MOM

One of the things I love about scrapbooking is the way it can become a form of personal expression. While I am not big into "scrap therapy", I realize that my layouts can be a safe place to record thoughts and emotions as well as stories. That's what happened today as I started working on my layout for LOAD.

First off, Summer Driggs offered a new free digital scrapbooking kit on her blog called "Angel Mother." She shared a little bit about her own mother who passed away three years ago and who inspired the new digi kit. The kit was beautiful and Summer's words touched me. I downloaded the kit right then and there and knew that I wanted to do a layout about my own mother with it. This is it:

"Mom", 12 x 12 Digital Layout by Noreen Smith. Storybook Creator Plus Software from CM. All papers and elements from Angel Mother Kit by Summer Driggs.

It was a hard, emotional layout to do. I struggled with which photos to use and with sharing my thoughts and feelings in the journaling. It brought up a lot of emotions that I have kept under wraps for most of this last year.

One year ago on Mother's Day, mom got out of her house, became disoriented and had a bad fall. One week later she was admitted to the hospital, never to come home again. She was placed in a wonderful care facility, but has been steadily declining ever since. She is now a fragile shell of the woman she once was. On good days she recognizes me and she is usually happy to see my boys. She doesn't really know who Sam is, because he was born after her Alzheimers disease really set in, but she just enjoys seeing a baby. When we visit mom I am somewhat guarded, because I feel like if I let my true emotions show, the floodgates would open and there would be no closing them. It's easier on my heart to cover up with laughter and jokes. Alzheimer's is such a strange and cruel disease because the person you know and love is still there, yet not there. And when I sat down today and really thought about what I lost, my heart ached.

This Mother's Day will be the first "without" mom, and I am very sad. But we will celebrate it anyway, even though she has no idea what will be happening. We will bring flowers to brighten her day and hopefully she will be able to feel our love without having to understand it.

In the end on my layout I chose to use a couple of photos of mom from the past few years...photos which show her bright smile and sunny disposition along with the last really good photo of her and I that was taken just a year and half ago which I love and cherish. The journaling I struggled with finally reads:

"It's hard to think or write about it. This Mother's Day I celebrate that you are still with us, but mourn the loss of the mom I knew and loved. Alzheimer's disease has robbed you of your memory and many normal functions, and it has taken you away from us in spirit. There are still glimpses of the woman you were, but they are fewer and further between. It's hard to see you like that, so in some ways I prefer to remember you as you were - full of life, love and laughter. You taught me so much about being a great mom...I hope I can live up to your example. And I wish I could share it all with you. I love you always. Noreen"

I love that I was able to celebrate who my mom was in this layout. Celebrate and cherish your mom this coming Sunday, and blessings to all my friends who are moms themselves.

Happy Scrapping!
Noreen

Polaroids

Did you ever have a Polaroid camera? One that spat out pictures thick with emulsion that you watched develop right before your very eyes? I did, and I loved it. I actually still have it boxed up for posterity. I heard recently that although the iconic instamatic camera is long gone, Polaroid is coming out with the first ever digital instant camera called the PoGo which is due out in June of this year. Looks interesting.

Until I get to try it for myself, I'll content myself with this online version I stumbled across - THE POLADROID PROJECT. It's really fun and really easy- download the program onto your desktop and then click and drag a favorite photo "into" the camera. It makes a realistic noise, spits out the photo and you get to watch it develop. The result is a digital version of a polaroid, complete with a thick looking pic and the trademark white border. Cool!

So, I loaded this photo of the boys:



and ended up with this (It's a little hard to see on this white background)


Cool eh? Of course I had to continue playing with it so I Poladroid-ed two more pics and made a digi layout with the resulting jpgs.

"Oh Brother", Digital Layout by Noreen Smith. Storybook Creator Plus software and Best Buds digital kit. Journaling reads: "I grew up as an only child, but I always wished I had a sister or brother, so I am so happy that the two of you will grow up together. Sure, you'll have your fights, differences of opinions and squabbles. But you'll also always have each other to lean on, laugh with and love. You are precious gifts to daddy and I and to each other."

