Welcome to Day 6 of our Countdown to 2010 … the last day of 2009! As of midnight tonight, we’ll begin officially celebrating (and logging) the New Year!!!

There seems to be no shortage of wonderful Christmas traditions. Just check out the responses to this December Challenge post and you’ll see what I mean.

But I haven’t heard about as many New Year traditions. So I thought I’d share a couple of traditions from within my own immediate & extended families … and then invite you to share a few of your own, as well! In fact, I’m even throwing in a little giveaway for one random winner from everyone who posts a comment in response to today’s post.

Rutten/Gunderson/Neill New Year family traditions …

• Each individual in the family writing down predictions for the coming year, folding them up, then sealing them in an envelope to be read aloud on the next New Year’s Eve. This is usually good for at least a few giggles and can sometimes be quite revealing…
• Enjoying a steak fondue on the living room floor in front of the TV on New Year’s Eve.
• Staying up until midnight to watch the ball drop with Dick Clark.
• Watching the New Year’s Day parades on New Year’s Day morning.
• Taking down the Christmas tree & putting away the decorations for another year.

New Year, New Tradition …

In the spirit of traditions and to help celebrate the New Year, we’re going to start our own special New Year tradition at Log Your Memory! Beginning tomorrow, “real life” scrapbookers of all backgrounds, mediums, ability levels and life situations are invited to submit their favorite layouts each month for a chance to win a prize as well as be featured in our latest project … the creation of a Log Your Memory “Real Life” Scrapbooking Idea Yearbook!

Winners will be chosen monthly – one for every single day of every month – plus one talented scrapbooker will receive the special honor each month of being the highlighted Scrapper of the Month. Daily winners will each receive a $10 gift certificate good toward any downloadable product in our on-site store, plus have their layout featured in our Yearbook, which will be published early in 2011.  And the Scrapper of the Month will receive a check for $25.00, in addition to the $10 gift certificate and special attention in our Yearbook!

Look for contest rules & information on how to enter in the next several days right here on our blog! Don’t want to miss the announcement? Be sure you’re on our daily update email list … you can sign up or manage your email subscription HERE.

Today’s Giveaway …

Now for today’s giveaway … to enter, simply comment below and tell us about any New Year traditions you already practice or might be thinking about starting this year in your family. The contest closes at midnight (MTN) tonight and then tomorrow, one randomly-chosen winner will receive their choice of any one download from the Log Your Memory on-site store! Good luck & Happy New Year!!!

Don’t forget … midnight tonight is also the deadline to enter the Year-End 100 Things Layout Challenge as well as our December Challenge!!!

Click on “comment” below to share your thoughts…

Welcome to Day 5 of our Countdown to 2010 … just one more day to go before we’re celebrating (and logging) the New Year!!!

Today I have a very special Story Board for you … a collection of fabulous year-end layouts! Perhaps they will inspire you to create one of your own … and if you do, be sure to enter it in our Year-End 100 Things Layout Challenge! Check this post for details… and enjoy these great pages!

"2009 Creative" by Wilna

"Favorite Photos 2009" by cintiascrap

"Year in Review 2009" by CindyS

"2009" by Manderin Oranges

"Neill in 2009" by pom

"2009" by dancingscrapper

"Our Year in Review" by Mary Rogers

Coming up in tomorrow’s Countdown to 2010: New Year Traditions

Today’s Story Board brought to you by …

Interested in seeing YOUR business, store, Web site or favorite designer promoted here? Sponsorship opportunities are available … to find out more, inquire through the Contact Us page.

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Welcome to Day 4 of our Countdown to 2010 … just two more days to go before we’re celebrating (and logging) the New Year!!!

"The Real Me" by Kristin Rutten

Today just happens to be my 40th birthday, the perfect excuse for a bit of reflection & self-evaluation. In fact, this whole year has been a bit like that for me as I decided at my last birthday to spend a little more time during this year documenting “me” as I approached this milestone. I started a scrapbook album specifically for that purpose, which I dubbed “Me: 39 and Counting!!!” I didn’t get quite as far on that album as I might have liked, but you can check out the pages that I did get completed in my personal scrapbook gallery here.

What does all this have to do with our Countdown to 2010? One of the first pages I created for my “me” album was a layout highlighting a practice started by my favorite scrapbooking role model, Ali Edwards. Ali chooses one word each year to help provide a little focus as she goes about her life. Check out her recent blog post and keep an eye on her blog for more on the topic in the next few days.

