I suppose I created many a picture book as a child and young adult, but it was only recently that I jumped head first into modern paper crafting and the creating of smallish books. You may have read the story of how I got to this point, overcoming many internal objections to trimmers and adhesive. It has been a grand experiment and a grand ol’ time!

I was nervous to write that guest post, because I…you know…write this scrapbooking blog here…with more than couple of readers. I’ve always wanted to come across as 110% authentic and I hope I’ve done that. I am passionate about memory keeping in all its forms, of taking your photos and celebrating them in whatever way makes sense to you.

For me that has been mostly digital over the past few years, because it is an amazing tool for getting stories scrapped. But digital is not the only way to be more productive in scrapbooking! The fact that 50% of you who enjoy this blog also enjoy non-digi fun is a testament to that!

More importantly, this mini book is also a testament to the fact that you can be whatever kind of scrapper you want to be!

Sure, I learned a lot about technique (including how to set an eyelet) in this project, but what the sum of it meant to me as a scrapper was so much more. As it turns out, I enjoy working with my hands. I like feeling products between my fingers and seeing the dimension of a real life book that I created.

This mini book is not perfect (far from it), but it shares one of my special stories in a way that is fun for family to explore.  It also launches a new chapter in my own storybook as a storyteller, memory keeper and scrapbooker. This new chapter includes a touch more paper and a whole lot more confidence!

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Are you interested in figuring out your true passions in scrapbooking? Today is the last day to register for Light Your Fire, my new e-course designed to help you find new excitement for memory keeping and learn new approaches to being productive. In this six week course, you’ll get a set of the same templates I used for my first mini book project and will never see hybrid the same again! You’ll also learn:

• Where your mojo is hiding (& how to coax it out)
• 6 core mindset shifts for passionate scrapbooking
• 3 keys to banishing stress and anxiety from your memory keeping
• How to create 2 stress-free & beautiful pages in 90 minutes or less
• The only thing you need to finally get organized (& how to make it stick)
• Where to find the holy grail of templates (& how you might never need another)

It will also help you:

• Find essential confidence boosters to make you feel like a million bucks
• Celebrate your unique artistic awesomeness
• Discover your inspiration tipping points
• Create your personalized treasure chest of inspiration

Are you ready to light your fire? I’m waiting to share what I’ve learned with YOU. Simply click the button below to sign up and get started today!

I spent a lot of time this summer dreaming up something big and fun for the Labor Day holiday. If you like the following scrapbook authors and designers, you are going to love The Fair!

Lain Ehmann | Log Your Memory | Jennifer Labre Designs
Cilenia Curtis | JW Digi Scraps | River-Rose | Sir Scrapalot Designs
Daybreak Scraps | Connie Prince | SuzyQ Scraps

Simply sign up below to get your special entrance ticket!
Act now as The Fair is here for 1 week only!

As a bonus treat, one lucky visitor to The Fair will receive
a $20 gift certificate to the online shop of her choice!

