June 12, 2018Create, Learn, Memory Keeping

Millennial-style Scrapbooking

Close To My Heartdesign, millenial, minimalism, neutrals, scrapbooking, simplicity, white space 3 Comments

There are many, many ways you can preserve your story in a scrapbook and how we do that has changed over time. What hasn’t changed is how much we like remembering our story. People enjoy looking back, sometimes with nostalgia, other times just as a reminder of where they’ve been. People also like sharing their memories, talking about their experiences and the things that have shaped them.

We get lots of questions about how to encourage a younger generation to take up this mantle and preserve their story by creating something that will last like a scrapbook, and today we are showing you some examples of scrapbooking from a Millennial point of view. Anyone can scrapbook this way. The principles featured in this style of scrapbooking can appeal to all memory keepers, but we are specifically focusing on style aspects that Millennials gravitate toward.

1. Create intentional white space.

Are you familiar with the term minimalism? It’s actually an idea that’s been around for quite a while, but today, minimalism is a trend that resonates with many Millennials. It focuses on eliminating clutter and avoiding excess and distractions. People apply this idea to spending, décor, design, fashion, and more. When thinking about minimalism and memory keeping, focus on clearing the clutter by intentionally leaving lots of white space, like you see in the page above. This page is primarily White Daisy cardstock, but you don’t get lost in the white space. Adding a thin Linen cardstock border on the top and bottom of the page helps to ground your eye and pulls you in to the center.

2. Use only one or two photos.

With minimalism in mind, a single photo is the focus of this page. It’s easy to get lost in the thousands of photos on our phones or computers, but you don’t have to scrapbook all of them. That’s probably not even possible, but you can pick your favorites. Start with scrapbooking one or two photos that are truly meaningful to you and tell other people something about who you are and what you enjoy. Even just one photo on a page can tell a story in a creative, yet clean and uncomplicated way. The neutral color scheme keeps the spotlight on the photo. Just add a few embellishments and a couple stamped images to round out this look.

3. Focus on the story.

We don’t always remember details about our lives, even from the most important moments. Details from events like family vacations, weddings, or even day-to-day life can get lost. Scrapbooking gives us a place to record them, so we can remember the little things that made them special later. Instead of thinking about your page as one that’s primarily photos, why not think about your page as one that’s primarily words?

Describing the story can be the point of your page. Scrapbooking allows you to be reflective, to be grateful, and to document change. Those are ideas that matter to Millennials, and they often are thinking about ways to reflect and document their lives on social media or through other venues like a gratitude journal. These are all ways to tell your story. What makes scrapbooking unique is that it is preserved and available to continue to share and learn from over time. You can do this, plus exercise your creativity, through memory keeping.

This page also incorporates elements from the minimalist perspective, using lots of white space and just one photo to complement the real treasure, the words. Keep in mind, your photos don’t have to have faces in them. It could be the perspective of your feet hanging out the window, like you see on this page, or maybe it’s the food you ate or the places you visited. Photos don’t have to be just of people. It can be whatever best illustrates the words on your page.

4. Make something simple, yet Instagram-worthy.

Millennials, and many of the rest of us, are already sharing their story on social media. These photos deserve a home, but it’s equally important to Millennials to be creating in ways that are Instagram-worthy. This means that what they make should be easy to share and aesthetically pleasing with a touch of simplicity.

Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.

Leonardo da Vinci

The beauty found in simplicity is something even Leonardo da Vinci recognized as important, and it continues to resonate with Millennials. Using an Everyday Life™ format can mimic the popular look of photo books, and these albums can be just as simple to create. Even in a smaller size, this type of scrapbooking can still emphasize white space with photos, similar to a photo book. Photos could be square, making it easy to scrapbook things directly from places like Instagram. Millennials are already sharing their story on social media, but it is so easy, and affordable, to take those stories and photos and slip them into an Everyday Life™ album. With little extra effort, you can preserve your memories in a simple, sophisticated way.

Scrapbooks come in all shapes and sizes. They allow us to creatively express who we are, the time we live in, and the things that matter to us. You don’t have to be a Millennial to appreciate the trendy looks in the artwork you see in this post. Like da Vinci’s thoughts about simplicity, some of these ideas have been around a very, very long time. Millennials just happen to be the ones taking inspiration from them today, and that can encourage us all to both try something new in our memory keeping and help others to tell their story in whatever way speaks to them. So next time you pull our your scrapbooking supplies, think about how you can add some extra white space, focus on the story, or keep simplicity in mind as you create beautiful pages for your memories, and as always, we hope you share those memories with others.