You can make up to 10 Poladroids with the program, then apparently you have to re-download the program to do more (I'm unsure why, but...). It was lots of fun and very different to work with photos this way! I did a digi layout because my workspace is still a mess, but it would be fun to print these out and actually write on them like I used to do with the real ones! Either way, it sure felt great to create again!

Happy Scrapping!
Noreen

Looking Back, Looking Ahead

Happy New Year!

What did you do to say goodbye to 2008 and ring in 2009? Since I am loaded with a sinus cold, I didn't head out to a celebration party as was planned. Instead I stayed at home, drank lots of tea and created a 2009 Highlights Storybook!

I went back through my photos from 2009 (easy to do using my Memory Manager software software, then using Storybook Creator Plus software I plopped them into a 8x8 template to create the bones of the book. Then I added the background pages using the MOD Digital Kit and some point form journaling. The resulting book will be sent to me within a week or so and will be a great review of the entiure year...and I did it in only a couple of hours!

Here are a few pages from the book:

First and last pages:

March:

June:

December:

Pretty cool, huh? I love digital!

Lots of us make resolutions at this time of year that only last a couple of weeks or even just a couple of days. I am really going to try to keep my (scrapbooking) resolutions and stay on top of
"keeping up" with our family memories. Have you thought about how you might keep track of all the memories to be made? I am definitely doing this and am thinking about doing this. Both are great ways to start and STAY organized in the process of memory keeping. And just think, on New Year's Day 2010, my 2009 memories will be safely tucked away in an album...complete and ready to look back upon with fondness! (Is it strange that I am so excited about getting organized???)

I am also excited because the January 1st challenge is up at Christmas Cards All Year Round! The challenge was to create a traditional card using red/green, a stamped image or rub-ons. Here's mine:

I was itching for a chance to use the new Christmas papers from American Crafts, so I punched some squares out of the fun patterned paper, inked up the edges and arranged them on a 5 x 5 card base. I liked the brown in the patterns, so I used brown cardstock as the base for my rub-on sentiment from Memory Makers. A fun little star brad finished it off. It probably isn't as traditional as it could be, but I do love the colors and patterns together. (And I have to say that I am tickled to see my work posted as a Design Team member!)

Staying with the idea of looking ahead, if you did each card challenge from CCAYR over the coming year, you would have plenty of Christmas cards for NEXT CHristmas! So, get started already!

Whatever your plans for the upcoming year, I hope it is happy and full of blessings. I look forward to saring more memories with you in 2009.

Happy Scrapping!
Noreen

Getting Organized

My house has been in a state of CHAOS ("Can't Have Anyone Over Syndrome" according to FlyLady!) since we moved in over a year ago. We started renovations on our 40 year old bungalow before we even moved in and we have been at it ever since. Right now I have a missing cabinet in my kitchen where the dishwasher is supposed to be installed in the next couple of weeks and all the dishes that were stored in that cabinet are on the kitchen table. Sam's nursery is 95% complete...we just have to actually set up the crib once we find it in the storage locker we call the garage. Our newly developed basement looks great except for the masses of rubbermaid blue totes that need to be labelled and stored in our storage room...which still needs shelves. Sigh...it goes on and on and on!

I am constantly thinking about storage and organization and how everything will look and function once I am done. I dream of having organized, color coded closets and shelves full of perfectly aligned matching rubbermaid totes with matching Dymo labels. In my scraproom I imagine finding a place for everything so it can be right at my fingertips...how many more layouts I could create! I am working towards that dream, but does anyone ever actually finish organizing? Or is it a constant ongoing project?

