Hot of the Press Today!! :o)

Hey all!! How is everyone doing? I haven't posted for awhile, due to the fact I have been busy creating pages! I made a mini-book that I am really excited about, and I have added some of the pages here, happy looking!! The first two here that are shown are 12 x 12 pages that I recently did.

Here is the Mini-Book I created, this is the outside cover, and shown here in order are the pages I have done thus far. I still have about 5 more pages or so to do, so keep checking back, I may add pages soon!!




So this is the last page thus far... I have more to do and add... just thought I would share.... Hugs to you all!! :o)

New Pages Today!

Hi Everyone, between Algebra homework today I was able to Scrapbook a little. I did two new pages, and I would love to share them with you. I am going to try and do a few pages every week so I can get this album done. I am currently working on my 2004 album, and will be glad to be done with it very soon!! HOPEFULLY! I like to scrap neat-o pages, but on the rest of this album, I think I am just focused on getting it done. I want it to be finished, plus, I don't think I have too many pictures left that are that motivational for a FABULOUS pages... so it leaves me to easy pages! Woo hoo! I love easy pages ;o)






I took several pictures of them to show you dimension. Have a great rest of your evening! XOXO!

Tonya

TGFTS (THANKING GOD FOR THE SUNSHINE) on this beautiful Saturday morning!

Hello friends, I hope your having a blessed day!! I have a couple of pages that I did awhile back, and wanted to share them with you.

I want you to know that I believe it is very important to get those memories into albums, and the importance of it is HUGE. I try to do a *FABULOUS* page every now and then, but I also really like the idea of being caught up on my scrapbooking. The reason it is important to me, is because you never know how long you have here in this life, and it is important to leave a legacy for your family. So in the long run, as I LOVE to scrapbook fabulous pages... I spend alot of time as well scrapbooking chronologically. My scrapbooks tend to remind me a a journal, as I start at the beginning of the year, and go toward the end of the year. Some years we have summers that are full of adventures, and I have to separate the summer album from the yearly album, and also if I have an event that is special (such as a vacation) but generally I do one album a year. I like to be organized as far as that concerned, and that is what works for me. Here are a couple of the 2 page layouts, thought I would share them with you all!!These pictures were taken on Cannon Beach, Oregon. We love the Ocean, and love to spend lots of time there. The nicest time to go there for me, is in the spring, when all the flowers are just opening, and when we still have snow. I love it there, If you haven't been, you really should think about going.


I hope you enjoy some of these layouts... I cant wait to get back to scrapin!! Have a great day everyone! HUGS,

Tonya ;o)

schooling and is it for you?

I am so excited to tell you that I finally got done with my psychology final. For those of you who don't know already, I decided to go to school last year because I felt the need to further my education. I truly don't know what I would do financially for the rest of my life if something happened to my husband, so I made the choice to get a college degree. (We all need a back up plan, right???...) I have never been a good student, as school has always been hard for me, but I know that I can do most anything that I set my mind to. So I made the decision last summer to go to school online through Devry Universtity, (I love it BTW...) and so far it has been a great experience. I do all of my homework, discussions, and tests online, from the comfort of my own home. Which is really awesome! I love the fact that I can get a education without spending lots of money in gas, and besides who wouldn't like to go to school in their JAMMIES??? hee hee! I know a lot of people that are in the same boat I am, (I live in rural Idaho) and have made the decision not to further my education because of the drive, and, or the fact of being a hour or so away from my kids at school if they need me, that is ultimatly what kept me from furthering my education. I chose a AA degree in Web Graphic Design. I chose this degree, not necessarily because this is truly my passion, but because if I have to make a business out of this, I can do so from the comfort of my home, and also because the internet is always going to have a market for jobs. The other reason I chose this is because I know it is something my body can physically do for the rest of my life. I will probably do some website building from home, and work part time when I am done. That is my plan thus far. Who know what this venture of schooling will bring me. But for right now I know I am EXACTLY where I am supposed to be, doing EXACTLY what I am supposed to be doing! Devry has many online options, so if your intrested let me know I would love to motivate you and give you any advice or help in any way possible!! Keep checking my posting daily, I hope to add more scrapbook pages, ideas, and motivation to get your albums up and running!! ;o) Have a great day everyone!

Things that I LOVE!

