It’s definitely starting to feel like spring in my corner of the world … the snow is beginning to disappear, the sun shines a bit longer every day, my son just started tennis practice this week, my toddler has taken to shedding her clothing, and we’ve even had a couple days that allowed for an open window or two … at least for a few minutes.

So rather than hole up on the computer on this nice, bright day, I’m going to keep it short and sweet and share just a few quick notes before heading out to enjoy the fresh air…

First, congratulations to both Sarah (sarahbhb) and Valerie (ValerieP). These diligent gals provided the only entries to my little experiment last weekend, our Saturday Scavenger Hunt. For their efforts, I’ve decided that BOTH will win the prize … each gal gets her choice of any one downloadable book for FREE from our on-site store. To claim your prize, girls, just drop me a line and tell me which book you’d like & I’ll get you set up. And thanks for playing!

Next, be sure to take photos or collect memorabilia from your St. Patrick’s Day activities tomorrow and check out our special St. Patrick’s Day Story Board here on the blog. Then join us in the chat room on Thursday at 3 p.m. Mountain/5 p.m. Eastern for a special St. Patty’s Day Story Board Scraplift Challenge Chat.  We’ll be lifting a layout from the Story Board, plus we’ll have a goody or two from sponsor Jennifer Barrette of Jennifer Barrette Designs. Hope to see you there!

And finally… a reminder to leave a comment on yesterday’s blog post for your chance to win a free download of Guest Designer Suzy Iverson’s fantastic new digi-kit, Serendipity. Deadline to enter is midnight (Mountain) tonight, with the winner announced in tomorrow’s post.

Get the inside scoop, be the first to know about new product releases & get special discounts by subscribing to our new weekly newsletter, the Log Your Memory INSIDER. Delivered directly to your INBOX every Sunday afternoon.

Please share your thoughts in a comment below …

Spring is just around the corner, which for many people seems to bring on the urge to do some serious cleaning and purging.

Along with that comes a lot of decision-making … What to keep? What to toss? And then if you’re like me … what to ADD now that I have all that new space! LOL

So today I thought I’d share a few of my favorite things … scrapbooking necessities that I don’t anticipate will find their way to my “toss” pile anytime soon. Then maybe you can share a few of yours … I can always use a few good enablers!

1. My Mac G5 desktop computer and its little sister, my G4 Powerbook. As a digi-scrapper, these are my absolute must-haves. The desktop for home, the laptop for the rare times I actually leave town. Even if I didn’t scrap, I’m pretty sure without an Internet connection I’d die a slow and painful death.

2. Canon EOS Rebel T1i Digital SLR camera. The newest addition to my arsenal. Powerful enough to get some nice clear photos but simple enough that this auto-everything gal feels comfortable depending upon it. Eventually I might even learn how to use all the cool features it offers.

3. Marvy Uchida “Extra Giga” Square Punch – My new favorite toy. This hefty bugger punches great big 2.5-by-2.5-inch squares – perfect for my Photo-A-Day project (more on that soon) as well as all kinds of memorabilia. There is definitely something therapeutic about punching stuff!

4. Simpledrive 1 TB EHD, because let’s face it … I won’t be tossing a single kilobyte of those digi-scrapping goodies I’ve collected!

5. Memory Logbook (come on… you had to see that one coming!)

So… what’s in your “keep” pile?

Get the inside scoop, be the first to know about new product releases & get special discounts by subscribing to our new weekly newsletter, the Log Your Memory INSIDER. Delivered directly to your INBOX every Sunday afternoon.

Please share your thoughts in a comment below …

Welcome to a new month at Log Your Memory, with lots of fun and inspiration to help you scrap your real life!

First of all, I’d like to express a huge thank you to February Calendar Girl Jen DeLorenzo (jend) and February Guest Designer Misty Cato. Both of these ladies shared a great deal of their time and talents with us last month, which was very much appreciated.

I’d also like to welcome our March Calendar Girl, Lydia Tarbox (ltarbox), and introduce this month’s Guest Designer, Suzy Iverson of SuzyQ Scraps.

