Mel's Scrapbook Blog

Simply A-May-zing!

2009-07-11T12:28:00.000-07:00

May was one of the craziest months I have ever experienced. It was a time of non-stop family milestones and events including a baptism, wedding, graduation (three graduates - two ceremonies), concerts, recitals, senior awards, etc. I have enough photos from the month of May to keep me busy for the entire summer! I hope to post more as the summer progresses. For starters, here is one of my favorite photos from the wedding. Congratulations Jason & Kim!

East Harbor

2009-03-08T18:09:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite places to go is East Harbor State Park. It is just a short drive from home and it is relaxing to just sit and look at the water. I don't often visit in the winter, but this past Thursday we decided to drive over since the weather was fairly warm. We were treated to an unexpected surprise of a herd of young deer grazing near the entrance. They were a little wary of us, but allowed us to get surprisingly close.

Snow Day Scrapbooking

2009-02-03T16:06:00.001-08:00

One of the advantages of this snowy winter along with a few snow days is being able to sit at the computer and scrapbook. This is one of my favorite photos of Lily from last summer.

Emily: Class of 2009

2009-02-03T15:59:00.000-08:00

It is hard to believe, but Emily and Ethan are both seniors and graduation is approaching fast. Last August they both allowed me to take a few senior pictures. This is one of my favorites of Emily sitting on the rocks on the shore of Sandusky Bay.

Winter in Ohio

2009-01-07T03:30:00.000-08:00

Winter in Ohio brings all kinds of weather. The week before Christmas we were hit with an ice storm. Everything was coated with a thick layer of ice making the landscape treacherous but beautiful. The smaller photo was of the holly in front of my home and if you look closely you will see the cord from the Christmas lights. The background photo was of the trees at the Blue Heron Reserve, a wildlife observation area.

Records Were Made To Be Broken

2008-10-05T17:47:00.000-07:00

This past Saturday was a record setting day for my nephew Ethan. So here's a little digital tribute to his accomplishments. The background paper is from the soccer digital pack from Creative Memories. The starburst shapes are digitally cut from the everyday pack included with the software.

The beauty of doing this page digitally is that I can change the numbers on his stats when he scores more goals. In case you are wondering why there is only a picture of the ball in the net, the photographer had a moment of temporary insanity while screaming and jumping around watching the game and missed getting the good photo opportunities. After the excitement died down this was the best I could do.

Congratulations Ethan!

Soccer Season

2008-09-23T18:22:00.000-07:00

September means soccer season and this year is no exception. So far I have taken well over 1000 soccer photos since late August! I think I have at least a few good pictures of most players and hopefully I'll get more in the next couple of weeks. Needless to say, I was very happy to see the soccer digital kit from Creative Memories. These pages use a few of the embellishments from that kit.

For details about this year's team, check out the official team website at www.clydesoccer.com

Here's to more exciting Flier soccer games!

Congratulations Abbey!

2008-09-06T17:25:00.000-07:00

My niece, Abbey, received her master's degree from BGSU this summer on a beautiful August Saturday. We all traveled to Bowling Green bright and early to attend the ceremony.

These pages were made with Creative Memories StoryBook Creator 2. The background and swirls are from Shabby Princess kits. One of the features I appreciate in this software is that you are not limited to using Creative Memories products on the pages. While I really like their products, it is nice to have the flexibility to mix in digital elements from other sources. The "Dream Big" wording is from the Creative Memories Mod kit.

Abbey, we are proud of you!

Digital Die-cuts

2008-08-26T18:21:00.001-07:00

One of the options in CM's StoryBook Creator Plus is the ability to "cut" shapes out of digital paper. In this layout using pictures of flowers taken at my brother and sister-in-law's home, I used a background from the Mod paper pack. I used a flower from the nature shapes for the daisy and a shape from the geometric shapes for the center of the flower.

August Roses

2008-08-06T11:21:00.000-07:00

August is a great time for roses and despite the hot, dry weather a few of mine have been putting on quite a show. Here a couple of my favorites this week.

This page is in the 12 x 12 size and uses the green paper from the CM Primary Pack. I slightly recolored it to a bit more of a yellow tint and reduced the opacity to highlight the photos. I added a small black mat to the photos. The leaves at the bottom of the page are from the CM Hannah Montana set and the black photo corners are from the CM Office Supplies Embellishments.

I often reduce the opacity of backgrounds or sections of the page. It is like creating digital vellum only without the need to worry about adhesive showing. Since I print most of my pages at home, an added bonus to this technique is the amount of ink my printer consumes is greatly reduced. To reduce the opacity of any element on a page, open the tools tab. Opacity is on the right side of the screen in the effects section.

All Ohio State Fair Choir

2008-07-26T08:00:00.000-07:00

It is state fair time in Ohio! One of the highlights of the fair is the choir. Made up of high school students from all over the state, it has always been one of my favorite parts of the fair. Last year my niece was able to be a member of the choir and so I enjoyed it even more. By the way, the band is also great! High school students are now in Columbus practicing for opening day next week.

This page was made from a few photos from last year's fair. The background of the page was made from the "Promise" collection from Shabby Princess. The gold paper clip and masking tape are from the Creative Memories Office Embellishments package in gold. Check out the choir's web page and blog link at www.aosfyc.com See you at the fair!

StoryBook Creator Plus Sample Pages

2008-07-22T16:24:00.000-07:00

Here are a few of my latest creations. The tractor and clematis pages were created using the "Fancy Free" set of pages which are available free from Creative Memories. The brown page was made from the new CM Hannah Montana kit. All of the pages have been re-colored to more closely coordinate with the colors in the photos. That is one of the nicest features of the program - almost everything can be re-colored exactly the way you want it resulting in endless possibilities.

Digital Scrapbooking

2008-07-22T16:13:00.000-07:00

Two of my favorite hobbies are photography and scrapbooking. I will probably always enjoy traditional scrapbooking, but lately I have been using StoryBook Creator Plus by Creative Memories for digital scrapbooking. I had tried several other programs for digital scrapbooking and became discouraged with either the length of time it takes to learn them or with the lack of flexibility in the program. When my CM consultant told me about this program, I was anxious to try it. It is simply the best program I have found for digital scrapbooking considering price, ease of use, and creative options. I'm hoping that through this blog I can share a little of what I have learned about the program and also learn more about it from anyone who reads this blog.

I am not a Creative Memories consultant, just an enthusiastic customer. If any of you want more information about Creative Memories, it is easy to locate consultants near you from their website. If you can't find anyone, let me know and I'll tell you about my great consultant, Mary Ellen.

July 5, 2008

2008-07-13T18:32:00.000-07:00

This is one of my favorite photos from this year's fireworks.