Win some NEW Basic Grey!

Hi there! I thought it was time for a random giveaway. It will take a wee bit of homework though. All you have to do to win is look in the AMM shop and then post a link and photo to a Christmas item that you like in the contest forum on our boards HERE (click on the link)!!!! I will announce a winner on Wednesday, 12/3/08! GOOD LUCK and MERRY EVERYTHING!!!!

HOT BARGAIN OF THE DAY

We have a NICE bargain today! Check out the Basic Grey Clear Stamp sets for Christmas. These are normally $14.99 and you can get them now for $4.50!!! WOW!!! Check it out!!!

new project kit by Lori Gentile

Have you seen this wonderful projects made by Lori Gentile for AMM?


What a good idea for christmas!
Lori have made such a beautiful christmas project. Here is the link to see it on youtube.

You can purchase the kit and the instructions in the store here.
Or can just buy the instructions here. In that case the postal charges will be refunded to you.

It's Been A Year...

It's been a year today since my daughter Chloe was diagnosed with Leukemia. It feels like 5 years since that day. I think about this day last year and I still get very upset. I still wonder why this had to happen to my daughter. I wonder what I could have done differently... It still baffles my mind why SHE has it... She has been asking me a lot lately why God created Leukemia and why He gave it to her. I hate that question!
It has been a really emotional time in the life of our family. EVERYTHING has changed! I really don't know how else to explain it.
I thought I'd share some photos of this last year. I want everyone to see how far my daughter has come. She is a fighter and the strongest little girl I have ever known! She is doing AMAZINGLY well. Absolutely NO cancer cells whatsoever in her body! She still takes medication every day and chemo once a month. She has bone marrow tests every 3 months now (there was time when she had them weekly). She is in Kindergarten, making lots of friends, in an accelerated reading program in her class and she is a budding artist. She makes us very proud!

This is a photo of Chloe from October of 2007, about a month before we learned that she had Leukemia. She was 4 years old.



This is Chloe and her Daddy in the hospital. She was probably on chemo for about a week here. She still has all of her hair and the IV in her arm.



This is the play room at the hospital. Drawing and doing craftsy projects was the only thing that would keep her interest. She would hardly talk and was unable to walk. She had been on chemo for about a month here. She gained a lot of weight. The drugs made her look really puffy and she started to get the apetite of a grown man.


Chloe was able to go home on Christmas Eve from the hospital. She was in and out for a few months after that. She'd get sick, or have allergic reactions to her medication. There was one point where they taught me how to give her chemo at home through her portocath, so I wouldn't have to take her to the hospital. This was me and Nurse Teri taking the needle out of her portocath. She was still able to hold onto a little hair at this point. She wouldn't let me cut it.

February, 2008 ~ This was Chloe on her 5th birthday enjoying a cupcake. I think this is the worst that she looked. Very sickly, but believe it or not, she behaved just like any other 5 year old on her birthday! It was a good day for her.

March, 2008 ~ By Easter Chloe was beginning to look and act like her old self again.

July, 2008 ~ Chloe started her last round of intense chemo in May. This last round was so bad that she woke up one day and ALL OF HER HAIR had fallen out! Seriously! That fast! It was all over her clothes, her pillow, all over the bed. I couldn't believe it! This was a rough time because her attitude was BAD! She was on a steroid that just killed her personality ~ always angry and just a general sense of joylessness. It was rough!


One of the happiest days of my life was the day that she started Kindergarten, just 2 short months ago. I am teary eyed just writing this now...I was SO VERY thankful that she was able to start on time! I dropped her off and then left SOBBING!!! WE GOT HER THERE ON TIME!


Last month she was able to ride the Zamboni at a Kings game. It was Hockey Fights Cancer night at the Staples Center here in Los Angeles. Chloe was one of 2 kids with Cancer that got to ride around in the Zamboni between periods.


Well, so that is a quick summary of Chloe's last year. I am so very proud of my little girl. So, today is 1 year. She has 1 1/2 more years of chemo, then she is done. If the Cancer does not return for 5 years, she will be considered cured. So we pray everyday that she will not relapse and that she makes it to 12 years old just like any other child. As her doctor's say, we are still climbing up the mountain". BUT TODAY ~ we are almost halfway up!
WE LOVE YOU CHU-CHU!





feel like Christmas already?


Well I am!! I recently received these cute Christmas ornaments from Clear Scraps. So this morning I decided to get into the Christmas mood....So with a lot of gold/red and glitter everywhere I really felt like Christmas!

Don't you think this is cute?

