Top 10 gift ideas for the Scrapper!

With the BIGGEST shopping day of the year just around the corner and the BIGGEST Online shopping day just a few days later, I thought it would be fun to take a look at some of my "top picks" when it comes to scrapbooking gifts! Here are my 10 TOP Scrapbook related gifts for this Christmas and Holiday season.

1. Bo Bunny Press Calendar Kit - Too Cute!!
2. Heidi Swapp Jewel Art - Bling! for your layouts!
3. Making Memories - Wall Text Alphabets - I already have something similar and EVERYONE comments on how much they like it!
4. Cropperware Outside the Box - Pages in Progress Box - LOVE the magnets to keep things in place!
5. Basic Grey - Fruitcake Collection - Yummy!
6. SEI - Doodley-Doo Girl - Rub Ons - Great for stockings.
7. Fiskars 12" Desktop Rotary Trimmer - Cute colors and very functional!
8. Die Cuts with a View Adhesive Ribbon - Need I say more...it's ribbon AND it's adhesive!
9. Doodlebug Designs - Goodie Box - Christmas Collection - It's embellishments in a candy cane shaped box! What can I do with the empty box? Hmm....
10. Bazzill Basics - Bazzill Bling Trios - Shimmer Cardstock - Perfect in the blues for Winter layouts!

That's it...my top 10 picks and the BEST thing is that I can order them all at Scrapbook.com! Purchase all your Christmas scrapbooking supplies from the Scrapbook.com Superstore!

Now, if you feel like your top pick should be on my list, just hit the comment button below and tell me about yours!

Hope all my US friends have a great Thanksgiving! Happy shopping, too!

Susan W

<>

If you had an inside connection ...

...to Santa, what would you ask him to give you for Christmas?

Yep, back to starting off with the "Question of the Week!" again. I can hardly believe how the marketing for Christmas has already been coming so hard! Didn't we just have Labor Day and Back to School???

Of course, I'd love to know what your answers are that are scrapbook related, but really anything goes.

Our family recently put together some "dreams" that we'd like to accomplish in our lifetimes. One of those is a 15 x 15 scrapbook room with plenty of work space along the walls and TONS of storage.

One of my non-scrap related wishes is a REAL vacation! Not one away from the children, but just one away from the daily grind of reality. Let's just say I've had my fill of daily loads of laundry, washing dishes and just trying to "stay ahead" of the tidal wave of housework! I'd love to take a trip to Disney World for a whole week and just really enjoy ourselves.

Do share your wishes! Oh, and if you've got a little scrapbooker or artist in the family, you might enjoy this website: Kidz Worxx.

Just click on the comment link below to leave your "wishes" here...

Susan W

I think I've gotten all the bugs!

I am pleased to announce that my new product, "How to Plan a Highly Successful Scrapbook Crop" is now ONLINE!! After staying up WAY past my bedtime and it still not being done, to finally getting it all on the net after ironing out a few "bugs and glitches", I am so glad it's finished!

I hope you will check it out. It's been the main focus of my attention for the past couple weeks and now it's available for you! I've got an introductory offer you won't want to pass up. I can't say how long it will be there, but the faster you act the better! Basically it will teach you how to hold your own scrapbook crop for profit.

Now that this project is complete I can focus on getting some Fall theme titles to you. Here are some that "came to me" after being inspired by the beautiful foliage here in North Carolina:

Falling for Autumn
Leaves Galore!
The Colors of God's Handiwork
Cool Breeze, Fall Trees
Pumpkin Patch Fever

I'll try to bring you some more next week when my brain is more functional than it is right now!

Have a Happy Halloween!

Susan W

Pet lovin' scrappers unite!

Our family has been living in sort of a zoo lately...and I'm not even talking about the 4 children!! Our family has grown to include a hound mix puppy named Trooper (who weighs in at 50 pounds of solid muscle!), an 8 week old kitten named Sambo, and a mouse named Minnie!

Trooper is our first dog and it's like having another toddler in the house! He's really a very sweet dog and great with the kids. I know we will love having him be a part of our family for years to come...we just need to work on some obedience training for now.

With our mini zoo in mind, I found this website for scrappers who love their pets. It's VIPetScrappers.com and they have a kit just for pet lovers. The site is small, but they do offer a discount.

Well, I am going to keep it short today. I have been working feverishly trying to get my new audio ready for release next week. I can't remember if I told you what it's about! Want to know?

It's about having a successful scrapbook crop, and I am not talking about the kind where you just have a few people over to your house and snack on M&M's all night. I love those, but this product I've been working on is for those who want to make money hosting and organizing a scrapbook crop.

Now, if you remember from last week, those who buy my 50 Scrapbook Crop Themes ebook from my Scrapbook Ideas website will be getting a free copy of this audio and accompanying files. This is a TREMENDOUS value, considering that the cost of this new product will be at least DOUBLE the price of that ebook.

So, from now until October 31st, anyone who buys the 50 Crop Themes ebook will get the audio free...no strings attached. It's just my way of thanking you for being a customer.

Well, it's late and I have more typing to do! See you next week!

Susan W

What a week!!

You know, I have gotten SO used to my computer and phone that it is HARD to live without them! Well, I got a taste of life without the "extras" for about a week when our house got a major surge of electricity when a lightning bolt struck somewhere very close to our house! Our main computer got fried...there was smoke coming out the back...and our phone lines got cooked too!

The kicker is that all my photos were on that computer and I don't know if we can get them! Guess that's the bummer about going digital. I just never thought it would happen and I never got hard copies of about 7 months of photos! UGH!

