Travel is one of my biggest loves, although I don’t travel like most tourists. My style is a bit different. If the main transportation is a bicycle in the country I am visiting, you will find me on a bike. If they are eating frog legs and catnip soup that is what you will see me eating. There is nothing better than really getting into the culture and lifestyle of a different land and people – to become (if only for a moment) one of them. To eat as they eat, live as they live, and feel as they feel.
Because of my great love of this pastime, I wanted a way to preserve my memories, a way to go back and revisit if you will. During one trip to Hawaii I found a beautiful 8 X 8 scrapbook album with a breathtaking scene of a beach on the cover. I was elated with the find and a tradition was born.
Now, during my voyages, one of the items I always pick up is a unique scrapbook album that speaks of the place I am visiting. It comes home with me and then I lovingly fill it with the trip’s highlights. I insert everything from beautiful pictures and special treasures to napkins, menus and sand (yes, sand). In fact, I used the sand to build a whole beach scene on one of my pages.
I find that when I travel with an open mind I always learn something new. On many pages of my scrapbooks I use a journal template to document things I learn along the way.
When you leaf through the pages of these albums, it is like returning to those places. It allows the person that is viewing the book to share the trip by walking down the cobbled roads or riding on the back of a donkey down narrow passageways. I have even been known to use glue dots to adhere a piece of a donkey’s tail to the page (don’t worry, he didn’t feel it. I used a nail clipper).
Many times I use a simple scrapbook layout, but for the most part I go all out and every page is protected by a page protector. I’m crazy for decorative paper and love to try new techniques like little gift tags hanging from the page or using textures of different kinds. When I finish them I store them in special scrapbooking cabinets. I want these books around for a long time. There may be a day I can’t travel as much and my scrapbooks will help me relive the memories.
Are scrapbooks only for events that have already taken place? Most people I have talked with seem to feel they are, but one woman I met recently thinks differently. Her name is Kim Mutch Emerson and she is a coach and mentor of the Law of Attraction and other universal truths.
Kim firmly believes that as a person thinks and feels they create a life that matches those thoughts and feelings. She teaches folks to create the life of their dreams. One of the tools she uses in her teachings is what she calls “Make Your Dream Your Reality Book.” The books are scrapbooks of events or goals that have not taken place in a person’s life, but those people would like them to. For example, if a person has a desire for a new car, or relationship they would design pages within the scrapbook that are centered on those items.
Most of her clients are busy people and so she helps cut down the preparation process by speaking with her clients individually and assisting them in the scrapbook blueprint. She then sends them a scrapbook kit designed especially just for them.
Generally, the books are photo album scrapbooks or three ring binder scrapbooks that people can easily take pages from and replace with new pages. Each kit comes with a variety of colored card stock, patterned paper, photo frames of various sizes, scrapbooking sayings and quotes of inspiration in creative lettering, and journal templates. She even designs borders and trims, and includes page protectors upon request.
If you are interested in learning more about Kim or her “Make Your Dream Your Reality Books”, I encourage you to stop by her website at http://www.secretofprosperity.com
The first thing you should do before starting an online scrapbooking store is to make a list of possible names for your store. Choosing a good name is critical to your business. You want your business name to be catchy to that way it attracts more customers, it needs to also represent what you will be selling.
When designing your online scrapbooking store you should next think about what materials your intended product requires. It is crucial to the success of your company to keep in stock sufficient product. Client satisfaction will be improved if there is less delay in obtaining the finished product.
You want to remember that customer satisfaction, and reviews will be a big part of your online scrapbooking store. It may be a good idea to come up with a return policy that you paste right on your website, that way customers know right from the beginning what your policy is before ordering product.
If your online scrapbooking store is easy to use, and self explanatory more people will use your company. Good page setup and graphics will also grab customer”s attention. The more time you put into your site the more customers will notice the quality of your work.
Digital scrapbooking shows people a neat way to make custom photo albums that they will personally like. You might even look into giving a lesson on your site, knowing some people are not in the lingo as others. You as well might set up a monthly contest for return patrons, giving them a little something to look forward to keep coming back. How ever you design your website the better it looks it will bring more people. Happy patrons always come back for more.
Some scrapbooking supplies you might look at for your page are very simple software, digital templates, and many useful tools, and a customized shopping cart is in your best interest. If your patrons are able to save and come back later they will be much happier. You will need to list out things that can be added to make your web site easy for you customers.