"Balance" by Kristin Rutten

I decided last year to give this a try and after a fair amount of thought, chose my word: BEGIN. You can read my blog post and check out the layout I created centered around that decision here. I found the whole concept to be very helpful, so I have now chosen a new word for 2010: BALANCE. I blogged about this choice as well, which you can take a peek at here. You might remember the layout above, which I created about my new word a few weeks ago. I blogged about it here on the site in this post.

If you haven’t participated in this little exercise before, I encourage you to give it a try this year. The process of choosing a word itself can be very helpful & enlightening … and once chosen, it’s a lot like having a little angel sitting on your shoulder as you go about your day, reminding you of what is really important to you. In the busy-ness of life, it can be easy to lose sight of that sometimes.

If you’ve chosen a word – or are thinking about doing so – I’d love for you to share it below in a comment!

Coming up in tomorrow’s Countdown to 2010: A Special Year-End Story Board

Click on “comment” below to share your thoughts…

Welcome to Day 3 of our Countdown to 2010 … just three more days to go before we’re celebrating (and logging) the New Year!!!

A popular way to document “real life” the past few years has been to take a photo every single day and then combine that photo with journaling in an album or scrapbook page. Many different terms have been associated with this idea … Project 365 and Photo-A-Day are among the most common.

I first heard about this concept mid-way through the year last year and immediately fell in love with the idea. I could have picked just about any day to start such a project, but it seemed only right to wait until the beginning of the year to initiate the project … and that time has finally arrived!

What I have not quite decided upon yet is just which direction I will take with this project, in part because there are just so many different options. So today I thought I would share some of the different ideas I’ve come across and encourage you to consider starting a project like this as well.

Photo Album + Journaling Approach Combine a simple photo album that provides slots for journaling cards.

Print File 2x2-20B 35mm Slide Preservers from Archivers USA

Pop in the photo, write or type out your journaling for the day, slip it into the album and you’re good to go! You could get a little more elaborate by combining different types of photo or negative sleeves in a three-ring album.

I’ve been considering using something like the 35 mm slide sleeve shown here, with cropped square photos and small journaling cards with or without embellishments alternated from pocket to pocket.

Scrapbook a Week at a Time Possibly the most popular approach, here a week’s worth of photos is combined with journaling in a single- or double-page scrapbook layout. There are TONS of digital templates available just for this purpose. Here are just a few examples of the different styles of layouts I’ve seen … you can find lots more in the Project 365 Gallery at Designer Digitals.

"365-47" by Jen D

"365 POTD Week 47" by Joey M

"Project 365" by Elena

"POTD 11-09" by roxygirl78

"Week of Nov 15-21" by zannella1108

Calendar Layout Start with a monthly calendar template and add your photos in each of the daily squares. You could add a few words to each photo or journaling along the sides of the calendar using the dates to tie everything together. Here’s a great example by Terry of how this might look with just the photos…

"November 2009" by MIDA78466 (aka Terry)

Blog or Photo Gallery Skip the scrapbooking and simply post a photo-a-day to your blog or other photo gallery, such as Flickr. For the latter, your photo caption  could serve as your journaling.

Other ideas to consider…

• Take your photo at the same time every day.
• Choose a theme for the year … or for each month … and take a photo based on that theme.
• Overwhelmed at the thought of taking a photo every day? Consider switching to a Photo-A-Week project.

If you have other ideas, I’d love to hear them! Feel free to share with a comment below…

Coming up in tomorrow’s Countdown to 2010: One Word for 2010

Click on “comment” below to share your thoughts…

Welcome to Day 2 of our Countdown to 2010 … just four more days to go before we’re celebrating (and logging) the New Year!!!

Before the New Year can arrive, there’s still some memory preserving to deal with for the present one. Take those holiday cards and letters, for example…

Even though it’s much easier than it used to be to keep in touch with family and friends now that there’s email and social applications like Facebook & Twitter, I still love getting the family photos, pretty cards & year-end “wrap-up” letters in the mail this time each year. And even though it always feels a bit overwhelming in the holiday hustle and bustle, I even enjoy putting a letter together from our own family. By the way, here’s ours from this year.

And of course, being a person who can’t throw anything away that 1) includes a photo or 2) might help preserve a memory, I was always wishing for a better way to save all of those wonderful greetings of the season.