Recipes:

12″ × 12″ Happy Place Page
D1772 My Acrilyx^® Documented—Scrapbooking Stamp Set, X5946 Linen Cardstock, X5955 Pebble Cardstock, 1385 White Daisy Cardstock, Z3271 Archival Black Exclusive Inks™ Stamp Pad, X7234C Documented Complements, Z3357 Better Together Complements, Z4181 Thin Cuts—Stitched Circles, Z2060 Thin 3-D Foam Tape, Sewing Machine

12″ × 12″ And Then Page
D1772 My Acrilyx^® Documented—Scrapbooking Stamp Set, X7234B Documented Paper Packet, 1386 Black Cardstock, X5946 Linen Cardstock, 1385 White Daisy Cardstock, Z3271 Archival Black Exlusive Inks™ Stamp Pad, X7232C Fresh Air Complements, Z3386 Thin Cuts—Block Alphabet, Z4181 Thin Cuts—Stitched Circles, Z1151 3-D Foam Tape, Z2060 Thin 3-D Foam Tape, Die-cutting Machine, Sewing Machine

6″ x 8″ Love Everyday Life™ Layout
X5946 Linen Cardstock, 1385 White Daisy Cardstock, Z4185 Fresh Air Shapes, Z4171 Documented Titles, Z4181 Thin Cuts—Stitched Circles, Z3252 Everyday Life™ Memory Protectors™ 6″ x 8″, Z3191 Everyday Life™ Memory Protectors™ 3″ x 4″, Die-cutting Machine

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May 31, 2018Create, Learn

25 Scrapbooking Hacks

Close To My Heartdesign tips, hacks, national scrapbooking month, scrapbooking, tips, tricks 12 Comments

We talked to the pros in our art studio and came up with a list of easy, yet very effective, tips and tricks to take your scrapbooking artwork from good to great! (A few of these tips were shared in previous blog posts, but a lot of them are new. We’ve put them all together for you to have as a resource in one great list!)

Ready to step up your scrapbooking game? Take a look!

1. Try attaching embellishments with mini staples. Mini staples can give your page a different feel without any extra work.

2. Use a ruler and pencil to draw in journaling lines. Write your journaling and then either erase the lines or go over them with a black journaling pen.

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3. To change up the look of your title, cut letters from patterned paper or even the background of extra photos using Block Alphabet Thin Cuts.

4. Place embellishments in odd numbers on your layouts. Odd numbers are visually more appealing.

5. Cut shimmer trim into smaller strips by lightly attaching it to your paper trimmer. This will keep it in place while you trim, giving you a nice straight cut. Plus, it pulls off easily when you’re done!

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6. Stamp outline shapes on patterned paper. Then, you don’t have to color the shapes in yourself.

7. Don’t be afraid to mix and match the patterned paper from several paper collections to have more options for your layouts. We spy three different paper collections on this page. Can you find them all, too?

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8. Missing a photo for your layout? You can put wax paper under a Complement sticker that might go over a photo. This lets you finish assembling your layout and add the missing photo later.

9. Stamp words with alphabet stamp sets to create personalized backgrounds.

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10. Before you throw your paper scraps away, see if you have pieces that you can use to cut small shapes like circles, squares, or rectangles. Even these little pieces can be used for layering, backgrounds, or as journaling strips. You can even tear the edges to use as washi tape.

11. When adding paint splatters after your page is put together, make sure to mask the layout and photos with scratch paper.

12. Didn’t get your title perfectly straight? Use a small tool like a Cricut^® spatula to gently move something already attached to your page.

Scrapbooking Hacks #ctmh #closetomyheart #scrappingtips #scrapbookingtips ##scrapping #scrapbooking #hacks #ideas #25scrapbookinghacks

13. Bend up the edges of layers to add dimension. This could be a simple banner or photo mat, just to give an extra touch of depth.

14. When sewing on your layouts, avoid putting adhesive where you plan to sew. The adhesive will get stuck on the needle. Use adhesive to attach paper in the center and then sew the edges like we did below.

15. Experiment with a ⅛” photo mat on your layouts. This gives you slight definition around your photo without distracting from other elements on your page.

16. Trim Complements from the 6″ x 6″ sheet and lay them on your artwork to preview their placement before attaching them. It’s much easier to find the perfect spot and see how they will look on your page.

17. When layering several patterned papers, staple them together first, then cover with a photo. This will keep your layers arranged how you’d like them while you are gluing down your page. Here is an example. A small staple holds the three layers in place behind the photo.

Scrapbooking Hacks #ctmh #closetomyheart #scrappingtips #scrapbookingtips ##scrapping #scrapbooking #hacks #ideas #25scrapbookinghacks

18. Before attaching your paper, embellishments, and photos, lay everything out on your page and snap a quick photo with your phone. This gives you something to reference as you attach each piece, making sure you get it exactly how you want it.