You’ll learn more about these gals as the month continues, beginning tomorrow with a “real life” guest blog post from Lydia and Thursday with a fun challenge chat with Suzy, as well as a preview here on the blog of the fabulous new digi-kit Suzy created especially for Log Your Memory scrappers.

Also new this month, we’re adding several challenge chats to the calendar, beginning today with our new series created especially for our Book Club members. We’ve also scheduled several other chats open to all registered members of our site.

Here’s a roundup of this month’s challenge chats … be sure to mark them on your calendar so you can join us!

Get the inside scoop, be the first to know about new product releases & get special discounts by subscribing to our new weekly newsletter, the Log Your Memory INSIDER. Delivered directly to your INBOX every Sunday afternoon.

Please share your thoughts in a comment below …

February is the month of love … and you’re going to LOVE all the great stuff we have in store for you!

Sweet Talk Journaling Challenge

Today we kick off a special month-long scrapbooking challenge at Log Your Memory focused entirely on journaling your real life stories. Through the Sweet Talk Journaling Challenge, we will explore 14 great journaling methods guaranteed to get the creative juices flowing and your favorite stories told, plus inspiring examples of those methods being used in layouts from our own gallery as well as throughout the online scrapbooking community.

To add to the fun and excitement, those who play along and create, then post, a scrapbook page using the journaling methods presented will earn a special “Sweet Talker” award heart for each method used, which will appear in your profile and signature.

There will be 14 awards/points in all (plus the Bonus Award already earned by those who participated in our BlogCast). And for those who really make that extra effort and earn all 14 points … the title “Sweet Talker” and this very special prize.

Wouldn’t it be fun to dress up your Memory Logbook with this fun set of gel pens bearing the Log Your Memory logo? Our BlogCasters have already earned their first point (which means they could earn the prize even if they miss one of the layout pages) … but it’s not too late to take part in the BlogCast yourself. Simply visit this page today and help spread the word. But hurry … this opportunity won’t last much longer!

A special thanks to designer Terry Maruca, creator of the conversation hearts used to create the Sweet Talker awards. Speaking of those hearts, you can get a set for yourself to use in your personal scrapbooking from Terry’s store at Scrapbook Bytes. She’s even provided a special coupon code to give Log Your Memory readers 40% off on either the Conversation Hearts set (coupon code: TM-VHEART-WORDS) or the Alpha & Numbers Heart set (coupon code: TM-VHEART-ALPHA). Both coupons expire February 28, 2010.

Okay … are you ready to earn a Sweet Talk award? Here’s your first challenge …

Sweet Talk Journaling Challenge #1

Perhaps one of the most basic of journaling techniques, the list is also one of the easiest and most versatile. The concept is simple – create a list that provides the details of the story you are trying to tell. The presentation, however, is limited only by your imagination. Lists can be linear or scattered; numbered, bulleted, or arranged alphabetically or chronologically; short, long, or somewhere in between. A list can even be just a series of single words.

To get you thinking, here are some examples of great scrapbooking pages using the list style of journaling…

elena.right.now by Elena @ Designer Digitals

"2010 Inspiration" by sbg3396 @ My Scrapbook Art

"Me Facts" by zakirahzakaria @ Sweet Shoppe Designs

The Rules:

1. Pick a topic and create a new scrapbook page that incorporates the use of a list to tell your story.
2. Post that page in this album in our Sweet Talk Journaling Challenge Gallery. The deadline for all Sweet Talk Challenge Layouts is midnight (MTN) on Wednesday, March 31, 2010.
3. Visit this thread in our Community Forum and link us up to your layout.
4. Once your link is verified, the above Sweet Talk award will appear in your profile and in your signature.
5. Keep an eye on this page to track our Log Your Memory Sweet Talkers!
6. Watch for the next Sweet Talk Journaling Challenge topic … make sure you don’t miss a post by subscribing to our Blog!

