How You Doin'? Want to Spend National Scrapbook Day with Me? (and other pick-up lines)

If I were Joey from the classic TV show "Friends," I'd use my most inviting voice to entice you to spend National Scrapbook Day with me. This Saturday people across the globe will be celebrating the hobby and beloved past-time of scrapbooking. Here are just a few ways you can share the day with me:



Two Peas in a Bucket:
 
Two Peas in a Bucket will be hosting several challenges, chats, and giveaways throughout the day. Look for a chat with Celine Navarro and I at 9 a.m. CST. I'll also share a challenge with you that hits on a popular trend, and you can win a prize for playing along. Be sure to check out the forum and gallery for all the details!






Big Picture Scrapbooking:


Team 10k, is going big at Big Picture Scrapbooking with the goal of encouraging memory keepers everywhere of uploading 10,000 scrapbook layouts to Instagram. You can join in the fun by sharing one of your layouts with all of us as well. You can find all the details of this exciting event HERE. Watch my Instagram HERE and social media feeds this week for some fun sneak peeks and shares. Yesterday I shared one of my earliest layouts that was shockingly published in 1998 (man, we've come a long way).

Here’s how to join the fun:
  1. Register for our National Scrapbook Day “10k” for FREE here.

  2. Log in to our private online classroom on Saturday, May 3, every hour from 9:00am PT to 6:00pm PT for a new quick-scrapbooking tip from one of our 10 amazing instructors.
  3. Follow @bigpictureclasses [http://instagram.com/bigpictureclasses] on Instagram to keep up with the fun and be eligible for our sponsored prize giveaways.
  4. Create as many pages as you can on National Scrapbook Day and post them to Instagram, using @bigpictureclasses tag and #NSD10k hashtag. Every full layout image you post (no close-ups or detail shots) is an entry into our random prize drawings.
  5. If you don't have a smartphone or Instagram account, you can upload layout images to the classroom gallery instead for some alternate prizes.
Deadline for uploading layouts is Monday, May 5 at 11:00pm PT. Prize winners will be announced in the classroom and on our Instagram feed on Tuesday, May 6. Important note: Your Instagram account must be set to public, at least for the duration of this event, in order for your posted layouts to be eligible for our prize giveaways. (We won't be able to see them otherwise.)


Scrapbook and Cards Today Magazine:

Looking for MORE fun? How about joining Scrapbook and Cards Today Magazine on their blog HERE from 9 a.m. until 9 p.m. with 15 blog posts in 15 hours with challenges, ideas, and more. Look for more than 24 prizes from their fantastic sponsors. It's going to be an amazing day filled with inspiration! Look for a special project from me as well.



Echo Park Paper/Carta Bella Paper:

Design Team Coordinator Wendy Sue Anderson has some excited things planned for the day on each company's blog. You can watch for more details coming HERE soon! Prizes and challenges will be included.


So no matter what you're doing, have fun doing it. Share your memories and love of memory keeping with others. Having these stories is important for our posterity. Happy National Scrapbooking Day (a bit early!)

Make It Meaningful Scrapbook Process Video #16: Sweet Dreams

First of all, thank you for all the sweet comments about my son's passing anniversary on yesterday's blog post. It is important to me to feel that he is not forgotten, and to have so many loving comments left means the world to my family and I. Thank you!



In this week's "Make It Meaningful" scrapbook process video hosted by Two Peas in a Bucket I create a baby scrapbook layout. This week I discuss how some times someone else's "milestone" can have meaning for YOU! Be sure to visit the project HERE for more details about this layout.

Make It Meaningful #16: Sweet Dreams

Here is a closer look at the layout:




You can find additional information on this layout and video HERE at 2Peas.

In the scrapbook process video, I discuss how taking newborn photos of my niece had meaning to both my sister and I. You can watch the video HERE on the 2Peas Youtube channel or below: 



Below I suggest a few "baby" products you can use for recreating this project. You can also use items that simply match the look and feel of your layout so it doesn't have to be all "baby."

Suggested Products (click photos for product links):


Surviving Losing a Child

You don't really survive losing a child. You simply learn to live through it. Survival to me indicates some kind of thriving after a sacrifice or tragedy. And after losing our oldest son, Joseph, to cancer I hardly feel like a survivor.

Seven years ago today, our beautiful son Joseph Brett passed away after a battle with colon cancer. Diagnosed with the cancer in early December, he lived only four months past his diagnosis. Those four months were the most excruciating, painful, dark days I've ever experienced.

You can read Joey's story HERE.



Seven years later we are in a good place. A good place means that we miss him daily, but we don't break down sobbing as we did in those early days. A good place means that we carefully watch our children to see how they are managing, but we don't worry as much as we once did. A good place means we know that he has returned home with a loving Heavenly Father, even though we wish he could have stayed here longer with us.

In those early days, "surviving" meant trying to breathe, trying to get up, trying to function. You often wonder if your body can take any more pain and if it's possible for a body to function under the stress and strain and ache of losing a child. It is dark. Frightening. Confusing. You are lost. You are disconnected.

