MERRY CHRISTMAS, HAPPY HOLIDAYS AND A JOYOUS NEW YEAR

I know, yelling is not polite but I am so blessed and so happy this holiday season that I want to pass some on! I am hoping that this message finds you all enjoying this beautiful Christmas Morning and that all your Christmas wishes were granted. Wishing you good health and good company. I am officially on vacation and at my sisters gorgeous new house surrounded by laughter and love. 2008 is already shaping up to be a fabulous year and I am going to get a jump on my New Year's Resolutions. So here they are (at least some of them):

1. I will keep my promises this year. For me this means being more careful about writing down my plans in my planner and thinking very hard about what is going on in my life before commiting myself.

2. I will support the people that I love more. Making it to my nieces ballgames and other activities will be a priority not something that I see if I can do.

3. I will be more patient with my husband and children.

4. I will procrastinate at least 25% less than what I do now. I figured that if I made it a definitive number I will actually do it.

5. I will join SCORE or another similar organization.

6. Volunteer and become more active in my church. Cathedral of Praise is the best church I have ever been too! If you are ever in Charleston, SC come check us out. I promise you will feel like you are at home.

7. I will read at least 1 business book a month.

That's it for now. I know that I will come up more but until then. Happy Holidays!

Grand Opening

The grand opening of Gifted Memories was truly "grand". I want to say that I appreciate all of the support and all of the assistance getting the website up and running. I think I lost a pound of hair and gained 10 pounds of weight. I love the way the sight looks and how easy it is to maneuver around. I am not technical at all so I had to rely on a lot of elves to make this thing happen, lol. Thanks to everyone especially the Scrapbiz ladies, for all of your patience. Christmas is around the corner and I am so excited. My sister is hosting her first Christmas at her new house and it will be bursting at the seams with love and family. I can barely wait.

I finished a kit today that I just love. I adore bright colors and they don't get any brighter than this fun and happy layout.

The blue flowers with the dots are actually made out of fabric. I love using items that I have found in my travels in my kits. I found this fabric in Florida a couple of years ago and have been dying to use it. The flowers came out just perfect. I rediscovered some souffle pens that I bought around the same time as the fabric and love them too. I plan to use them a lot! They write perfectly on slick, dark and mat surfaces. The ink puffs up just a little after it drys. Wonderful texture. I love them so much that I put them in my store, http://www.giftedmemries.com. Thanks for visiting and blog you tomorrow (okay that was cheesy but I couldn't resist). Have a great night. Shere

28 Degrees

I have been complaining about the 80 degree whether here for a couple of weeks now. I guess I whined loud enough. I woke up to this this morning. AAAAAAAAAA (happy Opra voice, woke the kids up). Just beautiful. Now, I can watch the turtles and the winter scene when I should be working!

Ok, so back to work. This is what I am working on for one of my classes this year. I must say, I am totally in love with the new Urban Lily! It is so beautiful. I believe that I have used it in 3 different projects already. That is a record for me, I usually only buy one sheet of each paper in a line, but I have like 5 of each of these already. I've only done that with BG. Anywho, I wanted to do a paper bag album (yes that is what this is but you can only see the cover sheet. Between the covers there is ribbon, stickles, pockets, staples, distressing, ...........) that I could use to record all of the ways I am going to push myself in 2008. So I designed this. It has 16 pages, one for each month of the year (2 for Jan and Dec) and two extras - because a girl has to have options - and 4 pocket pages. I plan to have space for listing everything that I want to do and then once I've done it, a photo and a little paragraph for me to write about it. It's coming along nicely and I am excited about presenting it as a class, we scrappers only talk about ourselves in our blogs, not our pages!

Next on my list is this tin that I found at M's. It is so gorgeous.

But the real reason that I bought it is because it opens up into 3 compartments!

I found these little wooden circles that fit perfectly and I am going to cover them with Patterned Paper, like you would chipboard, then make little round mini albums with them. One for each compartment. I will be sure to post pics when I'm done.