Subscribe in a Reader
Subscribe by Email
Subscribe by Kindle

A Big Thanks …

… to Calendar Girl Heather Guenther & Guest Designer Julie Klaus! With the end of January, we must say thank you to lead Calendar Girl Heather Guenther and bid a fond farewell and thanks to January Guest Designer Julie Klaus of Julie Marie Designs. Both have enriched our site greatly over the past month and we appreciate their effort and contributions!

Be sure to visit tomorrow, where we’ll share a special guest post from February Calendar Girl Jen DeLorenzo, plus introduce Misty Cato, our February Guest Designer … and give you a little free taste of her sweet designs!

Please share your comments through our community forum…

If you love scrapbooking and could use a little extra motivation to help you get your real life stories onto your pages, you’re going to love hanging out with us in February!

Throughout the entire month, we will be featuring a fun challenge focused entirely on journaling. In addition to being inspired to journal in fun and creative ways, participants will have the opportunity to earn points and prizes … and get lots of scrapping done at the same time!

You’ll find out all about this challenge on Monday, but first you have an opportunity to earn a special bonus point just by helping us spread the word. The more participants we have in the challenge, the more inspiration and fun we’ll all have along the way!

If you have your own blog, you are invited to take part in our Sweet Talk Blog-Cast this Monday! We’ve made it very easy to do so … and you’ll earn your first Sweet Talk Award before the challenge even begins!

Here’s what you need to do…

1. Visit this page on our blog.
2. Copy and paste the text & images you find in that thread into a new post on your blog.
3. Double-check that the links in your new post are working, as designated in the instructions.
4. Schedule your post to be published first thing Monday morning, February 1. (The links will take your readers to a post here on the Log Your Memory blog that won’t be published until 1:15 a.m. Mountain Time Monday morning.)
5. Once your post has been published, visit the Sweet Talker thread in our Community Forum and link us up to your post. Feel free to tell everyone you know about your post too, so they’ll visit your blog and find out about the fun.
6. After your post has been verified, you will receive your first Sweet Talk Award and be well on your way to becoming a Log Your Memory Sweet Talker!

That’s all there is to it, other than reading our Monday post yourself so you can begin taking part in the Sweet Talk Journaling Challenge yourself!

See you then!

Please share your comments through our community forum…

If you just couldn’t wait until today to visit the new and improved forum and gallery, you were not alone! After a couple intense days of tweaking, crossing my fingers, scouring help forums, drinking gallons of coffee, and even a little praying, our site is back up and running at full throttle.

I hope you’ll take some time to look around and play with the new features. There are too many to mention now, but here are the biggest changes you’ll want to be aware of …

• The Community Forum is entirely new and has a new URL. You now access the forum at http://logyourmemory.com/forum. If you had the old forum bookmarked, please take a minute to re-bookmark it at the new address.

• The user profiles for the Blog, Forum, Layout Gallery and Chat Room are all now integrated. That means you just need to register once to be a registered member in all four places. You also need to only sign in once to get full access, with the exception of the chat room which requires a sign in every time you enter. If you are already a registered member, you do not need to re-register. You will need to sign in the first time you visit, however, even if you were previously signed in “forever.” All registrations and sign-ins for the blog, forum, gallery & chat room begin from the forum home page. One note – our on-site store is still a separate system and requires it’s own registration & log-in.

• The Community Forum is now truly the heart of the Log Your Memory Web site. The blog will continue to be located at LogYourMemory.com because it is a bit complicated to change things around at this point. But I hope most will make the Forum your first stop each day. Once you visit, you’ll see it’s now the hub of activity. Features include…

• Central management of all registration, sign-in, user profile and messaging activities.
• A sneak peek at the latest additions to the Layout Gallery.
• An introduction to the latest Blog update, with links back to the full post.
• A look at the most recently added forum threads, followed by the forum as a whole.
• A list of the week’s “hot topics.”
• A snapshot of how many users are online throughout our site at any given moment, plus a list of everyone currently chatting in the Chat Room.
• Easy access to current site announcements and contest reminders.
• A list of today’s birthdays for registered users who have provided that information via their profile.
• And more … updates & changes will continue as we grow and change!