19. Use the smallest possible My Acrylix^® block when stamping on a layout. A smaller block can help you avoid rocking your stamp back and forth and ending up with a wobbly image.

20. Mix patterned paper with small, medium, and large patterns. Here you can see how we used a tiny floral pattern combined with the medium-sized triangle pattern, and finally the large polka dots.

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21. Move the paper not the scissors when hand trimming embellishments, stamped images, and other shapes.

22. If a color feels too bright for a layout, use vellum to tone it down. We added a small strip of vellum, sewn over the Charcoal cardstock, to create a softer edge.

23. Hold on to extra Thin Cuts or Cricut^® shapes to use for other projects. You never know when an extra tag, banner, or circle could come in handy while you’re crafting!

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24. Need a different color or patterned paper for your layout? Remember your pocket cards! Pocket cards from paper packets or from Picture My Life™ cards can be trimmed and used as accents or titles.

25. Use tweezers, a piercing tool, or even the tip of your micro-tip scissors to help you gently place small embellishments like bitty sparkles.

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Now it’s your turn! Do you have any tips or tricks that you use while you’re scrapbooking? Share in the comments.

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April 10, 2018Create, Memory Keeping, organization

Secrets of a Title Page

Close To My HeartChelsea Gardens, scrapbooking, Stargazer, title, title page 5 Comments

We often talk about the meaty parts of scrapbooking here, from visual storytelling to journaling prompts and everything in between. Today, instead of what comes in between, let’s discuss the very beginning, or at least front, of a complete scrapbook album—the title page!

The title page of an album is that very first page you see when you flip open the cover. It is there to provide a quick visual summary of the stories and memories beautifully documented inside. Regardless of your scrapping style, the title page is something that we all have in common. Without it, our albums look and feel incomplete.

So you know you need a title page for your album. How do you start? The very first, and probably biggest, “secret” to a good title page, is to create it last. After the inside of your album is done, then is when you should begin to think about designing your title page. There are several reasons for this. Creating the title page last allows you to pull from visual elements and themes illustrated throughout your pages and layouts, including topics, color schemes, and designs.

Waiting until the end to make your title page will also allow you flexibility in your story telling. If you make a title page first, especially one that includes photos and journaling, you run the risk of not highlighting something that you add in later.

A title page can also work as a sort of “table of contents.” If you choose to go this route, use some of your extra photos to map out what someone can expect to see as they flip through your album. You can arrange them in order, number them, and add short blurbs, like in our example, or create a collage without any words.

Or you can create a title page without any photos. Add a title and journaling that corresponds with the photos you include on the following pages. If the “table of contents” approach isn’t your thing, a quick name referencing the topic of your album, like “Disney Vacation 2018” or “Grandma Gigi” or “My Favorite Things,” can also do the trick.

As you’re designing your title page, keep in mind that it is an extension of your album, your memories, and you. However you choose to make it, match the storytelling style you use inside, and most importantly make it your own.

Recipe

Make It from Your Heart Vol. 3: Pattern 17
B1539 My Acrylix® Pen Pal Alphabet Stamp Set, C1704 My Acrylix® Stargazer—Cardmaking Stamp Set, X7230B Chelsea Gardens Paper Packet, X7227B Make Waves Paper Packet, 1385 White Daisy Cardstock, X5967 Pacifica Cardstock, X5977 Crystal Blue Cardstock, X5968 Lagoon Cardstock, Z2895 Lagoon Exclusive Inks™ Stamp Pad, Z2817 Crystal Blue Exclusive Inks™ Stamp Pad, Z2841 Glacier Exclusive Inks™ Stamp Pad, Z2892 Pacifica Exclusive Inks™ Stamp Pad, Z3274 Clear Sparkles, Z1263 Bitty Sparkles, X7229C Stargazer Complements, Z1297 Edge Distresser, Z3167 Cricut® Artistry Collection, Sewing Machine

Cricut® Shapes:
Artistry
½” Shape <Halloween> (p. 43, #M417CCA)

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March 30, 2018Create, Memory Keeping, organization

How to Get Started on Memory Keeping When You’ve Never Done It Before

Close To My Heartcut above, Memory Keeping, pocket scrapbooking, scrapbooking, story, storytelling, workshops Your Way 2 Comments

When it comes to memory keeping, especially if you’ve never done it before, the biggest obstacle for most people is knowing where to get started. With moments happening and getting captured quicker than they can be documented, memory keeping can easily become an overwhelming task that, as the memories pile up, we tend to ignore and simply feel anxious and guilty about.

