LDS Art

I love art. I love art that is inspiring. My favorite LDS art is done by Walter Rane. He is a Christian artist -- and has done some LDS art which is AMAZING! I have them all through my home and now I see they are on sale through Meridian Magazine -- at really low prices. If you have ever seen Walter Rane Paintings and his LDS art, you can feel the power and action in every piece. There is such emotion and I love his style.

Right now you can buy LDS Art - Walter Rane Paintings below for only $99. That is such a great deal!

There is a painting of Christ ministering to the people in the Americas, one of Captain Moroni holding up the Title of Liberty and calling his people to fight for freedom, and one of Enos struggling in mighty prayer for his soul.

Shopping -- Men vs. Women

Are men treated differently than women when shopping? I know there have been studies done where beautiful women are mobbed by sales people and frumpy or overweight people are less apt to get good service. I've experienced that at times in my life -- but never did it hit me like this past week. I felt as though I was a non-entity. Have any of you felt this way before?

I went into CompUSA this past week to buy a new computer, an external hard drive and some software. I had never been to this particular store, so I wasn't sure where things were. I walked in and kind of wandered around. I picked up a store flyer and tried to find what I was looking for. I'm not sure if it was because I am a woman or what (I did shower that day) -- but 3 different sales people walked right past me to men behind me and on different aisles to ask them if they needed any help. Did I look like I knew what I was doing? No -- I had the flyer open, looking up and around to see the signs, kind of wandering up and down aisles.

So I have to ask myself -- why -- in a store where there were 5 sales people wandering around (at least 5 that I saw) -- why would none of them offer assistance to me? Was I out of place. I mean, it's a computer store, so maybe they thought I couldn't make a purchase decision without a man around. Who knows -- but it irked me. Did I just not exist?

I finally went up to one sales guy who was standing around and asked him if he could direct me to where the software would be -- he rudely said, "No, I have to get this guy checked out" -- pointing to a guy walking down the aisle. He could not even say -- "Sure, the software is in the back corner," or "Sure can you wait just a minute," or "Let me call someone to help you."

Needless to say -- I ended up taking my business elsewhere and will never return there again. It's too bad that sales people who represent a large company set the tone for the customer experience. I would hope that CompUSA (and other stores) will take note and try to encourage their sales people to be more friendly and helpful -- (and not just to men.) Too bad -- because they missed out on a really good sale as well as a good customer. To me, life is just too short to accept poor customer service -- there are many other places where the service is great and they'll keep me as a loyal customer.

I wonder what type of service men get when they go to a fabric store or a scrapbook store. :-) -- I think they are probably treated really well because mostly women work in those types of stores and in my experience most women enjoy being helpful.

Free Family Websites

It looks like MyFamily.com is going to have some competition -- at least in the LDS market. There is a new family website service being offered for LDS families and their friends called LDS Center. You can get free family websites (10 MB) of space and then if you want more space you pay to upgrade. It is a private site where you only invite those you want and you can share photos, news, events, recipes and more in a safe environment. There are also missionary websites, blogs, and LDS business listings.

I hope it will remain free for the basic websites. It's just getting started so it will be interesting to see if it takes off or not. It also looks like it's been created by the same people who run LDS Singles so at least they have some experience. Hopefully it will work well.

Free Digital Photos

Here is a great offer from Shutterfly. I've always liked the quality of their prints and if you sign up you can get 15 prints for free. Here is a link to this offer:

15 FREE prints, FREE online picture sharing, FREE unlimited photo storage, custom photo products and gifts. Membership is always Free.

Looking for a Digital Camera?

I just found a great deal for you if you are looking for a digital camera. SmartBargains has some good prices on high end products and right now you can get an EXTRA $50 OFF Vivitar Vivicam 8300S 8.1MP Digital Camera -- Only $229.98. If you are serious about scrapbooking, a digital camera can be a huge benefit -- you can take as many photos as you want and then only print out the few really good ones. That way you don't feel bad about throwing away photos, or feel obligated to use every picture you take. Anyway, this is a good price so if you're looking for a digital camera -- check it out.