For years, I pretty much just tossed the pile of cards & letters in a drawer with the thought that “someday” I would do something with them. But then finally about a year ago, I came up with a better solution, which I shared via my personal blog in this post.

A year later, I’m very glad I took the time to start this album. I’ve already enjoyed comparing this year’s photos and letters to those from last year and have found it much easier to keep track of who’s who and what’s what in the extended family by having everything all in one place.

Give it a try – or come up with your own variation. And if you have your own system already or have other ideas to share, please do so … we’d love to hear them!

One other bit of exciting news … you can now subscribe to the Log Your Memory daily blog updates on Kindle! Simple search for Log Your Memory from the Kindle Storefront to begin your free 14-day trial subscription!

Coming up in tomorrow’s Countdown to 2010: Photo-A-Day Ideas

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Another Christmas has now come and gone. Does it leave you feeling a bit sad? It does me … but not for long this year! We’ve got LOTS to look forward to at Log Your Memory, not the least of which is finally officially putting our full 2010 Memory Logbook to use!!!

To help keep the fun of the holidays alive right through until January 1st, today I’m kicking off our official Countdown to 2010! Starting today and for the next five days, I’ll share fun little ideas, projects, suggestions and other tidbits to help get you inspired & ready for a great year of memory keeping! And then the real fun begins January 1st with TWO fabulous prize announcements – the winner of our December Challenge $50 gift certificate and the winner of our Year-End “100 Things” Layout Challenge – plus details about two very exciting year-long “real life” scrapbooking projects!!!

How will YOU document “real life” in 2010?

A new year is a great time to consider beginning a year-long memory-keeping project. Many scrapbookers have taken the “photo-a-day” route … and I’ll share more about this option on Monday. But today, I’d like you to consider using a tool you very likely already utilize on a regular basis … your social networking accounts.

If you maintain a page on Facebook or an account on Twitter … or any number of other similar sites … you have at your disposal a fantastic tool for preserving your everyday life story. Cathy Zielske teaches a wonderful class for doing just that called Everyone Can Write a Little. I took the class last spring and I highly recommend it if you have the opportunity.

The concept is fairly straightforward …  use your social networking “status updates” to record little pieces of information you want to remember about your daily life. Then transfer those updates to some sort of permanent memory-keeping device for future enjoyment.

If you’re not up for a full class (or don’t want to wait until it’s offered again) but this concept interests you, I’ve got another option ready for you in our bookstore. It’s a simple little book called Status: Updated and it will provide a place for you to permanently record your favorite daily status updates, with room for one update every day for an entire year!

Status: Updated is available in three versions – printed & coil-bound, print-your-own download, and eBook, which is writable right on your computer using the free Adobe Reader. You can check them all out by starting here in our on-line store.

Coming up in tomorrow’s Countdown to 2010: Saving Season’s Greetings

Click on “comment” below to share your thoughts…

Merry Christmas everyone!

I hope you are enjoying a wonderful day with family and friends … and that you find a little time to scrapbook your holiday memories!

Here are a few beautiful examples of holiday pages with a “real life” flair to get you in the spirit … favorites found and shared by your fellow Log Your Memory members!

"Visit with Santa" by nikkiepperson

"Christmas Top 10" by ksoliverson

"Cooler in Theory" by ttklewis

"Countdown to Christmas (a spoof)" by cherryberry

"Making A Tradition" by Lori Potts

"Nuttin' for Christmas" by Peppermint

"Our Christmas Story" by JenJ

Have a wonderful day and be sure to come back tomorrow as we kick off our Countdown to 2010!!!

Click on “comment” below to share your thoughts…

I have one final Creative Team member interview to share with you today … the incredibly talented Alyson Hall, aka “aly321” on our site. It’s going to be almost a year before this lovely lady takes the lead for the Calendar Girls next December, but until then you will find tons of wonderful ideas in her beautiful layouts and share in some great conversation with her in the forum.

Alyson Hall (aly321)

Name: Alyson Hall

Username: aly321

Location: Plain City, Utah, USA

Please tell us a little about yourself … your family, your pets, your background… I was born and raised in Utah, and love it here. I met my hubby on a blind date, and we have now been married for 7+ years. We have 3 kids… Taylor is 6, Kaitlyn is 3, and CJ is 18 months. We also have 5 horses, 2 dogs, 2 cats, and 2 frogs right now. (In the past we have also had goats and chickens!)

