Tuesday's Tips

Well, I hope this is helpful to some...

Today I read a quote under an ebayer's tag (I'm afraid I forget her user name...). She said "If life hands you lemons, grab the salt and tequila and call me over!" LOL ~ I really liked that one. With scrapbooking I know that for many of us, trying to correct our mistakes has created some wonderful NEW ideas and techniques.

The tip I would like to suggest is for paper bag albums. Many times I work on a cover and it comes out less than fantastic. Often the title is nice enough, just not as great as I would like it to be for a cover. In the past I would often try and work with it and change it and it would never be exactly what I wanted. Now, if I find it's just not working, I will use the piece somewhere else in the album and just start over. Then, I always LOVE my cover and have a really nice page in the album (or sometimes on the back).

So, if life hands you lemons......;-)

Happy Scrapping!
Tammy

Member Spotlight: Bernadette Winningham

This next member to be spotlighted is a power house. She always has GREAT multiple items listed at once. She is incredibly creative and has the ability to master any theme presented her. We are excited to know more about her.

Bernadette Winningham

Bernadette Winningham is 42 years old and currently living in Florida with her husband of 18 years and beautiful 8 year old daughter Taylor. She is originally from Harrison, New York. She works full time outside of the home as a Manager with a Financial Services Company. She has been with them for 21 years.

She has been scrapbooking for 8 years now. She has never really thought of her scrapbooking style. She loves to play around with the new products that come out and use them on layouts or projects for Ebay. However her personal scrapbooking is more simple. Focusing on getting more photos per page and then wondering why she did not use the new ribbon or embellishment on it. She finds this hobby very relaxing and she loves to see what she is able to create and share with others. Her top five must have scrapbooking items would have to be Ribbons, Fiskars cutter, Prima flowers, jewel embellishments and my ATG gun adhesive. Her favorite scrap snack is Junior Mints (yum!). She started selling on Ebay to support her scrapbooking habit. When asked what inspires her to create she said, "I love creating for others and ensure quality work. When I’m finished with a layout, I share the finished product with my family."

Her favorite holiday is Easter and her favorite food is Seafood. She loves all types of music but what she really enjoys is something with a good beat and a lot of base. She has a house full of pets. She has three dogs (Bubba, Lacy, Max), two cats (Mr. Kitty and Mittens), and one turtle (Rocky). If Bernadette could go anywhere, she would love to go to Fiji and a trip across Europe.

We have really enjoyed Bernadette in PFOP. She adds another dynamic dimension to the group. You can check out her current auctions here!

3 Design Team Challenge

PFOP ~ Pocket Full Of Papers,
OUAT ~ Once Upon A Time Design Team and
MBDT ~ Memories By Design Team are proud to present;

“LOVE IS IN THE AIR”

For the first time on eBay, three of your favorite design teams have come together to bring you a fabulous selection of LOVE theme paper piecings, pre-made page layouts, albums and more. Search "3DT Challenge" from Sunday, January 27th ~ Tuesday, February 5th to find the absolute best in high quality work from this diverse group of talented artists.

http://search.ebay.com/search/search.dll?from=R40&_trksid=m37&satitle=3dt+challenge&category0=

Tuesday's Tips

Journaling Tips...

Here are a few tips to help, yet again ;-), with journaling:

1. Try getting a different perspective. Ask a family member what they remembered about a shared event. Maybe record an event through a love one's eyes. For example, a wedding day would look very different to a four year old ~ there may be some very interesting details that you never knew...

2. Take a break from journaling! Instead, go through your albums and read your existing journaling. This will help you learn about your style, see what you would like to improve, and appreciate the hard work you've already done. Your focus, on what you want to achieve and how to achieve it, will be sharpened.

Have fun!
Tammy

Tuesday's Tips

Oops, I did it again.....Tuesday's Tip on Wednesday ;-)

I would like to continue with a couple more tips on photography.