Protecting Your Photos and Scrapbooks

Every scrapbooker should be aware that there are certain things which can destroy photos and scrapbooks. If you neglect to store them properly or use products which contain acid, your precious scrapbooks will not last through the years. Here are some tips about protecting your photos and scrapbooks.

Store your scrapbooks, supplies, photos and albums in a cool, dry place. Keep them away from areas where any moisture and make sure if you are scrapbooking you keep any drinks away from the area. I've had too many friends accidently spill and ruin precious pages. I recommend that once you have your scrapbooks completed, you scan them and make multiple copies on DVD. So then if there is a problem or disaster, your most precious memories will not be lost.

Direct sunlight will also fade photos and negatives, as well as scrapbook pages. Heat and cold are not good either. Proper storage of your albums will keep them lasting much longer.

When you are handling photographs, make sure your hands are clean and you hold them by the edges of the photos. Our hands have natural oils and acids which, over time, can damage negatives and photos. Some scrapbookers use wipes which neutralize acids on our hands. But I just wash my hands frequently and try to be careful when I handle my photos.

Make sure your plastic page protectors are good quality and do not include polyvinyl chloride (vinyl) which will damage your pages. Hint: The plastic protectors which have a strong plastic smell are not good for scrapbooking. Also, make sure the papers you use are acid-free.

If you do all of these things, your scrapbooks and photos will last much longer and be heirloom treasures for generations to come.

No Guilt Scrapbooking

There are ebbs and flows in the scrapbooking process. There are days when I have every intention of finishing up projects, but I just don't get there. Life seems to pull us in all sorts of directions -- but scrapbooking should come without any guilt. So if you haven't caught up, don't stress about it. Even taking 30 minutes a week will get you moving in the right direction. Or, do what I do when I know I just don't have time -- I get my photos, label them and then put them in my photo box. As long as I have notes about the photo I don't worried.

I know women who don't take photos any more because they don't think they'll ever have time to scrapbook all the pictures. I know how they feel -- but even putting your photos in a simple photo album is a great place to start. I like to have my albums with a 3x5 card on the bottom where I can journal and then my photos above. So, when I pull out my albums there is no guilt. They may not be the end product I imagine, but I'm happy I can look back at my memories and remember there should be no guilt in scrapbooking.

Getting Organized - Scrapbooking

It can become overwhelming in scrapbooking with ribbons and bows, texture templates, die cuts, buttons, hundreds of paper variations, scrapbooking tools, albums, layout ideas, scissors, markers, stickers and more. How do we keep ourselves organized -- so we don't spend 1/2 of our scrapbooking time just finding what we need?

I'm going to spotlight a few products I saw at the CHA convention which I think will be great for not only beginning scrapbookers, but for those of us who have closets full of scrapbook products. However today I wanted to mention one of my favorite stores -- Stacks and Stacks. They have organizational products for the whole house. I love the way their products are simple and sharp looking. Anyway, you can get up to 75% off at StacksandStacks.com right now. So I thought I'd share new ideas for getting organized.

Protect Your Digital Photos

One of the worst things is to take a bunch of digital photos of a once-in-a-lifetime event such as a wedding, an anniversary party, a child's birthday party, or a graduation, and then lose the photos!

I've known people who have lost hundreds of photos because they forgot to download the photos and accidentally deleted their digital camera memory card -- or after downloading their photos onto their computer, their hard drive crashed. It does happen.

My favorite idea for protecting your digital photos is to make a DVD or CD backup of all of your photos. Then take that DVD and put it in a safety deposit box along with your will and other legal documents. I also think having an extra copy at a family member's home is a good idea. Then if there is ever a disaster (whether fire, flood, or computer crash) -- you have the things that are most important.

If you do your scrapbooking on a MAC or have your photos stored on a MAC -- make sure you download the new MAC OS X security update. There are 17 bugs and a critical flaw which leaves your computer open to a MAC virus going around. The security patch was released yesterday, so make sure you get it installed as soon as possible.