Ethnic Scrapbooking

And the Winner is...

Okay, I've some delays in getting my book to the market, but that's what happens when you self-publish and you're the boss...you move deadlines back (not a good thing, but I'll save that for another post).
Even though I didn't have a book to sell at the expo, I still promoted it and held a drawing for a free copy of the book.

And the winner is Cindy Coates! Cindy is military and has traveled abroad so I hope this book will really inspire her to add the cultural flair she experienced to her family memory albums. Cindy you will receive the very first autographed signed copy of my book as soon as it is printed.

To my supporters...the next step for my book is the printer, please say a prayer that I get through this last step...it has really been a long journey. Here's the book cover...

Great Migration

Two migration related topics today...One, Here's a link to a newspaper Article where you'll find comments from my Dad related to a conference he's participating in next month. It's very relevant to my family's migration history as to why we left the tobacco fields of Virginia and I'm super excited about working on this presentation with him.

Two, as I type this post...the last year and half of digital images are migrating to my new 500GB external harddrive! This was a very quick executive decision I had to make since the Library of Memories class was not enough motivation to sort through those images and get them printed and yeah right...scrapbooked. So this is my great organizational accomplishment for the month of February.

Afrocentric Book Expo

Stop by and see me at the Afrocentric Book Expo, this Saturday, February 24 10am- 5pm.  See some of the layouts from my soon to be released scrapbooking idea book. The Expo will take place at the Mall at Prince Georges, 3500 East West Highway, (Route 410) in Hyattsville, MD.

Enter our random drawing to win a free AUTOGRAPHED copy of my new book.  I’ll be doing a live demonstration of how to make a scrapbook page and will answer your scrapbooking questions. Hope to see you there! 

If you stop by and tell me you heard about the Expo through my e-mail blast or from this blog post, you'll get a free gift from me!

Follow-up on Ribbon Box

Back in October (see archives) I featured the fabulous ribbon storage by "the other" Lisa (Renee Young).  Well someone asked me what the inside of the box looked like.  Everytime I use ribbon from my box I feel guitly because I haven't posted the photo.  So here it is:

It's not exciting, but let me explain.  My previous method of storage was to wrap the ribbons/fibers around those little Cropper Hopper cards and store them in a floss box...I think I saw that's how Lisa Bearnson stored them.  Which was time consuming, but a nice little activity to do with my Grandmother  a few times a year. I also kept my spools in another separate box...not really efficient at all.

When Lisa created this fabulous idea she envisioned it as a storage for the spooled ribbon.  So I have the spools on a dowel near the top and my  loose or carded ribbons just flat on the bottom...they stick out through the holes in the box (from The Container Store)....see the post in the archives from October for full understanding of this concept.

My favorite ribbon(s)....I love Stampin Up's grosgrain ribbons...perfect weight, texture, width and price.  My second favorite is black and white gingham...I hate pink and blue gingham patterned paper...but I love me some b&W gingham ribbon.

How do you store your ribbon & fibers?

My Little Valentines

What a day.  It started off with an ice storm all through the night and no electricity for most of the day.  You gotta LOVE it when you have a proposal due to the government and they were open so it was still due...we made our deadline, so I hope we win.

Here's what we did...we survived without t.v, computer, & radio...only one charged gameboy and cell phone.

Jerin tended to the fire...Joseph gave away kisses because he was happy everyone was home with him today...Jonathan and Leah challenged each other on the game boy...and mom got some much needed rest.

My interests this week

Leah and I will be reading this book By Henry Louis Gates this month for her Black History Month school assignment...she's very excited about reporting on my girl Oprah.

I found this link, regarding a manifesto through Ali Edwards blog.  View the pdf file to REGAIN TIME...an excellent read for all of you who say you don't have time to scrapbook.  I naturally implement some of these strategies and was thrilled to see that someone quantified them and put them in writing...this will be next months reading material.

Another huge interest this week...working on my photography...I'm terrible at sports photography, but not afraid to work on it.  Although it's blurry it speaks volumes to me...why because it's a mother running along side her son while he's in a race...she's cheering him on like he's setting an Olympic record.  I LOVE THAT about cameras.

New Organizing System

Where do you put the stuff you want to give to someone else the next you see them?  No purse is big enough!  Over the weekend I saw some magazine holders being used on a decorating show to sort mail & kid's school papers.  I needed such a thing for the additional mail & stuff that comes to my house for other family members...you know, like my globe trotting sister, my forever moving daughter and stuff I print out to my non-internet Dad.  (School papers...I pitch'em right away)

I didn't want to spend too much money. but I wanted something decorative since it would be sitting out on a shelf.  I went to Staples and got these cardboard magazine holder (2 for $4.99) and they came in various color, but I chose my favorite...green.  Then I finally purchased my own CROP-A-DILE (since BW took hers back) used up some of my "STASH" and 5 minutes later I have some cute personalized holders...that will take some stress out of my day.

GO ME!

Quick photo display

Okay, I'm one to offer something and then think up an idea at the last minute.  Last week I offered a make-n-take at the Lisa/Lisa crop.  I had no clue what it was going to be....I thought it would be something rubberstamping related.  so here it is:

If you must have the directions, here goes:

Three (3) 5x7 inch peices of heavy cardstock

18 eyelets (medium sized hole so you can get the ribbon through easily)

Three (3) 4x6 inch photos (mine are from my home printer)

Ribbon scraps 18 three inch pieces

Eyelet setter and hole puch...or one fabulous CROP-A-DILE will do

Punch three holes along the edges of the cardstock (CROP-A-DILE lets you punch all three pieces of cardstock at once)

Set your eyelets (I used various shapes and colors to keep mine playful)

Thread through ribbon and double knot where the pages hinge together, but not too tight so it can fold up easily.

I wrote on the photos using American Craft Slick Writers (great home shopping buy Ann...please bring them again)

I made this for my mother who is a school nurse and she's been begging for photos of her GREAT grandson.  I thought she could fold this up, put it in her purse and set it up on her desk (she travels to different schools everyday).  If I get really motivated I can add my kids to the back side....yeah right!

My challenge to you...take 5-10 miutes (no lie) and give it a try.  Please post a comment and a link so that I can see your creations too.