Scrapbooking Trends...Reflections by Terri

Over the past 9 years as a Creative Memories Consultant, I have been amazed at the changes in the scrapbooking industry.  I have seen scrapbook stores come and go, but throughout this time Creative Memories has always been there for us! Many of today's scrapbooking trends have been started by Creative Memories.

Even I have experienced many changes in my life.  When I became a consultant in 2001 I was a 6th grade teacher who worked Creative Memories part time, primarily on Saturdays. Many of you attended my monthly crops at Legacy Church of Christ.

Some of you traveled to Hobby House Hill with me for  a Scrapbooking Retreat.

Others came with me to Arlington Convention Center to attend Celebrate Dallas.

Today I am a full time consultant holding events in my home.  My formal living/dining room has been converted into Terri's Scrappin' Spot with 6 individual scrapbooking nooks just for you with room for 6 more in the den.

Creative Memories is no longer just for scrapbookers! Our mission is to help families organize, store and display their digital and traditonal photos.  We provide acid-free, lignin-free, buffered and bleed resistant products.  From scrapbook albums to decorative papers, we meet or exceed ISO 18902, the international standard for photo preservation and storage.

What good are great photos if you can't find the one you want?  Imagine your child asking for that photo of the first time he went fishing with Grandpa for a project at scouts.  Do you know where that photo is? Is chaos a word that describes your photos? Imagine being so organized you could find that photo in no time.  Power Sort Boxes and Memory Manager 3.0 Software makes it possible.

Our Power Sort Boxes hold 1,200 4x6 or 5x7 photos.  The box is divided into 6 compartments that make it easy to sort on the spot.  The pocket inside the lid holds flat memorabilia up to 12.75 x 7. Included with each box are 6 compartment box dividers and 2 compartment lids.

How many of you have hundred or thousands of photos sitting on a hard drive or on your camera's memory card? Memory Manager 3.0 Software is the answer to photo overload. 

It offers you an easy way to organize, cross-reference and fine-tune all the photos you have trapped on your computer.  In no time you and your photos will be ready for your next project. 

If traditional scrapbooking is not for you, you may love Creative Memories StoryBook Creator.  You simply download the free software from my website, install it on your computer, then drag your digital photos into our predesigned pages, tell your story and we print the book and ship it to you.  After a short time creating digital books you will want to invest in Creative Memories StoryBook Creator Plus to be able to create incredible pages like the globe I did for  a recent book.

Creative Memories has recently teamed up with acclaimed entertainment host, proud mother and avid scrapbooker Nancy O'Dell on a book aimed at making scrapbooking quicker, easier and more fun for busy moms.  She also introduced our Hummingbird Series.  Nancy states "The hummingbird is the perfect symbol for the moments I capture in my albums.  They're moments that hover silently, linger for a beautiful instant, and then disappear.  This collection was designed to help you reach out and hold onto those moments." This beautiful collection was what I used to create a thank you note for all those who had been such a comfort when my mom died in January.

We've even changed the format of our classes. Now we offer 30 minute Photo Solution Parties. At these parties you will: Reminisce with friends and celebrate your life, stories and photos. Join us for: 1. Tips for taking better photos. 2. Solutions for organizing your printed photos or digital images.  3. Quick and easy ways to celebrate the special people and moments in your life.  You love your friends - they love their photos.  I have simple, beautiful solutions that will help them celebrate the photos and stories of their lives.  I hope you will decide to host a Photo Solution Party this spring to introduce the new, improved Creative Memories to your friends. I would love to meet your friends and share these incredible changes with them.  Contact me today if you would like to host a fun afternoon or evening for your photo taking friends. I hope you will take time to visit my website @ http://www.mycmsite.com/terrifonville.

I am also excited to introduce to you  my new Facebook Page where I hope to share photo solution tips, links to other sites and have special offers just for my Facebook Page fans. 

Just go to http://www.facebook.com/terrifonvillefamilyhistorian. If you like what you see click on the "Like" button for easy access to these tips.

I hope you will let me know how I can help you complete your scrapbooking projects.

Terri

Creative Memories Album of Hope Movement...Reflections by Terri

For many years my Mission as a Creative Memories consultant has been to convince parents to create albums for their children to show them how much they are loved and how much their parents anticipated their birth. I have observed how children (of all ages) love having an album made especially for them. It is so encouraging today that so many private high schools now "require"  parents to create an album for their graduating seniors. My wish is that public high schools would "require" the same.

As parents, we all have hopes and dreams for our children. Dr. Kenneth Condrell states "I believe photos and scrapbooks might be a parent's secret weapon. There are few tools out there that are more powerful or effective in helping to raise confident, happy, well-adjusted kids."

Over the past few monthes Creative Memories and their consultants have actually started an Album of Hope Movement which basically inspires families to not delay but to start working on these albums now! They have set up some fairly basic guidelines including some HOPE statements to help you get started.  Since few of you will take the time to go to the Album of Hope facebook page I couldn't resist sharing with you some HOPE statements to inspire you to start working on your child's album today. Use these statements or do as I did and create some of your own. Then just add your photos!

Inspiration:

Use these HOPE statements to get started creating your album...I have added a few favorite photos to help inspire you!

• I HOPE family is always most important to you...

• I HOPE you will find strength in your faith...

• I HOPE you find the love of your life...

• I HOPE you will know that you can count on your mother and father to be there for you...

• I HOPE you will forever have a special bond with each other...

