Saying Goodbye to Lucy Edson

Sadly we have to say goodbye to a favorite designer here at A Million Memories, Lucy Edson. She has been a great inspiration to many of our members as well as fellow designers. I had the opportunity to meet Lucy at CHA in Orlando this past summer and two things about her that totally surprised me were how tall she is and that she isn't as quiet as I would have suspected!

Lucy is a super sweet lady brimming with inspiration and artistry. It was a real joy to meet her. I asked her to share some of her favorite kit layouts with us and invite you to wish her all the best with me as she pursues more time in her studio creating.

Lucy said, "I have loved my time on the design team at AMM, it is the first message board I ever joined a couple of years ago and Michelle has always been such an encouragement and friend to me. Thank you all so much for this experience!! It will be fun to sit back and be inspired by the rest of the team for a while."

"Little Lady" (from the December kit and sketch)

"First Day" (from the June kit)

"Grateful 4 U" (from the October Kit)

"Castles in the Air" (from the September kit)

"Just Waiting" (from the June kit)

"Moment" (from the August kit)

You can continue to follow Lucy's work on her personal blog. She promises us she will still be a part of the AMM community so be sure to look for her on the boards and in the gallery.

January Design Team Scraplifts

With the first lift of the year we have the super talented Danielle Flanders who created the layout below, which highlights some of her favorite moments of 2009. Below you will see the design team's interpretations of Danielle's layout. You can see the rest of Danielle's gallery here.

"2009" by Danielle Flanders


"{25}12" by Kat Glossop Kat said, "I loved the design, with the focus to the left of the page -Danielle's pages are always so beautiful and inspiring. Oh, & the journaling being the main focus of the page - I don't journal half as much as I should do!! This was a really fun jack - cheers Danielle!"

"2010: New Year" by Jennifer Findlay "I loved how Danielle cut the die cut paper and used the ends to bracket the center portion of her layout. I replaced the photo with a title block. Thanks for the inspiration Danielle."

"It Isn't Always Pretty" by Tonya Dirk Tonya said, "I was immediately drawn to the two shaped edges flanking the long rectangle, I also love her strip of embellies along the bottom with the little photo."

"M" by Sasha Holloway Sasha said, "I loved Danielle's layout so much. She always adds such small but special details to her pages that really pop. What really stood out to me was the clip that she used in her layout and I tried to replicate that as best as I could. I wanted to go simple."

And lastly...

"2010: I Resolve" by Rachel Hall Rachel said, "I am a long time fan of Danielle's work and this layout was no exception to that! I love how she created a large journaling area and complemented that with well placed embellishments and a small photo, all elements that I drew from for inspiration for my layout."

Thanks to Danielle and to the design team for the awesome inspiration! If you would like to have the design team scraplift you, be sure to upload your projects to the gallery often. We are on the lookout for a February scraplift.

January Kit Design Team Reveal

Today we are going to start looking at the January Design Gallery. Just by looking at these few layouts I cannot even believe these girls were all working with the same kit. It is amazing how different people can put their own spin on the same products. So, let's get started!

"Giggling Together" by Karen Grunberg Just the simple addition of that mellow colored cardstock gives this kit a new feel.


"Setting You Free to Play" by Tonya Dirk The glittered red alphas ddn't work for Tonya's layout so she altered them with some paint and Glossy Accents. Don't be afraid to cut, paint, and distress the heck out of your supplies to make them work.

"dare" by Sasha Holloway I always love Sasha's circles and layered up in this layout gives this layout lots of motion.

The rest of the design team, including myself, are busy working on their kits and will be uploading them to the Design Gallery.

January Kit Sketch

January Kits have made their way out the door and here with some inpiration for you is Lucy Edson who put together this sketch for you to use with the kit or any other product you choose.

I have a really great layout idea for this sketch and the kit. We will be back soon with the design team's interpretation of the sketch soon. Can't wait to see what you do with it!

Technique Tuesday with Rachel Hall

Creating Card Keepers
Every Christmas I am unable to even think about getting rid of all the beautiful cards that we receive. To solve this storage dilemma and simply answer the question of what to do with them all, I began creating card keepers in 2007.


Supplies:
Your Christmas Cards
Cardboard, chipboard, old book covers, etc for your front and back covers
Ribbons, binder rings or a binding mechanism to bind project
Patterned paper and embellishments to decorate your cover

To Create a Card Keeper:
1.) Gather your cards in a pile and set aside
2.) Decide on what material you will use for your covers. I have used both heavy chipboard and vintage book covers. Other thing you could use would be cardboard or premade book covers like these 7 Gypsies ones included in the December Monthly kit.
3.) Using your papers, embellishments etc decorate the front cover. If you are using plain chipboard you will want to cover the back and inside covers a well for a more finished look.
4.) Decide how you will chose to bind your book. If you are using ribbons or binder rings, mark where you want them and punch holes in the front and back covers. If you are using a bind-it-all, punch the covers using your machine.
5.) Arrange your cards in the order that you would like them in and mark and start punching your holes or run them through the bind-it-all.
6.) Assemble your card keeper by tying your ribbons or attaching everything with your binder rings or bind it all binding.

