Making Memories

Someone is a Winner. Is it YOU?

Thank you everyone for sending Wendy birthday greetings. Who wouldn't want hundreds of people wishing you a happy birthday? What a great way to turn one year older.

As you know, if you wished her a happy birthday, you were placed into a drawing to win $100 worth of Wendy's favorite Making Memories' supplies.

The lucky winner is..............................Christine Johnson. Congratulations!!! Christine, please email  me at jweston@makingmemories.com so we can send you a fabulous prize.

Happy Friday to everyone. Check back on Monday for more guest designers. If you want to be featured, make sure you leave a comment with your blog address.

Week Two - Make Sense

This week we are going to focus on our sense of hearing. It is said that babies can recognize their mother's voice as soon as they are born, having heard it while still in the womb. What an amazing connection without any other senses to help out. Sounds can be immediately recognizable in favorite songs, loved ones, or even the wind through the trees. Sound can also warn us of danger like the rattle of a snake, a tiger roar at the zoo, or even a bee hive close by. Sound can be carried from far away like the blast from fireworks or the horn on a train. I remember when I was young hearing the sonic boom of a passing plane (before that little ordinance was changed) and looking to the sky in wonder at the power of the sound.

One of my favorite sounds right now is the sweet little voice of my youngest daughter Jill. She is four years old and full of life and her own little version of the English language. This layout takes five of my favorite phrases and words that she has adapted to her liking, and although I know exactly what she is talking about - I didn't want to forget the way she says things. It 'makes sense' to preserve my favorite little sound while it's still small and sweet.

This layout was created using Animal Crackers and Passport collections. I love mixing programs as their patterns are timeless and colors are easily interchangeable. The letters and paper with script just seemed to go along so well with what my layout was saying.

Joey

Olympic BBQ

I don't know about you, but I have been glued to the television for the past few days watching the Olympics. I love the excitement that goes on during the games.

Making Memories decided to have its own Olympic celebration by having a BBQ hosted by our design department. You will notice a lot of red, white, and blue. :)

IT'S WENDY SUE'S BIRTHDAY, BUT YOU GET THE GIFT

Wendy Sue Anderson has been designing for Making Memories nearly since our birth. So it seems appropriate that on this, the week of HER birthday, we take a moment to thank Wendy for all of her work and to shout out a special birthday greeting to her.

As many of you know, Wendy Sue is one of our most- talked-about designers. Her skills are nothing short of extraordinary, which is even more astounding when you see just how busy her life really is. (One quick visit to her blog and you know what we're talking about!)

Help us celebrate Wendy Sue's special day by sending her a birthday greeting on our blog, and one of YOU could end up taking home the biggest gift of the day! We'll select a post at random, and award that guest with a $100 haul of Making Memories supplies. And from all of us: HAPPY BIRTHDAY WENDY SUE!!!

Guest Designer Stephanie Klauck

Today Stephanie Klauck is Making Memories' guest designer. I asked her to create a layout using older Making Memories products with some new stuff. This is what she came up with. I think you will like it.

I have had these photos of my little guy for over four years and had never got around to scrapping them. Can anyone relate to this? When I came across them a few days ago, I knew they would go perfectly with a lot of the Making Memories product that I have laying around. I decided to mix the Animal Crackers and Fresh Anthology collections together.

As I sorted through my Making Memories stuff I found some fabric letters that I have had for such a looong time, but could never decide what to do with them. I love how they look on this page. I also love how the metal accents look on the page. I had forgotten that I even had them, so it was a great find.

I used the scraps from my page to create this card.

If you are like Stephanie and have a lot of older products in your stash, take them out and try mixing them with the new stuff you are loving right now. Thanks Stephanie for showing us this layout.

It's 08.08.08

Do you know that that means?

We are giving EIGHT Making Memories Slice Cordless Design Cutters away TODAY. We had tons of entries for this contest and we are so excited to announce our winners.

Congratulations to........................................................................

• Jennifer Heim
• Ginny Markley
• Leanne Willoughby
• Mary Clissold
• Andrea Cummings
• Deb Lebryk
• Kathy Durnell
• Renee Baum

Check our whyslice.com for more information about the Slice and to learn about Slice future contests and promotions.

Week One - Make Sense

I'm so excited to be hosting the Designer Challenges for this month and as you can probably guess from title; we are focusing on our senses.

The idea for this challenge started, for me, in the shower. I grabbed a shower gel and lotion that I haven't used for years - just for something new to use, and I found myself wrapped up in a memory of new motherhood and tiny babies and a tiredness that seeped to my bones. The scent of that particular lotion flooded my memory of my first born and the bath gift that a friend gave me when my daughter was born. Wow - a vivid memory that I hadn't thought of for years, came back powerfully and completely. Our senses have that kind of power over memories. I didn't realize how strong a tie my sense of smell and those memories were until they resurfaced. It got me thinking of other smells that recalled a specific memory... cinnamon spice of Christmas pine cones, diesel fuel from ski lifts, and a dusty, fabric, and lavender smell - reminds me of my Grandma's sewing room.

That memory from my lotion inspired this layout. It was such a strong memory, I wanted to capture the story. What are some of your favorite smells? Do they invoke memories from long ago? Or, do they just make you happy and content? Scrapbook about on of these smells and write out the story - it just makes sense!

 

Joey

CKU Bus Tour to Making Memories

Making Memories LOVES when guests come to visit us, so we were super excited to have many CKU students visit us on their bus tour. These students received great discounts on Making Memories' products and were able to do a make and take using Making Memories Slice.

Thanks for coming to visit us. Have fun at CKU.

Inspiration by Joey

Have you ever struggled with the decision of using black and white photos or color? How do you choose? With the ease of using some of the wonderful software programs out there, converting photos is now the easy part, deciding what is best for the layout; not so much.

Well, there are some photos that just scream color. They are vivid and lively and and soon as you see them, you know just what paper program to use to best maximize the colorful effect. Sometimes there are photos that have the perfect "artsy" look to them and there isn't any doubt that black and white is the answer. Then, there are the photos that are in between like these of my son's summer hair cut. The background is brick and although it is interesting in texture and color, it is still neutral enough to go with practically any paper program and not be distracting. Converting it to black and white enhances the brick pattern and plays up the contrast between Oaken and his shirt, but again, not terribly different from the color version. How did I choose? I went with the contrast idea, not just in black versus white of the photo itself, but also the idea of the moppy, carefree hair contrasting the cooler and much shorter version. Sometimes black and white is the perfect answer when you want to use a specific color combination,but the colors in the photo don't match - especially if seasonal colors and a big part of the layout.

Choosing between black and white and color can be a challenge sometimes and if there is any doubt, try laying both down on the chosen papers and see what speaks to you. Ultimately it is the creator's decision and there are never any black and white wrong answers, only a spectrum of colorful opportunity!

This layout consists of all Making Memories product, mostly the Passport collection (papers, alphabet "double", buttons, and stickers), and a few snippets from the 5th Avenue collection (paper strip between photos, ribbon, and buttons), "seeing" used Providence alphabet rub-ons in black.

Joey

Photo Frame

Have you ever used your scrapbooking supplies to decorate a photo frame? Maggie made this project and we wanted to share. She used the Paperie paper and Making Memories' Flower Shop Blossoms. This project is great for yourself or as a gift.