Today my little man is going to his first birthday party that is for someone outside our circle of friends. He is very excited about the party. It is at a local pizza place that has a climbing/playing area. I made a card for the birthday girl.

I used a cream card base, a piece out of a Creative Memories Storybox (Chalet, I think) some Delightful paper flowers, and a bit of Delightful Paper Ribbon. I stamped her name in pink and then used some Martha Stewart purple glitter around the edges.











Until next time - Vanessa

A Fresh Start!

I am a Creative Memories Consultant, or at least I was until they stopped selling and supporting all of the products I love.  So while technically I am still a consultant for the "new" Ahni and Zoe by Creative Memories, mainly due to inaction on my part, I don't plan to sell the new products as I just can't get excited about them.  I will still be using my SBC4.0, and Artisan by Panstoria.  So hopefully as things at my Plan "A" day job calm down, I will have a little bit of time to sit down and share some tips and tricks using SBC/Artisan.

Recent Project

Okay, so my most recent project is finishing up my holiday gifts for my kids' teachers at daycare. I'll post a couple of pics of it, but since I have pictures of other people's kids in it, I don't feel like I am free to post the whole thing. This is the first page, and my son's page. I am hoping to finish a similar book for my daughters class soon. Life has kept me on my toes lately! This project was done in Storybook Creator 3.0 Plus, and uses a variety of the digital artwork that is available. The First page uses art from the Discover "Cute as a bug" addition. Finley's page is from the Simple Start CD, which is pre-designed pages and click and fill pages.

I am horrible about posting!

So three months ago I said I was going to post weekly, and obviously, I have not been doing that. This year I am going to try harder to post as close to weekly as possible. One of my new years resolutions is to get into the studio and scrapbook more, and hopefully that will give me something to post more frequently.

Today I just have a quick project to post. It is our 2010 Christmas card. I'm really proud of it for a few reasons. First of all, I think it is adorable. I used a pre-designed page in Storybook Creator 3.0 Plus for the front of the card. To streamline things, I had our yearly letter printed on the inside. Then, on the back of the card, which is normally just wasted space, I put a picture of each of the kids. But the thing I am most proud of is that this year I actually MAILED my holiday cards. Having the pictures and letter already done made it so much easier to get the cards ready, and them being so cute made me more motivated to actually get them in the mail.

Anyway, here are the pictures of the cards:

Front

Inside

Back

I had the cards printed through the Creative Memories digital center, and I must say, I love how they turned out! The cards are a nice heavy weight and come in 10 or 20 packs with your choice of many envelope colors.

I hope you enjoyed looking!
Until next time - Vanessa

Memory Make Up Monday

So I am going to have a goal to scrapbook one page every Monday that I should have done a long time ago. This week I did a simple page with a picture from my son's 18 month photo shoot, (which was at more like 20 months I think...) I feel like there will be a second page to this spread with the rest of the pictures (or at least a few more) from the session.


For my background I used Cheerful School Additions Paper #4

For my photo mat I created a rectangle, colored it orange, applied the "torn" alpha gradient, then stretched the rectangle to distort the edge. Then, I made a copy of the rectangle, changed the size to be about 1/2" larger than the orange mat, then mirrored it about the vertical axis, and aligned it vertically and horizontally with the orange mat. I applied a slight 3-d edge to both mats.

I inserted a photo box to fit the mat.

Foe the stripe, I created a long thin rectangle the same orange, applied the "torn" alpha gradient, a 3-d edge, then offset it on the page so it looks like a painted stripe.

On the 18, I used the Best Buds fancy alpha. I used the magic wand to select the edges of the 1 and 8, made a copy of them, then applied a red color to the main 18 shape, then realigned and flattened the outline and the red layer together. I then applied a "carpet" surface to the 18, amplified to about 3.5.

Then I added my son's name in the font Goudy Stout, flattened it, and stretched it to fit in the orange area. Then I added the word "months" and "Christmas 2008" in Gill Sans Ultra Bold, and added to the layout.

Hope you enjoy the layout!

Until next time - Vanessa

Open House

With November comes the start of the holiday season. And with that, comes the annual Quad Cities area consultant Open House. This year 's event promises to be a great one.

