Love Notes

The February MemoryWorks Express Kit has been released! It's all about LOVE!!! Altered project this month is Cosmo Cricket Lacing Cards. I can't wait to create something fun with that. Contact me to order your subscription today!

No posts!

I did so good last week posting something almost every day. This week, well....not so good. It's been a busy week. My husband is away on a business trip so my evenings have been busy running here and there with the kids. I'm also busy preparing for a weekend scrap retreat on Friday. I'm trying to figure out what to work on and geting some sketches ready. The more prep work I do now, the more stuff I can get done this weekend! I'm super excited to have an entire weekend to do nothing but SCRAP!!! Yea!! I will post pictures of my creations next week, so stay tuned!! I'm in charge of bringing snacks....hmmmm....what should I bring??? Decisions, decisions.....

Until then here is a picture of me and my sister at her baby shower. Everyone LOVED the baby book. A few people commented that they'd like to hire me to do one for them!

2007- A Year in Review

Here's some pictures of what I did with the inside of my Japanese Stab Binding book. I still have a few more pages to finish. This will be a fun little tabletop book to have and share with people. It will be nice to glance through it and think back on 2007. Enjoy!

February Sneak Peek!

Fall In Love.....
The February MemoryWorks Express Kit sneak peek is out!!! Check out the fun colors!
Contact me to order your subscription!

MemoryWorks Warehouse Sale

Well, I don't have my "2007 Year in Review" book completed yet, but I did get 4 more pages completed last night. I have plans this evening, but hopefully Friday I will have everything completed so that I can post some pictures.

I just love posting something everyday, so for today I decided to send everyone over to the MemoryWorks. This past week MemoryWorks did inventory and put a bunch of items on sale. I'm sure they are trying to clean things up before bringing in new merchandise this spring (yea--new stuff---can't wait!). Although many items went SUPER fast, there are a few great deals left. Head on over to my MW website: http://sarahsines.memory-works.com and click on "Our Products" and "Warehouse Sale". There are a few Express Kits on sale for $25 & $35 along with lots of other goodies. I'm placing a group order on Friday so anyone in Eastern Iowa that wants to place an order--let me know! Happy shopping!

Cosmo Cricket laugh

I've been doing so good at posting one thing each day that I just couldn't skip a day! Last night I worked on the inside of my Japanese Stab Binding Book. I'm SUPER excited about it. I think it's going to be really fun to have. I've only completed 5 pages so I'm going to hold off on posting pictures until I have more completed. Hopefully tonight I can squeeze in a few more pages. They are super quick and easy--stay tuned for pictures tomorrow!

For today's post I thought I'd share with you a cute blog. Cosmo Cricket is a brand of scrapbooking products. They're stuff is super cute! I also love the marketing that they do (sorry, it's the Marketing major in college coming out in me!). Someone on the MemoryWorks consultant message board posted a link to their blog the other day.

Check it out: http://cosmocricket.blogspot.com/

Make sure to look back at previous posts to see the whole story on Jon the warehouse guy. It's really cute (and HE'S cute too!!).

The Kite Runner

I finished another book today--2 in one month!!! I know it's not a lot, but for me it is. I'm really trying hard to find time to read more. So far so good!

Since I liked A Thousand Splendid Suns so much, I decided to read Hosseini's other novel--The Kite Runner. Although not quite as gut retching as the other novel, this was also a very good book (don't get me wrong there were many many moments of sheer horror in this one too!). I feel like I have learned so much about the Afghan culture by reading these books. I know that they are fiction, but there is so much truth in the actions and politics of the books. I would definitely recommend both books.

I don't go out to the movies very often but I just noticed that The Kite Runner is out in the theaters right now. Unfortunately it is not playing in Cedar Rapids. I will have to check it out once it's out on DVD. I'm sure I'll like the book better (it's always better in the book!), but I would like to see it anyway.

Watch Baby Grow!

