Talking Back: Episode 102 Guilt-free Scrapbooking

So this week I listened to Episode 102 of the Scrap Gals Podcast...and doing so really got my wheels turning. Tiffany and Tracie shared some very thoughtful tips for those in our paper crafting community who maybe struggling to continue scrapbooking. Having gone through a three year stint of being a "former scrapbooker", I especially appreciated their insights.

And you know it...I have a few thoughts of my own.

These are the things I thought about as I was listening to the show.

Tips for Guilt-free Scrapbooking and Relocating Your Lost Mojo:

1. Give yourself credit (generously) for doing any scrapbooking-related

task. Organizing, shopping, ordering photos, idea collecting, packing a kit, hosting a mini scrap party with a friend... Embrace these tasks because they prepare you to be creative.

2. If you are struggling to create a scrapbook page you feel satisfied with, COPY someone else's project. Don't apologize for copying. Do it because you love the project and you value the design.  Give yourself permission to not reinvent the wheel every time you create. 

3. Surround yourself with encouraging people and make your workspace comfortable. This one should probably have been divided into two but the thoughts were flowing and I was writing my list as fast as I could. Surround yourself with other makers or at least people who understand how much it fulfills you to make things. No negative nellies allowed. Scrapbooking (or making) is a sacred task. Don't allow anyone to rain on that. Ever. 

Make your workspace comfortable. Because I have spent most of my adult life living with three men, I take the liberty of girlifying the snap out of my scrapbook room. There is art on the walls that I like. There are pretty wooden letters that spell the word Create and there are items I have created displayed. My chair is comfortable. The Raskog army stands guard. There are flowy curtains and lots of reminders of our beach trips and painted furniture. It's my space. It's where I am most comfortable.

4. Give yourself plenty of opportunities to observe and embrace other types of creative arts. One of the most inspiring things I have ever done that had nothing to do with Scrapbooking but made me want to rush home and cut up tons of paper was visit the annual quilt show in my town. I was completely blown away by the artistry and the attention to detail demonstrated by quilters of every level. Of course, there are similarities between quilting and Scrapbooking, but the experience of seeing hundreds of quilts all at once was massively inspiring. Makers may end up with differing results but the need to create beauty from nothing resides in all of us. Don't neglect to fill your creative tank...look for what speaks to your soul in other areas of creative arts--for example, gardening, sculpting, painting, lettering, music and poetry.

5. Don't be afraid to just do something. If you break Scrapbooking down into individual tasks, you can achieve a successful page one tiny task at a time. This particular tip is my personal favorite. There are times when I feel like I don't have it together enough to commit to full-on design work. Narrowing my focus down from a whole page to single tasks--such as stamping images and cutting them out--allows me to be crafty without the pressure of designing. 

I keep a box filled with individual plastic bags of assorted ready-to-use elements right on my desk. 

6. Scrapbooking is more than just paper layouts...scrapbooking is a way of life! Incorporate photos into your life in other ways--especially in your home. Don't be timid. Find your favorite photos and blow them up. Make them big and happy!

I think makers are prone to experience ups and downs on occasion and being prepared to change things up to combat any creative blocks will save us all from just struggling through the difficulty.

So what do you do to keep going when you don't necessarily "feel it"?

--Sarah 

Scrapbooking Around

Buckle up, dear friends.

I'm about to put forth a bold proposition.

What if you didn't scrapbook your children?

What then?

I hear it all the time.

I scrapbook for my children.

Each child has his own scrapbook.

I scrapbook all the big events so they will remember.

I want them to know how loved they were when I am gone.

Clearly, these are all very valid and altruistic reasons to create scrapbooks. 

But what if you took a break from scrapbooking for the children and a break from scrapbooking anything child-related?

Could you do it?

Could you find something more to scrapbook? 

Lately I've been examining the why--why do I do this and I've come to the conclusion that there is more to my love for paper crafting than "I do it for the sons." 

Oh don't get me wrong.

These boys were raised up right. The scrapbook genetics are strong with those two and they know that mama is a scrapbooker and she is going to take your photo whenever she pleases. 

