All About Me Album - December page layout challenge

Congratulations you have nearly completed and album all about YOU. In light of this accomplishment your last layout challenge involves creating a page that lists or documents your proudest accomplishments. Personally I think creating this book should be among them, with some time and dedication you have given your family a snapshot of yourself and what was important to you!

Happy Scrapbooking - Autumn

All About Me Album - November page layout challenge

As the weather gets colder (at least up north) you can think back and create pages for your current month layout challenges.

What is your ideal day? This can vary considerably for each person. Maybe you want to walk on the beach, or spend a day at the spa (all expenses paid of course), a day with your girlfriends, taking your kids to Disney, a romantic dinner with a husband or significant other. Whatever it may be, document it for this layout. It can be something you have done or something you want to do. The sky is the limit, it is your day!

Where have you traveled? This could be the next town or several continents. If you have done some extensive traveling you may want to make pinpoints on a world map. If you have stuck to the USA – a map of the US would be a great starting place. You can simply make a list or use photos from favorite spots. It would be nice to include dates and journaling as well.

Happy Scrapbooking - Autumn

All About Me Album - October page layout challenge

This month we have some fun layout challenges to work on. What are your favorite movies? You can document your current top picks or your overall top picks. You can include scanned art from the DVD case, ticket stubs or even a photo of popcorn. Get creative!

Second monthly challenge, what are your favorite holiday(s). Document your layout with pictures and journaling including why you picked this holiday. Personally my favorite is Halloween – the one holiday where you can dress up and be anything you want!

Happy Scrapbooking - Autumn

All About Me Album - September page layout challenge

With back to school time we’ll keep this month’s page layout challenge simple. Create a page to document your education. Hopefully you have some photos and dates from when you graduated from school, participated in a certificate program etc. Document your happiest memory for each event.

Happy Scrapbooking - Autumn

All About Me Album - August page layout challenge

This month’s page layout challenge involves 2 separate layouts.

Last month you worked on your childhood to pre-teen years. This month it is your teenage years. You can make it fun by picking out paper in colors and patterns that were popular during your teen years. What were the styles and fads? Have any of these come back? Do some creative journaling.

Your next challenge is to create a layout based on role models who have guided you or that you have looked up to. These can be people you never met, family members or even someone you read about who inspired you. One of my role models is a fictional character.

Happy Scrapbooking - Autumn

Organizational Tip of the Week - post crop clean up

We all come home from a crop with a few layouts that just need some simple completion work, printing out some journaling, finding that last photo or an embellishment. Make an in process box or place at home so you can complete these prior to your next crop. That way you can go into your next crop with a clean slate vs some completion work you can easily complete in 15 min. at home. You'll get more completed pages and less stuff to drag to each crop! Happy Scrapbooking - Autumn

All About Me Album - July page layout challenge

Summertime always reminds me about being a kid. This months page layout challenge is to create a layout about your childhood. This can be a single or double page layout. Grab some pics of your infancy to preteen life and journal some memories you have! Hope you are out enjoying the summer weather. Happy Scrapbooking - Autumn

Organizational Tip of the Week - Preparing for a crop part 3

To really get organized for a crop you'll want to create a box for your paper, photos and embellishments. You can use a new pizza box if you find the correct size (should fit in your crop bag), they also sell plastic 13x13 boxes for this purpose in many chain craft stores. I recommend the plastic boxes that have locking hinges.

You now have your box, photos, cardstock, paper and list from parts 1 & 2.

1 week prior to the crop - Choose your embellishments, rub on letters, anything else you may want to use on a particular project. I place these in a separate box but you can add them to your paper and photos if they fit, you just want to be sure your paper wont get bent.

This is the best way to save time and be organized for a crop. Happy Scrapbooking - Autumn

Organizational Tip of the Week - Preparing for a crop part 2

To really get organized for a crop you'll want to create a box for your paper, photos and embellishments. You can use a new pizza box if you find the correct size (should fit in your crop bag), they also sell plastic 13x13 boxes for this purpose in many chain craft stores. I recommend the plastic boxes that have locking hinges.

You now have your box, photos and list from part 1.

1 week prior to the crop - Choose your paper and cardstock. Create layers in the box with the paper and photos. I use cardboard dividers. If you are missing something, add that to your list. If you need to shop prior to the crop, now is the time. Set these aside until part 3.

Happy Scrapbooking - Autumn

Organizational Tip of the Week - Preparing for a crop part 1

To really get organized for a crop you'll want to create a box for your paper, photos and embellishments. You can use a new pizza box if you find the correct size (should fit in your crop bag), they also sell plastic 13x13 boxes for this purpose in many chain craft stores. I recommend the plastic boxes that have locking hinges.

1-2 weeks prior to the crop - select and print the photos you want to use. Also make a list of the layouts you want to accomplish. Set these aside until part 2.

