Creative Break Through

First let me say that there is nothing like operating under a deadline to get your juices flowing. HM is discontinuing the publishing of 12x18 posters. A few months ago I had come up with the idea of putting my daughter on the cover of 3 magazines and making them into posters to decorate her room. I did the first one and never completed the other 2. This past weekend, not only did I complete the other two, but I did two additional posters, a deck of cards and completed a first grade yearbook! Only 2 weeks left to get these published. For clients that still have 12x18 credits however, these will be transferred to the 18x24 poster size.

I love when I catch her in motion. Obviously she loves to dance. The lead photo used here was her doing the macarena in the rain. I don’t ever remember my parents letting us dance in the rain. Once in a while you just have to throw caution to the wind and live a little. It was actually kind of fun and your children think that you are the coolest ever! Anyone else ever danced in the rain?

Top 10 Signs of a Storybooking Addiction

10.  You're in a fender bender and your first thought is, "I wonder if there is an HM template for this event?"
9.  Your three year old wants to know if her coloring book is "archival quality."
8.  You decide to give your child piano lessons so you'll be able to use the musical instrument embellishments that are in the art gallery.
7.  You redecorate your family room to coordinate with your storybook covers.
6.  Your child is the only one in agriculture class who thinks "crop" is to cut your photos.
5.  You buy a new pink swimsuit because it coordinates with the new Cocoa Couture art collection.
4.  You try to claim your premier membership as a medical expense because storybooking is such good therapy.
3.  A regular sandwich is no longer acceptable--it must be cropped or cut with decorative edges.
2.  You are more likely to have a camera on your shoulder than your purse.
1.  You're the only one at a social gathering yelling, "Just one more photo; I don't have enough for a two page spread!

Hello everyone! My name is Yolanda and I'm a Storybooking Addict!

How I Became "The Memory Keeper"

Although the seed had been planted a few months before, it started in early 2002. I took a weekend trip to New York and decided that while I was there, I would visit Ground Zero. I'm not sure exactly why I wanted to go, but I felt it was something I needed to do while I was there. I came across a vendor selling brag books of photos from the attacks to the clean up as a fundraiser. He was uniformed, so I believed this to be true.

I had absolutely no idea what I would do with this photos. As I contemplated buying them, I thought, one day I will have a child that may be doing a report on this event in history. So, I purchased the photos and continued with my visit. I  have to say when I approached the wall of messages and memorials, I had a very emotional experience. I don't know that I can really put that into words. I came on home with that experience weighing on my heart.

A few weeks later, I was cleaning up my spare bedroom and found (underneath an unfinished project) a laundry basket full of envelopes of photos. There must have 20 or so envelopes! Anyone else out there take photos, get them printed, look through them and then stash them some where? Here they were, precious memories that I had captured, so excited to have them developed, and then toss them aside. I recalled a conversation I had with my friend The Hair Whisperer about scrapbooking. I was adamantly against doing anything crafty because I was not a crafty person. But I thought, I can make a scrapbook to preserve these photos.

A few months later, I found out I was pregnant with my first child. I decided I would have to give scrapbooking a try so that I could make a baby book when my daughter was born. So I went on a mission to find out what I could about scrapbooking so that I would be a pro by the time my daughter arrived. Let me just remind you here, that at this point in the story, I still had not started the 9-11 book yet. I walked into Michael's for the FIRST TIME EVER! I was overwhelmed, but I picked up a few kits and decided to scrapbook my entire life up to this point. I became a fanatic! I soon discovered the local scrapbook store, Scrapbook Plaza, which is no more, but it became my second home. I took classes, made friends and developed my skill. I even earned my Bachelor's and Master's in Scrapbooking from Scrapbook Design University!

In 2004, I took my first scrapbooking weekend retreat and finally completed my 9-11 commemorative album. The photos that launched my VERY FIRST HOBBY, my passion, and my business was finally completed 2 years later. 