And last but not least, maybe I should have done this first, hmmm....... The GRAND OPENING of the Gifted Memories website is only 2 days away! I can't believe that it is coming so fast! I have been loading the store with page kits and clear albums and useful tools and inks and stickles and tins and board books and.............too much great stuff for me to mention it all here and I am so excited to have you all (yall) visit. Here is the 4th item that I will be giving away to a lucky scrapper

A Cropadile! I know that there are some folks that don't have this yet so come on in and get one! They are truly one of the greatest tools since the paper trimmer. All you have to do is to be the 4th person to purchase merchandise between 11 and 12 and it's yours. You can win something great on your lunch break. See you on Thursday. Have a wonderful Tuesday. Shere

P.S. Notice the improvement in photo quality, I have been practicing and visiting some of the fabulous blogs out there that have so much free advice! THX

Gift for Teacher....

I finally finished the reason why I have not posted the scrap projects that I talked about in my newsletter. And I have to say that it came out fabulous! I love the new Urban Lily papers and will definitely be using them in a couple of future projects. One being the paper bag album class that I will be teaching at the conventions next year. Wow, next year. I can't believe that this year is almost over. I will be taking a much needed vacation this year with my husband and children. I so can't wait. We are going to spend a week traveling and sight seeing. How fun is that? Snow is definitely on my agenda this year! We will hit VA for 3 days of tubing, skiing and hiking (a side trip to DC is in the cards as it is only 90 minutes from where we will be staying), NY for 3 days, and PA for 3 days then back to reality. I have to say that one of my favorite places on earth is the Smithsonian and we will prob go see that the first day of vacation. I have always wanted to go to the Guggenheim so that made the cut, on top of everything else we have planned in NY and we will be there for New Years Eve YAHOO. Anyway, here are a couple of pics from the tin that I just completed. Enjoy.

For the 3rd hour of the Gifted Memories grand opening on Thursday, December 20th, I will be giving away the fabulous Basic Grey Figgy Pudding Paper Pack. All you have to do is to be the 3rd person to purchase $30 worth of merchandise and this gorgeous paper belongs to you. Good luck and see you on the 20th.

Thanks Valerie Salmon!

Her cover lo on the Jan 08 issue of Scrapbooks etc. was fabulous! It also scraplifted quick and easy. I love it when a page comes together with absolutely no effort from me. Here's a look. Sorry about the poor photo quality, this is why my husband normally takes all of the photos. I do promise that I will get better.


Yesterday I mentioned the Bo Bunny Flex Ruler and I wanted to say that I used that to plot the curve on the left hand side of this layout. It was easy-peasy and I took some more bad photos to show you.

This is how it looks when you pull it out of your toolbox:


And this is how it looks after you have bent it into the shape that you want and placed it right on your paper. Trace the curve with a pencil and cut out or you can use a craft knife to cut along the curve.

Well I am still stocking my shelves with products for my grand opening on Thursday. Here is a look at the K&Co. Ancestry.com album kit. It is just beautiful. I only have 4 of them! And guess what? I will be giving (yes giving) one away. The 2nd shopper to purchase $50.00 worth of merchandise between 10 and 11 am, will receive this kit along with their purchase. This is a $40 value. You are one lucky scrapper! I would love to keep this amazing kit for myself. Have a great Saturday!

January 2008 Scrapbooks etc.

I just got the newest issue of Scrapbooks etc and I have to say that I love it! I have read it from cover to cover twice already, it's fabulous. Here are my top 5 picks from the mag (and why of course):

1. They get an A+ from me on how well they link their website to their mag. How creative.


2. Resolution Solution on pg 38. I will be teaching a class (we do a paperbag album in class) on this very topic all year long. Who knew I was thinking ahead. Love Jennifer Perks lo on pg 40. Very ingenious how she used those pockets. This layout definitely receives 2 scraps up!


3. Show and tell - I feel like I'm getting a sneak peak. I love the Sonburn on page 49, I can't wait to get my hands on these (the whale paper speaks to me). I have been in love with the K&Co Ancestry line since it first came out. You will definitely find this in my store on Thursday, it is fabulous!


4. Inspiration, make it yours starting on pg 70. Not enough words to describe how much I love this section. Scraplifting, nuff said.


5. Saved the best for last - Multiplication Lessons. Must - Check - Out! All of those one photo layouts that you see that are just eye candy because, let's face it, we have tons of photos are turned into something we can actually eat (so to speak). Layouts that have 4 & 5 photos on them and that look just as good (better, because they have more photos) as the originals. This article definitely took the gold in this issue for me.

