CM Memoranza

About 90 minutes ago I came back home from my day of scrapbooking for seven hours. Our annual event was held at Mt Gravatt Bowls Club in Brisbane to celebrate its 15th year of the company being in Australia. The room was full of scrapbookers and 3-4 consultants.

There was four challenges to try out but I didn't do them as I already had my own projects to do. It was a great little day and I was quite a little productive person to get about a dozen pages created.  Even better I had a table all to myself so it was nice to be able to spread my belongings out.

There were multiple raffle draws and i managed to win two prizes  ...one glittery black paper which would suit a more formal layout and a template valued around $30.  I only had two tickets in the box. It just shows one ticket can just as lucky as buying multiple tickets.  Actually we didn't buy these tickets, we had to earn them by answering certain questions or do any of the four challenges as requested. Everyone who came had one ticket at entry.  The other prize was won via a question answered.

Where the event was held, our lunch was provided.  We had a choice of either cold meats with salad or fish and chips or lasagne with salad and chips.  All meals were good and very filling!  It was that filling I don't really feel like dinner tonight.

Creative Week

In one week I had my scrap camp and three scrap meets.  And what a busy time creating I had.  Preparing beforehand was a challenge.  It taken afew days to prepare for camp and a couple of days to prepare for the three meets last week. 

Two of them were workshops at my CM consultant's house on Wednesday night and Friday night until late. The third meet was just a casual sit and scrap at the craft store and worked on some past years of the early 21st century.

I worked on my 7 inch album at camp and managed to get three quarters of the album completed.  At the Friday night workshop I was working on some summer holiday photos of my girls with Grandma and their Auntie which I am almost finished.

One of the CM workshops is for BOM where we worked on our school memories.  It is amazing how memories can flow back quickly.

This week is only just the casual meet at the store. Guess I better get motivated and prepare some pages ready for tomorrow.

Scrap Camp

Only two days to go and my weekend away scrappin' is approaching fast.  Unfortunately I haven't been more organised early enough to get the preparations done in advance.  I am thankful today is a public holiday so I can really get into finishing off my preparations.

At this camp I am planning on creating two 8 inch albums to give as Christmas presents.  These albums involving the second primary school where their enrollment changed in term four, 2009.  Consider Rachel only been here for three years now, the school sure had alot of activities on involving sport, fund raising and curriculum.

As for normal meets I had only one workshop and one casual meet attended this month as there was school holidays for two weeks.  Workshops and casual meets should be back to normal in May,

Scrap updates

March was a busy month attending to four workshops at my consultant's house.  Most of the layout ideas have been quite simple to do and this time I was working on the yearly diary albums.  I gone back to the early 21st century years and trying to catch up. The problem of scrapbooking you never seem to catch up as we intend to continue to take more photos of our family at home or at events, holidays, etc, etc.

In 18 days I will be away on attending to another scrap camp for the weekend.  It will be held at the same venue where we normally go.  I heard there is about 20-25 ladies going in our group and I think the conference centre will be busy as there might be other groups scrapping there on the same weekend. I dream of going to a scrap camp for a week but I can't see that one happening in my lifetime.

Once school resumes next week for term two I will be busy for two weeks on getting my page layouts ready to work on that weekend.  I am planning on starting another mini album or two to give for Christmas presents.

What's your latest craft projects?  Feel free to share what you have been up to this year.

Family photo tips

Being a long Easter weekend, most of us intend to spend time with our families and probably take alot of family photos at their destination spot.  So I thought I post some family photo tips to help you take better and more natural photos with your family in the holiday pose mode.  And remember: photos are worth a lifetime of memories.

Pick a Family-Friendly Location

Before you gather everyone who needs to be in your family photograph, choose a location. Natural lighting and plenty of space to pose large groups makes heading outdoors a good choice -- just make sure the weather will cooperate

Select a Simple Background for Your Family Photo

Remember: Simple is better when it comes to family photos. Don't go overboard with holiday decorations or props. Instead, keep the focus on the family with a simple background.

Adjust Lighting to Flatter Your Family

No one wants a family photo in which everyone is squinting or poorly lit. Have your subjects face away from the sun, and try to position family members so that the light source is behind or slightly to the side and meter your shot off their faces, not the area around them.

Take Photos from a New Angle

Stand on a chair or stepladder to take photos looking down on a group. They'll look up to see you, and you'll capture their faces at a flattering angle.

Think Candid Family Photos

One trick to boosting your family photo is to make it look natural. Position your family members in a non-traditional pose, or let them do what's comfortable. Family photos don't have to be stuffy, so remember to have fun!

Arrange Family Members on Different Levels

When posing your subjects, make sure their eyes are on different levels. This creates a more dynamic family photo.

Encourage Interaction between Family Members

Not everyone needs to be sitting nicely for it to be a good family photo. Some of the best shots capture interaction -- such as nudges or arms over the shoulder. This helps the photo from feeling too staged.

Use Light from Windows in Family Photos

Indoor family photos also get a boost from natural light. If you have a large window position your group nears it. The window doesn't need to be in the shot to reap the lighting benefits.

