Taking The Plunge

In my post Mix It Up, I told you I'm ready to take the plunge into pocket page scrapping by making a hybrid album.  

This weekend I started. Here's what I discovered:

1. I need a bigger variety of cards, some more colors, my limited color choices was the hardest part of the process.

2. I prefer cards that have same design on both sides so I can choose horizontal or vertical as needed.

3. Need to print smaller photos, mine are hard to crop because I do a lot of close ups.

4. Cards work great as embellishments don't need a lot of other supplies so this is a good choice for cropping on the go or when I have just a few minutes to scrap.

5. Discovered that the card sets fit into my Iris photo holder boxes which fit into my medium CTMH storage box. I transferred the label from the package right onto the photo box.

6. In my storage box, I put photos, cards, CTMH Shimmer Trim, roller stamps and some ink pads (black and a few colors to match the cards), a corner rounder, journaling pen and a few embellishments. Perfect scrapping on the go kit.

7. Have to have the page protectors as I scrap which is new experience for me.

8. I rarely journal by hand but pocket pages seem to call for hand journaling.

CTMH's Medium Organizer

I enjoyed that the process was quick and it was easy to get 8 4x6 photos on a 2 page spread. However, I discovered several things I don't like about the pocket pages.  This may be enough to keep me from going forward with this plan.  I'll share my issue with pocket page scrapping on my next post on Wednesday and maybe those of you that already scrap this way can help me with my problem.  

CTMH Love Your Selfie in Iris Photo Box

Happy Crafting, Karen

Pocket Scrapbooking Card Sets

Friday Featured Product

Since I'm starting a hybrid album using pocket pages in my album, I thought I would feature.....

CTMH's Picture My Life collections this week. 

So many of the sets were so irresistible that I've been collecting them for years.  I decided it's time to start actually using my stash of these cards. Can't just be a collector, right?


Just 3 of the sets that are available are shown here. I've also pinned some sample layouts and cards that use Picture My Life on Pinterest.

Don't forget to click the shop tab if you like the sets as well as I do.

Have a great weekend and happy crafting, Karen

Mix It Up

In 2007, I made a vacation scrapbook that was a mix of full page layouts and 4x6 pocket pages.  It was a great way to scrap about 1000 pictures from a trip in a reasonable amount of time. I've always wanted to do more albums using this hybrid technique.

In the past few years, the variety of pocket page protectors has grown with the popularity of pocket page scrapbooking.  My interest in trying hybrid albums kept growing and I started collecting some of the cards and page protectors.  Last month, I couldn't resist the new cards that CTMH had and thought I'd use them in my journal.  Silly idea because I don't like making mini-albums so now it's time to take the plunge.

From www.paperclipping.com

I've barely started my 2015 pics so I decided to make a hybrid album for last year.  I'm going to mix my usual 2 page layouts with pocket pages.  Some layouts will be only full page spreads, some will be only pocket pages, and some will be a combo.  I'm really excited to get started but I'm one of those people that has to research things before I jump in.  I found a post from Noell Hyman at paperclipping.com.  She shows how to mix up different pocket pages with full page layouts. She even uses different size pages in her books.

Noell has inspired me to get my hybrid album going and try to get through a whole year in less than my usual 2 or 3 years. Really, should scrapping the memories take longer than actually living them?

I love comments and would especially love to hear from anyone that's already making mixed page type albums. You're welcome to leave info about your paper crafting blogs or Facebook pages too. Happy paper crafting, Karen

Quick and Easy Embellishment for Scrapbooking

Sparkly Shimmer Trim

I haven't posted much about CTMH products except for our sales and specials.  I've been planning to blog about some of my favorite CTMH products so I decided it was time to start. I try not to make promises in case I can't follow through but I'm going to try to make this a regular feature each week.  I will feature a CTMH product each Friday that I like to use. And the first one is ……

I also have purple and want dk blue.

Shimmer Trim.  It's only $4.95 comes in 13 colors and is so easy to use because it is self-adhesive.  I am not a fan of bling but my daughter loves everything that sparkles even rocks.  (She collects rocks that sparkle.)  So of course I have to add some sparkle and CTMH's shimmer trim is perfect.  It gives just a little sparkle to the page, card or any project without a lot of mess.

I, who never uses bling and only wears a couple of pieces of very simple jewelry have bought over half of the colors available.  It really is easy to use and not over done.

See projects made with shimmer trim on my pinterest board. There's even a video from Close To My Heart on how to use the trim.

Try a roll and you might be hooked. Click here to get Shimmer Trim. 