Today we’re going to alleviate some of those feelings and help you navigate through the heaps of memories you are making. It is never too late to tell your story, so let’s get started!

Why is memory keeping important to you?

The very first thing you need to consider before pulling out old photos or any scrapbooking supplies is what is memory keeping and why is it important to you? There is no right or wrong answer here, and everyone’s motivation will be different, but motivation it will be. Really think about the why of your memory keeping.

Why do you take so many photos and videos with that fancy smart phone?
Who and what are you taking photos of?
Do you keep a journal? What do you write about?
Do you collect things because of their association with certain people or events?

Our current social climate is very instant and in the moment. You can take a photo, caption it, and quickly share it with friends across the world by posting to Facebook or Instagram. For some people, this is all the memory keeping they need. The downside is that if you only post to social media and never do anything else with those stories, you are only documenting your story in a format where it only lives for a moment. And then, what happens to your story?

The question again is: why is memory keeping important to you?

Sorting Through Memories

Once you’ve figured out why you want to preserve your memories, you can begin sorting through them and decide which ones to preserve. Chances are you’ve got a hard-drive, or perhaps several boxes, full of photos from the years past that you want to put into albums but just aren’t quite sure where to begin. If your photos aren’t organized, check out our post on How to Organize Years of Photos without Getting Overwhelmed for some great tips and ideas.

The truth is, not all of our moments carry the same weight, so not every single second of our lives is worth documenting. This is the step where you decide which memories you want to (and will!) preserve. And remember, it’s okay to let some things go!

Make a list of past stories and stories to come that you want to keep in an album. Some possible ideas may include:

Milestones in the life of a baby or child
Vacations/Trips
Holidays
Birthdays
Family
Sports/Events
A specific year

Choose a Format

Whatever you choose to preserve, choose to do it your way. Decide on a format of memory keeping that works best for you and your memories. If you’re new to the scrapbooking scene and the thought of memory keeping is overwhelming, we’ve got a few products for you to explore.

If you like the look of complete scrapbook albums but don’t think you have the time or know-how to make them happen for you, the Cut Above^® layout kits are a great solution! These kits come complete with pre-printed base pages, stickers, and die-cuts (cut paper shapes) ready to make coordinating 2-page scrapbook layouts. All you need to bring to the table, aside from your kit, is photos, adhesive, and a journaling pen!

The Story Begins layout kit shown above (also available for baby boys) is one of our many Cut Above^® scrapbooking options. This particular kit comes with enough materials to make 10 coordinating 2-page scrapbook layouts. That’s an entire baby book! And if you have more photos that you want to include than the kits allow for, you can add coordinating pages with Picture My Life™ cards and pocket scrapbooking Memory Protectors™. Always make the room to tell your whole story.

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Another option for the busy memory keeper in you are our Workshops Your Way^® scrapbooking kits.

With the help of easy-to-follow instructions, trimming tools, and adhesive, you can use any of our Workshop Your Way^® kits to create three coordinating scrapbook layouts. Unlike the Cut Above^® kits, in Workshops Your Way^® you trim your own paper and are given extras like, ribbons and sequins, to embellish your pages.

With these kits, we also show you how you can arrange additional photos and pocket cards in our innovative Pocket Plus™ Memory Protectors™.

The last example of memory keeping we’re going to share is with pocket scrapbooking in a smaller, Everyday Life™, album.

Maybe this type of memory keeping is more your style. Less patterned paper and more memorabilia turned into accents and pocket cards to enhance the memories of your experiences. Whether you’re cutting things up, attaching them on a pocket card, or creating a pocket for a group of items—there is no wrong way to tell your story.

Making the Time

This last part of the memory keeping process is the most crucial because without it memory keeping will not happen. You need to decide how much time you will invest into preserving your memories. If memory keeping isn’t already part of your routine, make the conscious decision to include it. (A half-an-hour a week is better than doing nothing at all.)

To be a successful memory keeper you must be honest with yourself about your creative habits. Take an approach that works for you and your memories, and that you will actually do. Once you get started you will find so much joy and satisfaction in knowing that your memories are safely documented and preserved.

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December 5, 2017Create, Memory Keeping

A Keepsake to Last Through the Years

Close To My Heartalbum, calendar, DIY, kit, Memory Keeping, scrapbooking 5 Comments

As 2017 comes to a close, we have a holiday treat designed to last you through the coming year and more!

This Through the Year customizable photo calendar comes wrapped together in a kit containing everything you need to make one of your very own!

Easy-to-follow instructions included in the kit will guide you in creating each of the 12 beautiful calendar pages you see below.

Calendars make great gifts, so in addition to making one for yourself, consider making a second one to give as a gift, or even giving the kit to someone you know who will love the chance to be crafty! Whatever you choose to do with this kit, you will not be disappointed with the result!

