Love your Pictures, Love your Pages class

I've been unable to find time to scrapbook for a while, hence my quiet blog also. Hoping that having signed up for Love your Pictures, Love your Pages at shimelle.com will be a bit of an inspiration to me - but I have already managed to start three days late!

Which kind of scrapper are you?

OK I admit it - I'm a clutter bunny. Are you?

Scrapping clutter bunny
Each piece of clutter holds an important memory and you know you will scrap it someday... But make sure your memorabilia reminds you of positive things and not negative ones!

Scrapping collector
Every object that you collect is a reflection of who you are and what you have achieved. As a collector you like to never stop at just one of something - or even two - the more the merrier... The objects you collect are a major part of your identity. For a scrapper this means the type who has every bottle of Prima flowers ever sold or a pile of papers just for stroking, that you would never ever use. Think - what is scrapbooking really all about?

Mucky pup
This scrapper simply can't be bothered to clear up. (Men more often fall into this category, generally!) However, clutter creates its own stress and makes more work - you can never find the embellies you're looking for, or you discover the paper you were looking for, at the bottom of the pile, half creased and half covered in coffee. Cut that clutter, and clear up, even if it's an effort - it will save effort in the long run!

Busy bee
You're so busy that when you get a moment you want to scrap not sort out. But, gradually, forgetting to deal with those little things starts to cause problems. As time moves on the piles of clutter don't. Then you start with that feeling of "not being in control" and you can't find anything. Luckily, most busy bees will eventually make the time to deal with this.

Write it on Wednesday - What’s in a name?

What’s in a name?

Juliet: in Romeo and Juliet:

Tis but thy name that is my enemy;
Thou art thyself, though not a Montague.
What's Montague? it is not hand, nor foot,
Nor arm, nor face, nor any other part
Belonging to a man. O, be some other name!
What's in a name? that which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet;
So Romeo would, were he not Romeo call'd,
Retain that dear perfection which he owes
Without that title. Romeo, doff thy name,
And for that name which is no part of thee
Take all myself.

A US couple in 2001 who tried to find a corporate sponsor for their baby son failed to find a bidder. Jason Black and Frances Schroeder used eBay and Yahoo! to auction the name of their third child. They were aiming for at least $500,000 so they could name their little boy Cisco, Microsoft, Intel, or whatever. But time ran out. Under New York State law, the deadline to put a first name on the boy's birth certificate came and went without a substantial offer. So instead, his parents decided to simply call him - Zane.

If you think about it, there are probably many stories about names. And not just people’s names, but names of houses, boats, pets…

What’s the story behind that name? What happened when someone got the name wrong? What name do you like best?

More Write it on Wednesday

Scrapbooks in Order: Organizing your scrap supplies

It must be the new year – the scrap blogs are awash with organisational tips.

I’m certainly up for re-organising my scrap supplies. My ribbons have overflowed their current storage and I either have to use up some of them (nooo!!!) or find a different way to store them. Plus I have so much stash I can’t use it effectively any more.

Here are some links to organising scrap supplies:

MM Blog: organizing your embellishments http://makingmemories.typepad.com/makingmemories/2008/01/organizing-yo-1.html

MM Blog: how do you stay organized – with 700 tips from readers in the comments!
http://makingmemories.typepad.com/makingmemories/2008/01/how-do-you-stay.html

How to Organize Your Scrapbook Room!
http://kadordea.blogspot.com/2008/01/how-to-organize-your-scrapbook-room.html

Ribbon storage
http://scrapbookobsession.wordpress.com/2008/01/01/scrapbook-organization-more-on-ribbon-storage/

You’re not alone…
http://scrapbookobsession.wordpress.com/2007/12/18/scrapbook-organization-my-spaceagain/

Free planner downloads from Creating Keepsakes
http://www.creatingkeepsakes.com/mag/index.ihtml?issue=January+2008

General organisation tips
http://robindiniphotography.blogspot.com/2008/01/time-to-organize.html

Downloadable papers and digi-scrapping elements

I occasionally scrap digitally - usually only as a test to be created in paper later, or if I haven't time to get all the paper and glue out. Ideas that go on the blog are most often roughly scrapped digitally! So it's great to find places where one can download free goodies which can be used for digi scrapping or printed out and used for regular scrapping.

Canon's Scrapbook site
http://cp.c-ij.com/english/scrapbook/index.html
Downloads including patterned paper (there are some lovely Chiyogami patterns)

Some Gwen Stefani designs are offered by HP
http://welcome.hp.com/country/uk/en/welcome.html

Digi-scrapping free downloads (personal use only) from http://theephemeralvictorian.blogspot.com/

Maria's blog has a freebie search engine, DigiFree. It's a computerised search engine that scans blogs for possible links to digital scrapping freebies and their previews.