Summer Blog Hop with Creative Life Scrapbooking

Welcome to our Creative Life Summer Blog Hop! Summer has flown by, hasn't it? Have you been able to take some time for yourself? I sure hope so!

Ours has been a good one, with trips to the beach, Utah and Las Vegas. Naturally,  I am knee deep in photos that I want to save and preserve, but thankfully many of these trips have already been documented in albums because I have made it a priority! My process when I travel is the same every time - upload the memories to my Forever account throughout the trip so I can know they are safe, organize them in albums and nested albums right there in my account, and when I am ready, make a book from them! Depending on the event, I can either create the book quickly in Forever Design and Print online as I did with my beach and Las Vegas pictures, create an elaborate two volume set using Artisan as I am currently working on with my over 3,000 (yes!) photos from our trip to the National Parks, or print a few favorites to add to my traditional Creative Memories albums (those tend to be reserved for every day life for my family!) Whether simple or creative, my story is told and my shelves are full (my heart as well!) 

A lifetime of memories in Creative Memories albums

Christmas, Disney, and Beach trips are perfect in digital books printed by Forever

Quick and easy, drag and drop Forever Design and Print books!

Love the variety of sizes of the books I create (5X7, 8x8 and 12X12)

The point is, making albums doesn't have to be hard, and you just need to be organized with your time and with your photo process so when it IS time to put a book together, you are ready! Having a clean and organized workspace never hurts either - I know I am always more inspired to work when I have a nice table or two  just for memory keeping. 

My scrapbooking room (on a good day!) 

So with that pep talk, let's take a little time to be creative!

Mermaid Cove Using the Scrap Happy Project Recipe

If you have been around a Creative Memories Advisor in the last few years, you might have been fortunate enough to have been handed Project Recipes. If you don't have an Advisor, find one in your area that hosts events if you aren't near me (I am in Alabama) and make sure you start receiving them! They are fantastic.

A binder or Creative Memories Project Recipes for inspiration for page ideas

Binders and page protectors are my favorite office supplies!

Project Recipes are like sketches, and while CM launches them every time they release a new paper pack, I often take the "pattern" and use it with another collection. I have done that here with the Mermaid Cove Paper and Stickers using the Scrap Happy project recipe! I love how it turned out :) Sea creatures and tide pools, what a perfect way to highlight those. I also made a mini album using Mermaid Cove and the Hexagon Explosion Album idea, be sure and like our Creative Life Scrapbooking Facebook Page to see all of our posts! We share every week and also do the occasional virtual crops so we'd love to have you follow us.

The CM "Scrap Happy" Project Recipe featuring the Mermaid Cove paper and stickers

Card Making with Rainbow Rush

And for some quick card projects, all you need to do is make a few borders, grab some stickers, and put them together for when you are in need. I had these borders leftover from some projects I had already finished, and I thought I should use them for cards. Creative Memories sells a box of plain cards and envelopes for $6, so I keep several of those around for when I have some time to knock out a few cards. I used Rainbow Rush primarily to make these - I also used the new and gorgeous Lace Trim Border punch to make the lace on the gingham ones. Easy, done, ready to give away!

Blank cards and envelopes from Creative Memories

Cards created using Rainbow Rush paper and stickers

Whether you prefer to make digital books, traditional books, cards, or all of the above, I can help you, so respond in the comments or shoot me a message and I can help you get inspired to bring your photos into your life in a meaningful way.  Be sure and check out the other ideas on the Blog Hop! Here are the links:

Stop 1: Karyn Crops with Karyn McDermaid-Rolfe
Stop 2: Julie's Creative Memories Blog with Julie Tambrini
Stop 3: Crop with Stef with Stefani Jones
Stop 4: YOU ARE HERE! Celebrating Your Beautiful Life with Fran Smitherman
Stop 5: Scrapin JPEGs with Candace Bouldin 

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!

​

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

Save Your Memorabilia!*

Are you overwhelmed with memorabilia? Are your desks, tables and counters swimming in programs, artwork, notes and cards that you can't for sentimental reasons throw away because you know they tell a story? If so then we are one and the same! School will be starting around the country soon (really soon here in the South!) and with the school year always brings a sense of newness and a desire to get organized. I have three ideas for you today to control the chaos!

Notes from the karate studio!

A special memory book

First, I am going to challenge you to TAKE PICTURES OF SOME OF THESE PRECIOUS ITEMS! Just get out your Smartphone, that's good enough, and start snapping! How many items can you document in 10 minutes? Here are a few treasures I recorded last night in a short amount of time.

A real treasure from my oldest son

Andrew loves our oldest cat Socks!

I can't save every item that Andrew creates but I sure can try!

What do YOU want to record for all time? Can you take a little time to take some pictures of some items that mean a lot to you?