If You have made it here, it is probably because I have sent you a link and already know me, but for those who don't know me I will start by telling you a little about myself. I am happily married to my husband Rob for 9 years, but we have been together going on 13 years now. We have 2 boys, Jaylen (16) and Logan (9) We live in a small North Idaho community, and ABSOUTLY LOVE where we live! We have 10 acres, that we love to enjoy. We have 2 horses, 3 dogs, and 1 lonely cat! (We call him a DAT.) He acts more like one of our dogs. We love to enjoy the outdoors. Hiking into high lakes is one of our most favorite things to do.

I personally love to scrapbook, and for years now I have been scrapbooking, and have decided to do it as a side job. My love for scrapbooking started about 15 years ago. It has progressed over the years, but I feel it is imminent at this point, and that I have been leading up to it being a business for years. I struggled with it for so long, because I knew or still know exactly what I want but haven't found a company that would give me the freedom to scrap my own way. The first company that I was involved in I loved, (still do) but I think that the freedom to scrap in a way where we can showcase our creative side, wasn't accepted until recently, and I have too much in me as far as
creativeness to stick to one type of scrapbooking. We have a whole world of scrapbook stuff within hands reach right here from the internet, and I will always be the one who motivates you use your imagination, and put in your album whatever you choose to, not what people tell you may hurt it years from now. What is the fun in scrapin with the same ole' stuff, over and over? BORING!!! For a painter, it would be like painting the same picture over and over, just moving stuff around on the canvas. Who would enjoy looking at that picture?? And would the artist keep paining? Certainly not!!

My Goal to want to help people scrapbook, has been within me for sometime now, I just didn't know how to express myself enough to figure out the 'RIGHT' way for me. It finally came to me a couple years back when a good friend of mine was going through a very rough time with her Dad. He was dying of cancer. She spent months away from her home and family taking care of him, and didn't have time to get all his memories in books before he was too sick. That left a whole lifetime of photos, and memories that she didn't have much of a clue about. I felt bad, but didn't know what to do. I wanted so badly to go be with her, and help her get her stuff done, so she could find time to reflect on his memories, but I never did. I didn't make that time to go be with my friend, and have always felt bad about it, (although I have never told her this story.) If I had it to do over again, I would of went to help her with her Dad for a week, so she could of taken some time to get his memories organized enough to know the details of the most important things... the 4 w's in scrapin... ( who, what, when, and where...) BEFORE he was gone.

I have done a lot of thinking over the past couple years about my friend, and I have wanted to make it my mission to help people get their memories organized before that time comes. Every new day is a memory, and I know for me I want my children, and grandchildren, and great grandchildren, to know who I am, and what I stand for, and how much LOVE I have to offer!

So that leads me to my next venture. If you know of anyone that needs help with scrapbooking, or making DVD slide shows with music, or if you know of any who is interested in either buying scrapbook products, or personalized scrap-booking, please let me know. I can also help in getting your Digital photos organized, and teach you how easy digital scrap-booking is without all the traditional expensive scrapbook tools. If you are still interested in TRADITIONAL STYLE scrapbooking, I can help you get organized with that as well. Most people spend lots of money each year on cameras , then film or digital cards, then developing, only to let sit in a shoe box under their bed. WHATS THE POINT??? Right??? That's A LOT of money to just throw under your bed!!! Anyway getting organized is a really good feeling, and I can share with you what works best for me, and maybe get you on the right track.

Ok, now I will share with you what is working for me, and the products I love!!! First I love CTMH (CLOSE TO MY HEART) What I love about them is even the novice scrapper, can make pages that look like a professional made them. I love their FASTER, SIMPLER, EASIER Philosophy. This is great for your first timer, expert crafter, or somewhere in-between. There are 3 levels, 1. Simply beautiful, 2. Especially creative, and 3. Masterfully rewarding. These levels are custom fit for your experience level. I am confident that once you get started you will all be to a level 3 in no time! The Levels are different kits that you can buy, that are perfect suited for your creativeness! Even the easy level 1 kit, the pages look like pro pages. The Level one packs are $9.95 and you can do many pages with one kit. Besides the levels, CTMH is one of the leading companies for Acrylix type stamps, and I absolutely love them!! At first, I didn't think in my scrapbooking venture that I would use stamps over and over, but I have since then changed my mind. What a great way to make your pages different. I love to be different. I don't want my pages to look like everybody else's! The new acrylic stamp sets are not hinged to an old fashioned wooden block like they used to be, They now come in a package that holds anywhere from 5 - 25 or so stamps. Here is a picture of 2 of the stamp collections next to a movie, so you can compare the size to a DVD. They are flexible so when they are put into a case 3 of them are equal to the size of a dvd. Don't you LOVE that idea??? I love the fact that I can collect all the stamps I want and still take them with me to scrap nights everywhere!! The other advantage to the Acrylix stamps are that the blocks that they attach to are clear as well. So you can see through the block for easy positioning of your stamp! Those are just some of the many great things I love about CTMH. I know you will have fun with CTMH, so if your interested in CTMH email me, and I can help you find what your looking for! (And maybe get you free products, along the way!) Here is my latest page I did with my new great CTMH products! This fresh new EMPORIUM kit is wonderful! I used my sewing machine a lot on this page, of which I usually don't do, but wanted to put the $300 dollar dust collector to use! HAHA!