However, I wear many hats and I lived a life before I was their mom. And since. Surely, my scrapbooks should bear that out. 

So for right now, I'm taking a break from scrapbooking all things boy-related. I'm going to stretch into topics and stories that are important to me.

In other news, The Scrap Gals (Tiffany and Tracie) talked extensively about my Facebook diatribe about people pushing hurried-ness upon me and it was a lovely conversation. You should check out this week's episode over on iTunes. 

Don't rush me.

--Sarah

Scrap Philosophy

Whatever I manage to get accomplish used in the way of scrapbook tasks in my lifetime will just have to be enough. 

I'm not behind. I have lots of stories waiting to be recorded but I am not behind. Remember, I'm making a life as well as a scrapbook about that life.

While I love that some future descendant may glean enjoyment from my scrappy craft, I do it because I love it. If no one ever loved it, I would still do it. It makes me happy.

The stories I manage to capture will just have to be enough for the future.

If there are big events that don't make it into my scrapbook, so be it. 

I don't owe my sons a certain number of pages about their childhoods.

If my grandmother had been a scrapbooker, (at 89 she hasn't taken up this hobby so I don't really think she's going to catch the bug in this lifetime)  you wouldn't hear me complaining about what she didn't include in her scrapbook.  No way, no how.

I would be happy as a clam with whatever she decided to include.

I expect it to be that way with my heirs. I do what speaks to me. I tell the stories I value. 

And that will just have to be enough.

That's today's bit of Scrapbooking philosophy.

--Sarah

Isle of Palms

For the past three years, Joal and I have taken a week in October to spend time at our favorite spot in South Carolina--Isle of Palms, just on the edge of Charleston.

We leave the sons at home and enjoy the beach together just as the tourist season is coming to a close. We often have our stretch of beach to ourselves or sometimes three or four others...it's a blissfully quiet, generally uneventful time that we can use to be renewed together. We rent a condo right on the water and I find it deeply inspiring. 

We have serious conversations and we laugh a lot together. We go out for some meals--mostly because I have a mile-long list of Charlestons fabulous foodie places that I am dying to try out for myself--and we cook some meals in the condo and eat on the deck. Joal brings his guitar and I bring a journal and a few pens, maybe some stamping things. It's a very rich time for both of us.

I haven't scrapbooked very many of the photos yet, but just this week started laying down plans for an on-going scrapbook project that will encompass all the trips together. The first page of the most recent trip is done...

I've been holding on to this quote that Ali Edwards created in her fantastic handwriting and gave away on her blog several months ago--it's just the right and appropriate observation for my page. I printed it on vellum so it would tone down the washi tape underneath it just a bit.

Thanks for taking a peek!

Happy Scrapbooking!

--Sarah

Scrapbooking with Stampin' Up!

Over the years I have been a little frustrated from time to time with the almost-complete lack of emphasis that Stampin' Up! has placed on stamping in scrapbooking. I don't understand it. If you conduct a Google search for Stampin' Up! scrapbook pages you will be rewarded with a bunch of pages that don't tell stories and generally are pretty but don't actually have actual photos.

A year or two ago, Stampin' Up! teamed up with Becky Higgins to create a few Project Life items for Stampin' Up!--an encouraging move that did bring a little bit of scrapbooking to the Stampin' Up! Army.

To me, a scrapbook page needs to tell a story. 

When I was a SU demonstrator, I wrote a blog called "Stamp Your Story"...that's how much I believe in this concept. In the years since, Hero Arts has taken up the Stamp Your Story mantle as well.

Renown scrapbooking enthusiast, Stacy Julian was recently quoted on a ScrapGals podcast as saying "I'd rather have stories without photos than photos without stories." I agree with her 100 percent!

It's the story that must be preserved.
The photos are just supporting evidence.

Finally, a few weeks ago I came to realize *why* I think Stampin' Up! does not fully embrace stamping in your scrapbook as extensively as I wish they would--the reason is very simple.

Completion. 

