Memory Makers with Katrina Simeck

she loves her momma's lemonade, hates the sound that goodbyes make

Sun, 12 Aug 2007 01:59:25 GMT

that's a line from one of my favorite songs of the moment...Beautiful by Jon McLaughlin. I thought it was appropriate for what is likely my last post on this Master's blog. I've been reading the boards, and can feel the excitement that is building over the 2008 Masters calls. I'm filled with mixed emotions as the announcement of the 2008 Master's group gets closer.

Am I sad that our term is over? Of course! Who wouldn't be? But at the same time, I am happy to be handing over the reigns while the excitement & "newness" is still there. Seriously, even though it's been a year since I got the call, I still think "really? me?" on a regular basis. And I'm happy to end this on that note.

Now, let me just say that Beth has assured all of us that we are "once a Master, always a Master"....and Greg & Justin dubbed Michele, Catherine, Crystal, and I (oh, and Ronee by association!) the "Fun Masters...the Masters of Fun." And really, who walks away from a title like that? Isn't that up there with Bono or Elton John being knighted? We're already scheming...oh, I mean planning...on reuniting in Anaheim at CHA Winter. And we'll pester the Editors enought that they'll just HAVE to use us ::wink::....this group doesn't go quietly.

So instead of goodbye, I'll just say....

Thank you

Thank you for hanging in there with the Masters and the magazine. Thank you for allowing us to share our creativity with you. And thank you for sharing yours with us. Thank you for believing that documenting your story is important. Thank you to everyone at F&W for your support. Thank you to all the Masters for your friendship. Thank you to the sponsors for making mail days feel like Christmas. Oh, and a special thank you to the guy at my post office, who never blinked when I came running in saying "Cincinnati, tomorrow, plleeaassee...." :)

be good.

Katrina

the Masters of Fun...

Tue, 24 Jul 2007 11:20:06 GMT

a quick post b/c I am tired and back to real life/real job today. Had a BLAST at CHA. Love hanging out with these girls....

a little bit Sassy...

Fri, 20 Jul 2007 02:54:39 GMT

Headed to Chicago tomorrow for the summer Craft & Hobby Association show...can't wait! I'll be doing some simple card make & takes at the F&W booth, using this new line from one heart one mind. Meet Sassy! I love this color combo, and the cut-apart cardmaker is great...you can make 5 cards in a flash!

Hope you're having a great week!

a die cutting fool...

Fri, 13 Jul 2007 01:27:02 GMT

Just wanted to share some fun new tools from Quickutz....I can't wait to have a chance to play with this fun stuff!

great teacher's gift

Wed, 20 Jun 2007 17:19:08 GMT

Believe it or not, my kids just finished up the school year last week. The night before the last day, I realized that I had NOTHING meaningful to give my son's 4th grade teacher. She was a GREAT teacher for him, and I really wanted to let her know how much that meant to him (and me!). So I took out one of the little Zoom albums that we rec'd way back in our Master's prize packages. What a great project! check out Zoom albums here.

This album is 3x3 - each of the interior pages is a picture of Austin facing a page that lists something that he loved about the 4th grade. His teacher absolutely loved it!

a little trip to Archiver's

Fri, 01 Jun 2007 02:32:02 GMT

I've been traveling for business this week, and spent the last two days in Columbus, OH. I have to admit that one of my favorite things about going there is that the hotel that I stay in is literally steps away from an Archiver's store. Sort of makes business trips a little more bearable, y'know? Of course, I need more scrap stuff like I need a hole in the head...but that's beside the point, right?

I picked up some paper & chipboard from the long-awaited love, elsie line...including these cute chipboard buttons:

Also got this great oversized "k" from the Art Blanche line...can't wait to pretty it up & hang it on the wall of my scraproom! Speaking of my scraproom...I did a major cleaning/reorganizing this past weekend. Check it out here.

certain to be a layout subject soon.

Sat, 12 May 2007 03:49:59 GMT

My daughter turned 15 this week. FIFTEEN. So, the day after her birthday, we made a trip to the DMV, and she took the test for her learner's permit. She passed! And in the few short days since she rec'd her permit, I've heard "can I drive?" no less than 300 times. Guess what we'll be doing this weekend?

Aside from driving lessons, I also have lots of scrappin' planned this weekend. I've got a few assignments to do, and a lot of thoughts just swirling in my head. Plus, I've decided to overhaul the closet in my scraproom to increase my storage options. Not sure that I'll get it done this weekend, but it's definitely on the list!

Hope you all enjoy your weekend - happy Mom's day!!

out of hibernation...finally

Sun, 22 Apr 2007 03:08:56 GMT

Spring has finally sprung in the northeast....FINALLY. With huge snowstorms in Feb & March, and nasty snow/rain storm this month, the natives were certainly growing restless. With the stunning weather today, the kids & I headed out to the causeway to go for a nice long walk. (and I do mean long...my legs are really sore!) Since it has been soooo long since I've been able to shoot outside, I totally forgot to change the white balance on my camera. duh! I salvaged a bit in PSE, but they're really pretty hopeless. Guess we'll just have to go on another walk!

happy mail...

Sat, 17 Mar 2007 15:32:49 GMT

I love the days that the postman doesn't *just* bring bills!

a big THANK YOU to the folks at SEI for sharing this fun product!

