Journal, Journal – JOURNAL!

We all struggle with it – putting our feelings into words but just in case you need a reminder about how important it is to record what’s in your heart – here you go:

My Mom just sent me the most beautiful letter written by Big Jim – my paternal Grandfather.  He wrote the letter after meeting me for the first time.  He was writing the letter to my Dad who was serving in Vietnam.  My Dad wouldn’t get to hold me until I was about 4 months old when he came home from Vietnam.

Big Jim describes the visit he had with my Mom and her parents, my Grandpa Abe & Grandma Nellie, the meals my Mom cooked and other trivial things – about the drive home & at his work that week.  The letter is 3 pages long and filled with lots of details!   Here’s my favorite part:

In looking back over my life – I presume that biggest thrill I ever had was seeing you for the first time a few minutes after you were born, but believe you me, – the thrill of seeing and holding Lisa last Saturday afternoon for the first time, ranks very close to my biggest thrill in life.

Wow. 

I remember Big Jim as a cigar smoking, martini drinking, lovable old Grandpa.   He was fun – I loved spending time with him but I really don’t recall him being a man of many words, just your typical Grandpa stuff.  Of course I knew he loved me, but to see his very own words on paper just makes my heart swell.

I won’t bore you with all the details of the letter – Big Jim was quite taken with me.   I think I may have blushed a bit while reading about how much of a doll I was & how good of a baby I was.  My heart just about exploded when I read him gushing about how I cuddled up to him so nicely when he held me. 

We all have those times in our life when we think our heart will burst because it’s so full of wonderful feelings that we think we’ll remember forever.  YOU WON’T!  Write it down – record it for the people you love.

 

This is Big Jim holding my Dad. 

If he could journal you can, too!!

I have to go get some more tissues and then go journal in my albums. 

Boo!

Just sharing a couple of REALLY quick projects I did today.

The beakers of candies I picked up at WalMart.  They were only $3 each!  The cute little labels are freebies from the CM Project Center –they’re in the Digital Freebies section. I just imported them into SBC+ (instructions for this are on the Project Center) then printed them off onto regular  paper and stuck them onto the bottles.  The center jar is filled with my newest addiction…sour pumpkins by Zachary you can find them at Meijer. 

I cut a circle using the Custom Cutting System out of paper found in the new Halloween Additions Kit and added a sticker from the same kit to the top of the lid.

(This kit is now only available in a Digital format)

Doesn’t get much easier than that!  Thanks for looking!

CM Videos on youtube.com

There are so many great new products – sometimes it’s hard to get a feel for them until you see them in person. If you’re not able to do that here is the next best thing – videos!

Rotary Trimmer
Power Palettes
New Daisy Organization System
Digital Solutions
Traditional Solutions
PicFolio
Career Solutions
Organizational Solutions

Some older ones:
adoption album
proud coach photo book
friends for life photo book

Let me know if you have any questions. Details about the new products are on my CM Consultant website at www.mycmsite.com/lisagraham

2009 Fall Retreat at the Novi Sheraton

Need some time away?  Who doesn’t!  Camp Crop-A-Lot is a weekend retreat held at the Novi Sheraton twice a year – our next session is October 16 – 18, 2009, 

The weekend is designed to provide lots of uninterrupted time & space for scrapbookers but any crafters & friends are welcome. 

Click here to download a flyer with details about Camp Crop-A-Lot including classes you can take and a registration form. Contact me if you need more information or for the mailing address to send in your registration form. You can also visit the Camp Blog for more information.

Hope to see you in October @ the Novi Sheraton.

Pink, Flowers and More Pink!

Being the Mom of 2 boys I don’t have many opportunities to use “pretty” stuff while scrapbooking.  I have been wanting to try the new Paper Flowers & Ribbons by CM for a while now & just couldn’t wait any longer!  I got out some of my pictures for my own scrapbook (you know - the album that has very few pages) and this is what I created:

The pages are made with papers and stickers from the Delight Power Palette.  Paper Flowers & Ribbon are the “Delightful” ones (more coming in September).  The Paper Ribbon is double sided – printed on one side and solid color on the other.  The layout on the left hand side was inspired by one found in CM’s Idea Book Vol. 1 – Inspire Me. You can find it on the bottom of page 21.

The little bear was created using the Custom Cutting System – mostly the Oval Patterns.  “CHAT” uses the Simple Monogram stickers & the other stickers used in the title are Swirly ABC/123 stickers.

Here is a close up of the Paper Flowers and Ribbon– I used the Foam Squares underneath the small flower to give it a bit of dimension.

Thanks for looking!

A (really) quick digital project & SBC+ Update info

We have had so many solicitors come by the house lately & I’m so not comfortable opening up the door for strangers so I’m considering putting something like this by the front door:

Do you think it’ll work? I’ll probably tone it down a bit and shorten it up before posting it. I started with a pre-designed page template from the Cottage Garden digital kit. This was made with Storybook Creator Plus which is a fantastic program and it will be getting even better in September! An upgrade will be available that will include the following features:

• Wrap text around images and objects (the text will follow a line you draw)
• New filters, such as oil painting, mosaic and frosted glass
• View a two-page spread while editing
• New Tools, grid-cutting, corner cutter, paper tearing, blended and patterned edges
• Turn any image into a rubber stamp
• You'll be able to upload right to Facebook for sharing

Wahoo! I absolutely love using this program – it was created for scrapbookers, by scrapbookers. There are also a HUGE amount of resources available to help you with digital scrapbooking, including the Help Zone on my CM Consultant website .

Here is a link to a short video that shows some of the fantastic features of SBC+

Here are a few pages I recently created with SBC+ and CM digital content:

The above page uses items from the Recipe Book Digital Kit and digital freebies from the CM Project center (including the hinges, paper frame and overlay)

This page uses items from the Great Escapes Digital Kit.

Doesn’t get much simpler than this! I used a photo for the background then customized some word art to go with the picture. Corner swirl is another freebie from the
CM Project Center.

The Cozy Winter Digital Kit was used to make this page.

Please let me know if you need help with digi scrapping – or other photo related projects!

“Business” cards for kids

So, tomorrow is the last day of Preschool for my youngest. He’s off to kindergarten in the fall! He has made so many friends at his Preschool, many have been in the same classes over the past few years. He wanted to give out his phone number so we can arrange play dates over the summer. I created these cards in Storybook Creator Plus, using a freebie frame from the CM Project center. The frame is from the Construction Zone PP Addition - shown here in it's digital form but also available for traditional scrapbookers. The frame had said “Boys and their toys” but I put a box over that & put in Jamie’s name. Added our phone number (blurred out here on the internet) & my name because I’m thinking that even though the Moms have also known each other for a few years – maybe they can’t remember my name and are too embarrassed to ask. I know I can’t be the only one!

I printed a bunch up on cardstock & he'll hand them out tomorrow. Hard to believe we're done with Preschool in our household. Boy the time has flown by!!