How long have you been a scrapbooker & how did you first get started? I started paper scrapping FOREVER ago, but jumped into digital in January 2008. I was skeptical… I never thought it would look right for me. Boy was I wrong! I LOVE DIGITAL!! It is so amazing to see a page come together.

How has your scrapbooking changed since that time? I have become completely obsessed with it. I love to create with a variety of products, and seeing the end result of a sweet memory is the best!

What fills your time when you are NOT scrapbooking? My kids and home. I love to be with them and be together as a family. Currently we are also building a new home ourselves, so any “spare” time I have is working on that.

How do you choose what to include in your scrapbooks? I do not scrap in order. If I were ever caught up I might, but now I am pretty random. I like to scrap memories, not just photos. I like to tell the story behind the photo, or the story of something going on in life when the photo was taken. I want every photo I take to tell a story and be included in our history.

What types of materials do you use when you scrapbook? Definitely Digi, but I like to dabble a LITTLE in hybrid.

Where do you find inspiration for your pages? I love looking through the galleries, but it is very time-consuming as well. I usually get inspiration from the kit or the photo I am using.

Who are your scrapbooking role models? Oh wow- too many to name… Cindy Schneider is amazing, Leila and Darcy Baldwin always has great stories to tell, Scarletsierra has the best eye for design… these are only A FEW. There are so many that I stalk and love to see their pages!

What is something your scrapbooking friends probably don’t know about you? Hmmm… I am a singer. That is probably the one other big talent I have.

What is on your scrapbooking “wish list”? A cutter that can cut ANYTHING and EVERYTHING I tell it to. Haven’t found it yet. Photoshop CS4 and Lightroom and Illustrator.

What is your favorite quote? “Enjoy the Journey.”

What do you hope future viewers of your scrapbooks will gain from your pages? I hope they will realize what an amazing family I have and what it was like for them growing up. I want them to learn about each member of our family. I also want to record the little moments, that we SWEAR we will NEVER forget, but always do… I don’t want to lose those.

What is your best tip for fellow scrapbookers? Do what makes you happy! Your pages are just that, yours. Make them what you want… don’t worry about trends, or how many people look at or comment on your layouts. Just record, and enjoy!

Anything else you’d like to add? I am completely excited for this coming year, making new memories, and recording every moment.

Click on “comment” below to share your thoughts…

Just a couple days until Christmas … hopefully you’re close to the point where you can step back, take a deep breath, relax … and enjoy the holiday. In case you find a little time to scrapbook this week, here are some wonderful “real life” pages to inspire you…

"Letter Thief" by KimG

A cute photo with a cute story to go along with it. “Letter Thief” by KimG is a great example of behind-the-scenes storytelling … literally! This page reminds me that I need to scrap the story we’ve told time and again in my own family about the Christmas when my little brother got up in the middle of the night and decided to unwrap the gifts a few days early … all of them!

"1st Snow" by ezane

“1st Snow” by ezane is simply a very pretty page documenting the first snow of the season. I just love the color scheme and the overall design … and this is a fun example of using a less traditional journaling path.

"Weight Loss" by drdigiscrap

It’s that time of year when many of us will be making resolutions, setting goals and thinking a lot about making some changes. I like the way drdigiscrap highlighted her progress toward her own goal with a scrapbook page … a great way to document before and after, plus provide motivation for the future!

"At the Mall" by arimacias

“At the Mall” by arimacias is just a little peek into an otherwise “boring” day in this family … exactly why I love it. There’s a ton of information packed into the journaling, but it’s fun and conversational and is sure to be a lot of fun to look back on down the road.

"My Breakfast List" by Jule

“My Breakfast List” by Jule is a simple but fun documentation of one scrapbooker’s breakfast food preferences. I love the cute little food elements and simple design … you hardly even notice there is no photo here.

"Zoe's Wish List" by esther_a

I’m a big fan of lists … and wish lists in particular … so I just love “Zoe’s Wish List” by esther_a. She combined a couple of really fun techniques that make this one extra special – photos of the wish list items and the child’s handwriting. This one’s going right into my “to lift someday” file…

"Like Me" by anrobe

You’ll want to click on “Like Me” by anrobe and read her journaling up close. This one shares some great insights into this little gal’s personality, which explains the photo perfectly. This is exactly the type of journaling I don’t think you can ever do enough of … and the kind our kids will simply LOVE to go back and read someday.

