Weekend Crop coming!

Join us the weekend of March 20-22 for a weekend crop. There will be challenges and games and lots of fun. Oh, and don't forget the prizes! You don't want to miss it. Be there or be square!

Welcome Lindsay!

I am so excited and honored to be a part of the Memorable Seasons design team!

I live in Maryland, 45 minutes outside of DC. I have lived in Maryland all of my life, even through college! Matt, my husband, and I have been married for 6 happy years. We have 3 children; Patrick is 4, Michael and Avery are 18 months old.

I am a SAHM and a teacher by trade. I have been scrapping for about a year and a half now. I love having a creative outlet to turn to during naptime! Every time I finish a LO, I feel as if I am tucking away a little gift for one of my children to open someday. My other passion is food - I love to eat and I love to cook! I also enjoy reading, shopping, and spending time with friends and family. I love the beach and wish we lived closer - we go each summer and look forward to it all year long!

Got Scraps?

If you are a paper crafter of any kind, you create scraps any time you create art. Do you have a good method for organizing them? Do you actually use them? Are you like many of us and just toss them into a container because you feel guilty for throwing away perfectly good paper but then that is where they stay? I am certainly guilty of letting my scraps pile up. I can’t bear to throw anything away because I am sure I will eventually find a use for it.

When I first began scrapping several years ago, before I really had a stash of any kind, I stored my scraps in an accordion style file folder. It was divided by color. As my stash of paper began to grow, I bought a cropper hopper hanging file system. I had a file for every color and for various themes like Christmas and baby and school. Inside of each color file were three folders. One was for cardstock. One was for patterned paper. One was for scraps of that color. This worked for me for a while when my file cabinet was next to my table. Sometimes I would go through the scraps but mostly I didn’t. They continued to multiply.

When I was able to move my materials into a room of my own and my stash had outgrown a table and a file cabinet, I needed something new, again. I had so much cardstock that it went into its own system. The patterned paper stayed in the original file. I added files for certain manufacturers that I had lots of paper from. The scraps, however, came out of the files and went into a plastic storage box that I could keep on my desk. I found that having them right there beside me as I worked meant that I would actually go through them. I often find myself pawing through the box seeing if anything catches my eye rather than looking for something in a particular color. I pick up small pieces and hold them against the layout I’m working on to see if I like it or not. Sometimes, random pieces I never would have put together in full sheets look pretty good in small doses. I cut letters from scraps. I punch die cuts from scraps. I use scraps to matte photos.

I generally keep the medium sized pieces in this shoebox sized box. If I still have at least half a sheet left, I generally put it back in the file with the color or manufacture it belongs with. Smaller pieces get used for punching out things either with my Quickutz or my punches. Got a piece that is only a couple inches square? Hate to throw it out? Punch a flower out of it, or a butterfly or some stars or even photo corners. You can do this with solids and prints. Keep a small butter tub or a plastic bag on hand to store those little things in. Next time you need just a little something extra on a layout, look through them to see if you can use one.

I used scraps to outline this layout. I had three 12” strips of paper about 3 inches wide. Two of them were Cosmo Cricket and one was October Afternoon. All were double-sided which gave me even more options. I cut them into smaller strips an inch to an inch and half wide. I put a strip of adhesive down one side of the background paper and just started laying the strips down, overlapping each other and using both sides. Then, I used my paper cutter and cut them off along the edge of the base. I put a strip of adhesive down the next side and did it again. Those three strips got me all the way around this layout. Even the strip on the bottom (you make me smile) was in my scrap box.

Have you got a good way to organize your scraps? What kind of things do you do with yours? Tell us about it in this thread.

CHA Items...

What is a girl to do when she is on a strict scrap budget and pretty soon... all those lovely new items from CHA will be arriving in the MS Store? (pssst... Teresa Collins is already there! Go look!!)
Well, here are a few ways to save some extra $$ and pad the budget a bit...

1. Walk to work!
Yes, I know there may be highways involved, but think of all the tin cans you can collect on the way too... Cha Ching!
2. Buy store brand foods!
What? you say. Store brand? For my picky eaters?
Yep! Just keep the Fruity Pebbles box, and pour the store brand "fruit flavored rocky bites" in. I bet they will never even notice! Cha-ching!
3. Have a yard sale!
Now, I realize some of us live in cooler climates, but I think if you can shovel the snow out of the driveway you should go for it! Plus, you can have your kids sell hot chocolate and charge them overhead fees... Cha-Ching.

I also think it is interesting to note that "CHA-ching" starts with the letters C-H-A... coincidence? I think not!
So get your budgeting self on and keep watching for those new goodies!

In Memory

We at Memorable Seasons want to send our sincere condolences to the family of Janice Nielson.

For those who do not know, Janice passed away suddenly this January.

Janice was a contributor to the MS Message Board and gallery and she will be greatly missed.

She had recently participated in our January online crop and we were all inspired by the great Layouts she made about her wedding.

Janice was a kind woman and her sweet spirit will be missed.

Our thoughts and prayers are with her family…

American Crafts Promotion

During the month of February, if you buy 10 pieces of American Crafts and 2 packages of Thickers, you automatically get a FREE GIFT that has a retail value of $12.99!

Each Free Gift includes:
1 Decorative Gift Box with Window
A 30 Piece Embellishment Sampler

• 10 Mini Brads (Red, White, Brown)
• 10 Buttons (Red, White, Brown)
• 10 Eyelets (Red, White, Brown)
  

1 Precision Pen - .03 Tip
1 Exclusive House Collection Shapes - in Glitter!
16 Feet of Premium Ribbon

And of course every Free Gift is sealed with a Kara Mint Chocolate Truffle - mmmm their smooth and delicious!