June KIT :)

Here is some of the layouts, we have created with the fabulous June kit!  We will be posting more after the crop!  What are some of your favorites?  What pictures will you use for this kit?

Day 13..... Jenny

Today we celebrate another important team member of PersonalScrapper, Jenny :)

Las Vegas (I was 34 weeks pregnant with Ezra)

 Jenny has been with PersonalScrapper since 2005.  I met Jenny one Halloween night years ago, outside my house.  We were still fairly new to the neighborhood  we instantly connected. 

    Jenny has been an awesome part of PersonalScrapper!  She has been instrumental in helping pick products with me for the kits.  We have attended several CHA shows together, CK shows and crops.  We always love working fun and food into our trips.  As a child I never hit Disneyland but as an adult, I love to go to Disneyland.  Jenny and I were able to go together a few times.  It was awesome :).  We make every trip fun in all ways!  We love what we do!!!

   

   Jenny always has had an awesome style of scrapbooking.  She is great at layering patterned papers and distrssing!  Her layouts are always fresh and fun to scraplift.  She is great at doing 2 pagers too!  She is also awesome at matching cardstock to the papers.  She has helped me put so many kits together (both physically and planning the monthly kits)

Again, I feel super blessed with my team. Jenny and I have not only shared PersonalScrapper moments but have become great friends outside of PersonalScrapper. I am so greatful for our friendship. I know I can count on Jenny for anything. We talk daily and share so many things. We love to walk together (especially to Starbucks) and recently completed a 1/2 marathon. Since we have known each other we have gone from having 3 boys between us to 5.   She has been an amazing friend and team member!



Please leave her some comments :)


Love you Jenny! Thank you for being part of this awesome PersonalScrapper Journey!

Day 12 - Carrie...

My design team has always been a very special part of my business.  As a team, we scrapbooked our lives together.  I want to tell the stories of my designers :)

Today we will start with Carrie :)

It is a funny story on how I met Carrie.  I was on an online scrapbooking forum (way back when they were foreign).  My memory is starting to fade so i don't even know which one it was?  I found a fellow scrapbooker in the same town I live in.  So we wrote each other.  I am not sure how long it took before we realized we live about 12 houses away from each other!!  I was still fairly new to the neighborhood and with small children :)
   We instantly connected!  Not only on the love of scrapbooking but as friends for life! 

Scrapbooking with Carrie -
   Carrie has a very unique style.  I can always count on her to do something different and out of the box!  She always thinks of new and creative ways to use the kits!  I look forward to seeing what she does with the kit every single month!   There are many times that we are whipping layouts out the night before we put them together.  I can always count on Carrie to get at least 3 layouts done no matter how short of time she had the product and/or what crazy busy lives we have!

Scrapbooking Facts:

• Designed since December 2004
• She has been part of 89 kits
• Carrie designed papers for her own company, PaperTrunk, as well as still designed for Personalscrapper during that time.
• We have held numerous crops and attended shows in Las Vegas, Chicago, Anaheim, Portland, Bellevue (and don't forget Roseburg) together.
• We have so many funny inside joke scrapbooking memories together....
• Carrie has been instrumental on the message board and lots of fun challenges we have done on there.
• We love to brainstorm business ideas together also.

We are very fortunate because not only do we work well togeher but we became good friends.  I know i can count on Carrie for more than just business stuff.  We can count on each other for the ups, downs, need help with kid swapping, walking our dogs and life in general.

I thank GOD that Carrie and I met.

I know for a fact that many of you have scraplifted several of Carrie's creative layouts on the idea sheet.

Please leave her some comments :)

Love you Carrie!  Thank you for being part of this awesome PersonalScrapper Journey!

2005 MemoryTrends

2007 Anaheim CHA

2010 Bellevue CK



Carrie's June 2012 Layout



AppleSauce

The layout created with only items from the show :)

Day 10 - Customers

CUSTOMERS 

    Having your own business is awesome!   When it is online though, sometimes it is hard to put a name and face with your customers.  There are a few ways I got to know my customers.  One of the best ways was through our own message board.  Larry created one for us in 2005.  It opened up so many doors.  This was a way that we could all communicate together.  

    I also got to know customers at shows.  We traveled to Portland, Bellevue, Roseburg, St. Louis and Phoenix for shows.  It was so fun to meet our customers!  It was especially rewarding to watch them scrapbook using our kits!  WE have made so many friends through scrapbooking and PersonalScrapper!

