Scrapping with Melinda

Where have I been?

2010-07-02T14:16:00.000-07:00

Wow, it' been like, um, forever since I last posted! I've been around, but things have been keeping me busy (such as my other blog). I did want to post a quick message out here to let you all know that I am still around. I've had to postpone my crops for a little while as all my CM stuff has been packed up as we move some rooms in our house. However, once I get that straightened out, I'll be adding some more casual crops back to the calendar. Then, I'll take some time off in October, November and maybe December when I have baby #2.

In the meantime, my web site is always open and you can always email me with questions. Also, if you order Storybook Creator Plus 3.0 (on its own or part of the Digital Collections) through me and you live in the local area, I will come to your house for a 90 minute tutorial on how to use it....for free!

Oh, and if you are a Disney fan, be sure to check out the new products this month--Creative Memories has released some great Disney themed items for both traditional and digital scrapbooking.

Crops and National Scrapbook Day!

2010-04-10T17:13:00.000-07:00

First off, I've cleared my calendar of my scheduled crops. It seems I just have bad planning karma! Everytime I set a date, something comes up. Never fear, I will have crops again, I just need to get my calendar straightened out. Also, I probably won't have any crops from October until the end of the year as my second baby is due in October.

Okay, now here is an event that is DEFINITELY going to happen! My CM Team is getting together for National Scrapbook Day! On May 15th (that's a Saturday), we'll be having a crop from 10am until 10pm at Greater Portland Bible Church. The cost is $40 for a full day and $20 for a half day, with a $5 discount if you bring a dish for the potluck. You will, of course, have space to crop, snacks, meals and goodies! Since a number of consultants are coming together for this event, it will be a BIG group! If you are interested, either RSVP on my website or contact me for more details.

Website with GREAT tips and tricks!

2010-03-19T12:30:00.000-07:00

Through the "Creative Memories GO DIGITAL" group on Facebook, I found a fabulous blog with lots of tips and tricks on it. My Life in Digital Scrapbooking is by another CM consultant who is one of the best digital bloggers I've seen who uses Storybook as their software. She has templates, she has tutorials, she has videos....I highly recommend it!

Let me, once again, sing the praises of Memory Manager!

2010-03-17T11:22:00.001-07:00

As I've posted before, I love Memory Manager--it has been a total lifesaver for me to keep my digital pictures organized (and, if I ever get my scanner up and running again, it will be a lifesaver keeping my scans organized).

Now, "fixing up" pictures is one of those skills that we all want to have, but it seems to technical for most of us. Memory Manager, however, makes it easy.

Don't get your hopes up, Memory Manager is NOT a miracle worker and will not replace an unflattering picture of yourself with one of Angelina Jolie. However, it can save some pictures that, on first glance, just don't look great.

Here is an example. This picture is of the flowers at my baby shower:

Now, this doesn't look very nice. It kind of looks like everyone was smoking up a storm in the room and the flowers have jaundice. However, just about 15 seconds later (using the assistant in Memory Manager and clicking my mouse about 3 times), the picture looks like this:

Quite an improvement, eh?

A lot of the pictures I have only need minimal touch ups, or none at all. However, Memory Manager CAN make a huge difference with some pictures.

I've been DIGITALLY ENDORSED!

2010-03-16T15:55:00.000-07:00

Yes, I am now a DIGITALLY ENDORSED Creative Memories consultant! What this means is that I've completed a training on the digital Creative Memories features so that I can better help customers with their digital needs. Woo-hoo! I decided to go through with this since I am mostly doing digital work myself. I also believe that Digital Scrapbooking is a wonderful option for people who may be a little intimadated by the "arts and crafts" aspect of traditional scrapbooking, who are more techie in nature, or who--like me--need something that doesn't involve a lot of "stuff" to take out and keep out of little hands!

I've also started a Digital Scrapbooking mailing list for digital scrapbookers using the Creative Memories products. It's called CMDigiScrapping and you can join just by using the box in the sidebar. I'll double post somethings here and on the list, but the list will also have more discussion, more project examples, etc. Please join if you are at all interested!

Yet another change in crop dates....