"Our Smiley Face" by HeatherPrins

“Our Smiley Face” by HeatherPrins is another great example of capturing personality in a scrapbook page. You might not think to journal about a tendency to add “smileys” to text messages, but doesn’t that – combined with these photos – really give you a great idea of what this guy is like? Love it!

"Life After September" by Stephie

“Life After September” by Stephie does what many of us don’t take the time or find the courage to do … share a story that is very personal and extremely painful, but obviously a significant part of this person’s life. An excellent example of scrapbooking what is real and authentic, even when life isn’t perfect.

"Conversation" by Myra

I love the way Myra combines the actual words from this particular “Conversation” with details to really make you feel like you were there. And isn’t this such a cool memory to capture? That’s one lucky dad…

That’s it for this week! Be sure to check out next week’s Story Board where I’ll share a ton of fabulous year-end scrapbook pages. Trust me … they’re amazing!!!

And one last note … be sure to stop by the forum and share your comment in today’s December Challenge question! A new question for every day until December 31st!!!

Today’s Story Board brought to you by …

Interested in seeing YOUR business, store, Web site or favorite designer promoted here? Sponsorship opportunities are available … to find out more, inquire through the Contact Us page.

Click on “comments” below to share your thoughts…

I’m excited today to share an interview with Calendar Girl Becki Wright, aka “Becki” on our site. You’ll soon recognize her clean and simple style if you spend a little time in our Layout Gallery and you’ll find out what a sweetie she is once you get to know her through the forum. Becki will take the lead on the Creative Team next November.

Becki Wright (Becki)

Name: Becki Wright

Username: Becki

Location: Kansas City, MO

Please tell us a little about yourself … your family, your pets,  your background… I am a stay-at-home wife and mother, and we homeschool our daughter Kate. She is a total animal lover, so we have 2 dogs and a cat. We are active in our church and the small community in which we live. Photography and scrapping are my number one hobbies, but I also love to cook from scratch and sew. I also recently learned to crochet.

How long have you been a scrapbooker & how did you first get started? I began digi scrapping in October 2003, I was never a paper scrapper. I started by creating a page with photos of our daughter’s first loose tooth and some text and showed it to our dentist. It kind of snowballed from there. I didn’t realize it was a real hobby until I saw the very first Digital Scrapbooking magazine issue a few weeks later.

How has your scrapbooking changed since that time? In the beginning, I fell into the trap of trying to make my layouts look like everyone else’s, and at the time, collage was very popular. And I was very focused on getting caught up so my pages were a chore, and in the end I didn’t like them. Today, I have embraced that I love SIMPLE clean layouts. And I scrap when and what I am inspired by. I have enough layouts done that my daughter would have a good reminder of her overall childhood. Every moment, no, but it is enough.

What fills your time when you are NOT scrapbooking? Homeschooling and family life.

How do you choose what to include in your scrapbooks? By whatever inspires me at the time, no pressure.

What types of materials do you use when you scrapbook? I am an all digital girl for scrapping but I occasionally make hybrid gifts for the holidays.

Where do you find inspiration for your pages? Mostly blogs, galleries and magazines.

Who are your scrapbooking role models? That’s easy – Cathy Zielske, my scrapping idol who my style is most like, Ali Edwards who believes in pictures +words, and Stacy Julian who taught me all about the Big Picture. These ladies have all three shaped my scrapping into what it is today and I couldn’t be more thankful to them.

What is something your scrapbooking friends probably don’t know about you? Hmmmm. Not sure.

What is on your scrapbooking “wish list”? I would really like a cutter like a Sillouette, that uses any font on my computer to cut alphas for hybrid things.

What is your favorite quote? “Life has little bits of magic at nearly every turn, if you’re looking closely enough. Scrapbooking has refined my senses. It’s made me hungry to use it before I lose it. It’s made me remember that I don’t remember what it was like to be nine years old. And that I will never live in a Pottery Barn house. And that as tiny as I am in the scope of the universe, no one lives a life like mine. Not even the people whose meals I cook, whose laundry I fold, and whose cheeks I kiss at night.”
~ Cathy Zielske (Clean and Simple Scrapbooking – The Sequel)

What do you hope future viewers of your scrapbooks will gain from your pages? How much our family loved each other and being together.

What is your best tip for fellow scrapbookers? Find you own style and scrap things that make you happy.

Click on “comment” below to share your thoughts…