Here is a layout that was posted on our message board today from a customer, Arla.  I think it is great that she scrapbooked about PersonalScrapper and the 100th kit, so I had to share!!:

Day 7 - CHA Shows

  Today I am remembering all of the fun CHA shows I attended with the girls!  CHA is where they have all of the latest and greatest scrapbooking product.  I have attended CHA shows in Atlanta, Chicago, Las Vegas and Anaheim.         

  The trips gave us a chance to focus on picking out coordinated and quality product.  We were able to establish great vendor relationships.  We always made the most of our trips - no matter where we went!  We even scrapbooked in a hotel lobby because we had a very late flight.  We enjoyed some night trips to Disneyland, fun in Vegas, Pizza Hut, Starbucks, and more!
    I will treasure these memories! 

2004 Memory Trends

2005 CHA Atlanta

2005 Memory Trends

2005 CHA Chicago

2006 CHA Las Vegas (34 weeks pregnant)

2007 CHA Anaheim

2008 CHA Anaheim



2008 CHA CHicago



2009 CHA Anaheim

2010 CHA Anaheim

Day 6 - OUR PS TEAM

   Behind any great business, there is a great team.  I have been so fortunate to have a fantastic team over the years!  The first few kits were just my ideas on our idea sheet that we sent out every month.  You definitely could tell that they were my layouts.  We needed some variety!  I asked one friend to do a few layouts with the kit (then another and so on).  I was so IMPRESSED and excited to see what they could do with the kit. 

   It was fun for me to pick out the kit and pass it out to several people and see all the amazing and different ideas that everyone would come up with!

    I just want to give a shout out to Carrie Postma, Jenny Smit, Heidi Hobgood, Carmen Slothower, Jessica Stevens, Leah Cook, Melissa Tran, Kimberly Garafolo and Babette Stofle for all being part of my team at one time!  We have had some fun memories together including CHA shows, CK Shows, Kit Nights :), and much more!  Having a team of friends has been amazing!  These are the girls I can count on to get me a layout in under an hour and be there by my side. 

   We also had the opportunity to have several members guest design over the years!  I loved seeing all of the layouts!

   

Please give a big THANK YOU to all of our amazing designers over the years.  The next few posts will showcase some of our designers :)

Day 6 Challenge -
  Scrapbook your "team" whether it be sports team, family, friends, work or more.

Day 5 - Our Message Board / Forums

   We have been so fortunate to have a message board for the past 6 1/2 years.  It was so fun to really to get to "know" our customers.  We have shared so many things together through the message boards - lots of baby news :).  I remember sharing my ultrasound pictures of Ezra!  We have made friends all over the world.  We have shared our memories together- both good and hard ones.  I can not imagine PersonalScrapper without the message board. 
   It has been such a great way to connect and share layouts.  We "crop" together every other month or so.  We also have got a chance to meet a lot of customers at shows. We especially enjoyed the CK Bellevue and Portland shows.  It was always so rewarding to see our customers doing layouts with the PS kits! 

2005 Bellevue CK Show - Picture with PersonalScrapper Members

  

     We look forward to meeting many more of our customers!  We are having a crop on June 23!

Day 5 Challenge -  This is an awesome sketch from one of our GREAT customers, Lisa from Texas.  The challenge is simple: Use this sketch as a guide for your layout.

100th Kit Sketch by Lisa Hidy

Day 4 - How We Became A Kit Club

How we transitioned into a Kit Club:

    So if you read yesterday's blog, you know how PersonalScrapper started. But now you may be wondering how did I go from scrapbooking for others to a kit club? Late 2003, I knew Parenting Magazine was going to run an article about me in their magazine. Here are a few pictures from our photo shoot :)







       The article was set to come out in April 2004.  At the same time, I was getting very busy with projects but realizing I was not charging enough for all of the time I put into it.  Most of my clients loved the thought of scrapbooking but didn't think they were creative enough.  I tried to think of a way to get people to start scrapbooking for themselves.  I decided to start a kit club.  In this "club", we would pick products and send them an idea sheet to help them scrapbook.  We would treat it like a magazine subscription. 

       I only found 2 other companies doing something similar.  One of them made their own paper and the other one didn't include ideas.  I didn't want to create my own paper, i wanted to put together my "favorite" products and show people how to use them.  We started out online in January 2004 (after testing it in December with local customers).  It was great!  We were so excited to get our first customer (that wasn't someone I already knew).  That is how PersonalScrapper.com kit club was born. 

