13 Tips for Finding Time to Preserve Your Memories

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It’s one thing to understand the importance of memory keeping…and it’s another thing entirely to find time to make it happen. Here are some tips to help you out. 🙂

1. Write It in Your Planner

Just writing down a reminder will increase your chances of making it happen.

2. Do It with A Friend

You know how people talk about having a workout buddy to hold yourself accountable? Why not have a scrappin’ buddy? You can keep each other accountable and have fun along the way!

3. Attend a Monthly Crop, Workshop, or Club

Or…you can have a BUNCH of scrappin’ buddies! By committing to a regular crop, workshop, or club, you hold yourself accountable to make memory keeping happen. Plus, it’s nice to get out of the house and away from any distractions. 😉

4. Divide Up Tasks

Sometimes it’s hard to work on preserving your memories because it seems like such an overwhelming task, especially if you’re new to the game. Breaking it into manageable steps will make it much more approachable: For example, organize a box of photos today, start working on some layouts tomorrow, and attach the photos to your layouts next week. Baby steps are just fine, folks!

5. Commit to a Specific Amount of Time Each Day

Committing to 10, 20, or 30 minutes of memory keeping each day might be better suited for your lifestyle, so try it out! And remember, spending time sorting photos or cutting paper totally counts if that’s what step you need to do next—you don’t have to finish anything.

6. Scrap Early in the Morning or Late at Night

If your kiddos or spouse keep interrupting you whenever you sit down to start working, try working early in the morning or late at night for maximum productivity.

7. Make It a Habit

Whatever actions you’ve taken to implement other habits into your life, apply those same actions to memory keeping. Once it’s a habit, you’ll save time and energy just by having a rhythm. You won’t even have to think about it anymore.

8. Simplify Your Schedule

Sometimes making room for something in your life simply means cutting something else out. See if there’s anything of less value you can cut from your schedule to make way for memory keeping.

9. Look Into Quicker Options

The great thing about memory keeping nowadays is that there are a million different options for how to do it. Some of our favorite time-savers include pocket scrapbooking, our Pocket Plus™ Memory Protectors™ for adding more photos between your layouts, and our Cut Above™ layout kits, which come with pre-cut pieces for easy assembly. Even if you’re a die-hard decorative scrapbooker who loves those intricate frills—maybe even just on some layouts—there are lots of great products that make getting that fancy look take less time.

10. Set Goals

Setting goals is always a good idea when you need to motivate yourself to make time for something. Maybe you want to get that Christmas album done by the end of summer vacation, or maybe you want to finish organizing your 1995 photos by the end of the month—just having a specific goal in mind will make you more likely to take steps to reach that goal.

11. Replace Social Media Time

If we were to actually keep track of how much time we spend on Facebook, Pinterest (and Farmville and Candy Crush, etc., etc.), we’d probably be very surprised. Try replacing your social media time (or at least part of it) with memory keeping…we know you won’t regret it!

12. Scrap Whenever You Watch TV

Another great way to get something done is to pair it with an activity you enjoy. Make a commitment to work on preserving your memories anytime you sit down to watch TV.

13. Dedicate a Space to Memory Keeping

Productivity can often be improved just by dedicating a space for a certain task. Dedicate a space to memory keeping (ideally a place where you can leave projects you’re in the middle of), and decorate it with things that inspire you, like a vision board.

How do you find time for memory keeping? Tell us in the comments below.

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January 12, 2017Memory Keeping

From Jill: Capture Memories as You Make Them

Close To My Hearthelp, jill, journaling, keeping, memory, planner, tips, writing 1 Comment

This post originally appeared last year on our blog. It has been edited slightly for relevance. Read the original here.

As I enter the New Year with resolutions and hopes for the future, there is one resolution that I keep at the top of my list year after year: documenting my stories. Because this is so important to me, I am always looking for new ways to do it.

For the past two years, I’ve been trying a new form of journaling involving my planner. I have always been a planner person. Even with technological advances, I like using pen and paper to organize my days, and since I always have my planner close by, I thought I’d try something out.

Here’s what I did: Whenever something sparked a memory from my past or whenever something special happened that day that I wanted to remember, I wrote it down in my planner. You can see my example here from two years ago.

By jotting these things down in my planner as I remembered them or as they happened, I found I focused more on what’s really important in life and not just my never-ending to-do list. I also found that when I went to scrapbook, I could reference my planner for journaling ideas.

Sometimes what I wrote in my planner was something that happened on a specific day, but other times I just wrote down a random memory from the past.

Either way, turning to my planner gave me inspiration for what to write next to my photos, like you can see from this scrapbook page I created last year:

The photo I used on this page was taken in June, but that little quote actually came from a conversation between these two kiddos in January. Even though the exchange didn’t happen at the same time as the photo, it made a much more meaningful story to compliment my photo than something generic like “here we are at the park… again.” The quote and photo work together to tell the story of their relationship at that point in time.

Our dear friend and brilliant storyteller, Stacy Julian, has spoken at a couple of our events in the past year, encouraging everyone to document memories as they come. On our CreativeLive show last year, she led us in a fun exercise to trigger memories and stories with random photos of ordinary objects.

