Love Preserved is Treasured For Years

A #MOMent scrapbook page from a long time ago. The blackboard-like paper made the perfect background for the photo of a sidewalk chalk drawing by my girls: "Hail to the Mom, We love u Ma, Red Carpet" with their names. #TellYourStory #GoodForYouScrapbooking #SingleMom

She Told Her Story

The first page in my Mom' s scrapbook. It has a poem by Cardinal Merry Del Val. It's a prayer and starts out, "Only to rest where He puts me, only to do His Will,
Only to be what He made me, though I be nothing still"
That was my Mom, a fervent, devout, sincere follower of Christ. 💟 #RememberingMom #HeirloomFaith #MyMom #Christianity #TellYOurStory

Single Mom Life T-shirt Page

Chronicling my life as a single mother of three, I used many keepsakes, one of which was a remnant of a Christian t-shirt I had bought and worn during that time period. The shirt parodied the then-popular TV series, "Survivor". The message and scripture was spot-on inspiration for me:  "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith." - IITimothy 4:7
 I loved that t-shirt. It was even my favorite color, orange.
To make this page, I used corrugated cardboard paper, cut the shirt into an oval and used some grunge style lettering for the title, Single Mom Life.
#SingleMom
#TellYourStory

One Box

Where I started...

Don't be intimidated by dusty boxes of photos and memorabilia in your closet or untold amounts of digital photos on your hard drive. And we all know we are taking a lot more pics since there have been cameras in cell phones... I am urging everyone to survey what you have in the way of printed photos, digital photos ad-infinitum, and mementos. Start by committing to sort one box or print just three months worth of digital photos and whatever keepsakes you can gather to go with them. Get a plastic hanging file box, some hanging file folders and Manila folders and a pen and you're off! It's overwhelming to envision the finished product, all your precious memories beautifully preserved in a lovely set of scrapbooks. Forget that. Just determine to sort one box/ three months of digital photos. 

Sorted and Ready!

Don't let the amount of stuff stop you. Don’t let a stalemate over how to handle sad life events or difficult time periods rob you of your scrapbook Story. 

I'm offering scrapbook help to anyone who needs a boost or organizational direction or decision making at the craft store-any type of Scrapbooking consultation. My specialty is scrapbooking the rough times. I have ideas! 

Email:  maryann@sunshowerbiz.com

Three-Dimensional Scrapbooks - "Treasurespaces" All Around You!

I first recognized the concept of three-dimensional scrapbooks when I was gazing at my Christmas tree.  My tree has many dated ornaments, many of which were symbolic of an event that had occurred that year and other deeply treasured ornaments including the antique shiny globe ornaments from my great uncle's restaurant in Chicago that came from Germany. "Why, it's a three-dimensional scrapbook", I mused.
Christmas is over and the tree is down, but other three-dimensional scrapbooks can also be found in my homescape, one of which is my dresser.
For starters, it's my mom's old dresser. She has passed away, but it was the dresser that is part of the bedroom suite she and my dad had picked out. That's a fine foundation for a three-dimensional scrapbook! I even treasure the worn surface of the dresser top. She used to keep dresser scarves on it so I have no idea how it got in that condition. Below you can see the dresser and all its scrapbook features. I couldn't label everything but almost every item is special in some way.  I guess I need to come up with a new term because unless it's a book it's not a "scrapbook". How about Treasurespaces?
I hope you will look around your home and find existing or potential Treasurespaces that  commemorate and memorialize as a scrapbook does. And may your scrapbooking always be Good-For-You!
Click the image below to view it full size.

Scrapbook Your Job? Why Not?

My after-school child care/ B & G Club jobs
Nothing fancy, just a title and newspaper clipping

Yup, why not? It's Your Story.  So you can scrapbook the nitty-gritty details of life; these are your trophies! I saved not just photos, but certificates, documents and programs from all of my jobs to be placed in future scrapbooks.

With or without saved workplace mementos and photographs, you can make scrapbook pages to

• commemorate, celebrate or dignify the hard work you put in 
• showcase your accomplishments and promotions 
• remember special bosses and colleagues 

If you saved such stuff, hooray! If not, you can scrapbook your job. Ideas:

• Use photos of yourself during that time frame.
• Look in craft stores for stickers that symbolize your work, . No luck in craft stores? Try looking for illustrations online, like graphics of the products you sold for a retail career, or lawnmowers for a landscaping business. Creativity is key. 
• Photograph signs and buildings where you worked. Find branding  from your workplace's website, save to your computer and print them out.

There are many ways to work around not having saved mementos or having just-right photographs for scrapbooking  your job or any other event. Email me for ideas.

Again, nothing splashy or impressive.
It is Good-For-You Scrapbooking!

A "Pocket Page" that is super easy to make to store my
certificate, a greeting card and other mementos from this job

When the Craft Stores Don't Carry Those Kinds of Stickers...

1999 was a hard year for me. Rocky times eventually led to a separation for my 21 year marriage. I determined to document my struggles and victories in my scrapbook, albeit some pages may have a limited audience. The problem with documenting these major but not happy life events is there are no obvious solutions on the shelves at Michael's or Hobby Lobby. 

But there are workarounds for this problem. Watch my video to get inspired and get some healing out of your scrapbook time.

Video: Good-For-You Scrapbooking Intro