Have you ever read a blog post and thought, “I should do that!”  That’s what happened when I read THIS POST  on the Creating Keepsakes Blog.

What was this super inspiring blog post you ask? Stacy Croninger simply wrote about how she started scrapbooking.

In telling my story I need to share the most essential lesson that years of scrapbooking has taught me. So, on with the story…

It all started in 1999 with the birth of my first child, my son Joe.

Actually, it started BEFORE that!

I was invited to attend a Creative Memories scrapbooking party.  I was asked to bring 4-6 photos with me and a small fee to cover the cost of supplies.

I showed up at the party with my photos and money and was ready to learn about scrapbooking. I took my 5 completely unrelated photos and attached them to the page with some decorative paper triangles in the corner and a sneeze of stickers. TA DA! My first ever scrapbook page!

My very first scrapbook page, created in 1997!

At the time the cost of the supplies was prohibitive to me, and to be honest, the idea of cutting my precious photos made me fairly uncomfortable. That was the end of my adventures in scrapbooking for a year and a half.

When I was pregnant with my first child, I started to think about creating a baby book.  I knew I wouldn’t be satisfied with a baby book that didn’t include tons of photos, so I decided I would create a scrapbook baby book. (This was a fairly new concept back then. Most baby books were a store bought fill-in-the-blank book.)

I went back to the lady from Creative memories, purchased an album, some adhesive squares, a special journaling pen and my first tool, a corner rounder. Now I was a SCRAPBOOKER!

Baby Album Scrapbooked in 1999

ESSENTIAL LESSON!

Over the years I’ve seen many changes in scrapbooking. Tools, techniques, supplies and styles have all changed dramatically.  The one thing that remains constant is the purpose of scrapbooking, to capture the stories and memories of your life.

I look back at my older pages with a bit of disappointment and regret. There are so many pages where I’ve left the journaling for later, or I didn’t know what to say, or I simply said “You’re so cute!” or “We had fun!”

I didn’t realize how important the stories were. I didn’t understand that I wouldn’t always remember those adorable little details. I didn’t know that my own handwriting was good enough. I didn’t know that years later, it wouldn’t be the design or embellishments that disappointed me, but the lack of journaling on the page. Journaling is the most important part of a scrapbook page.

I hope you will take this essential scrapbooking lesson to heart. Save time and learn it now so you will have no regrets later!

Happy Scrappin’

Alice.

P.S. I’d love to hear what YOUR most essential scrapbooking lesson has been, or how you got started in this hobby.  Leave your story in the comments!

Welcome to our MADE FOR MOM WITH LOVE Gift Ideas.

Join the journey to find some great ideas for gifts to give the Mom’s on your list or create a list to give your loved ones of the  things you would enjoy for yourself! Oh, and don’t forget, there are some freebies to pick up along the way too!

It can be hard to scrapbook the special people in your life. It’s easy to get ‘stuck’ and not know what to say, or how to create a great page about someone you love.

My gift to you is a list I created to scrapbook my mom. I have a lot of stories I would like to share in my scrapbooks.  I developed a list of 25 pages that I want to create about my mom.

Fill out the box below to get a free pdf of “25 Scrapbook Pages to Create about your Mother”.

Here’s a sneak preview of what’s on the list!

1. Lessons learned from my mom. This can be a deep and meaningful life lesson or a quick peek into the little things you’ve learned from your mom.

2.  Me and My Mom. For fun try this as a time lapse. Use photos of you and your mom over the years.

3. Mom’s Secret Recipe. What can ONLY be cooked ‘properly’ by your mom?

4. Mom Says. Quote your mom. What does your mom always say?

5. Smells like a mom. Which smells remind you of your mom? Food? Perfume? Suntan lotion?

Want the rest?

Fill out the box below and receive the full list of 25 straight to your inbox!

