Monday, July 29, 2013

All The Fabulous Things You Have Heard Are TRUE

If you are at all familiar with some of the big time scrapbookers, Project Lifers and DIYers (Becky Higgins, Ali Edwards, The House of Smiths...and I could go on and on) you have definitely heard about  Persnickety Prints. The incredible customer service, attention to detail (persnickety in a good way) and all around fabulousness of this little company based in Orem, Utah.

Well, I have first hand knowledge...the rumors are all TRUE!!!!  In case you didn't know, if I have to do anything more complicated than upload an original image to a site for printing, it is pretty much hopeless...editing, resizing - forget about it!  I am working on a special project and needed special sized photos 6x8" and 9x8".  Weird. I know.  As luck would have it, 6x8" is available on their regular list of available sizes....9x8" not so much.  Well, I dialed their number hoping for a miracle.  There was no answer, but I left a message.  Within 30 minutes or less, I had a return call from Aubrey.  She patiently listened to my predicament and suggested I resize the images that I needed in 9x8"  she would print them as 8x10" and I would only need to trim the white borders off the pictures.  Knowing that I could not accomplish this one my own, I called in reinforcements and quickly had the resized images uploaded to Persnickety Prints.

I forgot to tell you this most important part....it was lunch time last Friday and I needed the prints absolutely no later than Friday the 26th.  Hello, procrastinator!

Fast forward a few hours and it is 4:45 PM on that same day and I get a phone call from Aubrey.  She had all the 6x8" images printed, but she said it does not appear that there has been any modifications to the images that I needed in the irregular size.  Panic immediately sets in and the hope of getting this project done on time is quickly fading.  Aubrey quickly steps up and asks me if I have the original images from before they were altered.  I say yes, and she says that since there are only four of them, if I will email them to her she will make the adjustments for me and get them printed and to the post office for me ASAP.  At this point I am still about 30 minutes from home, but promise her I will email them as soon as I get to the house.

I got home, emailed the images as requested and then waited....but not for long.  Zach and I had dinner and visited with my parents for a bit.  As we were headed home - about 7:00 PM, I had an email from Aubrey saying everything was fine, the pictures came out great and she had gone ahead and taken all the borders off for me!!!!!  Not only that, but the pictures were packaged and ready for shipment....what the what????? She felt sure that I would have the pictures by Thursday....what a relief!

Well....to my utter amazement and total delight, this showed up at my desk on MONDAY!!!!!!!!


I could not have asked for a better experience with Persnickety Prints!  Aubrey was fabulous and went well above and beyond to make sure that I was taken care of, and if she was frustrated with me for being a computer moron, she hid it very well!  The prints are fabulous - the quality top notch!  Great care was taken to make sure that my prints were not damaged during their journey.  I could go on and on, but I know that you are probably ready for me to shut my trap.   If you learned one thing from this post (other than that I am really long winded), I hope you know they are the go to company for caring, speedy service and top notch quality....they have gained a customer for life!  And considering how I am a freak for pictures, that is saying a lot!

I was not compensated in any way for this post....I am just a firm believer that in this day and age, excellent customer service and quality should not go unrecognized.  THE END!!!!

Coming later in the week, I will share a bit of the book....I did not photograph the entire thing, but enough to give you and idea of what I did.  Happy Monday!

Friday, July 26, 2013

In Focus Friday w/ My Minds Lens: July 2013

Kaeley is here today for her monthly installment of In Focus Friday.  She is sharing some of the beautiful places that she has been as well as the "short" list of amazing places she hopes to visit in the future!


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If I had my way, I would quit my job and spend the next two years traveling the world.  There are so many beautiful places that I would like to visit and photograph.  The short list?  Greece, Italy, Ireland, Australia, Bali, Brazil, Peru, Iceland, Turkey and Costa Rica.  Yes - that's the short list.  However, I have been fortunate to have traveled to several places that I consider beautiful.

1. Ocho Rios {Jamaica}





2. The Forbidden City {China}


3. Crater Lake {Oregon}



4. Po Lin Monastery {Hong Kong}


5. Redwood National Park {California}


SADLY, the Forbidden City and Hong Kong pictures are not mine . . . mine are locked up on my old hard drive and I have no way to access them right now.  But they really are beautiful places, and hold a lot of history.

Next month, I will be sharing some technical tips - so be sure to check back!

I special requested those technical tips, so I can't wait!!!!  I am working on a post about my fabulous experience with Persnickety Prints...so be looking for that in the next day or so.  Have a wonderful weekend!

