Katie the Scrapbook Lady

Spread the Word to End the Word

Today is an official day of activism to stop the use of the R-word. I love the important message of this campaign and I hope you will visit their website, like them on facebook, and spread the word to end the word.

 

 

 

Spread the Word to End the Word_™ is an ongoing effort by Special Olympics, Best Buddies International and our supporters to raise the consciousness of society about the dehumanizing and hurtful effects of the word “retard(ed)” and encourage people to pledge to stop using the R-word.

Download a fact sheet and several helpful resources from the official site for more information.

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This message goes right along with the Person First Language post I wrote for The Daily Digi, so I hope you will also take a minute to think about how important it is to show respect for everyone.

Please help me spread the word!

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Time - I need some of that stuff

I’m having a hard time keeping a grip on my time lately. I’m too busy to blog today, which means I’m just too busy. I don’t like that feeling.

Here’s hoping that tomorrow is more manageable.

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Five things I need to remind myself of

I’m feeling a little tired and creatively drained lately. I went looking for some inspiration from the blogs I read and ended up remembering a few posts of my own that actually are helpful. It’s funny that sometimes we come up with these great plans and ideas for ourselves and then end up letting them fade away. Here are a few of my past entries that I constantly need to remind myself of so I stay on track.

• My 10 things trick – How I force myself to get things done.
• What can you STOP? Try cutting some things from your to-do list.
• Feed the good wolf. The strongest wolf is the one you feed.
• Savor the details. Appreciate and embrace simplicity.
• Have a day to unplug. I really need to do this.

I’m going to reread my own advice and spend some time refreshing my creativity. I’d love to hear what you do when you need a boost!

State of the Scrapbook Lady

Those who live in the United States are familiar with the State of the Union address given each year by the current President of the United States. Wikipedia states:

The State of the Union is an annual address presented by the President of the United States to the United States Congress. The address not only reports on the condition of the nation but also allows the president to outline his legislative agenda and national priorities to Congress.

Now I'm no President, but I am the one and only contributor to this blog so I thought it would be kind of fun to do my own annual "State of the Scrapbook Lady" post each year. I will mark my calendar for this date in 2011 for a follow up post. Yes, I have a calendar just for my blog posts, and it really helps me stay on track.

I thought I would start off with some statistics. The funny thing is, I hardly ever look at my own statistics and when I do, I don't always understand them. LOL! I guess I should learn how to do all of that. Truthfully, it's not why I blog. I come here and share stuff each day because it keeps me going creatively and I enjoy it. It's just a bonus that so many nice people have joined me and read along each day. What a wonderful thing!

Scrapbook Lady Stats as of today:

• 1,486 - blog posts on this blog
• Blogging since October 2005
• 2, 314 comments posted on this blog from readers (thank you!)
• 487,899 lifetime page views (according to typepad stats) + whatever I had on my old blog prior to the switch to typepad in November of 2007
• 308 - fans on facebook
• 1,095 - followers on twitter
• 1 goofy lady!

Scrapbook Lady Agenda for 2010:

• DO lots of things. My word for the year is DO so that is the plan.
• I want to grow my blog. I'm not all about statistics, but I work hard to make this blog something special, so it would be neat to share it with even more readers.
• I would love to increase my facebook fans and twitter followers as well. Again, not about quantity here, more about quality.
• Keep on scrappin!

Scrapbook Lady Evolution:

• In 2009, I retired from designing digital scrapbook products and I'm still feeling good about this decision. I design a few templates and small giveaways for The Daily Digi on occasion which I enjoy, but that is all I have planned in that department these days.
• I've come to realize that I really love writing a lot more than designing. I love writing for my own blog, and for The Daily Digi. Both places give me many opportunities to share inspiration that hopefully encourages other people to document their memories in some meaningful way.
• I've been working on making my own photography and scrapbooking projects more meaningful. I really love digital scrapbooking. It's way more than a hobby for me, it's a passion. I feel the same way about photographs. I adore them. I want to make and take great pictures!
• I have reduced my team commitments. I've been on a lot of teams over the past few years and I've loved all of them. The time has come for me to focus on what matters most to me though. I'm a creative team member for the Shabby Princess because I adore her and her designs. She is so amazing and talented, and I love what she does for the digital community! I'm also a team member and a very active part of The Daily Digi site. I totally believe in the mission of the site and love that the whole purpose of it is to share information, knowledge, and ideas to empower digital scrapbookers to enjoy the memory keeping process. Each month the Digi Files are PACKED full of amazing digital goodies for only $5. This is such a win-win deal for everyone. The purchaser gets at least $35 of top-notch digi designs, as well as a daily website full of inspiration and no advertising. There is nothing else out there that even comes close to giving so much to digital scrapbookers each and every day! I'm honored to be a small part of it all.
• I used to post in a lot of online galleries, but I just can't keep that up anymore. Between homeschooling my kids, and writing a lot for  2 different blogs, I just don't have the time to spend posting and commenting in the galleries and forums like I used to. I still am very involved in the digital community, but in different ways. I am constantly sharing links and ideas on twitter and facebook. I run a digital scrapbooking group on flickr and participate in many groups on flickr. I also share all of my layouts here and/or on The Daily Digi site. I also read about a zillion blogs all related to digital scrapbooking, paper scrapbooking, photography, and various other memory keeping topics. 

Scrapbook Lady's Searching For:

• A way to figure out my most popular blog posts to help me know what I'm doing right. I thought it would be really cool to list my all-time TOP TEN posts here, but I couldn't figure out how to do it!
• The perfect lighting for every photograph.
• Peace, Love, and Legos!

Feed the Good Wolf

Feed the Good Wolf, originally uploaded by katiescrapbooklady.

This is stock photo I used to create this motivational layout. Copyright for photo belongs to original photographer.

My Dad originally told me this "story" and it really made an impression on me. We love this idea and we try very hard to "feed the good wolf". I created a visual to go along with this and I used a stock photo so if you want to make your own, be sure to purchase the photo from the talented photographer on istock. I used LB typewriter font in bold.


One evening an old Cherokee told his grandson about a battle that goes on inside all people. He said, "My son, the battle is between two "wolves" inside us all.

 

One is Evil. It is anger, envy, jealousy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego.
The other is Good. It is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith."

The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather: "Which wolf wins?"

The old Cherokee simply replied, "The one you feed."