We will be giving away:
Kodak Easy Share Digital Camera,
1 TB External Hard Drive,
Digital Video Camera!!!
There will be a Gift Buffet (FREE stuff for you!!)
Hint: Bring 3 or more new, grown-up friends for MORE FREE GIFTS, more chances to win and $10 off your purchase!!
Ideas, displays, cash & carry, kid's area, great giveaways, you can't miss it!!
VIP entry from 5-6.
Contact me with a $30 pre-order by Nov. 9th and you can come early too! There are other perks for VIPs besides early entry :)

Wow, it is almost November already!?!

When did that happen? School and work (and of course the kids!) are keeping me super busy! I have been making cards left and right using the new Reminisce Power Palette, it is great for fall themed weddings. I love the new flower shapes in the Reminisce line. I have also been giving the Everyday display board all dressed up for wedding gifts. And you know what? They turn out so pretty it seems a shame to wrap then up, so I don't! I put the wedding invitation, some coordinating paper, a picture or two of the couple, a copy of the program and a few paper flowers on the board. Super easy! Then, I make a coordinating card to go with it, and use a couple of the little clothespins to attach it to the clothesline.

In other news, I have made an online wish list form (it is off to the right there), if there is anything you have been eyeing, fill that out, let me know what it is you are interested in, and a few people who you typically exchange gifts with, and I will make sure those people are aware of what it is you would like this holiday season.

Until next time (and hopefully sooner than last time...)- Vanessa

My little loves!

I used the curved custom cutter tool around the kids & chair, made a copy of the shaded area, did the same around just the kids. Then I used the rubber stamp tool with blended color stamp selected of background layer, tinted it blue, aligned with the matching layer, adjusted opacity so the background showed through.
Then I added discover youth overlay5, apply 2 color gradient with blue and orange, rotated the overlay 37 degrees. Repeated rubber stamp with kids in chair layer, inverted color, selected purple color, hit apply, then I changed opacity, aligned with matching layer, added a heavy shadow to upper left. Added heavy shadow to upper left of kids layer. Then I added a blue frame from the Discover Power Palette, made it slightly opaque, align around heads, adjust size, made into a rubber stamp, tinted that brown, change opacity, offset from blue. Then I added a quote to finish it off. photo by Giraffe Photo

Enjoy!

Vanessa

Oh, wow, was this past weekend great! I was lucky to get to attend the Creative Memories National Convention is Minneapolis this past weekend. We learned about new products, new partnerships, our NEW company logo, and just had so much fun!

I want to share with you some of the great new things that they showed us this weekend.

First, and probably the one that is going to get the biggest buzz going, is the new partnership between Provo Craft and Creative Memories. Starting August 1st, Creative Memories now carries two exclusive Cricut Cartridges, and man do they have some beautiful content on them!

The first one is the Reminisce Accents Cartridge, and it is designed to match our new Reminisce Power Palette.

The second is the Cheerful Seasons Cartridge, and is designed to match our new Cheerful Power Palette.

These cartridges are both $55, and can only be purchased though a Creative Memories Consultant. (If you click on the names of the Cartridges, it will take you to more information about them!)

I am also excited about our new Page Planner system. If you have ever struggled with getting a layout just right, or can't get past that blank page, this is for you. ($28)

The last thing I want to share is our new Limited Edition Chalking Inks. These are a great finishing touch for your pages, and come in black, white and chocolate colors. ($10 for set of 3)

I will share pictures once I have some of these things in my hands!

Until then! -Vanessa

Showcase!

In just ONE week I will be at Showcase!

I can already feel it energizing my business, and we haven't even left yet! I need to get some events on the books and GROW my business!

Vanessa

This month Creative Memories is offering a great opportunity to join our team for just $23 dollars! Think about it like this: If you have EVER thought about starting your own direct sales business, and you love Creative Memories, why not try it now? If you plan to spend $77 or more on products in the next three months, it is worth it just for the discount. Even if you don't want to sell, and just want the discount for three months, GO FOR IT! What is it going to hurt? For more info on this opportunity, contact me today! Promotion ends July 31st.

Another of E's first year photos.
This one is a blend of two photos, the color image in the balloon is from one, the rest is another, then I made a cut tool/copy of the "1", then used the rubber stamp tool to make a blended stamp of it, and tinted it pink. I finished up with a title sticker from the Primary Birthday Power Palette Addition.
Photo by Giraffe Photography

A little Digi Scrapping...

I've been busy lately, with two kids and a job, plus going to school, there isn't much time for what I love to do, but with Storybook Creator Plus 3.0, I can squeeze in a little digital scrapbooking every week. Lately I have been having a great time learning about photo editing. In the next few posts, I am going to attach a few of the photos I have been working on in the past few months. I hope you will enjoy them!