Second, I am going to encourage you to find the best items and put them somewhere other than a box

Pick a few favorites, find some photos that go along with them, and make plans to put them in an album. How you may wonder? Allow me a minute to sing the praises of Creative Memories' pocket pages! They really come in handy, not just for sliding in full scrapbook pages, but also for certificates, cards and other memorabilia that you really don't want to adhere to your page. In my children's school days albums, I love to use one for each year to save report cards, artwork, and other items or pictures that I don't put in the book. We spend a great deal of time praising the beautiful paper packs and tools and all the fabulous ways to be creative, but sometimes it's the most basic items that really make the difference in our completed albums!

Creative Memories' 12X12 albums are my favorite way to preserve memories. These are my school days albums and I have one pocket page for each grade.

CM Pocket Pages are the best for storing memorabilia that won't fit on your pages.

Pocket Pages go in traditional 12X12 CM albums and come 12 to a pack

Precious memories stored in photo safe sleeves.

Finally, what can you do to save the digital images of these memories?

I want to know they are safe in the cloud because 1.) artwork made from food products won't last forever, 2.) notes and cards are easy to lose track of in piles and boxes, 3.) I want to enjoy these things and tell their story and 4.) storing memories offsite is critical to protect them from natural disasters.

Photos in my Forever library, uploaded straight from my phone (I keep my Forever app on auto backup)

First, I have uploaded these pictures from my phone to my Forever account via the free Forever app for Smartphones and I have assigned them to the appropriate folder (artwork, karate, etc...), making them easy to find when I need them.

A Karate album within my Forever account

A nested album of my son's artwork in his larger album.

Second, I can now easily use them in digital scrapbook pages with matching pictures! In this example, I took Andrew's note and included it in my digital book I am making with Forever's Forever's Artisan software about our family's trip to Universal Studios in the spring. So much fun to know it's getting used in an appropriate place! The fun is just beginning.

A little live music is good for the soul - the kids have other ideas unfortunately! 

Andrew explained his "music sickness" in his artwork when we returned home from Orlando!

I love adding this relevant piece of memorabilia to my digital scrapbook page

Now I feel SO much better about all of my piles that I have now consolidated, recorded and worked into my traditional and digital album projects! What can you share with us this weekend? I would love to see or hear how you do the same, please add some comments so we can share ideas!

* Today's post originally showed up as a Featured Project Friday post on the Creative Life Scrapbooking Facebook page! I am proud to be a part of this fabulous group of ladies who love to create and encourage others to do the same. We share ideas, kick off blog hops, and encourage others to live a life of creativity and memory preservation and I was the Featured Project Friday contributor this past week. While we usually share decorative page ideas, I felt like talking about something a little more practical - saving your memorabilia like cards, artwork, notes, etc... Hope this was helpful to you!

Spring Blog Hop - Stop Number 2

Spring Break Memories!

Ahh, Spring Break - that magical time so needed by students everywhere as they attempt to make it through the long stretch between the Christmas holidays and summertime! Whether you have a sanctioned "spring break" or not, I hope you have chosen to do SOMETHING special to celebrate the change in the seasons. Our blog hop today is focusing on all things spring, and while chronologically I am nowhere near caught up with my photos and should not even be THINKING about these pictures yet, I'm cheating (and giving you permission to do the same!) I always tell those who are overwhelmed with the volume of photos and projects they are "behind on" to start with something current, so I am following my own advice.  I am definitely "guilty" of scrapping what I am in the mood for, and many times vacation photos take priority because they are just so darn fun (right?) 

Once the day is done, there's really nothing like loading your pictures onto your computer and looking at a full screen version of your memories. I encourage you to set aside some time to take a seat at your laptop with a beverage of choice and start the process of recording YOUR Spring Break  memories. Once you have completed and printed your digital book, the entire family will be able to easily enjoy and relive the trip over and over again - memories preserved for a lifetime are the reason we take these pictures in the first place. I've already started my Spring Break 2017 book and I can't wait to share a few pages from our recent trip to Orlando with you here! 

Grab some coffee and your laptop loaded with Artisan 5 digital scrapbooking software so you can start your own digital photo book while the memories are still fresh!
Photo credits: Yamilette Platero at The Boss Latina

Our Spring Break was last week, and this year we took my parents with us down to Orlando to have some fun at Universal Studios, Islands of Adventure and the Kennedy Space Center. As you can guess, I took LOTS of pictures - I mean it's not every week you get to meet Marilyn Monroe, Lucy and Sponge Bob AND watch a SpaceX rocket take off!

My little guy turned down a kiss on the cheek from Marilyn Monroe - at least he said "no thank you!" She sure was a good listener to all of his concerns about the day :) 

A SpaceX rocket launching with a great view from the Kennedy Space Center

I am determined to get these stories told and photos shared so the family can relive the memories through the pages of my photo albums. With over 1,500 pictures and lots of stories to tell, I want this project done quickly while the memories are fresh, so as I do with so many trips, I am choosing to make a digital scrapbook in Artisan and have it printed as a hardbound 12X12 book at the Forever Print Shop. 

