Tip for the new year:

Trace your childs hand on a page with a different color each New Years day or birthday. Use the same page each year to see the changes.

Use your childs handprint/footprint as a background for a page on him/her. Make sure to use washable ink!

Oooh, I like both of those. I just bought a Handprints book from Once Upon a Family (love their stuff, although they do accordion style books, not regular scrapbooks, and if you use lumpy or heavy embellishments, that's going to be extremely tricky - I have made a suggestion through my rep that they go to 'regular' style scrapbooks.) Anyways, where was I going with this? Oh yes. I bought the book and intended to do the Bug's handprints on New Year's Day but that didn't happen. Maybe this weekend. Then we'll do it again on her birthday, and then next January, next birthday, etc.

OK, here's my tip:

I have a new organizational technique that I'm using that is making my life much better. It takes a little while to get it going, but it works out really well.

When I get my pictures back from Shutterfly, I organize them into approximate layout groups. I tend to work a double page spread as one layout, so that's how I group my pictures. Then, when I get time, I go to the Local Scrapbook Store (LSS), with all my pictures in hand. I spread all the pictures out on a table in the crop area. Then, one layout at a time, I hit the aisles. I select background paper, cardstock, fibers, embellishments, etc, that will be used in that specific layout. When I think I've got everything I will use, I put the pictures and all the papers, etc, in a 2 gallon ziploc baggie. I also may put in a post-it with notes about title, layout, things I want but couldn't find, things I know I have at home and want to include, etc. Seal the bag and set it aside. Move on to the next layout.

When I'm finished, I have a bunch of ziploc bags with layouts all ready to go. Then when I go cropping, I have everything I need, organized and complete, and all I need to do is grab my cutters, my adhesives, my pens, and any tools I need (Quickutz, eyelet stuff, etc.) It makes it SOOOO much faster, and I don't have to drag everything I own to a crop (and trust me, I own a LOT.)

I also try to go through my own stash o' stuff first before I hit the store aisles.

This method is actually more cost effective for me because I buy only what I know I need to do a layout, rather than buying tons of stuff because I like it or I 'might' use it. Plus I'm not sitting there at a crop (for which I've paid up to $25), staring at a blank page for an hour and a half (which HAS happened.) If I'm not motivated to actually do a layout, I can at least crop the pictures, or I can move on to the next bag.

Is anyone a member of the Scrapbook Society? Their kits are beautiful, but since I've recently rejoined Club Scrap I'm a little hesitant about joining another monthly club. I'd love to get some RL feedback about the Society (that December kit is GORGEOUS!!!! Good thing it's sold out or I'd already be in the club.)

My kids received an accordian style scrapbook at Christmas. It was approximately 4x4. It was so neat! I've never seen that before. You said it was from Once Upon a Family. Is that a chain retail store or is it a sales rep group/parties like Creative Memories?

Sales rep type group. If you get a chance, check out their products (they have a website), their products are very very nice - really nice quality and you don't have to be a hard core scrapbooker to use their stuff. I've been very impressed with them.

Thanks EGB! I will have to try your technique. I have LOTS of "stuff" as well and haven't quite found a method for the madness and I really like your idea. We only have one scrapbook store besides Michaels, but a friend of mine works there and I will have to see if they will let me do that.

Help!! Ok, I love scrapbooking but am extremely overwhelmed. My first big project is making a sports album for my son, I am almost caught up with it. Now where do I go from here. I have my pictures pretty well organized. I don't take pictures all year long to make a yearly album, I take more at specific events. My sister likes scrapbooking now too, but she just got married and had a baby so she has a lot to keep her busy and a good starting point. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Kiwi - I'm sure they will let you spread out and organize - after all, you're more likely to buy stuff from them that way! What our LSS does is let you run a tab - as you pick up the items for each page, they go ahead and ring it into the computer, and you pay the tab at the end of your shopping extravaganza.

MAdams - I know, it's overwhelming, isn't it?? So many pictures, so many papers, so many cute embellishments.... where do you start? Since you do more specific events I would use that as your starting point. You could do, say, a Chrismtas album that just has pictures from various years in it. I know a girl that did a Halloween album, on black pages. It turned out pretty cool. A Vacations album. An "All about ME" album. I don't do a yearly album either - what I have so far is a wedding album, a scuba diving album, the Bug's first album, a kitty cat album, a travel album, a husband's miscellaneous pictures album.... and I've done specific trips in smaller albums, or gift albums that are much more specialized even than that. I think the trick is to find some organizational system that makes sense to you and makes you happy - if you are bored or dreading working on it, your books are not going to be fun for anyone, are they? There's nothing wrong with getting creative about what goes where. So if I were you, I'd pick the event or group that interests me most, and start building that one.