My baby turned one!

Here is a picture of my baby E, from her 1 year photo shoot.

I enhanced it with a little photo editing using Storybook Creator Plus 3.0.
I used the Custom cut option on the Cut & Fill Ribbon, cut around the chair and E, made the chair part shaded, made a copy, then cut out the holes in the arms of the chair. Then I used 2 overlays, used the same two color gradient on both, one pink on top, the other the opposite. The last thing I did was make a rubber stamp of the background photo using the blended rubber stamp option, shaded it pink, turned down the opacity and put it on top of the background layer and the overlays.
So from bottom to top, I have background photo, overlay 1, overlay 2, stamp image and cutout image. On the top image, I used the 3-d filter on very lightly, and put a heavy shadow on it. I think it turned out super cute!
Photo by Giraffe Photography in the Village of East Davenport.

Another tip!

Are you one of those people who procrastinates? Don't feel bad, so am I! Today's tip is for those of us who missed out in the original size 12x12 pages/protectors, which Creative Memories stopped selling in September 1st. Did you recently find an old album in your closet you had forgotten about? You can use the True 12x12 pages in the old album, but the corners stick out just a little bit. If only there was a way to make them fit better!

Ah, there is! What you will need for this is a straight trimmer or rotary trimmer (I prefer the rotary myself), your pages and page protectors, photo tape, and a pencil. Start by measuring 1/4" from the outside jeeping on your page. Then, using your trimmer, cut off the jeeping at that point. Then, reattach the edge using the photo tape, bringing the page area so it is completely overlaping the 1/4" section. It should now be the same size as the old 12x12 pages. For the page protectors, just use the rotary trimmer to cutoff 1/4" of the page protector, on one of the open sides.

I hope this tip helps someone out there complete their albums!

Till next time,

- the Scrap Keeper, Vanessa

It's in the Cards...

So lately I have been pretty busy. So busy in fact that I don't get much scrapping done. When I do get a chance to scrapbook, I tend to make cards, since they are pretty quick and fun, easy to do in small sections of time.

First up, I have a few cards that Heather McCarty designed based on the Halloween Spooktacular Project Ideas. They were quick to put together, and we had a good time working on them. We made them at our unit meeting last week.


Card #1


Using the Candy paper from the Spooktacular Kit, score at the 4" point with the Rotary Tool and scoring blade (make sure the candy piece run across the long edge. On the front, use the tearing tool to tear an 8" piece of cactus cardstock, about 2" wide. On top of this, place a 1" x 8" piece of "black" cardstock. Using the Halloween Micromaker (included in the kit), punch 3 ghosts out of any paper (I used the purple-orangey colored paper here.)










Card #2

Begin with an 8x8 piece of black cardstock (included in the Spooktacular kit), score at 4". Cut a piece of the spooky tree paper at 3.5 x 7.5", so that the tree and moon show. Use your tape runner to attach this to the black base. On top of this use the orangey paper to cut about a 2-1/2" x 4" rectangle, and attach to the card. Then take the bluish paper and tear each edge with the tearing tool. Finally, using the Halloween micromaker, punch two cats and attach using a precision point adhesive pen. Write a fun saying on the orange rectangle.







That's all for now!

Till next time,

- The Scrap Keeper, Vanessa

A quick tip for the new Rotary tool!

I am a member of an online community of fellow Independent Creative Memories Consultants, and one of the CMC's in that group had a fantastic idea for storing the extra blades for the new Rotary Trimmer. She noticed that the blade cases fit in the holes on the bottom side of the trimmer. What a great idea, thanks to Lynn in Canada!
I tried attaching mine with the foam squares, but it was a little too deep that way, so I used my tape runner to attach them. We will have to see how well they stay or if I need to find a stronger adhesive!

That's all for now!

Till next time,

-The Scrap Keeper, Vanessa

Welcome to Scrap Keeper Secrets

Hello there, and welcome to my blog! I will use this space to showcase projects that I have been working on, keep my customers aware of what is going on in the creative memories world, and to offer quick tips, tutorials and training ideas. I hope you will enjoy my work and ideas. If I don't post often enough, send me a note (link over there -->) and tell me to get to posting. At first I will try to post something at least once a week, and depending on how things go, work up to more than that!

Enjoy!

Vanessa Haberman
Independent Creative Memories Consultant