Memory Keeping

I have been thinking about the evolution from just "scrapbooking" to "memory keeping." I keep seeing the term memory keeping used more and more and I love it. Yesterday, I went to Jessica Turner's blog, The Mom Creative, to read some of her "31 Days of Memory Keeping" series. Ali Edwards now uses the tag line "Memory Keeping for the Modern World" for her website. Finally, I could not wait to download the new e-book from Ella Publishing, which provides "Memorable Reads for Memory Keepers."

I think that this is both a philosophical shift and practical shift for many scrapbookers. We do a greater variety of memory keeping now including photo books and Project Life. (I love Shutterfly and Paper Coterie for photo books.) For me, the big shift is using my blog for memory keeping. I enjoy being able to quickly share my photos and stories. Some of this evolution may be due to time constraints in our lives, but I think that people are enjoying the many forms of memory keeping available. I dabble in a little digital scrapbooking with My Digital Studio. My scrapbooks provide a home for some photos, ephemera, layouts (paper and digital) and Alex's artwork. I only occasionally create a traditional scrapbook layout, but I still call myself a scrapbooker because memory keeping has become a part of my life. I hope that others will find the forms of memory keeping that fit them best.

Busy Weekend

Drinks with friends Friday night
UTSA Football Game on Saturday (with a win in OT!)
Pumpkin Carving Party Saturday night
Lunch with friends today
Sunday dinner with my parents

Summer Artwork

It was so hot outside this summer that Alex's daycare had to cut their afternoon time outside. This resulted in A LOT of artwork. Alex enjoys painting, and he managed to get paint everywhere. One day he had pink and purple spiky hair after putting some of the paint in his hair. Of course we needed to stop at the grocery store on the way home that day! Another day, he had blue hands after painting and looked like a Smurf.

Here is some of Alex's artwork from the summer:

Love Card

I forgot to post the card I made for John for our anniversary (at the end of July).

Supplies Used:
Paper: Life of the Party from Basic Grey
Card Stock: Crumb Cake (kraft) from Stampin' Up!
Stamp: Hero Arts Graph Background
Inks: Fired Brick Distress Ink & Chestnut Roan chalk ink from Color Box
Stickers: EK Success
Corner Rounder: Crop-a-dile Corner Chomper from We R Memory Keepers

These seemed to be my "go-to" supplies last summer, and now I am obsessed with butterflies!

Color Combo Blog Hop

I can't believe that it is already the middle of October! It is time for another Color Combo Blog Hop. I will have the entire list of participants at the end of the hop so that you don't miss a stop.

For October, we chose between three fall color combinations from Design Seeds. Here is the one that I chose:

After reading this article earlier in the week on Scrapbook Update, I was attracted to the combination with grays and yellows. Last night, I scrapped one of my favorite photos of Alex from the summer.

This is a digital page designed in My Digital Studio, and most supplies are from Stampin' Up. I also used a stamp designed by Ali Edwards available at Designer Digitals.

The journaling reads:
Our neighbor was nice enough to let you help water his lawn on some hot summer evenings. You had fun watering the plants and playing with the hose. One day, you exclaimed, "My belly's wet!" We could not help but laugh! Not only was your belly wet, but you were soaked from head to toe.

Our neighbor also blogs, and you can read his great food blog at http://www.sanantoniojoe.com/ .

Your next stop on the blog hop is http://sugarandscrap.blogspot.com

You can see more ways to use this color combination and two others by following the entire hop:
http://www.abstractsmixedwithextracts.com
http://suealthouse.blogspot.com
http://xnomads.typepad.com
http://michelleroycroft.blogspot.com
http://throughthecameralens.typepad.com/
http://scrapyourlife.net
http://spud-pickle.blogspot.com/
http://curlyscrapbooker.blogspot.com
http://1200somemiles.com (You are here.)
http://sugarandscrap.blogspot.com
http://alyssephotographs.blogspot.com
http://handmadebykirsty.blogspot.com
http://adriennefalzon.blogspot.com/
http://helenascreativemaven.blogspot.com
http://digipage-blog.everything-digital-scrapbooking.com/
ttp://scribblesstickingstitchingstroking.blogspot.com/

Thank you for stopping by!

Ten Conference Highlights

For my October Ten Things on the Tenth of the Month post, I want to share highlights from the National Academic Advising Association (NACADA) Conference that I attended in Denver, Colorado from October 1-5, 2011. This was a wonderful conference!

1. One of my favorite sessions from the conference was on "Women Thriving in Higher Education." An extraordinary panel of women honestly shared their career experiences and advice. One woman pointed out that in your career sometimes you do things out of desire and sometimes you have to do it out of need. They discussed changing positions to stay in line with your core values and the topics of taking a pay cut or a part-time position. They shared their various experiences with completing a doctorate degree. Their willingness to honestly share their experiences made this session so valuable.

2. I was happily surprised to see my graduate school advisor at the conference. I did not pre-select my conference sessions, so I did not know that she was presenting. She has served as a reference for me and we email occasionally, but I had not seen her in seven years. Of course, I attended her presentation.

3. Since I did not pre-select my sessions, I took advantage of going with the flow and attended great sessions on a variety of topics: Sophomores/Second Year Students, Assessment, Technology in Advising, First Year Students, and Graduate Interns.

4. I hung out with two conference buddies in Denver. I enjoyed spending time with these ladies.

5. I also had the opportunity to connect with other UTSA advisors who I do not regularly get to see at work. We enjoyed getting together for dinner two nights in a row.

6. The weather was beautiful and I enjoyed walking around Downtown Denver.

7. A friend introduced me to Pinkberry frozen yogurt. If you have one in your area, go get some peanut butter yogurt with your favorite topping for me. There are not any locations in San Antonio. (Someone with more money than an Academic Advisor should start a franchise here!)

8. I got to meet other academic advisors from all over the U.S. and the world. I chatted with advisors from Ohio, California, Hawaii, North Carolina, Florida, Colorado, Indiana, Kentucky, Texas, Oklahoma, and Hong Kong.

9. I learned so much, including more about Sophomores/Second Year students and Assessment. I have taken a lot of ideas home with me and hope to use and implement them.

10. I am finally on Twitter and looking forward to the Academic Advising Chat each Tuesday.

For more Ten Things on the Tenth of the Month posts, visit shimelle.com

Thanks to one of my conference buddies for taking my photo at our hotel.

While I Was Away...

I uploaded some photos from our camera and found this one that was taken while I was away at a conference.

I'll be saving this one for when Alex is in high school. :)
Photo taken 10/2/11.

September Expenses

I give myself a monthly budget of $40 to spend on craft supplies (including classes, idea books/magazines, photo printing etc.), and I was under budget for September. I have done some fall cleaning and condensed my supplies.

Early in the month I spent about $3.05 on adhesive. I used some Michael's store credit on this purchase, so it would have been about $10 normally. Later in the month, I spent $3 on a butterfly stamp, which I have already used.

My local stamp store, Stamp Antonio Arts, did a great job organizing their first ever "garage sale." I shared a table with a friend and made $20 by selling some craft supplies that I was longer using. I also swapped some card stock with a friend at no cost.