Kit sale

Take an additional 10% off with the checkout discount code 1111 and these are less than $20!

July Kit


December 2007 kit


October kit

New Stuff

Did you checked out the shop lately?
There is so much new stuff in the house, you really gonna like.

New October Afternoon Weathervane


Jenni Bowlin Papers


Jennie Bowlin Embellish



Pink Paislee Tinsel Town


Pink paislee Sweet cakes


Sassafras Lass Life at the Pole

And lots and lots more, go check it out here

Productivity

I am not one of those people who needs to rush through the scrapbooking process. I don't mind when a layout takes a long time since, for me, scrapbooking is a hobby and I like spending my time doing it just as much as I like the finished pages. What I do mind is when I spend hours and hours on a page and then end up not liking what resulted. That always makes me feel dejected.

I also take a lot of scrapbooking classes. I like learning (and teaching) and I'd say I am a good student because I always do all the work. I never take a class just to download the stuff and never look at it again. So I was really excited when I signed up for Cathy Zielske's "Design Your Life" class.

Plans Change.

Soon after I signed up for the class, I found out that I was pregnant and right after that morning sickness took over my body. I've spent the last 10 weeks being really really sick so even though the class started six weeks ago, I hadn't completed even one assignment.

Last week, I finally started some medication for the nausea and have been a bit better so I decided to take a look at the classes and spent some of my weekend processing photos (which I hadn't printed since JULY!) and writing journaling. I printed it all out and put it aside. Sunday night, I finally sat down to scrap some of them. And here's what I got done:




There's actually one more layout but I am saving it. So that makes TEN layouts in one night. That's definitely a record for me. And I actually love each and every one of them. They all have photos, words and some small accents; all I require from a layout.

While I don't need this productivity all the time, it feels good to get a bunch of my stories on paper and it also reminded me a lot of what scrapbooking is about for me. I don't need to spend hours thinking which embellishments I am going to use. I want to tell our stories, capture our moments.

If you find yourself in a need to be more productive, here are a few things that helped me:

1. Sketches. Cathy gave sketches and printable digital elements for the journaling so I knew how many photos, what size, etc. Not sure where to start? A Million Memories has dedicated boards for sketches and for free digital downloads.

2. Essentials first. For this process, I just put together the photos and journaling first and used a lot more cardstock than I've been using lately. This meant that most of my layout was done already and I just used my embellishment stash for smaller accents. I also used a lot of my scrap papers.

3. Simple Design. Cathy is a simple scrapper so her designs are simple but elegant. This speaks to me and keeping it simple allowed me to get a lot more done.

What are your tips for a productive scrapbooking session?

WELCOME WENDELA to the A Million Memories Design Team!


We are SO excited to announce that Wendela is the newest member of our design team. If you are unfamiliar with Wendela's work, you are in for a HUGE TREAT! She is absolutely amazing and her work is stunning and so inpsiring! Be sure and check out her blog and welcome her to the AMM team!!!


Limited Ed Kits

Did you see the new Limited Kits?
They are just so cool, just to drool over, you really can't ignore them
Christmas memories
Dining in Style

New to the Store

There is a fabulous Hot Bargain of the Day in the store, right now. These little clips can be used for so many things from your layouts to your mini books. I love these because they have words on them and they come in really fun colors. Plus, the bargain can't be beat!


And, we have some fabulous new products in the store. I'm going to give you a list with links so it's easy to find. Just so you know, Fancy Pants is coming soon.

October Afternoon
October Afternoon Weathervane
October Afternoon Stamps
October Afternoon embellishments

Jenni Bowlin
Jenni Bowlin Red/Black line
Jenni Bowlin Embellishemnts

Flippin' Out For The Holidays Contest


We are proud to announce our biggest contest EVER! In this contest you will win a FLIP portable video camera, a guest design spot for A Million Memories with our February 2009 kit AND this awesome prize pack!!!


Go get ready NOW because the first challenge ends on November 16th. You can find all of the details that you need here: http://www.amillionmemories.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=21571 AND here: http://www.amillionmemories.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=21614

Now get to working on that project!!!!

Jenni ~ I LOVE THIS LAYOUT!


I was cruising the gallery this morning and fell in LOVE with Jenni's (aka jgj27) layout here. Sassafrass Lass papers, flowers and a big ol' mouthful of cupcake on a pretty lady. Does it get any better than this? Oh and if you are going to check out her blog, be sure and turn those speakers UP!

Get Your November Kit!

Don't forget to order your November kit if you haven't already! Our design team members have done some beautiful things with it. Also there are a very small supply of cardstock addons available so get them while you can.