Do You Have Some Time?

For the last five years I've given some of my time each week volunteering with Big Brothers Big Sisters of Washington County MD. The school year is coming to an end, with it comes the official end of my most recent match in this wonderful program.

The Big Brothers Big Sisters organization's mission is to help children reach their full potential through professionally supported, one-to-one relationships with mentors that have a measurable impact on youth.

This volunteer program that I have been involved with gives adult mentors the opportunity to have their weekly meetings right inside the child's school. The "Little" in the match is pulled from an elective class each week such as gym, art or reading classes to meet one-to-one with their "Big" each week. This location gives matches the opportunity to work on school projects together or just a place to chat about things happening in their lives. The mentor managers in my community do all they can to put matches together who share some similar interest. It may come to no surprise that each week, my Little and I would usually spend our time scrapbooking and paper crafting while we chatted.

Children in this program range from elementary school to middle school ages. The girl that I have been matched with for the last two years has grown so much in just the short time that we were together. I'm so proud of her accomplishments both inside and outside of school. She has worked hard and has so much to look forward to as she enters high school next year. You see, not only does she "graduate" from middle school this year, she as also "graduated" from the school mentoring program. In our last official meeting, we took some photos together, we exchanged addresses and promised to keep in touch. Not only does the BBBS organization fulfill their mission, I truly believe that they build friendships as well.

Volunteering with Big Brothers Big Sisters just takes four hours a month. Whether it's one hour a week within an in-school mentoring program or time spent within a community matched program, being a "Big Brother" or a "Big Sister" is one of the most rewarding and enjoyable things you can do.

For more information on how you can become a volunteer in your area visit:

http://www.bbbs.org/

It's Very Tempting

There's no doubt about it. I do love a fine piece of chocolate.

Late last night while I was nibbling on a berry truffle by Joseph Schmidt, I found myself drooling over the thought to make plans to head to NYC again this year to attend "THE" Chocolate Show. http://www.chocolateshow.com/

I've attended this show in the past with my sister...and I'm very tempted to make arrangements to go again this year. This show is open to the public and it's definitely a delicious adventure to take if you live within a reasonable travel distance. If you don't live near by, may I suggest that you check out their website. There's a lot of delicious links to the finest chocolate companies who'll deliver to your door.

Tuesday: Project Organization

There really is a rhyme and a reason when I'm catching up on organizing my scrap items. Each week I try to set a little aside just to get things in order. Call me goofy, but I always plan that in advance.

This "special time" is usually Tuesday evenings. I get off work at my Full-Time job, stop by the scrapbook store in town to check out any new arrivals, pick up a little take-out, and head home. Once I'm home, I add any new scrapbook treasures I've purchased to my current stash. That's when the organizing begins. It's a perfect thing to do in between loads of laundry. (Yeah, that's usually a scheduled thing too.)

So, will someone answer me this: Why do I find myself totally rearranging things every single week? It's a wonder that I can find anything once I start a new project. Things are generally returned to the same area, but my living area is quite small.

So, since BIG changes are coming my way in just a matter of a few weeks, I've made the decision to invest some new serious storage for my scrappin' stash. Perhaps you have seen the advertisements for this great cabinet system in major scrapbook magazines. I've been toying with this purchase idea for some time now. But today is Tuesday: Project Organization. No better time then today to take the leap!

Now I'm sitting here wondering if my new purchase will arrive in time for next Tuesday.

Stay tuned...Same scrap time. Same scrap channel.

Do You Post Photos & Layouts On Line?

Last night I was catching up with a little light reading on some of my favorite blogs. While visiting Tim Holtz's site, I stumbled across a link to a very interesting article written by artist Claudine Hellmuth.

There are two bills that are coming up in the House and Senate that will change Internet copyright as we know it. They were shot down once before because of action against it --- but now they are back as bill numbers H.R. 5889 The Orphan Works Act of 2008 and S 2913 The Shawn Bentley Orphan Works Act of 2008.

If you post your family photos or scrapbook layouts anywhere on the Internet or on your personal blog, both of these bills will allow those items to become public domain.

To learn more about these two bills and a quick link to how you can let your voice be heard, read the May 9th blog entry at http://claudinehellmuth.blogspot.com/2008/05/do-you-post-your-family-photos-online.html

This is one soap box that I will definately stand on. Won't you join me?

Nature's Beauty

My favorite thing to photograph is the outdoors. I love just taking a stroll in a park or down a nature trail with my camera in my hands.

I own two digital cameras. One camera is a HP Photosmart. It's a small camera with 3.2MP and a 3x optical zoom. This is the camera I usually keep in my car for those unplanned photo opportunities. This is the camera that I used to take the lovely photo in this blog entry. This photo was taken on a trip to Maine last year.

The second camera I own is the Canon PowerShot. This is a super cool camera, and it's the one I take with me when I'm specifically planning on taking photos during my travels. The camera has 8.0MP and a 12x optical zoom. Hands down this is a great camera with more setting than I know what do do with...but I'm still learning! And did I ever get some great shots on my trip up north last week. I can't wait to share the beauty I captured with all my readers.

No matter what camera you own, I encourage each of you to just carry it one week where ever you go. There's no telling what beautiful treasure you may stumble on during your routine journeys.

Happy National Scrapbook Day!

After a week long business trip, I had the chance to go home for 8 hours. Just enough time to sleep and pack my bags once again...

...for a 12 hour Crop!!!

Yippie! I am so excited to be spending my day at my local scrapbook store, Scrapmania in Hagerstown, MD. I'll be there attending their SOLD OUT crop to celebrate National Scrapbook Day!

So, who wants to play a little game and win a little surprise scrapbook prize from me? So if you aren't joining me at this crop, just answer these three questions correctly...

Answer Edit: I spent most of my day talking, wandering around the scrapbook store, eating peanut butter cups and Twizzlers and drinking sweet iced tea. I did manage to complete two pages plus some other projects you'll see posted in the future on the Fiskateer website. As for how much money I spent...let's just say I spent over $25.

I'll select a random winner for each question on Sunday. I hope everyone finds a way to celebrate National Scrapbook Day in their own special way!

This RAK is now closed and comments have been locked. For those Fiskateers who had trouble commenting on this site, I did include those who replied from the message board as well. The random winners all appear to be Fiskateers too: Mandiannie #1485, Missy #2984, and Peggy #4129. Congrats ladies!