My FINAL page in the baby book!!! Each month my sister can pick her favorite photo of the baby and place it in the appropriate box. Each box will hold a 3x3 photo.

I hope some of you found some good ideas for easy 2-page layouts. Change the colors and they can work for any occasion. I'm super excited to give this gift to my sister. I hope she enjoys it! Now I can get back to scrapin' some of my own pictures!!!! Yea!

12 Months!

I decided to add one last page to the book. I just need to glue it together and it's complete. Hopefully, I can get it done today and post later (although, the laundry is piling up and the house is a mess!!!!). I hope everyone is staying warm this weekend!!!

Months 7-11

With the help of a Friday night crop session at the local scrapbooking store---I completed 5 more pages for my sisters baby book.


Month 12 is almost done. Check back later today for pictures!

6 Months

Favorite Escape

Circle Journal time! For this month's journal I was to create a layout of my "Favorite Escape". Here's what I chose. Sorry for the bad pictures. I couldn't wait until today to take pictures in the sunlight (I'm already late sending it out as it is! Sorry Lacey!).

Fun Mail!

Yesterday I received a surprise UPS package. Yeah!!!! Inside was a bunch of free scrapbooking supplies from the MemoryWorks home office. During the Christmas season the MemoryWorks Consultant Message Board had a online Christmas party. We played games and whatnot. One activity was to show everyone pictures of gifts that you handmade. Afterwards they randomly chose one person to win a prize! Guess who won??!!

Here's what I got:Piggy Tales- Little Boy Blue paper
Imagination Project Binding Art Tape
Brown File Folder
XL brown eyelets
Ribbon
Flower die cut
Journaling Tag
Clear Clock embellishments
My Mind's Eye- clear overlay
Card-size cardstock
Maya Road chipboard album

Wow! Awesome!

Japanese Stab Binding Book

I took a break from the baby book for a night and created this really easy Japanese Stab Binding book. I got the directions from Big Picture Scrapbooking in their Book of the Month workshop for January (This is an ongoing class that you can sign up for monthly. Each month there will be directions for making a different type of book). I haven't added photos to it yet, but my plan is to make it a "2007 Year in Review" book. Hopefully, I can do more with it Friday night at my monthly Friday night crop session at Memories on 5th in Coralville.

Front Cover:

Back Cover:
Inside Front Cover:
Inside Back Cover:

I'm super happy with how this turned out. The front and back covers are chipboard covered with We R Memory Keepers new White Out line--Explore. Inside there are 8 pieces of cardstock. I'm just amazed at how easy and quickly this went together. It could be done in any size and would make great gifts.

5 Months

Only 7 more to go!

Organization!

After many years of scrapbooking supplies crammed into bags scattered all about. I finally have a crafting space to house all my supplies AND a space to work! As my son said "It's a scrapbooking world!". Saturday my dad and husband transformed a spare closet to store all my scrapbooking supplies. I spent today painting and shopping for organizational pieces. I still have some work to do before it's completely done---but I have a "Scrapbooking WORLD"!!!! I'm super excited!!! I'd like to add a sheet of metal or corkboard to the back wall and peg board to the right wall. This will help get some tools off the tabletop for more workspace. I also plan to purchase a bunch of cropper hopper paper files to organize my paper (it's a crazy mess right now!).

Now I'm off to scrap!!!!!!

4 Months

Strips can be used for journaling or descriptive words.

More Baby Pages--1, 2, & 3 months

Tag pulls out for journaling. 4x6 pictures can be placed between ribbon and paper strips with 5x7 photo on the right.

Lots of room for different sized photos. Tabs on right will hold 5x7 photo.

Cardstock with buttons can be for journaling or photo. Different sized pictures can be placed throughout.

This theme of 2-page layouts will continue for each month of the babies first year. Stay tuned for more!

Baby Shower Invitations

My mom and I spent yesterday afternoon making baby shower invitations for my sister's baby shower. I'm sure I could have spent less money and less time if I had bought invitations at the store, but these are more fun (and personal!).

