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Summer 2006
"Because a memory a day keeps the blues far away."
Table of Contents
- Compliments from Angie Pederson
- Page Ideas-Sew What? And a free couple of frames to download.
- Sara's Memory Album-by Sharon Knopic
- This Kept My Nieces Busy and Happy
- What I'm Loving Right Now...
- A NEW CONTEST - (Plus results of our last one)
- On a Personal Note...My mother has been diagnosed with cancer
- Next issue....Doodling Templates to Download and a Contest Just for Halloween
- Stuff You Need to Know
Compliments from Angie Pederson
Joanna:
I wanted to let you know your work has lasting impact-in my classes, I continue to reference an article you wrote a gazillion years ago, "Journal the Hurts, Scrapbook the Highs." It expressed succinctly a key point I try to stress-that scrapbooking about challenges can be rewarding and healing, but it doesn't have to include every last sordid detail of each experience. I appreciate how you were able to put those thoughts into words.
Angie Pederson, author of The Book of Me
To see the Journal the Hurts, Scrapbook the Highs article click here: http://angiepedersen.typepad.com/blogofme/2006/07/scrapbook_journ.html
For more great ideas on journaling, see one of my books. They are available through www.my-memories.net or www.scrapbook.com
You can also purchase my books and any supplies you need from my friends at Memories Unlimited, www.stlouisscrapbooks.com. They also post any classes I'm teaching locally here in St. Louis, and my bio.
Page Ideas-Sew What
I told myself a couple of years ago, I am NOT going to start sewing on my scrapbook pages. No way. Huh-uh. I was never really good at sewing on FABRIC, so why would I want to revisit that rotten experience? Then my mom came to visit and I asked her to hem curtains for my son's room. We got out my old sewing machine. It needed help. I took it to the sewing shop where they treated it with the sort of attention normally reserved for fossils of dinosaurs. A week later, it was fixed.
After Mom finished the curtains, I carried the machine to my office/scrapbooking room and set it on a desktop. It stared at me. I stared at it. I decided to give sewing on a page a try.
Okay. I'm hooked. Lord Above, I am so EASY.
My policy is to let you learn from my mistakes. Here are a few tips-
- The better the machine, the easier it is to sew. Part of my reluctance to sew on my pages was that the guys bought me a cheap-o small machine from Linens'n'Things a couple of Christmases ago. It stunk. It chewed up my paper. It was uncontrollable.
- Have a full bobbin ready. If you run out of thread on bottom halfway through, you're done for. You'll have holes in your page and no way to retrace your stitches.
- Do a test run. Duh. Especially if your machine is just back from the shop since it might have nasty oil in it which can ruin a page.
- Start with 8 1/2 by 11 inch papers. Hello! Try to turn a 12 x 12 piece of heavy cardstock. Just try. It's not easy. Which leads to...
- Think about how you'll want to turn your page before you put the paper under the needle. You want the smallest portion to the right of the needle.
- Use a fairly large stitch. Too small and you'll perforate your paper.
Now on to the pages. I wanted to do an "album" of simple pages about the cruise I took with my son last year. I was in one of those "fed up with complex pages" modes. You ever get like that? The sewing proved to be a simple and effective way to add interest.
- Cruise-I wanted Michael and the harbor to be the focal point. Without a lot of garbage on the page, you look at him, don't you?
- Ahoy! Did I say I wanted to make simple pages? Huh. I had cut an ad from a magazine years ago. And I dragged that sucker out and used it to come up with my own versions. You don't have to work so hard. (get copies of the ornate frame and the simple frame print.)
- Navigator of the Seas-I handcut the titles you see in this typeface. Groan. I didn't want to forget the memorabilia, but I also didn't want it scattered throughout the book, so I lumped it with my journaling. Note the little pocket on the right. I use these a lot to hold small things. I made an album about Kevin, my dear little dog who's now gone, and used a pocket for a lock of hair from his tail. (Now if I could just figure out how to make that tail wag....)
- Volleyball, Nap-These starfish were on prepackaged borders, but I pulled them off. Hey, you don't have to use stuff the way they sell it.
- Haiti-I mimicked the stone fence by using chalk.
- Rafting-Sequins are so cool. They add just the right sparkle here.