• Our new forum has tons of features we didn’t have before. This is particularly true in the area of customizing your profile, sending messages, connecting with others, starting and participating in groups, and more. For now, take some time to play around and discover the new features on your own.

• You will notice your signature and profile photos need some tweaking. That’s one of the downfalls of moving the forum across cyberspace. But hopefully the improvement will be well worth the inconvenience. One thing to note – you no longer need to upload your profile photo to our layout gallery. You can now upload your photo directly from your computer. I strongly suggest you upload your profile photo first, then use that same image for your avatar. Your profile is customized through the User CP tab in the navigation bar at the top of the forum.

• We now have a brand new Chat Room! Our new chat room has tons of features we didn’t have before, many of which you can customize to suit your own preferences. Simply sign in using your regular username & password, then choose a room and start chatting! We’ll also start holding more regular scheduled chats, so watch for a poll very soon where you can vote your preference for day and time.

• We also have a new Chat Box. This is a box at the very top of the forum home page where you can leave a quick message for other visitors or simply say you stopped by!

• Be prepared to find an occasional broken link or formatting snafu. The process of importing information for hundreds of users and thousands of threads into a new forum and system is a bit touchy, to say the least. As a result, it’s pretty much inevitable that there will be a few things that don’t transition perfectly. Please be patient with these things if you find them … and if they seem important enough to fix, drop me a line and I’ll do my best to take care of them.

• More changes planned as time permits. I am constantly on the look-out for new features that will enhance your time on our site, so you can expect more tweaking as we go along. Among the items on my list are mini-overhauls of the blog and store to help them coordinate better with the rest of the site.

Click on “comment” below to share your thoughts…

My husband likes to tease me that my mode of home improvement is along the styles of “While You Were Out.”

In other words, I like to keep big room makeovers and other such projects a total secret, doing lots of prep and planning behind the scenes, and then complete the whole project in one intense work period while the rest of my family is gone, later to spring them with a final “ta-da” once the project is complete.

So when it comes to making significant improvements to the Log Your Memory site, my first tendency is to take the same approach. Unfortunately, that’s not particularly realistic when trying to work around an online biz and it’s 24/7/52 way of functioning.

My list of things I’d like to revamp on our site has been growing nearly since the first day we launched just over three months ago. And after doing lots of testing & tweaking & playing around with some “stuff” behind the scenes, I have a handful of initial changes I’d like to implement that will hopefully make your time on our site even more enjoyable … but it’s going to require a little time this weekend behind proverbial “locked doors” to get it done smoothly.

So, as of this post, our Layout Gallery & Community Forum are closed for just a bit. I’m hoping for everything to work out as planned, but as anyone who has messed around with Web sites & coding & all that “fun” stuff knows, things don’t always go just as planned.

Cross your fingers the Web is our friend this weekend … and check back first thing Monday to see {hopefully} the new improvements to our site. It won’t be a total overhaul, but I think you’ll notice some significant changes – with more to come down the road.

It’s not quite “While You Were Out” … but it’ll be pretty close!

Click on “comment” below to share your thoughts…

I’ve got a special treat for you today.

This month marks the debut of the Log Your Memory Guest Designer program. Through this program, one talented scrapbooking product designer will be featured each month here on our site.

Each designer’s month-long stay will include  a special guest blog post, a freebie mini-kit download, and a generous giveaway of a brand new digi-kit developed in conjunction with one of our Weekly Challenges, just for starters. Many of our Guest Designers will also be offering special product discounts just for members of the Log Your Memory community.

January Guest Designer Julie Klaus of Julie Marie Designs

Our first Guest Designer has gone all out to get this program started on the right foot. January Guest Designer Julie Klaus of Julie Marie Designs has created an absolutely fantastic digital scrapbooking kit called “Color of Music” that will perfectly complement Weekly Challenge #3 … “Do you have a song that evokes a particular memory for you?” One lucky winner will receive her amazing kit for FREE in a giveaway following Julie’s guest Q&A post, which will be featured here on Monday, January 18th.