2006 in review

Mon, 19 Feb 2007 20:19:41 GMT

Here's a fun way to get A LOT of photos on one page....

I create a collage in PSE5, then printed it out as an 8x10 photo - had to trim a lot of white from the top & bottom, but I love how it turned out! The tag pulls out & has numbered journaling that goes along with the numbered photos.

supplies: Bazzill cardstock, Scenic Route pp, Scenic Route die cut arrow & chipboard circle, American Crafts thickers & rub on alphas.

when masters meet...

Wed, 07 Feb 2007 04:09:43 GMT

there's bound to be trouble! And by trouble, I *of course* mean fits of laughter, silly antics, and maybe just a tad bit of alcohol. Here we are in all our late night glory. SO MUCH fun!! Miss these girls already!!

sometimes, you just need a little reminder...

Tue, 09 Jan 2007 03:55:29 GMT

I just finished a cute little clipboard that will serve as a visual reminder of some "resolutions" for this year - hopefully, this way I won't forget all about them come February! This clipboard uses papers from Scenic Route's Capetown Line and American Crafts felt flowers. Simple, fast, and pretty darn cute!

Another thing that I resolve to do this year: BACK UP MY PHOTOS! I had a bit of a scare right after Christmas - came home to find that my computer was just not responding. Totally black screen. Thanks to the Geek Squad at Best Buy, I've got two discs with my data on them (and thanks to bestbuy.com, I have a new computer on my desk!). I can't stress this enough - BACK UP YOUR PHOTOS. Not tomorrow. Now when you get a minute. Right this very minute. Go ahead, I'll wait :)

holiday greetings...

Mon, 18 Dec 2006 04:09:31 GMT

I decided to go digital for this years holiday card, and I have to say that I'm very happy with it! I designed it in Photoshop Elements, using snowflakes corners from http://shabbyprincess.com, and had it printed at http://winkflash.com...

honey, I might need some more storage...

Sat, 09 Dec 2006 04:41:50 GMT

My husband is just shaking his head at the first of my Master's prize boxes arriving. All I can say is WOW, just WOW...it's difficult to really get the magnitude of it all in a picture. I actually measured the stack of paper. It's 7 1/2 inches thick!!!

A HUGE thank you to all the wonderful sponsors!!

a little leftover pumpkin pie

Tue, 28 Nov 2006 02:54:27 GMT

I fully intended to write a nice Thanksgiving post. All about people, things, experiences that I'm grateful for. Very Hallmark-ish. Then I forgot my blog password.

Oops.

I chalk it up to a little number overload. Too many calendar dates, bill amounts, passwords, pin numbers, and phone numbers to remember. Apparently there just wasn't room for one more. So here I am, days after Thanksgiving, eating some leftover pumpkin pie.

We have Thanksgiving at our house every year. My parents live quite far away, but my husband's parents have joined us for the past several years. This year, a little pkg arrived 2 days before turkey day that created some extra smiles around our house....a pkg from Memory Makers containing the January Meet the Masters issue.

The layout that is included in my introduction is for/about my young (19 yr old) brother-in-law. He knew that his picture would be in a magazine, but he hadn't seen the layout. It made my whole week to see his face light up when I handed him the mag. He's convinced that the ladies that come through his check out line (he works at a drugstore) are going to want his autograph. :)

That's something that would have been on my thankful list - I'm thankful that not only do I have a blast with this scrapbooking thing, but I also get to make some other folks smile. That's even better than leftover pumpkin pie....

insert witty title here

Sat, 04 Nov 2006 15:40:38 GMT

Introductions like this are a little awkward...kind of first date awkward. Those weird silences where you wonder if you should comment on the weather, or just ask someone to pass the butter. So I'll just take a deep breath and get straight to the good stuff...

Hi. I'm Katrina. I'm a caffeine guzzling, grey's anatomy loving, overtired mom & wife. I drive an SUV with a soccer ball sticker on the back, but cringe at the term soccer mom. I work more than full time in the cosmetics industry, but I don't wear makeup. I live in New England, so when my fingers aren't frozen, I like to take pictures. And I'm a scrapbooker. Which is why I'm here.

I am honored to be a Memory Makers Master for 2007. I've written about my call story on my personal blog, and the MM forums, so I won't repeat it just to fill space. Besides, I'm still convinced that the only people who will read this are the friends who I've begged to leave a nice comment. That's what I tell myself so that I'm not so nervous...

We've been given permission to post part of our entry here, so I'll stop trying to be interesting, and just give ya something to look at...

True North

This is my hubby. I took this photo while we were on a cruise last spring, and loved it from the minute I saw it. I'll be honest, I fiddled with the color a bit in PSE because I really wanted to use these Basic Grey Hang Ten papers....so i wanted the water to be navy-ish. Another little PSE trick goin' on here is the compass & song lyrics on the picture...the compass is a digi-brush with text added (I hope that sounds like I know what I'm talking about!).

Swimming

And here's my son, Austin. Learning to swim this summer was a huge accomplishment for him. A little more PSE fun on this one...I decided to convert the main picture to black & white b/c the water had a funny color cast. I love that software makes it so easy to do that! I'm all about options. I'd had this Christina Cole paper in my stash for quite a while, and it just seemed to "fit" on this layout.

Feel free to post any questions or comments...I'll do my best to answer them!