9th & Bloom: Free to Fly by Vera Lim

After Five Designs: My LadyBird by Dido Designs

Cat Scrap: Ever + Always by Micheline Martin Designs & Lauren Reid

Designer Digitals: The Story Titles brushes by Ali Edwards

Design House Digital: Simplicity by Karen Funk

The Digichick: Happy When Skies Are Gray by Jenn Barrette & Laura Banasiak

Elemental Scraps: Happy Go Lucky by Daybreak Scraps

Funky Playground Designs: Higher Learning by Alissa Jones

Go Digital Scrapbooking: Citrus Flash by Jumping Jelly Bean Designs

Gotta Pixel: Rainbow Solids by Geek Chic Designs

The Lilypad: Funky School Papers by Amber Clegg Designs

Little Dreamer Designs: Memories by Deca Designs

Mscraps: Timeless collaboration

Nan Scott Design Studio: Summer Picnic suite

Oscraps: Sketchbook Artistry No. 1 {Bundle} by Sue Cummings

Peppermint Creative: School Bingo Cards by Miss Mint and Peppermint Creative

Scrapable: It’s Elementary by Scrapable Design Team

Scrap Artist is closing September 15

Scrapbook-bytes: Love Apples by Dani Moy Designs

Scrapbookgraphics: Splatter Graffiti [Borders] Comfort Food by Studio Tangie

Scrap Matters: Krafty Papers by Happy Scrap Girl

Scrap Orchard: Fall Festival alpha from Designs by Kat

Scrappity-Doo-Dah: Freshly Squeezed by Dani Moy Designs

Shabby Pickle Designs: You Got Me by Ju Kneipp

Songbird Avenue: Everyday Moments Charity Kit

Stuff to Scrap: New York, New York by Scraps ‘n Pieces

Sunshine Studio Scraps: A Sweet Day by Ellie Lash

Sweet Shoppe Designs: Come Away with Me by Lauren Grier and Zoe Pearn

Two Peas in a Bucket: Noel Advent Calendar Kit from Making Memories

Zip Zag Scrap: Tic Toc by Pink Reptile Designs and Valorie Wibbens

Simple Tip Saturdays are all about giving easy ideas for you to grab and run.

There are frequent recommendations to browse your photos, scrapbook galleries, online retailers and your local stores for inspiration. One incredible resource for creative development is often overlooked and it’s not hard to find.

To begin, try putting on the persona of another creative professional – say an architect or landscape designer or decorator. Then, seek out the traditional sources of inspiration for these trades. Look in magazines, in books and at actual finished products. Find inspiration blogs in these niches and look for trends and fun ideas you can carry over into scrapbooking.

It’s not necessary to fully adopt another creative avenue, but to simply step into their shoes for a few moments. Inspiration is all around you, you just have to know where to look!

If you’re always on the hunt for inspiration, you might be interested in my Light Your Fire E-Course which begins this Tuesday. Our first class “Where Your Mojo is Hiding (& How to Coax it Out)” will lead you on a journey to find your most meaningful sources of inspiration.

{free friday finds} is your source for free, fabulous and functional tips, tutorials and inspiring ideas! Find the very best of the best every week at Simple Scrapper.

• How to get more impact with less effort by Noell Hyman
• Resources for beginning scrapbookers from scrapbook.com
• 12 ideas for frugal artwork from Simple Mom
• The secret behind extracting from Sir Scrapalot
• The whys and hows of saving scraps from Load of Scrap
• A letter to my unborn baby from The Creative Mama

September 1 is always such a turning point for me. Even though it is still technically summer, the first of September is a mental transition from one phase of the year to another. As we get full-on into school mode, settle into new routines and chart a path towards the new year, we turn inward and more reflective.

There has never been a better time to get centered and focus on what is truly important, in your life and in your memory keeping. If you’ve not yet participated in this week’s Celebrate Monday, that is a great way to get started.

As we cheer in the new month, will you please join me in welcoming September’s sponsors? These businesses make it possible for me to share with you each day here at Simple Scrapper.

• Log Your Memory
• Sir Scrapalot Designs
• Digital Designer Shop
• Scrap Matters
• Nan Scott Design Studio
• Lain Ehmann’s Scrap Happy

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Yesterday I hosted a little giveaway of three seats in my brand new e-course, Light Your Fire. The winners are: Andrea, Dana & Becky.  I will email you right away with instructions on how to join us! Congratulations!

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Things have been busy behind the scenes here with lots of fun new things for you. The first will arrive next Monday and it’s going to be a grand affair!

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Finally, I want to remind you that a very special project is coming super soon: Scrappers Give Thanks. On October 25, we’ll launch instructions on how to participate in this charity event for scrapbookers. It’s going to be so fun and you’re going to LOVE the project! In the meantime, you can:

• Check out our new logos designed by Aaron Morris (aka Sir Scrapalot)
• Show us some love on Facebook & post our badge on your blog
• Sign up to sponsor a prize

Oh my – this is a big one my friends! For just 24 hours you have an exclusive chance to win a spot in my brand new e-course.

Light Your Fire: 6 mojo-revving weeks to passionate scrapbooking is an opportunity to get unstuck and rediscover your own unique creative spark.

You can read more about Light Your Fire and then come back here to enter the giveaway. Three lucky participants will receive a free pass to Light Your Fire! Enter by 11:59am central time on Wednesday, September 1 to be eligible.

Enter the Giveaway

Celebrate Monday is a weekly photo exercise designed to help you get back to basics and find more joy in your memory keeping.