Speaking of my new online store (see #3). The grand opening for Gifted Memories is right around the corner and I have been working on some fantastic page kits, paperbag album kits and something a little different that involves glass beads. Have no idea what it can be? Well I'm not telling quite yet, you just have to come on by on Thursday and take a look for yourself. I promise you will love it. I will let you in on one of the great giveaways that I have planned though. (I am not just giving away paper and glue either, I plan to pull out all of the stops). Here it is a peek at the first item that will be given away at 9am (early bird special?) just for being the first person to purchase during that hour. How easy is that? Some lucky scrapper is getting a great tool for their toolbox.

Thanks for stopping by. As always, I love to hear about what's going on in your scrap space so post a comment on your favorites from this magazine and tell me about the projects your working on. I'm off to scraplift the cover! Will post it tomorrow. Have a terrific night. Shere

Why do you scrapbook?

I have been surfing blogs and reading a lot of post about the amount of controversy there is surrounding scrapbooking right now. I really don't understand why there is so much anger over some of the things that are happening. The reasons that we scrapbook are all so different! I bet if you asked 10 people the question, you would get 11 different answers. I only know this one thing - the reason is not even half as important as the action! What I mean by that is even if the only reason that you scrapbook is to get published, or to get on a design team, or to win prizes, does it matter that that is why you're doing it? Isn't it more important that your families history is getting recorded? That the people you love will be able to look at the pages that you made and see what they were like when they were 2, how they sang at their first school play, what the apartment that they lived in afer college looked like, etc etc. Fill in the blanks.



I scrapbook because of the stories that my grandmother told me when I was a little girl. She took so much joy out of telling us about the times that she was late getting her chores (apparently it happened often) done and ended up going to the well after dark where her brother proceeded to scare the bejezus out of her. Or how she made all of here families clothes (including coats), linens and comforters (ie quilts) because they could not afford to buy these things. She was an amazing seamstress because of this. She taught us how to make soap (the nastiest thing ever! Thank the Lord for Dove!) and grow our own food. These were all of the things that she passed down to her grandkids but times have changed so much that I know these traditions will die with my generation. This is why I scrapbook.



I scrapbook because I have never seen a picture of any of my grandparents parents with the exception of my great grandfather. I know very little about any of them. The last time we visited my grandmother (she loves photos and has them all over her house) I could vividly recall not just the people in the photos but things that they had done and conversations that we had had over the years but my daughter had no idea who 90% of the people were (some were my brother and sisters when they were little). It was like I could see into the future. That would be my grandkids if I did not scrapbook.



I scrapbook because my kids don't believe me when I say things like: Home computers did not exist when I was a little girl; There were no scanners at the grocery store, the clerks put everything in by hand; Telephones had dials on them; There were no cell phones, at all; We did not have the ability to get cable because we lived outside of the city limits and there was no satellite; Credit cards were processed manually; You had to roll the windows of your card down manually, no little button; No CD's - only 8 tracks (what's that she asked).



I know that I have rambled a bit but this was just something that I have been thinking about and wanted to share. My wish for us all is this: That regardless of the reasons that we scrapbook, that we continue to scrapbook. That if you are fortunate enough to create work that other people like and they tell you, that you continue to do that while still being charitable to the rest of us. That if you create pages that you, and only you like, that you be blessedly happy with what that. That if even you hate your pages, at least your journaling is fantastic!



What we are all striving for, regardless of the reasons that we scrapbook, is saving our memories for future generations. It is a gift after all. Have a great night. Shere


PS love how this layout turned out. It is all boy. Used a sketch from Becky Fleck's PageMaps site to create and K&Co paper.

Cards from scraps. What could be better.

Here are the cards that I promised. Making cards goes hand in hand with scrapbooking so I wanted to do a mix of cards that you can use all year long. I can barely get my Christmas cards out on time so I did do a couple of easy Holiday cards but mostly I concentrated on cards that you can put in your stationary box to use when you are just thinking of someone. The scraps from my Christmas papers translated wonderfully and I hope that you enjoy the projects.