Remember, too, it's OK to have several albums that are in process - you don't HAVE to finish one before you start or work on another one!! And if you scrap in toploading albums, it's even easier to do pages that may end up in any one of several albums (as opposed to strap hinge albums, where you are sort of committed to doing the pages in the order you work on them, or you end up with blank pages in between and no idea of what to do on them.)

Does that help any??

Yes, EGB, that does help. Most of my items are Creative Memories right now and the only thing I don't like about them is there album format. I think I will buy a different type of album next. I have a gift certificate to a local scrapbooking store so I think I will look there. I think I will try a more themed album first.

Yeah, try a top-loading album and see if you like that better - the beauty of those is you slide the completed page into the pocket (page protector) so you can work on things in any order you like and then arrange it to suit your taste. K & Company has beautiful top-loading albums. Also, if you are a stamper, I've heard really good things about Close to My Heart albums as well.

The other benefit of non-CM albums is.... they're TRUE 12x12. I 'wallpaper' my albums - that is, I use patterned paper as the background. And because I do use CM albums, I have to cut the paper down to fit the page, which gets on my nerves after a while (but I still like the albums so I stick with them. Plus I have a stash of them I need to use up or sell on Ebay before I could move to another type.

Ooooooh - I want this!!!! I wonder if Michaels or Joanne's will get it any time soon (and have a coupon for 40% off....)

New Paper Carrier

Creating Keepsakes is having a contest and one of the prizes is the tote...maybe you could win it!

For someone new to scrapbooking (I've done every other craft possible) would you recommend having a party at home or attending a class at a local store?

KK

Since you sound pretty crafty , I would recommend a LSS class, rather than an at-home party. Especially if you've done stamping or other paper crafts, I'd be afraid the at-home class would be too simplistic for you. Not that there's anything wrong with the at-home classes, they are GREAT ways to get your feet wet, esp for people who don't really do other crafts. But they can be a little basic for someone who's got good craft experience.

Ok, I have thought about asking this question a couple of times, but I'm sure it has a very simple answer and ya'll are going to think I'm nuts. Anyway, here goes...what do you do with eyelets? I have seen them in the stores, but I just can't figure out where they would go on the page.

There are a lot of uses for eyelets, but I use mine mostly to hold in place vellum over a picture or heading. I also use them with flowers as the center piece of the flower and to hold in place 2 punched petals. I have also created a onesie template and use it for the buttons on the bottom of the onesie for baby cards or baby layouts with baby's information on the onesie. I used a star eyelet for the top of a christmas tree die cut this past year on my Christmas cards.

Thanks, Kiwi. I know there had to be a good answer, but for the life of me, I couldn't come up with one.

Ooooh, I love the onsie idea! I may have to steal that one. Other uses are to make the 'seeds' in a watermelon (use the oval black ones), use as punctuation, use to 'hang' things from with wire or fiber, use as the center of a wheel on a stamped baby carriage, use as bubbles....

I like eyelets. Anything you get to hit with a hammer is a good thing.

Hey - if you end up with a bunch of scrapbooking or stamping stuff that you don't think you'll be using, I found 2 pretty worthwhile groups that could use them. I know I have a ton of stuff that I'm looking for a good home for, like sticker sheets that I used one sticker off of and don't see a use for the rest, ink pads I got for free and will never use, or stamp sets that are not clean enough to sell on Ebay, etc. If you're interested in either/both, I'm sure they would love to receive a box or an envelope full of goodies.

1) Scotti Rankin, c/o John Rolfe Middle School, 6901 Messier Rd, Richmond VA 23231. Scotti works with disadvantaged kids and has them all doing "Book of Me"s; she has quite a few that are adopted, or foster kids, and they love doing their own 'baby' books.

2) Picture ME Foundation, PO Box 634, Litchfield Park AZ 85340. This one is a group for children with serious illnesses or disabilities, and they do therapy through scrapbooking/personal art projects.