Thursday, July 18, 2013

Third Thursday Scrapbook Stories: July 2013

Katie is here today sharing how she solved a scrapping dilemma...Project Life to the rescue!  In case you haven't visited Katie's blog yet (and if not.....why the heck not????), she documents everything!  In my book, she is a super scrapper and that is what drew me to her blog in the first place.  Anyway, she hit a roadblock in her engagement album and finally came up with a way to showcase her Save the Date cards - just the way she wanted!

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Happy July everyone!

I hope your summer is going well!

Last fall and winter, I was working on an engagement scrapbook. But I kind of stalled out when I got to the Save the Date page. You see, I really wanted to show the front and the back of the envelope, but I didn't want to cut it up. So that posed a few problems, and I did what I always do when a page isn't working for me...

I put it away and working out other things until a better idea hit.

6 months later, something finally dawned on me.

No one said scrapbook pages had to be one sided!


I used a Project Life insert and created a page that has two sides. I'm so excited about taking the inserts from Project Life and bringing them into my regular scrapbooking!

And I love the different size layout in my book. It adds such a different dimension. I think I'm going to be using lots of different sizes in the same book now!

What about you - do you ever use varying sized layouts in your books or do you like to have all the same size pages together?

Monday, July 1, 2013

I AM IN LOVE......

with Project Life, that is.  I know for those of you that are loyal followers, I have been babbling about this memory keeping system for months.  Fun purchases, but NO results.  I am sure that most of you were thinking I was just that girl that cried wolf and you would never see a completed page.  OK, so maybe I didn't start out using it as it was originally intended, but ladies, at my crop on Saturday....I worked it like nobody's business!!!!

I started documenting an amazing trip that I took to Cabo San Lucas for a friend's wedding.  It was the most beautiful wedding and I want to be able to look back on it and all the fun that I had on that wonderful vacation.  The trip was April 2009....so the pictures have been sitting in envelopes, in a drawer, literally for years.  I started out documenting old school style, but I was just not feeling it - even though I had bought a pad of beautiful paper specifically for this project.  So after much debate and some wonderful advice from some of my crafty readers (thank you all so much!), I decided to tackle it Project Life style.


 I have to be honest - it is different and is going to take some getting used to.  I am generally a pretty simple scrapper - easy on the embellishments, but really heavy on pictures.   So far this system has even less embellishments, but I can totally see that changing as I get more comfortable using it.  I got about 140 pictures into the book - probably close to 2/3 of my pictures - in about 8-9 hours....say what?!?!?!  I am convinced with another day of dedicated work, I will be done.  I have to order some extra page protectors that are special sizes so that I can add some keepsakes .  I can't wait to get those, because I know the extras will only add to the character of the book.



I am not giving up on traditional scrapping, but I have definitely decided that I will be doing the Disney Cruise album for Zach using the Project Life system.  That trip was almost 8 years ago and desperately needs to be in an album instead of piled in a box.

My goal of four trip/themes documented in 2013 is back within reach and I could not be more excited!  I am attending a scrap retreat in November and can totally see getting the entire Disney album completed during that weekend - with a bit of advance planning on my part.

The tub of pictures...some as far back as Zach's baby pictures (almost 13 years now), doesn't seem quite as daunting now.  There is a solution...other than to give up.  In my book...Becky Higgins is a lifesaver!

In other weekend news, I picked up Zach from Allaso Ranch on Friday night after work.  In the best of circumstances, it is about a 2 hour and 15 minute drive - on Sunday with no traffic.  Friday night starting out in rush hour it took me almost 3 hours...grrrrr.  I will admit that I was a bit crabby when I got there even though I was so excited to see Zach.  The service had already started when I arrived, but there is nothing like walking into a huge room filled with kids and parents worshiping together....the love in that room was overflowing, and I truly felt blessed to be there - especially since his dad normally goes to get him.



Sunday, my plan was to tackle the huge mound of laundry that was bellowing my name.  My friend had other plans...he called and said meet me at my place and let's go for a ride.  I jumped at the chance, because we have been trying to coordinate this for months.  Although me trying to get on and off of a motorcycle is nothing short of hysterical, I think I am a biker girl at heart.  I love riding and if I could, I would go every weekend - at least when the weather wasn't crazy.  It was definitely a packed weekend, but a lot of fun!


On a final note, I started the Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred this morning.  It was not my idea of a good time, but I survived and I am determined to get through the month.


Now, will you ever witness my before pic with the "gut gone wild", I have serious doubts.  But if I do get brave enough, come August 1st, I will be linking up with Big Holly, who is anything but big to share my results.  I have a friend locally that is doing it as well.

We only met a few weeks ago, but I am fairly certain we were separated at birth (4+ years apart...lol)
Although, I am attempting it in the morning and she is tackling after her she tucks her wee one in...I plan to check in with her after each workout and I have a sneaky suspicion that if she doesn't hear from me, she just may go all JM on me.  Have a great week!