I’m anxious to share Julie’s kit with you, but that will have to wait until it is unveiled on the 18th. I will, however, share a little sneak preview with you today. Check out this mini-kit created from the full kit …

This isn’t just a preview, however. Julie has generously donated a FREE DOWNLOAD of this mini-kit for every visitor to our blog! All I ask in exchange for this great digital scrapbooking freebie is that you leave a comment below thanking Julie for the download.

If you like this kit, be sure to check out Julie’s other products. To help get you started, she has even shared a special coupon offer just for us. You can find that HERE in our Sponsor Gallery. And be sure to come back right here on January 18th to learn more about Julie and her designs, plus try your chances at winning her full Color of Music kit!

Interested in being a Guest Designer on our site? Find out more about the requirements HERE. If you’d like to apply, feel free to download an application HERE. You are also welcome to share this information with your favorite designer friends who might be interested in the opportunity themselves.

Did you know …

• The purchase of any version of the Memory Logbook or Real Life Scrapbooking Weekly Challenges qualifies you for membership in the Log Your Memory Book Club. However, enrollment is not automatic. You need to register HERE before you will officially be added to the Club roster.
• Now through January 31, 2010, you can get a 10% discount on book orders placed through Lulu.com by using coupon code: READMORE2010. I will also honor that coupon in our on-site store.
• You can now subscribe to our daily blog posts via Kindle. Give it a try with a free trial-subscription HERE.
• We have a new group on Flickr especially for all of you taking part in a Photo-A-Day project for 2010. You can join us HERE.
• You can also find Log Your Memory enthusiasts on Facebook and Twitter!
• The best way to support Log Your Memory is to share our message with your friends and family! Every time you post a note on Facebook, retweet on Twitter or share a link through your own blog, you’re helping this wonderful community to grow and thrive! So a huge THANK YOU for all you’ve done already … and please keep it up!

Click on “comment” below to share your thoughts…

Now that we’re a few days into 2010 and hopefully everyone has had a chance to spend a little time with your Memory Logbook, it’s time to get serious about logging those “real life” memories!

First Things First …

If you own the Memory Logbook 2010, a monthly version of the Memory Logbook or Real Life Scrapbooking Weekly Challenges 2010, be sure you have registered for the Log Your Memory Book Club so you can take part in all of the fun activities I’m about to share!

If you were among the many who has already spent a month logging with the December 2009 version of the Logbook, I’d love for you to share what you’ve learned so far through this forum thread. And if this is your first time logging, be sure to check out that thread yourself to see what they have to say!

Get Started with These Worksheets

The time has come to start putting your new Logbook to good use. Hopefully you’ve already begun jotting down notes, filling in important dates, perhaps sketched a layout idea or two, or even completed a few questionnaires. Of particular interest this week are several worksheets found near the beginning of your book.

The Today’s Prices worksheet is a fun way to document what a handful of everyday items cost in your part of the world at this time in history.

The Annual Check-Up worksheet is there to create a baseline for your scrapbooking year, which will be very interesting to look back upon in January 2011.

Once you finish the above two pages, be sure to share them in our special Book Club forum … not only will you inspire others to do the same, but you’ll earn points through our new Real Deal rewards program (see It’s the Real Deal below).

Now is also the perfect time to complete your first Monthly Check-Up, which you’ll repeat at the beginning of each month throughout the entire year.

And don’t forget to fill in the Holiday Worksheet for New Year’s Day so you’ll have a permanent record of the day’s events. If you get inspired to create a layout about the day, great! And if not, you’ll have all of the information ready and waiting for you for later on.

This is also a great time to start using your Story List page. Spend a little time thinking about all of those memories and stories you would like to get scrapbooked “someday” and then jot them down on your Story List. As the year goes on and you think of others, add them to the list. And don’t forget to check off the ones that you scrap so you can see how much progress you’re making!

Kicking off the Logbook Weekly Challenges …

Now we’re getting to the real core of the Memory Logbook … the Weekly Challenges. Week #1 officially begins today and to help you get started, you can now find a forum thread focused exclusively on this week’s challenge topic. You’ll find another one each week in the Weekly Logbook Challenges 2010 section of the private Book Club forum. (Hint: If you’re having difficulty accessing those pages, you are either not a registered Book Club member or you have not logged in to the forum.)