- Jamaica-To the leaves I added dimensional glue to make it look like dewdrops.
- Swimming with the Sting Rays-Having your photos printed with a white border is a great shortcut and saves you the step of matting.
- Cozumel-Pink and RED? It works in flowers. An ad for makeup that I found at Boots in the UK inspired this page. How simple is this? The stems are made from Mrs. Grossman's sticker tape.
Sara's Memory Album
Last February a little girl named Sara was hit and killed by a school bus as she paused to retrieve a dropped umbrella. A dozen scrapbookers were asked by Wendy Weaver to create a memory album for her family. And one of those scrapbookers, a friend of mine named Sharon Knopic, asked me if I could help.
At first I thought, "No way." I mean, it wasn't that I wasn't willing. It was just that the task felt too hard, too huge, and too sensitive. But as I sat staring at Sharon's message, the words came.
Click here for the story of Sara's Memory Album by Sharon Knopic-and my letter to Sara's family. (Note: We changed the child's name for privacy purposes.)
This Kept My Nieces Busy and Happy...
I spent the Fourth of July at Disney World with my sister Margaret and my three "little" nieces. Yes, it is one of the busiest days of the year there, and certainly one of the hottest, but Margaret had a plan. At 3:45 we sat down inside at the Crystal Palace Restaurant. Not a moment too soon. All three girls were crying and I was at the end of my rope, too.
Ah, it's amazing what an hour and a half in air conditioning, drinking ice cold drinks can do for your endurance.
After our meal, we hit the rides again. The Haunted House had been closed earlier, after we'd stood in line 15 minutes but was open after dinner. (I suspect a kid up-chucked inside. There was a lot of that going on.) Best of all there was no waiting at the Pirates of the Caribbean Ride. Oh, gosh, they've added Johnny Depp as CAPTAIN Jack Sparrow and is he ever cute.
The fireworks were almost anti-climatic.
I brought along a little something for the girls to do back in our room. I sewed together (there's that machine again!) colorful lunch bags I bought at WalMart, six for $1.20. (Simply stack the bags, alternating open ends with closed ends, fold the bags in half vertically, and sew along that fold line.) I also picked up letter stickers in a variety of colors, and a set of notecards with the American flag on them. I put together a small "goody" bag of brads, diecut letters, and so on.
The girls (ages 11, 7 and 5) had a blast. I told them when we checked into our rooms at the Yacht and Beach Club to be scavengers and pick up Mickey memorabilia. Once we made it back to Margaret's house in Stuart, the fun really began. It was interesting to watch each little girl and her own individual take on the trip.
I'd highly recommend these as projects for scouts, birthday parties, and car trips. They are cheap, easy and lightweight-which is really important if you are packing them along on an airplane.
What I'm Loving Right Now...
MAGAZINES
Let me tell you two magazines I'm really loving right now. Scrapbooks, Etc., and ScrapBook Inspirations, a British publication. The latter includes a free gift every month. Last month was an entire plastic alphabet. One month it was a set of bubble stickers, and another it was an entire miniature album. I like the quality of the pages in Scrapbooks, Etc., and I feel they do a great job of giving me value for money. They also have a high level of journalistic integrity. By that I mean, you don't have to buy an ad to have your product mentioned. And as a reader and a publisher, I appreciate that. So should you. You should know when you open a magazine that the staff had the freedom to make choices based on what they really like and not on what the advertising department tells them they have to promote that month.
Check them out at: http://www.bhgscrapbooksetc.com/ and http://scrapbookinspirations.com.au/
MUSIC
My son Michael bought me the Gnarls Barkley CD St. Elsewhere with CRAZY on it. Wow, do I ever love that song. See the video at AOL Videos.
Two of my favorite lines from the song:
"My heroes had the heart to lose their lives out on a limb
And all I remember is thinking, I want to be like them"
FOOD
My sweet pea salad is great for summer-
1/4 c low-fat mayonnaise
1 can of small sweet peas (LeSeur with the silver label is best)
1 T dill (frozen, fresh or dried)
1 bunch of spring onions
Mix first three ingredients. Cut onions into small chunks. (I like to use scissors for this.) Refrigerate and let it sit overnight to mix the flavors.
YUMMY and almost ZIP calories!