Pose Your Family

Ask family members to put their arms around the person next to them -- this brings everyone closer together and creates a sense of family unity.

Work with Natural Light in Holiday Photos

Natural light -- not family's temperament -- determines the best time of day to take family photos. The light is best in the early morning or in the late afternoon, just before the sun sets.

Take Family Photos before the Holiday Season

Plan ahead and schedule your family photo session early in the year. This way, if the weather -- or a certain family member -- doesn't cooperate, you have time to reschedule the shoot.

Fill the Frame with Family

Get up close and personal. The best family photos fill the frame with people, eliminating distracting backgrounds.

Coordinate Family Members' Clothing

Before photo day arrives, pick out clothes in coordinating colours. If your shot includes extended family -- whose outfits you can't pick out for them -- give them a colour scheme and ask that they not wear busy patterns.

Photograph Individual Family Members

If you can't get your entire family in one place to take a photo for your annual holiday card, don't worry. Instead, snap shots of individual members and design a card in image-editing software.

Help Family Members Relax

The best family photos are taken when everyone is relaxed. Take a silly shot in which everyone makes funny faces, and then keep snapping after they’re done – you’ll get completely natural smiles.

Keep the Attention of Small Children for Better Holiday Photos

If your family photo includes small children, have another child stand near the photographer to help keep your kids' attention. Just be sure the entertainer is on the same level as your photographer or you'll get photos in which eyes aren't looking at the camera.

Distract Camera-Phobic Family Members

If some family members are photo-phobic, help them to relax by asking them to interact with another family member.

Take Family Photos all Year

Take the pressure off yourself to snap the perfect family photo just for use on a holiday card; instead, use a favorite photo from the year. Take photos of your family -- and be sure to get in a few shots, too! -- when you're on vacation or a fun outing.

Convert Holiday Family Photos to Black-And-White

For a family photo that stands the test of time, choose outfits that don't clash and are more classic than trendy. If you've already taken your photo and just realized the outfits don't go together, convert the photo to black-and-white.

Book of Me

Another month has passed us and I enjoy my scrap meets and workshops.  Most Tuesdays I had my casual meets at the craft store and attended to three workshops through my CM consultant. I have been going to her workshops for about 7-8 years now.

This year she decided to introduce a new workshop once a month on Wednesday nights.  About a dozen ladies are attending to this workshop, known as the BOOK OF ME album.  It will be about our ourselves from the time we were born to current but it has got a twist into the album. 

Our album will feature other creative pages about us and have history about news events, songs and etc about the year we were born. And other things that other people don't know about.

This album is ideal to give to your kids.  They will learn more about their mum through the album.  My albums are only eight inch sized as I don't have many photos of myself while growing up.  My mum isn't really a photographer and generally it takes over a year to finish a film.

Last night was the first night of our BOM workshop.  In 90 minutes after all the introductions and lessons ideas said in the first hour, we had to complete our title page and another page about our life before scrapbooking.  No one got to do page two because most of us didn't get much homework done beforehand. I managed to get most of the title page done but I need to use the cricut to diecut the title. Page two I have written up some draft notes but I will complete this page at one of Tuesday's meets. Because I am creating two albums it will take me abit longer to do then other ladies. 

Workshop two will be held at the end of this month.  This time we need to have photos from our childhood years to early adult. Enough photos to create four pages.

My mojo is slacking off

A month has almost passed since I last reported about my scrap meets. I attended to most of the workshops at my consultant's house on Friday night, Saturday and there is another one hosted tomorrow.  This month has been more about family and love layout ideas with the new paper packs introduced.  

She will have a new workshop once a month, starting next week. This workshop will be all about me.  Most of us who intends to be photographer don't have many photos about themselves and we don't intend to album about ourselves either.  I am not really a photographer person to have photos taken but I guess I should have an album about my life and give the album each to my kids.  My consultant started this workshop theme four years ago but the group lost interested after a couple of months. It will be interesting to see how long these monthly workshops will last.

One of the ladies from the casual meets has started to create her ideal of an album about herself and her life.  Her first album was about her first ten years of life and it was quite interesting to view.  She gives alot of history about the city life to where I grew up.  And lucky for her parents they collected alot of memorabilia during her child hood years.  Unfortunately my own mother wasn't a photographer so there isn't really alot of photos of me while growing up.  So I guess my album will be more about journalling then photos.  Also I don't have alot of memorabilia to share either.

I missed two casual meets at the craft store on Tuesdays this month.  The first one I had another commitment on and I missed today's casual time as I had a sick child home from school. I have almost finished one project I started in January. It's about my kid's school life at the first primary school and I plan on giving this mini album to a family member for Christmas.  I never realised I taken so many photos from their school events. 

The next project will be another primary school album from the current school my 11 yo is still at.  She will be graduating her primary school life at the end of this year.  I plan on making a start with this project at scrap camp in April.

Another project I have in mind is a mini book of me to give to someone special.  I purchased this love package deal in January.  It's an 8 inch album with love theme pages to use into the album.  But I think you only use one photo on each page.  On the front cover of the album has a family tree in a shape of love hearts.

Don't lose your mojo!  Keep on creating on whatever projects you got planned to do.