With card-making (Stampin' Up!'s biggest section), the process of creating a beautiful card--from the moment you cut the base to the moment it's ready to go into an envelope, is not (or doesn't have to be) a long process. We all know that there's a certain amount of gratification that comes with completing a project in a few minutes and knowing that very soon someone you love (like?) will be enjoying your creation.

I think, by and large, card-makers have gotten hooked on that gratification so much that they see completing a scrapbook page as a process that takes too long and may not be enjoyed by anyone else for a while. A scrapbook page usually does take longer to complete. There are more steps to the process and more elements to include. And the "canvas" is usually larger.

Just a note: you will never see scrapbook pages on my blog without photos. I don't believe in those. A scrapbook page is a personal creation and while I've done my fair share of those go-to-a-class-make-a-page-for-later deals, I now know that most often, they never get completed.  They become drawer dwellers.

In Sarah's world, a scrapbook page consists of four elements:

a story (the details you can't derive from just looking at the photo)

a title

a photo or two or three

a bit of creative embellishment

Please note that "the story" doesn't have to be some emotionally-charge, uber-observational, over-analyzed, life-altering, 8000 word essay on the meaning of life. While there may be a time and place for those pages,  "the story" can be simply dates and places, and other basic details.

With this in mind, I'm going to transfer some of the scrapbook pages I have completed for the old blog (from a few years back) to this one in order to attempt to get all my stuff together in one place. (It's been a few years, so some of the products will be retired.)

Happy stamping and scrapbooking!

--Sarah

The Basics of Scrapbooking with Stampin' Up! Part Two

This article originally appeared on my blog "Stamp Your Story" in July 2011

In February, after being a scrapbooker for more than 15 years, I became a demonstrator with Stampin' Up! (You probably knew this already.) :) Since the scrapbook stores in our area are all more than an hour away from me, I needed a new source for paper and supplies and one of the fantastic things about Stampin' Up! is that it's *the scrapbook store that comes to your door*. 

Since then, I have been completely impressed--blown away, in fact--with the calibur of the handmade greeting cards that I've found on blogs and in online galleries created with Stampin' Up! products. Stampin' Up! people are the masters at card-making. 

Scrapbooking, however, seems to take a back seat. I have searched and searched for Stampin' Up!-based blogs and crafters who are passionate about scrapbooking and have come up short. It's a little bit disappointing to read time and time again -- "I'm a Stampin' Up! demonstrator but I'm not really into scrapbooking." or "I only demonstrate 6x6 mini-pages when my customers ask for them--and we don't use actual photos." 

What?! How can that be?

Scrapbooking utilizes all the *same* tools and techniques as cardmaking. Stampin' Up! offers fabulous tools and papers perfect for scrapbooking...so I do *not* understand the disconnect. If you can do it on a card, you can do it in a scrapbook.

Nonetheless, here we are. So, I'm embarking on a mission to prove that Stampin' Up! is for *real* scrapbookers. :)

Let's start at the beginning. If you are like most folks, you take pictures with some regularity, probably with a digital camera or even perhaps on your cell phone. You show them off to family and friends occasionally, but rarely print them. When you do finally edit them, upload them to a printing site or service and order them, you wait for them to arrive, then you glance through them once or twice and then set them aside. They sit in a shoebox or a drawer for a little too long...they stack up. You wonder what to do with them. They pile up. The pile gets a little daunting or perhaps even intimidating.

Your last vacation, your wedding, your child's birth, your mom's 50th birthday, your sister's graduation from college...all these memories, just sitting in a drawer, shoe box or worse, the printer's envelopes. Unused, unenjoyed, unloved and cluttering up your space.

Guess what. This is completely normal. 
And very easy to remedy.

What you need is an easy system for organizing the photos that you want to keep, a way to get them into a format that will allow them to be enjoyed, and a place to document the stories you want to remember that go with them. Sounds like a chore? No way. Trust me, this is easy...and that pile of photos can be transformed into something you can enjoy looking at and sharing with your family and friends, with just a little bit of effort and the right supplies.

Welcome to scrapbooking with Stampin' Up!