Please visit each site listed below to see a special deal they are offering. There is such a diversity of creative things any mother would love to receive in honor of Mother’s Day. Note: If you joined us somewhere along the way in the hop, please start at Layout a Day so you don’t miss a thing!

Next up is MesstakenIdentity.com where you will find another creative gift idea for Moms.

In case you have missed something along the way here’s the full line up!

• Layout a Day
• Scrap Me Quick Designs
• Scrap Inspired
• Digital Scrapbooking HQ
• Keeping Life Creative
• Capadia Design
• Scrapping Wonders
• Scrapbook Girl 71
• Jen Wright Designs
• Suzy Q Scraps
• Scrapbook Wonderland – YOU ARE HERE!
• Messtaken Identity
• Cara Miller
• Pictures to Scrapbook
• No Excuses Scrapbooking
• Faithfully Yours
• Kristie Sloan
• Creative Vi

I would love to see the scrapbook pages you create about your mom. Leave me a link to your page in the comments or send me a photo by email.  alice(at)scrapbookwonderland.com

Happy Scrappin’!

Alice.

I’m really excited!  (squeal!!)

On April 24th I’ll be participating in a blog hop. The hop is called Made for Moms and it is all about Mother’s Day! Every participant has an exciting Mother’s Day idea to share, and an incredible deal for you too! There are so many great things coming up I don’t want to spoil the surprise, but I will give you a small hint.

You might have guessed that I’m pretty ‘into’ scrapbooking 😉

I will be sharing ideas about scrapbooking your mom.

Not just 2 or 3 ideas. Not even a mere 10 ideas. I will bring you a whopping 25 ideas on how to  scrapbook your mom!

Yup! 25!

You want more details?

Fine! You twisted my rubber arm.

There are at least 15 super-creative participants in this blog hop! That means you are bound to find some super-useful ideas for Mother’s Day.

Until the 24th…

Happy Scrappin’!

Alice.

Is your life so busy that it is hard to feel inspired to create? You know that you are making the memories you will want to document, but how do you use your busy life to inspire your creativity?

Monica Bradford

Let me introduce you to Monica Bradford.

Monica is an experienced scrapbooker who is quickly becoming an industry leader. You may know her from ScrapInspired.com. Like so many others, Monica found herself scrapbooking events, but wanting more. She wanted inspiration. (Does this sound familiar to you?)

Luckily, after finding the inspiration in her life, Monica is ready to pass on that inspiration to us!

In January I had the pleasure of participating in Monica’s online class: Your Life… Inspired. I’d give you all of the details here, but she can explain it so much better herself!

Click here for all the info!

Short recap… in case you didn’t check it out yet! Here’s what you’ll receive in her class:

• Two weeks of daily inspirational emails
• 5 actionable prompts to get you inspired
• 5 original layouts and process videos showing you creative ways to document your inspiration
• A bonus Instagram project idea for documenting your inspiration!

This is the kind of class that can change the way you scrapbook. It will show you how to make your pages more meaningful.

If you already create beautiful, creative pages that are inspired by your life you might not need this class. But, if you struggle to capture meaningful memories, like I did, this class will work for you too.

Monica’s tips on exploring my creativity while taking a deeper look at my life were incredibly valuable to me.

Want proof?

Here’s one of the pages I created!

I love how this page is a snapshot of what my life is like right now.

I love how this page captures this busy time in my life. I know that my life will look very different in 5, 10 or 20 years. It will be great to look back at this page to remember what life was like at this stage.

Monica inspired me to find the inspiration in my life. I hope you will allow her to help you do the same.

Click here to Register!

Happy scrappin’, and scrap inspired!

Alice.

P.S.  Monica has other classes you might be interested in too!  I’ve taken her All I Really Need to Know About Journaling I Learned in First Grade class and it is truly amazing!!

Click here to visit Monica Bradford.

P.P. S.  If you want to see just how adorable and creative Monica is check out her hilarious video! (It was featured on Becky Higgins 12 Video’s of Christmas series!)