Thanks!

Thanks for the info EGB. That is one of my "projects" this year, going through and sorting out the items I don't intend to use.

December 28, 2003, Sunday
MONEY AND BUSINESS/FINANCIAL DESK


Business; Catering to a Love Affair With the Past

By KATE MURPHY (NYT) 1216 words
NOT long ago, scrapbooks were fusty repositories of yellowing newsprint and dried prom corsages. Now, they are more likely to be put together using archival-quality materials, sophisticated layouts and polished graphics.
In many new scrapbooks, each page represents not only a life event but also a hefty investment in cutting tools, adhesives, card stock and decorative embellishments.


The Hobby Industry Association, a trade organization for crafts- and hobby-related businesses, reports that scrapbooking is its fastest-growing sector, with sales of supplies quadrupling in the last five years, to an estimated $2 billion. And that figure is expected to grow 40 to 80 percent annually over the next five years, said Don Meyer, a spokesman for the association, based in Elmwood Park, N.J.

While the industry had too few players to count in the 1990's, Scrapbook Retailer magazine says that there are now about 3,000 independent scrapbook supply stores in the United States and 1,600 manufacturers of specialty scrapbooking products like albums, acid-free paper, pens, stickers, stamps, templates, ornamental charms, tags, labels, embossers, paper trimmers and die cuts.

''You could spend an arm and a leg on all the great scrapbooking stuff that's out there,'' said Karen Huntoon, a magistrate and an enthusiastic scrapbooker in East Longmeadow, Mass. She says she spends $200 a month on scrapbook supplies, primarily designer paper. ''It's an obsession with a purpose,'' she said. ''I'm creating something so when I'm gone, my kids will have a piece of me to remember.''

Although others may feel the same way, no one really knows what is driving the recent popularity of the hobby. Some people say it stems from a strong desire to document family connections after the trauma of Sept. 11, 2001. Part of the popularity may be attributable to the emphasis on genealogy in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which has used new outlets, including the Internet, to generate interest in the field even among those who are not Mormons.

But perhaps the most compelling reason is the strong social network that scrapbooking can provide. Scrapbook Internet chat rooms are extraordinarily active, with warm and supportive messages flying back and forth 24 hours a day. Creative Memories, a direct-sales company based in St. Cloud, Minn., has some 90,000 consultants who serve as hosts for product showings, akin to Tupperware parties, in their homes. Creative Memories reported sales of $400 million last year.

Moreover, many scrapbook supply shops have workrooms where they hold gatherings, called ''crops.'' Customers pay around $5 to work on their scrapbooks at these events, which often offer food, drinks and all the conviviality of a quilting bee. ''We call it our therapy,'' said Melanie Martinsen, a homemaker who attends weekly crops from 6 p.m. until midnight at the Scrapbook Superstore of Texas in Houston.

Major craft store chains like Hobby Lobby, based in Oklahoma City, now have scrapbooking sections as big, if not bigger, than those reserved for more traditional artsy pastimes like ceramics, woodworking, needlecrafts and painting.

Michaels Stores, the big arts and crafts retailer based in Irving, Tex., this year opened two stand-alone, 6,000-square-foot scrapbook supply stores called Recollections. The company said it planned to open 10 more next year. ''There are so many new scrapbooking products coming out and the customer demand is so strong that we thought it merited a separate store,'' said Sam Crowley, vice president for new ventures at Michaels.

Scrapbook enthusiasts anticipate new products by popular designers like Rebecca Sower and Heidi Swapp the way music fans await a new release by a favorite artist. ''They just have to rush out and buy it,'' Mr. Crowley said.

Mass-market retailers like Wal-Mart, Target and Office Depot also hope to cash in. Paula Greear, a spokeswoman for Target, said that all newly opened stores had 24 feet of shelf space dedicated to scrapbook supplies, and that this will be the case chain-wide by spring. ''Scrapbooking is huge, and we see it as a long-term trend,'' she said.

At least a dozen scrapbooking publications and several well-attended scrapbook conventions have emerged in the last six years, along with various buyer clubs with names like Scrapjammies and Scrap of the Month. There are even travel agencies that specialize in getaways in which participants pay $300 to $1000 to work on their scrapbooks at resorts in the Napa Valley of California or while cruising the Caribbean.

