Favorite Things

I know it has been a LONG TIME since I last posted on here.
I'm sorry.
But between being pregnant, moving, trying to buy a house, temporarily staying with my sister and her family, my sister-in-law's wedding, and still trying to move and buy a house things have been hectic.
I'm sorry that this blog (and my scrapbooking in general) has fallen by the way side.

With that being said, I thought I would make my first post of 2010 all about my favorite new things to help your scrapbooking along.

#1 The Memory Logbook from Log Your Memory.com

I think this book is so awesome and can't wait for mine to arrive. It contains calendars, journaling prompts, places to sketch your ideas... It is a whole planner designed to help you capture and not forget all the moments you want to scrapbook about in 2010. It comes in a digital download version or you can buy it printed and bound through their Lulu.com store.

#2 Ali Edwards' Blog
Ali is the QUEEN of capturing the stories and everyday moments that happen in her family. She always has journaling on her pages and always tries to tell the story. As someone else who believes that scrapbooking is more than just pictures and paper, I love her journaling ideas and that she shares such personal family moments. Up until this year she has a column in Creating Keepsake Magazine (and I think it is silly of them to not have her anymore), but now you can just catch her on her blog. She is great at making mini albums and beautiful creative projects for the home too.

#3 The Book of Why
This is a self-paced class offered by the brilliant brains at Big Picture Scrapbooking, and taught by Karen Grunberg. It is a easy, $10 class that gets you thinking and writing about why you have made some choices you have in your life. I think it is such a creative idea and something different to document about yourself. Because, let's face it, the person scrapbooking is often the person left out of the scrapbooks. So get yourself in there in a big way with this class.

#4 Punches

About 15 years ago when I started scrapbooking my mom has all these little punches that made cheesy shapes like teddy bears and balloons or teddy bears holding balloons; they were hard to use and didn't create shapes larger than 1 inch. Today's punches however come in sizes tiny to ginormous. The shapes are more sophisticated and you can even buy boarder punches or sets to around a whole page. Some of my favorites include the Martha Stewart Craft Punches. I like these because they are designed to be held so you can see the paper as you punch (I honestly can't believe more companines haven't started making punches this way.) I especially like the butterflies and ones she came out with for Halloween. I also like the punches from Marvy Uchida. They come in simple, everyday shapes and in sizes like mega, giga, and jumbo (and I don't know which is bigger!)

#5 Fabric by My Mind's Eye

I have loved their paper for years and now they are branching out into fabric!
So far all I have seen on the market is a couple of collections for boys, but I am so in love with them. I really want to make a quilt out of this fabric. Now I know this isn't paper and therefore not thought of for scrapbooking, but including fabric on your pages is becoming a really hot trend. And with great boy paper so hard to find, this is perfect for adding a few little sewn-on accents.
(edit: On page 2 of the link there is also Christmas, Halloween, and girl fabric!)

Well, there is my list. Let me know what some of your favorite things are for 2010.