Tag Archives: year noted

Memory Keeping

Year >> Noted: Looking Back and Looking Forward

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To wrap up this month of new beginnings, we’re providing you with one last dose of inspiration for your Year >> Noted paper kit. This kit is all about remembering the past and building plans for the future, so it works great for a multitude of occasions. The hardest part will be deciding what to capture!

In this post, we’re going to focus on the mini book component of the kit, which can be added on with the paper packet for an additional $5 with a qualifying purchase. The mini book is truly the finishing piece of this offer, so we want to show you a few things you can do with the cover!

Just like January does for the new year, the cover of your mini book marks the beginning of a journey and will set the tone for what the book holds. Here are two ideas for Year >> Noted mini book covers that set the right kind of tone for their contents.

1. Oh, baby! Document all of your little one’s first moments with gender-neutral colors that work great for both boys and girls. The stamp set is ideal for recording such highlights and adventures as first smiles, first words, or first steps. You could also include favorite foods or favorite bedtime rituals. Details like this always seem like they’ll be easy to remember but are actually all too easy to forget.

Take a little time to whip one up for your children, grandchildren, or for a friend’s children. It would make a meaningful baby shower gift—all you need to do is prepare the pages and then let the new parents fill in the memories!

2. Graduation is a time that inspires healthy introspection of the past and an almost overwhelming anticipation for the future! It’s full of both relishing nostalgia and trying to keep anxious thoughts in check. The Year >> Noted kit is the perfect place to preserve the turbulent emotions surrounding this landmark event. It’s just the thing to help your grad look back on the good times they’ve had as well as to look ahead to the good times yet to come.

You’ve got only a couple more days to purchase your own, so pick a up a few before they’re gone for good!

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Memory Keeping

Choosing Paper Over Pixels: Why We Still Scrapbook

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With the end of the old year and the dawn of the new year, I’m sure you’ve seen your fair share of “Year in Review” posts floating through your Facebook newsfeeds. Some people argue that things such as this have replaced scrapbooking layouts and albums. This is the new scrapbooking, they say. We no longer turn pages; we scroll them. So why then do some of us continue to use paper to preserve our memories? Is scrapbooking with paper still important? Well, let me tell you what I think.

The things that pop up in our newsfeeds often become irrelevant within mere hours of being born. Their permanence is as fleeting as dust in the wind. People will click through maybe once or twice, but after that, few will even remember they were there. When we upload pictures to Facebook, it fails to leave us with the same sense of satisfaction that comes from the whiz of a paper cutter or the stickiness of fingers spotted with adhesives. And when we type out our words, we lose the intimacy of handwriting and the beautiful way a personality dances its way through the shapes of the letters.

This is why I love National Papercrafting Month. It’s a wonderful reminder at the beginning of the year of why I fell in love with scrapbooking in the first place. It reminds me why we still spend time preserving memories with paper in a world that is slowly turning into pixels.

Working with paper will ground you in reality and in the beautiful subtleties of our physical world, which is why I think the Year >> Noted kit is so nicely suited to this month. In the rush of a new year and the memory of an old year, it not only keeps me grounded, but also gives me a place to tether my dreams, making my big goals seem so much more in reach!

Life is a continual cycling of beginnings and endings—don’t get lost in the whirlpool. Take the time to write down those things within your heart that will one day become the whispers of your past. Ground yourself in paper. Because when you hold a real, finished project in your hands, the rush and the hurry fades away and the only thing you feel is contentment.

And trust me, when this new year becomes old and the time comes to reflect, you’ll be happy you have something real to hold and to remember. Let this kit become a time capsule filled with little pieces of who you are in this moment. I promise you that when you take the time to remember, your heart will fill with gratitude for not only who you are, but also for who you are becoming.

Happy scrapbooking!

Jeanette

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Community

Year >> Noted Paper Kit Winners!

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We loved reading each of your responses to our Year >> Noted post! From the sounds of it, 2014 was definitely an incredible year, filled with lots of holding on and letting go, tears and laughter, and everything in between. As we read your responses, we were overwhelmed with how connected we felt to each of you! It’s proof that although our lives may be far apart, we’re all connected in one way or another.