A Thousand Splendid Suns

I just got done reading this book today by author Khaled Hosseini. This book was amazing. So many emotions ran through me while reading it. The book tales the life of 2 women and their journey through life in Afghanistan. I can't even begin to imagine the struggles they went through. There were many moments while reading that I had to put the book down because I was so overcome with emotion and sadness. I am SO thankful for the choices that I am given to me as an American, a women, and a wife. Read this book.

Big Picture Scrapbooking (yes, my favorite site at the moment...) is running a book club throughout 2008. Each month they will highlight a different book. This is a free "class". Once registered you can enter the Reading Room and discuss the book with others. Although I didn't put it on my list of New Years Resolutions, I'm adding to it---read more books! Hopefully this book club will encourage me to read more often.

First Glance

This page looks very plain and boring, but once we add pictures it will add a lot of life. I purposely left things open so a lot of pictures could be added. I want to vary the album with pages dedicated to one or two photos and lots of photos to other pages. My thought is that this page could be for photos of Zachary right after he is born in the hospital. There should be enough room for 4+ pictures.

A Letter from Mommy

Another layout for the baby book.....

Zachary David

So, I'm sure I'm spoiling things for my sister, but I haven't posted an actual layout in SO long I just had to post it! This is the title page for a scrapbook I'm creating for my sister. After the baby is born all she'll have to do is fill in with photos and journaling--piece of cake!

Supplies: Crate Paper-Sweet Pea Theme Set, ribbon, and chipboard letters. Scenic Route- Baby rub-on's. Prism-Nautical Blue cardstock. Autumn Leaves-Rhonna's Christmas Bag-o-Buttons.

The inspiration for this page was taken from Big Picture Scrapbooking "Baby's First Year" class. It is a Project Now class that you can purchase and download. I am also using this layout for the "Get a LOAD of This" class that started today at BPS--(FYI- this is a FREE class they are offering this month! Check it out!). Each day we are to create a layout and post it to the class gallery. One lucky scrapper will be drawn at random to receive prizes daily!!! Hopefully this will give me a push to create something each day this month (New Year's Resolution!!!).

New Years Resolutions

I don't normally make New Year's resolutions. Many times I'll think about things I want to do or improve on, but I never write them down or even tell anyone. This year I decided to change things up. Nothing big, just some things that I'd like to work on for the new year. I know it's another day just like any other day--but it's a new year. A new start. A time to reflect back and look about where you want to be in another year. So, here it goes:

Crafting Goals:

• Create a craft closet!---this MUST be in done in January!
• Create something 2-3 times a week. This can be a layout, card, tag---whatever. As long as I sit down and create something or part of something.
• Create things for the house. My house is in desperate need of some decorating. I can do this in an inexpensive way by hand crafting items.
  
• Continue to learn and expand my crafting. Continue to take scrap classes through BPS or other places. Check out other peoples blogs and learn from them.

MemoryWorks Goals:

• Create and send monthly newsletters to customers to promote my business.
• Provide monthly crops or workshops.
• Book a party at each party. This may be a tough one, but it's something to work on.
• Create a new party layout. Instead of just showing products I would like to put together a new format. One idea is to put together a layout and highlight products as I go.
  

Other Goals:

• Create a new weekly cleaning plan. Although I think my house stays clean most of the time, I could do more. Certain rooms don't get enough cleaning attention--bedroom, computer room, storage room, and kitchen. My new routine will highlight one room each week of the month to "deep clean". If I keep this up it should be quick and easy---and CLEAN!
• Stay calm. Working with 10 kids everyday can be mentally exhausting. Sometimes I find myself ready to pull my hair out. My goal is to stay calm, take deep breaths, and don't let things upset me.

There it is! It seems like a lot, but really they are small steps that can make my life easier, better, and less stressful.

Here's to a happy, healthy, successful 2008! Cheers!