Happy Scrapbooking - Autumn

Organizational Tip of the Week - coupons

Keep you coupons in your car or planner or purse (where ever you are sure to have them with you). Even if you don't think you'll be going to that store, sometimes plans change and then you wished you had it. Personally I keep all my coupons in my car so if I end up unexpectedly at a craft store I can make use of the coupons. Even just using a coupon to buy your adhesive will save you a lot over a year! Every little bit helps and you can't use them if you don't have them. Happy Scrapbooking - Autumn

Organizational Tip of the Week - clean out paper

Ok - Lets face it - we all buy paper we think is pretty, or "in" to be used at a later date and then we don't use it for whatever reason. Go through your paper and set aside patterned paper you know you wont use. Cardstock you can always use so it is good to save that. Maybe you don't need wedding paper or baby paper anymore, maybe you no longer like plaid or polka dots - whatever the reason there is no sense in cluttering your supply up with things you'll never use. I recommend selling it in coordinated packs at a local scrapbooking tag sale or using ebay. Either way you'll get some cash to buy paper or other supplies you will use. Happy Scrapbooking - Autumn

All About Me Album - June page layout challenge

This month we have 2 seperate page layout challenges, but depending on your circumstances you may choose to combine them.



My first love - I am sure you have some photos of the person you first fell in love with, maybe this is the person you are still in a relationship with now, or maybe not. Either way it would be good to journal about your first love, why it worked, why it didn't and some basic information about that person.



Things I would have done differently - we all have things in our lives we wonder "what if" - pick one or more of these what if's and journal about it - if you have photos thats great but if you don't thats ok too. A large embellishment or drawing you make works just as well as a photo.



Don't fret if you fall behind over the summer months you can catch up later on. Scrapbooking is supposed to be fun and the non-stressful part of your life!



I hope you are getting as much out of creating you All About You album as I am. Happy Scrapbooking - Autumn

Organizational Tip of the Week - crop bag

This may seem obvious but every 4-6 mos clean out your crop bag. Restock supplies you always maintain, take stock of supplies you regularly use and note items that need to be replaced or purchased. Pull out items you wont use and set them aside to sell or donate. Take everything out and clean out any misc. items from the bottom. If you have a new favored supply or tool be sure you have it packed in your bag when you re-pack it. Scrapbooking - Autumn.

Organization Tip of the Week - layout list

I get to crop once a month, so I try to make the most of my time. I always start preparing for a crop by looking at my pictures and making a list of the layouts I want to accomplish. You can even make a larger list of your backlog items to help you plan out what needs to be done. It's a simple task but very effective. Happy Scrapbooking - Autumn.

Organizational Tip of the Week - Embellishments part 2

Now that you have gathered all your embellishments together and put aside items you no longer want or need, it is time to organize them. Depending on how much you have, there are several good totes on the market with small locking containers to store and organize them. If you have a local scrapbooking tag sale you can usually pick up storage containers at a good bargain if you arrive early. Take a critical look at your supplies. I find it best to put my embellishments in categories. ie. brads, eyelets, buttons etc. These are my "staple" embellishments I always carry to a crop.



If you are local to CT Memory Lane in Marlboro CT is having a tag sale on May 24th. Happy Scrapbooking - Autumn

Organizational Tip of the Week - embellishments

Gather all your embellishments and clean house. This may take a while but there is no sense keeping or toting around things you will never use. Partially used supplies can often be donated to local charities. Good items you no longer want can be swapped or sold at local scrapbooking tag sales. You can also put several unwanted items in a decorative basket and donate it for a charity auction. Happy Scrapbooking - Autumn

All About Me Album - May page layout challenge

This month we will be working on an easy and fun layout for our album. My favorite things to do. You can spend a day taking pictures of yourself doing some of your favorite activities. You can make a bulleted list. Lots of fun options this month. To start take a few minutes and write down what you like to do, then wait a day or so and look at your list again, you may want to make additions or changes. Then pick out your paper, take some pictures and make a layout.


I planned these layouts out for the whole year by doing many of the double layout months in the early part of the year when it is cold and we tent to scrapbook more. I also put many of the more challenging topics in that part of the year. Happy Scrapbooking - Autumn

Organizational Tip of the Week - digital pic storage

Every 3-4 months I save my photos onto CD to make more room on my hard drive. (ok - I also have an external hard drive copy just in case) I generally organize my photos in monthly photos by shooting date (since the camera downloads them that way). I get rid of "bad" photos and then save several months onto a CD. I make a backup CD which I store and I put the other copy in a CD holder glued to the back of my scrapbooks for the same time period. They sell self stick CD envelopes in many scrapbooking stores for this purpose. Happy Scrapbooking - Autumn

Organizational Tip of the Week - ordering photos

With digital photography we all seem to take more pictures than we are used to. To save time and money download your pictures to your computer - I back up to an external hard drive for security. Once you have them there look at the photos critically and select only the ones you will use for your layouts and save them to a separate folder. You can either burn the whole folder to a CD which saves time at the store since you can select all or upload to an on-line photo service which is often less expensive. Happy Scrapbooking - Autumn