2010-02-04T22:07:00.000-08:00

It's true...nothing is written in stone! My upline consultant is having a team meeting the same day I had scheduled my February crop, so I've had to switch things around a little. The new dates are:
March 7
April 25
May 23
June 27

Phew! The good news is that by moving the February Crop into March (and, um, getting rid of the previously scheduled March crop) is that new product will be available! Woo hoo!

No January Casual Crop

2010-01-18T09:37:00.001-08:00

Just a quick FYI here....

I've had to cancel my January Casual Crop due to a personal conflict popping up on that date. However, the other Casual Crops are still on my calendar....
February 28
March 21
April 25
May 23
June 27

I {{PUFFY HEART}} SIMPLE START!!!

2010-01-14T22:24:00.000-08:00

Yes, I know that typing in all caps is the equivalent of yelling, but I want to yell out loud how much I love the Creative Memories "Simple Start" CD!

So, I can design my own digital scrapbook pages and I enjoy doing it. However, it takes a while--sometimes a great while--to get a page to a point where you can say you are satisfied. If you are like me, and behind on your projects, then THIS is the CD for you!

What is it? Blank templates--that's all! There are 150 templates to use! If you have Storybook Creator Plus, you can edit the templates as you need to! Here is an example:

I went from THIS:

(please ignore the background on this...I had to put in a background paper for it to save as a jpeg)

To THIS:

(I used the new Vintage Romance Content Collection here)

in about 5 minutes. Pretty good, eh?

The CD is $39.95, but it inlcudes a $39.95 coupon code good towards a hardcover storybook. So, really, it's FREE! You can order it from your Creative Memories consultant or, if you don't have one (or if you are already one of my customers!), you can order through my website.

Wow! Is it 2010 already?

2010-01-08T19:45:00.000-08:00

Yeesh! I can't believe that I haven't posted since November! What have I been doing all that time? Well, there was all that holiday fun...and, of course, I've been working on getting my pictures organized in Memory Manager! I am proud to say that I have everything from February 2009 (when my daughter was born) to the present done and, frankly, anything before that is low on the priority list right now.

Now, onto 2010. I've scheduled my casual crops for the first part of the year. They are all at my home and the dates are:
January 31
February 28
March 21
April 25
May 23
June 27

These are all up on my personal website here. If there are any changes to this schedule, it will appear both on my website and I'll post something here. Also, please RSVP if you are planning to come. There are times when I have to cancel an event on short notice (low attendance, sick child, other unexpected event) and only the people who have RSVP'd will get the note.

Another fun thing to pass on...are you looking for some digital help? Check out Creative Memories Webinars for some great trainings. I've gone through all of these and have found them to be incredibly helpful. They can be up to an hour, but you can always pause them and finish them later.

Please remember that you can always email me if you have any questions, comments, or ideas. Also, my website is always open!

12x18 Calendars are here!

2009-11-02T19:20:00.000-08:00

Creative Memories have been touting their new 12X18 calendars for a while--of course, they started talking about them after I started working on a 2010 calendar in StoryBook with the old format! Grr. Oh well, no biggie!

So here's the thing about these new calendars. The actual calendar part is the bottom 6-inches of the page and, when the month is done, you can tear these off and you are left with a 12x12 page print. Brilliant, no?

If you are interested in trying this, the template is a free download for StoryBook Creator Plus 3.0! All you have to do is:
1. Go to my Creative Memory Website.
2. Click on Shop Products on the top bar.
3. Click on Digital Scrapbooking on the side bar.
4. Click on Digital Content Downloads on the side bar.
5. Click on Free Downloadable Themes on the side bar.
6. Scroll down and click on the template of your choice. There are three: Pre-designed pages for the free version of StoryBook (don't bother with this if you have StoryBook Creator Plus), Pre-designed pages for StoryBook Creator Plus, and Basic (Blank) pages for StoryBook Creator Plus.

I chose the third option, which allows you to create your own pages. Then, what I did, was go into another file where I had some 12x12 layouts I wanted to use. From there, I saved the pages as .jpegs in the images files for my calendar and then just stuck it in the calendar. It was unbelievably easy--far easier than it sounds here.