This leads me to my "Question of the Week" for this week. How long after you take your photos do you actually turn them into a hard copy? This goes for 35mm and digital scrappers because I know many of us keep undeveloped rolls of film around for AGES before we make a point of getting them developed!

So, let me know I am not alone, ok? :o)

Also, just in case you have some cute baby photos around, DotPhoto is holding a baby photo contest. Not only can you enter their contest, but with Christmas coming, you can Create personalized gifts with your
photos! Join dotPhoto today and receive 50 FREE Prints!


Until next time...

Susan W

P.S. Oh, I almost forgot! I have been hard at work (while my internet was down ;o) working on a recording about how to host a highly successful scrapbook crop. I plan to release it on Halloween, October 31st, but as a special "Lightning Bolt Sale" it will be a free gift for those who have previously ordered my scrapbook crop themes eBook! So, if you've been thinking about ordering my Crop Themes eBook and have been putting it off, now is the time to get it. After the 31st, I will be combining the 2 and raising the price! Visit my scrapbook crop themes page to order now!

You know how you never expect it to take as long to unpack and get settled as it ends up taking, right?? Well, it has proven to be true in so many ways for our family! Take moving and add two trips, broken washer and dryer and 4 kids and you get the picture! Thankfully, all the travels are done (for now, anyway!) and we're starting to hang pictures on the walls and actually have a place for almost everything!

One of the big things I have yet to tackle is my scrapbook space. I have taken over our computer armoire and I think it is going to work very well for me! It's deep enough and just might have enough space for all my goodies! I can hardly wait until I have time to sit down and USE it and even just get it all organized. Funny how organizing scrapbook stuff can actually be fun, but organizing a coat closet is a chore!

Well, with October just around the corner, I thought I would share a few "Fall" ideas with you. I love taking interesting photos to use as accents in my layouts. Why not take a photo of the inside of a pumpkin before you carve it out? Or snap a shot of the seeds that you roasted?

A neat perspective on the changing leaves might be to take a photo under a tree looking up. I think this would be great for a child's layout of them looking at a tree.

Fall is apple season, too! You could make a mini album with all the yummy recipes you make from apples! This kind of album also makes a great gift for a new bride who would love to have a bunch of family recipes.

Want so fall titles? Try these out for size!

Falling for You
Leaf me Alone! (Temper tantrum outside?)
Red and Yellow Orange and Brown
A Chill in the Air
Raking in the Fun

Breast Cancer Awareness month is October, so be on the lookout for products you can buy to support this worthy cause! I know 3L adhesives has some pink products in their collection. You can find them at Scrapbook.com.

Now, for all my newsletter subscribers, I promised you a special something on my blog!! It's a $5 gift certificate from Photoworks! They have these Photo Books that make SUPER gifts and you can get a head start on all your Christmas and holiday projects by using this free book! Click here to get your free $5 gift certificate from PhotoWorks.com and be sure to use THIS coupon code: c699-38-5111-41
and, YES, you are welcome to share this link with your friends and family!

Well, I decided NOT to do a question of the week because this post is getting too long. Have a great week and hope to see you in October!

Scrapfully yours,

Susan W

From South of Mickey's Home...

Well, in spite of all the boxes in our home, we left to visit family in South FL...right after Ernesto gave them a TON of rain! And you know, for being the "Sunshine State" we sure have seen our fair share of rain...everyday of our trip! That's ok though. The girls and their daddy managed to have a blast at a local county water park and basically had it all to themselves because everyone else is in school!

Now, a while back I told you I got the Memory Mixer software from Lasting Impressions and told you I would write a review once I had a chance to play with it. I have to tell you that my mind has been spinning with all the possibilities of this software!

First of all, I LOVE the variety and selection of digital embellishments that come with the program. You have the option to buy more, but it sure would take a while to go through everything they already have loaded into the program. One nice thing is that you can stretch and turn the embellishments without the image getting distorted. VERY impressive!

Now, the things that really got my creative juices flowing have to do with the special options like adding movies and music. Imagine having a digital prom album for your daughter that includes the prom theme song!! Or a wedding album with photos of the bride and groom taking their first dance WITH the music of the song playing in the background! Or, better yet, include a video of them dancing from the wedding! Is this AWESOME or what??

I think the thing about this program is that it is very obvious that the designers either did a TON of research on scrapbooking or they're scrapbookers themselves. I did two pages with photos of my three year old in just a few minutes...much less time that it would have taken me to get all my scrapbook gear out, find the photos, coordinate all the embellishments, and put the page together.

Am I going to stop scrapbooking the traditional way now? Not likely, but I will definitely be doing much more videos now that I have a great way to incorporate them into a form I might actually use!

So...I give the Memory Mixer (full version) software a hearty 2 Thumbs Up, WAY UP!! This was my first attempt at digital scrapbooking and I must say it is GREAT for a beginner, but has enough "extras" to please a more advanced user. You have GOT to check it out.

Ok, enough about that. I guess I get a little chatty when I haven't posted in 2 weeks! My question of the week has to do with vacations. I wanted to know if you have ever taken a scrapbook vacation. Have you ever gone on one of those scrapbooking cruises? What about those retreats that seem so wonderful? Let us all know what you've done and give us some pointers!

Well, I better sign off now! In case you didn't know, September is National Sewing Month, so dust off your sewing machine and try stitching on some layouts this month! Hope you had a great Labor Day weekend!

Susan W.