Answer to: How can photo albums change lives?

You have the opportunity to change how a person feels about themselves deep down.

The answer to this question is more than "journaling" or "saying I love you". You can send someone a card, buy them a gift, say it face-to-face, etc., etc., about how much you love, appreciate, and affirm them, and that is a very thoughtful, wonderful thing to do (& especially thinking about this today on Christmas Day!) ------- they'll remember you for this, but will it *change* their life? Will it *change* your life?

Making someone believe something positive, or better yet, something amazing, about themselves (that they didn't already believe!) will have the power to do so much! Making an album is a way to "change the story that is going on in one's mind."

Briana said it best when she pointed out that the album she and her dad made "changed her mom's doubts about whether or not she meant anything to anyone". WOW!!! This is a very significant observation and comment. This idea that addresses how you can change someone "deep down" is absolutely the winning sentence and therefore, Briana is our "How to Change a Life" contest winner! Congratulations Briana!!!

Thank you all for taking the time to participate and for your amazing, thoughtful, well-written answers. Prizes to all who commented are going out soon.

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Of course, there are ways besides making an album that can change a person's life too. Can you think of any other ways? Post a comment below, and list one other way that will change someone's life, and why, and win a different Creative Memories prize! Deadline to comment is 1/17/09.


Merry Christmas to all -------

Enter the Blog Contest!

Photo Albums can change lives! Do you know how? I've been "hinting" at the answer to this question in my scrapbook blog for a while now. Do you think you know what the answer is? Then enter your answer guess in one of the "comments" sections in this blog. Everyone who responds by 12/20/08 will receive an exclusive CM Open House gift in the mail (assuming I know your address) and the winner of the blog contest will receive one of my pre-designed holiday albums with gift basket that they can keep for themselves or give away as a holiday gift. Deadline is December 20.

And another!

There's another hint inside the link below.

Make a living while making a difference:

Here's another hint.

Mother Teresa, internationally famed humanitarian and advocate for the poor, once said, "There is more hunger for love and appreciation in this world than for bread."

-- Mother Teresa

Here's a hint.

Before I answer the question from the previous post, I'm going to give you a hint. It's not about paper and stickers (although paper and stickers are always fun) or whether you have the right kind of scissors, or the perfect-sized album. It's also not about whether you've included some or all of the photos you took.

Photo albums change lives!

I've sometimes wondered why I've been a Creative Memories consultant (CMC) for so long, i.e., yesterday was my 15th anniversary. It certainly hasn't always been an "easy job" planning & orchestrating events, lugging around supplies & products, encouraging clients to host "Get Togethers"and finish albums, making phone calls, writing newsletters, creating product samples, dealing with business disappointments, etc., etc., etc. Initially though, I became involved because I loved the Creative Memories products so much ---- of course, our albums are fabulous, but I especially loved our first Circle Cutter, and our new improved Cutting System is even better, way better. Our Cutting System is still, in my opinion, an amazing product invented by female product designer/engineer at CM and followed-up by the Personal Trimmer, the 12x12 Digital Pages, and now our new PicFolio albums! I've always believed that Creative Memories products are the best scrapbooking products on the market today.

Anyway ...........
My reason for getting involved with Creative Memories on 7/3/93 was to be able to buy all the great supplies at cost. Other than that, I had no other business goals at the time. I knew I would need several albums, because I intended to make many albums over my lifetime, and I just didn't want to pay full-price.

Over the years though, I've come to realize there's an even bigger reason why I stay active and encourage others to get involved as customers, as hosts, or as fellow-CMC's. I stay involved because I know for certain that -------- photo albums change lives. You really do have the ability to affect and change someone's life (your children, your spouse, your friends, even your own life) with a finished photo album!

How? I'll answer that question in my next post.

My 15th anniversary with CM is July 3, 2008!

I haven't updated this blog in a long time. I will add more photos soon, but I am pleased to announce that this July I will be celebrating my 15th anniversary with Creative Memories! On my 10th anniversary, I hosted a free crop for all my wonderful friends and customers, but since I just did that with the May National Scrapbook Day (NSD) & Open House, I'm not sure I'm going to do anything special to celebrate the 15th anniversary. My photo did make it into our company consultant magazine, "Scraps", NSD was a big success, and I'm participating in a mini-triathlon this Sunday, so I believe the 15th anniversary has been adequately recognized & acknowledged!

And even more World's Largest Crop Photos!

The theme this year was the 50's, just in case you can't tell by the photos. Never did find those saddle shoes I wanted.

More World's Largest Crop Photos!

Some more photos of Saturday's big event!

World's Largest Crop Photos!

We had an awesome time at the World's Largest Crop on Saturday 4/5/08!

Just Begin!

If there is one secret to getting things done --- anything, not just photo projects --- the secret is that you need to just simply "begin"! Once you start, the rest seems to take care of itself. This is true for whatever project you want to accomplish. Big projects like making a quilt, or little projects like making a sandwich. Although this advice comes directly from a great friend who has completed several albums, it is similar to the advice that our teachers gave us in school when we agonized over a writing or speech assignment. That advice was to just start writing!

Acknowledgement:
"Just Begin" advice from Melanie Camphouse --- World's Largest Crop and Celebrate! Events coordinator.

Give yourself a time limit .....

You and I both know that without time limits, things never seem to get done, so you must --- must --- must determine when your photo project needs to be completed by!

Gather all your "recipe" supplies!

If you've ever taken a cooking class, the first thing the instructor requires you to do is to gather all the supplies for your intended dish. You cannot start cooking until you have everything gathered and measured. It's very important to find your supplies & ingredients, measure the spices, and cut up all the components first. Then you move on to the process of cooking. It really makes things go quickly and smoothly!

Use this same approach with your album projects, and you'll find that the process will be so much easier when you get started!