Each week, you’ll be asked to select a photo and story from your everday life to share with us on our Flickr group and/or on your blog. Then, link us up using the widget below.

The idea is simple. Strip away the extras for a small moment to center yourself on what is most important in your process. Find the photo, tell the story, and be prepared for more authentic scrapbooking later in the week.

Simple Scrapper brings you the very best brand new digital products for scrapbooking week after week…

9th & Bloom: Time to Relax by ET Designs

After Five Designs: Thankful by Jazzmin Designs

Cat Scrap: Another Day by Allison Pennington

Designer Digitals: Stitched by Anna MultiFoto Overlays No. 01 by Anna Aspnes

Design House Digital: A Kind Word, School Edition by Deena Rutter

The Digichick: ABCs & 123s by Sugarplum Paperie

Digiridoo Scraps: PhotoSketch Actions by Brianna Cox

Elemental Scraps: Brooklyn by Bella Gypsy

Enchanted Studio Scraps: Me Time by Kat’s Creations

Funky Playground Designs: Endless Summer Days by Michelle Batton & Jennifer Fox

Gotta Pixel: While My Little One Sleeps from Designs by Helly

Little Dreamer Designs: Limelight Photo Textures Vol 1 – Illuminate by Michelle Coleman

Mscraps: A Good Find by Three Paper Peonies

Oscraps: Calendar Toppers No. 1 by Biograffiti

Polka Dot Plum: Tempting Templates {vol. 8} by BTA Designs

Scrapable: Sweet Dreams by Scrapshana & Caged Bird Designs

Scrapbook-bytes: Take Me Away Templates by Connie Prince & Trixie Scraps

Scrapbookgraphics: Apple Time by Studio Natali

Scrap Matters: Ready, Set, School! by Jenn Barrette

Scrappity-Doo-Dah: Project 365 Frames by Pebbles Designs

Stuff to Scrap: Dance to the Light of the Morning by Motley Crew Designs

Sunshine Studio Scraps: Casual Attraction by mgl Scraps & Studio Flergs

Sweet Shoppe Designs: Family Time by Penny Springmann

Simple Tip Saturdays are all about giving easy ideas for you to grab and run.

In at least one area of your life, you are ready to make a “good enough” decision that will enhance your productivity. Today I want to tell you why and what that means for your scrapbooking.

When I was growing into an adult-like person, I was always trying new bathroom and beauty products. It wasn’t because that one moisturizer didn’t work, it was because I wanted to see if there was one that worked just a little better and maybe had prettier packaging. I didn’t try those 8 kinds of toilet paper because I was horribly dissatisfied with the performance of one. I tried them because I could and there wasn’t much to lose.

If you’ve ever taken an economics class, you might recognize that I was a little wrong there. There is certainly an opportunity cost, especially to my brain power, of still thinking about what kind of moisturizer or toilet paper I wanted to use. I recognized this over the past year or so and started making decisions, one-by-one. (I use Quilted Northern and Vitamin E Oil.)

I was listening to a podcast recently that helped me bring this to scrapbooking. In this audio, I was reminded that even when we aren’t engaging in activities like checking email, we are spending a lot of precious brain power anticipating being interrupted by those activities. Be honest, how often are you peeking at your phone, checking for that blinking red light?

Be instantly more productive in scrapbooking

While its great to try new things and experiment and play, a great deal of simplicity and thus, enhanced productivity can be gained from just make a gosh darned decision. By eliminating the endless ruminating on the next ever better decision, you’ll free up brain power to be more creative and have more fun.

• Is your current adhesive good enough? Great, then make that your chosen brand and stop looking at alternatives. It’s just sticky stuff, not life or death.
• Do you love the people in a particular forum, then hang out there. Stop browsing to see if you’re missing action somewhere else.
• Are the photos you print good enough for your albums? Awesome, then stop sending photos to different printers.
• Does your organization system allow you to find what you need and get to business? Then its totally good enough!

Is there a “good enough” decision you can make today? This change in my thinking has transformed my life and my scrapbooking. I’ve greatly reduced the time I spend on finding a tool, product, service or idea that might just work a little better. While I still comparison shop, I rely on a faith in good enough. This approach helps me get unstuck and move forward in my creative process.

If you’re looking for more ways to get unstuck and find your mojo, I would love if you checked out my new class called Light Your Fire.