What's Up Wednesday with Jennifer Longenecker

This week we are focusing on projects to help out around the house. I'm going to show you a real simple way to keep track of chores. With five kiddos I've tried a few different ways to keep track of weekly chores and I have found these envelopes to be the most effective. Each kid gets one and they are placed on the refrigerator. We rotate the chore cards every Saturday. There's also room to include a daily schedule if needed.




To get started you are going to need some card stock, patterned paper, an envelope template, and pictures of your kiddos.




Step 1: Print the following envelope template onto card stock and cut out.



Step 2: Trace the template onto the back side of your pattern paper and cut out.






Step 3: Fold the tabs where indicated on the template.



Step 4: Glue the small tab to the inside of the envelope. This will give you a clean top edge.




Step 5: Glue the two side tabs to each other then glue the large tab to the outside of the envelope.






Step 6: Add a photo to the front of the envelope.





Step 7: Cut the plain card stock to 2.75x4.50. Round the corners and stamp the chore onto the tab. Insert the card into the envelope and you're ready to go.

Member Monday with Ro Philippsen

This weeks Layout of the Week was chosen by Ro Philippsen. She chose this LO by Nan Abrahao.

"Lovely Princess" by Nan Abrahao

Here's what Ro had to say: "I put my eyes at this wonderful page, so colorful and so full of gorgeous details, and with sweetie pictures of her daughter I thought: this is my next "Member Monday"Nan's page is really amazing! Congrats girl. You rock!"

Fun Tip Friday with Ro Philppsen

We have seen many layouts that use envelopes in many different ways. I myself am completely addicted to, and love it and think that it gives a special charm to ones work. There are beautiful envelopes from Maya Road and there are also stationery envelopes. When used with creativity these envelopes can be a very nice feature on your LO!




So today, I'll show you how to use an envelope on a scrapbook page. This technique will work well when you have lots of travel photos and souvenirs you want to use on a page without taking up too much room in your scrapbook. Here we go!

What you will need:
- A background paper
- Some sheets of color coordinated with the background
- 1 envelope size approximately 10x7 inches (can be Kraft, brown, white), color is irrelevant.
- Punch circle measuring 1,5 inches and 1 inch
- And the tools and glues


Step 1 - The first step is to get the envelope to the size you want. In my case I wanted my envelope in the size 9 x 6 inches. Then I cut the brim of it, opened the bottom, and an open side, leaving him as 6 x 9 "(inches)




Step 2 - Mark off 3 inches vertically and score it.




Step 3 - Now glue the envelope on the horizontal where it was open when you cut it. You should have two sides left open that will be turned into pockets later.




Step 4 - Cut three rectangles from coordinating paper of various colors using the following measurements

1: 6 x 3.5 "(this should be scoring 0.5 ', as 3.5')
2: 6 x 3 '
3: 6 x 6 '

Notice in the photo, you can not see very well, that the first paper has been scored.




Step 5 - And here we begin to cover the envelope with paper. Note that I glued the short end of the scored sheet to the back of the envelope and wrapped the rest around to the front.




Step 6 - And now the inside of the envelope.




Step 7 - With a circle punch, punch a half circle on the side of the envelope.




Step 8 - Cut the following tags:
• 1 tag 5x5 "inches
• 2 tags 3x4 "inches
• 2 rounds of 1.5 '
• 4 rounds of 1 '




Step 9 - Glue on pictures and decorate the tags on front and back.




Step 10 - Now it is time to glue your envelope to your background paper. Note that I glued the back of the envelope (the side not covered with paper) to the page.




Step 11 - The next step is to insert the tags into the pockets formed by the envelope, and decorate the page!

What's Up Wednesday with Marie Ramirez

Summer is well upon us. The heat has been tremendous here. The kids are out of school and we need to keep them entertained. Why not do that with a summer bucket list! All you need is a container, clothes pins and a sharpie. You could also decorate the clothes pins with scrapbooking paper and then pin your lists with the pins instead.

image from pinterest.com

Here is hoping you stay cool!

50% off Sale & Note re Shipping

Hi all. We are currently working to clear out all items in stock, including goodies from CHA Winter in order to get ready for all of the new stuff that will be coming in at the end of the summer. This includes just about everything in the store, except for some of the AMM trims and finds (since these are already pretty dang cheap). Just use code SALE3 at check-out.

Also, I have been advised that many people were being charged outrageous shipping rates. This was an error on the site and I believe it has been corrected. HOWEVER, if for some reason you have a shopping cart for $20 and are charged $50 for shipping, please email me. Obviously this is a bad error. The shipping prices for domestic orders are based on the price of your order and should be between somewhere around $5 - $10. International orders are more, but nothing as outrageous as $30 or more!

With that being said ~ please enjoy the sale and stop by our boards to give a warm hello to our newest designer, Nayda Rocha. We are super excited to have her. She'll have some fun stuff in store for you all! Lots of inspiration.

Have a great week.

Member Monday with Jennifer Longenecker

This weeks Layout of the Week was chosen by me. I chose this fabulous LO by Amanda Leal.


