Start the New Year with a Vision Board! (Happy Rosh Hashanah!)

 There are so many beginnings in a year, one hardly knows when to start a new goal, project, or program.  There is the Jewish New Year (September), the Solar New Year (January), and the Lunar New Year (March).  So, how do we know when to actually begin again.  In my opinion, I think it is useful to learn from and celebrate all three.  

The Jewish New Year (Rosh Hashanah) is the time when The Almighty determines who will have a happy, successful life during the next year.  We apologize for all of our wrong-doings (both intentional and unintentional) and eat special foods to welcome a Sweet New Year.  The Solar New Year begins on January 1st every year.  As with all holidays, we eat special foods, make resolutions, and try to be better in mind, body, and spirit throughout the calendar year.  Lunar New Year begins in March, and is the start of the Chinese Zodiac.  The characteristics of the Zodiac sign for the year determines who and what will prosper and how.

As a follower of Judaism, I have developed my own rituals that include elements of all three.  This Rosh Hashanah, I decided to develop a Feng Shui Vision Board for the upcoming year which will be posted on January 1st.  I learned about Feng Shui from a practioner of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM).  She introduced me to the idea that various colors and the arrangement of color can influence the outcome of the future.  I must admit that I was a skeptic (and still am), but as life wasn't going peachy for me, I decided that it could not hurt any worse.

Let's start with the idea of a Vision Board.  It is widely agreed upon that if you want something to come to fruition, you must first envision the goal for yourself and commit it to paper.  You often see these based on jobs, projects, weddings, or even what you want your house to look like.  So, if you can visualize the goal, then you can achieve it.  Feng Shui Vision Boards do the exact same thing, but they look at all aspects of your life.

Each color on a Feng Shui Vision Board represents a different area of your life that you wish to improve upon.  

Purple = wealth and prosperity

Red = fame and reputation

Pink = love and relationships

Green = family and physical health

Yellow = spiritual well-being and health

White = children and creativity

Teal = knowledge and wisdom

Black = career

Gray = travel and helping people

I created this easy to follow template which can be found under the FREE Bullet Journal Printables tab.  After laying out my format, I decided to find clip art in each color that represented what I want for my life this year.  I also found quotes that matched my goals and included those in each box as well.  For example. if I wanted to get married, I would find a picture of a pink engagement ring to paste on the printable.  For knowledge, I found an image of a blue bookshelf with the phrase "Knowledge is Power."  And for spiritual well-being, I looked for a yellow Torah scroll.  I encourage each of you to take a few moments to ask yourself what you truly want from the year ahead and make an effort to put it down on paper.

Most Feng Shui practitioners will tell you that it is important to hang this vision board where you will see it often in the place where you want things to happen.  That is why this Vision Board always goes in the very front of my Bullet Journal.  I can easily envision what I want to take place in the year to make my goals come true.  Now, I am not exactly sure if this works, but I did revive my tutoring business this year, I have established my library, I have lost 10 lbs., and I have started a series of creative blog posts.  

I wish you all peace, prosperity, and creativity in the New Year!  L'Shanah Tova!

~ Melissa

Takin' What Their Givin' Cause I'm Tutorin' for a Livin'

Recently I have had two jobs, tutoring Latin and writing tutorials for a digital scrapbooking site www.scrappingartistry.com.  It is said that you never learn anything until you have to teach it.  Well, I have had quite a bit of help from Lisa J. at www.mymemories.com.  So far, we have learned to organize outside content, import outside content into the MyMemories Suite, and have learned the text-wrap tango.  What will we learn next?  Tune into www.scrappingartistry.com every Thursday for the next several months to learn a new technique to use when applying our art form.  Enjoy, make a memory, and take lots of pictures!

Creating Gifts with MyMemories Suite V3

The time of year for gift-giving is at hand, and I must say that I have been working on gifts for months now.  Since we are all experiencing the turbulence of a Revlon economy, I imagine that more homemade gifts will be given this year.  Plus, nothing says "I Love You!" more than the time which someone invests in making a gift for their special someones.  Some people knit, some people bake, I make digital scrapbooks.  So far, I have created 3 scrapbooks for gifts: one for my mother of the family, one for my sister of her son, and one for my little cousin of all of the growth she has experienced since coming to live with us two years ago.  Thanks to the MyMemories Suite V3, I am not even printing out the scrapbooks.  I have imbedded music into each album and will be downloading them as slideshows onto mp3 players and flash drives!  Who wouldn't love to have a scrapbook that fits in the palm of their hand and that they can take anywhere they please?

But did you know that scrapbooks aren't the only things which you can create using the MyMemories Software?  I didn't until I started playing with the software itself.  Volume 3 even has a special feature just for making calendars, and the MyMemories Store offers card, brag book, calendar, and gift tag templates.  Right now, on the MyMemories Facebook Page, the Friday Freebie is a template for holiday gift tags.  However, you have to grab it by Friday in order to get the item for free.  What a great way to embellish those pretty wrapped packages than by creating a homemade gift tag with personal pictures on them!

Do you travel to Wal-Mart or Target each year to print out family holiday cards?  This year, look no further than your own computer and printer to create the perfect holiday greeting card.  Below I have included a link on how to make greeting cards using your software. Remember that if you use the code STMMS4712 at the MyMemories Store, you can get $10 off the V3 software and $10 to spend in the store.  With all of that extra savings you can purchase your calendar packs, gift tags, and seasonal card templates. Don't forget to grab the holiday freebie kits from the store as well! The MyMemories Suite V3 is the gift that you can give yourself and use to gift to others.  I call that a win-win situation!  

Quick and Easy Card Making Using MyMemories Suite V3

Holiday Postcard I made using the December "Blog Train" with the theme "Traditions."

Using Outside Materials with MyMemories Suite 3

What?!?  You still haven't decided to buy the MyMemories Suite 3 Software?  Never fear!  You don't have to settle down on simply MyMemories content for your scrapbooking needs:  You can use outside content (such as those from the sites listed to the right hand side of the page) to create all of the pages you want including papers, embellishments, and quick pages.  But for those of you just getting started, I have created my own list for using outside content as well as the links provided by MyMemories.  I suggest that you print out the PDF file and keep it handy because you will want to refer to it often.

1- Choose a place on your computer where you would like to save your outside content.  (I have a folder on my desktop.)

2- Decide how you want to separate your outside content so that it is easy for you to find and use.  Create a folder for each separate "theme." (I use 5 folders: Alphabets, Directions, Embellishments, Papers, and Quick Pages.)

3- Divide each folder into an easy system for you to use an access.  You don't want to save tons of outside content and not be able to find any of it.  (I divide my Embellishments based on type, while I divide my papers based on colors.)

4- Back up your outside content!!!  I have spent countless hours downloading and separating mostly free outside content.  I plan on saving these to a back-up hard drive (which are dirt cheap right now because of the holiday sales) as well as burning them to a DVD.

Now for the tutorials:

 http://vimeo.com/20445675

Lisa J's Video Tutorial on Using Outside Content

http://www.freewebs.com/lisaj/March%20Into%20MMS%20-%20Day%20ONE.pdf

Lisa J's PDF on Using Outside Content

Remember to live the Suite Life!!!