Scrapbooking has been around for many years. Thousands. From Aristotle and Cicero in the late 1500s to President Thomas Jefferson, scrapbooking--the art of preserving tidbits and "life evidence" has been a part of almost all civilized cultures. It's definately not a new thing. You've heard of Mark Twain? He dedicated entire Sundays throughout his life to the art of scrapbooking. 

It seems that throughout history, people have held close an innate desire to not be forgotten...to have their legacy remain after they are gone. Scrapbooking is but one way to preserve your stories and memories, your adventures, you life lessons, your achievements. Don't underestimate the value of your life story to those who come along after you are gone. 

Imagine what the world would be if Anne Frank hadn't kept a diary? 

Modern scrapbooking has risen in popularity as a hobby in the past two, perhaps three decades and with just a few tools and supplies, you can easily create your own scrapbook of treasured memories and photos. Stampin' Up! is the perfect resource for the supplies and tools that you'll need. If you have a history as a stamper and/or a card-maker (as so many people who love Stampin' Up! do), you probably already have many of the tools and skills needed to become a delighted scrapbooker...you just need a tiny bit of instruction and some time to expand your playing field.

All photos have one thing in common--they must be taken care of and stored properly to enjoy a long life. We are lucky to live in a technological era that makes taking snapshots oh-so-easy and inexpensive! Keeping your photos safe is not difficult.  Stampin' Up! offers products that are safe for your photos and will enhance your creative expression as you preserve your memories in your scrapbook.

Typically, a scrapbook page is comprised of three major elements--

the photo(s), 
the journaling (the title and the story), 
and the decorative elements (embellishments). 

When you've completed the assembling of the three major elements, you may choose to store your scrapbook pages in an album or have them framed for display. 

Whether you are facing down fifty years worth of photos or you've just started taking pictures, there's only one way to do this: pick a place to start and jump in with both feet. Take a deep breath and start with a step-by-step method that will help you create a scrapbook page or spread!

STEP ONE
Select a group of 1-5 photos that you want to work with...perhaps a birthday or other event. Consider the story you want to tell using these photos. Maybe it's obvious, (like the celebration of a birthday) or maybe not. Either way is appropriate. The number one rule of scrapbooking is this: *your scrapbook, your choice*.

Seriously, if you have a single photo that you love, why not scrapbook it? There is no edict from on high that demands that every scrapbook page you create must have 3 photos on it. If one photo speaks to you...go with it! The right picture can certainly stand alone, just like a painting in a museum...remember, no rules!

For this project, I'm choosing a set of 5 photos from a trip to the beach that I took with my boys earlier in the year. As it worked out, we spent my youngest son's 8th birthday on a beach in South Carolina. It was early in March, so we had the whole beach to ourselves and it was a wonderful day. Not quite the usual birthday for an 8 year old...but a fantastic one, nonetheless.

I actually took about 80 photos on the beach that day and printed most of them. (I adore beach photos.) One of the easiest ways to become accomplished at scrapbooking is to get past the *must scrapbook every photo* mindset. Pick the best photos...the ones that speak to you, the ones that really tell the story and develop your plan for scrapbooking around those. The remainder can be stored easily in pages designed to preserve and protect, for easy enjoyment, along with your scrapbook pages.

Could I use all 80 of those photos in a scrapbook dedicated to one day on the beach? 
Well, of course. 
But do I really want to? 
No. 
That would be super time-consuming and could get expensive. I'm not up for that...but I do love the pictures...so I will scrapbook a few and store the rest, photo-album style.

Much of scrapbooking is about chooosing what suits you and what appeals to your sense of style. I may make three or four pages about our trip to the beach...on the other hand, you might choose to make a whole 20-page album that documents one vacation trip or event. It's good to have choices!

Remember the rule: Your Scrapbook, Your Choice!

Especially if you are just getting started with the whole "scrapbooking thing", choose pictures that you really really like, as you'll very likely find them easier to scrapbook. Photos you like give you pages you like.

You will notice that most modern scrapbookers work with albums that hold pages that are 12x12. Since most photos printed are 4x6, this size works well. Stampin' Up! offer several varieties of scrapbook albums in the 12x12 size (the internal pages are 12x12), as well as 6x6, 8x8 and 8.5x11. Select a size that works for your project.