      I have watched a ton of kit clubs come and go in the past 8 years.  We are so happy to be the first one to make it to 100 kits.  The economy has been rough on scrapbooking businesses and sometimes scrapbooking is considered a luxury item.  I am just so happy to help people preserve their memories for their families!!

Today's scrapbook challenge:

   Do a scrapbook page about how you started scrapbooking? or maybe a layout of a crop or your scrap space?  Maybe write your story on why you scrapbook.  If none of these apply to you, scrapbook a special story.

DAY 3 - In the beginning.....

Today - a story about how I got started with PersonalScrapper.com.

  After my first son was born, I quit my job and decided to stay home.  I was really enjoying scrapbooking all of his baby milestones.  After about 8 months, I wanted to do some kind of "work" but also wanted to stay home with him.  I brainstormed about what would I like to do?  I researched a little bit and tried to think of something that would be fun!
    I decided to scrapbook for other people (hence I would be their "Personalscrapper").  I decided to try it and see how it would work.  One of my first clients was one of my friends, Sarah.  She was working and didn't have the time to scrapbook her son.   I really enjoyed her project.  I wrote a press release for the Portland Business Journal.  They decided to run a full story on it.  Here is a link to that story: A Scrappy Little Start Up .   I continued to do more scrapbooking for others and did all kinds of cool projects include one for a retiring firefighter which included a few tribute pages for 9/11.

Tomorrow... How PersonalScrapper turned into a kit club :)

Today's Challenge: Journaling
Today's challenge is to include some journaling on your layout. As I look back at all of the years I have been scrapbooking some of my most meaningful layouts are the ones with more detailed journaling!!

Day 2 - A big Thank you + a challenge

  As we celebrate the 100th kit this month, we have had lots of time to reflect on what has made PersonalScrapper successful.  The key ingredient to having our kit post on our website EVERY SINGLE MONTH on time  is Larry. For those of you that don't know, Larry is my husband (of almost 18 years).


2005 CK Show

        Larry has not only been super supportive for my decision to start a scrapbooking business 11 years ago but he has been a major partner in it.  He is the one that makes sure our website posts the new updated kits every month, he has made sure our past kits are updated and most importantly he created a message board back in 2005 so that I could communicate with customers and design team members.  This message board is one of the BEST things we have done for our business.  We could share ideas and layouts together!
   
    He has let me bounce business ideas off of him, he has packed kits, he has sold product at shows and much more.  He is definitely the important, but unseen, part of PersonalScrapper.com.  Please give him some comments because honestly without him there would NO PersonalScrapper.com!


On a personal note, thank you Larry for everything.  Thank you for helping me create this business from my dream!  I love you!!!

This is the most recent picture of us. I don't typically wear a tiara but it was after a 1/2 marathon WALK :)

__________________________________________________________


Ok - we still have a daily prize to give out for today.  Today's challenge is a simple scrapbook challenge:


Use 4 or more pictures on your layout.  Please post the completed layout on our forums page and/or our facebook page.

100th KIT!!!!

Today is a HUGE day for PersonalScrapper.com. We have been doing monthly kits for 8 years and are preparing our 100th kit to ship out! We are so excited to hit this huge milestone! We are the ONLY kit club to hit 100 monthly kits.

For the next 30 days, we will be blogging daily yay, having contests, sharing stories, and continuing to inspire you to scrapbook!

On June 23, we will host a crop party to celebrate this milestone! Details to come!

  

 BONUS KIT - Many thanks to Carrie & PaperTrunk for donating the majority of our bonus kit!  You get 15 sheets of papers, 2 sticker letters, flair and a sticker set from Echo Park.  Quantities are limited and are included with the June kit for subscribers.



The main picture does not show you the backs of the papers so I wanted to give you a closeup look at the kit!

FRONT OF THE PAPERS:

BACK OF THE PAPERS:

EMBELLISHMENTS:



Many Thanks for prize donations (some shown below)from:
PaperTrunk

American Crafts

Echo Park

Bo Bunny

Basic Grey





Thank you for all of your support!

Today's daily prize will be randomly selected from all comments made on this post by June 10!  Please leave us a comment!  We would love to hear from you!  How long have you known about PersonalScrapper?  What is your favorite thing about PS?