BOOKS
I'm currently reading all the Ian Rutledge series by Charles Todd, a mother and son team. If you love mysteries, I can't recommend these highly enough. Start with A Test of Wills.
AND FOR YOUR SOUL
My dear friend Vicky Breslin of Cut-It-Up sent this to me. Viewing it was a lovely break in the day, a way to re-center myself.
http://www.mayyoubeblessedmovie.com/
A New CONTEST- and Results from our Last One
Congratulations to Sherry Davis!
Joanna,
Thanks. I received my box today. Everything in it is great. The Best of British Scrapbooking and Cardmaking is a great book. I also loved the linen towel and the book How To Be British is wonderful.
Thank you again,
Sherry Davis
This Contest is for the DOGS...
Elaine Viet's latest mystery in her Dead End Job series is a fun romp through the world of dog groomers in a tony Florida suburb. Read my review of the book.
I know that a lot of you are dog lovers by your response to my "On a personal note..." last ezine about the death of my dear little dog, Kevin. So this contest is ONE for the DOGS, to get us through the DOG DAYS of summer.
The prize-An autographed copy of Elaine's hardback book, a cute dog leash and my dogs' favorite liver yummies.
How to enter--This is sooooo EASY. Send your name and your postal address (house or apartment number, street, city, state or province, country and postal code) to me at savetales@aol.com
You gotta-Put Unleashed Contest in the subject line.
By when?-Deadline is September 1, 2006.
On a personal note...
Some of you have met my mom. She has accompanied me on several scrapbooking trips to help with materials and to sell books.
In June, she was diagnosed as having cancer of the larynx.
In some ways, it wasn't much of a surprise. Mom smoked two packs of cigarettes a day until five years ago. She came down with pneumonia, and it was nearly impossible to smoke...so she quit. I'm really proud of her for that. I can't imagine what it's like to quit smoking, but it sure must be hard.
Still in the back of all our minds, was the specter that she did smoke all those years. From the age of 18 on, or nearly 53 years. Of course, when she started, no one knew how unhealthy it was. And she was a ballerina dancing with the New York Civic Ballet, so nicotine helped her control her weight, I'm sure.
So far, the doctors are very optimistic. Mom's type of cancer is extremely responsive to radiation. It's localized. Her overall health is good, and because she's not thin, she'll be able to handle any loss of weight that inevitably comes with this treatment.
Mom also has a great support network. She lives with my sister, Jane. Mom usually volunteers at least once or twice a week at the Episcopal Church's Charity Shop. She goes to Senior-Cize, an exercise program at the local Y and to church. She helps my sister Margaret with organizing and prepping things for the art classes Margaret teaches at Jupiter Lighthouse Grade School.
She has all this going for her. And of course, she has three daughters, two sons-in-law, five grandchildren, and a life-long best friend pulling for her.
The doctors have told us that keeping up with her exercise, eating right, and the support of her family are all important part of her therapy.
But I'd like to ask you for your prayers.
If you wish to send her your thoughts, pass them to me at savetales@aol.com and I'll send them along to her. Just put "Joanna the First" in the subject line. (We share the same first name.)
Thank you, and please know I'd do the same for you.
Next issue:
- Doodling Template-Download this for free! It makes it much, much easier to add doodling to your page without making a mistake.
- A cool make-n-take idea-Pocket size albums to show you care
- Time in a Bottle-a beautiful watercolor and ink image for you to download and use on your pages.
- And another contest! Just in time for Halloween, an autographed copy of Witch Way to Murder by our friend, Shirley Damsgaard. Check it out on Amazon.
Stuff You Need to Know
Like the ideas here? You'll love our books. Click on www.my-memories.net to see the complete line of our books.
Comments? Contact Joanna at savetales@aol.com. We love to hear what you think and what you'd like to read more about. We like questions, too, but give us a while to answer them, okay?
Have a product you'd like for us to try? Send us samples at Scrapbook Storytelling, 7 Ailanthus Court, Chesterfield, MO, 63005. Phone 636-519-1612.
About the author...Journaling goddess Joanna Campbell Slan is the author of Scrapbook Storytelling which has sold 70,000 copies in addition to seven other books on scrapbooking, one textbook on storytelling, and two inspirational books. Contact Joanna at savetales@aol.com
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