Happy crafting, Karen

Old Photos, Slides, and Negatives

In the last post, I linked to a post 8 Steps To Organized Photos. Step 4 talks about digitizing some of your older photos and step 6 says to get old slides and negatives stored properly.  I suggest you get them digitized also.  I have found that flatbed scanners and all in one printer/scanners can easily scan photos. It takes time but some photos are worth it.  You'd also be surprised at the details you can see.  I scanned a very small photo of my dad and his brother to discover that they were holding gliders in their hands.  It was a fun discovery.

Detailed CNet article on photo scanning.

I have not found using a flatbed or all in one to work well with slides or negatives even though in both cases they said that they would.  The all in one actually had a special holder for the purpose but it just didn't seem the quality was worth the time.  I eventually bought a scanner that was designed just for slides and negatives.  I only paid $99 at a big chain store but the quality was pretty good.  I did have to spend a lot of time with adjustments and the scan time was really slow.  I have also used a send away service.  This was much pricier and the one I used was very slow.  (Months)  There are now better slide/film scanners that don't have to be hooked up to a computer while you're scanning and it seems like more companies are available for scanning.  I would suggest checking the reviews, cost, and pick which option works for you, scan your own or pay someone else. 

You have to decide how important those old pictures are to you but know that the longer you wait the more degraded the pictures, slides, and film are getting.

I hope you make some fun discoveries as you organize and store your photos, Karen

8 Steps to Organized Photos

Click on photo to see the post.

Since I've been writing about photos lately, I'm going to continue with that theme.  I recommend you follow the 8 steps in this post from Home Storage Solutions 101 to organize your photos. 

If you have old slides or negatives, like I inherited, make sure you check out step 6.  I've already started this process.

Step 7 addresses having backups which I mentioned in my last blog but it also talks about making a book. I make books of our vacations rather than scrapping those but I think I want to try the idea of an annual year in review using photos that didn't get chosen to be on my scrapbook pages. The books are easy to make and I'm always getting offers for heavily discounted books so next time I get a discount I'll start my year in review books.

If you haven't started organizing your photos, take it from someone who is going through decades of her parent's photos and get started now.  Please don't leave this task to your family to do. 

Spend some time going down memory lane and sort, toss, and backup those photos. You might find some you forgot all about.  
What a wonderful surprise that will be, enjoy, Karen

1 Scrapbook Mistake You Should Never Make

Get a group of scrapbookers working on pages and you'll hear someone say "there are no mistakes in scrapbooking".  While I have always agreed that we each are unique and our pages should be unique, I discovered that there is 1 HORRIBLE mistake that scrappers can make.

I've had friends make this mistake and I just couldn't believe that they did this. But then, I did it too!!!  I knew better but I made the 1 scrapbook mistake you should never make.  I didn't back up my digital photos. 

In a hurry to get to a crop vacation, I downloaded almost a year of photos from my cameras directly onto my external hard drive.  I usually put them on my computer and use the external as back up.  I thought I could wait a week and back them up when I got home. I took the hard drive with me to make an online digital photo book.  Sure enough, at the crop, I knocked the hard drive off the table.  Killed my hard drive with no back up of nearly a year's worth of photos.

I consider myself lucky and stu***.  Lucky that it wasn't my only copy of all my photos but stu*** because I knew better.

Don't make this mistake, make sure you have at least two copies. If you have an automated back up, check frequently that it is actually working.  Several friends discovered to late that theirs stopped working.

I bought a new external hard drive and have my photos on it and on my desktop.  I also put all my photos on an online printing service website. I then printed DVD's of all the years and continue to make a copy for each year. This gives me a total of 4 places that I have my photos stored.  Because we live in So Cal where earthquakes and fires are reality, I keep the DVDs in our safety deposit box.

We scrapbook to document memories and family history.  We can't possibly scrapbook all our photos nor guarantee our books will last forever so it's important that we protect our photos as best we can.  Don't make the Mistake of not protecting those digital images.

Be careful and have fun, Karen

Operation Smile

Click on pic to purchase.

Help children all over the world to smile by buying this stamp set.

Close To My Heart has supported Operation Smile for years.  This cute stamp set is available this month only and $7 of the cost will be donated to Operation Smile.

Click to see Jeanette's blog

Click to see Monica's blog

Please check out the 2 blog posts that I've linked to the pictures of the authors to learn more about CTMH's mission to help bring smiles to children and their parents.

Click on pic to purchase

You can also help by purchasing this cute stamp.  Isn't it a good day when you can get yourself a little something and put a smile on a child's face doing it?

I would love for you to purchase these stamp sets from me but if you already have a CTMH consultant please contact them.  You can also find a consultant closer to your home by going to the Close to my Heart website and searching for a consultant by putting in your city and state.

Please #ctmhsharethelove, Karen