STEP TWO
Choose a focal point. Usually this is pretty easy...and with a little bit of practice, you'll be able to do this without even thinking about it. 

Which photo stands out?
Which photo most captures the story you want to tell through this scrapbook page or spread? 

Answer these questions and you have your focal point.

STEP THREE
The most common supply you will use is paper! For the most part, scrapbook papers fall into two categories: solid color cardstock and patterned papers. Stampin' Up! offers a wide selection of both! Enjoy the process of choosing papers...there are many many styles and designs to choose from! 

For my project, I selected 2 pieces of 12x12 cardstock in the pale yellow color--So Saffron--as the base of my pages. I plan to use the photos (uncut) spread across the two pages, along with some embellishments (decorative themed elements) as well as the journaling. I like the "sunny" color and the subtle texture that this particular paper offers.

Don't let the many paper options overwhelm you as you get started. Choosing paper will get easier as you get more practiced at scrapbooking. 

When choosing paper, quality is important. You will notice that some papers are a heavier weight than others, some papers have texture and some are smooth.

STEP FOUR
What are you going to use to hold it all together? I bet you noticed...We need an adhesive to put it all together!

Stampin' Up! offers several styles of adhesive including a tape dispenser called Snail, which happens to be my adhesive of choice. Picking one that works for you is part personal preference, part job-specific choice. Your Stampin' Up! demonstrator can help you choose if you need project-specific advice.

STEP FIVE
Arrangement. Arranging the elements of the page in a visually-appealing way is the big trick. Are there photos that you really want to feature prominently in the page? Consider enlarging that photo or matting it with a special color to draw the eye to it first. 

Do you prefer clean, balanced lines? Or are you drawn in by a less formal, more whimsical look? Do you prefer that all the photos are the same size or do you want to adjust the size of some? (That's called "cropping", by the way.)

Finding what arrangements appeal to your eye takes a little bit of time and whole lot of experimentation. Take your time. If you see something that's appealing on a website or in the Stampin' Up! Idea Book & Catalog, by all means, copy it! 

STEP SIX
Embellishments and decorative elements can add a spark of creative play to your pages. Decorating with papers, stamps, ribbons, brads, tags, punches, paints...and a thousand other possibilities is what keeps a scrapbook from being a photo album. Just like you probably don't have only white blank walls in your house...you probably don't want them in your scrapbook.

Stampin' Up! has taught many many people to be super creative card-makers over the years. It's those same products, techniques and tools that you can use to bring decorative elements and spicy fun to your scrapbook pages.

I selected to create several suns, using a circle punch and the Petite Pennant Builder Punch for this layout. Nothing says "beach day" like a sun right? I stamped some surf boards for a little pop of bolder colors. 

Did you notice how easily the embellishments on this *scrapbook page* could become a card?

STEP SIX B
In the selection of decorative elements for your page, you may also choose to incorporate a title. Stampin' Up! offers multitudes of products to help you create an eye-catching title for your page, including alpha dies, alpha stamps, chipboard letters, alphabet stickers, rub-ons, etc. Dress your title up or down, make it big or go smaller. 

In my experience, choosing a catchy title is one of the easiest ways to make a page really jump out to those who will view your pages. Look for ways to create a little intrigue, rather than going for the obvious. One of my favorite tricks for great titling--song titles! 

For the title of this layout, I chose to go with die-cut letters--the Simple Things alphabet.

STEP SEVEN
Journaling is the telling of the story of the photos. In some ways, scrapbookers are like journalists in that they record the details of the stories as a way of preserving them. You can start any page with the basics of who, what, when, where and why...but don't be afraid to continue with the deeper story or the story that might not be so obvious in the photos. 

You may choose to write the journaling by hand directly on your scrapbook page or print it using a computer and add it to your page. There's no *correct* or *incorrect* way. This is your scrapbook--do what feels most comfortable for you. Incidentally, you don't have to commit to just hand-writing or just computer-generated printing. Try both! 