• I HOPE you will take time each day to read God's word...

• I HOPE that you will always love reading and learning...

• I HOPE you will find beauty in the world God created for you...

• I HOPE you explore your creative spirit and are never afraid to color outside the lines...

•  I HOPE you treasure your friendships and choose friends that bring out the best in you...

• I HOPE you always remember how you felt after 9/11...

• I HOPE your humor will surface when you are faced with difficult situations in life...

• I HOPE you remember when you need a place of comfort, a hand to hold, and a heart that cares about your happiness...you will come home...

Although my kids are grown I'm joining the Album of Hope Movement to encourage you to become a part of this effort to raise the next generation of happy, healthy, confident kids! I hope you will join me today!


Check out the Album of Hope Fan Page on Facebook then visit my website http://www.mycmsite.com/terrifonville to download FREE predesigned templates or shop for traditonal or quick solutions to help you create your own Album of Hope.

If you have not had a chance yet, please stop by my Creative Memories page www.facebook.com/TerriFonvilleFamilyHistorian on facebook.  If you like what you see I hope you will check "Like" and come back often for easy solutions to your photo dilemmas. Terri

Raindrops on Roses and Whiskers on Kittens...Reflections by Terri

Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens...these words bring back such fun memories to me.  When my children were small we started a family tradition...every Sunday afternoon after church & lunch we would put a movie into the player, pop some popcorn and watch one of our favorite movies. As you might guess The Sound of Music was one of our favorites.  Many of these family traditions I was able to capture on our small point and shoot camera. I faithfully had them developed (as funds would allow) and like many of  you put them in shoe boxes in my closet.  Unfortunately many of my photos began deteriorating badly from the acid and lignen given off  by these boxes.

Luckily for my photos, in 1994 a dear friend introduced me to Creative Memories.  I learned how much damage shoe boxes could do to my treasured family memories. So I began moving my photos into safe albums as quickly as I could.

A few years later, Creative Memories started offering Power Sort Boxes.  I must say that if I had to choose my very favorite thing Creative Memories produces it would be Power Sort Boxes! These wonderful boxes enable me to properly store my photos.  As soon as I finish sharing my latest photos I place them in these boxes. The dividers that come with the boxes allow me to easily organize them. I try to take time right then to write down a few details including the reason I chose to take these photos as well as where and when I took them. The Power Sort Box holds 1200 4x6 or 5x7 photos divided into 6 compartments. Hopefully you can learn from my mistakes.

Photo Tip: Don't leave your photos in the envelopes and boxes that your developer puts them in! Your photos will begin to deteriorate much faster left in them.  Instead invest in a couple Power Sort Boxes.  

My second favorite thing from Creative Memories has to be Memory Manager 3.0. Memory Manager 3.0 Software is the answer to photo overload.  It offers you an easy way to organize, cross reference and fine-tune all the photos you have trapped on your computer! It's incredible how quickly you can have your photos ready for your next project. It is especially user friendly.  I have used several other digital organization software programs and none compare to Creative Memories Memory Manager 3.0.

This software came in especially useful a few years ago when one of Jerry's aunts offered to share Granny Fonville's family photos.  In exchange for allowing me to borrow them and scan them onto my computer I agreed to make a heritage album for her.  I had no idea what an incredible task this would become! She shared with me hundreds of photos., some dating back to the 1800's.

 Thankfully I had Memory Manager 3.0 Software to help with this immense task.  Using this software I can scan the photos, record the story that Granny faithfully wrote on the backs of each photo and then restore much of the damage time has done to them, while still keeping a digital copy of the photo in it's initial state.  I can not imagine attempting to tackle this task without Memory Manager 3.0!

I could write on and on about the wonderful products that Creative Memories has made available to help us preserve and protect those precious photos that record the memories of our lives. Instead I would like to share a list of my top 12 favorite "things" and a few photo tips to help solve some of your photo dilemmas. I hope these will prove useful to you.  Terri

Terri's Top 12 Favorite Creative Memories Products:

1. Power Sort Boxes
2. Memory Manager 3.0
3. 12x12 Coversets
4. 12x12 Spargo photo-safe pages
5. 12x12 photo safe polypropylene page protectors
6. Hummingbird Personal Trimmer
7. Frosted Photo Splits
8. Multi-Purpose Tool & Clips
9. Custom Cutting System
10. 12-inch Rotary trimmer
11. PicFolio Photo Albums
12. Power Palettes

Terri's Photo Tips:

1. Get closer to your subject!
2. Now get a little closer...either physically or using your zoom lens!
3. Turn off your flash and take some indoor shots using natural light!
4. Take lots of photos...the more photos you take the more likely you are to get some really good shots!
5. Trash the photos that don't turn out or are blurry! It's OK you've taken lots more!
6. Regularly print the photos you take, don't just store them on your computer.
7. Remove the photos from the store photo packages as soon as you get them.
8. Take the photos with you when you go to the Dr.'s office, or when you plan to wait for your kids at a sporting event or music class and take a few minutes to identify the important details about these photos. I promise you in ten years you will have forgotten why you took this photo!
9. Invest in a couple Power Sort Boxes and begin organizing those photos. You choose how to organize them...there's no right or wrong way...organize them by child...date...event...whatever works for you!
10. If you decide to put your photos in an album...keep it simple...the most important thing is your photo and the story that goes with the photo...you really don't need a lot of extra stickers and bling...it's about the photo and the story that goes with it not the decorations!