"2010" by Jenn Barrette

Don’t forget to check out this week’s album in the private Weekly Challenge Layout Gallery where you’ll find tons of inspiring layouts like the one above created by our talented Calendar Girls and fellow Book Club members!

It’s the Real Deal …

Everyone can use a little extra motivation, even when it’s something fun like scrapbooking. So today I’m excited to kick off a special reward program exclusively for Log Your Memory Book Club members who are using the Memory Logbook 2010 and taking part in the Weekly Challenges.

Through our Real Deal program, Book Club members will earn points each time you complete one of several “real life” scrapbooking activities related to the Memory Logbook. Points will be totaled each week, eventually earning you special discount coupons good for purchases of downloads from the Log Your Memory on-site store. The more points you earn, the higher the discount. The program will continue throughout the entire year, with a handful of special prizes awarded at the end of the year to our top point-earners.

Points will be earned each time participants complete the following activities:

• Posting a completed layout in response to the Weekly Challenge prompts in the corresponding Weekly Challenge album.
• Participating in Weekly Challenge discussion threads in the Book Club private forum.
• Participating in other special discussion threads in the Book Club private forum.
• Taking part in other designated Book Club activities throughout the year.

All point-earning activities will include information regarding Real Deal point values within their description. There are no deadlines for most Real Deal activities, though points will only be totaled & reward coupons emailed once per week. A running point total for each participant will be recorded in the Book Club Weekly Challenge forum once points start to accrue.

Rewards will be given as follows:

• 500 points: 10% Discount Coupon (Good for one purchase of a downloadable item from the Log Your Memory On-Site Store)
• 750 points: 25% Discount Coupon (Good for one purchase of a downloadable item from the Log Your Memory On-Site Store)
• 1000 points: 50% Discount Coupon (Good for one purchase of a downloadable item from the Log Your Memory On-Site Store)
• Other rewards may be offered as the year progresses.

All reward coupons are non-transferable and will expire on 3/31/2011.

Later This Week …

• A special “real life” scrapbooking guest post from our Calendar Girl of the Month ~ Heather Guenther: The Good, the Bad & the Adorable “Ugly.“
• Information & a special freebie download from our January Guest Designer!
• Details on how to enter our 2010 Scrapbook Idea Yearbook contest.
• Our weekly Story Board and Layout of the Week.

Click on “comment” below to share your thoughts…

An exciting opportunity exists at Log Your Memory for a handful of special scrapbookers with a strong interest in documenting their “real” life in 2010.

YOU could be one of those scrappers …

the Vision:

Through the Real Life in 2010 Collab Project, a small group of scrapbookers will participate in the creation of a very special book. This book, to be published in December 2010, will feature full-color scrapbook pages that use photos and journaling to paint the picture of the everyday lives of our specially selected group of individuals from various backgrounds, experiences and locations around the world. The book will also provide guidance & inspiration for scrapbookers who would like to create similar scrapbook albums for themselves.

In addition to being a part of this project and contributing layouts for the book, participants will have the opportunity to develop new friendships with others involved in the project that will extend beyond 2010 and develop a deeper, more meaningful understanding of ourselves & our place in the world at this time in history.

Through this project, we will be documenting many phases of our “real” life in 2010, tentatively to include:

• the jobs we do
• the ways we shop & do business
• the tools & toys we use
• the ways we learn
• the foods we eat
• the styles we prefer, for ourselves & our surroundings
• the ways we get around
• the things we do to entertain ourselves
• the way we connect with others
• the challenges we face

the Process:

Those interested in participating are invited to download the information sheet explaining this project, after which you may submit an application. A limited number of participants will then be chosen based on their applications, with the goal of creating a group of scrapbookers with varied backgrounds and interests from a variety of locations. The whole group will be assembled by mid-January.

Click on “comment” below to share your thoughts…