Among scrapbook product manufacturers, EK Success, based in Clifton, N.J., may be the most prominent. It started as a pen company in 1978 but began focusing on the scrapbook market in 1996. Today, it has a full line of scrapbook supplies and holds licenses from Laura Ashley, Hasbro and Mars, the maker of M&M's, to use their logos, designs and characters.

''EK Success is a big name in the scrapbook world and very popular,'' said Mr. Crowley at Michaels.

Jeanne Wines-Reed, editor of Scrapbook Retailer, predicts that the scrapbooking market will grow to at least $7 billion before it plateaus -- if it plateaus. ''I don't see interest ever declining,'' she said, because once a person starts scrapbooking, ''we're talking hooked for life.''

Indeed, because scrapbooks document significant moments in their lives, people seem to take it more seriously than other hobbies.

''Scrapbooks give you an important sense of self,'' said Lorell Rogers, a preschool teacher in Meridian, Idaho, who spends three to four hours a week working on her scrapbooks. ''They tell you who you are, where you've been and what you've done.''

ABOUT 98 percent of those who make scrapbooks are women, according to Creating Keepsakes, a monthly magazine with a circulation of 250,000. But Brian Olmstead, a founder and senior vice president of Archiver's, a chain of 15 scrapbook supply stores in the Midwest, said that more men were taking up the hobby.

Ralph Burin, an art history professor at Raritan Valley Community College in North Branch, N.J., exhibited his scrapbooks at the school's library last year. His elaborate books record his travels abroad and are embellished with exotic textiles and pen-and-ink drawings. ''It gets your photos out of a shoebox,'' Mr. Burin said.

The organizational aspect of scrapbooking is another strong selling point, according to retailers and enthusiasts. Scrapbooking consolidates and puts into order items that were clogging drawers and closets. Leslie Stevenson, a librarian at Texas A&M University in College Station and a self-described ''pack rat,'' has a scrapbook in which she has neatly arrayed all the photographs, theater tickets, cocktail napkins and subway tokens from her frequent trips to New York City.

''I've dabbled in other hobbies but this feels productive while you're being creative,'' she said. ''Who needs another potholder?''

I have a few gift certificates to use for scrapbook "stuff". Is there anything new that you have tried that you like? Have you used the Rusty Pickle line? I haven't had the opportunity to browse the local store in a while and need some ideas, otherwise I will just have to pick up the usual supplies.

Any ideas for a girls cinderella birthday or first haircut pages?

I really like the Rusty Pickle stuff, and 7 Gypsies too. Haven't really found anything new that I love, other than the Laura Ashley papers. If you can, wait a little bit till all the HIA stuff is in the stores, I saw a preview of what is coming out and there is some neat new stuff out there.

I'm going to my first scrapbooking party/dem this Saturday, looking forward to it.

Hey Scrappy People Help me price a garage sale package I've been gathering while packing up my house? Pretty Please?

It's all from Creative Memories. About a dozen albums (all new in wrappers etc.) with extra page protectors and pages. (Three different sizes) Maybe 15 different scissors. About the same number of punches. 8 or 9 template sheets. Circle cutter tool (the glass thing with templates and a guide for the knife). Full sets of three sizes of pens (probably a dozen or more of each size?) miscellaneous stuff and millions of stickers.

I know what I spent (The national debt) because when I get obsessed I buy too much LOL but I was going to price it at $20 bucks. My friend said it's still popular and to price it that low is nuts...what do you think? Be honest...I don't have a clue where to put it at?

Yes, a price that low is nuts. If that's all you want, I'll buy it off you!! What size albums? They range in price from $20 to $38 or so. Say you priced them each at $15 just to move them, and throw in the page protectors/refills for free. Scissors you can't really get that much for, say $2 apiece. Punches usually retail between $12 and $20, garage sale price say $5 apiece (unless they are the very small or very large, adjust accordingly.) Cutter tool - from CM? Say $20 for full set. If not CM, then approx $15. Pens are usually AT LEAST $10 minimum, even on sale. Say $8 each, esp if you've never used them. Misc stuff - depends. If it's stuff like eyelets and glitter and tinsel and mesh and such, make grab bags for like $2, or package the whole thing up and call it $20. Stickers - usually cheap. One sheet for a quarter or whatever. Or give them free with other purchase. The kids will buy them if nothing else.