With that said, we’re happy to announce the 15 random winners of a free Year >> Noted paper kit! Drumroll, please:

  • Jane Ficiur (January 16, 2015 at 11:19 AM)
  • Jeanie Wilcox (January 16, 2015 at 1:06 PM)
  • Melanie Murphy (January 16, 2015 at 2:05 PM)
  • Laura Tandy (January 16, 2015 at 2:26 PM)
  • Suzanne W. (January 16, 2015 at 5:07 PM)
  • Wendy Price (January 16, 2015 at 5:24 PM)
  • Kathy Marentette (January 17, 2015 at 7:18 AM)
  • Marlene Collier (January 17, 2015 at 8:57 AM)
  • Bernadette M. (January 17, 2015 at 9:07 AM)
  • Helen Gullett (January 17, 2015 at 2:25 PM)
  • Diane Beruldsen (January 18, 2015 at 2:29 AM)
  • Susan Lewis (January 18, 2015 at 2:55 PM)
  • Dianne Reed (January 19, 2015 at 2:20 PM)
  • Loy Vanboxel (January 19, 2015 at 5:41 PM)
  • Lynne G (January 20, 2015 at 4:48 PM)

Congratulations, winners! If your name is on the list, please email us at ctmhblog@closetomyheart.com to claim your prize. Put “Year >> Noted paper kit winner” in the subject line and your mailing address in the body copy.

Thanks for playing! And happy 2015!

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Memory Keeping

Highlight This Year’s Faves with Year >> Noted

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We know you’ve raved over the spunky B&T paper and the exclusive pastel cardstock pieces of the Year >> Noted paper kit, but have you noticed the kit’s amazing stamp set? As the most expressive part of the kit, it’s worth seeing again and again on your projects.

This set is just the right tool for creating perfect captions, journaling spots, titles, headlines, and dates on your scrapbook pages. Its fun sentiments can become the inspiration for your journaling and even what photos you choose to display. They work seamlessly with the other pieces of the kit–especially the golden foil stickers—to help you note the moments that matter most.

See what we mean:

Year Noted scrapbook page

Take a look at this page, which shows just how nicely the kit works in a pocket scrapbooking format—the “cards” trimmed from the B&T paper fit perfectly into the 4″ x 6″ pockets of these Memory Protectors™. But the stamping is really the star here:

Embossed date stamp

This date stamp is a definite must-have for a scrapbooker. We’ve given it extra glam here with our Ranger™ Princess Gold embossing powder. The look matches the fun golden foil stickers that come with the kit so well you can hardly tell they aren’t the same material.

Year Noted page title

Stamps and golden foil stickers work hand-in-hand to create this title. Technically, those “Year” letters come from the negative spaces of the golden foil sheet, but we prefer to think of them as positive spaces. (It’s all in the eye of the beholder, right?)

Okay, the arrow looks stamped, but that is just a trick of the eye: it’s actually a piece trimmed from the zip strip. Of course, the set does include a great arrow stamp that matches that zip strip perfectly! (Wait for it…)

Year Noted scrapbook page

On this more traditional scrapbook page, the artist has taken the stamping up a notch with embossing to match it to the shimmer of the golden foil stickers again. Ooooh, shiny!

Check out the versatility of the dotted line stamps in this set. The image stamped across the bottom and middle of the page makes an understated border, while you’ve also got an image ideal for creating journaling lines. Top off your journaling with a few fancy bullet points made from golden foil stickers. Or, if you like a checkbox look, stamp a few the way you see them done on this page.

Arrow stamp

There’s that true arrow stamp! Told ya it was cute. A classic stamp image works great whether it is in the spotlight or playing a more subtle role as an accent.

Year Noted stamps

The clustering of the B&T trimmed cards makes a great backdrop for your photos, and stamping your favorite sentiments on them ties the whole page together nicely.

Year >> Noted is available for a few weeks yet. Get your cute stamp set (we’ll throw in the paper kit too) before the end of January!

For a chance to win a FREE Year >> Noted paper kit for yourself, share a comment below telling us about a milestone event that occurred in your life in 2014 or an event that you are looking forward to in 2015 that you plan to include in a Year >> Noted mini book or layout. Fifteen random winners will be announced next week!

Recipes:
12″ x 12″ This Year… Page
CC1032 Year >> Noted Paper Kit, Z2111 Chocolate Exclusive Inks™ Pad, Z2118 Desert Sand Exclusive Inks™ Pad, Z891 VersaMark™ Ink Pad, Z2066 Ranger™ Princess Gold Embossing Powder, Z555 Craft Heater

12″ x 12″ This Year’s Highlights Page
CC1032 Year >> Noted Paper Kit, Z2118 Desert Sand Exclusive Inks™ Pad, Z2164 Sorbet Exclusive Inks™ Pad, Z2641 Glacier Exclusive Inks™ Pad, Z891 VersaMark™ Ink Pad, Z2066 Ranger™ Princess Gold Embossing Powder, Z555 Craft Heater

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