Great in Eight Final Challenge!

Week 8 – Thank You, Thank You Very Much!

Thankfulness isn’t just reserved for a Thursday in November.  We have so much to be grateful for every day.  This challenge will help us focus on those things for which we are most thankful.  It can be a person, place, or thing.  Sky’s the limit.  Unless you’re thankful for outer space, then, I guess, the sky isn’t the limit!

Great in Eight Week 7 Challenge!

Week 7 – Join the Circle

Check out these stackers and rings at Keller's Creations! 

Photo cred: http://www.acidfree.com/photo.cfm?pid=325

Circles are the theme this week.  Really it can be anything circular: rings, circle die cuts, pictures cut into circles.  Remember just because we can cut things into circles doesn’t mean we should.  Everything on your page doesn’t have to be a circle.  Maybe you only want one circle photo to be the focal point for your page.  You may want several smaller circles to serve as a border.  You could use a ring to highlight a portion of a regular photo.  Have fun with it. We’ve been playing with circles since we were just young tikes.  Find your inner child and have a ball! 

Great in Eight Week 6

Week 6 – Scrap a List

http://www.thecreativityexchange.com/2012/06/2786.html

Lists are helpful tools. I have a perpetual To Do list that seems to never end.  My husband would say the same of the “Honey Do” list.  We want to focus on lists that are a little bit more fun for this challenge like: My Bucket List; 10 Things I Love About My Life; How Do I Love You – Let Me Count The Ways; Top Five Best Restaurants in My Town; Rollercoasters of Cedar Point (in my opinion the best amusement park in the country for rollercoasters); Seven Reasons the Number 7 is Super; The Princesses of Disney; Three Weddings and a …I think you get the idea.  It can be an obvious list or something a little more subtle.

Week Five Challenge

Week 5 – Sketchabilities

Magazines are a great source of inspiration but too often we get lost in all of the photos of cute children and the $100 worth of embellishments surrounding the photos.  That’s why I love to use sketches.  Lots of inspiration: minus the distraction. This week we will create layouts based on sketches that we find in books, magazines, or online.  You can start with the Keller’s Creations blog.  There are over 100 sketches tucked away there. Next you can cruise on over to Pinterest and search for scrapbook sketches.  If that doesn't produce enough results you can do a general Google search for scrapbook sketches.  That should keep you busy for a while!  

This is just one of the many sketches on the Keller's Creations website!

Photo Cred: http://kellerscreations.blogspot.com/

This week upload the sketch as well as the layout to Facebook.  Not only will you be eligible for the weekly prize but you will also be sharing inspiration with everyone else!

Great in Eight Week 4 Challenge

Week 4 – Scrap the Stash

When I teach a class in person I always ask if anyone has a box of scraps at home.  Not one person has ever said that they didn't.  We keep everything (we are scrapbookers after all) but the problem is we don’t always use it.  For this week’s challenge I want you to get out your scraps and put them on a page.  It can be a strip of paper that you turn into a fringe border, a ribbon snip that you put behind an embellishment, or an extra button that you cut off your favorite shirt. The possibilities are endless.  Hopefully at the end of the week you’ll be motivated to use that scrap box more often!

Week Three Challenge

Week 3 – It’s All About Me

Are you like me?  Someone who likes to takes hundreds of pictures of other people but avoids the opposite side of the camera like the plague. It's time to get out from behind the camera and start putting yourself in your photos.  While you’re at it don’t forget to scrapbook something about yourself.  The memories you’re chronicling include you and so should your scrapbooks.  

www.ismedia.co.uk/news/conferences/2/A-fresh-look-at-IS-Media-Its-all-about-ME.

This week we are challenging you to scrap a layout all about you and one of the best things about this challenge is that you have permission, for once, to tell your family “it’s all about me”!   

Week Two Challenge!

Week 2 – Pull Out Journaling

We all know that journaling is important but we tend to put it off.  There are a variety of reasons why we do this ranging from “I don’t know what to say” to “I don’t like my handwriting”.  In this challenge we’re going to dare to find our pens, put on our thinking caps, and get our thoughts on our pages.  For those of you like me who don’t like your handwriting pull out journaling may be the perfect answer for you.  You can tuck away your handwriting on pull outs so it isn’t the focal point of the page.  To use a page protector you will simply cut a slit in the protector and place the pull for your journaling on the outside.  This is a Week 2 challenge but I encourage you to continue with your journaling after the week is done.  When you look back at your scrapbooks you will be glad you did.

On page one of this layout there is pull out journaling behind the 4x6 photos.  The 3x3 photo on the end serves as part of the tab to pull out the journaling.  For use with a page protector make a slit in the front of the protector.  The 3x3 photo would sit outside the page protector making it easy to pull the journaling out.

Great in Eight Week One Challenge

Challenges are a great motivational tool.  As a website design team member I have led and participated in many scrapbook challenges over the years.  In fact, I based one of my Creating Keepsakes classes on that very concept.  Some of you are “Great in Eight” class members and are joining us for continued encouragement and fun!

Great in Eight is an eight week challenge.  I will post the challenge for the week here each Monday.  Then all you have to do is complete a layout a week for each of the eight weeks.  To sweeten the pot, post your completed pages on our Facebook page and you’ll be entered in a weekly contest. 

