Digital Memories Saved and Enjoyed Forever!

Happy November to you! It is a month of gratitude and thanksgiving, and Forever is always here for us to help us celebrate life's most precious moments. Whether you have calendars and cards to make for gifts using Forever Print, videos you want to share with other family members wherever they may be, or photos on your phone you want backed up safely and privately, Forever has you covered. 

November is a Great Month to Save!

Being the month of "Black Friday", Forever has amazing deals on all the things I love and use every day to keep my memories under control and in my life. If you love your photos and videos but are not a Forever storage member yet, I would encourage you to buy your permanent membership today. Flash drives and external hard drives are great for a while, but they are not permanent and they are easily misplaced or malfunction. Storing photos online as a second backup is a great idea and the "cloud" is a necessity in this digital age, but as photo printers like Wal*Mart and Flicker send out reminders that they are going to delete your photos if you don't order, and as the headlines point out daily about the privacy issues at Facebook and Google, I am so grateful for my Forever home for my photos, videos and documents. Forever Storage (all size accounts) is on sale for 30% off this month - it could be the greatest gift you ever get for you or your family:

 Here is a list of all the things on sale (and there are other deals that pop up from time to time so remember to check the "Deals" tab!) Let me know if you have any questions about any of them. 

November 1-30 PROMO CODE: BLACKFRIDAY18

·         Save 40% on all Printed Calendars! 

·         Save 40% on all Printed Projects!

·         Save 40% on FOREVER Artisan® purchases and upgrades! 

·         Save 40% on FOREVER Historian™ purchases! 

·         Save 30% on all FOREVER Storage® Single Payments or get your first month FREE!

·         Save 30% on all Digital Art!

·         Save 15% on all Conversion Boxes!

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Conversion Services

If you have had scrapbooks, photos, negatives or videos converted by Forever, you know what a wonderful job they do. Now that Forever has video capability in your Forever account online, you can decide whether you want to have your videos you have had converted stored there in addition to the flash drive you were sent. If you have videos, there are two ways to store and enjoy them. For permanent account members, videos can be uploaded and stored for future download just like any photos you have up there without any additional charge. If you want the extra privilege of streaming and sharing, a Premium Video Plan lets you do that. I have it and I LOVE it! Here is a video I can enjoy and share anywhere because I have the video plan - what would YOU like to save? 

 November is a wonderful month to think about the memories that matters most to us and I am here for you! I hope to connect with you soon - please let me know how I can help you make your photo projects come to life. Fran

Fall Blog Hop - Stop Number 1!

It's that time again - time for the Creative Life Scrapbooking ladies to share our ideas with you so that you can go out there and create your own wonderful scrapbook pages! You are in for a treat today as you hop from blog to blog - thanks for joining us and read on.

The fall is a great time to exhale and take a look back at the year that has been. Our summer vacations are usually over, but in all the hustle and bustle of back to school followed quickly by the holidays, it's easy to get behind on your photo projects. I know I love to buy all the latest and greatest papers and stickers and tools and embellishments from Creative Memories throughout the year because they are all so irresistible, but when life gets busy (or when I find myself working more on my digital projects) they tend to pile up, waiting for the right moment to be used. 

The papers and the stickers do pile up, don't they?

I am determined to use these!

Today I decided to start working through that stash to make some pretty layouts for my September to December 2018 pictures. With each layout I mixed old and new from different collections - it's been fun to see it all again. I hope this will encourage you to do the same - let's get started!

For my first layout, I wanted to document a few pictures my husband took of my oldest son on a September trip to Gatlinberg. I'd never had much of a reason to use the Adventure or the Woodland Whimsy Boy collections, so here was my chance!

Adventure and Woodland Whimsy, a mix of older papers and stickers for new photos.

Recognize that journal box from years ago?