But, I am happy to report that I have had sucess on TWO fronts! I have finished creating two organizational planners that will surely help me stay organized in other areas! One is the Christmas Planner I was mentioning that I am making as part of a BPS class called "Cut the Crazy out of Christmas". The other is a Household Notebook inspired by both FlyLady and Organized Home. I put the "guts" of each together over the last couple of days and then because I wanted them to look great sitting on my shelf or counter I stayed up way too late last night and created covers and spines for both using my digital scrapbooking program from CM - Storybook Creator Plus.

Here is the Christmas Planner:

I used a free digital kit from Shabby Princess called Holiday Magic for the artwork and LD Coffee House as the font on this. Because I didn't have a digital copy of the photo I wanted to use, the cover is actually more a hybrid project...I started by making a template, printed that out onto cardstock and then added the printed photo and journaling onto the cardstock.

The inside of the Christmas planner has custom made dividers using artwork from the BPS class, and then I personalized it by stapling on strips of gingham ribbon along with the divider tabs.

And here is my new household notebook! How sweet!

I used the Recipe Book Digital Kit from Creative Memories for this cover, and a font called LD Telegram. I love the vintage feeling they both have! Inside I used ready made pocket dividers which will come in handy for slipping items into.

I created both covers as 12x12 layouts in my Storybook Creator Plus program and then simply trimmed them down to fit inside the outer sleeves of each binder. Because I knew I would be trimming them I kept the majority of focus more towards the centre of each layout. I did the spines as two 3" x 12" strips, printed them both onto one sheet of cardstock and then trimmed them down to fit the side sleeves on each binder.

On the whole I LOVE how they turned out and I think I will really be inspired to use them often!

OK...only 978 more organizational projects to go!

Happy Scrapping!
Noreen

Bad Blogger

Ok Ok I know...I am a bad blogger! So much for my one-fun-thing-a-day postings, eh? Well, I think I have a good excuse - I AM EXHAUSTED. Gee, I wonder why?I have a 7 week old COLICY baby, a three and a half year old and a sore back.

Truly I haven't been this tired EVER. I remember when Grayson was born my Doctor said "Sleep when the baby sleeps". Good advice, but when do you sleep when you have an active toddler around? And to make matters worse, Sam eats every 2 hours now, so he is only napping for a short while between feedings. My house is a mess, we have been eating frozen dinners and take out for weeks now, I haven't paid bills or worked on my website at all, and needless to say I haven't been able to indulge in my scrapbooking at all. (I am saving all my handouts and lessons from Stacy J's Have More Fun class for a time when I can actually have more fun!)

I did get a slight reprieve this weekend as we drove up to Lloydminster to see Shane's family. The 6 hour car ride meant that both the boys slept a fair bit and since they were contained, I could sleep or read or whatever for a few precious minutes as well. While we were up there, we stayed in a hotel with a pool,so Grayson got to have some fun with daddy, and of course we went to restaraunts which meant I got to sit down and have someone serve me! Little things, I know, but what can I say?

Here is a shot of Grayson at the famous (infamous?) Pysanka egg at Vegreville, where we had to stop to feed Sam. I guess I really can call Grayson an egghead now eh?!

Sam is 8 weeks today and they say that colic tends to peak around 6 weeks/2months and then dies off. Let's hope that is the case. I can hang in another month. And things could always be worse...I found by pure accident a lovely blog from a gal who offers free digital kits. Her scrapbooking design work is amazing and great, but I was really touched by her personal story...she has a young baby girl who is going through a serious health problem and is actually having brain surgery next week. Through it all she seems to be coping well and reamin thankful for small things and very positive...what a good reminder to us all. So, I will be keeping her and her baby in my thoughts and remember to be thankful that my colicy baby is healthy. And today I will also be thankful for a cup of coffee with real cream in it, smiles and kisses from my 3 year old and maybe a piece of chocolate before I go to bed. Life is good.

Happy Scrapping
Noreen

Baby...where are you?

NO BABY YET. Arrrggghhh!

