Jennifer with Violets

I bought a pot of tulips today! They will have to stay on the dining table for a few weeks but they are a symbol that spring is coming. Up here in the cold northern states, we really look forward to the spring. The term 'spring thaw' is very real-- and very welcome-- when you have been looking at several feet of snow for the last 6 months.

"There is a good reason they call these ceremonies 'commencement exercises.' Graduation is not the end; it's the beginning." ~Orrin Hatch

I admit it, I am a VERY productive scrapper. I get pages done. And cute ones too. I journal, I embellish, I add handmade doodads as well as store-bought. I honestly can say that after 13 years of scrapping, I make great scrapbooks. And I do them fast. Need a two-page layout design in 45 minutes or an album in a week? No problem. I get asked all the time HOW I do it?

I will share with you my straightforward and simple process. If you can master this, you can get a LOT more done in your limited scrapbooking time. I can get up to 160 kits packed in a weekend and later get up to a hundred pages assembled in a week. And I do it consistently, incorporating the cutest and newest materials and accents. But you don't want to hear me brag. You want to know HOW to do this for yourself.

Planning is the key.

Did you know that an inch of pattern paper is estimated to be 100 sheets or 75 finished pages?

Did you know that one inch of cardstock is roughly 50 pages finished? How many inches do YOU have? How many pages do you do a year?

Do you have over 12 inches (1 foot) of cardstock or printed paper? Do you realise that is enough paper for 1000 pages? Are you stockpiling for someday when you already own enough paper to do thousands of pages?

Did you know that one tin/set of 100 eyelets makes and average of 20 pages? (And how many sets of 100 do YOU own?)

Did you know that many paper packs and multi sheet slabs usually have 10-20% of their patterns that will not suit you within a pack? (one sheet in 5 may not be to your taste so don't keep it in the stash--share!)

Did you know that each sticker sheet you own will do aproximately a two page layout? If you have binder full of stickers it will equal about 300 pages to use them up?

Did you know that each yard of fiber you own will make 1-2 pages? If you own a skein of knitting yarn, they contain between 100-200 yards of fiber? At that rate it will take you 100-200 pages of JUST THAT SKEIN to use up that yarn ball on layout pages? (SHARE!!)

One of the most difficult challenges we face is what to pack for a cropping party. Crops are times for us to get together with others who share the hobby and get some pages done. We socialize and create and gab and snack. Crops are one of the best parts of scrapbooking. We get to enjoy our hobby and our friends at the same time. What fun!

The dilemma is packing for a crop. How will you know what to bring and what to leave home? You do NOT want to pack everything you own. You'd be shuffling supplies all night and your friends would be giving you dirty looks for hogging all the table and floor space! You want to stay focused and organized. You want to travel as light as possible. How can we do it? Here's help!

Who was your high school music teacher? What songs do you love to hear at holiday recitals? Have you ever jammed with a real rock band? Music triggers memories. Have you documented yours?

Start playing some toe-tapping tunes and take a look through your photos. Glance below and see if any of these themes apply to your musical memories. Recitals, rally anthems, marching band ditties, cheerleading fight songs, talent shows, and concerts should all be remembered for the good times they were.

What do Magic Scraps, 7 gypsies, Goudy, Daisy D's, K and Co, Dannielle Johnson, Karen Russell, Creative Imaginations, Sweetwater, EK Success, Dibona and Artistic Expressions have in common? They have all produced fabulous clear plastic overlays for scrapbooking use.

Words, Words, Words! Face it, words are IN. I love words! Using alphabets of all kinds are a hot trend. I love to use metal letters, tiles, stickers, pre-made vellum wording, and ANY kind of lettering on my pages. Everywhere I go, I notice lettering styles and fonts. Am I sick? Obsessed? No, I just love words!

Help me celebrate this month: in honor of my turning a happy forty-something, let's explore all things birthday! Since each and every person we care about has a celebration of this kind, doing birthday pages pose a special problem. Are your birthday pages boring?

If you are running out of unique birthday treatments for your party photos, read on. What do you need? Title ideas? Page layout concepts? A fresh look at a classic celebration?

Simple, fast, efficient, and awesome. Those are a few of the buzzwords in scrapbooking today. We want to use tools we have on hand and make fantastic pages. We want to speed up the pace a bit and still have a coordinated look to our albums.

Do you know you can get 12 photos on a 12x12 page? (See figure 1 above.) You can do it using the simple Coluzzle-brand cutting templates and swivel knife that you may already own!