Paper from the Adventure paper pack combined with Woodland Whimsy Boy stickers

Later in the month, we took a short trip down to the Gulf Goast - I had already made a wonderful digital book of our summer beach trip, but I did want to document at least a few pictures from the September one. Having recently returned home from my 9th annual Croptoberfest weekend retreat at the Springville Camp and Conference Center, I still had some cardstock from the Limited Edition Croptoberfest cardstock pack, and a BUNCH of stickers and embellishments from the Sun-Kissed collection. Here's what I came up with:

Croptoberfest exclusive cardstock combined with a smattering of Sun-Kissed stickers and embellishments. Tore some Maritime paper with the tearing tool to add a little extra "oomph" to the layout

Croptoberfest cardstock, Maritime paper torn wit the tearing tool, Sun Kissed embellishments

Now for memories not yet made. Falling leaves, Halloween and Thanksgiving are approaching, so I wanted to be ready for when the photos start piling up. Gather Together, Pumpkin Spice and Seasons Greetings are here for us, ready when our pictures are! I feel so ahead of the game now with these pages pre-designed for pictures not yet developed :) 

Croptoberfest cardstock combined with Gather Together paper and slide in pack

My take on the Croptoberfest Limited Edition Project Recipe

Second layout from the exclusive Limited Edition Croptoberfest Project Recipe kit

A "batty" page I came up with a few weeks ago for our Creative Life Scrapboooking "Border Maker Monday" feature. Who knew jets could be bats? Be sure and like our FB page to see more fun ideas like this

Silver metallic pen + Jumbo Jet cartridge =  Hanging bats!

Boo!

Boots from the Pumpkin Spice collection! Available in both traditional and digital format from Creative Memories for a limited time

My layout from last Friday's "Featured Project Friday" post on our Creative Life Scrapbooking page. Seasons Greetings paper, stickers, and embellishments  combined with the Holly punch, the Rolling Hills Border Maker cartridge and the new Embossed Bow standalone punch!

Seasons Greetings paper and stickers with an easy tearing tool layout

What old and new papers and stickers can you combine to breathe life into your stash and prepare for all those wonderful fall and winter pictures to come? Comment below with your ideas - I would love to hear them! 

For the next stop, you are heading to Lisa's Workshop - you are in for a treat, she always has the most wonderful ideas (and I am super excited about her new cropping facility - I know you will be as well if you live anywhere near her!) 

Thanks for stopping by and keep on scrappin'! Fran

Stop 1 YOU ARE HERE! Fran Smitherman Celebrating Your Beautiful Life 

Stop 2 Lisa Brown Graham Lisa's Workshop

Stop 3 Noreen Smith Organized and Creative Mom

Stop 4 Karyn McDermaid-Rolfe Karyn Crops

Stop 5 Julie Tambrini Julie's CM Blog

Stop 6 Diana Brinsley D. Brinsley's Memory Keeping Blog

Summer Blog Hop Stop 2!

Welcome to the second stop of our Creative Life Scrapbooking summer blog hop! Down here in Alabama, we pride ourselves on the beauty of our sugar white sands and our gorgeous Gulf Coast. It is a family tradition each summer for us to go to the beach, and beach memories make some of the best scrapbooks! Whether you prefer to make digital or traditional pages, both of these layouts will be repeatable using Creative Memories' Sun-Kissed and Mix and Match papers.

For my traditional layout, I was inspired by a "sketch challenge" put forth by Creative Memories. A sketch is basically like a sewing pattern, except you use it not to make an outfit, but to make beautiful and unique scrapbook pages. I love watching how a black and white sketch can come to life with different colored papers and embellishments (not to mention photographs!) Using the Sun-Kissed papers, the new Double Wave border maker cartridge and the matching Sun-Kissed embellishments, here is how I celebrated some of our 2017 beach memories:

Since vacations are often the place I take the most pictures in the shortest amount of time, my favorite way to make those books quickly is typically in a digital book using Forever's Artisan 5 software. I love the ability to start the book in our downtime on the trip itself so I can tell the stories while they are fresh on my mind, and I also love how I can use Creative Memories' gorgeous art digitally as well. 

Matching papers to outfits is just one way I like to choose backgrounds, and the Mix and Match blue and pink papers were actually quite perfect for our 2018 family photos on the beach. I used the ripping tool in Artisan to give a torn effect to the paper - it's a little like waves crashing on the beach, right? To add this effect, add paper to the page, select the cutting tool, select add a straight line, select the Paper Rip feature, then select cut. Voila!  