Take a closer look at some of the beautiful details you’ll add to your pages using the custom gold glitter die-cuts, glitter gems, Complements, and papers included in this unique kit.

Our November Stamp of the Month, Through the Year, makes the perfect companion for this project, too.

If you didn’t get this limited-time stamp set last month, you can still get it by choosing the calendar kit that includes it! And, in case you did get the November Stamp of the Month, we also have this kit available without the stamp set.

What makes the Through the Year calendar extra special is that the pages are designed to be cut at the spiral binding and then put into Memory Protectors™ inside an album. This way, when you’re through with the calendar, the beautiful pages you’ve relied on through the year will last through the years to come!

What a beautiful way to put some of your most favorite memories on display and later preserve them! Make one of these Through the Year calendars for yourself or as a gift this Christmas!

Recipe

Through the Year Calendar and Album
CC1344 Through the Year Calendar Kit, S1711 My Acrylix^® Through the Year Stamp Set (comes included in CC1344S), Z2826 Heather Exclusive Inks™ Stamp Pad, Z2060 Thin 3-D Foam Tape, Z5202 My Legacy™ D-ring Album—Brown, 4110 Memory Protectors™ Top Load

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August 22, 2017Create, Memory Keeping

Basic Cricut® Shapes for Backgrounds

Close To My Heartbackground, basic, circle, cricut, design, heart, page, scrapbook, scrapbooking, shape, space 12 Comments

Looking for a way to spice up your scrapbook pages? We’ve got just the thing! All you need is a Cricut® machine and a little imagination for this technique.

First, find a basic Cricut® shape that you like: square, heart, diamond, etc. Next, cut out the shape over and over again on a piece of solid cardstock (we recommend using Cricut Design Space™ so you can more easily control where the shapes cut). Remove the shapes from the piece of cardstock, and then back the empty spaces with different pieces of patterned paper. As you can see from the example above, we repeated paper patterns across the shapes to add a sense of continuity to the page.

If you don’t have Cricut Design Space™, you can still get this effect by cutting multiple versions of the same image, but you could also cut the shapes out of patterned paper and attach them to a piece of cardstock. There are lots of different spins on this technique!

For example…

…try backing the shapes with photos! It’s a lot easier than trying to cut your photos on a Cricut® machine because you can slide them around behind the cardstock until they are framed just the way you like.

Another spin on this technique is to change up the size of your shapes. Smaller shapes give you a lot more little shape windows to work with. This page also shows how much you can play around with dimension as well.

First, we backed some of the empty spaces with patterned paper and left others empty. Next, we used 3-D foam tape to attach the White Daisy cardstock piece with all of our heart shapes cut out of it. The Bashful background shows through the empty hearts and creates a bit of a shadow. To finish off the look, we took some of the hearts that were cut out and embossed them with gold powder. We then used them to “fill in” a few of the heart-shaped windows with more 3-D foam tape to make them really pop. See how many possibilities there are when you start playing around with your Cricut® shapes?

We used circles and hearts for our artwork, but what Cricut® shapes would you try with this technique? Tell us in the comments below! 🙂

Recipes

12″ x 12″ Sweet Moments Page
B1539 My Acrylix® Pen Pal Alphabet, Z3353 Basics Fundamental Paper Packet, Z3350 Whimsy Fundamental Paper Packet, 1385 White Daisy Cardstock, X5953 Charcoal Cardstock, X5941 Bashful Cardstock, Z2825 Mink Exclusive Inks™ Stamp Pad, Z3355 Happy Moments Complements, Z3369 Bashful Pearls, Z3381 Gold Heart Clips, Z3342 3-D Foam Dots, Z3132 Watercolor Paints, Z3188 Paintbrush Set, Z1979 Marvy® Uchida® LePen™ Journaling Pen, Z3290 Cricut® Flower Market Digital Collection

Cricut® Shapes:
Flower Market
2 ½” Background <C> (cut 7, p. 33, #MD70813)

12″ x 12″ This Is the Life Page
Z3351 Adventure Fundamental Paper Packet, Z3350 Whimsy Fundamental Paper Packet, Z3352 Enchantment Fundamental Paper Packet, X5941 Bashful Cardstock, 1385 White Daisy Cardstock, X5968 Lagoon Cardstock, Z3355 Happy Moments Complements, Z3371 Gold Pearls, Z3387 Cricut® You Are Here Digital Collection, Sewing Machine, Pen

Cricut® Shapes:
You Are Here
3½” Title (cut 8, p. 18, #M282C87A)
3½” Title <Seas> (p. 40, #M27F84BF)
3 ½” Shift+Title <Seas> (p. 40,#M27F84BF)