I went to the Doctor yesterday for my 39 week appointment, and because I was having a lot of contraction-like pains and pressure, I was told to go over to the Hospital to get assessed. But, even though I was in fact having contractions, they weren't regular or close enough together, my water hadn't broken and my blood pressure was OK, so they sent me home. Sheesh. I was hoping baby would be here because I am just so uncomfortable. It wasn't this bad with Grayson near the end, but then again I was induced at just 38 weeks, so I guess I didn't experience the last couple of weeks with him. Oh well...I am just praying that I don't go overdue...how will I cope for up to THREE MORE WEEKS????

In the meantime I am trying to stay comfy on the couch, doing a lot reading and surfing my favorite websites and blogs. I am also recategorizing my photos based on Stacy Julian's Library of Memories System. Instead of keeping all my photos in chronological order and being (somewhat) forced to scrapbook events as they happen, I am triaging my photos into categories such as "People We Love, Things We Do, Places We Go and All About Us" These categories allow me to view my photos more easily, especially when I am thinking about doing a layout about the effect a certain person, place or thing has on me. I am seeing connections and new possibilities for my scrapbooking, and I am only getting started!

I was helping dad organize the pantry at his place the other day so he can cook for himself a little easier, and we came across my mom's recipe box. Now, my mom has never been the best cook around, but she certainly had her specialities, so I am glad to have found them recorded in her own handwriting. I think I will scan some of them and combine it with photos to create a little mini-recipe book based on some of her (and my!) favorites. I am going to use Creative Memories new 7x5 inch softcover format of their Storybook (PS...it's very affordable at $18.95 for 20 pages,and like all the CM Storybooks is of highest quality!) I will (TRY to) post it when I am done (Lord knows when that will be eh???) If you have any layouts or projects using recipes, I'd love to see them!

Poor G. has a head cold right now and is zonked out on the couch after getting up at 4:30 this morning because he couldn't breathe. Even though it's only 8:30-ish am, I think I will join him for a little nap.

Keep your fingers crossed that baby comes along soon...
Happy scrapping,
Noreen

Day out with Thomas

What a great day we had seeing Thomas the Tank Engine! Heritage Park is a historical village themed park in Calgary which has an old CPR steam train as one of it's attractions, and Thomas was able to come and actually pull the steam train and give rides! There was lots of other things going on too...Thomas themed games, crafts & entertainment, storytelling, a HUGE gift store, and pictures with both Thomas and Sir Topham Hatt! (OK, if you don't know who I am talking about, you probably don't have pre-school boys in your house!) Of course we had to do the traditional excursion to the bakery in the Park where they make old fashioned breads and pastries - their cinnamon buns, sour-dough bread and gingerbread men cookies were not to be missed! We joined our good friends Wendy and PJ along with their two kids Amy and Sean for the adventure and a good time was had by all! I could really feel that I was 34 weeks pregnant though...2 hours in the Park running after an excited three-year old was enough to put me down for a two and a half hour nap afterwards!

One of the things I love about digital scrapbooking is it's immediacy...after G. went to bed tonight I downloaded the photos from my camera, chose my papers and embellishments right from my computer, got started with my layout and was done within about 1/2 hour! I did buy some cute Thomas themed paper though, so I think I will probably do a traditional layout for G's album as well! Here's the digital LO I did:


"Day out with Thomas", 12 x 12 digital double page layout by Noreen Smith. Storybook Creator Plus software; Primary Digital kit by Creative Memories; Arial Narrow and Gill Sans Ultra Bold Condensed fonts.

Next weekend is Mother's Day as well as my semi-annual scrapbboking retreat in Canmore for my Creative Memories customers. I am really looking forward to it, but I have a lot of prep work to do for it, which will be my task for this week! (PS...I am so excited by some of the new traditional and digital Creative Memories products that will be coming out next month, but I can't spoil the surprise here yet!)

And, I am still working hard on my new website, but it will still be a few weeks before it is up and running - I want to get it right before I go live, but I'll make sure to post the link here as soon as it is up!