This exercise transformed the way I think about storytelling, showing me that even seemingly random, unconnected memories are part of my story and can often be connected to more significant memories. Instead of letting these random memories fade whenever they are sparked by something I encounter in my day, if I just take two minutes to write them down, they can be kept and told. Whether the memories are old or new, a planner is such a convenient place to record them as they come so you can remember all those details when you sit down to do your journaling.

I want to invite all of you to join me in my efforts to keep and tell stories by writing down things as they happen in your planners. And if you haven’t already gotten our 2017 planner pages yet, I encourage you to get them now! We have three different bundles. You can check them out by clicking on the images below.

One thing I love about our unique planners is that they have coloring pages, which is a great way to inspire your creativity every time you open your planner. It makes your day-to-day planning feel extra special, and when you combine that with documenting precious moments and revisited memories, you can create something really beautiful.

To help you get started with this new journaling approach, here is your first prompt: Document a conversation. This could be something your cute kiddos say, a nice exchange between you and a loved one, or the conversation you observe between a grandparent and a child. If you’d like, snap of photo of your notes and share it using the hashtag #memorykeepingmatters.

One of my favorite quotes from author Madeleine L’Engle says, “Stories make us more alive, more human, more courageous, more loving.” This is what I want for my family and my life, and I want it for each of you, too. Join me in a storytelling journey by using your planner to record special memories as they come to you.

Always let your stories shine,

Jill

To learn more about our 2017 planner, check out our video below (which features me!) 🙂 :

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December 1, 2016Celebrate, Memory Keeping

15 Photos You MUST Take This Holiday Season

Close To My Heartchristmas, hack, help, Holiday, how, keeping, memories, memory, photo, photographer, photography, scrapbook, scrapbooking, tip, trick, tutorial, winter 5 Comments

It’s officially the holiday season! This magical time of year always has us pulling out our cameras and taking photos, but there are some special holiday moments you might not normally think to photograph! Here is a list of 15 things to be sure to capture with your camera this winter:

1. Picking out the perfect tree

2. Opening your daily advent calendar3. Little ones eating sticky candy canes

4. Kiddos writing letters to Santa

5. Decorating the Christmas tree (and putting on the star!)

6. Each kid’s favorite Christmas ornament (after all, your photo can last forever, though the ornament may not!)

7. Family story or Bible time

8. Fur babies in their Christmas gear

9. Christmas shopping

10. Little hands helping with holiday baking

11. Kids wrapping presents all by themselves

12. Setting out Santa’s cookies

13. Blowing or throwing snow in the air

14. Warming up by the fire

15. Hot chocolate mustaches

Also, be sure to check out our video on how to take high-quality photos with renowned photographer, Wendy Whitacre, of Blue Lily Photography.

What unique Christmas photos do YOU like to take? Tell us in the comments below!

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September 26, 2016Learn

4 Ways to Color Your Create Kindness Cards

Close To My Heartbrush, card, coloring, Create, help, idea, inspiration, kindness, kit, marker, paint, pencil, shimmer, stamping, technique, watercolor 2 Comments

One great thing about our Create Kindness cards is how easy it is to add your personal touch to them before giving them to others in a personal way. Today we want to inspire you with even more ways to color these cards that you may not have thought about before.

1. Watercolor Pencils

You can use our watercolor pencils wet or dry to color in these cards. If you use them dry, they work like colored pencils. If you want to use them wet, you can do it two ways: Either get the tips of the pencils wet or use a waterbrush to blend the colors afterward.

2. Watercolor Paints

Watercolor paints are another great way to color these stamps. The circles that come in the kit are regular cardstock, not watercolor paper, so just make sure you use more paint than water if you choose this route. Our waterbrushes make this easier. You also might find that you’ll need a bit more adhesive to attach the circles this way.

3. Monochromatic

Here we used our ShinHan™ Touch Twin™ alcohol markers to color in the cards so they match the card bases. Going monochromatic gives the cards a unique look!

4. Sparkles & Shimmer

Jazz up your cards with our bitty sparkles and shimmer brush. Bitty sparkles are just the thing to up the drama on these bitty cards! And if you’ve never used the shimmer brush before, it’s a lot of fun! Follow these steps to get started:

Remove the neon clip, twist the lid on, and squeeze the pen while brushing onto a scrap piece of paper.
Once you get the amount of shimmer on your brush that you like, start brushing over your flowers!
Since the shimmer brush tends to smear watercolor pencils or paints, be sure to color your stamped images using markers.

There’s only one week left to purchase the Create Kindness card kit (or more card bases if you already have the stamps), so hurry and get yours today! We know you’ll love finding new ways to personalize these cards and to leave them for others to brighten their day.

Happy coloring!