Some days I was surviving by moving from one minute to the next. Sometimes it was hour by hour. And with the years it has become more day-to-day or month-to-month.

Surviving the loss of a child means you are forever altered. It means you don't find joy in things you once did because they seem less important or no longer fit your new, altered personality. It means you worry about being around people that remind you of your son. It means you ache over other children's milestones that remind you that he isn't here to enjoy them as well. It means being more sad, more somber, and yet more compassionate. It does not give you words to comfort those who are also sad. Because there are no words to truly comfort someone going through loss.

Surviving the loss of a child means you have to explain to people when they ask you how many children you have why your oldest child "would have been 20." It means explaining things that make other people feel uncomfortable, even though you're grateful that they asked.

Surviving the loss of a child means questioning how to celebrate their birthday, how to honor their life, and how to continue to parent a child who is no longer with you. You wish there was a handbook on "surviving" as a parent of a child who is gone.

Surviving the loss of a child means pretending sometimes that they are simply at school, or on a Scout camp because you can't wrap your brain around the fact that they are never coming home again.

Surviving the loss of a child means you aren't who you used to be. It means people wish you were that previous person. It means you withdraw. It means you lose some of the fun inside yourself. It means that you don't stop living but that you live in a new way.

Surviving the loss of a child means that you both do and don't want to share your child with others. You do want others to remember him, but you don't want to hear that they are connecting with him on some level when you don't feel that you are. You want people to feel his love, but you want to selfishly feel it more than anyone else. It means talking about him when you don't want to, and wishing sometimes that you could but don't because you're sparing someone else's feelings.

Surviving the loss of a child means you become the "walking wounded" with a hole in your soul so large there is no bandaid big enough to cover it. It is happiness and joy and pain and hurt and suffering and love all mingled together in a mess of emotions you can't always control.

Surviving is simply living. It is trying to let the pain go but not the memories. It is moving towards him instead of leaving him in the past. It is not really surviving, but is living as best you can.

Today I remember a boy that was more magical and more wonderful than I have words within me to describe. He deserved a good life--a great life. He deserves a place of peace without pain. He deserves to have earned the right to return to Heaven. I KNOW he is with Heavenly Father spending his days with my brother Mark who also returned home early. I miss him every moment of every day, but today I honor his suffering, his triumph over death, and his faithfulness.

I love you, Joseph!

SNAP Conference 2014: Details Coming Soon!


This weekend I've been attending the SNAP Conference. I have lots of cool things to share with you. You can find my photos of the event HERE on my Instagram feed. So far I've interacted with other bloggers, taken a thrift store tour, taken a class on hiring help for your brand, and interacted with many of the VERY cool sponsors.



I'm off again this morning to learn all I can about blogging and how to grow my brand. In the meantime, you can check out my latest 2Peas "Make It Meaningful" video HERE. Here's a little peek at the project I created this week:


I'll be back soon with a full review of the event and to share more on my latest scrapbook process video.

You're Never Too Old For Easter

I was a little worried about Easter this year. As the kids get older, my role has changed quite a bit. Where we used to have lots of traditions and activities, we are now figuring out what works for a 17 year old and an 11 year old. Not always willing to do the "little kid" activities any more, sometimes I'm not sure what they want to do. But I was happy to hear that they both wanted to do an Easter Egg Hunt again this year. Here are a few photos from our very quick hunt:



(Kate totally knew that her Dad would hide her "big" egg 
in the grill as she loves a good steak as does he.)


Beyond the candy and Easter baskets, we also wanted to focus on what Easter is truly about. We shared this video together as a family, and I wanted to share it here with you:

Documenting Memories: Story or Products First?

It seems like a simple question, but for some of us it's difficult to know where to start when documenting or recording our memories. When scrapbooking, do you prefer to start with the latest products you've purchased or do you have a story in mind?

To help you get started on focusing on the story first, Lain Ehmann is offering this FREE Scrapinar called "Start with the Story."



Click HERE to sign up for this amazing FREE workshop!

This one-hour Scrapinar will include tips and tricks from one of the industry's finest. As always Lain will leave time at the end of the Scrapinar for any questions you might have about storytelling. This fully interactive webinar is exactly what you're looking for if you're trying to share your personal or family's story.


Make It Meaningful Scrapbook Process Video #15: Preference Dance Mini Album


Welcome back to another "Make It Meaningful" scrapbook process video hosted by Two Peas in a Bucket. This week the Garden Girls have been discussing "Moments." Sometimes moments happen organically and you can capture all the photos you want on a special day. Other times you have to create those moments. In this week's video, I discuss the concept of creating moments.

Make It Meaningful #15: Preference Dance Mini Album

Here is a closer look at the small tag album I created:



 You can find additional information on this layout and video HERE at 2Peas.

In the scrapbook process video, I how you the inner pages of this mini album. This album is photo centric with little journaling. It's simply meant to hold some meaningful photos from her special day. You can watch the video HERE on the 2Peas Youtube channel or below:




You can find 6x6 paper pads HERE, which are great for mini albums like this. You can also find the complete supply list for this project HERE at 2Peas.
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