Participating in weekly challenges is a great way to keep scrapbooking on the front burner.  I want to encourage all of you to join us as we embark on a journey to complete 8 Great Challenges over the course of the next 8 weeks. 

www.solomonpainting.com

Week 1 – Monochromatic 

A scrapbook page with a monochromatic color scheme looks clean and elegant.  Monochromatic layouts utilize variations in lightness and saturation of one color for most of the elements on your page.

www.sheknows.ca

Neutral colors such as white and black are often combined with the monochromatic colors.  You can also use patterned paper that uses different variations of the same color.  It’s quick and easy to choose your products when you narrow down your choices to one color because you know that they will go together. 

Our first weekly challenge is to create a layout with a monochromatic color scheme. So what are we waiting for…let’s get started!

Celebrating!

Happy National Scrapbook Day!  I hope you are up to your elbows in paper and adhesive.  We are so excited to announce that our website is now up and running.  It was a bumpy ride this week, technology is not my strong suit, but we were determined to open it by this weekend. You can check it out now at www.jillygirlandcompany.com! 

 To celebrate the grand opening and this special day we are giving away a $25 gift certificate for the website to one lucky person.  Even if you don’t win you can enjoy 25% off everything in the store this weekend.  That includes the first month of our Monthly Layout Club!  Yep…25% off means you get the first month of club for $26.21.  You can even get in on our May shipment if you order this weekend.  That’s 5 double page layouts for $26.21 including shipping!  Now that is exciting!

To be entered in the contest all you need to do is go to our Facebook page, share our post about the give away, and leave a comment on the post.  While you’re there be sure to like our page.  We will be announcing other opportunities to win prizes and product in the future.

We’re excited about all the things that are happening right now.  The new blog, the new website, the new monthly kit club…all coming together on National Scrapbook weekend.  We honestly didn’t plan it this way but it couldn’t have worked out any better! 

                                                          http://createwithella.wordpress.com/2014/03/

Great in Eight Weekly Challenges

We all need incentive from time to time to get out our scissors and adhesive and start scrapbooking.That’s why one of my classes at Creating Keepsakes Conventions this year is a weekly challenge based class called Great in Eight. 

To keep the motivation going we will be posting challenges here on our blog each week. These challenges are aimed at motivating you to scrapbook. Part of my getting back to basics commitment for this year is to become intentional in the things that matter most. So I am going participate in these challenges right along with you. 

We’ll start the first full week of May which will take us through the last full week of June. Eight weeks.  One layout a week.  That shouldn't be too difficult.  I can’t wait to get started! 

Back to the Basics

Are you busy?

I suppose that’s a silly question. Everyone is busy these days. It doesn’t matter if you are a stay at home or working mom; a college student or retiree; newly married or single. Busyness seems to be a way of life. And all of that busyness causes us to put off or push out the important things in life.

I don’t know about you but I’m tired.

 Tired of being busy.  Tired of not taking the time to enjoy the little things that I love to do. Tired of not being silly with my friends. Tired of not making memories with my loved ones. Tired of not making time to scrapbook.

So, I’ve decided to make a change. I’m getting back to the basics.  Back to the basics in my scrapbooking life, my business life, and life in general.  I’m going to make this my focus for the rest of the year.

I’m so excited to start this blog. The idea originally was to share challenges for my Great in Eight Creating Keepsakes class but it has developed into so much more. I want to invite you to join me in this journey.

I’m calling it JG b2b (Jilly Girl Back to Basics).  Let’s take on the challenge to get back to the basics!

In the Beginning

Hi, my name is Lori and I love to scrapbook.  Okay, wait a minute.  I sound like I’m at a Tupperware party.  It kind of applies because it started at a Creative Memories party. 

Why don’t we go back to the beginning? 

About 15 years ago I was invited to a co-workers house for a night of fun getting to learn about a new product that would help me organize my photos.  To be completely honest, I didn’t really want to go but I felt obligated because my cubicle was right beside hers.  My husband was less than enthused to take over the entire bedtime routine for 3 little kids but relented when I explained it would keep my name out of the water cooler gossip. 

I went to that party fully expecting to buy one thing to fulfill my co-worker obligation but instead walked out the door that night with a receipt for over $100 worth of scrapbook supplies. 

I was sold.  

Not on the product necessarily, but the idea.  I saw the importance of preserving memories for future generations. 

Fast forward 12 years, 3 teenagers, a dog, and 2 jobs.  I was busy and that is putting it mildly.  My scrapbooking had dwindled to almost nothing.  I would get frustrated because it took me days to get a layout done.  I was following the model presented in the magazines; put one large photo on the page with $100 worth of embellishments around it.  Scrapbooking was no longer about the memories but about trying to create the perfect work of art.  Don’t get me wrong.  This is definitely a creative outlet for me and I love to let my artsy side have free reign.  But it had become more of a burden than fun.  Not only was I not completing many layouts but the ones that I did manage to get done didn’t portray much in the memory department.

Fast forward a few more years to the present day.  I’m still busy but I’m beginning to see the light.  It’s been a long time coming and things don’t change overnight but I’m optimistic. 

I’m getting ready to take some first steps. I hope you’ll want to join me.