Monday, January 9, 2012

Scrapping New Years events

Welcome to Week Two of our project! I was so happy to get two submissions for last week's contest to scrap a Year in Review layout and link it in the comment section by Thursday of last week! I used random.org to do a drawing and lawyerlyn is the winner of a $3.00 coupon to my store!  Please email me at mcbyramona at yahoo dot com to claim your prize!!

Now, on to this week!  I want you to pick any New Year's Eve or New Year's Day from your past and scrap a layout of it!  I have a great example that Michelle, over at Scrap Matters did, using one of my template packs.



I love all her photos and her journaling!  It's a great page!  So, scrap up one of your New Year's celebrations and post a link in this thread, by Thursday night (11:59 pm pst) and I will do a drawing next weekend for another $3.00 coupon!

I also have a freebie template for you today!

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Thursday, January 5, 2012

Getting Started

I am soooo excited to kick off my series of video tutorials!  This week is just one, but I will have 2 for you next week.

The one this week is geared towards anyone who has ever wanted to get started but didn't know where to start! This short and simple tutorial is a great introduction.

Next week, I will be posting two.  I will do one that will continue with the program I use today and they will be simple for beginners.  The second tutorial will be in photoshop and will be for those who have scrapped in either photoshop or elements and are wanting to expand their skills!  I had so much fun making this one that I have all kinds of ideas for the future!

I also thought I would mention a few different programs that are available for digital scrapping.

Gimp --Free download--download to your hard drive and is similar to photoshop
Pixlr --Free--not downloaded but used directly from your browser (today's tutorial is in this one)
Corel Paint Shop Pro --Can be downloaded as a trial, normally costs between $60-90-look for sales.
Adobe Photoshop Elements --downloaded or software purchased--normally costs about $100.
Adobe Photoshop --Full version, downloaded or software--normally priced at $649.

So, without further delay, I give you my first ever video tutorial:

Wednesday, January 4, 2012

1996 Year in Review

How is everyone's week coming so far? How are the layouts coming!  This has been a difficult challenge for me, especially knowing where to start.  After a lot of thought and browsing through pictures and other memories, I decided to do 1996, the first year of my marriage.  I could only find one picture of us, during that year, but it is better than nothing!  It was fun to think back over each month of that year and see what I could remember!  Here is my layout!

I am so happy to have this done!  I found it very helpful to sit down first and make an outline of what I could remember.  Then I went through my pictures to see what I could find and then put the layout together.  It actually came together better than I thought-I'm so glad I took the time to do it! I hope you are having a similar experience as you take this journey down memory lane!

I am loving the comments, so please keep them coming! It is fun to meet so many new friends and find a few familiar faces too!

I have a sneak peek to show off of two products I am releasing on Friday.  These two sets of products will be very helpful in your Year in Review scrapping and other documentation!  I will show you three random layouts that were completed by my team! I will have more to share and all the info in my newsletter on friday.  Have you subscribed?  HERE is the link if you'd like to! I always give a freebie, a scrapping tip and all the run down of my new products.  I also throw in a coupon-so it is totally worth your time!




And last, but certainly not least, I have a freebie for you!  I was asked (in one of the comments a few weeks ago) to do a timeline for facebook template!  So, that is exactly what I have for you!

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Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Purposeful Photos

As we begin 2012, one of my big goals is to get more photos that I can scrap with.  I'm not always the best at grabbing the camera and snapping lots of photos.  And if something cute happens, my kids have stopped by the time I do get the camera or the shot doesn't show the cuteness, at all!

So, I've decided that at least once a week, I'm going to do a bit of a photo shoot.  Sometimes I may even set it up, as if I were a real photographer!  The purpose is to get great shots of my kids so I can remember them at this time of life!  Sometimes the photos will be spontaneous, but my goal will be to get purposeful photos. I'm going to make a date with my camera and focus on snapping photos of my kids.

Some tips to keep in mind:

1.  Don't seek perfection!  Just get the shot.

2.  Never underestimate what a good action or photo treatment can do!

3.  Finish off your photos with cropping, to truly show off the perspective.

4.  Go through your photos and edit as soon as possible.  Don't keep the ones that aren't worth keeping.  Don't be afraid of your delete button.