Happy Scrapping!
Noreen

Photoshop - WOW!

I was really blown away by the "Introduction to Photoshop" session I attended at Scrapbookers Paradise on Friday. The large south location of SP has recently opened a new "Fusion" digital scrapbooking area for the public to use with 12 brand new computers all loaded with up to the minute software to create some amazing layouts! WOW!

So, this past weekend when SP held it's annual Camp Croppin' at the nearby Carriage House Inn, some of the sessions spilled over into the store (which by the way was open until 11:00pm...I love late night shopping!) and Alisha Shaw from Digital Scrapbook Memories came over to teach the introductory class. She was great & knowledgeable, and she really made everything I had been confused about in Photoshop a lot easier to understand. She walked us throught the confusing world of layers, and we made our first layout right then during the class. When I got home, I practiced some more, and I think I may be getting the hang of it! Here are the two layouts I made that night with Photoshop:

"High up in the Sky" by Noreen Smith. 12 x 12 digital layout. PSE6 software; The Garden kit by Digital Scrapbook Memories; Stereofidelic and Tahoma fonts.

"Fearless" by Noreen Smith. 12 x 12 digital layout. PSE6 software; Moody Blues free kit from Scrapgirls.com; Comic Sans ms font.

I think I will mainly use Creative Memories StoryBook Creator plus software for most of the digital layouts I do...as I mentioned before it just seems more intuitive to me. But I will continue to practice using Photoshop so I can help others with it if needed. It also does have some amazing capabilites that I would like to learn how to use.I guess it just reinforces that it's never too late to learn something new...take a risk, take a class, take a leap of faith! You can do it!

On another note...you may have noticed a change to the look of my blog. It's been changed to "match" the new Sharing Memories website I am working on! I am excited about the website and I hope to have it go online within the next month. Until then, I will (try to) keep my blog up to date and filled with some good stuff for you!

Happy Scrapping...

Noreen

New Layouts

Wow...two posts in one day! I must be trying to make up for not posting for over a month!


Anyway, I had some time tonight to finish off a few digital layouts I have been working on and so I thought I'd post them!

"All Mine", by Noreen Smith. 12 x 12 layout, CM StoryBook Creator Plus software and Everyday Kit

"Blue", by Noreen Smith. 12 x 12 layout, CM StoryBook Creator Plus Software; Shabby Princess Promise Kit

"N" by Noreen Smith. 12 x 12 layout, CM StoryBook Creator Plus Software and Shabby Cottage Kit

I'd love to hear what you think about these layouts, especially as I am still so new to digital. I am doing a lot of single page spreads in digital, whereas I do mostly 2 page spreads in my traditional scrapbooks. I will post a couple of traditional 2 page spreads from HALLOWEEN '07 in the next couple of days.

Happy Scrapping!

Noreen

Back in the saddle

Sorry for not posting for so long...I have continued to have health issues with this pregnancy that have taken a physical and mental toll on me. After lots of tests and Doctor's visits, my Doc finally has said enough is enough and has ordered me of work permanently until baby is born. This is a good thing (obviously it helps my health and that of baby) but a bit sad in that I am permanently leaving a school that I have really enjoyed working at for the past two and half years. But, since my deareast wish is to be a SAHM/WAHM after this second baby is born, I have to keep my focus looking ahead and not behind.

SO...in the time I have been off I have been researching more and more about how my passion and knowledge for scrapbooking can become a viable and fulfilling business. I have some great ideas gleaned from the web and from talking to trusted confidantes. I am going to continue my Creative Memories business, because I truly believe that they offer the best quality and variety of scrapbooking albums and products AND the best options for beginner digital scrapbookers (more on that later in this posting!) More so, I feel they are by far the best, most reliable and integrity driven direct sales scrapbooking out there (witness the demise of yet another direct sales company "Top Line Creations" just last week!).