"Mundo da Thais" by Amanda Leal

I just love the way she layered her papers and the way she clustered the flowers around her photo. Thanks so much for sharing your LO with us Amanda.

You too can be featured on our blog. All you have to do is upload a LO to the AMM gallery and each week one of our designers chooses a LO to be featured.

New Design Team Member

I want to introduce you to our newest design team member Nayda Rocha.

We are thrilled that Nayda has chosen to be part of the A Million Memories team. I can't wait to see what she does with the fabulous kits Michelle puts together and I bet neither can you. Here's a little more about Nayda.

I'm Nayda Rocha, 24, and from Brazil. I have been scrapbooking since 2005. I graduated in Architecture and Urbanism, and am currently taking a masters course. I also teach scrapbooking classes in my town. When I was a kid I liked to design and craft, and was always interested in art. Scrapbooking was love at first sight! I love to be inspired by nature, photographs, papers and vibrant colors when working on a LO. I use many different layouts and I love to be innovative in my creations!

Fun Tip Friday with Jennifer Longenecker

Today I'm going to show you how to use the collage technique to create this fun banner.




Grab your supplies. You will need a shaped chipboard album, paint, modpodge and other fun items like book pages, masking tape, tickets, fabric, stencils, etc.




Step 1: Paint each chipboard page. Since we are going for the collage look just do a dry wash so that some of the natural page is showing and so the paint appears thicker in some areas than others.




Step 2: Using Mod Podge sdd torn pieces of book pages making sure to overlap several pieces.




Step 3: Using water colors paint over thee book page strips




Step 4: Add strips of masking tape. Again making sure to overlap the strips.




Step 5: Add a line of acrylic paint over each masking tape section with a paint brush then get the brush wet and continue the brush the paint over each section.




Step 6: Again using the Mod Podge add torn strips of fabric.




Step 7: Paint a stencil or stamp with acrylic paint and stamp in bare areas.




Step 8: Add your sentiment.




Step 9: Tie on torn strips of fabric to complete the banner.

What's Up Wednesday with Ro Philippsen

Today I have sharing with you, a collage tutorial!

1 - First I cut squares of various patterned papers. I used four different papers of the amazing Lilybee Design, that you can find at the A Million Memories on line store. Each square measures two inches.




2 - Then I drawing a border 1,75 inch from the outside of my 12x12 cardstock, with a pencil.




3 - Now I glue each square of patterned paper to my background, like on the picture.




4 - On the squares already glued I spent a very thin layer of Handicraft acrylic Primer. I could also use gesso or just white acrylic paint.




5 - To spread the acrylic base, I used a sponge brush, because the result is much better. See the result:




6 – And now I add my photo, title and some embellishments, and viola. Here is my page:

Member Monday with Marie Ramirez

This weeks Layout of the Week was chosen by Marie Ramirez. She chose this LO by Jean Marmo

"Mother to Be" by Jean Marmo


Here's what Marie had to say: "I love how Jean used a very old photo and really made the page a memory by using bits of her brides maids dress fabric for the flowers. The colors are simple and lovely. Wonderful job!"

Fun Tip Friday with Marie Ramirez

Here are a few ideas from Marie that will insprie you to create something to decorate your outdoor space.

I am so inspired by images on pinterest I thought I would share some with you.




Why not make a windchime out of some scrapbooking supplies. I know we all have keys and crystals. Lots of fun things we can use.


Or decorate some glass bottles you have around with some scraps of lace and scrapbook paper. This would look lovely on a picnic table and super simple to duplicate.

Grab some supplies and start creating!

(all images from pinterest)

Alter a Jar with Michelle

Do you have a collection of empty glass jars that the mayonnaise or salad dressing comes in? I save all of the containers and jars that food from the grocery store comes in. I also have quite the selection of acrylic paints that I don't seem to use much any more (even though I love projects that involve painting). So today, I'm going to show you a little something that you can do with those empty jars and paints.




First off, here's the supply list:

1 glass jar
1 bottle of acrylic paint - I used Making Memories Manila
Rubons - I used October Afternoon 5 & Dime rubons for the red flowers and wording and October Afternoon Thrift Shop border rubons - both from the A Million Memories store.
1/2 yard of red and white gingham ribbon





Step 1: Squirt the paint into the jar
Step 2: Swirl the paint around until it covers the entire jar. Use a little water to help it move around if your paint is a little thick. Don't worry about getting the paint on the top rim. You'll be covering that up. Also, if you get a little paint on the outside of the glass, once it's dry, you can just scrape it off with your fingernail.
Step 3: Make sure that the outside of the jar is dry dry dry!!! Firmly apply your rubons. If you are using border rubons like I did with the yellow posies around the top, just wrap them around the jar and rub!
Step 4: Top off your jar with a bow that you wrap around the top lid of the jar.


I'm not sure if I'm going to use this just as a pencil holder on my desk, or if I'll put a tealight in it and use it on my porch of 4th of July. If you choose to put a tealight in it, make sure that the paint inside is dry and I think you can take the tealight out with a pair of kitchen tongs. However you use it, I hope you'll give it a try and put your own spin on it!