March 2013 Editor's Letter

To me, March means spring is just around the corner!  After all, Punxsutawney Phil didn't see his shadow, so spring is coming early.  I'm not a winter fan; can you tell?  Since I'm such a fan of spring, I'm thrilled that we have several articles this month featuring spring, including cards, sketches, and spring break.  

March is usually a pretty quiet month.  The holiday associated with March is St. Patrick's Day, and we'll have an article on that.  This year, Easter falls in March, so expect a few articles on that.  We'll also cover some of the not-as-well-known holidays, such as Read Across America Day, Dr. Seuss Day, National Puppy Day, and National Joe Day (betcha that's a new one to you!).

We have a couple of travel articles and one on big storms.  Wondering whether you should buy the Cricut Expression 1 or 2?  One writer tackles that question in her review.  We'll also give you ideas on how to use busy patterned paper, how to create your own journaling cards, how to scrapbook with children, and how to include current lingo on your pages. 

This month I'd like to introduce you to Cindy.  Here's what she says about herself:

My name is Cindy deRosier.  I live in beautiful Northern California, midway between San Francisco and Sacramento, with my husband Steve and our 6 year old son Trevor.  I have an MA in Education and taught 4th/5th grade for 11 years before becoming a stay-at-home mom.

I've been scrapbooking for as long as I can remember.  As a young child, I glued photos onto paper and cut shapes out of construction paper to decorate the pages.  Around 1998, I discovered the scrapbook industry, such as it was at the time.  I couldn't believe that there were all these beautiful papers and special adhesives that would forever replace my construction paper and rubber cement pages!  I love everything about scrapbooking.  I especially love using scrapbooking to tell my stories.  Simply putting photos in an album is nice, but for me it's the stories that transform an album into something special that will be cherished by future generations.  I consider my scrapbooks to be my greatest treasures and hope that someday Trevor loves them as much as I do.

I turned 40 in March 2012 and have been spending my 40th year trying 40 new things.  In the past 11 months, I have been a Mythbusters volunteer, cooked from a mystery basket, tackled the World's Largest Maze, tried Miracle Berries, taken classes in both glasswork and lapidary, and done a Planet Walk.  You can read about all these (and more) here:  

I love her 40-new-things-for-her-40^th-birthday idea!  How fun!  Look for her article on what to do when you are missing a letter sticker, as well as an article about Read Across America Day.

Wishing you four-leaf clovers, cream-filled eggs, daffodils (I can hope!) and a beautiful Easter bonnet!