You can create these keepers for any event in which you receive a large number of cards or use binder rings to create ones that you can keep on adding to every year. Some ideas for events in which a Card Keeper could be used:
Engagement
Wedding
New Baby
New Home
Birthdays (you can create ones for each or make one you can add to each year)
Sympathy
Valentines (again, you can create them yearly or add to one each year)

Member Monday with Tonya Dirk

With the first Layout of the Week in 2010, we have this really pretty ornament designed by Leigh Penner chosen by Design Team Coordinator, Tonya Dirk.
"Peace & Joy" by Leigh Penner

Here is a quick little interview Tonya did with Leigh, so read on to get to know her a little better.

1) What are your favorite colors to scrap? Red & teal blue.

2) Family members? If married, how did you and your hubby meet? My husband & I met my first year of teaching. He was working as a learning assistant for the same school division and came along to help us out with our grade 6 camp-out. We sat around the fire together one evening and the rest is history. We've been married over 13.5 years and have three children.

3) Other interests aside from scrapbooking? In the summertime, I like to run. Year round, my son & I take tae kwon do together. I also love to read.

4) If you have any job in the world what would it be and why? I would love to be a voice actress for animated movies. I just think that would be such a fun job!

You can check out Leigh's blog here and the rest of her AMM gallery here.

Little Something Sunday with Staci Taylor

Making paper piecing cool again!
I think when most current-day scrappers think of paper piecing, they think old-school scrapping, complete with photos cut into shapes and stickers slapped down all over the page.

I'm here to show you, however, that paper piecing can look cool on a layout :-) I'm not that into "themed"/event layouts, but I really wanted to document the fact that we had a Christmas tree made out of Lego's this year. To support my holiday theme, I made a big Christmas tree as a backdrop on my page.

If you would like to replicate the look, you can print out this Christmas tree pattern that I found online at wittyliving.com. Or you can make your own, like I did. I simply folded a piece of cardstock in half and free handed a Christmas tree on one side.

I then cut out the tree while the cardstock was folded so that I would have a symmetrical tree. Lastly, I added a tree trunk in a different color to the bottom of my tree.

There are a lot of paper piecing patterns online, but it's also easy to make your own!

Documenting Your New Year's Resolutions

It's that time of year. A new year full of promise and fresh starts. time to wipe the slate clean so to speak and set new goals for yourself. Sometimes the act of putting the goal or resolution down in writing helps you to keep focus on it. According to newyearsresolutions.com these are the top 10 most popular resolutions. See any of yours on the list?

1) Spend More Time with Family & Friends
2) Fit in Fitness
3) Tame the Bulge
4) Quit Smoking
5) Enjoy Life More
6) Quit Drinking
7) Get Out of Debt
8) Learn Something
9) Help Others

Did you know that making resolutions isn't a modern fad either. According to 43things.com, "Revelry and resolutions have been essential to ringing in the New Year since 2000 B.C. when Babylonians held semi-annual festivals around the spring and autumn equinoxes. Back then, people marked the beginning of a New Year by paying off debts and returning borrowed goods. The practice carried over into Roman times with worshippers offering resolutions of good conduct to a double-faced deity named Janus, the god of beginnings and endings. When the Roman calendar was reformed, the first month of the year was renamed January in honor of Janus, establishing January 1 as the day of new beginnings."

So if you are thinking of how to document your New Years' Resolution, have a look at these two very different examples from designer Rachel Hall.

In this example from 2008, Rachel created a canvas using lots of different techniques. A visual reminder might be just the thing you need if you find yourself falling short of your goal.


Here's an example from 2009. I love the picture here. At the bottom, Rachel typed out a bunch of words that would inspire her in the new year and some areas of her life she wanted to be sure she kept focused on.

So what resolutions or goals did you set for yourself in this new year? We'd love to read them and maybe inspire one another, so leave a comment here and share.

January Kit Reveal! AVAILABLE NOW!

Here is the debut of our January 2010 Kit! Get yours here.

JANUARY 2010 Monthly Kit *UP AND AWAY: A GRAND AFFAIR*

Papers:
5 Websters Pages Papers
1 Basic Grey Origins Paper
1 Hambly Paper
1 Prima Art Stitched Mulberry Paper

Embellishments:
American Crafts Glitter Thickers
Prima 12 x 12 Chipboard Journaling Spots
1/2 Pack of Prima Camelot Roses
Prima Say It In Pearls Soft Green
1 Hambly rubon Frames
3 Websters Pages Fabric Fancies Cut Shapes (pieces will vary)
1 yard AMM white vintage lace
1 yard AMM green vintage lace
1 yard AMM white eyelet trim
AMM vintage silver crystal buttons



Here are some detail shots.