Crop with your camera. Imagine what a cute photo you are getting of your little ballerina dancing her newest routine. Then when you look at it, you realize there's a mound of laundry right beside her, in the shot. Now it is easier to crop our photos with the computer, but consider cropping while taking your pictures. To eliminate items from a photo try a different angle. Try standing on a chair or lying down to get that angle. The effects are fantastic. I try to do this when taking pictures of my albums to sell on ebay. It's good practice too.

Happy Scrapping
Tammy

A Word About Stockpiling Scrapbook Supplies

Sorry Tammy, I just had to offer these tips when I saw them. This just motivated me to clean out my scraproom. Something that I have been putting off and dreading...

Did you know that an inch of pattern paper is estimated to be 100 sheets or 75 finished pages?

Did you know that one inch of cardstock is roughly 50 pages finished? How many inches do YOU have? How many pages do you do a year?

Do you have over 12 inches (1 foot) of cardstock or printed paper? Do you realise that is enough paper for 1000 pages? Are you stockpiling for someday when you already own enough paper to do thousands of pages?

Did you know that one tin/set of 100 eyelets makes and average of 20 pages? (And how many sets of 100 do YOU own?)

Did you know that many paper packs and multi sheet slabs usually have 10-20% of their patterns that will not suit you within a pack? (one sheet in 5 may not be to your taste so don't keep it in the stash--share!)

Did you know that each sticker sheet you own will do aproximately a two page layout? If you have binder full of stickers it will equal about 300 pages to use them up?

Did you know that each yard of fiber you own will make 1-2 pages? If you own a skein of knitting yarn, they contain between 100-200 yards of fiber? At that rate it will take you 100-200 pages of JUST THAT SKEIN to use up that yarn ball on layout pages? (SHARE!!)

Did you know that the average gel and writer pen ink longevity INSIDE a pen is one year before it is generally dry or unusable? (Use them up before they DRY up!)

Did you know that playing music when you scrapbook helps your creativity and productivity?

Did you know that starting with a format saves you 20 minutes PER PAGE?

Did you know there are about 500 free sketches online? Watch our links for sites. If you can't find those free ones online to print and refer to, or need ideas for crop parties, get Becky Higgins Creative Sketches book and also her Creative Companion book. Sketches are simply awesome for versatile formats of layouts.

Did you know that shopping once a week at the scrapbook store costs most scrappers an average of $25.00 each trip? (And most of those have enough items at home already to make 1000's of pages.) $25.00 times 52 weeks a year means $ 1300 spent per year.

Did you know that sticker letters cost an average of $3-$5 dollars a sheet now? Buy black so that later you can mix and match later your partial sheets for 'mixed font' titles. It will save you at least a dollar a sheet to BUY BLACK! Why? Because you will eventually get more many titles per sheet that way!

Did you know that one ABC sticker sheet usually makes only two titles before is is 'cast off' by most scrapbookers? Over half the stickers are then wasting away in binders or storage and cloggin up precious storagespace--never to be used again.

Did you know that people will pay $1 each for two punched flowers and a brad or pop dot? (Think Jolees, K and Co, and Paper Bliss) Do ityourself for a fraction of that. It takes only pennies to make a stacked flower from your scraps and chalk the outside petals..... I know you have scraps and brads, eyelets or pop dots! LOL Pay yourself about $20 to $40 an hour and make a few dozen sets instead of buying them.

Did you know that stamping your own twill ribbon with phrases saves you $2.00 a yard? How many premade ribbon yards do you have that you need to use up? Wording ribbon usually works out to 1 foot per page. If you have a stockpile of 20 yards of worded ribbons of all kinds, that means you better get cracking and make 60 pages before you buy more!!

Member Spotlight: Kristi Miller

Since the holidays are now over and our members are starting to get back into the swing of things, I figured I will take the opportunity to spotlight myself. It did not require contacting anyone and the information is super easy to write up. So here goes...

