Angie Pedersen's The Blog of ME

Katie Says...Time to roundup August

Katie the Scrapbook Lady says it's Time to roundup August.

Choose some (or all) of the questions to answer and tasks to complete.  I promise you will feel more organized and your precious memories will at least be recorded on your roundup even if it is years before you scrapbook them.  I print out my roundup entry every month (I just copy and paste into a word document) and then put it in my journal.

...consider this a little nudge with the old spurs from Katie the Scrapbook Lady. Don’t let this sit unfinished for too long, take a few minutes and write out your answers while the month is still fresh in your mind. You will be so glad that you did!

If you want to get really ambitious, have other family members fill this out (or help them with it) for an even richer memory resource.

Thanks for the reminder again, Katie!  Love the idea of printing out a month of blog posts to keep in a binder.  That would be fun to do as an altered book/journal.

Altered Mini Lunchbox project

Another fun thing I created recently -- an altered mini lunchbox with accordion album inside.  I found this adorable little lunchbox in the Dollar Spot at Target recently -- the lunchboxes had Smarties inside.  Lemonheads and Cherry Sours were also available.  So I snagged up like three because they were just too cute!

I sanded the lids a bit, then Mod-Podge'd on some pattern paper, and added a Mary Englebreit diecut from my stash. 

I started to paint around the edges with acrylic paint to cover up the Smarties logos, but couldn't get enough coverage, so I wiped it off, and incorporated them into the project by calling the album inside "My Smarties".

 

I measured the inside dimensions and cut a long strip of black cardstock to fit inside.  I accordion folded the cardstock, and added silly photos and some bright paper accents.  Mounted the booklet inside, and voila!  A super-cute little "album" to carry in my purse.

I may head back to Target this week to see if they still have more of these little tins.  Too cute!

How do you carry albums in your purse?

technorati tags: altered+art, scrapbooking, accordion+books

Digital Photo Collage: Awesome Birthday Present!

Just had to show off a project I made recently -- a birthday gift for my dad. 

I used the FxFoto software by Triscape to create the photo collage.  The software offers 24 Collage Templates where you can just click the photo you want to use, and it will automatically resize and insert it into the collage.  Completely cool!  It took me about 15 minutes to put the collage together, and it looked so neat and clean when it was done. 

I printed it out onto acid-free cardstock, and trimmed to size.  I imported the background image into FxFoto, added the quote using the Text tool, then printed that out.

I mounted the background onto an 8x10 canvas, and Mod-Podge'd over it.  I mounted the photo collage on chipboard with spray adhesive, then attached it to the canvas, and Mod-Podge'd over that.

The whole thing went together pretty quickly, and looks awesome!  It's basically a collection of silly pictures of my kids (and one of me!), paired with a quote from my son: "With our genetics, you can't expect anything normal."  And you probably can't tell, but the background image is actually a strand of DNA -- that's been mutated.  That's my family -- full of mutant DNA!  LOL

My dad loved it, and took it to work to hang in his cube.

technorati tags: digital+scrapbooking, photo+collage, FxFoto, scrapbooking, photo+editing+software

Book of Me Ideas: New Challenge/Dare blog

Via Beth's Inspire me blog, here's a heads up on a (fairly) new Challenge/Dare blog called Beyond Appearances:

What is Beyond Appearances: a group of us gals, who want to dig farther into our lives, go deep….be real with ourselves. Join us on discovering ourselves more…[snip]

These challenges are for all women, men, etc of any age. We want to make these available to all of you, and look forward to the feedback and participation from all of you!

Challenges will be posted every second Monday…

I checked out the online galleries of the ladies that are heading up this challenge blog -- holy frijole.  Way talented.  Way.

Two challenges have already been posted, and as Beth mentioned, they are "great for BOM lo's" [Book of Me layouts].  :)  So check out this cool resource!

Book of Me Idea: List 50 Favorite Things To Do

Tasra recently posted a suggestion to create a list of 50 things you like to do.

This idea was pulled from Rookie Moms blog...here's their quick activity for anyone who needs to focus a little more on "me" time (and that includes pretty much all of us, right?).

Create a list of 50 things you like to do. This sounds like a self-help suggestion, but it’s actually really fun...

This suggestion reminded me of an article posted on ScrapYourStories: Easy as 1-2-100, by Tammy Thomas. 