Stampin' Up! offers tools for journaling. (Shocking--right?) Pens are perfect for journaling in a coordinating color. Some of our stamps offer a lined image portion that can easily aid you in keeping your handwriting in a lined up fashion. If you prefer to use a computer, our cardstocks can be used in conjunction with most printers.

I chose to print my story on a die-cut (from the Top Note die).

I've included the journaling at Step Seven because for most people, the process of scrapbooking begins with photo selection, moves through the choices of paper and decorative element selection and finally ends with the writing of the story. However, for some, the process can just as easily work in reverse. Don't be afraid to experiment. If there's a story you want to tell, do the journaling and see where it leads you with regard to photo selection and adding decorative elements. Using photos to illustrate a story is just as much "scrapbooking" as any other step-by-step process. The final product is a scrapbook page or layout that you love...that's the goal.

STEP EIGHT
Assembly. Once you have all the elements arranged in a way that appeals to you, make a permanent commitment to it and build your page by attaching all the elements.

FINALLY
Ask anyone who's been scrapbooking for more than about a day and they will tell you that you will evole as a scrapbooker. As you learn new techniques and come across new products to incorporate into your pages, your style will change and develop. *That's a good thing.* Do what makes you happy on your pages. Use photos that speak to you and tell your stories, even if they aren't perfect. Most importantly, keep learning about your craft. Keep having fun scrapbooking with Stampin' Up!

At some point in the process of scrapbooking, you may want to get all your photos organized. If you have a large number of photos...or a large number of boxes of photos...I *don't* recommend doing any organizing before you actually start scrapbooking--I've seen too many people get completely overwhelmed by the daunting task of *getting all caught up* and it can be paralyzing. Keep a narrow focus...one group of photos at a time.

Scrapbooking should be a fun hobby--something you can enjoy the process of, not just the final product of.

Happy Scrapbooking!
--Sarah

February Double Dip

So as I wrote on Thursday, during the Stampin' Friends Blog Hop, I'm doing a "double dip"...another installment of the Black, White and Whatever You Like theme.

I appreciate you coming back again and I hope you enjoy! 

Once in a while I like to change things up by creating a card that is made from a 6"x12" piece of cardstock. The finished card size is 6"x6". It's a little bigger than most cards and is much like creating a scrapbook page because it's square.

I used an antique scribbled flower stamp by Stampin' Up! to emboss (wet embossing with ink and powder) the flower onto watercolor paper. The use of watercolor paper allowed me to create a was of bright green by mixing a tiny bit of water with ink. I love that no two of the flowers look exactly alike.

Repetition is a go-to design principle that I employ often. If one flower is good, certainly 9 hand painted flowers are totally fab, right? 

My last project is a bit of a departure from my usual cards and scrapbook pages. It's a daisy tree for spring. 

Each Daisy is double layered, with the petals on the top layer pulled up for added dimension. Each flower is attached to the grassy Styrofoam cone with a pearl-headed pin.

My plan is to incorporate this tree into my spring and Easter decor.

Once again, thanks for stopping by. Happy spring Stampin'!

--Sarah

Stampin' Friends February Hop

Welcome to the February 2016 edition of the Stampin' Friends Blog Hop! 

This month's theme is Black, White and ___. 

Each participant in the hop gets to choose a color that goes with the black and white theme. 

I chose Lime Green!!

If you are following the hop, you probably arrive here from Melissa Thomas' blog.

We have three guest participants joining the hop for the month of February. Please be sure to visit with them...

Angela

Barbara

Cindy

And now, on with the show!

Lime Green is famous for many things--Sprite, Lime Away, Cherry Limeades from Sonic, 80's leg warmers...I did a little bit of research on the color scheme of Black, White and Lime Green and discovered quite a few fun and inspiring images. In honor of the hop, I created a board on Pinterest called...wait for it...

Black, White and Lime Green. 

You can visit it here.

One of my favorite discoveries while doing my research was this little gem of a card by Stampin' Up! Demonstrator Rita Wright!  Isn't it striking?!

You can see this card and more of Rita's Cards at her blog: Cards by Rita.

