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My friend and co-Creative Memories consultant Julie and I held our semi-annual scrapbooking retreat last weekend at the cozy Westridge Country Inn in beautiful Canmore, Alberta last weekend. What a great time! We only had a small group of 14 ladies this time, but that added to the fun and intimate atmosphere.


Our theme was "Express Yourself", and from Friday evening until Sunday at noon, that's exactly what these ladies did! They created 477 scrapbook pages! WOW! I even got 8 layouts done myself! (I'll post some of them as soon as I get a chance to take pics of them.) It was wonderful to see their various styles and approaches and to get ideas from each other. Two ladies spent a good amount of time sorting through YEARS of pics as well, tossing and organizing and getting so much accomplished! Julie and I taught some sessions on digital photo organization and scrapbooking and creating gifts (especially for Father's Day) using scrapbook supplies and techniques. Everyone had a great time and went home refreshed. Here are some pics:

We will definitley be holding another retreat sometime in late October or early November, probably at the Westridge again, so watch my blog for more info.

Only 2 or 3 more weeks until our second baby comes along, and I have to admit that I am ready to meet him! This pregnancy has been fraught with many issues, big and small, and I won't miss being pregnant this time around! I will be sure to post the news and pics as soon as he arrives!

Happy scrapping!

Noreen

Two websites and a blog

I just wanted to quickly share with you a few places to visit on the web that I love!

1) First up...BIG PICTURE SCRAPBOOKING! If you like Simple Scrapbooks magazine (who doesn't???!!!) and Stacy Julian, then you may already know about this great learning resource. Stacy founded this site as a sort of online classroom where scrappers can come and take courses on various aspects of creativity and scrapbooking. There are ever changing workshops, projects and classes being offered, some of which are FREE! I encourage you to have a look and download some of the free offerings - they are truly inspiring!

2) Another awesome online learning site...FISKARS TV! I love Fiskars tools, but I had no idea that they had a site with great how-to video episodes! I watched about 10 tonight and there are lots more I am going back for! They feature big names in scrapbooking - like Stacy Julian, Wendy Smedley and Leah Fung - sharing project ideas and demonstrating how to use Fiskars tools. And after each new episode there is a giveaway of Fiskars products that is to die for! Love it!

3) It's silly, I know, but I am pretty excited about actually being featured on someone elses blog! I had emailed LECIA FORREST a week or so ago because I read on her blog that she had taken the same beginners digital scrapbooking class that I did back in April during Scrapbooker's Paradise "Camp Croppin"! So I dropped her a note to agree with her and I included my first digital layout from the class (see my blog post from April 14). Well, wasn't I surprised to see her feature my layout on her blog today! Back in January when I started this blog I talked about becoming part of the scrapbooking community and sharing my work and ideas, and it is so exciting to actually have that starting to happen! I think I might start posting and commenting in a few more places so I can continue to SHARE! It's addictive!

I love scrapbooking and I love scrapbookers who also want to share and build community!

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

Down but not out!

I am once again out of commission...I can't believe it but I had a fall coming out of our garage the other day and have re-injured my ribs AND banged up my knee pretty good. Baby is OK thankfully, but once again I am in a fair amount of pain and can't do much of anything. So I have once again been indulging in reading scrapbooking books and mags while propped up on my couch! Here's a few tidbits I thought would share...

I had purchased Stacy Julian's (founding editor of Simple Scrapbooks) book The Big Picture and finally was able to read it! I love the way Stacy organizes her albums...something I really needed help with! I am a very chronological scrapbooker, and sometimes when I make a layout I wonder where it should go! Stacy has a really flexible system that I think I am going to adopt...adding more albums but having more flexibility as to what goes in them. She also encourages us to be creative, to not get bogged down by guilt (as in not being "Caught up") and to stay motivated and enjoying our fabulous hobby! Great read altogether and I can see me going back to it time and time again.

I also purchased Cathy Zielske's book Clean and Simple Scrapbooking which was also a bit of a revelation. While her style is much simpler than even mine is, I really like the way she approaches scrapbooking. With her background as a photographer and graphic designer, her pages are all about the photos and the story. Love it! Although I enjoy looking at highly decorated and embellished pages, the things that I really want to see on a page are clear, crisp photos and words that describe the moments behind them - the stories, the feelings, the memories. And Cathy does this beautifully! In the book she covers basic elements and principles of design (a subject close to my own heart!), gives photo tips that will improve anyones photography, and gives really clear examples of working with typography (text) on a computer so you can journal and scrap your layouts quickly and easily. I highly recommend it!

Next on my wish list:

Photo Freedom by Stacy Julian
Clean and Simple Scrapbooking: The Sequel by Cathy Zielske
Best of Becky Higgins' Sketches by Becky Higgins

And I can't forget Creative Memories own magazine Lasting Moments. It's a great publication that comes out 6 times and year and focuses exclusively on CM products. You can get all the news on the latest products (like the new 12x12 and 8x8 TRUE size products...YAY!!!) and see lots more ideas on how to use your favorites in fresh new ways...including digital tips. You can subscribe to Lasting Moments for only $29.97/year CAD on my website - click here to find out more...you'll be glad you did, because as a thank you for subscribing, CM will send you a bonus freebie with your first issue and I will be offering you 15% off your next CM order! You can't go wrong!

So, lots of ideas and inspiration all around! Watch my blog over the next few days for some new layouts and project ideas! And If you have read any great scrapbooking books and want to share your opinion or tips or tricks, I'd love to hear from you!

Happy scrapping!
Noreen