365 Days of Memories

My personal scrapbooking blog is hosting a giveaway in honor of its blogoversary.

The giveaway is a surprise . . . there may be embellishments, fiber, ribbon, rubber stamp, pen, who knows? Also included will be two of my handmade cards.

To enter, go to 365 Days of Memories.

What Would You Do Differently?

This program is a place for you to get serious feedback on your scrapbook (and other paper-craft projects). This activity concentrates on scrapbook design.

Please keep in mind that this is not the place for you if you are only looking for the “good job” type responses to your projects. We request that responses contain comments meant to help improve design capabilities. If you are not the kind of person that can handle the constructive criticism, this group may not be a good fit for you. Remember, criticism of your work is not criticism of you as a person!

We are also hoping to learn about the basics of design and how to apply them to scrapping. We are all still learning so we welcome everyone’s input on all the layouts posted. We will all learn and grow together, and we’ll all have different opinions about what works and what doesn’t. Please be respectful of other people’s opinions. We want to make sure that this is a place that you will not only learn from, but that you will be comfortable when sharing your opinion no matter what it may be.

Aside from creating special memories, scrapbooking is a craft where you also develop your artistic skill and design concepts. If you would like unbiased and positive reinforcement of your pages, then please submit your layouts under the heading "What Would You Do Differently?".

Come, share your work, get some feedback, and share your feedback. Let’s make this a great activity here at Cherished Memories.

Thursday Tip #6

Inspire to Be Creative

No matter what size your work space is or where it is, put something in that inspires you to be creative. A family picture, a favorite knick-knack, a radio, whatever will get you motivated and feeling creative. Small or large, it doesn't matter, just let it be an inspiration to YOU.

Thursday Tip #5

Chalks for Hand-Tinting

Have you ever tried to hand-tint your inkjet computer prints only to find that the finish rubs away with the inks? A great way to hand tint Sepia or Black and White photos printed from an inkjet printer is to print your photos on Matte Photo Paper and then color them with decorating chalks. You'll have a beautiful hand tinted photo in no time!

Color Inspiration

Are you just not sure which colors would look best with your photos? These web sites are exactly what you have been looking for. You can upload a photo and then the site shows you color swatches that coordinate with each other and the photo perfectly. Very fun!

Upload a photo and a palette of colors based on the colors in the photo will be generated automatically. Use it to help with art projects, website design, scrapbooking layouts, even with decorating your home.

Palette Generator from Big Huge Labs
Colors Pallete Generator from CSS Drive
Color Explorer from Image Importer

Try one and post here to let us know what you think of this idea for scrapbook inspiration.

Thursday Tip #4

Keep some of the candy wrappers from Easter, Halloween, or birthdays. You can scan them and print them onto cardstock or acid free paper. These can make the perfect embellishment to go along with your Easter Egg Hunt photos or Trick or Treating photos, or birthday celebration photos.

Thursday Tip #3

A great way to use up border sticker strips is to cut them apart and make frames for your photos.

April Daily Inspirations

Each month Jill from A Matter of Memories offers a free download of 30 days worth of inspirations.

Daily Inspirations is a monthly PDF document that is available for FREE through the A Matter of
Memories blog. Each month, there are 30 squares offering prompts to spark creativity in your scrapbooking
Each square, in essence, is a mini-challenge.

There are a variety of types of prompts included each month:

• Color Prompts: Your challenge is to use this color combination on a layout.
• Event/Holiday Prompts: Your challenge is to address the question(s) related to monthly holidays or events and use your response as the basis for a layout.
• Photo Prompts: Your challenge is to take a photo of your interpretation of the word or phrase included in the square. Some can be taken literally; some are very figurative, while still others could go either way…the choice is yours. The idea behind these prompts is to help stretch your photography skills and start to think more creatively when taking photos for your layouts.
• Quote Prompts: Your challenge is to use the quote on your page in some way – as the title, within your journaling, however you please.
• Technique Prompts: Your challenge is to use the specified technique(s) on the layout.
• Title Prompts: Your challenge is to use this word or phrase as the title for a layout.
• Web Prompt: Your challenge is to follow this prompt online to spark your creativity.

Go now to get inspired and challenged to do some scrapbooking this month.

Scrapbook & Cards Today

The spring issue is here. This spring issue boasts a beautiful assortment of seasonal layouts and fresh cards, as well as lots of tips, techniques, and innovative solutions.

Look at what you’ll find in this issue:

• What Goes Around, Comes Around — You don’t want to miss our celebration of the versatile, whimsical, and gender-neutral circle.
• 3 Designer Challenge — Check out what 3 designers did when given the same 5 products to work with... wow!
• Quick Photo Tips — Don’t miss photographer Melanie Godecki’s hands-on solutions for taking your outdoor photography from good to great.
• I Spy with Emily — Join trend-spotter Emily Pitts as she shares her new favourite trend — journaling spots.
• Got Scraps? — Looking for ways to purge your ever-expanding supply of scraps? Three designers share beautiful cards made with only their leftovers.
• Winged Things — Just in time for spring, our designers worked together to showcase a beautiful array of bird and butterfly inspired projects.

Click here to download the Spring issue.

Thursday Tip #2

Sharpen Your Pencils

Find all your colored pencils and the pencil sharpener and sharpen up those pencil points. This will save you time later when you want to use them.

No sharpener that you like in the house? Put it on your shopping list immediately.