This is actually a page # 16 and 17 from the CTMH Spring 2009 idea book. They are loaded with tons of ideas! Totally great for newbies or expert scrappers!

Ok the other thing that I love CM (Creative Memories) Products. I love all their digital stuff. With their Memory Manager 2.0 that allows you to organize all your digital photos, like no other company I have found, and the Story book Creator plus software, that allows you to create custom photo books, page prints (of which you can print full scrapbook pages at Costco..) and cards to boot!! The Company came out with hard or softcover storybooks, that this software makes in a flash!! What I love about it is, IF I decide to make a album of a special trip, and I want to keep one, and my children want one as well for them to take with them as they get older, I can have two of them printed and delivered to my door within a week. You can share your storybook online with others, and others will have the opportunity to purchase it as well. I love the idea of making family albums, and being able to share them with the whole family, and just because I do all the work, doesn't mean I have to go to the expense to give them a timeless treasure, that will be enjoyed with so many people for years to come!! LOVE IT!!! The digital program kit can be purchased for about $120 or so, and what I love is you don't have to be a professional to make AWESOME ALBUMS!! When you purchase the kit you also get a $40 off coupon toward your first story book. You can also purchase new papers, and embellishments for your storybook program, that you will have forever and you can use over and over and over... The company also had the best circle and oval cutter I have ever used. Man I love their tools! I Love their punches, I love LOVE their tape runner, Their personal trimmer, ALL their ALBUMS, and I could go on and ON!!! They just came out with their MAX albums, and I absolutely love them! If you love top load scrapbook page Albums, you will SO LOVE THESE! The top load albums have always drove me CRAZY. When you flip the page, your scrapbook page would poke out the top, always having to tap it back in. Not to mention the dust factor... dust is inevitable, right? Well with this album you don't have to worry about it because it is side load from the INSIDE. LOVE IT!!! Also I love their new PICFOLIO album, you can slide in pictures and journaling boxes, it is so easy! All the digital paper is also offered for traditional scrapbookers as well, or vise versa. Which makes it very versatile. Their new Albums are now TRUE FIT. If you were a customer of CM in the past, most of you know how IRRITATING it was to finish a page, and go to put it in your album and it it wouldn't FIT. Wow would that tick me off... I would then have to take it apart to get it to fit, and trim off a 1/4 inch of the paper. I am so glad they changed that! The last thing that I love about CM is their Everyday Displays. These are 18 x 18 or 11.5 x 11.5 page frames, that make wonderful gifts for anyone, or just a great place to display your precious new page! They are magnetic! You gotta love that!

CM offers great photo storage ideas as well. The power sort mini box will hold up to 600 photographs!!
And the LARGE POWER SORT BOX will hold up to 2400 photos! What a great way to get organized! Shown here is the Mini Box.

OK like I said I am pretty passionate about what I love, and I really feel that you can put whatever you want in your album. Don't let people tell you that you can't, and if they do just do what you think is right! Sorry to offend anyone if you don't believe what I do, that is not what I am trying to do here, I just want people to know that I feel the most important thing is, is to simply be creative in your OWN way, cherish your memories whatever way you choose! If interested in Creative Memories let me know, (And maybe get you free products, along the way also! ;o)

Other than that I know of quite a few companies that have the newest, freshest product on the market, that I love!!

Thanks for your time, and if you or anyone you know is interested please let me know I would love to help!!!

Happy Scrapin~!

Lots of Love,

Tonya