and about being a mom yourself…)

These would be great for creating a Mother’s Day layout or a card for your mom.

Here’s my favorite:

“A mother is the truest friend we have, when trials, heavy and sudden, fall upon us when adversity takes the place of prosperity when friends who rejoice with us in our sunshine, desert us when troubles thicken around us, still will she cling to us, and endeavor by her kind precepts and counsels to dissipate the clouds of darkness, and cause peace to return to our hearts.”
–Washington Irving

Hi Mom!

Happy Mother’s Day everyone.

Heads up scrappers!

Yesterday at Costco I discovered a new item they are carrying now - Cropper Hopper paper storage boxes. They are the same unit that normally sells at retailers for $24.99. At Costco they are $9.97!

I grabbed two and will probably head back for a couple more.

Go quickly to your nearest Costco. You never know how long they will have something and whether or not they will carry it again. If you are going to get that 12 x 12 paper organized, now is your chance.

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!

Today in my email I got a Google Alert about scrapbooking. I went to see it and it was about summer camps in Rhode Island. It seems that one of the themes that is available is scrapbooking camp. Oh my gosh wouldn’t that be fun? To wake up every day for a week and know that you got to scrapbook all day?

So I thought I would just search for scrapbook camp to see what popped up. I found the CUTEST place called ScrapbookCamp.com. It is a bed and breakfast in Lake Arrowhead, California that is all set up for scrapbookers. What a smart marketer to choose a niche like this and market to us.

Her headlines reach out to me saying exactly what I want to hear:

No Responsibilities

No Phones to Answer

No Meals to Cook

No Dishes to Wash

No Laundry to Fold

Just time and space to do pages and pages of your wonderful scrapbook creations.

Wahoo! I think this looks like a boatload of fun. Wish I lived closer to Lake Arrowhead, California. But still, it looks like it would be worth the trip.

The DigiChicks issued a blog challenge. It goes like this:

Finish this sentence:

Right now, I have a loyal friend in _______________.

Right now, I have loyal friends all around me. As I am in the midst of the most major career change in my life, I find that every day I get support from my friends. Without their encouragement, positive thoughts and “you CAN do this” statements I might not have the courage to make this huge change.

Thank you everyone. I am so grateful in every fiber of my being to have you in my life and in my heart.

~~~~

Oh, and the DigiChicks are having a major grand reopening this weekend at DigiChick.com. Looks like tons of fun. Hhhhmmmm. Maybe a little digi scrapping on my horizon for the weekend.

If you are into eyelets and brads you might want to check out http://www.eyeletoutlet.com/. Their tag line is “Because eyelets aren’t just round anymore” How fun is that. I LOVE a good tagline!

One of the categories of eyelets that caught my eye was the Safari Brads. I especially like the giraffes and zebras. What’s your favorite?

Even if you don’t know what a podcast is (don’t worry, you’re not alone) you should head on over to Angie Pedersen’s new podcast - Wholly Scrap! The Scrapbooking Podcast.

SIDE NOTE:
A podcast is like a radio show you listen to on your computer, save to CD or move to your MP3 player. When you get to Angie’s podcast the easiest way to listen is to just click on the grey POD button and it will play right on your computer automatically.

I just finished listening to the first issue of Wholly Scrap! and am very impressed with it. Angie did a great job. In this episode she shares some insider secrets of CHA (Craft & Hobby Association). It is so exciting to know about the new scrapbooking supplies coming out. Then she interviews Angie Warhurst of www.boxerscrapbooks.com.

Very cool. Very fun. Plus you’ll feel very technologically savvy for listening to a podcast.

Oh how cute are those little matchbooks! You know the ones that are cropping up (pun intended) everywhere. But I’ve never gotten one because I’ve thought they might be hard to fit into a layout - color wise that is.

But…Rebecca Ludens has saved the day.

She has a terrific step by step instructional article - WITH PHOTOS -that shows how to make your own mini matchbook.

Check it out!

Nancy over at Inside Scrapbooking has compiled a sneak peek list of scrapbooking stuff that is debuting (as we speak) at CHA. It is pretty fun to take a look and see all the new stuff that’s coming out. Just think, we can do it without our feet aching from walking the trade show floor.

I find the Art Declassified stamps interesting, but I don’t quite understand how to work them. (Guess it is an in-person thing.)

The BasicGrey ribbons are calling to me…

But I have to say that the BasicGrey Hang Ten Collection Pack (pictured here) is my favorite sneak peek.

But wait! The 7gypsies 97% Complete new stuff is a must have too. (Scroll way down on the page to see it.)

Just head over to Nancy’s list and take a peek. Then come back and tell me what you find the most “Gotta-Have-ish”

OK, it is safe to say that alongside my husband (pictured here) that another true love of mine is digital scrapbooking. Last night I thought I would break into some of the free scrapbooking kits I have recently downloaded. In about 45 minutes I created this layout and I just love it.

Since I used a free kit, it cost me nothing because I have not yet printed it out. Plus I have nothing to clean up! And it was fun, fun, fun to do.

A downside I see to digi scrapping is a lack of organization and focus. So far, I have done a one page layout of a my daughter loving life in a huge snowfall and one picture of a dinner on our Alaskan cruise. But maybe the real focus is that I’ve chosen to digi scrap my husband and my daughter and that is focus enough.

Somehow I feel a bit freer to just “do stuff” in the digi side, instead of feeling compelled to get the photos into albums. Not that I plan to give up paper scrapping, but it is nicee to have this option too.

I used the Beach mini kit by Jackie Eckles in this layout.