What I am going to do is ADD to my business - I am working on building a scrapbooking website that hopefully will become one of your favorites! It will have lots of info on scrapbooking trends, styles, products, techniques and tips, and I hope to build a large gallery of layouts and sample projects to provide you lots of inspiration. I also want to offer more education opportunities (after all, that's what I do best!) in the form of online courses, as well as in-person classes. A colleague and I are working on securing a more permanent and regular home for our workshops/crops and hope to involve a wider variety of consultants and paper crafters. And, I will also be accepting commissioned albums - scrapbooking for those who don't want to do it themselves. I am really excited by and looking forward to these new aspects of my business.

So, as the old saying goes,"When God closes a door, somewhere he opens a window" is very true...although my pregnancy complications have prematurely ended my traditional career in education for me, it has also presented me with opportunitites I never expected.

Now, on to some fun stuff...

I think I already mentioned how much I am loving digital? Well, recently I was inspired to use CM's StoryBook Creator Plus software to create some 4x6 photo cards. YES, CARDS! Imagine never being at the mercy of the big photo developers again in choosing from only a handful of designs that don't really "match" your photo for the holidays. Imagine only paying for a regular sized photo (maybe 0.12 to 0.18 cents?) instead of up to 0.99 cents per photo card! Imagine never again buying "store-bought" invitations for kids birthdays or showers etc. It was a bit mind boggling to say the least to think of how many ways I could use these little gems. SO, I whipped up 6 different ones to just give you an idea of what you can do. It literally took me about 5 minutes per card, and now I can send them off to any photo developer (like Wal-Mart or Costco) and have professional looking cards done quick, easy and CHEAP! I am planning on doing up some more of these for my upcoming retreat, Mother's Day and of course, as baby announcements!

Here they are:






And finally today, the teacher becomes the student. I am really looking forward to attending a session on learning how to use Photoshop Elements. A LSS Scrapbookers Paradise is offering classes and I figured I should know how to use this software so I can have more knowledge when comparing it to CM'S StoryBook Creator Plus. My session is this weekend, so I'll let you know how it goes next week.

Have a great day...Happy Scrapping!
Noreen

Digital fun

So, I have been out of commission again for a week now - I cracked some ribs last week while having a coughing fit! The Doctor says this is not uncommon in pregnant women as the ribcage is already stretched. I don't know how I manage these things. And, to make matters worse, I had just gone back to work the week before! Sheesh!

Anyway, I still can't do too much physically, but I can sit at my computer propped up with lots of pillows, so I took advantage of this unexpected "found" time and really got into my digital scrapbooking. I learned to use Creative Memories new Storybook Creator + software and I just completed a couple of cute holiday layouts:

(Edited...sorry I had to temporarily remove these LO's as I have submmitted them for publication June 8-08.)

Learning the software was really easy and intuitive. I also have Adobe Photoshop Elements 6, but even though I have a little bit of Graphic Design background using Corel Draw, I will still need to take a tutorial on PSP6 and play around with it a little more. I didn't know if I would like digital scrapbooking, because I really love touching and working with paper and embellishments etc., but I think after doing just a couple of layouts, I think I might be hooked! I can see so many advantages of using digital:

• you can buy a kit once and use/re-use it forever
• it's very portable - if you use a laptop, you can digi-scrap anywhere
• there's no need to haul out lots of supplies (this is great because my basement studio STILL isn't done, although the carpet is being installed as we speak!) and no clean-up
• you can get a lot done in a short period of time, leave it, then come back to it
• you can get lots of cool effects with photos or embellishments
• it's lots of fun to share by emailing or by posting

I am also working on an 8x8 Storybook using the CM software, so I will post that when it is finished. I'd love to hear your comments on my layouts!

Have a great day,

Noreen

PS...I can't tell you how excited I was to see a comment posted on my blog by Wendy Smedley!!! I feel like I've just met a scrapbooking celebrity! Thanks Wendy...you made my day!