Card 1.....Thinking of you (the inside of the card has the words "of you" and space to write a quick note) You will need: *Premade Card 5X3 1/2 - Cardstock 4 3/4X3 - Cardstock 2X1 1/2 - Cardstock 1 3/4X1 1/4 -Flowers - Rhinestones - Alphabet rub-ons*

Card 2 - Love Always. I stamped the Rhonna F. Flourish with Red Stickles and used a white souffle pen to draw the outline on the heart brad. The letters in "always" are rub-ons that I drew over with the white souffle pen than outlined with a micron fine tip marker (I absolutely LOVE the souffle pens, as the ink dries it puffs up to give a wonderful effect and they draw like a champ on slick surfaces.). You will need:*Premade card 5X3 1/2 - Cardstock 4X3 - Cardstock 4X1 1/2 - Cardstock 2 1/2X2 1/4 - Die-cut journal space - Rub on alphabets & "Love" - Flourish stamp - Red Stickles - White souffle pen - Black fine tip Micron*

Card 3 - Green flourish was heat embossed with glitter embossing powder. Red heart die cut has a large rub on applied. You will need:*Premade card 5X3 1/2 - Cardstock 4X3 1/4 - Red heart - Rub on to fit red heart - Green glitter embossing powder - Rhonna F. Flourish - Chipboard phrase sticker*

Card 4 (My Favorite only because of the snowflakes #1 was the runner up. Love the flowers). I had a plain, white snowflake leftover that I wanted to use. It was very plain so I covered the whole thing in stardust stickles and placed an iridescent snowflake in the center. Easy as pie. You will need:*Premade card 5X3 1/2 - Cardstock 5X3 - PP 5X1 3/4 - 5 snowflakes. 1 large, 3 small & 1 acrylic - Letter stickers - Stickles - Black fine tip Micron.

Enjoy the cards! See you tomorrow with some great tag ideas (and they are not just for Christmas). Have a great night. Shere

As if I didn't have enough on my plate.....

I decided that I have way too much time on my hands so I might as well throw in my bid for the Creating Keepsakes Hall of Fame. I am so excited. I have never entered a contest before so this is all new to me. If nothing else, this contest will push me to test my limits and broaden my scrapbook horizons. I have been coming up with some amazing ideas! It seems as if ever since I decided to do this, I can't stop thinking of new ways to express my pages. I have a friend who is going to submit too (she is an amazing scrapbooker). We should be able to keep each other motivated throughout the whole thing, hopefully (I am a shameless procrastinator). Wish me luck and I will be posting on my progress here on the blog. I can't post my layouts but I sure can talk about them! I know that I promised you some projects and I will start uploading them first thing in the morning. Until then, happy scrapping and thanks for visiting. Shere

Tin Albums

I am in the process of working on some of these cute Holiday Recipe Tins for some local craft fairs and thought I would share. These tins come out so cute that I plan to list them on my website (bare for you to complete yourself, completed for if you want something that you don't have to complete yourself and custom order for the person that has something special in mind. You will also be able to find that gorgeous BG Figgy Pudding on my site too! Have a great day.

Pages 15, 16 and Back Cover

Pages 10-14

Pages 5-9

Cover and Pages 1-4

First Entry

Ok, so this is my first blog post and to be honest, I am not quite sure how this works. I see blogs out there that are fabulous and creative and I stand in awe! Where I want to go with my blog is just a place for all things "Gifted Memories" my new business, my new baby. Hopefully my other babies "aka" my family will come to accept that I no longer have time to fold their socks, cook gourmet meals (we are reduced to baked chicken, beef, burgers, etc/rice/and a very quick to cook vegetable course i.e. salad), or wait on them hand and foot. Just kidding. With the exception of the gourmet cooking, I never really did those things anyway, but we did spend a ton more time together and the focus of all of my conversations was not "I wonder if this project......... " lol. I love how my business is coming together and I want to share that excitement with everyone I meet. I met a few (hundred) incredible ladies at the Memories Scrapbook Expo in November and can't wait to meet hundreds more at the 11 (yes I said 11) conventions that I plan to teach and vend at next year. So here goes, enjoy................

Here are the pictures of the Disney album that I promised the ladies from The Pink House in Charleston, SC. I taught a class there on Saturday that was a blast. You ladies were the best!