Which camera to use?

By the time you read this, I’ll be at the Happiest Place on Earth – Disneyland!  But first, did you arrive here from Connie as part of our Make it Monday Blog Circle?  She shook up a holiday card for Christmas in July!  Read on to see who’s next in the blog circle.

As I write, I’m contemplating whether or not to bring my ‘big’ camera.  You know, the digital SLR? I know that I’d love to have it with me but do I really want to ‘schlep’ it around with me?  And how difficult will it be to enjoy the rides while I’m wearing it?

Some of my thoughts:

• My super-duper 70-300mm lens would be so fun to have to take artsy and far away shots!
• It does a great job of taking action and night pictures – just what I’d need for World of Color
• I decided against buying Disney’s Photo Pass this time around so I probably would take more of my own pictures.

And of course, I’ll have my mobile phone camera with me as well.  I keep hearing the phrase, the best camera is the one that you have with you….

So – what would you do?  Or what have you done in a similar situation?  I’d love to know!

Now, hop on over to  Melissa who’s scrapping personality this week.

Giveaway for Be Photo Wise’s class Metadata: Your Gift to the Future

Hello!

Yesterday I told you all about this wonderful class about Metadata and your images.  As a reminder, I’ve provided a video for the class talking about how you can work with Metadata in Panstoria Historian.

Today, I am giving away a seat in this class!  It’s self paced and will be full of great information.  Just click here to enter.

I’ll email the winner directly on Friday.

Thanks, and I really do appreciate your support!  Cheers!

Layout a Day, Feb ’15 (LOAD215)

The Layout A Day (LOAD) challenge for Feb. 2015 is now open!!

If you’re not familiar with this program, it’s a month-long event where participants are challenged to create a layout a day, every day for the month of February. Each LOAD challenge has a theme, and LOAD215 will be “Once Upon a Time… Celebrating the Stories and Books of Our Youth.” We’ll use children’s literature to inspire our layouts and stories.

You can find out more here.

This time around, I’m also one of the featured designers!  I created several layouts to be featured in some of the daily prompts.

This is an annual event where I often complete my yearly family album.  I always look forward to finding time to finish a layout a day.  However, if that seems like a too large of a task for, there’s no Layout-Police.  If you can finish 1 layout in the month, that’s one more toward your completed album.  And if it motivates you to do 5 layouts, WONDERFUL!

So, what’s stopping you?  How does a Flash-Discount sound?  Regular registration is $50, but for January 1 & 2, EVERYONE can receive the alumni discount of 40% off with the code ALUM at checkout. This code expires at midnight 1/2/15.

Sign up now – here and then comment to let us know you’ll be joining us!

Oh, and it’s January 1, 2015 – HAPPY NEW YEAR!  What are your scrappy plans this year?

Cheers!

Ahni & Zoe by Creative Memories

2016 update: Creative Memories is back!  Click here to shop.

Ani is a Hawaiian word meaning Beautiful.  Zoe is a Greek work meaning Life.  It was decided to add the ‘h’ to Ahni to aid in pronunciation.

Let me summarize the new, simpler product line.  For details, take a look at the catalog.

For Traditional Scrappers – there are two album lines.   Fast2Fab Albums include predesigned pages/themes where you can add your printed pictures.   Slide-in Albums are our version of pocket albums/pages.  There are also pre-cut paper packs to help enhance these albums.  The 12×12 Slide-in pages are a great replacement for Side Loading Sleeves.

For Digital Scrappers – there’s a new app called Inawink.  It’s currently available for iOS (iPhone and iPad) and a web version will be coming in the New Year.  This app will help you take, organize (with journaling), and print your pictures.   Oh, and we’ll be offering cloud storage!

For StoryBook Creator scrappers, I will continue to scrap this way.  I plan on becoming a Panstoira affiliate soon.  Ultimately we’ll have to buy and install Artisan but we can hold off on that for now.  I’ll keep you updated.

Previews of Ahni & Zoe start mid-November with the Grand Opening is scheduled for January.

I am looking for people to become hosts for our new quick stop and shop style parties and am currently scheduling Saturdays in December and January.  As a thank you to hosts, you’ll receive one item at half price and a discount for your other items depending on the sales of your party.

I also encourage you to consider becoming a consultant.  It’s always great to get in at the ground floor!   If nothing else, you could buy your supplies at a discount.  We’ve lowered the minimums to stay a consultant so it’s much more attractive now than ever.

Thank you so much for your patience through all of these changes.  I was uncertain about what CM would look like, but I’m feeling re-energized about everything.  As always, I’d love to answer your questions – just drop me a note or give me a call.

 

What will you do with all those photos?

Yesterday was Mother’s Day in North America.  I can only imagine how many pictures were taken [by mothers, no less].

I was recently at a local sporting event, and as I looked around, I began to wonder about all the people who were snapping photos…. what were THEY planning to do with them? I saw particularly one little kid, probably 5 or 6, snapping photos with a cell phone. “Look mommy, he’d say, I got a picture of …….” I wondered, what in the world was he going to do with all those photos.

I started pondering… What is it that really prompts us to take photos? If you don’t put pictures into albums, what take them?  Do you think most photo takers give ANY thought to exactly what they are planning to do with the photos they take? Is the draw social media, is it just what we are *supposed* to do, what?

Tell me what you think in the comments.