Here are some shots I got of my kids yesterday. I kind of went for a technology theme!  Our family loves everything about technology. Even my 2 year old can work the iphone better than I can.






Plan a photoshoot or at least a date with your camera today and link me to your photos! I'd love to see them!  What do you want to remember about your family or your life today?

Monday, January 2, 2012

Scrap Your Story begins!

Well, as you can tell, I am so excited about my plan for 2012, I even did a full blog makeover!!  I can't wait!  I'm sure you have also noticed all the different plans out there for 365 or 52 or project life or one little word, etc.  I love all of these and they inspire me to scrap and set goals and record all the little things in life!  But I'll be honest, as wonderful as these projects are, I have one very small-looming problem...I have about 37 years of my life with little to no scrapping done on it!  I have done great for the past 3 years and captured most of the details of our family life. I have even printed these into books for my children to enjoy!  I plan to continue moving forward, year by year, scrapping in the moment!  But what to do with the 37 years that are missing?

And I'll be honest, for many of those years, I have limited photos or photos that are in boxes, needing to be scanned.  In my basement, I have boxes of journals and pictures and special things I've collected.  These are all gathering dust and if I died tomorrow, my children would have no idea what most of those things even meant!

Please tell me I'm not alone!  Raise your virtual hand, if you find yourself in the same predicament!  If you raised your hand, then this project is for you! I can't promise that all past years will be caught up, but we'll make a dent on it!  We won't be scrapping in chronological order because my 37 years might be your 5 or 15 or 20 or 45!  But if you follow along with the weekly prompts, you'll have quite a stockpile of layouts ready to print and be organized into albums!

Let's get started!  Shall we?  January is all about wrapping up the old and unwrapping the new!  This week, we are going to focus on a year in review-but not 2011!  That will come later!  The last week of every month, will be focused on scrapping the current-but the other three will deal with the past!  So, what I want you to do, is think of a year, any year in your past and scrap a Year in Review layout.  Try to think of something from every month of that year (if you have a picture for each one-Great--if not, no worries!).  We're not worrying about all the little details-just get the bullet points!  If you have energy to do more than one-go for it!!  This will not only be a great way to remember whatever year you choose, but it will serve as an outline when you get ready to scrap more about that year!

We're also going to have a weekly contest!   Once you have scrapped your layout(s), post the link in the comments of this post by Thursday night of this week.  I will do a drawing and the winner will receive a $3.00 coupon to my store!  How fun is that?  Scrap 1 layout and you have 1 chance!  Scrap 10 YIR layouts and you have 10 chances!!  I can't wait to see what you all do!

Here is a freebie to get you started:

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I'm also beginning a blog schedule, so each day of the week will have a different theme!  Check in tomorrow for photo tips and inspiration!!

Sunday, January 1, 2012

Happy New Year!

I'm so excited for the coming year and all I have planned for my blog!  We are going on an amazing adventure-so I hope you're ready!!!

First thing, though I want to post my part of the LDS Blog Train I am participating in.  I actually designed a little mini kit-my first in almost a year!  I had quite a bit of fun doing it!

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The theme is Choose the Right and here is a slideshow of the other goodies you can find on the train!  They are all free!







 And here is the blog roll:

One Scrap Happy Chic
 
Word Art World
Jensen Motley Crew Designs
Digital Designs by Jana
Kristal Kreations
Toddlers of Unusual Size
Little Bit Shoppe Designs
Memory Clips by Ramona >>You Are HERE!
Granny Enchanted
Psychozoe Designs
Cocoroos Scraps
My 4 Princesses Designs
Hot Pink Pansy
Krisi's Kreations
Just Me and My Scrapping Stuff
SAHM Scrapper (Becky)
Doras Digitals
Let Me Scrapbook
Plum Dumpling Designs
FranB Designs
Design by Alvetina
Dancing Princess Designs
The Loco House
WinksArt Graphics

Lula LDS
Noisy Pancakes
Twiisters