Weekend Retreats Help Get the Fun Done

I've been scrapbooking for almost 12 years now. I'm busy with work and my kids' activities, so most of my scrapbooking is happening on weekend retreats. I've gone to one in Flagstaff, two in Tucson, and many in Prescott, and I always get a lot done and have a wonderful time. If you can find a weekend retreat in your state, I highly encourage you to try it out!

If you can't find one, do one yourself! Just grab a few friends and rent a cabin for the weekend. Can't go too far from home? Find a hotel in town that has suites and use the living room for scrapbooking. I know friends who have done this and had a wonderful time.

Try it, you'll like it!

3 Easy Ways to Make an Incredible Scrapbook Page

1. Enlarge a photo.
Enlarging a photo is fairly inexpensive, and makes a huge impact...try it!

2. Journal from the heart.
Many people can put photos and paper on a page and make it look great. It takes some practice to journal in a meaningful way. When you do it, you create a page that will be treasured.

3. Keep it simple.
It's easy to get carried away with paper, stickers and embellishments, but keeping your page simple puts the emphasis on your photos and your words, which are what's most important.

Try Black and White for a Dramatic Look

I wanted to put photos of each of our family members on the wall, each blown up to a 12x12" size. I searched and searched, but the photos just didn't mesh. But, when I changed them all to black and white, they looked amazing!

Printing your photos black and white allows you to combine different people, events and even locations while keeping a common theme. Try it on your walls and try it in your scrapbooks!

Start Thinking About the Holidays!

Money is a bit tight this year, so why not make your money go farther by making your gifts? Everyone loves a gift that includes their treasured photos! Here are some ideas:

*A desktop album to showcase photos of the kids or grandkids.
*A 2009 calendar featuring great photos from the previous year.
*A framed scrapbook page.
*A set of handmade cards you create with extra scrapbooking supplies.
*An ABC album with that person's great qualities (adorable, best friend, etc.)
*An ABC album for kids featuring their favorite toys and people (Aunt Bev, bicycle, etc.)
*A "blast from the past" album with photos from way back when.
*A "best friends" album.
*An "I Hope" album with everything you hope for that person.
*A wallet-sized album for a brag book.
*A pre-decorated album they can use for their holiday cards each year.

Have fun with it!

Uses for Page Prints

When I started with digital scrapbooking, I just made bound books. I still like them for many things, but I was intrigued with the idea of page prints. I started out simply printing 12x12" page prints and slipping them into albums. Then I discovered I could frame them. The list of ideas is lengthening...here are some I've found:

-Slip it into an album.
-Frame it.
-Send as a party invitation (I've been using 4x6" size.)
-Send as a thank you note after a party (again, 4x6" size works well.)
-Send graduation announcements (try 8x8" size cut in half.)
-Send baby announcements (4x6" or 5x7".)
-Send holiday cards.

I've sent some 4x6" prints as postcards using labels I found at The Paragon. Others, I've adhered to cards found at a local paper store.

If you have other ideas, I'd love to hear them! Here are some examples:

Using Your Photo as a Background in Digital Scrapbooking

I just love using my own photos as background paper in my digital scrapbooks! Here is a page from my Maui book...all of the photos are mine, including the background one. How fun! Just make sure your photo will look okay blown up that large...the software I use gives me a warning if it will look blurry, so I know not to use it.

A Page from My Latest Digital Scrapbook

When I did traditional scrapbooking, it would never occur to me to enlarge a photo...it was all I could do to get the photos printed and sorted!

With digital scrapbooking, making a photo the entire page is one of my favorite things to do. It really makes an impact! Here's an example from the Maui book I just completed:

What a great weekend!

I spent the weekend in Prescott, AZ, scrapbooking with 29 women. What a blast! Most were doing traditional scrapbooking, but a few of us had our laptops and were making digital books. I completed my digital scrapbook of a recent Maui trip and can't wait to get it back in the mail!