A few of my digital vacation books from the past few years - so easy to travel with and the whole family loves looking through them!

You might remember how excited I was during our Christmas Blog Hop when I found out that Creative Memories was introducing digital art to match their fabulous paper and stickers, and I am happy to show off a few pages here using some of those kits. Due to a few "down days" where we were able to relax away from the parks, I was actually able to carve out some time while on vacation to start on my book. I am already having so much fun with my digital photos and thanks to my Artisan software program and some super fun Creative Memories digital art kits my pages are really popping! I don't claim to have the most elaborate pages because I am more interested in getting my books done and the stories told, but it is nice to have a pop of color and some fancy fonts here and there. Let me show you what  I mean.

Beleaf It or Not! 

I have never been one who worried about having an exact paper or sticker to match my theme. Licensing gets tricky and I always like to think outside of the box when I scrap anyway. So when I didn't have a Jurassic Park kit to scrapbook this hilarious "raptor encounter" moment, did I sweat it? Not a bit! I just reached for my Creative Memories Better Beleaf It digital scrapbooking paper and a free Jurassic Park font from Dafont.com and went to town. I liked it so much that I decided to make this moment the front of my book. I loved how the leaf paper wrapped around the back of the book for me to add more photos to it for a consistent design. What a great feeling knowing my entire cover is finished already!

The front of my Spring Break digital 12X12 book. This Jurassic moment brought to you by a free font and Creative Memories' leafy "You Better Beleaf It" digital paper pack! 

The back of my 12X12 book captures a fun moment for each of us, with a "thankful" phrase from Creative Memories' Painted Harvest Digital Mat Pack

The front and back of my cover as seen in my Artisan software (CM digital artwork displayed in the Content panel on the right.)

Cool and Serene! 

One of the prettiest collections Creative Memories has introduced in recent times has been the Cool Serenity collection! I love it traditionally (there is paper, a Fast2Fabulous album and embellishments) but I REALLY love it digitally because I can stretch and shrink the elements to my liking! Again, I didn't have a Moana scrapbooking kit, but boy I love how this Cool Serenity digital art kit worked so perfectly on my pages to create this tropical feeling. I foresee a lot more use out of it for trips to the beach and aquariums in my future. "You're welcome!" (uhh, inside joke - you must see the movie!)

Who needs a "Moana" kit when you have Creative Memories' Cool Serenity papers and embellishments?

Did Someone Say DONUTS? 

Okay, I am a sucker for images of food, and I just loved these pictures of my son with a donut that was literally bigger than his head. Hey, he deserved it - we had just ridden the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror*, haha (note - these pictures are actually from a trip we took back in February. Yes, I have a "Disney" problem, I can't seem to stay away and I have several books going right now!) If you love images of sweets like I do, then the Soiree collection has you covered, with cupcakes and donuts and everything you would need for fun celebratory cards and scrapbook pages! As much as I love the Soiree collection on paper, for this blog I am showcasing the fun of it digitally (and yes the word "fun" is one of the embellishments that comes with it.) 

*For another idea for your Tower of Terror pictures, check out my post in our February Blog Hop. 

A little fun with the digital Soiree art kit from Creative Memories

More fun with Soiree digital paper and embellishments! 

While this particular blog post is primarily about digital pages, I am definitely an "ambiscrapper" who loves traditional and digital scrapbooking, so I have also had fun with the paper versions of this kit. The cool thing for my readers is that you can get the Soiree sticker set  (an $8 value) for FREE throughout the entire month of April if you set up a new account at Creative Memories and place an order for traditional product. Get it now while it lasts - CM has been great about introducing new products but that often means "out with the old, in with the new!"  

Free stickers in April for new orders at Creative Memories!  

Have you had a chance to use Creative Memories' digital artwork yet? If so, we would love to see what you have done - feel free to share your work on the Creative Life Scrapbooking team's Facebook page! And what vacation scrapbook would you like to work on this week? I'd love to hear from you in the comments below. Please do enjoy the rest of the "hop" and until next time, keep scrappin' :)  

Next stop - Organized and Creative Mom with Noreen, enjoy! Fran

Here is a list of today's participants: 

Stop 1 Stefani Jones Crop with Stef

YOU ARE HERE! Stop 2 Fran Allen Smitherman CelebratingYourBeautifulLife

Stop 3 Noreen Smith Organized and Creative Mom

Stop 4 Candace Bouldin ScrapinJPEGs

Stop 5 Karyn McDermaid-Rolfe Karyn Crops

Stop 6 Lisa Brown Graham Lisa's Workshop

Stop 7 Diana Miller Brinsley D Brinsley's Blog