Today, my contribution to the hop includes two cards and of course, a scrapbook page! What I learned while creating these few projects: the lime green family naturally seems to lend itself to use with flowers! Especially my favorite flower--the daisy! The fist card features a giant flower and is a huge stamp by Impress Rubber Stamps.

Cards with no internal decoration annoy me because they feel incomplete...when I'm making cards I prefer to duplicate an element of the decoration from the outside on the inside. (You wouldn't go to the Hallmark store and buy a beautiful card with nothing on the inside.)

 The second card makes use of the daisy stamp from Grateful Bunch (by Stampin' Up!, in the current Occasions catalog).

And finally, a scrapbook page. This is one in a series of pages I'm doing to document the story of why we moved to Texas, from Tennessee in 2014. It's a long and multi-faceted story and will take many pages to tell appropriately. It's a work in progress.

But wait there's more.

I got on a creative kick while working on this theme of Black, White and Lime Green so in addition to the blog hop with the Stampin' Friends, I'm doing a double dip. If you come back on Sunday morning, you will find another installment of the same theme. Here's a tiny preview of the new projects that will go live on Sunday morning.

I know many of you are new readers to my blog, thanks to the Stampin' Friends Blog Hop. I've been blogging since 2004--mostly about creative stuff with a few rabbit-chasing things from time to time. My blog is kindof a scrapbook too. Funny how that works.

Hang around here very long and you will soon learn that I deeply love white Daisy flowers of all sorts. A simple white Daisy with a crisp green center (the freshest Daisys have green centers) is just so beautiful and refreshing to me. Stampin' Up! has produced quite a few daisy stamp sets over the years (I still own most of them...) but the newest one--Grateful Bunch (#140691) --really won my heart even though it's a photo-polymer set (which I tolerate but can not claim to love)...because it features a matching punch! It's called the Blossom Bunch Punch! I can never resist a bundle of stamps with coordinating punches.

As always, I don't sell Stampin' Up! but I do love their products...if you need a referral to a fantastic demonstrator, let me know.

You may have noticed the presence of black and white micro-check ribbons in each of my projects. Let me tell you, I use these ribbons quite often. So often, in fact, I refer to it as the "little black dress" of ribbon. It's versatility is unparalleled. I prefer the 1/4" and the 5/8" widths and buy in bulk. It's made by Offray--one of the leading maker's of high-quality ribbons. You can never go wrong with black and white micro-check!

Your next stop on the hop is to Andrea Tucker's blog. You don't want to miss out on her creations!

But before you depart...don't forget to leave a comment on each of the participating blogs today to be entered to win happy mail from each of the blog hostesses. If you win, you will receive fifteen packages of paper-crafting goodies right in your mailbox! Use the hashtag #SFFEBHOP to have your comment included in the drawing.

If you get lost or encounter a broken link along the way, here is the entire roll for the February Stampin' Friends Hop:

Lynn Streifert

Carolina Evans

Elizabeth Jeanne

Kirsteen Gill

Leanne Johnson

Steph Jandrow

Barbara Welch

Kathie Rotti

Melissa Thomas

Sarah Devendorf --->>>YOU ARE HERE!

Andrea Tucker

Angela Carter

Cindy Waldroff

Kim Smith

Deana Benson

Thank you for joining the Stampin' Friends Blog Hop! 

Hope to see you for the Double Dip on Sunday!

Your Stampin'  Friend,
--Sarah

Sky is the limit

So while I don't sell Stampin' Up!, I am a pretty good customer! I knew that this set, called Sky is the Limit would definitely have to be added to my stamp stash as soon as I saw it in the Sale-a-bration catalog! 

So ya know what that means, right? Yes, it was a free set! Free stamps with purchase! Gotta love that!

So here's my first card: 

and the inside...

And scrapbook page...

The planes are easy to trim out and wouldn't be right without pop-dots. I used the 3/4" circle punch to make a vellum circle over each propeller area. 

I am looking forward to making a couple of Father's Day cards with this set as well.

Happy Friday!