12″ x 12″ Together Page
Z3353 Basics Fundamental Paper Packet, X5941 Bashful Cardstock, 1385 White Daisy Cardstock, X5953 Charcoal Cardstock, Z891 VersaMark™ Ink Pad, Z3364 Basics Ribbon Pack, Z555 Craft Heater, Z2066 Ranger™ Princess Gold Embossing Powder, Z4034 Thin Cuts—Together, Z3342 3-D Foam Dots, Z3290 Cricut® Flower Market Digital Collection, Die-cutting Machine

Cricut® Shapes:
Flower Market
2 ½” Background <C> (cut 90, p. 33, #MD70813)*
*Grouped onto a 11″ x 11″ square and welded in Cricut Design Space™

Numbers starting with #M specify the image number in Cricut Design Space™

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July 25, 2017Learn

How to Organize Years of Photos without Getting Overwhelmed

Close To My Heartalbum, by, digital, divider, getting, how, organize, organizer, overwhelmed, photo, photos, progress, scrapbooking, step, tip, trick, without, work, years 29 Comments

When it comes to scrapbooking, one of the biggest hold-ups for people is feeling overwhelmed with organizing their photos. If you have years of photos piled up on your computer or photos spread between multiple devices, it can be easy to put off preserving your memories. The longer you wait to organize your photos, the more overwhelming it will become—so now is the time to start!

Because we believe in the importance of memory keeping, we want to help make the task easier, so today we’re going to walk you step-by-step through how to efficiently organize your digital photos for scrapbooking. It’s a process that may take some time, but which will be well worth it when your memories are all in order!

To give you an added incentive for getting started, we’ve teamed up with Persnickety Prints to get you a discount code for printing your photos so you can catch up AND save money! Continue reading for more details. 🙂

Step One: Consolidate Your Digital Photos

Upload all of your digital photos to one location on your computer. We recommend using a photo managing system, like Google Photos or iPhotos, to easily transfer photos from your phone onto your computer. If you haven’t transferred them already, go through the photos on your phone, your camera, and upload them all to this one location.

Step Two: Eliminate Unwanted Photos

Once you have all of your photos in one place, go through and eliminate any that aren’t worth keeping: repeats, photos with a blurry finger covering half the lens, photos of your to-do lists, etc.

Tip: Moving forward, make it a habit to do a Daily Delete—every day, go through the photos on your phone (or camera if you took pictures on it that day) and delete any of these types of photos. It will take you two seconds and save you tons of time down the road. You’ll be able to skip step two entirely in the future!

Another tip: Use the time traveling home from a vacation to do your deleting. That way when you get home, you’ll have already eliminated all the photos from your trip you don’t want to keep. Plus, it’s a fun way to relive those memories again while you’re heading home.

Step Three: Organize Your Digital Photos

In your photo managing system, create folders for each month and year. Then place the corresponding photos in these folders.

Step Four: Back Up Your Digital Photos

Back up all the photos in your photo managing system onto a CD or external hard drive. You can also look into online options, such as iCloud, Dropbox, or Google Drive.

Step Five: Create To-Print Folders

Once you have organized your photos in your photo managing system, you’re ready to start thinking about scrapbooking them—woohoo! Even though all the photos you have left are photos you have deemed worth keeping, you may not want to scrapbook all of them. A great way to figure out which photos you want to scrapbook is to copy and paste a given folder onto your desktop. Then go through and delete any photos you don’t want to print. You can also edit any of the photos you’re going to print if you want to take that extra step.

Step Six: Upload & Print Photos

Once you’ve gone through all the photos on your desktop folder, you’re ready to print! We recommend creating a table, like the one below, to track each folder’s progress. When you have printed your photos, you can delete the desktop folder you created (remember, you’ve already saved these photos elsewhere!).

Tip: Choose one day every month to do a print run. Some months you may be able to afford printing more photos than other months, but get in the habit of printing your photos on the same day each month.

PHOTO DISCOUNT: Now is a great time to catch up on printing your photos because Persnickety Prints has been kind enough to create a discount code for our readers! Use this discount code to save 20% on your entire order: CTMH20

This code expires August 30, cannot be combined with other discount codes, and is limited to one use per customer.

Step Seven: Organize Printed Photos

Option 1: Use our large organizers and tabbed dividers to organize your printed photos.

You can organize your photos by date, person, event…whatever you want! Think about the album you want to create with the photos, and organize them that way.

Option 2: Create a work-in-progress album. Use one of our D-ring albums and divided Memory Protectors™ to separate out all the photos you’ll want for an album. You can group like photos together so you know how to plan your layouts.