Several years ago, when Rebecca Sower's first book, Scrapbooking Life's Little Treasures, first came out, scrapbookers everywhere were immediately inspired by Rebecca's idea to create a "100 Things I Love" layout.  Hundreds of examples soon filled online scrapbooking layout galleries.  Some people commented that they struggled with compiling a list of 100 things.  Tammy witnessed this challenge when teaching scrapbooking to some local grade schoolers.  She came up with a system to reach the goal of a list of 100 things:

Some have mentioned it’s difficult to come up with 100 things. For my grade school activity, I have broken it down into smaller parts to help the kids come up with that many items. Use this breakdown to come up with your own list of 100 Things You Love:

• 16 ACTIVITIES: ex. dancing, reading, playing games
• 16 THINGS: ex. roller coasters, flowers, journals, yo-yo's
• 10 PEOPLE: ex. mom, dad, aunts, friends, cousins, famous people
• 10 FOODS
• 10 PLACES
• 10 GAMES
• 5 BOOKS
• 5 MOVIES
• 5 DRINKS/BEVERAGES
• 5 ANIMALS
• 3 COLORS
• 3 SCHOOL SUBJECTS (applies to kids; adults could substitute something else)
• 2 MUSIC ARTISTS/TYPES OF MUSIC

So whether you list 50 things, or 100, whether it's activities, or just general "things" you love, follow Tasra's (and Rebecca's) lead, and make a list that reveals some of the goodness in your life.

technorati tags: book+of+me, all+about+me, Rebecca+Sower, Tasra+Dawson, scrapbooking

Scrapbooking Manufacturers Blogroll

To maximize my left margin real estate, I'm posting the code for my Scrapbook Manufacturers Blogroll in this post for future reference.

SCRAPBOOKING MANUFACTURERS BLOGROLL

Scrapbooking Blogroll

My scrapbooking blogroll is getting rather long over there in the margin, so I'm pasting the code in this post to archive it for reference.

Recap: Scrapbooking (and Angie) on TV

My "fabulous" TV interview for Chicken Soup for the Scrapbooker's Soul went well -- all two minutes of it!

Two of the three Kansas City based essay contributors were there -- me and a woman named Donna Rogers. The TV anchor, Loren Halifax, asked us two questions, and that was IT.   She asked what each of our essays were about, and why did we think scrapbooking is so appealing to so many.  When I answered the first question, I said my essay was really about "being famous", since it was about my keynote speech at the Close to My Heart convention.  Loren asked me what I'm famous for, and I said I've written three books about scrapbooking, then went on to set up the topic of my Chicken Soup essay.  Did I ONCE mention the name of ANY of the scrapbook journaling idea books I've written??  NO!  I'm still kicking myself (and my husband is still laughing about it!)

We recorded my two minutes of glory on our cable DVR, and I'm trying to figure out how to get the video onto my laptop as a digital video file (maybe via Video Out?  Any ideas out there?).  I can also call the TV station's footage archive company and get a copy for like $10, but I'm guessing that will be VHS (??), so I would still need to figure out how to convert that to digital/mpeg to post on my blog. 

So, I'm still working on details on how to get it posted, but don't feel like you missed anything HUGE -- it was over almost faster than I could blink!  LOL

My New PURSuE Your Art purse!

A couple of weeks ago, I posted about a new product launched by PURSuE Your Art.  They make "changeable art purses".  I emailed them to let them know I had blogged about them, and they were gracious enough to send me a sample to play with.

It's a really cute little bag, very thick plastic/vinyl and sturdy construction.  The ball chain handle is just the right length to hang under your arm, so you can hook your thumb under it to keep it close to your body.

The front flap folds over the interior of the purse, and has five little pockets, each 2.5" x 3.5". This  is the common size for artist trading cards (ATCs) and business cards (instant shameless self-promotion!), but of course can also hold photos and/or other artwork.  The back of the purse has three pockets, same size as the front.

My example came together in about an hour.  Of course, it would take longer, the more you embellish -- I went for the minimalist look, so it would coordinate with more everyday clothes.  The design is really easy to work with -- you can figure out how alter/embellish it just by looking at it, but the manufacturers also provide detailed instructions on their website (PDF).

In my example, the black background paper is from the Studio K "Meadow & Breeze" pad of designer papers.  I used some Paper Loft paper to make the cards in the pockets.  Some of the quotes on the cards are stickers by 7Gypsies, and some are just quotes I printed out and inked.

The first day I took it to work with me, three women stopped an commented on it within the first hour.  Women also often notice it when I'm out and about doing errands.  I can't wait to show it off at MemoryTrends in October!

Scrapbooking (and Angie) on TV

Well, I won't actually be scrapbooking on TV, but I will be talking about it.

I don't think I've mentioned...I'm going to be on FOX4 Midday News tomorrow (Thursday) -- they said about 12:45pm.  If you live in the Kansas City area, try to check it out!

There are 3 contributors to Chicken Soup for the Scrapbooker's Soul from the Kansas City area, and the FOX4 people are going to interview all of us together.  About what, I'm not exactly sure, but I'll take the free publicity!  :)

I already have our DVR set to record the show.