--Sarah

Changes

So a stunning announcement was published today--Basic Grey, a pillar paper company of legendary proportion in the Scrapbooking community is moving away from paper and reinventing itself for other markets.

I distinctly remember the very first time I picked up a piece of paper from a "new company" named Basic Grey. It was a special piece of paper and quite honestly, it represented something monumental in the scrapbooking industry at the time.

Three things actually.

Basic Grey was the first major patterned paper producer to print patterned papers on cardstock-weight paper. I remember my personal discovery of this and the feeling of potential it represented. It was amazing to watch how quickly this became the industry standard.

Basic Grey was the first major paper producer to print double-sided paper. Options are always a good thing and printing a different but complementary pattern on each side definitely improves one's paper-crafting options!

Basic Grey was also the first major paper player hit that $1 per piece price point and didn't get slammed back into reality by consumers. It was that beautiful!

Sidenote: I was visiting a small scrapbook store in Jackson, Mississippi many years ago when the funniest thing happened to me. I collected up a few papers to purchase. The cashier sorted my selections into two stacks. She rang up the first stack at one price and then I noticed she was ringing up the second stack by charging me twice for each sheet. I inquired what the difference was and she said "We charge double for double-sided paper since its like you are getting two sheets."

Umm, no, sweetie. It's still just one sheet of paper.

That store didn't last long.

Anyway, over the years Basic Grey has become a staple in the industry. Their paper designs were considered more adult and their collections adaptable to many styles of scrapbooking and paper-crafting.

I've heard people say "scrapbooking is dying" quite often lately. And while that stabs at the very core of who I am, I can see it.

Ok. Well not really but I can see some major shifts.

I can not concede that scrapbooking is dying. Even if I thought it was, I wouldn't say it out loud. Having first started scrapbooking in 1996, when papers were limited to 8.5x11 in size and mail-order catalogs and one lone direct marketing company were our only resource options, that's just not a thought I'm willing to entertain.

I do see that many people are changing the way they scrapbook. Pocket scrapbooking has found it's stride with many who were previously into the 12x12 way of life and perhaps more importantly, many who resisted the 12x12 big heavy album way.

Many people are embracing the ease with which digital scrapbooks (ok, photo books) can be created and published. Last year I made a digital photo book on my phone while sitting on the plane coming home from our cruise. Two days after I got home, it arrived in my mailbox. How's that for one and done?

In the same vein, scrapbook stores seem to have run their course and are fast becoming a thing of the past. I can't tell you how much I hate this. There is truly nothing like walking into an independent scrapbook store, inhaling the smell of paper and knowing immediately that you are among your people by the size of the Bazzill display, the wall of ribbons and the loads of inspiration hanging on the walls!

The scrapbook store in our town closed up at the end of December and it broke my heart. Currently, the nearest stores are both at least a hundred miles away, and not in the same direction. This makes me so sad, mostly because I have seen it repeated in so many different areas.

The magazines are gone.
Two Peas is gone.
Many stores have closed.
Photos live in phones now.
Manufacturers are closing.

Yesterday I picked up some pretty tags I am going to use in my paper crafting at World Market, of all places. Is that what my beloved hobby is coming to?

It's a dismal day on many fronts. However, the stories remain. However creative people choose to tell their stories is fine with me. There will always be pen and paper. And maybe Facebook. :)

My very first cruise scrapbook was done using Basic Grey's Color Me Happy line of beautiful tropically-perfect papers. Here are a few pages from it, just to say a fond farewell to my good friend.

     

No water required water coloring

As stated previously, I do enjoy the prominence of watercolor techniques seen so often in Scrapbooking and card-making, but I have to admit to a bit of trepidation when it actually comes time to bring a bowl of water into my craft room. See, I happen to be a little on the accident-prone side and spillage in a room full of paper is never a good thing. 

A few days ago, I was playing with paper and ink and stumbled across a solution to this problem. There is a lovely stamp image in Stampin' Up!'s Gorgeous Grunge stamp set that makes the perfect watercolor impressions--without the water!

I expect this stamp set to start getting a lot more usage at my stamp table! 

Stay warm and stamp, y'all!

--Sarah