And that’s it! The next step is to start scrapbooking away! If the idea of scrapbooking itself overwhelms you, a great place to start is with our Workshops Your Way® scrapbooking kits. You can also talk to your Independent Consultant (or find one online!) to help you know where to start.

We hope this post helped you feel empowered to start organizing your photos for scrapbooking. We know that when you take that leap of faith, you’ll find so much joy and satisfaction in preserving your family’s memories and stories.

Have additional tips for organizing and printing your photos for scrapbooking? Share them in the comments below!

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June 13, 2017Learn, Memory Keeping

3 Ideas for Scrapbook Cover Pages

Close To My Heartcover, engagement, Family, graduation, idea, keeping, memory, page, scrapbook, scrapbooking, vacation, wedding 9 Comments

Every scrapbook album needs a front cover page and a back cover page…but sometimes it’s hard to know how to summarize your album! After all, you only have two pages, one at the front and one at the back, to explain what the entire album holds!

If cover pages have you stumped, don’t worry—we’ve got you covered! 😉 Here are three fail-proof ideas for creating amazing cover pages!

In Great Shape

Attach a large shape to the center of your base page. Then position your title and photos over this shape. Even if you have multiple photos (we have five here!), your page will still feel like a cover page because the large shape in the background creates a central focus. Pretty neat trick, right? 🙂

Easy As 1-2-3!

Simply attach three photos horizontally across the center of your page. Then add your title directly above or below these photos. Three is the key here! It’s a balanced number that draws the eye in.

Keep It Simple, Silly!

When all else fails, find a photo that sums up your album, and center it on your page along with a prominent title.

One fun spin on this approach is to center your photo but then place the title on the left side of your page, either vertically or horizontally!

Overall, the secret to creating a strong cover page is to draw the eye in to a central point with your pictures and title. If you keep that in mind, then you’re off to a great start!

And while you’re working on your cover pages, be sure to grab some albums because they’re on a great sale! For the month of June, you can buy one album and then get a second one at half price!

What album are you currently working on? Tell us in the comments below! 🙂

Recipes

12″ x 12″ The Woods Page
B1484 My Acrylix® Jennifer’s Hand Stamp Set, D1702 My Acrylix® Capture This Stamp Set, X7221B Prickly Pear Paper Packet, Z3254 Enchantment Fundamentals Paper Packet, 1385 White Daisy Cardstock, X5789 Sea Glass Cardstock, X5788 Raspberry Cardstock, Z2848 Sapphire Exclusive Inks™ Stamp Pad, X7221C Prickly Pear Complements, Z3324 Prickly Pear Sequins, Z3132 Watercolor Paints, Z3188 Paintbrush Set, Z3167 Cricut® Artistry Collection, Sewing Machine, Thread

Cricut® Shapes:
Artistry
1 1/4″ “Woods”

12″ x 12″ Let’s Go Back Page
B1484 My Acrylix® Jennifer’s Hand Stamp Set, X7221B Prickly Pear Paper Packet, Z3254 Enchantment Fundamentals Paper Packet, 1385 White Daisy Cardstock, X5789 Sea Glass Cardstock, X7221C Prickly Pear Complements, Z3167 Cricut® Artistry Collection

Cricut® Shapes:
Artistry
1″ “Let’s Back”

12″ x 12″ Dallin & Sarah Page
X7221 Prickly Pear Paper Packet, Z3254 Enchantment Fundamentals Paper Packet, X7219B Little Dreamer Paper Packet, 1385 White Daisy Cardstock, X5788 Raspberry Cardstock, X7221C Prickly Pear Complements, Z3314 Black & White Dots, Z3167 Cricut® Artistry Collection, Sewing Machine, Thread

Cricut® Shapes:
Artistry
1 1/4″ “Dallin & Sarah 2017”

12″ x 12″ Hello World Page
B1484 My Acrylix® Jennifer’s Hand Stamp Set, X7221B Prickly Pear Paper Packet, X7219B Little Dreamer Paper Packet, Z3263 Uptown Fundamentals Paper Packet, 1385 White Daisy Cardstock, X5788 Raspberry Cardstock, X5763 Smoothie Cardstock, X7221C Prickly Pear Complements, Z3257 Thin Cuts—Love, Z3167 Cricut® Artistry Collection, Sewing Machine, Thread

Cricut® Shapes:
Artistry
1/2″, 3/4″, 1″, 1 1/4″, 1 1/2″, and 1 3/4″ Icon-1 <k> (cut 5 of each, p. 28)
1 1/2″ “Class of 2017”

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June 6, 2017Learn, Memory Keeping

Looking for a Great Scrapbook Album? We’ve Got You Covered!

