Building A Business/Brand

Scrapbooking is a hobby that I am passionate about, and so, I hope to create a business doing it on the side.

I love making gifts for people, and to me, our relationships and the people in our lives are the most important things we have. 

To that end, I have created business cards to provide people with my information and labels to put on my creations.

The mini business cards came from MOO (http://us.moo.com/)

And the labels came from Expressionery (http://www.expressionery.com/)

The thing I absolutely love about both of these companies is that their products are so creative, and they allow you to spread your creativity, as well.

Housewarming Frame

Can you ever really go home again? 

After living in the house I grew up in, which my parents lived in for over 30 years, my parents recently moved into a new house.  They don't live that far from where they used to, but a new house is a new beginning.  

I had a surprise housewarming party for them this last weekend, and I made this as a gift for them.  It has the invitation to the party, pictures of the old and new house, and a key, along with some other "home" related embellishments.     

I think it turned out great.  One of my best creations yet! 

(This is a 12 by 12 frame)



"Charlie's Angels" Frame

I made this for my friend Jen for her birthday.  This is a picture of us and another friend at my birthday party last year, posing as "Charlie's Angels".  We've got the blonde, the brunette, and the redhead!  I had a hard time figuring out what to get Jen for her birthday, so I decided to make this for her, since this picture of the three of us makes me really happy.  I bought a bunch of stuff for it, but ultimately went minimalist, using a very loud background and keeping the rest a bit more subtle and simplified.  I think that balance is the key in scrapbooking!

(This is a 12 by 12 frame) 

Exciting News!

I'm so excited to share with you all a creative partnership that I have entered into with one of my closest friends, Rachel Sisco.  Rachel is a law student and photographer.  You can check out her work on her website and blog. 

According to herself:

Rachel Sisco is a natural light photographer specializing in on-location lifestyle, still life, and portrait photography for adults, children, and families.  During the winter months Rachel is an enthusiastic law student dedicated to the challenging field of criminal law. Other parts of the year, Rachel can be found anywhere the beautiful light takes her.  Rachel is a lover of life and all things new and challenging-- she currently lives outside Detroit with her husband and their two chubby kittens.

So what does this mean?  Well, Rachel will be spreading the word about my scrapbook creations to her clients, and I will be helping her by providing a service that she does not currently offer.

Rachel is a talented photographer and I am honored that she thinks my work is worthy of her photographs.  I am excited to see where this partnership takes us, and hope that we can both grow our creative outlets into businesses. 

Twins!, Part 1

No, I'm not having them.  But my boyfriend has some friends who are.  And we found out over Christmas that they are having a boy and a girl.  I had started working on some sample pages, and had these going, which will be perfect for them. 

I think these are so cute already, that I just had to share.  I can't wait for the babies to be born, so I can add the personal details!

Flower And Purse Cards

I've recently started making cards.  I've considered making them as gifts for people, but I don't have as many creative ideas for personalization as I do for scrapbook albums and frames.  This is mainly because I haven't been able to find either letter stickers (for names) or stickers with sayings that I like enough to use for cards. 

Anyway, here are a few pictures of cards I've made so far...

Flower Cards



Flower Envelopes

Purse Cards

Purse Envelopes

    

Baby Album Refurb

This is my most recent, and one of my best projects.  I was helping my mom clean when I came across my baby album.  It was a pretty standard picture album, with the sticky pages for photos, which in this case, had turned yellow/brown and were losing their stickiness.  Keep in mind that the album is 25 years old. 

So I asked my mom if I could have it, in anticipation of making a kick ass scrapbook, preserving the pictures, and ditching the old album.   The pictures that follow are the result.  I think it turned out awesome!  I love the polaroids and my mom's notes.  I think they add so much character!

I guess I should also provide a bit of context about my birth, before you start looking at the pictures.  I was born on August 11, 1985, almost three months premature.  I weighed 2 lbs., 3 oz., and was in the hospital, in the neonatal intensive care unit, for four months.  The album chronicles the early days of my life, along with spending Halloween in the hospital, and finally, Thanksgiving at home.

For those who weren't aware of this, I am sure the context helps.  But for those in my family, just looking at the scrapbook I created, brought back a flood of memories from that time.  

The picture on the front cover was taken when I was around five months old.  Apparently everyone at the photo studio didn't believe I was five months old.  They thought I was a newborn.  My mom also tells me that she thinks I look like ET in some of these pictures.  It's a good thing I still don't look like that now, huh?

So I took an old album and gave it a second life.  This is a fabulous way to give your memories new meaning.  Get them out of a dreary, plain album, and put them into a colorful and engaging scrapbook. 

The only thing is that the jury is still out on who should have custody of this album, my mom or me...

(This is an 8 by 8 album)