Are there any other crafters out there? What's your craft and how did you get started?

Mari's Morning Room: The *Best* Time

Mari's Morning Room: The *Best* Time

Wordless Wednesday

 The Storybook

Bowling With My Boy

So, Zachary turned 4 last week. I can't believe he's already 4! They grow up so fast. We started the day with him opening his gift. If we are friends on Facebook, you probably already know how much he loves the movie Cars. So he got a Cars bicycle. Since he wanted Handy Manny tools (and costume) for Christmas, we thought he might enjoy putting it together. So he got dressed up in his hard hat and tool belt and went to work. One word~ADORABLE!

Times have been tight financially, so we didn't have a party. In retrospect it would have cost me less, if not the same amount of money to have a party. When exactly did bowling stop being an affordable family outing?!?! I was shocked at how much it cost for shoes, the lane (per person/per game) plus food and drink.

Ok, the cost aside, my little man had a blast! We asked him what he wanted to do for his big day and gave him 3 choices. Hannah and Lauren wanted skating or Monkey Joes. When we weren't around, I am pretty sure they tried to convince him to go somewhere else. However, when we all got in the car, I asked him one more time and he said he wanted to go bowling. He was so funny! I wished I had taken video because the lighting was so bad my pictures didn't come out very well. But I will forever remember the happy dances and the jumping around in excitement whenever he knocked some pins down! It was so worth it! I don't really bowl but I think he did pretty good; he bowled a 68.

We finished off the afternoon with a stop at dairy queen for blizzards. I selected a few pictures for this month's photo spotlight.

What’s in a Name?

I’m not certain, but I think my mother chose my name. She went high school in an area where there were a lot of Hispanics and liked the name Yolanda. While I have met several Hispanics named Yolanda, I wasn’t sure it was of Spanish origin. I recently did a little research. Most sites said it was of Greek origin or Greek and Spanish origin. They all agreed that the name meant violet flower. I also found out that it peaked in popularity in the early 1970s, which happens to be when I was born.

Growing up, I didn’t really like my name all that much. For one reason, most people butchered it, mispronouncing it all the time. Secondly, there were all these cool personalized items like key rings, zipper pulls, nameplates, stickers and the like, but there was never, ever a Yolanda. Lastly, I didn’t meet another Yolanda until I was in high school. The originality of my name in my circles may have been a good thing, but I didn’t recognize that until years later. I really, really wanted a “regular” name like Karen or Jennifer. I did try to have a little fun with it. At one point I would develop aliases and try them out, like when I met a guy I wasn’t really interested in-I’d give him a fake name.

There came a time when I was reading about how it was considered disrespectful to your parents to trash or change your given name. Apparently in some cultures and certainly in the Bible, the given name had significant meaning to the family or events in their life at that time. I have great parents, whom I love and honor, so I still have my name. However, my childhood isn’t without scarring.

For a nickname, I was called Gypsy. My great-grandmother called my Gypsy. She struggled with saying my given name and gave me this nickname. At the time, my parents lived out of state and traveled I-95 heavily. Great-grandma Ida likened us to gypsies and that’s how I got my nickname. As a child, it didn’t matter to me. I hadn’t known any different. As a teenager however, I would beg and plead to not be embarrassed in front of my friends by being called by “that” name.

I had long reconciled myself with my name when I began to meet other Yolanda’s. In fact, there were four Yolanda’s in my high school. Okay, this was confusing. You always had to ask “which Yolanda?” in conversations. With the embracing of my name came a little more research: what does it say about me? I found some interesting things for example; I am a person motivated by success. I am a joyful person. I have reasoning power and I am known for loyalty. I don’t like leaving things unfinished and I have inherent artistic qualities. I don’t even remember which site I found this stuff, and I don’t know how valid the information is, however, I did feel as though it was pretty factual about me. Perhaps, I just became inspired to be all those things.