Close To My Heartalbum, buy, divided, flaps, flip, free, get, june, legacy, memory, my, one, plus, pocket, protectors, scrapbooking, special 28 Comments

Here at Close To My Heart, we’re serious about helping you preserve your memories with style. That’s why, throughout the month of June, you can buy one My Legacy™ album and get a second one at 50% off! For those of you who are new to Close To My Heart or who would just like to learn a little bit more about our unique scrapbook albums, this is the post for you! We’re going to cover all our bases today and tell you everything about our albums—and some of the awesome products we have to go with them!

Close To My Heart scrapbook albums #ctmh #closetomyheart #scrapbook #album #memorykeeping

Post-bound Album

We have two different styles of My Legacy™ albums. The photos above show our post-bound style. This style minimizes the gap in between your pages, so your scrapbook album looks professionally bound. The ends of the posts are hidden by the binding, and they feature easy-to-use handles for twisting open the posts and adding pages.

D-ring Album

Here’s our other style: D-ring! These albums are a great fit for those who want to be able to add pages quickly and easily. Some people like to use D-ring albums for storing their pages until they finish an album’s worth, and then they move all the pages into a post-bound album for permanent storage—and with our buy-one-get-one-half-off sale, it’s a great time to try this approach!

Above are all the colors that are currently available in the post-bound style.

And here are all the colors that are currently available in the D-ring style.

Now the best part of any scrapbook album is what you keep inside, of course. 🙂 And since we know the memories you want to preserve are precious, we offer high-quality top-load and side-load Memory Protectors™ to keep them safe. We also have some specialty Memory Protectors that can add a lot of variety to your layouts.

Up first are our divided Memory Protectors for pocket scrapbooking. We have five different styles to choose from—you can check them all out here. These make great additions to your layouts, like you can see above, or you can create an entire pocket scrapbooking album. We recommend using our D-ring album style with these Memory Protectors.

While we’re on the topic of divided Memory Protectors, we have to mention our Pocket Plus™ Memory Protectors. These only cover part of a page, so they are great for adding a few additional photos to your layouts. You can see how they really enhance a traditional layout in the before and after pictures above. For more information about these protectors and for tips on how to design you layouts to incorporate them, check out this blog post.

We also have Flip Flaps™, which are little individual pockets that come with an adhesive strip. You can attach them to both your pocket or traditional scrapbooking layouts. These come in a variety of sizes and create fun, interactive elements on your pages. For more information about these protectors and for tips on how to use them, check out this blog post.

A few other noteworthy accessories….These are our spine expanders. When you have layouts with lots of dimension in a post-bound album, you can get an album that looks like this: <. That’s because the part of your protector that holds your page onto the post is thinner than your dimensional page. Placing spine expanders between the pages of your album helps to even out the space so that your album will look more like this: =. It’s a quick fix that makes a world of a difference!

For post-bound albums with fewer pages, we recommend these 1″ posts. These posts will slim down the spine and allow your pages to be held more snugly between the covers of your album.

Finally, add an identifier to the spine of your album with one of our label holders. These fit both album styles and are a great way to distinguish your albums from one another—especially if you have a lot together on a shelf!

Do you see what we mean about taking memory keeping seriously? 🙂 We want to give you lots of options for preserving your memories! If you have any more questions about our albums, please leave a comment below. We’re happy to answer any questions you may have!

GIVEAWAY!!!!!!

Want to win a bunch of products to fill your albums with? Then listen up! We are giving 3 lucky winners the following:

1 Fundamentals paper packet of your choice
1 Fundamentals Complements pack of your choice
1 Fundamentals ribbon pack of your choice
1 value pack of Memory Protectors of your choice (top-load or side-load!)

How do you enter to win this awesome prize? Simply subscribe to our blog! To do so, click on the blue “Subscribe to list” button on the right-hand side of the page. That’s it! If you are already subscribed to our blog, you’re already entered to win!

The contest will run for 48 hours, and we will contact the winners via email.

Good luck! 🙂
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1. Create intentional white space.

2. Use only one or two photos.

3. Focus on the story.

4. Make something simple, yet Instagram-worthy.

Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.

Leonardo da Vinci

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Why is memory keeping important to you?

Sorting Through Memories

Choose a Format

Making the Time

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Step One: Consolidate Your Digital Photos

Step Two: Eliminate Unwanted Photos

Step Three: Organize Your Digital Photos

Step Four: Back Up Your Digital Photos

Step Five: Create To-Print Folders

Step Six: Upload & Print Photos

Step Seven: Organize Printed Photos

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In Great Shape

Easy As 1-2-3!

Keep It Simple, Silly!

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GIVEAWAY!!!!!!

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