Anyhow, for those of you looking for some one-of-a-kind holiday gifts, this may be the way to go.

Quick bit on digital scrapbooking

2009-10-26T20:35:00.000-07:00

My friend Jeannette wanted to know more about digital scrapbooking--and I will post more! I just want to make sure I lay out information clearly and logically (both of those are a challenge for me sometimes!). However, if you want some info now, feel free to check out Kerry's post about her obsession!

Next Casual Crop

2009-10-26T13:20:00.000-07:00

The holidays are crazy, aren't they? Since my November seems to be chalked up, I'm not going to have a crop that month. Instead, I'm going to move my crops from the month-ends to the month-beginnings and will hold my next crop on Sunday, December 6th at my house. If you are in the Hillsboro, Oregon area and want to join us, you can RSVP on my CM website or email me for more info.

Memory Manager 3.0

2009-10-26T12:55:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, my friend Kerry and I were talking about digital scrapbooking--which makes sense since since digital scrapbooking has become my preferred method since my daughter was born and Kerry is quite the digital scrapping queen. (The ironic part of this conversation was that it took place while were working on our traditional scrapbooks. Go figure!) Anyway, the one thing I think Creative Memories does excel in is digital scrapbooking.

I'll probably be posting quite a bit on digital scrapbooking in the future, so I won't do a whole run-down of it here. I will, however, start with the Memory Manager 3.0 software. Why start there? Two reasons:
1 - I've been using it sort of half-heartedly and am working of become more proficient with it myself. (And, I'm typing this while it backs up my pictures).
2 - It's really the "first step" in CM's digital scrapbooking.

Memory Manager 3.0 is actually not a digital scrapbooking program. It's a photo organizing program--which, let's face it, we need to organize our photos before we do anything with them. So, first steps first. I've always had my own system for organizing pictures, which was--well, okay. Not great. However, since our photo volume has exploded in the last 8 months, I figured I'd better step up and start using the "real stuff."

Okay, since I'm not an expert on this, I'm not going to give you all the sales pitch. However, if you'd like the sales pitch, click on over to this video from Creative Memories (and if you are sold on it, you can order it from my website).

I will tell you, though, that I'm working the program! Okay, right now I'm mostly just indexing my pictures. Once I'm caught up (well, since the beginning of 2009 on. I'll work backwards once I have that done), I'll get all artistic on some pics for you all and post them here so you can see the wonders of Memory Manager. Oh, what fun!

Welcome!!!

2009-10-24T20:20:00.000-07:00

(stands up): My name is Melinda and I'm a scrapbooker.

There, I said it!

I've been scrapbooking for, gee, several years now. I'm not the most accomplished nor the most creative scrapbooker, but I love it. I find cropping relaxing and love the nostalgia that comes with going through a scrapbook. In fact, I love it so much, I became a Creative Memories consultant.

Yes, there are a number of scrapbooking companies and Creative Memories is just one of them. I'm not here to tell you that CM is the best or the only way to scrapbook. It happens to be the method and brand that I use most frequently (although, I'll admit it, I don't use CM exclusively).

Why did I choose to be come a CM consultant? After many years as a corporate drone, I became a SAHM. As any mom will tell you, once you have kids you start taking A LOT of pictures! Obviously, my scrapbooking needs were going to increase, not decrease! I loved going to crops and I loved to have people over...so why not have my own crops?

I'll be honest. I'm not in this to make money--I became a Creative Memories consultant to share my love of scrapbooking to others. Not only can I help people learn more about scrapbooking, but I can also learn things from other scrapbookers! And, let's face it, it's fun!

So what is this blog for then? Well, a couple things. First of all, it's a place for me to discuss new project ideas and events. It's also a way for me to communicate with my customers (current and future) and a place for others to post their thoughts and ideas. If you read something here you have a reaction to, please post a comment!

I hope that you find this blog informative and entertaining. On the sidebar, there is a list to some great scrapbooking links, including my CM page. If you are in the Hillsboro, Oregon area and would like to join us for a crop or host your own party, please don't hesitate to contact me!