Recipes

3″ x 3″ Watercolor Pencils Cards
CC1145 Create Kindness Card Kit, 3505 Watercolor Pencils, Z3224 Waterbrush—Small Round

3″ x 3″ Watercolor Paint Cards
CC1145 Create Kindness Card Kit, Z3132 Watercolor Paints, Z3226 Waterbrush—Medium Flat, Z3224 Waterbrush—Small Round

September 19, 2016Learn

19 Things You May Not Know About Our My Acrylix® Stamps

Close To My Heart19, about, acrylix, clear, facts, help, how-to, information, know, May, my, not, stamping, stamps, techniques, things, you 47 Comments

Think you know everything about our exclusive My Acrylix® stamps? Put your knowledge to the test by reading the list below! 🙂

1. We have French and Spanish stamp sets.

2. If you see a stamp image outlined in red, that means it coordinates with one of the shapes from our Cricut® collections. If it’s outlined in blue, that means it coordinates with one of our Thin Cuts dies.

3. We put A LOT of thought and effort into making the best stamps for our customers. See the entire process in this infographic:

4. After we design each paper packet, we create two coordinating stamp sets, one for scrapbooking and one for cardmaking, to be paired with that specific paper. These two stamp sets can be found in the idea book right behind the coordinating Workshops Your Way™ scrapbooking kits.

5. Our stamps are made right here at the Home Office, in a top-secret room.

6. It takes about one hour to make one sheet of stamps from start to finish.

7. New stamps work best when you “season” them. To do so, rub the stamp across a stamp pad, and then stamp onto scrap paper until the image is even.

8. Our stamps can be used with all sorts of inks, including dye, pigment, solvent, and alcohol inks.

9. Rather than attaching your stamps to your blocks, try using your blocks to pick up your stamps from a flat surface. This way, the stamp will hold its natural shape.

10. Our My Acrylix® blocks have a small white horizontal line on them to help you with stamp placement, which is especially helpful for keeping words and borders straight.

11. Some people cut apart their stamps in order to rearrange words in a sentiment when sticking them to their blocks.

12. Our stamps are flexible! Manipulate them so they fit inside shapes and banners, or just to get a different look!

13. If some of your ink doesn’t transfer when stamping, quickly breathe over the stamp to re-moisten the remaining ink and then stamp over the image again. The missing portion usually blends into the existing image if the ink isn’t too dry. This is called the Huffing or Stamp Over Technique.

14. Because our stamps and blocks are clear, you can easily stamp over the image again to get a richer, deeper image.

15. If you’re looking to remove that stubborn pigment ink, try our Spritz Cleaner and Stamp Scrubber. It makes it easy!

16. Our stamps don’t need to tan—they like being transparent, so keep them out of the sun!

17. Our stamps come in handy envelopes, which fit into our My Acrylix® organizer. You can also use our large organizer and tabs to store even more stamps. We also have a mini organizer for those mini stamp envelopes.

18. If your stamps ever start to lose their stickiness, all you need to do is rinse them with warm water and soap, and the stickiness will come right back. You can also use StazOn™ cleaner on the smooth side of the stamp.

19. Some stamps make great friends, like our good ol’ friend, Sticky Boy!

What things did you not know? Tell us in the comments! 🙂

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Make It from Your Heart

Tag Archives: help

13 Tips for Finding Time to Preserve Your Memories

1. Write It in Your Planner

2. Do It with A Friend

3. Attend a Monthly Crop, Workshop, or Club

4. Divide Up Tasks

5. Commit to a Specific Amount of Time Each Day

6. Scrap Early in the Morning or Late at Night

7. Make It a Habit

8. Simplify Your Schedule

9. Look Into Quicker Options

10. Set Goals

11. Replace Social Media Time

12. Scrap Whenever You Watch TV

13. Dedicate a Space to Memory Keeping

Like this:

From Jill: Capture Memories as You Make Them

Like this:

15 Photos You MUST Take This Holiday Season

1. Picking out the perfect tree

2. Opening your daily advent calendar3. Little ones eating sticky candy canes

4. Kiddos writing letters to Santa

5. Decorating the Christmas tree (and putting on the star!)

6. Each kid’s favorite Christmas ornament (after all, your photo can last forever, though the ornament may not!)

7. Family story or Bible time

8. Fur babies in their Christmas gear

9. Christmas shopping

10. Little hands helping with holiday baking

11. Kids wrapping presents all by themselves

12. Setting out Santa’s cookies

13. Blowing or throwing snow in the air

14. Warming up by the fire

15. Hot chocolate mustaches

Like this:

4 Ways to Color Your Create Kindness Cards

Like this:

19 Things You May Not Know About Our My Acrylix® Stamps

Like this:

1. Write It in Your Planner

2. Do It with A Friend

3. Attend a Monthly Crop, Workshop, or Club

4. Divide Up Tasks

5. Commit to a Specific Amount of Time Each Day

6. Scrap Early in the Morning or Late at Night

7. Make It a Habit

8. Simplify Your Schedule

9. Look Into Quicker Options

10. Set Goals

12. Scrap Whenever You Watch TV

13. Dedicate a Space to Memory Keeping

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1. Picking out the perfect tree

4. Kiddos writing letters to Santa

13. Blowing or throwing snow in the air

14. Warming up by the fire

15. Hot chocolate mustaches

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