I am looking forward to getting some more digital scrapbooking done this weekend with the Pixels 2 Pages gals - if you are a Pixels2Pages member or if you are on Facebook you ought to check out the virtual crop! And if you want to learn more about traditional or digital scrapbooking, or incorporating Creative Memories' sketches or digital art into your own projects, reach out to me at any time -  that's what I am here for as a Creative Memories Advisor and a Forever Executive Ambassador! 

Thanks for checking out my blog and now it time to see what else we have for you today! Next on the hop is my friend Julie Tambrini's creations at Julie's Creative Memories Blog :) Keep on scrappin'! Fran 

Stop 1:Karyn McDermaid-Rolfe Karyn Crops

Stop 2: Fran Allen Smitherman YOU ARE HERE! CelebratingYourBeautifulLife

Stop 3:Julie Tambrini Julie's Creative Memories Blog

Stop 4: Lisa Brown Graham Lisa's Workshop

Stop 5: Candace Bouldin Scrappin' JPEGS

Stop 6 Noreen Smith Organized and Creative Mom

Winter Blog Hop with Creative Life Scrapbooking - Stop 3

Winter doesn't have to be grey and colorless, it can be bright and cheery if you have the right tools, some pretty paper and embellishments and a few printed photos! While I love the summertime and the freedom and sunshine it brings, there is something very special about the string of holidays that starts in October and carries on right through February. Halloween, Christmas and Valentine's are some of my favorite times to take pictures and they make for some fun scrapboooking projects!

In this digital age, printing the pictures is often the challenge, and I have found myself becoming more selective about the events I print photos from. Vacations to the beach, to Walt Disney World, and even the Christmas months are usually documented in digital books that I make in Forever's Artisan software, but these events are too monumental not to be included in our chronological albums as well!

Recently Creative Memories launched the very fun Imagine products in its travel line, and I have fallen in love with the red, yellow and black paper, stickers and embellishments! I have also fallen in love with Creative Memories' Project Recipes (you have to get these from your Creative Memories advisor) and I had a lot of fun creating this one for my Halloween trip to Disney World with my family:

Having fun with Creative Memories' Imagine Project Recipe featuring the Film Strip Border Maker cartridge

Imagine paper, embellishments and stickers help to enhance the memories of this trip!

Good times with beautiful paper to bring the fun to life!

The Imagine line is so versatile that I was able to use it to create some fun Christmas and Valentine's pages as well! I love the red and white stripe papers from the Imagine Tone On Tone paper pack and the fun sayings from the Imagine embellishment pack - candy canes anyone? In this layout that might be used for Christmas morning or a visit to see the "Big Guy", I used the picket fence cartridge that comes with the awesome Border Maker System to make borders around the pages. I  threaded these 3/4 inch strips through them for a woven mat effect, and I used the Repositionable Tape Runner to adhere these delicate sayings to my page.

Last but not least, let's not forget Valentine's Day! So many fun hearts and red and white polka dots in the Imagine paper and sticker packs. I used the 12- inch decorative trimmer to cut some waves and foam squares to make the embellishments pop off of the page! 

A few jewelled embellishments never hurt anyone! 

So what do you think - can you IMAGINE using the "Imagine" line to document your memories? 

Don't stop with my blog-be sure to check out all of the other great contributors from the Creative Life Scrapbooking team on this fun Winter Blog Hop! Julie Tambrini with Julie's Creative Memories Blog is next on the hop, and if you wanted a link to all of them, here you go:

Stop 1 Noreen Smith Organized and Creative Mom

Stop 2 Karyn McDermaid-Rolfe Karyn Crops

Stop 3 Fran Allen Smitherman YOU ARE HERE! CelebratingYourBeautifulLife

Stop 4 Julie Tambrini Julie's Creative Memories Blog

Stop 5 Stefani Jones Crop with Stef

Stop 6 Lisa Brown Graham Lisa's Workshop

Stop 7 Sarah Fitzgerald Click Write Share

Thank you for taking the time to read it and I hope my pages inspire you to do something special with your photos today! Fran