Redo

I decided yesterday to redo Becky and Byron's wedding album.  So, here are the first results! 

Fun, fun, fun!

Been scrapping Bethany and Eric today.

Few things to figure out

While Tom is laying exciting wood flooring this morning, I'm going to research ways to market myself more effectively online.  I know some things but with billions of sites on the internet (maybe it even exceeds our national debt number, I don't know!  LOL!) it will be a challenge to get people to find me.  But, I know they are out there!  So many times over the years I have heard people say they want photo albums but don't feel they have the time or the where-with-all to put them together by themselves.  I remember years ago how overwhelmed I felt with a boatload of pics we had and with no clue as to what to do with them.  It was Creative Memories that helped me to start telling my family stories, which is why I became a consultant all those years ago.  Sometimes you just need someone to hold your hand a little bit.  That's what I needed.  Hopefully I can pass along a little bit of that hand holding that put me on the course of something that has enriched my life greatly.

Bethany and Eric have some new engagement photos....Photoshop Elements, here I come!

Wanted to share with you my favorite scrapbooking store, Digital Scrapbooking Studio.  Check them out...their designers are awesome:

Here's their link:  Digital Scrapbooking Studio.  The photo is their Luscious Fall collab...appropriately titled!

New ideas

I ordered a couple of books today to help me do this business better.  One is strictly a scrapbook design book that gives fundamental "rules" that every artist should abide by....of course, rules can be broken but because I have no formal training outside my Creative Memories experience, I thought it would be a good investment for me.  Then, I ordered a book about creative journaling from Memory Makers.  They always have great stuff and I'm sure this book will be no exception.  Looking forward to receiving both.  I ALSO ran across Artist Trading Cards, or ATC's as they are commonly referred to.  What fun!  You can even order special holders for them.  I can design my own, display them and/or use them like a business card.  Here's an example from Patter.  Love this idea and I'm certainly going to "copy" it....this particular one is from a Scripture ATC challenge....the challenge was introduced by Patter (http://triplethescraps.blogspot.com/)  in 2008.  Love, love, love the idea!

Things are moving along!

I have spent the last week working almost around the clock on starting up my new website!  Although daunting at first, it has been by far the easiest process to date.  I decided to ditch my Artfire website and develop one of my own with Homestead.  Although there was a bit of a learning curve, they have many templates and I found one that suited my needs.  They've also had great customer service which I so appreciated having never done this before.  I was thinking today how my library media specialist background at Dayspring Christian Academy for 8 years prepared me for an online business.  I walked into that job with very little computer skill.  I am thankful to say that those years of learning and growing certainly have paid dividends these past couple of weeks!  Excited to continue in this new adventure, that is for sure!

My launch!

I still have a long way to go, but today marks the "launch" of my first official blog!  I have always wanted an online business but felt a little inadequate setting it up.  After much trial and error, I was able to get something posted with much more to come!  The most exciting thing for me is the opportunity to create and do something that I love for others....digital scrapbooking.  I have been scrapbooking for over 15 years with my initial start as a successful Creative Memories consultant.  With Creative Memories, I learned all of the elements of scrapbooking life stories, thus the name of my business.  Since my first scrapbook those many years ago, I have evolved into a digital scrapbooker.  My first attempt at digital scrapbooking began with Paint Shop Pro and then I progressed to Photoshop Elements, the baby bro of the most powerful publishing software on the planet.  Both have their own strengths, but I appreciate the flexible and enhanced tools that come with Photoshop Elements.  Although I would call myself an above-average designer, I look forward to enhancing my skills and techniques even more to allow for my maximum creative juices to flow!