School is OUTTT!!!

I canNOT believe it!!! I've officially turned into my parents!! I remember my parents always saying...."I canNOT believe that it's already time for school to be out"!!......all the while I'M thinking...I CAN!!! But it's true - it's out for us!!! And, i'm a little sad this morning. My little guys are officially 3rd and 1st graders!! :( HOW DID THIS HAPPEN!?!?! WHERE HAS THE TIME GONE?!?! It's times like this that make me SO CRAZILY (is that a word?!) HAPPY that i scrapbook!!! Times like this, i can look back in an instant (literally) and see how far they've come...the milestones and simple moments that they've achieved......ahhhh, so HAPPY that i record their lives!! AND so should YOU!!! I think we, so many times, are toooo busy RUSHING to be "caught up" and trying to find the "PERFECT" layout that we rarely take the time to STOP and really appreciate WHAT WE'RE DOING!!!



With all that being said......I've learned a few things this graduation season, and I hope to help a few other parent's out there as well!! We see MORE mom's (and some dads!) that are "deer in the headlights" when they come in to complete their child's senior album, or memory board. They don't have a clue WHERE to start or WHAT to do!!! And even those of us that Scrapbook, sometimes are so overwhelmed that WE don't know WHERE TO START!!! So - here are just a few "tips" that i'm writing down and ALSO going to implement them into my routine so that i will have a more enjoyable time doing THEIR Senior albums and boards!!!!



***We all have (or maybe you're not as ANAL as i am!) but I have loads of their certificates, drawings, art projects, "A+" papers, notes from the teachers, report cards, etc......i don't know how you SORT them....i personally have FOUR clear drawers that i sort them into. "Sports Hayden" "Sports Kord" "School Hayden" and "School Kord". This makes it SO much easiER to find when you need it....HOWEVER, because i save virtually EVERYTHING, it's PACKED in there TIGHT!! Getting torn, curled and folded every time i add something new to the pile. SOooooo, one of our wonderful customers "Gina" came in and told us what she did!! She purchased an 8.5 X 11 album, this one happened to be the We R Memory Keepers 3-ring album. She puts all of those things in THIS album, keeping them FLAT, SAFE and ORGANIZED!!!! So - this is a project i plan to achieve THIS SUMMER!!!! This will also help me to really decide WHAT i'm keeping and WHAT i'm tossing!!!



***ORGANIZE YOUR PHOTOS!!! Now - some of us may still have 'actual' photographs that we need to organize - but if you have a young one who won't be graduating for several + years, then more than likely you have all your photos on DIGITAL.........it's an OVERWHELMING idea to think of going back YEARS and YEARS to organize your photos, so why not just start with THIS year!?!? Once this year is organized, move on to 2008!?! ! This is something that i do occasionally during a Friday Night Crop!!! Now - you may ask HOW do i organize my photos?!?! There are SEVERAL different Software's out there - you just need to find the one that works for YOU!!! I personally am in LIMBO right now!! I am using IPHOTO on my mac, and like it "alright"....but i have purchased the Creative Memories Software , although i have not yet installed it!!! I have seen it in action and read FABULOUS reviews about it as well!! So - that's yet ANOTHER project i'm hoping to achieve this summer!! This software is fabulous b/c you can organize your photos, flag them with your "most favorite", and then when it's time for you to organize a slide show, memory board, page, album - you can click on "favorites" and it will pull ALLLLL of those that you've flagged into ONE folder!! Making it SUPER easy for you!!! (iphoto will also do this for you!...as well as loads of other programs..the hard part is finding the one that YOU love the most!)



***i'm not going to ASSUME that any of us are "caught up" (i HATE that statement by the way!)..it's almost as if you're putting an expiration date on your scrapbooking.....ugghhh, don't like it! ANYWAY.....if you're NOT current in your "scrapbook", try NOT to feel overwhelmed.....WHAT IF YOU WERE CAUGHT UP!?!? Then what would you scrapbook?!?! Would you be like my SISTER and STAGE events so that you HAVE something to scrapbook!? (love ya sis! muah!!) So - I personally think its best for ME, to start with NOW...what i know NOW!! What i remember NOW!!! So - for example, we had track & field last week, i will more than likely scrapbook THAT event before i go back and do the first day of school. The memories are FRESH and i can get MORE substance into a layout that way!! So - you need to find out what works for you!! When i first started scrapbooking 10 years ago - i was VERY much a chronological cropper. It was almost like my dinner plate when i was little....i couldn't get to the dessert (the good stuff, the CURRENT stuff) unless i'd finished my vegetables!!! (ie: the older stuff!?!?) does that make any sense!?!? And i found myself DREADING to scrapbook - all b/c i wouldn't ALLOW myself to skip ahead year or two. WHO MAKES THESE CRAZY RULES anyway?!! So - do what works for you - but just DO IT!!!! :)



***if you have a SENIOR that you're working on an album for, and you didn't START scrapbooking until he/she was a Freshman......DO NOT FRET and KILL yourself trying to get their LIVES in your album from BIRTH till NOW!! Seriously - go back - get a FEW pictures from each GRADE, a few baby pictures, trim them into 2x2 squares using a punch and smack those babies on a layout - wah lah - you're "done"!!! Seriously - there should be NO STRESSING about this hobby!!! This is something you should do to chronicle YOUR LIFE.......something that helps you to reminisce and remember, reflect and recall!! No worries!!



***this one is a little more PERSONAL for me.......BOYS ARE JUST AS IMPORTANT AS GIRLS!......i can't tell you HOW MANY times i've heard that this last month. "I'm so glad this is the last "board"/"album" that i'm doing!"...."oh - is this your only child/last grad?!"......"NO - my son still needs to graduate, but i won't be doing anything like this for him!"......HUH!?!? ...........or - "Man - i'm so glad that i only have ONE daughter, my son doesn't care ANYTHING about this stuff!!" ...... HUH?!?!! What makes us think that just because they are MALE, that they don't CARE about this stuff?!?! That they don't CARE about looking back at photos of themselves as babies, toddlers, children, PUBERTY!, high school....sure - they may not CARE about whether you spent $10.00 on a package of stickers to embellish the PERFECT page, and SURE they may not "get" that you spent 2 hours STITCHING that STAR and FLOURISH up the side of the page making it the PERFECT touch to his page. However, HE will still appreciate and enjoy looking back over his albums - AT SOME POINT IN HIS LIFE - HE WILL!!!!! So - i beg you, please don't discount the BOYS. Don't automatically put them into THAT category!!! I know - i know - it's HARDER to scrapbook for a boy, yadda yadda yadda - i disagree - but that's another post for another day!!!



okay - i know this post was SUPA long - and i hope that ANY of it was beneficial for you!!! I'm working on posting the NEW stuff - so stay tuned for that!!!