Kristi Miller

My name is Kristi Miller and I just turned 27 years old. I currently live in Caldwell Idaho which is a suburb about 25 miles from Boise, the state's capital. I was born in Rexburg Idaho but have lived in the Treasure Valley, as they call it, since I was about 5 years old. I have been for married for 7 years to a great guy named Jeff. We have a 21 month old named Gunnar and hope to have another baby soon. It has been so fun and rewarding to be a mom. It is far better than I had expected it. When I had Gunnar, we made the decision that I will stay at home and that is where I have been ever since. I went to Boise State University and was able to get an Associate's Degree in Criminal Justice Administration. I just love the field but never did have a job in it. Jeff has a Bachelors Degree in the same field and actually does work in it. Going to college does pay off.

I have been scrapbooking since I was about 16 years old. My mom started with Creative Memories and then I took over my brother and sister's albums from there. My personal style is very simple with clean lines. I really like the focus to be on the pictures and am striving to do well on journaling the moment. I really enjoy scrapbooking because of the preserving aspect. I love to know that my photos will not be something unidentifiable. That generations down the line will be able to know who the people are, when the moment took place and maybe even where. It makes me sad to run across photo albums where nothing is documented. Scrapbooking is also a fun, rewarding outlet. I would have to say that my top 5 must haves are Fabritac, paper trimmer, cutter bees, lots of paper, and ribbon. I really don't eat when I am scrapping. If I do, it must be easy, messless finger foods. I started selling on Ebay shortly before my son was born. I started with a 12x12 ABC Baby Album that I made. I really had not sold anything prior to that and thought that I would give it a try. It sold and I was thrilled. I then listed an 8x8 version and it did not sell. I was bummed. Very shortly after that, I had Gunnar and used the smaller album for him. Boy was I incredibly happy that did not sell. It was awesome! It was all made up and all that I had to do was add photos and keep up with the journaling and it was already made by me. All finished with photos and journaling, these albums are so cute! I am inspired by all sorts of things. I get inspiration from everything that I see.

My favorite season is Fall and my favorite holiday is Thanksgiving. I think that is most likely because my birthday is right around and sometimes on the holiday. I just love the leaves, colors, pumpkins and smells of fall. My favorite food is a good Teriyaki Chicken Sandwich from Red Robin. I just love those teamed up with a Strawberry Freckled Lemonade. Yum! My favorite type of music is more alternative and some R&B. I am not picky but those are where my favorite groups reside. We currently have a 7 year old kitty named Sarah and two large mixed breed dogs. 'Kaika'mahine (daughter in Hawaiian) is a bloodhound/lab mix and Rusty is your all around mutt. If I could go anywhere in the world, it would have to be Egypt. The pyramids and things like that there just fascinate me. Second would have to be some place with a nice sandy beach.

I am just thrilled to be part of PFOP. About once a month I just marvel that I made it in when I stack myself up against the other members. They are such talented ladies. I just love being involved and have had such fun putting together these spotlights.

You are more than welcome to check out my auctions by clicking here!

Fantastic Art Journal Scrapbook

This journal is absolutely fantastic! I am in love with Wendy's (ragtags) creations. This particular piece is known as an Art Journal Scrapbook. It's intended purpose is to be used as a very intimate, personal journal for the owner. It is a place to record to inner most working of the owner and not a piece to display for all to see.

The colors are bright and fun. It would turn any non-journaler into an avid journaler in no time. Who could resist this everyday!?

Check out the auction here and do check out all of her other fantastic listing too!

Tuesday's Tips

Tips For Taking Photos:

1. Your Creative Eye ~
To love the pictures you've taken, it helps to know what you love. Find pictures you like, in magazines perhaps, and put them where you can observe them for awhile. Then, find what you are drawn to in the picture. Do you prefer black and white photos, or are there particular colour schemes you've chosen? Are you someone who prefers to show the location of a subject, or someone who likes close ups? On a personal note, I realized my husband loves close ups where I prefer to get the whole feeling of the memory I am trying to capture. However, after seeing his photos I realized that some shots are best if they're close up...

Giving this consideration will help you to be prepared to get your perfect photo even before you pick up a camera. Learn what you like and you'll LOVE YOUR PICTURES! (next week I'll have another tip for better photos)

Happy Scrapping
Tammy