One of the projects (or works in progress) for me is a “Book of Me” sharing photos, experiences, and occasional tidbits that describe me.  The February kit at Digital Scrapbook Artisan Guild combines pinks and greens, an all-time favorite for me, with delightful elements.  This is a layout I created using that kit.

This is the February 2012 Digital Scrapbook Artisan Guild kit (linked).

As Ever,
Pam

This layout is of my daughters 12th birthday, I took her to the local nail salon to have mani and a pedi! She loved it.

Anne of Alamo has been sharing thoughts, inspiration and tips with us for a while now. Her contribution to this blog as been invaluable and much appreciated. As Anne moves on to focus more on family, we just wanted to say thank you for the time she’s spent with us here at MyPicTales. Thank you Anne and best wishes to your family!

Have you checked MyPicTales lately?  You can have a 6×6, an 8×8, a 8.5×11, or 10×10 inch page printed for only 50¢ and a 12×12 for $1 per page.  Wendy has provided free actions to help Photoshop users, there is a video to help you upload your pages for printing!  There are step by step instructions for calendars!  Do you want to print cards?  There are many styles for simple greetings, invitations, thank you cards, and cards with photos in them.

If you want to create a Photo Book, Scrap Book, Portfolio Book, Brag Book, or Blog Book — there are products and tutorials to help you — as well as the Taleweaver software (full of templates and backgrounds, borders and shapes) — your finished product will impress kids and grownups — you’ll do yourself proud!

Do you sometimes need inspiration?  Check this great blog - Gallery Standouts!  They point out layouts from several sites that have caught their eye as a standout, for whatever reason.  It’s great to see and read about new techniques used for eye-popping layouts!

As Ever,
Pam

3 times a year I run scapbooking retreats with my friend Karen, It is a very sucessful little venture that we have been running for about 3 years now. It is great fun for 22-28 ladies….here is a couple of pictures from the retreat we ran this past weekend and one of the layouts I completed digitally.

February 14th — tomorrow is Valentine’s Day.  Did you prepare a special surprise for your loved ones?  The florists have been preparing for a month at my daughter’s floral and gift shop; there will be beautiful bouquets of flowers, balloon bouquets, plush stuffed animals, special chocolates, candles, photo frames, and delightful flowering plants.  Some who have come in to order flowers have told that they proposed on Valentine’s Day.

However you spend the day, I hope you make new memories.  It’s also enjoyable to revisit old memories through our journals and photos - today I’m sharing this link to a free gift from Dee Bee Designs called Love Bugs.  It will be perfect for your special photos. I’ve used it here with photos of my maternal grandparents, but plan to use it again with little photos of my niece and her hubby using the larger opening for a photo of their son. I hope you enjoy it.

As Ever,
Pam

Photos and scrapbooking — mine are all about memories and what better way to preserve those memories than to create scrapbook pages and books?  Then share the books by having a copy made for others.  What a great gift!

My pages were created using the Taleweaver software (free from MyPicTales).  It provides you with backgrounds and elements, as well as borders and shapes — plus you can add your text (journaling, titles, quotes) in your choice of font.  Together with the two gals in these photos, we have shopped, taken art classes, gone out for lunch, toured historic sites, and shared stories.  So each of them will receive a copy of the book when I’m finished.

We’ve had so much fun together — and I’ve enjoyed revisiting the memories to create the book.  With Taleweaver I can use templates provided or move photos around to where I want them.  In this example I have used one photo for a two page background, then added photos.  I’ve used the framing and the shapes tools to set off the added photos from the background.

The pages aren’t finished; I’ll work with them some more, and then type the date and location.  Often I’ll add a quote or just a personal comment.  Such fun memories — preserved and soon ready for us to share with our families and other friends.  I do enjoy digital scrapbooking!

This is a completed page  (two page spread) in which I’ve expanded my photo over a part of the 2nd page and added a quote.

Download a copy of the Taleweaver software — and do send your finished pages to MyPicTales to have them processed into single pages or books — you will be delighted with the results!

As Ever,
Pam

These layouts were done with Creative Memories Story Book Creator. Even though its Vollyball I used their Primary Basketball package to create the layouts.

I saw this layout My Girl by Jacq and have to admit I squealed with delight! I rushed right over to type up this blog post.  Just look:

Then I began my search for how did she make this?

I am so buying this, and making layouts for Grandparents! How cool are these!

~never lose your joy

Anne of Alamo