But like I said, if you just want to move it to a new home, I'll give you $25 AND pay shipping - just let me know! Paypal ready and waiting..... (Have I just opened a bidding war?? LOL!)

LOL Well I could hold them for the bidding war It's all CM stuff, good quality of course, but unfortunately I've packed half of it so I'll save the war for my unpacking schedule...maybe May? Truly, if you want them and you pay shipping I'm all for it! I've got plenty of other goober for the garage sale! (Ball gowns galore!!!) Maybe I should have a virtual garage sale LOL

By the way, the albums I always bought were the largest size (burgandy jackets) and the smallest square size (not the little ones that look like post card holders). I know there are a couple inbetween that but when I was buying they only came in three or four sizes.

It's a shame to sell (since I never did finish an album!) but I have to limit my hobies or I'll go broke I've decided to collect silk instead LOL Smart huh? heh heh

You really should look into selling them on Ebay - you'd be surprised how much you can make. But otherwise, let me know when you unpack them and what you want for them and we'll deal.

I guess it makes sense to ebay them. I'll be sure to post when I list them for ya'll.

I've got two types of "Sale" items I've been packing. The ebay stuff and the garage sale stuff. Most of the ebay stuff is antique clothing. I think I'll gather this stuff up when we unpack the garage sale stuff and make up a few large packages of stuff and put them on ebay as well.

Or....I could offer free "Stuff" to the first person who'll volunteer to complete my danged photo albums! heh heh

Hello scrapbookers! I just went to my first scarpbooking/stamping party this weekend. Wow, was I impressed and I am so excited to get going on my first project. But wanted to get some advice from the experts. Any tips on best papers, other supplies, things you use the most, things you wish you would have known when you started, things you thought you needed that you never ended up using?

I read this thread, and love EGB tip on backing all the things you want for a layout in a ziplock bag to help things along.

Any other help would be greatly appreciated

I could write a novel on stuff I like..... Glad you've joined the cult - er, I mean, group.

Let's see, from your list:

Best papers - my personal favorites are Club Scrap (not sold in stores), K&Company, and SEI. Club Scrap is a monthly club you sign up for and their papers are cool - they have them made specially and they just feel neat - really thick and rich. And K&CO has very pretty papers, I love them, esp. for my girly girl. SEI I like because they come out with lines that are all coordinated and everything works together super well - you can do a whole album in one theme and it looks coordinated without being cookie cutter. (Just realized the reason I give for liking SEI is the same reason I like Gymboree.....)

Other supplies - You need glue dots. In various sizes. I use the mini the most but have uses for all of them.

Things you use the most - hands down my 12 inch Fiskars cutter. Black ink pen. Bazzill cardstock in a variety of colors but always black, white & ivory. Fibers, and I like the ones that come in a white box with about 7 different ones in the same color families. Blanking on who makes them, though. Making Memories, maybe? Kinda over eyelets but loving brads.

Things you wish you would have known when you started - Not to buy so many stickers - seems like a lot of people go overboard on stickers at first. The exception is letter stickers, which I do use the heck out of. Take a couple of classes and find your own style before you go nuts in the store.

Things you thought you needed that you never ended up using - an overabundance of stickers, those 'fancy' scissors (never use them), Quickutz (like the concept but the tool is hard to use.)

Help...I am TRYING to get together a "medical" scrapbook. I am trying to do it for the bear, so she can look back and understand why in the heck she needed a new liver. Do any of you know where I can find medical types of items supplies (i.e., paper, stickers, etc.)?

Thanks all!

Uh mom? Try asking the nurses at the hospital she has spent so much time at. Tell them what you are doing, and I'm sure they will help out!

"mom" if you pm a list of what you're looking for I can probably get my sister to help out - she's a nurse with a surgical unit.

My mother in law and I are doing a scrapbook of my father-in-laws 25 years in the US Navy. It is really cool so far... and it has been a blast!
I also have been keeping a scrapbook for my brother-in-law who is in the Marines. He sends me pictures and souvineers from all the places he goes. When he came home for Christmas he saw it for the first time. He was so excited. He thought it was the neatest thing ever. I was a little worried, because I didn't think that an 18 year old kid would like it, but he did. By the time his 4 years are up, it will be a huge book, but imagine when he is older and can actually show pictures to his grandkids!